4Pockets’ MultiTrack Recorder Plugin is an audio-recording app that can be loaded inside other music apps. If you’ve ever seen an app like GarageBand or Logic in action, you’ll be familiar with the layout of multiple tracks on a horizontal timeline. MultiTrack Recorder Plugin offers exactly that, only it’s designed to be used inside other music apps. Apps that don’t have their own recording functions.
The best Catalina, Catalyst and nap apps this week
This week we check the weather, take a nap, edit photos on our Macs using Apple Pencil, and enjoy Catalina’s Catalyst apps.
The best travel, friend-making, and hex viewer (?!) apps this week
This week we find new friends to hang out with, shoot video with both iPhone cameras at once, fall for yet another Facebook data-gathering app and more.
How to check (and block) apps that track you on iPhone and iPad
Safari’s content blockers effectively block trackers and other Bad Stuff on the web, but that only works in Apple’s browser. Any other app you install on your iPhone or iPad can send all kinds of personal information to anyone, without you ever knowing. Your location, the details of your menstrual cycle, how long you spend asleep — pretty much anything.
So how do you stop this? Well, iOS 13 itself can help limit some abuses. But what you really need is an iOS firewall app that can detect and shut down any unauthorized connections.
PDF Expert adds powerful iPadOS 13 features
Readdle’s PDF Expert is my most-used PDF app, because it’s fast, powerful and doesn’t get in the way. I don’t even use many of the advanced features, but I still prefer it over most other options.
Now it’s even better. The most recent PDF Expert update adds support for the new features in iOS 13 and iPadOS. Let’s run through what’s new.
The best iOS 13, Apple Watch and hipster photo apps this week
This week we enjoy lots of new iOS 13 updates and a new super-accurate moon-phase complication for the Apple Watch. Then we add things up with the most comprehensive calculator ever made, and exhume the body of hipster photo app Hipstamatic.
The week’s best iOS 13 apps (and one Mac app)
This week we get grooving with EG Pulse, take control of Mission Control, drag stuff around with Yoink, and wonder why we need Pocket Casts.
Read all about the best new and updated apps in this week’s roundup.
The best stereo, video and game apps this week
This week we check out Roland’s answer to the iPhone 11’s multiple cameras, turn mono to stereo with Haaze 2, see the new 1.1 beta of Pixelmator Photo, plus one more thing.
The best night-photo, portrait, scanning, and groove-making apps this week
This week we create groovy beats, take photos in the dark, relax with chilled ambient sounds, and more. It sounds like a rad party!
Ulysses adds iPad full-screen view, and keyword manager
I’m writing this post in Ulysses, a text-editing app that separates the writing part from the printing/publishing/exporting part of the process. And today I’m writing in the brand-new Summer 2019 edition of Ulysses, which adds new features and a new, super-clean iPad full-screen mode.
Ulysses is therefore better than ever before. Come with me, and check out all the new stuff contained in Ulysses 17 for iOS.
iPhone could someday check your blood pressure in a snap
Researchers built a smartphone app that can check blood pressure by simply recording a short video of someone’s face, then analyzing the blood flow under the skin.
High blood pressure can lead to heart attack or stroke so making an easy at-home test for it could save huge numbers of lives.
The best firewall and music apps you’ll find anywhere this week
This week we block pesky privacy-invading trackers with Guardian Firewall, make sweet (weird) melodies with Ioniarics, and discover the next best thing to the keytar with Roxsyn.
Overcast adds fantastic new podcast recommendations feature
Overcast, the podcast app of choice for lovers of good design, powerful-yet-straightforward features, and the color orange, just added a brand-new recommendations feature.
Previously, Overcast used a Twitter-based recommendation engine. But developer Marco Arment says almost nobody used it. Now, he’s replaced it with recommendations based on users’ personal listening habits, and the result is amazing. I already added a few new podcast subscriptions based on its suggestions.
Check out this week’s best music, calendar, list-making, and bike-renting apps
This week we take a ride with Swapfiets bikes, mangle music with Eventide’s new iOS effects apps, save money with Spend Stack, and more.
Swapfiets app does bike sharing, without all the dirty sharing
Swapfiets is a subscription-based bike that always works. You pay 19.50 euros ($22) per month. If your bike breaks, goes wrong or gets stolen, the company will deliver a new one the same day. And if it’s a simple repair, the Swapfiets repairperson can fix it right there.
Everything happens via an iPhone (or Android) app. At first glance, Swapfiets does not seem like a cheap option. However, it offers some serious advantages over public bike-sharing schemes or owning your own bicycle.
The best kindness, productivity and video-wrangling apps of the week
This week we embed YouTube videos in music apps, do kind deeds with the Awesome social network, and never search for files again on the Mac (thanks to Hook).
The best retro ’80s synth, hotspot-sharing and smart playlist mixing apps of the week
This week we create smart playlists with Miximum, let anyone use our internet connections with HotSpotMe, put our MacBook’s Dock in the Touch Bar with Pock, and more.
How to create smart playlists in Apple Music on iOS (finally)
It’s impossible to create smart Apple Music playlists directly on the iPhone. Or rather, it was impossible. Previously, you had to fire up iTunes on your Mac or PC, create a smart playlist there, and then let it sync to your iPhone over iCloud.
Even in iOS 13, this is still the case. But now there’s another way. A new iOS app called Miximum can create smart playlists, and even sync them to the regular Apple Music app. It is, as they say, a game-changer.
The best file-wrangling, meme-remixing and SSH-connecting apps this week
This week, we remix memes with Meme Machine, sync SSH in iOS with Secure ShellFish, and go two-up in the Finder with Commander One. And more. As usual.
The best firewall, reminders and video editing apps this week
This week, we make our music more magical with FabFilters on iOS, edit multiple streams of 4K video with Lumafusion 2, stay private with Guardian Firewall, and ridicule Microsoft’s Office to-do app, which has finally been released on the Mac.
Guardian Firewall is the first true privacy-protecting firewall for iOS
Guardian Firewall claims to be the first proper firewall app for iOS. It works by routing all the network connections from your iPhone or iPad through a VPN, and then filtering out privacy-invading trackers on Guardian’s own servers.
The idea is that all the heavy lifting is done on those servers, so you don’t have to worry about battery drain, or on the iOS security features that prevent an app from futzing with your internet connection.
Sounds good, but should you trust Guardian Firewall?
Lumafusion 2 adds 6-track video and external monitor support
LumaFusion is probably the best video-editing app on the iPad. It’s so capable that you can use it to edit movies at a professional level, and plenty of people do. And now you can buy LumaFusion 2, an updated version with more power, and some great new features, including support for working on an external screen, and six tracks of 4K video.
The best Twitter, movie and calculator apps this week
This week we check out the new Twitterific, mourn the demise of simple ol’ Dropbox, get all Hollywood with iMovie special effects, and more.
The best games, photo and music apps you’ll find anywhere this week
This week we play GTA III on our iPad Pros with real playstation controllers, use the new keyboard shortcuts in Affinity Photo, sequence samples with WoodStepper, and create AR promos with Captum.
The best fitness, photo and friend-finding apps you’ll see this week
This week we find nearby friends with Yoke, count our steps with Pedometer++, add lights and shadows to our photos with Apollo, and enjoy Ulysses’ superior split view on the iPad.