Apps

Facebook brings photo collages to iPhone app, starts testing Periscope-like video broadcasts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

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 gets iCloud save compatibility with Apple TV, flashier graphics on iPad Pro and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2015

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 gains Snapchat-like news feed, Opera Mini picks up 3D Touch support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

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.

Temple Run 2 launches new world: Frozen Shadows

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2015

The popular endless runner Temple Run is celebrating its first anniversary today. Thus far, the game has amassed an incredible one billion downloads across platforms, thanks to its appealing concept, easy mechanics and regular updates.

Starting today, a brand new world is available in Temple Run 2, called Frozen Shadows. Marking developer Imangi Studio's biggest expansion ever, Frozen Shadows—an update to the freemium Temple Run 2—brings a whole new icy world to slip and slide away from Demon Monkeys.

Review: Infuse 4 is the ultimate media center software for your Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

It cracks me up that a jailbreak was needed to let Apple TV user enjoy their own media libraries directly on the device—and yet here we are today as FireCore, the same developer behind the aTV Flash(Black), unveils an Apple-sanctioned media player app for the new Apple TV.

As I wrote in my preview a few days ago, Infuse 4 for Apple TV (releasing later today in the App Store) is an awesome app that turns Apple's fourth-generation set-top box into a powerful, easy-to-use media center.

No longer do you have to worry about video formats, file conversion and subtitles—Infuse 4 for Apple TV takes care of all that jazz, and then some more. The app can stream your media from a Mac or Windows PC, NAS or Wi-Fi drives and even through a server app like Plex, Kodi or Servo.

It automatically fetches movie details and artwork, integrates with trakt.tv for keeping watched progress in sync on multiple devices, retrieves subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org and more.

Most importantly, its powerful decoder renders any “foreign” video format directly on the Apple TV hardware, no conversion needed, in silky smooth sixty frames per second.

What more can you ask for?

Next-generation Yahoo Messenger now available on iOS, web and Yahoo Mail

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Yahoo today announced it's re-launching its venerable messaging software—Yahoo Messenger—on iOS, Android, on the web and in Yahoo Mail on the desktop.

The app offers a fresh new messaging experience rebuilt from the ground up, integrates the best of the Flickr, Tumblr and Xobni, does photo sharing and animated GIFs and is focused on group messaging with features such as sharing, unsending and liking.

Review: SiriMote—control media playback on your Mac with Siri Remote

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2015

Wouldn't it be nice if you could use the Siri Remote that came with your new Apple TV to control media applications on your Mac? After all, the remote is Bluetooth-based and Mac itself has robust support for Bluetooth networking.

With SiriMote, a new freeware app, now you can. Created by Vienna, Austria-based Eternal Storms Software's Matthias Gansrigler, SiriMote lets you control various functions of the Mac using your Apple TV's Siri Remote.

Twitter announces Digits-based logins coming to Apple TV apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Hot on the heels of Facebook's release of an SDK for tvOS which lets developers create apps with Facebook Login based on eight-digit security codes, Twitter today announced bringing a similar feature of its own to the set-top box.

Digits, Twitter's own login and verification system based on phone numbers and verification codes, is coming to tvOS. This means that developers can now start writing Apple TV apps that users can log into by entering a short alphanumeric code in Safari on iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Starbucks app gets 3D Touch quick actions

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Several major apps have added 3D Touch support earlier today. Wunderlist and LinkedIn, for example, have brought out support for Home screen shortcuts and Peek and Pop gestures within the app with 3D Touch. And now, Starbucks has issued a similarly-themed update to its iPhone application in the App Store.

With Starbucks 3.3.4 for iOS, you can press the app's Home screen icon lightly on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus to bring up a 3D Touch menu with several quick actions: Nearby Stores, Order, Reload Card and Pay.

A brand new Wunderlist for iPhone and iPad is here

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2015

Just in time for the holidays, Wunderlist, a to-do, lists and tasks application that was acquired by Microsoft this summer, released a brand new experience for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad today.

The new Wunderlist 3.4 for iOS packs in full support for 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts and Peek and Pop gestures within the app. In addition, the app is simpler, more lightweight and intuitive than before and comes with iOS 9 productivity-boosting features.

LinkedIn overhauls iOS app, adds 3D Touch, Spotlight Search support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

LinkedIn, the leading business-oriented social networking service, today released a major update to its iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application in the App Store. Featuring a brand new interface redesigned from the ground up, the app is now streamlined into five core areas: Your Feed, Me, My Network, Messaging and Search.

In addition, owners of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus can press firmly LinkedIn's Home screen icon for Search, New Message, View Activity and Share features.

Readdle’s PDF Expert 5 for Mac picks up new features for easier document manipulation

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle launched the Mac edition of PDF Expert, its popular PDF viewer app for iOS, in mid-November. Today marks the first major feature-focused refresh of the app in the Mac App Store.

The app now lets you mail a flattened copy of your PDF and rotate a page without entering the Pages mode. It will remember on what page you've left your document so that the next time you open the same file you can continue right where you left off.