An update to the GoPro app that allows users to remotely control their GoPro cameras has been a long time coming. Just in time for iOS 8, today the app finally gets an overhaul for iOS 7 with a completely redesigned UI that ditches that super outdated design the app has been sporting for quite a while now.
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Update: Explanation of lock screen apps after the break…
Since Apple previewed iOS 8 yesterday during the keynote at WWDC, we’ve been continually trying out the new iPhone and iPad software to get familiar with the changes coming to users this fall. First up is a new way for apps to be promoted on the iPhone using subtle location-based prompts. Similar to how the lock screen features an icon and a swipe up gesture from the lower right corner of the display to quickly access the Camera app, several users are reporting a variety of apps are being featured on the lower left corner prompted by being near a relevant venue.
For instance, in the screen shot displayed above on the left, the user is visiting an Apple Store and an App Store icon appears in the lower left corner. Swiping up from the bottom acts as a shortcut to quickly access the Apple Store app within the App Store. Once installed, the Apple Store app icon then appears on the lock screen when visiting the retailer. While it’s not certain which specific perimeters must be met for this functionality to work, the commonality between other supported App Store apps including Starbucks and ShopSavvy is location.
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Okay, it may just be Flappy Bird, the addictive game that once took over the news cycle for days and still threatens to return again some day, but the thing here is it was written in Apple’s new programming language for developers called Swift. What’s so special about that? Swift was only announced yesterday, less than 24 hours ago, so what this simple Flappy Bird clone really means is Swift is off to a good start given its only a few hours old. You can view the code for the Swift version of Flappy Bird by Nate Murray on Github, and read more about Apple’s new programming language Swift on iBooks.
Now you’ve had a chance to catch up on our coverage of the main new features of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, and seen our hands-on videos (iOS 8 overview, OS X Yosemite overview, iOS 8 Spotlight and iOS 8 interactive notifications), we’d like to hear your first impressions of each.
Whether you’re blown away by all the new features, disappointed by things you wanted but didn’t get, or just a bit underwhelmed, here’s your chance to let us know.
We’ve summarized the features Apple has chosen to highlight, and there are separate polls for each platform …
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Apple has just announced at WWDC 2014 that as part of its iOS 8 extensions capability, users will be able to install systemwide keyboards, such as the popular Swype system. The keyboards will run in a secure sandbox and not have access to anything except text input, though they can ask for permission to use the network in order to provide more features.
These keyboards can be installed through third-party apps on the updated App Store.
Alongside a whole of other changes to the App Store, Apple is integrating TestFlight. This allows developers to do seamless beta-testing for free. There are also a whole host of ‘extensions’ apps can access, enabling integration into share sheets, Notification Center widgets and more.
Apple is heavily stressing that this is the biggest developer release since the App Store was announced.
Following our reports earlier this year that exclusively revealed details and screenshots of Apple’s Healthbook app, Apple today just officially announced the app confirming the details of our reports. Apple’s new platform, codenamed Healthbook, will be officially known as ‘HealthKit’ on the developer side of things, and will come with an accompanying app for iOS 8 called ‘Health’.
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Apple is giving out $25 App Store gift cards to WWDC 2014 attendees. The gift card is given to each attendee when picking up their badge. The $25 amount ties into the “25 years and coding” tagline printed beneath the WWDC logo. Check out Harrison Weinerman’s tweet below.
Popular password manager app 1Password received a nice update today for iPhone and iPad that introduces a few notable new features and the return of one previously removed. Version 4.5.2 of the app now includes automatic backups of data that users can access via iTunes. It also sees the return of item printing, bug fixes and more.
The app also makes some overall performance improvements. Developer AgileBits notes “Sync is now much sync-ier” and “That pesky flickering while viewing an item’s details is no more.”
Version 4.5.2 of the 1Password app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now.
What’s New in 4.5.2
◆ 1Password now keeps automatic backups of your data that are accessible via iTunes
◆ Item printing is back, baby!
◆ Sync is now much sync-ier
◆ That pesky flickering while viewing an item’s details is no more
◆ The report of bug deaths is *not* an exaggeration
The iOS version of the Google Play Music app has been updated, allowing you to edit playlists directly in the app rather than having to login to the website to do it.
Google has also introduced a few more goodies: Shuffle Artist, which does exactly what the name suggests, and a filter to show only the music you’ve actually downloaded – handy when you want to narrow your selection to your favourites.
Google Play Music is a free download from iTunes.
Subscription music streaming service Rdio updated its iPhone and iPad app today with one notable new feature for version 2.5.9: Push Notifications.
The new push notifications feature will allow you to get notified for a number of different activities within the app such as music that’s being shared with you, subscribers to your playlists, new followers, and more. You’ll also be able to select which notifications you’d like to receive if you, for example, only want to know when users share new music with you and not every time someone subscribes to one of your playlists.
The app also includes “various UI improvements and minor bug fixes” in the latest release.
Version 2.5.9 of the Rdio app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now.
– Push Notifications. Get notified on your mobile device about the activities of your choice, such as music shared with you, new followers, subscribers to your playlists and more.
– Various UI improvements and minor bug fixes.
Right as news is breaking that the Apple and Beats deal is finally official for $3B, the Beats iOS app has just been updated with new pricing and an extended free trial for all users.
Up from the previous free 7-day trial offered by the service, Beats Music now offers a “no strings attached trial” for 14 days to all users. Most notable in the update, however, is the fact that the service is slashing pricing from $119.88 a year to $99.99/year:
We’ve dropped price of our yearly subscription to $99.99, down from $119.88.
The service will continue to charge $9.99/month for users not purchasing a yearly subscription. The Beats Music website FAQ has been updated to reflect the new pricing and also continues to list $15/month family plans and extended free trials offered to AT&T customers.
Apple also confirmed today that it will continue to operate Beats Music as a separate service including Android and Windows phone apps.
Version 2.1.0 also includes “tons of bug fixes so the whole experience runs smooth as silk.”
● We’re stoked to announce that our no strings attached trial has been extended to 14 days to ensure everyone gets ample time to explore the full Beats Music experience.
● We’ve dropped price of our yearly subscription to $99.99, down from $119.88.
● To top it off, we pushed tons of bug fixes so the whole experience runs smooth as silk.
Declining iTunes sales highlighted by Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty and reported by Fortune appear to underline the need for Apple to move beyond sales of music downloads and into the subscription music business. iTunes sales are down 24 percent year-on-year.
While the slack is being picked up by app sales – a trend previously noted by Asymco’s Horace Dediu – that falling blue line reflects the wider shift in consumer behaviour from purchasing downloads to subscribing to streaming services noted last year by Billboard magazine …
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtQSJx2nI9I]
Bubble, a new app launching this week, is about to make it super easy for anyone to link real world items to websites using Apple’s new iBeacon Bluetooth LE technology. Up until now retailers, event planners, and more have been using iBeacons in order to send relevant notifications to users in proximity, but that required users to actually have that specific retailer’s app installed. Bubble, on the other hand, acts as an iBeacon browser of sorts allowing users to discover web content as they come in contact with real world items.
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Alongside the release of OS X 10.9.3 and iTunes 11.2 last week, Apple released Safari version 7.0.3 and 6.1.4. Apple has since released a minor bug fix to that version of iTunes, and today Apple has released a security update to Safari bringing the latest version to 7.0.4. Users can find the latest version in the Mac App Store.
Safari 6.1.4 and Safari 7.0.4
- WebKitAvailable for: OS X Lion v10.7.5, OS X Lion Server v10.7.5, OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.5, OS X Mavericks v10.9.3Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution
Description: Multiple memory corruption issues existed in WebKit. These issues were addressed through improved memory handling.
Read Apple’s documentation on the latest version of Safari here.
According to multiple sources, Facebook will unveil a new service today that can identify television shows and music playing in the background. The new software, which will be available via an updated App Store app on iPhone and a Google Play app on Android, will work in tandem with your smartphone hardware’s microphone. Facebook is said to be integrating the feature so Facebook users can more easily share what music they are listening to or what TV show they are currently watching to their Timelines. In iOS 8, Apple will unveil a new Siri feature in partnership with Shazam to identify songs playing in the background. Update: Official announcement after the break…
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An Italian competition organization has given Apple, Google, Amazon and Gameloft twenty days to submit a defence to its investigation into in-app purchases or face a fine of up to €5M ($6.9M), reports ZDNet.
The companies now have 20 days to comply with the requests for information that came with the letter, and to respond with their defences to the allegations. If the alleged violations proved to be true, the three internet giants and the European game developer could each face a fine up to €5m — although the Italian watchdog told ZDNet that the punishment would be proportional to each company’s size.
The complaint is based on two concerns. First, whether consumers are clear about the likely total cost of the app at the time they download it. Second, whether sufficient information is provided about how to prevent or limit in-app purchases, especially in games played by children.
Apple settled a similar complaint with the FTC in January, after last year offering refunds to parents whose children had made in-app purchases. At that time, Tim Cook pointed to the safeguards in place, which include the ability to disable in-app purchases with a single switch, and requiring a password for any purchases made more than 15 minutes after downloading the app.
iOS also now alerts customers that further purchases can be made within 15 minutes without re-entering their iTunes password, and all iTunes apps that offer in-app purchases are labelled as such in the App Store.
Amazon updated its Cloud Drive Photos app for iOS today with a few nice new features for viewing and managing photos and video stored in the app.
The app, which offers 5GB of storage free and automatically backs up photo and video from your iOS device, now includes a revamped album view with large cover photos in addition to other new photo management features. You’ll also now see your photo as its being uploaded within the progress indicator as well as dates when transitioning between months and years while viewing photos: Swiping through photos in the single photo view now lets you know when you transition between months or years.
Lastly, Amazon notes the app now includes a filter to sort photos by newest or oldest first.
The updated Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app is available now on the App Store.
– New Album View: Quickly scroll through your albums with large, beautiful cover photos for each of them
– Upload Progress: See your photos as their being uploaded to the cloud
– Know when your photos were taken: Swiping through photos in the single photo view now lets you know when you transition between months or years
– Sort your Photos: Choose to see your photos newest first or oldest first
– Bug and Crash Fixes
Italy’s Antitrust and Competition Authority says it is investigating “freemium” apps offered in Apple’s App Store along with similar stores operated by Google and Amazon, saying that customers could be misled by the “free” label, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
According to the regulatory group, users who download these apps for free could believe that the game is completely free and not know when downloading the app how much it will actually cost.
If Apple is found to have misled customers, the company could be fined as much as €5 million. It’s not likely to put a big dent in Apple’s cash reserve, but the Italian antitrust committee has previously convinced Apple to change its policy regarding AppleCare marketing.
Just a day after Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen told CNBC his hit iOS game would return to the App Store in August, today the developer is teasing a new game currently in development.
Despite reportedly confirming Flappy Bird would make a return, Nguyen’s tweet about his new game reads, “I am making a new game. So people can forget about Flappy Bird for a while.”
There aren’t any other details on the game or a timeframe for release, but Nguyen did provide the screenshot above which appears to show similar gameplay to Flappy Bird.
Mac and iOS development team Panic announced today in a company blog post that the next major version of its Coda web development tool would not be coming to the Mac App Store. The reason? App Store apps need to be sandboxed (a security feature in OS X that doesn’t let apps modify data outside of their designated “sandboxes”), and Coda 2.5 simply doesn’t work as a sandboxed app.
According to Panic, Apple worked with the developers as much as possible to provide temporary exemptions and workarounds that could help alleviate some of the issues encoutered, but ultimately the decision was made to only release the update through the Panic website.
After removing the hit iOS game Flappy Bird from the App Store back in February, the developer confirmed today that the game will make a return in August.
Developer Dong Nguygen confirmed the return date today to CNBC’s Kelly Evans and also claimed that the game would be less addictive, which was originally the main reason he cited for removing the app earlier this year. In addition, the game will also apparently include a multiplayer when making its return to the store.
At its most popular, the original Flappy Bird game was reportedly making as much as $50,000 a day revenue. It didn’t take long for other developers to make clones of the game in order to capitalize on the game’s popularity and many of them remain in the App Store’s top charts for gaming.
Apple has added the iOS Human Interface Guidelines for App Store app designers to the iBookstore. Previously, the guidelines were solely available from the online Apple developer portal, and the addition to the iBookstore makes the guidelines for designing iOS 7 apps more easily accessible.
Federico Viticci notes at MacStories that the book is properly optimized for viewing on the iPad:
The 20 MB guide is compatible with iPads as well as Macs running iBooks on OS X Mavericks, and it takes advantage of the app with inline video playback, two-page page layouts, and built-in annotations (plus, of course, font size and color controls for reading settings).
The book can be downloaded for free on iOS or OS X.
Apple's “iOS Human Interface Guidelines” is now available on the iBookstore: https://t.co/3UKBgttv5L
— Dave Addey (@daveaddey) May 13, 2014
@viticci Yep, just released today. The team here have done a *really* nice job of it, too.
— Dave Addey (@daveaddey) May 13, 2014
Microsoft announced today at the TechEd Conference that Microsoft Office for iPad, which includes Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, has been downloaded from the App Store 27 million times to date. The statistic was first shared on Twitter by Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrot and noted by Business Insider:
