Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

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

These apps normally cost money and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

Media Clouds

Do you want save your MP3 files and videos from the cloud to play offline? Media Clouds could be the best app for you.

Available on:

iOS

Weight Tracker

Weight Tracker provides a quick and easy way to enter and track your weight. It uses HealthKit to save and store your weight information.

Available on:

iOS

My Parking

With My Parking, you’ll always know where your car is located and which path to take to get to it. The app featuers a simple user interface, and will help you record your parking spot with a single tap.

Available on:

iOS

CamCard

CamCard is the easiest app to use to manage and exchange business cards, and offers a perfect fit for sales people, entrepreneurs, business developers, and marketing experts.

Available on:

iOS

Baby+

New baby? Track your baby’s development, and save those special moments forever. Get the supportive Baby App for moms and dads alike.

Available on:

iOS

Timetrack.io

Spending only a few minutes a day on this app, you will get daily, weekly, and monthly statistics in the form of diagrams and graphs. Using this data, you’ll be able to control and manage your time.

Available on:

iOS

T-Mobile will say goodbye to its revamped Windows app in late August

Why it matters to you

If you’re a T-Mobile customer with a device operating on Windows 10, you will only be able to access the T-Mobile app until the end of August.

T-Mobile confirmed it will be ending support for its Windows mobile app only a year after revamping it, Neowin reports. The news was brought to users through the carrier’s Windows app itself, explaining it will no longer be supported starting August 25.

For users still on the app, they will receive a message that reads, “Thanks for being an awesome T-Mobile customer! We’re always finding new ways to provide you with the best experience possible. Unfortunately, our Windows app will no longer be supported beginning 8/25/2017. Moving forward, you’ll be able to manage your account at My.T-Mobile.com.”

The latest phone to be launched with Windows 10 was the Alcatel Idol 4S in November, with support for Continuum, Cortana, and the finger sensor for Windows Hello. Alcatel’s virtual reality headset that came bundled with the device also worked with the Windows variant.

Ending support for the Windows app comes shortly after the T-Mobile stopped selling the Alcatel Idol 4S — marking the end of the Uncarrier offering any Windows phones at all. For those interested in the phone, Alcatel’s official website redirects you to unlocked versions of the device available through Amazon.

Only a few weeks ago, Microsoft also ended support for Windows Phone 8.1 and announced that it will not receive any future updates. With the end of the 8.1 operating system, Windows 10 is the remaining active platform for the few devices able to run it. According to AdDuplex, about 76.3 percent of phones running Windows are still on 8.1. with only 17 percent on Windows 10.

Analysts add it is likely that users are abandoning these devices for Android and iOS. Even though T-Mobile redesigned the Windows version of its app to be up to speed on both the iPhone and Android — including a new user interface and additional features — it clearly still was not enough.

Windows 10 is also most likely on its way by fall 2018. While Microsoft combined the Windows Phone brand with Windows 10 in 2016, the Creators Update did not include any extreme feature additions for the devices. The operating system also lacks apps available on both the Google Play Store or Apple’s App store, and the only updates seem to be bug fixes or security patches.

Apple fails to end lawsuit that claimed it purposely broke FaceTime on iOS 6

Why it matters to you

Were you forced to upgrade to iOS7 because of a bug? A lawsuit alleges that Apple actually broke FaceTime on iOS 6 to save money.

According to a lawsuit filed in California back in February, Apple intentionally broke its FaceTime video chat app on devices running iOS 6 and earlier in order to avoid high monthly data charges from Akamai, a server company that Apple contracted to serve multimedia content.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that iPhone 4 and 4S users can pursue a nationwide class action claiming Apple “broke” FaceTime intentionally — in order to save money from routing calls through servers own by Akamai, Reuters reports.

According to AppleInsider, Apple used two methods of handling FaceTime sessions when the feature launched in 2010. One, a peer-to-peer technology, transmitted audio and video data over a direct connection between two iPhones, while the second, a “relay” method, routed traffic through Akamai’s servers.

Calls initially accounted for 5 to 10 percent of Akamai’s traffic, but usage soon spiked — Apple racked up a $50 million bill between 2013 and 2016, or around $8.3 million per month. Making matters worse, the iPhone maker was forced to ditch FaceTime’s peer-to-peer technology as the result of a lawsuit filed by VirnetX. In November 2012, a jury found Apple guilty of infringing on the company’s networking patents, and fined Apple $368 million.

Court documents that emerged during the VirnetX trial paint a damning picture. Apple executives expressed concern over the increased server usage, even going so far as to circulate an internal email with the subject line “Ways to Reduce Relay Usage” among Apple’s FaceTime engineers. The company came up with a peer-to-peer workaround for iOS 7, but one that wasn’t backward compatible with devices running iOS 6.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple devised a plan to “break” FaceTime on iOS 6 and earlier versions by causing the app’s certificate — the digital signature that verifies the app’s integrity and allows it to launch — to expire in April 2014. It blamed the incompatibility on a bug.

The suit cites two pieces of evidence: An email exchange between Apple engineers Patrick Gates and Gokul Thirumalai, and an Apple support page mentioning FaceTime’s ostensible incompatibility with iOS 6.

“Hey, guys. I’m looking at the Akamai contract for next year. I understand we did something in April around iOS 6 to reduce relay utilization,” an Apple engineering manager said. Another engineer replied, “It was a big user of relay bandwidth. We broke iOS 6, and the only way to get FaceTime working again is to upgrade to iOS 7.”

Apple’s FaceTime support page in 2014, since updated, refers to the FaceTime issue as a “bug.”

“If you started to have issues making or receiving FaceTime calls after April 2014, your device or your friend’s device may have encountered a bug resulting from a device certificate that expired on that date. Updating both devices to the latest software will resolve this issue.”

Users with iOS 6 devices were left with no choice but to upgrade to iOS 7. And iOS 7, the lawsuit alleges, caused older devices like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S to become sluggish, crash, and run apps at “slower than optimal speeds.”

The suit is seeking undisclosed damages under California’s unfair competition law.

Update: Apple failed at its attempt to end the lawsuit claiming the company intentionally broke its FaceTime video chat app.

Google just made scheduling work meetings a little easier

There’s a little bit of good news for people juggling both Google G Suite tools and Microsoft Exchange for their schedule management at work. Google has released an update that will allow G Suite users to access coworkers’ real-time free/busy information through both Google Calendar’s Find a Time feature and Microsoft Outlook’s Scheduling Assistant interchangeably.

G Suite admins can enable the new Calendar Interop management feature through the Settings for Calendar option in the admin console. Admins will also be able to easily pinpoint issues with the setup via a troubleshooting tool, which will also provide suggestions for resolving those issues, and can track interoperability successes and failures for each user through logs Google has made available.

The new feature is available on Android, iOS and web versions of Google Calendar as well as desktop, mobile and web clients for Outlook 2010+, for admins who choose to enable it. Google says the full rollout should be completed within three days.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google (1), (2)

Android apps can find nearby devices even when they’re offline

If you’ve ever wished that your smartphone’s apps would automatically do your bidding the moment you neared a device, you’re in luck. After previewing it at I/O in May, Google has made the second generation of its Nearby Connections toolkit available to Android developers. The updated framework uses Bluetooth and WiFi to find nearby devices, connect to them and perform tasks without requiring an internet connection. Your hotel room could auto-adjust the temperature the moment you walk in, Google suggests, while your phone could merge contacts whenever you’re close to your spouse.

The kit supports both mesh networks, where devices form an independent network on the spot, as well as a centralized connection where one device rules the roost. That’s particularly helpful in classrooms or meetings, where you’d want one device to take priority — say, a Jackbox-style party game where a host hands out trivia questions.

It’ll take a while for the new Nearby Connections to wend its way into the apps you use, but there are already companies who’ve had a head start. The Weather Channel is installing mesh networks in areas with poor internet access to help send weather warnings, Hotstar is offering offline media sharing and GameInsight will help you find and play people offline. And of course, Google has its own — an upcoming Android TV remote app will use Nearby Connections to get you started and turn on second-screen experiences while you’re watching shows. If more developers like the idea, this could quietly become one of Android’s more important assets, especially as smart homes take off.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Android Developers Blog

Bloomberg: Spotify is planning another big podcast push

Spotify started its new year getting into the podcast game when it announced it was bringing on its first original content in a trio of music-related shows. Then in March, it partnered with WNYC to bring its podcasts to the platform. While Apple still dominates the space, Spotify is steaming ahead with more podcast-focused advertising and original content: Sources told Bloomberg that a new batch of shows will launch in a few months.

Podcasts will get their own dedicated tab in the platform’s “browse” section, too, at some point. The company’s investment remains experimental, but it will begin a new campaign to lure in more listeners to its limited podcast offerings. In exchange for promoting certain shows within the Spotify app and on bus ads, the hosts of “Reply All,” “Pod Save America” and “The Bill Simmons Podcast” will promote the streaming service during episodes.

The reasons are mostly financial: Podcast ad revenue is expected to increase 85 percent this year to $220 million. As Bloomberg points out, 15 percent of Americans listen to podcasts weekly, while a quarter listen to at least one a month. Podcasts, as longer-form media than songs, might keep users around for longer sessions (ergo, more ad money) than a three-minute song. Plus, the streaming titan could get non-music content for a lower price, given that royalties to record labels made up an astonishing 75 percent of Spotify’s costs last year.

Source: Bloomberg

What’s on TV: ‘Voltron,’ ‘Sharknado 5’ and ‘Wet Hot American Summer’

This week is a big one for Netflix, although bigger releases like The Defenders are still waiting for later in August. This week we’ll see season three of Voltron: Legendary Defender, as well as season two of Wet Hot American Summer. Syfy is back with its fifth Sharknado movie and DirecTV has the series finale of Kingdom. For gamers, The Long Dark is officially launching while TBS airs Road to the International Dota 2 Championships, and The Circle is available on Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Alien: Covenant (VOD)
• The Circle
• The Fog
• Slither
• They Live
• Going in Style
• The Machinist
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (PS4, Xbox One)
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named Schoo (PS4)
• Dino Frontier (PSVR)
• The Long Dark (PS4, PC, Xbox One)
• CastleStorm VR (PSVR)
• Tacoma (PC, Xbox One)
• Slime Rancher (Xbox One, PC)
• Slime-san (Switch)
• Aven Colony (PS4)
• Drawfighters (PS4)
• Frisky Business (PS4)
• Patapon Remasters (PS4)
• Oh… Sir! The Insult Simulator (Xbox One)

Monday

• American Ninja Warrior, NBC, 8PM
• So You Think You Can Dance, Fox, 8PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
• Preacher, AMC, 9PM
• Will, TNT, 9PM
• Stitchers, Freeform, 9PM
• Superhuman (season finale), Fox, 9PM
• CBSN: On assignment (series premiere), CBS, 10PM
• Carspotting (series premiere), Discovery, 10PM
• American Dad, TBS, 10PM
• Midnight, Texas, NBC, 10PM
• To Tell the Truth, ABC, 10PM
• American Greed, CNBC, 10PM
• Siesta Key (series premiere), MTV, 10PM
• Midnight, Texas, NBC, 10PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM

Tuesday

• Maz Jobrani: Immigrant, Netflix, 3AM
• Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ (S1), Netflix, 3AM
• Casual (season finale), Hulu, 3AM
• WWE Smackdown, USA, 8PM
• America’s Got Talent, NBC, 8PM
• The Fosters, Freeform, 8PM
• The Challenge MTV, 9PM
• Animal Kingdom, TNT, 9PM
• The Bold Type, Freeform, 9PM
• Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
• Fantomworks, Velocity, 9PM
• Somewhere Between, ABC, 10PM
• Shooter, USA, 10PM
• American Ripper, History, 10PM
• Fear Factor, MTV, 10PM
• Adam Ruins Everything, TruTV, 10PM
• The Profit, CNBC, 10PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
• World of Dance, NBC, 10PM
• Wrecked, TBS, 10:30PM
• The Jim Jefferies Show, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM

Wednesday

• Big Brother, CBS, 8PM
• Kingdom (series finale), DirecTV Audience, 8PM
• Lucha Underground, El Rey, 8PM
• Suits, USA, 9PM
• Salvation, CBS, 9PM
• Hood Adjacent with James Davis, Comedy Central, 9PM
• The Carmichael Show, NBC, 9PM
• Catfish, MTV, 9PM
• Queen Sugar (summer finale), OWN, 10PM
• Sinner (series premiere), USA, 10PM
• I’m Sorry, TruTV, 10PM
• Snowfall FX, 10PM
• The Auto Firm with Alex Vega, Velocity, 10PM
• Blood Drive, Syfy, 10PM
• Younger, TV Land, 10PM
• Cleverman (season finale), Sundance, 10PM
• Broadchurch, BBC America, 10PM
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TBS, 10:30PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM

Thursday

• NFL Hall of Fame Game: Cowboys vs. Cardinals, NBC, 8PM
• Penn & Teller: Fool Us, CW, 8PM
• Boy Band, ABC, 8PM
• Beat Shazam, Fox, 8PM
• Battle of the Network Stars, ABC, 9PM
• Whose Line is it Anyway, CW, 9PM
• Big Brother, CBS, 9PM
• The Wall, NBC, 9PM
• The Tunnel (season finale), PBS, 9PM
• Date Night Live, Lifetime, 10PM
• Akil the Fugitive Hunter, A&E, 10PM
• Zoo, CBS, 10PM
• The Mist, Spike TV, 10PM
• The Night Shift, NBC, 10PM
• The Gong Show, ABC, 10PM
• Queen of the South, USA, 10PM
• The Guest Book, TBS, 10PM
• What Would Diplo Do? (series premiere), Viceland, 10PM
• Nuts + Bolts (series premiere), Viceland, 10:30PM
• The Chris Gethard Show (series premiere), TruTV, 11PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM

Friday

• Voltron: Legendary Defender (S3), Netflix, 3AM
• Wet Hot American Summer (S2), Netflix, 3AM
• Lost in Oz (S1), Amazon Prime, 3AM
• Comrade Detective (S1), Amazon Prime, 3AM
• Icarus, Netflix, 3AM
• We Day, CBS, 8PM
• Killjoys, Syfy, 8PM
• Masters of Illusion, CW, 8PM
• Dark Matter, Syfy, 9PM
• Road to the International Dota 2 Championships, TBS, 10PM
• All Access: Mayweather vs. McGregor, Showtime 10PM
• Wynonna Earp, Syfy, 10PM
• Room 104, HBO, 11:30PM

Saturday

• Doubt, CBS, 8PM
• Turn, AMC, 9PM
• Risk, Showtime 9PM
• Orphan Black, BBC America, 10PM
• George Lopez: The Wall, Live from Washington DC, HBO, 10PM

Sunday

• Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, Syfy, 8PM
• Twin Peaks, Showtime, 8PM
• Teen Wolf, MTV, 8PM
• American Grit (season finale), Fox, 8PM
• Top Gear America, BBC America, 8PM
• Big Brother, CBS, 8PM
• Celebrity Family Feud, ABC, 8PM
• Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN, 8PM
• Ray Donovan (season premiere), Starz, 9PM
• Game of Thrones, HBO, 9PM
• Candy Crush, CBS, 9PM
• Power, Starz, 9PM
• Claws, TNT, 9PM
• American Grit, Fox, 9PM
• The Nineties, CNN, 9PM
• Steve Harvey’s Funderdome, ABC, 9PM
• Ballers, HBO, 10PM
• $100,000 Pyramid, ABC, 10PM
• The Strain, FX, 10PM
• I’m Dying Up Here, Showtime, 10PM
• Unsung, TV One, 10PM
• Insecure, HBO, 10:30PM
• Talking with Chris Hardwick, AMC, 11PM
• Legends of Chamberlain Heights, Comedy Central, 11:30PM
• Rick & Morty, Cartoon Network, 11:30PM

Apple Now Allows Developers to Test Apps With Up To 10,000 Users

Apple today updated its developer news site to let developers know that TestFlight tester limits have been expanded. Starting today, developers can invite up to 10,000 users to beta test their iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and iMessage apps before the apps are released on the App Store.

Developers often use TestFlight to send out pre-release copies of apps to testers and members of the media to suss out bugs and usability issues ahead of the release of an app. TestFlight is simple to use, requiring just an email address to send out beta testing invites, which has made it popular with developers.

Now you can gain even more valuable feedback by inviting up to 10,000 users to beta test your apps before you release them on the App Store. TestFlight makes it simple to invite testers using just their email address and lets testers quickly provide feedback within the TestFlight app.

Prior to today, app developers were only allowed to invite up to 2,000 individuals to beta test apps using the TestFlight beta testing platform, a limit that was put in place in 2015. This is the first time the limit has been increased since then.

Tags: TestFlight, Apple Developer Program
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Apple Discounts Beats EP, urBeats, and Beats Pill+ Products

Apple this week launched a new limited time discount on its Beats EP headphones, Beats Pill+ speaker, and urBeats earphones, which are all on sale for approximately $20 to $30 off.

The Beats EP On-Ear Headphones are available for $99, down from the original price of $129.95. All colors are available at the discounted price, including red, white, black, and blue. The Beats EP are Apples most affordable on-ear headphones, coming in at a lower cost than the Solo3 models.

The Beats Pill+ Portable Speaker is available for $199, down from $229.95. All colors are discounted, including white, black, and red.

Both the Beats Pill+ and the Beats EP On-Ear Headphones were discounted by a similar amount in late 2016 and early 2017, but Apple has not recently offered a sale on the urBeats. With the promotion, the earphones are priced at $79 instead of $99.95. All colors available from the Apple Store are included in the sale: silver, gold, space gray, rose gold, black, and ultra violet.

Apple’s prices are a decent deal, but similar and occasionally bigger discounts can often be found from retailers like Amazon and Best Buy during routine sales.

According to the promotion details, Apple’s sale will last from today until August 26, 2017 at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
Tags: Beats, Beats Pill+
Discuss this article in our forums

‘Titanfall 2’ arrives on EA’s PC and Xbox One subscription services

Titanfall 2, the criminally underrated man-vs.-mech multiplayer game that reliably releases new free content nearly every month, is now available for subscribers of EA’s subscription services. Users on both EA Access on Xbox One and Origin Access on PC can play the game at no cost — which is perfect timing, since the game’s latest DLC introduced a new players-vs-computer horde mode that has likely reeled in a bunch of lapsed fans. Seriously, it’s a game where wallrunning players try to dodge enemies in gun-toting mechs — go play it already if you’ve already ponied up for EA’s unlimited gaming services.

Titanfall 2 enters the Vault, EA’s repository of games made freely available to Access subscribers. As Polygon notes, this is the first game in the slew of titles EA announced were headed to the Vault in coming months, so expect Battlefield 1 and trial versions of the publisher’s 2018 sports titles to hit before September ends.

Source: Polygon