Apps

AwareCA provides emergency maps and alerts like Watch Duty, but directly from public safety agencies. The LA Times reports the app addresses fire officials’ “uneasiness” with Watch Duty, with Cal Fire’s David Acuña saying, with AwareCA “you’re not relying on, ‘Well, what did I hear on that really static-y radio?’”

With the new “Connected Apps” platform, developers can submit apps for people to use within Gemini and Search. This will allow developers to launch integrations similar to the ones OpenTable and Instacart built into Google’s AI tools.

Along with support for projects, which lets you assign Copilot a task across multiple repos, the GitHub Copilot app now allows you to pick up your work where you left off when you switch to other devices. You can now create reusable AI automations within the GitHub Copilot app as well.

Discord acknowledges that long-form conversations that can be popular on message boards, like help posts and theory crafting, have moved to Discord where they’re “inaccessible to the wider internet.”

Instagram was one of the apps touted as being “Made for iPhone Duo.” The Verge’s Nilay Patel has already pointed out that it’s a bit broken, and now Instagram’s head has replied to a user on Threads, saying that he agrees the app needs a rethink on the wider screen.

After adding the option to annotate Kindle ebooks with handwritten notes on its new Alexa Tablets, Amazon has brought the same functionality to the Kindle Android app, as some users in the Kindle subreddit have discovered. It currently appears limited to Android tablets and phones that support a stylus, and it hasn’t come to the iPadOS version of the app yet.

A new update shows saved routes on your home screen so you can start and complete a route offline, uploading it when you’re next connected. It also improves the ability to search for interesting places to build into your next run. Other improvements are on the horizon, including hands-free navigation, browsing routes on the web, and expanded route details.

The court-ordered change takes effect from March 1st 2027, following similar rulings in the EU, Japan, and Brazil. Apple will have to let Fortnite back in the App Store too — one of the last holdouts after a global return — and allow developers to offer alternative payment methods. Apple told Reuters it plans to appeal.

The company is launching ads for ChatGPT Free and Go users across 26 countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Since bringing ads to ChatGPT in the US in February, OpenAI has rapidly expanded its advertising efforts, which now span 89 countries.

The feature analyzes video and audio signals to determine whether they “may have been altered outside of Zoom.” The video conferencing app is also launching a tool that uses AI to make presenters “appear more engaged,” as well as an AI-powered feature that smooths out voices and accents in real time.

The app, which says it helps renters by splitting up their payments (while tacking on an extra fee for dividing them), is now turning utility, insurance, car payments, and internet bills into buy now, pay later payments, with all of the associated issues and a $5.99 monthly fee for splitting payments on top of other processing charges.

Yelp’s new “Check for Me” feature is starting to roll out on iOS as part of Yelp’s fall product release. The launch also includes updates to Yelp AI’s assistant, including more personalized recommendations and the ability for it to book reservations on OpenTable.

The Android laptops shipped with the tracking app, but it was quickly removed. Now Google has told Android Authority why, blaming laptop sleep settings. It sounds like a better optimized version might come in the future. Mind fixing any other apps while you’re at it?

Toggling on the new “Surveillance” switch in the Map Options on MapQuest adds eyeball icons showing the locations of “known license plate readers” and outdoor surveillance cameras, similar to DeFlock’s ALPR mapping project.

A Reddit user spotted the fake “Chrome” app as a sponsored suggestion above the real version. As Android Authority reports, the app was originally added to the Play Store as a “Ball Bounce” game before the developer reskinned it as a Chrome dupe.

Meta’s Muse app has topped the iOS App Store chart in the US since it launched in early September, but now it’s lost that position to an unexpected tender contender: Dave’s Hot Chicken. It presumably has little to do with AI capabilities, and more the extremely popular free slider promotional offer than ran yesterday, but lets see how long Dave’s can keep the top spot.

Alongside its big Argon 4 launch, Google has announced that it’s embedding Antigravity’s agentic coding interface directly into the Gemini app. Antigravity is only available in the Gemini app with an AI Ultra subscription.

Firefox Enterprise combines the browser with a management console for IT admins with advanced security controls. The pitch is that it’s one of the few browsers that doesn’t run on an engine developed by Google or Apple. It’s rolling out in Europe first, and a Thunderbird Enterprise email client is also in the works.

Users who sideloaded outdated builds of the Fitbit app to avoid being forced to switch to Google Health have found it no longer works. Android Authority reports that a new prompt is appearing for some users that can’t be bypassed without updating the Fitbit app, which forces moving to Google Health anyway.

Gone are the days of starting your Goodreads reviews with “more like a 3.75, but rounding up.” The site has finally added fractions of a star to its rating system, which many of its competitors, like StoryGraph, have supported for quite some time.

Gems will appear on posts and replies “based on the conversation” they create, rather than on views or how many followers someone has, according to a support page.

If you’re tired of the Spotify desktop app gobbling up a big chunk of your computer’s RAM, Spotifast for Linux, macOS, and Windows takes a leaner approach and typically needs just 100 to 250MB. A Spotify Premium account is required to actually stream music instead of just browsing, and if you need another reason to switch, Spotifast includes a Mini Player that supports Winamp 2 skins.

You can ask Anthropic’s AI chatbot to incorporate motion into its output, allowing it to create a 30-second video explainer, add animation to a chart, or make a product walkthrough. The animation will play like a short video, which you can download as an MP4 file.

A few Reddit users have reported seeing a new look that features cleaner text, streamlined controls, and, most importantly, full-width artwork on albums and playlists. It’s a huge improvement over the cramped, boxed-in look of the current app. Hopefully it’ll be rolling out to more users soon.

The app gives you a bunch of tools to tinker and tweak your carousel if you want to spruce it up. Check out how the editor works in the below video from Meta.