Technologies

Adobe’s New iOS and Android AI Apps Let You Use Google’s Veo 3, Runway and More

The Firefly AI mobile apps come with a few free credits for you to experiment with the AI image and video generators.

Adobe’s Firefly AI is now available as mobile apps for iPhones and Androids, the company announced on Tuesday. These apps are free to download and let you use Firefly to create AI images and videos on the go. Plus, the app comes with a few free generative credits for you to experiment with Adobe’s AI.

Adobe is also expanding its roster of third-party AI partners to include six new models from Ideogram, Pika, Luma and Runway. Google’s latest AI models are also joining the lineup, including the internet-famous Veo 3 AI video generation model with native audio capabilities and the Imagen 4 text-to-image model support. Finally, its moodboarding AI program, Firefly Boards, is generally available today after months in beta.

Here’s everything you need to know about Adobe’s newest batch of Firefly AI updates. For more, check out our favorite AI image generators and what to know about AI video models.

Firefly AI for iOS and Android users

Adobe’s Firefly mobile apps will let you access its AI image and video capabilities from your phone. A mobile app felt like the next natural step, since Adobe saw that mobile web usage of Firefly noticeably increased after Adobe’s Firefly video capability launched in early 2025.

Not every Firefly feature will be available at launch, but for now, we know that these features will be included: text-to-image, text- and image-to-video, generative fill, and generative expand. You can download the app now from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The app is free to download, but you’ll need a Firefly-inclusive Adobe plan to really use the app. In the hopes that you’ll sign up for a full plan, Adobe gives you 12 free generation Firefly credits (10 for images, two for videos, which doesn’t shake out to many of each). So you can use those to see if Firefly is a good fit for you.

Firefly plans start at $10 per month for 2,000 credits (about 20 videos), increasing in price and generation credits from there. Depending on your Adobe plan, you may already have access to Firefly credits, so double-check that first.

Adobe’s six new AI models from Google, Runway and more

Adobe’s also adding new outside AI creative models to its offerings, including image and video models from Ideogram, Pika, Luma and Runway. You might recognize the name Runway from its deal with Lionsgate to create models for the entertainment giant. Ideogram, Pika and Luma are all other well-known AI creative services. Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator is also joining, bringing its first-of-its-kind synchronized AI audio capabilities, along with the latest generation of Google’s AI image model.

This is the second batch of third-party models that Adobe has added to its platform. Earlier this spring, Adobe partnered with OpenAI, Google and Black Forest (creator of Flux) to bring the companies’ AI models to Adobe. What’s unique about this is that all third-party models have to agree to Adobe’s AI policy, which prevents all the companies from training on customers’ content — even if the individual companies don’t have that policy on their own, it’s standardized across all models offered through Adobe. This is also true for the new models added today. For AI-wary professional creators who make up the majority of Adobe users, that’s a bit of good news.

You’ll need a paid Firefly plan to access outside models; otherwise, you’ll just have access to the Adobe models. Here are all the AI models available through Adobe:

Adobe Firefly Image 3
Adobe Firefly Image 4
Adobe Firefly Image Ultra
Flux 1.1 Pro
Flux 1 Kontext
Google’s Imagen 3
OpenAI’s image generation model
(new) Ideogram 3
(new) Google’s Imagen 4
(new) Runway’s Gen-4 Image

For video, you can use:

Adobe Firefly Video
Google Veo 2
(new) Google Veo 3
(new) Luma AI Ray 2
(new) Pika’s text-to-video generator

Adobe’s own Firefly AI models are trained on a combination of Adobe Stock and other licensed content. You can learn more in Adobe’s AI guidelines and approach to AI.

AI moodboarding gets a boost

Other Adobe updates include the general release of its moodboarding program, Firefly Boards, which has been in beta since April. Moodboarding is a practice that lets you cluster together different elements, like colors and shapes, to evoke specific moods and aesthetics. It’s a good initial step for planning content and campaigns.

You can use the infinite canvas to brainstorm and plan content. You can generate images and videos in Boards using Adobe and non-Adobe models; the setups are very similar to generating in the regular Firefly window. Boards are collaborative, so you can edit with multiple people. A new one-click arrange button can help you organize and visualize your files more easily, a much-requested feature that came out of the beta.

Firefly boards are synced up with your Adobe account. So you can select a photo in a Board, open it in Photoshop and edit it. Those changes will then be synced up with your Firefly Board in less than a minute, so you can always see the latest version of your file without needing to be limited to editing in Boards.

For more, check out Premiere Pro’s first generative AI feature and the best Photoshop AI tools.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance.

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.