12 secret WhatsApp tricks

WhatsApp. Wonderful, wonderful, WhatsApp. The messaging service that made BBM look boring and text messages redundant.

Of course there are now heaps of messaging services around, but WhatsApp has had a massive head start on almost all of them, meaning it has tonnes of features.

You can read all about what it is and how it works in our WhatsApp feature, but for those who already know the beauty of the service, here are some secret tips you might not know about.

Hide the blue ticks

Those blue ticks can get you in a whole world of trouble, especially when you don’t reply instantly and someone sees you have read their messages. You can turn them off, but it’s worth noting that if you do, you won’t get read receipts for your messages either.

iOS: Settings > Account > Privacy > Toggle off Read Receipts.

Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Untick Read Receipts.

Find who you talk to most

Who is really your favourite person? It might not be who you think. On iOS, there is a way to find the people you send the most messages to and how much storage each person takes up, among other things.

iOS: Settings > Account > Storage Usage > Select Contact

Add dates to your calendar automatically

If you’re prone to forgetting dates mentioned in various chats, it’s possible to automatically create an event directly from WhatsApp on iOS.

iOS: Press and hold date within chat > Create Event

Mark chats as unread

Ever been out and about, read a chat and then completely forgot to reply? We do it all the time. There is a way to mark important chats with dot to remind you to go back to it though.

iOS: Chats >  Swipe left to right > Mark as Unread

Android: Long press chat > Open Menu > Mark as Unread

Save your data allowance

If you’ve got a limited data allowance, you don’t want WhatsApp munching it all away. Thankfully, you can customise when media is allowed to download, as well as ensure calls use as little data as possible.

iOS and Android: Settings > Data Usage

Stop people seeing your messages

Ever passed your phone to a friend and instantly panicked about the messages they might see come through? Yeah, we haven’t either. For those that have, you can turn off message preview on iOS so only the contact’s name will appear, rather than their life story.

In Android, it’s not possible through the WhatsApp app but you can stop private information showing up on your lock screen in Android itself.

iOS: Settings > Notifications > Toggle off Show Preview

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Hide your profile picture

You might not want everyone to see your profile picture, especially if you’re part of several groups where you don’t know everyone in the group. Or perhaps you just fancy being a little mysterious for the day. Either way, you can choose if everyone, no-one, or only your contacts see your picture.

iOS & Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Profile Photo

Get shortcuts to specific conversations

Do you have a few extra special people you talk to all the time via WhatsApp? We do too. You can create a shortcut for specific conversations on Android, making it easier to access those chats you need all the time.

Android: Chats > Specific chat > Menu > More > Add Shortcut or Chats > Press and hold individual chat > Menu > Add Chat Shortcut

Bookmark important messages

Some messages are more important than others. Whether it’s a date you need to remember, or a good restaurant you’ve been recommended. It’s possible to bookmark these messages and find them all easily in the Starred Messages section.

iOS: Chats > Specific chat > Specific message > Double tap or hold down and press the star

Android: Chats > Specific chat > Specific message > Hold down and press the star

Send a public message privately

Ever had a free evening and wanted to ask several of your friends if they are around without having to open up each chat to ask them seperately?

You can send a broadcast message to a list of contacts with it appearing as though you’ve asked them individually. Great for saving time, terrible if they all reply yes.

iOS: Chats > Broadcast Lists > New List > Add contacts

Android: Chats > Menu > New Broadcast

Find out how long you’ve been ignored for

There is nothing more annoying than seeing those blue ticks appear without a reply following soon after. If you want to torture yourself a little more and find out when your message was actually read and how long you’ve been ignored for, you can. We don’t advise it though.

iOS: Chats > Specific chat > Specific message > Swipe left to right

Android: Chats > Specific chat > Specific message > Press and hold > Tap the info “i” icon at the top

Customise notifications

There might be certain contacts you want to know instantly if they are calling or messaging you. To make sure they don’t blend into the crowd, you can change their specific alert tones so you recognise when that particular person has sent you a message or is WhatsApp calling you.

iOS & Android: Chats > Specific chat > Tap on contact name at top > Custom Notifications

B&O Play get into the wireless earbud game

B&O Play came very late to the Bluetooth audio game, but it didn’t matter because the sound quality was worth the wait. The firm is now widening its wireless range with the H5, its first set of in-ear buds that ditch the 3.5 mm connector. The big selling point is that the gear will connect to a smartphone app, letting you tweak the sound profile to the situation, such as commuting, podcasts or working out. They can also tweak the “tonality and staging” to their own ends by delving further into the app, the settings saved until you choose to readjust.

The Beoplay H5 is packing 100mAh worth of batteries, and the company promises that you’ll get up to five hours of play between charges. Included in the packaging is a magnetic charger as well as seven different sets of ear tips to ensure “optimal fit,” no matter what size your ear canals are. Of course, these days it’s a bit of a misnomer to call these devices wireless, since the H5 does have a wire linking both earbuds together. In the days of truly wire-free devices like the Bragi Dash and Samsung’s Gear IconX, we might need to sort out a new name.

The Beoplay H5 is available from today in black or pink dusty rose and is priced at $249 / £199 / €249.

Source: B&O

Blast Motion’s swing sensor data is coming to baseball broadcasts

Major League Baseball had already approved Blast Motion’s swing analyzer for use in training sessions, but now that the gadget is official hitting sensor of the league, it’s going to be used for a lot more. Data from the $150 device will be used in television broadcasts, starting with the MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 10th. While that matchup is only an exhibition of the baseball’s up-and-coming young talent, Blast says other “select television broadcasts” will feature stats collected by the swing tracker.

The main feature of the Blast Motion platform is overlaying metrics on top of video captured with a mobile device, so it’s easy to see a transition to the world of television. There’s no mention of being approved for in-game use in official contests though, so we’ll be interested to see when and where the stats pop up. The baseball sensor, attaches to the knob of a bat and beams collected data via Bluetooth to a mobile device on power, time to contact, bat path, swing speed and more. As you might expect, there’s a special version of the app for pro teams to use that requires a unique log-in to use. You know, because pro baseball teams can’t be trusted these days.

Source: Blast Motion

Apple Music Turns One Year Old With 15 Million Subscribers on Board and a Redesign on the Way

Today marks the one year anniversary of Apple Music, which launched in 110 countries on June 30, 2015. The streaming music service was initially limited to the Mac and iOS devices, and it has since expanded to Apple TV and Android.

Apple’s streaming music service, an evolution of the Beats Music service it acquired in 2014, has steadily gained listeners over the past twelve months, reaching over 15 million paying subscribers as of WWDC 2016 earlier this month.

Spotify still remains the world’s most popular streaming music service, with roughly twice as many paying subscribers as Apple Music, but the Swedish rival has been available in Europe for nearly eight years and in the U.S. since 2011.

Assuming that Apple Music maintains its current pace of growth, it is reasonable to assume that it will eventually eclipse Spotify as the top streaming service worldwide, with Apple Music benefiting greatly from its prominent placement within a default app on iOS and a lengthy three-month free trial to get users hooked on the service.

Apple Music has received its share of criticism since launch, partly due to somewhat confusing layouts that can make it difficult to find content and easily manage downloaded or owned content versus streamed content. Apple’s “Connect” social feature intended to allow artists to share content with fans also failed to take hold, with many quickly drawing comparisons to the ill-fated “Ping” social network that debuted as part of iTunes in 2010 but was officially canceled just two years later.

With iOS 10, Apple is undertaking a reinvention of the Apple Music experience on its mobile platform, completely revamping the app with new organization and a new design. The new design in particular has been controversial, with bold fonts standing in stark contrast to most of the rest of the operating system. But the new layout makes for a much more logical organization of content and features, with downloaded music receiving its own section and Connect receiving much less prominent placement.

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Apple is also pushing forward its relationships with artists for Apple Music, working hard to secure exclusive content as it seeks to follow the model of “MTV in its Eighties and Nineties heyday” in becoming the go-to place for artists and content.

Apple Music is clearly still in its early days, with Apple still evolving its integration of the Beats Music team and their streaming service into iTunes and the stock Apple user experience across all platforms. But with strong subscriber growth and industry trends pointing toward a continued shift toward streaming services, it’s clear this is where Apple’s content future lies, whether it be the current music service or future video services.

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Tips and tricks to buying a 4K TV, all you need to know to help make a purchase decision

A year ago, buying a 4K TV might not have crossed your mind. Content wasn’t readily available, prices were high and the technology was only in its early stages.

However, just 12 months later everything has changed. If you’re in the market for a new television, there are now more reasons why you should opt for a 4K Ultra HD TV with HDR tech than not.

It can be a little mystifying though, with different technologies, logos and, sometimes, confusing messages on what to look for. That’s why we’ve put together some simple tips, tricks and things to consider when looking for your next TV.

Buying a 4K TV: Resolution

A 4K television is so called because it has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, creating a far sharper picture than the current, widely used standard for TVs, 1080p.

A 1920 x 1080 TV is capable of displaying just over 2 million pixels, while a 4K Ultra HD set has more than 8.25 million pixels to play with. That is quite a staggering and impressive difference when it comes to detail and sharpness on a screen.

It’s a far greater jump in resolution than when we switch from HD (720p) to Full HD (1080p), which was roughly twice as many pixels. Ultra HD (2160p) is more than four times Full HD.

Modern TVs, such as the Sony BRAVIA XD93, also has excellent upscaling technology built-in, so even normal HD broadcasts and Blu-rays look better on a 4K set.

Buying a 4K TV: HDR

High dynamic range technology, otherwise known as HDR, increases the depth of an image and presents more accurate colours than on previous TVs. This is because a HDR TV is capable of deep, controlled black levels while displaying brighter areas of a picture more vividly than ever before.

It means that you will see more detail in dark areas of an image, but without washing out the deep black zones. And whites on a screen will be bright and natural.

A wider colour gamut, which allows the TV to display more variants of red, blue and green than ever before, ensures objects on screen look more like they would when viewed with the native eye.

In short, movie directors love HDR tech because it presents their work more accurately – as they intended – than ever before.

Buying a 4K TV: HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2

All external 4K content sources, including 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players, Amazon Fire TV set-top-boxes require HDMI 2.0 inputs with HDCP 2.2 copy protection, otherwise they are incapable of feeding the TV 4K video.

Modern 4K TVs often have at least one supported input. You should really look out for more though, because unless you plan to purchase an Ultra HD-ready AV receiver, as more 4K devices are released, you’ll need more inputs to hook them up to.

The Sony Bravia XD93 has four HDMI 2.0 ports with HDCP 2.2 compliance, for example.

Buying a 4K TV: Content

Although upscaling your existing Blu-rays and normal TV broadcasts makes the pictures look better on a 4K telly, it isn’t until you’ve seen native Ultra HD content that you realise the potential of the format.

There are several ways you can get 4K video to view, and new Ultra HD movies, TV shows and, even, games are also on their way.

Both Netflix and Amazon Video offer 4K HDR movies and shows, to stream through your new TV if they are available, without the need for a separate set-top-box. You should check to see if the apps for both are supported before you choose your new set. YouTube too offers 4K video, so also check that app is on-board.

There are now a couple of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players on the market, with plenty of good quality discs to buy through multiple retailers. You’ll need a HDMI 2.0 input with HDCP 2.2, as detailed above, but 4K Blu-ray images are the best you can possibly get right now. They look stunning.

Paid TV services, such as those from Sky, BT and Virgin Media, have or are soon to offer 4K television broadcasts, for sport and movies. And Microsoft will be launching a 4K-ready console in the form of the Xbox One S in August. It features a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, Netflix and Amazon support and even has HDR tech for gaming.

In short, there are, or will be very soon, plenty of ways to watch and enjoy 4K HDR content, you just need a compatible television.

Buying a 4K TV: Smart TV

Smart TVs have been around for many years now. A Smart TV is one that can hook up to the internet, through a wired or wireless connection, and offers multiple services, such as TV and movie streaming, games and other information apps.

Different manufacturers tend to have different Smart TV platforms, but one of the best we’ve used is Android TV, as found on Sony’s and a couple of other manufacturer’s sets. Like the mobile phone operating system, it offers access to a rapidly expanding list of apps and games, all of which can be played through the TV.

Services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Google’s own movie services are available, as are hundreds of triple-A games titles. It is simple to use and navigate, and uses the Google Play Store to download software – much of which is totally free.

Some sets, again including Sony’s, offer PlayStation Now. This is a cloud gaming service that provides access to hundreds of PlayStation 3 games without you needing to own a separate console. For one monthly fee, you can start any of the games, with the video streaming to your set and your game controller commands whizzing back in the other direction. The end result is a console-like experience without any other external device, save for a PlayStation DualShock gamepad.

Buying a 4K TV: Design

The final aspect of any TV you need to consider is how it will look in your living room. Whether you plan to wall-mount it or place it on a cabinet, or whatever screen size you choose, it has to look as good when switched off as when filling a room with exceptional images.

For us, that means a minimalist design is best – something that blends in rather than dominates a room. Sony, for example, has Slim Backlight Drive technology on its latest range, which ensures HDR picture performance, while keeping a superslim footprint.

Cable management on modern sets is also much better than ever before and is only really applicable when the TV is on the stand, and isn’t really relevant when wall mounted. One of the best cable management systems we’ve seen is on the BRAVIA XD93.

Buying a 4K TV: Audio

A trade off of the slim design of flatscreen TVs can be audio performance. While the built in speakers are perfectly adequate for general TV viewing to be honest, if you want the best audio performance from your movies, games and TV shows, you should really match your new TV with a dedicated sound system, be that a soundbar or home cinema speaker set-up.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the TV you go for has to match your own wants and desires, but we recommend that you also consider whether it is futureproof. With 4K Ultra HD and HDR tech on-board you can’t go far wrong.

There has certainly never been a better time to buy a television than now, with prices at an all-time low for incredible, immersive experiences we’ve never before seen.