Apps

Twitter implements half-baked support for 360-degree video

Micro-blogging startup Twitter has added basic support for 360-degree video after both YouTube and Facebook did the same months ago, said The Verge. However, videos shot with 360-degree cameras won't yet play inline inside Twitter's mobile app or website. Rather, users are taken to a separate website where they can click and drag to look around the videos.

Facebook is shutting down Notify, its little used real-time news app

Facebook is killing off Notify for iPhone, its mobile notifications app for news, sports, weather and more, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

The app debuted on the App Store about six months ago, in November 2015. Notify was conceived as a real-time news app designed around push notifications “from sources you love, right on your lock screen, all in one place.”

Check out the top 40 user-created Badland levels

The original Badland game is still one of my favorite atmospheric puzzlers on any platform. Although it's two years old now, there's nothing quite like it on the App Store. That's because its creator, Helsinki, Finland-based Frogmind Games, has made a smart move of building a level editor into the game.

As a result, you get more levels to play than you could bargain for. But, with 2000+ levels created each week, small wonder people are having a hard time finding ones worthy their time. Frogmen has thought of that: in its latest “Eternal Day” update, the game brings out a curated selection of the best 40 levels out of 70,000+.

Apple’s free app of the week: Sago Mini Road Trip

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the game Sago Mini Road Trip. This means that for the next 7 days, you’ll be able to download the popular children's title on both iPhone and iPad for free, a solid savings of $3.

In Sago, kids play as Jinja the cat as they set out on a road trip. There are more than 10 vehicles and 6 destinations to choose from, and no rules or time pressures to worry about. So kids can relax, hit the road and explore at their own pace.

Many third-party Instagram apps no longer working

Do you use a third-party app to browse Instagram feeds and hashtags more efficiently on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad?

If so, there's a high likelihood that your app has now ceased functioning due to Instagram's new and much stricter policy pertaining to the official API, which has gone into effect today, as first noted by MacRumors.

Relax with Alto’s Adventure’s new Zen Mode

Alto's Adventure from developer Snowman, the popular endless snowboarding odyssey set in the tranquil wilderness, was updated this morning on the App Store with all-new Zen and Photo modes and other perks.

Zen Mode, a new way to enjoy the game, is a dedicated experience that helps you unwind “for all those times when catching llamas and chasing high scores isn’t high on the agenda”.

Facebook has added over 1,500 new emoji characters to Messenger

Facebook announced yesterday that it's adding more than 1,500 new emoji to its free mobile Messenger app, bringing a lot more diversity to your communications.

Underscoring that emojis have changed the way we talk to each other, “from skin tones that you can choose to lots of women in great roles”, the post reveals that nearly ten percent of mobile sends in Messenger include emojis.

Google would love to work with Apple on making messaging more interoperable

Google CEO Sundar Pichai sat down for an interview with technology columnist Walt Mossberg at Code Conference yesterday. Fresh off Google's annual developer conference, which was big on artificial intelligence, the executive discussed a range of topics from Android to competition to digital assistants to artificial intelligence and beyond.

Pichai also expressed hope that big technology companies can work together on making their proprietary messaging services more interoperable.

Tumblr for iPhone becomes a meme generator with a new GIF captioning feature

Tumblr for iPhone was updated this morning on the App Store with a much appreciated GIF-captioning feature which helps turn the popular micro-blogging software into an instant meme generator.

In addition to the ability to post regular GIF images and animated GIFs, now both static and animated GIFs can include funny captions with support for up to three built-in fonts and custom colors.

Facebook Messenger said to be rolling out opt-in encryption in the coming months

After WhatsApp and Viber both introduced end-to-end encryption last month, Facebook Messenger will become the next major messaging app to roll out this essential security feature, reports The Guardian.

Although end-to-end encryption on Messenger will be framed as an optional feature that users will need to manually enable, it will ensure that the contents of communications are hidden from eavesdroppers and that the identities of the participants are concealed.

MacID for iOS and Mac updated with a slew of new features and fixes

The popular app for iPhone and iPad that lets you unlock your Mac with your Touch ID sensor over a low-energy Bluetooth connection has received an important update on Tuesday that adds a number of new features to the app and fixes a number of previously-known issues.

The update is free for everyone who owns MacID already for both the iOS and OS X apps, and make the new features and stability available across both platforms immediately following installation.