With so much of our personal data floating around the web, it's nearly impossible to get away from spam calls, texts, and emails. Unfortunately, this isn't just limited to the online world — filling in your contact information in a raffle ticket with the hope of winning that shiny new car in the mall, for instance, can often result in getting swamped with spam texts containing sketchy loan offers.
As the premiere app for chatting and video calls, it only makes sense for Skype to provide a dark theme to help prevent eye strain and minimize battery drain. Not only that, it has to also keep pace with popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger that also have the feature built-in.
Text conversations and group chats can sometimes devolve to random and nonsensical chatter that bombard you with annoying notifications. Naturally, this can get distracting and prevent you from focusing on more pressing matters. Fortunately, Samsung Messages has a feature built in to minimize distractions whenever conversations go out of hand.
Some messages take precedence over others, so having the same notification tone for all your threads isn't always the best solution. Fortunately, Samsung Messages has a simple option you can tweak to set custom sounds for specific chats to help you stay on top of priority conversations and reply much faster.
Recently, Google's Messages app has become an important cog in the Android ecosystem. That's because, for the time being, it's one of the only texting apps which supports RCS Universal Profile for iMessage-style conversations. Even better, Google just gave it a highly sought-after feature: dark mode.
AMC Theatres was never a fan of MoviePass and even predicted its unsustainability. After the struggling MoviePass turned off diehard fans with too many new restrictions to combat its cash problems, AMC stepped in to save the day with its AMC Stubs A-List subscription for cheaper movie tickets.
The battle between the Pixels and the iPhones has been heating up over the last few years, and this year's bout is the best one yet, with Google's Pixel 3 taking on Apple's iPhone XS.
Apple's successor to the iPhone X is a beautifully made smartphone with much of the same characteristics, including a 5.8-inch OLED screen, two storage choices, and Face ID. But many features set the iPhone XS apart from its predecessor, as well as the other 2018 lineup of iPhones, making it a worthy choice to upgrade to if you're in the market for a new mobile device.
These days, it seems new phones get announced every other week. We've grown accustomed to glossing over the specs, looking at some press renders, then moving on to check out the next phone. If you had done this in September 2008, you might have overlooked what would become one of the most important phones of all time.
If you've been getting that "Please update from the iOS 12 beta" alert continuously in iOS 12 public beta 9, Apple just issued a fix for it Friday, Aug. 31, with iOS 12 public beta 10 — just in time for Labor Day weekend. This marks the second update this week as dev beta 11 and public beta 9 were released on Monday. It's also just one day after Apple announced its Sept. 12 event.
With Android Pie, Google added a genuinely useful feature for Pixels called App Suggestions, which uses AI to predict the apps you might want to use next. These show up at the top of your app drawer and in the new dock in the revamped multitasking UI for quick access. But here's the trouble: Muscle memory is a thing.
Crisis averted — Apple released iOS 12 public beta 6 — not public beta 7 — to software testers Wednesday, August 15. The update comes hours after the release of dev beta 8, which replaced the short-lived seventh developer beta. Apple released dev beta 7 Monday, August 13, but quickly pulled the update due to instability and poor performance.
One of iOS 12's biggest attractions is Group FaceTime, which would allow up to 32 people to video chat together at the same time. It's quite the pitch, and many iOS users are excited to see in action. Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that Group FaceTime won't be included with iOS 12 when it launches, leaving everyone to chat one-on-one just a little bit longer.
If you've upgraded your phone to Android 9.0 Pie, you might notice some intermittent problems with your internet connection. That's because "Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically," while available with Android Oreo on select phones, is now enabled by default on all phones running Android Pie. If your Essential or OnePlus device is acting up, you'll want to check this out.
Time to play — Fortnite is now officially available on Android. However, the game won't be available across the Android ecosystem right away. Fortnite Battle Royale launches on Samsung devices first. That means if you have a Galaxy S7, S8, S9, Note 8, Tab 3, or Tab 4, you can download the game right now.
Android 9.0 Pie is now available to install on Google's own Pixel devices and a select few other phones. In the new release, there's a fairly hidden setting that lets you enable a system-wide dark theme that changes the look of your Quick Settings panel and other menus.
Apple's on a roll with once-every-week releases for the iOS 11.4.1 beta. Exactly seven days after beta 3 came out, beta 4 has been pushed out to developers and public beta testers on Monday, June 25. Just like before, there are no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. Apple confirmed that iOS 11.4.1 is for under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
Another beta for iOS 11.4.1 was released on Monday, June 18, exactly one week after iOS 11.4.1 beta 2 was pushed out. Like the second beta, iOS 11.4.1 beta 3 has no new features or any known enhancements or bug fixes. It's likely Apple is simply using iOS 11.4.1 to add under-the-hood improvements only, since iOS 12 beta is already out.
Uber is one of the best ways to get around, but nobody said it was cheap. What's even more infuriating is when you have a bad experience with a ride. Sure, you can get a refund, but then you need to figure out where to enter in the promo code for the coupon that Uber sends your way.
We learned during the LG G7 ThinQ announcement that AT&T would be carrying a new V series device, the V35 ThinQ. In the LG V35 ThinQ's press release, LG revealed its specifications but left out pricing and availability. Thanks to Project Fi, we now know its price tag, and you may not like it.
The Essential Phone was undoubtedly one of the most underrated phones of 2018. It launched with buggy software and camera problems, but the company worked diligently to push out updates. Many Android enthusiasts were anxiously waiting for the Essential 2 release later this summer. Unfortunately, news today from Bloomberg indicates that Essential will not release a phone in 2018.
Google Photos is a fantastic service, giving you unlimited storage on either your Android or iPhone. With all this free space, some pictures can get lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, Google will now let users "Favorite" pictures — whereupon they're automatically put in their own standalone album.
While Hulu offers users an easy way to catch up on the latest shows, it hasn't always given them the best tools to control that content. Scrubbing — or fast-forwarding and rewinding — had a history of inaccuracy, as well as a general uselessness. Luckily, Hulu has greatly improved this tool, updating it with new features to help you find your place quickly and accurately.
Hulu has a lot of content — with thousands of movies and TV series, there's bound to be a few titles here and there you simply don't like. If Hulu is inexplicably recommending garbage you don't want to watch, there's a new way to stop that from happening.
While Android 9.0 Pie introduced some significant changes to the core operating system, the feature most people will be talking about is the native gesture controls. By default, these gestures are disabled — but for those of us wanting to try to the future of Android, here's how to enable the new controls.
Realizing there's no voice to guide you while using your iPhone to navigate can be problematic, causing serious headaches from getting lost to unscheduled pit stops or worse. And while this problem can hit Apple Maps like other navigation apps out there, there are a number of fixes you can try to get navigation audio working again.
The recent 0.4.0 update for PUBG Mobile brought us a host of welcome features like the training ground and arcade mode. Sadly, one highly sought-after feature remained out of our reach: The ability to play in first person perspective, or FPP mode. Our wait may soon be over, as this gameplay mode could be out as soon as the next update hits for both Android and iOS.
As the go-to browser for millions worldwide, Chrome makes web surfing a breeze with its simple interface and Google integration. But many websites are starting to ask if they can send you notifications, and this can interrupt your browsing. Thankfully, you can completely disable these prompts if you prefer.
With Hearthstone's latest expansion, The Witchwood, arriving on April 12 2018, Blizzard also rolled out a number of in-game improvements alongside Update 11.0. One improvement that could revolutionize the Friendly Challenge experience is deck sharing, allowing you and your friends to borrow each other's decks.
Although more and more smartphones are introducing portrait modes with their cameras, there are still plenty of devices out there — especially devices older than one or two years — that do not. While your particular smartphone might not offer you that bokeh effect, Instagram can, as it gives all smartphones software-based portrait modes.
It hasn't been a great year for Facebook. Recently, Android users had to discover on their own that the company was logging their calls and texts in Messenger. However, according to Facebook, all users did approve of the data collection, and as such, all affected users can disable logging as well.
The Android world exploded when it was discovered that Facebook was logging the call and text histories of many of its users, although the company claims those users had explicitly given Facebook permission to log that data. The case remains that many users were unaware of this activity, which occurs on both Messenger and Facebook Lite. Luckily, it's very easy to disable.
We are slowly approaching Huawei's "See Mooore" event where the P20, P20 Pro, and P20 Lite will officially be revealed to the world. With the event being held in Paris, France, attending won't be an option for most of us. Fortunately, there are ways to enjoy the event online.
Taking one-handed pictures with your phone can quickly devolve into a juggling act. You have to secure the phone in landscape mode (if you're doing it right), tap to focus, and then somehow hit the shutter button without shaking the device too much. Fortunately, Samsung has a nifty feature that'll help you keep a more secure grip on your Galaxy S9 or S9+ as you take photos with one hand.
If you finally decide to take the plunge and delete your Facebook, you should know that your Messenger account may also go missing if that's how you log into it using your Facebook account. You can make a new Messenger profile without tying it to a Facebook account, but if you want to keep all of your old chats, you're going to want to deactivate rather than delete.
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ have terrific cameras that are packed with awesome features. But if you've grown tired of taking and viewing photos on only a part of your screen, Samsung has built in settings to let you take full advantage of their flagships' Infinity Display.
Apple released the sixth beta for iOS 11.3 on Friday, March 16. It comes as a surprise, considering the company released the fifth beta only four days ago — an unexpectedly short time between updates. This new beta, much like beta 5, appears to bring minor patches and bug fixes.
In a huge surprise, Verizon is the first US carrier to push out the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ Android Oreo update. The update has been available in international markets for some time now, but this is the first report of a rollout in the United States. We've already ran down all the new features available in Android Oreo, so check out our full coverage if you're interested in those.
Google is constantly changing and updating its apps to make the lives of its users easier. Google Maps is no exception, as the company now includes options for wheelchair accessible transportation routes. From now on, you can set a trip with accessibility as a priority with Google's popular transit app.
As informative as they can be, the new app icon badges and unread counts on the Galaxy S9's home screen are a little redundant since Android already has a notification center. If you'd rather not have these little dots overlaid on your home screen icons, there's an easy way to disable and hide them.
