WhatsApp adds AI photo expansion feature for Android

YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform says Pakistani creators are rapidly expanding their global reach. The company has released a new report highlighting the increasing international popularity of Pakistani YouTube creators. According to the report, Pakistan is now one of the world’s most dynamic YouTube creative communities with Pakistani artists, creators and innovators introducing new forms of creative expression on the platform. The report states that audiences both within Pakistan and abroad are watching Pakistani YouTube content in record numbers helping it build a unique identity among viewers across different regions of the world. According to YouTube’s data: More than 140,000 Pakistani YouTube channels now have over 10,000 subscribers. More than 19,000 channels have surpassed 100,000 subscribers. Over 1,200 channels have crossed the 1 million subscribers milestone. The report also revealed that Pakistani creators uploaded more than 20 million hours of content to YouTube over the past year. One of the most significant highlights of the report is the global reach of Pakistani creators. Around 60% of the total watch time for Pakistani YouTube videos comes from viewers outside Pakistan. From South Asia to the Middle East, and from Europe to North America, Pakistani creators are attracting audiences worldwide through high-quality, authentic and internationally appealing content.

Google has announced a major change to its cloud storage policy ending a long-standing free benefit for Google account users. Almost every internet user today relies on a Google account which comes with limited cloud storage. When users approach their storage limit, Google typically recommends upgrading to a paid plan for additional space. Until now, a user’s Google storage quota included Google Photos media files, Google Drive files and Gmail emails. Under the new policy, however, Android phone backup data will also count toward the account’s storage limit. Google informed users of the change through email giving them 45 days notice before the new policy takes effect. Once implemented, Android backup data including system settings, app data, SMS messages and call history will be included in the storage quota of a Google account. The company said the advance notice is intended to give users enough time to manage their storage or adjust their backup settings before the policy is enforced. Previously, only certain Android content, such as Google Photos uploads and MMS messages counted toward storage usage. Under the updated policy, complete Android backups are expected to consume a much larger portion of users available cloud storage. Google warned that if Android backups cause users to exceed their storage limit, they will either need to free up space in their Google account or subscribe to a paid Google storage plan for additional capacity. A Google spokesperson previously said that the average Android backup is expected to use around 40 MB of storage. The company also noted that users will have greater control over which data and apps are included in their backups. This marks another change to Google’s account storage policies. Earlier, in May 2026, the company began testing a reduction in free storage for new Google accounts lowering the limit from 15 GB to 5 GB.

For years, Android phone users have been using Google’s digital assistant. However, the era of Google Assistant is now coming to an end. Google Assistant was introduced in May 2016 as part of the Allo app which was discontinued several years ago. However, following the arrival of Google’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot Gemini, the company has decided to retire Google Assistant from Android phones. According to a report by 9to5Google, Google has sent emails to some users informing them that Google Assistant will disappear from Android phones starting September 4, 2026. This means that within a few weeks, users will no longer be able to use Google Assistant on Android phones, tablets and wearable devices. Google had initially planned to retire the service sometime in 2025 but later decided to keep Google Assistant available for some additional time. In recent months, Google has been working to make Gemini the default assistant across a number of devices. If you are still using Google Assistant on your Android phone, you can switch to Gemini which can be used for everything from basic phone commands to a wide range of other tasks. Gemini is a multimodal assistant meaning users can give it instructions through audio, text and images. You can also use Gemini, just like Google Assistant through the “Hey Google” voice command.

Google has introduced a new selfie video sign-in feature for account recovery. With this feature, users will be able to use a short video of themselves to log in to or recover their accounts. The purpose of this new feature is to help prevent issues such as deepfake-based fraud and account hacking. While announcing the selfie video verification feature, Google said that it has been designed as an alternative sign-in method. It can also be used for account recovery when other traditional login methods are not available. To use this feature, users will have to record a short video of themselves. Google will securely store this video recording and later, live videos will be used to verify the user’s identity during the sign-in process. During login, users will have to move their heads in real time so that attempts to use deepfake videos or static images for fraud can be prevented. Google further stated that the stored video will be protected through encryption and users will be able to delete their selfie video at any time from their account dashboard. The rollout of this feature has started and it will gradually become available worldwide. To access this feature, users need to go to their Google Account Settings, select Security & Sign-in and then choose Selfie Video. After that, users will need to use their phone or computer camera and follow the on-screen instructions including moving their head as directed.

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app with billions of messages sent every day. Although billions of people use the app, many users are still unaware of some of its useful built-in features. One such feature allows you to change the formatting of your WhatsApp messages. If you don’t like the default appearance of your text, you can use different formatting styles before sending your message. While this feature has been available on WhatsApp for several years, many people still don’t know about it. To make your text bold, place an asterisk (*) at the beginning and end of the word or sentence, for example: *biscuit*. To make text italic, add an underscore (_) at the beginning and end, for example: _text_. For strikethrough, place a tilde (~) at the beginning and end of the text, for example: ~text~. You can also use a monospace font by placing three backticks () at the beginning and end of your message, for example: text“`.