Swift Playgrounds, Apple's excellent iPad-only app aimed at children and wannabe developers that makes it fun to learn and experiment with code—has gotten even better.
Swift Playgrounds 2.0 is here: subscriptions, new robots, content gallery & more
App Store Apps
Google is now selling audiobooks on Play Store, available on iOS as well
Google today announced that it's Play Store is now carrying audiobooks in addition to existing content such as apps, movies, music, TV shows and electronic ebooks.
Beta testers can now download apps up to 150MB over cellular in TestFlight
Thanks to a new update to TestFlight, beta testers are now able to download pre-release apps up to 150MB without relying on a Wi-Fi connection.
Moonshot, Workout Sessions, Portrait Mode Plus, and other apps to check out this weekend
This week's edition of our Apps of the Week roundup features a new app for jotting down and following through with ideas, a workout tracker, and a Portrait Mode enhancer. And as always, we've selected two great new games for you to check out.
Apple overhauls dated app previews on the web with iOS 11’s new App Store styling
Apple has refreshed web previews of iOS, watchOS, tvOS and macOS apps, changing the dated design of its App Store and Mac App Store web interfaces to match iOS 11's new App Store styling with larger images, bolder headings, a strong focus on reviews and other perks.
Infuse’s first 2018 update brings iPhone X black mode & customizable home screen favorites
Earlier in the morning, aTV Flash Black developers FireCore released Infuse 5.6.7, their versatile media player app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with new features like a true black mode for iPhone X, customizable home screen favorites and other improvements.
Instagram is testing Story screenshot alerts
Instagram is currently trialing a new privacy-focused feature with a small percentage of its users that would alert them via a notification when someone took a screenshot of their Story.
WhatsApp is testing person-to-person payments in India
Facebook-owned service WhatsApp is testing a new person-to-person payments feature with its employees in India, where the app enjoys a large base of 200 million users and is by far the most popular messaging service in the country.
Force authentication from your iMessage recipient with MsgL0ck
Some people take their privacy more seriously than others, and a new iMessage extension dubbed MsgL0ck by iOS developer Simon Andersson takes that sentiment into consideration.
MsgL0ck lets the sender require authentication from the iMessage recipient before they can read the message. In Apple-speak, this means providing a fingerprint for Touch ID or a facial scan for Face ID (or a passcode if the recipient has neither).
WhatsApp is testing advanced spam detection system that’ll notify you of hoax messages
In addition to testing the ability to cross-post your Instagram Stories to WhatsApp, the WhatsApp team is working on other potential enhancements such as a new spam-detection system designed to help warn users about suspected hoax messages.
Instagram is testing a new text-only feature for Stories, called Type
Aside from quietly rolling out a new online status feature in Direct that will be great for stalkers, Instagram has reportedly been working on a text-only capability for Stories, called Type.
How to prevent Instagram from broadcasting your online status to friends
Facebook-owned Instagram is pilfering a feature from Messenger and WhatsApp that makes stalking people a lot easier. It's enabled by default, but can thankfully be turned off at will.