Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

Finma is a financial management app for your iPhone. It has a focus on user privacy and doesn’t require a connection to your bank account. It also features beautiful charts and many useful features to give you a better financial picture.

The new Major League Soccer season kicks off tonight, with LAFC vs Minnesota as the first game starting now. You can watch the entire league’s games through MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, live and on-demand.

MLS Season Pass costs $99 for the full season, or at a discounted $79 price for Apple TV+ subscribers. Watch all of the regular season and playoff games with no blackouts or regional restrictions, and share one subscription with up to six people using Apple Family Sharing.

When 5G debuted with the lineup, Apple introduced a sneaky new pricing tactic. Apple would list iPhones as “starting at $799”, but that price would require you to activate with one of the major US carriers at the point of purchase. If you wanted an unlocked iPhone, the actual starting price point was $829.

iPhone 16e gets rid of this annoying upcharge.

The first iOS 18.4 beta dropped yesterday, and includes an exciting smart home addition that previously went under the radar. As tested by Jonathan at Smart Home Centre, the Home app now supports robot vacuums and maps that integrate with the Matter protocol.

Right now, the only compatible model on the market is the , but many other manufacturers have pledged support for Matter with forthcoming software updates.

Many people are concerned about the privacy of their personal data, especially online. Not everyone feels safe sharing their personal email address when signing up to a website or shopping online. But what if you could protect your phone number too? That’s exactly what Surfshark Alternative Number does.

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Before the iPad, Apple saw a lot of success in K-12, but it was mainly around cart-based learning with MacBooks. While several schools had 1:1 programs, the iPad (and its $499 price point) kickstarted the mobility revolution. The iPad was a hit with students and teachers alike, but managing iPads at scale was, to put it mildly, a logistical nightmare for IT teams.

Apple’s latest has arrived, and it’s now time to scope out the best iPhone 16e cases. Pre-orders went live this morning on the new, more affordable Apple handset and we are already starting to see plenty of case makers coming out of the woodwork with their latest solutions to ensure it remains in pristine condition. While the official new Apple Silicone Cases might be the cleanest options out there, we now know magnetic cases don’t interfere with the new C1 chip, and a load of third-party options have also landed that can effectively retrofit the new 16e with MagSafe support. Head below for a look at the best iPhone 16e cases now available for purchase. 

This month we’ve partnered with our friends at Chargeasap to give away Apple’s latest MacBook Pro to one lucky reader to celebrate the launch of the company’s new Flash Pro Ultra, the world’s first dual OLED 275W powerbank. You can head below now to enter the giveaway and check out the new Flash Pro Ultra by Chargeasap.

iPhone and iPad users are already very familiar with something called “proximity pairing.” First introduced with iOS 11, this feature lets users transfer backup and other data from one device to a new one just by placing them close together. Now it seems that Apple is finally working on adding proximity pairing setup to the Mac.

Apple has released the first developer beta of iOS 18.4. While it’s missing some of the most impressive Apple Intelligence features, it includes a ton of other new features and changes. Head below for our full roundup of everything new in iOS 18.4…

Apple’s push to make the iPhone more customizable and personal has brought a new iOS 18.4 feature: now there are two new categories for setting default apps, depending on where you live.

Apple on Friday released the long-awaited first beta of iOS 18.4. While the update focuses on expanding Apple Intelligence to more languages, it also has some other new features and secrets. Interestingly, the update seems to confirm the existence of a new category of Apple devices called “Home.”

Apple today announced that it has removed its Advanced Data Protection feature in the UK. The decision comes after the UK government ordered Apple to build a worldwide backdoor into iCloud encryption. Instead of complying with that order, Apple chose to remove the feature in the UK.

There’s a huge piece of nuance getting missed in a lot of the coverage of today’s announcement. Apple is not “removing end-to-end encryption” from the UK as some headlines have suggested. The company is removing the Advanced Data Protection feature, yes, but that feature exists separately from Apple’s broader end-to-end encryption efforts.

iOS 18.4 brings Apple Intelligence support to a lot of new languages, expands Image Playgrounds with a new style, and also includes another AI addition: Priority Notifications.

Since the launch of the M-series processors and now the C1 cellular modem, Apple has been slowly but surely moving toward complete chip independence. The company is even working on its own Bluetooth and Wi-Fi solution, which is reportedly coming with new Home products and the iPhone 17 lineup in the Fall.

One obvious benefit of developing chips in-house is energy efficiency. Apple toated this with the introduction of Apple Silicon what feels like a hundred years ago, and this week with its first-ever 5G modem, which gives the iPhone 16e nearly 20% better battery life over the flagship iPhone 16. While improved battery life is certainly appealing, there are less obvious but more significant benefits of Apple having end-to-end control over both the software and hardware components.

This is Security Bite, where I share insights on data privacy, vulnerabilities, or emerging threats within Apple’s vast ecosystem of over 2 billion active devices each week.

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Apple just released a variety of new beta software updates, including iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. The latter two updates introduce Apple’s big Mail app redesign to the iPad and Mac.

Today Apple released the first developer beta for iOS 18.4. In early December, iOS 18.2 introduced the new Image Playground app, and now it’s getting better with an iOS 18.4 enhancement.

Apple just launched the first iOS 18.4 beta. Joining new Apple Intelligence languages, a Food section for News+ subscribers, and an Apple Vision Pro app on iPhone, iOS 18.4 also adds new Ambient Music controls that can be used in Control Center, on your Lock Screen, and more—powered by Apple Music.

Apple released the first beta of iOS 18.4 today, which comes with a big upgrade to the Apple News app. Apple News+ Food is a new section in the Apple News app that includes thousands of curated recipes from some of the biggest names in food publishing.

The first iOS 18.4 beta has arrived, and with it comes the launch of a brand new iPhone app. Similar to the standalone Watch app for Apple Watch users, there’s now a dedicated ‘Apple Vision Pro’ app for iPhone.