Apple updated all of its operating systems last week, adding the Car Keys feature to iOS 13.6, symptom tracking to the Health app, and more News features to iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, and macOS 10.15.6 Catalina. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, many parents are considering alternatives to sending their kids back to school in the coming year. With a year of homeschooling under his belt, Josh Centers suggests five education apps that might help young children. Wrapping up the issue, Adam Engst reviews Fig, a free iOS app that provides a native interface and push notifications for Discourse, the discussion forum software that powers our article comments and TidBITS Talk, along with thousands of other online communities. Notable Mac app releases this week include Security Update 2020-004 (Mojave and High Sierra), Safari 13.1.2, Microsoft Office for Mac 16.39, Ulysses 20, PDFpen and PDFpenPro 12.1.2, CleanMyMac X 4.6.9, Pixelmator Pro 1.7, BBEdit 13.1.2, and Luminar 4.3.
Late-cycle updates for Apple’s operating system let you (theoretically) use your iPhone as a Car Key, add local news and audio stories to News, help you track symptoms, and more.
Do you or a loved one feel compelled to homeschool in the coming year? With a year of homeschooling under his belt, Josh Centers suggests five apps that might help.
Discourse-based discussion forums have become increasingly common, but until now, there has been no way to map Discourse notifications to iOS push notifications. Fig, a free Discourse client for iPhone and iPad, now provides that feature, along with a browsable catalog of Discourse communities and a unified inbox for your notifications.
Watchlist
Patches security vulnerabilities in Apple’s last two operating systems. (Free, various sizes)
Patches a variety of security vulnerabilities for those running Apple’s last two operating systems. (Free, various sizes)
Adds support for animated GIFs to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. ($149.99 new for one-time purchase, $99.99/$69.99 annual subscription options, free update)
Introduces a new sidebar dashboard and comprehensive grammar and style checker in over 20 languages. ($39.99 annual subscription, free update, 20.5 MB)
Maintenance release with a smattering of improvements for the PDF editing apps. ($79.95/$129.95 new, free update, 86/133 MB)
Brings improvements and bug fixes to the all-purpose cleaning and maintenance app. ($89.95 new, free update, 57.4 MB)
Adds a much-requested text-on-a-path feature with new Circular Type, Path Type, and the Freeform Type tools. ($39.99 new, free update, 194 MB)
Brings a lengthy list of improvements and bug fixes for the long-standing text editor. ($49.99 new, free update, 14.2 MB)
Adds a new Search tool, improves performance, and optimizes memory usage for the AI-powered photo editing app. ($89 new, free update, 18.8 MB)
