Category: Social Networking

One of the key features that has been missing from Instagram for, well really forever, has been the ability to log into multiple accounts.  For individual users, that may be no big deal. But for those of us who have a personal account and a corporate account for example, you are constantly having to log into one account then to the other.  It is a bit of a time suck and when you are in a hurry, undoubtedly you enter in your password wrong.

There seems to be light at the end of this particular tunnel.  Over the weekend, Instagram started rolling out a beta version of their Android app that allows you to sign into multiple accounts in the app at once.  Once you have your accounts in the app, you simply toggle between them much like you can do with the Twitter app for Android today.  This new feature is in beta so it isn’t something everyone can go download but after the break I outline how to get in on the action.

The Swarm for Android app has received a huge update this week, bringing a whole new line up of stickers to the app and a new sticker book.  The update will vary in version number depending on your device.  In my case, my KitKat running BLU VIVO IV is on version 2015.05.04.19 for those keeping score at home.  The update brings back many of the elements of Foursquare before the company decided to split up the apps last year.  Swarm is the dedicated check-in app while Foursquare is the local content app (which is pretty good BTW).  When they did this split, things like Mayorships and stickers went away from a collecting point-of-view.  While Mayorship still hasn’t returned, you can now at least see in one place all of the stickers you have earned (use to be called badges) in one place, the Sticker Page.

Swarm for Android – Free – Download Now

For those of you who are use Viber as your text and messaging app, there is an update today that makes photo sharing a little bit easier.  The updated version of Viber for Windows Phone brings two new features with the biggest one being the ability to easily view all photos in a chat by Swiping in a chat session.  It is a quick way to go find that photo from a few days ago without having to do long scrolls back up the message feed.  The update, version 4.5 for those keeping score at home, is available now in the Windows Phone store.

If you aren’t familiar with Viber, it is a cross platform text, messaging, video sharing and photo sharing app.  If you are thinking it sounds a lot like Skype, you would be correct.

Viber for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

The social photo sharing app Xim from Microsoft Research has been updated today with several new features for the Windows Phone app.  If you aren’t familiar with Xim, don’t worry, most aren’t.  It is a photo sharing app that allows you to share photos from a variety of locations – Camera Roll, OneDrive, Facebook, Dropbox, Instagram – with others who are on the Xim app.  Think Snapchat in a way.  The good news is the Xim app is available not only for Windows Phone but also for iOS and Android and you can even share photos with Amazon Fire TV sets.  It’s a pretty cool service and like Snapchat, Xim’s die after a certain amount of time.

The update released today, version 1.5.1.0 for those keeping score at home, brings several key updates to the app as well as a host of bug fixes.

Xim for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

Microsoft has rolled out a minor – and I mean minor – update to Skype for Windows Phone that brings some tweaks to the UI and other fixes.  The update, version 2.28.0.39 for those keeping score at home, is available now and after updating, I personally haven’t seen any changes in the video-meets-messaging-meets-social networking app.  Regardless, if you use Skype on Windows Phone you should grab the update as it does have general fixes in it which would improve performance on certain devices. Skype Qik for Windows Phone also saw an update which brought a key new feature to the video sharing app.

Skype for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

Skype Qik for Windows Phone – Free -Download Now

The latest update to the Foursquare app for Windows and Windows Phone (Universal) brings an interesting twist to once hugely popular location check-in app.  You can now get personalized recommendations from the app on your devices without actually having to have a Foursquare account.  It is a significant shift for the app as Foursquare continues to focus on their main app as being personalized local content while their other app, Swarm, is for checking and more of the social networking side of the business.  Foursquare is shifting to a service instead of something you do.

This shift has not been received well by hardcore Foursquare users (Clinton raises his hand too) but it is clear that Foursquare wants their app to be the one that you get recommendations around you, even if you aren’t a registered Foursquare user.

Foursquare for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now