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• WhatsApp will be required to make its platform interoperable under the European Union's Digital Markets Act.
• In an interview with Wired, an engineering director for WhatsApp described how support for third-party messages could work.
• The feature is currently in testing, and plans will be announced in March. WhatsApp will have "several months" after that to roll out the new feature.

"One of the core requirements here, and this is really important, is for users for this to be opt-in," Brouwer explained. "I can choose whether or not I want to participate in being open to exchanging messages with third parties. This is important, because it could be a big source of spam and scams."

As we've seen in developer WhatsApp versions in the past, Brouwer confirms that third-party messages will show up in a separate part of the app from the main inbox. The third-party chat inbox is the name that has been thrown around, but we don't know what WhatsApp will call it.

• Google is rebranding Bard as Gemini across its AI suite and is seemingly dropping the Gemini name from its AI models, which will now be called Pro 1.0 and Ultra 1.0.
• The company is also launching Gemini Advanced, available with Ultra 1.0, starting today as part of a new Google One AI Premium subscription.
• Gemini, the company's AI chatbot, will be available natively on mobile in a new Gemini app for Android starting today. Gemini will appear in the Google app for iOS in the coming weeks.

Last year, Google announced that Play Protect would prompt you to scan unknown Android apps before sideloading. Google is now piloting enhanced financial fraud protection for Play Protect.

Play Protect will “analyze and automatically block the installation of apps that may use sensitive runtime permissions frequently abused for financial fraud when the user attempts to install the app from an Internet-sideloading source (web browsers, messaging apps or file managers).”

This enhancement will inspect the permissions the app declared in real-time…

Google is specifically looking for financial fraud apps that request the RECEIVE_SMS, READ_SMS, BIND_Notifications, and Accessibility permissions. They can be used by fraudsters to intercept one-time SMS or notification-based passwords and spy on screen content.

Google has another fix for the second major storage bug Pixel phones have seen in the last four months. Last week, reports surfaced that some Pixel owners were being locked out of their phone's local storage, creating a nearly useless phone with all sorts of issues. Many blamed the January 2024 Google Play system update for the issue, and yesterday, Google confirmed that hypothesis. Google posted an official solution to the issue on the Pixel Community Forums, but there's no user-friendly solution here.

The bad news is that I don't think many normal users will be able to follow Google's directions. First, you'll need to perform the secret action to enable Android's Developer Options (you tap on the build number seven times). Then, you have to download Google's "SDK Platform-Tools" zip file, which is meant for app developers. After that, plug in your phone, switch to the correct "File transfer" connection mode, open a terminal, navigate to the platform-tools folder, and run both “./adb uninstall com.google.android.media.swcodec” and “./adb uninstall com.google.android.media." Then reboot the phone and hope that works.

Today, we are introducing a new tool that will prompt these users to update, bringing them closer to the app experience you intended to deliver.

Play recovery tools allow you to prompt users running specific versions of your app to update every time they restart the app.

• Beeper says that it received and verified reports of 30 users of Beeper Cloud or Mini that had their Macs banned from using iMessage by Apple.
• Apple Support says the Macs were banned from accessing iMessage due to "spam."
• Beeper has disabled new iMessage connections to Beeper Cloud, and it's unclear when or if functionality might return.

We spotted two weeks ago that Google might rebrand “Assistant with Bard” to just “Bard.” The company might not have decided on a new Assistant with Bard name yet as the latest version of the Google app introduces “Gemini” as a candidate.

• The microphone icon, which is found in the search bar on the Pixel Launcher home screen, has now been re-mapped.
• The change was announced earlier this month alongside the removal of 17 features in Google Assistant.
• The microphone button was previously a Google Assistant shortcut. Now, it will respond to questions with Google Search results.

The new business terms for iOS apps in the EU have three elements:

Reduced commission — iOS apps on the App Store will pay a reduced commission of either 10 percent (for the vast majority of developers, and subscriptions following their first year) or 17 percent on transactions for digital goods and services.

Payment processing fee — iOS apps on the App Store can use the App Store’s payment processing for an additional 3 percent fee. Developers can use a payment service provider within their app or link users to their website to process payments for no additional fee to Apple.

Core Technology Fee — iOS apps distributed from the App Store and/or an alternative app marketplace will pay €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a 1 million threshold.

• A leaked set of renderings seemingly spills what Google has planned for the Pixel 9 Pro.
• The images continue to show a flat display, but the 9 Pro may offer a smaller 6.5-inch display alongside a thicker design change for its rear camera shelf.
• More details on its specifications are unknown, however, the device will supposedly sport a periscope telephoto lens with its primary and telephoto lenses.

During the Pixel 8 event, “Assistant with Bard” was announced for 2024. Before it launches on Android, Google might be dropping the “Assistant” moniker and rebrand to just “Bard.”

• Android used to let you place widgets on the lock screen, but this feature was killed off in Android 5.0 Lollipop.
• Code within the latest Android 14 QPR2 beta suggests that this feature might return in some form.
• We don’t have the full details on what lock screen widget support might look like in Android 15, nor whether third-party widgets may be supported.