WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Facebook, has several important privacy and security-related features, including end-to-end encryption, screen lock, read receipts, and two-step verification. If you're an avid WhatsApp user, you'll be happy to know there are more privacy features you might not know, such as hiding your profile photo from other users.
An edited video with lots of different clips needs great transitions to be successful. Transitions support your story and message, and without any, there's always a chance that your audience might lose track of what's going on and when. When editing in Enlight Videoleap for iOS, you can easily add cut, dissolve, iris, wipe, slide, and fade transitions to your video clips with just a few taps.
While the notch on Apple's newer iPhones started a wave of notches across the smartphone market, there are still plenty of users who don't like screen-obstructing zone up top, and you may be one of them. While it may soon disappear in future iPhone models, or at least get smaller, there are things you can do to hide the big notch you have right now.
The iPhone's notification system has drastically improved over the years, but it could still use some work. The notifications, while useful, are all monochrome, making it hard to distinguish which app posted each alert, and that's not even mentioning the drab overall look. This is where jailbreak tweaks can come in handy.
Imagine this: you have your finger poised to take the perfect picture — a once in a lifetime opportunity, like a solar eclipse — and you are suddenly caught off guard by a buzz, then "ding!" You look down at your phone to find your perfect pic ruined by distortion from the vibration, all because of an ill-timed notification. It's enough to make you crazy, especially when you find out it could have been prevented.
With more and more phones using OLED displays, the need for dark mode is at the highest it's ever been. Since dark backgrounds reduce battery consumption on these displays, the Android community has been begging Google to include a system-wide dark mode. Instead, Google gave us dark mode for many of their apps, including the Phone app.
For anyone wanting to keep information private, plain text is a format of the past. Instead, cheap, powerful encryption is widely available, but often not easy enough to use to attract widespread adoption. An exception to this rule is EncryptPad, an easy to use application that lets you encrypt text, photos, or archives with strong encryption using a password, keyfile, or both.
Despite its rocky start, the Essential PH-1 has a lot going for it. Not only does it get consistent security patches and system updates hours after the Pixels, but like the Google-developed lineup, it's also great for rooting. Not only is your warranty not void with rooting, but the process is pretty straightforward.
With the Galaxy Note 9's 6.4-inch AMOLED display, split screen is far more useful since each half of the screen is relatively large. The problem is that there are some noticeable omissions in the list of apps which support the feature. However, Samsung offers a fix for this.
If you didn't get the memo, passwords aren't enough protection for your online accounts. Even a long and complex password offers only one line of defense which can falter. Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer, bolsters your defense, and decreases the risk of your account becoming compromised.
Ever-shrinking bezels and disappearing hardware buttons make for good looking phones, but they also increase the need for gesture controls. Android Pie comes with seven new swipe gestures, but if you don't have the update yet (or find its default gesture options to be lacking), you should take a look at the Microsoft Launcher.
What you see when you open the Play Store is completely dependent on your country settings. Search results and top charts are specific to each region and there are lots of popular apps and games that simply won't show up unless your Play Store country matches up.
You can never replace the skills and expertise of a professional graphic designer, but Canva comes pretty damn close. It's ridiculously easy to use the drag-and-drop design tool for both professionals and people like me who don't have the need (or knowledge required) to use more advanced graphic design software.
Wi-Fi tools keep getting more and more accessible to beginners, and the LAZY script is a framework of serious penetration tools that can be explored easily from within it. This powerful and simple tool can be used for everything from installing new add-ons to grabbing a WPA handshake in a matter of seconds. Plus, it's easy to install, set up, and utilize.
At I/O 2018, Google showcased features that would make the Google Assistant easier to communicate with. While some people were impressed with (and maybe creeped out by) Google Duplex, one feature that was well received was the ability to talk to the Assistant without the constant "Hey Google" before each question.
When it works, Android's Smart Lock feature is incredible. There's no need to enter your PIN when your phone "knows" it's in your hands — just unlock and go. But Smart Lock, particularly its Trusted Places feature, can be finicky sometimes.
Action Launcher has some exclusive features that add real value to your overall experience. One such feature is Shutters, and like with most aspects of Android, there's a workaround that will let you enjoy this functionality on other launchers.
There are a number of options and hidden menus within Android that provide users more control over their device. With this control, you can better manage how your phone operates. We came up with a list of tips and shortcuts that, when used, will slowly put you on a path to becoming an Android power user.
While it may not be an obvious feature, Apple actually built a way into iOS that lets you hide specific pictures and videos in the Photos app that you want to keep on the down-low, for your eyes only. If you show off your photos a lot or stream slideshows to your TV, this is a great way to keep less appealing content private.
When it comes to media players, few are more capable than VLC. With its extensive codec support, VLC is able to play almost any video file. Partly due to its open-source nature, features are constantly added. This trend has continued with a new update that added native Chromecast support.
Whether you're a veteran augmented reality developer looking for a quick access point to add a new platform to your arsenal or just getting started with your first AR head-mounted display, get ready to start developing for the Meta 2.
Instagram stories are a great way to share your day-to-day experiences with your followers. However, it can be disappointing to see them go after 24 hours, especially if you shared something really special. Now, Instagram has a way for you and your followers to relive those great stories you've created with a new feature called Story Highlights.
When it comes to streaming services, Google Play Music is one of the best options for both Android and iOS. Perhaps its single greatest feature is the fact that you can upload as many as 50,000 of your own songs to Google's servers, then stream your library to any device without ever paying a dime.
Now that we have unlocked the menu movement — which is working very smoothly — we now have to get to work on the gaze manager, but first, we have to make a course correction.
The LG V30 is an amazing device that will contend for best smartphone of 2017. It has all the major features you'd expect from a high-end flagship, and it even includes what's become a rare commodity these days — a headphone jack. However, for the purists out there, the LG UX skin strays too far away from stock Android. Have no fear, for with the LG V30, you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Thanks to their partnership with Tidal, over 30 million Sprint customers can access Hi-Fi audio on the go. And the Jay-Z-owned music service isn't limited to just Sprint customers — for $19.99/month, anyone can listen to lossless audio from their favorite artists. But streaming uncompressed audio files uses a lot more data than standard quality, so how do you use Tidal without hitting your data cap?
So you spent all day customizing your phone. You tinkered with all the settings, searched the web high and low for the perfect wallpaper, and found an ideal icon pack to complement the color scheme. You go to sleep, proud of the work you accomplished when the unspeakable happens — your phone freezes and tech support is telling you to do a factory reset to fix the problem.
When it comes to modding Android, root gets all the glory, but a good custom recovery is really the only thing you need. Not only does it allow you to back up your entire phone, install flashable ZIPs, and load custom ROMs like LineageOS, but a custom recovery will even let you root your device. For years now, the only custom recovery worth mentioning has been Team Win's TWRP.
If you maintain a digital library of your favorite movies, Plex is the perfect solution for bridging the gap between your computer and your mobile device. All you have to do is install the server program on your Mac or PC and point it to the folder where you store your movies, then you can use the Plex app for Android or iOS to watch the movies on your phone or tablet.
One of the more interesting improvements to the Photos app in iOS 11 includes a way to drag and drop a photo from one album into another album. In fact, you could even drag and drop multiple photos at the same time. And this is not an iPad-only feature — it works just as well on an iPhone.
One of the biggest features of Android Oreo is a picture-in-picture mode that lets you watch videos in a floating window while you're using other apps. Honestly, it's fantastic and intuitive, but there are a few ground rules you'll need to learn to master the new feature.
Now that we've set up Vuforia in Unity, we can work on the more exciting aspects of making physical objects come to life on the HoloLens. In this guide, we will choose an image (something that you physically have in your home), build our ImageTarget database, and then set up our Unity camera to be able to recognize the chosen image so that it can overlay the 3D holographic effect on top of it.
You may remember my post from a couple weeks ago here on NextReality about the magical scaling ratios for typography from Dong Yoon Park, a Principal UX Designer at Microsoft, as well as developer of the Typography Insight app for Hololens. Well, his ideas have been incorporated into the latest version of HoloToolkit, and I'm going to show you how they work.
In case you didn't know, Google has an awesome app that gives you free money to spend on apps, games, movies, books, and virtually anything you can buy on the Google Play Store. The app is called Google Opinion Rewards, and all it asks in exchange for the Play Store credit is that you answer a few questions every now and then.
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."
The newest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 10, has been out for about a month now. But like every year beforehand, some of you who updated will not be happy with the latest and "greatest" iOS version.
Prior to this year's WWDC, there were lots of rumors that Apple might finally be making a version of iMessage for Android. While that never came to fruition, a few big updates to a very useful app have now ensured that we can seamlessly send and receive Android texts in Apple Messages on our Macs.
North American users get a raw deal when it comes to Sony devices. For some reason, the critically-acclaimed Xperia lineup of smartphones is hardly ever available here, whereas in Europe, the Sony Xperia Z series is one of the most popular flagship devices around.
When it comes to Android automation apps, Tasker has never had much competition. But considering how difficult it can be for a novice user to get the hang of things, and factoring in Tasker's drab and complicated interface, there's definitely room for another developer to step in with a Tasker alternative.
As the internet continues to become a bigger part of our day-to-day lives, we slowly but surely start to rack up a bunch of web-based subscriptions. These internet subscription services—Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, just to name a few—may seem innocuously cheap individually, but when combined, they actually comprise a significant portion of our monthly bills.
