Federico Viticci

10923 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

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Google’s App Indexing Adding Support for iOS 9 Universal Links→

Google Developers, on surprisingly-it’s-still-around Google Plus:

Getting your app content found on Google just got easier. App Indexing is now compatible with HTTP deep link standards for iOS 9, as it has been on Android from the beginning. That means that you can start getting your app content into the Search results page on Safari in iOS, simply by adding Universal Links to your iOS app, then integrating with our SDK. With this improvement, we will no longer support new integrations on iOS 7 and iOS 8. Users will start seeing your app content in Safari on iOS at the end of October.

Google has additional documentation here. I’m glad they’re adding support for this relatively soon.

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Overcast 2.0 Streaming, Chapters, New Patronage Model, and an Interview With Marco Arment

As I guessed in my iOS 9 review, the temptation to go back to Overcast has been stronger than the allure of Apple’s refreshed Podcasts app.

Released last year for iPhone and later ported to the iPad, Marco Arment’s podcast player launched with an elegant design and the distinctive Smart Speed and Voice Boost, two audio effects that allowed users to save time when listening to podcasts by shortening moments of silence, and enjoy a superior audio quality.

In using Overcast for the past year, Smart Speed has turned from a simple and clever addition to a lock-in factor for daily listening: I know that Overcast will make shows I listen to shorter without making them sound odd or unnatural, and it’s the kind of feature that I can’t enjoy in iOS’ built-in Podcasts app. Apple’s player has gotten considerably better on iOS 9; but, when looking at the total amount of hours saved with Overcast, I realized that those are hours of my life I got back by using Arment’s app instead of an alternative. This, combined with the many thoughtful touches of its interface, makes me happy to stick with Overcast.

Arment faced two problems, though. Overcast always needed to download new episodes before playing them: due to limitations of iOS 7’s web download and audio APIs, Smart Speed and Voice Boost couldn’t work with streaming – a popular feature that many podcast apps implement to avoid taking up storage on users’ devices with downloaded audio files. And, while it was Arment’s goal to gain market share with a freemium model that made Overcast free to use with an In-App Purchase to unlock advanced features (such as unlimited effects), the majority of Overcast users ended up staying on the free tier – a less capable version of the app that Arment himself wasn’t using, and which couldn’t be easily differentiated in a sea of podcast clients for iOS.

Overcast 2.0, launching today on the App Store, fixes both problems. With version 2.0, Overcast users will be able to stream episodes and use audio effects at the same time, getting the same experience of Overcast 1.0 with no upfront download required. But more importantly, Arment is taking a bold step with pricing: Overcast 2.0 is a completely free app, with an optional patronage model to support Arment directly.

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Content Blocker Starter Pack

Purify If you’re looking for an all-in-one Content Blocker that blocks ads, scripts, trackers, and comments from most websites, Purify is a solid option. At $0.99 and available on both the iPhone and iPad, Purify will make browsing faster by preventing common ads and trackers from loading; in my tests, results were in line...

Newsify

{ .icon } Developed by Ben Alexander, Newsify is an RSS reader for iPhone and iPad that works with iCloud and Feedly. I’ve been using Newsify on and off with Feedly sync for the past year, and I think it’s the most versatile Feedly client for iOS – with some great new iOS 9 features...

Tips

I recently discovered that the ability to open links in a background Safari tab isn’t exclusive to the iPad, but can be activated on the iPhone as well. If you go to Settings > Safari > Open Links, you’ll find ‘In Background’ as an option. This is particularly useful on the iPhone as it...

Home Screen: Federico Viticci

My iPhone’s Home screen (tap the image to view full screen) went through a major reorganization in the past two weeks in preparation for the iPhone 6s and to improve the ergonomics of app usage. Let’s start from the bottom. I want to be able to reach my most used apps easily, so I...

Austin Mann’s iPhone 6s Camera Review in Switzerland→

Each year, Austin Mann puts together the camera-focused iPhone review I want to read. This year is no different, and I was curious to see what he’d create this time given the camera improvements to the iPhone 6s.

I liked this bit about Live Photos:

I really appreciate the deeper story each of these tells — the sound of the cowbell, the flying dust under the drone, the steam rising from my Swiss hot chocolate. We take pictures to tell stories and share experiences with those around us, and Live Photos helps us do that in a way we simply haven’t before.

What I love about Live Photos is its ability to accomplish this, completely behind the scenes. Some of these Live Photos in this gallery were completely unintentional, which is the best part about it.

His entire review is full of videos, comparisons with the iPhone 6 Plus, and technical explanations than aren’t hard to understand and are well-illustrated. Recommended.

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