When iOS 8 launched three weeks ago, I came across a company called Avanio Labs that had launched a set of three apps on the App Store: Paste+, Agenda+, and Forecast+. The apps were presented as Notification Center widgets, and I found that interesting as I assumed that Apple would reject apps that only offered widgets with no primary functionality. Of Avanio’s three apps, I’ve been using Paste+ on a daily basis. I think it’s a nice little utility to save taps and launch specific iOS features faster with Notification Center.
Posts tagged with "iOS 8"
Paste+, a Clipboard Action Widget
Tweetbot 3.5: iPhone 6 Support, Interactive Notifications, and iOS 8 Extensions
For the past two months, I’ve been switching back and forth between Tweetbot and Twitter’s official app for iOS in a personal quest to understand what’s the best Twitter client for me today. Tweetbot 3.5, available today on the App Store, has given me the biggest incentive to keep using Tapbots’ app yet: integration with iOS 8 extensions in my Twitter timeline.
Implementing iOS 8 Document Pickers
The new document picker and provider functionality in iOS 8 is exciting technology because it expands on the possibilities of what we are capable of doing with our devices. We are already seeing a flood of great apps integrating document pickers and extensions from developers like Dropbox, Panic, and Readdle. I recently had the need for the new UIDocumentPicker functionality so I decided to dive in and see what it takes to implement the feature. As it turns out, getting a basic implementation is extremely easy and only requires a few lines of code. Of course, this is well documented by Apple and seasoned developers will have no problems implementing a picker but for us noobs it helps to see the process laid out – so here is a brief walkthrough.
Built for iOS 8, DateStamper Lets You Apply Date Stamps to Photos
When I was a kid, my parents used to take a lot of pictures. Family gatherings, vacations, Sunday road trips, our dog growing up. They weren’t photographers by any means – they just wanted to document our lives and create memories. They useddisposable Kodak cameras most of the time – lots of them. Before smartphones and when “cellphones” meant this, those thousands of pictures collected in dozens of photo albums are the ones that stuck around to this day. They haven’t been lost in a cloud backup. They’re in my closet.
Saving Recipes with the AnyList Extension
My girlfriend and I are moving into a new apartment next month, and to justify the expense of a new kitchen I promised myself (and my friends) that I would learn new recipes to go beyond my repertoire of a couple of dozen pizza types and pasta sauces. Cooking is a passion of mine, but I feel like I need to extend my knowledge to a wider catalogue of recipes and ingredients. Therefore, I’m in the process of reading and bookmarking several recipe websites (primarily Italian ones) and I thought it’d be interesting to combine that with recipe apps for iOS 8.
PCalc and the Everything Calculator for iOS 8
I never thought I’d use a complex calculator app such as PCalc, but, following an iOS 8 update and praise from Dr. Drang and Jason Snell, I reconsidered. PCalc is now on my Home screen and I’m using it on a daily basis for all kinds of calculations and conversions.
iOS 8 Document Management Updates
After updating PDF Converter and Scanner Pro with support for iOS 8 extensions last week, Readdle released updates to Documents and PDF Expert yesterday, bringing full integration with iCloud Drive and document pickers.
Similarly, Panic’s Transmit was updated with various enhancements including an Import/Export feature for iCloud Drive. These options let you save and copy files to and from Transmit (either in local or remote locations) using the native iOS 8 document picker.
I’ve been playing with both since yesterday and I noticed some good ideas and inconsistencies that I think are worth pointing out.
Apple Highlights “Apps for Health”
Following the release of iOS 8.0.2 and the restoration of HealthKit functionalities for third-party apps, Apple has started highlighting iPhone apps that integrate with iOS 8’s Health dashboard with a dedicated section on the App Store.
Experience an entirely new approach to wellness where your fitness app can talk to your calorie tracker, your doctor can be automatically notified of updates to your health data, and great apps work together for a healthier you. This handpicked collection highlights the best fitness, nutrition, and medical apps customized for iOS 8.
Apple Releases iOS 8.0.2
A day after releasing and then pulling iOS 8.0.1 due to bugs that caused cellular connections and Touch ID to not work on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has just released iOS 8.0.2. The new version carries the same bug fixes of Wednesday’s update and fixes the bugs that had been introduced by iOS 8.0.1.
iOS 8.0.2 fixes a number of bugs including an issue that prevented HealthKit apps from working correctly and a problem that caused custom keyboards to become deselected after entering a passcode. It also improves Reachability on the new iPhone 6, fixes a bug that disabled file uploads in Safari, and brings better support for the Ask to Buy feature in Family Sharing.
iOS 8.0.2 can be downloaded now from iTunes or software update on an iOS device.