On this week’s episode of AppStories, we dive into our collections of iOS and Mac utilities and discuss some favorites.
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Q&A Question: In a recent issue, you had a poll about new Apple Watch features and the improved heart rate monitoring won one of the categories. However, in every Apple Watch Series 4 review, I saw very little mention of what might be better or different about the heart rate monitoring (I’m not referring the EKG...
App Debuts LookUp LookUp is a beautiful dictionary app for iPhone and iPad that combines lovely illustrations and typography, a strong dataset, and modern iOS features to offer an overall top-tier experience. Recently the app was updated to version 5.1, which brought a couple noteworthy improvements. First, LookUp now employs iOS 12’s new ability for apps...
Up Your Instagram Game This collection is inspired by Episode 226 of Connected, ‘The Instagram Secret Society,’ an episode that featured a segment with Tyler Stalman about iOS photography. There are a lot of great apps for creating good-looking Instagram posts and Stories, and near the end of the segment, Stalman shares some of his favorites. It’s...
Redecorating Ulysses I recently spent a while re-tuning my Ulysses setup after a couple of months working exclusively in iA Writer. I’m back for a couple of reasons. The first is to test the latest Ulysses beta. The second is that although I love iA Writer’s tight integration with iCloud Drive and new Quattro typeface, I...
As in past quarters, Jason Snell has prepared a transcript of Apple’s earnings call on Six Colors.
This quarter marked the first time since the iPhone was introduced that Apple saw a year-over-year revenue decline for the holiday quarter. It was also the first quarter since the company announced that it would no longer report unit sales for its major product categories. Although Apple reported less information than in the past, the earnings call included some interesting tidbits including some insights into the company’s services business and hints regarding the company’s anticipated video service, which makes Snell’s transcript a great resource for prognosticators and anyone who would rather read it than listen to the recorded version.
Apple has just published its financial results for Q1 2019, which is the company’s holiday quarter. The company posted revenue of $84.3 billion, which is the first holiday quarter decline in sales since the iPhone’s introduction. Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
“While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each of our geographic segments. That’s a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it’s driving our Services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem.”
The latest update to Fortnite on iOS adds support for MFi controllers. I don’t play Fortnite on iOS regularly, but I tried the game when it was released on iOS and have played on the Nintendo Switch from time to time. The game has done extraordinarily well on iOS, but on balance, I’ve preferred playing on the Switch because I found it much easier to play with a physical game controller than onscreen gestures. That calculus could change for a lot of players now that the iOS version of the game supports MFi controllers.
I paired my SteelSeries Nimbus Bluetooth controller with my iPad Pro and gave Fortnite a try for the first time in months. Having played on the Switch, the controls felt immediately natural. The game’s HUD has labels showing what each button does, and there are diagrams available in Fortnite’s help system too. The responsiveness of a Bluetooth controller isn’t on par with a wired game controller, but it’s a big improvement over onscreen controls and paired with an iOS device that can push 60fps, iOS can be an excellent way to play Fortnite.
A full rundown on the latest Fortnite update is available on Epic Games’ website.
Federico
Ryan
