iPhone apps

Apple Sports iPhone app updated for March Madness

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New Apple Sports app
The new Apple Sports app for iPhone got an update for basketball and baseball fans.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

The new Apple Sports iPhone app just received its first big update. It’s now ready for basketball’s March Madness and baseball’s Opening Day.

The free sports app that debuted in February gives fans access to real-time scores, stats and more for their favorite teams across a wide range of sports leagues.

MacPaw’s latest app will clean your photo library [Awesome Apps] ★★★★☆

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CleanMyPhone app for iPhone★★★★☆
Clean out years of bad pictures.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

CleanMyPhone is a new app that will tidy up your photo library. Developed by MacPaw, maker of CleanMyMac X, the new app can do a thorough scan of images on your iPhone to clear out years of screenshots, saved TikToks and unusably blurry shots. It’s a simple way to clean up photos on your iPhone.

It also uses artificial intelligence to sort your photos into handy categories. Plus, it makes it simple to periodically look at the last week or month of your photos to sort things into albums and stay organized. As a bonus, the app comes with an internet speed test — good for checking if your connection is solid enough to take an important video call.

The CleanMyPhone app is available today from the App Store, with a free three-day trial. An annual subscription costs $24.99.

Best ways to watch 2024 Super Bowl on Apple TV, iPhone or Mac

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Best ways to watch 2024 Super Bowl on Apple TV, iPhone or Mac
The App Store also recommends Paramount+ for watching the 2024 Super Bowl.
Image: Apple/Paramount

The 2024 Super Bowl is Sunday, and football fans can watch via their favorite Apple device. Maybe it’s on an Apple TV connected to the big screen in your living room, or you might need to watch on your iPhone because you have to be at work tonight.

Whatever your setup is, here are the best ways to stream the big game.

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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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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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.

Cash App breach compromises up to 8.2 million user accounts

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Cash App suffers data breach
A former employee downloaded reports after leaving Cash App parent company Block.
Image: Block

Block, the parent company of Cash App, has confirmed that user accounts have been compromised by an internal data breach. It has 8.2 million current and former customers.

The incident, which involved a former employee who downloaded reports after leaving the company, was reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 4. Block said it has begun notifying Cash App users.

Hulu adds SharePlay support on iPhone and iPad

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Hulu adds SharePlay support
Enjoy Hulu content with your friends, wherever they may be.
Image: Hulu/Cult of Mac

Hulu today joined the list of third-party video streaming services that offer SharePlay support on iPhone and iPad.

Its latest app update gives viewers the ability to enjoy movies and TV shows with their friends over FaceTime while everyone stays in sync. It also adds the ability to easily switch between channels for Live TV users.

WhatsApp plans big improvements to voice messaging ‘in the coming weeks’

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WhatsApp voice messaging improvements
Faster playback, the ability to pause recordings, and more on the way.
Image: WhatsApp

WhatsApp on Thursday revealed significant improvements to voice messaging across Android and iOS. The update adds the ability to change the speed of audio playback, pause and resume recording, and more.

It also allows voice message playback to continue when users back out of a conversation to catch up with another. Users can look forward to seeing the changes “in the coming weeks,” WhatsApp said.

YouTube TV launches picture-in-picture feature on iPhone and iPad

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YouTube TV
Picture-in-picture support for iPhone and iPad comes to YouTube TV. But not to all YouTube users.
Image: YouTube/Cult of Mac

YouTube TV subscribers with an iPhone or iPad can now watch shows in a small window while another app is open. The feature is rolling out now.

However, picture-in-picture support is not yet available for all mobile users of the YouTube application, as has been promised.

How to make your own GIFs with Twitter app

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How to record a GIF with the Twitter iPhone app
Making a Gif with Twitter’s iPhone app is a snap.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Twitter made creating a GIF as easy as posting an image. Using the iPhone camera, users can capture a short video in the social-networking service’s app that is automatically converted into a GIF.

Here’s how to make your own GIFs with the Twitter app. It’s easy and fun.

Dark Disney Mirrorverse RPG hits iPhone in June

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Dark ‘Disney Mirrorverse’ RPG hits iPhone in June
It’s a whole new world… of violence.
Photo: Disney

Disney is taking many of its classic characters in a darker direction with Disney Mirrorverse, an RPG for mobile devices. Alternate-reality versions of these screen icons will have to team up face a “dark, unrelenting threat.”

Disney revealed Monday that the game will launch June 23. There’s also a trailer to whet players’ appetites.

VLC Media Player update is packed with useful new features

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VLC Media Player update is packed with useful new features
VLC Media Player 3.3 has a re-written video playback interface. There are many other new features, too.
Photo: VideoLAN/Cult of Mac

A new version of VLC Media Player for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV includes some much-requested features, including support for accessing files from connected drives as well as spatial audio with AirPods Pro and Max

This is a popular — and free — choice for playing video and audio, and updates are fairly rare. That said, VLC Media Player 3.3 appears to be worth the wait.

YouTube still doesn’t offer promised picture-in-picture feature on iPhone

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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

YouTube has once again pushed back the date when it will apparently follow through on its promise to allow all iPhone users to watch video from its application in a small window while another app is open. The feature is already available for YouTube Premium subscribers, but it in beta testing, and that is scheduled to end on April 8. So that’s that next date that picture-in-picture could become available for all iPhone users.

When it finally launches, PiP will make YouTube videos easier to enjoy because they’ll allow people to use their iPhone to multitask while also watching.

Nintendo revamps Switch Online app to make it a little more useful

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Switch Online app update 2.0.0
You can now see which of your friends are online.
Image: Nintendo

Nintendo on Sunday rolled out a somewhat significant update to its Switch Online app that makes it a lot less rubbish than it was before. The version 2.0.0 release brings a refreshed design and the ability to see which friends are online.

Switch Online, which is required if you want to use voice chat inside some Nintendo Switch games, is still nowhere near as useful as its counterparts for PlayStation and Xbox. But it is at least better than it was.

Devs come together to fight Apple’s ‘anti-competitive’ browser restrictions

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iPadOS 15 review
It's about time!
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

A group of software engineers have joined forces to form the Open Web Advocacy (OWA), which will fight Apple’s “anti-competitive” web browser restrictions on iPhone and iPad.

The OWA says that Apple’s tight controls, which prevent third-party browsers from using their own engines on iOS, has stalled innovation for the past 10 years and “prevented web apps from taking off on mobile.”

Instagram quietly makes its daily usage limits less limiting

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Instagram usage limits
The 10-minute option is gone.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Instagram addicts will have to rely on self control if they want to keep their browsing time to under 30 minutes a day after the photo sharing platform quietly made its usage limits less limiting.

It was previously possible to restrict yourself to just 10 minutes of Instagram per day within the iPhone app. Now 30 minutes is the smallest time limit.

WhatsApp now continues to play voice messages while you do other things

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WhatsApp logo
WhatsApp embraces iOS 15.
Image: WhatsApp

WhatsApp for iPhone just got a big improvement to voice messaging that means you no longer have to put other replies on hold. The app now continues to play a voice message you’ve already started even if you jump into another chat.

It’s part of a bunch of improvements WhatsApp plans for audio notes, which also include the ability to replay a message you’ve recorded before sending it.