We’ve already heard plenty in the way of leaks and rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S25 so far, and the latest unconfirmed information to appear has given us some pointers about the colors that the Ultra model is going to be available in.

According to usually reliable tipster @UniverseIce, we’re going to see the Galaxy S25 Ultra show up in Black, Blue, Green, and Titanium. However it’s likely that a few more options will be offered through the Samsung website.

I’ve had a rather fulfilling experience with the iPhone 16 Pro so far, but the start was anything but. During the first setup, the phone froze and I had to start over again while simultaneously dreading the possibilities of lost data or a booting nightmare.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I have repeatedly run into a non-responsive screen issue, prompting me to hit the lock button and start again following an unlock protocol. These stutters plagued me in multiple spots, from the camera app to the Mail app, despite switching from the beta to the stable iOS 18 channel. It seems I was not alone.

Digital Trends searched through dozens of pages on the official Apple Community discussions forums and a trove of posts on Reddit. What we found was a repeating pattern of two major issues — overheating (apparently related to battery drain) and random freezing, especially in the camera app.

Reboots, lags, and app glitches

For some users, the core problem is unpredictable restarts, which raise their head out of the blue. In some cases, the phone reboots while charging without any warning, while others report that it just happens while they are using the phone. “In the process of using it, it suddenly went black,” writes one user on the Apple Discussions forum.

It appears that the random restarts don’t have anything to do with running half-baked public or developer beta software. On the contrary, folks running the stable version of iOS 18 are encountering the problem. Notably, in an overwhelming number of cases, the random restarts happen multiple times on a daily basis.

Another recurring theme is just general lag throughout the UI and buggy animations, something that won’t go away with a regular system restart. But as this report suggests, the hardware shortcut of Power + volume button is also failing its restart protocol in some instances.

“Once, if not multiple times, a day — and it seems like every time I wake up, it does it overnight, and not until I unlock my phone will it push my notifications I got,” says another user complaint on the Apple Discussions page. The screen going totally black is an issue that frequently appears in user reports.

Is the camera app the real culprit?

But the more serious problem appears to be the camera app. Multiple users have shared videos recreating the weird behavior where the camera app freezes while dialing up the zoom level, or simply while hunting for focus lock. For a few people, the app crashes even during the basic chore of clicking a picture without any fancy tools applied.

“I have found that when I try to take pictures with my iPhone 16 Pro Max, it won’t take pictures and the Camera app crashes,” mentions one of the user complaints on the Apple forum. And it seems the fancy new audio mixing feature is also creating problems for early adopters.

For some users, the woes aren’t limited to the camera app. In some cases, the in-app camera UI for other apps such as Messages also makes the iPhone 16 Pro stutter and triggers a screen lock. The issue even extends to the Photos app and the built-in editor system, it seems.

“[The] iPhone 16 pro camera app crashes every now and then when I open it through photo app or through any other app having integration to camera,” reads another report on the Apple Discussions forum.

The camera app issues take a rather vexing form while editing, especially Live Photos. It seems the Photos app automatically closes midway through editing and also discards whatever progress users had made to it. For some users, capturing 4K videos has been the culprit, while others report that ultrawide videos are making things go haywire on their iPhone 16 Pro.

“So, I’m on my second iPhone 16 Pro within five days and still having the same issue — not being able to edit Live Photos if I change the key photo,” writes another miffed owner. Notably, a force reset doesn’t seem to offer any reprieve.

A few other reports mention that the camera app crashes more frequently when trying to click pictures at high magnification levels, around 5x or more. A handful of iPhone 16 Pro owners had a diagnostic test run by Apple support, but the analysis didn’t provide any solution.

The problem isn’t limited to the camera app only, it seems. For a few users, even Siri, Settings, and other native apps are raising issues. Third-party apps such as Amazon are also acting up for iPhone 16 Pro users.

“It has been crashing constantly. The settings app and the calendar app are the worst culprits. Calendar just freezes, you cannot drill down to the day. The settings app just turns black and then crashes. Multiple times the whole phone restarts,” says another report on the official Apple forum.

There are also reports of lag with the built-in keyboard, something to which I can personally attest. On a few occasions, I have noticed that the keyboard simply refuses to type in words, even though the keycaps have recorded the touch strokes.

“I type a lot of notes and documents on my phone and this is definitely a glitch that is slowing down my work,” claims a post from a user who ran into keyboard issues with their new Apple flagship phone.

So far, we are not sure whether the issue is due to a faulty update, or if it results from app-related bugs. Apple has yet to acknowledge the aforementioned iPhone 16 Pro issues and release a fix. We’ll keep you updated as soon as the company doles out any solution via a software update or releases any advisory steps.

Google will soon restrict apps that request access to the entire media library on a smartphone. The Android OS developer has started reaching out to developers to adopt the privacy-preserving Android Photo Picker.

App developers have been unnecessarily demanding access to entire media

The media library or “Gallery” on an Android device reveals a lot about the user. Hence, it becomes vital to protect this area and limit access to apps.

Perhaps realizing just how sensitive the media library is, Google rolled out a more private media picker with Android 13 in 2022. The company then backported this feature to Android 4.4+. The primary intention was to offer app developers a secure way to access the media library.

Many popular apps from reputed developers have adopted the media picker. However, several apps still demand unrestricted access to the entire media library. Concerningly, quite a few of these apps don’t even need to look at the photos and videos stored on the device, and permission is often needed for one-time access only.

Google changed gears last year, and instead of requesting app developers to adopt the Android Photo Picker feature, the company is now enforcing the policy. Specifically speaking, Google will reportedly start forcing apps to adopt the new photo picker through a Play Store policy change

Google to restrict access to media library for apps unrelated to media functions

The Photo Picker API grants apps access to photos or videos without the apps needing permission to access the entire media gallery. It is essentially granting a one-time permission or infrequent access to some photos or videos.

Google updated the UI of Photo Picker making it suitable for selecting photos and videos. It offers larger previews and tabs to switch between multimedia items and albums.

Last year, Google announced that it would start cracking down on apps that “unnecessarily request the READ_MEDIA_IMAGES and/or READ_MEDIA_VIDEO permissions (on Android 13+) to access the user’s images and/or videos.” Beginning in “early 2025,” “only apps with core functionality relying on accessing the user’s image and/or videos” would be allowed to use the READ_MEDIA_IMAGES and READ_MEDIA_VIDEO permissions.

What this means is only those apps that have media functions would gain access to the entire media library. This includes the Gallery app and other image editing apps.

Google has reportedly started the crackdown on errant apps from September 18, 2024. Developers have until October 31, 2024, to justify their need to access the entire media library. They must submit a declaration form to ensure they qualify. Google is exempting private and enterprise management apps from this policy.

With short-form videos becoming extremely common these days, it’s not unusual to discover new songs and artists from apps like TikTok and Instagram. Now, Instagram has started rolling out a Spotify integration that will let you add songs you hear from posts and Reels straight to the audio streaming app, 9to5Mac has reported. If an Instagram post uses a song, and it’s linked at the bottom of the screen, tap on the song name to go to its audio preview page. There, you’ll find a new button that says “Add” with the Spotify logo right next to the audio scrubber.

When you tap that Add button, the song will get added to the “Liked Songs” in your Spotify library. You’ll have to link your Spotify account with your Instagram the first time you do it, but it becomes a one-tap process after that. The feature is now making its way to all users around the world. Back in August, mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi found another type of integration between the two apps in development. That feature would allow Instagram users to continuously share what they’re listening to on Spotify, which would appear as notes on top of your profile picture.

TikTok has had the ability to add songs heard from videos to your music streaming library since last year. Its version of the feature works not just with Spotify, but also with Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Presented by Xsolla

Historically, the game industry is a cycle of boom and bust, with ten-year trend cycles. We’ve just emerged from the era dominated by creatives and publishers, marked by mergers and consolidation, to a world where platform holders dominate. Some of them, like Apple, are demanding large platform fees for creators, and taking large legal swings at other platforms in the competitive space. In the real world, games are no longer just about play. An entire generation grew up with multiplayer games as a natural place to socialize, hang out and entertain themselves. Player demand is at an all-time high, but companies are scrambling to find new ways to distribute, monetize and reach customers in this landscape.

“The question is, are you ready for that?” asked Joost van Dreunen, entrepreneur and CEO at Aldora, featured speaker during the fifth stop of the GamesBeat Global Tour in Seattle, presented by Xsolla. “What’s the model we’ll be facing as we go?”

How does the video game industry move forward?

“Given the soft market, the answer, simply put, is that you have to go elsewhere,” van Druenen said. “You have to find other channels where you can entertain, build communities, build audiences, figure out how to reach them and offer them a different entertainment experience than we have before.”

Becoming multi-platform. Large companies, which tend to move slowly, are starting to launch new ways to connect with their players, as the industry starts to think more broadly about what it means to play. Games like Fallout now offer collectibles and trading cards, and both Xbox and Sony are pivoting to a multiplatform publishing model, instead of locking themselves in the traditional distribution channels.

“Is it always successful? Absolutely not. But at least some larger companies are willing to spend their time and money and expose their IP to build this out,” van Druenen added. “When the large platform holders start to think more creatively about different revenue models and different distribution channels, you can set your clock that the industry is shifting. The walled garden model is ending.”

Finding (and charging) your best fans. The ultimate curve model revolves around identifying your whales, your biggest and most loyal fans — and charging them more. Two years ago, the industry was still arguing about a $70 price point for premium games. Nowadays, users happily spend $100 to have the game a week or two earlier, with some exclusive digital assets. Fans want that VIP treatment, the velvet rope and the front seat. Large publishers with premium IPs can command a premium price.

Identifying new and exciting IP. Another key model is bringing more IP into the gaming space, like Lego has been doing for years, to reach a non-endemic audience and bring them into the fold.

Reaching out to mainstream audiences. Along those same lines, large companies are leaning on traditional advertising as games become more normalized as entertainment for anyone. For instance, Genshin Impact announced $6 billion in revenue and is still partnering with McDonald’s.

Embrace fan content. Finally, these days, customer engagement is more than just booster packs and in-game currency – it’s become about supporting the fanbase in making new content. For instance, The Sims, made by one of the largest independent game makers publicly traded in the U.S., is embracing fan creators now, some of whom have been creating skins and items since the first title.

“Any way you slice it, in my mind it’s always about the audience,” van Druenen said. “We can build any kind of game, any kind of revenue model, any kind of device that is super-fast and beautiful. But it’s the people themselves that will tell you what’s what. It’s giving them some degree of ownership, whether      that’s organizing events, whether that’s esports or a competitive thing, a fan event. They’re successful components of a long tail, a decades-long strategy. They are the stewards of the brand and the experience overall.”

The future of gaming and innovation

Learn more about the future of the game industry at the next stop of the GamesBeat Global Tour, happening in San Francisco on October 28, as part of GamesBeat Next 2024. GamesBeat Next is a premier gathering for game developers, publishers, investors, executives and industry visionaries. Whether you’re an industry veteran or a rising star, this is the event aimed at redefining your gaming journey, so don’t miss your spot — register now!

And on December 12 in Los Angeles, don’t miss the GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood & Games 2024, which will explore the dynamic collaborations between film, music, television and video games. Register here to be part of the conversation.

 Request your invite for the GB Global Tour here.

Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

After five joyous years as an Android user, curiosity got the best of me – I’ve been using an iPhone 15 for the last week or so to re-immerse myself in iOS and offer stronger contributions to our iPhone coverage.

Overall, I’ve been impressed by last year’s base-model iPhone. A lot has certainly changed since I parted with my iPhone 5S in 2019, and in the ten years between the launch of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 15, Apple has improved the iPhone in nearly every way, from the screen size (4 inches to 6.1 inches) to the battery life (a couple of hours to nearly all day) and connectivity (USB-C!).