In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: When it comes to fitness apps on Apple Watch, sometimes it feels like Cupertino is running before it can walk. Fancy new features like Heart Rate Recovery are very welcome, but a few of the basics remain missing.

Apple could make major strides when it releases watchOS 5. So in the second of three posts about the future of watchOS, I’ll focus on five essential fitness features I’m hoping we’ll see at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Cameras that automatically give tickets to speeders are old news. So are red-light cameras. Now Australia is exploring using cameras to ticket motorists who are on their cell phones while driving.

Australia might become the first country to legalize using photographic evidence alone to enforce distracted driving laws.

Congress has called the FBI on the carpet for its attempt to require Apple to build a backdoor into the iPhone. A letter went out today from a bi-partisan group of representatives  accusing the law enforcement agency of over-stating difficulties in unlocked iPhones involved in crimes.

The ten congresspeople wrote that the FBI deliberately didn’t explore all the options to unlock the iPhone belonging to a mass shooter because they wanted an excuse to force Apple to modify iOS so it’s easy for law enforcement to access.

Apple never made a gold version of the iPhone X, but there are rumors that will change soon. And the FCC added weight to these by releasing a picture of Apple’s flagship smartphone in that color.

The images were submitted to the government agency in last fall, but only recently appeared on its site. It’s not clear if this is a sign that a release in this color is imminent.

Did you ever fancy making a podcast, but as soon as you considered the logistics, your eyes crossed, and you felt suddenly sleepy? But what if creating and publishing a podcast was as easy as squeezing out a Tweet? That’s where Wavelength comes in. Wavelength is a brand new app that lets you record, edit, and publish your short podcast — or microcast — in record time. It can even add your podcast feed to the Apple Podcast Directory, so anyone can easily find and subscribe to your microcast. Here’s how to podcast on iPhone.

Apple issued a stern warning to employees this week about leaking confidential information to the media.

In a leaked memo detailing Apple’s efforts to stop leaks, the company says it caught 29 leakers in 2017. Of those caught, 12 were arrested. Apple told employees they are “getting played” by journalists and bloggers that approach them with flattery in exchange for information.

Editor’s Note: This article is from 2018. For the latest information about Apple’s plans for iTunes, please read: macOS Catalina takes Mac to an all-new level

Apple flatly denies a persistent rumor that it’s going to end iTunes music sales on March 31, 2019. The basis for the rumor is vague statement from an Apple Music executive and a change in way most people listen to songs.

In the glory days of the iPod, Apple raked in millions selling individual tracks for 99 cents. Fast forward a decade to so, and streaming services are all the rage. This leaves people wondering how long Apple will keep selling music tracks.

HomePod sales have fallen well below expectations, according to one of the best Apple analysts in the game.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told investors today that Apple is considering making a low-cost version of the HomePod in order to give disappointing sales a boost.

Gmail is getting a gorgeous redesign on the web, which will include a bunch of awesome new features. One of those is a “Confidential Mode” for sensitive messages, which prevents them from being forwarded, downloaded, printed, and more.

Hip hop artist Cardi B has broken Taylor Swift’s record for first week Apple Music streams for an album by a female artist. According to Apple, Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy earned more than 100 million streams in its initial week.

Fortnite Battle Royale on mobile is a boatload of fun — but it could be a lot better. Clunky touch controls make it more difficult to play on iOS than on console or PC, and there’s nothing game controller manufacturers can do about it right now.

Gamevice has explained why its controllers do nothing if you attempt to use them in Fortnite — and why it’s taking Epic Games so long to add controller support.

If you’ve got a Mac, we’ve got some great apps for it. And each is discounted by half or more. So you can get the powerful organizational tool Aeon Timeline, the audio-enhancing Boom 3D, the writing-improving Ginger Page, and the media conversion powerhouse Roxio Toast for pennies on the dollar. Read on for more details:

A Russian court has ordered that the Telegram messaging app should be blocked in the country. This is due to the company’s refusal to give Russian state security services the encryption keys to access messages sent using the service.

Russia’s FSB Federal Security service argued that it needs to be able to access the messages to safeguard against terrorist attacks. However, Telegram refused to comply with the demands for reasons of user privacy.

This week on The CultCast: HomePod sales are already stumbling — is it doomed? Plus: Face ID could replace passwords on your favorite websites; the death of Touch ID scheduled for this fall; and our hands-on reviews of an $80 tech-packed coffee cup, a beautiful new HomeKit smart lock, and the all-new Mavic Air drone.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

Apple plans to start manufacturing another iPhone in India, according to a new report.

Partner Wistron has already started trial production of the iPhone 6s Plus at its Bangalore plant, where it has been assembling the iPhone SE since last year. Source say mass-production will begin in “the next couple of weeks.”

Death Road to Canada is probably my pick for the best game to land in the App Store last year. It’s a weird-ass mashup that should never have worked: an amalgamation of randomly generated zombie survival RPG, action game, text-based interactive fiction game, and homage to the heyday of 8-bit gaming.

Its new FEMUR update makes a great game even better. It adds additional weapon types, five extra trader camps, new character the Barbarian, and a whole lot more. Plus, there’s even more to come.

Epic has promised to give Fortnite players free loot to apologize for recent downtime that left fans unable to play the game for around 24 hours.

Battle Royale players — including those on iOS — will be able to obtain a back bling gift from the store this weekend, while the game’s next big update will bring free Battle Stars. Save the World players can look forward to some goodies, too.

Apple just updated iMovie for iOS so iPhone X users don’t have to put up with black bars on either edge of their display.

Even better, the new version supports Apple’s Metal API, which means the application now has direct access to a phone’s or tablet’s graphics-processing hardware.

Police around the country are buying and using iPhone unlocking tools like GrayKey. These allow access to the contents of encrypted devices involved in crimes.

GrayKey is fairly expensive, and its maker can’t guarantee how long it will work. It depends on a iOS security flaw known only to its maker, and Apple could close this hole at any time. Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies are taking the risk.

Did you ever snap a photo of a magazine page, or capture a screenshot of text, and wish you could just copy and paste it like any normal text? Maybe it’s a photo of a recipe from a paper book, and you’d like to be able to search for it in future? The good news is that you can easily extract the text from a photo or screenshot, right there on your iPhone.

The even better news is that we’re going to learn how to do it right now.

The goal of Apple Business Chat is to make it easy exchange messages with companies. The service just debuted in iOS 11.3, and T-Mobile today joined the handful of businesses that support it. 

With it, people can make purchases, schedule appointments, or just ask questions.

Apple missed a golden opportunity to bust out a RED iPhone X to go with the (PRODUCT) RED iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus based on the latest mockups from our favorite Apple concept artist.

Martin Hajek came out with some renderings of what the iPhone X would look like with a red coat of paint and it’s absolutely stunning.

Take a look:

Apple was a bright spot in the global PC market last quarter. Market analysis firm Gartner says Mac shipments grew 1.5 percent, even as the total market for laptops and desktops dropped 1.4 percent.

The U.S. helped drag down the global totals, with a 2.9 percent decline. Still, that helped push up Apple’s share of the American market to 12.6%.

This is the Roadie. It’s a guitar tuner with a rotating slot that you slide over a tuning peg of your guitar. Then you pluck a string, and the Roadie listens to the pitch, and actually turns the peg for you, shifting the pitch up or down until it is in tune.

Google is working on a big redesign for Gmail on the web, it confirmed this week. Leaked screenshots reveal what’s in store for browser users, including a number of new features that are currently only available inside Google’s mobile apps.