Android

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.

• YouTube is beginning to test two new generative AI features for a small number of users, beginning with its new "Ask" feature.
• Users can either select pre-made prompts or write their own as they ask the AI questions about relevant content or about a video.
• A new "Topics" button will appear for those in the test, grouping like-minded comments together to be easily digestible for quicker reading.

Earlier this week, Samsung announced its Android 14 update and confirmed a list of devices that would be updated. Surprisingly, the Galaxy S20 and Note 20 series were included on that list, but they’ve since been removed, confirming they likely won’t get Android 14 after all.

• Google Chrome 120 will not support Android Nougat, leaving users with Android 7.0 and 7.1 without Chrome support.
• Chrome has been the most-used mobile browser since its release on Android in 2012, even on iOS devices where it competes with Safari.
• While newer operating systems will receive updates in Chrome 120, older systems like Nougat are being left behind, reflecting the ever-changing tech world.

• Pixel's Car crash detection is now available in five additional countries, including India, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland.
• However, the regional expansion applies only to the Google Pixel 4a and later models as well as the Pixel Fold.
• The car safety feature was introduced to Pixel smartphones back in 2019 as a US-only functionality.

• Meta is rolling out an ad-free subscription option beginning in November for Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland.
• Users will be able to subscribe for €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS or Android devices.
• The company is offering the ad-free plan to comply with “evolving European regulations.”

• Android users can take advantage of the openness of their smartphone by sideloading apps outside the Google Play Store, but this can be risky due to potential malware.
• Google has introduced an enhanced version of Google Play Protect to provide better protection against malicious apps, including real-time scanning at the code-level.
• The new version of Google Play Protect will be rolled out in India first before expanding to the rest of the world, offering stronger protection for Android users globally.

• WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that allows users to send self-destructing voice messages, providing more privacy for sensitive conversations.
• The feature, currently available to beta testers, prevents recipients from forwarding, saving, recording, or exporting the voice note.
• While not officially available to all users yet, WhatsApp's track record suggests that this feature will eventually be widely implemented.