WhatsApp Privacy Update - Android App News

Android App News - WhatsApp adds a New Privacy Update

 

WhatsApp adds a new privacy update feature that allows the user to choose who can see information about the user. Options include ability to select who can see when the user was last seen on WhatsApp, who can see the user's profile image and which contacts can see the user's status updates.

Though these changes are certainly welcomed and much needed, it is an open question whether they are connected to the recent 19 billion dollar acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook.

Facebook has faced privacy issues for years and has made repeated changes in order to accommodate increasing demands on privacy from its users. It may be now WhatsApp is started to address privacy issues because of Facebook's influence.

However, Facebook or no Facebook, WhatsApp previously allowed a user to see another's users profile picture, status and when last it used WhatsApp even if that user did not confirm the first user's credentials. Of course, this left open the option for people to find out information about other people they had no business knowing, just because they found out their phone number.

Remember to update your app and check you WhatsApp settings to turn these options off!

לכל צרכי סידור הבית, הארון והחדר - סדר בחדר

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Android App Review - Kik Messenger by Kik Interactive

Android App Review - Kik Messenger by Kik Interactive

Android App Review -  Kik Messenger by Kik Interactive. A messenger that does not use the smartphone's number but allows you to create and use a Kik account, which we're not sure is a good or bad thing ... It does allow one more freedom but apps like Whatsapp that use the smartphone's number for identification insure the user's identity and prevent impersonation, with the drawback that if you change your phone number (for instance, changing carrier sometimes forces you to change your number) you'll lose you Whatsapp conversations. Kik does possess a simple and intuitive interface while still having features such as pic sending, user status updating and group conversations.

Kik Messenger app is advertised to be faster than any other messenger. Our testers have indeed confirmed the app is fast, though they're not sure its the fastest messenger app they ever used .. All together, a good and simple app to use and we can heartily recommend it. The only thing is, just like in any other messenger, is to find out what messenger your contacts are using and use it too ... Just one more thing. Since the Kik accounts can be annonymous, you can never be sure who you're talking to, just like in Internet chat rooms, with all their advantages and drawbacks because of anonymity, adult possible and the like. Just search for Kik 'sexting'.

• Score. 4.5 out of 5. We took half a point away because of the user account management. In our opinion, using the smartphone's number to ID contacts is better. Still, if it doesn't matter to you, this app is great. 

• Description. 
• Good Points. A very simple and intuitive interface. Having a Kik account and not having the messenger app use the smartphone's number has its advantages ... Kik messenger app has all the necessary features - text and pic messages, notifications, group conversations and more.

• Bad Points. Our testers disliked the colors that came with the update. Boring, they called it ... Setting up an account and using it can be difficult at times, as is having to locate your friends (since you usually know their phone numbers anyway).

• Experience. 
• Longevity. Most of our testers liked Kik app, but eventually some returned to Whatsapp Messenger, citing simplicity, ease of contact locating and an interface that a little more appealing.
• Google Play. Google Play Link - Kik Messenger by Kik Interactive
• Google Play Score 4.4 

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Android App Review - LINE: Free Calls & Messages by Line Corporation

Android App Review -  LINE: Free Calls & Messages by Line Corporation

Android App Review -   LINE: Free Calls & Messages by Line Corporation. This is one of the best and most popular calls and messenger apps on Android, and not without good reason. A simple and slick interface, good features and it has that all important quality, the 'Cute' quality.

With Line you can place calls (all over the world) for free all over the internet (just make sure you have a large or unlimited data plan), send messages with stickers, emoticons, pictures and even location reports to you contacts. Of course, more stickers are available for download online.

There really aren't major negative issues with this messenger. Audio and video quality is generally good, at least if you have a fast enough internet connection via cellular or wifi. There isn't a status indicator for you contact like there is in WhatsApp and no logout function for when you DON'T want to receive any calls ... We would have liked some indicator of missed calls, the notifications in general are sometimes buggy and if a contact uninstalled this app, he still appears as if he can receive messages ...

Other than that, it really is one of the best Android messengers out there, making it easy to communicate by voice, video, sms or chat and share images between contacts.

Of course, one of the dominating factors in using Android messengers is finding our what others are using ... But Line is one of the best options out there right now.

• Score: A very solid 4.5 out of 5. Just short of perfect.
• Description: A video chat, messenger and file sharing Android app that enables a user to communicate with his or her contacts over an internet connection. One of the most popular Android messenger app, its simple and attractive interface was liked by most of our testers.
• Good Points: Very attractive interface that all of our testers (from teens to grandmothers) loved. The app works like a charm (in most cases) even when communicating across continents, if the internet connection is good enough. Cute and plentiful stickers. Easy sharing of files, images and even location reports between users.
• Bad Points: Wouldn't be much of a review without them ... A very few of our testers encountered some problems with notifications, with missed calls and messages that needed an hour to finally understand they've been read ... Some missing features of contact management - deleting contacts and status updates.
• Experience: Line messenger worked very well on all the smartphones we tried (mainly Samsung and LG brands). Our testers loved the simple interface and cute stickers which some other messengers app do not possess. A few testers found some problems with downloading videos sent by Line messengers but in general, all our testers agreed this was a very professional and stable app.
• Longevity: All of our testers kept this app installed on their smartphones and at least half made it their major messenger app, running a close second after WhatApp.
• Google Play Link - Android App Review - LINE: Free Calls & Messages by Line Corporation
• Google Play Score: 4.2

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Android App Review - Facebook Messenger

Android App - Facebook Messenger

Score	Under Construction
Description	Under Construction
Good Points	Under Construction
Bad Points	Under Construction
Experience	Under Construction
Longevity	Under Construction
Google Play	Google Play Link - Facebook Messenger
Google Play Score	Score 4.4

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Android App Review - Skype - free IM & video calls

Android App - Skype - free IM & video calls

Score	Text 1C
Description	Text 1C
Good Points	Text 1C
Bad Points	Text 1C
Experience	Text 1C
Longevity	Text 1C
Google Play	Google Play Link - Skype - free IM & video calls
Google Play Score	4.0

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Android App Review - Tango Text, Voice, and Video by Tango

Android App Review - Tango Text, Voice, and Video by Tango

Tango Text, Voice, and Video by Tango. Well, this is quite embarrassing since Tango is no doubt one of the most popular chat and video conferencing apps for Android smartphones. Nevertheless, though no doubt millions of people have downloaded it and installed it and it does have a 4.4 score on Google Play, we didn't like it. 

It didn't work for us. Maybe its our carrier, or the quality of the internet here or whatever, but we kept getting interrupted calls, we kept failing to communicate with our contacts and we kept getting irritated by this app.

The irritating message in the notification bar that you have to update the app and it won't go away till you perform the update ... very irritating! The difficulty in setting up and managing user accounts ... 

In conclusion, most of our testers didn't like it. Too complicated, it never seemed to work properly even on brand Samsung smartphones and we didn't like several interface decisions the programmers made. 

• Score: Our own very subjective score - 3.5. The app has various problems and has some very irritating features. We know a lot of people like it very much, we just had a bad experience with it.
• Description: This is a video chat, instant messaging and communications app that allows the user to communicate with his or her contacts by various ways - the user can send a text message, a video message or a voice recording. The app is fairly sophisticated and can be used over tablets (unlike Whatsapp Messenger, for instance) and it also has a lot of clever features like informing the user when a familiar contact installs the app, allowing forming and communicating with groups and even informing the user when a new version becomes available. The interface is also very slick and follows the smartphone interface when Tango calls are coming in, ringing etc.
• Good Points: Video, voice and test messaging free over the internet (of course, using the smartphone's data plan), A nice interface ringing when a new call is incoming, a lot of sophisticated features, Works across tablets, smartphones and even PCs (haven't test the PC version, yet).
• Bad Points: Setting up and managing users - though supposed to be simple was very complicated and required frequent tinkering to hook the right email account with the right Tango user. When an update is available, Tango informs the user by an icon in the notification bar WHICH STAYS THERE UNTIL THE USER PERFORMS THE UPDATE! We found that very annoying! Okay, we saw an update was available, we'll update when we can, now clear the notification bar! Last and not least bad point was the fact we consistently failed in making calls. During our tests, running from several brand phones and tablets (notably, Samsung galaxy phones and Acer tablets) calls and video chatting were frequently interrupted.
• Experience: Installing the app was easy and eventless though the app has a significant footprint (several tens of megabytes) but then the problems started with configuring the Tango users and attaching them to the right email users. After this mess got sorted out, more or less, we started using the app and then we encountered all sorts of problem when trying to conduct long distance video and text calls. There were so much interruptions and disconnects that the testers were forced to stop their testing and resume them later. We understand long distance calls may be problematic but there are ways to handle these things by reducing frame rate etc. This app simply did not behave well in this regard though short distance calls usually were smoother.
• Longevity: None of our testers were enthusiastic about this app and most uninstalled it after our testing was done.
• Google Play Link - Tango Text, Voice, and Video by Tango
• Google Play Score: 4.4

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Android App Review - WhatsApp Messenger

Android App - WhatsApp Messenger

WhatApp Messenger is one of the more popular messengers today. Thanks to a slim and attractive interface, a number of finely tuned features and a loyal fan base this messengers is the first choice of messengers to millions around the world. Based around identification stemming from the smartphone's actual phone number, there is no anonymous accounts which make this app eminently safe for children. In other words, no adult content.

The useful features WhatApp has range from group conversation, automatic connection with anyone of your contacts who installed the app, notifications for received and read messages, ability to share files and pictures and location reports and even a brand new ability to easily record a voice message to be automatically sent to the selected contact. 

One of the best things about WhatsApp is its simple and attractive interface. Our testers from nannies to teens had no problem whatsoever in mastering.

There are a very few small problems, with messages that take half an hour to travel to a smartphone one mile away or read notifications to messages that haven't even been opened, but the collective opinion of our testers is that these are small things indeed.
 

• Score: This App gets a very solid 5 out of 5.
• Description: An instant messaging app, this hugely popular Android and iOS app rightfully desrves being one of the best instant messaging apps currently available. It uses your smartphone's number to uniquely identify you and your friends and then, with a very simple yet clever interface it allows you to communicate easily with everyone. You can send images, create groups, receive notifications for read messages and online availability of your friends, it is literally an app that never leaves your smartphone once installed.
• Good Points: Very simple and intuitive interface, Message read notifications, Setting up groups, sending files and pictures easily, Works across platforms, The easiest way of sending images to and from an iPhone, Can easily connect to anyone of the contacts in the smartphone that have a phone number, Does not consume much of your web/data plan. Of course, WhatsApp Messenger is free and is supposed to remain free. That remains to be seen ...
• Bad Points: There really aren't any worth speaking off. Perhaps the only one is that WhatsApp cannot be installed on desktops or tablets, probably because it needs the phone number for unique identification, though it could have used the MAC address to identify the tablet or desktop.
• Experience: Installation was easy and simple. There were a few upgrades over the time of use but nothing that made the app un usable. We've been using it every day for hundreds of messages, images and what not. There have been no crashes and almost no problems, except for (very rarely) messages that take half an hour to reach their recipient.
• Longevity: Excellent. We've been using it everyday for more than a year and have no intention of ever uninstalling it.
• Google Play Link: WhatsApp Messenger
• Google Play Score: 4.5

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