iPod Touch

Instagram Direct now combines ephemeral and permanent messages in one thread

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2017

Photo-sharing service Instagram today announced an update for its direct messaging feature, called Direct, which now combines auto-dissapearing photos and videos along with your text conversations in a single thread. Previously, disappearing photos and videos were separated under their own Stories bar at the top of the Direct section. A redesigned Direct feature is rolling out today via Instagram's version 10.16 update.

Apple posts second betas for iOS 10.3.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.5, watchOS 3.2.2 & tvOS 10.2.1

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2017

Apple on Monday released second betas of what would become the iOS 10.3.2, macOS Sierra 10.12.5, watchOS 3.2.2 and tvOS 10.2.1 software updates. iOS 10.3.2 beta 2 (build 14F5075a), macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta 2 (build 16F54b), watchOS 3.2.2 beta 2 (build 14V5475a) and tvOS 10.2.1 beta 2 (build 14W5573a) are now available to Apple's registered developers over the air or as standalone downloads via the Apple Developer Center.

Tip: save storage space on your iPhone and iPad by clearing Periscope’s stored data

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 15, 2019

Clearing caches in your favorite apps is one of the many ways of saving storage space on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that may be lost to the cruft accumulated on your devices. We've already shown you how to clear Twitter's web and media storage as well as delete Dropbox's caches.

In this tutorial, we'll discuss how to clear any cached files in Twitter's Periscope app for iOS, which will help save that precious storage space on your device.

Facebook launches revamped message compose interface on Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2017

As part of today's rollout of Facebook's AI-powered personal assistant to all users in the United States, the social networking company mentioned that you should now start seeing a redesigned message compose interface within the mobile Messenger app. We first caught wind of this new iOS 10 Messages-style chat experience two months ago.

At the time, Facebook was still testing the redesign with a small percentage of users. The new way to compose messages is currently rolling out to Messenger users across the globe so check back in a few days if it's currently unavailable to you.

Apple’s Clips app does not work on 32-bit devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 6, 2017

Has Clips, Apple's new video editing app, piqued your interest? If so, good luck downloading it on your iPhone 5/5c or iPad 4. That's because the free of charge video creation app lacks support for 32-bit iOS devices despite requiring the recently-released iOS 10.3, which in itself runs on 32-bit iOS devices.

As first noted by AppleInsider, this could be interpreted as another sign that Apple will stop supporting 32-bit devices when iOS 11 releases later this year.

Hands on with Clips, Apple’s new social video editing app

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 6, 2017

Apple today released Clips, its brand new social video editing app that was previewed on March 21 as part of the company's Spring product refresh. Available at no charge on App Store, Clips comes with some interesting features, like voice-activated captions, effects, emoji, animated speech bubbles, motion backgrounds, built-in soundtracks and more.

After spending some time with Clips, our own video editor Andrew O'Hara has created a video walkthrough showcasing just how easy it is to create fun videos that are sharable on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks.

Clips: Apple’s new video creation app is now available on iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 6, 2017

Clips, a new video creation app from Apple, is now available for download on App Store. Previewed on March 21 as part of Apple's Spring product refresh, Clips lets you create expressive videos on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with just a few taps. The app includes some nifty features like a selection of cartoonish effects and the ability to create captions on the fly using just your voice. Clips is available on App Store at no charge and requires iOS 10.3, which launched last week.

Twitter Lite launches, takes only 1MB of storage & can save up to 70 percent on data

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 6, 2017

If you're a heavy Twitter user whose device is running low on storage and you'd like to reduce data usage in the mobile Twitter app, the company today announced a new solution that may interest you, aptly named Twitter Lite. It's a client-side Progressive Web App written in JavaScript and running in Safari on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Taking up only one megabyte of storage on your device, Twitter Lite loads in under five seconds on a 3G cellular connection and can save up to 70 percent on data.

Facebook is turning your friends who aren’t hip enough to use Stories into ghosts

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2017

Facebook last week rolled out a Snapchat-esque Stories feature to all users of its mobile app. So far, most users seem to be ignoring these glorified auto-vanishing slideshows so the company is introducing some visual tweaks, possibly in an effort to boost usage of the feature.

As first noticed by The Verge, friends who aren't using Stories now appeared ghosted at the app's top as a bit of encouragement for the new feature.

Audio-only calls rolling on Google Duo

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2017

Google announced during its Spring event in São Paulo, Brazil that audio-only calls would be coming soon to Duo, its one-to-one video calling app for iOS and Android. Today, the company pushed a small update to Duo for iPhone that enables this feature (which first rolled out to users in Brazil) for everyone. Available free of charge on App Store, Google Duo version 9.1 brings out VoIP audio calling along with unspecified bug fixes and product improvements.

Has iOS 10.3 randomly turned on your previously disabled iCloud services in Settings?

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2017

Released nine days ago, iOS 10.3 appears to be randomly re-enabling iCloud features that users previously disabled in Settings. The software update consolidates the various iCloud and Apple ID-related features under one central place at the top of the Settings app. The new organization has nothing to do with this behavior. It's a bug, Apple told customers in an email message obtained by MacRumors, that affects a small number of users.

Starbucks rolls out iMessage app for gifting digital cards with Apple Pay support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2023

As previously announced, Starbucks today updated its iPhone app with the ability to send gifts through Apple’s iMessage system and pay for them with Apple Pay directly in the Messages app. Named Starbucks Gifts, the software requires you to set up Apple Pay on your device before you can purchase gift cards in $5, $10 or $25 denominations. Today's update also brings notifications, a store location filter for the Nitro cold brew and other perks.