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These are the 10 best Android apps of the year – according to Google

November 30, 2023
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2024 is about a month away, and to celebrate the end of the year, Google has named the winners of the Google Play’s Best of 2023 Awards.

For the sake of brevity, we're going to primarily focus on the best Androids apps as the company introduced a new categories for this year, such as Best with AI and Best Multi-device App. This caused the list to grow by a significant amount so we couldn’t include the likes of the best Chromebook or best tablet apps (If you’re curious to know, the winner of the best Chromebook app is FlipaClip, software that can help people create 2D animation, and the winner for best tablet app is Concepts, a vector-based drawing tool).

Google states the list on its blog is centered around the American winners. Other countries are said to have different winners. However, when we looked at other region, the entries matched the US list except for a single outlier which we’ll shout out later on.

Android Apps of the Year

1. Imprint: Learn Visually

Google has given the Best App of 2023 award to Imprint: Learn Visually, an education software that strives to teach you new skills and the world around you in bite-sized lessons. It offers a personalized experience where you can learn about topics that interest you from human history to psychology. And Imprint does this via eye-catching visual storytelling.

Download Imprint: Learn Visually

2. Spotify

Spotify has earned the Best Multi-device App award for allowing music streaming across a variety of locations – be it in the kitchen, on the commute to hike, or out on the town. The company highlights the service’s ability to “remotely control playback on another device”. Plus, you can download your favorite songs for offline listening. What’s interesting, it's the only music streaming app on the whole list.

Download Spotify

3. ChatGPT

At the beginning of November, Google allowed people to come in to vote for what they believed was the best app of the year. Winning the Users’ Choice Award is ChatGPT, which isn’t surprising in our opinion. ChatGPT took the world by storm in 2023 as one of the premiere generative AI platforms and whose technology fuels Microsoft’s Bing Chat. On top of that, 2024 is shaping up to be a big year for it.

Download ChatGPT

4. Bumble For Friends: Meet IRL

If you’re looking to make new friends or have recently moved to a different city, the company recommends installing Bumble For Friends (BFF for short) on your smartphone. It differs from the regular Bumble app as it doesn't focus on helping you find dates. Instead, BFF is all about helping you make genuine friendships, as the name suggests, with others in your local area

Download Bumble For Friends

5. Voidpet Garden: Mental Health

Voidpet Garden: Mental Health won the Best for Personal Growth award and it’s pretty unique. Its goal is to help you practice mindfulness and self care as a way to improve your mental health. It does this in a Pokemon-esque manner by having you collect Void Pets which are said to be creatures born from negative emotion. You raise these creatures by completing tasks in order to turn them into celestial-looking dragons with each representing a positive attribute about the user.

Download Voidpet Garden: Mental Health

6. Artifact: Feed Your Curiosity

Artifact: Feed Your Curiosity is similar to Imprint: Learn Visually in that it’s an app that can teach users about the world, but it does so in a different way. The service functions like X’s (formerly known as Twitter) Explore page by offering a curated stream of news articles from across the internet. It covers a variety of topics like the tech industry, politics, and gaming. Users even have the option to mark certain stories as clickbait for better curation.

In the UK, the award went to ReciMe, a social platform where home cooks share their family recipes.

Download Artifact: Feed Your Curiosity

7. Aware: Mindfulness & Wellbeing

Aware: Mindful & Wellbeing — (Image credit: Future)

Aware is another mental health app like Voidpet Garden although it takes a more grounded approach towards mindfulness. It’s a type of journaling software housing “science-based exercises [alongside] live guided sessions”. You don’t have to create an account, plus it’s totally free. No subscription necessary.

It’s worth mentioning this has the least amount of downloads out of everything on this roundup although we do expect it to grow exponentially since it won the Best Hidden Gem award.

Download Aware: Mindfulness & Wellbeing

8. Character AI: AI-Powered Chat

Despite winning the Users’ Choice award, ChatGPT was effectively snubbed by Google as it didn’t get the crown for Best AI. That honor went to Character AI, an app filled with personality-driven chat bots that you can talk to. For example, you can talk to Amelia Earhart, Julius Caesar, or Poseidon, God of the Ocean. People can even talk to Whiskers the Cat.

As you can probably guess, it’s not meant to be taken seriously. It aims to be a fun interactive experience – almost like a video game.

Download Character AI

9. PAW Patrol Academy

For families, Google has given the nod to PAW Patrol Academy, an app where young kids ages two to five can learn problem-solving skills, gain confidence, and get in touch with their creative side. It features characters from the popular animated series in a variety of interactive adventures as well as clips from certain episodes. What’s more is it doesn’t need to connect to Wi-Fi so kids can enjoy it on the go.

Download PAW Patrol Academy

10. AWorld in support of ActNow

Rounding out the list of Google’s best Android apps for 2023 is AWorld in support of ActNow. Its purpose is to teach people how to counteract climate change by calculating their carbon footprint and learn how they can change their lifestyle to reduce the impact they may have on the environment. The software will recommend basic activities like planting trees to lessen carbon emissions or use natural products among other things. AWorld will also encourage you to join group challenges by completing a set number of environmentally-friendly actions.

Download AWorld in support of ActNow

And that’s Google’s list of recommendations.If you want to know what’s at the top on iOS, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the 14 best iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch of the year – according to Apple.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

September 19, 2023
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Windows Photos is getting a significant update that will introduce a selection of new features designed to improve user experience.

According to Microsoft’s official blog post about the Photos improvements, users can expect features like in-depth search, background blur, location search, and ‘Motion Photos’ – think live photos on iPhones – which will bring a little life to the currently rather drab photo software.

Background blur will surely be welcomed by Photos users who want to remove backgrounds from their photos, highlight certain subjects, or modify the area being blurred. To be honest, it may be cruel to say it, but like the majority of these updates, it’s about time. Many of the new features have already existed for a while on other platforms, most notably within Apple’s software ecosystem.

Get with the times, man

You’ll also be able to search for specific photos by the type of content within the photo. This means you can now type in things like ‘cat, car, beach, holiday’ and more, with the app attempting to identify and collate relevant images. You’ll have to log into your Microsoft account to be able to use the feature, and the blog post does warn that the enhanced search bar may not work right away.

Other features to expect include live photos and location searches, which will help you find the right picture when you’re ready to reminisce (or plan your next vacation Instagram post). If you went to the beach, you can type in either ‘beach’ or the name of the specific beach, the city you visited, or just home and school.

Microsoft seems to be on a roll recently, dishing out updates and new features across its product range, and it’s really good to see. With updates to Microsoft Edge, the continuing popularity of Bing AI, and now a Windows Photo refresh, we’re really eager to see what the company has to offer in the near future.

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TechRadar – All the latest technology news

September 4, 2023
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Nearly thirty years ago, Microsoft unveiled WordPad, a basic text editing software that later often came pre-installed on Windows machines, but now it’s going the way of Windows Movie Maker and Internet Explorer, and getting discontinued.

WordPad was packaged as a part of Windows 95, which was Microsoft’s flagship operating system back in the day, and has been included in each release of Windows since then. It allowed a user to perform basic text edits without any additional software, with capabilities like being able to include images and links to other files, and supported multiple popular text formats.

Now, Microsoft has decided to retire WordPad, as detailed in an updated version of the latest Windows software documentation. It explains that as part of planned development lifecycles, some features get introduced and some get removed to improve user experience. To this end, WordPad will not see any new developments or updates, and it will be removed from Windows 11 in a future software update.

A potential security risk

There is also speculation by Bleeping Computer that WordPad posed a security risk. Earlier in the year, some computers running Windows were infected with Qbot malware, which dodged detection by exploiting a hijacking flaw in the WordPad app for Windows 10.

So, despite our nostalgia for the software, it’s perhaps best if Microsoft does indeed drop it.

If you are an avid WordPad user, or just looking for some good free text editors, don’t worry, I’ve got you. Here are some alternative program recommendations you can get for free both from Microsoft and from third-party developers.

Microsoft’s own recommendations

Microsoft’s first recommendation is one you are probably already familiar with: Microsoft Word.

You can use Microsoft Word online for free with an Outlook account. You can then sign into Microsoft 365 online, accessing Microsoft’s cloud-based suite of Office apps including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can also download Word as a standalone app with a Microsoft 365 subscription, but this is not free.

A screenshot of Microsoft 365 and all of the apps it offers. — (Image credit: Future)

Microsoft Word continues to be a favorite choice for many users, offering a wealth of features for writing, editing and formatting text, as well as document sharing, and uses rich text file types, most notably .docx, a proprietary file type that not every text editor can open or edit. You can access Word online free here.

Its second recommendation is another staple text editor that’s been featured in Windows for years: Notepad. It’s primarily intended for plain text documents such as .txt files. While WordPad is being dropped, Notepad continues to see updates to its functionality.

You can now open multiple files at the same time with its new tabbed interface, have sessions be autosaved, and carry on working on a file in a different program like Word.

Updated Notepad in Windows 11 — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Notepad is a favorite tool among programmers, especially for developing Windows programs and applications. One big feature it doesn’t have besides the rich text format features is spell check, so it’s worth checking your text by copy and pasting it elsewhere.

If your device came with Windows installed on it, you should already have Notepad installed. You can search for it in the search box in your taskbar.

Free third-party substitutes for WordPad

The first substitute I would recommend is a favorite among modern professionals and students: Google Docs. All you need is a Google account, which you can sign up for using any valid email address for free.

Microsoft Word does offer more layout and formatting options, but Google Docs is optimized for collaboration between users and changes are constantly saved in real time. If you’re already familiar with text editors, it’s pretty easy to pick up. It’s part of the Google Suite of apps that you can use in conjunction with Google Docs, such as Slide, Google’s presentation software.

A screenshot of the Google Docs starting screen. — (Image credit: Future)

Next up, I’d recommend LibreOffice Writer. LibreOffice is a suite of free open-source software that’s an alternative to Microsoft Office, and Writer is the suite’s word processing software that has a ton of text formatting and layout features, as well as compatibility with Microsoft Word document formats, including the newer .docx format.

LibreOffice also sees active development, and frequently receives updates and new features. LibreOffice has a polished interface that is very user-friendly, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

My final recommendation is WPS Office Writer. In order to get this, you’ll have to download WPS Office.

Once installed, you’ll either have to create or sign in with a WPS account, or alternatively you can sign in with Google, email, or Facebook.

WPS Office Writer has an interface that’ll be familiar to Microsoft Word users and it even has a built-in WPS AI assistant to improve your writing and help generate ideas (you can also download the WPS AI assistant separately).

You can then integrate WPS Office with Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

Screenshot of WPS Office Writer software. — (Image credit: Future)

Other features that are being disabled

There are other features that will also be discontinued in a future Windows update. Cortana, its voice assistant challenger to the likes of Alexa and Google Assistant, will be turned off.

Microsoft is also ending support and functionality of the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) and it will be turning off the old Transport Layer Security to improve Windows 11’s security. Cortana’s been replaced by Microsoft Copilot, which debuted at this year’s Microsoft Build conference, and aims to bring artificial intelligence features to Windows 11 in the future.

A Microsoft Copilot page on a blue background — (Image credit: Microsoft)

The full details and explanation of changes, including the discontinuation of features, can be found in the full updated software documentation for Windows. As far as we know, Wordpad will remain functional and accessible until the Windows update is actually installed. Microsoft hasn’t yet specified a date for when this will be, however.

If you really miss WordPad, and are reluctant to use one of the programs I’ve listed above, Neowin speculates that Windows enthusiasts will likely do their best to preserve the program. Microsoft Paint was also headed for a similar fate, but after an outcry from users described by Bleeping Computer, it wasn’t killed off entirely, and made available for download in the Microsoft Store. If there’s enough demand, Microsoft may consider doing something similar to WordPad.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

August 4, 2023
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ChatGPT's AI smarts might be improving rapidly, but the chatbot's basic user interface can still baffle beginners. Well, that's about to improve with six ChatGPT tweaks that should give its usability a welcome boost.

OpenAI says the tweaks to ChatGPT's user experience will be rolling out “over the next week”, with four of the improvements available to all users and two of them targeted at ChatGPT Plus subscribers (which costs $ 20 / £16 / AU$ 28 per month).

Starting with those improvements for all users, OpenAI says you'll now get “prompt examples” at the beginning of a new chat because a “blank page can be intimidating”. ChatGPT already shows a few example prompts on its homepage (below), but we should soon see these appear in new chats, too.

Secondly, ChatGPT will also give you “suggested replies”. Currently, when the chatbot has answered your question, you're simply left with the 'Send a message' box. If you're a seasoned ChatGPT user, you'll have gradually learned how to improve your ChatGPT prompts and responses, but this should speed up the process for beginners.

A third small improvement you'll see soon is that you'll stay logged into ChatGPT for much longer. OpenAI says “you'll no longer be logged out every two weeks”, and when you do log in you'll be “greeted with a much more welcoming page”. It isn't clear how long log-ins will now last, but we're interested to see how big an improvement that landing page is.

A bigger fourth change, though, is the introduction of keyboard shortcuts (below). While there are only six of these (see below), some of them could certainly be handy timesavers – for example, there are shortcuts to 'copy last response' (⌘/Ctrl + Shift + C) and 'toggle sidebar' (⌘/Ctrl + Shift + C). There's also an extra one to bring up the full list (⌘/Ctrl + /).

A laptop screen on a blue background showing the ChatGPT keyboard shortcuts — (Image credit: Future)

What about those two improvements for ChatGPT Plus subscribers? The biggest one is the ability to upload multiple files for ChatGPT to analyze. You'll soon be able to ask the chatbot to analyze data and serve up insights across multiple files. This will be available in the Code Interpreter Beta, a new tool that lets you convert files, make charts, perform data analysis, trim videos and more.

Lastly, ChatGPT Plus subscribers will finally find that the chatbot reverts to its GPT-4 model by default. Currently, there's a toggle at the top of the ChatGPT screen that lets you switch from the older GPT-3.5 model to GPT-4 (which is only available to Plus subscribers), but this will now remain switched to the latter if you're subscriber.

Collectively, these six changes certainly aren't as dramatic as the move to GPT-4 in March, which delivered a massive upgrade – for example, OpenAI stated that GPT-4 is “40% more likely to provide factual content” than GPT-3.5. But they should make it more approachable for beginners, who. may have left the chatbot behind after the initial hype.

Analysis: ChatGPT hits an inevitable plateau

A laptop screen on a blue background showing the ChatGPT homepage — The move to GPT-4 (above), which is only available to Plus subscribers, was the last major change to ChatGPT. (Image credit: Future)

ChatGPT's explosive early hype saw it become the fastest-growing consumer app of all time – according to a UBS study, it hit 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after it launched.

But that hype is now on the wane, with Similarweb reporting that ChatGPT traffic was down 10% in June – so it needs some new tools and features to keep people returning.

These six improvements won't see the chatbot hit the headlines again, but they will bring much-needed improvements to ChatGPT's usability and accessibility. Other recent boosts like the arrival of ChatGPT on Android will also help get casual users tinkering again, as ChatGPT alternatives like Google Bard continue to improve.

While the early AI chatbot hype has certainly fizzled out, thanks to reports that the ChatGPT will always be prone to making stuff up and some frustrations that it's increasingly producing 'dumber' answers, these AI helpers can certainly still be useful tools when used in the right way.

If you're looking for some inspiration to get you re-engaged, check out our guides to some great real-world ChatGPT examples, some extra suggestions of what ChatGPT can do, and our pick of the best ChatGPT extensions for Chrome.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

June 27, 2023
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Microsoft Launcher’s latest June update has been giving users plenty of trouble, especially if they happen to be using a Surface Duo.

The update, released on June 27, 2023, has already amassed plenty of posts from Reddit and Twitter users about their devices not working properly with Microsoft Launcher. Though it’s a wide range of devices having issues, the Surface Duo seems to be the most common which, according to Windows Central, seems to be tied to a recent system update.

screenshot of microsoft launcher error — (Image credit: Reddit user /yugabe)

Right now, the only real solution has been to reset the launcher when prompted by the error message, though some users are apparently reporting that doesn’t work either. This could especially be a problem for Surface Duo as it’s that device’s only launcher, because if resetting doesn’t work then you might have to resort to customizing settings again. Other phone users can simply switch launchers when the error pops up, however, saving a bit of a headache.

TechRadar has reached out to Microsoft concerning this issue, and will update this story if and when we hear back from the company.

Surface Duo users getting the short stick

Microsoft Launcher was first released in 2015 as a beta under the name Arrow Launcher, and officially released in 2017 for both iOS and Android. It was an initiative made to make its devices as accessible as possible across platforms.

It’s generally a solid feature that allows users the option to integrate between Windows PCs and smartphones, especially for larger devices like the Surface Duo with more screen real estate that can better take advantage of the feature.

However, for the Duo, this recent error proves that it should be able to switch launchers like other phones can, as Duo users who are experiencing this problem are stuck troubleshooting until Microsoft pushes out a fix. And it certainly can’t be fun having an otherwise functional device that you’re forced to constantly either reset or customize options on repeatedly.

Hopefully, the tech giant will have answers for this soon, and even better, will ensure that Duo users will have other options going forward.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 7, 2023
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Windows is now offering a new feature preview update, Windows 11 KB5022913, which Microsoft calls Windows 11 ‘Moment 2’, and it’s available for eligible PCs currently running the previous feature version, Windows 11 22H2.

This update is optional, and its features will be included in Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday update next month (which is mandatory), so you can just wait for that if you don’t want to faff around with Windows Update, or you’re understandably wary of installing Windows updates as soon as they are launched in case widespread issues start cropping up.

However, it does come with some intriguing features like adding Bing Chat to the Windows 11 taskbar, the ability to link your iPhone to your Windows device, a Task Manager that’s searchable and easier to navigate, and much more.

If you’re wondering whether or not to install this optional update, read on for my picks of the best new features.

1. ChatGPT comes to the taskbar

This update directly follows the significant flurry of excitement caused by Microsoft's announcements regarding the integration of ChatGPT into Bing. As such, arguably, the main attraction of this update is the newly ChatGPT-equipped Bing search box in the Windows taskbar.

This taskbar Bing Chat can return answers to your queries as you’re typing, as well as making it easier to do things like generate content and begin chat conversations directly from the Windows 11 search box.

This is clearly a push to make the Windows search box the entry point for Bing, but you can then continue your search with Bing in-browser. There’s also added search bar customization, including the ability to return to the previous version of the search bar if you don’t like the new one.

It’s speculated that the increased customization options are potentially part of a wider effort to develop an AI-powered Personal Assistant mode, which has already been tested (although not with immediate success).

The addition of Bing to the Windows 11 taskbar has already proved a bit controversial, however, and there are some reports suggesting Microsoft is now removing the feature, which would be a shame.

Lady in town using phone — (Image credit: Shutterstock – VAKS-Stock Agency)

2. Control your iPhone through Windows 11

Another new feature is Phone Link for iOS which allows iPhone users to access their messages directly via Windows 11, and make or receive calls via their Windows device.

This is similar to this existing capability for Android users on Windows devices and iPhone users on iOS devices, and will be especially welcome to those who use both.

An Acer Spin 5 (2022) on a wood grain table — (Image credit: Future)

3. Better touchscreen controls

Additionally, this update also has a focus on tablet optimization with features such as touch optimization for 2-in-1 devices and an optimized tablet taskbar. Microsoft has been working on tablet optimization for some time now, going back as far as the unloved Windows 8, and this update hones in on taskbar optimization for tablets (as well as PCs – simultaneously) to make tablet use more comfortable and intuitive.

This version of the taskbar has two modes – ‘expanded’ and ‘collapsed’ – and it’s easy to switch between these two modes by swiping up or down, respectively, on the bottom of the screen. There are also added Touch Keyboard and Virtual Touchpad features in the system tray for touch optimization.

Other new features include the addition of a tabbed Notepad interface, a modified Task Manager with new search, filtering, and other functions, a new built-in screen recorder through the Snipping Tool, improvements to Voice Control and Voice Access, an expanded Widgets view and capabilities, and more.

How to get these new features

As I’ve already mentioned, you can just wait until the mandatory Windows update in March, when your PC will automatically download and install these new features.

However, if you’d like to install this update right now, as there are quite a few new appealing features to test drive, there are a number of ways to go about it.

Firstly, you can go to Settings > Windows Update and click Check for Updates. This should detect the new update’s availability, and make it possible to download and install it.

Secondly, you can open the Microsoft Store, open Libraries, and select Get Updates.

Alternatively, you can install it manually by downloading it from the Microsoft Update Catalog – the Windows Cumulative Update library.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

April 16, 2022
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April 14 was the day that I became a married man. And during the two years spent arranging it, there were a few apps on iOS 15 that we constantly used to make sure everything was paid for, and perfectly scheduled to play its part on the day.

Planning a wedding involves tasks that you would never expect to have to sort out – from agreeing on the music that would play while you sign the marriage certificate, to checking if the right tree logs for the table have been picked up by the best man.

If we didn't have our iPhones and apps at hand, we may have had to hire a wedding planner to avoid the multiple moments of stress we would have inevitably had.

But thankfully, there were five apps that helped us manage big chunks of the wedding that I was not expecting when I proposed back in 2020.

Notes

Apple's Notes app is one I've relied on since the first version of iOS. It's simple, useful, and has always helped remind me of what's needed to be done for certain tasks.

For the wedding, its usefulness went to another level, thanks in part to the ability to manage notes with someone.

Having both of us add and remove checklists across the two years helped a bunch, especially when an update can appear as a push notification.

Things 3

While we had been arranging the wedding since 2020, tasks didn't really ramp up until the beginning of this year, which is where a to-do app came in.

Having tried other apps in this category, such as OmniFocus, Things 3 won out thanks to the quick actions of its Today screen. I could add and remove sudden jobs, and they'd also display in a helpful widget on my iPhone.

It's not just available on your iPhone for $ 9.99 / £9.99 / AU$ 11.99, it's also available on the iPad for $ 19.99 / £19.99 / AU$ 24.99, and on the Mac priced at $ 49.99 / £29.99 / AU$ 59.99.

Being reminded to pay for a photo booth or to decide on types of flowers in Things was a big help. In fact, it was so helpful I've expanded it to other aspects of my life, including my job at TechRadar, and hobbies like, embarrassingly, weekly Fortnite challenges.

Shazam

Spotify and Apple Music are two apps I've constantly used for the last decade. I still pay for iTunes Match, which is a yearly service that allows me to host all the music content that I owned on my iPod.

For the wedding itself, we found Spotify useful in arranging the entire playlist from start to finish, mainly due to the ability to have collaborative playlists.

This allowed us to add and remove songs in a playlist as we pleased, with our initials letting each of us know who added the most embarrassing song of the evening.

However, Shazam was most useful in helping us discover artists and tracks that we never would have considered. Going to wedding fayres and shops we heard a lot of music and by using Shazam to discover what the titles were, we could add them to our Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

It's a handy app that can help bolster your music library on whichever music app you use, without being intrusive.

A recent update also allows Shazam to be set up as a shortcut in Control Center on iOS 15, which saves you time before the track stops playing.

Angry Birds

For me, managing a wedding is the equivalent of spinning 50 plates while standing on one leg, and reciting the alphabet backward in Spanish.

And that can lead to moments where you just want to escape the planning and the picking, and the paying, and just play a game instead.

This is where I decided to revisit some games thanks to Apple Arcade, and I rediscovered Angry Birds. It was an ideal pick for alleviating some of the frustration that occurred with some suits in February.

The game's maker, Rovio has also re-released the original game on iOS and Android, which I promptly downloaded. Flicking the irate fowl across four worlds on my iPhone 13 Pro turned out to be a great stress reliever while I was on a train to sort out the suits again or deciding on the right type of chairs for the reception.

Monzo Pots

Weddings cost money – lots of money. If you want to make sure that the location or items you had your heart set on for years can be part of your special day, you're going to hear the word deposit a lot until the big day arrives.

It's also a great lesson in managing your funds, which is where a feature from Monzo came in handy for us. Pots are a way of moving money into sections that can't be used by your debit card. They're essentially saving methods without creating a savings account.

You can lock a pot to stop you from withdrawing any money from it, alongside naming it whatever you wish and setting it with a picture. If you want, you can set any transactions to round up the payment to the nearest unit, with the spare change being sent to this pot.

It removes a worry about how much you have ready for the wedding or other saving goals, alongside making sure it's safe from temptation.

Our pick of the best iPhone deals in 2022 so far

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

April 16, 2022
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If we didn't have our iPhones and apps at hand, we may have had to hire a wedding planner to avoid the multiple moments of stress we would have inevitably had.

But thankfully, there were five apps that helped us manage big chunks of the wedding that I was not expecting when I proposed back in 2020.

Notes

Apple's Notes app is one I've relied on since the first version of iOS. It's simple, useful, and has always helped remind me of what's needed to be done for certain tasks.

For the wedding, its usefulness went to another level, thanks in part to the ability to manage notes with someone.

Having both of us add and remove checklists across the two years helped a bunch, especially when an update can appear as a push notification.

Things 3

While we had been arranging the wedding since 2020, tasks didn't really ramp up until the beginning of this year, which is where a to-do app came in.

It's not just available on your iPhone for $ 9.99 / £9.99 / AU$ 11.99, it's also available on the iPad for $ 19.99 / £19.99 / AU$ 24.99, and on the Mac priced at $ 49.99 / £29.99 / AU$ 59.99.

Shazam

For the wedding itself, we found Spotify useful in arranging the entire playlist from start to finish, mainly due to the ability to have collaborative playlists.

This allowed us to add and remove songs in a playlist as we pleased, with our initials letting each of us know who added the most embarrassing song of the evening.

It's a handy app that can help bolster your music library on whichever music app you use, without being intrusive.

A recent update also allows Shazam to be set up as a shortcut in Control Center on iOS 15, which saves you time before the track stops playing.

Angry Birds

For me, managing a wedding is the equivalent of spinning 50 plates while standing on one leg, and reciting the alphabet backward in Spanish.

And that can lead to moments where you just want to escape the planning and the picking, and the paying, and just play a game instead.

Monzo Pots

It removes a worry about how much you have ready for the wedding or other saving goals, alongside making sure it's safe from temptation.

Our pick of the best iPhone deals in 2022 so far

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 10, 2022
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The transition to working from home during the pandemic drastically changed the way in which we use technology with the browser becoming one of the most important tools for remote work.

Now as we've reached the two-year mark of the start of the pandemic, Mozilla has published a new blog post taking a closer look at which browser extensions were the most downloaded and used during the early days of the lockdown in Firefox.

As meetings went virtual with employees relying on video conferencing software like Zoom to connect with their teams, the browser extension Zoom Scheduler saw a 1,522 percent increase in installs. This is because it integrates Google Calendar with Zoom so that users can scheduler or start their Zoom meetings directly from their calendar.

Since remote workers also spent more time looking at their work from home monitors, the Dark Background and Light Text extension, which flips the colors of webpages to make them more visible, saw a 351 percent increase in installs at the beginning of the pandemic. Likewise, the Tree Style Tab extension also experienced a 126 percent increase in downloads as it can help users deal with tab overload by opening browser tabs in a cascading “tree” format similar to vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge.

Protecting our privacy and staying entertained

Cybercrime ran rampant during the beginning of the pandemic so in addition to using a VPN and antivirus software when working remotely, Firefox users also began installing privacy extensions for their browser.

Cookie AutoDelete, which eliminates unused cookies whenever you close a tab in Firefox, saw its install numbers skyrocket by 386 percent and the browser extension also averaged more than 206k installs per month between March and May of 2020.

As remote workers used Facebook's social media platform to stay connected during lockdown, Mozilla's own Facebook Container was another popular browser extension. This extension isolates your Facebook identity into a separate “container” so that the social media giant can't track your moves around the web.

> Google, Microsoft set aside rivalry to build more secure browser extensions

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Blocking trackers was also important to those working from home during the pandemic which is why the Privacy Badger browser extension saw installs jump by 80 percent globally. An interesting thing about this browser extension is that it gets better at blocking trackers the longer you use it since Privacy Badger “learns” more about the hidden trackers you naturally encounter while online.

When it came to staying entertained while in lockdown, Firefox users installed the BetterTTV browser extension to alter the look and feel of Twitch, the Watch2gether extension to have watch parties with friends and colleagues online and YouTube Non-Stop to solve the problem of the video platform's annoying “Video paused. Continue watching?” prompt.

Regardless of which browser you're currently using, browser extensions can help add to your online experience and make the software and services you depend on while working from home even more useful.

We’ve also highlighted the best browser and the best privacy tools

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February 12, 2022
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Before apps on your smartphone would be able to solve a dilemma without leaving your house, you would have had to see if the nearest store was open to try and save face.

But if you’ve left it too late in 2022 to find a perfect Valentine’s Day gift, we’re in a time where apps can come to the rescue.

This problem has soothed somewhat anyway, thanks in part to easier methods of sending gifts, such as greeting cards and flowers to appease your better half, without having to make a quick dash during your work break.

Of course, if you’re not with someone just yet, there are plenty of dating apps that can help you with that as well.

So, read on for our pick of the best apps on iOS that could make February 14 a Valentine’s Day to remember.

Temply

Available on the App Store for free, but with a bunch of in-app purchases that range between £9.99 / $ 9.99 / AU$ 11.99 and £52.99 / $ 49.99 / AU$ 59.99, this app enables you to add some Valentine’s Day filters and themes for your Instagram Reels and Stories. This way, you can mark the day in style while being able to save the videos for future reference.

t’s not just limited to Instagram, either. As you can export these videos, you can upload them to Twitter or TikTok as well, with your filters and themes intact.

It’s the 2022 method of a mixtape – instead of a collection of songs on a tape, your partner could receive a thoughtful compilation video of both your best and most embarrassing moments together.

Bloom and Wild

Bloom and Wild is an app that you can download for free, letting you buy a bunch of flowers, alongside a box of chocolates if you wish, and have them delivered to your home at a time that suits you or your partner.

There may have been a time when you would have had to find the closest florist, and pick a bouquet of flowers that best suited the day.

Bloom and Wild also has an innovative feature, where you can add a special occasion, and its notifications will remind you to make sure to order something for it. If you add three occasions, you will receive £5 in credit, so everybody wins for Valentine's Day.

Cameo

If you want to surprise your partner with a short video featuring an actor, perhaps from the Harry Potter series, for example, this is the app for you.

Cameo has grown in popularity in recent years, mostly due to the pandemic, with actors and other celebrities turning to the service to communicate with their fans. With this app, you can pay for them to record a short personalized video for your partner.

The app has also branched out into offering one-to-one video calls with certain celebrities, so it could be a nice touch to have your partner spend a few minutes on Valentine's Day with their true love.

OpenTable

If a takeaway and a movie aren’t an option, OpenTable will be able to find available tables in nearby restaurants for you.

The app has an intuitive way of finding the nearest bookings by showcasing a home screen with the restaurants in your area, with the next available time, so you can book for Valentine’s Day in an instant.

When you select a restaurant, you can also view the menu, so if your partner is slightly picky in what they like to eat, you can do some research beforehand, to make sure that the restaurant will cater.

Givingli

Available to download on the App Store in the US only, Givingli allows you to create and send a digital greeting card with no fuss. So if you mistakenly forget to arrange a card or a gift, this app can hopefully save the day.

(For a UK equivalent, thortful achieves the same, free to download on the App Store).

You can choose from a wide variety of styles and themes that best suit your partner, either in interest or in humor, and you can arrange to have it sent as soon as possible.

Alongside adding a personalized note, you can also include a gift card that can be from Amazon or DoorDash. There are plenty of options for Valentine's Day, but we can’t guarantee same-day delivery if you order on February 14th..

Our pick of the best iPhone deals in February 2022 so far

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