Android: Page 2

Search for "Google Antigravity" from a Pixel or Galaxy phone, and nothing shows up in the Play Store. That's because Google Play marks ordinary Android phones as incompatible with the app, a restriction Android Authority confirmed last week by testing the listing directly. If the search result is confusing, that will probably explain why Google Antigravity isn't available on Android the way most Play Store apps are.

If you're still emailing yourself a screenshot or dragging a photo into Drive just to get it onto a laptop, you're doing more work than the phone requires. This guide covers how to use Quick Share to transfer files on Android, whether the destination is your own Chromebook, a Windows PC, or someone else's phone standing next to you. Quick Share comes built into Android and ChromeOS already. Windows needs a separate app installed before it can take part in a transfer.

Amazon's October Prime Day sale is underway, and some of the strongest Google Pixel discounts of the fall have already arrived. Prime Big Deal Days runs Oct. 6 through Oct. 7, with Amazon releasing additional limited-time deals three times daily during the 48-hour event.

Google's Pixel 12 lineup is still a long way from launch, but an early leak may have revealed the first concrete clues about the screens coming to all four expected models. The reported specifications show only small resolution changes for Google's three conventional phones, while the next Pixel Fold could be in line for a considerably larger jump.

Google Photos code suggests its 2026 Recap could let people replace individual photos and swap out the background music track, rather than relying only on the current hide-and-regenerate workflow. The findings come from an Android Authority teardown of app version 7.96.0.993165104, built on unreleased code strings rather than a feature anyone has actually used. Despite the "retouch" label attached to this story, the strings don't describe an image-retouching tool: nothing points to exposure,...

Samsung announced a new SmartThings platform update on October 5, 2026, built around a feature called SmartThings Now that moves automation suggestions to the top of the Home tab instead of leaving them buried in menus and submenus. The Samsung SmartThings Now update also redesigns the Home tab layout, adds a Floating Bar for one-handed use, and expands local hub-to-phone control.

Samsung's stable One UI 9 update, built on Android 17, started reaching US Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 units on Oct. 2 following an earlier stable release in South Korea. The rollout began with select carrier models and has since expanded to unlocked phones and additional US carriers.

Hidden code for a "Focus Peaking" toggle has turned up inside Snapseed's Android app, but the Snapseed focus peaking feature doesn't actually work yet, even when testers force it on. Android Authority found the code while tearing down Snapseed version 4.1.10.992428248 in a report published yesterday, and only got the toggle to appear after modifying the app directly, not through any setting Google has shipped or announced.

Google Wallet is rolling out a vertically stacked card redesign on Android, and it has quietly created the Google Wallet card stack design problem: a layout that makes similar cards nearly impossible to tell apart. The server-side update, spotted since mid-September and now reaching more phones, swaps the old horizontal carousel for a scrollable vertical stack, according to 9to5Google. Along the way, Google hid the card numbers and nicknames that used to make picking the right card a glance...

Google is reportedly building a way to tell personal texts from business pitches at a glance inside Google Messages, pairing rounded-square icons and verification checkmarks with bulk-delete tools for promotional RCS chats. That sounds like progress against Google Messages ads clutter, until you notice what the change actually does: it helps you clean up a mess after it lands, not stop the mess from arriving. The redesign surfaced through an app teardown credited to Android Authority, not a...

A new leak claims four Samsung Galaxy S27 price points: $899 for the base model, $1,099 for the Plus, $1,299 for a new Pro tier, and $1,399 for the Ultra (PhoneArena, today). Two of those figures match the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus's original launch prices, which on the surface reads like a price freeze. But Samsung already raised those same two phones to $999 and $1,199 months after launch, and pushed the S26 Ultra from $1,299 to $1,399, citing pressure from the memory-chip market (SamMobile,...

Google Maps can now take a specific craving, match it to a restaurant, and help you start an order through a partner app, all inside the same conversation. That capability runs through Ask Maps, which draws on billions of photos, reviews, and menus to work out what you actually want to eat (Google Maps blog).

Learning how to use AI Network Guard on Samsung One UI 9 won't turn your phone into a systemwide ad blocker, but it can quiet ad requests inside certain offline-capable apps. The feature works by cutting an app's internet connection completely, and it lives inside a hidden Wi-Fi menu called Connectivity Labs. Ads vanish only because the app can no longer reach a server to fetch them in the first place (Android Authority, yesterday; Techritual, today).

Strings buried in Android 17 QPR3 Beta 1 describe a Googlebook Phone Unlock feature that could let a nearby, already-unlocked Android phone unlock a laptop-like device automatically. A teardown Android Authority published today found setup screens using a laptop-like render with a "G" logo, which the outlet says strongly suggests the target hardware is a Googlebook. None of this is announced. The reporting doesn't identify a confirmed device, release window, or public Settings path for the...

If your texts are going through fine but photos, videos, GIFs, or other media sit there unsent, you're not alone. Google has confirmed a bug causing disrupted RCS message delivery for a subset of Google Messages users and says a fix is rolling out now.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra battery life test results are in, and they complicate the easy spec-sheet story. The phone jumped to a 5,000mAh battery using silicon-carbon technology, the biggest capacity increase in the Fold line's history, and it beat last year's model in nearly every Android Authority test scenario. It didn't improve by as much as the extra 600mAh might suggest, though.

Google is testing a redesigned Android voice search button that turns the familiar mic icon into a swipeable toolbar with four modes: Search, AI Mode, Search Live, and Song Search, replacing what used to be a single-purpose transcription tool (9to5Google, reported this week; corroborated by Android Headlines).

Google has pushed two September updates to the Pixel 11 series, but neither is the Android 17 QPR1 release that has since reached older Pixels. Build CD1A.260905.001.A1 arrived September 1, followed by CD1A.260905.001.B1 on September 9 for the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold.

Four months ago, Google Messages for web began warning users that "QR code pairing is going away soon." The prompt urges people to sign in to Google Messages for web with a Google account "to avoid interruption," an early warning of a removal Google has since completed in the United States.

In yesterday's announcements, Google detailed three headline Pixel 11 camera features, and the coverage that followed backs up a rival comparison for exactly one of them. How-To Geek writes that Camera Looks "parallels Apple and Samsung features that let you adjust photo styles to match your tastes" (How-To Geek). Magic Capture and the Pro line's 8K Pro Stable Video mode don't have a named comparison point anywhere in the reporting reviewed here. That's not proof Google invented something...

Pixel Watch 4 owners who feel left out of the Pixel Watch 5 launch have a workaround. According to Android Authority, Reddit user m0rr0ng0 found that sideloading a newer build of the Pixel Watch Faces app unlocks five Pixel Watch 5 faces: Weave, Chronograph, a Steph Curry edition, Multicolor Reveal, and Multicolor Modular.

A "Remember this with Gemini" shortcut buried in Gemini's app code could bring an early version of the Gemini Remember this image feature to Android's share sheet, letting users save details from photos and screenshots without typing anything. Android Authority found the code three weeks ago, enabled it manually, and got it to run (Android Authority). Google hasn't announced the shortcut, and it isn't available to regular users yet.

Chrome Canary is testing a Gemini-powered option that would replace weak or reused passwords automatically instead of just flagging them. It does not work yet. In hands-on testing on Windows 11, clicking the new "Change it for me" button left Chrome's password manager stuck on "Attempting to sign-in..." before it threw an error saying the password could not be updated, Android Authority reported this week after confirming the feature in its own build.

New code inside the Android Canary 2608 build suggests Google is considering a narrower set of Android lock screen Quick Settings restrictions than what its earlier work pointed toward. Rather than locking down nearly every tile, the strings now single out four: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, and Airplane Mode, according to an Android Authority code teardown. Flashlight and auto-rotate would stay usable without unlocking the phone, based on the same code.

A full set of press renders for the Lenovo Googlebook 15 surfaced this week, giving the clearest look yet at Google's new Android-based laptop category before either company has said a word about it. The images, first shared by Digital Citizen, show a 15-inch laptop built for Google's Gemini-first computing push, complete with a new Google 'G' key that leak reports identify as a Gemini shortcut.

This guide covers how to disable AI Mode in Chrome on desktop: the shortcuts that show up in the address bar, the New Tab Page search box, and the right-click context menu on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It doesn't touch Google Search's own AI Mode tab, which lives outside the browser entirely and gets a short, separate note near the end.

Samsung's own posts about the Galaxy S26 series still describe an active beta program, not a finished software release. The company's August 28 and September 1 updates document expanding beta activity for One UI 9, with no accompanying stable-release note for the Galaxy S26, S26+, or S26 Ultra.

Samsung's Memory Manufacturing Technology Center stood up a task force this month to build a commodity DRAM end-fab at its Hwaseong Campus Complex 1. An industry official says the move will lift Samsung DRAM production capacity roughly 15% by December relative to the start of 2026, according to Seoul Economic Daily. The cause is a market running critically short: commodity DRAM prices climbed more than 80% in the first half of this year, a move that makes a capacity investment easy to justify...

For months, the Galaxy S26 FE existed only in leaks and certification filings. That changed this week, when Samsung put the phone on record for the first time, and an executive's own hedge suggested the reveal isn't far off, sharpening the question at the center of the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE release date into something closer to an answer (Android Authority, today).

Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales in South Korea rose roughly 10% week over week in the seven days after Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, according to telecommunications industry sources cited by Yonhap News Agency.

To find a lost Android phone with Google Find Hub, open the Find Hub app on another device or go to android.com/find, then sign in with the Google Account used on the missing phone. That's the fast version. Google's Find My Device service is now called Find Hub. The rebrand expanded the service beyond device finding, with features for locating people and a growing range of compatible accessories.

A poll of 6,310 Pixel readers published earlier this year found that 62.7% say Google Tensor's performance gap doesn't affect their purchase decision. That sounds like a comfortable majority. It isn't a mandate and more importantly, it's the wrong number to focus on.

Google's September 2026 Pixel Feature Drop redesigns the Pixel VIP widget so people can call or text favorite contacts straight from the home screen, skipping the bottom sheet that used to stand between a tap and an actual phone call (Google; 9to5Google). Google announced the update yesterday, but hands-on testing published today by Android Authority found the new Pixel VIP widget isn't switched on for most users yet. Google still needs to flip a server-side switch before the buttons actually...

A December 2025 Chromium commit adds support for chrome.tabGroups.get(), an extension method that lets developers query tab-group data, on a surface the commit itself calls "desktop Android." That term doesn't appear defined anywhere else in the supplied commit, so every claim in this piece about where it applies stays tied to that exact phrase (Chromium commit). It's a narrow addition to the list of Chrome for Android features extension developers might want, and it's worth being precise about...

Google is rolling out a redesigned icon for Pixel Recorder, the first change to the app's icon in the seven years since it launched on the Pixel 4 in 2019, according to 9to5Google. The Pixel Recorder new icon update swaps the familiar white waveform on a red square for a red waveform on a white background.

An Android 17-based Pixel Tablet is showing the Quick Share interface for sending files to Apple devices, according to a tip from Joe Lenington that Android Authority reviewed today. It suggests Pixel Tablet Quick Share iPhone transfers may have finally reached Google's 2023 tablet, even though Google's published device list for the feature currently names phones only.

Google's two launch posts for the Pixel 11 lineup repeat the same unadorned line: Pixel Search on the Pixel 11 devices is "way more powerful than it used to be." Neither post explains why. The phones carrying that claim went on sale Thursday, so buyers now encounter a Google-documented search claim the company has not explained.

Several Pixel owners say Recorder has captured audio normally but then failed to show the saved recording afterward, and Google still hasn't explained why.

Trading in an old phone with Google Store can turn a drawer relic into real money toward a new Pixel. At the Pixel 11 launch, Google's trade-in program offered $150 for a Pixel 4a and $200 for a 2019 iPhone 11, numbers that catch owners off guard who figured those phones weren't worth listing anywhere. The U.S. trade-in ceiling also climbed from about $800 at the Pixel 10 launch to $1,000 this year, with top-tier phones like a Galaxy Z Fold 7 or iPhone 17 Pro Max eligible for $900 to $1,000.

Google confirmed today what happens when a Pixel 11 owner maxes out the Gboard Rambler usage limit, and it's less dramatic than it sounds. The AI dictation tool doesn't shut off. It downgrades (Android Authority).