Apps

Procreate gains support for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil features and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 2, 2015

Procreate by Savage Interactive, the popular sketching and painting app, was refreshed today in the App Store with more than a dozen new features, among them specific ones aimed at the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil which are scheduled to launch later this month.

Procreate 3, a free update for existing owners, now allows for up to 16K canvases on the iPad Pro, with its 128 brushes taking full advantage of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection and palm rejection provided by the Apple Pencil. All told, this edition of Procreate packs in over a hundred new features and refinements.

New Google app finds people to hang out with

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

A brand new Google app for your iPhone, currently available on an invite-only basis in the App Store, wants to take the pain out of finding people who are free to hang out.

Aptly named Who’s Down, the 16.2-megabyte download comes with an easy to use user interface featuring a slider that, when toggled, tells the app to let others know you're down to meet up, allowing you to see which of your friends are free to hang out.

EDGE Extended is free for a limited time

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Remember Edge, a puzzle game developed by Mobigame? Originally released in the App Store in December 2008, it was one of the best looking, most addictive and innovative games available on the iPhone at the time.

The highly popular title was followed by the official sequel, called Edge Extended, which made its App Store debut in August 2011. Edge Extended has gone free briefly just once since its inception and now Mobigame has discounted the game to zero bucks for a limited time to celebrate the launch of the new Apple TV.

Minimal puzzler ‘rop’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ October 29, 2015

Heads up gamers, Apple has just named MildMania's 'rop' its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you can pick up the popular puzzler for free for both iPhone and iPad, a $1 savings over its usual price.

For those who haven't played it, rop is described as a mind-bending, minimal puzzler with nearly 200 beautiful levels. In each of those levels, you must rearrange the different pieces of rope on a hexagonal grid to match the shape that you are given.

Microsoft folds Sunrise functionality into much-improved Outlook for iOS app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Developers of Microsoft-owned calendar app, called Sunrise, announced in a blog post that the app won't be receiving updates going forward as the team has worked hard on integrating Sunrise functionality into the Windows maker's much-improved mobile Outlook client for iPhone and iPad.

Sunrise Calendar was last updated in the App Store more than four months ago, adding integration with Office 365 events. Just yesterday, Outlook for iOS received a fresh new look alongside a brand native Apple Watch app built on watchOS 2.

At the same time, Microsoft announced that the mobile Outlook app has gone from a couple hundred downloads to more than thirty million installs on smartphones and tablets.

Snapchat update brings 3D Touch support and new video filters: slow-mo, fast forward & rewind

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Following Skype's update this morning which added 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts and Peek and Pop gestures, Snapchat too issued an update to its App Store application which enables 3D Touch support for quick actions from the Home screen icon on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

In addition to 3D Touch support, this edition of Snapchat brings out some new filters for your snaps, including slow-motion, fast-forward and rewind effects.

Skype for iOS adds 3D Touch actions, spooky Halloween emoticons, video filters and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Microsoft today issued a pair of updates to Skype's messaging, VoIP and video calling apps in the App Store.

While the apps continue to be separate downloads on iOS rather than a universal binary (come on, Microsoft!), Skype for iPhone has gained useful 3D Touch actions available both from the Home screen and within the app itself.

In addition, both editions of Skype have picked up improved conversation and contact management, as well as ghostly Halloween video message filters and emoticons.

Scanbot picks up Magic color filter, improved edge detection and more in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Scanbot, a comprehensive mobile scanner app for documents and QR codes, has been refreshed in the App Store today with several new features and refinements, including more accurate edge detection and a new color filter for text documents which produces scans that often look better than the original.

Scanbot is fully compliant with iOS 9, supports 3D Touch shortcuts on the Home screen and actions within the app and can recognize a wide variety of bar codes, including UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 39, Code 39 mod 43, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-8, EAN-13, ITF14, PDF417, Aztec and DataMatrix.

Apple rejects Gravity, a 3D Touch-based iPhone 6s digital scale app

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2015

Apple appears to be cracking down on digital scale apps in the App Store that take advantage of the 3D Touch pressure-sensing feature in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, with at least one such app having been rejected on the basis of “misleading description”.

Ryan McLeod, the brains behind an iPhone 6s app called Gravity, wrote in a Medium post that Apple actually took issue with the concept of scale apps per se, deeming such apps inappropriate for the App Store.

Viber rolls out Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Mobile messaging platform Viber today rolled out a new version of its iPhone app in the App Store which enables native experience on your Apple Watch. While pretty basic, the app is functional, easy to use and efficient.

With it, you can read and respond to messages straight from your wrist, and even send stickers created exclusively for the Apple Watch, all without having to pull an iPhone out of your pocket. Viber is available at no charge in the App Store.

Review: reclaim iPhone storage lost to Live Photos with this free app

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Live Photos, one of the hallmark features of the new iPhone, is prominently featured in Apple's commercials and even jailbreakers can get it on older devices via a recently released jailbreak tweak.

The only problem with Live Photos is that they take up about two times the space of normal images. While iOS's Photos app lets you turn a Live Photo into a still photo with a few taps, the process quickly becomes cumbersome when processing multiple Live Photos.

Besides, the method doesn't really remove anything as you can revert back anytime.

A new iPhone app called Lean from developer Tiny Whale, available for free in the App Store, automates the process of cleaning up one or more unwanted Live Photos, so you end up with their normal representation which helps save storage space on your iPhone.

Astropad Mini goes free, now with pressure-sensitive drawing on iPhone 6s via 3D Touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Astropad Mini, a cool application by former Apple engineers which turns your iPhone into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has been refreshed on the App Store today with support for 3D Touch.

The new version lets iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners apply varying degrees of pressure when drawing on the handset screen with their finger.

In addition, the app has gone free, lowering barrier to entry to zero bucks. Astropad Mini has been especially popular with artists and photographers.

Since its February 2015 debut, customers have bought more than 200,000 copies of the iPhone app. “We expect this new version with 3D Touch to be even more popular,“ developers told me via email.