App Store Apps

Google Maps revamps transit directions, adds image galleries and new sharing options

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 10, 2017

Google Maps for iOS has been refreshed in the App Store with a trio of useful new features ahead of a brand new native Street View for iOS app due in mid-August.

Google Maps for iPhone and iPad now sports revamped public transport directions while adding new choices for alternate routes and real-time data about your arrival time.

Newly added sharing features include options to post Google Maps locations to Facebook and send map URLs to your Facebook Messenger friends. There's also a brand new image gallery which presents various photos of a location in a grid view.

Fleksy Keyboard goes free forever, now auto-suggests themes, extensions and more as you type

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2015

Fleksy Keyboard, one of the first and arguably the most popular third-party keyboards available in the App Store, has been slashed to zero bucks permanently. The iPhone and iPad app used to retail for 99 cents a pop and went free briefly just twice following its App Store debut last fall.

What's more, the new price point is valid forever moving forward. Those who have previously bought the app will be treated to new themes and extension slots worth $8 as a gift. In addition to the price cut, developers have refreshed Fleksy Keyboard with some notable personal assistant-like features.

Bloons Tower Defense 5 for iPhone and iPad named IGN’s Free Game of the Month

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 7, 2015

IGN has partnered with Ninja Kiwi to name Bloons Tower Defense 5 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad its free game for the month of July. This popular tower defense download is available on a first-come, first-serve basis so make sure to redeem your copy following the instructions provided below.

This promotion is only available through IGN so don't bother visiting the App Store, where Tower Defense 5 for iPhone and iPod touch currently sells for $2.99, with the iPad edition fetching an additional $4.99, so you're looking at a cool $8 saved.

Infuse 3.4 is live with folders, background audio, landscape lock on iPhone and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Infuse 3, an elegant and versatile player for virtually any video file format you can think of created by jailbreak developer FireCore, has picked up a slew of new features and improvements in Monday's version 3.4 update.

Infuse 3.4 makes it easy to organize your videos using folders, delete ones you no longer need from the ticket view, continue playing audio in the background after leaving the app to quickly check your email, and more.

At long last, Instagram is increasing photo resolution to a sharper 1,080-by-1,080 pixels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

I love Instagram but have always had a first-world problem with its paltry photo resolution. In today's age of ultra-crisp mobile screens, 640-by-640 pixel images just don't cut it anymore. Well, it took only a couple of years but Instagram just announced that it is rolling out support for bigger, crisper images on both iOS and Android.

“We're rolling out 1080x1080 uploads (and higher-quality viewing) for Instagram on iOS and Android,” Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger wrote in a tweet today.

The company's iPhone application wasn't updated today with support for uploading and viewing crisper photos so it's likely a silent update on Instagram's servers. The official company blog did not share details about the sharper photography experience at post time.

Microsoft’s new opinion-gathering app removes the friction around event planning

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Microsoft has released a brand new iPhone and iPad application in the App Store. Called Tossup, it was designed to make event planning and opinion-gathering a cinch by basically collecting answers from your friends to any questions you pose to them.

You can present people with a quick Yes/No poll, ask them to find and pick a restaurant, to agree on when to meet, invite them to extend the opinion about any topic and more.

Skype for iPhone updated with location sharing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 27, 2016

Skype for iPhone has picked up the ability to share a location with others in its latest update in the App Store.

The Microsoft-owned VoIP program was bumped to version 5.14 Monday to make it trivial to share your current geographical location, or your favorite place, with friends and family using the paperclip icon in the chat window. Moreover, this edition of Skype introduces unspecified improvements.

The new version of Skype arrived hot on the heels of a recent update which brought out handy web link previews in the chat window and replying with dictation on Apple Watch.

First look at upcoming Minecraft: Story Mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 4, 2016

A brand new international reveal trailer posted during the July 4 weekend offers a tantalizing glimpse into Minecraft: Story Mode, an upcoming narrative-driven adventure game created by Minecraft developer Mojang in collaboration with Telltale Games, the makers of the Game of Thrones cinematic video game series.

Following its announcement back in December 2014, the official teaser trailer for Story Mode has now premiered at the Minecon show in London. The video depicts a game set in the world of Minecraft with its own original story that will be driven by player decision. The game will consist of five episodes, with the inaugural episode set for release in 2015.

Heroki, The Executive, Escape, and other apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

This weekend, the U.S. celebrates Independence Day. It is a time for barbequing, drinking, and lighting stuff on fire. Whether you are participating in some patriotic party or just relaxing with your iPhone, we've got a list of apps and games that you might find interesting this weekend.

TagsDock keyboard lets you quickly hashtag posts on Instagram and Vine

Lory Gil ∙ July 3, 2015

If you are an avid social network user, you've probably got a list of hashtags that you use on a regular basis. Instead of having to type out the symbol and tag, wouldn't it be nice to be able to tap a button to add your string of hashtags?

Well, now you can with TagsDock. This third-party app lets you turn your keyboard into a hashtag haven. With more than 3,000 popular hashtags in more than 100 categories, you'll never have to type out your tags again.

SoundCloud for iOS gains shuffling, related tracks, sharing improvements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

SoundCloud, a Swedish online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, today issued a refresh to its gorgeous iPhone and iPad application, in time for the summer.

SoundCloud 3.10.0 for iOS now lets you play related tracks, shuffle liked tracks and audio files in your playlists, add or remove tracks directly from your playlists, plus share directly from the search screen and your list of liked tracks.

Tweetbot’s iOS app gains alerts for Quoted Tweets, support for longer Direct Messages and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

About ten days since Tweetbot for OS X brought these new features to the Mac, now Tweetbot for iPhone and iPod touch has picked up support for notifications related to Twitter’s new embedded quoting feature while laying groundwork for longer Direct Messages, a feature Twitter announced almost a month weeks ago but has yet to enable on its end.

Also, Tweetbot 3.6.2 for Mac now produces crisper video thanks to improved video upload quality.