Apple News+ subscribers are getting an emoji game with iOS 26
Apple is bundling its News+ subscriptions with a new game that users will be able to access when they get iOS 26. MacRumors has reported that Apple is calling it the "Emoji Game," because, well, it's all about using emoji to fill blanked-out letters in incomplete words and phrases. For the word "Disappear," for instance, you can use the "pear" emoji to complete it if the puzzle only shows its first five letters. For the phrase "rubbing elbows," you can use the "pink bows" emoji if the blank spaces correspond to "bows." The same emoji could have several meanings, as well: "Pear" can also be used to correspond to "fruit" in the word "fruitful," as an example.
It's a neat little game that people can play to pass the time, but it can only be accessed by those paying $13 a month for Apple News+. The subscription will give you access to magazines and newspapers, audio stories and regional publications, along with daily puzzles like the Emoji Game. It's pretty pricey, though like Apple's other services, users can share their subscription with up to six family members.
At the moment, only developers who already have iOS 26 beta will be able to play the Emoji Game. Apple's new mobile OS, which the company announced at WWDC, will be released to the public this fall. It will be compatible with all iPhones announced in 2019 or later, which means iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners won't be able to install it anymore. In addition to adopting a new naming convention that's based on the year it's released, the upcoming version of iOS has undergone a major visual overhaul, with translucent user interfaces inspired by the look of visionOS.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Your iPad is your new computer
After its WWDC 2025 event, Apple described its upcoming iPadOS 26 update as 'the biggest iPadOS release ever.' This doesn't seem like it's just a self-aggrandizing exaggeration, though — iPadOS 26 could actually change the way we think about the utility of a fifteen-year-old product that has long felt like an oversized iPhone designed for a cyclops. The new OS brings us multi-tasking tools, a new windowing system, and the Preview app, which may not sound as alluring as 'Liquid Glass.' But if you've ever tried to have a productive work day via iPad, then this news is more exciting than Sabrina Carpenter's new album announcement (and that's not just because her new song was kinda mid). As it stands now, you can only have two windows open at once on the iPad, and navigating between the two windows is kind of a nightmare. If you're trying to write an email while also looking at your calendar to confirm that you're giving your coworker a good time to call you, then you'll probably be toggling the two windows back and forth, struggling to see all of the relevant information. It's kind of a mess, and a big reason why I never work on my iPad (despite having spent over $100 on Logitech's detachable keyboard…) If I have to refer to any sources during the writing process — whether that be a press release, interview notes, an email, a research paper, or, god forbid, all of the above — then I might as well just pull my phone out as a second tiny screen. Let's just say, it isn't the most user-friendly experience. With the new window controls in iPadOS 26, you can see all of your open windows at once, then tile them intuitively to help you multitask. These window controls are also compatible with Stage Manager, which lets you organize your windows into specific environments. As a result, iPadOS is removing its older multitasking features, Split View and Slide Over. Meanwhile, the iPad's new Preview app makes it possible to edit and view PDFs natively, including features like AutoFill and Apple Pencil compatibility. Like Mac products, iPad apps will now get a menu bar, which makes it easier to locate specific commands or features within an app. Developers also have access to customizing the menu bar in their own apps. And if you often work with folders, you can pin them to your dock, rather than navigating through a clunky Files app. There's more to the new OS than these quality-of-life features (which, frankly, could've been shipped a while ago). Given the computing power of Apple's silicon chips, iPadOS 26 can perform high-intensity background tasks like exporting a video, allowing you to keep working while waiting for the export to complete. The iPad will become useful, in particular, to podcasters, video editors, content creators, or anyone who works in multimedia. In another new feature — which shouldn't feel as novel as it does — you can choose a specific audio input for any app or website. Even better, the iPad is getting a local capture feature, which lets you record your video calls from any conferencing app, then access audio and video files afterwards. The iPad may not match a MacBook when it comes to overall utility. But maybe, hypothetically, your company-issued laptop is a 16″ MacBook Pro that weighs almost five pounds and is too large to use on an airplane or train without discomfort (please, go ahead and play the world's smallest violin for me). And maybe, perhaps, you have a job that brings you to several conferences every year, where you walk miles a day across massive convention centers while lugging around a laptop to write articles as news breaks. In that case, the ability to tote around an iPad and still get work done is going to be a game changer — and a relief for back pain. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Your VPN could be giving your browsing data to China, watchdog says
Using a free app to hide your internet traffic? The company behind it could be quietly tied to China, where the government maintains the ability to surveil all user data, according to a report published Thursday by the Technology Transparency Project. The report accuses 17 Apps — six on Apple's App Store, four on the Google Play Store and seven on both — of having undisclosed ties to China. In several cases, the TTP linked the app developers to a prominent Chinese cybersecurity company, Qihoo 360, which is under U.S. government sanctions. The apps are all virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allow a user to divert their internet traffic through a company's internet connection. With names like VPNify, Ostrich VPN and Now VPN, none of them make overt references to China or Chinese ownership on the app stores. VPNs are primarily used to either protect a user's privacy by making it harder for a website to know who's visiting them, or to skirt around censorship measures. But unless a VPN company takes significant steps to automatically and permanently delete its users' search histories, a company is likely to keep records of its customers' internet activity. That is particularly notable if the company is Chinese, as national law there stipulates that intelligence and law enforcement agencies do not need a warrant to view any personal data that is stored there. 'VPNs are of particular concern because anyone using a VPN has the entirety of their online activity routed through that application,' said Katie Paul, the TTP's director. 'When it comes to Chinese-owned VPNs, that means this data can be turned over to the Chinese government based on China's state laws,' Paul said. Justin Sherman, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who studies data privacy, told NBC News that using a Chinese-owned VPN would be tantamount to handing over one's browsing history to Beijing. 'Capturing data via a VPN could let the Chinese government see everything from websites a person is reading that criticize the Chinese state, to the corporate databases and private portals that person might pull up (and then log into) on the internet for work,' he said. The TTP, a tech-focused arm of the Campaign for Accountability, an investigative nonprofit that seeks to expose 'corruption, negligence, and unethical behavior,' previously published a report on Chinese VPN apps on April 1. Apple soon took down three of the apps with alleged ties to Qihoo 360: Thunder VPN, Snap VPN and Signal Secure VPN. The other apps — Turbo VPN and VPN Proxy Master, which are also available on the Google Play Store, as well as three others that Google offers — are all still available. None of the apps are listed as being developed directly by Qihoo 360. Instead, they are developed by Singapore-based companies including Lemon Seed, Lemon Clove, Autumn Breeze and Innovative Connecting. The TTP cited business filings in China that show Qihoo 360 saying it had acquired those companies in 2019, and Corporate registration documents for those companies in the Cayman Islands from March that all list the director as a Chinese citizen who is a top Qihoo 360 employee. NBC News reached out to developers listed for the 17 apps. Only two claimed not to have ties to China or Qihoo 360. Autumn Breeze, the developer of Snap VPN, which Apple previously removed but is still available on the Google Play store, told TTP it has "no affiliation with Qihoo 360" despite those registration documents, and claims it does not "record, monitor, or retain any user online activity." "Autumn Breeze fails to explain clear connections to the sanctioned PLA-linked entity that are detailed in publicly available documents," Paul told NBC News. The other is WireVPN, where an employee claimed in an email to NBC News that the company is 'an independent service' with 'no ties to Chinese entities or government organizations.' 'We are neither affiliated with Qihoo 360 nor any other PRC-based enterprises, and our operations are entirely autonomous,' the employee said. However, WireVPN's privacy policy makes clear that users are expected to adhere to Chinese law and bans them from 'Violating the basic principles established by the Chinese Constitution' and 'Violating the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, social morality, rational morality, and socialist spiritual civilization.' Qihoo 360 didn't respond to a request for comment. But China Daily, a state-run newspaper, has reported that its cybersecurity clients include the Chinese military and 'at least eight ministries' of the Chinese government. In a 2016 press release, the company seemed to indicate it was in the VPN business, saying 'Qihoo 360 also provides users with secure access points to the Internet via its market leading web browsers and application stores.' Both Apple and Google declined to address the specific apps that TTP highlighted as tied to Qihoo 360 and told NBC News that they follow U.S. laws regarding sanctions. Neither bans VPN app developers simply for following Chinese law. Peter Micek, general counsel at Access Now, a tech policy and human rights advocacy nonprofit, told NBC News that he was surprised to see the tech companies had potentially overlooked a sanctioned company offering apps under innocuous developer names. 'It seems like this project has done the homework and due diligence that Apple and Google should have done, and it does seem like those ties would constitute indirect contact with, transactions with folks who are sanctioned,' he said. Tech companies can sometimes face significant fines for violating sanctions, Micek said. Sanctions are put in place by the federal government as a penalty on foreign entities and individuals, preventing U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with them. They are often imposed after a foreign entity or individual is shown to have conducted some sort of condemned behavior or have links to condemned groups, such as cybercriminals or terrorist organizations. Qihoo 360 faced sanctions from the Commerce Department in 2020, which said the company could become involved in supplying materials to the Chinese military. The sanctions prevent American companies from exporting technology or software to Qihoo 360. It's not clear if app stores hosting apps tied to Qihoo could be in violation of those sanctions. The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment. This article was originally published on
The Hill
39 minutes ago
- The Hill
China could be accessing browsing data on VPNs: Watchdog
More than a dozen private browsing apps on Apple and Google's app stores have undisclosed ties to Chinese companies, leaving user data at risk of exposure to the Chinese government, according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project. Thirteen virtual private network (VPN) apps on Apple's App Store and 11 apps on Google's Play Store have ties to Chinese companies, the tech watchdog group said in the report released Thursday. Chinese law requires Chinese companies to share data with the government upon request, creating privacy and security risks for American users. Several of the apps, including two on both app stores and two others on Google Play Store, have ties to Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, according to the report. The Tech Transparency Project previously identified more than 20 VPN apps on Apple's App Store with Chinese ties in an April report. The iPhone maker has since removed three apps linked to Qihoo 360. 'After being informed of this issue once already, Apple and Google continue to make many of these VPN apps available to Americans without warning them of the security risks,' said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director at Campaign for Accountability, the group behind the Tech Transparency Project. 'It's now fair to question whether the large profits Apple and Google make from their app stores have anything to do with this inaction,' Kuppersmith added in a statement. The Hill has reached out to both Apple and Google for comment. Concerns surrounding the Chinese government's ability to access American user data is at the center of the push to ban TikTok or force the app to divest from its China-based parent company ByteDance. The popular video-sharing platform still remains available in the U.S., despite a law requiring TikTok to divest or face a U.S. ban, as President Trump has repeatedly deferred enforcement as he seeks to strike a deal with China. The next TikTok deadline is fast approaching on June 19. However, the Trump administration is reportedly considering another extension, according to The Wall Street Journal.
