App Store Apps

Rayman Classic, Sunshine and more apps to check out this weekend

We've put together an awesome list of apps and games for you to checkout this weekend, including a new weather app that's beautifully designed and offers some interesting features, and not one but two classic games that have been brought back to life for the mobile era. So without further ado, here are the Apps of the Week.

Liven up your tweets and direct messages on Twitter with animated GIFs

The next time you tweet out an update or message someone on Twitter, try adding a little flair to your tweets or direct messages in the form of animated GIFs.

Earlier in the week, the micro-blogging startup announced it's integrating a dedicated GIF search button in its mobile apps and on twitter.com to help you add that viral kitten GIF to your posts without leaving the compose window.

Twitter's partnered with Giphy and Riffsy to help you find the right GIF animation to express your mood. You can search GIFs by keyword, or browse categories of different reactions like Happy Dance, Mic Drop, YOLO and more.

Apple names ‘Warhammer 40K: Deathwatch: Tyranid Invasion’ its free App of the Week

Apple on Thursday added "Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch: Tyranid Invasion" to its App of the Week promotion. This means that for the next 7 days, you'll be able to download the popular turn-based strategy game for both iPhone and iPad for free, a solid savings of $2.

Deathwatch: Tyranid Invasion is a popular entry in the Warhammer franchise, hailed for its beautiful graphics and strong gameplay. In it, players must make their way through 40 missions while building up an extensive roster of weapons, gear and band of marine soldiers.

How to enable ‘Show me the best tweets first’ on Twitter

Twitter recently unveiled a new feature that lets you elect to have the service surface new and interesting content at the top of your timeline since your last visit.

Called “Show me the best tweets first,” it's a staggered release so not everyone may have it at the same time although the majority of Twitter's user base should now see this option in their settings.

This post will take you through the steps you need to take in order to enable this feature in Twitter's mobile apps and in the desktop interface, so that you never miss important updates from people you follow.

Skype group video calling starts rolling out with support for up to 25 participants

As promised, Microsoft has begun rolling out free group video calling in Skype's mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, Engadget reported this morning.

According to Microsoft, this feature will allow Skype users to video chat with up to 24 other people at once in crisp 1080p resolution, and each participant can flip between the front and back camera mid-call.

Group video calling in mobile Skype apps is going to be available to users in North America and Western Europe. “We plan to be fully available worldwide in March,” said Skype.

App preview videos coming to Apple TV

Apple just announced that developers of tvOS apps are now able to upload a short video demo to be previewed along their apps' description and screenshots in the Apple TV App Store. Similar to what we've seen for some time in the iOS App Store, these short previews are usually more helpful than a screenshot as they can show the game or application in action.

Pre-register for Miitomo, Nintendo’s first smartphone app

Back in October 2015, Nintendo announced its inaugural smartphone app for iOS and Android, Miitomo. Today, the Japanese gaming giant has opened up pre-registrations on its website for the forthcoming app. Signing up requires you to create a Nintendo Account so you can be notified when Miitomo launches in the App Store.

Creating a Nintendo Account ahead of Miitomo's launch will also net you Platinum Points for the My Nintendo rewards program, which is scheduled to go live alongside the Miitomo app.

How about the tiniest game of pong for your Apple Watch?

Meet the tiniest game of pong for your Apple Watch, created by developer Matt Wiechec and aptly named A Tiny Game of Pong. Available free in the App Store for a limited time, this minimalist game lets you push your paddle back-and-forth across the display by turning the responsive Digital Crown.

You can play in the Classic or endless Arcade mode, track your high score and rank on Game Center, personalize the game to your liking with ten theme colors and, of course, you can also play A Tiny Game of Pong on your iPhone.

Apple’s all-new Remote app for Apple TV 4 will do Siri, gestures and work in games

Apple is working on a brand new Remote app for the fourth-generation Apple TV that will be a full replacement for the functions provided by the included Siri Remote, said Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, who was joined on The Talk Show podcast with Daring Fireball's John Gruber by Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.

The upcoming software will be a new app, not an update to the existing Remote application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad which in December 2015 gained keyboard and basic navigation support for the new Apple TV.

How to keep apps, games and websites from spamming your Facebook Timeline

One of the biggest challenges Facebook users face in their daily usage of the service involves keeping apps, games and websites that connect to Facebook as a sign-in mechanism from posting random updates, unwanted stores, ad links and other garbage on their Timeline.

For most people, this constitutes spamming because not only do these posts appear on your own Timeline, but also in your friends' News Feed and ticker.

Unfortunately, too few people are aware that they can easily squelch this spammy behavior with just a few clicks. In this tutorial, we're going to show you the tools Facebook put at your disposal which were designed to stop apps from posting updates on your behalf.