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WhatsApp now has over 2 billion users
WhatsApp just hit a major milestone that seemed unimaginable even for Facebook a few years ago. The messaging service has revealed that it now has over 2 billion users, a figure that its parent company reached back in 2017. It didn't explain just how it reached that user count, but it's not hard to see why. WhatsApp is a staple of mobile communication in many parts of the world, and in some cases plays an important role in shopping, political campaigning and other aspects of daily life. There are few other major rivals, and its sibling Facebook Messenger is one of them.
WhatsApp desktop security flaw gave intruders remote access to files
You'll want to update WhatsApp's desktop client if you use it to chat on your computer. PerimeterX researcher Gal Weizman has revealed that Facebook patched a security vulnerability in WhatsApp's Mac and Windows versions that let attackers insert JavaScript into messages and remotely access files. The software was running an older release of Google's Chromium web engine (all the way back to version 69) with known flaws that made it relatively easy to slip in rogue code. It wouldn't have been difficult to alter messages, look for sensitive documents or install additional malware.
Discord drops the activity feed and game library you weren't using
Do you use Discord to launch games and keep up with the latest gaming news? No? You're not the only one. Discord is dropping both the Activity Feed and Library from its chat app as of today. The feed wasn't doing a good job of keeping people updated and "added bulk," the company said, while the Library tab and the Universal Game Launcher just haven't been "useful" to players.
Google's latest stab at messaging may be an all-in-one business app
Believe it or not, Google might still be tinkering with its chat strategy. The Information sources say Google is working on a unified communications app for workers that would roll messaging and other features together, including Hangouts Chat, Hangouts Meet, Gmail and Google Drive. Effectively, it'd serve as a more direct rival to office messaging apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams. You'd still have to venture elsewhere for features like your calendar, but you wouldn't have to switch apps just to hold a videoconference or reply to a colleague's email.
Microsoft releases a free tool to fight online child abuse
Microsoft has developed a new technique to detect and report predators who attempt to lure children online. Dubbed "Project Artemis," the technology will be made available for free to qualifying online service companies that offer a chat function.
Messaging app ToTok is reportedly a spying tool for the UAE
It's no secret that some messaging apps are favored by authoritarians, but one app may be explicitly designed with spying in mind. Unnamed US officials speaking to the New York Times say that the chat app ToTok is believed to be a surveillance tool for the United Arab Emirates. According to a classified intelligence report, the UAE uses ToTok to follow users' conversations, track locations (under the guise of weather), determine social connections and look at media. Most of the app's million of users live in the UAE, but it's popular elsewhere in the world and has seen a surge of demand in the US.
RCS messaging is now available to all Android users in the US
After years of delays and very limited rollouts, next-generation texting is finally available to all Android users in the US. Android Messages product manager Sanaz Ahari has confirmed that the American RCS rollout completed on December 9th, or a few weeks ahead of Google's end-of-2019 target. If you still don't have the rich chat technology, you'll want to be sure that both Android Messages and Carrier Services are up to date.
Snapchat Cameos lets you insert your face into a GIF
Snapchat's secret weapon is its uncanny face-swapping and -tracking algorithms, and it has just deployed those to great effect in a new chat feature called Cameos. The feature, which leaked out yesterday, inserts your selfie into short, looping videos featuring cats, shopping carts, cars and more. The idea is to send your pals an expressive GIF, starring... you.
Google's next chat service is... Photos
One of the best things about Google+ (RIP) was its engrossing photography community, where people from far and wide shared and discussed their images. Google's stab at a social network might be dead and buried, but it's doubling down on ways for people to message each other across its various services. Now, it's marrying those two notions by bringing a chat feature to Google Photos.
WhatsApp banned over 400,000 accounts during Brazil's election
There's little doubt that Facebook had to deal with a ton of fake news during Brazil's 2018 election, but now it's clearer just how much was on its plate. A document submitted to an investigation of misinformation during the presidential election has revealed that WhatsApp banned over 400,000 accounts in Brazil between August 15th and October 28th of last year. While WhatsApp's privacy-protecting encryption prevented the team from banning users based on message content, it used behavior to crack down on "automated and bulk messaging activities."
WhatsApp gives you more ways to avoid annoying group chats
WhatsApp is giving you more ways to block people from adding you to group chats. Its updated privacy settings replace the original "nobody" option with a "my contacts except" choice that lets you prevent certain people (or all of them, if you prefer) from dragging you into a group. Your close friends and family can add you to a chat, for example, but a co-worker can't rope you into a sports discussion without your permission.
Trick allows RCS messaging on virtually any Android phone
Google is trying to speed up RCS' rollout on Android, but you might have a way to enable it sooner than that. Reddit users have posted a trick that lets you enable the richer texting on any compatible Android phone, regardless of carrier. The process involves pointing a key Android Messages flag toward a Google sandbox address, setting up Messages, resetting data and repeating part of the process until you can tap an item inside another Messages flag. If all goes well, you'll have data-only chat abilities, full-quality photo sharing and typing notifications.
Treaty would force Facebook to share encrypted chats with UK police
A cross-Atlantic political agreement could put social networks in an awkward position. Sources for The Times and Bloomberg understand that the US and UK will sign a treaty in October that would force Facebook and other social networks to hand encrypted messages to UK law enforcement. The measure would be limited to 'serious' cases like pedophilia and terrorism, but it could still leave social sites either handing over effectively unusable data (if they can't decrypt chats themselves) or weakening security through backdoors.
Hulu hackathon leads to eye-tracking controls for Roku
Of the 40 project ideas that came out of Hulu's annual hackathon this summer, more than a quarter addressed the needs of users with disabilities. Today, Hulu shared some of those accessibility-focused concepts.
You can chat with Shopify stores from virtually anywhere
You might not have to switch to Apple's iMessage or Facebook Messenger the next time you want to talk to a favorite online store. Shopify has introduced a native chat feature (appropriately called Shopify Chat) that lets you talk to a store through any page, regardless of your browser or operating system. There could always be help on hand, whether you're looking for pricing info on your phone or a recommendation when you're on your PC at home.
Facebook paid people to transcribe Messenger voice chats
Add Facebook to the list of tech firms who've halted their audio transcriptions over privacy concerns. The company confirmed to Bloomberg that contractors had been transcribing Messenger voice chats to determine if AI had correctly interpreted the messages, but that it had "paused" the practice over a week ago in the wake of worries about other companies' transcription policies. The data was anonymized and came solely from people who'd volunteered for transcriptions, Facebook added.
Telegram's silent messages keep your conversations low-key
Just because you're messaging someone doesn't mean you want to loudly advertise that fact, and Telegram thinks it can help on that front. The newly updated chat app has introduced a silent messaging feature that delivers any text or media without a sound notification, no matter what someone's phone settings might be. It's most likely to be helpful if you don't want to wake someone, but it could also be useful if you're messaging on the sly during a meeting.
Discord’s ‘Go Live’ lets gamers stream to up to 10 people
Imagine streaming a game on Twitch, but only to your closest friends. Gaming chat platform Discord is launching a new feature, Go Live, that will let users stream games directly to 10 other people. Users can view your stream either through the desktop app or by browser. The feature is due to roll out on August 15th.
Google Assistant can read out text replies on WhatsApp and Telegram
Google Assistant has long had the option to read your SMS messages aloud, but that hasn't done much good if your conversations lived in third-party apps. That shouldn't be an issue for long. Both Android Police and 91mobiles have noticed that Google is rolling out the option to read messages from non-Google apps like WhatsApp, Slack and Telegram. You can dictate or type out replies, and there appears to be limited support for languages beyond English.
Standalone Cortana app available to Windows Insiders
Microsoft has been distancing Cortana from Windows for months. First, it split the virtual assistant from search in Windows 10. Then, a beta version of a standalone Cortana app appeared on the Windows Store. And starting today, Windows 10 Insiders are able to test the new Cortana app beta in Windows.
