iPod Touch

Google updates Chrome for iOS with 70% fewer crashes, Spotlight integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2016

Google's mobile Chrome browser was updated this morning in the App Store and the new release promises a whopping 70 percent fewer crashes along with a few other goodies, such as Spotlight Search integration.

Google said that the dramatically reduced crash rate is due to Chrome's adoption of WKWebView, a rendering engine from Apple which was first introduced with the release of iOS 8 back in 2014.

In addition, this release of Chrome for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad should be faster overall, with JavaScript execution now “dramatically faster.”

How to filter mature language for Siri and Dictation

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 7, 2023

Sometimes when you use the dictation feature on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad—or just converse with Siri and it misunderstands you—you might be in for a surprise seeing explicit language that you don't really want others to see, especially if you talk to Siri on your new Apple TV and kids are present.

Fortunately, both iOS and tvOS give you all the controls you need to prevent profanities from showing up when you use speech-to-text or Siri. In this post, you'll learn how to disable explicit language for Siri and Dictation on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and filter out explicit language for Siri on your Apple TV.

Spotify’s iPhone app gaining video content from BBC, Maker Studios and ESPN next week

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2016

A Spotify-branded video-streaming service that should augment its music platform has been in the works since May 2015 and now the Swedish startup is poised to launch the new product, The Wall Street Journal said yesterday.

An update to Spotify's iPhone and iPad application with support for ad-free video content for all users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden is expected by the end of next week.

How to find a specific word inside webpages in Safari for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Since the release of iOS 7, Safari for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad has ditched its dedicated search field in favor of a unified URL/search bar at the top, not unlike Google's Chrome. But did you know that this field also lets you easily find all occurrences of a specific word or a phrase within any webpage?

I use this feature on a daily basis to jump to specific pieces of information within long articles without having to read them in their entirety.

In this post, I'll show you how searching inside webpages works in Safari for iOS.

This prank webpage will crash your iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Jokers on Twitter are tweeting out links to a new prank webpage that, when clicked, will crash your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac, or cause the device to become unresponsive.

As Gizmodo explains, the aptly named website CrashSafari.com uses just four lines of code to crash Safari for iOS and OS X by running a script which adds thousands of characters per second into the address bar, causing Safari to overload its memory.

In the case of the Mac, you'll see the beach ball spinning and your computer will become unresponsive. On the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, Safari will hang and start heating up your phone until it reboots itself.

Browse viral memes and see posts that are blowing up on Vine’s new Trends page

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Yesterday, Vine celebrated its third anniversary and launched a dedicated Trends webpage which collects all the clips that have gone viral on the service in one central place. Users can check out the original video that started the trend, see related Vines and select a growing trend.

In addition, they have collected 2015's most entertaining Vines, remixes and collaborations at the website year3.vine.co, including stuff like the most-looped Vine of Year 3 and posts that sparked some of the biggest trends of the year, such as What are Those?, Why You Always Lying? and Duck Army.

How to stop Background App Refresh for a single app until it’s reopened

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Introduced with iOS 7, Background App Refresh lets suspended apps (those that you quit or run in the background) check for new data so that they always present you with up-to-date content.

As useful as Background App Refresh is, it strains your battery due to periodical data fetching, which sometimes occurs even when your device is locked.

You can enable or disable this feature on a per-app basis in Settings → General → Background App Refresh. You can also save yourself a few taps by quickly disabling Background App Refresh for a single app without launching Settings, and here's how.

Microsoft updates Office for iOS with 3D Touch features, Apple Pencil support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

Microsoft today rolled out updates to its mobile Office suite in the App Store: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Across the board these apps have gained support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s/Plus.

In addition, the new 'Annotate with Ink' feature puts a set of cool tools on the new Draw tab for drawing, writing and highlighting things using touch, pen or Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro.

ZCast for iPhone makes live podcasting with real-time feedback a reality

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Billed as a new way to create audio podcasts, Zcast by Zula (which was co-founded by Jeff Pulver in 2013) is a sweet new application which allows anyone to produce a high-quality, multi-member podcast on their iPhone without prior technical knowledge.

The app's key advantage over other podcasting solutions is its ability to invite guest co-hosts, take comments and answer questions in real-time.

In taking the pain out of podcasting, Zcast could persuade people who don't normally run a podcast show of their own to start one in a few minutes, no special setup needed, because that's how easy to use and approachable this app is.

Having spent a few months in closed beta, ZCast is now available to everyone completely free of charge.

Facebook launches sports section

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

Yesterday, Facebook announced a brand new section on the service dedicated to sports fans and it gets its first big test during this weekend’s NFL playoffs.

The Facebook Sports Stadium, as they're calling it because Facebook is “the world’s largest stadium,” is basically a dedicated place to experience sports in real-time with your friends and the world.

It brings all your game-related content on Facebook in one place, sorted chronologically and updated in real-time, including posts from your friends and their comments on plays, play-by-play information like where to find the game on TV, curated posts and commentary from experts, such as teams, leagues and journalists, and much more.

Apple releases Music Memos for iPhone, an app that lets musicians capture songs ideas

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 20, 2016

Apple today announced the release of a brand new iPhone and iPod touch application aimed at musicians and songwriters: Music Memos. As its name suggests, Music Memos was designed to “make it easy for people to tap into their musical potential and create incredible music no matter where they are.”

With Music Memos, musicians and songwriters can capture, organize and develop their musical ideas on their iPhone.

How to show Safari toolbar on iOS without having to scroll back up

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 16, 2018

Since the iPhone's inception, Apple's mobile Safari browser has had this neat little feature for quickly jumping to the very top of any webpage simply by tapping the status bar.

Following a major redesign of Apple's mobile operating system with the 2013's release of iOS 7, Safari's top and bottom toolbars now shrink and disappear as you scroll down. As a result, you must scroll back up a bit to access the URL field, bookmarks and other features in the toolbars.

In this tutorial, you're going to learn about a cool new shortcut that you can use to quickly reveal Safari's toolbars without scrolling back up.