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On this week’s episode of AppStories, we discuss more of their favorite iOS and watchOS app debuts and updates highlighting iOS 12 and watchOS 5 features.
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Today, Waze, which is owned by Google, updated its iOS app with CarPlay support, which Google Maps received last week. I took Waze out for a few errands over lunch and in my limited testing was impressed.
The first stop was the bank to pick up some cash. As I passed through a busy intersection, Waze warned me that there were stoplight cameras ahead, which I knew about, but it was good to see Waze did too.
Next, it was off for some steak tacos to celebrate finally finishing my Mojave review. On the way, Waze said there was an object in the road. Sure enough, there was a piece of plywood straddling two lanes not too far ahead. Waze also alerted me to heavy traffic just ahead of my turnoff.
With each alert, the CarPlay UI displayed a notification with two choices: ‘Thanks!” and ‘Not there,’ with big buttons to allow me to help train the Waze database. I flipped back to Overcast, and as I approached my next turn, Waze announced it, momentarily pausing the audio, and displayed a notification that I could tap to return to the map of my route.
For people who use Waze regularly, those sorts of alerts and notifications will be familiar. Apple Maps still has the advantage of Siri integration with the hardware buttons on my steering wheel because like Google Maps, Waze can’t access Siri. That’s a shame because it’s easier to press a dedicated steering wheel button than it is to poke at a CarPlay screen in the center of your dashboard to do a voice search, but from a parked position in a bank parking lot the voice command I gave it was recognized immediately and I was on my way to the correct location.
I’ve only used Waze for this one trip, but my first impression was that the app is solid and should be well-received by its users. Especially for commuters that want traffic and other real-time, crowd-sourced data, Waze is a great option.
Today developer and writer Benjamin Mayo launched his latest iPhone app on the App Store: Daily Dictionary. From the app’s website:
One word every day. Words that you have known but long forgotten. And some that are entirely new.
Daily Dictionary is written by real people, not machines. No technical jargon or esoteric science terms. Just words you can use to improve your writing and expand your speaking vocabulary.
Get a word of the day with a push notification, lock screen widget, or ask Siri using iOS 12 Siri Shortcuts.
I’ve been testing Daily Dictionary over the last month, and it’s a beautiful app with a design language that feels like a preview in some ways of where Apple could take iOS in the future. There’s lots of big text, buttons that are easy to press, and gestural navigation of the app which works great one-handed. These things are all perfect fits for increasingly larger iPhones.
Regarding the app’s functionality, all it really does is provide a different interesting word each day, including pronunciation, definition, example sentence, and list of synonyms. But it does offer that word through a variety of means, which I appreciate: Siri shortcuts, notifications, or the app’s widget can all feed you each day’s word.
In many ways Daily Dictionary reminds me of ‘sodes, the podcast client by Jared Sinclair that I wrote about earlier this year. It’s light on features compared to competing apps, but its interface is a delight to use. And sometimes, a simple app that puts a smile on your face is all you need.
Daily Dictionary is available on the App Store.
I just got home from a trip to my local drugstore using Google Maps’ new CarPlay integration. Once I had a destination selected and was on my way, the experience was fine, as long as I didn’t stray from the path. Overall though, from my very preliminary, single test drive, I wasn’t left wanting to switch away from Apple Maps.
Released today in version 4.2, Apple’s iWork suite of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers now supports Siri shortcuts in iOS 12. Additionally, each app scored a handful of new features and improvements, many of which are available across all three apps, while others are app-specific, such as animated drawings in Pages and Smart Categories in Numbers.
It’s a big week ahead for Apple fans, with the company launching the next major versions of iOS, watchOS, and more later today, plus the arrival of the iPhone XS/XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4 in a few days time. It’s also a big week for MacStories, with coverage planned for many exciting app updates and the publishing of Federico’s iOS 12 review.
Over the last few years, Federico’s annual iOS review has grown into the center-point of our September Apple coverage, and as such we always enjoy providing a variety of extras to accompany the review. Here’s what we have in store for this year.
It’s hard to imagine that Club MacStories is already three years old. In that time, the Club has grown steadily allowing us to expand its offerings every year. Today, Club MacStories is a cornerstone of MacStories allowing us to share more about apps and the people who make them every week through the Club newsletters and on MacStories.
The success of the Club wouldn’t be possible without its members, many of whom have been part of it since the very first day. Thank you. We sincerely appreciate your support and for helping make it possible for us to do what we love.
To celebrate the Club’s anniversary this year, we have assembled a stellar list of exclusive Club discounts on apps and service from our friends in the developer community. Their generosity has been overwhelming, and we can’t thank them enough for contributing to the celebration. This year we have over 50 apps and services from 30 developers, including:
(See //www.macstories.net/club/anniversary/ for the terms and conditions regarding each deal)
Club members can log into their membership account and access these deals from a special webpage that we’ve set up just for you. The discounts will be available for two weeks from today through September 28th.
There are even more perks coming for Club members, including a free edition of the eBook version of Federico’s iOS 12 review, the ‘Making Of’ the review, a bonus episode of AppStories, and other special surprises.
Thanks again to our Club members. We appreciate the hard-earned money you spend to be part of our growing community. We love making the newsletters for you every week. If you’re an annual member and your subscription is expiring, we hope you’ll join us for year four. We’ve got big plans for the Club and would love for you to be part of them.
Yesterday’s keynote event at the Steve Jobs Theater featured the debut of new iPhones and the Apple Watch Series 4, but there were a lot of small details revealed outside the keynote. Below is a roundup of some of the most interesting extra details from the day.
It wasn’t mentioned during the keynote, but the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR can read NFC tags in the background without the aid of an app.
Dual SIM functionality, which includes one physical SIM and one eSIM, won’t be activated until later this year with an update to iOS 12.
The new iPhones still ship with an increasingly inadequate 5W charger.
Apple posted a new Tech Talk dedicated to building apps for the new iPhones.
Split View on the iPhone XS Max means new layout considerations for developers.
Each of the default wallpapers on the iPhone XR is customized to match its color and has a unique texture.
https://twitter.com/BradEllis/status/1040106430492073984
Apple shows off the video capabilities of the new iPhone XS models on YouTube with Shot on iPhone XS - Experiments in 4K, Slo-mo, and Time-lapse.
Apple dropped the price of battery replacements after CPU throttling made many customers unhappy. Beginning on January 1, 2019, those prices will increase from $29 to $49.
All new apps and updates must be built with the iOS 12 SDK and support the iPhone XS Max starting in March 2019. Apple imposed the same deadline for building apps with the watchOS 5 SDK and supporting the Series 4 Watch.
Apple posted two new Tech Talks about designing and developing apps for the Apple Watch Series 4.
Some of the new watch faces announced by Apple will be available for the Series 3 and earlier models of Apple Watches.
The Nike+ version of the Apple Watch Series 4 is not launching until October 5, 2018, two weeks after the standard Series 4 model.
Among the films Apple created to show off the new Apple Watch Series 4 is one called Real Stories that details how the Apple Watch has saved lives.
Third-party developers can create large Watch complications with Apple’s ClockKit API.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1040146828610686976
You can also follow all of our Apple event coverage through our September 12, 2018 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated September 12, 2018 RSS feed.
Earlier today, Tim Cook took the stage at Apple Park’s Steve Jobs Theater to announce Apple’s fall product lineup. As with past fall keynotes, Apple’s announcements included all-new iPhones. Some of the details of the new iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max leaked earlier this morning, but as usual, there were still surprises.
The iPhone XR marks the completion of Apple’s transition to the new form factor introduced last fall with the iPhone X. The iPhone XR will take some people by surprise. At 6.1 inches diagonally, the new XR has a bigger screen than the XS, but it’s also more affordable than the smaller 5.8-inch device. In contrast, the iPhone XS and XS Max are an evolution of the design of the iPhone X.
The iPhone XR is also differentiated visually from the XS and XS Max by its new color options. The new phone is available in six colors: black, white, red, yellow, coral, and blue. That’s one more color than the iPhone 5c, Apple’s last foray into a large selection of colors. When you account for the four carriers and three storage sizes, that means a whopping 72 variations in the US.
Like the XS, the back of the iPhone XR is glass, but instead of a stainless steel band around the edge of the device, Apple has used aluminum that’s colored to match the back of the device. The XR’s aluminum frame looks good but lacks the shine of the steel used on the XS and XS Max, which sets it apart visually from the more expensive models.
The other design difference between the XR and its new siblings is the camera. As discussed further below, the XR is a single-lens, 12 MP, wide-angle camera, and, like the iPhone 8 it succeeds, it has a flash that’s outside the camera assembly. Instead of being next to the camera’s lens as it was on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus though, the flash on the XR is just below it.
In contrast, the design of the new iPhone XS is nearly identical to last year’s iPhone X, as is the iPhone XS Max, except for the fact that it is larger. The other visual differentiator between the new models and the iPhone X is the addition of a new color option. The XS and XS Max come in three colors: Space Gray, Silver, and a new Gold model.
Apple has also designed the iPhone XS and XS Max with the greatest water resistance yet. Both devices have an IP68 rating which means they can withstand submersion in water up to 2 meters deep for 30 minutes. The iPhone XR, in contrast, is rated IP67, which means it can withstand up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.
