John Voorhees

5640 posts on MacStories since November 2015

John is MacStories' Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico. John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
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voorhees@macstories.net

Pokémon Quest Arrives a Day Early on iOS

Initially slated for release on June 28th, Pokémon Quest has arrived on iOS a day early. The game, which debuted on the Nintendo Switch, is free-to-play with In-App Purchases. The Pokémon and their entire environment adopt a unique, blocky style in Quest. You start with just one Pokémon collecting more and evolving them as you progress through the game’s levels set on Tumblecube Island. In all, the game features the first 151 Pokémon from the series’ Kanto region.

Attacks are automated, but special attacks are available, though timer-limited. To speed up the timers, which are tied to other elements of the game too, players can purchase tokens using In-App Purchases. The game is playable without tokens but slow going.

I haven’t spent much time with Pokémon Quest yet, but my first impression is that it makes a solid companion to the Switch version of the game. After years of pundits calling for Nintendo to abandon hardware and become a mobile-first app company, it’s satisfying to see Nintendo make a comeback with the Switch and for it and The Pokémon Company use iOS to supplement game experiences on Nintendo’s console where the experiences are complementary.

Apple Releasing Schoolwork App for Teacher and Student Assignment Collaboration Today

At an education-focused event held in Chicago this past March, Apple previewed an app called Schoolwork for teachers and students, which the company released today.

By integrating features for teachers and students, the app is meant to serve as a central location for coordinating assignments and collaborating. The free iPad app allows teachers to distribute announcements and assignments to students as well as materials like links, PDFs, and other documents. Teachers can also create assignments that take students to specific activities within apps that support Schoolwork. Class performance can be monitored too:

Schoolwork and the apps supporting it give teachers new insight into how their students are performing, helping them tailor their teaching to the needs and potential of each student. Teachers have a snapshot of class performance and can check on an individual student’s progress across activities — progress within apps or projects they’ve created.

Students can use the app to access assignments, track their progress, and access materials from their teachers.

Schoolwork helps students track their assignments.

Schoolwork helps students track their assignments.

Schoolwork looks like an good way to streamline the process of distributing and tracking assignments between teachers and students. However, some of the most compelling features of Schoolwork require apps to support it. Apple says apps like Explain Everything, Tynker, GeoGebra and Kahoot! already support Schoolwork, and hopefully, others will follow suit.

Schoolwork should be available to teachers on the App Store soon. In the meantime, you can learn more about the app on Apple’s Education page.

AppStories, Episode 61 – Attention Revisited: iOS 12 Notifications, Do Not Disturb, and Screen Time→

On this week’s episode of AppStories, we take a close look at the tools coming in iOS 12 to help monitor and control time spent on iOS devices and compare those to what they wished for in Episode 56.

Sponsored by:

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 61 - Attention Revisited: iOS 12 Notifications, Do Not Disturb, and Screen Time

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

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Apple Opens iOS 12 Public Beta→

Apple has released the first public beta of iOS 12. The first developer beta of iOS 12 was released at WWDC on June 4, 2018. iOS 12 includes new features such as Memojis, Siri Shortcuts, new notification, Do Not Disturb, and Screen Time features and settings for managing time spent on iOS devices, updates to Apple Books, Photos, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps, support for up to 32 simultaneous FaceTime users, ARKit 2.0, and more, which we cover in depth in our our iOS 12 overview.

You can sign up for the beta program here, but be sure to follow the instructions, which include backing up your iOS device, because it’s still early in the iOS 12 beta release cycle. There will be bugs and running a beta always runs the risk of data loss.

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Apple Will Replace Faulty MacBook Keyboards Free of Charge

It wasn’t long after Apple changed the mechanisms of its MacBook keyboards that reports of sticky keys and other problems surfaced. Over time as anecdotal evidence mounted, it became apparent that the problem was widespread, but of course, only Apple knew exactly how common the issues were.

Now, in response to the keyboard problems, Apple has begun a keyboard service program to fix or replace keyboards with faulty butterfly switch mechanisms. From Apple’s support page about the program:

Apple has determined that a small percentage of the keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors:

  • Letters or characters repeat unexpectedly
  • Letters or characters do not appear
  • Key(s) feel “sticky” or do not respond in a consistent manner

The program covers MacBooks and MacBook Pro models from 2015 onward. Service is free of charge for four years after the first retail sale of the computer. To check if your model is covered, visit Apple’s support page for a complete list of eligible models.

My MacBook Pro’s keyboard hasn’t failed, but I know several people whose keyboard has, and I’ve had a few occasions where keys would become sticky for a short period. If my keyboard ever fails, I expect it will be at the most inopportune time, but at least that hassle and frustration won’t come with a big price tag too.

Q&A

Question: When sending MacStories Weekly from Safari to Pocket, it gets truncated. Is there a solution? (Pedro)

John

Unfortunately, not with Pocket. We produce the newsletter using MailChimp and the CSS they use to create the layout of the newsletter doesn’t play well with Pocket’s parser. The most reliable way I’ve found to read the...

iOS 12 Beta: Use Tapbacks in Notifications

John

The tapback is perhaps one of the lesser known and underappreciated features of iMessage. First launched in iOS 10, the tapback lets you instantly respond to a message by choosing from a selection of six built-in reactions, ranging from the classic “thumbs up” to “haha”. To send a tapback, you just need to double-tap...

Brain.fm

John

Brain.fm describes itself as AI-generated music for your brain that is tailored to your state of mind. Getting started is easy. Pick from among Focus, Meditate, Sleep, Recharge, and Relax mental states. Next, depending on the category you pick, you may have another choice or two to make like the music’s duration or, in...