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With MacBook Pro shipments imminent, Mac App Store approving Touch Bar apps

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With new MacBook Pro orders set to arrive soon, Apple has started approving third-party apps on the App Store that utilize the new Touch Bar for input, and authenticate with Touch ID.

While Apple's own apps have already been updated to support the Touch Bar that replaces the function key row on the new MacBook Pro, support for the new input method has only been available for the last two weeks for developers.

The first wave of third party apps that support the feature are password management tool 1Password, podcast playback tool Speed-Up, reminder utility Gestimer, mass-mailing tool Mail Designer Pro, organizational graphics tool OmniGraffle, photo composition tool PicFrame, and a few others.

The Touch Bar is essentially a USB 2180x80 display, mounted for optimal viewing with users expected to be at a 45 degree angle to the display. Apple reserves 128 pixels on the left as the "system button," and 608 pixels on the right for the "control strip," including Touch ID prompts. The remaining 1370 pixels in the approximate center of the bar is the application region for general usage.

The Touch Bar is included in both the 13- and 15-inch late 2016 MacBook Pro family announced during Apple's October "hello again" event. Models including the Touch Bar start at $1,799, and are starting to ship to customers now.