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Apps that are optimized for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus?

J

Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 16, 2014
2,671
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Is there a list anywhere where I can find out which apps take advantage of the higher resolution iPhone screens? Most of them seem to just be the normal iPhone 5s app, zoomed in to fill the screen.

The only one I've found so far is the official Twitter app.
 
Jayson A said:
Is there a list anywhere where I can find out which apps take advantage of the higher resolution iPhone screens? Most of them seem to just be the normal iPhone 5s app, zoomed in to fill the screen.

The only one I've found so far is the official Twitter app.
Click to expand...

Id like to know too!
 
There is no list but you can find out via compatability information if an app is optimized or not.

Screen%20Shot%202014-09-23%20at%2021.08.21.png



Also just searching the App Store for "iPhone 6" gives you pretty good results, at least on the Desktop via iTunes.
 
If there was a list I think you'd be able to count its items on both hands. I believe there's a big backlog with the review process at the moment but looking at some recent updates to big apps (Skype, for example) you shouldn't get too excited about them fully supporting the new screens yet. In this case, Skype have said there'll be another update next month. I use my iPhone a lot for podcasts and Twitter; Tweetbot, Pocket Casts, and Instacast look pretty bad on the 6 Plus. As a result I've been using Overcast for my podcasts (which I'm really starting to like) and just dealing with Tweetbot because the alternatives (even the official Twitter app which has been updated) are pretty inferior in my opinion. I'm sure many developers are working hard and that we'll see updates pretty soon. That time can't come fast enough. :)
 
It's slightly annoying how little optimised apps there are, certainly the main ones, like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube & eBay.

I guess we've got no hope with Facebook, they seem to take forever updating apps!
 
eattherich said:
If there was a list I think you'd be able to count its items on both hands.
Click to expand...

You must have a lot of fingers.

If you search iTunes' App Store section for "iPhone 6" there are currently almost 500 apps optimized for iPhone 6 already.
 
kirky29 said:
It's slightly annoying how little optimised apps there are, certainly the main ones, like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube & eBay.

I guess we've got no hope with Facebook, they seem to take forever updating apps!
Click to expand...

Don't forget Whatsapp.
That app hasn't changed much at all in a while. And it's worth billions.
Facebook bought them and isn't improving it at all. Even the chat bubbles are the same boring green since day 1.
 
X-X said:
You must have a lot of fingers.

If you search iTunes' App Store section for "iPhone 6" there are currently almost 500 apps optimized for iPhone 6 already.
Click to expand...

I searched for iPhone 6 but although some have been updated for iPhone 6 (flipboard for example) are still the old resolution, so there goes that theory.

----------
kirky29 said:
It's slightly annoying how little optimised apps there are, certainly the main ones, like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube & eBay.

I guess we've got no hope with Facebook, they seem to take forever updating apps!
Click to expand...

I've just been using the Facebook mobile site. Seems to work almost like a native app anyway. You just don't get the pretty iOS 7-style look.
 
Jayson A said:
I searched for iPhone 6 but although some have been updated for iPhone 6 (flipboard for example) are still the old resolution, so there goes that theory.
Click to expand...


Flipboard has not yet been updated. That doesn't take away from the fact that there ARE almost 500 apps in the store right now that ARE optimized for iPhone 6.

Like imdb, Pintrest, Tumblr, Transmit, CNN, Scanbot, Clear, NYT Now and on and on.
 
TheNewDude said:
Don't forget Whatsapp.
That app hasn't changed much at all in a while. And it's worth billions.
Facebook bought them and isn't improving it at all. Even the chat bubbles are the same boring green since day 1.
Click to expand...

Forgot about Whatsapp, I find it bizarre that an app thats worth billions and used by millions...doesn't get a single bit of attention.. I've noticed most people I chat with just use Facebook messenger or Snapchat! Haven't actually reinstalled Whatsapp since moving to the iPhone 6 Plus.
 
It took awhile for developers to get their apps optimized for retina too when it first came out. Give it a few months. They don't look as pretty but they are useable at least.
 
i have a quick question maybe someone can help. What do you guys mean by optimized? when i use fb on my iPhone 6 it looks larger and good on the iPhone 6. By optimized does that mean that the font and size will be smaller even for instagram, because i kind of like how big all the fonts look. not sure if that made sense.
 
X-X said:
You must have a lot of fingers.

If you search iTunes' App Store section for "iPhone 6" there are currently almost 500 apps optimized for iPhone 6 already.
Click to expand...

These are just apps that actually work on the new phones. I imagine almost all of them are still zoomed.
 
ScubaCinci said:
It took awhile for developers to get their apps optimized for retina too when it first came out. Give it a few months. They don't look as pretty but they are useable at least.
Click to expand...

For the most part retina is more complicated to just pop in than updating to these new screen sizes. In fact if you wrote your app properly it should be no more than adding a launch image for the new size.
 
Unfortunately Apple, in it's infinite wisdom, didn't tell the developers what resolution the iphone 6 would support, so they couldn't start updating their apps until they were announced on the 12th. It takes a little while for the app to be updated... especially if they're making big changes to take advantage of all the extra space, then it needs to pass internal testing and finally it needs to be submitted and reviewed by apple. As I recall with the iPhone 5 it was a few months before most of my recently used apps supported the (slightly) bigger screen, although I think I started seeing some updates within a few weeks of launch.
 
BrettDS said:
Unfortunately Apple, in it's infinite wisdom, didn't tell the developers what resolution the iphone 6 would support, so they couldn't start updating their apps until they were announced on the 12th. It takes a little while for the app to be updated... especially if they're making big changes to take advantage of all the extra space, then it needs to pass internal testing and finally it needs to be submitted and reviewed by apple. As I recall with the iPhone 5 it was a few months before most of my recently used apps supported the (slightly) bigger screen, although I think I started seeing some updates within a few weeks of launch.
Click to expand...

Seriously? I wondered why, I thought surely a week would be a good amount of time for the big players to update their apps. Silly Apple then!
 
One thing I noticed today is that some apps, like Facebook and Engadget, make the status bar bigger. The Facebook app is particularly ugly looking because all it does it blow up the standard app to fit the bigger screen. Seems like they'd be better off taking advantage of the increased space on the screen. Perhaps they are working on it. I don't know squat about app development. Anyway, just thought it was odd that the status bar expands in the app rather than staying its standard size.
 
Apps like you described are the non optimized apps that we're talking about. They haven't been updated to support the higher resolution, so the iPhone just enlarges everything (status bar and all) so it takes up the whole screen. When they are updated and optimized this won't happen.
 
TonyC28 said:
One thing I noticed today is that some apps, like Facebook and Engadget, make the status bar bigger.
Click to expand...

Is it really that hard to understand that some apps are not updated yet?

NOT optimized
fac.png



Optimized
pin.png
 
I find it highly annoying that the dev's weren't ready for iOS 8. It seems like the ones heavy in the Apple system were first, but barely.
 
eattherich said:
If there was a list I think you'd be able to count its items on both hands. I believe there's a big backlog with the review process at the moment but looking at some recent updates to big apps (Skype, for example) you shouldn't get too excited about them fully supporting the new screens yet. In this case, Skype have said there'll be another update next month. I use my iPhone a lot for podcasts and Twitter; Tweetbot, Pocket Casts, and Instacast look pretty bad on the 6 Plus. As a result I've been using Overcast for my podcasts (which I'm really starting to like) and just dealing with Tweetbot because the alternatives (even the official Twitter app which has been updated) are pretty inferior in my opinion. I'm sure many developers are working hard and that we'll see updates pretty soon. That time can't come fast enough. :)
Click to expand...

So I take it the latest Tweetbot 3 is not optimized for iOS 8 and has that glitch as it goes full screen?
 
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