Tag Archives: app update

Snapchat upgrades video capabilities and Twitter invites users to poll, like & heart

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Snapchat’s selfie Lenses and Twitter’s Moments were just the beginning of new updates sprinkled on the popular social networks. Let’s discuss the new features and changes making their way to your mobile devices, in brief.

The app that does away with your fleeting snaps has added additional functionality to shooting its equally fading video recordings. After shooting a video, swipe through the handy filters and you’ll notice three new ones. Instead of switching up the physical appearance of the videos, they actually play around with speed. A filter marked with a snail aptly slows down your recording. Another marked by a rabbit speeds it up, and a third one plays your clip in reverse. Snapchat calls these fun new filters Speed Modifiers, and they are baked into the app’s latest update. Also included in the refreshed app is 3D Touch support; so, if you own an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can now force touch the app to pull up quick action shortcuts to chat with friends and add some more.

Twitter, on the other hand, has pushed polls out to everyone. Now you can create your very own poll to receive near-instant feedback from your followers about a topic you’e concerned about. Creating and tweeting out a poll is simple as pie. Update the app and when you go to compose a tweet, you’ll notice a new pie chart icon next to the location and camera icons. Click it to compose a poll, and you’ll have 166 characters to ask a question and 20 characters each for two choices your followers can choose from when responding to the poll.

Elsewhere, and most recently, Twitter is switching up its vernacular when it comes to Favorites. To the point, Favorites are now Likes, and the symbol has been changed from a star to a heart. Many users are confused about the sudden, erm, change of heart, and in a blog post the company does its best to support the facelift:

We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we’ll be calling them likes. We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.

The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.

Love it or hate it, Likes and hearts are the new Favorites and stars and you better get used to it as they’re rolling out Twitter’s mobile apps and desktop web portal today.

[Via TechCrunch; Twitter 1, 2]

Latest Snapchat update adds selfie Lenses, Trophy achievements & more replays

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Today, Snapchat released a new version of its incredibly popular image and video-based social app and it comes with a slew of fun new features.

First up there’s Lenses. Previously, when users went to capture a selfie in Snapchat, they’d have the option to swipe through a bunch of different aesthetic and location-based Filters. Those remain, and being thrown into the mix now is Lenses, which are basically animated filters that make your selfies a bit more…exciting. Some of them are cute and endearing, such as the heart eyes (raise your eyebrows to make pink hearts pop from your eyes) and heart avalanche (open your mouth a pile of pink, purple, and white hearts fall on you). Others, meanwhile, are straight up bizarre; there’s one that paints your cheeks pink, super-sizes your eyes, and makes you puke a rainbow, and another transforms you into a scary demon. To activate Lenses, simply press and hold anywhere on your face before taking a Snap when you’re in selfie mode; a carousel of Lenses will appear along the bottom of the screen for you to scrub through. After your face gets scanned, on-screen instructions will tell you how to make the animations come to life (either by lifting your eyebrows are opening your mouth). You can snap a picture or hold down to record video, same as always. There are a total of seven Lenses to choose from, and Snapchat says it’ll rotate one out each day and replace it with a new one to keep things fresh.

Next there’s Trophy Case. It’s hidden inside the app’s main menu; in the snap screen, tap Snapchat’s ghost logo (located at the top-middle of the screen) and when the menu drops down you’ll notice a new trophy icon up top. Tap that to access your Trophy Case. It’s here where you’ll find unlockable achievements. The more you use Snapchat, the more achievements you’ll unlock. Achievements are presented as emojis. The one’s I have so far: “Your Snapchat score hit 1,000!” and “Sent a video Snap.” The company is not disclosing how to unlock them all, so you’ll have to send more Snaps to discover what’s hiding behind the unmarked locks. It’ll admit, it’s a smart way to keep users stuck inside the app!

And last, there’s a significant update to Snapchat’s Replay feature in this update. The app’s very first in-app purchase is the ability to purchase additional Replays. “We’ve provided one Replay per Snapchatter per day, sometimes frustrating the millions of Snapchatters who receive many daily Snaps deserving of a Replay. But then we realized — a Replay is like a compliment! So why stop at just one?” says Snapchat in a blog post. Starting today, users can purchase extra Replays for those moments when one a day simply isn’t enough. Pricing starts at 99 cents for 3 Replays. The company admits that’s pricey, “but time is money,” it exclaims. On the one hand, this optional purchase dilutes the magic of Snapchat and its image-focused self-destructive nature. Still, good on them for keeping the single (free) Replay around for users who want to use the feature but don’t want to pay up.

Now start freaking out your friends with those new Lenses by downloading the update today in the App Store.

[Via Snapchat]

Twitter & Snapchat updates you should know about

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This week, two of the most prolific social networks received some exciting updates. Let’s start with the little blue bird, and then we’ll talk about the playful yellow ghost.

Twitter is updating one feature and tacking on a completely new one. Direct Messages is getting a beefed up with the added ability to host group conversations. Private DMs can now entertain up to 20 people in one threaded conversation. You can start conversations with any of your followers and they don’t all need to follow one another in order to join and participate in the chat. When you’re added to a group chat, you’ll receive a notification about it.

I’ve been waiting for this next new feature for quite some time. Twitter is finally unleashing an official way to post video to its service. The update lets you capture, edit, and share videos that can last up to 30 seconds in length. iPhone users can upload videos from the camera roll as well (coming soon to Android). It’s a simple feature, but it has been desperately missing for ages. Twitter is confident its users will discover unique ways to interact with their followers using video–30 seconds is a helluva lot longer than Vine’s constrained 6. Video, along with group DMs, are rolling out to all users “in the coming weeks.”

Now, jump after the break to learn all about the latest addition to Snapchat’s growing story. Continue reading Twitter & Snapchat updates you should know about →

Skype brings video calling to the iPhone

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Today Skype updated its official iPhone app and version 3.0 brings with it video calling over WiFi and 3G.  Two-way Skype-to-Skype video calling can take place between two phones and between phones and computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux) at no charge.  In addition to the iPhone 4, the app is also compatible with the iPhone 3GS, the newest iPod touch, the third gen iPod touch, and the iPad all running iOS 4.0 or higher.  Since the latter two devices do not feature back and front-facing cameras they are restricted to only receiving video.  And note that since the 3GS does not pack a front-facing camera it will only broadcast video from the back-facing camera.

I gave the app a test drive and it worked flawlessly…over WiFi, that is.  With that stable connection I was able to successfully connect to a desktop Skype client and video chatting worked as advertised.  With the iPhone 4 you have the option to broadcast video from the front-facing camera and switch it to the back one on the fly, as well as options to mute the conversation and switch between portrait and landscape modes.  When I disabled WiFi and attempted an iPhone 4-to-desktop video chat the video appeared noticeably more pixelated and laggy until it decided to cut out completely and drop the call.  But that’s 3G for you; heck, at least it works.

The free Skype update is available to download now at the App Store.  Apple might have had a leg up on the video conferencing competition with FaceTime since iPhone 4’s introduction, but with Mac and Windows support–plus 3G support–plus a giant user base in the millions–Skype is enabling the futuristic functionality for a significantly larger community of iOS users.  Press release and (creepy) introductory demonstration video after the break.

[Via Engadget] Continue reading Skype brings video calling to the iPhone →

Facebook announces new features on the mobile front

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Today Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg hosted a “mobile event” at Facebook HQ in California.  Almost immediately Zuckerberg shot down rumors of a Facebook cell phone–rats!  What they really called the press event for was to express their interest in “making mobile more social.”  Let’s breakdown the new Facebook app enhancements.

(1) Single sign on. This makes logging into your FB account in multiple apps a snap, as long as the developer incorporates the FB single sign on API inside their app.  Here’s how it works: Once you log into the FB app on your phone, you can then log in to any other app that supports single sign on without typing in your username and password.  No more tedious typing, no more worrying about forgetting your password.  The following Android apps support single sign on today: Flixster, Groupon, Loopt, SCVNGR, Yelp, and Zynga Poker.  These updated apps will make their way to the iPhone “soon.”  And loads more are on the way.  (video demonstration)

(2) Location APIs. This one is directed towards the developer community, but it will result in significant upgrades for users.  Today Facebook has opened up all three location APIs for developers: read where your friends are; write and publish check-ins; search for relevant places.  Up until now, mobile users could only see in the news feed people checking into locations using Places only.  Now that developers have access to the location APIs, they can make their apps support Facebook location notifications.  For example, now you can check into a location using Foursquare, Loopt, or Yelp (and many others) and this information will show up on your mobile and desktop news feed.  In other words, Places can now be integrated into third party apps so users can see and interact with their FB friends within other apps.

(3) Deals platform. Facebook has teamed up with many local businesses to provide users with a new “deals platform.”  Here’s how it works.  With Places users can sign in to locations (ie. a restuarant) and share where you are with friends and see which of your friends might be nearby.  The updated version of Places incorporates deals notifications.  Local business will be able to offer users deals when you check in to their place using FB on your phone.  Now when you search for nearby places a yellow icon will appear next to those places that are offering deals.  Click the yellow icon to view the deal, check in to Places to claim it, and then show it to the cashier to receive your discount.  Note that these deals run on the merchant side, not Facebook.  There are four type of deals: “individual deals for a discount, free merchandise or other reward; friend deals where you and your friends claim an offer together; loyalty deals for being a frequent visitor to a place; and charity deals where businesses pledge to donate to a cause when you check in.  Business like Chipotle, Gap, and McDonald’s are already supporting the deals platform.  Click here to view the current list supporters.  Deals works on the Facebook for iPhone app and at touch.facebook.com on other mobile devices.  (video demonstration)

In addition to these three major announcements, Zuckerberg also set aside time to discuss software updates to the Android and iPhone version of the Facebook app.  The Android 1.4 update brings Places and Groups to the app and a refresh to the notifications application.  Facebook says, “Clicking on a notification now won’t send you off to the browser.  Instead, as long as that notification has an appropriate destination within the application itself, you will be taken there.”  Score!  The iPhone 3.3 update brings Deals and Groups to the app, along with a starred friends list in Places and a new Photos composer.  Both free updates are available to download right now.

[Via FacebookBlog, here & here]