Most people open TikTok first thing in the morning to check out the latest trending videos and stats on videos they made themselves. You may also want to check your account security settings, as TikTok has introduced a new security feature called Security Checkup.
The social media company introduced the new security tool in a press release on Monday, encouraging users to better keep their accounts safe from hackers. Once you access Security Checkup by tapping Settings and privacy and clicking Security and permissions from your TikTok profile, you’ll see a checklist of things to do to secure your account.
Among those is linking both your email address and your phone number to make sure you have a backup login method in the event you lose access to your account, enabling two-step verification when you log in from a different device, removing devices that you no longer use or don’t recognize, and enabling passkeys to log into your account in different ways other than a password, such as Face ID or a PIN code. TikTok already automatically scans for suspicious activity on your account. If it picks up something, it’ll be flagged in the Security and permissions hub for your review.
TikTok named Security Checkup after Google’s security feature, which has a similar layout but different settings, such as third-party connections and saved passwords.
The new security feature comes a week after TikTok launched a wind-down feature that cuts off teens’ late-night scrolling with calming music if they open the app after 10 p.m. It also comes amid uncertainty over TikTok’s future in the U.S., as President Trump extended the TikTok ban deadline by 75 days back in January to give ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, more time to sell the app to an American company. The new deadline for the ban is April 5.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.