Archived Post

Notable apps and updates, Oct. 5-10

On a regular basis, Apple World Today posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they’re popular and deserve mention. Here are this week’s picks.

macOS

CleverFiles has announced Disk Drill for Mac 4, an update of its data recovery solution for macOS. 

Disk Drill boasts a robust set of file recovery tools that can undelete files from almost any device (including data extraction from devices with the T2 encryption chip), offering iOS 14 and Android Recovery, macOS Big Sur support. Version 4 is powered by features like: 

° Time Machine Recovery: analyze your Time Machine backups and safely extract any data you may need without the need to restore the backups.

° Data Shredder: securely delete any files and folders for good. 

° Free Disk Space: securely erase free space on any disk. Ensures others can’t recover what was deleted by securely wiping disk space marked as free.

° Clean Up: allows to free some space and quickly get a data map of all existing files and folders to remove space hogs.

Also, the Find Duplicates feature now scans the drivers for duplicate content to free up some extra space. This provides a way to remove duplicates from network folders and online storage accounts like Dropbox or Google Drive.Data Shredder and more.

Disk Drill 4 is available for download for free. Registration for the Pro version is US$99.

Smile has launched PDFpen and PDFpenPro 12, an update of its all-purpose PDF editing tool for Mac. 

With the tool, users can add signatures, text, and images, make changes and correct typos, OCR scanned docs, fill out forms, and more. They can also mark up documents with highlighting, underscoring and strikethrough. Version 12.2 features adding items to the library from the context menu, and, for Pro users, JavaScript editing.

PDFpen and PDFpenPro 12 work with PDFpen for iPad and iPhone, allowing seamless editing across devices when used with Dropbox or iCloud.

PDFpen retails for US$79.95, and PDFpenPro for $129.95. Family Pack licenses, which cover up to five computers in one household, are $99.95 for PDFpen and $159.95 for PDFpenPro. Office Pack licenses start at $249.95 for PDFpen (five users) and $374.95 for PDFpenPro (five users).

Upgrades from earlier single-user versions of either application are $35, and free for users who purchased on or after January 1, 2020. Upgrades from any previous version of PDFpen to PDFpenPro 12 are $50. Upgrade pricing for Family Packs and Office Packs is available at the Smile web store.

PDFpen and PDFpenPro 12 require macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later. Full versions of PDFpen and PDFpenPro are available for purchase at the Mac App Store. PDFpen is also available via subscription from Setapp.

Feral Interactive has rolled out A Total War Saga: TROY for macOS (10.5 and higher). It’s available exclusively from the Epic Games Store for US$49.99.

Here’s how the game is described: “Set against the striking backdrop of the Bronze Age Mediterranean, A Total War Saga: TROY is the first entry in the award-winning series to focus on the legendary Trojan War. Players will step onto the battlefields to command antiquity’s most revered heroes, choosing their side in the contest for the coveted city of Troy.”

CS Odessa has released ConceptDraw OFFICE 7, an update to their business-productivity software for macOS and Windows. The new version boasts new and improved versions of every aspect of the OFFICE suite, including tools for diagramming, mind mapping, and project management.

ConceptDRAW OFFICE 7 requires (on the Mac platform) macOS 10.14 or higher. It includes ConceptDraw MINDMAP 12, ConceptDraw PROJECT 11, and ConceptDraw DIAGRAM 14 and retails for US$499 with all its components available in a suite and individually.

iOS

Mike Clay has released PlayTally, a new app that allows users to explore their Apple Music listening history, stats and trends. 

Users can track their Apple Music listening history play by play, watch their top songs and artists trend in real-time, and earn awards as they listen more and grow their library. PlayTally creates its own time-stamped playback records using the background tasks application programming interface introduced in iOS 13.

The app is free, but does offer in-app purchases. It requires iOS 13 or later.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.