If messaging apps have their way, you’ll never have to ask someone where they are. Jumping on the bandwagon, end-to-end encrypted messaging app Wire now lets you share your location with your contacts.
Wire is backed by Skype co-founder Janus Friis, and is a competitor to the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram. In fact, Wire made all of its conversation content end-to-end encrypted months before WhatsApp flipped the switch — OK, so Wire doesn’t have one billion users but, hey, it counts.
The Switzerland-based company behind the app has been adding new features over the past few weeks, such as the ability to customize sound notifications; the ability to copy and past images from other apps into your conversations; Brazilian-Portuguese translations; and content forwarding. The highlight, though, is the app’s ability to share a user’s location.
One handy feature is the ability to set a “compromise” location, so that everyone can meet in a place that’s convenient rather than trying to find each other. Unfortunately, the whole location-sharing function is only available on the Android version for now, but it will be rolling out to iOS, and the web “soon.”
Wire launched in December 2014 and allows users to make end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls, and also features end-to-end encrypted text messages, photos, and sketches.
“Wire doesn’t hold the decryption keys and our software contains no backdoor,” according to the company’s website. “Your data is your data — Wire has no access to it.”
The startup has about 50 employees, and while it doesn’t share monthly user figures, a March Bloomberg Business report cites that Wire receives about 150,000 to 200,000 new user sign-ups per month.
Wire is far from the first messaging app to tout its encryption features, though it claims that its approach is the most comprehensive. Popular messaging app Line, for example, rolled out an end-to-end encryption feature called “Letter Sealing” in October 2015. The Islamic State reportedly used Telegram, which offers a questionable level of encryption. Meanwhile, Edward Snowden favors an encrypted messaging app called Signal.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.