android apps
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Google Play adds Android Instant Apps via a ‘Try it Now’ button, among other changes
Google today is announcing a number of changes to its Google Play app store, the most notable being a new way to try apps immediately without having to first install them on your mobile device. The new feature takes advantage of “Android Instant Apps” technology – Google’s attempt at bridging the mobile web world with that of native applications. Instant Apps were… Read More
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Twitter is testing a Twitter Lite Android app, first in the Philippines
Twitter today has nearly four times as many monthly active users outside the U.S. as it does in its home market — 260 million versus 68 million — and this week it quietly launched a new app in an effort to boost those numbers further. The social network is testing a Android app for Twitter Lite, a native app version of a mobile web site Twitter launched earlier this year that… Read More
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YouTube’s app is dominating mobile video by monthly users, time spent
Americans spent nearly a billion hours watching YouTube videos on Android this past July, according to new data released today by App Annie. That’s the largest amount of time spent in any one streaming video app in a month. The figure is yet another data point showcasing the shift in the way people are consuming video content – less in the living room, over traditional pay TV… Read More
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Venmo rolls out QR codes for user profiles in its mobile app
Venmo today rolled out a feature designed to make it easier to find friends within its mobile payments app, so you can add them to your connections list or get paid yourself. The feature, found under the new menu option “Scan Code,” is available now in both the iOS and Android version of the Venmo app. When tapped, it launches a new interface that allows you to either use the… Read More
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Google Play will now downrank poorly performing apps
Google today announced it’s rolling out a change to its Play Store so that better-performing apps – meaning those that experience fewer crashes and those that don’t drain your smartphone battery – will be ranked higher than apps with bugs and other performance issues. The goal with this new ranking algorithm is to ensure that the best apps are being promoted, which in… Read More
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Wattpad takes ‘chat fiction’ beyond text with launch of Tap Originals
Chat fiction apps are among some of the most popular in the App Store, thanks to their highly engaged, largely teenage to young adult fan base who enjoy reading thrilling stories told in the form of text messages. Today, one competitor in this space, Wattpad, is rolling out an upgrade to its chat stories to differentiate its app from others, and further addict its readers. The company is… Read More
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Amazon’s chat fiction app Rapids ties up with Amazon Studios with launch of ‘Signature Stories’
Today’s kids aren’t just reading books. They’re also tapping and playing with interactive stories on tablets as preschoolers, then delving into instant messaging-like chat fiction apps as teens. Amazon’s entry in this space, Amazon Rapids, was announced late last year as a way to bring this style of interactive fiction to readers in the 5 to 12 age range. The company… Read More
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Google brings its GIF-making Motion Stills app to Android
Google last year introduced an app called Motion Stills that aimed to help iOS users do more with their Live Photos – including being able to crop out blurry frames, stabilize images, and even turn Apple’s Live Photos format into more sharable GIFs. Today, Google says it’s bringing Motion Stills to Android, along with a few changes. Obviously, Android users aren’t in… Read More
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Outlook’s mobile makeover includes a much smarter search, powered by Microsoft Graph
Microsoft today unveiled a redesigned version of its popular Outlook mobile app for iOS and Android, which most notably includes a more intelligent search feature, powered by Microsoft Graph, along with other changes to navigation and conversations. Microsoft Graph, the company’s technology used to make productivity applications smarter, is being used to turn Outlook’s search… Read More
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The new Taster VR app brings VR content from the BBC to your smartphone
The BBC today released a new mobile application that will allow it to experiment with transforming BBC content into VR experiences. The app, called BBC Taster VR, comes from the broadcaster’s testing ground for new ideas, Taster, and uses technology from EEVO to publish videos in a VR format. Initially, Taster VR only offers a couple of projects, one of which is 360 video from the… Read More
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Google’s new experiment, Triangle, lets you block individual apps from using mobile data
Google recently began testing a new tool for helping people better manage the mobile data used by their smartphones. The new Android app, called Triangle, is currently being tested in the Philippines, and lets you do things like view your data balance, see which apps are accounting for the most data usage and even block individual applications from using your mobile data. Read More
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Twitter tweaks its design again in an attempt to woo newcomers
In an effort to better cater to newcomers, Twitter once again is redesigning its app across mobile, desktop and the web. The revamp isn’t a radical departure from its prior look-and-feel or user experience – unlike when it introduced its own stories-like feature called Moments, for example, or when began reordering the tweets in your timeline. Instead, the update involves a series… Read More
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Skype’s Snapchat-inspired makeover puts the camera a swipe away, adds stories
Microsoft today is launching a completely revamped version of its Skype application, with a new set of features that draw obvious inspiration from messaging rivals, like Messenger and Snapchat. Yes, that means Skype now has its own Stories-like feature, which it’s calling Highlights, as well as a redesign that puts the camera only a swipe away from your chats, among other things. The… Read More
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Google’s Play Console now gives developers more data about their apps before and after launch
The Google Play Console, Google’s main tool for helping developers manage their Android applications in its store from beta to retirement, is getting a major update at Google I/O today. Read More
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Google’s Instant Apps are now generally available to all Android developers
With Instant Apps, Google is trying to bridge the worlds of web and native apps by making native apps — even those you haven’t installed on your phone — load as fast as a web page. The company first announced this project at its Google I/O developer conference last year and at this year’s event — but only made it available to a select number of developers until now. Read More
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Google Maps for Android adds Street View images in navigation to show your turns
Google Maps has quietly rolled out a new feature that will make it easier for you to see where you need to go when using turn-by-turn navigation: integrated Street View images on the directions screen. While the app has always allowed you to see an overview of the upcoming turns and distance between them, the new feature introduces an option to tap to see the associated Street View imagery… Read More
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Current launches a Visa debit card for kids that parents control with an app
A startup called Current is today launching a new way for parents to dole out allowances to their kids: with an app. The company offers a Visa debit card that would allow teenagers to shop in stores or online using funds from their own bank account, which is funded through allowance money that mom or dad transfers from their own bank account. Parents can use the accompanying mobile app to… Read More
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Nugget’s new app finds the best deals on Amazon
There are a number of great deals to be had on Amazon, but finding them across the retailer’s vast array of products is still a challenge. That’s where a new app called Nugget comes in. The app scours Amazon for higher-quality products at lower prices, and then curates them into categories you can browse from your phone. All its deals are sourced from Amazon, so you don’t… Read More
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Google adds phishing protection to Gmail on Android
Following the widespread phishing scam that affected Google Docs and Gmail users this week, Google says it’s now rolling out a new security feature in its Gmail application on Android that will help warn users about suspicious links. This feature may not have prevented this week’s attack, however, as that attack involved a malicious and fake “Google Docs” app that… Read More
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