Apps

SoundCloud for iOS gains shuffling, related tracks, sharing improvements and more

SoundCloud, a Swedish online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, today issued a refresh to its gorgeous iPhone and iPad application, in time for the summer.

SoundCloud 3.10.0 for iOS now lets you play related tracks, shuffle liked tracks and audio files in your playlists, add or remove tracks directly from your playlists, plus share directly from the search screen and your list of liked tracks.

Tweetbot’s iOS app gains alerts for Quoted Tweets, support for longer Direct Messages and more

About ten days since Tweetbot for OS X brought these new features to the Mac, now Tweetbot for iPhone and iPod touch has picked up support for notifications related to Twitter’s new embedded quoting feature while laying groundwork for longer Direct Messages, a feature Twitter announced almost a month weeks ago but has yet to enable on its end.

Also, Tweetbot 3.6.2 for Mac now produces crisper video thanks to improved video upload quality.

Stargazing app Star Walk 2 goes free as Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Star Walk 2 by Vito Technology Inc. is one of the best—if not the best—stargazing apps in the App Store. Thursday, Star Walk 2 got slashed to zero bucks as part of Apple's Free App of the Week promotion in the App Store.

Winner of Apple Design Award, the app taps your iPhone's sensors and the GPS to determine the exact position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky.

The app features crisp Retina graphics with augmented-reality style HUD that renders the sky over live camera feed, responding precisely to the movement of your device without requiring Internet connection.

Readdle launches Scanner Pro 6 with automatic scanning, Scan Radar feature and more

Ukrainian developer Readdle has a number of fine productivity apps in the App Store, among them a scanning app called Scanner Pro.

Today, Readdle released Scanner Pro 6, the next major version which adds interesting new features like automatic scanning, the ability to find documents for scanning in Photos, cool Automatic Scanning mode and more.

This update is free to existing users and they're celebrating the launch by discounting Scanner Pro for new users to just $2.99, more than half off its regular asking price.

Cooking app Green Kitchen goes free courtesy of Apple Store shopping app promotion

If you fire up Apple's official shopping app for the iPhone and iPad, called Apple Store, there's a new freebie waiting for you: a cooking app called Green Kitchen.

Created by Amazing Applications AB, Green Kitchen retails in the App Store for $4.99 a pop, but can be yours at no charge whatsoever provided you grab it through the Apple Store app (not to be confused with the App Store).

This premium app is very nicely done and is highly recommended for epicures and those who like to be creative in the kitchen.

Featuring crisp typography, great photography, stunning Retina graphics and easy to follow instructions, Green Kitchen is filled with inspiring vegetarian food with ingredients straight from nature and a bare minimum of gluten, sugar and dairy products.

Following its November 2013 debut, the app has never been free before. Here's what needs to be done to claim your free copy of Green Kitchen.

iBooks Author updated with support for iPhone, multi-touch ePub books

Apple is on a roll with software updates today. In addition to releasing iOS 8.4 and Mac OS X 10.10.4, it's also pushed out new versions of GarageBand and now iBooks Author. The software that allows you to publish iBooks moved up to version 2.3 today.

The update won't move the needle for folks who don't use the app, but it brings about some big changes for those who do. Perhaps the biggest new feature is that you can now create iBooks for both iPhone and iPad—instead of being limited to just the tablet.

Pinterest begins rolling out Buyable Pins on iOS

Pinterest has begun rolling out Buyable Pins to iPhone and iPad users, reports TechCrunch. The feature, which was unveiled earlier this month, allows retail partners to add a buy button to pins that let users purchase products directly on Pinterest.

The button shows up on Rich Pins, which have much more information than typical Pins. Transactions are handled by Stripe, and Pinterest says it's working with companies like Apple to ensure it doesn't ever have to touch credit card information.

Beats Music app receives an update with playlist migration to Apple Music

Shortly after releasing iOS 8.4 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and OS X 10.10.4 for the Mac, Apple refreshed the mobile Beats Music application in the App Store so you can transfer your existing playlists and library over to Apple Music. Release notes accompanying the update make no mention of other changes beyond playlist migration.

The app is available at no charge in the App Store.

You can now see recently Shazamed songs from artists you follow

With Apple Music launching in just a few hours, media identification service Shazam on Tuesday announced a new version of its mobile app focused on the ability to check out all the songs that artists you follow are discovering on Shazam.

This new feature is in addition to lists of most-often Shazamed songs by region, genre and overall that were available before.

The update is rolling out today on iOS and Android.

VLC gains Apple Watch controller, mini-player, support for looping playlists and more

VLC, a cross-platform, open-source media player by VideoLAN that can render just about any file type thrown at it, has updated its iOS app in the App Store with a brand new WatchKit component in addition to a bunch of new features and other enhancements.

VLC 2.6 for iOS now lets you control your media library application from your wrist, with the Apple Watch app providing basic playback control, media information and the ability to browse your library.

Google Hangouts for iOS gains refreshed interface, multi-image sending and more

Google on Monday issued a minor but notable refresh to its Hangouts client for the iPhone and iPad. If you're using Hangouts to exchange instant messages with your friends, engage in free audio and video calls, adorn your communications with stickers and more, the brand new Hangouts 4.0 for iOS is now available free in the App Store.

It brings out several user interface tweaks that Google claims elevate your experience while adding a much-needed ability to send multiple photos at once, and more.

Twitterrific now uses facial recognition to properly frame subjects in media previews

The Iconfactory has issued a nice little update to Twitterrific 5, its freemium Twitter client for the iPhone and iPad, which brings out an interesting new feature that uses facial recognition algorithms to frame faces in media previews in your timeline.

And if you own an Apple Watch, Twitterrific has a new push notification type for quoted tweets as an opt-in feature in settings. Another enhancement: at last, you're allowed to swipe from the left screen edge to go back or dismiss the current view, a productivity boost for iPhone 6 Plus owners wanting to use the app one-handed.