How to turn your cell phone into an mp3 player without notifications or distractions

Let’s tell you how to turn your cell phone into an MP3 playerso you can dedicate it solely to playing music without any other distractions. You are going to do this so much with an old cell phone to which you want to give a new life as with a new one when you want to use it only to listen to music. Our mobile phone is the control center of our digital life, and at all times we receive notifications, notices, updates, and the eternal temptation to use it to write messages or browse social networks. But what happens when you want to isolate yourself from the world and have your phone only serve to listen to music and podcasts? In these cases, you may be tempted to simply buy a new device, a media player that is not so connected to everything and only serves that purpose. But before spending money, you should try doing this on your current mobile to see if it is enough. Let’s tell you two ways to limit your mobile to listen to music. One is going to be less aggressive, that of limiting all notifications and interruptions that could take you out of your musical bubble. And the second will be more aggressive, to directly limit your mobile. First decide where you will listen to the music The first choice you have is to decide where you are going to listen to your music. And here you will have many options, both music streaming services and other native alternatives to have greater control over the musical content you have. Here we leave you a list of alternatives which you can opt for: streaming service: Spotify and Apple Music are the most popular music streaming services, with other alternatives like Tidal quite close behind. If you don’t want algorithms, you can opt for Qobuz, which has better music quality, without music inserted as an advertisement, and a clean experience that is like entering a record store, without sacrificing the ability to have playlists. YouTube-based streaming: You also have available free alternatives to Spotifymany of which they use YouTube or other pages as a source. Come on, they create a streaming service with albums and everything, and use YouTube to extract the music from their videos. Create your own Spotify: You also have applications for create your own Spotify. They usually do this by having an application on the computer to turn it into a server, and then be able to play the music over the Internet on other devices. You will need to have your main computer on, although many will allow you to download music. The most popular option is set up your own Spotify with Plexbut there are other interesting alternatives. Have your music on your mobile and use a player: And then you have the more artisanal method. If you have digitized your music to convert your CDs into mp3, purchased digital music directly, or used any other method to build your own music library, you can simply put it in a folder in your phone’s memory and then use a music player. With alternatives like AIMP, Retro Music Player or Pulsar you can have everything: integration with lyrics, covers, tag editor, and everything you need. And finally, you must think If you will listen to the music having an internet connection or not. In the event that you are not going to have a connection, make sure that if you use a service that takes music from the Internet such as Spotify or the alternatives, you download the albums that you are going to want to listen to directly on your mobile. Set a focus mode The least aggressive way to limit your phone to focus on the music listening experience is set up a focus mode. With this, what we are going to do is prevent notifications from appearing or that no application or phone call can bother us while we have our mode active for when we listen to music. If you want to create a concentration mode on Android, you have to go to your mobile settings. Inside, click on the section Modes. Inside here, click on the option Create your own way to make a custom one. On iOS, the option is called Concentration modes. In both cases, you will have to give it a name and an icon. This is up to you, but I suggest it be something recognizable, such as a reference to listening to music and an icon like headphones. Each operating system has its options, but they are quite unified. The most important thing is that make two specific changes on Android or iOS when you are creating this mode: Don’t create a schedule: This is so that the mode is activated automatically at certain times. In this case, I recommend not setting a schedule and using it manually, activating it only when you are going to use it. Turn off notifications: Disable the option Allow all notificationsand don’t allow any app to send you notifications. Perhaps, you can set an exception such as very close family so that if they call you the call will ring, but what are notifications you can deactivate them all, so that you do not receive any notice, and thus you can escape and not look at what is happening. Make very few exceptions: On both Android and iOS you will be able to set an application as an exception so that its notifications appear. You may want to put something like emails, but always try to remove messaging and social media apps, and this way you will avoid the main distractions. There are apps that make your screens minimalist But of course, with all the changes we have made we have altered the behavior of the mobile, but we still have home screens full of app icons and distractions. Fortunately, There are applications to alter your home screen and make it have … Read more

Apple admits under his breath that Liquid Glass transparencies do not allow notifications to be seen: iOS 26.1 will solve it

It has already been a month since Apple released the final version of iOS 26. The last major update promised “the biggest redesign in years” and debuted the Liquid Glass interface with that obsession with transparencies that we already saw that It didn’t do many favors for the readability of the icons and notifications. It wasn’t just our thing. The next iOS update will bring a new option to minimize the problem. The problem of transparencies We can argue if it looks good or not, but what cannot be denied is that the texts do not read well, or at least they read worse than before. It happens with the icons and, above all, with the notifications. For example, an image of the first beta of iOS 26: With dark backgrounds the problem is not so serious, but it is still less readable than if the background of the notifications were opaque. In its day we already told you a trick to return to having a more opaque designbut now the solution comes from Apple. The solution arrives with iOS 26.1 They tell it in 9to5Macwhere they have downloaded iOS 26.1 beta 4, which will be the next major system update. In it, there is a new option to adjust the interface design to make it more opaque. It is found in the Screen and Brightness menu and allows us Choose between a transparent or opaque look. Click on the image to go to the post in X. In the images you can see the difference between both options and how the entire appearance changes. According to Apple: “Choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass. Clear is more transparent and lets you see the content underneath. Tinting increases opacity and adds more contrast.” They don’t say there is a readability problem directly, but the simple fact that they release this option is a way to recognize the criticisms. Having more customization options is always good news. Yes indeed, Apple could have given us the option to choose the intensity between the two options. By applying one of the two, it will affect the entire system and also the apps that have implemented Liquid Glass. At the moment there is no confirmed release date for iOS 26.1, but taking into account that there are already four beta versions, it is expected to arrive very soon. According to 9to5Mac, that could be at the end of this week. In Xataka | iOS 26: 19 functions and some tricks to get the most out of the new operating system for your iPhone

The best 14 applications to receive notifications and see statistics from the parties

Let’s tell you The best 14 applications to see the results of all football and other sports matches in this season 2025/26. These applications will offer you all the information, from the minute by minute of each game to real -time notifications with the goals. We are going to offer both the description of each application and the links to lower them to your Android mobile or your iPhone. In them, in addition to all the markers of all competitions, you can follow concrete teams, have all the news and all the information about the king sport. And as we always say in Xataka Basics, this is our list, but you may notice that we have missed an app. If so, we invite you to leave your suggestions in the comments section, and that all users can benefit from the knowledge of our xatakers. Flashscore Previously known as My markersthis application covers More than 30 sports and more than 6,000 competitions worldwide. In all of them it offers live results, but also statistics instantly and the classifications of each competition. It will also allow you to configure Personalized notifications of concrete teams or matches not to miss incidents. In the case of football, they also evaluate with notes to the players of each game, and give you the latest news, you can see the course of the game, alignments, news and future matches among other things. Sofascore This application is an authentic sports encyclopedia for your pocket, and another one that leads this type of apps with coverage for 25 sports and more than 5,000 leagues and tournaments. It offers instant notifications and real -time results, with a high level of detail thanks to its advanced statistics. In football, these advanced statistics include heat map visualizations, shots maps, power graphics, players analysis and more. In addition, if you want you have a payment version for detailed analysis of each of the matches, in addition to extras such as fantasy leagues and trainers. Besoccer Besoccer is another great application that has millions of users, and that in addition to live markers and news, It focuses on aspects such as the signing market As a differentiating characteristic. You can also add your favorite teams to appear above. In addition to this, you are also going to have information about goals, alignments, news, with matches around the world and all leagues, focusing on football. It also has a party viewfinder with all the data of what is happening. Fotmob An application that stands out for having an exceptionally clean interface and well organized. It also has live results and instant alerts of goals, personalized news, video summaries and comments in text of the matches. All this to be able to offer deep monitoring. For the rest, it offers almost everything other applications offer, with personalized notifications and can choose your equipment, in addition to Widgets for your mobile screen not to have to be opening the app every two by three. A platform that is presented as A complete content centergoing beyond sports results to also integrate videos, summaries, information on leagues from around the world and news. It also offers the possibility of offering all the official news of specific clubs, in addition to party summaries and transmission of everything that happens live. 365Scores Another gigantic international website with your own apps where you have coverage for More than 10 sportsalthough focusing especially on football. One of its great strong are ultra fast notifications, which can sometimes notify you of a goal before TV. It also has detailed statistics from live matches, and you can follow the performance of the players, leagues, classifications, and follow your favorite teams to have their notifications and that the information focuses on them. Official APP LaLiga If what you want is to follow everything that happens in Spanish LaLiga, this is The official application Where you can have all the results, schedules and statistics of the first and second division, as well as the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. The app allows you to personalize the colors of your team, personalized feed with stories that are plays of the teams that interest you, as well as surveys and participation in competitions. Another good application that Try to stand out for its speed When issuing Push notifications on your mobile with things that have passed in a game that interests you. They use their own shipping system, being able to configure notifications for matches, teams, soccer players or tournaments. It also offers video summaries of the goals, alignments forecast by experts, and good coverage of women’s football. For the rest, it has the rest of the options and types of common statistics in this type of application, TV guides and widgets for the home screen. LIVESCORE Another application that has been offering data and statistics of matches for years, with the analysis of the matches, profiles of players, alignments, and all statistics of what has happened. There are also live notificationsand the possibility of customizing what you want to see. ESPN The official application of this group of American sports channels also offers you live markers and all the information. Covers many sports including football, with More than 560 leagues and glasses of all the world. You have statistics, alignments, outstanding videos, and everything you need. You also have a lot of sports, and in some regions even live broadcasts. An application that combines news and markers, where you can follow your favorite teams and players. You can see the live results of all matches and competitions, and also has a good tide notice apps system. In the application you will find soccer profiles, classifications, transfer rumors section and A debate forum Where you can chat with other users. Also You can value each player After each of the matches. Soccer24 We are coming to the list with less known alternatives, although this is a veteran who has been active for many years. … Read more

Notifications killed our concentration. Now they are kidnapping our mobiles

For more than and a half, the applications of our mobiles They are perfect machines to suck time that hook us with techniques such as Scroll infinite. We have ended with A generation that lives decentralized Even when we do not receive relevant notifications of work, school, friends or family. And that is precisely one of the big problems we face today: an enormous amount of useless, irrelevant notifications and in many absurd cases that kidnap our mobile. What’s happening. It is increasingly common to receive unwanted notifications on our mobile. And the pity is that, in the face of email, there is no Spam filter. The problem is that there are applications of banks, neoboncos, transport, electronic commerce, food at home or second -hand sale, for putting examples, which do not stop riding advertising notifications without relation to the reason why they are installed. The problem. The engineer and hacker Jaime Gómez-Obregón told Recently the behavior of some of the most popular applications you had installed on your iPhone. Blablacar sent him promotions notifications, despite having deactivated trade communications. Without authorizing offers, they arrived from Cabify, Uber or N26. His followers told him that the same thing happens with Revolution, Wallapop and Banks Applications such as BBVA. A server can talk about your experience with OpenBank: receive more promotional notifications than bizums, payments or transfers, despite having requested that they do not send me more advertising to your customer service by phone. When deactivating notifications as a final measure is dangerous. We talk about kidnapping because, although both in iOS and Android we can deactivate the notifications of the applications we choose, the important thing is what we lose in doing so. If I am waiting for the Uber driver to arrive, I can’t deactivate his applications. If I am waiting for a possible Wallapop buyer to respond to which I am interested in selling something quickly, I cannot deactivate notifications. The same happens if I am waiting for the notification of my payroll or a transfer in the bank or the message of a Blablacar driver for a journey that I cannot do with any other means of transport, and that of not seeing it, I risk not being able to reach a destination. In the end, it is similar to deactivating notifications in a WhatsApp group where a lot about important things are discussed. With the difference of our contacts they know that they can talk to us in private to let us know that something relevant is cooked and we have not heard. In Wallapop you can individually deactivate promotional notices. Without losing user messages notifications. The solution we expect and does not arrive (with exceptions). The rain of promotional notifications is easily solved, if applications developers want. In the APP notification settings it can be offered separately stop receiving notifications of direct messages, a public mention, or advertising. The problem of many applications is that everything gets into a sack, and you cannot deactivate only advertising, or not in an obvious way (without having to send mails, make calls, etc. In this sense, my partner Javier Lacort complained on Twitter a long time ago Wallapop behavior. Without defining the type of promotional message he was learning, Javier learned thanks to The response of a follower That Wallapop is one of the companies that incur this good proposed practice: it lets you deactivate the promotions separately. The general reality? Insufferable. Google is clear that it is wrong. Apple not so much. On its documentation website on developers, Google makes clear “When not using a notification“The reality is that with their services they send similar messages. Apple prohibited notifications with ads until 2020. Changed the rulesand now Send notifications promoting savings in tickets to see ‘F1’ In the portfolio application. Even so, in the Standard 4.5.4 They modified continue to mention the following: Push notifications should not be used for promotional or direct marketing purposes, unless customers have explicitly accepted to receive them through a consent text shown in the user interface of your application. This is how Google explains to developers the bad practices on promotional notifications. And when requesting the notification permit, Wallapop, for example, does not inform in any way that it will later send promotional messages (although in your case we can deactivate them separately). When asking for notifications, applications do not report that they can contain promotional content, as Apple establishes in their terms. In full era of AI, both Google and Apple could implement filters to detect notifications not requested by the user and whose relevance is very questionable. They could also provide the system of functions to filter keywords or list of words allowed and prohibited according to each application. It is just what he does Bullkill Notification Manager on Androidand its users mention being Very happy Just to combat promotions. Android offers control of notifications by category, but, again, it is something that the developer has to activate so that the user can choose what type of messages he wants according to the app. Image | Generated with chatgpt and Jonas Leupe in Unspash In Xataka | I have been following the advice of those who point to the mobile and its notifications such as the tobacco of the 21st century

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