That’s the number of photos taken around the world on iPhones just last year, according to Apple. The company announced that milestone at its latest Apple Event just earlier this week.

While many marveled over that number, all I could think of was “damn, that’s going to require a lot of storage.” And that’s where Apple is lacking.

It’s the year 2022 and Apple is still offering a maximum iCloud+ storage plan of 2TB. It doesn’t make any sense.

Every year that Apple announces a new iPhone, a major focus is the upgrade in camera hardware offering major improvements on photo and video quality. That means better pictures. It also means larger files. According to Apple itself, a single minute of 4K video recorded on an iPhone can take up as much as 400mb of space. This year, the company put major focus on the new iPhone 14 Pro’s insane 48mp camera at its Apple event. One photo taken with this iPhone camera, in the high quality ProRAW format, can be around 75MB.

You’re going to fill up your measly 2TB iCloud storage plan mighty quickly with photos and videos of that size. What does Apple want you to do then?

The latest Apple Event proves once and for all that 2TB is simply not enough,

The iCloud storage conundrum

It’s unclear why Apple doesn’t offer an iCloud+ storage plan larger than 2TB. Seems like an easy thing to do! More money for Apple, right? The company offers much, much smaller storage options. All iCloud users are offered 5GB (lol) for free. There’s upgrade options at 99 cents per month for 50GB and $2.99 per month for 200GB. Then of course there’s the largest plan at $9.99 per month for 2TB.

“You already have the largest iCloud+ plan available,” reads the iCloud settings once you look at the upgrade options page when you have the 2TB plan.

One may argue that most users probably won’t need 2TB of cloud storage for their photos. Perhaps that may be the case for a while. But, again, more than 3 trillion iPhone photos in 365 days. People are taking more photos than ever before. And that doesn’t even count videos! If you’re a lifetime iPhone user, many will definitely max out that 2TB of storage eventually.

Also, Apple itself markets the iPhone to users beyond the “average” iPhone consumer too. At recent Apple Events, the company frequently lauds how the iPhone can be used by professional filmmakers and photographers because the device can create high quality media, which in turn means large files.

And, remember, that storage space is for everything, not just your iPhone photos and videos. Your music and movies, documents and other files, app data, your iCloud backups all count towards your iCloud storage. If you’re a Mac user as well, Apple encourages you to connect your iCloud drive to your laptop or desktop computer and share that whole 2TB of iCloud storage space with those devices too. Insanity!

Much of the advice one would find online when they max out their iCloud+ storage is to simply move older media off iCloud and to physical storage space. Sure, that’s one solution. Those users would also have to give up the other selling point for iCloud+ and that’s the software Apple uses to highlight photos and memories on iCloud.

But, even if losing that isn’t a dealbreaker, this will convolute things for the average iPhone user. And that’s because users should be storing their photos on a local, physical hard drive already anyway as a backup. Once they’re deleted from iCloud, those photos would still then need to be backed up on a second cloud or local storage location. Simply moving those photos off iCloud and on to a hard drive would mean a backup of those files wouldn’t exist.

The workaround (but it sucks)

There is a workaround that lets you upgrade the maximum iCloud+ 2TB plan to 4TB of storage: Sign up for Apple One, Apple’s bundled subscription solution.

By signing up for Apple One’s biggest plan, Premium, iPhone users can get 2TB of iCloud + storage and also get access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+. Subscribe to that on top of your standalone iCloud+ 2TB plan and users can double their storage to 4TB.

But, here’s the problem with that. Subscribing to Apple Premium Plus costs $29.95 per month. And if you want that 4TB total, users will also need to keep paying for that $9.99 iCloud+ plan. So, basically, to simply double your 2TB of storage, you have to pay 4 times the price.

Let’s compare this workaround to a similar service from Google, Apple’s biggest smartphone competitor. Google calls their storage service, interestingly, Google One. A Google One plan provides storage shareable among a user’s Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive. Android users can even backup their devices. It’s pretty much just like iCloud+ based on the offerings. Even the plans are nearly identical: $1.99 per month for 100GB, $2.99 per month for 200GB, and $9.99 for 2TB.

But here’s the thing: Google One doesn’t max out at 2TB. There are large plans available (with the largest going all the way to 30TB!). But let’s just look at the next plan up after the 2TB one.

For $24.99 per month, Google One subscribers can get 5TB of storage per month. That’s a whole extra 1TB for than Apple’s 4TB workaround…at a price that’s cheaper by more than 37 percent. If you were to pay Google One $49.99 per month, the service would give you a whopping 10TB of storage space per month. That’s only $10 more per month than Apple’s 4TB for $40 and you get 2.5 times the storage.

So, in short, while there is a workaround for more than 2TB of iCloud+ storage, Apple’s math doesn’t add up.

Will Apple eventually offer iCloud+ plans larger than 2TB, and at price points that make sense? It seems likely. But the fact that they still haven’t is mind-boggling, especially as they continue to upgrade their iPhones to produce higher quality media that use up more and more storage space.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said at Vox Media’s Code Conference that he doesn’t “hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy on that at this point,” and if you want seamless messaging with your family, you should “buy your mom an iPhone.”

While RCS-powered texting is currently only available on Android phones, Google reported in May that there are now half a billion people actively using the standard in its Messages app. Google’s Messages app is now the default texting app for most Android phones, and the RCS standard allows for features that are similar to Apple’s iMessage without requiring a specific type of phone or setting up a third-party texting app. These include typing indicators, encryption and higher-quality photo and video sharing.

RCS now has the support of the three major US carriers with Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T committing to make Google’s Messages app the default on Android phones sold by the carriers. But despite Google’s campaign, the chances of Apple supporting RCS appear bleak. In the meantime, Google has improved its Messages app to correctly display reaction icons sent by Apple’s phones instead of showing a text describing who “Liked” your message. The iOS 16 Developer Beta appears to be supporting a similar translation for reactions sent over SMS.

Let’s take a closer look at how to start using Google’s Chat features, and some of the more nuanced aspects of Chat.

How to get started with Google’s Chat feature

First, you’ll need an Android phone with Google’s Messages app installed and set as the default text-messaging app. The first time you launch Messages, it will ask if you want to set it as your default app. Just follow the prompts and don’t worry, you won’t lose your conversation history by switching.

After setting Messages as your default messaging app, take a couple of minutes and set up Messages for Web, which allows you to send and receive text messages from your computer.

The service is globally available, so it shouldn’t matter which carrier you use or what country you live in, as long as you have the Messages app installed and are using it, you’ll have access to Chat.

Turn Google’s Chat features on

After installing Google’s Messages app and setting it as your default texting app, there are two different ways to enable Chat. You can either wait for a prompt in the Messages app asking if you want to see when your friends are typing — a prompt that has shown up almost instantly for me on the last few Android phones I have set up, or you can go into the Settings section of Messages select Chat features and slide the switch next to Enable chat features to the On position.

This same settings page is also where you can go to turn your read receipts on or off, as well as disable the typing indicator whenever you’re typing and control what happens if Chat fails to send a message.

If you run into issues with sending messages, you can also view the current status of your phone’s connection to the Chat service in the settings section of the app. As long as it says Connected, your phone number is registered with Chat and should use the service whenever you’re talking to a contact who also has Chat enabled.

That’s an important aspect of Chat. Whoever you’re talking to will also need to have the feature enabled on their device to use the new chat features, though of course all usual texting features still apply.

You’ll be able to take advantage sooner by getting your friends to use Google Messages. You can guide them through the setup process (or send them a link to this post).

Use the new Chat features in a conversation

After you turn on chat features, the Messages app will continue to work and look the same, and you should keep using it the same way you always have. The app knows when you’re talking to someone through text or another contact with chat turned on.

The easiest way to tell if a conversation is using old-fashioned text messaging or the new chat features is to look at the text box before you start typing. If the box says “Chat message” then the conversation will have typing indicators, read receipts, and the rest of the features that RCS Messaging offers. Another way to quickly identify the type of messages you’re sending is by the color of the text bubble. A regular text conversation will have a light blue bubble, while a chat message will be a darker shade of blue.

A fun feature available in chat is adding reactions to messages. Just long-press on a message until a bubble shows up, presenting you with a few different options, including like, love, laughter or anger.

When chat features are in use, you’ll see delivered and read receipts underneath each message you’ve sent, and you can send full-resolution photos and share files with fellow chat users. You don’t have to do anything special to send a high-resolution image, just tap on the photo icon in the app and pick a photo or video. You’ll see a loading circle on the image as it’s uploaded and sent, but otherwise the process looks and works the same as sending a text message.

Because Chat works over mobile data or Wi-Fi, you can put your phone in airplane mode and you’ll still be able to send and receive messages with other Chat users using only a Wi-Fi connection.

Switching phones? Make sure you turn Chat off

Just like Apple’s iMessage tries holding onto your phone number if you forget to disable it, so does Chat. Before you remove the SIM card from your phone, make sure to turn off Chat. If you forget to turn it off before moving your SIM card to a new phone, chat features could continue to work for up to eight days. Meaning, you may not get messages sent to your number by someone else who is using chat.

Disable Chat by opening Settings > Chat features in the Messages app and slide the switch next to Enable chat features to the Off position. I suggest waiting a few minutes after turning it off to let Google’s servers process the request, and ensure your number doesn’t get stuck in limbo.

How to tell if a chat is encrypted

Right now, only conversations between you and another person using chat are encrypted. Encryption for group chats is still in the works. There isn’t anything special you need to do to start using the one-to-one encryption feature, but it is possible to check it’s working properly.

When starting a conversation with another Chat user, you’ll see a banner on your screen with a lock icon and a confirmation that you’re “Chatting with [name/number].” Furthermore, the send icon, which looks like a paper airplane, will have a small lock icon on it. The timestamps included in your conversation will also include a lock icon. That lock is a quick and easy way to see that a particular message or conversation is encrypted.

Not any more. With the new iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple has reduced the notch into a pill-shaped, black cutout on top and gave it life. Apple’s calling it the Dynamic Island, which may be a funny name, but it does convey the gist of it: The notch (now island) is no longer a passive thing that’s only there to hide something; it’s an entirely new feature.

Both the 14 Pro and Pro Max are the same sizes as before (i.e., 6.1 and 6.7 inches, respectively) and their pricing has remained the same: $999 for the Pro and $1,099 for the Pro Max, to start. But they now feature an upgraded display, a new processor, significantly improved cameras, and several completely new features that may actually help save your life.

About that island

Here’s how the Dynamic Island works: When certain apps perform certain types of actions, they show up in the Dynamic Island, which changes shape and gets new traits as it happens.

For example, if you play a song in Apple Music and then minimize the app, it’ll get swallowed by the Dynamic Island, which will then show a tiny icon with the album artwork and an animated music visualization. If you then start a timer, it will be added to the Dynamic Island, which will split into two separate bubbles, each a miniature version of the corresponding app. Touch any of those bubbles, and it’ll launch the appropriate app. Touch and hold a bubble, and the Dynamic Island will grow larger, giving you a quick overview of what the app is doing.

The Dynamic Island isn’t always active. It springs to life when an app is doing something in the background, like playing music, or when the phone wants to notify you of something, such as an incoming call or Face ID unlock. This works for all apps that ping Apple’s NowPlaying or CallKit API, and cannot be disabled or customized.

Apple has integrated the Dynamic Island into the phone’s other functions well. It looks cool, is pretty intuitive, and — most importantly — makes you completely forget that the Dynamic Island is there to hide the selfie camera and Face ID components. It becomes a new feature, something that brings new functionality and is thus almost desirable, instead of being something you’d want to get rid of. It’s never in the way — flip the phone horizontally to watch a video and the Dynamic Island stops being anything other than a small, black cutout.

The Dynamic Island works for any iOS app, not just Apple apps. I tried it out with Spotify and WhatsApp, and the behavior was the same as it was with Apple Music and phone calls. With third-party app support being baked in from the start, app developers will likely flock to take advantage of the new functionality, making the Dynamic Island more…well, dynamic over time. Live Activities, an iOS 16 feature that lets you put widgets on the iPhone’s home screen, is coming later this year and it will also work with the Dynamic Island.

I do have concerns about the Dynamic Island, though. Being on top of the phone, it’s hard to use it with one hand (especially on the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max). Also, the constant touching of that area will leave smudges all over your front camera lens. And, as fun as it may be to use, the Dynamic Island is still inactive most of the time, making me wonder whether people will just forget about it after a few days of use.

Still, I have to commend Apple for trying something new here. Essentially, all modern smartphones have some sort of notch or punch-hole cutout for their front cameras, and, until now, none of the smartphone makers thought to turn that area into an interactive feature.

Always-on, but for real

The Dynamic Island isn’t the only big change to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s display. For the first time, Apple has introduced an always-on feature, meaning that the display doesn’t just black out when it goes to sleep.

Android phones, like the Galaxy S22, have had always-on displays for many years now, but Apple’s implementation is a bit more powerful. Instead of reducing the display to a smaller, simplified version with basic info (i.e., time, date, and weather) and notifications, Apple is giving users a full but dimmer view of their home screen. Your wallpaper, time, date, as well as all of your widgets and currently running apps such as Music, will remain visible when the phone goes to sleep. The display won’t be animated in this state, but it will stay dynamic. For example, if you have music playing and the song changes, this will be visible even when the display is “asleep.”

Apple has made this possible with new screen tech that can reduce the refresh rate to just 1Hz (down from the maximum refresh rate of 120Hz). The display also does turn off fully when you set the phone down on its face or get far away from it (while wearing a connected Apple Watch). All of this is in place so that the always-on feature eats away less battery life. I haven’t had enough time to properly test this, but it didn’t seem like the battery life was significantly worse with the always-on display enabled than without it.

That said, I’m not particularly fond of the always-on display. Having the display constantly on feels intrusive in an odd way. I’m used to the phone screen being black when I set it down on the table and I’m not sure I need it to show me something all the time. Apple’s own Focus modes are there to make sure you don’t spend unwanted time with your phone and a display that’s always on feels almost counterintuitive. However, the feature is easily turned off in the iPhone’s settings, so it’s hard to fault Apple for including it. If you don’t like it, turn it off.

The display of the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max is now also brighter than before, as it can achieve a maximum “peak” brightness of 2,000 nits (that’s double the max brightness of the iPhone 13 Pro). I’ve tested the new iPhones against my old iPhone 13 Pro in the bright sun and the 14 Pro was noticeably brighter. But the difference was only there when I had white letters on a black background (one more reason to switch to Dark Mode).

Party in the front, business in the back

The Dynamic Island and the always-on display features make the new iPhone 14 Pro models instantly recognizable from the front, which is important for people who like their new smartphone to look fresh when compared to last year’s version (reader, I am one of these people).

On the back, the most noticeable change will be the new colors: deep purple, space black, gold, and white. They’re all new — the gold is a little more yellow and the white is whiter than the pearly white of yesteryear. The black version has a truly jet black stainless steel frame and a dark-grey back, and I sense it might be a favorite for many users. The deep purple is nice, but feels a little too subdued, especially in low light. I’d still go for the deep purple, but just know it’s not the flashiest of colors.

Other than that, the new models are roughly the same as last year’s iPhones. They come in two sizes — 6.1 and 6.7 inches — and have a ceramic shield on the front and a stainless steel frame.

I say “roughly” because there are subtle differences. The iPhone 14 Pro is 0.2mm thicker and 0.8mm longer than its predecessor. The camera lenses are a hair larger than before, as is the entire camera bump, but you’ll only notice this with a measuring tape. Bad news: I’ve tried stuffing the iPhone 14 Pro into Apple’s official silicone case for the iPhone 13 Pro, and it didn’t fit. Time to cough up another $49 (or more) for a new case.

Invisible power

Unlike the regular iPhone 14 models, the Pro variants come with Apple’s new A16 Bionic chip. There’s not much to report here in terms of user experience, as you won’t really notice the speed improvements.

Yes, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max feel extremely snappy, but last year’s models are equally as fast. The battery life, while nominally improved, is roughly the same: One and a half days for the iPhone 14 Pro Max during regular (but heavy) usage. On the iPhone 14 Pro, which I spent less time with, I got roughly a day of use.

Bottom line is that Apple’s smartphone chips are so ahead of everything else that you only start noticing slowdowns after a few years of use. For example, my GeekBench CPU score on the iPhone 14 Pro Max was 1,869 for the single-core and 5,461 for the multi-core score, which handily beats all Android devices. It’s nice to have the latest chip, but it’s not really essential.

It’s worth noting, however, that the more powerful chip enables Apple to do more with computational photography and powers many of these phones’ new features, including the 1Hz refresh rate and the smooth animations of the Dynamic Island.

We don’t know how much RAM the new phones have (Apple doesn’t say, but teardowns will tell us as soon as the phones become available to buy), but I never felt like they needed more. Storage starts at 128GB and goes up to 1TB, which is plenty for even the most demanding users.

Megapixels galore

While smartphone makers were racing to cram as many megapixels into their phones’ cameras (Samsung went as high as 108 megapixels), Apple’s iPhones maxed out at 12 megapixels — until now.

The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max have a new main rear camera which has a 48-megapixel sensor, the biggest leap since the iPhone 6s, which upped the megapixel count from 8 to 12.

The new sensor allowed Apple to add some cool, new features to the iPhone’s camera. The most obvious one is pixel binning (seen before on other phones like the OnePlus 9 Pro), which combines the information from the 48-megapixel sensor into a 12-megapixel image, allowing for better low-light performance.

Another obvious advantage is the ability to actually take a photo with a 48-megapixel resolution, which is great when there’s enough light and you want to extract as much detail as you can from a scene.

Megapixels aren’t everything and I’ve often found, on other phones, that maxing out the megapixel count yields a worse photo, as it did on this Xiaomi phone. On the iPhone, there appears to be no degradation in other aspects of image quality when taking a 48-megapixel photo, so you should do it when you really want a top-quality image.

In Night Mode, however, photos always max out at 12 megapixels. Also note that you can only take 48-megapixel photos in Apple’s ProRAW format. Storing the photo will take a little longer than with regular photos, approximately one to two seconds. Such photos are huge, roughly 75MB in size, and they’ll clog up your phone’s storage fast.

The iPhone 14 Pro also has improved zoom, though maybe not in the ways you’d think. While the last year’s Pro models only let you choose between 1x and 3x zoom, the new ones add a 2x option. This is essentially a digital crop-out from the larger, 48-megapixel image, and it works pretty well. For real optical zoom, switch to 3x, though you’ll hardly tell the difference between digital and optical. Bottom line is that zooming in works quite well and you’ll get good results at any magnification.

The big benefits of the new cameras, according to Apple, should be in low-light photography, not only because of the 48-megapixel sensor, but also due to the Photonic Engine which — as far as I can tell — repurposes Apple’s Deep Fusion AI, only reworked and applied a lot earlier in image processing than before.

However, in actual usage, the benefits were minor, at least when compared to the iPhone 13 Pro. Colors were a little more accurate in low light and you could occasionally get some more details from certain scenes but, more often than not, I was able to get a similarly good low-light photo from last year’s iPhone. That’s not to say that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s low-light performance is bad; it’s just not as improved as Apple’s promo materials would want you to believe.

The cameras have a cool new video feature called Action Mode. It’s basically image stabilization tuned for extreme situations, such as running, when the picture would normally be bouncing all over the place. I’ve tested it out on the iPhone 14 Pro Max and, curiously enough, turning it on made little difference, not because the Action Mode did nothing, but because the iPhone applies quite a bit of image stabilization during regular video capture.

I gave it another try, taking things to the extreme this time, moving my hand up and down frantically, and the difference was more pronounced. The resulting videos were not as good as having a pro-grade gimbal, but still good enough to turn your action shots into something watchable.

The selfie camera has also benefited from the Photonic Engine tech. It takes great selfies during the day that are sharp and detailed. In low light, it’s not overly aggressive in trying to make the subject matter brighter, producing more accurate, but slightly darker images than you’d get on the previous generation iPhone.

Life-saving features

All of Apple’s new iPhone 14 models come with two features that are peculiar simply because you won’t ever want to use them, but you’ll be happy they’re there.

One is Crash Detection, which uses the iPhone’s various sensors to detect whether you’ve been in a car crash and, if so, it lets you dial 911 or can automatically do it for you if you’re incapacitated.

Obviously, I hope I never get to test it, but it’s a good feature to have and something that people with kids who are old enough to drive will likely consider when getting them a new phone. A cool thing about this one is that it’s available worldwide.

The other is Emergency SOS, which is interesting both for its practical aspects and the tech innovation that made it possible. It allows you to send an emergency message when there are no cell towers around and you have absolutely no reception. You do this by going through a short setup process with questions about the nature of your emergency and then pointing the phone towards the sky to find a satellite.

After the iPhone launch event in Cupertino, Apple set up a test near Apple Park for me to try this and it worked well, only taking a few seconds for me to lock the satellite in and send the SOS. The test was set up beneath parasols, which didn’t cause problems with reception at all, meaning that light foliage above you would probably also be fine.

Of course, beaming a signal to a satellite from a canyon will be tough. Using a phone when severely injured would probably be tough as well. But it’s better than nothing when you get lost in the wilderness without water, for example. The feature also allows you to beam your location to friends or family, which is great for mountaineers and people who like to camp or hike in the wilderness.

It was cool to be able to communicate to a satellite with a regular phone, with no need for a special antenna. The scope of usage may be narrow right now, but it opens up the possibility for other features, such as using satellites for sending actual messages to friends in the future.

The fine print

The iPhone 14 line has quite a few new features and changes you won’t notice at first glance. For example, the Pro models now have dual ambient light sensors — one on the front, and one on the back — which should further improve how the phone’s display behaves in various types of light. I took the 14 Pro and the 13 Pro in my hands, held them against bright light, and then turned away and went into a dark room, and the 14 Pro was more responsive in adapting the display’s brightness.

The gyroscope and accelerometer sensors in the phones were also upgraded, which should help with the Crash Detection feature, but might also be useful in other ways which I haven’t found yet.

The display resolution on the 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max was slightly increased, too, but there’s no way you’ll tell the difference. The iPhone 13 Pro has a 2,532 x 1,170 pixel resolution, while the 14 Pro has a 2,556 x 1,179 pixel resolution. The Pro Max has a similar increase in pixels, too. Also, the 14 Pro is two grams heavier than the old model.

One thing that the new iPhones do not have, at least in the U.S., is a physical SIM slot. It’s all about eSIM these days, which might take some getting used to. I set up a U.S. version of the phone with an eSIM and it went without a hitch. Apple also gave me a European market-bound phone to play with and that one had a standard, physical SIM card, which also worked normally.

It should also be mentioned that the all of the iPhones still have Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector. It’s 2022 and it feels weird, given that pretty much everyone else — even Apple itself on its other devices — has switched to USB-C. There’s nothing wrong with Lightning, but I’d really love to have just one set of cables for all my devices.

It’s time to go Pro

These days, smartphones don’t change much from version to version. And often we’ve seen Android smartphone makers innovate, with Apple coming in late. With the Dynamic Island, Apple has turned one of the most annoying traits of modern phones — the visible front-facing camera — into a cool, new feature that you’ll actually want to have. The jury is still out on whether people will actively use the Dynamic Island or whether it’ll be just another widget on your screen, but I gotta hand it to Apple for innovating where other smartphone makers did not.

Equally as innovative are Crash Detection and the Emergency SOS features. In a way, these could be life-or-death features, and it says a lot about Apple’s certainty into the robustness of its tech to launch these widely on its most popular devices.

Other new features, including the always-on display and the 48-megapixel camera, could easily be dismissed as stuff that competing phones have had for years, but Apple has tweaked things enough for these to be noteworthy.

As far as downsides go, I can’t really think of any that don’t apply to the previous generation of iPhones. Unless you really love the notch or need to have the physical SIM slot, the new Pro models have been improved in enough ways to matter, and they even have a snazzy, new look courtesy of the Dynamic Island.

It seems the Apple of old is back and innovating again. Finally, a new iPhone that’s worth the upgrade.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 14 Pro line at its “Far Out” event last week, and one of its standout new features is a redesigned notch area called the Dynamic Island. It’s a pill-shaped cutout for the front camera and Face ID sensors that Apple has also repurposed as a miniature secondary display for showing notifications and other content.

At first glance, Apple’s Dynamic Island and Samsung’s foldable phones have little in common, if anything. But the intention behind both is the same: to improve how our phones display apps and surface information.

The iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island explained

The Dynamic Island is essentially Apple’s answer to faster multitasking on the iPhone. While Android phone-makers like Samsung support the ability to open multiple apps at once on screen, Apple instead uses the Dynamic Island to expand and contract to show contextual information. It can expand to show alerts and may change shape depending on the app.

For example, the Dynamic Island can show the song you’re listening to even when you’re on the home screen. If you have a timer running at the same time, it’ll split the timer into its own bubble positioned next to the music playback information, so that you can view both without having to switch between apps. Similarly, you can see turn-by-turn directions on the Dynamic Island without having to jump from one app to another. The same goes for sports scores.

Apple says the goal behind the Dynamic Island is to clearly show information without distracting from the app you’re in. “With this change, we reconsidered how you interact with your iPhone,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said during the company’s keynote last Wednesday.

How Samsung’s foldables and the Dynamic Island are similar

Samsung’s foldable phones and the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island are inherently different. But they both aim to change the way we interact with apps on our phones.

Samsung has been promoting the Z Flip 4’s Flex Mode, for example, which splits compatible apps between the top and bottom portions of the screen when folded halfway. When opening the camera in Flex Mode, the top half of the screen serves as the camera viewfinder while the bottom half displays controls like the shutter button. You can also take photos and send canned responses in certain messaging apps on the Z Flip 4 without opening the phone by using its cover screen.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4, Samsung’s book-shaped foldable, is designed to provide more screen real estate in a device that still fits in your pocket. You can also open multiple apps on the Z Fold 4’s tablet-sized screen at once.

The common thread between the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island, the Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Z Fold is that they all change the way apps are displayed on our phones’ screens — with the ultimate goal being to make apps more useful. The Dynamic Island and Samsung’s foldables are designed to make our phones more adaptable based on the situation. Apple’s new notch replacement pins information from certain apps to the top of your screen and morphs according to what you’re doing. Samsung’s foldables allow you to change the size and position of your phone — and the apps running on it — to fit different scenarios.

It’s too soon to know whether either approach will meaningfully impact the way we use our phones over the long term. Apple just announced the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max last week, and those phones won’t launch until Sept. 16. Foldables have been widely available for roughly three years, but they still make up a small portion of overall smartphone sales.

What is clear, however, is that Apple and Samsung are both trying to improve the way we absorb and manage the massive amount of information flowing through our phones each day. Now that phones have matured to the point at which most updates feel incremental, it’s refreshing to see changes that genuinely feel different.

No matter if you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus — you can optimize your battery life and speed up your phone by tinkering with certain settings.

Note that not all Android devices are the same, and phone manufacturers often put their own software on top of Android, so just be aware that certain settings may be missing or in a different place, depending on the version of Android you’re running and the maker of your phone.

Want more Android tips? Check out these five tips to make your Android feel like new again and how to stop giving your Android apps invasive permissions (and why that’s important).

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%.
The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for “brightness” to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization.
These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones will have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for “battery” to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use Dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on systemwide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at the time of sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. But don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To set yourself up for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

Or if you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you run into any trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read through our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device could potentially be fixed with a simple software update.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone, of course. If you have a phone with Android 12, here are several hidden features you should know about. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

But this data eventually builds up, taking up space on your phone while also probably including cookies that are tracking your browsing history with the intention of serving personalized advertising. (I’ve been seeing ads for eyeglasses after visiting a few online stores to compare prices and styles, as well as for cruise vacations after eyeing a few possible getaways.)

It doesn’t hurt to occasionally clear this data out in order to keep your web browser lean, running efficiently and, ideally, storing as few tracking cookies as possible.

On Android, the steps differ slightly depending on the type of phone and web browser app you’re using, so below we’ll go over how to clear this data for Google Chrome browser (often the default for many Android phones like the Google Pixel line), Samsung’s Internet browser (often the default on the Galaxy phone series) and Mozilla’s Firefox browser. You can also check out our separate guide on how to clear your cache on an iPhone web browser in case you have a few Apple devices to clear out, too.

Google Chrome

You can delete your cookies and cache from within the Android version of Google Chrome by first tapping the More button in the top right corner of the browser, indicated by a column of three dots, then tapping History, then Clear browsing data. You can also access this from the Chrome Settings menu, tapping Privacy and Security and then Clear browsing data.

Chrome also offers Basic and Advanced settings for clearing your Browsing history, Cookies and site data and Cached images and files. You can use the Time range drop-down to select whether you want to delete the entire history or a selection of anywhere from the past 24 hours up to the last four weeks. Tapping Advanced will also give you access to deleting Saved passwords, Autofill form data and Site settings. After selecting what you want to delete, tap the blue Clear data button. You might receive an additional prompt in the event Chrome deems certain websites as being “important” to you, and if so you’ll get the chance to confirm before clearing. Otherwise if you do not receive that prompt, Chrome will immediately proceed to clear as you instructed.

Samsung Internet

There are two different ways you can clear your Samsung Internet browser’s cache and cookie data. You can clear from within the browser itself, or you can go through your phone’s Settings app.

To clear while in the Samsung Internet browser app, first tap the Options button in the bottom right corner represented by three horizontal lines, then Settings; scroll down to and tap Personal Data, then tap Delete browsing data to get a menu of options to delete. You can clear your Browsing history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Passwords and Autofill forms in any combination. After tapping Delete data, you’ll then receive a prompt asking for you to confirm your choices before deleting.

Going through the browser app itself provides the most customization of what you want to delete. However, if you want to access similar options from your phone’s settings menu, open the Settings app and tap on Apps, then scroll down to and tap Samsung Internet and then Storage.

At the bottom of Storage, you get separate options to Clear cache and Clear data. Tapping Clear cache will immediately delete the cache, but Clear data brings up a prompt that warns you that all of the application’s data will be deleted permanently, including files, settings, accounts and databases. While it doesn’t specify cookies, this “going nuclear” approach should zap all remaining data, letting you restart the Samsung Internet browser as if it were brand-new.

Mozilla Firefox

Much as with Google Chrome, you can clear the cookies and cache from within the Mozilla Firefox Android app. To access this function, tap the More button on the right of the address bar, again symbolized by three vertically aligned dots. Then tap Settings and scroll down to Delete browsing data.

Of the three browsers we’re discussing here, Firefox gives you the most options under the Delete browsing data menu, allowing you to also delete any existing Open tabs, your Browsing history and site data, Site permissions and even your Downloads folder alongside Cookies and Cached images and files.

While you can’t pick a time range as you can for Chrome, you can be more specific regarding what type of data you would like to remove.

And Firefox has an additional option for those who never want to keep their browsing data after they’re done using the app. Inside of Settings is a Delete browsing data on quit option, which instructs Firefox to wipe any combination of these same settings every time you quit the application. It’s a useful feature if you’d like to keep the browser tidy and, say, avoid accidentally handing off your browser history to someone who may have stolen or otherwise gained access to your phone.

For more, check out everything to know about Google’s new operating system, Android 13, including how to download the beta. Also, take a look at CNET’s list of the best Android apps and some settings you’ll want to change on your current phone.

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But this data eventually builds up, taking up space on your phone while also probably including cookies that are tracking your browsing history with the intention of serving personalized advertising. (I’ve been seeing ads for eyeglasses after visiting a few online stores to compare prices and styles, as well as for cruise vacations after eyeing a few possible getaways.)

It doesn’t hurt to occasionally clear this data out in order to keep your web browser lean, running efficiently and, ideally, storing as few tracking cookies as possible.

On Android, the steps differ slightly depending on the type of phone and web browser app you’re using, so below we’ll go over how to clear this data for Google Chrome browser (often the default for many Android phones like the Google Pixel line), Samsung’s Internet browser (often the default on the Galaxy phone series) and Mozilla’s Firefox browser. You can also check out our separate guide on how to clear your cache on an iPhone web browser in case you have a few Apple devices to clear out, too.

Google Chrome

You can delete your cookies and cache from within the Android version of Google Chrome by first tapping the More button in the top right corner of the browser, indicated by a column of three dots, then tapping History, then Clear browsing data. You can also access this from the Chrome Settings menu, tapping Privacy and Security and then Clear browsing data.

Chrome also offers Basic and Advanced settings for clearing your Browsing history, Cookies and site data and Cached images and files. You can use the Time range drop-down to select whether you want to delete the entire history or a selection of anywhere from the past 24 hours up to the last four weeks. Tapping Advanced will also give you access to deleting Saved passwords, Autofill form data and Site settings. After selecting what you want to delete, tap the blue Clear data button. You might receive an additional prompt in the event Chrome deems certain websites as being “important” to you, and if so you’ll get the chance to confirm before clearing. Otherwise if you do not receive that prompt, Chrome will immediately proceed to clear as you instructed.

Samsung Internet

There are two different ways you can clear your Samsung Internet browser’s cache and cookie data. You can clear from within the browser itself, or you can go through your phone’s Settings app.

To clear while in the Samsung Internet browser app, first tap the Options button in the bottom right corner represented by three horizontal lines, then Settings; scroll down to and tap Personal Data, then tap Delete browsing data to get a menu of options to delete. You can clear your Browsing history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Passwords and Autofill forms in any combination. After tapping Delete data, you’ll then receive a prompt asking for you to confirm your choices before deleting.

Going through the browser app itself provides the most customization of what you want to delete. However, if you want to access similar options from your phone’s settings menu, open the Settings app and tap on Apps, then scroll down to and tap Samsung Internet and then Storage.

At the bottom of Storage, you get separate options to Clear cache and Clear data. Tapping Clear cache will immediately delete the cache, but Clear data brings up a prompt that warns you that all of the application’s data will be deleted permanently, including files, settings, accounts and databases. While it doesn’t specify cookies, this “going nuclear” approach should zap all remaining data, letting you restart the Samsung Internet browser as if it were brand-new.

Read more: Change These Android Settings to Get the Most Out of Your Phone

Mozilla Firefox

Much as with Google Chrome, you can clear the cookies and cache from within the Mozilla Firefox Android app. To access this function, tap the More button on the right of the address bar, again symbolized by three vertically aligned dots. Then tap Settings and scroll down to Delete browsing data.

Of the three browsers we’re discussing here, Firefox gives you the most options under the Delete browsing data menu, allowing you to also delete any existing Open tabs, your Browsing history and site data, Site permissions and even your Downloads folder alongside Cookies and Cached images and files.

While you can’t pick a time range as you can for Chrome, you can be more specific regarding what type of data you would like to remove.

And Firefox has an additional option for those who never want to keep their browsing data after they’re done using the app. Inside of Settings is a Delete browsing data on quit option, which instructs Firefox to wipe any combination of these same settings every time you quit the application. It’s a useful feature if you’d like to keep the browser tidy and, say, avoid accidentally handing off your browser history to someone who may have stolen or otherwise gained access to your phone.

For more, check out everything to know about Google’s new operating system, Android 13, including how to download the beta. Also, take a look at CNET’s list of the best Android apps and some settings you’ll want to change on your current phone.

In a report from Microsoft researchers Dimitrios Valsamaras and Sang Shin Jung, the pair detailed the continuing evolution of “toll fraud malware” and the ways it attacks Android users and their devices. According to the team, toll fraud malware falls under the subcategory of billing fraud “in which malicious applications subscribe users to premium services without their knowledge or consent” and “is one of the most prevalent types of Android malware.”

Toll fraud works over the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which allows consumers to subscribe to paid content and add the charge to their phone bill. Because this attack relies on a cellular network to do the dirty business, the malware might disconnect you from Wi-Fi or use other means to force you onto your cellular network. While connecting to the cellular network the malware will start subscribing to premium services while also hiding any one-time passwords (OTP) sent to verify your identity. This is to keep targets in the dark so that they don’t unsubscribe.

The evolution of toll fraud malware from its dial-up days presents a dangerous threat, researchers warn. The malware can lead to victims receiving significant mobile bill charges. Additionally, affected devices also have increased risk because the malware is able to evade detection and can achieve a high number of installations before a single variant can be removed.

How does this malware even end up on my device in the first place?

This type of attack starts when a user downloads whatever app the malware is disguised as in the Google Play Store. These trojan apps will usually be listed in popular categories in the app store such as personalization (wallpaper and lock screen apps), beauty, editor, communication (messaging and chat apps), photography, and tools (like cleaner and fake antivirus apps). The researchers say that these apps will ask for permissions that don’t make sense for what is being done (i.e. a camera or wallpaper app asking for SMS or notification listening privileges).

The purpose of these apps is to be downloaded by as many people as possible. Valsamaras and Shin Jung identified some common ways in which attackers will try to keep their app on the Google Play Store:

1. Upload clean versions until the application gets a sufficient number of installs.
2. Update the application to dynamically load malicious code.
3. Separate the malicious flow from the uploaded application to remain undetected for as long as possible.

What can I do to protect against malware?

Valsamaras and Shin Jung say that potential malware in the Google Play Store has common characteristics one can look for before downloading an app. As stated above some apps will ask for excessive permissions for programs that don’t require such privileges. Other characteristics to be on the lookout for are apps with similar UIs or icons, developer profiles that look fake or have poor grammar, and if the app has a slew of bad reviews.

If you believe you’ve already downloaded a potential malware app, some common signs include rapid battery drain, connectivity issues, overheating constantly, or if the device is running much slower than normal.

The pair also warned of not sideloading any apps that you can’t get officially in the Google Play Store, as this can increase the risk of infection. Their findings showed that toll fraud malware accounted for 34.8% of installed “Potentially Harmful Application” (PHA) from the Google Play Store in the first quarter of 2022, second only to spyware.

According to a Google transparency report, it says that most of the installations originated from India, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey.

Converting your old smartphone into a security camera is a cost-effective way to get eyes on your home when you’re not there.

And setting it up isn’t hard. In fact, you can start using that time-worn phone to keep your home safe in just three steps.

Step 1: Install a security camera app on your old phone

To begin, you will need to choose a security camera app for your phone. Most apps offer many of the same features, such as local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and motion detection and alerts. Once you’re set up, you will be able to monitor your living space and control your security camera from anywhere, straight from your new phone.

One of the best app options for setting up your phone as a security camera is Alfred. It’s cross-platform, so it doesn’t matter if your old phone was an Android phone or iPhone. And the same goes for your new phone.

Alfred is free to use and gives you a remote view of your live feed, motion detection with alerts, free cloud storage, a two-way audio feed and use of both the front and rear cameras. To unlock additional features, like higher-resolution viewing and recording, zoom capabilities, ad removal and 30-day cloud storage, you can upgrade to Alfred Premium.

1. Download Alfred (Android, iOS) on both your old and new phones, or any tablets you want to use.
2. On the new phone, swipe through the introduction and tap Start. Select Viewer and tap Next.
3. Once you get to the sign-in page, click Sign in with Google (a Google account is required) and sign in with your Google account credentials.
4. On the old phone, repeat the same steps, but instead of selecting Viewer, select Camera. And make sure to sign in to the same Google account.

Once both phones are signed in to Alfred, you’re pretty much done with the setup. Alfred has simplified the camera options to only include a few settings. On iOS, you can only enable motion detection, choose between the front and rear cameras and enable or disable audio. If you’re using an Android device, you have those options and you can also enable continuous focus, have Alfred automatically reopen if the phone reboots, set a resolution and enable a passcode lock.

From your new phone, you can change a few more settings, such as turning notifications on or off, setting a camera or viewer name, adding other people to your Trust Circle (granting other people access to your video feeds), removing a camera, checking how many times a camera has disconnected, setting motion detection sensitivity and enabling a low-light filter on cameras.

While Alfred is a solid choice, keep in mind it’s not the only choice. Far from it, in fact. Manything, Salient Eye and Presence are all solid free choices with an affordable subscription model if you need more features. And IP Webcam is one of the more popular Android-only options.

Step 2: Choose a spot for your phone security camera

After you have the stream up and running, you will need to set up and position the camera. You may want it focused on the main entry point to your home, your backyard, the place where you store valuables or a point you think might be particularly vulnerable. You can also set up an IP camera as a baby monitor.

If you have multiple old phones lying around, you can set up multiple cameras for fairly robust video coverage.

Step 3: Mount and power your new security camera

To mount or position the camera, a small smartphone tripod or suction-cup car mount can work wonders and help you position the camera in an inconspicuous place. To broaden the field of view, consider buying a wide-angle lens for your phone, something that can be purchased for between $5 and $20 online.

Streaming video is very power-intensive, and the phone will be on 24/7. To keep the phone from dying in the first few hours, you will need to position it close to a power source. A 10-foot Micro-USB or Lightning cable will give you more flexibility in where you put it.

And that’s it! Now you can use the security cam app on your new phone to view the feed from your old phone’s camera, and you’ve made your home more secure
without spending much.

While you’re here, check out six quick tips for getting the most out of your home security camera, how to use your Alexa device as a home security camera and the best DIY home security systems.

The hardware startup from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has launched its first product, the Ear (1) earbuds, back in 2021, and it’s been teasing the upcoming phone ever since.

Just like the earbuds, the phone has transparent elements. It’s hard to tell whether they’re real or fake, but if we’re really seeing through the (presumably glass) back cover of the phone, the image shared by Nothing reveals a couple of details about the phone: it’s going to have a dual rear camera and wireless charging.

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We also know that the device will be powered a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and run on a modified version of Android, but no other details have been officially revealed. Rumors say it’ll have a 6.55-inch OLED display with a 1,080×2400 pixel resolution and no visible “chin” on the bottom. Same source says the phone will have a flat (think iPhone-like) design, which looks accurate from what we can see in Nothing’s picture above.

The see-through elements have been tried before. Xiaomi had a partially fake see-through back on its Mi 8 Explorer Edition, and HTC did something similar with its Exodus 1 smartphone. It’s a cool look that hasn’t been too overdone in the industry, and Nothing is obviously leaning on it as a key part of its brand.

The launch is on July 12, though we’re quite certain there will be more teasers and leaks before that date.