Artificial intelligence has taken a firm grip on the technology landscape, and in 2025, AI-powered apps are driving innovation in diverse fields, from professional productivity to creative exploration. Here, we dive into the top 10 AI apps of 2025, showcasing how they’re revolutionizing everyday life and work.

ChatGPT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT app remains one of the most prominent AI tools of the year. Designed for instant answers, inspiration, and on-the-go assistance, it integrates the powerful GPT-4o model for unparalleled language capabilities.

The app includes features such as voice interaction, enabling real-time conversations for those who prefer speaking over typing, and photo uploads, allowing users to transcribe handwritten notes or identify objects and landmarks with ease.

The app also supports creative and practical applications, making it a go-to for brainstorming ideas, writing personalized messages, or planning day-to-day tasks.

Google Gemini

Google Gemini represents a significant step forward in AI-driven personal assistants. Available on both Android and iOS devices, the app provides a sophisticated suite of features that enhance everyday productivity and convenience. On Android devices, Gemini replaces the conventional Google Assistant, offering a more advanced and comprehensive experience, while on iOS, it functions as a standalone AI assistant.

Gemini leverages Google’s powerful AI models to streamline tasks such as summarizing Gmail emails, retrieving documents from Google Drive, and planning trips with Google Maps and Flights. It supports voice, text, and photo input just like ChatGPT, enabling users to interact with the app in the way that suits them best.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot combines the latest OpenAI models, such as GPT-4o and DALL·E 3, for a comprehensive productivity tool. Designed to be your constant companion, it excels in brainstorming, editing, and even generating custom visuals. Whether you’re drafting business plans, crafting creative stories, or visualizing concepts with AI-generated illustrations, Copilot is versatile and user-friendly.

Its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook ensures enhanced productivity for professionals. Copilot also supports advanced multilingual capabilities, proofreading, and text optimization, making it an indispensable tool for workplace efficiency.

Perplexity AI Assistant

Perplexity AI Assistant carves a niche as a reliable source for credible, up-to-date answers. Leveraging the strengths of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude 2, the app offers a guided AI search feature that ensures deep exploration and clarity.

With its Thread Follow-Up feature, Perplexity allows users to maintain ongoing conversations for comprehensive understanding. The standout aspect is its commitment to trust and transparency, with every answer backed by cited sources, making it a go-to app for students, researchers, and professionals who value accuracy.

Otter.ai

Otter.ai continues to redefine meeting productivity in 2025 with its AI-powered OtterPilot assistant. This app automatically records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, saving hours of note-taking effort. From capturing live discussions on Zoom or Google Meet to summarizing hour-long sessions in seconds, Otter.ai has become indispensable for team collaboration.

Users can highlight key points, add comments, and assign tasks within the app, ensuring efficient follow-up. Its ability to share and edit notes in real-time cements Otter.ai as a must-have tool for professionals managing multiple projects.

Duolingo

Duolingo remains the go-to app for language learning, thanks to its innovative approach and widespread popularity. With over 40 languages to choose from, the app uses AI to deliver personalized, bite-sized lessons that help users develop their speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills.

What makes Duolingo so engaging is its game-like design, featuring competitive leaderboards, streak tracking, and rewards to keep learners motivated. The app’s AI also adapts lessons based on individual progress, striking the perfect balance between challenge and accessibility to keep users on track.

FaceApp

FaceApp continues to be a popular choice for users who want to take their selfies to the next level with photorealistic editing. Powered by AI, the app offers filters and effects that can modify facial features, swap genders, experiment with aging, or preview new hairstyles, all with just one tap.

From blemish removal and teeth whitening to wrinkle smoothing, FaceApp delivers professional-quality results that are perfect for enhancing personal photos. It’s also a fun platform for playing with creative effects like light adjustments and artistic styles, making it a versatile tool for both personal use and social media-ready content.

Grammarly Keyboard

Grammarly Keyboard has evolved beyond basic grammar and spell checks, bringing generative AI into the mix for 2025. The app can now rewrite sentences, refine vocabulary, and adjust tone, making it a powerful tool for composing emails, drafting formal documents, or crafting social media posts with clarity and professionalism.

For those who opt for the premium subscription, Grammarly offers advanced features like fluency enhancement and smart vocabulary suggestions. Combined with its smooth integration into Android keyboards, it delivers a seamless, user-friendly experience across all your favorite apps.

Lensa

Lensa has established itself as a go-to app for AI-powered photo editing, especially when it comes to enhancing portrait selfies. Its intuitive tools make it easy to refine backgrounds, smooth skin, and add artistic effects, helping users create polished, social-media-ready images with minimal effort.

What sets Lensa apart are features like adjustable blur, acne removal, and a wide range of customizable filters that let users personalize their photos to match their unique style. Thanks to its simple interface and versatile functionality, Lensa remains a favorite for both casual users and visual creatives looking to elevate their content.

Youper

Youper is transforming the way we approach mental health by bringing AI into the space of emotional well-being. Designed as an interactive CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) assistant, it helps users navigate challenges like anxiety, improve their mood, and foster healthier relationships.

The app takes a thoughtful approach, incorporating proven techniques like thought journaling and mood tracking to deliver tailored advice. It’s an ideal solution for people who want mental health support but struggle to find the time for traditional therapy. By seamlessly weaving therapeutic exercises into daily life, Youper has become a valuable companion for anyone prioritizing self-care.

If you are looking for the best smartphones to use these AI features seamlessly, I recommend reading our article on the best AI smartphones of 2024.

For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.

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Google has given us a new update for the Google Play Store! The latest version is 37.7.22, and it’s rolling out to Android devices. As usual, Google didn’t provide any changelogs for this update.

Download Play Store Apk

This update will work on Android devices that are running Android 5.0 or newer. It will download by itself, but you can also download it manually if you want to. The size of the download might be different depending on what device you have. We have a detailed guide available for manual installation of the Google Play Store if you need assistance.

Google is working on some new features! We don’t know much about these features yet but there’s a feature called “Cubes” that will help you find new content in different categories and “Download Buddy” to make downloading apps better by showing a moveable arrow on the screen to track progress. They’re also adding filters so you can see what apps will work on your device and reminders to open apps you haven’t used in a while.

Google has also recently rolled out an update that will let you archive apps, which means you can save up to 60% of your storage space without losing any data! If an app is archived, you’ll see a cloud icon, and you can manage these apps in the Play Store settings. For better privacy and battery life, apps that you haven’t used in a while will lose their permissions automatically.

Google Play is also introducing “The Play Report” to help users find new apps and games through a series of videos that will be shown on the Play Store homepage.

Google has also gone through some legal issues regarding the Play Store and search engine recently and it is currently settling a lawsuit about its dominant position in the market, supposedly leading to fewer choices and higher app prices for consumers. The settlement details are confidential and are waiting for approval.

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Google has recently rolled out version 36.4.15 of the Google Play Store for Android devices. While no explicit changelogs were provided, visible changes in the update offer valuable insights into the improvements made.

Download Play Store Apk

The new update, compatible with Android devices running Android 5+, is available for download with varying file sizes depending on the device. Although the update will install automatically in the background, users also have the option to manually download it for seamless integration.

One significant visual change in this July update is the introduction of blue accents throughout the Google Play Store, replacing the long-standing green. This shift suggests a potential departure from the partial dynamic color and Material You integration, previously limited to the home screen. The presence of blue accents in a test build from March 2023 indicates Google’s anticipated release of full dynamic color support in the near future.

In the previous June update, Google focused on enhancing three key areas of the Google Play Store. The changes primarily revolved around search results and ad formats, with optimizations tailored to app-specific searches for a more efficient browsing experience. The loading latency of ads on the home page was also reduced, resulting in smoother navigation. Furthermore, user reviews received improvements by highlighting critical information in certain search results, empowering users to make more informed decisions when downloading apps.

Google’s regular updates for the Google Play Store aim to maintain application safety, user-friendliness, and bug elimination. As part of its commitment to user data privacy, Google introduced a feature two months ago that allows users to erase their data from specific apps.

Overall, the latest Google Play Store update introduces visual changes through blue accents, builds upon previous optimizations, and emphasizes user privacy and security. These updates contribute to an enhanced browsing experience for Android users.

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Google Messages, the popular messaging app, is set to receive an update aimed at improving the visibility of RCS (Rich Communication Services) chats. RCS messaging has been a key feature of Google Messages since its rollout to US customers in late 2019, offering enhanced messaging capabilities and improved security. The latest beta version of the app introduces a visual tweak that highlights RCS-enabled chats with a badge featuring the Messages icon in the bottom right corner of a contact’s profile picture.

Improved Visibility: Identifying RCS Chats Made Easy with Google Messages

This new badge is designed to make it easier for users to identify RCS chats directly from the main list of conversations. An interesting aspect of the update is that the badge can adapt to match the default color scheme of users’ Android phones. However, it is important to note that this feature is currently limited to the beta version of Google Messages, specifically version 20230615_02_RC00.

Previously, users had to enter an individual chat’s text field to determine whether it was an “RCS Message” or a “Text message,” with the latter indicating a standard SMS/MMS. The introduction of the badge indicates that Google may be working towards making RCS chats more prominent within the app, further differentiating them from traditional SMS in terms of features and functionality.

Google Messages has been implementing various enhancements to improve the messaging experience. In a recent update, the navigation drawer was replaced with the Google logo and Messages branding on the app’s home screen. Additionally, users can now see message delivery statuses directly from the conversation list, eliminating the need to manually open chats to check for message delivery.

While RCS offers numerous advantages over conventional texting, including features like Magic Compose, Apple, one of the world’s most profitable smartphone companies, has not yet embraced the standard. Despite Google’s efforts to encourage Apple to enable RCS on iMessage, the company has yet to adopt it.

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Google has just unveiled its latest update for the Google Play Store, with version 36.3.12 now available for Android devices. Although the app itself doesn’t include explicit changelogs, the recently released June 2023 Google System Updates provide valuable insights into the changes implemented.

Download Google Play Store Apk

The file size for the new update stands at 21.81 MB, making it readily accessible for all Android devices running Android 10+. While this update will install automatically in the background, users can choose to download it manually, ensuring seamless integration.

The Google Play Store’s June 2023 changelogs reveal three key areas of improvement. First, there are updates to search results and ad formats specifically tailored for app-based search queries. This will offer users more streamlined results, providing them with a more intuitive and efficient browsing experience.

Secondly, Google has improved the loading latency of ads on the Home Page. Long load times can be an inconvenience, causing users to potentially miss out on app recommendations. This tweak will reduce the waiting time, providing users with a smoother, more seamless browsing experience.

The third improvement targets a key area of user interaction – reviews. Select search results now highlight crucial information from user reviews. This feature enables users to glean key insights about apps and games directly from the reviews of other users. This helps users make more informed decisions about which apps to download and try.

As always, Google continues to prioritize the safety and stability of its applications. Regularly released updates not only introduce new features but also keep Google Play Store secure, bug-free, and more user-friendly.

Google launched a new feature two months back that empowers users to erase their data from specific apps. This new addition is a clear reflection of Google’s ongoing commitment to upholding user data privacy, offering users an easy and efficient way to manage their personal information across various apps.

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Truecaller, the popular caller identification application, has rolled out a new call recording function for its premium subscribers on iOS, adding to a similar feature already available for Android users.

To work around system limitations that typically prevent apps from recording calls, Truecaller has developed a unique workaround. In the case of Android, users can initiate the call recording function directly from within the Truecaller app. If users choose to use another dialer, Truecaller presents a floating recording button for accessibility.

For iOS users, the process involves dialing a specific recording line via the Truecaller application, which then merges both incoming and outgoing calls. To ensure privacy, a beep sound will notify the other party that the call is being recorded.

Truecaller Unveils AI-Enhanced Call Recording Feature

Call recording first made its debut on Truecaller’s Android platform in 2018 for premium users, and by 2021, it was accessible to all Android users. However, following Google’s decision in 2022 to limit access to its Accessibility API, a tool Truecaller and other apps used for call recording, Truecaller was compelled to withdraw this function.

Leveraging Large Language Model (LLM) technology, Truecaller has announced that it will soon introduce a feature that provides users with transcripts of their recorded calls. The company has plans to launch this AI-enhanced calling feature in the coming weeks. Users will be able to search the transcripts for specific information, providing a convenient reference for recorded conversations. Notably, all recordings are stored locally on users’ devices, ensuring privacy and data control.

Truecaller tested the call recording function with a select group of iOS users in the US before officially making it available to all premium subscribers. The company offers three subscription plans in the US: a basic ad-free plan at $1 per month, a premium plan which includes call recording at $3.99 per month, and a top-tier plan at $4.49 per month that offers a call screening assistant.

Truecaller co-founder Nami Zarringhalam has stated that the call recording feature will soon be expanded to other countries, including India, Truecaller’s largest market. The app currently has over 500,000 users in the US, with 10% subscribing to a paid plan, and a total of 350 million users globally. In India alone, Truecaller boasts a user base of 100 million.

Raphael Mimoun, Truecaller’s Cloud Telephony Product Director, expressed the inspiration behind this call recording feature, citing advancements in Language Learning Models (LLMs) that seek to redefine the call recording experience. The company expects this new functionality to significantly transform how users manage, retrieve, and utilize their conversations.

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Google Chat, the successor to Google Hangouts, is receiving an update that aims to improve conversation organization. In a recent announcement on the Workspace blog, Google revealed that inactive chats and Spaces will be hidden from view on the left-hand side of the screen. This change will only apply to direct messages and Spaces that have been inactive for a week. However, users will still be able to access these threads by tapping the More button.

Improved Organization: Google Chat’s Update Hides Inactive Chats and Spaces

This update is triggered when there are more than 10 conversations or Spaces present. If a user has fewer than 10 chats or Spaces, they may not even notice the feature rollout. Pinned conversations will not be affected by this change, ensuring easy access to important chats. The goal is to provide users with a streamlined and uncluttered conversations view, allowing them to focus on the chats that matter most.

The improved conversations view will be gradually rolled out over the next few weeks for all Workspace and personal Google account holders. According to Google, there are no toggles to enable or disable this feature, implying that it will be available to all users once the rollout is complete, expected by mid-June.

Google Chat has been making strides to establish its own identity, moving away from its initial similarities to Slack. In October, Google introduced the ability to create custom emoji, a popular feature from Slack. Earlier this year, the Google Chat team also simplified the process of initiating new group chats.

Overall, this update to Google Chat focuses on enhancing conversation organization by hiding inactive chats and Spaces, providing users with a cleaner and more focused interface.

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Google Contacts, the default contact management app on Android smartphones, is now rolling out birthday notifications for its users. This feature, which has been long-awaited by users, aims to simplify the process of managing and adding birthdays to contacts.

The inclusion of birthday reminders in Google Contacts was initially hinted at in March, with the introduction of the For You section’s Highlights tab. Later on, users gained the ability to add birthday notifications within individual contacts. Now, some users are seeing a new “Add birthdays” card within the For You section.

The feature appears to have been enabled with version 4.7.26.x of Contacts, although it may not be available to all users at this time. The visibility of the new additions seems to be limited to a select group of users, even if they have the latest version of the app.

Manage Birthdays with Google Contacts

Upon accessing the “Add birthdays” card, users are presented with a list view of their contacts, with a cake icon denoting those without a birthday added. Additionally, individual contacts can have a birthday notification added by opening the overflow menu in the top right corner.

Notably, the list view of contacts’ birthdays seems to be exclusively accessible within the new “Add birthdays” card in Highlights. It remains unclear how users can navigate to this view once they dismiss the card, which may pose an inconvenience for some.

Recent updates to Google Contacts have included the introduction of Material You home screen widgets, focusing on contacts who are close to the user. The app also improved its tablet interface and added contact images within Chats. Furthermore, Google Calendar is expected to receive its own version of birthday reminders, mirroring the functionality seen in Google Contacts.

Overall, the inclusion of birthday notifications in Google Contacts brings a long-awaited and useful feature to Android users, streamlining contact management and ensuring important dates are not overlooked.

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At the annual I/O developer conference, Google unveiled its latest offerings for Play Store developers, aimed at streamlining the process of creating and optimizing app listings. Among the new features announced are generative AI tools and an AI-powered review summary feature. These additions demonstrate Google’s commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance user experiences within its Android app store.

Transforming App Listings with AI: Google’s New Tools for Play Store

The generative AI tool, presented as an experimental feature, simplifies the creation of app listings. Developers can now open the AI helper, input audience and key theme prompts, and generate an initial draft that can be further customized, discarded, or used as is. While Google suggests using this tool in collaboration with human copywriters and editors, there is a concern that it may lead to an influx of low-quality text. Nevertheless, this advancement aims to make the listing process more efficient and accessible for developers.

In addition to aiding listing creation, generative AI will also be employed in conjunction with user reviews. By analyzing and summarizing hundreds or even thousands of app reviews, Google’s AI technology will provide potential users with a concise overview of the general consensus surrounding a particular app. While initially available only in English, Google has plans to expand this feature to support other languages later this year. Furthermore, this development suggests the potential for similar generative AI applications across Google’s various services, including Google Maps.

Alongside the AI-related updates, Google is introducing several other features to assist Play Store developers in listing and promoting their apps. For instance, a Google Translate-powered feature will enable developers to produce listings in ten different languages more efficiently. Additionally, a streamlined process for designing dynamic listings that adapt their content based on the viewer’s profile is being introduced. Lastly, new surfaces for showcasing Play Store apps will provide developers with increased visibility and promotional opportunities.

By leveraging generative AI, Google aims to streamline the listing process, enhance discoverability, and facilitate informed decision-making for users seeking new apps. With these tools and features, developers can focus on creating exceptional applications while leveraging Google’s powerful AI capabilities to reach a wider audience in a more efficient manner. Google has also unveiled its first foldable smartphone Pixel Fold, the much-awaited Pixel 7a, and Pixel Tablet at the event.

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Apple recently announced the introduction of two of its flagship software applications – Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro – to the iPad. The company claims that the new iPad versions of the apps will come with all-new touch interfaces that will allow users to enhance their workflows with Multi-Touch.

Unleash Your Creativity Anywhere

The soon-to-be-launched Final Cut Pro for iPad will be a game-changer for video creators, providing a comprehensive suite of tools for recording, editing, finalizing, and sharing creative content, all from a single, portable device. The standout feature of the iPad version is the innovative job wheel, enabling users to navigate the Magnetic Timeline, swiftly move clips and make precise frame-accurate edits with a simple tap.

Additionally, there’s a Line Drawing feature, which allows users to draw and annotate directly on the video content using the Apple Pencil, adding another layer of creativity and customization to the process.

On the other hand, Logic Pro for iPad is set to revolutionize the music creation process with its Multi-Touch Gestures. These allow music creators to play software instruments, interact with controls naturally, and maneuver through intricate projects with pinch-to-zoom and swipe-to-scroll functionality. To aid music creators in discovering the perfect sound, the app includes a dynamic sound browser that houses all available instrument patches, audio patches, plugin presets, samples, and loops in one place. Users can quickly audition any sound before incorporating it into their project, ensuring uninterrupted creative flow.

Both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad are designed to fully utilize the Apple Pencil, opening up possibilities for detailed track automation and the use of hover technology for quick skimming and previewing of footage without touching the screen. In addition to this, both apps can be paired with a Magic Keyboard or Smart Keyboard Folio for users who prefer keyboard commands.

The apps will be available on the App Store for $4.99 per month or $49 per year with a one-month free trial later this month.

Apple’s decision to extend Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to the iPad marks a significant milestone in mobile content creation. By combining intuitive touch interfaces with powerful creative tools, Apple is paving the way for video creators and music producers to explore their creativity in new and exciting ways. With the portability, superior performance, and touch-first interface of the iPad, the Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro apps will offer an unparalleled mobile studio experience for content creators.

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Google has started rolling out a new update for the Google Play Store with version 35.5.14 for Android devices. This latest update brings general improvements to enhance the stability and usability of the app. Although no new features or changes have been noted, it aims to provide users with a better and bug-free experience.

Download Google Play Store Apk

The update package size is 21.22 MB and it is now available for devices running Android 13 or below. The app will be installed in the background automatically and if you still want to install it manually you can download it from here.

Apart from this, Google released the last April 2023 Play System update batch last week. The new session of the Play Update enables some new tweaks for the Google Play Store. The installation process is now more stable when downloading any third-party app or game over a Wi-Fi network. Additionally, the update brings an option to download the app over the mobile network while waiting for Wi-Fi.

The latest update also has new features to help users discover the apps and games they love, optimizations for faster and more reliable downloads and installation, and continuous improvements to Play Protect to keep devices safe. Furthermore, there are various performance optimizations, bug fixes, and improvements to security, stability, and accessibility.

Another notable change that may soon be coming to the Play Store is users’ ability to delete user data inside a specific app. Apps that allow account creation must also allow users to request their accounts to be deleted, and this deletion option must be readily discoverable inside the app and outside. Google has also recently introduced the “Auto Archive” feature, which helps to automatically delete unnecessary data from apps that have not been used for a significant time.

Lastly, there is an improvement made for Google Chrome developers, which will allow them to add Play Store-like app icons. Google continues to enhance the functionality of its stock apps, including the Play Store, by regularly releasing new features and improvements through updates.

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WhatsApp is on a roll with its new features to improve the user experience. The latest feature that is reportedly being rolled out to Android smartphone users is the ability to add custom descriptions to forwarded files and media. The feature will help users explain the intent of the forwarded media without having to repeat it over and over again to every receiver.

The custom description feature works similarly to file captions, where users can get rid of WhatsApp’s auto-generated file description and add their own text as a description for the forwarded files.

The recipient will receive the description as a separate message, along with the file, allowing them to understand the intent behind it. This feature will be enabled by default for users who have installed the latest WhatsApp beta v2.23.8.22, and it will serve the same purpose of not having to repeat things to every recipient.

The new feature is slowly rolling out to beta users via the Google Play Store, although some users have reported encountering issues such as the inability to view other users’ status updates or problems while downloading videos.

In addition to the custom description feature, WhatsApp has also introduced three new security features for users. These features include Account Protect, Device Verification, and Automatic Security Codes. The Account Protect feature will alert users to any unauthorized attempts to move their account to another device, while Device Verification will prevent mobile device malware from exploiting users’ phones without permission and using their WhatsApp account to send unwanted messages. The Automatic Security Codes feature will allow users to automatically verify that their conversation is secure.

Moreover, WhatsApp has recently introduced a “companion mode” feature to all beta testers in its latest update on Android. This extension of multi-device support allows users to link their existing WhatsApp account to another smartphone.

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Google Contacts app gets a new update, which includes a “For you” tab to remind users of birthdays, anniversaries, and significant dates of their contacts. This new feature is a useful addition for people who tend to forget important dates of their loved ones. The app displays a profile card of the contact, including a photo, name, birth date, and a countdown to their next birthday. Users can also add other significant dates by editing the contact’s information.

The update also adds a shortcut to call or text the contact, making it easier for users to reach out and wish their loved ones on their special day. The app’s “Highlights” tab displays the contacts you’ve most recently looked up and those that were just added, making it easier to find the contacts you need.

Google has been continuously improving its apps to enhance the user experience, and this update is a testament to that. The company has a great habit of taking its apps and making them as useful as possible, adding little features that make a big difference in the user’s life. Google Maps is a prime example of how the company has improved its apps over the years, making it one of the most popular navigation apps in the world.

Overall, the new update to Google Contacts app is a welcome addition for people who want to keep track of important dates and stay in touch with their loved ones. The app is available on Android devices (version 4.2), and users can install it from the Play Store listing. With this update, the Google Contacts app is set to become an essential app for anyone who wants to stay organized and never forget an important date again.

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Smartphones are evolving at an unprecedented rate. Every week smartphones get launched with new innovations to lure customers. Apart from bringing the 5G support in smartphones, the major OEMs are also working to enhance the camera capabilities of the smartphones. These days it is a common sight to see triple, quad, or Penta camera lenses on a smartphone. The ability to shoot in low-light conditions has improved drastically. Apart from hardware advancement, thanks to software tweaks, which are also advancing the cameras by processing the image efficiently and in a better way.

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What is CamScanner App?

The smartphone cameras are used to take selfies, panoramas, night light selfies, portraits, videos, slow-mo, and to take pictures of a document as a scanner. The improved camera picture has allowed the user to capture every detail of the document and then render it as scanned paper. The CamScanner app is the famous document scanner app available for Android devices. It is a widely used app with the added benefits of cloud backups.

The apps like CamScanner have abbreviated the usage of scanning devices. The smartphone made things easier for users. The user can now quickly scan a document with the smartphone camera via the CamScanner app and can even share it via Email, WhatsApp, Messenger, and other ways.

How CamScanner Works?

The CamScanner is primarily a photo-snapping app that automatically processes a document by removing the unnecessary black spots and optimizes the contrast and brightness of the photo. As a result, it outputs the document, which appears to be correctly scanned in a scanner. CamScanner efficiently converts the scanned document into a PDF file. Everyone gets stunned through the high-quality scans, which can be zoomed in to see every minor detail.

There are many other features that CamScanner offers. In today’s writeup, we will let you know about the CamScanner alternatives that our users can install. Let’s have a look at the alternates:

Best CamScanner Alternatives for smartphones

Adobe Scan

The word “document” is mostly denoted either by a Doc file or by a Pdf file. Surprisingly, Adobe itself has invented the PDF extension, and there’s no other app that can manage the PDF as the Adobe Scan. Adobe is known for its professional tools for image editing, video editing, document editing, and a lot more. Similarly, Adobe Scan is a professional tool to capture a document and digitize it anywhere and anytime. It can save documents in various extensions like PDF and JPG.

The user can scan his/her education documents, passports, bills, card, and any other stuff which you want to capture. It can even convert a business card into contact. The enhanced OCR technology is instantly available to convert the printed text into a digital document. Adobe Scan opens doors for document editing by linking to other Adobe products.

Key Features:

• Dark Mode
• Convert Business card to contact
• Adobe Document cloud support
• Recycle content
• Reusing old content

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

HP Smart

HP is known for its hardware devices, but they have a minor software application. The HP Smart is an office assistant application that can be connected wirelessly to HP smart applications. HP Smart allows the user to snap and scan a photo from either an iOS or Android smartphone. The documents can be exported in PDF or a JPG file.

Hp Smart can even synchronize the snapped documents to the cloud and can let you print the document on your smart printer is connected to the network. It is an intelligent application and can be used by any user. The interested users can download the app from the links below.

Key Features:

• Support for PDF and JPG File
• Smart connectivity
• Premium Quality

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

ScanBot

The CamScanner and ScanBot compete head-to-head in terms of features and UI. Scanbot also features support for a variety of file formats, automatic image cropping and adjustment, and several other features.  It can even scan barcodes and QR codes, making the app more dynamic and feature-rich. Other features include live syncing, image correction, multi-page document, fx support, cloud syncing, text recognition, etc.

The users can even search the text inside the documents with ease. THe user can sync the scanned documents to different cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Evernote, and others. It also allows the user to edit documents for highlighting text, adding notes, and drawing the signature.

Key Features:

• Beautiful user Interface
• Syncing to different cloud services
• Search inside Document
• Fax Support
• Editing the document
• QR code scanning

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

Google Drive

A famous productivity app – Google Drive incorporates various tools and features. Surprisingly, it also has a built-in scanner app. To access the scanner feature, the user needs to tap the plus button, and you will be able to scan anything. Unlike the CamScanner and Scanbot apps, the Google Drive scanner does not offer various advanced features but comes in handy if someone is looking for a simple scanner app.

It might be the favorite among most of the users as Google Drive is available on every Android smartphone and also is much secure than the CamScanner. It is a better replacement for the CamScanner.

Key Features:

• Simple document scanner
• Automatic Edge detection
• Secure than most of the apps

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

Office Lens: All-In-One Solution

How can Microsoft miss the chance to get users despite being a pioneer in creating and managing documents through Microsoft Office and other products? It can scan documents, business cards, and even whiteboards without any issue. It allows choosing the type of document the user wants to scan. Office Lens carries the capability to scan handwritten notes, whiteboard tables, and diagrams. Upon successful conversion, the user can directly export it into Word or Powerpoint documents.

Microsoft Office Lens also synchronize the document to the cloud through OneNote and OneDrive. It is a powerful and useful scanning app available for free on both Android and iOS.

Key Features:

• Supports OCR
• No watermark
• Integrated with Microsoft Office
• Sync with OneNote and Onedrive
• Edge Detection

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

Evernote Scannable

It is one of the best apps for scanning documents. In comparison with CamScanner, the Evernote Scannable offers a better user interface and user experience. It can quickly scan any document from notes to business cards with ease. It can even scan bulk documents using the batch scanning feature. The files are finally sent to the cloud from where you can retrieve them on any device irrespective of the environment.

Evernote Scannable allows the user to save the file within JPG or PDF file format. It becomes easy to share files via email or any other social media. In Android, the Evernote scannable is inbuilt with the primary Evernote app. However, the user needs to download the Evernote Scannable app separately on iOS devices.

Key Features:

• High-Quality Scans
• Auto rotates, crops, and adjust images
• Business cards to contacts

Price – Free

Download for Android | Download for iOS

These are some best Cam Scanner App available for download both on iOS or Android. If we missed any high-rated app, then do let us know via the comments below.

Related: Ultimate guide to enable Dark Mode in Google Apps – Google Chrome, Calendar, Photos, News, Discover, Keep and others

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India has already banned hundreds of Chinese applications in the country, including TikTok, Aliexpress, and PUBG Mobile and now it seems that the United States could also go down the same path.

A new report from Reuters, citing people aware of the matter, claims that US President Joe Biden could sign an executive order aimed at safeguarding Americans’ sensitive data by forcing Chinese apps to take tougher measures to protect private information if they want to remain in the U.S. market.

It is said that the goal of such an order is to keep foreign adversaries like China and Russia from gaining access to large amounts of personal and proprietary business information.

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Commerce may issue subpoenas to collect information about certain smartphone, tablet, and desktop computer software applications. The agency may negotiate conditions for their use in the United States or ban the apps.

While the new order has not named any companies, it could end up capturing more apps than the Trump administrator’s bans and hold up better if it is challenged in court. The government is concerned about China’s ability to track locations of government employees, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will decide which apps to target for U.S. action, but they must meet certain criteria. The apps must be owned, controlled, or managed by a person or entity that supports the military or intelligence activities of a foreign adversary such as China or Russia.

After the app has been tagged by the Commerce Secretary as “posing an unacceptable risk”, it will be notified and then the company will have 30 days to object or propose measures to secure data.

Apps from China are most likely to find themselves in the Commerce Department’s crosshairs given escalating tensions between both the countries as well as the Chinese government’s ability to exert control over companies.

As per the people aware of the matter, the order will apply to business apps, including those used in banking and telecommunications, as well as consumer apps. Apps linked to other adversaries such as Iran or Venezuela are already blocked under broader sanctions.

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Google has announced that the company is reducing the commission it takes from Android developers that are hosting their applications on the Play Store and offering in-app purchases. The tech giant has lowered the service free on the first $1 million in revenue every year from 30 percent to 15 percent.

The company has clarified that the reduced fee will start from 1st July 2021 and Google adds that “99 percent of developers globally that see digital goods and services with Play will see 50 percent reduction in fees.” It will levy a 30 percent cut on every dollar developers generate through Google Play beyond the first $1 million in a year.

Announcing this, Sameer Samat, Vice President of Android and Google Play, said: “We’ve heard from our partners making $2 million, $5 million, and even $10 million a year that their services are still on a path to self-sustaining orbit. This is why we are making this reduced fee on the first $1 million of total revenue earned each year available to every Play developer that uses the Play billing system, regardless of size. We believe this is a fair approach that aligns with Google’s broader mission to help all developers succeed.”

It has also revealed that about 3 percent of developers globally offer paid apps or IAPs. The change comes months ahead of Google Play requiring Android apps to use its in-app billing system from September this year.

Apple has opted for a bit different route. Last year, Apple said that it would collect a 15 percent cut instead of 30 percent of App Store sales from companies that generate less than $1 million in revenue. This isn’t applicable to iOS apps on the Apple platform that generates more than $1 million in revenue.

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Apple’s new Mac devices are powered by the M1 chipset, based on Apple Silicon which means that it now uses ARM architecture instead of Intel. Among several advantages of using ARM is the ability to use mobile apps on laptops.

However, with the latest update of the macOS Big Sur, Apple has again blocked users from sideloading iOS applications on Mac devices powered by the M1 chipset. This means that users won’t be able to install iPhone and iPad apps on new Mac devices.

The company made a similar move in which it barred manual installation of iOS and iPadOS apps in the month of January with server-side protections. However, the restrictions were lifted around four days later.

A report from 9to5Mac confirms that the latest version of macOS Big Sur 11.2, which was issued last week, again activates the server-side block. The tests also show that the sideloading policy extends to the current macOS 11.3 beta.

As noted earlier, the new Apple M1 chip comes with an architecture similar to the company’s A-series silicon. This makes it easier to run existing iOS apps on the desktop platform. However, developers who do not wish to allow their apps on macOS can opt-out.

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President of the United States, Donald Trump, who lost the election and is set to leave office in a couple of weeks, has signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese applications, including Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Interestingly, the order is set to take effect in 45 days, after Donald Trump leaves office. The applications banned with this executive order includes apps from some of the biggest companies like Ant Group and Tencent.

In an attempt to justify the ban, Trump said that the applications can access private information from users and could be used by the Chinese government to “track locations of Federal employees and contractors, and build dossiers of personal information.”

Several US-based companies, including Apple, Ford Motor, Walmart, and Walt Disney previously objected to an executive order by Donal Trump that banned Tencent’s WeChat as well as ByteDance’s TikTok. A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the ban on WeChat.

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As noted above, the executive order bans Alipay, a payments application from Ant Group with more than a billion users. It also bans three applications from Tencent, which includes WeChat Pay, QQWallet, and Tencent QQ. Other apps in the list include CamScanner, SHAREit, Vmate, and WPS Office.

The move seems to be furthering the US-China trade war which started when Donald Trump issued an executive order banning China-based Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecom equipment manufacturer.

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Recently, Apple increased the price of Apps, Games on the App Store in India, Indonesia. Now, it is turning the attention towards China. Despite Apple fixing deadlines and extending them, publishers didn’t submit a license on time. This has led to the company removing thousands of Apps including Games from its China App Store.

According to a Reuters report, Apple has removed 39,000 games from the China App Store. This move comes as the company’s already-extended deadline for obtaining a License comes to an end today. For the unware, Apple issued guidelines to publishers for submitting a License number from the Chinese Government.

This is reportedly for allowing users to do in-app purchases on the App Store. The deadline, which initially was on June-end got extended to Dec. 31 which is today. Anyway, apart from games, Apple has also removed other apps bringing the overall tally to more than 46,000.

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Besides, some of the biggies like Ubisoft‘s Assassin’s Creed Identity and NBA 2K20 also seem to have affected in this sweep. In fact, only 74 of the 1,500 top-grossing games made the cut according to Qimai. While the move could be to be on good terms with regulators of China who hunt unlicensed content, experts also feel it would flip coins for Apple.

Previously, the company came under a lot of criticism for allowing a crowdsourced police activity App on its App store amidst Hong Kong Protests in 2019. More drama unfolded during the initial days of the US – WeChat ban controversy as well. Anyway, analysts say that such stringent measures would make overseas developers look for alternate ad-supported platforms which won’t be good news for the Cupertino giant.

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Social media platform Instagram has announced that the platform’s IGTV and Reels section is getting support for the Instagram Shopping Service. With this, users can now watch a video and then check out a product in a few steps.

This is not a surprising move given that e-commerce has been a part of the company’s growth strategy. The expansion of shopping services across the Instagram platform comes at a time when holiday season shopping is about to begin in the United States.

Commenting on this development, Instagram Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky said: “By bringing shopping to IGTV and Reels, we’re making it easy to shop directly from videos. And in turn, helping sellers share their story, reach customers, and make a living.”

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In the year 2018, Instagram added a personalized Shopping channel in the Explore section, which was later expanded to Shopping tags to Stories. Last year, the company introduced another feature called Checkout, which enables users to directly transact within the app. Recently, the Shop section on Instagram has been redesigned and the service is powered by Facebook Pay.

Instagram saw the potential for shopping in this short-form video content market and it seems that Walmart is also seeing the potential in “social commerce” as it is acquiring a minor stake in TikTok along with Oracle.

While shopping features are now available for IGTV on the Instagram platform, the company says that Reels will get support for the feature “later this year” but as of now, there’s no specific timeline for it.

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Most of the smartphones nowadays come pre-installed with several applications or bloatware, either by the carrier or the device manufacturer. In most cases, the user isn’t allowed to remove those apps.

However, it seems that the Europen Union is planning to change that by forcing manufacturers to allow users to remove bloatware. This is a part of the Digital Services Act that is expected to pass by the end of this year.

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The act would not be applicable in markets like the United States, where most of the bloatware is from the network carrier. However, it would affect companies like Samsung and Xiaomi that pre-load their own suite of apps.

As the name of the act itself indicates, it aims to tackle the dominance of big technology companies on the Internet. It would block companies like Google and Amazon from using platform data for their own commercial activities and would also prohibit “gatekeeper platforms” from using advertising data. The act also aims to block big tech companies from giving preferential treatment of their own services.

The Europen Union has been working on coming up with new policies that are customer-friendly. Earlier this year, it voted to adopt a single universal charging solution for smartphones, enabling customers to use a single charger for all of their smartphones and tablet devices.

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The Indian government had banned 59 Chinese applications in the country in June this year and then added 48 more apps to the list. Just a couple of days ago, India banned 118 more apps, including the popular PUBG Mobile game.

Although the reason behind banning Chinese apps in the market seems to be political, the Indian government is citing privacy and security as the reason behind banning China-origin applications in the country.

Now, to ensure continued availability of its applications, Tencent Holdings said that it would engage with the Indian authorities, reports Reuters. It has also added that the company takes the protection of user privacy and data seriously.

For those who are unaware, Tencent is the parent company behind the widely popular PUBG and PUBG Mobile game. Not only in India, but PUBG is also one of the most popular Battle Royale games around the globe.

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The game is available for mobile phones, Xbox console as well as for Windows PC. It is extremely popular in India, especially among the youths with India ranking as having the highest number of downloads globally.

So, it makes sense for Tencent to take some action to ensure that it doesn’t lose access to one of the most important markets. The ban on apps seems to only cover new downloads and apparently works fine if they are already installed on a smartphone.

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Chinese technology giant Huawei has been working on creating alternatives to Google apps and services and is also actively working to reduce its reliance on third-party suppliers. In a similar move, the company has started a new incentive program for developers.

Huawei says that it will be offering £20 million to developers in Ireland and Britain for creating applications and services for its Dublin-headquartered mobile services unit. This announcement from the company was made at a developer conference hosted in London.

This comes at a time when Huawei looks to make itself more self-sufficient after being hit by US sanctions that have left it unable to use Google’s Android operating system on its latest smartphones.

The Chinese company is also focusing to bolster its own mobile services. It has already launched open-source access kits for developers to integrate their apps into the Huawei App Gallery, which is the company’s equivalent service to the Google Play Store.

Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), also known as Huawei ID in some markets, allow users to access the company’s specially designed apps and to store personal information, including payment details, in the cloud.

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In April last year, the services were transferred to the Dublin-headquartered subsidiary from the Shenzhen headquarters for the business operations and development for all the group’s mobile service outside of mainland China, with a particular focus on Europe.

The company currently has 600 million mobile active users across more than 170 countries, including 68 million in Europe. In 2018, more than 270 million users downloaded apps from the company’s App Gallery each month.

It is also reported that Huawei is engaging with Indian developers with lucrative incentives to build localised mobile services that can be offered with its smartphones in the country. The Chinese company is reportedly in talks with about 150 top apps in India to get them on its HMS or Huawei Media Services.

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(Via)

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Xiaomi Poco F1 is still a favorite choice among the users who are looking to buy a device with excellent specifications. The competitive pricing, high-end specifications, and timely support are some significant advantages of purchasing the Poco F1. However, it misses on the high-end camera carrying a dual rear camera of 12MP + 5MP. Some users are opting for Google Camera ports to gain some additional software-based features on Poco F1.

Google Camera’s HDR+ is the prime feature hailed by various Pixel users. It manages to bring a beautiful well-exposed picture even in the rough conditions. The addition of Zero Shutter Lag (ZSL) has made it even mightier than any other camera app. The smart-burst, Slow-Mo, Video Recording, Portrait Mode and some other advanced features are part of it. The color balancing, exposure settings, and saturation control are far better in the Google Camera app than the Stock Apps. The picture doesn’t get improved with more megapixels, and the ultimate magic happens on how it is processed.

The port craze was started by the Ukranian developer, B-S-G, and later he released GCam ports for several devices. Subsequently, several developers launched their respective versions of GCam ports for a variety of devices. Similarly, Poco F1 received the GCam port from B-S-G and few other developers too. However, the one from B-S-G is the most stable port based on Google Camera 6.2.

Related: How to enable Dark Mode on Poco F1 without rooting?

Let’s improve the Poco F1’s camera with the Google Camera Mod. We have listed some best custom GCam Mods for Poco F1:

Best GCam Mods for Poco F1

As we know, there’s support for Google Camera Mod on Poco F1. Various developers are working to offer a stable Google Camera Mod to the users.

GCam 6.2.024 Port by BSG

This GCam Mod is developed by the person who made GCam Mods popular. It is based on Google Camera version 6.2. Since it’s a modded app, not every feature will work but will be much better than the stock camera app in terms of some features. It is compatible and works well with devices running on MIUI Stable 10.2.2 or higher version.

Features working:

• Night Sight
• Super Res Zoom
• ZSL HDR+
• HDR+ Enhanced
• Portrait on front & back camera
• Video recording up to 4K 30FPS
• Photosphere
• Slow-motion 240 FPS (1080p)

Other features such as EIS (Electonic Image Stabilisation) and Panorama mode are not working as of now.

Download

Modded GCam by Sannn111ty

Another primary developer, Sannn111ty, has also developed the Google Camera Mod for Poco F1. He has developed GCam Mods for a variety of devices. The GCam mod for Poco F1 is also based on Google Camera 6.2. Several essential features, such as HDR+, RAW, ZSL, Flash, and others are working flawlessly on the device.

Features working:

• Camera (HDR+/RAW/ZSL/Flash and etc.)
• Portrait Mode (Front/Rear)
• Night Sight (Front/Rear)
• Super Res Zoom
• Slow Motion with some bugs
• Video Recording (1080p30/60, 4K UHD30/60)
• EIS (in 30FPS modes)

To use the AR stickers, users need to follow this special guide by S4turno.

Download

These are some best GCam Mods for your devices. We hope you are using the Google Camera mode without any issues on the Poco F1. If you do have any problems or bugs, do let us know via comments below.

There’s no denying that Xiaomi has improved the camera of the Poco F1 a lot with the recent updates. The Android Pie MIUI 10.3.4 update added essential features such as Widewine L1, game Turbo moded, Slow-MO 960fps video recording, support for 4k at 60fps recording.

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Google is tightening its security measures in a bid to limit access of user’s data to the app developers. In the latest development, the company has announced that it will be removing applications from the Google Play Store that do not adhere policy for call log and SMS permission.

The announcement comes as part of Project Strobe, which is the search engine giant’s internal initiative which stemmed from the issues which gave rise to the untimely (or timely) demise of its social networking platform Google+.

The company is making it simple — only default clients should be able to access the sensitive user data on the device. Not all the apps that need call log or SMS permission will be removed but many unscrupulous developers who have created apps that require access to user data and then profit from the insight will booted off the platform.

Explaining this move, the company announced:

Our new policy is designed to ensure that apps asking for these permissions need full and ongoing access to the sensitive data in order to accomplish the app’s primary use case and that users will understand why this data would be required for the app to function. Keeping our overall Android ecosystem healthy is very important, and protection of user data is vital to the long term health of all developers.

Google does allow access to such data for genuine use cases. For this, the developers will need to submit a ‘permissions declaration form’ for access to the call log and SMS data. Many developers were emailed several months ago to sort this out and were warned that they had 90 days to get their form in, remove the permissions, or face the consequences.

Now that the 90-days span has expired, Google has announced that it will soon begin removing apps which require call logs and SMS permissions from the Play Store. However, only those apps will be booted off for which the developers are yet to submit a permission declaration form.

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Google has also pointed that it assesses factors such as user benefit of the permissions, availability of more narrow alternatives, risks presented by the app and the sheer importance of the permissions for helping an app accomplish its core objective.

(Source)

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Big data has become the new oil of big tech companies across the globe as these giant corporations try to better understand the customer. However, recent big controversial incidents of data theft privacy breach with some high-profile companies have also opened the eyes of users. This is more so the case in China where consumers are becoming wary of the loose rules and guidelines that protect their private data. A new study conducted by the China Consumers Association revealed today that many popular Chinese apps collect an alarming amount of personal data.

According to the study, 100 apps were reviewed out of which 91 apps were found to be involved in the practice. The personal data that these applications collected included user location, contact lists and even mobile numbers on the user’s smartphone. Amongst the most notable apps that were reviewed from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store included Alipay from Ant Financial Services, popular photo-editing app Meitu, bike-sharing platform Ofo and even messaging apps like QQ and WeChat from Tencent Holdings.

The matter is even more serious for other small-scale apps revealed the study. “The problem [of excessive data harvesting] is especially severe among smaller app providers, which have no privacy clauses or provide unreasonable terms.” said the report.

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The report comes as tech companies are scaling up their efforts to harvest data which will be used for Artificial Intelligence initiatives in 2019. However, the general populace has become quite aware due to high-profile cases that came into public view this year. In early 2018, China’s three big tech giants – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent were questioned over their data harvesting practices in Mainland.

(via)

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Ever since its release, the OnePlus One has enjoyed critical acclaim for its powerful specs and excellent design. On September, OnePlus released the only App in China that grants phone owners to access OnePlus IT services whenever their phone has any problems, the OnePlus Doctor.

A lot of phone users have a hard time explaining what is wrong with their phone when they call customer service. They usually wish that they send a technician over to check it out. The OnePlus Doctor solves this problem by allowing OnePlus’ technicians to diagnose any problems with Phone’s settings or features even at a long distance. It is the only App of its kind in China right now.

Using the OnePlus Doctor is quite simple. Users just need to download it from Aijikong, install it, and set up long-distance features. For example, Technicians can see the phone’s screen to check for any problems with the software. Addressing stability and security concerns, OnePlus has stated that the OnePlus Doctor is absolutely safe. Their technicians will only be able to see the phone’s specs and other technical information. They cannot see private information and photos.

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