Android

After a long wait, Meta this week announced the ability to transfer WhatsApp chat history, photos, videos, and voice messages from Android to iPhone while maintaining end-to-end encryption. The system uses Apple's Move to iOS app for Android phones, and can be initiated during the setup process for a new (or factory reset) iPhone. This article runs through the steps involved in transferring...

Since Apple launched AirTags, the company has been enhancing their security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices. One of these enhancements includes giving Android phone users the ability to detect an unknown AirTag if it is close to them. ‌AirTags‌ are designed to play a sound when away from their owner and will also alert iPhone owners if there's an unknown tag nearby, but...

In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you can enable anyone, even if they don't have an Apple device, to join a FaceTime call with you by creating a link to a FaceTime conversation that can be shared anywhere. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Using this new link facility, friends and family members who do not have an Apple account can log into a FaceTime call with you using a...

Though designed for iOS devices, Apple's Beats-branded Powerbeats Pro are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. The downside to using Powerbeats Pro with Android is that you do lose some functions, like Apple's unique H1 chip pairing features and its...

In just a couple of weeks, Apple is going to make it ridiculously easy for Android users to switch to iOS with an upcoming app alongside iOS 9 called "Move to iOS." It will give Android users the ability to wirelessly migrate contacts, message history, photos and videos, web browser saves, mail, calendars, and more. Until then, we have to do these things manually. Luckily, it isn't difficult ...

Though designed for the iPhone, Apple's AirPods are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. You do, of course, lose some bells and whistles like Apple's unique AirPods pairing features. AirPods work like any other Bluetooth headphones on an Android device,...

At its Google I/O event taking place in Mountain View, California this morning, Google showed off features that are coming in Android P, a new version of Android that's set to launch this fall. Google is focusing on three parameters for Android P: Simplicity, Intelligence, and Digital Wellbeing. Android P has a new gesture-focused interface, which is similar to the interface that Apple...

Google today hosted its annual I/O conference designed for developers, where the company had several new announcements to share related to AI, Google Assistant, and machine learning. Google announced the launch of its next-generation machine learning chip, the TPU 3.0, which is powering many AI improvements to Google products using machine learning techniques. Gmail, for example, is gaining ...

The iOS 11 operating system is installed on 76 percent of devices as of April 22, according to statistics Apple shared today on its App Store support page for developers. That's up 11 percentage points since January 18, when iOS 11 was installed on 65 percent of devices, and 24 percentage points since November 6, when iOS 11 was installed on 52 percent of devices. 19 percent of devices...

Apple today shared two new videos in its "Life's easier on iPhone" series, which are aimed at encouraging Android users to switch over to an iPhone. The first ad, "App Store," depicts exploding app icons that are meant to demonstrate the superior safety of the iOS App Store, which is curated by human editors to protect against malicious apps. Apple's second ad highlights Portrait Mode and ...

Apple this week updated its Apple Music Android app with the revamped music videos section that launched on iOS and macOS devices late last week. Announced earlier in 2018, Apple Music's new music videos section provides access to a wider variety of both classic and brand-new videos, exclusive videos from artists like Kylie Minogue, and full video playlists that let subscribers stream music...

Google today announced that it's dropping the "Android" moniker from the name of its software designed for smart watches because it's not just Android users who are using the devices. Going forward, Android Wear, which is built into a wide range of smart watches from companies like LG, Misfit, Asus, Huawei, Fossil, and more, will be known as "Wear OS by Google." Google says that it's...

Android customers continue to be loyal to the Android operating system than iOS users are to the iOS operating system, according to new data shared today by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Android saw a 91 percent loyalty rate in 2017, compared to 86 percent for iOS, with loyalty rates for the two operating systems remaining largely steady since early 2016. Android loyalty has hovered ...

Google today announced a new Android update, Android P, which introduces support for display notches built into Android devices that mimic the design of the iPhone X. According to Google, Android P offers support for "the latest edge-to-edge screens with display cutout for camera and speaker," with a new "DisplayCutout" class for outlining the size and shape of a notch on an Android device. ...

Apple today released a new update for its Apple Music app designed to be used on Android devices, which Apple says significantly improves stability to make music playback more reliable. Apple says today's Apple Music Android update also introduces "new experiences" for music videos. Users can now watch music videos in fullscreen or inside Now Playing and music videos will continue to play...

Apple this afternoon uploaded several new short videos to its YouTube channel, which are aimed at luring current Android smartphone users to the iPhone. The first video, "Ease," is meant to demonstrate how easy it is to transfer content from an Android device to an iPhone using the Move to iOS app from Apple. In the video, a man holding an umbrella floats from the bottom of the screen,...

Late in 2017, a crop of iPhone X clones began popping up in China, with each device deciding to copy the tenth anniversary iPhone's main identifier: the front-facing "notch." One such model was the "Leagoo S9," and at Mobile World Congress this week the company has announced new details about the phone, including a price tag of $149.99. Images via Leagoo Leagoo confirmed that the device has a ...

A record 99.9 percent of smartphones sold worldwide last year were based on either Android or iOS, as all competing platforms have effectively been squeezed out, according to data shared today by research firm Gartner. Android remains more widely adopted than iOS by a significant margin, with a roughly 86-14 percent split between the respective operating systems last year. Android's...

Google's upcoming software update for its Android smartphone operating system will "embrace" an iPhone X notch-like design, according to people familiar with the company's plans speaking to Bloomberg. With the software, referred to as Android P, Google is readying a "new generation" of Android smartphones that will be "mimicking" the iPhone X's front-facing camera cutout design. Just like...

Apple increased its share of smartphone activations in the fourth quarter of 2017, following the release of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, according to data shared with MacRumors by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. iPhones accounted for 39 percent of activations in the United States between October and December, up from 34 percent in the year-ago quarter, based on CIRP's...

There's no official way to get iMessages on a non-iOS device like an Android smartphone, but a new Android app aims to provide a workaround, at least temporarily. weMessage is designed to allow you to get iMessages on an Android device, but for it to work, a Mac is required. weMessage uses a weServer app on a Mac, which takes iMessages that are delivered to a Mac and forwards them to an...

Google today announced the launch of its new mobile app payment platform "Pay with Google," following a sneak peek of the feature during its I/O conference this past May. Using Pay with Google, Android smartphone owners can access any of the credit or debit cards they've added to their Google Account -- sourcing products like Google Play, YouTube, Chrome, and Android Pay -- and quickly choose...

Alongside today's release iOS 11, Apple updated its Apple Music app for Android devices to introduce feature parity with the new version of Apple Music in the iOS update. Android users can now create an Apple Music profile to follow friends and see what they've been listening to. The same feature was introduced in Apple Music on iOS devices with iOS 11. Today's update brings a new Recently...

Google today announced the next-generation version of its Android operating system, which is named Oreo. Android Oreo includes dozens of new features, ranging from notification improvements to picture-in-picture support to new emoji. The update introduces an iOS-like feature called Notification Dots (aka app badges), designed to make it easier to see which apps have new content to...

Apple today debuted an overhauled webpage aimed at encouraging Android users to switch to the iPhone, introducing a simpler FAQ-style site that highlights iPhone features and makes it clear how simple it is to switch from an Android device to an iPhone. Apple previously had a webpage dedicated to customers coming to an iPhone from Android devices, but it featured less information on the...

Google today announced that there are now more than two billion monthly active Android devices in use around the world. By comparison, Apple announced it had surpassed 1 billion active iOS devices in January 2016, but it hasn't provided an updated count since then. Apple sells tens of millions of iOS devices each quarter, so it's reasonable to assume the total is above 1 billion, but...