About Rita El Khoury
Rita was a Managing Editor at Android Police. Once upon a time, she was a pharmacist as well. Her love story with Android started in 2009 and has been going stronger with every update, device, tip, app, and game. She lives in France, speaks three languages and a half, and watches a lot of TV series.
Latest Articles
Safe Folder feature officially rolling out in latest Files by Google beta (APK Download)
Rising from the ashes and live now
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If you've followed the story of the Google Files app's Safe folder feature, you'd know it's been a roller-coaster. It was first spotted in development mid-June, but two weeks later, we saw signs of it being unceremoniously killed before it even went live for anyone. Well, it now appears to be alive and well, as it just showed up in the latest Files beta version. (Update: And Google has just formally announced the rollout.)
Google Duo's AR effects can be applied in group video calls and before starting a call
Knock Knock with a little surprise
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Google Duo offers a lot of fun effects when you're on a video call, but until now, you could apply them in an ongoing one-on-one call. With the latest app updates, it's possible to pick an effect before the other person responds, as a fun surprise for them. Effects are also live in group video chats.
Android 10 users get access to Android 11's new emojis in a quirky way
Gboard and Messages work hand-in-hand to give you new smileys
On almost every OS and platform, support for new emojis usually requires a software update. This is generally the case with Android too: a new version brings the ability to display new emojis system-wide then Gboard gets updated to support sending those. We're on the cusp of a change, though, as Android 10 users have suddenly gained the ability to display and send 11's smileys through a combination of Gboard and Messages.
Chrome's crowded grid tab switcher gets trending search suggestion chips
Another way for Google to suck you into its Search product
Late last year, Chrome began testing a very busy tab switcher interface with a grid layout, incognito toggle, Google search bar, and site shortcuts. A few reiterations later, we're now looking at a slightly newer approach which keeps everything nearly the same, but puts trending search terms at the forefront instead of site shortcuts.
Netflix officially brings variable speed playback to Android devices
Creator vision makes way for accessibility
After months of testing, Netflix is joining myriad streaming services in adopting variable speed playback. Subscribers with Android phones will be able to watch programs at 0.5x, 0.75x, 1x, 1.25x, and 1.5x speeds. Creators have been dismayed with the feature since its testing, but advocates for those with hearing or vision loss say it's a win.
Google Photos brings back the skip and rewind buttons for videos
Everything old is new again
Google's apps go through a continuous ebb and flow of features. One day a new option is added, the next it's taken away, and many years later, you might get it back. That's the case with Photos' video skip and rewind buttons. We had them in 2016, they disappeared at some point after that, and now they're back, albeit in a limited server-side rollout.
Google AR animals now include 23 beetles, butterflies, cicadas, and other insects
For a higher creep and ick factor
Summer is in full swing, which means the air and ground are teeming with little critters, crawlies, and other tiny things that fly and buzz. If you're not having enough of those buggers in real life, you can now view them in AR through your phone's screen as Google just added 23 insects to its collection of 3D animals in search.
Millions of people around the world rely on Google Maps to get places, and for that, Maps' data has to be as accurate and timely as possible. Google tracks the quality of its data all the time and every few months, it updates us on the improvements or regressions it has noticed. In the latest set of changes, Maps has seen upgrades to the speed limit data in nine countries, accompanied with downgrades in nine others. There are minor changes to biking directions too.
Spotify's real-time group listening sessions will soon work over long distances too
Remote music parties!
Sharing music we love with others isn't a novel idea. We've changed the way we do it over the years and adapted to newer technologies, but the core concept remains the same thing as playing that cassette tape in front of your friends and hoping they like it too. Spotify introduced a more modern version of that through Group Sessions a few months ago, but the feature was limited to users in your vicinity. Now it's spreading to remote users too.
Gboard supports image pasting in clipboard, replaces Google Search with handy Lens text selection
Both features seem to be widely available
The past few months have seen plenty of Gboard changes come to the keyboard via server-side updates. Dark mode, smart compose, clipboard suggestions, all of these are still rolling out to users (I don't have any of them yet), but more features and enhancements are on the way. Two more appear to be widely available now, be it on the beta or stable version of Gboard: image support in the clipboard, and Google Lens in lieu of Search.
Digital Wellbeing switches apps to grayscale before they time out
Going once, going twice, gone
We've seen a lot of changes to Digital Welbeing ever since it first launched, nearly two years ago, but the feature's main goal has stayed to same: to make it easy for you to curb your app and smartphone usage. The latest change in the app, even though minimal, follows those footsteps. It turns apps into grayscale when there's less than a minute left on their daily timer.
Google Play Store search filters are rolling out to more users
Filter by rating, new, and premium apps
The Play Store's search feature is downright laughable, especially when you consider that it's built by the same company that has successfully indexed most of the web and made it easy to find any page or image or video with plenty of options to whittle down your request. New search filters in the Play Store hope to fix that issue at least a little.
You can now set a new reminder straight from an Android notification
Never forget to buy milk again
The last few Android iterations have introduced a lot of contextual actions and shortcuts in various places of the OS. You can select a phone number to call it, a word to define it, an artist name to open it in Spotify, or you may sometimes find smart actions in notifications. The most widely available of the latter is an "open" button when you receive links. Now, there's a new addition that lets you set reminders only when a contact asks you to do something.
Google Translate's dark mode is rolling out widely (APK download)
It's a server-side update too
Google Translate's dark mode rollout has been an interesting saga to follow. It first showed up in February but looked like a massive eyesore or a very early prototype, then it disappeared for months, despite being available for everyone on iOS. It popped back up again last week, looking better and fresher, but only bestowed its magic on a few users. A few days after that, it began showing up for more people and now seems to have widely rolled out to (almost?) everyone.
WhatsApp could soon let you use the same number on multiple phones
Still in the development stage, but inching closer
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WhatsApp has managed to reach a worldwide audience and break through 2 billion monthly users despite a severe handicap: The app doesn't support multiple devices for the same account. One phone number equals one phone or one tablet, that's always been the equation. And while there are workarounds to allow two different numbers on the same phone (for dual-SIM devices or Business users), there hasn't been any trick to make the same number available on two phones or tablets simultaneously. The great news is that WhatsApp is already working on this.
YouTube Music comes to Android TV in the least elegant way possible
It's in the YouTube app and doesn't work in the background
Google is slowly but surely getting ready to shut down Play Music and transition everyone to its new streaming service, YouTube Music (YTM). The switch has been fraught with missteps and obstacles, but things are gradually improving and there's no stopping that train now that it's at full speed. One of many reasons to hold back has been the lack of Android TV support for YTM, but a solution is available now. It's just nearly useless.
OnePlus is gearing up to unveil its newest smartphone in less than an hour. If you've been living under a rock which, let's face it, is what most of us have been doing for the past few months, you may have missed the continuous drip of teasers from the company... or not. LOL. But phone launches are still phone launches, and this is the most exciting thing to happen in the mobile tech sphere in months, so we know you want to join in and we've got you covered.
Google Translate's dark mode looks better now, but hasn't yet rolled out to everyone
iOS has had it for five months already
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Many of Google's most popular apps have received an update with dark mode, but Translate remains an outlier. It's been hanging on to its white-only interface like it previously did to its outdated, first-gen Material Design look. In February, things seemed to be moving ahead with version 6.5 of the app, though they surely didn't go in the right direction. Back then, a dark mode showed up for some users, but it looked like a work in progress or the result of the lowest possible effort. Now, a better-designed dark mode is rolling out again, but once again, it's limited to a few users.
Google mistakenly shows off the Pixel 4a on its official store
This Nest Wifi is unlike any other
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Google's upcoming midrange device, the Pixel 4a, has been leaked more than enough times over the past few months and we currently know everything about it except its price and release date. The latter may be approaching quickly, though, as Google inadvertently showed off the phone on its Canadian Store then quickly removed it.
How to make a WhatsApp voice or video call with Google Assistant
It's not as intuitive as it could be, so make sure you phrase things correctly
Last year, Google introduced integrations with WhatsApp that would let you start an audio or video call on the app via Assistant. While the feature is now widely available, the actual commands you need to use to utilize it are a little less than intuitive. You need to phrase things just so in order for Assistant to understand you actually want to use WhatsApp to make a call, which is mildly annoying. Fortunately, we've got a quick and easy guide to get you fluent in Google Assistant speak.