Android
By MacRumors Staff
Android How Tos
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How to Transfer Your WhatsApp Chat History From Android to iPhone
After a long wait, Meta this week announced the ability to transfer WhatsApp chat history, photos, videos, and voice messages from Android to iPhone while maintaining end-to-end encryption. The system uses Apple's Move to iOS app for Android phones, and can be initiated during the setup process for a new (or factory reset) iPhone. This article runs through the steps involved in transferring...
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How to Find a Nearby AirTag With Your Android Phone
Since Apple launched AirTags, the company has been enhancing their security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices. One of these enhancements includes giving Android phone users the ability to detect an unknown AirTag if it is close to them. AirTags are designed to play a sound when away from their owner and will also alert iPhone owners if there's an unknown tag nearby, but...
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iOS 15: How to FaceTime Android Users
In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you can enable anyone, even if they don't have an Apple device, to join a FaceTime call with you by creating a link to a FaceTime conversation that can be shared anywhere. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Using this new link facility, friends and family members who do not have an Apple account can log into a FaceTime call with you using a...
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How to Use Powerbeats Pro With Android Devices
Though designed for iOS devices, Apple's Beats-branded Powerbeats Pro are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. The downside to using Powerbeats Pro with Android is that you do lose some functions, like Apple's unique H1 chip pairing features and its...
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How to Move Your Data From Android to iOS
In just a couple of weeks, Apple is going to make it ridiculously easy for Android users to switch to iOS with an upcoming app alongside iOS 9 called "Move to iOS." It will give Android users the ability to wirelessly migrate contacts, message history, photos and videos, web browser saves, mail, calendars, and more. Until then, we have to do these things manually. Luckily, it isn't difficult ...
Android Guides
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Do AirPods Work Well on Android Devices?
Though designed for the iPhone, Apple's AirPods are also compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, so you can take advantage of Apple's wire-free tech even if you're an Android user or have both Android and Apple devices. You do, of course, lose some bells and whistles like Apple's unique AirPods pairing features. AirPods work like any other Bluetooth headphones on an Android device,...
Android Articles
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Apple Removes Ability to Buy and Rent in Update to Apple TV App for Android TV and Google TV
Apple has seemingly removed the ability to buy and rent TV shows and movies in the Apple TV app for Android TV and Google TV in the latest update to the app. When the Apple TV app launched on Google TV early last year and Android TV in the summer, it included the ability to purchase and rent movies and TV shows from the iTunes store, as well as access to Apple TV+. The app is available for ...
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Google Exec Pushing RCS Adoption Says He's 'Not Asking Apple to Make iMessage Available on Android'
Google for the last several years has been pushing a new communications protocol called Rich Communication Services, or RCS, which is designed to replace the current SMS standard. RCS offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file size, improved encryption, and more. For the last few months, Google's senior vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, ...
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Google's 2022 Product Roadmap Includes Apple-Style Integration Across Devices
Google today announced its 2022 product plans for the Android operating system, and several of the upcoming additions clearly mirror existing Apple features. The new functionality will allow Android smartphones and Google products to match capabilities already available with the Apple devices. Fast Pair, a Google feature that enables Bluetooth accessories to instantly pair to an Android...
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Apple Releases 'Tracker Detect' App to Prevent Android Users From Being Tracked by AirTags
Apple today released a new "Tracker Detect" app on the Google Play Store, with the app designed to allow Android users to locate AirTags that might be nearby. According to the app's description, Tracker Detect looks for item trackers that are separated from their owner and that are compatible with the Find My Network, so it will locate AirTags and other Find My-enabled devices like the...
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iPhone 13 Depreciates Half as Much as Flagship Android Rival
The iPhone 13 lineup depreciates in value at almost half the rate of the Google Pixel 6, according to research by SellCell. The Pixel 6, Google's latest flagship smartphone, launched just two months after Apple's iPhone 13 lineup. Despite being touted as a leading Android competitor to the iPhone, the Pixel 6 suffers from considerably worse depreciation. In the first month after launch, ...
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iMessage Reactions Will No Longer Annoy Android Users Thanks to Emoji Change
Last Friday, code suggested Google would soon roll out an update for Google Messages that would display iMessage Reactions from iPhone users as emoji on Android devices, and now that update has started rolling out. Screenshots from 9to5Google reader Jvolkman According to 9to5Google, some Android users are beginning to see iMessage reactions in Google Messages as emoji that are linked to the...
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Android Devices May Soon Show iMessage Reactions as Emoji
The Google Messages app on Android devices may soon start showing iMessage reactions as emoji characters instead of text, according to some digging done by 9to5Google. In the Messages app on iOS and Mac devices, users can add a reaction like a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, a laugh, a question mark, or an exclamation, all of which show up as annotations to an iMessage. These reactions can...
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Google Executive Wants to Help Apple Make Texts Between Android and iPhone Users More Secure
A Google executive is extending an open hand to help Apple adopt RCS, a new communication protocol called Rich Communication Services to iPhone and iPad, that would replace standard SMS and offer improved cross-platform messaging capabilities. In a tweet, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's senior vice president of Android, said that "group chats don't need to break this way," referring to a...
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Google Basically Wants Your iPhone 13 Home Screen to Look Like Android
In a new blog post titled "Bring the best of Google to your iPhone," Google is on an endeavor to convince new iPhone 13 users to transform their device’s home screen to look like Android. The blog post, written by Google's director for the iOS platform, features screenshots of an iPhone 13 home screen filled with Google apps and widgets. The post implies that customers should possibly...
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Google Criticizes EU Regulators for Ignoring Apple in Bid to Get $5.1 Billion Antitrust Fine Annulled
Google today lambasted European Union regulators for ignoring Apple and the rivalry between Apple and Android in the antitrust accusations that have been levied against Google, reports Reuters. Apple was brought up as part of Google's attempt to get a massive 4.34 billion euro ($5.1 billion) fine annulled. The European Commission first levied the fine against Google in 2018 because Google...
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Interest in Switching to iPhone Drops Among Android Users Ahead of iPhone 13 Launch, Survey Shows
Android users are significantly less interested in the iPhone 13 models than they were this time last year in the iPhone 12 models, having been put off by the continued lack of a fingerprint scanner and concerns around child safety features, according to a new survey by SellCell. The survey, conducted earlier this month, asked more than 5,000 current Android users in the United States aged...
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Apple Music App for Android Gains Spatial Audio and Lossless Quality
Apple today updated its Apple Music for Android app to introduce support for Spatial Audio and Lossless music quality, bringing feature parity to the Android and iOS operating systems. Spatial Audio and Lossless for Apple Music came to Apple devices in June, and has been available in a beta capacity on Android since last month. From the release notes for the update:In this update, Apple...
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All Three Major U.S. Carriers and Google Adopt Rich Communication Services, But No Sign of Apple Interest
For the last several years, Google has been pushing a new communications protocol called Rich Communication Services, or RCS. RCS is designed to replace SMS, the current text message standard, and it offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file sizes, better encryption, improved group chat, and more. Verizon today announced that it is planning to...
![iPhone 12 v Android 2020](https://images.macrumors.com/t/4GGXoyl0n4Aog6Y4_sJFLMf4aJo=/400x400/smart/article-new/2019/11/iPhone-12-v-Android-2020.jpg)
iOS and Android Activations Now Split Evenly in the U.S., Research Shows
Activations of iOS and Android devices are now evenly split in the United States, with little sign of movement toward either platform dominating over the past two years, according to data sourced by Consumer Research Intelligence Partners (CIRP). CIRP estimates that iOS and Android each had 50 percent of new smartphone activations in the year ending this quarter. iOS's share of new...
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Latest Apple Music Beta for Android Adds Spatial and Lossless Audio
When Apple last week launched Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio for Apple Music, it said that the new features would be "coming soon" to Android. Now, the company has released a new Apple Music beta for the rival mobile platform that brings support for both features. As per the changelog for the release, spotted by 9to5Google: In this update, Apple Music adds spatial listening on...
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Apple Music Spatial Audio With Dolby Atmos 'Coming Soon' to Android Devices
Apple is planning to bring the new Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos feature to Android devices in the near future, according to a brief mention on the Spatial Audio intro page available in the Apple Music app. All Apple Music subscribers using the latest version of Apple Music on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV can listen to thousands of Dolby Atmos Music tracks using any headphones. When...
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Apple Aims to Lure Android Users to iPhone With Improved 'Move to iOS' Experience in iOS 15
To help new iPhone owners transition from an Android device, Apple uses the "Move to iOS" Android app for transferring content like contacts, message history, photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail account information, calendars, DRM-free songs, wallpapers, and more. This app has been around since 2015, but with the release of iOS 15, Apple is improving the Move to iOS experience. With...
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Google Announces Plans to Allow Android Users to Opt-Out of Tracking Later in 2021
Android users, later this year, will have the ability to opt-out of tracking across apps on Android devices, limiting the ability for apps to access their unique advertising ID, Google announced in a support page update (via Bloomberg). The new change, in theory, is similar to Apple's recently launched ATT, or App Tracking Transparency framework; however, it differs in direct...
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Apple Music for Android Reportedly Won't Support Dolby Atmos
Apple Music on Android devices will not include Dolby Atmos support when Apple launches Spatial Audio on the streaming service in June. That's the claim from MySmartPrice, which says it received confirmation from Apple India that the sound technology would not be crossing the divide between Apple and Android ecosystems. For anyone confused by all the audio nomenclature that's been bandied...
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Google Planning to Take 'Baby Step' Approach to New Privacy Features for Users
Google is facing internal concerns that implementing an Android equivalent of Apple's ATT or App Tracking Transparency framework, which offers iOS and iPadOS users the ability to opt-out of tracking across apps and websites, will hurt its more than $130 billion annual spending budget for ads, according to a new report from The Information. According to the report that cites sources within...