Twitter-owned Vine for iOS, which lets you create and share short video loops, received a new update today that adds new shortcuts from the Home screen on the latest iPhones. Users can press the updated Vine icon firmly on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to jump directly into making a short Vine clip or viewing the explore section of the app.
Instagram is rolling out an update today for its iPhone app bringing two major new features, including a redesigned Explore tab and improved search functionality. The company said the updates will “help connect our community to the world as it happens,” or in other words, a more real-time experience thanks to new trending Tags and Places within the Explore tab.
With more than 70 million photos and videos posted to Instagram every day, wherever something is happening, chances are you can see it here. Whether it’s behind the scenes at the NBA Finals, on the runway with the latest fashion trend at a favorite club with a local band, people are capturing moments large and small on Instagram. But, until now, there’s never been an easy way to find these moments.
On top of the new trending tags and places in Explore, the company said it will be adding curated collections of images based on various themes, such as specific people or places, and featuring content from across the network.
The updated Explore feature is first rolling out to users in the US as part of the 7.0 update for iPhone that also adds improved search functionality:
For everyone on Instagram, we’ve dramatically improved the ability to find what you’re looking for. With the new Places Search, you can now peer in at just about any location on earth, allowing you to scout out your next vacation spot in the South Pacific, get a look inside that hot new restaurant or experience your favorite music festival — even if you couldn’t make it this year. The new Top Search also lets you search across people, places and tags all at once.
You can grab Instagram version 7.0 for iOS on the App Store now.
Apple often acquires small startup companies very quietly and without any formal announcement to bolster its own services, and a new report from TechCrunch claims that the company acquired Ottocat in late-2013. Ottocat was a startup that focused on developing a system to organize and discover apps based on increasingly specific subcategories. Apple currently uses this technology to power the “Explore” tab in the App Store, as seen above.
After updating its app for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last month, Instagram is out with a feature update today with some welcome features.
Users will likely appreciate the ability to edit photo captions and locations attached to photos in post now. That means if you make a typo on your caption, you no longer have to choose between correcting yourself in the comments, deleting and re-posting the photo with the correction caption, or just ignoring it altogether.
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Tumblr updated its iOS app today for iPhone and iPad with a few new features that will greatly improve the search experience within the apps. On top of being able to now search tags and blogs (something that many used third-party clients for), version 3.4 of the Tumblr app will also allow users to explore trending tags and blogs, as well as “Follow recommended blogs for any tag you search.”
A full list of what’s new is below:
We’re thrilled to bring you a brand new discovery experience:
– Search tags and blogs
– Explore trending tags and blogs
– Follow recommended blogs for any tag you search