Diabetes
The deafening problem with the FreeStyle Libre 3 app for Android
People with diabetes use the app to monitor glucose levels and trigger alerts when it goes critical. Unfortunately, it raises the volume to uncomfortable levels.
Mobile Apps
Privacy
Phone Link relays your personal data through Microsoft servers
The Phone Link app doesn’t transfer data directly between your devices over the local network. Instead, it allows Microsoft to peak at your personal data.
Note-taking
Sync issues finally drove me away from the Joplin note-taking app
Joplin for Android stopped supporting local file syncing and Syncthing. I tried cloud-storage alternatives, but the other sync methods are slow and unreliable.
Mobile Apps
A Sony Headphones app feature kills your phone’s battery life
Adaptive Sound Control auto-adjusts your noise-canceling and ambient-awareness levels based on detected activities and location. At a significant battery cost.
Android
Overriding Bedtime mode with priority alerts
Is Bedtime mode on Android using Do Not Disturb mode to silence alerts and notifications? That’s unclear, if you’ve got the Samsung Digital Wellbeing app.
Gaming
Kitty Letter word-scrambled my brain
Who knew an enchanted letter vortex could cause you trouble falling asleep? How a mobile game engraved a repeating pattern into my brain.
Authentication and Passwords
Be wary of file sync conflicts with KeePass apps on Android
An investigation and comparison into how KeePass-compatible password manager apps for Android handle external changes to an unlocked password vault database.
Web Browsers
Review of Firefox “Daylight” for Android
The new Firefox version for Android comes with big changes under the hood, but also drops support for thousands of extensions, and is less configurable.
Security
Google Authenticator enables device-transfers, but no export options
Two-factor authentication requires users to commit to storing a secret code indefinitely. Popular apps lack tools to back up and data transfer those secrets.
Diabetes
FreeStyle Libre Reader device versus the LibreLink app
The pros and cons of using Abbott’s dedicated Reader device or the LibreLink mobile app to read your levels with the FreeStyle Libre flash-glucose Sensor.
VPN
What is Samsung Secure Wi-Fi for Android?
Secure Wi-Fi is a paid VPN network service from Samsung and McAfee. What it does and how to stop its adverts and remove it from your Android phone.
Note-taking
Review: Joplin note-taking app
The open-source note-taking app Joplin supports encryption and choose-your-own-cloud. Desktop app gets the job done, but the Android app is slow and clunky.