Sam Oliver
A trio of popular apps received mid-cycle updates Tuesday, with popular email client Mailbox adding a number of new swipe gestures, Philips's Hue smart light bulb controller was given a streamlined UI, and connected thermostat maker Nest gaining support for the new "Works with Nest" program.
Mailbox
Long a favorite of those whose inbox is their de facto todo list, Mailbox now lets users define custom gesture patterns for its auto-swipe feature. Auto-swipe predicts what a user may want to do with a message — like archive it, respond later, or delete it — and performs that action with a single swipe.
The new version also adds the auto-swipe suggestions to the message view. The Dropbox-backed company also promised other improvements to auto-swipe and attachments as well as "various bug fixes."
Mailbox version 2.0.3 is available now as a free, 22.8-megabyte download from the App Store.
Hue
As the default control app for the popular hue lineup of smart lightbulbs, Philips's Hue app is one of the most-used connected home apps on the App Store. The company has made it slightly less cumbersome by moving settings for Alarms, Timers, and Geofencing into their own dedicated menu, while extending the fade time of alarms and timers to 60 minutes.
Additionally, the app now supports Philips's recently-released hue tap accessory, a wireless switch with four buttons that can be mapped to cycle through lighting scenes without the aid of an iOS device. Philips also says the new version sports "improved overall stability."
Philips Hue version 1.4.0 is available now as a free, 28.4-megabyte download from the App Store.
Nest Mobile
The Nest Mobile app now supports Nest's new "Works with Nest" program. Announced yesterday, the program is designed to make the company's products the centerpiece of a new connected home platform.
Developers — including Nest parent Google — can take advantage of the APIs to allow the wide array of sensors present on Nest thermostats and smoke detectors to control other smart home devices. The motion detector in a Nest thermostat could be used to trigger a lighting scene from smart light bulbs, for instance.
Nest Mobile version 4.2.0 is available now as a free, 34.9-megabyte download from the App Store.
Christine McKee
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2 Comments
Mailbox is spyware.
Mailbox is spyware.
Is it any worse that gmail or hotmail or any of the other spyware email services? I'm not being snide, it's a real question. If you have an app that reports back to the mother ship (and I didn't re-look up the details on Mailbox just now), is that worse than a service that actively scans and analyzes each and every word in all your emails?