Apps

Mac and iPhone owners can say goodbye to unlocking their computer with a password thanks to the new app Knock. Launching today for $3.99, Knock allows a Mac to be unlocked just by knocking on a paired iPhone. The two devices connect over Bluetooth LE, allowing a phone to automatically detect when it nears a paired computer. Though the knocking effect can also be achieved by waving an iPhone in the air, Knock suggests just tapping on it through your pants' pocket, so you never have to pick up the device....

Whether you’re typing up minutes from your weekly team meeting, lectures, or transcribing an interview with a former Apple exec that now runs a company owned by Google, the process of finding the most relevant parts of a recording for transcription is usually a time-consuming drag....

Developers looking for a faster way to prototype iBeacon-enabled apps or everyday users who want to experiment with the microlocation technology can now look to Beacondo, a startup working to make iBeacon integration simpler with a new drag-and-drop system.

Now that the Apple Watch is official, developers are racing to come up with apps for the new device.

Communicating with others can be difficult, especially if not everyone in the conversation speaks the same language. Computer-based translation is easing a lot of that pain, but in general it still means a lot of cutting and pasting has to happen, along with interpreting possibly imperfect translations. Slated, a new keyboard now available for iOS 8, aims to change that with real-time…

Popular health tracking service and iOS app MyFitnessPal has been acquired by clothing maker Under Armour for nearly a half-billion dollars, while iOS 8 custom keyboard SwiftKey has added predictive emoji entry, and WhatsApp Messenger has been updated with a new quick camera button.

This week's list includes a GIF keyboard app from Disney, a new Gmail app for Mac, Dropbox's redesigned Android app and more.

It’s unclear if Apple is setting a precedent, or has only accidentally allowed the approval of a new app, known as “Been Choice,” into the iTunes App Store. The app claims to block advertisements not only in mobile applications, but also in native mobile apps, including Facebook and even Apple’s own News application. To make this work, Been Choice offers a combination of…

A look at the best lifestyle apps ever made for the iPhone, based on our list of the 100 best iPhone apps of all time.

Microsoft is bringing its excellent Windows Phone keyboard to the iPhone today. The new iOS version will let you tap or swipe to type out words and intelligently predict words for sentences, just like the Windows Phone variant. Microsoft had promised a beta period, but it appears the app is freely available in the US App Store today....

Swiftkey announced a new keyboard app today, its first major app since it was acquired by Microsoft in February. It is a keyboard app dubbed Swiftmoji, and despite what the name suggests, it is not a Taylor Swift-themed sticker pack....

In a surprise move, Apple has today approved CineXPlayer for the iPad, which is a free application that allows you to watch Xvid movies on your device. Great news for those of you out there with a collection of Xvid video files you would previously have had to convert before you could watch on your iPad, but is this just another app that’s temporarily slipped through Apple’s net? Apple doesn’t normally approve apps of this kind for the App Store and famously stands by the MPEG-4 and H.264 formats, brush...

We know you're obsessed with your iPhone, and chances are you've been taking a lot more photos - perhaps even recording videos - over the holidays. To satisfy aspiring...

Whoa! Has Apple just changed its mind on one of the lamest policies plaguing its App Store? In the weeks after the App Store submission process went live, a number of developers got a big smack in the face from Cupertino. After spending hundreds of hours developing their wares, they were turned away for offering features too similar to Apple’s own offerings, or “duplicate functionality”. The outcry was instantaneous and deafening; it’s one thing to have pride in your work, but to essentially ban competi...

Trimit is a clever app for the iPhone, and soon a bookmarklet for your browser, that allows you to take large bits of text that you write or import from…

More wackiness from Cupertino's council of app elders! First they approved the possibly-illegal sex offender locator app, and it rose to the top 10. Then they yanked it. Now, it's back again. Why is it back? Who knows. It's still illegal in California, as selling personal info is against the law there, which was presumably why it was yanked before. It would be legal if it was made free, but it's still selling like hotcakes at $.99 to parents who are worried about sex offenders but probably feeding their...

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale. Voice Brief (iTunes) Previously $2.99, now $1.99 . Voice Brief for iOS acts as your personal assistant by reading your customized content to you. Whether you want to know what the weather forecast is going to be this week or want to learn what is going on in the world, Voice Brief will read it to you directly. Get it for$1.99. (via Apps-aholic) iOS iOS Windows Mac

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale. iAngle Meter PRO (iTunes) Previously $1.99, now Free. iAngle Meter PRO for iOS measures angles and slope using your orientation sensors or camera. Get it for Free. (via LogicBuy) iOS iOS

iPhones. iPads. Android. We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out! If you want to jump to see the best apps in a specific platform, click here: The end of the month is here, and that means it's time to do a little housekeeping on our list of the absolute best iPhone apps. Which ones were tops? Chrome: At long last, Google has finally launched Chrome for iOS. The browser includes...

When the Sparrow team announced that it had been acquired by Google back in July, the future of its popular email clients for Mac and iOS became unclear. We still don’t really know what will become of Sparrow, but its creators promised it would continue support its customers. Staying true to that promise, the team has updated Sparrow for iPhone for the first time since its Google acquisition, adding support for Google Chrome, better IMAP compatibility, and more.

iOS: A few weeks ago, security tool Lookout unveiled Signal Flare for Android, a new feature that sends your phone's location to its servers just before the battery dies. Now that feature is available to iPhone users as well....

As we near the end of 2012, Cult of Mac has taken a look back at some of the best iOS apps that have hit the App Store over the last 12 months. There have been some terrific releases this year, and we could have named a hundred that are well worth your hard-earned cash. But we’ve managed to whittle our list down to just ten titles that have really stood out for us this year. Check out our best apps roundup below.

As spring semester begins at colleges across the country, students are boarding planes for study abroad programs. Spring is the most popular semester for study abroad, according to GoAbroad.com. And the number of students in study abroad programs has never been higher. And while having a few semesters of language classes under your belt is a great start, living in a new country can take some adjusting.

Kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup is EverClip for iPad, a terrific tool that lets you “clip” almost anything to Evernote, so that you can’t forget them. We also have a wonderful new music player for the iPad, the new Star Wars Pinball game, and more....