Rejoice! iOS 18, the latest software update for compatible iPhones arrived on September 16. Along with it comes a wave of updated third-party apps that take advantage of iOS 18's new features.

Since this latest version of iOS was made available to developers after it was announced at WWDC in June — Apple's yearly developer conference — many developers have been working on new features for their apps. For example, Control Center, a menu that you can swipe down from the top-right of your iPhone's display, has been redesigned, which now allows third-party controls.

As you update your iPhone to iOS 18, you may notice a slew of app updates ready for you to download from the App Store. With so many changes, you might find yourself at a loss to see what's new in your everyday apps. With this in mind, we've compiled a list of apps that have been updated to take full advantage of iOS 18, including some that make use of the exclusive features on iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models.

Focus

Developed by Kerstin Schmidtmann, Focus is designed to help you structure your day with 25-minute work sprints, followed by five-minute breaks to keep you fresh and productive.

In a new update for iOS 18, Focus now supports widgets in the redesigned Control Center, giving you quick access to its features. In addition, you can use tinted App Icons on your home screen, and new App Intents have been added for deeper use with Apple Shortcuts.

Things 3

We've featured Things 3 on our 101 best iPhone apps list, and for good reason. Developed by Cultured Code, Things 3 is a fantastic to-do list app that offers a lot of power in an easy-to-use user interface.

You can create projects with lists, create more lists within lists, fantastic interactive widgets to help tick off any completed tasks, and so much more.

For iOS 18, Things 3 gets a slight glow-up, starting with tinted and dark app icons, as well as support for the redesigned Control Center, where you can add two controls:

• Create a new to-do
• Jump into a list. (Flip it over to choose which list)

The latest update also lays the groundwork for Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of AI tools coming to iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 later this year. Once released, users can choose between 4 different actions when talking to Siri, as well as integrating Writing Tools into Things 3.

You can buy the app for a one-time fee of $9.99.

Dark Noise

Dark Noise lets you set a range of background sounds to help you focus on something, or go to sleep with. From heavy rain sounds to the inside of a plane - it’s a great app to use if you’re struggling to concentrate.

Developed by Charlie Chapman, the latest update to Dark Noise features tinted app icons for the home screen, and the ability to place widgets in the redesigned Control Center to easily play background sounds whenever you need them.

Available from today, you can also purchase a ‘Pro’ subscription for $2.99 a month, $19.99 a year with a three-day trial, or a one-time purchase for $49.99. This offers the ability to add custom sounds, alternate app icons, and exclusive themes.

TV Remote

Developed by Adam Foot, TV Remote is a fully customizable remote app for iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro. You can change the look of the app through themes, as well as change its layouts and much more. The app can also change sources and lets you enter text via a keyboard.

TV Remote supports televisions from LG, Samsung, Sony, and more manufacturers around the world, meaning you don't have to launch the required app every time.

Available on the App Store for free but with an optional subscription that starts at $1.99 a month, it’s very useful for cord-cutters around the world. For iOS 18, TV Remote has had its layout refreshed, as well as the ability to manage a TV through the redesigned Control Center, and the option to choose from dark and tinted app icons for your iPhone's Home Screen.

It should be mentioned that Foot has a lot of apps that he's been working on that all take advantage of iOS 18. Be sure to check them out if you need ways to help watch TV on your Apple devices.

Sticky Widgets

If you're someone who likes to place a bunch of sticky notes around your home or place of work, Sticky Widgets could help reduce that.

It's a simple app but it does one thing incredibly well — you can create a sticky note as a widget, and place it on your iPhone's (or iPad's) Home Screen. If you need to add or remove anything, you simply tap it to update the note.

For iOS 18, you can now customize these notes with 'Super Gradients', allowing you to choose from up to 16 different colors to make them pop. You can also place a favorite note in the new Control Center, making it easier for you to reach them.

Sticky Widgets is a free download from the App Store, but there are a variety of prices to unlock even more features, starting from $1.49 a month.

Vinyl Fetish

No, it's not the kind of app you may be thinking from its name. Instead, Vinyl Fetish is a fantastic app that transforms your music library into a record player, with support for 7-inch 45s with standard or large spindle holes, as well as 10-inch 78 RPM records.

You can browse albums in 'crate mode', seamlessly simulating flicking through records in a box like you usually would, and you can even create labels from Discogs or generate automatic labels.

For iOS 18, Vinyl Fetish has been refreshed with new dark App icons and more. The app is free to download but does have an optional subscription or one-time fee to unlock features like more customization options and last.fm support. 

Bills to Budget

Balancing a family budget every week can be a stressful time, especially as you try to manage everyone's outgoings and any sudden changes due to rising prices of a product, or a job change.

With Bills to Budget, developed by Matt Corey, you can easily view detailed overviews of what's been spent in a month so far with elegant graphs and lists to help you keep track.

For iOS 18, there are a few new features to note. Account Insights lets you link your Apple Card, Apple Cash, or Apple Savings Account in the Wallet app. This way, you can discover how your spending and saving habits can help help manage your finances more effectively — all done privately and securely. Shopping Spree is a very useful feature that lets you keep track of your spending in real time while shopping. Powered by Live Activities, you can see how much is left in your budget as well as allowing you to quickly log purchases with one tap. Alongside these new features, Bills to Budgets adds support for the new Control Center, as well as the Action button.

Bills to Budget can be downloaded for free from the App Store, but there are a variety of paid subscription options, as well as a one-off fee to unlock all of the app's features.

Söka

If you've ever created a bucket list but not followed through with it, or you've lost it, this is where the brilliant Söka comes in. Not only can you create and manage bucket lists with this app, but features AI that can help give you ideas of a location you've picked within Söka.

For iOS 18, the app has been redesigned, adding controls to the redesigned Control Center to quickly reach your lists, as well as a new "Our Recommendations" section. This can help you browse a wide selection of activities that you can add to your lists, which is constantly added to help with current real-world events, such as sports and more.

Söka can be downloaded for free from the App Store, which includes a 'Söka+' tier that unlocks features such as unlimited bucket lists, the ability to archive them, and more that costs from $1.99 a month.

Mango Baby

Mango Baby is a fantastic app for new parents ( such as this very writer). You can log your newborn's activities in a variety of ways, from their last sleep, diaper change, and more.

For iOS 18, keeping track is even easier. In the new Control Center, you can quickly log new diaper changes as well as being able to switch on and off timers for things like tummy time and bath time. These timers also work seamlessly with live activities, so you can have this display on your iPhone's Lock Screen. In addition, there are plenty of tinted app icons you can choose from for your iPhone's Home Screen.

You can download Mango Baby for free on the App Store, but you can also purchase Mango Baby Premium for a one-time fee of $9.99 which unlocks exclusive features like iCloud Sharing, Growth Charts, and Data Import/Export.

Obscura

At iMore, we've long considered Obscura as the best third-party camera app you can use for your iPhone. Obscura 4, released in 2023, features a clean aesthetic with powerful controls, ensuring you to capture photos in the best light.

With iOS 18, developer Ben McCarthy has updated Obscura to support the new Lock Screen Camera Extension. This means, instead of having the Flashlight and Camera icons, found at the bottom of an iPhone's Lock Screen for years, these can now be replaced with whatever supported app you wish — including Obscura. McCarthy also confirmed to iMore that a further update will enable iPhone 16 and 16 Pro users to assign the Capture Control button to Obscura.

Slopes

If you're a lifelong skier, you've likely heard of Slopes, one of the best apps on iPhone for tracking your adventures. Slopes offers official trail maps for thousands of resorts worldwide, and the app can learn about every ski you take — tracking details like your top speed, elevation, season totals, and lifetime stats.

One standout feature is the ability to find your friends who also use Slopes. The app's detailed maps make it easy to find where they are, measured in feet.

With iOS 18, Slopes delivers its biggest update yet, and it's not just about the new tinted and dark app icons. First off, the app now features elegant data cards in key sections, providing you with important details about your activities, your record of what you've been doing since you arrived at a ski resort, and much more. A new Resorts Section allows you to navigate and explore nearby resorts or search for your favorite locations. This section provides quick access to resort information, ski maps, current conditions, and snow forecasts.

You can download Slopes from the App Store for free, but there are several in-app purchases and subscriptions available that unlock every feature. These include the ability to search for Trails & Lifts information, find out where you hit top speeds, identify your best run, and much more.

Email Me

At first glance, Email Me may seem like a normal note-taking app, but it offers a twist that may evoke nostalgia for some. Developed by Manuel Escrig, the app lets you jot down any quick thoughts that may come to you much like any other notes app, but instead of saving them within Email Me, you can send them to an email of your choice. This way, you have a record of your notes, wherever you use your email account. But Email Me doesn't stop there — it also uses the share extension in iOS to send a post in X or a link to an article, right to your email inbox.

With iOS 18, the app has been updated to include App Intents, tinted App icons, and Apple Intelligence once iOS 18.1 arrives later this year. Email Me is free to download from the App Store, but there is a subscription that starts at $2.99 a month, which unlocks unlimited email sending.

Noir

Dark Mode has been available since iOS 13 in 2019, transforming the entire operating system into a dark shade. iOS 18 expands this to include dark App icons on the home screen — but what about websites?

This is where Noir comes in. Available to download from the App Store for $2.99, the app works as an extension for the Safari web browser. If you're on a website that doesn't offer a dark mode option, simply press the aA button in Safari's address bar, tap Noir, and voila!

For iOS 18, Noia is adding support for the new Control Center, allowing users to quickly enable or disable Noir from there. Additionally, the update adds support for the new dark and tinted App icons to use for your Home Screen.

OmniFocus 4

Since its debut in 2008 for the Mac, OmniFocus has become one of the best go-to task manager apps to use on iPhone. It allows users to easily create tasks and organize them with projects, tags, and dates — all within a redesigned user interface introduced with OmniFocus 4 in December 2023.

Now, with the release of version 4.4 to coincide with iOS 18, OmniFocus brings new Controls that allow users to access features such as Quick Entry, Quick Open, and Open Perspective on the Lock Screen and Control Center. These Controls can also be configured for the iPhone's Action Button, supported on the iPhone 15 Pro and the entire iPhone 16 lineup.

In addition, OmniFocus' widgets and App Icon support iOS 18's tinted Home Screen feature.

OmniFocus 4 is free to download on the App Store, but unlocking all of its features requires a subscription, starting at $9.99 per month. There's a 14-day free trial to try out its features, but there are one-time-purchase options available (if you don't want a subscription) starting at $74.99.

Please Don’t Rain

Created by Chris Wu, Please Don’t Rain gets to the point by letting you know whether it will rain or not, getting rid of that anxious morning thought.

The design of it is simple, but fun. If there’s a good chance that it will rain, a photo of a sad animal, such as a cat, will appear when you load the app up. But if it’s not looking likely, a photo of a happy fox will appear instead.

For iOS 18, the user interface has been redesigned, enabling users to view sections for different types of weather for the month, such as rain, snow, and temperatures. 

Please Don’t Rain is free to download, but these new features and more are available as a ‘Pro’ subscription feature. You can either pay $0.99 for three months, or $2.99 for a year.

Orbit

Orbit is a new task manager app designed to help you keep track of your daily errands. Built from the ground up for iOS 18, Orbit features interactive widgets for your iPhone's Home Screen, Lock Screen, and the revamped Control Center.

The app has a simple yet attractive design which makes it easy for users to add and complete tasks quickly. You can download Orbit for free, but there is a premium subscription available that allows you to change the user interface, as well as the ability to view past tasks. To celebrate Orbit's launch, developer Rob Owen has the following offers:

- ORBITLAUNCH - 30% discount on individual annual subscription which includes a seven-day free trial

- ORBITLAUNCHFAMILY - 30% discount on family annual subscription which includes a seven-day free trial

Chronicling

While you can use Apple’s Journal app on your iPhone, Rebecca Owen has a fantastic alternative called Chronicling.

Available for free or as a subscription for $0.99 a month or $9.99 for a year, you can track anything you want. From meals to fitness, or to help keep track of a book you're reading, Chronicling makes it easy but fun to journal all of these.

The app features a great design that takes no time at all to learn the ins and outs of. Its widgets and Apple Shortcuts support can help you refine how you want to track certain projects each week. Owen makes this part fun as well, making you want to keep going in whatever you're trying to accomplish.

In Chronicling's update for iOS 18, you can add events and open the app within the new Control Center, as well as dark/tinted App Icons and support for new journal suggestion types. These include reflection, state of mind, generic media, and motion activity.

Flyleaf

Have you ever been on a website to read an article, but left it soon after because of its poor design and over-reliance on ads? Flyleaf, developed by Max Melzer, endeavors to solve this by transforming any web page into a sleek magazine-style article.

Once converted, articles appear in a layout similar to an eBook that you can buy from Apple's Book Store, allowing you to easily swipe through pages, depending on how the length of the article. Flyleaf's latest update for iOS 18 includes tinted and dark App Icons, along with some bug fixes.

The app can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but there is a monthly or yearly subscription at $2.00 and $17.00 respectively, offering the ability to customize the app with themes, and to use tags to better sort the articles you've saved.

Rain Viewer

If you're a fan of weather radar maps, Rain Viewer could be the perfect app for you. Developed by MeteoLab, it provides detailed radar views of severe weather conditions such as rain, snow, and hurricanes. Unlike apps like CARROT Weather, which offers a huge range of weather-related features, Rain Viewer focuses on weather conditions through detailed radar maps and nothing else. If you live in an area that's prone to conditions like heavy wind, rain, and snow, Rain Viewer could be the ideal app to use.

With its iOS 18 update, the app now supports widgets in the redesigned Control Center, allowing for quick access to weather radar maps, as well as App Intents, letting users ask Siri questions like chance of rain.

Rain Viewer is free to download on the App Store, but there is a subscription starting at $4.99 per month, which unlocks features like the removal of ads, extended daily and hourly forecasts,  48-hour map archives, and lots more.

NowPlaying

At first glance, NowPlaying seems like a different take on Shazam, another music recognition app. But this offers so much more when you start to look at the details. NowPlaying gathers info from various public sources, giving you a list of all music trivia related to the track. You can find out everything about any song, artist, or record easily by scanning the barcode of an album, or by facing your iPhone to a track.

For iOS 18, users can ask Siri to tell you more about the song that’s currently playing, as well as the ability to find more info about a song by pressing a new button in the redesigned Control Center. NowPlaying is also dipping its toe into editorial content with 'Album of the Day'. By checking the app daily, you'll be able to discover info about a new album.

NowPlaying is free to download but you can upgrade to its 'Gold' subscription with the following price points:

$1.99 / month

$11.95 / year

$49.99 / one-time-fee

Countdowns

Countdowns is exactly what you think it is. The app lets users count down to something that they're looking forward to, such as a birthday, an anniversary, or the launch of a new game. The app has a simple yet colorful design, featuring useful widgets, tinted icons for your iPhone's home screen, and plenty of customization options.

Version 10 is available now for free, but there is a subscription option that enables your countdowns to sync across your devices, lists, custom notifications, and more. You can buy this for $0.99 a month, $7.99 yearly, or $19.99 for a lifetime pass.

Control Mark

Control Mark is a brand new app for iOS 18 that offers one simple function — to let you bookmark any web page from the redesigned Control Center or the Lock Screen as a widget.

It sounds very simple, and you'd be right. The ease of use here will be very appealing to those who use their iPhones to browse the web — Control Mark simply makes adding a bookmark an easier experience.

Control Mark can be downloaded from the App Store for $0.99.

Ambre

If you're passionate about cooking, Ambre is the perfect app for organizing any recipes you find. You can import them from anywhere, including Instagram, and store them in one place.

With its update for iOS 18, Ambre now offers widgets for the revamped Control Center, allowing you to scan cookbooks, schedule a dinner, and more. If you've spotted a recipe in a different language, Ambre can now translate it directly on your device. Additionally, tinted and dark mode app icons can be used for your iPhone's Home Screen.

Ambre can be downloaded for free but a premium subscription at $1.99 a month, unlocks additional features like widgets, meal plans, unit conversions, and more.

Timelines

Timelines, a powerful time-tracking app, has been updated for iOS 18 to enable Control Center widgets, enabling users to quickly start and stop specific timers. Like other apps in this list, Timelines supports tinted app icons and the ability to change its app icon to a darker gradient on the home screen.

Zenitizer

Developed by Manuel Kehl, Zenitizer is a powerful app designed to help you create and manage meditation routines. These can be viewed through widgets on your iPhone's Home Screen, as well as being able to choose from a bunch of calming background sounds to help you meditate.

With the iOS 18 update, Zenitizer adds support for your favorite meditation routines on the media playback pages of the redesigned Control Center. Additionally, you can pick tinted app icons and widgets to customize your iPhone's Home Screen further.

Zenitizer is free to download, but there is a subscription that has access to a full selection of bell sounds, the ability to log mindful minutes, and much more, starting at $2.99 a month.

Pockity

With the cost of living still enduring, budgeting your income and expenses is more important than ever. Budgeting apps can help manage all of this, without relying on a table you've created in Apple's Notes app.

This is where Pockity comes in, free to download with an optional $10.99 one-time fee to unlock all features, the app lets you set up automatic expenses and income tracking. Additionally, notification reminders can be set for anything that might impact your budget, all within an elegant interface.

In an update for iOS 18, there are tinted and dark app icons to choose from, as well as Lock Screen and Control Center widgets to create a new budget entry or scan receipts quickly.

MusicHarbor

Popular music tracking and discovery app MusicHarbor has been updated for iOS 18, which includes a new method to quickly launch the app from the new Control Center, as well as the Lock Screen or Action button. New App Shortcuts now enable users to view upcoming releases. This means you can ask Siri the following: “Siri, show upcoming releases in MusicHarbor”, and Apple's assistant will display what's coming up.

Saturn

If you've recently switched from X to Mastodon and you've been searching for a dedicated iOS app, Saturn, developed by Shihab Mehboob, might be just what you need.

This is an app tailor-made for both Mastodon and iOS 18. You can use App Intents (Shortcuts), Control Center widgets, Translations, and more. Its interface is reminiscent of X's own iOS app but with an orange color scheme.

You download Saturn for free from the App Store, but there is a yearly subscription of $12.99 or a one-time unlock fee of $39.99.

Dumb Phone

Do you just want to use your iPhone with minimal distractions? Dumb Phone, developed by Michael Tigas, aims to help with that. This is a simple app launcher that allows you to display a curated list of apps.

Available to download for free with an optional $2.99 monthly subscription to start with, Dumb Phone does exactly what it promises. With the iOS 18 update, you can launch the app from the redesigned Control Center and choose between a light or dark app icon.

Snbd

Snbd (short for Soundboard) lets you create custom soundboards by adding sounds from your Photos, Music, and Voice Memo recordings. It's a simple yet powerful app that might inspire you to create music you hadn't previously considered.

In a new update to mark iOS 18's arrival, users can add their soundboards to the redesigned Control Center, making them a swipe away from the top-right of your iPhone's screen. Additionally, Snbd's Home Screen widgets now match the new tint themes available in iOS 18.

Snbd is free to download, but there is a $3.99 Pro option that unlocks a bunch of extra features. This includes live sound recording and the power to add them to your soundboard, as well as the ability to change the speed, pitch, and looping of your audio.

It's important to note that submitting a review of an app in the App Store is a great way to give awareness to new users. If you've downloaded any of the apps mentioned above and you want to rave all about it, follow these steps:

• Find the app on the App Store
• Open its details page
• Tap on 'Reviews'
• Tap on 'Write a Review'

Of course, this is only a small slice of the apps that have been updated to take advantage of iOS 18. If there's an app you'd like us to feature, do get in touch.

Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat has been dubbed a "super app", and it's exceptionally popular in China, but Apple has been working to earn a larger cut of in-app purchases on games within the platform.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple has approved a new version of WeChat for the iPhone on the App Store, but has seemingly done so in the hopes of finding an agreement over the billions of dollars that flow through WeChat's gaming library.

"The approval is likely to quash speculation in China that a dispute between the US firm and China’s largest company over app store fees could snowball and even bar WeChat from the latest iPhones," Bloomberg reports.

"Their disagreement centers on Apple’s insistence that it get a cut of potentially lucrative transactions that flow through WeChat’s mini-games platform, a repository of popular casual titles created by thousands of indie developers."

Apple and Tencent's Chequered Past

Back in 2020, a survey conducted in China showed that 678,000 smartphone users would switch to an alternative platform if Apple removed WeChat from the App Store.

That's after accusations WeChat harvests large amounts of data from users worldwide, leading to then-President Trump signing an executive order prohibiting companies from doing business with WeChat (as well as TikTok). The ban was dropped by President Biden in 2021.

The app has almost 1.4 billion users in China, and incorporates so many aspects of daily life that it's essentially an operating system in and of itself.

One of its most popular facets is its variety of games, but developers have been suggesting users make purchases outside of the app to circumnavigate Apple's payment fees (not unlike Epic Games did). Tencent has been reluctant to close these loopholes, leading to friction between it and the platform holder.

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EU users may not get some Apple Intelligence features for quite some time, but ChatGPT's impressive macOS app has been steadily gaining fresh features in the interim.

A new companion window rolled out last month, but now the app has added its Memory feature for EU and Korean users.

The feature, that lets users store some data in ChatGPT that persists from session to session, should make it easier to strike up a conversation with the chatbot and get results more quickly, and tailored to your specific preferences.

How to use ChatGPT memory

Once you've updated the app to its latest version, hop into the menu and then the Personalization section.

From here, you can toggle 'Memory' on (it's off by default). This will help ChatGPT to remember how detailed you like your responses, what your preferred name is, and even life details (the app's example is "I just got a puppy!").

From the same menu, you can adjust the memory and remove anything you'd prefer ChatGPT not to remember. 

To add data, simply chat with the bot. For example, "I am a 34-year-old freelance writer in tech, based in the UK" triggered the response "memory updated".

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If you missed it, Sonos is facing considerable backlash regarding its new app. Released earlier this year, the redesign was dubbed by some as "unusable", and caused the company's otherwise excellent speakers to become pretty useless.

With accusations the app was "unfinished", and the potential for a dramatic U-turn that would lead users back to the prior version, Sonos is in a tricky spot.

According to a new report, the software issues are having a knock-on effect with new hardware releases. That comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, where he reports "Sonos is still in the middle of a crisis. Though the company has made headway in repairing the damage, the fallout will be felt for months."

Sonos facing hardware delays following app issues

According to Gurman, the company has had to "delay two products so that it can focus on the software problem," with one of them being a "Roku-like offering codenamed Pinewood" which would mark Sonos' first TV set-top box. Gurman didn't say what the other project was.

Sonos' Ace headphones are reportedly "underperforming", too, with Gurman suggesting the numbers show that 250 units are being built a day - drastically less than the target of 2,500 units. Reduced demand means the company will build between 90,000 and 100,000 units annually, instead of ten times that number.

Stock is down 32% this year, Gurman notes, which is a huge disappointment given the year was intended to see a variety of new products launch.

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Google is rolling out an AI feature for its Photos app, enabling users to search for photos in their libraries using the Gemini AI assistant. 

Currently available as a test for some U.S. users, 'Ask Photos' allows conversational language to be used in order to find photos. In a blog post, Google explained how this feature works. "You can search for specific photos in a natural, descriptive way, like “Alice and me laughing,” “Kayaking on a lake surrounded by mountains” or “Emma painting in the backyard.”  But 'Ask Photos' goes further, with the ability to group photos into shared albums and more. "You can ask for suggestions for the best photos from your birthday party for a shared album or for help summarizing the top things you did on your recent trip to share with a friend."

More importantly, Google has emphasized privacy regarding this feature. Any photos found or grouped into new albums are not seen by the company, nor will they be used for any other purposes. "To help us improve Ask Photos, queries may be reviewed by humans, but only after being disconnected from your Google Account to protect your privacy. The answers provided by 'Ask Photos', including your photos and videos, are not reviewed by humans, unless you provide feedback or in rare cases to address abuse or harm."

If you use Google Photos on the best iPhones and don't yet have access to 'Ask Photos', you can join the waiting list here.

What's coming to Photos via Apple Intelligence?

If 'Ask Photos' sounds familiar, you're not mistaken. Announced at WWDC in June, Apple's yearly developer conference, Apple Intelligence is the company's endeavor to improve its software suite with AI-powered features. During the keynote, Apple showcased several features within its Photos app, powered by this new technology.

One example is 'Clean Up', which lets you remove any unwanted objects in a photo by simply drawing a circle around them. However, it's the search functionality in Apple's Photos app that's very familiar to Google's 'Ask Photos'. Just like Google's version, you can use everyday language in Apple's Photos app in the search bar. For example, typing in "Watching the Spice Girls at Murrayfield” will pull up all media that's relevant to that sentence.

Apple says iOS 18.1 will arrive later this year for compatible iPhones, with Apple Intelligence launching first for U.S. users.

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I really love the idea of cloud gaming. And, as someone who occasionally subscribes to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, I love the idea of accessing a ton of Xbox games across all of my devices instead of just my Xbox Series X. However, I absolutely hate trying to play a game from Xbox Cloud Gaming on my iPhone.

Right now, there's no Xbox Cloud Gaming app on the iPhone. While there is an Xbox app and a Game Pass app, if you want to access Xbox Cloud Gaming, you have to do so through a browser on the iPhone. It's a terrible experience and, as much as Apple and Microsoft try to make it better, it's clear that a dedicated app would be way better for all of us gamers.

When Apple opened up the App Store for cloud gaming apps, I was finally stoked that Microsoft would finally release a dedicated Xbox Cloud Gaming app or build the functionality into the Xbox app. However, it looks like we're still a ways away from such a thing happening.

Apple's App Store fees are the problem

As reported by The Verge, Microsoft is arguing in its submission to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that Apple's App Store fees make bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming to the App Store "impossible" due to the economic realities of the business model. Basically, Apple's fees would make it too expensive to make the service available on the App Store.

Specifically, Microsoft says "Apple’s IAP commission fee is set at a level that is neither economically sustainable nor justifiable. The 30% commission fee makes it impossible for Microsoft to effectively monetize its cloud gaming service."

We'll see what happens here, but it seems that the only way that we'll get Xbox Cloud Gaming in app form on the iPhone is if Apple works out a new fee structure for companies like Xbox. In the past, the company has already been forced to lower its fees or allow third-party payment providers in certain countries, so legislative pressure seems to be the only thing making headway.

Microsoft seems keen on continuing to push its agenda using that lever.

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If you thought the Beats Pill looked cool, then Japanese artist Verdy has something even more adorable for the new speaker.

A limited edition collectible bear toy, developed in collaboration with Beats, Vear is a new "collectible art figure" that holds the newest version of the speaker.

"Meet "Vear," the latest creation by VERDY. This 3D-animated character is the first re-imagined Pill Character for the new Beats Pill in the form of a collectible art figure," the product description reads.

"This collaboration introduces a cream-colored bear named “Vear” holding the latest Beats Pill between its paws."

You can check out the fun animated trailer below.

Vear will set you back $500

While Vear is sadly sold out at the time of writing, it was offered in a bundle that included the Beats Pill speaker.

The bundle, however, cost $500. Considering the Beats Pill itself is around $149 new, that's a steep cost for its admittedly adorable companion - although the fact it sold out suggests that customers didn't care too much.

The comments on the YouTube channel certainly suggest others were less impressed by the price tag, but you can still pick up just the speaker itself.

What's new with the first Beats Pill since 2022? The portable speaker has Bluetooh 5.3 for lower-latency, and you can use it as a power bank while you're out and about, while the USB-C port can be used to play lossless audio, too.

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A new report has highlighted how Apple faces a steep challenge in preventing 'Face Swap' apps in the App Store that can otherwise be used to create deepfake images - including pornography.

The company regulates its App Store via a "walled garden" policy where apps are required to comply with Apple's guidelines, but a report from 404 Media suggests "dual use" apps that incorporate features like face swapping can be used to switch faces onto pornographic content - sometimes using minors.

Apple's challenges with Dual Use apps

The reporter found a face swap ad on Reddit, with the app suggesting a series of websites, including pornographic ones, to swap faces into.

As the report itself says "I tested the app and found that, for users willing to pay a subscription fee of $20 a month, it makes it incredibly easy to generate nonconsensual deepfake porn of anyone."

"All I had to do was provide one image of the person I wanted to deepfake, and use an in-app internet browser to navigate to the video I wanted them to appear in. As the ad I saw on Reddit suggested, when I navigated to a specific Pornhub video, the app automatically pulled the video and created deepfake porn of the person in the image I provided."

"The entire process, from the moment I saw the ad on one of the most popular websites in the world to the completed deepfake video, took about five minutes, and created a highly convincing result. 

Given Apple doesn't allow porn apps on the App Store, this feels like a way to circumnavigate that policy somehow while potentially sourcing content from an adult site.

While Apple Intelligence cannot generate images of that kind, the company might need to take a deeper look at third-party options on its App Store before long.

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Following social network X (formerly Twitter) being banned in Brazil, the country's Supreme Court requested Apple and Google remove the app from their respective App Stores.

While the court has changed its stance on removing it from the App Store (thanks, 9to5Mac), the app, and the social network in general, remains banned in the country.

The ban began in recent days following X's owner, Elon Musk, closing down the Brazilian offices for X and laying off all of its employees in protest of requests to take down profiles considered to be spreading false information.

Because Brazilian law requires a social network to have a local legal representative, of which X now does not have one, the platform is banned and users can be fined for using it.

X remains banned in Brazil

Internet providers in Brazil have been urged to cut off access to the social network, and the court requested Apple and Google remove it from stores.

Neither complied, despite the threat of fines each day, but it appears the Brazilian Supreme Court has changed its stance and will allow the platform's app to be kept in the stores.

X users in the country can use a VPN to access it but risk heavy fines for doing so.

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Social media camera app Snapchat has come to Apple’s best iPads in a new update, but it’s locked in Portrait orientation for now.

Released on August 26, the new update explains that, “Snapchat now offers native support for iPad! This means that Snapchat will fill an iPad’s full screen, providing a larger canvas when capturing Snaps and allowing you to see more friends on the 2nd and 4th tabs.” This means that whether you own an M4 iPad Pro or an iPad mini, you can now take advantage of the bigger screen to flick through snaps, play with filters, and watch different Stories from friends and family.

Since its debut in 2011, Snapchat has found a niche in sending and receiving photos and videos, known as Snaps, to other users with the best iPhones. But it was in 2013 when the app introduced a new feature called ‘My Story’, enabling users to share snaps into a chronological timeline as if to tell a story to their followers. This feature eventually ‘inspired’ other apps like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to roll out their own ‘Story’ feature. While Snapchat was previously available on iPads anyway thanks to the app running in compatibility mode, using the app on an iPad’s full screen with the updated native app will be massively appealing to those who use the app daily. 

You can download Snapchat for compatible iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 13 and above.

The best iPads to use Snapchat on

With Snapchat now updated to take advantage of compatible iPads, we’ve found some great deals on iPads that you can buy right now to use Snapchat with.

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While macOS Sequoia will add new Apple Intelligence features to Apple Mail, it'll be tough to pry me away from Spark Mail.

The app, developed by Readdle, added AI-based features last year but has since shifted toward being a Calendar app and an email client at the same time.

Now, it's expanding that with a new scheduling tool that should make it much easier to find space in your calendar—and your colleagues'.

Spark just made a big improvement to its Calendar

As seen in the post on X (formerly Twitter) above, you can now click to create a calendar appointment and then see the timeslot suggestions adjust while you add other people to the event.

That should help eliminate the back-and-forth of constantly needing to check and recheck availability.

It's currently only available for Spark Premium subscribers and is exclusive to Google Calendars on the desktop, but Readdle says it'll work if a calendar is shared with you or is part of your organization.

Have you checked out Spark? What are your favorite email apps on Mac? Let us know in the comments.

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• "Re-releasing the old Sonos app would be worse" says CEO after major app blunder
  
  

Final Cut Pro got a pretty huge update back in June across both the Mac and iPad app and now Apple is going on the offensive to promote both with a couple of new videos (they're ads).

The first video, which is focused on Final Cut Pro version 10.8 for the Mac, talks about the new update's "powerful media organization, AI-enhanced features, and incredible performance." You can check out that video below:

For the Final Cut Pro for iPad 2, Apple says that the new version "reimagines video creation for iPad and puts the power of a production studio at your fingertips. Find out all the details about the new features in version 2."

You can check out that video below:

Apple wants to eat Adobe's lunch

While Apple may have killed off its amazing photography app Aperture years ago, the company has really put a ton of work into keeping both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro going. The company has even, in recent memory, released apps for the iPad and most recently the Final Cut Camera app for iPhone.

With Adobe as its main competitor in the video editing space, Apple is showing that it really wants you to chose not only its software, but its hardware as an all-in-one solution for recording, editing, and publishing.

While Adobe still only allows you to purchase Premiere Pro through a subscription, Apple still offers Final Cut Pro for a one-time purchase of $299.99. Unfortunately, the company has gone with a subscription model for the iPad app, charging either $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

We'll have to see how things continue to shake out, but Apple clearly plans to stay in the video editing software game for years to come. Now it just needs to bring back Aperture.

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Sonos' redesigned app is awful, and everyone thinks so. The rushed redesign has been met with tons of bad ratings on the App Store since launching in May. But fixing it won't be as easy as just re-releasing the older app.

Last month, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized for the rocky launch. He promised that the brand's top priority is fixing the app, even going as far as pushing back some product launches pegged for August. While the tech brand struggles to fix its major app blunder, many have wondered if simply rolling back to the old app would fix things. But in a Reddit AMA, Spence confirmed that Sonos had seriously considered re-releasing the old app but, after "extensive testing, we’ve reluctantly concluded that re-releasing S2 would make the problems worse, not better."

Currently, there's no way to use the older version of the app, with users in the Sonos ecosystem locked to the new and confusing UI of the newer iteration. While Sonos is working hard to update the new design and continuously improve the app, it's still not as functional as the previous version the company left in the past.

What happened to the Sonos app?

To give you a bit of backstory, Sonos dropped a new mobile app on May 7, and, to put it mildly, it didn’t exactly go down a treat. Users weren’t just unhappy – they were livid. The app was buggy, unreliable, and made the user experience about as enjoyable as stubbing your toe on a coffee table.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially for those who’ve been with Sonos since the early days. And while Spence insists that the app remains his “#1 priority,” the reality is that the path forward looks more like continuing to patch up the new app rather than resurrecting the old one.

On the bright side, Spence did mention the possibility of introducing two-factor authentication, which might add a layer of security that some users will appreciate.

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While users of X (formerly Twitter) seem to be split between those who want to pay for a blue tick and those who reluctantly wait for a better alternative (at least on my timeline), the latter group will be pleased to know that Threads is working on some big improvements.

The platform, owned by Meta and therefore integrated tightly with Facebook and Instagram, will soon be gaining a whole host of new tools aimed at businesses and creators - but there's some fun stuff for the average user, too.

In a blog post earlier this week, Meta announced a series of web tools, including a suite of analytics for tracking performance across Threads. That'll tie into demographics, too, so creators and companies can gain more insight into what works with their followers, and who those followers are.

Threads gets improved web options

While many likely use the Threads app, the web version of the microblogging platform is getting support for multiple drafts (up to 100!) and scheduling for posting at a certain date and time.

These are features X has had for a while, but they won't come to the iOS app just yet.  Still, they have started to roll out on the web version already.

Threads has somewhere around 30 million monthly daily active users, but remains some way off of X's numbers (over 500 million, although that could include bots).

Which is your social media platform of choice, if any? Sound off in the comments below.

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Apple has told popular subscription platform Patreon that it must start using Apple’s own iOS in-app purchase system, a move that could see membership price increases of up to 30 percent. 

For years, Apple has only allowed developers to offer in-app purchases, including digital goods and services, by using its own in-app payment system. It’s a hot topic and a controversial business model at the heart of the Epic Games Free Fortnite lawsuit and burgeoning EU legislation aimed at Apple. 

Last year, Apple told Patreon that it had to start using Apple’s billing system for certain digital purchases, which it had done since 2024. Now, Apple says it is extending that requirement to Patreon subscriptions, which could be bad news for subscribers or creators. 

Patreon falls to Apple’s App Store

Patreon CEO Jack Conte has revealed that, from November, Apple’s 30 percent fee will apply to all Patreon subscriptions bought on iPhone through its iOS app. Crucially, the change will only apply to new subscriptions, rather than existing ones. 

In practice, it means that creators will need to increase their prices by 30 percent to compensate for the lost income, or simply accept a 30 percent reduction in income from new iPhone subscribers, with the latter seeming unlikely. 

Currently, Patreon offers creators a way to increase prices for digital goods on iOS only to compensate for the fee, and will also offer the same tool for subscriptions. The company has promised to help creators through the transition for a year starting in November. 

While the move might appear at first glance to be a money grab from Apple, the ramifications will probably be pretty small. Creators will likely take Patreon up on its mechanism to increase iOS pricing, but with cheaper alternatives available on other platforms, prospective subscribers will likely take their business to Patreon’s website to save money while still supporting creators.

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After pulling Fortnite from the App Store thanks to Epic suggesting users circumnavigate Apple's payment options, the ensuing legal battle, quashing of appeals and more, the light could be at the end of the tunnel - at least as far as Fortnite players go.

Epic's Newsroom account posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it had submitted Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and its own third-party storefront, the Epic Games Store, for Apple's final approval.

"Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and the Epic Games Store have all been submitted to Apple for final notarization," the post reads.

"Stay tuned for the launch of the Epic Games Store on iOS in Europe soon!"

Fortnite has a lot of momentum right now

There's a hint of deja-vu here, since the Epic Games Store notarization was actually accepted back in June after a "will they, won't they" squabble between the two companies about the storefront's buttons being too similar, but the news of Fortnite and Rocket League Sideswipe, a mobile version of the popular sports game being closer than ever to returning to Apple platforms will be welcome for many.

Fortnite remains one of the most popular games in the world, and is about to kick off another Marvel-focused season following a reveal at Disney's D23 event last weekend. That could mean the return could be even more popular than ever, but we'll wait to see if Apple approves the submission.

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Apple proudly proclaimed that iOS 18 will see the "biggest redesign" for the Photos app on iPhone since it was introduced at WWDC 2024, but in reality, it's seemingly not been panning out well for users.

In the latest issue of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple has seemingly walked back some of the changes made to Photos.

Suggesting the redesign was "probably a little too bold and potentially confusing", Gurman said the most recent beta version of iOS 18 has removed the new carousel feature.

iOS 18's Photos app gets another redesign

"It also tweaked the photo grid to be more user-friendly and pushed albums higher up into the app to require less scrolling," Gurman said.

"Perhaps most critically, Apple moved saved content back into the main photo grid. These changes came at a key moment: Apple now considers iOS 18 to be complete and is preparing to add the software to the upcoming iPhone 16 line."

We reported last month how Apple execs had been evangelizing the app's more "personal" nature, but it appears it moved too quickly with the changes to one of the iPhone's most-used apps - and didn't want to wait until iPhone 16 to fix it.

How are you finding the new Photos app in the beta? I must admit I found it confusing at first, but it started to grow on me the more I used it.

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Apple's new Passwords app is coming as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, and in our testing we found it to be a little behind 1Password's offering.

In a cruel twist, however, 1Password has revealed its Mac app, 1Password 8, has a security vulnerability that could, if triggered, allow a bad actor to get to a user's account key.

Given that the key is the literal 1Password behind which your others are stored, it's important to update to the latest version, 8.10.36. It can also allow for items to be removed from your 1Password Vault.

In a blog post, the company said:

"An issue has been identified in 1Password for Mac that affects the app’s platform security protections. This issue enables a malicious process running locally on a machine to bypass inter-process communication protections."

"This issue was responsibly disclosed to us by Robinhood’s Red Team after they chose to conduct an independent security assessment of 1Password for Mac. 1Password has received no reports that this issue was discovered or exploited by anyone else."

How to ensure your 1Password Mac app is updated

While 1Password seems to be unaware of anyone attempting to gain access using this 'malicious process', you can make sure you're safe with relative ease using the steps below:

• Open 1Password 8 for Mac
• In the menu bar, click 1Password, then 'Check for Updates'
• In the settings screen, click 'Check for Updates' to ensure you're running the latest version

Thankfully, the fix is already there, but this arguably couldn't have landed at a worse time for the company - although its admission of the issue is certainly appreciated for users (myself included).

Still, with Apple's Passwords app on the horizon, it remains to be seen if users will drop 1Password for the baked-in (and free) option.

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Apple dropped the Journal app onto the iPhone with iOS 17.2 late last year, but it still feels lacking.

Aside from being consigned to the smartphone (here's hoping it comes to other platforms soon), it just doesn't offer the same robust feature set you'll find in a competitor like Day One.

Thankfully a new patent filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (thanks, Mac Observer) may have suggested the next step for the Journal app, and it'll tie in nicely with Apple Intelligence to help recommend things to jot down to look back on later.

Is the Journal app about to get an AI upgrade?

According to the patent filing, Apple will expand on the current suggestions the app offers, where it pulls photos and locations to create entries.

New features could include push notifications for logging events, a new timeline-style entry, and AI prompts like "how was your run" based on what you've been doing on a given day.

We could also see a Journal widget on the iPhone home screen, and some of the images in the filing suggest we could get an iPad version, too, although this isn't outright discussed.

As always, it's worth remembering companies of Apple's size will regularly submit patents and not all are used, but here's hoping for a more robust Journal app experience in the coming years.

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Apple announced that its spatial computing headset, Apple Vision Pro, now has over 2,500 apps available to download.

This marks an increase of 500 apps since June when Apple announced the availability of the headset’s launch in other countries outside of the U.S. It’s worth noting that this new figure represents dedicated Vision Pro apps currently available, which stand in addition to the almost two million iPhone and iPad apps that can run on the headset in compatibility mode.

If you’re a Vision Pro owner there are plenty of apps to look into. For example, VirtualFriend is a Nintendo Virtual Boy emulator, which mimics the company’s failed attempt into VR back in the mid-90s. In addition, one of the best productivity apps, Things 3, debuted on the headset the same day Vision Pro launched in the U.S. It features a redesigned user interface that allows you to move windows displaying to-do tasks with your hands, allowing them to stay in a certain place as you work away.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s available on the Vision Pro App Store. If you’re looking for some new apps to try out, we’ve compiled a guide of the best Apple Vision Pro apps to help you get started. With Apple’s spatial computing headset seemingly off to a good start and visionOS 2 set to debut later this year, the upcoming improvements may tempt you to look into one for yourself.

What’s available in visionOS 2?

visionOS 2 is the upcoming software update for Apple Vision Pro, which introduces some big improvements. One example is the enhanced Mac Virtual Display feature, which can now transform your Mac’s screen within visionOS into an ultrawide display, essentially giving you the equivalent of two 4K displays side-by-side. In addition, new gestures are being added, such as tapping your thumb and finger to bring up Control Center and flipping your hand over to check the battery status of your Vision Pro.

Apple says that visionOS 2 is set to arrive later this year as a free update for all Vision Pro users.

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ChatGPT for Mac has received a big update, with an update to the companion window as the standout feature, letting the AI assistant be a constant presence, wherever you are on macOS.

According to OpenAI’s release notes, version 1.2024.212, pressing Option + Space on one of the best Macs when ChatGPT is active will open the app as a new window, wherever you are on macOS. For example, if you’re browsing the web in Safari in full-screen mode, pressing this shortcut will summon ChatGPT, ready for you to ask the AI assistant any query you may have. You can also change the shortcut and the position of the window in the Settings section if needed.

Using a 'companion window’ could be a very useful feature for many users, as it removes the hassle of having to look for ChatGPT in the macOS dock or cycle through the list of active apps with Command+Tab. Instead, a quick press of the keyboard shortcut will instantly bring up the assistant in a new window, and you can simply close it when you’re done.

If you haven’t received the update yet, go to the Menu Bar when ChatGPT is active, click on ChatGPT > Check for Updates, and the update should be available to download.

What else is new in this new update?

There’s more than ‘companion window’ in this new update to ChatGPT on macOS! If you use charts and data analysis with the app, you can now expand generated charts to get a better view of the data, as well as being able to download them for offline use.

More shortcuts are available, such as ‘Command + .’ to stop ChatGPT if it’s generating a long response to your query, along with the ability to have the app launch once your Mac switches on.

Overall, this is a significant update to ChatGPT on macOS that’s only going to help your productivity, if you choose to use it.

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One of the best flight-tracking apps, Flighty, has been updated to feature the ability to see why your flight was delayed and how long the delay may last.

Flighty 4, now available for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, uses machine learning to monitor why an aircraft could be delayed, a feature that’s currently available for U.S. users. In a press release, the Flighty team explains. “Flighty 4.0 uses machine learning to predict these delays up to six hours before airlines acknowledge them. Often, airlines withhold this information, preferring to inform passengers at the last minute,” they continue. “With Flighty, travelers will finally know the truth about their delayed flights in advance. The app’s predictions are over 95% accurate in testing. And for the rare cases when your plane gets swapped – Flighty has an alert for that too!“

Ryan Jones, the company’s founder, shows how Flighty 4 displays a delayed flight. This useful feature allows travelers to make alternative arrangements instead of having to wait anxiously at an airport terminal wondering if they’re ever going to get on the plane.

But the helpful features don’t stop there. Air Traffic Controllers, a staple of airports for decades, are usually stationed in towers near the runways. They assist pilots in safely taking off and landing aircraft. Flighty 4 uses the same data that Air Traffic Control relies on, translating it into a useful summary for users. This provides more insight into why a delay has occurred and can potentially reduce stress once a delay has been confirmed.

If you’re about to go on vacation, Flighty 4 is an essential app for those just-in-case scenarios. These new features are part of Flighty Pro, which users can pay $4 per week for, while frequent fliers can opt for a $48 yearly subscription.

An essential app if you’re about to go on vacation

It’s that time of year when many are about to go on vacation, and using the best iPhones is crucial for storing boarding passes, car rental tickets, and more. Flighty 4 is a great example of helping to reduce stress at an airport. Sometimes, delays happen and they’re unavoidable, regardless of how well you may have planned to get to the airport with hours to spare.

While some features of Flighty 4, such as Air Space Delay reasons, are currently limited to the U.S., users worldwide can still benefit from its capabilities. The app lets you track any aircraft, import relevant emails, and lots more, all to help make your visit to the airport less stressful.

If you haven’t used Flighty before and you’re about to go on vacation, we strongly recommend you do so. You never know if you’re going to need it for those unexpected stressful moments at the airport.

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Stripe owes the developer of NotchNook hundreds of thousands in sales, but so far refuses to pay.

Developer Igor Marcossi posted on LinkedIn on August 7, explaining how, after NotchNook became a big hit with Mac users in July thanks to its ability to give Macs a Dynamic Island, Stripe is refusing to pay the sales amount generated by the app. “Yesterday they started the retaliation. Even though they already had all the documents from the company, they decided to pause sending money to my bank account and ask for some business docs,” Marcossi explains. “I sent them but they decided the corporate “bank owner account” wasn’t aware of where the money was coming from. They’ve now decided to CLOSE the account WITHOUT ANY NOTICE! There’s a risk of my company failing because Stripe decided to STEAL all our money. I literally don’t know what to do, I’m desperate, I have people to pay but Stripe won’t send me MY MONEY!!!!”

iMore reached out to Marcossi, who explained that NotchNook’s success has turned into a nightmare — all thanks to Stripe. “It’s been a nightmare, I already hired a lawyer nonetheless. I can’t develop with so much stress on me.” A representative from Stripe subsequently commented on Marcossi’s post, saying ‘We’re digging into things now.” Yet there hasn’t been much change at the time of writing.

We’ve also reached out to Stripe for comment and will update the story if we hear back.

What makes NotchNook so good?

Some of the best Mac apps usually fulfill needs that you hadn’t considered before. MacWhisper, a transcription app, and Whisky, a utility that can run Windows games on Apple silicon Macs, are great examples of this.

In the case of NotchNook, the Dynamic Island that the app places on a Mac can supercharge your productivity. It makes tasks like controlling music and checking Calendar straightforward, and it moves the volume and brightness indicators to NotchNook’s Dynamic Island, eliminating a big annoyance of macOS.

If you haven’t tried it yet, show your support by downloading a three-day trial. Currently, NotchNook can be bought as a $3 per month subscription or for a $25 lifetime fee.

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When you think of high-end gaming, Apple isn’t often a name that comes to mind, but the company is trying to change that. Apple is swiftly trying to upgrade its gaming offerings to make them more appealing to gamers and developers. In order for this push to work, it’ll need to impress both. 

Now that it solved the performance limitations on the Mac — Intel and AMD’s stalled performance in the prior decade nixed any shot Apple had at providing a great gaming product — Apple will be in control of its own destiny. iPhones, iPads, and Macs all run on Apple silicon, and each device is a category-leader in performance. Apple built it, but will gamers come? 

This newfound appreciation for gaming can be traced back to when Apple gave recent generations of the Apple TV 4K enough power to play light games. Then, it launched Apple Arcade, a subscription service for lightweight and ad-free games that could be played on basically anything Apple-branded, from an iPhone to an Apple TV to a Mac. More recently, Apple added Game Mode to macOS Sonoma and created the Game Porting Toolkit for developers to help them easily port Windows games to the Mac. 

Apple seemed to double-down on its gaming effort at the end of last year, when it announced that Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil Village would be coming to its platforms. In a first, the iPhone 15 Pro powered by its A17 Pro chip would be able to play these flagship games. However, their eventual launches felt anticlimactic. 

Whether the cause was the limited number of devices that could actually support the AAA games or their high prices, the result was a lack of consumer interest in high-end gaming on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. According to June data from Appfigures, fewer than 3,000 gamers bought Assassin’s Creed Mirage on iPhone for $50. An estimated total of 123,000 people download the game, but only a small fraction actually unlocked the full title with a purchase. It’s a similar story for the other AAA games on the App Store, by all accounts.

No matter how you look at it, the numbers don’t point to Apple silicon gaming being anything other than a flop in 2024. This might make you think, like many of Apple’s gaming initiatives in the past, that the advent of AAA gaming on iPhones, iPads, and Macs will be short-lived. While it’s certainly possible that game developers bail on Apple platforms, there’s a massive incentive for them to stick around — and it has everything to do with what the company calls the unified gaming platform.

What is the unified gaming platform, and why does it matter?

I first heard the term "unified gaming platform" at a gaming showcase with Apple in New York City, and it’s crucial to understanding the company’s pitch for AAA game development. The idea is simply that iOS, iPadOS, and macOS are not separate platforms. Instead, they are one. Developers can port their games to macOS, and by extension, quickly and easily make them available on iOS or iPadOS as well. 

Game studios can’t develop for every device or platform; there are quite a few factors that determine whether a developer ports its games to one platform or another. Performance and power are a consideration, but Apple has that covered with the A17 Pro and M-series chips. Arguably the more important consideration is whether there is enough demand and consumer base to make the port worthwhile. Apple platforms have never been a significant home for gaming, outside of basic mobile games.

So, Apple doesn’t really check the demand box. But it does fulfill the consumer base requirement, as there are more than a billion active devices across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Still, those platforms are considered emerging as far as gaming is concerned, and there’s a risk for developers to put time and money into porting games to emerging platforms. To make it worth their while, Apple needed to make it easy and worthwhile to port games to the unified gaming platform.

The easy part comes with the release of the Game Porting Toolkit 2.0 (GPTK2), as it now supports Windows games that use the DirectX and AVX2 instruction sets. Developers can take their Windows games, and port it to macOS using the GPTK2 without having to rebuild the title from the ground up. Then, developers can take that macOS port and port it to iOS or iPadOS again. The end result is a AAA game made for Windows running on an iPhone, iPad, and Mac with minimal effort.

I saw the new Game Porting Toolkit 2.0 in action, running in tandem with Crossover, a compatibility layer that leverages the GPTK2 foundation to help Windows games run on macOS with little to no manual action required. Now that GPTK2 supports DirectX, AVX2, and ray tracing, people will be able to run more Windows games than ever using software like Crossover or Whisky. If it’s easy for end users to run Windows games on their Macs, imagine how easy it’s going to be for developers to port games to macOS — and by extension, the unified gaming platform.

It’s not only easy, but also worthwhile for developers to port games to the unified gaming platform. We talk about this platform representing over a billion active devices, and here’s some perspective: Microsoft has sold less than 30 million Series S | X consoles and Sony has sold less than 60 million PlayStation 5 consoles as of May 2024 estimations. There are plenty of Windows PCs out there, but a much smaller number are capable of running the latest AAA games.

In the past, developers would’ve needed to develop for Android, console, and PC to get the kind of reach Apple is offering with the unified gaming platform. Combined, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS make up one of the biggest and most lucrative gaming platforms on the planet. The question is whether all this promise pays off for developers in the end, and whether they’ll stick around long enough to find out.

Will high-end gaming on Apple platforms stick?

The unified gaming platform is in its infancy. The number of devices that can run AAA games today is actually quite small compared to the billion-plus active Apple devices that are in the wild. However, as people upgrade their iPhones, iPads, and Macs, that number will only grow. 

Developers would be smart to stick around, and people in the Apple ecosystem would be smart to buy in. With games supporting universal purchase and Ubisoft Connect, a buyer can pay for a game once, start it on an iPhone, pick up right where they left off on an iPad, and finish things on a Mac. That’s the pitch of the unified gaming platform, and I think it’ll catch on. 

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Video-sharing platform TikTok is under fire, this time from the US government. While the app still faces a potential ban in the United States, it's now being sued by the country's Justice Department.

TikTok and parent company ByteDance were sued yesterday for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (or COPPA), which makes it illegal to collect and use data from children under the age of 13.

According to the lawsuit (viewable as a PDF), TikTok has allowed children to create accounts on the platform since 2019, and this means they've been able to create videos, comment, and interact with others (including adults) within the app.

While TikTok does have a Kids Mode, the company is alleged to have collected data from users within that section of the app, too.

TikTok accused of storing children's data

The Department of Justice says the app and its parent company have employed "extensive data collection" for millions of users under the age of 13, and retained personal information from them without parental consent.

The lawsuit also says users under 13 have been able to "interact with adult users and access adult content", while also making it difficult for parents to delete their child's data.

The DoJ is seeking penalties against each violation of the COPPA, as well as legislation to prevent TikTok collecting further data from children.

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Earlier today, X appeared to removed the Twitter app from the App Store on the best Macs. The official Mac app was abandoned, stuck with a lack of updates and rebranding since the changing of Twitter to X in 2023.

After removing the Twitter app, a pop-up in the app instructed users to use the X iPad app on their Macs. But you may want to hold off on doing so.

A number of users are reporting that their accounts are getting suspended, after using the X iPad app on their Mac. One Reddit user shared that their X account got suspended as soon as they logged into the iPad app on their Mac.

For anyone that isn't sure, developers can allow their iPhone or iPad apps to be installed on Mac. While X didn't allow this before, the iPad app can now be installed on Macs.

Wait, what happened to the Twitter app for Macs?

Many people, myself included, stuck to using the older Twitter for Mac app, as it still runs well, carries the old branding, and doesn't display ads. But those days appear to be officially over, as the Twitter app for Mac now appears gone for good.

As noted by one developer, Vedant, on X (ironically), the absence of the Twitter for Mac app from the Mac App Store suggests that X, formerly known as Twitter, has finally delisted the outdated software. Up until now, X has remained silent on the app being removed, so it's unclear if this is permanent or not. It is possible that the Mac app has been removed to be rebranded. But the more likely scenario is that it has simply been killed off.

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Last year, Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X. While nobody actually uses the new name, it was rebranded across all platforms, except the Mac app. The official Mac app was abandoned, stuck with a lack of updates and rebranding since the rebranding of Twitter to X in 2023.

Many people, myself included, have stuck to using the older Mac app on the best Macs, as it still runs well, carries the old branding, and doesn't display ads. But those days appear to be officially over, as the Twitter app for Mac now appears gone for good.

As noted by one developer, Vedant, on X (ironically), the absence of the Twitter for Mac app from the Mac App Store suggests that X, formerly known as Twitter, has finally delisted the outdated software.

Despite its removal, users who had previously installed the app can still use it. At the moment, I can still run the app on my Mac Studio. But some are reporting that the app is now bricked when they try to use it. Either way, the future of its functionality remains uncertain, as X could permanently disable the app at any time.

How can Mac users access X now?

With the official Twitter for Mac app no longer available, X now prompts users to "upgrade" to the iPad version of X, which has recently been made compatible with Apple Silicon Macs.

This change is a mixed bag for users: for users with Apple Silicon Macs, the transition to the iPad version may offer a functional alternative. For users with older Macs, they will be left without an app option and will need to access X through a web browser.

It's worth noting that the iPad app for X offers an arguably worse experience. Newer branding aside, it shows ads throughout X, as you'll find on other platforms. While that is the norm for the social platform these days, it's a disappointment for anyone who enjoyed using the old Mac app. You can, of course, subscribe to X Premium to remove ads.

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NotchNook, an app that transforms a MacBook’s notch into a Dynamic Island, has been updated to display when volume and brightness settings have changed, along with a few new features.

Announcing the 1.2 update to one of the best Mac apps in their Discord server, the NotchNook team explained that any media playing on your Mac will now show up in Dynamic Island. This includes watching videos on YouTube, VLC Player, listening to music through SoundCloud, and even podcasts on Spotify. The media will display just like on an iPhone with a Dynamic Island, complete with cover art and a small wavy line to indicate it’s playing.

But that’s not all that 1.2 features. In previous versions, users had to manually arrange widgets to fit across the width of the Dynamic Island. This meant that if you wanted to add or remove any more, you had to do this manually. In 1.2, you can add as many widgets as you want, and the Dynamic Island will automatically adjust, allowing you to scroll across to Calendar, music controls, and more.

The highlight of NotchNook’s 1.2 update is how it replaces the brightness and volume displays. Previously, changing one of these in macOS resulted in a frosty square appearing, showing the levels of brightness and volume. However, these square windows would usually obstruct something, such as when you’re watching a video in Safari. This annoyance was similar to the volume toggle on the iPhone before it was moved closer to the volume buttons. Now, when you change the brightness or volume with NotchNook 1.2, the indicators are in the Dynamic Island, finally getting rid of a big annoyance of macOS that’s been present for years.

If you haven’t tried NotchNook yet, we strongly recommend it. The app is free to download for a three-day trial and can be bought as a $3 per month subscription or for a $25 lifetime fee.

The team behind NotchNook is just getting started - iMore’s take

NotchNook gives the best Macs a feature you didn’t expect would work so well. I’ve had the app installed since I first heard about it in early July, and it’s made tasks like controlling music and checking Calendar so straightforward, that I’m puzzled Apple hasn’t added something similar to macOS already.

To mark the 1.2 update this week, I reached out to the NotchNook team to see what else they were working on. It turns out that updates like moving the brightness and volume indicators to the Dynamic Island are just the beginning, according to Igor Marcossi, NotchNook’s main developer and designer. “NotchNook's main feature is still to come: Pipelines. The app will allow the creation of custom "drop actions" that will be able to run terminal commands behind the curtains, which will virtually allow any type of interaction with the files,” Marcossi reveals. “ You can drop files here to zip/unzip, drop files here to get a public link, and drop files here to resize them. Those are called Pipelines and users will be able to share their own Pipelines.”

Marcossi is very excited about Pipelines’s potential in NotchNook. “It's the biggest feature we have planned for NotchNook. We plan to release it in a few months!” Hopefully, we won’t have long to wait to see how Pipelines can manage our files. In the meantime, we recommend giving NotchNook a try, even if you have a Mac that doesn’t have a notch. Having a virtual Dynamic Island may surprise you with how useful it can be on macOS.

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The App Store's walled garden feels more fragile by the day in recent months. First, Apple had to allow 3rd party stores onto iPhones thanks to a court order in the EU, and then a movie and TV piracy app crept its way onto the actual App Store somehow.

Apple soon removed the app, but it showed chinks in the otherwise presumably very secure app vetting process that Apple has going on with its app installing storefront. It looks like you can’t keep a pirate down, however, as 9to5Mac has found two more apps that have managed to sneak past the filters and settle in the App Store.

Ar, fortune rides the shoulders of them what schemes

The apps in question come in the form of two different close to identical apps. Both are called ‘Collect Cards’, although the two have different subheadings: One ‘Birthday Check’, and one ‘Sugar’. Whatever that means. Not much, apparently, given that the screenshots of the apps are almost exactly the same.

Install the apps, however, and you’ll soon find neither has anything to do with collecting cards, birthday checks, or sugar — instead, there are pages upon pages of different movies and TV shows that are, one would assume, pirated. There’s certainly no license for any of them to be there, that’s for sure.

Why have these apps made it to the App Store? Like the previous pirate app, they appear to be sneaking in by making themselves look like something innocuous, only to install and become something altogether more nefarious. Apple will likely step in at some point to remove the apps from the App Store as it did with the previous app, but as yet we don’t know if anything is being done to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Given that these apps come the same way as the previous, however, tells us that nothing has been done to stop it from happening.

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If you're using X (formerly Twitter), then the company's Grok AI might be trained on your content.

That's thanks to a recently activated setting that automatically opts users into allowing their data to be used to train the AI chatbot.

The wording of the warning is as follows:

"To continuously improve your experience, we may utilize your X posts as well as your user interactions, inputs and results with Grok for training and fine-tuning purposes. This also means that your interactions, inputs, and results may also be shared with our service provider xAI for these purposes."

It's perhaps a little deeper into the settings than most are likely to venture - leading to some consternation online.

How to opt out of X's Grok training

If you'd like to opt out of your data being used to train Grok, you'll find that setting in the web version of X - but you won't find it on the app just yet, much to the dismay of many users on the platform.

Here's how to prevent your posts being used to feed Grok information.

• Open up X on your computer
• Click 'More' (the three dots on the sidebar)
• Click 'Settings and Privacy', then 'Privacy and Safety'
• Select Grok, and untick the box the says "Allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning"

Away from Grok, Apple recently pledged to help enforce voluntary AI safety guidelines along with the likes of OpenAI, Meta, and Amazon.

Apple's own suite of AI features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, is expected to start hitting devices later this year.

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Remember all the random apps you used to download as a kid? I remember getting my first-ever iPhone, the 3GS, and spending hours downloading apps that made zero sense but made my younger self incredibly happy.

Now, as I near the ripe old age of 30, I decided to go through my App Store downloads and highlight some of the most random and nostalgic apps I downloaded as a kid. From Milk The Cow to a period where I downloaded multiple talking pet apps, this is a peek into my youth.

For this list, I’ve gone with apps that have been downloaded from my current Apple ID. From what I can gather, this ID was created around 2010 so older apps like Doodle Jump, iBeer, or that one app where you could pretend to eat popcorn from your iPhone’s screen, are all missing. Instead, I’ll focus on the ones I can see in my download history. So, buckle up, and get ready to enter the weird and wonderful world of my teenage brain.

Milk The Cow

The app that sparked this article idea is one of the strangest I’ve ever seen, and something I have no recollection of ever downloading. It’s called Milk The Cow and as its name suggests you milk a cow from the comfort of your sofa. You need to milk the cow as fast as you can and it even has a multiplayer mode so you can ‘milk’ with friends, apparently.

According to the App Store listing, you can even buy a Pro version which includes multiple udders to choose from: XXXL, Classic, Furry, and Cowborg — why oh why did my teenage self download this game we’ll never know, but it sure does sound like a blast!

Talking Tom, Ben, and Pierre

I’m not sure what happened on the 26th December 2011 but it looks like I really wanted to speak to some animals on my iPhone. Turns out I decided to download Talking Tom Cat, Talking Ben the Dog, and Talking Pierre the Parrot to fulfill my animal chat dreams.

These apps are still available to download to this day, although I’m not sure why you’d want to download a talking animal that works like a rubbish version of a Tamagotchi. That said, if you’ve always wanted a pet parrot, then why not give Pierre a try, after all I’ve never seen a parrot play an electric guitar in real life.

Cubed Rally Redline

Cubed Rally Redline was an obsession of mine for a very long time. You race as a small blue rally car and need to race to the finish without running out of fuel, tapping left and right to change lanes and avoid obstacles. It’s insanely addictive and while it hasn’t been updated in eight years, I have so many fond memories of the little racer that I just had to mention it in this article.

There appears to be a newer version called Cubed Rally Racer but that’s part of GameClub, a mobile gaming subscription. If you’re looking for a new game to play on your commute, however, you could do much worse than this nostalgic treat.

Dumb Ways to Die

Dumb Ways to Die, so many dumb ways to die. Get your toast out with a fork. Do your own electrical work. Teach yourself how to fly. Eat a two-week-old unrefrigerated pie. Sing it with me! Anyone? Nope, just me? 

Dumb Ways to Die was a song written for an Australian train safety commercial in 2012 and it’s so catchy that even 12 years later I can still hum the tune. The app on the other hand was fairly forgettable, simple games that were meant to teach kids about safety near the railway.

This music video is incredible and I implore anyone reading this to watch the embedded video below.

Akinator

Akinator… Ring a bell? I spent hours using Akinator to read my mind in the hope that I could outsmart the genie from guessing the celebrity I was thinking of. The app is popular to this day and one of the original iconic entertainment apps for the iPhone.

Nowadays we have games like Resident Evil 4 on the best iPhones, but back in the early 2010s us kids had to find our own fun by playing guessing games with a cartoon character stuck behind a screen. If you’ve never heard of Akinator give it a try, it’s silly fun but perfect to bring out at parties. 

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed on his WhatsApp channel that there are 100 million monthly WhatsApp users in the US and 50% of those use an iPhone. 

This is the first time WhatsApp has revealed any data about users in the US and shows growing popularity for the chat software. WhatsApp is incredibly popular worldwide with more than 2 billion monthly active users. That said, the US market has taken its sweet time to jump on board with the cross-platform smartphone app that allows Android and iPhone users to communicate.

This comes at an interesting time when Apple is about to introduce Rich Communication Services (RCS) to all of its best iPhones with the release of iOS 18. RCS allows communication across platforms with green bubbles to send and receive higher quality images, show when someone is typing like in iMessage, and receive read receipts.

Jump on the WhatsApp train

Last year, the Department of Justice started an investigation over Apple’s refusal to allow applications like Beeper Mini to bring iMessage outside of its walled garden. With the large number of users adopting WhatsApp in the US, however, you have to wonder if the solution is third-party app adoption rather than iMessage for everyone. 

In the UK, where I’m based, WhatsApp is incredibly popular and allows for easy communication across smartphone platforms. The reliance on iMessage in the US has always left me scratching my head, especially considering just how reliable and secure WhatsApp is. 

In the US, Meta is ramping up its marketing push. According to TechCrunch, “In the past few years, WhatsApp has placed ad campaigns, placements in Times Square, and TV spots emphasizing privacy and end-to-end encryption protection. Most recently, it started a national campaign about WhatsApp by bringing back some of the cast of the TV show “Modern Family.”

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AltStore PAL, the third-party app marketplace that allows EU-based iPhone users to install apps outside of Apple's App Store, has some new wares on offer. And two of them are exactly the kinds of apps that would never get Apple's seal of approval.

Four new apps are available for download, three of which are exclusive to the store and two of which fall into the same category — torrent apps.

Torrenting apps are explicitly banned from the App Store which means that the AltStore PAL route is the only one available to them, outside of the jailbreak world at least. And it was surely only a matter of time before they popped up via an alternative app marketplace.

Two to choose from

The two apps in question, The Verge reports, are iTorrent and qBitControl. The former is an iPhone torrent client as the name might suggest while the latter is a remote client for qBittorrent.

The other apps now available for download are PeopleDrop, a dating app of sorts as well as UTM SE, an app that can emulate operating systems like Windows and macOS on an iPhone. This app is already available in the App Store after it was released earlier this month but the other three apps have never been blessed by Apple.

Of course, you'll need to be in the EU to install any of these apps or indeed the AltStore PAL marketplace itself. The Digital Markets Act makes all of this possible, although those who have concerns about the potential legality and possible privacy risks of third-party app marketplaces will no doubt point to these new torrenting apps as a sign those concerns are founded.

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Apple Maps has caught up with Google Maps by offering a web version, allowing users to access Apple’s mapping service through a web browser.

In a Newsroom post, Apple revealed that a web version of Apple Maps can now be used as a public beta for web browser users of Safari and Google Chrome on Mac and iPad. Maps on the web can also be used with Chrome and Microsoft Edge on Windows PCs. Apple noted that “Support for additional languages, browsers, and platforms will be expanded over time.”

In our short time with it, the web version of Apple Maps works just as well as its app counterpart, which has been available on the best iPhones, iPads, and Macs since its debut in 2012. Users can explore specific landmarks, get directions, pick from a bunch of Guides to help give some useful insight into certain locations, change the map view, and more. The Newsroom post also mentioned that features like Look Around, which offers a 3D street view similar to Google Street View, will be available in the coming months.

The release of this web version is great timing too, as Apple Maps has recently been updated with some useful features for visitors to the Paris Olympics from July 26 to August 11. For example, Apple Maps will display pop-up locations such as temporary venues, souvenir shops, and public gathering sites throughout the games, making it easy for visitors to find all the important places during the summer games.

Using the web version for these updated features will surely help those visiting Paris, especially those bringing their Windows and Mac laptops. Already, Apple Maps on the web is a fantastic alternative to using Google Maps on a web browser.

How to use Apple Maps for web

Accessing Apple Maps on your web browser is a simple affair. First, make sure you’re using one of the supported web browsers: Safari on Mac and iPad, or Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge on Windows. Follow this link, and you’ll be taken to the beta version of Apple Maps for the web!

The layout is very simple to follow. On the left, you’ll see three features: Search, Guides, and Directions. These work just as they do in the Apple Maps you’ve likely used on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

That’s all there is to it! Nevertheless, keep in mind that this is still a beta version of Apple Maps for the web, so you may encounter some bugs.

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Adobe is introducing a range of helpful AI updates to its Photoshop and Illustrator apps this week, focusing on boosting your productivity.

In a blog post, Adobe explains what’s new in Photoshop, its photo-editing app. A new ‘Selection Brush Tool’ lets users easily separate and adjust different layers in a project, enabling them to add new backgrounds with no rough overlaps between layers. Previously in beta, both Generate Image, an Adobe AI feature that can create images from a text prompt, and Adjustment Brush Tool are now available for all users. The new Brush Tool can change the color of certain objects in an image, such as hair, a vehicle, or a sign. Using AI, Photoshop will know which part of the image you’re trying to manipulate, ensuring that the new color won’t bleed out of the selected object.

In another blog post, Adobe lays out the latest updates currently rolling out to Illustrator, the company’s graphic and vector-editing app. Generative Shape Fill can fill in a vector shape with a variety of colors and patterns using an AI text prompt. Mockup, a new beta feature, transforms any rough drawing you make within the app into a 3D object that can be displayed on products like cereal boxes and more, helping to give users a better idea the mockup fits a certain brief. In addition, Text to Pattern has been improved to offer more refined colors and shapes generated from text prompts.

All of these features are now available for Adobe Creative Cloud users on Mac. If you don’t see them, open the ‘Creative Cloud’ app, then press ‘Check Updates’ to see if you’ve got the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Will Apple Intelligence offer similar features when it’s available?

With Adobe rolling out these AI features to its suite of apps, you might be wondering whether Apple will be offering something similar once Apple Intelligence, its own set of AI features, is made available to U.S. users later this year on the best iPhones, Macs, and iPads.

In short: not exactly. For example, Image Playground, shown above, is Apple’s take on generative AI, offering three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. After you type in a description within the app, Apple Intelligence will create an image that you can share in apps such as Messages, Mail, and more.

A similar feature to Adobe’s Adjustment Brush Tool is the Clean Up tool in Apple’s Photos app. Once available, you’ll be able to remove distracting objects in photos thanks to Apple Intelligence.

Both of these features from Apple will be helpful to those who may want to generate images or edit their own photos. However, if you’ve been using Photoshop and Illustrator for a while, Adobe’s new features are available right now and can even help you visualize how your projects might look on products such as drink cans and posters.

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The Dynamic Island has been one of many features I’ve enjoyed since upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max last year. Replacing the notch that first appeared in the iPhone X in 2017, the animated pill lets me control my podcasts, notifies me when battery life is low, and much more. When I found out about an app that can add a Dynamic Island to my MacBook, I was trepidatious, but after a day, I was sold.

Called NotchNook, the app offers a two-day free trial, after which you’ll need to pay a $25 lifetime license or a $3 per month subscription fee. The app instantly surrounds your MacBook’s notch with a customizable menu. However, if you have a Mac that doesn’t feature a notch, such as an M3 iMac, the app will appear as a small menu where the Notch usually is. If you use Spotify or Apple Music, you can launch either app, and once you play a track, it will automatically show in the notch exactly as it does within an iPhone’s Dynamic Island. There’s also a fun ‘Mirror’ feature, which switches on your Mac’s FaceTime camera so you can give yourself a glow-up before you jump into a video call.

What I’m really impressed by from NotchNook, though, is the ‘Tray’ feature. Say you’ve got a few photos within a folder that you want to move to Safari, Apple’s web browser. You can drag these files to NotchNook to the ‘Tray’, and once you return to Safari, it’s a simple matter of dragging and dropping the files from the notch and onto a web page. It’s a fantastic way of using this Dynamic Island thanks to NotchNook, and makes me hope that Apple implements something similar for iPhones in the future.

Although I’ve only been using NotchNook for the past 24 hours, it’s already changed how I use my MacBook Pro.

There’s a Notch for that

Some of the iMore team have fallen out of favor with the Dynamic Island on the best iPhones. Yet, as mentioned above, I’ve been a constant fan of it since upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The last time I was so enamored with an app was Whisky, and before that, MacWhisper. NotchNook is already impressing me, but looking through its settings, there’s even more you can do — as well as hints of what’s coming in future updates.

When you go to the ‘Nook’ section, you’re given the option to enable other apps and resize them so you can fit others within the Dynamic Island. For example, when I hover the mouse over the notch, the Dynamic Island appears and will show today’s Calendar entries, a Now Playing widget, and the Mirror toggle. If I wish, I can also swap the Now Playing widget for a Shortcuts one instead. This means I can add a ChatGPT shortcut and enable OpenAI’s assistant within NotchNook instantly.

If you swipe to the end of these toggles, some widgets show as unavailable, such as Apple Notes, To-do’s, and a Quick App launcher, with a note saying that these will be enabled in the near future. I use Notes all the time, so the ability to launch it within the Notch anywhere on my MacBook is very enticing.

Finally, there’s a Live Activities option in NotchNook’s settings. This feature shows apps on the Dynamic Island that are running in the background, such as Music and UberEats. NotchNoo applies the same method to your Mac’s notch. Music playing will show here as you play a game or browse the web on your Mac, as well as upcoming events from the Calendar app. Again, it’s a very useful feature that makes use of my MacBook Pro’s static notch after owning the laptop for three years.

Got a Mac with a Notch? Buy this now

I could go on, but you likely know my feelings about NookNotch already. It is a fantastic app that, despite its small set of features, is already helping me manage files, play music, and check on Calendar entries. It’s so well designed that it seamlessly fits with macOS and my Mac’s notch without being out of place. I’ve already ensured that, whenever I need to restart my Mac, NookNotch will start up as soon as macOS allows it to.

I’m excited to see future updates to the app that it’s already alluded to, such as Notes and the Quick Apps launcher. For now, though, I’m more than happy to pay the $25 lifetime fee to transform my notch into something useful, and you should too.

It looks like Apple isn’t the only technology firm that the European Commission has its eye on — Meta has just received a letter damning the company’s ‘pay or consent model’, and the Commission has demanded a response by September 1 this year.

If Meta doesn’t reply? “CPC authorities can decide to take enforcement measures, including sanctions,” says the letter. The Commission evidently sees that there is a legal problem with Meta’s model, and if Zuckerberg’s company isn’t careful, it could become a cropper akin to Apple and the anti-competition lawsuit it faced.

What’s all this then?

According to the European Commission, “there are concerns that Meta's ‘pay or consent' model might breach EU consumer law.” It’s all down to an agreement that a user of Meta’s services has to make with the company, and how the decision doesn’t include enough information to inform them of what Meta is actually going to do with their data.

The Commission’s investigation “started in 2023, immediately after Meta had requested consumers overnight to either subscribe to use Facebook and Instagram against a fee or to consent to Meta's use of their personal data to be shown personalized ads, allowing Meta to make revenue out of it (‘pay or consent').” The EU is not happy that users were given enough information to make a clear and well-informed decision.

What happens next? Meta either replies to the commission with action, or the firm ends up in the European courts. Looking at what happened to Apple in its case against the EU, that could mean not just financial punishment, but a complete change to its business model. And given that it seems like Meta makes a great deal of money from personalized ads on its platforms, we could well see more scrutiny and greater control over how Meta can use customers' data and how it approaches its payment options.

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Another day, another update for Apple Sports. This time, Apple has fixed its dedicated sports score app by adding much-needed functionality like notifications, right? Nope, guess again. 

Apple Sports version 1.5 adds Leagues Cup support and a new “indicator to MLB box scores for pitcher wins, losses, and saves.” Yeah… maybe one of the five people who still use the app was clamoring for these additions but every other Apple user and sports fan on the planet wanted so much more.

When I first wrote about Apple Sports back in February, I said “If Apple fixes the Live Activities and turns on notifications, the app will become infinitely better than its current state. But will the company do that? Because, at the moment, this project feels incredibly lazy and I can’t help but feel robbed of an experience that has so much potential.” Nearly six months later, that sentiment still stands. Why is a company that produces some of the best applications in the world happy to accept mediocrity with a sports app that doesn’t even cover the bare minimum?

Still a missed opportunity

Notifications on a sports score app should be a given, there are no ifs or buts about it. Add the lack of support for following your favorite teams and it’s inexcusable that Apple has shipped a product, albeit free, in such a state. 

The clubs in the English Premier League are set to begin their pre-season friendlies this week, but if you rely solely on Apple Sports you’d have no idea. The inability to follow your favorite teams through all their fixtures alongside a lack of notifications makes this app an absolute waste of space on your storage. 

Apple appears to be updating the app semi-regularly, so I’m hoping that simple additions like notifications and Live Activities support are added before the start of the sporting season at the end of the summer. Until then, you can keep Apple Sports firmly on the back burner and opt for a proper sports score app like Flashscore instead.

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For a device that Apple is hoping will become the next big thing in computing, the Vision Pro is one of the most difficult-to-acquire gadgets on the market right now.

Though it’s now on the cusp of an international rollout, it’s spent the first five months of its shelf life as a US exclusive. The AR / VR hybrid wearable is also one of the priciest bits of consumer tech gear a person can purchase at the moment, with an eye-watering price tag of $3,499 / £3,499, putting it out of reach of many would-be buyers.

• Where to buy Apple Vision Pro

Those two factors combine for a difficult scenario for the device’s app development scene — Vision Pro needs apps in order for it to be successful… but how can you make a great app without access to the device it’s going to be launching on?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I sat down with Dudley Denman-Rees, the solo developer behind D Digital Creative, and the company’s debut app offering, There Is No Spoon. A quick-fire AR experience exclusive to the Vision Pro, it takes inspiration from the mind-bending, spoon-warping scene from The Matrix film. Even more mind-bending? Denman-Rees built the app without access to a Vision Pro, without ever having built an app before, and all within just a few short months.

Here’s how he did it — and some top tips for those who would similarly like to try their hand at Vision Pro app development.

An idea, intensive study, and a growing community

An early admission here — though Denman-Rees had never put out an app before, his background was in development, skilled in Javascript, HTML, CSS, and the React library.

“I was working as a front end developer, building websites and apps. That's my expertise,” he explains over a coffee. Denman-Rees is animated and confident in conversation — unsurprising, given the sort of career leap he’s made that many would find daunting. 

“Like with many technology companies, redundancies came to our office. This is back in February, and I'd only been there nine months. And so I just felt a little bit like, well, maybe I'd like to be doing something else.”

That something else was app development for the newly launched Vision Pro. With a five-month-old baby at home, Denman-Rees took the redundancy and embarked on an “intensive” period of study to get up to speed with the requirements of Vision Pro development. Most notably, learning Apple’s own Swift development language, something Denman-Rees had previously “put on a pedestal”.

“It's been an interesting experience, because I think to go in and properly learn Swift will take a really long time,” says Denman-Rees.

“I've had to be a bit more ruthless than that. I've had to go, 'I want results in my app'. So I need to learn the specific bits to make my app. There are definitely times where I've been looking at my code and I'm like, I know that this could be a lot better, but I just need to be practical here.”

With the free XCode developer tool downloaded, and its built-in ‘Simulator’ simulation environment letting him visualize how a Vision Pro app might actually work on real hardware, Denman-Rees got to work. There Is No Spoon was designed to tap into the “cinematic” and “emotional” potential Deman-Rees saw in Vision Pro, looking to tap the “wow factor” of the hardware with some trippy visuals, but on a scale achievable by a solo dev.

Denman-Rees took advantage of the opportunity to take part in a developer lab session at Apple’s Battersea HQ in London, UK (the only time he’s even had an opportunity to fleetingly touch the Vision Pro headset), but that support aside, he’s been more or less on his own. The virtual exception? The growing number of Redditors and Discord server users dedicated to sharing tips and educating each other around the complexities of Vision Pro development.

“Discord was really good. On the server I’m active on there are people who own Vision Pro in the UK — I think they own them for their companies. So that was really nice — going from working in a company and obviously being on Slack every day to being freelance can leave you feeling a little bit adrift. And so to suddenly be in a kind of Slack-like environment where people are posting memes to each other and chatting was a great way to connect and learn.”

That connection to the wider community proved vital for getting around the simulator’s limitations — without a Vision Pro, the simulator couldn’t account for the hand-tracking moments required for Denman-Rees’s app, and also wasn’t useful for testing against the upcoming VisionOS 2 launch that was breaking There Is No Spoon. Those overseas owners and UK early adopters become Denman-Rees’s TestFlight guinea pigs, with TestFlight allowing the developer to distribute early versions of his app among the few with access to the hardware.

Just a few short months after taking the plunge, There Is No Spoon is up for purchase on the Vision Pro app store. But in a wild twist… Denman-Rees still hasn’t been able to try his completed app on a Vision Pro headset. Based out of the UK, he’s had to wait for this week’s international rollout for the chance to try out the completed app. But the accomplishment has been worth the hard work.

“I feel an immense sense of pride, an immense sense of pride,” says Denman-Rees. “It's great, it's delightful for it to be there as the first app I've launched. And it feels like I'm getting in on Vision Pro development early. And that's really exciting.”

6 top tips for first-time Vision Pro app developers

Looking to get started? Here’s what Dudley Denman-Rees says you’ll need to consider to get off to a great start with your Vision Pro development journey.

Have a great idea:

​​My angle is to think of what you would like to do in spatial computing specifically. Why 3D? Why immersive? I think that for me is the first thing — and people would disagree with me about that. I was speaking to somebody on Reddit who said, “What is the point? Why spoon bending?” I think in spatial computing, it's got to be about immersion. And so I think you should ask yourself, what would I like to do in 3D space?

No Vision Pro? Xcode simulator and YouTube are your friends:

100% the first thing you should do is download Xcode for free and run the simulator. Because when I started, I had no idea what anything even looked like in Vision OS, beyond a few screenshots of the icons. But like, how do you go into an app? How do you come out of an app? You've got no idea. So definitely get Xcode with the simulator — it's free! 

Beyond that, try and watch walkthroughs of people using Vision Pro apps on YouTube. For instance, if you've got an app that conveys three pieces of information, you’ll have no idea how somebody might go from one piece of information to another, just some really basic UI interface stuff. You can learn a lot just by watching walkthroughs and then experimenting with your findings.

Understand state management:

Getting a little bit technical, there's a thing known as “state management”  that I had from running web apps that was really relevant. It's quite a simple idea — it's just changing the state of something basically. So for example, “the spoon is in the distance” would be state one, and then “the spoon is in front of you” is state two. I was really grateful that it was part of the process when coming into Swift and Vision Pro development — so, “the person's head is upright” is state one, “the person's head is tilted his state two”. 

TL:DR? Make sure you’re able to define and understand the different steps and interactions a user may make with your app, and the journey and parameters needed to go from one stage to the next.

ChatGPT and Stack Overflow might be just as useful as Apple’s developer tutorials:

During the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple runs a lot of little lessons and workshops. You can watch the videos and you can download code snippets as you go along, and paste those into your own app to test it. That's really helpful, because you can go through them in your own time carefully and go, “Well, what does that do? What does that do?” 

And then there’s also Stack Overflow. There's a small number of Apple Vision Pro developers there who are putting up answers that are really helpful and offering code blocks. And again, you can take those, put them into your app, go through them really carefully.

But ChatGPT these days is my number one colleague. Maybe people will hate that, but honestly, it's so useful, even if just for talking dev theory with it. I haven't found it as knowledgeable in Swift as I have in other languages, so it often gives you errors. And it won't write the code for you. But you can talk theory with it. But you can ask basic questions like, where do I put my files? What do I call the folders, the directories? ChatGPT is really helpful for that sort of thing.

Recruit some Vision Pro-owning testers:

Go back to Reddit, go back to Discord, be nice about it and try to recruit some testers. Ask somebody to be kind to you and to give their time up to test your thing. And I think because people are excited about their device, they want to help something that’s new, so that's cool. People are excited to see what developers are working on. And I think with the international launch, there will be many more people interested in testing. There'll be more devices, particularly in the UK. So you, this time next week, we may know somebody who owns one or a company that owns one, so go speak to people!

Be prepared for plenty of paperwork:

Getting your app on the App Store is hard work, whether you're building an iOS app or a Vision Pro app. If you're registering a developer account as a company for the first time, you have to have a company website, which I didn't have. You have to have a page for your app. You have to have a privacy policy for your app. So suddenly, you go from just developing an app to having to roll out a website too — and you don't want it to look like complete crap! Then you have to do some fairly intimidating paperwork, about selling the app in America, and a treaty that we have here in the UK with America about tax. YouTube comes to the rescue, where you’ll find some helpful, but not particularly charismatic, accountants who walk through the process.

Apple Intelligence will be made up of various new features when it arrives later this year and some of those features will involve the power of generative AI. Users will be able to have Apple Intelligence create images based on their commands, but that feature is far from unique – and now even WhatsApp is getting in on the act.

While not yet officially announced, a new beta version of the WhatsApp app for the Android platform has detailed a new feature that will allow people to take a photo of themselves and then have generative AI use it as the basis for creating yet more images.

The idea is likely that this will be used to create new avatars for WhatsApp users and while it's yet to ship, it could be a useful feature for those who want something a little different from the usual selfie photo.

AI-generated avatars

The new addition was first spotted by the beta watchers over at WABetaInfo and while it made its debut in the Android app, we can surely expect it to also be added to the iPhone app in the near future.

Using Meta AI, the feature looks set to be popular among those who like to regularly update their avatar.

"This feature will allow users to take a single set of photos, which Meta AI will then use to generate AI images," WABetaInfo explains. "Users must take setup photos that will be analyzed to create these images, ensuring that the generated images accurately represent their appearance. It's important to mention that users will retain full control over this feature, as they can delete their setup photos at any time through the Meta AI settings."

There is currently no word on when this new generative AI feature will be available to the public, but WhatsApp is normally pretty good at progressing features from beta to the final version of the app.

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You've heard of smartphones and smart homes, and there are smartwatches as well. But did you know that there is such a thing as a pair of smart sneakers, too? Well, now you do. And you better hope you don't own a pair.

Nike, the maker of the self-lacing Adapt BB smart sneakers, says that it is removing the companion app that owners use to customize them, and it's doing it soon. As of August 6, 2024, the Adapt app will no longer be available for download from the App Store.

It isn't just iPhone owners that are going to be left in the lurch, either. Nike has confirmed that it is removing the app from the Google Play Store, too.

The other shoe just dropped

Nike confirmed the news of the "Nike Adapt app retirement" via a new support document that outlines the plans.

So what does this mean? "Don’t worry, your Adapt shoes will continue to work without the app," Nike explains, saying that those with the app should continue to function while it;'s installed. You just won't be able to redownload the app when you buy a new iPhone. With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro just around the corner, that could be an issue for some.

Nike also says that the self-lacing shoes will continue to work but that "you'll lose access to lighting and the ability to lace the shoes using your phone." The good news is that you can lace them up manually and that the lighting will remain the color you last configured, so make sure it's a color you like before you set up your new iPhone this September.

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After months of waiting, Zenless Zone Zero, from the people who brought you Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, is finally available for public release. It’s got a new art style (although still rooted in the signature anime style that comes with a Hoyoverse release), new characters, a new story, and a whole new gameplay style — but how do you get started?

As with all action RPGs, particularly those created by Hoyoverse, the internet has a habit of over-complicating things with talk of ‘meta builds’, ‘character pulls’, ‘defense stat over buffs’ and the like — and while there is a lot in these games for people who love these kinds of deeper integrations, it can feel like treading through treacle as you try to make sense of the latest game. 

Thankfully, there’s not actually all that much that’s complicated in Zenless Zone Zero, and as a player who’s played all the Hoyoverse games (yes, even Guns Girl Z), I’ve been merrily chewing my way through the first few hours of the game so that I can tell you a couple of things that you’ll need to do as you get into a fresh Action RPG Gacha game. So let’s get it installed, grab a nice cup of cold beverage (it’s summer, you weirdo, put the hot drink away), and get started with Zenless Zone Zero on your iPhone.

Get started in Zenless Zone Zero

Connect up your favorite controller

I am simply incapable of playing iPhone games with touch controls, no matter how well they might be implemented. Perhaps its my massive, distended thumbs or the horrid fingerprints you get all over your screen when you’re mucking about with digital analog sticks — they suck. Suck. Thankfully, while ZZZ has touchscreen controls, it also features controller support out of the gate, so you can hook up your favorite iPhone controller and get playing.

When I tell you it makes the combat feel a whole lot better, I’m not joking. Attacking now has some weight thanks to the buttons, and everything feels more accurate because you’re not panic tapping on touch buttons. It’s easy to get working too — head to the settings menu, go to the input tab, and swap it over to controller. You’ll thank me later. Unfortunately, you’ll have to do this every time you boot up, so don’t forget to sort before you start a play session.

Dial in your graphics settings

If you’re lucky enough to wield an iPad Air M2, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPad Pro M4, then you’ll be playing on those max settings for some gloriously crafted anime mayhem. If you’ve an older iPhone, however, then you’ll want to muck about with the graphics settings so that you can play at a decent, steady frame rate.

Because ZZZ is an action title, you want to make sure that your frame rate is rock solid so that you can keep up with what's happening on screen. Depending on your iPhone, you’ll have to turn certain graphics settings down to get the best frame rate possible. Have a play with all the settings until your game is running sweet as a nut.

Play the tutorial

There’s a lot going on in Zenless Zone Zero, and learning it without the help of the tutorial is a fool's errand. Thankfully, before it lets you completely loose on all of the game's mechanics, story, and gacha gameplay, ZZZ will take you through all of the basics through a kind of introductory tutorial portion. It’s done through story-playing, so you get to know the world as well as the gameplay itself. 

It’s not a short tutorial — it took me a good few hours to get myself to the end of it, but then you’ll have everything the game has to offer at your fingertips, from main story missions to side quests and everything in between.

Check your in-game mail

What the tutorial doesn’t teach you is that there are often opportunities to get free stuff from developer Hoyoverse the moment you launch the game. Just like in Genshin and Star Rail, you’ll get sent messages from Hoyo in-game containing consumables, gacha pull currency, and even characters for nothing. At the moment, there are some great packs hidden away in the messages portion of the game that you should grab before they expire.

Currently, you’ll get some gacha currency (in Zenless Zone Zero’s case it’s called ‘Encrypted Master Tapes’ and ‘Master Tapes’) and a new character, Corin, to add to your roster. It’s worth checking back here every time you sit down to play to see if Hoyo has sent anything new to celebrate a new event. It’s easy to get to — hit your menu button, scroll all the way to the left, hit the ‘More’ section, then navigate to the mail selection. Simple, and, most importantly, filled with free stuff.

Claim your login bonuses

As an incentive to play the game every day, there are events throughout the game that encourage you to log in and play as much as you can. There are currently in-game events with free Master Tapes and Encrypted Master Tapes so that you can go pull some S-tier characters.

It’s easy to get to the events screen — just go to the main menu, and press the equivalent of the Xbox controller’s ‘X’ button to go to the side pane. Or, you can tap it with your finger if you’re using touch controls. Each event will explain how to get the rewards on hand, and they’re a great way of bolstering your character roster without spending any money.

Go get pulling!

Part of the fun of a Gacha game like Zenless Zone Zero is the character pull mechanic, which acts like those machines in shopping malls and centers that take a quarter and spit out a plastic statue of Sonic randomly. It works the same here — spend some of your Master Tapes and Encrypted Master Tapes so that you can pull some unique characters to add to your roster, that you can use in battle.

There are currently events running for the entirety of the current roster of characters, so play enough and you should earn the currency necessary to make pulls in the Signal Search section. In fact, there are introductory offers to make it even easier as well, so make sure you check it out the moment the prologue finishes.

You can spend money on the credits, but exercise caution — they’re not cheap, and they soon add up. Thankfully, they’re not pay-to-win and you can have an epic time playing for free like me — so get started, and enjoy your time with Zenless Zone Zero now that you know what you should do when you first boot the game up!

The artificial intelligence battle has already begun on macOS, with a dedicated ChatGPT app now available on Apple silicon Macs. I’ve been using it since it was made available on June 25, and I’ve come away impressed. So much so that I’m already using it more than Google Search to query some things.

ChatGPT on Mac is free to download for anyone with an OpenAI account. The app uses the company’s latest AI model, called ChatGPT- 4o. OpenAI claims that this is twice as fast as the previous version, ChatGPT-4 Turbo. Although, if you’re a free user, you only get access to 4o for a limited time. Once this expires, the app reverts to the slower ChatGPT 3.5 model for several hours. If you’re a paid user, you can use 4o for however long you wish.

Once installed, you can ask ChatGPT anything you want, such as for help with developing an app, summarizing a report from a website, and much more  — but it goes deeper than that. You can now upload files and images with a query too. For example, asking “When was this store bulldozed?” in regards to a photo will prompt the AI to look for information about the building, and will come up with the answer for you if it can find a match. The app can now also constantly run in the background for immediate access. Pressing Option + Space anywhere on macOS will make a search bar appear, allowing you to ask ChatGPT anything you wish.

It’s these features from the app that made me download it immediately. As a result, I'm now avoiding Google, even for quick queries.". The entire category of AI has often been focused on how it could ‘replace’ certain jobs and creative endeavors in an instant, such as artistry and video game guides. However, I've actually found ChatGPT to be more useful as a potent alternative to Google, thanks to its impressive search capabilities. As mentioned before, it serves as a better alternative than searching for websites when I have a query. In addition, ChatGPT has already shown me how I can improve my protein intake after I’ve come back from a heavy workout at the Gym. I did this very thing earlier today through ChatGPT, and it led to a helpful suggestion: a chicken salad breakfast with added ingredients of salmon and nuts with a protein shake.

ChatGPT on Mac is also a great way to see how Apple Intelligence, the company’s take on AI, could work on my MacBook Pro. It is due to arrive in macOS Sequoia, as well as iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 for compatible devices, for U.S. users later this year, and features ChatGPT integration as standard.

A sneak peek before Apple Intelligence

Announced at WWDC 2024, Apple Intelligence has several AI models that will try to help the user with whatever they’re working on. For example, as you compose an email, you will be prompted to see if you want to have your writing sound more professional or more casual. Apple Intelligence will rewrite your email to cater to one of the choices you’ve selected.

Siri also gets a huge improvement thanks to Apple Intelligence. Apple’s assistant can now perform several app functions it previously couldn’t. For instance, asking Siri to list a bunch of files that a friend may have sent you over the past week is now possible.

A partnership between Apple and OpenAI elevates this experience. If Apple Intelligence thinks that ChatGPT will generate a better answer than Apple Intelligence, it will prompt the user to ask OpenAI’s assistant to look into the query.

The ChatGPT macOS app is also a great taster for Mac users before macOS Sequoia arrives with Apple Intelligence later this year. Especially as any user with an Apple silicon Mac can use ChatGPT right now. This is in stark contrast to Apple Intelligence being available to U.S. users only later this year.

In my short time with the Mac app, I’ve come away impressed so far. I’ll admit, I watched the WWDC 2024 keynote with horror as Apple gleefully showcased how Apple Intelligence could remove certain types of creativity while introducing huge amounts of laziness, especially in regards to the Writing Tools.

ChatGPT is indeed good enough to ignore Apple Intelligence altogether, as it should be seen as a tool, not a replacement for what you do on your PC or Mac every day. Technology should empower us, and that’s what AI can do in certain ways. It also helps that ChatGPT’s app on Mac is available now worldwide, instead of Apple Intelligence being available to U.S. users initially later this year. If you’re still not convinced, give the app a try, even for five minutes — you might get some inspiration into how AI can help you, rather than hinder you in the work and hobbies you do every day.

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They were heralded as a big reason to upgrade your iPhone, iPad, and Mac when revealed, but Apple's recent push to have big triple-AAA gaming titles available on its mobile devices has got off to a shaky start.

Looking at figures collated by app analyst firms Appfigures and Appmagic, MobileGamer.biz reports disappointingly low download and revenue rates for major releases including Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil Village.

According to estimations based on Appfigures data (Apple itself rarely reveals download numbers for individual apps on the App Store), less than 3,000 people have paid the $49.99 to unlock the full Assassin’s Creed Mirage game on iPhone, from an estimated total of 123,000 downloads. That represents a mere $138k in revenue since launching at the start of this month, and a paltry 2.4 percent uptake.

• The best iPhone games

It’s a similarly sorry story for $20 Death Stranding, a WWDC 2023 highlight, attracting an estimated 10,600 downloads. Resident Evil 4 has fared better with 710,000 downloads in the six months it's been on iPhone, but revenue estimates suggest only 15,000 people have paid the $29.99 required to unlock the full game. Resident Evil Village has managed around 817,000 downloads, but again only appears to have attracted 34,000 paid-up players at its $15.99 price point. Together, the two Resident Evil titles have made just shy of $800,000, which would pale in comparison to their performance on other platforms.

What’s holding them back?

There are a few obvious reasons why the AAA gaming push on iPhone has been met so far with a tepid reception.

The first reason is a simple one — compatibility. High-end hardware is needed to drive high-end gaming experiences. Assassin’s Creed Mirage, for example, requires a phone packing an A17 chipset or an iPad with an M1 chip, both representing the higher-end (and among the most expensive) tiers of Apple hardware. Those requirements themselves limit the number of people who can get playing, even if there are more out there who would be interested. And those who fit the Venn diagram of being able to afford a high-end Apple device and have an interest in AAA gaming probably already have a console to play these games on.

Secondly is price. Even the cheapest game here, Resident Evil Village, costs $15.99 on the App Store, which would be seen as a premium price point for gaming apps. Assassin’s Creed Mirage weighs in at a whopping $49.99. Mobile gaming success has, in large part, been driven by free-to-play gamers who are also well versed in getting the best deals possible with their purchases, whether waiting for a platform’s regular sales event, picking up second-hand discs, or trawling deal code websites. Such price cuts happen more rarely on iPhone and iPad App Stores.  Even the cross-device promise that Apple is encouraging developers to take with these releases, pushing them across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with a single purchase, is only a value-add if users have multiple Apple devices in the first place.

The third is the tardy release schedules. Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, and the Resident Evil games had all launched on consoles and PCs months, if not years before making their eventual debut on iPhone. The ‘hardcore’ gamers that would be interested in them have already had months to play them elsewhere, avoiding spoilers, and seeing the launch price trickle down on other platforms.

Finally, there’s the question of whether or not mobile gamers actually want these sorts of titles or, conversely, if they’ve been conditioned to expect something completely different. Look at the most popular App Store gaming charts, and with the perennial exceptions of Minecraft and Roblox, it’s dominated by free-to-play, casual titles. Idle city builders, card battlers, match-three puzzlers — you know the type. They cost nothing (though have very convincing systems to encourage you to part with your cash for in-game bonuses), can be played on basically any hardware, and are designed to be played by anyone in short bursts thanks to simple, short, and addictive play sessions. By design, the Assassin’s Creed, Death Stranding and Resident Evil ports are much slower-burn, complex games, designed to be played for hours at a time, and with control schemes that are far too complicated for touchscreen play. 

Looking for a more comfortable AAA gaming experience on iPhone?:

Does Apple have to care?

Will these figures matter to Apple? Probably not. Getting AAA games onto the iPhone is a victory in and of itself — at least from a marketing perspective. The advent of Apple Intelligence and its upcoming prerequisite hardware requirements aside, it’s been very much incremental improvements to iPhone over recent generations, and so Apple has needed something flashy to sell us on the power of its phones.

Those triple-A games have fit that role nicely — Apple can shout from the hilltops that its devices can go toe-to-toe with big consoles, and that’s an impressive feat whether people buy the titles or not. It can put recognizable video game faces in its sizzle reel, show a tangible benefit to its souped-up mobile processors, and turn the heads of a customer base that it might not otherwise be on the radar for. If these releases even got your attention, if not your money, it’s been a success — and Apple has deep enough pockets to keep the associated developers sweet for that cause.

So should we expect more triple-A games on iPhone and iPad? Yes — there’s even a new Assassin’s Creed game, the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed Shadows, heading to the top-end iPads later this year, which stands a better chance of success as it’s set to launch in the same window as its console counterparts. And I’d expect to see others joining it too — these launches are a slow-burn exercise in informing the public that such experiences are available on top-tier Apple hardware. When that knowledge becomes more widely accepted, and the associated hardware more affordable, those revenue numbers will trickle up — there isn’t a developer on the planet that doesn’t want to take a chunk of your iPhone screen time.

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If you've been waiting for a new game streaming service after Apple broke down the walls for DMA compliance, then you'll want to keep an eye on Antstream Arcade.

The service, which offers more than 1300 games, will debut on iOS and iPadOS on June 27.

"Antstream Arcade is a streaming service bringing over 1300 fully licensed games, adding more every week," the website explains.

"It is very rare that games are removed from the platform.  The Arcade features tournaments, global high scores, mini-game challenges, 2-player duels, achievements, and much more."

Antstream Arcade is coming to iPhone and iPad

The app is already available to purchase on PC and Xbox, but as of next week iPhone and iPad users will be able to play iconic games like Battlezone, Centipede, Asteroids, and Breakout.

Antstream Arcade features titles from the following platforms, but you can find the full library here.

• Amiga (201 games)
• Amstrad (35 games)
• Arcade (293 games)
• Atari 8-Bit (28 games)
• Atari 2600 (28 games)
• Atari 7800 (11 games)
• C64 (358 games)
• DOS (5 games)
• Game Boy (5 games)
• Atari Lynx (5 games)
• SEGA Genesis (57 games)
• MSX (13 games)
• NES (33 games)
• Sony PlayStation 1 (2 games)
• SNES (42 games)
• ZX Spectrum (351 games)
• MSX 2 (1 game)
• Atari 5200 (1 game)

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After raising its prices a few weeks ago, Spotify has revealed a new plan for users - but it comes at the cost of one big feature.

The company will offer a new "Basic" premium plan which includes everything you'll find in a standard premium plan except for access to audiobooks. It'll set you back $10.99 per month, a small discount on the $11.99 subscription price of the 'Individual' premium membership.

A Family version of the new Basic plan will cost $16.99 per month, offering up to six Basic accounts without audiobooks. The Premium family plan is still $19.99 a month.

You can sign up on Spotify's site.

Spotify matches Apple Music pricing

The new Basic subscription tier brings Spotify to the same price as Apple Music's standard price, but the long-rumored Spotify Hi-Fi could be just around the corner.

The new higher-tier option is expected to add around $5 per individual membership, making it around the same price as a family membership of the new Basic tier.

The company has also been keen to push AI features for users. I wrote last year about how impressive the AI DJ was, while it began rolling out a Chatbot-style AI playlists feature in April.

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After previewing it during the unveiling of the M4 iPad Pro, Apple has now finally released the Final Cut Camera app for iPhone. The new app is now available for download on iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later.

Alongside the release of Final Cut Camera Apple has also released an updated Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 as well as Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8. Both updates are now available for download via the App Store.

Undoubtedly the biggest news from these releases is the new support for Live Multicam on the new iPad Pro, bringing support for up to four cameras to be previewed on Apple's best iPad in real time.

All the cameras

Apple announced the news via a press release, saying that "Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 unleashes the remarkable capabilities of the new iPad Pro with the outrageously fast M4 chip, enabling up to 2x faster rendering and supporting up to 4x more streams of ProRes RAW than with M1." But it's the Live Multicam feature that will get the most interest thanks to its ability to wirelessly connect to multiple iPhones simultaneously.

"Using a combination of iPhone and iPad devices, users will have a director’s view of each camera and manual control of their preferences using the all-new pro app Final Cut Camera," Apple explains. "Final Cut Camera powers Live Multicam and also works as a standalone recording app on iPhone and iPad, with the ability to adjust settings like manual focus, shutter speed, ISO, and more."

Over on the Mac, Final Cut Pro 10.8 uses the Neural Engine found in M1 or later machines to make new AI features available including Enhance Light and Color as well as a new Smooth Slo-Mo offering.

The Final Cut Camera app is a free download while the Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 updates are free for existing users. For new users, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 is available via the App Store for $4.99 or $49 per year while Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 is available in the Mac App Store for $299.99.

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While iPhone mirroring and Apple Intelligence are likely to be the headline features of macOS Sequoia, there’s plenty more in the latest version of macOS that’s worth a look.

One of those is the arrival of a Passwords app, which is also available across iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, which finally pulls passwords out of the depths of System Settings and makes them easier to access while keeping them secure. 

What is the Passwords app?

As the name suggests, Passwords pulls together all of your login information, including Passkeys, Wi-Fi networks, and much more into one centralized app.

From there you can scan for the ones you need, autofill them, or create randomly generated ones to avoid reusing the same login information for multiple accounts.

The Passwords app is available as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, but there’s also a handy Safari and Chrome extension to bring it into your browser, too, and it runs on Windows via the iCloud for Windows app. 

What can the Passwords app do?

Your Passwords app will automatically import the passwords you previously kept within the System Settings on your Mac (or iPhone/iPad), so you won’t need to re-enter them.

Upon setup, you’re given the option to install the relevant browser extension, too, but right off the bat the app is easy to use.

On the left, you’ll find the following categories:

• All - for a full list of every password in the app 
• Passkeys - for data secured with biometric login information like Face ID or Touch ID 
• Codes - for account information secured with number codes like you’d find on something like Google Authenticator or Authy 
• Wi-Fi - for stored Wi-Fi network information
• Security - for security recommendations (more on that in a moment) 
• Deleted - for passwords you’ve deleted in the last 30 days 

It’s a pretty comprehensive list, and all of the data in each category is synced across platforms, so you can save your password once and never need to enter it again. Similarly, you can edit a password once and know it’s been updated everywhere. 

 Security Recommendations explained

If you’ve used something like 1Password, think of the Security tab as being akin to Watchtower.

In our testing of the beta, the Mac version of Passwords didn’t highlight any potential security issues, which is good to know, but it can flag duplicate passwords, or potential appearances of your data that have been found in data breaches.

It’s not quite as detailed as 1Password (at least not yet), which offers a quick rundown of accounts you can move to Passkeys or add 2FA for, but it’s a really solid start that should help users understand better password habits.

How are passwords stored? 

Apple has been leaning on its Keychain technology for over two decades now, with the encrypted container the place where the company stores your most personal data. This is synced across iCloud, which is itself protected by encryption.

Put simply, your saved passwords within the app will be under lock and key, and in our testing, the Mac app does a great job of locking itself as soon as it thinks your attention has moved elsewhere.

Sharing Passwords

While you can always copy and paste passwords, even with iMessage encryption it’s best to avoid doing so.

With the Passwords app, you can create a sharing group for Passwords and Passkeys with trusted contacts that will then sync across their devices. This could be useful for, say, sharing utility bill information with a housemate, or banking information with a spouse.

You can choose what to share and rescind it at any time, too, so you’re always in control of what’s being shared at any time.

What about existing password managers?

Apple has been accused of “Sherlocking” apps like 1Password with the arrival of the Passwords app, and there are definitely similarities. Even the app layout, for example, looks a lot like many third-party options.

Still, at the time of writing, Apple’s app doesn’t have the option to save payment card information. While that makes sense for something like your iPhone where you may prefer to use Apple Pay, it could cause issues if you want to quickly summon your card number while on, say, a Windows PC.

You also can’t store notes in it the way you can with 1Password, although Apple’s own Notes app is a great alternative with notes you can lock.

Adobe, the maker of popular software like Photoshop, Illustrator, and the rest of the Creative Cloud apps, has found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by the United States Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC claims that Adobe, as well as two of its executives, are "deceiving consumers by hiding the early termination fee for its most popular subscription plan and making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions."

The company, Maninder Sawhney, and David Wadhwani will now have to deal with a Department of Justice suit over claims that Adobe enticed customers towards choosing the "'annual paid monthly subscription without adequately disclosing that canceling the plan in the first year could cost hundreds of dollars."

"Deceiving customers"

In a press release shared on the FTC website, the commission noted that Adobe's 2012 shift to a subscription model means that recurring payments now account for most of the company's revenue. It alleged that Adobe pushes customers towards the "annual paid monthly" subscription plan and even chooses that as default. But the real issue is the early termination fee.

"Adobe prominently shows the plan’s 'monthly' cost during enrollment, but it buries the early termination fee (ETF) and its amount, which is 50 percent of the remaining monthly payments when a consumer cancels in their first year," the press release notes. "Adobe’s ETF disclosures are buried on the company’s website in small print or require consumers to hover over small icons to find the disclosures." The FTC also points out that users who reach out to Adobe to cancel their subscriptions are often met with obstacles including multiple transfers and "dropped chats."

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This morning, as with every morning, I had my morning scroll of X. I like to catch up on what's been happening while I've been asleep, as most of the people I follow have been active in the hours that I have not. There's a magazine I like to read from Japan that was released today, for example — and all my favorite artists featured in the magazine are posting images on X of their work featured in this month's issue.

The moment I click on an image, however, I am not taken to a larger version of the image, but to the electoral commission site of the UK political party, Reform UK, an organization I have zero interest in.

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What's going on?

First, some information about how I suffered the bug. I use an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the official X app. The image was from a Japanese X account, and had nothing to do with the upcoming UK election. By all accounts, I shouldn't have been taken to the Reform UK site — so why was I?

I'm not the only user affected by the bug. Check out all the other users reporting the 'twitter link bug', and how they're being taken to unrelated links when clicking images and other shortcuts. Interestingly, while I can replicate the bug reliably just by tapping around various images, the moment you go to screen record, it seems to completely stop.

We reached out to X about the bug and only received the typically Musk-like auto-response of "Busy now, please check back later." Ever since the billionaire has taken over the site, bugs have cropped up all over the place, from extremely x-rated porn bots to frequent outages. X might not die overnight, but it's looking less and less a viable platform to keep using.

I managed to get to the image I wanted in the end — but only after attempting to record my experience.

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