GoKawiil
Tech News
Google will run a week-long Play Fest from October 13 to 19, merging Google Play discounts with a Play Points rewards program for the first time. Users can redeem points in sweepstakes for prizes like exclusive merchandise, tech gear and tickets to major sporting events, while purchases during the event earn boosted points, with Play Pass subscribers getting double points and book buyers up to 15x points.
Users on Reddit report that Google Messages fails to send GIFs, photos, photomoji, and stickers over RCS when messaging other Android devices, though switching to SMS/MMS reportedly resolves the issue. Oddly, affected users say RCS media transfers to iPhones work fine, with the problem isolated to Android-to-Android exchanges. Standard fixes like restarting the phone, clearing cache, or resetting network settings have not resolved it for most, though one user says clearing storage helped at the cost of losing their Photomoji tab.
Android Authority's monthly roundup highlights new Android apps for October 2026, led by Adobe Premiere finally arriving on Android after launching on iPhone nearly a year earlier. The free app, with in-app purchases, offers short-form video editing tools, AI features requiring an Adobe account after free credits run out, and requires Android 13 or newer with at least 5GB of RAM. The list also features SongFlip, a free app from developer goork that addresses cross-platform music link sharing between streaming services.
Google's new Android developer verification rules took effect September 30 in four countries, requiring apps from participating stores—including Google Play, Galaxy Store, and others—to come from registered developers on certified devices running Android 7 or later. Users can still sideload unverified apps through a new advanced flow, but it requires enabling a developer option, authenticating, restarting the device, and waiting 24 hours before installation is allowed.
Google is developing a hands-free way to trigger Emergency SOS on Android devices, according to code strings found in a new build of its Personal Safety app. The strings suggest the feature would require voice confirmation, letting users say 'yes' to proceed or 'cancel' to dismiss an alert, rather than pressing the power button five times as currently required.
A teardown of Google Play Services version 26.38.30 uncovered text strings referencing a notification that would say Motion Assist was activated by Transit mode. This suggests Google is working on tying its anti-motion-sickness screen cues directly to Pixel's Transit mode rather than requiring manual activation.
Android Authority highlights a two-year-old Pixel setting, Charging Optimization's 'Limit to 80%' option, found under Battery and Charging settings. Enabling it stops the phone from charging past 80% most of the time, though it occasionally charges fully to keep battery capacity estimates accurate. The outlet notes the feature can also reduce heat buildup when people use their phone while it's plugged in.
Android Authority's Richard Priday writes that Google is launching a new line of high-end laptops called Googlebooks, positioned as a desktop evolution of Android meant to eventually replace ChromeOS. According to the piece, the initial lineup starts at around $1,000, with no cheaper entry-level models offered at launch.
Google has listed its new Antigravity development platform on the Play Store, but the app is built exclusively for Googlebook OS devices rather than Android phones. Android Authority sideloaded the APK onto a Pixel phone and found the interface poorly scaled, with setup failing at a Terminal VM configuration step due to a permission error.
Samsung is shutting down its standalone Samsung Sound app, which launched on Android and iOS only months ago for setting up and controlling its soundbars and Wi-Fi speakers. A notice in the app's latest update tells users it will be merged into SmartThings, and that they can keep their existing settings by registering their sound device there. Samsung says Samsung Sound will keep working until March 31, 2027, after which SmartThings becomes the only option.
Teardown of Google Play Store version 53.3.21-34 uncovered code strings referencing a new 'playlist' feature that would let users group at least three games into a custom collection. The strings suggest users could name, describe, and color-code these playlists, plus add, remove, or delete games from them later. Google has not confirmed the feature publicly.
Android Authority ran a two-week reader poll asking Pixel owners whether Android 17 QPR1, which began rolling out this month, introduced new problems. Of 1,458 respondents, about 68% reported some new issue, with performance (19%), UI behavior (16%), display glitches (14%) and connectivity (11%) as the top complaints, while nearly a third said they saw no new problems.