Is anyone familiar with the specifics of how Circle to Search (linked) works? I was looking for a FOSS alternative to the google circle to search tool and came across it. It seems to describe its implementation in a clear way on the GitHub page, but I have not validated that it does actually operate using that architecture, or that it keeps to its promises about not caching info that is pulled from its third party OCR tools. On android it asks for "advanced permissions" which I presume are needed to take screenshots and share these with the third party OCR service. Since I havent validated how it works though, I wanted to check if anyone else has before I provide it those permissions.

I have been steady researching this and I have stumbbled upon what lloks like an unfinshed doc for the [Developer Verification Progra](https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides/limited-distribution)m Key notes - still no rollout schedule - Fee can be found in FAQ. Says it will be $25 - That you will have to provide a state-issued ID even for the now free "Limited Distribution" that has a 20 device maximum - In the FAQ it shows that this is covering all devices Android 7.0 and up and admits that the Advanced Flow in Google Play Services. - still does not address how they are justifying this at all They have stolen a free product and are now activity locking out the people who built it. [ASOP does not belong to them it belongs to us](https://disintermedia.net.nz/android-time-to-stop-hunting-the-replicants-decker/). Time to get it back I think.

Starting in August, installing APKs from unverified developers will require a new procedure called Advanced Flow. It involves enabling developer mode, rebooting the device, and waiting 24 hours with biometric verification. After that, you choose: allow the APK installation for 7 days or indefinitely. The procedure is a one-time process and applies to all versions of Android. Will the 24-hour wait stop you from installing APKs outside the store?

Over the years I've tested out pretty much all the Android keyboards, but swipe typing always kept me on GBoard, even though GBoard did not support voice typing for anything except Google, so I had to switch keyboards for that. Recently I learned that HeliBoard has support for gesture typing with the Google library. But I couldn't find any instructions on where to get the necessary files or how to do it. Well, someone posted a link to the file elsewhere so I'll [share it here](https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/blob/46fdf2b550035ca69299ce312fa158e7ade36967/app/src/main/jniLibs/arm64-v8a/libjni_latinimegoogle.so). And it works! Extremely well. I can also pin a button for voice typing and then select Transcribro for that (which uses OpenAI Whisper locally and works super well. Another gripe I had with GBoard was the cursor moves way too fast when swiping on the space bar. Not so with Heliboard. You can also swipe backwards from the backspace key and it will highlight text and then delete it when you let go.

I just updated my 2025 Moto G Stylus 5G to Android 16 only to discover the only feature I updated for doesn't work on my device thanks to Qualcomm.

If you haven't seen this yet, Google is planning to require mandatory developer identity verification for all Android apps, including apps distributed outside the Play Store, taking effect September 2026. This affects every independent and open source Android developer directly. This is not just about the Play Store. After September 2026, on any certified Android device, applications from unverified developers will be blocked by default. The only proposed bypass, the "advanced flow", exists only as a blog post and has not appeared in any beta, dev preview, or canary release. No one outside Google has seen it. The community has been fighting back at keepandroidopen.org: - Read the full breakdown of what this means - Sign the open letter (organisations only) - Contact your national regulators — contacts listed by country on the site - Add the countdown banner to your project September 2026 is closer than it looks. The time to push back is now.

Quote from Proton VPN: > Google has known about a bug that breaks VPN apps for 7 months, leaving users exposed with no warning or error, just a VPN app that stopped working in the background. > > If you're using ANY VPN on Android, you can help us by getting Google's attention to fix it. > > We first reported this bug to Google in September 2025. > > Others like Mullvad and Wireguard reported it even earlier, in August. > > Google's response? "I don't see anything unusual." > > The bug corrupts Android's network stack at the system level after a VPN update, causing users to blame their VPN provider. > > Restarting the app doesn't help, with the only fix being a full device reboot or VPN app reinstall, something which most users never figure out. > > This affects several VPN providers on Android 16, and only Google has the access to diagnose it properly. > > After 7 months of waiting, we're now asking publicly: Google, when are you fixing this? > > Issue Tracker Links: > > https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/441315112 > > https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/4474331

I'm using e/os and I want to be sure that, when connected to my local network, my local dns server is used, however, no matter what I do, my phone always use google's one. Is there any way to fix this?

Trust me, I push Signal _hard_ and even donate to it monthly. As I'm sure many of you know, there are always a few contacts who unfortunately refuse to use it. In this case: do you prefer to use insecure SMS in something like QUIK SMS or Fossify Messages, or do you prefer to bite the Google bullet to get end-to-end encrypted messages (even if the metadata isn't encrypted)? I can see good arguments for both sides, so I am curious what Lemmy's take is.

I have a Razr flip phone that I often use folded halfway (laptop style) and watch videos on the top half while I do other things. Certain video apps center the content across both halves of the screen and I have to activate split screen and put a random app on the bottom half of the screen. Long story short, is there a way to split screen only 1 app to only the top half of the screen? I've tried to search for something but I'm coming up empty.

For years now after a while I just stop getting texts. Reboot the phone and they work again for a while. The crazy thing is that it's happening on several phones. A pixel 3, a galaxy s20, and now a OnePlus 8. Signal works fine obviously but only a few people I know are on signal. Carrier is T-Mobile and they always just want to sell me. A new phone. Anyone have ideas?

The image is from *GSM Arena*. The phone *Infinix* has only 45W charge capability yet it does slightly faster than two other phones with much faster charging rates(and same battery capacity). I know some phones throttle charging speeds but that is usually post 80% threshold. Why the discrepancy then?

[@mikestevens](https://aus.social/@mikestevens) nice profile pic change for c/android! for anyone else curious, checkout the android community over on Lemmy (accessible via KBin too!) [https://lemmy.world/c/android](https://lemmy.world/c/android) [@android](https://lemmy.world/c/android) for anyone that wants to try and view it on Mastodon (although it's not formatted great) [\#android](https://aus.social/tags/android) [#lemmy](https://aus.social/tags/lemmy) [#RedditAlternative](https://aus.social/tags/RedditAlternative) [#KBin](https://aus.social/tags/KBin)

Anyone try any good launchers lately? Something with interesting features or workflow.

I have a DIY Android TV; it's a long story [but you can see it here](https://nullpwn.com/posts/CasseroleCast/) all I truly missing is casting experience and I mean a true cast. I can do most of the easy way like mirror screen, & YouTube or cast photos & images but applications like Netflix, HBO or Spotify aren't really working and I was looking for an app or a way to integrate Chromecast 3 to it?

> Attacker then emulates the card and makes withdrawals or payments from victim's account.

This was seen on two phones, one running near Stock Android 13(Nokia G20) and another on an usual OEM customized variant of Android 14. When I sideloaded two different apps on each phone and attempted to give them *Read notification access* in the settings, a message came that it was restricted for my security and no way to bypass it. Is this by design? I don't think it improves security in any way except to restrict the user to **Play Store** apps. And when ironically, the latter is plagued with so much quality control issues.

So ive had a phone for a bit now but i struggle at finding game sand apps to put on it especially free ones. its kinda mid range dphone it cant run genshin impact at all but it runs stuff like battle cats really well i also struggle at finding good or useful apps to download so if you know any please suggest some or something.

> Google Messages has addressed slowdowns, failures, and other issues with receiving media in Android’s RCS app.

I would respectfully disagree. Samsung already gates features for it's phones and now it is gating features to GW 8 despite there being no new sensor upgrade from previous generation. The Antioxidant Index and Vascular load, is just gated to GW 8 for the heck of it and one is not even sure how accurate it is. There was the *Stress* thing which I don't even use on my GW 6 because it's err, completely useless. It aims to measure physical stress using HRV but is completely out of touch to how I feel. The only thing it does decently is music streaming and sleep tracking. And then there is the Achilles' Heel, *Battery life*. Samsung 's Tizen watches used to last for two/three days and Wear OS is a significant downgrade even the Ultra variants. They have not taken any cues either from Mobvoi or Oneplus (either dual display or dual chip). Charging sucks as well. On GW 4, it was so slow that I wished to throw it. 10W WPC is better but it again overheats and throttles in hot climate.

I visited 3 stores looking for the pixels 7a. One of these stores (best buy) sells it at a 20% discount for only 2 weeks, brand new, 128 GB, so I may go for it to buy and nuke to install graphene OS, then relock it. A poster suggested me to avoid verizon, because they lock the bootloader to prevent you installing anything else. This one seems to be a pixels directly from google: on a table displaying other google devices and earbuds, but I wouldn't want to buy something I cannot relock on non-stock software. ETA: what port does it use for charging?

I don't know if it the better place to ask my question and if it's not I apologize... I am a biker and despite my love for FOSS applications, I cannot deny that Waze is very practical (especially for speed camera signaling). I use CalyxOS and there is a feature that makes it easy to use the work profile. On the other hand, I do not know how useful it is to limit my data transmission to Google. Is this really usefull? (I also have TrackerControl, but if I block anything, Waze no longer works)

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36316138 > ::: spoiler Comments > - [Hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45017028); > - [Lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/xetwz2/google_wants_make_sideloading_android). > :::

> The Google app on Android features a bookmarking system that is getting a new coat of paint as part of the “Activity” tab.

Hello all, so something recently changed with the Google photos app on my pixel 6 and it's automatically uploaded all my photos filled the space out and is now complaining angrily that I've used all the space. I don't want to use Google backup, I have a OneDrive account and it backs up all my photos. The Google backup is redundant but now it's deprecated my photos app by filling it with pointless warning messages.

I made a folder with my fav lemmy apps that I tried so far, and they are sorted by favorite to less favorite. By far, wefwef is my most used and I do switch to lifoff sometimes. Also, the official lemmy app is really not bad compared to reddit's official app. I would say try all of them and see which one works the best for you. waiting for sync and boost to launch. let me know if you have any other suggestions I haven't tried yet.

As per title, I can get lyrics of songs/albums but surely there is the next level where you can karaoke your favourite songs. Thanks for reading.

Wanted to compile reviews for everyone to see --- **Articles** The Verge https://www.theverge.com/23765921/google-pixel-tablet-review TechRadar https://www.techradar.com/reviews/google-pixel-tablet-review-a-new-home-for-the-same-old-android Mobile Syrup https://mobilesyrup.com/2023/06/20/google-pixel-tablet-review/ Engadget https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-tablet-review-clever-accessories-transform-an-unexciting-tablet-070147119.html Wired https://www.wired.com/review/google-pixel-tablet/ CNET https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/google-pixel-tablet-review-android-tablets-are-back/ Android Authority https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-hands-on-3323546/ ARS Technica https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/googles-pixel-tablet-looks-just-like-a-smart-display-so-why-isnt-it-one/ Tom's Guide https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/google-pixel-tablet Android Police https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixel-tablet-review/ --- **Videos** MKBHD https://youtu.be/aTf7AMVOoDY Dave2D https://youtu.be/AOs0yfwbTDE 9to5Google https://youtu.be/5m0llZU_3KM Tim Schofield https://youtu.be/mHiovf7B3Rg Mr Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKje_cSknNQ

I'm having trouble with the audio volume in Stardew Valley mobile. With wired headphones, the audio is very loud, but if I'm using Bluetooth (and I've tried multiple pairs), the audio in that game sounds as though it's capped at 50% and it's not a comfortable experience. My physical volume is at 100% and I've checked my Earfun settings to make sure everything is as high as it can go. My old Anker Soundcore earbuds had the same issue, but enabling 3D Audio in their settings seemed to fix it. My Earfun Air Pro 4's don't appear to have that option. What's perplexing to me is that the audio from literally *any other* source is perfectly loud. Spotify, YouTube, other games.. It's fine. But I boot up Stardew and it's like playing with a wax blockage in both ears. Again, this is not an issue at all if I switch to wired earbuds/headphones. Is there any way for me to amplify volume in general, or to apply amplification specifically to that app? I feel like I've tried everything to no avail. Volume booster apps have done nothing, Androids native Sound Amplifier does nothing, and I've enabled dev tools and everything. I'm at a loss.

IMHO, the title is pretty spot on as an owner of a ZF4 myself.

A while back, Google announced that it would let Google Play users access their favorite gaming titles via desktop computers, via the Google Play Games for PC Beta program. It’s been quite some time now since the initial unveiling of the service, and it looks like we’re getting some pretty big updates soon. Google says that it has taken feedback from gamers and devs, and rolled out some snazzy new features to improve the beta program. For one, hundreds of games have now been made available to the catalog, Cookie Run: Kingdom, Eversoul, Summoners War, Homescapes, Evony: The King’s Return, Call of Dragons, Arknights, and more recently Free Fire Max. With regards to Free Fire Max, Google says that the title is now available for users in Malaysia and Taiwan, and will be making its way to more regions in the following weeks. Of course, save syncing between different devices is supported, as long as you have the same account signed in. Google adds that it’s opened its beta program to more than 60 new regions across Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. This means that up to 120 countries that can now access the service. More PCs can now access the service as well (although compatibility might vary). Google has also added keyboard remapping functionality, so users can now further customize their control inputs when playing.

I got a used Pixel 3a on eBay 2 years ago. I've left it in the humid restroom and even accidentally dipped it in water to where the speakers got wet and blared. It dried off and the loudspeaker sounds normal again and everything still works. Since then, I've also bought a used pixel 4 that developed a flickering screen and a used pixel 6 that overheated, Sim reader malfunctioned, won't turn on anymore, and was declared unfixable at quikFix. To be fair I also have a new pixel that I love the heck out of. But my go-to for using at home with wired headphones is the soldier, Pixel 3a.