YouTube has expanded its Digital Wellbeing tools, a set of features designed to help users manage their use of the service including how many hours they spend watching videos. The Digital Wellbeing toolbox includes a Time Watched feature that shows users how much time they've spent watching videos during the present day, as well as the previous day and a sum total of the previous week.
Downloading Fortnite for your Android isn't particularly dangerous. Installing Fortnite on your Android might be dangerous if you don't know the risks. This week Google and Epic Games began a battle that started with an act of good will. Google showed Epic Games that they had a flaw in their Fortnite APK app file - seems innocent enough an action on it's own, right?
The 1990s were a wacky and wild time, thanks in part the rise of the internet and the widespread adoption of personal computers. Anyone who was around in the mid-90s will remember just how big of a release Windows 95 was, with people lining up at stores to buy a copy of the OS and Microsoft launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign that included recruiting Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry to make a ridiculous instructional video. Windows 95 was a big deal at the time, and it seems silly to think of people having that kind of reaction to a new operating system these days.
Google's data-saving app Datally has received an update that adds two new ways to reduce data usage: Emergency and Bedtime. Both names hint at each feature's purpose, one helping reduce the amount of data that may be passively used at night while the device owner sleeps, the other reserving a certain amount of data specifically for emergencies.
Google's experimental products workshop Area 120 may be working on a new project called Shortwave that helps users discover new podcasts. The app made an appearance in a recent trademark filing, and though it didn't have many details, a Google spokesperson revealed a bit more about the project, pointing toward spoken content as the focus.
Apple is a company that makes money hand-over-fist. One of the ways it does this, aside from hardware, is through App Store sales. Every time a developer sells an app through the iOS App Store, Apple takes a cut of that revenue. This extends to in-app purchases and subscriptions as well, as long as they're carried out through iTunes.
Android users who are fans of "dark mode" UIs, we have some bad news for you: only a day or so after being updated, Google's Android Messages app has been rolled back, removing the option for dark mode and returning all other design changes to the previous look. This goes for all users, who will now notice the app's stark, all-white look, regardless if they installed the latest update.
WhatsApp users have received an email from Google informing them of a big new change: their backups will no longer count against their Google Drive data allotment. WhatsApp first introduced these backups in 2015, enabling users to store a copy of their messages in the cloud. Over time, depending on how heavily the app is used, these backups can grow into multiple gigabytes, a substantial amount for Google users who only have the 15GB included for free with their account.
A highly requested feature, dark mode, is now available in Android Messages. As with the new YouTube dark mode, Android Messages users can eliminate the bright white background, instead switching to a darker interface that is easier on the eyes over longer periods of time. The new mode is available in Android Messages version 3.5, which brings the same Material Design that recently arrived on Google Phone and Google Contacts.
Google announced today that Gmail's confidential mode has come to mobile devices. The feature launched on desktop earlier this year, and it allows senders to restrict things like forwarding, copying, and downloading the emails they send. Senders can also set emails to expire after a certain amount of time, and, in cases where extra security is necessary, lock a message with an SMS code.
There's an app out for all users right this minute from Microsoft called "Your Phone." This app allows the user to get photos snapped on a phone over to their PC with the greatest of ease. The fact that this app even has to exist should be fairly embarrassing for someone in the smartphone development process ... but so far nobody's stepped forward in shame.
Having trouble finishing your math homework? Microsoft has a solution. The company recently updated its Bing for iOS app to include a new "math mode" that solves equations in a snap...literally. Snap a picture of the problem, give Bing a second or two to process it, and you'll be given the answer without any additional interaction. The feature is powered by Bing's Camera Intelligent Search technology.