The best Instagram apps for iPad

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks for sharing photos and short videos, with official apps available for iPhone, Windows Phone and Android smartphones. But one device that still lacks a native Instagram app is the iPad, as the Facebook-owned company has yet to update the iPhone version to have universal support for the Apple tablet lineup.

As you might expect, a number of iOS developers have taken advantage of this shortcoming by releasing their own third-party Instagram apps for iPad on the App Store. In an effort to save you the trouble of looking through the storefront yourself for these apps, read ahead for a roundup of four of the best Instagram apps for iPad… 

iOS 7: the ultimate Spotlight search guide

Spotlight is the search tool that allows you to search for local files on your iOS device quickly and efficiently. Along with local file searches, Spotlight can search web contents via your device's default search engine or via Wikipedia.

The great thing about Spotlight is that it is built right into the stock iOS 7 Home screen, and it's accessible from any Home screen page.While the Spotlight search tool isn't as robust as Spotlight on the Mac, or as robust as what you'll find on competing platforms (there is no delimiting for local content), its ease of use makes it a fairly efficient tool for locating content quickly on the iPhone. Have a look at our full Spotlight how-to post after the break.

Update your Tweetbot iOS apps before they stop working

The Tapbots issued updates for their Tweetbot Twitter clients on iOS last night, bringing the iPhone app to version 3.3.2 and the iPad version to 2.8.8. Both change logs note that these are critical updates, and that older versions of Tweetbot will soon stop working.

The developers published a post on their blog to better explain the situation, noting that folks from Twitter's Platform Operations group contacted them a few weeks ago asking them to make a small change in the way that Tweetbot talks with the Twitter API...

Billboard: Apple-Beats deal delayed due to valuation, role uncertainties

Billboard is out with a new report this weekend, claiming that it's learned why the Apple-Beats acquisition has not been announced yet. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the outlet says that there are at least 5 things holding up the deal.

First, the buyout is 'complicated.' With this being Apple's largest purchase ever, the folks in Cupertino want to make sure they cross every t and dot every i. And second, the iPad-maker was nowhere near ready for details of the negotiations to leak...

Apps of the week: Elevate, Ruzzle Adventure, Uncanny X-Men and more

I imagine that in sunny Southern California, our resident app enthusiast Lory is enjoying a well-deserved break at Disneyland over the Memorial Day weekend. In her absence, I have volunteered to take over our weekly apps of the week column. I certainly picked a good time to fill in, because if you've been following my daily App Recap roundup, you'll know that Thursday was an action-packed day with over a half-dozen noteworthy new apps. See which apps top our list this week… 

GBA4iOS returns following Nintendo takedown

Less than a few weeks after receiving a takedown notice from Nintendo of America, iOS developer Riley Testut has made his popular Gameboy Advance emulator GBA4iOS available for download again. An updated version of the emulator is now available through the official GBA4iOS website, which came back online just moments ago. Testut confirmed the news on Twitter in a recent tweet… 

iTunes Radio could expand to The Netherlands

Based on a pair of screenshots of the iOS 7 Music app shared on Twitter, it seems that The Netherlands has made it on Apple's list of upcoming iTunes Radio markets in Europe as one Dutch user reports the Radio tab randomly appearing and disappearing on his device.

Last we heard, Apple was gearing up to expand the service to the United Kingdom following a meeting its iAd director had with London-based ad agencies.

The Cupertino company even banned London-based iTunes Radio rival, a service called Bloom.fm, from its iAd advertising network...

Supposed iPhone 6 backlight panel surfaces

To this date, we've seen a number of supposed dummy units, purported front and back panels, cases, batteries, manufacturing molds, technical drawings, volume buttons and numerous other alleged iPhone 6 parts.

Today, we show you another interesting leak. Coming straight via a post on Weibo (China's version of Twitter), it's a supposed screen backlight part. The part measures 4.7-inches diagonally and for the most part resembles its iPhone 5s/5c counterpart...

Samsung and LG now predictably eyeing sapphire

Apple may have gone the farthest along in commercializing sapphire as its new Messa, Arizona plant starts churning out first batches of sapphire crystal, but rivals are not standing still.

Now key players are taking notice and some are taking action, in particular Korea's Samsung and LG.

The fast-follower Samsung, along with consumer electronics makers LG, is said to be reconsidering its stance on the feasibility of using sapphire in mobile devices. This right there tells me Tim Cook & Co. have been right all along to gamble on sapphire and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in manufacturing facilities to secure multi-year output of the material...

Codemasters publishes new official F1 racing game for iPhone and iPad, F1 Race Stars

Games maker Codemasters has released a new and officially licensed Formula 1 game into the App Store.

F1 Race Stars, now available as a free-to-play download for the iPhone and iPad, includes all the cars, teams and drivers from the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship racing across over 40 tracks from 15 F1 Grand Prix locations across the world.

But unlike other F1 games, this one's more of an arcade title than a true simulation. You can race against AI-driven opponents or against your friends, see how you rank on the global Game Center leaderboards, collect various power-us, powerslide around corners, hit jumps and more.

Speaking of jumps, hit the jump for the gameplay trailer and more information...

‘ActiveBoard’ helps you easily identify running applications

The just released ActiveBoard is the successor to iOS 6’s ActiveDock jailbreak tweak. It allows you to quickly identify active applications without opening the App Switcher.

The tweak, which is again designed by Surenix and developed by Filippo Bigarella, is a bit more ambitious than its predecessor. Whereas ActiveDock only applied to the applications running in the iOS 6 dock, ActiveBoard, as its name so implies, can influence all app icons on the entire iOS 7 SpringBoard.

Not only does ActiveBoard identify running applications, but it can help you to quickly identify apps with awaiting notifications. Have a look at our video walkthrough after the break to see ActiveBoard in motion.

Apex 2 brings iOS 7 compatibility to the popular app-grouping tweak

Apex 2 is the sequel to the original jailbreak tweak, which allowed users to group app icons in folder-like structures. The update, which is compatible with iOS 7, was just released today.

Like its predecessor, Apex 2 allows users to group up to four additional sub-apps to a primary app icon. Each sub-app can be revealed by performing a swipe up, swipe down, or double-tap gesture on the primary icon.

We got our hands on the final build of Apex 2, and like always, we've created a video walkthrough for your enjoyment. Have a look inside to see what makes Apex 2 tick.