Mobiles

This spring, Facebook confirmed it was testing Venmo-like QR codes for person-to-person payments inside its app in the U.S. Today, the company announced those codes are now launching publicly to all U.S. users, allowing anyone to send or request money through Facebook Pay — even if they’re not Facebook friends. The QR codes work similarly

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE (LTE), which launched last year, has so far been a solid contender in the low-cost flagship segment. While it performed well in most of our tests, there were some drawbacks. It did get a bit warm under stress, and its battery life was just average; both things that the OnePlus 8T

Apple announced a batch of accessibility features at WWDC 2021 that cover a wide variety of needs, among them a few for people who can’t touch or speak to their devices in the ordinary way. With Assistive Touch, Sound Control, and other improvements, these folks have new options for interacting with an iPhone or Apple

Realme C21Y could launch in Vietnam soon and ahead of its launch, an online retailer listing shows the specifications for the phone. The tipster who shared the listing claims Realme C21Y will be the company’s first phone to run on Android (Go edition). The phone has been listed with a triple rear camera setup and

Apple in 2018 closed its $400 million acquisition of music recognition app Shazam. Now, it’s bringing Shazam’s audio recognition capabilities to app developers in the form of the new ShazamKit. The new framework will allow app developers — including those on both Apple platforms and Android — to build apps that can identify music from Shazam’s

Apple has officially unveiled iOS 15, and like many recent rumours and leaks suggested, several far-reaching improvements have come to iMessage and FaceTime. There’s also new system-wide emphasis on sharing and communication, as well as even more privacy-related features, and new ways to leverage on-device intelligence. iOS 15 will roll out to iPhone 6s and later

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices

When the Realme C12 was launched alongside the C15 last year, the two smartphones looked very similar on paper and yet commanded very different prices. In 2021, the manufacturer has brought down the prices of both smartphones’ successors. The Realme C25 (Review) has a faster MediaTek Helio G70 processor, while the Realme C12’s successor, the

Nextdoor, the app that helps neighbors connect, launched a new feature called Free Finds today, which will help people browse the free items available in their neighborhoods. Since the start of 2020, monthly listings to buy, sell, and give away items on Nextdoor have increased by 80%, but 25% of these listings advertised free stuff.

Clubhouse app on Android is now allowing users to add their Instagram and Twitter accounts to their profiles, as per the latest beta release notes. The developers have also rolled out updates, making it easy to follow speakers as well as learn about upcoming events on a Club page. Additionally, the developers have announced that

In its antitrust trial with Epic Games, which has just adjourned, Apple argued it doesn’t evaluate its App Store profit and loss as a standalone business. But today, the company put out new figures that indicate it does have a good understanding of the money that flows through its app marketplace, at the very least.

The Redmi Note 10S is a slightly more powerful version of the Redmi Note 10, which was launched in March this year. The Redmi Note 10 is still a capable smartphone and it managed a good score in our review. Xiaomi claims to have improved upon the Redmi Note 10 by using a different processor,

Facebook this week will begin to publicly roll out the option to hide Likes on posts across both Facebook and Instagram, following earlier tests beginning in 2019. The project, which puts the decision about Likes in the hands of the company’s global user base, had been in development for years, but was deprioritized due to

Apple typically offers good battery life with its devices be it iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch models, or others. However, in the past, Apple has been accused of intentionally slowing down iPhone models with ageing batteries, and it recently paid $113 million (roughly Rs. 819 crores) to settle the BatteryGate case. While Apple believes this

If Instagram’s photo tagging feature was spun out into its own app, you’d have the viral sensation Poparazzi, now the No. 1 app on the App Store. The new social networking app, from the same folks behind TTYL and others, lets you create a social profile that only your friends can post photos to —

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G and the Galaxy S21 series are reported to be among the first smartphones from the South Korean brand to receive the June 2021 Android security patch, even before the month has begun. The Galaxy Z Flip 5G is receiving the update in parts of Europe and South Korea is the

RevenueCat, a startup offering a series of tools for developers of subscription-based apps, has raised $40 million in Series B funding, valuing its business at $300 million, post-money. Founded by developers who understood the difficulties in scaling a subscription app first-hand, RevenueCat’s software development kit (SDK) solution gives companies the tools they need to build

Vivo Y73 2021 and Vivo V21e 5G smartphone models have allegedly been spotted in Google Play Console listings. Vivo Y73 2021 has also been spotted in an alleged IMEI listing that shows its model number to be V2059. Vivo V21e was launched in Malaysia last month along with the Vivo V21 5G and Vivo V21.

Struum, the new streaming service from former Disney and Discovery execs, is today officially launching to the public. Unlike traditional on-demand streamers, such as Netflix, the Struum model is more akin to a “ClassPass for streaming,” as its plan is to aggregate content from smaller video services then provide access under its own subscription. Today,

Motorola Edge S Pioneer Edition has launched in China as a new colour variant of the vanilla Motorola Edge S smartphone. The new variant of the mid-range Motorola phone has gone on sale in the country and comes in a single configuration. Interestingly, the Motorola Edge S Pioneer Edition is priced cheaper than the other

During Snap Partner Summit, Snap announced a brand new app focused on creators. Named Story Studio, this standalone iOS app gives you several editing tools so that you can make your content look as professional as possible. Story editing tools are still in Snapchat — nothing is changing on this front. But if you’ve been

Oppo Reno 5A has been launched in Japan with IP68 certification. The new Oppo phone comes with quad rear cameras and features a 90Hz display. Other key highlights of the Oppo Reno 5A include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC, 128GB storage, and a hole-punch design. The smartphone also comes preloaded with artificial intelligence (AI) backed

Apple last month unveiled its plans for paid podcast subscriptions in a newly redesigned Apple Podcasts app. Now, it’s introducing a new program that will help podcast creators grow their subscriber base: affiliate marketing. The company’s “Apple Services Performance Partner Program,” which already exists to help market other Apple services like Apple TV, Apple News,

When it comes to flagship smartphone cameras, I think we’ve reached a good baseline where no matter which flagship you use, you can expect high-quality photos. There’ll always be slight differences in the way each phone handles things like white balance or shadows, and lighting will always play a part in photo quality, but overall,

Chrome, at least in its experimental Canary version on Android (and only for users in the U.S.), is getting an interesting update in the coming weeks that brings back RSS, the once-popular format for getting updates from all the sites you love in Google Reader and similar services. In Chrome, users will soon see a

Flipkart has kicked off its ‘Electronics Sale’ to offer deals, discounts, and offers on a list of smartphones. The five-day sale, which lasts until May 21, brings discounts on models such as Samsung Galaxy F62 and Galaxy F41, as well as the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G. There are also prepaid discounts on phones including

Redmi Note 10S is the most recent smartphone from Xiaomi to join the Redmi Note 10 series that launched in India back in March. The phone, while part of the Redmi Note 10 series, is not powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC like the other models. It comes with a MediaTek SoC. Talking about the

Realme Narzo 30 has been launched on Tuesday as the company’s newest addition to the lineup that already has the Narzo 30A and Narzo 30 Pro 5G. The new Realme phone comes with a 90Hz display and is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio G95 SoC. The smartphone also features triple rear cameras and carries

Samsung Galaxy A22 4G specifications have been suggested through benchmark website Geekbench. The smartphone that appears on the listing is seen to have a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC on board. Separately, Samsung Galaxy A22 5G has allegedly surfaced on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) site with some details. The phone recently surfaced on hardware certification

Billed as the true successor to the iconic Poco F1, the new Poco X3 Pro has some big shoes to fill. Not everyone wants all the latest fancy features – some buyers with tight budgets like having choices when it comes to phones that prioritise the cameras, battery life, or even gaming performance. The Poco