iPod Touch

Apple seeds iOS 9.2.1 beta 2 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 4, 2016

Less than three weeks after releasing the first beta of iOS 9.2.1, Apple on Monday seeded iOS 9.2.1 beta 2 to its registered developers. The software is also available to public beta testers who are signed on Apple's Beta Software Program,

The new pre-release software has a build number of 13D14 and can be applied over-the-air on iPhones, iPads and iPods running a prior beta via Software Update.

A standalone firmware download is available to members of the Apple Developer Program through the company's official portal for developers.

How to temporarily hide iOS 9’s stock app icons, no jailbreak required

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 4, 2016

Aside from disabling the iTunes Store, iBooks Store and Podcasts apps on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using iOS's Restrictions feature, Apple doesn't yet provide an officially sanctioned way of removing stock apps from your Home screen.

This can be particularly annoying for people who rely on third-party alternatives to Apple's default apps like Reminders, Maps or Calendar.

My preferred way of working around this limitation involves tucking away any unwanted stock app inside a “Junk” folder. Thankfully, YouTubber Jose Rodriguez has found a better way to temporarily hide icons of Apple's stock apps on iOS versions from iOS 9 onward using a simple trick that doesn't require a jailbreak.

Grab Colorburn camera app, Apple’s latest Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 4, 2016

Following iTunes holiday freeze, Apple has now discounted Colorburn camera app to $0 as part of its regular Free App of the Week promotion in the App Store. With more than a thousand filters to choose from, an easy to use interface and advanced features like split photography, this app lets you experiment with different looks for your photos to your heart's desire. Colorburn for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is available free until next Thursday.

Check out Snapdrop, a web-based clone of Apple’s AirDrop

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

The easiest way to share content between your Mac and an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad is AirDrop, a device-to-device wireless transfer technology built into the bowels of iOS and OS X. But when you want to transfer files between Apple devices and other platforms, AirDrop isn't very helpfu.

AirDrop, as you know, is limited to iOS and OS X and doesn't work on Android, Windows or other operating systems and computing platforms. Enter Snapdrop, an interesting web-based HTML5 clone of AirDrop by German developer Robin Linus.

Billed as the easiest way to transfer files across different devices, Snapdrop runs in a web browser and doesn't require you to install any special software. But does it work as advertised? Read on to find out.

Popular puzzle game Har•mo•ny 3 is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 28, 2015

Apple has named the puzzle game Har•mo•ny 3 from BorderLeap its new Free App of the Week in the App Store, meaning you can download the $1.99 iPhone, iPod touch and iPad game at no charge until this coming Thursday.

Released seven months ago as a third game in the series, Har•mo•ny 3 is framed as a challenging puzzle game of “beautiful colors and captivating music, unified in perfect harmony”.

How to block strangers from messaging you on Vine

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 26, 2015

Some of our past tutorials have provided step-by-step instructions for saving Vine videos, hiding other people's revines in your feed, deleting Vine accounts and blocking users. This how-to mini-series continues with the topic of preventing people you don't follow from messaging you on the service.

Since Vine's 2.0 update, the app has gained the ability to send instant messages to other Vine members. This has quickly generated an influx of unwanted messages that in many cases is classed as pure spam.

This tutorial will teach you about a toggle you can switch to tell Vine to block strangers from messaging you on the service.

Federal judge dismisses iMessage lawsuit over undelivered texts to Android phones

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2015

A lawsuit centered on an iMessage issue which turned former iPhone owners' phone numbers into a black hole for text messages after making a switch to Android has been tossed out of the window by United States District Judge Lucy H. Koh, Business Insider reported this morning.

The lawsuit alleged that Apple's messaging system interfered with the delivery of texts, going as far as to suggest that Apple wiretapped those users by intercepting, and then failing to deliver, text messages sent from an iPhone to an Android phone.

Fleksy Keyboard gains 3D Touch cursor control and other perks in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2015

Fleksy, the popular software keyboard for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, was updated earlier this week with a bunch of refinements and new features, including 3D Touch-based cursor control and Home screen shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Other goodies in Fleksy 7.5 include the all-new (and free) festive pack to dress up your keyboard in holiday-themed skins, the ability to search for emoji with the Highlights extension, a new GIF & Stickers tab for browsing animated GIFs and more.

5 famous productivity apps from Readdle go half price in Christmas sale

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2015

Ukrainian developer Readdle doesn't do sales for its productivity apps often so we thought you should definitely know about their latest promotion.

In celebration of the upcoming Christmas holiday, five of their most popular productivity apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are currently half price, or even less, for the next 48 hours.

The sale includes apps like Scanner Pro, PDF Expert 5, Calendars 5, Printer Pro and PDF Converter. The promotion starts today, Tuesday, December 22 and ends on Friday, December 25.

VLC launches full support for iOS 9, watchOS 2, SMB and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Cross-platform media player by VideoLAN, called VLC, has been rewritten from the ground up for watchOS 2. And on the iOS side, VLC comes with many new features.

VLC plays a variety of video/audio files in non-iOS-friendly formats without conversion, including MKV movies.

The app also includes support for multiple audio tracks with 5.1 surround sound and subtitle tracks. In addition, VLC for iOS has dropped support for iOS 6.1 and now requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 7.0+.

UPDATE: The post originally stated that VLC is now available on the new Apple TV. Regrettably, that announcement was an oversight on part of VideoLAN, which has since removed mentions of the Apple TV app from their release notes.

Meet Wink, a new instant camera and ephemeral messaging app from Viber

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 21, 2015

Messaging platform Viber on Monday rolled out a brand new application in the App Store. Wink, as it's called, is an instant camera app that was designed for sending photo and video messages that disappear after they have been viewed, joining a seemingly growing selection of ephemeral messaging apps like Snapchat, Telegram and more.

As part of Wink's launch, Viber for iPhone was updated earlier this morning with support for Wink messaging.

Viber revamps share menu, rolls out new media settings & support for Wink messages

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 21, 2015

Viber for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was updated this morning in the App Store with support for auto-disappearing Wink messages while introducing a redesigned share menu, more detailed information in group chats, the ability to select how long your media is stored for and a few design enhancements to the app's introduction screens.

Viber, now owned by Japan's Rakuten, has received a steady stream of updates as of recently.

The service offers a nicely done watchOS 2 app for your wrist that lets you read and respond to messages with dictation, canned replies and stickers.