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Samsung Wallet is introducing a Tap to Transfer feature for peer-to-peer payments using debit cards stored in the app.
The feature allows users to send money in person by tapping their Galaxy phone against the recipient’s phone (using NFC) or even their physical tap-to-pay debit card. Remote transfers are also possible.
Tap to Transfer will be available to all Samsung Wallet users in the USA later this month.
There are more options than ever for transferring money to friends and family, but it can still be a major hassle. Whether it’s having the right app, or making sure you’re sending it to the right person. But Samsung thinks it’s found a better way with a new feature called “Tap to Transfer”.
The name is rather literal, and means you can transfer money from your debit card to another person by tapping your phones together. The NFC chips in two of thebest Samsung phoneswill register, and you’ll send the money over instantly.
Alternatively, if there are people without Samsung phones they can tap their debit card against the phone — which can be useful for getting money from someone not in your contacts list.
The feature has been done in partnership with Visa and Mastercard, and my guess is Tap to Transfer will be exclusive to those card companies for the time being. It’s also a debit card transaction, so no trying to transfer money from your credit card by mistake.
The only real downside here is that Tap to Transfer is exclusive to Samsung Wallet.
Still the idea behind this is pretty interesting. Rather than having to Venmo someone your share of the dinner bill, or the cab ride you used to get home, you can simply tap their phone just as you would with a normal credit card machine.
Samsung also confirmed that location won’t always matter. It will still be possible to send money to people you know through Samsung Wallet, all by searching for their Samsung account.
The only real downside here is that Tap to Transfer is exclusive to Samsung Wallet. So if you’re an iPhone user, or have an Android phone not made by Samsung, you’re going to miss out. You’re going to be stuck transferring money the old fashioned way unless someone in your friend group has a Samsung Galaxy — and is willing to pick up the bill.
Making purchases from your iPhone just got a whole lot easier
It’s finally getting easier to buy ebooks on theiOSKindle app after a major App Store rule change.
In response to a court order in the case ofEpic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc.,Applehas been forced to stop charging a commission on purchases made outside of the App Store. This is good news foriPhoneusers in general, but solves an especially annoying issue with the iOS Kindle app, which has received an update to make buying ebooks on your iPhonemucheasier.
Thanks to this court order, making purchases from your iPhone just got a whole lot simpler.
iOS Kindle app gets desperately-needed update after App Store rule change
If you opened the iOS Kindle app recently days, you may have noticed you now have the option to purchase books in the app… sort of.
Prior toa major App Store rule changeon May 1, you couldn’t purchase books through the iOS Kindle app at all (or the Amazon app) and instead had to go through the entire process in your web browser. Now, you can simply tap “Get Book” and the Kindle app will take you directly to the book’s purchasing page in your browser.
This is a far more streamlined process and it’s thanks to a recent court order that forced Apple to stop charging commissions on external purchases.
So, for instance, previously an app developer couldn’t include a link in their app taking the user to their web browser to make a purchase outside of the app. That rule was used to effectively force app developers to only allow purchases through their apps, which would force them to give Apple a 30% commission on every purchase.
Now, developers are allowed to include buttons and links directing users to external purchase mechanisms, mainly web browsers, without being forced to pay a commission. As a result, buying things like ebooks on your iPhone is now much more straightforward and user-friendly.
The court case slowly opening iOS to third-party app stores
As one might expect,Apple is appealing the rulingthat led to this change in the App Store rules. However, I hope for the sake of iOS andiPadOSusers that the rule change stays in effect since it contributes to a much better user experience with apps like Kindle and others that allow for digital purchases.
In fact, Epic Games, the plaintiff in the case that led to last week’s App Store change, has had an ongoing dispute with Apple over its restrictions and commission system for purchases made on iOS. Epic currently doesn’t have an iOS/iPadOS app available in the U.S. due to those restrictions.
Users in the European Union can download the Epic Games Store on their iOS and iPadOS devices thanks to the Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to allow the use of third-party app stores, but that ruling only applies to users in the EU. Luckily,that may change soonthanks to rulings in Epic’s case against Apple.
I’m hoping Epic continues to score wins in its case against Apple since this case is finally bringing more freedom to iOS, giving users more choice over the apps they download, where they download them from, and how they purchase digital items like ebooks. Although, admittedlyI still prefer my ereaderover the Kindle app.
More and more cameras have it, so what is a stacked sensor and is it something you really need?
Stacked sensors are like an evolution of back-illuminated sensors with an extra layer of circuitry designed for higher speeds processing.(Image credit: Canon)
Image sensor design has come a long way in just a few years. Some improvements have been slow, quiet and evolutionary. Others have brought a clear step forward in sensor performance. The latest innovation is ‘stacked sensors’, which have brought a big increase in continuous shooting and video performance. So what is a stacked sensor and how does it work?
Let’s start briefly withBSI, or back-side illuminated sensors. In the old days, all the associated circuitry for sensors ran in and around the light-sensitive photosites that actually captured the light values.
Then designers figured out that if you turned the sensor around, so that the circuitry was on the back instead of the front, you could make the photosites bigger and effectively use up the whole surface area of the sensor with no gaps in-between. BSI sensors typically offer better sensitivity, better dynamic range and lower noise as a result.
But where BSI sensors brought improvements in image quality, stacked sensors are designed to offer improvements in speed – specifically the ‘readout speed’ – since this is one of the bottlenecks for camera performance.
Stacked sensors are like an evolution of back-side illuminated sensors with an extra layer of circuitry designed for higher-speed processing(Image credit: Fujifilm)
A sensor with a slow readout produces more rolling shutter, or ‘Jello effects’ in video, or ‘shutter distortion’ when photographing fast subject movement with today’s high-speed electronic shutters. A faster readout speed can also help with continuous shooting speeds and autofocus performance.
Some of thebest cameras for professionalsand many of thebest cameras for sports photographyuse stacked sensors to achieve high-speed burst rates.
With conventional sensors, the electronic signals from the photosites have to travel to circuitry arranged around the outside of the sensor for processing. It doesn’t sound much of a distance, but it slows things down.
With a stacked sensor, all this circuitry is moved to the back of the sensor itself, shortening the distance for the signals to travel and speeding up the readout and processing speed.
Just when you thought everything was clear, theNikon Z6 IIIarrived with a ‘partially’ stacked sensor…(Image credit: Nikon)
Stacked sensors excel for high-speed continuous shooting, autofocus tracking performance and blackout-free viewfinders in burst mode, and for dynamic video capture with fast camera movements and rapidly moving subjects.
That’s why many cameras designed for this kind of work now have stacked sensors. That’s not to say that older cameras without them couldn’t handle these subjects, but stacked sensors tend to handle them better.
But it does depend on the kind of photography and videography you do. If you don’t shoot a lot of sports and wildlife, and tend to take single shots rather than bursts, then a stacked sensor won’t deliver any obvious benefits.
Similarly, if your video work is based around tripods and sets and choreographed action rather than fast run-and-gun style filming, then you probably won’t see much benefit here either.
The fact is that while a stacked sensor is a strong selling point, it does substantially impact the cost of a camera – and may not yield any significant benefits for the kind of shooting you do. Right now, a stacked sensor is not so much a ‘must have’ as a ‘might want’.
They can’t steal your password if you don’t have one.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Microsoftnow uses passkeys by default for all new accounts, helping its users stay secure by ensuring that their passwords can’t be stolen by not having one.Microsoftwill ask you for an email address when creating an account for the first time. It will then send a verification code to confirm your identity, and once done, it will become your default credential for your new account.
After you’ve created your Microsoft account and signed in, the company will ask you to add a passkey. Once you have done so, you can use Windows Hello or your device’s biometricsecurityfeatures to access your account.
Passkeys have been around for almost a decade, with Windows 10 getting support for passwordless sign-in in July 2015. However, it took some time for the standard to gain traction, withGoogle, Apple, and Microsoft rolling it out to their respective operating systems in 2022.
Furthermore, personal Microsoft accounts only received this feature in 2024. Still, this is a welcome development, as it will make accessing your Microsoft account easier and more secure. After all, this is one less password you need to remember among the hundreds, if not thousands, of passwords you keep for your numerous accounts.
The company has updated the user experience for its login pages by detecting the best authentication method from the start instead of offering all the possible options.
“For example, if you have a password and “one-time code” set up on your account, we’ll prompt you to sign in with your one-time code instead of your password. After you’re signed in, you’ll be prompted to enroll a passkey. Then the next time you sign in, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your passkey,” said Microsoft Identity & Network Access President Joy Chik and Microsoft Security Corporate VP Vasu Jakkal. “This simplified experience gets you signed in faster and, in our experiments, has reduced password use by over 20%. As more people enroll passkeys, the number of password authentications will continue to decline until we can eventually remove password support altogether.”
Passwordless accounts will make it harder for bad actors to illicitly access accounts, as they can no longer steal credentials through phishing, keylogging, SIM swapping, and more. And even if you lose your passkey device, you’re still protected, as anyone who wants to access your data must use your biometrics to open it. Someone determined and with unlimited resources might still be able to circumvent passkey protection, but for the average person, this should be more than enough to increase their data security.
Expanding interoperability, Android supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI, allowing users to securely share digital credentials across apps.
What you need to know
Android now natively supports OpenID standards for digital credential presentation and issuance.
Users can securely store and send cryptographically verifiable digital documents across different apps.
This update enables wider use of digital credentials for various purposes, including account recovery and identity verification on different platforms.
Google recently expanded its Digital ID access through its Wallet app for residents in the U.K. And to further expand the interoperability across different apps that store digital identities, the search giant is aiming to support open standards via various identity providers and services through the Android operating system.
Last week, through anAndroid Developers blog post, the company has announced that, “Android, via Credential Manager’s DigitalCredential API, now natively supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance respectively.”
As the search giant further explains, the Digital Credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents. They can include documents like driver’s licenses, passports, or national IDs. And, throughAndroid appsand with the help of the respective app developers, more can be incorporated and submitted digitally like education certifications, insurance policies, permits, for example in the near future.
Currently, the supported digital documents can be stored in “credential holders” apps like Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Some apps like banking or airline apps would, however, sometimes require the digital document for verification, which is not necessarily stored in the respective banking app.
Since Android supports secure sharing between devices through CTAP protocols. Users will be able to store multiple credentials across apps and choose which one to pick using OpenID4VP requests from websites or Android Credential Manager API.
The process involves verifier sending an OpenID4VP request to the Digital Credential API, prompting the user to select a credential. The user here only chooses a credential, not a digital wallet app. Android then redirects the request to the digital wallet app holding the credential to complete the action. The app can further perform additional due diligence before releasing the credential.
Per the recent Google Wallet announcement, soon users can use digital credentials to recover “Amazon accounts, access online health services with CVS and MyChart by Epic, and verify profiles or identity on platforms like Uber and Bumble.”
Next to Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and 1Password will also be able to hold people’s digital credentials as digital wallets and support OpenID standards through Android’s Credential Manager API.
After 23 years of connecting people around the world,Skype, the popular video-calling service, isshutting down. Microsoft, the parent company, confirmed that the official sunset date for the service is Monday, May 5, 2025.
Skype users can either migrate all their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams, or they can choose to download their Skype data and transition to another video-calling service.
To assist users in the switch, we’ve created a guide on how to migrate to Teams or download Skype data. Additionally, we’ve curated a list of alternative video-calling apps that can replace Skype.
How to move from Skype to Microsoft Teams
Skype users can sign in toTeamsfor free using their Skype credentials. Once logged in, all their chats and contacts will automatically transfer to the app.
Teams offers features similar to Skype, including one-on-one and group calls, messaging, and file sharing. While Skype was primarily designed for smaller groups (up to 20 participants) and casual use, Teams is more business-focused, accommodating up to 10,000 participants in a single video call. It also comes with advanced security features and various integrations, such as Evernote, OneDrive, Office 365, Salesforce, SharePoint, Trello, and more.
Teams is available onAndroid,iOS,Mac, PC, and the web.
For users who aren’t interested in making the transition to Microsoft Teams, we still recommend exporting account data. This ensures that valuable information — such as messages, files, and contact details — is backed up and can be accessed in the future.
Open Skype and log in.
Click on the three horizontal dots under the account name in the top left corner.
Go toSettings>Account & Profile>Your Account.
After being redirected to Skype’s web portal, choose from eitherExport contacts (.csv),Export Caller ID numbers (.csv), orExport files and chat history.
The “Export files and chat history” option lets users downloadConversationsandFiles.
ClickSubmit RequestandContinue.
When the export process is complete, clickDownload.
An obvious benefit of usingGoogle Meetis that it’s available for free with a Google account. Since a lot of people are already using Google and have existing accounts, transitioning to this platform would be fairly easy.
Google Meet allows users to hold meetings with up to 100 participants, record meetings, share screens, and more. A drawback with the free plan is that if a meeting has more than three participants, there’s a 60-minute time limit.
Large companies may want to purchase a Google Workspace plan for features like having up to 25 co-hosts, dividing participants into smaller breakout rooms during meetings, creating polls, setting up a Q&A session, livestreaming to YouTube, and more. Workspace — which has plans for $7/month, $14/month, $22/month, and up — also offers AI-powered tools through itsGemini assistant, which helps Meet users take notes and create custom background images.
Zoomis another popular web-conferencing tool. It offers several helpful features, including the ability to host up to 100 participants and chat in both private and public groups, and has tools such as notes, a whiteboard, and screen-sharing capabilities. Users can also record meetings and access transcripts.
However, one downside is the 40-minute time limit per meeting for users on the free plan. To avoid having meetings cut off, users will need to purchase a subscription, which ranges from $13/month to $18/month. Paid subscribers have access to Zoom’sAI Companion, which includes the ability to summarize meetings and ask questions about transcribed meetings.
Webex
Image Credits:Webex
Webex, the Cisco-owned video conferencing tool, offers a similar plan to its competitors. For instance, it has features such as screen sharing, the ability to record sessions, a whiteboard capability, and more.
The free plan includes up to 100 attendees per meeting, as well as an unfortunate 40-minute time limit. Webex also offers plans from $12/month, $22/month, and up, depending on team size. The paid tiers come with an AI assistant, live polling, Q&A, and the ability to add up to 1,000 attendees.
Discord
Discordwas initially designed as a chat platform for gamers, but it can also serve as an alternative to Skype for personal use or for smaller teams. However, it’s not recommended for larger businesses, as it limits calls to 25 participants.
On the positive side, Discord offers unlimited meeting lengths and features such as screen sharing, the ability to record meetings, and breakout rooms. The platform has a free plan in addition to two paid options priced at $5/month and $10/month, making it one of the more affordable choices available, depending on users’ needs.
Slack
Image Credits:Slack
WhileSlackmay not be ideal for formally scheduled meetings with large groups, it can be effective for spontaneous meetings within team chats. The Huddle feature in Slack enables users to easily transition from a chat thread to an informal audio or video call with colleagues. On the free plan, Huddles can accommodate only two people, whereas paid plans (priced at $7/month or $12/month) allow for up to 50.
Signal
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has providedgroup video-calling featuressince2020and can accommodate up to 50 participants in a single call.
Although it’s not a direct competitor to Skype, it allows users to share links for calls, enabling them to simply send the link to others rather than creating a group, much like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams do. Notably, Signal is free to use.
Other similar apps for mobile users looking to video call with smaller groups includeWhatsApp,Facebook Messenger, andApple FaceTime.
The feature first rolled out abroad last year, and now it’s rolling out for U.S. users.
(Image credit: Google)
What you need to know
Google’s pollen tracker for the Pixel Weather app is beginning to rollout for U.S. cities.
The feature first launched in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and Italy last year, and expanded to Japan in 2025.
The pollen tracker appears at the bottom of the city view but can be expanded and customized.
Google is rolling out aPixel Weather appupdate that adds a pollen tracker for U.S. users, as reported by9to5Google. The tracker features intuitive charts that show daily pollen levels on a scale of 0 to 4. It also breaks down individual pollen levels for grasses, trees, and weeds.
The pollen tracker was first announced as part of theOctober 2024 Pixel Feature Drop, but was limited to users in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and Italy. It was subsequently added for users in Japan with theMarch 2025 Pixel Feature Drop, and is now appearing on Pixel phones in the U.S. following a server-side push.
By default, the pollen tracker will appear in a pill near the bottom of the Pixel Weather page for your location. The page can be customized, so it’s possible to move the pollen tracker higher up on the page for easy access.
Users are seeing the pollen tracker appear inversion 1.0.20250315of the Pixel Weather app, which was last updated April 10, again indicating that this is a server-side rollout.
Tapping the pill opens a more detailed view of the pollen tracker, which will show a five-day view. It still show grass, tree, and weed pollen information, but also provides seasonality and cross reaction pollen data.
The server-side rollout is not complete, so it may take some time for the pollen tracker to appear for U.S. cities on all Pixel devices. 9to5Google notes that users can preview the pollen tracker by adding a city in one of the previously-supported countries, like United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Japan, or Italy.
Rumors that Amazon would display the extra costs of goods with tariffs have been debunked. However, a few developers have offered an alternative with Chrome extensions. These new extensions take the proposed US tariff rates and display additional product costs across many online retailers.
Tariff Lens Chrome Extension in action (Image Source: Self)
While Amazon has stated that it will not display the additional cost of goods due to imposed tariffs, cost-conscious users still have options for conveniently displaying the estimated cost of tariffs while online shopping. Thanks to a handful of Google Chrome extensions, these new extensions utilize US government-provided tariff rate information to calculate and update the pricing of user-selected items. Currently, there are three extensions, and they all take slightly different approaches to estimating and displaying the updated prices.
The extensions “Tariff Price Adjuster” and “Tariff Shopping List” feature a drop-down menu to help users calculate the additional cost. In the menu, users can select the country of origin, product type, and either gross sum or percentage as the pricing model. For “Tariff Price Adjuster,” the updated price will appear on the website itself, while “Tariff Shopping List” will create a running list that users can reference to see the additional costs associated with the product’s respective tariff.
For users wanting a more straightforward approach, the “Tariff Lens” extension will automatically select the country of origin and, in theory, only apply the tariff calculation to affected items. Having just been updated to version 1.0.4, the “Tariff Lens” extension also claims several notable features, such as:
Improved detection of product origin
Enhanced product page detection
Anti-detection measures for site compatibility
Reduced loading times
However, of the currently offered extensions, “Tariff Lens” takes a more opinionated approach for displaying the updated prices. While the extension is well-intentioned when it comes to informing the consumer, time will tell if it will follow the fourth and now unavailable extension “Add the Trump Tariff”, which was removed due to not meeting best practices for Chrome Extensions. Curious users can find a link to the extensions below. It should also be mentioned that these extensions do not function well together; therefore, flip-flopping between them is not ideal.
It’s time for LG smartphone users to take action: the company is shutting down its update servers for good on June 30, 2025. According toAndroid Authority,this means that after this date, LG smartphones will no longer receive official Android updates or have access to LG’s software management tools.
The shutdown will affect the Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) upgrade service, the Update Center app service, and the LG Bridge PC software. These services allowed users to manage their devices, backup data, and install updates via a computer. All these services will cease functioning at midnight Korea time (GMT +9) on June 30.
Installing any pending updates before the deadline is crucial for those still using LG smartphones. Additionally, users relying on LG Bridge for backups and data management should ensure everything is secured before the servers go offline.
While it’s understandable that LG is ending support after exiting the mobile market, this serves as a final reminder for remaining users to update their devices and prepare for the end of official software support. After June 30th, no further official updates or support will be available from LG.
LG announced its exit from the smartphone marketplace in 2021. The LG Wing 5G, launched in October 2020, often stands out as the last flagship device showcasing LG’s innovative spirit with its unique swiveling dual-screen design. Other notable phones released in the period leading up to the company’s exit include the design-focused LG Velvet series, the multimedia-centric LG V60 ThinQ 5G, the stylus-equipped budget-friendly LG Stylo 6, and the mid-range 5G-enabled LG K92 5G.
Interesting, there was at least one report late last year that said LG was thinking aboutrejoining the smartphone market. To date, however, that hasn’t happened.
There are plenty of Android-based smartphone options available for these customers. Amongour favoritesare phones from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, and many more.
If you’re using a Samsung laptop and rely on Google’s Quick Share for moving files around, get ready for a change. Samsung is taking the reins for the Quick Share experience on its own Windows machines starting May 28, 2025. This move consolidates the file transfer feature under Samsung’s control for its PC and laptop users.
One app to rule them all
This shift means the standalone Quick Share app provided by Google will be phased out on Samsung laptops (and PCs). According to the release notes for the latest Quick Share app update from Google (version 1.0.2180.0), come May 28th next year, attempting to use the Google version on a Samsung laptop will prompt you to install Samsung’s own Quick Share application instead.
Google has already updated its app, paving the way for this transition. The application has been renamed from “Quick Share from Google” to simply “Quick Share”, and crucially, compatibility with Samsung’s version has been added.
This move aims to streamline the file-sharing experience for users within the Samsung ecosystem. For a while now, there have been two “Quick Share” experiences floating around: Google’s Nearby Share (which was rebranded to Quick Share early last year) and Samsung’s own Quick Share feature, which predates Google’s widespread adoption of the name. This created some confusion, especially when sharing between Samsung phones, non-Samsung Android devices, and Windows PCs.
Google and Samsung announced plans to merge these experiences back in early 2024, aiming for a unified file-sharing solution similar to Apple’s popular AirDrop feature that works seamlessly between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Other alternatives like Microsoft’s Phone Link also offer ways to bridge phone and PC, but Quick Share focuses specifically on rapid, direct file transfers. This upcoming change on Samsung laptops is the next logical step in that consolidation effort, ensuring Samsung users have a consistent experience managed directly by Samsung across their Galaxy phones and Galaxy Book computers.
Handing control over to Samsung for its own laptops makes a lot of sense. It should reduce confusion and hopefully lead to a more integrated and seamless file-sharing process for people invested in Samsung’s hardware. While swapping apps might involve a quick download and potentially getting used to a slightly different interface, having a single, manufacturer-managed Quick Share application on Samsung PCs is ultimately a positive step. It moves towards a less fragmented experience when you just want to send a photo or document from your phone to your laptop quickly, simplifying a common task.
Image Credits:Google
