August 2021 | Android Match

Home » Archives for August 2021

Windows 11 is almost here, too bad Android app support isn't

The new operating system is coming in October, sans one of its most exciting features

One of the most interesting announcements around Windows 11 was that Microsoft plans to support Android apps in its long-running OS, delivered and serviced by the Amazon Appstore. That's still true, but unfortunately our enthusiasm has been sufficiently curbed. As Microsoft announced the release date for Windows 11, it also said that Android app support would have to wait a while.

In a sprawling blog post, Microsoft revealed that Windows 11 will land on newly-sold PCs starting October 5th, with a free upgrade to existing Windows 10 users coming shortly thereafter.

Windows 11 is almost here, too bad Android app support isn't was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:23 PM No comments

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered now has controller and cloud save support on Android and iOS

Square makes good on a six-month-old promise, surprising everyone

Update
Square Enix just updated Final Fantasy VIII Remastered with controller and cloud save support

In 2016 Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII and IX on Android, but VIII was still missing from the collection, a point of contention with fans over the last few years. Well, out of nowhere, Square has just released Final Fantasy VIII Remastered on the Play Store, and it's on sale for $16.99 until April 4th, which is when the price of the JRPG will jump up to $20.99.

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered now has controller and cloud save support on Android and iOS was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:23 PM No comments

Google Podcasts gets a fresh UI that simplifies sorting through your endless library of episodes

The 'Activity' tab is dead, long live the 'Library' tab

Google Podcasts might not be everyone's first choice in podcast apps, but it's become a pretty popular service with Android users nevertheless. Throughout the last couple of years, it's gained a proper playback panel and support for custom RSS feeds, making it feel a lot more complete than its initial barebones launch. A new design is now arriving on Android devices, providing some minor but notable tweaks to Google's podcast player.

Google Podcasts gets a fresh UI that simplifies sorting through your endless library of episodes was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 6:23 AM No comments

Instagram pretends it doesn't already know when your birthday is

And it knows if you're lying, too

Instagram might ask you for your birth date the next time you open the app. Instagram, which I'll remind you, is owned by Facebook, one of the most prolific collectors and resellers of personal data on the planet.

C'mon, Instagram. You know my birthday. You know the birthdays of all my friends and family, and all their friends and family until we hit Kevin Bacon a hundred times over. You know my dog's birthday.

Instagram pretends it doesn't already know when your birthday is was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 4:23 AM No comments

Google allegedly offered Netflix a sweetheart deal to keep using the Play Store's payment system

The fallout from numerous antitrust lawsuits continue

The last couple of years have brought increased scrutiny on Google Play's power over Android developers, especially in the wake of its lawsuit with Epic. The company followed Apple's lead back in March, lowering its fees to 15% for the first $1 million in revenue. A newly unsealed consumer lawsuit involving Google has revealed some new facts about how the Play Store is managed behind the scenes, including a secret deal made with Netflix.

Google allegedly offered Netflix a sweetheart deal to keep using the Play Store's payment system was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 4:23 AM No comments

Strava goes all-in on Wear OS 3, leaving older smartwatches without updates

Current watch owners can keep using the existing app

With Wear OS 3, it seems like Android-friendly wearables might finally be on the right track. Though there's no sign when non-Samsung watches will hit store shelves, Google has attempted to rectify this by bringing certain features to older watches. With an OS upgrade not happening until the second half of 2022, we've been expecting Wear OS 2 devices to stay actively maintained for the foreseeable future. Third-party apps might be a different story, however, as one popular fitness service has already discontinued support for Google's legacy watch OS.

Strava goes all-in on Wear OS 3, leaving older smartwatches without updates was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 2:23 AM No comments

SwiftKey's latest beta makes autofill a whole lot faster with smart suggestions

Passwords and replies now show up along the top of the keyboard

SwiftKey remains one of the best third-party keyboard alternatives on Android — especially if you're a dedicated Microsoft fan. With its latest beta update, the app is gaining a much-needed feature for managing logins, passwords, and smart replies.

It's only been a couple of weeks since SwiftKey's beta added Microsoft To-Do support, but a new version is already available for download. This latest update includes a long-awaited feature, introducing inline suggestions for services like autofill and smart replies.

SwiftKey's latest beta makes autofill a whole lot faster with smart suggestions was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 12:23 AM No comments

Apps from Amazon and WhatsApp hit 500 million installs on the Play Store

Amazon Shopping and WhatsApp business are the latest to hit the milestone

Amazon is kind of a big deal: while building a gigantic retail sales empire, it managed to compete with Google on multiple fronts (Android devices, cloud services, online advertising). But that retail empire thing is still the company's bread and butter, which is why the official Amazon shopping app is its first to pass 500 million downloads on the Play Store.

The official Amazon Shopping app is one of the only retail apps to make its way to the 500 million download club.

Apps from Amazon and WhatsApp hit 500 million installs on the Play Store was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 10:23 PM No comments

26 temporarily free and 37 on-sale apps and games for Monday

Don't miss out on the sales for Bridge Constructor Portal, Dungeon Warfare, and Heroes of Steel RPG Elite

Welcome to Monday, everyone. It's been a busy weekend, and so we have a plump list of sales for the start of the week, including a few standouts. First up is a sale for Bridge Constructor Portal, an enjoyable mashup of bridge construction and Valve's Portal mechanics. Next, I have a solid discount on Dungeon Warfare, an older but enthralling tower defense game. Last but not least is a sale for Heroes of Steel RPG Elite, an excellent turn-based strategy game from the Trese Brothers.

26 temporarily free and 37 on-sale apps and games for Monday was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 8:23 PM No comments

Automate your whole day with the Assistant's new Daylong Routines

With different actions that can turn on at different times of the day

Google's Assistant has become an essential tool for anyone deep within Google's ecosystem. You can ask it to control your smart home devices, control your music, find information online, run timers and reminders, play content on a Chromecast, call and text people, and more. But one thing it was lacking was in the automation part. Google Assistant has Routines, which you can use to set a custom prompt to make the Google Assistant do multiple tasks at once.

Automate your whole day with the Assistant's new Daylong Routines was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 7:23 AM No comments

Android modding tool Magisk is alive and well, MagiskHide not so much

Creator John Wu will continue to manage the project

Magisk is one of the most powerful Android mod tools around, and a godsend to users who buy a phone without a strong custom ROM community. But ever since its creator John Wu was hired by Google itself in May, its future has been somewhat fuzzy. Earlier today Wu updated his Medium site for the Magisk project, stating that the open source tool will continue development ... but with some notable changes.

Android modding tool Magisk is alive and well, MagiskHide not so much was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:24 AM No comments

18 new Android games from the last week: The best, worst, and everything in between (8/22/21 - 8/29/21)

Northgard, MARVEL Future Revolution, Titan Glory, 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 best games of quality or are simply looking for the latest free-to-play gacha titles, you're covered. This week I have a fantastic Norse-themed strategy game, a new free-to-play Marvel brawler, and a fresh robot battler that isn't stuffed with in-app purchases.

18 new Android games from the last week: The best, worst, and everything in between (8/22/21 - 8/29/21) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:23 PM No comments

9 new and notable Android apps from the last week including Soosee, Camo, and Wear Installer (8/21/21 - 8/28/21)

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today I have a slick app for checking common foods against specific dietary requirements or allergies, a new release that can turn your old phone into a webcam for macOS/PC, and an app that can install Wear apps to your watch remotely. So without further ado, here are all of the new and notable Android apps released on the Play Store in the last week.

9 new and notable Android apps from the last week including Soosee, Camo, and Wear Installer (8/21/21 - 8/28/21) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:23 PM No comments

Signal begins testing Telegram-style broadcast groups

Closed groups where only admins can speak

Signal's been enjoying a massive uptick in users in 2021. This was, in part, thanks to WhatsApp's not-so-slightly invasive new privacy policy, which users rallied against in anticipation of it going into effect. Signal is an amazing option if your priorities are privacy and security, and support for end-to-end encryption as well as the backing of a non-profit foundation help keep users feeling that their information is safe and sound within the platform.

Signal begins testing Telegram-style broadcast groups was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 7:23 AM No comments

Android Auto users are gaining access to another electric charging network

More ways to find available stations near you

Ever since Google opened up third-party API options for Android Auto apps, we've seen plenty of new experiences come to in-dash displays. Specialized navigation tools may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're planning on going off-road any time soon, it can be a game-changer. If you own an electric car, you know how important it is to locate nearby charging stations. ChargePoint added Android Auto support to its app a few months ago, and with this week's update, it's Electrify America's turn.

Android Auto users are gaining access to another electric charging network was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:23 AM No comments

Square Enix is bringing more classic Final Fantasy titles to Android

Final Fantasy Legend I, II, and III are coming to Android next month

Square Enix is notorious for its awful naming schemes, and Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend is one of the worst names yet. Luckily the games within this collection are pretty good. All three RPGs were released on the Game Boy back in the day, known as Final Fantasy titles in the US. But this was back when Square didn't have consistent branding globally, so these games are actually part of the SaGa series.

Square Enix is bringing more classic Final Fantasy titles to Android was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:23 AM No comments

Chrome 94 Beta has some beautiful Material You tweaks to show off (APK Download)

Desktop Chrome is also in for interface changes

Chrome 93 hasn't reached the stable channel yet, but Google has already released Chrome 94 as a beta. That's because it's the first Chrome release on the company's speedier four-week release cycle that's replacing the oh-so-slow six-week rhythm of old. Despite that super-short cadence, there are a few interesting things launching with Chrome 94, so let's dive in.

Material You tweaks

As we already detailed extensively when we first spotted this in the Canary channel, Chrome 94 comes with a whole slew of sleek Material You changes on Android 12.

Chrome 94 Beta has some beautiful Material You tweaks to show off (APK Download) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 12:23 AM No comments

Chrome 94 Beta is now available (APK Download)

Complete with beautiful Material You tweaks

It feels like Google is bumping up Chrome's version number every other day, with one release following right after the other, but things are about to get even worse. As the company announced in March, new Chrome releases will come to our devices every four weeks from now on instead of every six. Chrome 94, which has just been released to the beta channel, is the first version to live on that fast four-week cycle.

Chrome 94 Beta is now available (APK Download) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:33 PM No comments

23 temporarily free and 41 on-sale apps and games for Friday

Don't miss out on the sales for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Rebel Cops, and She Sees Red

Welcome to Friday, everyone. After a slow Wednesday, things are picking up for the weekend, and so I have more than a few sales to share with everyone, including some standouts. First up is a significant discount for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, a classic CRPG that's easily worth $2. Next, I have a sale for Rebel Cops, a competent strategy game all about solving a town's corruption. Last but not least, you can grab She Sees Red for a few dollars off, an enthralling crime-based choose your own adventure.

23 temporarily free and 41 on-sale apps and games for Friday was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:33 PM No comments

These ROG Phone 5s live wallpapers won't make your Pixel a gaming phone

But they will make your launcher look pretty

The ROG Phone 5s is the latest gaming phone from ASUS, and being part of the ROG lineup (arguably one of the biggest PC gaming brands in the world right now), the smartphone comes with the same kind of fluff, bells, and whistles you would see from the brand's PC components, including RGB lighting and its trademark, utilitarian "gamery" aesthetic its users have come to know and love. If the ROG Phone 5s is a little expensive for your tastes, but you still want to get those "true gamer" looks on your phone, don't despair: the phone's live wallpapers have been ported to other Android phones.

These ROG Phone 5s live wallpapers won't make your Pixel a gaming phone was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 7:23 AM No comments

Tesla app update brings all you futurists new controls for your increasingly electric existence

It's not on the Play Store yet, but you can grab it on APK Mirror

Cars and home energy are two very different markets, unless you're rich enough to be a repeat customer of Tesla. If that's the case, you can manage your car (or cars) and your home's energy output from the same app. The combined Tesla management app is seeing a sizeable overhaul in its 4.0 release. While it isn't officially up on the Play Store yet, a few users are seeing it, and it's been posted to APK Mirror.

Tesla app update brings all you futurists new controls for your increasingly electric existence was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:23 AM No comments

Netflix begins its official (and very small) gaming program

Don't get your hopes up

Update
Live in Poland

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Sony, Nvidia — all of them are trying to dominate the early and emerging market of streaming games, hosted from powerful servers and broadcast directly to players' screens without the need of a gaming PC or console. But it looks like yet another challenger is approaching this new battlefield, and it has a familiar name: Netflix.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Netflix hopes to offer high-end streaming games within a year, in addition to its well-established library of streaming movies and TV shows.

Netflix begins its official (and very small) gaming program was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 2:23 AM No comments

Pokémon GO developers listen to players and bring back pandemic tweaks

The boosted distance for gyms and stops is here to stay

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pokémon GO developer Niantic was met with a conundrum: how do you keep people playing a game that's all about going outside and congregating in specific places when doing so will literally kill people? Among other player-friendly changes, the company boosted the distance it took to activate stops and gyms from 40 meters to 80 meters, making it a lot easier to hit from across the street (or the parking lot).

Pokémon GO developers listen to players and bring back pandemic tweaks was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:24 PM No comments

WhatsApp voice messages get a new look in the latest beta

Waveform look incoming

Update
Now rolling out

WhatsApp's interface is starting to look dated, especially now that Google has announced the latest iteration of its design guidelines during its developer conference, Material You. But the messenger app is making small adjustments here and there to keep things fresh, like new wallpaper theming options. And as spotted by WABetaInfo, voice messages are in for a tweak next.

The new look was briefly activated in the latest WhatsApp beta, version, v2.21.13.17, though it looks like the company pulled it via a server-side update in the meantime.

WhatsApp voice messages get a new look in the latest beta was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 10:23 PM No comments

Formula suggestions, new for Google Sheets, will save us all

=SUMIF (AAAAA:AAAAA, LOL420, D:D)

Spreadsheets: you build them up with data points, make the rules by dropping down formulae, then watch them not make sense when an exception occurs. We can't help with you that, but maybe Google Sheets can make the interminable process more tolerable with its new context-aware formula suggestions.

All you have to do is plot a dataset, then start typing a formula in a cell for the suggestions to appear. You can accept each suggestion by pressing the Tab key as they increment from function to range points.

Formula suggestions, new for Google Sheets, will save us all was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 8:23 PM No comments

Google Photos is testing mini previews in place of the Top Shot suggestion chip

A more visual way of showing recommendations

Top Shot is one of the most useful Google Photos features, as it allows you to choose a better photo from a selection of similar images you've taken. It's been around since the Pixel 3 launched, and there's also a little suggestion chip that pops up to remind you to use it. It looks like that chip could be replaced by a new row of image previews, or at least that's what Google is currently testing on some users.

Google Photos is testing mini previews in place of the Top Shot suggestion chip was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 7:23 PM No comments

Pixel Buds update adds a handy widget for quick access to settings

Tweak things around in your Buds with just the tap of a button

Google's Pixel Buds are cool, even if they're not the absolute best in the market or the most feature-rich. The second-gen Pixel Buds made them fully wireless, and the Pixel Buds A-Series made them affordable. All these models integrate amazingly with Google's apps and services and bring the Google Assistant closer to your ear. If you ever need to quickly tweak settings on your Pixel Buds, now the menu for doing so is easier to access than ever.

Pixel Buds update adds a handy widget for quick access to settings was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 10:23 AM No comments

Google's helping you complete tasks by reminding you why you created them in the first place

Don't miss any detail

Google Chat's been replacing the aging Google Hangouts, even if not everyone's a fan. But for teams who really give it a chance, it can work amazingly, with support for abilities like creating and assigning tasks à la Asana or Basecamp. While you can add details to a task, sometimes you might forget some context or leave behind a couple of notes that might've been important. This is why Google is now adding a handy shortcut called View in Chat.

Google's helping you complete tasks by reminding you why you created them in the first place was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 6:23 AM No comments

Facebook Messenger celebrates a full decade of being the only way your extended family can reach you

Group games, sending birthday money, sharing contacts, and more are incoming

We're all familiar with Facebook and its main messaging service, Messenger. It started life as the messaging component of the Facebook social network, and while it still is, it's now its standalone service as well, can be used without a Facebook account, and has been picking up plenty of features. Messenger may not everyone's cup of tea — it's certainly not mine — but it's still a massive app with a user base in the billions.

Facebook Messenger celebrates a full decade of being the only way your extended family can reach you was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:23 AM No comments

15 temporarily free and 28 on-sale apps and games for Wednesday

Don't miss out on the sales for Cubasis 3, Hook, and Peppa Pig: Holiday

Welcome to Wednesday, everyone. It's a slow day for sales, but I still have a few standouts worth sharing. First up is a sale for the digital audio workstation app Cubasis 3, which is currently $9 off. Next, I have a fantastic minimal puzzler called Hook, which is completely free today. Last but not least is a free copy of Peppa Pig: Holiday, a children's game that offers a few summer-themed mini-games.

15 temporarily free and 28 on-sale apps and games for Wednesday was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:23 AM No comments

YouTube Music soft launches Wear OS app, exclusively supporting the Galaxy Watch4 series

Which means nothing if you don't have the watches yet

For a second there, it looked like Google was just about done with Wear OS. That was until the roadmap started unfolding with plans for, among other things, a new YouTube Music app and, later on, the big reveal of new Samsung smartwatches running the platform. Today, the plot has finally culminated with the soft launch of the new YouTube Music for the Galaxy Watch4 series.

We say "soft launch" as while we're still in the pre-order phase for the watches and the app's changelog hasn't been explicit about the upgrade, we do have some accouterments to show for it.

YouTube Music soft launches Wear OS app, exclusively supporting the Galaxy Watch4 series was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:23 AM No comments

The next Final Fantasy pixel remaster will land on Android soon

It's the first time Final Fantasy IV will offer pixel graphics on mobile, arriving September 8th

Last month Square Enix released the first three pixel remasters for the Final Fantasy series on the Play Store. These remasters aren't cheap, and seeing that the first two replaced games many of us had already paid for, these pixel remasters are difficult to get excited for. In Final Fantasy IV's case, the only way to play on Android is through the 3D remake ported from the Nintendo DS, which is still available but does not offer the pixel design of the original SNES game (known as FF II in the US).

The next Final Fantasy pixel remaster will land on Android soon was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:27 PM No comments

Microsoft is ending support for Android Office apps on Chromebooks

Time to switch to a web-based editor

Do you use Chrome OS's Android app powers to run Microsoft Office apps on your Chromebook? Well Microsoft would like you to stop, please. And starting in September, the company will do more than ask. Office apps originally intended for Android will no longer be supported on Chrome OS beginning next month, according to a Microsoft spokesperson.

Microsoft told About Chromebooks that official Chrome OS support for the Android Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote) will be ending.

Microsoft is ending support for Android Office apps on Chromebooks was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:27 PM No comments

The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a new kingdom builder from NetEase, now available for pre-registration

IAPs are back on the menu, boys

At this point, you'd think free-to-play developers like NetEase would have run out of brands to slap on top of the typical free-to-play genres we're all familiar with, and then a new disappointing announcement comes rolling in. It would appear that NetEase is working on a licensed The Lord of the Rings game, which just popped up on the Play Store for pre-registration. It's called The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and even though neither the Play Store trailer nor the screenshots show a lick of gameplay, we already know this title will land as a typical free-to-play kingdom builder.

The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a new kingdom builder from NetEase, now available for pre-registration was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:27 PM No comments

OnlyFans drops plan for porn ban

Explicit content will remain for now

Last week the creator platform OnlyFans announced that it would be getting rid of explicit content on its site as of October of this year. The announcement was akin to the ocean announcing that it was totally over this whole "water" thing. After instant backlash from both its own creators and the wider internet, the company has reversed its plans, saying that it's suspended the change.

"We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community," OnlyFans announced in a tweet this morning, "and have suspended the planned October 1st policy change."

OnlyFans drops plan for porn ban was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:23 PM No comments

Marvel Future Revolution looks so premium that you can almost excuse the F2P nonsense

Until you're asked to pay, of course

At the end of last month, it was revealed that Marvel Future Revolution would land on mobile on August 25th. That day is today, and so Marvel's latest free-to-play RPG is finally available on both Android and iOS. Much like how Genshin Impact, NieR Re[in]carnation, and Sky: Children of the Light raised the bar for the quality of mobile games, Marvel Future Revolution is a highly polished release, at least as far as the presentation goes.

Marvel Future Revolution looks so premium that you can almost excuse the F2P nonsense was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 9:23 PM No comments

WhatsApp message reactions are on the way

🥳 🎉 🔥

If you spend enough time using social apps, you get used to certain UX patterns. One example is the ability to react to a message or post — think Instagram or Twitter DMs — but you don't see it so much with more traditional chat apps. WhatsApp would like to change that, however, and is working to bring message reactions to its app.

According to WABetaInfo, reaction functionality is currently under development.

WhatsApp message reactions are on the way was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 7:23 PM No comments

Google Maps is trying to be painfully clear about how crowdsourced data powers navigation

And you'll need to agree to it if you want to keep using it — but you were already doing it anyway

Google Maps has become an essential tool in our lives, be it for getting around or just knowing places. The navigation features, including turn-to-turn navigation, allow us to drive to places and not get lost in the process, and have come extremely handy ever since I've started using a car since I always seem to make wrong turns and end up getting lost.

Now, Google Maps users will start showing users prompts on how crowdsourced data is essential for the app, and you'll have to agree if you want to continue using these features, as spotted by 9to5Google.

Google Maps is trying to be painfully clear about how crowdsourced data powers navigation was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:23 AM No comments

Destiny 2 crossplay is now live across Stadia, PC, Xbox, and PlayStation

After a shaky start, it's finally ready to go

Latest update
It's live, for real this time

One of the more persistent problems with Stadia is that, due to a relatively low amount of players versus established platforms like Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, its multiplayer games can sometimes feel a little empty. Destiny 2 will fix that problem sometime this fall ... or right the hell now, because the developers accidentally turned on crossplay a little early.

Developer Bungie has been working on crossplay, allowing cooperative and competitive game sessions with players on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Stadia, for some time.

Destiny 2 crossplay is now live across Stadia, PC, Xbox, and PlayStation was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 5:23 AM No comments

Spotify finally gets around to adding download support for Wear OS

It should be working on most recent Wear watches

Latest update
Rolling out now

One of the more appealing factors of owning a smartwatch is being able to leave your phone behind and enjoy listening to music via earbuds. Unfortunately, after the death of Google Play Music, the platform lacked a single suitable service that could offer this convenience. However, Spotify is stepping up its game and delivering an app that it should have offered in the first place.

Spotify finally gets around to adding download support for Wear OS was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:23 PM No comments

Embrace your inner Viking with the launch of Northgard on Android

This Android port holds its own against CIV 6

Back in June, the release date for the Android port of Northgard was revealed in a YouTube trailer. This popular indie strategy game had already made its way to iOS in April but is only just now landing on Android. Despite the late arrival, the Android port is pretty good, offering acceptable performance, a reworked UI for touchscreen play, and there's even optional DLC available for those looking to extend the Northgard's RTS gameplay.

Embrace your inner Viking with the launch of Northgard on Android was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 10:23 PM No comments

Google Meet is about to do away with those annoying echoes

It'll alert the offender so they can rectify the problem

As video conferencing has become more popular over the last year and a half, there's one thing many of us have come to dread — echoes. An Echo is just one of a bad batch of issues that still plague video calls. Thankfully, Google is setting out to fix that.

Meet is already quite good at filtering out echoes and other background noise from calls, but it can't be one hundred percent effective.

Google Meet is about to do away with those annoying echoes was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 8:23 PM No comments

Play Store ratings will soon reflect the experience of users more like you — yes, you

The incumbent Viewers Like You contingent will also be pleased with this

After plenty of feedback from app developers and their users alike, the Google Play Store will soon begin letting everyone filter reviews and ratings based on where users are. Publishers will also be able to better track ratings by device type.

Starting in November, Play Store users on phones will see app ratings based on the average of submissions from only the country they're registered in, not the world. Sometime early next year, displayed ratings will narrow further based on device categories including tablets and foldables, Chrome OS, Wear, and Auto.

Play Store ratings will soon reflect the experience of users more like you — yes, you was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 2:23 AM No comments

WhatApp's making it easier to send money with payment shortcut in chat bar

The feature's in beta testing in select markets

Mobile payment apps are super popular these days, but no one really wants to install a separate service to manage their money. WhatsApp has slowly been expanding its own built-in payments feature over the last year or so, and with the release of its latest beta version for Android, it's even easier for users to access.

As discovered by the folks WABetaInfo, a new shortcut for sending payments to friends and family is currently in testing.

WhatApp's making it easier to send money with payment shortcut in chat bar was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 12:23 AM No comments

© Copyright 2013 Android Match - All Rights Reserved - Powered by Blogger.com