Google has updated its Google Drive app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with its new Material Design aesthetic. The new interface is noticeably cleaner and flatter. Google says that the update also brings faster performance and scrolling. Google updated its main app with Material Design last winter and its Play Music app earlier this year.
When Apple Watch and Watch OS 1.0 shipped in April, the definite omission of an Apple Reminders app on the platform was particularly surprising to me. The Apple Watch User Guide even highlights the app’s absence:
There’s no Reminders app on Apple Watch, but Apple Watch notifies you of reminders you create in the Reminders app on your iPhone—and on any other iOS device or Mac that’s signed in using your Apple ID. Also, you can create reminders using Siri on Apple Watch.
Creating and responding to reminders is fine, but my girlfriend and I use a shared iCloud Reminders list for our grocery list, and being able to glance at the watch as you walk through the supermarket without pulling out the iPhone is an ideal use case for Apple Watch. Fortunately, Flexibits has developed a new version of its Fantastical app for iPhone that brings the full Reminders experience to Apple Watch, fulfilling an important use case for the watch I had in mind before it arrived.
Fantastical for Apple Watch also brings the excellent streamlined calendar list view to the watch, complete with the app’s easy-to-use natural language parsing feature that sets it apart from Apple’s own calendar app…
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Pinterest is graduating from a place where you discover and bookmark items to a storefront where you can actually make purchases. This is made possible using Buyable Pins, which the company says are coming soon to Pinterest for the iPhone and iPad. Pinterest users will be able to buy items from a handful of partners at launch with Apple Pay planned as a payment method to make the process instant.
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In addition to launching an all-new Android app this morning, Imgur has also updated its iOS app with a notable and highly requested new feature. With today’s update to Imgur for iOS, users can now upload their own images to the service with the app directly on their iPhone. Users have the ability to upload from their Camera Roll or take an image with their camera from within the app and share it to the service.
Insteon, Lutron, iHome, Elgato and Ecobee have all just announced that their HomeKit products are now officially available and/or shipping to customers.
The announcements come on the heels of our report that Apple partners planned this week to launch the first products using the company’s new Siri-controlled HomeKit home automation platform, first introduced alongside iOS 8 last year.
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TechCrunch noticed that Apple started including editorially curated subcategories on the App Store for games. The new lists replace the old “New” and “What’s hot” lists that were generated automatically based an algorithm. We’ve confirmed the change with Apple, which tells us that the switch to editorially curated lists for the games subcategories went live on May 14th.
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You can now add the German mobile app firm 6Wunderkinder GmbH to the growing list of companies with iOS apps that Microsoft has bought in recent months. 6Wunderkinder makes the popular cross-platform Wunderlist task manager for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has spent somewhere in the ballpark of $100-$200 million for the firm.
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Nearly a year after Touch ID support for third-party developers was announced for iOS 8, major bank Chase has added fingerprint login support to its iPhone application. When you launch the new app update for the first time, the application will ask you if you’d like to turn on Touch ID support. The bank warns that some functions will still require you to enter your password, but this upgrade should still make the app quicker to navigate for many use cases. The app has also gained complete support for the iPhone 6 Plus. Chase’s iPad app, which is still on a pre-iOS 7 design, has not been updated to support Touch ID on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. Other banking apps like PayPal and American Express already have Touch ID support, with the former gaining the functionality just last week and the latter being upgraded last holiday season.
Thanks, Scott! Images via Chris P. and John B.
Flexibits, makers of Fantastical 2, just announced an upcoming version of the super useful calendar app coming to the Apple Watch. Included in the teaser is the above preview of Fantastical made for the Apple Watch. We’ll have a full hands-on review of the new app when it launches so stay posted for that. In the meantime, check out our review of the recently released Fantastical 2 for Mac, which takes the natural language parsing calendar from a menu bar app to a full fledged calendar with a complete Yosemite redesign. You can grab Fantastical 2 for iPhone from the App Store for $4.99 to be ready for the Apple Watch update.
Apple may not have included its Reminders app on Watch OS, but Todoist is bringing its own to-do list app to the Apple Watch. Included in the latest update to the iPhone version, Todoist for Apple Watch lets you sort through your tasks and projects, respond to alerts, and even create new assignments.
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Readdle today released a new addition to its giant collection of productivity apps for iOS with the debut of Spark. Spark is described in short as “fast and smart email for your iPhone” while its core features include tons of customization options and intelligent notification and filtering options that help take the stress out of email. Though Spark is only the latest third party email app to land on the iPhone, it is the first solid email client I’ve used on the Apple Watch so far. How does it compare to Apple’s own Mail app in this case?
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Google revealed today at the I/O conference that its Cardboard viewer for creating virtual reality experiences easily from Android apps will now support the iPhone for the first time.
The added support for the iPhone comes as Google has added support for iOS to its Cardboard SDK for developers. This means that iPhone apps can now include virtual reality experiences when paired with the Cardboard viewer.
In addition to adding support for iOS, Google is releasing an updated version of its Cardboard view that supports larger phones with up to 6-inch displays. The new version also features an improved input button and can be assembled in just three steps rather than twelve.
Google Cardboard for iPhone is available on the App Store. Cardboard Viewer is available to buy from $19.99 through Google, although the company also offers instructions for building your own viewer.
As part of its Google I/O developer conference today, Google is offering some updates on its Google Places API for iOS as well as future updates arriving for its Maps app.
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCo3zZ0P4vU]
After first launching its new Inbox app as an alternative email experience to its main Gmail service last year, Google today announced that Inbox is now open to all sans the original invite system while it also introduces a number of new features for the service.
As for features, Google highlighted a new “Trip Bundles” feature that keeps emails related to travel in one place, and improved controls for things like Undo Send, Signatures, and Swipe to Delete:
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Google revealed its new cross-platform Photos app and service today at its I/O developer conference taking place right now. The idea is similar to Apple’s own Photos app and iCloud Photo Library. Google is automatically backing up and syncing photo and video libraries using Google Drive storage and not local device storage, but Google’s killer feature for its version comes down to price: Google Photos is completely free.
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Following up on the success of the series tracking app TeeVee, developer CrazyApps has released a new piece of software aimed at moviegoers. The app, appropriately titled MooVee, allows you to keep track of movies you’ve seen and what you want to see.
The app’s UI is similar in some aspects to TeeVee, but most of it has been designed from scratch to better accommodate the ways movies and TV differ. For example, in the image above you can see the watchlist view, which resembles the main list view in TeeVee. However, other features are unique to MooVee.
As someone who does everything electronically, I’m always slightly bemused by people who still use pen and paper – but there is something about Moleskine notebooks that does occasionally make me wonder just a little if I’m missing out. The company today appears to be targeting people like me, with an app that brings the stylish, minimalist aesthetics of the notebooks to a new iPhone and Apple Watch app.
Moleskine Timepage aims to integrate your iCloud, Google and Microsoft Exchange calendars with contacts, maps and weather. For appointments elsewhere, it will display a map of the location, show you the travel time by car, public transit, cycling or walking – and show what the weather will be like when you get there …
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Apple appears to be testing same-day delivery for some of its products in select markets for customers using the Apple Store app on iOS. First noticed by MacRumors, same-day shipping options fulfilled by the on-demand shipping service Postmates now appear for certain items when checking out with the app.
Not at all in-stock items qualify for the $19 flat rate same-day shipping option, however. The option doesn’t seem to be available within the Apple Store app for all markets with Apple Stores that Postmates serves, either, suggesting the same-day delivery option is being tested on a small scale for now.
Apple recently updated the Apple Store app for iOS, adding support for Touch ID to view order information and 2-step verification for added security. The update also highlighted availability in more countries around the world, but Postmates integration and same-day delivery options have not yet been officially announced.
Update: Pixelmator for iPhone is now available. Download it here.
Pixelmator is releasing an update to its iOS app tomorrow, making the app available on the iPhone for the first time ($4.99). The universal app means you can buy once and download Pixelmator on both iPad and iPhone. Existing iOS users of the app naturally get the iPhone version for free as an update. The new version also brings the Distort tools, like warp brushes, to the iOS app for the first time.
Pixelmator for iPhone works very similarly to the iPad version but scaled down for the smaller canvas. You can read our full review of the iPad app from last year. Rather than popover panels, selecting an action opens full-width menus encapsulating options. This is a necessary concession for the size of the display.
Apple has just released version 3.0 of its WWDC app for iPhone and iPad ahead of the big developer conference kicking off on June 8th. Notably, the updated version includes support for the Apple Watch for viewing conference info from the new device, including a WWDC glance:
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Two interesting app updates out today that make enjoying media from your iOS device even better.
On the reading front, Amazon has updated its Kindle for iOS app to include a font called Bookerly that it says was designed especially for reading on a digital screen. The font, which was first made available on its Kindle Fire devices, is described by Amazon as “warm and contemporary.”
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Mojang today announced a huge update to its popular Minecraft Pocket Edition app for iPhone and iPad. The big focus of the update is access to new free and paid skins for characters (as pictured above):
Skins are the way you change the appearance of your Minecraft character. Instead of looking like Alex or Steve, you can roll with a different vibe, like a butcher, dog, or plumber. Skins are purely cosmetic – they don’t affect the way the game plays or give you any special abilities.
Paid skins are available to purchase in bundles, but users can also upload or create their own as well as find free skins within the game. You’ll get around 20 skins for $0.99/€0.79/£0.79 if you opt for the paid bundles.
The update also includes other improvements and new features including the ability to fish and a long list of new animals. The full list of what’s new is below:
You can grab the updated Minecraft Pocket Edition on the App Store soon (it’s submitted to Apple and should arrive any day now).
There’s one more app joining Apple’s small list of road-ready apps for the car today as MLB At Bat for iPhone has been updated with CarPlay support.
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Back in March, Marriott Hotels announced that it plans to accept Apple Pay as a payment form at many of its properties this summer, and today the hotel chain has updated its Marriott International app for iPhone to include Apple Watch support.
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