Apps

Kong for iPhone by Path developers lets you create instant memes from your selfies

A brand new app by Path creators (you do remember Path, don't you?), called Kong, is now available at no cost in the App Store. Billed as a piece of software designed to play with your selfies, Kong unleashes your imagination by letting you create GIFs of yourself in an instant.

You can make the bite-sized animated GIFs more interesting by adding text, applying filters to your selfie and more.

Your animated meme can then be shared with a private circle of friends or with the web at large through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other services. Kong is actually quite cool and addictive, let me explain why.

Glide becomes first app to bring one-way video calling to Apple Watch

Glide for iPhone has been updated on the App Store today with Apple Watch support, becoming the first app to bring one-way real-time video messaging to the wrist-worn gizmo. The app lets you see a preview of video messages up to five minutes long on your wrist and respond straight from your Apple Watch.

Other features include getting quick updates to the Watch when friends send you videos, texts or photos without needing to take out your iPhone, accessing all chats and missed events and more.

Smove review: use your best moves to get a high score

There aren’t many classic arcade style action games that are able to compensate for the iPhone's lack of physical buttons. The loss of tactile feedback is just too much to overcome, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy a nice score chasing romp on our phones. It just means that developers have to create new games that rely on completely different control schemes. Simple Machine’s Smove does just that.

You can now play Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft on iPhone

Fans of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be happy to hear that you can now play the game on your iPhone. Blizzard pushed out an update today for the popular card battler that, among other improvements, brings about support for Apple's handset.

Blizzard says the new iPhone version features an all-new intuitive interface, handcrafted specifically for smaller mobile devices. Those devices, however, are limited to the iPhone 4s, or later models, or the fifth-generation iPod touch (iPad 2 for tablets).

Activision bringing new Guitar Hero game to mobile this year

Gamers rejoice, Activision Blizzard Inc. has confirmed that it's reviving its Guitar Hero franchise this year, and it's bringing it to mobile. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that, after a five-year hiatus, the California-based publisher has begun work on a new version of the popular video game for consoles, tablets and smartphones.

"Now fans can unleash their inner rock star anytime, anyplace using a phone or a game console,” Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick said in a statement. The new product is said to cost $99, and will follow tradition in allowing players to jam on a toy guitar to music from artists such as the Black Keys and Fall Out Boy.

FiftyThree’s Paper gains cloud journals, centralized social interactions and more

FiftyThree's iPad drawing app, Paper, has been refreshed Tuesday with a pair of new features (among other enhancements) — Backup and Activity Center.

The former lets you back up private copies of your journals in the cloud so you don't lose your Paper data in case your iPad is stolen or damaged (and you didn't have enough space on iCloud for full device backup via iOS).

The Activity Center is a new place in Paper's Mix service that collates all your social activity in one place. For those wondering, Mix is an online repository of Paper content posted by creative users from around the world.

Here’s 1Password for Apple Watch

Developer AgileBits on Tuesday announced an update to its freemium password-management app for the iPhone and iPad, 1Password, which now includes Apple Watch compatibility.

So, what's managing passwords, secure notes and other confidential information is like on your wrist? According to developers, “it only takes a couple of taps” to retrieve your stored items such as a combination for your gym locker or garage door, look up your credit card number or even retrieve a one-time password on websites that use two-factor authentication for stronger security.

Crowntakers brings tabletop RPGing to the iPad

There are plenty of dungeon crawl style role-playing games (RPG) in the App Store. Many of them are worthy of many hours of your time. Most of them follow a video game format of rules and alter the role-playing element of such tabletop classics as Dungeons and Dragons.

Crowntakers takes into account the little elements, like time passing or attacks of opportunity. In this adventure, every minute counts and every day brings more danger.

App Recap: notable discounts, updates and releases for April 13

The App Recap is iDB’s daily roundup of notable news from the wonderful world of iOS software. Below you’ll find a list of discounts, updates and new releases we think are worth checking out. Today's selections include some great updates for your favorite apps and a handful of app deals you don't want to miss.

Rules! available for free within the Apple Store app

Those of you who enjoy app deals may be interested to know that Rules! has gone free for a limited time. Apple is currently offering promo codes for the popular brain-teasing puzzler, which typically costs $2.99, within its Apple Store app.

For those who haven't played it before, Rules! is a well-designed puzzle game that puts your memory and reflex skills to the test. Players are presented with a 16-card board, and asked to remove cards based on increasingly difficult guidelines.