In AppBITS, Adam Engst examines Fidelia, a skeuomorphic music player for audiophiles that’s also a welcome visual antidote to macOS 26’s Liquid Glass aesthetic—offering bit-perfect playback, Audio Unit effects, and headphone virtualization in a brushed-metal package. Speaking of design, Adam shares poll results showing that virtually no TidBITS readers use Apple’s clear or tinted icons, and argues that Tahoe’s squircle mandate hurts usability and erases app personality. A tip of the hat to the Apple specs site EveryMac, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Finally, we link to a 404 Media report on a Hide My Email vulnerability that Apple has ignored for over a year. Notable Mac app releases this week include 1Password 8.12.26; Acorn 8.6.1; Cardhop 2.4.8; Cyberduck 9.5.2; Final Cut Pro 12.3, Compressor 5.3, and Motion 6.3; Keynote 15.3, Numbers 15.3, and Pages 15.3; Mellel 6.7; Merlin Project 9.2; Mimestream 1.10.4; Path Finder 26.1.6; and Quicken Classic 9.1.
EveryMac is celebrating its 30th anniversary. For three decades, Brock Kyle’s comprehensive Apple specs site has been a reliable standby for hunting down obscure details that Apple doesn’t make easy to find.
Our poll results are in: virtually no TidBITS readers use clear or tinted icons on the Mac or the iPhone. But the real issue isn’t color—it’s that Apple’s mandatory squircle shape strips icons of their distinctive personalities, making them harder to differentiate.
Audiofile Engineering’s Fidelia plays your music collection with bit-perfect accuracy and lets you shape the sound through Audio Units, equalization, and headphone virtualization. It’s not for everyone—but audiophiles will appreciate its depth.
Watchlist
Maintenance release with a handful of improvements and bug fixes for the password manager. ($47.88 annual subscription, free update, 4.8 MB, macOS 12+)
Brings new Cropping and Brush functionality, as well as new automation capabilities. ($29.99 new, free update, 36.9 MB, macOS 14+)
Contact management app improves search results when searching for specific text sequences in notes. ($57 annual subscription, free update, 30.1 MB, macOS 12+)
Brings a number of macOS enhancements to the open-source file transfer app. (Free, 179.2 MB, macOS 10.13+)
Brings new intelligence-based features to Final Cut Pro. ($299.99/$49.99/$49.99 new or $129.99 annually with Apple Creator Studio subscription, free update, various sizes, macOS 15.6+)
Enables direct image editing in Pixelmator Pro for Apple Creator Studio subscribers. ($129.99 annual Apple Creator Studio subscription, various sizes, macOS 15.6+)
Introduces a new color picker and brings improved palette and window layouts. ($69.99 new, free update, 106.7 MB, macOS 10.13+)
Adds a built-in MCP server for connectivity to AI clients. ($229.99 annual subscription, free update for subscribers, 48.2 MB, macOS 13+)
Gmail-specific email app improves throughput of Gmail API queries. ($49.99 annual subscription, free update, 12.8 MB, macOS 12+)
Redesigns the Icons View for the macOS Finder alternative. ($29.95 anual subscription, free update, 19.2 MB, macOS 10.13+)
Brings various improvements to the financial management app. ($77.88/$101.88/$143.88 annual subscription, free update, 3.2 MB, macOS 13+)
