Meta is warning 1 million Facebook users that their account information may have been compromised by third-party apps from Apple or Google’s stores. In a new report, the company’s security researchers say that in the last year they’ve identified more than 400 scammy apps designed to hijack users’ Facebook account credentials.

According to the company, the apps are disguised as “fun or useful” services, like photo editors, camera apps, VPN services, horoscope apps, and fitness tracking tools. The apps often require users to “Log In with Facebook” before they can access the promised features. But these login features are merely a means of stealing Facebook users’ account info. And Meta’s Director of Threat Disruption, David Agranovich, noted that many of the apps Meta identified were barely functional.

“Many of the apps provided little to no functionality before you logged in, and most provided no functionality even after a person agreed to login,” Agranovich said during a briefing with reporters.

Meta

Of note, Meta found malicious apps in both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, though the vast majority were Android apps. Interestingly, while the malicious Android apps were mostly consumer apps, like photo filters, the 47 iOS apps were almost exclusively what Meta calls “business utility” apps. These services, with names like “Very Business Manager,” “Meta Business,” “FB Analytic” and “Ads Business Knowledge,” seemed to be targeted specifically at people using Facebook’s business tools.

Agranovich said that Meta shared its findings with both Apple and Google, but that it was ultimately up to the stores to ensure the apps are removed. In the meantime, Facebook is pushing warnings to 1 million people who may have used the apps. The notifications inform users their account info may have been compromised by an app — it doesn’t name which one — and recommends resetting their passwords.

Meta has sued companies doing business as "HeyMods," "Highlight Mobi" and "HeyWhatsApp" for stealing over a million accounts using unofficial WhatsApp Android apps, Bleeping Computer has reported. The malware-infested apps were available on several APK sites and even the Google Play Store, according to the complaint. 

"After victims installed the Malicious Applications, they were prompted to enter their WhatsApp user credentials," according to the suit filed in the US District Court in San Francisco. "The Defendants programmed the Malicious Applications to communicate the user's credentials to WhatsApp's computers and obtain the users' account keys and authentication information."

The apps in question are called "Theme Store for Zap" and "AppUpdater for WhatsPlus 2021 GB Yo FM HeyMods" among others. The latter app was installed more than a million times for the Google Play Store, according to Bleeping Computer. 

WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart warned users not to download the fake apps, saying they "were just a scam to steal personal information stored on people's phones." He added that Meta's findings were shared with Google, and in July, Google Play Protect was updated to detect and disable the fake apps. "We're also taking enforcement action against HeyMods... and will explore legal options to hold HeyMods and others like them accountable," he said. 

Meta said the developers effectively breached their agreements, though jurisdiction isn't clear as the complaint indicates that the companies are organized under the laws of three different regions (Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan). In any case, Cathcart gave some advice that applies universally to any app: "If you see friends or family using a different form of WhatsApp please encourage them to only use WhatsApp from a trusted app store or our official website directly at http://WhatsApp.com/dl."

Google showcased the Pixel 7 lineup and Pixel Watch today, which of course meant it had updates on the Assistant front. For one thing, Google's Recorder app will be more helpful for those who use it to transcribe conversations between multiple people. Starting later this year, the app will automatically add speaker labels on Pixel 7. It will transcribe each person's words separately. 

Other AI-powered transcription services, such as Otter, generate labels for speakers too. It's not yet clear if the speaker labels will be available on Pixel 6 or earlier devices at a later date. In addition, Pixel 7 will be able to transcribe audio messages.

Meanwhile, Google announced some updates to At a Glance, an Assistant-powered feature that automatically surfaces helpful information. You may see weather alerts if rain or snow is likely to fall in the next hour. That could help you know when to look for cover or whether to grab an umbrella as you head out. Other At a Glance updates include notifications of package deliveries from your Nest doorbell, as well as travel information, such as the weather forecast for your destination, flight updates and which baggage claim carousel to go to.

Google

Follow all of the news from Google's Pixel 7 event right here!

The latest Disney+ app for the PlayStation 5 finally streams in 4K HDR, Disney announced. After installing it, you'll be able to watch supported Disney content, including Marvel and Star Wars movies and TV shows, in UltraHD and HDR10. Until now, the app was a simple port from the PS4 that was limited to 1080p resolution.

"A key part of our global expansion strategy is to meet consumers wherever they are," said Disney's EVP of product for streaming. "The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans." 

That's certainly true, but it took Disney long enough — its main streaming rivals Netflix, HBO Max and Prime Video have offered 4K playback on the PS5 for a good while now. 

While 4K HDR10 is nice, PS5 doesn't support the far superior Dolby Vision format and can't handle Dolby Atmos audio either (except for Blu-rays). But more importantly, using the PS5 (or Xbox Series X) for streaming is a waste of electricity — it consumes about 70 watts, while the latest Google Chromecast, Roku or Apple TV devices use just 3-6 watts. In any case, you can now download the new PS5 Disney+ app from the media tab on the PS5's home screen. 

With the launch of new Nest devices, Google has updated its Home app with a raft of new features. The main takeaways are faster and easier pairing of smart devices with Matter, new customization and personalization options, improve interoperability between devices and a better Nest camera experience.

The updated Home app takes advantage of Google's Matter smart home standard (launching later this year), particularly the Fast Pair feature. On an Android phone, it'll automatically detect a Matter device and let you set it up quickly, avoiding the current process that's often slow and clunky. Google is also updating its Nest speakers, displays and routers to control Matter devices.

Google

It's prioritizing customization and personalization as well. Users will be able to create personalized views of devices, actions and automations, letting you see live Nest streams and confirm that doors are locked as soon as you open the app, for example. It's also porting over the Nest app's "Spaces" view that lets you group devices by categories like lights, cameras, thermostats and network devices in one view. Later, it'll add even more customization that lets you group together, say, pet cams, cat feeders and robovacs. 

Another feature coming from the Nest app is the ability to see all your Nest wired and battery cameras (including Nest Doorbells) together in a single view. The new camera controller has a scrubbing option to help you find important moments in security footage, aided by machine learning. You can then label and organize them by type, person, package, vehicle, activity or animal. 

Google

Automation is also front and center in the Home app via a new tab. You can see and control automated activities like a routine that turns lights off, locks doors and lowers the thermostat. It's also expanding Routines to more smart home devices so those can be automated too. And for users who want more granular control, Google is launching a new script editor early next year with over a 100 new features and capabilities.

Finally, Google plans to launch the Home app on Wear OS and the web. That'll let you see what's going on with a glance to your wrist, or view all your Nest camera and doorbell feeds on a web page, home.google.com. The new Google Home app will first appear in a public preview, while Google Home on Wear OS 3 will arrive next week. The Google Home website, meanwhile, will roll out "in a few weeks," the company said. 

If you’ve been following the progression of DJ apps lately, you’ve probably noticed that extracting stems on-the-fly from your existing library seems to be trending. Serato DJ has now joined the game, offering its own tool for doing just that: Serato Stems. While the final product is slated for a release later this year in both Serato DJ Pro Lite 3.0 and DJ Pro 3.0, existing users can test drive it with the public beta that’s available now. This lets users kick the tires on the upcoming release and provide feedback to help improve the final result.

Serato DJ’s stem-isolating tools are similar to other offerings, letting you separate vocal, melody, bass and drums from any track. Additionally, you get effects including a vocal echo, instrumental echo, instrumental braker and drums echo. These can be accessed directly in the desktop app or assigned to the slicer or sampler performance pads on supported controllers. As you use these tools, you’ll see grayed out or highlighted portions of the waveform corresponding to your selections.

The stem analysis does take a fair bit of processing power, so it’s ideal for users with an M1 or M2 Mac. However, for those on slower laptops, you can pre-analyze select files by dropping them into a “Stems” folder in the crates sidebar. This can take care of the heavy lifting in advance so you don’t have to worry about analyzing tracks as you go during a live set.

Serato has said the company didn't use AI for their results. Instead, it developed its own algorithm to handle the audio separation. We had a chance to briefly test the new Serato Stems feature and the results are promising. They do vary depending on the tracks you're using, but even on muddled tracks the quality of isolated segments sounds good and any sound leakage for the various channels seems minimal.

Overall, the Serato Stems feature is fun and easy to use. Plus, it opens up lots of creative opportunities when you consider both the stem isolation and the related effects. There will be more information about this new feature when it's officially launched later this year. For now, existing Serato DJ users can find the public beta on the company's website.

Twitter has started rolling out some changes for its Android app that gives people sliding into DMs a more visually appealing interface. The social network's Android app has remained largely the same over the years, but this update, while pretty minor, was meant to give users "a smoother, more consistent experience overall." Twitter says it set to work redesigning its DMs on Android after its teams evaluated the experience on the OS and determined that it needed an improvement. 

As you can see in the screenshots below, the messages view on the app look cleaner now, with rounder speech bubbles and text box at the bottom. The inbox itself also looks much less cluttered and is devoid of line breaks. Ditto for the message requests view, which now also shows an "x" button for each request that makes it easy to delete them. 

Twitter

Twitter didn't just give DMs on Android a shiny new veneer, though. The company said it also worked on its back-end and rebuilt it with proper architecture, improving its responsiveness and its scrolling performance. Twitter said it also redesigned the message composer, as well as the app's tweet forwarding capabilities. 

The company has historically been slow to bring new features to the Android app — search, for instance, had been available on iOS and the web for almost a couple of years before it came to the mobile platform. Earlier this year, Twitter expanded search's capability to make it easier to find the exact conversations users are looking for. That feature is available for both iOS and Android users.

Twitter

Videos on Twitter will now look a lot more like TikTok. The company announced that it’s switching to a full-screen “immersive” video player for watching clips. It’s also borrowing the now-familiar “swipe up” gesture that will allow people to endlessly scroll through more videos on the platform.

The update will make watching videos on Twitter feel a lot more like browsing TikTok or Instagram’s Reels, at least in terms of the user interface. The changes are limited to Twitter’s iOS app for now, but the company said a similar update for Android could arrive in the "coming weeks."

While Twitter has long promoted video, especially live video, in different parts of its app, the change is one of the company’s most aggressive moves to push video on its users. It could also prove controversial, as some users could find the new full-screen videos disruptive. The company notes that users can navigate back to the original tweet using the back arrow in the top left corner of a clip.

Separately, Twitter is also testing out a change to drive more people to video content across its platform. The company is experimenting with a new section for video recommendations in Twitter’s Explore page. Those suggestions will be “available to people in select countries using Twitter in English on iOS and Android.”

Ahead of its annual MAX event next month, Adobe has unveiled the 2023 version of its non-subscription Elements products. As with yearspast, the highlights are new AI features like animation for Photoshop Elements images and AI-applied art styles for Premiere.

For Photoshop Elements 2023, the most dramatic update is the ability to add motion to still photos. To do so, you just need to select the part of the image you want to move and indicate the direction of movement using the arrow tool. The AI will then do the rest, adding appropriate movement to water, fabrics, sand and so on. A bit cheesy, sure, but it could work in some situations. 

Adobe

Another key tool for Photoshop Elements is guided edits. That lets you do things like "peek-throughs" or putting foreground objects in a photo, along with "perfect portrait" that lets you smooth blemishes, whiten teeth, adjust face tilt or make the subjects smile wider (or even change a blink to open their eyes). Another guided lets you replace an ugly background with, say, a sunset. 

The perfect portrait feature adds a touch of uncanny valley to subjects if overused, and the background replacement work can be a bit wonky, depending on how well the AI isolates your subject. Still, it could be fun for certain uses. Other features include new collage and slideshow templates, faster performance, Apple M1 chip support and a new Android companion app to upload mobile photos and videos to Elements on desktop (English-only beta).  

Adobe

The key feature for Premiere Elements also revolves around Adobe's Sensei AI. The "artistic effects" tool lets you add painterly styles to video including Van Gogh, DaVinci, Monet and so on. The effect takes motion into account for a consistent look, though again, this can get very tacky if overused. 

Adobe also added over 100 new audio tracks to give you some free music for videos, while boosting performance and stability and adding Apple M1 chips support. The Android companion app can also be used with Premiere Elements to make it easier to upload videos from your phone (again, only for the English-only beta). Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements are now available for $100 new or $80 as upgrades, or $150 for both products ($120 as an upgrade). 

A third-party Instagram app, called “The OG App,” which promised an ad-free feed more like the original Instagram experience, has been pulled from Apple’s App Store just one day after it officially launched. It’s not clear if Apple pulled the app at the request of Meta, but the social network confirmed it had taken “enforcement actions” against the service.

“This app violates our policies and we’re taking all appropriate enforcement actions,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson declined to elaborate on what those actions were, or if it had been in contact with Apple, but pointed to a blog post outlining Meta’s policies barring clone sites.

“A clone site is a third-party site that duplicates, in whole or in part, the content of an existing site,” Meta explains. On Twitter, the developers of The OG App said their entire team had been permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram as a result of their ties to the service.

"Users deserve the right to control what they consume, and OG will continue to defend and fight for that right," Hardik Patil, on of the app's founder's told Engadget. He said he had received no direct communication from Meta.

The OG App had been in the works for more than a year, according toTechCrunch, which reported its initial launch. The app’s founders told the publication they wanted to provide a “cleaner” version of Instagram without advertising. The app featured customizable feeds without Reels, suggested posts and other newer features that have at times been controversial among longtime Instagram users. The Android version of the app is currently still available.

Meta’s policies have long barred third-party Instagram clients, and in recent years the company has filed a number of lawsuits against developers who break its rules, including those barring clone sites. At the same time, the company has also been accused of using those same policies to shut down legitimate researchers’ attempts to study the platform.

However, in this case, it seems the creators of the OG App were clearly breaking Instagram’s policies. The company doesn’t offer a public API for developers to build their own versions of Instagram, and on Twitter, The OG App said they had to “reverse engineer” the Android API. The app also raised privacy concerns about how the developers were protecting users’ account information.

Despite this, the app had already gained a lot of fans due to its more simplified — and ad-free — experience. Instagram has also been dealing with a backlash against its aggressive pushing of Reels and recommended content. The OG App said it had racked up more than 10,000 downloads before its removal from the App Store “because we listened to them and built what they wanted.”