Don't miss out on the sales for This War of Mine, 911 Operator, and Death Squared
Welcome to Friday, everyone. Today I have a solid selection of sales, including a bunch of titles from Toca Boca, a fantastic developer of children's games. Of course, if you're looking for something a little more adult,...
Chrome 84 hangs and crashes for some, especially when they close incognito tabs
Can't close this
Chrome 84 is exhibiting stability issues for some people on Android. Whenever they close their last incognito tab, the browser freezes and eventually displays the dreaded "Chrome isn't responding" dialog. The bug seems to bog down the whole interface, as neither home nor back buttons/gestures...
Samsung's Secure Folder hits more than 1 billion downloads on the Play Store
It's been a few years that Samsung phones ship with the company's Knox technology. Secure Folder leverages this offering to create a local sandbox that's encrypted and separate from the phone's standard apps. Although this may seem like a niche solution, the app has now been downloaded more than a...
Google Chat gets a dark theme to spare your eyes from searing DMs
If you're on a G Suite team and use Google Chat on your phone, there's a sight for sore eyes if you're also a night owl: a dark theme is rolling out for both Android and iOS apps right now.
For Android 10 or later devices, the Dark mode toggle will be under the Display section of Chat's settings....
Google Assistant is bringing visual and touch-enabled games to smart displays
Casual gaming on a Nest Hub near you
You can look all the way back to the launch of the first Pixel phone to find Google has been tinkering with games in Assistant. Four years later and Google's directory of voice-controlled games is brimming with activities you can use to pass the time. And since...
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is a new match-3 game from Zynga, now available in early access
Surprise, Zynga is still awful
Latest update
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells lands on the Play Store in early access
Zynga has officially announced that it's working on a Harry Potter match-3 game for mobile. This game is called Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, and of course, Zynga has...
Microsoft's Family Safety is now available on Android and iOS
Keep track of family members, no matter what platform they're using
Microsoft announced last month that its new Microsoft 365 subscription service (formerly Office 365) would offer some family-oriented features, like a new 'Family Safety' app that combines screen time data across multiple platforms...
Google Play services is the first Android app to hit 10 billion installs
Google Play services have been installed more than 10 billion times.
The app is, in reality, a package of APIs and services that have been pre-installed on Android devices that use Google apps since 2012. As such, it is the first Android app to achieve "downloads" in the 11 digits. Platform-level...
Phone backup and a new storage manager in the Google One app
Two years ago we launched Google One: a membership that gives you more out of Google. We started with expanded storage plans, the ability to share your storage with family members, live support for all your Google questions, and member benefits like Google Play credits and Google Store member rewards.
Last...
Epic CEO says so few people play Stadia that a Fortnite port isn't worth doing
Will Google pony up the cash?
What came first, the chicken or the egg? I often see this question used to illustrate Stadia's current predicament, where the platform lacks games, and so it also lacks players. Clearly, Stadia needs more games to boost its player base, but without a mass of users, devs...
Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, Cash app, and Google Pay compared: Which is the best money transfer service?
If you're still splitting the bill with cash, you're doing it wrong
Paying and getting paid is easier than ever, but the various apps you can choose to transact with have their upsides and downsides. Picking one can be difficult, and signing up for all of them even more so — especially when it often...
24 temporarily free and 28 on-sale apps and games for Wednesday
Don't miss out on the sales for Threes!, Teslagrad, and One Deck Dungeon
Welcome to Wednesday, everyone. The middle of the week tends to be slow when it comes to sales, and while today's list is on the shorter side, I still have a few noteworthy titles to share with everyone. First and foremost, the...
Dropbox declares end of support for Android 4.4 KitKat and 5 Lollipop
But the app will probably keep working for a long time
It's always admirable when a developer supports older operating systems; but there comes a time of diminishing returns when the effort to keep software working on old versions becomes disproportionately expensive compared to the ever-dwindling...
Google AR animals now include 23 beetles, butterflies, cicadas, and other insects
For a higher creep and ick factor
Summer is in full swing, which means the air and ground are teeming with little critters, crawlies, and other tiny things that fly and buzz. If you're not having enough of those buggers in real life, you can now view them in AR through your phone's screen as Google...
Netflix hits one billion installs on the Play Store
It does come pre-installed on many devices, though
With everyone holed up at home, Netflix has probably been getting a little more usage than usual. Those extra few downloads could have just tipped the app over one billion downloads on the Play Store, which is no small feat even for an app that comes...
Mozilla's next-gen Firefox hits stable after a year of previews, without full extension support (APK Download)
Mozilla has been working on a brand new version of Firefox for Android, nicknamed 'Fenix,' for over a year at this point. The new codebase slowly trickled down from Preview to Beta, and at long last, the aging stable browser is now receiving the update. However, fans of the stable browser might still...
Google Stadia: Subscription cost, games list, free games, compatibility requirements, and more
Everything you need to know about Stadia
Update
This post has been updated with information about upcoming free Stadia Pro games and playing over mobile data.
In fall 2018, Google made its interest in gaming known with Project Stream, a beta that let users play the high-end Assassin's Creed Odyssey...
Celeste is available on Stadia today for $20
Plus: August's Pro games include Metro 2033, Strange Brigade
Google announced earlier this month that indie darling platformer Celeste was making its way to Stadia "soon." The company made good on its word: you'll be able to pick the game up today for $19.99. Google also announced August's free games...
Google Maps speed limit data has improved in 9 countries, worsened in 9 others
Millions of people around the world rely on Google Maps to get places, and for that, Maps' data has to be as accurate and timely as possible. Google tracks the quality of its data all the time and every few months, it updates us on the improvements or regressions it has noticed. In the latest set...
Spotify's real-time group listening sessions will soon work over long distances too
Remote music parties!
Sharing music we love with others isn't a novel idea. We've changed the way we do it over the years and adapted to newer technologies, but the core concept remains the same thing as playing that cassette tape in front of your friends and hoping they like it too. Spotify introduced...
Dropbox brings new eSign feature to all desktop users
Subsidiary HelloSign gets a high-profile path to monetization
Dropbox is launching a native method for its users to electronically sign and secure signatures from others on its web client using HelloSign, a startup it acquired last year for $230 million. The integration is the latest in a series of...
The best third-party file managers for Android
Because sometimes, you want something other than the default
You might be wondering why we're rounding up file browser apps if the latest Android smartphones already come with perfectly-functional versions. Frankly, there's too many in the Play Store not to highlight the ones worth checking out. And...
Garmin confirms cyber attack, working on bringing systems back online over the next few days
Services like Garmin Connect, call centers, and even production lines have all been affected
Update
Updated to include Garmin's statement.
If you tried to sync your Garmin fitness band or smartwatch to the company's servers over the last few days, you may have noticed that something's awry. After...
Introducing the Motion Editor
Posted by Scott Swarthout, Product Manager
We spoke with the Android developer community and learned that animations are important for making UIs more intuitive and memorable. However, we also heard that adding complex animation to Android apps has been a difficult task.To address this problem, we...
Here are 516 apps and games available on Google Play Pass right now
A good-faith effort to list all the apps you can get for free on Play Pass
Google Play Pass, a program that gives subscribers no-charge, ad-free access to premium apps and apps with premium features, launched last year with over 350 titles on its roster. Thing is, though, Google doesn't make it easy...
Google app tests Lens shortcut directly in the search bar
I spy yet another way to access Lens
Google introduced Lens back in 2017 as a new way to provide contextual info on things you see. Since then, it's continued to evolve and add new features. There are a number of places to find Lens, including in Google Photos and the Google Camera app. Now Google...
Amazon is updating the Alexa app with a sleek new home screen design and personalized suggestions
One of the most popular voice assistants gets even better
Amazon's Alexa is one of the most popular voice assistants around. It's available on almost every platform, and the company has been improving the Android app of late with features like hands-free, hotword-activated voice commands. Now Amazon...
30 temporarily free and 58 on-sale apps and games for Monday
Don't miss out on the sales for Evoland 2, Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition, and DISTRAINT 2
Welcome to Monday, everyone. The beginning of the week typically starts off strong thanks to the many sales that pop up over the weekend, and so I have more than a few standouts to share today. First...
Google Photos movie creations are now always in portrait mode for some reason
Because landscape videos are so out
If you recently tried to create a movie via Google Photos and got a portrait only result, even though all the videos you've added were shot horizontally, you're not alone. It looks like Photos is preventing people from creating horizontal movies. The app is instead...
