eBay on Wednesday announced that its mainland mobile app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will be gaining advanced image-based search and discovery features via an update this fall.
Image search and discovery coming to eBay’s iOS app this fall
Apps
Google launches Trusted Contacts iOS app with Find My Friends-like features
Google on Wednesday released a free Trusted Contacts app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch following its release on Android in December of last year.
Choose which apps are allowed to use Wi-Fi with ConditionalWifi2
iOS lets you restrict apps from using cellular data, so it only makes sense to let users do the same with Wi-Fi networks. Although cellular data is more prone to being limited by caps and speed reductions, Wi-Fi networks can sometimes cause issues with apps because of how they're configured or raise security concerns.
By installing a new jailbreak tweak called ConditionalWiFi2 (iOS 10) by iOS developer Creatix, you can choose what apps can connect to the internet over a Wi-Fi connection.
How to see the total space an iOS app takes on iPhone or iPad
Find out how to check the amount of storage space taken up by each app and its data on your iPhone or iPad.
Does your iPhone or iPad support augmented reality apps made with ARKit?
iOS 11 introduced ARKit, a new framework for developers designed to shorten development times in terms of building augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad.
Because ARKit does most of the heavy lifting in terms of plane detection, super accurate tracking, lighting estimation and more, apps powered by it are unsupported on older devices.
Lightroom for iOS gains selective brush editing, all-new iPad interface & more
Adobe today updated Lightroom for iPhone and Lightroom for iPad on App Store with some key new features aimed at making editing on the go easier than ever. You can now use a new brush feature to selectively paint in enhancements to any part of your images.
The selective brush option extends to the eraser tool, allowing you to selectively erase both the linear and radial gradients. And if your device has 3D Touch, like iPhone 6s or iPhone 7, you can even vary the effect by just pressing softer or harder as you paint.
iPad Pro users working with an Apple Pencil get the same pressure-sensing to apply more or less of the effect. You'll also notice a new Details tab within the app where you can add the finishing touches to images by controlling noise and enhancing image details.
The in-app camera now supports a new Show Highlight Clipping feature that shows you the over-exposed areas prior to capture, which lets you adjust the exposure or composition in camera. Lightroom for iOS also packs in an improved virtual level via the in-app camera with haptic feedback and support for latest cameras and lenses.
Last but not least, Lightroom for iPad now features a revamped interface, shown top of post, designed for the tablet's larger canvas. According to Adobe, the app makes editing via iPad a serious option as a laptop replacement for any photographer.
Download Lightroom for iPhone and iPad free in App Store.
Vigor brings useful new features to Home screen app icons
The iOS Home screen has always left a lot to be desired. Being nothing more than a wall of app icons, you really can’t get useful information on the Home screen without using a 3D Touch gesture or swiping over to the Today widget page.
A new jailbreak tweak called Vigor by the AtomDevTeam changes that by displaying useful information directly inside your app icons, making it easier to see at a glance.
WhatsApp gains chat pinning, comprehensive file sharing & more in latest update
As part of a broader set of capabilities recently teased for the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging platform, the app has now gained a trio of new features in the latest update. WhatsApp version 2.17.40 for iOS brings a chat pinning feature, multi-format file sharing and other improvements.
With the pinning feature, you can make it so your favorite chats remain at the top of the list, so you can quickly find them. To use this feature, just swipe right on a chat in the conversation list, then tap a Pin or Unpin option.
The app has also expanded the file sharing feature, which now allows you to share any type of file with one or more recipients. To send files of any type, open a chat, tap the plus icon at the bottom then choose the Document option.
In the popup menu, select your favorite storage provider like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and so forth (any app that includes an iOS Document Provider extension should be available from the menu).
And lastly, when you receive multiple photos the app now lets you tap and hold on the group of photos to quickly forward or delete all of them in one fell swoop.
Download WhatsApp for iPhone, iPad and iPod for free from App Store.
This awesome ARKit app uses HTC Vive to bring mixed reality to iPad
Unlike virtual reality which completely immerses you in computer-generated images, augmented reality superimposes virtual objects on top of your world rather than close it out.
Mixed reality, on the other hand, (sometimes called hybrid reality) merges the two worlds so that physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.
A new recently published demo combines an ARKit-driven app running on the Unity 3D engine on an iPad Pro with real-time input from HTC's Vive virtual reality headset and controller. Created by NY-based virtual reality developer Normal VR, the app features a cute avatar drawing a virtual painting in the middle of the company's office.
What's really interesting about it is the fact that a person wearing a HTC Vive is revealed when the camera pans right, proving that the app captures the moves of the person in real-time and projects the resulting actions in their real world through augmented reality.
“This is going from East Coast to West Coast (server) and back. We definitely do some extrapolation to account for ping,” developers wrote. You could easily imagine the possibilities for remote interactions between people across the globe in mixed reality.
Blobbing in the studio today w/ the Vive + ARKit. Definitely some huge mixed reality potential here. #arkit #vr #indiedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/C1zANBuSrx
— Normal (@normalvr) July 10, 2017
Not sure about you, but I'm really impressed by this demo.
There's a lot going on here as this app brings objects from the virtual world into the real one, in real-time—not only does the avatar realistically replicates the person's actions, it shows the digital painting on top of the real world as it's being created, updating it constantly.
Welcome to the future of mixed reality!
We showed you many demos powered by Apple's ARKit framework for building augmented reality apps on iPhone and iPad, ranging from a simple but awesome measuring tape to home decor shopping, accurate room measurement, Tic Tac Toe, food ordering and more.
Even Ikea has jumped on the AR bandwagon by partnering with Apple on an ARKit-powered app that will let you try out virtual furniture in your home, with support for in-app ordering.
The beauty of ARKit is that it does all the heavy lifting, allowing developers to focus on app design rather than deal with things like plane detection, lighting estimation, tracking, etc.
Using computer vision and other techniques, ARKit does all that by analyzing live camera feed and data from iPhone or iPad's built-in sensors. ARKit requires the A9 or A10 chip, meaning augmented reality apps will require an iPhone 6s or newer or one of the latest iPad models.
Facebook is testing in-app GIF creator
As first spotted by The Next Web, Facebook is testing an in-app GIF creator with a subset of users of its mainland mobile app for iOS. The feature is available through the app's built-in camera and allows users to quickly create animated GIFs for sharing with friends and family.
You can also post the GIF to a Story or save it to your device.
GIFs can be spiced up using Facebook's range of built-in camera effects. According to the publication, any GIFs created through this feature are short, lasting only a few seconds.
As I mentioned before, the feature is only available to certain users.
We'll let you know when the in-app GIF creator launches for everyone. Until then, let us know in the comments section if you're part of Facebook's limited test of this feature.
Just a month ago, the social network rolled out the ability for users to express themselves better by posting animated GIFs in comments.
Download Facebook at no charge from App Store.
This tweak opens your App Switcher to the app you’re currently using
The App Switcher in iOS automatically opens to the app you last used upon launch rather than the one you were using when you opened the interface, and love it or hate it, a new free jailbreak tweak called AppSwitchCurrent (9 % 10) by iOS developer DGh0st flips this concept around.
Pocketdex app by Majd Alfhaily and Surenix complements Pokémon GO
Although fewer people are as excited to play Pokémon GO today as when the game first launched last Summer, it still stands as one of the world’s most popular mobile games.
A new Pokémon GO companion app called Pocketdex is now available on the App Store, and was created with love by two prominent members of the jailbreak community: iOS developer Majd Alfhaily and graphic designer Surenix.