Got a favorite app, game, or movie on Android? If so, you can now show your appreciation by voting for it in Google Play's new survey! Google has highlighted what it deemed as "the best and most popular" apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and books in its yearly "Best of" awards for quite some time now. However, in 2018, the tech has decided to reach out to fans in order to assign a "Fan Favorite" prize in the aforementioned three categories. There are 20 candidates in each group. Some of them are from 2018, while some have been around for quite a while. Voting wraps up in two weeks, and the winners will be announced on December 3, 2018. Here are the three categories and all of the apps, games, and movies that made the cut. You can cast your vote by clicking on each of the respective titles. … [Read more...] about Google Play wants your opinion: Vote for your favorite app, game, and movie here!
Apps
‘Fingerprint Gestures’ app brings one Pixel feature to more Android devices
One of the Pixel's more unique features is the ability to swipe on the fingerprint sensor to toggle the notification panel. When the gesture was revealed to be Pixel-exclusive, some Nexus owners were upset. In fact, there was so much outrage that Google finally said they would look into it. App developer SuperThomasLab aims to solve this issue with 'Fingerprint Gestures,' an application that does exactly what it sounds like. You can configure tapping, double-tapping, or swiping on your device's fingerprint reader to perform a variety of functions. Any navigation button, opening/toggling the notifications panel, opening quick settings, media controls, opening an app, and more are all supported actions. If you have root access, you can perform additional actions like scrolling and activating sleep mode. Nougat users can also toggle split screen mode with any of the gestures (root not required). The application requires Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and obviously a device … [Read more...] about ‘Fingerprint Gestures’ app brings one Pixel feature to more Android devices
Google Officially Releases Dedicated YouTube Music App Into The Play Store [APK Download]
Update 1: 2015/11/12 10:07am PST Since the Play Store page is US only, we've got the APK. You can download the goods from APK Mirror below. Google quietly unveiled a new YouTube Music app when it rolled out YouTube Red last month, and we've been waiting ever since to see it become available in the Play Store. Well, today's the day. Google has officially announced its new YouTube app dedicated entirely to music. YouTube Music is free to use, just like regular YouTube. It pulls up music videos and turns them into an endless stream of songs. Think of it as radio with a video component. You can't really create playlists, aside from putting together a giant list of all the songs you've ever liked. Though you do have the option to tweak your stream to introduce more variety. Folks with a YouTube Red membership get to enjoy the videos without ads. Being a paying customer also comes with the benefit of listening to music in the background, offline, or without video. Signing into the … [Read more...] about Google Officially Releases Dedicated YouTube Music App Into The Play Store [APK Download]
Google will remove Play Store apps that use Accessibility Services for anything except helping disabled users
For years, Android has allowed apps to modify the behavior of other applications, using Accessibility Services. While the intended purpose is for developers to create apps for users with disabilities, the API is often used for other functionality (to overlay content, fill in text fields, etc.). LastPass, Button Mapper, Signal Spy, Tasker, and Greenify are just a few examples of applications heavily using this API. While Accessibility Services can greatly extend the functionality of applications, they can potentially create a security risk. Once granted the right permissions, the API can be used to read data from other apps. Likely for this reason, Google has sent emails to app developers regarding the usage of Accessibility Services. The developer of BatterySaver received this message: We’re contacting you because your app, BatterySaver System Shortcut, with package name com.floriandraschbacher.batterysaver.free is requesting the … [Read more...] about Google will remove Play Store apps that use Accessibility Services for anything except helping disabled users
Sony Updates PlayStation App With PS4 Features, Offers New Ways To Spend Money
The big next-generation game console releases are just days away, and Sony is getting ready with a major update to the PlayStation Android app. Just as Sony promised, the app will plug into the PS4 and all Sony's associated online services. You'll need a PS4 to take full advantage of the app, but it seems like it'll be much more useful in the PlayStation 4 era. The changelog for this update is hilariously uninformative – it only says "This application has been updated." Thanks, Sony. However, the app should have integration with Sony's chat system, PlayStation Store access (for buying stuff), pushing games to the console, and second screen features in some games and apps. So, you'll be able to buy a game, have it remotely installed on the console, and tell your friends all about it from the app. Truly, we live in the future. The UI has also been updated to fit with the PS4. Sony's console hits retail November 15th in the US and November 29th in Europe, Australia, and New … [Read more...] about Sony Updates PlayStation App With PS4 Features, Offers New Ways To Spend Money