Category: App Update

Microsoft has rolled out a sizable update to the Microsoft Groove app, their music streaming and subscription service.  The update brings a lot of changes to the app that frankly, catches it up to other services that are out there.  This update is rolling out now so if you have the app installed, expect the OTA today or tomorrow.

The biggest new edition is that you can explore relevant artists, albums and songs for a particular genre.  This not only allows you to see your favorite artists but also expose you to some that you may not have heard of before.  It is a great way to discover new artists in your favorite kind of music.

Rovio, the developer team behind the Angry Birds franchise, has pushed out a big update to Angry Birds 2 for Android.  The update brings 80 new levels to the game, Hamsterdam and Mississpiggy River chapters.  There are also improved treasures with bigger awards for players.  Perhaps the most noticeable change is the completely new home screen in the game.

The new home screen completely changes from the old, world map view that has been in the game since its initial release.  Now you see all of the birds in your flock in the center of the screen.  The world map, the arena and the daily quest are all large icons on the right side of the display.  It is a much cleaner and simpler design.

There is an update to Google Photos for Android that is now in the Play Store that addresses a bug with Casting your photos.  Late last week, the photo app was updated but users began experiencing a problem with it continually prompting for Google Cast credentials and a PIN, even for users who didn’t have a Cast nearby.  On Monday a small patch went out that disabled Casting in Google Photos and the update today fixes that bug and re-enables the feature.

If you were one of the users impacted by the Casting bug, you certainly need to download this update as soon as it is available on your account.

Microsoft has rolled out an update to the Microsoft Teams app that has a lot of new features and improvements for organizations who use it for collaboration.  The update’s biggest improvement is Single Sign-On (SSO) so that users of Office 365 will be able to sign in easier to Teams if they are already signed into other apps on their phone.

OneNote files can now also be shared in Teams.  If a OneNote file is being shared, it can be viewed in conversations.  Previously OneNote files couldn’t be viewed in Teams.

Google has announced the release of a new build of Chrome for Android.  Chrome 56 brings a lot of improvements and new features to the browser, most notably is a new download tab.  The new build is version 56.0.2924.87 for those keeping score at home and should be coming to your devices over the course of the next week.

The big new feature is a new downloads tab.  Now you can more easily find things that you have download within the browser with this new tab.  The aim is to allow you to find them and access them without having to exit the browser itself.  Along with this, you can now easily use email addresses, physical addresses and phone numbers within a web page by tapping them.  If, for example, you tap a phone number, it will open up your phone app so you can place that call.  Again, the idea is to make the user experience easier and faster.

Google has released a nice update to their photo editing app, Snapseed.  The update brings back a popular perspective tool while adding a new export feature and other improvements.  The vertical and horizontal correction tool is back, allowing you to quickly and easily adjust the contrast and saturation of a photo just by dragging your finger across the photo.  It makes editing quickly and like other filters in the app, there are several preset ones for you to use as a starting point or final edit.

Along with this, the Face filter has been improved with a choice of styles for you to use.  In addition to the Smooth and Eye filters, there are a couple of new Spotlight as well as combination filters to help enhance the faces in your photos.