This week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Fitbit has agreed to pay a $12.25 million settlement over one of their older smartwatches, which had a battery defect that left some users with serious burns. Meanwhile, Fitbit itself announced that some of its more recent smartwatches—the Sense and the Versa 3—may also have an issue with overheating batteries that could pose a hazard to wearers, and is updating their software to fix the issue.

What is the problem with Sense and Versa 3?

According to a notice posted on the Fitbit Help Center, some (not all) Sense and Versa 3 devices have a defective battery that could overheat and possibly cause burns. Both of those watches were released in 2020. So far, Fitbit has not identified any newer watches as having this problem. 

What to do if you have a Sense or a Versa 3 

Fitbit says they are rolling out an update to the affected watches (again, not every Sense or Versa 3) that will limit its battery capabilities. Fitbit says: “The update will improve the stability of the device’s battery performance and reduce the risk of the battery overheating. As a result, the battery will last for shorter periods between charges and you may need to charge your device more frequently.”

If you don’t want to update your device, too bad. According to that notice, after several days, your device will factory reset itself. This means it will delete any data that wasn’t synced to your phone, and you’ll have to do the setup process all over again. In the course of the setup process, the new firmware update will be installed. There doesn’t seem to be a way to continue using the device without the update. 

You’ll know your device is due for an update thanks to notifications that will be sent to your phone, the device, and to your email. 

You can get $50 if you have an “impacted” Sense or Versa 3

To soften the blow, Fitbit has a set up a form you can fill out to “determine eligibility” for a $50 “appeasement” if your device was one of the ones forced to update. Fitbit says it could take a week to verify whether you’re eligible, during which time they may ask you for more information, and then another three weeks to process the payment. 

Fitbit also agreed to pay a fine over an earlier dangerous battery issue

While it shouldn’t affect any current Fitbit users, the company has also agreed to pay a $12.25 million settlement to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission over an earlier battery issue. The Ionic, a smartwatch launched in 2017, started burning people’s wrists as early as 2018, according to reports the company received. 

In 2020, the same year the Ionic was discontinued, Fitbit rolled out a battery update to reduce the risk of overheating (hmm, sounds familiar) but continued to receive reports of burns. They worked with the CPSC to do a full recall in 2022. You can find more information about that recall here.

The settlement Fitbit is paying now is not directed at consumers who had the affected watches (that compensation was intended to be addressed with the recall), but to the CPSC itself, for failing to notify the government agency about such a seriously hazardous product. There were 78 reports of burn injuries, including two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns, the CPSC says. The company is also required to “maintain internal controls and procedures designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).”

A battery update isn’t necessarily an ideal fix for consumers. For example, Fitbit parent company Google recently rolled out a battery update to its old Pixel 4a phones (released in 2020) that some users are saying makes the devices unusable. I’ve reached out to Fitbit to ask if the Sense and Versa 3 update is related to the CPSC settlement and will update this article if I hear back. 

A recent software update meant to stabilize battery performance on the Pixel 4a has had an unexpected side effect: Some Pixel 4a owners are reporting that their phones can now barely hold a charge. There’s a particularly egregious example on Reddit, where a user reported that their phone is down from seven hours of screen time on a single charge to just 30 minutes.

Pixel 4a’s battery performance issues

Earlier this month, Google published a detailed document explaining the Pixel 4a software update to Android 13. The company says that some people are experiencing a degradation in the battery’s capacity, runtime, or performance, as is expected with lithium-ion batteries of a certain age. However, in the Pixel 4a’s case, Google decided to push a software update to provide more stable battery performance, but the caveat is that it may lead to reduced battery life and slower charging. 

In the document, Google said, “For some devices (“Impacted Devices”), the update includes new battery management features to improve the stability of your battery’s performance, so the battery may last for shorter periods between charges. Users of Impacted Devices may also notice other changes, like reduced charging performance or changes to how the battery-level indicator on your phone shows your battery capacity.” As a result, some Pixel 4a users have been left with phones that can barely hold a charge. 

Google’s solution for Pixel 4a battery issues

The company has offered a few options for Pixel 4a owners impacted by this software update: a free battery replacement, a one-time payment of $50, or a $100 credit that you can use toward a new Pixel phone from Google.

Reddit users appear to have had good experiences with battery replacements, with some of them reporting that they were able to get it done in under two hours. Most people have recommended taking in your device in-person in order to ensure the lowest possible turnaround time and to reduce the risk of loss or damage. Having said that, it involves some effort in backing up the device and a factory reset. Although people have got their batteries replaced without doing either, I don’t recommend it. A complete backup is an essential step if you don’t want to lose data. The factory reset step ensures that strangers can’t access all the data on your unlocked phone.

How to check if your Pixel 4a is impacted

Google calls affected Pixel 4a “Impacted Devices.” You can check if yours is one of them by going to this Google Pixel support page and follow the on-screen prompts to opt for one of the three offered solutions. You’ll be able to either ask for a free battery replacement, request store credit, or take the cash payment.

Paramount+’s February slate includes the return of several highly anticipated series, starting with the season three premiere of thriller Yellowjackets (Feb. 14). The show, which received a handful of Primetime Emmy nominations, follows a group of teenage girls who survived a plane crash in the wilderness into their adult lives. The third installment picks up in the aftermath of a character’s present-day death in season two.

Fans of the Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone universe are getting the second (and final) season of prequel series and origin story 1923 (Feb. 23), starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as the Dutton family patriarch and matriarch in harsh conditions of the pre-Depression era. There are also new seasons of Paramount+ originals NCIS: Sydney (Feb. 7), The Equalizer (Feb. 16), and Tracker (Feb. 16).

Paramount+ will stream the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 2. The show—hosted by Trevor Noah—is airing on CBS at 8 p.m. ET and will be available live for Paramount+ With Showtime subscribers. Finally, there’s On TV: A Black History Month Special (Feb. 17), an hour-long news show hosted by Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner celebrating Black excellence in TV and entertainment.

Here’s everything else coming to the service in February. Note that titles with an asterisk are exclusive to Paramount+ With Showtime; everything else is also available to subscribers on the ad-supported plan. Those with two asterisks are available to Paramount+ With Showtime users streaming live on CBS and to all subscribers the following day.

Paramount+ Originals and premieres coming in February 2025

Available February 1

• Ride*

Available February 2

• 67th Annual Grammy Awards**

Available February 4

• Burden of Guilt, premiere

Available February 6

• Death Without Mercy, premiere*

Available February 12

• Eric Clapton Unplugged…Over 30 Years Later, special premiere

Available February 14

• Yellowjackets, season 3 premiere*

Available February 17

• On TV: A Black History Month Special**

Available February 23

• 1923, season 2 premiere

TV shows coming to Paramount+ in February 2025

Available February 5

• Bar Rescue (season 9)

• The Patrick Star Show (season 2)

• Super Bowl Greatest Commercials: F.O.A.T special**

Available February 7

• NCIS: Sydney (season 2 premiere)**

Available February 12

• PAW Patrol: Big Truck Pups

• CMT Crossroads (seasons 1-3,5,10-16,18-20)

• How Did They Fix That? (season 3)

• MTV Unplugged (seasons 1-8, 10-13)

• VH1 Storytellers (seasons 1-9, 11-13,15,16)

Available February 16

• The Equalizer (season 5 winter premiere)**

• Tracker (season 2 winter premiere)**

Available February 17

• On TV: A Black History Month Special**

Available February 24

• Beyond the Gates (season 1)

Available February 26

• Survivor (season 48)**

• The Loud House (season 7)

Movies coming to Paramount+ in February 2025

Available February 1

• A Mighty Heart

• A Walk on the Moon

• Adore

• Along Came A Spider

• American Gigolo

• Attack the Block

• Babel

• Bebe’s Kids

• Birthday Girl

• Boys And Girls

• Brokeback Mountain

• Chocolate City

• Cinema Paradiso

• Come Away

• Critical Condition

• Dangerous Beauty

• Doubt

• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

• Geostorm

• Hooking Up

• I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell*

• In & Out

• Into The Wild

• Jersey Girl

• Juice

• Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

• Like Water for Chocolate

• Losing Isaiah

• Mansfield Park

• Marvin’s Room

• Men, Women & Children

• Menace II Society

• Muriel’s Wedding

• My Best Friend’s Wedding

• My Boss’s Daughter

• O (Othello)

• Old School

• Pretty In Pink

• Road to Perdition

• Roman Holiday

• Saturday Night Fever

• Serendipity

• Shakespeare in Love

• Shall We Dance?

• Shooter

• Suffragette

• Terms of Endearment

• The Babysitter

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

• The Color Purple

• The Evening Star

• The Firm

• The Hunt for Red October

• The Love Guru

• The Love Letter

• The Mask

• The Pursuit of Happyness

• The Smurfs

• The Smurfs 2

• The Stepford Wives

• The To Do List

• The Wood

• Transformers

• Vampire in Brooklyn

• What Lies Beneath

• What Women Want

• When Harry Met Sally

• Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!

• World War Z

• Wuthering Heights (2003)

Available February 3

• Bull*

• The Nanny Diaries*

Available February 12

• Fanboys*

Available February 17

• Halloween*

• Deadlock

Available February 24

• Southpaw*

Available February 27

• The Aviary*

Available February 28

• Crossing Over*

In the two days since Donald Trump was sworn into office, you may have noticed something odd on social media: You and your friends might be following Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, first lady Melania Trump, and the Trump White House on Instagram and Facebook, despite never following these three individuals before. It begs the question: Did Meta automatically follow these accounts on your behalf?

Instagram isn’t necessarily forcing you to follow Trump

According to Meta, the answer is no. The company is referring outlets to a post on Threads from Meta communications spokesperson Andy Stone, who says: “A reminder: the Facebook.com/POTUS and Facebook.com/White… accounts are managed by the White House. They change when the occupant of the White House changes.” Cosmopolitan obtained another statement from Meta, which reads: “People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady … Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes. This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition. It may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as these accounts change hands.”

The explanation makes some sense: If the account, like the presidency itself, is more than just its current occupant, then users who follow the official POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts are really following whoever happens to be president, vice president, and first lady at the time. In fact, it’s what happened last time: This CNN article from January of 2021 talks about how most social media platforms—including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube—transitioned their POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts (and their followers) to the incoming Biden administration. At the time, Twitter was the only network that decided not to automatically transfer followers, and instead shared alerts with users about how to follow the new accounts.

Some users are pointing to the fact Meta itself seems to suggest these accounts are brand new. If you look at the official account of the President (not Trump’s personal account, mind you) Instagram says the “date joined” was January 2025. (The verification date is exactly the same.) That is adding to the confusion from users: Meta says these accounts are established and changing with the current holder of the office, but also that Trump’s POTUS account was made this month. However, if you look at President Biden’s archived account, it says the date joined and verified was January 2021, suggesting the Biden account was also started when he assumed power.

Meta’s political problems

To me, the issue lies more in miscommunication, polarization, and existing grievances from users with the platform. Meta should have made it clearer to users that they were not following the politicians themselves, rather an account that will change when the politicians do. If you have no interest in following a new president or vice president, you shouldn’t feel you were forced to do so.

And that brings me to the larger point: Meta is simply setting themselves up to look very sympathetic to the new Trump administration. Mark Zuckerberg was one of the tech giants who attended the inauguration, after all, so when his platform seemingly follows the new president, vice president, and first lady on behalf of its users—whether that’s necessarily true or not—it plays into that idea. That comes at the same time the company is openly moving rightward with its politics, and embracing politics in general more than ever. Earlier this year, Instagram and Threads did a 180, making it the default to add political content to feeds from accounts users don’t follow. At the same time, Meta also backtracked its policies on fact-checking and hate speech across its platforms.

Meta has alienated a sizable portion of its user base in recent months, so when those users open their apps to see that they’re now following politicians the company seems biased towards—politicians those users may vehemently disagree with—it creates a situation like what we see today, with headlines abuzz about Meta forcing users to follow Trump, Vance, Melania, and the Trump White House. Just scan the comments on the POTUS, VPOTUS, and White House accounts to see how unhappy many users are to be following them. (At this time, FLOTUS has no posts.)

You might have to wait to unfollow these accounts

Unfortunately, unfollowing these accounts might not be as easy as, well, hitting “unfollow.” According to Andy Stone, it might take some time for unfollow requests to process, which means you might be stuck with any combination of these three in your feed.

On the other hand, if you were following the previous administration on any of these three accounts, you will still be following their archived accounts, as well. Being archived, you won’t see new posts from these accounts, so the choice is up to you whether to stay followed or not.

Controlling a computer with a mouse might seem like second nature to you, but to people with motor control issues or other disabilities preventing them from keeping a steady hand on a peripheral, it can be a frustrating endeavor. That’s why Google’s giving Chromebook users the ability to control their cursors with their faces.

Initially announced in December, Face Control allows Chromebooks to use your webcam and facial gestures as input. Look down to move your cursor down to your menu, or look up and to the left to hover over the Compose button in Gmail. Move your mouth left or right to left-click or right-click, and open your mouth to start using voice-to-text.

Assuming there are no hiccups, the tool should allow for entirely hands-free control, intended to aid with accessibility. According to Google, this is another AI-powered feature, and “uses a series of machine learning models” to generate a 3D mesh of your face with 478 specific facial points for fine control.

There’s a small catch, in that Google recommends 8GB of RAM for the best performance, but now that the feature’s out of beta, you’re free to try it for yourself and test it out. Google says it’s rolling out to all users now, alongside features to access reading mode in the Chrome browser with more natural voices, plus use a screen reader in “previously inaccessible PDFs.”

On the more fun side of things, Face Control is actually fairly similar to Project Gameface, a similar tool Google developed for Windows and Android that allows gamers to control titles like World of Warcraft by mapping facial gestures to in-game actions. 

Unfortunately, while Project Gameface is open-source, allowing developers to tweak the tool and add support for it as they wish, Face Control is limited to ChromeOS for now. To turn it on once it rolls out to you, find it under the Accessibility menu at Settings > Accessibility.