WhatsApp could launch self-destructing messages feature for individual chats soon

March 17, 2020

Social media aps like Snapchat and Telegram already have a privacy feature where the users can set certain message to self-destruct after a while. WhatsApp seems to be the biggest IM provider that hasn’t offered this service, but it seems that all that is about to change soon.

In fairness, we should mention that WhatsApp has trialed this feature sometimes in the past. Then, they were only going to allow people in group chats use the self-destruction feature on messages they send – and that was only available for a select few users. Now, it seems that the company is working on an update that will make this feature a standard for all users – and in individual chats too.

For now, this feature is ibn the beta stage. If that means anything, it is that WhatsApp can limit the number of users that are going to get it again. They could even change their mind midway and decide that they don’t want it to rollout at all.

All we can do is wait to see what the company plans on doing this time around.

Instagram could change its feed to a chronological setup soon again

O. Christopher

February 17, 2020

Instagram could change its feed to a chronological setup soon again

Some of you might not have noticed this, but Instagram has switched away from a chronological feed for a while now. Instead, the social media platform leverages AI and an algorithm to predict what the best posts of the moment are. This is what they show to you first when you enter the app.

Of course, some users have noticed this and complained severally. However, the company will only do what it believes is best for the majority of users on the app.

To that end, it is surprising to see that someone has found a line of code in the Instagram app which suggest that they will soon be returning to the chronological feed. We believe that Instagram might roll out this feature to some for a while just to see how well it works.

If all goes well, they will bring it back again.

For now, there is no official statement on a partial or general rollout, but we would love to see where they go from here anyways.

WhatsApp now boasts 5 billion installations from the Play Store

O. Christopher

January 20, 2020

WhatsApp now boasts 5 billion installations from the Play Store

WhatsApp has been on a steady rise since its introduction to the market, and it is now adding another feather to its cap on the way to becoming probably the greatest instant messaging platform ever.

The Google Play Store has a habit of keeping the records of how many installations an app has had over time. Instead of counting the number of installs in units, though, they prefer to use multiples (50k, 100k, 1M, etc.).

Seeing as Android is owned by Google, and most of the company’s apps come with the phones too, it is worthy of note that they are usually the ones with the most installs on any of their apps. However, Facebook managed to cut into the VIP club when it reached 5 billion installs a good while ago.

As of the time of this writing, WhatsApp has also entered the same club. With 5 billon installations to its name, the app is the second app not owned by Google to achieve this feat – and it belongs to the same company as the first app to make that happen too.

This is truly remarkable and continues to show how great the Facebook team must feel at making the acquisition when they did. For now, we can only wait to see changes that would be made to the app to make it even more impressive for others to jump on.

Instagram adds four major effects and other minors to the Boomerang feature

O. Christopher

January 13, 2020

Instagram adds four major effects and other minors to the Boomerang feature

Competition is always good for the consumer market, and we have seen that in play once again.

With the introduction of TikTok into the social media space came the need for other social media giants to up their game. For an equally visual service like Instagram, that has been a long time coming for them.

Thus, the company has introduced some new features to the app so that they can stay relevant in the market too.

For those who have recently updated their apps, you would soon start seeing that the Boomerang feature now has more features than before. To put things in context, you now get four new features to improve your Boomerang experience: Echo, Trimming, SlowMo and Duo Rapid rewind.

If you don’t find a new version of the app in your dedicated application store, it might be because you have recently updated the app. If that is the case, you have to do nothing else other than wait till the weekend when you will get the said features rolling out to everyone.

Let’s know what you think of these new effects when you start using them.

Microsoft sends out the wrong update to its Windows 10 users for the second time in three months

O. Christopher

December 13, 2019

Microsoft sends out the wrong update to its Windows 10 users for the second time in three months

Microsoft has been in the software market for longer than many other vendors, but that does not mean they are still not plagued by some mistakes from time to time. This time around, it is a repetition of a mistake they made with a Windows 10 update sent out to devices running on this OS.

In October of this year, Microsoft sent out an update which was supposed to make changes to those who had set up a feature called Autopilot. However, it was found out that all users got the update on their devices. To Microsoft’s credit, they were quick to admit the error and take down the update, but that has now repeated itself.

While this is not supposed to be a very big deal, we don’t expect to see such mistakes from a brand as big as this. They have commented on the matter, stating that the Autopilot update will not affect users of the Windows 10 platform who don’t have the feature set up. However, that is no reason for you to not uninstall the update if you don’t need it – just to be on the safer side of things.

Gmail’s new feature will allow you send emails as attachments

O. Christopher

December 11, 2019

Gmail’s new feature will allow you send emails as attachments

Gmail is not new to attachments, but they have taken the game a step further. They will now allow users attach emails to other threads, just like they were dragging and dropping images or videos too.

This is a usable idea for when you want to eliminate extremely long email threads from the chat line, or you would like to forward parts of an email to users. For now, it is sure that it might not catch on as well, but Google could come up with something to make this an even more fitting feature in the nearest future.

The best thing about sending emails as attachments is that you can prepare the recipient for what they are about to read by providing a summary. Finally, the recipient doesn’t need to have Gmail installed to open the file since it is compatible with every other email provider out there.

Will you also be forwarding emails as attachments soon? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments.

HarmonyOS could start showing up on Huawei phones from 2020

O. Christopher

December 10, 2019

HarmonyOS could start showing up on Huawei phones from 2020

The revoking of Huawei’s Android license has not made things easy for the company, but they have always had a backup plan. With HarmonyOS, the company was the worst that could happen – which would have been total booting off the Android platform. However, it seems that the Asian OEM is tired of all the back and forth and will now be bringing their own OS to the market.

This was confirmed by the company’s president at the recent conference held, and it is said that the year 2020 will usher in the first wave of HarmonyOS-powered devices.

Note that it has already been said that HarmonyOS has fewer lines of code, and is also better secure, than Android is. The president of Huawei might have said that the aim of the OS is not to replace Android, but that might be where things are headed at the end of the day. Seeing as Huawei will be selling phones carrying HarmonyOS outside of China, and will also make the platform open source, it might as well take over from Android.

Samsung to throw in free EUR139 earbuds when you buy any of its 5G-enabled phones

O. Christopher

December 5, 2019

Samsung to throw in free EUR139 earbuds when you buy any of its 5G-enabled phones

Even though we are past the markings of the cyber Monday and black Friday deals, Samsung still has some offers in store for us. To push the sales of the 5G units which they have in the market right now, the company is throwing in a couple of free earbuds priced at about EUR139.

This means if you were to get any of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G, Galaxy S10 5G or the Galaxy A90 5G now, these earbuds will also ship with your unit.

The best thing about this deal is that they are available on any platform that you can buy the phone from – but we are not sure about physical stores. This means that Amazon, eBay and the likes could bring the same deal to your doorstep.

While that is true, you also have to note that the deal will lapse on the 25^th of December, so you might want to act fast if you are truly interested in being a part of the package.

Instagram is making some new changes, and you might not like them all

O. Christopher

December 5, 2019

Instagram is making some new changes, and you might not like them all

Instagram is making a lot of changes these days, and we hope we can keep up with all of that.

To start with, the Facebook-owned company will now allow you choose who can follow you on your account. That could be any of those you follow, or everyone on the platform itself – except those that you have blocked. At the same time, they will now allow you restrict your DMs to see who and who cannot send you a direct message anytime.

Perhaps the one that you might not like to hear is that IG wants to know your birthday. With the rate at which Facebook already knows too much, that might not be something you are willing to share.

However, they claim this is to ensure no one under the age of 13 has an account on the platform – but we all know ages can be faked on services like IG. Likewise, you only have to supply your age for new accounts – and it will not be visible to anyone else other than you. And Facebook, of course.

What do you think of these new changes? Radical or necessary?

WhatsApp gives users greater control over who can add them to groups

O. Christopher

November 8, 2019

WhatsApp gives users greater control over who can add them to groups

WhatsApp started improving the control people had over who added them to a group back in the month of April. Like we have seen with the Status Privacy feature, users got to choose between ‘Everyone,’ ‘Nobody’ or ‘My Contacts’ when asked to set who can add them to any group on the IM platform.

As of now, the company is rolling out a new feature that will greatly improve on the basic safety feature. Here, we now have the option to go for ‘My Contacts Except.’ Thus, instead of selecting all of your contacts, you can exclude some of them from ever being able to add you to a group at all.

Note that this does not interfere with getting private group invite links in your DMs. Afterall, that would require that you take action rather than the involuntary association with a group which could have otherwise happened.

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