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.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Comfort Zone
Darth Chris makes an appearance, Niléane has an exclusive first look at…checks notes… the iPhone 16 Pro, Matt insists on talking about MacWhisper even more, and the crew actually all followed the rules in this week’s challenge (a miracle!).
MacStories Unwind
This week, Federico wonders whether John would have been a vibe coder if he started building an app today, and they share music picks along with a movie trilogy deal.
Magic Rays of Light
Sigmund and Devon share their experiences rocking out to Metallica in Apple Immersive Video and recap heart-touching Spanish-language comedy/drama Love You to Death.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has lost confidence in the ability of AI head John Giannandrea to execute on product development, so he’s moving over another top executive to help: Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell. In a new role, Rockwell will be in charge of the Siri virtual assistant, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the moves haven’t been announced.
Giannandrea isn’t leaving Apple. Instead, Gurman says Giannandrea will continue to oversee “research, testing and technologies related to AI” including a team investigating robotics. Rockwell, who led the development of the Vision Pro, will report to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software.
Rockwell has had a long and successful track record at Apple, so hopefully Siri is in good hands going forward. It’s clear that there’s a lot of work to be done, but the promise of a more personalized Siri and a system for apps to communicate with each other via Apple Intelligence is something I’m glad the company isn’t giving up on. Hopefully, we’ll see some progress from Rockwell’s team soon.
One of the best indicators of how sticky a cross-device utility will be in my setup is how quickly I install it everywhere. For Sindre Sorhus’ Scratchpad, the answer was “very sticky.” The simple text utility works on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro (via iPad compatibility mode), and as soon as I tried it on my desktop Mac, I grabbed all of my other devices and installed it on them, too.
At its core, Scratchpad is a single view for typing or pasting plain text that syncs everywhere. What sets it apart from similar apps is its many small touches that demonstrate a deep understanding of the way people use a scratchpad app.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
AppStories
This week, Federico and I explore a collection of Shortcuts helper utilities that extend functionality beyond the built-in system actions, sharing how these apps address gaps in Apple’s Shortcuts implementation across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
This episode is sponsored by:
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NPC: Next Portable Console
This week, Brendon, Federico, and I dive into the ongoing Retroid Pocket Mini controversy, discussing the scaling issues, community reactions, and what it means for consumers in the retro handheld space. After addressing Retroid’s troubles, they explore the Retroid Pocket Classic and pricing information for the Flip 2. To wrap up the week’s news, they cover SteamOS news, AYANEO’s confusing new teaser for the “Pocket Ace,” examine important new reports of Microsoft’s collaboration with ASUS on an Xbox-branded Windows handheld.
NPC XL
This week, Brendon prepares for a two-month trip to Japan and needs advice on assembling the perfect portable gaming setup. Federico and I lend a hand, suggesting which handhelds to take along and how to maintain a podcast recording workflow away from home.
Ruminate
I bring the snacks, Robb brings the Lego news, and we both get excited for new Pebbles for the second time in ten years.
The first set of measures concerns nine iOS connectivity features, predominantly used for connected devices such as smartwatches, headphones or TVs. The measures will grant device manufacturers and app developers improved access to iPhone features that interact with such devices (e.g. displaying notifications on smartwatches), faster data transfers (e.g. peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connections, and near-field communication) and easier device set-up (e.g. pairing).
The second set of measures improves the transparency and effectiveness ofthe process that Apple devised for developers interested in obtaining interoperability with iPhone and iPad features. It includes improved access to technical documentation on features not yet available to third parties, timely communication and updates, and a more predictable timeline for the review of interoperability requests.
Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.
This decision shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been following our DMA coverage. It’s easy to understand why Apple is unhappy about this decision, but it’s also just as easy to understand how the status quo holds back competition. There are no easy answers to any of this, but as difficult as this may be for Apple to do while upholding its privacy, security, and other standards, I’m glad the EU is pushing for change and hope those changes spread to other corners of the globe.
It’s been just shy of one year since the U.S. Department of Justice and 15 states sued Apple for antitrust violations. It’s not clear what will become of that lawsuit given the change of administrations, but as it stands today, it’s still an active case.
One of the things that is hard about a case like the one filed against Apple is cutting through the legal arguments and economic jargon to understand the real-world issues underlying it. Earlier this week Eric Migicovsky one of the Pebble smartwatch founders who resuscitated the device this week, wrote an excellent post on his blog that explains the real world issues facing third-party smartwatch makers like Pebble.
It’s impossible for a 3rd party smartwatch to send text messages, or perform actions on notifications (like dismissing, muting, replying)….
It’s worth reading the post in its entirety for the other things third-party smartwatch makers can’t do on iOS, and as Migicovsky explains, things have gotten worse with time, not better. Since the Pebble’s time, the complaint against Apple adds that:
You must set notifications to display full content previews on your lockscreen for them to also be sent to a 3rd party watch (new restriction added in iOS 13).
Apple closed off the ability of smartwatches after Pebble to negotiate with carriers to provide messaging services, and now requires users to turn off iMessage (disabling iOS’s core messaging platform) if they want to take advantage of such contracts between a third-party smartwatch maker and cellular carriers.
The Apple Watch is great. There isn’t another smartwatch that I’ve even been tempted to try in recent years, but is that because no one has been able to make a good alternative or hasn’t because the disadvantages third-party wearables face are too great?
I’d like to see Apple focus on finding ways to better integrate other devices with the iPhone. There are undoubtedly security and privacy issues that need to be carefully considered, but figuring those things out should be a priority because choice and competition are better for Apple’s customers in the long run.
You can speculate what the ‘e’ in ‘16e’ stands for, but in my head it stands for ‘essential’. Some things that I consider particularly essential to the iPhone are all there: fantastic build quality, an OLED screen, iOS and all its apps, and Face ID. It even has satellite connectivity. Some other things I also consider essential are not here: MagSafe is very missed, for instance, but also multiple cameras. It be [sic] reasonable to look at Apple’s Camera app, then, and see what comprises the ‘essential’ iPhone camera experience according to Apple.
What amused me was that I initially planned to call my iPhone 16e reviewthe ‘e’ Is for Essential, but I settled on ‘elemental’ instead. Whether the ‘e’ in iPhone 16e stands for either of our guesses or neither really doesn’t matter. Like Sebastiaan, I find what Apple chose to include and exclude from the 16e fascinating.
When it comes to the iPhone 16e’s camera, there are differences compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, which is the focus of Sebastiaan’s review. The 16e supports fewer features than the Pro and the photos it takes don’t reproduce quite as much detail, especially in low-light conditions. There are other differences, too, so it’s worth comparing the review’s side-by-side comparison shots of the 16e to the 16 Pro.
Overall, though, I think it’s fair to say Sebastiaan came away impressed with the 16e’s camera, which has been my experience, too. So far, I’ve only used it to shoot video for our podcasts, and with good lighting, the results are excellent. Despite some differences, the iPhone 16e combined with the wealth of photo and video apps, like Lux’s Halide and Kino, make it a great way to enjoy the essential iPhone photography experience.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Comfort Zone
Matt and Chris have all the new Apple hardware, and Niléane takes the challenge to the next level.
MacStories Unwind
This week John is tricked by Daylight Savings, Federico and he reflect on how to avoid getting stuck in a creative echo chamber, share movie and music picks, along with a movie deal, and digress into the world of European cartoon theme songs before calling it a day.
Magic Rays of Light
Sigmund and Devon highlight the debut of Apple Original drama Dope Thief, share their ideas for how Apple Intelligence could enhance the Apple TV experience, and recap the captivating first season of Prime Target.
JSAUX’s 16” FlipGo Pro Dual Portable Monitor is the sort of gadget that I expect most people will look at and either understand immediately or dismiss, which makes it the kind of hardware I love. I have a fascination with portable displays borne of too many hours sitting at a desk staring at the same screen. I love my desk setup, but an occasional change of scenery goes a long way toward improving my day. It clears the cobwebs, sparks creativity, and is just nice.
So when JSAUX offered to send me their 16” FlipGo Pro dual-screen portable display after CES, I took them up on it. I’ve tried other portable displays, a journey that began with the C-Force CF015 15.6” portable OLED display and more recently led me to try 15.6” 1080p and 17” touch-enabled 4K displays from espresso. Each has had its strengths and weaknesses, but all were roughly laptop-sized displays. There’s a place for that; however, I was intrigued by the idea of something that’s even bigger yet still portable.
That’s exactly what the FlipGo Pro is aiming for by taking two 16” IPS displays and joining them with a hinge. The result is a big, bright display that can adapt to a number of use cases. Yet, while the FlipGo Pro is portable, it’s still a lot of display that will make you think twice before throwing it in your bag. That isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s a factor worth examining more closely, along with the display’s full specs and the situations where it works best.
