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5 Smartphone & App Trends That Will Blow Your Mind

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Our latest AVG App & Trends Report unearthed surprising trends, about apps’ rise and fall—and their troubling tendency to suck phone life. Here we are pulling back the curtain …

For the full report, check out our AVG App Performance & Trends Report (H1 2016).

I live in my own tech bubble. I work in the performance division of a world class online security firm, so most of my colleagues get the latest apps, phones, and PCs. Many of my friends are also tech enthusiasts, always trying the newest and shiniest devices.

But step outside those spheres, and things change. There is a whole other reality out there. My family and wider circle of friends, people on the streets and trains, and people in other countries often don’t care about owning the latest tech or the newest app. That’s the real world. And I have once again been blown away by our AVG App Report and what people really do on their phones …

Without further ado, here’s the top trends that made me raise an eyebrow and mutter “Fascinating!”

 

Number 1: No, not everyone owns a Samsung Galaxy S7

Sure, I don’t expect everyone on earth to have the most expensive and up-to-date Android on the market. But finding out that phones from 2012 and 2013 are still alive and kicking is startling.

Number one on the list is the Galaxy Note II, a phone that came out in September of 2012 – almost four years ago. Then came the S4 Mini, a still super popular phone from early 2013 that apparently just won’t die off. With limited storage, old Android 4.x versions, and slowly dying batteries, their owners must be feeling the age when going about their daily tasks and using newer apps.

Though Samsung obviously completely dominates the Android smartphone space, it is not alone. Sony nabbed two spots in the top ten (The Xperia Z3 Compact and Z2 LTE A) and more than 10% of the roughly 20 million devices we logged anonymously that quarter.

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Number 2: The Top 50 Most Commonly Used Android Apps are from Google

Google dominates the mobile OS world. No doubt about that. But Google also dominates its own world. The top most used apps on Android are Google Play Store, Google Plus, Google Quick Search Box, YouTube (yup, that’s Google), Google Chrome, Google Maps, and Google Hangouts. Only Facebook and the pre-installed Samsung Push Service made it into the top 10.

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Number 3: Many Apps Are Just Websites-turned-into-apps

The top 50 also includes a lot of websites-turned-into-apps, like Facebook, Tripadvisor, and eBay. The trend is double-edged unfortunately: It’s app makers continuing to push users to their mobile app, sometimes very aggressively in the case of Tripadvisor, as almost every step on their mobile website www.tripadvisor.com leads to a “recommendation” to use their apps.

On the one hand, these apps generally offer a more pleasant experience, with nicer animations, more features, and often a better look and feel. On the other hand, many of them also register themselves as startup applications and constantly check for updates and notifications in the background. This drains power and bandwidth.

If your phone doesn’t make it to the end of the day, try one thing: Uninstall all these apps and try opening up www.facebook.com, ebay.com, tripadvisor.com (and all the other apps that you’ve got that are available online) on your mobile browser. The ‘manual’ approach is likely going to save you a lot of battery life going forward.

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Number 4: Mighty No. 33

Another example of the “real world” bursting my tech bubble: I thought everyone except myself downloads and uses hundreds of apps. It appears both the real world and myself have something in common. I only have a total of 29 apps on my phone that I use more or less regularly, which is slightly less than average. Our anonymized data shows that users have an average of 33 apps installed. (I guess I should up my game as an enthusiast)

 

Number 5: Miitomo predicting Pokémon Go’s future?

Just recently, Nintendo had to announce that it’s massive Pokémon Go success will only have a limited impact on their revenue numbers, as most of the cash flow goes to Niantic, the company behind Pokemon (Nintendo owns only 13% of the Pokémon Go app). So while they don’t get as much as you might think they do get a boost.

But will it last? Is Pokémon just another typical app fad that goes wild and dies off? (Anyone still playing Angry Birds?)

Nintendo was in a similar situation with its first real app, Nintendo Miitomo, which let you chat with friends as Mii characters using a cool, fun environment. After launch, it died off quickly, as we anonymously logged over 127.000 installs in March – to only 17k in May. So Nintendo can’t just rely upon Pokémon Go to secure their future, but might need something that belongs to them and that reinvigorates the gaming market long-term….

AVG

Don’t believe everything you read about ‘unsafe’ security products

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Online reports about the safety of security products can be very alarming, which is why we want to address those concerns and provide assurance that we take them very seriously.

You may recently have read about the discovery of a vulnerability in a number of online security products, specifically regarding ‘code hooking.’ The issue, when originally found, affected a number of antivirus companies, including AVG.

We took this vulnerability in our products very seriously when we first learned of it in December 2015, and we resolved it within two days. In fact, enSilo, the research company that identified the issue, credited our fast response in an article titled ‘Learning from AVG on Doing it Right’.

The new articles on this topic arose from enSilo’s ‘Captain Hook’ report, which details potential security issues regarding the incorrect implementation of code hooking and injection techniques. There is no reference to AVG in this report, and any media articles mentioning AVG in conjunction with this report are inaccurate.

enSilo has not disclosed any new vulnerability or security issue with our products, which they confirmed when we contacted them. Our previous experience with enSilo indicates they are a responsible company that reports issues to vendors prior to disclosing them publicly.

AVG encourages developers and researchers to report any issues with our products through our proactive bug bounty program. This process allows us to investigate potential issues fully and take the steps to fix or mitigate as necessary without unduly alarming our users.

I would like to thank enSilo for their valued partnership to date in helping us to protect our customers in an ever-changing security landscape.

AVG

One Hardcore Gamer’s Take on Pokemon Go

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An inside look into how Nintendo’s popular mobile game is bridging generational gaps and keeping you outside through the lens of one avid gamer. This piece originally appeared on GamesBeat.

All technical woes aside, Pokémon Go—which I’ve been playing nonstop since its release now—is a lot of fun. While it may not offer the complex gameplay, storytelling, or character development the past decade of Hollywood-standard video games has delivered, it’s engrossing — and its astronomic growth is a phenomenon.

Which got me thinking … what does account for the appeal? As a way to come up with an answer, I’ve made these four observations, which are as much about human nature as they are about gaming culture.

1. It’s just like that one Star Trek: The Next Generation episode

Pokémon Go has been compared to The Matrix, Ready Player One, and just about every other dystopia where technology controls humans. But while Pokémon Go arguably is an addictive worldwide phenomenon whose ultimate reach is yet to be determined … wait, am I talking myself out of my own conclusion that it’s not actually dangerous to society? OK, it’s not, seriously. It does, however, remind me to an eerie degree of “The Game” episode of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. In “The Game,” the crew of the Enterprise became obsessed with an augmented reality game in which the object is to throw a flat plate (Pokéball, anyone?) into a cone (Do I hear Pokémon?) in order to score and move to the next level.

Apparently I’m in good company, because Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in that episode and later saved the Enterprise, even Tweeted about it.

The verdict: While Pokémon Go doesn’t (yet) seem to psychologically manipulate people, it is, for better or worse, mesmerizing. And people love to be mesmerized.

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2. I want it to keep getting better

Nintendo was once known for stellar gameplay and mechanics, but it’s been struggling to keep up with Sony and Microsoft in the marketplace. Niantic’s Pokémon Go is the first hit associated with the Nintendo brand in quite a while. As someone who grew up with Nintendo games, I hope they can turn this into a comeback and that the excitement around Pokémon Go can catapult them back to their former glory. Nintendo needs to take Niantic’s start and increase the depth, interaction, and engagement. Right now it’s simple—catch, level, feed, fight, train. Lather, rinse, repeat. Even casual gamers need more.

The Verdict: I guarantee I’m not alone in hoping Pokémon Go sticks around and gets more challenging, which just shows that people love a success story, especially when whoever’s being successful is somewhat of an underdog.

3. It bridges generation gaps

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I never expected that playing Pokémon Go would bring me closer to generations I must admit I barely knew—or thought I could know.

Pokémon Go has connected me with people—while grocery shopping, going for my morning run, or just walking down the street. Within the first three days I was stopped by kids less than half my age and a couple more than twice my age.

On day 2, I noticed several tweens in the grocery store pointing at me, whispering, “Look at him. …” I turned to them, held up my phone, and asked, “Pokémon?” Nods, and big smiles. Nearly 30 minutes later, while hanging out at the cheese counter where they’d caught a monster, we’d talked about smartphones, gaming, school, grades, friends, sports … and I got an all-too-rare glimpse into what it’s like to be a kid in 2016.

Day 3 brought me face-to-face with an elderly couple who wondered, as they saw me stop and hold up my phone during a run through the forest, what I was taking a photo of. I told them what I was up to, and they were in awe of today’s technology. This, too, became a conversation about how maybe they needed phones, about where they’d grown up, their family, their work, their life.

All the scary stories about people being injured or lured to harm by strangers while playing Pokémon Go, while true, likely don’t happen nearly as often as the sort of positive experiences I had with people in my own community—people I probably never would have talked to, were it not for Pokémon Go.

The verdict: People want to connect, and it’s amazing how the shared experience of a cultural phenomenon like a game—or a movie, or a book, or a TV show—can forge common ground among people who otherwise couldn’t be more different. And the more we have these experiences, the more open we are to recreating them.

4. It makes you go outside

Truth be told, this aspect of Pokémon Go does make me feel a bit uneasy: while the game’s become mainstream in a very short time and is all over the news, you can’t expect every last person on earth to know what it is or how it’s played. Which could explain the suspicious looks I’ve gotten while wandering around my quiet family neighborhood. While nothing bad came of any neighbors’ quizzical looks, I’m sure there were moments of confused uneasiness, and if you’re going to play, you’re wise to consider your surroundings and be conscious of people’s  privacy. And if you get “those” looks, explain it (or invite them to play, it could turn out well!—see observation 3).

But you can’t discount the really wonderful opportunity to explore areas near your home, work, or school that you may never have seen. I took it on my morning run (which usually follows the same route) and ended up going down beautiful forests paths I’d never seen and through neighborhoods I’d never been to. You’re essentially combining exercise, exploration, and gaming—which until now never really went together that well.

The verdict: While I am a bit torn about the overall benefits of Pokémon Go’s ability to bring you together with new people and new aspects of your everyday world (see: potentially freaking out the neighbors), there’s no doubt that its forcing players to go beyond routine is a big part of its appeal. People love adventure.

My verdict

Pokémon Go promotes exercise and getting outdoors … but it makes you look at your phone even more than you probably already do. And some of the things that account for its appeal—the fact that it’s somewhat mesmerizing—also have a flip side, in this case overly repetitive gameplay. You should play it, too, see for yourself, see if the appeal is well-founded, see if its current cult status is likely to last.

While I’ve noticed my interest waning (I spent hours on end in week 1 catching dozens of Pokémons and now use it only 15-30 minutes a day in week 2), I’m not sure yet if I’m getting tired of it overall, or if there’s going to be a “second wave” of excitement.

What’s your verdict?

AVG

AVG Reveals Which of the World’s Favorite Apps Cache in on Your Phone—or Don’t

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Latest AVG Technologies App Performance and Trend Report ranks newcomers Snapchat, YouTube and Google Maps among the top 10 Android ‘resource hog’ list, while Netflix is listed as ‘most improved’.

Today, AVG® Technologies (NYSE: AVG), the leading provider of software services to secure devices, data and people, revealed that Snapchat, YouTube and Google Maps are the top 3 apps most likely to drain Android device resources. The AVG Android App Performance and Trend Report H1 2016 outlines, for the period of January through April, 2016, which of the most popular apps had the most pronounced effect on battery, storage and data, highlighting that photo, video and location apps likely contribute most to draining device battery life, in particular.

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The H1 2016 report also recognizes ‘most improved’ apps, such as Netflix, previously a top ‘resource hog,’ but which did not make our top 10 charts this time around. Similarly, AppLock, a password protector for smart phones that showed up among the current report’s top 10 battery-draining apps, has improved its performance since this April, indicating that the app’s latest update may have addressed the problem.

In our internal testing of most-used apps’ behaviors, it appears that while Snapchat removes images and videos from conversations, the app’s cache is only partially deleted. We also found that YouTube stores a fair amount of cached files, as much as 270 MB. The remaining apps on AVG’s top 10 lists for H1 comprise mostly similar messaging, video, music and shopping apps—unsurprising inclusions on lists of resource-taxing apps. However, an interesting exception to this pattern is The Weather Channel app, which initiates at start-up (which users likely do not realize), immediately drawing on your network plan.

“Our latest report exposes some quirky app behavior. For instance, I question why a weather app needs to be constantly connected rather than updating on demand,” said Tony Anscombe, senior security evangelist for AVG Technologies. “You could also say that Snapchat’s keeping cached files around undermines its Mission Impossible-esque ‘self-destruct’ approach to messaging. Ultimately, if you have more than a few of these apps or types of apps on your phone or tablet, they could be to blame for those annoyingly regular low battery or low storage notifications.”

The report also highlighted other interesting general app usage trends, including:

  • Today’s average Android smartphone and tablet user has 33 apps installed on their device.
  • The 50 most-used apps include obvious entries, like Android’s own Google Search box or YouTube, but also surprises, such as TripAdvisor, which has increasingly started pushing users from its website to the mobile app.
  • Seven of the top 10 most-used smartphones are 2-4-year-old Samsung Galaxy S phones. Sony Xperia devices make up the remainder of this list.

An all-in-one cleaner and optimizer like AVG CleanerTM for AndroidTM can help keep tabs on the top mobile resource-hogging apps on your devices.

The full report can be downloaded here.

 

Methodology

The AVG App Report was gathered from a sample of aggregated and anonymized data from more than 3 million Android users around the globe. The app data included in this report covers a time period of January 2016 through April 2016 and only includes Google Play applications where AVG observed a minimum sample size of 50,000 usage incidents.

About AVG Technologies

AVG is the leading provider of software services to secure devices, data and people. AVG’s award-winning consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, location services, data controls and insights, and privacy and identity protection, for mobile devices and desktops. The award-winning AVG Business portfolio, delivered through a global partner network, provides cloud security and remote monitoring and management solutions that protect small and medium businesses around the world. For more information visit www.avg.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

Media Contacts

Stephanie Kane, Senior PR Director, AVG Technologies

[email protected]

+44 7817 631016

 

Julie Noble, Inner Circle Labs for AVG Technologies

[email protected]

+1 (415) 684-9564

AVG

What’s Killing Your Phone’s Performance? Probably 1 (or More) of These 20 Apps

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Have unlimited storage, data, battery? Then resume cat videos. But if you get “storage full” messages just before your kid’s solo or a smartphone that dies before lunch, read on.

If you feel like your phone poops out every time you really need it, don’t worry—it’s not you.

We hate to break it to you, but … It’s your apps.

We know, you love them. But it might be time to … take a break, from at least a few.

How can you know, though, which ones are sucking your battery life at the speed of light, devouring your bandwidth, and hogging every inch of space on your Android? AVG’s latest Android App Performance & Trend Report lines up the worst of the worst … and points out who’s cleaned up their act.

By analyzing anonymized data from 3 million AVG AntiVirus for Android users, we’ve done the hard work for you, and now all you need to do to get the most from your phone’s resources is compare your app roster to the lists below (Get the full report).

Top 10 user-run performance-draining apps

This rogues’ gallery highlights those which overall have the highest impact, meaning a combination of all 3 factors: battery life, data use, and storage.

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Notice anything? Spotify, Snapchat, and Outlook, apps that millions of people likely use every day, are in top spots. If you’re nowhere near a power outlet, our advice is simple: avoid using these apps for long periods of time. I myself notice that if I’m using Spotify, in particular, while browsing the web and checking email, that my Android barely makes it though a half-day before shutting down.

Snapchat’s top position was also no surprise. What was surprising was our discovery, during testing, that though the app appears to remove images and videos from conversations, Snapchat actually cached quite a few files. YouTube was also guilty of this, reaching 270 MB just after a couple of days.

Top 10 performance-draining apps that run at start-up

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Tops spots are held by Facebook and Facebook Messenger, because they continuously check for updates and send notifications. Our advice: Uninstall Facebook apps and use your browser and the web version (www.facebook.com), instead. You may notice that manually checking your feed only when you need to can make all the difference … and not leave you with a useless phone.

The last word … for now

It’s almost funny how the performance of our pocket-sized smartphones has exceeded that of PCs considered high-end just 5 years ago. Yet we’re still bound by 16 and 32 GB built-in storage, data caps, and battery technology that hasn’t improved in ages. Until the smartphone world resolves these issues, we’ll keep on keeping you informed about how you can get the most from your devices, without missing out on what’s so vital (and fun!) about them in the first place.

 

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AVG

The Top 5 Pokémon Go Woes … and How to Defeat Them

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Are you in danger of not reaching your full monster-snaring potential because of technical glitches? Never fear, fair gamer. I’ve battled the worst problems for you and bring you solutions.

 

While Pokémon Go is clearly a huge (and well deserved) success for Nintendo (and app maker Niantic), with well-thought-out gameplay mechanics, the experience isn’t as smooth as it is with many other Nintendo titles. Users have been complaining of outages, crashes, and frozen screens.

But never fear—you’re not alone. I, too, have encountered Pokémon Woes, and here’s how I fixed them.

1 – “No internet connectivity.”

 

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You can’t play if you’re not connected. Simple as that. So what’s happening when you get this message? Chances are, Niantic’s servers are at that moment literally being overrun by the millions of users worldwide. With the game’s daily use starting to exceed Tinder’s and Twitter’s (in the US … so far!), no wonder Niantic’s struggling to meet these monstrous traffic demands.

Usually when you get the above message, you just have to wait it out. But you may also have luck with closing and reopening the app. It worked for me many times (I’m not known for my patience). Easy as that.

And if you’re having connection problems while catching a Pokémon, try turning WiFi (or 3G/4G/LTE) off and on again—also worked for me, more than once.

 

2 – “Lost GPS connectivity.”

I literally see this message every hour I play. Again, closing and reopening the app or turning GPS off and on again works wonders. In some cases, a little waiting helps, too, as the GPS problem may disappear on its own.

 

3 – FREEZE!

The game has frozen on me several times, in particular right after I’ve caught a monster. This is especially troubling, since my first thought was, “Wait, did I not actually catch that Pokémon???” But not to worry. Simply restart the app and check your journal. In every case where the game froze on me, once I restarted, I found that the game’s state was successfully saved. Whew!

4 – “Server unavailable. Please try again later.”

If you get this message when your connection is 100% working, then turn off your phone’s GPS, and then try logging in to Pokémon Go. After the game has loaded, turn GPS back on, which should fix the issue.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. Android: Swipe down from the top to get quick actions and notification bar. Tap on Location to turn it off (and later on again).
  2. iOS: Go to Settings, Privacy, Location Services and switch to Off.

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5 – Missing or incorrect map data

If your avatar is constantly in the middle of nowhere, or streets are displaying as … streets, then you should either delete the app or its cache.

HOW TO DO IT (FOR ANDROID)

  1. Open AVG Cleaner for Android (no worries, it’s free!) and go to Cache.
  2. Tap the CLEAR ALL CACHE
  3. Restart the app!

If that doesn’t work, or if you’re on iOS, uninstall the app, then download it again from Google Play or the App Store to get rid of all leftover (and potentially corrupt) data.

What’s your worst app issue? How’d you fix it? Let us know in the comments!

AVG

Want to More than Double Your Battery Life for Playing Pokémon Go?

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Pokémon GO is killing smartphones in less than 3 hours. Check out our in-depth app analysis of the phenomenon and 7 battery-boosting secrets to keep on hunting on the go.

Even compared to social or streaming apps like Facebook and Spotify, games are the real phone battery vampires (see our latest “AVG App Performance and Trends Report” for the top 10 ‘resource hogs’). And an augmented reality (AR) game like Pokémon Go makes even other game apps seem downright generous, as it constantly and simultaneously requires your phone to

  • Share location via GPS
  • Keep the screen fully lit
  • Operate the camera
  • Play sounds through the speakers, and
  • Render 3D graphics.

Whew. The result? When I played Pokémon Go on my morning run, my battery went from 100% to 50% in less than 90 minutes.

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“This has got to be the single most battery-hungry app I’ve ever used,” I thought. Being a data-driven guy, as well as a hardcore gamer (PC and console gaming more than mobile, though—more about that in a future post!), I immediately tested my theory and discovered that, if you’re nonstop seeking, catching, and levelling Pokémon, then your …

  • iPhone 6S Plus battery will go from from 100% to 0% in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 will survive Pokémon Go fever only an additional half-hour, lasting 2 hours and 40 Minutes before the screen goes dark.

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Enough! I refused to let battery issues get in the way of my mastering the game (full disclosure, I’m so far only at level 15 with about 200 Pokémons collected, but I am full-on obsessed). I proceeded to systematically try every battery-saving technique I know (plus a battery-saving Android app), and turns out the effort was worth it.

AND THE RESULT? The following tweaks made my phone battery last more than 5 hours during gameplay. That’s a 123% increase. Which could mean … 123% more Pokémons. 

(And so you know my outcomes weren’t a fluke, I repeated each test 3 times and averaged the results, for accurate data. I’m nothing if not thorough.)

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1 – Use built-in Pokémon Go battery saver instead of reducing screen brightness (Android + iOS)

There’s no lack of quick online tips for boosting battery life when playing Pokémon Go, and most involve reducing screen brightness. Sure, it allows you to play longer, do you really think this is an enjoyable way to play?

 

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Reducing brightness increases reflections, particularly in direct sunlight (and, um, a whole lot of the fun of Pokémon Go involves running around outside—notice they didn’t release the game in the middle of winter). Sure, this might be tolerable at night or indoors, but to really enjoy such a fun, colorful game, you’ll want to keep the brightness above 75%.

So instead of dimming, activate Pokémon Go’s built-in battery saver and keep the brightness near maximum. When you put your phone in your pocket or hold it upside down, the built-in battery saver will automatically make the screen go dark.

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HOW TO DO IT

  1. Tap on the Pokéball icon
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Tap on Battery Saver

In battery saver mode, you remain logged in to the game and can hear sounds or feel vibration when Pokémons are nearby, without the massive power drain. While you’re at it, you can also turn off music or sound effects, which also has a slight effect on battery life. Just don’t turn off vibration, otherwise you won’t know when one of the pocket monsters is nearby, wanting to be caught!

2 – Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi (or 3G/4G)

The game requires a nonstop data connection and a GPS signal. So if you’re at home, don’t use your 4G/LTE connection, which is one of the heaviest resource drainers you’ve got.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. iOS: Go to Settings, Cellular and switch off Cellular Data
  2. Android: Swipe down to bring up the quick actions and notifications center, turn off Mobile Data

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If you absolutely need your mobile data connection (if you’re out and about), use a 3G connection, which often uses less battery than does 4G/LTE. The rule here is … there is no rule yet, you’ll need to test this a bit for yourself.

While 4G/LTE chips have become more efficient, in some rural areas with spotty connections you might end up draining the battery more quickly than when you’re using a solid 3G connection—or vice versa! Fortunately, Pokémon Go doesn’t drain a ton of data. During my 24 hours of nonstop testing, playing used only 4.2 MB on my iPhone and 5.9 MB on my Galaxy S6.

However, while this isn’t a lot of data, the game does transfer a lot of small data packets back and forth, preventing your 3G/4G/LTE chip from going to sleep, meaning it consumes more than it should.  If you’re on the go, you should also make sure that WiFi and Bluetooth are turned off, to give a little more edge to your battery life.

 

3 – Use iOS and Android’s battery saver

Both iOS and Android offer built-in battery savers that, for example, throttle your phone’s performance a bit, use a more energy-efficient display color temperature, and reduce background app activities to a bare minimum.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. iOS: Settings, Battery and Low Power Mode
  2. Android: Settings, Battery and Power saving mode (flip the switch)

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4 – Don’t use any unnecessary resource-eating apps

As our regular AVG App Performance and Trends  report has shown, background apps can kill your smartphone’s battery even if you’re not using them actively.

To prevent that from raining on your Pokémon Go parade, turn off background activities and notifications for all apps you don’t need (in addition to the power savers, which limit most, but not all background activities). By doing so, your phone will spend less battery life checking for and displaying app notifications.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. On both Android and iOS, you’ll find the notification settings under Settings and Notifications
  2. Flip the switch for all apps whose alerts you can do without

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5 – Use a dedicated battery booster (Android only)

To save even more battery life for Pokémon Go, I’ve also used our own AVG Cleaner for Android 3.3, which comes with dedicated battery profiles and even more settings to save battery life when you really need it (for example, when you’re trying to level up Pidgeotto).

HOW TO DO IT

  1. Download the free app, open it and tap on Battery.
  2. Now you have multiple choices …
    1. Go to Choose Manual Settings and turn off battery-draining functionality like WiFi, Bluetooth, Brightness, Screen rotation and Auto sync data.
    2. Select Home profile when you’re playing at home and Car profile when you’re out and about. Quickly switching between them helps squeeze even more juice from your phone’s battery.
  3. Bonus tip: After you’ve used it for a day or two, AVG Cleaner for Android will automatically show you your phone’s top battery-drainers, so you know which apps to avoid, stop, or even uninstall when playing Pokémon Go.
    1. Open the app and tap on Analyze. Scroll down to the Battery-Hungry apps section and Force Stop or Uninstall what you don’t need. For a full list, go back to the main menu of AVG Cleaner and tap on Battery.

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6 – Don’t zoom, don’t rotate, use less AR

One of the biggest drains on your phone’s battery is the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), which is responsible for all the nifty 3D rendering in games, websites, videos and, well, everything you see on your display. Since 3D animations cost a lot of cycles, keep the rotation and zooming on the Pokémon Go map to an absolute minimum.

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Also, when catching a Pokémon, turn off the AR (camera) feature if you’re running low on battery, by flipping the switch in the lower right corner. Instead of the camera picture (which drains more battery), you’ll see a static landscape that’s a bit more power-saving.

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7 – Or … give up and get a battery pack!

For my longer trips overseas I usually bring an external battery to keep my phones and laptops charged (not all airlines have gotten the message that people might appreciate a power plug on every seat). And while you don’t necessarily need a brick like this …

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… any battery pack that’ll charge up your phone at least twice should be good to satisfy your daily monster-catching needs.

Did it Work?

Let’s turn it over to you: Did our tips help you get through the day when playing Pokémon Go? Got more tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

AVG

AVG Technologies Android App Performance Report 2016

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Latest AVG Technologies App Performance and Trend Report ranks newcomers Snapchat, YouTube and Google Maps among the top 10 Android ‘resource hog’ list, while Netflix is listed as ‘most improved’.

Press Release

AVG Reveals Which of the World’s Favorite Apps Cache in on Your Phone—or Don’t

Full report

AVG Technologies Android App Performance Trends H1

Performance Optimization Guide

Android Optimization Performance Guide H1

Blog Post

What’s Killing Your Phone’s Performance? Probably 1 (or More) of These 20 Apps

Images

2016 App Performance print

2016 App Performance high res

 

 

 

 

AVG

Bart’s Shenanigans Are No Match for AVG

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AVG has decrypted Bart. No, not that Bart—there’s one that’s much worse. AVG Virus Lab researchers have created an easy fix for restoring files that fell victim to Bart ransomware.

Ransomware, like mouthy, slingshot-wielding grade-schoolers, just won’t stop popping up. One of the latest, appropriately called Bart, spreads primarily through emails with subject lines about photos and images. Though relatively new, Bart’s already wrought havoc, encrypting and demanding payment for files’ release far beyond Springfield—in fact, all over the world. And just like the world-famous “The Simpsons” character, Bart creates chaos using simply effective tools, locking users’ files in password-protected ZIP files.

But you don’t have to be at Bart’s mercy any longer. AVG has created a decryption tool for current Bart versions to add to our growing list of decryptors, which you can easily use to foil hackers and keep yourself and your information safe.

 

How Will You Know Bart if You See It?

Bart ransomware appears to be the work of the same criminals behind Dridex and Locky. Rather than rewriting files with their encrypted versions, as Dridex and Locky do, Bart moves each file to a separate password-protected archive (ZIP file), then deletes the originals. But the results for the unwitting computer user are the same: no access to their own files … unless they pay a ransom.

Fortunately, Bart’s easy to identify. Infected machines include the bart.zip extension on original file names—for example, thesis.docx.bart.zip. Furthermore, the desktop wallpaper is usually changed to an image like this one:

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The text on this image can also be used to help identify Bart, as it ‘s stored in files called “recover.bmp” and “recover.txt” on the victim’s desktop.

 

You Can Get Your Files Back—Easy as 1, 2, 3!

The encrypted files are also easy to recognize, because they’re ZIP archives, denoted by .zip  extensions. The trick is they’re password-protected, by a unique (and looong) password.

But never fear, AVG’s Bart decryptor works by comparing a single encrypted file with its unencrypted original. So before you download and run the tool, select an available original file for comparison, then follow these simple instructions:

  1. Select the file you want to compare. If all your files have been encrypted, you can often find an original in one of these places:
    1. A backup from the cloud or on a flash drive or other external drive.
    2. standard Windows sound or picture (e.g. wallpaper), which you can download from the web.
    3. A document, picture, or video you received in an email./var/www/now.avg.com/18.47.0/wp content/uploads/2016/07/bartimage1
  2. Copy the file to your desktop (Bart no longer encrypts files after asking you for money, so you should be okay) and download and run the Bart decryptor.
    1. A window will open asking you to add the encrypted file and the original (see Figure 2). The encrypted file should be in its original folder, the only difference being the “.bart” extension, as below.
  3. Once you’ve selected both files, click <NEXT>, and the tool does the rest, just as do all our decryptors.

 

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Peter Conrad, author of PkCrack, who hereby granted permission to use his library in Bart decryptor. It takes a village.

AVG

3 reasons to never use fingerprint locks on phones

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Fingerprint locks—Touch ID on iPhones —may be easy to use, but they are far from perfect. After reviewing the risks, you may want to return to using PINs and passwords.

We officially have a password problem. The average user in 2015 had at least 90 online accounts, says Dashlane, maker of a popular password manager. In the UK, the number was 118. In the US, a whopping 130. Even more troubling, we store far too many login details on our phones and tablets (I am certainly guilty of this), meaning anyone with access to our phones can also access our accounts.

Fingerprint locks—Touch ID for iPhone users—promised to be our salvation. They are easy to use and depend on characteristics unique to each of us. We are also always attached to our digits, so they cannot be stolen or forgotten. And dactylogram complexity supposedly makes our prints nearly impossible to crack.

The reality, however, is rather different. Of the various reasons to not use fingerprint locks, for me, three stand out:

#1 People can hack your fingerprints (and scanners)

We leave fingerprints behind everywhere we go: on doorknobs, on railings, on cups and glasses, on keypads, on screens, in photos—you name it. So there are lots of places hackers can harvest this supposedly uncrackable password.

The Chaos Computer Club demonstrated this as far back as 2008. To protest a German politician’s proposal to implement biometrics, the club used a photograph to recreate his fingerprint. In 2013, it used latex to create a fake finger to open a lock. More recently, the approach has been repeated with playdough and Elmer’s glue, highlighting just how easy it is becoming to recreate physical prints.

Worse yet, fingerprints can also be hacked virtually. At the 2015 Black Hat convention in Las Vegas, a couple of security experts demonstrated a number of hacks for fingerprint locks. They built an app that mimicked a phone’s unlock screen; when used by the victim, it could approve a financial transaction. They pre-loaded fingerprints onto the phone, enabling access. They showed it was relatively easy to rebuild a fingerprint from the file used to store it. And they hacked the scanner itself, allowing them to grab fingerprint images whenever used.

#2 You can change your password

This is so basic it is often overlooked. When my email account was hacked several years ago, I changed the password and the problem went away. But if someone were to hack my fingerprint, they would always have it. Think about that what means. Fingerprints are forever. Once the bad guys have them, they can keep using or selling them to other bad guys. This is particularly disturbing when you consider how many government organizations collect fingerprints and the increasing number of private firms using it for authentications.

#3 Police don’t need your permission to unlock a phone with biometrics

It is also important to remember that we are not always in control of our own hands. All someone has to do to get you to unlock your phone is press your fingers against the screen.

This has been allowed in the US, where a judge granted a search order to police officers in Glendale, California. The position is that a fingerprint is “physical evidence,” akin to a physical key, which can be gathered as evidence or demanded by court order. Moreover, fingerprints are readily available because they are routinely collected as part of basic police and legal procedures. And because fingerprints are physical and not “testimony,” they are not protected by the Fifth Amendment’s clause on self-incrimination.

Not so passwords and PIN codes. Forcing a person to show you something “in their mind” is testimonial, and thus coercion is prohibited. Large tech companies (including AVG) make a similar argument about corporate information. Fighting the FBI to a largely unresolved standstill over access to the phone used by the San Bernardino terrorist, Apple made the legal argument that the FBI was attempting to force Apple to speak—and speak against its own interests, something that should not be allowed. The FBI dropped the case after paying a third party to hack the phone. While rent-a-hacker proved effective, it also proved rather expensive; and for the time being, most cases are unlikely to warrant such an investment.

Still, it is within the realm of possibility that law enforcement agencies could force or coerce manufactures to include back doors to devices for harvesting prints through fingerprint locks.

Final note on fingerprints and security

Of course I don’t expect people to give up using fingerprint locks. They are just too convenient. Right or wrong, however, the power of government to collect and store information on our digital selves is soaring. The FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System includes tens of millions of prints not related to criminal activity, collected from military personnel, government workers, and other innocents. And more generally, government files are not always secure. The 2015 data breech at the US Office of Personnel Management included 5.6 million fingerprints, suggesting fingerprints have become one more thing that can be hacked and used to violate our privacy, in this case, for a very long time.