Apps

Instagram exploring adding offline mode to iPhone app

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 20, 2017

Yesterday at Facebook’s F8 developer conference, photo-sharing service Instagram introduced an offline mode in its Android app. A Facebook spokesperson says the team is “exploring” adding that feature to the company's iPhone and iPad app, TechCrunch has learned. Offline mode could be an important feature for users with limited network connectivity or no data plan, especially given that 80 percent of Instagram’s 600 million users are outside the US.

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Chinese government takes issue with live streaming apps on App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 19, 2017

Chinese regulators have taken issue with live-streaming apps that can be downloaded from App Store. As Reuters said Wednesday citing the official Xinhua News Agency, a government body in China’s capital charged with regulating Internet services is planning to “summon” Apple and urge the company to “tighten its checks” regarding live-streaming apps on App Store.

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How to save posts on Instagram and organize them into collections

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 15, 2019

Instagram recently added a tool that permits you to save posts for later and organize them into Pinterest-like curated collections that only you can see. Whether you want to plan your next day trip, revisit your favorite artists’ illustrations or always have some animal videos on hand, our tutorial will get you up to speed on Instagram's Saved Posts and Collections features and lay out the basics of keeping track of any posts you wish to remember.

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Facebook Messenger gaining curated Discover tab

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 18, 2017

Facebook’s annual developers conference, F8, is underway this week and the social networking firm just announced that its mobile Messenger app is gaining a new tab to help users find their recently used bots, nearby places and businesses to message. Titled Discover, the new tab has started to roll out to a few people in the US today ahead of wider availability.

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Facebook confirms Apple Music integration coming soon to Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Apple has offered an Apple Music API for some time now and Facebook leveraged it to integrate the service with Music Stories, a song-sharing feature available within its mainland iOS app. Soon, Apple Music will integrate with the Messenger platform, too (currently used by more than 1.2 billion people every month). At the F8 conference today, the social networking behemoth announced that Spotify integration will be available on Messenger at launch and Apple Music real soon.

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iMovie, GarageBand and iWork apps go free for all users

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 18, 2017

As first spotted by Juli Clover of MacRumors, Apple has made the GarageBand and iMovie apps as well as the iWork suite available free for all users. In the last few years, since 2013, only people who bought a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac device were allowed to download these apps at no additional charge. Starting today, new hardware purchase is no longer required to get these apps.

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Snapchat’s augmented reality Lenses feature finally works with your iPhone’s rear camera

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 18, 2017

A Lens feature on Snapchat, originally introduced in September 2014, has just gotten a whole lot better because the latest update to the company's iOS app now lets you—at long last—use augmented-reality Lenses with your iPhone's rear camera. With Lenses, you can add real-time effects into your snaps, courtesy of the company's advanced face-detection technology. Before today, Lenses were only available via the front-facing camera.

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You can now organize your saved Instagram posts into private collections

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 17, 2017

Instagram today unveiled a new way to organize your saved posts into private collections that only you can see, building upon the ability to save posts for later which launched on the Instagram app back in December 2016.

“Whether you want to plan your next day trip, revisit your favorite artists’ illustrations or always have some animal videos on hand, collections can help you keep track of the posts you want to remember,” said the company.

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iDB app v1.4: a new cache clearing feature and minor fixes under the hood

Sébastien Page ∙ April 16, 2017

It's not because today is a holiday in the US that the hard working people of the App Review team are resting on their laurels. As a matter of fact, they were busy reviewing version 1.4 of the iDB app today, which they just approved following our submission a couple of days ago.

For those curious to find out what's new and what's been fixed, read on for the full changelog.

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