All posts tagged: Androids

Android’s new ‘Call Reason’ flags important calls before you pick up

Android’s new ‘Call Reason’ flags important calls before you pick up

Published by Webster

Android users will soon have an option to add an “urgent” indicator to their calls, which shows up on the receiver’s incoming call screen and in their call history if they don’t pick up. It’s a new feature in beta testing in the Phone by Google app, Call Reason, that will only work for people who are saved in your Contacts list already, and if you both use Google’s default calling app on Android phones. If you often send calls to voicemail (or your friends don’t pick up your calls), this feature allows you to tell each other when you’re calling about something important, or need to talk right away, without sending a separate text. Right now, Call Reason is just for marking calls as “urgent,” but it would also be nice to see more options down the line, like a custom message or emoji to show why you’re calling. Since the Call Reason message also shows up in your call history, it could also be a helpful reminder to call someone back about something …

Epic and Google agree to settle their lawsuit and change Android’s fate globally

Epic and Google agree to settle their lawsuit and change Android’s fate globally

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Just when we thought Epic v. Google might be over, just one Supreme Court rejection away from a complete victory for Epic, both sides have agreed to settle Tuesday evening. And if Judge James Donato, who ordered Google to crack open Android for third-party stores, agrees to the changes, it might turn Epic’s victory into a lasting global one. Previously, Judge Donato agreed to some of Epic’s biggest demands. He issued a permanent injunction that will force Google to carry rival app stores within its own Google Play Store, and give those rival stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, to restore competition to the Android marketplace. The injunction also forced Google to stop requiring developers to use Google Play Billing, after a jury found the company had illegally tied its app store to its payments system. But those changes only applied to the United States, only lasted for three years, and didn’t change how much Google would charge in app store fees. Now, Google is agreeing to reduce its standard fee …

Google just leaked Android’s new design language

Google just leaked Android’s new design language

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Google just accidentally revealed its next big Android redesign: Material 3 Expressive. In a now-deleted blog post spotted by 9to5Google, the company describes the change as the “most researched” update yet, with the goal of making its interface more appealing and easier to use. You can find an archived version of the deleted webpage on the Wayback Machine, and 9to5Google has published some of the images not saved by the site. As outlined in the post, Google says it developed Material 3 Expressive after conducting 46 rounds of design and research with over 18,000 participants. The design uses color, shape, size, and motion to make a product “more usable.” It will also have its own session at Google I/O later this month, As part of its research, Google studied things like where participants focused their attention in a design, how they reacted to different looks, and how quickly they understood an interface. The company also evaluated individual elements, like “which progress indicator made the waiting time feel faster” and “how big a button can be …

Android’s next big feature turns your phone into a desktop

Android’s next big feature turns your phone into a desktop

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A beta build of Android 16 contains an early version of Google’s new Android Desktop Mode that, in the future, could let users simply plug their smartphone into a monitor and use it like a laptop or desktop computer. The new feature was shared by Android tinkerer Mishaal Rahman reporting for Android Authority. Rahman manually enabled Android Desktop Mode under developer options on his Google Pixel 8 Pro running the latest Android 16 beta. After plugging it into a USB-C compatible monitor, it immediately displays a PC-like interface on the external display, as you can see as in his video: Android Desktop Mode puts Android’s status bar on the top so you can see your Wi-Fi and signal strength, and there’s a taskbar on the bottom that lets you pin apps for easy access. The taskbar also gives you a Windows Start Menu–style app drawer, and you get access to Android’s native navigation buttons on the right end of the taskbar. Apps run in windowed modes that look a lot like the experience on Android …

Android’s next big feature turns your phone into a desktop

Android’s Find My Device app can now show you where people are, too

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Google is rolling out a Find My Device app feature update that shows a map of your friends and the family members who share their location with you, 9to5Google reports. The new feature was announced in the Android March feature update last week and is now available for more users. There’s already a way for friends and family to see each other’s shared locations in Google Maps. Now, the Android Find My Device app does double duty, making it easier to find both things and people in one place. The map also shows the locations of friends who share from Google Maps on iOS. In the app on Android, you can tap the new People tab to show the locations of any contacts that are sharing their location with you. You can also switch to a tab that shows who you’re sharing your location with and gives you options such as changing the duration you share your location with someone. Google’s interface is now more reminiscent of Apple’s Find My app, which features a similar …

Google Rolling Out Android’s Identity Check Feature to Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Eligible Pixel Phones, More

Google Rolling Out Android’s Identity Check Feature to Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Eligible Pixel Phones, More

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Google is bringing Android’s Identity Check feature to several smartphones. It is confirmed to roll out to select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones initially. It will later be released to handsets from other competing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that run on Android operating systems. The Mountain View-based tech giant is also expanding its Theft Protection security feature to more eligible handsets. This feature was first unveiled in October 2025. These security tools are said to protect personal smartphones and data from theft. Android’s Identity Check Feature on Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Eligible Pixel Phones According to Google’s blog post, Android’s latest Identity Check feature is rolling out to Pixel smartphones running on Android 15 and Samsung Galaxy devices eligible for Android 15-based One UI 7. Currently, the only Samsung phones running on One UI 7 are the recently launched Galaxy S25 series of smartphones. This includes the base Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra.  Meanwhile, Google Pixel devices running on Android 15 include the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, and Pixel 9 series as well as …

A new iPhone shortcut replicates Android’s best new feature

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One of Android’s best new features, Circle to Search, is unfortunately not available to iPhone users. But Google is throwing Apple fans a bone with a solution that essentially replicates the function. Google’s design manager for Google Lens, Minsang Choi, shared a new iOS shortcut in a post on X that’s designed to leverage the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro devices. When activated, the shortcut takes a screenshot of whatever you’re looking at and immediately funnels it into the Google app and runs a Lens scan. “It’s basically Circle to Search, but faster,” Choi exclaims. The Google app shortcut in action.GIF: Umar Shakir / The Verge Over on 9to5Mac, author Abner Li discovered that the shortcut can also be used by iPhones that support the Back Tap. The accessibility feature lets you double-tap or triple-tap the rear of your iPhone and activate system functions like Magnifier, turn on the Flashlight, or in this case, run an iOS shortcut. If you’d like to try the new Circle to Search-ish feature using Back Tap, first confirm …

Androids may soon be getting a battery health indicator

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Google might finally start telling you when your Android phone has a degraded battery, Android expert Mishaal Rahman wrote in an article for Android Authority. Unlike iPhone users, who have been able to see their phone’s battery health stats from their settings for a long time, Android owners currently need a third-party app or must enter special command codes in order to check out their battery health. This month’s Pixel Feature Drop already added new battery information; currently, it shows the manufacture date of your battery and its cycle count. But the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2 adds a hidden “battery health” page, Rahman says, and although it doesn’t yet include an actual battery health meter, code suggests that it could show information like “estimated percentage of charge the battery can currently hold compared to when it was new.” Rahman also found icons seemingly representing things like reduced battery capacity or the battery not being detected. He also says the Settings app will send “tips” when there are any updates on battery health (i.e., if your …

How to make the most of Android’s accessibility features

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Accessibility features aren’t exactly the most well-known pieces of the modern smartphone puzzle. And yet, they might be the pieces with the greatest potential to make a meaningful impact on someone’s life. For anyone facing issues with hearing, vision, or other senses, Android’s accessibility options can help bring the outside world closer and allow for forms of interaction that simply wouldn’t be possible without such technology. Here’s a tour of Android’s most significant accessibility features and what they can do for you. (For each item, you’ll find separate sets of instructions for the standard version of Android, as Google provides it and for the heavily modified version of the software that Samsung ships on its phones.) Make reading easier We’ll start with the simplest but at times most consequential adjustments of all: those related to reading and interacting with the words on your smartphone’s screen. You can increase the size of the text all throughout Android by opening the Accessibility section of your system settings and then tapping Text and display > Font size. If …

Google May Make Android’s Root Store Updatable Via Play Services On Android 14: Report

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Google is reportedly working on making Android’s root store updatable via Google Play Store on Android 14. The search giant’s current mechanism updates root certificates only as part of full system updates, which could potentially render devices running on older Android versions unable to connect to the internet when the expired root certificates not being recognised. According to a report by AndroidPolice citing a tweet by Mishaal Rahman on Twitter, Google could be working on root certificate modules to be introduced via Google Play Services updates. Root certificates are used for authenticating connecting Android system devices in order to establish secure connections. The introduction of root certificate modules via Google Play Services will allow Google to push these updates as and when needed while preventing older models from completely falling off the trust grid. The development could have been triggered with one particular root certificate authority, TrustCor, being in the news for allegedly having links with a company that is known to provide sypware intelligence services. Google has since started removing support for TrustCor’s certificates …