File photo of a woman checking her phone during an Instagram outage in 2021.Photo: Ed Jones (Getty Images) Meta platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are experiencing a global outage with thousands of reports of the app not working properly since roughly 2 p.m. ET Wednesday.WhatsApp appears to have gone down first, with Instagram and Facebook … Read more
Graphic: Gizmodo It’s day 2 of Gizmodo’s March Madness bracket challenge to crown the greatest app of all time! The mighty Fart App has fallen to Instagram in our first round and today’s challengers are WhatsApp vs Dark Sky. Will Mark Zuckerberg win again? That’s up to you. Threads Needs These Five Missing Features to … Read more
Apple has rolled out an update to iMessage encryption, the likes of which includes post-quantum protections that the company calls the “most significant cryptographic security upgrade” in the messenger’s history. The M3 MacBook Pro: Made Dark for Halloween In a blog post published Wednesday, Apple announced the arrival of PQ3, a new encryption protocol designed to … Read more
Klaus Vedfelt | Digitalvision | Getty Images Cue the George Orwell reference. Depending on where you work, there’s a significant chance that artificial intelligence is analyzing your messages on Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and other popular apps. Huge U.S. employers such as Walmart, Delta Air Lines, T-Mobile, Chevron and Starbucks, as well as European brands … Read more
Elon Musk is still trying to make X audio and video calls happen, even though, like the infamous “fetch,” we all know it’s not going to happen. His latest tactic: Giving up his phone number and using X exclusively for calls and texts. Threads Needs These Five Missing Features to Be a Twitter Killer “In … Read more
Photo: NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP (Getty Images) In the summer of 2022, 18-year-old Aditya Verma was boarding a flight to Spain at London’s Gatwick Airport when he sent a message to his friend on Snapchat: “On my way to blow up the plane (I’m a member of the Taliban).” As you might expect, the message was a … Read more
A disturbing cyberattack on Discord reportedly sent some University of California, Irvine students to the hospital on Wednesday, according to a CBS News report. Hackers infiltrated student Discord servers and bombarded them with graphic images that reportedly traumatized students, causing them to cry, vomit, and even require medical assistance. “There were some things on there … Read more
Apple’s recent move to block Beeper Mini, the app that lets Android users chat with iPhone through the iMessage protocol, has caught the eye and a fair bit of ire of several U.S. congresspeople. Now lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the tech giant over “potential anticompetitive treatment” of the smaller messaging app. Threads … Read more
Google’s bet on RCS is paying off, or at least that’s what it wants us to think. After a few minor wins, including Apple quietly confirming RCS support in the next iPhone and officially surpassing 1 billion monthly active users, Google is celebrating its successes by announcing new features for Messages users on Android. “Even … Read more
Photo: Diego Thomazini (Shutterstock) Discord revealed Teen Safety Assist, a new safety initiative to promote a safer environment for younger users to hang out in. The initiative includes default enabled safety features for teenagers on the app, such as proactive filters and alerts. “As great as all of these amazing updates to Discord are, none … Read more