Apps

Google gives its iOS search app Siri-like voice magic

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 30, 2012

Google’s most advanced voice search has arrived on iOS! The company yesterday issued an update to its Voice search app for Android with new Google Now features for Android 4.1 devices. And today, the search Goliath has finally released a long-expected update to its iOS app. It brings a bit overdue iPhone 5 compatibility in addition to - and this is huge - the vastly improved voice search capability with artificial intelligence aspects akin to Google Now on Android Jelly Bean devices.

Give it a few more releases and this app is bound to compete with Apple's Siri. Also on tap are the usual bug fixes and a few other tweaks and enhancements. It's a free universal binary that supports all iOS form factors natively so make sure to update to the latest version. Jeff had a chance to take it for a spin, I've included his video hands-on right below...

Google matches Apple with 700,000 mobile apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

Because Google's free Android software is available in many shapes, price points and across a variety of carriers and manufacturers, the search giant has relatively easy and early on taken the lead in terms of device activations. But even with its clear lead in terms of unit sales, Android has always lagged behind iOS in terms of quantity of the apps found on its store, dubbed the Google Play Store. Today, Google has announced that its store now carries 700,000 third-party apps, which means that the Play Store has officially matched the App Store in sheer number of apps available...

Pandora update brings iPhone 5 support and new social features

Cody Lee ∙ October 30, 2012

Heads up Pandora users, the internet streaming company pushed out a significant update to its iOS client last night. The update brings the app to version 4.0, and includes loads of new features and improvements.

The app now supports the iPhone 5's 4-inch display, and it also now offers new social network sharing options. So now you can tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter what song you're jamming out to...

Apple updates Find My Friends with new features, resolves unexpected iBooks quits

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2012

Apple has updated its Find My Friends app for iOS devices and iBooks 3, which launched alongside the iPad mini last week. iBooks version 3.0.1 is a minor update which resolves an issue where iBooks may unexpectedly quit. With last week's release of iBooks 3, a free download, Apple added a new continuous scrolling theme akin to the Instapaper app, the ability to see iCloud purchases on your bookshelf, social sharing of quotes and more. Find My Friends version 2.0.1, also a free download, now features friends' notifications regarding your location right under the Me > Followers section. You will also find your temporary friends listed under Followers in the Me tab as well...

PassHack allows you to hide stock apps directly from Passbook

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 12, 2018

We already told you about Rag3Hack, the non-jailbreak solution to hiding stock apps on iOS. Now the folks behind Rag3Hack are back with PassHack. PassHack is essentially the same thing, except for now, you can easily access the URLs necessary to hide stock apps from the convenience of Passbook.

This solution actually has no bearing on Passbook besides the fact that it contains a pass with the URL schemes on its rear. Look at it as a handy bookmark to all of your favorite Rag3Hack URLs. Take a look inside as our video shows you the details...

New app promises to remove purple haze from iPhone 5 pics

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Shortly after the iPhone 5 launched, a number of users started complaining about a "purple haze" in their photos. It's essentially a purple flare effect that comes from a bright, out-of-scene light source while capturing an image.

Apple has already addressed the issue, and a number of other smartphones and portable cameras have been proven to have similar hazes. But if it's still really bothering you, there's a new app that claims it can help...

Amazon updates Kindle iOS app with X-Ray for Textbooks

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 24, 2012

Amazon refreshed its Kindle lineup last month ahead of Apple's September 12 iPhone 5 announcement. One of the easily overlooked software features the online retailer also brought out: X-Ray for Books, Textbooks and Movies. In a nutshell, the X-Ray feature intelligently retrieves additional information when you tap an on-screen object, like a movie character, book passages, glossary and what not, also pulling related data from Wikipedia and YouTube to enhance your e-reading experience.

Likewise, X-Ray for Movies lets you learn more about the movie's cast and characters by just tapping the screen, which produces relevant content by cinema site IMDb. In today's update to its free Kindle app, Amazon is bringing X-Ray for Textbooks to iPhones, iPads and iPods...

Apps Apple personally tested now appear in App Store’s Categories menu

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2012

In its never-ending quest to improve app discovery, Apple with iOS 6 added to its App Store on the iPad, iPhone and Mac something called App Collections, a curated section which lists apps that the company personally tested. As of recently, App Collections are now prominently featured on iOS devices and Macs via a dedicated section nested within the Categories menu of the App Store and iTunes. All of the apps featured in App Collections are basically recommendations by Apple's editorial team...

Good news: Tweetbot for Mac is out. Bad news: it costs $20

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

TapBots' beloved Twitter client Tweetbot has finally arrived for the Mac, following an extensive period of beta testing since July. The bad news is, it will run you a whopping twenty bucks a pop! It's not that developers have become greedy overnight, mind you. As you know, Twitter has capped their user base in a quest to exercise total control of third-party programs.

Twitter is doing so by enforcing token limits upon third-party developers. Tokens determine how many users an app like Tweetbot for Mac can have. As a result, developers get to only sell the app until they use up all the tokens Twitter allocated.

That's the official line. Some people think it's crap, others point the finger of blame at Twitter. You could call it economics, I guess. No matter how you look at it, Tweetbot for Mac - at least to my knowledge - has officially become the priciest Twitter client on the Mac App Store...

Microsoft to launch new Xbox Music service, iOS app in the works

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Microsoft announced Sunday evening that it was going to be launching its new streaming music service, Xbox Music, in the coming weeks. The move will pit Microsoft directly against Spotify, RDIO, and even iTunes.

Xbox Music will debut on — what else — the Xbox, and then roll out to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices as they become available later this month. Microsoft says it's also working on iOS and Android clients...

Apple pulls Google-powered ClassicMap from the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ October 12, 2012

While the jury is still out on whether or not Apple will approve Google's rumored standalone Maps app, it seems clear now that the company doesn't want any copycats in the App Store.

Reports started surfacing this morning that Apple has pulled ClassicMap, a Google-powered mapping application that looks a lot like the Google Maps app Apple replaced in iOS 6...

Eric Schmidt on Maps situation, the Android-Apple platform fight

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Google chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with The Wall Street Journal tech columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher last night to talk Maps, Apple and Android. “Apple should have kept our maps”, he remarked. “Apple decided a long time ago to do their own maps", he revealed, suggesting Google very well knew way in advance that the iPhone maker would nuke Google Maps from orbit on iOS devices.

He also talks about the epic iOS versus Android fight and comments what it would take to persuade him to become an Apple CEO. A couple more highlights and a nice video right after the break...