Apple is renowned for paying extreme attention to user experience, so when their new lines of phones featuring bigger screens came out in September, it was just a matter of time before apps started being optimized to take advantage of this change. The difference in resolution is quite notable, the iPhone 6 coming with a resolution of 750 by 1334 pixels and a 4.7 inches screen, and the iPhone 6 Plus boasting a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels and a 5.5 inches screen, whereas the previous generation of iPhones (iPhone 5, 5C and 5S) came with a 4 inch display with a resolution of 640 by 1336 pixels. There are several apps that are already on the bandwagon with the new resolutions – here are the top 10 picks.

Continue reading 10 great apps that are optimized for the iPhone 6 Retina HD display

Skype has decided to overhaul its iOS app, bringing it to version 5.0. Recently, the communications company has been upgrading its mobile app for other platforms, namely Android and Windows Phone, but until now Apple has been left behind.

The first thing you might notice is the new interface. They have completely changed the looks to bring it in line with the newer iOS design language. The next thing is the software changes. You can now start group chats directly from the central hub and don't have to wait until a friends is online before you can message them. Apparently offline messaging was something that was only developed in 2014.

Skype 5.0 also has some software upgrades that are not obvious upon opening the app. It is better at synching your messages between devices and has had its coding redesigned to work up to five times faster, according to a teaser video released Monday evening.

But after tempting you with all the upgrades and good news, Skype is going to leave you hanging. It will be another week before the new Skype for the iPhone is released to the public.

Foursquare has taken the first step in bifurcating its service with the release of Swarm, an app that allows you to easily connect with the friends around you. The company decided to remove the feature that allows you to see which friends are checked in where from the core Foursquare app experience, moving that to the new Swarm app.

Within Swarm is a new feature that allows you to make plans with friends. You can see the events and ideas being shared by those you know - no invitations, just a list of your friends offering up various ideas of things to do, that you can join or not.

You can grab Swarm right now on the App Store and Google Play.

Planning on picking up a Microsoft Xbox One this weekend? If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you'll likely wanna grab the new, free Xbox One Smartglass app. The app is similar to the one that's been available for the Xbox 360--it'll allow you to control a bunch of functions on your Xbox One right from your iOS device.

Xbox One SmartGlass is the perfect companion app for your Xbox One, both in your living room and on the go. Connect and control your Xbox One. Stay connected with the games and gamers you like. And add a new dimension to your console entertainment with the mobile device you already own.

In the living room:

• Navigate your Xbox One console using your device’s keyboard and touch
• Control your media and set top box with the SmartGlass remote control
• Browse the web on your TV using your mobile device
• Enhance what you are watching or playing with SmartGlass companions
• Increase performance with faster connections and reliability

In the living room and on the go:

• Search, browse, and pin content to play on your Xbox One console
• Track achievements, get game help, message friends, and watch game clips

You can download Xbox One Smartglass now.

As announced at the iPhone 5s launch, the Nike+ Move app is now available in the Apple App Store for free. Nike+ Move harnesses the power of the iPhone 5s’ M7 coprocessor. Apple describes it as a dedicated sidekick chip that analyzes the movement of the instruments without utilizing the A7 processor. The results is more efficiency with tracking physical activites, such as significantly less battery consumption, while still giving fitness apps access to the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass. Take a gander of the features of Nike+ Move:

Nike+ Move is the simplest way to capture your every move, and motivate you to move more!

Exclusively for use with iPhone 5S, Nike+ Move uses the M7 coprocessor to convert your movement into NikeFuel, the first-ever single, universal unit for measuring all kinds of activities. No matter your age, weight or gender, the same activity earns you the same amount of NikeFuel.

Nike+ Move offers insight into when you move, how you move and where you move - and lets you challenge your friends to see who moves more.

• Win the day by beating your NikeFuel average and watch your goal ring change from Red to Green.
• See when you are most active throughout the day and how you’re doing compared to yesterday.
• Move more often and win as many hours as you can throughout the day.
• See how you moved through the day with a breakdown of running, walking, and other movement.
• See where you're moving and where you move the most each day.
• Check out how you compare against your Game Center friends or other Nike+ Move users near you.

*Note: iPhone 5S is required to get motivated with Nike+ Move.

Alongside the Apple TV Remote app update, Apple has also released AirPort Utility 1.3.3, bringing 64-bit support to the app when using it on an iPhone 5S, iPad Air, or iPad Mini 2. While the prior update gave it a redesign, this update brings AirPort Utility up to par with other Apple iOS stock apps that have transitioned to the higher bitness. Clearly, Apple is on the move and is transitioning all of its first-party app over to 64-bit. Get a look at all the features after the jump.

Features

• See a graphical overview of your Wi-Fi network
• Get information about your connected Wi-Fi devices
• View and change network and Wi-Fi settings
• Restart or restore a base station, or update the firmware on a base station when available
• View or update passwords for your network, base stations, or disks
• Easily access network information such as IP address, DNS servers, and router address
• Manage DHCP reservations and port mappings
• Configure base stations for IPv6
• View status or error messages
• Archive Time Machine backups

New In Update 1.3.3

• Adds 64-bit support

The popular Apple TV Remote app has finally received a much-needed iOS 7-themed face lift. The update adds a clean, flat look with a tasteful translucent aesthetic that gives it depth. The Remote app is not yet 64-bit optimized, but perhaps it will in the next subsequent update similar to the update cycle of the AirPort Utility, which received a redesign update first then became 64-bit ready in the sunsequent release. Remote is now iTunes 11.1 ready and is a unversal binary, compatible with all iOS devices. Here’s a list of what's new in Remote:

Features

• Control iTunes and Apple TV from anywhere in your home
• A simplified look with new ways to browse your library
• See upcoming songs with Up Next
• See all songs in an album with Expanded view on an iPad
• Add new songs to hear them next and then automatically continue where you left off
• Browse, listen to, and control your iTunes Match library on Apple TV
• Pause, rewind, fast-forward, shuffle, and adjust the volume from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• View album, movie, and TV show artwork
• Create and update iTunes playlists, including Genius playlists
• Search your entire iTunes library
• Control iTunes to send music to AirPlay speakers
• Control the volume on each speaker independently
• Use simple gestures to control Apple TV
• Enter text with the keyboard
• Control shared libraries on iTunes and the new Apple TV

What's New In This Version:

• This version of Remote has been completely redesigned for iOS 7 and adds support for iTunes 11.1.

You can download Remote from the App Store for free.

Tweetbot is the Twitter client of choice here at Gear Live HQ, and we've been delighted by the newest version, Tweetbot 3.0. Released yesterday on the App Store, Tweetbot 3.0 is an all-new app, completely rewritten and redesigned from the ground up by the team at Tapbots. If you're a user of the older version, the new Tweetbot may seem a bit unfamiliar at first, but that's just because the team stripped away old design ideas, and decided to take on iOS 7 design language, and it turned out fantastic. New functionality makes the app faster, and it's normally ready with your fully updated timeline whenever you launch it, thanks to the integration of the iOS 7 Background Fetch API. Sounds in Tweetbot are as whimsical as ever, and the whole app just feels brighter and more open. If you're already a Tweetbot user, it should be noted that Tweetbot 3.0 is a new, separate purchase. Check out a video demo after the break.

You can download Tweetbot 3.0 for iPhone now for $2.99.

Continue reading Tweetbot 3.0 for iPhone brings updated design to an already great app

Where's My Water? 2, the sequel to the massively popular physics-based Where's My Water? Disney puzzle game, is now available for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. You can download it, right now, for free.

We loved Reeder for iOS and Mac, and the thoughtful RSS reading app was fantastic, right up until Google pulled the plug on Google Reader, a service that was essential to the usability of Reeder--at least on the Mac and iPad. Now, developer Silvio Rizzi is back with his second act: Reeder 2. Unlike the first version, Reeder 2 is a universal binary, which means that for the price of the app, you get both the iPhone and iPad versions included. The design language of Reeder 2 is updated to match the look and feel of iOS 7, and gone is the requirement and reliance on Google Reader. In its place, Reeder 2 now allows you to pull and sync data from Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever, and can even act as your RSS storage app in and of itself.

You can pick up Reeder 2 now for $4.99.

Nike+  for iOS received an update that makes it even more social with group challenges and chat. Aside from leader boards with other runners, the new challenge feature allows users the ability to competitively challenge their friends with distance and speed goals. Those who are using the challenge mode have access to a group chating feature to either trash talk to your opponents or, at the very least, be the nice person and encourage runners in real time. The update is also expected for Android soon.

What's New in Version 4.3
INTRODUCING NIKE+ CHALLENGES

Ready to take on your friends? With Nike+ Challenges, you'll compete with your friends and motivate each other to go farther and faster than ever before. Track your progress, top the leaderboard, and snag a medal. Every run counts.

• Choose a distance and invite your Nike+ friends.
• Keep track of who's in the lead and stay motivated through group chats.
• Finish a Challenge before your friends and take home a medal. We'll leave the bragging rights to you. 

The VLC iOS app has triumphantly returned to the Apple App Store after a two year stint due to copyright internal brouhaha within the General Public license (GNU) group over Apple's terms of use. The open sourced app is revamped this time around, bringing with it WI-Fi upload, Dropbox integration, and the ability to download from the web. Also included in the app is third-party integration and AirPlay support, along with an SDK for developers that will be released later this summer. Here's the run down of the features you'll find in the VLC app available on the App Store later tonight:

• Wi-Fi Upload - Allows users to upload files directly to the iOS version of VLC through a web browser on the PC or Mac.
• Dropbox Integration - Play media directly from Dropbox or download it for offline playback.
• Download from Web - Download files from any web server for offline playback
• Network Streams - Play any network streams support by VLC media player for desktop operating systems
• 3rd-Party App Integration - Any app with a 'share' dialog can use VLC for iOS for media playback
• Video Filters - Video playback can be modified for brightness, contrast, hue, saturation or gamma in real time.

This evening Google released Google Maps 2.0 for iOS, and with it comes a bunch of new features, including full iPad support. That's a welcome change to owners of Apple's tablets, but the new Google Maps brings a bunch more with it.

Enhanced turn-by-turn navigation now includes live traffic updates and incident reports. When you are looking for something specific, Google Maps now drills down into popular categories like restaurants, playing, shopping, and sleeping. Google now owns Zagat, and as such, Zagat ratings are included and listed within the results. Google Offers also gets integrated into Maps, showing you results that have deals as well.

What may be seen as the coolest addition to the Google Maps app is the inclusion for indoor mapping. That means that you can now launch Google Maps to get indoor directions at places like malls, airports, bus and train stations, and more.

You can download Google Maps 2.0 for iOS now from the App Store.

Continue reading Google Maps 2.0 for iOS brings iPad support, indoor maps, and more

Plants vs. Zombies was one of the early hits on App Store, making it the 12th all-time paid iPhone app in Apple's marketplace. Well, now there's more to come, PopCap Games will release Plants vs. Zombies 2 for iOS on July 18th for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

This time around, the game will be free to download, instead including the now-popular in-app purchase model. PopCap does say that pretty much the entire game will be free to play, and in app purchase will be for extra currency, plant food, and items to enhance the experience.

Check out the Plants vs. Zombies 2 trailer after the break for a look at what Crazy Dave has in store.

Continue reading Plants vs. Zombies 2 set for July 18 release

Tempo, one of our favorite iPhone calendar apps (alongside Fantastical) just received an update that should make it significantly more attractive to business users. Why? Well, Tempo now includes support for automatical dial-in for the top 20 most popular conference call services. So now, when you set a calendar appointment for a conference call, Tempo will find that email, grab the dial-in details and code, and if it is one of the 20 services, you can use Tempo to call and enter the conference code for you, all with one tap. The 20 services include: AccuTalk.net, AdConferencing, AnyMeeting, Calliflower, Free Audio Conferencing, Free Conference Calling,  Free Conference USA, FreeConference, FreeConferenceCall.com, Fuze, GlobalMeet, GoToMeeting, join.me, Powwownow, Rondee, TalkShoe, Totally Free Conference Calls, UberConference, Wiggio, and WebEx.

You can get Tempo Smart Calendar for free in the App Store.

Twitter for iPhone 5.7 has been released, bringing with it improved photo sharing and a preview of what your media- and metadata-filled tweets will look like prior to you posting them, so you can get them juuust right. The Twitter timeline also gets a makeover, now being wider and easier to read throughout the app. You'll also now receive a notification whenever a friend of yours joins Twitter (we aren't sure how that one works,) alongside all the typical bug fixes and code optimizations. You can download Twitter for iPhone now.

The ever so popular photo filtering social app Instagram has gone version 3.5 and introduces the "Photo of You" feature. Basically, it's a photo tagging feature borrowed from their parent company, Facebook. So, narcissists of the world rejoice as a new section will be dedicated in your profile to photos of a very important person, you guessed it, you!

What's New in Version 3.5

• Introducing Photos of You! Add people to your photos & share who's with you
• Send us feedback about bugs & errors using the new "Report a Problem" feature
• Privacy settings can now be found on your Profile screen under Edit Your Profile.

Continue reading Instagram 3.5 adds “Photos of you” tagging feature

The fine folks at Tapbots have updated their popular iOS twitter client, Tweetbot, to version 2.8 for iOS. The update adds a new tab specifically for media timeline consumption, showing just the images and videos from those you follow. Additionally, you can now swipe right to left on any given tweet to reveal retweets and the number of users who favorited. Viewing photos has been made frictionless by eliminating the transition to another screen, much like the image viewer behavior of Tweetbot for OS X. Direct Tweetbot download links here: iPad and iPhone / iPod Touch.

What's New in Version 2.8

• New media timeline. Scroll to the top of a timeline and switch to the new media view (next to the search box). This view displays only supported image and video tweets.
• Completely redesigned image viewer
• Tweet/status detail view now displays the number of Favs and Retweets
• Fixed Instagram Previews
• Various other bug fixes

Netflix 4.0 has arrived on the App Store, bringing new features to the video streaming service for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Netflix 4.0 introduces redesigned controls for episodic television show selection, audio, and subtitles. On the iPad specifically, TV show episode selection and navigation has become much more intuitive, with the rest of the improvements hitting the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to all that, the typical bug fixes and optimizations are also baked in.

What’s New in Version 4.0

• This new app release makes watching Netflix TV shows and movies an even better experience.
• Easy episode selection with a brand new episode selector on the iPad
• Redesigned audio and subtitle selector on iPad and iPhone
• Bug fixes

You can download Netflix 4.0 now, for free.

Yahoo! Weather was released this morning for iOS, and we've gotta say, it's gorgeous. The company has brilliantly tapped it's Flickr community for imagery that's used in the app, along with nice, lightweight typography.

The app pulls in your location after you give it permission to do so, and combining that with the time and weather conditions, it will then select images to show in the background of your location that nearly match all those parameters. If it is nighttime and snowy, you'll likely get an image of a place somewhere near you taken in similar conditions. Pull up on the display, and you get an hourly forecast for the day, as well as a five-day forecast, and other details like wind level, humidity, visibility, weather map, and even sunrise/sunset details. It all looks really good.

Continue reading Yahoo! Weather for iPhone quick review

Facebook has updated its iOS app to version 6.0 and has introduced two new features that are from the Facebook Home experience: Chat heads and stickers. Basically, chat heads are avatar icons of Facebook friends. They take up a small part of the screen whenever a user is messaging another Facebook friend, no matter where the user happens to be in the app. We assume that the goal is for it to be a frictionless experience when communicating with others friends; rather than having the chat feature limited to silos or in sections within the app. Along with the update, Facebook added a sticker feature, like emoticons, while messaging, seemingly aimed at teens and adults who might never publicly admit that they like the feature. Facebook for the iPad also sees a News Feed redesign that is cleaner with a bolder, more legible typeface. Gear Live tip: users might have to delete the old version first, or reboot the iDevice, in order to activate these new features now since Facebook is slowly rolling the feature out to users. Facebook 6.0 for iOS is now available in the App Store.

Continue reading Facebook 6.0 for iOS adds chat heads, stickers, and iPad News Feed redesign

HBO went along and updated its content streaming app and is making good use of the iOS multitasking API when using AirPlay. So, users can venture off into other apps such as Tweetbot to tweet about their favorite Game of Thrones moments as they stream it to their Apple TV. Speaking of Game of Thrones, HBO has added more enhancements to its interactive experience when watching the show on iOS.

What's New in Version 2.1

• Includes AirPlay multitasking capability -- other apps can be used while video continues to stream via AirPlay.
• Enhancements to the interactive features experience for Game of Thrones
• General performance enhancements

Apple has update Garageband for iOS for free with some new features, tweaks and fixes. The notable new features is Audiobus support within the app. Users can now add other compatible music and sound apps with the Audiobus feature, so get your creative touch music juices going and be the next Harlem Shake. GarageBand is priced $4.99 and its a universal app that works with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

What's New in Version 1.4

• Play and record music apps supported by Audiobus directly into GarageBand*
• Turn off grid snapping to get finer control over region and note editing
• Fixes an issue that resulted in feedback while connecting 3rd-party audio accessories into the headphone/microphone jack

Requires iPhone 4S, iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2 or later. Audiobus requires a separate purchase.

Video security surveillance app maker, SKJM, has updated its iCam app to version 2.2 and added some useful features. iCam now supports 256-Bit AES encryption, motion event image thumbnail gallery style, and supports the iPhone 5 4-inch display size. The update also includes various bug fixes and optimizations. I highly recommend this invaluable app. iCam has motion detection functionality sent via push notifiation alert with support for a bevy of third-party of security surveillance cameras. iCam is universal binary iOS app. Most notable feature: iCam for iPhone can support up to 12 simultaneous live video streams and the iPad up to 16. Don't don't have it? iCam is priced at $4.99 in the App Store.

What's New in Version 2.2

• Added support for 256-bit AES encryption.
• Added support for Motion Event Image Thumbnails.
• Added iPhone 5 screen size optimizations.
• Fixed various minor bugs.

Be sure to also update the iCamSource application running on your computer(s) to the latest version: http://skjm.com/icam/support.php

Skype, the popular video and VoIP calling service, has updated its iOS apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to version 4.6. It includes a revamped user interface and improved calling experience. Here's the rundown of the changes:

What's New in Version 4.6

• Beautiful new calling experience
• Mark all your recent chats as read with just a few taps.
• General fixes and improvements

Apple has updated its iOS iWork apps with stability improvements and the usual bug eliminating maintenance for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. You can grab the updates now, or if you don't own them, each app is $9.99 in the App Store.

Fantastical 1.1 has hit the App Store, and with it, our favorite iOS calendar app brings a bunch of great new features. The new version includes things like time zone support, the ability to set multiple alerts for calendar entries, event invitations, and  you can even have the app badge itself with the current date or to show how many more calendar events the users has left for the rest of the day. It's a big update, one that Flexibits co-founder Michael Simmons wanted to show users that the company was paying attention to all the feature requests out there. If you aren't a Fantastical user, we urge you to give it a try--it's on sale for 20% off, so you can get Fantastical 1.1 for $3.99.

Google has released an update for Google Maps for iPhone, adding new search icons to make it easier and faster to find points of interest, as well as integration with your Google Contacts, which makes it easier to find friends. The search icons include things like restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and other typical POIs. The way the contacts work is, if you have your friends address saved, then you can search for their name and have their address pop up on the map--it isn't meant to find your friends by location in real-time. You can download Google Maps for iPhone 1.1 now in the App Store.

Spotify for iOS has just received a massive overhaul, bringing the UI in line with the look that Android's been sporting for a while. iOS users now get access to features like the swiping method for accessing different areas of the Spotify app (similar to what you can do in the Facebook iOS app.) The "Now Playing" area shows you the artist and track name no matter where you are navigating in the app, right above the play controls. You can swipe here to go to the next or previous track with ease. You also get bug fixes and overall improvements to stability, as well as the Ford SYNC AppLink Spotify feature that we mentioned yesterday. You can grab the update now from the App Store, and peep the full changelog after the break.

Continue reading Spotify for iPhone gets visual redesign

Facebook 5.5 for iOS has just been released, and with it comes free voice calling for North American users over Wi-Fi and cellular networks. The feature came to Facebook's separate messaging app a couple of weeks ago, and is now baked in to the full-fledged Facebook iOS experience for users across the US and Canada. After updating, simply open your chat pane by tapping the icon on the upper-right, select a friend, and then select "Free Call." As you'd expect, the person on the other end also needs to be located in North America, and also needs to have the latest Facebook app installed. It's a nice way to make voice calls without tapping into your voice minutes--just make sure to keep an eye on your data plan when you're away from Wi-Fi, no need to try to save on voice minutes, only to rack up massive data usage fees, you feel me?