App Watch: What’s new, hot & updated in the first half of February

The first half of February brought its share of fresh updates and clever improvements, and we’ve been keeping an eye on them.

Time to recap what’s been happening so far this month.

Evernote v11 brings AI to your notes (and a fresh new look)

Evernote just dropped v11, its biggest update in years, with built-in AI that actually helps you work with your notes instead of just storing them.

You get an AI Assistant to search, summarize, and edit your content, smarter semantic search that finds what you mean (not just what you type), and AI Meeting Notes to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings right inside Evernote.

The update also refreshes the editor and navigation, adds handy writing tools like slash commands and inline calculations, and rolls out a new visual identity.

👉 Learn more about Evernote v11.

Adobe backs off shutting down Animate and keeps it alive in maintenance mode

After strong backlash from animators, Adobe has reversed its plan to shut down Adobe Animate. The app will stay available for both new and existing users, but it’s moving into “maintenance mode,” meaning it will keep getting security updates and bug fixes, just no new features.

The original plan was to discontinue Animate in March 2026 as Adobe doubled down on AI driven products, but users pushed back hard, pointing out there’s no true replacement for what Animate does. Adobe has now confirmed there’s no shutdown date and access won’t be removed.

In short: Animate isn’t going away, but it’s no longer part of Adobe’s future product roadmap. If you rely on it for 2D animation, you can keep using it, just don’t expect major upgrades going forward.

👉 Learn more about Adobe Animate’s new maintenance mode.

Figma adds “Vectorize” to turn images into editable vectors

Figma just rolled out Vectorize, a new AI tool that converts raster images into fully editable vectors in one click. That means sketches, photos, textures, or hand drawn lettering can jump straight into Figma and become shapes you can tweak, recolor, and scale without rebuilding them from scratch.

Vectorize is available in Figma Design and Figma Draw for paid teams with AI enabled, with usage based on AI credits.

👉 Learn more about Figma Vectorize.

Notion AI can now connect to Asana

Notion just added a native Asana integration for Notion AI, so you can pull tasks and project context from Asana straight into your AI workflows. It’s aimed at teams that already live in both tools and want answers, summaries, and context without jumping between apps.

The setup is gated to Notion Business and Enterprise plans, and you’ll need to be a workspace owner in Notion. On the Asana side, Enterprise orgs connect via an admin API token, while smaller plans just approve access during onboarding. Once connected, Notion AI can use Asana as a source when you ask questions or generate content.

👉 Learn more about connecting Asana to Notion AI.

Visual Studio Code new version 1.109

Visual Studio Code just shipped its January update with a stronger focus on AI powered coding. The chat experience now shows Claude’s reasoning in real time, supports interactive diagrams, and gives you better visibility into how your context and tokens are being used.

On the coding side, AI driven terminal actions are safer and clearer, with syntax highlighting for inline code, visible working directories, and fully interactive terminal sessions inside the chat when scripts need user input.

Outside of AI, VS Code introduced new experimental Light and Dark themes with a cleaner, more modern look, plus better keyboard support in the terminal. Heads up if you’re on very old Windows 10 versions: terminal sessions no longer work before version 1809.

👉 Learn more about the VS Code January 2026 update.

WhatsApp brings voice and video calls to the web

WhatsApp is starting to roll out voice and video calling on WhatsApp Web, so you can make calls straight from your browser without installing the desktop app. The first phase supports 1:1 calls and is currently available to some beta users, with a wider rollout coming over the next few weeks.

Calls on the web are end to end encrypted, just like on mobile and desktop, and even include screen sharing for video calls. This is a big win for people who live in the browser, especially Linux users who don’t have an official desktop app.

👉 Learn more about WhatsApp calls on the web.

Plenty of updates already, and we’re just halfway through February. Stay tuned to our blog for the next round of highlights at the end of the month.

Don’t feel like waiting for the next recap? Follow us on X to catch fresh app news and updates as soon as they drop.