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App Store - page 29

Facebook brings augmented reality to its Messenger app

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Messenger
Who will know you love your dog if you don't add a giant digital heart over its head?
Photo: Facebook

It’s not just Apple that’s excited about the possibilities of augmented reality! In its latest Snapchat-inspired update, Facebook has added new AR features to its Messenger app.

Called “World Effects,” the feature lets you place emoji-style 3D objects in three-dimensional space via your iPhone’s rear camera. Objects added include a heart, an arrow, and a robot — along with word bubbles with messages like “love,” “heart,” “miss you,” and — making us feel old — ““bae.”

Things 3.3 lets you email tasks to your to-do list

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Mail to Things
Get Things 3.3 from the App Store now.
Photo: Cultured Code

Things from Cultured Code is arguably the best task management app on Mac and iOS. And with its latest update, you have the ability to add new items to your to-do list by email. It’s easier than ever to remember those important tasks.

You can now pre-order apps in the App Store

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Coronavirus could have a surprisingly positive impact on App Store revenue
Coronavirus could have a surprisingly positive impact on App Store revenue
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is now allowing all App Store developers to accept pre-orders for upcoming releases on iOS, macOS, and tvOS.

Customers will be able to view product pages and place their order ahead of an app’s official release date. They will then receive a notification once it is available and the app will be downloaded automatically to their device.

Apple confirms it bought Shazam

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Shazam
Shazam, an essential iPhone app for years, just got better.
Photo: Shazam

One of the most popular third-party apps on the App Store has officially been purchased by Apple.

London-based Shazam has long dominated the App Store charts with its ability to recognize any song, movie or TV show. Now Apple is bringing that tech in-house by purchasing the startup for nearly half a billion dollars.

Knockoff crypto wallet app rises to the top of the App Store

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Apple pays $467k for doing business with blacklisted app developer
This isn't the kind of thing we expect from Apple.
Photo: Apple

In what looks like its latest security faux pas, Apple has allowed an app pretending to be created by MyEtherWallet.com — one of the internet’s leading services for storing ETH and other crypto currency — into the App Store.

Not just that, but the app quickly rose to the top of the iOS App Store over the weekend. Despite the creators of MyEtherWallet saying that the app is fake, and asking Apple to remove it, at time of writing the $4.99 app is still available to download.

Clean Text, Ashworld, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An incredibly useful app that cleans your text of formatting issues is just one of our picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week” roundup.

In addition, we’ve got a brilliant music making app, an app for editing your 360 camera videos, and a superb post-apocalyptic survival adventure game. In the same week that Apple highlighted its top apps of 2017, these are our choices for the greatest apps of the past seven days. Check them out below.

Newton brings a beautiful new calendar app to iOS

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Newton Calendar
Download the latest updates today.
Photo: Newton

Newton, creator of what is arguably the best mail app on iOS, now has a beautiful new calendar app. Newton Calendar was designed to be lightweight and gorgeous. It re-imagines what a mobile calendar should look like, and it makes managing your day a piece of cake.

Apple Heart Study, GRID Autosport, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An Apple Watch app that could actually save your life by watching for irregular heart rhythms is just of one of the picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a console-quality racing game, a new iOS web browser, and an app that will let you stream video to your Apple TV by simply dropping a video onto your Mac. Check out our picks below.

Apple goes all-out red for World AIDS Day

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Apple Store (RED) logo
Get ready for (RED).
Photo: Apple

Apple is ready to go red for World AIDS Day.

More than 400 Apple Stores around the world will sport red logos next week, while every Apple Pay transaction will result in a donation to the Global Fund. Apple will also promote apps and games that support (RED).

Apple removes apps which glorify Philippines’ war on drugs

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App Phillipines
This is one of several games no longer available in the App Store!
Photo: Duterterador

Apple is removing violent games from the App Store — at least when it comes to games that glorify violence against drug dealers and users in the Philippines, that is!

While a lot of us probably haven’t come across them, there is apparently a niche series of games that depict Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in a literal war on drugs. And seemingly the organisation “Asian Network of People who Use Drugs” (yes, that’s a real thing!) were none too happy about them.

Animal Crossing, Scrivener 3, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The long-awaited arrival of beloved Nintendo franchise Animal Crossing on iOS is just of one of the picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a great writing app for Mac (perfect if you’re writing a book!), a popular ARPG, and a brilliant point-and-click adventure game. Check out our picks below.

Apple forced to pull Skype from Chinese App Store

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Skype for Web
Skype is the latest app to run into problems in China.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

China may be working to ban Skype, with the phone call and messaging service disappearing from a number of sites, including Apple’s App Store in the country.

“We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voice over internet protocol apps do not comply with local law,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “Therefore these apps have been removed from the App Store in China.”

Shadows Remain, Duolingo, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A brilliantly spooky, story-driven augmented reality game in which you search for your missing child in a new house is just one of our picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a great app for teaching you Mandarin, another ARKit title that lets you get a closer look at some of the world’s top supercars, and a brilliant photo app for getting the most out of your iPhone or iPad.

Check our selections below. You won’t regret it!

Flipflop Solitaire, Notcho, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

A surprisingly absolutely brilliant mobile version of the classic card game Solitaire is just of one of the choices we’ve made for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got an app which works to eliminate the sensor-filled notch from the iPhone X, a destruction-filled endless runner starring a freaking giant dragon, and an augmented reality update to a popular Apple video app. Check out our picks below.

Clips gets iPhone X-powered update with 360-degree selfies

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Clips
Clips 2.0 is available now.
Photo: Apple

Apple is coming out with a big update to its video-making app Clips today that will be sure to delight users if you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone X.

Clips 2.0 is launching with an all-new feature called “Selfie Scenes” that takes advantage of the iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera to create augmented-reality scenes and stages behind the user.

iPhone X app measures your face to find the perfect glasses

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glasses
Another use case for the iPhone X's new smart camera.
Photo: Warby Parker

Now that the iPhone X is out and into the hands of customers, developers are eager to roll out new app updates, taking advantage of the handset’s new TrueDepth camera system.

One of the first is glasses manufacturer Warby Parker, which is already employing the Face ID facial mapping data feature to make suggestions about which glasses would suit people’s face shape.

YouTube gets fullscreen, 1440p video on iPhone X

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iPhone X YouTube
Enjoy glorious HDR on iPhone XS.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

You can now enjoy YouTube videos in fullscreen and super-sharp 1440p on iPhone X. You’ll need the latest version of the app, which adds “pinch to zoom” functionality, available from the App Store now.

Sky Gamblers: Infinite Jets, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
Have an 'appy weekend!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A fun dogfighting flight sim that sees you shoot down enemy jets and gunships in scintillating styles is just one of our picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup. We’ve also got a superb grammar-oriented third party keyboard, a brilliant augmented reality update to a big retail app, and a fun RPG that’ll keep you busy for days.

Check out our picks below.

Apple’s earnings call will be the calm before iPhone X superstorm

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Image of the old Apple Inc. rainbow logo atop American cash money.
Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple will give investors their first insight into iPhone 8 sales, right on the eve of the iPhone X launch.

The final Apple earnings call of 2017 takes place Thursday, November 2, at 2 p.m. Pacific. Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter ended right after the iPhone 8 started shipping. The results aren’t expected to be record-breaking, but this first glimpse should give us a better idea of how monstrous Apple’s holiday season will be.

This is what to watch for:

How to buy an app on iPhone X using Face ID

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face id scan
Face ID still requires a button-tap to make an App Store purchase.
Photo: Aditya Doshi/Flickr CC

There’s one big conceptual difference between Face ID and its predecessor, Touch ID. With a fingerprint, you have to explicitly touch the home button to confirm an action. When unlocking a password-protected app, or unlocking the iPhone itself, it’s hard to do it unintentionally. But what about buying an app? The old Touch ID way is to tap the buy button, and then use your fingerprint to confirm the purchase. What happens with Face ID? How do you cancel a purchase after tapping buy? Do you look away? Close your eyes?

No. It’s much simpler than that, although much less discoverable than touching a fingerprint scanner.

Nintendo disappointed with Super Mario Run profit

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Super Mario Run on iOS
200 million downloads haven't pulled in enough cash.
Photo: Apple

Super Mario Run was the hottest game on iOS for months after it hit the App Store. It has now been downloaded more than 200 million times on mobile, and yet, the title is yet to reach “an acceptable profit point,” Nintendo says.

That’s bad news for fans of Nintendo’s mobile games.

Night Terrors, Death Road to Canada, and other spooky Halloween apps

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Halloween
'Appy Halloween!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

What better way to get ready for Halloween than with playing through some of the App Store’s spookiest game titles? With that in mind, here are our picks for the best horror (or, a the very least, creepy) titles available for your gaming pleasure on iPhone or iPad.

Check out our picks below. If you dare.

App Store redesign gives (some) downloads a big boost

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bookmark wish list
The App Store looks all-new in iOS 11.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The redesigned App Store has been a boon for developers, based on new third-party data that shows getting a little promotion goes a long way when it comes to downloads.

With the launch of iOS 11, Apple made some big changes to how iPhone and iPad users browse apps in the App Store. App Store shoppers are now greeted by big promotions for the App of the Day and Game of the Day which has become worth a lot of money to developers if you’re lucky enough to be selected.