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In August, Facebook introduced a hugely controversial data sharing plan to start harvesting data from its WhatsApp messaging app from September 25 for delivering more relevant ads on the social network. Many users were not happy with the move, because there was no real way of opting out from the data sharing – WhatsApp users could only do so within a short period – and even if users did opt out then, some data would still be shared. Eventually, some countries like Britain stood up and opposed the decision. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of the United Kingdom has asked Facebook and WhatsApp to better explain the changes to its customers in the U.K. And if they don't, the ICO could hand out a heavy fine. What's the good news? In response, the social media giant has agreed to "pause" sharing of data, including their phone numbers, between WhatsApp and Facebook in Britain to target advertisements on its core social network. "We have

WhatsApp is, no doubt, the largest end-to-end encrypted messaging network that allows over billion of its users to send messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls that are secure from falling into the wrong hands. And now it seems like WhatsApp is rolling out a much-awaited feature for the new beta versions of its Android app: Video Calling . New beta version 2.16.318 of WhatsApp brings the ability for users to conduct free video calls, though it is not clear, at this moment, whether the Video calling feature of WhatsApp provides end-to-end encryption. In order to activate video calls, you simply need to pull up a contact in the WhatsApp app, tap on the call icon and choose "Video Call." You can also go directly to the Calls tab, to begin with the option. The Video calls will only work if both the caller as well as the receiver have the same beta build of WhatsApp that supports the feature. If not, you will be notified of an error message that

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

Just last month, the most popular messaging app WhatsApp updated its privacy policy and T&Cs to start sharing its user data with its parent company, and now both the companies are in trouble, at least in Germany and India. Both Facebook, as well as WhatsApp, have been told to immediately stop collecting and storing data on roughly 35 Million WhatsApp users in Germany. The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Johannes Caspar even ordered Facebook on Tuesday to delete all data that has already been forwarded to WhatsApp since August. Also in India, the Delhi High Court on September 23 ordered WhatsApp to delete all users' data from its servers up until September 25 when the company's new privacy policy came into effect. When Facebook first acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash in 2014, WhatsApp made a promise that its users' data would not be shared between both companies. But now apparently this has changed, which, according to Caspa

Nothing comes for Free, as "Free" is just a relative term used by companies to develop a strong user base and then use it for their own benefits. The same has been done by the secure messaging app WhatsApp, which has now made it crystal clear that the popular messaging service will begin sharing its users' data with its parent company, Facebook. However, WhatsApp is offering a partial opt-out for Facebook targeted ads and product related purposes, which I will let you know later in this article, but completely opting out of the data-sharing does not seem to be possible. Let's know what the company has decided to do with your data. Of course, Facebook is willing to use your data to sell more targeted advertisements. WhatsApp introduced some significant changes to its privacy policy and T&Cs today which, if accepted once, gives it permission to connect users' Facebook accounts to WhatsApp accounts for the first time, giving Facebook more data about us

In Brief Viber, the popular mobile messaging app announced Tuesday that it has added full end-to-end encryption for video, voice and text message services for its millions of users. Here, the end-to-end encryption means only you and the person you are communicating with can read the content, and nobody in between, not even the company and if court orders company to provide user data, they will get only the heaps of encrypted data. Viber is the latest messaging platform to join WhatsApp , Telegram , and Apple iMessage , who strengthened their default privacy features in recent times. Founded in 2010 and acquired by Japanese e-commerce titan Rakuten for $900 Million in 2014, Viber is currently being used by more than 700 Million users globally across Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and desktop, the company claimed in a blog post published today. The move comes just a couple of weeks after Facebook-owned Whatsapp messaging app implemented full end-to-end encryption by default

Although everyone, including Apple, was worried about the iPhone hacking tool used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to access data on iPhone belonged to the San Bernardino shooter, the FBI director said the hack does not work on an iPhone 5S or later. FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the agency was able to avoid a prolonged legal battle with Apple by buying a tool from a private source to hack into terrorist Syed Farook's iPhone 5C. Apple was engaged in a legal battle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a month over a court order that forces the company to write new software, which could disable passcode protection on Farook's iPhone to help them access data on it. Apple refused to comply with the order, so the FBI worked with a third-party firm, most likely the Israeli mobile forensic firm Cellebrite, and was successfully able to access data on the locked iPhone used in the San Bernardino shooting incident last year. But speaking to the

WhatsApp is updating its messaging app so that every text message and voice call will be encrypted for the company's one billion users. Yes, Whatsapp has finally implemented full end-to-end encryption , as promised a year ago. This means, from now every message, image or voice call you made will be secured by end-to-end encryption so that only you and the person you're communicating with can read the content of the message, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. In other words, this also means that WhatsApp would not be able to comply with any court order that demands access to the content of any conversation happens over its service. Starting today, you will see a notification on your WhatsApp conversation screen as your messenger becomes end-to-end encrypted, as shown in the screenshot. "Message you send to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more info."  "This is because your messages are secured with a lock,

Before winding up the dispute of Apple and FBI over encryption, another buzz on the Whatsapp Snooping is now the hot debate on the court bench. In the wake of WhatsApp's move to offer end-to-end encryption to text messages as well as VoIP calls made through its app, federal authorities have not been able to execute wiretapping warrants on WhatsApp users. Though the US Department of Justice was discussing how to proceed with a continuing criminal investigation, the government is considering legal proceedings similar to those involved with Apple. According to the New York Times , as recently as this past week, a federal judge had approved a wiretap in a criminal investigation, but WhatsApp's encryption hindered investigators. Since any court officials have not made a final decision, the Department of Justice is very keen to drag Whatsapp into the Encryption fight war zone similar to the ongoing San Bernardino case . In San Bernardino case, the DoJ was gr

Apple is not the only technology giant battling against authorities over a court order; Facebook is also facing the same. Brazil's federal police arrested Facebook Latin America Vice President for failing to comply with court orders to help investigators in a drug trafficking case that involves WhatsApp, a popular messaging app owned by Facebook that has over 100 Million users in Brazil. Facebook VP Diego Jorge Dzodan was arrested on his way to work in São Paulo, Brazil today because the company refused to provide details of a WhatsApp user involved in organized crime and drug trafficking. Dzodan is still in police custody and is responding to police questioning in Sao Paulo, Local media reported . According to a statement released by a spokesperson from WhatsApp: "We are disappointed that law enforcement took this extreme step. WhatsApp cannot provide information we do not have. We cooperated to the full extent of our ability in this case, and while we re

Recently the Facebook-owned messaging app dropped its $1 annual subscription fee to make WhatsApp Free for Lifetime . Now, WhatsApp has plans to introduce a new feature that would allow its users to integrate their Facebook accounts with the most widely used messaging app. So far, the social media giant has been focusing on its own messaging platform, Messenger and both WhatsApp and Facebook have been working separately in terms of adding new features. WhatsApp to Share User Data With Facebook Android developer Javier Santos spotted a new feature in the latest beta build of WhatsApp, which indicates that soon you'll start seeing some features interconnected between WhatsApp and Facebook. The feature (optional, for now), dubbed " Share my account info ," when selected will share your personal WhatsApp account information with Facebook in order "to improve your Facebook experience," according to the description. Although it's uncle

Good News for WhatsApp users! The widely popular messaging service is going completely free. And you'll be able to use WhatsApp without paying a penny. Old WhatsApp users might not be aware of this, but WhatsApp introduced the subscription fees for its service a few years ago, forcing new users to pay an annual 99 cents (~$1) subscription fee after the first year. However, WhatsApp announced Monday that the Facebook-owned company is dropping its annual subscription fee to make its service free to all users. While announcing the plan today, WhatsApp's founder Jan Koum stated that the annual subscription fee was still a barrier to some users. "As we have grown, we have found that this approach has not worked well," WhatsApp admitted in a company blog post today. "Many WhatsApp users do not have a debit or credit card number, and they worried they'd lose access to their friends and family after their first year." What will be What

Raise your hands if you want Free Video Calling feature in WhatsApp. I am in, and I think most of you people. And the good news is that it looks like WhatsApp's much-awaited Free Video Calling feature is on its way, according to the recently leaked screenshots. Free Video Calling Feature in WhatsApp German technology blog Macerkopf.de has posted what it claims are screenshots from an unreleased version of the popular messaging client WhatsApp for iOS. The screenshots are from an unreleased version of the software ( version 2.12.16.2 ), which is currently being tested internally, but at present it is not clear whether or not those screenshots are legitimate. But, if the leaked screenshots are real, and WhatsApp adds the Free Video Calling feature , then the company could take an enormous bite out of some of its top rival. WhatsApp Video Calling feature will allow you to make video calls to your friends and family anywhere in the world for free as l

What would require crashing the wildly popular WhatsApp messaging application? Nearly 4000 Smileys . Yes, you can crash your friends'  WhatsApp , both WhatsApp Web and mobile application, by sending them not any specially crafted messages, but just Smileys. Indrajeet Bhuyan , an independent researcher, has reported The Hacker News a new bug in WhatsApp that could allow anyone to remotely crash most popular messaging app just by sending nearly 4000 emojis to the target user, thereby affecting up to 1 Billion users. Bhuyan is the same researcher who reported a very popular WhatsApp crash bug last year that required 2000 words ( 2kb in size ) message in the special character set to remotely crash Whatsapp messenger app. After this discovery, the company patched the bug by setting up the limits of characters in WhatsApp text messages, but unfortunately, it failed to set up limits for smileys send via WhatsApp. "In WhatsApp Web, Whatsapp allows 65500-660

It seems like Facebook-owned popular messaging service WhatsApp is blocking links to rival messaging applications – at least Telegram app  for now. Telegram users are noticing that WhatsApp is blocking any links to the privacy-oriented messaging service Telegram.me. Although users are free to send or receive Telegram links on WhatsApp, the links appear as non-clickable that you cannot copy or forward. This strange behavior was first noticed this morning by Telegram users over on Reddit. The URLs – which are generally automatically made clickable – still appeared as plain text messages, but they didn't register as hyperlinks, blocking users from copying or forwarding them to other users or other apps. Read Also: How to Auto-BackUp Your WhatsApp Data to Google Drive with Encryption . In general, this odd behavior is done with malicious URLs such as malware or spam. The Culprit However, this strange behavior was not exhibited on every device. Only W

What if your phone suddenly slips into a bathtub? Maybe you'll end up losing all your important data, more specifically, your WhatsApp photos, videos, Voice Notes and Chat Data that flows through your chats. Sounds scary, isn't it?  But, now you need not worry if your phone suddenly died or broke – Thanks to the new integration to your favorite messaging app WhatsApp with Google Drive. Google and Facebook announced a partnership that will bring Google Drive integration to WhatsApp for Android, allowing you to automatically backup all your chat messages and multimedia content regularly to the cloud. BackUp Your WhatsApp Data to Google Drive With Google Drive integration, you can create a private backup of your: Chat History Voice Messages Photos Videos …to "keep your memory safe," Google says. You can also decide to backup your WhatsApp data: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Not at All. Data BackUp and Recovery with Enc

After rolling out WhatsApp's Free Voice Calling feature for Android users late last month, the widely popular messaging service has started to roll out the feature to iOS users. Now iOS users can enjoy making free voice calls through WhatsApp, as the new version of the messenger is now live in the iOS App Store with support to calling. WhatsApp calling feature allows you to call your friends and family anywhere in the world for free as long as you have a Wi-Fi network or a working data plan on your registered number. The full description of the WhatsApp Calling feature on the App Store page reads: " Call your friends and family using WhatsApp for free, even if they are in another country. WhatsApp calls use your phone's Internet connection rather than your cellular plan's voice minutes (Data charges may apply) Note: WhatsApp Calling is rolling out slowly over the next several weeks. " The last line indicates that the feature, so far, is not actually a

Are you looking for methods on how to run two WhatsApp accounts in one phone, or how to use 2 WhatsApp in 1 phone? In this tutorial, we have shared various techniques that allow mobile users to run multiple or dual WhatsApp accounts in one single phone. WhatsApp is one of the most popular and commonly used Instant messaging apps these days, and due to its simplicity and easy-to-use interface, users are able to use it without any hassle. WhatsApp lets its users send and receive messages that are end-to-end encrypted so that only you and the person you're communicating with can read the content of the message, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. Each and everything on WhatsApp comes quite handy, but what is the most disturbing part that you come across? For me it is... How to install 2 WhatsApp accounts in 1 Android smartphone? If you have a dual SIM smartphone, you might be willing to enjoy two separate WhatsApp accounts for your two different phone number. Is

Is Facebook planning to integrate WhatsApp Messenger into its ' Facebook for Android ' app? Yes, this might be possible soon. According to latest rumours, Facebook is reportedly working on it. The social network giant, Facebook has begun testing a new feature in its Facebook app for Android that includes the first integration of WhatsApp Messenger, according to a blogger. WHATSAPP INTEGRATION INTO FACEBOOK APP According to this update, a year after of acquiring WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook has only added a 'Send' button with the WhatsApp icon. This WhatsApp ' send ' will work as part of the status actions options that appear under each status update. It means that Facebook for Android users soon may have this particular version of Facebook app with a dedicated WhatsApp button that would allow an Android user to share posts, status and anything else directly through WhatsApp by just clicking the Share button. If rumours are true, th

While WhatsApp is very reserved to its new calling feature, cyber scammers are targeting WhatsApp users across the world by circulating fake messages inviting users to activate the new ' WhatsApp calling feature for Android'  that infects their smartphones with malicious apps. If you receive an invitation message from any of your friend saying, "Hey, I'm inviting you to try WhatsApp Free Voice Calling feature, click here to activate now —> https://WhatsappCalling.com" ,  BEWARE! It is a Scam . The popular messaging app has begun rolling out its much-awaited Free Voice Calling feature — similar to other instant messaging apps like Skype and Viber — to Android users which allows users to make voice calls using Internet. However, for now, the free WhatsApp calling feature is invite-only and only appears to work for people running the latest version of WhatsApp app for Android on a Google Nexus 5 phone running the latest Android 5.0.1 Lollipop . H