Pixelmator, one of the best Photoshop alternatives on any platform, has received a nice little update in the Mac App Store this morning. Bumped to version 3.4.1, the refreshed app brings half a dozen new features and refinements and packs in nearly two dozen bug fixes and stability improvements, including faster and more responsive performance on 2011 Macs with Intel's HD 3000 graphics cards.
Sony today released a brand new iPhone application in the App Store, PlayStation Messages. Conceived as a messaging app for fans of the PlayStation console, the software provides messaging capabilities that used to be part of the official PlayStation app, including availability and presence indicators, group chats with up to a hundred players, rich media in messages such as photos, voice, stickers, attachments and more.
Happy app removal day! After Dropbox announced plans to wind down its ill-fated Mailbox and Carousel apps, Facebook just pulled a Dropbox by confirming it, too, is shutting down a few apps of its own that have failed to gain much traction with users: Slingshot, Riff and Rooms.
In addition, the company will be closing down the Creative Labs shop, an initiative formed in January 2014 with the noble goal of giving its teams creative freedom to conceive and build apps outside the core Facebook experience.
Google's standalone Calendar app was released in the App Store in March of 2105 and today the software is getting some interesting new features: Reminders, 3D Touch support and a cool Star Wars skin for those who have opted to join either the Dark or Light side of the Force at google.com/starwars. Reminders in Google Calendar make it easier to keep track of your to-dos alongside your events—in one place, no need to juggle between different apps.
Cloud storage startup Dropbox made a surprising announcement Monday, saying it will be shutting down Mailbox, the once popular app it acquired in March 2013, as well as Carousel, a photo-management app released in April 2014. Mailbox will be winding down on February 28, 2016 and Carousel is next on the chopping block on March 31, 2016.
This development doesn't surprise me: Mailbox for iOS has been receiving only compatibility updates post-acquisition while Mailbox for Mac hasn't dropped its beta flag since August 2014 debut of the first public beta (its current version number: 0.76).
Samsung is reportedly working on its very first iOS app, called Gear Manager, that will permit iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners to use the South Korean firm's latest Gear S2 lineup of smartwatches, SamMobile learned from its sources last week.
While the Gear S2 works with all Android smartphones, not just the ones made by Samsung, it doesn't play well with iOS. Like Apple's own Watch companion app, the Gear Manager is said to include features to set up and customize the device for use.
Live Photos is a cool new feature available on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. However, it is not exclusive to those devices. Thanks to third-party apps like Live Pictures and jailbreak tweaks like EnableLivePhotos, even older devices running iOS 9 can take advantage of creating Live Photos.
Alive! is a photo editing app specifically designed for Live Photos. Whether you've taken them on an iPhone 6s, or an older device with a third-party app or jailbreak tweak, or even if someone sent you a Live Photo, you can edit them using this app. We've got a hands-on review of Alive! for you today.
This was a big week for Apple Watch. Google updated Hangouts, Pedometer++ got a big fitness update, and Apple launched a new line of (RED) branded products that includes a special Apple Watch band. With all this great Apple Watch news, who cares about iOS? Amiright?
Don't worry, we won't let you down. We've got a list of apps and games available on iPhone and iPad and there is no Apple Watch support in sight (at least not yet). So have fun and get downloading.
Pedometer++ is one of the best step-counting apps in the App Store, with its developer David Smith managing to keep it alive with meaningful updates. In fact, Apple's 2013 introduction of a dedicated motion coprocessor in iPhones that tracks movement in a power-friendly manner has helped breathe new life into Pedometer++.
Ever since the watch's April 2015 debut I've been wondering how the app would fit into my fitness routine.
My primary concern at the time was whether or not a dedicated step-counting app made sense given the Apple Watch's robust fitness and motion tracking capabilities.
But as it turns out, a bright future lies ahead of Pedometer++ and today's feature-packed update proves my point. The new version fully embraces the Apple Watch with a comprehensive, fluid and native watchOS 2 app, complications, more accurate data sync than Apple's Health app and more.
Facebook today announced that its main iPhone client in the App Store has been updated with two new features: Live Video and Collages.
Collages, automatically created from the photos and videos taken together, are presented as a moving carousel within the app and on the web.
More important than that, implementing live video broadcasting on Facebook has been prioritized in the wake of the Periscope phenomenon. Starting today, a small percentage of people in the United States can begin testing the live video feature on their iPhones.
Oceanhorn, the beautifully crafted fantasy adventure game from FDG Mobile Games GbR, has received an essential update in the App Store today. Bumped to version 2.7, this edition fixes the problem with iCloud save files created on the iPhone and iPad not being recognized on the Apple TV.
Those lucky iPad Pro owners will enjoy this update's ultra quality graphics on their tablet, with an improved world map and environment decoration.
Lastly, Oceanhorn 2.7 sports a better sound engine and fixes various bugs.
Opera Coast, a third-party web browser for iOS, has been updated in the App Store today with real-time news and notifications while Opera Mini now supports 3D Touch shortcuts for accessing your favorite sites by lightly pressing the app's icon on the Home screen of the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.
Opera Mini also integrates with iOS 9's Spotlight Search and has a few other refinements mentioned further below.
In Opera Coast, you can now preview headlines from sites you follow with a new feature, called For You. This basically aggregates online articles into a single tile, giving you an at-a-glance overview of your news right inside the browser.