Apps

Starbucks launches ‘Mobile Order & Pay’ in Oregon, national rollout planned for 2015

Cody Lee ∙ December 4, 2014

Starbucks has announced that it's launched a new "Mobile Order & Pay" service that will allow customers to place an order using the Starbucks app on their iPhone and schedule it for pickup. The service, which we first heard about in July, is available now at stores in Portland, Oregon, and will rollout to other locations in 2015.

The whole thing works like you'd expect it to. You can place an order for both food and beverages, and drinks are completely customizable down to the size, dairy and espresso additives, and more. Once you've selected all of your items, you choose the closest participating store for pickup and pay in-app with your Starbucks card.

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Facebook’s Slingshot goes 2.0, hopes you’ll use it

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2018

Remember Slingshot? Yeah, me neither. If it's been a while since you last fired up Facebook's app that many folks deem pointless, you may want to give it another try as the social networking giant on Thursday pushed a major 2.0 update, bringing out half a dozen new features.

The app's been rebuilt from the ground up to be “simpler, faster and more fun to share life as it happens”, bringing out private reactions, photo filters, drawings and emojis.

There are also instant notifications on a per-contact basis and you can now share fav shots out to other apps, among other new additions.

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Apple names excellent God of Light puzzler its new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2014

God of Light, an addictive and unique physics puzzler by Playmous Games, has gone free until next Thursday week courtesy of Apple's ongoing Free App of the Week promotion, marking the first time the game's gone free since its February 2014 debut.

This attractive puzzler employs a simple concept where you use mirrors, prisms, splitters, collectors, black holes and filters to control rays of light energy that must be projected through the darkness in order to light up crystals.

I wholeheartedly recommend taking advantage of the discount because God of Light is packed with addictive levels and definitely worth its normal asking price of $1.99.

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Square’s new Caviar app lets you order food from top-rated eateries

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2014

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's mobile payment startup, Square, earlier this year purchased Caviar, a food delivery service, for a reported $90 million. On Thursday, the company released the official Caviar iOS app in the App Store.

Featuring crisp dish photos, real-time tracking of your order from counter-to-door and more, Caviar makes it easy to order food from your favorite local restaurants right to your door, from the palm of your hand using your iPhone or iPad.

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Themeboard review: iOS 8 keyboard with gorgeous themes, unique Emoji bar, auto-correct and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

There most certainly is no shortage of downloadable iOS 8 keyboards in the App Store, so much so that the proliferation of soft-keyboards makes it virtually impossible for us to cover each and every one that hits the Apple platform.

On the other hand, themable keyboards like CoolKey, a keyboard for the colorful, are few and far between.

Customization matters to an awful lot of people and there's admittedly a void here than needs filling. That's where Themeboard jumps in.

Created by Germany-based Taphive, the brains behind such apps as TodoMovies that we reviewed back in March, this app is an advanced iPhone and iPad keyboard with a built-in repository of wonderfully designed themes by some of the best designers around.

Theme board sports a unique Emoji/Kaomoji bar and has plenty of features that users have come to expect from Apple's default keyboard like auto-correction, Caps lock, slide-shift to capitalize, quick delete with three speeds, text predictions, custom shortcuts and more.

Read on for the full review of this feature-packed keyboard.

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Winter is coming: Telltale’s Game of Thrones arrives in App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2014

Telltale Games last month posted a teaser trailer and a few scant details about an upcoming game based on HBO’s hugely popular, award-winning fantasy drama television series, itself adapted from of “A Song of Ice and Fire”, George R. R. Martin’s series of epic fantasy novels.

I'm pleased to report that on Thursday, the Game of Thrones interactive action adventure game officially surfaced on the App Store and is now available in an episodic format akin to Telltale's The Walking Dead – A Telltale Games Series and The Wolf Among Us.

The narratively driven, six-episode game puts you in the shoes of different members of the Forrester household. The decisions you take have consequences and will change the story around you and determine your characters' fate.

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Dwelp review: try wrapping your head around this puzzle game

Lory Gil ∙ December 4, 2014

Puzzle games are a big hit around here. We love to put our brains through daily workouts to keep our minds fresh and strong. That’s why, whenever there is a new submission to the genre, we jump at the chance to check it out.

Dwelp is a puzzle game that requires you to pay attention to future steps. Not unlike chess, what you do next will have an affect on what can be done in the future. We’ve got a full game review of Dwelp for you below.

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Thermos lets you set your Nest thermostat temperature from OS X Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Thermos is a recently released Mac application that works hand in hand with Nest to allow you to set the temperature of your thermostat right from Notification Center. Additionally, and if you also have Nest Protect smoke detectors in your home, the app will be able to send you push notifications in case smoke or carbon monoxide has been detected by the devices.

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App Recap is back and it’s better than ever!

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

After a longer than expected hiatus, App Recap is back! For those unfamiliar with it, App Recap is iDownloadBlog's daily column that strives to surface the best new Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad apps you should focus on, notable updates to your favorite apps you should care about, not-to-be-missed deals and freebies in the App Store and Mac App Store, and interesting accessories, software announcements and other tidbits of interest to our readers. Without further ado, here's what's in store for you today.

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