Category: Apps

Instagram released its Reels feature last year in an attempt to compete with TikTok. The feature has garnered a lot of traction and the app continues to add features to it to improve the user experience. Now, the Meta-owned platform is allowing users to record Reels for 90 seconds. Previously, the time limit was limited to 60 seconds.

Instagram says it wants to give Reels users more room to express their visuals and stories by extending the length limit to 90 seconds. “You will have more time to share more about yourself, film extra behind-the-scenes clips, dig deeper into the nuances of your content, or whatever else you want to do with that extra time,” said Instagram in an official blog post.

Since the launch of Reels in India, the photo-sharing platform has seen several changes to improve the overall user experience. Instagram is attempting to make Reels more interactive than ever before by adding these features.

The Meta-owned app is introducing these features amid the reports of ByteDance working with partners to bring TikTok back to the country. The company has yet to provide any official information on this.

Along with the time extension, Instagram has also added templates, new sound effects, interactive stickers, and the ability to import your own videos. Both iOS and Android users can get the latest update with new features. Users can download the update from their respective Google Play stores. Also, the company is introducing popular Stories stickers to Reels which include Quiz, Poll, and Emoji Sliders.

Earlier this week, the photo and video sharing app added a new alert feature named Amber alert. This allows users to see and share notices of missing children in their area. The Amber alert tool has been developed in partnership with organizations like the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, the National Crime Agency in the UK, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US, the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico, the Australian Federal Police and more, the company explained. Currently, the feature is available only in 25 countries and the company is planning to expand it further.

Key Highlight

• Tiktok to relaunch services in India. The short video app is looking for a partnership.
• The report claims that the app is in talks with the Hiranandani Group.
• Tiktok plans to foray into the mobile segment and test HTML5 mini-games in Vietnam.

Tiktok is likely to relaunch its services in the Indian market via a new partnership. According to a report in ET, Bytedance, which is the owner of the app is also in talks with Hiranandani Group for partnership in the country. Besides, the company might rehire its employees before entering the market.

The Indian Government banned TikTok in June 2020 due to issues with China. It is worth noting that Hiranandani Group is doing its operations under the Yotta Infrastructure Solutions and has launched its consumer services arm. Besides, the company is likely to invest Rs. 3,500 crore in next three years.

“There have been no formal talks with us yet. But we have been informed of the plans. As and when they come to us for approvals, we will examine their request,” a senior government official was quoted by ET.

Another official said “Critical user data should not be stored outside India. All apps and websites have either made provisions to store data locally or are making necessary changes to their data storage and processing policies. If they come back, they will have to follow these norms.”

Apart from entering India, the short video app is likely to foray into the mobile gaming segment as the company executive also confirms the test of the HTML5 mini games in Vietnam. The executive said, “We are always looking at ways to enrich our platform and regularly test new features and integrations that bring value to our community.”

WhatsApp is allegedly working on a new desktop app for macOS. According to WABetaInfo, the Meta-owned platform is developing a form of the app that uses the Mac Catalyst framework. It allows developers to develop iPad applications for macOS Monterrey directly.

The new app is likely to be available in the App Store unlike the WhatsApp desktop software, which can be downloaded directly from the website. Unfortunately, the app is under development so it is not possible to download it on your Mac from the App Store at the moment.

According to the report, when you open WhatsApp for macOS for the first time, you need to scan the QR code to link your phone. You may scan the QR code generated by WhatsApp for macOS immediately under WhatsApp Settings > Linked devices. Users will be able to link their Android WhatsApp accounts with macOS.

WhatsApp recently announced a beta version of its Android and iOS-based apps with multi-device support. According to reports, the company is planning to release the second iteration of this feature called Companion Mode.

The upcoming Companion Mode will allow users to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices at the same time. According to the blog site, this is already feasible when connecting a PC to the primary WhatsApp account via WhatsApp web). However, the Companion mode will enable WhatsApp users to use their accounts on a secondary smartphone.

To recall, WhatsApp had released a (UWP)-based (Universal Windows Platform) app for Windows users last year. The app is accessible on the Microsoft Store, and because it is built on the Universal Windows Platform, it can sync in the background and get notifications even when it isn’t running.

WhatsApp Rolls Out New Features

The company has begun to roll out the option to create WhatsApp groups with up to 512 members. Furthermore, the company has also started rolling out the ability to exchange media files up to 2GB on its platform. These features were earlier announced this month.

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Whatsapp has introduced three major new features to its users. In a blog post, the Meta-owned app announced three new features: the ability to send files up to 2GB in size, emoji reactions, and the option to add 512 individuals to a group.

WhtasApp users can now send bigger files

WhatsApp users will now be able to share files up to 2GB in size at a time, all of which will be protected by end-to-end encryption. This is an upsurge from the previous limit, which was 100MB. According to the Meta-owned app, the feature will be useful for collaborating among small businesses and school groups.

Emoji reactions are now available

The message reactions feature, which was announced last month by WhatsApp, is now rolling out to its users. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, made the announcement on Facebook. With this, users on iOS and Android will be able to respond to messages in the same way they can on Instagram.

Users can currently select from six emojis: thumbs up, red heart, laughing face, astonished face, teary face, and hands together in thanks/prayer. However, WhatsApp has stated that more emoticons and skin tones would be added in the near future.

WhatsApp also shares a few things about this new feature:

• Each message can only have one reaction.
• When the message disappears, reactions to disappearing messages will also disappear.
• Reactions and reaction counts cannot be hidden.
• Recipients may observe your reaction before you remove it or if removing wasn’t successful.
• Users won’t be notified if removing a reaction was not successful.

Apart from emojis, a future update may also allow users to use stickers or GIFs in the instant messaging app. This new message reactions feature will appear just below a message in your WhatsApp chat.

Users can add more people to the group

The Meta-owned platform is “slowly rolling out the option” to add up to 512 individuals to a group. WhatsApp said that one of the top requests it consistently received is the option to add more people to a group chat. Acting upon the request, the instant messaging app is now rolling out the ability to add up to 512 people to a group.

Apart from this feature, the company has been testing a number of other features, including the ability to call up to 32 individuals, create a Community, and more.

JioGames is all set to launch a new game on its platform. The new game is known as Chhota Bheem will be launched in collaboration with Green Gold Animation Pvt. Notably, the launch is scheduled for a summer vacation in schools and will be based on the Chhota Bheem show.

“We are very excited to be associating with Jio and to be present on JioGames. JioGames, with its presence across devices and their ecosystems, provides a great platform for our best-performing kids IPs which includes India’s favorite animated show – Chhota Bheem and lets our fans connect with their favorite characters on many more devices. We will be launching 5 hyper-casual games and adding many more very soon, said Srinivas Chilakalapudi, Chief Strategy Officer of Green Gold Animation.

The Chhota Bheem game will be available on the JioGames application. The app is already available on the Play Store and can be downloaded on Android devices and televisions via Jio Set-top Box.

For the unaware, the Chhota Bheem is an animated show, which is running on Indian television. Green Gold Animation has been creating content for 15 years. But, here comes the question what is JioGames?

JioGames is providing one-stop hub games to all users. It is important to note that JioGames is present in several devices such as home gaming via set-top boxes, smartphones, and feature phones. JioGames users do not have to download and install the game on the devices. All you need to access the play the games and it can be downloaded on Android smartphones.