Apps

Google-owned Snapseed brings back Grunge filter, adds a couple improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2015

Following a major 2.0 refresh in April of this year, Google on Friday issued a minor update to Snapseed, its mobile photo editing app popular amongst iPhone photographers.

Available free of charge in the App Store, Snapseed 2.0.2 features half a dozen improvements, among them the popular Grunge filter which has made an unexpected comeback following its mysterious removal.

“After releasing Snapseed 2, we’ve heard a lot of excited voices, but also listened to your constructive feedback,” Sven Tiffe, Snapseed's technical program manager wrote in a blog post. “You told us and we heard you, Grunge is back!”

Arcade puzzler ‘Hyper Square’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Apple has just named “Hyper Square” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the popular arcade puzzler for both iPhone and iPad for free—a solid savings of $1.99.

For those who haven't played Hyper Square before, it's premise is fairly simple: place all squares in their respective targets as fast as possible. As the difficulty increases, watch the amount of time you have get reduced to fractions of a second.

Google announces new ‘Photos’ cloud service with free unlimited storage

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Google hosted its annual developer conference this morning where it talked about Android M, Android Pay and other initiatives. It also announced a new cloud-based storage service for your photos and videos called Google Photos, and it's available on iOS today.

At first, Google Photos sounds a lot like iCloud Photo Library and other storage services: automatic back ups, integration with compatible apps, quick editing and sharing tools, and the ability to sort by various metrics. But there a few features that set Photos apart.

Google opens Inbox app to everyone: updated with Undo Send, Trip Bundles, new gesture options and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2015

Inbox, a gesture driven email application from the Gmail team built on Google-acquired Sparrow technology, got refreshed with new features this morning starting with Undo Send. Now, Undo Send has been available for quite some time through Gmail's web interface.

Now for the first time on your iPhone, Undo Send lets you take back an email right after sending in case you spotted a mistake, or have second thoughts. Also important, Inbox is now open to everyone so all Gmail fans can get in on the action right away.

Pixelmator for iPhone now available as a free update to existing iPad app

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2015

As promised, beginning today you can touch up photos, apply fancy effects to images and much more, using Pixelmator for iPhone. Available as a free update to Pixelmator for iPad, Pixelmator is now a universal app supporting any iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 8.3 or later.

A complete photo editing, painting and layer-based graphic design app for your iPhone, Pixelmator is every bit as powerful as its iPad edition.

Not only does the app include the powerful Repair tool from the iPad edition, but also has some new features such as the new Distort tools and a brand new Clone tool which all take advantage of Apple's Metal framework in iOS 8 for hardware-accelerated graphics.

Apple Store app now offering same-day delivery on select products via Postmates

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

It appears that Apple has formed a partnership with Postmates to offer same-day order delivery via its Apple Store app. As noted by MacRumors, the app has begun showing a same-day delivery option for folks in the San Francisco Bay Area, and several folks have already taken advantage of it.

For those who aren't familiar with Postmates, it's a logistics company that runs a network of contracted couriers who deliver goods locally. It's available in roughly 20 major cities around the United States, but it appears in-app ordering through Apple is currently limited to San Francisco, CA.

WWDC app receives Apple Watch support

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2015

Apple's official iOS app for the Worldwide Developers Conference has received an update ahead of next month's WWDC 2015 with support for the Apple Watch, conference and schedule information and more.

WWDC 3.0 for the iPhone and iPad puts important conference information right on your wrist. The app can be used to keep tabs on related WWDC news, access floor plans, watch session videos and more.

HBO GO for iPhone and iPad adds support for playback through HDMI output

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2015

I'm an avid fan of the HBO GO service, one annoyed that their iOS application wouldn't support HDMI output. As someone who travels fairly often but doesn't carry an Apple TV wherever I go, it's depressing not being able to send the latest episode of Game of Thrones from my iPhone to a TV set in a hotel room using an HDMI adapter.

But if you own a Lightning to HDMI adapter and are an HBO GO subscriber, you can now hook up your iPhone or iPad to a TV set and enjoy lag-free video playback through HDMI output.

PayPal finally adds Touch ID protection to iPhone payment app

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2015

PayPal's official iPhone app in the App Store has at last received support for Touch ID authentication, nearly two years following Apple's debut of fingerprint scanning with the iPhone 5s's fall 2013 introduction.

As a daily PayPal user, it was annoying that the mobile app would ask me to provide my PayPal password on each run. Now that Touch ID has come to the rescue, this option, once enabled in settings, lets me authorize app access easily and securely with my fingerprint.

This is what Touch ID was created for, to protect sensitive personal information like online banking, PayPal transactions and so forth. I wish PayPal supported Touch ID much sooner but it's better late than never, I guess.

Fleksy Keyboard introduces Imoji stickers, smart suggestions for GIFs and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2018

Fleksy, the powerful iOS 8 keyboard which lets you use gestures, GIFs and emoji, has increased its functionality in the latest update issued today.

Now the app features an integrated Sticker keyboard in partnership with Imoji, taking visual communication beyond animated GIFs. You can easily browse, search and send Imoji stickers directly in Fleksy: just tap a sticker to copy it, then paste it in a message.

To add a sticker to your favorites, double tap it from the keyboard. You can access your recently used stickers, browse endless collections of reactions, check out what's trending and more.

Kindle update adds new font and a number of readability enhancements

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2015

Amazon's Kindle for iOS app received an update this morning adding new features for “faster reading, less eye strain.”

Kindle 4.9 for the iPhone and iPad now includes larger font sizes, in addition to an exclusive new font that was specifically crafted for prolonged reading on digital screens.

The application now does hyphenation and has smoother word spacing, with layouts that dynamically adapt drop caps, text and images as you change fonts and adjust font sizes.

Minecraft – Pocket Edition to gain skins, fishing, new jockeys and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Great news Minecraft fans, Mojang announced today that it's bringing "loads of new features" to Minecraft - Pocket Edition in the near future. The team says it will be submitting the update for iOS, Android and Windows Phone this week.

Perhaps one of the most notable new features in the update is Skins. Players will soon have the ability to customize the way their characters look in Minecraft PE by either uploading a Skin, creating a Skin, or purchasing a new Skin bundle.