| Cult of Mac

Awesome Apps for every kind of moment in life

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iPhone and AirPods Pro on desk with “Awesome Apps of the Week”
Your iPhone goes nearly everywhere you go, so why not let it help you with life’s biggest moments?
Photo: Ian Fuchs, Vista Wei

Life is all about what you make of it. Or at least that’s how the saying goes, I guess. This week, we have an app that helps you make the most of your time, an app to help document it, and an app for the times in between. As usual, if you have something you want us to check out for a future Awesome Apps post, be sure to email your suggestion or tweet them over!

Twitter may have found a way to make itself a bit more savage

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Twitter may have found a way to make itself a bit more savage
Twitter asked some iPhone users to test upvoting and downvoting replies to tweets, instead of just liking some.
Photo: Twitter

Twitter is running an experiment that lets iPhone users downvote a reply to a tweet. It tests allowing users to actively show that they disagree with a response to a post on the social-networking service.

Twitter is often a venue for people to angrily argue politics, sports, entertainment, etc. Giving people the ability to downvote each other isn’t likely to calm the storm.

Apple lets Parler return to the App Store after promises of moderation

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Apple lets Parlor return to the App Store after promises of moderation
Parler is expected to be back on the App Store after changing moderation policies.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The controversial social-networking service Parler will soon reappear in the App Store. Apple reportedly un-banned the service Monday after it promised to start moderating content.

Then service was banned from the iOS and Android software stores after it was used to plan the attack on the U.S. Capital in January.

Apple puts Parler on notice: Moderate or disappear

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Parler was founded by free-speech advocates not likely to start moderating comments.
Parler was reportedly used to plan the attack on the US Capital. Now it could be out of the App Store.
Photo: Parler

Apple told Parler on Friday that it must either begin moderating “dangerous and harmful” comments posted by users or its application will be removed from the iPhone App Store. The free speech site popular with supporters of President Trump reportedly has until Saturday morning to come up with a “moderation improvement plan” or it’ll be removed.

The move comes because Parler has been accused of being used to plan the attack on the U.S. Capital on Wednesday.

Twitter considers orange color as fake news warning

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A Twitter posts with fake news gets a big warning sign.
Warning messages like this one could soon appear on Twitter posts with fake news.
Photo: Twitter/Cult of Mac

Twitter is looking for ways to notify its readers when posts by politicians are judged to be factually untrue. The social-networking service is considering attaching large, orange “harmfully misleading” warnings to posts that are fake news.

Tinder Loops show videos before you swipe left

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Tinder Loops are videos people can swipe left or swipe right on.
Tinder Loops are videos people can swipe left or swipe right on.
Photo: Tinder

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how about a video? The dating service Tinder now lets you upload a very short video along with pictures. The idea is these Tinder Loops will better reflect your personality.

Sorry Android, tut this feature is only available for iOS devices.

Tinder explores becoming slightly less of a hookup app

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Tinder Picks currently only for iPhone
The new Tinder Picks option -- currently testing exclusively on iOS -- helps you find people you have something in common with.
Photo: Tinder

Tinder Picks is a feature this dating app is testing that might make it a better way to find people you’re compatible with emotionally, not just sexually.

Picks takes the user’s profile and shows them pictures of people who have similar jobs, educations, and interests.