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Friday 5: Focus peaking on the iPhone with Mavis & four other unique apps to check out this weekend [Video]

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Welcome to the first edition of Friday 5. This is a feature post that I plan on airing regularly to briefly highlight five apps each week. These don’t necessarily have to be new apps or popular apps, but are releases that contain at least one notable feature that I’d like to highlight.

In this week’s edition, you’ll find a video editing app that’s great for voiceovers, a filmmaking app that’s exceptional at focusing, and a Reddit app that features handy 3D Touch quick action shortcuts to your favorite subreddits.

My goal is to highlight, as quickly as possible, at least one feature that makes each app worthy of consideration. Some of the apps will be free, some will be freemium, and some will be paid. When available, we’ll also post a few promo codes for early readers.

Beam

There is no shortage of Reddit clients available on the App Store, but Beam is my favorite thus far. It’s free to download, but features in-app purchases that afford a Night mode and Thumbnail Mode among other things. My favorite Beam feature is its 3D Touch quick action shortcut for quickly accessing favorite subreddits.

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2-minute video walkthrough

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Mavis

Mavis is a professional filmmaking app that’s specifically geared towards video. It sort of reminds me of FiLMiC Pro, but includes enhanced pro-level features that make it arguably the best filmmaking app on iOS. The latest update features support for iOS 10. Support for the iPhone 7 Plus’ iSight Duo camera is currently in beta.

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My favorite Mavis feature, however, is the ability to use focus peaking, a technique that’s dear to the heart of many filmmakers. Focus Peaking highlights the areas of the frame that are in focus while manually focusing, ensuring that you won’t accidentally shoot out-of-focus video.

PlayMarks

PlayMarks is a recently released app for Apple Music subscribers that allows you to bookmark portions of your favorite songs. It’s an interesting idea that allows you to quickly queue up and loop bookmarks. PlayMarks is somewhat limited in nature, but nonetheless a neat idea for those of you who are focused on favorite choruses and verses.

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Timelines

If you work from home, then you know how easy it is for time to get away from you. With Timelines, it’s easy to track your time across a variety of user-defined activities. You can even export your full time-tracking report to a PDF with detailed statistics. But my favorite Timelines feature is its Apple Watch integration, which allows you to easily start and stop activities via a quick tap on the wrist.

  • iPhone and Apple Watch
  • $4.99

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Pinnacle Studio Pro

iMovie is a great app for editing video on iOS, but when you need a bit more power and flexibility, there’s Corel’s Pinnacle Studio Pro. Corel may no longer be synonymous with software like it used to be back in the 90s, but Pinnacle Studio Pro is a solid piece of editing software for editing video on iPhone or iPad.

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The app isn’t perfect, but it contains one specific feature that makes it my go-to app whenever I’m editing video on the go: flexible voiceover capability. Not only can you choose your input microphone on the fly via software, but it also features three sound tracks for a much deeper and flexible audio experience when cutting and voicing over footage.

What apps do you recommend?

As we go into the weekend, please share a few of your recommended apps below. Remember, these don’t necessarily have to be new or headlining apps. As long as the app has at least one feature that you can’t live without, it’s worth sharing. I’ll consider including some of your selections in future installments of Friday 5.

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Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Jeff Benjamin

Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.