Apps

Audio-only calls rolling on Google Duo

Google announced during its Spring event in São Paulo, Brazil that audio-only calls would be coming soon to Duo, its one-to-one video calling app for iOS and Android. Today, the company pushed a small update to Duo for iPhone that enables this feature (which first rolled out to users in Brazil) for everyone. Available free of charge on App Store, Google Duo version 9.1 brings out VoIP audio calling along with unspecified bug fixes and product improvements.

This tweak helps you differentiate comments in the official Reddit app

In the official Reddit app for iOS, gray vertical lines of varying heights appear between comments underneath posts. They’re intended to help lead the eyes, making it easier to differentiate between responses, but the gray isn't exactly easy for everyone to see.

A new free jailbreak tweak called ColorComments by Ben Giannis lets you add a splash of color to those lines, not only for improving the efficiency of how your eyes distinguish between each one, but also making the app look more unique in the process.

Starbucks rolls out iMessage app for gifting digital cards with Apple Pay support

As previously announced, Starbucks today updated its iPhone app with the ability to send gifts through Apple’s iMessage system and pay for them with Apple Pay directly in the Messages app. Named Starbucks Gifts, the software requires you to set up Apple Pay on your device before you can purchase gift cards in $5, $10 or $25 denominations. Today's update also brings notifications, a store location filter for the Nitro cold brew and other perks.

Confero 2 is a notification badge manager for your apps

If you have an iPhone, then you’re no stranger to notifications. In fact, if you have a lot of friends and use a lot of different kinds of apps, then you probably get flooded with notifications from day to day. These notifications clutter up your Home screen with badges, which aren't exactly the prettiest things in the world to see.

A jailbreak tweak dubbed Confero 2 by AtomDevTeam lets you clean things up by grouping all your apps with missed notification badges into a convenient little box that can be invoked from anywhere. It also provides new notification badge theming options that are much nicer to look at.

Facebook testing Explore feed which surfaces content you haven’t connected with yet

Facebook has been caught testing a new kind of feed on its mainland mobile app, designed to surface relevant posts from people and pages that you haven't befriended or liked. According to Mashable and Wired, some users noticed a new rocket-shaped icon at the bottom of their News Feed. Tapping it displays content from an alternative News Feed.

Labeled Explore, it's focused on posts, articles, photos, videos and other content from people, media organizations and pages you're not following.

Facebook is currently testing this feature with a small subset of users and could pull it any time it wants. We'll be making sure you're among the first to know when, and if the new Explore tab launches to everybody.

Benchmark GPU performance of your iPhone, iPad and Mac with Geekbench’s updated app

Available on App Store free of charge, Primate Labs' refreshed Geekbench app now lets you measure the performance of mobile GPUs in iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac devices. Geekbench 4.1 brings a new Compute Benchmark to iOS and macOS. Written using Apple's new graphics API, Metal, it measures the performance of the GPU at executing common compute tasks such as image processing and computational photography.

ESPN releases revamped Apple TV app with on-demand content, live streams & more

ESPN today refreshed its app on App Store with an overhauled user interface on Apple TV and other features. Renamed from WatchESPN to just ESPN, the free of charge universal binary now works across your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV and Apple Watch. It now supports auto-playing live streams, replays and full episodes of on-demand content. The app is rolling out today so check back later if it's not live yet on your local App Store.

UsageBarX modifies the clunky activity bar on your iPhone or iPad

Whenever you use Personal Hotspot, multitask while in the middle of a phone call, or use Shazam to tag music in the background, your Status Bar multiplies in size and changes color, which depends on the situation.

While the intent was to keep you aware that something is happening in the background, it becomes intrusive when the user interface gets squashed down to make room for the double-decker-sized Status Bar. That’s where a new free jailbreak tweak called UsageBarX by iOS developer Justin Petkovic comes into play, as it offers more than one potential solution.

You can now search over a million unique Stories on Snapchat

Snapchat users can now search over one million unique Stories on the ephemeral messaging service, the company said Friday.

“We’re rolling out Stories in Search starting today in select cities and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do,” said the company.

To find a Story that might interest you, simply enter a keyword in the Snapchat for iPhone's search field to instantly see relevant Stories.

Download Panols free via Apple Store app to create stunning panoramas for Instagram

Apple is giving away Panols for a limited time, a $1.99 savings, but only through its official Apple Store app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Created by Juan Arreguin, Panols allows you to share the panoramic photos taken with your iPhone, as well as other photos stored in your photo library, with Instagram users everywhere. Taking advantage of Instagram's profile grid, Panols showcases your panoramas to their full effect in the standard three-across display view.

You can edit the name, description and geolocation of all your photos and be assured that your original photo will remain intact as the app uses a copy for all edits.