Pocket Casts gets a big update with date filtering, support for Marshmallow and more.

Pocket Casts, the popular podcast app for Android, is starting the year with quite a big update. The app now lets users filter podcasts by date and adds support for Marshmallow, meaning Pocket Casts is now capable of saving app settings across devices with auto backups. Check out the full change log below. That's quite a bit of reading:

• You can now filter episodes by time. In the filter settings page there is a new option called “Released in the last” which you can set to 24 hours, 3 days, 1 week etc. We have changed the episode filters new users will have and this update will also add them to your list of filters.
• Marshmallow Auto Backup feature added so if you have app backups turned on (System Settings app -> Backup & reset) it will backup your Pocket Casts settings and database so after restoring a phone your app should look a lot more like it did.
• Switched to Marshmallow permissions. We now only have one permission that requires user approval, the storage permission. The app will only ask for permission for this if you change your storage location to a custom folder.
• Stats page data is now included in your sync account so if you reinstall they aren’t lost. The stats page is now a summary of stats across all your devices.
• Improved switching to a custom location so it picks up any existing episode files in the new location.
• Improved the search for podcast interface.
• Improved voice control. Give these a try after you have said “OK Google”
  “Listen to PODCAST NAME in Pocket Casts”
  “Listen to PLAYLIST NAME in Pocket Casts”
  “Listen to Up Next in Pocket Casts”
• New discover Nearby animation.
• Added a message for the podcast grid if you don’t have any podcasts.
• Faster podcast unsubscribe.
• Fixed issues with video player in landscape.
• Fixed mailto linking in show notes so it opens your mail client with all the fields populated.
• Fixed sync issue with very old starred episodes.
• Fixed the episode time left not updating in the list when returning to the app
• Emojis are now supporting in the show notes and episode titles.
• Lots of little fixes

Download the update in Google Play store.

Pushbullet optimized for Android 6.0 with Runtime permission and Direct Share.

Pushbullet is my favorite app when it comes to sharing files between my devices. Sure I could use popular cloud storage to move my files around, but Pushbullet adds a different flavor to file sharing that makes it more efficient. You share a file by picking Pushbullet in the contextual sharing menu and the file pops up on the device you selected. You use as little as two clicks to do this, no matter which mobile platform or desktop you use. This ease of use has contributed into making Pushbullet a very popular app and it just got better today.

Regularly updating an app also helps engage with the users and retaining their loyalty and today, the folks behind Pushbullet optimized the app for Android 6.0 Marshmallow. What that means for users? Two new great features.

Runtime permissions is the first new feature, which, in fact was introduced in Android 6. So you won't see that one on your device if it's running an older version of Android. In Marshmallow, Google introduced a layer of security that requires apps to ask for your permission before accessing your device functions such as SMS, Phone, Contacts, etc. Hence the name 'Runtime permission'. Pushbullet is playing by the rules by implementing this for Android 6.0 powered devices, even if the latter is not mainstream yet. My Nexus 7 is still craving for Marshmallow.

Second in the list is support for Direct Share. This is one is not that big of a deal, since it's the core of Pushbullet. But the team added a nice little feature by putting the most recent devices right in the share menu, reducing or eliminating the scrolling and clicking. Again, this is another feature that requires a device running Android 6.0.

Check out the full change and download Pushbullet in Google Play. And yes, the update is available for Android 6- too.

Microsoft Translator now supports Android 6 & gets transliteration for Chinese Simplified.

The Microsoft Translator app for Android now supports over 50 languages and is the first app of its kind to have added support for Android Wear, letting owners of Google's watch to get translation in 50 languages on their wrist.

Microsoft has today published an update that adds support for the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Those few devices, mainly Nexus, that received the update will get a better experience with Microsoft Translator. As a side note, my Nexus 7 (2013) is still in the waiting line for the update.

In addition to Marshmallow support, Microsoft also added "transliteration support for Chinese (Simplified)". I went to check what "transliteration" is and according to my favorite search engine, it is the conversion of a text from one script to another. 

Last in the list are the usual minor bug fixes. Head over in Google Play Store to download Microsoft Translator version 1.0.2.

Citrix Receiver gets support for Android 6 Developer Preview 3 (Marshmallow).

If your business or the company you work for is virtualized, you should be familiar with Citrix Receiver, an Android app that lets you access your work desktop on any supported phone or tablet on the go and check your corporate email and applications.

Citrix Receiver has been updated today. This update does not contain anything new, but the developers have added support for Android 6 Developer Preview 3, a.k.a Marshmallow. Head over to Google Play Store to update Citrix. While this update does add the bits to make Citric Receiver Marshmallow-friendly, it also includes a number of unspecified fixes and minor enhancements. So don't skip this update even if you're device is not running Marshmallow.