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Android 15’s new Bluetooth tool may alter the way users interact with their phone
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Recent Android 14 betas have been a treasure trove of information about possible features coming to Android 15. We learned not too long ago that the operating system may introduce Private Space for securing sensitive information on a smartphone. Now new details are emerging on future changes that could alter how users interact with their mobile devices.

News site Android Authority unearthed these details inside the Android 14 QPR2 patch from early March. Several lines of code reference something called “Bluetooth Auto-On”. According to the publication, it will automatically activate Bluetooth connectivity if it’s turned off. They state that if someone turns it off, a toggle option will appear to give the phone the ability to turn on Bluetooth the following day. Android 15 reportedly will include text reminding users that enabling the connection is important for certain features; namely Quick Share and Find My Device.

Of course, this is all optional. You’ll still be able to deactivate Bluetooth any time you want for as long as you want without having to toggle anything. 

Insight into Bluetooth Auto-On doesn’t stop there as more information was dug up from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) by industry insider Mishaal Rahman. Rahman states only system apps work with the tool. It’s not going to be compatible with third-party software. Also, it may not be exclusive to Android 15. There’s a chance the update could come to older OS versions; however, it won’t work on all devices.

Adapative screens

The second feature is “Adaptive Timeout” which was discovered within a developer preview for Android 15. Very little is known as the lines of code don’t reveal much.

But they do say it will automatically turn off your “screen early if you’re not using your device.” On the surface, this may seem like Screen Timeout although Rahman states it’s something totally different. Judging by its description, it operates similarly to Attention Aware on iPhone. 

Adaptive Timeout would utilize some sort of metric, either by detecting your face through the camera or taking collecting input through sensors, to know if you’re directly interacting with the smartphone. If you stop using the device, the feature will turn off the display. Screen Timeout, by comparison, is just a timer. The screen will stay on until the timer runs out even if you’re not interacting with the phone. An argument could also be made that, due to its proactive nature, the tool can extend a device's battery life and protect your data from prying eyes. 

What's interesting about Adaptive Timeout is it may be an exclusive update for Google Pixel. Rahman says he found evidence of the tool referencing a Google namespace, suggesting it won’t be available on the “open-source version of Android”.

As always, take everything you see here with a grain of salt. Things can always change. And be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best Android phones if you're looking to upgrade.  

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Windows 11 users can now try a new feature that uses an Android phone as a webcam – here’s how
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Windows 11 users will soon be able to use their Android phones as webcams for video calls, an exciting development for people who don’t want to spend money on a webcam or work on the go and need one in a pinch. 

Earlier this month we reported on the feature being available to just a few select groups (referred to as ‘channels’) in the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft’s community for Windows enthusiasts who want to get early access to potential new features and Windows versions. The feature has had an expanded rollout to all Insider Channels, making it much easier to try it out for yourself. 

Members of the Windows Insider Program can give feedback ahead of a more widespread rollout. So, the fact that Microsoft is opening this feature up to more channels in the program suggests that it’s already taken feedback and improved upon the feature enough to allow more people to give it a try. 

Normally, a new feature being released across all Insider channels strongly suggests that we may see an imminent public release, which is an exciting development for those of us who have been waiting for the feature to drop. 

 Give it a go!  

If you’re not already in the Windows Insider Program, you’ll have to sign up first. It’s free to join, and all you have to do is make sure you’ll be using it on a PC that’s running Windows 10 or Windows 11. 

Once you’ve signed up you’ll need to install the latest preview build, and then make sure your phone is set up and ready to go. Your phone should be running Android 9.0 or later, with the Link to Windows app installed.

Before you can get video calling, you’ll need to quickly hop into your settings and make sure your phone is set as the desired streaming device. This means you’ll need to go to:

Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices

From there hit the ‘Manage Devices’ options and link your Android phone to your PC. You’ll be prompted to download a Cross-Device Experience Host update from the Microsoft Store and you should be ready to go!

Overall this feature should be very useful in the long term, whether you have one of the best webcams on the market or not. When I’m working on the commute or hot-desking it can be such a hassle to find an external webcam and carry it around with me – or having to resort to using the built-in webcam of a laptop, which sometimes isn’t very good quality, especially on older devices. The alternative is just using your phone to join meetings, which is fine, but does mean you have a rather small screen to look at. Of course, sometimes you just want to pick the camera up to show your team something cute your cat is doing, and this feature will be perfect for that as well.

Via MSPowerUser

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YouTube Music will finally let you look up tracks just by singing into your phone
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It took a little while, but YouTube Music is, at long last, giving users the ability to search for songs just by singing a tune into a smartphone’s microphone.

The general YouTube app has had this feature since mid-October 2023, and judging from recently found images on Reddit, the version on YouTube Music functions in the exact same way. In the upper right corner next to the search bar is an audio chart icon. Tapping it activates song search where you then either play, sing, or hum a tune into your device. 

Using the power of artificial intelligence, the app will quickly bring up a track that, according to 9To5Google, matches “the sound to the original recording.” The tool’s accuracy may depend entirely on your karaoke skills. 

Missing details

Because there hasn't an official announcement yet, there are a lot of missing details. For starters, it’s unknown how long you're supposed to sing or hum. The original tool required people to enter a three-second input before it could perform a search. Presumably it will take the same amount of time, but without official word from the platform, it’s hard to say with total confidence.

Online reports claim the update is already available on YouTube Music for iOS. However, 9To5Google states they couldn’t find the feature on either their iPhones or Android devices. Our Android phone didn’t receive the patch either so it’s probably seeing a limited release at the moment. 

We reached out to Google asking if it would like to share official info about YouTube Music’s song search tool alongside a couple of other questions. More specifically, we wanted to know if the feature is rolling out to everyone, or will it require a YouTube Music Premium plan? We will update if we get answers. 

You can't listen to music without a good pair of headphones. For recommendations, check out TechRadar's list of the best wireless headphones for 2024.

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Say cheese! You’ll soon be able to turn your Android phone into a wireless PC webcam in Windows 11
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If you’re a Windows 11 user on a PC, you’ll soon be able to use your Android smartphone (or tablet) as a webcam. This feature is currently being made available to Windows Insiders, Microsoft’s official community for professionals and Windows enthusiasts who would like early access to new Windows versions and features to test and offer feedback ahead of a wider rollout. 

In an official Windows Insider Blog post, Microsoft explains that it’s begun a gradual rollout of the feature that enables users who have a suitable Android device, such as a tablet or phone, to act as a webcam while using any application that involves video webcam functions on their PCs. If you’d like to try this new feature or get access to whatever else Microsoft has up its sleeve that it would like users to test, it’s free to sign up for the Windows Insider Program – you just have to make sure you have a suitable PC that can run Windows 10 or Windows 11. 

Once you install the latest preview build, you’ll also have to ensure that the mobile device you want to use as a webcam is running Android 9.0 or later. You also have to install the Link to Windows app on your mobile device. 

This is really good news for users who don’t have a dedicated webcam or are unhappy with the quality of the built-in webcam of their laptop. Many modern smartphones come with cameras that can offer better quality than a lot of webcams – and this feature allows them to be used wirelessly, which makes them far more convenient as well. On top of being able to function as your webcam, you can also switch between the front and back cameras of your phone, pause your webcam stream, and activate your mobile device’s available camera effects.

Group of cheerful friends teenagers spending fun time together outdoors, looking at phone

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Dean Drobot)

How to set up your Android phone as your webcam

Once you’ve made sure you have all the necessary specifications, updates, and apps, you’ll need to set the feature up on the device you’d like to stream to. You can do this by navigating to the following settings in Windows 11:

Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices

Select “Manage devices” and turn on the setting that allows the Android mobile device that you’d like to use as a webcam to be accessed by your PC. This will then prompt your PC to receive a Cross Device Experience Host update via the Microsoft Store which you should allow, as this is necessary to facilitate the feature. 

It will likely prove to be very useful, offering users more versatility and options for appearing in video calls. With many of us now working from home, either full-time or as part of a hybrid working week, picking the best webcam for your needs is now more important than ever. This upcoming feature could make that search even easier if all you need is a modern Android smartphone.

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ChatGPT may be plotting to replace Google Assistant on your Android phone, ahead of its landmark bot store launch
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We can't say for sure whether or not AI is secretly plotting world domination – but it does appear that ChatGPT developer OpenAI has designs on replacing Google Assistant as the default helper tool on Android devices.

Some digging by the team at Android Authority has revealed hidden code in the latest version of the ChatGPT app for Android: code that triggers a small pop-up prompt at the bottom of the screen, just like Google Assistant (or Siri on the iPhone).

The thinking is that you wouldn't have to launch ChatGPT for Android to get answers from the AI bot – you could just hold down a shortcut button, or even say “hey ChatGPT”. There also seems to be a new tile in the works for the Quick Settings panel on Android, giving users another way of getting to ChatGPT.

This wouldn't exactly be a hostile coup – Android already allows the default digital assistant app to be switched, to something like Alexa or Bixby – but it's interesting that OpenAI wants to expand the reach of ChatGPT. As always though, plans can change, so it's not certain that we'll see this functionality appear.

Store opening

In other ChatGPT news, the GPT Store that OpenAI promised last year is now scheduled to launch next week, after a delay – as per emails sent out to people signed up to a paid ChatGPT plan. It means users can create their own bespoke versions of ChatGPT and sell them on to other people and businesses.

These GPTs – or generative pre-trained transformers – are built on the same well of training data as ChatGPT, but they can be tweaked to take on specific personalities or accomplish particular tasks. Some rather obvious examples would be a bot that helps with tech support questions, or one that comes up with recipes.

Custom bots can also be loaded up with knowledge from outside OpenAI's vaults – so if you've written a hundred scientific papers on dinosaur fossils, for example, you're able to plug all of this data into a GPT and ask questions about the research. Right now, you need a ChatGPT Plus or Enterprise account to build a bot.

OpenAI is no doubt trying to foster the same kind of innovation and growth that we've seen in smartphone apps, ever since Apple opened the iPhone App Store in 2008. However, at the moment we're still waiting on a lot of details, including how users can get verified, and how sales revenue will be split.

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This Windows app could soon let you use your phone as a webcam
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Right now, there’s no need to use one of the best webcams to record yourself in video calls and meetings, as there are plenty of third-party apps that let you use your phone as a webcam. Even Apple has got in on the act with its Continuity Camera system, and it now seems that Microsoft also wants a slice of the pie.

According to Android Authority, Microsoft is working on adding this functionality to its Phone Link app that helps connect Android phones to Windows. That could be a major boost to anyone who doesn’t want to spend money on a webcam when they already have excellent cameras built into their smartphone.

Android Authority claims that code in the 1.23102.190.0 version of the Phone Link app gives the game away. The outlet has spotted code strings that reference setting up a camera stream on your computer, with controls allowing you to switch to the front or back cameras, enable Do Not Disturb, and more.

As well as that, there look to be a raft of video effects that you might be able to apply, ranging from HDR and night modes to soft focus, image stabilization, face retouching, and more. There’s also an 'auto-framing' feature that sounds similar to Apple’s Center Stage.

Plenty of competition

Apple's Craig Federighi demonstrating Continuity Camera in macOS Ventura at WWDC 2022.

(Image credit: Apple)

Phone Link can already access your camera, but in its current state this just mirrors video-calling apps on your phone. The new code, on the other hand, suggests that Microsoft is working to bring video-conferencing functionality into Phone Link itself.

It’s not known which devices this feature will be available on, but Android Authority speculates that it could end up being limited to products that include Phone Link as a system app. That would include a number of the best Samsung Galaxy phones, as well as the OnePlus 11 running Android 14, for example.

When – or if – this feature does launch, it’ll face some stiff competition. For instance, the Camo app is a superb tool for using your phone as a webcam, and contains a ton of fine-grained control for perfecting your videos. Microsoft will need to work hard to overcome that challenge.

Stepping back for a moment, there’s no guarantee that this feature will eventually make it into Phone Link. It could be that Microsoft is simply experimenting with it, and might scrap the feature before launch. Time will tell, but if Microsoft can do what Apple has done with Continuity Camera it could be a great addition for Windows and Android users.

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Got an old Android phone? Google Calendar could soon stop working on it
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If you're the sort of person who likes to keep their Android phone or tablet running for several years, you might want to take note that Google Calendar could be dropping support for devices that aren't running Android 8 or newer.

The team at TheSpAndroid (via Android Police) has spotted code and an image in the latest release of Google Calendar for Android, which tells the user that “your current Android version is no longer supported”.

There's a flag labeled “UnsupportedOperatingSystem__enabled”, and the app is now marked as only supporting Android 8 (Oreo) and newer. For now though, it doesn't seem as though the switch has been hit that will disqualify older devices.

When that happens, you'll see a message on screen if you try and run the Google Calendar app on something older than Android 8, telling you to upgrade. Presumably Google Calendar will still be available via a mobile web browser on these phones and tablets.

The end is nigh

To be fair to Google, Android 8 was launched all the way back in August 2017. There aren't going to be a huge number of devices still running Android 7 (or Nougat) that can't be updated to Android 8, with the final Android 7.1.2 update pushed out in April 2017.

According to StatCounter, 2.12% of Android devices worldwide are running Android 7 or Android 7.1, with another 3.42% of devices on anything older than that – so we're looking at about 1 in 20 phones and tablets overall. The newest version, Android 14, started to roll out in October 2023.

Some of those older devices will be eligible for upgrades to newer Android versions, but if you have one that doesn't, it might be time to think about investing in a new gadget – at least if you want to carry on using Google Calendar.

Besides offering an improved set of features, newer versions of Android also give you better security, which is probably Google's main motivation here. According to TheSpAndroid, Google Calendar on Android currently supports devices running Android 5 (Lollipop), launched in June 2014.

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Meta Quest 3 owners check the phone app as 12 free games might be waiting for you
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If you own a Meta Quest 3 you should check your Meta Quest smartphone app as you might have a six-month free trial of Meta Quest Plus waiting for you.

Previously this offer was an exclusive order incentive for people who bought the 512GB Meta Quest 3 model, but Quest 3 owners on Reddit have noticed that the 6-month trial is available to them even if they bought the 128GB version. This means rather than saving only $ 7.99 / £7.99 from a one-month trial everyone can get $ 47.94 / £47.94 worth of subscription value for no cost.

Meta Quest Plus is like a Netflix for Quest VR games. Each month you’ll get 2 free VR titles that you can add to your Quest library, and for as long as you are subscribed you can play them. If you unsubscribe, you’ll lose access to your free games until you rejoin Meta Quest Plus.  So with this trial that’s 12 free games, which is a pretty excellent deal that rivals this year’s best Black Friday deals.

To see if you can get this free six-month trial you’ll need to open open the Meta Quest app on your smartphone. Use Search to look for Meta Quest Plus, then on the Quest Plus store page tap the blue button at the bottom of your screen that says “Start your six-month trial.”

Meta Quest Plus advert showing Pistol Whip and Pixel Ripper 1995

(Image credit: Meta)

This offer doesn’t appear to be exclusive to new subscribers either. Comments on the original Reddit post suggest that people can get the six-month trial if they’ve tried the one-month trial before, and even if they’re subscribed – with the six free months being added on top of the subscription they already have.

It also appears to be available in every region, though some users have reported they can only see the one-month trial; that said it’s not clear if they’re Meta Quest 3 or Oculus Quest 2 owners.

If you’re looking to expand your VR library then Meta Quest Plus is a good way to do it, as the two games you get are worth more than the monthly $ 7.99 / £7.99 fee. However, you don’t get to pick which games you get so you might prefer to spend more but get the games you actually want.

The two free titles at the time of writing are NFL Pro Era and Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs. We've not tried either but both titles have been fairly well received with a four and four-and-a-half star rating, respectively, on the Quest Store.

If you don’t have a Meta Quest 3, or an Oculus Quest 2, then you can check out our Black Friday Oculus Quest 2 deals guide to see the latest and greatest offers. If it’s still available you might want to go after Amazon’s incredible Quest 2 deal as it gets you $ 50 / £50 off the headset and free $ 50 / £50 Amazon credit too.

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YouTube update will let you search for songs by singing them into your phone
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YouTube is releasing a sizable update giving users new ways to search for and manage their content on the platform.

Chief among these changes is the official launch of the search by song tool where you can look up a song just by humming, singing, or playing a tune directly into YouTube. It functions similarly to Shazam where you can point the app on a phone towards a song’s source so it can record it. YouTube's version uses AI tech “to match the [input] to the original recording”. This was first seen back in August when it was still in beta and it appears the final version works in the exact same way. 

You first activate Voice Search on YouTube, then you switch over to the Song recorder where you will proceed to “play, sing, or hum” the tune for about three seconds into your phone’s microphone. From there, “relevant official music content” will show up on the screen. 

Search by song will be exclusive to Android phones “for now” and will begin rolling out “in the next few weeks”. No word on when it’ll arrive on iOS, although we did ask.

Extra controls

The rest of the update is less restrictive as the other features will be more generally available. A lot is being added, so we’re just going to go over the more notable changes like the introduction of the You tab. 

According to the company, this new section combines a user’s account page with their Library tab to create a one-stop shop where people can configure profile settings, find downloads, and previously watched videos. It saves you the hassle of having to hop back and forth between sections.

YouTube's new You Tab

(Image credit: YouTube)

The YouTube player is receiving extra controls too. On mobile, a “Stable Volume” toggle switch is being added to “reduce jarring differences in volume”. This can be pretty helpful for content with bad audio mixing. Next is the lock screen which does exactly as the name suggests – locks a smartphone’s or tablet’s display “to prevent unwanted interruptions.”

Finally, pressing and holding down on the YouTube player instantly bumps the “playback speed to 2x”. Press to 2x, as the feature is called, will be made available on web, mobile devices, and tablets.

Everything you see will be rolling out “gradually to [users] around the world over the coming weeks” so keep an eye out for the patch when it arrives. More is on the way as the company teases it’s bringing “modern design elements to other areas of YouTube, such as the YouTube Kids app.”

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Windows 11 gets ability to view phone photos… just as Apple cans a similar feature for Macs
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Windows 11 has just got a new preview version in the Dev channel which adds some smart features, principally the ability to view your phone photos right on the desktop.

As you may recall, a big project in testing right now for Windows 11 is the revamp of File Explorer, part of which is the addition of a photo gallery feature. What Microsoft has done here is to introduce a new button that lets users add their phone photos to the gallery.

Click the ‘Add Phone Photos’ button and you’ll be given a QR code to scan with your smartphone, then you can set up the device to pipe photos across and view those mobile snaps in Windows 11’s photo gallery.

There’s other work on File Explorer elsewhere in preview build 23471, including some bug fixes, and another feature introduction – the ability to pop tabs out of windows (or merge them back), as you can with a web browser.

Note that the latter feature is an incremental rollout, so not every Windows Insider will see it yet. Microsoft did announce, though, that every tester in the Dev channel will now have the photo gallery in File Explorer (which has been a phased rollout, too, but one that’s now finished).

For the full details of all the fixes and tinkering in preview build 23471, as ever you can immerse yourself in Microsoft’s lengthy blog post.

Analysis: Microsoft adds while Apple takes away

The further work on File Explorer is welcome, and particularly the functionality allowing you to view phone photos right there on the Windows 11 desktop with a minimum of hassle.

There’s some interesting timing here – though no doubt coincidental – as well, in that as Microsoft is introducing this new feature, Apple has just announced that its My Photo Stream offering is being shuttered. (It’s now effectively on the chopping block, and will be shut down at the end of July).

Now, that might be an old service, and one not used much anymore, but it’ll still be something of a blow when it finally shuts it doors for the diehard set of niche Mac owners who still use My Photo Stream to view their phone photos on the desktop.

Of course, as Apple points out, My Photo Stream has been long been superseded by ‌iCloud Photos‌, and you should turn that on instead. But some folks haven’t set up iCloud Photos‌ because they don’t want to (enjoying just seeing recent snaps automatically on their Mac, courtesy of Photo Stream, without having to sync an entire – possibly huge – photo library to iCloud).

There’s also the fact that ‌iCloud Photos‌ requires payment (beyond the 5GB that you get free, a rather measly allowance these days), and some aren’t happy about that, either – and the apparent financial motive for Apple to make this move.

At any rate, whatever your view of how redundant or pointless My Photo Stream is at this point – indeed, you may never even have heard of it – the fact remains that Apple is taking away one path for easily viewing your phone photos on the desktop (that at least some folks still use), while Microsoft is going in the opposite direction and adding one.

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