Apps

Learn about the latest news for iOS, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV apps

6,035 'Apps' stories April 2010 - October 2019

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Apps for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS power our modern world. 9to5Mac will update you on the latest news, review, and updates for all types of apps. “There’s an App for that”.

The term came became part of our vocabulary when Steve Jobs announced The App Store as part of the iPhone 2.0 software update in 2008.

Over the years, the term has become as common as kleenex for describing applications on all of our devices. Apple’s platforms have apps for just about anything from finance, banking, sports, social media, podcasting, music, and more. We have a guide for helping you discover the best ones as well. Apps are now on everything from our TV, to our smartphones, on our laptops, and all the way down to our wrists.

As new ones are released or existing ones have major updates, the team here at 9to5Mac will bring you the latest news and reviews. If you want to follow along with video footage, be sure to follow 9to5Mac on YouTube. Scroll down below our latest updates on all things relating to applications on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

ClusterCards

Apps

15-year-old WWDC scholarship winner offers ClusterCards+ lifetime codes

Ben Lovejoy Oct 4 2019 - 6:27 am PT

Julian Schiavo, a 15-year-old winner of WWDC scholarships in both 2018 and 2019, is offering free lifetime codes for ClusterCards+, the subscription option for version 2 of the business card scanner app…

Update: 9to5Mac reader codes added below.

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Instapaper for iOS adds Dark Mode support, expanded ‘Tweet Shot’ feature

Chance Miller Sep 26 2019 - 10:24 am PT

Following the release of iOS 13 last week, read-it-later service Instapaper for iOS has been updated to take advantage of the new features. Instapaper now supports system-level Dark Mode and offers several performance improvements.

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Apps

AltStore is an iOS App Store alternative that doesn’t require a jailbreak, here’s how to use it

Filipe Espósito Sep 25 2019 - 4:58 pm PT

Apple has some strict rules about what can be published on its App Store. iPhone and iPad users can’t install apps like console emulators, Torrent clients, and more. Some workarounds eventually appear on the web, but they usually require a jailbroken device. This not the case with AltStore. Developer Riley Testut announced today this alternative solution to the iOS App Store that will not requires jailbreak tools, making it available even for users on iOS 13.

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Kik Messenger is closing down

Apps

Kik Messenger is closing down as company fights SEC over cryptocurrency ruling

Ben Lovejoy Sep 24 2019 - 5:10 am PT

Kik Messenger is closing down, with hundreds of developers losing their jobs, as the company pivots to its cryptocurrency, Kin. The company’s CEO said the company had made a deliberate decision to focus on fighting a recent SEC ruling…

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Snapchat 3D selfie feature available exclusively on the iPhone X and up

Ben Lovejoy Sep 17 2019 - 6:18 am PT

Snapchat 3D selfies come to the iPhone X and up

Snapchat 3D features similar to those announced for the new Spectacles 3 are now available on the iPhone X or above.

We’re excited to introduce a 3D Camera Mode to Snapchat — adding a new layer of expression and interactivity to Snaps. Snapchatters can use the new 3D Camera Mode to create Snaps that change in perspective and appearance based on how you move your phone when you view them — bringing your world and experience to life in a way that’s one step closer to the real thing …

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wunderlist app

Apps

Wunderlist founder offers to buy the app back from Microsoft as its shutdown looms

Chance Miller Sep 8 2019 - 6:31 am PT

Two years ago, Microsoft revealed its plans to replace Wunderlist with a new To-Do application. As the shutdown of Wunderlist looms, its original founder is offering to buy the app back from Microsoft to save its fate.

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Offline chat apps use Bluetooth and direct Wi-Fi connections

Apps
Privacy

Hong Kong protestors use offline chat apps to avoid government surveillance

Ben Lovejoy Sep 3 2019 - 5:13 am PT

Protestors in Hong Kong are increasingly turning to the privacy of offline chat apps to reduce the risk of government surveillance…

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Apps
Privacy

Zao iOS face-swap app tops Chinese App Store rankings, raises privacy fears

Ben Lovejoy Sep 2 2019 - 5:03 am PT

Zao app

Zao, an iOS app that lets users substitute their own face for that of a celebrity in video clips, has topped the Apple’s App Store rankings in China, but is raising privacy concerns.

App Annie said that the free app was downloaded millions of times and quickly went viral…

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Comparative review: Which is the best iPhone camera app for night shots?

Ben Lovejoy Aug 30 2019 - 7:59 am PT

Best iPhone camera apps for night shots

A quick play this week with NeuralCam suggested it might be in with a shot of being the best iPhone camera app for night shots — but I needed to put that to the test.

I did a comparison with five other camera apps — including the stock one — to see how each fared with two different types of night shot…

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Duolingo iOS app can now help you learn Latin; says not just for history nerds

Ben Lovejoy Aug 28 2019 - 5:59 am PT

Learn Latin app

The Duolingo iOS app can now help you learn Latin, a language which hasn’t been widely spoken since the mid-19th century…

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NeuralCam is a new app for taking iPhone photos in the dark

Ben Lovejoy Aug 27 2019 - 6:44 am PT

NeuralCam screenshots

NeuralCam is an iPhone app that aims to bring to the iPhone the kind of ultra-low-light capabilities we’ve seen in some recent Android smartphones.

Modern iPhones have gotten better and better at handling low-light photos. I put that to the test soon after I got my iPhone X, and wrote then about how impressed I was when testing it on some after-sunset shots…

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Apps

Powerful Mac RSS reader NetNewsWire now out of beta, free to use

Ben Lovejoy Aug 26 2019 - 6:51 am PT

NetNewsWire out of beta, free to use

NetNewsWire 5.0, the relaunched version of the powerful open-source Mac RSS reader app, is now out of beta.

Version 5 launched in public beta just two weeks ago, aiming for a balance of performance and power…

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Plex

Plex iOS app version 6 out now, with major usability improvements

Ben Lovejoy Aug 21 2019 - 4:16 am PT

Plex iOS app gets major usability update

Some major usability improvements to the Plex iOS app should make a big difference to users of the popular media-management platform.

The sidebar navigation is now customizable. You can, for example, change the order of your libraries and pin your favorites from all your servers…

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iOS

Heart Analyzer for iPhone adds PDF exports, support for new metrics, and more

Chance Miller Aug 15 2019 - 6:28 pm PT

Heart Analyzer has grown to be an incredibly popular app for iPhone and Apple Watch, offering a handful of different ways to see your heart rate data. This week, the app has been updated to version 7 with PDF reports, a new Heart Home, and more.

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macOS

NetNewsWire 5.0 RSS reader launches in public beta with Dark Mode, Safari extension, more

Chance Miller Aug 12 2019 - 2:29 pm PT

netnewswire macOS

If you’ve used the Mac for a while, you’ve likely heard the name NetNewsWire. It’s a powerful and open source RSS reader for macOS, and it’s being completely relaunched with an array of useful features.

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Telegram for iOS adds Silent Message, dark mode customization, more

Chance Miller Aug 11 2019 - 7:37 am PT

Telegram for iOS has been updated this weekend with a handful of notable new features. The update includes enhancements to dark themes, a new Silent Messages feature, and more.

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Instagram bans ad partner for secretly tracking user locations, saving Stories, more

Chance Miller Aug 7 2019 - 7:18 pm PT

Instagram account recovery becoming easier

An extensive new report from Business Insider today details how the marketing startup Hyp3r was able to use Instagram loopholes to garner an incredible amount of information about users. Hyp3r took advantage of “a combination of configuration errors and lax oversight by Instagram” to build “detailed profiles of people’s movements and interests.”

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Apps

Launch Center Pro updated with all-new Icon Composer for Home screen customization

Chance Miller Aug 7 2019 - 10:00 am PT

launch center pro

Contrast has today updated its popular Launch Center Pro utility with all-new features for its Icon Composer feature. With today’s update, you can use Launch Center Pro to create custom Home screen icons that can be used with Shortcuts in iOS 13.

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App users claim they’d pay up to $4/month for popular apps, including FaceTime

Ben Lovejoy Aug 5 2019 - 7:23 am PT

Apple Pay

Users of 16 popular iOS and Android apps claim that they would be willing to pay a monthly subscription for popular apps if there was no longer a free version.

WhatsApp was the one most users would rather pay for than give up, while YouTube was the app for which they’d be willing to pay the highest subscription fee…

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Apps

Facebook says it will rebrand Instagram and WhatsApp to make its ownership clearer

Chance Miller Aug 3 2019 - 5:54 am PT

Facebook WhatsApp Instagram

Facebook is planning to make its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp more clear, the company has announced. In a statement to CNET, Facebook says that it wants “to be clearer” about which products and services are part of Facebook.

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Wordpress iOS app gets handy updates for on-the-go use

WordPress iOS app better copes with poor or missing Internet connections

Ben Lovejoy Jul 30 2019 - 6:40 am PT

The WordPress iOS app is great when you want to write or edit blog posts while mobile, but it wasn’t always great at coping when you were away from a solid Internet connection …

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Panic updates Prompt SSH client for iPhone and iPad with iOS 13 fixes and more

Chance Miller Jul 29 2019 - 2:10 pm PT

Panic today has released a notable update to its Prompt SSH and TELNET client for iOS. The update brings improvements to iPad Pro, as well as fixes for iOS 13.

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Apps

Popular console/PC RPG ‘Hyper Light Drifter’ comes to iPhone and iPad

Chance Miller Jul 25 2019 - 12:17 pm PT

Hyper Light Drifter is a beautiful pixel art game that has received critical acclaim since its release on Windows, Mac, and consoles in 2016. Now, the award-winning game is coming to iOS, with support for both the iPhone and iPad.

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Dropbox Transfer now available in latest iOS app

Apps
Dropbox

Dropbox iOS app adds 100 GB Dropbox Transfer, undo feature and more

Ben Lovejoy Jul 24 2019 - 6:48 am PT

The latest Dropbox iOS app adds support for Dropbox Transfer, a very handy new beta feature announced earlier this month…

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