App Updates

WhatsApp rolls out responding to messages and calls directly from notifications to everyone

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 2, 2015

After testing out with a subset of its user base a new ability to quickly respond to incoming messages directly from the notification banner, Facebook-owned WhatsApp today began rolling out this feature to its massive 900+ million monthly active users. In addition, this edition of WhatsApp for iPhone also makes it easy to reply to incoming WhatsApp VoIP calls with a message, right from the call notification. Both features require Apple's latest mobile operating system.

Procreate gains support for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil features and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 2, 2015

Procreate by Savage Interactive, the popular sketching and painting app, was refreshed today in the App Store with more than a dozen new features, among them specific ones aimed at the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil which are scheduled to launch later this month.

Procreate 3, a free update for existing owners, now allows for up to 16K canvases on the iPad Pro, with its 128 brushes taking full advantage of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection and palm rejection provided by the Apple Pencil. All told, this edition of Procreate packs in over a hundred new features and refinements.

Microsoft folds Sunrise functionality into much-improved Outlook for iOS app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Developers of Microsoft-owned calendar app, called Sunrise, announced in a blog post that the app won't be receiving updates going forward as the team has worked hard on integrating Sunrise functionality into the Windows maker's much-improved mobile Outlook client for iPhone and iPad.

Sunrise Calendar was last updated in the App Store more than four months ago, adding integration with Office 365 events. Just yesterday, Outlook for iOS received a fresh new look alongside a brand native Apple Watch app built on watchOS 2.

At the same time, Microsoft announced that the mobile Outlook app has gone from a couple hundred downloads to more than thirty million installs on smartphones and tablets.

Snapchat update brings 3D Touch support and new video filters: slow-mo, fast forward & rewind

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Following Skype's update this morning which added 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts and Peek and Pop gestures, Snapchat too issued an update to its App Store application which enables 3D Touch support for quick actions from the Home screen icon on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

In addition to 3D Touch support, this edition of Snapchat brings out some new filters for your snaps, including slow-motion, fast-forward and rewind effects.

Skype for iOS adds 3D Touch actions, spooky Halloween emoticons, video filters and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Microsoft today issued a pair of updates to Skype's messaging, VoIP and video calling apps in the App Store.

While the apps continue to be separate downloads on iOS rather than a universal binary (come on, Microsoft!), Skype for iPhone has gained useful 3D Touch actions available both from the Home screen and within the app itself.

In addition, both editions of Skype have picked up improved conversation and contact management, as well as ghostly Halloween video message filters and emoticons.

Scanbot picks up Magic color filter, improved edge detection and more in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Scanbot, a comprehensive mobile scanner app for documents and QR codes, has been refreshed in the App Store today with several new features and refinements, including more accurate edge detection and a new color filter for text documents which produces scans that often look better than the original.

Scanbot is fully compliant with iOS 9, supports 3D Touch shortcuts on the Home screen and actions within the app and can recognize a wide variety of bar codes, including UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 39, Code 39 mod 43, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-8, EAN-13, ITF14, PDF417, Aztec and DataMatrix.

Viber rolls out Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Mobile messaging platform Viber today rolled out a new version of its iPhone app in the App Store which enables native experience on your Apple Watch. While pretty basic, the app is functional, easy to use and efficient.

With it, you can read and respond to messages straight from your wrist, and even send stickers created exclusively for the Apple Watch, all without having to pull an iPhone out of your pocket. Viber is available at no charge in the App Store.

Astropad Mini goes free, now with pressure-sensitive drawing on iPhone 6s via 3D Touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Astropad Mini, a cool application by former Apple engineers which turns your iPhone into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has been refreshed on the App Store today with support for 3D Touch.

The new version lets iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners apply varying degrees of pressure when drawing on the handset screen with their finger.

In addition, the app has gone free, lowering barrier to entry to zero bucks. Astropad Mini has been especially popular with artists and photographers.

Since its February 2015 debut, customers have bought more than 200,000 copies of the iPhone app. “We expect this new version with 3D Touch to be even more popular,“ developers told me via email.

Facebook bringing order to notification hell with revamped Notifications tab in mobile app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

After seemingly neglecting its outdated notification system for years, Facebook today announced a revamp and new features for the Notifications tab in its mobile application.

Hopefully, this'll help us cope with a firehouse of alerts from Facebook that we're being inundated with on any given day.

A more useful, Google Now-like Notifications tab now distinguishes clearly between Facebook's most important notification types.

Specifically, you'll see timely alerts for friends’ milestones, birthdays and life events, upcoming events that you’ve joined and sports scores and TV reminders, the latter two based on Pages you’ve liked.

iOS 9.1 enables quick-replying from notifications in WhatsApp for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2015

At long last, iOS is allowing app makers to implement text replies in notifications, a feature Apple used to reserve exclusively for its Messages app.

Twitter was the first App Store app to gain this great time-saver of a feature. On iOS 9.1, WhatsApp for iPhone now supports a handy text field for quickly replying to incoming messages without leaving the app you're currently using.

This feature requires an iPhone with iOS 9.1 or later.

Runkeeper’s latest update lets you record your runs directly on Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2015

Runkeeper has refreshed its iPhone application with a fully native watchOS 2 app so you can record your runs and heart rates directly on your Apple Watch, without needing to bring your iPhone with you. If you typically go running with an iPhone strapped to your arm, you'll appreciate phone-free jogging with the new Runkeeper.

In other changes, new post-activity music analytics will create a full rundown of your playlist and your pace for each song after you've finished your run.

Chrome picks up iPad split-screen multitasking support in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2015

Google today pushed a small update to its Chrome mobile browser in the App Store. The new edition, officially bumped to version number 46.0.2490.73, brings support for iOS 9's new Split View multitasking mode on the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro.

Moreover, Slide Over multitasking view and Picture-in-Picture video mode are supported in this Chrome edition as well. These are certainly welcomed additions for those of you who do a lot of research online as you can now browse the web with Chrome and run another app like Notes side-by-side.