"If there is an app for that"

Alternatives to Apple’s iOS Music app

April 19, 2016 by macjeff

If you like listening to music on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, but don’t use Apple Music, you may find the new Music app to be overkill. It’s got lots of features that don’t add much to your listening experience and just get in the way. With a cluttered interface, Apple’s Music app has lost its main vocation: the ability to let you choose the music you want to listen to quickly and easily.

Fortunately, there are lots of alternatives. Most of these apps try to simplify the experience of spinning songs on your iOS device, or offer more intuitive ways of controlling your listening sessions.

While Apple doesn’t let you easily replace its bundled apps—for example, even if you have another browser installed on an iOS device, Safari opens when you tap a link—there are no such limits with music player apps. They can all access the music you sync over iTunes, and the music you download to your device from iCloud or the iTunes Store. So any music player app can access your library, and you can control playback from your iOS device’s lock screen, or even your Apple Watch.

Here’s a look at four apps you can use to play music on your iOS device.

Ecoute

The $1 Ecoute is a minimalist player that lets you browse your music library by viewing its artwork. It has the essential controls—play music in order, shuffle it, repeat it, and manage a play queue. But it also has some extras, such as a Shuffle Albums feature, which many people will find useful; I especially like this to listen to classical music.

Ecoute offers AirPlay streaming, and even lets you play podcasts. It supports AirPlay, offers a night mode, and lets you sort music by many criteria.

And Ecoute is already updated to take advantage of 3D Touch, available on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus (it’s the only music player I’ve found that is, so far). When you hard-press its icon, you get shortcuts to Search your library, Shuffle All, or Play All your music. For the 3D Touch Shuffle All feature alone, this app has earned a place on my iPhone.

Cesium

The $2 Cesium is a minimalist music player, similar to what the iOS Music app used to be before Apple added all the extra menus and buttons. It’s got a whole slew of tiny features that make playing music a lot better. You can control it using gestures, you can choose a number of sort options (including “Classical Mode,” which sorts classical music by composers’ names instead of artists), and you can use it to play audiobooks.

With Cesium, you can shuffle by album, manage your play queue, view your listening history, and even choose custom colors for the app’s theme, or use a night mode. I wish Cesium had better documentation and support, rather than just a page on Reddit and a Twitter account for the latter; figuring out how to use its gestures takes a while. But Cesium is a slick app, and once you’ve figured it out, it makes Apple’s app look bloated.

Picky

If you have a lot of music on your iOS device—if you’re carrying around a 128GB iPhone, for example—you may find it daunting to choose what to listen to. The $3 Picky steps in to let you filter your library to choose exactly the music you want to hear. Tap Filter, and, in the different views—Artists, Albums, Songs, or Playlists—and you can choose to view only those entries with more than a certain number of tracks. For example, lets say that, for today’s playlist, you want to only hear your rock, electronic, and alternative songs. Sort by those genres in Picky, and the rest of your music stays hidden.

This lets you choose when you want to listen to singles or occasional tracks that are outliers in your library. It can take a while to get used to this, but when you do, you realize how much easier it is to choose what to listen to if you have an eclectic music collection.

Aside from these filtering features, Picky is a clean, minimalist player, that offers the usual features: shuffle, repeat, a play queue, and more.

Musixmatch

While it’s not the most attractive music player out there, Musixmatch (which is free, but offers in-app purchases for some features) is great if you like to sing along to your favorite songs. Musixmatch has a database of more than 7 million songs in 38 languages, and while it doesn’t find lyrics for everything in my library, it does for most songs.

You can also use Musixmatch to identify songs you hear around you, and display their lyrics. Musixmatch has an Apple Watch app, which can control the iPhone app, display lyrics, and listen to music to identify songs. There’s also a Notification Center widget, if you want to be able to see lyrics on your iOS device’s lock screen.

There are plenty of other music player apps available for iOS, but these four offer a streamlined approach to choosing and playing music, as compared to Apple’s stock Music app. If you listen to music on your iOS device a lot, try one of them out.

Check out this endless runner game you can play from Notification Center

April 19, 2016 by macjeff

Knowing that Apple has been restrictive in the past on what is and what isn’t allowed to pass in the App Store for a Notification Center widget, it can be fun when little gems find their way into the top charts section and you stumble upon them.

While looking through them, I discovered a free endless runner game called Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur, but unlike other endless runners you’ve played before, this game is played inside of a Notification Center widget rather than from the app itself.

Playing a game from Notification Center

It’s not every day that you get to play a game from Notification Center. Very few of them seem to exist.

Apple is very strict when it comes to what Notification Center widgets are allowed to do, but it seems like they’ve been relaxing their rules a little bit lately, as widgets are appearing to gain more complex functions than ever before.

Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before someone started to turn these widgets, which were intended to be used as shortcuts, into platforms for games. Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur isn’t the first game to be made for Notification Center, but with its free price tag, high user ratings, and addicting gameplay, I believe it’s worth taking a look at.

Gameplay

Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur is actually the perfect title for this game, because your main character is a dinosaur named Steve, and you will be doing a lot of jumping. It’s an endless runner game that just keeps going, and going, and going…

As it goes, you’ll be presented with obstacles, such as cacti. You may be presented with one or many, but your overall goal no matter the situation is to jump over them rather than run into them.

You simply tap on the widget to jump every time you see an upcoming obstacle, as your main goal is to get as far as you can without dying. A distance counter is displayed for you at the top right of the widget as you are playing and updates in real time.

As you progress, cacti will become less spread out, and your hand-eye coordination will become tested by the higher frequency of obstacles that are trying to make you fail.

At the end, when you happen to die, you’ll be presented with your score and you’ll be alerted whether it’s a new high score or not.

Game customization

Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur also includes an app that lets you customize the game skin. Although the default is Steve, the dinosaur, you can also pick from any of the following characters, which are available for a $0.99 in-app purchase:

• Leo the teenage mutant ninja turtle
• Alex the lion
• Zvi the nyan cat
• Spark the Charmander wannabe
• Ralph the teenage mutant ninja turtle

The developer includes a button so you can request your own character, so if you’d like to see a skin for a very specific character, and if enough people ask for it, you just might see it come forth in a future update.

Other features of the game

If you thought that was all the package came with, think again.

Despite being just a Notification Center widget, it’s still a game, and as a result, it comes bundled with its own Leaderboards by way of Game Center so you can compete with other people and challenge your friends for the top score.

The game also includes sounds right from Notification Center, including jumping effects and even a dramatic sound effect when you run into a cactus and die. The sounds are toggled on or off from the widget itself by tapping on the sound button.

Conclusion

Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur is fun game to try out, especially thanks to its free price tag in the App Store. I think it’s a unique take on an endless runner game, simply because you can play it right from Notification Center without even launching an app.

Although it’s not the first game to ever be made for Notification Center, it has some unique qualities to it, and you can also tell that the developer took a lot of care to polish the game and make it special.

Judging my own experience from playing the game, I believe this is a great time-killer for when you’re stuck in a waiting room or you’re bored on your lunch break.

What are your thoughts on playing an endless runner game from Notification Center? Share below!

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/18/2016

April 18, 2016 by macjeff

iMoodJournal , Slayin , Paranormal Agency: The Ghosts of Wayne Mansion HD (Full) and more

iPhone:

Capture your mood multiple times throughout the day, and add hashtags to describe how you feel or what you've done. You can also attach self portrait photos to see how your mood affects your appearance. After enough data has been collected, iMoodJournal will provide you with a summary chart so you can recognize patterns. The app also includes the ability to set reminders, and the ability to share your mood via Facebook.

An old mansion sits on the outskirts of a peaceful village. The locals say they’ve heard strange sounds and spotted shadowy figures roaming around. To quell their worries, the mayor has invited you to investigate the strange events. Search every corner looking for clues, pick up useful items, and solve tricky puzzles to get to the bottom of the mystery. The game includes more than 100 scenes to explore, 12 puzzles, and two modes.

Universal:

Slayin is classic gaming at its absolute best. First choose a hero that matches the way you want to play. Then put your fingers to the screen and start slaying every monster that gets in your way. To do so, simply guide your character’s weapon into them. Monsters will appear from all directions, so be prepared to jump and change directions constantly. Collect the coins that fall from your enemies to purchase new weapons, armor, and spells. Just keep in mind that once you die, you’re done for good and you’ll have to start all over. You don’t get to keep your leveled up character.

The great thing about Eureka is that it can be used by just about anyone. It doesn’t even have to replace your current go-to productivity app. You can use it in addition to it. Basically, whenever you have something you want to remember pop into your head, launch Eureka and record it. That idea or task will then be instantly transferred to the Today view where you can always see it. Ideas and tasks within the Today view can be marked off as complete and even moved to the top with a right to left swipe. That’s really all there is to it.

An old mansion sits on the outskirts of a peaceful village. The locals say they’ve heard strange sounds and spotted shadowy figures roaming around. To quell their worries, the mayor has invited you to investigate the strange events. Search every corner looking for clues, pick up useful items, and solve tricky puzzles to get to the bottom of the mystery. The game includes more than 100 scenes to explore, 12 puzzles, and two modes.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Best app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps on sale for a limited time

April 18, 2016 by macjeff

Everyone likes free apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers put paid apps on sale for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up fast. Here are the latest and greatest apps on sale in the iOS App Store.

The post Best app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps on sale for a limited time appeared first on Digital Trends.

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/17/2016

April 17, 2016 by macjeff

myHome Plus- All-in-one Smart Home Automation , Compass++ PRO – Get a great looking HD Compass ! , Kalculator and more

Universal:

The days of switching from app to app in order to control all of your HomeKit accessories are over. With myHome installed, all of your accessories can be controlled from one screen no matter their manufacturer. Accessories can be organized into rooms, zones, and groups, and you can create triggers to intelligently control your home. The app also offers remote access, and supports multiple users with different control levels.

Compass allows you to view true north coordinates, magnetic north coordinates, and the general direction you are heading all on the same screen. Tap the middle of the screen to switch to the compass view. You’re able to switch between the 15 different themes by swiping left or right. The app also includes a built-in flashlight.

Kalculator will help you make quick work of complex calculations. As you type, you’ll be able to see your calculation play out in real-time. Tapping on the equals button will register the calculation in the scrolling history. You can reuse any calculation or result with a tap, and delete calculations from the history with a swipe. The app also includes Apple Watch support.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free