App Updates

Google Play Music updated with Material Design, iPad support and more

Google today pushed out an update for its Play Music iOS client, bringing the app to the odd version number of 2.0.3828. The update is rather significant in that it brings about proper support for the iPad, as well as new Material Design UI for the iPhone.

In the changelog Google says that it has heard users "loud and clear, and now Google Play Music has an official iPad app." It looks very similar to the redesigned iPhone app, sporting Google's new Material Design aesthetic, but with larger UI elements.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iOS gain iCloud storage integration

Windows maker Microsoft today announced it's bringing out new cloud storage integration to Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for the iPhone and iPad, including the iCloud file picker on iOS and Office Online integration for viewing and editing.

The much appreciated support for Apple's cloud-based storage permits customers to store their documents, presentations and spreadsheets to iCloud and access them on their other iOS and Mac devices.

VLC media player is back in the App Store

VLC, the popular cross-platform media player which lets you watch AVI videos on your iPhone and iPad without conversion (as well as other non-iOS-friendly media types), is back in the App Store following a long-standing licensing dispute.

In addition to resolving licensing issues, this edition of VLC brings a few noteworthy enhancements to the table which I'll lay out for you after the jump.

UPDATE: following a soft-launch in New Zealand, the app on February 27, 2015, finally went live in the US App Store.

Foursquare gains iOS 8 widget, can now serve recommendations without logging in

After adding a widget to its check-in app called Swarm back in December, Foursquare's main iPhone application today finally received a brand new Today widget for iOS 8's Notification Center of its own.

Moreover, the latest 8.7 update added personalized recommendations while logged out, so you don't need to even have an account with Foursquare to receive tips and recommendations about nearby places.

Just open the app to get started.

Nike+ FuelBand app integrated with Apple’s Health, now uses your iPhone to track movement

It only took, what, five months, but Nike's FuelBand application for the iPhone was finally refreshed Friday, adding much-needed integration with Apple's HealthKit platform. As a result, a dedicated FuelBand accessory is no longer required to track your activity or earn Fuel points, your iPhone now does this.

To reflect this change in direction, the app has been rebranded and is now being marketed as just Nike+ Fuel.

In addition to getting more insight into your activity in iOS 8's Health app, HealthKit integration makes your Fuel points visible in and accessible by other apps.

Fleksy’s Valentine’s Day update brings Hotkey extensions, animated themes and more

Yesterday, Fleksy announced a major Valentine's Day themed update to its record-smashing software keyboard for the iPhone and iPad.

Fleksy Keboard 5.2, a free update for existing users, brings out a myriad of new features, including animated themes through an Energy Theme Pack, a slew of customizable Extensions, Valentine hearts animations upon each key press, custom phrases or email addresses and much more.

ESPN app gains iPad and iPhone 6 support, introduces ESPN Now and rebrands itself

A refreshed, rebranded, thoroughly revamped and much improved ESPN app is now available for download in the App Store.

ESPN 4.2 brings universal support for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, a thoroughly redesigned interface and long overdue support for the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen resolutions.

The updated software now combines the ESPN SportsCenter app for the iPhone and ESPN ScoreCenter for the iPad into a single unified experience, now rebranded under the new ESPN App name.

Starbucks app now supports Apple Pay

Reloading your Starbucks Card directly from the app just got that much easier, with today's update that brings support for Apple Pay. Although the coffee chain was listed as one of the Apple Pay partners at launch, it took the company several months to update their app to offer full support for Apple's new mobile payment service.

Kindle update brings eTextbooks and Book Browser to iPhone, and more

Amazon's free Kindle for iOS app has received a refresh this morning. Bumped to version 4.7, it lets students access Kindle eTextbooks from their iPhone and filter their notes by chapter for easy studying, thanks to an enhanced Notebook feature.

Book Browser, another new feature created with iPhone owners in mind, lets you tap on a book cover to reveal additional information like the book description and customer reviews.

Infuse 3.2 rolls out with Google Cast support, direct web streaming and more

Infuse, a versatile media player for the iPhone and iPad by jailbreak developer FireCore (the brains behind the aTV Flash Black software), has been infused this morning with more than a dozen new features, improvements and enhancements.

Among other items, Infuse 3.2 can stream/download video from direct web URLs and has beta support for Google Cast, the search giant's version of AirPlay.

The freemium app is available at no cost in the App Store, with advanced features locked behind a Pro upgrade via the In-App Purchase mechanism.