Well, the company will now be discontinuing the Samsung News app. Reportedly, Samsung is sending the Samsung News discontinuation notice in the Korean and Indian markets.

Samsung News Discontinuation

The company has informed that Samsung News will be discontinued as of December 21, 2026, at 00:00 UTC. It has been revealed that the company posted the discontinuation notice within the Samsung News app in India and South Korea.

The notice mentions that following the discontinuation of the service, the Samsung News widget will no longer receive content updates. The company has recommended removing the widget from your Home Screen.

Upon termination of the service, all personal information collected in connection with Samsung News will be deleted without undue delay. But certain information may be retained where required under applicable laws and regulations. Any such information will be retained only for the required period and then deleted.

Likely, the service will also be discontinued in other markets, but there is no official confirmation for other regions.

Stay tuned to The Tech Outlook for the latest tech updates!

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“Samsung Wallet is becoming an increasingly important part of how Galaxy users navigate their everyday lives,” said Woncheol Chai, EVP and Head of the Digital Wallet Team at the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. “The integration of Perks with Rakuten and Samsung Cash is another step in expanding what Wallet can do, bringing payments and rewards together in one convenient experience.”

New Samsung Perks and Samsung Cash experiences

New ways to Discover and Earn Cash Back

Integrating Rakuten into the revamped Perks experience significantly expands the Cash Back opportunities available through Samsung Wallet, extending from online-only offers to a broader network of online, in-store, and dining offers. Eligible Galaxy users can earn and redeem Cash Back from Rakuten’s network of more than 3,500 brands and more than 25,000 in-store and dining partners straight to their Samsung Cash Card. Galaxy users will enjoy access to Cash Back offers from top brands across fashion, beauty, home, travel, entertainment and everyday essentials, including Sephora, Expedia, PetSmart, Gap Inc., Lands’ End, LEGO, and many more.

The new Samsung Perks may also surface relevant, personalised deals based on a user’s shopping activity, while a new Nearby feature can extend that discovery to the world around them, highlighting nearby participating restaurants and brands where users can earn Cash Back when they pay with a linked Wallet card.

Cash Back becomes spendable with Samsung Cash Card

Built directly into Samsung Wallet, Cash Back earned through Perks can be redeemed into Samsung Cash on the Samsung Cash Card, turning rewards into spendable money that can be used at checkout.

With the Samsung Cash Card, users can pay online and in stores, and funds, or send money. Instant transfers can be initiated by tapping an eligible user’s Galaxy device against an eligible recipient’s compatible mobile device or physical NFC-capable debit card. In addition, users can send Samsung Cash to eligible Samsung Wallet users anywhere in the US.

Bringing Rewards and Payments Together

By bringing Perks powered by Rakuten and Samsung Cash together in Samsung Wallet, users no longer have to move between different apps or services to find offers, and can track the rewards and access the value earned in one app.

Cash Back redeems straight to your Samsung Cash Card to be used for future purchases, turning spending into ongoing rewards.

Availability

The new Samsung Perks and Samsung Cash experiences are rolling out now in the US. Availability, participating brands, Cash Back offers, Samsung Cash features, and eligibility may vary.

New Rakuten members start with an extra 10% Cash Back up to an extra $50 on qualifying purchases, while all users will benefit from elevated Cash Back rates from Rakuten during the year’s biggest shopping moments, including Cyber Monday and Black Friday deals.

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Folks at @WABetaInfo have shared that WhatsApp is rolling out the profile cover photo feature for personal accounts to some Android beta testers.

WhatsApp rolling out the profile cover photo feature for personal profiles on Android beta

The profile cover photo feature was discovered with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.43.11 update, which is available on the Google Play Store.  This feature allows personal accounts to enable the same customisation available on business accounts.

The cover photo appears as a landscape banner at the top of the profile page. The update does not replace the profile picture. The cover photo also appears at the top of the app settings, so users can see it every time they open this section. When users do not choose a cover photo, WhatsApp shows a default image until they set one.

How to set a cover photo?

To set a cover photo, tap the Edit button on your profile page. A menu will appear where users can choose how to set up the cover photo. Users can take a new photo, choose it from the gallery, or use Meta AI to generate one.

Once a photo is selected, WhatsApp will automatically crop it to fit the landscape format. WhatsApp gives users full control over who can see their cover photo: Everyone, My contacts, My contacts except and Nobody. The default option is “Everyone”, so any user can see the cover photo unless you change the setting.

The cover photo appears above the profile picture, the name, and the phone number. WhatsApp won’t show the cover photo in the chat info screen if privacy settings do not allow it.

It has not announced when this feature will be rolled out to all users.

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Read more about this latest update below.

WhatsApp – UPI Lite With Automatic Top-Ups

As per the details shared by tipster Abhishek Yadav, strings concerning this feature have been found in the ‘classes.dex’ code of WhatsApp’s stable version ‘2.26.42.74’, which reveals that users will be able to set up a top-up amount and a balance threshold for triggering an automatic top-up.

Speaking more, the strings suggest that users will be able to set up, pause, resume, and cancel automatic top-ups.

About its limits, one of the labels indicates that the top-up amount cannot exceed the authorised mandate amount. An automatic top-up will also be skipped if the daily limit has been reached or if adding the amount would exceed the UPI Lite wallet’s balance limit. Again, this limit will likely be set up by the user only.

Moreover, the code includes a condition to skip automatic top-ups if no UPI Lite wallet handle exists for the linked payment service provider.

These code references suggest that WhatsApp is preparing the feature, and more details regarding this feature are expected soon.

Stay tuned for more updates!

The post WhatsApp App Code Points to UPI Lite With Automatic Top-Ups for India appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Four new updates for Group Chats

• Pin messages for longer: You now have the option to keep important messages pinned forever, if you don’t want to choose a time limit up front.
• Send message history after someone joins a group: Previously, WhatsApp made it possible to share message history with new members via a toggle on or off. Now you can also send someone recent messages retroactively after they’ve joined a group just by tapping their name in the chat. Those messages stay end-to-end encrypted like all your personal chats.
• Share a group status with your group members: Group status makes it simple to share casual updates with specific groups. Everyone in the group can view, react, and add their own status, and just like regular statuses, they disappear after 24 hours.
• Filter by mentions and replies: A new chat filter that shows every unread group conversation where you were either mentioned or received a direct reply, including @all messages, so you can quickly catch up on the chats most relevant to you.

Apart from these new updates, there are some additional features that you can use in your group chats:

• Reply privately to one person in a group, so a side cha doesn’t derail the entire conversation.
• For when you need a definitive answer, try running off ‘allow multiple answers’ when making a poll.
• Member tags let you add a bit of context about who you are.

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Read more about this latest update below.

Airtel Thanks – NFC-Based Card Addition Feature Spotted in App Code

As per the details shared by tipster Abhishek Yadav, new strings concerning a ‘Tap to Add Card’ feature have been found in the latest version ‘4.154.3’ of the Airtel Thanks app, which reveals that the feature will allow users to add their card’s number and expiry details by holding it against the back of an NFC-enabled smartphone. The shared screenshot includes the prompt such as “Tap to add card details”, along with the instruction “Hold your card against the back of your phone to securely add your card details.”

Status messages like “Looking for your card…” and “Card detected” have also been mentioned. If NFC is disabled, the app will prompt users to enable it through their phone’s settings.

Moreover, if the card is moved away too soon, users will be asked to hold it near the back of the phone and try again. For unsupported cards, an option to enter the details manually will also be provided, as the label to “Enter card details manually” is also seen in the latest app version.

Now exactly when will this new feature rollout is still unannounced and Airtel also has’t confirmed the same yet, but with coming days we expect some kind of announcemnet to be made by the brand soon.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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New ways to create and refine in the Gemini app

The company has introduced new ways to create and refine documents, PDFs, presentations, spreadsheets, code, and more in Gemini.

You can now generate, preview, and edit right within your chat- expand to fill the screen to type edits directly, highlight text to ask questions, or have Gemini refine your files. Do note that PDR preview and editing are supported on both the web and mobile, while all other formats (Google Docs, Google Sheets, slide decks, Markdown files, TXT files, and code) are supported on the web only.

Users can now ask Gemini to create a PDF study guide from their uploaded handwritten lecture notes, and then they can easily manually edit, highlight specific sections to have Gemini make edits to text or visuals, and even ask further questions.

Availability

These capabilities are now available to all users in all languages where Gemini is available.

Stay tuned to The Tech Outlook for the latest tech updates!

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Indus Appstore rebranded to PhonePe Appstore

The company has announced the rebranding of its homegrown app marketplace, Indus Appstore, to PhonePe Appstore.

It's official. Indus Appstore is now PhonePe Appstore!

20 crore+ devices and counting, and now so much more than apps: games, gift cards, top-ups and a brand-new webstore, all in one place.

Visit https://t.co/yf53B1YQFo

Read More: https://t.co/u00u2Lo2p2#PhonePeAppstore pic.twitter.com/ZgWEIEhWur

— PhonePe (@PhonePe) October 28, 2026

Elaborating on the rebranding, Priya Narasimhan, Chief Business Officer at PhonePe Appstore, said, “Rebranding Indus Appstore to PhonePe Appstore is a major milestone in our journey and brings in the trust and reach of the PhonePe brand. Developers can look beyond simple app discovery and unlock new ways to earn—including ads, gift cards, and top-ups.”

The platform has seen strong adoption across India, with UP, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana emerging as its top five states by adoption. Its growing app and gaming catalogue features popular apps such as ChatGPT, Duolingo, ShareChat and Sony LIV, alongside games such as Honor of Kings and Hitwicket. Social, action and simulation games are among the platform’s leading categories. The platform is present on over 200 million devices today, driven by OEM partnerships.

PhonePe Appstore is expanding beyond app discovery towards a marketplace for digital goods and services. Alongside apps and games, consumers can also access gift cards and top-ups with attractive offers across categories.

The platform will leverage PhonePe’s secure and reliable payment infrastructure to simplify the discovery and purchase of digital products while also offering developers an alternative distribution and monetization opportunity.

PhonePe Appstore has an exciting feature pipeline – this includes the highly anticipated launch of Digital Top-ups, which will enable the instant purchase of in-game currencies (coins, skins), dating app boosts, tech top-ups and more, with gaming top-ups slated to roll out first.

Apart from this rebranding, PhonePe has announced that the platform is also launching phonepeappstore.com, a webstore that enables consumers to discover and purchase digital goods through desktop and mobile browsers without requiring a dedicated app download.

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Updates for Apple Creator Studio

Expansive new creative toolkits and video workflows

Final Cut Pro for Mac now integrates MotionVFX directly into the app, giving editors access to thousands of elements, including templates with unique themes, stylish graphics, titles, and transitions, as well as tools for rotoscoping, tracking, and colour grading. Editors can also tap into the Content Hub directly within Final Cut Pro and access a library of Apple-curated stock videos, photos, and backgrounds to fill gaps, add polish, or spark new ideas without leaving their workflow.

Editors can open any image from their timeline directly in Pixelmator Pro, take advantage of advanced editing tools, and save changes back to the project automatically. With advanced image generation, users can create stunning images from text descriptions right inside their project, apply quick edits, and adjust visual styles.

Final Cut Pro introduces powerful workflow improvements, including more keyframe easing options for finer animation control, the ability to disconnect clips from the primary storyline to place them anywhere on the timeline, and 23 new transcription languages, making it easier than ever to caption and search footage.

Motion also adds a built-in set of powerful MotionVFX plug-ins for cinematic colour grading, 3D camera tracking, and one-click selection for stunning visual effects. Users can now generate and edit images from text descriptions, send images round-trip to Pixelmator Pro, fine-tune keyframe easing, apply an all-new Displacement filter, and explore an interactive demo project.

Additionally, Compressor introduces the ability to encode Cinematic mode video recorded on iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo.

Reimagined Image Editing

Pixelmator Pro introduces Generate Fill, a powerful new tool to edit images based on a user’s description. Creators can simply circle an area in an image and describe the change they want. For more precision, creators can use existing Pixelmator Pro selection tools, like Free Selection, Quick Selection, or Magnetic Selection.

Generate Fill automatically matches the lighting, perspective, and texture of the surrounding environment so edits blend in seamlessly, while built-in Super Resolution upscales the generated content so it stays sharp at any size. Generated elements can be merged into existing layers or inserted as new layers with intelligent masking that allows for continued refinement.

New tools for Music Creation

Logic Pro for Mac and iPad brings sophisticated, intuitive new tools for beat making, songwriting, remixing, and production. It also gets an all-new design featuring Liquid Glass, with translucent surfaces and deeper contrast that highlight waveforms and tracks.

A new intelligent assistant powered by a combination of Apple-built models and OpenAI joins Logic Pro for Mac, helping creators and producers navigate production workflows, start a new song, set up a vocal track from a single prompt, or refine an active project.

Powered by music understanding — an on-device audio analysis tool — Logic Pro automatically analyses, classifies, and tags added sounds so creators can easily search their entire collection or drag in a loop to surface matching audio.

Logic Pro’s industry-leading Stem Splitter gets even more advanced, with the ability to isolate, replace, or rebalance drum parts without needing the original multitracks. Users can also unlock a new Producer Pack from the 20-time Grammy winner and visionary widely known as the King of Modern Salsa, Sergio George.

With Voice Memo Studio Sound, users can also reduce room ambience and background noise in recordings captured on supported iPhone models, with the option to continue fine-tuning in Logic Pro.

In-App Intelligence

Visual productivity apps receive a new generation of intelligence features for subscribers, including an intelligent assistant, built on Apple models and OpenAI, directly within Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.

In Keynote, the intelligent assistant helps with designing, animating, and refining slides. In Pages, it drafts, restructures, and fine-tunes written content. In Numbers, it calculates, visualises, and organises data; recommends suitable chart types with a one-tap preview; and builds custom tables using world knowledge. New MCP support, built on this platform, enables external AI agents and tools to read content, perform edits, and execute automated actions directly in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.

More Creative Options and Formats

Across Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, the Content Hub expands to include Apple-curated stock video footage, giving creators dynamic visuals to enhance presentations, reports, and spreadsheets. Subscribers also gain access to a fresh collection of professionally designed templates and themes.

Keynote introduces support for Keynote Interchange Format (.keyx), an open JSON-based bundle file format designed to be readable and accessible to external tools, developer workflows, and AI agents.

Freeform adds text styles for one-step formatting and reuse across boards, custom and preset board background colours, and, arriving in December, the ability to edit images directly in Pixelmator Pro and generate editable shapes from text descriptions.

Availability

Apple Creator Studio updates will be available on the App Store this November for free for existing subscribers.

New subscribers pay INR 399 per month or INR 3999 per year. All new subscribers will enjoy a one-month free trial of Apple Creator Studio, and with the purchase of a new Mac or qualifying iPad, customers can receive three months of Apple Creator Studio for free.

Education savings are available for college students and educators for INR 199 per month or INR 1999 per year.

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Google Health app 5.11 update

New Health Guardian Features for Fitbit Air

New Health Guardian features are starting to roll out for Google Fitbit Air users with Google Health Premium membership.

If you have a Fitbit Air (or a Fitbit Edge once it’s available on October 27) and a Google Health Premium membership, you will be able to set up the new features in app version 5.11 and receive your first monthly health summary at the beginning of November. Once you receive your report, you’ll also be able to see your new metrics and trends in the Health tab.

• Blood pressure trends, which allow you to track blood pressure patterns before they can put strain on your heart, will be available in the Health Guardian section of the Health tab if you’ve worn your Fitbit Air for 5 or more consecutive days in October.
• Insulin resistance trends, which track monthly shifts in your metabolic health, will be available if you’ve worn your watch for 7 or more days and nights in October.

Improved Automatic Activity Tracking

• Tracks more activities: Google expanded the number of activities your Fitbit tracker or Pixel Watch can detect from 10 to up to 100, including strength training, swimming, and racket and team sports.
• Uses more context: Powered by contextual reasoning, the company now factors in more context — including your workout routines, historical data, manual edits — to deliver nearly 2x more accurate detections and cut missed workouts by more than half.²
• Logs workouts automatically: Workouts that meet your minimum duration threshold (15 minutes by default) with a sustained elevated heart rate are automatically logged, and a summary is sent to the Google Health app, typically within 30 minutes.
• Learns your patterns: When you confirm or edit an activity, you’re improving a feature that learns your unique patterns and uses them to refine its predictions.

These updates are now available for Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5 users and will be available with Fitbit Edge when it’s available on October 27.

More options for glucose tracking

• Updated naming: Blood glucose is now called Glucose throughout the app. Check for updates to your charts and graphs.
• Custom time-in-range goals: You can now set specific time-in-range goals for glucose data from connected continuous glucose monitors. To set a goal, go to the Metabolic section of the Health tab, tap Glucose, open Settings, and select Set goal.
• Faster syncing with Lingo by Abbott (US only): You can now connect Lingo by Abbott directly to the Google Health app so your glucose data syncs faster — displaying in the Google Health app within 30 minutes of a reading. If you have a Google Health Premium membership, Google Health Coach can also answer questions about your glucose trends. To connect, tap your profile icon in the Google Health app and select Partner Apps.

Improved Sleep Tracking

• More accurate awake detection: Google has improved its sleep tracking to better factor in your steps data so that we can more accurately track short awakenings, like getting up to use the bathroom.
• Easier nap editing: You’re always in control of your sleep data. If a nap ever shows up that doesn’t match your day, you can now easily remove it directly from your nap card.

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