WhatsApp may finally add a couple of video call features it should’ve had ages ago (APK teardown) - Related to had, changed, things, hate, oneplus

5 things I changed on my OnePlus Watch 3 to make it better

I’ve been wearing a OnePlus Watch 3 for a little over a week. So far, it’s been great. The [website] AMOLED display looks fantastic, the battery life is superb, and the fast charge times are a nice touch. I also love the design, which, while on the bigger side, looks classy and sophisticated to my eyes. If you ask me, it makes a strong argument for being one of the best smartwatches of the year.

Here are the five settings/attributes I changed on my OnePlus Watch 3 to make it the smartwatch for me.

Do you have a OnePlus Watch? 27 votes I placed my preorder for the OnePlus Watch 3. 37 % Yes, the OnePlus Watch 2. 11 % Yes, the OnePlus Watch 2R. 4 % Yes, the first OnePlus Watch. 4 % No, I don't have one. 44 %.

As I mentioned above, the OnePlus Watch 3 has a killer display. The [website] size means it’s easy to see notifications and workout stats, while the AMOLED panel gives you lovely colors and deep blacks. The 2,200 nits of peak brightness also mean I’ve been able to see the screen just fine during the few (but wonderful) sunny days in Michigan this past week.

This is a screen I want to see all the time, but by default, its always-on function is disabled. Thankfully, turning on the always-on display (AOD) takes just a few taps: Open the Settings app on the OnePlus Watch 3.

on the OnePlus Watch 3. Tap Display & brightness .

. Scroll down the page and tap on Always On Display .

. Tap the toggle to enable it. When you do this, you’ll get a pop-up warning that using the AOD may reduce your battery life by two days. It’s something to consider, but I think the ability to glance at my wrist and always see the time is well worth it. I’ve also still been getting over three days of battery with the always-on display, which is darn impressive in my book.

After enabling the AOD, you can scroll down the page to use the optional Schedule feature, allowing you to schedule the AOD to turn on and off at specific times. I have mine to automatically turn on at 8:00 [website] each day and off at 10:00 [website].

The OnePlus Watch 3 comes with its own OnePlus-made weather app. The app itself has a load of information — including the humidity, UV index, feels-like temp, etc. — but its tile leaves a bit to be desired. It presents the current temperature in big, bold letters, but not the weather conditions for the next few hours. That’s information I like to see at a glance, and thankfully, the Google Weather app has that.

This is the same weather app installed on the Google Pixel Watch 3, and after a quick visit to the Google Play Store on your Android phone, you can get it on your OnePlus Watch 3. Here’s how: Open the Google Play Store on your phone.

on your phone. Tap the Search icon at the bottom.

icon at the bottom. Tap the search bar and search for Google Weather .

and search for . Tap This device near the top of the screen and select OnePlus Watch 3 .

near the top of the screen and select . Tap Google Weather and then tap Install.

Once installed, open your apps page on the OnePlus Watch 3, scroll down to the bottom, and the Google Weather app will be waiting for you. The app is good, but I particularly like the two tiles it comes with. The Forecast tile demonstrates the current temperature, daily high/low temps, and a four-hour forecast. There’s also the Sun tile, which demonstrates how much daylight is remaining with a lovely sun animation that moves throughout the day per the sun’s current position.

The OnePlus Watch 3 has two physical buttons, a side button near the bottom and a rotating crown, and they can both be customized to do whatever you want. How? It’s easy. Open the Settings app on the OnePlus Watch 3.

on the OnePlus Watch 3. Scroll down and tap Controls .

. Tap Crown or Lower button. My crown is configured to open Google Wallet with a double press and Google Assistant with a press-and-hold. My lower button, meanwhile, opens the Workouts app with a single press and the Relax app with a double press. There are ample other options for the buttons, such as opening your most recent app, seeing your recent apps/tasks list, turning on the flashlight, or opening any app installed on the watch.

Speaking of changing things, I’d also recommend reorganizing the Workouts app. It reveals a generous list of exercises by default, but many are workout types I never partake in, such as swimming and cycling.

From the Workouts app on the OnePlus Watch 3, press and hold on any workout to enter edit mode. Then, tap the red minus icon to remove that one from the list. Additionally, you can scroll down to the bottom of the Workouts app and tap the plus icon to add new ones to your list. Exercises are organized into a few different categories (Run, Walk, Outdoor workout, Winter sports, etc.), and you can add as many types as you’d like.

You can’t reorder the position of your chosen workouts, but they are automatically sorted in the order of when they were last used. So, if you frequently track outdoor runs and strength workouts, those should always be near the top of the app.

Finally, on the note of fitness tracking, it’s worth visiting the OHealth companion app and playing with the various health settings there. The out-of-the-box health tracking setup is good, but it’s worth personalizing things to your lifestyle. To do this: Open the OHealth app on your phone.

on your phone. Tap the Devices icon near the bottom-right.

icon near the bottom-right. Scroll down and tap Workout & health. There’s a lot to customize on this page. You can adjust your step/calorie/workout/activity session goals, enable or disable get-up reminders, turn on fall detection, and change the rate of your heart rate readings. You can also customize your resting heart rate alerts, configure your SpO2 tracking, and a whole bunch more.

One of the first things I enabled here was to assess potential breathing problems while I sleep. I don’t have any that I’m aware of, but I’d like to be alerted if that ever changes. I also changed the workout heart rate alerts to a higher bpm than what the default was and made sure low SpO2 alerts were enabled, too.

This all may seem daunting at first, but I appreciate how much control OnePlus gives you over this stuff.

Of course, of the iceberg of what you can do with the OnePlus Watch 3 — or any Wear OS smartwatch for that matter. From third-party watch faces, hidden gems of Wear OS apps, accessibility settings, and more, there’s so much more for you to fine-tune and tweak.

What are some of your favorite Wear OS customization tips? Let us know in the comments below.

OnePlus Watch 3 OnePlus Watch 3 Wear OS 5 • Big Battery • Improved Design MSRP: $[website] The OnePlus Watch 3 brings Wear OS 5, better battery, & lots more! The OnePlus Watch 3 is the brand’s latest flagship smartwatch, bringing key upgrades like a refined titanium alloy design, a functional rotating crown, and impressive battery life. It runs the latest Wear OS 5 software out of the box and is powered by a dual-chip architecture with the Snapdragon W5 and a new efficiency chipset. The watch also introduces enhanced health tracking, a new “360 Mind and Body” feature, and improved GPS accuracy. See price at Amazon See price at OnePlus.

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Security versus simplicity T-Mobile states that the requirement to contact them for an eSIM transfer is due to.

WhatsApp may finally add a couple of video call features it should’ve had ages ago (APK teardown)

The new elements appear in beta version [website].

You can access these capabilities by tapping on the horizontal three dots.

While it’s not exactly the most key feature to have access to, it’s nice to have the option to react to what’s going on during a video call. WhatsApp has long been missing this functionality, but it looks like it could soon catch up to other services that do have it, like Google Meet and Zoom.

Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more , app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict functions that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted functions may not make it to a public release.

During our investigation into the latest beta (version [website] of WhatsApp, we found that the enterprise is working on a couple of new video call elements. One of these elements is emoji reactions and the other is a “Raise hand” feature. These elements can be accessed by tapping on the horizontal three-dot button in the bottom bar.

As you would expect, emoji reactions let you react to whatever is happening during the video call. The emojis include a thumbs up, heart, laughing face, shocked face, crying face, and folded hands. Meanwhile, the Raise hand feature is there to let participants in the call know that you have a question without interrupting the conversation.

Although Signal and other platforms have beat WhatsApp to the punch here, it’s enhanced late than never.

? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at [website] . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.

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I hate to say it, but it’s time for Google to merge Waze into Maps

I’m faced with an annoying dilemma whenever I get into my car: Which of Google’s two navigation apps do I use? While Google Maps is my standard option, Waze often offers far improved insights into real-time traffic conditions. Either way, I can only pick one.

There has been plenty of talk about Waze and Google Maps merging to create one super app in recent years, and I have little doubt that Google has thought about it. But perhaps it’s finally time for the corporation to consider it seriously. Hear me out, before you get the pitchforks out.

How should Google merge Maps and Waze? 230 votes Google should merge Waze completely into Maps. 53 % Google should add Waze's aspects into Maps, keeping the two apps separate. 18 % Google should merge Maps completely into Waze. 9 % Google should add Maps' aspects into Waze, keeping the two apps separate. 3 % Google shouldn't merge anything. I'd like the two apps to remain as they are. 16 %.

Great on their own, potentially even more effective together.

Google Maps is my primary navigation tool on Android Auto. It offers a familiar readout of traffic conditions around me, and it’s this comfortable, clear UI I value above all else. Unlike Waze, all I require from Maps is a quick eye flick to gauge road issues. Thanks to its broad points of interest library, it inspires confidence that the end destination I searched for is the one I intended.

Google Maps is my go-to navigation app, thanks to its legible UI and great search smarts.

However, despite these strengths, it often feels that Google is trying to make Maps worse (at least on Android Auto). The app is frequently slow to alert me of road incidents, police presence, and speed limits ahead. This week, a power cut in my area rendered a chain of traffic lights inoperable, but do you think Maps informed me? Its feeble attempts to usher me around disruptions often land me in even tighter jams, too.

Which navigation app do you prefer? 227 votes Google Maps 46 % Waze 50 % Neither, I use an alternative 4 %.

When Google Maps inevitably falters, I turn to my backup partner, Waze. Unlike Maps, there’s little doubt that Google’s alternative navigation app is explicitly built for driving. It offers detailed descriptive audio alerts of hazards and police presence along the route, so I’m less inclined to take my eyes off the road. It was quick to tell me about those traffic light issues, too!

Waze's brilliant real-time updates and user contributions have saved me in many situations.

Waze has other strengths, including its pleasant personality, which allows me to pick Master Chief as my navigator if I want, and its thriving community, whose real-time crowdsourced info fuels many of the app’s best functions. Without this beating heart, Waze wouldn’t even be worth considering.

But there’s a reason I don’t start my day with Waze. Its list of problems is far more egregious than its sibling’s. Its infantile, cluttered UI and awkward zoom and panning effects are hugely distracting when driving. Due to its lack of color, it also offers less detailed indications of on-road traffic congestion than Maps. Instead of glancing at the map, I’m leaning forward, straining to see if that icon is a traffic light or a user icon.

Both apps have shortcomings, but between the two, there are the makings of a rather incredible consolidated Google navigation solution. With each app superior than the other in different aspects, merging the best of the two makes complete sense, doesn’t it?

Can Google handle the backlash and shoulder the responsibility?

Despite the clear positives of a consolidated app, I doubt Waze customers would be happy with their favorite dissolving into Maps. Part of what makes Waze great is its responsive user base; Google risks ruining this community. If customers were to stop contributing to a consolidated app as they would Waze, the newly minted app would feel threadbare. There goes one of Waze’s most significant benefits.

It’s crucial, then, that the integration is done right. A half-baked, sloppy job will ruin the experience for both Google Maps and Waze clients. It’s a massively risky undertaking, perhaps another reason why Google hasn’t decided yet. However, I do think that there is room for coexistence for now.

Between Waze and Google Maps, there's an incredible navigation app for road clients. But can we trust Google to merge them?

I’d welcome more Waze elements within Maps, including more reliable and timely hazard alerts, a wider selection of voices with clearer audio instructions, and an overall more useful experience for road people. Google has migrated some elements in recent years, but there remains a massive gulf between the two apps. We’ll likely never know whether this slowing feature crossover is due to waning impetus from Google itself or a technical limitation.

Waze is likely safe for now, but it’s time for a change.

For those Waze consumers feverishly biting their fingernails, I don’t think you have much to worry about. Google has owned the platform for over a decade and still keeps it as a separate entity. If there is a merger, it seems likely to happen later rather than sooner.

I want to clarify that Waze’s existence isn’t my issue. Google has all the tools to develop a powerful navigation service for a broader range of road people, yet it’s sitting on its hands. It has two apps with unique strengths, but road people must choose one or the other. The solution, albeit difficult, is simple.

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