Welcome to the 483rd edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
Apple and Google are working together to reign in location tracker abuse. The problem is, essentially, that people can use Google and Apple’s Bluetooth trackers to track people who don’t know that they’re being tracked. The two tech giants are figuring out a way to let people know they’re being tracked so that they can do something about it. This is especially good news because a new wave of third-party trackers may be available with Google’s Finder Network soon.
Google is introducing a new passkey feature that doesn’t use passwords. The feature lets people sign into their Google accounts by using a PIN, a fingerprint, or a face scan instead of typing in a password like you usually do. Google is hardly the first with this idea. Microsoft, Apple, and several other companies are looking into it as well. Hit the link to learn more.
Google TV is seeing some improvements coming. Some of the improvements include a reduction of app sizes by up to 25%, and the smart TV platform will start hibernating apps when they haven’t been used in 30 days. You can hit the link to learn more, but this is a positive update for Google TV owners.
Google Photos is getting improvements to its search bar. It’s only available on the web for right now, but you can try it out if you use Google Photos. Essentially, the search bar lets you type in more words into the search bar to find photos. For example, you can use phrases like “peaceful garden” or “colorful sunset”, phrases that didn’t work before.
We have some more AI news this week. Samsung phones now come with Bing AI by default. Well, kind of, anyway. The built-in version of SwiftKey for Samsung phones now includes Bing AI, just like the regular version of SwiftKey. It started as of version v9.10.11.10. Microsoft also announced a new AI function that’ll help you build Instagram posts in seconds. Finally, Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI, exited Google in April amid ethical concerns about AI. You can read about all of those things at the links.
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