Tag: iOS

On the Apple Developer site, the Cupertino company has released the latest update of iOS distribution figures and it is pretty astounding.  For the report which is dated April 22, 2018, 76% of all iPhones and iPads coming to the App Store were running a variant of iOS 11, the latest version of the mobile platform.  A further 19% were running iOS 10, meaning that stunning 95% of all devices are running the last two major updates to the platform.

The numbers stand in stark comparison to Android Oreo, the latest version of Android from Google.  There, you will find just 4.6% of Android devices coming to the Google Play Store.  In fact, if you add up Oreo and Nougat, the version prior, you only get to 35.4%.  While it is easy to point the finger at Google, the reality is that the blame for the lack of updates to the majority of devices in the Android ecosystem lies with manufactures, a problem Apple clearly doesn’t have with iPhones and iPads.

Google has finally released a standalone task management app.  A round of applause please….  Google Tasks is a new app for both Android and iOS that allows you to create and management your tasks that formerly, you could only get to from Google Calendar.  The app, though, doesn’t remove your tasks from Calendar but instead, provides you a way to management without having to dive into Calendar itself.

The new app has been rumored for a while and was leaked a few weeks ago but there wasn’t much information on it until it was released today.  The new app is a beautiful example of Material Design and makes task management easy.

After being leaked a few weeks back, the new looking Gmail UI is now rolling out to everyone.  It will take a few weeks to get to everyone out there but when you do get it, there will be the option under Settings to try the new Gmail out and use it on the web and on the mobile apps.

The update brings a refresh to a product that has needed it for a long while.  Gmail’s UI fundamentally hasn’t changed in years and this update brings a more Material Design look to it as well as several advanced features like Smart Replies and the ability to snooze emails to handle them later.

The Kindle for iOS app has a new update rolling into the App Store today that brings several enhancements for readers.  The new build is version 6.6 for those keeping score at home and should be available for everyone at this point.  The big news in this update is the support for Kindle Unlimited subscriptions and Prime Reading right within the app itself.

Kindle Unlimited is a $9.99 per month subscription that allows you to read an unlimited number of books at no additional cost.  Think of it as a pay-for library where you can borrow a book and read it.  Until now, you had to go to the Kindle Unlimited site to borrow the book and then it would be added to your Kindle for iOS app on your devices.  Now, if you have the subscription, you can add books to your Kindle app from within it, saving you time and steps.

The 4″ iPhone SE, based on the chassis of the iPhone 4 and 5 series, looks to be getting a significant update as soon as early as next month.  The news is exciting for those who love the compact iPhone SE as it hasn’t been updated since 2016.  While there is as much rumor as anything around the 2nd generation SE, it does look like a few things seem to be pretty solid.

First, spec-wise, it looks like the new SE is going to be powered by the Apple A10 SoC.  That is the generation found in the iPhone 7 series and a significant bump up in speed, performance and power consumption over the current SE’s A9 SoC.  It also looks like that the 3.5mm headphone jack is going to go the way of the Dodo.  Instead, it will have the same headphones that were introduced with the iPhone 7 series which connect via the lightening connector.

Google has released an update to Chrome for iOS, bringing it up to Chrome 66 and bringing the ability to export your passwords from the mobile browser.  The update is already in the App Store and if you have Chrome for iOS installed on your iPhone or iPad, you likely already have received the update.

The new build brings the mobile browser up to speed with the Android version as well as the desktop versions by basing it on Chrome 66.  The ability to export passwords was actually in the iOS version in Chrome 65 but it had to be enabled through the changing of a flag in the browser.  In this update, it is fully supported and no flag changes are required.