App Store Apps

Meerkat now supports YES/NO polls, showing photos to watchers and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Meerkat, the popular live video streaming software that competes with Twitter-owned Periscope, today issued a nice little update to its iOS application in the App Store.

With version number bumped to 1.5.4, this edition of Meerkat includes a few enhancements like a revamped feed and the ability to show your watchers photos from your Camera roll.

Perhaps most crucially, Meerkat now includes a polling feature which allows anyone to ask their watchers simple YES/NO questions about anything, as they're broadcasting.

Check out these apps: Forest Spirit, Emo Chorus, Recolor, and more

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Apple's big announcement earlier this week has got us all in a spin. Not only will new iPhone models be unveiled in less than a month, but also the next generation of operating system for both iOS and watchOS will probably have an official launch date. Not to mention Apple TV.

If you need something to keep you calm this weekend, check out our list of apps and games. Don't worry, Sept. 9 will be here sooner than you realize.

Latest Vine update brings Snap to Beat feature and new audio discovery tools

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Twitter-owned Vine has rolled out two major new features to its mobile app which are aimed at improving audio discovery and help “bring the magic of perfect-looping music to everyone.”

For starters, a brand new Snap to Beat feature lets you create Vines with With seamless audio looping. And in an effort to make music a core part of Vine, users can now take advantage of enhancements like a new Featured Tracks section and another new feature that allows them to find out what they're listening to as they watch Vines.

Facebook hits one billion users in a single day for the first time

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2015

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that the social network passed a significant milestone this week. On August 24, more than 1 billion people used Facebook in a single day for the first time ever.

"When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post this afternoon. "On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family."

Nighty Night Circus goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2015

Apple on Thursday named "Nighty Night Circus" its featured App of the Week in the App Store. This means for the next 7 days, you will be able to download the popular bedtime story and lullaby app for kids for free—saving you a solid $3.

The sequel to Apple's 2012 App of the Year, Nighty Night!, Nighty Night Circus allows children to play with a variety of circus animals and tuck them in as they go to sleep. The app features beautiful imagery, great narration and lullaby music.

Instagram now lets you share photos and videos in portrait or landscape mode

Sébastien Page ∙ August 27, 2015

Instagram announced today that users are now able to upload photos and videos in either portrait or landscape mode, on top of the current square format that has became a marquee feature of the app. Available via the Instagram app update version 7.5 on iOS, this new capability will certainly be welcome by many users, as Instagram notes in a blog post that nearly 1 in 5 photos or videos posted on the service aren't in square format.

iOS automation app Workflow picks up Today widget, Health actions, syncing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 27, 2015

Workflow, the powerful software that makes it relatively simple to automate iOS by chaining multiple actions together, has picked up a Today widget and support for Apple Health actions in its most recent update which hit the App Store this morning.

In addition to the ability to activate your saved workflows directly from the Notification Center's Today view, Workflow 1.3 for iOS has gained yet another useful feature to back up and synchronize your workflows across multiple devices.

Review: Astropad Mini turns your iPhone or Apple Watch into a pro graphics tablet for your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 27, 2015

We wrote about Astropad Graphics Tablet, an app that turns your iPad into a graphics tablet for your Mac, shortly following its February 2015 debut.

Designed and built by smart ex-Apple engineers Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donelli, the app has since been updated with support for FiftyThree’s Pencil stylus and gained other new features.

The team just released Astropad Mini, an iPhone edition of Astropad's iPad app with Apple Watch support for remote drawing into Mac apps and more.

Review: Lara Croft GO is the essence of adventure that feels unmistakably Tomb Raider-y

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 27, 2015

It only took a few minutes for me to get hooked on Lara Croft GO, a new premium title from Hitman GO creators Square Enix Montréal.

Created in partnership with Crystal Dynamics, this gorgeously done puzzle-solving adventure takes Hitman GO's turn-based strategy concept and simplicity of action to a whole new level while managing to incorporate several marquee aspects of the traditional Tomb Raider formula and gameplay.

But Lara Croft GO, a $4.99 download in the App Store, is hardly the same game as Hitman GO. More than the collection of its impressive parts—mesmerizing soundtrack, artful animations and gorgeous visuals—Lara Croft GO manages to distill the famed series down to its essence.

I spent a few hours playing and reviewing this game in the days leading up to its release, here are my hands-on impressions and findings.

Crisp: a clean and simple email template keyboard for iOS

Sébastien Page ∙ August 27, 2015

How many times a day or a week do you send the exact same email to people? It usually is a canned reply to an often asked question, or maybe it is a tidbit of personal information such as your address. If you use email, chances are you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Crisp, a new app available in the App Store today, wants to make this better by offering a clean and simple email template keyboard for iOS.

Scanbot 4.0 rolls out with Quick-Actions, Workflows, FTP & OneNote support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 26, 2015

Scanbot, a powerful document and QR code scanner for iOS which sports optical character recognition and a slew of other cool features, was bumped to version 4.0 today.

Available on a freemium basis with optional paid upgrades, Scanbot 4.0 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad introduces Workflows and Quick-Actions, a pair of major new features aimed at increasing your productivity by automating repeating tasks such as uploading scans to cloud services.

Facebook testing new ‘M’ digital assistant feature within Messenger

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Facebook on Wednesday began testing a new digital assistant feature called 'M.' As explained by Facebook Messenger lead David Marcus, the feature, which lives inside Messenger, is powered by artificial intelligence that can complete tasks and find information on a user's behalf.

The artificial intelligence is both trained and supervised by real live humans, and unlike other AI-based services available today, it can do things like purchase items and deliver gifts. Of course it can handle normal chores too, such as booking restaurants and logging appointments.