iPod Touch

WhatsApp for iPhone gains 3x bigger emoji, zooming during video capture and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 26, 2016

After launching a desktop Mac app in May, Facebook-owned WhatsApp today gave its iPhone application a little love with a new version now available on the App Store. WhatsApp 2.16.7 for iPhone includes three times bigger emoji when sent alone, a feature also found in iOS 10's Messages app. In this release, you can now zoom when recording videos within the app and select multiple chats to quickly archive, delete or mark as read.

Plus, thanks to under-the-hood tweaks chats now open a lot faster than before.

Google Maps for iOS refreshed with cleaner look, now highlights local areas of interest

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Google today updated its mobile mapping application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with some rather useful visual tweaks. Google Maps 4.21 for iOS now highlights local areas that might interest you, adding multiple destinations to a route is supported in the new version and the typography of street names, points of interest, transit stations and other places has been improved to make them easier to read on smaller screens, among other changes.

Apple Maps Transit data expands to San Diego, British Columbia, Honolulu and Kansas City

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Transit directions on Apple Maps are now available in four new markets: San Diego, Honolulu and Kansas City in the United States and British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province. Now Apple fans can incorporate localized public transportation options in those locations, including buses and commuter rails, when seeking directions through the Maps app.

Custom locations, breeding, trading, new critters & other perks coming soon to Pokémon GO

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Pokémon GO is the biggest mobile game in U.S. history in terms of daily active users and Apple confirmed that the augmented-reality game broke an App Store record for most downloads during its first week of availability, but that doesn't mean its creators are resting on their laurels—quite the contrary.

As the game continues its global assault, Niantic Labs founder John Hanke teased at what's coming next to the app: custom locations, more monsters, the ability to add customizations to lures, trading characters, more ways to play with Pokéstops and Gyms and other perks.

Apple confirms Pokémon Go set App Store record

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2016

Apple confirmed last week in a statement to media that Nintendo's augmented-reality game Pokémon Go was downloaded more times in its first week than any other iPhone app since the App Store's inception in the summer of 2008. Apple’s take from the popular mobile game could help the iPhone maker rake in an estimated $3 billion in additional revenue in the next 12 to 24 months as the game expands into more countries, according to a report from Needham analyst Laura Martin.

iOS 9 adoption jumps to 86 percent mark ahead of iOS 10 release

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 22, 2016

Earlier in the week, Apple updated iOS adoption numbers via its App Store dashboard for developers. According to the refreshed stats, the various iOS 9 editions now power 86 percent of iPhones, iPads and iPod touches, a two-point gain versus the 84 percent adoption rate that iOS 9 hit on April 20.

Periscope introduces Replay Highlights, Live Autoplay and Tweet Embeds

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2016

Periscope, Twitter's live-broadcasting app, was updated in the App Store with a few new features, among them Replay Highlights, Live Autoplay and Tweet Embeds. Highlights automatically generates a short trailer for every Periscope broadcast of your home feed, making it easier to catch up on broadcasts you missed from the last day.

Periscope is a free download from the App Store.

BBC’s iPlayer Radio hits US App Store as new BBC+ app goes live in UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2016

The British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) iPlayer Radio mobile app, which used to be limited to customers in the United Kingdom, has expanded stateside today, TechCrunch just announced. Now customers in the United States can download iPlayer Radio from the US App Store and tune in to BBC's high-quality radio stations and content.

Earlier in the week, BBC announced launch of a brand new personalized content portal with a new BBC+ app on the UK App Store.

Facebook Messenger hits a major milestone—one billion monthly users

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2016

Facebook yesterday announced that its Messenger service has hit a major milestone: the software is now being used by more than one billion people every month to message their friends and family. Messenger saw a major surge in popularity after it was decoupled from the main Facebook mobile client, and especially since becoming a software platform in its own right with chat bots, apps, money payments, expanded emojis and other features.

Facebook Messenger is a free download from the App Store.

iOS 10 Public Beta 2 now available to testers

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 20, 2016

Two days following the developer-only release of iOS 10 beta 3, Apple today released iOS 10 Public Beta 2 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The software is now available to public beta testers who are signed on the Apple Beta Software Program.

For those wondering, iOS 10 Public Beta 2 and developer beta 3 offer the same features.

Folks on the first public beta with an appropriate configuration profile installed on their device should see an over-the-air download in Settings → General → Software Update.

Meet Swiftmoji, SwiftKey’s new emoji-predicting keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

A new emoji-predicting keyboard from Microsoft-owned SwiftKey, called Swiftmoji, launched on the App Store.

Available at no charge on the App Store, it boosts your emoji game by predicting a wall of suggested emojis based on crowdsourced data, the user's own preferences and the actual text written in any of the user's keyboards.

This ability to get perfect emoji predictions based on what you’ve just typed is similar to Apple's much-improved QuickType keyboard on iOS 10.

Popular writing app Scrivener is now available on iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

If you write books, manuals or lengthy manuscripts for a living, chances are you rely on Scrivener for Mac for your work. If so, you'll be delighted to learn that the app's creator, British developer Literature & Latte Ltd., has released Scrivener for iOS following a long period of thorough beta testing. The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app costs $19.99 and provides the full range of features writers need to create, edit and update their work on the go with full-screen mode on the iPad and other perks.