AppShopper

With the release of iOS 6 yesterday and the impending release of the iPhone 5 tomorrow, there’s been a frenzy of app updates this week. Of particular note are apps that have been updated to work with Apple’s new Passbook app that acts as a “holder” for boarding passes, movie and sporting event tickets, and store loyalty cards.

At its most recent media event, Apple demonstrated Passbook showing Starbucks, American Airlines, Sephora, Fandango, and others as participating businesses. Apps for many of these companies have been updated accordingly in the last day or so to add Passbook compatibility. To keep track of all apps that have been updated with Passbook compatibility, you can use this Passbook search query to automatically find all the latest apps with this feature right here on AppShopper.

If, like me, you have not been able to get the Passbook app to do much of anything but show you a broken link to the App Store when you try to find compatible apps, check out this possible fix over at MacRumors.

For another way around this issue or to simply see how Passbook works, check out this overview of how to purchase a digital movie ticket and get it to show up in Passbook over at Techcrunch.

If you’d rather not spend any money to test it out, you can get some free mobile coupons from Target to show up in Passbook by downloading the free Target app and opting in to mobile coupons from the My Target menu. Once you’re opted in, there’s an option to add the coupons to Passbook, which will give you a single virtual card in Passbook with a scannable QR code that you can use at Target to redeem any of the coupons.

At the time of this post, the company with the loyalty card I use most often, Starbucks, has not yet updated its app with Passbook compatibility. While this will not stop me from indulging in my grande no-water, no-foam chai tea lattes in the meantime, I’m looking forward to trying out Passbook with my Starbucks loyalty card when it’s compatible.

More and more apps are getting updated for the iPhone 5′s larger screen as well. As we mentioned earlier this week, you can check out a list of apps that have been updated to fill up its 4-inch screen using this pre-defined search query. At the time of this post, this list has nearly 1,000 apps on it with several big-name apps making an appearance including Flipboard, Pinterest, and Navigon. If you’re getting an iPhone 5 tomorrow, you’ll have no problem filling it up with apps that will take full advantage of its 4-inch screen.

As announced at last week’s media event, Apple has released iOS 6, the latest version of its operating system for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. iOS 6 boasts over 200 new features compared to iOS 5 and is a free download for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and later, and 4th-generation iPod touch and later.

In iOS 6, Apple has completely revamped the Maps app to do away with Google map and POI data in favor of data from TomTom and its own map information and technology. Apple also adds a new app, Passbook, that will hold boarding passes, store loyalty cards, movie tickets, and more. FaceTime will no longer be restricted to Wi-Fi only (unless you’re with AT&T, who requires that you be on one of their shared data plans to make FaceTime calls on their network), and Siri is enhanced to provide sports scores, move times, restaurant reviews, and even open apps for you.

If you want to dig into everything that’s new iOS 6, you can find the release notes here. Not all of the new features are available in all countries and Apple has created a handy dandy list of what works where here.

If you’re away from your computer and are running iOS 5, you can update to iOS 6 over the air though be aware the update is over 600 MB so you’ll want to be connected to a Wi-Fi network if you’re on a cellular data plan with steep charges for overages.

I’m installing iOS 6 on my iPhone 4S as I write this article and I’m most looking forward to Passbook and the new Do Not Disturb features that will stop my iPhone from buzzing and lighting up at night when I’m sleeping.

Apple’s iPhone 5 will become available in the US and eight other countries this Friday, September 21 and will feature, among other things, a larger screen with a resolution of 1,136 by 640 pixels. If you got your pre-order in early enough or will be standing in line bright and early that morning to ensure you get your shiny new wonder phone on release day, know that many app developers aren’t resting on their laurels and are already updating their apps to add iPhone 5 compatibility.

Instead of searching for these iPhone 5-compatible apps manually, use this handy “iPhone 5″ search query to see a near real-time list of recently-updated apps here on AppShopper. Note that there may be some false positive results on that list in cases where developers added “iPhone 5″ to the description of what’s new in their most recent app update without actually adding compatibility.

Don’t fret if your favorite or most-used apps aren’t iPhone 5-ready yet––they’ll still work and will simply be centered on the larger screen with black letterbox bars on the top and bottom or left and right sides accordingly based on the iPhone’s orientation. Apple showed what this would look like at last week’s media event using algoriddim’s djay app (note the arrows that point to the letterbox frame):

At the time of this post, there are more than 100 apps updated with iPhone 5 compatibility including my favorite Twitter client, Tweetbot, RSS feed reader Reeder, OmniFocus, and many more.

At today’s media event, Apple announced that iOS 6 will be released on September 19, just a couple days prior to the release of the iPhone 5 in the US and eight other countries.

First announced at Apple’s WWDC keynote event in June, iOS 6 will offer a bunch of new features. Siri will be enhanced to provide sports scores, post to Twitter or Facebook, give movie listings, and more. The Maps app will feature turn-by-turn voice navigation guidance and a 3D Flyover mode to show realistic building and landscape details. The new Passbook app will hold your passes, tickets, and loyalty and payment cards from participating businesses like Starbucks, American Airlines, and Target so far.

A new Do Not Disturb feature will mute alerts and calls during times you designate so you can sleep or work uninterrupted (or interrupted only by people you specify in advance). The Phone app will let you send a quick a text message reply when you can’t take a call or set a reminder for you to call someone back later.

Like iOS 5, iOS 6 will be a free update for compatible devices, which are the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 and later, and the 4th-generation iPod touch and later.