Items tagged with Apps
If you feel like handing out fist-bumps today, save one for Google, which is cracking down on shady ad practices by Android app developers. Google already has several policies in place that restrict overly annoying ad implementations, though up until now, developers were free to splash the lockscreen with ads. And they have been doing exactly that, but no more, thanks to a new policy. Over in Google's Developer Policy Center, there is a Disruptive Ads policy in the Monetization and Ads section that states ads may only be placed inside of an app. "Ads should not be shown in a way that results in inadvertent clicks. Forcing a user to click an ad or submit personal information for advertising purposes...
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It wasn't just you, WhatsApp was down for about an hour this morning. The outage impacted global usage of the app, which boasts over 1.2 billion active users. The app is a primary means of messaging between friends and family, and those people were not happy with the outage. The outage was first noticed when the term "whatsappdown" was trending in countries like India. The app has a particularly large user base in developing nations like India, which is also its biggest market with 200 million users. India isn’t the only country where the downtime for the app was trending, it was also trending on social media in Pakistan, Britain, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam, and Myanmar according...
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Google knows that exploits make it through the app development process and could be lurking in some of the most popular apps on the Google Play Store, waiting for a nefarious hacker to take advantage. To help weed out these vulnerabilities, Google has launched the Google Play Security Reward Program. Developers of popular apps are invited to opt-in to the program and if they do, Google will pay out up to$1,000 for bugs found in those apps. Google writes, "Developers of popular Android apps are invited to opt-in to the program, which will incentivize security research in a bug bounty model. The goal of the program is to further improve app security which will benefit developers, Android...
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It is an understatement to say the mobile app market is lucrative. According to a new report, consumer spending on apps is projected to reach $139 billion in revenue by 2021 as maturing markets see strong growth in gross app store spend per device. Increases spending on in-app purchases will also help drive up the total. The bulk of that revenue will come from Android, as all Android stores combined will leapfrog Apple's App Store. App Annie's App Store Forecast Report says that will happen sooner than later. "For 2017, consumer spend in Android stores is forecasted to surpass the App Store. This is driven by increasing global app installs in Google Play and third-party Android stores. However,...
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Everybody likes free things, right? Of course we all do, at least when there are no strings attached. Well, we have good news for Android users—at long last, Google has added a "Free App of the Week" section to the Play Store. Just like it sounds, the new section features a paid app that is temporarily available to download for free. This is a great way to beef up your app catalog with paid titles that you otherwise might have skipped over.Image Source: Google Play (Cartoon Network) This week's free app is Card Wars - Adventure Time by Cartoon Network. The app normally runs $2.99 but is currently available at no cost if you own a compatible Android device. "Floop the Pig! It’s Adventure Time...
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Software developers take note, Apple wants to phase out 32-bit apps completely from iOS. Starting with iOS 10.1, mobile device owners who opened up an old 32-bit app received a warning that the app could slow down their gadget until the developer updates it to improve compatibility. More recent warnings reflected slightly tweaked language that leave out the performance part, but still makes clear that the developer has some work to do."This app will not work with future versions of iOS. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility," the newer warnings read.The tweaked language applies to iOS 10.3 beta and includes the interesting disclaimer that future versions of...
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Some users have noticed that Uber's mobile app continues to track a user's location after a ride is completed. In some cases, the location tracking stays active for days or even weeks after the last completed ride. Is Uber spying on users who hail rides from the popular ridesharing service? Uber says no and instead points the finger at iOS, Apple's mobile operating system for iPhone devices. More specifically, Uber says it is the fault of the iOS Maps extension that Apple opened a few months ago, insisting that it was not due to buggy code in its own app or part of its recent location services update. The latter is what many assumed was the culprit since Uber announced last month that it was...
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Certain things should go without saying. Should. Unfortunately, common sense takes a backseat etiquette these days, so ridesharing service Uber felt compelled to add some common sense restrictions to its "Community Guidelines." Breaking any of them could result in being banned from hailing rides from Uber drivers. Uber's goal was to lay out the rules in "plain English" so that everyone—both drivers and riders—know what is expected of them. For example, Uber prohibits damaging the driver's or another passenger's property. In case that's too vague, Uber goes on to list specific infractions that include "damaging the car, breaking or vandalizing a phone, intentionally spilling food or drink, smoking,...
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If virtual reality headsets are going to truly break into the mainstream market, there needs to be a lot of content for consumers to devour, and it has to be easily accessible. In recognition of those requisites, HTC's Vive team today announced the global launch of Viveport, its own app store for a variety of VR content and experiences including, education, music, sports, and more. To kick things off, many of what HTC calls "super-hit" titles are available at a discounted rate of just $1 for the next 48 hours. These include Mars Odyssey (normally $7.99), The Music Room Mini (normally $29), Firebird - La Peri (normally $9.99), and theBlue (normally $9.99). There are also a bunch of titles that...
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It's been a long wait, but Chrome OS now finally and officially supports Android apps, though you'll need an Acer Chromebook R11 or Asus Chromebook Flip to enjoy the new luxury. If so, you can grab a Chrome OS update from the Stable channel (version 53.0.27815.129), which among other things includes a beta for the Google Play Store, Google announced in a blog post. Being able to use Android apps in Chrome OS isn't entirely new. Google rolled out an update to the Dev channel back in June for Asus Chromebook Flip owners to have access to Android apps, though it meant relying on experimental code that wasn't quite ready for prime time. Still, it was an option for anyone feeling impatient and wanting...
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One of the perks of being an Amazon Prime member is you get to stream a growing catalog of movies and television shows similar to Netflix. Unlike most rival streaming services, however, Amazon now lets you download flicks to a memory card for offline viewing via the Amazon Video app for Android devices, a new feature that comes courtesy of the latest update.The ability to download Prime movies and TV shows for offline viewing isn't entirely new. Previously it was possible to save streaming content to your phone or tablet's internal storage, so whether you were going on a cross country flight or heading out to the boonies without a reliable Internet connection (or Internet service at all), you...
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You may have noticed that a bunch of kids or young adults have started running around your neighborhood perhaps looking a little suspicious (or at least preoccupied with their smartphones). They're not necessarily up to no good, they're probably caught up in the Pokemon Go craze, a new mobile app that uses augmented reality to encourage players to capture Pokemon characters. It's super popular, but if you plan to partake, be careful of your surroundings so you don't end up being robbed in real life. The unfortunate side effect of Pokemon Go's immense popularity is that opportunistic armed robbers are catching players off guard as they wander into isolated areas. Police in O'Fallon, Missouri,...
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Bethesda's been teasing a major update to Fallout Shelter for the past month, Update 1.6, which will bring the popular mobile title to the PC platform. In the days leading up the update's July 14 (this Thursday) launch, Bethesda has taken to Twitter with catchy rhymes to hype the release of what it says it will be the biggest update ever to the game."Five days until you're besting the questing with Fallout Shetler's biggest update," the official Fallout account (@Fallout) posted to Twitter on Saturday. This was followed up by another tweet yesterday that reads, "Four days until you can exchange blows and combat foes in Fallout Shelter's biggest update," followed a link to Fallout Shelter's homepage.Bethesda...
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It seemed like a crazy when a little over years ago Facebook announced it was purchasing WhatsApp for $19 billion. But the reason Facebook was wiling to pony up such an obscene sum is partly because of how wildly popular WhatsApp was at the time. It's only grown since then, and according to its developers WhatsApp users make over 100 million calls per day. "Today, more than 100 million voice calls are made every day on WhatsApp - that's over 1,100 calls a second! We're humbled that so many people have found this feature useful, and we're committed to making it even better in the months to come," WhatsApp stated in a blog post announcing the 100 million calls per day milestone. WhatsApp is primarily...
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