MacRumors

Apple is offering 50 percent off a range of productivity apps as part of a "Get Productive" iOS App Store promotion that's taking place this week. Each app is available at a 50 percent discount from its regular App Store pricing. Many well-known apps like Clear, Things, Drafts 4, and Deliveries are included in the promotion.

Available apps cover a wide range of productivity tasks, from note-taking and editing PDFs to creating to-dos, making scans, converting currency, and more. A full list of apps and their pricing with the discount is below:

- PDF Expert 5, a PDF editing tool - $4.99
- Duet Display, for using an iPad or iPhone as a second monitor - $7.99
- Things, a popular and powerful to-do app - $4.99
- PCalc, a calculator app - $4.99
- Clear, a list making app - $1.99
- Drafts 4, a quick note-taking app - $4.99
- Prizmo, a scanning app - $4.99
- Moleskine Timepage, a calendar app - $1.99
- Genius Scan+, a scanning app - $2.99
- Due, a reminders/timers app - $2.99
- Deliveries, a package tracking app - $1.99
- Carbo, an app for making handwritten notes - $3.99
- Numerics, an app for visualizing numbers in charts and widgets - $4.99
- Amount Plus, a unit and currency converter - $0.99

Some of these apps have Mac counterparts that are also being offered at a 50 percent discount, including PCalc, Things, Clear, and Prizmo.

Apple's App Store promo sales often last from Thursday to Thursday, so these discounts should be available for the next six days.

In a separate sale, password management app 1Password for Mac is available from the Mac App Store at a 50 percent off discount, dropping the price to $24.99. This is the lowest price AgileBits has offered for several months, and at $24.99, 1Password is well worth picking up. The iOS app is a free download.

A number of tech blogs have shared a video from Chinese website M.I.C. Gadget that claims to provide the first real look at Apple's next-generation 4-inch iPhone, but there are some clues to suggest the mystery smartphone may simply be a regular 4.7-inch iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s.

The display width also appears to resemble an iPhone 6s compared to the size of the home button, but exact measurements are hard to determine without an object for scale. The lack of a 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus for comparison also makes the video more questionable.

M.I.C. Gadget has accurately leaked some iPhone, iPad and iPod touch components in the past, so there remains a slim possibility this video truly depicts a new 4-inch iPhone. The website has also aggregated a number of false leaks and rumors, however, so the authenticity of this video remains in doubt.

The much-rumored "iPhone 6c" may feature a 64-bit Apple A8 chip, 1GB of RAM, 16GB and 64GB storage sizes, 8-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera, improved FaceTime HD camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture, Apple Pay, Touch ID, VoLTE calling and more. The smartphone could launch by the end of March for around $500.

Apple has announced that it will be opening its first iOS app development center in Europe at a partner institution in Naples, Italy. Apple expects to expand this program to other countries around the world in the future.

The center will provide a specialized curriculum for students to learn practical skills and training on developing iOS apps, and Apple will work with partners around Italy who train developers to create additional opportunities for students.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's ecosystem now supports 1.4 million jobs in Europe, including 1.2 million jobs attribute to the app economy. In Italy, specifically, Apple said over 75,000 jobs are linked to the App Store.

“Europe is home to some of the most creative developers in the world and we’re thrilled to be helping the next generation of entrepreneurs in Italy get the skills they need for success,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The phenomenal success of the App Store is one of the driving forces behind the more than 1.4 million jobs Apple has created in Europe and presents unlimited opportunities for people of all ages and businesses of all sizes across the continent.”

Apple recorded a record-breaking $1.1 billion in App Store sales during the 2015 holiday season. Christmas Day and New Year's Day both set single-day records, with customers spending over $144 million on January 1, 2016 in particular.

Apple has now paid European developers over €10.2 billion since the App Store launched.

With the iOS 9.3 beta, Apple introduced a new feature called Night Shift. It's designed to cut down the amount of blue light an iOS device puts out in the evening, as Apple noted that studies have shown that blue light can negatively impact sleep by altering the body's circadian rhythm. Today, reddit user nickjosephson spotted a Night Shift toggle in Control Center on Apple Canada's iOS 9.3 preview page.

The Night Shift toggle sits next to the brightness slider in Control Center with two options available: "Turn On For Now" and "Turn On Until Tomorrow." While the toggle is shown on an iPad Air, it's likely the new feature works on iPhones as well, though it's unclear where the toggle would fit on the iPhone's smaller Control Center.

The Night Shift toggle is not featured on the American version of the iOS 9.3 preview page, which instead shows Apple News' "For You" section. Apple News is not yet available in Canada, which is the likely reason why the images are different.

Night Shift can be activated on 64-bit iOS devices running iOS 9.3 by toggling it on in the Display and Brightness section of the Settings app. Users can either create their own Night Shift schedule or allow iOS to turn it on after sunset and turn it off at sunrise.

The Night Shift toggle is likely to make its debut in a future beta of iOS 9.3. The next beta is expected in the coming weeks.

Since the launch of Apple Music and its included Apple Music Connect social platform, Apple has been focusing efforts on its music creation tools, as evidenced by today's surprise release of a brand new iOS app called Music Memos and a significant update to the iOS version of GarageBand.

Available for free, Music Memos is designed to allow musicians and songwriters to record, analyze, and manipulate high-quality uncompressed audio directly on an iPhone or iPad. Music Memos is accompanied by an update to GarageBand that introduces some fun new tools for musicians and average iPhone owners alike. We went hands-on with Music Memos and the revamped GarageBand to give MacRumors a closer look at what the apps are capable of.

Today's GarageBand 2.1 update introduces Live Loops, a fun visual music-making feature designed to allow users to create loops and add DJ-style effects through multi-touch gestures. Live Loops are displayed in an easy-to-use grid, with each instrument or sample in a different cell. Sound can be manipulated tapping and mixing the different instruments and the Apple-designed loop templates that are available in genres like EDM, Hip Hop, and Rock. The Drummer feature from Logic Pro X and GarageBand for Mac has also been added to the new iOS version.

Music Memos is compatible with the iPhone 4s and later and the iPad 2 and later. It can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

GarageBand for iOS is provided for free with the purchase of any new iOS device with 32GB to 128GB storage space, so many iOS users may be able to download the latest 2.1 update at no cost. For those who do not already own GarageBand, it is available from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]

Apple today released Music Memos, an all-new iPhone and iPad app that is essentially an enhanced version of the stock Voice Memos app for songwriters.

Music Memos is designed for musicians and songwriters to quickly and easily capture their impromptu song ideas on the fly, whenever inspiration strikes.

The app has a simple user interface at first glance, with nothing but a small recording button, but tucked away behind tiny icons are several useful features.

Recording

To begin recording, simply open the Music Memos app and tap on the blue circle button. The user interface will turn red while recording. Alternatively, you can tap on the "Auto" label in the top-left corner and the app will automatically start and stop the recording based on your voice.

As you are recording, the circle will pulsate to your voice, or musical instruments, and there is a waveform at the bottom of the screen. To finish recording, simply tap the red circle button and the snippet will appear at the bottom with a title, playback button, pitch notation, and other options.

Tapping on the guitar or drum set icons overlays the music recording with drums and a bass line to provide a virtual, customizable backing band. Moreover, your snippet can be renamed, deleted, tagged, or rated on a five-star scale. The app also provides visual warnings if it detects your recording is too quiet or too loud.

Editing

Music Memos saves a list of your recordings, accessible by tapping the tray button at the top of the app. Tapping on a snippet's waveform brings up various editing options for tempo, time signature, downbeat, tuning and length.

The app automatically analyzes your recording and displays musical measures and suggested chord names. Any chord names throughout your song can be renamed or provided further detail by tapping on them.

There are also the options to trim the beginning and end of your recording, adjust the tempo, time signature and downbeat, and keep track of comments, lyric ideas, alternate guitar tunings, or capo position.

Tuning

Music Memos includes a built-in tuner for chromatic pitch notation, accessible by tapping the tuning fork button in the top-right corner. The tuner automatically shows a letter note once it detects sound.

There are already several existing tuner apps on the App Store, including Guitar Tuna and Cleartune, but this is a convenient, all-in-one option that songwriters can use to both record musical ideas and tune their guitars.

Exporting and Sharing

Music Memos snippets, which are 24-bit 44.1kHz audio files, can be saved to iCloud Drive, exported to Logic Pro X and GarageBand for iOS or Mac, or shared directly on Apple Music Connect, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Simply tap on the tray button at the top, expand a recording from the list and tap the share button.

Music Memos is free on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

The launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus brought a new range of gestures to the iPhone, introducing 3D Touch. 3D Touch adds a pressure dimension to the traditional multi-touch controls on iOS devices to enable Peek and Pop, Quick Actions, pressure-sensitive drawing, and more.

Because 3D Touch is an entirely new feature, it can be difficult to adjust to all of the available gestures and to find the hidden things that can be done with it. In the video below, we've rounded up some of the neatest 3D Touch abilities including a Peek gesture to view all Safari tabs, useful third-party Quick Actions, and cursor control.

In a MacRumors Twitter poll conducted in December, 40 percent of 8,100 entrants said they don't use 3D Touch, while another 25 percent said they use the feature only occasionally. As a new feature, it takes some time for longtime iPhone owners to get used to incorporating new gestures into their daily usage routines.

Apple today announced it has released a free iOS app called Music Memos that enables musicians and songwriters to record and analyze high-quality, uncompressed audio using the iPhone's built-in microphone, or an external microphone. The app is currently rolling out on the App Store worldwide.

Music Memos displays a small recording button when first opened, along with a waveform at the bottom of the screen while recording. The app can analyze rhythm and chords of acoustic guitar and piano recordings, and instantly add drums and a bass line to provide a virtual, customizable backing band.

Music Memos automatically analyzes the basic arrangement and suggests chords you played for each track. Then you can hear how your music sounds with a realistic virtual drummer and bass player jamming along. If your performance speeds up or slows down, so does the band. You can even tweak the energy and performance of the drums or bass with a few simple controls.

Music Memo, which Apple says was inspired by Voice Memos, can tag songs based on sound, location or a rating, and recordings can be shared on Apple Music Connect, SoundCloud and YouTube. The app is closely integrated with GarageBand for iOS, which has received a major update today.

GarageBand 2.1 for iOS introduces Live Loops, a new feature for creating music by tapping cells and columns in a grid to trigger different looped instruments and samples. Live Loops includes a preset library of Apple-designed loop templates in multiple genres, including EDM, Hip Hop, Dubstep and Rock, or you can create your own.

The new GarageBand for iOS also adopts the Drummer feature from GarageBand and Logic Pro X on Mac, with nine EDM and acoustic virtual session drummers to choose from. The app also gained 3D Touch support, new automation features for advanced users, a new simple EQ and more.

Music Memos is free on the App Store for iPhone 4s and later, and iPad 2 and later. GarageBand 2.1 for iOS is bundled free with new iOS devices 32GB and larger, is available as a free upgrade for existing users with compatible iOS 9 devices or later, and is otherwise available for $4.99 on the App Store.

Music Tracker, from developer Ben Dodson, is a new app designed to keep an eye on changes made to the music library on your iOS device. After downloading, the app scans a user's music library and then tracks all changes that are introduced, including new song additions, deletions, and metadata changes to details like the title, artist, album, and genre of owned tracks. Whenever a change is discovered, a notification is sent.

While this is useful for those who like to monitor content and changes made manually to a music library to keep personal logs, it's perhaps best suited to Apple Music subscribers. There are instances where content available through the Apple Music service is deleted or changed due to licensing issues with record labels, and this app will allow users to keep track of potential deletions to replace missing music.

As an example, Dodson cites a recent change to a studio recording of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl," which was silently swapped over to a live version on Apple Music. Music Tracker noted the change and Dodson was able to find a replacement studio recording on another album.

Music Tracker also includes a full Apple Watch app that provides music library details including exactly how many tracks are in a library and how many songs have been added, changed, or deleted each day. There's also a glance view with the same information and a complication for watch faces that support that feature.

During the process of developing Music Tracker, Dodson ran into some potential privacy holes that he feels iOS users should be aware of. With many third-party iOS apps, accessing user information like location, contacts, or photos requires express user permission, but that's not the case with a music library.

According to Dodson, apps are able to access a user's music library and send data on what's included back to a server, allowing it to be used for advertising or tracking purposes. An app can scan through an entire music library in mere seconds, gaining information on the music content you prefer, down to details like the song that's most often played. Dodson also believes this could be a way for advertisers and marketers to track users across multiple devices.

When iOS first came out there was something called a UDID which basically identified your device uniquely. This was used by marketers to track you across multiple apps and build up a profile. This was stopped by Apple a few years back and replaced with an advertising identifier which you can turn off and which can only be used between apps from the same company (where they are probably already tracking you). However, with a full music library, it would be fairly easy to track someone across multiple apps as periodic snapshots could be compared on a server.

Music Tracker, for its part, does not include any in-app purchases, does not require an Internet connection, and does not collect any library data from customers. Dodson says he doesn't know if there are apps that are already collecting music data from customers in the background, but he has filed a bug report with Apple to ask for a permissions feature to be implemented for the music library.

Music Tracker can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for $0.99. [Direct Link]

A trio of carmakers have unveiled new vehicles with CarPlay and Android Auto support at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month, including the 2017 Honda Ridgeline, 2017 Kia Forte5 and 2017 Lincoln Continental. All three models will be available in the first half of 2016.

Honda's 2016 Accord and 2016 Civic also feature CarPlay and Android Auto, while Kia has indicated later availability in the 2016 Optima.

Lincoln is a luxury vehicle brand under Ford, which earlier this month announced it is adding CarPlay and Android Auto to all 2017 vehicles in North America equipped with its SYNC 3 platform. CarPlay and Android Auto will also be available in 2016 Ford vehicles with SYNC 3 as an upgrade later this year.

CarPlay has finally experienced widespread adoption in 2016, nearly three years after being introduced as "iOS in the Car" at WWDC 2013. Toyota is one of the only major vehicle brands without a future commitment to CarPlay, although the Japanese carmaker remains listed as a CarPlay partner on Apple's website.

The trio of new vehicles have yet to be added to Apple's new CarPlay available models list published on its website last week.