Meta has to know what it’s doing, because for the second time in as many weeks it has leaked the Meta Quest 3S – this time its next VR headset made a cameo in the background of a video filmed by its CTO.
In a video highlighting the new mixed-reality upgrades arriving as part of Horizon OS update v66 which Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth posted on Threads, we see a view of someone’s home office with some kind of Meta Quest headset on a desk in the background.
The thing is, this Quest device doesn’t appear to be anything we recognise. It looks too bulky to be a Meta Quest 3, while it has cameras in the wrong places and it isn't round enough to be a Quest 2. The white plastic cladding also confirms it’s not an original Quest or Quest Pro.
Instead, it looks nearly identical to the leaked Quest 3S design. Luna – the leaker sharing the bulk of the Quest 3S info – took to Twitter to point out this accidental teaser, which Bosworth then replied to, saying “love that higher quality video over on Threads…”
love that higher quality video over on Threads…June 4, 2024
That said, with all these leaks Meta may make an earlier official teaser ahead of its wider reveal later this year to try and regain some control over the situation.
Instead I was prepared to see it shave off the price by using lower quality displays, less RAM, cheaper materials, or perhaps using a less impressive mixed-reality camera system. Heck, with all the hand-tracking updates we've seen, I wouldn’t have been surpised if the controllers had been let go – even if that wouldn’t be a great idea overall.
But with this latest leak I have to accept that I was wrong. The Quest 3S does look to be a Quest 3 in the Quest 2’s bulky body. The only remaining question is how much will it cost?
Welcome back Quest 2 design, we hardly missed you (Image credit: Shutterstock / Boumen Japet)
This is where I’m a little worried. If the Quest 3S isn’t the technical downgrade I was anticipating, can a price drop to the Quest 2’s launch price of $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 be justified? I mean, Meta can do whatever it wants, but pricing the 3S will be a challenge.
If it goes too low – which $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 feels like it might be – can we justify spending $ 499 / £479 / AU$ 799 on the full-on Meta Quest 3? If Meta instead aims higher, maybe $ 399 / £399 / AU$ 599, then this won’t feel like the budget Quest 2 replacement leaks have teased the device to be – and begs the question if it’s not just worth spending that bit extra to get the full-on Quest 3.
At least even if Meta does go for the cheaper end of the scale it won’t anywhere close to as big a burn to Meta Quest 3 customers as when it teased the Quest 3 as it’s “most powerful headset yet” less than six months after it launched the Quest Pro – with it then selling the Quest 3 for only a third of the Pro’s original price.
June is here, and like clockwork the latest update for your Meta Quest 3 headset is ready to roll out.
The standout upgrade for v66 is to the VR headset’s mixed reality (again) – after it was the main focus of Horizon OS v64, and got some subtle tweaks in v65 too.
We aren’t complaining though, as this improvement looks set to make the image quality even better, with reduced image distortion in general and a reduction to the warping effect that can appear around moving objects. The upshot is that you should notice that it’s easier to interact with real-world objects while in mixed reality, and the overlay that displays your virtual hands should better align with where your actual hands appear to be.
If you want to see a side-by-side, Meta has handily released a video showcasing the improvements to mixed reality.
If you’re using your hands instead of controllers, Meta is also adding new wrist buttons.
Should you choose to enable this option in the experimental settings menu, you’ll be able to tap on your right or left wrist to use the Meta or Menu buttons respectively.
According to Meta, wrist buttons will make it a lot easier to open a menu from within a game or app – either the in-game pause screen, or the system-level menu should you want to change to a different experience, take a screenshot or adjust your headset’s settings. We’ll have to try them out for ourselves, but they certainly sound like an improvement, and a similar feature could bring even more button controls to the hand-tracking experience.
You’ll no longer need to pinch to open menus (Image credit: Meta)
Lastly Meta is making it easier to enjoy background audio – so if you start audio or a video in the Browser, it’ll keep playing when you minimize the app – as well as a few changes to Parental Supervision features. Namely, from June 27, children aged 10 to 12 who are supervised by the same parent account will automatically be able to see each other in the Family Center.
As Meta warns however its update is rolling out gradually, and because this month’s passthrough change is so big it’s saying it will be sending out updates even more slowly than usual – and what’s more, some people who update to v66 might not get all the improvements right away.
So if you don’t see the option to update right away, or any passthrough improvements once you've installed v66 on your Meta Quest 3, don’t fret. You will get the upgrade eventually.
With ChatGPT-4o, all users can now access more advanced tools like discussing files and photos you upload to ChatGPT. The generative AI can also conduct data analysis and create charts, and it can access the internet to inform its responses.
However, with all of these features rolling out to everyone – even if they come with usage limits for non-paying users – there’s a big question of if people should stay subscribed to OpenAI’s premium tier for ChatGPT.
It’s not like ChatGPT Plus has become entirely obsolete. Subscribers still have exclusive features like the ability to create custom GPTs, higher usage rate limits with 4o, and first access to new features – this includes early access to Voice Mode when it launches “in the coming weeks.”
But it’s understandable why subscribers feel a little burned. They’re paying $ 20 (around £16 / AU$ 30) per month for a service that’s not that different from the free one. Unless you’re an AI power user, now’s seemingly a terrible time to sign up for ChatGPT Plus.
Thinking long term
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Daniel Chetroni)
So why would OpenAI want to make its premium service less appealing? Well, there are two prevailing theories.
The far-fetched one is that OpenAI will soon release an early version of GPT-5, or at least some kind of exciting new features that’ll be exclusive to its paid members beyond the voiced version of ChatGPT. It’s not out of the question, though this feels like something OpenAI would have mentioned during its Spring Update event on May 13, so color us skeptical.
The likely reason is that OpenAI is changing track to focus on bringing in as many users as possible, rather than paid ones, at least for now.
What’s more, ChatGPT’s rivals – like the Meta AI and Google Gemini – are free to use and offer many of the same premium tools at no cost. If it’s already a struggle to get people to use AI when it’s free, you can bet it’s significantly harder with a paywall in the way.
We’ll have to wait and see if ChatGPT Plus gets any improvements in the coming weeks, but if you’re currently subscribed (or thinking of joining) you might want to hold off for now.
Augmented reality is taking to the skies as Meta is rolling out an experimental Travel Mode to its Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets. Once enabled, users can enjoy content while on a plane, a function that wasn't possible due to certain components.
Sitting in a moving vehicle, such as a car or airplane, can confuse the internal measurement units (or IMUs, for short) and, as a result, cause the headset to have a hard time tracking your position.
But thanks to Travel Mode, you won’t have this problem. Meta says it fine-tuned the Quest headset's “algorithms to account for the motion of an airplane,” which delivers a much more stable experience while flying. It'll also level the playing field against the Apple Vision Pro, which has offered a travel mode since launch.
You connect the Quest 2 or 3 to a plane's Wi-Fi connection and access content from an external tablet or laptop or that is stored within the Quest library. Meta recommends double-checking if an app needs an internet connection to work, as inflight Wi-Fi can be rather spotty. This means that certain video games, among other content, may play worse.
As far as in-flight infotainment systems go, most will not be accessible, except for Lufthansa, thanks to a partnership between Meta and the German-based airline.
(Image credit: Meta)
New content
Meta's partnership with Lufthansa will provide unique content that is “designed to run on Quest 3 in Travel Mode.” These include interactive games like chess, meditation exercises, travel podcasts, and “virtual sightseeing previews”. That last one lets see what your destination is like right before you get there. However, this content will only be offered to people seated in Lufthansa’s Allegris Business Class Suite on select flights.
(Image credit: Meta/Lufthansa)
If you want to try out Travel Mode, you can activate it by going to the Experimental section on your Quest headset’s Settings menu. Enable the feature, and you're ready to use it. Once activated, you can toggle Travel Mode on or off anytime in Quick Settings. Meta plans to offer Travel Mode for additional modes of transportation like trains at some point, but a specific release date has not been announced.
A company representative told us Travel Mode is available to all users globally, although it's unknown when it'll leave its experimental state and become a standard feature. We asked if there are plans to expand the Lufthansa content to other airlines and travel classes like Economy. But they have nothing to share at the moment. Meta wants to keep their pilot program with Lufthansa for the time being, however they are interested in expanding.
If you're looking for recommendations on what to play on your next flight, check out TechRadar's list of the best Quest 2 games for 2024.
OpenAI just held its eagerly-anticipated spring update event, making a series of exciting announcements and demonstrating the eye- and ear-popping capabilities of its newest GPT AI models. There were changes to model availability for all users, and at the center of the hype and attention: GPT-4o.
Coming just 24 hours before Google I/O, the launch puts Google's Gemini in a new perspective. If GPT-4o is as impressive as it looked, Google and its anticipated Gemini update better be mind-blowing.
What's all the fuss about? Let's dig into all the details of what OpenAI announced.
1. The announcement and demonstration of GPT-4o, and that it will be available to all users for free
OpenAI demoing GPT-4o on an iPhone during the Spring Update event. (Image credit: OpenAI)
The biggest announcement of the stream was the unveiling of GPT-4o (the 'o' standing for 'omni'), which combines audio, visual, and text processing in real time. Eventually, this version of OpenAI's GPT technology will be made available to all users for free, with usage limits.
For now, though, it's being rolled out to ChatGPT Plus users, who will get up to five times the messaging limits of free users. Team and Enterprise users will also get higher limits and access to it sooner.
GPT-4o will have GPT-4's intelligence, but it'll be faster and more responsive in daily use. Plus, you'll be able to provide it with or ask it to generate any combination of text, image, and audio.
The stream saw Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, and two researchers, Mark Chen and Barret Zoph, demonstrate GPT-4o's real-time responsiveness in conversation while using its voice functionality.
The demo began with a conversation about Chan's mental state, with GPT-4o listening and responding to his breathing. It then told a bedtime story to Barret with increasing levels of dramatics in its voice upon request – it was even asked to talk like a robot.
It continued with a demonstration of Barret “showing” GPT-4o a mathematical problem and the model guiding Barret through solving it by providing hints and encouragement. Chan asked why this specific mathematical concept was useful, which it answered at length.
A look at the updated mobile app interface for ChatGPT. (Image credit: OpenAI)
They followed this up by showing GPT-4o some code, which it explained in plain English, and provided feedback on the plot that the code generated. The model talked about notable events, the labels of the axis, and a range of inputs. This was to show OpenAI's continued conviction to improving GPT models' interaction with code bases and the improvement of its mathematical abilities.
The penultimate demonstration was an impressive display of GPT-4o's linguistic abilities, as it simultaneously translated two languages – English and Italian – out loud.
Lastly, OpenAI provided a brief demo of GPT-4o's ability to identify emotions from a selfie sent by Barret, noting that he looked happy and cheerful.
If the AI model works as demonstrated, you'll be able to speak to it more naturally than many existing generative AI voice models and other digital assistants. You'll be able to interrupt it instead of having a turn-based conversation, and it'll continue to process and respond – similar to how we speak to each other naturally. Also, the lag between query and response, previously about two to three seconds, has been dramatically reduced.
ChatGPT equipped with GPT-4o will roll out over the coming weeks, free to try. This comes a few weeks after Open AI made ChatGPT available to try without signing up for an account.
2. Free users will have access to the GPT store, the memory function, the browse function, and advanced data analysis
OpenAI unveils the GPT Store at its Spring Update event. (Image credit: Open AI)
GPTs are custom chatbots created by OpenAI and ChatGPT Plus users to help enable more specific conversations and tasks. Now, many more users can access them in the GPT Store.
Additionally, free users will be able to use ChatGPT's memory functionality, which makes it a more useful and helpful tool by giving it a sense of continuity. Also being added to the no-cost plan are ChatGPT's vision capabilities, which let you converse with the bot about uploaded items like images and documents. The browse function allows you to search through previous conversations more easily.
ChatGPT's abilities have improved in quality and speed in 50 languages, supporting OpenAI’s aim to bring its powers to as many people as possible.
3. GPT-4o will be available in API for developers
3. GPT-4o will be available in API for developers (Image credit: OpenAI)
OpenAI's latest model will be available for developers to incorporate into their AI apps as a text and vision model. The support for GPT-4o's video and audio abilities will be launched soon and offered to a small group of trusted partners in the API.
4. The new ChatGPT desktop app
A look at the new ChatGPT desktop app running on a Mac. (Image credit: OpenAI)
OpenAI is releasing a desktop app for macOS to advance its mission to make its products as easy and frictionless as possible, wherever you are and whichever model you're using, including the new GPT-4o. You’ll be able to assign keyboard shortcuts to do processes even more quickly.
According to OpenAI, the desktop app is available to ChatGPT Plus users now and will be available to more users in the coming weeks. It sports a similar design to the updated interface in the mobile app as well.
5. A refreshed ChatGPT user interface
ChatGPT is getting a more natural and intuitive user interface, refreshed to make interaction with the model easier and less jarring. OpenAI wants to get to the point where people barely focus on the AI and for you to feel like ChatGPT is friendlier. This means a new home screen, message layout, and other changes.
6. OpenAI's not done yet
(Image credit: Open AI)
The mission is bold, with OpenAI looking to demystify technology while creating some of the most complex technology that most people can access. Murati wrapped up by stating that we will soon be updated on what OpenAI is preparing to show us next and thanking Nvidia for providing the most advanced GPUs to make the demonstration possible.
OpenAI is determined to shape our interaction with devices, closely studying how humans interact with each other and trying to apply its learnings to its products. The latency of processing all of the different nuances of interaction is part of what dictates how we behave with products like ChatGPT, and OpenAI has been working hard to reduce this. As Murati puts it, its capabilities will continue to evolve, and it’ll get even better at helping you with exactly what you’re doing or asking about at exactly the right moment.
Windows 11 just received improvements in testing to make its Copilot AI more useful with implementing changes in the actual OS environment – in other words, the features that we’re all waiting for.
Copilot has a pretty limited repertoire in terms of what the AI can do for manipulating Windows settings (as opposed to its standard tricks in terms of replying to queries, image creation and so forth).
However, the bag of settings tricks just got considerably heavier, with a raft of additions having just been made to preview build 26058 of Windows 11 (in the Canary and Dev testing channels).
That build was actually released a week ago, but Microsoft just ushered in these extra improvements as Neowin noticed.
So, what can Copilot do for you now? There are a number of important accessibility changes, so for example the AI can be instructed to turn on Narrator or Live Captions, or voice functionality (Voice Access or typing).
And you can get Copilot to take out the trash (empty the Recycle Bin), turn on battery saver mode, or even tell you the IP address of your device.
Here’s the full list of the new capabilities of Copilot when it comes to engaging with Windows settings:
Ask for available wireless networks
Ask for system or device information
Ask for battery information
Ask to clean storage
Ask to empty Recycle Bin
Ask to toggle Battery Saver
Ask to show startup apps
Ask for your IP address
Ask for system, device, or storage information
And the new accessibility features are as follows:
Ask to turn on Narrator
Ask to open Voice Access
Ask to turn on Magnifier
Ask to change text size
Ask to start Live Captions
Ask to turn on high-contrast
Ask to start voice typing
This expands on Copilot’s existing powers to tweaks settings, which already includes taking a screenshot, or changing between the dark and light themes, for example.
Analysis: Expansion pack
There are 16 new abilities introduced in testing here, which should be coming through to the finished version of Windows 11 soon enough. That more than doubles the existing abilities of Copilot at the moment – there are just 12 ways to operate Windows 11 settings via the AI right now – so it’s a welcome expansion.
At the same time, progress on this front feels rather sluggish, given that Copilot and more broadly AI is such a major focus for Microsoft, ever since Bing Chat burst onto the scene about a year ago.
Windows 11 users were sold Copilot partly on its features related to operating various settings and modes easily and conveniently, rather than having to dive into a search deep in the Settings app (or hunting elsewhere in the interface). And thus far, not a lot of capabilities have been added, really.
We’re hoping Microsoft will get its foot to the floor on this side of the Copilot experience later this year, with the Windows 11 24H2 update, but for now, a doubling of numbers is at least a sign of some decent forward momentum.
Meta may be releasing yet another layer of privacy protection to WhatsApp that will prevent people from taking screenshots of your profile photo on the service.
This upcoming feature was discovered in the most recent WhatsApp beta on Android by WABetaInfo. It'll be housed within the Privacy section of the Settings menu, according to tomsguide. Having access to the blocking tool, they attempted to take a screenshot of a profile picture however they were prevented from doing so. The publication was met with a notification at the bottom of the screen stating they couldn’t take a screenshot “due to app restrictions”.
As explained in the report, WhatApp introduced the option to stop users from saving “others’ profile photos” about five years ago. It was supposed to prevent bad actors from sharing images without the owner’s consent; however, screenshotting completely bypasses this. WABetaInfo argues that directly blocking the ability to screenshot allows WhatsApp to further reinforce “the concept of user privacy and consent” on its service. It seemingly doesn’t want said bad actors to utilize people’s photographs for scams, impersonations, or harassment.
Analysis: A small, yet important issue
Now you may be wondering, “Is taking unauthorized screenshots of a WhatsApp profile picture really that big of an issue?”
Well, based on the brief research we did, it seems screenshotting profile photos isn’t a major problem plaguing the user base, but it is an anxiety held by a small group. We’ve seen multiple posts on Reddit of people voicing their concern over this issue. Someone on the Privacy subreddit even asked if it was possible to find out who screenshotted their WhatApp profile pic.
We also found an interesting post on Medium by writer Bilge Tekin who proposed the concept of a Screenshot Restriction feature for WhatsApp back in 2021. Tekin’s idea took it a step further by preventing screenshotting in chat rooms. When he had people try out his idea, it seemed the testers liked having the option to restrict others from sharing private conversations.
Granted, none of these examples come from a Meta-financed scientific study or an official poll. There haven't been any large-scale studies delving into this phenomenon as far as we can tell. But at the very least, it could give WhatsApp an edge over rivals by appealing to this niche subset of the user base. Neither Telegram nor Signal have a feature like this. Plus, having the option doesn't hurt.
If you’re interested in trying out the new tool, you’ll first need to join the Google Program Beta Program and then install the beta version of WhatsApp. The blocking update may not be available to you as only a select group currently has access, but WABetaInfo states it will be rolling out to more users over the coming weeks.
Meta will begin flagging AI-generated images on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in an effort to uphold online transparency.
The tech giant already labels content made by its Imagine AI engine with a visible watermark. Moving forward, it’s going to do something similar for pictures coming from third-party sources like OpenAI, Google, and Midjourney just to name a few. It’s unknown exactly what these labels will look like although, looking at the announcement post, it may simply consist of the words “AI Info” next to generated content. Meta states this design is not final, hinting that it could change once the update officially launches.
(Image credit: Meta)
In addition to visible labels, the company says it’s also working on tools to “identify invisible markers” in images from third-party generators. Imagine AI does this too by embedding watermarks into the metadata of its content. Its purpose is to include a unique tag that cannot be manipulated by editing tools. Meta states other platforms have plans to do the same and want a system in place to detect the tagged metadata.
Audio and video labeling
So far, everything has centered around branding images, but what about AI-generated audio and video? Google’s Lumiere is capable of creating incredibly realistic clips and OpenAI is working on implementing video-creation to ChatGPT. Is there something in place to detect more complex forms of AI content? Well, sort of.
Meta admits there is currently no way for it to detect AI-generated audio and video at the same level as images. The technology just isn’t there yet. However, the industry is working “towards this capability”. Until then, the company is going to rely on the honor system. It’ll require users to disclose if the video clip or audio file they want to upload was produced or edited by artificial intelligence. Failure to do so will result in a “penalty”. What’s more, if a piece of media is so realistic that it runs the risk of tricking the public, Meta will attach “a more prominent label” offering important details.
Future updates
As for its own platforms, Meta is working on improving first-party tools as well.
The company’s AI Research lab FAIR is developing a new type of watermarking tech called Stable Signature. Apparently, it’s possible to remove the invisible markers from the metadata of AI-generated content. Stable Signature is supposed to stop that by making watermarks an integral part of the “image generation process”. On top of all this, Meta has begun training several LLMs (Large Language Models) on their Community Standards so the AIs can determine if certain pieces of content violate the policy.
Expect to see the social media labels rolling out within the coming months. The timing of the release should come as no surprise: 2024 is a major election year for many countries, most notably the United States. Meta is seeking to mitigate misinformation from spreading on its platforms as much as possible.
We reached out to the company for more information on what kind of penalties a user may face if they don’t adequately mark their post and if it plans on marking images from a third-party source with a visible watermark. This story will be updated at a later time.
It looks like Microsoft’s penchant for collecting its users’ data may get it in more trouble, with a worrying new report suggesting that it's sharing more information from emails sent by the new Outlook for Windows app than people may know.
This is particularly concerning as most people check their emails daily, to keep up with friends and family, or send important documents and information at work, and with the Outlook for Windows app now being the default program for emails in Windows 11, this discovery could impact a lot of people
MSPoweruser reports that the team behind ProtonMail, an end-to-end encrypted email service and competitor to Microsoft Outlook, has discovered the worrying scale of user data being collected by Outlook for Windows, which reportedly includes your emails, contacts, browsing history, and possibly even location data.
ProtonMail’s blog post goes so far as to call Outlook for Windows “a surveillance tool for targeted advertising”, a harsh comment, certainly, but people who downloaded the new Outlook for Windows app have encountered a disclaimer that explains how Microsoft and hundreds of third parties will be helping themselves to your data.
It seems like the majority of the data is being used primarily for advertising purposes, with users having to opt out of sharing their data for each of the 772 companies manually. This means that by default you may be sharing a heck of a lot of information, and if you wish to opt out, the process is time-consuming and annoying.
Here we go again …
Microsoft has a rather dubious past of being quite greedy with user data. This time last year you might remember our report detailing serious privacy concerns users had with Windows 11, with the PC Security Channel uploading a YouTube video that demonstrated that before you even connect to the internet or open an app, Windows 11 was collecting and sending data to Microsoft – and possibly third-party servers.
That being said, we should remember that ProtonMail is a direct competitor of Microsoft’s email apps and services, and the team behind it would be very keen to direct criticism at Outlook for Windows. ProtonMail is a service dedicated to user privacy and keeping users' email (as well as calendar, file storage, and VPN) encrypted, so we do have to keep in mind the team’s motives for highlighting this, as the company would want to make its privacy and security look much better than Outlook.
We also have to consider the fact that Outlook for Windows is a free app, so you could argue that Microsoft can support the app and continue adding features by providing user data to paying third parties. Regardless, while you can technically opt out of the data sharing, it’s still cheeky of Microsoft to have the opt-out option be a per-advertiser toggle click rather than a simple ‘reject all’ button. But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Opt out as fast as you can!
If all of this has you concerned and itching to opt out entirely, we’ve got you covered. Head over to the General section of your Outlook for Windows settings and you should see an option called ‘Advertising Preferences’. When you click that you’ll see a large list of company names and toggles near their name set to ‘enable’.
Unless you create a brand new Outlook email, from what we can tell there’s no single button that will deselect all of them, so you may have to set some time aside to sit down and deselect them all. Each advertiser has an option for you to read more about their privacy policies, and once you open that you’ll see another option to opt out.
(Image credit: Future)
I created a new Outlook email account just to test it out, and the option to reject all did pop up when Outlook for Windows first opened, and I also have the option to deselect all the advertising preferences at once in the Settings page as well, though that might not appear for people who have already set up the app with an existing Outlook account.
If sharing our data by default is the price we have to pay for free apps like Outlook for Windows, at least Microsoft seems to have made turning off that sharing easier than ProtonMail’s team have made out. Still, this shows that it’s well worth paying attention to user agreements and disclaimers for free apps, especially from Microsoft, so you know exactly how much of your data you’re sharing – and who has access to it.
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.
1 844.742.7448 
Email Us
Remote Support 
Contact
