App Store Apps

Minimal arcade game Octagon goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the game Octagon. This means that for the next 7 days, you’ll be able to download the popular minimal arcade title on both iPhone and iPad for free, a solid savings of $2.

For those unfamiliar with Octagon, players are trapped inside an 8-sided, constantly-moving tunnel that features gaps and other obstacles. You must jump, dodge and do whatever you can to survive each torturous 60-secound round.

Weed through your emails with natural gestures in Morning Mail for iPhone

Instead of waking up to tons of unread messages, most of which are probably spam, wouldn't it be nice if your email client separated new messages from the other ones, so that weeding through your inbox in the morning were a breeze?

That's exactly the problem that a free iPhone app by Moscow-based developer Andrey Usoltsev, aptly named Morning Mail, solves efficiently with its focus on natural gestures and simplicity.

Pokémon GO field-testing kicks off today in the United States

Having previously launched in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, beta testing for Pokémon GO kicks off today in the United States as its developer, Niantic Labs, began sending out beta invites this morning to customers who signed up to field-test the work-in-progress game.

In a blog post, Niantic shared a few previously unknown tidbits about the forthcoming mobile game, which is being developed collaboration with The Pokémon Company and will take place in the real world.

Google Maps gains new voice controls in navigation, Street View tweaks and more

Google's native mapping application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was bumped to version 4.19 this morning, bringing out a few enhancements meant to improve your navigation and Street View experience.

For starters, a few new voice controls are now available in navigation to mute, unmute or turn on alerts only. You can also move around Street View by swiping, and more.

How did this movie streaming app get approved in the App Store? [update: it’s gone]

We've seen our fair share of oddities when it comes to approval of apps in the App Store, but this one probably takes the cake for the most obvious reason: it lets you stream  movies directly from your iPhone or iPad at no cost. We're not talking old movies that are in the public domain either. We're talking recent movies, some of them still being played in theaters.

Update: Apple pulled this app from the App Store. It would have been nice to have an explanation about why and how it was approved in the first place, but I guess we'll have to let our imagination run wild.

Best voice recording apps for iPhone and iPad

Students who record lectures, business users who record meetings, or an aspiring artist who records ideas on the go. There are many different people use, or could use, a voice memo app. Apple does include a stock application, however its features are rather limited. To break through the crowded hodge podge that is the App Store, we went searching for some of the best voice recording apps for iPhone and iPad.

Tweetbot for Mac updated with new Topics feature, Collections support and more

The Tapbots on Thursday issued an update for Tweetbot for Mac, bringing the popular Twitter client to version 2.4. The release brings the new Topics feature over from the recent iOS update, Collections support and other enhancements.

As you'll recall, A Topic is a way to let you quickly Tweet a group of related Tweets without having to manually reply to yourself. You can activate Topics by tapping the gear menu in the Compose screen, and they sync across devices via iCloud.

Physics puzzler Pull My Tongue goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the game Pull My Tongue. This means that for the next 7 days, you'll be able to download the popular physics puzzler for both iPhone and iPad for free—a solid savings of $1.

For those unfamiliar with the title, players are tasked with helping feed popcorn to a hungry chameleon named Greg. You do this by pulling his tongue through a series of fun puzzles that include zappers, spikes, chewing gum and balloons.

Infuse 4.2 adds Library view on tvOS, trakt ratings sync, Spotlight search on iOS and more

The versatile Infuse media player for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by aTV Flash Black developer FireCore today got bumped to version 4.2, bringing dozens of new features, enhancements and refinements to both the iOS and tvOS edition of the software.

Infuse 4.2 now surfaces your content in Spotlight search, lets you sync ratings for rate content on trakt.tv and has new Continuous Playback options.

On the fourth-generation Apple TV, Infuse gained a new Library mode and Smart Filters, an artwork picker for your Favorites and lots of other improvements. Plus, audiophiles will be pleased to learn that Infuse for Apple TV is now capable of reproducing 7.1 content.

Rovio asks movie audiences to turn on their iPhones during the closing credits

Rovio and Sony Pictures' heavily promoted 3D animated comedy, “The Angry Birds Movie”, is hitting theaters tomorrow, Friday, May 20.

Working closely with Sony, Rovio created an innovative integration that lets movie-goers unlock a special game level, Piggy Island, along with an exclusive clip simply by turning on the Angry Birds Action mobile game during the closing credits.