Tag: App Update

The Starbucks app for Android has been updated today and with it comes several new features around Mobile Order & Pay.  For those who aren’t familiar with Mobile Order & Pay, as the name suggests, you can pre-order your coffee or food items from your nearest Starbucks location using the app, pay for it using the app, and then just walk in and pick it up at the store.  No more queues waiting for our precious coffee!

One of the new features that has come to the app is travel times to the store at which you made your Mobile Order & Pay order.  The feature requires location services to be enabled and if it is, you will see the travel time from your location to that store so you can plan your journey to pick up your order.

The Google OnHub app was updated last week and while the official release notes indicated it was primarily around performance fixes and adding support for Phillips Hue lighting, there was another small but important change made to the app.  The OnHub app has always been able to do some network testing and when I initially reviewed the router and app, this was one area that was really in need of improvement.  That improvement has come over the course of the past few updates (I have no hesitation in recommending it now) but the change made to the app last week brings some clarity to those network tests.

To begin, the testing of your Internet connection speed and your Wi-Fi speed are now two separate tests.  You can run both of them or just one of them where as before, they were all lumped in together.  To be clear however, you have to run the Internet test first, every time, to get to the stand alone Wi-Fi test.  Hopefully this will change in the future but for now, it is what it is.

Last week a small update hit the Google Play Music app but on the surface there wasn’t much new.  However, within the settings of Google Music you will now see the option for a Sleep Timer.  Essentially it acts like a countdown timer and when it expires, it pauses your music.  The idea, as the name suggest, is to play some music to help you go to sleep then shut down so you aren’t playing music all night or running down your battery if your phone isn’t charging.  This new feature is in version 6.13.3321 for those keeping score at home and you likely got the update last week if you have the app installed.

Google has rolled out a small behind-the-scenes update to Google Maps that acknowledges the phenomenon that is Pokemon.  Using the timeline feature in the app, you can now indicate when an activity you were doing was catching Pokemon, just like you can when you are walking, running or doing other activities.  The change doesn’t require an update of your Maps app (assuming you have the latest build from the Google Play Store) and you can now edit activities in your timeline as time spent trying to catch them all.  While not necessarily super useful, it is fun, especially for those who are into the game (and there are a lot of you into the game!)

Google Opinion Rewards, the app that pays you Google Play Store credit for your opinion, has been updated and expanded.  Now Android users in Denmark, Norway and Sweden can take part in the program just by downloading the app and answering opinion questions as they are sent to you.  For those outside of these new countries, there is an app update available which has some stability fixes and other under-the-hood improvements that you’ll want to get.

If you aren’t familiar with the program, Google Opinion Rewards sends a survey once a week or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) that asks your opinion on anything from branding to places you visited to products and services.  Answering the survey’s will give you credit, up to $1, in the Play Store which you can spend later.  Most surveys are just a few questions so they are quick and easy to complete.

Microsoft has rolled out a nice update to their Android lock screen app, Next Lock Screen.  The update brings full integration of the company’s Bing search engine (which has had a big resurgence as of late) into the app so you can do search while your phone is still locked. The updated build is version 3.7.1 for those keeping score at home and if you have the app installed, the OTA update for you should be coming over the next day or two.  Once you have it, you will be able to tap on the Bing logo on the lock screen and do a search without having to unlock your phone.  It is a handy feature if you are searching while on-the-go.