Apps

Stargazing app Star Walk 2 goes free as Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

Star Walk 2 by Vito Technology Inc. is one of the best—if not the best—stargazing apps in the App Store. Thursday, Star Walk 2 got slashed to zero bucks as part of Apple's Free App of the Week promotion in the App Store.

Winner of Apple Design Award, the app taps your iPhone's sensors and the GPS to determine the exact position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky.

The app features crisp Retina graphics with augmented-reality style HUD that renders the sky over live camera feed, responding precisely to the movement of your device without requiring Internet connection.

Readdle launches Scanner Pro 6 with automatic scanning, Scan Radar feature and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle has a number of fine productivity apps in the App Store, among them a scanning app called Scanner Pro.

Today, Readdle released Scanner Pro 6, the next major version which adds interesting new features like automatic scanning, the ability to find documents for scanning in Photos, cool Automatic Scanning mode and more.

This update is free to existing users and they're celebrating the launch by discounting Scanner Pro for new users to just $2.99, more than half off its regular asking price.

Snapchat rolls out one-tap viewing of Snaps and Stories, Add Nearby feature and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Snapchat no longer requires you to tap and hold to view a Snap or Story, the company announced in a blog post Wednesday. According to developers, a new version of Snapchat, which is rolling out now on the App Store, lets you view Snaps and Stories with a single tap.

The new tap-and-view experience means your thumb will be no longer tiring while sorting through a bunch of Snaps or watching a several-hundred-second Story.

Cooking app Green Kitchen goes free courtesy of Apple Store shopping app promotion

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 30, 2015

If you fire up Apple's official shopping app for the iPhone and iPad, called Apple Store, there's a new freebie waiting for you: a cooking app called Green Kitchen.

Created by Amazing Applications AB, Green Kitchen retails in the App Store for $4.99 a pop, but can be yours at no charge whatsoever provided you grab it through the Apple Store app (not to be confused with the App Store).

This premium app is very nicely done and is highly recommended for epicures and those who like to be creative in the kitchen.

Featuring crisp typography, great photography, stunning Retina graphics and easy to follow instructions, Green Kitchen is filled with inspiring vegetarian food with ingredients straight from nature and a bare minimum of gluten, sugar and dairy products.

Following its November 2013 debut, the app has never been free before. Here's what needs to be done to claim your free copy of Green Kitchen.

iBooks Author updated with support for iPhone, multi-touch ePub books

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Apple is on a roll with software updates today. In addition to releasing iOS 8.4 and Mac OS X 10.10.4, it's also pushed out new versions of GarageBand and now iBooks Author. The software that allows you to publish iBooks moved up to version 2.3 today.

The update won't move the needle for folks who don't use the app, but it brings about some big changes for those who do. Perhaps the biggest new feature is that you can now create iBooks for both iPhone and iPad—instead of being limited to just the tablet.

Pinterest begins rolling out Buyable Pins on iOS

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Pinterest has begun rolling out Buyable Pins to iPhone and iPad users, reports TechCrunch. The feature, which was unveiled earlier this month, allows retail partners to add a buy button to pins that let users purchase products directly on Pinterest.

The button shows up on Rich Pins, which have much more information than typical Pins. Transactions are handled by Stripe, and Pinterest says it's working with companies like Apple to ensure it doesn't ever have to touch credit card information.

Beats Music app receives an update with playlist migration to Apple Music

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Shortly after releasing iOS 8.4 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and OS X 10.10.4 for the Mac, Apple refreshed the mobile Beats Music application in the App Store so you can transfer your existing playlists and library over to Apple Music. Release notes accompanying the update make no mention of other changes beyond playlist migration.

The app is available at no charge in the App Store.

You can now see recently Shazamed songs from artists you follow

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

With Apple Music launching in just a few hours, media identification service Shazam on Tuesday announced a new version of its mobile app focused on the ability to check out all the songs that artists you follow are discovering on Shazam.

This new feature is in addition to lists of most-often Shazamed songs by region, genre and overall that were available before.

The update is rolling out today on iOS and Android.

VLC gains Apple Watch controller, mini-player, support for looping playlists and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 30, 2015

VLC, a cross-platform, open-source media player by VideoLAN that can render just about any file type thrown at it, has updated its iOS app in the App Store with a brand new WatchKit component in addition to a bunch of new features and other enhancements.

VLC 2.6 for iOS now lets you control your media library application from your wrist, with the Apple Watch app providing basic playback control, media information and the ability to browse your library.

Google Hangouts for iOS gains refreshed interface, multi-image sending and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 29, 2015

Google on Monday issued a minor but notable refresh to its Hangouts client for the iPhone and iPad. If you're using Hangouts to exchange instant messages with your friends, engage in free audio and video calls, adorn your communications with stickers and more, the brand new Hangouts 4.0 for iOS is now available free in the App Store.

It brings out several user interface tweaks that Google claims elevate your experience while adding a much-needed ability to send multiple photos at once, and more.

Twitterrific now uses facial recognition to properly frame subjects in media previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

The Iconfactory has issued a nice little update to Twitterrific 5, its freemium Twitter client for the iPhone and iPad, which brings out an interesting new feature that uses facial recognition algorithms to frame faces in media previews in your timeline.

And if you own an Apple Watch, Twitterrific has a new push notification type for quoted tweets as an opt-in feature in settings. Another enhancement: at last, you're allowed to swipe from the left screen edge to go back or dismiss the current view, a productivity boost for iPhone 6 Plus owners wanting to use the app one-handed.

Facebook testing new photo uploader with live filter previews, text tool, stickers and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 29, 2015

Facebook has been testing a new photo uploading experience in its mobile app with a limited number of users, TechCrunch reported Monday.

Facebook for iPhone and iPad now lets people optionally adorn their photos with text overlays, touch them up with quick color adjustments and make them more interesting with crazy photo stickers, all before uploading them to the service. The new photo uploader is not live for everyone yet, but we'll keep you posted.