New iOS 9 Leak Reveals New Proactive Feature Similar to Google Now

There really hasn’t been that much to report about the upcoming iOS 9 which has led quite a lot of people to assume that it is going to be bland and not that spectacular. In fact, I don’t think we have mentioned anything about iOS 9 here on the blog before now. Well anyway, a new report has suggested that it might not be as bland as we thought. Apple is looking at introducing a new feature called “Proactive” which is similar to Google Now on Android devices.

According to 9to5Mac this new Proactive feature is an evolution of the old Spotlight feature that was recently updated so that it can now grab search results from Wikipedia as well as its other sources. It seems though that this was just a little step in the revamp process and Spotlight has now been transformed into the powerful Proactive feature that will also integrate with third-party apps.

Proactive is going to replace Spotlight and we may see it move back to the left of the home screen the way it used to be in iOS 6. There are however hints that Apple will also allow for calling up the feature by swiping down on the home screen as is right now. It’s said that the design of Proactive will be fairly similar to Spotlight and will retain the search bar at the top so existing users will find things familiar. Of course, users will be able to make standardized search here just like in Spotlight, but Proactive will include a greater emphasis on displaying news stories as search results and will more reliably display news results when you search for information including news on current topics and famous people.

We have also heard that Apple will be looking to give Proactive a much deeper integration into third-party apps while also giving Siri some leverage. Apple has a full Siri API which will allow the service access to third-party apps as well. There is also talk about a limited Siri API for developers being released codenamed Breadcrumbs and that will be interesting if it surfaces.

It is also being suggested that Maps will be integrated into Proactive which will mean that users will now be offered automated updates and data depending on their schedule and how they travel as was seen with Google Now. Meanwhile a bolder, augmented reality feature will show you points of interest through your camera, and a simpler “browse around me” feature will also be available for displaying local points of interest too.

This all sounds really interesting and we do hope that is not just a rumor and that we will see the Proactive feature when iOS 9 is released. As always, we will bring you any further information as we get it and if any more interesting iOS 9 reports fall on our desk, we will be sure to let you know abou them.

20 Things You Can With Your Apple Watch On WiFi Without Your iPhone in Bluetooth Range

Most people assume that without your iPhone the Apple Watch can’t do anything so in this post we want to tell you all about what your Apple Watch can do on WiFi with or without your iPhone connected in its Bluetooth range. All the features listed here don’t require an iPhone to be connected via Bluetooth or the same WiFi network. In short, Apple Watch can do all these things on its own without having to have an iPhone at all.

Timekeeping

This is kind of obvious but the Apple Watch can tell the local and world time without an iPhone. It also supports alarm, timer and stopwatch functions too.

Tracking Activities

The Apple Watch can monitor and track how many steps you take, how much you stand up, climb stairs and more. The data is all presented to you in the Activity App. The Watch keeps tracking these activities even without an iPhone connected and when you do connect an iPhone, the data is all synced with the Health App on your iPhone automatically.

Track Workouts

The Workout app on your Watch can be used to track your workouts. Just set your exercise and goal and off you go without having to connect to your iPhone. The watch’s built in sensors will track your heart rate, strides and more. Even better, the Apple Watch can also measure the distance ran on its own thanks to a feature in the watch that stores accurate information about your stride so that it can measure distance. You will have to run a few times with both your Watch and iPhone so that the Workout app can use the iPhones GPS to calibrate you stride first.

Monitor Heart Rate

The Apple Watch measures your heart rate every 10 minutes and this data is then synced to your iPhone whenever you connect it.

Music Playback

When you first connect your iPhone and Apple Watch you can sync music tracks so that you can play music directly from your Watch over a pair of Bluetooth connected headphones.

View Photos

The Apple Watch is designed to sync all photos on your iPhone that have been marked as favorites. This means that you can carry your favorite photos on your wrist all the time.

Apple Pay

If you have Apple Pay set up you can make payments at contactless payment terminals even if you don’t have your iPhone with you at the time. This feature doesn’t require any internet connection either.

Passbook

The Passbook feature for the Apple Watch lets you store electronic tickets, boarding passes, etc., and all of these will work independently of your iPhone.

iMesasge

If you are on WiFi you will be able to use Apple Watch to send and receive iMessages. This is great if your iPhone is on charge in another room or out of Bluetooth range.

Digital Touch

Just like iMessages, you can use Digital Touch to send scribbles, taps or your heart rate to your favorite contacts using your WiFi connection.

Siri

Even if you are not connected to your iPhone but are on a WiFi network you will be able to use Siri. Siri’s functionality is limited if your iPhone is turned off.

There are a number of other features but these will require your iPhone to be connected to the same WiFi network and include the sending and receiving of SMS messages, the weather app, maps, mail, stocks, making and receiving calls, and notifications.

So as you can see, there are plenty of great things that you can do with your Apple Watch even if you don’t happen to have your iPhone with you.

Top Tips for Freeing up Space On iPhone and iPad

In today’s post we want to share with you some of the top tips for freeing up space on your iPhone or iPad. This is going to be particularly useful is you own one of the 16GB iOS devices. Space is something that every iPhone and iPad user is always looking for and if you find that your device is running low, take a look at our top tips and see how much space you can retrieve.

Clear Safari History and Website Data

First up we target Safari. If you haven’t cleared Safari data in a while you may be surprised to find that you can retrieve up to 1GB or more of storage space on your device. To clear it all you have to do is go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website data > Clear History and Data. That’s it, free space.

Turn OFF My Photo Stream

Photo Stream automatically saves your last 1,000 photos from your Camera Roll and then pushes them to other iCloud enabled devices. In some cases, Photo Stream can also take up some space on your device too. You can turn it off if you need to save valuable storage space. Do this by going to Settings > iCloud > Photos > My Photo Stream

Turn on iCloud Photo Library

The new iCloud Photo Library saves everything in your Camera Roll to iCloud so you can choose whether or not to keep the original version of your photos on your device or not. Turn on iCloud Photo Library and move all your photos to the cloud by going to Settings > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photo Library. It is important to be aware of the fact that each account only gets around 5GB of free space on iCloud and after that you will have to upgrade your iCloud storage plan.

Delete and Reinstall Apps

There are lots of apps that cache files to help them load content faster. This may sound like a good thing but the negative effect is that the cache files often use up space on your device. The likes of Spotify and Facebook can use a lot of data so it is no harm to delete and reinstall these every once in a while. Also just so you know, if you do delete and reinstall any of these apps, you don’t lose any of your information. If you have Spotify and you delete the app, when you reinstall it all your playlists and preferences will still be there. Deleting the apps only clears all the temporary cache files so you get your storage space back.

Delete Music and Stream Via Cloud

Apple allows you to stream all the music you have bought on iTunes from iCloud without having to download them to your device. To do this, you will first need to delete all the music stored locally. Once done, you will see all your music titles from iTunes showing up in your Music app ready to stream via iCloud. Alternatively, you can also switch to one of the many music services such as Spotify, Beats Music or Sound Cloud and more.

Delete Large iMessage Threads

If you share lots of photos and videos via iMessage it can take up lots of storage space. Deleting large threads and those with lots of photos and videos will help free up space.

Update to the Latest Version of iOS

If you are not concerned about jailbreaking and you are running an earlier version of iOS, then it really is time to update. Earlier versions of iOS 8.x are known to take away lots of storage space and Apple has since fixed this problem in their latest firmware releases. You can update to the latest iOS firmware via OTA by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

By going through your devices on a regular basis and doing some general tidying you should be able to free up a lot of storage space. Delete apps that you no longer use. It doesn’t matter because if you want to use them again they will be listed in your purchased apps on the App store. We hope you found these tips useful and if you have any that you would like to share please do so in the comments below.

New Report Reveals Apple Watch OS 1.1 and TVKit

Reports are always coming out but the one we want to talk about today surprised us because it states that Apple is already working on Apple Watch hardware and software updates. This comes just a month into the release of this wearable gadget. Supposedly, these upgrades include better security, health and fitness features, and a bunch of connectivity enhancements including support for more Apple products. The report also suggests that Apple is also working on a new SDK – TVKit - for the Apple TV.

Even before the Apple watch with its Watch OS 1.0 went on sale to the public, it was evident that Apple’s first ever wearable would receive some major software and hardware updates within a year, pretty much like the iPhone. According to sources that have been cited by 9to5Mac, the details are beginning to come to light about what Apple fans can expect from the next version of the Watch OS which could be 1.1 or 2.0.

It looks like top of the list for the Apple Watch updates will be the much needed “Find my Watch” app which will still rely on the iPhone to help a user locate it. The reports that we have seen suggest that the watch will “use its wireless signal to establish a location relative to the iPhone, and will optionally be able to notify a user if the iPhone is accidently left behind. There is also talk about Apple improving the Watch so that it will support the next-generation of Apple TV, where the Apple Watch is intended to be used as a primary input device for the set-top box.

Work is also underway for allowing developer to build native apps for the iWatch, while Apple will also be working on allowing support for third-party watch face Complication as, which includes “small widgets indicating activity levels, battery life, alarm clocks, upcoming calendar events, and the current temperature on many of Apple included Apple Watch clock faces. So yes, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to improve this wearable device in the coming months.

The next generation Apple TV is also expected to get an announcement this June and according to reports, this next generation model could support Siri and have added support for third-party apps. The rumoured “TVKit” will be targeted at developers to support them in building apps for the platform. The sources have added that the new device will also integrate with “Live TV”, which is Apple’s upcoming cable-replacement service. The final release of the new Apple TV is expected to come in a slimmer box compared to the existing one.

As you can see, there is a lot to look forward to from Apple over the next while and personally we can’t wait to see the Apple Watch and Apple TV evolve.

Bleep For iOS – The Private Way To Chat

BitTorrent has officially updated and launched Bleep. This is their first secure messaging service and it is a P2P Messaging App with end-to-end encryption. It is available for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows platforms and we are so excited to share it with you. All the messages are encrypted and operated through a direct peer-to-peer connection. This means that no conversations are stored in the cloud.

Bleep was first seen back in July last year when BitTorrent released the messaging app as an invite only pre-alpha, before going public with experimental builds for Android and Mac in September of last year. What has kept fans interested is that fact that this app isn’t interested in your personal information. You don’t need it to set up an account and all you have to do is pick a nickname. You can also find users using specific Bleep keys.

The end-to-end encryption and no cloud storage make Bleep one of the very rare secure messaging apps that are out there. You don’t have to worry about leaks or snoops. On the features front, Bleep offers Whispers, which is similar to snapchat, in that your text or pictures that you have sent to a user will disappear after they have been read/seen. You do get the choice of whether to use standard messaging or Whispers so if you want to store the messages or pictures on your device you can. With that being said, there is no way to avoid the screen grab for now but Whispers is going to resist it somewhat by blurring nicknames and texts.

Bleep also offers the ability to make calls over the internet which will also be encrypted. There are only some services that offer end-to-end encryption including iMessage and Blackberry messenger. With these however, your conversations are still stored in the cloud so if you want something completely private, Bleep could be the thing for you.

At the moment you can only have Bleep on one device per user but multi-device support is said to be coming in the next update and you will be able to sync your messages across all connected devices. Bleep is free to use and is available right now in the App store. You can also check out the video below for more information.