Google Chrome for iOS adds drag and drop support, new widgets

Safari, for obvious reasons, is the fastest browser on iOS. But if you’ve been a Google Chrome user for years, you might be more comfortable using the Chrome app on your iOS device, especially with things like tab syncing and Google continuously improving the app. This time around, Chrome gets the drag and drop support for the iPad into its app. This means you can drag URLs from other apps and into Chrome or you can drag URLs out of the app and into other apps like Notes or Evernote. You’ll need to have a support iPad running on iOS 11 to get this feature to work, though.

If you don’t have this, Google is also introducing two new Today widgets. One is called Quick Actions and as its name suggests, you can do things like start a new search, begin an incognito search or a voice search, and scan a QR code. If you use 3D Touch on the Chrome icon, these are the same shortcuts you get. The other new widget is called Suggested Sites and it gives you quicker access to the sites you frequent.

Source: Cult of Mac

Apple updates App Store logo and makes other cosmetic changes to iOS 11 update

The developer beta version of iOS 11 brings some cosmetic updates to Apple’s mobile platform. One of those that caught our attention is the new App Store logo, which Apple hasn’t changed in years. They’re putting away the paintbrush/pencil/ruler trio and replacing these with popsicle sticks. We’re not sure why they opted to replace the previous items with the sticks. Aside from the App Store’s new logo, Maps and Clock apps seem to get newer, more subtle redesigns, too. Apple has also introduced some bug fixes and performance upgrades.

The company took out a few things, too. Some live wallpapers are no longer pre-loaded and auto brightness option is now seen under the accessibility part of the settings. You should be seeing these changes now if you’re part of the developer program. But if you’re willing to wait for the public beta, you should see that pretty soon.

Source: The Next Web

Microsoft Outlook on iOS now lets you edit your contacts

It might be considered a fundamental feature but until today the Microsoft Outlook app for iOS and Android couldn’t add or edit contacts. You’d need to be on the web browser or PC to do that. Finally, Microsoft updates its iOS app to let you add and edit Outlook.com and Office 365 contacts in the app (Android and Google contacts support to follow soon). You just need to head to the People section of the app to add details of certain contacts or include people from events, messages, and company directory. Outlook will let you save contacts to your phone’s native list, too. Microsoft also revamped the look of the contact cards. They now show key details like email addresses and phone numbers as well as recent conversations and meeting.

Source: Engadget

Google Assistant is now officially on iOS

At the Google I/O developer conference, the company made it official that Google Assistant is now on iOS. But with API restrictions, it can’t be interchangeable with Siri. Instead, it comes as a separate app, which you can put as a widget on your screen. It can do the usual stuff like send iMessages, play a song on your Spotify app (not on Apple Music), look up your schedule on Google Calendar, and check something in another language, among other things. But with the abovementioned restrictions, it can’t set alarms. The app does have a drawer icon of sorts that shows you what it can do for you. Google Assistant on iOS is first launching in the US. 

Source: CNBC + The Verge