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Posts in iOS

Opener for iOS 8 Opens Web Links in Apps

In spite of several companies’ efforts to match web links to native apps, opening links from apps on iOS usually takes you to a web view even if you have the website’s associated iOS app already installed. This is why following links to songs on Spotify or podcast episodes on Overcast doesn’t automatically take you to their native apps: iOS lacks a native deep linking technology. While Apple could introduce such framework in the future, currently there’s no system-wide solution that can be adopted across every website and app out of the box. Many have tried to solve deep-linking on mobile, but to achieve real support for this experience, Apple will need to step in eventually.

In the meantime, Timothy Johnsen has created a workaround called Opener that uses an action extension to let you easily open a web link in its native app. Released with an initial set of compatible links/apps such as Twitter, Overcast, SoundCloud, Spotify, Kickstarter, and more, Opener allows you to avoid tapping buttons in web views to launch associated apps; Opener can automate the process by resolving links and launching them inside apps with an extension.

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Todoist Comes to Apple Watch, Updates iOS 8 Extension

I’ve already written at length about my experience with Todoist and leveraging its powerful features for a more flexible todo list.

I’ve been using Todoist for over nine months now, and I continue to appreciate features such as filters and shared projects, which have allowed me to have a superior visualizations of tasks and to collaborate with others on big projects. And then, of course, there’s the work Todoist has done on its iOS app and third-party integrations, bringing natural language support and a handy extension to the iPhone and iPad and extending the service beyond its own apps to embrace solutions like Sunrise (see your tasks alongside calendar events) and IFTTT’s Do Note (type a new task and tap a button to save it).

I depend on Todoist and I genuinely like the service because it’s focused on doing, not fiddling. Today, that focus is becoming even more apparent with a new app for the Apple Watch and an updated extension that makes it even easier to save new tasks from anywhere on iOS.

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Bugshot Relaunches as Pinpoint

I was a fan of Marco Arment’s Bugshot when it launched in 2013. As someone who takes screenshots for app reviews on a daily basis, any tool that can help me annotate and edit those screenshots quickly is welcome. Evernote hasn’t been paying much attention to Skitch over the past couple of years, and even after they introduced iOS 8 support two months ago, they did so with unstable extensions that I still can’t use reliably.

This is why I’m thrilled to see that Bugshot has been relaunched as Pinpoint by Lickability, makers of longtime MacStories favorite Quotebook.

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Weather Line Updated for iOS 8, iPhone 6

I first reviewed Weather Line in October 2013. As I wrote:

I see Weather Line as a combination of a casual weather app for the average user like me and a more advanced solution for the data nerd who wants to know numbers and other weather stats. By sitting somewhere in the middle of these two categories, Weather Line can appeal to both kinds of users thanks to its simple but effective design that uses a line to contextualize forecasts. I have been using Weather Line alongside Apple’s Weather, Yahoo Weather, and Today, and, while I still can’t settle on just one weather app, I have been enjoying Weather Line’s design and presentation.

Weather Line was last updated in November 2013, but, like many others, I kept using it throughout 2014 in spite of its lack of support for iOS 8 and the latest iPhones. Weather Line’s visualization of forecasts and temperature was just too good and its simplicity was unparalleled.

I’m happy to see that Weather Line is back with an update that properly supports iOS 8, the latest iPhone generation, and extended forecasts with more data. Weather Line was one of the first iOS 7 apps to truly take advantage of color in its interface to display different sets of information, and the app still looks and works great.

$1.99 on the App Store, and currently on sale. Recommended.

PCalc for Apple Watch

For a few months now, I’ve been using PCalc as my only calculator and currency converter on iOS. As I wrote last year after the release of the app’s iOS 8 update, the ability to customize layouts and have fast access from Notification Center lets me launch PCalc quickly from anywhere and come up with my own custom buttons for frequent calculations and conversions.

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Sunrise Launches ‘Meet’, a Custom Keyboard to Schedule Meetings

Sunrise's Meet in Messages, Safari, and the Sunrise app.

Sunrise’s Meet in Messages, Safari, and the Sunrise app.

When I first tried Meet, Sunrise’s latest addition to their popular calendar app, I didn’t think it made much sense as a custom keyboard. Now, a few months later, Meet has become my favorite way to check on my availability from any app and create one-to-one meetings. With Meet, the Sunrise team has created one of the most innovative mobile calendar features I’ve seen in years.

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Horizon 3: Calendar + Weather

Originally released in early 2013, Horizon was a calendar app developed by Kyle Rosenbluth that integrated local weather forecasts with your calendar, giving you a more contextual representation of events that contained location information. Today, Horizon 3 has been released on the App Store with a brand new design, support for natural language searches, and a timeline view that still displays your upcoming events alongside weather conditions and locations.

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