Android

After a long wait, Meta this week announced the ability to transfer WhatsApp chat history, photos, videos, and voice messages from Android to iPhone while maintaining end-to-end encryption. The system uses Apple's Move to iOS app for Android phones, and can be initiated during the setup process for a new (or factory reset) iPhone. This article runs through the steps involved in transferring...

Since Apple launched AirTags, the company has been enhancing their security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices. One of these enhancements includes giving Android phone users the ability to detect an unknown AirTag if it is close to them. ‌AirTags‌ are designed to play a sound when away from their owner and will also alert iPhone owners if there's an unknown tag nearby, but...

In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you can enable anyone, even if they don't have an Apple device, to join a FaceTime call with you by creating a link to a FaceTime conversation that can be shared anywhere. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Using this new link facility, friends and family members who do not have an Apple account can log into a FaceTime call with you using a...

Though designed for iOS devices, Apple's Beats-branded Powerbeats Pro are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. The downside to using Powerbeats Pro with Android is that you do lose some functions, like Apple's unique H1 chip pairing features and its...

In just a couple of weeks, Apple is going to make it ridiculously easy for Android users to switch to iOS with an upcoming app alongside iOS 9 called "Move to iOS." It will give Android users the ability to wirelessly migrate contacts, message history, photos and videos, web browser saves, mail, calendars, and more. Until then, we have to do these things manually. Luckily, it isn't difficult ...

Though designed for the iPhone, Apple's AirPods are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. You do, of course, lose some bells and whistles like Apple's unique AirPods pairing features. AirPods work like any other Bluetooth headphones on an Android device,...

Google today announced its next major version of Android will be named Android 10, as the company has decided to move past dessert-inspired names for the operating system like Ice Cream Sandwich, Lollipop, and Marshmallow. Android's new logo Android's naming scheme is now consistent with iOS. Android is only on version 10 though, compared to iOS 13, because Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and ...

At a recent event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global, highlighted by TechCrunch, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates lamented on losing to Android, calling it "one of the greatest mistakes of all time." Skip to the 11:40 mark: Transcript:In the software world, it's very predictable for platforms. These are winner-take-all markets. The greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement ...

Apple last week unveiled a new Sign In with Apple option, offering up a convenient, privacy-focused alternative to sign-in options from companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Apple collects no data and provides little data to the apps and websites you use with the feature, and it even offers an option to keep your email safe. In an interview with The Verge, Google product management...

Apple has updated its Apple Music app for Android devices, introducing the redesigned Browse tab that debuted on iOS last week and new support for Chromebooks. The new Browse tab has been tweaked to highlight an assortment of different playlists from various musical genres to make discovery quicker and easier. Android users will now find Apple's "Daily Top 100" playlist featured prominently...

Google appears to be working on a facial recognition system that would offer similar security to Face ID, based on code for the next-generation version of Android that was highlighted by XDA Developers. Code in Android Q, set to be shown off at Google's developer conference in May, points towards an advanced facial recognition system that would be secure enough to be used for authorizing...

Forbes recently challenged a variety of smartphone face-recognition systems with a 3d printed head modeled after the author's head.The head was printed at Backface in Birmingham, U.K., where I was ushered into a dome-like studio containing 50 cameras. Together, they combine to take a single shot that makes up a full 3D image. The final model took a few days to generate at the cost of just over...

Apple is now beta testing a version of the Apple Music app for Android smartphones that works with larger-screen Android tablets (via Pixel Spot). Found in the 2.7.0 update of Apple Music on Android, when opened on an Android tablet the app now adapts to the increased display area. With the added room, it shows additional playlists, albums, featured artists, songs, and more of what is presented...

Following the release of iOS 12, which brought a few new Apple Music features, Apple has updated its Apple Music app for Android to introduce feature parity. Today's update brings support for searching by lyrics, an iOS 12 feature that's designed to let you locate songs and artists using song lyrics rather than a song name. To use the feature, all you need to do is type in a sentence from...

Google today sent out invitations to members of the media for a "Made by Google" event that's set to be held in New York City on Tuesday, October 9. At the event, Google is likely to unveil its Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, which will be competing with the trio of new iPhones that Apple is set to unveil next week. It's official, Google sends out invites for its annual event http ...

Apple doesn't plan to return to fingerprint recognition for biometric authentication features with its 2019 iPhone lineup, according to a new note to investors shared this morning by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo does not expect Apple's 2019 iPhones to support fingerprint on display technology, which would allow the iPhone to read a fingerprint through its display, doing away with the need...

During quarterly earnings calls, Apple CEO Tim Cook often boasts about the high rate of customers who are switching from Android devices over to iPhones. Recent research data has suggested Android switchers account for 15 to 20 percent of iPhone purchases. A new survey of 2,500 people conducted by PCMag delves into the reasons why iOS users switch to Android and why Android users switch to...

Idle Android devices typically send data ten times more often to Google than iOS devices do to Apple's servers, according to new research shared by trade association Digital Content Next. In a paper titled "Google Data Collection," Douglas C. Schmidt, a computer science professor at Vanderbilt University, arrives at some stark conclusions regarding how much Google is collecting about...

Google's latest Android operating system update, Android 9 Pie, was officially released to customers today following a beta testing period that started earlier this year. Android Pie introduces a new gesture-based system interface that's similar to the interface of the iPhone X, with iPhone-like swipes for navigating through the operating system. We went hands-on with Android Pie earlier this...

Fortnite, the ultra popular multiplayer battle royale game that's available for iOS devices, consoles, and PCs, is expanding to Android today, but Epic Games is launching Fortnite for Android in a unique way that's worth paying attention to. As outlined by our sister site TouchArcade, rather than releasing the game on Google Play or another Android marketplace, Epic has created its own...

Google yesterday introduced the newest version of Android, Android P, at its Google I/O developer conference held in Mountain View, California. Android P includes a few enticing features like a new Dashboard for monitoring usage and an adaptive battery feature for improving battery life, but what was of interest to iPhone users was the new gesture system. Android P adopts a new gesture-based...

At its Google I/O event taking place in Mountain View, California this morning, Google showed off features that are coming in Android P, a new version of Android that's set to launch this fall. Google is focusing on three parameters for Android P: Simplicity, Intelligence, and Digital Wellbeing. Android P has a new gesture-focused interface, which is similar to the interface that Apple...

Google today hosted its annual I/O conference designed for developers, where the company had several new announcements to share related to AI, Google Assistant, and machine learning. Google announced the launch of its next-generation machine learning chip, the TPU 3.0, which is powering many AI improvements to Google products using machine learning techniques. Gmail, for example, is gaining ...

The iOS 11 operating system is installed on 76 percent of devices as of April 22, according to statistics Apple shared today on its App Store support page for developers. That's up 11 percentage points since January 18, when iOS 11 was installed on 65 percent of devices, and 24 percentage points since November 6, when iOS 11 was installed on 52 percent of devices. 19 percent of devices...

Apple today shared two new videos in its "Life's easier on iPhone" series, which are aimed at encouraging Android users to switch over to an iPhone. The first ad, "App Store," depicts exploding app icons that are meant to demonstrate the superior safety of the iOS App Store, which is curated by human editors to protect against malicious apps. Apple's second ad highlights Portrait Mode and ...

Apple this week updated its Apple Music Android app with the revamped music videos section that launched on iOS and macOS devices late last week. Announced earlier in 2018, Apple Music's new music videos section provides access to a wider variety of both classic and brand-new videos, exclusive videos from artists like Kylie Minogue, and full video playlists that let subscribers stream music...