You may know the Shazam app, owned by Apple, for its ability to recognize songs and artists. But a new update to the app for iOS now also helps you “explore upcoming live music shows.” This comes from a Shazam integration with Bandsintown. Apple and Shazam said the new feature will help increase exposure for artists.
As the Russian armed incursion into Ukraine continues, several developers have pulled their apps from the Russian App Store. Companies that have done so to date include Ukraine-based Readdle, MacPaw and Ajax Systems, as well as Grammarly and Epam, sources have told Cult of Mac.
The app makers add their voices to numerous other companies taking their business away from Russia amid the conflict.
While Apple fights to maintain its strict App Store rules and its 15-30% cut of all purchases and subscriptions, Microsoft is taking the opposite approach. The company on Wednesday announced major changes to the Microsoft Store that will make it fairer, more open, and more transparent.
Its new Open App Store Principles — which include allowing developers to accept alternative payments systems without fear of retribution — are designed to show that Microsoft (unlike Apple) is committed to adapting to new regulation that promotes competition in app markets.
Got your new Apple Watch up and running? It’s time to start exploring all the amazing watchOS apps available to you. We’ve rounded up five of our favorites that we think every Apple Watch owner should be using.
Darkroom, one of the best photo library and editing apps on iOS, is now also one of the best video library and editing apps on iOS. In today’s update, Darkroom adds support for editing your videos. Not cutting and chopping them up, like iMove, but changing how they look, as if you were applying filters and edits to a still photograph. And the along thing is, it’s instant, just as fast as editing a still image.
Apparently, people love email newsletters. Perhaps it’s because they are clean and free of annoying ads and endless “related” “content.” Or maybe its because everyone secretly still uses their email inbox as a de facto inbox for everything in their online life. If you are one of these newsletter lovers, then you will be super-stoked to hear about Mailbrew, which gathers up the latest posts and news from your favorite time sinks, and converts them into emails.
This week we check out a great Music app replacement, a crazy photo-and-video glitching app, a $90 music-notation app, and more.
This week we create music-synced video art with Glitch Clip, import music to our iPhone with Doppler 2, take proper control of Shortcuts with LaunchCuts, and more.
If you’re at your Mac, go ahead and click a window for another app (don’t forget to come back right away). Clicking an app’s window brings it to the foreground, of course. But did you notice that only the window you clicked came forward. If that other app has any other windows open, they will stay hidden. It wasn’t always this way. In pre-OS X days, the default behavior was to bring all those windows to the front. And now, thanks to a new app called Front and Center, from John Siracusa, you can get this behavior on a modern Mac.
Glitch Clip is an iPad app for VJs. That is, Glitch Clip lets you combine video clips with in-app effects and visuals, and sync them to music. Thus, you can create live video performances, or you can just make killer music videos for when you put your own songs up on YouTube.
Previously this kind of power was found in apps like Isadora for the Mac, which costs over $500. And while Glitch Clip is no Isadora, it’s only 1/100th the price.
If you love making music, then you’re in the right place. If not, then next week I promise to write more about some non-music apps again — if the developers release some. Until then, we can bomb the bass, make some tunes with Tune Maker, get Unisonic with JAX, and take control of our stereo widths, all with the tap of a touch-screen.
This week on The CultCast: According to a new report, Apple is prepping a new super-charged gaming Mac for WWDC! We discuss… Plus: full-screen TouchID will be replacing FaceID in a notch-less 2020 iPhone, at least according to a new rumor.
Our thanks to Linked In for supporting this episode. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… head to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.
Christmas Day turned out to be one of the biggest moneymaking days ever for Apple and Google as far as app sales go.
SensorTower published its latest report of holiday app sales revealing that overall spending on the App Store and Google Play topped $277 million on Christmas Day. Thanks to consumers who had just been gifted new devices and gift cards, spending rose 11% compared to last year, and games were the biggest winner.
For my job at Cult of Mac, I test a lot of apps. But of course, I also use a lot of apps, for work, for recreation, and for making music. I thought I’d make a short list of my most-used apps this year. Few, if any, of these apps are new this year, although some of them received major updates in 2019. But all of them are excellent, well-made apps, well worth checking out.
So, let’s get started.
This week we boss a metronome around with only our voices, let a music app write our songs for us, and create beats and tunes like little children might. Yes, the only good new apps I’ve seen this week have all been music apps, so try to enjoy it.
Apple is giving App Store customers free digital treats over the holidays.
Users in Australia, where it is now Christmas Eve, are waking up to a new App Store story that promises “a new surprise every day” from December 24 to December 29.
“Come back daily to discover which treat we have waiting for you,” Apple says.
As 2019 draws to a close, Apple has revealed its picks for the year’s best apps and games. All available through the App Store, of course.
“We are excited to announce such a diverse group of 2019 App Store winners, showing that great design and creativity comes from developers large and small, and from every corner of the world,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing. “We congratulate all the winners and thank them for making 2019 the best year yet for the App Store.”
Check out Apple’s picks below.
The new Apple Watch series 5, running watchOS 6, can track just about any kind of activity. But one thing it doesn’t track is your sleep. Or at least, it doesn’t offer sleep-tracking in a native form. That’s left to third-party app makers. Today we’ll see two great apps to do just that. One is ultra-simple, and the other is super deep. Let’s take a look.
Apple has no intention of scrapping iMessage games — despite some of the rumors you might be reading online this week.
Stories surrounding the supposed move started trending on Twitter, causing some fans to freak about the feature’s removal. But at no point has Apple stated that it will close the iMessage App Store.
This week we create groovy beats, take photos in the dark, relax with chilled ambient sounds, and more. It sounds like a rad party!
This week we turn photos into vector images with Vectornator X, compose amazing ’80s synth pop with FM Player 2, check out a new beta of an old favorite with NetNewsWire 5.0, and way more.
This week we Slide Over the forecast with Carrot Weather, lock down our internet connections with a free firewall, relax at the airport with Flighty, edit our voice memos with Just Press Record, and more.
Check out the best new (or updated) apps around.
Eventide, one of the most important creators of musical effects, and the inventor of many crazy audio-mangling ideas, is now making effects apps for the iPhone and iPad. This is just about as big as news can get for musicians working on iOS. For those outside the world of music-creation, Eventide is roughly equivalent to Adobe, and the release of these apps is like Photoshop’s entry into mobile.
iOS musicians can now enjoy three effects from Eventide, all of which are Audio Units (plugins for other apps), and all of which run on both the iPhone and the iPad.
Imagine that you’re working on a document on your Mac. At some point, you’ll need to take a look at those emails about the project, or check that photo you snapped of the whiteboard. Maybe you have them all open already, in your perfectly organized workspace. But what about when you come back to that document tomorrow, or next month?
What if you could tap a key, and a panel would pop up, with all those linked documents listed? You could just click on one to open it. That’s what you get with Hook, a new Mac app that links documents together so you never need to go searching for them again.
In a subtle, but significant, change, iOS and Mac app listings on the web now direct users to a URL at apps.apple.com, instead of itunes.apple.com.
This follows WWDC, where Apple shared details of a world beyond iTunes. Apple is breaking up the iTunes app into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. While you don’t need to worry about your iTunes content, this is the latest example of Apple shifting away from that branding.