Tech Tok: Messaging turf war moves onto billboards

The messaging turf battle between Meta, formerly Facebook, and Apple is taking new dimensions, with Meta now launching an anti-iMessage ad campaign to promote its messaging platform, WhatsApp. The popularity of personal messaging facilities on different social media platforms, be it Messenger on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram’s direct messaging, Signal, Telegram, Apple’s iMessage or even the […]

The messaging turf battle between Meta, formerly Facebook, and Apple is taking new dimensions, with Meta now launching an anti-iMessage ad campaign to promote its messaging platform, WhatsApp.

The popularity of personal messaging facilities on different social media platforms, be it Messenger on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram’s direct messaging, Signal, Telegram, Apple’s iMessage or even the good old text messaging on Android, is also seeing the battle between the contenders for the top position getting slightly bitter.

Meta’s new ad campaign, unveiled by Mark Zuckerberg, criticizes Apple for offering end-to-end encryption only for iMessage, and not for standard SMS communication. WhatsApp, on the other hand, offers end-to-end encryption that ‘works across both iPhones and Android’.

In an Instagram post, Zuckerberg shared an image of the new ad running at New York’s Penn Station. It plays into the “Green Bubble” and “Blue Bubble” debate, showing both of those alongside a WhatsApp message bubble that says “Private Bubble.”

“Protect your personal messages across devices with end-to-end encryption,” the ad reads. “Always message privately.”

Zuckerberg’s caption brings out the war further. “WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage.”

According to reports, Apple is also facing growing criticism from Google for continuing to resist expanding iMessage with support for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard. RCS messages offer end-to-end encryption support, though Google hasn’t yet implemented support for encryption in group messages.

Google is also running an ongoing “Get the Message” ad campaign targeting Apple’s lack of RCS adoption. The company believes that Apple should adopt RCS so that iPhone and Android users texting each other can benefit from read receipts, typing indicators, sending over data, higher-res video and images, and better group chats.

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LG unveils 32-inch 4K Smart Monitor with AirPlay 2 support

LG Electronics has showcased a new smart monitor that comes with built-in webOS streaming functionality to complement its 32-inch 4K panel with AirPlay 2 support, and USB-C connectivity.

According to 9To5Toys, the new LG smart monitor, likely to be priced at $499.99, will launch soon. The monitor supports Apple’s AirPlay 2 network protocol, which allows users to stream audio or video over a network from an Apple device to another. Specifically, AirPlay 2 lets people stream audio to multiple devices at once.

With AirPlay 2, Apple customers can mirror their iPhone or Mac screen and stream video from compatible apps, as well as stream audio from the monitor’s two 5W stereo speakers. Its 32-inch 4K panel is supported by a pair of HDMI ports as well as single USB-A input and Gigabit Ethernet.

Apple’s iOS 16.1 to get clipboard permission settings on per-app basis

Apple’s next update, iOS 16.1, is likely to introduce a new privacy feature that prevents apps from directly accessing a user’s iPhone’s clipboard to paste text from other apps.

According to MacRumors, Apple has continued to refine the copy-and-paste feature over the weeks. Users can find the new “Paste from Other Apps” option in the Settings app in the new release of iOS 16.1 and later. An Apple engineer said the copy-and-paste permission prompt only appears when an app attempts to access the clipboard directly.

The prompt does not appear when a user selects the “Paste” option in the menu that pops up after highlighting text or interacts with apps that have paste buttons based on the UIPasteControl framework.

The menu presents users with three options Ask, Deny, and Allow.

With the new menu, users have more fine control over copy-and-paste permission prompts. However, users should note that apps that have never requested clipboard permission are not included in the menu.

– Dennis Marcus Mathew with agency inputs