It's the weekend again, and arguably, the best time of the week to settle down and look for some great new apps and games. Of course, there are definitely more enjoyable things in life than downloading ordinarily paid apps for free - but not many - so join us after the break where we'll be running you through a cluster of great Android and iOS apps that have just hit that magical zero-dollar price tag.
When releasing apps, developers are obligated to be transparent regarding what personal, geographical and device-based information is accessible to said app. It also helps that developers are made to explain why these apps must perpetually check our location, for instance. With iOS 8, Apple has given the user an even better insight into what goes on behind the various UI elements, and soon, apps will need permission to continue using your location data in the background.
If you've been getting stuck into some of iOS 8 beta’s new features and quirks, there are undoubtedly some that you may have missed. Apple pushed some significant changes with this new release, but there remains an abundance of lesser-known alterations and additions to the latest version. Here, we run through some of them.
With Apple having announced iOS 8 and subsequently rolled out the first beta over the past couple of days, it's no surprise to see that users have flocked to download and checkout some of the new features. But, being in beta and all, it's still far from finished, and having had a little taster of what's to come, it's quite likely that you'll want to revert back to the more familiar, stable environment that is iOS 7.1.x. If you have tried the beta and wish to step back to the latest public release, we've got the steps for you below.
Apple's HomeKit framework may be barely a couple of days old, but there are still plenty of developers around the world who are sat pondering what they could do with such a framework. Being able to tie all sorts of home automation into one app is an awesome idea, but HomeKit wasn't the only cool new addition to iOS at WWDC.
Whenever a new version of iOS is released, the focus immediately turns to its jailbreaking potential. With the first beta of iOS 8 having just been distributed to developers, it has now emerged that it can, in fact, be jailbroken, with renowned security expert known in jailbreak circles as i0n1c having worked some more magic.
It took Apple a fair while, but having seen some signs in iOS 7 that some attention was being paid to the great tweaks gracing Cydia and the jailbreak scene, it appears that the company has taken more than a fleeting interest this time around. In fact, several of the newly-announced software's features first appeared through Cydia in one form or another, and here, we look at how the jailbreak scene has been a key influencer of iOS 8.
With each new version of iOS and OS X comes the inevitable spate of new wallpapers, and with both iOS 8 and OS X now out in their respective beta / Developer Preview states, those new-look backdrops are now available to download for all.
The feeling of having accidentally deleted a photo is one enough to send a chill down one's spine - particularly if said image was of particular importance or sentiment. Often, a lost photo can be magically recovered through cloud backup or by using numerous recovery tools, and thankfully, makers of software have done their bit by elongating the process of permanent deletion. From what we're hearing, Apple is making it a tad more difficult to lose a treasured memory for good, with a new lifeline feature that'll help you recover those snaps that you erroneously discarded of.
Along with all of the more obvious features relating to the UI and general functionality of iOS, Apple has done quite a lot of work in improving the security features of its mobile operating system through the past few revisions. With iOS 8 having just been announced earlier on this week at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote, some of the details are only now beginning to trickle in, and given the rife nature of iPhone theft in particular, users will be pleased to learn that the Cupertino outfit plans to make it even easier to track a lost, stolen or otherwise missing devices with iOS 8.
