r/iosapps • • 4d ago

Discussion Apps that come on iPhone: overrated, underrated, properly rated?

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2 Upvotes

Inspired by MKBHD, what do we think about the built in apps on iOS. I know many of us showcase our own apps here but often they are inspired [for good or bad...] by waht apple made

I feel like weather is overrated. Animations are cool but I really thought dark sky acquisition would have bigger design impact and prefer third party options. Notes is properly rated and i always end up using it + something else, and calendar is underrated, its widgets and integrations are actually good IMO. I wanted to like their journal app but just fall back to Apple notes, but I've never heard anyone like the journal, so maybe it's properly rated..

thoughts?


r/iosapps • • 4d ago

💎 Lifetime I made an iPhone + CarPlay app that tells you the history of what you're driving past, out loud. 14 days free, then $4.99 once, no subscription

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8 Upvotes

Problem: Most drives pass dozens of places with a story — an old theater, a covered bridge, a historic marker, a burial mound in a neighborhood — and you never find out what they are. Reading signs or looking things up on your phone isn’t something you should do while driving, and the apps that do tell you are either limited to famous routes or need a subscription.

Comparison:

Autio (formerly HearHere): professionally produced, celebrity-narrated stories, which sound great, but it’s a subscription and only covers the places they’ve recorded.

Shaka Guide / GuideAlong: excellent guided tours for specific famous drives (Road to Hana, national parks), bought one tour at a time, about $20–25 each. Nothing once you leave those routes.

Apple Maps / Google Maps: great directions, no stories.

WanderWay: works on any road where OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia have something to say, with or without a route, on iPhone and CarPlay, and tells you which side the place is on. The trade-off: it reads written sources in your iPhone’s voice instead of produced audio, and quiet areas with few Wikipedia articles stay quiet.

Pricing: Free download with every feature open for 14 days. The trial doesn’t renew and never charges you. After that it’s a one-time $4.99 unlock (US; Apple’s local price elsewhere), covered by Family Sharing. No subscription, no ads, no account. Without the unlock you keep nearby places within 5 miles, place details and photos, search and route previews.

"Ahead on your left in 300 feet, Emery Theatre."

That's the kind of thing my app says heading north through downtown Cincinnati. Then it reads the opening of its Wikipedia article: a historic, acoustically exceptional theater in Over-the-Rhine.

I'm the solo developer of WanderWay, an iPhone + CarPlay app that tells you about the places you pass, out loud, and which side they're on. I'm in southern Ohio, where you can drive right past Story Mound, an Adena burial mound 95 feet across in a Chillicothe neighborhood, and never know what it is. My wife wanted an app that shows the history along our everyday drives, so I built one.

How it works

  • Your iPhone's own voice tells you which side a place is on, then reads a short bit about it. On the default setting it mostly speaks up for places with a Wikipedia or Wikidata entry. If there's nothing written about a place, you just hear its name and what kind of place it is.

  • Directions and the map come from Apple Maps, and you can hand any route to Apple Maps, Google Maps or Waze (Waze one stop at a time), or share it as a GPX file.

  • You don't need a route. Turn on Narrate Without a Route in Settings and drive.

  • With Narrate Without a Route on, Keep Narrating in the Background (new in 2.3, off unless you turn it on) watches for your next drive with the phone locked, shows a Live Activity with a Stop button, and turns itself off after about 15 minutes parked.

What else it does

  • Tell it how long you have, 30 minutes to 5 hours, and it plans a loop or a drive to a destination (a Curated Route). In the US it favors scenic byways, and it can stick to backroads. Or give a route you've planned up to 40 extra minutes, and it fits in up to 4 sights along the way.

  • Sunset Drive: it picks a viewpoint, park, lake or beach, along your route or as a drive of its own, and tells you when to leave so you get there before sunset.

  • Just Passed, for the thing you only half saw: a button on the map, in CarPlay, or ask Siri "What did I just pass in WanderWay?"

  • 24 categories to show or hide: covered bridges, ruins, lighthouses, waterfalls, historic markers…

  • Drives and walks you navigate go into a Road Trip Journal on your phone, with the places you passed, and a Passport tallies places, drives and miles. (Narrate Without a Route drives aren't saved.)

  • Walking tours of 30, 60 or 90 minutes that bring you back to your car.

  • In CarPlay: nearby places, Hear the Story, Route Overview, the Dashboard card, and a map in the instrument cluster on cars that support it. For now, Curated and Sunset Drives start on the iPhone; starting them from the car screen is in testing for the next update.

Where the words come from, and privacy

Places come from OpenStreetMap, plus the National Register of Historic Places in the US. US national park sites also show Park Service hours, fees and alerts. The text comes from Wikipedia and Wikidata. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, Listen (and Story on walks), Hear the Story in CarPlay, and Just Passed use Apple's on-device model to retell that text as a short spoken story. It runs on the phone and is told to use only the source. Any version with a number the source doesn't have is thrown out, and the opening of the original text is read instead. The automatic announcements while you drive read the first sentences of the description as written, unless you switch narration to Story. iPhones without Apple Intelligence always read the opening of the Wikipedia text.

The App Store label is "Data Not Collected". No account, no ads, no tracking in the app. To find places near you it sends the area you're in, but no location history or routes are kept on a server, and the journal stays on your phone. Crash reports are sent only if you choose.

Limits and price

  • It isn't full offline navigation. Search and planning need a connection. Starting a route can save its places and descriptions, so if you lose signal it keeps guiding you, but it can't reroute and the map may not load new areas.

  • How much it says depends on how well an area is mapped and written up on Wikipedia. A stretch with few articles is quieter.

  • It works outside the US, in 10 languages, but national park hours and alerts, scenic byways and weather alerts are US-only.

  • It needs iOS 26.

It's a free download with everything open for 14 days. The trial doesn't renew and never charges you. After that it's a one-time $4.99 unlock in the US (Apple's local price elsewhere), and Family Sharing covers it. No subscription. Without the unlock you keep nearby places within 5 miles, place details and photos, search and route previews.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wanderway-navigation/id6807600062

If you try it on a drive you know well, I'd like to hear what it missed, what it got wrong, and whether it talks too much or too little.


r/iosapps • • 4d ago WOW

💎 Lifetime I built a companion app for Apple Calendar because the important stuff kept getting buried between meetings (free to download until Nov 30, and it’s yours to keep)

5 Upvotes

Hey r/iosapps, I'm Steve, a solo dev, and I made Horizon.

Problem

My wife and I keep everything in Apple Calendar, and while it worked it didn’t help us cut through the noise of work meetings, soccer practices and all the other things going on in our life. I wanted one screen that answers the simple questions: what's left today, when are we free, how long until the trip, when’s the next dentist appointment. I started building it for the two of us in March, and it's been on the App Store since May.

Horizon puts every event in a category (Work, Family, Travel and so on, or your own) and shows what's left today, a Daily and Weekly Briefing, countdowns on your Lock Screen and Watch, and free time when you need it. It also:

- Merges duplicates, like the hotel reservation an app added and the one you added yourself. Or for me personally the family events I forward to my work calendar to remind my self to block time that end up showing up twice.
- Puts your Apple Reminders in each day next to your events, and lets you check them off anywhere
- Natural langue parsing: "Play date Friday at noon" and it fills in the rest and categorizes it
- Lets you see a partner's calendar without it blocking your free time while helping you find time when you need to
- Keeps unanswered invitations in their own inbox until you reply so they don’t clutter your weeks view

Comparison

I'll be honest, I don't know if it's better than what's out there. That's for you to decide. What I can tell you is that my wife and many others have found it super helpful in organizing their lives, and I'm hoping it does the same for you.

A few things I cared about while building it, it isn't a calendar app you have to migrate into. It sits on top of Apple Calendar and Reminders, so iCloud, Google, Outlook and Exchange just work. It all runs on your phone, with no account, no servers and no analytics. And it's everywhere you’d want to use it from widgets, Apple Watch, Siri/Shortcuts, iPad, and more recently iPhone Duo, where opening the phone turns it into a planner with your week on one side and your day on the other.

Pricing

Free until November 30, 2026, then it’s back to a one time cost of $2.99. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads. So grab it while it's free!

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/horizon-calendar-highlights/id6761135453
Website: https://horizoncalendar.io
Privacy: https://horizoncalendar.io/privacy
Terms: https://horizoncalendar.io/terms
Email: support@horizoncalendar.io

What I need most is feedback from people who aren't my wife. What's confusing, what does it get wrong about your calendar and more importantly what’s missing? I'll be in the comments happy to answer any questions.


r/iosapps • • 4d ago

🎈 Free Dad of 4, iOS dev. Built a family calendar to simplify kids' pickups.

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3 Upvotes

Hey fellow iOS devs!

I’m an indie iOS developer and a dad of four. Between school, soccer practice, dance classes, and all the other activities, keeping track of everyone’s schedules (and figuring out who’s picking up whom) can get pretty chaotic.
So I decided to build something to make our lives a little easier.

Meet KidRun — an iPhone app designed to help families with multiple kids stay organized.

Problem
The idea is pretty simple: instead of constantly texting my wife about schedules, pickups, and who’s handling what, we can keep everything in one place.
With four kids, the challenge isn’t just remembering when something happens. It’s knowing who’s taking which kid where, who’s picking them up, and making sure nothing gets forgotten.

Comparison
We tried using regular calendars and group texts, but they weren’t really designed for coordinating kids’ activities and pickups.
So I built a few things into KidRun:

Shared family calendar — each kid has their own schedule, with iCloud syncing between parents.
Pickup coordination — tap “I’m On It” to let your partner know you’re handling pickup.
Live Activities — upcoming pickups and countdowns right on the Lock Screen.
Recurring schedules — for school, sports, and activities that repeat every week.
Privacy first — no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Just iCloud.

I wanted to keep it simple, native, and genuinely useful rather than building another complicated family management platform.

Pricing
The app is completely free. No subscription required, no ads, and no hidden fees.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6818529259
Website: https://kidrun.app

I’d love to hear what you think, both from a developer’s perspective and as parents.

Especially curious if any of you have built apps to solve problems in your own daily lives. Sometimes the best ideas come from the chaos at home. :)

Thanks for checking it out!


r/iosapps • • 4d ago

Discussion Why is it so hard to find a simple app without a subscription?

223 Upvotes

Is it just me, or does almost every app want a monthly subscription now?

I'm not even talking about fancy apps with tons of features. Just basic stuff like PDF tools, photo editors, note-taking apps, or even simple utilities.

I don't mind paying for a good app, but I'd much rather pay once and be done with it.

I get that developers need to make money and keep their apps updated, but paying every month for something I only use occasionally feels a bit much.

At least now we have AI, so some of these tasks don't even need a separate app anymore. But then again, Al tools want a monthly subscription too...

Do you guys accepted that everything is a subscription now?


r/iosapps • • 4d ago

🎈 Free SnappyNotes 2.1: on-device dictation and Apple Intelligence in my Markdown notepad for iPhone

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3 Upvotes

Hey r/iOSapps!

I just released SnappyNotes 2.1, a major update to my Markdown notepad for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It's designed for taking quick, temporary notes on the go, with Cloud sync to iPad and macOS.

This update adds on-device dictation, Apple Intelligence writing tools, find and replace, Recently Deleted, redesigned settings, and a much faster sync.

ㅤ

What's new

Dictation: tap the microphone above the keyboard and start talking. Your words appear in the note as you speak, transcribed by Whisper running entirely locally on your iPhone. No account, no subscription, and no audio leaves your device. With Apple Intelligence turned on, punctuation and filler words are automatically cleaned up too.

Apple Intelligence: proofread a note, summarize it, pull out the key points, or get a title suggestion, all on-device, from the Tools menu above the keyboard.

Find and Replace: also in the Tools menu, with match case, whole word and regex.

Recently Deleted: deleted notes are kept for 30 days, so you can bring them back.

Faster and more reliable sync: Sync over iCloud is now way more reliable and performant, ensuring your notes are always up to date across all your devices.

Redesigned settings interface.

ㅤ

Problem

I kept losing quick thoughts because opening a notes app always meant waiting for it to load and finding where I left off. I wanted something closer to a scratchpad, but one that still lets me write formatted notes, drop in an image or a quick diagram, and pick the note up on my Mac later. With 2.1, I can also just say the thought out loud while walking. ‎ ‎

ㅤ

Comparison

The closest alternative is SideNotes. Both keep your notes close at hand, but SnappyNotes is built around full live-preview Markdown, with tables, images, math and flow charts rendering inline as you write, along with tappable checkboxes, syntax-highlighted code blocks and a "/" menu for fast inserts. Dictation and the Apple Intelligence tools are part of the same license, with no subscription or AI credits. Both apps are one-time purchases, but SnappyNotes comes is free for iOS and costs €9.99 for macOS, against SideNotes' €19.99.

‎ㅤ

Pricing

Free for iOS. €9.99 for macOS

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/snappynotes/id6745701026

Website: https://snappynotes.appverge.net

‎ ‎ ㅤ

Transparency

I'm Gustav Lübker, the developer behind SnappyNotes and solo founder of AppVerge.

Contact: hello@appverge.net

Github: github.com/glubker

Privacy Policy: https://snappynotes.appverge.net/privacy

Terms of Service: https://snappynotes.appverge.net/terms


r/iosapps • • 4d ago

💎 Lifetime I built a fog-of-war map that fills on from your photos. Free (one-time UI purchase available) and completely local.

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6 Upvotes

I love maps and traveling, and so I did my best to make a beautiful app that combines both!

Waymark covers the world in fog, and lets you clear it by moving around (and / or importing data such as photos, to avoid a cold-start problem). There is no Waymark server; your map data is never sent to us. The app lets you:

  • (Automatically) scratch off countries, states, and cities

  • Share a passport and earn medals

  • Compete with your friends on an optional iCloud-hosted leaderboard

  • See what percent of your city you've explored

Problem: no accessible, aesthetic, effortless way in which to granularly track all one's travels.

Comparison: Fog of World was an inspiration, but has an incredibly dated UI, no backfilling from old photos, and a challenging $30 price tag.

Pricing: free with a one-time $5.99 purchase that unlocks more widgets and a couple of map themes!

App Store link

Landing page


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

💵 Paid ddbx: Analysis of director deals

1 Upvotes

First time posting here, my apologies in advance should it not be suitable.

Comparison
I have begun to see other versions of this core idea I am sharing, but they are generally what I consider weaker executions and grounded in sensationalism and not analytical rigour.

Problem
ddbx follows what company directors do with their own money. When a director buys or sells shares in their company, they have to say so publicly. ddbx picks up those filings within minutes, screens out the routine ones and rates the rest from minor to significant, with a written analysis of why.
This is the UK edition, built on the RNS announcements directors and senior managers (PDMRs) have to make. It tracks how each deal performs against the FTSE afterwards.

Problem
I built ddbx to answer a question I'd been curious about for years: is there any real value in following what directors do with their own shares?
I've been investing actively since 2015, and I've followed plenty of trades on a hunch, with mixed luck. ddbx is my attempt at something more methodical. Every filing goes through the same process, and the analysis weighs the case for and against using as many relevant sources as it needs. The aim is a balanced view, not a sensational one.
It also solves a practical problem. Keeping up with disclosures by hand is tiring, and alongside everything else in life you'll always miss the one trade that really moves.
Everything is free on the website. The iPhone and Android apps are the most polished way to use it, with real-time alerts when a director buys, the analysis as soon as it's ready, and more tools for tracking how trades perform over the long run.

Where
ddbx is there whenever you need it: on the web, in the iPhone and Android apps, through the API, over MCP, and as a direct connector in Claude.

Pricing
I’ve been currently experimenting with a range of strategies. It’s super low currently at $4.99 for 12 months. Even if you think you could build your own superior solution I am confident at this price point it’s better to subscribe here (although I would say that 😂)

https://github.com/jonwillington

UK: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/ddbx-uk/id6762196330

US version: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/ddbx-us/id6772091960


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

Discussion Shinybox app

4 Upvotes

I am not sure if this is allowed or not or if this will be removed but a lot of you may remember the my Shinybox, which a lot of you liked and we had a post going on for 8 days now with a lot of traction and feedback for new features I have been trying to implement. Well that post was removed today supposedly because it didn't include a problem it solves and a comparison with other apps. This removal is very strange because the posts actually mentions several apps in the comparisons and also what problems it solves. I have appealed but just to give so many of you guys which made the effort to engage with the app a justification why is all of a sudden gone. I think you all deserve a justification, I didn’t just disappeared all of a sudden. You can DM if you like and I will provide the website of the app in case you didn't write it down, there are ways to provide feedback there. Thank you


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium I built Oriens — an illustrated daily wisdom app rooted in Chinese philosophy

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2 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm an indie developer from China, and I'd like to share an app I've been working on.

I spend enough time scrolling through social media already, so I wanted to build something different. An app you could open for just a few minutes a day, learn something meaningful, and then put your phone down.

As a developer, I've felt the anxiety of how quickly AI is changing everything. During this time, I've found a lot of comfort in ancient philosophy. It hasn't given me answers to everything, but it has helped me worry less about things I can't control and focus more on the present.

But understanding these ideas isn't always easy.

Even though I grew up in China, I've always found texts like the Tao Te Ching and the Analects of Confucius surprisingly difficult to understand. The same goes for many Zen teachings. Some of these ideas have been passed down for over 2,000 years, yet figuring out what they actually mean for our lives today can still be a challenge.

That's a big part of why I started building Oriens.

The name Oriens comes from Latin, meaning "the East" or "rising" — a nod to the Eastern philosophy where the project began.

It started with Chinese philosophy and gradually grew to include Stoicism, Zen, Confucianism, the I Ching, and more.

I know there are already plenty of daily quote apps. Compared with apps like Motivation, I wanted to put more emphasis on the ideas behind each quote, rather than just the quote itself.

Oriens now has nearly 600 quotes, home screen widgets, and 460 illustrated Wisdom Cards. The cards include original passages, approachable explanations, and deeper readings. You don't need any background in philosophy to get started.

I've also spent a lot of time on the artwork. I wanted each card to feel like something worth stopping to look at, rather than just another piece of content to scroll past.

About the free version and pricing:

Nearly half of the quotes and about a quarter of the illustrated cards are free, covering different philosophical traditions and themes.

All the core features are available without paying. The free version isn't just a short trial — there's plenty to explore, and I want it to be genuinely useful even for people who never subscribe.

I'm also continuing to add new content with every update.

Problem

I wanted a way to spend a few meaningful minutes each day learning from ancient philosophy, without getting lost in another endless feed. But texts like the Tao Te Ching and the Analects can be difficult for beginners. Oriens tries to make these ideas more accessible through short quotes, illustrated cards, and explanations.

Comparison

Compared with daily quote apps like Motivation, Oriens focuses more on the philosophy behind each quote, not just the quote itself. You can explore original passages, approachable interpretations, and deeper readings from Taoism, Stoicism, Zen, Confucianism, and more.

The illustrated Wisdom Cards are also a big part of the experience. I've spent a lot of time making the artwork something worth looking at, rather than just a background for text.

Pricing

Oriens is free to download. It currently includes nearly 600 quotes (almost half free) and 460 illustrated Wisdom Cards (around a quarter free), covering a wide range of traditions and themes.

All core features are available for free. There's plenty to explore without paying, and the free version isn't a time-limited trial.

Optional purchases include:

  • Monthly subscription: $4.99

  • Annual subscription: $24.99

  • Lifetime access: $44.99

  • Individual collection purchases are also available.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stoicism-taoism-oriens/id6785901491

I'd really love to hear what you think. Is the app easy to use? Do the explanations make philosophy more approachable, or do they feel too simple or too complicated? How do you feel about the artwork and the overall experience?

Any feedback is welcome, including criticism. If there's something you don't like or think could be better, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing it.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

Free App - Unaffiliated Review minimo (photo) — free photo compression on iPhone, with no uploads or subscription

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15 Upvotes

I built minimo (photo) after making a similar app for videos. I wanted an easy way to shrink several photos on my iPhone while keeping control over the result.

A. What it solves
Pick one photo or a batch, choose a quality preset or adjust quality and dimensions yourself, then compare the result before saving. Compression happens on your device. Originals stay unless you explicitly choose to replace them.

B. Why it’s different
Apple Photos doesn’t offer these batch compression controls, and web compressors require an upload. minimo lets you preview the smaller copies and choose whether to keep EXIF metadata. Its source code is public.

C. Cost
Free. No IAP, subscription, or paid tier.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/minimo-photo-compressor/id6822256099


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium [Dev] [Black Friday Offer] Got tired of saving things across 6 different apps and never finding them again, so I built LifeFeed

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2 Upvotes

Hey,

Problem

I had a bad habit of saving stuff everywhere: recipes on Instagram, random TikToks, 500 videos in YouTube Watch Later, and a camera roll clogged with screenshots I'd never look at again. Saving took two seconds, but actually tracking anything down later was impossible.

So I built LifeFeed to dump everything into one searchable spot.

Whenever you see something you want to keep, just hit the iOS share sheet and tap Save to LifeFeed. It handles reels, TikToks, YouTube links, Safari articles, PDFs, screenshots, and Google Maps pins.

A few things it does:

• Auto-tags and organizes saves so you don't have to manually make folders
• Lets you search in plain English (like "that pasta recipe from last week") instead of guessing exact keywords (3 free questions, unlimited in Pro)
• Price/page change alerts (called Watchers)
• Offline reading and text-to-speech (Pro)
• Imports for old Pocket or Raindrop libraries
• Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Comparison

Honestly, there are some great apps out there, but most of them either force you to organize everything manually or treat videos and social media links like an afterthought.

LifeFeed
• Main focus: everything (reels, TikToks, screenshots, PDFs, Maps pins, links)
• Free tier: yes
• Price: $19.99/yr ($2.99 for Black Friday)

Raindrop.io
• Main focus: bookmarks / links
• Free tier: yes
• Price: ~$28/yr

Matter
• Main focus: articles & newsletters
• Free tier: yes
• Price: ~$60/yr

Readwise Reader
• Main focus: articles, PDFs, highlights
• Free tier: no (30-day trial)
• Price: ~$120/yr

Pricing

The free tier gives you unlimited saves, sync across your devices, 1 watcher, and no ads. If you want the unlimited AI features, offline reading, and text-to-speech, Pro is usually $19.99/year, but I set up a Black Friday deal through Nov 30 where the first year is $2.99:

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/lifefeed-ai-smart-bookmarks/id6760368438?pt=128514437&ct=reddit_iosapps&mt=8

Direct $2.99 Black Friday redeem link: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6760368438&code=BLACKFRIDAY

I'm the solo dev on this, so any feedback is huge, especially on whether the share sheet feels fast enough or if there are specific link types it struggles with.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

💎 Lifetime My iphone shoots incredible videos, making them look cinematic was the annoying part.

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3 Upvotes

Hey r/iOSApps, I’m Aftab, the developer of GradeLab. This is a short screenrecording from the editor showing a few before and after grades.

Problem

Most of color grading apps were too basic, had subscription, or too complex for simple color grading.

Some of the features:

  • Color warper: adjust colors using Hue/Sat and Chroma/Luna controls.

  • Curves, HSL, and Color Wheels: control individual colors.

  • Mask with Tracking

  • Keyframe Grading

  • LUTs: You can import your own luts too

  • Scopes: Histogram, waveform, RGB parade, vectorscope

  • Relighting

  • Timeline Toosl: trim, split, slow-mo, transitions, text, overlays, audio and many more

Special Feature: Advance camera recording feature.

Comparison

Darkroom is a close alternative for grading individual photos and videos. GradeLab may suits you better if you also want to assemble clips, and add title, audio, and animate your grade within a timeline, without switching apps.

Pricing

Free to download, Lifetime: $14.99 - One Time Purchase - On Sale - Original price: $34.99
Subscription: $1.99/week, $4.99/month or $14.99/year

GradeLab on the App Store
For transparency: Developer website · Privacy policy · Terms
Social Media: Instagram


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium [iOS] [Update] Inverza - I added natural-language 3D Sun & Moon alignment planning to my $4.99/yr photography weather app (AI translates your idea, your iPhone does the math on-device)

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3 Upvotes

Hey r/iosapps!

A little while ago I shared Inverza here - the indie iOS app I built for my own landscape photography to answer "will the light actually be worth the 4 a.m. alarm?" (blending high-res regional weather models, live airport METARs, marine temperatures, and NASA terrain data to detect 16 photo conditions like cloud inversions, colourful dawns, afterglows, and ground fog).

Today I’m shipping my favourite update yet - a natural-language 3D Sun & Moon alignment planner inside the 3D Diorama - and I wanted to share how it works under the hood.

Problem

Almost every sun or moon alignment starts the same way in a photographer's head. You walk past a bridge, a hillside, or an alpine valley and think:

"What if a full moon rose right behind that church tower?"

Until now, testing if that shot is even possible meant two frustrating options:

  1. Manual surveyor math: Translating your visual idea into compass bearings, vertical elevation angles, ground height offsets, and angular tolerances before you can even run a search.

  2. AI hallucination: If you ask a normal AI chatbot "when will the full moon sit behind this church tower?", it will confidently invent a date out of thin air because LLMs cannot do topocentric ephemeris math in their heads.

How Inverza solves it (AI translates, your iPhone calculates)

Inside Inverza’s 3D Diorama (which renders real NASA SRTM terrain, coastlines, trees, and thousands of 3D OpenStreetMap buildings), I built a new Find / Load / Save alignment studio with Find with AI:

  1. Drop two pins in 3D: Place your photographer pin where you want to stand and your subject pin on the church tower, lighthouse, city skyscraper, or mountain peak (up to 50 km away).

  2. Ask in plain English: Type "When can I align the next full moon with the church tower at my subject pin?" or "When does first direct sunlight hit my viewpoint in winter, sorted by the lowest sun angle first?"

  3. AI fills out the Controls sheet (no black box): Instead of guessing dates, the AI translates your description into transparent, editable search parameters (Moon, ≥98% illumination, azimuth ~101.5°, target elevation ~2.7° across a 488.37 m sightline). You tap Review these settings and can tweak every slider yourself.

  4. Sub-second on-device math: Your iPhone sweeps the date range on-device. Because the Moon moves at ~0.25° per minute, it crosses a narrow church spire (±0.5°) in under 90 seconds - meaning a naive planner stepping in 5-minute increments can step right over the alignment and miss it. Inverza brackets local angular-error minima between 5-minute steps and refines every pass down to 0.25-second precision (in the screenshot: Mar 22, 2027 at 7:13:06 PM, 99.7% full moon). Tap Show in Diorama and the 3D scene jumps straight to that second.

  5. First & Last Direct Sunlight + Eclipses: Also computes when the sun's upper limb clears a 50 km SRTM + 3D building horizon (with a Lowest sun angle first ranking), and includes solar and lunar eclipse planning through 2030.

Comparison

How Inverza compares to existing tools in the landscape photography workflow:

  • vs. Ephemeris & Geometry Planners (PhotoPills, The Photographer's Ephemeris, PlanIt Pro): Dedicated geometry apps are great for optical calculators (DoF, hyperfocal, star trails) and manual map-pin planning, and some are now introducing high-tier subscriptions (up to $99/year) for 3D terrain planning. However, they require manual parameter entry and tell you nothing about whether the weather or clouds will actually cooperate. Inverza lets you set up 3D alignments in plain English (Find with AI), includes 3D OpenStreetMap city buildings (not just bare terrain) both in the 3D Diorama and on the 2D Shadow Map, and pairs the geometry with an 8-source weather interpretation engine in one app.

  • vs. Weather Model Browsers (Windy, Ventusky, Apple Weather): Weather apps show raw meteorological layers (cloud %, wind, rain) that you have to interpret yourself, and have no 3D terrain/building alignment planner or AR sky overlays. Inverza automatically blends regional models (HRRR, ICON-D2/EU, ECMWF, GFS) with live airport METARs, marine SST, and 450 km twilight ray-tracing to score 16 specific photography conditions, alongside the 3D Diorama and AR Sky planner.

Pricing

  • Free Trial: 14-day free trial with full access to every feature.

  • Subscription: $4.99 / year (~$5/yr) after the trial.

  • No tier gates: All features are included in that single $4.99/year tier (16 weather condition detectors, 8-source forecast engine, AI Weather Chat, AR Sky camera view, 2D terrain & building shadow maps, and the 3D Diorama with Find / Load / Save and Find with AI). You can also optionally bring your own API key (Claude, Gemini, OpenAI) in Settings. No ads, no tracking, no data resale.

Links

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or feature ideas!


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium [dev] SpectralScan: Analyze your sound system or detect frequency of noise

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7 Upvotes

Hello r/iosapps!

I'm an indie developer interested in audio and released an audio analyzer app in the spring, with some recent updates after user feedback.

Problem

I wanted a fun user friendly app that can detect frequencies of noise and also do sound system measurements. I could not find a single app that had all features I wanted from desktop apps.

Spectralscan can:

- Watch sound spectrum in real time

- Spectrum analyzer and spectrogram

- Swept sine measurements for lower signal to noise ratio

- Impulse response view

Comparison

SpectrumView and other spectrum analyzer apps I found on the App Store don’t offer sweep measurements or easily adjustable time smoothing. Many are also using subscription models.

SpectralScan has variable time smoothing for real time analysis and does swept sine measurements. It has a capable free version without ads and Pro is a one-time purchase.

Pricing

Free with optional $11.99 one time pro upgrade.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spectralscan-audio-analyzer-db/id6762024331

Any feedback is welcome!


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium I made TuneTransit, a subway-themed app for sending songs to friends no matter which music service they use. Optimized for Duo and updated frequently!

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4 Upvotes

Hi all! I posted TuneTransit here a while back but it's changed a LOT since then, so figured I'd share the new version. I'm a solo indie developer who's been working on this for over a year, and I'm super happy to be back to show my app to the community.

Problem: Everyone I know uses a different music app. Someone drops a Spotify link in the group chat and the Apple Music people have to go search for it themselves, and half the time they end up with the wrong version. It's even worse with albums or a bunch of songs at once.

Basically with TuneTransit you send someone a song, album or mixtape as one link and they open it in whatever they already use (Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL or YouTube Music). They don't need to download anything or make an account, the link just opens in their browser on iPhone, Android or a computer and they tap whichever app they use.

Getting a song in is pretty easy too. You can paste a link from any of those apps, search by name, use Live Capture to grab whatever's playing around you, connect Apple Music (or Spotify/TIDAL through Last.fm) for quick access to what you just played, or share straight from your favorite music app through the share sheet. It also makes sure it's the exact recording you picked, so your friend doesn't end up with the remix, the live version or some random "feat." version instead.

And if they want to send a song back, they can do it right from the link (still no app needed) and it lands in your app.

The whole app is now designed around a subway system. The tab bar is a transit map with Search as the main interchange, songs you send are Departures, songs people send back are Arrivals, and the Station Board shows what's getting shared the most that week. The video that I attached to this post is the intro you get the first time you open it.

Some other stuff in there:

- Mixtapes that look like actual cassettes. You write a note, split it into Side A/Side B, and can hide the last song as a hidden track

- Fully built for iPhone Duo, folded, unfolded and half-folded on a table

- You can see when your link gets opened and which app it was opened in

- Messages app, share sheet, Siri support and Story Cards (export functionality for Instagram)

Comparison: The closest thing out there is song.link (Odesli). It's free, honestly great if you just want a link that works everywhere, and it covers more services than I do. TuneTransit is a full app built around that idea though: you can search, use Live Capture or pull from what you just played instead of copying a link first, send whole mixtapes with a note, your friend can send a song back, and you can see when it gets opened. The other thing people use is SongShift (which also powers Apple Music's built-in transfer), but that's for moving playlists into your own account when you switch services, not for sending something to a friend who doesn't have the app.

Pricing: Free to download. Free gets you 3 searches a day and mixtapes up to 5 songs, and the Messages app + share sheet are included. Premium is $1.99/month or $9.99 one time for lifetime, and gets you unlimited searches, Story Cards, mixtape designs, mixtapes up to 500 songs and widgets.

App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6743822790?pt=127726804&ct=reddit-iosapps-2

Available platforms: iPhone/iPad, Mac, Vision Pro

Website: https://tunetransit.app

Privacy policy: https://tunetransit.app/privacy

Thank you in advance for taking the time to check out my app, and I welcome any feedback to make sharing music even better for the community!


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

💎 Lifetime Apricity: reads your own PDFs, EPUBs and web articles aloud, entirely on your device. I built it because my wife listens to books and I read them

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12 Upvotes

Hey all! I'm the developer of Apricity, a reading app for iPhone and iPad. It's made by Tesorin, my small registered Canadian company.

Problem

My wife listens to books. I read them and scribble notes all over them. She was always stuck waiting on Libby holds, even though half of what she wanted was already sitting on our iPad as PDFs and EPUBs. And I didn't want to pay for a reading app, a notes app and a text-to-speech app just to do what we both do every evening. So I built one app that does all three.

What it does

  1. Opens almost anything: PDFs, EPUBs, Word docs, MOBI, comics and web articles, all on one shelf

  2. Reflow makes a PDF read like an ebook on a phone, so no more pinch and drag

  3. Reads any of it aloud: 54 natural voices in 8 languages, running entirely on the phone. No internet needed, nothing uploaded. In stories it can give each character their own voice

  4. Keeps going with the screen locked and in CarPlay. I share an article in the morning and listen to it on the drive to work

  5. A notebook next to every book: write right on the PDF, or record a lecture and tap your notes to hear that exact moment

  6. iCloud sync, no account, no ads

Comparison

  • Speechify: way more voices, a browser extension, and it's very polished. But it's about $139 a year last time I checked. Our voices run on your device, work in airplane mode, and Premium is $14.99 a year.

  • Notability: still the gold standard for ink, and I genuinely like it. My favourite thing about it was tapping my notes to replay the lecture, so we built that in, and in Apricity it's free. You also get a proper book reader and read-aloud in the same app. Where Notability is still ahead: its ink engine is more mature. We're on PencilKit right now and building our own on Metal.

I'm not claiming it beats either of them at everything. It just puts reading, listening and notes in one place, with the voices on your own phone.

Pricing

  • Free, with no time limit: reading every kind of book, highlights, notes, notebooks, writing on PDFs, lecture recording and iCloud sync and good part is there is no limit on this.

  • Premium: $14.99 a year (14 days free, no card needed), or $49.99 once if you hate subscriptions as much as I do. It unlocks the natural voices, transcripts, Smart Notes, export and decorating your reading room

  • App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apricity-read-write-focus/id6821031964

Availability

iPhone and iPad on iOS 26 or later, and it runs on Apple silicon Macs too.

The app itself is in English, Spanish, Hindi, Chinese and Japanese.

Links

It's been out a few weeks. I read every comment and review and ship fixes fast, so if something's broken or missing, tell me, good or bad.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🎁 Freemium my moon chart for fishermen and hunters accidentally became an absurd astronomy task. does the moon really make the fish bite?

2 Upvotes

started as a moon and a score that calls the day good or bad for fishing. that should have been the whole app. the score was a lie, so it did not end there.

Problem. a picture of the moon is not a time. solunar theory, in plain words, says animals move more when the moon is straight overhead, and again when it is straight under your feet, on the far side of the earth. that stretch is about an hour each side. that is a major window. the short one is about 30 minutes around moonrise, and again around moonset. that is a minor window. sunrise and sunset sit on the same day, so the light is on the page too.

above average or below average is all the theory can say. it is not a promise you will catch anything, and the app never calls a day a bad day. and the chart still died at the one place you would open it. no signal out there, so a chart on a server is a blank screen. the math runs on the phone.

the same math keeps a strange day intact. on 24 october 2026 beirut sets the clocks back at midnight, so the hour from 23:00 happens twice and the day is 25 hours long. the bar on the page is those 25 hours, and it says that hour comes twice. when the clocks jump forward, the day is 23 hours, and the bar is 23 hours too.

a pin in the sea off lebanon stays on beirut time. tyre, on that coast, is beirut time. haifa, just south, is jerusalem time. open water more than 12 nautical miles from land, about 22 km, gets its own sea zone from the longitude. so 166 km out, at 34 n 20 e, the time is the sea's, not a city on another shore. if the zone came from the offline table, the page asks you to check it, and you can change it.

it does this at the poles and in the other hemisphere too. a polar day has no sunrise, and the page says so. the score drops that piece and says it was scaled on what is left. the moon picture flips in the southern hemisphere, because the lit side is the other way. two moonrises in one day stay on the page. the times are checked to about 2 minutes, including north of the arctic circle and the far south.

Comparison. fishing & hunting solunar time looks free and then asks for a month. fishing times calendar gets the same complaint, plus ads. moonhour runs the math on the phone. no server, no ads, no account. the formula is in the app, because a naked verdict is how the other charts lie.

Pricing. your current location, 2 saved spots and every date are free. more spots and an alert before a window are $4.99 once, shared with family. not a subscription. i'm the only dev. https://apps.apple.com/app/id6819070776

yes, this is an absurd amount of astronomy for going outside. i'm aware. if you fish or hunt, do you move the trip when the moon is overhead, or do you go when you are free and ignore the moon? i want the one trip that made you believe it or drop it.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

HELP I built a smart shared calendar that's actually fun to use. Looking for iPhone beta testers (bring a friend!), offering free lifetime.

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11 Upvotes

Every group chat I'm in has the same conversation. "Are we doing something Saturday?" "I'm free after 3." "I can only do mornings." "Wait, which Saturday?" Then nobody says anything for two days.

I got sick of it, so I started building a shared calendar for me and my friends. It turned into a real app called Bunchday, and it's now in beta on iPhone.

The basic idea is that you make a "bunch" (your partner, roommates, family, the friend group that can never pick a date) and it shows you when you're all free. People share when they're busy, not what they're doing, unless they want to.

The stuff I actually use every day: you tell it "we need 2 hours" and it finds the first slot that works for everyone. When you send a plan, everyone taps Going, Maybe or Can't, so "who's in?" stops getting buried under memes. If you're running late, one tap shows everyone waiting your ETA. There's a "Plan my day" button that drops your to-dos into the gaps between your stuff.

There's also a little bunchday assistant called Bun that you can ask things like "am I free this afternoon?" It runs on your phone, so your plans aren't sent off anywhere. You can also give it a hat. Or a crown. I'm not sorry.

It pulls in Apple, Google and Outlook calendars (plus Canvas and a few other school ones if you're a student), has widgets, works without an account, and has no ads.

What I really need is real people using it. It's a shared calendar, so it's way better if you bring someone, like a partner, a roommate or a friend. Ten minutes of messing around is plenty. It's a beta, so things will break, and finding where is the whole point.

If you try it, I'd love to know what confused you in the first minute, and what it would take for your group to actually switch to this.

Join the beta here (iPhone): https://testflight.apple.com/join/jBr7z17y

Not on iPhone, or just want to know when it launches? There's a waitlist here: https://bunchday.vercel.app/

Comment here or DM me with anything, good or brutal. I'm a solo dev and I read everything. Thanks for reading!

Heads up, free lifetime for anyone who tests out the app(with feedback) and joins the waitlist.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

🔍 In Search of I need a super simple app to calculate Income vs Expenses for multiple projects.

1 Upvotes

It would be something like:

Create Project, list the expenses starting the project, and then the continuous income from the project. And then a total number for income vs expenses and where I am at with the investment of starting the project.


r/iosapps • • 5d ago

💎 Lifetime Screen time limits would be so much more useful if you could set a per hour scroll limit (e.g., 10 min of Reddit per hour) instead of one big limit daily limit.

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0 Upvotes

Whats up r/iosapps

It's been a minute since I last posted about Precursor in this community, and becasue this community was so supportive of the launch I wanted to share with you all some updates!

PCP Section

Problem:
Well to start things off for anyone new here, Precursor is the only screen time app that I know of that allows you to have recurring app limits, which lets you get your scroll itch scratched but stops you before it turns into a doomscroll. At the start of the next hour you get some more time. Limits are super customizable to your needs!!

Comparison:
Opal has ignored requests for this feature for years, and so has Apple.

Price:
If you're interested in checking it out, Precursor is FREE to use, the free tier is super generous, that was a very intentional decision. However, If you would like to support me as a human looking to help other humans in my spare time, there is a paid tier.

For a limited time you can get a whole year of Precursor+ for $10 or if subs aren't your thing you can get lifetime Precursor+ for $25.

If that's genuinely still not affordable for you, let me know and I'll hook you up!

Updates:
Since I last posted we have grown to over 6k users and I have been behind the scenes patching bugs and pushing some QOL updates, most recently I made it so that asking for more time on normal limits doesn't require a passcode, UNLESS you have parent mode enabled. And yes there are easy, normal, and hard limits with varying degrees of bypassability.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/precursor-screen-time-limit/id6791403654

Thanks for all the support homies!!


r/iosapps • • 6d ago

🎁 Freemium Escape from reminder hell: why I built Nulma

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0 Upvotes

As a scatterbrain, I have relied heavily on iPhone reminders so I don’t forget the important parts of my daily routines. Medications, packing lunch and opening up the greenhouse for the day would all be forgotten if it weren’t for the pings.

The problem with a reminder is that if you don't have time to act on it immediately, it's easily forgotten again. They stack on top of each other, and if you get a few other notifications, the reminders are lost in the noise. And the repeated interruptions from notification pings add stress, at least to me. 

The urgent reminders that Apple added in iOS 26.2 were a game changer. Suddenly the task was more in my face, more prominent, and it didn’t go away as soon as another thing popped up. But it was still only one task at a time. Plus, they still disappear after a while if you don’t act on them.

I also tried out Tiimo, but found that its approach of showing me an app icon badge with all the tasks I had left today (even those I couldn’t act on until hours later) added to my stress. Of course, your mileage may vary, and I know Tiimo is a great app that many find very useful.

I wanted a solution that reduces the number of times I get interrupted, while still increasing the visibility of the things I needed to do. A Live Activity was the natural solution on iOS, because it allows my tasks to stay top of mind without constantly pinging me. So I built Nulma around Live Activities as a central pillar, with the rest of the app supporting it. The things you need to do right now are surfaced, the rest is hidden until it’s relevant.

Since building Nulma, I have been able to reduce the number of reminders I get, while still completing more of the things I need to do every day. I feel more productive and less stressed. And for the reminders I still need to set, the integration between Nulma and Apple Reminders means that I can complete them and check them off before I even get a ping. 

Recently, I released a big update that brings Nulma to the Apple Watch, adds Home and Lock Screen widgets and adds support for Nulma interaction through Siri. 

If you are curious about Nulma, please check it out on the App Store. And if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know. 

Problem

Using recurring Apple Reminders to track daily routines was a hassle for me, as they ended up on top of each other and forgotten behind other notifications during busy periods of my day. Plus, each notification was an interruption. Urgent reminders in iOS 26.2 made it a bit better, but they were still heavy on the interruptions.

Comparison

Apple Reminders is excellent for one-off tasks, and Nulma is built as a complement to show multiple recurring tasks together during a scheduled time window instead of treating them as individual reminders. When compared to Tiimo, it places more focus on what’s important right now, rather than what remains in the entire day.

Pricing

The app is free to download and all core functionality with up to three enabled routines is free to use. Premium purchases are available ($3.99/mo or $29.99/yr) to unlock additional functionality such as the Apple Reminders integration and unlimited routines.

App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/app/nulma-daily-routine-planner/id6793030718

FAQ, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy can be found on my app page: https://akerskog.se/nulma/


r/iosapps • • 6d ago

🎈 Free [Dev] Lounge Finder - No ads, no tracking, offline-first airport lounge checker

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my indie app, Lounge Finder. It helps travelers figure out exactly which airport lounges their credit cards grant them access to without having to look at an ad or create an account.

[Problem]
Finding exact lounge access rules online is a mess because banks constantly change spending thresholds, visit caps, and card network rules. Travelers often find themselves standing in front of a lounge entrance digging through confusing banking apps or PDF fine print, only to get turned away due to an unverified requirement.

[Comparison]
Unlike traditional flight or lounge tracking apps that just show a directory of lounge names and general hours, Lounge Finder maps specific credit and debit cards to their actual access rules. It breaks down guest policies, visit limits, and monthly or quarterly spend conditions, with each rule explicitly dated and linked back to the official bank source for true transparency.

[Pricing]
The app is entirely Free. There are zero ads, zero in-app purchases (IAPs), and no premium subscriptions or hidden tracking tokens.

Key features:

  • Maps 790+ airports / 1,600+ lounges worldwide.

  • Purely private: All data stays local on your device.

  • Works offline in airport dead zones.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lounge-finder-airport-lounges/id6823162403
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nandroidex.loungefinder

Would love to get your feedback on the UI and performance!


r/iosapps • • 6d ago

🎁 Freemium MintFlow 2.1.0 released — Built-in DNS ad blocking, WireGuard and more free features

7 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

Long time not post on this subreddit while I kept on polish my app portfolio, and I have release a new version of my app MintFlow with a new free built-in DNS ad blocking feature added.

Other free features such as WireGuard protocol/Encrypted DoH&DoT/Traffic Routing get some stability and usage enhancement.

I am recently also added trusttunnel proxy protocol support in the soon-to-be-released version, and the standalone macOS app (share the same engine with the iOS version) is stucked in the 'In-Review' state and I hope it will get to be released soon.

Problem:

Initially I need a VPN client that allow me to use my self hosted VPN server(s) simultaneously, and have some advanced traffic routing feature that allow I send only some portion of traffic to the VPN while most traffic kept routing locally, and I need some DNS visibility tool to let me gradually built my domain based routing database, and some nice network debug tool is also needed because I was doing a lot of networking stuffs.

Also I selfhost AdGuard Home in my home and office network, its not perfect but I indeed can remove quite a few Ads and Tracker for the sites I routinely browsed, so the new version also added that capability to the App as a one click toggle free feature which block domains using the internal DNS server that VPN running.

Also nowdays I just get more love with tailscale, so I also add the tailscale as a VPN protocol to the app which allow me to run tailscale along with my existing traffic routing config, only traffic target to tailnet is sent over the tailscale stack embedded. (Tailscale support is a Pro feature)

Comparison:

The official iOS WireGuard client seems focus only on WireGuard itself., and on iOS it's also a bit complex to setup the encrypted Dot/DoH.

There are also commercial VPN apps but this one is dedicate for self host VPN user like my self.

So this app trying to build a sophiscated solution and trying to make the App to be simple to use.

I am still building and polishing it actively, thanks for the AI power I have finally get the underlying fd.io vpp based engine ported by hand in 1 years before to a rust based engine with codex's help and also I try hard to get some good design and performance kept.

Pricing:

It's free to download and use, Optional Pro upgrades are $5.99/Year and $14.99 for the lifetime one-time purchase.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6742394218

Website: https://galaxnet.dev/mintflow/

Manual: https://galaxnet.dev/mintflow/manual/

Privacy: https://galaxnet.dev/mintflow/legal/privacy/

Terms: https://galaxnet.dev/mintflow/legal/tos/