Tag: App Update

The latest update to the popular Transit App for Android has brought a much requested and desired feature by users:  Transit Maps.  Now when you are in a location with a public transportation system, not only do you get the bus, subway and train schedules near you, the display also includes the map of those routes so you can see where they go.  Even better, the team at Transit App has made the routes color coded to those of the city you are viewing.  So, for example, the A Line in Denver leads from Union Station to Denver International Airport and is designated as a light blue on any Denver RTD map.  In Transit App, the line is in the same shade of blue and it shows you exactly how it goes from the city center to the airport.

A small but important update is currently rolling out for the Project Fi app.  The update brings the ability for users to chat with Project Fi support, not just an email or phone call from within the app.  Fi users have been able to chat with support but, to this point, it has only been through the Fi website.  This update gives you all three modes to contact the Fi team to get help or get questions answered.  As a Fi users, I’m glad to see this update as I there are times where having a chat session is faster than an email or phone call, especially if I’m on-the-go.

To access this new option, just open the Project Fi app, swipe over to the Support tab and tap on Chat.  Easy-peasy.

The latest update to Skype is rolling out in the Play Store and with it comes bots.  The messaging, text and video call app now has a wide selection of automated services that can be accessed to play games, give you information and help you with tasks throughout your day.  There are dozens of bots to use within Skype and they are accesses from the floating menu at the bottom of the display, the same you use every day for IMs, video calls and phone calls.  Now when you open up the menu you will see the option to chat with a bot.  This new feature is in build 7.13.0.708 for those keeping score at home and if you have Skype installed, you should get the OTA update over the course of the next day or two.

Microsoft continues to listen to their users when it comes to their apps and the latest update to Arrow Launcher is solid proof.  The update to Redmond’s Android launcher app brings fully customizable home pages to the launcher, a feature that many users of the app have requested.  Frankly, this was one of the key reasons I never stuck with Arrow long term as I couldn’t customize it the way I wanted like I can with the Google Now Launcher.  Now you can easily and freely setup the home page on the launcher the way you want with the apps you want.

A new update to Google Photos is rolling out that brings a new editing feature for videos.  The update is build 1.25.0.12950344 for those keeping score and playing Version Bingo.  In the update you will find that you now have the ability to edit a video that you have stored locally.  Those editing features include the ability to rotate the video and to clip it at the beginning or the end to adjust the overall time of the video. Once you save that video that you have edited, it is stored online to your Google Photos account like other videos.  The key thing to remember is that the feature is limited to those videos you have stored locally.  In other words, it does not work on videos that you have uploaded to your Photos account and then used the Free Up Space feature and removed them from your device.

An important update is in the process or rolling out in the Google Play Store for Google Maps.  The update, version 9.33.1 for those keeping score at home, brings a new Wi-Fi only mode to the navigation app.  In this mode, Maps will not consume any data and will give you navigation information in areas that you have downloaded to your device.  Once you are connected again to a wireless network, you have full functionality of the app.  The idea behind this new feature is two-fold:  First, if you are traveling abroad, you can save on high data usage charges while you navigate in that foreign country.  Second, there are plenty of rural areas here in the United States were data from carriers is just not available.  Either way, you can use this new Wi-Fi mode and keep navigating.