| Cult of Mac

AI generates weird and wonderful wallpaper for Mac [Awesome Apps]

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Gemoo AI Wallpaper Generator
Type in a descriptive prompt and get that wallpaper on your Mac desktop.
Photo: Gemoo
Awesome Apps

Sick of the same old desktop wallpaper on your Mac? Developer Gemoo recently released a free AI Wallpaper Generator app that lets you replace your screen’s background visual with pretty much whatever you can think of in terms of a prompt, and with your choice of artistic style.

With 10 wallpaper prompts per day on the free version, it’s fun to play with. And if you need more, you can get the Pro version — once Gemoo settles on a pricing plan for it.

Never miss a delivery with this free package-tracking app [Awesome Apps]

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AfterShip package tracker
A package tracking app with all the features you expect, and it costs nothing.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

AfterShip Package Tracker is a free app that does exactly what it says in the name: It tracks your packages. You can see all your orders in one place, when they will arrive, and how close they are geographically to you. Push notifications are fast and alert you when your items are on their way.

Plus, unlike just about every other package-tracking app for iOS, AfterShip Package Tracker is totally free, with no in-app purchases.

Craft 74 new workouts on Apple Watch with SmartGym app [Awesome Apps]

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SmartGym 7 for Apple Watch
Time to get ripped with SmartGym 7 for Apple Watch. Or at least fit.
Photo: SmartGym
Awesome Apps

The SmartGym app is already well-loved by Apple Watch users, and its recent update adds more than 70 new workouts and loads of convenient new functionality.

And it’s considered so good it’s currently up against two other finalist apps to win the App Store Award for Apple Watch App of the Year.

Block all YouTube ads with the best Safari extension ever [Awesome Apps]

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Vinegar running on iOS
No ads. Picture-in-picture. Background play. All in one extension. Perfect, no notes.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

If you love YouTube but hate YouTube ads, Vinegar is the best Safari extension you can download. It blocks all ads on YouTube and restores many iOS-native features like playing videos in the background, picture-in-picture, and more on iPhone, iPad and Mac alike.

YouTube ads are freaking insufferable. But if you don’t want to put down the dough for YouTube Premium (currently $13.99 per month), you can pay a one-time fee of just $1.99 to buy Vinegar for all your Apple devices.

If you ever watch YouTube, Vinegar is life-changing. Get it now on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS and macOS.

Play ’80s synths, surf with a solid VPN, test hard drive for video and find great Italian food [Awesome Apps]

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iPhone ad in the style of vintage Works Progress Administration artwork
This week's awesome apps include a retro synthesizer, a solid VPN, a quick test for hard drives and a guide to Italian eateries.
Image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

In this week’s Awesome Apps roundup, we have a synthesizer app that brings back the sound of the ’80s, a solid VPN for safely surfing the Web, an app for testing external drives for recording high-res video, and a guide to the best eateries in Italy.

Be the ‘King of Digital’ with cool new synth app [Awesome Apps]

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AudioKit King of Digital synth app
Retro-obsessed audio mavens: Don't miss this one.
Photo: AudioKit
Awesome Apps

If you love the synth sounds of the ’80s, we have something for you. AudioKit Pro launched a brand-new hybrid synthesizer app for iPhone and iPad Wednesday for those who love the sounds of the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s.

And while the developer said the synth app usually costs $19.99, right now you can get it for $3.99. And by the way, it’s currently rated #1 in Music on the App Store.

Why iPhone videographers need this hard drive test app [Awesome Apps]

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OWC Drive Speed app for iPhone
This simple tool could be a life-saver. Or, at least, a video-saver.
Image: Other World Computing/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can record ProRes video at 4K and 60 fps, but only if the handset is connected to an external drive that’s fast enough to handle it. To find out if your SSD is up to the job, there’s OWC Drive Speed.

This new app verifies transfer speeds between your iPhone and external drives. It displays the maximum frames per second a drive can handle. Because you don’t want to find out on the day of the shoot that the SSD you’re counting on is a dud.

Find Italy’s best restaurants with this must-have foodie app [Awesome Apps]

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Osterie d'Italia app on an iPhone with a fork.
The just-updated Osterie d'Italia app showcases Italy's most soulful slow-food restaurants.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

The best Italian restaurant app just got better. Osterie d’Italia 2024, the latest app version of Slow Food Editore’s killer guide to Italy’s most authentic restaurants, now serves up its piping-hot recommendations in English for the first time.

Plus, a much-improved search functionality makes it easier than ever to find a great place to eat in Italy. And a new feature lets you store your notes and photos about particular restaurants in the cloud so you can access them in subsequent versions of the annually updated app.