Instagram Will Notify You if Your Friend Screenshots Your DM

With the roll-out of a new update,  Instagram will now notify your friends when you take a screenshot of their Direct Messages (DM) - a media report said.

However, the notifications are only for the new disappearing message feature, Mashable reported.
To use the new feature, a user can swipe right into the camera to take a photo or video, then tap the arrow to send it privately.

A user can pick up a group or create one in just a few taps - and can also send to individual friends at the same time.
According to Instagram's statement, "Unlike other messages in Direct, these photos and videos disappear from your friend's inboxes after they have seen them. And you will see if they replayed it or took a screenshot."

WhatsApp launches video calling for all

WhatsApp on Tuesday launched the video calling feature for its Indian users. The feature was already available for beta users since early October.
WhatsApp India's business head Neeraj Arora announced that the chat app has now more than 160 million monthly active users making India the largest market for WhatsApp. "India is the biggest country we have- more users than any other country in the world," Arora told Economic Times. "Video calling is a big step forward. It is in line with our mission- we want to make sure we give every possible way for people to stay in touch with their families and friends. Video calling is the most immersive and something that makes you feel really close to somebody else."

To use the new feature, WhatsApp users can get on the call button in the top right corner of a conversation, which will bring up an overlaid method asking if you want to voice or video call the friend or family member you’re chatting with. To open the video call, you simply select the “video call” option from this screen. During the call itself, you can switch between the forward-facing and rear camera, mute the call or press the red button to hang up. 
 With video calling, WhatsApp is belatedly overtaking with a number of rivals, including Facebook’s own Messenger app, for example, as well as Skype, Apple’s FaceTime, Viber, LINE and Google’s recently launched Duo, to name a few.

Hike Messenger adds new features - Stories, Camera and Live Filters

Hike Messenger, India’s first home-grown messaging platform, has updated three new features on its messaging app for India. These three features are – Stories, Camera & Live Filters.
 Stories is a new way for people on Hike to share their lives and real moments with their friends through photos and videos. These stories vanish  48 hours after being posted, quite like real life where everyday moments are experienced and are not carved in history forever.  In the Story feature, a user can see how many people and who all have viewed that particular story, unlike the Loves that was featured on Timeline feature.

Hike also launched its own  built-in camera into the app for easiness of the user. It also announced the Live Filters feature that uses Hike's camera to automatically detect and recognise a user's face using machine learning. Hike has 12 Live filters available at launch, including one that changes a user's face to that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hike's Live Filters ranging from a cool Black and White Sunglasses to a Turban and a Moustache and much more. Hike plans to update these filters on a weekly basis to ensure users have new content according to the season and festivals.

 You can download the latest version of Hike to try it out from here: http://get.hike.in/

the hike also launched its own built-in camera into the app - See more at http://www.newskarnataka.com/technology/hike-messenger-grows-big-launches-three-new-features#sthash.x3FYNmuz.dpuf

Boomerang and Mention, New to Instagram stories

Instagram brought in a new feature called 'stories' that allow users to thread together multiple shots or video that can be shared with friends,that was in the month of august. Instagram added two new features to Instagram stories.
 The new update of the Instagram app brings features 'Boomerang' and 'Mentions'.

Boomerang

 Boomerang feature create short, dynamic videos that you can share on Instagram. The videos last like more than two seconds and basically a very quick succession of 10 photographs. The final result is really fun. The video will play forward and backward.This feature can be accessed from the bottom of the screen after opening the stories camera.

Mention

 The Mention feature allow users to tag people inside their stories. Type "@" followed by a username, just like in caption and comments.

Meet Google Duo, Get closer to every one

 Video calling is the next best thing to being with someone in person. But it can be a complicated experience,you shouldn't have to worry about whether your call will connect. Duo is easily one of the coolest apps released on last month. Developed by google,this free video calling app was officially launched mid-august and it has one trick that makes it immediately exciting. When you make a call, Duo will begin video capture and display this on the receivers screen before they have been answered
 Duo is very simple from start to finish, just mobile number is required and you'll be able to conect people in your phone's contact list. There is no need to create a seperate account, so you can sign up in just a few steps. Duo is fast and reliable, so that video calls connect quickly and work well even in slow networks. Moreover Duo calls are end-to-end encrypted.

Google launches WhatsApp competitor Allo

Google has launched its latest mobile chat app called Google Allo, a smart messaging app that helps you more and do more.

 

 

It is available on Android and iPhone and has similar features to most other messaging apps like stickers and emoji. Stickers in Google Allo are designed by independent artists and studios from around the world.

Google's "smart reply" will feature predicting responses to the messages without typing a single word. Allo understands the conversation history to generate a set of suggestions that the user will likely want to respond with. In addition to understanding the context of your conversation, Allo learns your individual style so the responses are personalized for you.

Google Allo brings you Google assistant. Your assistant can suggest restaurants nearby or movies to check out right in your conversation. Find videos to share, get directions and seek answers together with your friends. Just add @google, and your assistant is ready to help. You can have group conversation or chat one on one with your assistant.

Send messages with end-to-end encryption in incognito mode. Incognito mode also comes with expiring chats so you can control how long your messages stick around and private notification to help keep your chats more discreet.

* some features not available in all countries.