WebProNews

Tag: iOS Apps

  • Apple: Biggest Release Ever Of iOS

    Apple: Biggest Release Ever Of iOS

    According to Apple, it’s upcoming release of iOS 10 is the biggest release ever of iOS which it considers to be the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. It unveiled the updates Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. Included in the release are significant updates to Messages, New Home App, All-New Photos, Music and News & Opens Siri, Maps, Phone and Messages to Developers.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook told the developers at the conference that Apple is investing in the next generation of app developers by awarding more than 150 scholarships this year. Cook said the youngest attendee at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is only 9 and that he met her yesterday and said, “She is going to make a great developer.”

    Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 9.26.54 AM

    Cook announced that Apple now has over 2 million apps in the app store. “Your 2 billion apps in the app store have been downloaded 130 billion times,” stated Cook. “As you know the app store is the best business opportunity for developers. We’re about to pass $50 billion paid directly to developers. This is absolutely amazing.”

    “Of course, successful developers translates into us having the best platform for users and this is what really matters” Cook said. Apple is pleased to introduce iOS 10:

    Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 9.35.47 AM

    Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, introduced iOS 10 to the audience by stating that the official name of the “world’s most advanced operating system is macOS.

    Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 9.37.58 AM

    The new iOS 10 features a huge update to Messages that delivers more expressive and animated ways to message such as stickers and full-screen effects.

    iOS 10 introduces the ability for Siri® to do more by working with apps, beautifully redesigned Maps, Photos, Apple Music® and News apps, and the Home app, delivering a simple and secure way to manage home automation products in one place. iOS 10 opens up incredible opportunities to developers with Siri, Maps, Phone and Messages.

    “iOS 10 is our biggest release ever, with delightful new ways to express yourself in Messages, a native app for Home automation, and beautifully redesigned apps for Music, Maps, and News that are more intuitive and more powerful, making everything you love about your iPhone and iPad even better,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.

    Federighi added, “iOS 10 adds Siri intelligence into QuickType and Photos, automates your home with the new Home app and opens up Siri, Maps, Phone and Messages to developers — while increasing security and privacy with powerful technologies like Differential Privacy.”

    Here’s how the Apple news release explains the new features:

    Personal & Expressive Messages
    Messages is the most frequently used iOS app, and with iOS 10 it is more expressive and fun with animated and personalized ways to message friends and family. Messages includes powerful animations, such as balloons, confetti or fireworks that can take over an entire screen to celebrate a special occasion, invisible ink to send a message only revealed after a friend swipes over it, and for added personalization, handwritten notes. Automatic suggestions make it easy to replace words with emoji, Tapback creates a quick and simple way to respond with just a tap and rich links let you see content inline and play media without ever leaving your conversation.

    iOS 10 brings the power of the App Store® to Messages, opening up new opportunities for developers to create fun new ways for users to communicate in a thread, including stickers to be peeled and pasted into conversations, the ability to quickly personalize GIFs or edit photos, send payments or schedule dinner or a movie, all from within Messages.

    Siri Opens to Developers
    In iOS 10, Siri can be extended into major new areas and do more than ever by working with the apps you love to use. For the first time, developers can build on the intelligence Siri offers and let users interact directly with apps using just their voice. SiriKit™ helps developers easily design their apps to work with Siri for messaging, phone calls, photo search, ride booking, personal payments and workouts, or use Siri to control CarPlay® apps, access climate controls or adjust radio settings within automakers’ apps.

    Beautifully Redesigned Maps
    Maps in iOS 10 gets a beautiful redesign that makes it even simpler and more intuitive to use. Now open to developers with new extensions, apps like OpenTable can integrate bookings right into Maps, and services like Uber and Lyft can make it easier for users to book a ride, without ever leaving the Maps app. Maps is even smarter with new intelligence that proactively delivers directions to where you most likely want to go next, based on your routine or appointments on your calendar. Once a route is planned, Maps can search along the route for gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops and more and provides an estimate of how the stop impacts the length of your trip.

    Rediscover Memories in Photos
    Photos in iOS 10 helps you rediscover favorite and forgotten occasions from your photo library by automatically surfacing them in Memories. Memories scans all your photos and videos and finds favorite and forgotten events, trips and people, and presents them in a beautiful collection. A Memory also contains the Memory Movie, an automatically edited movie with theme music, titles and cinematic transitions.

    Memories uses advanced computer vision to group the people, places and things inside your images into albums with on-device facial, object and scene recognition. This intelligence brings Memories and related photos to life in a way that’s personal and meaningful to you, while maintaining your privacy.

    Home App for Simpler Home Automation
    The Home app is deeply integrated into iOS, delivering a simple and secure way to set up, manage and control your home in one place. Accessories can be managed individually or grouped into scenes so they work together with a single command and can be controlled by using Siri. They can be managed remotely or set up for home automation with Apple TV®, and can respond with automatic triggers set by time of day, location or action.

    Support for HomeKit™ continues to expand globally with nearly 100 home automation products adopting HomeKit this year, bringing support for thermostats, lights, window shades, door locks, video cameras and more to the Home app. Later this year, leading home builders, including Brookfield Residential, KB Home, Lennar Homes and R&F Properties, will begin integrating many of these HomeKit devices into new homes.

    All-New Design for Apple Music & News
    Apple Music has an all-new design, bringing greater clarity and simplicity to every aspect of the experience. It uses a new design language that allows the music to become the hero and a new structure that makes it easy to navigate and discover new music. The Library, For You, Browse and Radio tabs have been completely redesigned to provide an even greater sense of place, and we’ve added a Search tab to make finding music even easier. All of these changes come together to create a design that is clear and intuitive. iOS 10 features a redesigned News app with a new For You, organized into distinct sections that make it easier to find stories, support for breaking news notifications and paid subscriptions.

    iOS Experience
    In iOS 10, accessing the information you need is easier and quicker than ever. Raise to Wake automatically wakes the screen as you raise your iPhone®, making it easier to view all your notifications at a glance, right from the Lock screen. Notifications, Today view and Control Center are accessible with just a swipe or a press, and deeper 3D Touch™ integration with iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus makes interacting with apps even easier.

    Additional iOS 10 Features
    Siri intelligence brings new QuickType® features, including contextual predictions to surface relevant information based on location, calendar availability or contacts; and predictive typing supports multiple languages without switching keyboards.
    Phone adds integration for third-party VoIP calls, voicemail transcription and a new caller ID extension for spam alerts.
    Built-in app updates include Safari® split-view for iPad®, Notes collaboration and Live Photos™ editing.
    Apple Pay® can now be used to make easy, secure and private purchases on participating websites using Safari, in addition to paying in-stores and within apps.
    Bedtime Alarm in the Clock app lets you set a regular sleep schedule and receive bedtime reminders.

    Privacy in iOS 10
    Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of Apple hardware, software and services. iMessage®, FaceTime® and HomeKit use end-to-end encryption to protect your data by making it unreadable by Apple and others. iOS 10 uses on-device intelligence to identify the people, objects and scenes in Photos, and power QuickType suggestions. Services like Siri, Maps and News send data to Apple’s servers, but this data is not used to build user profiles.

    Starting with iOS 10, Apple is using technology called Differential Privacy to help discover the usage patterns of a large number of users without compromising individual privacy. In iOS 10, this technology will help improve QuickType and emoji suggestions, Spotlight® deep link suggestions and Lookup Hints in Notes.

    Availability
    The developer preview of iOS 10 is available to iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta program will be available to iOS users in July at beta.apple.com. iOS 10 will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 5 and later, all iPad Air® and iPad Pro™ models, iPad 4th generation, iPad mini™ 2 and later, and iPod touch® 6th generation. For more information, visit apple.com/ios/ios10-preview. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.

    Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

  • Square Gives Businesses New Appointments App

    Square Gives Businesses New Appointments App

    Square announced the launch of an appointments app for businesses, aptly called Square Appointments.

    The company first launched its appointment management tool a little over a year ago.

    “Difficulties with juggling schedules is a pain point we hear a lot from salons, barber shops, health and wellness providers, and other service professionals,” Square says. “That’s why we designed Square Appointments, an online booking system that accepts appointments 24 hours a day — making it convenient for you and your clients as well. Already, millions of appointments have been scheduled online through Square.”

    The app gives businesses a dedicated experience to manage them. You can use it to set up and edit appointments on the go, access and edit client profiles, accept or decline appointments from your phone notifications screen, and check clients out on the phone.

    Screen Shot 2015-08-27 at 1.12.04 PM

    The app is now available for iOS. The Android version is in the works, and you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available.

    This is just the latest standalone app Square has launched in recent months. In July, it released a new Dashboard app aimed at making it easier for businesses to make decisions from their mobile devices based on data.

    In June, Square launched a new payroll service.

    Images via Square

  • Etsy Local Now Available On Android, iOS

    Etsy Local Now Available On Android, iOS

    Late last year, Etsy launched the Etsy Local pilot program, which enabled select shoppers to get push notifications from the Etsy Android or iOS app that alerted them when an Etsy seller is selling at a local event.

    “Etsy Local push notifications are a new way for Etsy sellers and buyers to connect locally and in-person,” a spokesperson for Etsy told us at the time. “It connects sellers participating in fairs and markets to shoppers in their area; shoppers can meet and buy from sellers in-person, supporting both the Etsy community and their own local economies.”

    The company just announced that the feature is now getting a proper launch on both operating systems. A spokesperson tell us in an email:

    Etsy is committed to finding ways to bring the online world together with offline shopping experiences, creating even more meaningful connections between buyers and sellers. And now, with Etsy Local for mobile, people can shop just around the corner! Through the Etsy app for iOS and Android, shoppers can now more easily discover nearby stores that feature their favorite sellers, and connect in-person when a seller is at a market or an in-store event.

    Etsy Local not only allows shoppers to discover great boutiques and markets in their local area to shop vintage and handmade, but also view recommended stores and events in their area that are tailored to their tastes based on the types of shops and sellers they have previously engaged with. The Etsy Local experience also incorporates a newer member of the Etsy community – retailers – and encourages buyers to shop from them, supporting their local communities.

    When you open the Local tab fro the app, recommended nearby retailers and events (tailored to user tastes) will appear. They’re based on shops and sellers you’ve previously engaged with through favoriting, purchasing, and browsing. You can find the feature from the Home page and click on a map or listing to see more info, like hours of operation, available items, etc.

    Another cool part about the feature is that you can use it when you’re traveling to find shopping destinations.

    Naturally, the feature will benefit sellers who sell offline as the feature should up their visibility a great deal.

    Etsy talks more about the feature in a blog post here.

    Image via Etsy

  • Facebook Explains How Facebook At Work Works

    Back in November, we learned that Facebook was testing a new product called Facebook at Work – a version of Facebook for businesses. We also learned it would launch in January, and now, it has surfaced as an iOS app.

    Facebook says you can use Facebook at Work from a desktop computer or from a variety of mobile phones and tablets, but it looks like only the iOS app is live so far. It’s still missing from the Google Play store, though help documentation indicates it’s available for Android, so that should be appearing soon.

    Here are the sceenshots Apple’s App Store gives us:

    Facebook at Work

    Facebook at Work

    The app requires iOS 7 or later, and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It’s optimized for iPhone 5, 6, and 6 Plus.

    What it does is let you create a work account that is separate from your personal Facebook account. You can use it to interact with co-workers, and the things you share with that account will only be visible to other people at your company. You can still access things that are shared publicly on Facebook with your work account. You can only set up a work account by clicking an email you receive if the company is using Facebook at Work. You can also do that from [YourCompanyName].facebook.com when that becomes available to you.

    When you set up a work account, you can connect it to your personal account so that you can switch between the two, and use the same username/password (which which won’t be shared with your employer). Facebook explains:

    When you share something from your work account, you can share it with everyone at your company or make it only visible to you by selecting the Only Me option. Posts set to Only Me won’t appear in your co-workers’ News Feeds unless you tag them in the post. If you share something with everyone at your company, anyone with a work account at your company can see it, but it isn’t visible to people outside of your company.

    The people who manage Facebook at Work at your company can access anything you share from your work account, just as they might access your work emails and other work files.

    When you set up a work account, the profile includes information provided by the employer (such as name, job title, work contact info) automatically. You’ll have to ask the human resources department if you wish to have anything edited. You can, however, still personalize your profile with a profile picture, cover photo, and additional details in the About section.

    If you want to try out a Facebook work account, but your employer isn’t using Facebook at Work, Facebook is encouraging you to contact them so they can send you additional info. Presumably, you can then use this info to try and convince your boss to start using it.

    Facebook notes that Facebook at Work is completely separate from Business Manager, which is a tool for managing ads and Pages.

    Patrick Rusby, Research Analyst at Analysys Mason, said, “Facebook at Work has the potential to be a disruptive force in the enterprise social network market. Increasingly enterprises are adopting technologies that are first used by their employees outside of work, as was the case with smartphones. Facebook itself has features which would appeal as part of an enterprise social network (such as instant messaging, link and document sharing, presence and integration with a wide range of devices).”

    It will be interesting to see how businesses respond to Facebook at Work and if it becomes a widely used tool for workplace communication. It will also be interesting to see what kinds of features Facebook adds as time goes on.

    “Facebook at Work will need to provide an email service (or integration with existing email clients), integration with existing scheduling/calendar platforms and a sensible file management system in order to be taken seriously in this space, but these could be solved,” said Rusby.

    Facebook is still in the testing process according to Facebook’s Lars Rasmussen, who told TechCrunch the product is aimed initially at companies with 100 or more employees, and may even be a paid product. Ingrid Lunden, who interviewed him, speculates that there could be a tiered model, which might include an ad-supported free version.

    “Monetisation is an interesting point here,” Rusby said. “Due to privacy/confidentiality issues relating to internal company communications, this will need to be a paid for service, as enterprises will not accept adverts being pushed at them based on the content of internal, private discussions.”

    “This is unlikely to be a huge new revenue stream on its own, given that it would be competing with Yammer, which is well established in this space,” he added. “However, this would be a new, recurring revenue stream, and it would put Facebook in front of people for more of the day, which may serve to increase engagement with Facebook in general.”

    For now, we’ll have to wait and see what Facebook says about Facebook at Work when it gives the product a proper launch.

    Images via iTunes

  • Bing Launches Updates For iPhone, iPad Apps

    Bing Launches Updates For iPhone, iPad Apps

    Bing announced some updates to its apps for iPhone and iPad in time for the holidays, when many will no doubt be unwrapping these devices.

    The iPhone app has a redesigned home screen with the larger size of the newer models in mind. The search box has been moved to the middle of the screen, and it’s been made larger.

    “We also made it easier for you to enjoy our beautiful image of the day,” Bing says in a blog post. “Just tap anywhere underneath the search box, and all the elements of the app disappear, creating an immersive, full-screen image experience. And if you want to see yesterday’s image, just swipe from the left.”

    They also changed the layout for weather, trending news, and images, enabling users to swipe from the bottom of the home screen to have inf zoom to full screen. There are additional changes to the iPhone app, but Bing says it wants people to discover them for themselves rather than telling you what they are.

    “On iPad, we have taken advantage of the latest in iOS8 to make the experiences you already use even more powerful,” Bing says. “The translate extension that we brought to our iPhone app a couple months ago is now available on iPad so that you can instantly translate web pages in either the Bing app or your default browser to a desired language.”

    The Bing widget for the Notification Center will also serve the Bing image of the day and trending stories.

    Image via Bing

  • Facebook’s Rooms App Gets More Usable

    Facebook has released an update to Rooms, the mobile message board app it launched in October. The update adds a new “Explore” feature to make it easier to discover new “rooms” to join.

    When Rooms launched, it wasn’t as ridiculous as Slingshot (an app previously released by the same Facebook Creative Labs team), but it also wasn’t the easiest thing in the world for users to get into. As my colleague Josh Wolford wrote at the time:

    If you download Rooms today, you might find it hard to find room to join. That’s because Rooms doesn’t (yet?) have a browse or search function. In another hit of internet nostalgia, finding and joining rooms is all based around QR codes – which are autogenerated for each room, and then used as tickets of sorts to join the boards. The app will scan your camera roll for any QR codes you’ve saved, and that’s how you enter into a room.

    Well, that missing piece has now been added.

    “Starting today, we’re giving you an easier way to discover and join these communities,” Facebook says in a blog post. “In Rooms v1.2, you’ll notice a new ‘Explore’ button in the top-left of the app. Navigate there to take a peek at a handful of awesome rooms and join them with a single tap! We hope you find a room that resonates with you.”

    Last month, Rooms added an activity dashboard and push notifications. Slowly but surely it’s becoming a more usable app.

    According to Facebook, “Over the past month and a half, our community has created tens of thousands of rooms ranging from developers emulating old video games on modern smartphones, to college fraternities, depression support, and Kendama tricks.”

    Still no word on when the app might launch for Android. Right now, it’s iOS-only.

    Image via Facebook

  • Google Drive Gets New Features On Android, iOS (Also In Gmail)

    Google announced some new features for Google Drive on Android and iOS. On Android, users can search for files in Drive from the main Google app.

    Google explains, “For example, you could say ‘OK, Google — search for holiday letter on Drive’ to get to your files without opening the app and typing keywords.”

    On iOS, you can add files to Drive by uploading content from other iOS apps.

    On both platforms, you can now access and share maps you create with Google My Maps. Google added My Maps to Google Drive last week.

    There is also some helpful, new Google Drive functionality in Gmail. As Google explains in a Google+ post:

    There are now more ways to share Drive files with friends and family through Gmail, without having to worry about accidentally removing their access. By selecting the “Insert as Attachment” option from Drive you’ll be able to attach non-Google files directly to your Gmail message.

    Now you can be sure your friend will always have that great candid photo from your weekend getaway, or the PDF for your aunt’s fruitcake recipe (do people actually eat Fruitcake?) even if you delete it from your Drive. 

    The new iOS app is currently available in the App Store. The Android update will be rolling out over the next week.

    Image via Google

  • Google Wallet For iOS Lets You Split Bills

    Google Wallet for iOS will now let you split up bills with your friends, adding a helpful function to an app Google is still hoping will truly take off.

    Google announced the news in a brief Google+ post:

    The days of arguing about how to split the dinner bill are over. With the latest version of Google Wallet on iOS you can pick any charge, add the people you want to split it with, choose how you want to divide it up, and they’ll receive a request for their share of the total.

    The app has been updated with a few other features as well. For one, it now supports Apple’s Touch ID, so users can use their fingerprint to unlock it.

    It also got a general redesign, taking advantage of Material Design, which the company is slowly rolling out to most of its apps.

    Google has been trying to generate more interest from iOS developers, and that will likely extend to Google Wallet, particularly as rival Apple Pay continues to gain support.

    Image via Google+

  • Yelp Shows Businesses Some Love With New App

    Yelp’s reputation among businesses is…let’s just say a mixed bag. By now, you’ve no doubt heard plenty of horror stories, regardless of whether or not they’re true (they’re often unproven), but the fact is that Yelp needs businesses to exist, and ultimately, the better its reputation among them is, the better off the company itself is bound to be. Yelp is making efforts to become a more valuable tool for businesses.

    Do you think Yelp is on the right track when it comes to catering to businesses? Let us know what you think in the comments.

    Yelp announced the launch of a new app for business owners, aptly titled the Yelp for Business Owners app. It’s available for both iOS and Android, and enables businesses to get real-time notifications of new Yelp messages and reviews.

    According to the company, the app is designed to make it easier for businesses to engage with customers, manage their Yelp reputations, and respond to consumers more quickly.

    “Since launching in June of 2014, consumers are now sending an average of 55,000 messages each month to businesses through our free Message the Business tool,” Yelp says. “With more than 64% percent of Yelp searches done on mobile and 73 million monthly unique visitors using Yelp via their mobile device as of Q3 2014, it’s clear there’s a demand to conduct these conversations on the go.”

    Yelp, in general, is becoming much more mobile. It was just last year that Yelp finally started letting users leave reviews with its mobile apps. This led to significantly more reviews. It’s nice that they’re finally giving some of this mobile love to the businesses it lists, especially considering all the highly publicized grief businesses have experienced with Yelp.

    Business owners can also use the new app to view their business page activity, such as the number of user views and customer leads they have generated over the past 30 days. They can respond to reviews by private message or public comment, and respond to customer inquiries from the Message the Business feature.

    Advertisers can also use the app to view reports on ad clicks from Yelp users.

    “We’re excited to take this step in making Yelp more accessible and easy to use for business owners, and we plan to add additional features to the app in the near future,” Yelp says.

    The company considers the app its “gift to business owners”.

    The app is available in all of Yelp’s 29 countries and 16 languages. You can find it in Google Play or the App Store.

    It’s still early, but on Android, the Yelp for Business Owners app seems to be getting mostly positive reviews so far. The App Store doesn’t have enough ratings to display.

    One of the negative Android reviews, while praising certain aspects of the app, suggested that it’s missing some key features:

    Very clean, very fast…but… #fail The app has no reason being an app to only respond to messages. Here’s what I need: (1) Change business location. (2) Add photos on the fly. (3) The ability to edit my business. Without that, why does this app even matter? Are companies just wasting money to build apps that aren’t even productive that only waste space? I’ll be back to see if you guys fix it. Stop giving good reviews for non-productive apps, maybe they’ll actually make it a business app.

    Yelp will no doubt be updating the app in time, so it won’t be surprising to see them add some of this stuff. It’s rare that mobile apps are full-featured right out of the box.

    What do you think of the app? Will it help you get more out of Yelp as a business? Do you think it will help you manage your reputation? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Image via Yelp

  • Amazon Updates Kindle For iOS App

    Amazon Updates Kindle For iOS App

    Amazon just launched an update to its Kindle for iOS app, introducing a bunch of new features, including a book browser for iPad, a new welcome experience, Goodreads integration, “Next in Series” info, book detail pages in the library, and Audible Progressive Play.

    With the browser feature, Kindle Unlimited subscribers can now browse over 700,000 books, and start reading them without leaving the app. Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited back in the summer. It’s basically the company’s Netflix for reading. Users can tap on a book cover to display a detail page that provides the book description and customer reviews. The Browser also gives users the ability to search for any title from Amazon’s catalog of Kindle books.

    The new welcome experience lets new users select their favorite genres, rate books they’ve read, and choose books they want to read. It will provide personalized book sample suggestions (powered by Goodreads) to download and read for free.

    “Goodreads customers can now share reading progress updates, highlights, and more from inside the Kindle book they are reading,” says Amazon. “Once connected (click on the Settings icon in the bottom right hand corner of the Library or Home page, then click on Social Network and select Goodreads to link accounts), customers can share reading progress updates using the new [g] button in the reader controls; share quotes on Goodreads, Facebook or Twitter; or rate and review a book on Goodreads and Amazon from the ‘Before You Go’ screen at the end of a book.”

    Users who finish a book in a series can learn about the next book, and add it to their wish list from the ‘Before You Go’ screen.

    Additionally, book details can now be viewed by long pressing a book cover in the library and selecting “Book Details.” Users will see a synopsis of the book, Amazon reviews, etc.

    With the Audible Progressive Play feature, you can start playing audiobooks as they’re downloading. They can be played once you’ve downloaded past your current reading location.

    The Goodreads blog has more on the Goodreads integration.

    Last week, Amazon announced its best-selling books of the year.

    Image via Goodreads

  • New MSN Apps Released For iOS, Android

    New MSN Apps Released For iOS, Android

    Microsoft has launched some new MSN Apps for iOS, Android, and Amazon devices. These are platform expansions of apps currently available for Windows.

    There are six in all: Sports, Finance, News, Health & Fitness, Food & Drink, and Weather. They provide users with content from publishers and Microsoft’s partners as well as personalized experiences to let users follow topics of interest, sports updates for their favorite teams, and use diet/exercise tracking.

    “The MSN apps already sync across MSN.com, Windows and Windows phone devices, and now with availability on iOS, Android and Amazon devices, there is a new degree of scale across screens and platforms,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “The apps are customizable and intelligent, so you can choose your preferences in one place and enjoy content everywhere with your preferences syncing seamlessly across platforms and devices. For example – just in time for those New Year’s resolutions – you can use the Health & Fitness app to search from over 200,000 foods and log your calories in the Diet Tracker on your phone or tablet, while traveling or on the go. Then, access the same tracker on your computer at home.”

    “The apps are another example of Microsoft’s commitment to creating engaging and useful experiences for consumers, and continuing our investment in mobile and cross-screen platforms to provide scale and reach for our brand partners,” the company added.

    The new apps are available in 56 markets. They’ll make advertising available within the apps next month.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Square Launches Caviar App For iOS

    Back in August, Square announced its acquisition of San Francisco-based food delivery service Caviar. Now the company has launched a new iOS app for it.

    A post on the Caviar blog says:

    Enjoying dishes from your city’s best restaurants just got a whole lot easier — our free iOS app is now available for download. Order lunch while riding the elevator, or decide what’s for dinner on your way home. If you have nothing but leftovers in your kitchen, we’ve got you covered.

    With just a few taps, you can browse through photos of the most popular meals in your city. And you can keep track of your order status, so you know exactly when to expect your food. The Caviar app is also optimized for Apple Pay.

    By the way, when Caviar says “your city,” it only means Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn and the SF Peninsula and South Bay.

    It’s unclear when Square might expand Caviar into additional locations or offer it on Android.

    It’s been a big week for food delivery. Amazon also launched a new service, though it’s only available in Seattle for now.

    Image via Caviar

  • Facebook Updates Rooms iPhone App

    Facebook Updates Rooms iPhone App

    If you’ll recall, Facebook launched a standalone app called Rooms in October. This is not to be confused with Groups, which it has since launched.

    Facebook described rooms as “inspired by both the ethos of early web communities and the capabilities of modern smartphones.” It’s basically like forums, which you access via QR code. More on how it works here.

    The app, which is only available for iOS, just got an update. Here’s what’s new (via iTunes):

    Sounds: Pick a custom sound for members to hear when they tap the like button—more than 50 options!

    Activity dashboard: Track activity in your room, including total time spent in the room and posts, comments, and likes over the last week.

    Push notifications: Get messages on your phone when somebody posts to a room you’re in. Turn them on or off in Settings.

    Bug fixes: We fixed a bunch of things to make Rooms work better and faster.

    No word on when Facebook might launch the app for Android. That probably depends on how much traction it can gain on iOS. At least Groups, which is based on established feature launched on both platforms.

    Via TNW

    Image via iTunes

  • Google Analytics Gets An iPad App

    It’s hard to believe that this is only just now happening, but Google finally announced an iPad app for Google Analytics. The announcement comes from Nikhil Roy in a Google+ post:

    As an analytics user, having data at your fingertips is essential. Today, we are bringing our mobile app to the iPad. The new application (available free on the iTunes Store: http://goo.gl/MtcDCJ ) allows you to check real time usage and optimizes the view for your larger screen, giving you more of what you need to run your business – data. Happy analyzing!

    Here’s a look:

    Google only released its Analytics app for iPhone in July, over two years after launching it for Android, and it still wasn’t iPad-optimized. I can almost hear a collective sigh of relief from business-owning iPad users everywhere.

    The latest iOS version (1.1.0) also includes some unspecified bug fixes and performance improvements.

    Also happening in Google Analytics land is an improved set-up process for connecting Analytics with your AdSense account.

    Image via Google

  • Facebook Launches Mobile Like Button For All Android, iOS Developers

    Earlier this year at its f8 developer conference, Facebook announced the mobile Like button for apps. At first it was only available in preview for some iOS developers, but on Thursday, the company announced it’s now available to all iOS and Android developers.

    “People using a mobile app can directly Like the app’s Facebook Page, or any Open Graph object within the app, and share on Facebook,” explains Facebook’s Todd Krabach. “The mobile Like Button works seamlessly with the Facebook account the person is logged into on their device, allowing people to Like any piece of content, while in your native app.”

    Developers can add the button with just a simple line of code. As Facebook notes, there are plenty of different places in an app to display it. For example, you can show it after a user reaches a certain level of engagement or as soon as they log into the app.

    “We recommend testing different locations to determine which leads to the best engagement,” says Krabach. “It is also important to select locations on the screen that resonate with your existing app experience and user interface. Some apps also show a pop-up dialog with the Like Button at the right moment in the app when people want to engage or share content.”

    According to Facebook, the Like and Share buttons are viewed across 10 million websites daily.

    iOS documentation is here, and Android is here.

    Image via Facebook

  • Sling Adds Chromecast Support

    Sling Adds Chromecast Support

    Google’s inexpensive Chromecast device keeps getting better and better, and it’s mostly not even by Google’s own hands (though the recent launch of screen mirroring was pretty big). More third-party apps continue to offer support, and today the device gets a big one.

    Sling, which lets people watch their own TV set-ups remotely by way of mobile app, now supports Chromecast, meaning users can watch from any TV with a Chromecast (and they’re quite portable) just as if they were in their own living room.

    Sling says in a blog post:

    If you’re not familiar with Chromecast, here’s a quick rundown: It’s a dongle (don’t you love that word?) made by Google that you plug into a TV’s HDMI port. It lets you “cast” content onto the big screen wirelessly from apps running on your mobile device. When paired with the Slingplayer app, you’ll be able to watch any of your cable or satellite programming (live or recorded) on any TV that’s been set up with Chromecast. Remember, both the Chromecast device and Slingplayer-equipped mobile device must be on the same network. And when they are, you’ll be able to control your TV with a soft remote interface that shows up on your phone or tablet:

    Chromecast, like the other popular Sling-supported video streamers including Roku players and Apple TV, is compact (less than three inches long) and inexpensive ($35). We feel this will present a simple but powerful solution for our Sling customers who want to watch on multiple home TVs without setting up more than one set-top box, or would like to use Sling to watch their home content on a TV in a hotel, vacation home, office or anywhere else.

    Chromecast support is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android Phones, with Android tablet support on the way.

    The news follows Google’s announcement this week that Chromecast has also gained support from Twitch, Disney’s TV apps, iHeartRadio, and DramaFever. Other recent additions include Watch ABC and NPR One.

    Image via Sling

  • Google Drive For iOS Gets New Upload Experience

    Google has launched an update for the Google Drive app on iOS. Among new features are faster syncing and a new upload experience that shows progress and file destination.

    Last week, Google launched new apps for Docs, Sheets & Slides on iOS. The Slides app is brand new, and the Docs and Sheets apps received significant updates.

    The apps enable users to work with any file from iPhones and iPads. Any changes made from any device are saved automatically, and offline editing is built in. Changes made offline are synced when a connection is regained. You can also edit Office files directly from the new apps.

    The new functionality in these apps was already available on Android.

    Image via Twitter

  • Reddit Launches iPhone App Just For AMAs

    Reddit Launches iPhone App Just For AMAs

    Reddit announced the launch of the reddit AMA (as me anything) app for iOS – an app built specifically for the popular Q&As that frequently take place on the site.

    AMAs have been around for about eight years, and have only grown in popularity in that time. These days, celebrities and interesting people engage in them all the time, and often get news coverage for their answers. Reddit says on its blog:

    “AMAs get a lot of attention outside of reddit, and often you’ll see “Top 10 answers or moments to [insert name of celebrity or person]’s AMA.” While those recaps may be good for those who cannot follow AMAs as they happen live, there is so much more to AMAs that those brief excerpts cannot convey. One of the best parts of AMAs is experiencing the complete spectrum of questions and answers with full context.”

    “With this app, we want to share more about what reddit is all about, so people can find and enjoy a wider variety of AMAs as they are happening.”

    As the company notes, some of the most popular AMAs are by “people who are doing everyday jobs”. Examples given include a flight attendant for a top airline, a vacuum cleaner repair technician, and the guy who kicks people out of Alamo Drafthouse movie theaters for texting or talking.

    Reddit has also built out its OAuth API to encourage developers to use its data in their own apps.

    An Android version of the AMA apps in on the way. It already exists in beta.

    Images via Apple App Store

  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator Hits iOS [Updated]

    LinkedIn Sales Navigator Hits iOS [Updated]

    Update: A LinkedIn spokesperson has informed us that the app went up prematurely, and that the company is still in the process of finalizing some of its functionality. They’ve removed the app, and plan on making it available in the next few weeks.

    LinkedIn recently unveiled a big redesign of its Sales Navigator tool on the web, promising mobile apps in the future. The future is now for iOS users. The app is now available in the App Store.

    Here’s the app description:

    Keep up with your accounts and leads with LinkedIn Sales Navigator – now on your iPhone.

    Whether you’re waiting for a meeting, travelling between clients’ offices, or just in line for a latte, Sales Navigator Mobile gives you access to Sales Navigator’s key features where you need them most: everywhere.

    Find and view people for key insights and common connections, get updates on your accounts and leads, and connect or send a message. It’s never been easier to stay up to date from wherever you work.

    Here’s a slideshow about Sales Navigator LinkedIn shared when it first announced the redesign:

    It remains to be seen when the app might come to Android. Right now, the product is only available in English. More languages will come as will more apps.

    Via TechCrunch

    Images via Apple App Store

  • Apple Reveals Its Reasons For Rejecting Apps

    Apple is now providing the most transparency it ever has when it comes to informing developers why it rejects their apps. While it could certainly be a great deal more transparent, the company has a new webpage up for “Common App Rejections,” which not only describes common reasons for rejection, but lists the top ten reasons.

    The top ten list is actually for a seven-day period ending August 28, so this might be something the company intends to update on a weekly basis. During that time, the most common reason for rejection was “more information needed”. That accounted for 14% of rejections. Number two was “Guideline 2.2: Apps that exhibit bugs will be rejected.” In third place at 6% was “Did not comply with the terms in the Developer Program License Agreement.”

    The top ten reasons accounted for 58% of all rejections. Here’s a look at the whole list:

    Apple has a reputation for being very stingy when it comes to accepting apps into the App Store, and has often been criticized for it – especially in cases where it has accepted apps that seem more questionable than others it has rejected. It’s nice to get a little better idea what the thought process for rejection is, but some of the top reasons are still quite vague.

    For instance, “more information needed,” the top reason, could refer to any number of things. Again, the one about not complying with terms in the license agreement could refer to anything. The rest of the top reasons give specific guidelines.

    “Before you develop your app, it’s important to become familiar with the technical, content, and design criteria that we use to review all apps,” Apple says on the page. “We’ve highlighted some of the most common issues that cause apps to get rejected to help you better prepare your apps before submitting them for review.”

    Issues highlighted with a paragraph of explanation each, include: crashes and bugs; broken links; placeholder content; incomplete information; inaccurate descriptions; misleading users; substandard user interface; advertisements; web clippings, content aggregators, or collections of links; repeated submission of similar apps; and not enough lasting value.

    For “incomplete information,” Apple says: “Enter all of the details needed to review your app in the App Review Information section of iTunes Connect. If some features require signing in, provide a valid demo account username and password. If there are special configurations to set, include the specifics. If features require an environment that is hard to replicate or require specific hardware, be prepared to provide a demo video or the hardware. Also, please make sure your contact information is complete and up-to-date.”

    The page also refers you to the App Review page for resources and a list of guidelines.

    Apple said earlier this summer that it has 1.2 million apps in the App Store.

    Image via Apple

  • Microsoft OneDrive Gets Mobile App Updates

    Microsoft announced some updates to its mobile apps, adding different features to each one.

    The Android app (pictured) now lets users access and manage both personal and work files, which should prove quite helpful.

    “This is the first example of how we’re creating a single, unified OneDrive experience that holistically addresses what people, businesses, and IT managers need,” says Microsoft’s Jason Moore. “Because people are increasingly using the same devices and apps to get things done at work and at home, the ability to store and share files in the cloud is essential on both fronts.”

    “Users can now get to their personal or work files, easily share with family or coworkers, and ensure that they’re never without the files that matter to them – all from a single app,” Moore adds. “Your personal and work accounts are kept separate, and OneDrive makes it clear when you’re accessing your work or personal files. So you don’t need to worry about accidentally backing up your photos to your work account.”

    The iOS app has been updated to gain a new, native search experience, and enables users to swipe down in the app to reveal a search box.

    The All Photos view from the web version is also now part of the iOS app.

    The Windows Phone app has added recycle bin access and some bug fixes.

    Image via Microsoft