The Creativity Enabled by the iPhone 15 Pro’s New Cameras and Action Button

Every year, one of the most anticipated iPhone hardware announcements is changes to its camera. This year, the iPhone Pro Max’s new telephoto lens was the center of attention. However, there were other notable tweaks to the camera hardware and software across the iPhone lineup, too. Plus, we got a hardware bonus in the form of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max’s Action button, which can perform some interesting tricks. Now, with the new iPhones in the hands of people around the world, we’re starting to see what that hardware can do in practice, and I’ve got three examples I’d like to share.

Source: Lux.

Source: Lux.

The first is an update to the camera app Halide that does something incredibly clever. Built into version 2.13 of the app is a shortcut that can be tied to the Action button to open Halide with a single press. That’s something you can do with any app using an Open App action, but Halide goes a step further by offering in-app functionality if you tie the button to its app. In the app’s settings, you can choose to tie the Action button to any of the following options:

  • Do nothing
  • Lenses
  • Exposure Mode
  • Focus Mode
  • RAW
  • Resolution
  • Capture

After using the Action button to open the app, pressing the button again will perform whichever action you picked in its settings. For example, if you chose Lenses, the first press of the Action button from outside the app will open Halide, and subsequent presses will cycle through each of the available camera lenses. I love this use of the Action button and hope other developers do the same, adding contextual actions to more apps.

A 5x telephoto shot by Sebastiaan de With.

A 5x telephoto shot by Sebastiaan de With.

Speaking of Halide, Sebastiaan de With, one of its creators, published a review of the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera today, concluding that:

With iPhone 15 Pro Max’s default 24 megapixel resolution, added ‘lenses’ under the main camera lens, automatic depth capture for portraits, and that 5× lens, this release might not blow away on a spec sheet, but is massive for everyone who uses an iPhone to take photos.

There’s a lot of ground to cover between the hardware and processing changes happening behind the scenes. Plus, de With is an excellent photographer whose shots do a fantastic job illustrating what is possible with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. So be sure to check out the full review.

Finally, the iPhone’s camera takes amazing video, too. This year saw the introduction of Log encoding for Pro Res 4K footage. That opens up a wider range of editing control using apps like Final Cut Pro, which Joey Helms used to create this amazing video of Chicago:

I’ve had my iPhone 15 Pro Max for just four days, and already, I’m enjoying taking photos as I walk around my neighborhood and playing with features like adding Portrait mode after the fact to images like the one below.

Before (left) and after (right) applying Portrait mode.

Before (left) and after (right) applying Portrait mode.

The result is a lot more creative freedom that’s more accessible than ever, not only because your iPhone is usually in your pocket but because the tools Apple has created for taking great photos and videos are so easy to use.

Three Ways to Use BetterTouchTool to Enhance Window Management with a Trackpad

BetterTouchTool is an essential tool that can help anyone streamline their workflows, but I think it really shines when it helps me solve some of my everyday frustrations.

I mainly use a Magic Trackpad at my desk. It’s a great way to navigate a Mac: smooth scrolling, great haptic feedback, and gestures for multitasking with Mission Control. However, Apple has not gone far enough to make the trackpad as useful and easy to use as it could be when it comes to managing windows. So, to fix three tiny window management annoyances, I use BetterTouchTool.

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Customizing App Icons on a Mac in 2023

The age of wildly personalizing the look of macOS might be over, but customizing app icons is still fun, and the phenomenon is more popular than ever since the advent of Home Screen widgets and custom Shortcuts launchers that have allowed millions to personalize the look of their iPhones.
Just like on iOS, I believe there is still room for custom icons on the Mac. Whether you’re looking to completely change the look of your Dock or simply tweak a couple of app icons, here’s how you can do it.

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TV Remote: Control Your TV From Your Lock Screen, Home Screen, and Live Activities

Developers have come up with endlessly clever uses for interactive widgets. I love testing them all, but one type is beginning to stick more than others. It’s the widgets for apps that require quick interactions when you’re in the middle of something else. Turning off the lights in my home office when I’m finished working for the day, toggling work timers as I switch from task to task, and then checking off those tasks as I complete them are all perfect interactions for widgets that require minimal switching away from whatever I’m doing. Hopefully, that means fewer distractions and, in turn, a more productive day.

But not everything is about peak efficiency and checklists. Sometimes, you just want to relax, which widgets can help with, too. One of my favorite apps to help with that, which recently added interactive widget support, is TV Remote by Adam Foot. Foot’s app is one I already used with my LG C2 TV, but it’s the app’s new widgets that have graduated it to a regular part of my TV routine.

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AppStories, Episode 353 – tvOS 17: The MacStories Review with Sigmund Judge→

This week on AppStories, we are joined by tvOS expert Sigmund Judge, who just finished writing his tvOS 17 review for MacStories, to understand what has changed in tvOS and where it might be heading.

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On AppStories+, I explain iPads of a Plane, a far safer version of Snakes on a Plane.

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tvOS 17: The MacStories Review

Everything Else

Here’s a list of other noteworthy changes to tvOS 17.

Locate Siri Remote

In the pursuit of finding my Siri Remote quickly, the simplest way was the most effective. Apple’s Siri Remote Loop solved most of my issues for years, but when the newly designed Siri Remote arrived, its port proved incompatible.

My move to AirTag with Nomad’s Horween Leather Cover has proved fruitful for ultra-precise Find My-based Siri Remote sofa hunting shenanigans, but no one should really go through the same expense as I did. For everyone else slightly saner than I am, there’s a new feature called Locate Siri Remote, which can be found via the Remote app in Control Center for iOS. 

Find Siri Remote in action through Remote in Control Center for iOS.

Find Siri Remote in action through Remote in Control Center for iOS.

Users can now initiate the finding of their second- and third-generation Siri Remotes by tapping on the Find prompt in the Remote app’s TV selection screen. Simply follow the blue onscreen circle, which shifts in size in order to guide your next movement toward the remote. When the Siri Remote has been located, a white dot appears and gets larger as you get closer, with text letting you know if you’re near, far, or “here” (next to the remote). The only thing still missing is a way to automate applause when you finally find it down the deepest crevice of your sofa.

Screen Savers

Examples of the new Ariel additions this year.

Examples of the new Ariel additions this year.

While the film and TV aficionado in me is begging for some fun Apple Originals-themed aerial screen savers next time around, this year sees two new locations: Arizona’s Monument Valley and the coastal redwoods of California.

Memories in action. My trip across North America last year.

Memories in action. My trip across North America last year.

Memories also join the ever-expanding list of screen saver types this year, delivering personalized collections of your photos and videos to the big screen through a satisfying variety of animations, from mosaics to the more traditional slow pans and zooms. While the default option is to show all, users can also select by favorites, recent activity, or specific album. 

Like many others, I need to sort out my sizable photo library. That urgency is increased thanks to the ease of access to a selection of those same memories via a new top-shelf highlight for Apple TV. During playback, users can also manually glide through the selection of photos and video clips compiled and get information for the music track included.

802.1X Networking Support

Apple TV devices now support connection to 802.1X networks using EAP-TLS 1.3. In another win for privacy advocates, the new standard further improves privacy and security by always providing forward secrecy and never disclosing the peer identity while also reducing latency.

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Starting with tvOS 17 and iOS 17, it is now possible to restore any Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K model experiencing problems with a nearby iPhone following a brand new onscreen prompt. Thankfully, while I haven’t yet run into problems with later hardware models, it’s good to know that there’s now another option, besides sending Apple TV 4K hardware to Apple directly.

Conclusion

“I believe in hope. I believe in ‘believe.’” - Ted Lasso

“I believe in hope. I believe in ‘believe.’” - Ted Lasso

Apple TV continues to be the best streaming device out there, continually adopting new industry audio and video standards and delivering an experience both familiar and intuitive enough for anyone to pick up and enjoy.

In a year where most attention was concentrated on the next evolution in home entertainment and spatial computing, and as excited as I am to try Apple Vision Pro again, I can’t help but consider how that future may not be a replacement for, but instead, an addition to the TV. 

That’s not how I thought I’d feel heading into this summer. However, what started as a surprise with the announcement of FaceTime and Continuity Camera has since morphed into palpable belief in a brighter future for Apple TV and tvOS. Yes, Apple TV will continue to be a great destination for entertainment, but this year’s tvOS release offers a first glimpse of the platform harnessing the company’s other OSes and services too. 

In the short time since tvOS 17’s public release, I’ve already seen Apple TVs used in new ways for production. Once, it was just an AirPlay destination for easier top-down shots and roaming cameras. However, now, an Apple TV connected to a capture device also offers an easy way to create presentations or record conversations thanks to Continuity Camera. When developers unlock the tools that have slowly trickled out year after year, tvOS could be looked upon in a different light from how it’s regarded today.

A full production suite for small creators or extensions to current uses in meeting rooms and educational institutions could be the company’s answer to cost-effective computing in developing countries or perhaps a new way to log into its suite of productivity apps through iCloud. Maybe the TV was dropped from the top of Apple TV’s latest hardware iteration for a reason? 

We’ll find out the answer to that question soon enough. Until then, it’s time to make a cup of tea and put on a movie.

A special thanks to Jonathan Reed, Devon Dundee, and James Lees for sharing in my passion for Apple TV through their hard work over the years at screentimes.net and on our podcast Magic Rays of Light.

Finally, a huge thanks to Federico and John for the privileged opportunity to follow the great work of Ryan Christoffel, whose earlier Apple TV coverage on the site continues to be a source of personal inspiration.

    The Dirty Secret of OS Updates [Sponsor]

    Getting OS updates installed on end user devices should be easy. After all, it’s one of the simplest yet most impactful ways that every employee can practice good security. 

    On top of that, every MDM solution promises that it will automate the process and install updates with no user interaction needed.

    Yet in the real world, it doesn’t play out like that. Users don’t install updates and IT admins won’t force installs via forced restart.

    Let’s talk about the second problem first. Sure, you could simply schedule updates for all your users, and have them restart during non-work hours. But this inevitably leads to disruptions and lost work. This, in turn, leads to users (especially executives) who simply demand to be left out of your update policy. The bottom line is: any forced restarts without user approval will lead to data loss events, and that makes them so unpopular that they are functionally unusable.

    There is another class of tools that claim to get users to install updates themselves, through “nudges.” These reminders pop up with increasing frequency until users relent or the timer runs out. This is an improvement, since it involves users in the process, but users still tend to delay updating as long as possible (which for some tools can be indefinitely).

    At Kolide, OS updates are the single most common issue customers want us to solve. They come to us because we have a unique (and uniquely effective) approach to device compliance.

    With Kolide, when a user’s device–be it Mac, Windows, Linux, or mobile–is out of compliance, we reach out to them with instructions on how to fix it.

    The user chooses when to restart, but if they don’t fix the problem by a predetermined deadline, they’re unable to authenticate with Okta. (At present, Kolide is exclusive to Okta customers, but we plan to integrate with more SSO providers soon.)

    If your fleet is littered with devices that stubbornly refuse to update, then consider these two principles:

    1. You can’t have a successful patch management policy without involving users.
    2. You can’t get users to install patches unless you give them both clear instructions and real consequences.

    Installing OS updates is a top priority for both security and IT, and when you make it part of conditional access, you can finally get it done without massive lists of exemptions or massive piles of support tickets.

    To learn more about how Kolide enforces device compliance for companies with Okta, click here to watch an on-demand demo.

    Our thank to Kolide for sponsoring MacStories this week.

    MacStories Unwind: Road Trips, Casino Heists, and Apple Podcasts

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    This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico and I compare road trip notes and somehow wind up talking about Federico’s fascination with casinos, before turning to the latest content updates to Apple Podcasts from Music and News.

    Kolide – It ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today!

    Road Trips

    John’s Pick:

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    Photo Scout: An Excellent Photographer’s Companion for iPhone and iPad

    Taking a great photo requires a lot of variables to fall into place. It’s amazing when this happens by happenstance, but what if you could stack the odds in your favor? That’s the question Photo Scout by Cascable answers.

    Photo Scout, available for the iPhone and iPad, combines location data with weather conditions, date and time information, sunlight, and night sky variables to recommend when you should grab your camera or drone and head out for a photo shoot. The app can account for many variables, but what’s best about Photo Scout is that it makes managing them simple.

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