Bookmarks (87)

Plans for a Reddit paywall of some kind have now been confirmed by CEO Steve Huffman, after hints about it last summer. Huffman confirmed the plan for paid subreddits during a pre-recorded Ask Me Anything video shown during the company’s earnings call … more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Due Tomorrow is a students ultimate homework companion. It helps you manage your assignments, keep track of everything with reminders and calendar integration, and includes a neat little AI chatbot that...

Gentler Streak, one of the most popular fitness and wellness apps for Apple devices, has just been updated again. This time, the latest version of the app adds multiple new widgets with different health metrics, so that users can get an overview of their health right from their Home Screen. more…

My colleague Zac Hall yesterday shared the Mac apps he currently uses, and it got me thinking about the Mac apps and utilities I couldn’t live without. Some are major apps, like Final Cut Pro, but there are a bunch of utilities I use on a regular basis that I’d really miss if I didn’t have them … more…

It was discovered last year that location data for US military and intelligence personnel serving overseas was being sold by a Florida-based data broker, but the source of that sensitive data was unclear at the time. It’s now been revealed that the data was captured by a variety of mobile apps with revenue-sharing agreements with a Lithuanian ad-tech company, and then resold by an...

A new accessibility program based on an app for deaf and hard of hearing users is being tested on the New York MTA system. It will provide riders with instant access to a live sign language interpreter when engaging with staff. The approach means that any member of Metropolitan Transit Authority will be able to help with directions and other queries without the need...

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Bento|Craft is a great tool for easily making Apple-style bento box graphics in a matter of seconds. It provides dozens of templates and mockups, allows you to customize layouts, and export...

Mistral, a French company specializing in AI tools, has just launched a native app for its chatbot “Le Chat” for iOS. While previously the tool was only available through the web, and iPad users can now download the app for a better experience. more…

Apple’s Messages app has a lot of great features, including the recent iOS 18 additions and Genmoji. But one thing that’s sorely missing: good tools for tracking your unanswered messages. The new Mac app RPLY seeks to solve that problem with AI. more…

CardioBot is a health companion app for iPhone and Apple Watch that shows users how they can live a healthier life. The app has now been updated with new features, including “Activity Coaching” and fully interactive graphics. Read on as we detail everything that’s new with the update. more…

The Iconfactory, makers of the now-discontinued Twitterrific app, have today launched the spiritual successor to their Twitter client. Tapestry pulls together feeds from Bluesky, Mastodon, RSS, YouTube, and more into a single timeline. more…

A Grubhub security breach has exposed personal data for both customers and drivers, says the company, after an “incident” involving a third-party contractor. The company has not revealed the exact scale of the security fail, but has admitted that the personal data includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, and partial credit card numbers … more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Wheels aims to be your all-in-one digital skate journal, allowing you (presuming you’re a skater) to track all things skating. It helps track your rides, your skateboards, and offers a clean...

TikTok has bounced back from its time offline according to traffic logs, but creators are worried about the uncertain future of the app. Some are assuming the worst, and preparing for the platform to shut down, while others feel TikTok has a unique role and it would be difficult to replicate their success on other platforms … more…

Bookshop.org launched five years ago as an online store with a mission of supporting local book shops. Now, that same philosophy is fueling a new ebook app for iPhone and iPad, which enables you to enjoy ebooks while sending your funds to local, independent bookstores. more…

Digital collectible card game Marvel Snap is back in the App Store, after the game’s developer seemingly severed connections with TikTok parent ByteDance. Trump has suggested that Microsoft is negotiating to buy TikTok, despite the company’s CEO having previously described the suggestion as “the strangest thing” … more…

Despite the fact that you can still use the service, TikTok is still very much so banned in the United States. President Trump promised to not fine TikTok and its service providers for continuing to run the services, but that’s just a promise. He also signed an executive order officially suspending the ban, but there’s great odds that that executive order doesn’t actually hold...

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Inscreen taps into Apple’s Screen Time API, and aims to help users be more mindful about the time they’re spending on their devices. Rather than forcefully blocking app access, Inscreen takes...

Scheduled Threads posts are now available to all, after the company first began rolling it out to a small number of users last month. Additionally, users in a few countries can now highlight and annotate parts of other people’s posts when sharing them … more…

Photo editing app Luminar Mobile is delivering two highly requested user features today. Full RAW image editing support and iCloud sync between devices arrives in Luminar Mobile 2.2. more…

The never-ending saga of the TikTok ban continues, with a ByteDance board member suggesting that a compromise would be possible. The remark was made by William E. Ford, an American businessman who is one of the directors of parent company ByteDance … more…

AI chatbot ChatGPT is down for many users in the US and the UK, with a variety of errors being reported – including gateway errors, login failures, and chats not loading … more…

There’s a new app called “People” coming soon to the iPhone that looks promising. Like Cardhop and other Contacts app alternatives, People wants to modernize your address book with important context. more…

I’ve played guitar as a hobby since I was in junior high. While the instrument hasn’t changed, the tools I use to make it possible have — sort of. In addition to the built-in GarageBand app, these are the two must-have iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps I use for for fun. more…

The Truecaller app has long been able to flag some incoming spam and scam phone calls, enabling you to reject them, but Apple privacy rules prevented the iOS version from working as effectively as the Android one. This means the iPhone would fail to identify many callers that would be flagged on Android phones. A new Apple API in iOS 18.2 solves the privacy...

Canon just launched a brand new iPhone and iPad app called Live Switcher Mobile, and it aims to make multi-cam livestreaming easier than ever. more…

Social media apps X and Bluesky are both rolling out dedicated video feeds, in apparent attempts to take advantage of the continued uncertainty around TikTok. With X, there’s a new play button icon launching a continuous video feed looking very similar to TikTok, while Bluesky offers custom feeds for video which you can choose to pin … more…

Today, Meta is announcing Edits: a new mobile video editing platform. This comes just hours after TikTok (and as a result, CapCut) were banned in the US – though TikTok is currently being restored, at least temporarily. more…

After being offline in the United States for 14 hours, TikTok now says it is in the process of restoring service. In a statement posted to social media, the company said: In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face...

In a new notification sent to users, TIkTok has confirmed it is shutting down in the United States. The company says it is “working to restore” its service in the U.S. “as soon as possible” with the help of incoming President Trump. Apple has also removed TikTok from the App Store in the United States. Google has removed the app from the Play Store....

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. PostPocket is a simple tool, aiming to help users keep track of various links, posts, articles, videos, or anything from across the internet. It allows you to save everything in one...

WhatsApp has announced four improvements to the app, including making it faster and easier for you to react to messages with your most-used emoji. Parent company Meta says it wanted to start the new year by making the app more fun and easier to use, with a set of four enhancements … more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Univershuffle is a new music discovery app that shuffles all of the songs on Apple Music, completely at random – no AI or algorithms involved. It offers the ultimate experience for...

Apple occasionally updates the App Store’s layout to make it easier to navigate, or emphasize one content section or another. But new changes recently rolled out that are especially prominent, and make new app discovery easier than ever on iPhone and more. more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Sonuby is a different kind of weather app, designed for users who often partake in outdoor activities. For example, if you often snowboard, you can have a weather forecast that places...

iPhone has become the primary camera of many people around the world – not only because of its quality, but also because of the great apps available on the App Store. This year we’ve made a list of the best apps for shooting and editing video on iPhone. more…

Telegram verification is already available for public figures and bodies, but it’s now rolling out a new system where accounts can be verified by third-party organizations … more…

If you just got a new iPhone, there are lots of things you can do to make the most of the great cameras you now have in your pocket. I’ve selected some of the best camera and photo editing apps to help you enhance your shots from your iPhone. And even if you’re already a long-time iPhone user, it’s worth giving these apps a...

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. Type is a minimalist note taking app for your Mac, allowing you to easily capture notes and keep them organized – all from a simple keyboard shortcut. It’s the best way...

Although iOS comes with a native Apple Music app, there are some third-party apps that offer even better experiences for those who subscribe to Apple’s streaming service. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber and want to find out how to better enjoy your music library, check out some of the best iOS apps with Apple Music integration. more…

The year is almost over, but the team behind the popular fitness and wellness app Gentler Streak still had a few cards up their sleeve for 2024. The latest update to the app adds improvements to health metrics, as well as the long-awaited Activity Recap 2024. more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. one sec aims to help people reduce mindless scrolling on social media, requiring users to make a conscious decision on whether or not they want to actually open that app every...

We learned earlier this week of a Bluesky extortion issue, emerging after the social network said that it would use domain name ownership as a way to verify the identity of public figures. Bluesky hasn’t fully addressed the issue, but has taken one step toward reducing the problem of scammers impersonating well-known people on the platform … more…

Analytics data suggests that we’re downloading fewer iPhone apps this year than last, but spending significantly more money on them. That’s because almost half of developer revenue now comes from subscriptions. App Store downloads declined slightly in the past 12 months, but the total spend increased dramatically from $73.7B last year to $91.6B this year … more…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has today announced a new rule which will ban apps and websites in the hotel and event industries from using hidden fees to engage in bait-and-switch pricing. The agency found it was common practice for companies to show a misleading price, which was then inflated by hidden costs like booking and resort fees, only revealed during the checkout process …...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has for the first time revealed the daily number of Threads users, stating that there are now more than 100 million daily active users. It’s also been suggested that the current trajectory means that the app could catch up with the social network formerly known as Twitter. Zuckerberg is likely aiming to fight back against the growing popularity of Bluesky,...

The TikTok ban is once again in doubt, despite an appeals court rejecting the company’s argument that it was protected by the First Amendment. Parent company ByteDance has applied to the US Supreme Court for an emergency injunction against the law requiring it to sell TikTok to a US company or be banned … more…

Apple has revealed the most downloaded App Store apps and games of 2024. Its top charts are localized for many parts of the world, so you can see the most popular downloads in your own country. Here are the top apps and games of the year. more…

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact. TechniCalc is a fully featured calculator app, with all of the advanced features you’d need – but without a clunky or outdated UI. It focuses on being clean, easy to use,...

Christmas is almost here, and although it’s already a magical time, technology can certainly help make this time of year even more special. With that in mind, an app called “Better Call Santa” lets you arrange a call with Santa for your children, all with the help of AI. more…