This week we enjoy Fastmail’s sleek new look, import photos into Lightroom using Shortcuts, control our Ecobee home-automation accessories from the Apple Watch, and get writing with Goodnotes 5. And that’s not even everything!
App Store made almost twice as much as Google Play in 2018
The App Store raked in almost twice as much revenue as Google Play in 2018, despite significantly fewer downloads.
Google’s marketplace did enjoy a 27.3 percent rise in gross app revenue year-over-year — a larger rise than Apple’s — but iOS remains the most lucrative platform for developers by far.
GoodNotes 5 improves the notes app in every way
GoodNotes is one of the most popular notes app on iOS, and the Mac. and with good reason. It combines a great PDF viewer with a free form notes app, and mixes the two together. This week, GoodNotes 5 launched, an entirely new app (with upgrade pricing for users of the old app) that blows out the dust, and the olde-timey app UI in favor of a clean and organized view.
Focus, Feedly and other amazing apps of the week
This week we check out Feedly’s amazing new iOS app, remember to take breaks with Focus, and write shortcuts from scratch, in code (!), with the Shortcuts Cub compiler. Woah, right?
Tidur, Iina, Focos, and other unpronounceable apps of the week
This week we time our tea with Tidur, fix up our photos’ focus with Focos, watch movies with Iina, and map our minds right with WriteMapper.
IINA is a beautiful new Mac-only movie-watching app
Iina is a brand-new video-playing app for the Mac. Like VLC, it can play pretty much any file, and has deep customization options, even in v1.0. Unlike VLC, it feels like a real Mac-first app, and has support for trackpad gestures and bowser extensions right out of the box.
Gaia GPS, Kodex, Music Year in Review, and other great apps of the week
This week we find out what music we’ve loved in 2018 with Music Year in Review, make some music with Ultimate Circle of Fifths, take a walk with the brand new hike search in Gaia GPS, and more.
Best apps to download now for your new iPad
The iPad can be so may different things. I use mine for reading, writing, making music, watching movies, and if I have any time to waste, I might play a game. The iPad is pretty much the ultimate creative tool, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t sit back and “consume” the odd “content” every once in a while.
Darkroom for iPad, Audiobus, Filmic Pro, and other great apps of the week
Oh man, just Darkroom for iPad is enough for this week — it’s that good. If you only use it to browse your photo library it’s worth the download. Also check out Audiobus’ new MIDI learn, Filmic Pro’s crazy, storage-filling new high-Bitrate option, and Agenda’s image and file attachments.
Apple will help build retail apps for luxury goods company
Apple is reportedly teaming up with luxury good business Kering — the company which owns brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and others — to create a set of custom apps for use in store.
Details on the new apps are scarce, but they will reportedly be used to help sales assistants to scan inventories. They will also provide more control over the company’s e-commerce activities.
Chill and escape Thanksgiving with Chillscape
Is your family driving you nuts this Thanksgiving weekend? Of course it is. That’s what families are for. So when you need relief from the endless offers of snacks and drinks, the catty remarks about the fact that you’re “still” child-free, or your nephews’ and nieces’ constant pestering to let them play with your new iPad Pro, while simultaneously ridiculing your attempts at flossing, you might turn to Chillscape to calm yourself back TF down.
Cloudflare, Darkroom and other great apps of the week
This week we check out podcast app Pocket Casts, add grain to our RAW images with Darkroom, and speed up the entire internet with Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1.
Halide fixes iPhone XR’s Portrait Mode
Apart from the screen, the big different between the iPhone XS and XR is the camera. The XS has two, and the XR only has one. This means that — like a one-eyed person — the XR camera can’t calculate the depth of objects in a scene, and therefore can’t use the Depth Blur feature to blur the background. It works around this by using clever facial recognition tricks to allow Portrait Mode with people, but that’s it.
Until now, that it. In its latest update, camera app Halide adds back this functionality to the new iPhone. That’s right. With Halide, you can take depth-effect pictures of anything with the iPhone XR.
Linea Go, Loopesque 8, Leica Fotos, and other amazing apps of the week
This week we use our iPhones to replace the missing screen on an $8k camera, we sketch on the screen with Linea Go, and we breathe a sigh of relief that we can finally replace that terrifying new Tweetbot 5 app icon.
App Store search ads could be worth billions by 2020
Analysts are predicting big things for Apple’s App Store business ahead of the company’s Q4 2018 earnings report coming on November 1.
Search ads from the App Store could generate over $500 million in revenue during all of 2018, according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Even better, Sacconahi thinks the App Store ad business could be worth a whopping $2 billion by the end of 2020.
Scam subscriptions plague the App Store
Subscriptions mean big business for app developers, but this success has ushered supposed bad actors into the App Store. A new article by TechCrunch shines a light on some of these apparent scam tactics, which could cause a headache for Apple.
Forget Twitter, Fiery Feeds is the best way to read the news
Fiery Feeds is an iOS news-reading app that lets you subscribe to any sites you like, and read all their new stories in one place. It’s way better than relying on Twitter for you news, because important stories never get lost in a sea of doggy GIFs. And the new v2.1 gets a visual overhaul, plus support for using Pinboard as a read-later service. I love it.
Night Owl, HazeOver, Fantasticle and other amazing apps of the week
This week we dim our Mojave screens down with a couple of Dark Mode utilities, we get a new Portrait HD mode in Darkroom, and learn how British English Siri pronounces “Fantastical.”
Apple teams up with Salesforce to deliver better business apps for iOS
Apple has entered into a new partnership with Salesforce to deliver new iOS apps focused on business.
Salesforce is redesigning its app and adding exclusive new features as part of the deal, while Apple has vowed to provide tools and resources to help millions of Salesforce developers create their own native apps for iOS.
Ferrite, Halide, Sorted 3 and other amazing apps of the week
This week we look at iOS 12-ready apps Halide and Sorted 3, and then listen to podcasts with Ferrite and Overcast. You’ll also find apps for scuba divers, obituaries and making the most of your local music scene.
Ferrite Recording Studio 2.0 is a podcaster’s dream
If you record podcasts, audio interviews, or anything else were you need to record and edit a bunch of people talking, then you may already know about Ferrite Recording Studio. It’s an app designed for the exact purpose, making it easy to gather your audio “footage,” edit it, and then post it to your outlet of choice.
Version 2.0 just launched, and it makes the app better than ever.
5 essential apps that work beautifully with iOS 12
iOS 12 gives your favorite apps access to some amazing new abilities. One is integration with the brand-new Siri Shortcuts, which lets you automate your apps, or to interact with them by talking to Siri. But that’s not all. Camera apps now have access to the the depth information from Portrait Mode, so they can do some pretty special effects.
Safari’s password autofill has also been opened up, so apps like Dashlane and 1Password are now available with a single tap. Let’s take a look at the best new iOS 12-ready apps already available.
Sunlit, HomeCourt, SynthDrum Kick, and other amazing apps of the week
This week we kick back with a kick drum synth, post some selfies on Sunlit, and shoot some hoops (or whatever the kids call it) with HomeCourt.
Day One, Hello Weather and other awesome apps of the week
This week we check the weather with two great updates to old favorites, and record our thoughts on the never-ending 2018 summer in Day One’s great new voice notes feature.
Group the Loop, Icro and other amazing apps of the week
This week we make sweet, sweet music with Group the Loop, relax with the meditative Cycle, and post pictures of everything with the new version of Icro.