A new iOS 16 app lets users open any app of their choice directly from their Lock Screen without ever needing to navigate their iPhone.
The app called "Launchify" lets users configure one or more iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets that directly open any app of their choosing. Users can create a widget to quickly open Messages, Twitter, the Phone app, or Apple or Google Maps, for example.
While iOS 16 includes a redesigned Lock Screen with new customization features, Apple does not allow users to replace the flashlight and Camera app shortcuts with custom apps. Users can, however, customize a wide range of visual elements on the Lock Screen, including the font and color of the time, custom wallpapers with a depth effect, and more.
Launchify is available for free on the App Store but features an in-app subscription that enables more advanced features, such as adding more than one app shortcut on the Lock Screen.
Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update.
Apple Music
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Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week.
iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone...
This is a perfect example of a piece of software offering a subscription where it's entirely not necessary. If you want to use this app and are perfectly happy with the functionality it offers today, there should be an option to purchase it outright.
I understand that developers want to be paid for the ongoing development of their software and that makes sense if there are new features to be added in future. But when you're buying a set of features that are already there and you're happy to live with them perpetually, let's see a standard purchase option.
Yet another app where the AppStore description fails to mention anywhere what the limits of the 'free' downloaded version are and what you get with the in-app subscription.
Surely it should be an AppStore requirement that developers are up-front about what the app offers, its (free) limitations and what in-app subscriptions actually give you? Having to download an app just to find out this basic information is very annoying.
