Apps

AirBuddy brings proper AirPods support to the Mac

If you’ve ever used Apple’s AirPods with your iPhone or iPad before, then you already know about the seamless pairing experience that's made possible by the Apple-exclusive W1 chip. Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t polished this experience on macOS just yet, and the AirPods experience on the Mac feels the same as any other Bluetooth-enabled device.

To say Apple left Mac users hanging in this respect would be an understatement, but third-party app developers have taken notice of this macOS-centric niche and now appear to be coming to our rescue.

Enjoy a fuller Home screen experience with Fullboard

Apple designed the iOS Home screen such that you could scroll through pages of app icons, but there’s always been a single row of non-scrollable, static app icons near the bottom of the display, more commonly referred to as the Dock.

Love it or hate it, the Dock is a staple in Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems, but a new free jailbreak tweak called Fullboard by iOS developer Heft Johnson lets you nix it entirely, instead transforming the full height of the Home screen into a scrollable interface.

The best free apps for creating animated GIFs on iPhone

animated GIF apps iphone - GIF Maker

There are GIFs everywhere. We see them, save them, and share them from Facebook, Twitter, and even those we receive in Messages or Mail. So, if you want to have some fun, make something memorable, or just get creative with your photos and videos, why not make a GIF of your own?

These are the best free apps for creating animated GIFs on iPhone.

NYT: Facebook to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger chats

Facebook is reportedly planning to integrate chats from its three major properties: WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

This was reported Friday by The New York Times. A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the report's findings via a written statement to the newspaper.

The different chats should be merged sometime in 2020.

According to sources, Facebook's boss and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently summoned WhatsApp employees to announce the merging of the company's messagings services.

They balked at the plan, the article reads:

On December 7, employees gathered around microphones at WhatsApp’s offices to ask Mr. Zuckerberg why he was so invested in merging the services. Some said his answers were vague and meandering. Several WhatsApp employees have left or plan to leave because of Mr. Zuckerberg’s plans, the people said.

If Facebook proceeds with the plan, customers will be able to start a chat with another user irrespective of whether they're on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram. As an example, a Messenger user could start chatting with a friend of Instagram, or vice versa. In another instance, a WhatsApp user would be able to chat directly with a contact on Instagram.

From the article:

By stitching the apps’ infrastructure together, Mr. Zuckerberg wants to increase the utility of the social network, keeping its billions of users highly engaged inside its ecosystem. If people turn more regularly to Facebook-owned properties for texting, they may forgo rival messaging services, such as those from Apple and Google, said the people, who declined to be identified because the moves are confidential. 

Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp will remain separate apps: the company will not merge them into a unified mega-app for chatting.

This integration would include end-to-end encryption to protect communications as the messages are transmitted between the three different chat services.

It was however unclear at post time how this would work in practice considering that people go by their real name on Facebook versus the anonymity that Instagram and WhatsApp provide.

Today, WhatsApp requires people to register only a phone number to sign up for the service. By contrast, Facebook and Facebook Messenger ask users to provide their real identities. Matching Facebook and Instagram users to their WhatsApp handles could give pause to those who prefer keeping their use of each app compartmentalized.

Is this a good idea, do you think?

Let us know in the comments!

Twitter is testing a new tag to help you distinguish genuine accounts from copycats

In another attempt to nuke fake news out of orbit and help you distinguish the real Elon Musk or Donald Trump from their false copies, Twitter is testing a new "Original Tweeter" tag.

The company yesterday confirmed the test to TechCrunch, saying that the new label has rolled out to a “small percentage” of iOS and Android users across multiple markets.

Sara Haider, Twitter’s Director of Product Management, said:

Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. As part of this work, we’re exploring adding more context to discussions by highlighting relevant replies—like those from the original tweeter.

Not only does this new feature make it easier to distinguish the person who started a thread, it also helps curb certain types of abuse on the platform.

Accounts masquerading as other Twitter users has been an annoying problem for sure. That being said, any effort to curb this kind of behavior deserves a thumbs-up, wouldn't you agree?

Just be careful not to confuse the new "Original Tweeter" tag with Twitter's existing blue verified badge which lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic.

As you probably know, Twitter's somehow managed to botch the roll-out of verified badges.

At first, the little blue badge was exclusive to celebrities and well-known users with millions of followers. But when the company expanded the program beyond public figures, it found itself in trouble after it verified accounts belonging to conspiracy theorists and Neo nazi groups.

Because of those woes and missteps, the company's verified account program is currently on hold and not accepting any new requests at this time.

On a related noted, we reported yesterday that Twitter's Night Mode, which enables a darkened interface, might soon introduce a pure black setting following user complaints that the app's Night Mode theme was too blue-ish and not dark or black enough.

So, has this new "Original Tweeter" tag appeared for you yet?

Let us know by leaving a comment down below.