Homebrew 7.0 Among Recent App Updates as lire, Darkroom, Time Atlas and Xima Add Features

Homebrew 7.0 also changes system support. With macOS 27 ending support for Intel Macs, Homebrew has moved all Intel Macs to Tier 3 and will no longer build new precompiled bottles for them; existing bottles remain usable. Homebrew still runs on Intel Macs, but the project plans to end support entirely on Sept. 1, 2027, after which it will no longer run. The project recommends Intel Mac users consider migrating to MacPorts. Homebrew 7.0 has also dropped support for macOS 10.15 and earlier, making macOS 11 the minimum version.

The RSS reader lire received a major update for iOS and macOS, adapting to iOS 27 and macOS 27 and integrating Apple Intelligence. Its Summarize button, placed at the top left of an article page, uses Private Cloud Compute for full-text summaries, and users can customize the AI summary prompt. Because Apple Intelligence is not available on iPhone models sold in mainland China, lire offers a separate full-text translation feature: a Translate button under the Aa menu translates the article into a preset language, and tapping it again restores the original. The target language must be selected in Settings, under Article, Translation Language. The update also reworks the full-text extraction and caching engine, adds a web login feature for content behind paid or logged-in pages, introduces a Modern layout for article lists, allows users to disable swipe navigation in reading pages, and adds nine modern app icons. Lire supports iCloud sync and mainstream RSS services. It costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase on iOS and macOS, with no in-app purchases or subscriptions, and is not available in China's App Store.

Darkroom 7.4, the cross-platform photo editor for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, extends the Liquid Glass interface introduced in 7.3 to macOS and iPadOS and adjusts the large-screen layout. The update gives the curve tool its first revision since version 1.0. While the interface still shows five vertical control points for touch use, users can press a point and drag it horizontally off its vertical track to adjust black and white ranges freely. Darkroom 7.4 also brings HSL curves to photo editing, with five curves covering hue, saturation and lightness: H/H, H/S and H/L adjust color cast, saturation and lightness for specific hues; S/S adjusts saturation within existing saturation ranges; and L/S controls saturation by brightness zones. The white balance tool adds an Auto mode and a color picker for semi-automatic calibration, and for RAW photos it reads the recorded color temperature and uses it as the initial temperature slider value. Darkroom is free with in-app purchases, offering Darkroom+ by subscription or buyout and partial unlocks for filters and professional color tools. It is free to download from the App Store.

Time Atlas is an automatic life-logging app for iOS and iPadOS. It records places visited, routes traveled and activities in the background, then combines photos, maps, Apple Health data and text notes into a daily archive. On first launch it requests permissions for location, photos, motion and fitness; early use produces little content until enough data is collected. The main page organizes daily summaries by date, using a timeline and a visual summary of up to four tiles that can include maps, weather, photos, tracks and statistics. Users can customize tiles with notes and titles, change to a vertical arrangement or reset them, and share a card with a title, timeline and places. Photos are embedded automatically, and multiple photos in an activity are stacked into an album with the latest image on top. Users can add photos, choose a top image and attach notes. The app can also connect to Apple Health to place workouts, steps, walking distance, sleep duration, sleep charts and heart rate on the timeline. A Review page highlights memorable days, photos, most active days, map details and travel records, though it requires recorded data. Time Atlas includes an AI chat for querying past life records and travel logs in natural language, and a dashboard listing data, steps, activities, time categories, maps, altitude, notes and weather. It is free on the App Store, with advanced features including AI chat, activities, time spent and history priced at 58 yuan per month, 398 yuan per year or 1,298 yuan as a buyout, with a 14-day free trial.

The Xima input method, built on the Rime engine, supports Android, Windows and Linux and adds a mature extension ecosystem and AI features to a tool often chosen by users who prioritize privacy and highly customizable typing. On Android, it includes multiple Wubi and Pinyin schemes, full-keyboard and nine-key layouts, a floating keyboard and up-and-down slide selection. Existing Rime users can import previous input schemes through a browser or files, while new users can download mainstream open-source schemes from a scheme market. Some custom configurations still require reading a scheme's instructions; double-pinyin users, for example, may need slash commands to switch after downloading a scheme. Xima natively supports AI models and plugins. Users can download an on-device Chinese speech recognition model from a model store or, for less private input, use plugins for Alibaba Bailian and Volcano Engine online speech recognition. A smart association model is available for longer text, along with clipboard sync and emoji plugins. The plugin system lets users choose individual features rather than installing a large, all-in-one app. The Android version follows Material 3 design and supports dynamic keyboard colors. The app is free to download on GitHub.

Editor's Summary

The Sept. 21 roundup covers a broad set of app updates, with Homebrew 7.0 standing out for faster installs, a new graphical client and an approaching end to Intel Mac support in 2027. Other releases add Apple Intelligence summaries and translation to lire, expand Darkroom's curve and white balance controls, introduce automatic life logging in Time Atlas, and bring Rime-based customization and AI plugins to Xima. The updates mainly affect users of macOS, iOS, Android and Linux who rely on these tools for development, photo editing, reading and input.