Microsoft on Thursday released five new applications for the iPhone and iPad. Available free of charge in the App Store, the News, Money, Sports, Health & Fitness and Food & Drink apps have been created under the MSN brand.
As a bonus, a Weather app from MSN will be hitting iOS later this year. It’s interesting that the MSN Health app syncs its data with iOS 8’s Health database.
It has pedometer functions to continuously track, analyze and receive insights on your daily steps taken on the iPhone and tracks your runs (record your time, distance, pace and calories burned while you run, bike and do other outdoor activities).
Additionally, the app contains a Diet tracker (there’s a database of over 300 thousand to track your daily calorie intake) and a Cardio tracker to monitor your cardio training and analyze progress over time.
Jump past the fold for the full rundown of each app.
The MSN News app lets you read the day’s top stories and breaking news from the industry’s best sources, hand-picked by MSN’s editors.
The Sports app includes real-time game updates, easy to follow schedules and standings and the latest news across your favorite leagues and teams.
Food & Drink, billed as “your complete kitchen companion,” makes it easy to browse and organize hundreds of thousands of recipes from various magazines, top chefs, bloggers and fellow home cooks.
“Enjoy easy-to-follow instructions and beautiful photos,” writes Microsoft. “Explore the extensive wine and cocktails guides and stay in the know on the latest food and drink trends.”
And if you’re into finance, the Money app should be a no-brainer. This app lets you know more about your money with financial news and data. In addition to market data, the app features handy tools and calculators.
MSN News 1.0
- Comprehensive content — Read articles from the industry’s best sources and from your local news, hand-picked by our editors.
- Customized topics — Follow topics you care about— like your favorite sports team, celebrity, or gadget. Sign in to save your preferences.
- Breaking news — Stay up-to-date with breaking news alerts.
- Sharing stories — Share your favorite content with your friends via Twitter, Facebook, text, or email.
- Available anywhere — Automatically sync your favorite topics across MSN News on the web and your mobile apps for quick access to the news you want to read.
MSN Health & Fitness 1.0
- Comprehensive content — Read premium curated health & fitness related content from some of the world’s most reputable sources.
- Workout videos — Watch over 300 workout videos and over 900 exercise, yoga and Pilates videos, including hundreds of follow-along videos you can do at home.
- Medical reference — Enter symptoms to see possible health conditions with the Symptom Checker. Discover more about the human anatomy through the interactive 3D Human Body. Learn about drugs and common medical procedures.
- Available anywhere — Automatically sync your trackers across MSN Health & Fitness on the web and your mobile apps for quick access.
Download MSN Health & Fitness for free.
MSN Sports 1.0
- Comprehensive coverage — Access over 150+ leagues and thousands of teams. Get the most recent scores, standings, schedules, and more.
- Personalized content — Follow your favorite leagues and teams. Keep up with the latest stats and news from your favorites all in one place. Sign in to save your preferences.
- Latest news — Scan top headlines from trusted providers around the world. Read team or league specific news.
- Live matchups — Get real-time updates on live games for NBA, MLB, NFL, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, and Soccer
- Available anywhere — Automatically sync your favorites across MSN Sports on the web and your mobile apps for quick access to the sports and teams you care about.
MSN Food & Drink 1.0
- Comprehensive content — Find recipes from cuisines around the world. Read tasting notes and reviews on more than 1.5 million wines. Browse hundreds of cocktails.
- Easy filters — Find recipes by cuisine, source, ingredient, or dietary needs. Filter by difficulty, method, preparation time, and more.
- Available anywhere — Automatically sync your collections and shopping list across MSN Food & Drink on the web and your mobile apps for quick access.
- Famous chefs — Take notes from the pros. Get access to world-renown chefs’ best recipes and explore their finest restaurants and catering.
- Cookings school: how-to videos and kitchen tips — Watch how-to videos and read about tips and techniques to make every home-cooked meal a success.
- Food news and trends — Stay in the know about the world of food and drink.
Download MSN Food & Drink for free.
MSN Money 1.0
- Top indices — Track major indices from around the world, including NASDAQ, NYSE, Dow Jones, S&P 500, DAX, FTSE 100, NIKKEI 225 and more. Also track currency exchange rates and commodity prices.
- Personalized watchlist — Add your favorite stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. Get quotes, charts and detailed company profiles. Sign in to save your preferences.
- Latest news — Scan market headlines and access business news from trusted providers. Read featured personal finance news.
- Financial tools — Get more from your money with financial and budgeting tools such as a mortgage calculator and currency converter.
- For iPhone: tip calculator, wealth estimator, and retirement planner
- For iPad: stock screener
- Available anywhere — Automatically sync your watch list across MSN Money on the web and your mobile apps for quick access to the stocks you care about.
Many of the aforementioned features of these apps roam across all your devices if you choose to sign in with a Microsoft Account, whether it’s your Watchlist, favorite teams and sports, weather locations, news topics or favorite recipes and shopping lists.
As for the announced MSN Weather app (arriving later this year), it will allow you to check out your current weather conditions, provide daily and weekly summaries at-a-glance and receive breaking weather alerts in your area.
“You will also find rich, interactive, 10-day forecasts, radar maps, and historical records that make it easy to plan for the days ahead,” note the Redmond firm.
Each of the released apps requires iOS 7.1 or later and supports both the iPhone and iPad. In addition to iOS, they’re available on Android through the Play store or Amazon Appstore.