apps

the seven best apps for chat communities

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Let’s tell you what they are the main alternatives to Discordso that if you want to change this platform you know which are the best destinations. In the middle of the debate about anonymity on the internet, Discord will begin to request the DNI to verify the age of users. Therefore, let’s look for alternatives focusing on those that are most privateoffering you open source and decentralized. Even so, there will also be some other private alternative for you to consider. Matrix Let’s start with a decentralized and open source alternative. That decentralized means believing that each group of people or community can create their own Discord on their own servers, something similar to what happens with MastodonPixelfed and other elements of the fediversebut with a Matrix protocol. Here, there is no central server that accumulates all the data, and identity verification methods depend on each server. Within each server there are different rooms, just like Discord, with emojis, reactions, search options, and even video conferences. Rocket.Chat This is an alternative more like Slack than Discord, although it is similar. It is open source and you can use it in two ways: hosting it on your own server or paying to use it on the servers of the company that develops it. Before it was fully compatible with Matrix to federate, but now it is looking for its own federation scheme. Otherwise, this tool supports end-to-end encryption, and since it is focused on the business world, administrators can review messages, something that may not be convenient if you are looking for privacy. As for options, you can make calls, share files, write private messages, everything you can do in Slack. Sloat Formerly known as Revolt, it is an open source alternative to Discord. You have all the options, plus others such as community votes to ban or expel members. It is very customizable and both secure and private. It has applications for computers and several in beta for mobile devices. The negative part is that it’s still a little greenso it may not be the best option for large teams. Pumble Not everything will be open source to promise maximum privacy and transparency. There are also good alternatives from private companies like Pumble. It will allow you to have group or personal chats, channels, discussion threads, and share files. There’s also voice and video calling, screen sharing, pretty much everything you could ask for. Of course, advanced functions such as those dedicated to meetings and videoconferences are paid only, and the amount is paid per user. elements An alternative to Discord created in Germany and compatible with Matrixthe communication protocol of the Matrix app. This application can be free to host on your own server or paid to pay for each user. Companies also have a self-hosted paid version. Zulip A mix of forum and chat platform, a duality that allows you to use it in real time when you want to chat or in a more relaxed way when you don’t. You can host it on your own serveralthough whether you opt for this or a Zulip-hosted option, if you want all the features you will have to pay. It is much more expensive than other alternativesso it is not available to many, although in exchange you have a large repertoire of functions. Another negative point is that it does not have native end-to-end encryption. signal And we’re going to finish with Signal. Is the best alternative to WhatsApp and Telegramand therefore also a good alternative for communities where you simply want to create a group where everyone can talk. Signal is built on privacyand although it does not have as many functions or the possibility of having a channel scheme to chat thematically, in the event that this is not necessary it is the best option you have. In Xataka Basics | Alternatives to WhatsApp: the best messaging applications if you want to change Meta for another

The best apps to download free music on your mobile

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Let’s tell you the best free applications to download music on your mobile phone, so you can listen to it whenever you want and wherever you want. These are apps at no cost, which use their own sources for music or download it from videos uploaded to the Internet. It is something similar to our list of apps and websites to listen to free music on any device, although many apps work like programs for listen to music from YouTube as if it were Spotifybut downloading the audio files of the videos. Here we will not include the websites to download free music which we have already told you about. NewPipe It is a YouTube client for Android, an open source application which allows you to view content without giving access to questionable permissions or enduring excessive advertising. This makes the experience faster and uses much less battery. The app also allows download the videos or audios of videos, such as music, on your device. In addition to YouTube, it also supports PeerTube, SoundCloud or Bandcamp. Of course, you have to download its APK from the web, since it is not on Google Play. Audiomack This is an application designed to listen to music of various musical styles, focusing on independent artists or less known. It is a free application, but you need to pay to have access to all the functions. The free version allows you to download songs individual, but if you want to download everything including albums you will have to pay. It is available for Android and iPhone. YMusic Another Android application that follows in the footsteps of NewPipe. It is a browser that allows you to access YouTube by reducing data consumption, unlocking functions such as background listening. Its peculiarity is that focuses on the musical section above the rest of the content on the platform. Basically what you do is unlock YouTube Music, being able to create playlists and with a mode to discover music. Then, you can download the videos in full or only in audio with different sound qualities. Fildo Fildo is a music and podcast player. It does not host its own content, but rather allows you choose from several fonts to find it there. It is not based on YouTube, but on other lesser-known third-party services, and can also add other search engines. You also have the option to download the music to your mobile to listen whenever you want. My Mixtapez This is an application for Android and iOS that is specialized in mixtapes or rap and hip-hop mixes. It is a very elaborate application, with information on all the artists in it and social functions. In addition, it will also allow you download music to your device to listen to it whenever you want. It’s a premium feature, but can be activated for an individual song by viewing an ad. Jamendo This is a platform focused on independent and royalty-free musicwith which you can download thousands of free songs. You won’t find the latest from your favorite international artists, but you might find a semi-unknown artist that will blow your mind. The app allows you to explore communities for all musical genres, from pop or rock to classical, electronic or simply ambient or emotional music. There are also playlists and many other options. It has applications for Android and iOS. AR Download Music An application with which to search, listen and download music, with an advanced player with equalizer. The music is for non-commercial use, with a wide variety of tracks at your disposal. It is exclusive for Androidand you can even choose the folder where to download it. TREBEL A free application that allows you to download songs to listen to them offline on your device, even with its free plan. It has a pretty decent catalog, although you can find applications and sometimes waiting times. Additionally, the availability of many songs may depend on where you live. evermusic And we end with a different application, which is used to download music that you have in sources such as cloud storage. Come on, you connect to the sites where you have uploaded the music and you can download it directly to your iPhone. Because yes, it is exclusive for iPhone. In Xataka Basics | 14 apps and services to discover new music on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services

The number of new apps coming to the App Store has skyrocketed. We have a culprit: “vibe coding”

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The arrival of tools based on generative artificial intelligence has caused a real explosion in mobile application stores, especially since we have development environments with AI that allow us to create and deploy applications without needing to know programming. According to data from venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), new apps launched in the iOS App Store in the United States increased 60% year-on-year in December, after remaining practically stagnant for the previous three years. The accumulated year-on-year growth in the last twelve months reaches 24%. The person responsible has a name: the “vibe coding“, that way of programming in which AI does much of the work. What is happening. 2025 has been the year in which “sensation programming” has exploded. And it is that in environments of ‘agentic programming‘ or vibe coding, just explain to an AI tool what application you need and the machine takes care of writing the code. Platforms like CursorBolt, Google AI StudioClaude Code or V0 have democratized app creation to the point that anyone with an idea can turn it into a working prototype without writing a single line of code. This opens many doors, as thousands of new developers without technical training are publishing applications in stores. That’s also a problem. Going back to 2008. As points out a16z, the situation evokes the early days of the iPhonewhen Apple launched its SDK and in a matter of months went from 500 applications to downloads that exceeded 1,000 million. That ecosystem ended up generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. Here the phenomenon is even more overwhelming, since the creation of applications is no longer ‘limited’ to experienced developers, which means that in an afternoon we can create any simple app, as long as we know what to ask of the AI. Image: a16z The problem. Things are clear: you will not be able to create a complex application in one sentence. And now he told us Miguel Ángel Durán, a software engineer known as midudev, in March of last year: “don’t think that just saying something without knowing anything about programming is going to give you the next Airbnb.” As my colleague Javier Pastor mentioned some time ago, the case of Leoa user who created an entire SaaS platform with vibe coding and even got paying customers, perfectly illustrates the risks, since two days after bragging about his achievement, he had to ask for help because his app displayed public API keys, had an easy-to-jump paywall, and crashed his database due to basic programming errors. Quality matters. “You can do very basic things. We have tried Cursor, Bolt, etc., and you reach a level that one may think is advanced, but in reality what usually happens is that they are cloning a Github repository and changing its colors,” we say. counted Some time ago Daniel Ávila, co-founder of CodeGPT. There is a flood of low-quality apps, much more than before, since now many more inexperienced people can easily publish them in any app store. And the problem is that many of these applications do not even reach the prototype level, being unfinished products that work superficially and then end up accumulating all kinds of technical errors. Even worse if the app has a paywall. Between optimism and caution. “Vibe coding is super interesting to extend the prototyping of ideas and empower people,” we say. explained last year Nerea Luis, doctor in computer science. But he also recognizes that “it has risks” because completing these projects requires knowledge that neither the user nor the AI ​​possess. On the other hand, Omar Pera, Chief Product Officer of Freepik, was more optimistic: “vibe coding turns top engineers into 2x or 3x engineers.” Does it democratize access to application development? Yes, of course. The problem comes when the AI-generated application of someone without experience goes from a project to learn, as a hobby, or as an app development for one’s own use, to a project that encompasses more ambition and seeks to attract many clients. Cover image | James Yarema In Xataka | We believed that the AI ​​talent war is about engineers and developers. Actually, it’s about plumbers and electricians.

How to share Spotify Wrapped 2025 on Instagram, WhatsApp or other apps

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Let’s tell you how to share your Spotify Wrapped data on social networks or any application. He Spotify Wrapped 2025 has already been released, and the best thing about this annual round of statistics is always sharing it and comparing it with your contacts and friends. That’s why we are going to tell you several ways you can do it. We will tell you how to share any slide, something quite simple but which option you may not have noticed. We will also tell you how to share the statistics page that appears at the end, and even the playlist. Remember that in addition to apps, you can also share all the statistics internally with Spotify contacts through its private messaging system. Share any slide from the Wrapped The Wrapped is made up of several slides. To share them, you have to wait for them to finish playing. These slides usually have animations, and nothing happens while they are running. But when they finish a button appears Share this story down at all. This button displays the sharing options of your mobile operating system. you should have shortcut to share it on Instagram Storiesbut also to send it on WhatsApp or share it in any other app. Besides, you will also see your Spotify contacts to send it as an internal message. You will also see an option Dischargewhich what it does is download the slide to your mobile memory so that you can share it manually through the medium or application you want. Share your Wrapped summary When you finish viewing all the stories in your Wrapped, you will see a final slide in the form of a summary. In it, you will be able to move it laterally to choose different color combinations, and when you have chosen one press the button Share. This will allow you to share it on social networks, messaging apps or download the slide to share it by hand wherever you want. In the section Wrapped from the Spotify app A category will also appear especially for you. In case you have not saved it while viewing the slides, here you will have the Wrapped playlistwith your most listened to songs of 2025. When you enter the playlist, you will only have to press the button Share that appears as with any other playlist. With it you can share the playlist with whoever you want in apps or internal messages, or even copy the link to paste it in other applications. In Xataka Basics | 53 third-party tools and apps to get the most out of Spotify with statistics, playlists and new features

How to watch YouTube without ads and in the background without paying for YouTube Premium or installing fake apps

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Let’s tell you How can you watch YouTube without ads on your mobile or computerand even with the option to watch the videos in the background. These are features available to paying users on YouTube Premiumbut we are going to tell you how to do it without paying. We are going to do this using third-party apps, but without resorting to fake applications or those that are a modified YouTube and that expose you to privacy dangers. Nor are they the apps to listen to music on YouTube as if it were Spotify. Some browsers will help you with this There are three key functions that YouTube Premium offers you, which is to watch videos without ads, listen to their audio in the background, or even use the mode Qicture-in-Picture with which to watch videos in a floating window while you are using another application. This is something you can do with other paid apps. The trick is use some specific browsers instead of Chrome or Safari. They are perfectly normal, safe and legal browsers, so you don’t need to go around installing modified versions of YouTube that are going to become a problem for your privacy. There are three very popular browsers that you can use for this, which are Brave, Firefox and Vivaldithe latter with the extra of being a European alternative. You can find these browsers both in the official application store of your mobile phone, and you can also download them to your computer. Brave is the best option for mobileas it allows you to use PiP mode to have the video play in an overlay window while you do other things. Vivaldi, on the other hand, only removes the ads, which is no small feat either. Just remember, you have to use YouTube from the browsernot from the app, entering m.youtube.com. For background playback With Brave, you’ll need to turn it on in the app’s settings. For this you will have to enter the configuration, and in the section Multimedia. Here activate background playback. For the computer any of the three options are goodsince they will allow you to watch YouTube without ads. This is due to the internal blockers they have. In Xataka Basics | How to use Gemini to summarize YouTube videos or ask questions about their content on Android

the main gay dating apps disappear from the App Store

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China has a relentless censorship machinery. The one known as the ‘Great Firewall of China’ has been preventing its citizens from accessing certain services and websites for years. Its tentacles also reach the application stores, including Apple’s, which has just seen two apps disappear from its offering. And not just any two apps. What has happened? Blued and Finka are two dating apps aimed at the LGBTQ+ public and have just disappeared from the App Store in China, where they were the two most popular apps. According to Apple, the order came directly from the China Internet Network Information Center, also known as the Cyberspace Administration. This is Apple’s response to Wired: “We comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate. Pursuant to an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two applications from the Chinese store” It’s not the first time. There have been other cases in which Apple has had to remove apps by order of the Chinese government, such as last year when removed WhatsApp, Telegram and others from his store “for reasons of national security.” The reasons they argued were the same: they have to comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate. They are not just any apps. The case of Blued and Finka is especially sensitive and it is not the first time that they have blocked applications used by the LGTBQ+ community. In 2022, the well-known app Grindr was also removed from the App Store in China. It happened during the Winter Olympic Games, although in this case it was the Grindr developer herself who removed the app at the request of the authorities. Homosexuality in China. Until 1997, being homosexual in China was a crime and until 2001 it was considered a mental disorder. Today it is not penalized, but the weather is anything but favorable for the community: same-sex marriage is not recognizednor can they adopt, conversion therapies remain legal and there are no laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Censorship. Homosexuality is considered prohibited content by regulators, who have edited numerous films to eliminate any reference to sexual diversity. The case of ‘Lightyear’ and the scene in which two women kiss It was one of the most popular, but it was not the only one. In September of this same year, They used AI to turn a gay couple into heterosexuals in the movie ‘Together’. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | There is an underground movement of Chinese women reading homosexual erotic literature. And China is cracking down on it.

We thought two-step authentication apps were secure. Researchers have shown how easy it is to hack them

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The two-step verification With authentication apps it is one of the safest methods to protect our accounts, or so we thought. They count in Ars Technica that a group of researchers from several American universities have discovered a new type of attack on Android that is capable of copying these codes in less than 30 seconds, which is precisely the time it takes to refresh. Pixnapping. It is the name of this new attack capable of stealing two-step authentication codes from apps such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. These apps show codes that are automatically refreshed every 30 seconds, so it is more secure than, for example, SMS verification, which usually gives a margin of 10 or 15 minutes to copy the code. With this technique, researchers have managed to crack the six-digit code in just 23 seconds, which leaves plenty of time to use the code and log in to the account they want to steal. How it works. Any app on Android can launch a pixnapping attack without needing to obtain special permissions. Once underway, the attack occurs in three steps: The malicious app uses Android APIs to communicate with the app it wants to spy on. These calls force the target app to display specific data (the authentication codes) and send this information to the Android rendering pipeline, which is responsible for displaying each app’s pixels on the screen. Pixnapping performs graphical operations on the pixels that have been received by the rendering pipeline. Identify the coordinates of each pixel of interest and check if the color is white or non-white. White pixels take less time to render than non-white pixels. By measuring time, pixnapping is able to reconstruct images from the render pipeline data. Speed ​​is key. Pixnapping can also obtain other types of information that is visible on the screen, such as account numbers or personal information, but the speed with which it runs makes it especially dangerous for these authentication apps. To achieve this, the researchers reduced the number of samples per pixel, so that they could decipher all six digits in 30 seconds. Which phones does it affect? As we said, pixnapping only affects the Android operating system, but it seems to extend to quite a few versions. The investigation verified that the attack could be carried out on devices with versions from Android 13 to Android 16. They have only reproduced it on Pixel phones and a Samsung Galaxy S25, but they believe that due to the mechanism of the attack, any Android will be affected. How to protect yourself. Waiting for now. Google has already released a patch does little to mitigate this attack, but they have found that there are ways to bypass it. In statements to The RegisterGoogle confirmed that they would release a second patch in December to put an end to it. The good news is that they say they have no evidence that there are apps taking advantage of this vulnerability. Image | Pixnapping In Xataka | One click and goodbye to our passwords. This is the vulnerability that affects the extensions of several managers

have been the productivity apps that promised to help you

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There is a tendency to think that the main reason for loss of productivity at work is due to poor time organization or for procrastinating tasks. That is, by leaving pending tasks for later. However, a study carried out by the project management platform Lokalise, has revealed a surprising reason why working hours they don’t give as much of themselves as you would like: too many applications and digital tools are used in daily work. This phenomenon has been called “online tool fatigue” or fatigue due to excess of digital tools. According to the results revealed by the Lokalise survey, when too many messaging, email, data management or project management applications are used, instead of help you be more productivejust the opposite happens and productivity plummets. Impossible to concentrate. According to data from the Lokalise study, based on the opinions of more than 1,000 office workers in the US from different professional sectors, these employees experience constant daily interruptions in your concentration when they receive a message through the work messaging app, they must respond to an email, etc. The data indicates that 17% of respondents switch between tabs, applications or platforms more than 100 times in a single workday. 56% of the workers interviewed assured the platform that tool fatiguesuch as switching between them and notifications, negatively affects your concentration and productivity. Two weeks jumping between applications. On average, this constant switching between applications and attention to notifications causes employees to lose an average of 51 minutes, although 22% claim that the time lost amounts to more than two hours per week. This figure may seem like a small thing, but if this time is added up by all the employees of a company and computed over a full working year, it implies an annual loss of between one week and two and a half weeks of work. non-productive time. All this for something as trivial as clicking on a window to change apps. Too many apps. 55% of participants say they use between three and five computer applications in their daily work, while 31% of employees say they use between six and ten applications to do their work. The usage data collected suggests that productivity tools that consume the most time are the email with 47%, followed by professional messaging apps such as Slack, Teams or Discord with 35%. Surprisingly, video calling tools, on which most meetings are supported, are in third place in terms of time consumed, with 22%. Below 17% there are other more specific applications like the calendarcloud storage systems (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.) or support and assistance systems such as Asana, Jira, Zendesk or Salesforce. Changing apps is like changing tasks. Although it is part of the resolution of a single task, the constant alternation between applications produces a cognitive effect similar to that occurs with multitasking. By changing the graphical environment, functions and operation of each platform, the brain it takes a certain time to process the change, breaking the inertia of concentration that reaches when performing a certain task in one of the tools. This effect of constant change generates mental fatigue and causes the brain to need several minutes to refocus on the main task after each interruption. In Xataka | Psychology has explained why it is so difficult for you to leave a job even if it is toxic: the sunk cost fallacy Image | Unsplash (Swello)

How to block the update to Vega OS on Fire TV so as not to lose your favorite apps

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Let’s tell you how to block your Fire TV from updating to Vega OSto avoid losing access to your favorite Android-based applications. Vega OS is the new Linux-based operating system created by Amazon from scratch, which comes to replace the Android-based Fire OS. This new operating system brings many improvements in performance and fluidity, but you will no longer be able to use Android-based apps. Over time, it is possible that many of these apps will be adapted and created for the new system, but many will surely take a while to arrive. Therefore, now that Vega OS begins to arrive, we are going to tell you how to block update. Let’s tell you two different ways to block the updatealthough they are quite radical. There is no specific option to avoid it, meaning you will have to close internal doors in a different way. Prevent Fire TV from communicating with Amazon Perhaps the most radical option is to prevent your Fire TV from connecting to the Amazon servers that distribute operating system updates. For this, you will have to block some domains from your own router, something that is not complicated, but requires knowing enter router settings. To do this, you have to enter your router’s settings from your computer’s browser, typing the IP addresses 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in the search bar. Once inside, put your Fire TV in the list of connected devicesand if possible assign it a fixed IP with the DHCP reservation. Now, in the configuration of your router you have to look for a section called Parental Control, Security, Web Filters or Firewall, depending on the model and manufacturer. In here, you will have to add Amazon domains to blockwhich would be softwareupdates.amazon.com, updates.amazon.com, amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net and amzdigital-a.akamaihd.net. Once you do this, go into your Fire TV settings, click on Aboutand then in Check for updates. If no new updates are detected or operating system versions, then it is because this restriction has worked. Disable update processes The other option is simpler, although also more delicate as it has to use third-party applications, which always poses an extra risk. It is about disable processes to check for and install updates from your Fire TV, something you can do with tools like TroyPoint Toolbox either TechDoctorUK Debloater from the device itself. Now you have to download and install the application Downloader from the Amazon App Store, Amazon’s app store. But don’t open it, before doing so go into Settings > My Fire TV > Developer Options and activate the options ADB Debugging and Unknown sources. Now open the app Downloader and write the code 250931which will take you to the TroyPoint Tools Installer. In this installer, download and install the application Debloater TechDoctorUK. Now you have to open the application and grant it permissions USB debugging when requested. Now, check the list of system processes in this application, and you should mark those that manage automatic updateswhich usually include terms such as system updates. When you do, click Reproduce in the upper right corner to apply the changes. Remember that this may also affect the correct functioning of the Fire TV. In Xataka Basics | Alexa+: what is Amazon’s new smart assistant, how it works and what is its price and availability

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