Apps

Microsoft introduced the Your Phone Windows app as a way to bridge PCs and mobile but the best features that it offers are currently exclusive to Samsung's phones. There are more phones in the market than Samsung's, of course, leaving many other phone brands out of the party. LG has apparently decided to take matters into its own hands and has silently released a slightly similar software though, in reality, it is pretty much a rebranded Dell Mobile Connect.

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Until the day comes when we have a single computing device to rule them all, we will most likely bounce between our phone and at least one computer to get things done, be it for work or even for play. As if multitasking between programs on a desktop or laptop weren't enough of a distraction, having to juggle our attention between these two devices as well. Microsoft's solution is to actually have those phone apps directly accessible on Windows but only if you're using certain Samsung Galaxy phones.

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WhatsApp, the popular messaging app that many users have abandoned for alternatives, is now using Status messages in an effort to reassure users that their data is safe. Put simply, Status messages are the same as Stories found on other platforms like Instagram -- and WhatsApp plans to use them to talk about privacy.

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If you've ever wanted to watch Netflix on a timer, you might soon get your wish. Netflix is apparently testing that very functionality in its Android app, allowing users to effectively place a time limit on their viewing sessions. Not only could this be a good thing for people who want to put limits on screen time, but it could also be a nice feature for those who tend to fall asleep to Netflix and don't want TV episodes to continue autoplaying throughout the night.

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Signal just received a new update, and it seems to be rolling out a number of new mainstream features in anticipation of a flood of users incoming from WhatsApp. This update consists of a broad range of features that seem to add a lot to the service, beginning with chat wallpapers. With this update, users can pick from a collection of backgrounds and apply them to chats individually or choose one to apply to all chats.

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Overnight Google removed "at least" 100,000 negative reviews of the stock trading app Robinhood. After the app experienced massive blow-back from their decision-making process regarding GameStop and other volatile stocks this week, Robinhood's users took to the app stores. It's not immediately apparent what sort of moderation Apple's done with their App Store for iOS, but for Google Play, Google's confirmed that they've had to delete over a hundred thousand reviews in the very recent past.

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If lawmakers and regulators were already up in arms about loot boxes, especially in mobile games, they might have a storm coming once real gambling and betting apps start arriving on Google Play Store. Such apps that involve the risk of losing large sums of money have always been a thorny subject, which is why they were limited to an extremely low number of markets. Starting March, however, that will no longer the case as Google Play adds 15 more countries to that list.

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WhatsApp has announced new security features for its web and desktop versions that make it easier for users to login securely. WhatsApp Web and desktop now supports both face and fingerprint unlocking when linking devices. WhatsApp does note that it never sees your face or fingerprint data.

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A recent update to the basic OnePlus camera app build in combination with a comment from a Gcam developer makes us believe OnePlus is making big moves in the camera app space. On one hand, it would appear that OnePlus is about to release camera software with features like Focus Peaking, Moon mode, Tilt-shift, and other features on which they've not really been focused in the past. On the other hand, a Gcam developer suggests that OnePlus recently moved away from supporting 3rd-party camera apps.

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Google Play Store boasts of thousands of apps that would take a large army of humans to review and scrutinize. Of course, that's exactly why there are thousands of apps on Google Play Store, as Google relies instead on AI-powered bots to crawl through these apps, sniffing for policy violations. While highly efficient, these bots are hardly infallible and one recent incident adds to the list of anecdotes showing that this system might not exactly be working in developers' favor.

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Samsung has revealed that it'll soon be bringing the Samsung Health Monitor app to a whopping 31 new countries. When it arrives in those countries, it'll be compatible with the Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch Active 2 (assuming you have a Galaxy smartphone running Android 7.0 or higher to connect those smartwatches too). The Samsung Health Monitor app is used primarily for measuring users' blood pressure and tracking electrocardiogram data.

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LEGO today announced that it's launching a new product called LEGO VIDIYO with Universal Music Group. This product - which comprises new minifigures, UMG's music, augmented reality, a mobile app, and new tiles called BeatBits - allows kids to make their own music videos and share them with the (heavily moderated) VIDIYO community. It's safe to say that VIDIYO is unlike anything LEGO has released in the past, and it's launching later this year.

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