Apple

How to block strangers from messaging you on Vine

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 26, 2015

Some of our past tutorials have provided step-by-step instructions for saving Vine videos, hiding other people's revines in your feed, deleting Vine accounts and blocking users. This how-to mini-series continues with the topic of preventing people you don't follow from messaging you on the service.

Since Vine's 2.0 update, the app has gained the ability to send instant messages to other Vine members. This has quickly generated an influx of unwanted messages that in many cases is classed as pure spam.

This tutorial will teach you about a toggle you can switch to tell Vine to block strangers from messaging you on the service.

How to create a free Apple Developer account and link it to Xcode

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 13, 2018

Even if you don't wish to pay $99 a year to join the Apple Developer Program, you can still create a free Apple ID and use that Apple ID to access a limited set of developer-oriented privileges. The free developer account isn't technically a developer account at all; Apple simply gives Apple ID users, who don't wish to become a member of the official paid Apple Developer Program, access to Xcode Developer Tools, Xcode beta releases, developer forums, and more.

Most importantly, your Apple ID can be used to "Test on Device", which essentially means that anyone with a free Apple ID can deploy apps to their iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs, without relying on a paid developer account. In this simple to follow video tutorial, we'll show you how.

Google reportedly working on a brand new messaging app to take on Facebook

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 24, 2015

As reported on by The Wall Street Journal two days ago, citing people familiar with the matter, the Internet giant Google is allegedly working on a brand new messaging app to take on the growing popularity of apps for keeping in touch, namely Facebook-owned Messenger and WhatsApp.

In addition to messaging capability, the app is said to put a big emphasis on so-called chatbots, smart personal assistants that will scour the web and other sources to answer a question.

Federal judge dismisses iMessage lawsuit over undelivered texts to Android phones

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2015

A lawsuit centered on an iMessage issue which turned former iPhone owners' phone numbers into a black hole for text messages after making a switch to Android has been tossed out of the window by United States District Judge Lucy H. Koh, Business Insider reported this morning.

The lawsuit alleged that Apple's messaging system interfered with the delivery of texts, going as far as to suggest that Apple wiretapped those users by intercepting, and then failing to deliver, text messages sent from an iPhone to an Android phone.

Fleksy Keyboard gains 3D Touch cursor control and other perks in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2015

Fleksy, the popular software keyboard for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, was updated earlier this week with a bunch of refinements and new features, including 3D Touch-based cursor control and Home screen shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Other goodies in Fleksy 7.5 include the all-new (and free) festive pack to dress up your keyboard in holiday-themed skins, the ability to search for emoji with the Highlights extension, a new GIF & Stickers tab for browsing animated GIFs and more.

Disney-funded Littlstar brings immersive 360-degree video to Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2015

A Disney-backed virtual reality company, Littlstar, today launched an app for Apple's fourth-generation Apple TV box that lets users immerse themselves in a wide range of 360 video content from well-known brands, such as Showtime, Disney, Discovery, Fusion, PBS, Mountain Dew, National Geographic and Red Bull.

The app lets users control the videos’ angles using the Touch surface on the Siri Remote. Just like Littlstar’s other apps on the web, mobile and in virtual reality headsets (like the Samsung Gear VR), their Apple TV app lets your rotate videos in full 360 degrees.

Apple Music to begin streaming The Beatles catalog on Christmas Eve

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 22, 2017

It's official: the entire catalog of the famous English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, will be available for streaming on Apple Music, Spotify and a few other services beginning tomorrow, December 24, at 12:01 local time.

In addition to Apple Music and Spotify, The Beatles catalog will also be available for streaming worldwide via Deezer, Google Play, Microsoft Groove, Amazon Prime, Rhapsody, Slacker and Tidal (Pandora is a notable holdout).

5 famous productivity apps from Readdle go half price in Christmas sale

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle doesn't do sales for its productivity apps often so we thought you should definitely know about their latest promotion.

In celebration of the upcoming Christmas holiday, five of their most popular productivity apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are currently half price, or even less, for the next 48 hours.

The sale includes apps like Scanner Pro, PDF Expert 5, Calendars 5, Printer Pro and PDF Converter. The promotion starts today, Tuesday, December 22 and ends on Friday, December 25.

VLC launches full support for iOS 9, watchOS 2, SMB and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Cross-platform media player by VideoLAN, called VLC, has been rewritten from the ground up for watchOS 2. And on the iOS side, VLC comes with many new features.

VLC plays a variety of video/audio files in non-iOS-friendly formats without conversion, including MKV movies.

The app also includes support for multiple audio tracks with 5.1 surround sound and subtitle tracks. In addition, VLC for iOS has dropped support for iOS 6.1 and now requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 7.0+.

UPDATE: The post originally stated that VLC is now available on the new Apple TV. Regrettably, that announcement was an oversight on part of VideoLAN, which has since removed mentions of the Apple TV app from their release notes.

How to block users on Vine, report abuse and flag sensitive content

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 8, 2017

If you're a Vine fan, chances are you have, or will encounter unwanted comments on the videos you post to the service. This can be especially worrisome if your vines are set to public, as anyone can read NSFW language in comments.

Of course, you can delete comments posted through Vine's iPhone app at any time. But if someone is repeatedly showing abusive behavior toward your followers and spamming you in comments, you should block them.

Though this won't block the user from commenting on your posts when they're viewed through searches or hash tags, it will prevent them from following or messaging you on Vine. In this post, you are going to learn how to block a user on Vine, report abusive behavior and flag sensitive media.

Meet Wink, a new instant camera and ephemeral messaging app from Viber

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 21, 2015

Messaging platform Viber on Monday rolled out a brand new application in the App Store. Wink, as it's called, is an instant camera app that was designed for sending photo and video messages that disappear after they have been viewed, joining a seemingly growing selection of ephemeral messaging apps like Snapchat, Telegram and more.

As part of Wink's launch, Viber for iPhone was updated earlier this morning with support for Wink messaging.

Viber revamps share menu, rolls out new media settings & support for Wink messages

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 21, 2015

Viber for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was updated this morning in the App Store with support for auto-disappearing Wink messages while introducing a redesigned share menu, more detailed information in group chats, the ability to select how long your media is stored for and a few design enhancements to the app's introduction screens.

Viber, now owned by Japan's Rakuten, has received a steady stream of updates as of recently.

The service offers a nicely done watchOS 2 app for your wrist that lets you read and respond to messages with dictation, canned replies and stickers.