App Store Apps

The Room Three review: same great puzzle solving, but with more room to move

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Fireproof Games has made a name for itself on iOS with one series of games. The Room won Apple's Game of the Year in 2012. The sequel, The Room Two, came out in late 2013 and transported players to a new location with plenty of new and intricate puzzles. It was also named as one of Apples Best Of games in 2013.

The Room Three is already proving to be of the same stellar quality as its predecessors. After two similar titles, will players get tired of the same thing again? We have a full game review of The Room Three for you today.

iMachine 2, Heavy Blade, Contemporary Magic, and more apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Now that the iPad Pro is finally out, we know some of you have been dedicating a lot of time to pushing the tablet to its limits. It's too bad that we can't sideload f.lux on iOS anymore. But, don't worry. There is plenty of great content waiting for you, and with a benchmark that is as good as an Intel Core i5 processor, there won't be anything your iPad Pro can't handle.

If you're looking for some content to download onto your 13-inch tablet, we've got a list of some apps and games you may have missed earlier this week.

Review: Vevo’s revamped iOS app is a lot cleaner and more fun to use than Apple’s Music

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

In case you missed it, Vevo has completely redesigned its lagging iPhone and iPad application in the App Store. I watch music videos from Vevo artists on YouTube on my desktop. On mobile, not so much and I blame Vevo's hopelessly outdated design, inconsistencies and complicated features for that.

Bumped to version 5.0, the new Vevo experience starts with a black-and-white logo and a matching app icon.

The headline change here is an all-new interface—it gets out of your way, unlike Apple's own Music app, and sports a tremendously useful mini-player. It's almost too weird to say that Vevo's new iOS app is a lot easier and way more fun to use than Apple's stock Music app has ever been, but it's true.

App Store search results are now smarter and more relevant

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple has been working hard in recent weeks to make App Store search results smarter and more relevant, reports TechCrunch. The outlet points to comments from high profile app developers, who began noticing changes to the search results earlier this month and a major algorithm update on November 12.

"I just searched Twitter on the App Store and Instagram is gone," Contrast's David Barnard pointed out on Twitter. "Tweetbot is #4, Twitterrific #5, and more relevant results overall." Tapbots developer Paul Haddad also spotted the change, noting that the change has had a significant impact on his app searches.

YouTube launches standalone YouTube Music app

Cody Lee ∙ November 12, 2015

YouTube on Thursday released a new mobile app called YouTube Music. The app lets you watch and listen to a nearly endless catalog of music, and you can use it for free, with ads of course. The ads go away and you get more features if you sign up for YouTube's recently-launched Red service for $10/month.

So what does it look like? Well searching any video, album or artist in YouTube Music starts a personalized radio station. From there you can check out recommended tracks, trending music, top 40 hits, and up-and-coming artists. There's also a lot of video content here, such as music videos, concert footage, etc.

PDF Expert 5, normally a $9.99 app, is Apple’s Free App of the Week

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

If you wish to read and annotate PDFs on the iPad, then there is perhaps no better app to do so with than PDF Expert 5. The latest in the long standing series of PDF annotation tools from developer Readdle, PDF Expert 5 is a well-respected app that normally commands a $9.99 purchase price.

If you've yet to purchase PDF Expert 5, then I have some good news for you: For the next week, the app is available as a free download from the App Store as a part of Apple's Free App of the Week promotion.

Firefox web browser is now available for iOS

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

After an apparent soft launch back in September, the team at Mozilla has fully taken the wraps off of its Firefox web browser for iOS. The popular browser is now available globally, and for all iOS devices as a universal app.

The 39.6 MB download is available free of charge on the App Store, and comes in at version 1.1. Learn more about what this highly anticipated release entails inside.

Foursquare revamps iPad interface, adds Peek and Pop gestures on iPhone 6s

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 11, 2015

Foursquare's main iOS app was refreshed earlier today with some new 3D Touch goodies and a redesigned interface on the iPad. Foursquare for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was part of the initial wave of third-party applications that enabled support for handy Home screen shortcuts via 3D Touch on the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Today's update added 3D Touch-based Peek and Pop gestures, meaning you can now preview content within the app and pop right into it, without lifting a finger off the screen.

Microsoft refreshes Office apps for iPad Pro, with an important caveat

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 11, 2015

Windows giant Microsoft today released compatibility updates for its mobile Office app in the App Store—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive—aimed at lucky iPad Pro owners.

Featuring full support for iOS 9's new Slide Over and Split View multitasking modes, these apps now take full advantage of the iPad Pro's massive 2,732-by-2,048 pixel resolution 12.9-canvas that in landscape mode basically runs two full-sized apps concurrently.

Facebook releases Notify for iPhone for news, sports, weather and other alerts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Facebook on Wednesday announced it's releasing a brand new mobile application, Notify for iPhone. Conceived as a mobile notifications app for news, sports, weather and more, Notify was designed to deliver push notifications “that matter from sources you love, right on your lock screen, all in one place.”

Notifications are grouped into “stations” which cover varied categories, from sports and celebrities to news, movies, music, shopping and more. Notify is an English-only iPhone app available for free in the App Store.

Periscope gains skipping ahead in replays, Trending section, 3D Touch shortcuts and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 11, 2015

Twitter-owned live-broadcasting app, Periscope, was updated in the App Store last evening with half a dozen new features and refinements aimed at improving the usefulness of video replays whilst improving content discovery with new tools such as an-all new Trending section to help you find content from popular broadcasters.

Pericope also has a tvOS app for the new Apple TV and recently refreshed the iPhone version with muting, Handoff support, instant replays, finding location-enabled broadcasts, verified badges, Follower Only mode, Global section and more.

Mavenfall uses 3D Touch for deeper gameplay

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

With battle card games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG dominating the market, it seems impossible for new titles to make a splash with card gamers. Mavenfall stands out from the pack with a few special features that are unique in the card game world, at least for now. Taking advantage of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus 3D Touch, Mavenfall lets players go deeper into the battle.