Friday 5

We recently talked about some of our favorite hardware accessories to pair with Apple’s new iMac Pro all-in-one desktop. Today, we’ll discuss some of our favorite apps that provide benefits to iMac Pro users in various ways. Watch our latest edition of our Friday 5 video series for more details.
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Final Cut 10.4 was released last Thursday alongside the new iMac Pro, and as we elaborated on in our hands-on walkthrough, it’s a huge update with tons of new features and enhancements.

I didn’t have time to touch on everything in Thursday’s in-depth walkthrough, I wanted to take a moment to discuss several additional smaller enhancements that Final Cut Pro X users will no doubt appreciate.
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My hands-on look at the Apple Watch Series 3 is still forthcoming, but I have to say that I’ve been extremely impressed by the potential and speed of this device. The Series 3 is, in my opinion, what the original Apple Watch aspired to be. The hardware has not only increased in efficiency and speed, but the connectivity — with LTE finally in tow — provides it with a measure of independence that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.

The addition of watchOS 4, an operating system update that brings several fundamental changes and enhancements to the Apple Watch as a whole, is just icing on the cake. In this week’s Friday 5 we take a look at several apps that work great on the Apple Watch Series 3. One such app even works solely on LTE, independent of a paired iPhone or Wi-Fi.
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When the news broke that Ulysses was moving from a one-time payment strategy to a subscription-only strategy, the reaction was unsurprisingly polarized. Many people empathized with how hard it is for developers to make a living with the modern realities of software development, while others were less forgiving and vowed to vote with their wallets.

Being that it’s my number one favorite writing app on iOS and Mac, I’ve personally decided to stick with Ulysses, taking advantage of its discounted subscription rate for existing customers. That said, I understand that subscriptions are not for everyone, and there will be a point in most of our lives where piling on subscription after subscription proves to be unsustainable from a financial perspective.

In this week’s Friday 5, I discuss five more of my favorite universal writing apps for iOS. To qualify for this list, each app must feature a one-time purchase and no additional subscription fees. These apps also support Family Sharing, and as of this writing, feature no additional in-app purchases. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside for a brief hands-on look.
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Final Cut Pro X is by far my most used app on the Mac, as I use it to produce a large swath of the content on our YouTube channel. As a long-time proponent of Apple’s flagship NLE, I’d like to use this week’s edition of Friday 5 to share some of my favorite Final Cut Pro X tips for those of you who use the app to create content for YouTube. Watch our hands-on video for a brief look at five handy tips.

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I’ve used a handful of NLEs on macOS, and each has their strength, but Final Cut Pro X gets so many of the little things right that my appreciation for the app grows a little bit each time I use it.

Final Cut Pro X may not be the most powerful way to edit videos, but it blends ease-of-use with power user features like no other app in its class. One such example of this graceful balance can be seen by observing the app’s many media management functions. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.

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In this week’s edition of Friday 5, we take a look at ScreenFlow 7 — a major update to the previous version of the popular screen recording and editing app. ScreenFlow 7 features brand new export options, a newly-implemented dark mode interface, support for custom hotkey mapping, and much more. Have a look at five of my favorite new features found in this major ScreenFlow update.
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As we noted yesterday, a major update to Apple’s Clips app was released, and it brings several noteworthy features to the table. The update includes animated Disney stickers featuring Micky and Minnie, along with Pixar assets from Toy Story and Inside Out.

Clips is a solid app for editing short videos on iOS, and the 1.1 update makes it even better. It’s why we’ve decided to make this free-to-download app our Friday 5 app of the week.

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When not using Apple’s built-in default option, Fantastical has long been my go to Calendar app on macOS. The app was just recently updated to version 2.4, a major feature upgrade encompassing things like attachment support, advanced undo/redo, travel time, and more.

But it’s not just the latest upgrades that make this app a worthy default Calendar app replacement. Have a look at five of my favorite Fantastical 2 features in this week’s edition of Friday 5 for more details.
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Ulysses is a writing app that I use each and every day on my iPad Pro; I even use it on iPhone to make quick edits or changes to in-progress work. I’ve briefly covered Ulysses on Friday 5 in the past, but tonight I’d like to dig deeper and discuss some of the features that make it my go-to iOS (and macOS) writing app.
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Whenever I need to record audio on my iPad or iPhone, Ferrite Recording Studio is my go-to app of choice. This app, created by developer Wooji Juice, works for simple one-off recordings like voice memos, but can also function as a flexible and powerful multi-track audio editor. Have a look at this week’s Friday 5 as we peer into the features that make Ferrite (free w/available in-app purchases) worth adding to your audio editing repertoire.
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When Serif’s Ash Hewson took the stage in San Jose during the WWDC 2017 keynote, you just knew that something big was about the be announced. That announcement, which didn’t disappoint, turned out to be Affinity Photo for iPad. The flagship desktop app makes its way to iOS for the first time after initially appearing on Mac and PC.

Affinity Photo, like Serif’s other popular desktop app, Affinity Designer, is well-respected photo editing software that can function as an Adobe Photoshop replacement for many desktop workflows. Can the iPad version make the same claim?
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Halide is a recently released iOS camera app developed by former Twitter engineer, Ben Sandofsky, and former Apple designer, Sebastiaan de With. The app, with its focus on swipe gesture controls, is simple to use, but features depth thanks to its manual controls. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough to see why this $2.99 app (on sale) might be a good alternative option for the stock iOS camera app.
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Although there are many solutions available to remotely connect to a Mac, Screens has long been my go to app for doing so. Edovia’s long-running app, available on both Mac and iOS, makes it extremely simple to connect back to your Mac, and forgoes the subscription business model for a one time payment model.

Screens 4, which just released for the Mac earlier this week, brings a bevy of new features to the table in an effort to make the app even easier to use. In this week’s Friday 5, we highlight a few of the new features that we especially appreciate.
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Yesterday Cultured Code released the long-awaited update to Things 2, aptly entitled Things 3. The third edition of Things features a significant design overhaul, and fundamentally changes the way you interact with the app’s many features. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough inside for a look at some of the app’s best new additions.
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In this week’s edition of Friday 5, we have a look at a few handy Mac utilities that I use on a regular basis. Apps include SuperDuper, a long-available tool that lets you create reliable disk clones, and Intel Power Gadget, a handy way to monitor CPU performance on macOS. But it doesn’t stop there, have a look at our full list and video for a brief look at all of this week’s app selections.
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Agilebits’ 1Password is a password management app for iOS, Mac and other platforms. I’ve been using 1Password for several years, migrating over from LastPass. In my opinion, there is no better app than 1Password for password and credit card management. In this week’s Friday 5, I explain five of my favorite 1Password features. 
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On this week’s edition of Friday 5, we explore several additional paid Mac App Store apps that I use on a regular basis. Apps include titles like Bumpr, which lets you choose the browser that links are opened in, along with Affinity Designer, a remarkably deep vector illustration app that can be had for an outstanding price.

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We’ve heard from a number of people who recently purchased Apple’s just-released 2017 iPad. For most, if not all of these people, this was their first iPad, or their first new iPad in years.

A lot has changed since the iPad debuted. Tablets are much more capable from a hardware perspective, but there have been big changes on the software end of the spectrum as well.

The iPad has always been known as a content consumption device, but as you’ll see, it’s also a strong platform for creative-minded people. If you’re new to the iPad, you owe it to yourself to try these apps, as they truly are some of the best in the business for creative types.
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To coincide with this week’s App Store promotion featuring top iOS indie games, I thought it would be appropriate to devote tonight’s post to a few of my favorite iOS titles. In this video-free edition of Friday 5, I briefly discuss innovative new games like Mushroom 11, and timeless classics such as Super Hexagon.
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In this Mac-centric Friday 5, I wanted to highlight features from several macOS apps that I utilize on a regular basis. A few of these apps are built-in macOS apps, while others can be found on the Mac App Store and directly from third-party developers.

As a huge fan of the Mac, these are some of the apps that I use most often. Perhaps you’ll find a new gem in this week’s edition of Friday 5?
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