App Store

MacID price drops 75% in the App Store for a limited time

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 28, 2016

MacID, the popular app for iPhone and iPad that lets you use Touch ID or your Apple Watch (and yes, even your Pebble) to unlock your Mac over a Bluetooth connection, is on sale in the App Store this week for 75% off the usual price.

The app received an important update over the weekend with support for new features found in iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2, giving users the ability to configure multiple Apple Watches with MacID and use them to unlock their Mac.

Marked at just $0.99 for a limited time, you can grab MacID and start using your iOS device's Touch ID sensor or Apple Watch to unlock your Mac instead of typing in a password each time it locks itself.

FreeChat for WhatsApp brings a free native desktop app for WhatsApp to Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 31, 2023

Anyone who uses WhatsApp Messenger who has been looking for a truly free native-style desktop app experience on their Mac has been hard-pressed to find a really good client that didn't have hidden costs and worked extremely well in the same package.

Fortunately, FreeChat for WhatsApp is an app on the Mac App Store that you can download on your Mac at no cost whatsoever, and it will work exactly how you would expect a WhatsApp Messenger client to work on your Mac without any hidden costs, ads, or caveats

MacID update adds multi-Apple Watch support, improved battery life, pairing reliability, & more

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 22, 2018

The popular MacID app for iOS and OS X has received an update on Friday that adds support for new features in the newly-released watchOS 2.2 and iOS 9.3 firmware.

MacID has been made popular for its ability to unlock Mac computers with Touch ID or from an interactive notification on the wrist of the app's user by way of their Apple Watch, rather than having to type a pasword to unlock the Mac from a sleep.

Version 1.3.3 of MacID is now available in the App Store for iOS devices and Apple Watches, and version 1.3.3 of MacID for the Mac is available from the developer's website.

iOS 9 adoption hits 80 percent mark

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 22, 2016

In less than two weeks since iOS 9 was powering a reported 79 percent of devices, that figure has now climbed by one percentage point to eighty percent of devices, a significant milestone. While the new iOS 9 adoption numbers are yet to be publicized on Apple's App Store dashboard for developers, the freshest figure was mentioned on stage at yesterday's 'Let us loop you in' media event by Greg Joswiak, Apple's Vice President of iPhone Marketing.

tvOS 9.2 is here: Dictation, folders, Live Photos, wireless keyboards, iCloud Photo Library & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 11, 2023

tvOS 9.2, a new update for the operating system which powers the fourth-generation Apple TV, is now available for public consumption. The new firmware, released alongside iOS 9.3, OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 and watchOS 2.2, is a very interesting update for the cool new features it brings to the table.

tvOS 9.2 enables several features missing from the initial tvOS release, including long-awaited support for wireless keyboards, dictation, Siri support for App Store searches, app folders on the Home screen, a revamped app switcher, Siri Remote improvements, support for Live Photos and iCloud Photo Library and more.

What to do if an App Store app you downloaded isn’t working or won’t open

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated November 12, 2025

Have you downloaded a free or paid app from the iPhone or iPad App Store only to find that it wouldn’t launch or it crashed immediately? If that’s the case, here are some quick fixes you can try.

Apple Events app launches on tvOS App Store ahead of Monday’s ‘Let us loop you in’ media event

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2016

Apple has scheduled its 'Let us loop you in' media event on Monday, March 21. Ahead of the invite-only press conference, the company has released a native application, aptly named Apple Events, for the fourth-generation Apple TV in the tvOS App Store.

The app makes it easier for Apple fans to stream the company's media events live and watch replays of previous broadcasts on their box.

What you need to know about the AceDeceiver trojan that’s affecting some iOS devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 16, 2016

Stock, non-jailbroken iOS devices appear to be vulnerable to a new security threat; a trojan known as AceDeceiver, which can be installed on an iOS device without the user's knowledge and without the help of an enterprise certificate. Once installed, it will spread malware and unwanted software to the user's device.

AceDeceiver only seems to be affecting those located in China at this point in time, but because that could change on the fly, you need to know how to protect yourself so similar threats don't affect users across the globe in the future.

iOS 9 adoption jumps to 79 percent of devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 4, 2017

After being stuck at the 77 percent mark for a full four weeks, Apple on Monday updated its App Store dashboard for developers with the latest stats on iOS 9 adoption. As per the newest device logs captured on March 7, 2016, iOS 9 is installed on 79 percent of devices that recently accessed the App Store.

The two-point increase versus the 77 percent adoption rate recorded a month ago came at the expense of iOS 8 and earlier versions that have lost ground to iOS 9.

Apple acknowledges App Store algorithm problems

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2016

Responding to a number of complaints on social media that disgruntled third-party developers posted over the weekend, Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, has acknowledged that Apple is aware of the problem and has confirmed that the company is working on a solution.

“Shouldn't happen,” reads Schiller's response on Twitter to complaints by Mozilla’s Lisa Brester and Screenshot++ developer Wesley Dyson.

”We'll look into it. Thank you,” Schiller wrote.

‘Ask to Buy’ lets you control what your kids buy in iTunes, iBooks, or App Store

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 31, 2018

After a period of Apple being under fire because kids were running up their parents' credit card bills with App Store and in-app purchases, Apple decided to do something about it. Apple's answer was to create a parental control system for the App Store so parents could approve or deny purchases that would otherwise have an impact on their credit card.

This parental control system is known as 'Ask to Buy' and it's available on both iOS and OS X in the latest releases of the operating systems, and in this tutorial, we'll tell you a little bit about how to configure and use Ask to Buy.

Hound voice assistant launches in the App Store, but how does it compare to Siri?

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 1, 2016

There are numerous companies competing to be the top dog in voice assistant software, but the makers of sound-tagging service SoundHound have made another alternative called Hound that promises an excellent voice assistant experience. Many initial reports suggest it's even more capable than the voice assistants you're used to using already, such as Siri, Google Now, and Cortana.

So just how capable is Hound? In this piece, we'll walk you through the new free-to-download Hound voice assistant for iOS and find out if it's as good as everyone says.