Apps

Catapult puzzler ‘Warhammer: Snotling Fling’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has just named “Warhammer: Snotling Fling” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the game for both iPhone and iPad for free—a significant savings of $4.

Snotling Fling is essentially an over-the-shoulder take on Angry Birds, set in the Warhammer universe. Players are tasked with slingshotting hapless goblins at enemy soldiers in an attempt to stop Gorbad Ironclaw and save the Realm.

Dark Sky gets huge 5.0 update with new layout, advanced notifications and more

Popular weather client Dark Sky received a significant update today, bringing the app to version 5.0.0. The release includes several improvements like a new layout, advanced notifications, and the ability to collect pressure sensor data from compatible devices.

As for the new layout, it now features a detailed hour-by-hour 24 hour timeline, and you can create custom alerts for that timeline for things like temperature, wind and more. There's also a new weather reporter, so users can provide feedback on their weather.

Twitter for iOS and twitter.com to start autoplaying videos today—here’s how to turn it off

You could say I'm not a big fan of intrusive autoplay videos in apps, not to mention those pesky autoplay video ads on some websites. With that in mind, I was taken aback when Twitter announced today adding this very feature to its iPhone and iPad application and the web interface.

Now when you stumble upon a tweet with an embedded Vine, animated GIF or a clip in Twitter's native format, it will begin to play back automatically.

It's all part of the grand plan to shove advertising down our throat though Twitter would have us believe it's trying to make our lives easier so we could “keep up with the action without missing a tweet and get a better sense of what’s been shared instantly.”

Because autoplay videos suck your cellular data, this feature is a major concern in this age of non-unlimited plans. True, Twitter promises to opt out of autoplay anyone who's on a high-rate data plan, but I'd rather trust my instincts and revert back to the old-school click-to-play experience.

Thankfully, there's an easy way to do just that.

Modern Combat 5 and Spider-Man Unlimited gain ton of new content, customization and more

In addition to teasing Siegefall, its gorgeous-looking online multiplayer strategy game hitting iOS soon, Gameloft has also updated its two popular iPhone and iPad games with tons of new features in latest content updates.

For starters, a whole range of new Spideys are now available in Spider-Man Unlimited for the iPhone and iPad, in addition to official support for 'Made for iPhone' controllers and a bunch of other improvements.

At the same time, the popular first-person shooter Modern Combat 5: Blackout has gained new weapons and customization options, including weapon trinkets, weapon camps and several new killsigns.

Twitter to remove 140 character limit in Direct Messages

Twitter on Thursday announced that it will be removing the 140-character limit in Direct Messages. Starting in July, DMs will have a new limit of 10,000 characters, bringing it in line with other instant messaging services.

The move makes sense, given that the nature of a DM is typically more private and intimate than that of a Tweet, thus requiring more typing space. Twitter says the character limit for public-facing Tweets will remain at 140.

Action RPG ‘Slayin’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has just named “Slayin” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the endless action RPG for both iPhone and iPad for free—a respectable savings of a buck.

In Slayin, players are asked to choose from one of six heroes, including a knight and ninja, and use them to slay as many monsters as possible. They'll also be tasked with leveling up and acquiring equipment and spells along the way.

Twitter expands beta testing program to iOS

Twitter has expanded its beta testing program to iOS, according to TechCrunch. The social network confirmed to the publication that it recently launched a new "Twitter for iOS Experiments Program," which will allow some users to test experimental features ahead of public release.

The new program works very similar to its Android sibling, which launched in 2013. Select users will receive a pop-up notification at the top of their Twitter feed in the iPhone app that asks if they would like to participate in "Experiments" to help test out bug fixes and new features.

Twitterrific adds support for Quoted Tweets, emoji and quick replies on Apple Watch and more

Twitterrific 5 for iOS now supports Twitter's Quoted Tweets format which was announced two months ago. Additionally, The Iconfactory's freemium Twitter client for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Watch has picked up half a dozen improvements and feature additions in the latest update, including settings options to display the tab bar at the bottom of the screen instead top of screen.

You can now display a timeline of your own recent tweets, marvel at revamped in-app alerts and—crucially—reply with emoji and canned responses right from your wrist.

New iOS 9 features Apple didn’t mention today

During Apple's WWDC keynote this morning, it offered up a preview of iOS 9. It discussed a number of major new features in the upcoming OS update, including a smarter Siri, improved Maps and better battery life.

But as usual, there are a number of new features in iOS 9 that Apple didn't really talk about today. The slide you see above gives you an idea of what some of those features might be.

iOS 9 includes a standalone iCloud Drive app

Since Apple's WWDC keynote ended a few hours ago, we've installed the iOS 9 beta and begun digging for new stuff. Apple previewed a handful of the software's features at the event, but as usual, there are a number of additions and improvements it didn't talk about.

One of those features is a standalone iCloud Drive app. It's not immediately apparent, but while launching an app we received a pop-up asking us if we wanted to install it. We were also able to access it via the Settings app iCloud > iCloud Drive > Show on Home Screen.

IGN names ‘Trivia Crack (Ad Free)’ its Free Game of the Month

IGN has named the ad-free version of the popular social trivia game 'Trivia Crack' its Free Game of the Month for June. This means that you can snag the premium title, which typically sells for $2.99, for free for both your iPhone and iPad.

For those of you who haven't played it, Trivia Crack it's a 1-on-1 trivia game that you can play wither either friends or total strangers. Questions are submitted by users, and grouped into 6 categories. First player to make it through all 6 wins.