app - page 4

XcodeGhost hack: Delete these infected iOS apps immediately

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The App Store just experienced its worst security breach ever.
The App Store just experienced its worst security breach ever.
Photo: Apple

The App Store suffered its worst security breach in history over the weekend, when it was discovered that hundreds of Chinese apps have a malicious program dubbed ‘XcodeGhost’ embedded in their software.

The huge security lapse made its way into legitimate apps thanks to Chinese developers who used a counterfeit version of Apple’s Xcode software that was uploaded to file sharing service Baidu. By using XcodeGhost to compile their apps, developers accidentally allowed the malicious code to be distributed through the App Store.

Apple has pulled infected apps off the store to stop stop the spread, but users still need to delete XcodeGhost apps off their devices manually. Most of the apps infected are mostly used in China, however some big name apps like WeChat, Angry Birds 2, and Didi Chuxing (Uber’s biggest rival in China) were also hit.

Here’s a full list of infected apps:

Twitter for Mac’s anemic update is a total slap in the face

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twitter-for-mac
Twitter for Mac got an update no one asked for.
Photo: Twitter

Good news: the official Twitter app for Mac finally got some attention today for the first time in almost a year. It now supports direct messages without the 140-character limit. Bad news: that’s the only feature added in the update, rendering it so totally insignificant you’re probably considering donating a new coffee machine to the Twitter for Mac team.

We rounded up some of the very best apps for Hacking your Mac [Deals]

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This bundle of apps offers 10 different ways to maximize your Mac's performance.
This bundle of apps offers 10 different ways to maximize your Mac's performance.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Beneath the keyboard of your Mac lies a vast ocean of untapped potential. We’ve assembled some of the best deals on the most powerful apps for drilling deep into those hidden reserves of functionality. From productivity-enhancing programs. to comprehensive hard-drive maintenance and unlocking hidden Mac OS functions, these app bundles are power-packed and priced to move.

A beautiful, elegant app to check your iPhone’s battery on your Apple Watch

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Save yourself energy while checking your iPhone's power.
This is the simplest, most elegant app for checking your iPhone's battery on your Apple Watch.
Photo: Thientam Beck

We all know that the Apple Watch doesn’t exactly have great battery life. At best, it’ll get you through the day. But, of course, one of the big sells of the Apple Watch is that it’ll save your iPhone battery life, because you don’t have to pull it out as much.

Of course, then you end up in a Catch-22. Your Apple Watch depends on your iPhone to work properly, but without pulling out your iPhone, you can’t tell how much battery you have left, therefore risking both your Apple Watch and your iPhone crapping out on you in the middle of the day. If only the Apple Watch could tell you your iPhone’s battery level.

It can’t, but luckily, there’s an app for that. And it might be the loveliest one yet.

Cracking down on police brutality? There’s an app for that

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Photo:
Mobile Justice CA app will help protect your rights. Photo: ACLU 

Whichever side of the political equation you fall, there’s no denying that complaints about police brutality are all over the news at the moment.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California thinks its got the solution, however: a new Mobile Justice CA app, designed to help individuals track and record misconduct among law enforcement officers.

Apple Store’s neutered Watch app won’t let you shop

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Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Amazon and Target have already embraced the wearable-future, where all the hassles of online shopping can be managed from your wrist. Today, the official Apple Store app is getting into the game too, with a new update that finally brings support for Apple Watch, even if it doesn’t have a buy button.

You won’t be able to purchase your next Apple Watch from your wrist, or check out different Sport band options, but there are still some pretty useful features for shoppers on-the-go.

Check out some of the things the neutered app can do:

This app will tell you if you’re going to die in a plane crash

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Screenshot: Cult of Mac
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Sometimes it seems like there have been a lot of plane crashes lately. Between Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17/a>, and Transasia Airways Flight 235, it sometimes feels like there’s never been a worse time to fly.

Of course, that’s not true at all. There’s statistically almost zero chance at all of you dying in a plane crash, no matter how often you fly. And now there’s an app, specifically dedicated to assuaging your fears of dying in an aircraft.

iTunes 12.1 gives Mac users a sexy new Notification Center widget

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iTunes 12.1 gives Yosemite a new widget. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac
iTunes 12.1 gives Yosemite a new widget. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

It’s been six months since Apple unveiled iTunes 12, the latest version of its multimedia mega-app. Updates since then have been few and far between, but today Apple released the first big one: iTunes 12.1, which introduced a swank new media control widget for Notification Center.

eBay is planning an Apple Watch app

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Digital Crown
eBay is planning an Apple Watch app. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

At least one of the big boys is planning on developing an app for the Apple Watch. eBay has posted an ad listing, looking for a developer to help them come up with a bidding app for Cupertino’s new smartwatch.

If you punch a time card, you’ll love Shifts

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Shifts is a scheduling app for time card punchers. Photo: Shifts
Shifts is a scheduling app for time card punchers. Photo: Shifts

Not all of us work 9 to 5’s. My wife, for example, works all sorts of shifts, working around her school schedule: 8:30 – 5:30 one day, then 1:30 to 9:30 the next. And as a guy who spends the better part of each day glued to a computer just two rooms away from his bed, it can be pretty hard to keep track just when she’s working, and when I can next expect to see her.

Shifts is an app that solves all that. A calendar app specifically designed for people who either work retail jobs, or otherwise have constantly shifting work schedules, it’s an ingenious little app that makes managing your weekly shifts -— and keeping your partner informed of them — a snap.

This app turns your iPhone into a disposable camera

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More than a trillion photos were captured in 2015.
White Album turns your iPhone into a disposable camera. Photo: HypeBeast
Photo: HypeBeast

I think we can all agree that the iPhone and other smartphone cameras have been a boon for photography. For the first time in history, the vast majority of people have an incredibly powerful camera in their pockets at all time. Because of this, our age will be the most well-documented age in history. And that’s awesome. But some critics claim that because we can take as many pictures as we want now, we give a lot less thought to what they shoot, and how, than they did when they had to measure out each and every shot.

That’s why I love this new app for iOS, White Album. It basically makes a disposable camera out of your iPhone. But don’t worry, you don’t have to throw your iPhone away when you stop using the app.

Building iOS math game a family affair

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A scene from the math game CarQuiz, which asks drivers to answer math questions, swiping a finger to move to the lane with the correct answer. Photo: Smile More Studios
A scene from the math game CarQuiz, which asks drivers to answer math questions, swiping a finger to move to the lane with the correct answer. Photo: Smile More Studios

At 9, Mariah Martin already has a handle on future careers. “Veterinarian, professional figure skater, fashion model and teacher – not all at once.”

For now, she must settle for tech entrepreneur.

The Seattle fourth-grader and her father, Scott, understand learning math for many children is no joyride but they have developed an iOS game app they believe will put kids in the driver seat on a road to mastering the basics.

CarQuiz allows drivers to navigate a track with math equations along the way and a choice of three answers a little further down the road. Once the equation appears, the driver must quickly figure out the answer as three choices appear. With a finger swipe, the driver moves into the lane with the correct answer.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting Apple over its new app

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The EFF is fighting Apple. Photo: EFF
The EFF is fighting Apple. Photo: EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, or the EFF, fights the good fight. An international non-profit digital rights group, the nonprofit is famous for standing up against big companies who think they can use baseless legal threats or intimidation to deny users their rights. But now they are setting their sights on Apple. Who is right?

Apple forces GoodReader to pull some iCloud Drive functionality from app

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Photo: GoodReader
Photo: GoodReader

GoodReader is a popular document reader app that can view or read pretty much every type of document under the sun. The latest update to the app makes it more powerful than ever, introducing a new Speak feature that can basically turn any PDF or TXT file into an audiobook.

But it also just got a little worse: the latest update to GoodReader has dropped certain iCloud Drive functionality to prevent being pulled from the App Store. And, as usual, the issue has to do with Apple’s complete opacity when it comes to what is and isn’t allowed with iCloud Drive.

Apple relents, restores Transmit for iOS’s ‘Send To’ feature

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Transmit by Panic is back on the App Store with its full functionality restored. Photo: Panic
Transmit by Panic is back on the App Store with its full functionality restored. Photo: Panic

On Monday, we reported that Apple has yanked Transmit from the App Store over a weird iCloud Drive rule.

The app, from beloved Mac and iOS developer Panic, allowed you to upload content from iCloud Drive, which is seemingly obvious functionality for a file transfer and FTP app like Transmit to have. But Apple objected, and not only made Transmit pull the “Send to iCloud” option, but the ability to send documents to other services and apps.

But good news! Transmit’s back on the App Store with the “Send to iCloud Drive” functionality restored.

This app lets you unlock your Mac with Touch ID

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Unlock your Mac with TouchID! Photo: FingerKey
Unlock your Mac with TouchID! Photo: FingerKey

First introduced with the iPhone 5s, Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to unlock your iPhone and iPad. And now, thanks to a new app, it’s also one of the easiest and most convenient ways to unlock your Mac.

This Tinder clone keeps the creeps off your iPhone

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post-303466-image-6b1a0b08b74729b9e1a89aedac66b6c2-jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-OQQBkbeE

If you’ve ever used Tinder, the swipe-to-reject dating app for iPhone, you know there can be a lot of a creeps on the service, especially if you’re a woman. The Grade is a new Tinder-like app that aims to change all that by booting the creeps off the service by examining their behavior in real time, and grading it.

Overcast, the best podcasting app, now works on iPad and CarPlay

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Overcast is now on iPad and Carplay. Photo: Cult of Mac
Overcast is now on iPad and Carplay. Photo: Cult of Mac

Of the many podcasting apps available for iOS, Overcast on iOS is one of our favorites. Programmed by Instapaper and The Magazine founder Marco Arment, it’s a slick podcasting app with some unique tricks up its sleeves, like smart speed, voice boost, and variable playback speed. We love it. There’s only one problem. It’s been iPhone-only. At least until now.

Mine bitcoins on your iPhone in Bitcoin Billionaire

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Has mining Bitcoins ever looked this fun? Photo: Noodlecake Games
Has mining Bitcoins ever looked this fun? Photo: Noodlecake Games

One of my favorite games for the iPhone is Game Dev Story, an adorable and addictive game by Kairosoft that puts the player in the role of managing a team of video game developers.

Something about Noodlecake Games’s upcoming title, Bitcoin Billionaire, reminds me a lot of Game Dev Story. But befitting a game by the creators of Super Stickman Golf, it looks a lot funnier.

Facebook reinvents the chat room with Rooms for iOS

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Create a Room for whatever you're into. Photo: Facebook
Create a Room for whatever you're into. Photo: Facebook

It turns out that the rumored app that Facebook has been working on isn’t an anonymous chat app, but rather a platform that lets you create your own chat room right on your iPhone.

Basically, Rooms is an iPhone app — soon coming to Android — that lets you make tiny message boards to post photos, videos, and text to. You’ll create a different username and identity for each Room you create or visit, and you’ll let other people join via a QR code you can generate and share via the internet or in real life.

Head developer Josh Miller told The Verge, “We’re not trying to build the next Snapchat — we’re trying to build the next WordPress.”

Apple asks developers to submit their apps for Yosemite

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Screenshot: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Screenshot: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has begun contacting developers to tell them that it’s time to submit their apps for OS X Yosemite ahead of its public release later this fall. The email encourages the use of new Yosemite functions like app extensions — as well as Swift, Apple’s “innovative” new programming language.