App Store Apps

MusiXmatch brings the lyrics of your currently playing songs to Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

MusiXmatch isn't a new application by any means, although I must admit I had never heard of it until this past week when I read about it on French blog iGen. The app has been around for quite some time but it was recently updated to bring its lyrics engine to Notification Center, where it displays the lyrics of your currently playing songs so you can sing along or just try to finally understand what the heck this song is all about once for all.

Assuming you have an internet connection, musiXmatch allows you to have direct access to the exact lyrics that are being sung in virtually any song in your library. This works from the musiXmatch app, or from its Notification Center widget.

Apple changes its mind again, will allow calculator widgets in Notification Center after all

Sébastien Page ∙ October 30, 2014

Yes. No. YES!

These three words sum up the situation of PCalc, a powerful calculator app that features a Notification Center widget, whose developer was asked by Apple yesterday to remove as it apparently wasn't in line with App Store rules.

Today, it appears that Apple has changed its mind (again), as TechCrunch reports that they've been "hearing that Apple is changing its course. The PCalc app and widget will remain in the App Store, and all calculator-type widgets will be allowed as well, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed to us."

So what gives?

Activity by LogYourRun helps you visualize the intensity of your activity

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

I'm not a slug but I'm also far from being a health freak. You won't find me at the gym, and if you ever see me running, then call 911 because it means something went terribly wrong. Yet, with the introduction of the M7 coprocessor in the iPhone 5s which helps you keep track of how many steps you made in a given day, I became more aware of little things I could do to maintain my health. I quickly established a daily goal of 6,000 steps, which I usually track with Pedometer++, a beautifully simple step tracker.

Federico Viticci of Mac Stories recently introduced me to a similar application called Activity by LogYourRun. Just like Pedometer++, Activity tracks your steps but it also helps you visualize the intensity of your activity in a very original way.

Quickly share to Twitter or Facebook with TapToShare iOS 8 widget

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

TapToShare is a new widget for Notification Center that lets you quickly post to Twitter or Facebook. The widget adds shortcuts to both social networks in the Today tab, and when tapping on one of these shortcuts, it launches the TapToShare app and automatically opens up a share sheet for the selected service.

Microsoft updates Bing Search app with translation widget in Safari and Notification Center

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2014

First demoed at WWDC 2014 back in June, Microsoft's Bing translation widget and custom actions for Safari and the Notification Center in iOS 8 is now available by way of an update to the free Bing Search app for the iPhone and iPod touch devices. Available free of charge in the App Store, the new Bing Search 5.0.1 also contains bug fixes.

As shown on the screenshots top of post, enabling the Bing Search Translation action in Safari requires that you bring up the Share sheet in Safari.

TeeVee 3 updated with iOS 8 Today widget, interactive alerts and now free

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

TeeVee 3, a TV show-tracking app that I reviewed in May by Tomas Perzl of the Czech Republic and Slovakia-based CrazyApps Team, now lets you tweet out upcoming episodes or mark the ones you've seen as watched, directly from the notification itself, and also see which shows are coming next in the Today view of the iOS Notification Center, thanks to its iOS 8-focused update released yesterday.

Other new features available in this excellent iPhone and iPad app include new sorting options (Alphabetically, Reverse, AirDate and Unwatched), the ability to delete a show by long-pressing it in the list and several bug fixes.

As a cherry on top, the team has decided to discount the $2.99 app to zero bucks, for a limited time, in an effort to bring in new customers. If you're going to grab the latest TeeVee 3.1 update, please keep in mind that the app now requires iOS 8.

Twitter’s iPhone app gains interactive notifications on iOS 8, revamps profile pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, is rolling out a brand new profile experience on Twitter for iPhone, in addition to another cool new feature — support for interactive notifications for incoming tweets on iOS 8 devices — the startup announced in a blog post Thursday.

While the new profiles will be available for everyone using iOS 7 or above, the ability to interact with alerts on the Lock and Home screen is not because this capability is part of the great new features available only in iOS 8.

iOS 8 apps with Notification Center widgets

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Now that iOS 8 is here, developers are releasing updates to their apps and launching new apps altogether that take advantage of iOS 8's many new functionalities. Many popular apps are being updated to support Notification Center widgets in the Today view for displaying information and performing actions without having to open the app. We've compiled an extensive list of apps that support iOS 8's new Notification Center APIs and are available to download and install on iOS 8. We're working to populate the index continuously as more updates are released, so check back frequently. If you know of an app that currently has iOS 8 Notification Center widget support but isn't listed below, send us an email at tips@idownloadblog.com or comment below with a link to the app!

WidgetMemo lets you create memos you can pin to Notification Center

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 29, 2018

Whenever someone tells me something important to remember, or I have a thought that I don’t want to forget, I write it down on whatever scrap of paper I have within arms reach. Oftentimes, those notes get tossed out with the garbage and I forget about them anyway.

WidgetMemo aims to stop the unnecessary loss of important notes by letting you create them on your iPhone using a simple user-interface. Your memos can easily be viewed in Notification Center, where you presumably check regularly throughout the day anyway. So, you’ll never forget what you were supposed to remember…

New ‘Notifyr’ app pushes your iPhone notifications to your Mac

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

A new iPhone app has surfaced in the App Store that offers a fairly unique feature: the ability to push notifications to your Mac. It's called Notifyr, and it utilizes a companion OS X client and Bluetooth LE tech to automatically send your iOS notifications to your desktop.

The whole thing is fairly easy to set up. After you've downloaded both the iOS app and the Mac client, you'll follow the usual bluetooth pairing procedure. And once that's done, you should start seeing all of your iOS notifications pop up in your Mac's Notification Center...

‘AppUpdateNotifier’ keeps you informed about App Store updates

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 26, 2012

First there was CydiaBulletin, and then there was the dead on arrival Aptdate. These jailbreak tweaks were conceptualized and/or created to provide notifications whenever an app or tweak had a pending updated waiting in Cydia.

Due to traffic concerns, it's unlikely that either of these tweaks will ever see the light of day. That's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation unless the developers can come up with a way that won't put too much stress on the repo servers.

But what about the App Store? This sort of functionality would be useful for pending App Store updates as well, would it not? Thankfully, someone was listening.

Check out our video walkthrough of AppUpdateNotifier, a jailbreak tweak that provides banner notifications when updates are waiting in the App Store...

Launch Center: A Beautiful iPhone App For Launching Shortcuts and URL Triggers

Alex Heath ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Given the fact that Apple recently pulled QuickPick from the App Store, all eyes are on launcher apps for iOS. In case you missed it, QuickPick allowed you to create iOS system shortcuts and add them to Notification Center, thereby mimicking much of the functionality that jailbreakers enjoy.

Apple didn't want such functionality in its App Store for whatever reason, so it pulled QuickPick yesterday. There's another app that worked exactly like QuickPick (only it looked better), but Apple made the developer remove Notification Center integration before it could be made available in the App Store. The app is called Launch Center, and it's still a gorgeous app for launching shortcuts and URL actions on the iPhone.