When it comes to playing videos from your personal media library, VLC is hard to beat. But let's say you want to play videos from an Android device by connecting it to your TV — what app should you use then? VLC is still the answer, particularly once you've enabled its TV-frie ...more
The first sneak peak of Android O is finally here. The developer preview promises more features, stabilization, and better performance, according to the Android Developers Blog. Furthermore, there's speculation that the latest operating system will be code-named "Android Oreo, ...more
Google just released Android 7.0 Nougat, and as usual, they're doing a staged rollout. This means that most users won't actually get the update on their Nexus devices for a few weeks—that is, unless they take matters into their own hands. Shortly after Nougat made its debut, ...more
Apple has stepped up its emoji game lately, and as a result, there are several iPhone emojis that don't show up on Android devices running older firmware. However, Google responded by adding a next-gen set of Unicode 9.0 emojis to its Android Nougat preview build, meaning that ...more
Given how much use it gets on a daily basis, the power button is always one of the first hardware features to call it quits on an Android phone or tablet. So if your power button is acting up, or you don't want it to, you can extend its lifetime by simply finding ways to use i ...more
As touchscreen phones continue to evolve, the need for physical buttons seems less and less pronounced. While hard keys may seem like an endangered component on mobile devices, save for the Samsung Galaxy line, it'd be difficult to fathom a world where volume keys are absent. ...more
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you're probably well aware that the Android world has been buzzing with excitement over the recently debuted Android L preview build that was released for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 at Google's I/O conference. This i ...more
Update, November 12, 2014: Android 5.0 Lollipop is officially out now. If you haven't gotten the OTA yet, check out our new guide on installing the official Lollipop builds on any Nexus for download links and instructions, for Mac or Windows. Google I/O 2014, the annual devel ...more
On its quest for online domination, Amazon.com continues to expand past its basic web marketplace to fulfill the needs of everyone and anyone with a little cash to spend. First, they battled the likes of Barnes & Noble and Borders Books with their online Kindle eBook shop. Ne ...more
Prior to this year's WWDC, there were lots of rumors that Apple might finally be making a version of iMessage for Android. While that never came to fruition, a few big updates to a very useful app have now ensured that we can seamlessly send and receive Android texts in Apple ...more
People like to cite the iPhone as the device that started the smartphone craze, but the truth is, smartphones had existed for years by the time Apple got into the game. The real groundbreaking feature that this device brought to the table was a multi-touch screen to go along w ...more
Getting files from an Android device to a Mac or iOS device is not always easy or convenient, and the same goes for transferring content from a Mac or iOS device to an Android device. But we're here to tell you there is a better way than using USB cables, email, and cloud stor ...more
Put yourself in Google's shoes: You know that business is becoming increasingly mobile, but the mobile operating system you maintain is wide open by design, and it's garnered legions of loyal fans that love to explore and exploit every aspect of it. There's a clear conflict of ...more
The sheer variety of Android devices on the market is staggering—one report suggests there are well over 24,000 distinct phones and tablets floating around out there. When you consider that each manufacturer adds a few tweaks to the Android code base here and there, that makes ...more
These days, that pocket-sized computer we call a smartphone is home to your entire digital life. But with the onset of mobile payments and online banking, the line between your virtual world and the physical realm is becoming increasingly blurred. We vigilantly remember to lo ...more
The Windows 10 desktop and microphone can be livestreamed without using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) software and without opening any ports on the target computer. A hacker with low user privileges can monitor and exfiltrate a target's every move and private conversation in r ...more
For all those times when an app either isn't available or simply won't cut it, your phone's internet browser provides access to your favorite websites and services. But some browsers are flat-out better than others, and chances are, the browser that came pre-installed on your ...more
In the iPhone modding scene, the Checkm8 bootrom exploit, by developer axi0mX, led to a powerful jailbreaking tool known as Checkra1n. With it, you can jailbreak a variety of iPhone models without worrying about it getting patched later on. But in the past, it required you to ...more
There are over 250,000 apps in the Android Market, ranging from free productivity programs to a ridiculous $200 for a vuvuzela horn effect. But chances are you don't have the vuvuzela app on your Android smartphones right now, but you are likely to have one of the ten most pop ...more
The Android Market makes it easy to install programs on your Android phone right "over-the-air." One of the salient advantages of a Google Android smartphone over, say, an Apple iPhone, is the inherent extendibility of the open-source Android mobile OS. There are a seemingly i ...more
Android 11 won't be available as a beta update for Pixel devices until May 2020. Until then, the only way to try the latest Android version is by manually installing it. Usually, this means carrier models are left out since their bootloaders are locked, but there's still a way ...more
One of the coolest things about Android is the massive development community behind it. These developers keep on cooking up new things even after official support has stopped for an older device. It breathes new life into somewhat forgotten devices, which is always great news. ...more
Lots of Google apps are getting dark mode. Google Drive has had it on Android 10 for a few months. But it hasn't been accessible to all Android users until now. With the latest update, there's a manual dark mode switch you can turn on regardless of what OS version you have. D ...more
Thanks to Android Pie's gesture controls, features like split screen mode now take several additional steps to activate. This change is due to the revamped navigation bar which removed the recents apps button. Luckily, we can still change it back. With some tinkering in Setti ...more
There are a number of options and hidden menus within Android that provide users more control over their device. With this control, you can better manage how your phone operates. We came up with a list of tips and shortcuts that, when used, will slowly put you on a path to bec ...more
You may have noticed improved photo quality in the Android Snapchat app in recent months. Believe it or not, this is because Snapchat only just recently started using a decade-old camera API that predates every Android phone in existence. The basic premise of APIs is simple — ...more
It looks like Google's feud with Amazon won't end anytime soon. A war has been brewing ever since Amazon pulled Chromecast, Apple TV, and other competing devices from their store in 2015, but the latest exchange is a huge blow to people using Amazon Fire tablets and streaming ...more
Following in iOS 11's footsteps, Android 9.0 Pie will include a security feature that lets you immediately disable the fingerprint scanner as well as extended Smart Lock features. After initiating the feature, you will be required to insert your PIN, pattern, or password befor ...more
Most Android phones don't even have an Oreo beta yet, but that's not stopping Google from releasing the preview to their next big update. Android Pie is here for developers to test, and with it, one of the more controversial additions in the Android world today — the notch. W ...more
In 2017, major breakthroughs in smartphone-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) opened up new doorways for developers and users of both Apple and Android phones. Unfortunately for Android users, the solution that Google is previewing, ARCore, currently only works ...more
Chrysaor, a zero-day spyware believed to have been created by the Israeli "cyber war" group NSO, is an even greater threat to Android phones than it ever was to iOS. Related to the Pegasus hack that recently affected iPhones, Chrysaor is malware that baits the user into insta ...more
Google has done it again—they've pushed another broken OTA update for the Nexus 6. Except this time, it almost completely softbricks your Nexus 6 instead of just screwing up Android Pay and SafetyNet. Apps are force-stopping left and right, making the phone practically unusabl ...more
Long before Apple and Android became household names, Nokia dominated the mobile industry. The Finnish company was one of the first to develop smartphones, and their classic N95 with 2G "high-speed" internet connectivity was declared the "best smartphone ever" by some in 2007. ...more
If your phone has an unlocked bootloader, you can use Fastboot commands to flash factory images. That may sound like a bunch of technical jargon, but when it comes down to it, this is the best method for updating a rooted device, fixing a bricked phone, reverting to stock, or ...more
If you're a fan of sleek, powerful computers and highly-customizable smartphones, then you probably own a Mac and an Android device. But the downside to this glorious hardware pairing is that it can be hard to get the software on the two devices to play nice together. Previou ...more
As Android's official app provider, the Google Play Store is packed with thousands of useful programs. But Google's terms of service is extremely restrictive, which means that countless apps simply don't qualify to be hosted on the Google Play Store. As a result, many great a ...more
For years, users have been clamoring for a "dark mode" theme in Android, but it has always seemed like Google is so committed to the white motif from their web services that such an option would never become a reality. But in a stunning turn of events, Google is finally embrac ...more
Smartphones have become such a big part of our lives these days that they're now closely associated with our personal identities. No longer is it Ford versus Chevy, rock versus rap, or PC versus Mac—now, you're either an Android person or an iOS person. Don't Miss: 10 Things ...more
You no longer need two fingers to take screenshots on Android. As long as you have Android 6.0 or higher on your phone or tablet, you can use Now on Tap to take screenshots for you without pressing any hardware buttons. Now on Tap already essentially takes a screenshot of you ...more
Checking the weather ranks among the most mundane but essential tasks you can do on your smartphone. Thankfully, both the iOS App Store and Google Play are loaded with weather apps that add some much needed spice to this daily routine, giving you less of a reason to be caught ...more
Thanks to the strenuous efforts of our Gadget Hacks development team here at WonderHowTo, the fortified barrier segregating Android from iOS has finally fallen down. Since both Android and iPhone CPUs use the same ARM instruction set, we were able to utilize a mobile-webkit b ...more
It was the star of the show, but now that Android L has been released for preview to Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 owners, there's a lot that Google didn't tell us about their latest mobile operating system, rumored to be called Lollipop. First off, if you haven't already installed the ...more
I love Android, and I think its apps are great—the polish that came with the Ice Cream Sandwich update truly put Android design on the map. That being said, one of the more frequent complaints from iOS fans continues to be that apps just "run smoother" and "look better" on iOS ...more
Android may be one of the world's most popular operating systems, but the fragmentation of it between devices can cause some confusion. Known for their deliciously sweet names, Gingerbread, Froyo, and Jelly Bean are just of few of the many versions of Android your device could ...more
Dark mode is simply a way of life these days now that both Android and iOS officially support it. Most major apps now use the system-wide setting on Android and iOS, and many had their own dark themes in-app before Google and Apple got with the program. But the social media gi ...more
One of Android's biggest strengths is its flexibility. There's usually more than one way to perform the same task, which makes it easy to find an alternate method that works better for you. Android also has some hidden features that newer users might not be aware of, so we mad ...more
Because of the way Google Play works, Android has a "bad app" problem. Google allows any developer to upload an app to the Play Store, regardless of if it works, how it looks, or whether or not it can harm users. Malware scanning happens primarily after apps are uploaded, and ...more
The great thing about competition is it drives innovation. But when a company tries to one-up its competitor, it's not always with something brand new. Sometimes, one party will draw heavy inspiration from the other — but hey, it's still all good, because the consumers benefit ...more
Near Field Communication, or NFC for short, is a feature that allows our smartphones to wirelessly communicate with other devices over a short distance while using almost no power at all. Think of it like a slimmed-down version of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth that can send a small burst ...more
While the preview images for Android's upcoming "L" release just came out yesterday, the new firmware has already been rooted, as is standard with its openness. So if you were feeling reluctant to try Android L because it didn't support existing root methods, then you might wa ...more
Need a unique gift idea for the techy person in your life? Look no further than that phone they always have in their hand. There are plenty of great accessories, apps, subscriptions, and other smartphone-related goodies that will improve their quality of life, and thoughtful g ...more
One of the best uses for an old Android device is to turn it into a security webcam that can be accessed over the internet. But most of the time, this is a rather difficult process, because existing apps usually require you to mess around with network settings and configure a ...more
If you're completely new to Android, you're in for a treat with all of the software tweaks and customization options that your smartphone or tablet offers out of the box. But if you really want to take things to the next level, the ability to mod your device expands exponentia ...more
OR rather How to make the Backdoor Persistent: Hello, my Cold and Merciless Hackers, Welcome to my 5th Post, In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make the backdoor we created in my guide here a persistent one. I finally found out a way to do this, as I was/am very ...more
It's that time of year again, folks. Each fall, Google debuts a new device alongside the latest iteration of its mobile operating system—but this year marked the release of three new Nexus gadgets. In a stark contrast to the circus-like atmosphere surrounding Apple's iPhone E ...more
Last week at Mobile World Congress 2019, Google put an augmented reality twist on its annual Android Partner Walk via its ARCore toolkit. For the uninitiated, the Android Partner Walk is a scavenger hunt for collector's pins hidden through the MWC's exhibition halls. The game ...more
The first developer preview of Android Oreo 8.0 was only out for a couple of days before Chainfire created a new root method for it. For the time being, only the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are supported by this first SuperSU ZIP, as the Pixel's dual-partition layout has created som ...more
Okay, so that headline definitely got your attention, but what the hell do cats have to do with Android Nougat? Well, apparently, Google's on a far-out trip reminiscent of the post-India Beatles era, because this is actually a thing. Previous Android versions have included an ...more
Verizon Wireless executives recently cooked up a plan so devious that it could have only come from one of the four major US carriers. Apparently, they aren't satisfied with simply loading every Android device they sell with their own bloatware, so now they're reaching out to b ...more
If you've ever rooted an Android device in the past or installed a custom recovery, you're surely familiar with the term "unlocked bootloader." But if all of this sounds like gibberish to you, some major changes in Android have made it to where you should definitely get famili ...more