messaging

Many people these days own multiple devices, at least a phone and a laptop. Many people also use multiple messaging services, not even counting the venerable SMS. Juggling these two pluralities is no easy task, especially in cases where a messaging service puts limits on how many devices you can use the same account on. WhatsApp is one such service but that might soon be changing with a new Linked Devices feature that was just added to the latest beta version on Android.

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This week the Facebook for Android app updated the way they show their brand - with all sorts of icons. You'll see Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. This is just the tip of the iceberg, really, as Facebook's ramped up acquisitions of companies over the last several years. Do you know if your favorite app and/or service is owned by Facebook? Let's take a look at the list of names that are actually owned and/or run by Facebook, from top to bottom.

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Encrypted messaging app Signal now features the ability to transfer data from the app on one iPhone to another iPhone, making things easier for users when they upgrade their devices. The feature doesn't compromise one's security, Signal notes in its announcement about the feature, which started rolling out to iOS users days ago. The transfer can be performed using an iPhone or iPad.

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Riot Games has teamed up with Crisis Text Line to help support gamers who are experiencing mental health issues. The company announced the new initiative on Monday, stating that gamers can seek help by texting "RIOT" to the support organization. The service is available to users located in the United States and Canada -- and it is free, of course.

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The messaging app Telegram has been updated with some new features, the most notable of which is the addition of its own built-in video editor. The new feature joins the integrated photo editor that was added to the app in past years, enabling users to edit their videos directly within the messaging app. As well, users can expect better GIFs and more going forward.

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T-Mobile USA introduced RCS (rich messaging) to T-Mobile users back in the year 2015 for their USA-based network. Here in 2020, T-Mobile USA and Google teamed up to expand T-Mobile users' ability to work with RCS "when texting with Android users on other networks across the globe." This system will be interesting to see expand, as it requires a smartphone that supports RSC Universal Profile 1.0 while the person receiving messages to have the official Google Messages app.

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For years, Apple's iMessage has been regarded as the gold standard for instant messaging experiences, or at least after BlackBerry Messenger or BBM lost its grandeur. For years, Android users have been longing to have that same native messaging experience or even have iMessage itself on Android, and the new Rich Communication Services or RCS is believed to be a step in that direction. It still has a long way to go, though, especially when it comes to adoption, but it is slowly growing its features to match modern chat services, like this new "iMessage-style" emoji reactions.

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Today Google announced a bit of a leadership change in messaging, texting, and communication apps. Google's latest change puts the Message, Duo, and Android phone app teams together with the combined team of Google Meet and Google Chat, under a single all-encompassing bit of leadership. This should, ideally, make for a system with which Android users can finally trust that Google will stick with, and develop, and not abandon in any way, shape, or form. UPDATE: Not so fast, it might not be that simple or easy.

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The importance of a good brand name is important to the highest degree, especially when it comes to marketing at times of extreme stress. Over the past few weeks, during an unprecedented global event (COVID-19 pandemic, that is to say), the name "ZOOM" became synonymous with simple, one-tap video conferencing. Google's got the capacity, technology, and knowledge to make a video conferencing system rivaling that of Zoom, but until now, they didn't have the right brand.

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Popular messaging app WhatsApp has introduced a new batch of stickers that are mostly related to social distancing. The stickers obviously reference the ongoing quarantines around the world, which has driven many people to messaging apps and other social platforms as substitutes for real-life interactions. In addition to encouraging social distancing, the stickers include things related to hygiene and more.

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The release of direct messages (DMs) to Instagram's desktop environment (in a web browser) is upon us. This feature update will begin to appear for users around the world today - you might already have the feature available to you right this minute. No more tricking your desktop web browser into thinking it's a smartphone for you!

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Many things about the COVID-19 coronavirus still remain a mystery even for doctors and scientists, let alone ordinary people. During such times of fear and uncertainty, there is no shortage of incomplete or downright misleading information being passed around disguised as truth. Today's messaging technologies have made it all too easy to spread such misinformation. WhatsApp, which was already in hot water for such cases, is now putting some hard limits when forwarding messages due to the COVID-19 situation.

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