Apps

Piracy on iOS: 60% of Monument Valley installs on iPhone and iPad not paid for

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Even though this particular data point is a few days old now, I think it's highly relevant in light of Apple's glowing App Store stats revealed yesterday.

According to developer Ustwo Games, its award-winning and incredibly successful Monument Valley, an atmospheric puzzle game in which you manipulate impossible architecture inspired by the works of M.C. Escher, has seen a significant chunk of its potential revenue lost to piracy because only 40 percent of the $3.99 game installs on the iPhone and iPad were paid for.

The vast chunk of the remaining sixty percent iOS installs were illegitimate, or to put it bluntly — pirated. On Android, the paid install base is a paltry five percent (you read that right), as a huge hunk of the remaining 95 percent of users opted to steal Monument Vally on Android rather than pay four bucks to enjoy it.

Is the 60 percent piracy rate on iOS a worrying number for Monument Valley developers and a bad sign for Apple's mobile platform? Read on for the full reveal.

The Princess Bride gets official iOS game

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 9, 2015

The official mobile game of The Princess Bride, the 1987 classic fantasy adventure movie adapted from William Goldman's 1973 namesake novel, is now available in the App Store.

Featuring four different games, The Princess Bride lets you experience all the favorite scenes from the film. You'll be wrestling giants, engaging in sword fighting and more, earning awards along the way and unlocking images and sound clips from the movie.

OneDrive gains Document Provider extension, Recycle Bin support, push alerts and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 9, 2015

Microsoft's iOS client for its cloud-storage service, OneDrive, has received a significant update Friday bringing out a Document Provider extension of its own. The Document Provider extension is one of the major new extensibility features in iOS 8. With Document Providers, developers can write apps which expose their custom remote or local storage functionality to the operating system.

What this means for OneDrive fans is that they can now access their files in other apps. To see how this works and learn more about other changes in OneDrive 4.6, jump past the fold.

Apple institutes app price hikes in Europe, Canada and Russia as iPhones get more expensive in Brazil

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 9, 2015

As reported by AppleInsider, Apple has raised minimum prices of iPhone and iPad applications in the App Store in Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway and in the European Union.

As a result of the changes, customers in Canada will now see a minimum app price raised from $0.99 (USD$0.83) to $1.19 (USD$1.01). In the United Kingdom, the new minimum tier has gone up from £0.69 ($1.04) to £0.79 ($1.19) and €0.99 ($1.17) in the European Union, up from €0.89 ($1.05) before.

In addition, smartphones, tablets and other gadgets Apple sells in Brazil saw their prices skyrocketing by an average of 10 percent due to the steady devaluation of the country's currency, real.

Task-focused email app Mail Pilot 2 gets previewed

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2018

Following its iOS and OS X debut in April 2013 and January 2014, respectively, Mail Pilot, a powerful task-focused email application by Mindsense, is about to get a whole lot better and prettier.

Mail Pilot 2, currently in beta, looks really nice with its overhauled interface that was redesigned around getting you on your with your day even faster.

Just earlier this week, Mindsense, the brains behind Mail Pilot, has shared some of the upcoming enhancements in a brand new preview video. You may not necessarily need yet another email app in your life, but I urge you to give this clip a quick watch as it could make you reconsider your stance.

Apple names unique puzzler ‘Mujo’ its free App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 2, 2018

Apple has just named Mujo, by Oink Games, its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the unique puzzler for both iPhone and iPad, for free—a nice little savings of $3.

In Mujo, players are tasked with fighting off monsters using power obtained through an on-screen puzzle. The gameplay feels like a mix of tile-stacking, similar to that in the hit game Threes!, and strategic character leveling of an RPG.

Evernote launches ‘Scannable’ iOS app for automatic document scanning

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 2, 2018

Evernote today released a new app for scanning various types of documents called Evernote Scannable. The app, which has been in beta for several months, is capable of scanning and managing contracts, receipts, business cards, and virtually any other kind of paper item you can think of.

Scanning happens quickly and automatically. Simply load up the app and point your device's camera at the document you want to scan in, and it will capture the image and make adjustments on the fly—such as rotating, cropping, sharpening, etc.—so your scans are clear and easy to read.

BlueSkyMe for iPad debuts: manage your time, relationships and projects

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2015

The App Store has some tremendously useful apps to get the most out of your busy schedule, but wouldn't it be nice if there was a single app to manage your contacts, mails, reminders and calendars and activities instead of a fiddling with a multitude of different applications from multiple devs?

Now there is: BlueSkyMe by Dynamic Elements. The iPad productivity app gives you a comprehensive outlook of your time, relationships and projects in one place.

Google Hangouts gains smart location sharing, statuses, deeper Voice integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 6, 2015

Google on Tuesday added new features to its Hangouts app for the iPhone and iPad, namely deeper integration with its Voice telephony service, a pretty smart way to share your location with others, the ability to tell your friends what you're up to via status messages and more.

Today's refresh follows last month's Android app update which introduced a similar set of enhancements. These newly introduced features are available on iOS right now so go ahead and download Hangouts free in the App Store and take the app for a spin.

EA posts new trailer for upcoming game ‘Need for Speed: No Limits’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

EA mobile today posted what it is calling the "Official Gameplay Teaser" for its upcoming Need for Speed: No Limits title. Like the previous teaser, it runs about 30 seconds long, but this time there's a lot more in-game footage, and a lot less Ken Block.

Unsurprisingly, the new Need for Speed is being built by Firemonkeys, the combined teams of Firemint and IronMonkey Studios, who both have extensive backgrounds in racing. The game will have a heavy focus on street racing and vehicle customization.

Apple’s ‘Start Something New’ campaign extends to Apple Store walls

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple has extended its "Start Something New" campaign, to highlight art and photography created on the iPhone and iPad, past the web and into its retail stores.

Twitter user Storeteller noted on Friday that the Regent Street Apple Store in London began displaying the art Apple began showing on the "Start Something New" webpage earlier this week.

Official mobile game of the FIA World Rally Championship hits iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Fans of racing games, listen up! The official mobile game of the FIA World Rally Championship has been released in the App Store.

Developed by Firebrand Games and published by Bigben Interactive, WRC The Official Game for the iPhone and iPad includes official content of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, including eighteen licensed cars, and lets you play as any of the seventeen official drivers to win a total of thirteen official events of the 2014 WRC calendar.

While previous official titles have been something of a disappointment, WRC The Official Game looks promising, at least graphics-wise, so here's hoping it doesn't ruin the fun with inaccurate and unresponsive controls.