Apps

Amazon updates Cloud Drive Photos with AirPlay, photo/video metadata, cache settings and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2014

The online retail giant Amazon on Tuesday refreshed its Cloud Drive Photos application for the iPhone and iPad with some much-needed new features.

Used to synchronize and protect your photos and personal videos on your iOS device with Amazon's cloud-based storage dubbed Cloud Drive, the free application now supports AirPlay, a media-streaming technology from Apple, so you can stream your photos and videos wirelessly to the big screen TV through the Apple TV box.

Also, you can finally rename albums and easily change an album's cover photo by swiping left/right on the album artwork. Most importantly, the app finally applies proper metadata to your photos and videos, including date taken, resolution, image type and file name.

Microsoft updates Office for iPad apps with more affordable monthly subscriptions

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2014

Windows maker Microsoft has just refreshed its Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for iPad with support for month-to-month Office 365 subscriptions, the team announced today in a blog post.

Before, users were only able to buy a yearly Office 365 subscription within the Office for iPad apps.

Starting today, the refreshed Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications allow you to take advantage of Apple's In-App Subscription feature to buy recurring monthly subscriptions for Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home.

Netflix Recommend with Facebook-enabled private video sharing now available

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Netflix for the iPhone and iPad now allows you to privately recommend movies and television shows to a cherry-picked selection of Facebook friends who have connected their Facebook account with Netflix, but fortunately without spamming their News Feed, wrote the firm Tuesday in a post over at the official blog.

The social recommendation feature is available to Netflix users in the United States and Canada starting today.

Dubbed Netflix Recommend, it's “another great way to discover your next favorite show,” as the popular on-demand streaming service put it.

Official ‘Ask Me Anything’ app from Reddit now available on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Reddit, the popular social and news website where users themselves submit content, today released a native iPhone application solely dedicated to its popular 'Ask Me Anything' interviews with everyone from movie stars to astronauts to artists and more.

The app lets Reddit fans browse the latest and best interviews from the popular service (both current and archived ones), ask a question when someone is marked as active, discover new personalities in any field or subject, vote for your favorite interviews (and share them with friends) and much more.

The free of charge software is now available to download in the App Store.

This app lets you track your kids Fitbit activity and reward them for reaching goals

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Sure, you are doing a great job of staying fit. You eat right, exercise everyday, and have all the latest gadgets from Fitbit to track your activities. But, what about your kids? Fitcubs is a tracking app that lets you monitor your children’s activity via Fitbit and lets you reward them for meeting goals. You don’t have to fight with your kids to get them to stay fit.

Apps of the week: Bioshock, 8bit Doves, Walking Dead Pinball, and more

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

This has been the biggest week in new apps and games I’ve seen in a while. It also came around just at the same time we found out about the upcoming iPhone event. The world is coming up Apple. If you are ready for a weekend full of epic games, retro fun, and sweet beats, we’ve got a list of apps and games that will fill you your restful hours.

New Snapchat update allows you to follow live events via Stories

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Snapchat pushed out an interesting update for its mobile apps today, bringing the iOS client to version 7.0.6. Though the change log in the App Store only mentions 'improvements and bug fixes,' what went on behind the scenes is actually fairly significant.

Users will notice a new 'Live' section in the app, courtesy of Our Stories, a product Snapchat introduced during the summer that lets anyone contribute snaps to a single story. With Live, users will be able to follow events as they unfold, from various angles.

MZR combines music and puzzles into one intense game

Lory Gil ∙ August 29, 2014

Anytime you download a game that comes with a seizure warning, it’s gotta be worth a look. That is, unless you suffer from seizures. Then, you should avoid it altogether. MZR is a Dubstep-themed puzzle game that features blinking white lights, shaky awkward camera angles, and puzzle mazes that challenge your skills in spatial recognition.

Invaders! From Outer Space is a highly stylized arcade shooter

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

I love the idea of taking a popular video game from decades ago and giving it a twenty-first century makeover. Turn flat, pixelated programs into fully realized creations and see what it looks like under today’s graphics.

Invaders! From Outer Space is an arcade shooter that uses the benefit of today’s technology on one of our most beloved sci-fi games. Stop the alien invasion before they steal all of our cows.

Instagram is down, it’s not just you! [update: it’s back]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

If you've noticed that Instagram isn't working properly this afternoon, it's not just you. Several users have taken to Twitter to complain that the popular image-sharing service is down, and a few of us here at iDB have confirmed the outage.

While parts of the app are still working for some folks, it seems that the Explore tab isn't loading for most users, and many are having issues getting their personal feeds to load. We're also seeing '503 Service Unavailable' in the News tab.

Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 28, 2014

Apple has named Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage it's App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the popular game for both iPhone and iPad for free—a decent savings of $1.

For those who aren't familiar with the game, it was created by Angry Birds hit-maker Rovio Entertainment and Nitrome. It's essentially a Cut The Rope-style physics-based puzzler, which has you rescuing vikings from blocks of ice.

Notability finally arrives to the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 28, 2014

Notability by Ginger Labs, the powerful iPhone and iPad note-taker to annotate documents, record lectures, sketch illustrations and more, has leaped to the Mac.

Now available in the Mac App Store for $9.99, the Mac edition completes the experience by extending functionality found in the iOS app to your desktop.

The app makes it easy to create notes by dragging PDFs, photos or audio files from your desktop to Notability.

Handwriting and sketches can be scaled, transformed, rotated, nudged and restyled to your liking. Most crucially, your notes will look the same on your Mac, iPad and iPhone and of course sync seamlessly between devices through iCloud.