BEST BUYS… Curated picks of additional apps
PHOTO EDITOR (MAC) Luminar AI
From £59 skylum.com
If you want to improve your photos without spending too much, this is the app for you. If you’re worried that you don’t have the know-how for technical image edits, this is also the app for you! The software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse your photos with templates for various categories, instantly enhancing your shot. And, once the AI has worked its magic, you can make your own easy tweaks.
TO-DO (MAC/iOS) Todoist
From Free todoist.com
Task management apps should be clear and simple but with features on hand for you to be as productive as possible. Todoist provides that platform, and the Premium £3.99 tier in particular gets our vote. The interface is very easy to navigate and the comprehensive toolset is accessible without being overwhelming. The price includes both Mac and iOS apps, file uploads, and collaborative tools.
PHOTO EDITOR (iOS) Pixelmator
£4.99 pixelmator.com
Pixelmator is a fullfledged layer-based photo editor, graphic design and painting app. It offers over 100 brushes, dozens of tools and 32 blending modes giving you full control, all for a really affordable price. The app works with iCloud to sync all your projects across devices including Mac. It also supports formats like PSD, PNG and JPEG, making it the best app for all your graphic needs.
TEXT RECOGNITION (MAC) TextSniper
£6.99 textsniper.app
Not only can TextSniper extract and recognise text from anything you see on your Mac’s screen, it can do so very quickly. The app can handle just about any type of copy – be it a screenshot, PDF, scanned photo document, and so on. It’s easy to use, works almost instantly, and we’re really impressed with its accuracy. If you need a decent text recognition app, try this excellent affordable option.
FILE FINDER (MAC) HoudahSpot 6
£31 houdah.com/houdahSpot
If you find that Spotlight isn’t quite the Mac super sleuth you need it to be, try HoudahSpot 6. Searches are fully customisable and groups of criteria can be combined into logical expressions. Custom search windows can then be saved as templates, handy for common searches, and your searches can be further refined progressively. The Mail plug-in is great for drilling down through your mailboxes.
CALENDAR & TASKS (MAC/iOS) Fantastical 3
From £3.25 per month
flexibits.com
If your calendar and reminders are getting out of control, Fantastical can sort things out. It has support for natural language entry, so you can enter events and reminders as you would say them. It’s got a nifty menu bar shortcut, plus a great interface, clever calendar management and a powerful iOS app. Its predecessor won MF338’s group test.
NOTE-TAKING (iOS) Notability 10
£8.99 gingerlabs.com
Notability is a very flexible note-taking app. It can combine different mediums, such as illustrations, handwriting and audio recordings, and import PDFs and scan documents. Version 10 also brings an in-house Shop for purchasing additional stickers, themes and features, such as handwriting conversion. The app works well with Apple Pencil and supports a range of cloud-based services.
TIME TRACKING (MAC/iOS) Tyme 3
£3.49 per month tyme-app.com
If you need to make sure you’re paid for hours/miles you put in for work, or any expenses you incur, you need this app. Create a project, add your tasks and let Tyme keep track for you. The app doubles as an organiser and project manager and comes as a package for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Geofencing means times can be recorded automatically based on your location.
EMAIL MANAGER (MAC/iOS) Spark
Free sparkmailapp.com
Feeling inbox anxiety? The solution could be Spark, our favourite iPhone email app after winning MF340’s group test. Its ‘smart inbox’ prioritises emails based on perceived importance – no more vital messages getting lost in a sea of spam. You can snooze messages to be reminded about them later, and search your mailboxes using natural language. And to top it all off, it’s free.