Category: iOS

Skype iOS App Updated With “All New Calling Experience”

Skype has just received an update that adds a better designed calling experience along with some other enhancements and fixes. If you frequently use Skype for messaging, the update also brings with it quicker ways to clear out messaging histories.

Skype for iPad v4.6 is compatible with the iPad, iPad 2, iPad mini and the latest iPad with Retina Display. The app has been updated to include a new calling experience. Users can mark all their recent chats as “read” in a matter of a few taps. One-to-one chats appear in the correct order in the app now.

The updated iPhone app too includes the above mentioned features. Skype for iPhone v4.6 is compatible with the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, plus 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch. iOS 5.0 or later is required on all devices.

Skype describes its new interface as a “beautiful new calling experience.” And it’s true, the new look is cleaner and more modern than before. Though functionality-wise, it’s not that different.

[toggle_box title=”Change Log” width=”Width of toggle box”]

What’s New In This Version:

? Beautiful new calling experience

? Mark all your recent chats as read with just a few taps.

? General fixes and improvements

?One-to-one chats now appear in the correct order.

[/toggle_box]

You can download Skype from the App Store for free.

March 8, 2013
Google Maps For iOS Updated To Version 1.1

Google has released its first update to Google Maps for iOS, bringing some features over from Android and the web.

Version 1.1, available on the App Store on Tuesday, now allows users to search for addresses based on their Google Contacts if they choose to log into their Google accounts. Additionally, the app now allows users to search for general categories like “restaurants,” “bars,” “gas stations,” and so on. Non-US users will also rejoice at the ability to choose between kilometers and miles for the app’s distance estimates.

Users can now sync up previously-searched locations based on contact information, so if you have an address saved under Mom, searching by name will point you to the place on the map.

Google asks customers to note that some of these features “may not be available in all countries.”

Google Maps is a free download from the App Store.

[toggle_box title=”Change Log” width=”Width of toggle box”]

Full change log for Google Maps version 1.1:

– Search your Google Contacts; sign in to have your saved addresses show up when you search for friends and family by name.
– Quickly search for local places by selecting popular categories such as restaurants, bars, cafes, gas stations, etc.
– Choose between Kilometers or Miles for your preferred distance units.
– Note that some features may not be available in all countries.

[/toggle_box]

March 6, 2013
Apple Releases iOS 6.1.2 Update, Evad3rs Release Evasi0n 1.4 Jailbreak Tool

Apple today released iOS 6.1.2, the latest iteration of the mobile operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices, following widespread reports of errors caused by calendars connected to Exchange servers.

The affects of the bug also caused the battery life on the iPhone or iPad to suffer significantly.

Microsoft came up with a few ideas to prevent the overloading, such as switching off the calendar function altogether or simply banning all iOS 6.1 users from accessing the network.

Just a few hours after Apple released its latest iOS update yesterday, the Evad3rs team was out with Evasi0n version 1.4 designed to work with iOS 6.1.2 devices. An Evad3rs team member tweeted the news late yesterday.

Even the prior version of Evasi0n seemed unaffected by the iOS 6.1.2 update, at least according to preliminary testing. But Evasi0n version 1.4 makes it official.

Apple hasn’t spoken out about publicly about the Evasi0n jailbreak. But the company did update its jailbreak warning page a day before the tool was unleashed earlier this month.

The page cautions people about the side effects of the practice, such as instability, security vulnerabilities, shortened battery life, unreliable voice and data, disruption of services, and the inability to apply future software updates.

Unfortunately, Apple failed to address a security vulnerability enabling hackers to bypass an iPhone’s lockscreen and access core device functions.

February 20, 2013
GLBenchmark Result Shows Apple iPhone 5 Running iOS 7!
A GLBenchmark result page, sent to us on Facebook by Akash Sukhija, shows the Apple iPhone 5 running on iOS 7, the next version of the Apple mobile operating system. On top of the results page, the OS tab reads “iPhone OS 7.0”.

This comes at a time when Apple is set to release its promised fix for an iOS 6.1 bug that enables intruders to by-pass a user’s passcode and access certain areas of the phone, could be released this week. The rollout of iOS 6.1 hasn’t gone as smoothly for Apple as the company would have liked and it would be eager to make sure that iOS 7 does not follow a similar path.

Running iOS 7, the iPhone 5 scores :
- 3290 Frames (29.1 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 – Offscreen (1080p)
- 4515 Frames (40.0 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 – Onscreen
- 31721 ms (35.6 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD Fixed Timestep – Onscreen
- 48806 ms (23.2 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD Fixed Timestep – Offscreen (1080p)
- 1808 MTexels/s Fill Rate
- 133 MTriangles/s Textured Triangle Throughput
Apple launched iPhone 5 in September along with iOS 6, and it has been reported that the new iPhone will be released in the middle of 2013. Reports last month suggested that Apple could unveil the next version of its iPhone and iOS 7 as early as the spring of 2013.

Back in January, App developers had found references in their usage logs to a new version of the iPhone – identified as iPhone6,1 – and to iOS 7.

This webpage all but confirms Apple’s iOS 7 testing. Thanks Akash!

You can find the webpage here.
February 17, 2013
Bump Now Lets You Share Files To and From a Computer

Do you use Bump a lot? Get ready, because now it’s even better. From now, not only can you bump devices to transfer your photos, you can bump computers! When you bump your phone with a computer, the photos you’ve chosen immediately get transferred to that computer. It’s like magic.

If you’ve missed it, Bump is a mobile app which makes it possible to share files and photos between devices simply by bumping them into each other. It uses your geo-location and some statistics to recognize your specific bump among millions of others. In order to bump photos onto your computer, all you have to do is hit the space bar with your device.

Thanks to the update, you can now easily save all the videos on your phone to your computer’s hard drive. If you get a new phone, you can back up all your contacts onto your computer and reload them onto your new device. Or, you can grab a presentation from your desk computer and bump it to a conference room PC.

It works by matching digital signatures between devices, be it two smartphones or, now, between a smartphone and a computer. We’ve been using the new functionality to transfer photos between my phone and the PC; it’s incredibly fast and works very well.

If you haven’t tried the app yet, it’s a great addition to your mobile repertoire.

February 17, 2013
Apple To Release iOS 6.1.2 Next Week To Fix Major Security Issue

Apple’s promised fix for an iOS 6.1 bug that enables intruders to by-pass a user’s passcode and access certain areas of the phone, could be released this week.

According to a report from German site iFun, which was dead-on about the release of iOS 6.1.1, the iOS 6.1.2 release date could come as soon as next week, possibly by February 20th.

The rollout of iOS 6.1 hasn’t gone as smoothly for Apple as the company would have liked.

Not only did the initial release introduce the security issues and battery problems, in addition to a wallop of a 3G connectivity bug for iPhone 4S users in Europe, the follow-up version, iOS 6.1.1 released last week, introduced a bunch of new issues.

iPhone users are still reporting Exchange connectivity bugs, so severe that Microsoft is suggesting affected devices be booted from the server so as not to slow down the rest of the network.

Earlier this week a video was posted online showing how a complex series of button pushes could nullify the passcode and unlock photo albums, calling logs, voicemail and enable the hacker to modify contacts.

Apple has acknowledged the problem, which is almost identical to one which surfaced in 2010, and said it is hastily working on a fix.

February 17, 2013
Real Racing 3 To Be Free-to-Play, Releasing On February 28th For iOS And Android

Electronic Arts has announced that the third release from its popular Real Racing series will be landing at the Google Play Store for Android, and the App Store for iOS, as of the 28th February. The iPhone 5 launch gave us a glimpse of things to come from Real Racing 3, but while the snippets appeared remnant of Gran Turismo, fans have had to wait quite a while for a solid release date.

Now, the wait appears to be almost over, and by the end of the month – provided no unforeseen delays crop up – the mobile arena’s favorite racer will be back for a third lap.

The title promises “46 licensed vehicles covering 3 classes, a 22 car grid, real world tracks, 8 varied event types and 900+ events.”

As you might expect, not all of that content will be free right away. Though players will be able to unlock all content for free over time, they can also skip the rigmarole by simply purchasing cars and tracks with real cash, according to CNET.

The freemium model has worked wonders for many other developers, as it entices gamers to try out a game in the first place. At $9.99/INR 550, one is only likely to spend money having played before, but if a gamer can try – and enjoy – a title for free having just found it while browsing the App or Google Play Stores, the inclination to spend further money is certainly higher.

Much like other racing games, Real Racing revolves around racing around in cars. The first game was critically acclaimed with an average review score of 94 percent on Metacritic. The series is praised for its visuals and intelligent AI.

The second game was released in December 2010. It features a number of real cars, including the 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe, the 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, and the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, among others. As with the first game, it features an extensive career mode, time trials, and online play.

[CNET, Redmond Pie]

February 13, 2013
Evasi0n Jailbreak Installed On 7 Million iOS Devices In Four Days

Within around four days of launch, the evasi0n jailbreak has been reported to have jailbroken over 7 million iDevices on iOS 6. This data comes from Saurik the developer of Cydia using his server logs.

[quote]As of Thursday night, Freeman’s alternative app store had received visits from 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches that were jailbroken with evasi0n, the first jailbreaking software for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.1.[/quote]

While that’s not a whole lot when compared to the installed base — there are over 500 million iOS-based devices out there, and Apple sold nearly 140 million in 2012 alone — but seven million devices jailbroken in less than a week points to a very healthy demand for increased customization options on iOS.

The statistics come from Cydia creator, Jay Freeman, who claims demand for an untethered jailbreak has been pent up, since this was the longest iOS users have had to wait between a new iPhone release and a cracked OS.

Forbes points out that even one of the more popular jailbreaks of 2011, Jailbreakme3 from Comex, only drew 1.4 million downloads during its first nine days online. Freeman attributes this to the amount of time that it took to crack iOS 6 – 136 days – compared to the 98 days that it took to unlock the iPhone 4S.

Have you jailbroken your iDevice yet?

[Forbes]

February 10, 2013
Evasi0n Jailbreak Version 1.1 Released, Fixes Weather And Long Reboot Bugs

The untethered jailbreak tool evasi0n for iOS 6.x which has been downloaded by over four million users has seen a bit more news come out over the past 24 hours, led by an update designed to address a pair of bugs discovered in the initial version.

Available from the evasi0n Web site, version 1.1 fixes one problem of long reboot times for any jailbroken device, according to blog site iPodnn. It also squashes a bug that caused the default Weather app to crash.

Both fixes had been posted earlier on the Cydia app store for jailbreakers, the evasi0n team tweeted today. Users who’ve already jailbroken their devices can grab the fixes from Cydia rather than installing the new version of evasi0n from scratch. People trying out evasi0n for the first time can simply grab version 1.1 from the tool’s Web site.

Evasi0n is able to jailbreak all iOS 6 and 6.1 devices on the market, including the iPhone 5, the iPad Mini, the fourth-generation iPad, and the fifth-generation iPod Touch. The tool is considered simple to use, at least in comparison with other jailbreak methods.

If you haven’t already jailbroken but plan to do so, just make sure you download the updated version before performing the process. If you’ve already been to the evasi0n website, you may need to clear your internet cache to see the update.

Will you jailbreak your iPhone before iOS 6.1.1? Have you even updated to iOS 6? Leave your comments below!

February 8, 2013
iOS 6.1 Jailbreak Evasi0n goes live

We earlier reported that the iOS 6.1 jailbreak was 95% complete, now its gone live. As mentioned in our previous post, Evasi0n supports all 20+ variants of iOS devices, including the iPhone 5, on iOS 6.0 through iOS 6.1.

The release of the new userland-based Evasi0n iOS 6.1 jailbreak tool means that users now have an extremely efficient way of making a complicated background process seem extremely simple.

So head on over to evasi0n.com and download the compatible version with your computer and get on going.

February 5, 2013
iOS 6.1 Jailbreak 95% ready for iPhone 5, 4s, 4, 3GS, iPad 4, 3, 2 and iPod Touch

Waiting on that jailbreak to unleash the creativity on the iPhone 5, or the new iPad for that matter? The Team Evad3rs have updated their website and are showing that 95% of the iOS 6.1 jailbreak is ready with only a few hours to go up until release.

So hold your breath because this is going to come sooner than you think.

What is the most used feature after Jailbreaking?, for us we prefer toggles in the notification panel, so SB settings is all we need from the jailbreak. Now with team Hackul0us and Install0us gone from Cydia, we feel that number of Jailbreaks on iOS 6.1 may be limited to those who do it for the heck of it.

According to team EVAD3RS the jailbreak had been readied on iOS 6.0 and 6.0.1 , but they wanted to release an iOS 6.1 Jailbreak so that Apple does not patch up the exploit in the iOS 6.1 update.

February 4, 2013
Hackulous Shuts Down: Piracy Apps Installous And AppSync Go With It

Plenty of people we know love their iPhone, but when pressed for what they love most, it’s from a cracked feature coming from something like Installous and AppSync – well, those days are over, folks. Hackulous is no more. The team behind Installous, the popular jailbreak app that allows for the installation of unofficial iOS apps, says as much.

First reported by iDownloadBlog, the shutdown is announced and explained by the team through a short note on the Hackulous website:

[quote]

Goodnight, sweet prince.

We are very sad to announce that Hackulous is shutting down. After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff. We’re incredibly thankful for the support we’ve had over the years and hope that new, greater communities blossom out of our absence.

With lots of love,
Hackulous Team

[/quote]

Installous and AppSync created by the Hackulous team made it very easy to install pirated apps on your jailbroken iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. If you’re a developer then the good news is that Hackulous has shut down, which means that users won’t be able to install Installous and AppSync.

This is certainly not the end of mobile app piracy, but it is one small step forward for developers who want to earn an honest living for building fun mobile applications, and for those of us users who are happy to pay the the dollar or two it takes to download an app the honest way.

We don’t support piracy and the installation of pirated apps, the purpose of jailbreaking an iOS device should be to gain access to features that Apple does not allow. The Hackulous repository, Installous for iOS and AppSync have been around for a very long time. We are sure that many jailbreakers won’t be too happy with the fact that these tools will never exist, ever again.

December 31, 2012
Hurry! WhatsApp Free In App Store For Limited Period Of Time!

The wildly popular message client known as WhatsApp is now free for all to download on iOS. This mobile application usually goes for 99 cent, but for a limited time, users will get it free of charge. WhatsApp is a cool way for users to avoid SMS fees in mobile phone plans, as it lets users send messages to other members of the service over the internet.

Although the app is free for now to those rocking an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, folks on Android will continue to get it free, with a $0.99 yearly fee kicking in after the first 12 months.

A few things to note before handing you the download link. On iOS, WhatsApp is compatible only with the iPhone because it’s a telephony application that uses your phone number to let other people reach you. In other words, iPad and iPod touch devices are out.

It requires iOS 4.3 or later and has been recently optimized for the iPhone 5. It works with pretty much all carriers and networks but some carrier limitations may apply in certain territories.

WhatsApp supports English, Arabic, Bokmål, Norwegian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

December 21, 2012
Google Maps for iPhone released on Apple iTunes App store : Updated

As it was awaited and predicted the dedicated app for Google Maps for iPhone running iOS 6 and up, has been released on the iTunes Store and it also brings turn by turn voice guided navigation. Apple had decided to remove all Google related apps from its OS in iOS 6 and onward and specifically replace the maps app with their own iOS Maps application. The Apple Maps were not very detailed and caused a lot of problems for owners and Apple alike.

Here are the detailed options available in the Google Maps for iPhone app:

Search
* Find addresses, places and businesses around the world with Google local search.
* Discover places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and local reviews.
* Sign in to sync your searches, directions, and favorite places between your computer and your phone.

Directions
* Get voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions.
* Find your way by train, bus, subway or walking directions.
* Access live traffic information in cities across the world.

Street View and imagery
* View 360-degree panoramas of places around the globe with Street View.
* See inside more than 100,000 businesses worldwide.
* View high resolution satellite imagery of locations around the world.

Simple and easy to use
* An entirely new Google Maps experience on your iPhone.
* Newly designed and streamlined interface for even easier navigation of your world.
* Use gestures to explore the map and browse results.

Update: Apparently the app works cross platform. : Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Download Link

December 13, 2012
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City To Hit iOS And Android On December 6

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is approaching its tenth anniversary, and to honour that landmark Rockstar Games is unleashing the title on Android and iOS devices early next month.

The 80?s-themed death-fest has been carefully re-worked to support touchscreen-based devices, and will be available on many newer Android devices including the Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X,Galaxy S III and Nexus 4. The list of Android devices covered is quite extensive, and includes even aging phones like the Nexus S and Xperia Play.

Vice City has higher-resolution character models and improved lighting compared to the original, and there will be some mobile-only features available at launch. We’re really excited to see how the game looks and runs on the Nexus 10 tablet, too.

GTA: Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition will run $4.99 for both platforms and will be out on December 6th. See the list of compatible devices after the break.

November 22, 2012