Classic iOS Game Service GameClub Is Coming this Fall

First announced in March just ahead of the annual Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, GameClub has released a video revealing that the classic iOS game subscription service is coming later this fall. GameClub is working with developers of classic iOS titles that no longer work on modern hardware or versions of iOS to update and re-release them as part of their service free of ads and In-App Purchases.

Since March, GameClub has been running a free public beta test that has released updates of classic games like Hook Champ, Incoboto, Rocket Ski Racing, Super Crate Box, Legendary Wars, and Mage Gauntlet. During the beta period, those games have been free to play by anyone who signs up, but will become part of the subscription service this fall.

MacRumors reports that the subscription service will include over 50 titles at launch with new games released weekly, adding that:

In addition to classic titles, after launch, GameClub plans to expand into new and original premium games.

GameClub pricing hasn’t been announced, although the company told MacRumors it would be a ‘small monthly fee.’ The company has also said that if you owned one of the classic games they are bringing back, you’ll be able to download it again free of charge even if you don’t subscribe.

Apple is on the cusp of launching its own game subscription service called Arcade. At first blush, that may seem like it puts GameClub in a tough spot, but I don’t think so. Unlike Arcade’s curated collection of new titles, GameClub’s catalog is packed with proven classics curated by GameClub’s Vice President of Business Development and former TouchArcade editor-in-chief Eli Hodapp. Nostalgia for classic games and increasing efforts to preserve them in recent years puts GameClub in a unique position to carve out an important role for themselves. I can’t wait to hear the final details and try GameClub myself.

AppStories, Episode 128 – Organizing iOS 13’s New Share Sheet

On this week’s episode of AppStories, we cover Apple’s new second-screen feature coming to macOS Catalina and iOS 13 in the fall and what it means for both platforms.

Sponsored by:

Grocery: The Smart Shopping List App That Puts Your List in Order [Sponsor]

Grocery is the powerful iOS shopping list app that not only makes grocery shopping a breeze, but helps with meal planning and recipe management too.

Grocery is built on top of Apple’s Reminders app, so it integrates with your other task lists and features rock-solid Siri support. It happens all the time: you’re making a meal and discover you need to add something to your grocery list, but unlocking your iPhone would be a hassle. Instead, with a quick “Hey Siri” to a nearby iOS device or HomePod, or by raising your Apple Watch, you can add items to your shopping list before you forget them.

When your hands aren’t full, Grocery is just as easy to use. There’s a big ‘Add Item’ button at the bottom of the screen. Grocery also sorts your items automatically based on the order you check them off. The app can even suggest items to add to your list based on past shopping trips. Then, when you arrive at the store, Grocery’s Apple Watch app makes it easy to check off items without digging out your iPhone.

Earlier this year, Grocery added a meal planning and recipe solution that makes it simple to plan your week and add items to your list as needed. The latest update adds iCloud syncing of store, meal plan, and settings data across all devices. Also, the iPad version of the app now includes a split view layout for recipes on the iPad. There’s a new CleanUp feature that can automatically format recipes by separating their title and notes using CoreML too. On top of that, Grocery supports Siri Shortcuts for creating recipes and interacting with grocery lists, and the app has a wide variety of handsome themes and app icons to customize the app to your tastes.

Grocery is free to download and try so head to the App Store now and download it now. Themes, alternative app icons, ad removal, and iCloud syncing are all available for an annual $7.99 subscription, which is a bargain for an app this smart.

Our thanks to Grocery for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Connected, Episode 259: The Rickies (Fall 2019)→

On this week’s episode of Connected:

Myke, Federico and Stephen complete their annual tradition of making predictions before Apple’s iPhone event, this time with a new name: The Rickies.

You can listen below (and find the show notes here).

0:00
01:32:28

Connected, Episode 259

Sponsored by:

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code CONNECTED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • Away: Thoughtful luggage for modern travel. Get $20 off a suitcase with promo code connected.
  • Hover: Make a name for yourself. Get 10% off any domain name.
Permalink

Adapt, Episode 8: New iPad Pro Wishcasting & Podcast Transcription→

On this week’s episode of Adapt:

Federico and Ryan discuss rumored forthcoming iPad Pro models, debating what might compel them to buy new iPads. Afterwards, Federico shares his journey trying a couple different apps and services to make a good transcript of the last episode of the show.

You can listen below (and find the show notes here), and don’t forget to send us questions using #AskAdapt and by tagging our Twitter account.

0:00
01:03:17

Adapt, Episode 8

Sponsored by:

  • Backblaze: Unlimited cloud backup for Macs and PCs for just $6/month.
Permalink

Apple Launches Web-Based Music App as Public Beta

As first reported by TechCrunch and The Verge, Apple has launched a web-based version of its Music app as a public beta at beta.music.apple.com. The app looks and feels a lot like the Music app coming to Catalina later this fall. The two are so close in fact that it’s easy to confuse the two if they’re open at the same time, which I did almost immediately.

Music running in desktop Safari (left) and in the Music app on Catalina (right).

Music running in desktop Safari (left) and in the Music app on Catalina (right).

The app features a left sidebar that’s divided into Apple Music’s For You, Browse, and Radio sections followed by your music library which contains Recently Added, Artists, Albums, and Songs. The final section includes playlists you’ve added from Apple Music as well as ones you’ve created yourself.

Playback controls are arrayed across the top of the window. In addition to play/pause and skip forward and back buttons, there are buttons to shuffle and repeat tracks, albums, and playlists, a volume slider, and a button that reveals an Up Next drop-down of songs you’ve queued for playback. When you visit an album or playlist page, there’s a ellipses button the reveals options to Add to Library, Play Next, Play Later, Like, and Suggest Less of This.

The experience is impressively close to the Mac Music app, though there are differences. The artwork for algorithmically generated playlists like the Favorites Mix doesn’t include album artwork. Also, I didn’t see a ‘Friends Are Listening To’ section in the beta, and my Recently Played albums and playlists were in a different order than in the Mac app.

The web app works on both desktop and mobile Safari where it can be saved to your Home screen as a progressive web app. On the iPad, Safari-based Music supports dark mode and Split View too.

Music running in mobile Safari in dark mode.

Music running in mobile Safari in dark mode.


Music in mobile Safari in Split View with Reminders.

Music in mobile Safari in Split View with Reminders.

I’ve only had a short time to play with Music in Safari, but I’m impressed with what I’ve seen so far. With very few exceptions, the beta is already the full Music experience providing access not only to Apple Music streaming content but also your entire music library. This is an excellent option for anyone who doesn’t have access to a Mac or iTunes on Windows at work or elsewhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if this solution eventually replaces iTunes on Windows, which does not appear to be getting an update alongside Catalina.

Club MacStories Fourth Anniversary: Exclusive Discounts on Apps and Services, Plus Other Perks for Members

This time every year, we like to pause to mark the anniversary of Club MacStories and thank all of our members for being part of what makes MacStories special. So, whether you’ve been along for the ride all four years or just signed up this week, thank you. We sincerely appreciate your support.

In just four short years, the Club has become part of the fabric of MacStories. It’s helped us weather changes in the online media industry that have hurt so many other sites. More importantly, though, Club MacStories has provided us with an outlet to share more of the apps we love and the stories behind them than we could do otherwise.

The Club has also played a big role in MacStories’ expansion these past four years, just as Federico hoped when he announced it in 2015:

On top of the extra content that you pay for, you’ll also get a chance to be an awesome reader who makes a direct contribution to the MacStories team. Effectively, Club MacStories will enable us to expand and produce even more articles for the site. It’s a virtuous cycle: I want to keep writing MacStories forever – if that wasn’t clear enough – and I want to keep reaching new readers every day together with my team. Hopefully, with time those readers will find MacStories valuable and they’ll choose to become Club members, getting more great content in return and facilitating further expansions.

The virtuous cycle Federico imagined materialized and has allowed us to play to our greatest strength at MacStories, which is writing thorough, thoughtful analyses of apps and other topics. It has also permitted us to branch into podcasting and take on broad-scope projects like the celebration of the App Store’s 10th anniversary last year and MacStories Selects, our annual picks of the best apps in a bunch of categories.

To celebrate the Club’s anniversary this year, we have collected another amazing list of exclusive Club discounts on apps and services from our friends in the developer community. Every year, their generosity is amazing. Thanks to every developer for both contributing discounts to our celebration and for the apps you make. Despite the length of time we’ve been writing about apps, we’re still surprised and delighted all the time by your amazing creations.

Read more

Bear 1.7 Brings Note Locking, New Themes, Emoji Auto-Complete, and More

Days away from Apple’s big September event, and likely just a week or two from iOS 13’s public release, this is often a quiet time for app releases. Generally that’s true for the summer as a whole, with developers heads-down working on big fall updates, but it’s especially the case the closer we get to Apple’s iPhone event. Today, however Bear has released the type of wide-ranging update that’s rare to see pre-OS launches. Bear 1.7 introduces a variety of big and small changes that improve many facets of the note-taking app. The update enables locking individual notes, or locking access to the app altogether, it brings two new themes and 33 new tagcons, there’s now emoji auto-complete, live note links, Apple Watch improvements, and more.

Read more

Apple Hits Restart on Game Controller Support

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly six years since Apple added game controller support to iOS. The big news at WWDC in 2013 was the iOS 7 redesign, but for game developers, it was rivaled by the announcement that third-party Made For iPhone (MFi) controllers were coming.

The game press and developers understood the potential of controller support immediately. Even though it wasn’t announced there, Chris Plante of Polygon declared controller support the biggest story of E3, the game industry trade show that was happening at the same time as WWDC. Plante imagined that:

If Apple finds a way to standardize traditional controls, every iOS device will become a transportable console. In a year, both iPhones and iPads will approach the processing power of the current-generation devices. Companies will have the ability to port controller-based games for the mobile devices in millions of pockets — an install-base far greater than they’ve ever had before.

Game industry veteran Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve, saw Apple’s entry as a big risk to companies making PC and console games:

The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform…I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily.

I was right there with them. iOS devices couldn’t match the power of a traditional console in 2013, but you could see that they were on a trajectory to get there. With the addition of controller support, Apple felt poised to make a meaningful run at incumbents like Sony and Microsoft.

It didn’t work out that way though. iOS’ controller support was rushed to market. Early controllers were priced at around $100, in part because of the requirements of the MFi certification, and they couldn’t match the quality of controllers from Sony and Microsoft.

As anticipated, controller support was extended to the Apple TV when its App Store launched in 2015. Initially, it looked as though Apple would allow game developers to require a controller. In the end, though, the company went an entirely different direction by requiring that games support the Apple TV Remote, a decision that complicated development and dumbed down controller integration to match the remote’s limited input methods. Apple changed course eventually, and now lets developers require controllers, but by the time of that change the damage had been done. Many developers had already lost interest in controller support. It didn’t help either that for a very long time, the App Store didn’t indicate which games were compatible with MFi controllers, leaving the void to be filled by third-party sites.

Last year, when I looked back at the history of games on the App Store for its tenth anniversary, I came away pessimistic about the future of games on Apple’s platforms. After a decade, I felt like we were still asking the same question that Federico posed in 2013:

Will Apple ever develop a culture and appreciation for gaming as a medium, not just an App Store category?

Sadly, Federico’s question remains as relevant today as it was six years ago. Still, I’m cautiously optimistic based on what’s happened in the past year. Part of that is the App Store editorial team’s excellent track record of championing high-quality games in the stories published on the App Store. Another factor is Apple Arcade, the game subscription service we still don’t know a lot about, but which appears designed to showcase high-quality, artistically important games.

The latest cause for optimism is Apple’s announcement at WWDC this past June that iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS would all support the Sony DualShock 4 and Bluetooth-based Xbox controllers when Apple’s OSes are updated this fall. The reaction from developers and other observers was a combination of surprise and excitement that was uncannily similar to the MFi announcement in 2013. Yet, the news begs the question: ‘How is this time any different?’ The answer to that question lies in how the new controllers work and the role they will play in Arcade.

Read more