Category: App Update

The news aggregation and magazine reading app from Google, Google Play Newsstand, has a major update rolling out today into the Play Store.  The new version 4.0 of the app is, more-or-less, a complete revamp of the app.  The new update is more in line with Material Design and overall Android app design and features bottom navigation instead of being driven from the hamburger menu like the previous version.  The new For You section gives you a summary and highlights of news from various sources including sources for local news.  New in the app is the ability to have this section of the app downloaded to your device for offline reading.  You also note that the articles are heavily AMP driven for faster loading and when you have read an article, the title will go from bold to normal text to let you know.

Skype for Android has a small but nice update rolling out in the Play Store this morning.  The new build, version 7.24.0.255 for those keeping score at home, brings some UI refinements as well as some useability improvements to the long standing video and messaging app.  Probably the biggest change is the Calls tab interface.  It has been updated with a quick call option and a new dialer button.  Those of you who use Skype for calls, particularly international calls where the service really shines, will enjoy this update as it is much cleaner.

Read on for more details

Twitter has rolled out an update to their Android app that brings support for App Shortcuts.  It makes them just the latest to offer the new feature, something that is coming natively to Android Nougat 7.1 but can be experienced in other devices with launchers that support them.  Specific to Twitter, this updated version gives users the ability to send a new direct message, a new Tweet or to do a search of Twitter for specific content.  Once you select the shortcut you want, the app launches to that particular feature automatically.  This makes it super quick to send a new message or a new Tweet.

Owners of the Nextbit Robin will want to check their devices for updates over the course of the next few days.  Nextbit has pushed out a series of updates for the phone, updating a system level app as well as the Camera, Gallery and Smart Storage apps.  The updates are all being pushed at the same time so once you get one, you like will see all of them.  Robin owners will get these via an OTA update.

The first and probably the one you will notice first is the Nextbit Servcies update.  This update will pop up a notification that will allow you to opt-in to have additional performance metrics about Robin to be measured.  This is 100% opt-in and is not required… but if you want to help the Nextbit team improve the software on the Robin and likely learn things for their next phone, doing so isn’t a bad thing.  No, nothing you do on your phone is tracked, it is all anonymous data.

One of the best password management apps out there, LastPass, has given everyone a reason to be happy:  They have lowered their price to… free!  The even better news, they haven’t stripped the app down to the barebones either.  The free app now gives you the ability to sync your password and other secure content to your phone, PC, Chrome extension and tablet.  To this point, that sync feature was part of the premium package for the app (which was a quite affordable $1/month).

From the company’s blog…

I’m thrilled to announce that, starting today, you can use LastPass on any device, anywhere, for free. No matter where you need your passwords – on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone – you can rely on LastPass to sync them for you, for free. Anything you save to LastPass on one device is instantly available to you on any other device you use.

If you have been looking for a password management app, you need to seriously consider LastPass as an option.

Fitbit has rolled out a pretty nice albeit minor update to their Android app this week.  The update, version 2.37 for those keeping score at home, has some improved charts and graphs for body mass and weight history.  While most people tend to think of Fitbit as an activity tracker – which they do well – their app is actually fairly comprehensive when it comes to tracking things like your diet, weight, water consumption and, of course, exercise.  This update mainly focuses on providing you a bit more information around your weight and body composition.

First, there is an updated body lean mass versus fat mass graph.  With this you can better visualize your body composition based on the inputs that your provide to the app for your weight and fat mass measurements.  This information, if you have the Aria scale, can be automatically synced to the app so you can see your lean mass versus fat mass in the app.