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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.

WhatsApp for iPhone finally getting picture-in-picture support

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WhatsApp is getting some major call improvements, including support for up to 32 people group video calls.
WhatsApp's video and voice calling experience is about to get a lot better.
Photo: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is finally catching up to FaceTime and adding support for video calls with up to 32 participants. You can also mute or message an individual on a group call.

Up until now, you could use WhatsApp for group voice calls with 32 people. Video calls were limited to 8 people.

And support for Picture-in-Picture is in testing.

Massive Truecaller for iPhone update promises significantly better spam call detection

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Truecaller for iPhone
Truecaller for iPhone can now identify spam callers up to 10x more reliably.
Photo: Truecaller

Truecaller is rolling out a new update for its iPhone app that has been completely reworked from the ground up. The company now promises 10x better identification of spam calls.

Truecaller has never worked as reliably on iPhones as it does on Android. The company aims to finally solve this issue for good with its latest app update.

iPhone apps can now increase subscription prices without permission

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
Developers no longer need approval to increase iPhone subscription prices.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Pay attention to renewal notices for App Store subscriptions because these are the only notification you’ll receive that the cost is going up. Developers are now allowed to increase iPhone app subscription prices without users having to opt in.

There are limits on how much the fees can go up, though.

Apple gives devs more time to update outdated apps before App Store removal

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2021 App Store Awards
Apple moved back the deadline for devs to update their 'outdated' App Store applications.
Photo: Apple

Apple still intends to remove iPhone applications it considers outdated from the App Store, but has given developers more time to update their software. The deadline has changed from 30 days to up to 90 days.

And Apple says it focuses the App Store Improvements process on applications that are hardly ever downloaded.

‘Outdated’ iPhone apps about to be kicked out of App Store

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Read Epic Games' reasonable idea for opening up the App Store
Apple is warning developers of "outdated" applications that they'll soon be removed from the App Store.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Numerous developers report that their applications that aren’t being actively updated will soon be kicked out of the App Store. This is apparently part of an ongoing effort by Apple to remove “outdated” software from the store.

Devs must submit new versions of their applications to stay in the store, which means they’ll have to comply with newer Apple policies.

YouTube picture-in-picture rolling out for all iPhone users [Update: NOPE]

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YouTube Picture in Picture is back. At least for now.
Watching a YouTube video in Picture in Picture is back!
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

YouTube said Sunday that it is rolling out picture-in-picture support for all users of its iOS app. Then it walked the announcement back on Monday. A mixup by a support person is the problem.

The convenient feature has been in beta testing for many months, and some people say they’ve begun getting access to the non-beta version several days ago. But not according to YouTube.

Apple admits its iPhone apps don’t always win popularity contests

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Read Epic Games' reasonable idea for opening up the App Store
A study commissioned by Apple indicates that third-party iPhone apps are often more popular than Apple’s own.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Plenty of third-party iPhone applications outperform Apple’s own on the App Store. That’s the conclusion of a report commissioned by Apple itself. The iPhone-maker’s offerings don’t even come in second place in categories like music streaming, navigation and instant messaging.

This might sound embarrassing for Apple, but the company has a reason to tout the strength of rival software.

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.

YouTube may be rolling out picture-in-picture feature for all iPhone users

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YouTube picture-in-picture may finally be close to full iPhone support
The long, long wait for YouTube picture-in-picture support for iPhone could be near its end.
Graphic: YouTube

Looks like YouTube might have begun rolling out picture-in-picture support for all users of its iOS app. A Cult of Mac reader reports the feature started working on his iPhone on Wednesday, and he’s not a YouTube Premium subscriber.

Beta testing for the PiP feature is scheduled to end April 8, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the rollout had already begun.