What were the best iOS and Mac apps of the past month? iCulture lists the harvest of February 2023 for you. You should definitely try this one! 
Editors iCulture.nl – 26 February 2023, 13:00 whatsappfacebooktwittertelegramlinkedinmailprint
In the monthly App Gemist section you can read which apps from the past month are worth checking out. We always discuss about ten apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac. These could be apps that you may not have known about or that are useful or just fun to try. And that could also be veterans who have received a major update and are therefore getting some extra attention.
Discussed on iCulture earlier this month:
- Microsoft's iPhone apps now work with ChatGPT
- Spotify wants to become your personal DJ (with the help of artificial intelligence)
- ‘You will soon be reading your favorite newsletters in WhatsApp’
- New Call of Duty for iPhone lets you play against more than 100 players
- Game classic Angry Birds gets a new name because it's too popular
- Thanks to this new Apple app, hopefully more car brands will get digital car keys in Wallet
- Microsoft now offers official support for Windows on Apple Silicon
- Photo app Halide lets you zoom in virtually
& #127475;🇱 Dutch apps of the month of February
MacWhisper converts spoken text
MacWhisper was created by Jordi Bruin, the Dutchman who continuously releases useful apps and is quite successful with them. You drag a file in mp3, mp4, wav or m4a format to the app and it is converted into a transcription using Open AI. On the Mac, you can edit the text again. Applications can be found, for example, when converting audio and video files into readable text or generating subtitles.
The great thing is that as a user you need not know that artificial intelligence is being used. If the user notices that the app delivers remarkably good results, then it has done its job well. Jordi plans to do a lot more with AI to make people's lives easier.
MacWhisper can be found on Gumroad.
HomeWatch for your smart home
Not a new app, but one that may be of interest to homeowners. HomeWatch is made by the Dutchman Peter Vogels and originated from an Apple Watch app, which Peter used to quickly check the status of his home. A dashboard was soon added and the app can now be used on almost all your Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. HomeWatch is a status dashboard for your smart home, where you can see a lot of data at a glance. The app is free with no in-app purchases.
Using color codes, you can quickly see the condition of your various accessories in the various rooms. With red a door is open, with yellow there is an open window and with orange the heating is on. Active lighting can be recognized by a blue color and no devices are active when green. The app also lets you start all kinds of actions, for example to activate a scene. See for yourself what it is? You can always try and it costs nothing.
WindowClerk Screen Recorder
Dutch developer Martin van Spanje has released quite a few apps and games over the years. Now he has something completely new: a Mac app that will make screen recordings more fun. The app is intended for content creators and other creatives. You can record the whole screen including sound with this app. This also applies to individual windows. In addition, you can take screenshots of windows as they are moved, or where something else is overlaid. Privacy has also been thought of. WindowClerk Screen Recorder is free to download and is free to use for the first 5 minutes. After that you pay € 3.99 per year. It works on macOS 13 and newer. It can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. You can also read the press release.
Calalarm
A Dutch app, which introduces some unique functions for the agenda, namely custom sounds for notifications, repeating notifications and snooze. The app existed for some time, but has now been completely rebuilt. Version 3 also includes widgets for your home screen and complications for the Apple Watch. There are Shortcuts to instantly delete, copy, move, check off, and more appointments. And the user interface has also been modified. Calalarm started in 2010 and grew into a calendar app that is easy to use.
More apps of the month of February
iCulture App of the Month: Geekbench 6 Geekbench is an app you may have heard of if you read our hardware reviews. It's theé standard method to measure the performance of new devices, so that you know whether a processor has really become faster or whether it is all better than expected. Developer Primate Labs has now released version 6, with several improvements. It can better handle changes in the tech world since the previous version 5: machine learning, more cores and larger smartphone cameras are some of the changes that affect the hardware.
More account is also taken of ‘real world tests’. A criticism of benchmarks is that they mimic an artificial situation. No one uses their iPhone or Mac at maximum load all the time. The ‘real world tests’ therefore go a step further and see how long a task normally takes. It also includes new tests with everyday tasks, such as blurring the background during a video call and removing backgrounds in an image.
It also contains new CPU benchmarks, aimed at artificial intelligence, augmented reality and machine learning. Geekbench 6 is available for iOS, macOS, Windows and Android. If you want to know more, you can find more background information in this interview with the maker.
You can download Geekbench via the website.
Myst Mobile
The renewed game Myst Mobile can now be played on iPhone and iPad. The game appeared 30 years ago as a popular puzzle game and to celebrate this, developer Cyan has made a mobile version. It has been adapted in many ways for touchscreens. To be very honest: a mobile version of Myst already appeared in 2009, but this new version has been improved and is also free to download and play.
The game is suitable for devices with A12 chip and newer. This may also be an M1 or M2 chip. The graphics would be comparable to console quality. You can use your keyboard or trackpad for operation, but a gamepad is also possible. The entire content of Myst island is free to play and if you want more you can download the add-on ‘Ages beyond Myst Island’ purchase for a one-time fee.
Mammoth
If you've used Aviary for Twitter, you already know developer Shihab Mehboob. Frustrated with the situation at Twitter, Mehboob decided to turn to Mastodon and create an app that is completely iOS-centric. Switching from Aviary to Mammoth therefore feels familiar. But even if you're new to Mastodon, you'll find that Mammoth takes you along. You will receive help to find the right Mastodon server as soon as you log in. Creating a new account is a breeze.
A plus of Mammoth is the multi-column view, so you can see your timeline, notifications, likes, private messages, bookmarks, and profile all at once. The columns are customizable so you can quickly access the information you're looking for. The rest of the app is also customizable, from the icon to the theme color. After publishing a message, you can retract it. All standard Mastodon functions are of course also included, supplemented with advanced functions such as polls, picture-in-picture and Siri Shortcuts. The app can be protected with Face ID or Touch ID. And the best of all: it's free!
Scaniverse
With the free app Scaniverse you can visualize your room in 3D. In a few seconds, this app combines the images from your iPhone camera and the LiDAR scanner. Scaniverse started as a freemium app with in-app purchases, but has become completely free since its acquisition by game developer Niantic. Moreover, you do not need an account and do not need to register any personal data.
You scan the room with the camera, giving you clues about which parts you've already done. When you're done, you can rotate the 3D scan, magnify it, and more, so you can get a closer look at certain areas. You can also read measured values. You can also take a video tour with it. You need at least an iPhone XS.
Call of Duty for iPhone
In 2019, Activision released Call of Duty Mobile, a free-to-play shooter for the iPhone and iPad. Although that game is still popular and maintained with updates, Activision has a new part planned. Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is a so-called Battle Royale version of the well-known shooter series. You play against more than a hundred other players worldwide. In the game, just like in the version for game consoles, the aim is to be the last one standing. The mobile version even supports up to 120 players at the same time. While playing you earn XP for upgrades for weapons and your character.
Note: In the Netherlands it is currently not yet possible to pre-order the game in the App Store . That will probably be possible soon. Below you will find the link to the App Store page in the US.
See also 
New Call of Duty for iPhone lets you play against 100+ players
New Call of Duty game coming soon for iPhone the iPhone and iPad. Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is the mobile version of the previously released console and PC version of the shooter and is free to play.
SugarBot for Apple Watch
With SugarBot you can keep an eye on your calories and sugar consumption. This iPhone app is now also available on the Apple Watch, so you can consult your data on your wrist. You can easily enter meals based on a database. If the food cannot be found, you can enter it manually, including calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, micronutrients and vitamins. With graphs you can keep track of whether you are getting a balanced diet and on the Insights tab you can see a summary of the week, month or year. Everything syncs with Apple HealthKit. The app is free, but some features require a Plus subscription of a few euros per month.
Clicker for Disney+
This excellent app for Disney+ is made by a third party. While you can watch Disney+ via an app on the iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, that's not the case on the Mac. On the desktop you have to rely on the browser… unless you install Clicker because with it you can watch all Disney + movies and series. The apps are completely free and contain some features that are missing in the web version, such as picture-in-picture. There are also Clicker apps for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but you have to pay for them.
Download: via Gumroad
Terrene Dash
Terrene Dash is a reader's tip, a monkey with (according to the tipster) brilliant simplicity and clarity. This is a dashboard app, which displays your current speed, direction, altitude, time and barometric pressure. The app can be customized in many ways and is very user-friendly. It can be used on the motorcycle and boat, but also in the car and camper. The creator, Simon Walduck from New Zealand, responds quickly and kindly to suggestions.
Damus
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has found something to divert attention from the situation at Twitter. He released the first Nostr app called Damus. The pun is immediately clear, but what you can do with it is not immediately obvious. Nostr is: “a decentralized network based on cryptographic key pairs and that is not peer-to-peer.” In fact, it's about everyone being able to set up their own social networking platform, which you can share with whoever you want. You don't need a server or technical knowledge. An account with Nostr is also not necessary. Nostr has no CEO and no company behind it, but is made by developers who enjoy contributing to this open source protocol.
Draw Things
Do you need a quick picture of an elephant on a bicycle? You can with the Draw Things app. This app can draw anything you ask, using the artificial intelligence of Stable Diffusion. This is a new AI technique that allows you to create computer-generated images. It works directly on your device, so you don't need a server connection.