Apple picker The success of Candy Crush Saga, TextExpander's problems with Apple, Waze with movie star voices, new games Final Fantasy IV, Touchgrind Skate 2 and Tales of Furia, big updates in the App Store, and also a significant amount of Black Friday and Thanksgiving discounts, that's Application week for week 47 and 48 of 2013.
News from the world of applications
Apple will shut down iTunes Connect for the week of December 22 (16/11)
Apple has confirmed the iTunes Connect contract for developers, which is used, for example, to submit apps and updates for approval or changes to the App Store. This means that developers will not be able to update their apps, release new ones or change their prices that week. Shutting down iTunes Connect is nothing new, Apple does it every year during the Christmas holidays.
Source: macstories.net
Candy Crush Saga Hits 500 Million Downloads (19/11)
Developer King revealed to the news site The Telegraph that an incredible 500 million people have already played his game Candy Crush Saga through the web or mobile platforms. A puzzle game similar to the well-known Bejeweled debuted in April 2012 on Facebook. In November of the same year, it also appeared on iOS and a month later on Android.
King claims that 78% of American gamers play Candy Crush Saga on TV. According to his statistics, the most insurmountable is level 65. If the player is stopped by a brick wall, he always has the option to continue the game. However, they must visit the in-game store and pay for the next sequel. However, according to King, 60% of players never pay a cent. Even so, there are 40% of paying players left, who together spend an amount that is certainly not negligible.
Source: TUAW.com
TextExpander is addressing an issue with its SDK on iOS
The developers of TextExpander published the current status of their iOS application in the Google Groups forum, where they encountered a problem with Apple and its guidelines. In order for Textexpander to work in other applications, developers have always had to bypass the system in an interesting way, until now they used expanded clipboards. For iOS 7, they were forced to change the method and therefore wanted to use Reminder. However, Apple rejected the update because they did not like the way they were used by the developers of TextExpander. They have less than two weeks to come up with an alternative (before Apple stops app approval over the holidays) and update the SDK for other developers.
Finally, they will use x-callback-url, thanks to which they will send a list of shortcuts to supported applications, unfortunately this must be done manually and new snippets will not be updated to applications automatically. But it is the only solution left to the developers. Because of Apple and sandboxing, the developers also had to remove their Mac version from the Mac App Store.
Source: Groups.google.com
Waze will offer the voices of movie stars for navigation (November 24)
The navigation application Waze, newly owned by Google, will offer, in addition to classic voice navigation, the voices of movie stars. The company has signed a contract with Universal Studios, so some movie celebrities will gradually appear in the application as an alternative to classic voices. The first swallow is navigating with comedian and actor Kevin Hart. It's part of the Ride Along With Ice Cube promotion.
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Source: Techradar.com
New applications
Final Fantasy IV
Game studio Square-Enix presented a 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years for iOS. The popular game from 2008 is coming to the mobile platform for the first time. The player has several characters from the world of Final Fantasy IV at his disposal and can participate in the game through two game modes. The first one is the original "Active Time Battle" and the second one is called "Band Abilities".
“Thanks to the new 3D remake, you can now enjoy Final Fantasy IV like never before. Take part in the epic continuation of the adventure that began almost two decades ago. Classic and well-known characters from the world of Final Fantasy IV are making a grand return, and alongside them are new heroes such as Ceodore, the descendant of Cecil and Rosa.”
All fans of this game series will surely be pleased that another sequel - Final Fantasy VI - should appear on iOS devices already this fall. At least that's according to Takashi Tokita, a longtime Square-Enix producer. In a recent interview, Tokita even mentioned the release of a mobile version of Final Fantasy VII, but in this case it will probably be a very premature rumor. Five days later, Tokita himself specified in another interview that it would take years before the iOS platform would be suitable for a port of this game. So far, it is said that mobile devices have too limited memory for such a game.
[button color=red link=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=211219&a=2126478&url=https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/final-fantasy-iv-after-years/id683029090 ?mt=8 target=”“]Final Fantasy – €14,49[/button]
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Touchgrind skate 2
Illusion Labs released the second part of the popular game Touchgrind Skate, where you control the skateboard with your fingers, thus simulating fingerboarding. However, with skateboarding you don't just change direction and add speed, you can perform classic tricks like ollie, kickflip, slide on the railing and combine all the tricks with each other, just like in real skateboarding. You will have four open skatepark environments at your disposal. The game contains different modes that you gradually unlock by getting achievements, you can even record your ride and save it as a video.
[button color=red link=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=211219&a=2126478&url=https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/touchgrind-skate-2/id720068876?mt=8 target=”“]Touchgrind Skate 2 – €4,49[/button]
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Tales of Fury
Although it might not seem like it at first glance, Tales of Furia comes from the workshop of Czech developers. This is a new platformer that differs from others in its controls, for example – to move across different platforms, you need to tilt your device (you can also choose classic button control), then you tap the screen to jump. Tales of Furia takes you through five completely original environments where your task is to collect stars and progress through the story. The developers promise more than five hours of fun with the story.
[button color=red link=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=211219&a=2126478&url=https://itunes.apple.com/app/id716827293?mt=8 target=”“]Tales of Furia – €2,69[/button]
Important update
Tweetbot for Mac and iOS
Tapbots has updated both of its Twitter clients, for both iOS and Mac. The iOS version received several promised features. At the forefront is the "night theme", i.e. changing the environment to dark shades by dragging two fingers down, switching accounts faster by holding your finger on your avatar and rearranging the order of accounts.
The Mac version then got smooth scrolling, which is enabled by OS X Mavericks, it is possible to reply to Direct Messages directly from the notification (again only OS X 10.9) and several bugs were fixed. You can buy Tweetbot for iPhone in the App Store for 2,69 €, the client for Mac then for 15,99 €.
Procreate for iOS 7
One of the best drawing apps on the iPad, Procreate, has come with a big update. It brings a completely new look according to the design dictates of iOS 7, however, the execution is very tasteful and the application has not lost much of its charm. In addition to the redesign, it also brings new features in the form of filters that you would normally look for in photo editing apps. Blur, Sharpen, Noise filters can be applied to drawings, color tone, saturation and lightness can be adjusted, color balance can be changed or color curves can be changed. Work-in-progress images also load faster thanks to hardware acceleration, and you'll find a number of improvements to the app in general. In the Procreate App Store you can find za 5,49 €.
Tumblr
The official client of the popular social network Tumblr has finally received a complete redesign according to the iOS 7 concept. The app comes with a fresh new look for both iPhone and iPad and brings several new features. The Dashboard has been completely redesigned, and the user will immediately notice changes in the UI, for example, when creating a new post or during so-called reblogging. The application can now also automatically complete text for labels.
Angry Birds with 500 levels
The latest update to the first game in the Angry Birds series brought 30 more explosion-themed levels, along with a new power-up that creates an electric field that emits a powerful explosion. Angry Birds currently has nearly 500 levels that have been added over the years. You can find the game in the App Store for 0,89 € for iPhone and 2,69 € for iPad.
Paypal
The official iPhone application for accessing the popular PayPal payment service has also received an update. The new version 5.2 comes with a new look and user interface adapted to iOS 7, but it also brings some new and interesting features. An important novelty of the new version is the ability to send money from PayPal to your account through the Wallet panel. Now you can also pay via QR or bar code. Also a great feature that has been added now is the ability to choose any app screen as your home screen. The user thus always has the functions that he uses the most at hand.
The official client for Twitter has received another update, and this time the improvements are mainly related to searches within this social network. Twitter for iOS should now provide users with the content they are looking for faster, easier and better. Esteban Kozak wrote the following on the official Twitter blog:
"If you want to view photos, you can use a new filter that only finds images and arranges them in a grid or list below each other. If you want to see what your friends are saying, you can now limit your search to only those you follow. You can even filter videos and become a real part of Twitter.”
Discounts
With huge Black Friday and Thanksgiving sales on apps and games, check out all the current deals at separate article.
You can also always find current discounts on our new Twitter channel @JablickarDiscounts
"Although it may not seem like it at first glance, Tales of Furia comes from the workshop of Czech developers" But you can tell at first glance. Only Czechs make such disgusting games...
If only games….