Apps

6,502 'Apps' stories April 2010 - February 2013

Learn about the latest news for iOS, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV apps

Apps for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS power our modern world. 9to5Mac will update you on the latest news, review, and updates for all types of apps. “There’s an App for that”.

The term came became part of our vocabulary when Steve Jobs announced The App Store as part of the iPhone 2.0 software update in 2008.

Over the years, the term has become as common as kleenex for describing applications on all of our devices. Apple’s platforms have apps for just about anything from finance, banking, sports, social media, podcasting, music, and more. We have a guide for helping you discover the best ones as well. Apps are now on everything from our TV, to our smartphones, on our laptops, and all the way down to our wrists.

As new ones are released or existing ones have major updates, the team here at 9to5Mac will bring you the latest news and reviews. If you want to follow along with video footage, be sure to follow 9to5Mac on YouTube. Scroll down below our latest updates on all things relating to applications on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

New quick app switching & other concepts show options on the table for iOS 7 [Videos]

Jordan Kahn Feb 18 2013 - 10:42 am PT

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With the recent departure of longtime iOS chief Scott Forstall, many expect some big changes in iOS 7. Not only is Jony Ive taking over design responsibilities related to iOS, but also Apple is increasingly coming under criticism for its aging core iOS apps and highly requested features already available on other platforms that it has yet to implement. We discussed some of the big software features iOS 7 might have in store, but today we present a roundup of the best iOS 7 concepts we could find starting with a new one from the creator of jailbreak tweak Auxo.

Sentry, the original designer behind the popular Auxo jailbreak tweak, yesterday posted the new Quick App Switching concept above (via iFun). While Auxo provided a screenshot of running apps integrated into the iOS multitasking tray, the concept above takes a different approach and aims to add speed to the app switching process.

This next concept comes from YouTube user imjeanmarc and shows a tray accessible from the lock screen, providing quick toggles for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.:

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Jailbreak developer helps fight cancer with his latest tweak

Mike Beasley Feb 16 2013 - 4:55 pm PT

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Jailbreak tweak developer Filippo Bigarella released his newest piece of iPhone-modding software, called “LivelyIcons”, today. The tweak itself is simple: it adds fun animations to your iPhone’s homescreen icons when you open an application. You can find a video of it in action right here. The animations aren’t the only reason to buy it, though.

Biga has also announced via a blog post that he will donate the proceeds from this tweak to two foundations that focus on funding research to fight pediatric cancer. On his blog, Biga wrote:

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iOS 6 bug lets institutional users bypass ‘Don’t Allow Changes’ account restriction, install unapproved apps (Update: fixed)

Jordan Kahn Feb 15 2013 - 7:11 am PT

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Update (Feb 21st): This has been fixed according to a reader. The iTunes and App Stores use HTML on the backend so Apple can “push” updates via backend code changes:

As of this morning, the bug is gone! No update required! Looks
like the somehow they pushed the update! I can no longer change the
account in the App Store or iTunes store! This reminds me when I was
beta testing 6.0 and Apple changed the behavior of downloading updates
not requiring a password (they also allowed free apps with no password
for a short while). That didn’t need an update to change either.
They seem to have ways of fixing App Store behavior without needing to
update iOS. I’m still running 6.1 on my devices, haven’t gone to
6.1.2 yet.

Would be nice for an official answer from Apple, but so far, it’s
working correctly! Also, I see redeem and send gift are grayed out
also, at the bottom of the App Store. Same for iTunes Store.

For those unaware, iOS 6 received some beefed up Restriction settings when it was released that allowed users to select “Don’t Allow Changes” for an entire account linked to an iOS device. This option was particularly useful for schools and organizations that wanted to limit a device to a specific account and keep students and others from installing apps not approved by the institution. Without the restriction, students or employees could easily change the iTunes account linked to the iOS device. Unfortunately, as noticed by one frustrated 9to5Mac reader, it seems there are several backdoor methods of bypassing the setting…

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Adobe releases public preview of Edge Reflow, updates Edge Animate, Dreamweaver & Edge Code for Creative Cloud members

Jordan Kahn Feb 14 2013 - 9:00 am PT

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Adobe announced updates on Thursday to many of its HTML5 design tools for Creative Cloud users. Among the updates, we get new features for Edge Animate, Dreamweaver, and Edge Code. Adobe is also releasing the first public preview of its Adobe Edge Reflow responsive web design tool. Head below for all the details:

Adobe Edge Reflow: After giving us a look at its new responsive design tool Adobe Edge Reflow in September, Adobe is finally releasing the first public preview free of charge to all Creative Cloud users. Adobe said the tool provides designers with the ability to create responsive layouts and high-fidelity web designs using CSS, a resizable design surface, and real-time previews with Edge Inspect. Users will also be able to extract the CSS for use in Dreamweaver, Edge Code, or another editor. Adobe detailed today’s public release in the video above.

Adobe Edge Animate: Today’s update to Edge Animate brings new features, including: “gradients, CSS filters, and enhanced font support.” Adobe highlighted new CSS capabilities that consist of the ability to style and animate linear and radial gradients, new CSS filters such as blur, greyscale, brightness, contrast, sepia, and saturate filters, and a visual web font selector to add typography and live preview web fonts.

Adobe Dreamweaver: As for Dreamweaver, Adobe has updated the app exclusively for Creative Cloud members to bring integrated access to typography and a new fluid grid layout. The fluid grid layout feature was first introduced in Dreamweaver CS6, but it now includes “class tags in addition to ID tags” and a new editing UI. Users will also be able to preview and select Edge Web Fonts in Dreamweaver.

Adobe Edge Code preview: Adobe also highlighted new features of the latest Adobe Edge Code preview:
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Kickstarter for iPhone, DIE HARD, Autodesk 123D Creature, Skype for Mac, QuickBooks for iPad, deals, more

Jordan Kahn Feb 14 2013 - 8:04 am PT

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Kickstarter: Today Kickstarter announced that it is finally launching an official app for iPhone and iPod touch. The app provides users with the majority of features accessible through the website including the ability to find, filter, and back projects, watch project videos, follow and keep up with projects in an always up-to-date Activity tab, and receive notifications when someone backs or launches a project. The app also includes creator tools such as a feature to “take pictures and videos with their iPhone camera and post them as project updates straight from the app.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv6Sj5ot3c8&feature=youtu.be

DIE HARD: Fox Digital Entertainment today released the official DIE HARD iOS game in support of the upcoming “A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD” feature film. You play as Jack McClane as you “blast your way out of Moscow’s mean streets and travel to the radioactive wasteland of Chernobyl.” The developer called the game an “endless shooter”– a combination of “the “endless runner” and “first-person shooter” genres. It’s available now for 99 cents.

With DIE HARD, the mission was to develop an app with the gameplay and attitude to match the groundbreaking nature of the DIE HARD franchise, its longtime hero John McClane and new protagonist Jack McClane. In a twist on the endless runner genre, where the player runs from danger, DIE HARD equips the player to face the action head on, running towards foes and confronting them from a first-person perspective.

Skype 6.2 for Mac: Skype was updated with a few new features and improvements. Users can now send Skype credit as a gift through an eGifting feature, as well as send “one-way SMS without verifying your mobile number. ”

QuickBooks Online for iPad: Intuit announced today a new iPad app for QuickBooks Online. It’s free for subscribers, but the app also provides a 30 day free trail and monthly and annual subscriptions for $13 and $125. Full list of features below:
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Review: Tempo for iPhone – How smart does a calendar need to be?

Mike Beasley Feb 13 2013 - 7:59 am PT

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Calendars. Contacts. Maps. Emails. Text messages. Facebook. LinkedIn.

There are a lot of things you can do with the iPhone. Each of those things is scattered across the phone in it’s own separate app, however. Sure, there’s some integration of those services, but most of the time you’re going to have to switch apps to get from one function to the other. It’s easy to get annoyed or overwhelmed trying to manage your time while everyone up-to-date on the things that matter.

Tempo is a new app from SRI (the company that originally developed Siri) that aims to bring all of those functions together—at least as far as the concern your schedule—into a cohesive system for managing your life. But how well do all of these different services coexist in the same application?

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Review: Cloudier is a great way to manage your CloudApp account

Mike Beasley Feb 12 2013 - 8:00 pm PT

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[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/58173643 w=700&h=394]

Note: Not all the animations in this video made it into the final product.

Cloudier is a great new CloudApp management client. While we’ve seen some of the design concepts in this app before, Cloudier adds new design features like a grid view for photos and a zip viewer for peeking inside file archives.

Cloudier boasts a much lighter interface than I’m used to in Cloud clients, and I actually like it a lot. Rather than focusing on fitting a ton of features into the app, the developers focused on fitting in only the features you’ll actually need and making them work beautifully. It’s fast, looks great, and does exactly what you need.

Cloudier is available now on the App Store for $2.99. If you’re looking for an app to manage your CloudApp files, I highly recommend it.

A&E, HISTORY, and Lifetime bring full episodes and movies to iPhone/iPod touch

Jordan Kahn Feb 12 2013 - 12:23 pm PT

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A&E Networks finally rolled out iPad apps in December for watching full episodes and accessing content from its biggest networks including A&E, HISTORY, and Lifetime. The three apps provided extra content for Xfinity TV users, and A&E told 9to5Mac that support for AirPlay was on the way. Today, the company has brought all three apps to iPhone and iPod touch users. It is offering full episodes of shows like “Duck Dynasty,” “Storage Wars,” “The First 48,” “Pawn Stars,” “American Pickers,” “Swamp People,” as well as 25 full-length Lifetime movies. The updated A&E, History, and Lifetime apps not only include support for iPhone and iPod touch, but they also now provide iCloud syncing to resume episodes on any iOS device.

A+E Networks is expanding its award-winning content to smaller screens with new video watch apps available for free in iTunes for all iOS devices. Now on-the-go viewing goes beyond the iPad, viewers can watch full episodes, movies and exclusive clips from A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime on iPhone and iPod Touch.

To make the viewing experience even more seamless, HISTORY, A&E and Lifetime apps now conveniently sync with multiple devices. For instance, if you’re watching an episode of Swamp People on your iPad at home you can then finish watching it on your iPhone so you don’t miss the train to work. Currently, viewers who sign in to verify Xfinity TV from Comcast will also have more access to content, including full previous seasons.

evasi0n jailbreaks record 7M iOS devices in four days

Jordan Kahn Feb 8 2013 - 10:09 am PT

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We previously told you that around 1.7 million people had used the new evasi0n tool to jailbreak their iOS device, according to stats from Cydia installs. Today, we get a little update on the progress: Jay Freeman told Forbes that Cydia recorded over 7 million devices, as of last night, and “insanely more new traffic” than the release of iOS 5’s Absinthe jailbreak tool and others before it.

As of Thursday night, Freeman’s alternative app store had received visits from 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches that were jailbroken with evasi0n, the first jailbreaking software for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.1.

Freeman says that evasi0n has brought Cydia “insanely more new traffic” than the release of the jailbreak tool called Absinthe that worked on some versions of iOS 5. And even Jailbreakme3, the popular web-based jailbreak released by iPhone hacker Comex in the summer of 2011, was only used on 1.4 million devices in its first nine days online

The top third-party email clients for the iPhone

Mike Beasley Feb 7 2013 - 1:38 pm PT

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Welcome to 9to5Mac’s Smackdown series, where we compare the top hardware and software accessories for your Apple products.

When it comes to email on the iPhone, some users find the built-in Mail app lacking. Luckily, there are quite a few third-party clients available for your emailing needs. We’ll be running down all the major ones today, including those from the mail providers themselves and today’s big news Mailbox.app.

What you won’t find here are “apps” that simply give you the mobile web version of a mail service. If that’s what you want, you already have an app for that. If you want a native third-party email app for your iPhone, keep reading.

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Mailbox for iPhone goes live for free in the App Store, reservations now being filled

Mike Beasley Feb 7 2013 - 10:00 am PT

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Mailbox, the highly anticipated third-party Gmail client for the iPhone from Orchestra, is now available in the App Store. Here’s the essence of why Mailbox is meant to be a better mobile email client:

Mailbox is light, fast, and mobile-friendly.
Swipes make checking mail from your phone a delight.
Snoozes let you put off an email until later and remind you when the time has come.
Mailbox makes getting to inbox zero, and staying there, a breeze.

The app is free, but you’ll need a reservation code to use it today. These codes were given out on a first-come, first-served basis a few weeks ago to anyone who signed up for the app in advance. This system was put in place to prevent the company’s servers from being overwhelmed, as there is substantial demand for the free app.

Screenshots and video overview:

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Rabbit, Foursquare, Skype, TomTom, Cut the Rope, Borderlands Legends, deals, more

Jordan Kahn Feb 7 2013 - 7:02 am PT

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Rabbit: Launching today in closed beta, Rabbit is a new video chat and content sharing app– initially available exclusively for Mac– that has been getting a lot of attention. The app lets you chat with an unlimited number of people, create and customize chats, as well as watch movies, listen to music, and share content in chats in real-time. If you are a pre-teen who hasn’t heard of Google Hangouts, you might want to check this out.

Rabbit is kind of like a virtual living room. It runs in the background on your computer just like Skype, so you can always find your friends online and invite them to watch a movie or listen to music at any time. You can share this content directly from your computer, or you can use the Rabbit “SharePad” of integrated content sites to instantly launch TV shows, videos and music you want to watch and listen to with your friends.

Foursquare version 5.4.3: Foursquare gets an update today that brings improvements to check-in notification settings including an “Always” option to get notifications for all check-ins, as well as new “Nearby” and “Off” settings to apply to specific users.

✓ Choose “ALWAYS” for close friends and family you always want to keep up with. You’ll get notifications for all their check-ins, no matter where they are in the world.
✓ Choose “NEARBY” for friends you’d like to hear about from time to time. We’ll only notify you when they’re close by.
✓ Choose “OFF” for those acquaintances you don’t really want updates from. And that bike messenger friend who checks in at every spot on his route.

TomTom version 1.13: TomTom updated the majority of its iOS navigation apps today. On top of the most up to date map data, users can also now backup and restore settings and stored destinations from iCloud. With today’s update TomTom is also providing a free 30 day trial to its HD traffic subscription. In addition, the app now includes compatibility for iPad mini.

Borderlands Legends version 1.1.0: 2K’s Borderlands Legends (and the HD iPad version) is updated today with new features including a new sniper mode, new enemy and mini boss types, night versions of the Wasteland map, iPhone 5 & Game Center support, new Eridian Weapons, and more.
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Twitter for iPhone gets reorganized search and discovery features

Mike Beasley Feb 6 2013 - 10:59 am PT

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Image from the Twitter blog

Twitter announced a few updates to its mobile apps in a blog post today. Among the improvements is an updated search feature that is available from anywhere in the app and presents search results for people and terms all at once. The Discover tab is also reorganized, and the setting for switching between interactions and mentions in the Connect tab has been moved into the app.

One other very welcome change is the ability to tap links directly in the timeline now. Tapping a link would previously open the tweet’s detail view, where you would have to tap the link again to view it. Now you can just tap the link and go straight to the content.

Vine gets 17+ rating, ProCutX for Final Cut Pro, Gmail, Tweetbot, Poster, deals, more

Jordan Kahn Feb 6 2013 - 6:59 am PT

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[hulu id=_cdivytk6g8qt3ggv4rw0a width=704 start_time=206 end_time=325]
Vine version 1.0.5: Twitter’s new short video sharing app Vine ran into a bit of controversy when pornography found its way into the Editor’s Picks section due to human error. The developers have since addressed the issues and today’s update not only brings new Twitter and Facebook sharing features, but also the ability to block and report profiles. As noted by The Verge, the 1.0.5 update also increased the rating of the app from 12+ to 17+.

• Share to Twitter or Facebook after posting. Find the post you want to share, then tap the “…” button in the bottom right.
• Report or block a profile. Go to the profile, then tap the newly added “…” button in the top right.
• Fixed an issue that caused a black screen to appear and uploads to fail after creating a video on certain devices
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut plug-in maker & production company Pixel Film Studios is out today with a new app that allows iPad users to control a FCPX session running on their Mac. At first glance the app appears to provide a pretty slick UI and the developers said it offers access to all of the software’s editing tools to “control every step of the FCPX editing process.”

• Precision Timeline Scrubbing
• Quick Retiming
• Auto-Correct Color
• Color Grading
• Compound Clip Editing
• Import, Export, and Rendering shortcuts
• Quick Keywording
• Fast access to Tools
• System Volume Control
• Timeline Zooming
• Audio Enhancements
• Record Voiceovers

Tango version 2.6.36915: The popular text, voice, and video chat app Tango was updated today with a new central gallery for pictures and videos and a number of enhancements:

✔ New! Find all your pictures and videos in a central gallery.

✔ New! Improved call handling makes connect faster.

☂ Bug Fixes

Tweetbot version 2.7.1:
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Today’s iPhone 5 Evasi0n Jailbreak sees record numbers: Here are 10 cool things to do with your newly-Jailbroken iOS device

Jordan Kahn Feb 4 2013 - 2:22 pm PT

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Wow! 270,000+ active users on http://t.co/YQrXEeVQ!!! #evasi0n

— pod2g (@pod2g) February 4, 2013

If you have not jailbroken an iOS device in a while, you might wonder what all the excitement is surrounding today’s launch of the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6. (Note: Some people are having issues with the default Apple Weather app after install.)

[tweet https://twitter.com/MuscleNerd/status/298543670888644608]

Over the years, many features that were once jailbreak-only made their way to iOS or via third parties through the App Store. However, there are still many things you can do with jailbreak tweaks that aren’t possible on non-jailbroken devices. With over 270,000 active users at any one time on evasi0n today, we put together a list of some of the most interesting and useful tweaks that caught our attention in recent months:

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Tweetbot for iPhone, Tesla Model S, Skype for iPad, XFINITY Connect, deals, more

Jordan Kahn Feb 4 2013 - 8:32 am PT

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Our usual list of newly released and updated apps below. 9to5Toys also shares 15% off iTunes gift cards (All denominations available) + free shipping to get your downloading started.

New:

Tesla Model S: Users over on the Tesla forums noticed last night that the official Tesla Model S iPhone app has now made its way onto the App Store, at least in the US. The app will let Tesla Model S owners check, stop and start charging progress in real time, turn on heating and cooling, locate their vehicle, lock and unlock the car, and more.

– Check charging progress in real time and start or stop charge
– Heat or cool Model S before driving — even if it’s in a garage
– Locate Model S with directions or track its movement across a map
– Flash lights or honk the horn to find Model S when parked
– Vent or close the panoramic roof
– Lock or unlock from afar

Updates:

Tweetbot for Twitter (iPhone) version 2.7: One of the more popular Twitter iOS clients gets an update today that adds the ability to open links in Chrome and 1Password, as well as support for inline images from Vine and Flickr and a number of other new features.

– Added the ability to open links in Chrome and 1Password
– Added inline image support for Flickr
– Added inline image support for Vine
– Better support for muting Tweets with URLs
– Various bug fixes
– Still no jokes in the release notes

Skype for iPad version 4.5: Skype iPad app was updated today with a few welcomed new features. First, users in United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and Estonia will now be able to add money to their Skype account directly from the app. The release notes also said the app now “automatically reconnects a dropped call when your wifi or mobile network reception is poor.” More new features and fixes below:
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Don’t type this phrase on your Mac unless you like crashing apps: ‘File:///’

Mike Beasley Feb 1 2013 - 10:28 pm PT

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A pretty crazy bug report was filed with Apple on Thursday afternoon. According to a copy of the bug on Open Radar, all you have to do is type the text below into almost any window in any app on OS X to immediately crash the app. We managed to crash Tweetbot, Safari, Chrome, TextEdit, and more with this bug, but a few rare apps seem to be immune. This bug is so pervasive that typing it into this post crashed Safari and Chrome, so we embedded an image of the text below (apparently GIMP is one of those apps that can handle it safely).

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Parallels 8 beats out VMware Fusion 5 in extensive benchmark analysis

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 10:08 am PT

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MacTech Magazine, which recently announced its upcoming MacTech BootCamp II, today looked at two of the most popular virtualization products for Mac with an in-depth benchmarking analysis of the most recent versions of Parallels Desktop 8 and VMware Fusion 5. We have seen Parallels 8 come out on top in benchmarks from previous reports, but this is by far the most comprehensive comparison.

MacTech put the two apps to the test in a number of areas including launching various OSes, application performance, 3D graphics tests, Retina Support, and much more. The conclusion: Parallels Desktop 8 won on the majority of general tests and 62 percent of 3D graphics tests.

In the vast majority of our overall tests, Parallels Desktop 8 won. Again, if you count up the general tests (including the top 3D graphics scores), Parallels won 56% of the tests by 10% or more. If you include all the tests where Parallels was at least 5% faster, as well as the balance of the 3DMark06 graphics tests, Parallels increased the lead further.

We recommend checking out MacTech’s lengthy analysis.

Parallels 8 for Mac currently sells for $55 on Amazon, while VMware Fusion 5 is available for as low as $46.99.

App Store earning over 3.5 times as much as Google Play with record revenue in December

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 6:29 am PT

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App Annie is out today with its January 2013 index that covers revenue from mobile app sales in the App Store and on Google Play. While Apple was able to hit record revenues in December, increasing revenue by one-third during the month and growing by one-fifth from Q3 to Q4, Android posted even stronger growth by doubling revenue quarter-over-quarter. Despite stronger growth for Android, according to the report, the App Store earned 3.5 times as much revenue as Google Play during December 2012. Bloomberg noted that App Annie doesn’t provide exact figures for revenue, as it currently sells that data, but the report provided a break down of revenue by country and publisher. Apple has previously said the App Store brought in around $333 million per month between June and December.

iOS App Store revenue grew by about one-fifth from Q3 to Q4. In particular, it achieved record revenues in December, as monthly revenue increased by about one-third from November to December 2012; this gain surpassed even the standout revenue increase from November to December last year. As highly-desired holiday gifts in many countries, new iPhones and iPads (including the recently launched iPad Mini) typically lead to a jump in app downloads, and consequently, app revenue.

When it comes to revenue by country, App Annie said that United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada continued to account for 60 percent of App Store revenue in Q4. However, China experienced significant growth during the quarter:
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Kickfolio lets you embed iOS apps on any webpage, adds iPad support, slashes pricing

Jordan Kahn Jan 28 2013 - 2:14 pm PT

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A demo of Angry Bots iOS app embedded using Kickfolio

We told you about a service called Kickfolio in December that would allow developers to demo their iOS apps directly in the browser using a new HTML5-based platform. The service converts a zipped version of an iOS app into a private test page with a completely interactive HTML5 and CSS version of the app. Today, the service got a few updates including the ability to embed app demos on any webpage using an iframe. You’ll find embedded iOS apps above and below that Kickfolio sent over for us to try. Kickfolio also now supports iPad apps, and it is making the service much more affordable for all. This is a powerful tool for developers promoting their apps online, and it’s one I expect many to take advantage of when providing free demos to potential customers and press on their website.

Kickfolio originally had some feedback for users about plans starting at $50 a month. The good news: the company just slashed the cheapest plan to $9 a month (that includes 500 embed sessions). Every plan now also includes unlimited apps, and the company is reopening 15-day free trials so everyone will get a chance to try the new features.

Another embedded app demo from Kickfolio below:
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Facebook updates iOS app with in-app video recording, voice messages, improved Nearby tab

Mark Gurman Jan 28 2013 - 12:52 pm PT

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Facebook has updated its official iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch application to include new in-app video recording and sharing capabilities. Additionally, the social network had added the new voice messages feature (which launched first in the standalone Messenger app for iPhone), to the main Facebook app. More details, images, and release notes below:

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EA & DICE looking to bring Frostbite engine to Mac OS X

Jordan Kahn Jan 28 2013 - 7:50 am PT

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According to a job listing from game developer DICE, EA might be looking to bring its popular Battlefield 3 franchise to OS X. The Battlefield3Blog pointed us to the job listing seeking a Mac OS X engineer to be”part of a team focusing on bringing Frostbite to Mac.”

Frostbite is looking for developers who want to join us in taking our engine to the next level. You will be part of a team focusing on bringing Frostbite to Mac and work closely with game team customers and the Frostbite team to deliver an engine as great on OS X as it is on Windows and traditional console platforms.

With plans to bring the Frostbite game engine to Mac, it could also mean EA plans to bring Frostbite-powered titles previously only available on Windows, Xbox, and PS3 to the Mac. There is no mention of specific games, but on top of the Battlefield series, Frostbite has been used for Need for Speed and Medal of Honor titles. We’re assuming this is for Frostbite 2, but there’s also a possibility it could be a next generation of the engine.

A free MAME emulator hits the App Store…for now

9to5 Staff Jan 26 2013 - 11:09 pm PT

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Toucharcade has the story:

Yesterday, a game that was developed in 1982 for arcade hardware, but never officially released, quietly landed in the App Store. Gridlee [Free] is a simple game where you maneuver a little green fellow about a grid that stretches off into the distance, blasting upwards at bouncy red figures that try and squash you. That’sGridlee, but that’s not the crux of the matter with this app.

As developer David Loureiro explains, Gridlee was developed for the Bally/Sente SAC I cartridge-based arcade machine. It has been brought to iOS devices by way of an emulation wrapper…namely MAME4iOS.

When word of this hit our forums, readers were quick to pull out iExplore and begin digging about the app’s directory structure looking for a ROM folder. Well, it’s in there, and sure enough, if one copies other MAME ROMs into that folder, theGridlee app starts up with the standard MAME4iOS ROM listing, allowing for a great many games beyond just Gridlee to be played on the iPhone or iPad in this Universal app.

So, download the game, throw a bunch of ROMs into the ROM folder using an application such as iExplore, start, and you have a fantastic MAME emulator. Expect this to be gone soon. Oh, and it works with iCade!

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YouTube Capture gets 1080p uploads, Vine, Google Currents 2.0, price drops, and more

Jordan Kahn Jan 25 2013 - 7:28 am PT

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YouTube Capture version 1.1: Google has updated its newly released YouTube Capture app with some welcomed features including 1080p video uploads:

· 1080p uploads!
· Improved audio sync
· More detailed upload feedback
· Share to networks after uploading
· Bug fixes & stability improvements

Vine — Make a scene version 1.0.2: Just released yesterday, the app for sharing short video clips (and recently acquired by Twitter) today updated with improvements to profiles and more reliable Twitter integration:

* Logging in through Twitter is more reliable
* You can now update your profile photo from your Camera Roll
* Character limit for usernames and bio field
* International keyboards have better support
* Various bugs that caused crashes have been fixed

Google Currents version 2.0: Google is updating another one of its apps today, its magazine style news reader for tablets and smartphones now sports a new catalog design. The update also includes an Edition sidebar for quick access to categories, a new fast scan feature (Vertical swipe to scan an edition, horizontal swipe advances to next edition), and a new breaking stories section ranked by Google News. You can also now star to save stories for future reading:
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