Meta is gearing up to debut a new type of Facebook ads that will allow users in the European Union to download apps without having to visit their mobile platform's app store, according to The Verge. Yes, it will offer a direct download option for users, though the capability will likely debut only on Android, because the company is reportedly working with Android developers for its pilot launch later this year. 

Android users can already install APKs and sideload apps they download through their browsers. However, those apps still use Google's billing system. Meta's alternative way to download apps is supposedly completely independent of both Apple's App Store and Google Play. It'll be possible to introduce such a feature in the EU due to a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will go into effect in 2024. Under the DMA's rules, consumers must be able to download apps from competing app stores. "When a gatekeeper engages in unfair practices, such as... preventing installation of applications from other sources, consumers are likely to pay more or are effectively deprived of the benefits that alternative services might have brought," the European Commission said. 

Tom Channick, a spokesperson for Meta, has confirmed the company's plan to introduce app downloads through Facebook ads to The Verge. "We've always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space," he said. "Developers deserve more ways to easily get their apps to the people that want them." We also reached out to Meta for confirmation and more details. Meta reportedly won't be taking a cut from developers' earnings and will allow them to use whatever billing system they want. For now, anyway. That could change as the service evolves, if it ever gets past the pilot testing phase. 

TikTok has told users that it's discontinuing TikTok Now, effectively a clone of last year's social media sensation BeReal, The Verge reported. According to screenshots posted by various users, parent ByteDance is "updating the TikTok experience and discontinuing TikTok Now."

BeReal was Apple's iPhone app of the year for 2022, but buzz around the social media app has tapered off of late. The app took an interesting approach compared to rivals, sending notifications at a different time each day that prompted you to quickly share photos taken with your device's front and rear cameras at the same time. The idea was to create more spontaneous content, while keeping the experience centered on friends.

TikTok Now had a nearly identical approach, also requiring users to take front and rear photos simultaneously. However, it added the ability to take 10-second TikTok-like videos instead of photos. When it launched, the company said it aimed to create "authentic and spontaneous connections on TikTok." 

The feature was part of the main app in the US, but is also available as a standalone TikTok Now app in other regions. The message sent to TikTok users in the US indicated that the feature was being killed in the main app, but there's no word on the separate TikTok Now app. 

Shortly after it launched, BeReal was successful enough to inspire dual-camera features from Instagram (Candid Stories), SnapChat and others. Since then, however, the number of users has dropped, according to a report from The New York Times in April. BeReal refuted an analytics report behind the story, though, saying it still had 20 million daily active users. 

Spotify has really let its desktop app go in recent years, throwing most of its resources at the mobile apps and certain vaccine-hating podcasters. However, the desktop side of things just received a major overhaul in what the company is calling “one of the biggest revamps yet” to bring the standalone app and web app up to speed with more popular smartphone-based cousins. After all, Spotify was originally a browser-based experience even before it made its way to fancy phones.

The main content area remains unchanged, with the same access to browsing and recommended songs and podcasts, but the left-side of the app window now features the recently-launched “Your Library” feature, which the company started testing a few months back. This gives you immediate access to saved music and podcast collections, helping to save time when switching between playlists. You can now collapse the library for a compact view, which is always nice. 

There’s also a new “Now Playing” view on the right side of the screen that displays the current content you are listening to, complete with biographical information on the artist. Additionally, this field gives you access to purchase merchandise directly from the artist and take a peak at any upcoming tour dates. Some podcasts will also automatically populate a transcript via this field as you listen.

The “Friend Activity” feed moved to make room for the new stuff, but you can move it back. Just look for the “friends” icon next to your profile picture at the top-right corner of the main content area and drag and drop to bring the feed back to its former glory. You can also completely remove both the "Friends Activity" and "Now Playing" windows for a streamlined look. 

All of these changes come with an eye-catching splash of paint to make everything look and feel like the smartphone versions of the app. The update rolls out today to all desktop users worldwide. This is a big day for the streaming service, as it just announced that comedian Trevor Noah signed a deal for a weekly talk show and rumors continue to swirl regarding a forthcoming hi-fi audio tier.

You no longer have to hop between apps just to perform some common tasks in Chrome on your iPhone. Google is updating Chrome for iOS with the option to see Maps addresses, create Calendar events and translate specific text without switching to the relevant app. You can find the location of a restaurant, remind yourself to visit that restaurant and decipher the menu all from one place.

A future upgrade will also make Google Lens considerably more useful. You'll have the option of searching with your camera, whether to take new pictures or draw from your camera roll. As on Android, this might be helpful if you spot a flower or must-have jacket and want to identify it on the spot. The functionality will be available in the "coming months."

You'll still need to use Google's dedicated apps for more advanced functions, such as driving directions in Maps or managing the rest of your itinerary. However, the additions should make Chrome more of a do-it-all app that saves time (and battery life) versus running multiple apps at once. That, in turn, may make Chrome more alluring than Safari as your iPhone's default browser.

The expansion comes soon after Google introduced Chrome Actions, or text-based shortcuts for popular browser tasks like clearing your browsing data and checking settings. Google has even been experimenting with using its own web engine in Chrome for iOS if and when Apple loosens its app policies. Simply put, the company is making Chrome more of a power user's tool.

OpenAI has announced a few new updates for its iOS app, including Shortcuts integration. Now you can create a ChatGPT prompt in Shortcuts and save it as a link between the AI tool and different apps. For example, ask ChatGPT to answer a problem or look up a fact and then message the response to your friend or save it as a note. You can also now ask Siri to bring up ChatGPT or create these Shortcuts. ChatGPT for iOS already utilizes OpenAI's Whisper speech recognition for voice input, with Siri further expanding its accessibility. 

A new drag and drop feature further integrates ChatGPT across iOS devices, letting you pull messages out of its interface and into other apps. It's a bit like the physical version of Shortcuts, so it's up to you which method to use. 

ChatGPT is also going to be better supported across iPads moving forward. Previously, iPad users weren't getting a full-screen experience when using the app — OpenAI had only formatted it for iPhone-sized displays. Now it will take up all the screen real estate you have, ideally providing a less wonky experience. 

The updates follow ChatGPT's recent expansion across Apple's platforms, with OpenAI first launching an iOS app for US users in mid-May and soon taking it to 11 more countries. Before these updates, the app already synced conversations to your computer and provided access to GPT-4 for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. While ChatGPT continues to advance its presence on Apple devices, Android owners still have to wait for an app. 

Ubisoft is bringing its guitar-learning app to mobile devices this week. Rocksmith+ will be available on iOS and Android on June 9th, nine months after the service landed on PC. The company previously said the mobile app would arrive last fall. Meanwhile, there's still no word on when the Xbox and PlayStation versions will be available.

Rocksmith+ is designed to help folks learn how to play the electric, acoustic or bass guitar. Features include note detection, real-time feedback and practice tools. There are now more than 6,000 songs in the library, with more being added each month.

You'll need a subscription to use Rocksmith+. It costs $15 for one month, $40 for three months and $100 for a year. There is a seven-day trial available, but you'll need to sign up for the annual plan and swiftly cancel if you don't want to keep using the app after the first week.

Ubisoft also offers a free guitar tuning app on iOS and Android. You can connect your instrument directly or use your mobile device's microphone to make sure you're in tune. The app has more than 30 presets, so it can help you try a variety of non-standard tunings.

As usual, Apple is unveiling a major set of updates for iPadOS. This year, we're on to iPadOS 17, and as expected it features a host of changes that have already been shown of for the iPhone in iOS 17, plus some updates specific to the tablet. 

For starters, widgets are now interactive, which means you can update them and take actions without necessarily jumping right into the app. You can start playing music via the Music widget, check off reminders, update smart home features and so forth.

Unsurprisingly, iPadOS 17 is also getting the lock screen redesign that Apple pushed to the iPhone last year with iOS 16. This lets you add widgets to the home screen, assign different focus modes to specific wallpapers, change the fonts of the clock and text and more. There's also a pretty cool Live Photo feature that animates your wallpaper when you wake the iPad. 

Apple is also bringing the Health app to the iPad for the first time. Naturally, it syncs data from the Health app on your phone and Apple Watch, but it looks like you can use it standalone as well if you don't have that other hardware.

PDF support is coming to the Notes app, which might not sound like the most exciting thing ever. But Notes is a pretty powerful app, and having it host PDFs for annotation could be quite useful. There's even a live collaboration feature that lets two people work on a shared PDF at the same time, and changes are reflected as both of you work.

Stage Manager is getting some improvements, too, giving you more flexibility for placing windows. This feature was a key bit of iPadOS 16, and it's good to see that Apple is answering some requests that people have had over the year.

Naturally, a lot of the same updates that are coming to iOS 17 will be here, as well. That includes an improved Messages experience, customizable contact posters, and the brand-new Journal app. 

Follow all of the news from Apple's WWDC 2023 right here.

Apple has a new diary app landing on iOS devices. Simply called “Journal,” the app is meant to help you keep tabs on daily moments you might want to remember or otherwise reflect on. The app is set to debut later this year following the rollout of iOS 17.

The app’s existence was reported in April by The Wall Street Journal, which compared it to Day One, a journaling app that’s been popular for more than a decade. But Apple’s Journal app could also be much more powerful than the offerings from third-party developers.

In addition to offering a diary-like interface where users can record notes about their day, the app will also allow people to easily keep tabs on their daily activities. Because the app can pull details from other apps, like Messages and Podcasts, it can automatically suggest moments you may want to reflect on.

For example, if you completed a workout using the Fitness app, or listened to a new podcast episode, Journal could remind you of these activities in its “intelligently curated” writing prompts and suggestions. Or if you took a trip to the beach, Journal could automatically pull in any related photos similar to the “memory” collages created in the Photos app.

The company also plans to offer an API for developers who want to tie their apps into Journal’s curated suggestions. Those kinds of integrations between apps could prompt privacy concerns, but the company said it created the app with users’ privacy in mind. The app is end-to-end encrypted, with all information stored locally on users’ devices. Users can also control which apps will have details appear in Journal’s suggestions.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Follow all of the news from Apple's WWDC 2023 right here.

BeReal was Apple's iPhone app of the year for 2022, but buzz around the social media app (that forces you to post daily selfies) has died down of late. Now, the French company has introduced "RealChat" private messaging, allowing it to boast a feature found on most major social media apps, TechCrunch has reported. 

The function is one of the most requested, the company said. You can only message another user if you're friends with them on the platform. For a message to be deleted, both parties have to do so — deleting your own message won't delete it from a friend's app. The chat system will reportedly feature blocking and reporting features. 

BeReal has an interesting and somewhat messy approach to social media. It sends notifications at a different time each day, prompting you to quickly share photos taken with your phone's front and rear cameras simultaneously. You have a two-minute window to do so, forcing you to share spontaneous moments without spending extra time to make sure the photos are perfect. Friends are notified when you're late or revise a post.

Earlier this year, BeReal refuted an analytics report that engagement on the app had fallen significantly, saying it still had 20 million daily active users. The company admitted that while it's been busy behind the scenes, it hasn't released many new features of late, so "people have been guessing what we've been up to and how things are going, and not always accurately. 

Over the past couple of months, though it has launched an integration with Spotify showing what you're listening to when you post, along with the Bonus BeReal feature that lets you post more than one BeReal if you post on time. As with other social media apps, the RealChat feature looks like a way to boost time spent on the app and allow friends to comment privately on posts.

Apple Music Classical launched on Android today, bringing the company’s dedicated orchestral app to a non-Apple platform for the first time. It follows the iPhone debut of the service in March.

Apple’s classical music app is separate from the mainline Apple Music app, with plenty of similarities but also distinctive navigation, font and metadata handling for easy searching. (Apple Music has been available for Android since 2015.) However, 9to5Macnotes that Apple Music Classical’s Android arrival means the company launched it on a rival platform before fleshing out its own hardware ecosystem, as it still lacks a dedicated iPad or Mac app. Although the Apple faithful are accustomed to the company rewarding their hardware loyalty, it’s an understandable move given that phones are more common streaming sources than computers or tablets. As a result, Apple can likely reel in more subscribers by stepping outside its walled garden before (presumably) expanding availability for its remaining in-house devices.

The app is the fruit of Apple’s 2021 acquisition of Primephonic, a Netherlands-based classical streaming service known for its superior search capabilities. Apple shut down the service soon after buying it.

Apple Music Classical offers over five million tracks, including “thousands of exclusive albums.” The search feature, carrying over from Primephonic, lets you find pieces based on composer, work, conductor or catalog number thanks to the library’s “complete and accurate metadata.” In addition, it streams in up to 192 kHz / 24-bit Hi-Res Lossless while supporting spatial audio and Dolby Atmos for select tracks. Of course, the service requires an Apple Music subscription; supported plans include individual, student, family or Apple One — but not the voice-only plan aimed at HomePod users.

The Android version requires Android 9 or later. It’s available “worldwide where Apple Music is offered,” except in China, Japan, Korea, Russia, and Taiwan. You can download it now from the Play Store.