Apple AR: New Furniture Arranging App Is Coming Soon, but Not from IKEA
Furniture arranging apps have been rolling out on different platforms for a while now thanks, in no small part, to augmented reality.
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How To: Block Certain Apps from Appearing in Your Notifications History in iOS 11
Apple has changed up quite a few things regarding notifications in iOS 11. They've added optional persistent notifications, made it possible to disable notification previews for all apps, and changed "Notification Center" to "History." In the process, they've also included another handy feature — the ability to hide certain app notifications from appearing in that History list.
News: If the Rumors Are True, Amazon Could Be Developing a Messaging App
Is there anything Amazon doesn't do? Whether it's video streaming, creating a brick-and-mortar bookstore, or even purchasing Whole Foods, you name it, and Amazon's probably doing it — well.
News: Microsoft's 'Seeing AI' App Helps the Visually Impaired Through Narration
When the iPhone first came out, using them seemed like an impossibility to the visually impaired. Luckily, the iPhone now provides a multitude of resources to make sure that the visually impaired have accessibility to the phone.
How To: Disable Auto-Playing Videos in the iOS 11 App Store
Apple just jumped on the auto-play bandwagon with their revamped App Store in iOS 11. Now, when you visit an app or game page that has a video trailer, it will automatically play. This can not only get pretty annoying, but it can eat up your precious data. Luckily, there's a way to restrict these auto-playing videos to Wi-Fi only — or disable them altogether.
How To: This Mod Saves Space by Automatically Clearing Cache on Your Android Apps
With so many apps being cloud-based, cached data has started to become a problem. This is particularly true if you're low on storage, so developer Dhi decided to do something about it.
News: Google Launches 'Android Excellence' to Compete with Apple's App Store Revamp
Meet Android Excellence, Google's latest platform with the ability to showcase the highest quality apps and games on a quarterly basis. Sound familiar? It should.
News: Scam Alert — iOS App Store Users Robbed of $400 a Month
We all know the internet isn't exactly a safe place. While plenty of its users are innocent and kind, you won't last long unless you treat every new screen name like a criminal (we're all this cynical while surfing the web, right?). Well, that cynicism is proven correct today, a post on Medium uncovered a group of scammers on the iOS App Store that are costing victims up to $400 a month.
Your Face, Beyoncé's Body: New Microsoft App Swaps Your Face into Any Picture
You may not have woken up like this, but you're still #flawless thanks to Microsoft's new Face Swap app for Android.
Not Hotdog: Try the Silicon Valley SeeFood App on Android
If you're a tech enthusiast, there's no way you're not watching HBO's Silicon Valley. So you surely know the Pied Piper crew's latest shenanigans involve an app that uses a phone's camera to find facts about food items — a sort of Shazaam for food, if you may.
How To: Use GSam to Its Fullest Potential to Monitor Battery Life, CPU Usage & More
Figuring out exactly which apps on your phone are eating through resources and battery life can be a difficult task. Though some information can be found in Android's battery menu, the charts and graphs provided here pale in comparison to what's offered by the GSam app. If you configure this app properly, it provides deep insight into battery, CPU, and data usage.
News: Gorillaz Debut Augmented Reality App to Go Along with Their Album Listening Party
The Gorillaz have launched a new app in promotion for their new album Humanz that allows you to "[s]tep inside the hallowed halls of the Gorillaz house" through the power of augmented reality.
News: Downloads for Encrypted Messaging App Signal Have Almost Doubled Since Trump Took Office
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has seen 1.4 million downloads in just the first quarter of 2017—roughly twice the downloads it received in the same period last year. Rani Molla at Recode attributes this to Donald Trump's inauguration, as the private messaging service saw a 40% increase in US downloads between Election Day and the end of the first quarter of 2017.
How To: Control Screen Rotation for Individual Android Apps—No Root Needed
We've all been hit by inopportune screen rotations at some point or another. Having the display orientation suddenly go from portrait to landscape when reading an interesting article in bed is one of the biggest irritations that come with using a smartphone (at least, for me). Thankfully, there are apps out there for your Android to help alleviate this inconvenience.
How To: This Tool Gives You Auto-Save Features in Any Windows App
Dreaded are the days when you're working on a masterpiece, then all of a sudden, your Windows computer crashes, loses power, or an app just gets up and quits. Well, now there's an app for that.
Fitness Lovers Alert: Get Ready for the New Adidas Workout App 'All Day', Out in Beta Today
Adidas' new app All Day isn't going to be your average fitness app. Oh no, the company had the "versatile athlete" in mind when it came to creating the well-rounded program that not only encompasses fitness, but also provides nutrition plans, encourages a balanced mindset, and makes sure you get an adequate amount of rest.
News: Archer AR App Deputizes Viewers as Detectives
The producers of FX's animated series Archer have devised a plan to introduce augmented reality hijinks into its eighth and penultimate season with a new app for iOS and Android devices.
How To: Fix Titanium Backup & Substratum Problems Caused by the Latest Google Play Services Update
The latest Google Play Services update has somehow broken major functionality in both Titanium Backup and Substratum. Titanium Backup has suddenly become stuck at zero percent while restoring, and Substratum simply fails to apply themes anymore. Both of these apps do require root, but they've slowly become essential to rooted users, especially since apps like these come into play when you're deciding what your next phone should be.
How To: Save Battery & Increase Performance on Your HTC One M9 with These Simple Non-Root Tips
As a fan of the HTC One series, I almost always upgrade my phone soon after the new model becomes available. I purchased the M7 when it first came out, upgraded to the M8 shortly after its launch, and then jumped on the M9. However, I stopped right there.
How To: This Modded Version of YouTube Lets You Play Videos in the Background with the Screen Off
If you have the Xposed Framework installed, there's a module that lets you enable background playback in Android's YouTube app without buying a YouTube Red subscription. But Xposed is not available on many devices—particularly those running Android Nougat—so this isn't an option for everyone.
How To: Install Apps from the Play Store Without Gapps or Google Services
Android is Google's project, so of course you can see the search giant's fingerprints all over the operating system. Aside from the obvious user-facing apps, there's Google Cloud Messaging, Google Connectivity Services, and the much-maligned Google Play Services running in the background, to name a few.
How To: Automatically Translate Any Android App into Any Language
Android apps check your system locale settings to determine which language they should display. For the most part, it's a seamless experience—except for those times when an app has not been translated into your language of choice, in which case the app will usually default to English.
How To: Keep Android's Notification Tray Clean & Clear with a Centralized Hub
Android's notification system is quite robust, especially now that Google added bundled notifications and quick reply features to Android 7.0 Nougat. However, things can still get quite cluttered when you have several unread messages, which fills your status bar with icons and makes your notification tray take up half of the screen by itself.
How To: Get Motorola's Lighter, Faster Gallery App on Any Android Device
Ever since QuickPic was sold to a known adware company, there's been a glaring need for lightweight and fast third-party gallery apps on Android. For the folks that don't want to use Google Photos and other cloud-based solutions, a gallery app that loads your locally-stored pictures quickly without taking up much storage space is the best possible fit.
How To: Create a Contextual Smart Folder on Your Home Screen That Always Knows What Apps You Want
An app from the development team at ts-apps has the potential to make your Android device smarter than it's ever been. At first glance, you'd think it's just an ordinary home screen folder—but depending on what you're doing at a given time, the folder can show a completely different set of apps.
How To: Add a Google Photos Shortcut to Your Android's Camera App
If your Android phone was made by Samsung, LG, HTC, or any other manufacturer that likes to apply skins on top of stock Android, then your camera app is tied to the custom gallery app that was preinstalled on your device. In other words, when you tap that little image preview icon after taking a picture, you'll be taken to a camera roll interface that was made by an electronics manufacturer.
How To: Get More Out of Google Pixel's 'App Shortcuts'
Google's got quite a few tricks up its sleeve with their Pixel and Pixel XL flagships, including functionality we've never seen before on Android. One awesome feature is called "App Shortcuts," and the basic premise is strikingly similar to Apple's 3D Touch—just long-press an app icon, then you'll get a pop-up that lets you perform quick actions.
How To: Get Easy Updates on Sideloaded Android Apps
Some of the best Android apps are not hosted on the Google Play Store, and that means you have to sideload them if you want to get their awesome functionality. But without the Play Store, these APKs are never automatically updated, so your only choice has been to scour the internet for a newer version when you need a bugfix.
How To: There's a Hidden Feature in Nougat That Gives Your Android Phone or Tablet a Desktop-Like Experience
Android Nougat is a godsend for tablet users, as it's packing some serious multitasking improvements. It goes well beyond the new split-screen mode, too, because as it turns out, there's a hidden setting that turns your apps into completely resizable windows within a desktop-like interface.
How To: Redirect Links on Android to Open in the App You Really Wanted
One of Android's biggest strengths relative to iOS is the fact that you can use any app to open compatible links, not just the stock ones that come preloaded on your device. When you tap a link that two or more of your apps are capable of opening, you'll see a message asking which app to launch it with—and from there, the choices are "Just Once" or "Always."
How To: Use the New iMessage App Store in iOS 10 to Send Custom Stickers, Weather Info & More
Out of all the new changes in iOS 10, the most noticeable difference is a handful of fun new features that were added to iMessage. Not only can you now send GIFs directly from the Apple-exclusive messaging platform, but there's now an entire App Store dedicated to bringing fun new stickers and other cool add-ons to iMessage.
News: All the Apps You Need to Install on Your New Galaxy Note
Whether you made the switch from iOS, or you came from a different Android device, there's a lot to learn about your new Galaxy device. Samsung does things a bit differently, and thanks to their TouchWiz interface, there are tons of added features to take advantage of—though some folks might find these extras to be a bit too much.
How To: Add Your Own Quick Settings Tiles in Android Nougat
Among the many changes in Android 7.0 Nougat, a less talked-about feature may very well be one of the most interesting. As part of a new system-wide API, apps can now create their own Quick Settings tiles, and it doesn't require any complicated workarounds like it has in versions past.
How To: Give Your Status Bar Stock Android's Material Design Icons & Matching Colors
These days, the user experience on stock Android is a lot more refined and polished than manufacturer skins like Samsung's TouchWiz or HTC's Sense. This is mostly due to Material Design, the look and feel that Google implemented back in Android Lollipop, which has finally started to give Android a unified appearance with its sleek icons and abundant use of colors.
News: Everything You Need to Know About Nougat's Awesome Multitasking Features
When Google issues an Android update, the changes are usually all over the place—fixing issues, adding functionality, playing catch-up with the latest thing Apple added to iOS. It's how the smartphone wars have evolved, where the two competing operating systems continually match and one-up each other.
News: The 5 Best Android Calendar Apps to Replace Your Stock One
Whether you use Google Calendar, Exchange, iCloud, or any other service, you need a good Android calendar app to keep you organized on the go. For many folks, the obvious answer was always Sunrise Calendar, but Microsoft purchased the company behind this awesome app in a classic acqui-hire move, and now, Sunrise has officially been shut down.
How To: Improve Your Battery Life on Android with Granular Power Controls
No matter how far technology advances, battery life continues to be an issue. Powerful new hardware is introduced each year, but smartphone batteries only get a few extra milliamp-hours to compensate.
How To: The Easiest Way to Add Widgets to the Today View on Your iPhone
Ever since iOS 8, you could add widgets on your iPhone using the "Edit" menu on the Today view page, but there's an easier and faster way to get widgets set up for viewing via a right swipe on the lock screen, a swipe right from the first home screen page, and a swipe down from center top everywhere else.
How To: Stop Apps from Accessing Your Google Account
Many apps and services that are available for Android can only work if they have access to your Google account. While you're setting up one of these apps, you'll see a popup that says something like "This app would like to access your Google account," and the options are "Accept" or "Cancel." Of course we tap "Accept" here to ensure that the app will work properly, but what are the long-term repercussions of doing that?
How To: Get the Nextbit Robin's Camera & Gallery Apps on Any Android Device
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, a new smartphone manufacturer named Nextbit emerged, then released its first flagship device—the Nextbit Robin. The headlining feature of this colorful gadget is its cloud-based app storage, but the phone itself comes with a very polished and sophisticated suite of software.