Welcome back to our weekly Windows 10 Mobile news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s mobile operating system. Let’s get started.
Microsoft to release Authenticator apps in all mobile stores on August 15th
Security is a huge deal, and Microsoft likes to pride itself on being a company on the forefront of keeping your information safe. In the interest of adding that extra necessary layer of security to the accounts of wary Windows 10 users, Microsoft is releasing an authenticator app for their mobile devices on August 15th. The app will be supporting one-click push notifications, wearables, and fingerprint sensors – covering all of your multi-factor authentication needs.
A Windows 10 app helps Pokémon Go fans cheat
Pokemon Go still isn’t out on Windows 10 Mobile, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve got to miss out on the fun entirely. In just one night, Windows 10 Mobile developer Daniel Gary put together an app that made it so you can scan areas for Pokemon, getting an exact location on all of the Pokemon in your area. You can’t do anything with that information on your own if you only have Windows 10 Mobile, but you can go out with an Android/iPhone using friend and go Pokemon-hunting with crazy efficiency. Not long after its release, the app got some updates which made it so you can filter out certain Pokemon, activate night mode, and get handy notifications.
More Lumia 950 XLs are getting the double tap to wake OTA firmware update
The double tap to wake feature has been slowly rolling out to Lumia 950 users with a firmware update, but the slow pacing has meant that plenty of people with the phone have so far been left waiting. Thankfully, another significant batch of Lumia 950 XL users are getting treated to the firmware update now. To make matters just a bit better, among the group of lucky 950 XL users to get the update are Australians – people who tend to get saved until last with things like this.
Unsupported Windows phones being locked out of Windows 10 Mobile upgrades
If you’re running a Windows 10 Mobile Insider build on a phone that technically doesn’t support Windows 10, take our advice: Do NOT roll back. Not unless you want to get nice and cozy with Windows Phone 8.1. With Redstone fast approaching, a member of the community has discovered that some changes are happening to the way that some Windows mobile devices are going to be functioning. It seems that from now on, if your phone isn’t on the list of supported Windows 10 Mobile devices, you’re totally out of luck when it comes to upgrading.
Microsoft’s Lumia sales for FY16 Q4 found in 10-K filings
Microsoft refused to release the numbers for their Lumia sales this fiscal quarter, and it makes sense considering the abysmal numbers we’re led to believe they’ve had. While the sales figures weren’t directly released to us, we can look into Microsoft’s 10-K filings to figure out a general idea – this time around, we’re looking at 1.2 million units. That’s down from 5.8, 4.5, and 2.3 million units in the first 3 quarters of 2016’s fiscal year respectively. Ouch.
Amazon refuses to confirm it is working on a Windows 10 app but doesn’t deny it either
We don’t quite know whether or not Amazon is going to be releasing a Windows 10 application, but it definitely feels like they’re flirting with the idea. We reported on rumors that such an app was on the way, and not long after that Amazon reached out to us to say that they “cannot comment” on their “product roadmap.” Call us crazy, but it seems like it would have been easier to just say “We aren’t making a Windows 10 app” if that’s what they meant. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more developments, but until then, the folks at Amazon say you should just stick to Amazon on your browser.
Here is the build news for this week: