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iPhone apps - page 8

How to get Apple News outside the U.S.

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Who doesn’t want to read all the most important news of the day?
Who doesn’t want to read all the most important news of the day?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This post could more correctly be titled “How to get Apple News outside Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.” Those are still the only places that Apple News is available, almost four years after the service’s launch in September 2015.

Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get the app even if you don’t live in one of those countries. Here’s how.

Free VPN app encrypts iPhone connection for safer browsing

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Cloudflare‘s 1.1.1.1 App with Warp adds encryption for safer iPhone internet access.
Cloudflare‘s 1.1.1.1 App with Warp adds encryption for more secure iPhone internet access.
Photo: Cloudflare

Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 App blocks your wireless carrier from knowing the sites you visit on your iPhone. An update adds encryption to all connections, while also promising faster access for all apps.

1.1.1.1 App with Warp will remain free, but Cloudflare is launching an even quicker version for a monthly fee.

Turn your iPhone into a focus-enhancing machine [Deals]

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This app offers specially curated music that's designed to help keep you focused and on-task.
This app offers specially curated music that's designed to help keep you focused and on-task.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

When we think about the effects of our always-on culture on our minds, the picture isn’t always pretty. Our smartphones often cause us plenty of distraction, so it might be surprising to learn that they can actually help us stay focused.

Control devices with a wave of your hand using this sci-fi ring

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Litho
Litho is an input device for the real world.
Photo: Litho

Ever wish you could control your smart home devices without reaching for your iPhone? A new finger-worn controller is trying to make that a reality and it could be a total gamechanger for ARKit apps.

Litho, a small controller you wear on two fingers, gives wearers the ability to control iPhone connected devices by pointing, swiping and taping. It also doubles as a controller for AR apps so you don’t have to keep tapping on the screen.

Prepare to be amazed:

iOS devs rake in $120 billion and just keep going

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iPhone app development can be very profitable, and Apple has a new program to help more women get in the business.
iPhone app development can be very profitable, and Apple has a new program to help more women get in the business.
Photo: Apple

Since the iOS App Store launched in 2008, Apple has paid developers $120 billion. And more than a quarter of that came in the past year alone, according to the iPhone maker.

To increase diversity in software developers making all that money, Apple today opened the first of what will be quarterly Entrepreneur Camps for female-founded app development companies.

Google Maps now suggests where to go, not just how to get there

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Google Maps’ new For You tab tries to help you have fun.
Google Maps’ new For You tab tries to help you have fun.
Photo: Google

Google Maps is going beyond just giving driving directions. It’s new “For You” tab provides updates on restaurants, stores, or entire neighborhoods.

This free feature launched for Android over the summer, and begins rolling out to iOS today in dozens of countries.

Free app boosts iPhone internet speed and privacy

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Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 app makes web browsing faster and safer.
Switching your DNS server to 1.1.1.1 makes web browsing faster and safer.
Photo: Cloudflare

A new application has the potential to speed up internet access on your iPhone. And Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 app certainly makes everything you do online more private.

What it’s doing is a bit technical, but we’ll do our best to explain the benefits without too much jargon.

Linea Go, the iPad’s best drawing app, is now on iPhone

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Linea Go manages to shrink the iPad version and keep it easy and fun to use.
Linea Go manages to shrink the iPad version and keep it easy and fun to use.
Photo: The Iconfactory

Linea Go is the little sister of Linea, perhaps the best pick-up-and-go drawing app on the iPad. And unlike the iPad, where there are a ton of really top-end drawing and painting apps, the iPhone has far fewer, especially if you just want a great way to lay down a quick sketch.

If nothing else, Linea Go shows just how great it would be if the Apple Pencil worked with the iPhone.

Turn your phone into a tool for relieving stress [Deals]

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Your iPhone doesn't have to be a distraction. With the Aura app, it can actually help you get back in touch with the moment.
Your iPhone doesn't have to be a distraction. It can actually help you get back in touch with the moment.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

For all their many uses, let’s face it: our smartphones are a major source of distraction. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, with the right app, your phone can actually help you regain focus and reduce stress.

Learn the secret to reading better and faster on your iPhone [Deals]

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This browser-based tool uses color to guide the eye from line to line, increasing reading speeds by up to 20 percent.
This browser-based tool uses color to guide the eye from line to line, increasing reading speeds by up to 20 percent.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Do you find yourself re-reading the same sentence over and over again? Or accidentally skipping lines in a paragraph, momentarily losing your place? You can fix these issues with the right reading technique, and this browser-based tool can help.

Use your iPhone to improve your state of mind for once [Deals]

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This meditation app offers guided meditation sessions and breathing exercises with tools for tracking your practice over time.
This meditation app offers guided meditation sessions and breathing exercises with tools for tracking your practice over time.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Let’s be honest, many of us have pretty unhealthy relationships to our phones. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your phone can become a reminder to take your eyes off the screen and keep your mind centered.

Amazon’s iPhone app uses computer vision to identify and replace screws and other parts

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Amazon's new Part Finder feature for iPhone uses computer vision to identify and buy hundreds of different types of fasteners.
Amazon's new Part Finder feature for iPhone uses computer vision to identify and buy hundreds of different types of fasteners.
Photo: Sheila Sund via Flickr

Until recently, if you needed to replace a screw, nut or bolt, you’d take a trip to the hardware store. With Amazon’s latest update to its iPhone app, there’s no need.

Part Finder is a new feature of Amazon’s camera search that can identify hundreds of types of screws, nuts, bolts, washers and other fasteners. Once ID’d, they can be bought straight from the app.

Microsoft Your Phone app lets your PC and iPhone work better together

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Microsoft Your Phone
With Microsoft Your Phone, your iPhone's text messages and notifications can appear on your PC.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft unveiled an app today designed to allow Windows users to  show the text messages and notifications from their smartphone. Plus, Your Phone will make moving images between phone and PC easier.

Also at its Build 2018 developer conference, the company announced that the new Windows Timeline is coming to  iPhone and iPad.

iPhone sobriety test could tell if you’re too drunk to drive

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AlcoGait
Combining alcohol with your iPhone can be fun. Combining it with driving is often tragic.
Photo: Amazon

You’ve had a couple of cold ones, then head to your car. Suddenly, your iPhone starts shrieking out an alert. It’s telling you that you’re too impaired to get behind the wheel. 

This is the goal of AlcoGait, which uses a smarthone’s built-in sensors to monitor the way the user is walking.  AI is used to detect if the person’s gait indicates they’re not up to driving.

Verizon Smart Family app gives parents new tools

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Verizon Smart Family
The Verizon Smart Family app is designed to make you a better digital parent.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Verizon’s new service lets parents limit their children’s’ screen time, monitor who they’re texting (and how often), and track their location. 

The Smart Family program also includes content filters, and can even tell a parent how much battery life their child’s phone has left.

Introducing ’50 Essential iOS Apps,’ a series on the best iOS apps around

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50 Essential iOS Apps
The best and most useful apps for iPhone and iPad
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps With a mind-boggling 2.2 million apps in Apple’s iOS App Store, how do you find what’s good? That discovery problem is why we’re starting the 50 Essential iOS Apps series, a curated list of the best iOS apps on the planet, with new apps added every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Throughout this series, we will highlight essential iPhone and iPad apps in a variety of categories. We will show off apps that display excellent design, functionality, features and value. Or, most often, a combination of those desirable traits. Whether you’re looking to boost your productivity, take advantage of important data or just have a little fun, we’ll recommend great iOS apps to suit your needs.

Twitter won’t break third-party apps (at least not yet)

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Twitter
Twitter delayed a controversial change that may squeeze out third-party apps.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Twitter today pushed back a change to its service that will prevent third-party applications from offering notifications to their users. The services that Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, and Twitterrific depend on will still be shut down. It just won’t happen when originally planned.

The replacement Twitter is working on might be completely unsuited for the needs of these third-party developers. And deliberately so. They’re trying to get the company to change course.

iPhone could double as driver’s license

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Sample mDL
One state is testing replacing drivers licenses with a mDL app.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPhones already replace credit cards, and a pilot program is exploring the next logical step: a digital drivers licence.

Delaware just began testing a mobile driver license (mDL) with some state residents, checking if a smartphone application can be kept secure while offering real advantages over plastic cards.