All posts tagged: Apps

I replaced 6 official Android apps with open-source alternatives — they’re all much better

I replaced 6 official Android apps with open-source alternatives — they’re all much better

Published by skeptic

I did not start this experiment out of ideology. I have a Google account; I use a stock Android phone, and I have no interest in removing Google from my life entirely. I still want Android to feel like Android. But after years of using the official apps simply because they were already there, I couldn’t bear how much they expected from me in return. I’m talking about account sign-ins, cloud habits, ecosystem nudges, and features built around what a company would prefer me to use next. So I started replacing them one by one with open-source alternatives that had active communities and enough real-world credibility to survive daily use. Some swaps faded out after a week or two because they were too awkward, too limited, or too much effort to justify. These six stayed, though. Related 5 open-source Android apps that replace expensive subscriptions Subscription fatigue is real, and these apps are the cure. Gboard for Heliboard Gboard knows too much about you, and it doesn’t need to Gboard is one of the best …

How to See Which Mac Apps Will Stop Working After macOS Golden Gate

How to See Which Mac Apps Will Stop Working After macOS Golden Gate

Published by skeptic

Apple is phasing out support for Rosetta 2, which is a feature that allows Intel-based apps to run on Apple silicon Macs. Rosetta is going to stop working for most apps in macOS 28, and when that happens, apps that use it will stop working. Apple began warning customers and companies about the upcoming sunsetting of Rosetta with macOS Tahoe, and the warnings go even further in macOS Golden Gate. If you have apps that still use Rosetta, you’ll get a warning every time you restart your Mac or open an Intel app. ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ also adds a new list where you can check which apps are going to stop working in the future. You can get to the list by going to Settings > General > About > Intel-Based apps and clicking on the “Details” option. The interface lists all of the apps that are going to stop working, giving Mac users plenty of time to contact app developers or find alternative apps. ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ does not install Rosetta automatically, so if …

Arizona students design app that calculates least-sweaty walking route

Arizona students design app that calculates least-sweaty walking route

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. It’s not unheard of for standard navigation apps to map out a less-than-ideal pedestrian journey. You technically can walk under that bridge and cross that six-lane highway, but that doesn’t mean you want to. The app doesn’t take into account your safety, nor your comfort in steamy weather. Now, a team at Arizona State University (ASU) is developing a tool to tackle the latter aspect of the problem. The aptly-called Cool Routes is an online navigation system that calculates sun exposure and mean radiant temperatures to suggest cooler (in the temperature sense) pedestrian routes. A radiant temperature measurement represents the total heat load one experiences in a particular spot. The measurement takes elements like sun exposure and reflected heat into account to better …

iOS 27 Adds Landscape Mode to More Apple Apps Ahead of ‘iPhone Ultra’

iOS 27 Adds Landscape Mode to More Apple Apps Ahead of ‘iPhone Ultra’

Published by skeptic

iOS 27 enables landscape mode in more of Apple’s built-in iPhone apps, including Apple Music, Podcasts, Fitness, Health, Reminders, Home, Shortcuts, Apple Watch, Find My, Weather, Voice Memos, Apple TV Remote, and others. In the Apple Music and Podcasts apps, landscape support is limited to the audio player for now. Many of the apps feature a left-aligned sidebar in landscape mode. In the Messages app, which already supported landscape orientation on iOS 26 and earlier, you can now collapse the sidebar to show only names and profile pictures. Landscape mode was already available on iOS 26 or earlier in Apple Maps, Calendar, Files, Notes, Mail, and some other Apple apps too, but iOS 27 expands support to many more apps. This change could be laying the groundwork for the “iPhone Ultra,” as landscape-friendly apps would be well suited for the rumored foldable device. iOS 27 also adds landscape support for Live Activities in the Dynamic Island. To use landscape mode in a supported app, simply turn your iPhone sideways. Portrait Orientation Lock must be turned …

Android apps track you by default — this free app tells you how bad it really is

Android apps track you by default — this free app tells you how bad it really is

Published by skeptic

I know that the apps on my smartphone are full of trackers. It’s an unfortunate part of modern life that most of what we do online or otherwise feeds straight into data collection for big business. Then I found a free Android app that lays it all out and explains exactly what all the apps on your Android device are tracking. Exodus Privacy is free, incredibly simple to use, and for me, was a timely reminder that I’ve got unused apps going back years lurking — and potentially getting away with more than I realize. Related This hidden Android setting blocks ads across every single app without a VPN Ad-free internet is no-longer a subscription you have to pay for. Every Android app comes with baggage But did you really agree to it? I’ve worked in tech for years and covered the security and privacy beat for long enough that, deep down, I know the majority of Android apps are tracking you in some way. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of receiving most apps for free; …

Signal Alums Reveal ‘Encrypted Spaces,’ a System for Making Private Collaboration Apps

Signal Alums Reveal ‘Encrypted Spaces,’ a System for Making Private Collaboration Apps

Published by skeptic

Encrypted Spaces is, in some sense, the next generation of the Signal protocol, but for more complex and fully featured tools that go beyond messaging and calls, says Matt Green, a cryptography-focused professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins. “They’ve built a system that’s kind of an extension of what end-to-end encryption can be, where you have an actual architecture for doing end-to-end encrypted collaboration,” says Green, who reviewed a white paper outlining the Encrypted Spaces project and a prototype application. “You can think of it as the Signal protocol for collaboration apps.” Unlike Signal, however, the code that the Encrypted Spaces group has released is, for now, not a single, ready-for-use application. Instead, it’s a code repository that the group is inviting cryptography researchers and developers to review, with the goal of eventually allowing coders to build their own encrypted collaborative apps—but without needing any cryptography knowledge. “We want to make it so there’s no reason a developer wouldn’t want to make their application end-to-end encrypted, because it becomes so easy,” Trapp says. Change …

The MacRumors Show: Siri AI, Apple Intelligence in Apps, and More at WWDC 2026

The MacRumors Show: Siri AI, Apple Intelligence in Apps, and More at WWDC 2026

Published by skeptic

On this week’s special episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the major announcements Apple unveiled at WWDC 2026, including Siri AI, new Apple Intelligence features in apps, and system-wide performance and design improvements. Apple framed the keynote around three areas: platform improvements, Trust and Safety, and a sweeping overhaul of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ and ‌Siri‌. Developer betas of all six operating systems are available now, with a public beta expected in July and a general release in September. Liquid Glass received a series of improvements in response to user feedback, with Apple reworking the foundations of how the translucent design language is constructed to deliver more uniform refraction and improved contrast. A new system-wide opacity slider lets users dial transparency anywhere from completely clear to fully tinted. App icons also gain sharper definition with additional layering. macOS Golden Gate receives the same Liquid Glass refinements with particular attention to the transparency and shadow issues most pronounced on the Mac. A significant chunk of the keynote was devoted to performance improvements across all …

Apple Updates App Store Guidelines With Stricter Rules for Low-Quality Apps

Apple Updates App Store Guidelines With Stricter Rules for Low-Quality Apps

Published by skeptic

Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines this week, adding stricter language around low-quality apps. The 4.3 Spam rule already barred overly simple apps in saturated categories, but Apple now includes language saying low-effort apps could be pulled from the App Store. Apps in oversaturated categories that are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers may be removed, according to Apple. App Guideline 4.3(b) New Language: Don’t submit apps that are indistinguishable from what’s already widely available. Opportunistically creating variants of existing app categories or popular apps degrades App Store discovery, reduces overall app quality, and harms both users and developers. Certain kinds of apps, such as dating, flashlight, sound effects, wallpaper, simple timers, and fortune telling, are well established on the App Store and we will not accept new submissions unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. We may remove these apps from the App Store going forward if they are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers. Other kinds of apps, such as drinking games, Kama Sutra, fart, and …

Airfare-Prediction Apps Can’t Handle a Summer Like This One

Airfare-Prediction Apps Can’t Handle a Summer Like This One

Published by Daniella Wilson

The casual air traveler has never had so much information at his fingertips. He sits before a battleship-worthy console of maps, prices, dates, and times; orders up grids that plot one variable against another. He is monitoring the situation. He is in conversation with his wallet, but also with his future self: Will he want to take the red-eye and leave his bags at the hotel all day? Will he want to leave the house at 4 a.m.? What’s so great about Iceland, anyway? This stupendous array of choices, once reserved for professional travel agents, is emblematic of our optimized-shopping era. Consumers don’t just price-shop; they scrutinize rates of change, guided by algorithms that purport to know where prices are headed. With airfares at historic highs, the sites that advise travelers whether to buy now or wait have never felt more necessary. Unfortunately, they have rarely felt less helpful. Sites such as Hopper, Kayak, and Google Flights are trained on price histories. “They use data from the past to inform models in the present that …

Apple’s iPhone Camera App Is Getting an AI Upgrade in iOS 27

Apple’s iPhone Camera App Is Getting an AI Upgrade in iOS 27

Published by skeptic

Your iPhone camera app will look a little different this fall. On Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, Apple showed off new features in its next version of its mobile operating system, iOS 27, and changes are afoot for the camera app. Notably, instead of just shifting between Photo and Video tabs, there’s now a new option: Siri AI. Before, to trigger Siri’s Visual Intelligence feature, you had to press the Camera Control button. When you pressed it, Siri could see what you’re pointing the iPhone camera at and deliver contextual assistance—like Google Lens—such as adding dates from a concert poster to your calendar or helping identify a plant. Now that the feature is visibly baked into the camera app, Apple hopes it will be easier to find and use. This kind of visual AI assistance is a key feature of smart glasses and AI pendants with cameras, allowing users to access AI assistance with a single tap without having to explain or type anything, since the cameras do the work. …