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57 'social' stories January 2012 - October 2014

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Smule’s popular Sing! Karaoke app updated with collaborative video features

Zac Hall Oct 30 2014 - 9:00 am PT

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Smule, which makes a variety of music-related iPhone apps like Guitar!, Magic Piano, and AutoRap, has a new version of its popular Sing! Karaoke app out today with a major feature for the app: video. The new version of Sing! Karaoke, which features “a huge catalog of top hits” with instrumental tracks and lyric guides for singing along to, does three things with the newly added video feature.
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Facebook releases updated iOS client with improved support for sharing multiple photos

Mike Beasley Oct 27 2014 - 3:10 pm PT

6 Comments

Facebook has announced that it will be releasing an updated version of its mobile application later today that will improve the process of sharing multiple photos in a single post. The new composer will allow users to choose multiple images from their device’s photo library or camera, then show a preview of the post with each image in the order they were selected.

From here users will be able to add captions to each photo, write an introduction for the post, or rearrange the order of the photos. The post will show up in friends’ news feeds as a photo collage rather than a horizontal group of photos.

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Twitter Mac app updated w/ photo features for tweets and DMs

Zac Hall Oct 2 2014 - 6:39 am PT

2 Comments

Twitter has finally updated its Mac app with support for a few photo features the social network introduced over the past year.

Twitter for Mac users can now view and share tweets with up to four photos included, something introduced to iPhone Twitter users in May. The update also includes the ability to see and send photos in privately shared direct messages; iPhone Twitter users received this feature last December.

Twitter for Mac 3.1 is available for free on the Mac App Store. Full release notes below:
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Skype app updated for iOS 8, includes interactive notifications for calls and messages

Benjamin Mayo Sep 22 2014 - 5:52 am PT

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The Skype app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has now been updated with support for iOS 8. Unfortunately, this does not include support for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screen sizes, meaning Skype still renders at a scaled iPhone 5s resolution.

However, the update does add interactive notifications which helps streamline responding to content. Hence, new Skype notifications have buttons attached to the alert which can perform various actions. For voice calls, you can answer or decline. For video calls, you can choose between voice or video responses. For missed calls, you can respond with a message or call the person straight back.

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Skype says free group video calling coming in the future to more platforms

Mark Gurman Jul 29 2014 - 10:11 am PT

3 Comments

Earlier this month, Microsoft-owned Skype rolled out a group video calling feature to Windows tablets. The free video calling allows for calls with up to ten people, and integrates with Skype on the desktop, which has supported group video calling since April.

Today, Skype tells us that the group video calling feature will be coming to all of its mobile platforms in the future, which likely includes iOS and Android:

We’re excited about Skype group video calling and are working to bring it to more of our platforms. In the future, we’ll be enabling group video calling for all our users across more platforms – at no cost

Unfortunately, the company could not yet provide a more specific rollout timeframe. Skype has been rapidly releasing new products over the past several months, with a major redesign of the Skype iPhone app arriving a couple of months ago.

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Facebook rolling out Mentions iPhone app for verified public figures

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2014 - 8:19 am PT

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Facebook is releasing a new app today called Mentions, an app exclusively for public figures with verified pages that previous reports noted the company was experimenting with.

According to Facebook, the app is made specifically for actors, athletes, musicians, and other influencers and makes for a better experiencing when sharing content and interacting with fans. The app puts a bigger focus on sharing and viewing mentions from other users opposed to viewing content posted by others. The mentions tab in the app, which provides a stream of replies to your content from other users, is something other Facebook apps don’t offer that will benefit public figures spending a lot of time interacting with their audience. Facebook told Recode that “celebrities who have tested the app have been posting twice as much as before.”

See what fans are saying about you and join the conversation… Share your story by posting updates, sharing photos or videos, or hosting a live Q&A… Get streamlined notifications about your posts, including mentions from other influencers or the media.

The new Facebook Mentions app is arriving on the App Store today for verified public figures with public profiles in the US. At launch the company says that will include “tens of thousands” of users, but it eventually has plans to roll it out internationally to more users including public figures without verified public profiles:

Mentions is currently only available for people with verified Pages in the US. We plan to roll out to more countries and verified Profiles in the coming months. If you are an admin of a verified Page, you can request access to Mentions directly. If you are a public figure, you can also download the iPhone app to request access.

Path launches new Talk app, a privacy-focused standalone messaging platform

Zac Hall Jun 20 2014 - 8:04 am PT

3 Comments

The private social network Path updated its iOS app today with a simpler chooser for posting content and a tabbed navigation bar for moving around the app. It’s biggest feature, though, follows a growing trend with mobile apps: Path Messaging has moved to a standalone app called Talk that’s rolling out today.

With its new Talk app, Path wants to replace SMS and Facebook as it focuses on privacy with a feature called Off the Record. While it’s not quite as ephemeral as instantly self-destructing messaging apps like Snapchat and Cyber Dust, Path promises its users that messages sent via Talk automatically erase from the social network’s servers after 24 hours from sending the message…
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Skype 5.0 for iPhone available now… for some lucky App Store users

Zac Hall Jun 12 2014 - 7:13 am PT

32 Comments

We showed you an early behind-the-scenes look at Skype’s major update to its iPhone app including an interview earlier this week, and today Microsoft says that update will officially roll out to users. In fact, a few people are able to download/update it now, while others are still getting the “not available” as of this writing.

From Skype’s blog:

On June 9, we announced that an update to Skype for iPhone was on the way, and today it’s time to try it out for yourself: Skype 5.0 for iPhone has arrived! We were excited to use your feedback to remaster the app around you, to help you connect with your friends and family simply and quickly.

Earlier this week, Skype pulled its previous version from the App Store in anticipation of its major new release. Microsoft says Skype 5.0 for iPhone is rolling out today and the new version is already available for many users via the App Store now.

Update: Skype has offered the following statement below.

Today we announced Skype 5.0 for iPhone is available for download. We understand some users are having problems downloading the app while it populates in the Apple App Store. We’re sorry about the delay, but don’t worry – you’ll be able to try the new version very soon. In the meantime, you can learn about the great new features coming with Skype 5.0 for iPhone here.

Foursquare’s new check-in focused app “Swarm” is now available

Zac Hall May 15 2014 - 8:29 am PT

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Location sharing and reviews service Foursquare recently announced its plans to split its mobile app in half as it introduces a new app called Swarm that will soon be the only place to check-in to locations using Foursquare’s service.

Foursquare will instead focus its main app on reviews and location discovery and plans to remove check-in functionality later this year. Check-ins, mayorships, location sharing, and other social features will instead be focused in Swarm going forward. It’s a big move in terms of risking App Store ranking and discoverability as well as branding, but Facebook has practiced a somewhat similar strategy by developing its messaging experience in Facebook Messenger rather than the primary Facebook app where the feature can also be found.

For its part, Foursquare has already announced a number of features users of the previous app have requested that will be available in Swarm including complete check-in history and neighborhood sharing.
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Facebook Messenger 5.0 adds video sharing, faster photo and sticker access, more

Zac Hall Apr 28 2014 - 10:49 am PT

2 Comments

Facebook today updated Messenger to version 5.0 bringing a list of feature improvements to the iPhone messaging app. The new version boasts a streamlined design for accessing and sharing photos as well as a new shortcut for downloading sticker packs (tap and hold a sent sticker to download the pack), but it’s main feature addition tackles video. Users can now access and share video clips to other users within the app. Previous versions were limited to only sharing photos and voice recordings. The update also includes improvements to searching people and groups by name.
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Facebook Messenger for iPhone updated with free calling support

Zac Hall Apr 3 2014 - 12:07 pm PT

10 Comments

Just a week after Facebook added group management to its Messenger app, the social network is out with yet another update to the messaging service: free calls for everyone.

The feature allows you to call your Facebook friends who also have the app over WiFi for free (you can call over cellular as well, but this uses data, of course). Free calling is especially beneficial to users who communicate internationally as calling rates tend to get pricey in that area.

Messaging threads now include a phone icon for prompting calls from the app, and the actual phone user interface resembles the native iOS Phone UI prior to iOS 7.1 introducing a tweaked design to the Phone app.

Facebook-owned Whatsapp is poised to introduce VOIP support in an upcoming update as well. Screenshots of Whatsapp in-app calling leaked earlier this year.

Facebook Messenger 4.1 is available for free on the App Store.

WhatsApp announces 64 billion messages sent through its texting app — in just one day

Mike Beasley Apr 2 2014 - 12:14 am PT

4 Comments

Whatsapp, the popular messaging client for iOS and Android, announced today on Twitter that it had reached a new record for messages sent in a single day. With 20 billion outgoing messages and 44 incoming messages handled in a single 24-hour period, the grand total came out to 64 billion.

[tweet https://twitter.com/WhatsApp/status/451198381856014337 align=’center’]

Here’s a little perspective on that number: Instagram recently announced that its users had posted 20 billion photos to the service. You’ll notice that’s not a statistic for one day. It’s the total number of photos shared in the history of the network.

That means that in one day, Whatsapp handled over three times as many requests as Instagram has since it launched three years ago. Not too shabby.

UpTo calendar app relaunches with a renewed, balanced focus on what matters

Mike Beasley Mar 27 2014 - 7:00 am PT

6 Comments

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXELeBT8L2o]

When UpTo originally launched, it focused on being what it described as “half-social, half-calendar.” Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well as the social side and the calendar side fought for dominance, resulting in an app that felt like it didn’t know what it wanted to be when it grew up.

Today the company behind UpTo is re-launching the app with a new design and a new focus: rather than trying to turn calendars into a social network, the app is now focused entirely on being the best calendar app it can be. That being said, the new version of the app is not entirely devoid of social features.

Keep reading to find out how the developers finally figured out how to balance these two sides to the software.

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Twitter announces photo tagging, multiple photo uploads per tweet rolling out to iPhone users

Mike Beasley Mar 26 2014 - 2:15 pm PT

4 Comments

Twitter has announced a few new features for its iPhone app today. Users with the latest update to the Twitter for iPhone app will soon see the ability to select up to four photos at a time to upload when composing a tweet. These photos will be displayed as a collage on the tweet’s detail screen.

Along with the multi-photo support, users are also now able to tag other people in their photos. A new “who’s in these photos?” button allows you to add the username of other people in the picture. Photo tags won’t take up any characters in the body of the tweet, so the full character count will be available for composing a message.

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Twitter for iOS updated with improved photo tools, content recommendations, more

Zac Hall Jan 29 2014 - 11:30 am PT

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Twitter released a feature update to its iOS app today bringing new photo-centric features to the social client. Version 6.1 delivers a photo gallery to the tweet compose view making it quicker to sort through your images as well as improvements to photo editing.

Users should also find new content recommendations at the top of the timeline, a feature that may have been popping up for some users before.

The last major update to Twitter also focused on photo sharing as it introduced DM image support.

Twitter 6.1 is available for free on the App Store.

Twitterrific 5 updated with streaming support, list management, more

Zac Hall Jan 22 2014 - 7:40 am PT

1 Comment

The Iconfactory released a significant update to Twitterrific 5 today bringing support for a highly requested feature: streaming.

Just like Twitter for Mac and Tweetbot for Mac and iOS, Twitterrific will now present new tweets to you as they’re loaded alleviating the need to pull-to-refresh when you’re caught up on your timeline. You will need to enable it in the settings for it to work, and it requires WiFi of course.

The update also features a number of other improvements including list management.
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PSA: Snapchat update offers phone number opt out after API abuse

Zac Hall Jan 9 2014 - 8:57 am PT

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Following recent API abuse that lead to phone numbers and usernames being exposed, Snapchat, the social photo sharing app, has updated its iPhone app with the option to opt out of linking your phone number with your username. The feature was intended to increase social discoverability among mutual contacts, but was recently abused leading to the following update and apology:

Find Friends Improvements

This morning we released a Snapchat update for Android and iOS that improves Find Friends functionality and allows Snapchatters to opt-out of linking their phone number with their username. This option is available in Settings > Mobile #.

This update also requires new Snapchatters to verify their phone number before using the Find Friends service.

Our team continues to make improvements to the Snapchat service to prevent future attempts to abuse our API. We are sorry for any problems this issue may have caused you and we really appreciate your patience and support.

Love,

Team Snapchat

The update is available now on for iPhone and iPod touch on the App Store.

Foursquare 7.0 boasts new redesign and more location intelligence

Zac Hall Dec 5 2013 - 8:49 am PT

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Foursquare is once again showing off an iOS 7-designed app update and a set of new features with version 7.0.

Foursquare originally updated its user interface in time for iOS 7’s public debut with version 6.3, but today Foursquare is introducing even more changes to its UI for iOS 7.

The app also picked up some additional street smarts with the ability to recommend businesses and locations without the app even being open.

Foursquare 7 for iPhone is available for free on the App Store. (Full change log below)

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Preview of Analog Camera for iPhone by Realmac Software

Zac Hall May 14 2013 - 6:00 am PT

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Analog Camera for iPhone by <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=jZ6GP8Fu9UU&subid=&offerid=146261.1&type=10&tmpid=3909&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fnl%2Fartist%2Frealmac-software%2Fid310591643%3Fl%3Den" target="_blank">Realmac Software</a>

From the wonderful folks who brought you Clear for iPhone and Mac, Realmac Software announced today it will bring a few of its stunning filters from Analog for Mac to the iPhone with Analog Camera.

Analog Camera for iPhone resembles the simplistic, gesture based UI of Clear for iPhone, featuring soft square or rectangle buttons that pop up upon contact and prompt fun, clever sounds.

Check out my observations of the app and a teaser video below:
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Twitterrific 5 iOS app gets Readability, Droplr support, improved notifications, more

Jordan Kahn May 13 2013 - 12:03 pm PT

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The Twitterrific 5 for Twitter iOS app has been updated today to version 5.2.2 with a number of new features and enhancements. Among them, the popular iOS Twitter client gets support for the Readability bookmarking service, Droplr as a new image service, and a few welcomed performance enhancements such as Indicators in timeline tabs that “are updated as tweets are read” and updating read/unread notifications for tweet timestamps as you scroll.

A full list of what’s new in version 5.2.2 of Twitterrifc for Twitter is below:

What’s New in Version 5.2.2

NEW FEATURES

• Added new bookmarking service: Readability
• Added new image service: Droplr

IMPROVEMENTS

• The read/unread state of tweet timestamps are updated as you scroll
• Indicators in timeline tabs are updated as tweets are read
• Added VoiceOver feedback after performing profile actions (follow, unfollow, etc)
• Third party logins are now cleared out when a service is disabled
• Additional larger font size setting on iPad

BUG FIXES

• Compose attachment buttons are now disabled during @name autocomplete
• Fixed a bug that could cause replies to be counted more than once
• Improved reliability when clearing push notification badges
• VoiceOver no longer repeatedly announces new tweet count
• When composing replies, VoiceOver reads text first instead of original tweet

NOTES

• Yfrog links now open in the in-app browser instead of the photo viewer

Following acquisition, Pulse iOS news app updated with sharing to LinkedIn

Mark Gurman May 8 2013 - 2:06 pm PT

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The free Pulse news-reading app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch has been updated with support for sharing articles to social network LinkedIn. Of course, this update should come as little surprise as Linkedin acquired Pulse last month for $90 million. Additionally, the new update includes sharing to the Evernote service.

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App.net launches ‘Passport’ app for iPhone to manage accounts, find browsing clients, sign up for free

Mark Gurman May 8 2013 - 1:40 pm PT

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New Twitter-like social network App.net has launched an iPhone and iPod touch app called “Passport.” The application serves as a simple way to manage App.net accounts, edit your profile, and find and follow other App.net users. Importantly, the “Passport” app does not serve as a browsing client for an App.net feed, but rather as an app primarily focused on finding third-party App.net clients.

Notably, the app allows you to create a free account. Previously, to get a free account, users needed to have been invited by an existing user.

The app is available for free on the App Store. We previously posted a guide to our favorite App.net clients. You can follow us and our staff on App.net.

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Message Box brings systemwide Facebook Chat Heads to iOS [jailbreak]

Mike Beasley Apr 26 2013 - 4:28 pm PT

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Jailbreak developer Adam Bell has just published a new tweak that allows Facebook users to access their Chat Heads from anywhere. The tweak is called Message Box and it works remarkably well. It’s not 100% perfect yet, but it functions well enough to use full time without much of an issue.

Keep reading for more info on the tweak, including where you can get it before it hits Cydia.

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Tweetbot 2.8 gets media timeline, redesigned image viewer, more

Seth Weintraub Apr 23 2013 - 9:20 am PT

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Tweetbot fans, a new update awaits you at the App Store. Today’s 2.8 update has some interesting new features and important bug fixes.

Topping the list is the “media timeline” – find it located next to the search box – which will show you all of the images and video in your timeline. Speaking of images, Tapbots totally redesigned the image viewer in this round. Rounding out this update is “Tweet/status detail view now displays the number of Favs and Retweets” which will be enjoyed by narcissists everywhere. Oh and what update wouldn’t be complete without “Various other bug fixes including Fixed Instagram Previews”?

Get it on iTunes ($2.99)
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