AddictiveTips » Paid Apps

[Giveaway] Mailsum: Mac Email Client That Tells You How Well You Handle Your Mail

Fatima — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:58:52 +0000

If you’re someone who operates more than one email ID, and most people usually juggle a work and personal ID, you know that it isn’t always easy to manage the two side by side. Additionally, email is one of those things that just eat away at your time; if you don’t read/answer email, your work gets hampered, but if you set to answering every single email, you might just end up neglecting other important tasks. It’s one of the double-edged swords of modern day. Mailsum is a Mac app worth $4.99 that might help you manage your email better; the app gives you insight into how you handle email on your Mac. It gives a detailed account of how often you send and reply to emails, how much time you take to respond to an email, how many go unanswered and much more.

Note: Mailsum is a paid application worth $4.99 on the Mac App Store. We’re giving away five promo codes to 5 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this article.

Mailsum supports as many accounts as you have in the default Mail app and you can choose to view stats from all or any one of the accounts. The great thing about the app is that it works not just on the new emails you receive after installing it, but also analyzes the ones you’ve received before. Be warned though, if your email is something in GBs, it might take the app a while to index all of it.

The two main tabs that will be of interest to you are the Stats and Graph tabs. The Stats tab tells you how many emails you’ve received, sent, and flagged. Additionally, it tells you how many of those emails were addressed directly to you, how many times you CC’d someone in an email and what your average response time is. You can view these stats in a line graph from the Graph tab, and easily choose which accounts you want to see a graph of.

Mailsum has the option to narrow down the stats by a date range and that helps you chart how productive you’ve been in different weeks.

To change which account you are viewing stats for in the Stats tab, select the little dropdown at the top-right, and choose one of the email IDs or select All Addresses to view consolidated stats from all accounts. Click the Refresh button at the bottom of the window to view updated stats.

An app like this can help you determine if you’re spending too much time answering email. It can also help determine whether you answer more official emails or personal ones. Since email is such an important part of both work and personal life, it isn’t surprising that the two overlap on our time and really can get out of control. It’s precisely where an app like Mailsum can help.

Admittedly, it might not be for everyone, especially those who don’t feel email can ever tax you, but when you feel you’re getting swamped with work, email is what you should try and get under control first.

Get Mailsum From Mac App Store

Giveaway: We’re giving away five promo codes for this Mac app. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the ten winners randomly. Good luck!

PDF Reader Pro Is One Of The Most Comprehensive Document Viewers For iPhone & iPad

Hamza — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:59 +0000

An iOS app that handles PDF files might not sound like something too exciting, but PDF Reader Pro has so much more to offer. The app lets you view PDF files on your iPhone or iPad, but that’s not all it does. It rises above the crowd owing to the staggeringly large number of additional features it has on offer and is undoubtedly one of the best if its kind out there. PDF Reader can handle images, videos, HTML, iWorks files, common document formats and, of course, PDFs. Most of the formats compatible with the app can be converted to PDF with a single tap, regardless of the file’s size. In addition to all this, PDF Reader Pro comes with some amazing sharing options, and you can get files in and out of the app over WiFi, via email, iCloud or just about any other cloud service you can possibly think of. The app’s reader is sleek, and comes with a lot of options to improve your reading experience.

As already discussed, there are many ways of importing files to PDF Reader Pro, and you can even sync whole folders from iCloud or some other cloud storage service. The imported documents all appear on the main page of the app, and users can sort them by Name, Date or Size. PDF Reader allows you to set up a Private vault of sorts that can be hidden from view any time you want. The file formats supported by the app are many, and you can use PDF Reader Pro to open anything from password-protected ZIP files to comics and audio files. The app offers AirPlay support, and if you are using PDF Reader Pro on your iPad, you can even stream content via VGA.

The app’s reader is as good as all the other features offered by it. You can add Notes and Annotations to any page of a PDF document. The annotations can be made in various colors, styles and fonts. The Annotations button is located in the top bar within the app’s reader. Users can create multiple bookmarks within each PDF Reader Pro document, which is helpful for viewing a file later. As can be expected, PDF Reader Pro supports AirPrint, and you can print after making suitable changes to the document. If the opened file is not a PDF, you will find the option to convert it to one in the top bar. In our experience, even a large Word document gets converted by PDF Reader Pro within seconds. The cosmetic options offered in the reader view include Auto Flow, rotation lock, and zooming.

If you are looking for a simplistic view of the document, go to the file’s options and hit the text Reflow button. This will strip the document of everything but the text. A relatively new, and awesome, feature of PDF Reader Pro is its scan mode, using which you can import any image(s) to the app (or shoot a photo of a page) and then stitch the images together to create a new PDF file. The scanned pages can be adjusted pretty thoroughly before converting them, and you can tinker with their exposure, focus and whiteness. It is also possible to crop an image to highlight the text as best as possible.

What good is a PDF app if it can’t import or export files efficiently? The sharing options of PDF Reader Pro make it complete. If you want to load documents to the app, or get them to your PC, just hit the Wi-Fi sharing button in the app. You will be provided with an IP address that has to be put into your desktop browser’s address bar. As soon as you have done that, the list of all the docs in the app will appear on your computer’s screen, and you can download the files from there. It is also possible to upload files to the app from this web interface. Users can also create an iTunes backup of their files.

PDF Reader Pro will set you back $2.99 (50% off the original price during the sale, which stands at $5.99), but the price is more than justified when you start counting the number of things you can do using the app. PDF Reader Pro is a universal app, optimized for both iPhone and iPad.

Download PDF Reader Pro

[Giveaway] AirServer: Comprehensive Mac & PC AirPlay Suite With Screen Mirroring

Aatif Khan — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:50:12 +0000

I’ve never tried to hide my preference for iOS over Android, and for multiple reasons. While both platforms have a healthy share of strengths and weaknesses, iOS offers certain features (natively) that tip the scale, at least for me, in its favor, one of them being AirPlay. The formerly-labeled-AirTunes protocol received a feature and nomenclature overhaul back in 2010, whence it included not just audio, but any kind of media to be streamed to any AirPlay compatible device. Then, with iOS 5, Apple pooled in AirPlay mirroring, allowing you to replicate your supportive iPhone, iPod touch or iPad’s entire screen on the likes of compatible HDTVs, laptops, Macs etc. Speaking of Windows PCs and Macs in this regard, there’s perhaps no shortage of AirPlay apps for both platforms, paid or free, that offer pretty reasonable functionality. That’s why I was not too enthusiastic about AirServer, an AirPlay server application for Mac and Windows that claims to be way ahead of all its peers. Turns out, my skepticism was ill-warranted, as the app clearly blows away all the competition.

Sporting features like dual-mode AirPlay, optimized resolutions for the new iPad and iPhone 4S’ retina displays, on-screen adjustment tools and a very decent frame rate, AirServer is, hands-down, the best AirPlay server application for both Mac and Windows.

Note: AirServer is a paid application worth $15 for a standard Mac license, while $8 for a standard Windows one. AddictiveTips is giving away 5 standard licenses for Mac and 5 for Windows to 10 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this article.

Depending on your OS, AirServer will sit either in the Menu Bar (Mac) or System Tray (Windows), and generally remains unobtrusive. It’s better that we take this fact into account beforehand that there are quite a few subtle differences between Mac and Windows variants of this program, and while the developers claim they’re working fast to bring the Windows version up to speed with its counterpart, it remains for now that Mac gets a more solid package. Hence, we begin with that.

The first launch of the program will prompt for access to your network. Allow that to proceed. While obvious, you must ensure that your IOS device and Mac are both on the same network.

Next up, go through the configuration panel to customize any parameters to your liking (accessible through the app’s Menu Bar icon). On Mac, the four man tabs include General, Audio, Display and Mirroring. The General tab shows version information and allows you to manage your Mac’s broadcasted name, (optional) password, icon visibility in Menu Bar, Startup launch, and, most importantly, Dual-mode AirPlay, among other features.

The Audio and Display tabs allow configuring which devices to use for those components, and are generally utilized if you have more than one of either attached to your computer. The Mirroring tab allows optimization of the screen for a particular device, which is rather useful when connecting the new iPad or iPhone 4S, since they both feature a retina display. A Slow Network switch is also available, but frankly, I didn’t get to play with that.

With the configuration panel out of the way, you may now connect any AirPlay enabled iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to your Mac. On an iPhone/iPod touch, double-tap the Home button to bring up the App Switcher tray. Swipe left twice to reach the volume slider. Assuming that AirServer is running on your Mac, and both the computer and iDevice are on the same network, an AirPlay button should show up. Tap that, and select your Mac from the list of available devices. Toggle mirroring ‘on’ alongside, and hit Done in top-right corner. The process remains the same on iPad as well, although you may need one swipe less to reach the AirPlay button in App Switcher.

There isn’t much to it after enabling mirroring, since you’ll be getting your device’s entire screen replicated on your Mac right in front of you. And that’s where the fun begins, because you can put it to any use that you like. Forget a simple slideshow show-off of your Camera Roll – you can record complete screencasts, give app demos, presentations and whatnot with this baby! Every action that you perform on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, gets reflected almost instantly on your computer. This part, by the way, applies to both Windows and Mac versions of AirServer.

The developers of AirServer advertise it as “the game console for Mac,” and rightly so, thanks to the Dual-mode AirPlay option. This mode allows you to connect two iDevices at once through the AirPlay protocol, while the program automatically readjusts their screen sizes for best fit, depending on connected display(s). Taking from the developers’ example, this allows you to turn Temple Run into “Temple Race,” with you and your friend playing side by side on your own devices, competing for the longest run. The screenshot below exhibits my iPad running Flipboard while Temple Run is shown on my 4S next to it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, as soon as you connect a second device, AirServer automatically shifts to theatre mode, giving not only aesthetic, but also a usability uplift, as it blacks out the rest of the screen.

On Mac, when you click the image of any connected device, you get some post-transmission parameters that you can tweak, including sharpness, brightness, contrast, saturation and hue, among others. These are missing in the Windows variant, for now.

Coming to the Windows flavor of AirServer, it’s lacking in quite a few areas, but getting up to the Mac version pretty fast. For now, there’s no Dual-mode AirPlay, for starters, plus no post-processing either. It, too, will require access through Windows Firewall. The biggest missing feature is lack of Audio transmission through AirPlay, which means that while you can play videos from your iPhone or iPad just fine, there would be no sound to go along with. We do understand the lack of Dual-mode support, but no audio seriously hampers the usefulness of this app.

The Windows version of the app is windowed (pun intended), and supports theatre mode just like the Mac one. The settings panel, accessible through system-tray icon, differs considerably from the Mac one, in that it lacks Audio and Video tabs altogether, and adds a new Updates one instead. Available options differ, too. For instance, Dual-mode AirPlay is there, but is greyed out, hence unavailable for now.

Since AirServer goes bragging about it’s game-console duplication, we put the app through a test using Chair’s famous title, Infinity Blade. The frame rate was excellent, and the graphics looked crisp. Oddly enough, it fared better on Windows than on Mac, where the playback was rather laggy and choppy at places. Still, for less-intensive ones, you shouldn’t experience any hiccups. A screenshot is nevertheless provided for your pleasure.

AirServer, on the whole, is a brilliant app with a wonderful new implementation for AirPlay mode of iOS. While it performs better than any of its competitors even in its current form, it can still use a lot of improvement, particularly for the Windows client (and I am talking outside of the missing features). My recommendation: never enable autostart with system – it will kill your processor. My core i5 with 6GB of DDR3 RAM was brought to a crawl when AirServer was running in the background unnecessarily, so only run the application when you need it to. The developers may want to look into that.

Finally, we come to the pricing model. For both Windows and Mac, you get a 7-day trial for free, which is fully functional. Standard license costs $7.99 and $14.99 for both, respectively, while student licenses are available at $11.99 for Mac and $5.99 for Windows. A 25 license bundle will set your wallet lighter by $59.99 on the Mac flavor, while the same will cost you $29.99 for Microsoft’s operating system. One final annoyance (and a rather big one, at that) is that when you attempt to download AirServer, it asks you to sign in with Facebook and allow access, afterwards publishing an advertising message on your wall that you downloaded the application. My advice to the developers? DO NOT do this. It can turn off people enough to ditch your application altogether.

AirServer works on Mac OS X Tiger and above, and Windows Vista and above. Compatible iOS devices include iPad, iPhone 3GS or later and iPod touch second generation and above, all running latest version of iOS. It is also compatible with Android devices running doubleTwist+AirTwist combo. Mirroring is available only on iPad 2, new iPad and iPhone 4S.

Download AirServer

Giveaway: We’re giving away five Mac and five Windows licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Either way, you must mention your operating system (Windows or Mac). Our editors will pick the ten winners randomly. Good luck!

Update: Great news! The developers have listened to us! Facebook login for download restriction has been removed, to the great relief of a lot of privacy-conscious users. Good luck with the giveaway to everyone who’s participated.

Update: Giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

Update: Licenses have been sent to the winners. If you entered for the giveaway, please check your Twitter Direct Messages, Facebook Messages or Google+ feed.

Dashboard X: Add Notification Center Widgets To iOS Springboard & Lock Screen [Cydia]

Hamza — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:40:54 +0000

Widgets are something that have been exclusive to Android so far, and although iOS now offers a couple of native Notification Center widgets, they are not the same as Android’s ever-present and feature-rich ones. Fortunately, things have finally taken a turn for the better for jailbroken iOS users. Now, it is possible to have home screen widgets on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, thanks to the recently released Dashboard X Cydia tweak. The tweak can be considered a whole new platform for widgets that allows users to add several Notification Center widgets to the home screen. Not only that, you can make the lockscreen area of your iPhone more functional and productive as well, using the tweak’s Dock Mode, which lets users summon widgets at will, so that they don’t clutter the screen all the time. Sound interesting? Read on for details.

Setting up Dashboard X’s widgets is easy. As already discussed, the tweak has two modes. You can add permanent, translucent widgets to the Springboard of your device, or configure the Dashboard X dock mode to hide widgets until they are made temporarily visible via an Activator gesture. To get started, just tap and hold your finger over any empty area of the Springboard, and as soon as you enter wiggle mode, the option to add new widgets to the Home screen will appear. The freshly-displayed list will contain all the installed widgets supported by Dashboard X, and you can enable them simply by hitting the Add Widget button.

From the stock Settings app, you can change the way Dashboard X behaves overall. The option to enable or disable widgets is present here, in case the gestures didn’t work for some reason. From this menu, users can also choose the Activation Method. The tweak is compatible with all Activator gestures, and the chosen gesture will take you into dock mode (double tap on the status bar is the default gesture). To get out of dock mode, just double tap any area of the screen. The best thing about dock mode is the fact that it keeps your screen uncluttered, and the widgets only appear when the users performs the specified gesture. Another advantage, and perhaps the bigger one, is the mode’s lockscreen compatibility.

Many of the existing Notification Center widgets are compatible with Dashboard X, and a lot of new widgets are expected to be released soon. Dashboard X will cost you $1.99, but the new functionality it offers is certainly worth the money. You can grab the tweak from the ModMyi repo in the Cydia store.

[Giveaway] ESET Mobile Security For Android Out Of Beta, Now Supports ICS & Honeycomb

A. Rehman — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:50:00 +0000

The reliable computer and network security solutions provided by ESET are highly regarded among domestic and professional computer users all across the globe. When the company launched the public beta of ESET Mobile Security for the Android platform in June last year (2011), Android users were introduced to arguably one of the most comprehensive protection tools for their devices. This multi-lingual app encompasses several sought-after security features to secure your device and all the underlying data from any sort of unauthorized access. The app’s feature set includes real-time device protection from viruses and malware through on-demand (user-requested) and on-access (event-triggered) scanning, specifying blacklists for all incoming calls, SMS, and/or MMS from specific users, integrated security audit to identify the most vulnerable aspects of your Android device, multiple anti-theft tools (SIM matching, specifying a trusted SIM card via its IMSI number), and a built-in task manager. The app just recently shed its beta tag and is now available as a 30-day free trial, after which it requires you to purchase a 1-year license to continue availing all the security features. More to follow.

Note: After the initial 30-day free trial, ESET Mobile Security requires you to purchase a $9.99 license that remains valid for a year. We’re giving away five one-year licenses for the app to 5 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

Apart from shedding its beta tag, ESET Mobile Security now also brings support for devices running Android v3.0 (Honeycomb) and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or above. As mentioned earlier, the 30-day trial offer can be availed by any Android user who wishes to join the program by providing a valid email address. Should you opt to upgrade to the full version of the app, you can navigate to the Activation option within the app, provide your email ID, and purchase the license from the Google Play Store. The license remains valid for 1 year, thereby granting you access to the app’s full features during said period.

To go through the entire list of security tools supported by ESET Mobile Security, you can go through our comprehensive reviewof the app which we did in last June while the app was in Beta phase. Nothing’s changed much since then. That said, we can still recall the app’s entire list of the features that you will get from under the various tabs present on the app’s main interface:

Antivirus: One-tap full system scan for potential malware. Scan individual folders, include/exclude SD card, apps or compressed archives from the scanning process, and define the default action upon threat detection.
Antispam: Block all calls from anonymous numbers, select individual contacts whose incoming calls, SMS and MMS you want the app to block automatically. Block outgoing calls to specific numbers. You can also set separate provisions for incoming/outgoing activities for all the known as well as unknown contacts.
Anti-Theft: Define trusted SIM cards by their respective IMSI numbers, view SMS commands that can be used to wipe, lock and retrieve the password that you’ve used to secure the app. From under the same tab, you can specify your Trusted Friends’ numbers that can be used to send a text message containing the reset password for the app.
Security Audit: Analyze various aspects of your Android device – GPS, battery, cellular network, Memory card et al – that can affect the device’s performance drastically. The integrated Task Manager lets you monitor and control all the various processes, services and tasks running on your device.
Update: Update the app’s security database manually, or specify the time to auto-update said database.
Password: Secure the app using a custom password and bring various supported features under the security umbrella as well. The app asks you to provide the password before uninstallation.
Activation: Purchase a one-year license for the app.
Language: Select a different default language for the app.
Help: Get help regarding various features of the app.
Uninstall: Remove ESET Mobile Security from the device from within the app itself.

ESET Mobile Security can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store via the download link or QR code provided below.

Download ESET Mobile Security

Giveaway: We’re giving away five 1-year licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly. Good luck!

Update: The giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

[Giveaway] EdgeCase Prevents Unintentionally Moving Mouse Cursor Between Displays [Mac]

Fatima — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:50:06 +0000

If you work with multiple monitors, you must have noticed that your mouse doesn’t always understand that you didn’t mean for it to move to the next display, even though you continued to move it to the left or right of the screen. The mouse is meant to act like that, and it only makes sense that you would be able to move the mouse comfortably between two displays. There are, nevertheless, usage scenarios where the second display attached to you system is really meant to monitor a feed or an app or any other system activity. You don’t necessarily need it for performing your ‘work’, and that’s when your cursor jumping between monitors gets irritating. EdgeCase is a Mac app worth $4.99 in the Mac App Store that prevents the mouse from accidentally jumping between displays.

Note: EdgeCase has a price tag of $4.99 on the App Store. We’re giving away five promo codes for the app to 5 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

EdgeCase has three different modes for you to chose from through the app’s Menu Bar icon. The Bounce the cursor mode prevents the mouse pointer from moving to the second display when it is moved to the edge. In order to move the mouse, you have to ‘bounce’ it against the edge. This is like moving the mouse to the edge of the screen in two quick flicks. On the second ‘bounce’, the cursor will shift to the second screen.

The Hold [Ctrl] key or [⌘ ] key option will prevent the cursor from moving to the second display unless you hold down either the Control or Command key. This option is possibly the most rigid control over the jumping mouse cursor. The Wait for 1/2 second option in EdgeCase introduces a half a second delay. If your mouse cursor remains consistently at the edge of the screen for half a second, it will move to the other display. This prevents the accidental flick from moving the pointer. In terms of ease, the Control or Command keys seem the most convenient to use.

Remember that this app is only meant for those who work with more than one monitor. If you’ve set your MacBook up with an external display, the app will work for you. Likewise, if you’ve set up your Mac mini with two displays or added a second monitor to you iMac, EdgeCase will keep your mouse from moving to another display when you don’t want it to. Although slightly pricey for such a simple function, the app does work quite well and there aren’t any glitches to speak of.

Get EdgeCase From Mac App Store

Giveaway: We’re giving away 5 promo codes for this app. The giveaway will last for 24 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly.

Update: The giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

xDownload: iPhone Download Manager With Support For Flash Videos, Simultaneous Downloads & More

Hamza — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:25:18 +0000

It is possible to download and use a lot of file formats in iOS, but not all of them are compatible with Safari, and you might need a plethora of third-party apps in order to use those files on your iDevice. This can prove to be cumbersome, as you might not even be aware whether a particular file can be used with your device. xDownload for iPhone, iPad & iPod touch is one very simple solution to this problem. It is a download manager supports a staggeringly large number of file formats. Probably the best feature offered by xDownload is its ability to download flash videos, which are automatically converted to MP4 to facilitate playback on your FLV-crippled iOS device. Apart from that, you can archive whole websites with the app as well. Details to follow.

Pretty much like Safari, xDownload has a search area next to the address bar. The app supports auto-suggestions, and has just about all the features available in the stock iOS web browser. To get things started, hit the Browser button from the main page of the app and begin surfing. The back and forward buttons are located in the bottom bar of xDownload browser, and the same holds true for the bookmarks area. All the other buttons available in xDownload are exclusive to the app and differentiate it from Safari. To open a new page in xDownload, hit the last button in the bottom bar and choose Select Web. This will take you to the browser’s main window. If you are looking to archive the whole page, tap Save Web and you are done.

The real fun in xDownload starts when you hit the Downloads section. To commence a new download, just tap and hold your finger over any item. A menu pops up, and the user has to choose Download from among the presented options. The app supports multiple downloads, and you can simultaneously grab as many files as you want. The file formats supported by xDownload range from Office files to media and just about everything in between. As mentioned earlier, xDownload converts Flash video files to MP4 and lets you view them on your iPhone. The app supports automatic URL caching, meaning that you will be able to quickly switch to xDownload from Safari. With xDownload in your iDevice, you won’t even need a ZIP file handler, as the app can create and manage file archives all by itself.

From the Settings menu of the app, you can access some really cool features, like password protection, search engine selection and the option to set a download limit if you are on 3G or mobile data instead of Wi-Fi. xDownload is a complete web browser and download manager, and you won’t regret spending the $2.99 it costs to download the app. It is optimized for iPhone only, but if you intend to use it mainly for downloads, feel free to give it a shot on your iPad as well.

Download xDownload

[Giveaway] DragonDrop Makes Drag & Drop Easier By Providing A Temporary Holder For Copying Files [Mac]

Fatima — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:50:58 +0000

If you’ve used a Windows PC, you know there is no such thing as Desktop Spaces like there are in Mac, and, without question, they are an excellent feature to have. While they make it extremely easy to manage windows and group your work by the apps you have opened, it can sometimes be inconvenient when you have to move an item from one desktop space to another. DragonDrop is a Mac app, worth $4.99 in the Mac App Store, that acts as a ‘holder’ for any file, folder or text you want to copy and paste from one location or space to another. The app works entirely in the Menu Bar and captures anything you drop onto it, leaving you free to use your mouse for clicking, selecting and dragging other things around.

Note: DragonDrop has a price tag of $0.99 on the App Store. We’re giving away ten promo codes for the app to 10 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

When the app is launched, it adds a shield-like icon to the Menu Bar. Adding items to the app simply requires you to select them and drag & drop onto the Menu bar icon. You can hold down the Command key and select multiple items to drop on the icon. While you can add multiple items to the app, you can only do so by selecting them at the same time. Once an item is added to the app, if you drop another file or folder to it, it will replace the previous one.

The app has an additional feature that you can enable from its preferences by selecting the Activate when I shake mouse option. When you select an item, and (while still holding down the mouse button), shake it slightly on the screen, and DragonDrop will capture it.

Droppy is a similar app that does the same and is worth $0.99, but does not have the mouse shake and capture feature and is less responsive.

Get DragonDrop From Mac App Store

Giveaway: We’re giving away 10 promo codes for this app. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly.

Update: The giveaway has been closed and promo codes have been sent to the winners.

Reddit Notifier: Menu Bar Notifications & Audio Alerts For New Reddit Messages [Mac]

Fatima — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:01:13 +0000

When it comes to web portals, Reddit is an amazing one; it may waste a lot of your time, but you will still end up learning a ton of new things in the process. While the site is one of the many reasons people all over the world don’t manage to get to sleep as early as planned, it is also a great place for raising awareness about important events. If you obsessively read everything on Reddit, and are more than the average lurker, Reddit Notifier is a Mac app (worth $1.99 in the Mac App Store) that you may find useful. It gives you notifications in the Menu Bar and sounds audio alerts when you receive a new message on Reddit. The alerts are customizable, so you can set them to sound once, continuously or not at all.

When you first launch the app, a grayed-out envelop is added to the Menu Bar, and a sign in window pops up. Enter your Reddit credentials and sign in. The app’s icon turns orange when you receive a new message. However, that is if you’re an ordinary Redditor; if you’re a moderator, the app’s icon turns into Sno’s head with red and orange outlines.

To manage the audio alerts, click the icon, and from Audio Notification, select what you want the app to announce when you receive a new message, and how frequently the audio alert should play.

As stated earlier, this isn’t the kind of app that every Redditor will use. Its usefulness for you really depends on how active you are on the website, and how much you obsess over it. The app takes you to your Reddit Inbox if you click the Inbox option, and it would be nice if Reddit Notifier also showed the number of unread messages in the form of an icon badge.

Get Reddit Notifier From Mac App Store

iLockit For Android: Lock Screen App With Unique Image-Based Methods Of Pattern Unlock

A. Rehman — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:30:55 +0000

Just a couple of weeks ago, we covered an Android app called Photo Lock Screen that allowed users to define their own custom tap sequence/patterns on an image of choice to unlock their screens. Sporting somewhat the same concept, but far more features, iLockit Lock Screen is another security-oriented Android app that has been around for quite some time now (way before Photo Lock Screen, it seems). iLockit offers as many as four different screen locking methods that you can use in a combination of your choice. For instance, you may set any image as the lockscreen’s background and select a single point within it, tapping which will unlock the screen, or pick multiple points on the image that you must touch in some order to do the same. Then, there is a method that involves pressing and holding a specific point on the image for a desired time duration. You can also add an invisible line within the image and swipe across it to unlock. Details to follow.

As with the previously reviewed app, precision is the key with iLockit’s custom unlocking mechanism, as it won’t let you in unless you provide the right unlock pattern. What’s even better (from a security perspective) is that it automatically logs you out of your default Google account after a certain number of unsuccessful attempts. You must also try picking an image that provides you some sort of indication/visual assistance regarding the key areas that you can use as your custom unlock points.

Upon launch, the app prompts you to provide a valid email address and a recovery PIN that you can use to unlock your device, should you mess up the custom unlock pattern. Once registration is successful, the app welcomes you via a couple of tutorial screens that help you get a good grip on the various features and options of iLockit.

As specified in the tutorial, to enable iLockit lockscreen, you’ll first have to define custom unlock pattern(s). For this, tap the Set Lock button on the app’s main interface, pick the desired image from your device’s gallery, and you’re good to go. Next up, it’s entirely up to you to define your preferred custom unlock method(s) using all the available/aforementioned techniques.

Once you’ve selected and defined all the various desired unlocking patterns, the app verifies them with you for one last time. Finally, all you need to do is slide the fingerprint knob on the app’s homescreen towards the right in order to activate iLockit lockscreen. Dragging the knob in the reverse direction disables the app’s protection service.

From the app’s main preferences screen, you can specify the number of attempts before it will disallow you to make any further attempts at unlocking your device. You may also set the custom time interval for making each subsequent attempt at unlocking. Then, there is also an option to specify the custom time period for which you want to keep the device unlocked, even after the screen goes to sleep.

iLockit is a paid app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for $0.99. The link and QR code provided below will take you to the app’s Play Store page.

Download iLockit Lock Screen

Time Sink: Record & Generate Reports For Usage Time Of Mac Apps

Fatima — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:21:22 +0000

As much as you may convince yourself that you’re a productive, well focused and difficult to distract person when it comes down to work, the fact is that the internet is ruled by kittens and you just can’t get enough of them. For many people, especially those who work remotely, the temptation to check your Facebook feed or read an interesting article is sometimes too much to overcome, often leaving them wondering where the time went. Time Sink is an excellent Mac app, worth $4.99 in the Mac App Store, that tells you just how you’ve been spending your time. Not only does the app have an excellent interface, but is feature rich, allowing you to create ‘app pools’ to measure the time spent on a particular task which may involve using more than a single app. It additionally gives you the option to run either as an application window, or from the Menu Bar. At the same time, it supports an activity monitor in its Dock icon, which pretty much means you can’t escape the fact that you’re wasting precious time.

Time Sink starts tracking your usage of other apps the second it launches. It measures time separately for active apps and those running in the background.

The tool asks you to choose at start up if you want to run it as an app or from the Menu Bar. You can change the options at any time afterwards. Note that the app measures time for apps in the background separately. You can create a ‘pool’ of apps by dragging and dropping them from the top half of the window to the bottom half. The pool measures the collective time you’ve spent on the apps added to it. To get a summary of how productive you’ve been, click the Activity Report tab, and app usage will be displayed as a graph.

To switch modes, go to Time Sink’s preferences and toggle the Run as dockless menu bar application to suit your needs. The app allows you to define apps or windows that it should ignore within the Blacklist tab in preferences, lets you customize which items are reported in the activity report, and also lets you export it.

Overall, the app is feature rich and the interface is amazing. Depending on how you like to work, you can keep it open as a window on the desktop, or send it to the menu bar for a more unobtrusive monitoring.

Get Time Sink From Mac App Store

Screenshot Journal Helps You Manage Your iPhone & iPad Screenshots

Hamza — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:45:29 +0000

Until recently, iOS was the only smartphone platform that came with built-in screenshot capabilities (now, of course, the feature is available in the newest version of Android, ICS, as well). Due to the availability of this feature in iOS, the stock Photos app tends to accumulate a lot of screenshots over time. Unfortunately, an iOS device cannot differentiate between an ordinary photo and a screenshot natively, and treats them just the same. This can prove to be a bit of a nuisance on a lot of occasions, and it can take hours of your precious time if you go about separating screenshots and photos manually. This is where Screenshot Journal comes to the rescue. This paid iOS app automatically imports all the screenshots found in your iPhone or iPad and allows you to sort them out from within its interface. This little tool can be particularly handy for UI designers, who have countless interface mockups and screenshots cluttering their camera rolls.

Screenshot Journal can be more useful for developers as opposed to ordinary users, but the app holds a degree of usefulness for the latter as well. When you launch the app for the first time, it will scan your device’s camera roll, and import all the screenshots found there. If it doesn’t do that for you on the first try (happened to us), exit the app, and kill it from the App Switcher tray. Everything should work fine when you launch it again. The screenshots imported by Screenshot Journal are arranged according to the month in which they were taken. On this timeline of screenshots, you can navigate to any month with ease.

When a screenshot is opened within the app, there are some really useful things you can do with it, like measuring its pixel size, and see whether it was retina resolution or not. Screenshot Journal has two menus in addition to the main Storage page. The Favorites area can be used to bookmark any of the snapshots, while the ones deleted from the app will appear in Trash. The best thing about Screenshot Journal is the fact that is will keep all your screenshots safe, even if they are deleted from the main camera roll. The app’s photo viewer has a grid mode as well (the measurement bit we talked about earlier), which allows developers to measure the dimensions of icons and other areas of apps. All screenshots opened in the app can be tweeted, sent via email or copied for use anywhere you want.

Screenshot Journal will set you back by $1.99 in iTunes App Store, and despite the rather-useful functionality that it brings to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, we believe that price point is a little steep. The app is optimized for use on both the iPhone and iPad (universal), and you can download it from the following link.

Download Screenshot Journal

Liquid Words: Search, Reference & Translate Text Selected From Within Any App [Mac]

Fatima — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:15:44 +0000

The right-click context menu in Mac is a fairly sophisticated one. It allows you to search the web for text selected from within any app. This simple little feature makes it easy for us to look up the background story of something, or just search for the meaning of a word. Worth $0.99 in the Mac App Store, Liquid Words is a handy Mac app that not only allows you to search text, selected from within any app, in Google, Google Images, Google Maps, YouTube, Flickr, Amazon and LinkedIn, but also lets you convert currency, temperature, area, speed, distance, volume, weight and data, reference items from Wikipedia, Wordnik, Wolfram Alpha, Google Definition, IMDB and Etymonline in the same manner. That’s not all; it even allows you to translate selected text from any language to another.

The desktop bar for Liquid Words works wonderfully. Simply copy and paste or type in text, and from the buttons and dropdown menus located along the bottom, select an action. Each button features several sub-options. The calculate options let you convert currency from any country in the world (although it is not clear which conversion rate is used), convert temperature from and to Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin and Rankine, area, column, speed, distance and data (bytes, KBs, MBs, GBs etc).

The search option allows you to lookup on Google, Google Images, Maps and YouTube, reference items from Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha, and translate between any two languages of your choice.

Translated text is shown within the app’s own interface, and both Arabic and Chinese characters are supported. While you may wonder if you the app is worth the price tag, the amount of convenience it adds is one good reason to go for it; not only can you paste text into the search bar, but also, if you have the app running in the Men Bar, you can use keyboard shortcuts like Command+Shift+1 to quickly send selected text to the search bar. You might have a bit trouble getting the shortcut to work in the start. Just restart your system and go to Keyboard in System Preferences. Select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and from the list on the left, select Services. Scroll through the list until you find Liquid Words. You will notice OS X displays the shortcut as Command+! which is why it does not work. Reconfigure it to Command+Shift+1 and you’re good to go.It runs unobtrusively in the Menu Bar, and can be brought to front by clicking the orb icon. If you often need to research terms, convert between different scales or translate text, this app is a fairly reasonable investment.

Get Liquid Words From Mac App Store

[Giveaway] PearlMountain Image Converter: Batch Photo Editing & Conversion Tool For Windows

Fawad — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:30:02 +0000

Most free image editing tools are made for a specific purpose. For instance, you will have to use one tool to convert the image format, another to correct its colors, while a third will be required to add a watermark to the image. Having so many tools installed on your system not only creates unnecessary clutter, but also reduces the efficiency when you have to open this many programs every time you want to perform a simple editing operations on an image. PearlMountain Image Converter is an easy-to-use image editing & converting tool with an eye-candy GUI, which allows you to export an image in different formats, resize, crop and watermark it, rename it according to pre-specified criteria, perform color corrections, and apply borders. All of these functions can be performed at once in a batch operation, eliminating the time wasted in performing each function one by one. Read on to find out more about PearlMountain Image Converter.

Note: PearlMountain Image Converter is a paid application costing $29.90. AddictiveTips is giving away 10 full licenses for this tool (worth $299) for our readers, the details for which can be found at the end of this post.

The interface of the application is both good to look at and easy to navigate around. On the left side, Formats, Resize, Watermark, Rename, Corrections, Border and Crop tabs are available. Clicking a tab opens up its options in the middle, while the preview of applied effects appears towards the right side.

To add images to the application, just drag and drop them over the main interface. The Formats tab lets you convert the added images into JPEG, BMP, PNG, PDF, TGA, TOFF, GIF, PSD, PCX and ICO. Each format comes with its own advanced settings.

The Resize tab lets you resize the images, both according to size (pixels) and percentage, while the Watermark tab enables you to add Image as well as Text Watermarks to your photos. You can manipulate the alignment, size and opacity of the watermark from this same area.

In Rename, you can specify the rename criteria from a list; Border lets you add an outline to the images in different colors and sizes, while Crop allows you to crop the images, either manually, or using the available Crop Ratios. The Corrections tab enables you to adjust Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Sharpen/ Blur parameters of all the added images in a batch operation.

While there are multiple tools available that will let you manipulate images, some of them even free, what makes PearlMountain Image Converter stand out is the fact that you get an all-in-one package, albeit for a price, which sports a beautiful GUI and brings complete ease of use to the whole operation. That you can apply batch-effect to images is just icing on the cake, as most applications won’t let you do that. PearlMountain Image Converter works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Download PearlMountain Image Converter

If you liked this app, you might want to take a look at the other image conversion tools we’ve covered so far.

Giveaway: We’re giving away 10 full licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for over the weekend. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the ten winners randomly.

Update: The giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

Update: License keys have been sent to winners. If you entered for the giveaway, please check your Twitter direct messages, Facebook messages or Google+ feeds.

[Giveaway] Turn Your Portraits Into Facial Animations With LiveFace For iPhone

Hamza — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:40:06 +0000

If you are an iPhone user, then you probably would have come across many apps that let you create animations with relative ease. Usually, you have to perform a few steps before the animation is actually created, and then it mostly has a few shortcomings or flaws. LiveFace for iOS is a fun app that lets you bring your portraits to life, literally. It lets you easily create animations from face shots, allowing you to export the results as GIF, MP4, SWF or JPG files. You can animate faces in photos in several different ways with no more than a few taps, making your friends wink or appear extatic regardless of what mood they were in when the photo was shot.

Note: LiveFace has a price tag of $1.99 on the App Store. We’re giving away seven promo codes for the app to seven lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

Using LiveFace is easy, and you won’t have to sweat over getting every detail right in order to have a perfect animation, as the app does just about everything for you. On the main page of LiveFace, there are three options; Fun Booth, Studio and Gallery. If you are a new user, start with Fun Booth. In this section of the app, you have to choose whether you want to snap an image right from within the app and then edit it, or if you want to load something from your device’s camera roll. Once the image has been imported to LiveFace, the next step is to define the area (usually a face) so that the app can work exactly over it. If you want to define the whole face, use the default mask, although there are many other, more particular masks available in the app as well, using which you can define the editing path to be just eyes or mouth. Once all that has been done, you are ready to apply the animated effects over the selected area of the picture. The icon of each effect depicts its working pretty accurately, and if you applied the mask correctly, you will get the amusing results straight away.

Unfortunately, only one animation effect can be applied to any photo at a time, at least while you are in Fun Booth mode. If you want to combine more than one effects, you will have to go to the Studio mode. Here, it is possible to create animation effects of your own. Define the mask, just like in Fun Booth, and then using the simple left, right, up and down buttons, make the photo’s chosen path move. In addition to that, there are also the Touch Tools that let you deform (or liquify) any part of the image, as well as restore the changes. Studio supports addition of layers, and you can choose to make them cyclic or non-cyclic. The animations created in LiveFace can be shared over email, Twitter or through your Wi-Fi connection. In the Wi-Fi sharing mode, you just have to type in the IP address provided by the app in any browser on the same network.

The app’s gallery can be accessed from the main page of LiveFace, and it is also possible to export and share images from there. The Settings menu of the app lets you choose the size and format of animations. LiveFace is a paid app, and will cost you $1.99. You can grab it at the link below.

Download LiveFace

Giveaway: We’re giving away 7 licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for 72 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the seven winners randomly.

Update: Giveaway has been closed and promo codes have been sent to the winners.

Bluetooth Screen Lock Automatically Locks Your Mac When A BT Device Moves Out Of Range

Fatima — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:50:18 +0000

Security may be equally important for everyone, but not everyone treats it as seriously as they should. While some people just don’t believe they have anything to a hide or no reason for anyone wanting to gain access to their personal files, it is no excuse to not protect your important data. For those that aren’t jumping at the latest military range defense and security systems, but would like to enable some level of security, the first place you can start is your Mac. There are people who are in the compulsive habit of locking their screens even if they bend down to tie a shoe lace while others are often forgetful of doing this simple little task to secure their systems. Bluetooth Screen Lock is a Mac app worth $0.99 that relieves you of the responsibility to lock your screen. The app lets you associate any Bluetooth enabled device with your Mac and when the device is no longer in range, it locks your screen.

The app adds a Bluetooth button to menu Bar. First off, open the app’s preferences (accessible from its drop-down menu) and proceed to adding a device. The device you choose to associate with the app does not need to pair with your Mac. The app will scan for Bluetooth devices in range and list them. Just pick the one you want to use and click Select.

You can define the lock function in one of two ways; when a device is out of range or when the signal strength falls below a certain threshold. Unless you’re using an iPhone or an iPad, you might want to use the In Range option since not all devices will be able to support the Minimum Signal Strength. When you choose Minimum Signal Strength, a slider appears that lets you set the minimum signal strength. Once you’ve picked the range method, make sure that you enable the Require password to wake after screen saver begins option. If the option isn’t checked, the app will only enable the screensaver, thus, leaving your system protected only by pictures of cute kittens or vicious dragons.

The app is best used with a phone. A lot of people might forget to lock their screens, very few forget to take their phones with them. In the event that you’re suddenly called away from your desk, you won’t be left thinking whether or not you locked your Mac.

Get Bluetooth Screen Lock from App Store

645 PRO: Professional-Grade Camera App That Lets You Save Photos As Lossless JPEG & dRAW

Hamza — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:03 +0000

iPhone camera apps are numerous, owing mostly to the awesome quality of photos that Apple’s hardware (the iPhone 4S, in particular) can offer. You can edit your photos, snap them in any way you want, but ultimately, it is the quality of the device’s camera that has the most profound effect on the result. 645 PRO is a camera replacement app for iOS that brings the best out of the device’s camera, producing results with quality that is on par with that of digital cams. It is, as the developer claims, the first app of its kind that allows you to capture dRAW (TIFF) and lossless JPEG images. Results aside, the interface itself provides the look and feel of a professional-grade camera, making the app an excellent substitute to the stock camera app for photography enthusiasts. Details regarding the apps many features after the break.

645 PRO endeavors to bring simplicity and ease to its usage by presenting all the customizable options and settings to a single screen, but the overall effect can be more than a little confusing for an average user. There is an extensive tutorial available to guide you through the app’s usage (a bit too extensive, to be honest). Here is what each button in the app does.

Flash: The first button in the left-hand bar of the main screen is the flash control. Depending upon its position, you can enable or disable flash, or set it to automatic, so that it will only fire when needed.

Grid: 645 PRO comes with three grid modes. Tapping it once brings up the crosshairs, while more taps increase the number of blocks in the grid. Long-pressing the Grid button will let you choose the image format you want for your photos. The two available options include lossless JPEG and RAW.

Meter: Tapping this button will let you switch between the two exposure zones available in the app. Two additional exposure modes can be accessed by long-pressing Meter.

WB-L: WB-L button can let you adjust the focus and exposure levels according to the lighting levels in the area you are currently in. If the light is too low for any of the available modes, you can use the Night mode by long-pressing this button.

Timer: Long-press lets you edit the delay duration, while a single tap will start the countdown.

Play Button: The last button in the left-hand bar allows users to view their camera roll, and share any photos with ease. The secondary functionality of this button is to show the app’s tutorial.

AF-L & AE-L: These two buttons let users lock the focus and exposure in its current state. The small, red light against the icons indicates the activation of these buttons.

Resolution Dial: The first of the two dials in 645 PRO is there to allow you to select the resolution and aspect ratio you want for your images. The better the quality, the bigger it will be in size.

Film Modes Dial: Rotate this dial to select the film mode you want to use. There are 7 in total, ranging from vibrant to monochromatic.

The bottom bar in 645 PRO will let you view a lot of information regarding the image even before you have hit the snap button. It incorporates a histogram, which shows the color density of the scene in front of you. The status of other features of the camera is visible in this bar as well. You will surely be able to find other apps for iPhone that are more feature-rich, but the real uniqueness about 645 PRO is the end results it offers. We can’t show you actual images shot using the app, as they are at least 10MB in size, so don’t consider the image above as an example of the app’s results; they are much better than that. 645 PRO is completely worth the $2.99 it will cost you, and you can check it out by heading to the link given below.

Download 645 PRO

Voice Answer Is A Chat Bot & Speech Based Search Engine For iPhone/iPad

Hamza — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:59:35 +0000

Siri might be good-looking and popular, but as is generally the case, beauty and brains are rarely found in one place. You can ask Siri to set reminders for you, and ask her what dress she is wearing, but when you come to think of it, Siri’s knowledge is quite limited, and more often than not, it ends up pointing you to web search. Now imagine if there were some way of making Siri the most geekiest and knowledgeable bot in existence, won’t it be awesome? There is no such tweak or app app available just yet, but Voice Answer might be the next best option available. This newly released iPhone app will answer every question its users ask, no matter how technical or complicated. The app’s bot, named Eve, will solve mathematical equations for you, let you know all about scientific facts and historical figures, and will prove to be a pleasant companion when you are just bored and not really looking for some useful information.

There are two ways of posing questions to Voice Answer’s Eve. You can tap the robot’s face and speak the question, or you can type anything using the keyboard button provided on the main page. If you want to just have intelligent conversations with Eve, you can begin using Voice Answer as it is, but in case you are looking for some fun, turn on the Chatbot mode from the Settings menu within the app. In the same menu, it is possible to choose the number of answers which will be stored for offline viewing. When you are done with these configuration steps, came back to the main screen by hitting the Done button.

To see Voice Answer working its magic, hit the middle robot icon and ask any question. If, by chance, Eve does not know the answer to your question, she will strike a random conversation, but that is rarely the case, as the app’s database of knowledge is pretty impressive. One thing which makes Voice Answer all the more useful is its keyboard option, which lets you use the app just like any other search engine. The data provided by the app is quite extensive in most instances, and will include charts, images and references along with the text description.

Voice Answer will cost you $3.99, but the idea is pretty unique and is totally worth the dime. The app is universal, and optimized for both iPhone and iPad.

Download Voice Answer

[Giveaway] CopyLess For Mac: Manage & View Clipboard Content By App [Paid]

Fatima — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:30:28 +0000

Clipboard managers aren’t hard to find, and they are extremely useful since they let you get a whole lot more out of your default clipboard. Most clipboard managers focus on text snippets and there are few that will allow you to copy images and more. CopyLess is a Mac app worth $4.99 in the Mac App Store that extends your clipboard up to 100 items, lets you copy items in just about every format supported by Mac OS X and filters your snippets by the app they were copied from. Additionally, the app lets you favorite snippets that can be pasted using a custom shortcut, paste the last ten snippets via keyboard shortcut and wipe any text clean of its formatting before pasting it.

Note: CopyLess is a paid app that will set you back $4.99. AddictiveTips is giving away 5 licenses for the app to five lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this article.

The app stores items as you copy them to your clipboard (no additional or new shortcuts required) and stores them as per the app they were copied from.

Copied items appear in the app’s main window which you can toggle open/close using the Option+Command+C key combination. To copy an item, use the Copy button at the top. To preview the copied item, click the Quick Look button. The Plain Text button allows you to clean formatting from text.

By default, the app records up to 30 items to the clipboard; to increase it, go to the app’s preferences and adjust the Memory usage slider in the General tab. From the Shortcuts tab, you can manage the shortcuts for toggling the app open/close, for pasting the last ten items to an app and for pasting a clip from your favorites.

Another really great feature that sets this app apart from others is the app filter which lets you select apps that CopyLess should ignore. Understandably, there may be apps that you copy from but not necessarily want to keep a record of in your clipboard like the Finder. You can add apps to ignore from the Filter tab in preferences. Overall, this app is feature rich and smart supporting both image and text copying which few other apps do.

Get CopyLess From Mac App Store

Giveaway: We are giving away 5 full licenses for CopyLess. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to the tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly.

[Giveaway] Snapheal: Retouch & Remove Unwanted Objects From Images On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:51:18 +0000

Image editing apps aren’t rare for Mac, but the majority of them focus on adding color filters, image effects or cropping and rotating a picture. As far as real image editing goes where you can actually add or remove elements within the image, the apps that let you do that are rare. Snapheal is a Mac app worth $14.99 in the Mac app store that lets you erase objects in an image, retouch, rotate and crop images. It has a powerful retouch feature that allows you to adjust the contrast, saturation, sharpness, blur, and light intensity for any particular area on the image. You can compare your two images and save them to any format of your choice.

Note: Snapheal is a paid app costing $14.99. AddictiveTips is giving away three licences for this wonderful tool to 3 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

The app supports drag & drop; making it quite easy to add images. At any time you want to open a new image, simply drag & drop it on the app’s window. If you’re already working on an image, the app will prompt you to save it first. The interface is split into two parts, the major part being the image viewer with zoom in/out, fit to screen, actual size, share, save, load photo (open photo) and import located along the top. The right side of the app is dedicated to 6 vertical tabs, each corresponding to a different function.

The Erase tool lets you remove an unwanted object from the image. Select the tool and adjust the brush diameter according to the object you want to erase. Highlight the object with the brush and then click the Erase button at the bottom. Select the erase mode prior to that, or just use Control+Z to undo an operation. Enjoy the little bit of trivia the app shares while it processes an image. It worked exceptionally well at removing Daniel Radcliff’s Harry Potter scar.

The Clone tool allows you to copy one part of the image and duplicate it to another part. To use the tool, hold down the Option key and click on the part of the image you want to copy it from, and then click and drag your mouse over the area you want to duplicate it to. The brush size, softness and opacity are all adjustable.

In the Retouch tool, you will have to first select which item you want to adjust; contrast, saturation, sharpness, blur or light exposure. For each item, adjust its intensity, select the diameter size, softness and opacity of the brush, and then click & drag it over the area of the image you want to retouch.

The color adjustment, crop and rotate functions are very straight forward with no advanced functionality. To compare the image with what you started out with, click the Compare button at the bottom left of the tabs.

From our testing and somewhat meager image editing skills, the app appears ideal for retouching portraits and images with fewer objects or people in it. You can still take it for a spin on whatever image you like and put your own skills to the test.

Get Snapheal From Mac App Store

Download Trail Version Of Snapheal

Giveaway: We are giving away 3 licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for 24 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to the tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the three winners randomly.

Update: The giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

Update: Winners have received their licenses. If you entered the giveaway using Twitter, please check your Direct Messages.

Pocket Snapper: Massive Camera App For iPhone With Virtual Models

Hamza — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:18:27 +0000

Pocket Snapper is one of the many photo editing apps in the iOS App Store. It might remind you of a lot of other iPhone photo editors, but it does have its distinguishing features, making it worth its price. For one, there are some unbelievably good filters and effects in Pocket Snapper. Mostly the term of effects in apps implies nothing more than a change in lighting aspects and color values of photos. This is not the case with Pocket Snapper, and the filters offered by it go way beyond ordinary RGB effects. In addition to the beautiful filters and frames, the app will let you hone your photography skills by doing virtual photo shoots of real models, using a feature called iModel. More and that and other features of Pocket Snapper just past the jump.

Let’s start off with iModel. You can access this mode by tapping the button in the top left of the screen, and once you have done that, the app will make you choose from among a male and female model. Another model can be unlocked once you become a member of the Pocket Snapper community. This can be done by creating a new app specific account. In iModel mode, you can forget the scene which is actually in front of you, and make yourself believe that the model is actually walking in front of the camera. Using your iDevice’s accelerometer, the app will let you adjust the camera position to capture the model’s poses, and you can zoom in and out of the scene as well. Pocket Snapper has a gallery of its own, where members of the community share the photos snapped using the app. This is much like Instagram, just with more filters.

As good as the iModel mode might sound, it mainly just for fun. The real business starts when you come to the actual camera in Pocket Snapper. By swiping across the bottom bar you can control the zooming, while the left bar is for flash modes. There is a timer integrated within the app, using which it is possible to set up a delay of up to 10 seconds before any picture is shot. After the image has been taken using the camera, you can rotate it or crop it from the Pocket Snapper editor. However, the real fun starts when you get to the Effects menu, where the number of available filters might not be too much, but the quality certainly is unquestionable. Each filter is different from the other, and can be applied to the opened photo with a single touch. The same holds true for frames, which have a separate section of their own.

Pocket Snapper can also be used to create photo collages using the Layout menu, where three predefined templates are present. For all these amazing features, the app fetches for $0.99, and can be downloaded from the link below.

Download Pocket Snapper

[Giveaway] SyncMate: Sync Unlimited Devices Of Any Platform To Your Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:50:15 +0000

We’ve covered a lot of tools that let you sync either your iOS device with your Mac or an Android device to it. Some apps were free, others came with a price tag. As far as syncing devices go, if you stick to the little apps, you will be able to, at best, sync between any two devices. SyncMate is a Mac app that is perhaps the mothership of all sync utilities out there. It doesn’t just sync between any two devices, but rather, just about any device that you can imagine; Windows PC, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Sony PSP. Additionally, the app also lets you sync with Dropbox, your Google Account, Nokia phone, and Blackberry. The free version of the app lets you take it for a test spin without any time constraint. The pro version, which costs $39.95, offers lots of additional syncing options including a Mount Storage option that mounts the user accessible storage as a separate disk to your Mac and lets you browse and copy files.

Note: SyncMate’s pro version is a paid app that will set you back by $39.95. AddictiveTips is giving away five licenses for the pro version to five lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

To connect an Android device or a Windows PC, you will need to download their respective app to the device. iOS devices only need a simple USB connection. To connect a device, click Add Connection, select the type of device from the panel that opens and enter its IP address and click Continue.

All connected devices will appear on the top bar. Select a device and click Sync Now at the top right of the app’s window. You will first have to select which items you want to sync. For Android devices, you will not be able to sync iCal or Safari bookmarks, as they do have these apps. You can select which devices to sync by checking each one from the top bar and sync them all at once.

The app doesn’t just sync your photos, contacts, folders and music; when syncing mobile devices, it also lets you view and send text messages as well as your call history. To mount a device’s user accessible storage, select the device and click Mount disk. A large disk icon will appear in the panel on the right. Click it and the device’s storage will be mounted.

The best thing about this app is that it doesn’t limit the number of devices you can sync or add to it. Additionally, it isn’t just device specific which means you don’t need to own Apple devices exclusively to seamlessly sync all your devices. This review is for the pro version of the app. The free version lets you add multiple devices but limits the number of items you can sync. For a full comparison of the two versions, visit this page on the developer’s site. To buy the pro version, you will first have to download the free one.

Download SyncMate For Mac

Giveaway: We are giving away 5 licenses for this app. The giveaway will last for 48 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to the tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly.

Update: The giveaway has been closed. Winners will be contacted shortly.

Update: Winners have been contacted.

Instant: Add Instagram-Like Filters To Your Images On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 04:58:57 +0000

Instagram is perhaps one of the coolest apps available for iPhone (and soon to be available on Android). The app is popular because it lets you get more out of your iPhone’s camera, making your images stunning to look at and providing you a sharing/showcase platform. Instant is a Mac app worth $4.99 (for a limited time) on the Mac App Store that lets you combine a polaroid camera and 28 filters to make your photos amazing. The app also lets you connect with your Flickr account and share photos directly to it. You can customize the filters and add a caption to the image. When you add a caption using Instant, the app adds a frame to your image, giving it an authentic polaroid shot look.

The app’s interface is a simple polaroid camera. Double click it and browse for the photo you want to use. The app, sadly, doesn’t connect with your webcam. When you open a photo, Instant asks you to choose how much you want to capture and apply a filter to. Use the small knob at the center to rotate the image and drag the sides to increase or decrease the capture area. Click Shoot to begin processing it or click Cancel to select a different picture.

Wait for the app to develop and dry, which is just the time it takes to apply a random effect to the photo. Mouse over the image that comes out of the app, and you will see two buttons at the bottom right corner; one looks like a callout cloud and the other looks like the sun. The Sun like button opens the filter panel and you can choose which filter you want to apply. Use the sliders at the bottom of the panel to customize the filter effect. The callout cloud button opens the caption panel; you can select a font and its size and give the image any caption you like. Click the save button at the bottom right to save your image with the filter and caption.

You can change the speed of development and drying of an image from the app’s preferences and choose a color for the frame. Your choices are limited to white or beige. When you process an image, the app can either apply a random filter or the one you last used. It doesn’t make much difference as you can edit and change the filter before you save the image but the choice is there nevertheless. To connect your Filckr account with Instant, either click the Flickr button on a processed image or the Authorize button in its preferences.

The images may appear small once they are processed but they maintain their original size. The app neither resizes nor compresses them. The final results of out tests can be seen below (resized so it will fit here).

The app isn’t Instagram, but it is definitely a great desktop app that applies excellent filters. The customize feature available for the filters makes it better. Ordinary image editing apps apply only a color effect to images, but this app lets you edit them as well. However, you can only apply one filter at once to an image.

Get Instant From Mac App Store

Nifty: Add Custom Global App Specific Buttons On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:59:02 +0000

Keyboard shortcuts make it easy to use apps, but sometimes, it’s hard just to remember what shortcuts you’ve set. Often, the same shortcut does different things in different apps and that complicates things further. What’s needed is a universal system for managing these functions, possibly an app wearing a golden ring with something like ‘One shortcut app to rule them all’ engraved on it. Nifty is a Mac app, available for $4.99 in the Mac App Store, that adds a dynamic toolbar on your desktop. The buttons on this toolbar change as different apps are active. The toolbar shows all open windows of a particular app, and lets you add buttons of your choice. These buttons can be app specific; they will appear only when that particular app is active, or they can be global; they will appear regardless of which app is active.

To add buttons, click the app’s icon in the menu bar and select Button Settings. You can add a global button by clicking the global icon, and proceed to select its appearance, function, and shortcut key. However, to add a button for a specific app, drag & drop the app on to the Apps section, select it and then select a button you want to add. Select an image and name for the button, enter a menu item, i.e. which function the button will perform (menu items are functions that are present in the app’s menu). Click Fetch Menu Items and Nifty will analyze which functions an app supports in its menu options. Select the function you want from the Item dropdown and click Save. When the app you select is active, the buttons you’ve added will appear on the toolbar.

By default, there are only five buttons added to the toolbar which allow you to access the app’s help, toggle the theme, view your favorite apps, access the app’s preferences or quit the app. To add an app as a favorite, click the star button and drag the apps over the window.

Additionally, when you select an app (lets say Chrome), the Chrome icon appears on the toolbar (wearing Nifty’s glasses). Click the icon and you will see the buttons replaced with all open windows of Chrome. Click anyone of them t o switch to another window.

The app’s preferences allow you to make cosmetic changes to the interface like the toolbar button size, the theme and the button width and height.

If for some reason you don’t see the usefulness of this app, you aren’t using your imagination. The global shortcuts will let you add a button for everything like opening folders, quitting, switching apps and more.

Get Nifty From Mac App Store

Lock Your Screen: The Mothership Of Screen Lock Apps For Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:00:33 +0000

We’ve been covering lockscreen apps for Mac a lot this month, and each app that we’ve covered had its own special feature that set it apart. Lock Your Screen is a Mac app worth $3.99 in the Mac app store, and it literally has everything you could possibly want in a lockscreeen app. In addition to adding a clock, a custom background, iTunes controls, and three different ways of setting a password, the app also lets you add a password hint (feature available by default in Windows 7), lock your system via keyboard shortcut and disable the Sleep function. You can draw passwords either freehand or in a nine dot grid, both of which are set using the mouse and no trackpad is required. Additionally, the app will let you dim the screen when the screensaver is enabled, set the app to enable the screensaver if the system has been idle, and define Work, Movie or Presentation modes, so that the app does not mistake the system to be idle when it is not. Impressed? Read on to discover more.

When you first launch the app, you will see a small window with three button that allow you to immediately lock the system, lock it but prevent it from going to sleep, and define the system idle time before the app automatically locks the screen. Click the cog wheel button on this window to go to the app’s preferences and set up a password.

In the General tab in preferences, select whether or not the app will launch at login, if it will lock the screen when it’s launched, and if the screen should be locked when the system goes to sleep. You can modify the default shortcut key, hide the menu bar icon and select how long the system should be idle before the app locks it.

From the Security tab, you can set the password and select what kind of lock method you want to use. The Security tab is further divided into four tabs. The Default Lock tab lets you chose how unlocking is initiated, i.e., by clicking a lock icon, drawing in a grid, drawing between a dot grid, typing the password and sliding the lock or simply typing in your password.

The other three tabs let you set the password, but be warned that it takes time to get the hang of drawing your password accurately. Grid and hand drawn passwords are entered using the mouse.

From the Appearance tab, select an image(s) for the screensaver, select the user information that will appear on the screen, add personalized text and select unlocking animation. From the Clock tab, select what clock style you want on your lockscren (the app will ask to use your current location if you chose a style that supports weather information), Enter your city, select the time format and the weather unit. The Utilities tab enables a photo slideshow, iTunes player, screen shade, unread emails and system sounds.

Once you’ve set the app the way you like it, you can lock your screen using the hotkey or from the menu bar.

In the event you can’t figure something out, the app features a very detailed FAQ and Information tab in the preferences that can help you. Considering the number of features in this app, it is well worth the $3.99 price tag.

Get Lock Your Screen From Mac App Store

[Giveaway] Droppy: Easily Move Files Between Desktop Spaces & Apps On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:45:17 +0000

Desktop spaces in Mac make it easy to manage multiple apps and windows. Compared to Expose in Snow Leopard, Desktop Spaces, coupled with Mission Control, let you easily distribute and organize your work without overthinking it. While this feature is mostly convenient, it does get difficult to switch files from one space to another, or between two apps that you have open in different spaces. Droppy is a Mac app worth $0.99 in the Mac App store that gives you a simplified way of transferring files between two apps on different desktop spaces. The app adds a wormhole area to the screen, visible across all spaces, where you can dock a file. You can then swipe between desktop spaces and drag the file onto the app you want to add it to.

Note: Droppy is a paid app coming in at $0.99. AddictiveTips is giving away 4 promo codes for this app, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

The app adds a warp beam to the menu bar. Click the icon, and a hover robot will appear in the top right corner of your screen. The robot is armed and pointing towards a square drop space. Drag & drop a file on to this space. A file has successfully been added to the app when the robot revs up and starts shooting his laser gun at the drop space.

Move between spaces and grab the file from the app’s interface when you are ready to add it to another app or folder. The app, by default, docks to the top right of the screen, but can be moved anywhere else. To set the app to start at login, click the cog wheel button on the interface and check the Start at Login option. Use the arrows to dock the app to any other corner, and increase or decrease the app’s size by moving the Dimension slider.

While this isn’t one of those apps that you can’t live without, it is nevertheless useful; instead of having to hold on to a file with your mouse as you browse between apps and spaces, you can just dock them to a corner and use your keyboard and mouse freely. The file you want to move can be retrieved at any time.

Get Droppy From Mac App Store

Giveaway: We are giving away 4 promo codes for this tool. The giveaway will last for 24 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to the tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the four winners randomly.

Update: This giveaway has been closed. Winners will receive their promo codes shortly.

Update 2: Promo codes have been sent.

App Zap: Remove Apps & All Files Associated With Them On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:37:11 +0000

Some apps play nice, others not so much. At some point, we download a seemingly innocent app that will do what it says and be easily banished when we’re tired of it or have no use for it. However, it later turns out that app is there to stay, whether we like it or not. Evil apps? Not necessarily. Some apps have more files than others, and depending on what they do, they copy those files to different locations. While you can delete these apps, finding and tracking down the rest of the files isn’t easy. If you haven’t enabled viewing hidden files, it is likely you won’t get to the Saved Application State folder in Library, and will retain some files from an installed, and later removed, app. App Zap is an app uninstaller for Mac that is worth $4.99 in the Mac app store that not only lets you delete files, but also view and selectively remove files created by the app or the app itself.

The app has drag & drop interface, and all you need to do is select an app from the Applications folder, and drop it onto the garbage bin.

The app will look for all files and folders associated with the app and list them. You can chose to view the files in Finder and unselect the ones you don’t want to remove. This is useful if you want to delete a user profile created by an app and not the app itself.

Select the files you want to remove and click the Zap button at the bottom right. The app will ask you to confirm the operation, and remove the files. The app in question will be sent to Trash by default; however, you can change that from the app’s options. Click the cog wheel button at the top right of the app and select whether or not the app should be removed permanently.

As far as an app uninstaller goes, App Zap does what it promises, and has a neat interface . Other than an otherwise smooth operation, you can view files before deleting them and make sure you don’t remove anything you meant to keep.

Get App Zap From Mac App Store

Imperium: App List, Settings Toggles & App Switcher In One Cydia Tweak

Hamza — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:51:25 +0000

The App Switcher tray in iOS is a pretty useful feature, and surely it falls into the category of most-used options in iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This is why there are many Cydia tweaks which are focused on making the tray even better than it currently is, by adding awesome new functionalities to it. A few examples of such tweaks include LockScreen Multitasking, SwitcherLoader and Now Playing Detail Info. There are not many Cydia tweaks, however, which offer a complete alternative to the stock iOS App Switcher tray, and the new tweak Imperium does just that. The wonderful tweak has potential to make you forget if the stock switcher ever existed, it’s that good. Not only is Imperium useful for switching between apps and killing them, it also lets you toggle some of the most used system settings (much like SBSettings) and incorporates an app list of its own, complete with its own dock for pinning app shortcuts.

Imperium is available in the BigBoss repo, and in our opinion, extremely underpriced at $0.99 (we’re not complaining, though). The tweak’s menu will come up via a chosen Activator gesture, and you can select one by going to the menu Imperium adds to the stock Settings app. In the same Settings menu, you can choose the apps that you want to pin to the tweak’s dock (4 slots are available). Moving further down Imperium’s settings menu, you will find that most options are related to the cosmetic aspects of the tweak, and it is possible to control its background, blur radius and animation speed. There is also a toggle available which will let you exit Imperium if you double tap its screen.

After you have done all that, perform the assigned gesture, and you will be taken to the beautiful interface of Imperium. It consists of three screens; Background Apps, System Settings and All Apps. The first screen lists all the running tasks, and the kill button is active on all of them at all times. A single tap will take you straight to that app. The System Settings area lists a lot of useful toggles like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, Location and Flashlight. There are a few other shortcuts as well, like Quick Photo, Quick Mail, Quick Search and Tweet. If a song is playing on your iPhone or iPod touch, just hit the Song Lyrics button, and you will get the track’s lyrics. Imperium lists a Power Alert menu, which is pretty similar to the power options in SBSettings. The All Apps menu is the area of Imperium which shows the dock shortcuts you added in the tweak’s settings, as well as a complete list of all the apps installed on your iDevice.

Imperium, as mentioned earlier, will set you back $0.99, and is not compatible with the iPad yet. An awesome tweak, and highly recommended by us.

Finch: Track App Usage In Time & Tag Them Either Work Or Play In Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:50:11 +0000

Some people are born workers, while others may stare blankly at a wall or have witty conversations with themselves rather than tackle the task at hand. At the end of the day, both types of people need to justify to themselves that they actually accomplished something, even if it’s just their job. For Mac users who find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on a single task, Finch is a Mac app available for $4.99 in the Mac App Store (free for today only) that allows you to record which apps you use, and tag them based on their usability, i.e., if you use an app for entertainment, you can mark it as such. Similarly, if you’ve used an app as part of your work, you can mark it likewise. The app can remember which apps you use for work and which are used for entertainment, and flag them automatically when they are launched. It records the time spent on a particular app and lets you view a summary of how you’ve spent the whole day. The concept behind the app is that, getting a visualization of how you spent your time on your system will help you curtail your unproductive activities or limit them to a certain extent.

When you launch Finch, it automatically detects which apps are running and starts tracking usage in terms of time. It will, by default, leave them untagged.

Two default tags are added in the app; Work and Play, which can be removed or edited any time. To edit a tag, click it and select Rename tag to change the name. Tag colors cannot be modified. To apply a tag to an app, select the app from the list on the left and click the tag dropdown next to it. Choose which tag you want to apply. To add a tag, click the plus sign at the bottom of the right panel.

Each app window is treated and tracked separately, so if you have two instances of Chrome running, it will track the time spent in each separately. To view total time spent, click the bar graph icon at the top and you will see how much time you’ve spent working on apps from each tag. You can view time spent for the current day, the previous day or define a time range to check your productivity.

Finch can automatically mark apps with tags based on your past preferences. Click the cog wheel button at the bottom left of the app’s window, and check the Automatically assign tags based on past behavior option.

The app adds an icon to the menu bar and runs in the background. You can chose to hide the Dock icon and still use it from the menu bar. When you work in a particular app, all other apps are marked under idle time. You might have iTunes running in the background, but if no media is being played, it will not contribute to the time log.

Get Finch From Mac App Store

Screen Vault: Enable Widgets, Themes & Padlock Lockscreen On Mac [Paid]

Fatima — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:50:28 +0000

We’ve covered a few lockscreen apps for Mac this month, out of which Screensavery and Screensaver+ Free are worth mentioning. Lockscreens may not be a very popular concept when it comes to a desktop system or even on Mac, still, Screen Vault is a Mac app worth $4.99 in the Mac App Store that is bound to change your mind. It comes as close to the lockscreen you’re used to seeing for smartphones, as possible. The app lets you lock and unlock your screen either by drawing a pattern or using your trackpad to enter a combination for the vault-like lock. It additionally lets you add system information to the lockscreen, snap pictures whenever someone enters an incorrect password, and customize every bit of the theme that you want.

Screen Vault adds a padlock icon to the menu bar, which you may click to go to the app’s preferences and set up your password. Setting up a drawable password isn’t difficult and you can use your mouse to draw it. Setting a vault password is much more complex. You must have a trackpad (on your Mac Book) or an Apple Magic Trackpad to unlock the screen. To get the hang of it, you should first make sure the app is not set to launch at login or to lock at launch. You can then set the vault combination from the Security tab in preferences. There will be three turns involved, and the degree of turns will be defined from the dropdown once you check the Enable Vault Lock option. If you find yourself unable to enter the vault password, you can restart your system. You will need to practice this kind of password, so it is best to keep the app from starting at login until you get the hang of it.

To enable the app to take screenshots or record whoever tries to unlock your system, check either or both the Enable Snap Shots and Enable Videos options, and define where the videos and snapshots should be saved.

To customize the background picture that appears when your screen is locked, go to the Appearance tab in preferences and pick an image. The app does not seem to support GIF format, but both PNG and JPG work perfectly. From the Appearance tab, you can also add widgets that will be displayed on your lockscreen. The Combo Lock Tutorial shows you how to enter a vault password when the lockscren is enabled. It is best to check this option when you’re just getting the hang of your password. From the General tab, select the idle time that should result in the lockscreen being activated.

To preview your lockscreen, click the lock icon in the menu bar and select Lock now or press Command+L to lock your screen.

To view a list of how many times someone has tried and failed to access your system, click the app’s icon in the menu bar and select Intruder Log… To customize the theme, select Theme Designer from the menu bar options. Overall, the app is absolutely amazing and well worth its price tag. There are few lockscreen apps available for Mac, and this one is definitely a strong contender.

Get Screen Vault From Mac App Store

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