Apps

Swarm now lets you check in from your Lock screen with iOS 8 Notification Center widget

Swarm, a dedicated check-in app by Foursquare, has received a tremendously useful update Friday which makes it dead simple to check in to your favorite locations right from your Lock screen without even opening the app, thanks to a brand new Notification Center widget available on iOS 8 devices.

The Swarm widget in the 1.3 update also gives you an at-a-glance view of a few of your friends who are especially close, helping you get a sense of who’s around.

Cinamatic gains iPhone 6 support, iOS 8 manual camera controls and more

Cinamatic, a nicely done and versatile video capture and editing app that Apple named its Free App of the Week back in July, on Friday received an update bringing the full range of manual camera controls available to third-party iPhone photography apps in iOS 8.

In addition to native support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus display sizes, the new version soups up your device by enabling manual adjustment of the focus, exposure, white balance, shutter speed and ISO, while you're shooting video.

And if you own an iPhone 5s, 6 or 6 Plus, you'll enjoy Time-lapse capture at three, six and nine frames per second speeds and silky smooth slow-motion video at 120 and 240 frames per second. Jump past the break for additional enhancements.

Readability updated with iPhone 6 support and iOS 8 extension

Good news, Readability fans! Your favorite read-later service on Thursday received a refresh enabling native display support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus so you can see more article contents with less scrolling.

This is a big deal for mobile apps that focus on content consumption: as you know, iOS 8 blows up non-optimized apps to fill the new screen sizes, resulting in fuzzy appearance and enlarged content as opposed to seeing more of it.

The app, available free of charge, has also been optimized for iOS 8 with the Share sheet extension and other features outlined below.

‘Jellies!’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple this afternoon named popular color-matching puzzler 'Jellies!' its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you'll be able to pick up the title for free in the App Store—a $1 discount from its normal price tag.

In Jellies!, you join Bob the Fisherman as he makes his way through the ocean on a [fairly odd] mission to find his fingers that the wicked Jellies have apparently bitten off. Your goal in each level is to help him catch as many Jellies as possible in 60 seconds.

Blink Keyboard should make typing on your gigantic iPhone 6 easier

I am one of a handful of people that did not upgrade to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus specifically because of the size. My hands are small and I’ve gotten used to the width of the iPhone 5. I can type and play games with one hand without feeling like I’m having to stretch too far.

Blink Keyboard is a third-party keyboard app that helps iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users that are used to one-handed typing but are having trouble with the larger screen size. The app shifts the keyboard to the left or right so you can reach all the letters.

Zynga releases ‘New Words With Friends’ with new design and features

Celebrating its 5-year anniversary, Zynga has released a revamped version of its hit word game called 'New Words With Friends.' It's an all-new app, but users won't be forced to upgrade, and those who do will not see any kind of interruption in their gameplay.

The game is essentially a sleeker, more robust version of the massive hit that first debuted in 2009. There are some definite design changes here, with flatter UI elements and more streamlined menus, and a host of new features including a new offline solo mode.

Skype for Mac 7.0 now available with revamped chat experience

Microsoft on Thursday issued a major new update to Skype for Mac alongside a new preview for Windows desktop. Available as a free download, Skype for Mac 7.0 brings out mobile-inspired look with a revamped chat experience, ahead of OS X Yosemite release later this month.

The richer chat experience allows you to chat and call simultaneously with one click and keep the conversation going across devices.

You'll also appreciate improvements to the free group video calling feature and the fact that the overall appearance of the app fits right in with OS X Yosemite.

Weebly releases website-creation app for iPad

To think they used to say that one couldn't do real work or create content on the iPad... Enter Weebly for iPad, a native application by the popular web-hosting service which allows users to create websites in minutes by dragging and dropping various elements in its web interface.

Although it's been available on iOS since May 2012, Weebly was iPhone-only until todays update which has brought out native iPad interface with full editing capabilities, unlike the iPhone and iPod touch version.

Weebly is available free of charge in the App Store.

Spirits of Spring is a story-driven game with deep, emotional value

Mindless video games where players shoot at everything in sight and don’t look back are loads of fun, but games that have a subtle message can be just as fun if they are done right.

Spirits of Spring is an adventure game that explores the notion of loyalty, friendship, and understanding. It also points out just how terrible bullying can be and how it affects victims. We’ve got a game review of Spirits of Spring for you today.

Card Dungeon takes the “digital” out of digital board games

I am a card-carrying (pun intended) member of the board gaming community. I love a good, old-fashioned hours-long tabletop adventure with three to five of my closest friends. That’s why, any time I see a board game app, I jump at the chance to check it out and pass my experience onto you.

Card Dungeon is a basic dungeon crawl tabletop style board game that reverts back to the two-dimensional token look while still making a roguelike adventure that is fun for fans of the genre. We’ve got a full game review of Card Dungeon for you today.

Reckless Racing 3 now available in the App Store

Great news Reckless Racing fans, the third iteration of Pixelbite's popular top-down racer is now available on iOS. You can pick up the new game, which is universal, so it'll work with both your iPhone and iPad, for $4.99 from the App Store.

The original Reckless Racing debuted in 2010, as a delightful birds-eye-view rally racing game with beautiful graphics. Reckless Racing 3 continues that tradition with dirtier tracks, better visuals, and its largest selection of cars and trucks ever.

You can now protect your OneDrive with Touch ID

Windows and Office maker Microsoft on Wednesday pushed a small but important update to OneDrive, its cloud storage client for the iPhone and iPad. The refreshed application enables users to lock content in the app using Touch ID-based fingerprint verification on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The new OneDrive 4.5.1, a free 12.7-megabyte download from the App Store, also takes full advantage of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus,  lets you sort files and folders and includes bug fixes and stability improvements.