App Store Apps

Unread gains iOS 8 Share sheet, 1Password integration, landscape on iPhone and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 10, 2018

Unread, an RSS client for the iPhone and iPad originally created by Jared Sinclair and later acquired by Supertop, is getting a nice update this morning with several new features and a handful of bug fixes.

Unread, which supports a number of popular feed services, now features a useful Share extension so you can now send links and text from any app easily rather than fiddle with a proprietary sharing menu.

On the iPhone, the app will now reorient its user interface when you turn your device upside down. More importantly, Unread 1.5 for the iPhone and iPad at last supports Readability in the article view, letting you enjoy the full articles without ads, custom layouts, website navigation and other distractions.

Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! 3 review – the adventure continues

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

This week, Inkle launched the third installment of the Sorcery series. You may recall from my review of the first gamebook app that the Sorcery series was created by Steve Jackson in 1983. It has been more than a year since Inkle has released the second installment of the series, but the wait is finally over.

Sorcery! 3 picks up where the adventure in Khare left off. In The Seven Serpents, you must fight your way through a wasteland of lost souls and magical mischief. We’ve got a game review of Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! 3 for you today.

App Watch: the first wave

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated January 31, 2018

You've received your Apple Watch in the mail, unboxed it, tried it on, and now the months of anticipation and waiting have finally come to an end. It's surreal, really, and you can't help but glance at your wrist every few minutes, even after wearing it for a couple days, to play with your new toy.

Or you haven't received your Apple Watch yet and must sit alone and forsaken, watching all your friends talk to their wrists, wishing you could've gotten that pre-order in just a little bit earlier, or chosen a more plentiful model.

Or perhaps you simply couldn't justify the price of the Apple Watch for its functionality, at least in the first generation. But you are interesting in its potential, particularly in how third-party developers will be putting its unique skillsets to use.

If you fall into one of those categories, it is for you that I'm excited to introduce App Watch, a new weekly article series by iDownloadBlog. In these posts, I'll be covering a small handful of Apple Watch apps that stand out to me in terms of design, ease of use, convenience, and real-world usage. The point is not to cover every WatchKit app, but to highlight those that bring something significant, beautiful, or practical to wrists around the world. Apple Watch has an incredible amount of potential, and I want to help you tap into that. So, let us begin.

Review: Forgotten Memories remembers what it means to be a survival horror game

Josh Gallagher ∙ Updated January 31, 2018

For years, the survival horror genre has suffered from a bit of an identity crisis, with genre mainstays straying into everything from action adventures to point and click romps. With Forgotten Memories: Alternate Realities, developer Psychose Interactive seeks to resurrect the ideals that made survival horror great and prove that the early games in the genre got it right the first time.

Apps to download for your new Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

If you're one of the lucky few that were able to get their Apple Watch pre-ordered within the first few minutes, there's a good chance that your wearable will arrive in the mail today. And after going through all of the stock apps and settings, there may come a time when you think to yourself "ok, now what?"

That's where we come in. For the past several weeks, iDB has been compiling a list of Apple Watch apps that we think are worth checking out. It's a curated list, so you won't see *all* of the apps here, but we've selected a wide variety of useful and innovative titles that we think make for a great starter kit.

Apple begins notifying developers who get an expedited Apple Watch

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple has begun notifying developers who signed up for the Apple Watch Sport lottery on the Developer Center if they have been randomly selected to make the purchase. It allows many who pay the $100 iOS Developer Program fee to bypass the long waitlist of Apple Watch orders the public is facing and get the Watch earlier.

‘Offers Apple Watch App’ label added to App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2015

In order to better distinguish between regular iPhone applications and those with added Apple Watch functionality, a new 'Offers Apple Watch App' label is now available in the App Store across the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. It's also found when browsing Watch-compatible iOS apps in the App Store section of iTunes for Mac/Windows PCs.

When available, the label appears right below the app icon on individual app pages and in search results, making it easier to discover Apple Watch apps.

Twitter’s iOS app now showing apps on profile pages, new Highlights feature hits Android

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2015

The official Twitter application for the iPhone and iPad is now showing certain apps on profile pages, as noted by Twitter user 'ryan'. It's a silent refresh on Twitter's backend, meaning no update is necessary to your existing copy of Twitter for iOS. The web interface is unaffected by this nifty little change.

For the time being, it seems that mostly applications from major publications and brands are being highlighted, including ones by The New York Times and BuzzFeed, among others. In addition to branded news apps, other notable brands include Spotify and Twitter's own Periscope.

Apple updates TestFlight with support for beta testing of Apple Watch apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2015

As part of a flurry of updates related to Apple Watch ahead of tomorrow's first batch of shipments, Apple on Thursday updated its TestFlight application with ability to install and beta test apps on your Apple Watch.

With today's update, iOS developers no longer must exclude the WatchKit binaries when uploading iPhone and iPad apps with WatchKit functionality to iTunes.

Hours Time Tracking for Apple Watch launches, iPhone app goes free for a limited time

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2015

Hours Time Tracking, a beautifully designed time-tracking app by Apple Design Award winner Tapity that debuted on the App Store in the summer of 2014, has gone temporarily free in the App Store to celebrate the launch of Hours Time Tracking for Apple Watch.

A bona fide Apple Watch extension provided inside the refreshed iPhone app will be unlocked as soon as you get your hands on the Apple Watch, giving you access to oft-used features like starting, stopping and switching your timers, adjusting start and end times, a Glance overview of your current running timer and more.

Algoriddim’s djay hits your wrist with a powerful Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

The vast majority of Apple Watch apps that have been appearing on the App Store ahead of the wearable's Friday launch are for the most part relegated to Glances and notifications, and that's just fine.

As someone who loves music but sucks at DJ-ing, Algoriddim's djay apps for the iPhone, iPad and Mac have for years excited and delighted me with a powerful selection of easy-to-use mixing tools that've turned me into the star of parties I threw at my home.

You could imagine I was watching with great intent how Algoriddim, which hails from Germany, would handle their Watch app. Well, djay for Apple Watch is now here and although I haven't had a chance to try it out on the actual device just yet, Algoriddim was kind enough to treat me to a private demo of the app ahead of its official launch.

Suffice to say that I was smitten by what I saw. The app acts as a full-on remote controller for djay running on your iPhone, untangling you from the mixing booth while putting such headline features as Automix with Spotify and EchoNest integration.

With the Watch app, you can easily cue up and mix your favorite songs, all while controlling audio effects and loops for each deck individually, on your wrist.

What more could an aspiring DJ ask for?

Glass Planner makes getting things done easier

Lory Gil ∙ April 23, 2015

Planning out your life can be a serious task. That’s probably why there are so many organization apps available in the App Store. Everyone has a different way of keeping track of projects and goals. Different features are important to people for a variety of reasons.

Glass Planner is a new task manager that combines your calendar with your to-do list so you can keep track of everything you need to do in life, every day. Don’t just make plans. Make planning work for you.