Extension

Facebook confirms Apple Music integration coming soon to Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Apple has offered an Apple Music API for some time now and Facebook leveraged it to integrate the service with Music Stories, a song-sharing feature available within its mainland iOS app. Soon, Apple Music will integrate with the Messenger platform, too (currently used by more than 1.2 billion people every month). At the F8 conference today, the social networking behemoth announced that Spotify integration will be available on Messenger at launch and Apple Music real soon.

How to filter and block spam phone calls on iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 6, 2023

Starting with iOS 10, Apple is allowing a new type of applications in the App Store: apps that can detect and block spam phone calls from telemarketers, debt collectors, scammers, and automated systems. These apps act as an extension of the Phone application, and in theory, they can help you filter out those calls from people you don't want to talk to.

In this post, we will have a look at how these applications work and how to use them.

Facebook posts Save and Share extensions for Chrome, revamps Like button on mobile

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Having launched at the annual F8 conference for developers, Facebook's Save button is now available for public consumption in the form of a new Save to Facebook extension for the Google Chrome browser. As a bonus, an official new Share to Facebook extension with more capabilities is now also available for free in the Chrome Web Store.

Taking dead aim at Pocket, the new Save to Facebook extension makes it simple for Chrome users to tuck articles away on Facebook to read later on. According to the social networking firm, more than 300 million people use the Save feature every month.

New Mac extension simplifies opening and switching Terminal to the current folder

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

A new OS X extension from Hasbrang Productions, the prominent jailbreak community development team, makes it easy to open and switch a new Terminal window to the current working directory, right from the Finder's contextual menu.

Available at no charge on the Mac App Store, the aptly named TermHere installs itself as a Finder file extension, readily accessible from the right-click menu. It works as advertised and is pretty convenient, more so if you use Terminal frequently.

Hangouts 9 for iOS drops with Low Power Mode support and share extension

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 26, 2016

Google's Hangouts application wants to become a unified communications solution for all your messaging needs despite not seeing new features in months. Now we know why: Google's been busy working on a major new version.

Now available on the App Store, the new Hangouts 9.0 brings a pair of new features, including one that'll automatically suspend video sharing during VoIP calls when an iPhone enters iOS 9’s Low Power Mode.

New in iOS 9.2 beta: a look at Safari View Controller updates

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Yesterday, Apple released iOS 9.2 beta 1 to developers. As we explained, the update ushered in a couple of new features to iOS 9's Safari View Controller.

In iOS 9.2 beta 1, Safari View Controller gets a bit more powerful. It now has the ability to request a desktop site directly from the view controller, disable content blockers, and it can interface with Action Extensions, such as the 1Password extension.

In the video that follows, I showcase both new features, and compare them with an older version of iOS 9.

iTranslate updated with keyboard extension and Apple Watch support

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Sonico pushed out an update for its iTranslate app today, bringing the iOS client to version 8.4. The software, which is regarded as one of the best translation apps in the App Store, now comes with a keyboard extension and proper Apple Watch Glance.

The keyboard extension is particularly significant, since it can be used in most iOS 8-compatible apps. So now, instead of having to open the iTranslate app to make a translation, you can do it on the fly in WhatsApp, Mail or your favorite Twitter client.

OS X El Capitan enables custom filters and editing tools in Photos for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 9, 2015

Last fall, iOS 8 brought us App Extensions.

App Extensions have given developers the means to extend Apple's mobile operating system by infusing their app's functionality into the Notification Center's Today view, Share sheet options and actions, keyboards, cloud storage services and Photos.

App Extensions have been universally acclaimed and a lot ink has been spilled in writing about custom keyboards in iOS 8. As an iPhone photography fan, I was way more excited about App Extensions within the context of Photos for iOS.

There was just one problem: OS X Yosemite doesn't support App Extensions in Photos for Mac. Thankfully, newly announced OS X 10.11 El Capitan saw to that, meaning now developers of photo-editing apps can provide their own filters and editing tools in Photos for Mac.

How to use the Pixelmator Repair Tool extension on Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 21, 2015

One of the most under-the-radar new features to hit OS X Yosemite was the addition of extensions. Action extensions are particularly nice, because they allow apps to interface with other apps directly.

Some app developers, such as Pixelmator ($29.99 on the Mac App Store), have brought third-party extensions to the Mac, which demonstrates how beneficial extensions can be. Watch our video that showcases Pixelmator's Repair Tool extension to see what I mean.

Fleksy Keyboard gains Tips and Color Pops extensions, three new themes and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 22, 2017

Fleksy, a popular 99-cent keyboard for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 8 or later, has received another newsworthy update following its equally massive Valentine's Day release.

A dedicated Tips Extension shows you helpful tips throughout the app while a new Color Pops Extension lets you customize the colors of your key pops (disable them completely via a transparancy slider).

At last, Facebook Messenger gets native iOS 8 Share extension

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Today, social networking behemoth Facebook issued a small yet important update to its mobile messaging software for the iPhone and iPad. Facebook Messenger version 22 is now available in the App Store and with it comes a much appreciated and long overdue iOS 8 extension.

With it, you can at last send pieces of content to Messenger without leaving other apps. Using iOS 8's standard Share sheet, it's simple to share photos, videos and links directly with Messenger contacts, without leaving context of the app you're currently using.

Dropbox for iOS gets a new action extension

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 22, 2018

If you've been longing to save files from your favorite apps directly to Dropbox without leaving said app, then I have some good news for you. Dropbox was just updated to bring DropBox action extension capability to iOS 8. This means that you can now effortlessly save files directly to Dropbox from many of your favorite apps. It doesn't come with a lot of bells and whistles, but it's a great first step for Dropbox.