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Digital privacy is a perennial hot topic these days, and Apple is regarded as being at the forefront of security when it comes to smartphone and tablet operating systems. For example, for an app to access your iPhone or iPad's camera, camera and microphone access must be enabled for the app in question in the Settings app. Social media apps will often ask you for access to your device's...

Facebook is the quintessential social network, but you may not always feel like being social every time you log in to your Facebook account. Whether it's because you don't have the energy or the time to engage with friends, you do have the option to browse Facebook without anyone knowing you're online. The way to achieve this is by turning off your "Active Status," which can be done within...

Facebook has introduced a tool that lets users export notes and text-based posts to third-party services, making it easier than ever to leave the social network without saying goodbye to your content. The new "data portability types" mean people can now directly transfer their notes and posts to Google Docs, Blogger and WordPress. The updates are extensions to Facebook's existing tool that...

When it came to adding a Dark Mode option to its iOS app, Facebook was late to the game. The social network announced it was coming in June 2020, but dragged its feet for months before eventually rolling it out to mobile users in November the same year, over 400 days after Apple first introduced the feature in iOS 13. Dark Mode‌ has been available on the social network's website for a while ...

Facebook has just made a photo transfer tool globally available that lets account holders easily download all their pictures and videos from the social network to Google Photos. Previously, the majority of Facebook users wanting to download their media from the site had to do it manually. From today, however, users with a Google Photos account can automate the job, and Facebook says more...

After previously only existing as an "Easter Egg" setting, Facebook in April 2019 added a Dark Mode theme as an official display feature of its standalone Messenger app. Facebook says that Dark Mode is designed to provide less harsh brightness in situations where ambient lighting is lower while maintaining contrast and vibrancy. If you have an OLED iPhone, such as an iPhone X, iPhone XS,...

With the release of iOS 11, Apple nixed its built-in integration with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo, a feature that allowed iPhone and iPad users to store their third-party account information and access it within apps that needed to use those services. The equivalent feature remains in macOS High Sierra, although Apple has removed it completely from macOS 10.14 Mojave, which many...

Facebook parent company Meta today announced the upcoming launch of the $500 Meta Quest 3, its newest mixed reality headset that goes up against the much more expensive Vision Pro that Apple plans to launch next year. Meta claims that the Quest 3 was redesigned from the inside out, and it features "4K+ Infinite Display resolution" thanks to two displays with a 2064x2208 resolution per eye...

Facebook owner Meta has been hit with a record $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) fine by European Union regulators for mishandling user information, and has been ordered to suspend the transfer of data from users in the EU to the United States. The fine was issued by Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which regulates Facebook across the EU, after it ruled that the social network's data...

United States Facebook users who had an active Facebook account between May 2007 and December 2022 can now apply to receive a portion of the $725 million that Meta paid to settle a class action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Claims can be submitted on the Facebook User Privacy Settlement website through August 25. Facebook users who want to get a payout will need to...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the weekend announced the upcoming launch of a new "Meta Verified" subscription service that's designed for Facebook users, which will provide verification for $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 per month on the iPhone or the iPad. Zuckerberg described Meta Verified as a subscription that lets individuals verify an account with a government ID, get a blue...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek today spoke out against Apple's App Store policies, joining Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who earlier this week said that Apple was making moderation demands and had threatened to withhold Twitter from the ‌App Store‌. At The New York Times DealBook Summit, Zuckerberg said that only Apple attempts to limit the apps that are in the ‌App Store‌,...

Alongside the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple updated its App Store Guidelines to clearly state that apps such as Facebook that offer "boosts" for posts and other ad content must use in-app purchases for these features. Facebook parent company Meta is not happy with Apple's guideline tweak, and in a statement to The Verge, said that Apple is creating policies to bolster its own business while...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been touring Europe this week, sitting down for interviews with various media publications. Augmented reality has been a running theme in Cook's discussions, and it is a topic he brought up again in an interview with Dutch publication Bright, which is part of RTL News. "I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything," Cook said, echoing comments from...

Facebook has been in a feud with Apple since the iPhone maker introduced its App Tracking Transparency feature that lets users opt out of being tracked across apps on its platforms. In the past, however, Apple reportedly discussed potential "revenue-sharing arrangements" with Facebook that could have given Apple a "slice of Facebook's revenue." According to The Wall Street Journal, which...

Mark Zuckerberg wants to make Meta's forthcoming AR glasses an "iPhone moment" that will cast him and the company in a new light, according to a former employee who worked on the project. The comment was made to The Verge for a report outlining Meta's roadmap for AR glasses, which includes at least four different versions to be launched over the next six years. According to the report,...

Facebook parent company Meta today announced an upcoming fitness update for the Oculus Quest 2, which will allow fitness data captured during VR workouts to be integrated with the Apple Health app. Right now, when people exercise with interactive games like Liteboxer, Beat Saber, or Dance Central using the Oculus Quest 2, the data can only be viewed on the Oculus Mobile app on the headset...

Facebook has said measures being taken by Apple on iOS that make it harder for platforms and apps to track users across other apps and websites will cost its business $10 billion in 2022. Facebook yesterday reported $33.67 billion in revenue, and while higher than expected, earnings per share were shy of analyst expectations. Facebook, renamed to Meta, also offered lower guidance for the...

Facebook today announced a new "Privacy Center" section on its website on the desktop. This new area will offer users a "new place to learn more about our approach to privacy across our apps and technologies" and "provides helpful information about five common privacy topics," Meta announced today in a press release. The new Privacy Center, rolling out to a small pool of Facebook users in...

Facebook, otherwise known as Meta, has been crowned the worst company of the year, following a turbulent 12 months of controversies, public backlash, and an eventual entire rebrand of the social media giant, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo Finance. Yahoo Finance every year crowns the best company of the year, with Microsoft taking the top spot for 2021. This year, however, Yahoo...

"Loose" interpretations of Apple's privacy policies allow apps such as Facebook and Snapchat to continue tracking users for targeted advertising even when they have asked to not be tracked, The Financial Times reports. In May, Apple launched its App Tracking Transparency feature that allows users to opt-out of being tracked across apps and websites for advertising purposes. Seven months...

Facebook, now rebranded to Meta, is looking to open physical retail stores where customers will be able to experience the wide range of products it has to offer, such as Oculus headsets, in a "welcoming" and "judgment-free" experience, according to a new report from The New York Times. The report says that Facebook executives began floating the idea of a physical retail store last year, but...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced changes to Facebook's "Subscriptions" tool, which will see Facebook testing Apple's App Store guidelines in an effort to secure more money for content creators. With Subscriptions, content creators can allow their fans to sign up to pay them a monthly subscription fee, similar to Patreon. Going forward, Facebook is implementing a "promotional link" in ...

Facebook is shutting down its Face Recognition system and will delete the facial data of more than 1 billion of its users, Facebook parent company Meta announced this morning. People who opted in to Face Recognition will no longer be automatically recognized in photos and videos, and their facial recognition templates will be deleted. According to Facebook VP of Artificial Intelligence...

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been working on a smart watch designed to compete with the Apple Watch since early this year, and now Bloomberg has obtained pictures of the device. The smart watch has a design that's not too far off from the Apple Watch, but it is wider and rounder with more curved edges. There is a camera at the bottom of the display, along with a control...

Facebook today held a live event to talk about the "metaverse," aka the virtual and augmented reality evolution of social technology in the future, and as part of the presentation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new name for the company. Going forward, Facebook the company will be known as "Meta," while Facebook will still be available as a social media product alongside WhatsApp...

Apple's privacy rules are "negatively affecting" Facebook, and its business, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed during its most recent earnings call. As a quick refresher, starting with iOS 14.5 and all newer versions of iOS and iPadOS, Apple requires that apps ask for users' permission to track them across other apps and websites. Under the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, the...