Technology - Google News

WhatsApp won’t work on these iPhone models starting in October - Yahoo Entertainment
Samsung's 240Hz 4K Mini LED 32-inch monitor goes on sale for $1500 - The Verge
Epic Games’ Bandcamp temporarily wins right to use its own payments system on Google Play - TechCrunch

WhatsApp won’t work on these iPhone models starting in October - Yahoo Entertainment

Posted: 23 May 2022 09:21 AM PDT

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission.

WhatsApp is the world's most popular chat platform, having hit 2 billion users more than two years ago. The app offers rich instant messaging features on par with other similar apps. And WhatsApp supports end-to-end encryption for texts and calls, just like Apple's iMessage. The best part about it is that WhatsApp works on iPhone and Android.

But WhatsApp continues to evolve, which means older devices will lose access to the app in the near future. Come October, WhatsApp for iPhone will require at least iOS 12, which means some older iPhones will not make the cut.

Today's Top Deals

Don't Miss: Today's deals: $4 smart plugs, mosquito repellers, laser hair removal, Echo Show sale, more

Facebook (now Meta) spent nearly $20 billion to acquire the chat platform in early 2014. The company has been updating WhatsApp ever since, adding new features over the years. This helped the platform grow when it comes to monthly users, but didn't help Facebook make money with it.

Last year, Facebook made a controversial privacy change to WhatsApp, seeing plenty of pushback from users and some governments. Despite millions of users flocking to competing products, WhatsApp remains the most used messaging app on iPhone and Android.

And it was just last year that we learned WhatsApp would not support a variety of old smartphones. On November 1st, 2021, WhatsApp ended support for Android handsets running OS versions older than Android 4.1 and iPhones on software older than iOS 10.

WhatsApp notification warning iPhone users the app won't support their version of iOS.

WhatsApp on iPhone requires iOS 12

Almost a year later, WhatsApp will make another significant change to its minimum requirements. The chat apps will not support iOS 10 or iOS 11 starting on October 24th.

WaBetaInfo, a prominent WhatsApp leaker, revealed the notification that will appear on devices running iOS versions older than iOS 12. A WhatsApp support document also notes the iOS 12 requirement.

That means the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c models that Apple released in September 2012 will no longer be able to run WhatsApp. But iPhone users on newer models who somehow never updated their devices to iOS 12 or later will also be temporarily affected.

Say you own an iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 that's still on iOS 10, which was released in September 2016. You won't be able to use WhatsApp unless you upgrade to the latest iOS update available for those handsets.

If you're still using an iPhone that's nearly 10 years old, losing WhatsApp access might not be your biggest problem. The most pressing issue on an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5c is likely the phone's battery life after so many years of service.

You might be better off upgrading to a brand new iPhone. You'll be fixing battery life issues and securing WhatsApp access for years to come. Not to mention that any new iPhone you purchase right now will significantly boost the overall performance. Also, it's easy to move all your WhatsApp chats to the new iPhone once you upgrade.

You have until October 24th to decide how to handle the WhatsApp-mandated iPhone upgrade. The app will continue to send notifications, warning about the risk of losing access come fall. And remember, new iPhones come out in late September, and current iPhone models will get price discounts at the same time.

More iPhone coverage: For more iPhone news, visit our iPhone 14 guide.

Click here to read the full article.

See the original version of this article on BGR.com

Adblock test (Why?)

Samsung's 240Hz 4K Mini LED 32-inch monitor goes on sale for $1500 - The Verge

Posted: 23 May 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Samsung's latest high-end gaming monitor — the curved 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 — is now available to preorder for $1,500 and will be available to purchase on June 6th, the company has announced. The news follows its reveal back at CES in January.

The Odyssey Neo G8 is notable for having a 240Hz refresh rate, making it one of, if not the, fastest-refreshing 4K monitors on the market. Other features include a claimed peak brightness of 2,000 nits, support for Adaptive-Sync (which means it'll do variable refresh rates with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs), and a curvature of 1000R.

Like its larger sibling, last year's ultrawide Odyssey Neo G9, the G8 is Mini LED. It uses over a thousand LEDs as a display backlight, and these can be selectively turned off and on for better contrast. The G8 has 1,196 local dimming zones across its curved 32-inch display.

For an idea of how the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 might perform in practice, check out our review of the Odyssey Neo G9 from last year. Hopefully, a year of progress means the new G8 won't suffer from the same issues displaying HDR and 240Hz content as its predecessor. Curved displays are generally reserved for ultrawide monitors rather than regular 16:9 displays like the Neo G8, but it's impossible to say for sure how it'll perform until we see it for ourselves.

Adblock test (Why?)

Epic Games’ Bandcamp temporarily wins right to use its own payments system on Google Play - TechCrunch

Posted: 23 May 2022 07:27 AM PDT

Epic Games isn't just fighting the app stores over the right to process its own in-app payments in its popular game Fortnite, it's also taken up its antitrust legal battle with the tech giants via Bandcamp, the internet music company Epic acquired in March. The following month, Epic filed an injunction asking for the right to allow Bandcamp to continue operating as usual instead of being forced to adopt Google's own payments system as is now required via a policy change, or risk expulsion from the Google Play Store. On Friday, Bandcamp prevailed on this front, earning the ability to continue to legally operate its existing payment system on Android devices until Epic's case with Google is resolved, per a new court agreement.

This means Bandcamp's fans will be able to continue to support their favorite artists on Android devices by buying music and merchandise, as they have since 2015, and artists will receive the same percentage of sales, as usual, Bandcamp said. In addition, Google will not be able to de-list the Bandcamp app from the Google Play Store, nor delay or refuse to distribute its app updates as part of the new agreement.

Bandcamp also said it will now place 10% of the revenue generated by the digital sales on Android devices in escrow until Epic's lawsuit with Google is decided. At that point, the court will determine whether it or Google will receive those funds based on whether it rules Google's payments system is anticompetitive.

The 10% figure itself — which represents the commissions Bandcamp would otherwise have to pay Google — is a bit unusual. Google's typical commissions on in-app purchases range from 15% to 30% for most Google Play developers. But Google offered Bandcamp a reduced fee of 10% in exchange for other concessions, the original court filing revealed. Despite the special offer, Bandcamp argued this was still too much, as it would "force Epic to change Bandcamp's current business model or else operate the Bandcamp business at a long-term loss," the filing said.

In a statement published last month to the Bandcamp blog, Bandcamp CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond further explained that the company would have to "either pass Google's fees on to consumers (making Android a less attractive platform for music fans), pass fees on to artists (which we would never do), permanently run our Android business at a loss, or turn off digital sales in the Android app," in order to comply with Google's new policy changes around in-app purchases.

He also pointed out that Bandcamp had used its own payments system for years, consistent with Google's prior guidance that exempted digital music from incurring a revenue share.

Bandcamp isn't the only company to come to some such agreement with Google over in-app purchases amid antitrust lawsuits.

Also on Friday, dating giant Match Group forged a similar compromise with Google, resulting in Match withdrawing its temporary restraining order against Google. Per the terms of its deal, Google agreed to not reject or delete Match Group apps from the Play Store for providing alternative payment options and Match said would place up to $40 million in an escrow account in lieu of paying its commissions to Google for the in-app payments taking place outside Google Play's payment system.

Adblock test (Why?)

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now