iPhone Apps

iOS 11 adds several features aimed at optimizing storage space on the iPhone and iPad, such as Messages on iCloud and the ability to offload apps.

Instagram continues to expand the Explore tab, giving users new ways to find interesting content. According to the Instagram blog, the latest update brings location and hashtag Stories to the section. The change is one of many that Instagram has rolled out over the past five years since the Explore tab first launched.

Hot on the heels of Amazon's Alexa coming to iOS, Siri has more competition in the voice assistant department. The Google Assistant can now be installed as a stand alone app on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. While the Google Search app for iOS includes voice capabilities, the full-blown Google Assistant is more sophisticated and powerful.

Periscope has offered live 360-degree broadcasting capabilities for some time. Now the streaming video company is rolling out panoramic video broadcasting support to iOS users. This means anyone with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch can create videos with a "LIVE 360" label, using a panoramic camera such as the Insta360 Nano.

Geekbench is celebrating the release of version 4.1 by offering its popular benchmarking tool free to iOS users. The sale goes through April 10. Act fast if you're interested in using the Compute Benchmark on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch at no charge.