App Updates

Airmail 3 for OS X is here, brings best features from its iOS edition to the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 23, 2016

Developer Bloop on Monday issued a major update to its excellent OS X email client on the Mac App Store, Airmail. Available as a free upgrade for existing users, Airmail 3 brings some of the best features from its iPhone and iPad edition to the Mac.

In addition to improved handling of your VIP contacts and the ability to quickly reply to emails from a notification, Airmail 3 includes a rich set of options for customizing your menus, gestures, keyboard shortcuts and folders.

The app now integrates with your calendar, has a lot faster message rendering engine, will sync more settings via iCloud between OS X and iOS editions (rules, VIP contacts and Smart Folders) and more.

Tweetbot for Mac updated with new Topics feature, Collections support and more

Cody Lee ∙ May 19, 2016

The Tapbots on Thursday issued an update for Tweetbot for Mac, bringing the popular Twitter client to version 2.4. The release brings the new Topics feature over from the recent iOS update, Collections support and other enhancements.

As you'll recall, A Topic is a way to let you quickly Tweet a group of related Tweets without having to manually reply to yourself. You can activate Topics by tapping the gear menu in the Compose screen, and they sync across devices via iCloud.

Infuse 4.2 adds Library view on tvOS, trakt ratings sync, Spotlight search on iOS and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

The versatile Infuse media player for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by aTV Flash Black developer FireCore today got bumped to version 4.2, bringing dozens of new features, enhancements and refinements to both the iOS and tvOS edition of the software.

Infuse 4.2 now surfaces your content in Spotlight search, lets you sync ratings for rate content on trakt.tv and has new Continuous Playback options.

On the fourth-generation Apple TV, Infuse gained a new Library mode and Smart Filters, an artwork picker for your Favorites and lots of other improvements. Plus, audiophiles will be pleased to learn that Infuse for Apple TV is now capable of reproducing 7.1 content.

Alfred 3 for Mac is here with cool new features to boost your productivity

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 19, 2016

Alfred, a productivity app used and loved by millions of people, today received a major update, bringing it to version 3.0. Alfred boosts your efficiency and productivity with time-saving features like hotkeys, keywords, text expansion, search and more.

Workflows in Alfred are now more flexible and come with some additional objects. Built-in clipboard now accepts multimedia files, a new snippet-expanding feature is an instant productivity boost, theming has been improved and the app runs faster thanks to under-the-hood improvements.

Readdle’s PDF Expert 5 gains Apple Pencil support and seamless Wi-Fi file transfer

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 19, 2016

Now you can take the most from your Apple Pencil and iPad Pro with a new version of Readdle's PDF Expert for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, which was pushed to the App Store this morning.

In addition to swiping with your finger and sketching with Apple Pencil, the application now permits you to transfer PDF documents from your Mac to the iPad, or vice versa, with a single tap, courtesy of Readdle's all-new Transfer technology.

Uber app now lets you track family members

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 18, 2016

Ride-sharing service Uber today announced an interesting new feature for its mobile application on the App Store, introducing a Find My Friends-like feature that permits you to track family members on the map. Called Trip Tracker, this new feature provides automatic notifications and the ability to follow along on the map whenever someone is riding under your Family Profile. Trip Tracker and Family Profile features are available worldwide starting today.

“OK Hound, what’s this song?”

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2016

SoundHound, a Santa Clara, California headquartered audio recognition and cognition company, today pushed an interesting update to its free and paid App Store apps, which now include a brand new, pretty powerful voice-activated music assistant feature.

Responding to the 'OK Hound' keyword, the new search and assistant mode translates your spoken commands into appropriate actions, letting you identify songs, discover new music, add tracks to your Apple Music playlist and more, hands-free.

Google’s mobile app gains keyboard shortcuts, busiest hours in search results & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2016

Google's native search app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad today received a pretty significant update on the App Store, bringing the app to version 15.0.

People who use an external keyboard with their iPad can now use time-saving shortcuts within the app to search faster and navigate the app more easily.

Other improvements in this release of the Google app include busiest hours in search results and dynamic font sizing enhancements.

The Google app is available free on the App Store.

Apple updates GarageBand with new sounds to celebrate Chinese music

Cody Lee ∙ May 16, 2016

Apple on Monday issued updates for GarageBand on both iOS and Mac, bringing the apps to version 2.1.1 and 10.1.2 respectively. The release notes for the updates mention various bug fixes and other improvements, but Apple points to some bigger changes in a press release.

Many new Chinese sounds were also added in today's GarageBand updates, to "celebrate the rich history of Chinese music." This includes traditional Chinese instruments like the pipa and erhu, percussion instruments like wood blocks and cymbals, and 300 Live Loops.

Getting your point across, artfully, with PointOut

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 13, 2016

PointOut for iPhone, an exciting image annotation app, is celebrating its first birthday with a feature-packed update that surfaced yesterday on the App Store.

As its name hints, this app lets you point out things on your photos and iOS screenshots with pointers such as arrows, dots, circles, lifelike loupes, precision glasses, different canvas layouts, focus areas and more.

These tolls make it super easy to highlight or enlarge specific details on your photos in a manner that'll make an impact on your audience.

In its latest update, PointOut has gained some new pointers with draggable text labels for making even greater impact, a flat magnifying glass for those who couldn't stand the skeuomorphic ones, full support for non-standard iOS keyboards and more.

Having been using this app for months, I've grown to like it quite a lot. This quick review should give you an idea why I deem PointOut a unique iOS annotation app.

Periscope for iPhone now lets you search videos and broadcast live from DJI drones

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Periscope, a Twitter-owned app that lets anyone start a live video broadcast from their iPhone, today received a pretty substantial update on the App Store. Bumped to version 1.4, Periscope for iPhone now lets you search videos and broadcast live to the service from a compatible DJI drone.

In addition, the team shared a preview of their full beyond 24 hours approach that will be available in the coming weeks.

Google Translate app gains offline mode, instant camera translation from Chinese and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Google's native Translate application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad received a major update yesterday in the App Store, bringing version number to 5.0 and introducing some rather interesting advances. For starters, Google Translate now works without an Internet connection, allowing you to translate words, phrases and sentences in 52 of the 103 supported languages when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection available.

The instant camera translation feature, called Word Lens, now works with Chinese: it reads both to and from English, both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. This feature is ideal for traveling: you just point your camera at, say, a restaurant sign in a foreign language and witness the appropriate translation appear like magic in live video feed.