Whether you use an iPhone or a Mac (or both), there never seems to be a shortage of high-quality apps made by independent developers. These independent apps often cater to a niche that may serve you well, but isn’t worth the effort of being explored by larger companies. Every few months these developers get together and put their apps up for sale. We are earlier covered indie app sales during Black Friday and now sales are back with discounts almost 300 applications.
When checking out apps made by smaller developers, it’s good to see how the developer uses your data. For example, I reviewed the nutritional privacy labels on the App Store pages of all of these apps and found that they collect very basic diagnostic and usage data, and in some cases, personal information such as your email address to maintain your account with the Service . (The amount of data collected by these apps is far less than that collected by apps like Instagram, for example.)
Not every independent app is worth downloading, but the ones I’ve chosen respect your privacy, are interesting enough to try at least once, and have a great sale price.
Follow TV shows and movies
Film Noir allows you to watch the TV shows and movies you like. You can note content you’ve already watched, and the app has great sorting options to help you find something to watch next. It organizes shows into neat sections that help you keep track of upcoming episodes, completed shows, or trending movies. You can use this to get an alert when new episodes of your favorite shows come out, and use the JustWatch integration to find out where you can watch content you like. You can use a Trakt.tv account to sync this data across all devices. The regular price of Film Noir is $12.99 per year or $29.99 for a lifetime plan.
Discount: 50% off lifetime in-app purchase or 40% off annual plan
Duration: March 12-13
Get it here: A dark film (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro)
Clean up duplicate photos
If it’s time to declutter your library, consider using Photoscope. This app checks your library for duplicate photos, including multiple shots of the same scene, and lets you quickly delete the unwanted ones. The app groups similar-looking photos for you and will also pick what it thinks is the best among those shots. It normally costs $0.99.
Discount: Free
Duration: March 9-20
Get it here: Photoscope (iPhone, Apple Vision Pro)
Find the best servers on Mastodon
When joining a decentralized social network like Mastodon, it’s important to choose the right server for your needs. Mastowatch allows you to check details on any Mastodon server, such as blocked domains, policies, trending posts, supported languages and upload types, along with other information. It’s free to download with a one-time in-app purchase to unlock all features.
Discount: Unlock all features for $0.99
Duration: March 10-14
Get it here: Fatwatch (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Quickly copy text from images
TextSniper lets you simply copy text from images on your Mac. Although newer versions of macOS have this feature built in, TextSniper gets the job done much faster. The default OCR tool in macOS requires you to take a screenshot, preview it, press a button, select and then copy the text. With TextSniper, it’s reduced to just two steps—press the shortcut and select the text. After that it is automatically copied to your clipboard. For some, that alone might make it worth the typical $8 asking price.
Discount: Use coupon code MARCH60 for 60% off
Duration: March 11-15
Get it here: TextSniper (Sword)
Increase your credit card rewards
The CardPointers app aims to keep you up to date with all kinds of offers on your credit card. Its usual price is quite high—$60 per year or $200 for life—but it’s currently discounted by 50%. It also has a useful Safari extension that lets you choose the best shopping card for any place you visit. The app also tracks the benefits and annual fees for your credit cards and recommends other cards that might offer a better value. If you play your cards right (pun intended), you could easily save a lot more than the annual fee for this app, as long as most of your expenses are funneled through your credit cards.
Discount: 50% discount on annual and lifetime plans
Duration: March 12-14
Get it here: CardPointers (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Get rid of unwanted subscriptions
Ever feel like you have too many recurring payments? If the answer is yes, you should try an app like Subtrack. It lets you add all your subscriptions in one place and has handy widgets that let you keep track of upcoming payments. It’s a simple app that does what it’s supposed to. Pro Unlock normally costs $4.99.
Discount: 50% discount on Pro
Duration: March 12-13
Get it here: Subtrack (iPhone, iPad, Mac)