Apps

Vine update brings per-account push alerts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Twitter-owned Vine, a video service optimized for sharing six-second long looping video clips, on Tuesday received a small update. Bumping the iPhone app to version 3.1, it introduced enhanced push notifications with the ability to choose push alerts on a per-account basis.

Folks who have tons of followers on Vine are frequently inundated with alerts each time someone shares a clip on Vine, revines a vine, comments on it and what not.

There's nothing worse than being overwhelmed and having to cope with unwanted notifications. The team is feeling your pain so they've put together this little feature where you get a notification whenever your favorite contacts post on Vine.

Unread for iPad relaunches as a freemium app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

After the Castro podcast player maker Supertop bought the popular RSS news reader Unread from original developer Jared Sinclair earlier this year, the company on Tuesday announced relaunching the iPad edition on the App Store.

Previously costing five bucks a pop, Unread for iPad is now a free download with In-App Purchases to unlock advanced features. The app sports full-screen reading, has multiple themes for day, night and some such, features rich content sharing via OvershareKit and much more.

Dropbox rolling out ability to edit Microsoft Office documents

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Following Microsoft-issued updates to itsWord, Excel and PowerPoint mobile apps for iOS with native Dropbox integration, the popular cloud storage startup on Tuesday announced it is adding the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents to its free iOS client.

That's right, both iOS and Android users can take advantage of the newly refreshed Dropbox mobile client with Microsoft Office integration to work on the Office files stored in your Dropbox even when you’re on the go.

In addition to editing your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from the Dropbox app, you can also access them directly from Microsoft's mobile Office apps.

Viber rolls out Public Chats with the ability to ‘like’ messages, photos, videos, links and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 20, 2017

After receiving an iOS 8 focused update earlier this month bringing a nice Share menu extension, Interactive Notifications and other improvements, Viber on Tuesday pushed a small update adding the Public Chats feature.

With Public Chats, Viber users can finally follow group conversations for specific topics that they’re into. Once you start following a group chat, you can then like any piece of content in the group chat, including messages, photos, videos, links and more.

Scanbot gains new gesture, B&W filter, OCR enhancements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2014

Scanbot, the popular PDF and QR code scanner, has received an update bringing the app to version 3.1.1 and introducing a few new features for basic and Pro users alike.

When scanning a document, a brand new black and white filter can be used to achieve more accurate scans that preserve more structure from images. When reading a PDF file, you can now swipe to go back.

Finally, the app now bundles a 'Get Started' document to help get users up to speed and a few nice-to-haves for Pro users listed after the break.

Crimson Keyboard offers predictive typing without that annoying suggestion bar

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

When I first switched over to iOS 8, I found that the predictive typing function, while helpful, was a bit distracting, almost to the point of being annoying. I eventually turned it off.

Crimson Keyboard offers a personalized predictive typing function, but instead of the suggestion bar, words are displayed just above keys. Plus, instead of autocorrecting your misspelled words (and sometimes leading to hilarious miss-typed text messages), you will see suggested corrections in red.

Kik Messenger app updated with new design, mute options and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Popular cross-platform messaging service Kik updated its iOS client last night, bringing the app to version 7.8. Headlining the update is a refreshed design, which features lighter, more modern UI elements and other changes.

The changes are't necessarily significant, but they are noticeable. Most of the darker colors have been replaced by empty white spaces, and there are other tweaks to the app's design that make for a more streamlined experience.

New ‘Homescreen’ app shares your iPhone Home screen with others

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Betaworks, the team behind the popular game Dots, and later versions of Digg and Instapaper, has released a new app today called #Homescreen. The goal of the app, as its name suggests, is to allow users to share screenshots of their iPhone Home screens.

This in and of itself is a rather interesting concept, as people seem to be genuinely intrigued with others' Home screens—I've caught myself on more than one occasion peering at stranger's devices—but Betaworks takes it a step further with app identification.

eBay Now pulled from App Store, its functionality to be folded into main iOS app

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 24, 2014

You may have noticed that the official eBay Now shopping software for the iPhone and iPad has been pulled from the App Store over the weekend. Attempting to download the app yields an error message confirming the removal.

eBay Now allowed users to find and buy various products from local stores. This particular app removal has nothing to do with Apple, mind you.

According to TechCrunch on Monday, the e-commerce website is planning to fold eBay Now functionality into its main iOS client as the Now service is “moving to core” and the company rethinks its same-day delivery plans.

Music Center lets you view your entire music library from Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

If you've ever wanted to be able to browse your entire music library from Notification Center, then you should check out Music Center in the App Store. Developed by jailbreak alumni Akhil Tolani, Music Center is a great idea that is unfortunately handicapped by Apple's restrictions on what you can do with Notification Center extensions.

Space Expedition: Classic Adventure is a dig into the past

Lory Gil ∙ November 24, 2014

For me, there really is nothing better than a good, old-fashion side-scrolling platformer. As a kid, those were the types of games that first got me into spending all of my quarters at the local arcade. Although gaming technology has improved and the mechanics have gotten more advanced, I still love the 2-D world of my past.

Space Expedition: Classic Adventure is just that, a classic adventure. As a lone astronaut on a research space station, players must uncover the events that led to its abandonment. We’ve got a full game review of Space Expedition for you right now.