Mac App Store

‘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.

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5 third-party Mac apps I use every day

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Although there are plenty of great apps already built into OS X, I use a lot of third-party apps on my Mac to give it more functionality tailored to my needs, as I'm sure many other Mac users do too. In this piece, I'll be sharing what my five favorite third-party apps to use on my Mac on a daily basis are, and I'll also share why I love using them.

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Using Gatekeeper to help secure your Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated May 23, 2019

macOS comes with a security feature known as Gatekeeper, which can help prevent unwanted apps from launching on your Mac without your permission. It can also prevent potentially malicious apps from launching because it can be used to limit the kinds of apps that are allowed to open on your Mac.

In lieu of the recent Sparkle updater framework vulnerability having been uncovered in a variety of popular macOS apps, now is a great time to set up your Gatekeeper settings to prevent potential issues with malware on your Mac in the future.

In this tutorial, we'll be showing you how Gatekeeper works and how you can configure it to keep your Mac just as secure as you want it to be.

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How to view your download history in the Mac App Store

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 29, 2019

Heavy Mac App Store users will download, install, and delete apps from their Mac all the time. It may be because you're interested in experimenting with new utility releases, downloading games to get a thrill, or checking out the productivity apps that developers claim to be the "best" out there.

Through all this downloading, installing, and deleting, you may want to check out one of the apps you remember using from a long time ago to see if it got any cool new updates, and sometimes you don't particularly remember what the name of said app might be.

Fortunately, the Mac App Store comes with a way to see your purchase history, allowing you to see all of the apps you've ever downloaded from the Mac App Store whether they were free or paid ones. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to see your Mac App Store's download history.

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Multiple iCloud services experiencing downtime, App Store/iTunes purchases affected

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 4, 2016

Apple on Thursday morning reported a number of issues with various iCloud services. According to the iCloud Status webpage, these problems are preventing many users around the world from making purchases in Apple's app and content stores.

In addition, “new and recently changed content may not have updated across devices for iCloud Drive, Backup, iCloud Notes, iWork for iCloud and Photos,” reads a notice on the webpage.

UPDATE: As of 9:10am PT, all of the affected iCloud services had been restored.

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How to update the Apple TV to the tvOS beta without losing apps, settings, or data

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

If you're a developer, there are two ways to update to the latest tvOS beta on the Apple TV. Both methods require a USB-C cable, so be sure to have one of those at your disposal.

The first method, and perhaps the way the general public is more familiar with, requires downloading the full tvOS beta software and restoring using iTunes. This method works, but it also means that everything that's on the Apple TV, from settings to apps, will be wiped. You're essentially setting the Apple TV back to factory defaults when using iTunes to update to the tvOS beta.

The more sensible approach is to use Apple Configurator 2, a Mac App Store app that can be used together with Configuration Profiles, to update to the latest tvOS beta.

The advantage of using the Configuration Profiles method is that all of your data, apps, and settings stay put. That way, you can enjoy all of the latest features of the tvOS beta, without having to go through the tedious initial setup process.

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Logic Pro X 10.2.1 brings tons of new features to Apple’s flagship music production app

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Alongside the release of Music Memos and a significant update to GarageBand, Apple dropped a major new update to its flagship music production suite for OS X. Logic Pro X 10.2.2 brings tons of new features to the table, and a changelog that's long enough to qualify as a light novel.

I've seen the idea that "Apple no longer cares about professionals" tossed around more often than it should. All you need to do is look at the Logic Pro X changelog to see that this couldn't be further from the truth.

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TMNT, Brandr, Proud, and more apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Earlier this week, gadget makers blew our minds with new products at the Consumer Electronics Show that will hopefully come out sometime in 2016. We also finally found out how much Oculus Rift costs and when we will get our hands on it.

It was a bigger week for hardware than it was for apps. Although, if you were lucky, you downloaded Vidyo before it was pulled from the App Store. As the weekend rolls by, if you are looking for apps and games that are still available, check out our list below.

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Controller review: a mini player for Mac that doesn’t get in the way

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

When you are blasting beats on your Mac, sometimes it is helpful to have easy access to playback features right on your desktop without having to open the root music player. It is also nice to be able to see the name of the song and artist that is currently playing at a glance.

Controller is a mini player for Mac that works with iTunes and Spotify to display the current track and provide playback controls. We've got a hands-on app review of Controller for you below.

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How to easily share GIF animations on Mac with GIF Keyboard

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

The name "GIF Keyboard" is a bit of a misnomer for the Mac version of the popular GIF sharing utility. While the iPhone version of the app truly does work as a third-party keyboard on iOS, there is no such implementation on Mac, despite it retaining the same name.

Unlike the iOS version, GIF Keyboard runs in the menu bar on OS X, but the end result—the ability to quickly and efficiently share GIF animations with friends—is largely the same.

Released back in late October, GIF Keyboard was selected by Apple as one of the best new Mac apps for 2015. Even better is the fact that it's available for free on the Mac App Store.

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