App Store Apps

Microsoft to sunset Sunrise Calendar on August 31, here are a few viable alternatives

If you rely on the excellent cross-platform Sunrise Calendar to keep up with your schedule, Microsoft has some bad news for you: your favorite calendar app is breaking up with you as the Windows maker announced plans to shut down Sunrise on August 31. For those wondering, Microsoft bought this popular calendar app in February of 2015.

Fortunately, Sunrise alternatives are plentiful.

OneDrive implements 3D Touch previews for files and folders

Microsoft issued an update to OneDrive, its free of charge mobile cloud-storage client, adding some new features.

In addition to a fresh coat of paint and a revamped app icon, OneDrive for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad was bumped in the App Store yesterday to version 7.1 with support for Peek and Pop in-app gestures for previewing content with 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

In the refreshed app, you can now peek at any folder or file by pressing it lightly, or pop right into it by pressing a little deeper.

Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard launches with one-handed mode, gestures, themes and more

After releasing an iOS edition of its Hub Keyboard last month, Windows giant Microsoft on Monday launched an iOS port of its predictive text Windows Phone keyboard, called Word Flow. The free of charge iPhone app brings many advanced features that speed up typing, like a cool one-handed mode, gesture based typing, predictive text input, custom themes and more. The Word Flow keyboard is available at no charge in the App Store.

Microsoft’s Hub Keyboard now available on iPhone

Microsoft's Hub Keyboard is now available for the iPhone. No, it's not the Windows Phone keyboard that's being ported to Apple's handset. It's an iOS version of the Hub Keyboard that landed on Android in February.

Like other third-party software keyboards, Hub can be easily installed on your device once downloaded. Just navigate to Settings > General > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard, and select Hub from the subsequent list.

Apple’s recommended iPad Pro accessory: Microsoft Office 365 subscription

Apple this morning started accepting pre-orders for the new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro in thirteen territories total. Surprisingly enough, the Apple Online Store offers iPad Pro shoppers Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions as a recommended iPad accessory.

As first noted by The Verge, Microsoft Office 365 also appears as a recommended option when purchasing other iPad models, including the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 4.

Outlook for iOS adds Touch ID protection for your emails, contacts and calendars

After adding 3D Touch support for quickly viewing your calendar or composing a new event or email directly from the Home screen, Microsoft's mobile Outlook app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad has gained the ability to protect your emails, contacts and calendars within the app with your fingerprint, using Touch ID on supported iPhones and iPads. In addition, the Outlook 2.2.2 update packs in a few other refinements and enhancements.

Skype is shutting down Qik

Microsoft has confirmed that it it will be shutting down Qik, its ephemeral mobile video messaging app which debuted on mobile in October of 2014. Marketed under the Skype brand, the app promised to make video conversations “more spontaneous and fun so you don’t have to wait until your next call to connect with your favorite people.”

Following a few updates, the app has introduced support for the iPhone 6/6s screen sizes and added some new languages and video effects, but not much in way of new features.

Skype group video calling starts rolling out with support for up to 25 participants

As promised, Microsoft has begun rolling out free group video calling in Skype's mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, Engadget reported this morning.

According to Microsoft, this feature will allow Skype users to video chat with up to 24 other people at once in crisp 1080p resolution, and each participant can flip between the front and back camera mid-call.

Group video calling in mobile Skype apps is going to be available to users in North America and Western Europe. “We plan to be fully available worldwide in March,” said Skype.

Microsoft launches ‘News Pro’ app for iOS

Microsoft on Tuesday released a new app for iOS called News Pro. The company describes the app as "your work news brief," and says it will help you search for news around your work every day, and fuel your unique interests with over a million topics.

The app comes from Microsoft's experimental project group Microsoft Garage, and it looks pretty much like Flipboard and the slew of other news aggregating apps out there. You login using Facebook or LinkedIn, and pick which topics you want to follow.

Microsoft updates Office for iOS with 3D Touch features, Apple Pencil support and more

Microsoft today rolled out updates to its mobile Office suite in the App Store: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Across the board these apps have gained support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s/Plus.

In addition, the new 'Annotate with Ink' feature puts a set of cool tools on the new Draw tab for drawing, writing and highlighting things using touch, pen or Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro.

Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard is coming to iOS

Windows giant Microsoft is porting its excellent predictive text keyboard for Windows Phone, dubbed Word Flow, over to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

In an email to some Windows Insider testers, obtained by The Verge's Tom Warren, Microsoft invited iPhone users to participate in a trial of the Word Flow keyboard for iOS.

On Windows Phone, the Word Flow keyboard includes a number of advanced features such as autocorrect, suggestions, gestures, multi-language support, emoticons, the ability to swipe letters like in Swype's keyboard, and more.