Apps

Dropbox Paper enters public beta, iPhone and iPad app now available

As of today, Dropbox Paper, a collaborative document editor akin to Google Docs and Apple's iWork for iCloud suite (only better!) is in public beta after spending about a year in private beta, the cloud storage startup announced.

In addition, the mobile Paper app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch launched today, too, so you can immediately download it at no charge from the App Store.

Apple Music for Android exits beta, gains equalizer settings and performance improvements

Apple Music for Android has dropped the beta flag, reveals the app's official description on Google's Play store. Today, Apple Music for Android was updated to version 1.0 as the app is no longer in beta, signaling Apple's confidence that it enables experiences its iOS counterpart has provided since launch. The app made its surprising debut in November of 2015 as Apple's first-ever Android software because the company wanted to make it easy for music lovers to allow people to enjoy music “no matter where you were and what products you were using”.

Snapseed update adds Text filter, image resizing when exporting and sharing & more

Since buying Snapseed from Nik Software in September 2012, Google has been somewhat neglecting this once popular mobile image editor, issuing maintenance updates that were light on new features. Today, the search firm announced that Snapseed, at long last, is getting some interesting new capabilities via an update on iOS and Android. The Text filter is now available and you can configure the app to resize photos when sharing/exporting.

UI adjustments and bug fixes are included in Snapseed 2.8 as well.

Snapchat rolls out city-specific stickers that mock local trends and highlight landmarks

Snapchat for iPhone, an ephemeral image messaging app, yesterday announced a new feature called Geostickers. Basically special stickers available in some of the biggest cities around the world, they can be applied to images and moved around before sending them. You can also stick these city-specific stickers on your Snaps.

Geostickers are available now in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, Honolulu, London, Sydney, São Paulo, Paris and Riyadh.

Astropad graphics tablet app for iPhone and iPad is now a lot faster and uses less battery

Astropad is a very cool app from former Apple engineers designed to let you draw into Mac apps by connecting your iPad or iPhone to the computer via USB or Wi-Fi. You can then draw into most Mac apps directly on your iOS device's screen, using your finger as a replacement for a professional graphics tablet. In fact, it's too good that people are replacing their Wacom tablets with Astropad and an iPad.

I've been using Astropad quite extensively and it works like magic, really.

There's very little discernible lag, courtesy of the proprietary Liquid engine providing nearly three times more fluid responsiveness than Apple’s AirPlay. That's why I'm happy to report that in its most recent version 2.0 update, Astropad is now even faster and more fluid than before and a lot less taxing on the battery.

Twitter for iOS adds iPad keyboard shortcuts

Yesterday, Twitter's mobile application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch added a few useful keyboard shortcuts for iPad owners, said Twitter app developer Amro Mousa. If you have an iPad connected to a third-party Bluetooth keyboard or Apple's Smart Keyboard, Twitter for iOS now lets you use various keyboard shortcuts to quickly access some of the most frequently used options without needing to tap on-screen controls.

Instagram is rolling out Stories—Snapchat-like auto-dissapearing slideshows

Snapchat has Stories and now Instagram announced a similar feature of its own, called—wait for it—Stories. Basically a slideshow format designed for sharing multiple photos and videos, Stories appear on user profiles and, similar to ephemeral messaging services, automatically disappear 24 hours after being posted on the service.

This cool new feature will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on the mobile Instagram app for iOS and Android.

You’ll soon be able to filter individual comments on Instagram, even disable commenting

Instagram is working on some significant enhancements for the commenting feature found its mobile app, potentially giving users the ability to filter their own comment streams on the service or even disable commenting on all posts, according to The Washington Post. Instagram has been testing these features with some businesses, but soon everyone will be able to screen individual comments in their feed and decide for themselves if they might be better served by disabling commenting on their account altogether.

How to battle in gyms in Pokémon GO

One of the more misunderstood features of the hit mobile game Pokémon GO are gyms. These are essentially arenas where you can compete with other trainers and claim the gym for your own team.

In this piece, we'll talk all about gyms and discuss the gameplay, Pokémon preparation, and team gym claiming.

Momentic, Upthere, Tung.fm, and other apps to check out this weekend

It's the weekend again, and you know what that means: time for another edition of our Apps of the Week roundup. This week's selections include photo-sharing app Momentic, cloud storage client Upthere, and a great new podcast player with a focus on sharing and discovery. Plus, we have two awesome new games for you to try!

How to play Pokémon GO on your jailbroken device

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, which is likely after this weekend's release of the Pangu jailbreak for iOS 9.3.3, then you've probably already found that Pokémon GO can't run on a jailbroken device. It'll crash at startup instead.

In this tutorial, we'll show you a workaround so you can play Pokémon GO on your jailbroken iPhone without it crashing every time it starts up.

New Apple Store app in the works with ‘For You’ recommendations

Apple is currently working on a redesigned version of its Apple Store mobile app with new recommendation features, reports Bloomberg. Citing sources familiar with the project, the outlet says the updated app could be rolled out in the next two weeks.

At the heart of the refresh is expected to be a "For You" tab, that will suggest products based on prior orders—similar to what Amazon.com does with its recommendations. So after buying an iPhone, the app could recommend cases and other accessories.