When Read It Later relaunched as Pocket last year, I was intrigued by the service’s focus on allowing users to “save everything for later”. In the months that followed, Pocket received a native Mac app, better browser extensions, deeper integration with iOS apps thanks to a new SDK, and started expanding to more devices and OSes, following Nate Weiner’s original strategy to bring Pocket to as many platforms as possible. Today, Pocket is updating its iOS app to take advantage of iOS 7 and ensuring that content is always available on an iPhone or iPad, even if the app isn’t running. The new Pocket is a good example of developers using the new iOS 7 APIs to enhance existing apps. Read more
Living with iOS 7
iOS 7, released today, is a deep reimagination of Apple’s mobile platform: using familiarity and the need for a reset as catalysts, iOS 7 represents Apple’s attempt to make iOS ready for the future. iOS 7 is, effectively, the epitome of a large company that knows it’s time to get rid of cruft and inconsistencies to bring a new order to a platform that has grown exponentially in the past five years. For developers, iOS 7 brings powerful new tools that will allow for a new generation of more flexible, intelligent, and versatile apps. iOS 7 is not perfect: there are rough spots and some wrong assumptions, but it’s not flawed or, as many will argue in the next few weeks, a “mistake”. It would be extremely silly and shortsighted to judge iOS 7 by the look of its application icons or the gradients Apple has decided to use on some graphics. More than any other Apple product, iOS 7 isn’t just defined but how it looks: iOS 7’s new look is devoted to functionality – to how things work.
It’s difficult for me to offer a comprehensive review of iOS 7 today, because I have only been able to test a fraction of the third-party apps I will use on a daily basis with my iPhone and iPad mini. Mirroring the concept of “design is how it works”, I would say that, for me, iOS isn’t just how Apple’s apps work on it – it’s increasingly become about how apps from third-party developers can take advantage of it.
I have been running iOS 7 on my iPhone 5 since Apple released the first beta in June. I later installed the OS on my iPad mini, and have been working with an iOS 7-only setup ever since. As MacStories readers know, I primarily work from my iOS devices, which helped me get a good idea of how iOS 7 will change the way I write, take photos, respond to emails, listen to music and podcasts, and all the other things that I use iOS for.[1] Fortunately, I had the chance to test a good amount of third-party apps that solidified my thoughts on iOS 7 and the way it impacts my digital life and workflow.
It was also hard to get ahold of fellow iOS 7 users in my town. While I imagine that it would be easier to come across a nerd running an iOS 7 beta at a bar in San Francisco, I didn’t have much luck in Viterbo, Italy. I tested new features like AirDrop – which allows you to share files and information locally with other iOS 7 devices – with my iPhone and iPad, and, in the past week, managed to convince my girlfriend to install iOS 7 on her iPhone.
I needed to provide this context: my livelihood directly depends on iOS and how I can work from my iPhone and iPad without having to use my Mac. Therefore, if you’re looking for a list of new features and smaller details of iOS 7 (and there are many), bookmark this article. My “review” of iOS 7 will focus on my thoughts on the update, how it made my iPhone and iPad better devices, and what I believe iOS’ future will be going forward.
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Drafts 3.5 Brings Refined Interface for iOS 7, Action Improvements
Drafts for iOS has singlehandedly reinvented, alongside Editorial, my iOS workflow. With a combination of URL schemes and custom actions, direct Dropbox and Evernote integration for saving text, callbacks, and a fervent community of passionate users pushing the app to its limits, Drafts has become an extremely powerful iOS notepad without losing its basic simplicity. Drafts is the perfect example of an app that is easy to use and approachable but that power users can tweak and enhance if they know where to look.
With the release of iOS 7, developer Greg Pierce has decided to make Drafts 3.5 an iOS 7-only app that includes an updated design and some new features for power users. This will likely be a controversial decision among users who won’t update to iOS 7 right away, but I certainly understand the motivation of wanting to move forward as fast as possible by promptly embracing our iOS 7 future.
Drafts didn’t have much custom UI to begin with, so this new version’s most visible changes are the keyboard, which defaults to the iOS 7 one, and the revised icons and menus that match iOS 7’s new design trends and guidelines. Icons are thinner, the Settings’ cells run from edge to edge, the On/Off switches are new, the status bar blends with the writing area, and there’s a lot more whitespace. After having used Drafts 3.5 for a few months, I would say that, in the transition to iOS 7, it has lost less than Pierce’s other app, Terminology, in terms of identity and personality. Drafts was already spare and clean-looking – iOS 7 just makes it official and takes the app’s whitespace up a notch. Overall, it’s still the same Drafts, now with new icons and an updated keyboard.
The additions to Drafts 3.5 should please power users and those who rely on Drafts as an application launcher more than a note-taking app. Read more
Apple Updates AirPort Utility and Apple Store Apps with iOS 7 Support
Ahead of iOS 7’s public launch, expected later today, Apple has started updating their App Store apps (the ones that don’t come pre-installed on iOS) with support for the new operating system. The first two apps released this morning to get the iOS 7 treatment are AirPort Utility and the Apple Store app.
Both apps have been updated to include the new default iOS 7 UI; based on initial tests, it doesn’t seem like Apple added new major functionality to the apps. AirPort Utility, used to manage and configure AirPort stations directly on iOS, has received an integrated status/bar navigation bar that keeps the app’s existing color scheme. There still is a main screen listing all your active AirPort devices, which you can tap on to enter another view for hardware information and more.
The Apple Store’s update is more substantial from a design standpoint, with Apple including a new app icon and redesigned graphics throughout the app. Apple Store now comes with edge-to-edge sections, translucencies, and thinner tab bar icons that are consistent with Apple’s other iOS 7 apps.
You can find updates to AirPort Utility and Apple Store on the App Store.
Pocket Casts for iOS 7 Review
Over the years, I’ve moved my podcast subscriptions to different apps to see which one would fit my listening habits and needs better. I have tried Instacast, Downcast, even Apple’s free Podcasts client with iTunes sync for a while, but never settled on a specific solution for more than six months. The possibility to export a set of subscriptions as OPML to other apps makes it easy to switch, just like it is simple to move RSS feeds from one client to another. But while I have remained loyal to Reeder and Mr. Reader for years now, I’ve never been able to stick with a podcast client for too long. Every time I tried a new app I would say that it was going to be the one for me, but then I encountered an issue, or perhaps a feature was added to a competitor – and I was back exporting my OPML subscription list and relocating to another home.
For the past month, I’ve been testing Pocket Casts 4, developed by the Australian team of Shifty Jelly. Pocket Casts 4 has been approved by Apple, and it will be released on the App Store as soon as Apple will flip the switch for iOS 7 apps on iTunes. Pocket Casts 4 is a Universal app sold at $3.99, and it’s a free upgrade for existing owners of Pocket Casts 3.
While I recognize that I tend to be some kind of an app nomad when it comes to podcast clients, Pocket Casts 4 has some excellent features that work for the way I like to listen to podcasts and organize them. Read more
Amount, A Simple Unit Converter Ready for iOS 7
Amount (developed by Marco Torretta) is a unit converter app for iPhone that takes a unique approach in how it lets you enter numbers and pick a unit to convert. The app was updated yesterday to offer a new layout, and it’s ready for iOS 7 with a status bar that blends with the calculator’s dark display (it’s also still compatible with iOS 6 devices, but without the new status bar design).
The main screen of the app is called Number and it’s a standard calculator that lets you enter an amount to convert. Because it’s a calculator, you can use it to do simple operations, and I like how numbers and clearly separated from other keys through color. My only complaint is that there are no sound effects when pressing keys, which can be confusing if you’re not looking directly at the display but still would like to hear feedback from the app. Read more
AroundMe Gets Redesign For iOS 7
Created by Italian developer Marco Pifferi, AroundMe has long been one of my favorite location-based apps for the iPhone and iPad. In fact, AroundMe is one of the oldest iOS apps I own, as Pifferi always supported the app through the years with free updates and additions that took advantage of Apple’s new OSes and features. With a simple interface and feature set, AroundMe allowed you to easily find nearby places (bars, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, etc) with a rich database and built-in directions for Maps and Google Maps.
AroundMe’s version 7.0, released this week, brings a completely redesigned UI and animations that make the app ready for iOS 7, which is officially coming out on Wednesday. Read more
Apple Releases OS X 10.8.5
Apple has released OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, an update that brings improvements for file transfers, WiFi, Mail, and more. The last update to Mountain Lion, version 10.8.4, was released in June, ahead of WWDC. It appears that this new version fixes a CoreText bug that caused strings of text containing Arabic characters to crash certain Mac apps.
Full changelog below:
- Fixes an issue that may prevent Mail from displaying messages
- Improves AFP file transfer performance over 802.11ac Wi-Fi
- Resolves an issue that may prevent a screen saver from starting automatically
- Improves Xsan reliability
- Improves reliability when transferring large files over Ethernet
- Improves performance when authenticating to an Open Directory server
- Addresses an issue that prevented a smart card from unlocking preference panes in System Preferences
- Contains the improvements included in MacBook Air (Mid 2013) Software Update 1.0
OS X 10.8.5 is currently available through Software Update on the Mac App Store. We’ll post links to standalone downloads as soon as they’re available.
Update: Download links from Apple.
Chrome For iOS Update Brings New Icon, Improved Voice Search and Navigation
Released earlier today on the App Store, Chrome for iOS version 29.0.1547.11 (according to Google’s release notes) brings various search and navigation improvements, as well as a new white-themed icon that seems to be aimed at making Chrome fit more with the upcoming aesthetic of iOS 7.
The first improvement is better handling of single sign on with other Google apps for iOS, something that the company has been focusing on lately to provide an even tighter integration between its apps for iPhones and iPads.
Alongside bug fixes and stability improvements, Google has added a way to more easily swipe back from a webpage to search results: when you search on Google and choose a result, when you go back to your search query you’ll see a new animation and, more importantly, your previous results instantly appear on screen. Switching back and forth between results was cumbersome in the old Chrome, as it wasn’t fast and often led to problems with the Google Search page reloading again.
Last, Google says that Voice Search has been enhanced with pronoun support for chaining queries like “Who is Barack Obama?” followed by “Who is his wife?”. in my tests, the feature worked as advertised with US English Voice Search, correctly displaying results for the aforementioned person/wife combination, as well as “What is the capital of Italy?” and “What is its population?”. However, improved pronoun support doesn’t seem to be working with Italian yet, which wouldn’t be surprising considering that Google rolled out international versions of Voice Search months after the US launch.
You can get the latest Chrome for iOS update on the App Store.