When Siri was launched alongside the iPhone 4S, it was truly a unique product in many ways. While voice assistants had existed in similar forms, Siri was the first mobile voice interface that truly worked – but that title didn’t last long.
Users on Android, long accustomed to having an incredibly feature-rich device, soon were provided with an alternative in the form of Evi. Evi, which was also available on iOS, has apparently been sold to Amazon for roughly $26 million. (more…)
The Verge Takes a Look at Facebook 6.0 for iOS
Finally, Facebook has cleaned up the design on both the iPhone and iPad. Back in 2010, when Facebook didn’t have an iPad app at all, Mark Zuckerberg quipped that the “iPad’s not mobile.” Although Facebook did later release an iPad app, it was little more than a blown-up version of the iPhone version. The company has obviously found a new (and better) view on the subject, and now in 2013 we’re finally getting an app that’s a little bit optimized for the iPad’s larger screen size.
The latest Facebook for iOS update isn’t radical, but it brings Chat heads, stickers, and the latest News Feed redesign. While the company may or may not be bringing Home to iOS, it can at least try to bring a similar feel to its official app on iOS.
If you were one of the over 1,000,000 users waiting to gain access to the Mailbox app on a first-come, first-serve basis, you no longer have to fret. The app, which gained a sense of exclusivity when it launched in early February with a controversial reservation system, has opened its doors to anyone with a Gmail account, ditching the need to wait in line to gain access to the mailing client. (more…)
Google on Monday updated its YouTube client for iOS, bringing live steams, a My Subscriptions feed, queueing for TV playback, and the new “One Channel” layout for video creators. As The Next Web notes, Google adding support for the live streaming platform is fairly significant. You can now watch live streamed events via the official YouTube app. Find the full change log after the break. (more…)
iFans forum member BubleeShaark has been beta testing the iPad version of Frozen Synapse, and has shared an exclusive email stating that it will most likely be submitted to the App Store this Monday. (more…)
This past week, an application by the name of AppGratis came in to the spotlight when it was pulled by Apple for violating the terms of the developer agreement. The application, which had been available on the App Store for a more than two years, had gained more than 12 million users, and had also been approved multiple times by various app reviewers from Apple, helps users find deals and highly-rated applications available on the App Store.
Simon Dawlat, CEO of AppGratis, took to their blog to give a statement regarding the situation. While the application isn’t exactly a mission-critical utility, it’s obvious that many users enjoyed using it and found value in its services. Dawlat describes a fairly confusing and unfriendly situation: (more…)
Chrome’s been around on iOS for a long time now. What hasn’t been around, though, is the app’s ability to go fullscreen on iPhone and iPod touch. That feature was introduced in today’s update along with a variety of other useful enhancements such as the ability to save a webpage to Google Drive as a PDF. The full change log is after the break. (more…)
While speculation has circulated over the past few days about a potential Google acquisition of WhatsApp for upwards of $1 billion, WhatsApp business development head Neeraj Arora has told AllThingsD that the reports are not true.
Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s business development head, told AllThingsDigital today that the company is not holding sales talks with Google.
Earlier this week, a single-source report from Digital Trends said that the company was contemplating a $1 billion sale to the search giant.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard about a potential WhatsApp acquisition before, as Facebook was also said to be planning to purchase the popular app back in December. Obviously, none of these reports have yet to materialize.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular integrated messaging services available, combining text messaging, photo, video, audio and location sharing together into one mobile app. The app is 99 cents for iPhone, while pricing varies for Android.
Almost six months after enacting an App Store-wide ban of app discovery apps, Apple pulled AppGratis, an app discovery service and daily deal app.
The rule that Apple set in place last October reads: “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.” AppGratis obviously fell under this category but founder and CEO Simon Dawlat assured us at the time that Apple was only interested in shutting the small guys, the “low-quality copycats.” (more…)
MapCraft is now available on the iTunes App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Minecraft continues to take the internet by storm, even almost four years after it was originally introduced to the public. Likely due to such high demand, Mojang continued to release a “Pocket Edition” of the game for Android and later for iOS. On top of this, countless third-parties have released Minecraft clones and world viewers that further bring the game to iOS and other mobile platforms. (more…)