Tag: Universal »

Cloud Spin has been updated to become a universal app; it is now available for iPhone and iPod Touch in addition to the iPad. Thus, the flying adventure featuring Lucky the rabbit is now playable on a whole lot more iOS devices.

When we had a look at the app in Fall 2013, we thought it was great, and this update definitely increases its attractiveness. The game has also been tweaked with improvements based on on user/reviewer feedback, including more music variety in Tournament mode. To mark this update, the app will be offered for 50% off for a limited time.

Cloud Spin is available on the App Store for $0.99 until March 13, when it returns to its regular price of $1.99.

Hop has created one of the most unique takes on email. Their iOS email client is a bit more like a messaging app than it is an email app. The update released today adds the two most requested new features, multiple account support and iPad support. Hop has also reduced response time in the app by beefing up their servers making the app even more speedy.

The multi-account support allows both individual inbox views and a unified inbox view. Customizations are available to make the email app fit they way users need to use it.

What makes Hop unique? As it turns out, tailoring the app to quick conversations, making it more message app like, speeds up usage. And that might be what mobile email should be. In speaking with co-founder Erez Pilosof, he noted that in their look into how people use Hop, they discovered that people act on many more emails, and do so quicker, using Hop over other email clients. The theory behind that is that the shorter messages lead to shorter, more casual responses, which lead to quicker conversations.

I also spoke to Mr. Pilosof about security. Since email security has become a bigger concern, especially so since Hop will have copies of users email on their server - a requirement for the service to work so quickly. He was quick to note that Hop takes security very seriously. Mr. Pilosof has past experience in security and they go above and beyond what other email clients do. Each message is individually encrypted with a unique key. Every single message. In addition, those keys are changed daily. This makes a mass breach of email almost impossible, at least on the Hop servers.

It's been a bit of a long and bumpy road for Realmac Software after they released Clear+ on the App Store last year. First there was the issue with removing the original version to make way for the universal build, then there was confusion when they put the original back up and users weren't sure which version they needed. However a plan is in motion to straighten all of this out once and for all.

The details can be found on Realmac's website, but the gist of it is that they're going to cut it back to one single universal app - making the original Clear iPad compatible. Current users won't need to do anything as this will just roll out as a regular update. For users looking to switch over without having to pay for the change, Realmac will be dropping the app's price to free for a couple of days over the coming weeks. If you'd like to be notified of when you can jump in and grab your free "upgrade" (of a sort), you can sign up to receive an email notification at the bottom of this page.

Get those fingertips ready, would-be musicians, Fingertip Maestro has gone from iPad-only to universal. Now you can create a bunch of colorful melodies with a few taps, or just mess around on both your iPad and your iPhone.

Fingertip Maestro is available for free, with various in-app purchases for additional sound packs.

The big 'ol quiz game that is QuizUp has just been updated. Now iPad users can finally get in on the fun as the game has gone universal and been optimized for Apple's tablets. Plain Vanilla Games see it becoming more of a "social trivia network" than simply a game, and as such they're determined to focus on the social elements - hence making the game universal, and tweaking the leaderboard to emphasize social relationships and interaction.

So if you've got an iPad and you'd like to join the now 10 million-plus users already getting their trivia on with 190,000 different questions, why not give it a download? It is free, after all.