App Updates

Twitterrific 5 takes the freemium route, demands in-app purchases for advanced features

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 25, 2014

Iconfactory has just issued a new version of Twitterrific in the App Store. Previously a $2.99 download, the new Twitterrific version 5.7 has changed the business model from paid to free. Sort of.

The iPhone and iPad application, now supported by revenue from Deck Network ads displayed at the top of the timeline, is available free of charge for new customers, but some of the more advanced features like push notifications, Today view, ad removal and tweet translation are hidden behind a one-time in-app purchase.

That's an interesting change for Iconfactory, but what about Twitter-imposed token limits? Developer Sean Heber ensures customers that Iconfactory has grandfathered a whole lot of tokens so going free should not be a concern. Besides, they can always switch from the freemium model back to the paid one...

Roku for iPhone gets facelift, introduces content search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 24, 2014

Roku has finally updated its companion iPhone app for the company's set-top box with a brand new design, ability to search through your content and a few bug fixes and other enhancements.

The new look, a radical departure from the previous design, feels more at home with iOS 7's flatness and is easier to use thanks to streamlined navigation.

As for search, you can sift through your content by entering a movie, show, actor or director information.

"When you settle on something to watch, choose from the available services and jump right into the Channel, ready to watch," Roku writes in iTunes release notes accompanying the 3.5MB download.

The freshly updated app is now live in the App Store...

Google Now cards now rolling out on desktop in Chrome for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 30, 2023

Rich desktop notifications have been available in Google’s Chrome browser for the Mac for some time now, provided you were on the Canary channel where Google hosts early and unstable alpha releases of its browser. The normals, however, had to wait until desktop notifications for the Now cards made their way into the stable Chrome channel.

According to Google itself, that day is today - people on stable Chrome releases should start seeing Google Now alerts being pushed to their Macs and PCs. The handy alerts are nested right inside the browser’s notification center that sits in your Mac’s status bar (bottom-right if you're using Windows)...

Twitter pulls #music app from the App Store ahead of April 18 shutdown

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Twitter will discontinue its #music app on Friday, April 18. Conveniently, April 18 marks the app's first (and obviously last) anniversary. Yup, Twitter #music is officially dead. As part of the move, the micro-blogging startup has already pulled the free iPhone and iPad application from the App Store.

Whenever a piece of software gets removed from the App Store, it becomes unavailable for download or re-download so folks who plan on continuing to use the music discovery app have better backed it up in their iTunes library on their computer.

If you only keep Twitter #music on your iOS device, transfer it to desktop iTunes by connecting your device to a computer and choose the Transfer Purchases option nested under iTunes' File > Devices menu...

Tweetbot for Mac gains thumbnail size option and three-finger swiping

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Tapbot's popular Twitter client for iOS and OS X, Tweetbot, has been refreshed on the Mac with a few fixes and two new features.

Version 1.5, now available in the Mac App Store as a free upgrade to existing users, lets you choose the size of inline image thumbnails in your timelines, a feature developers added to the iPhone and iPod touch client earlier this month.

And for those who take advantage of multitouch gestures in OS X, Tweetbot now supports swiping left and right with three fingers to navigate through your timelines without having to manually click on the back button...

Starbucks 3.0 is out with new iOS 7 design, shake-to-pay and tipping

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

That big Starbucks app update we told you about last week has arrived in the App Store today. The update, which brings the client to version 3.o, includes the long-awaited redesign for iOS 7 as well as a handful of major new features and improvements.

On the new features side, we have shake-to-pay, which will allow you to bring up your barcode with the flick of a wrist to pay for your Starbucks order. There's also a new digital tipping function that lets you tip your barista, and a new Dashboard view...

Gameloft teases major Asphalt 8 update including new cars, maps and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Yesterday we told you that Gameloft and Twitch were teaming up to bring live gameplay streaming to mobile devices. Their first project is Asphalt 8: Airborne, where users will be able to stream live video of them playing the game from their iPhone or iPad to their Twitch channel.

As we noted before, the new feature will launch alongside an upcoming Asphalt 8 update that will add new cars, new maps and more. And Gameloft has just posted a great-looking trailer for the release, titled 'Welcome to the Great Wall,' which we've posted for you down below...

Dropbox for iOS updated with new illustrations, improved photo sync and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Dropbox posted an update to its iOS client this afternoon, bringing the app to version 3.1. The update features a number of improvements, such as new illustrations, several bug fixes, and some SSO enhancements for Dropbox for Business users.

Users will be happy to hear that a few major bugs have been addressed in version 3.1 including the sync issue that would often cause some photos to fail to load, and the sorting problem that wouldn’t group items properly when you sorted by date...

New commenting features, UI tweaks and more added to YouTube iOS app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2014

Google's native YouTube application for the iPhone and iPad has just been updated with some much-needed enhancements to the commenting system and more. For starters, it is now finally possible to reply to other people's comments and delete your own comments right within the app.

Previously, you had to visit the YouTube interface on the web to remove unwanted comments so that's a nice little time saver right there. This edition of YouTube includes a few other timely enhancements and useful interface refinements, all listed and illustrated right after the break.

The update is now live in the App Store...

WhatsApp picks up new wallpapers and introduces new privacy controls

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2014

Facebook-owned WhatsApp, the world's most popular mobile messaging service, has received a nice little update Monday bringing some much-needed privacy controls.

For starters, you can now tell the app who you want to share your profile photo and status with, quite in handy if you're a private person who only wants to share this type of information with your phone contacts rather than with anyone using the service.

The same privacy settings are available for your Last Seen status as well - useful when you don't want others to tell you haven't opened their messages yet. Oh, and this edition of WhatsApp also includes some nice new wallpapers.

The update is live in the App Store so grab it now...