Apps

Lifeline 2 review: 3 Minute Games gets magical

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 9, 2015

When Apple Watch first launched, 3 Minute Games made a huge impression with its choose-your-own-adventure game, Lifeline, designed for the wrist worn device. It is a simple text-based game where players help a character on the other end survive. It was a huge hit with Apple Watch owners.

Lifeline 2 is out now and it is definitely a proper follow up to the first game. It has all the same charm as its predecessor, but has an entirely new story and includes some new features to make players happy. We've got a full game review of Lifeline 2 for your reading enjoyment.

GIFO, Solar Walk 2, AmpMe and more apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

There is no shortage of new and exciting content for Apple devices. An update to iOS 9 for the newest handset already came out, and a beta release popped up for the rest of us. There are dozens of great new titles in the App Store and updates that add all kinds of fun feature to the Apple Watch. If you are looking for new content for your iPhone, look no further than our list of apps and games for this weekend.

Just Press Record lets you record audio from Apple Watch

Lory Gil ∙ September 25, 2015

Have you ever wondered why, even though Apple Watch has a microphone and speaker, that there is no Memo app for watchOS? Me too. I use the Memo app regularly and, even if it were just controls to trigger the app on my iPhone, I'd be grateful for Apple Watch support.

Luckily, a clever dev team realized there was a hole to fill and created Just Press Record. It is a simple recording app for Apple Watch that allows you to capture audio, right from your wrist-worn device.

The development team at Open Planet Software told us that, coming in an update very soon, Just Press Record will support Glances and watch Complications.

10 apps with 3D Touch for your iPhone 6s

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 25, 2015

The new iPhones are upon us and with them comes a headline feature: 3D Touch. Its name might suggest a marketing gimmick though 3D Touch is anything but, thanks to Apple's clever, elegant implementation.

In a word, 3D Touch is fast and instantaneous, unlike the tap-and-hold gesture, and responds to different levels of pressures. It's used to access app-specific shortcuts right from your Home screen.

Within apps, 3D Touch lets you peek something without leaving the context of what you're doing or pop from a content preview into the full view. We've put together a quick list of ten popular third-party applications for your brand spanking new iPhone 6s that have been graced with 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures.

Download them now and start peeking and popping like there's no tomorrow.

Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Apple has named Nickelodeon's "Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants" its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you could grab the special SpongeBob edition of the popular platformer for free—a solid savings of $2.

In the game, players are tasked with restoring order to Bikini Bottom after Plankton and his crew steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. You do this by helping Doodle Jump SpongeBob jump up and across the sea, blasting bubbles at anyone who gets in his way.

Microsoft releases Invite for iPhone for organizing and scheduling group meetings on the go

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Not to be outdone by Google which just released a note-taking iPhone and iPad app called Keep, software giant Microsoft today rolled out a brand new productivity app of its own, Invite for iPhone.

A Microsoft Garage project, Invite was designed to help groups “agree on a time to meet, even when they can’t see each other’s schedules.”

Recognizing that scheduling group meetings is no easy task on desktop, let alone on mobile, Invite keeps things simple enough to help you effectively coordinate multiple people’s schedules on a small screen.

You simply suggest times that work for you, and then invite attendees. After attendees select all the times they can attend, and once everyone has responded through Invite or via the web interface, you simply pick the time that works best for everyone and your group meeting is a go.

Google’s Keep app makes its way into App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 24, 2015

Following its Android debut nearly two and a half years ago, Google's note-taking mobile software, called Keep, is now available to download from the App Store.

Featuring Google's Material Design, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad app offers a nicely rounded set of features commonly found in other note-taking apps but with less bloat and clutter. Needless to say, Keep benefits tremendously from seamless integration with other Google products and technologies.

Notes created in Keep can be accessed, edited and managed on iOS, Android and on the web, via a Keep web app. Google Keep is a free download so give it a try and let us know how you like it in comments.

Apple lists top 25 apps infected by XcodeGhost

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 18, 2017

Apple today refreshed its official XcodeGhost FAQ webpage, listing the top 25 iPhone and iPad apps on the App Store that contain the widely reported though mostly harmless XcodeGhost malware.

In addition to WeChat, one of the top messaging apps in the world, Rovio's Angry Birds 2 and China Unicom’s Customer Service app, most of the listed apps are distributed on the Chinese App Store only.

“If users have one of these apps, they should update the affected app which will fix the issue on the user’s device,” writes the company. “If the app is available on App Store, it has been updated, if it isn’t available it should be updated very soon.”

Apple has pulled many of the infected apps and said it's working closely with developers to get impacted apps back on the App Store.

Twitterrific update with iOS 9 and iPad multitasking support, new features and improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2015

Twitterrific 5, The Iconfactory's freemium Twitter client for iOS and OS X platforms, has received its iOS 9-focused update this morning.

The app is now fully optimized for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 9 and supports new Slide Over and Split View multitasking modes on compatible iPads. If you own an iPad Air 2 or an iPad mini 4, you can now run Twitterrific and another app side-by-side in iOS 9's new Split View mode.

This is a great feature as you can now pin Twitterrific on the right and configure it to use Safari as your browser instead of in-app. In addition to iOS 9-specific support, this edition of Twitterrific includes other changes and improvements listed further below.

Spark email app gains iOS 9 support, default From: account, customizable quick replies and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2015

Spark, Readdle's excellent iPhone app for Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud and other email services, is now compatible with iOS 9 features, including 3D Touch on new iPhones.

Spark 1.2 for iPhone also includes the ability to select any email account or alias as default FROM: address for new emails. The app now lets you customize canned replies to your liking and includes a host of other improvements.

Pixelmator gains 8K resolution and iOS 9 support, including iPad multitasking features

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2015

Pixelmator, the tremendously popular Photoshop replacement available for both iOS and OS X platforms, today gained an update which adds several new features on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.

For starters, Pixelmator 2.1 for iOS is now fully compatible with iOS 9 (in fact, it's now an iOS 9-only app) and supports Slide Over and Split View iPad multitasking modes.

With Split View on compatible iPads, customers can use Pixelmator and any other app at the same time. More importantly, the app now opening and editing images in 8K resolution.

Fantastical 2 for OS X gains El Capitan support with split-screen multitasking and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2015

Developer Flexibits today rolled out an update to Fantastical for Mac, its reminder and calendar replacement available on both iOS and OS X.

Fantastical 2.1, the first major update to the Mac edition, features full support for Macs running OS X El Capitan ahead of its release next week, including support for El Capitan's split-screen multitasking.

A host of other changes and improvements have found their way into this release of Fantastical, such as swiping to delete events on El Capitan systems.

People on Yosemite and earlier versions can now scroll to a specific day or week in the Week and Month views with a trackpad and organize Reminders by list, but that's just tip of the iceberg.