WhatsApp, a popular messaging application from Meta, has decided to stop its functions on some iPhones. The last date till WhatsApp will work on iPhones is 24th Oct 2022. WhatsApp will withdraw its support from iOS 10 and iOS 11. To continue using WhatsApp, users will have to upgrade to a new phone or the current operating system.
A minimum of iOS 12 will be needed to use WhatsApp on iPhones. This is done to introduce new features to give the users a better experience, which may not work in the older operating systems. Updating to the more recent version of an operating system is essential because they generally provide the user with the most up-to-date software patches and security features.
iPhones that will be affected:
iPhone 5
iPhone 5C
As per a new report from WABetaInfo, Apple is notifying some iPhone customers that WhatsApp support is ending. Although WhatsApp plans to stop support for select iPhone models, that is not likely to have an effect on many customers. This is due to the fact that support for very old iPhone models, which are probably to be used by a small range of customers at this time, will be discontinued.
If you are using an iPhone, first make sure that the operating software on your phone is the latest one. To check this, go to the Settings menu > About > Software update to see if your iPhone is running the latest software.
The father of Canadian photojournalism, Ted Grant, once quoted, “When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes, but when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!” The quote is true to every word, as the colour duo, black and white, is said to be more realistic as it contains all colours, and at the same time, it excludes all, but we all know in which era we’re living and how much colours are important in today’s times. Then, why would our gadget-makers stay behind?
Colour plays a vital role in the world we live in and has always been a prominent aspect of human life. However, the gadget making companies took a lot of time to put coloured clothes on their products. Since the mid-50s, we have been witnessing coloured devices in the form of telephones, radios, speakers, etc. But later on, in the mid-90s, colours moved a little away from us, at least in the gadget sector, due to several concerns and again put on a band of bland colours, including black, white, grey and sometimes blue.
The phones in the early days mainly came in one or two colours, offering limited options for the customer as the companies were bound not to manufacture phones with particular colours as each geography in the world has colours for good and bad omens. Also, customers are treated like a god in most countries, and companies have to show sensitivity to people’s sentiments before launching a global variant. Though in recent times, everything has changed and now gadget makers are competing fiercely over coloured gadgets.
The First Step
Since Apple launched its first iPhone in 2007, whatever happens in the world of tech is directly co-related to Apple. It’s more like when other companies do things they seem ordinary to us, but it becomes cool when Apple tries the same with their products. Apple unveiled the iPhone 5C in 2013 and brought life to their phones with 4-colour variants – banana yellow, bubble gum pink, kiwi green, and Slush Puppie blue.
Since then, almost every smartphone manufacturing company has become colour obsessed. Being one of the top smartphone manufacturing companies globally, Apple has always come up with impressive marketing ideas that attract consumers. For instance, every time someone buys an iPhone with PRODUCT RED colour, they contribute to the Global Fund’s support of AIDS programmes and COVID‑19 Response.
The company has been collaborating with RED for the last 15 years and has raised nearly $270 million since the inception of the idea, including a $21 million donation to the Global Fund’s COVID‑19. Recently, Vivo launched India’s first colour changing smartphone Vivo V23 & V23 Pro. The smartphone has Fluorite AG glass that changes colour when exposed to sunlight and other sources of artificial UV rays.
Along with smartphones, various gadgets boast colours nowadays, and the list includes earphones, headphones, speakers, tablets, smart home gadgets, smartwatches, power banks, and portable mouses. The arrival of various colours in devices made consumers happy as it opened more options. When smartphones were introduced to the world, companies wanted to play it safe, so they only experimented with neutral colours.
Samsung was one of the first who introduced smartphones with colourful backs, but they created a kind of blue and red for their LTE-A phone that is fresh and new to people, which helped them stand apart. Nowadays, people are more open to trying different colours than in the earlier days when people were not welcoming towards various colours, and it allows companies to come up with more colourful designs.
Why are smartphones coming in a coloured back panel?
The younger generation prefers to flaunt colours in every way possible, and all over the world, these fellas are very casual towards new things, especially gadgets. Also, when you can have a smartphone or gadget in your favourite colours, which adds some joy to your life, why would you go for the neutral ones! The smartphone maker understands this mindset and decides to implement the same.
Polycarbonate back panels are usually considered the cheapest material as most mid-range smartphones come with them. Glass has been the preferred smartphone material in the past couple of years, and most flagship smartphones come with glass panels. The glass-panelled back on the smartphones looks premium, and it can be painted in different colours, which paves the way for smartphone makers.
The brighter and gradient colour panelled back in the smartphones was popular among Chinese smartphone makers, but the world accepted it when global players such as Apple and Samsung launched their phones with coloured panel backs. In the future, we might witness something more advanced in this back panel sector where we could get an option to change the colours according to the touch.
February 2022 was a month of smartphone launches, but sadly Apple didn’t launch anything in the month, which was a little disappointing. However, yesterday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Apple unveiled several products, including iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5, Mac Studio, Apple Studio Display and Apple M1 Ultra chip. Let’s take a look at them one by one.
iPhone SE 3
Apple unveiled iPhone SE 3 at the event, which looks the same as the iPhone 6 design but offers much more. The new iPhone SE (2022) runs on an A15 chipset, the same as the iPhone 13 series. The display and storage options remain the same as it was on the previous model – 4.7″ and 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. The smartphone has an enhanced battery, superstar camera, an incredible water resistance feature, and of course, a home button, which some of us love while some don’t.
iPad Air 5
The newly launched iPad Air 5 stands firmly between the cheap iPads and expensive iPads. It has Apple’s M1 chipset and optional 5G support with eSIM, but the base model is Wi-Fi-only. The M1 chip allows the iPad Air 5 to match the iPad Pro in performance.
The Air 5 also features the new ultrawide front camera with Center Stage, which automatically pans during video calls. The iPad Air 5 features a 10.9″ Liquid Retina display, landscape stereo speakers, Touch ID, and on the back, it has a 12-MP camera.
Along with these two, Apple also launched a supercharged Mac mini with an M1 Max chip and a 27-inch studio display with 5K resolution and 600 nits, which also has a 12-MP camera and powerful speaker system. Lastly, Apple announced its most powerful ARM-based custom processor, the Apple M1 Ultra chip, which packs a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU and 32-core Neural Engine.
Finally, the suspense is over, and the date is revealed. On Tuesday, Apple finalised that it is hosting the September event next week. However, it is still not confirmed by Apple that the release of the iPhone 13 will happen in that event or not. But as per the hints given by Apple in its invite that bought us with the augmented reality AR experience, we can make out that the launch will be a big one.
Since last year, to boost up its announcements, a record of offering AR Easter eggs has been made by Apple. The Tim- cook led team Has raised the platform and advised that the upcoming Apple iPhone inauguration should be with AR experience this time, which will take the iPhone lovers to the next level experience.
If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can go to the Apple events webpage and click on the September 14 invite. You can experience the recent AR Easter egg. In that, you can see an AR Apple logo that will come into view over your camera viewfinder. You can keep in motion your Apple device to see the “9. 14” inauguration date and can also zoom in to see the landscape behind it.
The logo uses Apple’s AR kit that is already installed on the iPhone and iPad. The launch video also has sound effects powered by spatial audio with the song “weather” by WDL. This AR experience could be embossed if the LiDAR sensor is present in the new Apple iPhone models.
Spotlight of the event.
An AR logo has been made by apple that was shown on its event webpage.
The logo takes us to a lake landscape where we can visualise the “9.14” release date.
Reportedly, iPhone 13 Series shall provide the new AR feel.
People were and still are fascinated about buying an iPhone one day, and with more and more EMI options and discounts, the dream of getting an iPhone has become an easy ride now. However, at the same time, there are a considerable number of people who are moving from iPhones/iPads to Androids, or particularly to Samsung smartphones, and they’ve their reasons which we’re not going to discuss here.
If you’re one of those people who want to shift their primary device from iOS to Samsung but are worried about how to transfer your WhatsApp account information, profile photo, individual chats, group chats, and settings, then calm down, WhatsApp has unveiled plans in a blog post to support moving chat history from iOS to Samsung devices running Android 10 or 11, but you can only migrate your details during the initial setup of your new Samsung device.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps worldwide, and for the very first time, the Facebook-owned company has offered an option to transfer chats from one device to another even if they’re based on diverse operating systems. The recently added transfer feature has been live now, and the entire process is secured by end-to-end encryption by WhatsApp, which means your voice messages, photos, and videos stays completely secure.
There are certain things that you will need to transfer your WhatsApp chat history from iPhone to a Samsung phone. First, you must use the same phone number on the new device as the old device and secondly, you will need to have a USB-C to Lightning cable as the transfer process requires it.
Then, you should have an iPhone with WhatsApp iOS version 2.21.160.17 or greater and a Samsung device with WhatsApp version 2.21.16.20 or greater to transfer the chat history without any hassle. All the details you need to transfer WhatsApp chat history from iPhone to Samsung are here. According to WhatsApp, the transfer feature will soon be available for more Android devices.
To what length can a smartphone company go to stand out from their competitors? Of course, they wouldn’t reach out to the stars for their users, or will they?
We have a fun iPhone rumour! Apple is reportedly planning to launch a new iPhone 13 lineup next month, and the news reports suggest that the upcoming models will feature Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity.
According to MacRumors, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is claiming that iPhone 13 could have the ability to make satellite calls. The LEO connectivity allows you to make calls and send messages in areas without cellular coverage, all thanks to a customized Qualcomm X60 baseband chip.
LEO satellites are probably best known as the backbone of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service, which relies on satellites in a lower orbit to beam internet down to customers and avoid some of the common pitfalls of satellite internet, including high latency and common blackouts.
Immarsat, a direct competitor to Starlink, announced a new constellation intended to blend with terrestrial 5G networks for a more global solution. iPhone recently witnessed its stock skyrocket when Qualcomm announced its upcoming X65 chip would support Globalstar’s Band n53 tech.
“Qualcomm’s support of Band n53 represents a significant milestone in our efforts to commercialize our spectrum in the US and all other countries where we have or expect to obtain terrestrial authority,” Kyle Pickens, vice president, strategy, at GlobalStar, said in an investor note at the time.
However, satellite connectivity wouldn’t be available in every country. Apple will also have to seek additional clearances from governments and meet standards, which may differ from one country to the next.
According to a survey, many iPhone users want the upcoming iPhone model to be named ‘iPhone 2021’ instead of ‘iPhone 13’. Around 26 per cent thought that the “iPhone 13” was the best name, and only 13 per cent said that they would like to see the devices called the “iPhone 12S”. The remaining wanted the name to be iPhone ‘2021’.
Netflix is rolling out Spatial audio compatibility for its iOS and iPad apps. The news broke on Reddit and was later confirmed by 9to5Mac with a Netflix spokesperson.
Netflix was first reported to be testing Spatial Audio support for its iOS apps back in January. Since it appears to be a slow rollout, you might have to wait a couple of days to see the feature in your Netflix app. Though, it is not going for everyone – you need to have an iPhone 7 or later or the latest iPad with iOS 14, as well as Apple’s AirPods Pro or AirPods Max.
For those who are unaware of what Spatial Audio is, it is Apple’s fancy term for surround sound. It also has the added feature of dynamic head tracking. If you turn this feature on, you’ll hear sound coming from all sides, to provide a more immersive experience.
In some instances, it causes the sound field to stay fixed to your source device. This means that if you turn your head, the sound will still appear to come from your source device. It makes you feel as if you are listening to a surround sound setup in a room.
Users can turn on or off Spatial Audio functionality via a toggle in the Control Center. Since the update will be rolled out in phases, users are advised to check for the update on a regular basis.
Apple launched Spatial audio in May at the WWDC event. It also launched Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos Support alongside for all the Apple Music subscribers free of charge.
Netflix currently has four plans, the cheapest of which is the Mobile-only plan that costs you Rs 199 per month. The Basic plan will cost you Rs 499 per month.
Coincidences matter. Coincidences do occur. And, some coincidences happened recently. Just a few days before, the Cabinet decided to extend the timeline of POCSO fast track courts. And, now Apple has decided to bring more compliance in child sex abuse regulation. Child sex abuse is one of the burning topics which has increased in current times. Just file an RTI application from the Ministry of Women & Child Development or check the National Criminal Records Bureau portal to know how many child sex abuse cases get registered in a year. Figures are disturbing. But, with this update, Apple is displaying its firm intent to mitigate such instances. Let’s know more about this news in detail from this Exhibit blog.
Apple’s Tool for Child Sex Abuse
A report is out where there is information available that Apple is working to develop a tool that can scan child sex abuse images. This report thoroughly talks about how Apple is working towards child safety and other measures that can reduce the frequency in such cases. Apple will bring this tool with its flagship OS-based products, including iOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey. Apple has also announced that they are enhancing the utility of their default message application to tackle this issue.
How will this tool work?
If it’s about the Message app, the essential element that will help to scan such incidents through rich libraries is NLP (Natural Language Processing). Whenever any message comes, it will try to detect keywords like ‘child,’ ‘sex,’ or something quite relevant to this domain and understand what the sender or receiver tries to express. Once understood, it will send the notification for the same to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, a regulatory agency in the USA. This apple tool will also scan images and comparing same with the large data set on child sex abuse. If your child thinks about seeing sensitive images, this tool has the power to send notifications to you.
Potential of Apple’s Tool
The new Apple tool has immense potential to reduce child sex instances to a greater extent. Apple should think about collaborating with other social media messaging apps to read messages or request those app-based companies to send a red alert by using the tool without storing it somewhere (hence, it will keep privacy intact). Even in India, both MoWCD and MHA should talk about this tool that can help their law enforcement agencies catch culprits.
Final Word
Apple has taken a giant step to bring betterment to society. It will be great to see other smartphone makers take the same type of measures by building such tools to make humanity feel safer, especially for your kids.
Even the wisest scholars have said – Don’t count your chicken before they get hatched. Social media giant Snapchat may have been singing “Top of The World” after witnessing theirs in terms of numbers. Exhibit discussed this Snapchat growth through an article recently. But those numbers are currently screaming for the crashes the Snapchat app is making. Due to this, the Snapchat team had to sit back tight and tried to resolve the issue at the earliest. With this Exhibit blog, we will learn more about the Snapchat app crash issue news that was creating havoc.
Snapchat App Login Issue
On Thursday evening, more than a quarter a million Snapchat users reported the crash issue. This crash was coming every time they tried to open the app on their smartphone. This number of people who registered a complaint triggered an immediate response from the Snapchat team end. They came up with the tweet where they stated they are aware of this issue after users addressed it. The Snapchat app crash issue broke out earlier in June month, especially in the iOS versions. The development team at that moment identified the bug and eliminated it.
Why did the issue of crashing come?
The complaint of the Snapchat app crash issue came out after iPhone and iPad users downloaded the newest update that has arrived. After downloading the latest update, users observed this bug repeatedly every time they tried to open the application on their gadget. Hence, one needs to understand this issue has not come for Android users at all. In Android, the app is working perfectly fine without any tussle. People who are using the beta version of the Snapchat app on their iOS devices have also not faced any issues.
Snapchat Response
The Snapchat support team quickly came with a response and started working on this front. The best part was that the problem got contained within hours to ensure that users have hassle-free usage of this social media application. However, after fixing it, Snapchat doesn’t provide the basic reason behind the crash bug. The reason could be anything. One can say that maybe the application layer was unable to load some essential files at the OS level, due to which the crash was frequently occurring. Whatever issue was there, the most probable grassroots for the bug can be that the latest update was missing something that makes the application compatible with the OS.
Final Word
If you are an iOS gadget lover who was using the Snapchat app and was eager to report the same, you need to know that now you can sing Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over” for sure. Don’t worry, as we are not saying to think about the romantic context, but for your love for the Snapchat app.
