Apps

Datally: What it is and how it’ll help you save mobile data

Published

November 30, 2017

Marvin Velasco

Going online on your smartphone is essential for both work and play, but let’s face it: monitoring data usage is a pain. Google aims to alleviate some of the hassle using this little app called Datally.

Available on the Play Store starting today, Datally has three fundamental functions: understand where your data goes, control how much data each app consumes, and ultimately save you up to 30 percent of mobile data at any given time.

It may sound similar to the built-in data-saving setting found in practically every Android device, but there are some advantages to downloading this app.

First: You can easily turn off background data usage for all apps or any specific item you specify.

Second: A Data Saver bubble will appear whenever you enter an app to show how much mobile data that program is using.

Third: Personalized alerts come out whenever certain apps consume too much data on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Last: A built-in Wi-Fi finder looks for available networks in the area and recommends the best connections based on quality ratings from other users.

Datally has been under beta testing for several months now and user satisfaction has been high so far with a 4.5 rating on Google Play. The search giant is hoping that the data savings will allow more people in developing countries around Africa, Asia, and Latin America to stay connected without worrying about their consumption.

Although it’s in its final build already, Datally isn’t able to distinguish the data consumed between two SIM cards on dual-SIM smartphones. Product Manager Brian Hendricks says this feature could arrive in a future version.

Datally works on Android devices with 5.0 Lollipop and up, and is totally free. There are no plans of porting this over to iOS.

[irp posts=”23707″ name=”24 Hours in Singapore with the Google Pixel 2″]

Apps

Apple continues to backtrack from Liquid Glass

A new toggle will let you turn Liquid Glass down.

Published

October 21, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Liquid Glass is Apple’s laborious experiment in discovering why Microsoft dropped the Windows Vista aesthetic all those years ago. As cool as the translucent glass looked, having so many elements on screen tended to be distracting or overwhelming. Apple started discovering that when they toned down the transparency of Liquid Glass prior to the launch of iOS 26. Now, the update is going further by adding a new toggle to make the interface even less transparent.

Starting with iOS 26, Apple introduced a new aesthetic called Liquid Glass. The design offers a departure from Apple’s flatter past. It’s supposed to make the interface more dynamic, but Apple quickly realized that it’s heavily dependent on the content underneath the glass interface. The update’s current version is, in fact, more opaque than its original iteration.

Today, Apple launched a new toggle in the iOS 26.1 beta (via MacRumors). The toggle, dealing with Liquid Glass, has two simple options: Clear and Tinted.

It does what it says it does. Under Tinted mode, the design is darker, and the elements underneath are more blurred. The intention is to make information more readable.

Unfortunately for those who really dislike the new aesthetic, there is no way to completely turn it off. However, the toggle, which should ship out when the update leaves beta, can at least give some reprieve from the translucent nightmare.

Apps

ChatGPT will soon allow NSFW conversations

The platform will start age-gating users in December.

Published

October 16, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Every day, we inch closer and closer to the strange reality of Joaquin Phoenix’s Her. Today’s AI-powered chatbots have inevitably adapted to address our more carnal desires. Some, such as those offered by xAI, are even explicitly designed to only flirt with the user. Soon, ChatGPT will offer the same thing: a way for adult users to… well, be adults.

Through a post on X, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reiterated ChatGPT’s impending drive to introduce age-gating in December. Keeping younger users from the platform will open ChatGPT to more “mature” conversations. Altman specifically names “erotica” as one of the potential uses of a looser platform.

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have…

— Sam Altman (@sama) October 14, 2025

Additionally, ChatGPT is rolling out an update which will make the platform more personable and comparable to actual conversations. This includes using more emojis or talking like a friend.

The platform is also adding more safeguards when it comes to mental health issues, given that more people are using it as a makeshift therapist. Recently, Altman made sure that ChatGPT treated mental health with more delicateness. To some, especially those without such issues, the platform became more unusable. To bring back how it used to be, the platform will add better tools to detect whether the user is in “mental distress.”

Finally, OpenAI is implementing a backend solution to mental health by creating a new council of researchers and experts to accurately determine the impact of AI on mental health. Currently, it’s still unknown how much this new technology is helping (or harming) our wellbeing.

Apps

YouTube is getting a redesign

The update looks a bit like Liquid Glass.

Published

October 15, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

What’s your favorite YouTube design? I still hold a bit of nostalgia for the silver era, but the practicality of the current minimalist design is remarkable. Now, it’s time for a change. YouTube is refreshing its design starting this week.

Much like Apple with Liquid Glass, YouTube is going for a more transparent approach. The new design lets more content through the interface. It also features rounder buttons, in contrast to today’s blockier features.

The comments section is also getting a bit of an upgrade to allow for more structure between original posts and replies.

For engagement with actual videos, some videos will now have custom like animations. The update gives an example of a music video which puts out a musical note when liked. Adding a video to a custom playlist or the Watch Later list is also more natural.

YouTube is rolling out these updates starting this week. It will also be available for web, mobile, and TV users.