It just got a whole lot easier to decide whether or not saving $50 on Amazon's new ad- and bloatware-subsidized smartphones is worth the headache of having to see an advertisement on the lock screen every time you wake the device. That's because you can get rid of the lock sc ...more
Android names each major OS version according to the alphabet, but N presented a dilemma. Sticking with their sweet-strategy, the folks at Google weren't left with many options for the 14th letter of the alphabet. In fact, they even opened up suggestions for the name, asking f ...more
Depending on your carrier and the texting app that you use, sending long SMS messages from an Android phone often results in the recipient being hit with a barrage of fragmented, out of order texts. Even if the messages arrive in order, the glorious, sprawling passage that yo ...more
Facebook Messenger has another secret game for you to play in both the Android and iOS versions of its app. This time it's a soccer-themed game to tie in with the Copa America and Euro 2016 tournaments currently underway. Starting the soccer game works the exact same way as w ...more
In usual Apple fashion, there are new wallpapers to go along with their new operating systems, iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. The background that's included in iOS 10 for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is a crashing aqua-colored wave with land just below its surface, and macOS Sierra' ...more
The OnePlus 3 just launched, and if you're not sure about taking the plunge on the $399 budget smartphone, you can at least check out how the device's new wallpapers will look on your phone right now. Hampus Olsson, designer of most official OnePlus wallpapers, created four w ...more
Your iPhone's lock screen is about to get a major upgrade in iOS 10, as shown off by Apple at WWDC '16, and it will make dealing with notifications and apps a breeze. The new lock screen has been fully redesigned to give users better and faster interaction with the apps they n ...more
Siri will soon be more helpful than ever before. Apple showed off the latest features that its computerized personal assistant will have in iOS 10 at WWDC '16, including context-based predictive suggestions that help to speed up the user experience. Siri will now work with the ...more
Lenovo announced at Tech World '16 a slew of new products, and one of them aims to upend the smartphone accessory ecosystem: Moto Mods. Moto Mods are proprietary modular add-ons developed for two new Motorola phones that were also announced in the keynote, the Moto Z and Moto ...more
A developer from a firm named Tendigi came up with a way to run Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 on an iPhone 6 Plus, and it's pretty awesome. The hack is the brainchild of Nick Lee, who had previously installed Windows 95 on an Apple Watch, and you can see it in action below. Video: ...more
T-Mobile is going for broke. The carrier recently announced it will be giving away free stuff to its customers every Tuesday through a new app called T-Mobile Tuesdays for Android and iOS, and that's in addition to one share of stock and free in-flight Wi-Fi. The app will give ...more
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, a new smartphone manufacturer named Nextbit emerged, then released its first flagship device—the Nextbit Robin. The headlining feature of this colorful gadget is its cloud-based app storage, but the phone itself comes with a very polish ...more
Music is definitely more immersive when it's accompanied by a bit of visual stimuli, which is why CyanogenMod and other custom ROMs have started integrating music visualizers into elements of the Android system UI. It's a great effect, but it's not necessarily something that's ...more
Google I/O is like Christmas for smartphone fans. At their annual developer's conference, the Mountain View search giant gave us a glimpse of what they've been working on over the past year—and they've been quite busy, to say the least. Don't Miss: Meet Allo, Google's New AI ...more
A motion-based lock screen app called GestureLock was among the winner's at 2106's Android Experiments I/O Challenge, and it lets you set a specific motion (gesture) that you use to gain access to your locked phone. Don't Miss: Google's Experimental Launcher for Android Feels ...more
Instagram is the world's biggest photo-sharing site, narrowly edging out competitors like Imgur and Flickr. But unlike the competition, Instagram doesn't make it easy for users to download a full-resolution copy of any of the images hosted on their servers, as the site's main ...more
Google is launching a new app called Spaces that lets you share things from the web with small groups of people. The aim of Spaces appears to be granting you a forum with like-minded people to help cut down on off-topic comments that can steer a conversation off the rails. Spa ...more
BlackBerry announced in April that they included a beta of their video messaging service in BBM for Android and BBM for iOS for users in the United States and Canada. Well, it's finally spread to other parts of the world. Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the ...more
Launcher shortcuts, which let you skip directly to a specific function on an app when you open it, first appeared in a recent Android N preview build, and now we're getting a look at how the feature might look in action. There are no apps that currently take advantage of thes ...more
Samsung's Galaxy S7 is an incredible piece of technology, but the Skype app that's preinstalled on some models may have some nasty issues, such as video and audio that freezes. Luckily, the fix for these problems is a simple one, although somewhat buried in the phone's Setting ...more
Computer cables tangle and get in the way, but Mobile Accessory Project hopes to solve that with CONNEX, a flat cable shaped like a credit card which expands up to 1.5 feet. Don't Miss: How to Keep Any Cord Tangle-Free Video: . The cord is made of silicone cut into a zigzag p ...more
We've known for a while that Facebook had planned to reintegrate SMS and MMS into its Messenger app for Android. Well, it's finally live, and it's pretty great. In order to get SMS and MMS abilities in Messenger, you'll need to being running the latest beta release (75.0.0.11 ...more
3D printers have been surging in popularity for both professional and personal applications, and now OLO is on the verge of making 3D printing practical wherever you go. Their eponymous 3D printer is battery-powered and uses the light from your smartphone's screen to create 3D ...more
The photo-centric Instagram app is a great way to share "evergreen" pictures and videos when compared to Snapchat and Facebook's new Messenger Day feature. But like all social media, keeping the account secure is an essential aspect, as it restricts unwanted viewers from seein ...more
Offensive pictures, depressing tweets, political statuses, and just plain old dumb comments are only a few of the reasons why people unfriend or unfollow others on social media sites. Sometimes it's just social spring cleaning, other times there's no reason at all. Personally ...more
With the whirlwind of noise surrounding the COVID-19 virus sweeping the nation, it's not hard to default to panic mode. One of the best ways to avoid panicking, however, is to follow trusted sources of information and avoid all of the opinions and trolls that don't reflect rea ...more
If you've taken the time to edit a video on your iPhone or Android phone, you probably have a purpose for it. Maybe you want to share it to YouTube in hopes of making the next viral sensation. Maybe you just want to save the video to your phone to show off to friends and famil ...more
Following someone on Twitter is an investment. You virtually agree to have their opinions, tirades, and hot takes spewed across your timeline. It can get annoying real quick if they're known to post controversial comments periodically. However, there are other ways to stay upd ...more
The latest trend in smartphone design is all about the display. Manufacturers want larger screens with smaller bezels. The rumors are heating up about Google's next big release, the Pixel 2, and with that, we may have a clue that shows us Google is hopping on the display train ...more
In the changes to the App Store Review Guidelines for iOS 11, Apple has announced that developers must use the App Store rating API. The API was introduced in the iOS 10.3 beta period as something that would eventually become mandatory. Now, Apple has followed through on that ...more
The leaks and rumors surrounding the highly anticipated Galaxy Note 8 just keep coming. But none have suggested that the new Samsung phone might be powered by a different chipset than the Snapdragon 835, until now. According to a report by China-based IT Home (discovered by S ...more
The Galaxy S8's Always On Display is a fantastic feature that gives you a brief overview without having to wake up your phone. But AOD now has a virtual home button, which kinda ruins the sleek look and can even cause screen burn-in. Regardless of your reason, if you're not a ...more
Apple's iOS is a great operating system, but it's not without its faults. Minor quirks have plagued the Apple community for years, such as a general lack of customization, a poor notification system, and some interesting UI choices like the intrusive volume popup. With iOS 11 ...more
WhatsApp for iOS has updated with three new features. The changes follow a trend of Apple and Facebook updates recently, including Facebook's new options for sharing content on June 1st, and Apple's updates announced at WWDC. Users can now add filters to photos, videos, and g ...more
The rumors were confirmed today at WWDC, Amazon Prime is coming to the TV app on the iPhone. This app will allow users to stream their favorite Amazon Prime shows including Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, Catastrophe, Transparent, and more. The release of this app signals that m ...more
According to the French Blog iGeneration, Apple Maps is hoping to get itself back on the map. How? By taking a page out of Google Maps' book and hiring freelancers from TryRating to manually check the accuracy of their locations. Apple Maps has been somewhat of a joke, known ...more
Until recently, Firefox had the ability to continue playing YouTube videos in the background after minimizing the browser. It worked great as a YouTube Red alternative, but unfortunately, Mozilla removed this feature after some pushback from Google. Thankfully, there's a way t ...more
Rumor has it that Google Assistant will be coming to an iPhone near you. A "trusted source" broke the news of GA's arrival on iOS to Android Police ahead of Google's I/O conference this week. The iOS version of the Google Assistant app would most likely incorporate a chat fe ...more
Everyone loves emojis, but some folks aren't quite happy with the way the little yellow guys look on their particular phone. In order to replace them, however, your device needs to be rooted, and you'll usually need to perform some complicated procedure that ends up making you ...more
In a move that confirms previous speculation, Apple has placed a large OLED display order from Samsung for its next iPhone. At 70 million display units, the order is a large one to be sure, but when stacked against previous iPhone sales, it's no wonder the rumors say there won ...more
Monday has been a big update day for Apple. Alongside the release of iOS 10.3, iWork has been updated across both iOS and macOS. The biggest change is the ability to unlock password-protected files with Touch ID, either on iPhone and iPad, or on the new MacBook Pro with Touch ...more
Mobile gaming is a huge industry that raked in more than $91 billion in revenue in 2016, and of course, all of the major players get most of the glory. But smaller, independent game developers make some of the most fun and unique games out there — it's just harder to find thei ...more
Google just announced that it will be bringing the Google Assistant—previously an exclusive feature on Pixel phones—to many more devices in the coming days. The only requirement they're giving is that the phone must be running either Android Marshmallow or Android Nougat, so a ...more
Anyone who's ever flashed factory images to manually update an Android phone knows how tedious the process can be. Unlocking the bootloader and flashing Android firmware requires the use of ADB and Fastboot—but, like getting a whole pizza pie when all you wanted was a slice, u ...more
As we first reported here on Gadget Hacks, Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones come with an unlockable bootloader, with the exception of models sold by Verizon. This means that by sending a simple fastboot command, you can flash third-party firmware images like TWRP c ...more
Matteo Pisani, CTO and co-founder of Remoria VR, has managed to do something the folks over at Google said couldn't be done for at least a couple of years. With a little bit of tinkering, Pisani was able get his Google Daydream VR headset and remote to work on an iOS device. V ...more
It took nearly six months, but Google has finally made its wildly popular iOS keyboard available to Android users. Technically, it's just an update to the existing Google Keyboard app for Android, but it renames the app to "Gboard" and includes all of the features from iOS, so ...more
The next generation in mobile communications has officially arrived. A new "Universal Profile" was just published to help carriers and OEMs enable Rich Communication Services (RCS) on any of their smartphones, and the standard hopes to replace SMS with a feature-rich, iMessage ...more
For some strange reason, Google Now is unavailable in several countries across the globe. Users from Albania, China, Cyprus, Malta, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Tunisia, and many more big countries have reported for years that the service doesn't work in their area, mostly likely becau ...more
Facebook released a new app in November 2016 that aimed to compete directly with Snapchat, but it was only officially available in Brazil—and still is. The app, called "Flash," is so much like Snapchat that it's not even the slightest bit of a stretch to call it a clone. Even ...more
The Google Assistant that powers search on Pixel devices and Google Home has a lot more personality than regular old Google Search. It gets to know you, it's conversational, and it even has some fun Easter eggs hiding within—including a few magic tricks up its sleeve. To cele ...more
In the past, some of Google's Nexus devices have had root methods even before the phones hit shelves. The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are basically Nexus devices from a software standpoint, so why have we gone more than a week since release without a working root method or custo ...more
If you took your favorite search engine, gave it a witty personality, and bundled it together with a messenger-style interface, you'd have the new Google Assistant. It's great for getting fast answers—even on your follow-up questions—but its flair for fun might just be the sta ...more
Today is the day you've been waiting for. At 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT), Google announced a number of new products, including the new #MadeByGoogle Pixel smartphones and the Daydream VR headset. Sadly, several other rumored announcements didn't pan out. Google's new opera ...more
Most newer Android devices manufactured in 2014 or later have a built-in pedometer for tracking your fitness activity. This step counter is a great way to keep yourself in shape and motivated, but developer Leonardo Cavaletti has come up with an even better way to put it to us ...more
In an effort to be more inclusive, Facebook will release over 1,500 ethnic and gender diverse emojis for its Messenger app across all platforms on June 2nd, 2016. The update includes the usual emoji diversity inclusions, such as skin tone choice for faces and hand gestures, an ...more
More proof is emerging that the iPhone 7 won't include a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and damn—it is not pretty. These third-party Lightning-to-3.5 mm dongles were spotted on Chinese site Tama, and they give us a glimpse into a horrifying future in which we have to attach one of the ...more
Google switched things up this year by releasing a developer version of Android N far ahead of I/O, but that's not the only convention they've done away with this year. For the first time, Google will accept name suggestions from the public. Video: . You can visit android.com/ ...more
Google kicked off I/O 2016 by debuting Assistant, a next-level version of Google Now. While you could search the web by voice before, now you'll be able to have a conversational interaction with Google. In short, it's a smart chat bot. Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated an ...more
Celebrating Mother's Day just got more exploitative with Apple's Mother's Day ad. Their original Mother's Day ad shows photos and videos of mothers shot on an iPhone and uses the “Shot on iPhone” marketing line: Video: . In a perhaps misguided marketing campaign, you can inse ...more