App Updates

Astropad graphics tablet app for iPhone and iPad is now a lot faster and uses less battery

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2016

Astropad is a very cool app from former Apple engineers designed to let you draw into Mac apps by connecting your iPad or iPhone to the computer via USB or Wi-Fi. You can then draw into most Mac apps directly on your iOS device's screen, using your finger as a replacement for a professional graphics tablet. In fact, it's too good that people are replacing their Wacom tablets with Astropad and an iPad.

I've been using Astropad quite extensively and it works like magic, really.

There's very little discernible lag, courtesy of the proprietary Liquid engine providing nearly three times more fluid responsiveness than Apple’s AirPlay. That's why I'm happy to report that in its most recent version 2.0 update, Astropad is now even faster and more fluid than before and a lot less taxing on the battery.

Instagram is rolling out Stories—Snapchat-like auto-dissapearing slideshows

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 2, 2016

Snapchat has Stories and now Instagram announced a similar feature of its own, called—wait for it—Stories. Basically a slideshow format designed for sharing multiple photos and videos, Stories appear on user profiles and, similar to ephemeral messaging services, automatically disappear 24 hours after being posted on the service.

This cool new feature will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on the mobile Instagram app for iOS and Android.

You’ll soon be able to filter individual comments on Instagram, even disable commenting

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 1, 2016

Instagram is working on some significant enhancements for the commenting feature found its mobile app, potentially giving users the ability to filter their own comment streams on the service or even disable commenting on all posts, according to The Washington Post. Instagram has been testing these features with some businesses, but soon everyone will be able to screen individual comments in their feed and decide for themselves if they might be better served by disabling commenting on their account altogether.

iMovie for iOS updated with improved sharing and project creation

Cody Lee ∙ July 28, 2016

Apple on Thursday pushed out an update for the iOS version of iMovie, bringing the video editing software to version 2.2.3. The update features much-needed improvements to the sharing and project creation processes, as well as the usual batch of stability and performance improvements.

Google app gains Forward button (seriously!), more reliable voice search & other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2016

In addition to adding support for Accelerated Mobile Pages to Chrome for iOS, Google also this morning issued a refresh to its native search app on the App Store, which supports Google Now cards. Google 17.0 for iOS, a free download, packs in improvements to help you get things done more quickly in the app such as the addition of a Forward button (what took them so long, really?), a more reliable voice search, the ability to revisit recent pages for a full seven days and a few local search results improvements.

Chrome for iOS now supports Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2016

Google today issued a small but important refresh to the Chrome browser for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the App Store. The updated software bumps up version number to 52.0.2743.84 and brings official support for Accelerated Mobile Pages that, similar to Instant Articles on Facebook, load in a fraction of the time of their non-accelerated mobile versions. Any news stories and articles from partner publishers that have a lightning bolt and “AMP” next to them in search results will load instantly when tapped on.

Adobe releases viewing-only Lightroom app for Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 9, 2017

Tuesday, Photoshop maker Adobe announced it's releasing Lightroom for Apple TV. A viewing-only app, Lightroom for Apple TV lets you instantly appreciate on your big screen TV any photos that are synchronized with Lightroom for mobile or uploaded via Lightroom CC on the desktop, mobile or web.

Your photos can be presented one by one or in a slideshow and you can zoom in on details using the Siri Remote. Separately, Adobe also released Lightroom CC 2015.6.1, which you can.

Viber for iPhone now lets you share, preview, delete and restore your stickers

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 26, 2016

Just like rival WhatsApp, the popular Rakuten-owned Viber messaging application pushed an update to its App Store app this morning, bumping version number to 6.2 whilst adding a few new features related to handling sticker packages within the app. You can now share sticker packages with others and preview stickers before sending one in a chat. And to preserve storage space on the device, there's now the option to delete sticker packages you no longer use. Grab Viber for free on the App Store.

WhatsApp for iPhone gains 3x bigger emoji, zooming during video capture and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 26, 2016

After launching a desktop Mac app in May, Facebook-owned WhatsApp today gave its iPhone application a little love with a new version now available on the App Store. WhatsApp 2.16.7 for iPhone includes three times bigger emoji when sent alone, a feature also found in iOS 10's Messages app. In this release, you can now zoom when recording videos within the app and select multiple chats to quickly archive, delete or mark as read.

Plus, thanks to under-the-hood tweaks chats now open a lot faster than before.

Google Maps for iOS refreshed with cleaner look, now highlights local areas of interest

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Google today updated its mobile mapping application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with some rather useful visual tweaks. Google Maps 4.21 for iOS now highlights local areas that might interest you, adding multiple destinations to a route is supported in the new version and the typography of street names, points of interest, transit stations and other places has been improved to make them easier to read on smaller screens, among other changes.

Periscope introduces Replay Highlights, Live Autoplay and Tweet Embeds

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2016

Periscope, Twitter's live-broadcasting app, was updated in the App Store with a few new features, among them Replay Highlights, Live Autoplay and Tweet Embeds. Highlights automatically generates a short trailer for every Periscope broadcast of your home feed, making it easier to catch up on broadcasts you missed from the last day.

Periscope is a free download from the App Store.

BBC’s iPlayer Radio hits US App Store as new BBC+ app goes live in UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2016

The British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) iPlayer Radio mobile app, which used to be limited to customers in the United Kingdom, has expanded stateside today, TechCrunch just announced. Now customers in the United States can download iPlayer Radio from the US App Store and tune in to BBC's high-quality radio stations and content.

Earlier in the week, BBC announced launch of a brand new personalized content portal with a new BBC+ app on the UK App Store.