You probably already have an app for reading books and articles that you prefer, so for this collection, I’m going beyond apps like Apple Books, Amazon’s Kindle app, and even RSS and read-later apps to take a look at other apps for readers worth checking out. Prologue Prologue is the only app I’ve...
ReadKit for iPhone and iPad
ReadKit is an RSS client that’s been around for a long time on the Mac, but only recently debuted on the iPhone and iPad. I’ve used the app a lot on the iPad, and it’s fantastic. The design adopts modern iOS and iPadOS conventions and technologies, making it a pleasure to use. The only...
Removing HomePod mini Home Hubs
About a month ago, I returned the two HomePod minis Apple loaned me for my review and removed both from the Home app. Recently, while I was cleaning up some issues with a couple of HomeKit devices and testing the excellent HomeRun 2, I noticed an alert in Home that two Home hubs were...
App Debuts
FedericoFocused Work Created by indie developer Micheal Tigas, Focused Work is a flexible focus timer app that lets you create different kinds of Pomodoro-inspired sessions to get work done without distractions. I’ve been playing with Focused Work lately in preparation for my iOS review this summer, and I’m glad Tigas heard my suggestions regarding...
Special Readers Issue and a Note About WWDC Week
This week, we’ve got a special themed issue of MacStories for you. Summertime is the perfect time to grab a book or catch up on your read later queue, so we thought we’d cover some of our favorite apps for readers with our MacStories Recommends pick and Collection. Also, next week will be a...
Apple Captured in a Single Email Message→
Matthew Panzarino writing at TechCrunch breaks down an email message between Steve Jobs, Bertrand Serlet, Scott Forstall, and others that documents the moment the App Store was born. Here’s the message:
The email captures an important moment in Apple’s history, but as Panzarino explains, it’s also an important lesson in effective leadership:
All in all, this exchange is a wildly important bit of ephemera that underpins the entire app ecosystem era and an explosive growth phase for Internet technology. And it’s also an encapsulation of the kind of environment that has made Apple an effective and brutally efficient company for so many years.
It’s also fascinating to learn how soon after the iPhone’s debut the call was made to let third-party apps onto the platform:
Though there has been plenty of established documentation of Steve being reluctant about allowing third-party apps on iPhone, this email establishes an official timeline for when the decision was not only made but essentially fully formed. And it’s much earlier than the apocryphal discussion about when the call was made. This is just weeks after the first hacky third-party attempts had made their way to iPhone and just under two months since the first iPhone jailbreak toolchain appeared.
Apple is far larger today than it was in 2007, but it was by no means small then either. The sort of ruthlessly efficient decision-making on display in Serlet and Jobs’ interaction is a lot easier for startups with a handful of employees, which makes it notable for a company of Apple’s size in 2007.
Apple Tells CNET It’s Making Privacy Changes to AirTags and Has an Android App Coming Later This Year→
CNET reports that Apple is adjusting the time within which they sound an alert when separated from their owners and adding ways to alert people when AirTags and third-party Find My network-enabled items are nearby.
Initially, AirTags were set to play a sound three days after they were separated from their owners. Now, the device will play a warning beep somewhere between 8 and 24 hours. Apple is also creating an Android app to allow owners of Android phones and devices to know if an AirTag or Find My network device is planted on them.
AirTags launched last month with numerous privacy protections baked into the device and related software, noting at the time that they expected to make adjustments along the way. With a few weeks of real-world use by customers and investigations by The Washington Post and others, today’s changes are a positive step toward ensuring that AirTags can only be used for their intended purpose: tracking belongings, not people.
The latest changes are being rolled out now and will be applied to AirTags when they are near an iPhone. Apple told CNET that it will have more details on the planned Android app later this year.
Timery Comes to the Mac and Makes Time Tracking With Toggl Easier Than Ever
I don’t track my time because I enjoy starting and stopping timers; I do it because, over the long haul, it provides valuable insight into how I’m spending my time. As useful as it is to have data on how much a project or task takes or how much time a task consumes relative to other things I do, the act of tracking itself can be tedious, which is why it can be so easy to fall out of the habit of doing it.
The reason I’ve used Timery, the time tracking app for Toggl, on my iPhone and iPad since it was released, is because of developer Joe Hribar’s attention to making it as easy as possible to track your time without a lot of fuss. Features like saved timers, widgets, keyboard shortcuts, and Shortcuts actions for automating timers have made the app a delight to use since version 1.0.
In fact, the Timery experience has been so good that I used it even though it had no Mac app, which is something I rarely do with apps I use every day. However, with the release of version 1.2 of Timery today, I no longer need to use a different time tracking app on my Mac because Timery has been released as a Mac Catalyst app, complete with all the features Timery users already know and love from iPhone and iPad versions. Today’s update to Timery isn’t just a treat for Mac users, though. Version 1.2 also packs in a long list of new keyboard shortcuts and settings for all users, making this one of the biggest updates since the app was launched.
Vidit Bhargava’s Design Concept for a Menu Bar and Multitasking on iPadOS→
Vidit Bhargava, the developer behind the excellent dictionary app LookUp, has published a compelling design concept on Pixel Posts for bringing a menu bar to the iPad and modifying how its multitasking works.
Complex apps like Adobe Illustrator hide functionality behind multiple layers of obscure icons using floating palettes that can be hard to learn. As Bhargava explains:
They are powerful utility apps that some how [sic] struggle with providing a simple, easy to use and understand navigation for their actions. Actions are often hidden behind modes, strips of complicated icons or simply not available for the lack of space.
As a result, there’s no single location you can go to find all of the functionality an iPad app offers.
Bhargava makes a good case for a menu system on the iPad, using what he calls an Extended Status Bar that includes an app’s menu and a customizable control tray to access OS actions like Spotlight search and shortcuts. In addition to the Extended Status Bar, Bhargava imagines the App Library coming to the dock and the addition of floating windows for apps like Calculator.
I’m not convinced that Apple would adopt a system so similar to macOS, but I think Bhargava’s on the right track. As more complex apps are brought to the iPad, the lack of a universal way to organize their features means users have to learn a new system for every app, which hinders pro app adoption. If Apple brought Final Cut Pro or Xcode to the iPad, I think its engineers would quickly feel the same pain points with which other developers of pro apps are already grappling.