Web Apps

iCloud Going to Get Its Own Web Apps After All?

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 2, 2018

Since Apple announced iCloud, the much-needed replacement for its ailing MobileMe service, at WWDC last week, there has been much debate as to whether the latter's impressive web-apps would make the transition to the new platform. Apple's Steve Jobs made no mention of the web interface for iCloud, with MobileMe sporting HTML versions of OS X's Mail, Calendar and Address Book apps. Were they being dumped?

Former Engadget front-man and all-round tech celebrity, Joshua Topolsky, reported that the web interface was indeed being scrapped, citing Apple's PR as the source of the information....

New in iOS 5: Save and Read Webpages Later with Reader

Alex Heath ∙ June 9, 2011

In iOS 5, Apple has taken services like Instapaper and Read It Later head-on with a new feature called "Reader." Like the similar feature that has existed in Safari on the Mac, Reader for iOS 5 will strip a webpage in Mobile Safari of unneeded images and ads for a more enjoyable reading experience.

Articles can also be saved for reading later on any iDevice that's set up with your iCloud account. Bookmarking is a thing of the past.

NowStream Lets You Stream Torrents to Your iPhone, No Jailbreak Required

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated September 20, 2016

NowStream is a web application that was developed during this weekend's TechCrunch Hackathon by Carnegie Mellon student, and future Google intern Sohail Prasad. The web app allows you to stream torrents directly to your iPhone via Mobile Safari.

The app allows you to grab any torrent link, paste it in the web interface of the app and start streaming. There's obviously stuff happening in the background but we don't know much about it so far...

Google Maps Now on Your Mobile Browser

Sébastien Page ∙ May 21, 2011

Google is now allowing you to use Google Maps directly from the browser, without having to use an application. Simply point your iPhone to maps.google.com and after allowing the web app to use your current location, Google Maps will locate you and offer various options that are already available through the native app.

The app works pretty well, although it took me a minute or so to really figure out how everything worked, especially how to get directions and switch back and forth with the maps. Maybe that's just me though. It's still early and my brain probably isn't at 100%.

This being said, the conspiracy theorist in me thinks there is a reason why Google is releasing Google Maps for the browser at this time...

Google News Introduces “News Near You” for Mobile Devices

Sébastien Page ∙ May 13, 2011

Google just announced a new feature for Google News for mobile devices such as the iPhone. When pointing your iPhone to news.google.com via Safari, Google News will ask you if it can use your location. If you agree, it will serve you news that happened around you.

I really like the idea of news near me, the problem is I can't get this thing to work. Yes, my Location Services are turned on, I rebooted, etc, but it just won't work. Oh well, I guess I will have to remain ignorant of what's happening around me...

Twitter Launches New Mobile Web App, Looks Like the Official iPhone App

Alex Heath ∙ May 12, 2011

Twitter has begun to roll out an updated and majorly revamped version of their mobile web app. The new interface looks a whole lot like Twitter's official iPhone app, and the web app is contained entirely in Mobile Safari.

HTML5 is deeply integrated into Twitter's new web app, and the redesign looks really nice. Twitter's main goal with this update is to improve its web experience on mobile platforms...

How to Browse Cydia On Your Desktop Computer

Alex Heath ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

Looking for jailbreak apps and tweaks in Cydia can be a very slow and painful process. Cydia usually has to load almost every single user action, and browsing for content can take quite a long time.

Cydia Search is a new resource developed by Planet-iPhones that allows you to search and browse for Cydia content from your desktop computer. With a full set of browsing and navigation options, Cydia Search takes the pain out of using the iPhone to browse for jailbreak content.

JailbreakQA is an Online Resource for Your Jailbreak Questions

Alex Heath ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

Even if you consider yourself a "jailbreak expert," you probably still have questions from time to time. And there's no better way to learn than to ask questions to people that know more than you.

Two people that know more about jailbreaking than most of us are chpwn and comex. They're both hackers and develepors that have been heavily involved in the jailbreak community for a long time.

Chpwn and comex have a iOS jailbreak resource site called JailbreakQA. It's a crowd-sourced Q&A tool that lends itself towards jailbreak novices and experts...

Lima is a New Browser-Based Cydia Alternative

Cody Lee ∙ May 2, 2011

After Cydia was crippled by the the recent Amazon EC2 outage, jailbreakers have been seeking out alternative options to get their favorite iOS extensions. Currently, Cydia is widely known as the "only" jailbroken app store, but it certainly seems like the Infini Dev Team is looking to change that.

You may recognize them as the developers who are bringing back the popular Icy package installer, which has been absent from the jailbreak scene since iOS 3.0. But Icy's not the only Cydia challenger these guys have been working on. They have another project in the oven called Lima...

‘YTLive’ Web App Sort of Makes Up For YouTube’s Lack of Live Streaming for iOS Devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Recently YouTube announced their plans to start broadcasting live content on a regular basis.

If you head over to youtube.com/live, you'll find a few live broadcasts, although the pickings are quite slim at the moment.

Still, there might be some of you who enjoy watching random fashion shows, and things of the nature.

Oddly enough, if you try to watch one of the live broadcasts from an iPhone, you'll be presented with a friendly note informing you that streaming is not available on mobile devices. What to do then?

Gmail Web App Updated, Can Undo Actions

Guest Author ∙ April 20, 2011

The Gmail web app just keeps getting better and better! If you use the Gmail web app with Safari on your iPhone, you'll be happy to know that Google has now updated Gmail's web interface with an "undo" feature.

The web app will now allow users to undo an action such as archive, delete, add/remove a label, or move a message/conversation. When you select one of these actions, Gmail shows a yellow bar that displays what you just and allowing you to undo it, instead of having to dig the message out of the Trash.

How to Speed Up Web Apps on the iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ March 31, 2011

In iOS 4.3, Apple has supposedly limited the speed of web apps added to the iPhone's home screen. Develepors and users have been reporting that web-based applications launched from an independent springboard icon are loading more than 2x slower than sites opened in Mobile Safari.

Meaning that, web apps/favorite sites launched from an icon shortcut aren't given any access to the Nitro Javascript engine that's baked into iOS 4.3. If Apple has intentionally hampered the performance of web apps in 4.3, such a move could been seen as a subliminal push to get people downloading more App Store apps.

If you've noticed lagging performance with your favorite web apps in iOS 4.3, there's an easy way to take advantage of Mobile Safari's full resources...