App Updates

August Smart Lock is ready for your wrist with brand new Apple Watch app

The popular Smart Lock accessory by August now makes it easy to lock and unlock your door right from your wrist with a brand new Apple Watch app, announced Monday.

Available as a free update to the existing iPhone application, the WatchKit component provides an Apple Watch app and a glance which can be used to operate your August Smart Lock and view its logs, view your most recent activity, receive instant notifications and more.

OneDrive for iOS brings back file downloading, adds VoiceOver and Single Sign-On improvements

Microsoft's excellent mobile client for its cloud-storage service, OneDrive for iOS, was updated with three new features today, among them the ability to download photos and videos to your Camera roll after a brief hiatus following the app's recent redesign. Available free of charge in the App Store, OneDrive 5.5 for iOS also contains VoiceOver improvements for hearing-impaired users and support for Single Sign-On.

Fantastical for iPhone gains drafts feature [bonus: promo codes giveaway]

Developer Flexibits has issued an update to Fantastical's iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps this morning. This premium calendar and reminder replacement software for iOS, watchOS and OS X now includes complete support for Japanese users across its iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch editions.

More importantly, Fantastical 2.4 for iPhone now includes drafts, a handy new feature addition that makes it possible to multitask while adding new items quickly and easily. The update is rolling out as we speak and should be available in the App Store shortly.

As a nice bonus, the fine folk at Flexibits have kindly provided more than a dozen promo codes for you, our readers, to redeem so read on to potentially grab your free copy of Fantastical.

Periscope for iPhone refreshed with muting, Handoff support and more

In addition to refreshing its main application for the iPhone and iPad with drafts support and interactive notifications on iOS 8, the micro-blogging startup Twitter today issued a noteworthy refresh to its live-broadcasting app, Periscope.

Available at no cost in the App Store, the new Periscope 1.1.3 implements support for Handoff, a new technology in iOS 8 which lets you seamlessly move tasks across devices.

In addition, the app has gained other perks like a new notification setting for people you follow, viewer statistics when browsing past broadcasts and more. Plus, it now tailors your global list of recommended broadcasts to your geographical location.

Chrome for iOS gains a cool tab-switching gesture

Just days after updating Chrome for iOS with the ability to swipe right or left to navigate backward or forward, the search giant issued another app refresh this morning.

Bumped to version 44.0.2403.67, Chrome's added a handy shortcut to switch between open tabs without having to reach for an icon in the upper right corner with your thumb.

Google's mobile browser for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is available at no cost in the App Store.

TurboScan puts the power of a high quality mobile scanner in the palm of your hand

TurboScan by Piksoft Inc., a small Bay Area company, has been available on the App Store for more than five years. Yesterday, they finally launched a free version which leaves no features behind so anyone can now experience the power of a high quality scanner in the palm of their hand, at zero cost.

Ranked #1 business app in the US App Store and with over three million existing users, this document and receipt scanner includes powerful features wrapped around an engaging interface.

YouTube app updated with support for fullscreen vertical videos

Google's YouTube updated its iOS client today, bringing the app to version 10.28. The update brings about two major enhancements: support for fullscreen playback of vertical videos and push notifications.

The former is fairly significant. Users can now view vertically-filmed videos in fullscreen when in portrait mode—a big improvement over previous versions, which would shrink content between two black bars.

Save links for later with Pinterest’s much improved Share extension

Pinterest's Share extension on iPhones, iPod touches and iPads has gotten a whole lot more useful in the latest update which just landed on the App Store.

The free of charge application was among the first on the App Store to have rolled out a native Share sheet extension on iOS 8, albeit sporting a very limited set of features.

With the new, much improved Pinterest button for iPhone, you can now save links for later in a more visual way than before, with customizable Pin descriptions and more.

TodoMovies 4 adds Apple Watch app, custom lists, richer views, tabbed navigation and more

As a longtime fan of TodoMovies, an excellent movie tracker by German developer Taphive, I've been using the app to keep tabs on the movies I wanted to watch.

Since its March 2014 App Store debut, developers have constantly updated the app with meaningful feature additions like Motion Posters in TodoMovies 2, a revamped design in TodoMovies 3 and lots of other goodies.

Previously a $1.99 download, TodoMovies went the freemium route and it did help widen the app's user base. And as of Thursday, TodoMovies 4 is available in the App Store with tons more perks.

For starters, it now offers a nicely designed Apple Watch app for your wrist. On the iPhone side, enhancements include custom lists, a richer movie details view, tab-based navigation, support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screens and more.

Read on for a quick review based on my brief hands-on time with the new version.

Office for iOS gains Outlook integration, easier sharing, viewing protected files and more

Software giant Microsoft on Thursday issued a set of updates adding several new features to its Office mobile apps on the iOS platform. For starters, the refreshed editions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the iPhone and iPad can finally open and view protected documents.

Next, users can now easily invite others to collaborate on documents and grant permissions from within the apps, another important productivity boost.

Google finally updates Chrome for iOS with swipe to navigate

File this one under the “better late than never” drawer. It only took like nearly two years since iOS 7's debut but Google has at long last given users of its Chrome for iOS browser the ability to swipe right or left to navigate backward or forward.

The iPhone and iPad browser, now bumped to version 44.0.2403.65, also brings stability improvements and bug fixes while laying the groundwork for another major feature addition: Physical Web integration in the Notification Center's Today view.

Physical what?