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If you're all-in on Microsoft 365 for work, school, or personal use, chances are high that Outlook is your go-to email service. It stands to reason then that, if you're an Android user, reading headlines that suggest Microsoft is shutting down your email service on your mobile OS of choice sounds a bit shocking. After all, Outlook is a massive program, and Android is the world's largest mobile platform; why in the world would Microsoft decide to deprecate its email service on Android?

That's because Google isn't sunsetting the Outlook for Android app; rather, the company is doing away with Outlook Lite, a lightweight version of the app designed for lower-powered smartphones. As Neowin highlights, Microsoft first announced this deprecation back in September, so the announcement didn't come out of nowhere. What is news, however, is we now have an official end-of-life date. Luckily, Outlook Lite users still have some time to set their affairs in order, as the app doesn't officially go under until May 25.

RIP Outlook Lite (2022–2026)

Microsoft first dropped Outlook Lite back in 2022. Back then, "lite" apps were more necessary, especially in areas of the world with slower internet speeds, and for users with lower-powered Android devices. This combination made running some traditional apps a bit difficult, as "budget" devices struggled to load relatively intensive assets over weak network connections. As such, lite apps, like Outlook Lite, offered a compromise: Developers could strip away many of the features that would otherwise bog down the experience, leaving just the essential components necessary to run the app.

But 2026 is a different world. Network speeds have improved across the board, as has budget Android hardware. Even a "cheap" Android phone has enough processing power to run the apps most people want or need to use on the Play Store. As such, it doesn't make as much sense for Microsoft to maintain two Outlook apps, when the main Outlook option can now serve most users just fine.

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Outlook Lite probably doesn't have many new users anyway, seeing as Microsoft started blocking downloads on Oct. 6 of last year. But there could still be a number of active Outlook Lite users still out there. If you're among them, you have just about six weeks to move over to the dedicated Outlook for Android app. Without taking action, you won't lose access to the emails in your account, and Microsoft won't delete the app from your phone, but you won't be able to access anything in the Lite app itself. There's even an "Upgrade" option present within the Outlook Lite app, so you can save yourself a few taps to get started. Of course, you don't have to go with Outlook for Android, even if you have an Outlook email—there a number of excellent clients out there to choose from.

Elon Musk's "X Corp" is back at it. The company's latest X-themed product is XChat, a messaging app built for X users to securely chat with one another. The app is currently available to preorder on the iOS App Store with an April 17 release date, and advertises itself as an end-to-end encrypted chat app free from ads or tracking. That sounds like a great pitch, especially if you're someone who frequently messages other X users. The problem is, the pitch doesn't seem entirely accurate.

As Mashable's Jack Dawes highlights, XChat's app privacy policies are a bit out of alignment with its promises. If you scroll to the "App Privacy" section of XChat's App Store page, you'll see that the app has declared it may collect the following data points, and link them to your identity:

• Location

• Contacts

• Search History

• Usage Data

• Contact Info

• User Content

• Identifiers

• Diagnostics

X Corp also says it may collect additional "User Content," but that this data is not linked to you. Regardless, this is a laundry list of information the so-called "private" chat app is taking from you, and linking to your identity. Even if XChat is entirely end-to-end encrypted, it seems rather disingenuous to claim the app has zero tracking, when its privacy policy says it can take any and all of these data point from you. I wouldn't feel particularly private if I knew XChat was scraping my contacts, location, and usage data, even if it didn't have access to the messages themselves. By comparison, Signal, one of the more popular secure chat apps, only collects contact info from its users—and doesn't link that data to the user themself.

XChat does claim it comes with some key features that other mainstream chat apps do. That includes editing or deleting messages for everyone in the chat, blocking screenshots, sending disappearing messages, cross-platform calling, and large group chats. (The App Store listing shows a group chat with 481 members.)

As the app is meant for X users to communicate with one another, you do need an X account to use XChat. That means the app likely won't pop off the same way other messaging apps have, but it may attract existing X users who have a number of contacts they already chat with in DMs. We'll see whether that's the case when the app launches later this week, but I imagine any privacy-minded users may prefer to seek alternative arrangements.

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Apple's product lineup is not small: The company makes smartphones, tablets, computers, headphones, and smart watches, among many others. But aside from the Vision Pro, it's a bit late to break into the headset and smart glasses market—while other companies, namely Meta, have pushed full steam ahead on their own smart wearable tech. But as anyone following tech rumors may know, Apple is working on its own smart glasses—four glasses, in fact.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman asserts that Apple is working on not just one design for its upcoming smart glasses, but four. According to Gurman, there are two main designs, which each offer slimmer or smaller variant. They include the following:

• A rectangular frame, like the Ray-Ban Wayfarers

• A rectangular frame with a "slimmer" design, like those worn by Apple CEO Tim Cook

• Larger circular or oval glasses

• A smaller "more refined" oval or circular frame

Gurman says that all four models will use acetate, rather than plastic, which may make the glasses more "durable and luxurious" than similar options from other companies. The company is planning on a number of finishes and color options, and may include black, ocean blue, and light brown. The goal here is to design something "instantly recognizable," a concept Apple calls "the icon," according to Gurman. Think Apple's AirPods, Apple Watch: These products don't really look like anything else on the market, so when you see them, you know right away what they are and who makes them. Rather than develop smart glasses that look like any others, like Meta Ray-Bans, the company wants you to know those are Apple glasses you're seeing.

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Functionally, Apple's smart glasses should be similar to Meta Ray-Bans: You'll be able to take photos and videos, sync with your iPhone, take phone calls, receive incoming notifications, listen to music, and chat with Siri hands-free: presumably, Apple's AI-powered assistant, assuming the company actually releases it with iOS 27. Gurman says the glasses will pair with Apple's upcoming AirPods and a new pendant device, both of which may come with embedded cameras for AI assistance.

My big question for Apple here is regarding privacy: Smart glasses aren't necessarily a privacy enthusiast's dream design, as they subtly embed cameras into the frames. You can walk around taking images and recording videos of people without their explicit knowledge, without attracting the same attention as you would holding up your smartphone. Gurman doesn't speak much to this point, though he does say Apple is taking a slightly different approach to the camera design than Meta: Apple's cameras may be vertical ovals with surrounding lights, as opposed to the Meta Ray-Bans' circular camera design.

While smart glasses are selling, I'm still skeptical they'll take off in the same way smartphones did. There are benefits to having a hands-free smart device in glasses form, but smartphones offer far more functionality—at least, at this time. Until we get to a point where AR technology makes heads-up displays for glasses as easy to use as an iPhone, I'm not sure people will adopt this technology en masse.

While ChatGPT may have kicked off the generative AI era we now live in, it is far from alone these days. There is steep competition from multiple companies in this space, including Google, Anthropic, and even Microsoft—which has a huge financial stake in OpenAI. To compete, it seems OpenAI is trying to make its paid subscription plans more attractive to users, as the company just cut the price of ChatGPT Pro in half.

ChatGPT Pro now starts at $100

As reported by TechCrunch, OpenAI's new pricing model now offers a Pro plan at $100 per month, down from $200 per month. That now gives users a choice between the following: a free plan, which comes with ads; a Go plan offering more usage limits for $8 per month (still with ads); a Plus plan with extra models and exclusive features for $20 per month; and, now, the Pro plan, with the most usage limits across all of the company's models and features, for $100 per month. OpenAI doesn't list a $200 plan anymore, but it confirmed to TechCrunch that option is still available.

If you use ChatGPT to answer your everyday questions, you might balk at the idea of spending $100 a month on the chatbot, let alone $200. But Pro plans aren't targeted at the everyday user; instead, the idea is for coders who rely on AI to help with programs to subscribe. In this case, that's through Codex, OpenAI's coding tool. OpenAI told TechCrunch that its Pro plan now offers five times more Codex access than the Plus plan, which might appeal to power users. (The hidden $200 plan offers limits that are 20 times higher than Plus, or four times higher than the $100 Pro plan.)

Power users are who OpenAI is going after, too—especially those who may be tempted by Anthropic's Claude Code tool, which also offers a $100-per-month plan. This isn't speculation, either: An OpenAI spokesperson directly acknowledged how they believe Codex offers more for the money than Claude Code: “The new $100 Pro Tier is designed to give developers more practical coding capacity for the money, especially during high-intensity work sessions where limits matter most. Compared with Claude Code, Codex delivers more coding capacity per dollar across paid tiers, with the difference showing up most clearly during active coding use."

The AI race continues to heat up

OpenAI still has the majority of the generative AI user base. Back in February, the company announced it had broken 900 million weekly active users, with more than 50 million consumer subscribers. Anthropic doesn't disclose its total users, but some analyses put its consumers at anywhere from 18 or 30 million, while a spokesperson told TechCrunch that paid subscription have more than doubled this year. At the high end, that's 30 millions users against 900 million.

But Anthropic appears to be making more money than OpenAI. The former announced on Monday that its run-rate revenue had exceeded $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025. OpenAI says it is generating $2 billion per month, which would put it at roughly $24 billion for the year—at this point, anyway. Anecdotally, I have seen a lot of coders talk about using Claude Code, and far fewer discussing using ChatGPT Codex. While there are many AI companies out there, the fact that OpenAI called out Anthropic directly in this price cut shows they view them as a direct rival. It will be interesting to see how other things change as the race continues to heat up. Will OpenAI make more cuts, like it did when it killed Sora and dropped its AI video models? Only time will tell.

Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed on Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

When it first launched back in 2007, it would have seemed laughable to suggest paying a monthly subscription for YouTube. But fast forward nearly two decades, and YouTube Premium is actually a solid deal. With it, you get a mostly ad-free experience, with exclusive features and perks like YouTube Music. Of course, those benefits may only be worth it for the right price.

On Friday, YouTube started informing subscribers that it will be raising Premium prices for all account types. Going forward, individual YouTube Premium plans will go from $13.99 to $15.99 per month; annual plans will rise from $139.99 to $159.99 per year; family plans will go from $22.99 to $26.99 per month; and student plans will increase from $7.99 to $8.99 per month. That's only taking into account YouTube's pricing itself. If you subscribe to Premium through the YouTube app on iOS, YouTube applies an extra fee to compensate for Apple's 30% cut. That's why this Redditor's individual plan is going to $20.99 per month. For its part, YouTube does inform the user that they can sign up directly through YouTube for the new $15.99 per month price.

Interestingly, YouTube hasn't actually made an official announcement regarding the press increase. Instead, this change has been spread entirely word of mouth, as users shared their emails from the company in frustration. Users are already on edge this week, accusing the company of rolling out unskippable 90-second long ad breaks. YouTube is adamant that it does not have unskippable ad breaks this long, and says that the examples of it in the wild are actually bugs. But whether or not that's the case, the situation isn't really selling the company's price increase announcement.

To that point, users are not happy with this news. Scrolling through Reddit threads, I see nothing but frustration and dissatisfaction, with many threatening to cancel, or confirming they've ended their subscriptions then and there. One user called YouTube "greedy [bastards]," while others extol the virtues of ad blockers—which defeats one of the main perks of the subscription. As such, in recent years, Google started a war against ad blockers, making it much more difficult to use them with YouTube.

$15.99 isn't the most expensive streaming subscription out there, and YouTube Premium still comes with all the same benefits as before. But I'm not convinced YouTube can continue squeezing subscribers for more and more money before they start to see a subscriber exodus.

Gmail is one of—if not the—most popular email platform in the world. But it's not the favorite for users who care about their privacy. Google doesn't offer end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for basic Gmail users, instead opting for "Transport Layer Security" (TLS). This provides security in transit, but doesn't help once the message reaches its destination. While TLS is better than nothing, it doesn't offer the same level of security as E2EE, which scrambles messages for everyone other than the sender, recipients, and whoever else has the decryption key. As such, privacy-minded users often look elsewhere for their email needs, like Proton Mail.

But Google does offer more advanced encryption for some users—namely, work or school Workspace accounts. There's Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), which, like E2EE, encrypts emails in transit and in the sender's and recipients' inboxes. But it comes with the drawback of Google having a decryption key as well. In theory, Google could decrypt your emails—or, if Google was successfully hacked, an attacker could use the key to decrypt your emails. That's where client-side encryption (CSE) comes in: Here, the organizer of a Google Workspace plan has that decryption key, not Google, which means decryption is only possible within the organization.

If your company has a Workspace plan, this is the encryption to use if you want your email as secure as possible. But the main issue up to this point is that CSE has only been available on desktop. When at your computer, you could take advantage of encrypted Gmail, but when on the go, the mobile Gmail app didn't support it. According to Google, the only way to access CSE emails on mobile was to rely on extra apps and email portals.

Gmail on iOS and Android now supports E2EE through CSE

That's all changing now. On Thursday, Google announced it is now rolling out CSE support for the iOS and Android Gmail apps. Going forward, you can write and read E2EE emails directly within Gmail, no matter how you access the app. Plus, you'll be able to send E2EE emails to anyone, even if they don't have Gmail.

Google says that if your recipient has Gmail, they'll simply be able to open the message in their inbox. If they have a different email address (e.g. Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Proton, etc.), they'll still be able to read the email, but they'll need to open it in their device's browser. However, be careful when sending messages with CSE, as not everything you send is encrypted end-to-end. According to Google's help page on CSE, the body of the email will have total encryption, but the header, subject, timestamps, and recipients, will not have additional encryption.

How to send E2EE messages in Gmail

The admin of your organization will need to enable CSE for iOS and Android on their end before you see the option in your app. Once that happens, choose "Compose," then select "Message security," which has a lock icon. Under "Additional encryption," choose "Turn on." Then, craft your email as you normally would.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it planned to remove "unnecessary" Copilot features in Windows 11. The news was a bit shocking to say the least: Microsoft has been one of the biggest proponents of generative AI, pushing the technology into as many corners of its apps and OS as possible—despite negative feedback from users. Now, it seems the company is paying attention, and is actually sticking to its word.

As spotted by The Verge's Tom Warren, Microsoft has already started removing some "unnecessary" Copilot buttons from certain Windows apps. Warren notes that the latest Windows Insider version of the Notepad app is missing the Copilot button. In its place, Microsoft has added a "writing tools" menu. The Snipping Tool also has a similar situation: When you select an area to take a snapshot of, you won't find the Copilot button anymore.

It's a small start, but at least the company is starting the removal process. In his announcement last month, Pavan Davuluri (Microsoft's President of Windows & Devices) revealed that the company would remove Copilot from both Notepad and the Snipping Tool, but also Photos and Widgets. If the trend holds, expect to see these apps lose their Copilot buttons next.

The keyword here really is "buttons" though. As Warren highlights for The Verge, Microsoft seems to be largely retaining the AI features themselves. "Writing tools" in Notepad still has Microsoft's AI writing tools, in case users still want to access those options. But by removing the large Copilot option, users who want nothing to do with AI in apps like Notepad can easily avoid them. Really, it's evidence that the "in your face" approach Microsoft has taken to AI integration has really backfired. It doesn't help the company's case that, up until last week, Microsoft's official terms of service said Copilot was "for entertainment purposes only."

It's simple enough to remove Copilot buttons from software; it's another thing entirely to deal with the Copilot button affixed to new "Copilot+ PCs." Microsoft had manufacturers add this button as part of its dedication to this new technology, but now that it's pulling back a bit, it leaves these PCs in an odd place. It always seemed like a strange choice to put a Copilot key on a laptop when it wasn't clear how many users really want to use Copilot features in the first place. At least you can remap it to do something more useful if you don't care for Microsoft's AI.

It happens to the best of us: You write up a comment on an Instagram post, hit send, and, whoops, realize you made a glaring typo. What do you do? Do you delete the comment, retype it, and submit again, doubling the notifications the poster will receive? Leave it, and hope others will overlook your foolish use of "it's" instead of "its"? Neither option is great, but they're the only two choices you have on Instagram, right?

No longer: On Thursday, Instagram announced some exciting news for frequent commenters: Going forward, you'll be able to edit your Instagram comments. Whether you regret one part of your comment, or you only need to fix a mistake, this new feature lets you make adjustments without having to delete your comment entirely, catching up to other platforms that let you make similar edits.

Comment editing, with limits

Comment editing can be a slippery slope. If someone makes a controversial comment but edits it after other people comment en masse, it only creates confusion for users stumbling upon the chaos after the fact. Perhaps that's why Instagram is adding some limitations here. First, you only have 15 minutes after posting a comment to edit it. This is how message editing works on platforms like Apple's Messages app—you only have a finite amount of time to adjust your comments before they're set in stone. Once that 15 minute window is up, your comment is locked to your last edit.

What's more, when you do edit your comments, Instagram places an "Edited" label next to it—letting everyone know you changed the comment in some way. Instagram doesn't make it possible to view the edit history, so no one will be able to see what you said before that last edit—unless, of course, someone took a screenshot of one of your previous comment versions. Also, you can only edit text comments, not images. If you post a comment with an image, you'll need to delete the entire thing to remove that image.

How to edit comments on Instagram

Once you make a comment on an Instagram post, you should now see a new "Edit" button appear next to "Replay" and "Share on Threads." Tap it, and your comment will appear in the text field again. Make your adjustments, then tap the "Send" button again. Remember: You only have 15 minutes from when you first made that comment to make your changes.

You might have heard about Signal, the encrypted chat app the U.S. government infamously used to discuss war plans last year. (Yikes.) But while the app is no alternative to a dedicated SCIF, it is a good option for the rest of us to communicate more securely. Signal uses end-to-end encryption (E2EE), which, very simply, means that messages are "scrambled" in transit, and can only be "unscrambled" by the sender and the recipient or recipients. If you're in a Signal chat, you'll be able to read incoming messages just like you would any other chat app—if you're an attacker, and intercept that message, all you'll find is a jumble of code.

E2EE makes it difficult for anyone without your unlocked device (or your unlocked Signal app) to read your Signal message—difficult, not impossible. That's part of the reason the chat app is no option for government officials (though no third-party chat app could be). But it's also a good reminder that no matter who you are, your secure chats are not impervious to outside forces. If someone wants to break into your chats, they might find a way to do so.

The FBI recently recovered deleted Signal messages from an iPhone

Case in point: As reported by 404 Media, the FBI recently extracted incoming Signal messages from a defendant's iPhone. The user had even deleted the app off their device, which only added another hurdle into the investigators' goals. You would think by deleting the app itself, your encrypted messages would be protected. As it turns out, however, the FBI didn't need to access the Signal app at all. While they weren't able to retrieve the defendant's outgoing messages, they were able to scrape incoming messages from the iPhone's push notification database. (I've been covering iPhones for nearly a decade, and I wasn't aware that iOS even had a push notification database—though I suppose it makes sense, given that alerts exist in Notification Center until you manually open or dismiss them.)

This revelation comes from a case involving a group allegedly vandalizing property and setting off fireworks at the ICE Prairieland Detention Facility. One officer involved in the altercation was shot in the neck. According to a supporter of the defendants in this case who took notes during the trial, the court learned that any app that has permission to show previews and alerts on the Lock Screen will save those previews to the internal memory of the user's iPhone. As such, the FBI was able to obtain messages the defendant had received, even though those messages were set to disappear in the app, and the app had been cleared from the device.

Again, this is not a security hole exclusive to Signal: Any app that displays an alert on your Lock Screen has this vulnerability. The FBI probably had plenty of other notifications to sift through as well, from any app the defendant had running on their iPhone. Think about the alerts you might have sitting in Notification Center right now: texts, reminders, news bulletins, purchases, DMs, etc. All of that could be fodder for anyone with the surveillance tech to root through your iPhone—locked or not.

How to stop this from happening to you

If you use Signal, you actually have an advantage here, now that you know about this vulnerability. Signal has a setting that blocks the content of messages from appearing in their notifications. That way, even if someone accesses your alerts, all they'll see is you received a Signal message—not who sent it or what it contains.

To turn it on, open Signal, tap your profile in the top-left corner, then hit "Settings." Under Notification Content, choose "No Name or Content" to block all data to the alert. You can compromise here and choose "Name Only" if you want to know who a message is from before you open it—just remember, an intruder may also see you received a message from that person if they scrape your iPhone's notifications.

On Wednesday, Google announced "notebooks," a new feature for Gemini designed to help organize your research materials while using the company's flagship chatbot. Google says you should think of notebooks as "personal knowledge bases shared across Google products, starting in Gemini."

If that's a bit too vague for you, here's a simpler explanation: Notebooks are like Gemini chats, but designed to focus on a single topic, complete with bespoke resources Gemini can reference as you discuss that topic.

How Gemini's "notebooks" work

If you're a frequent Gemini user, you probably have a number of chats spanning any number of topics. The goal of notebooks is similar, but more focused: When you know you want to start compiling resources on a specific subject, you can choose the "New notebook" option on the side panel of the Gemini app, give it a name, then start adding sources. These can be from anywhere, including your Google Drive, your computer, websites, or text from your clipboard. You can also move previous chats into this notebook, if they're relevant to the topic at hand.

Once everything is in the notebook, you can start prompting Gemini and asking the AI questions about your topic. Gemini will then pull from all the resources in the notebook to offer detailed, relevant responses. Depending on your subscription plan, Google says you may be able to add more sources to notebooks, too.

Credit: Google

This tool isn't made in isolation. Despite launching in the Gemini app, notebooks will sync with NotebookLM, Google's deep research tool—which is perhaps its biggest perk. That means, notebooks you create in Gemini automatically appear in NotebookLM, so you can not only pick up where you left off, you can take advantage of NotebookLM's features. That means if you create a notebook in Gemini, you can open it in NotebookLM and turn your project into a video, or generate a "podcast" from your Gemini conversations.

I think this cross-platform syncing is probably the best use-case for notebooks. You could already share resources with Gemini if you wanted to chat about a specific topic, but now, you have a dedicated function for that purpose, one that automatically moves across Google's AI research platforms.

How to try notebooks in Gemini

Notebooks will be available to all Gemini users, even those on the free tier, but paid subscribers will have first dibs: Google is rolling out the feature to AI Ultra, Pro, and Plus plans this week, and will make the feature available to mobile and free users in the coming weeks.

While iOS has caught up in recent years, Android is still the most versatile OS when it comes to smartphone gaming—especially if you're looking beyond downloading games from app stores. Android supports a huge number of emulators, as well as game controllers and game pads. If you want to play a game, there's a decent chance you can get it up and running on Android.

And yet, the OS doesn't have something that many other modern gaming platforms do: native controller remapping. The idea is, you get to choose which of your controller's buttons do what. If you'd prefer your down button to have the same effect as the L1 button, or the D-pad to have the same inputs as the right stick, you can. While individual Android games may offer these options, it doesn't apply to the entire OS, which leads to some inconsistent gameplay situations.

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Google is testing controller remapping with the Android 17 beta

As it turns out, Android 17 will introduce system-wide controller remapping options—assuming it makes it out of beta. Former tech journalism-turned Google employee Mishaal Rahman shared the news in a post on r/AndroidGaming, acknowledging the Android gaming communities' repeated requests for controller remapping, and confirming the company is testing the feature in the Android 17 beta. Rahman says that Google is interested in two key points here: accessibility, so more players can remap buttons to fit their physical needs; and reducing issues with muscle memory when swapping between games.

Those two points really are huge for gamers. It can be frustrating to jump between games with different button layouts, and make mistakes only because you're used to the layout from the previous game. But, more importantly, controller remapping makes gaming much more accessible for players who might not be able to play with a game's default layout or control scheme. When some games support it and others don't, it makes gaming on Android unbalanced. Now, assuming Android 17 really does launch this feature, gaming on phones like Pixel and Galaxy will be more accessible for everyone.

How to try controller remapping on Android 17

These tools are currently live in the latest Android 17 beta (beta 2). You can try it out now if you enroll your eligible device in the Android beta—just be warned that installing beta software on your device may result in bugs, instability, or data loss. I'd recommend making a full backup of any important data before install the beta.

With the latest Android 17 beta running on your device, you have two choices, depending on whether you're using a wired or Bluetooth controller:

• Wired controllers: Head to Settings > System > Game Controller and choose your controller from the list.

• Bluetooth controllers: Head to Settings > Connected devices then choose the menu icon next to your controller. From here, go to the Device details page then choose "Game Controller" settings.

Either way, you'll see a list of all the buttons and inputs on your controller. Tap one to make any available adjustments. Rahman does warn that glyphs—the icons that appear next to each button or input—may not be accurate as of this beta.

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Attention Kindle readers: Amazon may soon end support for your e-reader. Now, if you recently acquired a Kindle—recently meaning anytime in the past 10 years—you don't need to worry. But for anyone who is still rocking an older Kindle, you might be affected.

The news started spreading on Tuesday, followed by a confirmation from Amazon. In a statement to PCMag, Amazon said the following: “Starting May 20, 2026, customers using Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier will no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle Store.” Amazon's first ever Kindle dropped back in 2007, which means there are five years worth of devices that the company is ending support for. That includes:

• Kindle 1st Generation (2007)

• Kindle DX and DX Graphite (2009 and 2010)

• Kindle Keyboard (2010)

• Kindle 4 (2011)

• Kindle Touch (2011)

• Kindle 5 (2012)

• Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation (2012)

• Kindle Fire 1st Gen (2011)

• Kindle Fire 2nd Gen (2012)

• Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012)

• Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012)

As with most device deprecations, Amazon is not killing Kindles released in 2012 and beyond. If you have an older Kindle from this time, it will continue to work, and you will be able to read on it—you just won't be able to access the Kindle Store. That might not be a dealbreaker: You can still read your existing books, or add any new titles by hand. But you won't be able to borrow books with library apps like Libby, which is how a huge number of readers use their Kindles. The issue gets worse if something happens to your device, like if you need to deregister or factory reset it. Amazon says in this case, "you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way."

Amazon will be reaching out to affected customers directly via email, explaining the situation, and offering those users 20% off new Kindle devices as well as $20 ebook credits following the purchase of a new device. That code is valid through June 20th, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.

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What to do if you have an older Kindle device

E-readers aren't really like smartphones: It's not really about having the latest and greatest features, since, for most situations, you're using your e-reader to, well, read—and often just black and white text, at that. If your 2012 or older Kindle is still doing that just fine, you might not feel a need to spend the money on an upgrade—even with Amazon's discount.

Luckily, you do have some options here. First, you can continue to use the Kindle Store for now, so if you like buying ebooks, you can load up your Kindle until it gets shut off. But the long-term option is to start "sideloading" (or manually uploading) your ebooks to your device. One of the most popular apps for manually managing your ebook library is Calibre, which acts like a sort of iTunes for ebooks. You can customize each book's data (such as choosing to swap out covers), and convert ebook formats to Kindle's proprietary AZW3. While there are certainly illegal ways to obtain ebooks and sideload them to your Kindle, there are plenty of legitimate methods to buying books like this as well. That way, you can still buy your ebooks, convert them to Amazon's format, then upload them to your Kindle, without having to unnecessarily upgrade your device.

Google is back with yet another AI service—this time, an offline dictation program using its "Gemma" architecture. But rather than include it within the Gemini app, or as a Gemini function, the company has decided to roll it out into a dedicated iPhone app, with the very catchy name of "Google AI Edge Eloquent."

I decided to give the app a shot on release day, though the privacy policy gave me pause. Google says that your location, contacts, identifiers, device diagnostics, contact info, user content, usage data, and "other" data can be linked to you, while purchases and other diagnostics can be collected but not linked to you. That's a lot of data, especially for an app that advertises that "audio, confidential conversations, and personal data never leave your device," and I'm not sure I'd be keen on downloading the app otherwise. But, as the saying goes, if a service is free, you are the product. I've reached out to Google for clarification here, and will update this story if I hear back.

How to try Google's new AI transcription app

Once you download the app, setup is easy—you record a sample example phrase the app tells you to say, then make a choice: "On-device mode," which is fully offline, and stores your conversations on your device online; or "Enhanced text polishing," which keeps the audio on your device, but does use Gemini to "polish" your text, which requires you to send data to the cloud (and is presumably where all that aforementioned privacy policy data is going). You won't need to keep Gemini on for the app to do a basic edit of your transcript though—by design, the app removes "filler" words like "um." Keep in mind that the app seems to open in "Enhanced text polishing" mode by default—at least, that's how it worked on my end. But a simple tap of a toggle in the top-right corner of the main screen switches you into "On-device mode."

I had some trouble getting the app up and running: Every time I tried to test it, it claimed I didn't speak at all. But after pairing AirPods with my iPhone and unpairing them, the app seemed to work. To test the app, I played the intro of this Audio University YouTube video, which is entirely dialogue-based. Once the app was working, it immediately started transcribing the video, with near perfect accuracy—at least by the end. I would watch the app enter incorrect words, then retract and replace them as subsequent words provided context. Once the recording was finished, the transcript was nearly identical to the video's transcript, save for a couple quirks: It mistakenly thought "If this is our first time meeting" was "This is our first time meeting," and recorded a single sentence twice. But other than that, this is a totally usable transcript of the beginning of the video.

From here, you have a number of options—especially if you invite Gemini to help. Off the bat, you can tap a pencil icon over the transcript to manually edit it, in case you want to correct any of the text the AI "polished" wrong. Above this, you can view "Usage stats," including the number of words spoken, the words spoken per minute, and the number of edits the AI made. If you do switch on Gemini, you'll have access to additional AI editing tools, including "Key Points," "Formal," "Short," and "Long." When you're satisfied with the transcription, you can tap the copy button to move the text to your clipboard to paste elsewhere. In the "History" tab, you can view your previous transcriptions, and return to them to edit them (manually or with AI). In the "Dictionaries" tab, you can add obscure words that you frequently use but the AI might not pick up on, improving the accuracy of your recordings going forward.

In my brief testing, the app does work well, and I do appreciate the option to use it on-device only. I would definitely consider using it over iOS' built-in transcriptions if it seemed quicker or more accurate, especially since there are some more robust features here—assuming that on-device really does mean keeping my data out of Google's hands.

When companies like OpenAI and Google started rolling out generative AI models to the general public, I doubt they predicted how attached people would get to the technology—and the effect it would have on their collective mental health. Some ChatGPT users legitimately mourned when OpenAI shutdown its GPT-4o model, as they treated that specific model like a companion. Others have taken darker paths with their chatbots, resulting in lawsuit against AI companies whose technology allegedly advised and encouraged suicidal thoughts. This situation puts a lot of pressure on these companies, as it should: Generative AI is hugely influential right now, and there's a lot of responsibility on the developers of that tech.

It's under that backdrop where we find Google's latest updates to Gemini. In a Tuesday morning press release, the company strayed away from fun new features or ability for its flagship AI; instead, Google's latest updates are focused on mental health, and how Gemini impacts the emotions and moods of the people who use it. Specifically, Google has three key points it says its implementing to improve how Gemini handles these tough situations.

How Gemini will offer users crisis support

Google says it is updated to Gemini to "streamline the path to support for those who need it." The company says that when the AI detects that a user might need mental health details during a chat, Gemini will present a new "Help is available" module, which can point users towards information and care. Google says that it worked with clinical experts on this in-chat module.

On the flip side, if Gemini thinks that a user is at risk of self-harm or suicide, it will present a "one-touch" interface to connect that user immediately to a crisis hotline. Users will be able to call or text the hotline, or visit its website, directly from their Gemini chat. Even if the conversation moves on, Gemini will keep these resources available for users should they need them.

Google says it is pledging $30 million in global funding over the next three years to assist crisis hotlines. The company is also expanding its relationship with ReflexAI, including $4 million in funding.

Gemini is changing how it responds to "acute mental health situations"

Google says its clinical, engineering, and safety teams are currently focused on improving how Gemini responds to these difficult situations. Specifically, there are three areas of focus:

• Safety and human connection: Google wants to connect users to real humans, not AI chatbots, in times of crisis.

• Improved responses: AI responses should encourage users to seek help, and not validate harmful behaviors or self-harm.

• Avoiding confirming false beliefs: Google says it trained Gemini not to reinforce false beliefs, and "gently" differentiate between subjective and objective realities. This point is particularly important, as previous generative AI models (notably GPT-4o) were all too ready to confirm delusional thoughts from users.

What Google says it is doing with Gemini to protect younger users

By far, the most important discussion here surrounds minors and their interactions with AI. For its part, Google is touting what it has done with Gemini to protect younger users, including:

• "Persona protections" supposedly stops Gemini from acting like a companion when interacting with minors.

• There are designs to block Gemini from connecting too deeply with younger users, to prevent developing an emotional dependance.

• Gemini will avoid encouraging both bullying and harassment.

While user safety is important across the board, it's especially important for young people, who are quite literally growing up with the tech. These announcements are encouraging from Google, but I still have plenty of concerns, not to mention skepticism. Meta's internal policies concerning how its models interacted with minors was appalling, so I'm not necessarily ready to believe big tech has the youth's best interest in mind. But any work that helps prevent younger users from forming attachments with AI, or having that AI reinforce dangerous of harmful thoughts, I certainly welcome.

When you download an app from the App Store or Play Store, how much research do you do ahead of time? Do you look into who makes the app, and where that company is based? Do you scan the app's privacy policy to make sure your data is handled responsibly? You might not, but, as it turns out, the FBI wants you to.

The FBI issued a warning last Tuesday concerning "foreign-developer mobile applications (apps)." (Thank you, FBI, for that clarification.) The FBI's thesis is this: Many of the most popular apps in the U.S. aren't developed here—instead, they're often developed and maintained by foreign companies. Now, these discussions can verge dangerously close to xenophobic, especially considering the U.S.'s current administration, but some of the FBI's concerns are legitimate. The FBI's chief issue is with the security laws of countries like China, which the FBI says could allow China's government to access U.S. user data. This was one of the concerns that led to the TikTok ban, and why there is now a majority-U.S. ownership of the platform.

In its PSA, the FBI highlights how some apps will encourage you to invite friends or contacts to use the app as well. The companies behind those apps can then store that contact information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers user IDs, and home addresses. Even if you, personally, don't use the app, or share your contact info with the app, someone else who does have your contact information may share it themselves. The FBI also points to the privacy policies of some apps, that admit that data is stored in Chinese-based servers for "as long as the developers deem necessary." Finally, some apps may contain malware that exploits security vulnerabilities in your devices' operating systems. The FBI highlights that this malware can run programs in the background without your knowledge, designed to steal your data.

What the FBI recommends you do

The PSA walks through a number of steps you can take to protect your data and protect your devices—regardless of whether or not you're using apps developed out of the U.S. That includes the following:

• Disabling data sharing whenever you can

• Downloading apps from official app stores, as opposed to unregulated online marketplaces

• Change and update your passwords frequently

• Install updates when they become available

• Read terms of services and license agreements when downloading apps

The FBI also encourages you to file a report with the IC3 if you believe your data has been compromised.

The FBI's tips above are actually generally useful, but none is necessarily groundbreaking. These are pretty standard best practices for cybersecurity—though changing your passwords frequently without reason isn't as widely recommended anymore. Follow these tips, though, and you'll help protect your data as you engage with the internet.

Watch out for shady apps in general, not just "foreign" developers

It's a bit impractical to ask Americans to abstain from, or even be wary of, foreign-developed apps. Yes, other countries have different security laws than the U.S., but the U.S.'s current laws allow companies to scrape our data for profit. If not, Meta and Google would be hurting for business. The FBI isn't concerned about American companies having access to Americans' data, of course; just foreign governments.

I understand the logic, but I don't think it's something that you, as an individual American with a smartphone, needs to be all that worried about. Instead, I think your concern should be more general: rather than worry where an app was developed, look into what data that apps wants. It doesn't matter if the app is American, Chinese, or made by a company based somewhere else: If the app is asking for a whole bunch of data, don't give it to them without reason. If you're using a messaging app and want to be able to sync your contacts, that's one thing; if your meditation app wants your contacts, it's probably best to deny them.

Malware is definitely of the most biggest points of concern right now, especially as bad actors exploit some major vulnerabilities in platforms like iOS. While issues with malware are highlighted in this PSA, I think that's where the FBI should be focusing its attention. Downloading an app from a random site on the the internet, or from a dubious listing on the App Store or Play Store, can compromise your device and its data. It doesn't really matter where the app is from: Doing a bit of research before hitting "install" can protect you from a major headache in the future.

AI inspires strong feelings. Some love it, some hate it, few are indifferent. But, usually, AI's biggest proponents are the companies that make and sell the tech. You expect OpenAI to tout ChatGPT's benefits, or Google to talk-up how useful Gemini is. For a company like these to say that their AI tools are nothing but a plaything would be a ludicrous concept—and yet, that's apparently what Microsoft did.

As reported by TechCrunch, Microsoft's terms of service for Copilot aren't too laudatory of the AI tech or its capabilities. The policy, which was last updated on October 24, 2025, says the following: “Copilot is for entertainment purposes only...It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk.”

To be fair, most—if not all—AI companies put a warning like this on their tools. You'll see it with ChatGPT and Gemini, urging you to exercise caution when using AI for, well, anything. The tech is not perfect, and may quite literally make things up. As such, the alerts are there to remind you that the results you get may not be accurate—and if you're using the tech for something important, you should probably check the bot's work yourself.

But the noteworthy thing here is that first line: "Copilot is for entertainment purposes only." That's pretty rich, considering the fact the company has not only infused most of its apps and services (as well as Windows itself) with Copilot features, but it actively advertises Copilot as a tool for work. Copilot is a part of the entire Microsoft 365 worksuite now—to say that a "core" element to apps like PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams is just "entertainment" undermines Microsoft's sales pitch (while emboldening its critics). It also comes at the same time the company is removing what it calls "unnecessary" Copilot features from its products.

To be fair, Microsoft is not standing by this description. In a comment to PCMag, a company rep shared that Microsoft will be updating "legacy language." The full quote reads: "The ‘entertainment purposes’ phrasing is legacy language from when Copilot originally launched as a search companion service in Bing. As the product has evolved, that language is no longer reflective of how Copilot is used today and will be altered with our next update."

Generative AI features were definitely more entertainment focused that productivity focused following ChatGPT's launch in late 2022 (I tested the chatbot by asking it to write me stories and poems). But the AI race has been in full swing for about three years at this point: Copilot is no longer a companion to Bing; it's one of the major AI tools out there. For Microsoft to not catch this "legacy language" is a bit emblematic of the company as a whole at this point. Microsoft wants users to take its AI tech seriously, but it’s overlooking the little details that actually matter to those users. What we’re left with is not a clean, well-optimized version of Windows, but one stuffed with AI features few actually wanted—features that are, apparently, for entertainment purposes only.

Bad news, OpenClaw fans: Anthropic wants you to pay more to use its AI models. This wasn't something Anthropic necessarily announced, either; rather, the company started sending emails to affected users, letting them know they could no longer use their Claude Code subscription limits with third-party "harnesses," including—and most notabl—OpenClaw. Anthropic confirmed users could still connect to OpenClaw with their Claude account, but they'd have to pay more money in order to do so—including a "pay-as-you-go" option tacked onto the cost of the subscription.

According to Anthropic, this policy change isn't without logic or reason. As highlighted by TechCrunch, Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, explained on X that the company's subscriptions "weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools," and that Anthropic is prioritizing customers who are using the company's first-party products and API.

OpenClaw has had quite a ride. The tool, which was previously called Moltbot, and first called Clawdbot, is designed to be an agentic AI assistant you run locally on your devices. For many, that means running OpenClaw on a Mac mini designed for this one purpose. Unlike ChatGPT or Gemini, which has their own proprietary interfaces, you communicate with OpenClaw through any chat app of your choice. You can text OpenClaw in WhatsApp, Apple Messages, Microsoft Teams, whatever you want, to organize your email inbox, write code for a project, plan out your goals for the month, whatever it is you want your agent to do.

But OpenClaw doesn't just...run. You need to power it with an AI model. In this case, users are relying on Anthropic's Claude—and, if they had a Claude Code subscription, they were simply tapping into that plan they already paid for. As you might expect, running agentic tasks through OpenClaw is extremely intensive, which pushed Anthropic to rethink how it was charging users.

Interestingly, OpenClaw's founder, Peter Steinberger, joined OpenAI back in February—one of Anthropic's chief rivals. Steinberger said on X that he and OpenClaw board member Dave Morin "tried to talk sense into Anthropic, [but] best we managed was delaying this for a week."

It's officially the end of an era for the Samsung Galaxy community: Samsung is discontinuing its messaging app. If you're a Samsung Messages user, the company says you should plan to migrate to Google Messages to "upgrade your messaging experience."

This deprecation isn't taking effect immediately, however. According to Samsung's official end of service announcement, the company will discontinue Samsung Messages in July 2026. That means you still have roughly three months to keep using the app, if it happens to be your messaging client of choice. That said, the company is encouraging users to set Google Messages as their default messaging app today to "maintain a consistent messaging experience on Android." Samsung says the app will tell users when service will be discontinued.

Samsung is really pushing Google Messages in this end-of-service announcement. The company touts the app's features, like Scam Detection, RCS messaging, AI features, and cross-platform connectivity, so you can pick up another Android device and keep chatting. To their credit, some of these features do make Google Messages the stronger messaging app compared to Samsung Messages—in particular, RCS support. Samsung Messages users are stuck with SMS chats, which limits conversations in terms of both security and functionality. SMS chats don't support high-resolution photo and video sharing, nor do they manage modern group chats well. Crucially, they aren't encrypted, which puts your conversations at risk. While not all RCS chats are encrypted, the ones that are protect your conversations from would-be attackers.

It's not like this decision came totally out of the blue. If you've bought a new Samsung Galaxy device in recent years, you'll notice that Samsung Messages didn't come preinstalled. Instead, you had to seek it out and install it yourself from Samsung's Galaxy Store. Samsung says Galaxy S26 devices can't even download the app, and that following its deadline, no devices will be able to download the app.

Also important to note for some users: Tizen OS watches (watches that were launched before Galaxy Watch4) can't run Google Messages. These watches will not be able to display full message conversations after July 2026. However, you'll still be able to read and send messages.

You can keep using Samsung Messages after the deadline

Not everyone will need to move to Google Messages, however. If you're using an Android device running Android 11 or older, Samsung says you are not affected by this end of service. This will likely impact a small fraction of the Galaxy community, seeing as we're currently on Android 16 (or One UI 8, in Galaxy world). But if you do have an older Android device, you can keep using the app.

In addition, Samsung outlines some specific situations where the app will continue to send messages—even on phones running Android 12 or newer. If you try to send a typical text, it won't go through. However, you will be able to send messages to emergency service numbers. If you text 911 on a Galaxy phone with Samsung Messages, it will work, according to Samsung.

That makes sense—Samsung likely doesn't want to deal with a situation where someone tries to contact emergency services on its unsupported app and cannot get help. But what I find even more interesting is that Samsung Messages will also still work when texting emergency contacts. If you've defined someone as an emergency contact on your Galaxy, you'll be able to text them still.

Taking a call from the road has been a thing since the dawn of the car phone, but tech companies are still finding new and innovative ways to make escaping meetings impossible. While CarPlay and Android Auto have traditional phone calls baked into their functionality and support certain other calling apps, Google Meet has never been supported. If you have a work call you need to join while in the car, you either need to go through the potentially cumbersome steps of disconnecting your phone from the car and playing the call through the phone itself, or, if it's an option, have someone else take the wheel while you dial in.

That's now changing—at least for those of us with iPhones. On Thursday, Google announced that Google Meet is now available on CarPlay. Of course, that integration now means you can take work calls while driving (audio only, of course), but Google Meet's CarPlay has some additional functionality as well. According to Google, you'll be able to view your upcoming schedule in the app and join meetings by tapping on them. That's obviously useful when trying to join specific meetings, but, like many CarPlay experiences, I wonder if there's a bit too much going on for an app that's designed to be used while driving.

This is convenient, but I don't want to get into an accident because someone was reviewing their afternoon schedule. Credit: Google

Nevertheless, Google Meet is now available to drivers, though Google is adamant that no video capabilities are present here. While your iPhone is connected to CarPlay, your camera will be disabled during Google Meet calls, and you won't be able to see any of the other callers' video feeds. The company says this feature is available for all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with Google Accounts for personal use.

The most notable omission from this list of users includes those on Android. This is just another curious case of Google rolling out functionality in the iPhone version of its app before the OS it actually develops in-house. You would expect Android users to get this feature at the same time as iOS, if not earlier, but Google must have a reason. Maybe there are more Google Meet users on iOS than there are on Android, but whatever the reason, Android users will need to wait a bit longer to call into work meetings through Android Auto.

Google Meet is the second big CarPlay announcement this week. OpenAI also announced ChatGPT support for CarPlay on Thursday, following changes to iOS 26.4 that open up support for AI chat apps. When I gave it a test drive, ChatGPT immediately hallucinated.