Apps

‘Tiny Firefighters’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has named 'Tiny Firefighters' by Wonderkind its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a nice little savings of $1.99.

For those unfamiliar with it, Tiny Firefighters is an interactive app/book/game for kids that's both fun and educational. Help the firefighters and police officers perform their duties around town by putting out fires and catching burglars...

Google Hangouts 2.0 is out with iOS 7 redesign, full iPad support, video messaging and more

Google updated the iOS client for its popular messaging platform Hangouts today, bringing the app to version 2.0. The update brings about a number of improvements including full optimization for the iPad and iOS 7 and more.

A few new features have also been added, such as the ability to share animated stickers and record and send video messages up to 10 seconds long. Additionally, you can send a map of your current location to other Hangouts users...

Instapaper update adds AirPlay support, send to Kindle functionality

Instapaper, which has long been the go-to 'read it later' service for iOS users, updated its iPhone and iPad client today, bringing the app to version 5.1.5. The update brings about a number of new features and improvements.

On the features side of things, 5.1.5 adds support for Instapaper's 'Daily' trending story service, as well as a new Send to Amazon Kindle function. And as for improvements, it adds better AirPlay support, back gestures and more...

ABC to live stream the Oscars via its iOS ‘Watch’ app this Sunday

ABC has said that it is going to stream the complete Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday to mobile phones. The network has long offered highlights of the event on mobile, but this is the first time it'll stream the event live.

The feed will be funneled through the 'Watch ABC' app, which means that if you have it installed on an iOS device and meet the requirements, you'll be able to catch the show. Unfortunately, the requirements are pretty stringent...

ETA lets you easily check driving time to your favorite locations

I often go to the Bay Area, which is about 100 miles from where I live. If you know anything about California traffic, you’ll know that a simple 100-mile trip could take anywhere between an hour and a half and four hours. So, knowing drive times in advance is very important when I’m trying to make it to a show on time.

ETA is a very simple app that lets you check the estimated time of arrival for any location you save in your iPhone. Plus, you can get driving directions through the app as well…

Clear app free for the next 24 hours, download now

Developer Realmac Software recently addressed user confusion surrounding its Clear and Clear+ to-do apps for the iPhone and iPad by announcing that it will be migrating Clear+ users to Clear for free.

Not only are they doing this to ensure that “as many people as possible can move to Clear” because Clear+ is now defunct, but also due to the fact that Apple doesn’t offer a way to migrate users between copies of an app.

Realmac also added native iPad interface to Clear so now both Clear and Clear+ support all form-factor iOS devices. If I were you, I'd download Clear for free right away...

Documents 5 gets even more powerful with Readdle apps integration

Documents by Readdle is a popular file manager that lets you store music, videos, photos, and more. The company has recently been overhauling their entire line of productivity apps for iOS 7 and this one is no different.

Documents 5 is the completely redesigned version of its predecessor and comes with plenty of new features to make you think twice about which file manager you want to use from now on. Plus, if you have other Readdle apps on your iPad, you can access them from inside Documents…

EU demanding ‘concrete answers’ from Apple and Google regarding in-app purchasing concerns

Reuters is reporting that The European Commission has invited Apple and Google to discuss a flurry of user complaints surrounding in-app purchases. The move follows numerous media reports that center on disgruntled parents who were shocked to find that their children racked up vast credit card bills by making content purchases in free-to-play games.

The Commission is arguing that it's Apple's and Google's responsibility not to misleading consumers. The Commission also called upon greedy app creators to provide "very concrete answers" in respect to in-app purchasing concerns...

NBA updates Game Time app with videos of classic games

With football season over and baseball season still a month away, the US sports world has turned its attention to basketball. The regular NBA season is winding down and a lengthy stretch of playoff games is about to begin.

With that in mind, it's nice to see that the League continues to better its Game Time app. Following a big iOS 7 makeover and All-Star weekend refresh, the app has been updated today with videos of classic games and highlights...

Warner Bros. launches new ‘Legends of Chima Online’ Lego game for iOS

Warner Bros. has released a new Lego game for iOS this morning called the 'Legends of Chima Online.' The studio has had staggering success with the Lego franchise—it even has a #1 movie out right now—so honestly, why wouldn't it continue to capitalize on it?

As the name suggests, Legends of Chima is an MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) that has you explore the vast and dangerous world of Chima ruled by animal warriors. You can play co-op or solo, and the game works across iOS, Mac and Windows PCs...

InstantSave lets you save content from Instagram, Snapchat, and now Vine

Vine. What a funny social experiment that is. The Twitter offshoot social networking site offers extraordinary creativity in the form of bite-size videos, but also provides us with silly dog clips and some very bizarre insight into people’s lives. I’ve always wanted to be able to download some of the more interesting Vines that show up. Now I can.

InstantSave has recently been updated so you can save those mini movies from Vine. The app also lets you grab photos and videos from Snapchat and Instagram. Save them to your iPhone and share them any way you like…

Documents 5 launching tomorrow with Readdle apps integration

Ukrainian developer Readdle has a bunch of fine productivity apps on the App Store. After updating its Calendars app to iOS 7-friendly design in version 5 release, tomorrow will bring another major update as Documents goes iOS 7, too.

This handy file manager, media player, photo album and document viewer for the iPhone and iPad, available as a free download, is about to get a whole lot smarter by integrating with other Readdle apps and "borrowing" their functionality. Read on for the full reveal...