Because Club MacStories now encompasses more than just newsletters, we’ve created a guide to the past week’s happenings along with a look at what’s coming up next:
One of the greatest strengths of the App Store is its abundance of choice. For every app category, there are always multiple excellent options from which to pick. That’s never been more true for the recipe app category. Paprika was my long-time personal favorite until Mela came along, but there are other great options like Grocery and Crouton too. Another app that belongs on that list is Pestle, an iPhone and iPad app by Will Bishop.
At its core, Pestle is a recipe manager, but it also integrates with Reminders to create shopping lists, offers a way to discover new dishes, and integrates meal planning, making it a well-rounded solution. The app also features a modern design that works well in the kitchen and some clever details like hands-free voice control for moving between recipe steps while cooking, making it worth a closer look.
Sketch, explore and share endless ideas with Concepts’ infinite canvas for iPad. Used by creators for visual thinking, note-taking, team communication, and design, Concepts lets you sketch and share your ideas wherever you go.
In Concepts, you can draw with liquid pens and brushes all over the endless canvas, in designer Copic colors. Since everything you draw is a flexible vector, you can move your ideas around like a visual playground to help you see the bigger picture. Organize notes, images, and PDFs into visual moodboards and sketch your ideas on top. Use grids to help you lay out designs, and apply real-world scale for professional projects.
With Concepts, you can whiteboard virtually with teams and clients using apps like Zoom. A built-in Presentation Mode helps you connect with others for live sharing and graphic discussion.
The app comes free as a basic sketching tool, with the ability to unlock 200+ libraries of brushes, objects and services via subscription or one-time purchase. To learn more about Concepts, visit their website.
MacStories readers – Enjoy a special 3-month extended free trial when you sign up for an annual subscription. Get three months of infinite creativity before you are billed.
Our thanks to Concepts for its support of MacStories and our Summer OS Preview series.
To comply with a recent amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act, Apple is allowing developers to use third-party payment systems for the first time. However, the new App Store entitlement comes with substantial limitations.
Developers who want to use a third-party payment processor must apply to Apple for a StoreKit External Purchase Entitlement. Apps with the new entitlement can only be released in South Korea’s App Store, which means that developers will need to make a separate version of any app that uses the entitlement. As Apple explains, using the entitlement also means certain App Store features will be unavailable to users too:
If you’re considering using this entitlement, it’s important to understand that some App Store features, such as Ask to Buy and Family Sharing, will not be available to your users, in part because we cannot validate payments that take place outside of the App Store’s private and secure payment system. Apple will not be able to assist users with refunds, purchase history, subscription management, and other issues encountered when purchasing digital goods and services through an alternative purchasing method. You will be responsible for addressing such issues.
Apple will charge a 26% commission on the price paid by the user, gross of any value-added taxes. This is a reduced rate that excludes value related to payment processing and related activities.
Developers will need to handle the payment of any taxes to South Korean taxing authorities themselves too.
It’s hard to imagine that Apple’s new StoreKit External Purchase Entitlement will be attractive to many developers, given its limitations and the need to create a separate version of apps just for South Korea. I expect we’ll see this new StoreKit entitlement offered on a country-by-country basis as other countries follow South Korea’s lead, but I don’t expect it will lead to meaningful use of third-party payment processors unless and until apps are available outside the App Store via sideloading.
On AppStories+, Federico investigates displays that work well with the Mac, iPad, and gaming PCs, and I share my spartan, furniture-free recording setup.