Apps

Office for iPhone is now free for home use

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Shortly after Microsoft brought the mobile edition of Office to the iPhone last summer, fans of the Windows giant's productivity software cried foul as the app came across to them as more of an Office companion for mobile than a full-blown productivity application.

Although available free of charge and with editing functionality for your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, the app initially required an Office 365 subscription - much like the newly released Office for iPad. But not anymore.

Started today, Microsoft is making both the iPhone edition of Office and the version for Android smartphones free for everyone, like on Windows Phone. And to reflect the updated business model, the app has been rechristened and is now simply called Office Mobile for iPhone - much shorter and easier to remember than 'Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers', which used to be its full name before...

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Microsoft launches Office for iPad, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

The rumors were true! Microsoft's new chief executive office Satya Nadella is hosting a press briefing in San Francisco this morning. After the CEO discussed Microsoft’s 'mobile first, cloud first' strategy, Julia White, Microsoft’s chief of Office Division Product Management, took the stage to formally reveal Office for iPad.

"This is definitely not the Windows app ported to the iPad," said White, adding that Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad are all native iOS apps. Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint apps are now available for download in the App Store, joining Microsoft's existing OneNote for iPhone and iPad and the recently released OneNote for Mac.

Akin to Office 365 for iPhone which debuted last June, Office for iPad requires Microsoft's Office 365 subscription for editing features. The entry-level subscription tier will set you back $9.99-per-month (or $99.99 per year) for a Home Premium package, which buys you access to the Office applications for Windows, Mac and mobile on up to five devices.

A more affordable Office 365 Personal has been announced recently ($6.99 per month, $69.99 per year, limited to just one PC or Mac, plus one tablet), but it’s not available just yet. You can sign up for a free 30-day Office 365 trial and for those who don't want a subscription, Office for iPad will let you view and present Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations, but not edit the files...

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FireChat for iPhone lets you chat off-the-grid, without cellular or Wi-Fi signal

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

FireChat, a new instant messaging application for the iPhone, is kinda of a big deal. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and other messaging apps on the App Store if it weren't for its particularly unique feature.

FireChat supports off-the-grid communication, a codeword for the ability to exchange instant messages without a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.

What kind of dark magic is this?

FireChat, the brainchild of the crowdsourced firm Open Garden and available free in the App Store, uses the same principles as AirDrop, Apple's feature that takes advantage of a new iOS 7 technology called Multipeer Connectivity Framework (MCF).

Read on for the full reveal...

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Classic action-adventure game ‘Little Big Adventure’ lands on iOS

Cody Lee ∙ March 27, 2014

Good news for 90's gamers this morning as the classic action-adventure game 'Little Big Adventure' is now available in the App Store. This means you can download the title, which first launched on the PC back in 1994, to your iPhone or iPad and let the nostalgia kick in.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Little Big Adventure is considered a real-time pseudo-3D isometric game. You play as Twinsen, a young hero living on Citadel Island on a world ruled by the evil dictator Dr. FunFrock, who is charged with protecting his planet...

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Glitch discovered in iOS 7.1 lets you hide stock apps

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 7, 2022

Folks who updated to iOS 7.1 earlier this month may be interested in this newly-discovered glitch that allows you to hide stock iOS apps. It's very similar to last year's Newsstand glitch, in that it involves a multi-step process and doesn't [obviously] require a jailbreak.

The glitch is present on both iPhones and iPads, and is relatively easy to exploit. All you have to do, essentially, is create a folder full of apps you wish to hide, drop it in another folder, and then remove it. Interested? Keep reading for a full step-by-step video tutorial...

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Study shows mobile game developers are seeing success with TV ads

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

With more and more users moving to smartphones these days, some major mobile game publishers have taken their advertising business to television in an effort to cast a wider net. Chances are you've seen one of these commercials within the past month, including this one for Clash of Clans.

And you're probably going to start seeing a lot more of them, because apparently they're working. According to new data from analytics firm App Annie, some mobile game developers are seeing significant boosts in App Store and Google Play Store rankings for their titles following TV campaigns...

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Symbol Link is Tetris designer’s newest puzzle game

Lory Gil ∙ March 26, 2014

If you didn’t already know it, Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in 1984. His simple shape-dropping mechanic changed the face of video game puzzles for decades to come. He probably didn’t know just how important his role in the world would be, but he is legendary.

Symbol Link is a puzzle game designed by the famed developer Pajitnov. Players connect two shapes that trigger an automatic connection of other shapes. It may never reach the level of success that Tetris had, but it is fun just the same…

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Twitter announces photo tagging, multiple photos per tweet

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 27, 2017

Following a minor update earlier this morning which added enhancements to sharing and uploading photos in its free iPhone and iPad app, the popular micro-blogging service Twitter has just announced a pair of new features that will be making their way to mobile apps.

The first one is the ability to tag people in tweeted out photos, similar to Facebook and other services, and the other lets you attach and share up to four photos in a single tweet. More on both right after the break...

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Defenders combines tower defense and CCG into one epic game

Lory Gil ∙ March 26, 2014

I am a fan of tower defense games. They can be surprisingly exciting if the game is made well. Of course, everyone knows I’m also a fan of collectable card games (CCG). I couldn’t call myself a true gamer if I didn’t have a few Magic cards in my possession.

Defenders mixes both the tower defense and CCG genre into one heroic adventure. Beat bosses, loot cards, and build the most powerful weapons this fantasy world has ever seen…

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The New York Times launching NYT Now app next week with cheaper subscriptions

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 26, 2014

The New York Times newspaper is scheduled to launch new digital offerings on the iPhone come next Wednesday, April 2. I cancelled my digital subscription to both the Times and The Wall Street Journal a year ago due to their overpriced subscriptions and sluggish apps.

Realizing as much - and taking note of sleek looking apps such as Flipboard and Facebook's Paper - the paper sent its digital team back to the drawing board with the goal of rethinking the company's digital offerings and how its content should be reformatted for mobile devices.

The result of their work is a brand new iPhone application that offers staff-curated content wrapped inside a nicely done interface, called NYT Now...

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Twitter for iOS updated with enhanced photo sharing and uploading experience

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Twitter has just updated its free iPhone and iPad client with unspecified "enhancements to sharing and uploading photos". Behind the cryptically worded iTunes description is a slightly reworked interface for attaching a photo to a tweet, akin to Facebook's Paper app. The update is now live in the App Store and I've included a detailed description along with a few screenshots depicting the feature in action...

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