This Weekend in the App Store -- the best free apps, new apps and app updates

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

Axe in Face [iPhone; Now free, down from $0.99] Axe in Face - Defense of the Daffodils.

Almighty PHOTO [iPhone; Now free, down from $2.99] Almighty PHOTO is the brilliant photo album app for organizing and browsing your photos.

Stopwatch+ [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $9.99] Stopwatch Plus is the most professional and beautiful stopwatch in the App Store.

AfterThis [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Simply focus where you want.

New and Notable Apps

Mean Girls: The Game [iOS Universal; $3.99] A Mean Girls tower defense game makes way more sense than you'd think.

Ted the Jumper [iOS Universal; $0.99] Help Ted to collect all wooden blocks on the field by jumping on them in a colorful puzzle game.

Updates you don't want to miss

Convert It - The Unit and Currency Converter [OS X; Free] Convert It is the best free unit converter for your Mac. Easily accessible from the menubar, the app makes converting units a breeze.Version 1.3 brings the following changes:

• Added Mils to Length and Area Converters


• Added Acres (Ireland) to Area Converters


• Fixed Illumination conversion errors (Foot Candles, Lumens/sq Centimeter, and Nox


• Fixed Acceleration unit Galileos


• Hotkey is optional now


• Maintenance and Bug Fixes

Highnote: Tempo and Key Control For Your Music [iOS Universal; $4.99] Highnote gives you realtime, independent tempo and pitch control over the music in your iPhone's library making it an invaluable practice tool for musicians and dancers. Version 2.0 brings the following changes:

• Fresh new look for v2.0!


• New design making it easier and quicker to use.


• Support for iPad.


• New and improved audio engine.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

This Weekend in the App Store -- the best free apps, new apps and app updates Posted: 31 Jan 2015 03:00 PM PST Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can. Apps Now Free Axe in Face [iPhone; No...

The Week in Review: news and features you don't want to miss Posted: 31 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST Last week was a busy one with your favorite TUAW writers posting some excellent How-To guides, commentary and other informative news articles. Here's a quick roundup of our recent feature worthy posts you may have missed: News Apple R&D spending ...

A roundup of recent hardware reviews on TUAW Posted: 31 Jan 2015 11:00 AM PST Last week, we reviewed a variety of hardware and accessories that'll complement your favorite iOS or OS X devices. Here's a quick roundup of recent hardware reviews that you may have missed: PicoPro: A laser projector about the size of an iPhone 6...

All the best app reviews last week on TUAW Posted: 31 Jan 2015 09:00 AM PST Last week was a busy one for apps in the iOS App Store, giving your favorite TUAW writers a chance to post some great reviews of the apps that grace their home screens. Here's a quick roundup of our recent reviews -- and a few app roundups -- you may...

And a final bonus Caturday: Graham's MacBook Air Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:00 AM PST Every once in a while there is a Caturday submission that has such a cute cat and great back story that it just calls out for more than one photo. This kitten is Graham, and owner Rob Waag tells the story: Graham is a seven month old kitten that wa...

Caturday: Jake's keeping your backups safe and warm Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST Want to keep your backups safe, secure and warm? Then hire Jake, this beautiful black cat belonging to TUAW reader Mike Hoffman, to sit atop your Time Capsule. We're sure that he's probably not even sure of his guardian role; Jake probably just like...

Here's how to stream the Super Bowl on your Apple devices Posted: 30 Jan 2015 04:00 PM PST This Sunday is Super Bowl XLIX featuring the Seahawks, the Patriots, and, hopefully, properly inflated balls. You can watch the big game on your TV if you can pick up a signal, but what about if you've cut the cord to cable or don't have a solid digi...

Secret Mail shortcuts: Ten gestures to speed up your iPhone email!

Apple's Mail app for iPhone and iPad has a ton of features you can invoke at the tap of a virtual button. It's what makes it simple and accessible even to first time iOS users. If you play around with it for a while, however, you'll discover a bunch of gesture shortcuts as well. Once you get used to them, they can really speed up and expand your workflow.

1. Pull to search

Just like on the Home screen where you can touch and pull down to access Spotlight search, you can touch and pull down from any mailbox to bring up search for mail. Start typing and Mail will show you any messages that match.

2. Pull to refresh

Pull-to-refresh, originally created by Loren Brichter for Tweetie, is now ubiquitous in iOS. Any time you want to check for new messages, just touch the mailbox screen and pull down — further than you would for search — until you see the refresh spinner.

3. Swipe to go back

Another system-wide gesture, any time you're in a message or mailbox, you can swipe to go back to the mailbox the message is in, or the account the mailbox in in. It's especially handy for those with bigger phones.

4. Mark as unread

To quickly mark a message as read, touch it and swipe from left to right. To mark it as unread again, just repeat the gesture. You can swipe just far enough to see the big blue button, but if you keep swiping all the way across, you can skip the tap and really speed things up!

5. Flag and trash

To quickly trash or flag a message, touch it and swipe from right to left. You can tap the big orange flag button to flag it, or the big red trash button to delete it. You can also just swipe all the way across to save yourself a tap and send it straight to the trash.

6. More options

When you touch and swipe a message from right to left, in addition to flag and trash, you can also tap the big gray more button for additional options, including: reply all, forward, flag, mark as unread/read, move to junk, move message, and notify me...

7. Swipe Settings

If you don't like the default behavior of the mark, flag, and trash swipe gestures, you can change them via Settings > Mail > Swipe Options. For example, if you prefer "archive" to "trash" simply choose that instead.

8. Hide the keyboard

Sometimes, where you're responding to a message, you want to see more of it. Maybe you forgot the exact question you're trying to answer, or you want to refer to something specific. No matter the reason, all you have to do is touch the message above the keyboard and swipe down to hide it.

9. Stack drafts

When composing a mail message, touch the title bar — where it says New Message — and swipe it down to temporarily store it as a draft while doing or checking something else. You can keep multiple draft cards open at a time, and tap them to get a rolodex interface just like tabs in Safari.

10. Jump to drafts

You can tap the compose button any time to start a new mail message, but if you tap-and-hold on it, you'll be shown a list of your recent drafts so you can pick up right from where you left off.

11. Move an address

If you have a contact in the To: field but you want to move it to CC: or BCC:, you don't have to delete and re-add it. Instead, just touch it and drag it right to where you want it.

12. More secrets

If you just can't get enough of this stuff, and want to learn more of the secrets to iPhone mastery, check out our ultimate guides and secrets and tips pages. And if we missed any of your favorite Mail tips, add them to the comments below!

• Best Mail apps for iPhone


• Secret Siri commands


• Secret Safari shortcuts

Daily iPhone Blog

Today’s iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpapers 31/01/2015 Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:30 AM PST You can download today's iPad/iPad mini Retina Wallpapers from our new iPad / iPad mini Retina gallery. Enjoy! Note: Did you know that we update our iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4S / iPhone4 , iPad/ iPad2 and New iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpaper galleries once / day? You can find the latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Apple iPhone 6 Most Desirable and Valuable Device in UK Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:13 AM PST Trade-in compiling company CompareMyMobile based in the UK revealed its new annual report (2014 edition) that shows trade in results from the country through last year. The survey shows which devices and companies get the most trade-ins, taking into account such factors as depreciation, and the most valuable smartphones. There is little surprise to see that Apple's market leading iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus finished as the most valuable smartphones of last year. Next on the list was Samsung's Galaxy S5 and then the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Apple was the top trade in brand thanks to a 38% market share and users tend to keep their iPhones, with 81% of users not trading in their device. Samsung was next with a 34.37% market share and HTC with 7.21%. The most depreciating brand in the UK market was Blackberry, which is hardly a massive surprise, with Nokia following and then Google.

Today’s iPad 2 / iPad wallpapers 31/01/2015 Posted: 31 Jan 2015 06:30 AM PST You can download today's iPad and iPad2 Wallpapers from our iPad / iPad2 Wallpaper gallery. Enjoy! Note: Did you know that we update our iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4S / iPhone4 , iPad / iPad2 and iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpaper galleries once / day? You can find the latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Today’s iPhone 5 / 5C / 5S wallpapers 31/01/2015 Posted: 31 Jan 2015 04:30 AM PST You can download today's iPhone 5 / 5C / 5S Wallpapers from our iPhone 5 / 5C / 5S Wallpaper gallery. Enjoy! Note: Did you know that we update our iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4S / iPhone 4 , iPhone 5 / 5C / 5S, iPad / iPad2 and iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpaper galleries once / day? You can find the latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Today’s iPhone 4S / iPhone 4 wallpapers 31/01/2015 Posted: 31 Jan 2015 02:30 AM PST You can download todays iPhone 4S / iPhone 4 Wallpapers from our iPhone 4 Wallpaper gallery. Enjoy! Note: Did you know that we update our iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4S / iPhone4 , iPad/ iPad2 and iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpaper galleries once / day? You can find the latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Today’s iPhone wallpapers 31/01/2015 Posted: 31 Jan 2015 12:30 AM PST You can download todays iPhone 3G / 3GS Wallpapers from our iPhone 3GS Wallpaper gallery. Enjoy! Note: Did you know that we update our iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4S / iPhone4 , iPad/ iPad2 and iPad / iPad mini Retina wallpaper galleries once / day? You can find the latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!