If you are still hooked to your Windows phone and actively using WhatsApp from Facebook, this is for you. You have only a few days to switch devices or find an alternative platform for your conversations. The company is alerting, “WhatsApp will stop working on Windows Phones after January 14 2020”.
In June last year, WhatsApp Inc. sent out an end of support message to Windows phone users. Informing users “Microsoft has ended support for Windows Phone, As a consequence, WhatsApp will stop working on this phone after Dec 31, 2019”. The new alert reads “WhatsApp will stop working on this phone after Jan 14, 2020”.
You’ll no longer be able to use all Windows Phone operating systems after December 31, 2019 the support page reads. This means you will officially no longer be able to use the service on your phone. You might have experienced some features not working properly. This is due to the fact that the company isn’t actively developing for the platform.
Good thing is you can continue using the service on a supported phone as the company advises. The downside however will be that your conversations can’t travel with you cross platform. As they are backed up on different platform accounts.
UPDATE:
It is the 15th of January 2020, the image below is what you’ll see when you open your WhatsApp application.
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Facebook will remove the Instagram app for Windows Phone from the store. Actually, it’s being pulled out totally from your device.
Photo sharing app Instagram will become defunct for still active Windows 10 Mobile users like myself. Facebook has started telling users about this through notifications in the application.
Facebook says “Starting April 30, the Instagram for Windows Phone app will no longer be available. You’ll still be able to log into Instagram using your mobile browser. ”
As mentioned, Facebook says you can use the web browser as an alternative. I tried this but the experience isn’t whole. I don’t know yet if the mobile experience would have been improved by then. The Instagram for Windows 10 app will still exist and be supported, but not the mobile app. Where does this leave you as a windows 10 mobile user? Well Maybe turn to 3rd party apps? But will using a 3rd party app allow you to use a Facebook post template so you can create your Facebook posts in a few minutes?
What options are available to you and what will you do to keep using the social media platform? Share your options with us.
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Microsoft’s Office 365 apps have a new design and boy they look wow. I mean i like them. They look fresh, clean, simple, modern and oh fluent lol. The design overhaul finally catches up with the office 365 apps. Microsoft calls this change “designs that honor heritage and welcome the future”
“Today, we unveiled redesigned Office app icons to honor the heritage of Office and welcome in the future. These app icons provide flexible visuals that reflect product changes and the new ways in which people are working” – Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365
Microsoft’s head of design for office 365, Jon friedman said “we’ve evolved our visual identity to reflect the simple, powerful, and intelligent experiences of Office 365”
The last time Microsoft Office apps were update was in 2013. The redesign includes changes to the letter and symbol ratio and has flexible visuals. Microsoft says the changes will be rolling out across platforms in the coming months, starting with mobile and web apps.
“We’ve changed the letter-to-symbol ratio. Traditionally, the letter occupied two-thirds of the icon, and the symbol took up one-third. We’ve changed this ratio to now emphasize the symbol”
To support this changing world of work, Office is transforming into a collaborative suite that lets you work together in real-time from almost any device. We’ve infused our tools with powerful AI: you can get insights from data with less effort, write a paper using your voice, or make your resume using LinkedIn insights. We’ve also added totally new apps to the suite like our AI-powered meetings and chat service, Microsoft Teams. In the end, it’s great design that makes these experiences fluid and seamless.
How do you like the new Microsoft Office 365 icons? Share your thoughts with us.
Windows phone users know Microsoft store apps don’t usually get a lot of love. For most developers they just want to have a version of their app in the windows store for ‘am not sure what the right word wil be’ reason. These apps are either totally abandoned, updated majorly once, half a year or a year after their other platform versions see an outrageous amount of update.
I honestly understand this from a developer point of view. It really isn’t that easy dedicating resources and altering codes to suit each platform, whilst fixing bugs and iterating new features. So some basically stick with a store with the numbers they seek. Microsoft hasn’t also helped with experimental changes in the operating systems core base from windows 8 till 10.
So it was with a breathe of relief to hear twitter was going the way of PWA(progressive web app). Twitter is a very popular social media platform and chances are you have an account and are active or had one. With PWA it means a continues and regular stream of effective updates. Microsoft’s support for PWA is another way to bring more apps to its Windows store. For windows phone users, this was a giant step. I mean whilst all my friends had mulled, whinned and laughed over the introduction of 280 characters and no editing from twiiter, i was yet to experience this. FYI this isn’t it, really lol.
Then Twitter made it happen, announcing a new app experience. I was happy, i was glad. Finally a windows store app was getting some love. Yeah because as at now lot’s of other important apps had called shop and given up. Users had been advised and moved on. After a month of using it i started missing out on some very helpful features the windows store app had. To make it clear, the PWA app is basically a web app.
I can’t manage more than one account from the app. Pinning to the start has a different feel to it. I cannot pin hastags or words, etc. I know this is work in progress but ….. i miss the old version. Should it have stayed that way without an update, no. Also i’m afraid the unique windows app experience might be no more.
What has been your experience with the new Twitter app coming from the old Windows store app? Been using android or iOS, should i be excited, seeing you are like from the future? Share with me. Thank you ?
Twitter for Windows 10 receives a big update that gives users a much-needed experience.
After updating to the latest Windows Update I realized my pinned Twitter apps were not there. I then noticed there’s been an update to it, across all devices. The new look seemed familiar, it looked like what you’ll see in a web browser.
In a series of posts, Twitter and Microsoft announced the update.
“Today we are proud to announce an updated experience through Twitter’s Progressive Web App (PWA). With this new app, we leveraged Microsoft’s support for Progressive Web Apps to bring users a better, faster, and improved experience“. – Twitter
“Twitter’s new Windows app is built on open web standards, powered by the fast and efficient Microsoft Edge engine in Windows 10.” – Microsoft
Using PWA in Twitter for Windows 10
The new app leverages the Progressive Web Apps technology. Progressive Web Apps are apps powered by Web technologies and delivered with Web infrastructure. So they are websites that behave like native apps and can be progressively enhanced on supporting platforms. Earlier this year Microsoft Welcomed Progressive Web Apps to Microsoft Edge and Windows 10 opening up the opportunity to bring more apps to the store.
The new update brings an extended character limit to 280 characters. It also brings the explore tab to find topics relevant to interests and the ability to bookmark Tweets to be read later.
Your device must be running either the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update or Windows 10 April 2018 Update to have this update.
We encourage everyone to update the Windows app as soon as you update your OS. Previous versions will no longer be available for download starting today and will no longer be supported starting June 1st.
I’m already missing tabs and having multiple accounts from the previous app. Hopefully, this comes in a future update. Head off to your store, check for updates and install the new update.
What’s your take on the new update? Share with us in the comments. Get interactive on our social channels.
