Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been slowly building up to a reality where its popular messaging app, Messenger, offers up end-to-end encryption. It has been testing the feature in some capacity since at least 2016. And the feature does exist in Messenger to some degree, but a wide rollout for all users has been a waiting game for quite some time. That's changing today, though.
WhatsApp for iPhone now supports Focus mode on iOS 15, as well as contacts' profile photos in the notification banner and the ability to pause and resume voice recordings.
A new test would enable WhatsApp wallpapers for voice calls and let you turn the two-step verification feature on or off on WhatsApp Desktop and WhatsApp Web.
An upcoming WhatsApp chat transfer feature may soon allow you to migrate your chat archive from Android to iPhone, but this doing so could require Apple's Move to iOS app.
Instagram's feed is a point of contention for a lot of users. The company, which is owned by Facebook, has worked on the way it's laid out, and the way people see posts, on a semi-regular basis for quite some time now. But one thing that a lot of users have requested, a return to the chronological feed, has been missing. It was teased in December, and now it's here finally.
Meta's operating system for AR and VR devices may have been canceled, but it's unclear whether a version of Android may continue to power future Oculus Quest VR devices.
As Apple and Meta poach top talent from each other, Apple is reportedly awarding significant stock bonuses to key engineers as an incentive to stay with the company.
One of the key, tentpole features for Apple across its services, operating systems, and products is user privacy. They shout about it from the rooftops when given the opportunity. And it's been like that for years. It's a lot of the reason so many people have adopted Apple's ecosystem into their lives. And yet, a new survey shows a lot of people out there still trust other companies more in this regard.
After Apple announced the App Tracking Transparency feature for iOS, there were some companies banging a lot of drums about how it would demolish their businesses. Facebook, for instance, was adamant that the ATT feature would ruin Facebook as we knew it. However, it turns out that the social media giant has figured it out.
Technically speaking, Facebook Messenger does offer end-to-end encrypted communication options. Those are available in video and audio calls, a feature Facebook launched in August of this year. However, end-to-end encryption for actual text chats isn't available just yet. But that will change at some point in the future. Maybe in 2023.
Instagram and Twitter link previews are working again! Now sharing an Instagram post on Twitter actually renders the linked media instead of just showing URL text. For the past nine years, posting such links did nothing—in place of rich link previews, you saw raw Instagram links. But the companies are now having a change of heart.
Apple's App Store Guidelines are there for a reason. Whether or not that reason is justified, at least in some circumstances, remains a hot topic these days. Epic Games, for instance, does not approve of many aspects of those rules. And Facebook has gone on record of not being a fan of some of the things Apple has implemented for its digital storefront, either. And now the social network, now ruled by Meta, is here to poke the bear a bit.