I'm strongly in favor of using password managers to store your credentials, but, so far, I've resisted the prompts that ask me to switch to passkeys—even though passkeys are better than passwords in just about every way. You don't need to remember or store a long string of random characters if you use passkeys, because they don't actually use a password at all. Instead, you use your device's authentication method, such as a face scan, a device passcode, or fingerprint unlock, to log in to your accounts. Passkeys are also more resistant to phishing attacks because your password manager won't let you use a passkey to log in to dummy websites created by scammers.

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Despite these benefits, the big dealbreaker for me was that you could not move your passkeys from one app to another. If you want to change password managers, you can easily move your passwords from one to the other, but the same wasn't true for passkeys—at least, until now. The FIDO Alliance, an industry body focused on secure authentication, created a set of specifications that let you move your passkeys from one app to another, reducing this friction. As it happens, Apple was among the first to ship this feature with the release of iOS 26 late last year.

An import/export option only truly works when all the big players support it, and in recent months, most of the big password management apps have integrated this feature. I tested it by moving my passkeys from Apple Passwords to 1Password, and the process worked well enough to convince me to finally embrace passkeys. If I choose to replace my password manager tomorrow, I won't have to worry about being locked in thanks to my passkeys. Here's how it works with Apple Passwords.

How to export passkeys from Apple Passwords

Credit: Pranay Parab

To start, install and set up the new password manager on the same Apple device as the one with your Passwords app containing your passkeys. Then, open Passwords, navigate to the home screen, tap the three dots in the top-right corner, and select Export Data to Another App. Manually select all the login items that have a passkey, or select all of your passwords if you wish to. Tap Continue when you're done, and you'll reach the "Export Passwords" page. Select Continue on this page, too. You'll see a list of password management apps that support this feature, and you can select the one you want to export to. I chose 1Password, and my passkeys followed suit. In Passwords for Mac, you can find this feature under File > Export Selected Items to App.

How to import passkeys into Apple Passwords

Credit: Pranay Parab

If you want to move your passkeys from other password management apps, you'll have to open those apps and use their export feature. This feature is often buried deep in settings pages, so you should check the user manuals or guides on your password manager's site to confirm how this is done. Some apps don't allow you to export select passkeys, and may instead force you to export all of your data from one app to another. Once you find the export feature in your password manager app, you'll come across the same "Export Passwords" page as Apple Passwords. Hit Continue, and the app will show you a list of password managers. Pick Passwords, then choose Continue once again. In Passwords for Mac, you can find this feature under File > Import Passwords from File.

Google Workspace is getting a slew of AI-related updates, including a brand new app called Google Pics, which can generate and edit images for you. Many of these updates will be available to those who use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, and other Google Workspace apps, the company announced during the Google I/O 2026 keynote. This includes conversational features that will allow you to control Gmail, Docs, and Keep; a new AI inbox that aims to help you stay on top of your email; and a personal AI agent called Gemini Spark that can integrate with Google Workspace apps to get things done for you.

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Here are all the major Google Workspace updates unveiled during Google I/O 2026. These features are rolling out for Google AI subscribers and paying Google Workspace users. This means that you won't be able to try much if you're on the free tier of Google services.

Create and edit images with AI in Google Pics

Google Pics is a new app built with the company's latest Nano Banana AI image generation model, and allows you to create and edit photos using AI. Google claims this tool makes useful image editing tools more accessible, highlighting examples such as modifying and translating text, as well as transforming specific elements in an image (e.g., changing a sweater's color or turning a dog into a cat). You can also generate an image with a text prompt, but the real highlight seems to be granular editing.

Like every other AI-related image generation tool, Google Pics also raises ethical questions about the nature of an image. It's not hard to imagine how tools like these could be misused to manipulate and deceive. One can only hope that Google has guardrails in place to clearly identify images edited with Google Pics, and to prevent misuse. This app is available to "Trusted Testers" today, and will be rolling out globally to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers (and in preview to Google Workspace business users) this summer.

Enhanced conversational capabilities in Gmail, Docs, and Keep

Google is adding new voice features to Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Keep. The email service is getting a feature called Gmail Live, which will search your inbox to answer your questions. For instance, you could ask something like, "What's going on at my kid's school this week?" The service will then search your inbox and find all the emails from your child's school. The idea is to ask questions with natural language, which is what makes it "conversational."

The next new feature is Docs Live, which acts as your partner and co-writer, according to Google. You can talk to Docs Live, and it will help you brainstorm ideas, organize your thoughts, and structure your document. Google says the feature can even pull information from Gmail, Google Drive, Google Chat, and the web with your permission. You can think of Docs Live as an outlining tool that can gather a bunch of information quickly, making the writing process quicker for those who struggle to get started with a blank document.

For Google Keep users, the new conversational features can turn your "brain dump" into organized notes and lists. You can say everything you want noted down, and the AI assistant will do the sorting and organizing for you. Like Google Pics, all of these conversational features will be rolling out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers (and in preview to Google Workspace business users) this summer.

New features in Gmail's AI Inbox

Gmail's AI Inbox, which offers AI-powered summaries, suggestions, and proofreading, is getting a few new tricks too. During I/O 2026, Google announced that AI Inbox will get personalized draft replies, instant file access, and streamlined task management. AI Inbox will be able to generate a contextual draft for you when it detects that an email requires an urgent response, the company claims. With instant file access, AI Inbox can find and display a link to a document from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides when you need it, which could make it easier to find the right document in email threads. The feature also lets you mark all emails in a certain topic as read. These features will be available to Google AI Plus and Pro subscribers in the U.S. starting today.

A new personal AI agent: Gemini Spark

The final Workspace-related update today is a new AI agent called Gemini Spark. The company says Spark transforms Gemini from an assistant that answers your questions to one that gets things done with your permission. Once you enable this feature, Google says Gemini Spark can perform tasks such as sending emails on your behalf, and adding events to your calendar. The company adds that it will always ask your permission before performing these actions. Gemini Spark will be rolling out to Google Workspace business users in the coming week, and it'll be available through the Gemini app.

Google's Gemini app is getting an overhaul, in terms of both design and function. At Google I/O 2026, the company announced Gemini is getting upgraded models that will lean more into agentic AI capabilities, which allow the assistant to send emails, add calendar events, and perform other actions on your behalf.

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(Google does emphasize that all agentic capabilities are designed to be used under your supervision, which hopefully allays fears of the agent going rogue and, I don't know, draining your bank accounts.) Here's is everything Google announced about Gemini's app upgrades during this year's event.

Gemini has a new look

Google says it has revamped the design language for the Gemini app. The company calls it Neural Expressive, and it includes new animations, colors, typography, and refreshed haptic feedback. Another change: The Gemini Live conversational experience is now integrated into the Gemini app. This means you can easily switch from typing your questions to using your voice to talk to the AI.

There are also changes to the voice chat mode, allowing you to tap and talk to Gemini at your own pace. This prevents unwanted interruptions and doesn't force you to keep speaking at a certain speed if you need more time to frame your thoughts, according to Google. You'll soon also have an option to ask Gemini to speak in regional dialects, which can offer a more personalized experience to some people.

I think the best part of Neural Expressive design is Google's focus on making interacting with Gemini look like something more than a wall of text. The company claims Gemini will now show responses with images, interactive timelines, narrated videos, and dynamic graphics, instead of just huge blocks of text. This new design language is rolling out today and will be available on the web, Android, and iOS.

Turn Gemini into a personal AI agent with Spark

Gemini Spark marks Google's big play on agentic AI services. It transforms Gemini from a simple word generator into an assistant that can take actions for you. This feature works even if you've switched off your laptop or phone, and it can continue to work independently based on your requirements. Some examples Google shared during I/O 2026 include the ability to set recurring tasks or triggers, such as scanning your credit card bills to flag new or hidden subscription fees, go through your meeting notes to create a "polished" document in Google Docs with a summary of its findings, and drafting a companion email to kickstart a project. Google says you'll also be able to teach Gemini Spark to pick up on deadlines for school projects and share them with your spouse, which could allow you to keep a tab on your child's schoolwork without actively monitoring their inbox every day.

It's worth noting that Google's repeatedly emphasized the fact that Spark works on your commands. You'll have to choose which apps it can connect to, and it'll only take high-stakes actions with your explicit consent, whether that's spending money or sending an email.

Gemini Spark is rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. next week, but it will be available to "Trusted Testers" this week. Google also said that Gemini Spark will is coming to the Gemini app for macOS later this summer, allowing you to automate workflows involving local files on your computer.

Daily Brief creates a personalized morning digest for you

Gemini is getting a new morning digest feature called Daily Brief, which works only if you opt in to receive it. The service accesses your Gmail inbox and your calendar to give you an overview of what's ahead in your day. Google says this feature will prioritize your tasks based on your goals, and suggest the next steps you should take to tackle upcoming tasks. You'll have the ability to tune the AI service's feedback by giving it a quick thumbs up or down in the app. The Daily Brief feature is rolling out in the U.S. starting today, and it'll be available to Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers.

Turn ideas into cinematic videos with Omni

In a move to fill the void left by OpenAI's shuttering of Sora, Google is launching Gemini Omni, which allows you to combine text, images, and video inputs to generate videos. The company claims Omni makes it easy to edit videos using conversational inputs, such as swapping out backgrounds or applying cinematic zoom effects. You'll be able to upload footage from your camera roll and use Omni to apply built-in templates to create videos quickly without needing editing software expertise. There's also an option to create a custom AI avatar that looks and sounds just like you, and drop this avatar in your videos.

This feature does suggest a few ethical concerns, since it sounds like it would make it easy for a person with malicious intent to generate deepfakes. While it's nice to see that video editing is becoming more accessible, generating videos with real people's faces is in a grey area, and I hope that Google has strong guardrails in place to safeguard against abuse. Gemini Omni is rolling out starting today to Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers across the globe.

Outlook is among the best Gmail alternatives for most people. Microsoft's email service is free and has a bunch of features that Gmail does not. At the same time, there are some shared features you'll likely want to use if you're coming from Gmail—they're just not enabled by default. I've been using Outlook's email service for over a decade, and these are the best hacks I've discovered while sorting through my inbox.

Disable image downloads to prevent email tracking by shady companies

Companies and organizations often use pixel tracking to see if you've opened their emails. Every one of these emails includes a hidden tracking pixel, which sends read receipts to the sender when opened. Outlook's default settings protect you from the worst of it, but you should take a few additional steps to safeguard your account. Go to Outlook.com and log in to your account. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open settings. Now, go to Mail > Junk email. Under "Security options," select Block attachments, pictures, and links from anyone not in my Safe senders and domains list.

Note that this might not be for everyone, as it requires you to manually vet people who send emails to you. From a security standpoint, however, it's your best tool against email tracking, phishing, and scam attempts. You can also go to Outlook settings > Mail > Layout, and choose Don't show sender images to add an extra layer of privacy protection. On a similar note, you can go to the Message handling tab in the same settings page, and uncheck For shopping-related messages show a sender logo and relevant links in the message header.

Use "Safe senders" to stop Outlook from sending good emails to spam

Outlook's "Safe senders" list lets you add people to a trusted contacts list. Emails from these people won't be sent to spam, and won't be subject to restrictions such as blocked links or attachments—perfect for anyone who uses the hack above. You can use this feature to ensure that important emails, such as account statements from your bank, or paystubs from your employer, are never sent to spam. To get started, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Junk email > Add safe sender. You can also select the Safe mailing lists tab to add mailing lists to the Safe senders list. This is great for newsletters from your favorite publications, or safety-related emails from your companies.

Run an automated inbox sweep to delete emails every 24 hours

Credit: Pranay Parab

One of Outlook's best features is Sweep. It automatically checks your inbox for emails from certain senders, and follows your instructions to manage the clutter. For example, my bank sends me an email for every transaction on my credit card. At one point, I was looking at 150+ unread emails that I had no use for. So, I used Sweep to keep transaction emails from the past 10 days, and archive the rest. To set it up, select any email in your inbox, then choose the Home tab at the top of the page in Outlook's desktop or web apps. Select Sweep, and you'll see a pop-up asking what to do with emails from that sender. There are four options here:

• Move all messages from the Inbox folder

• Move all messages from the Inbox folder and any future messages

• Always keep the latest message and move the rest from the Inbox folder

• Always move messages older than 10 days from the Inbox folder

You also have a drop-down menu to select where you want to move these messages. I usually select one of the last two options above, and move the rest of the messages to the Archive folder, or Deleted Items. I've used this feature for a couple years now, and it works flawlessly in the background. If you ever want to change or delete Sweep rules, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Sweep.

Configure gestures to delete emails in one swipe

Outlook's mobile apps support gestures to quickly triage emails without opening each manually. You can swipe left or right to archive, delete, or report emails. However, you can customize these gestures to suit your needs. Go to Outlook settings in the mobile apps, and navigate to Email > Swipe Options. On this page, select what happens when you swipe right or left. Some useful options include delete, archive, flag/unflag, mark read/unread, snooze, and read and archive.

In Outlook's desktop and web apps, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Customize actions. This will let you configure swipe gestures (for laptops with a touchscreen), and quick actions, which are the buttons that appear on each email in your inbox. I used this to replace the Pin button with Archive as I never pin emails in my inbox. You can select a maximum of four actions for each email.

Turn off Copilot AI and disable Microsoft's data collection

Credit: Pranay Parab

In Outlook's mobile, desktop, and web apps, go to Settings > Copilot, and disable Turn on Copilot. This will turn off almost all AI features in the apps. You should also go to Outlook settings > Mail > Smart suggestions, and turn off Show suggested replies.

Microsoft also collects a bunch of data and enables AI services in your Outlook account. If you want to disable this, head to Outlook settings > Mail > Privacy and data > Privacy settings. Turn off all options on this page to disable optional diagnostic data collection, prevent Microsoft from analyzing your emails for "connected experiences," and disable online content linked to emails in your inbox. You can also select Delete history to clear your search history from Outlook. While you're at it, go to Mail > Compose and reply, and disable Microsoft Edge Autofill. With this feature enabled, Microsoft Edge will pull from your Outlook inbox to autofill information, namely flight info. This feature may be useful for those who use Edge a lot, but it's not of much use to those who don't.

Try this hidden menu to bulk unsubscribe from junk mail lists

While working on this article, I discovered Outlook's hidden bulk unsubscribe feature. This feature lists all the subscriptions in your inbox and lets you unsubscribe from all of them without opening a single email. To try it out, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Subscriptions. Click the Unsubscribe button next to any of the lists, and Outlook will handle the rest for you.

Switch to Gmail's keyboard shortcuts to speed up email actions

I've never liked Outlook's keyboard shortcuts much. As an example, "Ctrl-N" opens a new email in Outlook. In Gmail, it's "C." While Ctrl-N is the more familiar shortcut, it's not as fast as using a single keystroke. The good news is you can use Gmail's keyboard shortcuts in Outlook and save a lot of time. I love this hack because most people have Gmail as their primary email account, and now you don't have to remember two sets of shortcuts for email. To set this up, go to Outlook settings > General > Accessibility > Keyboard shortcuts. Select Gmail, and you're all set. Google has all of Gmail's keyboard shortcuts listed here, if you need a refresher.

Use "Quick steps" to mark emails read and archive in one click

Credit: Pranay Parab

I find myself marking emails read and archiving quite a bit, and I've set up a single-click workflow using Outlook's "Quick steps." You can do that too by going to Outlook settings > Mail > Quick steps. Give your Quick step a name, choose an action such as Mark as read, and click the Add another action button. You can now select Move to, followed by Archive. On the same page, you can add a keyboard shortcut for this action, and click Save. This is a basic example of what you can do with Quick steps. You can set up any multi-step workflow to suit your needs, which could include categorizing emails, turning emails into tasks, or muting an email conversation, among many others.

Set up undo send to prevent accidentally sending incomplete emails

If you're ever regretted sending an email right after hitting the Send button, you're not alone. In Gmail, the undo send feature is enabled, but that's not true for Outlook. You'll need to enable it manually from Outlook settings > Mail > Compose and reply > Undo send. Use the slider to set a timer between 0 and 30 seconds, which is how long you have to stop sending an email where you've misspelled your own name. (Been there, done that.)

Configure Outlook's email filters to highlight messages sent directly to you

You can use Outlook's rules feature to filter out messages where you're marked in the cc or bcc fields of an email. This way, you can focus on emails directly addressed to you, and move the rest to a different folder. To set this up, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Rules, and select Add new rule. Give this rule a name, select I'm not on the To line as the condition. In the actions field, select Move to, and pick a folder. Select Stop processing more rules to avoid further rule conflicts, and click Save. Now, all emails where you're in cc or bcc will go to the new folder, keeping your inbox exclusive to direct messages.

DuckDuckGo has been my default search engine for years. Its big selling point is that it doesn't track you nearly as much as Google does, but there's more to DuckDuckGo than that privacy claim. You can use DuckDuckGo to anonymously try AI chatbots (including ChatGPT and Claude), filter out AI-generated images from results, and shorten URLs without leaving the site. If you're using DuckDuckGo, try these 10 hacks to make the most of the search engine.

Turn off AI features to simplify your search experience

DuckDuckGo recently added a bunch of AI features, but, luckily, you can turn off most. To disable AI-related features in DuckDuckGo, go to the search engine's settings page. Next, select AI Features, then turn off Search Assist and Duck.ai. This will eliminate AI results and prompts to try using chatbots from the search engine's home page.

Use AI chatbots anonymously to preserve your privacy

On the flip side, let's say you're interested in AI chatbots, but are worried about your privacy. You can use DuckDuckGo to use ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI services anonymously. To get started, head to Duck.ai. A drop-down menu below the search box allows you to choose which LLM you wish to use, and once you've selected that, you can use your preferred AI service without creating an account. This service is free, but there's a daily limit to how many AI searches you can perform. The same service also lets you generate images and perform basic photo edits, such as removing a background from your image.

Use "bangs" to search other websites and search engines

DuckDuckGo is a pretty competent search engine, but it doesn't always show you the same results as Google. If you're using DuckDuckGo as your default search engine, you can still ask it to send the search query to Google. To do this, add !g to your search query, and you'll see that the search results appear on Google. This is called a bang, and you can use bangs in DuckDuckGo to search via other search engines and websites, too. For example, !gi searches Google Images, !w looks for something on Wikipedia, and !r does a Reddit search. You can see the full list of DuckDuckGo bangs on this page.

Hide AI-generated images from results to focus on real pictures

Credit: Pranay Parab

DuckDuckGo ships with a filter that removes AI slop from image search results. The filter is decent at the job, but be aware that it can't remove every single AI image from the results. You can enable it by going to DuckDuckGo settings > AI Features > Hide AI-Generated Images.

Use this option to block certain sites from your search results

If you've come across sites with low-quality content on the web, and you wish to block them from your search results, you can do that with DuckDuckGo. The next time you search for something on the site, click the three dots to the right of any result, then click Block this site from all results. That domain will no longer appear in search results. You can go to DuckDuckGo settings > General to see a list of blocked domains. You can unblock domains too at any time.

Get rid of DuckDuckGo's ads to clean up the experience

You can also disable DuckDuckGo's search ads, and all the mentions of the company's other products on the home page. Head over to DuckDuckGo settings > General, and turn off Advertisements. This will turn off search ads, but note that the company says it doesn't track you to serve these ads. To remove prompts to use other DuckDuckGo products, scroll to the bottom of the same settings page, and turn off the following:

• Install DuckDuckGo

• Privacy Newsletters

• Homepage Privacy Tips

• Help Improve DuckDuckGo

You can also go to the Appearance section in DuckDuckGo settings, and turn off the last option: 'Protected' Reminder. This will hide the notice that says your searches are protected.

Change this setting to see more information under search results

If you prefer to see more information about a particular search result, this search engine allows you to expand the length of the descriptions that appear below each link. I've expanded mine from three lines to five, which gives me enough information to decide if a link is worth clicking. You can set this up by going to DuckDuckGo settings > Appearance > Max Snippet Length. Use the drop-down menu to change this to 5 lines.

Use this shortcut to shorten URLs

Credit: Pranay Parab

DuckDuckGo has a built-in URL shortener, too. Copy a URL and use the shorten command in the search engine to use it. For instance, type "shorten https://lifehacker.com/tech/15-of-the-best-iphone-privacy-hacks-everyone-should-know" in the search engine, and click the search button. The first result will be a shortened URL, which uses the is.gd URL shortener. Similarly, you can also expand shortened URLs via DuckDuckGo. Just type "expand" followed by the shortened link, and the search engine will show you the full URL in the search results.

Hide your email address when signing up for new accounts

It's common security advice to use a password manager and a unique password for each of your accounts. The idea is simple: If one account is breached, the hacker doesn't gain access to all your other accounts. You can apply the same logic to your username, which is your email address on most websites. If you're using the same email ID to sign up for each site, it could also be a potential attack vector for hackers.

This is where services like DuckDuckGo's Email Protection step in. You can use it to sign up for a Duck email address, which generates a unique email address for each account you create. If an account gets breached, you don't have to worry about your email address being sold on the dark web. Similarly, if a shady website sells its data to advertisers, they'll only get an anonymized email address, and not your real one. You can use that to identify who sold your data, and block that alias quickly.

Search "cheatsheet" to see keyboard shortcuts for popular apps

DuckDuckGo also has "cheatsheets" for multiple apps and services, which show you commonly used keyboard shortcuts for a given app. For example, go to DuckDuckGo, then type "cheatsheet Excel," and the search engine displays a list of Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts at the top of the results. The initial result shows five to 10 keyboard shortcuts, but you can click the "Show More" button to reveal hundreds of shortcuts. This feature doesn't work for every app, but you can try it for popular apps such as Photoshop, Lightroom, and Chrome. Be sure to verify the information on this page, since keyboard shortcuts sometimes change when an app is updated.

Microsoft Edge is one of the most popular browsers on the planet. The spiritual successor to Internet Explorer, Edge is a modern browser based on Google's Chromium platform. That means you can use it with all modern Chrome extensions, along with a bunch of exclusive features that other browsers may not have. I've used Edge on Windows for quite a while, and these are my favorite hacks that I've found so far:

Use Drop to send links, files, and notes to other devices

Edge's "Drop" feature is an easy way to send stuff from your desktop to mobile devices, and vice versa. Drop works by storing files on OneDrive, so you'll need to sign in to the same Microsoft account on all devices to use this feature effectively. It's not as fast as Apple's AirDrop since it uses cloud storage, but Drop is much better for asynchronous sharing. This means your devices don't have to be unlocked and on the same wifi network when you want to share things.

You can access Drop by opening Microsoft Edge on desktop, clicking the three dots in the top-right corner, and going to More tools > Drop. Install Edge on any devices you want to use Drop with (PCs, Macs, Android phones, iPhones, iPads, etc.) and make sure you sign in to your Microsoft account. Now, you can "drop" anything in Drop, and it'll appear on all your devices. Note that Drop isn't easily visible on Edge for mobile devices. You need to open the menu, select the All Menu option, and use the Edit feature to replace any one toolbar item with Drop.

Use Edge's built-in task manager to kill resource hogs

Credit: Pranay Parab

Whenever Edge slows down, use the browser's built-in task manager to locate the problem. I find this better than using Windows' Task Manager (or Mac's Activity Monitor): Browsers have dozens of processes running, making it difficult to identify the cause of a slowdown. With the Edge task manager, you'll only see browser-related processes. Press Shift-Esc to access this, or go to the three-lines menu, followed by More tools > Browser task manager. Here, focus on Tabs & extensions. It neatly highlights the system resources each tab or extension is hogging. When you've found the culprit, select it and click End task. You can easily disable a heavy extension in the browser without closing tabs and worrying about losing your data.

You can even use the search box in the task manager to locate certain tabs, which is useful for those of us who open hundreds of tabs in the browser. The "Browser" tab in the task manager highlights processes related to keeping the browser running, which is best for technically experienced users to identify browser issues. Most people will find what they need in the "Tabs & extensions" section.

Use this shortcut to open two tabs side-by-side

Microsoft Edge has a feature called "Split screen," which lets you open two tabs side by side, without opening a new window. This feature arrived on Google Chrome long after Edge shipped it. I love Split screen, but my only complaint is that it's buried under the three-dots menu by default. You can change this by clicking the three dots, then heading to Settings > Appearance > Toolbar, and enabling Split screen. This adds a "Split screen" button to the toolbar, making the feature easy to access.

Once you've done that, open any tab, click the Split screen button, and you'll see the two tabs side by side. You can use this feature to pair sets of tabs together, like Google Docs with YouTube to take notes while studying. Edge preserves all of your Split screen tabs as long as the window is open, so you don't have to worry about setting up Split screen tabs repeatedly. When you're in Split screen, you can click the three dots in the top-right corner of either tab to configure this feature to your liking. You can swap the two tabs' positions, or switch to a vertical split-screen layout.

Try vertical tabs to free up screen real estate

Vertical tabs are the superior choice for all desktop browsers. It moves the tabs list to a single pane on the left, and expands the available screen space for your content. This means less scrolling, a bigger frame for watching videos, and generally more optimal use of screen real estate. You can enable this in Microsoft Edge by going to Edge settings > Appearance > Tabs, and enabling Show vertical tabs. You should also enable Hide title bar in vertical tabs for a streamlined look, and Collapse pane in the tab bar to reduce the width of the vertical tab bar.

Use AI tab grouping to organize your tabs automatically

Try using Edge's AI tab grouping to organize your unwieldy number tabs. It's not as good as manually making tab groups, but when you're overwhelmed with more tabs than you can reasonably handle, this is a great strategy to sort out the mess. To use it, click the down arrow in the top-left corner of the browser's window, and select Organize tabs. This feature groups tabs by subject (News & Media, Finance & Investment, etc.), and allows you to drag and drop tabs to customize your groups.

Use "energy saver" to reduce slowdowns

Microsoft Edge has an energy saver mode that automatically puts background tabs to sleep. This will reduce the chances of a browser slowdown when you have lots of open tabs, and also extends your battery life by an average of 25 minutes, according to Microsoft. To enable the feature, go to Edge settings > System and performance > Performance, and turn on Enable energy saver.

Turn off "Startup boost" to speed up your old PC

Credit: Pranay Parab

Startup boost is a great feature for anyone with PCs or laptops with powerful hardware. It keeps Edge running in the background with minimal resources, so the app can launch faster each time you open it. However, it's not ideal for older computers, or for users who dislike apps running in the background after they've closed them. If your computer is on the older side, you're better off without Startup boost. You can disable it by going to Edge settings > System and performance > System.

Disable Copilot to remove unnecessary AI features

While Edge has some useful AI features like tab organization, there are a whole bunch of features I never use. If you're like me, take a minute to disable all unnecessary AI features. First, go to Edge settings > AI innovations, and disable Copilot Mode. This option may not be enabled on all accounts, so if you don't see the toggle, you can move on.

Next, go to Edge settings > Appearance > Copilot and sidebar > Copilot. Turn off Show Copilot button on the toolbar. On the same page, click Manage Copilot settings > Privacy, and turn off Context clues, which stops the AI from using your browsing data for answers. You should also go to Edge settings > Start, home, and new tab page, and disable Copilot new tab page.

You can also go to Edge settings > Languages and disable all features that mention AI in the description. This includes Offer to translate videos on supported sites and Use 'Help me write' writing assistant on the web. Finally, if you don't want to use AI tab organization either, you can turn it off by going to Edge settings > Privacy, search, and services, and disabling Organize your tabs.

Use this setting to ask Edge to read articles out loud

Edge has a bit of a hidden feature that lets it read articles to you (and, in my opinion, the voice sounds pretty natural). This is buried under the three-dots button > More tools > Read aloud. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-U (or Cmd-Shift-U on Mac), and the feature is also available on mobile platforms.

Use "Visual Search" to search for any item on the webpage

Visual Search lets you right-click to start a search for anything on a given webpage. For instance, you can reverse image search an item you spot in a YouTube video, or select a landmark in a picture to learn more about it. When you want to use this feature, be aware that it takes a screenshot of the webpage and sends it to Microsoft. This is a privacy concern, but to be fair, Microsoft warns you about that, and requires you to agree to a privacy statement if you want to use the feature. You can right-click any webpage in Edge, and select Visual Search to get started. The feature is also available on mobile versions of Edge.

If you like the idea of using Chrome extensions with a browser that's not made by Google, Brave Browser is a great choice. This Chromium-based browser is designed with user privacy in mind, and comes with a number of quality-of-life perks as well. The thing is, not all of these features and options are enabled out of the box, or are even all that obvious. If you use Brave, you'll want to know about these 10 hacks:

Use these options to get rid of Brave’s own ads

Brave Browser's business model includes pushing its own services, including a VPN service and a search engine. The browser's default settings push ads for these services on the home page, and you can easily get rid of most of them while, at the same time, customizing the overall look and function of the browser.

Open a new tab in Brave and click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page. This will reveal customization options. You can start by disabling Show new tab page ads, which removes ads from the Brave Rewards program, where you earn small amounts of cryptocurrency for watching ads. (On the same page, you can upload your own image to use as a wallpaper, if you like.) Go to the Cards option in the left pane and disable Brave stats, Brave VPN, Brave Rewards, Brave Talk, and Brave News. This should clean up the new tab page, but to complete a minimalist look, go to the Top sites option, and turn off Show top sites too.

Now, click Search in the left pane of this settings window, and select the search engine of your choice. Uncheck Brave to replace the default search engine on the new tab page. Note that this doesn't replace Brave as the default search engine in the address bar. To do that, click the three-lines button in the top-right corner of the browser's window, and go to Settings > Search engine. You can click the Change buttons on this page to replace Brave Search with other options in the normal and private windows of the app.

Use Shields' content filters to block annoying website elements

Credit: Pranay Parab

While uBlock Origin remains my favorite ad blocker, you may not need to install it in Brave Browser, which has a competent ad blocker of its own called Brave Shields. Shields blocks ads, hides cookie notices, and removes a bunch of YouTube-specific annoyances, too. Shields is enabled by default, but it can do so much more if you enable additional features in settings. Go to Brave settings first (three-lines button > Settings), and open the Shields tab from the left pane. Go to Content filters > Show full list. Go through this list and enable all the options that appeal to you. I recommend the following:

• Cookie notice blocker

• Annoying distractions blocker

• AI suggestions blocker

• Newsletter popup blocker

• YouTube Shorts blocker

• YouTube thumbnail image blocker

• Tracking URL blocker

• Paywall blocker (a way to bypass some paywalls)

Turn off AI features

Brave ships with a built-in AI bot called Leo. While the company claims it's a privacy-first AI service, I'd personally rather disable the features altogether. If you feel the same way, you can go to Brave settings > Leo, and disable all the options on this page. While you're at it, you can also remove a bunch of these features from the address bar. Right-click the icons in the toolbar, and hide the following:

• Brave Rewards (this icon is in the address bar)

• Brave Wallet

• Leo AI

• Brave VPN

This will disable unwanted features and leave you with a clean address bar. You should also go to Brave settings > Appearance, and disable Leo AI assistant under "Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar."

Use "Memory Saver" to improve performance

Brave has a feature called Memory Saver to improve performance by suspending inactive tabs. You can enable this if you frequently open a lot of tabs and find your computer slowing down as a result. Go to Brave settings > System, and enable Memory Saver. Click the Add button below this feature to keep certain websites from being suspended in Brave.

Use Vertical Tabs to free up screen real estate

I prefer stacking the list of tabs vertically in most browsers, particularly when I'm using a larger display. This leaves more room for content, with a single toolbar up top and a vertical tab bar on the left. You can enable vertical tabs in Brave by going to Brave settings > Appearance > Tabs, and enabling Use vertical tabs. Once you do that, you should disable Show title bar to remove the extra horizontal bar from the top menu. This option merges the minimize, maximize, and close buttons with the toolbar for a streamlined look. Don't forget to click the minimize tabs button at the top of the tab bar to reduce the tab bar to a slim vertical column.

Use Brave’s task manager to hunt down power-hungry tabs

Credit: Pranay Parab

If your browser is being slowed down by rogue tabs, you can use Brave's built-in task manager to sort things out. Press Shift-Esc with Brave open to access it and weed out resource-hungry tabs. If the keyboard shortcut doesn't work, click the three-lines button in the top-right corner, and go to More Tools > Task Manager.

Use “Copy Clean Link” to remove tracking data from URLs

A lot of links on the internet come with an unhelpful string of characters that can track your activity when browsing. Brave has a feature to help block this tracking data. Right-click any hyperlink in Brave, and select Copy Clean Link. This will remove tracking information from most types of links, but be aware that it won't be able to fix tracking via shortened links. You can also use Brave Shields to remove tracking parameters from links you click. To do this, go to Brave settings > Shields > Content filters > Show full list, and enable Tracking URL blocker.

Use "Force Paste" to get past copy-paste blocks on the web

Some websites block your ability to copy and paste information, which is extremely annoying. I'm still not sure why my bank thinks that stopping me from pasting my username or password is a great security feature. When you encounter such a site, you can right-click the form, and select Force Paste to bypass the block. Some sites go one step further and disable right-clicks too. You can get past that by using an extension like Enable right click.

Get YouTube Premium features for free

Brave blocks YouTube ads by default on both desktop and mobile. Since YouTube's ads are harder to block on mobile, I think the feature is much more valuable on Brave for iOS and Android. As such, I highly recommend switching from the YouTube app to Brave whenever you want to watch a video. While you're at it, you'll also notice that it lets you watch YouTube videos in picture-in-picture mode, and that you can play them in the background too. All of these are YouTube Premium features that you can get for free just by using Brave's mobile app.

Use Brave’s hidden dark mode

Much of the internet is still stuck in light mode, even for users with devices running in dark mode. While you can use a browser extension to force websites to use dark mode, Brave has a hidden feature that accomplishes the same. You can open brave://flags/#enable-force-dark using the address bar, and enable the flag to change all websites to a dark theme. This is better than using a browser extension: It uses fewer resources and is less of a privacy issue since no third-party companies can access your tabs. Note that you'll have to restart Brave once to start using the feature.

I've been on Threads since it first launched in 2023, and throughout my experience, I've learned a few hacks to save time (and sanity) on the platform. If you're a regular Threads user, you should try these methods to reduce unwanted content from your feed, speed up searches, and customize the app to your liking.

Use these tools to download videos from Threads

Like most of my social media feeds, my Threads feed is also full of cat videos. When I see one I like, I sometimes download the video to watch later. As you may know, Threads doesn't support media downloads, which means that you'll need to rely on third-party tools to download videos from the app. You can try Threads Downloader on Android, or the Threads Download shortcut on iPhone. Using the Android app is simple enough: Just copy the Threads link and paste it in the app. On the iPhone however, you'll have to download two other free apps: a-Shell mini and Scriptable to let the shortcut do its thing. After the shortcut is set up, you can hold the share button under any Threads post, and select the "Threads Download" shortcut from the share sheet to start the download.

Use the Tweetdeck style multi-column layout on desktop

Credit: Pranay Parab

I loved Tweetdeck's multi-column layout for Twitter back in the day, so I could keep an eye on different streams of information in a single view. Without additional clicks, I could see my feed, notifications, mentions, DMs, and so on. Threads also has a similar multi-column layout on desktop, if you, like me, prefer that view. Just log in to Threads on desktop and click the three-dots button in the top-right corner of your feed. Select Add as column, then use the drop-down menu at the top of the feed to switch to a different view such as Activity, For you, Following, Mentions, etc. Once you've added a few columns, click the three-dots icon in the top-right corner of any feed, and select Auto-update to let the feed load new posts or activity in real time.

Switch your default feed to see posts only from accounts you follow

I dislike Threads' algorithmic default feed because it shows posts that I don't care much for. Luckily, you can easily change the default feed to posts from only people you follow. To do this, open the Threads app on your phone, and tap the two-lines button in the top-left corner. Press the pencil icon, drag Following to the top, and select Done. This will show posts from people you follow whenever you open Threads.

Create custom feeds to focus on specific topics

Threads supports creating your own feeds too, in case you want to focus on posts around specific topics or posts from certain people. For instance, you can create a feed full of cat videos, or a feed exclusive to marathon training. Once you open Threads, swipe right to reveal the Feeds page, and hit the + button up top to create a new feed. Add a name for the feed, choose if you want it visible to the public, and then tap Add profiles or topics to start customizing it. You can add keywords (e.g. NYC marathon), certain profiles, or select topics in Threads, and all of them will appear in this feed. It's also a way to follow certain people's posts without following their accounts.

Stop Meta from suggesting your posts on Facebook and Instagram

If your account is public, Threads automatically suggests some of your posts to people on Instagram and Facebook. I think this kind of a feature is great for brands and influencers, but not so much for people who'd rather not share their ramblings on Threads with friends and family on other platforms. You can turn this off by going to a page buried in the app's settings. Tap the profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the app, then select the two-line menu in the top-right corner of the profile page. Next, go to Privacy > Suggesting posts on other apps and turn it off for both Instagram and Facebook.

Block some Threads notifications without disabling all alerts

Sending countless junk notifications is par for the course for any app owned by Meta. I've countered this problem by disabling all notifications for Threads and most other Meta apps, but I understand that it's not ideal for everyone—especially if you don't want to miss DMs. You can turn off some types of junk notifications, such as posts "suggested" for you and follow suggestions, in Threads. Go to your profile on Threads, hit the two-line menu button in the top-right corner, and select Notifications. Go to From Threads and disable everything. Then head to Following and followers and disable account suggestions, and Pre-followed user joined Threads. You can also go to the Threads and replies settings page, and disable junk notifications such as Insights, Weekly insights, Views, First thread, and Updates from posts with links.

Enable Fediverse to follow Mastodon users on Threads

Credit: Pranay Parab

Threads has Fediverse integration, which means you can let Mastodon users see your posts and follow your account. This isn't necessary if you have accounts in both apps, but it's good for those who are exclusive to Threads and want their Mastodon friends to see their posts. To enable this, go to Threads settings > Account > Fediverse sharing, and follow the on-screen prompts.

Stop others from reusing your media

People on Threads can reuse your photos and videos in their posts, if your account is public. You can disable this by going to Threads settings > Account > Media, and disabling Media reuse. It won't stop users from screenshotting your content, of course, but it will put up a roadblock that might help prevent this reuse.

Use this trick to search Threads faster

The Threads app has a search button (magnifying glass icon) in the top-right corner of the app. When you tap this, you'll see the search page, with follow suggestions, trending topics, and other content that Meta keeps adding. To actually search for stuff, you need to tap the search bar and type your query. There's a way to speed up your searches in Threads, though: Just tap and hold the search button, and Threads will immediately open the search page with the keyboard open. This way, you can reduce the extra tap to start searching on Threads.

Hide your online status

Threads also reveals whether you're online to people who follow you. If that makes you uncomfortable, you can hide your online status from others. Go to Threads settings > Privacy > Online status, and select No one.

I've never been a big fan of watching videos in music streaming apps on my phone. I want to listen to songs, make playlists, and look at lyrics, but I never pick up my phone to watch a video on Spotify. If you're like me, you're going to be happy to know that Spotify is now rolling out a new feature that lets you turn off videos in its app. This goes beyond disabling the looping videos that appear when you play songs: The new feature also turns off music videos and vertical videos added by authors, returning Spotify to an audio-only platform.

How to turn off videos in Spotify

Credit: Spotify

Spotify will let you disable videos even if you're on the free tier. To get started, open Spotify on your phone, and tap the profile button in the top-left corner. Go to Settings and privacy > Content and display and you'll see the new controls in the "Videos and Canvas" section. Turn off Music videos, Canvas, and All other videos to completely disable videos. On Spotify's desktop apps, you can find these toggles by clicking your profile icon, and going to Settings > Display. Note that the toggle to turn off Canvas (looping videos during music playback) has been around for a while, but the other two settings are new. If you don't see these options immediately, you can expect them to roll out to your device in the coming weeks.

If you're a family plan manager, you can disable videos for other users on your plan too. Tap the profile icon in Spotify's mobile apps, select Your Premium > Manage, and pick any profile. Then, go to Videos and Canvas and turn off the same three toggles to disable videos. Once you've applied these settings on one device, Spotify says they'll be synced to all other devices logged in to the same account, which means that you don't have to keep disabling videos on each device you use.

Unfortunately, this will not turn off video ads or looping videos that appears alongside some audio ads in Spotify. Even with that annoying limitation, I'm happy to start using this feature right away. I'll keep hoping that Spotify lets me turn off podcasts and audiobooks too, and let me focus exclusively on the music.

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When you're using devices that are always connected to the internet, it's difficult to completely protect your privacy. Luckily, there are plenty of great privacy hacks for your iPhone, which you can use to make it harder for trackers and spies to collect your data and snoop on your business. From built-in solutions, like adjusting app permissions, to purchasing privacy screen protectors, here are 10 hacks every iPhone user should consider to protect their privacy.

iPhone 17 (256GB)

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$779.63 at Amazon

Get yourself a privacy screen protector

No software privacy hack can protect you from people looking over your shoulder to memorize your password, or from peeking to see what you're up to. What can protect you, however, is a privacy screen protector. I saw this first-hand: One of my friends recently tried to show me something on her iPhone, and I realized that I couldn't see anything at all until her phone was directly in front of me.

These screen protectors can make it easier to use your phone in public spaces without worrying about who's looking at its screen. That said, there are a few potential dealbreakers. These screen protectors are rather plasticky, and don't feel as nice or smooth as your iPhone's touchscreen. These products also lower your screen's brightness. I don't mind, but it can be a problem if you're trying to use your phone in bright lighting. If you can live with these cons though, this is a cheap privacy hack that's definitely worth considering.

Stop Apple from collecting your data (as much as you can)

Credit: Pranay Parab

Apple is known for its privacy policies, but in recent years, its resolve seems to be weakening a bit. The company is pushing ads into its apps and your notifications, and it's aggressively encouraging iPhone users to subscribe to Apple services. There's not much you can do to block promotional materials coming from the company directly, but it's still worth changing a few settings to limit Apple's own ads. This includes reducing Apple's data collection, too. Many of these options are available under Settings > Privacy & Security on your iPhone. On that page, you can navigate to these pages to disable quite a bit of tracking:

• Analytics & Improvements

• Apple Advertising

• Location Services > System Services

Carefully reviewing all options on these pages and disabling unnecessary features goes a long way in limiting Apple's data collection.

Deny (or limit) app permissions whenever you can

I used to allow all permissions an app requested when I first opened it. Over time, I realized that this led to a lot of notification spam, unnecessary data collection, and significant battery drain if the app was tracking my location. That's why I developed a new strategy: deny all permissions unless an app absolutely needs it. In general, I almost always deny permissions for the following: notifications, access to contacts, location, camera, microphone, and photos.

Newer versions of iOS allow you to share just a few contacts or photos, and even restrict GPS access to an approximate location instead of a precise marker. All of these are available under Settings > Privacy & Security in case you missed them while setting up an app.

Consider deleting apps known to track you

While the App Tracking Transparency option on your iPhone does reduce data collection from many apps, it's far from foolproof. In general, apps have access to far more data than their web versions, so try switching from apps to mobile websites wherever possible. If you delete apps such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, and switch to logging in via Safari, you'll give away much less data, and some of the data you would otherwise give to the web apps will be blocked or spiked by Safari's privacy features, further protecting your data. As an added bonus, since web apps are generally a worse experience than dedicated apps, you're also far less likely to fall into a doomscrolling trap. I've used this fairly effectively with social media apps, but you can't always delete apps, like WhatsApp.

Install an adblocker (or use a better DNS)

Credit: Justin Pot

Installing an ad blocker and a DNS app can do wonders for your iPhone privacy. Ad blockers such as uBlock Origin are good at blocking invasive tracking on your iPhone, but their effect is limited to Safari. To enhance the privacy of your internet traffic, you should consider installing an encrypted DNS app such as NextDNS, AdGuard DNS, or ControlD. All of these will block ads or trackers in most apps on your iPhone and safeguard you from some types of online security threats as well.

Use a VPN to hide your IP address

A good VPN protects your web browsing by routing your traffic through an encrypted network, in the process hiding your device's IP address. As such, it's much easier to surf the web anonymously, and much harder for websites and internet service providers to track your activity.

While VPNs can be a great privacy and security tool, exercise caution when using them. If the company behind the VPN is legitimate, your data isn't being tracked, but if it's not, then the VPN company could be logging all your data and selling it to advertisers or data brokers. While there are a few trusted free VPN providers, I always recommend going with a paid VPN for maximum privacy. Mullvad VPN is among the best paid VPNs out there and it allows you to create an account without even using an email address. You can also pay the 5 euros ($5.80) monthly fee using anonymous payment methods like cash, which makes Mullvad one of the best VPNs for privacy and anonymity.

If you're subscribed to Apple's iCloud plans, you should also consider enabling iCloud Private Relay to add a layer of privacy to your activity on Safari. iCloud Private Relay doesn't work with traffic from any other app, which makes it less useful than a VPN app, but if you only want to reduce browser data tracking from advertisers and your internet provider, it's good enough.

Safety Check is a must-have

Everyone should be using Safety Check on iPhone. This feature immediately lets you identify who you're sharing what with, including passwords, fitness activity, your current location, calendars, notes, and other data. To check on it, head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Safety Check > Manage Sharing & Access. You can go through the prompts to review app permissions, and set up an emergency contact, which ensures that your data (and you) are safe. While you can manually access all these options in the Settings app, the Safety Check prompt lets you find all features without combing through multiple pages, which will save you a lot of time.

Use Hide My Email to protect your email address

Whenever you sign in to a website, you end up sharing your real email address. If the site is hacked, your email is exposed, and can be targeted by hackers. To protect your email address, use an alias with each site. That way, if one website is compromised, you can simply disable that alias or be wary of phishing attempts targeted at just the one alias.

There are many ways to generate an email alias, but few are as easy as using Apple's Hide My Email feature. This feature is available to anyone who's paying for iCloud. On your iPhone, head over to Settings > [YOUR NAME] > iCloud > Hide My Email to create a new alias. When you're creating an account on various websites or apps, you'll also see a prompt to use Hide My Email above the keyboard, letting you generate an email alias with a single tap.

A password manager is a great privacy tool

Credit: Lifehacker

A good password manager is also a must. Free password managers, such as the built-in Passwords app or BitWarden allow you to create unique, strong passwords for each website, which makes it far less likely a single hacker could compromise your accounts. You can also use these apps to store your two-factor authentication codes for an extra layer of security.

Even better, these apps can manage passkeys to help you log in to your online accounts. Passkeys eliminate the need to remember passwords, and are far more resistant to phishing attacks that could compromise your accounts. For more information on passkeys, check out our full guide here.

Encrypt your backups to protect your data from hacking

Having a backup of any important data is essential, but how you back up that data matters, too. As such, those backups should be encrypted whenever possible. This includes your iCloud Backup, and backups of your messaging apps such as Telegram or WhatsApp. Encryption makes it far less likely for an unauthorized party to read what's on your iPhone, as the data is totally scrambled without the key—which, in this case, is either your password or PIN. However, this is also where the danger lies. If you forget your backup password, even you won't be able to access the backup to restore data if you need to. Again, use a password manager to store these passwords so you'll never be able to forget.

Back up your data outside of the cloud for extra security

You should always have at least two backups of your data. If iCloud is down, or if Apple decides to lock you out of your account for any reason, there's nothing you can do to recover anything stored on the company's servers. However, having an encrypted offline backup of your data allows you to access it even when you don't have a working internet connection. You will need a laptop or a desktop computer running Windows or macOS for this step.

You can connect your iPhone to your Mac and open Finder to get started with the backup. Select your iPhone from the left pane, and select Back up all the data on your iPhone to this Mac from the right pane. Be sure to check Encrypt local backup, add a password, and save that password to a good password manager. Again, if you lose this password, you won't be able to access the backup at all. On Windows, you can download iTunes and follow the same steps, or use the built-in Apple Devices app instead.

Remove identifying information from social media photos

This isn't necessarily an iPhone privacy tip as much as it is a general privacy hack, but it's worth mentioning. These days, trackers and hackers effectively use social media posts, photos, and videos to profile you. While there are plenty of steps you can take to limit the data you share on social media, you might not know you can remove identifying data from photos you post online. "Exif" data includes a host of stats about the hardware that took the image, including your camera make and model, shutter speed, focal length, and, perhaps most importantly, location. You don't have to avoid sharing photos to protect this data, however: just remove the exif data before posting.

Use encrypted messaging apps to protect your conversations

Credit: Pranay Parab

For private messaging on your iPhone, you only want to use apps that offer end-to-end encryption, which means that only you and the intended recipient can read your messages. Some of the most popular messaging apps with end-to-end encryption include WhatsApp and Signal, though Apple's iMessage protocol is also encrypted end-to-end. That said, if you aren't texting an iPhone in the Messages app, your messages won't be encrypted, as both SMS and RCS are not encrypted protocols on iPhone at this time. That's changing soon, at least for RCS: Apple is adding support for RCS encryption with iOS 26.4, which means that your text messages will also be encrypted once the update is available.

Use Guided Access to prevent people from snooping through your iPhone

When you're letting someone else use your iPhone for a bit, you should enable Guided Access to prevent them from snooping. Guided Access prevents users from leaving the app you currently have on screen, so if you let someone use the Google app on your phone, they won't be able to go through your messages or photos instead. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access and enable the feature. You can use a passcode or Face ID to toggle a Guided Access session.

The next time you're handing over your iPhone to someone, open the app they need to access, then press the side button thrice in quick succession to enable Guided Access. From here, you can disable touch inputs in parts of the screen, set a time limit for the other person to use your phone, and disable the keyboard, among other options. Once you've set it all up, feel free to hand over your phone. You can disable Guided Access by entering the passcode or using Face ID. If you only have a few apps you want to keep out of others' hands, you can always choose to lock them individually behind a Face ID scan.

Use Lockdown Mode to prevent extreme attacks on your iPhone

Most people are never going to need to use Lockdown Mode, because it's designed to protect your data when it's under attack from government surveillance or from espionage. That said, it's still worth knowing about this tool in case you ever face a cyberattack or if you suspect that your iPhone has been infected with spyware. Lockdown Mode disables message attachments, links and link previews, most incoming FaceTime calls, many Apple services, certain web technologies and fonts in Safari, and many other features, that bad actors can use to obtain your private data.

I repeat that this level of extreme protection is unnecessary for most people, but if you do need it one day, you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode to enable it.

Ever since I deleted my Facebook account, Instagram has taken its place as the social network I visit most often to check what my friends are up to. I've been on the app for something like 15 years now, and during this time, I've learned a trick or two that improve the experience (or at least make it less annoying). Here are 10 Instagram hacks that will enhance your privacy, reduce the amount of junk in your feed, help you reset your algorithm, and more.

Use Instagram filters to block spam messages and comments and clean up your feed

On every social media app, I like to set up filters to mute offensive keywords, but you can use keywords to block almost anything you don't want to see. On Instagram, you can use filters to easily block spammy comments and offensive messages. While you can customize your filter list, I just looked up a list of offensive phrases, and quickly added it to my IG account, then added a few additional terms.

You can do the same thing by going to your Instagram profile page, and tapping the three-lines menu in the top-right corner in Instagram. This opens the Settings and activity page, where you can select Hidden Words. It lets you add multiple words, as long as you separate them with a comma. Once added, Instagram will block comments and messages containing those terms.

You can also add mute keywords for posts appearing in your feed. Go to Instagram Settings > Content preferences > Specific words and phrases. On the Content preferences page, go to Sensitive content and Political content, and you can limit those types of posts and videos from showing up on your feed too.

Reset your Instagram algorithm

Every once in a while, my Instagram algorithm goes haywire and I'm forced to reset it. After all, I mostly open this app to see my friends' updates and cat videos, and once my feed starts showing me too much Hyrox content (a "sport" I couldn't care less about), I know I'm in trouble. If something like this happens to you, there are two ways to reprogram your feed. The easy option is to just look for a reel you enjoy (such as a cat video), and swipe upwards a few times till you reach a non-cat video, then navigate away. Repeat this process a few times and your feed will be back to more cat videos and less Hyrox (or anything else).

If that doesn't work, or if your feed is too far gone in the wrong direction, then you can go to Instagram Settings > Content preferences > Reset suggested content to reboot it entirely.

Remove tracking links from Instagram

When you share any post, reel, story, or other type of content on Instagram, the app tracks who you're sharing it with, even if you send the link outside Instagram. You can see this by tapping the Share button on any post, and selecting Copy link: Paste this link in any text editor, such as Apple Notes or Google Keep, and you'll see that the link has tracking parameters at the end, such as "?igsh=…" or "?utm…". That helps Instagram identify that you've shared the link.

There's no way to disable this tracking, but you can manually remove it from each link before you send it to someone. Just paste the URL it as usual, then delete everything after the question mark.

Force Instagram to open DM links in your preferred browser

Credit: Pranay Parab

Whenever you open a link in Instagram, the app opens it in an in-app browser. This is the least privacy friendly option, as Instagram can then track which websites you're visiting quite easily. You can partially stop this by tapping the three-dots button in the top-right corner of Instagram's in-app browser and selecting Open in external browser.

There's no way to make this the default setting for all links, but you can set it as default for links you receive via DM. To do this, go to Instagram Settings > App website permissions > Message links and turn on Open in external browser.

Limit your Instagram notifications

After you post something, Instagram loves to spam you with notifications every time a few people interact with the post. Even if you don't use Instagram for a day or two, you'll still get a deluge of notifications from the app. I don't face this problem because I never allow Instagram permission to send any notifications on my devices, but that's not an option for everyone. If you don't want to turn off notifications entire, you can choose to receive only the useful notifications from Instagram. To do this, go to Instagram Settings > Notifications and review all the options available to you. I particularly like the Messages only option, which only sends me an alert when someone DMs viaon the app.

To further limit notifications, go to the Following and followers section on this page, and disable Account suggestions. Similarly, you can go to Messages and disable Message reminders and all varieties of channel notification settings. You can also go to the Calls section and turn off Video chats, which has the added bonus of disabling video calls on Instagram, which I've never wanted to use.

Hide your online status and disable read receipts on Instagram

For some reason, Instagram shows other people when you're online. If you want to be more discreet, go to Instagram Settings > Messages and story replies > Show activity status and turn the setting off. (On the previous page, you can select Show read receipts and turn it off to stop people seeing if you've read their messages too.)

Hide the "typing" indicator in Instagram messages

When someone is messaging you on Instagram, the app shows you an animation to tell you that the other person is typing. More often than not, this feature only makes me keep the app open longer while the other person types their message, which is probably why Instagram's added it in the first place. If you don't want to see the typing indicator in a chat, you can disable it: Open any chat in Instagram and tap the contact's name up top. Go to Privacy and safety and turn off Typing indicator. Sadly, you'll need to do this manually for each of your Instagram chats.

Enable end-to-end encryption to make Instagram more secure

Credit: Pranay Parab

Instagram chats are not encrypted by default, which means that the company can read all your messages. If you want to beef up your security, consider using end-to-end encryption for your chats. Just like Telegram, Instagram hides its end-to-end encrypted chat feature, and makes you enable it manually for each chat. You can do so by opening any chat in Instagram, tapping the contact's name up top, selecting Privacy and safety > Use end-to-end encryption.

Automatically clear your Instagram search history

Your Instagram search history shows up whenever you try to search for anything on Instagram. This can be embarrassing if you've looked up something really silly (or slightly naughty), and someone else sees it. to prevent this, you can clear your searches by tapping the search bar in Instagram, and selecting Clear all, or tapping the x next to each search term.

However, there's also a way to automatically clear your search history on Instagram: Go to Instagram Settings > Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Search history > Keep searches for, and select 3 days, which is the minimum time for automatically deleting your searches.

Reset your Instagram ad preferences to protect your data

There's no way to block ads on Instagram, but you can reduce the amount of your data that Instagram uses to show you those ads. Just go to Instagram Settings > Accounts Center > Ad preferences > Manage info. You can go through each option on this page and turn off everything you can. Under Categories used to reach you, select Remove on every option.

You can choose Don't allow us… in these two categories: Ads in other apps and Ads about Meta. Finally, you can select Activity information from ad partners > Review setting, and pick No, don't make my ads more relevant.

Spotify's adding a new way to sort playlists for paying subscribers. The feature is called Smart Reorder, and it allows you to automatically sort your songs by BPM (beats per minute) and key. This is great for those who want to gradually bump up the intensity of the songs they listen to.

It's worth noting that this feature only works for playlists you've created or those you've mixed using the Spotify Mix feature, which lets you add or customize song transitions like a DJ would. Also, because Smart Reorder is an extension of Spotify Mix, you can't have one without the other. Spotify Mix hasn't yet been launched in all markets where the streaming service is present, including where I live, and as such, Smart Reorder isn't available in those regions yet. It's a shame, because I'm really excited to try it.

How to use Smart Reorder in Spotify

If you're a Spotify Premium subscriber, using the Smart Reorder feature is easy. Just open any of the playlists you've created or mixed, and tap the Edit button above the first song. Scroll to the bottom and select Smart Reorder. Spotify will automatically rearrange your songs by BPM, and you can tap the Save button up top to confirm the changes.

Smart Reorder should be a very useful feature for people like me, who prefer workout playlists that slowly bump up in intensity. I like to hear high BPM songs towards the end of my gym sessions or runs, but that might not be ideal for everyone. Some types of exercises, such as spin workouts, might be better off switching between high and low BPM songs as the intensity varies, and Smart Reorder wouldn't be great for those use cases. Some users on Reddit also suggested that you should create a copy of your playlists before using Smart Reorder on them, since you can't automatically restore playlists to their original order if you end up not liking the changes after saving them. To duplicate a Spotify playlist, open the playlist and tap the three-dots button above the list of songs. Select Add to other playlist > New playlist, then add a name for the copy and and tap Create.

This is another example of Spotify doing more with its AI DJ feature than Apple Music, where the AutoMix AI DJ feature has been more of a mixed bag for me. At the moment, AutoMix just handles song transitions, and Apple hasn't added any kind of custom playlist reordering to it.

Telegram is among the most popular WhatsApp alternatives around. Telegram supports messaging individuals and groups, but it also has social media-like channels where you can post to thousands of subscribers at once. In this piece, I'll be focusing more on Telegram as a messenger, since that's how I use it the most. In my decade of using the app, I've learned quite a bit about it, and I'm here to share the best Telegram hacks that you should know.

You need to manually enable end-to-end encryption

Unlike Signal or WhatsApp, Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default. End-to-end encryption ensures that your messages cannot be read by anyone without accessing either your device or the recipient's device, and at this point, it's become an industry standard security protocol for messaging apps. You can enable end-to-end encryption in Telegram, but it requires a few extra steps, and even then, the implementation is not very user-friendly. Secret Chat is Telegram's name for messages that have end-to-end encryption, and to access it, follow these steps:

1. Open Telegram and start a chat with a contact.

2. In the chat window, tap the name of the contact up top.

3. On the next page, tap more, and select Start Secret Chat.

4. You now need to wait for the recipient to come online and accept your request to start a Secret Chat. When they do, that conversation will become end-to-end encrypted.

Sadly, you'll have to repeat this process with each of your contacts, which leaves you with two different chats per contact (a Secret Chat and a normal chat). The other limitation is that you can't access Secret Chats on multiple devices. They're limited to your phone and the recipient's phone, and won't show up on Telegram's desktop app. It's great for security, but not as good for convenience.

Don't forget to delete your old profile photos

When you add a new profile picture to your Telegram account, it does not automatically delete the previous picture. That means your contacts can still go to your profile and see your older profile pictures. To fix this, open the Telegram app and go to the Settings page (which is within the bottom bar on iOS and hidden under the three-lines menu on other platforms). Tap your profile photo, select the Edit button, and delete the pictures you don't want to keep.

Disable unwanted notifications

Credit: Pranay Parab

Telegram tends to be a bit spammy with its notifications. By default, you'll get an alert whenever any of your contacts joins Telegram, which gets tiring very fast. You can disable these unwanted notifications by going to Telegram Settings > Notifications and Sounds and disabling New Contacts. While you're on this page, you can take a moment to disable any other notification types you might not want to see, including Group Chats, Stories, Channels, Reactions, etc.

Change when Telegram auto-deletes your account

Telegram is a bit aggressive about deleting inactive accounts. It will automatically delete your account if you don't use the app for six months. This isn't going to bother regular users, but it's a good idea to customize this duration based on your needs. Telegram lets you set the auto-delete timer for anywhere from 1 month to 24 months, so you can pick the option that's best for you. Go to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security > If Away For to make the change.

You can block Telegram calls

Telegram supports voice and video calls, which is pretty standard for messaging apps. Unlike most of its competitors, though, Telegram allows you to block voice and video calls entirely. Just head over to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security > Calls and select Nobody.

Enhance your Telegram account's security

It's never a bad idea to add a few extra layers of security to your Telegram account. The app supports two-step verification and passkeys, and you can enable both by going to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security. Both options are located near the top of this page.

Lower your data usage

One of Telegram's best features is granular controls for its various settings, including how much data the app uses. This is great for people with metered internet connections. You can access these options under Telegram Settings > Data and Storage. Go to Using Cellular and Using Wi-Fi to customize how much data the app uses. If you set data usage to Low, Telegram will compress media to preserve bandwidth. On the same page, you can also disable all auto-downloads for photos, stories, videos, and files. Or, if you tap any of these options, you can individually disable auto-downloads based on the type of chat. For instance, Telegram lets you disable automatic downloads of photos, videos, files, and stories from only group chats or only channels. This way, it'll still automatically download media sent in private chats, but not in group chats.

You can also go to the Data and Storage settings page, and enable Use Less Data for Calls. This will compress audio a little bit, but can be helpful for staying under data limits.

Automate the built-in power saving mode

Telegram has a built-in power saving mode that conserves battery by reducing animations or disabling autoplaying videos and other intensive processes. Set it up by going to Telegram Settings > Power Saving. The slider at the top lets you set a battery percentage, and power saving will automatically turn on if your phone dips below it. I've set it to 30%, but you can choose a different number if you like. On the same page, you can also manually disable resource intensive processes, which I've used it to turn off autoplaying videos and gifs entirely.

Telegram groups have useful granular controls

Credit: Pranay Parab

Group messaging is one area where Telegram allows you to do a lot more than its competition. After creating a group, tap the group's name, select Group Settings, and you'll see a plethora of options. Under Permissions, you'll be able to decide if group members can send messages, voice notes, photos, videos, music, links, add members, pin messages, etc. On the same page, you can also enable Slow Mode, which enforces a minimum delay between two messages from the same member. If you set this to 1 minute, then members will have to wait a minute before sending their second message.

I would love to see other apps also implement a version of Slow Mode, as it stops people from spamming the group with multiple short messages in a row. Additional settings include enabling Topics, which lets you create different "channels" within a group to keep discussions from going astray (separate from the social media "channels" mentioned at the start of this guide). You can think of these like separate channels in Slack or IRC, so in larger groups, you can have separate topics to discuss sport or politics. This keeps the main feed free of unnecessary messages and assigns dedicated spots for different topics.

Telegram Premium adds features you probably don't need

Telegram has a subscription service ($5/mo) that lets you access features such as unlimited cloud storage (with a maximum of 4GB per document), chat transcription, automatic translation of incoming messages, support for checklists in the app, the ability to see when someone was last seen online (bypassing their privacy settings), and more. These features are great for people who have channels with a large following, but for most people, none of these features are essential. Other than the generous cloud storage, you can get all of these features in other apps for free. And even cloud storage has strong alternatives, including small providers like Proton or larger ones like Google and Apple.

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in most parts of the world, and in my decade or so of using it, I've learned a few important tips that make it a much more convenient and secure experience. I use the following WhatsApp hacks to keep my account safe, stop the app from overloading my notifications and storage, and save myself a lot of time. If you're like me, and your entire social circle is on WhatsApp, then you're absolutely going to need tips like these to stop from feeling overwhelmed.

Use advanced chat privacy to block exports and Meta AI

WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption, which means that the company itself cannot read the contents of your messages, but that doesn't stop recipients from easily exporting your conversations. If you don't want anyone to export your message history, make sure to enable Advanced Chat Privacy in WhatsApp. This feature needs to be enabled individually for each chat (including group chats).

With Advanced Chat Privacy enabled, photos won't be automatically saved to recipients' phones, AI features will be disabled, and no one will be able to export that chat's history to their devices. Note that people can still forward your messages and take screenshots or screen recordings of them, but every little bit helps. You can enable Advanced Chat Privacy by opening any chat in WhatsApp, tapping the name of the contact or group, and going to Advanced Chat Privacy.

You can lock individual chats, too

Everyone knows that you can put an app lock on WhatsApp, which means that you'll need a passcode (or biometric authentication) to view your messages whenever you open the app. A lesser known feature is that you can lock individual chats, too. This allows you to put chats with certain people or groups into a hidden folder. These hidden chats won't show up in your list of WhatsApp conversations and can only be found by searching for the name of the contact or group. Even if someone else gains access to your WhatsApp, they also won't be able to open these chats without an additional passcode or biometric authentication.

To use this, open any chat in WhatsApp, tap the name of the contact or group, and enable Lock chat.

Make your WhatsApp account more secure

Credit: Pranay Parab

There are a few easy steps you can take in the WhatsApp settings to reduce the chances of unauthorized access to your WhatsApp account. Get started by going to WhatsApp Settings > Account. First, tap on Two-step verification and enable it. WhatsApp will ask you to create a 6-digit PIN, and the next time you log in to the app on a different device, you'll be prompted to enter this PIN in addition to your other credentials.

When you set up two-step verification, the app will also ask you to add an email address to help recover the PIN in case you forget it. Once you've done that, feel free to add a passkey via the same account settings page, if you wish. The final step in securing your WhatsApp account involves locking your SIM card. Go to your phone's cellular service settings and set up a SIM PIN there. This locks your SIM card or eSIM, and means that if someone tries to add your number to another device, they'll need this PIN to get in. Since WhatsApp requires your phone number for activation, this step could prevent unauthorized access to your account.

Optionally, you can also add a password to your WhatsApp backups. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat backup > End-to-end encryption. You can either set up a passkey or a password to encrypt your backups. No one will be able to access your WhatsApp backups without this password, which will help keep your extra copies of important messages secure.

Stop unknown people from adding you to groups

As a heavy WhatsApp user, one of the biggest annoyances I used to face was people adding me to WhatsApp groups without my permission. I wasn't too bothered when my friends did this, but eventually I started getting added to random spam groups by strangers, which is when I decided to put an end to it. You can keep strangers from adding you to WhatsApp groups by going to WhatsApp Settings > Privacy > Groups and selecting My contacts. This allows only saved contacts to add you to groups. Feel free to choose My contacts except… if you want to block specific people from adding you to groups.

The best WhatsApp hack for sending voice notes

If you like sending voice notes on WhatsApp, then I've got a few quick tips for you that will make your life easier. You might know that you can open any chat and hold the microphone icon to send a voice note. But did you know that if you slide this icon upwards towards the lock icon, you can let go of it and keep recording? This way, you don't have to keep holding the mic icon while recording long voice notes. You can also hit the pause button to pause the recording and come back to it later, in case there's an interruption while you're recording a voice note. Once you're done recording, you can also press the 1 button if you want your voice note to be deleted after the recipient hears it once.

I'll admit, though, that I sometimes tend to ignore long voice notes. Instead, I use transcripts to quickly skim through them, and decide if they need an immediate response. Voice note transcripts are disabled by default, but you can enable them by going to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts > Manually. While you're here, also tap Transcript language and select the language that you want to see your transcripts in.

Archive unwanted chats and groups

If you're getting too many messages from certain WhatsApp chats or groups, they'll always show up at the top in the list of your chats. To get these off the main window, head to the chat list and press and hold on the chats you want to banish. Then tap Mute. To ensure that these archived chats don't reappear in the main window when you receive a new message from them, go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats and enable Keep chats archived.

Reduce notification spam

Credit: Pranay Parab

It's really easy to get overwhelmed by notifications in WhatsApp. If you're an even moderately social person, you'll quickly find yourself receiving way more messages than you can reasonably be expected to handle. I've found that disabling WhatsApp notifications entirely works best to counter the problem, but that's not the best solution for everyone.

Instead, you can try a few things to seriously reduce the amount of pings you get from WhatsApp. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Notifications and review every setting on this page. Personally, I've disabled all notifications for emoji reactions, group messages, and reminders. This way, I only get notified when individuals message me.

Create chat folders to manage message overload

WhatsApp's chat folders are a great way to triage your conversations. In your chat list, press and hold on any conversation. From there, you can select either Add to Favorites or Add to list to get started. The first option adds these messages to the Favorites folder, and the second one lets you choose a custom folder name. These chat folders will appear above all your conversations, and you can quickly tap any of them to focus on specific conversations.

The real hack is to reorder these folders to your liking. You can do that by holding the name on any of these chat folders and selecting Reorder lists. I've used this to prioritize messages from loved ones, my meditation group, running friends, and so on.

How to stop "WhatsApp storage full" errors

Unfortunately, I know too many people whose phone storage is almost full because of WhatsApp. If you're in this situation, go to WhatsApp Settings > Storage and data > Manage storage to start the cleanup. Tap Larger than 5 MB and you'll be able to review everything that takes up a lot of storage space on your device. In the bottom-left corner, there's a button that lets you sort these files by recency or storage size. I've used this to identify lots of duplicate files and delete all but one copy of such items. You can also see a list of the chats occupying the most storage space on your device. Tap each item to manually review your files.

It's pretty easy to set up a few preventative measures to stop this error, too. You can go to WhatsApp Settings > Storage and data and turn off everything under Media auto-download.

Double check settings and privacy

It's important to note that if you use WhatsApp's apps on both your desktop and your phone, any settings changes you've made on one device might not sync to the other. You should review all settings to see if everything is syncing correctly.

While you're double checking account details, you should also review your WhatsApp privacy settings. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Privacy, scroll to the bottom and select Privacy checkup for a quick overview. This is a step-by-step guide to enabling the most important privacy settings in WhatsApp, and is much faster than doing it manually.

While I generally consider Chrome to be a mature, feature complete browser, it's great to see that Google is still making meaningful additions to it. With its latest update, Google Chrome for desktop now has three new productivity features: Split View, PDF annotations, and the ability to save downloads directly to Google Drive. These features are targeted at both regular and enterprise users, the company says, so you don't need to worry about Workspace exclusivity. Let's take a look at each new feature and how you can best use it.

Split View lets you boost your productivity

Credit: Google

Over the years, the internet browser has become a super app of sorts, since it has access to so many useful sites and web apps. In Chrome, I often find myself taking notes while attending meetings online, or keeping a second tab open for research while I write articles. For many people, a single Chrome tab or window is no longer enough, and with that in mind, Google's added Split View to the desktop version of its browser.

Split View merges two tabs and displays them in the same window. You can think of it like the split-screen view in old school video games. You can use Split View by right-clicking any tab and selecting Add Tab to New Split View. For now, Chrome allows you to have a maximum of two tabs side by side in Split View, although I hope you'll eventually be able to add more in the future. In its current form, the feature is great for using Google Docs while watching an educational video, or similar two-tab use cases. Finally, no more opening single tabs in separate windows and then resizing them into your own, makeshift split view.

You can easily drag the slider in between the two tabs to give one tab more screen space than the other. Or for more control, you can click the Split View button to the left of the address bar and select the Arrange Split View menu (this is also available if you right click the merged tabs in your tab bar). This is an easy way to quickly reverse the order of the two tabs, separate them, or close just one of the tabs.

Annotate PDFs in Chrome

Credit: Google

Let's be honest: Chrome is probably the PDF viewer that most people use. No matter how many fancy PDF editing apps I or my colleagues recommend, for the most part, you're going to search for and open PDFs in your browser. Luckily, now you no longer have to use a different app for basic annotations. Chrome's desktop PDF Viewer now has tools for highlighting text, adding notes, and even making digital signatures. You're still going to need a different app for advanced PDF edits, but Chrome is now capable enough to handle the basics.

Save PDF files directly to Google Drive

Credit: Google

Whenever you download a PDF file using Google Chrome, it defaults to saving them to the Downloads folder on your computer, or to another location on your hard drive. On desktop, Google now lets you save these files directly to your Google Drive account. This can be very useful if you want to keep your local storage clear. When you open a PDF file in Chrome, you'll see a Google Drive icon in the toolbar, next to the download button. Clicking the Google Drive icon will automatically save it to the cloud storage service, in a new folder called "Saved from Chrome."

From coordinating pickups for road trips to helping organize yard sales, WhatsApp groups are at the center of all kinds of events in people's daily lives. As someone who's a member of far too many WhatsApp groups, I've always been very annoyed by the app's inability to show group chat history to new group chat members. In the lead up to my most recent meditation retreat, the admins ended up sending the same document seven (!) times, just because new members kept joining the group and they had no way to access attachments that were previously sent to the group chat. Thankfully, WhatsApp is finally changing that.

WhatsApp is finally adding a feature called Group Message History, which means that group admins and members can now choose to share recent messages with new members. Now, when adding new members to a WhatsApp group, you'll be able to let them access up to 100 recent messages already sent to the rest of the group chat, which should good enough to stop people from spamming the group with the same messages as new people are added.

Speaking personally, this will be a great quality of life upgrade. In order to help new group chat members feel less lost, I've previously done everything from forwarding all relevant messages to them via DMs to sending screenshots of all our previous messages. All of this is incredibly tedious, and thankfully, I won't have to do it for much longer.

Credit: WhatsApp

I also like the idea of limiting new group members to 100 recent messages or less. Quite often, my WhatsApp groups start off with a small number of people who know each other extremely well, and then the group expands to add acquaintances. The dynamics of the group chat change significantly when newer members are added, and not everyone feels comfortable with the idea of an unknown person seeing messages that were sent with a more intimate group in mind. Limiting chat history is a great move that allows people to maintain some privacy, as opposed to sharing the group's entire chat history with every new member.

Still, if 100 messages seems like too much of an invasion of privacy to you, WhatsApp also says that admins will have the option to disable this feature for regular members. This way, only the admin will be able to share chat history with new members.

The company says that everyone in the group chat will be notified when a new member is granted access to chat history, so you won't be blindsided if your new group member starts referring to in-jokes from a few days ago.

WhatsApp says it is gradually rolling out this feature across the world, so you can expect it to be available on your device in the coming weeks.

At CES 2026, Swedish furniture giant Ikea showed off its new Kallsup Bluetooth speaker, which will cost just $10 in the U.S. Normally, I'd be skeptical of any speaker this cheap, but the Kallsup grabbed my attention for a few reasons—chief among them that Ikea says you can chain up to 100 of them together to create the multi-speaker setup of your dreams. That aside, the hardware seems pretty basic: The speaker has a USB-C port at the back, and two buttons up top (play/pause, and pair).

Chaining together Bluetooth speakers is nothing new, but this is the first time I'm seeing the ability to pair as many as 100 of them. The only reason this use case is even remotely plausible is the pricing: As reported by The Verge, the Kallsup Bluetooth speaker will be priced at $10 in the U.S. and €5 (roughly $6) in Europe, which means you can buy 10 of them for the same price as one HomePod mini. The Verge also says that once you pair one of them to your phone (the company promises Bluetooth 5.3 support), you can add more to the chain with a two-button sequence.

Design-wise, the speakers are cubical and colorful, which I'm a fan of (at the moment, Ikea is showing them off in white, green, and pink). But how do they sound? Well, Gizmodo says that while they are loud, they don't deliver much in the way of bass. I'd love to get a couple to judge for myself before committing to chaining a few dozen of them together, but I definitely admire Ikea's big swing here. That said, while CES is the place to grab attention with out-there ideas, and I am struggling to find a use case for chaining 100 Bluetooth speakers together. Maybe if you're an amusement park owner and you want the cheapest possible audio setup for a haunted house? Likely most people will be content with a more reasonable number of them, spread around the house.

Plenty of people have been asking for a MacBook with a touchscreen display, and now that is possible with the Intricuit Magic Screen, according to an announcement at CES 2026. It's a snap-on accessory that attaches to your MacBook's display, and uses one of the USB-C ports on the laptop for power. Once connected, you can touch the Magic Screen and your input will be registered on the Mac.

The good news is that this product ships with a stylus, which will make it a lot easier to interact with different Mac apps. When you tap something on your iPhone or iPad, the UI takes into account the fact that your fingers are a lot thicker than a mouse pointer. On the Mac, the default input is the mouse cursor, so the Magic Screen's stylus is better suited to those interactions than using your fingers. Having said that, you can use your fingers with this touchscreen accessory too.

Keep in mind that using a snap-on touchscreen accessory has a few caveats. The first is that you can't quickly close your MacBook's lid when the Magic Screen is attached. The company has added a thick piece of plastic to the base of the accessory. This part rests just above your MacBook's keyboard and it'll stop you from accidentally closing your laptop's lid with the Magic Screen attached. This ensures that you won't accidentally damage your laptop'd display by slamming the lid shut when the accessory is attached.

It also means that you'll always have to unplug the Magic Screen when you're not using the Mac, which can be a bit annoying. Intricuit says it also works in pen tablet mode, so you can place the Magic Screen on your desk and use your stylus to draw something or to control the Mac. This accessory's battery will last up to 100 hours on a single charge, the company claims.

Intricuit announced this product at CES 2026 and said the Magic Screen will be on Kickstarter soon at a launch price of $139. The company says it expects to start shipping the product in the first quarter of 2026. It currently supports the 16-inch M-series MacBook Pro, 14-inch M-series MacBook Pro, 15-inch M-series MacBook Air, and 13-inch M-series MacBook Air models. You'll just need to choose the correct variant for your laptop while placing the order.

Anker launched a pair of "2-in-1" earbuds under its Soundcore brand at CES 2026, and it has a unique feature: They can be worn in two ways by adjusting the ear hooks. When you want active noise cancellation, you can wear it in-ear, and when you don't, you can adjust the hooks for an open-ear design. This quirky product is called the Soundcore Aerofit 2 Pro—and you can already buy it for $150, which includes a launch discount of $30.

When it comes to CES announcements, I'm always wary of vaporware, aka products that are announced but never shipped. That's why I keep an eye out for products with a shorter launch window so you can actually get your hands on the things you're excited about. The Soundcore Aerofit 2 Pro is one of those products. As Anker itself admits on the product page, the Aerofit 2 Pro isn't for everyone. The biggest quirk of this product is its size. It's a lot bigger than most ANC earbuds, and the ear hooks go all the way around your ears, which isn't a fit that works for everyone. The charging case is also quite large, when compared with other ANC earbuds: It's 4.23 inches (11cm) wide, and it supports wireless charging.

Credit: Soundcore

Most noise-cancelling headphones let you switch to a listening mode that allows ambient sounds via software, but the Aerofit 2 Pro lets you do this by physically twisting the earbuds. This adjustment seems quite seamless based on the demo video on the product page, but I haven't tested it in-person, so I'll reserve my judgment until I do. There are five levels of adjustment for the ear hooks, with levels 1 and 2 reserved for open-ear listening, and 4 and 5 for noise cancellation. Level 3 maintains your previous listening mode to prevent accidentally switching to a different mode.