Many of these will work with older devices as well
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is the best smartphone I've ever used. Taking all of the good points from last year's S20 Ultra and fixing many of the complaints, this device is an absolute powerhouse. To paraphrase Uncle Ben, with great hardware comes great...
12 new Android games from the last week: The best, worst, and everything in between (2/22/21 - 2/28/21)
Inked, Fury of Dracula, Wordsmyth, plus more
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today's list is broken up into several segments, ranging from best, average, to mediocre. So whether you're looking for...
The 11 best password managers for Android
Paid and free options
Update
Updated with many additional password managers as well as pricing and feature changes.
Everybody should use a password manager. Whether you only have five online accounts or 500, it's important to use unique, hard-to-guess credentials for every single one. If you reuse...
65 of the best Android games for kids between the ages of 2-8
A hand-picked selection of quality children's games for 2021
Update
This roundup has been updated with new games
The Play Store doesn't always make it easy to find the games you're looking for, especially if you're on the hunt for games that appeal to children that aren't monetarily abusive. This...
Terraria developer and Google finally work out their beef
Re-Logic previously said it would cancel Terraria for Stadia
Terraria is perhaps one of the most successful indie games ever, but earlier this month, the lead developer announced that an in-development version for Google Stadia would be cancelled. The decision came after the creator went on a multi-tweet...
Stadia reportedly had 'hundreds of thousands' fewer players at release than Google predicted
Google announced earlier this month that it would close Stadia Games & Entertainment, the game studio that was tasked with producing exclusive titles for the Stadia game streaming service. The closure was seemingly a result of Stadia's slow momentum, and now a new report from Bloomberg sheds some...
Seven great real-time weather and radar apps for Android
Like an umbrella, we've got you covered
Unless you live under a rock, everyone experiences the weather — even if they don't spend time outside. Government and private industry spend tens of millions of dollars every year on meteorology and the conveyance of detailed forecasts. All of that flows down...
Google Recorder now has a companion web app for storage and sharing
You'll need the latest v2.2 update
Google Recorder has quickly become one of the best audio recording applications on Android, even though it's only officially available on Google's own Pixel phones. Backup support was announced earlier this week, and now it's finally rolling out.
Google Recorder...
17 temporarily free and 56 on-sale apps and games for Friday
Don't miss out on the sales for Beholder, Beholder 2, and Alien Shooter
Welcome to Friday, everyone. The weekend is almost here, and so I have more than a few sales to share with everyone. Of course, I'd like to highlight some standouts, such as the sales on both Beholder and Beholder 2, two quality...
HBO Max is getting more living-room friendly with Android TV and Chromecast enhancements
HBO Max first launched nearly a year ago, bringing the majority of Time Warner Media's catalog under one roof with select high-profile shows and movies from other companies. The service is likely seeing a boost in subscribers, thanks to all the movies Warner Bros. is releasing on HBO Max (alongside...
WhatsApp now lets you mute videos before sharing
Get rid of annoying audio before you send someone that hilarious clip
Update
Rolling out
If you want to share a video with someone but need to get rid of the audio for whatever reason, you can do so with Google Photos or another gallery app. But let's say you get to the point of sharing in WhatsApp...
LastPass analytics code raises questions about potential security issues
In case you needed yet another reason to switch
LastPass recently caused an uproar by announcing forthcoming changes to its pricing model that will effectively nerf the free tier, and now the company is in for some more bad news. According to a report published by German cybersecurity researcher Mike...
Two new Final Fantasy VII games are coming to Android
Time to cash in on VII's renewed popularity
Sony recently held a State of Play digital livestream where a host of developers and publishers announced new games for Sony's platform, and so Square Enix revealed an enhanced and expanded version of Final Fantasy VII Remake while also taking the time to...
Twitter Spaces now available for some Android users
You still won't be able to create a Space, though
Audio conversations on social media are all the rage today, but Android users have been left out in some quarters — both Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces have been exclusive to iOS users. While this remains the case for the former (they've announced plans...
Sleep tracking apps on Android will soon use less power and have fewer random issues
Thanks to Google's new built-in Sleep API
Android sleep-tracking apps have had a rough time. They've had to suffer inconsistent and unreliable background app limitations across different Android versions, which can interfere with how the apps work at a very fundamental level. Thankfully, Google is...
Zoom meetings should get easier to follow later this year with auto-captioning for free accounts
But you can request the feature early if you need it
Later this year, Zoom plans to make a live AI-based transcription feature available to everyone — paid account or otherwise. If you'd rather not wait for the handy accessibility feature freebie, you can also request access to it early.
Zoom has...
Google starts refunding Hangouts call credits ahead of feature shutdown
As part of Hangouts' long, drawn-out death, Google is also pulling the plug on the imaginatively titled Call Phones feature, which lets you place a phone call in Hangouts via Google Voice. It was mostly free, but you did have to pay for certain call types. With the feature set to expire by next month,...
Wireless DeX for PC now works with Galaxy devices running One UI 3.1
Galaxy tablets are still left in the cold
Update
Devices
When Samsung announced that DeX would be going wireless in One UI 2.5, which was introduced on the Note20, I was excited. Until that point, I'd hardly touched the app because of the requirement to plug my phone into my PC. Sadly, wireless...
Amazon Music is now available on all Android TV and Google TV sets
No longer a Shield exclusive
It's been more than two years since Amazon Music made its first appearance on Android TV, but at the time, the service was restricted to the Nvidia Shield TV. That is no longer the case, as the app is now available for all Google TV and Android TV sets, set-top boxes,...
Anyone with a Fire TV can sign up for Amazon's Luna game-streaming service now
It's becoming easier to get in on the Early Access program
Amazon Luna is creeping up on Stadia when it comes to availability. The company has announced that the platform is now available for anyone interested who owns a Fire TV, departing from its initial invite-only approach to distributing the...
Some Hangouts users are being migrated to a Google Chat 'preview' experience
Group chats aren’t available yet
It's been a while since Google announced that it will split Hangout into two separate services — Chat and Meet. For workspace accounts, the transition to Chat began last year, but personal account holders were only given a blurred ETA of "first half of 2021." For a...
Your children's Google accounts will soon have access to the real YouTube
YouTube Music for kids is in the pipeline, too!
For parents, the dilemma of whether or not to set up your kids' Google account as a child account, and suffer the consequences, is real. Google is finally acknowledging that one of the biggest downsides of that experience is being tied to YouTube Kids....
There's a new PUBG game coming to Android, and it's built from the ground-up for mobile play
It's called PUBG: New State, and you can pre-register right now
If you haven't had enough PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in your life, I have some good news, there's a new PUBG game coming to mobile, and it's called PUBG: New State. It's coming to Android and iOS this year, and supposedly it will offer...
Pixel-exclusive Google Recorder getting backup support and a snazzy new web interface
Probably coming as part of the March Feature Drop update next week
The best perks of Pixel ownership outside the camera are the exclusive software features like Recorder, which (as its name suggests) records audio and transcribes it in near real-time. Last year, the first signs of Google Drive-based...
YouTube Music gets its first (broken) signs of casting tracks on repeat
Still no shuffle — sorry
If YouTube Music isn't missing a basic feature you'd expect it to have had at launch, then the feature is in extensive A/B testing and only available to a minority of subscribers. Just earlier today, one of the former changes was spotted: The ability to set a casted track...
Samsung Home Up restores Task Changer and adds new features (APK Download)
One UI Home has some new tricks too
As Samsung rolled out the 2021 refresh to its various Good Lock modules, Task Changer was strangely absent. It was unclear if Samsung was still working on making it compatible with One UI 3, or if it had given up on the module entirely. Thankfully the situation...
31 temporarily free and 25 on-sale apps and games for Wednesday
Don't miss out on the sales for Z.O.N.A Shadow of Lemansk, When Silence Fell, and Mathematiqa
Welcome to Wednesday, everyone. Today's list offers many sales, and I even have a few standouts to share with everyone. First up is Z.O.N.A Shadow of Lemansk, an enjoyable FPS that's easily worth the asking...
Google to soon strip the old Pay app of its core functionality in the US
Nudging you to make the switch to the new app
When the new Google Pay app was introduced last year with a refreshed interface, some users didn't feel any compelling reason to switch, and elected to stay with the old app while they still had the option. While we knew the app would reach the end of...
Spotify's new library UI shows all your offline content on one screen
No more fiddling with tabs and filters
A couple of days ago, we shared with you a new design for Spotify's library that seems to be in very limited testing. The interface, which mixes music with podcasts and offers both list and grid layouts, has four filters on top for your playlists, artists, albums,...
Interview: Diablo Immortal lead designer Wyatt Cheng details what's next for the hotly-anticipated MMO
Plus the latest BlizzCon coverage
Ever since Diablo Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018, it has had a cloud around its development. This announcement was poorly received at the time, and in the years following, Blizzard fell silent. Then out of nowhere, a technical alpha...
Firefox now supports multiple PiP windows and improved cookie protection
Each website will now have its own cookie jar
Mozilla's Firefox is among the most popular desktop browsers out there and it offers good privacy protection — its last update cracked down on supercookies. In a bid to further improve in this area, Firefox 86 is introducing a new measure called Total...
New v22.0 update merges Magisk and Magisk Manager app
Samsung's Galaxy S21 series is now supported too
If you've ever rooted your Android phone to modify system components, chances are, you've come across Magisk, which allows for systemless root access. Developer John Wu has constantly updated it to ensure it works just as well and goes undetected by...
How to use and disable Chrome's new tab groups and grid switcher
Not everyone is a fan of this new tab UX
It's been a while since Chrome for desktop introduced support for tab groups. The feature helped bring order to chaos for those who had a habit of keeping umpteen tabs open. After being tested since 2019 on Android, the feature is now rolling out on the mobile...
Telegram v7.5.0 update adds auto-deleting messages and widgets (APK Download)
*This subtitle has been deleted*
Telegram is already one of the most feature-rich messaging apps out there, but that doesn't seem to stop the developers from constantly churning out new updates. The newest v7.5.0 introduces a bunch of new features, the most notable ones being the ability to auto-delete...
Google Pay gains support for 84 financial institutions across the globe
Canadians are in for a treat!
Google's mobile payment app continues to support a growing number of banks and financial institutions across the world. Since our last update, 84 banks and credit unions are now compatible with Google Pay across 24 countries. Interestingly, the majority of them are in...
Ten alternative gallery apps to better manage your photos
Because you deserve better than your stock app
For years, QuickPic was one of the first applications I would install on my phone, without even bothering to use the phone's default gallery app. It was small, fast, efficient, and free, but has sadly disappeared at the end of 2018. For a while,...
Google Calendar is adapting to messier work schedules
WFH? AOK!
For a lot of us, it's only after working full time from home that we've realized how messy balancing work and personal commitments can get — and the pandemic ensured we all got a taste of it. Google now wants to make it easier to share your disordered WFH schedule with your teammates as...
All the free games included with Stadia Pro
Four new games for March, including one Stadia-exclusive title
Stadia's $10-a-month premium subscription, Stadia Pro, includes access to an ever-expanding catalog of games at no additional cost. The selection of redeemable games varies — Google adds a few each month, and sometimes removes some. Here,...
Scheduling texts in Google Messages is officially rolling out for everyone
In case you don't want to wake friends with the latest meme in the middle of the night
Update
Now official
You can already schedule messages in Gmail and Telegram (among others), and now Google Messages is joining the club. The functionality showed up for a few people as part of an a/b test back...
Google Maps dark theme is finally official, more than a year after it was first teased
And it's beautiful
Latest update
Official
Google has been teasing a dark theme for Maps for over a year now, and it even briefly rolled out to a few people, but it was never properly formalized or acknowledged officially. That's changing today, as Google has just finally announced that dark mode...
PixelJunk Raiders is a rogue-like adventure arriving exclusively on Google Stadia
Release date is set for March 1st
While Google hasn't secured as many exclusive titles for Stadia as competing platforms, there has been a slow trickle of indie games arriving first on the streaming service. Google today announced another game coming to Stadia before anywhere else: PixelJunk Raiders.
The...
