Canada's official COVID-19 tracing app is now available for beta-testing. To be clear, this is not the app for those entering the country and self-quarantining for 14 days, nor is it the tracing app that's been deployed in Alberta since the spring—both the Alberta app and this new national solution use Bluetooth, but it's only the latter that incorporates the Apple and Google tech now baked into Android and iOS.

As I understand it, that tech works like this: every user is assigned a unique, encrypted and non-identifiable Bluetooth key, which updates frequently throughout the day. As you make your way through the world your exposure to other users is recorded by handshakes with their own unique keys. Periodically, your log of exposures is compared against a master list on a remote server for possible exposure to COVID, at which point you are alerted through the app. Apple and Google explain it better on this PDF.

So far the app has been working as advertised, though I did have one expectation that is as of yet unmet. Currently the user is able to disclose that they've tested positive for the virus by entering a code from their test. However, there's no provision for the opposite—that is, to confirm a negative test result as well. I think this extra feature would make the app much more useful in, say, a scenario where I'm eventually able to visit a foreign country and am asked to provide proof of a negative test result upon entry.

The beta is currently open for anyone to apply. If interested you can sign up with a valid email address via this link.

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

My high regard for the cheap and cheerful Amazfit Bip remains, but my relationship with it was summarily ended by a recent update to the companion smartphone app. Said app now requires access to my phone's camera before it will even pair to the watch.

Does the Bip have a remote shutter function—that is, can you prop up your phone on some stable surface then use your Bip to capture a group selfie from several feet away? Nope. Do any of the other watches made by Amazfit support this feature natively? A cursory search of their product portfolio would also suggest no. Should you be at all concerned about an app that provides no camera functionality but has the ability to send photos and or video from your phone to an external server? I sure am.

There is another way I could continue using my Bip: Gadgetbridge on F-Droid will connect a Bip or other supported wearable to your phone without accessing the Internet at all. But this very secure solution also means that syncing your fitness data with any other app is going to be a chore.

So for the moment I'm back to Wear OS and the transflective displays of my Casio Pro-Treks, at least until something better comes along. Because, as I've written here before, the perfect Android smartwatch doesn't exist.

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

Breaking news this morning from The Verge:

Though it hasn't yet been confirmed, the leading theory so far points to an issue with the Facebook SDK—the affected apps all seem to offer Facebook as a login option, so the SDK is built into the code even if you yourself don't use it.

It's not the first time this has happened, either. The Verge reminds us of a nearly-identical event that occurred on May 6th of this year.

As of this writing, the bug is limited to iPhones and iPads; I can confirm that Spotify on Android is (so far) unaffected. Hopefully this gets sorted out soon!

Sources: The Verge (1) (2)

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

For your consideration: some evidence below in support of the hypothesis above.

Exhibit A: Foodora

Next Monday May 11th Foodora, a subsidiary of Berlin-based Delivery Hero SE, will officially cease all operations here in Canada. With most of the country still locked down due COVID-19 one might expect the food delivery business to be booming—and my own observations from the streets of downtown Toronto would indicate the same. But that's apparently not the case—in fact, quite the opposite seems to be true: the company's insolvency filings reveal some $4.7 million CAD owed to creditors, mostly restaurants for unpaid food sales.

In leaving Canada Foodora hasn't just screwed over restaurants, but delivery couriers as well. Those couriers won the right to unionize back in February; I've a sneaking suspicion that this may also have influenced Foodora's decision to close up shop here.

On the subject of couriers I feel compelled to add another anecdotal observation: On the few occasions that I've ventured out to pick up food almost every business I've visited was full of delivery couriers. No one seemed particularly happy to be there.

Sources: CBC, NOW Toronto

Exhibit B: Lyft, Uber, Airbnb

My girlfriend once pointed something out that made me see ride-hailing services in a completely different way—basically that me, the passenger, is not actually the true customer for these businesses; it's actually the vehicle owner, the one with the asset that these businesses seek to exploit. Ditto for Airbnb, who isn't after thrifty travellers so much as property owners seeking to leverage unused space—with Airbnb taking a cut of each and every stay.

So how's all this working out in the face of COVID-19? Well, when Airbnb asked our government for a bailout (presumably to pass on to their hosts) they were famously turned down in a single-word tweet. And south of the border, Uber drivers in New York City were already sleeping in their cars before the pandemic even started.

Sources: @TOAdamVaughan, VICE

Exhibit C: Instacart

Facing my own dwindling supply at the height of the toilet paper scare this past March I turned in desperation to Instacart, thinking that the service had something unique to offer beyond just sending someone to do your shopping for you. It does not. In a city where at least one major grocery chain has had a proper home delivery platform for over a decade, Instacart brings no new innovation beyond exploiting gig workers with strong arms and free time.

Enter COVID-19 and Instacart is instantly worse for everyone. Those seeking delivery slots have likened the experience to using Ticketmaster, and those making the deliveries have been doing so at great personal risk. In fact, it took the threat of a general strike for Instacart to provide the most meager of protections to personal shoppers in the midst of a global pandemic.

Sources: BNN Bloomberg, Global News

So I've asked Instacart to delete my account but have not yet heard back. I was never really interested in Airbnb, and gave up on Lyft last year and returned to my favourite Toronto taxi company instead. And I guess I should consider myself lucky to be able to walk to my local eateries and bring food home myself.

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

Back in the mid-1990s when my job mandated a fair amount of late-night cabs, Beck Taxi was the operator I would call. So imagine my surprise and delight to find out that they, like me, have embraced the 20th century [edit: 21st] with a compelling alternative to Uber and Lyft.

Like Uber and Lyft their smartphone app allows you to summon a car to your current location, but you can also just hop into any available cab and use the app to pay, via a QR code on the driver's terminal. This is especially handy because in downtown Toronto Beck taxis are literally everywhere.

You won't need to register for an account, just provide an email address where Beck can send the receipt for your ride. And to respect your privacy you can use PayPal for payment.

The drivers I spoke with said that Beck's entire fleet is compatible with their app.

One obvious difference between Beck and the other ride-sharing apps is the fares; there is no available estimate of what you'll pay because taxi fares are calculated by distance and regulated by the city. I'm actually fine with this, because with a metered cab I won't ever have to worry about surge pricing.

Another difference is that with Beck you can't rate your driver. Surprisingly I'm also okay with this, only because of recent and uniformly terrible so-called "five-star rides" with Lyft—I'm talking dirty cars (with baby seats and other unnecessary clutter) and drivers who are great at mashing pedals but terrible with directions, were it not for the large navigational aids mounted directly in front of their faces.

So fellow Torontonians, rejoice! There is yet another, possibly better way to get around the downtown core.

Links: Beck Taxi on Apple App Store / Google Play Store

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

So my late-2019 phone upgrade is a OnePlus 7T, which out of the box runs Android 10. In migrating over the apps I rely on I found one pair in particular that were getting a bit long in the tooth—still working as advertised (for the most part) but with UIs that haven't been updated since the days of Ice Cream Sandwich.

Here, for what it's worth, is what I replaced them with:

1. K-9 Mail to FairEmail



Sure, I could add my IMAP accounts to Gmail, but since I don't want to hand over everything to Google I've been using K-9 Mail instead. K-9 still works fine but over the past decade has become progressively more unpleasant to look at. Its replacement, FairEmail, is also open-source (ie. available on F-Droid) but looks and feels far more like a modern Android app.

2. Titanium Backup to Swift Backup



In the past I could always count on Titanium Backup to save and restore my apps and their data, especially when migrating to a new device. But my latest experience was particularly rough—an unacceptable number of batch-restored apps would repeatedly force quit on launch, requiring manual reinstalls from the Play Store, one by one.

To find out why a search on XDA led me to this thread, and a new app that I hadn't heard of before: Swift Backup. It does pretty much everything that TiBU claims to, and does so with a much cleaner, less-confusing interface.

Using the app does require a Google login; here's the developer to explain why:

Note also that I haven't yet done a full backup and restore with Swift. If I have any problems with that I'll be sure to follow up here.

Links: Play Store (1) (2), XDA

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

Google has announced Play Pass, a new subscription service for select apps and games on the Play Store. Currently available in the USA only, the launch promo will set you back only $1.99 USD/month for the first 12 months, then the regular $4.99/month thereafter.

Android Authority has put together a helpful list of launch titles (there actually aren't that many); I've added Play Store links so that you can check them out and decide if a subscription is worth your money.

APPS

AccuWeather: Daily Forecast & Live Weather Reports
Tunable: Music Practice Tools
ISS HD Live: View Earth Live
Pic Stitch – #1 Collage Maker
Photo Studio Pro
CamtoPlan
Slow Motion Video FX
Hi-Q MP3 Voice Recorder (Pro)

GAMES

Action:
Absolute Drift
Chameleon Run
Farm Invasion USA
Lichtspeer
Ninja Hero Cats
Shadow Fight 2 Special Edition
Titan Quest

Adventure:
60 Seconds! Atomic Adventure
80 Days
Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride (Full)
LIMBO
Lumino City
Old Man’s Journey
Sorcery! 4
Swordigo
Suzy Cube
The Bug Butcher
Thimbleweed Park
Wayward Souls

Kids:
Sago Mini Pet Cafe
Thomas & Friends: Race On!
Toca Nature
Toca Mystery House

Puzzle:
Agent A: A puzzle in disguise
Bridge Constructor Portal
Death Squared
ELOH
FRAMED
Hidden Folks
Monument Valley 2
Neighbours from Hell Season 1
Neighbours from Hell Season 2
One More Line
.projekt
Save the Puppies
The Tiny Bang Story

RPG:
Evoland
Game Dev Tycoon
Hoplite
Stardew Valley
Star Wars™: KOTOR
Terraria

Strategy/simulation:
Door Kickers
Guns’n’Glory Heroes
Guns’n’Glory Zombies
King’s League: Odyssey
Mini Metro
Pocket City
Reigns: Game of Thrones
Risk
SpellForce – Heroes & Magic
The Battle of Polytopia
This is the Police
Tiny Guardians

Sources: Android Authority, Google
Image source: TechCrunch

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

My own failed login above jibes with what Android Police is reporting—that my favourite utility for backing up text messages to Gmail no longer works. If you're willing to jump through a few extra hoops there is a workaround that AP found on the app's GitHub bug tracker:

* Note that you'll need to have 2-step verification enabled to see the option for app passwords. Also note the following:



In English this means that your text backups will work as before, but your call log still can't be saved to your Google Calendar. So it's more of a half-fix, really. If, like myself, you find this solution lacking you can do what I did and switch to SMS Backup and Restore instead.

Source: GitHub via Android Police

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

Some five years ago I posted about how a chat app for iOS became an unlikely bridge for a free exchange of ideas between Mainland China and Taiwan. This summer there's a different but not dissimilar app that's proving to be indispensable for protestors in Hong Kong.

But first, a quick word from Bruce Lee:



Next, some very necessary context via this dispatch from Hong Kong:

Available for both Android and iOS, Telegram offers server to client encryption for all messages, but also a secret chat feature with client to client (aka end to end) encryption, with messages that can be set to auto-destruct after they're delivered.

The platform has proven to be a dependable tool for protestors; a massive DDOS attack believed to have originated from the mainland managed to disrupt some traffic, but only temporarily.

Sources: The Independent, Telegram FAQ, The Verge

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

You may have noticed that your social media friends and/or favourite celebs have suddenly aged a few decades... it's all thanks to FaceApp. Available for Android and iOS, it uses "advanced neural portrait editing technology" to, among other things, make you look older or younger.

What makes FaceApp different from other photo editing apps is that it's suddenly made us aware of privacy issues that come with sharing our likeness on the Internet.

First, there's the app's terms of service:

I've bolded the word "non-exclusive" for a reason; you still own your photos that you upload to FaceApp, just as you do with Facebook, Twitter and any other photo sharing service on the Internet. It would be great if FaceApp could work its magic locally on your device, but it doesn't. So it's not entirely unreasonable for them to require a non-exclusive license to upload your content to their servers—or, more likely, a CDN that they pay for but don't directly control. The rest looks to me like the standard legalese you'd find in the EULA for any social media network.

Perhaps alarm bells are ringing louder than usual due to the unfortunate coincidence that the creators of FaceApp are based in St. Petersburg. So while all the clickbaity headlines like: "Russia now owns your face!" are technically true, in practical terms it's no less of an issue than for a Russian Snapchat user to upload their selfie to that American owned and run service (for example).

If you're asking me for advice I personally would leave such narcissistic behaviour to celebrities, but in this age of influencers I suppose that we're all celebrities to a degree. So in the spirit of sharing and community here's a FaceApp of myself:



What a time to be alive!

Links: Fast Company via Vox

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

As per the email above, Google is breaking one of Android's most useful utilities. I've been using SMS Backup+ for almost as long as I've been using Android. It's not the only way to back up your text messages (and phone call history), but up until today it was arguably the most useful—users have been able to send their SMS history to Gmail (and their phone calls to Calendar) for easy searches of your communications history through these two Google products.

As of July 15th existing hooks may or may not continue to work, but one thing is clear: as soon as I upgrade to a new phone and try to reconnect the app to Gmail I'll be locked out.

Here's a message from the developer on GitHub:

Ars Technica reports that this isn't the only app that's going to suffer from Google's new "protections"; SwiftKey will also be blocked from using Gmail to better predict text input—a move which will obviously benefit the first-party alternative from Mountain View.

Links: Ars Technica, GitHub

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

Yesterday Google revealed more details about Stadia, its forthcoming game-streaming service. Supported devices at launch include the Chrome browser on MacOS and Windows, the Chromecast Ultra and 3rd-gen Pixel phones. Additional details are as follows:

Launch Date
Founder's Edition early access - November, 2019
Stadia Pro - 2020

Launch Markets
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States (except Hawaii)

Launch Titles
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Baldur's Gate 3
Borderlands 3
Darksiders Genesis
Destiny 2
DOOM Eternal
DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2
Farming Simulator 19
FINAL FANTASY XV
Football Manager 2020
Get Packed
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
GRID
Gylt
Just Dance 2020
Metro Exodus
Mortal Kombat 11
NBA 2K
Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid
Rage 2
SAMURAI SHODOWN
The Crew 2
The Division 2
The Elder Scrolls Online
Thumper
Tomb Raider Trilogy
Trials Rising
Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Pricing
Founder's Edition, includes:
- Chromecast Ultra
- limited edition Night Blue Stadia controller
- three months of Stadia Pro (see below)
- three month Buddy Pass
- dibs on selecting a Stadia Name
- $169 CAD / $129.99 USD
Stadia Pro
- $11.99 CAD / $9.99 USD per month
Pay-per-game pricing TBA

Sources: Android Police, Mobile Syrup
Image source: XDA

---------

Breaking news from XDA today: Support for the Android version of Google Trips will end on August 5th of this year. As someone who likes to travel every now and again I'm actually not too busted-up over this, as there will continue to be a web version of the app. Also, the service itself was never actually very good.

When it was first announced not even three years ago Trips seemed to me like an obvious replacement for TripIt, a free/paid service that you forward your travel plans to in exchange for an itinerary that you can print, share or add to your Google Calendar. I had been using TripIt for over a decade, but switched to Trips since it could scan my Gmail for reservations and dump them into my calendar automatically. And with Inbox's travel bundles entire itineraries were only a click or tap away.

Now we all know what happened to Inbox, but what I didn't know was how bad Google is at adding travel plans to Calendar, especially when those plans change.

As for the app itself, here's a screenshot from my most recent trip:



Of the tiles you see above the one for reservations was all I ever used; the rest seem like they were designed for people who travel without mobile data—in other words, nobody. Thus, it's hardly surprising that the web version of Trips includes none of this unnecessary cruft.

So no, I'm not going to shed any tears over the Android version of Trips because, like so many of Mountain View's other "experiments", not a lot of effort was ever put into it. I've just gone back to using TripIt, which still works great!

Source: XDA

---------

Unfortunately a prior commitment will keep me from catching the WWDC keynote this afternoon, so instead I'm going to spill the beans on what is rumoured to be the best possible news to come out of Cupertino in many years: The death of iTunes.

As a loyal Apple customer from 1995 until 2010, it never made sense to me that iPhones connected to Macs via a music player.

I'm well aware that one of the reasons why the iPhone came to market in the first place was to combat the rising tide of Nokias and Sony Ericssons with onboard music players of their own. And as a natural evolution of the wildly-successful iPod I can appreciate how iPhone plus iTunes probably made sense at the time, as users were still shuttling their music collections between desktop and mobile in those dark days before Spotify or Apple Music.

But even back then smartphones were about so much more than just media. Apple already had a pretty great syncing tool in the early 2000s called iSync, which used Bluetooth and SyncML to synchronize the four pillars of personal information management: calendars, contacts, notes and tasks. Now, almost two decades later, Apple is finally breaking apart the bloated mess that is iTunes, paving the way for a more useful and sensible connection to desktop computers:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Source: Bloomberg
Image source: Gizmodo

---------

With all the talk about Chinese backdoors and state-sponsored spying we must remember that our personal information is also at risk from entities closer to home. Case in point: Snapchat, whose employees have apparently been abusing access to user data, according to a new report from VICE. This is especially troubling for an ephemeral photo and video messaging service that first gained popularity as a sexting app.

The tool used to access user accounts is known internally as SnapLion (as per the fake logo whipped up by a VICE artist above); more on that from the source:

Data that can be retrieved using SnapLion includes user generated content (Snaps) and location information, plus the email addresses and phone numbers of users.

From interviews with Snap employees VICE says that abuse was carried out by multiple individuals within the company, and occurred on multiple occasions. Read the full story at the link immediately below.

Source: VICE

---------

A special episode of The Vergecast this week features an interview with Mark Rifkin, a lawyer involved in a class action suit against Apple. Originally filed in 2011, Apple vs. Pepper argues that the iOS App Store is an unlawful monopoly; whereas Android (for example) offers alternative app stores and direct installs from developers, Apple gives you exactly two choices: deal with the App Store or have zero third-party apps on your phone. Because Apple takes a 30% commission on all App Store purchases, the plaintiffs argue that this fee is passed on to users, who again have nowhere else to go.

The case has been making its way through the legal system for the past eight years. First, a lower court sided with Apple; then an appeals court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. This week the Supreme Court upheld the prior ruling against Apple, citing the precedent of Illinois Brick, a case where the state of Illinois sued a brick company for price-fixing. Without going into too much detail, that case was about who in the supply chain was the guilty party.

Here's what Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh says about Apple:

In a statement to The Verge Apple asserts that its App Store "is not a monopoly by any metric", and will likely cite the very existence of Android as proof. But, according to Rifkin:

Have a listen to the 40-minute episode at the link immediately below.

Source: The Verge

---------

Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous... after years of complaining about tap and pay on Android I finally have a OnePlus phone with a decent NFC radio and a stable version of Magisk that successfully hides root from Google's official tap and pay app.

And it still doesn't work.

Shame on me, I guess, for thinking I could use it with my AMEX card at a shop where AMEX isn't accepted. Since Google obfuscates your credit card number from the merchant I assumed that the type of credit card would similarly be hidden; I was wrong. I realize that it's only a matter of time until tap and pay finally starts working as promised, but this latest experience has me questioning yet again if I should even bother.

Let's revisit the three pillars of Google Pay:

Security
Again, Google Pay hides my credit card number from the retailer, but here in Canada credit cards use Chip and PIN security which yields, for the user, pretty much the same result.

Convenience
Google Pay does at least let me leave my credit and debit cards at home, so if I get a hankering for Peanut M&Ms when I'm out getting exercise then I'm covered. But most of the time I carry my phone in my oversized wallet, so the value for me is dubious at best.

Offers
Google Pay is supposed to alert me of nearby offers as I make my way through the world. For the past week in downtown Toronto the number of said offers has been zero.

I'm starting to wonder if the only real perk of using Google Pay is that Google gets to see all of your transactions on any registered card, whether you're using Google Pay or not. Is there something I'm missing here?

---------

As of today, Google's "experiment" in re-imagining email is officially over, with Inbox joining a growing list of the company's abandoned apps and services.

I can still remember the exact moment that I decided to try it out, while listening to The Verge crew sing its praises on their weekly podcast. Like Gmail you had to get an invite at launch; unlike Gmail it was only a few weeks before I got mine. And almost immediately thereafter I began using Inbox full-time.

Less than four years later Google abruptly announced that Inbox would be shutting down. They promised at the time that its best features would be added to Gmail proper but, as 9to5Google reports, that promise has yet to be fulfilled. I'm still missing the very handy travel bundle, where I could see plane tickets and hotel reservations organized by date on a single screen. On Android I can use Google Trips, but for some reason that app no longer has a desktop counterpart.



What I'll miss most about Inbox, though, was its elegant interface, which encouraged me to act on messages quickly and then file them away—when I did I'd get this nice little graphic as a reward. Gmail has it now too, but Inbox did it first.

So rest in peace Inbox, and say hi to Google Reader for me.

Sources: 9to5Google, The Verge (1) (2)

---------

Apple's Spring 2019 Event went down yesterday at the Steve Jobs Theater in California, promoted everywhere with the tag line: "it's show time". Indeed, as the many embedded YouTube videos in this post would suggest, Cupertino is leaning hard into traditional media. And also credit cards...?

I'm already getting ahead of myself here; let's break it down:



Apple Arcade

This one is the lightest on details, a subscription service for games promised sometime this year. It seems to me that its announcement was primarily an attempt to steal some thunder from Google Stadia, with the main differentiator being that Apple Arcade titles can be played offline.

Apple did say that it will launch, in both Canada and the United States, with more than 100 new and exclusive titles.



Apple Card

... Or, more accurately, an Apple-branded virtual MasterCard from Goldman Sachs. Available this summer (USA-only), it will offer deep integration with Apple Pay, no extra fees and daily cashback rewards of up to 3% on purchases.

One caveat that I spotted right away was that the cashback goes on a separate digital card within Apple Pay, and cannot be used to pay down your balance. On the plus side, you also get a nifty physical card made of titanium for anywhere Apple Pay isn't accepted.



Apple News+

Here's Apple's revamped subscription-based service for magazines and newspapers. It's available right now in the U.S. (for $9.99/month) and Canada ($12.99/month) via iOS 12.2 and the existing news app. You can also try before you subscribe with the first 30 days free.

About 300 titles are currently available, some featuring animated "live covers".



Apple TV+

In addition to new premium TV channels that users can subscribe to à la carte, Apple is also launching a separate Plus package with original programming. Content partners who have already signed on include J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Steven Spielberg.

The service is set for a wide launch this fall in 100 markets, including Canada. Pricing is TBA.

Additional Sources: MacRumors (1) (2) (3), The Verge (1) (2)

---------