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629 'iOS' stories May 2011 - September 2015
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Kantar: Samsung & Apple account for 64% of US smartphone market w/ 9 of 10 best-selling models

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Sep 2 2015 - 7:51 am PT
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The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel shows that Samsung and Apple continue to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, taking a massive 64% of the total market share between them, and accounting for nine of the ten best-selling models.

If share alone was not enough to demonstrate market dominance, our data also shows that these two vendors sold nine of the top ten best-selling smartphones in the three months ending July 2015 – with LG making a cameo appearance in the ranking.

Android increased its U.S. market share by 1.7% in the 12 months ending in July this year, though dropped 7% in Japan and 4.1% in Europe … 
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Android Wear on iOS: Setup and first impressions [Video]

Avatar for Cam Bunton Aug 31 2015 - 3:00 pm PT
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Android Wear finally has iOS support after Google pushed its iPhone-compatible software to the App Store. This means that Android has beaten Apple Watch to the cross-platform game. Or, at least it would, if iOS didn’t restrict it to a state of almost uselessness. The only device officially supported is the LG Watch Urbane although — as we previously revealed — the older generation Android Wear watches do work. I got it set up with my Moto 360, and have been mostly disappointed by my experience so far.


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Google gives developers code to disable iOS 9 app security to continue to serve iPhone ads

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Aug 28 2015 - 4:17 am PT
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One of the backend improvements in Apple’s upcoming iPhone and iPad operating system update iOS 9 is a strengthening of app security when accessing data from webservers. The new App Transport Security (ATS) feature ensures that only connections encrypted using HTTPS are permitted. There’s just one problem with that: not all advertisers use HTTPS, so ATS will stop some ads appearing in apps.

Google has responded by providing developers with five lines of code that allow them to disable ATS … 
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Eat24 finds Android customers less healthy than their iPhone counterparts

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Aug 26 2015 - 7:28 pm PT
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Sorry, Android users: Popular online food ordering service Eat24 has determined that you are less healthy on a nutritional basis than owners of Apple’s iPhone. That’s based on data it collected from its mobile app over a three month period, tracking information regarding how ordering habits differed across the rival platforms.


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Pocket 6.0 rolls out for Android with new Recommendation feature

Avatar for Cam Bunton Aug 26 2015 - 12:25 pm PT
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Pocket is one of the most popular read-it-later apps available on Android, and the service is about to get better (or perhaps worse depending on your viewpoint), with the public launch of recommendations. The feature has been tested in beta for some time, and is now officially out in the wild and will be available to users on Android, iOS and on the web. Pocket describes it as “high-quality content without the noise”.

Recommendations takes the absolute best content being saved across Pocket and tailors it to your own saving and reading habits. The result is a feed that’s completely unique and personalized to you, and is filled with the most interesting articles and videos you might have missed otherwise.

Instead of being a collation of the most viewed web pages from the web, recommendations are based on how popular stories are with people with your interests. Since they’re already curated by humans, the company hopes that helps tune out the noise. For instance, if you happen to save a lot of technology articles to read later in Pocket, you’ll be served up tech-based recommendations. What’s more, if you find a recommendation you don’t like, just press the ‘X’ and remove it from your feed.

Recommendations are currently available in English only currently, but the company states that it is working on a wider roll out in more languages. You can download Pocket 6.0 for Android from the Google Play Store for free.

Swype for Android receives Star Trek keyboard themes + new emoji keyboard

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Aug 26 2015 - 11:09 am PT
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Nuance Communications is today releasing an updated version of its popular Swype Keyboard for Android, “the world’s most powerful keyboard,” which includes an all-new Swype Store with additional premium themes as well as an emoji keyboard. Swype is a popular alternative to the default Android keyboard due in part to its many customization options, like the ability to change the keyboard’s overall layout, key sizes, and a bunch more.
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Twitter takes on messaging apps by removing 140 character limit from Direct Messages

Avatar for Mark Gurman Aug 12 2015 - 10:21 am PT
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Twitter is getting serious about messaging today. The social network has begun rolling out updates to its iOS, Mac, and Android apps, in addition to TweetDeck and its website, that remove the long-existing 140 character limit from individual direct messages. This change will roll out over the course of the next few weeks, so all users may not see the change immediately. The old 140 character limit for messages will remain for Tweets sent publicly and direct messages sent via SMS.


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Latest comScore data shows iOS continuing to gain on Android in US market

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Aug 7 2015 - 1:12 pm PT
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Research firm comScore today released its report on United States smartphone subscriber market share for the three month period ending in June. The report, released monthly, tracks the rankings of the top smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and operating systems by consumer adoption. Month-to-month fluctuations in market share aren’t often major, but the data gives us more context around how the top players are doing as we eek towards the 2015 holiday season.


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Google Maps v4.9 for iOS brings new night mode, ability to label custom places

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Aug 7 2015 - 12:33 pm PT
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iOS users of Google Maps just got some new functionality that has been in the Android version for some time now. Version 4.9 (iTunes link) brings a new night mode as well as the ability to label custom places so they can be easily found on the map and in search.

Night mode does something pretty common amongst dedicated GPS navigation units: It darkens the maps on-screen while you’re navigating somewhere. The reason this matters is because distracted driving is one of the biggest causes of driving-related accidents, and the white glow of a smartphone screen directed at ones face at nighttime can most definitely make it difficult to see what’s in view of the vehicle.

The other notable addition to come with this update is the ability to label places on the map that aren’t already in Google’s own database of places and points of interest. It’s already possible for anyone to add new places to the map through the iOS app, but these were only for public places and, if approved, would be seen by everyone using the app. The new labels are private, intended to make it easier to find and navigate to places that matter to you.

Google Maps for Android already has these features, but for iOS users who still cannot stand Apple’s own mapping product, they’re surely a welcome addition.

Report: Android device fragmentation has increased 28% over last year

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Aug 5 2015 - 9:40 am PT
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Android is notorious in the developer community for its rampant fragmentation. Developing an app for Google’s platform means wrestling to make the app work optimally on the ecosystem of thousands of devices in different shapes and sizes. And according to a new report out today giving us a look at the state of Android fragmentation as of this month, August 2015, there’s both some bad and good news: There are more devices than ever before, but fewer users that are spread out across different operating system versions.


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Google axes editing of Docs on mobile web, presenting install banners for multiple file types

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Jul 27 2015 - 3:33 pm PT
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Google Drive for the mobile web has always restricted editing to just Docs files — attempting to edit Sheets or Slides files required downloading the Google Drive app for iOS or Android. That changes today. No, you won’t be able to edit Sheets or Slides files now, but rather Google is also killing off the editing capabilities in Docs for mobile web.

The change makes total sense, if for consistency at the very least. But Google says it’s because the Drive native mobile app is “easier to use and offers more robust functionality.” Native apps typically have more access to the hardware and system-level software capabilities of the devices they’re installed on than web apps, and since they are downloaded directly onto the device, much of the boilerplate user interface doesn’t have to be loaded from the Internet each time the user goes to use them.

From now on, when a Drive user opens a Docs, Sheets, or Slides document from the mobile web, they’ll be presented with one of Google’s new app install banners that make it easy to launch or download the native app, and then be taken directly to the file they were initially viewing in the browser. Tapping the pencil icon in the top right will also trigger the banner to appear.

The user interface across the mobile web viewers for the three aforementioned editing tools have also been cleaned up to create a more consistent experience, which is nice.

Chrome Beta 45 introduces improved media playback controls, timed install banners to Android version

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Jul 27 2015 - 11:26 am PT
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As the Google Chrome web browser and web-based Chrome OS operating system continue on their ever quickening path towards divergence and feature parity with the native Android smartphone operating system, all of which are overseen by Google CEO Larry Page’s number two, Sundar Pichai, Chrome for Android is getting some new functionality that brings it closer to what developers can get out of native apps.


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Chrome 44 for iOS brings beacon-powered Physical Web closer to reality, new gestures

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Jul 22 2015 - 11:51 am PT
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The Physical Web is an open source web specification from Google released last year with the aim to make interacting with smart devices in the real world as easy as clicking a link, just as we do on the web. Now with the company having released its Eddystone beacon technology and APIs for making this communication between devices in the same proximity easier, it’s integrating Physical Web directly into Chrome for iOS.


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Pebble

Pebble Time now available at Best Buy, coming to Target next month

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 20 2015 - 11:45 am PT
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Pebble Time - Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises by Pebble Technology — Kickstarter 2015-02-24 08-58-47

The original Pebble Time renders…

Update: It looks like you can also snag the Pebble Time from Amazon now, too.

If you’re not a huge fan of platform-segregated accessories, you’re probably also the kind of person that would go for a Pebble smartwatch over the likes of the Android-only Moto 360 or the iOS-only Apple Watch. And if you’re that kind of person and haven’t yet grabbed the new smartwatch-with-a-color-ePaper-display, you now have a couple more retail outlets to pick from.
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Dozens of popular apps found ‘vulnerable to password cracking’

Avatar for Cam Bunton Jul 17 2015 - 9:15 am PT
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Popular iOS and Android apps from companies like Walmart, ESPN, Slack and SoundCloud have been found vulnerable to password cracking, according to a recent report from AppBugs. The security firm found that dozens of the most popular apps are lacking, in that they allow you to make any number of attempts to login without restriction. These clearly opens up a gap for attackers who have the means to guess those passwords and gain access to your accounts.


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Google releases ‘Ivy’ app for iOS, an experimental big number calculator

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2015 - 12:21 pm PT
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Google has quietly launched a new iOS app today called Ivy that it describes as an experimental big number calculator.
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YouTube creating ‘Trusted Tester’ preview program for Creator Studio app

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Jul 10 2015 - 11:35 am PT
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YouTube Creator Studio is YouTube’s app through which creators can manage their accounts on the go. Now the company is creating a “Trusted Tester” program through which passionate Creator Studio users will be able to receive new updates to the app prior to their public release, and in return provide feedback and insights that will help YouTube improve the app.


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Pinterest announces IFTTT & Polyvore apps as first developer platform integrations

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jul 8 2015 - 9:42 am PT
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After introducing a new developers platform and SDK in May, Pinterest is today announcing a couple of the first integrations developers have come up with starting with popular automation platform IFTTT and community based shopping/fashion site Polyvore.

For IFTTT, the service that lets users automate common web and app-based tasks based on a set of rules known as “recipes”, users will now be able to link products and devices on Pinterest to their automated workflows. The company shared some examples: automatically save Pins to a board from simple actions in other apps such as liking a photo on Instagram, upvoting a post on Reddit or favoriting an item on Etsy. There are more than 20 Recipes to choose from starting today. The Pinterest integration for IFTTT is available through desktop and the service’s mobile apps including Android.

For Polyvore, users can login to the site using their Pinterest account to quickly and easily get access to pinning items from the fashion community/shopping site to Pinterest boards via the company’s iOS app. Support through the Android app, however, is coming soon. 

In addition, Pinterest noted that new SDKs and documentation for developers are available to all through the company’s new developers site. The new SDKs give devs access to the Pin It button and JS and OAuth support.

Fallout Shelter slated for August launch on Android, says VP of Marketing

Avatar for Tom Maxwell Jul 2 2015 - 11:57 am PT
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Fallout Shelter, the free-to-play mobile game inspired by the popular ‘Fallout’ franchise, is expected to be launched on Android next month, according to developer Bethesda’s Vice President of Marketing Peter Hines.

In a conversation with a user on Twitter asking about an expected launch date for the game, Hines responded that the game is “coming along nice. haven’t announced a date, but should be out next month. we’ll let you know when we have specifics.”

The game launched for iOS back at E3 last month with Bethesda at the time promising that an Android release was in the works, but didn’t offer much more information than that. The game hasn’t received the most glowing reviews, however, with many across the Internet saying it gets repetitive very fast and serves as not much more than an advertisement for Fallout 4, the next chapter in the Fallout game for desktop and consoles, which is slated for a November 10th launch.