Google+ shuffled off this mortal coil to the great app graveyard back in 2019 — right? Well, not quite. As a reminder, its corpse was reanimated as Google Currents, designed strictly for paying G Suite customers. Now, Google Workspaces announced that it has killed that app off too, marking the final end of Google's social network or whatever G+ was, Ars Technica reported. 

Google said that the introduction of the Spaces group chat app last year negated the need for Currents, so it plans to wind it down starting in 2023. Before it does that, however, it will add new capabilities to Spaces to accommodate some of Currents' social features. "These include support for larger communities and leadership communication, investments in advanced search, tools for content moderation, and more," Google said. 

As was the case with Google+, the usage and purpose of Currents was likely unclear to many users. That issue extends to Spaces, as well, unfortunately. As Google described it last year, Spaces is an evolution of Rooms but is a part of Google Chat that's designed for group messaging, much like Slack. Got it?

What's also kind of funny is that Google recycled both the Spaces and Currents names: Currents was a news-style app that existed until 2013, and Google Spaces was a messaging app we saw for a short time in 2016. So one might say that Google+ was effectively killed twice, and Currents was also buried two times. Now, let's hope we never hear those names again. 

Bandcamp has always had a serviceable if unpolished mobile app for streaming the tracks you buy from its platform. However, one thing you couldn’t do before today was queue albums and tracks. The good news is Bandcamp has addressed that shortcoming of its software with a new update that’s available through the App Store and Google Play Store.

To queue a song or album, navigate to your music library by tapping the heart icon located at the bottom of the interface, and then tap the album you want to play. You can queue the entire album by pressing the relevant button under the playback controls. To queue a single song, meanwhile, press the three dots icon located next to the individual track you want to listen to. You can also reorder what’s next at any point by dragging a song to another position in the queue.

We’ll be honest, it’s surprising Bandcamp’s app didn’t include a queuing feature before today, but then it probably wasn’t used for streaming music by as many people as you might think. Thanks to its support of musicians through the pandemic, Bandcamp has enjoyed an upswell in popularity and goodwill. At the start of the year, the company said approximately 800,000 people had spent more than $70 million buying music and merchandise through the 17 Bandcamp Fridays the company held throughout 2020 and 2021. While a lot of those people had probably bought music through Bandcamp before, at least some of them were new to the platform. And you have to imagine both groups want to listen their collections on the go.

In October, Artiphon released an iOS app to allow owners of its quirky Orba musical instrument to create and share music videos. A suite of built-in visual effects make the software a fun and easy way to create musical “selfies” and clips you can upload to places like TikTok and Instagram. If you want to check out the app, you can now do so without first buying the $99 Orba.

Artiphon has updated the software to add optional onscreen controls. Now all you need to do is tap the eight keys displayed on-screen to make music. At the top of the interface, there’s a toggle to switch between drum, bass, chord and lead modes, adding plenty of flexibility to your beatmaking. The app automatically generates visual effects that sync to the music you’re creating, and you have a variety of effects to choose from via a selection carousel. You’re also free to use either the front- or rear-facing camera on your phone to record footage.

You can download the updated Orbacam app starting today for free from the App Store.

Superstition schmuperstition. Google is unveiling the first Android 13 developer preview today and it's clear the company is not going to avoid the "unlucky" number. After all, Apple made a massive amount of money from iPhone 13s. The Android 13 preview is a glimpse of things we can expect from the next generation of Google's mobile OS, and developers can test their apps using the Android emulator or flashing a system image to the Pixel 4 or newer Pixel phones. Based on today's announcement, it looks like we can expect the next version of Android to at least offer finer privacy controls and more of Android 12's Material You design throughout the system.

One of the things this preview brings is a new system photo picker, which can let you share specific local or cloud-based photos more securely. It builds on the existing document picker function with lets you share specific files with an app without having to grant it permission to all media files on your device. The updated photo picker "extends this capability with a dedicated experience for picking photos and videos," Google's vice president of engineering Dave Burke wrote in an announcement post. Developers will need to use the photo picker APIs to enable this feature.

Google

Android 13 also adds a "nearby WiFi devices" permission, which will be required for apps that look for the available WiFi devices in your surroundings. This will allow them to "discover and connect to nearby devices over WiFi without needing location permission." It should let apps that need to find WiFi devices in the area that don't need to know where you are get connected without asking for access to your GPS, which is better for your privacy.

Google is also expanding the Material You adaptive color palette beyond its own apps to all app icons. You'll be able to opt in and have the system apply colors it generated from your wallpaper onto your icons. Developers will need to submit monochrome versions of their app icons and tweak some code. This feature will roll out first on Pixels and Burke said "we’re working with our device manufacturer partners to bring them to more devices."

The developer preview also offers a new tile placement API that lets developers prompt users to add their custom tiles to the Quick Settings panel in the notification shade. With that, users don't have to hunt for these app-specific shortcuts by editing the Quick Settings shade and won't have to leave the app

Google

Other features in this developer preview include a way for apps to more easily set a different language from the system default, improved animations and effects, as well as more feature updates through Google Play. That last one will let Google "push new features like photo picker... directly to users on older versions of Android." Burke also gave a shoutout to Android 12L and devices of varying display sizes and form factors, saying "We’ll also build on some of the newer updates we made in 12L to help you take advantage of the 250+ million large screen Android devices currently running."

Google also shared a release timeline that shows the first beta release is expected around April, with platform stability targeted for June to July. That's in line with how previous versions of Android rolled out, and we're likely to keep hearing about Android 13 in the coming months.

TikTok is beginning to test ways to age-restrict some types of content in its app amid a push to beef up safety features for teens. The work is in an early stage, but the company says the goal is to shield younger users from mature content or other potentially inappropriate videos.

TikTok, like other social media apps, has recently faced increased scrutiny for how it handles user safety, particularly for children and younger teens. At a Congressional hearing last fall, the company’s VP of Public Policy hinted that the app was working on new ways “to enjoy content based on age appropriateness.” Now, the company has shared a few more details of what that may look like.

TikTok, long known for its eerily precise recommendation algorithm, is working on features that would be able to classify content based on “content maturity and thematic comfort zones,” according to Tracy Elizabeth, TikTok’s global issue policy lead. “When the system is fully launched, content that we've identified as containing overtly mature themes could be restricted from teens,” she said during a briefing with reporters. “And for content that has less … mature themes, our community members are going to be able to choose the comfort zones or content maturity that they would prefer to skip or opt into.”

Elizabeth didn’t elaborate on how the company was determining a video’s maturity level, saying the work was in an “innovation phase.” But she said it could eventually resemble the ratings used for film, television and video games. “We know that there’s family-ish content, there’s teen-ish content, there’s adult-ish content,” she said. “What we’d like to do is … say ‘here you go: you can pick for yourself what is that category that you feel most comfortable with.’” She added that parents could also control these preferences for their children via TikTok’s “Family Pairing” settings.

Separately, TikTok is also working on a feature for creators that would allow them to indicate whether their videos are intended for adults or younger users. This could help further inform TikTok’s recommendations to ensure that more mature content stays out of the feeds of younger users.

While TikTok is now running a small test of the age restrictions, it could still be some time before the features are widely available, and Elizabeth noted they are still taking shape. “A lot of this we haven’t fully decided how we’re going to do it,” she said.

Outside of those features, TikTok also shared an updated set of community guidelines. Under the new rules, TikTok is giving suicide hoaxes and dangerous challenges its own section in an effort to make the policy more visible. The company is also expanding the type of content it bars under its eating disorder policy. The new rules will prohibit videos that promote “disordered eating,” like extreme calorie counting, short term fasting, overexercise and other “under-recognized signs of a potential problem.”

Finally, TikTok is also updating its rules to explicitly ban “deadnaming, misgendering, or misogyny as well as content that supports or promotes conversion therapy programs.” The company says it already removed these types of posts in the past, but that the rules weren’t specifically outlined in its public-facing community guidelines.

TikTok is beginning to test ways to age-restrict some types of content in its app amid a push to beef up safety features for teens. The work is in an early stage, but the company says the goal is to shield younger users from mature content or other potentially inappropriate videos.

TikTok, like other social media apps, has recently faced increased scrutiny for how it handles user safety, particularly for children and younger teens. At a Congressional hearing last fall, the company’s VP of Public Policy hinted that the app was working on new ways “to enjoy content based on age appropriateness.” Now, the company has shared a few more details of what that may look like.

TikTok, long known for its eerily precise recommendation algorithm, is working on features that would be able to classify content based on “content maturity and thematic comfort zones,” according to Tracy Elizabeth, TikTok’s global issue policy lead. “When the system is fully launched, content that we've identified as containing overtly mature themes could be restricted from teens,” she said during a briefing with reporters. “And for content that has less … mature themes, our community members are going to be able to choose the comfort zones or content maturity that they would prefer to skip or opt into.”

Elizabeth didn’t elaborate on how the company was determining a video’s maturity level, saying the work was in an “innovation phase.” But she said it could eventually resemble the ratings used for film, television and video games. “We know that there’s family-ish content, there’s teen-ish content, there’s adult-ish content,” she said. “What we’d like to do is … say ‘here you go: you can pick for yourself what is that category that you feel most comfortable with.’” She added that parents could also control these preferences for their children via TikTok’s “Family Pairing” settings.

Separately, TikTok is also working on a feature for creators that would allow them to indicate whether their videos are intended for adults or younger users. This could help further inform TikTok’s recommendations to ensure that more mature content stays out of the feeds of younger users.

While TikTok is now running a small test of the age restrictions, it could still be some time before the features are widely available, and Elizabeth noted they are still taking shape. “A lot of this we haven’t fully decided how we’re going to do it,” she said.

Outside of those features, TikTok also shared an updated set of community guidelines. Under the new rules, TikTok is giving suicide hoaxes and dangerous challenges its own section in an effort to make the policy more visible. The company is also expanding the type of content it bars under its eating disorder policy. The new rules will prohibit videos that promote “disordered eating,” like extreme calorie counting, short term fasting, overexercise and other “under-recognized signs of a potential problem.”

Finally, TikTok is also updating its rules to explicitly ban “deadnaming, misgendering, or misogyny as well as content that supports or promotes conversion therapy programs.” The company says it already removed these types of posts in the past, but that the rules weren’t specifically outlined in its public-facing community guidelines.

Tinder says it will no longer charge older users more to use Tinder+, following a new report questioning the dating app’s practice of charging older users “substantially more.”

The report, from Mozilla and Consumers International, detailed just how much Tinder+ pricing can vary based on users’ age. The report relied on “mystery shoppers” in six countries — the United States, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Korea, India and Brazil — who signed up for Tinder+ and reported back how much the app charged for the subscription. According to the report, Tinder users between the ages of 30 and 49 were charged an average of 65.3 percent more than their younger counterparts in every country except Brazil.

Tinder’s age-based pricing for Tinder, which gives users access to premium features like unlimited likes, has long been a source of controversy for the dating app. When it launched, the company said it charged older users more because younger people were more “budget constrained.” Since then, the dating app has been hit with at least one class action lawsuit over the practice.

But though Tinder had pledged to end the practice in some areas, like California where the class action suit originated, the company continued to offer different rates in many countries. The latest report from Consumers International highlights just how much the dating app’s subscription pricing could vary. In New Zealand, where the mystery shoppers were quoted a total of25 different prices, the lowest quoted price was $4.95, while the highest was $24.54, according to the report. In the Netherlands, there were 31 different prices, with the lowest at $4.45 and the highest at $25.95.

Now, Tinder says it plans to abandon its age-based pricing altogether. In a blog post published Sunday, Tinder said younger users were offered subscriptions at different rates in order to “make Tinder affordable for those in school or early in their careers.” The company said it ended the practice in the US, Australia and UK, and that it plans on “eliminating age based pricing for all of our members in all markets by the end of Q2 this year.” The company says it never used other personal or demographic info to determine rates.

In a statement, a Tinder spokesperson said the report from Consumers International was “deeply flawed and contains completely false and outrageous allegations,” but didn’t specify what those were. The spokesperson added that the company’s internal pricing tests could have “impacted the findings,” and noted that prices are “typically” lower on Tinder’s website than in App Stores due to Apple and Google’s commission structure.

Going forward, Tinder says it plans to offer more “a la carte” features, rather than pricier subscriptions that bundle multiple capabilities. The app also recently introduced “coins” to allow users to make one-off in-app purchases.

Despite Google being on the twelfth generation of its ubiquitous mobile OS, recently it’s felt like Android has left tablets behind. Hell, even Google gave up making its own tablets years ago, while some other device makers began favoring Chrome OS over Android on larger gaadgets. But with Android 12L, Google is trying to address some of the OS’s shortcomings while also paving the way for emerging types of gadgets like foldables.

Why Android 12L?

In contrast to Google’s typical once-a-year release cadence, Android 12L is a timely callback to older versions of Android that got one (or more) mid-cycle updates. One big advantage of Android 12L is that because Google doesn’t have to worry about including larger overarching changes as it does with its big yearly update, the company can be more targeted about what kind of features should (or should not) be included.

Who is it for?

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Google says Android 12L is a special update primarily meant to support larger-screen devices, though all the new features will still make their way into Android as a whole. Currently, Android 12L can be installed on a range of Pixel phones (the Pixel 3 and up, but not the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro yet), Google’s Android Emulator, and critically, Lenovo’s P12 Pro tablet–which is the only tablet and third-party device that’s been officially approved to run Android 12L so far. (It’s also the main device I’ve been using to test 12L.)

When will Android 12L be ready for release?

Google

Right now, Google is mid-way through its testing and development cycle. Android 12L has already gotten two beta releases to date (depending on the device), with a third beta planned for sometime later this month prior to an eventual release sometime by the end of Q1 2022 (which ends in March).

The big changes in Android 12L

A new taskbar and improved multitasking

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The most important addition in Android 12L is the new taskbar. Similar to taskbars on desktop OSes, Android 12L’s taskbar sits at the bottom of the screen and holds a selection of apps for easy access (though I should note that on smaller devices like phones, the taskbar may not be there by default).

Unlike many Android launchers, the taskbar is pinned in place, so it’ll always be there unless you’re playing a fullscreen video or game. That said, you can make it disappear when you want by pressing and holding. But where things get really interesting is that you can also open up apps directly into split-screen mode simply by dragging the app icon up from the taskbar into the middle of your screen. From there, you can easily adjust the size of the app’s window however you want.

Google

This far into Android’s development cycle, the addition of a taskbar and the ability to drag and drop apps into split-screen mode is as close to a “game-changer” as we’re going to get. It makes the process of multitasking so much faster and easier—particularly for larger devices like tablets and smartphones which often feel like they have more screen real estate than they can actually utilize.

That said, there are some important limitations because unlike Samsung’s One UI, there isn’t an easy way to open up three apps in split-screen at the same time or create permanent app pairs. But even more than that, the taskbar maxes out at five apps, which feels a bit limited. I mean just look at all the extra room on the left and right where more apps could go. I’m really hoping that for the final build, Google increases the number of apps that can live down there, especially when existing foldables like the Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold3 have a similar taskbar that supports up to eight icons (plus a launcher) with ease.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

For people who like to watch videos, Google recently added a new split-screen icon to the second Android 12L beta’s picture-in-picture mode, so you can more easily go from the mini player to multitasking with just a couple taps.

UI improvements

The other big area of improvement in Android 12L are changes to the OS’s UI for larger screens. So instead of the single-column notification tray we’re used to seeing on phones, Android 12L features a two-column layout that puts notifications on the right alongside your usual quick settings icons on the left. It’s a straightforward change, but it really does make the extra display area on bigger devices feel more worthwhile. And it’s a similar situation for the Settings menu, though once again I should point out that Samsung’s OneUI has had this for some time on larger foldables. Sadly on the P12 Pro, I noticed that the two-column notification layout only works in landscape mode, which hopefully Google can address in a future update.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Another clever quality-of-life update is the ability for Android 12L to move the PIN or pattern-entry menu on a device’s lock screen to left or right, based on where you most recently touched the screen. It makes getting into your device just a bit faster and easier. Though once again, Google still needs to tweak things a bit. On the P12 Pro, the field showing your pin appears at the top of the screen, which looks a bit awkward (and also quite hilarious) in portrait mode. Google also updated the Recent Apps screen with a new layout that retains the existing card-based system while better utilizing the space on the sides of your display.

Finally, while it’s not available on the P12 Pro just yet, Google also added a new “double line” clock option to the lock screen. So instead of getting a giant clock smack dab in the middle of your display, you can choose a more compact timepiece that’s tucked up in the top left corner.

Even more under-the-hood big screen optimizations

Elsewhere, Android 12L has even more subtle enhancements designed to make apps look better on bigger screens, even if those apps haven’t been updated in a while. For apps that haven’t been already optimized by their developers, Google upgraded Android 12L’s compatibility mode to make apps automatically look and respond better across various screen resolutions and orientations. And for apps that don’t take up the entire screen, Google added new letterboxing options including new overlays and background settings. There’s even a new tool to apply rounded corners to app windows, though as you can see by the squared-off apps from our Android 12L test device, it’s up to device makers to implement them as they see fit.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In the future, Google will also add ratings to Play Store to help point out which apps have been optimized for large screen devices and support things like adaptive layouts and scaling options, which is especially important for foldables that can switch between various screen resolutions and aspect ratios on the fly.

Then there are more niche changes like updated M3 buttons (the ones that look like little pills) that should help call attention to important permissions, some new animations (like the one for power in quick settings) and more intuitive labels for important multitasking functions (like renaming “pin to top” to “split top”).

What Android 12L means for future devices

Google has been very clear thus far saying Android 12L is intended to support “the next wave of Android 12 tablets, Chromebooks and foldables.” So while you may see some improvements on phones, Android 12L is really setting the table for the next batch of big-screen mobile devices. However, if we’re reading between the lines, perhaps the bigger takeaway is that Android 12L could herald the arrival of the long-rumored Pixel Fold or possibly the return of a first-party Google tablet. Google hasn’t done a mid-cycle Android update since Android 8.1 in late 2017, which suggests Google might have some upcoming hardware designed to really showcase all the new features in Android 12L.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But has it worked? Compared to vanilla Android 12, the new taskbar in Android 12L makes an immediate impact on how you use and multitask on a tablet or other big screen device. With so many people working and learning from home, the days when a tablet could be a simple video watching or social media machine are over, and with Android 12L is Google acknowledging that shift.

However, it isn’t a clear win, because when compared to Chrome OS which already has a dedicated taskbar and the ability to run Android apps, Chrome OS-based devices often feel like they’re better suited to handle everyday productivity or education needs, particularly on gadgets with built-in or optional keyboards. But for mobile-first hybrid devices like foldables, Android 12L makes a lot of sense, even if many of these new features are already available in other variations of Android like One UI.

The Magic Eraser feature on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is a handy tool that does a solid job of removing unwanted objects or people from photos. However, users are experiencing a bug that crashes the Google Photos app when they use it.

Folks have flagged the issue on Reddit and Twitter. As Android Police notes, some have tried clearing the Google Photos cache and restarting their handset, but that doesn't seem to resolve things.

Users have experienced other issues with Magic Eraser and Google Photos. An app update in November accidentally removed the feature, but Google swiftly remedied that. Engadget has asked Google when users can expect a fix for the latest problem.

Magic Eraser was touted as one of the most compelling new features in the Pixel 6 lineup and it certainly didn't hurt device sales. Google parent Alphabet said in its earnings report this week that it set an all-time quarterly sales record for Pixel in the last three months of 2021 even in the face of ongoing supply chain issues.

A bill targeting Apple and Google's app store restrictions has taken a step forward. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 20-2 to advance the Open App Markets Act, with only Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis opposing. The vote showed once again that there's bipartisan support for the bill.

Should the legislation become law as it stands, it would prevent app marketplace owners with more than 50 million users in the US from locking third-party developers into their payment systems. The App Store and Google Play Store, which require third-party apps to use their respective payment systems, pass that threshold.

They wouldn't be able to block or punish developers from offering apps at other prices on different platforms, and they'd have to let developers contact their users with "legitimate business offers, such as pricing terms and product or service offerings." Another provision would force Apple and Google to let users install third-party app stores or sideload apps. This would have a bigger impact on Apple, since Android already allows sideloading.

Apple and Google have opposed the bill, claiming that it would put user security and privacy at risk. They said the same things about the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a more sweeping tech reform bill that the committee passed last month. Both bills will go to the Senate floor for debate and a vote.

The stakes are high for both companies. The App Store and Google Play Store each take a 15 percent cut of in-app purchases up to the first $1 million developers make in annual revenue. After that, the fees rise to 30 percent. 

Google parent company Alphabet reports Play Store revenue under "Google other revenues," which also includes hardware and non-ad income from YouTube. That business segment brought in $8.2 billion last quarter, a year-over-year increase of 22 percent. App Store revenue falls under the Apple's services segment, which raked in $19.5 billion in Q4.

Apple was last year ordered to allow developers to direct users to other payment methods as a result of its legal battle with Epic Games. An appeals court judge granted a last-minute delay before the change was supposed to take effect.