Apps

Apps of the week: Intake, Bicolor, Mingle, and more

This coming Sunday is unofficially called Star Wars Day around the world. To celebrate, I’ll be attending a local Star Wars convention, seeing a Star Wars-themed band, and watching the first three films in their original, unspoiled form on VHS. May the Fourth be with you.

Whether you are itching for some Star Wars action, fancy a bit of medieval architecture, or want to get in touch with someone really, really fast, we have a list of apps and games that are sure to get your Midi-chlorians pumping…

République episode 2: Metamorphosis now available to purchase

Last December, we reviewed Republique, a new stealth game that really set the bar for the genre. Players followed the story of Hope as she tries to escape the oppressive and manipulative compound she has been imprisoned in. Moving from room to room, activating various cameras and turning off security features, players help Hope avoid detection as she plans her getaway.

Episode 2: Metamorphosis is now available for download as an in-app purchase. The story continues where the first episode, “Exordium” left off. Will Hope ever find justice and expose the corrupted government? With your help, maybe…

Wayward Souls review: a roguelike with permadeath that kills it

There is a lot of different kinds of role-playing dungeon crawl games. One of them is called “roguelike” or “rogue-like” if you prefer proper grammar. In it, players explore procedurally generated dungeons, collecting loot and slaying villains. One of the most important characteristics of a roguelike is permanent death (also know as permadeath). That means if you lose all of your hit points, the game ends and you lose all of your loot. Dead is dead.

Wayward Souls is a roguelike that sets an example for other iOS developers to follow. It is incredibly challenging, full of lootable treasure chests, and when you die, you lose it all…

1Password for Mac updated with Watchtower support

Following the update to the iOS app this week, AgileBits has posted a new version of 1Password for Mac, bringing the password manager to version 4.4. The update includes just a handful of improvements, but is notable because it adds Watchtower integration.

For those unfamiliar with it, 1Password Watchtower is a service that identifies websites that are vulnerable to known security risks, and suggest that you change your passwords. It's fairly new, emerging after last-month's 'Heartbleed' bug infected several websites...

SkyFehl is a simple and silly arcade game

I love games that are a bit tongue-in-cheek. Developers who don’t take themselves too seriously are probably going to go far if they apply their humor to their titles.

SkyFehl is a simple arcade game that is rich in strange landscapes, silly effects, and a veritable who’s-who of playable characters that might get them shut down if they weren’t so clever about it…

How to get more matches on Tinder

Let's face it. Life is busy these days, to the point that most of us don't even have time to focus on meeting a significant other. The struggle is real. And while there still might be a negative stigma surrounding online dating platforms, Tinder has quickly emerged as one of the most popular platforms for meeting someone outside of a bar or club. The startup app has received numerous awards since launching over 18 months ago, helping to connect everyone from busy university undergraduate students to single adults for dates and casual encounters.

Tinder is essentially an anonymous "hot or not" app for iPhone and Android smartphones. If you find someone physically attractive, swipe right. If you don't, swipe left. It is made to be incredibly simple — and shallow — in nature, yet you probably wouldn't be reading this article if Tinder was as easy as it sounds. If you are not on the top of your game, don't expect to be getting too many right swipes on Tinder. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes and a little bit of effort to improve your results. Read ahead for tips and tricks on how to get more matches on Tinder… 

Apple highlights “Best of April” in new App Store section

Apple has highlighted its favorite new apps and games from last month in a new Best of April section on the App Store. The best overall app was given to NYT Now, while the award for best overall game went to Leo's Fortune. There are over a dozen other apps included in two categories for "amazing apps" and "great games," many of which were released or significantly updated in April. A complete rundown of the apps that made the Best of April list in the United States follows… 

Twitter testing mute feature in iOS app

We've all been there: someone - maybe your ex or your biggest fan - is stalking you on Twitter and populating your timeline with stuff you don't want to see.

Or worse, if you've made a few enemies along the way you can bet they'll take to Twitter to post crazy stuff about you on an everyday basis. If you only use Twitter's official app, right now you have two options at your disposal to deal with the situation.

You can either A) unfollow your ex and risk turning him or her into an enemy, or B) block an account that's been harassing you online. According to a new report, there will soon be a new way to stop receiving updates from accounts: the mute feature.

I know muting is currently available in third-party apps like Tweetbot so the newsworthy part here is that Twitter is finally testing this long overdue feature in its own iPhone and iPad app...

Sunrise Calendar updated with Interesting Calendars, improved Exchange support

Sunrise Calendar, which made our list of best calendar apps for iOS back in March, was updated today. The new release brings the app to version 2.3, and includes a handful of improvements as well as a new feature called 'Interesting Calendars.'

As the name suggests, Interesting Calendars allows you to add various types of pre-made calendars with a few simple taps. Sunrise now offers over 25,000 calendars to help you keep track of holidays, sport team schedules and more within the app...

Beats Music updated with native iPad support, adds Find Your Friends feature

As teased yesterday, the new streaming music startup from music mogul Jimmy Lovine and musician and producer Dr. Dre, called Beats Music, has been updated with support for the iPad. The 17.1MB download is now live in the App Store and universal so a single binary now supports all your form-factor iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. As a bonus, regardless of the device you can now easily add Beats Music users from your Twitter friends...

Notability for iOS drops to $0 for the first time ever as Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Notability by Ginger Labs launched in the App Store in January of 2011 with a $4.99 price tag. Despite numerous price changes, this nicely done productivity app for the iPhone and iPad has never gone free, up until today.

Named Apple Editors' Choice, Notability is now free for a limited time so do yourself a favor and download the app now in the US App Store before it goes back up to its regular price of $2.99...

Infuse 2.3: connect to UPnP/DLNA apps like XBMC and Plex to stream videos, new gestures and more

One of the best iOS media players around, Infuse by jailbreak developer FireCore of the aTV Flash Black fame, has received a major updated today that enables support for UPnP and DLNA  media streaming protocols which allows the software to stream, download and sync media residing on compatible UPnP/DLNA device such as XBMC, Plex, WMC, PS3 Media Server and more.

The release includes a plethora of other new features and improvements such as half a dozen new gesture controls, the continuous playback feature, improved streaming for certain NAS devices and a bunch of user interface tweaks.

The new Infuse 2.3 is available free in the App Store, with an optional in-app purchase to unlock advanced features like AirPlay subtitle streaming, support for additional video formats and more...