Apps

Airbnb updated with Apple Pay support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 10, 2017

Airbnb, a popular mobile travel-planning app, issued an update during the weekend which added Apple Pay support to its iOS app. Of course, the ability to book your future trips with Apple Pay requires an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus for the time being.

But with the debut of Apple Watch in early 2015 Apple Pay will be supported on older iPhones that lack NFC, from the iPhone 5 onward.

The sign-up experience is reworked to remove friction, KakaoTalk sharing is new and a simplified Account screen makes managing settings less cumbersome than before.

Airbnb is available free in the App Store.

Instagram updated with caption editing, people finder, faster search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2014

Facebook-owned Instagram on Monday received a nice feature upgrade enabling new things and elevating your experience “to help you discover more on Instagram,” as per the team's blog post.

For starters, you can now find other accounts to follow in the People tab on Explore. If you spot a typo in captions of your uploaded snap, Instagram now at last lets you fix typos or even change photo locations after the fact.

You will also notice faster searching, refreshed explore and profile icons, subtle changes to the user interface and more.

Instagram is available free in the App Store.

Facebook Messenger passes half a billion users

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2014

Facebook's dedicated instant messaging application for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, Facebook Messenger, is now used by more than 500 million people around the world each month, said the social networking giant Monday.

That's a massive number, but still half of what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said constitutes a platform in the truest sense.

By comparison, WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired in February 2014 for $19 billion, currently has more than 600 million active users. Instagram, another Facebook property, counts more than 200 million users.

Notability updated with iOS 8 compatibility, iPhone 6 support, new light/dark themes and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2014

Notability by Ginger Labs, Apple's Free App of the Week in May 2014 and one of the most popular note-taking apps in the App Store, on Monday issued its long-expected iOS 8 compatibility release in the App Store.

Version 5.3 offers support for iOS 8 and the new 4.7 and 5.5-inch resolutions of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, respectively.

In addition to enhancing compatibility with the current version of Apple’s mobile operating system, this edition of Notability brings out a pair of new themes, revamped icons and menus in line with the overall iOS 8 look and feel and improvements regarding iCloud Drive support.

Notability for the iPhone and iPad is $2.99 in the App Store. The Mac edition will run you ten bucks.

Dracos will pull you back in, again and again

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Twitch games have definitely made a return to the gaming world. We can attribute much of that to the mobile industry. People don’t always have time to dedicate to long, story-driven games that require a lot of attention. Sometimes you just want to dive into a fast-paced game that will give you an adrenalin rush and be done in a few minutes.

Dracos is a twitch game that requires fast reaction time and at least some level of ambidextrousness. You’ll need to be able to control two different dragons doing two different things at the same time. Can you handle two dragons at once?

Jump your way out of the path of evil in Avoid It

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 12, 2018

Every once in a while a game comes along that doesn’t seem to fit into any category, but manages to hold its own against the most popular of genres. A game doesn’t have to be familiar to be good.

Avoid it is one of those games that seems to fit into multiple categories, but can’t really be likened to anything I’ve ever played before. It is both familiar, and unique at the same time. Check out my game review of Avoid It below.

Paper by FiftyThree updated with push notifications, Adobe integration and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

FiftyThree has updated its popular Paper app this weekend, bringing it to version 2.1. The update is significant in that it adds a handful of major features such as push notifications for Mix, and the ability to export drawings to Adobe's Creative Cloud.

Pulled out of beta last month, Mix is a collaboration platform that offers templates, outlines, tools and tutorials for users to openly share projects. When launched, the feature would send you alerts you via email, but now it sends them via notifications.

Apps of the week: Bitcoin Billionaire, World of Warriors, Cavemen Pong, and more

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

I have to admit that, early on during last week, I was a bit disappointed to see the new titles available in the App Store. You could call it a “slow week” for apps. I did call it that. However, as the days went on, we discovered cool widgets like Neato, great updates like Microsoft Office’s, and even a couple of new apps that put a smile on our faces.

This week has already gotten off to a very good start with a handful of really fun free apps and games, plus some great looking titles that will give you a reason to spend some money. If you are looking for new apps and games to keep you busy this weekend, we’ve got a list that will put you down the path to enlightenment.

IGN names ‘Ridge Racer Slipstream’ its Free Game of the Month

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Heads up gamers, IGN has named BANDAI NAMCO's 'Ridge Racer Slipstream' its Free Game of the Month for November. So for those who missed it when it was Apple's App of the Week earlier this year, you now have the chance to grab the popular game for free.

Normally priced at $2.99, Ridge Racer Slipstream recreates the ultimate arcade racing franchise on your iPhone and iPad with console-quality graphics and high octane gameplay. It includes 12 customizable cars, over 100 competitions and a lengthy career mode.

Fleksy Keyboard can now use iOS typing shortcuts

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 3, 2017

Despite not being an avid user of third-party keyboards in iOS 8, I'm always eager to try out any new soft-keyboard that hits the App Store.

Fleksy's recent update caught my attention by making me realize that I didn't know everything there is about the scope and limitations of third-party keyboards under iOS 8.

For example, did you know soft-keyboards are allowed to use your typing shortcuts defined in Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts? Fleksy's latest update has implemented just that and it works like a charm.

Fleksy Keyboard costs $0.99 in the App Store.

Facebook introduces new ways to customize your News Feed

Cody Lee ∙ November 7, 2014

As part of an ongoing mission to improve its News Feed experience, Facebook today announced that it has built and updated a few tools to help you customize the content you see everyday. These tools are located in the News Feed settings menu (More > Help & Settings, on mobile).

Of course customizing your News Feed is all about controlling who you see posts from. Starting today, you'll be able to quickly unfollow and re-follow people, Pages and Groups. Unfollowing of course means you're still friends with the user, but will no longer see their status updates.

Vevo’s iOS app gains Recently Watched, Google login, search improvements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Vevo, a video hosting service operated by a joint venture of Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media, on Friday refreshed its iPhone and iPad application with a few new features.

You can now log in to the app using a Google Account and keep track of what you've watched in a new "Recently Watched" section. You should see improvements in Vevo's search and visual tweaks on the browse page and artist pages.

Vero is available at no cost in the App Store.