Assurant Enters Strategic Partnership with Plug® to Fuel Growth In Certified Devices and Expand Capabilities in the Secondary Market
As a global leader in device circularity and CPO solutions, Assurant's investment in Plug is designed to accelerate the company's growth and expand access to trusted, affordable, high-quality devices at scale. With its strong D2C platform, bold marketing approach, and fast-growing customer base, Plug is uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of consumer adoption in the secondary device market.
"Our enhanced relationship with Plug reflects Assurant's commitment to expanding the mobile device ecosystem and advancing circularity," said Jeremy Purvis, Senior Vice President, CPO Solutions at Assurant. "Plug's bold brand, strong D2C presence, and innovative approach to social commerce make them an ideal partner in helping more consumers access reliable, certified pre-owned devices. Together, we're extending device lifecycles and accelerating the shift toward a more sustainable tech future."
Plug currently sources devices through a network of suppliers, carriers, and enterprise clients, using proprietary systems to inspect, grade, and fulfill orders efficiently from its U.S.-based facility. The partnership with Assurant adds a new layer of scale and expertise, connecting Plug to Assurant's global network of refurbished device inventory, advanced testing protocols, and logistics infrastructure.
Customer Benefits Include:
Expanded Inventory and Lower Prices: With access to a broader supply of high-quality pre-owned devices, Plug will offer more choice at even more competitive prices.
Enhanced Quality Assurance: Plug's inspection process, covering more than 90 criteria, will be further strengthened by Assurant's global refurbishment and protection standards.
Improved Customer Experience: The partnership supports Plug's existing policies, including a 12-month limited warranty, 30-day satisfaction guarantee, and fast, free U.S. shipping.
Reduced Environmental Impact: By extending the life of more devices, Plug and Assurant are helping reduce electronic waste and advance the circular economy.
Founded in 2020, Plug is a leading direct-to-consumer CPO device commerce platform. Since launch, the brand has quickly emerged as a trusted name in the secondary device market, offering high-quality, affordable tech and industry-leading customer service. Plug distributes products in over 150 countries and offers a range of services across the supply chain, all while maintaining a bold digital brand presence and a deep commitment to sustainability.
"Partnering with Assurant is a major step forward in our mission to bring trusted, affordable tech to more people," said Alex Alyatim, CEO of Plug. "This partnership strengthens our ability to scale without compromising what matters most: delivering value, quality and exceptional experiences to our customers. This is just one step in our mission to create a larger, consumer-first ecosystem rooted in CPO education, value, and long-term impact."
# # #
About AssurantAssurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) is a premier global protection company that partners with the world's leading brands to safeguard and service connected devices, homes, and automobiles. As a Fortune 500 company operating in 21 countries, Assurant leverages data-driven technology solutions to provide exceptional customer experiences. Learn more at assurant.com.
About Plug®Plug® is a leading direct-to-consumer brand delivering certified pre-owned smartphones, tablets, computers, and accessories to customers around the world. Built on a foundation of trust, transparency, and sustainability, Plug® leverages advanced technology to ensure secure storage, real-time inventory tracking, and efficient, responsible fulfillment. From online purchase to unboxing, Plug® is making premium tech easier to access, better for the planet, and entirely focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250708346147/en/
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For Assurant: Louis MassesLouis.masses@assurant.com For Plug: Chloe HuardChloe@nearperfectmedia.com
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CNET
a few seconds ago
- CNET
Changing Just 10 iOS 18.6 Settings Will Make Your iPhone Feel Brand New
As September approaches, I'm looking ahead to the iPhone 17 and working with the iOS 26 betas (on a test device to be safe). But there's still plenty to explore in the recently released iOS 18.6 update, which addresses important bug fixes and security updates. In fact, I know a lot of people who still haven't looked into some of the best new features in the iPhone, from the revamped Control Center to priority notifications. So, after digging into the latest update, I found 10 settings that immediately improved my iPhone use. Some are simple quality-of-life upgrades, while others help cut down on background drain or boost privacy. You don't need to be a tech expert to make these changes, and most take less than a minute to apply. If your iPhone has been feeling a little sluggish or just not working the way you want it to, these quick adjustments might be all it takes to get things back on track. For more on what's new in iOS 18, learn about improvements to the overhauled Calculator app and the Mail app. And don't forget to consult our iOS 18 upgrade checklist, which includes making sure you have a proper backup before upgrading. Now Playing: 11 Hidden Features in iOS 18 06:44 Turn off categories in the Mail app With email, everyone has their own way of dealing with the influx of messages. Traditionally, the Mail app has kept a chronological list, but that can get unwieldy if you also get scores of promotions, receipts and other types of email. The new categories feature creates virtual buckets for Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions, and guesses how your messages should be sorted. 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You can add buttons to recognize music via Shazam, enable Dark Mode, set an alarm/timer, enable Airplane Mode, open your Wallet, send money via Tap to Cash and more. Here's how: 1. On the iPhone's lock screen, touch and hold anywhere on the display until you see the Customize button. You'll need to unlock the phone using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. If it opens the home screen, swipe down from the center-top of the screen (not the right edge, which brings up Control Center. 2. Tap Customize and then choose Lock Screen. 3. Remove one of the buttons by tapping the – (minus) button on the icon. 4. To replace the button with another function, tap its space (now with a + icon) and then choose the one you want on the next screen. (You can also opt to leave that space empty with no button.) 5. Repeat those steps for the other button if you want to change it. 6. Tap Done when you're finished. 7. Tap the lock screen again to exit the customize mode. Remove a lock screen button by tapping the – (minus) button, and then choose a new control to replace it. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Get important alerts using Prioritize Notifications For iPhone models that can run Apple Intelligence, a new option in iOS 18.4 is fast becoming one of my favorite AI features. Go to Settings > Notifications, and under Apple Intelligence, tap Prioritize Notifications. As new alerts come in -- and some days feel like they arrive in floods -- Apple Intelligence determines which ones are more likely to be important to you. For example, texts from people in your contacts could be flagged in favor of random scam messages. On that settings screen, you can enable or disable priority notifications for individual apps. In iOS 18.4, Apple Intelligence can prioritize notifications to grab your attention. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Set up some of the new tasks available on the Action button The Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 Pro replaced the dedicated mute switch found on every earlier iPhone model with a configurable control. By default, it serves the same purpose -- hold it to turn Silent Mode on or off -- but you can configure it for other actions like opening the Camera app, performing multiple actions at once or even ordering coffee. The iOS 18.4 update adds Visual Intelligence as an option for the Action button. That makes the AI technology available on the iPhone 16E, which does not include the novel new Camera Control but is now an option for any iPhone with an Action button. In iOS 18, the Action button gets new capabilities. You can bypass Control Center and choose a control of your choice, such as opening the Remote interface for navigating Apple TV or using Shazam to identify a song. To choose a different action for the Action button, go to Settings > Action Button. Swipe sideways to select and activate one of the available actions. For the Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility options, tap the Choose button to pick which specific action to run. iOS 18 now lets you program the Action Button with your favorite Control Center control. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Give your home screen a radical new look You wouldn't think that putting icons where you want is a radical new feature, but that's because iOS has always had a locked arrangement. Apps get added from top to bottom, left to right. You could rearrange the order in which icons appear and move them to other screens, but that was about it. In iOS 18, apps can be positioned nearly anywhere. You no longer need to deal with a wallpaper image of your kids or pets being obscured by icons. They still adhere to a grid -- Apple isn't about to sanction anarchy -- but can be placed freely. 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To get it back to its single icon size you need to touch and hold again and choose the single-icon button Some apps can be expanded into larger icons that act like widgets. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Set Dark mode: If you've ever subjected yourself to the retina blast of black text on a white background late at night in a darkened room, you will appreciate the new Dark mode option for the home and lock screens. iOS has previously included a Dark mode, where light backgrounds switch to black or dark gray, text switches to white or light gray and other interface elements are dimmed to coexist in a dark environment. That's never been applied to the home and lock screens in any significant way -- only the dock and some widgets -- until iOS 18. First, touch and hold the home screen to enter jiggle mode. Tap the Edit button in the top-left corner and choose Customize from the menu. 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For data you want to ensure stays out of sight or to add a layer of protection in front of sensitive information, iOS 18 adds the ability to lock and hide apps. For example, let's say you keep an ongoing set of lists of gift ideas for family members in the Notes app. You can lock individual notes but that requires a separate step. Maybe a few ideas were made as individual quick notes or drawings. Instead of micromanaging access, you can lock the entire Notes app by doing the following: Touch and hold the app icon you want to lock and choose Require Face ID or Require Touch ID (or Require Passcode if Face ID or Touch ID are not enabled) from the menu that appears. Confirm your choice by tapping Require Face ID (or similar) in the next dialog. Lock individual apps. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET To remove the authentication step, touch and hold the app and choose Don't Require Face ID (or similar). Nothing outwardly indicates that an app is locked -- you'll find out when you try to open it. There's one more level of app security available, which is to hide apps in a special locked folder. Touch and hold the app and choose Require Face ID and then tap Hide and Require Face ID in the dialog. Confirm the action by tapping Hide App on the next screen. The app disappears from the home screen and gets slotted into a Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library (swipe left beyond your last home screen to view the App Library). To access apps there, tap the Hidden folder and authenticate with Face ID. When you choose Hide and Require Face ID to protect an app, it gets put into the Hidden folder in App Library (top). Tap the folder and authenticate to access the app (bottom). Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET iOS 18 imposes some limitations on hidden apps. Some, such as many of the built-in ones like Notes or Reminders, can only be locked and cannot be hidden at all. 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Adjust the view of your calendar Big new features like locking and hiding apps are great additions but so are the tiny changes that you encounter every day. The Calendar app includes two new ways to view your schedule. In iOS 18, when you're in the Month view in portrait orientation, pinch with two fingers to view more or fewer details. As you "zoom in," individual events appear as colored bars and then as labeled events with times, all while keeping the monthly grid of days and weeks. In the Calendar app's Month view, pinch to zoom in and see more details. Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET The Day view, which breaks down your day hour by hour, now has a new Multi Day view that shows two consecutive days to give you context for what's coming without turning the phone into landscape orientation and viewing the Week view. Tap the View button at the top of the Single Day view and choose Multi Day from the popup menu. The new Multi Day view in the Calendar shows two days at once (right). Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET Improve movie and TV show dialogue in the TV app Trouble hearing dialogue in movies and television shows isn't a new problem -- for example, Apple TV has had a feature for a while where you can ask Siri, "What did she say?" and it will automatically back up a few seconds, turn on subtitles and replay that section of the video. You can even buy soundbars that can overcome muffled TV speech. There are a lot of reasons it's harder to hear dialogue but the TV app in iOS 18 includes a high-tech workaround to make dialog easier to discern. While you're watching a video in the TV app, tap the More (…) button and then expand the Audio heading in the menu that appears; if the phone is in horizontal orientation, tap the Audio Adjustments button. Tap Enhance Dialogue and choose Enhance or Boost. They each dampen background noise and raise the dialogue's audio. Turn on Enhance Dialogue in the TV app to discern characters' speech better in noisy scenes. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET These are just a few new features and changes in iOS 18. Check out our broader coverage of Apple Intelligence, more impressions of the system after using it for months and how these all work together with the iPhone 16 models.
Android Authority
a few seconds ago
- Android Authority
Miss the microSD slot on your phone? T-Mobile's latest phone might be for you.
TL;DR T-Mobile has launched the Revvl 8 smartphone, the latest model in the brand's Revvl portfolio. The new phone stands out from the previous model thanks to an upgraded chip, improved camera hardware, and faster charging. Expect to pay $199.99 when the phone goes on sale tomorrow (August 14). T-Mobile has offered its Revvl phones for a while now, and these are decent if unspectacular budget Android phones. Now, the carrier has announced the Revvl 8. So, what does it bring to the table? The Revvl 8 doesn't look like the most modern smartphone, largely due to a dated waterdrop notch and a substantial chin on the front. At least we've got two clean camera cutouts in the rear cover instead of a separate rear camera housing. There's no word on protective glass for the screen, though. Don't want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a preferred source in Google Search to support us and make sure you never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. Diving under the hood, the Revvl 8 packs a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. This processor is a mild upgrade over the Revvl 7's Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and it's also seen in the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Moto G Stylus 5G 2025. It won't run demanding games very well, but it should get the job done just fine for everyday tasks and light games. However, I am glad to see that the phone continues the Revvl trend of offering microSD expansion (up to 2TB). That's great news if you have a huge library of captured photos/videos, a trove of audiovisual media, or if you just want peace of mind. How important is microSD storage to you on your phone? 0 votes I won't buy a phone without microSD support NaN % It's one of several key considerations NaN % It's nice to have but not a must NaN % I don't care about this feature NaN % In terms of photography, the T-Mobile Revvl 8 offers a 50MP main camera and a 2MP macro lens. The primary camera also has optical image stabilization, which was missing from the Revvl 7's 50MP shooter. This should result in brighter low-light shots with less blur and reduced shakiness when recording video. The phone also packs a 13MP selfie camera, which is a welcome upgrade on paper from the previous model's 8MP snapper. Other notable features include a 6.58-inch IPS LCD panel (FHD+), a 5,000mAh battery, 25W wired charging (up from 15W), a side fingerprint scanner, and Android 15 with the promise of five years of security updates. There's no word on an OS update pledge, though. It's also unclear whether the phone offers a 3.5mm jack like the older handset. In any event, the T-Mobile Revvl 8 goes on sale tomorrow (August 14) for $199.99. That's a decent deal if you need a no-frills Android phone at a low price. However, T-Mobile has stiff competition with devices like the $200 Samsung Galaxy A16 5G. Samsung's phone loses out in the horsepower stakes but offers extras like an IP54 rating and a 90Hz OLED screen. Follow
Fast Company
a few seconds ago
- Fast Company
This free web timer puts your computer's Clock app to shame
For something as simple as setting a timer, the built-in apps on our computers can be awfully fiddly. Usually you have to open a Clock app first, then navigate to a separate tab for timers. After that you have to hit another button to create the timer, and only then can you finally set the time. You might even have to wade through a messy list of all the previous timers you've created. Fortunately, there's a faster way when time is of the essence. Even better, it's full of powerful features that don't detract from its up-front simplicity and delightfulness. A plain but powerful desktop timer The next time you find yourself with a timer-needing task, you can skip past all the cruft of your built-in Clock app by just opening your favorite web browser and visiting the appropriately named ➜ is a free web-based app for setting quick timers with simple keyboard commands. ⌚ Setting a timer takes just a few seconds. ✅ To set up a basic timer, try typing '5 minutes' or '5m' into the box on the landing page. This also works with other units of time, so you can type '3h48m15s' for a timer that runs for three hours, 48 minutes, and 15 seconds. When time expires, the site will play a tone and—with your permission—deliver a push notification to your device. To speed things up further, just include the time directly in URL. For instance, entering into your address bar will bypass the setup page and set a five-minute timer immediately. You can even bookmark your most-used timers for faster access in the future. I was chatting with my fellow Cool Tools writer JR Raphael about this, and he asked a valid question: Why use instead of, say, Google Search's built-in timer tool? To this I offer a few answers: supports more time formats. In addition to the hour-minute-second format I mentioned earlier, lets you input absolute times such as '4:56 pm' or 'August 10 2025 3pm.' It can also count down to holidays such as Mother's Day or New Year's. works offline. If you're using Chrome, click the little download icon in the top-right of the address bar to install Progressive Web App. Now you can launch a freestanding version of the site that works without an internet connection. supports the Pomodoro method. Beyond just individual timers, you can also set up sequences of consecutive timers. Try typing '25m/5m/25m' for a pair of 25-minute work sessions broken up by a five-minute break. is more fun. Beyond the basic black text on white background, the site offers a bunch of themes, including a digital clock, dot matrix, and—my personal favorite—one that looks like the Windows Blue Screen of Death. This only scratches the surface of what's possible. Check out the site's Help and Settings page for even more possibilities, such as adding labels to your timers and tweaking things like the default alarm sound. ☝️ One quick caveat: While technically works in any browser on any device, I've found that its alerts don't come through on mobile devices unless your screen is on and the site is open, so you're better off using it on desktop browsers only. Too bad, because the built-in Clock apps on our phones are just as fiddly as their desktop counterparts. is entirely web-based, though you can download it as a Progressive Web App if you would like. It is free to use and doesn't include any ads (unless you select the 'Ugly' theme which has fake ads on the page). doesn't ask for any personal information to use the service. Treat yourself to all sorts of geeky goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter —starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that'll tune up your days in truly delightful ways. The early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
