App Store Apps

Twitter for iOS gains Tweets & Replies tab on profile pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2017

Twitter's mobile app for iPhone and iPad has gained updated profile design on mobile with a new Tweets & Replies tab now gradually rolling out to users. As first noted by 9to5Mac, the profile section shown upon tapping Me at the bottom of the app now resembles Twitter's web interface, which also separates replies into a dedicated tab. Previously, Twitter for iOS consolidated both your own tweets and replies under a single Tweets tab.

This tweaked profile design on mobile is a staggered rollout so check back in a few days if it's currently unavailable to you.

Activity, Popcorn, Vellum, and other apps to check out this weekend

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 30, 2024

It's Saturday again, and you know what that means. It's time for another edition of our Apps of the Week roundup. This week we have some great selections for you, including an activity-tracker, a movie-finder and a wallpaper client. And as always, we've picked two great new games for you to check out.

Netflix ditching stars for thumbs-up/down system, planning to stream mobile content in HDR quality

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2017

Netflix is abandoning star ratings in favor of a binary thumbs-up/down system set to start rolling out in a few weeks, Fast Company reported Friday. Variety says Netflix is also planning to stream content in High Dynamic Range (HDR) quality on supported mobile devices. HDR video offers a more dynamic and richer range of colors, brighter whites and deeper blacks. Lastly, they're experimenting with mobile-specific cuts of movies and TV shows tailored to viewing on smartphone screens.

Apple Store shopping app now requires iOS 10

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2017

Apple's mobile shopping app, aptly named Apple Store, now requires iOS 10.0 or later. This requirement happened in the last three days and even though it's not a huge deal, it deserves to be mentioned. The app's most recent update, dated March 9, included only “various improvements and performance enhancements,” according to Apple's release notes. Apple Store for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch is available at no charge from App Store.

FiLMiC Pro 6.0 hits with overhauled UI, iPhone 7 exclusive features and other improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2017

Anyone who's serious about taking videos on their iOS device would agree that FiLMiC Pro for iPhone and iPad leaves Apple's stock Camera app in the dust.

The filmmakers' go-to app, this ultimate video recording and editing software has become even better thanks to yesterday's update which brought out a redesigned user interface along with a number of new features.

The update includes iPhone 7-exclusive capabilities such as gamma curve controls for Natural, Dynamic, Flat and LOG (a first for mobile video), live adjustments for Shadow, Highlight, RGB, Saturation and Vibrance curves, temporal noise reduction up to 1080p resolution and more.

Permanent Indie Games collection launches on App Store, select titles temporarily slashed to $0.99

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2017

Apple has dedicated a new “Indie Games” collection on App Store to showcasing some of the best iPhone and iPad games crafted by independent developers. The new section, the store's permanent fixture, has arrived following Apple's twelve-day “Celebrating Indie Games” event.

Running from March 9 through March 20, that promotion is showcasing games from self-funded and self-published teams while temporarily marking down titles like Bicolor, Road Not Taken, The Room Two, Samorost 3 and Surgeon Simulator to 99 cents.

Alexa comes to the iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 16, 2017

Siri competitor Alexa has come to the world's most popular smartphone via an incoming update for Amazon's shopping app for iPhone and iPad. The release marks the first time Amazon's personal assistant has supported non-Alexa hardware.

Just tap the mic in the app's search bar to ask Alexa questions, get weather updates, shop and search items, order and track products, play music, use Alexa Skills and Smart Home features, and much more.

By sneaking Alexa into its iPhone app, Amazon's made it possible for Apple customers to experience its Siri rival in full glory without needing to buy an Echo speaker.

Spark for Mac gains labels, better folder management, smarter search & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 15, 2017

Prolific Ukrainian developer Readdle today pushed a major update to its award-winning macOS email client, Spark, bringing new features such as labels, improved folder management, smart filters the ability to save emails in Drafts manually and other improvements that will make you love email again.

As I wrote before, Spark is (in my personal opinion) hands down the best email client I've used on my Mac. Spark 1.2 for macOS is available at no charge from Mac App Store.

The app is also available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Facebook kicks off global rollout of Snapchat-like Stories feature in its mainland app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 15, 2017

Facebook has infamously ripped off Snapchat’s Stories feature wholesale with auto-vanishing slideshows on Instagram and WhatsApp, in addition to the similar recently introduced feature on Messenger, called Messenger Day. The social networking behemoth was recently caught testing Snapchat-like Stories feature in its mobile app. According to TechCrunch, the company has now begun a staggered rollout of Facebook Stories to all users worldwide.

Viber rolls out self destructing Secret Chats

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2017

Messaging service Viber today rolled out a new Secret Chats feature. Not to be confused with Secret Messages, a similar feature introduced in February 2017 that lets you define how long your photos, videos and texts are available after the recipient has opened them, Secret Chats use Viber's end-to-end encryption let you set a timer on individual messages so they disappear after a few seconds, get an alert when a screenshot is taken and be sure no messages get forwarded.

ZenScreen, Chroma, Flyr, and other apps to check out this weekend

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

Looking for some new apps to try this weekend? iDB has you covered. In this week's edition of our Apps of the Week roundup, we've selected some great new apps including a wallpaper-maker, an adult coloring book, and an interactive video platform. And as always, we've also picked two great new games for you to check out.

WhatsApp to bring back its original text-only status feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2017

WhatsApp's longstanding text-based status feature was recently supplanted by Snapchat-esque slideshows containing auto-vanishing images, photos, emoji, drawings and other multimedia items. Our tutorial explains how to use this new feature, but it seems many users are unhappy with the overhauled status. If you count yourself in this group, you'll be delighted to learn that Facebook is working on bringing back the original status feature, called About.