Apps

Comic book creator ‘Halftone 2’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ June 25, 2015

Apple has just named "Halftone 2 - Comic Book Creator" its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the fun comic book-style photo editor for both iPhone and iPad for free—a solid savings of $2.

Halftone 2 makes it easy to create comic and scrap books with your images. Simply choose a page layout, apply photo filters, position your captions, add speech and thought balloons, and share your creation as an image, multi-page document, or high-definition video.

iTunes U gains homework hand-in feature, one-to-one discussions, PDF annotations and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2015

iTunes U, Apple's educational catalog on iTunes, has gotten a whole lot more useful with a significant update to the official iPhone and iPad app in the App Store.

As first reported Thursday by Re/code, iTunes U for iOS has gained an interesting homework hand-in feature and PDF annotations providing a timestamp when the student submits term papers, book reports and other work.

Other changes include an integrated grade book, one-to-one discussions, importing content from third-party apps, including Apple’s own Keynote, Pages and iMovie, and more.

Alto’s Adventure, Checkmark 2 and other Snowman apps are on sale right now in the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2015

Snowman, the developers behind the beautiful endless snowboarding game Alto’s Adventure (read our review), the powerful and sleek to-do app Checkmark 2 and other fine apps for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are having a giant sale on the App Store.

Both Alto’s Adventure and Checkmark 2 are now available with a cool 50+ percent discount while their Shifts and Circles apps have gone completely free.

As a matter of fact, Shifts has gone free for the first time since its App Store debut. Your download links and descriptions follow right below.

IFTTT updates iOS apps with unlimited DO recipes, improved widgets and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Fans of the automation service If This Then That (or IFTTT) will be happy to hear that it's updated its line of mobile apps today. DO Button, DO Camera, and DO Note all received 2.0 updates today, as did the original IF app that now sits at version 2.5.

With the new releases, the apps all now support unlimited Do recipes and feature improved Notification Center widgets. DO Camera in particular received some nice additions such as new filters and the ability to draw on, and add emoji to, your photos.

Apple moving to prevent developers from accessing app data for ad targeting

Cody Lee ∙ June 24, 2015

Apple is quietly moving to prevent app developers from accessing app download data for ad targeting purposes, reports The Information. The move is part of the company's recent, and very public, push for greater user privacy.

As most of you are probably aware, major apps like Facebook and Twitter will scan a user's device for information on the app's they have installed. This way, they can show users advertisements that better match their interests.

FirstLetter review: a word game designed specifically for Apple Watch

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Personally, I am fascinated with the future of gaming on Apple Watch. While I am interested in apps that make my life more convenient and organized, I am really excided about apps that make my wearable technology fun.

FirstLetter is a game that was specifically designed for Apple Watch. It is playable on the iPhone, but its minimalist design and simple game mechanics make it perfect for the wrist worn device. We've got a game review of FirstLetter for you today.

Apple adds 7 new Flyover locations to Maps

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple on Tuesday added a handful of new locations to the 3D Flyover feature in its iOS and OS X Maps apps. The new locations include San Juan, Puerto Rico and other cities around the world.

First introduced in Apple Maps when the app launched in 2012, the Flyover feature allows users to take close-up, 3-dimensional looks at buildings, landmarks and various other areas of interest.

Google’s native Calendar app picks up 7-day week view, Drive integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2015

Google's native Calendar for iPhone with Material Design and other cool features made its App Store debut a little over three months ago. Tuesday, it has received its first feature-focused update.

In addition to the existing ways of viewing your calendar, the new Google Calendar 1.1 for iPhone introduces a 7-day view giving you an overview of your entire week. Also, week numbers can be enabled for different calendar views in settings.

Instagram for iPhone adds curated collections, trending tags and places, place search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2015

Fans of iPhone photography should check out Instagram 7.0, the latest update to the Facebook-owned mobile photo sharing app. The new versions surfaced Tuesday on the App Store with interesting new social media discovery features such as an improved search and a much enhanced Explore tab.

With dynamically updated trending tags and places under the Explore tab, Instagram users can now check out, in real-time, what's happening around them and what's trending all over the world.

Vimeo reworks iPhone video editing app Cameo so it’s easier to create cinematic videos

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2015

The movie-editing app category has been receiving some renewed love from iOS developers, big and small alike. In addition to Apple's own iMovie for iOS—free with new iOS device purchases, otherwise a $4.99 download—Camera+ makers have recently launched a video editing app called Vee for Video.

And now Vimeo, the popular video sharing service, has re-released a mobile app called Cameo that the company purchased in May 2014. After rebuilding the app from scratch, it's now even simpler and more enjoyable to edit cinematic videos on your iPhone, add themes and soundtracks and share with your friends.

Super Mario clone returns to the App Store as ‘Pixel World!’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Earlier this year, a Super Mario clone named Super Bros! made its way into the App Store. Given the company's history of blocking and removing obvious Nintendo game ripoffs and emulators, it was surprising that such a game made it past the review team.

Eventually, though, someone at Apple caught on and Super Bros! was pulled from the App Store, but it didn't stay gone for long. The game returned today as "Pixel World!," with updated sounds and game assets that help tone down the whole "ripoff" vibe a bit.

Tweetbot for Mac brings support for Twitter’s new quoting format and longer direct messages

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2015

Tweetbot for Mac with support for Yosemite's design and a plethora of other improvements hit earlier in the month as a free upgrade for existing users. Monday, its developer Tapbots issued the first maintenance refresh bringing out support for a pair of Twitter's recently introduced handy new features.

Tweetbot 2.0.1 for Mac now lets you quote tweets using Twitter's new embedded quoting feature. In addition, they've laid the groundwork for longer direct messages, a feature Twitter announced almost two weeks ago but hasn't implemented yet.