Android is finally copying one of the best things about iMessage on the iPhone - BGR
Android is finally copying one of the best things about iMessage on the iPhone - BGR |
- Android is finally copying one of the best things about iMessage on the iPhone - BGR
- Best Video Apps for Staying in Touch - Kiplinger's Personal Finance
- Apple, Google release template for COVID-19 contact tracing apps - Roll Call
| Android is finally copying one of the best things about iMessage on the iPhone - BGR Posted: 25 May 2020 04:43 AM PDT
A single iPhone app is important that it might keep you hooked to iOS forever, and that's iMessage. It's an SMS alternative that Apple devised many years ago, the one that brought over the blue message bubbles to mobile, which become a key identifier for iPhone users. iMessage works on iPad and Mac, offering the same set of rich texting features, and all communication is protected by end-to-end encryption. Apple never made an iMessage app for Android or any other platform, and Google has been struggling to come up with a similar alternative for many years. The latest attempt is called RCS (rich communication services), and it's not available to Android users everywhere. Moreover, Google Messages is less secure than iMessage, as it doesn't support end-to-end encryption, which is a key feature for messaging apps. Google is finally going to fix it, as it's already testing full encryption on an internal build of Google Messages. iMessage was the first to make end-to-end encryption popular among chat apps. What that type of encryption does is to ensure that only the sender and the recipient of the message can read it. It can't be intercepted by hackers or accessed by the company. Other apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, also offer end-to-end encrypted instant messaging. Facebook confirmed last year that all of its properties that can provide chat support, including Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, will move to end-to-end encryption. With that in mind, Google can hardly afford not to match those offerings when it comes to mobile security standards. End-to-end encryption is referenced in Google Messages 6.2.031, an internal app release first found by APK Mirror. The folks at 9to5Google analyzed the code and found several traces where end-to-end encryption is clearly referenced. Here are a few examples:
As seen in the second example above, Google Messages will require an internet connection for the feature to work. Without cellular internet or Wi-Fi, iMessage fails as well and can fall back on SMS/MMS, which are unencrypted by default. Google's RCS platform will work similarly, and you'll probably be able to customize your RCS experience. On the iPhone, you can choose not to send messages as SMS/MMS when there's no internet. The code also indicates that when sending location data to your contacts, the information will be encrypted. Also, you'll be able to allow apps to access the contents of your messages. Also, both parties might have to use Google Messages to take advantage of end-to-end encryption, although other RCS apps could also get support in the future. It's unclear when this particular version of Google Messages will be launched, or whether end-to-end encryption will be enabled soon. But it does look like the kind of security feature that could be advertised for Android 11. Android 10 tutorial displayed on an Android handset. Image Source: Google  Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it he was sharing his views on tech stuff with readers around the world. Whenever he's not writing about gadgets he miserably fails to stay away from them, although he desperately tries. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.  |
| Best Video Apps for Staying in Touch - Kiplinger's Personal Finance Posted: 10 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT We rate five video-chat platforms for user-friendliness and security features. In the era of COVID-19, video-chat programs are having a heyday as friends and relatives reach out to each other to stay connected. We put five popular programs through their paces and rated them on a five-star scale based on accessibility, security, privacy, and bells and whistles. All the programs are free and easy to use, and all encrypt calls, unless otherwise noted. See Also: Things That May Soon Disappear Forever (The Pandemic Edition)Skype ★ ★ ★ ★ ★www.skype.com Sponsored ContentGoogle Hangouts ★ ★ ★ ★https://hangouts.google.com FaceTime ★ ★ ★ ★FaceTime, which is included with Apple devices, is a quick and easy way to connect with family and friends, and it supports video chat with up to 32 people. The speaker's image enlarges automatically during a call, which can help you keep track of who's talking. The downside: You'll need an iPhone 6s or newer, or another newer-generation Apple device, to participate in group calls with video. Older devices that support iOS 12.1.4 will join group FaceTime calls as audio participants. AdvertisementHouse Party ★ ★ ★ ★https://app.houseparty.com Zoom ★ ★ ★https://zoom.us See Also: Where's My Stimulus Check? Use the IRS's "Get My Payment" Portal to Get an Answer |
| Apple, Google release template for COVID-19 contact tracing apps - Roll Call Posted: 20 May 2020 12:44 PM PDT  Skip to Content Apple, Google release template for COVID-19 contact tracing appsApps for iPhones, Android devices would let public health authorities to trace infections among voluntary users Posted May 20, 2020 at 3:43pm Apple and Google on Wednesday released the first phase of a template that would allow software developers to build apps to assist public health authorities in tracking the spread of COVID-19. Apple and Google executives told reporters that they had refined several features of the template after extensive consultations with public health authorities, privacy advocates, academics and government agencies from around the world. More refinements could be added in later phases through updates, they said. The Bluetooth-based design would depend not only on voluntary download of the apps by users around the world but also require express consent from users to report a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 through the app. The design also would only allow those apps that have been built by or on behalf of public health authorities, the companies said. The template, called Exposure Notification API, is being rolled out to iPhone and Android users in the form of a software update, both companies said. Several U.S. states and as many as 22 countries across five continents have expressed interest in using the technology to conduct contact tracing, Apple and Google executives told reporters on a conference call on the condition that they not be named. The executives also declined to name the states or countries that have expressed interest in the technology. Loading the player... And unlike earlier designs, the application programming interface — the template — would not require information to be stored in a central database but instead would allow users to see on their own smartphones if they have been exposed to someone with the illness, company executives said. The template will prohibit developers from using a device's GPS to track users' location and will not broadcast any aspect of a user's identity to anyone else, the companies said. The information would be used only by public health authorities and neither company will collect any personal user data nor monetize them, the companies said. The Bluetooth keys will be generated randomly and metadata traveling between devices will be encrypted, the companies said. The unique Apple-Google collaboration was launched five weeks ago to ensure that the apps on iPhones and Android devices can send and receive Bluetooth signals from each other, the executives said. The companies engineered the design so as to ensure that Bluetooth signals can be sent and received even when a user's phone is in sleep mode, and that such signal transmission would not drain devices' batteries, the companies said. Launched just five weeks agoContact tracing is becoming a key feature of managing the spread of the pandemic as states and countries across the world reopen their economies after more than two months of shutting down almost all economic activity. The goal of contact tracing is to have public health authorities track down anyone testing positive for the disease and figure out who they may have come into contact with during the previous two weeks and alerting those people to seek medical attention and isolate themselves. The design template would allow public health authorities to define parameters as they see fit, including specifying what constitutes exposure to an infected person, figuring out how many exposures an individual might have had, and assessing the transmission risk on a case-by-case basis. Although the design would not permit GPS tracking of individual phones, it allows public health agencies to ask for a zipcode or other geographic information from users to understand if a new COVID-19 cluster is beginning to form, the companies said. [Coronavirus wallops disaster agencies as storms, fires approach] North and South Dakota, as well as Utah already are using GPS-based tracking apps for contact tracing. The North Dakota app, called Care 19 , which uses GPS tracking, will be supplemented with a new app labeled CARE 19 Exposure that's built on the Apple and Google template released Wednesday, the state's governor, Doug Burgum said in a statement provided by Apple and Google. "The CARE19 Exposure app will help us improve contact tracing and continue our ND Smart Restart by notifying people who may have been exposed to COVID-19, reaching the greatest number of people in a way that protects their privacy," Burgum said in the statement. "As we respond to this unprecedented public health emergency, we invite other states to join us in leveraging smartphone technologies to strengthen existing contact tracing efforts, which are critical to getting communities and economies back up and running." Apple and Google said that while each state may have apps that are slightly different from each other, the design template would allow devices to communicate with each other.  |
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