If you're using X (formerly Twitter), then the company's Grok AI might be trained on your content.

That's thanks to a recently activated setting that automatically opts users into allowing their data to be used to train the AI chatbot.

The wording of the warning is as follows:

"To continuously improve your experience, we may utilize your X posts as well as your user interactions, inputs and results with Grok for training and fine-tuning purposes. This also means that your interactions, inputs, and results may also be shared with our service provider xAI for these purposes."

It's perhaps a little deeper into the settings than most are likely to venture - leading to some consternation online.

How to opt out of X's Grok training

If you'd like to opt out of your data being used to train Grok, you'll find that setting in the web version of X - but you won't find it on the app just yet, much to the dismay of many users on the platform.

Here's how to prevent your posts being used to feed Grok information.

• Open up X on your computer
• Click 'More' (the three dots on the sidebar)
• Click 'Settings and Privacy', then 'Privacy and Safety'
• Select Grok, and untick the box the says "Allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning"

Away from Grok, Apple recently pledged to help enforce voluntary AI safety guidelines along with the likes of OpenAI, Meta, and Amazon.

Apple's own suite of AI features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, is expected to start hitting devices later this year.

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This morning, as with every morning, I had my morning scroll of X. I like to catch up on what's been happening while I've been asleep, as most of the people I follow have been active in the hours that I have not. There's a magazine I like to read from Japan that was released today, for example — and all my favorite artists featured in the magazine are posting images on X of their work featured in this month's issue.

The moment I click on an image, however, I am not taken to a larger version of the image, but to the electoral commission site of the UK political party, Reform UK, an organization I have zero interest in.

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What's going on?

First, some information about how I suffered the bug. I use an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the official X app. The image was from a Japanese X account, and had nothing to do with the upcoming UK election. By all accounts, I shouldn't have been taken to the Reform UK site — so why was I?

I'm not the only user affected by the bug. Check out all the other users reporting the 'twitter link bug', and how they're being taken to unrelated links when clicking images and other shortcuts. Interestingly, while I can replicate the bug reliably just by tapping around various images, the moment you go to screen record, it seems to completely stop.

We reached out to X about the bug and only received the typically Musk-like auto-response of "Busy now, please check back later." Ever since the billionaire has taken over the site, bugs have cropped up all over the place, from extremely x-rated porn bots to frequent outages. X might not die overnight, but it's looking less and less a viable platform to keep using.

I managed to get to the image I wanted in the end — but only after attempting to record my experience.

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Following the news that X (ye olde Twitter) has started to give some people free access to the X Premium subscription and blue checkmark whether they want it or not, the social network has started to roll out another tweak. And it isn't going to go down well with those who never wanted that checkmark in the first place.

While X had previously allowed people to hide the blue checkmark, preventing people from knowing that they were an X Premium user, that option is now being removed. As a result, those who have been given X Premium but had no intention of paying for it for whatever reason now have no way to hide it.

The upshot? Anyone who would prefer people not to think they've paid for X Premium can no longer hide their status, although it isn't yet known why that move has been made.

Everything check(mark)s out

The Verge reports that some users have started to receive a notification that warns them they can no longer hide the checkmark after making the option available to users last summer. X seemingly understood that people might not want others to think they gave it money, but something has clearly changed.

Elon Musk's ownership of X, nee Twitter, has proven controversial for all manner of reasons and that has led some to refuse to pay to be verified. But X started giving people a free X Premium account if they met certain follower criteria last week, leaving some recipients to hide the checkmark entirely. That's no longer an option.

As for why this change has been made, we can only assume that X wants to make the X Premium subscription seem more enticing — and the more blue checkmarks people see, the more likely they are to want one.

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X CEO Elon Musk announced last month that the social network would giving away free X Premium features, including verified checkmarks, to anyone who met a specific criteria in relation to their follower counts. Now, that change has started to roll out — and not everyone is happy about it.

The move means that anyone who has more than 2,500 verified subscriber followers will now get X Premium for free while. Anyone who has more than 5,000 verified subscriber followers will receive X Premium Plus for free instead, Musk also confirmed.

But so far a number of people who have been given the free checkmark have taken to the social network to complain about the move. Some have even gone so far as to ask if there is a way to decline the offer with others worried that people will think that they willingly gave X money for their checkmark.

The joy of x

There have been reports that X Premium subscription numbers might not be quite as high as the company would like, and it's as-yet unclear why Musk has taken the decision to start giving it away for free — unless he's hoping that high-profile accounts with blue checkmarks will encourage new subscribers.

If that's the case, he might have misread the situation.

There doesn't yet appear to be a way to decline the freebie.

According to a screenshot of a message shared by one of those who have now been upgraded to X Premium, the social network says that it "reserves the right to cancel the complimentary subscription."

Some recipients will presumably hope X does just that sooner rather than later.

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TikTok has decried a new bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban the popular TikTok app if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, doesn't agree to sell within six months.

"This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it's a ban," a TikTok representative told iMore. "We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service."

The bill in question was supported 352-65, according to NPR. In a statement made to NPR, Rep. Mike Gallagher, a member of the House of Representatives, said "What we're after is, it's not a ban, it's a forced separation." He continued to say "The TikTok user experience can continue and improve so long as ByteDance doesn't own the company."

What is the bill?

The bill is called the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" and it specifically cites ByteDance's ownership of TikTok as a national security problem. CNN reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson claims "Apps like TikTok allow the Chinese Communist Party to push harmful content to our youth and engage in malign activities, such as harvesting the location, purchasing habits, contacts, and sensitive data of Americans."

ByteDance has denied these claims to ABC, saying "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country."

After successfully passing through the House of Representatives, this bill will then be seen by Congress, which will then decide if it is enacted. President Biden has previously said he would support the bill if it came across his desk. 

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Have you ever wondered why your iPhone captures such attractive-looking photos? Perhaps you’ve even noticed that your iPhone images look more dazzling than your DSLR or mirrorless camera. One reason, of course, is that incredibly vibrant Retina display – especially if your iPhone is packing the latest Super Retina XDR like the iPhone 15 Pro Max – but the key ingredient is computational photography. 

This AI-powered tech is the backbone of features such as Night Mode and Portrait Mode, but it’s also working in the background every time you capture a photo to ensure that the end product looks good. It’s balancing exposures, boosting colors, sharpening edges and much more. Essentially, it’s automatically editing your photos.

You might be wondering why I’m telling you to always edit your Instagram iPhone photos if the best iPhones will do it for you. First and foremost, photography is a form of artistic expression. Man Ray, Annie Leibovitz, Cindy Sherman, pick any famous photographer – including your favorite Instagram photographer – and they will have their own style. Now, style involves a lot more than just editing, but taking back control of how your images look, by not relying on AI algorithms, is a good start.

Photo editing is a great way to express your creativity 

Some photographers prefer to do as little editing as possible, while others use the editing process as the palette that paints over the initial sketch. Both are creative choices and neither is wrong nor right. Your hands are tied slightly if you want to follow the minimal-editing approach as an iPhone photographer, because computational photography has already worked its magic. But you can negate some of the effects in the editing suite to reach a more raw and rustic result, as well as adding your own stylistic choices.

Speaking of raw, if you have an iPhone 12 Pro (or later Pro), Apple ProRAW is the way to go. This is because the ‘automatic editing’ won’t be as intense, leaving you a comparatively blank palette to work from. Even if you decide to go down the minimal editing route, learning to edit your photos is a useful skill to have. Most photographers will perform small edits such as lifting the shadows and reducing the highlights, straightening the horizon, or cropping slightly to tidy the composition, for example. Editing doesn’t have to be complicated and time-consuming, in fact, it’s arguably better if it’s not. 

It can open the door to more complex editing techniques on your iPad or Mac 

This leads me to my next reason why you should edit your Instagram iPhone photos. Learning to edit now, on your iPhone, is a great grounding should you wish to take your photography further in the future and begin experimenting with more powerful editing suites such as the full-fat versions of Adobe Photoshop or Pixelmator Pro on macOS.

You see, jumping straight onto a computer and launching a professional editing suite can be a daunting experience. If, however, you’re already familiar with the editing basics, whether you’re using the Photos app’s in-built editing suite, more advanced iOS suites such as Adobe Photoshop Express, or even the Edit tab in Instagram, you’ll already have a decent understanding of how many of the basic functions such as exposure, highlights, saturation, and color balance work.

And there’s arguably no better place to learn how to edit than on your iPhone. And that’s because all of the aforementioned iOS editing apps are intuitive to use and above all fun. You’ll find plenty of photographers out there who loathe editing and see it as a necessary evil. But you’ll also find photographers who see capturing photos as an excuse to edit. Personally, I sit somewhere in between. 

But what I do know is that being introduced to Photoshop at college transformed my photography. Much like the sense of anticipation film photographers get when they send their negatives off to the printers, I couldn’t wait to load my files onto the computer when I got home to see what I had to work with. I then cherished the time spent refining my work to 'perfection'.

I also think that editing is a great way to subconsciously critique your own work. For starters, a photo that might have otherwise been lost to the cavernous network that is your Photos’ Recents album or even casually chucked onto your Instagram Feed and then promptly forgotten about is poured over, adjusted and ultimately discarded or proudly exported, if you decide to edit it.

There’s a myth that editing is used to fix bad photographs; this couldn’t be further from the truth. When you start editing photos you quickly learn that trying to roll the proverbial in glitter is a waste of time – a fine incentive to capture better photographs in the first place.

And occasionally, you’ll find that a photo you had previously resigned to the discard pile is given a new lease of life in the editing suite. Perhaps it looks better in black and white, maybe cropping the image to achieve a better composition has given it a new lease of life. Whatever the reason, editing is a great way to find that diamond in the rough.

Your Instagram will thank you 

Ultimately, edit your iPhone photos before posting and your Instagram Followers will thank you. Editing your images isn’t just about changing how they look. It’s also about learning a little discipline by taking the time to identify what does and doesn’t work. If you previously posted any old photo on your Instagram feed, you may find yourself curating your content more and finding your creative voice. 

So, try wrestling back control from Apple’s computational photography AI overlords this weekend. Find your style and learn an abundance of useful skills in the process, by editing your iPhone photos before you post them on Instagram.

This feature is part of iPhone Photography Week 2024. Expect new posts to appear daily, focused on making your photos shot with iPhone better than ever before.

Share your photos with iMore on X (Twitter) using #iMorePhotographyWeek

Given all the noise surrounding Apple, its iPhone App Store, and the EU's Digital Markets Act, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Cupertino outfit is the only one that is having to make changes to adhere to new rules. But that's far from the case, with the meta-owned WhatsApp having to make a few changes of its own. Those changes will see something that many thought would never happen — and it might not have happened if it wasn't for the DMA.

That change is an upcoming WhatsApp update that will allow third-party messaging platforms to effectively hook into its network, bringing their own messages to the WhatsApp app on iPhones and other devices. There's a potential future where iMessages may one day appear in WhatsApp and WhatsApp messages could be received in the Messages app on Apple's devices. That's a way off right now, but WhatsApp is getting ready to allow third-party access as and when it's required.

The upcoming WhatsApp changes will need to happen by March, much like Apple's App Store tweaks, and a new report has detailed how this will all go down via an interview with Dick Brouwer, an engineering director at WhatsApp and someone who is in a position to spill the beans.

Better, connected

In an interview with Wired, Brouwer discussed the fact that WhatsApp will continue to encrypt its messages and that the interoperability required by the DMA won't affect that. In fact, it's key to what the company wanted to do — ensure that the change doesn't impact security or privacy.

“There’s real tension between offering an easy way to offer this interoperability to third parties whilst at the same time preserving the WhatsApp privacy, security, and integrity bar,” Brouwer explained “I think we're pretty happy with where we’ve landed.”

When the new interoperability first comes online it will support text messaging, images, files, videos, and voice messages but only between two people. Group messages and calls will come later, but they won't be part of the initial rollout and probably won't be added to the mix for some time.

Part of WhatsApp's privacy push will be the option to choose not to receive messages from other networks and services, something Brouwer says is an important decision given the potential for spam.

“One of the core requirements here, and this is really important, is for users for this to be opt-in,” Brouwer told Wired. “I can choose whether or not I want to participate in being open to exchanging messages with third parties. This is important because it could be a big source of spam and scams.”

It's clear that WhatsApp isn't just opening the floodgates and leaving its users to fend for themselves, and it might hint at the approach that Apple might take should it also be forced to open the Messages app and iMessage as a whole, to the competition.

The European Commission is still trying to decide whether iMessage meets the required threshold to be considered a gatekeeper and if it is, interoperability will be forced. That could make the Messages app into an entirely different beast and change the way iMessage is used forever. However, given Apple's App Store stance, that might only be the case for people who live in EU countries. Time will of course tell on all fronts here, but given the commission's fraught relationship with Apple, anything is possible at this point.

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If you open TikTok and start to scroll through your For You page you will no doubt notice that many of the videos you see feature music. In fact, music is a key part of how TikTok works with creators filming their videos with songs in the background, lipsyncing them, and more. But that music doesn't come free, and one of the companies that represents some of the biggest artists in the world says that TikTok is playing hardball over how much it's willing to pay to license that music.

In fact, Universal Music Group says that TikTok is being downright dastardly about the way it is trying to rip Universal and its artists off. In a long open letter that claims it is time to "call time out on TikTok," Universal details a long list of grievances against TikTok including what it claims are bullying tactics to try and force it to accept less money than it believes its artists deserve. Those artists just so happen to be some of the biggest in the world including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Drake.

Following the breakdown of talks between Universal and TikTok, the music company has started to withdraw its catalog of music from the social network. What comes next is anyone's guess, but videos that previously had the affected music will now be muted and creators will have no choice but to switch to an alternative track instead.

A sad, sad song

Universal's open letter began by setting out its goals to "help our artists and songwriters attain their greatest creative and commercial potential," something that will be literal music to the ears of those people. And it's fair to say that it's been good at it in the past, too. But when it comes to TikTok, there's a problem.

According to Universal, it wanted to make sure that TikTok was working on three key things as part of a revised deal.

"The terms of our relationship with TikTok are set by contract, which expires January 31, 2024," the music outfit explains. "In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them on three critical issues—appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users."

The problem? None of that is happening.

"With respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay," Universal notes, adding that "Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music."

On the subject of AI music, Universal accused TikTok of "TikTok is allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings—as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself – and then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI." Strong words indeed.

Universal says that it also suggested that TikTok revamp its system for reporting bigotry, harassment, and other nastiness on its platform only to find that it "responded first with indifference, and then with intimidation."

That intimidation came in the form of offering a new deal that was worth less than the old one while also "selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars." In short, it doesn't sound great.

As always, it's the TikTok users that suffer here. We'd have to imagine that an agreement between Universal and TikTok can be achieved, but it'll be a case of seeing which huge corporation blinks first. And as anyone following the Epic Games Vs Apple situation in recent years will attest, that doesn't always go well.

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Facebook has long been the go-to source of news and other content for hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Whether or not that is wise is a matter for another conversation, but there is no denying that Facebook is a huge player in terms of how people find the content that they consume. But because any link you click in the Facebook app on your iPhone opens the page inside the app itself, it's easy to lose track of what you've read and which memes you've seen. Now, it appears that Meta has identified that and sought to find a solution.

That solution is a new Link History feature that promises to make it easier for people to find anything and everything that they saw previously, making it easier to resurface that content at a later date. Meta will no doubt hope that people will be able to more easily share that content on its platforms, but from the point of view of individuals this new feature is a real boon — especially for those of us with poor memories.

The feature is rolling out to Meta's Facebook mobile app right now and is turned on by default. Thankfully, Meta does allow people to disable the feature if they want to which could be useful depending on the links you click. It's also important to note exactly why Meta wants to keep tabs on this information — so it can use it to better target ads.

A history of links

The new Link History feature was detailed in a new Facebook help page that also points out that the feature may not be available in all locations. There's no publicly available list of exactly which locations have access to Link History, but the same help page does note that the "feature is being introduced globally over time," so don't worry too much if you don't see it just yet.

Facebook says that its Link History feature will collect the websites that a user has visited via the Facebook Mobile Browser over the last 30 days — after those 30 days have elapsed, the history will no longer be available. Interestingly, Facebook also notes that it may take it up to three times as long — or 90 days — to delete its data if you decide to disable Link History. That might suggest that even once the 30 days have been and gone, Meta will still have your links somewhere.

As hinted earlier, all of this is designed to give Meta more insight into what people are doing within its app. "Bear in mind that when link history is on, we may use link history information from Facebook's Mobile Browser to improve your ads across Meta technologies," Facebook's help page reads.

Disabling Link History

Thankfully, disabling Link History is a relatively simple process if you want to go down that route. You'll first need to open a link within the Facebook app and then tap the '...' button before choosing Browser Settings. From here, the Allow link history feature can be enabled or disabled at will.

Given Meta and Facebook's checkered history with user privacy and the way it collects information on its users, you might want to consider flicking that switch. But for those of us with failing memories, it might still be worth keeping around. It might also be worth a quick read through Facebook's Privacy Policy as well.

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It's been quite the year for X, the company that was formerly known as Twitter — a name that many still continue to use despite the branding having long been removed from the social network's website and apps. Twitter was bought by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk back in November of 2023, and around a year later it's fair to say that the last 12 months have been eventful ones.

How eventful? Somewhat predictably, Musk buying Twitter caused quite a stir in late 2022 and that was before he fired a chunk of its workforce, changed its name, and set about adding new features including an X Premium+ subscription that is designed to bring in some much-needed recurring revenue. 

But with X now being a private company it's difficult to see just how things are really going. It's no secret that advertisers have left X in droves since Musk's recent antisemitic outburst and that's something he says could kill the company. But even if Musk decided to ditch X before that happens, he'll struggle to recoup his money. In fact, new analysis claims that Musk should expect to take quite the hit if he did try to sell a company that is now thought to be worth a staggering 72% less than it was when he bought it.

Hey big spender

This is according to new numbers shared by Fidelity, an outfit that revalues private shares albeit on a one-month lag, as noted by Axios. That means that things might have gotten worse for Musk, although it's also possible they have improved.

According to an Axios report based on Fidelity's figures, "X is worth 71.5% less than at the time of purchase, according to a new disclosure that runs through the end of November 2023." That figure is made up of a 10.7% fall in November, around the same time as Musk's infamous "go F*** yourself" message to the same advertisers that could ultimately tank his company. For comparison, the same November period saw Meta's stock rise almost 5% and Snap's shares grow by more than 38%.

It's important to remember that it isn't clear just how much inside information Fidelity might have and Musk is certainly not sharing data with anyone. Axios also points out that "Fidelity began marking down its Twitter shares the first month after Musk's buyout" although it did at least keep its share value stable during some 2023 months. In fact, some also saw that value increase.

Interesting times ahead

Whether or not Musk's X post was antisemitic or not — he claims the latter — there is no denying that X advertisers are spooked. And while the social network continues to add new features like video and voice calling, it isn't clear just how popular any of its subscription offerings are.

Fold into the mix the fact that Meta's own Threads social network recently launched in the European Union for the first time and X is under threat the likes of which it hasn't yet had to compete with.

As divisive as Elon Musk is, he hasn't gotten to where he is today without knowing how to make money. But with increasing competition and a growing dislike of the X brand and service as a whole, a huge public relations spin is going to be needed if the company is going to push on. Courting advertisers is surely at the top of the list of things that need to happen, likely shortly followed by stopping the company's owner from discussing the entities that could shutter it live on stage.

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The European Commission has opened formal proceedings against Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, over claims it may have breached the bloc's Digital Services Act in several key areas. 

In a press release early Monday, the EC stated, "The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers."

The EC says that "On the basis of the preliminary investigation conducted so far, including on the basis of an analysis of the risk assessment report submitted by X in September, X's Transparency report published on 3 November, and X's replies to a formal request for information" it has decided to open a formal investigation. Specifically, the release notes "the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas' terrorist attacks against Israel." 

European Commission opens formal proceedings against X

The European Commission is looking into a number of key areas. They are: 

• "Countering the dissemination of illegal content in the EU" and the measures taken by X " to counter the dissemination of illegal content in the EU"
• "The effectiveness of measures taken to combat information manipulation on the platform," specifically the effectiveness of X's 'Community Notes' system
• "The measures taken by X to increase the transparency of its platform," and "suspected shortcomings in giving researchers access to publicly accessible data"
• "A suspected deceptive design of the user interface" - notably in relation to the Blue checkmarks which denote a subscription to the platform 

As the release notes each of these counts in some way shows X (previously Twitter) may have fallen short of the Digital Services Act, applied to the platform after it was designated a "Very Large Online Platform" or "VLOP" in April. X has 112 million monthly active users in the EU, and as such is required to carry out the obligations set out in the DSA such as combating the spread of illegal content, and providing researchers with effective access to platform data. 

In a statement, EU exec Margrethe Vestager said "The higher the risk large platforms pose to our society, the more specific the requirements of the Digital Services Act are. We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X. The Commission will carefully investigate X's compliance with the DSA, to ensure European citizens are safeguarded online - as the regulation mandates."

In a blog post in November, X revealed steps it was taking "In times of uncertainty such as the Israel-Hamas conflict," confirming it had "actioned " more than 325,000 pieces of content and removing 3,000 accounts by "violent entities in the region, including Hamas."

In a statement to iMore, X said it "remains committed to complying with the Digital Services Act, and is cooperating with the regulatory process. It is important that this process remains free of political influence and follows the law. X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal."

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has today announced that Instagram's text social media app Threads is coming to Europe. 

In an Instagram post, Zuckerberg stated "Today we're opening Threads to more countries in Europe. Welcome everyone." 

"Today, Mark Zuckerberg announced that we are expanding Threads to countries across Europe," Meta stated. "We’re excited to give more people the opportunity to follow and join the conversations they care about. Since launching Threads in July, we’ve made significant improvements to the app, including a web experience, a Following Feed, the ability to edit a post, search with keywords, tag topics, and more.

Users in the EU can create a Threads profile linked to their Instagram account, or view content on Threads without a profile. Those users will also be able to search for accounts and share content, as well as report content they don't like, they just won't be able to post or interact with other content. 

Threads

Threads has proven pretty popular since its launch, smashing 100 million users in just five days following its launch in July. Recently Apple revealed the most popular iPhone games and apps of 2023, with Threads the fourth most popular free iPhone app of the year ahead of TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Naturally, this position reflects a significant number of downloads this year because the app is new, but it's an impressive feat nonetheless. 

Meta hasn't specified which European countries the expansion today entails, but refers to "people in the EU" in its release, suggesting it could be 27 EU member states including France, Spain, Italy, and more. 

An emerging alternative to the increasingly volatile X run by Elon Musk, Threads is a text-based social media platform that lets users write posts of up to 500 characters, including links, photos, and videos of up to five minutes. This week Threads also announced it was testing making posts from Threads accounts visible on Mastodon and other services that use the ActivityPub protocol. 

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Beeper Mini, the Android app that allows users to send iMessages, went live last week, got blocked, found a workaround, and has now seemingly been blocked again, according to Beeper. This time, only about 5% of users are suffering from the block and there’s one very simple workaround. 

In a post on X, Beeper said ‘Apple appears to be deliberately blocking iMessages from being delivered to ~5% of Beeper Mini users. Uninstalling and reinstalling Beeper Mini fixes the issue. 

We won't have a fix tonight, but we're working on it.’

As a result of the issues it is facing, Beeper has canceled its subscription service for the app until it is stable enough to get the results Beeper Mini promises. It is not yet clear why uninstalling and reinstalling the app fixes this block but Apple’s alleged proactivity in blocking the app is a sign that this likely isn’t over. Both companies are working on ways around each other and this story is sure to develop over the coming weeks. 

A smart solution – iMore’s take

Beeper Mini is a very smart little app. According to The Verge, the prototype was originally invented by a 16-year-old high school student, who was then approached by Beeper to turn it into a fully-fledged app. This is not the only time an app has promised Android users the ability to avail of iMessage, as Nothing has shown, but it’s the first time without a major catch or security flaw. 

All messages are encrypted from end-to-end which means that Beeper doesn’t hang on to to that data. You do technically need an Apple ID to use it, which has changed in the last week, but your information never leaves your device. Nothing, on the other hand, used an Apple ID as a proxy device, essentially allowing your phone to use an ID on a different device to message. This is rather dangerous as there’s no way of ensuring that the middleman doesn’t abuse your information. 

If Android users have to use iMessage, this is the best and safest way to do so, other than just buying an iPhone instead. 

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Meta is finally adding end-to-end encryption to one-on-one chats and calls in Messenger, ensuring much-expected security to the chat platform.

It was over half a decade ago, in 2016, when Meta announced that users could opt into end-to-end encryption, but now it’s going to be available by default, making you and your friend or family member the only people who can view your chats.

Loredana Crisen, VP of Messenger, shared a statement with The Verge on the announcement, “This has taken years to deliver because we’ve taken our time to get this right,”

“Our engineers, cryptographers, designers, policy experts and product managers have worked tirelessly to rebuild Messenger features from the ground up.”

Crisen added, “it may take some time” for all users to receive end-to-end encryption rollout, so even if the company has announced the rollout there is no expected timeframe.

In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg said, “I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever,” nearly five years later and we’re still waiting.

Security at last? — iMore’s take

Meta is the outright champion of social media platforms, providing the world with Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger. To think in 2023, we’re stuck waiting for end-to-end encryption on a chat platform is honestly bewildering.

Yes, Meta says it wants to roll out these features correctly, but why has it taken so long? Especially when you consider that WhatsApp has had end-to-end encryption for years. Hopefully, this announcement is a step toward Meta adding encryption by default not only to Messenger but also to Instagram, the social media platform with 2 billion active monthly users.

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The world of the instant messaging app is a complicated one with more options than most of us could ever use. Your iPhone comes with iMessage built right into the Messages app, but there are tons of other options including Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, and more. Two of those messaging apps are getting a divorce, and the reason for it could be the most interesting part of the whole story.

The Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook Messenger apps have long been intertwined in a way that is set to go away, although it hasn't been confirmed via a press release or official statement. Instead, the change was quietly pushed to a support page but the upshot is the same regardless. While previously Instagram users were able to message Facebook Messenger users and vice versa, that's going away. The fact that it ever existed in the first place might come as a surprise to some — it doesn't appear that it ever went live in Europe, which interesting for reasons we'll get to later.

As for when the loss of cross-platform messaging will take place, a vague "mid-December" has been offered. That means that we should expect the interoperability to end within the next week or so, so keep that in mind if you've been using one app or the other because there's a good chance you're soon going to need them both. We'll overlook the discussion of whether Instagram even needs a messaging platform attached to it for now.

Cross-app communication

Instagram and Facebook Messenger have been attached at the hip for a few years now, with the former's DMs acting as threads in the latter's app. But in updates to two different support pages on Meta's various websites make it clear the cross-platform communication feature is going away.

In a statement to The Verge, spokesperson Alex Dziedzan tried to clarify things.

“A few years ago, we introduced a new Messenger experience in Instagram DMs which enabled people to message and call a FB account (Messenger) from an Instagram account and vice versa,” they said. “Starting in mid-December, we will begin removing this feature. However, people can continue to message and call their contacts on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.”

This move comes three years after the 2020 merging of the two systems, and while some people will no doubt be disappointed to have to download an extra app, this was perhaps always a move that was in the cards.

Meta's Facebook Messenger is already in the crosshairs of the European Commission and the Digital Markets Act, after all. The DMA was designed to ensure that no one company has undue control over the services that European citizens use, and it has the power for force interoperability if it's deemed platforms are abusing their power. To that end, Apple could potentially be forced to open iMessage up, allowing it to work with third-party apps like WhatsApp.

Interestingly, Meta is already working to ensure WhatsApp can be used with other competing instant messaging platforms, while it argues that Messenger shouldn't be regulated as a "core platform service" under the same act. However, with Messenger and Instagram so tightly intertwined it could potentially have made it difficult for Meta to argue against opening Messenger up when it was already working with other apps like Instagram. 

A coincidence?

Is it a coincidence that Meta has chosen to rip Instagram and Messenger apart at a time when its messaging platforms are under scrutiny for the way they don't work with platforms offered by other companies? It's possible, but Meta knows all too well that it could invite scrutiny by having two of its products linked in ways that aren't available to other companies.

Threads, Instagram's competitor to X, didn't launch in the EU over concerns that it would fall foul of the DMA due to the fact an Instagram account was required, among other things. Threads is thought to be getting around that by removing the need to have a profile in order to access the platform this month, but it's clear Meta knows Europe's eyes are on it right now and delinking Instagram and Messenger might just make sense, all things considered.

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Hot on the heels of the news that more than 100 companies have removed their ads from X, the competition is starting to get serious. Meta-owned Instagram launched Threads earlier this year, although it didn't go live for one key group of people — those who live in countries that are part of the European Union. That could be about to change.

Threads only launched outside of the EU due to concerns over local rules surrounding how apps and services have to function, and the interlink between Threads and the Instagram app proper was thought to be a potential concern for regulators. But as X owner Elon Musk continues to alienate advertisers and users alike with controversial comments on a variety of things, Threads could be about to get a huge shot in the arm.

Musk recently said that the loss of advertisers from X could be enough to see the company cease to function. And despite a foul-mouthed rant in their direction, advertisers might not be too keen to reverse course. With that in mind, the arrival of Threads as a new player across almost an entire continent is probably not the news Musk wanted to wake up to this morning.

Coming to an EU country near you soon

While neither Meta nor Instagram has officially confirmed anything just yet, The Wall Street Journal reports that plans are afoot to bring Threads to the EU as soon as December. And with December starting tomorrow, the launch could be just around the corner.

The report notes that Meta and Instagram were put off by the EU's regulatory requirements, something it says are "among the toughest in the world." That's something Apple knows all about of course, having just added USB-C to the iPhone 15 at the behest of the same regulatory outfit.

However, Meta seems to have a solution — unlinking Threads and Instagram somewhat. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri had already confirmed the ability to delete a Threads account without also deleting the Instagram account it's associated with, and now the WSJ says Meta is ready to go a step further.

"To comply with those regulations, Meta will give EU users the choice of using Threads purely for consumption without a profile that allows them to make their own posts," the report claims, citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter."

It's thought that this removal of the requirement to have an Instagram account to read Threads posts and the ability to uncouple a Threads account from Instagram could be enough to appease regulators.

Worth the risk

At this point, the quest for more users could well make launching in the EU a no-brainer for all concerned. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in October that Threads had around 100 million monthly active users, and one analyst believes that could balloon. Debra Aho Williamson, an independent tech analyst, told The Wall Street Journal that the inclusion of EU accounts could result in an additional 40 million monthly users for threads throughout 2024.

The extra users is about more than just figures, though. The more people on Threads, the more conversations there are. And the more conversations, the more engaging the platform will become. And in a world where X still remains the go-to place for discussing breaking news, more conversations could be exactly what Threads needs to try and tip the balance.

Of course, whether launching in the EU is a risk at all is a matter for debate. It seems unlikely that Threads will launch in the region before Instagram and Meta are convinced that it won't fall foul of EU rules, after all.

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X, the social network that was previously known to the world as Twitter, has a new feature. The app, which previously limited text messages posted to the service to just 140 characters in length now allows its users to make and receive calls.

Those new X calls can be placed in either audio or video form with the whole interface living within the Direct Message portion of the X app on the iPhone. The same feature is also going to come to those who use Android phones but X hasn't yet confirmed exactly when that will be. The same goes for the web and X's desktop apps, too.

The new calling feature was teased previously by X owner and ex-CEO Elon Musk without any firm timeframe given. Now, it's here.

Calling, free to all

When Musk confirmed that he wanted X to offer calls it wasn't clear whether it would be a feature that would require people to be X Premium subscribers in order to use it. However, it's now confirmed that isn't the case and the calling feature is available to all who want it.

Thankfully, there are ways to disable it or at least limit who can call you if you'd prefer to opt-out. In a support document posted to its website X details the privacy controls it offers.

Thankfully, the whole calling feature can be disabled if the user wishes, which is good news. However, those who would like to use it still have some control over who can contact them. They can choose to only allow calls from people in their address book, people they follow, or verified users.

There's no denying that X is now firmly in competition with the likes of WhatsApp and even Apple's own FaceTime. Musk has also hinted that he wants X to replace banks as well, allowing people to keep their money with the social network and then use its payment system to spend it. That seems a long way away, but given Musk's history in payment tech it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that he might make it happen. After all, the original x.com was a bank co-founded by Musk.

The EU says that it has contacted X, the social network previously known as Twitter, to get clarification on its plans to deal with illegal content and disinformation on its platform.

The investigation comes following the Hamas attack on Israel earlier this month and the subsequent response from Israel which has seen people driven from their homes.  Some have already raised concerns about X and the way it's being used to spread disinformation and hate. Now, the EU has reached out to X to find out what it is going to do about it.

With X being designated as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act, the social network has to comply with EU requirements otherwise it could find itself in hot water.

'Dissemination of illegal content'

In a press release shared on the European Commission's website, it was confirmed that "European Commission services formally sent X a request for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This request follows indications received by the Commission services of the alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech." The statement goes on to say that the request also relates to compliance with other provisions of the DSA.

It continues, saying that "following its designation as Very Large Online Platform, X is required to comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the DSA since late August 2023, including the assessment and mitigation of risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, disinformation, gender-based violence, and any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, rights of the child, public security and mental well-being."

The statement continues, saying that "Commission services are investigating X's compliance with the DSA, including with regard to its policies and actions regarding notices on illegal content, complaint handling, risk assessment and measures to mitigate the risks identified"

As for what comes next, the statement says that X needs to provide the requested information by October 18 in terms of questions related to "the activation and functioning of X's crisis response protocol" and by October 31 for the rest.

The story of Twitter, now known as X, continues to get all kinds of attention as new owner Elon Musk changes features, adds new ones, and generally fiddles with things. But to distance himself from day-to-day operations, or at least appear that way, he hired a new CEO earlier this year. Linda Yaccarino is now the one in charge, but does she actually use X?

That's a question we didn't think we'd be asking until she appeared in a recorded interview and started to wave her iPhone around. And then things got weird.

Weird because, on the face of it, Yaccarino doesn't appear to be a big X user. It isn't on her Home screen, at least. And there was a strange app in her Dock, too.

It's all about the Settings

Yaccarino was being interviewed at the Code Conference when we got a glimpse of the iPhone that she's been using and the lack of an X logo wasn't the only thing of note. The eagle-eyed out there will immediately spot that the Settings app gets pride of place in the Dock of all places.

Why? Maybe she spends a lot of time changing her Focus modes and wants to be able to tweak them at will. Maybe Yaccarino is so obsessed with her Action button that she just can't stop fiddling? In fairness, we can't see if she has an iPhone 15 Pro, but we bet she does.

Regardless, we're not sure Settings warrants a spot in the Dock either way and we can't help but think that she'd be better served by putting X there instead. At least that way she'd be able to keep an eye on what her boss is getting up to.

Now we think about it, maybe that's why she doesn't have the X app on her Home screen — she doesn't want to know.

Elon Musk's X social network is reportedly getting ready to launch video and audio calling to its iPhone-owning subscribers after previously confirming the feature was in the works.

Musk announced that he was keen to bring video and audio calls to X back in August, saying that it would be one of a handful of features that would be part of a unique set of factors — the others include cross-platform support and the fact that no phone number would be required. Musk also believes that X "is the effective global address book," too.

Now, code found in the X app for iPhone has confirmed that video and audio calling is now closer to release than ever, but only for those who pay.

Ring ring, hello?

The news comes after X developer and code-diver @aaronp613 shared screenshots of references to the new feature and while it's yet to go live, it now seems to be closer than ever.

The new calling feature looks set to become an X Premium-only affair, and it's clear that iPhone owners will be among the first to gain support.

Support for video and voice calling will of course give iPhone owners another option for those who aren't into FaceTime. It'll also be cross-platform, but with the App Store already full of apps that offer similar features X's implementation will need to be solid if it is to compete.

There's currently no official timeframe for when we can expect video and voice calling to come to the social network, but given Musk's fondness for throwing features at the wall and seeing what sticks we can't imagine that there will be a months-long testing period here.

X will no doubt hope that these calling features will bring more paying Premium customers online but, again, with so many free options it could prove to be a hard sell for many.

In March, Elon Musk said he was bringing video and audio calls to Twitter. Now, a name change and six months later, Musk is highlighting the unique factors coming to X’s (formerly Twitter) FaceTime rival that he claims Apple’s offering just can’t match.

Taking to X, Musk highlighted a combination of three factors that are “unique” to X: Compatibility across iOS, Android, Mac & PC, No phone number is needed, and the fact that “X is the effective global address book.”

Musk’s statement would imply that X’s user base is the largest on the internet, giving users a new way of reaching out to a “global address book.” While X’s user base is vast, at around 400 million users, it doesn’t quite reach the size of other social networks like Instagram, with over one billion users, for example.

It’s a hyperbolic claim from Musk, but this is what we’ve come to expect since his purchase of Twitter last year. Musk thinks video & audio calls on X will be a game-changer for the social network, but we’ll have to wait for the feature to launch to see its potential.

Video & audio calls, so what? — iMore’s take

Elon Musk wants X to be the go-to place for your video & audio calls, displacing FaceTime and WhatsApp as the best options for calling your loved ones. Personally, this has absolutely no appeal to me, and the lack of need for a phone number to make a call makes the whole service a little uncomfortable.

Like most things Musk does, there’s a lack of information to explain how and why choices are being made. Earlier this month, Musk claimed that he wanted to remove the ability to block from X, and if that were to happen alongside the ability to make phone calls to other users without a phone number, then X would be a breeding ground for spam calls.

More options in tech are always a good thing, but whether or not Musk is wasting everyone’s time with more desultory promises is anyone’s guess.

If there's one thing that Google likes to complain about when it comes to iPhones, it's the lack of RCS support. The SMS replacement is similar to iMessage in a lot of ways, but Apple's Messages app doesn't support it. Google wishes it did, but now a new app is working around Apple to bring RCS to the iPhone.

RCS allows all the cool things like reactions, media, read receipts, and more. Apple hasn't added support for RCS to the messages app but that hasn't stopped one intrepid developer from doing it instead.

The only problem? It's only available in beta.

RCS, coming soon?

While Google continues to scold Apple for the lack of RCS support, the developers behind Beeper have gone ahead and created their own solution instead.

Android Authority reports that it's available in beta form with Beeper claiming that it works fine for sending and receiving things like emoji reactions. "The new capability even sends and shows tapbacks from iPhone users," the report says.

It isn't all sunshine and rainbows, though.

"That said, there are some known issues that Beeper is trying to fix," the report explains. "Display picture avatars don’t show up yet, past history is not fully synced up yet, read receipts are not supported for groups, and typing indicators are not yet active. We hope Beeper fixes these issues when the feature steps out of beta."

When that will actually happen remains to be seen and it's still quite different from Apple adding support for RCS proper. If iPhone owners are going to have to use a third-party app to get RCS, they might as well use other apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. That relies on their Android-toting friends and family doing the same of course, which might be more of an issue than it's worth.

When Instagram launched Threads to take on Twitter, it immediately grew to a huge number of users almost overnight. That number has since dwindled and one of the big reasons could well be the lack of a web version. That, it seems, is changing.

With Threads only being available via an app on a phone, using it at a computer is impossible. That's less than ideal and now a new report claims that Instagram is getting ready to fix that oversight.

What's more, it might be about to do it very soon indeed.

Did you lose your thread?

That's according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal which claims a Thread website could launch within days. However, the report also notes that sources believe “launch plans aren’t final and could change.”

However, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri had said previously that the company was working on bringing Threads to a web browser and had suggested that there was a plan to start "using an early version internally for a week or two" as of last week.

Whether that means that Instagram's early testing has gone well and the wider launch is around the corner, we'll have to hang fire to see. Is it also possible that the WSJ report is with reference to internal testing rather than a global launch? It's possible, but one thing is clear — Threads needs that web version if it is really going to compete with Twitter, now known as X.

For those who don't yet have Threads, it's a free download from the App Store. You can sign in with your Instagram account and get started straight away with no need for waitlists and whatnot, too. The downside? It isn't available in the EU at all over privacy concerns, and it turns out that canceling an account once open is perhaps more tricky than it should be.

Just when you thought that the world of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, couldn't get any stranger — owner Elon Musk just announced that the block feature is going away.

In a reply to a post asking the difference between a block and a mute, Musk said that he intends to remove the block feature, although it will remain for direct messages.

Predictably, the replies to the post announcing the news are full of people suggesting that might not be such a great idea.

'It makes no sense'

Musk made the revelation before adding that the block feature "makes no sense."

Quite what he means by that isn't clear, because while muting does, of course, stop users from seeing posts from others they don't want to see, that only works one way. If blocking is removed, there will no longer be a way to prevent other people from seeing your posts anymore.

Musk hasn't said when the block feature will be removed, and it's possible that he could change his mind before it actually happens. On a positive note, it's at least good to know that the ability to block direct messages will still remain — although that will be of little relief to those who don't want abusive exes and others to see their posts anymore and will have to make their accounts private to do so.

Some have suggested that Musk should put the ability to block accounts behind his X Premium subscription service, something that could help drive revenue in a way few other features have managed to.

We're not sure that putting privacy features behind a paywall is the way to go, but it's impossible to second-guess what will happen at X these days.

For now, we wait and see whether this is one of those things that Musk intends to actually do or if it popped into his head moments before sending making that post.

If you're a big Reddit user you're probably more than aware of the mess that resulted in tons of great third-party apps being shut down. One of those was the popular Apollo app, but now it seems to have a spiritual successor.

Winston is a new Reddit app that is currently only available in TestFlight beta form and it might never get much further than that for reasons we'll get to. But right now it's on the right track, is open source, and importantly, it works with Reddit's API.

Or at least, it does today.

Here today, gone tomorrow?

First, the good news. You can sign up for the beta and test Winston out right now. It isn't finished yet, hence the beta, and there are some features that just don't work yet. But they're on the way, as is some polish to various corners of the app. But even in its current state, we'd wager that Winston is a good alternative to the official Reddit app.

The developer appears to be taking inspiration from Apollo, which is no bad thing, and Winston will feel familiar to fans of the Apollo app. That's all good news.

But there's bad news, too. Starting with the API situation.

Apollo and similar apps went the way of the dodo because Reddit wanted to start charging huge sums of money for access to its API. That API is how apps connect to Reddit itself, and without it, they won't work. And because Apollo was so popular and it would need to access Reddit's API via its own API key a ton, its costs would have been astronomical.

Winston is getting around that by having people sign in using their own individual API key, which certainly works. At least, for now. Because single users can't possibly use the API enough to incur charges, the API fees don't apply. All good, right?

Well, no. As commenters in the Winston announcement thread in the r/apple subreddit note, it's likely to only be a matter of time before Reddit gets wind of what's happening and makes moves to shut Winston down. Which would suck, but also wouldn't be all that surprising.

But for now, Winston works. For how long, and whether it'll make it into the App Store, we can't possibly know.

X Premium, the subscription offering formerly known as Twitter Blue, is growing at a snail's pace despite Elon Musk's attempt to throw money at creators in an attempt to get people to sign up.

That's according to new figures which suggest that the number of people who have agreed to pay X's $8 per month subscription fee has only grown by a modest amount since July 1.

Ongoing income, via things like X Premium, is key to Musk's attempt to make X more profitable than the Twitter he bought for $44 billion in 2022. But it seems increasingly unlikely that X Premium will be the golden goose he'd been hoping for.

Where are all the subscribers?

Mashable reports on data collected by third-party researcher Travis Brown, with that data suggesting that fewer than 100,000 subscribers joined X Premium between July 1 and August 10.

Brown has been keeping tabs on active subscriptions to X Premium since the rebrand happened, and it won't make for good reading for Musk. X reportedly gained around 16,000 net new subscribers each week over the last six weeks. According to Brown, X Premium only has 827,000 users overall. 

This all comes as Musk and X continue to throw money at creators via a new system that sees them earn money based on the ads shown alongside their posts. Creators who want to take part in revenue sharing must pay for X Premium of course, but that doesn't seem to be driving new subscriptions.

"The data suggests that monetization has, thus far, failed to significantly move the needle for X Premium aka Twitter Blue subscribers," the report notes. "Especially when compared to subscription upticks based on Musk's previous moves, such as, ones that make the free version of X worse."

X Premium does offer more features than just revenue sharing for those with huge followings, however. A blue verification badge and the ability to post longer messages are included, as is an option to edit posts after they were posted.

Musk's change of name from Twitter to X continues to come under fire as well, with some arguing that he has ditched one of the world's most recognizable brands for something nondescript.

The world's smartest and most stable businessman Elon Musk has brought the artist formerly known as Twitter into sharp disrepute from both the neighbors of its HQ and the city of San Francisco after installing a massive strobe light in the shape of an X on the roof to celebrate the company's new branding. 

The social media outlet, which has famously been strapped for cash recently (who can imagine why?), has changed its name to X in a bizarre rebranding exercise that only the Tesla and Space X mogul could have thought up. After announcing that Twitter was changing its name to X last week, users spent days still able to "tweet", logging in to the "Twitter" app, and seeing the Twitter logo on its homepage. 

Now, Twitter is very much X, and has even managed to successfully change its name as such on the iOS App Store despite Apple's band on one-character app names, and the company has erected a giant strobe light on the roof to celebrate. Now, Twitter's neighbors are furious, and the city of San Francisco isn't best pleased either. 

Shout out to my X

"I would be f*****g LIVID. Imagine this f*****g X sign right across from your bedroom," quipped one user who tweeted a video of the outrageously bright sign that now adorns the roof of X HQ, lighting up the entire building opposite like the Death Star. 

San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection went to the headquarters on Friday night to demand answers, reports The New York Times, but the offending strobe light was quite operational when the inspector arrived. 

According to NYT, Patrick Hannan, a spokesman for the department, stated that "a building permit is required to make sure the sign is structurally sound and installed safely,“ and that "planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign.”

The company has been notified that it is in violation of city code and has been asked to give access to the roof for an inspection. For its part, Twitter has told the city that it was a "temporary lighted sign for an event", but denied a second attempt by inspectors to access the roof on Saturday. 

"This whole Twitter rebranding is going from nonsensical, to stupid, to downright insane," said one angry user. "This is the new Twitter, or X, or whatever it's called now, sign seen from an apartment near the HQ. Are you kidding me? This is absurd and I'm sure it's illegal."

Elon Musk’s renaming of Twitter to X is well and truly underway, but he hit a roadblock over the weekend when it was discovered that Apple's App Store rules require apps to have at least two characters in their name. But that doesn’t seem to have been a problem after all.

Those with Twitter installed on their iPhones and iPads will notice that they now have a new app update available to them — and it has a brand-new name.

Twitter is dead. Long live X, although Apple might have some questions to answer about how that actually came about.

 One rule for Musk?

The fun all started when Bleeping Computer reported over the weekend that Apple’s own App Store rules meant that the X app name simply wasn’t available. While Twitter had already been renamed to X on the Google Play Store, it remained 'Twitter' on Apple platforms. The reason was simple — apps must have at least two characters in their name. 'X' is one character shy, so it couldn’t happen.

Except, fast-forward 48 hours and here we are. Twitter has been replaced by X in the App Store and on countless devices around the globe. Quite how that happened remains to be seen, but it would appear that someone at Apple may have manually allowed X through the review process. Whether that was the result of conversations higher up the food chain, we don’t know. But we do know that Apple's App Store doesn't permit apps to have a single character name, and some developers aren't happy about it. "Someone got special treatment" one developer quipped. 

What we also know is that Elon Musk spent time being shown around Apple Park by none other than CEO Tim Cook last December. There is clearly a line of communication there, even if Elon Musk doesn't really like Apple or its App Store policies. Maybe that was leveraged to help kill off the Twitter name for good.

We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post if and when we hear back.

Twitter's rebrand to 'X' has been a topic of debate all week, with some being delighted at it, while many are confused because of the awkward transition. The newest snag this rebrand has hit is coming from the App Store. It appears that Twitter is unable to rename itself to X in the App Store listing because of Apple's App Store rules.

Twitter has already changed its name to X on the Google Play Store, but despite the listing page overhaul on the App Store, the name of the app itself remains Twitter. This is likely because of Apple's App Store naming guidelines.

X may need more words to change App Store name

Nick Sheriff noted on Twitter that this snag could be a result of Apple's App Store rule that does not allow one character names. App names need to be two characters or more, which means that there currently isn't a way for Twitter to change the name to X on the App Store.

However, some apps use a subtitle after the app name, and that may be Twitter's way out of this situation. For example, YouTube is named "YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream" on the App Store, even though it doesn't need to have a subtitle. Twitter could adapt a similar naming style and go for something like "X:  The Everything App" (whatever that means), since that's the phrase being thrown around with this rebrand.

Apple hasn't bent the App Store naming guidelines for anybody since inception, and it's unlikely that X will be an exception. Even though Apple has made exceptions in other aspects, it doesn't seem like something that may happen given the whimsical nature of Twitter under the new management. 

It will be clear in the coming days what approach Twitter and Apple take. In the meantime, Twitter will remain named Twitter on the App Store on all the best iPhones out there.

Elon Musk's quest to ditch the Twitter name and replace it with X continues after the social network picked up the coveted @X username. But despite some assuming that its previous owner would be in for a big payday, all they got was some merch and a promise of a meeting with someone at the company.

While not necessarily allowed by Twitter's terms of service, accounts have been known to change hands for cold hard cash over the years. Single-character names like @X are particularly sought after and Twitter's branding change could have made this account owner pretty rich. But Twitter just up and took the account instead.

"They just took it essentially – kinda what I thought might happen," the account's previous owner said in an interview following the loss of his username.

Free X

In an interview with The Telegraph, the previous @X owner said that he received an email from Twitter reminding him that the account was never his in the first place — it was always owned by Twitter and simply loaned out, as is the case with all of our usernames for that matter.

Gene X Hwang, a photographer in San Francisco, said that he'd been offered some merch by way of recompense, although it isn't clear what was on offer. A meeting with the company's management was also offered, but nobody has said what that was supposed to be about.

As for Hwang, he now has a new username to tweet from although it's fair to say that @x12345678998765 isn't quite as snappy as his old one.

Twitter's rebrand comes as Musk tries to turn the short-form messaging service into a WeChat-like everything app. If he gets his way we can expect Twitter to start offering in-app payments, improved video support, and more moving forward.

Threads is a text-based Twitter rival from Meta, the company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. At its launch in July 2023, it became not just the fastest-growing social network ever but the fastest-growing app of all time. 

Threads reached 100 million downloads in just five days, equivalent to 231 downloads a second during that entire time. There's no need to wallow in FOMO, though, because signing up and getting started only takes a couple of minutes. What's more, you might find you already have a fat stack of followers waiting for you. 

Signing up for Threads is easy if you already have an Instagram account. You’ll be asked if you want to import the list of accounts you follow into Threads. Others will have been asked this, too, and it's a great way to build up your follower count early on.

Here's how to get started with the newest social media platform, Threads.

How to post on Threads

Threads is, at present, a very simple app. There’s not all that much to it, for better and worse. Here’s how to get started with a post.

• Tap the pen and paper icon
• Type in your post
• Tap the paper clip if you want to add a photo or video to your post
• Select Anyone Can Reply if you want to limit responses to people you follow, or only people mentioned in the post
• Tap Post

How to customize the Threads app experience

We expect to see more features added to the Threads app over the coming months, but there’s one neat extra you should try already.

• Tap the bottom right Profile nav bar shortcut
• Tap the top-right Settings Icon
• Select Account, then Take a Break
• Select the reminder time, from 10 minutes to 30 minutes

This feature, called Take a Break, gives you a nudge whenever you spend a pre-selected amount of time on the app in one go. It’s a sensible way to nudge yourself out of mindless scrolling, which is all too easy to do on Instagram. 

You can also make your Threads feed a better place to be by blocking words. In Settings > Privacy > Hidden Words, you’ll find the control that hides potentially offensive words and phrases. This is switched on by default, so be sure to turn it off if you like to see the odd swear.

The custom hidden word menu just below this is more useful. I tend to use tools like this when followers are going off about a subject in which I have no interest, perhaps a sports tournament, or when I want to avoid video game or movie spoilers. 

Threads also lets you Mute, Restrict and Block entire accounts. To do so, head to their account and tap the three-pip Settings menu a the top right of the screen, which brings up all three of these options. Here’s what they mean. 

• Mute - This account’s posts will no longer appear in your feed
• Restrict - You won’t be able to see any comments or messages from this account, but they are still able to post them
• Block - This account won’t be able to see your content, and any comments and likes made on your posts will be removed

Threads, Instagram's newest social media app, has just received its first major update with some much-requested features, although not the ones we're all waiting for.

In a Threads post, developer Cameron Roth revealed the new additions to the social media app, including a Follows tab on the activity feed. Don't get confused between a Follows tab and the much-requested followers-only view in the main tab. This Follows tab can be found in the Activity tab and shows the people that have followed you.

The update also adds translations which should be rolling out to all users throughout the next few days as well as other features like the ability to subscribe to unfollowed users, loading improvements, and the ability to open a user's Instagram followers list. 

Threading a legacy, one update at a time

Threads only launched a couple of weeks ago and already has well over 100 million users worldwide. The app, which is Meta's take on a Twitter rival, has proven to be a huge success so far, with big companies and social media influencers taking to the platform.

Twitter hasn't been as big a fan, with Elon Musk adding new ad payments for influencers and tweeting angrily at Mark Zuckerberg since the Threads launch. The bad blood between the two doesn't stop there, with both agreeing to fight in an MMA cage at some point.

Threads is set to become the next generation of social media apps, taking advantage of the turmoil at Twitter and Reddit following major business decisions like closing third-party apps that have left users baffled and annoyed.

There is still a long way to go, however, with a lack of accessibility features and other big ommissions like a way to only see Threads from your followed accounts. Meta has said that more updates will be coming, but we'll have to wait a little longer.

If you haven't signed up to Threads yet, be sure to follow our how-to and give @imoregram a follow.

Social video app TikTok has announced that it is bringing passkey support to the iPhone, making it easier and safer for people to sign into it.

Passkeys are a new security and sign-in option that removes the need for the traditional username and password combinations that we're used to. Instead, passkeys use biometric measures to ensure accounts remain secure.

TikTok announced that it's starting to roll passkey support out this month, although only in specific parts of the world initially with more to come.

Security first

TikTok announced the new security feature via a blog post, saying that "passkey authentication works by using public-private key cryptography techniques." Users identify themselves using Touch ID, or on Apple's best iPhones, Face ID. TikTok and other apps cannot access the biometric data that is saved when creating a passkey, ensuring they remain private.

TikTok also confirmed that it is now part of the FIDO Alliance, the outfit that helps develop authentication standards.

“Passwords are a hindrance to security and user experience that are long past their expiration date – which is why the FIDO Alliance has created open standards for passwordless authentication that are being utilized by leading service providers to allow consumers to have easier access to leading online services such as TikTok,” Andrew Shikiar, FIDO Alliance Executive Director, said via the blog post.

TikTok says that it's launching passkey support in Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America this month and expects to expand it to more markets "over time." It also shared new details on how to set up a passkey within TikTok once the time comes.

TikTok isn't the first to add support for passkeys of course. Apple.com already does, while PayPal also added passkey support previously, along with 1Password. 

Passkeys was introduced in iOS 16, set to be replaced in September when iOS 17 rolls out alongside the new iPhone 15. 

Twitter has launched its Creator Ads Revenue Sharing program in order to entice creators to stay on the platform following the launch of Instagram's Threads.

Meta's Threads app launched last week and racked up over 100 million users in just a few days. Now, the threat of a competitor looks to have forced Twitter into an interesting move.

On Thursday, Twitter shared the new program in a tweet, "We’re expanding our creator monetization offering to include ads revenue sharing for creators. This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue, starting in the replies to their posts. This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter."

Since that tweet, large Twitter accounts have begun sharing their first Creative Ads Revenue Sharing payment with some numbers shockingly large.

Billy Markus, the founder of Dogecoin, shared his first revenue payment for his 2.1 million follower account, where he earned a staggering $37,050.

Other users on the platform, like Benny Johnson and Ashley St. Clair, have also shared their revenue with payments of $9,546 and $7,153 respectively. St. Clair goes into more detail, highlighting that her 711,000 follower account had 328 million tweet impressions in the last 28 days. "These are awesome payout numbers & I encourage every single creator to share their content here"

Your move, Threads

It looks like Elon Musk took the launch of Threads personally and decided that an ad revenue platform for Twitter was the way to entice creators to stay on his platform. The Twitter Creator Ads Revenue Sharing platform requires you to subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations and have at least 5m impressions on posts in the last 3 months to be eligible.

We'll see if Threads and Zuckerberg respond to incentivize creators to get on board with Threads as their main social media platform, although that will be tricky, considering the app currently doesn't have any ads, among other huge omissions. 

Either way, if you're an influencer, this battle to become the supreme text social media app looks like it could line your wallets and make for some huge paydays.

It's a well-known fact that Apple charges a 30% cut of all in-app purchases and it's something that it has gotten plenty of criticism for over the years. But for the most part app developers pay it. But not always.

The Epic Games case that saw Fortnite kicked out of the App Store for bypassing Apple's 30% cut is legendary at this point but there might be another huge company pushing its luck. That company, it seems, is Tesla.

As one report notes, Tesla offers a subscription service via its iPhone app that should possibly be run through the App Store in-app purchase system, giving Apple its cut. But it isn't, and the only way to pay is via credit card or Apple Pay. So what gives?

Tricky business

The report in question comes from Gizmodo and it accuses Tesla of "dodging Apple's 30% App Store tax." And it all revolves around a Connectivity Packages subscription.

"Tesla offers drivers a tier of premium features called 'Connectivity Packages' that costs $9.99 a month," the report points out. "The package unlocks a number of functions and perks including a satellite view map in the car’s console, a web browser for your car’s dashboard, and several others." Part of that package is a View Live Camera feature that allows iPhone owners to see what's going on around their car and that, the report believes, means that Apple's App Store rules apply.

Apple doesn't require its in-app purchase system to be used if a purchase relates to content exclusively consumed or related to another device. But that doesn't appear to apply in this case. What's more, Apple has a clause that covers this situation. It says that apps that "work in combination with an approved physical product (such as a toy) on an optional basis may unlock functionality without using in-app purchase," but goes on to say that its in-app purchase system must be an option. In the case of Tesla, it isn't.

Whether Tesla and Apple have some sort of understanding here isn't clear, nor is it possible that there is some nuance that's being missed here.

Gizmodo notes that neither company responded to a request for comment.

Instagram's Threads, an app that appears to have launched in an attempt to compete with Twitter, now has more than 100 million users.

The number, which was reached within just five days following last week's go-live, was confirmed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It was also confirmed by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri.

However, neither have confirmed how many people are actively using the service which might suggest that the figure is considerably lower than the 100 million mark.

Mosseri's Threads post suggests that even he didn't expect 100 million people to join Threads so quickly.

"100 million people signed up for Threads in five days," Mosseri said. "I’m not sure I can wrap my mind around that fact. It’s insane; I can’t make sense of it."

Zuckerberg's thoughts were similar to Mosseri's, with his Threads post saying that he "can't believe it's only been 5 days" since the service went live.

Signing up to Threads is of course extremely simple if you already have an Instagram account, something that could have helped the Twitter competitor reach such a high number in such a short period of time. It's still very early days for Threads and it will now be up to Zuckerberg and Mosseri to make sure it builds on this early momentum.

It'll have to do it in an environment where Twitter owner Elon Musk isn't taking the competition too well. He's already taken legal action, claiming that Instagram hired former Twitter employees and is using trade secrets against it.

As for Threads, you can try it out for yourself now. It's available in more than 100 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, but plenty of countries are not currently supported. E.U. member countries are excluded over regulatory concerns related to the use of users' data.

The next big social media application is here as Meta's Instagram Threads looks to take pride of place on your iPhone.

Threads, Meta's rival to Twitter with text-based communication and short replies, has finally arrived, and it looks to be a hit already, with over 10 million users in just a few hours after launch.

Signing up for Threads is very simple, thanks to its integration with Instagram, but that means you need to have an Instagram account. This how-to presumes you're one of the one billion Instagram users worldwide. If you are, here's how to sign up for Threads.

How to sign up for Threads, an Instagram app.

1. Download Instagram Threads on the App Store (the app is available on iOS and Android in over 100 countries at launch)
2. The app will show your Instagram username as soon as you launch for the first time
3. Import your Profile Pic and Bio from Instagram, or write your own, you can't pick a different username to your Instagram account

4. Select whether you want a Public profile or a Private Profile
5. Threads will show all the accounts you follow on Instagram, choose to Follow all or select manually
6. Tap Join Threads

Signing up for Threads is incredibly simple thanks to its Instagram integration. That's probably one of the main factors as to why the user base has grown so quickly as it takes seconds to set up your account.

Threads is here to take over

Threads is set to become the next generation of social media apps after the recent turmoil of Twitter and Reddit has pushed users away from the platforms. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes he can capitalize on the current state of social media applications to take control of Twitter's market share.

The app feels fluid and fun to use, albeit a little barebones. You can check your feed, write new threads, search for users, and check your followers from the bottom of the app in a very similar way to Instagram. None of it is rocket science, and you'll feel right at home if you've used Instagram for years.

Now you've signed up for Threads, start following your friends and family as well as public profiles like @imoregram, and if you want to follow a how-to wizz, I'm also on the platform @jadisotto. See you there.

Instagram's Twitter rival, Threads, already has more than 30 million users despite only being available for a matter of days, according to Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Threads launched earlier today and allows users to post short messages of up to 500 characters. Threads is an attempt to capitalize on Twitter's turmoil following the acquisition by Elon Musk last year, and it looks like users are already on board.

Zuckerberg says the key to the platform's success will be its friendliness. In a reply on the Threads app asking if "Anyone think this can become bigger than Twitter!?" Zuckerberg replied, "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."

Threads is now available in over 100 countries, including the U.S and the U.K, but anyone in Europe will have to wait because of regulatory concerns to do with the data being used by the app, which according to the App Store may include health, financial, and browsing data linked to users' identities.

The start of an endless thread

Meta says that the current version of Threads is an "initial version," and the company says, "Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text,"

Despite over 10 million sign-ups thanks to the easy integration with Instagram, there have been minor issues, particularly for those running iOS 17 developer beta. Obviously, anyone that uses a beta expects crashing, but currently, some users are unable to create a thread with images or manually select who they want to follow during sign-up.

These issues should be ironed out fairly quickly, either with an update to the Threads app or with the launch of iOS 17 Public Beta later this month. As it stands, Threads is on the right path to becoming one of the best apps on iPhone.

Instagram's new app, Threads, is set to launch on July 6 and we can't wait to try out Meta's Twitter rival.

Meta describes the new social media platform as a "text-based conversation app" and hopes to strike while the iron is hot with users getting sick and tired of Twitter since Elon Musk purchased the platform last year.

But you don't need to wait until July 6 to register your interest thanks to a cool easter egg added to Instagram. Here's how to get your very own Threads invite in the Instagram app.

How to Pre-register for Threads on iOS

Meta, the owners of Facebook, are going all out with the release of Threads as it hopes to convince a large portion of Instagram's 1 billion users to jump onto the new platform. Get your invite now by following the steps below:

1. Open Instagram
2. Type Threads into the search bar
3. A red ticket emoji will appear in the search bar, click it
4. Your own virtual ticket with your Threads username will appear
5. Tap Get Threads

This method only works for iOS users with an Instagram account. If you want a Threads account without Instagram, head to the App Store and search for Threads, an Instagram app. Once you've pre-registered your iPhone will notify you as soon as the app is available to download.

Threads is coming

Threads could be the Twitter alternative we've been waiting for, as its direct integration with Instagram means that there is a mainstream audience to begin with. I use Twitter for sports news, and one of the problems apps like Mastodon and Blue Sky have is the lack of content from mainstream journalists and news outlets. Meta and Threads could change that on Thursday, as you'll be able to easily follow your Instagram followers on the app. 

We can't wait to see if Threads lives up to the hype and cements itself as one of the best apps for iPhone. 

Elon Musk's Twitter 2.0 seems to be going well. As July started, a lot of users found Twitter unable to load, with many reporting an error message which said that the user had reached their "rate limit." Musk later announced that Twitter had started rate-limiting users in an apparent attempt to prevent "data scraping."

The initial limits seem to have been revised multiple times since then, but Twitter's rate limiting still seems to be active. Twitter Blue subscribers also seem to be rate limited, although not as badly as non-paying users.

Twitter begins limiting access to the platform

The rate limit began at 6000 posts per day for verified accounts, 600 posts a day for unverified accounts, and 300 posts a day for new unverified accounts. Musk then announced they had changed the limits to 8,000, 800, and 400, and again to 10,000, 1,000, and 500.

There has been a lot of discourse over this, mostly blasting this decision to limit Twitter usage. Twitter has famously had an issue turning revenue through advertising, and many users were quick to point out that limiting usage isn't great for advertising.

There are also theories about how this is related to Twitter's pending Google Cloud fees. Apparently, the contract was due for renewal on June 30th, and some industry experts have said that this new policy could be a result of Twitter's usage getting throttled. 

Another issue seemed to be that by imposing this rate limit, Twitter had accidentally started a self-DDoS, where the site was sending repeated requests to load data that it itself had limited, leading to the site DDoS-ing itself.

There are a whole lot of other inconsistencies as well, with the limits not working in the same manner for every user. Users have already begun figuring out ways to bypass it as well. Regardless, it seems like Twitter is going to become tougher to use in the coming days.

Meta is making changes to three of its biggest brands in an attempt to make them safer for young people. New parental controls are coming to Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

Some of these changes are designed to try and make sure that teenagers don't spend longer on the platforms than they should, while others are all about giving parents a better understanding of what their teens are up to on those platforms.

All of the new features are rolling out starting today, although there are some location limitations to take into consideration.

New Messenger tools

The changes were confirmed in a press release with Meta saying that "parents and guardians can access Messenger supervision tools and resources from leading experts to support their teens through the Meta Family Center."

The feature, called Parental Supervision on Messenger, is available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada starting today and the company plans to expand it to other countries in the coming months.

"These tools allow parents to see how their teen uses Messenger, from how much time they’re spending on messaging to providing information about their teen’s message settings," the statement reads. "These tools do not allow parents to read their teen’s messages."

Better Instagram privacy

Meta also says that it is working to protect people from unwanted Instagram DMs so it's testing new features that will limit how people can interact with and message other people who don't already follow them on the platform.

"Before being able to message someone who doesn’t follow them, people must now send an invite to get their permission to connect," the statement says. "People can only send one invite at a time and can’t send more until the recipient accepts the invitation to connect." Those message requests are limited to just text, too.

Soft Facebook time limits

Finally, Meta says that Facebook will soon start seeing notifications that warn them when they've spent 20 minutes on the social network. They'll be prompted to take a step back, although they won't be blocked from plowing on.

"We’re also exploring a new nudge on Instagram that suggests teens close the app if they are scrolling Reels at night," Meta says.

There are other changes including some additional parental supervision features on Instagram and you can of course read all about them in that Meta blog post.

As Reddit continues to deal with the mess created by high API prices, CEO Steve Huffman has written to employees to seemingly downplay the impact of network-wide subreddit closures are having.

When it became clear that the prices Reddit will charge for access to its API will put apps like Apollo (one of the best Reddit apps around) out of business, many subreddit moderators said that they would act. That meant that subreddits under their control would "go dark," or effectively be made private so that nobody could see or post to them.

The protest doesn't seem to have worried Huffman, though. And he says that the whole furor will pass.

No significant revenue impact

In an email to employees leaked to The Verge, Huffman said that he expects that many of the subreddits that are now dark will come back online on Wednesday. However, since Huffman's comments, it already appears that some have changed their plans — and their subreddits will remain dark indefinitely.

Not that Huffman will be worried. "We have not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor," he told employees, adding that "there’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen."

Continuing, Huffman says that "like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well." But with an impending IPO on the table, does Huffman have the time that he needs for that to happen?

While suggesting that everything is being blown out of proportion, Huffman does go on to say that people "please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations."

It goes without saying that Reddit's employees aren't the ones making these API decisions and as such shouldn't be on the receiving end of any of the frustration currently being caused by Huffman and this API call.

It's been quite the 12 months for Twitter and things are set to change yet more since the appointment of a new CEO.

Linda Yaccarino took over from previous CEO Elon Musk, and with the Tesla CEO still Twitter's owner, it remains to be seen how much of an impact she'll be allowed to have. But she's starting off strong, saying that she already has plans for "Twitter 2.0."

Those plans were outlined in a Twitter thread in which Yaccarino shared her vision for the future of Twitter.

Twitter 2.0

The BBC reports that the email thread was also emailed to the Twitter employees who remain.

In the thread the new CEO said that it's "also becoming clear that the global town square needs transformation" and it appears that Twitter will be the company to do it.

"Enter Twitter 2.0," Yaccarino says.

The thread continues, saying that "Twitter is on a mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication," before adding that the claim is "not an empty promise."

But it remains to be seen how well that new mission will jive with the whims of Elon Musk — a man who has been known to throw his weight behind conspiracy theories here and there, especially on his social platform of choice — Twitter.

All eyes will now be on Twitter's erstwhile advertisers, a group of people who have been spooked ever since Twitter was sold to Musk in late 2022. Since then Musk has reinstated various Twitter accounts that had previously been banned for spreading misinformation — something Twitter 2.0 apparently won't stand for.

The only real question now is perhaps the obvious one — will Yaccarino be allowed to do her job, or will Musk take back control sooner rather than later?

Twitter has pulled out of an EU voluntary Code of Practice that was designed to help prevent the spread of misinformation.

While Twitter is yet to confirm the move, the EU's internal market commissioner shared the news in a tweet. However, this doesn't absolve Twitter of its responsibilities, Thierry Breton confirmed in the same tweet.

"But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide," Breton said, adding that fighting disinformation will be a legal requirement as of August 25, 2023.

'Our teams will be ready for enforcement'

In what was surely a shot across the bow of Twitter and owner Elon Musk, Breton also said that the EU's "teams will be ready for enforcement."

The BBC notes that dozens of companies voluntarily signed up for the code including some big names like Meta and Google. It was first launched in June of 2022 with the aim of preventing the spread of fake news and promoting transparency.

Neither of those things appears to be on the agenda at Twitter. The BBC reminds us that Twitter once had a team dedicated to dealing with disinformation. But with workers either having resigned or laid off, it isn't clear where Twitter stands in terms of its will or ability to ensure fake news doesn't spread across its social network like wildfire.

However, it might not have a choice. The Digital Services Act will come into effect on August 25, making it a legal requirement for companies with more than 45 million monthly active users to comply with laws surrounding misinformation.

"The law will mean Twitter will have to have a mechanism for users to flag illegal content, act upon notifications 'expeditiously' and put in measures to address the spread of disinformation," the BBC adds.

It remains to be seen what Twitter will actually do when faced with the EU's requirements.

The owner of FaceBook, Meta, has been ordered to pay $1.3 billion in a massive fine after it was discovered that the company was sending its user's data from Europe to the United States.

The fine, according to the BBC,  comes from Irelands Data Protection Commission (DPC), and is the "largest imposed under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation privacy law."

It's all down to the EU's GDPR rules that companies have to comply with if they want to do business within the European Union, and want to transfer user data out of Europe.

Big problem, big fine

The breaches in question see Meta send EU residents' data to the US, where EU regulatory boards are worried that it will be seen and used by US intelligence and leave users open to the US's less stringent privacy laws.

Facebook and Meta use SSC, or 'standard contractual clauses' that store data and allow it to be sent from Europe to the US. Meta says that "We are therefore disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe." The data was being transferred for ad use.

Those SSCs have been allowed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), as long as there were sufficient protections in place for EU residents' data – it is here that Meta has been found lacking.

The battle has been 10 years in the making, and this is a landmark victory for privacy bodies in the EU. While Meta wants to fight the ruling, the case has been lauded by experts as something that will set a precedent for similar cases in the future. Some, however, think that Meta will not change its ways, and instead continue with the same practices that netted it this record braking fine.

Have you ever wondered how to delete an Instagram account? Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps on the planet and gives us many reasons to love seeing photos of our friends and our favorite celebrities.

Like every social media app, there are times when we either need a break or want to delete the service for good. Luckily, it's pretty easy to delete an Instagram account, and you can do it on your iPhone or on a web browser.

Here's how to delete an Instagram account in just a few steps.

How to delete an Instagram account on iPhone

There used to only be one way to delete an Instagram account, and that was using a Mac or PC via a web browser. Now, Instagram makes it much easier to delete or deactivate an account directly from the app on your iPhone. Here's how to do it.

1. Open Instagram
2. Head to your profile and tap the burger icon in the top right
3. Tap Settings and privacy

4. Tap Accounts Centre
5. Select Personal details and then Account ownership and control
6. Follow the steps for Deactivation or deletion

Keep in mind once you've followed through with deletion all your posts, comments, likes, and followers will be removed. This is a permanent decision. 

If you opt to deactivate your Instagram account, you'll be able to return to the platform whenever you choose as long as you remember your login details.

Once you've followed the steps and agreed to the terms of deletion or deactivation, you're now set to get on with your life, Instagram free. If you don't have access to an iPhone and want to delete an Instagram account, you can do so via Mac or PC.

How to delete an Instagram account on Mac

1. Launch your web browser of choice and head to Instagram's Delete Your Account page
2. Login with your account details
3. Tell Instagram why you've chosen to delete your account by selecting an option from the dropdown menu
4. Type in your password to confirm the deletion

5. Click Permanently delete my account
6. Click OK to confirm the deletion

An Instagram free life

So you've deleted Instagram, and now you feel incredibly liberated. What now? Well, the best iPhones on the market have incredible cameras, and you don't need an app like Instagram to share your photos. 

If you want to get the best out of your iPhone's camera, check out iMore's Ultimate Guide for the Camera app. Before you know it, you'll be social media free and your camera roll will be filled with beautiful photography.

Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk says that he is going to stay true to his word and step down as the head of the company he bought for $44 billion in 2022.

While Musk will still be the owner, he says he'll be handing over the CEO title to someone new in around six weeks or so. The move comes after Musk ran a poll in December 2022 that asked whether he should step aside. More than 57% of the 15.8 million voters said that he should. Now, six months later, it's happening.

Musk has so far refused to say who will be taking the top job, but one name has already taken its place at the top of the list — and it's one that could help Twitter find new ways to make money from ads.

It's happening

While some had wondered whether Musk would actually step down, it seems that he is indeed doing so — with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Linda Yaccarino will be the one to take over.

Linda Yaccarino is NBCUniversal's current head of advertising and has been with the company for more than a decade. In her time there Yaccarino "has been an industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising," the report notes. "As head of NBCU’s advertising sales, she was key in the launch of the company’s ad-supported Peacock streaming service."

It doesn't take too much imagination to see why Musk might find Yaccarino to be someone worth taking a look at. However, it'll be interesting to see how a possible renewed focus on ads will jive with Twitter Blue's feature that reduces the number of ads shown to subscribers.

Musk says that he will still be executive chair at Twitter while also acting as CTO "overseeing product, software & sysops."

As for how this pans out from here remains to be seen. But with Tesla shareholders already voicing concerns that Twitter is a distraction for their own CEO this will surely be good news for them.

The Twitter that we see today is almost unrecognizable from the one that Elon Musk bought for $44 billion in late 2022 and now the social network has launched a new feature that was promised way back then — encrypted direct messages.

The new encrypted DMs have now gone live for the first time with people able to choose whether they actually want to use it when creating a new thread. What's more, they can also choose to send an encrypted message via a thread that was previously unencrypted.

And it's all live now — assuming you're willing to pay for it.

No encryption for you

Twitter has a new support page that explains how encrypted DMs work, and while it's very wordy it does do its best at getting the job done. "Twitter seeks to be the most trusted platform on the internet, and encrypted Direct Messages are an important part of that," the page starts.

It then sets out the plan. "As Elon Musk said, when it comes to Direct Messages, the standard should be, if someone puts a gun to our heads, we still can’t access your messages," the page continues before admitting that it isn't "quite there yet." Still, encrypted messages are here.

However, they're only available if both the sender and recipient of the DM happen to be verified. That could mean they're part of a verified organization or, more likely, that they're paying for Twitter Blue.

As for how it's encrypted, Twitter's explanation is that it will "generate a pair of device specific keys, called private and public key pair." It goes on, adding that "the public key is automatically registered when a user logs into Twitter on a new device or browser;  the private key never leaves the device and therefore is never communicated to Twitter."

From there, we learn that there's also "a per conversation key that is used to encrypt the content of messages. The private-public key pairs are used to exchange the conversation key securely between participating devices."

Of course, none of that matters if you aren't paying for Twitter, and, if reports are true, few people actually are.

Facebook Messenger users who also happen to wear an Apple Watch are going to have to start using their iPhone to send messages soon, it seems.

While neither Facebook nor Meta have officially announced anything it appears that Messenger will no longer be available as an Apple Watch app come the end of May 2023. Users will of course continue to receive notifications from the iPhone that their Apple Watch is paired with, but the ability to reply to messages will be stripped out.

Sending messages afresh will also no longer be available once the Apple Watch app has been canned.

A stealthy removal

With no official press release from Meta or Facebook, this news has instead come via a message that some Apple Watch users have received from the Messenger app itself. What's more, not all users have received it which suggests some may be left surprised that the app has been killed off.

PiunkaWebreports that some people have received an alert warning them that the Messenger app will become unavailable after May 31.

"After May 31st, Messenger won't be available as an Apple Watch app, but you can still use Messenger notifications on your watch," the message reads.

In a statement given to Reviewgeek, Facebook confirmed the move.

"People can still receive Messenger notifications on their Apple Watch when paired, but starting at the end of May they will no longer be able to respond from their watch," the statement reads. "But they can continue using Messenger on their iPhone, desktop, and the web.”

It isn't clear why Facebook has taken this decision, but it's an interesting one given the ongoing tension between Apple and Meta. As is so often the case it's Facebook users who suffer, whatever the reason. With so many instant messaging platforms available perhaps now is a good time to consider switching.

Elon Musk has announced a host of new features coming to Twitter, including encrypted DMs, and voice and video chat similar to Apple's FaceTime.

In a tweet sent to his 139 million followers, Musk said that the Twitter app will soon allow users to call any other handle on the platform "so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number." 

Musk didn't expand on this feature, although privacy concerns will be at the forefront of discussion, especially considering the continuous overhaul that Twitter has received daily since he purchased the platform for $44 billion in October 2022.

Alongside the new FaceTime competitor, Musk announced that encrypted direct messages should be hitting the social media app this week. He said, "Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow (May 11th). This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head."

Again, encrypted direct messages on what feels like a rogue platform in its current state will be heralded as a genius move by some users and terrifying by others.

Twitter's new identity

Adding voice and video calling alongside encrypted direct messages bring features to Twitter that could see the platform regain its mojo. That being said, it will be interesting to see if users trust the privacy of these features considering the constant chop and change and unrest at Twitter since Musk's takeover. If they are a success, the Twitter app for iPhone will fit right at home on all the best iPhones. 

We won't have to wait long to test out encrypted DMs, but voice and video calls have an unannounced timeline. That means we could be waiting months to hear about the feature again, or it could drop tomorrow. One thing's for sure, Elon Musk loves to make big promises, and allowing Twitter users to call anyone on the platform could be the biggest one yet.