iOS – aIRpLaY

8 things iMessage could learn from WhatsApp

iGbenga — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 18:03:33 +0000

iMessage’s blue bubbles are very popular among iPhone users and even though the application has seen some amazing updates in recent years including message reactions, a variety of share effects and screens, there are still ways in which iMessage could be more efficient and create an all encompassing experience for the user.

Replies — There are many times personal or group chats where there’s a need to reply to or emphasize a message. In WhatsApp this is seamless. Messages can be swiped right (iOS) and just commented underneath. This is a nifty feature that could enhance the iMessage experience.

Favorites — The favorites feature is a very powerful but underrated one. On WhatsApp you long press a message and there’s an option to fave it. This message can eventually be found under favorites section of the chat options. This is very useful for directions or menus or anything really that can be easily buried away in the conversation.

Search — Searching on iMessage is terrible. One would expect it to sort results by conversations and time but it doesn’t. It just struggles to find instances of the search query and it does a pretty terrible job still. The search on WhatsApp feels like deep search and it really digs deep with an endless supply of results for as long the search query exists. It even goes one step further and allows you search individual chats and the results are highlighted as you would expect in say a web browser.

Pin Messages — Like many people, I’m guilty of leaving a ton of messages unread. In WhatsApp, to avoid infinitely scrolling to catch up with those closest to me, I pin their messages to the top of the pile. This allows me to always have them in view whenever the app is launched. I don’t have as many conversations going on iMessage but I’m pretty certain there’s a few people that could use this feature because of how often they use their iMessage.

Format Styles — Bold, Italicize, Strikethrough and maybe Underline. The ability to format text like this already exists in the notes app on iOS (except strikethrough). Its impact in a conversation can turn a boring text into a lively, thought out one. It could also serve as a means to properly format movie titles and book titles etc for those who OCD like that.

Export — iMessage takes a ton of space especially for users who include gifs, bitmoji and recently animoji. An option to export messages and clear chat history to make room on the phone isn’t a bad idea. This is a really nifty WhatsApp feature that lets the user recreate space on their device time and time again.

Archive — Swipe to archive works for me like the opposite of message pinning. Some conversations need to be tucked away without necessarily being deleted. This is where archiving comes in. They’re kept out of the message timeline safely away from the rest of the conversation. The longer they stay there, the greater the reason to probably delete them for good since they’re just taking space anyway.

Mark as unread — Often times I glance at a message and feel the need to mark is as unread especially when I can’t get back to the sender and need to keep the blue dot in place to remind me I have an unread message. This is really helpful and is entirely nonexistent in iMessage even though one can as easily mark messages unread in the default mail app.

In all, WhatsApp seems like an all round better messenger than Apple’s default. And for everything WhatsApp seems to lack in sending messages with effects, hearting messages or liking them, it more than makes up for in functionality.

iOS 5.1 update (iPad 2)

iGbenga — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:49:00 +0000

So Apple rolled out the iOS 5.1 update to some of their devices today (iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPod Touch 34d and 4th generation, iPad and iPad2) and if you have one of them you are able to upgrade now. We upgraded ours; specifically the iPad 2 and here are some screens to show the process.

It’s pretty straightforward. If you go into your settings and under ‘General’ you select ‘Software Update’ it shows you the pending update and allows you to download and install over the air. Neat and simple.

App of the Month–Flipboard

iGbenga — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:44:00 +0000

Flipboard is referred to as the world’s first social magazine. The fact that it was Apple’s iPad app of the year for 2010 is enough to let you have an idea of how really good this app is. First thing you notice after launching the app is the beautiful presentation of news in a slideshow. Sliding you finger across the screen opens your ‘favorites’ screen where you have your news sources and room to add more sources. There’s an option to add Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and other feeds to the favorites screen. Opening pages may not appear as slick as in the Classics app or iBooks but with the presentation here, this might not be necessary. On the social side, the app allows you to tweet, update your Facebook status and access a whole lot of other social services. Flickr looks beautiful as it also gives you room to comment on photos. As for twitter, there is no function to view or create Direct Messages but after I was able to get in touch with John Virtes, the community manager for Flipboard, he was kind enough to let me know that they might be adding a Direct Message functionality soon. Flipboard is looking to expand very soon with the addition of TV shows. This is not something I’m really looking forward to because there will definitely be restrictions as to where you can watch the shows from and besides not everyone has the bandwith to stream TV shows…in HD…from a server in North America! In all, it’s a really good app for news consumption and for some really relaxing social experience. They are so many other really cool features that you’ll have to use the app yourself to find out. And for the price of zero bucks, I don’t see you getting broke for downloading this app. NB: It is currently only available on the iPad but an iPhone release, they say, will be coming soon. No word about Android or Windows Phone yet.

The Nigerian iTunes Store – A quick review

iGbenga — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:20:00 +0000

If you own an iPhone, iPod touch, or an iPad that isn’t jailbroken, you most likely get all of your apps from the AppStore on iTunes. And up until recently, there wasn’t a Nigerian AppStore so most of the shopping for apps is done in foreign stores. Well, fret no more for iTunes store is now open in Nigeria. Upon hearing this, you’d expect the Nigerian version of the store to be a little bit more localized and have content targeted towards Nigerians but it isn’t so.

First thing you notice is that there is no music. The last time I checked, iTunes was a music store. Right now, all you see is apps, podcasts and iTunes U (no Music, TV, Audiobooks, Movies, or Ping). Noticeably, some of the podcasts are content from this side of the world like the RCCG camp sermon and iTunes U still remains itself.

My major issue with the store is the currency. Unlike the Android App Market which has the cost of its apps listed in Naira, everything in the AppStore is in U.S. Dollars. This means that if you have been shopping the U.S. store, you don’t have a reason to switch over just yet.

What is worthy of mention though, is the fact that iOS is now open to Nigeria too. This means that you can register to become an iOS or OSX developer as a Nigerian. This creates opportunities for Nigerian developers to flex their muscles and try to compete with the rest of the world for market space and revenue. Developers who want to lay their hands on XCode should get on this ASAP.

Eventually, the iTunes store might see some music, the AppStore currency might be in Naira, and other features expected of iTunes (e.g. Free Music Tuesday) might be added but for now, iTunes Naija is NOT ready for prime time.

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App of the Month–Pulse

iGbenga — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:11:00 +0000

So many apps out there for subscribing to your news feeds, this one really shines. Say hello to our favorite app for the month of May: Pulse.
Pulse is a reading app that lets you subscribe to, and neatly organize your favorite news feeds and links posted on Facebook by your friends.
Launching Pulse for the first time takes you to an introductory page with tutorials on how to use the app. The application is divided into columns which include different rows of news articles. Each column is a section e.g. Tech, Top News, Social, Business, etc. You have the option to rename the columns and reorganize them. Each row represents a provider e.g. under the Tech Column, you could have rows like Engadget, Gizmodo, etc. Tapping an article opens it up in a full screen view. You can now swipe from right to left or vice versa to read older or newer news respectively.

In reading mode, you also have an option to read the article exactly how it appears on the web just by either tapping on the header, or by tapping on the ‘web’ link like in the android version. The app also lets you share a link to the article you’re reading using Facebook, Twitter, email, or even any other bookmarking app like Instapaper or Evernote.
What make Pulse really shine is the speed with which it loads articles. It loads really fast. Even more interesting is after loading your feeds, and you’re out of an area of reception or for some reason, all of a sudden, you no longer have any data plan/Wi-Fi access on your phone, you can read offline!
Pulse is available on iOS devices (iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad) and it’s also on Android. You might wanna head over to the App Store or the Android marketplace to get the app now. And did I mention it’s free?! Yes it is
Do you use Pulse? Is there anything we left out? Add comments to let us know what we’re missing. Thanks!

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