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Tag: iphone apps

  • Google Launches Update To iPhone App

    Google Launches Update To iPhone App

    Google announced a new update for the Google app on iPhone and iPad. There’s a new look and feel for voice search and redesigned Google Now cards.

    The cards are now organized by sections to make for an easier to read experience.

    “Timely info—like upcoming flights, appointments, and traffic updates—will show up first, while less urgent cards—like suggestions for videos and articles—will be lower down your feed,” Google explains in a Google+ update.

    “Rich, easy to navigate Search results for NBA and soccer,” Google says, “bring you game info, team news and league standings all in one place, including up-to-the minute box scores. Try it out by searching for your favorite team.”

    The update is now available in the App Store. This is version 10.0.

    Bing also announced a new iPhone app with emphasis on its use of app indexing.

    Images via Google

  • Check Out Bing’s New iPhone App

    Check Out Bing’s New iPhone App

    Microsoft unveiled a new Bing app for iPhone, which it says will let users find and do things faster. According to the company, it goes so far as to “re-think search”.

    Take a look:

    “Mobile search is different from search on a PC. With mobile, we want instant answers and the ability to take immediate action,” says Richard Qian, CVP Bing UX Engineering. “We want to book it, buy it, watch it now. We want to touch more and type less. We want to search once in a single app. The new Bing app for iPhone helps you search and take action from one place so you can focus on the things that you want to find and do, rather than where and how to accomplish them. Here are a few examples.”

    Microsoft is touting the app’s use of app deep linking to help people find movies to watch and songs to listen to. Searching a movie might bring you app results from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, and/or Vudu, for example. For a song, you might be presented with Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, and/or Amazon results.

    “Ready for a night out? The Bing app helps you find the perfect restaurant,” says Qian. “Narrow down choices based on the things that are most important to you with our touch-optimized interface. Get reviews, menus, directions, make a reservation and get a ride right there from the apps you trust. And the night doesn’t need to stop there. We’ll help you find movies in nearby cinemas, and of course, you can book tickets right from the app.”

    Google is also doing more with apps on mobile search. The company announced today that it is utilizing its app indexing in a new way to actually display content from apps right in search results.

    Images via Microsoft

  • Pinterest Profiles Get Revamp on Android, iPhone

    Pinterest is rolling out an updated mobile profile making it easier for users to get back to pins. It’s the first time they’ve updated the profile since 2013, and it has made things faster and easier to find pins while they’re on the go.

    According to the company, 80% of Pinterest users use the app on their mobile device.

    “A profile on Pinterest is like a library of all the things you like or want to try,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews in an email. “More than 100 million people have saved over 50 billion Pins onto 1 billion boards, and we hope these updates make it easier to bring those saved ideas to life.”

    With the new profiles, recent pins and boards you’ve saved to are now at the top of the profile, and they can be sorted in alphabetical order. According to the company, they’ve heard from literally thousands of people that they’d like to be able to sort this way and to have a better way to find pins within their boards.

    “Sorting through your Pins and boards just got faster,” the spokesperson says. “If you have more than 15 Pins saved to a board, we’ve added filters to help you quickly see all your Pins for your most active topics. For example, if you’ve saved lots of recipes to a breakfast board, you’ll now be able to filter your Pins by topics like ‘waffles,’ ‘pancakes,’ ‘eggs’ and more. You can also explore other Pinners’ boards by topic.”

    As with much of what Pinterest announces these days, search is front and center with the new profiles. According to the company, early tests have shown that users who search their own pins are searching doing so 70% more with the new profiles. The number of those searching their pins in general has increased by 75%.

    Another element of the new profiles is that pins you’ve liked will automatically go to a board called “Your Likes” as the “likes” tab has been eliminated.

    Additionally, board covers are now a mosaic of your 6 most recent pins, and the profiles, designed for mobile, are just faster in general.

    According to Pinterest, people in early test have revisited their pins more often with the new profile.

    The new profiles are rolling out on both Android and iPhone.

    Images via Pinterest

  • Here’s Google’s Google I/O Talk For iOS Developers

    You don’t typically associate Google developer events with iOS, but while Google I/O was largely about Android, there was a surprising amount of iOS discussion from the company last week.

    For one, the the company announced that it’s expanding app indexing (which is now a ranking signal for mobile search results) to iOS. At Google I/O, the company held a session about developing with Google on iOS.

    Here’s the official description for the session:

    If you’re an iOS developer, you might not think of looking to Google first to find the top of the line APIs and services. But Google has a lot to offer iOS developers that you may not know about. Come learn about ways we’re going to make developing on iOS easier and more powerful with Google services.

    The talk is presented by Google developer advocate Todd Kerpelman.

    At the show, Google announced that it is extending some APIs to iOS developers via Cocapods.

    Image via YouTube

  • Google Starts Indexing iOS App Content

    Google Starts Indexing iOS App Content

    Google just took its App Indexing initiative to the next level with the announcement that it is bringing app indexing to iOS apps.

    This is huge news considering that many app developers build for iOS before Android if they even bother to build for Android at all. Google recently named app indexing as a ranking signal in mobile search results as well.

    Product manager Eli Wald says in a blog post:

    We’ve been helping users discover relevant content from Android apps in Google search results for a while now. Starting today, we’re bringing App Indexing to iOS apps as well. This means users on both Android and iOS will be able to open mobile app content straight from Google Search.

    Indexed links from an initial group of apps we’ve been working with will begin appearing on iOS in search results both in the Google App and Chrome for signed-in users globally in the coming weeks.

    Google says it wants to make the technology available to more app developers ASAP, so if you want to get a head start, you should add deep linking support to your iOS app, make sure it’s possible to return to search results with one click, provide deep link annotations on your site, and let Google know you’re interested.

    For Android, read: How To Set Up App Indexing For Ranking In Google

    Google I/O is about to begin this week, and you can count on there being plenty of content related to this coming from there.

    Last week, Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) added new reports to show how Google understands and treats app content in search results.

    Image via Google

  • 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

  • Google Launches Show For iOS Developers

    Google Launches Show For iOS Developers

    Google is making an effort to get iOS developers more interested in Google’s offerings on the platform. Obviously Google generally focuses on Android developers, but given that the company has plenty to offer iPhone and iPad users, it makes a great deal of sense that they get more involved with that developer community as well.

    Most app makers just want their products to be experienced by as many people as possible, and to make the app experience better for users regardless of what platform they’re using. Sometimes it takes a while to get an app on both iOS and Android, even if the developer has the resources to actually get it on both.

    The point is that just because a developer has chosen to focus on Apple’s platform, they shouldn’t necessarily hesitate to take advantage of what Google has to offer them.

    Google’s latest effort comes in the form of a new series of web videos targeting iOS developers. It’s called Route 85.

    Todd Kerpelman says in the video, “You know, it’s funny. If you look at everything Google does with the iPhone and the iPad, we really do a lot, but for some reason people don’t think of us as an iOS company, and I don’t know why that is. Oh. Oh yeah, right. But the fact of the matter is we have a whole bunch of crazy-smart engineers that are building dozens of apps for iOS devices, and we have SDKs available. Everything from Maps to Analytics to games that you can use to power your own app.”

    “But you know, maybe some of that’s on us,” he says. “Maybe we need to do a better job of reaching out to the community, and so that’s why we’re creating this series of videos just for you iOS developers. We’ll be telling folks about what new libraries we’re releasing for iOS and sharing some tips from our very own engineers.”

    You can keep an eye on Google’s Developer Channel on YouTube for the videos as they’re released.

    Via 9to5Google

    Image via YouTube

  • Google App For iOS Gets An Overhaul

    Google has released a new version of the Google app for iOS, which makes use of Material Design, as the company has been injecting into its various Android apps since releasing Lollipop.

    The app lets users see and return to their recently visited pages or start a new search with one tap. It also lets you find nearby places and access maps from within the app.

    “When you’re busy searching for everything from your favorite online stores to the hours of the local ice skating rink to recipes for gingerbread cookies—likely all at the same time—the new ‘recents’ button helps keep you organized,” says product manager Nick Hobbs. “Tap it and you’ll find recently viewed pages open and waiting for you. Flip through them with a flick of your finger to juggle all your tasks.”

    You also no longer have to worry about how to get back to the mic (or search box if you’re more of a typing, um, type) to ask your next question. The new Google button at the bottom of the app will take you right back there with one tap,” adds Hobbs. “Last but not least: you can now search Google Maps within the Google app! Now, whenever you search for a place—whether it’s a tree farm or a restaurant after a long day of shopping—you’ll see a map right there with the results. You can get a quick sense of where you’re headed, or even explore Street View if you want to take a closer look. When you’re ready to get going, your trusted Google Maps app will be waiting a tap away with directions.”

    The app is currently available in the App Store.

    Image via iTunes

  • Apple Names Best Apps, Music (Not U2), TV, Movies, Books Of 2014

    Apple named its top apps, music, movies, TV shows and books on iTunes for 2014. These are for the U.S.

    Elevate took the top iPhone App spot with Threes! winning the top iPhone Game spot. Pixelmator won best iPad app, and Monument Valley won best iPad game.

    Beyoncé won best artist, in the music category while Sam Smith won best new artist. Taylor Swift’s 1989 got best album, and Iggy Azalea’s Fancy got best song. This all looks a little different than Spotify’s music lists, which you can see here.

    In the video department, Guardians of the Galaxy won best blockbuster, while The LEGO Movie took best family movie, and Fargo took best TV show.

    Apple declared Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See the best book in fiction. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobs got best non-fiction.

    Do you think these picks are deserving?

    Image via Apple

  • Twitter Adds Photo Filters On iOS, Android

    Twitter Adds Photo Filters On iOS, Android

    In what might be considered another anti-Instagram move from Twitter, the company is rolling out new photo filter options on its mobile apps for iOS and Android.

    The company didn’t make a huge announcement about it, but mentioned it in a tweet from its Twitter Mobile account (via TNW):

    To use the filters, simply tap on an image’s thumbnail after you add it to the tweet, and you’ll be able to swipe through options like: Vignette, Warm, Cool, 1963, 1972, Golden Hour, Antique, and Black & White. You can also crop with wide or square options from here.

    The filters may not quite stack up to Instagram’s, but in most cases, they’ll probably be adequate, particularly for adding that vintage look.

    Also this week, Twitter announced some improvements to harassment reporting and account blocking. More on that here.

    Image via Twitter

  • Mozilla Is Working On Firefox For iOS

    Mozilla Is Working On Firefox For iOS

    A lot of things seem to be changing in Firefox Land since CEO Chris Beard took over this year. Recently, Mozilla announced a five-year partnership with Yahoo, which sees the search engine replacing Google as the default search experience in the Firefox web browser in the U.S.

    That alone was a huge move as it had been with Google for a decade. It has also added advertising to the browser experience, and launched some new privacy-related features and a developer-specific version of its browser.

    Another thing on Mozilla’s list is apparently getting iOS users to use the browser. While Firefox has been available for Android for years now, Mozilla has historically indicated that it wouldn’t be making the browser available for iOS. The problem has been that Mozilla can’t use its rendering engine on iOS as Apple requires browsers to use the WebKit engine that’s employed by Safari and Chrome.

    Under the new management, however, things may soon change. Mozilla executives indicated they want to get the browser on Apple’s popular operating system. After that sparked some interest in the blogosphere, Mozilla posted this statement to its blog:

    At Mozilla, we put our users first and want to provide an independent choice for them on any platform. We are in the early stages of experimenting with something that allows iOS users to be able to choose a Firefox-like experience.

    We work in the open at Mozilla and are just starting to experiment, so we’ll update you when we have more to share.

    That’s certainly a good start as far as Firefox fans are concerned. Unfortunately, Mozilla is pretty late to the game on this one, and will have to overcome longtime iOS users’ habits of using browsers like Safari and Chrome.

    Image via Joshua Wolford

  • 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

  • Facebook Launches Standalone Groups App

    Facebook Launches Standalone Groups App

    Continuing its strategy of launching standalone apps for various functions, Facebook announced a new Facebook Groups app, which comes from its Creative Labs division. This one is immediately available for both Android and iOS (some of the other apps have been iOS only).

    “Every month, 700 million people use Facebook Groups to stay in touch with family, collaborate on projects, plan trips and offer support to friends – and we built this app to help people share faster and more easily with all the groups in their life,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews in an email. “With the Facebook Groups app, you can easily discuss, plan and collaborate – nothing gets lost in the shuffle of text messages or email, and you can choose how and when to receive notifications.”

    Interestingly, you’ll still be able to use Facebook Groups in the main Facebook app, which should please users, considering how upset everybody got about Facebook forcing people to use the Messenger app.

    Defending the Messener move, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said it was basically too much friction to tap a tab in the Facebook app for messaging, so that’s why you have to use a different app now. Obviously this is a ridiculous explanation, especially considering that everybody knows Facebook is going to add money-related features to Messenger.

    This is most likely the reason Facebook is going to continue to let people use the Groups feature within the Facebook app. It’s not looking to monetize it just yet.

    The Groups app shows you all your Groups in one place, and prioritizes the ones you use the most. It also lets you start new groups, track notifications, and see suggested groups based on pages you’ve liked.

    Image via Facebook

  • Netflix Updates iPhone App For 1080p Resolution

    Netflix Updates iPhone App For 1080p Resolution

    Netflix announced a new update for its iPhone app specifically to give iPhone 6 Plus users a better viewing experience. The company said in a blog post:

    We’re excited to announce that iPhone 6 Plus users will now see Netflix movies and television shows in 1080p resolution, including Netflix originals like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. All you need is a good WiFi connection.

    When Apple announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in September, we were excited about the opportunity to extend the Netflix application to different screen sizes. We immediately began work on optimizing our user interface for the larger and higher resolution screens, and we’re happy to announce these changes are included in today’s update to our app. You’ll see more titles on screen to choose from, bigger imagery, and improved performance throughout.

    One user commented, “Does anybody at Netflix know there’s still an old logo on the Windows Phone platform?”

    The “What’s New” section for the app on Apple’s App Store also notes iOS 8 support and improvements for Chromecast.

    Image via iTunes

  • Microsoft Announces New Office Apps For Android, iOS

    Earlier this year, Microsoft finally launched its Microsoft Office apps for iPad. Expanding on the offering, the company has now announced the apps for Android tablets, updated iPad apps, and new Office iPhone apps.

    iPhone uses are getting new apps for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which offer the same experience as those on iPad, but optimized for iPhone. These three apps are getting updates for iPad.

    The apps for Android tablets are in preview mode. You can sign up now, but they’ll be generally available next year.

    “Anytime someone has an idea or an inspiration, we want to empower them to take action,” said John Case, corporate vice president of Office at Microsoft. “With over a billion Office customers worldwide, and over 40 million downloads on the iPad, it’s clear that Office applications are what people want to use to get things done.”

    Also new is a touch-optimized Office for WIndows 10. The company didn’t have a lot to say about this just now, but said more details will be shared at a later date.

    The newly updated iPad apps as well as the iPhone apps are available now in 29 languages and 136 countries. They require iOS 7 or later.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Google Maps App Gets Design Revamp

    With the release of the latest version of Android, Lollipop, Google has been launching big updates for its major apps. In recent days, we’ve seen announcements about the new Google Calendar and the new Gmail.

    Google Maps is the latest to get a refresh, favoring material design and “bold colors and textures”.

    “This new look is all about creating surfaces and shadows that echo the real world; with Google Maps’ new material feel, layers and buttons come to life so you know just where to touch to get directions, recommendations and imagery,” says designer Evelyn Kim.

    When the user taps a place’s info at the bottom of the screen, a layer will glide up, and display pictures, reviews, etc. The Explore feature appears at the bottom of the map.

    U.S. users will be able to reserve tables at restaurants found on OpenTable from the app.

    “On a cool winter day, a chilly walk or train ride may not always be the most appealing choice,” says Kim. “Travelers deciding whether they should take an Uber or brave the frosty winds can now see estimates for Uber’s pickup time and price for their route in walking and transit directions in Google Maps. This option will appear if you have the Uber app installed, where available.”

    The update isn’t just for Android. It’s also hitting iPhone. Users should see the update over the next few days.

    Images via Google

  • Google Calendar Gets A Big Refresh On Mobile

    Google introduced a new version of the Google Calendar mobile app. It’s available for Android now, and will hit iOS soon. Have a look.

    “It’s designed to be a helpful assistant, so you can spend less time managing your day, and more time enjoying it,” said product manager Ian Leader. “It takes a lot of work to stay on top of your schedule, after all. You have to manually enter that hotel or dinner reservation, then update it if your plans change. You have to hunt around for addresses and phone numbers, then add them to your events. And if you’re on a mobile device, you might just give up on these kinds of tasks entirely. Calendars (like email) should do better—especially on phones and tablets—so we set out to build one that’s always at your service.”

    With the new app, emails can automatically be turned into Calendar events.

    “Every time you book a flight, buy concert tickets, or make a hotel reservation, odds are you get an email with dates, times and other important details,” Leader added. “But who has the time (or patience) to copy and paste all this into their calendar? In the new Calendar app these kinds of emails become events automatically, complete with things like flight numbers and check-in times. They’ll even stay updated in real time if your flight’s delayed, or you receive another email update.”

    Like the recently introduced Inbox, the new Calendar app also makes use of Assists, which group together content like phone numbers, addresses, attendees, etc. and suggests titles, people and places. These adapt to preferences over time.

    There’s also a new schedule view, which includes photos and maps of places and events.

    The new app works on Android 4.1 and higher. It’s immediately available for Lollipop devices, and will be available as an update from Google Play over the coming weeks. As mentioned, the iPhone version is also on the way.

    Image via Google

  • Wikipedia Mobile Apps Get Nearby Feature

    Wikipedia Mobile Apps Get Nearby Feature

    Last year, Wikipedia added “nearby” functionality to its desktop and mobile sites to let users find interesting content about subjects relevant to their location. The functionality has now come to the Android and iOS apps.

    The feature shows you a list of articles for your location, and gives you the distance from where you’re at. There’s also a compass that points you in the right direction, which is pretty cool.

    This could be a pretty interesting thing to have on hand while you’re traveling, if you’re not using Andrew Mason’s Detour app.

    You can tap an entry to read the article or long-press and open it in map view.

    “With this feature, we’re bringing Wikipedia into the world around you and enabling you to explore and learn more about your surroundings,” the Wikimedia Foundation says in a blog post. “Perhaps you’ve always wondered about that monument that you pass during your commute home, been curious about an architecturally interesting building, or simply wanted a to-do list while traveling. Now, the new Wikipedia app can surface those for you, and maybe it’ll even inspire you to add your own.”

    The foundation also announced some ideas it wants to work on. These include filtering nearby items by category, searching for other articles that are near the article you’re reading, and letting you drop a pin on a map to see articles tagged near that location.

    It looks like learning is going to continue to become more mobile.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Vine Adds Channel Following On iOS

    Vine Adds Channel Following On iOS

    Twitter’s six-second video app Vine is starting to grow up, and add functionality to make it more usable to more people. The company announced today that the iOS app will now let you follow channels to get select vines in your home feed.

    Vine channels include things like Comedy, Animals, Art, DIY, Family, Food, Music & Dance, News, Places, Sports, Science & Tech, Scary, and Style. Vine will show you hand-picked additions to these channels when you follow them, so you can presumably see the best of the bunch.

    This isn’t the only significant addition Vine has made recently. It recently added functionality that lets users make Vines out of their existing videos, which is really a feature that probably should have been there from the beginning. It certainly presents some new marketing opportunities.

    Vine also recently became available on the Xbox One as well as Chrome OS. This means increased visibility.

    No word on when the channel feature will hit Android.

    Image via Twitter

  • Groupon Updates App With Apple Pay Support

    Apple officially launched Apple Pay, its new payments product, via an update to iOS 8 today. Third-party apps are also getting updates to add support for it.

    Groupon announced that it has updated its iPhone app to include it as a payment option. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users in the U.S. can take advantage.

    “To use the new payments service, existing customers need to download iOS 8.1, install Apple Pay, update the Groupon app and select Apple Pay on the purchase confirmation screen. New Groupon customers need to do the same and their method of payment will automatically default to Apple Pay,” Groupon says.

    “With nearly 92 million app downloads worldwide and more than half of our transactions occurring on mobile devices, Groupon is one of the largest mobile commerce companies in the world,” says Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “Bringing Apple Pay to the Groupon mobile app makes it easier than ever to find and buy the best things around you.”

    Groupon’s app is one of the 25 most-downloaded free apps in the App Store.

    Image via BusinessWire

  • Google Has A New Marketing App Called Primer

    Google Has A New Marketing App Called Primer

    Google has a new iPhone app called Primer aimed at “knocking some sense into marketing,” or in other words, getting marketers to use more Google services. As the site explains:

    Primer is a no-nonsense, jargon-free app designed specifically for busy startups. Our marketing lessons take 5 minutes or less and use real world experience.

    With case studies, insider tips and interactive quizzes, Primer teaches you how to promote your business, get more customers and avoid common mistakes.

    Lessons include search engine marketing, getting media coverage, and content marketing, but Google promises more topics to come.

    The app works offline, so you can “learn marketing on the subway, in an airplane or anywhere else you may not have a signal.”

    While it’s only available for iOS, an Android version is on the way. You can sign up to be notified when that’s live.

    Via TechCrunch

    Image via iTunes