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Windows developers can now publish apps to Microsoft’s store without fees

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft is allowing developers to submit apps to its Windows store without having to pay any onboarding fees. Individual developers in nearly 200 countries can now sign up to publish apps on the Microsoft Store with just a personal Microsoft account, and no more one-time fees. Microsoft

PKM apps need to get better at resurfacing information

I’m a happy user of a number of apps that can be classified under the nebulous category of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) software: Obsidian (note taking) Things (task management) Drafts (quick capture) Readwise Reader (RSS and read-later) Raindrop (bookmarking and archiving) These apps allow me to work with vast amounts of digital information. They let me: Quickly capture information from my computer or physical environment Organize captured data using categories and/or tags Conne

5 ways to run Windows apps on MacOS - and 2 are free

Jack Wallen/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways If you're a MacOS user, you can still run Windows apps. These tools make it possible to run hundreds of thousands of apps. Some of the above apps are free, but some aren't. If you're a MacOS user, and you have a particular Windows-only app you need to run, you're in luck. There are several options for running Windows apps on MacOS, each of which is easy to do and some of which are actually free.

iPhone dumbphone

September 2025 I used Apple Configurator to turn my iPhone into a dumb phone. I can only access the apps and websites I want to use, and it’s feeling great! Compared to when I started I’m saving about 2 hours of screen time a day. If I kept this up for a month I promised to write a post about this setup. It’s now two months so here’s my post. What follows is a backstory, observations, and a how-to-guide. To get straight to the how-to-guide, click here. Motivation It’s common to rack up 4 ho

iPhone Dumbphone

September 2025 I used Apple Configurator to turn my iPhone into a dumb phone. I can only access the apps and websites I want to use, and it’s feeling great! Compared to when I started I’m saving about 2 hours of screen time a day. If I kept this up for a month I promised to write a post about this setup. It’s now two months so here’s my post. What follows is a backstory, observations, and a how-to-guide. To get straight to the how-to-guide, click here. Motivation It’s common to rack up 4 ho

Yes, you can run Windows apps on Linux - here are my top 5 ways

ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. In the decades that I've been using Linux, I have not needed a single Windows app because Linux has all the software I require. However, I understand that some people aren't that lucky. You might be one who has a Windows-only application you need to do your job or school, or it's a game you'd love to play. Also: Forget Windows 11: Nobara Linux is the OS for everyone Fortunately, Linux has several ways you can get that Windows app r

MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OS

Supported Smart Glasses Works with Even Realities G1, Mentra Mach 1, Mentra Live. See smart glasses compatibility list here. Apps on Mentra Store The Mentra Store already has a ton of useful apps that real users are running everyday. Here are some apps already published by developers on the Mentra Store: Write Once, Run on Any Smart Glasses MentraOS is how developers build smart glasses apps. We handle the pairing, connection, data streaming, and cross-compatibility, so you can focus on cre

Researchers find alarming overlaps among 18 popular VPNs

A new peer-reviewed study alleges that 18 of the 100 most-downloaded virtual private network (VPN) apps on the Google Play Store are secretly connected in three large families, despite claiming to be independent providers. The paper doesn't indict any of our picks for the best VPN , but the services it investigates are popular, with 700 million collective downloads on Android alone. The study, published in the journal of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), doesn't just find tha

How to clear your Android phone cache (and the hidden problem it actually fixes)

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Google released Android 16 back in June to Pixel devices and select OEMs, bringing performance improvements, new Material You changes, and more upgrades. If you want to try this update but are hesitant because you've noticed your Android phone or tablet already feels too sluggish, clearing app and browser caches can give it a fresh boost and free up some storage space. Also: The best Android phones to buy in 2025 Over time

Google is killing the Android phone feature that once made them popular - and there's a big reason why

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Google will restrict sideloading with developer verification. The move mirrors Apple's long-standing security approach. Android loses one of its last big differences from iOS. For years, one of the biggest talking points in the Android vs. iOS debate has been freedom of choice -- and nothing summed that up more than sideloading. "But iOS is a walled garden. Apple controls what you can

Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe

is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Apple has removed the iPhone torrenting client, iTorrent, from AltStore PAL’s alternative iOS marketplace in the EU, showing that it can still exert control over apps that aren’t listed on the official App Store. iTorrent developer Daniil Vinogradov told

iOS 26 Is Bringing Parents More Control Over Kids' Screen Time

As a soon-to-be-parent, I'm worried about how people online will interact with my kid once they have a phone or tablet. The good news for parents struggling with this now: When Apple launches iOS 26 in the coming weeks, it's bringing more parental controls to iPhones. Parents can already control how much screen time their kids have, manage their child's App Store purchases and more. Some of the new controls will detect and blur nudity in certain apps, and your child will have to ask for access

Topics: 26 app apps child ios

Is it possible to allow sideloading and keep users safe?

In which I attempt to be pragmatic. Are you allowed to run whatever computer program you want on the hardware you own? This is a question where freedom, practicality, and reality all collide into a mess. Google has recently announced that Android users will only be able to install apps which have been digitally signed by developers who have registered their name and other legal details with Google. To many people, this signals the death of "sideloading" - the ability to install apps which don'

I hate installing apps to save money, but this Pixel privacy feature makes it worthwhile

Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority Prices at fast food chains, restaurants, and even grocery stores have spiraled out of control over the past couple of years. Luckily, not all hope is lost — if you’re a savvy shopper, you might know that the best way to save real money is to check for loyalty program discounts and limited-time offers. The only problem? Most of these offers require you to download each company’s app and check into them from time to time. If installing a dozen different apps s

I replaced these 4 apps with Notion, and I’m just getting started

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority I’m on a mission to use as few apps as possible, and Notion has been a huge help on my journey. It’s a powerful and highly customizable service that has allowed me to ditch several apps I now find redundant. To give you an idea of how versatile this software is, I want to share the four apps I’ve replaced with Notion and why. Perhaps it will motivate you to try it out for yourself. How many apps have you successfully replaced with Notion? 6 votes None, I'm

Google is killing a defining feature for Android phones soon - and there's one reason why

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET For years, one of the biggest talking points in the Android vs. iOS debate has been freedom of choice -- and nothing summed that up more than sideloading. "But iOS is a walled garden. Apple controls what you can and can't install on your hardware." If I had a dime for every time an Android user said this argument to settle which mobile platform is the best, I'd be lying in a pool of dimes as I type. Also: How to clear your Android phone cache (and greatly improve

Google Play Store could soon fix a major annoyance in managing apps across devices (APK teardown)

Andy Walker / Android Authority TL;DR Google is testing an “Uninstall” button directly within individual app listings in the Play Store. This button, on individual app pages, will make it easier to remotely uninstall apps from other devices. The Google Play Store forms an integral part of the Android flagship experience. It serves as the primary gateway to download and install apps and games on not only your phone but all connected devices in your hardware ecosystem. Over the years, Google ha

Changing these 7 settings on my Samsung phone improved its battery life by hours

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Samsung's Galaxy smartphones are some of the best Android phones available today, thanks to their responsive and feature-rich software. But most Samsung phones -- especially the flagships like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 7, and Z Flip 7 -- come with over-the-top features that you might not use daily. If your new Galaxy phone isn't lasting an entire day on a single charge, there are ways to make the most of what you

Google’s sideloading crackdown could blunt some eReaders’ edge

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority TL;DR Google’s latest app requirement may soon block the sideloading of apps from unregistered developers. The change could impact readers who rely on sideloaded apps on their Android-based eReaders. The new requirement will begin rolling out in September 2026. Google’s latest app requirement claims to protect users, but feels more like a move for greater control. In accordance with the “developer verification requirement,” developers will need to confirm t

Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe

is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Apple has removed the iPhone torrenting client, iTorrent, from AltStore PAL’s alternative iOS marketplace in the EU, showing that it can still exert control over apps that aren’t listed on the official App Store. iTorrent developer Daniil Vinogradov told

Lesser known mobile adtech domains where data is sent

AppGoblin has now run over 40k apps in an emulator, tracking millions of API calls thousands of advertising domains. Unfortunately, some of them are dark, meaning they have no landing page of any kind, and I’m unclear who controls these domains. news-cdn.site marketingcloudapis.com kickoffo.site onegg.site lazybumblebee.com qa-analytics.com acobt.tech yastatic.net Let’s see if we can figure them out! qa-analytics.com This one is a mystery. Seems like it’s related to Germany since it’s always

Google to verify all Android devs to protect users from malware

Google is introducing a new defense for Android called ‘Developer Verification’ to block malware installations from sideloaded apps sourced from outside the official Google Play app store. For apps on Google Play, there was already a requirement for publishers to provide a D-U-N-S (Data Universal Numbering System) number, introduced on August 31, 2023. Google says this has had a notable effect in reducing malware on the platform. However, the system didn’t apply to the vast developer ecosystem

Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

Hi HN, we’re Kyle, Jacob, and Tim. We’re building Bitrig ( https://www.bitrig.app ). Bitrig lets you create native Swift apps for your phone, on your phone, just by chatting with AI. It’s like Lovable for iPhone apps. Here's a video of Bitrig in action: https://youtu.be/CUlWhF3ERME We created SwiftUI at Apple to help developers make better apps with less code. Bitrig lets anyone build at this level of polish. If you've thought about making an iPhone app, Bitrig is the easiest possible way to

Android 16 will soon let you know which apps use Advanced Protection features (APK teardown)

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Android 16’s Advanced Protection is getting new useful features. We’ve discovered an under-development interface that will list all the apps that are aware of Advanced Protection being turned on. Besides Google apps, the feature will also include third-party apps that can access the state of Advanced Protection. With the rollout of Android 16 earlier this year, Google introduced an “Advanced Protection” mode that enables high-security features on Andr

Google to verify all Android devs to block malware on Google Play

Google is introducing a new defense for Android called ‘Developer Verification’ to block malware installations from sideloaded apps sourced from outside the official Google Play app store. For apps on Google Play, there was already a requirement for publishers to provide a D-U-N-S (Data Universal Numbering System) number, introduced on August 31, 2023. Google says this has had a notable effect in reducing malware on the platform. However, the system didn’t apply to the vast developer ecosystem