Category Archive: News

Alfred version 5 is the first major update to Alfred since May of 2019. And while on the surface it may not look like there's a whole lot new, the Workflow editor has been completely rewritten from the ground up. This improves on the flagship feature of Alfred (the custom workflows) in almost every way, making them faster, more efficient, and (most importantly) more user-friendly. »

Today's Apple event lived up to its teaser name by showing how Apple is delivering peak performance across their entire product line. Whether it's their more affordable iPhone or their latest desktop machine, speed was a core part of the sales pitch everywhere. »

Version 3.6 introduces Fantastical Scheduling, which is a fantastic implementation of two powerful scheduling tools: Openings and Proposals. »

When Greg Joswiak first proclaimed the iPhone 13 Pro’s camera system was to undergo “the biggest advancement yet,” I quickly chimed into my friend group watching the keynote with a “How can they claim that every single year?” »

We’ve written quite a bit about using Obsidian to manage notes and ideas over the last couple of months. We’re even hosting a workshop on getting up and running with it TOMORROW. But today the Obsidian team released the Obsidian mobile app, giving you all the power of the desktop application on your iOS or […] »

Timery (our pick for the best time tracking app) was just updated to version 1.2. The iOS version received some nice additions, like time entry suggestions, global keyboard shortcuts to start and stop timers, multi-window support, duration rounding, and a sidebar on the iPad. But the real star of the show in our opinion is […] »

Cardhop has been my preferred contacts app since it came out. There’s nothing wrong with the native contacts app on iOS or macOS per se, it’s just not that great. Adding and updating contacts requires lots of clicks or taps, and it never felt like a good place to start trying to contact someone. This […] »

David Smith (of Widgetsmith fame) just publicly released a great mindfulness app with an incredible backstory. It’s called Ian’s Awesome Counter, and was originally developed for and with his son to help manage his attention. The app is pretty genius in its simplicity. You just respond to a simple prompt at each time interval and […] »

We've been testing time tracking apps for the last several months, and are finally ready to declare a winner. There are a lot of options to consider and lots of different approaches, but Timery is the best time tracking app on any platform because it makes starting and stopping your timers a breeze and supports modern iOS features like Shortcuts and widgets better than any other app we tested. »

Streaks, our pick for the best habit tracking app, just received an update to version 6.1. The update adds a bunch of small health and automation features, but the thing that I’m excited about is the addition of the Stats widget. The Stats widget shows statistics about a single habit in a variety of ways. […] »

Since iOS 14 released we’ve seen more and more people try customizing their Home Screens. Whether they take a more widget based approach or replace individual app icons (or a combination of the two), it seems the world has gone custom Home Screen mad. With a custom Home Screen, you can change the icon for […] »

On September 15, 2020, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 6, new iPads, and few great new services that we are very excited about. Here's our overview. »

ig news today from the team at MacPaw, who just launched support for iOS apps inside of their popular Mac software subscription service, SetApp. »

Today, our friends at Day One released version 5.0 of their venerable journaling app, which continues to be one of the most important apps on our respective home screens. »

No matter how good your task management system is, there will always be things that need to be done at a specific time or as soon thereafter as possible, and for that I outsource my needs to Due. »

Ulysses 20 is a significant release, bringing both a grammar checking system and a major sidebar redesign to our favorite writing app. »

One of the things that was announced during this week's WWDC Keynote presentation was sleep tracking for the Apple Watch. The feature has long been rumored, and is finally making its way to the watch in watchOS 7. Let's take a look at how it works and why it's important. »

There was a ton that was announced in the WWDC keynote presentation on Monday. iOS 14, iPadOS, watchOS 7, macOS Big Sur, a bunch of privacy and Home updates, and even a big upgrade for AirPods. But one of the sections that really caught my attention was the announced improvements to the iPad with Apple Pencil. »

Yesterday, Apple kicked off their annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) with an impressive keynote presentation. We put together a convenient summary of everything that was announced. »

For the first time, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be completely virtual. Like other years though, the conference kicks off with the much-anticipated keynote presentation on the first day of the conference. Traditionally, the keynote offers a look at some of the new products that will be coming in the near future and gives […] »

At the end of April, the Darkroom team rolled out one of the most monumental updates in the app’s history: the ability to edit video as seamlessly as you do images. »

As much I love Keynote, I've used Deckset for a long time because it's a simple solution for throwing together quick presentations using Markdown. With Deckset, you actually edit your presentation in plain text in an app like Ulysses and Deckset applies all the styling automatically based on the styling in the currently selected theme. »

Ulysses, our favorite writing app for iOS and macOS, takes another step forward in version 19 with full support for the new cursor in iPadOS, along with some important cross-platform refinements. »

As Apple’s new Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad Pro makes its way to customers, CulturedCode is rolling out robust support for mouse and trackpad use in the latest version of their acclaimed task management app, Things 3. Things 3.12.2 brings full support for the new iOS cursor subsystem, including contextual menus, swipe gestures, and […] »

MindNode (our pick for the best mind mapping app) just received an update to version 7.1. It’s a small update that adds a couple of new node customization options and one important Shortcuts action for exporting tasks into your task manager. New Node Shapes If you like to customize the look and feel of your […] »

Perhaps caught in the weeds of worldwide news, Apple began offering universal purchases for Mac, iPad, and iPhone apps back on March 23. We haven’t seen too many apps jump aboard the new pricing structure just yet, but one of our favorites is making the conversion this week: GoodNotes. »

Update: The Idea Magic webinar is over, but we have posted a public replay here. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback around our new course, Mastering Mind Maps. It’s been really cool for us to see how many of our readers have embraced mind mapping for themselves and the clarity and confidence they’ve gotten as […] »

Over the past five years, Darkroom has established itself as one of the premier photo editing apps for iOS. Its import-free workflow, powerful editing tools, and intuitive interface have made it a favorite around here. »

Released in early December, Sensei is a perfect example of an app that can simplify your workflows by bringing together key aspects of multiple other utilities. »

Fantastical just got a HUGE update to version 3. There's a ton that's new here, including a more polished user interface, improved scheduling tools, and an updated pricing model. »

MindNode (our pick for the best mind mapping app) received a major update today with version 7 for both Mac and iOS. It adds several new features, and a major change in the business model of one of our favorite apps. »

There is a new Take Control book available today on Shortcuts, and it’s written by our own Rosemary Orchard! If you’re looking to take your iOS automation game to the next level, Rosemary is definitely qualified to help you. She’s written several automation posts here at The Sweet Setup on automation, like how to start […] »

The Things team may be one of the hallmark reasons for a wide swath of iPad-focused keyboard features over the last year to year-and-a-half. Ever since that huge Things 3.6 update back in late May 2018, the team at Cultured Code has always put iPad keyboard support at the top of the feature list. One […] »

Which streaming service is right for you? We break down the pros and cons between the latest two steaming services. »

Earlier today, the Spark email mobile app got a significant update to version 2.5. The update brings a new design, support for Dark Mode, customizable email actions, and much more. New Design & Avatars Spark has always been a beautiful application, but version 2.5 features a new design which makes it even better. Messages in […] »

iA Writer received a major update with version 5.3 that adds a bunch of new features that makes an already powerful writing app even better. »

GoodNotes (our pick for The Best App for Taking Handwritten Notes) was recently updated to version 5.3. This is a pretty major update, adding support for multiple windows, OCR scanning, and Dark Mode. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new. Multiple Windows There are lots of ways you can open multiple windows in GoodNotes: With GoodNotes […] »

Darkroom for iOS 13 and iPadOS continues the app’s assault up the list of photo editors for Apple’s mobile devices. »

Ulysses version 18 is out today with support for the new iOS 13 Dark Mode as well as the new system Split View on iPad. »

This time of year is always fun — the leaves are changing colors, sweaters are busting out of the closet, and apps are being updated for the latest version of iOS. This year, Things 3, our favorite todo app, has been updated to include a wide variety of improvements to take advantage of all the new […] »

There's a lot to like in this new version, but the thing that stands out to me after using it for about a week is just how much more solid everything feels. »

This morning’s Apple keynote was one of the more well-paced keynotes in recent memory. In case you weren’t able to catch the keynote live, or if you’re just looking for a healthy roundup of what Apple announced today, we’ve got you covered. »

Bear 1.7 introduces some nice improvements and seemingly preps the app for iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. »

iPadOS brings a lot of welcome updates to the gestures we use for copy, paste, selecting text, and much more. »

NetNewsWire 5 debuts as one of the simplest and speediest RSS readers available for the Mac and has a classic, recognizably-Mac design that fits right at home in all versions of macOS. »

The latest version of Ulysses brings more powerful features to iOS and closes the feature parity gap even further. »

The new version is a substantial update and includes a new design that makes working with your PDF documents even easier. »

The latest update to Darkroom brings one of the most important visual tools to Darkroom, allowing iPhone and iPad photographers to edit their photos with more digital information than ever before. »

Keyboard Maestro by Stairways Software is a powerful automation program which allows you to create your own macros that automate certain actions on your Mac. With Keyboard Maestro (and a little bit of practice), you can use your Mac to automate virtually anything. Keyboard Maestro has been an essential Mac app for me for years. […] »

Over on our sister site, we’ve been hard at work building a new training: The Margin Course. »

Bumpr is a Mac App Store utility that allows you to select a browser in which to open links when clicking them. It’s a handy little app that is great for anyone who occasionally has a need to open links in various browsers, and it recently received an upgrade to version 1.2 that adds several […] »

Flighty is a brand new app designed to take at least some of the stress out of the airport. »

If you’re going to be coming to Macstock this weekend (July 27-28) in Woodstock, IL, be sure to stop by and say hi! Myself and Rosemary Orchard will be speaking from The Sweet Setup team, along with David Sparks, Brett Terpstra, Chuck Joiner, and a lot of other really smart people eager to teach you […] »

Day One (our favorite journaling app) just received a major update to version 4.0. There’s a couple big features in this release, but the big one is support for videos in your Day One entries. The ability to add video to Day One is a game changer for parents like myself who record small video […] »

This week, the popular email app Airmail made the switch from a standard paid app to a subscription-based app, angering many of its users. Before the change, Airmail was priced at $4.99 in the iOS App Store. Now, Airmail Premium (which allows you to use multiple accounts and enable push notifications) is $2.99/month or $9.99/year. […] »

The team behind Day One recently released a new version that allows you to email an entry directly to one of your Day One journals. »

The latest version of Agenda brings some new features to the table, as long as some additional refinements ahead of iOS 13. »