Hamza Khalid

Handles Windows Phone, iOS and Cydia. A big WP7 fan, who just loves writing about anything and everything. Google+

Remotely Track & Control Your Lost Or Stolen iPhone With inner

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Anyone who takes security seriously, or has had a mobile phone snatched from them in the past, might already be using apps like Prey on their smartphone. Prey is arguably the most popular anti-theft solution available on iOS and Android but if you own a jailbroken iDevice, there are also some less feature-rich yet effective alternatives to the Prey app out there. ICaughtU might not track your stolen device for you, but it can be used to get a photo of the thief. There is certainly a lot of potential in Cydia apps when it comes to countering phone theft, and inner demonstrates that quite clearly. This app has a ton of features, which make sure that every base is covered in case your phone gets stolen. inner can spring into action automatically when an unauthorized SIM is placed in the device, and also allows you to send commands to your phone remotely using the app’s desktop companion. Read More

myQuests Is A Great Gesture-Based iPhone Project Manager For Teams

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It is a common practice among developers these days to make to-do list apps that rely heavily on gestures and color-coding. Clear kicked off this trend, but more recently we have seen similar concepts implemented in apps like Listacular. Since the whole point of using gestures in a task manager is to make it uncomplicated, these apps aren't too heavy on features. The new myQuests though, clearly shows that it is possible for an app to be feature-rich without making things too tangled up. The app can prove to be a great tool for project management, specially when you have to work in a group, because it lets users share tasks with others, and has an elaborate commenting system of its own that can be used to stay up to speed with all the latest happenings regarding any to-do list or individual task. Read More

Export All Media Files Sent Or Received In iOS Messages App From One Place

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Just the other day, while testing the tweaks that allow users to attach long videos with their iMessage and MMS, I realized that for anyone who texts a lot, finding media files in the Messages app is a real headache. Even the search feature in the stock Messages app is limited, and only works for parts of threads that have been loaded manually. In this situation, a section maintaining a collection of all media files saved in the Messages app might have been really useful. Since no such feature exists in iOS, the Cydia store has a pretty decent solution up its sleeve. MediaExport is a Cydia app that shows photos and videos saved in all of your message threads. You can then save these files to the camera roll, or share them using the service of your choice. Read More

Get Update & Price Drop Notifications For Any iOS App With Apps Notifier

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Ever since Apple started its crackdown on app discovery tools, vendors have started coming up with ingenious ways of slipping past the stringent App Store scrutiny, and pushing out apps that might help you in keeping your iPhone interesting. A few days back, we covered AppShopper Social that adds a dash of user-collaboration to app discovery. Push notifications are an important part of any app like AppShopper, but there are other tools available for different platforms that are designed to work in the background, and only alert users whenever there is something worth checking out in the app collection. For Android, Amazon App Notifier serves a similar purpose, whereas iPhone owners can now give the new Apps Notifier a shot. You just have to add your favorite apps to the Apps Notifier watch list, and then wait for any updates or price drops to come along. There's is no need to even repeatedly come back to the app, since it is based almost completely on push notifications. Read More

Vobok For iOS & Android Is Like Twitter For Short Voice Recordings

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On the surface, Twitter’s 140 character limit might seem like a hindrance, but in reality, this feature has helped make Twitter the social networking giant that it is today. The limit helps keep tweets interesting, and makes sure that people can easily go through their timeline even if they follow a large number of profiles. Vobok is a social network for smartphones that works on the same idea of intentional limitation, but instead of written words or links, Vobok focuses on audio. The app has been designed to let users record short voice messages, and then share them with their friends and followers. Even private messages can only be sent in audio form, making the whole network voice-based. In the past, Audiolip has offered a similar functionality for desktop, while mobile users have had VoiceBo. Vobok still has its own special place in this genre though, owing to the fact that it is a no-frills app, and enjoys integration with Facebook and Twitter. Read More

Keep Track Of Who Follows & Unfollows You On Vine From iPhone

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There are plenty of tools for all platforms that can be used to manage your followers on Twitter. On one hand, there are services that let you trim down the list of people you follow, while other apps raise the alarm as soon as someone tries to quietly unfollow you. As Vine is still not too old, we haven’t seen a lot of similar services for it just yet. Another contributing factor might be Vine’s iOS-exclusiveness. Thankfully though, now there is a very uncomplicated way of finding out if someone has recently unfollowed you on Vine, or if that’s just your paranoia kicking in. Followers on Vine is not a feature-rich app by any means, but it is enough to let Vine users keep track of their followers if they are conscious about keeping their Follower/Following ratio in a certain range. The app can also be used to find the people you follow who aren't following you back on Vine, and even see a special list of your new followers. Read More

iTunes 11.0.3 Brings Revamped MiniPlayer & Better Album Management

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Forget its status as the iOS management suite; iTunes is among the most popular music players on desktops. After all, not many players let you purchase songs and albums from right within them. When it comes to features, iTunes is good enough to hold its own against any competitor. The only area where it was slightly lacking was the interface, but that issue was addressed pretty efficiently in the iTunes 11 visual overhaul. The MiniPlayer was among the features that got a complete makeover in the November update, and people liked it so much that there have even been attempts to emulate MiniPlayer view on iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apparently, even the existing MiniPlayer wasn’t good enough for Apple, despite its popularity, and that is why it has been tweaked a little more in the latest iTunes update. There can be no denying the fact that MiniPlayer changes constitute a large part of the iTunes 11.0.3 change log, but there are other changes as well, including more efficient management for albums with multiple disks and and a ‘Song View’ that looks better than ever. Read More

Hipstamatic Oggl For iPhone Is Like Instagram, And Then Some

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After Twitter’s introduction of photo filters of its own, one might make the case that the future of standalone photo editors for smartphones is not too bright. For now, however, there are some things that just can’t be done without the help of apps that have been designed specifically for the purpose of tweaking photos. When it comes to third-party image editing apps, Hipstamatic is not a new name in the game. We have already seen some really good photo-related apps from Hipstamatic, including the popular IncrediBooth and Hipstamatic Disposable. That hasn't stopped the vendor from spotting room for more, and has come up with the new Hipstamatic Oggl. This app supports both real-time filters and post-capture editing. The main feature of Oggl, though, is its ability to let users combine different filters and lenses to come up with unique results. It is also possible to snap photos of your own using the exact filter combos used in any of the photos publicly shared by others. Read More

Hands-On With Google Hangouts Unified, Cross-Platform IM & Video Chat

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The Google I/O keynote yesterday brought a lot of important announcements, but the revamped Hangouts service seems to have managed to cause the most excitement among them all so far, probably because it has already been rolled out for users all over the world. The iOS app is available in the App Store, while  lot of Android users have managed to get their hands on the Hangouts update for their Google Talk app as well. Google already offered its Google Talk (also called GTalk, Google Chat and Gmail Chat) already enjoyed integration with Google+ and Gmail but compared to the Hangouts feature of Google+, it wasn't too heavy on features. Some of you might have wondered why the plain old chat can’t become as cool as its Google+ variant. Even if you have never thought of that possibility, Google seems to have been thinking along those lines. The new Hangouts can be considered a consolidation of Google Talk and Google+ Hangouts that works on Android, iOS, Google+ and Chrome. The service offers everything from video calling to group chat, and even a huge collection of emoticons. Read More

Share Files With Facebook Friends, iPhones & PCs Via QR Codes Using Popsend

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There are a lot of ways of transferring files from one iOS device to another, and moving files between an iDevice and a computer isn’t a big deal either (even iTunes lets you do that). For an app from this category to be truly useful, however, it must let you freely share data between all devices you own, regardless of their platform. PopSend isn't the first iOS app that lets you do that, but it does take a novel approach towards file sharing. The app can be used to transfer files between iDevices and PC, but rather than manually establish a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection between the devices, the transfer is initiated via QR codes. In the past, we have covered similar file sharing apps for other platforms, but PopSend can give any competitor a run for its money simply because of its ease of use and Facebook integration. Read More

Sol For iPhone Compares The Weather Of Mars With That Of Your City

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Apps like Star Rover offer a lot of information regarding space and the universe on the whole. The way augmented reality plays a major role in most space-related apps clearly shows that the genre has the potential of expanding way beyond its present status of being a mere novelty. For now, however, there are a lot of limitations when it comes to apps dealing with the cosmos. You might be able to glean the name of a distant object from Star Rover, but the data is rarely real-time, and acts as nothing more than an interactive encyclopedia. There is no easy way of learning a planet’s current temperature just by looking at it on a map, but you aren't likely to find an entry for Jupiter in Yahoo! Weather either. Now though, someone has come up with the idea of developing a weather app that is capable of showing current weather stats from both Earth and Mars. Sol has a great interface, and collects weather data for Mars from the Curiosity rover that landed on the red planet last year. Read More

Listacular Is A Gesture-Based, Collaborative To-Do List iPhone App With Dropbox Sync

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Thanks to its huge collection of apps, iOS is capable of letting its users perform any task in a variety of ways. When it comes to reminders and to-do lists, there is a stock app already available on the iPhone for this purpose. Though if you are a minimalist, Clear is there for you, while anyone who is a stickler for details is sure to enjoy Astrid. Having said that, there is always room for improvement, or at least uniqueness. Listacular for Dropbox is a new task management app that lets its users create to-do lists using gestures and elaborate text formatting. As the name of the app suggests, Listacular boasts tight integration with Dropbox, which lets you use task lists on multiple devices and collaborate with others on different tasks. Although linking a Dropbox account with Listacular greatly enhances the overall experience of using the app, it not mandatory by any means. Read More

What Is Cydia Substrate For Android & How To Install Winterboard On It

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The Cydia store has always been there for the rescue of many iOS users when their Android-wielding friends start mocking the iPhone for its lack of customization options. Admittedly, even a host of tweaks and themes cannot match the level of modification a custom ROM or root-level tweaks and mods for Android can offer, but having a collection of such root-level tweaks that can be applied to the device without having to flash files from recovery does have its advantages. So, some might find it bit absurd that Saurik has released Cydia Substrate and Winterboard in the Google Play Store, it can potentially take Android customization to a whole new level! In what follows, we'll take a more detailed look at Cydia Substrate, and show you how to install it on your Android device, and get Winterboard (or any other extensions, as they become available) up and running afterwards. Read More

Pinterest For Android & iOS Gets Push Notifications, Mentions & Auto-Suggestions

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Pinterest hasn’t been around for as long as some of the other social networks, but its popularity is evident from the fact that a lot of services have been trying to emulate its concept and interface. The official Pinterest client arrived for Android only last year, but lacked many of the features that are necessary for making such a mobile app successful these days. There were no push notifications, creating new posts was a bit tricky and it wasn't possible to mention your friends in comments on pins. It was a similar story for the iOS variant, as both apps have only minor differences. Finally though, the Pinterest team has rolled out an update for their mobile clients that addresses most of the issues we just mentioned. Read More

See Your Social Media History For Each Day With Timehop For iPhone

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It might not have received the warmest reception upon its introduction, but Facebook timeline is actually quite useful for going through your older posts. In addition to Facebook, many other social networks and web services save your past posts in chronological order as well, so that you can view your previous activities quite easily. Twitter has also made it possible for users to download all their past tweets, which highlights the importance of social media history. This aspect of social networks is something we are all aware of, but rarely call into action. Timehop is an iOS app that offers a convenient and effortless way of staying in touch with your social networking history. It creates time capsules containing all the posts you have ever published on the present date over the past years. Timehop also lets you connect with your friends who are using the app to view their past activities. The app has been around in the App Store for a long time, but its latest update has added Dropbox integration to the mix, which lets users save their old photos to the cloud, and also serves as a good way of reminiscing about your past Dropbox uploads. Read More

Get Highly Customizable Grabber-Like App Shortcuts On iOS Lock Screen With Axis

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Lock screen launchers for iOS are pretty popular among the Cydia community these days, but with tweaks like Atom, there is always the possibility of inadvertently launching apps due to lack of proper preventive measures. To avoid this, a lot of people prefer Grabby - the popular tweak that adds four camera grabber-like app shortcuts to the lock screen. While Grabby is great, there are a few areas where it might have been a little better, or at least that is what trying out Axis has made us realize. Axis is pretty similar to Grabby, but offers a ton of customization options that aren't there in any of its competitors. To make the shortcuts look good, there are plenty of icon choices available for each shortcut. You can pin any app that is installed on your iDevice, and most of the popular ones have custom icons of their own to help users spot them at one quick glance. Axis also lets you pin one app more than Grabby to the lock screen, which offers four slots. Read More

Use Google Search’s Text-To-Speech Engine To Command Siri With Googiri

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Ever since the release of Google Now for iOS, Siri must be feeling a bit insecure for the first time, as prior to that, even the best third-party personal assistants have struggled to give it any real competition on the platform. Although Google Now is more feature-rich, Apple’s own talking assistant enjoys better integration with the OS, and has the ability to create reminders, launch apps and perform other similar system tasks. On the other hand, Siri’s speech recognition isn't something to write home about. People have often suffered placing awkward calls to their contacts while trying to create a simple reminder. Won’t it be just perfect if you could have Siri's features accessible through the speech recognition prowess of Google Search? Googiri is a new Cydia tweak that makes this dream come true. By saying ‘Siri’ before any request made to Google’s voice search, users can get the results of their queries from Siri. You can even choose to stop using Google’s search altogether, and completely switch to using its text-to-speech engine with Siri. Read More

Read & Manage Your Digital Comics On iPhone & iPad With YACReader

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Comics and iOS devices have been companions for a long time, with apps like ComiMix for browsing through your favorite strips without much effort. Having said that, any app that taps into an online collection to bring you comics can only provide you with a limited number of choices. You might already have a decent collection of digital comics on your computers, and it seems like a terrible waste if there isn't a way of importing that collection to your iDevice. Thankfully, we have cross-platform comic readers like YACReader, which is capable of handling almost all popular comic formats. The app has been around for all major desktop platforms for quite a while, and it is nice to see it finally making a mobile presence. The newly released iOS app doesn't disappoint at all, as it offers a clever way of scrolling through strips, lets you import files from various sources and has a customizable interface. Read More

Flipboard For iOS Updated With New Profile Stats & Better Sharing

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The introduction of user-curated magazines in the Flipboard app for iOS is proving to be the right decision. Some might argue that people use Flipboard because of its glossy interface, but it has to be admitted that the app isn’t lacking in features either. Usually, there have been considerable gaps between any two major updates of Flipboard, but the popularity of magazines has prompted its developers to push some much-needed additions pretty quickly. The app’s latest update focuses on making user magazines even easier to manage. It is now possible to keep an eye on the growth of your publications, thanks to a revamped profile page that shows stats pertaining to your followers and readers. Although Google Reader only has a couple of months left to live, Flipboard seems determined to keep the experience of the service on your iPhone as good as possible. The sharing menu has become even more social as well, and even has a new option to help you add to your phone’s wallpaper collection. Read More

Autopano: Capture Cycloramic-Like Hands-Free Panos On iPhone 5 Using Any Panorama App

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Any iOS app that interacts with the user’s surroundings in some way is sure to garner appreciation. Cycloramic and Wave&Pose are two fine examples of apps that deal with photography in a novel way that is both entertaining and useful. Cycloramic has been one of the most popular apps among users of iPhone 5. It lets you capture panoramas without having to exert any effort at all, as all you have to do is place the device on a flat surface, and let the app work its magic using certain vibration patterns. Though Cycloramic has a camera of its own, and many people are partial to the stock Camera app’s panorama mode, or prefer another  third-party app for this purpose. Thanks to a new Cydia tweak, users can now capture hands-free panoramas with any app they want. Autopano for Notification Center makes an iPhone 5 vibrate just like Cycloramic, but it lets you use these vibrations with any panorama app of your choice.

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