As expected, Apple updated its suite of apps for distance education (School Project and Classroom) with a large number of new features, including new design and a host of new features.
In addition, we will also check out the news of the apps YouTube Kids and Spotify (which are not exactly updates), and the app update AirParrot, which reached the third major version with new features.
Are we going to see all this?
School Project
Completely reformulated, the School Project update brought a renewed design with new tabs that allow you to easily change between the views of Subjects and Students. In addition, the sidebar gives instant access to current, recent and favorite classes, while the Materials bar shows archived documents more quickly.
There are also new options for adding activity content in apps, such as photos, videos, links and documents during the creation of Materials, as well as the possibility to mark certain Material as «Viewed», «Review» and «Return».
For teachers, it is now possible to see which apps have enabled student progress and preview activities, as well as completion, elapsed time, incomplete and reassigned exercises. In addition, teachers will be notified when Student Materials are late or ready for review.
It is also worth noting that the search for classes, materials and students is now available through Spotlight, further integrating the app with iOS / iPadOS features.
Classroom
The Classroom has also been updated with a new design and tools to help teachers and educational managers keep in touch with their students – and their studies up to date.
Now, in version 3.2 of the app, to access the Apple School Manager class configuration, you need to log in to the device with a Managed Apple ID. AirPlay support has also been improved to show details of a lesson on Apple TV.
Similar to the School Project, the new tabbed design makes it possible to quickly switch between Materials and Students; the side tab also provides access to current / recent / favorite content and there is the option to add activity content to apps, such as photos, videos, etc.
Finally, the app also gained support for notifications of new activities and delayed tasks, information on the general progress of the class and students (for teachers), library with drafts, favorites and copies of archived Class Materials (idem) and integration with Spotlight.
YouTube Kids
After almost five years available for mobile devices, the YouTube Kids app, aimed at children, was finally launched for Apple TVs. The mobile version for iOS and Android landed in early 2015, however the only way to play the app’s videos on TV was through AirPlay – until now.
YouTube Kids is divided into four different sections: “Recommended”, “Shows”, “Music” and “Learning”. All of these sections contain content that is considered child-friendly – more efficiently than the standard app’s Restricted Mode, which can display one or the other content not recommended for little ones.
Just like the YouTube app for tvOS, it is possible to create YouTube Kids profiles for children, who will receive personalized video suggestions; it also allows parents to set time limits and other more specific content controls – which, in quarantine times, can be a hand in the wheel.
Spotify
I don’t know about you, but I save a lot of songs – which, on Spotify, was a problem due to the limit of 10,000 tracks saved in your library (including albums).
Now, however, this is no longer a problem: yesterday (5/26), the service announced the removal of this limit, allowing you to add and save an unlimited number of songs.
Adding songs to the Spotify library is done using the “like” button and works with both individual songs and entire albums. Although average users may never exceed a few thousand songs, many reached that limit, which, of course, generated complaints – after all, reaching that limit, the only way to save new songs was to remove old tracks.
This change is being rolled out gradually and applies to all Spotify apps, including the web.
AirParrot 3
AirParrot is a popular utility for macOS and Windows that allows you to mirror your screen or stream media files to other devices, all wirelessly. Recently, the app won its third major update, which brings performance improvements, integration with HomePod, among others.
Among the best new features in this version, is the reduction of latency and improved screen mirroring. With that, now the «delay» between two screens is less than 16 milliseconds at 60 frames per second – which means «mirroring almost in real time», according to the developer.
AirParrot 3 also supports HomePod on devices running Windows – something that was only available for macOS. Finally, AirParrot 3 offers support for streaming 4K video, as well as new codecs audio and video.
You can try AirParrot 3 for a week (for macOS and Windows) here. Check all the news of this version on the developer’s blog.
via 9to5Google, 9to5Mac
