WhatsApp users woke up to an enticing new offer from the Meta brand. This is a cashback deal wherein you will receive up to ₹105 credited to your bank account for using the WhatsApp Payments. All you need to do is send money to people in your WhatsApp contacts. Follow the steps below to know how it works. It’s a limited-time offer. So, you better hasten if you don’t want to miss out on free money. How to get the WhatsApp UPI Cashback Offer Of Up To Rs. 105 1. Open the WhatsApp app and you will see a banner at the top of the main conversation screen. It seems to be working on the latest version of regular WhatsApp (stable version). It wasn’t appearing on our WhatsApp Business app. 2. After accepting to get started, you will be prompted to select your bank. From the list of bank names, choose the one you would like to use for the WhatsApp UPI service. 3. Then you will have to verify your number. When you click on Verify, you will be asked to send an SMS to the selected bank in order ...

LG has brought its OLED TV offering to the Indian market. The roster includes the first Rollable OLED TV called the LG Signature R OLED and the world’s largest 97-inch OLED TV. Under the hood, the new LG TVs come with the proprietary Alpha processor, a new WebOS update, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and new picture modes for different use cases. Before we get into all the goodies specific to a particular series of LG TVs, note that the company is bringing forth the new webOS 22 (with customizable user profiles, and WiFi-based Room To Room playback sharing).  LG OLED TV 2022 (G2, C2, Z2) Features On the LG Z2, LG G2, and LG C2, webOS 22 adds an Always Ready facility for showing personal or lifestyle content when the TV is off. With that, let’s begin looking at the two major classes of LG televisions this year. LG OLED Evo LG Evo is part of the 2022 G2 series (LG OLED Evo Gallery Edition) and C2 series. For the uninitiated, the Evo tech claims better brightness, clarity, and detail....

WhatsApp Groups are getting bigger but you can exit them if you want. You would notify only the group admins when you do so. Meanwhile, if you are a prevailing member, you will have the option to view past particpants of the group. All these while WhatsApp is reportedly increasing the group capacity to 512 members from the previous limit of 256 members. WABetaInfo, who spotted these features tells us Meta-owned platform is still developing them and it could take some time before they are available to the app’s beta users. WhatsApp Group Changes As you can see in the above image, when you choose to leave a group, only you and the group admins will know that you have left the group. So, only the admins will receive the in-chat notification message that so-and-so has exited the group.  Well, the regular group members can still know that you have left if they check out the new View Past Participants option below the current group member names in the group ...

WhatsApp is reportedly working on enabling rich previews for links you share on your WhatsApp statuses. Up till now, on Android, you had at least some preview of the link while on WhatsApp for iOS, there’s no preview. Just the simple plaintext of the link. However, now with this new rich link feature, if done right, you will be able to know what you are clicking on.  The report comes from WABetaInfo and here’s how the feature is expected to work — WhatsApp rich status link preview: How it works In the screenshot image above, there is a juxtaposition of the present and the upcoming WhatsApp link representations.  On the left side, you can see only the link. But, on the right side, you see the link preview image, the site name, and a brief description of the site. This is how the WhatsApp rich link status previews would appear. The screenshots are from the WhatsApp beta for iOS, where it is currently in testing.  The source has managed to share a screengrab of this fe...

Google puts an end to third-party Android call-recording apps on the Play Store with its developer program policy for Accessibility API (Application Programming Interface). As per it, the so-called Accessibility API shouldn’t be used for “remote call audio recording”. This is being done for privacy and security reasons. Now, we shall see what this means for the flurry of call-recoding applications and built-in call-recording on OnePlus, Samsung, Xiaomi, and other smartphone brands. We will also take a look at the various call-recording solutions available right now, even after the new Google policy. Google bans call recording apps: Why? How to record phone calls on Android Let’s just learn the reason right from the horse’s mouth. Google’s developer program policy notes: The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording. The use of the Accessibility API must be documented in the Google Play listing. Guidelines for IsAccessibilityTool Ap...

Meta announced recently that it is going to release Communities on WhatsApp which will assemble different groups with an overarching theme in a new tab that the common admin of all these groups will be able to see and access. The admin will be able to broadcast messages across all these groups from a single screen. The messages you receive can be reacted to using emojis now. Not only that, as per WABetaInfo, Meta has a few other features in the store like hiding ‘Last Seen’, ‘About’, and ‘Profile Photo’ from select people. WhatsApp Communities: How it works WhatsApp Communities tab will gather groups with a similar theme or purpose in one place and the admin will be able to send “announcement messages” to everyone spread across multiple sub-groups in that community. Meta says the Community admin will have other powerful new tools to control how these message updates will be disseminated. The social media giant has also assured WhatsApp Communities will be end-to-end encrypted for pr...

Google has stomped out a bunch of apps from the Android app store owing to some malicious code in them. The list of Apps banned by Google includes a QR code detector, a weather widget, and a program for Muslim prayer times. Before they were removed, some of these new Play Store banned apps were immensely popular with downloads of more than 10 million times. These new findings come from the Wall Street Journal after a lengthy investigation.  “All apps on Google Play must comply with our policies, regardless of the developer. When we determine an app violates these policies, we take appropriate action,” said a Google spokesperson to BBC. Although the company hasn’t elaborated on the reason, we shall try to understand the cause of this ban in a moment. But for now, here’s the list of the top banned apps from the Play Store in this recent purge: List of banned Android Apps by Google QR & Barcode Scanner (Developed by AppSource Hub) Speed Radar Camera Wi-Fi Mouse (Remote Control...

Tata Group is going to launch its super app called Tata Neu in India on April 7. This will be a collection of all the Tata Group companies that are consumer-facing and offer some form of shopping experience. The unified platform has been on testing by Tata Group employees and at present, only existing users can log in. However, from April 7, it will be open for business to the public at large. To entice new users, the company is offering various benefits and privileges with each purchase. The rewards could be in the form of Neucoins, a proprietary digital coin that will be convertible to INR (1 NeuCoin = ₹1) when you redeem them against other purchases on the platform. Here are the complete details: Tata Neu Features Tata Neu iOS​ Tata Neu is a unified platform that brings all the Tata Group shopping apps under one roof. It is available on both Android and iOS app stores. You could do the following types of transactions through the new Tata app: Buy groceries from BigBasket Buy me...

WhatsApp has been gaining new features at breakneck speed lately. As rumored earlier, the Global Voice Notes Player is available on WhatsApp now. At least it is being rolled out to the larger audience from the iOS and Android side of the smartphone world. A recent announcement from the WhatsApp Twitter handle reveals that you can now “Pause while recording and listen while responding to other chats: Your favorite way to chat just got better. With voice messages, you can now: Pause while recording - take your time when you think in Hindi but speak in English Listen while responding to other chats because when Mom needs an answer, you answer! Time to hit  pic.twitter.com/tlKgVpRMTG — WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) March 30, 2022 New WhatsApp Voice Message Features WhatsApp points down the following new options to enhance your experience while voice chatting with others:  Out of Chat Playback: You can play the voice messages outside the chat, on the WhatsApp home screen, and while mess...

YouTube iOS users are finally getting picture-in-picture (PiP) mode. Good news!? Well, the iOS PiP feature is limited to the YouTube TV app and also only for US customers now. However, the feature is coming to all users, premium or otherwise in the regular YouTube app. Besides this, YouTube is also reportedly working on an emoji reactions feature. Let’s unpack them one by one. How YouTube PiP on iOS works: Here’s the update for iPhone and iPad users YouTube Labs Page YouTube PiP allows you to watch the video in a small scaled-down window that can be moved across the screen and you can view and interact with other things on the smartphone screen. Android phones have had this feature for a long time but a large portion of iPhone YouTube users are still awaiting it. Picture-in-picture on iOS has been in testing for a while and YouTube premium subscribers could enable it in the app’s experimental settings. When you try out YouTube picture-in-picture mode on your iPhone, the videos you...

Meta finally gives us what we wished for. The social giant has introduced the Chronological feed on Instagram. Well, Instagram once had this feature but then its parent company Facebook (now Meta) decided to switch the default Instagram feed to an algorithmic view. Since then, many wanted the company to bring back the feature and now it has. This new chronological Instagram view is called Following and although it presents the most recent posts from the people you follow, there’s no way to set it as the default view when you open the app. Besides the Following View, you also get the Favourites option that displays only the people you choose. These could be your friends, family, celebrity crushes, preferred content creators, etc. Anyway, here’s how to access the Favorites and Following Instagram feeds: How to view the chronological Instagram feed Instagram Following and Favourites​ First of all, ensure you have the latest Instagram app on Android or iOS. Open the Instagram app and ...

WhatsApp is essentially the messaging app of choice for a large portion of the world. Countries like India run on the messaging service and thus there is an onus to keep the app safe in terms of privacy. And, WhatsApp has done just that. The company has just announced that it will be blocking apps that allow users to monitor ‘Last Seen’ and ‘Online’ statuses. These apps were used by people to harass others and even monitor time logs. As more and more sensitive material is passed through its servers, WhatsApp has to take extra precautions to keep things safe for its users.  WhatsApp has banned third-party stalker-ish apps on its platform In fact, as we reported earlier, Whatsapp was already working on numerous updates that increase one’s privacy. The company had begun working on what could be one of the most important updates for working professionals - hiding the Last Seen information from specific people. WhatsApp had begun testing this feature in its Beta version, and it seems ...

If you’ve ever wanted to call someone on Gmail, now would be a good time to try the brand new feature on Google Chat. The company has just announced that users will be able to make calls one-on-one calls to their friends on your chat list. This includes both video and audio calls as well. The feature has been launched for both Android and iOS. Google has launched a bunch of new features on Gmail but it seems that video calling is one that was way overdue. Gmail for Android received an improved search feature. We also saw the addition of Chat and Spaces along with the change in the UI as well.  But, as of now, Google has rolled out video and audio calls on Gmail. The announcement was made sometime in September but it looks like the implementation of the new feature took a bit of time. If you’ve received the update, you should see a phone and video icon on the top right corner of the app. All you need to do is tap on the icons and you’ll be connected. If you’ve missed a call, you w...

If you’re someone who is paranoid about your WhatsApp chats being read, worry not as Mark Zuckerberg has just announced a new feature on the app. The new feature will allow users to turn on ‘disappearing messages’ for their chats. In a span of 24 hours, all the messages on the chat will be deleted. Users can manually turn the feature on in a one-on-one chat. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we reported on how the feature will work.  How does WhatsApp's Disappearing Messags feature work? WhatsApp released a FAQ on its website explaining how the feature will work and how it will help users. WhatsApp has been working on a Disappearing Messages feature that will allow users to send messages that will disappear after seven days. According to the FAQ posted on the website, WhatsApp says “you can send messages that disappear on WhatsApp by enabling Disappearing Messages. Once enabled, new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days. The most recent select...

The platform formerly known as Facebook has just announced that it is taking an active role in the protection of women on its platform. The company has made it a priority to make the platform safer for women and give them the ability to freely access information without the threat of harassment and such. The company also launched its Women’s Safety Hub. The hub will be available in 12 Indian languages including Hindi and other regional languages.  Meta will also launch StopNCII.org which is a feature that identifies and stops the spread of images that have been uploaded without the original user's consent. This feature is used to stop incidents of harassment and such. How it will be actually implemented remains to be seen but again, as the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If anything, Meta has to worry about the abuse of such a platform. Meta hopes that women have a singular place that they can come to for support and help.  How will Meta's n...

As the worlds most popular messaging service, WhatsApp also has one of the largest user bases on any app. With a wide and diverse userbase also comes unwanted messages, spam and the sort. So, to that end, WhatsApp has banned over 2 million accounts from the platform during the month of October. In fact, as we reported earlier, WhatsApp banned close to 2.2 million users in September. These users were banned for violating the chatting app’s security rules. With WhatsApp broadening its offerings into the payments industry, the brand has to weed out sketchy users to ensure the safety of everyone else using the platform.  WhatsApp has banned 2 million users in October That means that the platform has banned over 4 million accounts in two months. Maybe that’s not how the metrics are measured but in terms of numbers, it does seem like the service has banned a gigantic number of users. In the latest transparency report from the company, we can see that WhatsApp has taken strict action ag...

As the world slowly creeps back to pre-pandemic times, social media companies seem to want to exert more control over their users. With Twitter crowning themselves the arbiter of the internet and announcing a bunch of unpopular rules, it looks like Twitch is not far behind. In an effort to ‘curb hateful speech’ the company has launched a tool called Suspicious User Detection to identify users who have skirted site bans. The company says that this is used to combat trolls, but anyone with half a brain cell can see that these companies want to completely control the narrative. New Twitch feature will detect users who've evaded a site ban The feature is powered using machine learning and will root out users who have circumvented Twitch bans. Machine learning will be used to weed our users by observing their behaviour and account and comparing them to the original banned account. If this isn’t dystopian, we don’t know what is. As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with goo...

Spotify’s car view feature is created to make the app easier to use while driving. However, the brand is retiring this feature and is “exploring new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience”, according to a spokesperson. Additionally, Spotify is also working on a feature that will ape TikTok’s short video feature, presumably to allow artists and users to share short clips.  When did Spotify confirm that it’s retiring the Car View feature? Recently, Spotify users noticed that the Car View feature was missing from the app. The Car View feature basically displays the app with a simplified interface and large buttons, allowing people to use the app easily while driving. Users who saw that the same was missing pointed it out on the Spotify Community threat. A moderator representing the brand then responded with, “Think of retiring [the] car-view as something that needs to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track,” the moderator posted. Spo...

Sony has been riding high on the wave of the launch of the PS5 (review). It’s been a full year since the launch of the PS5 and Sony is now looking at developing a new controller for mobile hardware. First reported by VGC, a new patent has emerged on the internet and it shows off a controller that looks suspiciously like a DualShock 4 but modified for mobile devices like phones. In the image presented below, you can take a look at how the Sony controller will look when connected to a mobile phone or such. It does resemble regular mobile controllers in that the right and left sides of the controller has been split.  In the design above, you can also see that the touchpad is essentially replaced by the mobile screen. It’s actually an ingenious design but it’s a relatively competitive market, so we will have to wait and see if the controller actually sees the light of day. As of right now, users can actually connect the DualShock 4 to a mobile device through Bluetooth but this n...

If you frequently use Whatsapp’s voice note feature, then here’s some good news for you. The messaging app is testing new features that will allow users to change the playback speed of the voice notes to suit their needs. Currently, there’s no way to speed up a voice note - you have to manually drag the marker forward to reach different parts of the message. What will this new Whatsapp feature do? According to Wabetainfo, one of the most reliable tipsters when it comes to news related to Whatsapp, the messaging app is testing a feature that allows you to increase the playback speed of the message by 1.5x and 2x the speed. However, there is no way to slow down the message. That is something that may come along with a future update.  In May, Whatsapp had introduced a feature that allows people to speed through extremely long messages so that one could get to the meat faster. However, the functionality is not available for every single message. For those who have friends who send l...