Apps

Snapchat update enables group chat, Shazam integration, sticker creation & more

Snapchat today updated its iPhone and iPad app on the App Store with a trio of new features. You can now engage in groups chats with multiple users at once, create your own stickers from within the app and even identify a song that's currently playing around you thanks to Shazam integration.

There's also a new Paintbrush tool in Snapchat 9.45 for iOS that will turn your snaps into artistic-looking images.

Adobe updates Photoshop CC for Mac with rich support for Touch Bar shortcuts

Adobe today refreshed Photoshop CC 2017 for Mac with support for customizable shortcuts on the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar. Apple showed off Touch Bar shortcuts in Photoshop during its Mac event last month, and now you can try them out yourself. This release brings three categories of Touch Bar-supported functions to Photoshop CC for Mac: Layer Properties, Brushes and your Favorites.

Apple rejects Pay Mini app from Samsung

Apple has rejected the native Pay Mini app for iPhone from Samsung, ETNews reported Monday. The Cupertino company reportedly did not disclose why it had refused to host Samsung's app on the App Store, but it's fairly safe to speculate that it might have something to do with competition.

ETNews previously reported that Samsung was planning to release Samsung Pay, its mobile payments service, as a downloadable iPhone application.

Convert and push media into any Apple device with WALTR 2, no jailbreak or iTunes needed

Softorino, a purely European crew packed with talented developers, recently released WALTR 2 as a successor to the original app that's captured more than 500,000 downloads worldwide in just under 20 months since its debut.

A well-deserved success, if you ask me, because WALTR made it super easy to convert audio and video files encoded in “foreign” formats, such as DivX/MKV movies with subtitles and FLAC audio files, without requiring a jailbreak.

I raved about WALTR in my review, underscoring how its drag-and-drop simplicity allows just about anyone to bypass the mess that is iTunes. And boy, does it fly: in my tests, WALTR transcoded a 2.64-gigabyte MKV file on my 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 mid-2013 MacBook Air into an iOS-friendly format and sent it over USB to my iPhone 6 in under two minutes.

Building on this remarkable engine, WALTR 2 is now available with new features like support for more than two-dozen legacy iPod models and other devices starting from iOS 5. It uses automatic metadata recognition that works perfectly, gives you the ability to transfer media to your device wirelessly, supports PDF and ePUB file formats and much, much more.

First impressions of Super Mario Run on iPhone

As we noted earlier today, you can now test out Super Mario Run at your local Apple Store. They have preinstalled the game on their demo devices ahead of the games launch on December 15th. I was lucky enough to head over earlier today and put together a video and some first impressions on the upcoming platformer.

Spotify has gone cold on rumored SoundCloud deal

Spotify, the world's top on-demand music service, is not buying Berlin, Germany-headquartered audio distribution platform SoundCloud after all, TechCrunch has learned.

Spotify has reportedly given up on its latest effort to buy SoundCloud realizing, after months of talks, that any such deal would probably negatively impact its impending initial public offering (IPO) and expected expansions in China, Russia and South Korea.

Lightroom for iOS, Lightroom CC and Adobe Camera Raw pick up new pro-grade features

Photoshop maker Adobe today issued a series of updates to Lightroom for iPhone and iPad, Lightroom CC and Adobe Camera Raw, adding several new features for photographers, including refreshed Edit and Capture interfaces, a new info section and a brand new Professional mode.

Lightroom for iPhone and Lightroom for iPad are available free on the App Store. The Lightroom CC 2015.8 update and Adobe Camera Raw 9.8 are available from Adobe.

How to convert any barcode into a pass for your Wallet with Pass2U Wallet

Based on the continuous growth of Wallet for ticketing services and Apple Pay, Apple’s bid to render cards and printouts a memory of the past has come a long way. Wallet makes handling and storing any type of ticket considerably simpler, which is why it is easy to get irritated today when presented with no other delivery option but an old-school paper pass. Thankfully Apple and other retailers are increasingly swinging towards the digital platform, but there are still countless cases where you just cannot add a ticket or voucher to your Wallet - even though it would make life so much easier.

Pass2U Wallet, a free app for iOS, taps into that need and conveniently bridges the gap. Just like Wallet itself it offers to scan hard copy barcodes in order to convert them to Wallet passes, however contrary to Apple’s Wallet it will practically work with any piece of paper imaginable. As such, Pass2U Wallet complements and enriches the stock Wallet app nicely, making sure you will be able to add anything you like to your iPhone’s Wallet. Find out more about the app in our review below.

In November, App Store captured highest monthly sales ever in its history

According to Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, the App Store last month enjoyed the highest monthly sales ever since its inception in the summer of 2008. “November 2016 was a record breaker for the App Store—the highest monthly sales ever in its history,” reads the tweet.

Although Schiller didn't provide any hard numbers, in just two weeks during last year's holiday season the App Store raked in a massive $1.1 billion revenue from sales of iOS apps and In-App Purchases.

Upcoming Instagram update will let you turn off comments on a per-post basis & more

In its never-ending fight to curb abuse on its service, Instagram today said an upcoming new tool will let you completely turn off comments on individual posts.

As reported by The New York Times this morning and confirmed by Instagram itself, in addition to being able to turn off comments on individual posts users will be also permitted to remove followers on private accounts and like other people's comments as well.

Back in September, Instagram launched keyword-based comment moderation as another measure to fight spammers and abusers who have been harassing honest users with unwanted comments and marketing messages.