Apps

WWDC app receives Apple Watch support

Apple's official iOS app for the Worldwide Developers Conference has received an update ahead of next month's WWDC 2015 with support for the Apple Watch, conference and schedule information and more.

WWDC 3.0 for the iPhone and iPad puts important conference information right on your wrist. The app can be used to keep tabs on related WWDC news, access floor plans, watch session videos and more.

HBO GO for iPhone and iPad adds support for playback through HDMI output

I'm an avid fan of the HBO GO service, one annoyed that their iOS application wouldn't support HDMI output. As someone who travels fairly often but doesn't carry an Apple TV wherever I go, it's depressing not being able to send the latest episode of Game of Thrones from my iPhone to a TV set in a hotel room using an HDMI adapter.

But if you own a Lightning to HDMI adapter and are an HBO GO subscriber, you can now hook up your iPhone or iPad to a TV set and enjoy lag-free video playback through HDMI output.

PayPal finally adds Touch ID protection to iPhone payment app

PayPal's official iPhone app in the App Store has at last received support for Touch ID authentication, nearly two years following Apple's debut of fingerprint scanning with the iPhone 5s's fall 2013 introduction.

As a daily PayPal user, it was annoying that the mobile app would ask me to provide my PayPal password on each run. Now that Touch ID has come to the rescue, this option, once enabled in settings, lets me authorize app access easily and securely with my fingerprint.

This is what Touch ID was created for, to protect sensitive personal information like online banking, PayPal transactions and so forth. I wish PayPal supported Touch ID much sooner but it's better late than never, I guess.

Fleksy Keyboard introduces Imoji stickers, smart suggestions for GIFs and more

Fleksy, the powerful iOS 8 keyboard which lets you use gestures, GIFs and emoji, has increased its functionality in the latest update issued today.

Now the app features an integrated Sticker keyboard in partnership with Imoji, taking visual communication beyond animated GIFs. You can easily browse, search and send Imoji stickers directly in Fleksy: just tap a sticker to copy it, then paste it in a message.

To add a sticker to your favorites, double tap it from the keyboard. You can access your recently used stickers, browse endless collections of reactions,  check out what's trending and more.

Kindle update adds new font and a number of readability enhancements

Amazon's Kindle for iOS app received an update this morning adding new features for “faster reading, less eye strain.”

Kindle 4.9 for the iPhone and iPad now includes larger font sizes, in addition to an exclusive new font that was specifically crafted for prolonged reading on digital screens.

The application now does hyphenation and has smoother word spacing, with layouts that dynamically adapt drop caps, text and images as you change fonts and adjust font sizes.

Minecraft – Pocket Edition to gain skins, fishing, new jockeys and more

Great news Minecraft fans, Mojang announced today that it's bringing "loads of new features" to Minecraft - Pocket Edition in the near future. The team says it will be submitting the update for iOS, Android and Windows Phone this week.

Perhaps one of the most notable new features in the update is Skins. Players will soon have the ability to customize the way their characters look in Minecraft PE by either uploading a Skin, creating a Skin, or purchasing a new Skin bundle.

The award-winning ‘Sky Guide’ is free right now within the Apple Store app

Those of you who enjoy app deals will be interested to know that Sky Guide is available for free right now. Apple is currently offering promo codes for the award-winning star-gazer, which typically costs $1.99, within its Apple Store app.

For those who aren't familiar with it, Sky Guide is a star and constellation guide that automatically aligns itself when you hold your device up to the sky. There may be many apps like it, but none of them are more beautiful or easy to use.

Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night review – a sequel that beats its predecessor

About a year-and-a-half ago, I reviewed the iOS version of the 1987 board game classic Chainsaw Warrior. I love board games and this digital version proved to be entertaining and fun.

Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night is the digital-only sequel to the zombie killing card game and it has improved significantly from its predecessor. We’ve got a game review of Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night for you today.

App Watch: game on

Although I'm not a hardcore gamer, I do my fair share of gaming, largely on my Mac or PC, but iOS has demanded my attention as a gaming platform as well. Console gaming doesn't greatly interest me, however, due to the cost of games and limitation of genres. But I don't mind investing into a gaming PC that I can also use for work, school, and countless other things, and my iPad Air 2 is also great for playing the more graphically intense titles on iOS.

More recently, gaming moved beyond iPads and iPhones to alight on users' wrists with Apple Watch, which is our primary focus in this article. Although the games are very basic, as they should be, many are designed to burn a few minutes while in line or other places where pulling out an iPhone isn't entirely convenient, while others are built exclusively for Apple Watch.

Pac-Man receives big update, goes on sale for 35th anniversary

It may be hard to believe, but Pac-Man is celebrating its 35th birthday this weekend. The popular pellet-gobbling arcade game made its debut 35 years ago on May 22, 1980 (it launched first in Japan, and then Midway brought it to the US in October).

Unsurprisingly, Bandai Namco is going above and beyond to honor the anniversary. It's hosting a party in Chicago with the creator of Pac-Man Professor Toru Iwatani tonight, and it's pushed out an update and discount for the iOS port of the game.

25 amazing apps and games are currently on sale for $0.99

Apple this week launched a new promotion in the App Store called 'Amazing Apps & Games for $0.99.' The curated section highlights 12 great apps and 13 popular games, which normally run between $2 and $6, that are currently on sale for less than a buck.

Among the offerings are the endless snowboarder Alto's Revenge, and premium creative apps like Procreate Pocket and Enlight. Many of these have already been mentioned in our App Recap, but we thought the deals were worth compiling into a single post.

Marvis Music Player redesigns your music experience on iOS

Around here, we love music players. It’s especially nice when they have a smooth look and plenty of added features. If you are going to use something other than Apple’s stock Music app, there had better be a reason for it.

Marvis Music Player has a nice design and plenty of unique user interface features that are customizable so listening to music is more than just a good-looking playback experience.