Articles about Android

Google has announced that developers can now take advantage of a new "staged releases" feature to roll out new versions of their apps to a small percentage of their user base.

The feature was first revealed at Google I/O earlier in the year, and Google says that it will give developers the chance to test new features on a limited number of users before opting for a wider rollout.

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Dark themes have become very popular recently. Whether this is because of them being easier on the eye, people going through a Gothic phase, perceived battery saving, or just a passing fad is not clear, but plenty of apps are getting in on the idea.

The latest to jump on the bandwagon is YouTube for Android. Google is rolling out an update at the moment that brings dark theme goodness to your favorite video app -- here's how to enable it.

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The launch of a T version of OnePlus handsets has become an annual event, and a new leak gives us a good idea of what to expect from the upcoming OnePlus 6T.

What purports to be images of the retail box for the OnePlus 6T has been shared on Weibo and -- assuming it is genuine -- it gives us a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming handset. We can see that there appears to be a smaller, redesigned notch, and also a fingerprint reader that's built into the screen.

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If you have a OnePlus 6, you can now get your first taste of Pie as the Android 9.0-based Open Beta has arrived.

OnePlus is often among the first handset manufacturers to release upgrades to the latest Android versions, and things are no different with Pie. At the moment it's not clear how many betas there might be, or when OnePlus intends to release the final version of its slightly-customized version of the operating system, but this beta release is the first step on that journey -- at least for those who weren't tempted by the earlier developer preview.

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A vulnerability in the Android operating system means that it is worryingly easy to track and locate phones. While the issue has been addressed in Android Pie, Google has no plans to patch the vulnerability in earlier versions of its mobile OS.

The vulnerability (CVE-2018-9489) was revealed in a report from Nightwatch Cybersecurity which warns that it can be used to "uniquely identify and track any Android device" and also to "geolocate users". As well as Google's own Android builds, the problem is also said to affect forked versions such as FireOS.

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The CEO of Epic Games has slammed Google's "irresponsible" disclosure of a security bug in its hit game Fortnite. Tim Sweeney accused Google of trying to "score cheap PR points" by revealing a vulnerability in the game's installer.

Epic chose to bypass Google Play when it released Fortnite for Android leading to concerns about security. On Friday, Google revealed details of a security flaw that could be exploited to secretly install malware onto people's phones.

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It seems that the concerns about Fortnite's security were well-founded -- although not necessarily for the reasons some people might have expected. Epic Games has been criticized for its decision not to make Fortnite available through Google Play, leading Google to show warnings to anyone conducting searches for the game.

Now a Google engineer just revealed that the first version of Epic's installer had a serious security vulnerability, placing Android users at risk. A post on Google's Issue Tracker shows that the installer could be abused to secretly download and install any app with any level of permissions -- a Man-in-the-Disk exploit.

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A week ago, Microsoft made its new Your Phone app available to all Windows 10 users. The app, which lets you sync content directly from a phone to a Windows 10 PC, was pulled shortly afterwards, as it transpired it was released accidentally.

Fast ring Insiders were still able to access and use the app though, and today Microsoft makes it available to Insiders on the Release Preview ring as well (this is the ring in which you run the current, public version of Windows 10 but still get early access to updates, applications and drivers).

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Microsoft’s plan with Windows 10 was to hit a billion devices within a couple of years, but that all hinged on the OS being a hit on PC, tablet, and mobile. Sadly, Windows 10 Mobile was a costly flop, and ultimately led to Microsoft’s exit from the mobile market.

It’s been rumored for a while that the tech giant might be planning a return to the space with a folding Surface Phone, but it’s going to need more than the right hardware -- the operating system will have to appeal to users of Android and iOS, and give them a reason to switch. Windows XP Mobile -- 2018 Edition is just such an OS.

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The ability to "unsend" emails has arrived in Gmail for Android -- for some people at least. The feature is already available on iOS and on the web version of Gmail, but now some Android users are finding that they have the option available on their phones too.

Google has not made any sort of announcement about the rollout of the feature, and it seems as though it could be a server-side update rather than a new version of the app. But if you're one of the lucky ones, here's how to make use of this handy option.

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Call it bad wording, call it blatant lying, call it what you like -- Google was recently found to have been misleading people about what disabling Location History on their phones actually meant. Many people understandably thought that turning off this setting would prevent Google from tracking and recording their location. They were wrong

But despite the upset caused by this revelation, Google is not backing down. Rather than changing the behavior of the setting so it did what people would expect it to do, the company has instead chosen to simply update its help pages to make it clear how misleading it is being.

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With the recent update to Gmail, Google added a number of features to its email service. One of the new features is Confidential Mode which allows for the sending of auto-expiring messages -- although, as we have previously noted, it's not perfect by any means.

Available on the web version of Gmail for a number of weeks now, the feature is finally rolling out to iOS and Android users.

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Yesterday, Microsoft rolled out its new Your Phone app for Windows 10. Previously only available for Windows Insiders, the app allows Android users to access their photos on a Windows 10 PC.

If you’ve been wanting to try out the app, we’ve some bad news for you. You’ll once again need to be an Insider to use it.

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Recording phone calls is dodgy territory legally speaking, but whether you choose to do it depends on where you are in the world, and whether you're concerned about complying with the law. Since Marshmallow, Google has made it difficult to record calls on Android phones by killing the recording API, but this has not stopped third party developers finding ways around it.

But with Android 9 Pie, Google has made it impossible for apps such as Call Recorder - ACR and BoldBeast Android Call Recorder to be used to record calls. Unless, that is, you're willing -- or able -- to root your handset.

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The second quarter of 2018 has seen a significant increase in Trojan activity, seeing them become the leading type of malware, according to the latest report from Comodo Cybersecurity.

At the same time there has been a slight decrease in cryptomining software. However, this has gone hand-in-hand with a sharp increase in their harmful capabilities, including better concealment and stronger persistence.

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