Android

Any accounts lined up for deletion should have gotten warning emails by now.

• WhatsApp's Chat Lock feature gets additional protection with a new Secret Code feature.
• Users can set a unique password as an extra layer of privacy for their locked chats.
• The feature's rollout has already begun and should roll out globally in the coming months.

• Telegram is expanding its voice and video message transcription feature beyond Premium users, allowing free users to convert up to two messages per week into text.
• Joining a channel just got more interesting with Telegram's improved channel discovery feature, offering recommendations based on similar subscriber bases.
• Users can also now include video comments or reactions in their stories, with the ability to resize and reposition the video message on the screen.
• Telegram also introduces profile color customization for Premium users, custom wallpapers for individual chats, and reaction emoji customization for channel admins.

Hi,

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/3638310

Samsung might want to salvage its chipset operation by rebranding its Exynos SoC and renaming it Dream Chip next year.

• Spotify secured an unprecedented payment deal with Google, paying a mere 0% commission for in-app purchases made through its own system, as revealed during the Epic v. Google trial.
• For purchases made through Google's payment system, Spotify still enjoyed a reduced fee of 4%, significantly lower than Google's standard 15% cut.
• Spotify's popularity and influence on Android users served as the justification for Google's "bespoke" deal.

• The latest Play Store version sheds more light on an upcoming complimentary "Cubes" app for better content discovery.
• The app will have a main feed for content and customization for users looking to fine tune which apps should be displayed in their respective categories.
• Another discovery seems to have unearthed Google's plans to let users purchase items from the Play Store through the Cubes app.

• Nothing Chats, a rival to apps like Beeper and AirMessage, advertised itself as a secure platform for sending messages to iMessage users.
• However, less than 24 hours after its launch, investigations into the app revealed that Nothing Chats logged every message in plain text and stored unencrypted data, including text messages, images, videos, and more, making it a significant privacy and security risk.
• The company removed the app from the Play Store following these complaints, citing "several bugs" that need fixing.

• Apple will enable RCS support on the iPhone in 2024.
• The company says it will enable better interoperability between iOS and Android.
• Google has been publicly pestering Apple about the lack of RCS support for some time, arguing that SMS is less secure.
• Regulators have also been looking into iMessage and whether or not Apple should open it.

Cooperative Android manufacturers only get 12 percent of search revenue

How much more does Google pay for an Apple user than an Android one? A lot. It was recently revealed in the Epic v. Google trial (Google has a few monopoly lawsuits going on) that the highest tier of search revenue share for cooperative Android OEMs is only 12 percent, a third of what Google pays Apple. In terms of total cash amount, it's reasonable to assume Apple gets more total money than many smaller companies but to see the direct breakdown that each Apple user is worth three times more than an Android user is a new insight.

• Threads has rolled out two updates for users, with the first involving a complete change to how users can delete their Threads account.
• Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, states that users can delete or deactivate their Threads account without risking the deletion of their Instagram.
• The second update lets users opt out of their posts having the chance to appear on Facebook or Instagram.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8304541

I'm sure most people here hate ads in games, I do at least. So I searched around for a little while and found this neat website. A collection of some really nice games with no ads and as the title and website suggest, no bullshit.

Sharing in case more people were in the same boat as I was.

Have a nice rest of your day 🌻

Upstart Android OEM hopes Apple won't immediately shut the project down.

Nearly 9 in 10 US teenagers use an iPhone, spelling disaster for Google's mobile future

As we’ve been tracking, Google is now beginning to roll out “Profile discovery” in Messages for Android to establish your name and photo across the RCS app and others.

Once live, you’ll be prompted to “choose a name and picture to help anyone with your phone number or email recognize you in Google products,” like Messages. From the strings we spotted, Google might notify you when other people change their images. For comparison, iMessage gives you the option of whether to update an avatar.

Google and WhatsApp today announced a change where WhatsApp chat and media backups on Android will “start counting toward your Google Account cloud storage limit” from December 2023 onward.

An app combining the libraries of Disney+ and Hulu will launch in late March 2024, Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger said in a Q4 2023 earnings call on Wednesday night. The full app's release will follow the beta that launches in December.

Iger told investors that the beta will be available to US subscribers bundling their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions and will give "parents time to set up profiles and parental controls that work best for their families ahead of the official launch," as per a transcription from The Motley Fool.

Amazon has been working on an in-house replacement for its Android-based Fire OS, codenamed "Vega" and built for easier app development, according to reporting from Janko Roettgers at Lowpass.

• Samsung is rumored to bring an affordable Galaxy foldable phone.
• It is likely to target the mid-range segment and could see the light of day in 2024.
• It is still unclear whether it is a clamshell or book-style foldable device.

Google sent a letter to European regulators asking them to free up Apple’s iMessage for all platforms, according to a report from the Financial Times Wednesday. The EU Commission said Apple is gatekeeping iMessage in September, and Google’s letter unnecessarily chimes in to say “we agree.”

• Google's Play Store offers remote app installation and now potentially remote app removal, making it easier to manage apps across connected devices running on Android.
• Using the Play Store on smartphones, tablets, or desktops is usually quicker and more convenient than using it on devices like smart TVs or wearables, which may have limitations.
• Remote app removal would be particularly useful for app management on those devices, and could eventually help remove unwanted apps from all your devices with a single click.

• Firefox 120 will introduce at least 200 new Android extensions running on a "fully open" extension ecosystem for the mobile browser.
• Mozilla encourages developers to migrate to this ecosystem and resolve internet browsing problems with extensions.
• The extension ecosystem aims to address recurring annoyances such as ads and cookie consent forms, enhancing the user experience on Firefox mobile.

• Google is finally addressing the inability to access storage on its devices ranging from the Pixel 6 to the latest Pixel 8 series after installing Android 14.
• Users are faced with the option of factory resetting their device and losing all of their data, and if declined, they encounter a "Pixel is starting" loop.
• Google hasn't given a concrete timeframe for when the system update should roll out. However, it has rolled out a Play Systems update to try and keep a cap on things.