apps

Supreme Court decision means major iPhone app change is on the way

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App Store
A court-ordered change to iPhone apps is about to hit Apple in the pocketbook.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld a lower court’s ruling that Apple must allow third-party iPhone app developers to point customers to their websites when making purchases. This means the company is forced to drop its “anti-steering” rule for such applications — a major change.

It’s the primary result of Apple’s long-running legal battle with Epic Games.

Top apps and games: Apple names 37 App Store Award finalists

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App Store Award finalists for iPhone apps
If you're looking for reliably good apps and games, this is a fine place to start. These are the apps for iPhone finalists (AllTrails, Duolingo and Flighty).
Photo: App Store

Apple’s App Store named its apps and games of the year for different devices/services plus other App Store Award finalists Tuesday. All told, it recognized 37 apps and games whose developers “are delivering exceptional experiences and making a profound cultural impact.”

And in a matter of weeks, we’ll find out who the winners are, the company said.

Logic Pro gains powerful music tools for Mac and iPad

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Apple enhanced the musical user experience in Logic Pro for Mac and iPad.
Apple enhanced the musical user experience in Logic Pro for Mac and iPad.
Photo: Apple

Apple said Monday it updated its Logic Pro music software to help spark users’ creativity and let them produce pro-level tracks.

New features for Mac include Mastering Assistant, 32-bit recording, Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker. And Quick Sampler Recorder adds to the slate of iPad features.

1Password takes a step away from passwords by adding passkey support

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1Password now supports passkeys
View and manage passkeys in 1Password.
Photo: 1Password

The popular password-management application 1Password added support for passkeys on Wednesday. The feature is now available on desktop and mobile versions of the software.

The intent of passkeys is to use biometric systems to free users from the hassles of remembering passwords for websites and apps.

Apple Design Awards go to 12 great apps and games

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Six apps and six games won in six categories, chosen from 36 finalists.
Six apps and six games won in six categories, chosen from 36 finalists.
Photo: Apple
WWDC23

A dozen “best-in-class” apps and games took honors in the Apple Design Awards Monday at WWDC23. Winning development teams hailed from around the world, delivering innovative apps with great design, Apple said.

“Apps and games are integral to how we live, work, and play. At Apple, we love to recognize outstanding developers whose apps reflect incredible creativity and design excellence,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations.

ChatGPT iPhone app puts AI ‘at your fingertips’

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OpenAI ChatGPT for iOS
Get an iPhone version of the real ChatGPT today. No workarounds necessary.
Photo: Cult of Mac

OpenAI introduced ChatGPT for iOS, an application that brings the much-hyped chatbot powered by artificial intelligence to iPhone users.

It is free and has all the features of the web version, which means it is ready to answer questions with generally correct answers. Plus, this iOS version supports OpenAI’s speech recognition system.

Why developers choose the IPWhoIs.io geolocation API

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A good geolocation API can help help you serve users -- and your own bottom line -- better.
A good geolocation API can help help you serve users -- and your own bottom line -- better.
Photo: Monstera@Pexels.com

If you want to give visitors to your website or app a personalized experience and also boost your bottom line, it pays to use a fast and versatile geolocation application programming interface (API) like IPWhoIs.io.

SPONSORED
This post is brought to you by IPWhoIs.io.

We’ll get into the benefits of geolocation services via IPWhoIs.io below. And it even has a free version that suits many users, or a flexible choice of inexpensive plans.

Pixelmator Photo gets new name and AI-powered features

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Pixelmator Photo gets new name and AI-powered features
Photomator is for both iPad and iPhone.
Photo: Pixelmator

The powerful image-editing application Pixelmator Photo is now Photomator. Beyond the name change, the app for iPad and iPhone has been redesigned, and also now lets users easily select and edit specific areas of a photo.

In addition, a public beta of Photomator for Mac is now available.

Make instant transcripts for podcasts, videos and meetings with MacWhisper

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Instant video & podcast scripts
There’s an easy and free way to use Whisper to generate subtitles and transcripts.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

MacWhisper is a great way to get text transcriptions for podcasts, live streams, meetings, videos — whatever you may need. Just drag a file onto the Mac app’s window and you’ll get a transcription generated on the fly. You can even use the microphone to make transcriptions live as you’re talking.

You can easily edit the transcription like a Word document and export it as a subtitle file for a video, a text file for reference or an HTML file for publishing online.

How to make parking in the city easier with Apple Maps and SpotHero

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How to make parking in the city easier with Apple Maps and SpotHero
Apple Maps now has the SpotHero parking-space finder built in. Here's how to use the new combination.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPhone users can now find a parking space with Apple Maps. Starting Monday, the navigation application has SpotHero built in, giving parking options for more than 8,000 locations across North America.

The feature is free, though the spaces are not. Here’s how to use it.

Adobe makes Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements faster and easier

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Adobe makes Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements faster and easier
Add Moving Elements to photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023.
Photo: Adobe

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023 and Premiere Elements 2023 launched Thursday. These are the latest versions of apps intended to simplify photo and video editing simple for users at any skill level.

They offer new AI-powered features, as well as new step-by-step Guided Edits. Plus, it helps users add animation to photos.

iWork 12 adds features to better compete with Microsoft Office

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iWork 12 adds features to better compete with Microsoft Office
All the iWork 12.0 applications for iPad and iPad let users edit font sizes more precisely.
Screenshot: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The just-released Pages 12.0, Numbers 12.0 and Keynote 12.0 offer a variety of new features, including much finer control over font sizes in the iPad and iPhone versions.

And there are additional new features available in all versions of the iWork suite, including the one for Mac.

Apple’s Shazam app adds detailed concert and ticket info

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Apple's Shazam app has added detailed concert and ticket notes to help artists.
Apple's Shazam app has added detailed concert and ticket notes to help artists.
Photo: Shazam

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.

Ukraine war causes devs to pull software from Russian App Store

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Readdle stands among developers pulling apps from the Russian App Store and calling for help for Ukraine.
Readdle stands among developers pulling apps from the Russian App Store and calling for help for Ukraine.
Photo: Readdle

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.

Microsoft does what Apple won’t and opens up its Windows Store

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Microsoft Store
Developers can accept third-party payments without punishment.
Image: Microsoft/Cult of Mac

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.

Amazing Darkroom photo app now does video

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Darkroom, the amazing iOS photo-editing app, now edits video
Darkroom, the amazing iOS photo-editing app, now edits video
Photo: Darkroom

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.

Mailbrew turns Twitter, YouTube and Reddit updates into email newsletters

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mailbrew envelopes
Mailbrew sends the internet to your inbox -- in a good way.
Photo: Diana Akhmetianova/Unsplash

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.

Front and Center makes the Mac Finder behave like it should

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Front and Center screenshot
The window 'manager' you never knew you wanted.
Photo: John Siracusa

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 makes music-video art on the iPad

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Glitch Clip
Glitch Clip glitches clips
Photo: Jerôme Gangneux

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.

The best music apps this week, again

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Yes, more music apps again this week.
Yes, more music apps again this week.
Photo: Cult of Mac

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.