WhatsApp Hands Over the Keys to Disappearing Messages

WhatsApps is giving users more control over their disappearing messages, starting with two new duration options.

December 7, 2021 It's December 7, 2021. On this day in 1999, the RIAA sued Napster. Why? Because, y'know, it was letting millions of people download music for free. Remember playing an mp3 and discovering it was a totally different song?     ⏰ Today's Big Stories... in 30 Seconds Today We Watched, Read, and Listened to (so you don't have to): 308 articles, 6 podcasts, 10 press releases, 271 tweets, and 14 YouTube videos 1. WhatsApp Gives You More Control Over Disappearing Messages WhatsApp is adding two new disappearing message duration options, as well as finally letting people enable the feature for new chats by default. You can now make your messages disappear as soon as 24 hours after sending or as long as 90 days after. The seven-day option still remains, too.  We'll take it! 2. Samsung Adds Wear Detection to Galaxy Buds Pro Samsung is rolling out an update for the Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy Buds+, which lets the headphones detect when you're wearing them during voice calls. We're shocked this wasn't already a feature, but hey, we guess some things take time. 3. Xbox App Adds a Heads-up for PC Compatibility The Xbox app has been updated to show how well select games will run on your PC. Microsoft is still in the process of implementing this, so not every game in the library has been cataloged yet. If the game hasn't been checked, you'll see a "Performance check not available yet" message. Very helpful. 🦑 Go Deeper Apple's new MacBook Upgrade Program supplies businesses with MacBooks for a monthly fee, and Charlie Sorrel thinks everyday people should be treated to the same subscription plan. We're inclined to agree. Please, Apple?     🎱 By the Numbers Android loves WhatsApp Data: Backlinko You can find WhatsApp on Google Play and Apple's App Store, but based on the number of ratings above, it's clearly more of a hit on Android. What's more, people use it enough to have a variety of opinions on it, though iOS' seven million 5 star ratings still pale in comparison to Android's 97 million.     Sponsored By Best Buy Gifts That Can Make Your Favorite Songs Sound Even Better The holidays are just so much better with music, right? What better way to surround yourself with the tunes of the season than with these amazing gift ideas for the ones you love? See the Gifts 🤓 Nerd Out "Keep the snow on your phones, please." —Tim Fisher, General Manager Not enough of that winter/holiday spirit on your iPhone or iPad? Well, thanks to a cute Christmas Easter egg, you can at least add a bit of a snow globe effect. You just need the Apple Store app to do it. (Share on Twitter) 💎 You Know You Want It  We prefer keytars Image: Rhodes Looking to reignite your piano career? Why not do it in style with the Rhodes MK8, an electro-mechanical tine piano with more music and audio features than we can list; if "inbuilt VCA analogue compressor" and "parametric EQ" make sense to you, you definitely want this. One catch, though: it's $9,450. 🙈 Wait, What? Another day, another Zoom call To further ease your concerns about what Zoom can/can't do, know that the meeting host isn't aware of when you're using other apps during a video call. Zoom used to have attendee attention tracking, but removed it last year. Okay? Okay. Now you can go back to YouTube TikTok multitasking without fear.     🗞 Extra! Extra! We've got you covered with the best in daily tech news! See the latest on our site or follow us on Google News. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Have something you'd like us to write about? We're always open for suggestions, too. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the Tech Today newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here .   Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. A Dotdash Brand 28 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10005 2020 Dotdash • All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.   [View in Browser]