Gadget Hacks

The Audiophile.fm free lossless radio app, a FLAC radio aggregator that requires no account and runs with no in-app ads, is now available as a native app on iPhone and Android, after launching first as a web player.

Google Photos now packs a Redact tool into its Markup editor, letting Android users blur license plates, account numbers, and other sensitive details before sharing a photo or screenshot. The Google Photos Redact tool started rolling out globally on Android last month, with no beta sign-up required.

Apple's new Made for iPhone Duo badge is appearing on App Store product pages, giving owners of the company's first foldable iPhone a way to spot apps designed for its larger screen. But the label doesn't necessarily mean Apple has tested every foldable-specific feature or verified that an app works flawlessly.

A Samsung Galaxy phone can meet every obvious requirement, Bluetooth enabled, signed into the same Google Account, and fully updated, and still refuse to show up as an option under ChromeOS's Connected devices setup.

Tom's Guide put the iPhone Duo and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 through a 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test earlier this week, and the result reads backwards at first glance. The phone that ran hotter to the touch also posted the stronger sustained performance. In Tom's Guide's test, the Duo registered approximately 103°F on its rear surface, compared with roughly 96°F for the Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Samsung's One UI 9 update is bringing an unwelcome surprise for some Galaxy S24 and S25 owners: battery life that suddenly falls short of what they're used to. Complaints range from faster overnight drain to phones needing several charges throughout the day.

Googlebook OS may soon stop making owners rebuild their workspace from scratch every time the laptop restarts. Code strings discovered by Android Authority in Android 17 QPR3 Beta 2 point to an unreleased "App restore on reboot" setting for Googlebook OS.

Apple's iOS 27.2 release notes confirm that Shared Albums in Photos now support editing captions and comments, according to the full notes reproduced by iClarified. The update is available now through Settings > General > Software Update.

Samsung's next budget fitness tracker is coming into focus, and anyone expecting a dramatic redesign may be disappointed. Newly uncovered Galaxy Fit 4 renders show a device that looks remarkably similar to the Galaxy Fit 3, with Bluetooth 5.4 emerging as the clearest documented upgrade.

Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch 7 update isn't packed with new features, but it targets parts of the smartwatch experience that owners use throughout the day. Watch faces, the always-on display, and Quick Settings are among the areas receiving attention in the fifth One UI 9 Watch beta.

Turning a handwritten to-do list into individual iPhone tasks is possible with Finalist, an app that uses on-device AI to extract tasks from photos. Its Capture tool lets users photograph a list, review the detected items, and send them to Finalist, Apple Reminders, or Calendar.

Google revised its privacy policy on Oct. 16 to say that data shared between Gmail, Google Photos, or Drive and certain other Google services may now be used to personalize content, including ads. The update adds an exception to language that previously ruled out using content from those apps for ad personalization, according to The Verge and Ars Technica.

Samsung's unreleased Exynos 2700 reportedly scored around 13,000 in a Geekbench 6.5 multi-core benchmark test against roughly 11,000 for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, a lead of nearly 20%, according to industry sources cited by The Korea Herald on Oct. 25.

DIRECTV Genre Packs are eight themed streaming bundles built around specific types of programming instead of one do-everything lineup. Base prices start at $20.99 a month, with no satellite dish, no annual contract, and no Signature TV plan required. Five are base packs (MyEntertainment, MySports, MyKids, MyNews, and MiEspañol), while three are Mini Packs that work as paid add-ons to eligible base plans.

A developer named Ismail Shah announced on LinkedIn three weeks ago that he built the Knit Easy Android app to fix a problem he says plagues knitters and crocheters working from printed or PDF patterns: losing track of the row mid-stitch. The post describes a row highlighter, linked counters, and fully offline operation, and includes a Google Play link. However, the app's current listing details, including its price, permissions, and user ratings, have not been independently verified.

A notification pings when someone tags you in a group chat, but after you open WhatsApp, finding that message can mean scrolling through dozens of other texts. WhatsApp is testing a fix: a mentions and replies filter spotted in Android beta version 2.26.42.12, according to WABetaInfo's Oct. 24 report.

Google has confirmed that Find Hub will add Left Behind notifications, alerting users when a tracked device separates from their phone, but the only hardware with a committed launch date so far is Pixel Tag, Google's own tracker arriving November 11 for $29 solo or $99 for a four-pack.

Creating a password-protected ZIP on Android starts with choosing a file manager that supports encrypted archives. Files by Google can create ordinary ZIP files, but its documented compression workflow doesn't include a password option. That's a limitation of Files by Google, not Android as a whole.

iOS 27 introduces a change to how iPhone handles sound: alarms, ringtones, and notification alerts no longer have to share one volume slider. Owners can now turn down a ringtone or text alert without quietly lowering the alarm that's supposed to wake them up. That's the practical answer to a question a lot of iPhone owners have been asking for years: how to set separate alarm and ringer volumes on iPhone without one setting dragging down the other.

Apple's current support page lists up to 25W MagSafe charging for iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max, while iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are rated for up to 22.5W. An independent Techtest report also found faster charging with a third-party Qi2.2 pad after updating an iPhone 16 Pro Max to iOS 26.

Apple released iOS 18.7.11 and iPadOS 18.7.11 earlier this week, delivering a fix for a CoreGraphics flaw the company says "may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals" on iOS versions before iOS 27. This is the iPhone XR and iPhone XS security update that matters most right now, since it's the only version that brings the fix to iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, hardware that can't run iOS 26, along with the seventh-generation iPad.

A Galaxy tablet owner asked Samsung Community how to reorder "the first 6 buttons" on their Quick Panel, and the reply pointed to a setting called Edit top quick settings. Samsung now documents that option in its official support materials for newer Galaxy devices, although the exact menu layout can vary by software version and model. For One UI 7 users, the key distinction is between editing the full Quick Panel and customizing the shortcuts shown in the combined notifications view.

Passports, birth certificates, and Social Security cards don't fit inside a Bluetooth tracker, but Google's Find Hub now gives them a place anyway. Its new Remembered tab lets you tell Gemini where you stored a document, then ask for that location later, whether you're digging through a closet or preparing for a trip.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate got cheaper this year, but figuring out how to get the most out of your subscription takes more than glancing at the new price. Starting April 21, 2026, Ultimate dropped from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, with PC Game Pass falling from $16.49 to $13.99, according to Microsoft. Prices vary by region, so those US figures might not match what appears on your bill.

If Microsoft Teams won't open on Windows 11, first check whether your PC is managed by an organization or fully yours. That determines which fixes you can safely try. Most of the troubleshooting also applies to Windows 10, although some Settings menus differ.

A no-logs policy sounds straightforward. A VPN provider says it does not log your activity, so your browsing should remain private.

A working fork of the open-source Aves gallery app, posted to GitHub about a month ago, demonstrates something readers trying to search Android photos without cloud upload have been asking for: typed description search and visual similarity matching that run entirely on the phone, with photo indexing and search described by the developer as running locally, without uploading photos, videos, or search queries.

Google Meet's real-time voice translation jumped from six languages to 63 this week, powered by a new Gemini 3.5 Live Translate model that automatically detects which language someone is speaking instead of locking a call into one fixed pair. This expansion brings Google's Gemini 3.5 Live Translate model to Meet's web and mobile apps, and it removes the old meeting-wide language-pair limit so each participant can pick their own translation language. Most people will still need an eligible paid...

Choosing a VPN in 2026 is not as simple as finding the provider with the largest server network or the fastest advertised speeds.

Samsung has started pushing a second Galaxy S26 October 2026 update, and so far only phones in South Korea have been reported receiving it, according to Android Headlines and SamMobile. The update covers the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, weighs about 580.37MB, and arrives without a public changelog explaining what it does.

Samsung has started rolling out One UI 9.0 based on Android 17 to the Galaxy A16 5G on Verizon.

Samsung Community goes offline on Oct. 30 for about 72 hours, and the platform migration behind the shutdown could leave users without direct messages, drafts, bookmarks, or subscriptions they haven't backed up, according to Samsung's official notice.

The Samsung Galaxy A37 has worn three different price tags in about six months, and that's the central question of this Galaxy A37 review. The hardware hasn't changed.

A blue indicator has started showing up in the status bar on Samsung Galaxy phones running One UI 9, and it has one job: flagging when an app is actively accessing your location.

Ask Play, Google Play's AI-powered search feature, can now generate side-by-side comparisons between apps alongside its existing conversational recommendations.

OnePlus has already started rolling out Android 17-based ColorOS 17 ahead of its original Oct. 29, 2026, schedule.

Google wants Android users in parts of Canada to check their phones before Nov. 1, the day several provinces and territories stop turning clocks back.

A Gartic Phone Halloween party game only works if the host plans around one detail: most guests will be drawing monsters with their thumbs on a six-inch screen, not a tablet or laptop. Gartic Phone works in iOS Safari and Android Chrome with touchscreen drawing built in, but a guide covering the game's mechanics says detailed drawing is harder on a phone than on a larger screen.

There's still no confirmed Samsung Galaxy T1 earbuds release date, price, or official product name. But the unannounced SM-R545 has now cleared wireless certification in two countries within about a month, evidence that the product is moving through Samsung's regulatory pipeline rather than sitting idle, according to SammyGuru.

Motorola has started rolling out stable Android 17 to the Razr Ultra 2025, but only a narrow group of owners has confirmed receiving it so far. The update has been reported on an unlocked unit in the United States, according to Android Authority and TuttoAndroid.