Apps

Apple has launched a new campaign to highlight both the new Apple TV and the many games and entertainment services on its App Store with a new series of short video clips. Each 15 second video starts with the same Apple TV graphic, then promotes a popular game or video service app on the new Apple TV with some gameplay or a popular show available on the service, and ends with the same multicolor graphic. So far these clips promote Netflix, HBO NOW, Asphalt 8, Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition: Star Wars, and Crossy Road. You can view each one below:
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Google is adding some new space-saving features to its Photos app on both the web and iOS. A new feature rolling out to the web client starting Wednesday will give the option to downgrade photos previous backed up in full resolution to the compressed mode in order to save space. And on iOS, there’s a new “Free up space” button being added to the settings menu that deletes already backed up photos…
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Third-party keyboards have been supported on iOS since version 8 shipped last year, but even today they’re still often plagued by poor performance and other issues related to Apple’s implementation. Today, Google has released a Chrome for iOS update that disables support for third-party keyboards entirely because of such issues.

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Pandora announced today that it’s acquiring Rdio for $75 million with plans to integrate the competitive music streaming service’s technology into its own service pending the usual government approvals.
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Last month the popular Waze navigation app on iPhone got a major update with a new design and improvements to reporting traffic issues and sharing arrival times with others. Now Waze is out with its next new version which brings 3D Touch shortcuts to the Home screen icon for iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users. Firmly press on the updated icon to quickly look up an address, share your location with other users, or get directions to your work or home address from your current location. Waze also says the update includes the usual bug fixes and improvements.

Fantastical already features 3D Touch shortcuts from its Home screen icon, and today the calendar and reminders app is adding more 3D Touch features for iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users…
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Apple, after unveiling a new Shopping category last week, appears to have now made more enhancements to the App Store. According to a report out of TechCrunch, Apple has improved its search algorithms to return more relevant and intelligent results when a keyword search is performed.

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Following the official release of the iPad Pro yesterday, Apple this evening has launched a pair of new featured sections on the App Store showcasing apps that take advantage of the massive 12.9-inch Retina display the iPad Pro has.

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Yesterday we shared that the popular automatic screen brightness adjusting app Flux had found a way to make it from the Mac to iPhones and iPads on iOS 9. This afternoon the developers behind Flux announced that the app will no longer be available on iOS at the request of Apple. In a blog post sharing the development, the developers behind the app said that Apple contacted them to say that the app violated Apple’s Developer Program Agreement. While the app was unofficially supported on iOS 9 as a sideloaded app and not an official App Store app, Flux did use Xcode signing to work properly on iPhones and iPads.
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Two weeks ago Upthere, the cloud company co-founded by former OS X chief Bertrand Serlet, officially launched after several years of stealth development. Details were still sparse on what exactly Upthere would offer aside from being a different kind of cloud service option for your data. Now Upthere is officially launching its first products in beta: Upthere Home and Upthere Camera.

The idea behind Upthere is that data connections are plenty fast for a lot of people but local storage is a growing issue. Cloud services like Dropbox and iCloud tackle different areas of the problem is different ways, but Upthere believes keeping everything on the server then bringing it to your device on demand is the suitable approach. I got the chance to try out each of the new apps overnight, and while my data is spread across iCloud and Dropbox right now, Upthere’s new apps make a good first impression and look promising.
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YouTube has taken another jab at Apple and finally debuted the music streaming app it announced last month. The app helps users find new music to enjoy by allowing them to select from pre-made stations or create their own based on their musical tastes.

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The iPhone podcast app Castro has a lot more competition in the market nowadays since I first reviewed it back in 2013. Arguably, Castro is still the most visually appealing of the current crowd and the developers are currently working on the next major version of the app, Castro 2. In the meantime, the developers have released Castro 1.5 with some new features and a new pricing model. Following Overcast’s lead, Castro is now completely free for all to download. The company is moving to a patronage model.

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You can now get the alternative web browser Firefox for iPhone and iPad in the App Store. Except its not really Firefox as you know it on the desktop, because the underlying engine is all WebKit, not Mozilla’s Gecko renderer like it is on the Mac. This is the same as the iOS Google Chrome app — the App Store rules require browsers to use the Safari WebKit engine. This isn’t really a bad thing, the WebKit rendering core is the industry leading mobile (and desktop) engine.

You might want to use Firefox for iPhone and iPad if you use Firefox on the Mac, due to UI similarities for the browser chrome or just for syncing convenience. The Firefox app will sync bookmarks, open tabs across all your devices by logging into your Firefox account. These are the main differences between Firefox and the native Safari app.

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Apple has released updates for its entire suite of iWork apps today on both iOS and OS X. The updates include bug fixes for issues with some Microsoft Office documents and stability fixes across both platforms.

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In line with previous rumors, Facebook has released a new app today called Notify that aims to deliver timely and relevant news notifications to users.

The app serves a wide variety of content types to keep users interested, including the day’s weather forecasts, breaking news from multiple sources, fashion news from Vogue, and even historical images from Getty.

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As demoed by Apple on stage, the latest instalment of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Live, is now available on Apple TV. It’s just like classic Guitar Hero, a three-lane rhythm based game, but modernised with better visuals, ‘real’ band members, enhanced crowd reactions, and more.

On the iPhone and iPad version, you can play two trial songs for free or pay $50 via In-App Purchase to unlock the full game with 38 additional songs. However, on Apple TV, the game is completely non-functional without the controller accessory. You have to buy the controller for the game to work at all. Incidentally, you can buy the full game and controller on Amazon as a $99 bundle, for both iOS and tvOS.

Requiring a game controller peripheral is a controversial move, as it goes against Apple’s normal App Store policy for Apple TV games. In fact, it appears to defy the rules about game controllers laid out by Apple.

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With iOS 9, it is now possible to install screen brightness app Flux (or f.lux). Flux adjusts screen brightness and color depending on the time of day automatically, so you aren’t blasted with bright light at bedtime or early in the morning. Due to App Store restrictions, Flux has been only available on the Mac OS X platform until now. Whilst it isn’t available through the App Store, you can now download and install the Flux beta for iPhone and iPad by sideloading the app through Xcode on the Mac.

It sounds complicated but it’s actually really easy to do. Apple lifted the developer limitations on device app sideloading earlier this year, so it’s completely free. Until Apple relaxes App Store policies, this will be the only way to do this. Read the instructions on how to install Flux after the break …

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Popular live streaming app Periscope has today announced a major update for its iOS app, bringing with it a handful of new features and optimizations for Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The update bumps the app to version 1.3 and was detailed in a blog post on Medium by Periscope.

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Apple today has pulled a popular Instagram client from the App Store after it was found to be harvesting usernames and passwords. First noticed by developer David L-R on Twitter, the Instagram client InstaAgent has been pulled from the App Store. The app, downloaded more than half a million times, touted that it would let you see who had been viewing your Instagram profile.

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After first being announced and previewed in screenshots at WWDC in June, Apple has officially brought its subscription music service Apple Music to Google’s Android platform. Apple Music joins the iPhone maker’s other Android apps Move to iOS and the Beats Pill+ companion app on the Google Play Store.

Apple Music offers access to a large catalog of streaming music and music recommendations. Music and music videos can be saved for offline listening as well. Memberships costs $9.99/month for individuals, the same as Beats Music subscriptions which Apple Music replaces, after a three-month free trial period. Apple Music family plans for up to five different accounts is available through Family Sharing on iOS and Mac for $14.99/month.
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