Apps & Services
Android Auto users can send voice messages on WhatsApp
Android Auto is an infotainment platform that provides several services for car drivers to bring them convenience in using any functionality while driving the car without any disturbance. Now, it is easier to listen to and reply to WhatsApp messages with the support of voice messages.
Earlier, Android Auto only supported dictating the text messages to the users and messaging them as text messages by taking voice commands, but now it has started allowing users to send and listen to the voice messages via WhatsApp easily.
WhatsApp is testing the voice message feature from last year, and it was rolled out in a beta update. As it was in the beta update, obviously it was limited to some users, but now the company has rolled out the functionality for all Android Auto users.
Android Auto users have been waiting for a long time for this feature, but Google doesn’t highlight it in the changelog and brings it secretly. According to the information, the WhatsApp voice message service was started with the stable Android Auto 11.6.
However, it is not confirmed that the feature is available with the latest stable software update, so Google activates it from the server side. In case you haven’t received the feature yet, you should try to update your Android Auto app to the latest version.
To update Android Auto to the latest version, you just have to go to the Google Play Store, search for Android Auto, or go to the “My Apps” section. If it shows a new update available, tap on the update button. Alternatively, you can check it directly by clicking on this link.
Apps & Services
ByteDance wants to kick off TikTok in the US market rather than selling it to an American firm
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, would have to shut down TikTok in the US market rather than sell it to an American firm. Following many assertions and statements for years, finally, it appears that ByteDance wants to ditch TikTok from the US market. Menahile, earlier reports significantly suggested that eventually TikTok will get banned in the US and was officially approved by the US House, Senate, and President of the US, Biden.
According to a source shared by Reuters via Android Police, ByteDance, which is the parent company of TikTok, seems looking up to ditching TikTok in the US completely rather than selling it to an American firm, while after the official approval, ByteDance was given the last 270-day deadline that either the company needs to release TikTok from its ownership forever or completely stop TikTok in the US market.
ByteDance counts a small part of TikTok’s revenue, though:
Meanwhile, the company is currently eyeing over some other legal options, but if all the legal options proved unsuccessful, then it’s quite clear that TikTok would be leaving the US market forever. On the flip side, some sources also reveal that the highly engaging properties of TikTok are due to its core algorithms, while these core algorithms are the most essential section of ByteDance’s technology. Moreover, this ditching of TikTok in the US will not really impact ByteDance’s current operations in the US market, as the company accounts for a small part of revenue through the app.
Sources further added that last year, TikTok gained about 25% of its revenue from the US market, which significantly means that it could be a sudden decrement within the revenue stream. However, ByteDance’s dedicated app, Douyin, which is certainly a Chinese version of TikTok, Also, no American firm is willing to pay billions to acquire TikTok without its core algorithms. Meanwhile, all these factors significantly indicate that if the legal efforts proved to be a failure, TikTok would have to leave the US market for sure.
Over the years, Google has made several improvements to its most crucial application, the Google Play Store, and it constantly provides new utility features and improvements. Now, with the latest development, the company is working on a new capability to handle multiple application downloads.
According to the information, Google is looking to bring a new capability to download multiple applications together. Previously, when you tap on the install button of the applications, it starts downloading them one by one. When one application fully downloads, it starts downloading the second application.
However, it is worth noticing that the phenomenon of multiple downloading is limited to only two applications, meaning if you tap on more than three applications to download, it will start downloading two applications while the third one is still pending.
Additionally, the simultaneous download is limited to the new installs, but it will not apply to the update section. We hope that Google may expand the multiple downloads to update phenomenon and may increase the number of downloads together in the next developments.
As per the information, the new change has already started working on several devices, at least for the Android 14 installed devices with the latest version of the Play Store (40.6.31).
Good Lock plays a key role in providing a platform for all the customizing applications or plugins of the Galaxy devices. For information, it provides several types of plugins like NavStar, QuickStar, LockStar, Camera Assistant, and many more. With these plugins, users can perform several customizations for the smartphone UI, including navigation bars, lock screens, home screens, notifications, and many more. To manage these plugins more conveniently, the company has started rolling out the update for Good Lock.
Good Lock is receiving a new update, version 2.2.04.95. With the latest update, the company has introduced some new changes that will fix the phenomenon of installation and deletion of modules, so users can easily manage them according to their requirements.
Along with this, the changelog also says to bring some fixes for the security-related functionalities, so if you are also having some issues while using any of the functions of Good Lock or want to get some performance enhancements, then you should go for the latest Good Lock update.
If you want to install the latest version of Good Lock, you can check its availability from the Galaxy Store. If it is available, tap on the update button, but if it isn’t available, you can also sideload the application through some external sources.