Ariha Setalvad | The Verge

Here are the coolest things you can do with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

2015-09-25T10:52:03-04:00

So you bought the new iPhone. Whether you’re jumping to Apple for the first time or upgrading from an iPhone 5S, you could probably benefit from learning the features, tips, and tricks that will help you get the most out the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The arrival of the new phones also brings with it a handful of must-try apps that take advantage of the new hardware and software improvements.

We’ve broken down all of the steps required to dive head first into the iPhone 6S, organized into three neat categories: apps to download, iOS 9 features to try, and settings that help you stay in control. Let’s dive in!

Apps to download

If you’ve checked the “updates” section of the App Store this week, you know every developer under the sun is now optimizing for both iOS 9 and the new iPhones. As of today, a huge number of apps — more than we could include here — have been updated to add support for 3D Touch, Spotlight search, and a slew of other Apple features. More are coming. But this group includes both classics and newer apps that take advantage of the iPhone 6S software and hardware in ways that should help them earn their spot on your home screen.

Periscope

If there’s anything besides selfies you’ll be using the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus’ improved front-facing camera for, it’s Periscope. The Twitter-owned live-streaming app is a fast-growing place to drop quick and easy video updates that broadcast to other mobile devices and the web. With Apple’s substantial front-facing camera upgrade from 1.2 megapixels to 5, you’ll look a bit better for the crowd.

Monument Valley

Much has been written about Monument Valley, the M.C. Escher-inspired mobile puzzle game that’s as hauntingly beautiful as it is geometrically complex. It’s still one of the best games you can buy on iOS, and now it takes full advantage of the larger iPhones’ displays. If you haven’t picked up UsTwo Games’ eight-chapter expansion, Forgotten Shores, it’s a great way to get reacquainted with the best of iOS gaming.

Darkroom

The new iPhones, now with 12-megapixel cameras, are arguably the best photo-taking handsets on the market. Yet Apple’s Photos app, while improved, still leaves something to be desired in the editing department. Darkroom, a free app for iOS, fills the void with custom filter-making, ultra-snappy processing, and an easy-to-use crop toolkit. The $3.99 Pro Kit unlocks superior curves, color, and tone tools, as well as the ability to share your custom filters with an embeddable link to your Instagram account.

pocket

Pocket is one of the best article-saving apps out there, with a slick interface and easy-to-use mobile and desktop bookmarklets and extensions for saving everything you don’t (and maybe never will) have time to read. Pocket items will now pop up in iOS 9 Spotlight searches, letting you jump right into articles without having to open the app first.

workflow

Workflow, one of the best launcher apps on iOS, lets you create easy sets of shortcuts that carry out a wide variety of mobile tasks. It’s similar to IFTTT, but Workflow isn’t restricted to two-step actions. You can create seemingly endless strings of instructions, from getting directions to the nearest coffee shop to sending a message with the last screenshot you took. 3D Touch support now means you can access those workflows more quickly by peeking into the app on the home screen.

outlook

Microsoft’s Outlook app is a rare piece of iOS software from the Windows maker that’s arguably superior to both Apple- and Google-made competitors. Outlook marries the creative workflow of Dropbox’s Mailbox — swiping to postpone emails, an “inbox zero” approach — to a minimalist design with calendar and address book tabs. As now it takes advantage of iOS 9’s improved Spotlight search, letting you dig deep into your inbox right from the iPhone home screen.

iOS 9 features to try

The standout feature on the iPhone 6S is 3D Touch. Similar to Force Touch on the Apple Watch and newer MacBooks, it allows the display to sense the pressure of your finger presses and unlocks new capabilities when you press down at different levels of pressure. Starting today, it will become widely available in a handful of third-party apps. But Apple has also baked enough functionality into its stock apps and inside iOS 9 for you to start getting used to living with what some are calling “right click for your smartphone” right now.

3D Touch trackpad text selection

On the new iPhones, you can use 3D touch to turn your keyboard into a trackpad, allowing for faster text selection. Press down anywhere on your keyboard to see the letter keys blur and your cursor come alive. You can then slide your finger around to quickly move the cursor where you want it, or press down a little bit harder to quickly highlight text. If you’ve ever found yourself peering through Apple’s magnifying loupe, struggling to fix a typo, you’ll be glad to start using this feature regularly.

Peek and pop on emails, texts, and webpages

3D Touch allows for different pressure levels to register as different input types on the new iPhone screens, which Apple has cutely named pop and peek. Peek lets you jump into a preview of something with a single press — an email or the webpage tied to a link, for instance — and then lift your finger to return to the app you’re using. Try it out when a friend sends you a link via text message, or give it a try when cleaning out your email inbox to reduce the number of swipes. Pop, on the other hand, lets you jump into whatever you’re previewing with an extra bit of pressure.

Shoot a Live Photo

An interesting new feature of the iPhone 6S camera is the ability to shoot a so-called Live Photo, a mix between a static image, animated GIF, and a full-on video. It works by capturing moments before and right after you snap a shot in Apple’s native camera app. Press down on the photo inside the Camera Roll, and 3D Touch will bring it to life.

Set a live wallpaper as your background

Thanks to Live Photos, you can now turn your iPhone lock screen into a moving image. Anything shot with the new camera feature will come to life with one press on the display. Apple also includes a number of high-resolution images with custom 3D Touch animations you can set as your smartphone background as well.

Quick actions from the home screen

In addition to pop and peek, 3D Touch lets you press down on home screen icons to access a list of functions you can jump into without having to open the app first. For instance, press down firmly on Apple’s camera app and you can select the option to take a selfie, which then quickly opens the front-facing camera. Expect app makers that haven’t already updated their software today to go crazy with this home screen feature over the next few weeks, as it’s easily the most useful 3D Touch use case.

Settings tips & tricks

iOS 9 may look like an incremental upgrade, but there are quite a few subtle improvements and a variety of under-the-hood changes that will go unnoticed unless you know where to look. There are also some features here that are available only to new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus users. Here are a few to get you started mastering Apple’s OS. (Read our full iOS 9 review here.)

Customize Spotlight interface for increased productivity

Spotlight has been around forever, but it’s a lot more useful now. In iOS 9, Spotlight shows you recent contacts and recently used apps, as well as links to nearby restaurants, coffee shop and gas stations. You can also see the latest headlines, which will open up either in Safari or in the new Apple News app, depending on which iPhone you’re using. The Spotlight interface is also customizable, so you can choose which apps you want to see by opening up Settings —> General —> Spotlight Search.

Search for Settings

It sounds minor, but the search bar you’ll see on top of the Settings app now is a huge time-saver. Want to change the text size on your phone? Just search for “text” in the search bar, which pulls up options like Bold Text, Larger Text, and Text Size. But note that searching through your settings only seems to work when you’re searching within the Settings menu itself. Searching for “text” in the general search bar only pulled up an article we had saved to the Pocket app — nothing from Settings. This limitation persists even if you’ve set Spotlight Search to search through Settings.

Wi-Fi Assist

Wi-Fi Assist is a new feature that you can find under the Mobile Data section. (Can’t find it? Use Spotlight Search!) If you have a weak Wi-Fi signal, Wi-Fi assist will let your phone use some of your cellular data to supplement it. The only problem is that Wi-Fi Assist switches to cellular data anytime your Wi-Fi signal is even the least bit weak, which isn’t great if you’re on a limited data plan. This option is on by default, but if you want to save on cellular data, you can turn it off by going to Settings —> Mobile Data, and scrolling all the way to the bottom.

Stream high-quality music over cellular data

For all the audiophiles out there, iOS 9 gives you the option to stream higher-quality tunes from Apple Music. Currently, Apple Music plays at 256 kbps, which is the same quality you get when you buy a song from the iTunes Store. But that’s only while you’re on Wi-Fi; if you’re relying on cellular data, you’ll get a poorer quality stream. With iOS 9, you can go to Settings —> Music —> Playback and Downloads, and toggle the switch to get the same high-quality 256 kbps sound, even when you’re out and about.

Low Power Mode

Every new iPhone that comes out raises the question of whether it has improved battery life. With iOS 9’s new Low Power Mode, you’ll reportedly be able to extend a full charge by three extra hours. iOS 9 will ask you if you want to enable Low Power Mode once your battery drains down to 20 percent, but you can also proactively turn it on by going to Settings —> Battery —> Low Power Mode, or just asking Siri to turn it on for you. When it’s on, you’ll find that functions like fetching email, automatic downloads, and background app refresh will be reduced or disabled, and you’ll also find that your screen goes dark more quickly than before. Apple’s also made it easier to tell when Low Power Mode is on or off — when it’s on, the battery indicator will turn yellow and automatically show you the percentage of battery you have left.

Tap and drag to select multiple photos / hide photos

One of the most persistent annoyances in iOS has been the lack of a way to select multiple photos with ease. In recent years, Apple added a “select all” button, but it appears only when you’re searching through your deleted photos and want to either delete everything or recover the entire folder. Now, you can simply select one photo and drag your finger to continue selecting. The feature isn’t dependent on owning the iPhone 6S — you just need iOS 9 on your device — but it’s been enough of a pain point for iOS users that it’s worth a special mention.

Libraries are banding together in support of Tor

2015-09-16T19:08:40-04:00

In July, the Kilton Public Library in New Hampshire partnered with the Library Freedom Project (LFP), to become the first library in the country to run a server connecting to Tor, an online network that allows users to browse the internet anonymously. But in August, the Department of Homeland Security got in touch with local police, who contacted the library about shutting down its relay. The library complied, for a time. Then, on Monday night, groups like the EFF, the American Library Association and local Tor supporters appealed to the library’s board of trustees, and got them to reinstate the library’s Tor relay node. Now Kilton is planning an even more important — and riskier — role in the Tor network, and other libraries may follow suit.

Kilton will soon connect to the Tor network with what is known as an exit node. Previously it connected as a “middle relay,” which only bounces information between different nodes within Tor. Exit relays send traffic from the secure Tor network onto the wider internet, making them significantly more valuable. Every Tor session needs an exit relay, and there are only about 1,000 exit relays currently available, making Kilton’s efforts important to Tor users.

Libraries have a history of publicly standing up for privacy

Libraries have a history of publicly standing up for privacy, so ideologically, it makes sense that Kilton is fighting to run Tor. According to Alison Macrina, director of the Library Freedom Project, the fact that so many people spoke up against the notice speaks to a changing climate around privacy, free speech, and surveillance. “It wasn’t only a win for global internet freedom, it was an incredible display of community involvement,” she says. “People showed up with signs that said ‘Down with big brother.’ This is exactly what libraries do, this is our charge.”

It’s entirely legal to use Tor or run Tor servers, but because traffic from an exit node can be traced back to it, the Tor Project recommends you don’t run one from your home, or on your home internet connection. But libraries are protected from legal threats by safe harbor provisions. As the Library Freedom Project explains, libraries already provide internet services to the public, so they cannot necessarily be held responsible for what goes on through their computers. When the story about Kilton first came to light, a DHS spokesperson told ProPublica that “the protections that Tor offers can be attractive to criminal enterprises or actors, and HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] will continue to pursue those individuals who seek to use the anonymizing technology to further their illicit activity.”

“This is exactly what libraries do, this is our charge.”

To the library’s director, Sean Fleming, that the DHS would hold the library responsible for any “illicit activity” was a surprise. The library previously had an incident where someone sent inappropriate emails from its computers, Fleming says. “He was sending inappropriate emails to underage girls, and he was arrested, but nobody said ‘you should turn off your internet.'”

After the confrontation with DHS, more libraries may follow Kilton’s lead. Macrina says that Kilton wasn’t the only library that expressed interest when the Library Freedom first launched the Tor node project, but following the DHS notice, they’ve heard from about a dozen libraries wanting to implement Tor relays. “The only reason Kilton was alone was that we needed a pilot,” she says. “Now we’re just waiting for more libraries to pour in and join us.”

The 10 most important things from Apple’s iPhone 6S event

2015-09-09T16:20:42-04:00

Apple events can usually be referenced based on the one flagship they focus on: the iPad event, the iPhone event, the Apple Music event. That doesn’t work quite as well with today’s news-packed event. The company officially delivered on two long-overdue rumors: it refreshed the Apple TV, and it unveiled a giant, almost laptop-like iPad. The iPad Pro is a 12.9-inch behemoth with a matching stylus and keyboard, seemingly designed to fill the same market Microsoft is going after with the Surface. The Apple TV set-top box is back with a new remote and deep Siri integration. Both have a new ecosystem of apps, including productivity tools and games. And both are coming out later this fall: the TV in October, the iPad in November.

But the biggest news for most people will probably be the regular iPhone updates: the 6S and larger 6S Plus. While the design looks a lot like the last-generation iPhone 6, it’s been redesigned with better specs and a more complex “3D touch” interface. Before you start learning the approximately 300 new synonyms for “tap” that will become common in the coming months, take a look at the rest of the news below.

A novelty-sized iPad

The new iPad Pro has the biggest screen on an iOS device (and a bigger screen than some OS X devices.) At 12.9 inches, it can support a full-sized virtual keyboard, and will be the first iPad to feature an optional physical keyboard and stylus. The Pro will have an A9X memory chip, making it 1.8x faster than the A8X chip that’s in the iPad Air 2, and Apple claims it’s faster than 80 percent of portable PCs (i.e. laptops) shipped in the past six months. The iPad Pro’s new four-speaker audio setup will also rebalance itself based on how you hold it. The 10-hour battery life and 5.6 million pixels will also help it compete with traditional laptops — or other tablet and keyboard combinations.

Update: Read the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus review.

Apple invited Microsoft and Adobe up to demonstrate iPad Pro-focused versions of their iOS apps — Adobe Photoshop Fix is a new app that lets you quickly retouch photos using the stylus, while PowerPoint will now convert stylus ink into objects that you can use in your slides. The tablet is being positioned as a professional tool, with a price to match. The 32GB edition will cost you $799, while the 128GB will be $949, and LTE support bumps up the 128GB to $1079. The iPad Pro will be available in November in silver, gold, and space grey versions.

Styluses are hip again

Steve Jobs may have famously trashed styluses when the original iPad came out, but times have changed. The $99 Apple Pencil is a dedicated iPad Pro stylus that will allow for precision drawing and can be used simultaneously with a finger. Granted, Apple is jumping into a market that’s been filled by third-party designers for years, so anyone who absolutely needed a stylus for the smaller, existing iPads probably already has one. The same goes for the other new iPad Pro peripheral: a $169 woven “smart keyboard” case that looks a lot like Microsoft’s surface keyboards. Even if they’re not new concepts, this is the first time Apple has made its own versions of these accessories, positioning them as an integral part of the product. They’ll be out in November, along with the iPad Pro.

A very mini iPad refresh

While the iPad Pro brought a huge refresh to the iPad today, the iPad mini news was a little… smaller. The refreshed iPad mini 4, a new 7.9-inch tablet with the “power of the iPad Air 2,” will cost $399, and the iPad mini 2 will see a price reduction to $269. The iPad Air didn’t see an update today, but the original Air will cost $399 while the Air 2 will cost $499.

Finally, a new Apple TV

The long overdue Apple TV is here, and it’ll run a separate OS, called… tvOS. As expected, the new Apple TV will have a Universal Search feature that lets you search across apps like iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, and it will feature Siri in a big way. Similar to other set-top boxes, voice search will be the primary way to navigate. You can manually fast-forward by sliding your finger forward on the touchpad, but also do a quick 15 second rewind by asking Siri, “what did she say?”

The Apple TV will double as a gaming console — including games like the new Guitar Hero that were previously only available on consoles — and the UI has also been refreshed, featuring a new white background and redesigned apps. The new Apple TV is also far more powerful — it features a 64-bit A8 processor and can support Bluetooth 4.0. The new Apple TV will launch in October, at $149 for the 32GB version, and $199 for 64GB.

Siri in a remote

Apple’s humble TV remote has gotten a major makeover. The new device is a combination of traditional media remote, glass trackpad, motion controller, and Siri invocation tool. This Siri integration lets users do things like get movie recommendations and look up sports scores or the weather while watching TV. Turned sideways, it’s also a rudimentary gaming pad. It’s a little reminiscent of, among other things, Amazon’s FireTV remote — which had different hardware features but a similar blend of traditional media controls, search options, and gaming controls.

Apple Music (and more) on the big screen

Today, Apple doubled down on its prediction that apps are the future of television. The fourth-generation Apple TV finally has an Apple Music app, a feature that’s been noticeably absent since the service launched in June. It will function in the same way as its iOS and Mac counterparts, letting users make playlists, create music libraries, and listen to Beats 1 radio. The TV will also have its own App Store, where users can find versions of iTunes TV, iTunes Movies, and Apple Music, all designed specifically for the Apple TV.

In addition to Apple TV standards like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO, the new TV will also include games like Disney Infinity and Guitar Hero, a Major League Baseball streaming app that lets users watch two games at once, and apps for AirBnB and Zillow, if you really want to hunt for an apartment through your television. A Gilt app will let users shop directly from the comfort of their couches, fulfilling the dreams of many 1960s futurists. A developer beta of the new tvOS will also let developers create their own apps for the TV.

The newer, rosier iPhone 6S

Today’s event was always about introducing new iPhones, and Apple didn’t disappoint. The new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will be built from a new, custom aluminium alloy, and will be available in silver, gold, space grey, and rose gold. As expected, they will have Force Touch, which can detect where you’re pressing on the screen and how hard. The 6S will have the same 4.7 inch display screen as the iPhone 6, and the 6S Plus will retain its 5.5 inch screen. But both will come with new glass displays built of Ion-X, the same display on the Apple Watch Sport. The upgraded iPhones both have a new A9 chip built in, 70 percent faster than the A8 at CPU tasks, and 90 percent faster with graphics. You’ll also see a new 12-megapixel rear iSight camera, capable of shooting video in 4K, and a 5 megapixel front-facing camera with Retina Flash that’s supposedly 3x brighter than regular flash.

But despite all the new storage-heavy features, entry-level iPhones will still start at 16GB. Apple is also maintaining its traditional pricing tiers: $199 to $399 for the 6S, and $299 to $499 for the 6S Plus depending on storage, while on a two-year contract. For those who don’t want to be tied to a contract, Apple is also introducing two new payment options. You can either pay for the 6S in installments of $27 per month, or lease an iPhone for $32 per month, which lets you trade in your phone for a new one every year. Preorders for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus start September 12th, and general availability will follow on September 25th. The latest version of iOS, however, is coming sooner than that: iOS 9 will be released in a little under a week, on September 16th.

‘Force Touch’ is now thankfully ‘3D Touch’

As expected, Apple brought 3D Touch to the new iPhones today. The feature is similar to the Watch’s simpler Force Touch, which allows users to clear all notifications with one press. 3D Touch, however, means the iPhone screen can distinguish between multiple levels of pressure. 3D Touch will require users to learn at least two new gestures: “peek” and “pop,” which will make app browsing more direct. “Peek” will let users preview information, and “Pop” will take them inside it.

The hope is that 3D Touch will let iPhone users dip in and out of different apps without losing their place or forgetting what they were originally doing. In the Mail app, a light touch will let users preview an email, and a stronger press will let them read it. WeChat, Instagram, and Facebook are among the third-party apps set to integrate 3D Touch into their functions.

Apple has its own tiny version of Vines

Apple is making iPhone images a little more dynamic with the introduction of a new feature called Live Photos. Before and after the camera shutter closes, Live Photos will capture a second and a half of footage, so when you view the image later it plays like a short video clip. HTC tried this with its Zoe feature on the M7 a few years back, but Apple says users will be able to post Live Photos to Facebook. Live Photos will be supported across all Apple products.

Don’t forget about the Apple Watch!

The Apple Watch got slightly more useful and better-looking today with the announcement of several new apps and bands. The most notable new bands were designed by luxury brand Hermès, whose three custom brown leather straps include a double-wrapped band that fits with a custom, slightly elongated watch face.

Also announced were several new pastel-colored bands for the Apple Watch Sport, and a red band created in collaboration with Bono’s HIV/AIDS charity Product Red. The aluminum Sport will be offered in gold, rose gold, and anodized aluminum finishes. New native apps for the Watch include Facebook Messenger and GoPro, plus a medical app called Airstrip that lets users measure their vitals in real time. And the Watch’s latest operating software, Watch OS 2, will launch on September 16th.

What’s next

Today’s Apple event neatly wrapped up a lot of loose ends — we finally have the upgraded Apple TV that we’ve been expecting since 2011, the new iPhones came with the requisite spec updates and some cool new features, and if you’ve been dreaming of a gigantic iPad, well you’ve got that too. We’re still waiting for iOS 9 and Watch OS 2, both of which are slated to be released on September 16th, but if you’re waiting to upgrade your Mac to El Capitan, you’re going to have to hold on until September 30th.

Oh, and if you heard some rumors about a big-name musical guest possibly releasing a new album around the event? That didn’t happen. The only musical appearance was by One Republic, which used the event to apologize for getting so much play at Whole Foods stores.

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Amazon will now deliver fresh tacos, satay, and baba ganoush from local Seattle restaurants

2015-09-08T12:58:04-04:00

Amazon Prime Now customers in Seattle can now use their membership to order food from local restaurants, the company announced today. Members can use the Prime Now app to order and track their food delivery from participating restaurants like Wild Ginger, Re:public, Café Yumm!, and Mamnoon.

Amazon has nibbled around the edges of food services and innovative home delivery in the past. Previously, the Amazon Local app let users in Seattle order food, but only if they picked it up. Just a couple of weeks ago, Amazon also began letting Prime Now customers in Seattle order alcohol, a service that customers in New York and London have been enjoying for months. With the launch of food delivery, Seattle residents will be free to order tacos to go with that six pack of beer. Although, as Amazon customers likely know, two orders could very well be considered separate, and not arrive at the same time.

Your order will be delivered within one hour, with no delivery fee

This is the first time Amazon is directly entering the food delivery business, a move that pits it against established food delivery services like Postmates, Munchery, GrubHub, and even Uber.

Currently, Prime Now customers have access to free two-hour deliveries, but must pay $7.99 for one-hour deliveries. For the new restaurant delivery service though, Amazon guarantees that the food will be delivered within one hour, with no delivery fee — at least for the time being. Amazon also pledges that there are “no menu markups or hidden service fees.” Prime Now food delivery will only be available in a few zip codes in Seattle, and will be rolled out slowly. Members can enter their zip code in the Prime Now app to see if restaurant delivery is available in their area. In zip codes where restaurant delivery is available, customers will immediately see a list of participating restaurants on the home page.

Soon you’ll be able to be a Goonie in an interactive theater experience

2015-09-05T12:01:01-04:00

When I first watched The Goonies as a kid, it depicted everything I wanted my life to be. Growing up in a big city left little opportunity to mob around on bikes with my friends, and our apartment didn’t have a loft in which to discover an old treasure map. But the only thing that seemed more alluring than watching The Goonies back then was actually being one. And next year, I might finally get my chance.

In an interview with Yahoo Movies, Goonies director Richard Donner revealed yesterday that he is planning an unorthodox “immersive theater” adaptation of the movie. In what sounds very much like Sleep No More, Donner explains that the show will be staged in a warehouse with no seats, allowing the audience to be a part of the story, because making children (and likely, many grown adults) crawl over decaying skeletons and do the Truffle Shuffle is always a good idea.

“You become part of it, and you travel through with actors,” Donner told Yahoo Movies. “It’s very popular now… It will take another year or so, but it’s going to be wonderful.”

There are basically no details about it at the moment, but having a bunch of people try to avoid One-Eyed Willie’s traps is just too delicious of an idea to dismiss completely. Donner has been known to cast about rumors before — like last year when he said he would be making a sequel — so it could very well amount to nothing. But hey,

Facebook Messenger is now the second most popular app in the United States

2015-09-04T20:09:34-04:00

Remember when Facebook spun off Messenger and forced you to download it separately? Turns out, even though users initially hated it, the company knew what it was doing. A new report from digital media analytics company comScore shows that Facebook Messenger is currently the second most popular app in America.

Messenger is Facebook’s answer to concerns that younger users are gravitating more to messaging apps like Snapchat. Of late, Facebook has embellished the app, adding in video calling, instant video sharing, peer-to-peer payments and even a personal assistant called M. Whatever the reasons for the increased focus on Messenger, the company’s efforts are paying off.

According to comScore, Messenger beat out YouTube for the second place spot with the help of the 59.5 percent of iOS or Android smartphone owners who used Messenger at least once a month. With Facebook itself coming in at first place, and Instagram at number nine, Facebook-owned apps make up 20 percent of the list of the top ranking smartphone apps. But Facebook’s other messaging service WhatsApp is missing from the list, despite today’s news that it has over 900 million monthly users.

It may not be a surprise to see that most of the apps on the list are owned by either Facebook or Google. But Apple isn’t one to be left behind — Apple Maps comes in at number 11, while Apple Music has snuck in above Snapchat at number 14, despite having launched less than three months ago.

Tumblr reblogs just got a lot cleaner, and a little less charming

2015-09-03T21:22:57-04:00

Tumblr rolled out a long-overdue change to its reblogging feature yesterday, fixing what it termed a “crazy-long, indecipherable reblog chain” problem. The blogging site will now order reblogs below a post chronologically, and show comments as a streamlined list, but only on your dashboard.

With the old format, as Tumblr posts gained popularity, the back and forth of reblogs and comments formed a confusing tree of block quote indents, which made it hard to read comments or figure out where a post originated. This was especially true when viewing the site on a smaller smartphone screen. Compare the designs below — the old version is on the left, and you can see the new version on the right.

The redesign makes the website look a whole lot cleaner, but the old format had a certain nostalgic charm that will be missed. Comment trees — like this one from coffeespiral.tumblr.com — reflected the chaotic and random nature of Tumblr. By cleaning up comments, Tumblr is sanitizing a feature that many users had come to love.

The first public preview of Firefox for iOS is here

2015-09-03T19:53:57-04:00

Today, Mozilla announced its first public preview of its Firefox browser for Apple’s iOS. So far, the browser is only available for mobile users in New Zealand.

Though Mozilla had previously rejected the idea of building a browser for Apple’s mobile operating system, iPhones are so popular that Mozilla was forced to reconsider. In May this year, the company conducted a limited beta test of Firefox for iOS.

According to the company’s blog post, the goal of its limited preview is to collect user feedback. Specifically, Mozilla wants users to test three features: Firefox accounts, search, and Visual Tabs. Firefox accounts let you access your Firefox history, passwords and tabs on iOS devices; search gives you a choice of search providers. Visual Tabs let you view thumbnails of all your tabs, making it easier to keep track of what you have open.

The company says it hopes to roll out Firefox for iOS to the rest of the world later this year. You can sign up here to be notified when it is available in your country.

Wacky image creation tool Byte is now available on iOS

2015-09-03T14:44:17-04:00

Earlier this year, we reported that Dom Hofmann, co-founder of Vine, was launching another creative tool called Byte. If Vine inspires creativity by adding a time limit, Byte does so by getting rid of any limits at all. Previously in private beta, Byte is officially live starting today.

Users start with a blank screen and can add images, text, GIFs, and music, then share their Byte with other users. Byte encourages collaboration, and will let you remix another person’s Byte by adding your own images or removing some of their text.

Byte is like Vine and Instagram on acid

Possibly my favorite of Byte’s tools, though, is the app launcher. Byte lets you pull in content from a variety of different apps. Some are obvious — Weather lets you add the weather of any location, Imgur lets you pull in images from Imgur. But there’s also Bitcoin, which lets you add in the current price of the virtual currency, Text2SparkLee, which makes any text you type ~glitter~, and Florida Man, which will insert a tabloid-esque headline such as “Florida man tries to sell live shark outside supermarket.”

Each Byte will now have its own customizable url, so you can share your creations (and others’ creations) anywhere you want, but only users who already have Byte will be able to open the link. You can download Byte for iOS for free starting today, or install the Byte OS X to view Bytes on your Mac.

Is this your ‘Next’ iPhone keyboard?

2015-09-03T09:01:00-04:00

When iOS 8 was announced at WWDC ’14, one of its most exciting features was that it gave users the option to install third-party keyboards. Since then we’ve seen a lot of options emerge, including Swype, SwiftKey, Fleksy, and Minuum. Today, after a year in the making, Next Keyboard is joining the ranks.

Is Next the perfect iPhone keyboard?

Next, from Tiny Hearts Studio, offers all the functionality of the standard Apple keyboard, but also introduces some innovative new features. Probably its most useful feature is its quick cursor swipe, which lets you move your cursor by swiping on the spacebar. No more peering through Apple’s little magnifying glass.

“We’re on a mission to make the perfect keyboard for iPhone, and [version one] is just the beginning for us,” says Robleh Jama, founder of Tiny Hearts Studio and co-creator of Next. Jama says Next is already planning updates. The app will soon add swipe typing, as Tiny Hearts works to improve its prediction engine.

Next’s word prediction does better than most other third-party keyboards, although it isn’t as good as SwiftKey’s. Within just a couple of minutes, Next was correctly completing most of my sentences, although it took me about a dozen tries to convince the autocorrect to let me type an Indian friend’s name. The keyboard also has an optional “Show Case” feature, which makes the letter keys change from upper to lower case when you toggle the shift button. This feature is on by default, but I turned it off, because it felt disorienting to have my entire keyboard switch cases as I typed. But I can see how it could make it less confusing to figure out whether your caps lock is on or not.

Letter keys reflect the case when you toggle the shift button

Those familiar with Slack, the workplace messaging platform that takes over your life, will enjoy Next’s integrated emoji keyboard. Along with suggested words, Next will also suggest emoji as you type. So, for example, if you type “I feel like poo,” Next will automatically suggest that you insert a smiling poop. I spent a good five minutes just trying to guess the names of various emoji, so this feature gets a big thumbs up.

Other features include full-size custom emoji, different sounds for different keys, and the ability to quickly switch between the alphabet and number keyboard. But there’s a catch. Next boasts on its Kickstarter page that “you don’t need to enable ‘full access’ in iOS settings to use Next Keyboard. We’d much rather sell a great product over people’s information.” Technically, Next is right — you don’t have to enable full access to use the keyboard. But none of these last three features will work unless you give Next full access to your phone. Enabling full access is also one of the steps in their setup video, which could easily make users think that they are required to enable full access.

The standard iOS full access agreement has some scary terms — according to the box that pops up, enabling full access “allows the developer to transmit anything you type … including information such as your credit card number” — but many developers whose apps request it say that they are not storing and sharing this data. Giving Next full access does automatically turn on the Share Anonymous Usage Data option. You can turn this off by hitting the little circle button to the left of the spacebar and going to Settings.

Some features won’t work unless you give Next full access

Next is already fairly slick at this point in its life, but I came across a couple of bugs while using the early access version. I was unable to change themes even after I enabled full access, and messages consistently defaulted to the Apple keyboard, even when I moved the Next Keyboard to the top of my preferred keyboards list. It’s not clear whether these issues are the fault of Tiny Hearts or Apple itself.

Next was one of Kickstarter’s most funded projects, and, according to Jama, Tiny Hearts Studios plans to spin out the keyboard into a separate company. You can download Next from the iTunes store for $3.99 starting today. In-app purchases for themes, stickers, and GIFs will be available, although for the launch, all in-app add-ons will be free.