Apps

Government of India is considering a ban on WhatsApp Calls

Will this actually prevent militants from communicating?

Published

on

WhatsApp and many other Instant Messengers have been in the crosshairs with governments around the world due to the misuse of available onboard encryption. End-to-end encryption protects the user’s messages from snooping eyes, but at the same time, the technology has been abused by terrorists and criminals to protect themselves from law enforcement authorities.

According to NDTV, a meeting was held in New Delhi yesterday where the Home Ministry expressed its concern over anti-national elements in the country using social media apps to carry out their activities. It was highlighted that detained terrorists had revealed to the Jammu and Kashmir police that they were taking directions from across the border via WhatsApp calls during the Nagrota army camp attack in 2016, in which seven army men were killed.

The authorities have now expressed a desire to monitor social media apps including messaging apps like WhatsApp. Top officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), as well as those from security agencies and J&K police, agreed that WhatsApp is “the preferred medium of communication for anti-national forces.”

It is highly unlikely that WhatsApp or any other major player will hand over the encryption keys to the government, hence the authorities are trying to bring these services under Indian jurisdiction by establishing new policies. WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook is already in hot water after data of more than 50 million users was shared with third parties without consent. Telegram stood by its users and declined to share the keys with the Russian Government a few months back and the app has been banned in the country since then.

The authorities are also considering taking inspiration from Gulf countries like the UAE where VoIP calls are strictly banned over major players like WhatsApp. Currently, the officials are meeting with representatives of social media platforms for compliance.

Apps

Honor, Xiaomi are working on their own Privacy Displays

Samsung’s Privacy Display is apparently very popular.

Published

on

Normally, a smartphone brand’s blatant copying of another brand’s feature is not a good practice. Today, however, there is a new feature that we wish other brands would copy: Samsung’s Privacy Display. Thankfully, some brands, like Honor, have finally gotten the message and are working on version of the feature.

As reported by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Honor is reportedly working on a privacy screen for its smartphones. Likewise, Xiaomi is working on the same thing, potentially launching the feature for the Xiaomi 18 Pro.

For the uninitiated, the Samsung Privacy Display is a built-in feature that blocks visibility of the screen at certain angles. If you’re not looking at the screen from the front, all you’ll see is a black void. It’s a built-in version of those protective screens that you can buy separately. Besides adding a nice layer of protection against scratches, it’s also meant to prevent snooping from your shoulder.

Samsung’s take was widely acclaimed for being insanely useful. When it arrives, this feature will be a godsend to more brands. Even better, users will no longer need to rely on third-party screen just to enjoy the privacy.

That said, there’s still no indication as to when these features will arrive on either Honor or Xiaomi.

SEE ALSO: LE SSERAFIM Chaewon flexes Galaxy S26 Ultra Privacy Display

Continue Reading

Apps

Meta is reportedly experimenting on a gambling app

Users can spend virtual points on Arena.

Published

on

Meta does not have the most stellar of reputations. Despite offering the world’s most popular social media platforms, the company, through its various experiments throughout the years, continuously proves that it has other priorities than just providing the best for its users. Today, another reported experiment wants to take Meta to a new market that its users might fall into: the prediction market.

If you haven’t heard of the prediction market, consider yourself lucky. These apps, such as Kalshi, are basically just gambling platforms without the glitz of playing cards or the rigor of the stock market. Users gamble on mundane circumstances like the weather and more serious ones like war.

Today, as reported by The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly asking Meta to develop a prediction app of its own. Interestingly, the experimental app, supposedly called Arena, will use virtual points, rather than real money. However, Meta has not ruled out real money — and hence, real gambling — in the future.

Meta is entering the industry at an extremely volatile time. The world is starting to crack down on prediction markets. Some users, for example, have been accused of using insider information to get easy wins on these platforms. Some markets have also accused these platforms of subverting anti-gambling laws.

SEE ALSO: Meta adds subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp

Continue Reading

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

Published

on

In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

Continue Reading

Trending