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Android is now better than iOS, says head of Instagram
But new Threads features still arrive for iOS first
There aren’t a lot of things in the tech world that can be as polarizing as the Android vs. iOS debate. Both sides have some committed fans who will fight tooth and nail to diss the other. In our experience, some of the best Android flagships can easily give Apple iPhones a run for their money on several fronts. And there is one eminent person who endorses that view and believes that Android is now better than iOS: the head of Instagram and Threads, Adam Mosseri.
Android 14's latest work profile change should mean smoother transitions for work/life balance
Starting in Android 14, pausing the work profile actually means it's paused, instead of turned off
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The idea behind Android’s work profile is that you can easily separate your work from your personal life without having to carry a second smartphone around. All your work apps reside in a dedicated container that can easily be turned off at the end of the day, either manually or on a timer through Android’s Digital Wellbeing app. Starting in Android 14, though, Google’s making some key changes to how the work profile, well, works.
Android 14 will warn you when trying to sideload updates for some Google apps
Get ready for app stores claiming 'update ownership' over the software they install
Most people with Android phones get all their apps from Google Play, but Google’s app store is not the only repository of Android apps. There are a handful of great alternatives to Google Play, such as APKMirror (run by Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii). While downloading Android apps from outside Google Play is easy thanks to sites like APKMirror, there is a greater risk of things going wrong. If you choose the wrong APK, for instance, you could unintentionally install the wrong version of an app for your device, or an update that removes some functionality. That’s why, in Android 14, the OS will warn you when you try to sideload an update to a core Google app.
Google's making it easier to switch between your personal and work profiles
Moving between your personal and work profiles is becoming as simple as a swipe
Android’s work profile makes it possible to separate your personal and work life on a single device, and Google’s done a lot to make the work profile feel as integrated as possible. For example, when you have a work profile enabled, the Android launcher adds a separate tab (shown above) that contains all your work apps. In Google’s own apps, you can easily switch between your personal and work profiles by tapping your avatar and then selecting a button in the pop-up dialog. Now, Google’s making it even easier to switch between your profiles.
Your favorite emoji are flipping out in these new candidate designs
There are 108 new additions in total
Emoji are the de facto standard for emoting in conversations (and wallpapers) without using words. Thanks to the Unicode Consortium, the body dedicated to maintaining the international standard for symbols used in conversations, we now have an adequate selection of emoji to pick from. The catalog keeps expanding annually, and this year’s draft with 108 new emoji is now under consideration.
Your phone might soon sweet-talk you into updating Android
Try Android 13, it has a lot of great features, we're sure it'll be great
There are two kinds of Android phone owners out there. We have the kind of people who eagerly take an update to the next Android version as soon as it's available, and then we have the kind that will just ignore the update until it becomes too hard to ignore. There are an awful lot of people in the latter crowd, and if you don't have a friend or relative who does this, then it's probably you. Android's distribution numbers are already bad enough because of uncommitted OEMs, and these people definitely drag the stats even lower. Good news, though — Google is coming up with ways to entice them into updating, and this latest one is looking great.
Android 14’s Easter egg puts you in a space capsule for an endless voyage
It’s no Space Impact but hey, you can nerd out all over your spacecraft stats
The fourth Android 14 beta landed yesterday mainly to clean up any remaining bugs as it nears its stable release. But along with a long list of fixes, there is a little surprise hiding in this beta update that many Android devotees eagerly wait for every year — the Easter egg. Android 14’s new space-themed game is a big departure from Android 13’s Easter egg and will keep you occupied as you hunt for a nearby star.
Android 14 Beta 4 lets you trade security for speed when unlocking your phone
No more tapping 'enter' after punching in your PIN
We're getting down to the wire now with Android 14 developments, and today's Beta 4 release means we've got just a couple more builds left until we're ready for it to go official. Understandably, that means that Google's not so much interested in introducing bold new features right now, and what we're seeing is more along the lines of polishing up stuff we've been following for a while. That's exactly what's happening on Android 14's lock screen, as Beta 4 finally implements a user-accessible "auto-confirm unlock" toggle.
Android 14 Beta 4 arrives as stable release nears
We’re now in the last month of Google’s development timeline
Google's Android 14 beta program is nearing its end, with July being the last month in the development timeline ahead of a potential stable release in August. What started five months ago with the first developer preview has evolved into a fairly polished build after countless bugs were squashed. Now, Android 14 Beta 4 has arrived with its own hefty list of bug fixes.
Google's July update finally lands for the Pixel Fold
Downloads are now available, just a few days behind the rest of the Pixel family
Google's currently in the middle of maybe its biggest summer for new hardware in years, welcoming devices like the Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel Fold to the party. Those new models all hit the ground running, and Google was quick to show them the same solid software support the Pixel name is known for. Last week marked the arrival of the July update for Pixel devices, and while we saw it land for the vast majority of hardware, the Pixel Fold was curiously absent. Today Google finally sets things right, releasing the Fold's July patch.
Android’s July security patch is live with battery improvements for the Pixel Tablet
A small update following the big June Feature Drop
Google only published the big June Feature Drop with tons of new capabilities a few weeks ago, and now, the company is back on track with the regular security patch schedule. The July security update has been published, and it’ll roll out to Pixel phones soon. We’re looking at the usual few bug fixes, but don’t expect any big new additions until Android 14 launches in stable later this year.
Sharing links from Android's Recents menu is no longer a Pixel-exclusive feature
With Android 12, Pixels gained the ability to share links from the Recents menu — now it's time for Asus devices to join the fun
Google's Pixel hardware leads the pack of the best Android phones around, and part of that success rests on loads of software features that you can’t find on other devices. Pixel-exclusive features like Now Playing, Live Translate, Call Screen, and more are so nifty that people jump through hoops to install ported/modded/replicated versions of them — or even custom ROMs that enable them. As a consequence, we're always happy to see when an effort is made to bring some of that functionality to other Android devices — and that seems to be what's happening right now.
Google's latest ChromeOS design tweak is cutting corners
ChromeOS is testing an option to change square corners to rounded corners
ChromeOS has had a clean and straightforward design for some time, but a big Material You-focused makeover is standing by for a stable release later this year. One missing piece in this redesign are ChromeOS's hard and pointy corners, which stand in contrast to both the browser's own tabs but also the design the company brought to Android in recent years. The latest ChromeOS Canary update offers a glimpse at what to expect with a flag that allows users to activate rounded corners at various pixel radius options, ranging from 8 to 18 pixels.
The TicWatch Pro 3 series and E3 are finally getting their Wear OS 3 beta
It's closed, though — so closed you need to sign an NDA
The TicWatch Pro 3 was launched all the way back in 2020, while the TicWatch E3 and Pro 3 Ultra were launched a year later, in 2021. Owners of these watches have been awaiting an update to Wear OS 3, Google's current watch experience, for a very, very long time. We got news about updates for Mobvoi's older range of smartwatches back in April, saying that users should expect to see Wear OS 3 in the third quarter of this year. Just as we're about to step into that third quarter, Mobvoi is officially opening a (restrictive) closed beta for those who are interested in seeing how well Wear OS 3 runs on their watches.
Android TV makes renting movies easier without switching apps
A new 'Shop' tab is invading your screen
Renting or purchasing movies on Android TV is currently a convoluted process. Depending on your device, you have to go through either Play Movies & TV or the Google TV app If you're looking for a first-party way to watch movies without having to subscribe to a streaming service. Google is now streamlining how you can discover content to buy or rent by introducing a new "Shop" tab to Android TV.
Android 14 may let you bring back the old taskbar on the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold
Switching between the new 'transient' taskbar and the old 'persistent' taskbar could soon be possible
In the aim of making Android more user-friendly on large screens, Google introduced a taskbar in Android 12L. The taskbar provides quick access to select apps on any screen, and, starting in Android 13, all of your apps through an app drawer. Android’s taskbar, when combined with the enhanced split-screen mode and recents overview UI on large-screen devices, makes for a delightful multitasking experience that was missing in older versions of the OS. As we get ready for the stable release of Android 14, Google may be considering giving users a new degree of control over their taskbar experience.
The way Android looks has changed drastically over the course of the last few years. And with Android's constant changes, its brand identity has also adapted over time. We've seen a few changes to Android's logo and brand identity over the years, with the bugdroid remaining a staple of Android's brand. The last change was in 2019, and saw Google use only the bugdroid's head in addition to a slightly refreshed font. We're used to getting a logo change every few years or so, and if you were worried Google was going to settle for what it has right now, it's not happening. Google is yet again redesigning Android's brand — and this time, it's going for a rather radical one compared to what we've seen before.
Google moves for changes to Android Emergency SOS in response to accidental calls
You might want to disable Emergency SOS for the time being
Emergency calls have been around forever, connecting phone users with life-saving services. But more recently, smartphones and wearables have given us some cool new ways to access that help, like crash detection and fall detection. Nevertheless, sometimes these systems go wrong, like they did earlier this year when Android phones started making accidental 911 calls — and now, it's happening again.
Samsung One UI 6 beta could finally come to Galaxy phones in July
Android 14's platform stability milestone has us waiting eagerly
Android 14 has been available to public beta testers for a while now, and to developers for even longer. Samsung has been quick to start work on the new version, with reports suggesting One UI 6 based on Android 14 is undergoing internal testing ahead of a full-fledged launch in beta. Taking development further, Samsung is now expected to debut the first beta build of One UI 6 in July.
Android's Multiple Users feature can be pretty handy, especially on shared devices. You can set up secondary profiles for work and other use cases, like when your nephew wants to borrow the phone for gaming, or your partner wants to change the color temperature of smart lighting. Google has made it quite easy to switch between two or more profiles, and now, the company is designing a new animation for when you do just that.