Apps

Apple is rolling out a big update to the Apple Store app for iPhone and iPad today. The new version of the app focuses on a “fresh, more curated experience” for finding new products to buy and managing existing products.

Overcast, the popular podcast player by Marco Arment, has gotten a major overhaul. As it celebrates its tenth anniversary, Overcast has been completely rewritten to be faster, more reliable, and more accessible.

Apple has reversed course and approved UTM SE, the first PC emulator for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. The app lets you emulate old versions of Windows, macOS, and much more on your iPhone or iPad.

A previously unreported lawsuit regarding hidden cameras in Airbnb properties reveals that the company generated 35,000 support tickets by customers complaining about surveillance devices …

See company response at the end

Kaleidoscope is a popular and powerful Mac app for users who constantly need to compare the differences between files and folders. The developers behind the app released Kaleidoscope 5 on Tuesday, which brings an important improvement to the app: integration with Git Repositories.

Some Wise customer data was likely to have been obtained by the hackers behind the Evolve data breach back in May.

Multiple additional fintech firms may also be affected by the cybersecurity attack, and it’s possible that personal data may be leaked if companies refuse to give in to ransom demands …

The in-app subscription market continues to grow, according to a new report, despite increasing consumer fatigue with the trend to turn everything into a recurring payment. Surprisingly, the most common subscription model is reportedly now a weekly one.

The switch from buying apps outright to paying for them on a subscription basis has been one of the biggest trends over the past 5-10 years – and one of the most controversial …

Apple Vision Pro still lacks an official YouTube app, and while Google has already confirmed its plans to build a visionOS app, users still have to rely on Safari to watch online videos on Apple’s $3,500 headset. Luckily, Juno – a third-party app – brings a better YouTube experience to Vision Pro users. Now the app has been updated with many new features, including 360-degree video support.

Apple’s Screen Time tools need some work. Not counting serious bugs that go unfixed far too long, one of Screen Time’s major drawbacks is that any limits you set can be easily bypassed. Ultimately, your desire to make healthier technology choices still comes down to sheer willpower when an app time limit is reached.

Roots is like Screen Time on steroids, providing a similar set of tools but with some core features that can help new habits actually stick.

There are a lot of workout company apps available on the App Store, but a new app called “Push” has been getting a lot of attention recently. That’s because the app helps users count push-ups during a workout using the iPhone’s TrueDepth camera.

Hidden Bar is a free Bartender alternative which might find itself seeing quite an uptake in demand, following the surprise takeover of the popular Mac utility.

While Bartender’s creator did later chip in with some comforting words, Bartender has a fairly frightening list of permissions – including the ability to take screengrabs of our Macs – so it’s not surprising that a number of us have opted to err on the side of caution …

WWDC is only a few days away, and typically the conference is the place Apple announces the winning apps of its Apple Design Awards. This year, however, the full list of 2024 winners has been announced today and will be recognized formally next week during WWDC.

Here are the apps of the year, according to Apple.

Earlier this week, users of the popular Menu Bar utility, Bartender, were surprised to learn that the app had been sold months ago with no formal announcement. Users on Reddit expressed concerns about whether the app was safe to use anymore.

Now, the app’s original developer and owner has released a formal statement. He confirms the app’s acquisition by new owners, and seeks to bring assurance that Bartender’s future is bright.

Update: Both the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office and the European Commission have now launched investigations into the legality of making it opt-out instead of opt-in.

If you use Instagram or Facebook, Meta is using your data to train its AI models. The company uses posts as training material for its generative AI systems. Privacy legislation in the UK and European Union means that the company is forced to offer an opt-out option – but it is doing so in a rather sketchy way …

We are only days away from Apple announcing an official partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT-style intelligence to iOS 18 and perhaps a new and improved Siri.

Ahead of those announcements, the ChatGPT iPhone app has been updated so you can keep talking to ChatGPT while multitasking in other apps. This enables a much more powerful, desktop-like experience while using the iPhone.

Bartender is a popular Mac app that lets users customize and add new functions to the macOS Menu Bar. However, the app was recently acquired by new and unknown developers without disclosure, which raised concerns among current Bartender users.

The iPhone Camera app has gained a lot of features since 2007. Users can do things like change the focus, choose between different modes, apply filters, use Night Mode, and much more. And while some users (like me) prefer the option of using third-party apps with even more controls, Zerocam is a new iPhone camera app that has zero controls or settings.