Heena Sharma Blog

  Verizon Communications will make Google's Messages the default messaging app on all Android devices it sells starting next year, the U.S. wireless carrier said on Tuesday. With that move, Verizon would join peers AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc in propping up competition to Apple Inc's iMessage service. Alphabet Inc-owned Google's Messages comes with features similar to those in iMessage, using Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology to replace SMS-based texts. Apple's iMessage is limited to users who use the company's devices, and the iPhone maker has not yet indicated any plans to extend the feature to Android users. With RCS, users can send and receive high-quality photos and videos, chat over WiFi or cellular data and know when messages were read, among other features. Read More

WhatsApp is building a new feature that will allow more than four people to join group audio and video calls, responding to the growth of video meeting apps as people work from their homes during the coronavirus pandemic . Spotted on Thursday by WABetaInfo, a fan website that tracks WhatsApp updates, the latest WhatApp Beta update revealed the company is planning to extend the limit of participants in a voice or video group call. "WhatsApp, probably due to the concerns for the Covid-19 and the fact that more users are using group calls, has decided to extend that limit to allow calls with more participants," said the report. The company is yet to reveal how many users will finally be able to join the group call. It will come to know when the new calling feature is rolled out globally. Read More