Snapchat today announced a new service, in partnership with mobile-payment service Square, dubbed Snapcash. The new feature allows Snapchat users to quickly and easily send payments to one another. Users can do so by simply swiping right to chat on the main screen in Snapchat and then entering a dollar amount. The money will go directly from one user’s bank account to another.
CBS has updated its Radio News application with support for Apple’s CarPlay interface. The new UI allows users to browse and play the network’s library of on-demand shows such as the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes. Users will also find that the Now Playing screen presents them with their local weather conditions.
Also included in the new update is a set of bug fixes for issues such as two audio tracks playing back at once for some users. There is also a new introduction screen that walks users through the functions of the app. CBS News also rolled out a channel for the Apple TV earlier today.
Any.do, the popular to-do list management application for iOS, has received a huge update to version 2.0, which introduces a new focus on collaboration among teams and families. All of the app’s previous functions still work the way they did in previous versions, so existing users won’t need to re-learn anything, but those who want better support for groups and sharing will find a lot of useful enhancements in this update.
A new chat function allows members of a project to talk with each other, share files from Dropbox, add and remove group members, and more. Shared lists and tasks make it easy to quickly assign work, update the group’s progress, or just add something to a shared grocery list.
Update: Microsoft has now announced the Microsoft Band, a $199 fitness band that does everything described below. It goes on sale Thursday.
Microsoft hasn’t officially announced its wearable device, but it seems the company has accidentally published its desktop syncing client to the Mac App Store early. Whoops. The device is called the Microsoft Band (possibly Lumia Band, according to some currently non-functional support URLs) and sports a 310 x 102 resolution display.
The Microsoft privacy policy for the app lists some of the Band’s features: “Microsoft Band sensors help you keep track of things like your heart rate, steps, calories burned, and sleep.” Links in the document claiming to lead to a page with additional data, such as a list of sensors, currently lead to a 404 page.
Other key feature include the ability to get phone notifications on the Band, create reminders using Cortana, and more:
Microsoft has pushed out updates for its OneNote client on both iPhone and iPad, adding support for new features added in iOS 8 and a design that’s optimized for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Users can now password protect sections of documents directly from mobile devices (a feature that used to require a Windows PC). Those with an iPhone 5s or newer will also find that they can now unlock password-protected sections of documents using Touch ID. That feature isn’t mentioned in the iPad change log, so users on the iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 might need to wait for a future update to enable it.
Time Warner Cable today announced a new smartphone app that will let its customers use their home phone service on mobile devices for no additional fees. That means that users with a Time Warner Cable home phone service, which starts at $10/month, can now text and call through the new Phone 2 Go app on smartphones and tablets. The service requires a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection and will also work for international calling and texting:
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Facebook’s new ‘Rooms’ app Room Inc’s ‘Room’ app
Following the launch of Facebook’s new “Rooms” app for iPhone, the company behind a similar piece of software called “Room” is claiming the social media outlet copied its intellectual property. The Room application, which like Facebook’s app allows users to create and invite others to chatrooms while remaining anonymous, was first released on the App Store back in September.
The company’s Damien Rottemberg, Co-Founder and CTO of Room, sent over the following statement on the situation:
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Note: The app is still rolling out worldwide. Check back soon if the links don’t work for you!
Announced during Apple’s October event, Pixelmator for iPad ($4.99) is an important stepping stone in the iPad’s history. The Mac app is regularly featured by Apple as an exemplar app in the Mac App Store and it is clear Apple wants to use Pixelmator as a ‘trophy’ app in the same way. No doubt this app (aside from games) is one of a handful that will directly benefit from the A8X performance gains.
I tested the app on an iPad Air, although the app technically supports all the way back to iPad 3, even some operations on the Air felt slow. I would be a bit cautious if you intend to install it on one of Apple’s older tablets.
As a 1.0 release, the depth and breadth of this app is staggering. There are a myriad of effects, painting brushes, color adjustments and other features to help edit and create images. The vast majority of the Mac app’s functionality have been ported across to the iPad with a touch-friendly interface, including advanced editing options like layer styles. There are also some template options that aren’t currently included in the Mac app to appease the ‘Photo Booth’ selfie crowd.
Read on for 9to5Mac’s full review of Pixelmator for iPad …
Google this afternoon announced Inbox for Gmail, its all-new emailing solution that is intended to coexist with the regular Gmail platform (Think Paper for Facebook?). Inbox for Gmail is available on an invite only basis for Android, iOS and Chrome. I am fortunate enough to have received an invite to Inbox for Gmail, and I have been giving the iPhone app a rundown to see how it works. For the most part, Inbox is everything that you know and love about Gmail in a sleeker package.
Infuse has been updated to version 3.0 and introduced a host of changes and upgrades. The app is now fully compatible with iOS 8 and the newer iPhone models and features several design tweaks such as improvements to browsing TV shows and an all-new dark mode.
Functional improvements include the ability to download videos in the background and stream synced files over HTTP from wireless external hard drive and more. You can mark movies and shows as watched or unwatched and the app now features 2-way sync for your Trakt.tv viewing history. You can also now use your own folder artwork in the file fiewer and quickly access your favorite streamed folders.
Infuse 3 is a free app with a $9.99 in-app purchase to upgrade to Infuse Pro. The extensive list of changes is below:
- Optimized for iOS 8, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus
- Streaming is now available to free users
- Share synced files via AirDrop
- Create favorites for quick access to streamed folders
- Download content from the main ticket view
- Huge improvements for browsing TV show collections
- Dark mode theme
- Download/stream synced files via HTTP
- Download videos in the background
- Use your own folder artwork (folder.png or folder.jpg)
- Default language options for audio, subtitles, and metadata
- Sync/stream over 4G/LTE cellular
- Manual artwork for folders (use folder.jpg or folder.png)
- Mark movies and shows as watched/unwatched
- 2-way trakt watched history sync
- Sort files by name or date
- Tap ticket artwork to start video playback
- Manual movie/show title search
- Transfer files via Wi-Fi when iPhone is acting as a hotspot
- Initial URL scheme for video streaming
- Better support for subtitle encoding types
- Better support for some TV series
- Better handling of new and past In-App purchases
- Improved AirPlay reliability
- Improved subtitle support for Arabic languages
- Improved playback of some h.264 content
- Resolved issues with missing synced iTunes content
- Various UI updates
- Many other reliability and performance improvements
Popular file-sharing / file-syncing app Dropbox has updated its iOS app to version 3.5 today, with some nice improvements. The app now takes advantage of all available resolution on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, rather than in a scaled iPhone 5s form. Dropbox doesn’t do anything novel with the additional space, but there is benefits to being able to see more items in a folder list at a time. The quality of file previews are also noticeably improved because of the additional screen size, with photo viewing mostly affected.
While iOS 8.1 isn’t officially going to be released to the public until Monday, several reports across the internet are saying that Apple’s Photos app within the web-based iCloud website has now gone live for those using the iOS 8.1 beta. The interface looks a lot like that of the Photos app on iOS, letting you view your library as organized by either Moments or Albums.
Cash, the app launched by payments company Square last year for personal money transfers, today updated with a new way to send money on iOS 8 over Bluetooth LE. The feature is called Nearby Payments and allows users to send and receive payments by using Bluetooth to find and connect with nearby users. That’s opposed to the previous methods the app already offered including sending payments via text message and email. In case you’re wondering why it’s iOS 8 only:
@bzamayo Apple significantly improved BLE in iOS 8, which allowed us to build a reliable experience for paying people nearby.
— Square Support (@SquareSupport) October 7, 2014
Square notes that users will be able to select preferences for nearby visibility to allow either everyone or only contacts to see their availability. Today’s update to version 2.1 also includes the ability to “Quickly approve or decline money requests with actionable push notifications.”
The updated Cash app by Square is available for free on the App Store now.
1Password, the powerful and popular password manager for iPhone and iPad, has been updated to version 5.1 today, introducing a host of new features and improvements. First on the list is support for the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with full 3x image support on the Plus model.
Touch ID support has also been significantly improved, with the app’s security settings now simplified to avoid the confusing and unnecessary differentiation between the Master Password and PIN code, and Touch ID is now more reliable. You can also create new tags to add to your stored data, allowing for easier sorting on-the-go.
Google has updated the Gmail app for iOS with support for the larger displays on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. There don’t seem to be any other unmentioned changes (still no unified inbox), but you won’t have to use the awkward zoomed view when using the app anymore.
You can grab Gmail version 3.1415926 (yes, that’s Pi) for free from the iOS App Store.
What’s New in Version 3.1415926
Support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
A modified version of the Facebook Messenger has revealed that person-to-person payment interfaces and other elements are already integrated into the app. The discovery was made by iOS developer Andre Aude.
Just like sending a message or sending a photo, Facebook’s payments implementation is integrated into the chat window. The idea being, that if you talk to a friend about getting coffee, you can pay your half of the bill in the same place. A history of payments appears in the settings pages.
Facebook has not confirmed that the feature is coming any time soon. Zuckerberg has floated the idea of Facebook tying mobile payments before, but warned it was a long way off.
In version 4 of its app, Hulu has brought a whole new look to its video streaming app on the iPhone. What matters most is that the app is now optimized for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, meaning videos can use all the pixels of the larger 4.7 and an 5.5 inch displays, which is obviously a vital improvement for video viewing.
Spotify announced today that it’s finally expanding into Canada giving Canucks access to the music streaming service that was previously available in the UK, US and a long list of other European and South American countries.
The official announcement comes from Spotify’s blog following a beta period in the country in which the company invited select users to sign-up and try out the service.
Canadians that download the Spotify app will be able to access the service’s usual “fully licensed free tier.” That includes the ability to “shuffle play on mobile or play any song on tablet or desktop,” but users can also pay $10 CAD per month for the unlimited, on-demand experience with the highest quality audio and no ads.
A full list of countries that Spotify is currently available in is here.
iHealth, maker of various iPhone connected healthcare accessories, today announced that its iOS apps are being updated with HealthKit integration. That means that the users of the company’s Wireless Blood Pressure Monitors, Blood Glucose Meters, Wireless Scale, and other health tracking accessories will be able to sync data with the new iOS 8 Health app.
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The developers behind the controversial Secret social app have launched another piece of iOS software today. The new app is called Ping and its entire purpose is to send you notifications when certain events happen. It’s essentially like an automated version of Yo.
When you first launch Ping, you’ll be presented with a screen that allows you to choose what topics you want to be notified about. This can be anything from weather updates to “pickup lines for Friday night.” After you’ve picked a few topics to subscribe to, you close the app and wait. When there’s a change to one of those topics, you’ll get a push notification.
There’s not really much to the application beyond that. New topics can be pushed over-the-air by the developers, and you’ll be notified when new ones become available (several new ones have been added just since the app launched a few hours ago). The developers say that as you use the application it will learn to adapt to what you like or don’t like based on your usage.
Ping is free on the iOS App Store.
If you’re an iPhone 6 user running the botched iOS 8.0.1 update and can’t make a phone call to ask for a ride, Uber has some great news for you today. The company has updated its iOS application with full optimization for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screens. The update does not add much else today, but expect an update in the near-future with support for the upcoming Apple Pay payment service.
With Photos for OS X not being released until early next year, it seemed like there would be no way to view your photos backed up in iCloud Photo Library away from an iOS device for Mac customers. However, screenshots and error messages from iCloud.com show that a Photos app is in development for the website, so that users could access their pictures in some fashion on a computer. This will likely act as a stopgap before the official native client is ready.
The above screenshot is captured from an Apple help page, clearly showing a Photos app in the menu, which is currently absent from the public site. The app features the same icon as the Photos app, but its unclear what exact functionality it will bring. Poking around a bit, we discovered something that means it is unlikely the screenshot is simply a Photoshop mistake.
SwiftKey has long been known as one of the most popular third-party keyboards for Android, but the company kept no secrets earlier this year in announcing that the app would be making its way to Apple’s platform with the release of iOS 8. Today, the company has shared some more details about its features, and given us a first-look at the swipe-to-type entry method running on the latest build of iOS.
Following in the wake of services along the likes of Yo, the one-word messaging app, a new concept has emerged which is just as novel but also just as useless. In case you felt that sending emoji characters to your friends via text or SMS wasn’t restricted enough, you can now use Emojli to make sure your conversations are always condensed to just miniature pictures—no words allowed.
