![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mela_hero-1738250550382.png\")
Back in 2021, Silvio Rizzi, developer of the all-time great RSS client Reeder , released Mela, an app for importing, collecting, and sharing recipes. Right from the start, Mela stood out as a delightful take on the recipe app genre. Just like Reeder, it features a beautiful design and is a joy to browse and use. The app originally shipped with the ability to import recipes directly from the web, subscribe to RSS feeds, and even scan recipes found in physical cookbooks and magazines. Combining those features with its built-in tools for converting measurements and dynamically adjusting meal sizes, Mela truly cooked up the perfect recipe (pun intended) for becoming your one and only cooking app companion. You can check out John’s original review of the app on MacStories to learn more.
\nThis month, Mela was updated to version 2.5 with several improvements, including an option to search for recipes on the web using a new native recipe search engine and the ability to import recipes from video descriptions on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, all of which have become popular platforms for discovering and sharing cooking ideas. This new version takes the app’s web scraping capabilities even further than before, and I was curious to see how it fared.
\nLet’s check it out.
\n\nFirst, I must say that I’ve been quite impressed by Mela’s interface for searching the web for recipes. The app offers several search engine options, including an extensive list of popular services like Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and even Ecosia, but the highlight is definitely its new ‘Web Recipe Search’ option, which surfaces recipes from across various recipe sites.
\nTo get started, head to Mela’s Browser tab and start searching for a recipe. If you use the default Web Recipe Search option, the results will be presented in a neat card layout that groups recipes by website and highlights them with a picture and a short excerpt extracted from the corresponding webpage. To take a closer look at a recipe, simply tap on its card, and the app will take you to the full webpage. You can then tap the floating ’Found Recipe’ button at the bottom of the screen to import it into Mela. As usual, before saving the recipe, the app will let you preview and customize it to adjust everything from portion sizes and units to the main recipe itself.
\n![\"Searching](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mela_search-1738250551140.png\")
Searching for samosa recipes via Mela’s new Web Recipe Search.
I’ve found this new web search feature to be delightful. It’s a great addition to Mela’s ability to import recipes from the web. It lets you sort through dozens of options and save recipes without ever having to deal with the clutter that comes with regular Google search results, and it allows you to bypass cookie popups on most cooking websites entirely.
\nThe other new feature in this update is the option to import a recipe by pasting a video URL from YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok into the app’s address bar. By scanning the description of a video containing a recipe, Mela is able to successfully figure out the quantity of each ingredient and even cooking steps. My main worry was that Mela would struggle outside of English-speaking videos, but to my surprise, the app seemed to work just as well with French-speaking videos from YouTube.
\n![\"I](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mela_youtube-1738250624708.png\")
I successfully imported a cookie recipe from a French YouTube channel. Just like with other imports, Mela lets you easily adjust the number of portions and changes the ingredient quantities accordingly.
When it comes to recipes found on TikTok, I’ve had less luck. Mela seems less capable of identifying recipes from there, and it often would not let me import a recipe directly after pasting a TikTok URL into the address bar. On my first attempt at importing a rougail saucisses recipe (an excellent meal from La Réunion island; you should check it out), Mela did not offer the ‘Found Recipe’ button:
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/rougail1-1738250549957.png\")
However, on my second attempt, with a different rougail saucisses recipe found on TikTok, the import was successful:
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/rougail3-1738250549703.png\")
Clearly, by searching for recipes in French mixed in with some Reunionese Créole, I was stress-testing Mela’s ability to parse recipes from videos. Still, I would say seven out of ten attempts worked impressively well.
\nI’m not a great cook – in fact, I have a hard time enjoying the process at all – but over the years, I can attest that Mela has become one of my partner’s favorite apps to use on their iPhone. I can easily understand why they’ve come to love it for collecting recipes instead of relying on browser bookmarks and scanned documents scattered on their laptop’s hard drive. Mela has come a long way while maintaining its beautiful UI design, and with its ever-extending ability to import recipes from different mediums, it definitely stands out in its category.
\nMela is available for free on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS. All the app’s features can be unlocked with a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase. The Mac version is available separately as a free download on the Mac App Store, where all of its features can be unlocked with a one-time $9.99 in-app purchase.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Back in 2021, Silvio Rizzi, developer of the all-time great RSS client Reeder , released Mela, an app for importing, collecting, and sharing recipes. Right from the start, Mela stood out as a delightful take on the recipe app genre. Just like Reeder, it features a beautiful design and is a joy to browse and use. The app originally shipped with the ability to import recipes directly from the web, subscribe to RSS feeds, and even scan recipes found in physical cookbooks and magazines. Combining those features with its built-in tools for converting measurements and dynamically adjusting meal sizes, Mela truly cooked up the perfect recipe (pun intended) for becoming your one and only cooking app companion. You can check out John’s original review of the app on MacStories to learn more.\nThis month, Mela was updated to version 2.5 with several improvements, including an option to search for recipes on the web using a new native recipe search engine and the ability to import recipes from video descriptions on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, all of which have become popular platforms for discovering and sharing cooking ideas. This new version takes the app’s web scraping capabilities even further than before, and I was curious to see how it fared.\nLet’s check it out.\n\nFirst, I must say that I’ve been quite impressed by Mela’s interface for searching the web for recipes. The app offers several search engine options, including an extensive list of popular services like Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and even Ecosia, but the highlight is definitely its new ‘Web Recipe Search’ option, which surfaces recipes from across various recipe sites.\nTo get started, head to Mela’s Browser tab and start searching for a recipe. If you use the default Web Recipe Search option, the results will be presented in a neat card layout that groups recipes by website and highlights them with a picture and a short excerpt extracted from the corresponding webpage. To take a closer look at a recipe, simply tap on its card, and the app will take you to the full webpage. You can then tap the floating ’Found Recipe’ button at the bottom of the screen to import it into Mela. As usual, before saving the recipe, the app will let you preview and customize it to adjust everything from portion sizes and units to the main recipe itself.\nSearching for samosa recipes via Mela’s new Web Recipe Search.\nI’ve found this new web search feature to be delightful. It’s a great addition to Mela’s ability to import recipes from the web. It lets you sort through dozens of options and save recipes without ever having to deal with the clutter that comes with regular Google search results, and it allows you to bypass cookie popups on most cooking websites entirely.\nThe other new feature in this update is the option to import a recipe by pasting a video URL from YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok into the app’s address bar. By scanning the description of a video containing a recipe, Mela is able to successfully figure out the quantity of each ingredient and even cooking steps. My main worry was that Mela would struggle outside of English-speaking videos, but to my surprise, the app seemed to work just as well with French-speaking videos from YouTube.\nI successfully imported a cookie recipe from a French YouTube channel. Just like with other imports, Mela lets you easily adjust the number of portions and changes the ingredient quantities accordingly.\nWhen it comes to recipes found on TikTok, I’ve had less luck. Mela seems less capable of identifying recipes from there, and it often would not let me import a recipe directly after pasting a TikTok URL into the address bar. On my first attempt at importing a rougail saucisses recipe (an excellent meal from La Réunion island; you should check it out), Mela did not offer the ‘Found Recipe’ button:\n\nHowever, on my second attempt, with a different rougail saucisses recipe found on TikTok, the import was successful:\n\nClearly, by searching for recipes in French mixed in with some Reunionese Créole, I was stress-testing Mela’s ability to parse recipes from videos. Still, I would say seven out of ten attempts worked impressively well.\nI’m not a great cook – in fact, I have a hard time enjoying the process at all – but over the years, I can attest that Mela has become one of my partner’s favorite apps to use on their iPhone. I can easily understand why they’ve come to love it for collecting recipes instead of relying on browser bookmarks and scanned documents scattered on their laptop’s hard drive. Mela has come a long way while maintaining its beautiful UI design, and with its ever-extending ability to import recipes from different mediums, it definitely stands out in its category.\nMela is available for free on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS. All the app’s features can be unlocked with a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase. The Mac version is available separately as a free download on the Mac App Store, where all of its features can be unlocked with a one-time $9.99 in-app purchase.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2025-02-03T11:23:31-05:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-04T10:01:35-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77411", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/ios-and-ipados-18-2-everything-new-besides-apple-intelligence/", "title": "iOS and iPadOS 18.2: Everything New Besides Apple Intelligence", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/18-2-hero-1733712193706.png\")
Today, Apple is releasing iOS and iPadOS 18.2, the second major updates to the iPhone and iPad’s latest operating system versions. Once again, this release’s main highlight is a wave of new Apple Intelligence features that are now available to the public. And just like in October, we’re covering these new AI features separately in a special story for MacStories readers. Be sure to check out Federico’s story, which goes over the new Apple Intelligence features included in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.
\nBut besides another batch of Apple Intelligence features, this release also includes a series of changes to the system, from updates to Safari, Find My, and Photos to the arrival of new system-wide settings for Default Apps and more. Here’s a roundup of everything new besides Apple Intelligence in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/defaultapps-1733712265221.png\")
Earlier this year, Apple announced the addition of a new Settings screen in iOS and iPadOS 18.2 for choosing default apps as part of its plan to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, alongside a redesigned default browser choice screen. While it was possible to change these settings before, choosing a new default app required you to navigate to the individual app’s Settings screen (for example, Settings → Apps → Safari to make Safari the default browser). The new screen centralizes all of the default app options and is accessible at the top of the Apps section in the Settings app.
\nFrom this screen, you can set the default app for each of the following features:
\nIf you live in the EU, you may notice an additional default app setting that allows you to set a default app marketplace instead of Apple’s App Store.
\nNote that you may not have any options currently available in one or more of the default app categories. To appear in the list of available defaults, developers will need to update their apps and make sure they qualify in their category.
\nPerhaps surprisingly, Safari ships with several new and previously unannounced features in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.
\nSince the release of iOS and iPadOS 15, we’ve had the ability to customize the browser’s start page with an Apple-provided wallpaper or with any image from Photos. Starting today, Safari now offers six new background options, bringing the total to 16. The first two each picture an abstract landscape, the next are renders of some of Safari’s glyphs and icons, and the last two form a pattern of curvy shapes and gradients. I’m a fan of the pastel color choices in these new backgrounds, but I do wish Apple would also make them available to use as wallpapers on the Lock and Home Screens.
\n![\"These](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safaribackgrounds-1733712336097.png\")
These are the six new background options for Safari in iOS and iPadOS 18.2. They are also available on the Mac in Sequoia 15.2.
In addition to the new backgrounds, Safari now supports linking to text highlights on web pages. The idea here is that you can select text on any web page, tap ‘Copy Link with Highlight’, and share the copied link so that anyone opening it will immediately be shown the specific text you highlighted in yellow on that web page. It’s a small but amazing functionality for any kind of work that relies on referencing things from the web. This is what it looks like on the iPhone:
\n![\"To](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/texthighlights-1733712364660.png\")
To share a highlighted portion of text on a web page in Safari, select the text, scroll the edit menu (1), and tap ‘Copy Link with Highlight’ (2). Anyone opening the link in a supported browser will automatically be directed to the highlighted text in yellow.
Linking to text highlights on the web isn’t entirely new; the feature was already supported by some web browsers, most notably Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. However, now that the feature is also available in Safari (on all of Apple’s platforms, including macOS), I suspect that it will slowly become hugely popular.
\nLast but not least in Safari, the app will spawn a Live Activity when a download is in progress, and it now features HTTPS Priority, an aptly named mechanism that will automatically upgrade HTTP URLs to HTTPS when available.
\nIn iOS 18, the Photos app received a major redesign and a series of new features, including Collections. 18.2 includes several tweaks to the new Photos app, most of which revolve around navigation.
\nIn the Recently Viewed collection, you can now clear the full history of recently viewed media. If you long-press on a photo or video, you can also remove it individually from the collection.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/photos-1733712431423.png\")
Navigating collections is now easier, too. Apple has finally re-added the ability to swipe right to go back pretty much anywhere in the Photos app, including when you’re several levels deep into an album folder. It’s hard to know whether it was a bug or if Apple was being intentional about not implementing the gesture in certain places in the app before, but I’m glad to report that it is now consistently available.
\nSwiping right to go back now works consistently across the app.
\nApple has also improved the video viewing experience in the Photos app. Unlike in previous versions of iOS 18, the app will no longer zoom in and out on a video when you tap the screen. Instead, the video will now always fit the width of the screen, and you can tap the screen to show playback controls, the video scrubber, and the gallery view along the bottom of the screen. These will appear over the video and disappear if you tap the screen again. But that’s not all: you can now scrub videos on a precise frame-by-frame basis, and there’s a new option to disable auto-looping video playback.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/videoplayer-1733712550104.png\")
The improved video player in Photos now lets you scrub frame by frame, which is indicated by a decimal in the timecode above the scrubber.
Overall, these small changes and improvements have helped reduce the friction I’ve been feeling since I first started using the drastically redesigned Photos app this summer. I’m hoping Apple will keep iterating on it.
\nReturn of the volume slider on the Lock Screen. This will make a ton of people happy. iOS 18.2 brings back the volume slider on the Lock Screen when music or media is playing, in the form of an Accessibility setting. The slider was removed in iOS 16 when Apple redesigned the Lock Screen, and since then, it has only appeared under certain circumstances, such as when controlling an AirPlay device. But now, you can bring it back permanently.
\nTo add the volume slider back to your Lock Screen, head to Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual, and turn on ‘Always Show Volume Control’.
\n![\"Head](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/volumecontrol-1733712580291.png\")
Head to Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual to bring back the volume slider on the Lock Screen.
New Camera Control settings for iPhone 16 models. iPhone 16 owners now have the ability to lock the camera’s exposure and focus with a light press on the Camera Control. The AE/AF Lock option can be enabled by going to Settings → Camera → Camera Control.
\nThere is also a new option to adjust the double-click speed of Camera Control. iPhone 16 users can choose between Default, Slow, and Slower. The new adjustment options are present alongside previously available options to tweak the double light-press speed and the light-press force.
\nNew Voice Memos features for iPhone 16 Pro models. Originally announced at Apple’s September event, iPhone 16 Pro models now have access to an upgraded version of the Voice Memos app with support for layered recording. Additionally, these multitrack projects can later be imported into Logic Pro.
\nNatural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV. In the Music and TV apps, Apple says you can now use natural language to search for media by specifying genres, moods, actors, decades, and more. In my experience so far, natural language search in these apps doesn’t seem to make a huge difference when you’re only using a handful of words, and it starts to break down as soon as you try to input longer phrases.
\nShazam history now includes location. If you’ve ever wondered where you heard a specific song, iOS 18.2 has you covered. Now, after you ask Shazam to recognize a song, you can go back to your song history and tap on each one to reveal a minimap pinpointing where you heard it.
\n![\"A](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/shazamlocation-1733712649315.png\")
A map pin is now included below each of your recently recognized songs.
Favorite categories in Podcasts. In Podcasts, a new Categories section has been added to the Library tab. This essentially gives you access to Apple Podcasts’ catalog of categories. You can now also choose favorite categories, and your favorites will appear at the top of the Categories section in your Library. Additionally, the Search tab in Podcasts now dynamically reorders the category tiles depending on your podcast listening habits.
\n![\"Favorite](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/podcastscategories-1733712676510.png\")
Favorite categories and the personalized Search tab in the Podcasts app
Better consistency for dark and tinted icons across Settings and the share sheet. App icons in the share sheet and Settings now reflect your light or dark mode preference and even icon tinting if you’ve enabled it on the Home Screen.
\nFind My now supports sharing AirTags with airlines. Find My has a new option to share an item’s location with an “airline or trusted person” who can help you locate something that you’ve misplaced. In the app, select an item you’re tracking with an AirTag (or other Find My-compatible tracker), and tap ‘Share Item Location’. This will generate a link that you can share with someone else so they can view the location of the lost item.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/findmy-1733712748894.png\")
New ‘Get Current App’ action in Shortcuts. This is huge news for Shortcuts nerds: you can use the new ‘Get Current App’ action to detect which app is currently active on-screen and automate accordingly.
\nAirPods Pro Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features are available in more countries. The new Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features were recently launched in the U.S. and several other countries. However, these features were unavailable to many AirPods Pro 2 owners worldwide. This was primarily due to pending approval from the relevant authorities in each nation for these health features.
\nWith iOS 18.2, Apple is rolling out the AirPods Pro 2’s Hearing Test feature to the following countries:
\nSadly, the Hearing Aid functionality is only coming to one additional country in this release, the United Arab Emirates.
\nThat’s it for iOS and iPadOS 18.2. Not unlike 18.1, this release includes a significant number of non-AI changes and additions, and I’m glad to see that Apple is still iterating on many of its native apps throughout the year.
\nYou can update your device to iOS or iPadOS 18.2 today by navigating to Settings → General → Software Update.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Apple is releasing iOS and iPadOS 18.2, the second major updates to the iPhone and iPad’s latest operating system versions. Once again, this release’s main highlight is a wave of new Apple Intelligence features that are now available to the public. And just like in October, we’re covering these new AI features separately in a special story for MacStories readers. Be sure to check out Federico’s story, which goes over the new Apple Intelligence features included in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.\nBut besides another batch of Apple Intelligence features, this release also includes a series of changes to the system, from updates to Safari, Find My, and Photos to the arrival of new system-wide settings for Default Apps and more. Here’s a roundup of everything new besides Apple Intelligence in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.\n\nNew Default Apps Settings\n\nEarlier this year, Apple announced the addition of a new Settings screen in iOS and iPadOS 18.2 for choosing default apps as part of its plan to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, alongside a redesigned default browser choice screen. While it was possible to change these settings before, choosing a new default app required you to navigate to the individual app’s Settings screen (for example, Settings → Apps → Safari to make Safari the default browser). The new screen centralizes all of the default app options and is accessible at the top of the Apps section in the Settings app.\nFrom this screen, you can set the default app for each of the following features:\nBrowsing the web\nSending emails\nSending messages\nDialing phone numbers\nFiltering spam calls\nManaging passwords\nUsing alternative keyboards\nPerforming contactless payments\nIf you live in the EU, you may notice an additional default app setting that allows you to set a default app marketplace instead of Apple’s App Store.\nNote that you may not have any options currently available in one or more of the default app categories. To appear in the list of available defaults, developers will need to update their apps and make sure they qualify in their category.\nSafari\nPerhaps surprisingly, Safari ships with several new and previously unannounced features in iOS and iPadOS 18.2.\nSince the release of iOS and iPadOS 15, we’ve had the ability to customize the browser’s start page with an Apple-provided wallpaper or with any image from Photos. Starting today, Safari now offers six new background options, bringing the total to 16. The first two each picture an abstract landscape, the next are renders of some of Safari’s glyphs and icons, and the last two form a pattern of curvy shapes and gradients. I’m a fan of the pastel color choices in these new backgrounds, but I do wish Apple would also make them available to use as wallpapers on the Lock and Home Screens.\nThese are the six new background options for Safari in iOS and iPadOS 18.2. They are also available on the Mac in Sequoia 15.2.\nIn addition to the new backgrounds, Safari now supports linking to text highlights on web pages. The idea here is that you can select text on any web page, tap ‘Copy Link with Highlight’, and share the copied link so that anyone opening it will immediately be shown the specific text you highlighted in yellow on that web page. It’s a small but amazing functionality for any kind of work that relies on referencing things from the web. This is what it looks like on the iPhone:\nTo share a highlighted portion of text on a web page in Safari, select the text, scroll the edit menu (1), and tap ‘Copy Link with Highlight’ (2). Anyone opening the link in a supported browser will automatically be directed to the highlighted text in yellow.\nLinking to text highlights on the web isn’t entirely new; the feature was already supported by some web browsers, most notably Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. However, now that the feature is also available in Safari (on all of Apple’s platforms, including macOS), I suspect that it will slowly become hugely popular.\nLast but not least in Safari, the app will spawn a Live Activity when a download is in progress, and it now features HTTPS Priority, an aptly named mechanism that will automatically upgrade HTTP URLs to HTTPS when available.\nPhotos\nIn iOS 18, the Photos app received a major redesign and a series of new features, including Collections. 18.2 includes several tweaks to the new Photos app, most of which revolve around navigation.\nIn the Recently Viewed collection, you can now clear the full history of recently viewed media. If you long-press on a photo or video, you can also remove it individually from the collection.\n\nNavigating collections is now easier, too. Apple has finally re-added the ability to swipe right to go back pretty much anywhere in the Photos app, including when you’re several levels deep into an album folder. It’s hard to know whether it was a bug or if Apple was being intentional about not implementing the gesture in certain places in the app before, but I’m glad to report that it is now consistently available.\n\n \nSwiping right to go back now works consistently across the app.\n\nApple has also improved the video viewing experience in the Photos app. Unlike in previous versions of iOS 18, the app will no longer zoom in and out on a video when you tap the screen. Instead, the video will now always fit the width of the screen, and you can tap the screen to show playback controls, the video scrubber, and the gallery view along the bottom of the screen. These will appear over the video and disappear if you tap the screen again. But that’s not all: you can now scrub videos on a precise frame-by-frame basis, and there’s a new option to disable auto-looping video playback.\nThe improved video player in Photos now lets you scrub frame by frame, which is indicated by a decimal in the timecode above the scrubber.\nOverall, these small changes and improvements have helped reduce the friction I’ve been feeling since I first started using the drastically redesigned Photos app this summer. I’m hoping Apple will keep iterating on it.\nAnd More…\nReturn of the volume slider on the Lock Screen. This will make a ton of people happy. iOS 18.2 brings back the volume slider on the Lock Screen when music or media is playing, in the form of an Accessibility setting. The slider was removed in iOS 16 when Apple redesigned the Lock Screen, and since then, it has only appeared under certain circumstances, such as when controlling an AirPlay device. But now, you can bring it back permanently.\nTo add the volume slider back to your Lock Screen, head to Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual, and turn on ‘Always Show Volume Control’.\nHead to Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual to bring back the volume slider on the Lock Screen.\nNew Camera Control settings for iPhone 16 models. iPhone 16 owners now have the ability to lock the camera’s exposure and focus with a light press on the Camera Control. The AE/AF Lock option can be enabled by going to Settings → Camera → Camera Control.\nThere is also a new option to adjust the double-click speed of Camera Control. iPhone 16 users can choose between Default, Slow, and Slower. The new adjustment options are present alongside previously available options to tweak the double light-press speed and the light-press force.\nNew Voice Memos features for iPhone 16 Pro models. Originally announced at Apple’s September event, iPhone 16 Pro models now have access to an upgraded version of the Voice Memos app with support for layered recording. Additionally, these multitrack projects can later be imported into Logic Pro.\nNatural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV. In the Music and TV apps, Apple says you can now use natural language to search for media by specifying genres, moods, actors, decades, and more. In my experience so far, natural language search in these apps doesn’t seem to make a huge difference when you’re only using a handful of words, and it starts to break down as soon as you try to input longer phrases.\nShazam history now includes location. If you’ve ever wondered where you heard a specific song, iOS 18.2 has you covered. Now, after you ask Shazam to recognize a song, you can go back to your song history and tap on each one to reveal a minimap pinpointing where you heard it.\nA map pin is now included below each of your recently recognized songs.\nFavorite categories in Podcasts. In Podcasts, a new Categories section has been added to the Library tab. This essentially gives you access to Apple Podcasts’ catalog of categories. You can now also choose favorite categories, and your favorites will appear at the top of the Categories section in your Library. Additionally, the Search tab in Podcasts now dynamically reorders the category tiles depending on your podcast listening habits.\nFavorite categories and the personalized Search tab in the Podcasts app\nBetter consistency for dark and tinted icons across Settings and the share sheet. App icons in the share sheet and Settings now reflect your light or dark mode preference and even icon tinting if you’ve enabled it on the Home Screen.\nFind My now supports sharing AirTags with airlines. Find My has a new option to share an item’s location with an “airline or trusted person” who can help you locate something that you’ve misplaced. In the app, select an item you’re tracking with an AirTag (or other Find My-compatible tracker), and tap ‘Share Item Location’. This will generate a link that you can share with someone else so they can view the location of the lost item.\n\nNew ‘Get Current App’ action in Shortcuts. This is huge news for Shortcuts nerds: you can use the new ‘Get Current App’ action to detect which app is currently active on-screen and automate accordingly.\nAirPods Pro Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features are available in more countries. The new Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features were recently launched in the U.S. and several other countries. However, these features were unavailable to many AirPods Pro 2 owners worldwide. This was primarily due to pending approval from the relevant authorities in each nation for these health features.\nWith iOS 18.2, Apple is rolling out the AirPods Pro 2’s Hearing Test feature to the following countries:\nCyprus\nCzechia\nFrance\nItaly\nLuxembourg\nRomania\nSpain\nUnited Arab Emirates\nUnited Kingdom\nSadly, the Hearing Aid functionality is only coming to one additional country in this release, the United Arab Emirates.\nThat’s it for iOS and iPadOS 18.2. Not unlike 18.1, this release includes a significant number of non-AI changes and additions, and I’m glad to see that Apple is still iterating on many of its native apps throughout the year.\nYou can update your device to iOS or iPadOS 18.2 today by navigating to Settings → General → Software Update.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-12-11T08:24:34-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-12-11T08:26:18-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "iOS 18", "iPadOS 18", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77419", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/the-macstories-selects-2024-lifetime-achievement-award/", "title": "The MacStories Selects 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/dsc02638-1733655738228.jpg\")
Earlier this year, I took the time to step back from the tech news cycle and reflect on one of my favorite iPhone apps of all time, Transit. For the past decade and more — Transit first launched in 2012 — the app has been a powerful way to plan trips and look up waiting times when traveling around your hometown using public transportation. But the team behind Transit has never stopped enhancing and improving the app. Today, Transit remains one of the best transit apps on the iPhone, and it’s not even close; not only that, but the app has also slowly but surely cemented itself as a staple of UI design in this category.
\nI started relying on Transit in 2014, when I first arrived in France. At the time, I had never experienced a massive public transit network like the one in Paris, and I specifically remember how overwhelming it all felt. Finding Transit in the App Store truly felt like a godsend for 18-year-old me.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-hero-1711756154556.png\"){kind=spacer}
When it was first released, the app focused on one key feature: as soon as you tapped its icon on the Home Screen, it would immediately give you real-time waiting times for bus and train stops all around you, wherever you were in the city. Unlike with its competitors, you didn’t need to tap around the UI to find the stop or train line you were looking for; in all likelihood, the information you were looking for was already there, right on the app’s main screen. Instead of trying to play the retention game and keep you in the app as long as it could, Transit was designed to be launched and dismissed again just a few seconds later, as soon as you got a glance at the waiting times on its main screen.
\nThis basic foundation immediately made Transit relevant at any time of the day. It also explains why, over the past ten years, I’ve never once removed the app’s icon from my Home Screen. In fact, it’s hard for me to imagine my Home Screen setup without Transit.
\n![\"Transit](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-itinerary-1711756152895.png\")
Transit lets you compare itineraries on a timeline and presents you with a detailed breakdown of each itinerary.
Today, in addition to checking waiting times, the app also lets you plan itineraries and compare trips, and it can track your vehicle to alert you when you’re about to reach your destination so you don’t miss your stop — all of this across 741 cities and regions in 23 countries. If this sounds like a lot, just know that at every step along the way, the app is always graced with a thoughtful design that never makes any part of it feel overwhelming. Every single data point has been carefully placed in the interface and is introduced with beautiful and subtle animations.
\nWhen I try to think of apps that started strong so many years ago and only evolved to become stronger, there are just a few names that come to mind. Transit is one of those names.
\n![\"Transit's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-live-activity-1711756160776.png\")
Transit’s Live Activities are a perfect use case for the feature. They let you keep track of your trip and alert you when you’re about to reach your destination.
One of the reasons the app has been able to achieve this is its ability to gracefully adopt Apple’s new system APIs in iOS every year. This was especially true in iOS 16 with Live Activities, which allow you to track your trip and keep an eye on your next stop right from your iPhone’s Lock Screen. And just last month, the Transit team went beyond our expectations, revealing an impressive new way to track your train when it’s underground and you don’t have a GPS signal. The app now utilizes the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer and analyzes its patterns to identify when your vehicle is in motion and every time it reaches a new station. I’ve been able to try this new feature over the past month in the tunnels of the Paris Métro, and I’m happy to report that this wizardry actually works.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transitoffline-1733412927311.png\"){kind=spacer}
In November 2024, Transit added a prediction model that allows it to track your train underground without GPS, using only the iPhone’s accelerometer.
The Transit team’s ability to innovate and expand to more regions around the world, all while keeping the app focused on the main feature set that it launched with 12 years ago, is remarkable. For that, and the app’s ever-beautiful design, Transit deserves to be recognized with this year’s MacStories Selects Lifetime Achievement Award.
\nLearn more about Transit:
\n\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Transit\n\n\nEarlier this year, I took the time to step back from the tech news cycle and reflect on one of my favorite iPhone apps of all time, Transit. For the past decade and more — Transit first launched in 2012 — the app has been a powerful way to plan trips and look up waiting times when traveling around your hometown using public transportation. But the team behind Transit has never stopped enhancing and improving the app. Today, Transit remains one of the best transit apps on the iPhone, and it’s not even close; not only that, but the app has also slowly but surely cemented itself as a staple of UI design in this category.\nI started relying on Transit in 2014, when I first arrived in France. At the time, I had never experienced a massive public transit network like the one in Paris, and I specifically remember how overwhelming it all felt. Finding Transit in the App Store truly felt like a godsend for 18-year-old me.\n\nWhen it was first released, the app focused on one key feature: as soon as you tapped its icon on the Home Screen, it would immediately give you real-time waiting times for bus and train stops all around you, wherever you were in the city. Unlike with its competitors, you didn’t need to tap around the UI to find the stop or train line you were looking for; in all likelihood, the information you were looking for was already there, right on the app’s main screen. Instead of trying to play the retention game and keep you in the app as long as it could, Transit was designed to be launched and dismissed again just a few seconds later, as soon as you got a glance at the waiting times on its main screen.\nThis basic foundation immediately made Transit relevant at any time of the day. It also explains why, over the past ten years, I’ve never once removed the app’s icon from my Home Screen. In fact, it’s hard for me to imagine my Home Screen setup without Transit.\nTransit lets you compare itineraries on a timeline and presents you with a detailed breakdown of each itinerary.\nToday, in addition to checking waiting times, the app also lets you plan itineraries and compare trips, and it can track your vehicle to alert you when you’re about to reach your destination so you don’t miss your stop — all of this across 741 cities and regions in 23 countries. If this sounds like a lot, just know that at every step along the way, the app is always graced with a thoughtful design that never makes any part of it feel overwhelming. Every single data point has been carefully placed in the interface and is introduced with beautiful and subtle animations.\nWhen I try to think of apps that started strong so many years ago and only evolved to become stronger, there are just a few names that come to mind. Transit is one of those names.\nTransit’s Live Activities are a perfect use case for the feature. They let you keep track of your trip and alert you when you’re about to reach your destination.\nOne of the reasons the app has been able to achieve this is its ability to gracefully adopt Apple’s new system APIs in iOS every year. This was especially true in iOS 16 with Live Activities, which allow you to track your trip and keep an eye on your next stop right from your iPhone’s Lock Screen. And just last month, the Transit team went beyond our expectations, revealing an impressive new way to track your train when it’s underground and you don’t have a GPS signal. The app now utilizes the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer and analyzes its patterns to identify when your vehicle is in motion and every time it reaches a new station. I’ve been able to try this new feature over the past month in the tunnels of the Paris Métro, and I’m happy to report that this wizardry actually works.\nIn November 2024, Transit added a prediction model that allows it to track your train underground without GPS, using only the iPhone’s accelerometer.\nThe Transit team’s ability to innovate and expand to more regions around the world, all while keeping the app focused on the main feature set that it launched with 12 years ago, is remarkable. For that, and the app’s ever-beautiful design, Transit deserves to be recognized with this year’s MacStories Selects Lifetime Achievement Award.\nLearn more about Transit:\nWebsite\nApp Store\nMacStories Review\n\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-12-09T10:42:19-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-12-09T10:47:12-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "apps", "MacStories Selects", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77272", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/transit-can-now-track-underground-trains-without-gps/", "title": "Transit Can Now Track Underground Trains without GPS", "content_html": "![\"Source:](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/predicting-motion-state-from-frequencies-clean-2-1731936257254.png\")
Source: Transit
Earlier this month, Transit, one of my favorite apps of all time, gained an impressive new feature: the app is now able to track your train and warn you when you are about to reach your destination even when your train is underground. Previously, Transit had to rely on GPS and cellular service to precisely locate your train on its route, which meant it couldn’t reliably function as soon as you entered a subway tunnel.
\nThe way they have been able to achieve this is fascinating. Transit now utilizes the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer and analyzes its patterns to identify when the vehicle you boarded is in motion, and every time it reaches a station. The company’s account of the whole process is nothing short of impressive. The team spent a week riding buses and trains to collect data and proceeded to create an entirely new prediction model that is able to count down the underground stations that you will need to ride through to reach your destination. Transit says the model works completely offline and on-device.
\nI know I’m going to give this new feature a try as soon as I get a chance to ride the Paris Métro next week.
\n\u2192 Source: blog.transitapp.com
", "content_text": "Source: Transit\nEarlier this month, Transit, one of my favorite apps of all time, gained an impressive new feature: the app is now able to track your train and warn you when you are about to reach your destination even when your train is underground. Previously, Transit had to rely on GPS and cellular service to precisely locate your train on its route, which meant it couldn’t reliably function as soon as you entered a subway tunnel.\nThe way they have been able to achieve this is fascinating. Transit now utilizes the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer and analyzes its patterns to identify when the vehicle you boarded is in motion, and every time it reaches a station. The company’s account of the whole process is nothing short of impressive. The team spent a week riding buses and trains to collect data and proceeded to create an entirely new prediction model that is able to count down the underground stations that you will need to ride through to reach your destination. Transit says the model works completely offline and on-device.\nI know I’m going to give this new feature a try as soon as I get a chance to ride the Paris Métro next week.\n\u2192 Source: blog.transitapp.com", "date_published": "2024-11-18T08:31:04-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-11-18T08:31:04-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77191", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/horse-browser-tries-its-hooves-at-a-new-take-on-tabs/", "title": "Horse Browser Tries Its Hooves at a New Take on Tabs", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horsebrowser-1731258483993.png\")
In 2024, web browsers mostly all look the same. Their user interfaces always feature an address bar at the top of the window and horizontal tabs that allow you to navigate through multiple websites. So whenever a new browser tries to shake things up and innovate on this basic premise, it’s inevitable that it will elicit a certain amount of interest – sometimes to the point of fashioning its own fanbase. For example, with a novel approach to organizing, pinning, and managing tabs in a customizable sidebar, Arc Browser by The Browser Company has been a great showcase of what creating a brand new user experience for browsing the web can look like.
\nLast week, though, I stumbled upon a newcomer called Horse Browser by Pascal Pixel that immediately caught my attention. Horse is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this space. The browser is based on a new approach that completely does away with the traditional address bar and horizontal tab layout. Instead of tabs, navigation in Horse Browser is structured in hierarchical trees called ‘Trails.’ The resulting UI is unique, appealing, and clever. But how does it hold up in everyday use?
\nLet’s find out.
\n\nTo put it in simple terms, think of Horse’s trails as your browser history laid out in a sidebar that’s always visible. This sidebar is structured like a tree. Every time you click a link on a webpage, this new page will appear as a new line in the sidebar indented underneath the previous page. Keep clicking links, and the tree will continue to branch out. At any point in time, you can go back by clicking on higher-level branches or create a new trail to start a different tree.
\nYour trails are automatically saved and restored when you relaunch Horse Browser. You can reorder trails in the sidebar, and you can even rename them and assign custom emoji icons to them. Navigation trees within a trail aren’t permanently fixed in place, either. You can reorder webpages and even drag a page to make it a trail’s top-level branch. Overall, this UI is more flexible than it may seem at first.
\nAdditionally, Horse lets you create folders to group your trails together as well as ‘Areas,’ which act like section headers for organizing folders. Both features make it easier to divide your navigation history into projects or research sections for future reference.
\n![\"Individual](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-2024-11-10-17-01-2x-1731258435071.png\")
Individual webpages in your trails can be renamed and assigned a custom emoji icon.
Drag and drop pages or entire subtrees to organize them into folders.
\nUnder the hood, Horse is based on the Chromium web engine. This is apparent as soon as you open the browser’s developer tools, which are essentially the same ones that you find in Google Chrome. Unlike most other Chromium browsers, though, Horse does not support installing third-party extensions from the Chrome Web Store at this time. However, the browser does ship with three built-in extensions: Ghostery, which lets you block ads and trackers; Dark Reader, which inverts the colors of websites when you have Dark Mode enabled on your system; and Saddlepack, Horse’s built-in password manager. This is a significant obstacle if you’re looking to use any other password manager with Horse Browser.
\n![\"Horse](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-2024-11-10-17-08-2x-1731254962758.png\")
Horse Browser ships with three built-in extensions…
![\"…but](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-chrome-extensiopns-1731256278677.png\")
…but it won’t let you install any other third-party Chrome extensions just yet.
Alongside these extensions, Horse Browser also ships with a note-taking feature. Just like anything else in the browser’s sidebar, notes can be positioned inside any of your trail trees, and their icons can be customized with an emoji. Sadly, Horse’s notes are extremely basic at the moment; they don’t support any kind of text formatting as far as I can tell. That being said, the ability to take notes and compile information from the web gives Horse the potential to one day become a fully realized research-oriented browser.
\n![\"Horse](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-notes-1731258531615.png\")
Horse Browser supports creating notes alongside your navigation ttrees.
If there’s anything I’ve concluded from using Horse Browser over the past week, it’s that this unique approach to browsing the web is only ideal for users who tend to get pretty deep into their research sessions, leaving them with tens or even hundreds of open tabs to deal with. Safari, Google Chrome, and others offer the ability to group tabs, save all of your open tabs into a bookmarks folder, and separate tabs into multiple windows, but none of them allow you to keep track of the full extent of your navigation history in this straightforward way without the need to dig into your browser history. This is especially glorious if, like me, you’re the kind of person who can spend hours browsing through Wikipedia articles, sometimes to the point of landing on an article that’s totally unrelated to what you were initially reading about.
\nAs a bonus, Horse Browser allows you to quickly export any part of your trail trees as a Markdown-formatted list of links, keeping the link hierarchy intact in the form of bullet points. To do this, right-click a webpage in the sidebar and select ‘Copy Trail,’ or drag and drop a trail from the sidebar into a Markdown editor.
\nHorse Browser is perfect for keeping track of your Wikipedia rabbit holes.
\nUnfortunately, as soon as you try to use Horse Browser for any other type of web browsing – from watching videos on YouTube to reading the news or working in parallel in several Google Docs documents – this user interface falls apart and starts to feel overwhelmingly cumbersome. In those everyday scenarios, the permanent navigation tree in the sidebar gets unnecessarily cluttered and has many times made me feel lost.
\nThe developer behind Horse Browser seems to have thought of this issue and implemented a setting to mitigate it. If you head to the ‘Link Behaviour’ section in the browser’s settings, you’ll see the option to switch from ‘Open Links in a Subtrail’ to ‘Open Links in Current Trail.’ When the latter is enabled, clicking a link on a webpage no longer creates a new branch in your current trail tree, and the only way to add a branch is to do so manually (by right-clicking on a link and choosing ’Open Link in Subtrail’). While this works well and immediately makes Horse feel more like a traditional web browser with vertical tabs, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve just defeated its entire purpose.
\n![\"Link](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-links-behaviours-1731255080626.png\")
Link behavior settings let you reign in Horse’s tendency to create a new subtrail branch for every link you click.
When it comes to design, Horse Browser’s relatively simple UI is punctuated with some wild and weird touches. As you may have noticed in my screen recordings, when you start fresh with a new trail, the browser’s window is occupied by a large, 3D-animated horse that follows your mouse cursor. Similarly, the app’s icon in your Dock is adorned with a 3D-rendered walking horse. Even though I appreciate the uniqueness of this branding choice, I must warn anyone willing to give Horse Browser a try to prepare themselves for what I can only describe as a deeply unsettling vibe.
\nBut even if you find yourself liking the browser’s uncanny horses, I think you may still suffer from the developer’s choice to undersize every single icon and context menu in the user interface. For instance, the buttons located at the top of the sidebar that allow you to create a new trail, folder, note, or area are all very small, and I’ve often found it difficult to precisely target them with the mouse. This has pushed me to rely on keyboard shortcuts more often than I would like.
\n![\"Horse's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/horse-targets-1731255290143.png\")
Horse’s UI elements are tiny compared to most Mac apps.
When I first showed off Horse Browser to a friend this week, their immediate reaction was that this should have been a feature in an existing popular browser. What if a future version of Safari had a revamped sidebar that worked in this way? You could turn off the sidebar at any point to go back to a traditional horizontal tab UI and turn it back on whenever you need to add order to your web research chaos. The idea is certainly appealing.
\nBut since Horse Browser is a standalone browser, it will need to evolve its UI to fit a wider range of use cases, perhaps by making it easier to toggle between a trail and a traditional tab mode. Alternatively, the browser could go in the other direction and further dig its hooves into the ground to become a specialized web-based research and work tool that can be used alongside the browser you’re already used to.
\nIn its current state, Horse Browser is a difficult purchase to recommend. The app still lacks some basic browsing features (like autocomplete in search), and it may be genuinely hard to tell if it’s going to work well with your browsing habits. Still, I’m excited to see Horse’s feature set grow, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on it in the future. Now, hopefully, the uncanny horse imagery will stop haunting my dreams at night.
\nHorse Browser can be purchased from browser.horse, the app’s official website. A lifetime license costs $60, or you can subscribe for $20/year. Sadly, there is no free trial available at this time, though the lifetime license does come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "In 2024, web browsers mostly all look the same. Their user interfaces always feature an address bar at the top of the window and horizontal tabs that allow you to navigate through multiple websites. So whenever a new browser tries to shake things up and innovate on this basic premise, it’s inevitable that it will elicit a certain amount of interest – sometimes to the point of fashioning its own fanbase. For example, with a novel approach to organizing, pinning, and managing tabs in a customizable sidebar, Arc Browser by The Browser Company has been a great showcase of what creating a brand new user experience for browsing the web can look like.\nLast week, though, I stumbled upon a newcomer called Horse Browser by Pascal Pixel that immediately caught my attention. Horse is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this space. The browser is based on a new approach that completely does away with the traditional address bar and horizontal tab layout. Instead of tabs, navigation in Horse Browser is structured in hierarchical trees called ‘Trails.’ The resulting UI is unique, appealing, and clever. But how does it hold up in everyday use?\nLet’s find out.\n\nTo put it in simple terms, think of Horse’s trails as your browser history laid out in a sidebar that’s always visible. This sidebar is structured like a tree. Every time you click a link on a webpage, this new page will appear as a new line in the sidebar indented underneath the previous page. Keep clicking links, and the tree will continue to branch out. At any point in time, you can go back by clicking on higher-level branches or create a new trail to start a different tree.\nYour trails are automatically saved and restored when you relaunch Horse Browser. You can reorder trails in the sidebar, and you can even rename them and assign custom emoji icons to them. Navigation trees within a trail aren’t permanently fixed in place, either. You can reorder webpages and even drag a page to make it a trail’s top-level branch. Overall, this UI is more flexible than it may seem at first.\nAdditionally, Horse lets you create folders to group your trails together as well as ‘Areas,’ which act like section headers for organizing folders. Both features make it easier to divide your navigation history into projects or research sections for future reference.\nIndividual webpages in your trails can be renamed and assigned a custom emoji icon.\n\n \nDrag and drop pages or entire subtrees to organize them into folders.\n\nUnder the hood, Horse is based on the Chromium web engine. This is apparent as soon as you open the browser’s developer tools, which are essentially the same ones that you find in Google Chrome. Unlike most other Chromium browsers, though, Horse does not support installing third-party extensions from the Chrome Web Store at this time. However, the browser does ship with three built-in extensions: Ghostery, which lets you block ads and trackers; Dark Reader, which inverts the colors of websites when you have Dark Mode enabled on your system; and Saddlepack, Horse’s built-in password manager. This is a significant obstacle if you’re looking to use any other password manager with Horse Browser.\nHorse Browser ships with three built-in extensions…\n…but it won’t let you install any other third-party Chrome extensions just yet.\nAlongside these extensions, Horse Browser also ships with a note-taking feature. Just like anything else in the browser’s sidebar, notes can be positioned inside any of your trail trees, and their icons can be customized with an emoji. Sadly, Horse’s notes are extremely basic at the moment; they don’t support any kind of text formatting as far as I can tell. That being said, the ability to take notes and compile information from the web gives Horse the potential to one day become a fully realized research-oriented browser.\nHorse Browser supports creating notes alongside your navigation ttrees.\nIf there’s anything I’ve concluded from using Horse Browser over the past week, it’s that this unique approach to browsing the web is only ideal for users who tend to get pretty deep into their research sessions, leaving them with tens or even hundreds of open tabs to deal with. Safari, Google Chrome, and others offer the ability to group tabs, save all of your open tabs into a bookmarks folder, and separate tabs into multiple windows, but none of them allow you to keep track of the full extent of your navigation history in this straightforward way without the need to dig into your browser history. This is especially glorious if, like me, you’re the kind of person who can spend hours browsing through Wikipedia articles, sometimes to the point of landing on an article that’s totally unrelated to what you were initially reading about.\nAs a bonus, Horse Browser allows you to quickly export any part of your trail trees as a Markdown-formatted list of links, keeping the link hierarchy intact in the form of bullet points. To do this, right-click a webpage in the sidebar and select ‘Copy Trail,’ or drag and drop a trail from the sidebar into a Markdown editor.\n\n \nHorse Browser is perfect for keeping track of your Wikipedia rabbit holes.\n\nUnfortunately, as soon as you try to use Horse Browser for any other type of web browsing – from watching videos on YouTube to reading the news or working in parallel in several Google Docs documents – this user interface falls apart and starts to feel overwhelmingly cumbersome. In those everyday scenarios, the permanent navigation tree in the sidebar gets unnecessarily cluttered and has many times made me feel lost.\nThe developer behind Horse Browser seems to have thought of this issue and implemented a setting to mitigate it. If you head to the ‘Link Behaviour’ section in the browser’s settings, you’ll see the option to switch from ‘Open Links in a Subtrail’ to ‘Open Links in Current Trail.’ When the latter is enabled, clicking a link on a webpage no longer creates a new branch in your current trail tree, and the only way to add a branch is to do so manually (by right-clicking on a link and choosing ’Open Link in Subtrail’). While this works well and immediately makes Horse feel more like a traditional web browser with vertical tabs, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve just defeated its entire purpose.\nLink behavior settings let you reign in Horse’s tendency to create a new subtrail branch for every link you click.\nWhen it comes to design, Horse Browser’s relatively simple UI is punctuated with some wild and weird touches. As you may have noticed in my screen recordings, when you start fresh with a new trail, the browser’s window is occupied by a large, 3D-animated horse that follows your mouse cursor. Similarly, the app’s icon in your Dock is adorned with a 3D-rendered walking horse. Even though I appreciate the uniqueness of this branding choice, I must warn anyone willing to give Horse Browser a try to prepare themselves for what I can only describe as a deeply unsettling vibe.\nBut even if you find yourself liking the browser’s uncanny horses, I think you may still suffer from the developer’s choice to undersize every single icon and context menu in the user interface. For instance, the buttons located at the top of the sidebar that allow you to create a new trail, folder, note, or area are all very small, and I’ve often found it difficult to precisely target them with the mouse. This has pushed me to rely on keyboard shortcuts more often than I would like.\nHorse’s UI elements are tiny compared to most Mac apps.\nWhen I first showed off Horse Browser to a friend this week, their immediate reaction was that this should have been a feature in an existing popular browser. What if a future version of Safari had a revamped sidebar that worked in this way? You could turn off the sidebar at any point to go back to a traditional horizontal tab UI and turn it back on whenever you need to add order to your web research chaos. The idea is certainly appealing.\nBut since Horse Browser is a standalone browser, it will need to evolve its UI to fit a wider range of use cases, perhaps by making it easier to toggle between a trail and a traditional tab mode. Alternatively, the browser could go in the other direction and further dig its hooves into the ground to become a specialized web-based research and work tool that can be used alongside the browser you’re already used to.\nIn its current state, Horse Browser is a difficult purchase to recommend. The app still lacks some basic browsing features (like autocomplete in search), and it may be genuinely hard to tell if it’s going to work well with your browsing habits. Still, I’m excited to see Horse’s feature set grow, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on it in the future. Now, hopefully, the uncanny horse imagery will stop haunting my dreams at night.\nHorse Browser can be purchased from browser.horse, the app’s official website. A lifetime license costs $60, or you can subscribe for $20/year. Sadly, there is no free trial available at this time, though the lifetime license does come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-11-11T12:41:39-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-11-11T12:56:19-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "browser", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77153", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/linked/michael-mjd-revisits-the-short-lived-hp-touchpad-and-its-precursor-multitasking-ui/", "title": "Michael MJD Revisits the Short-Lived HP TouchPad and Its Precursor Multitasking UI", "content_html": "On YouTube, the fantastic Michael MJD—known for exploring the history of tech devices and software—recently revisited the 2011 HP TouchPad.
\nThis short-lived tablet is quite fascinating. It originally shipped with webOS, an operating system which was ahead of its time, featuring a gesture- and card-based multitasking interface. In many ways, it resembled the iOS and iPadOS interfaces we’re all familiar with today.
\nMuch like today’s iOS and iPadOS, webOS on the HP TouchPad allowed users to navigate the interface and switch between apps through swipes on the Home Screen, which hosted an overview of all your open apps.
\nI remember reading about the excitement surrounding the HP TouchPad when it launched—only to be discontinued a mere 49 days later. Watching Michael MJD explore its OS and unique UI truly felt like time travel to a time when the iPad was just beginning to take off as a computer for power users. I highly recommend checking out his walkthrough.
\n\n\u2192 Source: youtube.com
", "content_text": "On YouTube, the fantastic Michael MJD—known for exploring the history of tech devices and software—recently revisited the 2011 HP TouchPad.\nThis short-lived tablet is quite fascinating. It originally shipped with webOS, an operating system which was ahead of its time, featuring a gesture- and card-based multitasking interface. In many ways, it resembled the iOS and iPadOS interfaces we’re all familiar with today.\nMuch like today’s iOS and iPadOS, webOS on the HP TouchPad allowed users to navigate the interface and switch between apps through swipes on the Home Screen, which hosted an overview of all your open apps.\nI remember reading about the excitement surrounding the HP TouchPad when it launched—only to be discontinued a mere 49 days later. Watching Michael MJD explore its OS and unique UI truly felt like time travel to a time when the iPad was just beginning to take off as a computer for power users. I highly recommend checking out his walkthrough.\n\n\u2192 Source: youtube.com", "date_published": "2024-11-05T05:07:00-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-11-05T05:07:00-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Linked" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77143", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/coversutra-adds-a-standalone-apple-music-client-to-your-macs-menu-bar/", "title": "CoverSutra Adds a Standalone Apple Music Client to Your Mac\u2019s Menu Bar", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/coversutra-1730732676718.png\")
CoverSutra by Sophiestication is a name that may sound familiar if you’re as ancient as Federico, who last reviewed the app on MacStories in January 2010. At the time, the app was a fully-featured iTunes controller. It could display your music in the menu bar as well on the Desktop. It also used to act as a Last.fm client and ship with a bunch of customization features.
\nThis month, CoverSutra is back with version 4.0. This new version was rewritten from the ground up with a different approach: instead of being a controller for Apple’s native Music app, CoverSutra is now a standalone client for Apple Music on the Mac. In practice, this means that you can search your Apple Music library, pick any album or playlist, and start listening without ever having to launch the Music app.
\nSearch is CoverSutra’s highlight feature. Using CoverSutra for the past week on my Mac has made me realize how much more time I usually spend in the Music app just searching through my library. Searching with CoverSutra, on the other hand, is fast and persistent. You can start typing part of an artist’s name, album, or song title, and search results will instantly appear in the menu bar popover window. And as long as you don’t start a new search, your search results will not disappear, even if you click away from the menu bar.
\n![\"CoverSutra's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-11-04-16-02-2x-1730732779630.png\")
CoverSutra’s layout for search results puts the emphasis on album and playlist covers.
I’ve also found that CoverSutra suits my listening habits pretty well. As the kind of person who likes to play albums from front to back and rarely relies on curated playlists, I’ve enjoyed how CoverSutra allows me to quickly bring up an album and play it from the beginning. The layout emphasizes album and playlist covers and makes it easy to instantly spot the album you are looking for.
\nIn its current shape, CoverSutra 4.0 is pretty basic. Apart from search, playback controls, and the ability to set your own global keyboard shortcuts, there are no additional features or settings. However, I’m hopeful that the app can start fresh from this new foundation. Unlike similar alternatives on the Mac like Neptunes or Sleeve, CoverSutra’s potential as a standalone player in the menu bar may enable a range of more advanced features.
\n![\"CoverSutra](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/coversutra-2024-11-04-16-07-2x-1730732879483.png\")
CoverSutra supports custom global keyboard shortcuts.
CoverSutra 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store. For a limited time, the app is available at an introductory price of $4.99. If you’ve purchased CoverSutra on the Mac App Store in the past, the upgrade to version 4.0 is free.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "CoverSutra by Sophiestication is a name that may sound familiar if you’re as ancient as Federico, who last reviewed the app on MacStories in January 2010. At the time, the app was a fully-featured iTunes controller. It could display your music in the menu bar as well on the Desktop. It also used to act as a Last.fm client and ship with a bunch of customization features.\nThis month, CoverSutra is back with version 4.0. This new version was rewritten from the ground up with a different approach: instead of being a controller for Apple’s native Music app, CoverSutra is now a standalone client for Apple Music on the Mac. In practice, this means that you can search your Apple Music library, pick any album or playlist, and start listening without ever having to launch the Music app.\nSearch is CoverSutra’s highlight feature. Using CoverSutra for the past week on my Mac has made me realize how much more time I usually spend in the Music app just searching through my library. Searching with CoverSutra, on the other hand, is fast and persistent. You can start typing part of an artist’s name, album, or song title, and search results will instantly appear in the menu bar popover window. And as long as you don’t start a new search, your search results will not disappear, even if you click away from the menu bar.\nCoverSutra’s layout for search results puts the emphasis on album and playlist covers.\nI’ve also found that CoverSutra suits my listening habits pretty well. As the kind of person who likes to play albums from front to back and rarely relies on curated playlists, I’ve enjoyed how CoverSutra allows me to quickly bring up an album and play it from the beginning. The layout emphasizes album and playlist covers and makes it easy to instantly spot the album you are looking for.\nIn its current shape, CoverSutra 4.0 is pretty basic. Apart from search, playback controls, and the ability to set your own global keyboard shortcuts, there are no additional features or settings. However, I’m hopeful that the app can start fresh from this new foundation. Unlike similar alternatives on the Mac like Neptunes or Sleeve, CoverSutra’s potential as a standalone player in the menu bar may enable a range of more advanced features.\nCoverSutra supports custom global keyboard shortcuts.\nCoverSutra 4.0 is available on the Mac App Store. For a limited time, the app is available at an introductory price of $4.99. If you’ve purchased CoverSutra on the Mac App Store in the past, the upgrade to version 4.0 is free.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-11-04T10:31:51-05:00", "date_modified": "2024-11-04T10:31:51-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "Apple Music", "mac", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=77016", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/ios-and-ipados-18-1-everything-new-besides-apple-intelligence/", "title": "iOS and iPadOS 18.1: Everything New Besides Apple Intelligence", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/18-1hero-1729879111871.png\")
Today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18.1, the first major release since the operating system versions that launched in September and were reviewed by Federico.
\nAs you may know, the main highlight of this new release is the first wave of Apple Intelligence features available to the public. AI has arrived, and for better or for worse for Apple’s platforms, this is only the beginning. Be sure to check out John’s review of all the new Apple Intelligence features included in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 (as well as macOS Sequoia 15.1) for the details.
\nFortunately, Apple Intelligence isn’t the only highlight of this release. It also includes a series of changes to the system, from Control Center and the Camera app to Shortcuts and the arrival of new health features for AirPods Pro 2 users.
\nHere’s a roundup of everything new besides Apple Intelligence in iOS and iPadOS 18.1.
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controlcenter-1729879127222.png\")
Control Center received a major overhaul in iOS and iPadOS 18. It is now fully customizable, can span across multiple pages, and supports custom controls provided by third-party apps installed on your device.
\nWith iOS and iPadOS 18.1, Apple has enriched Control Center with a handful of new built-in connectivity controls that can be individually added from the gallery and placed anywhere in your custom Control Center layout. These new standalone controls exist alongside the previously available ‘Connectivity’ tile, which bundles together all of the main connectivity controls.
\nThese are all the standalone connectivity controls available in iOS 18.1:
\nIn addition to these new connectivity controls, you’ll also find two other new controls: ‘Measure’ and ‘Level’. These allow you to quickly open the Measure app directly in either of its main tabs.
\nNow, if you’ve always found Control Center to be hard to reach with one hand, especially on any of the taller iPhone models, you’ll be glad to hear that iOS 18.1 comes with a new Shortcuts action to open, close, or toggle Control Center. In practice, this means that it is now possible to reassign one of your two Lock Screen controls to open Control Center without having to form a claw with your hand to reach the top of the screen.
\nAll you need to do is create a new shortcut with the new ‘Show Control Center’ action and customize one of the two controls on your Lock Screen to trigger that shortcut. Alternatively, you can assign your shortcut to the Action button or place it anywhere in the bottom half of your Home Screen for easy access.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controlcentershortcut-1729879111492.png\")
Finally, Apple has added an easy way to reset Control Center to its default layout. This is useful whether you’re looking to start customizing your Control Center from scratch or you’re simply content with Apple’s default layout. To reset Control Center, head to Settings → Control Center and tap ‘Reset Control Center’.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/camera-1730025738819.png\")
The Camera app has been updated in iOS 18.1 to feature a new dedicated ‘Spatial’ mode. If you own an iPhone 15 Pro, 16, or 16 Pro, this mode will allow you to shoot spatial photos and videos thanks to the vertically-oriented camera sensors on those devices. When in this mode, to the right of the shutter button, you will find a two-way switch for toggling between capturing photos and videos. Previously, shooting spatial photos and videos was available via a toggle within the Camera app’s regular Photo and Video tabs.
\nAdditionally, if you own an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro, you can now use the Camera Control to switch between the front- and rear-facing cameras with a couple of swipes and light presses.
\n![\"Hearing](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/hearing-test-results-1725911863791-1729879191388.png\")
Hearing Test results in the Health app in iOS 18.1. Source: Apple.
Last month at its September 2024 event, Apple unveiled a series of major new health features coming to the AirPods Pro 2. These include the ability for users to take a hearing test, use the AirPods as over-the-counter hearing aids, and benefit from a new on-by-default hearing protection mode that will automatically lower loud environmental noise across all listening modes (Transparency, Adaptive Audio, and Noise Cancellation).
\nThese new hearing health features will start rolling out today with the release of iOS 18.1 and an accompanying firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2 (version 7B19 or later), which should automatically install on users’ earbuds over the coming days. While there is no way to manually update your AirPods, you can increase your chances by keeping your AirPods Pro 2 fully charged and in their charging case overnight. Once your AirPods Pro 2 are properly updated – and once your region becomes eligible – head to the Health app on your iPhone to start your hearing test.
\nApple has detailed on a new support page the worldwide availability of each of the new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2.
\nYou’ll find a handful of other changes in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 as well:
\nChange the primary email address associated with your Apple Account. As most trans people know, changing your name online is particularly difficult. Name changes often require that you create an entirely new account when they aren’t supported by a service provider. While Apple already lets you update your first and last name on your Apple Account pretty easily, until today it was not straightforward to change the primary email associated with your account. This was a problem because the primary email address is not only used to sign in and recover your account, but it is also visible to people you collaborate and share documents with using iCloud. So if the email address you used to create your account contained your former name, you were out of luck.
\nFortunately, in iOS and iPadOS 18.1, you can now easily set any of the email addresses associated with your Apple Account as the primary email to be used by Apple. To add an email address and choose a new primary email for your Apple Account, head to Settings, tap your name at the top of the screen, and choose ‘Sign-In & Security’.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/primaryemail-1729879116903.png\")
In iOS 18.1, you can set any email address associated with your Apple Account as the primary email to be used by Apple.
Two new names for the Up Next queue in the Apple TV app. Starting with iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 18.1, what used to be known as the Up Next queue in the Apple TV app is now called ‘Continue Watching’. It is still positioned below the carousel at the top of the Home tab, and it still functions essentially in the same way, letting you jump back into an unfinished movie, start watching a newly released episode, or play a movie or TV show that you have manually saved to the list. Consequently, the option to manually add a piece of media to the list has also been renamed to ‘Add to Watchlist’.
\nThere are now effectively two terms inside the TV app that both refer to the same area in the app’s Home tab. I haven’t spent much time with this change yet, but I do wish Apple had chosen to add a dedicated Watchlist tab to the app instead — and I’m worried that this change in terminology will only add more complexity and confusion to a rather rapidly evolving app.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/upnext-1729879120037.png\")
In the TV app’s Home tab, the Up Next queue is now known as ‘Continue Watching’. To manually add a movie or TV show to this queue, select ‘Add to Watchlist’.
Updated design for the emoji keyboard. The emoji keyboard has been updated to pave the way for the upcoming Genmoji feature in iOS 18.2. The emoji grid is now larger, Memoji and custom stickers are included, and the navigation strip for jumping to a specific emoji category now features updated glyphs that are more in line with the design of the emoji contained in the corresponding category. If you’re interested, Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge went into detail on Threads about these design changes to the emoji keyboard.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/emoji-keyboard-1729879117544.png\")
In iOS 18.1, the emoji keyboard now features a larger grid, sections for Memoji and custom stickers, and redesigned glyphs.
Notification badges on the Lock Screen. Grouped notification banners on the Lock Screen are now adorned with an icon badge corresponding to the number of notifications contained within the group. Unlike the existing red notification badges on the Home Screen, these new badges on the Lock Screen are translucent.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/badges-1730025637083.png\")
Updated Calculator history. The new history panel in the Calculator app has been moved. It now resides in a floating sheet that appears above the keypad instead of in the sidebar.
\n![\"Calculator](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/calculator-1730025738624.png\")
Calculator History in iOS 18.0 (left) and iOS 18.1 (right)
RCS Business Messaging. Apple already baked RCS support into the Messages app in iOS 18. Now, the company is expanding it to allow businesses to communicate with their customers over RCS. Keep in mind that RCS Business Messaging will only work if your carrier supports RCS messaging in the first place.
\nSupport for wired Xbox controllers. Since Xbox controllers use a custom fast USB protocol called GIP instead of the standard protocol used by other controllers, they previously couldn’t be used in wired mode with Apple devices. Now, in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 (as well as macOS Sequoia 15.1), Xbox controllers can be used with a wire, just like any other supported controller.
\nSend Game Center invitations directly from the Contacts app. Previously, you could only invite a friend to Game Center via its dedicated section in the Settings app. In iOS and iPadOS 18.1, you can send a Game Center invitation directly from the Contacts app.
\nShare songs from Apple Music to TikTok. Just as you’ve been able to with Instagram, you can now share songs from the Apple Music app to TikTok via the share sheet. To share a song to TikTok, long press on any track, tap ‘Share’, then select the TikTok app from the share sheet.
\nThat’s it for iOS and iPadOS 18.1. Overall, despite the focus on its new Apple Intelligence features, this release still includes a significant list of non-AI changes and additions. Still, it will be interesting to see how Apple continues to update its operating systems over the next year while managing to ship its upcoming waves of Apple Intelligence features.
\nYou can update your device to iOS and iPadOS 18.1 today by navigating to Settings → General → Software Update.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18.1, the first major release since the operating system versions that launched in September and were reviewed by Federico.\nAs you may know, the main highlight of this new release is the first wave of Apple Intelligence features available to the public. AI has arrived, and for better or for worse for Apple’s platforms, this is only the beginning. Be sure to check out John’s review of all the new Apple Intelligence features included in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 (as well as macOS Sequoia 15.1) for the details.\nFortunately, Apple Intelligence isn’t the only highlight of this release. It also includes a series of changes to the system, from Control Center and the Camera app to Shortcuts and the arrival of new health features for AirPods Pro 2 users.\nHere’s a roundup of everything new besides Apple Intelligence in iOS and iPadOS 18.1.\n\nControl Center\n\nControl Center received a major overhaul in iOS and iPadOS 18. It is now fully customizable, can span across multiple pages, and supports custom controls provided by third-party apps installed on your device.\nWith iOS and iPadOS 18.1, Apple has enriched Control Center with a handful of new built-in connectivity controls that can be individually added from the gallery and placed anywhere in your custom Control Center layout. These new standalone controls exist alongside the previously available ‘Connectivity’ tile, which bundles together all of the main connectivity controls.\nThese are all the standalone connectivity controls available in iOS 18.1:\nWi-Fi\nCellular Data\nBluetooth\nVPN\nPersonal Hotspot\nAirDrop\nAirplane Mode\nSatellite\nIn addition to these new connectivity controls, you’ll also find two other new controls: ‘Measure’ and ‘Level’. These allow you to quickly open the Measure app directly in either of its main tabs.\nNow, if you’ve always found Control Center to be hard to reach with one hand, especially on any of the taller iPhone models, you’ll be glad to hear that iOS 18.1 comes with a new Shortcuts action to open, close, or toggle Control Center. In practice, this means that it is now possible to reassign one of your two Lock Screen controls to open Control Center without having to form a claw with your hand to reach the top of the screen.\nAll you need to do is create a new shortcut with the new ‘Show Control Center’ action and customize one of the two controls on your Lock Screen to trigger that shortcut. Alternatively, you can assign your shortcut to the Action button or place it anywhere in the bottom half of your Home Screen for easy access.\n\nFinally, Apple has added an easy way to reset Control Center to its default layout. This is useful whether you’re looking to start customizing your Control Center from scratch or you’re simply content with Apple’s default layout. To reset Control Center, head to Settings → Control Center and tap ‘Reset Control Center’.\nCamera\n\nThe Camera app has been updated in iOS 18.1 to feature a new dedicated ‘Spatial’ mode. If you own an iPhone 15 Pro, 16, or 16 Pro, this mode will allow you to shoot spatial photos and videos thanks to the vertically-oriented camera sensors on those devices. When in this mode, to the right of the shutter button, you will find a two-way switch for toggling between capturing photos and videos. Previously, shooting spatial photos and videos was available via a toggle within the Camera app’s regular Photo and Video tabs.\nAdditionally, if you own an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro, you can now use the Camera Control to switch between the front- and rear-facing cameras with a couple of swipes and light presses.\nHearing Health Features for the AirPods Pro 2\nHearing Test results in the Health app in iOS 18.1. Source: Apple.\nLast month at its September 2024 event, Apple unveiled a series of major new health features coming to the AirPods Pro 2. These include the ability for users to take a hearing test, use the AirPods as over-the-counter hearing aids, and benefit from a new on-by-default hearing protection mode that will automatically lower loud environmental noise across all listening modes (Transparency, Adaptive Audio, and Noise Cancellation).\nThese new hearing health features will start rolling out today with the release of iOS 18.1 and an accompanying firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2 (version 7B19 or later), which should automatically install on users’ earbuds over the coming days. While there is no way to manually update your AirPods, you can increase your chances by keeping your AirPods Pro 2 fully charged and in their charging case overnight. Once your AirPods Pro 2 are properly updated – and once your region becomes eligible – head to the Health app on your iPhone to start your hearing test.\nApple has detailed on a new support page the worldwide availability of each of the new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2.\nAnd More…\nYou’ll find a handful of other changes in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 as well:\nChange the primary email address associated with your Apple Account. As most trans people know, changing your name online is particularly difficult. Name changes often require that you create an entirely new account when they aren’t supported by a service provider. While Apple already lets you update your first and last name on your Apple Account pretty easily, until today it was not straightforward to change the primary email associated with your account. This was a problem because the primary email address is not only used to sign in and recover your account, but it is also visible to people you collaborate and share documents with using iCloud. So if the email address you used to create your account contained your former name, you were out of luck.\nFortunately, in iOS and iPadOS 18.1, you can now easily set any of the email addresses associated with your Apple Account as the primary email to be used by Apple. To add an email address and choose a new primary email for your Apple Account, head to Settings, tap your name at the top of the screen, and choose ‘Sign-In & Security’.\nIn iOS 18.1, you can set any email address associated with your Apple Account as the primary email to be used by Apple.\nTwo new names for the Up Next queue in the Apple TV app. Starting with iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 18.1, what used to be known as the Up Next queue in the Apple TV app is now called ‘Continue Watching’. It is still positioned below the carousel at the top of the Home tab, and it still functions essentially in the same way, letting you jump back into an unfinished movie, start watching a newly released episode, or play a movie or TV show that you have manually saved to the list. Consequently, the option to manually add a piece of media to the list has also been renamed to ‘Add to Watchlist’.\nThere are now effectively two terms inside the TV app that both refer to the same area in the app’s Home tab. I haven’t spent much time with this change yet, but I do wish Apple had chosen to add a dedicated Watchlist tab to the app instead — and I’m worried that this change in terminology will only add more complexity and confusion to a rather rapidly evolving app.\nIn the TV app’s Home tab, the Up Next queue is now known as ‘Continue Watching’. To manually add a movie or TV show to this queue, select ‘Add to Watchlist’.\nUpdated design for the emoji keyboard. The emoji keyboard has been updated to pave the way for the upcoming Genmoji feature in iOS 18.2. The emoji grid is now larger, Memoji and custom stickers are included, and the navigation strip for jumping to a specific emoji category now features updated glyphs that are more in line with the design of the emoji contained in the corresponding category. If you’re interested, Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge went into detail on Threads about these design changes to the emoji keyboard.\nIn iOS 18.1, the emoji keyboard now features a larger grid, sections for Memoji and custom stickers, and redesigned glyphs.\nNotification badges on the Lock Screen. Grouped notification banners on the Lock Screen are now adorned with an icon badge corresponding to the number of notifications contained within the group. Unlike the existing red notification badges on the Home Screen, these new badges on the Lock Screen are translucent.\n\nUpdated Calculator history. The new history panel in the Calculator app has been moved. It now resides in a floating sheet that appears above the keypad instead of in the sidebar.\nCalculator History in iOS 18.0 (left) and iOS 18.1 (right)\nRCS Business Messaging. Apple already baked RCS support into the Messages app in iOS 18. Now, the company is expanding it to allow businesses to communicate with their customers over RCS. Keep in mind that RCS Business Messaging will only work if your carrier supports RCS messaging in the first place.\nSupport for wired Xbox controllers. Since Xbox controllers use a custom fast USB protocol called GIP instead of the standard protocol used by other controllers, they previously couldn’t be used in wired mode with Apple devices. Now, in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 (as well as macOS Sequoia 15.1), Xbox controllers can be used with a wire, just like any other supported controller.\nSend Game Center invitations directly from the Contacts app. Previously, you could only invite a friend to Game Center via its dedicated section in the Settings app. In iOS and iPadOS 18.1, you can send a Game Center invitation directly from the Contacts app.\nShare songs from Apple Music to TikTok. Just as you’ve been able to with Instagram, you can now share songs from the Apple Music app to TikTok via the share sheet. To share a song to TikTok, long press on any track, tap ‘Share’, then select the TikTok app from the share sheet.\nThat’s it for iOS and iPadOS 18.1. Overall, despite the focus on its new Apple Intelligence features, this release still includes a significant list of non-AI changes and additions. Still, it will be interesting to see how Apple continues to update its operating systems over the next year while managing to ship its upcoming waves of Apple Intelligence features.\nYou can update your device to iOS and iPadOS 18.1 today by navigating to Settings → General → Software Update.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-10-28T11:04:07-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-10-28T14:38:21-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "control center", "iOS 18", "iPadOS 18", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76962", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/postcards-and-a-mac-nileanes-desk-setup/", "title": "Postcards and a Mac: Nil\u00e9ane\u2019s Desk Setup", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/nileanesdeskhero-1729274366328.jpeg\")
It’s been a while since I last showed off my desk. The last time I did so as part of MacStories Weekly Issue 405 in February, I had just acquired an 11-inch iPad Pro, and my desk looked quite different than it does now. It had an imposing corner shelf holding a variety of plushies, accessories, and other knickknacks, in addition to providing support for my microphone arm. Overall, it felt a lot more cluttered than it does now.
\nAs the months went on, I’ve had to rethink my desktop layout to accommodate the many changes that I’ve made to my device usage. Now more than ever, my M2 MacBook Air is at the center of everything I do – so much so that the iPad Pro is now nothing more than an eBook reader for me and rarely lives on my desk as a result. This summer, we also launched Comfort Zone, a new weekly show in the MacStories family of podcasts. Since Comfort Zone is both an audio and video podcast, I started recording video at my desk for the first time ever, which also meant that I had to tweak my desk to optimize it for lighting and a new microphone setup.
\nIn the end, these changes have added up to a completely new desk setup. So today, I’m going to take you on a quick desk tour. Let me walk you through the main highlights of what makes this desk my favorite little corner in our home.
\n\nFirst, I should once again address that this is a small desk tucked into a small space. For some context, my partner and I live in a three-room apartment in Grenoble, France. While this means that we get to enjoy great views of the French Alps from most of our windows, it also means that we’ve had to reach a compromise to keep our workspaces separate during the day. As a result, my partner got to install their sizable desk in the dedicated spare room, and I got to settle mine in our bedroom. This is the main reason why I have to keep my desk space cozy and compact.
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/deskside-1729274369099.jpeg\")
My desk corner in our main bedroom.
The main thing you may notice when looking at my desk is the monitor hooked up to my M2 MacBook Air. It’s the 28.2-inch Huawei MateView, which I grabbed on sale a couple of years ago for about $450.1 Huawei is not usually a brand that inspires confidence in me. And yet, I absolutely love this monitor and its unusual 3:2 aspect ratio. It makes for a taller, narrower canvas that is perfect for browsing the web (allowing you to see more of a web page at once) or working on designs in Figma, and it’s still comfortably wide enough for watching videos and playing videogames. For a monitor of this price, I’ve also been pretty impressed with the decent color accuracy and apparent contrast ratio that it provides at a 4K resolution. While I would probably save for a more expensive display today, I’m going to hold on to this one for as long as I can — mostly because I fear going back to a standard 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio now.
\nThe M2 MacBook Air sits on a TwelveSouth HiRise Pro stand that’s height-adjustable and made of sturdy aluminum. I used to keep the Mac closed in a vertical stand tucked behind the monitor, but I’ve come to realize how handy it is being able to occasionally open it to use the built-in display alongside my main screen. I do this when I’m on video calls to keep the call window visible while I’m working, or when I want to watch a video on the side. Otherwise, I like to keep the MacBook lid closed and focus on a single screen.
\nBetween the Mac and the monitor, I’ve installed a Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro. I’ve owned this dock for a long time, and it still works perfectly enough today that I’ve not felt the need to upgrade to a newer, more expensive Thunderbolt 4 dock. It offers two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one full-sized DisplayPort, an Ethernet port, five USB-A ports (including one on the front), a standard USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and one front-facing SD card slot. Almost everything on my desk, including a Belkin height-adjustable MagSafe stand for my iPhone, is now hooked to the Mac by this dock, and I’ve still got ports to spare.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/belkindock-1729274368461.jpeg\")
The Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro
![\"I've](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/belkinmagsafe-1729274369948.jpeg\")
I’ve settled on this Belkin height-adjustable MagSafe stand, which perfectly fits under the monitor at its lowest height.
In my last desk setup showcase, I was using a Blue Yeti microphone for calls and the occasional podcast recording. This microphone is still in great condition and is now being used by my partner as part of their own desk setup. The reason I let it go is that I was not quite satisfied with how it made me sound. My voice already sounds deeper than I would like, and I found that the Yeti exacerbated that impression. So now, I’m using the Audio-Technica ATR2100X microphone.
\nThis one isn’t perfect by any means, but it sounds a lot closer to what I want, and most importantly, it is very affordable. Another positive aspect about the ATR2100X is that it can connect via both XLR and USB-C. Since I didn’t want to invest in an audio interface just yet, this straightforward connectivity was perfect for me. The microphone is connected directly to the Belkin dock via USB-C, and I always keep a 3.5mm to Lightning cable dangling from its built-in headphone jack so I can use my AirPods Max for monitoring while I record Comfort Zone.
\nThe microphone sits on the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP.2 This microphone arm caused me quite a few headaches in the past few months. As you may have noticed, my desk has two built-in drawers that I find incredibly useful to store cables, medications, and other items that I need on a daily basis. However, the drawback of these drawers is that I simply can’t use the built-in clamp that comes with this microphone arm (or any other microphone arm) to attach it to the side of the desk. Elgato has a solution for this: the Heavy Base. You can use the Heavy Base’s offset mount to attach the Wave Mic Arm LP, then simply set the base down on your desk. This is perfect if your desk is too thick to accommodate a clamp. Unfortunately, for the past few months, the Heavy Base was out of stock pretty much everywhere I looked, and when retailers had one in stock, they always had the old version without the offset mount. In the end, it was only this month that I was finally able to order one from a German music store. It works exactly as intended, and the arm is firmly mounted to the base and stable.
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/micarm-1729274371426.jpeg\")
My Audio-Technica ATR2100X attached to the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP, itself mounted to the Elgato Heavy Base
When it comes to recording video for the podcast, all I use is an old iPhone SE from 2020. This phone used to belong to my partner, and today it barely holds a charge. But despite the iPhone SE’s age and its smaller camera sensor, the video quality is still miles ahead of most off-the-shelf webcams, and it has been serving me well for video calls over the past few years, and now Comfort Zone on YouTube. To mount the iPhone on my desk, I’ve come up with a somewhat hacky solution. With the help of a MagSafe-compatible case, I’ve attached the iPhone to a Belkin MagSafe mount, which itself is mounted on top of the beautiful LEGO Orchid set. Yes, I know; I’m a genius.
\nDespite the hacky vibes of this camera mounting contraption, I just love how I’ve been able to revive this phone as a webcam thanks to Continuity Camera on macOS. If you have an older iPhone lying around in a closet, I highly recommend trying to use it as a webcam. It’s a pretty good bargain.
\n![\"Here's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/legoorchid-1729274364619.jpeg\")
Here’s my genius video recording contraption made out of an old iPhone SE, a MagSafe mount, and a LEGO plant.
To light up the desk, I use the BenQ ScreenBar Halo, which John reviewed on MacStories. This light bar is perched on top of my monitor and is able to shine a diffuse glow behind the monitor, as well as down in front of the monitor where my Magic Keyboard and Trackpad are. The result is a super cozy vibe both at night and during the day. Purchasing the ScreenBar Halo prevented me from going down the rabbit hole of setting up a couple of light strips around the back of the desk, so I’m glad I went this route instead. It has been a wonderful addition to this atmosphere of this workspace corner.
\nIn addition to the ScreenBar Halo on top of my monitor, I’ve also recently added the Elgato Key Light Neo. The Key Light Neo is a more affordable alternative to the company’s larger Key Lights, and it’s a great way to light yourself up on camera without taking up too much space on an already crowded desk. I’ve been using it for the past two Comfort Zone recordings, and it’s done a lot to improve the look of my video feed.
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/lighting-1729274368985.jpeg\")
My monitor holds both the BenQ ScreenBar Halo and the Elgato Key Light Neo.
I’m a firm believer that good lighting and color choices are not enough to ensure that a desk looks and feels like a cozy corner where you’d want to spend ten hours at a time. For this reason, even though the corner shelf filled with plushies and knickknacks is gone, I still wanted to keep my field of view filled with fun and cute items. So you’ll probably be able to spot a tiny Baby Yoda figurine, a third-generation iPod Nano, and a yellow corgi-shaped fidget toy lying about the surface of the desk.
\nOn the wall, I’ve hung a sample of my collection of favorite postcards. Those include a set of beautiful (and colorful) postcards from our last Berlin trip hugging the left wall, as well as postcards from my home island of La Réunion surrounding Stephen Hackett’s 2024 Apple History Calendar. I would like to say that I’ve arranged them in a specific and thoughtfully-considered pattern, but the only real pattern here is vibes.
\nNow, obviously, this setup will keep evolving. On my list of probable additions in the near future is an audio interface and a second yellow HomePod mini so I can finally listen to music in stereo when I’m not wearing headphones. I’m also not quite satisfied with my keyboard situation. I’m still using Apple’s Magic Keyboard, and the only real reason is that I can’t imagine myself doing without its built-in Touch ID sensor.
\nStill, I think I’ve reached a good place with this desk corner. I’ve been able to keep all of it contained, and so far, my partner is glad that our bedroom has not been overrun with my tech devices and accessories. Most crucially, this small corner feels like a space where I enjoy spending time, from early in the morning all the way to sleepless nights.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "It’s been a while since I last showed off my desk. The last time I did so as part of MacStories Weekly Issue 405 in February, I had just acquired an 11-inch iPad Pro, and my desk looked quite different than it does now. It had an imposing corner shelf holding a variety of plushies, accessories, and other knickknacks, in addition to providing support for my microphone arm. Overall, it felt a lot more cluttered than it does now.\nAs the months went on, I’ve had to rethink my desktop layout to accommodate the many changes that I’ve made to my device usage. Now more than ever, my M2 MacBook Air is at the center of everything I do – so much so that the iPad Pro is now nothing more than an eBook reader for me and rarely lives on my desk as a result. This summer, we also launched Comfort Zone, a new weekly show in the MacStories family of podcasts. Since Comfort Zone is both an audio and video podcast, I started recording video at my desk for the first time ever, which also meant that I had to tweak my desk to optimize it for lighting and a new microphone setup.\nIn the end, these changes have added up to a completely new desk setup. So today, I’m going to take you on a quick desk tour. Let me walk you through the main highlights of what makes this desk my favorite little corner in our home.\n\nFirst, I should once again address that this is a small desk tucked into a small space. For some context, my partner and I live in a three-room apartment in Grenoble, France. While this means that we get to enjoy great views of the French Alps from most of our windows, it also means that we’ve had to reach a compromise to keep our workspaces separate during the day. As a result, my partner got to install their sizable desk in the dedicated spare room, and I got to settle mine in our bedroom. This is the main reason why I have to keep my desk space cozy and compact.\nMy desk corner in our main bedroom.\nThe main thing you may notice when looking at my desk is the monitor hooked up to my M2 MacBook Air. It’s the 28.2-inch Huawei MateView, which I grabbed on sale a couple of years ago for about $450.1 Huawei is not usually a brand that inspires confidence in me. And yet, I absolutely love this monitor and its unusual 3:2 aspect ratio. It makes for a taller, narrower canvas that is perfect for browsing the web (allowing you to see more of a web page at once) or working on designs in Figma, and it’s still comfortably wide enough for watching videos and playing videogames. For a monitor of this price, I’ve also been pretty impressed with the decent color accuracy and apparent contrast ratio that it provides at a 4K resolution. While I would probably save for a more expensive display today, I’m going to hold on to this one for as long as I can — mostly because I fear going back to a standard 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio now.\nThe M2 MacBook Air sits on a TwelveSouth HiRise Pro stand that’s height-adjustable and made of sturdy aluminum. I used to keep the Mac closed in a vertical stand tucked behind the monitor, but I’ve come to realize how handy it is being able to occasionally open it to use the built-in display alongside my main screen. I do this when I’m on video calls to keep the call window visible while I’m working, or when I want to watch a video on the side. Otherwise, I like to keep the MacBook lid closed and focus on a single screen.\nBetween the Mac and the monitor, I’ve installed a Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro. I’ve owned this dock for a long time, and it still works perfectly enough today that I’ve not felt the need to upgrade to a newer, more expensive Thunderbolt 4 dock. It offers two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one full-sized DisplayPort, an Ethernet port, five USB-A ports (including one on the front), a standard USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and one front-facing SD card slot. Almost everything on my desk, including a Belkin height-adjustable MagSafe stand for my iPhone, is now hooked to the Mac by this dock, and I’ve still got ports to spare.\nThe Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro\nI’ve settled on this Belkin height-adjustable MagSafe stand, which perfectly fits under the monitor at its lowest height.\nIn my last desk setup showcase, I was using a Blue Yeti microphone for calls and the occasional podcast recording. This microphone is still in great condition and is now being used by my partner as part of their own desk setup. The reason I let it go is that I was not quite satisfied with how it made me sound. My voice already sounds deeper than I would like, and I found that the Yeti exacerbated that impression. So now, I’m using the Audio-Technica ATR2100X microphone.\nThis one isn’t perfect by any means, but it sounds a lot closer to what I want, and most importantly, it is very affordable. Another positive aspect about the ATR2100X is that it can connect via both XLR and USB-C. Since I didn’t want to invest in an audio interface just yet, this straightforward connectivity was perfect for me. The microphone is connected directly to the Belkin dock via USB-C, and I always keep a 3.5mm to Lightning cable dangling from its built-in headphone jack so I can use my AirPods Max for monitoring while I record Comfort Zone.\nThe microphone sits on the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP.2 This microphone arm caused me quite a few headaches in the past few months. As you may have noticed, my desk has two built-in drawers that I find incredibly useful to store cables, medications, and other items that I need on a daily basis. However, the drawback of these drawers is that I simply can’t use the built-in clamp that comes with this microphone arm (or any other microphone arm) to attach it to the side of the desk. Elgato has a solution for this: the Heavy Base. You can use the Heavy Base’s offset mount to attach the Wave Mic Arm LP, then simply set the base down on your desk. This is perfect if your desk is too thick to accommodate a clamp. Unfortunately, for the past few months, the Heavy Base was out of stock pretty much everywhere I looked, and when retailers had one in stock, they always had the old version without the offset mount. In the end, it was only this month that I was finally able to order one from a German music store. It works exactly as intended, and the arm is firmly mounted to the base and stable.\nMy Audio-Technica ATR2100X attached to the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP, itself mounted to the Elgato Heavy Base\nWhen it comes to recording video for the podcast, all I use is an old iPhone SE from 2020. This phone used to belong to my partner, and today it barely holds a charge. But despite the iPhone SE’s age and its smaller camera sensor, the video quality is still miles ahead of most off-the-shelf webcams, and it has been serving me well for video calls over the past few years, and now Comfort Zone on YouTube. To mount the iPhone on my desk, I’ve come up with a somewhat hacky solution. With the help of a MagSafe-compatible case, I’ve attached the iPhone to a Belkin MagSafe mount, which itself is mounted on top of the beautiful LEGO Orchid set. Yes, I know; I’m a genius.\nDespite the hacky vibes of this camera mounting contraption, I just love how I’ve been able to revive this phone as a webcam thanks to Continuity Camera on macOS. If you have an older iPhone lying around in a closet, I highly recommend trying to use it as a webcam. It’s a pretty good bargain.\nHere’s my genius video recording contraption made out of an old iPhone SE, a MagSafe mount, and a LEGO plant.\nTo light up the desk, I use the BenQ ScreenBar Halo, which John reviewed on MacStories. This light bar is perched on top of my monitor and is able to shine a diffuse glow behind the monitor, as well as down in front of the monitor where my Magic Keyboard and Trackpad are. The result is a super cozy vibe both at night and during the day. Purchasing the ScreenBar Halo prevented me from going down the rabbit hole of setting up a couple of light strips around the back of the desk, so I’m glad I went this route instead. It has been a wonderful addition to this atmosphere of this workspace corner.\nIn addition to the ScreenBar Halo on top of my monitor, I’ve also recently added the Elgato Key Light Neo. The Key Light Neo is a more affordable alternative to the company’s larger Key Lights, and it’s a great way to light yourself up on camera without taking up too much space on an already crowded desk. I’ve been using it for the past two Comfort Zone recordings, and it’s done a lot to improve the look of my video feed.\nMy monitor holds both the BenQ ScreenBar Halo and the Elgato Key Light Neo.\nI’m a firm believer that good lighting and color choices are not enough to ensure that a desk looks and feels like a cozy corner where you’d want to spend ten hours at a time. For this reason, even though the corner shelf filled with plushies and knickknacks is gone, I still wanted to keep my field of view filled with fun and cute items. So you’ll probably be able to spot a tiny Baby Yoda figurine, a third-generation iPod Nano, and a yellow corgi-shaped fidget toy lying about the surface of the desk.\nOn the wall, I’ve hung a sample of my collection of favorite postcards. Those include a set of beautiful (and colorful) postcards from our last Berlin trip hugging the left wall, as well as postcards from my home island of La Réunion surrounding Stephen Hackett’s 2024 Apple History Calendar. I would like to say that I’ve arranged them in a specific and thoughtfully-considered pattern, but the only real pattern here is vibes.\nNow, obviously, this setup will keep evolving. On my list of probable additions in the near future is an audio interface and a second yellow HomePod mini so I can finally listen to music in stereo when I’m not wearing headphones. I’m also not quite satisfied with my keyboard situation. I’m still using Apple’s Magic Keyboard, and the only real reason is that I can’t imagine myself doing without its built-in Touch ID sensor.\nStill, I think I’ve reached a good place with this desk corner. I’ve been able to keep all of it contained, and so far, my partner is glad that our bedroom has not been overrun with my tech devices and accessories. Most crucially, this small corner feels like a space where I enjoy spending time, from early in the morning all the way to sleepless nights.\n\n\nThe 28.2-inch Huawei MateView seems to have been discontinued sometime in 2023. ↩︎\n\n\n“LP” stands for “low profile”. ↩︎\n\n\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-10-21T14:01:20-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-10-21T16:04:27-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "setups", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76827", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/roundups/adding-to-my-macs-swiss-army-knife-a-raycast-extension-roundup/", "title": "Adding to My Mac\u2019s Swiss Army Knife: A Raycast Extension Roundup", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/macbook-air-2022-1728325841316.png\")
If you have ever heard or seen me talk about my macOS setup, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Raycast. A few years ago, Raycast took off on the Mac as an incredible alternative to Spotlight and the long-time Mac power user favorite, Alfred. Today, it has cemented itself as an essential piece of software in my daily workflows.
\nRaycast’s main strength is that it’s fast. It lets you launch apps, run shortcuts, and manage your windows with straightforward commands, and it is extremely flexible in the way that it allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts and aliases to any command.
\nThat being said, I believe the one aspect of Raycast that drives the tool to its maximum potential is its ecosystem of third-party extensions. Developers can build their own commands and offer them in the Raycast extensions store for free. The store, which users can access by typing “Store” directly in the Raycast search bar, has hundreds of extensions available that vary in functionality and quality. And while some of those optional extensions can be pretty simple or offer a single feature each, the way that they come together to turn Raycast into a Swiss Army knife for your workflows on the Mac makes each of them valuable in their own respect.
\nSo today, rather than highlight Raycast’s well-known built-in features, I thought I would round up some of my favorite optional extensions instead. Here’s a word of warning: some extensions in this list are very specific. But at the same time, though, they’ve each become an integral part of my Mac’s Swiss Army knife.
\nAlright, let’s get into it.
\n\nSince English is not my native language, I tend to rely on translation multiple times per day. The way that I use translation is quite specific: I mostly use it to proofread my English writing by translating it back into French. I’ve found that this trick helps me make sure that my sentences make sense and that I’m not misusing any French idioms that don’t translate well into English. (This happens way too often, believe it or not.)
\nWhile Apple’s Translate app has only gotten better in recent years and its integration into macOS is very practical, I’ve found that the quality of its translations still isn’t up to the task in many instances. This is the reason I’ve gone back to DeepL as my main translation service. And thanks to Deepcast, a Raycast extension that lets you use DeepL from any text field on macOS, it has become just as practical as Apple’s integrated translation features.
\nWith Deepcast installed, translating text is as easy as selecting it and triggering one of its commands in Raycast. As with anything in Raycast, this can be done by invoking the launcher and typing in the command, or by pressing a keyboard shortcut of your choice. In my setup, I’ve assigned the alias “fr” to Deepcast’s ‘Translate to French’ command and the alias “en” to its ‘Translate to English’ command. Now, no matter what I’m currently working on, translating a string of text is always just three key presses away.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/deepcast-1728322483829.gif\")
If, like me, you rely on translation on a daily basis, I strongly recommend giving Deepcast a try. The extension requires a DeepL API key to work. However, it’s worth mentioning that, even though I use the extension tens of times every day, DeepL’s free API plan has been more than enough for my use case, and I’m never close to reaching its daily usage cap.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-48-2x-1728323331344.png\")
Link Cleaner is another extension that comes in handy when I’m writing and posting on Mastodon. The extension does one thing, and does it well: copy any link to your clipboard and invoke the Link Cleaner command via Raycast, and it will immediately strip tracking parameters from the URL.
\nTracking parameters are often added to URLs on the web and are mostly used by platforms for analytics purposes – for advertising optimizations. Even if they’re harmless in most cases, tracking parameters tend to over-lengthen your shared URLs, and they tend to make links less readable to anyone who attempts to parse them before clicking on them. Link Cleaner is a great, simple way to clean up your links before sharing them.
\nWhile we’re in the link-sharing department, let’s also mention the QR Code Generator extension. QR codes are useful in so many instances that I’m not going to attempt to sum up their infinite use cases here. As a result, there are plenty of websites online that let you generate a QR code for a given link. However, most of these websites tend to be unnecessarily complicated to use, if not sometimes outright bound to shady practices wherein anyone who scans your generated codes will be routed through undisclosed third-party domains to generate ad revenue.
\nFortunately, this QR Code Generator extension for Raycast doesn’t do any of that. To use it, copy a link to your clipboard and invoke the extension’s command, and it will immediately generate a simple QR code image that you can save and share however you like. It is a great tiny tool to add to your Raycast Swiss Army knife.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-38-2x-1728322721264.png\")
Type Snob is an extension that lets you search for a selection of typographic characters that may not be easily typed with a regular Latin keyboard layout. This includes a variety of punctuation characters (dashes, quotations marks, ellipses, and more), as well as basic mathematical characters. To use it, invoke the extension’s ‘Copy Character’ command in Raycast, search for a character, and press Enter to copy it to your clipboard.
\nAnother useful feature of the extension is its relatively hidden ability to let you copy the HTML code for every character (by pressing Command + K then selecting ‘Copy HTML’), which is very useful if you’re using them in a web development project. But even if you’re only using it in a writing or editing context, Type Snob is a good extension to have on hand.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-39-2x-1728322776231.png\")
Just like Federico, I’ve been struggling in my search for a read later app. As a result, over the past few weeks, I’ve started using Safari’s Reading List feature again to save articles for later. Apart from the addition of a table of contents and summaries to the Reader view in Safari, Reading List hasn’t evolved much. It is still limited to marking links as either read or unread, and it’s still constrained to the Safari sidebar and the browser’s customizable start page.
\nThat being said, it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that the unofficial Safari extension for Raycast features a ‘Search Reading List’ command. The command is straightforward and simply displays your Reading List items directly inside the Raycast window. Yet, this keyboard-first approach that lets you open one of your read later items in just a few taps has made a world of difference for me. Not only that, but the command also allows you to quickly search through your Reading List items and even copy any of them in Markdown syntax.
\nUsing this command has made me realize how cumbersome it was to constantly have to open the Safari sidebar to access my Reading List. Maybe Apple can take some inspiration here and bake Safari Reading List directly into Spotlight.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-43-2x-1728323047911.png\")
We’re now touching on a category of Raycast extensions that may speak more to designers and developers. The first one of those in this list is Color Picker. Just as its name suggests, Color Picker is an extension that, when invoked, turns your mouse cursor into a loupe. Click anywhere on your screen to select a pixel, and the corresponding color code will be copied to your clipboard. You can configure the extension to use your preferred color format (HEX, RGB, HSL, and more), and you can use its additional ‘Color Wheel’ command to pick a color from… well, a color wheel.
\nIn addition to picking new colors, the extension also lets you access and manage the full history of your previously picked colors with the ‘Organize Colors’ command. There, you can copy colors in any of the supported color code formats and even assign custom names to them so you can find them again later. But it doesn’t stop there; in the extension’s settings, you also have the option to add Color Picker directly to the menu bar, which means you can use this extension entirely without having to remember a Raycast command.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/colorpicker-1728322974878.gif\")
In my months spent developing my custom theme for Mastodon, the Color Picker extension has been an amazingly useful tool. While I’m sure there are more advanced color tools on the Mac, I recommend checking it out if, like me, you just need a simple color picker to get by.
\nIn a similar vein to Color Picker, the Ruler extension is a basic utility for designers and developers that probably won’t replace anything more advanced that you may already be using. All it does is let you drag segments on your screen to measure distances in pixels. This is useful when designing mockups, when referencing inspiration material, and even in some debugging scenarios when you need to check if an object of any kind is correctly sized onscreen.
\nTo use it, invoke the extension’s ‘Ruler’ command and click anywhere to start dragging a segment. Just as you would expect, you can also hold the Shift key to snap your measuring segment to regular angles if required.
\n![\"So](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivory-2024-10-07-19-52-1728323589667.gif\")
So my cat is… 289 pixels wide.
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-50-2x-1728323431793.png\")
Now, let’s talk about Git for a minute. Git is a powerful piece of software that helps you minutely manage your projects and their version history. The unfortunate thing about Git is how extraordinarily complex it can be; not only is it complex to learn, but this complexity also gets exponentially worse every time your project grows in size and number of collaborators. Branch, merge, rebase, checkout, stash – those words and many more swirl around in front of my eyes whenever I need to type a Git command that’s not just ‘commit’ or ‘push’. If you’ve ever used Git, I’m willing to bet that you can relate to this feeling, at least to some extent.
\nThis is why it never hurts to equip yourself with a couple of Git cheat sheets. Git Commands and GitHub CLI Manual are two similar extensions that let you browse and search for Git commands. The former is ideal if you are already familiar with Git and just need the occasional reminder, while the latter is basically a way to quickly search through GitHub’s Git documentation so you can learn commands as you go.
\nIf you deal with Git on a regular basis, I recommend adding these two to your Raycast setup.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-54-2x-1728323699601.png\")
For those times when I need to step away from the desk for a minute but don’t want to let my Mac go to sleep for fear of interrupting an important process (such as a video export or a long-running Terminal command), I use a Raycast extension called Coffee. When active, Coffee temporarily overrides your Mac’s screen saver and sleep settings, ensuring your Mac stays awake.
\nCoffee includes several commands that allow you to toggle it on and off, activate it for a set duration, or keep it active as long as a specific application is running on your Mac. Just like the aforementioned Color Picker extension, Coffee can even be added to your menu bar so you can control it without having to invoke the Raycast search bar. The menu bar icon will also reflect the extension’s current state so you can tell at a glance whether your Mac is caffeinated or not.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-47-2-2x-1728323269279.png\")
\nAs a bonus pick, I’m going to recommend the great Twitch extension for Raycast. I spend a significant part of my days and nights on Twitch, although most of the time I keep it in Picture-in-Picture or listen to it in the background while I’m working in other apps. Here’s the thing, though: unless you enable push notifications on your iPhone, there is no easy way to know when one of your favorite streamers goes live while you’re on the Mac.
This is where the Twitch extension for Raycast comes in. It allows you to log in with your Twitch account and browse through your followed channels. But the best part is that it can also be added to your Mac menu bar where you can easily tell at a glance how many of your favorite streamers are currently live. If you click the menu bar icon, it will even show you who is currently live, and from there, you can click a channel’s name to immediately start watching in the browser.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-10-07-19-45-2x-1728323132937.png\")
This extension has been a great way to keep up with my favorite streamers without having to enable Twitch’s slightly obnoxious push notifications on my phone.
\nI warned you that some extensions in this list would be extremely specific, but keep in mind that this is precisely why they’ve been so valuable to me. My hope is that this list will give you the urge to search through the Raycast extensions store in order to fulfill your own extremely specific Mac workflow needs.
\nOn a slightly less positive note, at a time when Raycast is rapidly expanding its ambitions, I’ve come to realize how much I depend on its tiny and powerful ecosystem of features and extensions to enjoy working on the Mac. And if I’m honest, I must say I’m increasingly worried that I’m knowingly putting all my eggs in a basket that may (or may not) go away one day.
\nStill, I am glad for Raycast’s catalog of third-party extensions. It is tangible proof of success that can only prolong the platform’s life expectancy. After all, Swiss Army knives are meant to last.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "If you have ever heard or seen me talk about my macOS setup, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Raycast. A few years ago, Raycast took off on the Mac as an incredible alternative to Spotlight and the long-time Mac power user favorite, Alfred. Today, it has cemented itself as an essential piece of software in my daily workflows.\nRaycast’s main strength is that it’s fast. It lets you launch apps, run shortcuts, and manage your windows with straightforward commands, and it is extremely flexible in the way that it allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts and aliases to any command.\nThat being said, I believe the one aspect of Raycast that drives the tool to its maximum potential is its ecosystem of third-party extensions. Developers can build their own commands and offer them in the Raycast extensions store for free. The store, which users can access by typing “Store” directly in the Raycast search bar, has hundreds of extensions available that vary in functionality and quality. And while some of those optional extensions can be pretty simple or offer a single feature each, the way that they come together to turn Raycast into a Swiss Army knife for your workflows on the Mac makes each of them valuable in their own respect.\nSo today, rather than highlight Raycast’s well-known built-in features, I thought I would round up some of my favorite optional extensions instead. Here’s a word of warning: some extensions in this list are very specific. But at the same time, though, they’ve each become an integral part of my Mac’s Swiss Army knife.\nAlright, let’s get into it.\n\nDeepcast\nSince English is not my native language, I tend to rely on translation multiple times per day. The way that I use translation is quite specific: I mostly use it to proofread my English writing by translating it back into French. I’ve found that this trick helps me make sure that my sentences make sense and that I’m not misusing any French idioms that don’t translate well into English. (This happens way too often, believe it or not.)\nWhile Apple’s Translate app has only gotten better in recent years and its integration into macOS is very practical, I’ve found that the quality of its translations still isn’t up to the task in many instances. This is the reason I’ve gone back to DeepL as my main translation service. And thanks to Deepcast, a Raycast extension that lets you use DeepL from any text field on macOS, it has become just as practical as Apple’s integrated translation features.\nWith Deepcast installed, translating text is as easy as selecting it and triggering one of its commands in Raycast. As with anything in Raycast, this can be done by invoking the launcher and typing in the command, or by pressing a keyboard shortcut of your choice. In my setup, I’ve assigned the alias “fr” to Deepcast’s ‘Translate to French’ command and the alias “en” to its ‘Translate to English’ command. Now, no matter what I’m currently working on, translating a string of text is always just three key presses away.\n\nIf, like me, you rely on translation on a daily basis, I strongly recommend giving Deepcast a try. The extension requires a DeepL API key to work. However, it’s worth mentioning that, even though I use the extension tens of times every day, DeepL’s free API plan has been more than enough for my use case, and I’m never close to reaching its daily usage cap.\nLink Cleaner\n\nLink Cleaner is another extension that comes in handy when I’m writing and posting on Mastodon. The extension does one thing, and does it well: copy any link to your clipboard and invoke the Link Cleaner command via Raycast, and it will immediately strip tracking parameters from the URL.\nTracking parameters are often added to URLs on the web and are mostly used by platforms for analytics purposes – for advertising optimizations. Even if they’re harmless in most cases, tracking parameters tend to over-lengthen your shared URLs, and they tend to make links less readable to anyone who attempts to parse them before clicking on them. Link Cleaner is a great, simple way to clean up your links before sharing them.\nQR Code Generator\nWhile we’re in the link-sharing department, let’s also mention the QR Code Generator extension. QR codes are useful in so many instances that I’m not going to attempt to sum up their infinite use cases here. As a result, there are plenty of websites online that let you generate a QR code for a given link. However, most of these websites tend to be unnecessarily complicated to use, if not sometimes outright bound to shady practices wherein anyone who scans your generated codes will be routed through undisclosed third-party domains to generate ad revenue.\nFortunately, this QR Code Generator extension for Raycast doesn’t do any of that. To use it, copy a link to your clipboard and invoke the extension’s command, and it will immediately generate a simple QR code image that you can save and share however you like. It is a great tiny tool to add to your Raycast Swiss Army knife.\nType Snob\n\nType Snob is an extension that lets you search for a selection of typographic characters that may not be easily typed with a regular Latin keyboard layout. This includes a variety of punctuation characters (dashes, quotations marks, ellipses, and more), as well as basic mathematical characters. To use it, invoke the extension’s ‘Copy Character’ command in Raycast, search for a character, and press Enter to copy it to your clipboard.\nAnother useful feature of the extension is its relatively hidden ability to let you copy the HTML code for every character (by pressing Command + K then selecting ‘Copy HTML’), which is very useful if you’re using them in a web development project. But even if you’re only using it in a writing or editing context, Type Snob is a good extension to have on hand.\nSafari Reading List\n\nJust like Federico, I’ve been struggling in my search for a read later app. As a result, over the past few weeks, I’ve started using Safari’s Reading List feature again to save articles for later. Apart from the addition of a table of contents and summaries to the Reader view in Safari, Reading List hasn’t evolved much. It is still limited to marking links as either read or unread, and it’s still constrained to the Safari sidebar and the browser’s customizable start page.\nThat being said, it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that the unofficial Safari extension for Raycast features a ‘Search Reading List’ command. The command is straightforward and simply displays your Reading List items directly inside the Raycast window. Yet, this keyboard-first approach that lets you open one of your read later items in just a few taps has made a world of difference for me. Not only that, but the command also allows you to quickly search through your Reading List items and even copy any of them in Markdown syntax.\nUsing this command has made me realize how cumbersome it was to constantly have to open the Safari sidebar to access my Reading List. Maybe Apple can take some inspiration here and bake Safari Reading List directly into Spotlight.\nColor Picker\n\nWe’re now touching on a category of Raycast extensions that may speak more to designers and developers. The first one of those in this list is Color Picker. Just as its name suggests, Color Picker is an extension that, when invoked, turns your mouse cursor into a loupe. Click anywhere on your screen to select a pixel, and the corresponding color code will be copied to your clipboard. You can configure the extension to use your preferred color format (HEX, RGB, HSL, and more), and you can use its additional ‘Color Wheel’ command to pick a color from… well, a color wheel.\nIn addition to picking new colors, the extension also lets you access and manage the full history of your previously picked colors with the ‘Organize Colors’ command. There, you can copy colors in any of the supported color code formats and even assign custom names to them so you can find them again later. But it doesn’t stop there; in the extension’s settings, you also have the option to add Color Picker directly to the menu bar, which means you can use this extension entirely without having to remember a Raycast command.\n\nIn my months spent developing my custom theme for Mastodon, the Color Picker extension has been an amazingly useful tool. While I’m sure there are more advanced color tools on the Mac, I recommend checking it out if, like me, you just need a simple color picker to get by.\nRuler\nIn a similar vein to Color Picker, the Ruler extension is a basic utility for designers and developers that probably won’t replace anything more advanced that you may already be using. All it does is let you drag segments on your screen to measure distances in pixels. This is useful when designing mockups, when referencing inspiration material, and even in some debugging scenarios when you need to check if an object of any kind is correctly sized onscreen.\nTo use it, invoke the extension’s ‘Ruler’ command and click anywhere to start dragging a segment. Just as you would expect, you can also hold the Shift key to snap your measuring segment to regular angles if required.\nSo my cat is… 289 pixels wide.\nGit Commands and GitHub CLI Manual\n\nNow, let’s talk about Git for a minute. Git is a powerful piece of software that helps you minutely manage your projects and their version history. The unfortunate thing about Git is how extraordinarily complex it can be; not only is it complex to learn, but this complexity also gets exponentially worse every time your project grows in size and number of collaborators. Branch, merge, rebase, checkout, stash – those words and many more swirl around in front of my eyes whenever I need to type a Git command that’s not just ‘commit’ or ‘push’. If you’ve ever used Git, I’m willing to bet that you can relate to this feeling, at least to some extent.\nThis is why it never hurts to equip yourself with a couple of Git cheat sheets. Git Commands and GitHub CLI Manual are two similar extensions that let you browse and search for Git commands. The former is ideal if you are already familiar with Git and just need the occasional reminder, while the latter is basically a way to quickly search through GitHub’s Git documentation so you can learn commands as you go.\nIf you deal with Git on a regular basis, I recommend adding these two to your Raycast setup.\nCoffee\n\nFor those times when I need to step away from the desk for a minute but don’t want to let my Mac go to sleep for fear of interrupting an important process (such as a video export or a long-running Terminal command), I use a Raycast extension called Coffee. When active, Coffee temporarily overrides your Mac’s screen saver and sleep settings, ensuring your Mac stays awake.\nCoffee includes several commands that allow you to toggle it on and off, activate it for a set duration, or keep it active as long as a specific application is running on your Mac. Just like the aforementioned Color Picker extension, Coffee can even be added to your menu bar so you can control it without having to invoke the Raycast search bar. The menu bar icon will also reflect the extension’s current state so you can tell at a glance whether your Mac is caffeinated or not.\nBonus Pick: Twitch\n\nAs a bonus pick, I’m going to recommend the great Twitch extension for Raycast. I spend a significant part of my days and nights on Twitch, although most of the time I keep it in Picture-in-Picture or listen to it in the background while I’m working in other apps. Here’s the thing, though: unless you enable push notifications on your iPhone, there is no easy way to know when one of your favorite streamers goes live while you’re on the Mac.\nThis is where the Twitch extension for Raycast comes in. It allows you to log in with your Twitch account and browse through your followed channels. But the best part is that it can also be added to your Mac menu bar where you can easily tell at a glance how many of your favorite streamers are currently live. If you click the menu bar icon, it will even show you who is currently live, and from there, you can click a channel’s name to immediately start watching in the browser.\n\nThis extension has been a great way to keep up with my favorite streamers without having to enable Twitch’s slightly obnoxious push notifications on my phone.\nI warned you that some extensions in this list would be extremely specific, but keep in mind that this is precisely why they’ve been so valuable to me. My hope is that this list will give you the urge to search through the Raycast extensions store in order to fulfill your own extremely specific Mac workflow needs.\nOn a slightly less positive note, at a time when Raycast is rapidly expanding its ambitions, I’ve come to realize how much I depend on its tiny and powerful ecosystem of features and extensions to enjoy working on the Mac. And if I’m honest, I must say I’m increasingly worried that I’m knowingly putting all my eggs in a basket that may (or may not) go away one day.\nStill, I am glad for Raycast’s catalog of third-party extensions. It is tangible proof of success that can only prolong the platform’s life expectancy. After all, Swiss Army knives are meant to last.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-10-09T10:30:45-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-11-06T11:12:09-05:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "mac", "Raycast", "roundups" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76613", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/roundups/control-center-and-lock-screen-controls-a-roundupof-my-favorites/", "title": "Control Center and Lock Screen Controls for iOS 18: A Roundup of My Favorite Indie Apps", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controls-roundup-hero-1726587409976.png\")
This week, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18 to the world. One of the main new features this year is the ability to fully customize Control Center. And not only is Control Center customizable, but it now also supports controls from third-party applications. If you open the new Controls Gallery in iOS and iPadOS 18, you will find controls and toggles from some of your favorite indie apps that have been updated to support the new release.
\nIn addition to being available in Control Center, every one of these third-party controls can be mapped to the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro or newer, and they can used to replace the two default controls at the bottom of Lock Screen – Flashlight and Camera – which have been there since the introduction of the iPhone X in 2017.
\nWhile you may think at first that there’s only so much you can do with a simple toggle in Control Center, the range of possibilities that this enables is actually pretty wide. That is why, today, I’m taking a look at a selection of apps that have been updated to offer their own controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen. They’re all unique, and some of them are unexpectedly powerful.
\nLet’s jump in.
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/obscura-1726587404071.png\")
Instead of saving it for last, I want to immediately start with my favorite new control for iOS 18 so far. Obscura by Ben Rice McCarthy is an amazing camera app that I’ve been using on and off for the past few years. The app is beautifully designed, features advanced controls for taking the perfect picture, and includes great color filters that stand out to me as some of the most pleasing I’ve ever seen in an alternative camera app.
\nHowever, Obscura has always suffered from an issue that all camera apps on iOS have until today: they were never as easy to launch as the stock Camera app. Obscura already offered a Lock Screen widget that you could place below the clock, but it was never as accessible as the default Camera control at the bottom of the screen. Now, you can swap the default Camera launcher with one for Obscura.
\nWhen its control is pressed on the Lock Screen, Obscura immediately launches into the viewfinder. And just like with Apple’s Camera app, you can start taking pictures without the need to authenticate with Face ID first. Over the past few days of testing, this Lock Screen control has made a huge difference for me. I almost exclusively use Obscura to take photos now.
\nPerhaps the key takeaway here that is that this significant impact on my photo-taking habits only highlights the importance of EU users’ upcoming ability to set a default camera app on iOS and iPadOS. It seems clear to me now that alternative camera app developers have been unfairly disadvantaged by the way Apple has prioritized its own Camera app throughout the system for so many years — which is why I am so glad that alternatives like Obscura now have a chance to compete on equal ground.
\nObscura is available for free on the App Store. All of its features can be unlocked with a $3.99/month or $19.99/year subscription.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/chronicling-1726587407043.png\")
Chronicling by Rebecca Owen is an everything tracker for iOS and iPadOS. While I haven’t used the app in a while, I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten back into it recently in an attempt to use it to log my water intake and some of my medication.
\nAfter setting up your own custom categories in the app, you now have the ability to add them to Control Center. There, tapping a category’s control will immediately log an event for it. If you use a medium-sized control, it will even display the date and time the category was last updated. I’ve found it extremely useful to be able to check on a category and immediately update it simply by going into Control Center.
\nThis is a recurring theme with apps adding their own controls to Control Center: this new system feature easily turns an app’s core functionality into a quick toggle that can be accessed from wherever you are in iOS. For tracking apps like Chronicling, it’s a huge usability improvement.
\nChronicling is available for free on the App Store. All of its features can be unlocked with a $0.99/month or $9.99/year subscription.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/longplay-1726587418030.png\")
Longplay is an amazing music player for iOS and iPadOS that John previously reviewed on MacStories. For those unfamiliar, Longplay is an alternative frontend for Apple Music that presents your music library as a beautiful album wall. The app puts an emphasis on listening to your favorite music one album at a time, from start to finish. Over the years, Longplay has become one of my favorite ways to browse through my library and rediscover music. I’m especially a big fan of its Home Screen widgets, which let me quickly start listening to a random album at any time of the day.
\nWith iOS 18, Longplay is adding a ‘Play Random Album’ control that you can add to either Control Center or the Lock Screen. With just a tap of its control, Longplay starts playing an album from your library in the background, without even having to launch the app. Just like its Home Screen widgets, you can customize the app’s control to filter the selection that albums are chosen from. Once again, it’s a simple idea that makes the app’s core functionality accessible from anywhere on iOS. If I had an Action button (I’m currently daily driving the iPhone 14 Pro), I would definitely map it to this new Longplay control.
\nLongplay is available on the App Store for $5.99.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/control-mark-1726587404989.png\")
Control Mark by Arno Appenzeller is an exciting option if you’re looking to pin a specific website in Control Center. This new app lets you turn any URL into a custom control.
\nI’ve used it to create a button in Control Center that opens my Watch Later playlist on YouTube, which is useful for quickly catching up on my video queue. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t currently support custom app URL schemes, and it doesn’t seem to support Universal Links either. I’m not sure if this is due to a system limitation or not, but the result is that Control Mark will only open URLs in Safari.
\nOpening my YouTube Watch Later playlist from Control Center thanks to Control Mark.
\nWhile I’m hoping Arno can update Control Mark to support custom URL schemes and unlock the ability to open in-app links, it’s still a great option if you need to add a MacStories launcher to your Lock Screen.
\nControl Mark is available on the App Store for $0.99.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/noir-1726587410000.png\")
Noir has become one of my essential Safari extensions on all of Apple’s platforms. The app elegantly and automatically darkens websites when dark mode is enabled on your system. This week, Noir added a new control that lets you quickly toggle the extension on and off from Control Center.
\nEven though I admire the way Noir handles its styling, browser extensions that enforce a dark mode on the web always give mixed results. For this reason, Noir has an option to let you disable the extension on a per-website basis, and the app also includes a toggle for turning it off in Safari’s extension menu. However, on iOS and iPadOS, the extension menu is not as easily accessible as it is on the Mac; being able to access this toggle from Control Center is a great improvement.
\nNoir is available on the App Store for $2.99.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/shareshot-1726587556367.png\")
Shareshot is an alternative to Federico’s Apple Frames shortcut that John reviewed last month on MacStories. The app lets you add a device frame to your screenshots and customize how they look. With its iOS 18 update this week, Shareshot now features a new control called ‘Frame Last Screenshot’. As its name suggests, tapping this control will immediately open the app and frame your last saved screenshot. From there, you can start customizing your framed screenshot or save it right away.
\nI still use Apple Frames for most of my device-framing needs, but in my case, this new control speeds up the process so much that it has replaced Apple Frames in some circumstances. I highly recommend giving it a try.
\nShareshot is available on the App Store for free. You can remove the watermark from framed screenshots and access other premium features by subscribing to Shareshot Pro for $1.99/month or $14.99/year.
\n![\"Fantastical's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/fantastical-and-remindmefaster-1726587407519.png\")
Fantastical’s New Event sheet (left) and Remind Me Faster’s main view (center) can quickly be accessed from their new controls in Control Center (right).
Fantastical by Flexibits is my calendar app of choice. If you’re a Comfort Zone listener, you know that I’m not big on productivity apps. I struggle with task managers, and my calendar is the main way I keep track of important events in my daily life. For that to work, however, I need to discipline myself to actually update my calendar on a daily basis.
\nFantastical’s new ‘Create Event’ control in iOS 18 has been a huge help in this regard. Adding it to my Lock Screen has removed a significant roadblock for me actually remembering to add events to my calendar. The control is always right there whenever I pick up my phone.
\nAdditionally, the app comes with two other new controls: ‘Open Fantastical’ and ‘Search in Fantastical’.
\nCardhop is Flexibits’ companion app to Fantastical, and its main purpose is to be a superpowered alternative to Apple’s Contacts app. Cardhop has been updated to add three new controls: ‘Add Contact’, ‘Scan Card’, and ‘Search’. I can imagine them being super useful if you’re the kind of person who needs to update their address book on a daily basis.
\nRemind Me Faster is a companion utility to Reminders on iOS and iPadOS. The app’s premise is simple: it’s a faster way to create and schedule reminders with natural language input and custom time presets. This week, the app was updated to offer a new control for opening Remind Me Faster’s task creation view. Just like Fantastical’s ‘Create Event’ control, placing Remind Me Faster on the Lock Screen is a fantastic way to create reminders throughout the day without the need to go through your iPhone’s Home Screen.
\nFantastical and Cardhop are available for free on the App Store. An optional subscription to Flexibits Premium costs $57/year and unlocks all features for both apps.
\nRemind Me Faster is available for free on the App Store. An optional $1.49 in-app purchase unlocks natural language input, and a $0.99 in-app purchase unlocks custom time presets.
\nThere will be many more apps releasing their own custom controls for Control Center, the Lock Screen, and the Action button soon. While these new controls are often simple shortcuts to specific features of their respective apps, I’m very glad that we’ve finally reached the point where app developers are able to plug into these parts of the OS on iPhone and iPad.
\nIn my mind, this begs the question: how long until we can add these controls to the Home Screen? After all, legacy widgets used to be confined to the Today View, but Apple has since allowed us to place modern widgets on the Home Screen, making it more modular than ever. What if they could build on the success of third-party controls just like they did with Home Screen widgets? Let me toggle Noir, log my medication, and create a calendar event all with a single tap right from the Home Screen and build the ultimate modular setup.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "This week, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18 to the world. One of the main new features this year is the ability to fully customize Control Center. And not only is Control Center customizable, but it now also supports controls from third-party applications. If you open the new Controls Gallery in iOS and iPadOS 18, you will find controls and toggles from some of your favorite indie apps that have been updated to support the new release.\nIn addition to being available in Control Center, every one of these third-party controls can be mapped to the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro or newer, and they can used to replace the two default controls at the bottom of Lock Screen – Flashlight and Camera – which have been there since the introduction of the iPhone X in 2017.\nWhile you may think at first that there’s only so much you can do with a simple toggle in Control Center, the range of possibilities that this enables is actually pretty wide. That is why, today, I’m taking a look at a selection of apps that have been updated to offer their own controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen. They’re all unique, and some of them are unexpectedly powerful.\nLet’s jump in.\n\nObscura\n\nInstead of saving it for last, I want to immediately start with my favorite new control for iOS 18 so far. Obscura by Ben Rice McCarthy is an amazing camera app that I’ve been using on and off for the past few years. The app is beautifully designed, features advanced controls for taking the perfect picture, and includes great color filters that stand out to me as some of the most pleasing I’ve ever seen in an alternative camera app.\nHowever, Obscura has always suffered from an issue that all camera apps on iOS have until today: they were never as easy to launch as the stock Camera app. Obscura already offered a Lock Screen widget that you could place below the clock, but it was never as accessible as the default Camera control at the bottom of the screen. Now, you can swap the default Camera launcher with one for Obscura.\nWhen its control is pressed on the Lock Screen, Obscura immediately launches into the viewfinder. And just like with Apple’s Camera app, you can start taking pictures without the need to authenticate with Face ID first. Over the past few days of testing, this Lock Screen control has made a huge difference for me. I almost exclusively use Obscura to take photos now.\nPerhaps the key takeaway here that is that this significant impact on my photo-taking habits only highlights the importance of EU users’ upcoming ability to set a default camera app on iOS and iPadOS. It seems clear to me now that alternative camera app developers have been unfairly disadvantaged by the way Apple has prioritized its own Camera app throughout the system for so many years — which is why I am so glad that alternatives like Obscura now have a chance to compete on equal ground.\nObscura is available for free on the App Store. All of its features can be unlocked with a $3.99/month or $19.99/year subscription.\nChronicling\n\nChronicling by Rebecca Owen is an everything tracker for iOS and iPadOS. While I haven’t used the app in a while, I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten back into it recently in an attempt to use it to log my water intake and some of my medication.\nAfter setting up your own custom categories in the app, you now have the ability to add them to Control Center. There, tapping a category’s control will immediately log an event for it. If you use a medium-sized control, it will even display the date and time the category was last updated. I’ve found it extremely useful to be able to check on a category and immediately update it simply by going into Control Center.\nThis is a recurring theme with apps adding their own controls to Control Center: this new system feature easily turns an app’s core functionality into a quick toggle that can be accessed from wherever you are in iOS. For tracking apps like Chronicling, it’s a huge usability improvement.\nChronicling is available for free on the App Store. All of its features can be unlocked with a $0.99/month or $9.99/year subscription.\nLongplay\n\nLongplay is an amazing music player for iOS and iPadOS that John previously reviewed on MacStories. For those unfamiliar, Longplay is an alternative frontend for Apple Music that presents your music library as a beautiful album wall. The app puts an emphasis on listening to your favorite music one album at a time, from start to finish. Over the years, Longplay has become one of my favorite ways to browse through my library and rediscover music. I’m especially a big fan of its Home Screen widgets, which let me quickly start listening to a random album at any time of the day.\nWith iOS 18, Longplay is adding a ‘Play Random Album’ control that you can add to either Control Center or the Lock Screen. With just a tap of its control, Longplay starts playing an album from your library in the background, without even having to launch the app. Just like its Home Screen widgets, you can customize the app’s control to filter the selection that albums are chosen from. Once again, it’s a simple idea that makes the app’s core functionality accessible from anywhere on iOS. If I had an Action button (I’m currently daily driving the iPhone 14 Pro), I would definitely map it to this new Longplay control.\nLongplay is available on the App Store for $5.99.\nControl Mark\n\nControl Mark by Arno Appenzeller is an exciting option if you’re looking to pin a specific website in Control Center. This new app lets you turn any URL into a custom control.\nI’ve used it to create a button in Control Center that opens my Watch Later playlist on YouTube, which is useful for quickly catching up on my video queue. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t currently support custom app URL schemes, and it doesn’t seem to support Universal Links either. I’m not sure if this is due to a system limitation or not, but the result is that Control Mark will only open URLs in Safari.\n\n \nOpening my YouTube Watch Later playlist from Control Center thanks to Control Mark.\n\nWhile I’m hoping Arno can update Control Mark to support custom URL schemes and unlock the ability to open in-app links, it’s still a great option if you need to add a MacStories launcher to your Lock Screen.\nControl Mark is available on the App Store for $0.99.\nNoir\n\nNoir has become one of my essential Safari extensions on all of Apple’s platforms. The app elegantly and automatically darkens websites when dark mode is enabled on your system. This week, Noir added a new control that lets you quickly toggle the extension on and off from Control Center.\nEven though I admire the way Noir handles its styling, browser extensions that enforce a dark mode on the web always give mixed results. For this reason, Noir has an option to let you disable the extension on a per-website basis, and the app also includes a toggle for turning it off in Safari’s extension menu. However, on iOS and iPadOS, the extension menu is not as easily accessible as it is on the Mac; being able to access this toggle from Control Center is a great improvement.\nNoir is available on the App Store for $2.99.\nShareshot\n\nShareshot is an alternative to Federico’s Apple Frames shortcut that John reviewed last month on MacStories. The app lets you add a device frame to your screenshots and customize how they look. With its iOS 18 update this week, Shareshot now features a new control called ‘Frame Last Screenshot’. As its name suggests, tapping this control will immediately open the app and frame your last saved screenshot. From there, you can start customizing your framed screenshot or save it right away.\nI still use Apple Frames for most of my device-framing needs, but in my case, this new control speeds up the process so much that it has replaced Apple Frames in some circumstances. I highly recommend giving it a try.\nShareshot is available on the App Store for free. You can remove the watermark from framed screenshots and access other premium features by subscribing to Shareshot Pro for $1.99/month or $14.99/year.\nFantastical, Cardhop, and Remind Me Faster\nFantastical’s New Event sheet (left) and Remind Me Faster’s main view (center) can quickly be accessed from their new controls in Control Center (right).\nFantastical by Flexibits is my calendar app of choice. If you’re a Comfort Zone listener, you know that I’m not big on productivity apps. I struggle with task managers, and my calendar is the main way I keep track of important events in my daily life. For that to work, however, I need to discipline myself to actually update my calendar on a daily basis.\nFantastical’s new ‘Create Event’ control in iOS 18 has been a huge help in this regard. Adding it to my Lock Screen has removed a significant roadblock for me actually remembering to add events to my calendar. The control is always right there whenever I pick up my phone.\nAdditionally, the app comes with two other new controls: ‘Open Fantastical’ and ‘Search in Fantastical’.\nCardhop is Flexibits’ companion app to Fantastical, and its main purpose is to be a superpowered alternative to Apple’s Contacts app. Cardhop has been updated to add three new controls: ‘Add Contact’, ‘Scan Card’, and ‘Search’. I can imagine them being super useful if you’re the kind of person who needs to update their address book on a daily basis.\nRemind Me Faster is a companion utility to Reminders on iOS and iPadOS. The app’s premise is simple: it’s a faster way to create and schedule reminders with natural language input and custom time presets. This week, the app was updated to offer a new control for opening Remind Me Faster’s task creation view. Just like Fantastical’s ‘Create Event’ control, placing Remind Me Faster on the Lock Screen is a fantastic way to create reminders throughout the day without the need to go through your iPhone’s Home Screen.\nFantastical and Cardhop are available for free on the App Store. An optional subscription to Flexibits Premium costs $57/year and unlocks all features for both apps.\nRemind Me Faster is available for free on the App Store. An optional $1.49 in-app purchase unlocks natural language input, and a $0.99 in-app purchase unlocks custom time presets.\nThere will be many more apps releasing their own custom controls for Control Center, the Lock Screen, and the Action button soon. While these new controls are often simple shortcuts to specific features of their respective apps, I’m very glad that we’ve finally reached the point where app developers are able to plug into these parts of the OS on iPhone and iPad.\nIn my mind, this begs the question: how long until we can add these controls to the Home Screen? After all, legacy widgets used to be confined to the Today View, but Apple has since allowed us to place modern widgets on the Home Screen, making it more modular than ever. What if they could build on the success of third-party controls just like they did with Home Screen widgets? Let me toggle Noir, log my medication, and create a calendar event all with a single tap right from the Home Screen and build the ultimate modular setup.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-09-18T14:59:14-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-09-18T14:59:14-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "apps", "control center", "iOS 18", "roundups" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76424", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-unveils-new-health-features-coming-to-the-apple-watch-and-airpods-pro-2/", "title": "Apple Unveils New Health Features Coming to the Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2", "content_html": "![\"Source:](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-health-2-up-240909-1725910826510.jpg\")
Source: Apple
Today at their September 2024 event, Apple unveiled a series of major new health features coming to the Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2. The new features, centered around sleep apnea and hearing loss prevention and assistance, will be released as part of software updates this fall.
\nLater this month, the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will gain the ability to detect signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults who haven’t previously been diagnosed with the disorder. This detection will be based on a new metric called Breathing Disturbances, which will use the watch’s accelerometer to, in Apple’s words, ” detect small movements at the wrist associated with interruptions to normal respiratory patterns during sleep.” Apple says the data will be analyzed on a monthly basis to detect consistent signs of sleep apnea and send sleep apnea notifications.
\nIn addition to watchOS 11, the Breathing Disturbances metric will be added to the Health app in iOS 18, where you will be able to consult and export the data to share with a healthcare professional.
\n![\"Source:](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/sleepapnea-1725912589439.png\")
Source: Apple
Apple expects to receive marketing authorization for sleep apnea notifications from the FDA and other health authorities soon and plans to make the feature available this month in over 150 regions, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
\n\nEven though this event marks the second anniversary of the second-generation AirPods Pro being announced, Apple’s premium earbuds are still gaining new features via software updates. Last year, the AirPods Pro 2 received the new Adaptive Audio mode as well as Personalized Volume and Conversation Awareness. This year, they’ll be updated with new hearing loss prevention and assistance features.
\nApple unveiled a new Hearing Protection setting, which will be on by default on all listening modes. The company says Hearing Protection will leverage the AirPods Pro 2’s H2 chip to “actively reduce louder, more intermittent noise at 48,000 times per second,” in addition to the passive noise reduction provided by the physical seal of the silicon ear tips.
\nUsers will also be able to take a clinical hearing test directly on their iPhones or iPads while wearing the AirPods Pro 2. The test will take approximately five minutes and provide a summary of the results when completed. This summary will contain a number indicating hearing loss in each ear, a classification (ie. “Moderate Loss”), and hearing health recommendations. Users will also be able to share this summary with a healthcare professional from the Health app.
\nTaking the Hearing Test on the iPhone while wearing the AirPods Pro 2. Source: Apple.
\n![\"Hearing](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/hearing-test-results-1725911863791.png\")
Hearing Test results in the Health app on iOS. Source: Apple.
This leads us to perhaps the most impressive new addition coming to the AirPods Pro 2: Apple says the earbuds can now be used as clinical-grade hearing aids for anyone suffering from mild to moderate hearing loss. Users will be able to activate AirPods Pro 2’s hearing aid capability directly after taking the aforementioned hearing test, or with the help of an audiogram provided by a hearing health professional. As hearing aids, the AirPods Pro 2 will also adjust their personalized hearing profile and apply it to any content played back from the user’s Apple devices, including phone calls.
\nFor its hearing test and hearing aid features, Apple is expecting to receive marketing authorization from the FDA and other health authorities this fall in over 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan.
\nYou can follow all of our September 2024 Apple event coverage through our September 2024 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2024 Apple event RSS feed.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Source: Apple\nToday at their September 2024 event, Apple unveiled a series of major new health features coming to the Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2. The new features, centered around sleep apnea and hearing loss prevention and assistance, will be released as part of software updates this fall.\nSleep Apnea Detection on the Apple Watch\nLater this month, the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will gain the ability to detect signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults who haven’t previously been diagnosed with the disorder. This detection will be based on a new metric called Breathing Disturbances, which will use the watch’s accelerometer to, in Apple’s words, ” detect small movements at the wrist associated with interruptions to normal respiratory patterns during sleep.” Apple says the data will be analyzed on a monthly basis to detect consistent signs of sleep apnea and send sleep apnea notifications.\nIn addition to watchOS 11, the Breathing Disturbances metric will be added to the Health app in iOS 18, where you will be able to consult and export the data to share with a healthcare professional.\nSource: Apple\nApple expects to receive marketing authorization for sleep apnea notifications from the FDA and other health authorities soon and plans to make the feature available this month in over 150 regions, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.\n\nHearing Loss Assistance with the AirPods Pro 2\nEven though this event marks the second anniversary of the second-generation AirPods Pro being announced, Apple’s premium earbuds are still gaining new features via software updates. Last year, the AirPods Pro 2 received the new Adaptive Audio mode as well as Personalized Volume and Conversation Awareness. This year, they’ll be updated with new hearing loss prevention and assistance features.\nApple unveiled a new Hearing Protection setting, which will be on by default on all listening modes. The company says Hearing Protection will leverage the AirPods Pro 2’s H2 chip to “actively reduce louder, more intermittent noise at 48,000 times per second,” in addition to the passive noise reduction provided by the physical seal of the silicon ear tips.\nUsers will also be able to take a clinical hearing test directly on their iPhones or iPads while wearing the AirPods Pro 2. The test will take approximately five minutes and provide a summary of the results when completed. This summary will contain a number indicating hearing loss in each ear, a classification (ie. “Moderate Loss”), and hearing health recommendations. Users will also be able to share this summary with a healthcare professional from the Health app.\n\n \nTaking the Hearing Test on the iPhone while wearing the AirPods Pro 2. Source: Apple.\n\nHearing Test results in the Health app on iOS. Source: Apple.\nThis leads us to perhaps the most impressive new addition coming to the AirPods Pro 2: Apple says the earbuds can now be used as clinical-grade hearing aids for anyone suffering from mild to moderate hearing loss. Users will be able to activate AirPods Pro 2’s hearing aid capability directly after taking the aforementioned hearing test, or with the help of an audiogram provided by a hearing health professional. As hearing aids, the AirPods Pro 2 will also adjust their personalized hearing profile and apply it to any content played back from the user’s Apple devices, including phone calls.\nFor its hearing test and hearing aid features, Apple is expecting to receive marketing authorization from the FDA and other health authorities this fall in over 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan.\nYou can follow all of our September 2024 Apple event coverage through our September 2024 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2024 Apple event RSS feed.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-09-09T17:13:56-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-09-09T17:19:44-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "September 2024 Event", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76352", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/moom-4-mac-window-management-upgraded/", "title": "Moom 4: Mac Window Management, Upgraded", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-hero-1725373011578.png\")
This summer, my all-time favorite window management utility Moom received a major 4.0 upgrade more than 12 years after the initial release of Moom 3. Ever since I went back to the Mac as my main computer, Moom has allowed me to create automations to arrange my windows and easily save and restore specific window layouts. From a fully customizable palette to new keyboard shortcut options to the ability to chain custom commands, Moom 4 offers a wide range of new features that make it an even more advanced utility that will appeal to anyone looking for more flexibility than Apple’s new window tiling feature, which is coming in macOS Sequoia.
\nLet’s check out the main new features in Moom 4.
\n\nThe new version of the app still includes an optional palette that appears when hovering over the green button in a windows’s title bar. This palette is meant to supplant macOS’ default tooltip and lets you quickly tile your windows to either side of the screen, maximize them to fill the entire desktop, or create a vertical layout with your windows.
\nBut this update takes the palette even further: it’s is now entirely customizable. In addition to repositioning every button inside the palette, you can now also enrich it with your own custom shortcuts and layouts created with Moom. While I used to turn off the palette in Moom 3 and solely rely on keyboard shortcuts and predefined layouts, the ability to customize the palette has completely changed that for me. I am now a big fan of the feature.
\n![\"Moom's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-palette-settings-1725373010904.png\")
Moom’s palette is now customizable. To add one of your custom layouts, drag it from the sidebar to the palette editor.
One of Moom’s main features is its window resizing grid, which carries over from previous versions. When enabled, you can use it to quickly draw a rectangle onscreen to immediately move and resize a specific window. The grid’s cell sizes can be customized in the app’s settings, and there’s also an option to add gaps between and around tiled windows. The smaller the cells, the more flexibility you have when tiling windows on the fly.
\nMoom’s window resizing grid is still here.
\nBut if like me, you’re not a fan of arranging your windows in a grid and prefer to let them float above each other, Moom 4 has you covered with a great new feature called ‘Hover.’ This lets you move and resize windows on the fly with your cursor while holding down specific modifier keys, without the need to click and hold on a window’s title bar or reach for one of its four corners.
\nIn my setup, I’ve chosen to use the Globe (fn) key as the move window modifier and Globe + Control (^) as the resize window modifier. In practice, this means that I can place my cursor over any window onscreen and hold down the Globe key to reposition that window simply by moving the mouse. To resize that window, all I have to do is place my cursor near a corner and add the Control (^) key into the mix. You may think that I’m exaggerating, but in usage, this combination makes rearranging windows with the mouse extremely satisfying.
\nRearranging and resizing two Safari windows using Moom 4’s Hover feature.
\n![\"Customizing](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-hover-settings-1725367107564.png\")
Customizing the modifier keys to be used with Hover.
This modifier key logic has also enriched Moom’s ‘Snap’ feature. In addition to replicating the experience from Windows 11 and macOS Sequoia by letting you drag windows to the edges of the display to tile them, Moom 4 also allows you to hold down the modifier key of your choice when moving a window to quickly place it in a custom ‘drop zone’. This is especially useful if there is an area on your screen where you always like to keep a specific application.
\nFor instance, I have set up this feature to set up a custom layout that allows me to quickly snap the Ivory window back into a predefined position on the screen:
\n![\"After](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-snap-1-1725373008814.png\")
After creating a custom layout to save Ivory’s position onscreen…
![\"…and](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-snap-2-1725373010475.png\")
…and assigning that custom layout to a modifier key (Option ⌥),…
![\"…all](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-snap-3-1725373008923.png\")
…all I need to do is hold the modifier key while moving the Ivory window to snap it back into position.
In addition to the ability to save and restore custom window layouts, Moom 4 can now chain any of the app’s built-in commands together. For example, you can create a chain that will successively resize a window and center it on the screen.
\nThe possibilities with chained commands are endless, and it’s hard to imagine every conceivable use case, but I was able to leverage the feature to create two useful chains for my workflow. At my desk, I often use my iPad Pro as a secondary display with Sidecar while I’m working. When that happens, I almost always like to put windows in full screen on the iPad’s display. However, this process is often tedious and requires that I spend ten seconds every time moving a window and putting it in full screen.
\nTo solve this, I used Moom 4 to create a chain called ‘Move to Sidecar.’ When triggered, this chain moves the currently active window to the iPad’s display and immediately puts it in full screen. I created a second chain called ‘Move back from Sidecar,’ which exits full screen and immediately moves the window back to my main display. Now, I can easily send a window to the iPad’s display with a single click, directly from Moom’s palette, without having to manually drag the window over and toggle full screen.
\n![\"I've](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-chains-1725373008548.png\")
I’ve set up a chain in Moom 4 to easily move a window to the iPad’s screen in Sidecar and immediately put it in full screen, plus a second chain to quickly move a window back to the main display.
Since almost everything in Moom 4 can be tied to a keyboard shortcut, all of these features are available without the need to ever use the mouse. But even if you haven’t assigned a keyboard shortcut to one of your custom commands, you can still trigger it using only the keyboard via Moom’s new onscreen controller. The controller can be launched via a dedicated keyboard shortcut (I’m using Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + H) and looks a lot like Spotlight on the Mac. When the controller is displayed, you can immediately start typing to select and run a specific Moom command, or navigate between options using the arrow keys.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/moom-2024-09-03-15-32-2x-1725373108572.png\")
The new onscreen controller in Moom 4.
Moom 4 is an incredible update to a long-standing Mac utility that had already found its place on my list of apps I always recommend to Mac newcomers. The app is more flexible than ever and will prove itself useful to a wide range of Mac users, including both those who are looking for ways to manage their windows entirely from the keyboard and those who would rather use the mouse.
\nThis is especially true when you consider that every single feature in Moom is optional and can be disabled entirely. Think of Moom as a window management Swiss Army knife: it is always nice to have, even if you’re not going to use more than half of its built-in tools.
\nWhile macOS Sequoia is finally getting the ability to tile windows side by side this fall, it is clear that Moom has nothing to worry about. Its flexibility and enhanced potential for automation place it miles ahead of anything macOS has to offer natively.
\nThrough September 4th, Moom 4 is on sale for $10 for new users and $6 for users upgrading from Moom 3. After that date, Moom 4 will be available to purchase for $15, or $8 for Moom 3 users. The app can be purchased and downloaded directly from ManyTricks’ website.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "This summer, my all-time favorite window management utility Moom received a major 4.0 upgrade more than 12 years after the initial release of Moom 3. Ever since I went back to the Mac as my main computer, Moom has allowed me to create automations to arrange my windows and easily save and restore specific window layouts. From a fully customizable palette to new keyboard shortcut options to the ability to chain custom commands, Moom 4 offers a wide range of new features that make it an even more advanced utility that will appeal to anyone looking for more flexibility than Apple’s new window tiling feature, which is coming in macOS Sequoia.\nLet’s check out the main new features in Moom 4.\n\nThe new version of the app still includes an optional palette that appears when hovering over the green button in a windows’s title bar. This palette is meant to supplant macOS’ default tooltip and lets you quickly tile your windows to either side of the screen, maximize them to fill the entire desktop, or create a vertical layout with your windows.\nBut this update takes the palette even further: it’s is now entirely customizable. In addition to repositioning every button inside the palette, you can now also enrich it with your own custom shortcuts and layouts created with Moom. While I used to turn off the palette in Moom 3 and solely rely on keyboard shortcuts and predefined layouts, the ability to customize the palette has completely changed that for me. I am now a big fan of the feature.\nMoom’s palette is now customizable. To add one of your custom layouts, drag it from the sidebar to the palette editor.\nOne of Moom’s main features is its window resizing grid, which carries over from previous versions. When enabled, you can use it to quickly draw a rectangle onscreen to immediately move and resize a specific window. The grid’s cell sizes can be customized in the app’s settings, and there’s also an option to add gaps between and around tiled windows. The smaller the cells, the more flexibility you have when tiling windows on the fly.\n\n \nMoom’s window resizing grid is still here.\n\nBut if like me, you’re not a fan of arranging your windows in a grid and prefer to let them float above each other, Moom 4 has you covered with a great new feature called ‘Hover.’ This lets you move and resize windows on the fly with your cursor while holding down specific modifier keys, without the need to click and hold on a window’s title bar or reach for one of its four corners.\nIn my setup, I’ve chosen to use the Globe (fn) key as the move window modifier and Globe + Control (^) as the resize window modifier. In practice, this means that I can place my cursor over any window onscreen and hold down the Globe key to reposition that window simply by moving the mouse. To resize that window, all I have to do is place my cursor near a corner and add the Control (^) key into the mix. You may think that I’m exaggerating, but in usage, this combination makes rearranging windows with the mouse extremely satisfying.\n\n \nRearranging and resizing two Safari windows using Moom 4’s Hover feature.\n\nCustomizing the modifier keys to be used with Hover.\nThis modifier key logic has also enriched Moom’s ‘Snap’ feature. In addition to replicating the experience from Windows 11 and macOS Sequoia by letting you drag windows to the edges of the display to tile them, Moom 4 also allows you to hold down the modifier key of your choice when moving a window to quickly place it in a custom ‘drop zone’. This is especially useful if there is an area on your screen where you always like to keep a specific application.\nFor instance, I have set up this feature to set up a custom layout that allows me to quickly snap the Ivory window back into a predefined position on the screen:\nAfter creating a custom layout to save Ivory’s position onscreen…\n…and assigning that custom layout to a modifier key (Option ⌥),…\n…all I need to do is hold the modifier key while moving the Ivory window to snap it back into position.\nIn addition to the ability to save and restore custom window layouts, Moom 4 can now chain any of the app’s built-in commands together. For example, you can create a chain that will successively resize a window and center it on the screen.\nThe possibilities with chained commands are endless, and it’s hard to imagine every conceivable use case, but I was able to leverage the feature to create two useful chains for my workflow. At my desk, I often use my iPad Pro as a secondary display with Sidecar while I’m working. When that happens, I almost always like to put windows in full screen on the iPad’s display. However, this process is often tedious and requires that I spend ten seconds every time moving a window and putting it in full screen.\nTo solve this, I used Moom 4 to create a chain called ‘Move to Sidecar.’ When triggered, this chain moves the currently active window to the iPad’s display and immediately puts it in full screen. I created a second chain called ‘Move back from Sidecar,’ which exits full screen and immediately moves the window back to my main display. Now, I can easily send a window to the iPad’s display with a single click, directly from Moom’s palette, without having to manually drag the window over and toggle full screen.\nI’ve set up a chain in Moom 4 to easily move a window to the iPad’s screen in Sidecar and immediately put it in full screen, plus a second chain to quickly move a window back to the main display.\nSince almost everything in Moom 4 can be tied to a keyboard shortcut, all of these features are available without the need to ever use the mouse. But even if you haven’t assigned a keyboard shortcut to one of your custom commands, you can still trigger it using only the keyboard via Moom’s new onscreen controller. The controller can be launched via a dedicated keyboard shortcut (I’m using Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + H) and looks a lot like Spotlight on the Mac. When the controller is displayed, you can immediately start typing to select and run a specific Moom command, or navigate between options using the arrow keys.\nThe new onscreen controller in Moom 4.\nMoom 4 is an incredible update to a long-standing Mac utility that had already found its place on my list of apps I always recommend to Mac newcomers. The app is more flexible than ever and will prove itself useful to a wide range of Mac users, including both those who are looking for ways to manage their windows entirely from the keyboard and those who would rather use the mouse.\nThis is especially true when you consider that every single feature in Moom is optional and can be disabled entirely. Think of Moom as a window management Swiss Army knife: it is always nice to have, even if you’re not going to use more than half of its built-in tools.\nWhile macOS Sequoia is finally getting the ability to tile windows side by side this fall, it is clear that Moom has nothing to worry about. Its flexibility and enhanced potential for automation place it miles ahead of anything macOS has to offer natively.\nThrough September 4th, Moom 4 is on sale for $10 for new users and $6 for users upgrading from Moom 3. After that date, Moom 4 will be available to purchase for $15, or $8 for Moom 3 users. The app can be purchased and downloaded directly from ManyTricks’ website.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-09-03T12:44:52-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-09-06T15:55:44-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "mac", "moom", "utility", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76286", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/tutorials/creating-a-custom-weather-and-home-climate-control-menu-bar-app-with-menubot-and-shortcuts/", "title": "Creating a Custom Weather and Home Climate Control Menu Bar App with MenuBot and Shortcuts", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/menubot-1724603048401.png\")
Last year, I wrote about how I was able to display the temperature from my outdoor sensor in my Mac’s menu bar using a combination of Shortcuts, SF Symbols, and small utilities like One Thing and Data Jar. I’ve been using this approach ever since, but this summer, I came across a tool that changed that: MenuBot.
\nMenuBot is an app for the Mac that lets you build your own indicators and applets for your menu bar directly from the output of a shortcut. The app is more powerful than it may seem at first: you can create entire submenus and even tie URLs and actions to each menu entry. In the end, I was able to use it to completely revamp my outdoor temperature indicator in the menu bar and even enhance it with HomeKit controls.
\nI’ve been having a ton of fun playing with MenuBot. Let me show you what I’ve done with it.
\n\nMenuBot is incredibly easy to set up. When you first start the app, all you have to do is pick from one of the provided example shortcuts and set a reload interval to decide how often your custom menu bar applet will refresh. By default, MenuBot comes with seven built-in example shortcuts: Weather Summary, Rain Probability, Today Events, Next Event, Web Links, Network Summary, and Shortcut Launcher. Each is pretty self-explanatory, and if you inspect them, they give you a broad idea of what kind of menu bar applets you can build using MenuBot and Shortcuts.
\n![\"MenuBot](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/menubot-2024-08-25-15-00-2-2x-1724602314805.png\")
MenuBot comes with seven example shortcuts to get you started.
![\"Menus](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/menubot-2024-08-25-15-00-2-2x-1-1724602315592.png\")
Menus can be set to reload from every 30 seconds to every 24 hours.
In addition to being handy, the built-in shortcuts are also great examples for learning the syntax needed to build your own shortcuts for MenuBot. Using that syntax, you can configure what appears directly in the menu bar item as well as what goes inside the menu that opens when you click it.
\nHere’s what the output syntax looks like for MenuBot’s Weather Summary example shortcut:
\n![\"MenuBot's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/shortcuts-2024-08-25-15-46-2x-1724602317638.png\")
MenuBot’s Weather Summary example shortcut is a good way to learn how to create your own MenuBot shortcut.
![\"MenuBot's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-08-25-15-49-2x-1724602317643.png\")
MenuBot’s Weather Summary shortcut in action in the Mac’s menu bar.
To add MenuBot functionality to a new or existing shortcut, insert a Text block containing the formatted data that will be used by the app to build your menu bar applet and set that Text block as the shortcut output. The syntax works as follows:
\n---on a new line to add a separator to the menu.> at the beginning of a line to add a submenu item.https://macstories.net at the end of a line to open MacStories when clicking the menu item, or weather:// to open Apple’s native Weather app on macOS.shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=[name of your shortcut]cloud.fill will be rendered as a filled cloud icon.With this information in hand, I knew that adapting my old menu bar shortcut would be very easy.
\nMost of the fundamentals of my shortcut stayed intact. I’m still using the temperature and humidity data from the Eve Weather station positioned outside my bedroom window via HomeKit and assigning SF Symbols based on the current weather condition. I am also still using Data Jar and a math formula to calculate whether the recorded temperature has been trending upward or downward over the past hour and display an indicator accordingly. (Read my previous story to learn more about this setup.)
\nHowever, MenuBot’s ability to build entire menus and submenus has allowed me to add more functionality to my shortcut. I specifically had two ideas in mind for my custom menu bar applet:
\nWhile the former was straightforward and mostly consisted of assembling a menu that gathers weather variables and SF Symbols, the latter posed a small challenge. After setting up a shortcut to toggle my bedroom fan (I named it “VentilateurON”), I added a “Toggle Bedroom Fan” line to my MenuBot shortcut output and ended it with the URL scheme to run the bedroom fan shortcut. It looked like this:
\nfan Toggle Bedroom Fan shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=VentilateurON\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-08-25-16-58-2x-1724602316743.png\")
However, this method had one drawback. When run, the shortcuts URL scheme will always open the Shortcuts app on the Mac. As a way to quickly turn on the bedroom fan from the menu bar while working on something, this was too distracting and meant that I had to manually close the Shortcuts app every time.
\nBut once again, this is where BetterTouchTool came in and saved the day. The app has the ability to run shortcuts completely in the background, without having to spawn any windows on your workspace. Even better, BetterTouchTool also provides a fully-featured URL scheme that can be used within MenuBot.
\nTo leverage this, I created a ‘Named Trigger’ (also called “VentilateurON”) in BetterTouchTool that launches the bedroom fan shortcut.
\n![\"To](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/bettertouchtool-2024-08-25-17-04-2x-1724602317635.png\")
To leverage BetterTouchTool’s URL scheme, I created a Named Trigger (“VentilateurON”) in the app with a single action that launches my bedroom fan shortcut.
Then, back in the MenuBot shortcut output, I modified the line to use BetterTouchTool’s URL scheme instead of Shortcuts’, ending it with the BetterTouchTool Named Trigger:
\nfan Toggle Bedroom Fan btt://trigger_named/?trigger_name=VentilateurON\nNow, clicking Toggle Bedroom Fan in my custom menu bar applet runs the shortcut to turn the bedroom fan on and off completely in the background via BetterTouchTool, without spawning any distracting windows.
\nI repeated this process for each of the HomeKit climate control appliances in my home, and even went so far as adding ‘If’ conditions to detect and display in the menu whether my fans, air purifiers, and air conditioning units are currently on or off. Not only that, but I also added dynamic indicators to the first line of the shortcut output to display specific SF Symbols in the menu bar when rain is in the forecast or the air quality is poor. To do this, I was able to tap into Air Grenoble, an app with Shortcuts support that was specifically built to monitor the air quality in my home area of Grenoble, France.
\nThe resulting custom menu bar applet is extremely customized to my needs and home. From top to bottom, it displays temperature and humidity data from my outdoor sensor, living room, and main bedroom, and the fourth and final section compiles a summary of the weather forecast sourced from Carrot Weather. Each room’s section has controls to toggle air purifiers, fans, and air conditioning — each accompanied by an SF Symbol to reflect their current state.
\nHere’s what it looks like:
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-08-25-17-17-2x-1724602315201.png\")
My custom MenuBot shortcut that combines weather data and home climate controls. (Pardon my French.)
![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/shortcuts-2024-08-25-17-35-2x-1724602314774.png\")
The output syntax of my custom MenuBot shortcut.
I couldn’t be happier with this result. It’s the culmination of so many indie apps and utilities working together to create a hyper-specific Mac menu bar applet. With a single click in the menu bar, I can get a quick look at the forecasted conditions, compare them with the actual reading from my outdoor weather sensor, see how warm or cold each of my main rooms are, and even directly toggle each of my home climate control appliances accordingly. All of this is Shortcuts, HomeKit, Data Jar, Carrot Weather, Air Grenoble, BetterTouchTool, and MenuBot coming together, and that is precisely why it’s so perfect.
\nI have one wish to leave you with. If you are reading this and feel inspired to use MenuBot in combination with other utilities to create your own custom menu bar applets, please do not hesitate to share them with me on Mastodon or the Club MacStories Discord server. I’m excited to see what you come up with.
\nAs you can tell, my custom shortcut for MenuBot is specifically tailored to my needs, location, and accessories, but if you want to take a look for inspiration, you can download it by clicking here.
\nMenuBot is available to purchase on the Mac App Store for $3.99.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Last year, I wrote about how I was able to display the temperature from my outdoor sensor in my Mac’s menu bar using a combination of Shortcuts, SF Symbols, and small utilities like One Thing and Data Jar. I’ve been using this approach ever since, but this summer, I came across a tool that changed that: MenuBot.\nMenuBot is an app for the Mac that lets you build your own indicators and applets for your menu bar directly from the output of a shortcut. The app is more powerful than it may seem at first: you can create entire submenus and even tie URLs and actions to each menu entry. In the end, I was able to use it to completely revamp my outdoor temperature indicator in the menu bar and even enhance it with HomeKit controls.\nI’ve been having a ton of fun playing with MenuBot. Let me show you what I’ve done with it.\n\nMenuBot is incredibly easy to set up. When you first start the app, all you have to do is pick from one of the provided example shortcuts and set a reload interval to decide how often your custom menu bar applet will refresh. By default, MenuBot comes with seven built-in example shortcuts: Weather Summary, Rain Probability, Today Events, Next Event, Web Links, Network Summary, and Shortcut Launcher. Each is pretty self-explanatory, and if you inspect them, they give you a broad idea of what kind of menu bar applets you can build using MenuBot and Shortcuts.\nMenuBot comes with seven example shortcuts to get you started.\nMenus can be set to reload from every 30 seconds to every 24 hours.\nIn addition to being handy, the built-in shortcuts are also great examples for learning the syntax needed to build your own shortcuts for MenuBot. Using that syntax, you can configure what appears directly in the menu bar item as well as what goes inside the menu that opens when you click it.\nHere’s what the output syntax looks like for MenuBot’s Weather Summary example shortcut:\nMenuBot’s Weather Summary example shortcut is a good way to learn how to create your own MenuBot shortcut.\nMenuBot’s Weather Summary shortcut in action in the Mac’s menu bar.\nTo add MenuBot functionality to a new or existing shortcut, insert a Text block containing the formatted data that will be used by the app to build your menu bar applet and set that Text block as the shortcut output. The syntax works as follows:\nThe first line of the output is what will appear directly in the menu bar. Every subsequent line will appear in a menu.\nInsert ---on a new line to add a separator to the menu.\nInsert > at the beginning of a line to add a submenu item.\nAdd a URL at the end of a line to turn the menu item into a link. This works with web URLs as well as app URL schemes.\nFor example, add https://macstories.net at the end of a line to open MacStories when clicking the menu item, or weather:// to open Apple’s native Weather app on macOS.\nThis can also be used to execute other shortcuts using this URL scheme: shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=[name of your shortcut]\n\nOptionally, at the beginning of every line, insert the name of an SF Symbol. MenuBot will automatically render SF Symbols in the menu bar and in submenus. For example, cloud.fill will be rendered as a filled cloud icon.\nTo explore Apple’s full catalog of SF Symbols, you can install the SF Symbols app for free from Apple’s Developer Portal.\n\nWith this information in hand, I knew that adapting my old menu bar shortcut would be very easy.\nMost of the fundamentals of my shortcut stayed intact. I’m still using the temperature and humidity data from the Eve Weather station positioned outside my bedroom window via HomeKit and assigning SF Symbols based on the current weather condition. I am also still using Data Jar and a math formula to calculate whether the recorded temperature has been trending upward or downward over the past hour and display an indicator accordingly. (Read my previous story to learn more about this setup.)\nHowever, MenuBot’s ability to build entire menus and submenus has allowed me to add more functionality to my shortcut. I specifically had two ideas in mind for my custom menu bar applet:\nAdd the ability to compare at a glance the weather data from my outdoor sensor to the forecast coming from Carrot Weather (which handily supports Météo France, France’s national weather service, as a source).\nAdd the ability to quickly turn on and off the air conditioning, air purifier, and fans in my home directly from the same menu.\nWhile the former was straightforward and mostly consisted of assembling a menu that gathers weather variables and SF Symbols, the latter posed a small challenge. After setting up a shortcut to toggle my bedroom fan (I named it “VentilateurON”), I added a “Toggle Bedroom Fan” line to my MenuBot shortcut output and ended it with the URL scheme to run the bedroom fan shortcut. It looked like this:\nfan Toggle Bedroom Fan shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=VentilateurON\n\n\nHowever, this method had one drawback. When run, the shortcuts URL scheme will always open the Shortcuts app on the Mac. As a way to quickly turn on the bedroom fan from the menu bar while working on something, this was too distracting and meant that I had to manually close the Shortcuts app every time.\nBut once again, this is where BetterTouchTool came in and saved the day. The app has the ability to run shortcuts completely in the background, without having to spawn any windows on your workspace. Even better, BetterTouchTool also provides a fully-featured URL scheme that can be used within MenuBot.\nTo leverage this, I created a ‘Named Trigger’ (also called “VentilateurON”) in BetterTouchTool that launches the bedroom fan shortcut.\nTo leverage BetterTouchTool’s URL scheme, I created a Named Trigger (“VentilateurON”) in the app with a single action that launches my bedroom fan shortcut.\nThen, back in the MenuBot shortcut output, I modified the line to use BetterTouchTool’s URL scheme instead of Shortcuts’, ending it with the BetterTouchTool Named Trigger:\nfan Toggle Bedroom Fan btt://trigger_named/?trigger_name=VentilateurON\n\nNow, clicking Toggle Bedroom Fan in my custom menu bar applet runs the shortcut to turn the bedroom fan on and off completely in the background via BetterTouchTool, without spawning any distracting windows.\nI repeated this process for each of the HomeKit climate control appliances in my home, and even went so far as adding ‘If’ conditions to detect and display in the menu whether my fans, air purifiers, and air conditioning units are currently on or off. Not only that, but I also added dynamic indicators to the first line of the shortcut output to display specific SF Symbols in the menu bar when rain is in the forecast or the air quality is poor. To do this, I was able to tap into Air Grenoble, an app with Shortcuts support that was specifically built to monitor the air quality in my home area of Grenoble, France.\nThe resulting custom menu bar applet is extremely customized to my needs and home. From top to bottom, it displays temperature and humidity data from my outdoor sensor, living room, and main bedroom, and the fourth and final section compiles a summary of the weather forecast sourced from Carrot Weather. Each room’s section has controls to toggle air purifiers, fans, and air conditioning — each accompanied by an SF Symbol to reflect their current state.\nHere’s what it looks like:\nMy custom MenuBot shortcut that combines weather data and home climate controls. (Pardon my French.)\nThe output syntax of my custom MenuBot shortcut.\nI couldn’t be happier with this result. It’s the culmination of so many indie apps and utilities working together to create a hyper-specific Mac menu bar applet. With a single click in the menu bar, I can get a quick look at the forecasted conditions, compare them with the actual reading from my outdoor weather sensor, see how warm or cold each of my main rooms are, and even directly toggle each of my home climate control appliances accordingly. All of this is Shortcuts, HomeKit, Data Jar, Carrot Weather, Air Grenoble, BetterTouchTool, and MenuBot coming together, and that is precisely why it’s so perfect.\nI have one wish to leave you with. If you are reading this and feel inspired to use MenuBot in combination with other utilities to create your own custom menu bar applets, please do not hesitate to share them with me on Mastodon or the Club MacStories Discord server. I’m excited to see what you come up with.\nAs you can tell, my custom shortcut for MenuBot is specifically tailored to my needs, location, and accessories, but if you want to take a look for inspiration, you can download it by clicking here.\nMenuBot is available to purchase on the Mac App Store for $3.99.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-08-27T11:23:12-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-08-29T15:19:49-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "bettertouchtool", "mac", "weather", "tutorials" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76265", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-announces-new-changes-to-the-browser-choice-screen-and-default-apps-on-ios-and-ipados-in-the-eu/", "title": "Apple Announces New Changes to the Browser Choice Screen and Default Apps on iOS and iPadOS in the EU", "content_html": "Today, Apple announced a series of new changes coming later this year to users running iOS and iPadOS in the European Union.
\nIn March 2024, as part of Apple’s response to the DMA, iOS 17.4 introduced a new browser choice screen that prompted users in the EU to choose a new default browser when first opening Safari after the update. Later this year, once again, this screen will be shown to all European users who have set or kept Safari as their default web browser on iOS and iPadOS, “including users who have already seen the choice screen prior to the update.” The screen will also be shown to these users when migrating to a new device.
\nThis updated browser choice screen will now feature App Store subtitles and descriptions for each listed web browser, and will let you tap on a chevron to open its product page on the App Store.
\nAdditionally, if the selected default browser is not already installed, you will now be able to see its download progress right from the browser choice screen. But that’s not all: Apple says that the newly selected browser’s icon will now immediately replace Safari if it was placed in the Dock or on the Home Screen on iOS and iPadOS.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-08-22-18-31-2x-1724346664209.png\")
The updated browser choice screen in iOS 18. Source: Apple
Along with the updated browser choice screen, Apple announced the addition of a new ‘Default Apps’ section in Settings for users in the EU running iOS and iPadOS 18. In addition to web browsers, alternative app marketplaces, and email apps, you will now be able to set a new default app for each of the following features:
\nApple will now also let users in the EU uninstall the following core apps on iOS and iPadOS:
\n![\"A](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-08-22-18-48-2x-1724346662063.png\")
A new ‘Default Apps’ section in Settings will be available to users in the EU as part of iOS and iPadOS 18. Source: Apple
These changes to the browser choice screen and the ability to select new default apps on iOS and iPadOS come a few months after the European Commission announced their intention to open a non-compliance investigation against Apple in regard to the DMA. In its press release from March 25th, the Commission specifically cited the design of the browser choice screen introduced in iOS 17.4:
\n\n\n The Commission is concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser choice screen, may be preventing users from truly exercising their choice of services within the Apple ecosystem, in contravention of Article 6(3) of the DMA.\n
It is unclear at this time whether these changes will satisfy the Commission.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Apple announced a series of new changes coming later this year to users running iOS and iPadOS in the European Union.\nIn March 2024, as part of Apple’s response to the DMA, iOS 17.4 introduced a new browser choice screen that prompted users in the EU to choose a new default browser when first opening Safari after the update. Later this year, once again, this screen will be shown to all European users who have set or kept Safari as their default web browser on iOS and iPadOS, “including users who have already seen the choice screen prior to the update.” The screen will also be shown to these users when migrating to a new device.\nThis updated browser choice screen will now feature App Store subtitles and descriptions for each listed web browser, and will let you tap on a chevron to open its product page on the App Store.\nAdditionally, if the selected default browser is not already installed, you will now be able to see its download progress right from the browser choice screen. But that’s not all: Apple says that the newly selected browser’s icon will now immediately replace Safari if it was placed in the Dock or on the Home Screen on iOS and iPadOS.\nThe updated browser choice screen in iOS 18. Source: Apple\nAlong with the updated browser choice screen, Apple announced the addition of a new ‘Default Apps’ section in Settings for users in the EU running iOS and iPadOS 18. In addition to web browsers, alternative app marketplaces, and email apps, you will now be able to set a new default app for each of the following features:\nDialing phone numbers\nAdding Call spam filter\nSending messages\nNavigating with maps\nManaging passwords\nUsing alternative keyboards\nTranslating text\nApple will now also let users in the EU uninstall the following core apps on iOS and iPadOS: \nApp Store\nMessages\nCamera\nPhotos\nSafari\nA new ‘Default Apps’ section in Settings will be available to users in the EU as part of iOS and iPadOS 18. Source: Apple\nThese changes to the browser choice screen and the ability to select new default apps on iOS and iPadOS come a few months after the European Commission announced their intention to open a non-compliance investigation against Apple in regard to the DMA. In its press release from March 25th, the Commission specifically cited the design of the browser choice screen introduced in iOS 17.4:\n\n The Commission is concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser choice screen, may be preventing users from truly exercising their choice of services within the Apple ecosystem, in contravention of Article 6(3) of the DMA.\n\nIt is unclear at this time whether these changes will satisfy the Commission.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-08-22T13:44:04-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-08-22T13:44:04-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "DMA", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76150", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/notchnook-and-mediamate-two-apps-to-add-a-dynamic-island-to-the-mac/", "title": "NotchNook and MediaMate: Two Apps to Add a Dynamic Island to the Mac", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-1-1722870800201.png\")
The Dynamic Island has been one of my favorite software additions to the iPhone since it was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. The feature is a fun blend of hardware and software that turns the new pill-shaped TrueDepth camera array into a status bar that can collapse and expand to display media controls, Live Activities, and more.
\nWhile Live Activities are now also available on iPadOS, neither the iPad nor the Mac have gotten a Dynamic Island following their latest hardware and software revisions. I would argue that the latest generations of Apple silicon MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are pretty good candidates for a Dynamic Island. Both lineups feature a notched screen that currently doesn’t serve any purpose apart from expanding the display to the top edges of the laptop’s aluminum case and limiting the amount of space available for Mac menu bar apps.
\nToday, I’m taking a look at two Mac apps that add functionality to the notch to make it more Dynamic Island-like. Both have made me realize that, while not absolutely essential, the Dynamic Island definitely has a place on the Mac.
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mediamate-1722870801070.png\")
MediaMate’s main purpose is to replace the Mac’s default volume and brightness indicators. In their place, the app replicates the volume and brightness indicators found on iOS and iPadOS, down to making them interactive with the mouse and displaying specific icons when using AirPods, AirPods Max, or Beats headphones.
\nThe app offers four different indicator styles, and if you select the ‘Notch’ style, the MacBook’s notch at the top of the screen will slightly expand to reveal a volume or brightness slider whenever you press the dedicated keys on your keyboard.
\n![\"MediaMate](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mediamate-volume-1-1722870796976.png\")
MediaMate allows you to integrate the brightness and volume indicators with the notch…
![\"…but](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mediamate-volume-2-1722870793740.png\")
…but it can also replicate the iOS look.
The app even allows you to assign a specific style based on your currently active display. I’ve set up MediaMate to replicate the iOS volume and brightness sliders when I’m at my desk using my external display and to integrate with the notch when I’m using my M2 MacBook Air’s built-in display.
\nMediaMate can also display playback controls for your music. Similarly to the volume and brightness controls, these can be set to appear in the notch or as a separate floating UI on an external display.
\nMediaMate adds media controls to your notch.
![\"Media](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-08-05-17-27-1722871717636.gif\")
Media controls can also be set to appear in a floating, interactive notification.
The app’s settings are quite advanced. You can set specific timing rules to define how long the UI stays onscreen and when the notch should expand (on track change, on Play/Pause, or on volume change). You can also exclude specific apps from appearing in MediaMate’s playback controls. Incredibly, MediaMate even supports Focus Filters and will remain hidden when a specific Focus mode is enabled.
\n![\"MediaMate](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/mediamate-focus-filters-1722870795520.png\")
MediaMate can be hidden when a specific Focus mode is enabled.
I’ve been impressed with MediaMate. The app is stable and well-designed with smooth animations all around. If you’re looking to add some basic media functionality to your Mac’s notch, I recommend giving it a try. It’s one of those small Mac apps that you can set up once and then forget that it’s not even a part of the native macOS experience.
\nMediaMate is available to purchase on Gumroad for $9.20 with a free trial available on the official website.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-1722870798879.png\")
NotchNook by lo.cafe is similar to MediaMate, but it attempts to bring even more functionality to the notch. In addition to adding media controls, NotchNook can expand the notch even further to display widgets.
\nAs of version 1.2, four widgets can be added to NotchNook: Media Player, Calendar, Shortcuts, and Mirror. While the first three speak for themselves, Mirror is actually a quick way to activate and preview your webcam with just a click, similar to Hand Mirror. More widgets are listed in the app’s settings – Notes, Quick Apps, and To-dos – but they’re currently labeled, “Coming soon…”
\n![\"Just](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-live-activity-1722870794152.png\")
Just like the Dynamic Island on iOS, NotchNook displays the album artwork and a waveform on each side of the notch when music is playing.
![\"NotchNook](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-tray-1-1722870796457.png\")
NotchNook configured with three widgets when expanded: Media Player, Calendar, and Mirror.
![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-shortcuts-1722870796132.png\")
The app can be used as a quick way to launch shortcuts.
Widgets aside, my favorite feature in NotchNook is its ability to act as a temporary space to store files. When the app is running, you can drag any file on your Mac onto the notch. There, you can either drop it into the Tray, which will temporarily hold your file until you drag it out into another app, or onto the AirDrop area, where you can you easily send it to a friend or one of your other devices. These are the only two file functions currently available, but the developer says more are coming, including the ability to compress images and zip/unzip files.
\n![\"When](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/notchnook-tray-1722870793693.png\")
When dragging a file to the notch, NotchNook will expand to let you send it via AirDrop or temporarily store it in the Tray.
My main issue with NotchNook is that, unlike MediaMate, it always looks like a notch – even on an external display. While it works as expected, the addition of a software notch where there isn’t a hardware one on my actual monitor is visually jarring. My suggestion to the developers would be to handle external displays differently, perhaps by making NotchNook look like a floating island rather than an artificial notch.
\nStability-wise, the app isn’t perfect. To name a few minor issues, I am currently unable to populate the Calendar widget with my events, the Mirror widget doesn’t work with my external camera (only with the MacBook Air’s built-in webcam), and the Now Playing preview is always visible on top of fullscreen apps, including fullscreen videos, sometimes obscuring part of the content. However, since the app is updated regularly, I’m hopeful that these issues will all disappear over time.
\nNotchNook is available on lo.cafe for a $3/month subscription or $25 one-time purchase with a free trial. The app is also available as part of a Setapp subscription.
\nTrying both MediaMate and NotchNook has convinced me that Apple needs to add native functionality to the notch. I would be content with just brightness and volume indicator integration, but I think the most logical development would be the addition of Live Activities to the Mac. Last year, Live Activities were successfully brought to iPadOS, albeit only to the iPad’s Lock Screen. Why not bring them to macOS via a notch power-up?
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "The Dynamic Island has been one of my favorite software additions to the iPhone since it was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. The feature is a fun blend of hardware and software that turns the new pill-shaped TrueDepth camera array into a status bar that can collapse and expand to display media controls, Live Activities, and more.\nWhile Live Activities are now also available on iPadOS, neither the iPad nor the Mac have gotten a Dynamic Island following their latest hardware and software revisions. I would argue that the latest generations of Apple silicon MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are pretty good candidates for a Dynamic Island. Both lineups feature a notched screen that currently doesn’t serve any purpose apart from expanding the display to the top edges of the laptop’s aluminum case and limiting the amount of space available for Mac menu bar apps.\nToday, I’m taking a look at two Mac apps that add functionality to the notch to make it more Dynamic Island-like. Both have made me realize that, while not absolutely essential, the Dynamic Island definitely has a place on the Mac.\n\nMediaMate\n\nMediaMate’s main purpose is to replace the Mac’s default volume and brightness indicators. In their place, the app replicates the volume and brightness indicators found on iOS and iPadOS, down to making them interactive with the mouse and displaying specific icons when using AirPods, AirPods Max, or Beats headphones.\nThe app offers four different indicator styles, and if you select the ‘Notch’ style, the MacBook’s notch at the top of the screen will slightly expand to reveal a volume or brightness slider whenever you press the dedicated keys on your keyboard.\nMediaMate allows you to integrate the brightness and volume indicators with the notch…\n…but it can also replicate the iOS look.\nThe app even allows you to assign a specific style based on your currently active display. I’ve set up MediaMate to replicate the iOS volume and brightness sliders when I’m at my desk using my external display and to integrate with the notch when I’m using my M2 MacBook Air’s built-in display.\nMediaMate can also display playback controls for your music. Similarly to the volume and brightness controls, these can be set to appear in the notch or as a separate floating UI on an external display.\nMediaMate adds media controls to your notch.\nMedia controls can also be set to appear in a floating, interactive notification.\nThe app’s settings are quite advanced. You can set specific timing rules to define how long the UI stays onscreen and when the notch should expand (on track change, on Play/Pause, or on volume change). You can also exclude specific apps from appearing in MediaMate’s playback controls. Incredibly, MediaMate even supports Focus Filters and will remain hidden when a specific Focus mode is enabled.\nMediaMate can be hidden when a specific Focus mode is enabled.\nI’ve been impressed with MediaMate. The app is stable and well-designed with smooth animations all around. If you’re looking to add some basic media functionality to your Mac’s notch, I recommend giving it a try. It’s one of those small Mac apps that you can set up once and then forget that it’s not even a part of the native macOS experience.\nMediaMate is available to purchase on Gumroad for $9.20 with a free trial available on the official website.\nNotchNook\n\nNotchNook by lo.cafe is similar to MediaMate, but it attempts to bring even more functionality to the notch. In addition to adding media controls, NotchNook can expand the notch even further to display widgets.\nAs of version 1.2, four widgets can be added to NotchNook: Media Player, Calendar, Shortcuts, and Mirror. While the first three speak for themselves, Mirror is actually a quick way to activate and preview your webcam with just a click, similar to Hand Mirror. More widgets are listed in the app’s settings – Notes, Quick Apps, and To-dos – but they’re currently labeled, “Coming soon…”\nJust like the Dynamic Island on iOS, NotchNook displays the album artwork and a waveform on each side of the notch when music is playing.\nNotchNook configured with three widgets when expanded: Media Player, Calendar, and Mirror.\nThe app can be used as a quick way to launch shortcuts.\nWidgets aside, my favorite feature in NotchNook is its ability to act as a temporary space to store files. When the app is running, you can drag any file on your Mac onto the notch. There, you can either drop it into the Tray, which will temporarily hold your file until you drag it out into another app, or onto the AirDrop area, where you can you easily send it to a friend or one of your other devices. These are the only two file functions currently available, but the developer says more are coming, including the ability to compress images and zip/unzip files.\nWhen dragging a file to the notch, NotchNook will expand to let you send it via AirDrop or temporarily store it in the Tray.\nMy main issue with NotchNook is that, unlike MediaMate, it always looks like a notch – even on an external display. While it works as expected, the addition of a software notch where there isn’t a hardware one on my actual monitor is visually jarring. My suggestion to the developers would be to handle external displays differently, perhaps by making NotchNook look like a floating island rather than an artificial notch.\nStability-wise, the app isn’t perfect. To name a few minor issues, I am currently unable to populate the Calendar widget with my events, the Mirror widget doesn’t work with my external camera (only with the MacBook Air’s built-in webcam), and the Now Playing preview is always visible on top of fullscreen apps, including fullscreen videos, sometimes obscuring part of the content. However, since the app is updated regularly, I’m hopeful that these issues will all disappear over time.\nNotchNook is available on lo.cafe for a $3/month subscription or $25 one-time purchase with a free trial. The app is also available as part of a Setapp subscription.\nTrying both MediaMate and NotchNook has convinced me that Apple needs to add native functionality to the notch. I would be content with just brightness and volume indicator integration, but I think the most logical development would be the addition of Live Activities to the Mac. Last year, Live Activities were successfully brought to iPadOS, albeit only to the iPad’s Lock Screen. Why not bring them to macOS via a notch power-up?\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-08-05T17:26:30-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-08-30T09:42:20-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "mac", "media", "music", "utility", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76123", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/unread-4-0-brings-a-fast-and-native-rss-reader-to-the-mac/", "title": "Unread 4.0 Brings a Fast and Native RSS Reader to the Mac", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread4-1722259232022.png\")
Unread by Golden Hill Software has long been an excellent and elegant RSS client for iOS and iPadOS. Today, it arrives on macOS with version 4.0. While I have been exploring new ways to keep up with my favorite feeds as the web enters its federated era, using Unread on the Mac hasn’t felt like a step backwards. Unread 4.0 is a fully native, fully-featured app built using AppKit and SwiftUI that feels modern and performs incredibly quickly.
\nLet’s check it out.
\n\nIn addition to keeping your subscriptions on-device or using the app’s own syncing service, Unread supports a variety of third-party RSS syncing options including my service of choice, Feedbin, which lets you subscribe to email newsletters. But the app also allows you sign in to several read later services – like Raindrop.io, Pocket, Plinky, and more – to perform ‘Article Actions’ via toolbar buttons that allow you to save an article with a single click.
\n![\"Several](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-services-1722259225892.png\")
Several third-party RSS syncing services are supported…
![\"…as](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-readlater-1722259227990.png\")
…as well as several read later services that can be added to Unread’s toolbar.
Unread’s interface on the Mac is very straightforward. In the leftmost sidebar, you will find all of your subscribed feeds in alphabetical order, as well as three main sections to view your unread, starred, and saved items. While I wish the sidebar also included favicons to help distinguish feeds, this classic layout style remains the clearest way to design an RSS reader, and I’m glad that Unread 4.0 is sicking with it.
\nThe app’s toolbar behaves like any native Mac app’s. It is fully customizable with a selection of buttons that can be placed in any order. In Unread 4.0, a new button will also let you easily fetch an article’s content from either the RSS feed or directly from the webpage. The app will even ask if you would like to make that setting persistent for the current feed.
\n![\"Unread's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-toolbar-1722259227912.png\")
Unread’s toolbar is customizable like most native Mac apps.
Overall, I have been impressed with the way Unread fetches and displays content. Newsletters (via Feedbin), regular articles, and YouTube videos all display perfectly inside the app. Unlike other RSS clients on macOS, Unread is able to display images and video in fullscreen and thus can act as a great YouTube client.
\n![\"Unread](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-2024-07-29-14-05-2x-1722259227947.png\")
Unread 4.0 can fetch content from the RSS feed, directly from the linked web page, or from both at the same time.
![\"Even](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-youtube-1722259227965.png\")
Even YouTube feeds behave nicely in Unread.
Despite its native foundation, Unread’s appearance on the Mac is still fairly customizable. It comes with 14 different theme palettes (seven light and seven dark) that will alter the app’s accent colors as well as its desktop widgets. You can also combine these themes with one of Unread’s 32 custom Dock icons. Even though the custom Dock icon will only appear when the app is running due to a system limitation, it is a welcome touch that I wish we could see in more native apps on the Mac.
\n![\"Unread's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-colors-1722259226130.png\")
Unread’s 14 themes…
![\"…and](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-icons-1722259226141.png\"){kind=icon}
…and 32 Dock icon options.
![\"Unread's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-07-29-14-50-2-2x-1722259225984.png\")
Unread’s widgets look great on the Mac desktop and follow the app’s color theme by default.
Unfortunately though, it is currently impossible to change Unread’s default font, Whitney, apart from tweaking its size.
\n![\"Font](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/unread-fonts-1722259227989.png\")
Font customization is limited to size adjustment.
Moving forward, I plan to use Unread as my go-to RSS reader on the Mac, at least for a while. The app’s ability to cache articles will likely prove useful during my regular train trips across France, where cellular connectivity can become unreliable at times.
\nMost importantly, I should stress again how refreshing it feels to have such a great native experience with Unread. The app is really fast, even when it’s loaded up with hundreds of feeds. In this respect, it contrasts with Reeder, my long-time favorite RSS client on the Mac. If it gains a few more display options, like favicons in the sidebar and custom font choices, Unread may be able to win me over in the long run.
\nUnread 4.0 is available to download for free on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. An optional $29.99/year or $4.99/month subscription unlocks caching articles, saving to Unread via the share sheet, saving to third-party services from Unread, widget customization, and custom icons.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Unread by Golden Hill Software has long been an excellent and elegant RSS client for iOS and iPadOS. Today, it arrives on macOS with version 4.0. While I have been exploring new ways to keep up with my favorite feeds as the web enters its federated era, using Unread on the Mac hasn’t felt like a step backwards. Unread 4.0 is a fully native, fully-featured app built using AppKit and SwiftUI that feels modern and performs incredibly quickly.\nLet’s check it out.\n\nIn addition to keeping your subscriptions on-device or using the app’s own syncing service, Unread supports a variety of third-party RSS syncing options including my service of choice, Feedbin, which lets you subscribe to email newsletters. But the app also allows you sign in to several read later services – like Raindrop.io, Pocket, Plinky, and more – to perform ‘Article Actions’ via toolbar buttons that allow you to save an article with a single click.\nSeveral third-party RSS syncing services are supported…\n…as well as several read later services that can be added to Unread’s toolbar.\nUnread’s interface on the Mac is very straightforward. In the leftmost sidebar, you will find all of your subscribed feeds in alphabetical order, as well as three main sections to view your unread, starred, and saved items. While I wish the sidebar also included favicons to help distinguish feeds, this classic layout style remains the clearest way to design an RSS reader, and I’m glad that Unread 4.0 is sicking with it.\nThe app’s toolbar behaves like any native Mac app’s. It is fully customizable with a selection of buttons that can be placed in any order. In Unread 4.0, a new button will also let you easily fetch an article’s content from either the RSS feed or directly from the webpage. The app will even ask if you would like to make that setting persistent for the current feed.\nUnread’s toolbar is customizable like most native Mac apps.\nOverall, I have been impressed with the way Unread fetches and displays content. Newsletters (via Feedbin), regular articles, and YouTube videos all display perfectly inside the app. Unlike other RSS clients on macOS, Unread is able to display images and video in fullscreen and thus can act as a great YouTube client.\nUnread 4.0 can fetch content from the RSS feed, directly from the linked web page, or from both at the same time.\nEven YouTube feeds behave nicely in Unread.\nDespite its native foundation, Unread’s appearance on the Mac is still fairly customizable. It comes with 14 different theme palettes (seven light and seven dark) that will alter the app’s accent colors as well as its desktop widgets. You can also combine these themes with one of Unread’s 32 custom Dock icons. Even though the custom Dock icon will only appear when the app is running due to a system limitation, it is a welcome touch that I wish we could see in more native apps on the Mac.\nUnread’s 14 themes…\n…and 32 Dock icon options.\nUnread’s widgets look great on the Mac desktop and follow the app’s color theme by default.\nUnfortunately though, it is currently impossible to change Unread’s default font, Whitney, apart from tweaking its size.\nFont customization is limited to size adjustment.\nMoving forward, I plan to use Unread as my go-to RSS reader on the Mac, at least for a while. The app’s ability to cache articles will likely prove useful during my regular train trips across France, where cellular connectivity can become unreliable at times.\nMost importantly, I should stress again how refreshing it feels to have such a great native experience with Unread. The app is really fast, even when it’s loaded up with hundreds of feeds. In this respect, it contrasts with Reeder, my long-time favorite RSS client on the Mac. If it gains a few more display options, like favicons in the sidebar and custom font choices, Unread may be able to win me over in the long run.\nUnread 4.0 is available to download for free on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. An optional $29.99/year or $4.99/month subscription unlocks caching articles, saving to Unread via the share sheet, saving to third-party services from Unread, widget customization, and custom icons.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-07-29T11:31:48-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-07-29T11:31:48-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "mac", "RSS", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76105", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-maps-launches-in-beta-on-the-web/", "title": "Apple Maps Launches in Beta on the Web", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-07-24-21-20-2x-1-1721850236079.png\")
Today, Apple has launched Apple Maps on the web in a surprise announcement. This beta version of Apple Maps on the web is accessible via the url beta.maps.apple.com, and is said by the company to be compatible with Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge on Windows. Additionally, developers will now be able to link out to Apple Maps on the web using MapKit JS.
\nApple Maps on the web seems to be rather limited so far. The web app supports panning and zooming on the map, searching and tapping on locations, looking up directions, and browsing curated guides. However, it isn’t currently possible to tilt the map to view 3D building models or terrain elevation, and directions are limited to Driving and Walking. Look Around (Apple’s equivalent to Google Street View) is not available on the web either, but Apple says the feature will arrive in the coming months.
\nThe web UI itself is reminiscent of Apple Maps on macOS and iPadOS. Recent locations can be found in a sidebar, and buttons to navigate the map are located in the top-right and bottom-right-hand corners of the page.
\n![\"Just](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-07-24-21-24-2x-1721850231077.png\")
Just like on macOS and iPadOS, location details open in a collapsible sidebar.
![\"Curated](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-07-24-21-26-2x-1721850230028.png\")
Curated guides and satellite imagery are also supported in Apple Maps on the web.
![\"Directions](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/cleanshot-2024-07-24-21-30-2x-1721850227573.png\")
Directions are limited to Driving and Walking.
In my testing, performance across Apple Maps on the web isn’t stellar in Safari. I’m observing stutters in transition animations, as well as when panning the map. In Google Chrome, however, the web app feels significantly smoother. If you attempt to access Apple Maps from Firefox, the app will not load and redirect you to Apple’s (short) list of supported browsers. The same message is displayed if you access the URL from Safari on iOS.
\n![\"Firefox](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/firefox-2024-07-24-21-31-2x-1721850226746.png\")
Firefox isn’t supported yet.
Apple Maps on the web is a welcome addition. Google Maps has always been available on the web for all to use, and I’m glad to finally see Apple try and compete beyond its native apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Hopefully more languages and features are coming to the web version soon.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Apple has launched Apple Maps on the web in a surprise announcement. This beta version of Apple Maps on the web is accessible via the url beta.maps.apple.com, and is said by the company to be compatible with Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge on Windows. Additionally, developers will now be able to link out to Apple Maps on the web using MapKit JS.\nApple Maps on the web seems to be rather limited so far. The web app supports panning and zooming on the map, searching and tapping on locations, looking up directions, and browsing curated guides. However, it isn’t currently possible to tilt the map to view 3D building models or terrain elevation, and directions are limited to Driving and Walking. Look Around (Apple’s equivalent to Google Street View) is not available on the web either, but Apple says the feature will arrive in the coming months.\nThe web UI itself is reminiscent of Apple Maps on macOS and iPadOS. Recent locations can be found in a sidebar, and buttons to navigate the map are located in the top-right and bottom-right-hand corners of the page.\nJust like on macOS and iPadOS, location details open in a collapsible sidebar.\nCurated guides and satellite imagery are also supported in Apple Maps on the web.\nDirections are limited to Driving and Walking.\nIn my testing, performance across Apple Maps on the web isn’t stellar in Safari. I’m observing stutters in transition animations, as well as when panning the map. In Google Chrome, however, the web app feels significantly smoother. If you attempt to access Apple Maps from Firefox, the app will not load and redirect you to Apple’s (short) list of supported browsers. The same message is displayed if you access the URL from Safari on iOS.\nFirefox isn’t supported yet.\nApple Maps on the web is a welcome addition. Google Maps has always been available on the web for all to use, and I’m glad to finally see Apple try and compete beyond its native apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Hopefully more languages and features are coming to the web version soon.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-07-24T15:49:20-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-07-24T19:29:19-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Apple Maps", "web", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=76048", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/overcast-celebrates-its-tenth-anniversary-with-a-redesigned-interface/", "title": "Overcast Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary with a Redesigned Interface", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/overcast1-1721065676579.png\")
Overcast has long been my favorite podcast player on iOS and iPadOS with its beautifully simple user interface that complements a great audio engine. Today, developer Marco Arment is celebrating Overcast’s tenth anniversary with the release of a new version featuring a user interface that’s been rewritten from the ground up.
\nFrom the app’s main screen to playlist and podcast pages, show notes, chapters, and search, this new version of Overcast looks completely modern, and it feels fast. But at the same time, the app remains true to itself and retains a familiar look, with no drastic visual changes that would disorient its long-time users.
\nThe app’s revamped player is perhaps my favorite aspect of this fresh coat of paint. There, you can still find the app’s landmark audio features, Voice Boost and Smart Speed, but the player’s sections have been reorganized to create a clearer overall layout. Chapters have been moved to a separate view, with more space on each line for longer chapter titles. Episode notes, on the other hand, can be toggled on and browsed through with the player controls still accessible at the bottom of the screen.
\nThe new player also comes with a great quality-of-life addition: when skipping chapters or seeking through an episode, a ‘Go Back’ button now appears briefly on top of the podcast artwork. Tapping this button immediately returns you to your previous position. This is essentially an ‘undo’ function for accidental taps within the player view. (If you unintentionally scrub the player on your iPhone Lock Screen, you can quickly open the app and go back as well.) I never realized that I needed this feature in a podcast player until now.
\n![\"Overcast's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/overcast-now-playing-1721065285411.png\")
Overcast’s new player. Notice the ‘Go Back’ button (left) that appears when skipping chapters or seeking through an episode.
In addition to iOS, Overcast shines on iPadOS. The app now utilizes the iPad’s wider screen in a way that I wish more iPad apps would: by presenting a great three-pane layout. The app’s main screen resides in the leftmost pane, the middle section is reserved for subsections like podcast pages, and the player can be found on the right. This left-to-right hierarchical layout subtly reminds me of the official Twitter app that launched on the iPad about 14 years ago.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/overcast-ipad-1721065284676.png\")
The new Overcast on iPad.
With this release, Overcast no longer has the ability to stream podcast episodes. Instead, episodes must be downloaded before you can start listening to them. In my experience using the new version of the app, this hasn’t bothered me. Most of the time, I only need to wait a couple of seconds before Overcast finishes downloading an episode, and when it does, the episode automatically starts playing.
\nCombined with the option to automatically remove downloaded episodes (either when completed or 24 hours after completion), I don’t think this change will be noticeable, even to users who previously chose to stream their podcasts.
\n![\"Rather](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/overcast-downloads-1721067326653.png\")
Rather than streaming episodes, Overcast will always download them before you can start listening.
Aside from the ability to create priority rules for sorting podcasts within playlists, there aren’t any other notable new features in this release. And with the recent introduction of transcripts in Apple Podcasts recapturing some listeners’ attention (including my own), there’s certainly room for new features to come to the app. Still, I’m glad to see Overcast gain a brand-new foundation on top of which it will hopefully keep evolving in the near future.
\nThis is an exciting new start for my favorite podcast player.
\nOvercast is available to download for free on the App Store. Subscribing to Overcast Premium for $9.99/year removes banner ads from the app’s playback screens and allows users to upload their own audio files for listening.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Overcast has long been my favorite podcast player on iOS and iPadOS with its beautifully simple user interface that complements a great audio engine. Today, developer Marco Arment is celebrating Overcast’s tenth anniversary with the release of a new version featuring a user interface that’s been rewritten from the ground up.\nFrom the app’s main screen to playlist and podcast pages, show notes, chapters, and search, this new version of Overcast looks completely modern, and it feels fast. But at the same time, the app remains true to itself and retains a familiar look, with no drastic visual changes that would disorient its long-time users.\nThe app’s revamped player is perhaps my favorite aspect of this fresh coat of paint. There, you can still find the app’s landmark audio features, Voice Boost and Smart Speed, but the player’s sections have been reorganized to create a clearer overall layout. Chapters have been moved to a separate view, with more space on each line for longer chapter titles. Episode notes, on the other hand, can be toggled on and browsed through with the player controls still accessible at the bottom of the screen.\nThe new player also comes with a great quality-of-life addition: when skipping chapters or seeking through an episode, a ‘Go Back’ button now appears briefly on top of the podcast artwork. Tapping this button immediately returns you to your previous position. This is essentially an ‘undo’ function for accidental taps within the player view. (If you unintentionally scrub the player on your iPhone Lock Screen, you can quickly open the app and go back as well.) I never realized that I needed this feature in a podcast player until now.\nOvercast’s new player. Notice the ‘Go Back’ button (left) that appears when skipping chapters or seeking through an episode.\nIn addition to iOS, Overcast shines on iPadOS. The app now utilizes the iPad’s wider screen in a way that I wish more iPad apps would: by presenting a great three-pane layout. The app’s main screen resides in the leftmost pane, the middle section is reserved for subsections like podcast pages, and the player can be found on the right. This left-to-right hierarchical layout subtly reminds me of the official Twitter app that launched on the iPad about 14 years ago.\nThe new Overcast on iPad.\nWith this release, Overcast no longer has the ability to stream podcast episodes. Instead, episodes must be downloaded before you can start listening to them. In my experience using the new version of the app, this hasn’t bothered me. Most of the time, I only need to wait a couple of seconds before Overcast finishes downloading an episode, and when it does, the episode automatically starts playing.\nCombined with the option to automatically remove downloaded episodes (either when completed or 24 hours after completion), I don’t think this change will be noticeable, even to users who previously chose to stream their podcasts.\nRather than streaming episodes, Overcast will always download them before you can start listening.\nAside from the ability to create priority rules for sorting podcasts within playlists, there aren’t any other notable new features in this release. And with the recent introduction of transcripts in Apple Podcasts recapturing some listeners’ attention (including my own), there’s certainly room for new features to come to the app. Still, I’m glad to see Overcast gain a brand-new foundation on top of which it will hopefully keep evolving in the near future.\nThis is an exciting new start for my favorite podcast player.\nOvercast is available to download for free on the App Store. Subscribing to Overcast Premium for $9.99/year removes banner ads from the app’s playback screens and allows users to upload their own audio files for listening.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-07-16T09:00:58-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-07-16T09:50:14-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "iOS", "iPadOS", "overcast", "podcasts", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75984", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/lgbt-and-marginalized-voices-are-not-welcome-on-threads/", "title": "LGBT and Marginalized Voices Are Not Welcome on Threads", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/threads-lgbt-hero-2-1720713953109.png\")
As Twitter was crumbling under Elon Musk’s new leadership in 2023, various online circles found themselves flocking to alternative platforms. While some may have kept using Twitter (now known as… X), a non-negligible number of communities migrated over to Mastodon and other smaller platforms. Meanwhile, Meta shipped its own textual social media platform, Threads. The service initially launched in most parts of the world except for the European Union, but it’s been available in Europe for over six months now and has seen its usage soar.
\nFor many, Threads understandably felt like a breath of fresh air following the chaos that engulfed Twitter. Unlike the latter, Threads is not run by someone that I and many others find to be an exceptionally despicable human. Its algorithmic timeline contrasts with Mastodon’s exclusively chronological feeds, and its integration with Instagram has attracted a number of big names and stars.
\nI’m an activist. In my daily life, I work and advocate for the advancement of trans people’s rights in France. As a result, my expanded online social circle mostly consists of LGBT people, and most of them are activists, too. However, in the span of a few months, almost everyone in that circle who was excited about Threads launching in Europe has now stopped using it and migrated back to Twitter, Mastodon, or elsewhere. When I ask around about why those people left Threads behind, their responses vary, but a trend persists: most felt like they were being shadow-banned by the platform.
\nWithout hard data, it is difficult to investigate this feeling, to understand if it is truly widespread or specific to some online bubbles. But one thing is certain: Threads hasn’t felt like a breath of fresh air for all who tried to use it. In my experience as a trans woman, at its best, it has felt like Jack Dorsey’s old Twitter: a social platform overrun by an opaque moderation system, free-roaming hate speech, and a frustrating algorithm that too often promotes harmful content.
\nAs months go by, incidents where Threads consistently failed to uphold its understood promise of a better-moderated Twitter-like platform have added up. Today, for many non-white, non-straight, non-male users, it is a repulsive social media experience, where their voices are silenced and where hate speech offenders who target them go unpunished.
\nLet’s talk about this.
\n\nThis prevalent sentiment among LGBT people has increased over time. You need only rewind back to January 2024, soon after Threads launched in Europe, to find something pretty disgusting that started happening in people’s For You feeds. Homophobic and transphobic posts kept plaguing the app, despite people’s efforts to report these posts and hide them from their timeline. This wave of hateful content also included anti-abortion posts, and reports of this happening were widely shared. Worse, these posts were often pushed into people’s feeds on Instagram as well, prompting some trans people to stay clear of Threads altogether.
\nThis widespread incident is the only one so far that has prompted an official response from Threads, through the voice of Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri. However, that response is very telling of Meta’s approach when it comes to addressing these moderation issues. In his 23-second video, Mosseri acknowledges that there have been “low-quality recommendations” in users’ feeds but makes no explicit mention of what these recommendations were actually made of: anti-abortion comments, sexism, and violent homophobia and transphobia.
\nIn March, this spike of violent hate speech targeted at LGBT people was followed by the release of a damning report from GLAAD, a renowned non-profit organization focused on LGBT advocacy. This report, entitled Unsafe: Meta Fails to Moderate Extreme Anti-trans Hate Across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, paints a picture that has come as no surprise to any trans or marginalized person who has ever used any of Meta’s platforms for a significant amount of time. It puts forward a sample collection of viral harmful posts that, despite being in clear violation of Meta’s policies, have remained in circulation across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
\nFor anyone doubting that there is a consistent, reproducible, and wide-ranging problem of Meta failing to moderate harmful content targeted at marginalized people on its platforms, I highly encourage that you set aside some time and read through the report.
\nIn its introduction, GLAAD writes,
\n\n\n Characterized by fear-mongering, lies, conspiracy theories, dehumanizing tropes, and violent rhetoric, these posts — many by high-follower accounts — aim to boost engagement, generate revenue, and seed hateful narratives about trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people. These accounts profit from such hate, and so does Meta and its shareholders. Meanwhile, LGBTQ people and other targeted groups experience an increasing number of well-documented real-world harms stemming from these long-term anti-LGBTQ propaganda campaigns, driven by the anti-LGBTQ extremists that Meta allows to flourish on its platforms.\n
Since the release of the GLAAD report, Meta has not offered any further acknowledgment of this long-standing issue. Instead, in February 2024 – a couple of weeks before the report was released – the company introduced a worrying and seemingly unrelated policy change: Meta would now opt all of its users out of “political content” in their platform’s algorithmic timelines. Along with that change, a new toggle was added in Instagram’s settings panel. If you want to see political content in your feed, you need to flip the switch.
\nSince it was announced, the nature of what would be filtered by this new, on-by-default ‘Political Content Control’ on Instagram and Threads has never been clarified. On an Instagram support page, the company states: “Political content includes content that mentions: Governments, Elections, Social topics.”
\nWhat are “social topics”? Does that include black people speaking out against systemic racism? Does that include LGBT people speaking out against homophobia and transphobia? Does that include anyone identified as a part of a socially marginalized group of people? I am worried that it does – especially thinking back to my online circle of LGBT activists who have all left Meta’s platforms behind in favor of Twitter, Mastodon, or Bluesky, because they were all under the impression that they were being shadow-banned. I feel certain that opting everyone on the platform out of seeing political content has only contributed to this impression.
\nBut I’m not alone. In the wake of this change, hundreds of political and news content creators, LGBT activists, and journalists, have signed an open letter to Meta asking the company to reverse its decision.
\nThey write:
\n\n\n …Meta’s vague definition of political content as “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large” endangers the reach of individuals and organizations whose identities and/or advocacy have been rendered a ‘social topic’ in this country. This undermines the reach of marginalized folks speaking to their own lived experience on Meta’s platforms and undermines the reach of advocacy work in important areas that have become ‘social topics’ including climate change, gun violence prevention, racial justice, transgender rights, and reproductive freedom to name just a few.\n
Meanwhile in France, during that same month of February, Le Coin des LGBT+ (@lecoindeslgbt) was inexplicably suspended from Threads and Instagram. The account is extremely popular in the country, as it focuses on relaying LGBT news and events and plays a key role in online advocacy of LGBT people’s rights. Today, the account is still up and running on Instagram, but if you try looking for it on Threads, all you will find are countless messages of outrage from people asking Meta to reinstate the account.
\nWhile Le Coin des LGBT+ was restored a few days after its suspension without any explanation, the account’s holders chose not to stick around on Threads, limiting their activity to Instagram and Twitter. I would have made the same choice. For the few weeks that it was around on Threads, every single one of the account’s posts was bombarded with insults, death threats, and literal nazi imagery. Day after day, I spent hours trying to report every single one of them. Not only did the swastikas stay up and reappear faster than I could report them, but every single one of my reports was also met with a cold, disturbing, automated message from Instagram in my email inbox telling me that, “No violation was found”.
\nThe extremely worrying thing is that we don’t know how often this happens. Le Coin des LGBT+ has a huge following, and as result, the issue became widely relayed on both Instagram and Threads. But what about all of the victims who have less than a few hundred followers? Is light ever shed on the threats, insults, and hate that they have received?
\nThis is all starting to add up. If you’re an activist, a journalist reporting on issues affecting LGBT people, or an LGBT content creator, Threads is now both silencing your voice and exposing you to death threats.
\nQuite recently, I once more experienced this frustrating and harmful opacity around Meta’s moderation. Snap legislative elections took place in France this month. I will spare you the summary of this chaotic political situation at home, but long story short: we were at risk of an extremist far-right party rising to power. For all minorities and LGBT people in France, sharing our voices and our concerns online about this imminent threat was of crucial importance.
\nOn the opposite end of the French political spectrum, an alliance of all the left and green parties was formed, and it became the only real hope for all marginalized people to elect a government that would further their rights instead of repressing them. This alliance is called the New Popular Front. One of its main ways of raising awareness online during the campaign was sharing its political manifesto, accessible via the following URL: nouveaufrontpopulaire.fr.
\nHowever, a mere week before the first round of the legislative elections, people started to realize that this URL was blocked by Meta. It suddenly became impossible to post a link to the New Popular Front’s website on all of its platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. I documented this finding myself on Mastodon and Threads. The URL was disallowed in posts, in Instagram stories, and even inside conversations in Messenger and Instagram DMs with no explanation.
\nThe New Popular Front’s website worked and could be shared on Twitter, Mastodon, and other social platforms without any issues. While many of us thought this ban was perhaps applied to all the running parties in the election, it turned out that sharing a link to the far-right party’s website on Threads, Instagram, and Facebook was still possible. To add insult to injury, Meta started removing all posts on Threads that contained a link to the New Popular Front’s website; one of mine, posted one week prior, was affected. My Instagram and Threads accounts were even suspended for a few hours after that post was removed.
\nThere we were, seven days before a crucial election that could upend our entire lives, unable to share links to one of the few platforms that could save us. This suspension lasted for more than 24 hours, which felt like an eternity in an incredibly fast-paced campaign where every second counted. When Meta lifted the ban on shared links to the New Popular Front’s website, it once again didn’t issue any statement. Posts that were previously removed were quietly restored, and moderation appeals that had been filed by hundreds of French users have seemingly been lost into Meta’s automated moderation void.
\nThis was probably a mistake, a glitch in Meta’s automated process that perhaps erroneously flagged the URL as dangerous. But even if that was the case, why did it take more than 24 hours for the company to resolve the problem? Why would they refuse to even acknowledge that something happened? Like I said, it starts to add up. Now, as a black or LGBT person, in addition to having your voice silenced and exposing yourself to death threats on Meta’s platforms, you are also at risk of having your account suspended for sharing a link to a political manifesto just days before a crucial election.
\nAs Threads is slowly opening up to the fediverse, perhaps federation can feel like an escape hatch. It could be reassuring to think, “Perhaps if I can’t possibly stay active on Threads, I’ll be active on Mastodon, and thanks to federation, people on Threads can still read and follow me.” But I’m not hopeful. Last month, Threads published a new page that lists all of the fediverse servers that it blocks and does not federate with. Any account hosted on one of the Mastodon servers listed on this page cannot follow and interact with Threads users. And when Threads starts allowing its users to follow Mastodon accounts, they will be barred from following any account hosted on the listed servers.
\nOf course, this is not surprising by any means. All Mastodon servers maintain such a list on their About pages. (You can take a look at my own server’s list of moderated servers here.) These lists often contain the same set of long-known offenders: servers harboring and promoting hate speech, CSAM, and a wide range of gruesome things. Motivated by the recrudescence of Meta’s moderation failings, a number of Mastodon servers have also chosen to list Threads as a blocked server.
\nHowever, if you take a look at Meta’s list of moderated servers, you are going to notice a pattern. Alongside the well-established set of known offenders, Meta is also blocking a number of well-known Mastodon servers that host LGBT people and marginalized communities. Here is just a handful of them:
\nThere are even more with less obvious domain names. While some of these servers owners don’t mind being blocked by Threads, having themselves already blocked Meta’s platform, this still raises several questions. Why were these servers blocked? Was it just out of reprisal for blocking Threads? Which community guidelines did they breach? Is it nudity, even when it’s only allowed behind content warnings? If they ever reach compliance with those guidelines, will the suspension be lifted? How long does that take? Meta has a form for appealing blocked server decisions, but how are those reviewed? Is it just as automated as the majority of the moderation decisions made on the platform?
\nMastodon and the fediverse are often described as a web of interconnected servers that enforce their own moderation policies towards each other, sometimes at the cost of user experience and clarity when selecting a new server to join. From what I can tell, this not only applies to Threads now, but also adds another layer to the ongoing moderation issues that contribute to Threads and Meta’s other platforms being a dangerous and repulsive environment for marginalized people. The escape hatch that the fediverse seemed to represent can now also act as a banishment system. With Meta is already unilaterally blocking LGBT accounts and letting the authors of hate speech go unpunished, who’s to say they won’t arbitrarily block other LGBT servers on the fediverse in the future as well?
\nIt adds up.
\nYou may ask, “Why write this on MacStories now? Do you expect Meta to change anything?” I realize that I’ve asked a lot of unanswered questions here, but no, I don’t. I don’t expect Meta to ever really address the fact that brick by brick it has rebuilt the same sort of problematic foundation on which Twitter was built under Jack Dorsey’s leadership. I don’t expect it to move away from its dangerous automated moderation systems that silence activists trying to speak out for their lives and the lives of their peers. I don’t expect the company to acknowledge that it may have played a part in artificially boosting far-right discourses on its platforms by banning all links to their main opponent during the last stretch of the French legislative elections.
\nHowever, I do have some sincere expectations for you all who are reading this. I expect tech journalists to more systematically report on everything that fits into this pattern. I expect tech podcasters to acknowledge that Threads is only a great alternative to Twitter if you’re a straight, white male. I expect that we all start understanding why some marginalized communities are staying on Twitter despite all of its horrific flaws. I expect that awareness of Meta’s consistent pattern of silencing marginalized voices can help direct funds, donations, and efforts to Mastodon to make it a durable, more wide-reaching alternative.
\nMore than anything, I just expect to be heard. And for Threads, that seems too much to ask for.
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\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
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\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "As Twitter was crumbling under Elon Musk’s new leadership in 2023, various online circles found themselves flocking to alternative platforms. While some may have kept using Twitter (now known as… X), a non-negligible number of communities migrated over to Mastodon and other smaller platforms. Meanwhile, Meta shipped its own textual social media platform, Threads. The service initially launched in most parts of the world except for the European Union, but it’s been available in Europe for over six months now and has seen its usage soar.\nFor many, Threads understandably felt like a breath of fresh air following the chaos that engulfed Twitter. Unlike the latter, Threads is not run by someone that I and many others find to be an exceptionally despicable human. Its algorithmic timeline contrasts with Mastodon’s exclusively chronological feeds, and its integration with Instagram has attracted a number of big names and stars.\nI’m an activist. In my daily life, I work and advocate for the advancement of trans people’s rights in France. As a result, my expanded online social circle mostly consists of LGBT people, and most of them are activists, too. However, in the span of a few months, almost everyone in that circle who was excited about Threads launching in Europe has now stopped using it and migrated back to Twitter, Mastodon, or elsewhere. When I ask around about why those people left Threads behind, their responses vary, but a trend persists: most felt like they were being shadow-banned by the platform.\nWithout hard data, it is difficult to investigate this feeling, to understand if it is truly widespread or specific to some online bubbles. But one thing is certain: Threads hasn’t felt like a breath of fresh air for all who tried to use it. In my experience as a trans woman, at its best, it has felt like Jack Dorsey’s old Twitter: a social platform overrun by an opaque moderation system, free-roaming hate speech, and a frustrating algorithm that too often promotes harmful content.\nAs months go by, incidents where Threads consistently failed to uphold its understood promise of a better-moderated Twitter-like platform have added up. Today, for many non-white, non-straight, non-male users, it is a repulsive social media experience, where their voices are silenced and where hate speech offenders who target them go unpunished.\nLet’s talk about this.\n\nThis prevalent sentiment among LGBT people has increased over time. You need only rewind back to January 2024, soon after Threads launched in Europe, to find something pretty disgusting that started happening in people’s For You feeds. Homophobic and transphobic posts kept plaguing the app, despite people’s efforts to report these posts and hide them from their timeline. This wave of hateful content also included anti-abortion posts, and reports of this happening were widely shared. Worse, these posts were often pushed into people’s feeds on Instagram as well, prompting some trans people to stay clear of Threads altogether.\nThis widespread incident is the only one so far that has prompted an official response from Threads, through the voice of Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri. However, that response is very telling of Meta’s approach when it comes to addressing these moderation issues. In his 23-second video, Mosseri acknowledges that there have been “low-quality recommendations” in users’ feeds but makes no explicit mention of what these recommendations were actually made of: anti-abortion comments, sexism, and violent homophobia and transphobia.\nIn March, this spike of violent hate speech targeted at LGBT people was followed by the release of a damning report from GLAAD, a renowned non-profit organization focused on LGBT advocacy. This report, entitled Unsafe: Meta Fails to Moderate Extreme Anti-trans Hate Across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, paints a picture that has come as no surprise to any trans or marginalized person who has ever used any of Meta’s platforms for a significant amount of time. It puts forward a sample collection of viral harmful posts that, despite being in clear violation of Meta’s policies, have remained in circulation across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.\nFor anyone doubting that there is a consistent, reproducible, and wide-ranging problem of Meta failing to moderate harmful content targeted at marginalized people on its platforms, I highly encourage that you set aside some time and read through the report.\nIn its introduction, GLAAD writes,\n\n Characterized by fear-mongering, lies, conspiracy theories, dehumanizing tropes, and violent rhetoric, these posts — many by high-follower accounts — aim to boost engagement, generate revenue, and seed hateful narratives about trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people. These accounts profit from such hate, and so does Meta and its shareholders. Meanwhile, LGBTQ people and other targeted groups experience an increasing number of well-documented real-world harms stemming from these long-term anti-LGBTQ propaganda campaigns, driven by the anti-LGBTQ extremists that Meta allows to flourish on its platforms.\n\nSince the release of the GLAAD report, Meta has not offered any further acknowledgment of this long-standing issue. Instead, in February 2024 – a couple of weeks before the report was released – the company introduced a worrying and seemingly unrelated policy change: Meta would now opt all of its users out of “political content” in their platform’s algorithmic timelines. Along with that change, a new toggle was added in Instagram’s settings panel. If you want to see political content in your feed, you need to flip the switch.\nSince it was announced, the nature of what would be filtered by this new, on-by-default ‘Political Content Control’ on Instagram and Threads has never been clarified. On an Instagram support page, the company states: “Political content includes content that mentions: Governments, Elections, Social topics.”\nWhat are “social topics”? Does that include black people speaking out against systemic racism? Does that include LGBT people speaking out against homophobia and transphobia? Does that include anyone identified as a part of a socially marginalized group of people? I am worried that it does – especially thinking back to my online circle of LGBT activists who have all left Meta’s platforms behind in favor of Twitter, Mastodon, or Bluesky, because they were all under the impression that they were being shadow-banned. I feel certain that opting everyone on the platform out of seeing political content has only contributed to this impression.\nBut I’m not alone. In the wake of this change, hundreds of political and news content creators, LGBT activists, and journalists, have signed an open letter to Meta asking the company to reverse its decision.\nThey write:\n\n …Meta’s vague definition of political content as “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large” endangers the reach of individuals and organizations whose identities and/or advocacy have been rendered a ‘social topic’ in this country. This undermines the reach of marginalized folks speaking to their own lived experience on Meta’s platforms and undermines the reach of advocacy work in important areas that have become ‘social topics’ including climate change, gun violence prevention, racial justice, transgender rights, and reproductive freedom to name just a few.\n\nMeanwhile in France, during that same month of February, Le Coin des LGBT+ (@lecoindeslgbt) was inexplicably suspended from Threads and Instagram. The account is extremely popular in the country, as it focuses on relaying LGBT news and events and plays a key role in online advocacy of LGBT people’s rights. Today, the account is still up and running on Instagram, but if you try looking for it on Threads, all you will find are countless messages of outrage from people asking Meta to reinstate the account.\nWhile Le Coin des LGBT+ was restored a few days after its suspension without any explanation, the account’s holders chose not to stick around on Threads, limiting their activity to Instagram and Twitter. I would have made the same choice. For the few weeks that it was around on Threads, every single one of the account’s posts was bombarded with insults, death threats, and literal nazi imagery. Day after day, I spent hours trying to report every single one of them. Not only did the swastikas stay up and reappear faster than I could report them, but every single one of my reports was also met with a cold, disturbing, automated message from Instagram in my email inbox telling me that, “No violation was found”.\nThe extremely worrying thing is that we don’t know how often this happens. Le Coin des LGBT+ has a huge following, and as result, the issue became widely relayed on both Instagram and Threads. But what about all of the victims who have less than a few hundred followers? Is light ever shed on the threats, insults, and hate that they have received?\nThis is all starting to add up. If you’re an activist, a journalist reporting on issues affecting LGBT people, or an LGBT content creator, Threads is now both silencing your voice and exposing you to death threats.\nQuite recently, I once more experienced this frustrating and harmful opacity around Meta’s moderation. Snap legislative elections took place in France this month. I will spare you the summary of this chaotic political situation at home, but long story short: we were at risk of an extremist far-right party rising to power. For all minorities and LGBT people in France, sharing our voices and our concerns online about this imminent threat was of crucial importance.\nOn the opposite end of the French political spectrum, an alliance of all the left and green parties was formed, and it became the only real hope for all marginalized people to elect a government that would further their rights instead of repressing them. This alliance is called the New Popular Front. One of its main ways of raising awareness online during the campaign was sharing its political manifesto, accessible via the following URL: nouveaufrontpopulaire.fr.\nHowever, a mere week before the first round of the legislative elections, people started to realize that this URL was blocked by Meta. It suddenly became impossible to post a link to the New Popular Front’s website on all of its platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. I documented this finding myself on Mastodon and Threads. The URL was disallowed in posts, in Instagram stories, and even inside conversations in Messenger and Instagram DMs with no explanation.\nThe New Popular Front’s website worked and could be shared on Twitter, Mastodon, and other social platforms without any issues. While many of us thought this ban was perhaps applied to all the running parties in the election, it turned out that sharing a link to the far-right party’s website on Threads, Instagram, and Facebook was still possible. To add insult to injury, Meta started removing all posts on Threads that contained a link to the New Popular Front’s website; one of mine, posted one week prior, was affected. My Instagram and Threads accounts were even suspended for a few hours after that post was removed.\nThere we were, seven days before a crucial election that could upend our entire lives, unable to share links to one of the few platforms that could save us. This suspension lasted for more than 24 hours, which felt like an eternity in an incredibly fast-paced campaign where every second counted. When Meta lifted the ban on shared links to the New Popular Front’s website, it once again didn’t issue any statement. Posts that were previously removed were quietly restored, and moderation appeals that had been filed by hundreds of French users have seemingly been lost into Meta’s automated moderation void.\nThis was probably a mistake, a glitch in Meta’s automated process that perhaps erroneously flagged the URL as dangerous. But even if that was the case, why did it take more than 24 hours for the company to resolve the problem? Why would they refuse to even acknowledge that something happened? Like I said, it starts to add up. Now, as a black or LGBT person, in addition to having your voice silenced and exposing yourself to death threats on Meta’s platforms, you are also at risk of having your account suspended for sharing a link to a political manifesto just days before a crucial election.\nAs Threads is slowly opening up to the fediverse, perhaps federation can feel like an escape hatch. It could be reassuring to think, “Perhaps if I can’t possibly stay active on Threads, I’ll be active on Mastodon, and thanks to federation, people on Threads can still read and follow me.” But I’m not hopeful. Last month, Threads published a new page that lists all of the fediverse servers that it blocks and does not federate with. Any account hosted on one of the Mastodon servers listed on this page cannot follow and interact with Threads users. And when Threads starts allowing its users to follow Mastodon accounts, they will be barred from following any account hosted on the listed servers.\nOf course, this is not surprising by any means. All Mastodon servers maintain such a list on their About pages. (You can take a look at my own server’s list of moderated servers here.) These lists often contain the same set of long-known offenders: servers harboring and promoting hate speech, CSAM, and a wide range of gruesome things. Motivated by the recrudescence of Meta’s moderation failings, a number of Mastodon servers have also chosen to list Threads as a blocked server.\nHowever, if you take a look at Meta’s list of moderated servers, you are going to notice a pattern. Alongside the well-established set of known offenders, Meta is also blocking a number of well-known Mastodon servers that host LGBT people and marginalized communities. Here is just a handful of them:\ntech.lgbt (listed reason: “Violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Use”)\neldritch.cafe (listed reason: “Violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Use”)\noctodon.social (listed reason: “No publicly accessible feed, violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Use”)\nqueer.party (listed reason: “Violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Use”)\ndisabled.social (listed reason: “Violated our Community Guidelines or Terms of Use”)\nThere are even more with less obvious domain names. While some of these servers owners don’t mind being blocked by Threads, having themselves already blocked Meta’s platform, this still raises several questions. Why were these servers blocked? Was it just out of reprisal for blocking Threads? Which community guidelines did they breach? Is it nudity, even when it’s only allowed behind content warnings? If they ever reach compliance with those guidelines, will the suspension be lifted? How long does that take? Meta has a form for appealing blocked server decisions, but how are those reviewed? Is it just as automated as the majority of the moderation decisions made on the platform?\nMastodon and the fediverse are often described as a web of interconnected servers that enforce their own moderation policies towards each other, sometimes at the cost of user experience and clarity when selecting a new server to join. From what I can tell, this not only applies to Threads now, but also adds another layer to the ongoing moderation issues that contribute to Threads and Meta’s other platforms being a dangerous and repulsive environment for marginalized people. The escape hatch that the fediverse seemed to represent can now also act as a banishment system. With Meta is already unilaterally blocking LGBT accounts and letting the authors of hate speech go unpunished, who’s to say they won’t arbitrarily block other LGBT servers on the fediverse in the future as well?\nIt adds up.\nYou may ask, “Why write this on MacStories now? Do you expect Meta to change anything?” I realize that I’ve asked a lot of unanswered questions here, but no, I don’t. I don’t expect Meta to ever really address the fact that brick by brick it has rebuilt the same sort of problematic foundation on which Twitter was built under Jack Dorsey’s leadership. I don’t expect it to move away from its dangerous automated moderation systems that silence activists trying to speak out for their lives and the lives of their peers. I don’t expect the company to acknowledge that it may have played a part in artificially boosting far-right discourses on its platforms by banning all links to their main opponent during the last stretch of the French legislative elections.\nHowever, I do have some sincere expectations for you all who are reading this. I expect tech journalists to more systematically report on everything that fits into this pattern. I expect tech podcasters to acknowledge that Threads is only a great alternative to Twitter if you’re a straight, white male. I expect that we all start understanding why some marginalized communities are staying on Twitter despite all of its horrific flaws. I expect that awareness of Meta’s consistent pattern of silencing marginalized voices can help direct funds, donations, and efforts to Mastodon to make it a durable, more wide-reaching alternative.\nMore than anything, I just expect to be heard. And for Threads, that seems too much to ask for.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-07-12T11:00:17-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-07-12T18:06:28-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Social Media", "threads", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75957", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/tapbots-releases-ivory-2-0-with-hashtag-lists-and-a-redesigned-share-sheet-extension/", "title": "Tapbots Releases Ivory 2.0 with Hashtag Lists and a Redesigned Share Sheet Extension", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivory2-0hero-1720450127701.png\")
Today, Tapbots released version 2.0 of Ivory, the company’s Mastodon client for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The update brings a notable list of improvements, one exciting new feature that should make it easier to follow and curate specific topics on the fediverse, and a fully redesigned share sheet extension.
\nOn Mastodon, it is possible to follow hashtags in addition to accounts. This feature is particularly useful for tracking discussions about a specific topic across the wider fediverse. However, following hashtags is currently limited. Followed hashtags appear in your main chronological timeline among your followed accounts, and it isn’t possible to curate together multiple hashtags into a separate, easily accessible view. Ivory 2.0 aims to solve this with Hashtag Lists. Now, in the app’s redesigned Hashtags tab, you can create a list that contains up to four hashtags, and you can even exclude specific hashtags if you’re looking to fine-tune the resulting timeline.
\n![\"Creating](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivorycats-1720450129818.png\")
Creating a hashtag list for cat pics in Ivory 2.0.
![\"Hashtag](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivorylists-1-1720450125999.png\")
Hashtag lists can be accessed from Ivory’s dedicated Hashtags tab, or directly from the Home tab by tapping on the title bar.
The other big improvement in Ivory 2.0 is its redesigned share sheet extension for creating posts. It is now fully-featured, with the ability to set the post’s visibility and language, as well as an option to add alternative text descriptions to shared images and videos. When sharing a URL, the share sheet will now show a preview of the link card that will appear as part of your post. To get started, tap the Share button from the Photos app, Safari, or any app that supports the native iOS and iPadOS share sheet, then choose the Ivory icon.
\n![\"Sharing](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivory2-0sharesheet-1720450126668.png\")
Sharing a link, a cat pic, and multiple images via Ivory’s redesigned share sheet extension.
![\"Ivory's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ivory2-0sharesheet_mac-1720450125957.png\")
Ivory’s new share sheet extension is also available on the Mac.
In addition, Ivory 2.0 comes with small visual refinements to the way images and videos are displayed in a post’s detail view and the ability to set a fixed order for context menu items throughout the app.
\nTapbots continues to update and refine Ivory at a steady pace. As a result, it is still my favorite way to use Mastodon on a daily basis. With a new major version of Mastodon on the horizon, I’m excited to see Tapbots add support for new features in Ivory without necessarily waiting for improvements to the default Mastodon experience.
\nIf you want to create your own cat hashtag list today, Ivory 2.0 is now available on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The app comes with a seven-day free trial for new users, after which a monthly or annual subscription is required to use most of its features.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Tapbots released version 2.0 of Ivory, the company’s Mastodon client for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The update brings a notable list of improvements, one exciting new feature that should make it easier to follow and curate specific topics on the fediverse, and a fully redesigned share sheet extension.\nOn Mastodon, it is possible to follow hashtags in addition to accounts. This feature is particularly useful for tracking discussions about a specific topic across the wider fediverse. However, following hashtags is currently limited. Followed hashtags appear in your main chronological timeline among your followed accounts, and it isn’t possible to curate together multiple hashtags into a separate, easily accessible view. Ivory 2.0 aims to solve this with Hashtag Lists. Now, in the app’s redesigned Hashtags tab, you can create a list that contains up to four hashtags, and you can even exclude specific hashtags if you’re looking to fine-tune the resulting timeline.\nCreating a hashtag list for cat pics in Ivory 2.0.\nHashtag lists can be accessed from Ivory’s dedicated Hashtags tab, or directly from the Home tab by tapping on the title bar.\nThe other big improvement in Ivory 2.0 is its redesigned share sheet extension for creating posts. It is now fully-featured, with the ability to set the post’s visibility and language, as well as an option to add alternative text descriptions to shared images and videos. When sharing a URL, the share sheet will now show a preview of the link card that will appear as part of your post. To get started, tap the Share button from the Photos app, Safari, or any app that supports the native iOS and iPadOS share sheet, then choose the Ivory icon.\nSharing a link, a cat pic, and multiple images via Ivory’s redesigned share sheet extension.\nIvory’s new share sheet extension is also available on the Mac.\nIn addition, Ivory 2.0 comes with small visual refinements to the way images and videos are displayed in a post’s detail view and the ability to set a fixed order for context menu items throughout the app.\nTapbots continues to update and refine Ivory at a steady pace. As a result, it is still my favorite way to use Mastodon on a daily basis. With a new major version of Mastodon on the horizon, I’m excited to see Tapbots add support for new features in Ivory without necessarily waiting for improvements to the default Mastodon experience.\nIf you want to create your own cat hashtag list today, Ivory 2.0 is now available on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The app comes with a seven-day free trial for new users, after which a monthly or annual subscription is required to use most of its features.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-07-08T12:21:36-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-07-08T12:21:36-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "ivory", "mastodon", "tapbots", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75883", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/roundups/managing-your-mac-menu-bar-a-roundup-of-my-favorite-bartender-alternatives/", "title": "Managing Your Mac Menu Bar: A Roundup of My Favorite Bartender Alternatives", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/bartender-alternatives-1719060536195.png\")
For years, Bartender has remained one of the best ways to manage the Mac’s menu bar, especially on newer MacBook models with a notch where menu bar real estate is even more valuable. I reviewed the great Bartender 5 last year and came away impressed. Unfortunately, though, my relationship with Bartender is not in a great place today.
\nThree months ago, the app was silently acquired by a company called Applause. Obviously, acquisitions happen, and often without any hiccups. In this case, however, users were caught off guard as the new owners had to renew all of Bartender’s certificates. This caused a permission reset for everyone who had the app installed on their Mac, prompting some understandable concern on Reddit, where the new owners finally started explaining what was happening. Up to that point, no one was even aware that the app had been acquired.
\nApps like Bartender tend to require numerous sensitive system permissions to work. It makes sense: there are no native APIs provided by Apple to manage the menu bar, which is why Bartender has no choice but to rely on accessibility APIs and screen recording access to power its features. But this is exactly why a silent acquisition can be worrying. Even if both the original developer and the new owners have since clarified the situation, it’s hard to trust an unfamiliar company with all of these system permissions when they’ve already failed a necessary trust exercise on day one.
\nIf your trust in Bartender has wavered as a result of this series of events, you may be looking for alternatives. I have been, too. So, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite menu bar management utilities available right now and even a couple of macOS tips to help manage the menu bar without having to install any third-party apps at all.
\nLet’s check them out.
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/hidden-bar-2024-06-21-14-28-2x-1719060534166.png\")
Hidden Bar has been around for a very long time. Like its name suggests, the app will let you hide icons in your menu bar. To set it up, all you have to do is drag its divider among your menu bar apps, and everything to the left of the divider will be hidden by default. To bring your hidden items back, simply click Hidden Bar’s arrow icon.
\nThe app also has an optional ‘always hidden’ section. When enabled, this will add a second divider in your menu bar, and everything to the left of that divider will always be hidden, unless you right-click Hidden Bar’s arrow icon.
\n![\"Hidden](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/hiddenbar-1719060536112.gif\")
Hidden Bar in action in my menu bar.
Hidden Bar is simple and to the point, but perhaps the best thing about it is that it’s also completely free and open-source. You can download the app on GitHub or directly from the Mac App Store.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/vanilla-2024-06-22-13-47-2x-1719060534162.png\")
Vanilla by Matthew Palmer, the developer behind the emoji utility Rocket, is another great alternative. Just like Hidden Bar, Vanilla is very straightforward. Move its divider among your icons, and everything to its left will be hidden. To bring them back, click the arrow.
\nThe special touch that Vanilla brings to the table is its fluid animations. Instead of appearing and reappearing in a blink, the array of hidden icons smoothly animates into and out of view. The app also has an additional bonus feature: it lets you quickly hide your desktop icons as well.
\n![\"Vanilla](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/vanilla-1719060535976.gif\")
Vanilla in action in my menu bar.
Vanilla is free, and you can unlock Vanilla Pro with a one-time purchase of $10. This enables you to keep some icons hidden permanently, start Vanilla at login, use keyboard shortcuts, and automatically re-hide icons after a short delay.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ice-2024-06-22-14-14-2x-1719060534410.png\")
Ice is relatively new to the menu bar scene, and so far, it is one of the most advanced Bartender alternatives out there. Not only does the app let you hide icons behind a drawer like Hidden Bar and Vanilla, but it also allows you to style the Mac’s menu bar. You can set rounded corners, add a border, and even tint the menu bar.
\nIn its current form, Ice’s basic feature set works really well, and its settings panel is reminiscent of that of Bartender’s. But what is perhaps most exciting to me is the app’s roadmap. The developers behind Ice plan to implement the ability to search menu bar items, customize the spacing between items, configure multiple menu bar profiles or presets, show and hide items when specific conditions are met, and – last but not least – display hidden menu bar icons in a separate, floating bar. If Ice can live up to this promising list of upcoming features, it will become my go-to recommendation for anyone looking to customize and manage their overflowing menu bar.
\n![\"Ice](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/ice-1719060536088.gif\")
Ice in action in my menu bar. Note: Hold Command (⌘) to be able to position Ice’s dividers.
Ice is completely free and open-source, and you can download it directly from the app’s website if you want to try it.
\nWhile looking at these Bartender alternatives, I also wondered if I could simply get by without using any of them. I came up with two easy tips for optimizing your menu bar apps for the limited space available in the menu bar.
\n1. Hide your menu bar apps. This may sound obvious, but when you’re so used to having a utility hide all of your apps when you don’t need them, you may forget that most menu bar apps actually let you hide their icon without quitting the app.
\nThis week, I took some time to go through all of my apps running in the menu bar and check their settings. I would say more than two-thirds of them had an option to completely hide the icon while they’re running. In most cases, the app’s settings can still be accessed if you launch it again via Spotlight or any of your favorite app launchers on the Mac, like Raycast.
\nIn the end, I was able to get rid of over half of the icons in my menu bar without the need to stop using any of their corresponding apps. These include Pure Paste, NepTunes, Rectangle, BetterTouchTool, and MonitorControl, just to name a few. They’re all still running in the background, and I can still open them if necessary, but they’re no longer taking up space in the menu bar.
\n2. Reduce the spacing between your menu bar items. If you look at old Mac screenshots, you may notice that the menu bar used to be much more compact. When Apple added Control Center with macOS Big Sur, the company also increased the margins between menu titles and icons in the menu bar. Aesthetically speaking, this change looks nice. However, it has also contributed to our space-at-a-premium predicament in the menu bar.
\nFortunately, in the latest public release of macOS, it is still possible to revert to a more compact menu bar with the help of a couple commands in Terminal. Here are the steps you can follow to try it out:
\ndefaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 10\ndefaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 10\nIn the above example, I’ve set the spacing and padding to 10, but you’re absolutely free to tweak this value. Set it to a smaller number if you want an even more compact menu bar. For comparison, here’s my menu bar with item spacing set (from top to bottom) to 7, 10, and macOS’ default value.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/menubarspacing-combined-1719060534441.png\")
If you would like to reset the spacing of the menu bar to its default value, enter these two commands to revert your changes, then log out or reboot:
\ndefaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing\ndefaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding\nDon’t get me wrong, Bartender 5 is still the best menu bar utility out there right now. It’s feature-rich and so far remains well-supported. But this induced period of introspection about my menu bar apps has led me to realize that there are some great alternatives out there.
\nAt the time of writing, I am not using any apps to manage my menu bar, and I have settled on simply using the above commands to make it more compact. Still, I will keep an eye on newer, promising alternatives like Ice, while holding on to the hope that Apple addresses this cluttered menu bar conundrum in the not-too-distant future.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "For years, Bartender has remained one of the best ways to manage the Mac’s menu bar, especially on newer MacBook models with a notch where menu bar real estate is even more valuable. I reviewed the great Bartender 5 last year and came away impressed. Unfortunately, though, my relationship with Bartender is not in a great place today.\nThree months ago, the app was silently acquired by a company called Applause. Obviously, acquisitions happen, and often without any hiccups. In this case, however, users were caught off guard as the new owners had to renew all of Bartender’s certificates. This caused a permission reset for everyone who had the app installed on their Mac, prompting some understandable concern on Reddit, where the new owners finally started explaining what was happening. Up to that point, no one was even aware that the app had been acquired.\nApps like Bartender tend to require numerous sensitive system permissions to work. It makes sense: there are no native APIs provided by Apple to manage the menu bar, which is why Bartender has no choice but to rely on accessibility APIs and screen recording access to power its features. But this is exactly why a silent acquisition can be worrying. Even if both the original developer and the new owners have since clarified the situation, it’s hard to trust an unfamiliar company with all of these system permissions when they’ve already failed a necessary trust exercise on day one.\nIf your trust in Bartender has wavered as a result of this series of events, you may be looking for alternatives. I have been, too. So, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite menu bar management utilities available right now and even a couple of macOS tips to help manage the menu bar without having to install any third-party apps at all.\nLet’s check them out.\n\nHidden Bar\n\nHidden Bar has been around for a very long time. Like its name suggests, the app will let you hide icons in your menu bar. To set it up, all you have to do is drag its divider among your menu bar apps, and everything to the left of the divider will be hidden by default. To bring your hidden items back, simply click Hidden Bar’s arrow icon.\nThe app also has an optional ‘always hidden’ section. When enabled, this will add a second divider in your menu bar, and everything to the left of that divider will always be hidden, unless you right-click Hidden Bar’s arrow icon.\nHidden Bar in action in my menu bar.\nHidden Bar is simple and to the point, but perhaps the best thing about it is that it’s also completely free and open-source. You can download the app on GitHub or directly from the Mac App Store.\nVanilla\n\nVanilla by Matthew Palmer, the developer behind the emoji utility Rocket, is another great alternative. Just like Hidden Bar, Vanilla is very straightforward. Move its divider among your icons, and everything to its left will be hidden. To bring them back, click the arrow.\nThe special touch that Vanilla brings to the table is its fluid animations. Instead of appearing and reappearing in a blink, the array of hidden icons smoothly animates into and out of view. The app also has an additional bonus feature: it lets you quickly hide your desktop icons as well.\nVanilla in action in my menu bar.\nVanilla is free, and you can unlock Vanilla Pro with a one-time purchase of $10. This enables you to keep some icons hidden permanently, start Vanilla at login, use keyboard shortcuts, and automatically re-hide icons after a short delay.\nIce\n\nIce is relatively new to the menu bar scene, and so far, it is one of the most advanced Bartender alternatives out there. Not only does the app let you hide icons behind a drawer like Hidden Bar and Vanilla, but it also allows you to style the Mac’s menu bar. You can set rounded corners, add a border, and even tint the menu bar.\nIn its current form, Ice’s basic feature set works really well, and its settings panel is reminiscent of that of Bartender’s. But what is perhaps most exciting to me is the app’s roadmap. The developers behind Ice plan to implement the ability to search menu bar items, customize the spacing between items, configure multiple menu bar profiles or presets, show and hide items when specific conditions are met, and – last but not least – display hidden menu bar icons in a separate, floating bar. If Ice can live up to this promising list of upcoming features, it will become my go-to recommendation for anyone looking to customize and manage their overflowing menu bar.\nIce in action in my menu bar. Note: Hold Command (⌘) to be able to position Ice’s dividers.\nIce is completely free and open-source, and you can download it directly from the app’s website if you want to try it.\nTwo Tips\nWhile looking at these Bartender alternatives, I also wondered if I could simply get by without using any of them. I came up with two easy tips for optimizing your menu bar apps for the limited space available in the menu bar.\n1. Hide your menu bar apps. This may sound obvious, but when you’re so used to having a utility hide all of your apps when you don’t need them, you may forget that most menu bar apps actually let you hide their icon without quitting the app.\nThis week, I took some time to go through all of my apps running in the menu bar and check their settings. I would say more than two-thirds of them had an option to completely hide the icon while they’re running. In most cases, the app’s settings can still be accessed if you launch it again via Spotlight or any of your favorite app launchers on the Mac, like Raycast.\nIn the end, I was able to get rid of over half of the icons in my menu bar without the need to stop using any of their corresponding apps. These include Pure Paste, NepTunes, Rectangle, BetterTouchTool, and MonitorControl, just to name a few. They’re all still running in the background, and I can still open them if necessary, but they’re no longer taking up space in the menu bar.\n2. Reduce the spacing between your menu bar items. If you look at old Mac screenshots, you may notice that the menu bar used to be much more compact. When Apple added Control Center with macOS Big Sur, the company also increased the margins between menu titles and icons in the menu bar. Aesthetically speaking, this change looks nice. However, it has also contributed to our space-at-a-premium predicament in the menu bar.\nFortunately, in the latest public release of macOS, it is still possible to revert to a more compact menu bar with the help of a couple commands in Terminal. Here are the steps you can follow to try it out:\nOpen Terminal.\nEnter this command to reduce the spacing between your menu bar icons:\ndefaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 10\n\nThen, enter this second command to reduce the size of the overlay that appears when a menu bar item is active:\ndefaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 10\n\nLog out of your account or reboot your Mac for the changes to take effect.\nIn the above example, I’ve set the spacing and padding to 10, but you’re absolutely free to tweak this value. Set it to a smaller number if you want an even more compact menu bar. For comparison, here’s my menu bar with item spacing set (from top to bottom) to 7, 10, and macOS’ default value.\n\nIf you would like to reset the spacing of the menu bar to its default value, enter these two commands to revert your changes, then log out or reboot:\ndefaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing\n\ndefaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding\n\nDon’t get me wrong, Bartender 5 is still the best menu bar utility out there right now. It’s feature-rich and so far remains well-supported. But this induced period of introspection about my menu bar apps has led me to realize that there are some great alternatives out there.\nAt the time of writing, I am not using any apps to manage my menu bar, and I have settled on simply using the above commands to make it more compact. Still, I will keep an eye on newer, promising alternatives like Ice, while holding on to the hope that Apple addresses this cluttered menu bar conundrum in the not-too-distant future.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-06-25T12:47:07-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-06-26T08:55:26-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "mac", "macOS", "utility", "roundups" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75688", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/macos-sequoia-the-macstories-overview/", "title": "macOS Sequoia: The MacStories Overview", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-hero-240610-1718056676461.jpg\")
At its WWDC 2024 keynote held earlier today, Apple officially announced the next version of macOS, macOS Sequoia. As per its naming tradition over the past decade, this new release is once again named after a location in California; the version number for macOS Sequoia will be macOS 15.
\nApart from the substantial Apple Intelligence features that were announced today for all of its main platforms, Apple introduced some welcome improvements to its desktop operating system. The new features include enhancements across multiple native apps, an impressive new iPhone mirroring integration, and even some overdue window management features for the Mac.
\nHere’s a recap of everything that Apple showed off today for macOS Sequoia.
\n\nThis one was both unexpected and impressive. macOS Sequoia will let you mirror your iPhone running iOS 18 directly on the Mac desktop – a feature reminiscent of the great app Bezel that we previously covered on MacStories. When iPhone Mirroring is launched, your iPhone will appear in its own window that can be minimized and moved around like any other on macOS. But iPhone Mirroring doesn’t stop at mirroring. Apple has also announced that you will be able to interact with your iPhone using your mouse, trackpad, and keyboard to enter text in any field. According to the company, the iPhone’s audio will also come through to the Mac, and you will also be able to drag files between Mac and iPhone apps.
\nIn addition to mirroring the iPhone’s display and interacting with iPhone apps from the Mac, iPhone notifications will also be forwarded to the Mac’s Notification Center, and will carry a special badge indicating that they’re coming from an iPhone app. Clicking these iPhone notifications will directly open the corresponding apps on the Mac in iPhone Mirroring mode.
\nWhile the iPhone is being mirrored to a Mac, it will remain locked, and StandBy mode will remain active if that was the case.
\n![\"iPhone](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-iphone-mirroring-240610-1718056676800.jpg\")
iPhone Mirroring in macOS Sequoia. Source: Apple.
iPhone Mirroring is joining the ever-growing Continuity family of features on the Mac that also include Universal Clipboard, Sidecar, and more recently, Universal Control.
\nI never thought this day would come, but here we are: macOS Sequoia is finally getting the ability to tile windows side by side. Today, Apple announced that you’ll be able to drag windows to the edges of the display to tile them on either half of the screen, or to any of the four corners to have them fill a quarter of the screen. Obviously, this is something that Windows has been able to do for a long time, but I can only be glad that it’s finally coming to the Mac.
\nApple says that window tiling will also be accomplished with keyboard and menu shortcuts, but it remains unclear at the moment how advanced those will be, and whether they’ll be customizable or not.
\nSource: Apple.
\nIn macOS Sequoia, Apple’s native passwords manager will move out of System Settings and Safari and into a standalone app aptly named Passwords. However, this new app will not be limited to storing passwords and Passkeys. Just like its competitors, it will also let you store Wi-Fi passwords, and other security codes. It’s unclear if users will be able to store secure notes in the app as well.
\nIn addition to macOS, the app will be released as part of iOS and iPadOS 18, and will ship on Windows as well.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-passwords-app-240610-1718056676482.jpg\")
The Passwords app, with dedicated sections for Passkeys, security codes, and Wi-Fi passwords. Source: Apple.
The Mac’s default web browser is getting a new intelligence feature called Highlights, a new button in the app’s address bar that will automatically detect and highlight information as you browse the web. According to material provided by Apple, this seems to include a variety of data points, ranging from locations and directions, to Apple Music and Apple TV links, and information about people mentioned on the page.
\nSafari in macOS Sequoia is also getting a redesigned Reader view, which will feature a table of contents on the side, as well as a summary of the page.
\nLastly, ‘Viewer’ is a new feature in Safari that will detect videos on a webpage and let you obscure the rest of the page to focus on the player. Apple mentions that, in this mode, users will be able to access full system controls for video playback, and that videos will automatically enter Picture in Picture when clicking away from Safari.
\n![\"Highlights](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-safari-highlights-240610-1718056676810.jpg\")
Highlights in Safari’s address bar. Source: Apple.
![\"Redesigned](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-safari-reader-240610-1718056679666.jpg\")
Redesigned Reader in Safari. Source: Apple.
Apple unveiled two new system-wide features for video conferencing in macOS Sequoia.
\nJust like last year’s Live Reactions, we expect the custom background image feature to be supported at the system level, and as such, that it will be available in any third-party app utilizing your camera.
\n![\"Custom](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-background-replacements-240610-1718056676230.jpg\")
Custom background images in macOS Sequoia. Source: Apple.
Today, Apple announced version 2 of the Game Porting Toolkit, which is Apple’s software translation layer that can help game developers easily port their Windows games to the Mac. The Game Porting Toolkit 2 is said to feature improved compatibility with Windows games and an easier process for developers to port games to iOS and iPadOS as well.
\n![\"Apple](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/apple-wwdc24-macos-sequoia-writing-tools-rewrite-240610-1718056676127.jpg\")
Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia will include writing tools across the system. Source: Apple.
macOS Sequoia is also getting numerous new features in Apple’s built-in apps:
\nJust like in iOS and iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence will be sprinkled throughout macOS Sequoia, starting with a redesigned interface for Siri. During today’s keynote, Apple most notably demoed their new system-wide writing tools that rely on AI to perform operations on text. According to what we’ve seen so far, this includes summarization, rewriting prompts, tone correction, proofreading, and more. macOS Sequoia is also getting Apple’s new image generation and editing features in Photos and Messages, as well as audio transcription features in Notes. We’ll have more details in a dedicated overview of all that was announced today in relation to Apple Intelligence.
\nYou can follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2024 hub or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2024 RSS feed.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "At its WWDC 2024 keynote held earlier today, Apple officially announced the next version of macOS, macOS Sequoia. As per its naming tradition over the past decade, this new release is once again named after a location in California; the version number for macOS Sequoia will be macOS 15.\nApart from the substantial Apple Intelligence features that were announced today for all of its main platforms, Apple introduced some welcome improvements to its desktop operating system. The new features include enhancements across multiple native apps, an impressive new iPhone mirroring integration, and even some overdue window management features for the Mac.\nHere’s a recap of everything that Apple showed off today for macOS Sequoia.\nSupported By\n1Password\n\n\n1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device\n\niPhone Mirroring\nThis one was both unexpected and impressive. macOS Sequoia will let you mirror your iPhone running iOS 18 directly on the Mac desktop – a feature reminiscent of the great app Bezel that we previously covered on MacStories. When iPhone Mirroring is launched, your iPhone will appear in its own window that can be minimized and moved around like any other on macOS. But iPhone Mirroring doesn’t stop at mirroring. Apple has also announced that you will be able to interact with your iPhone using your mouse, trackpad, and keyboard to enter text in any field. According to the company, the iPhone’s audio will also come through to the Mac, and you will also be able to drag files between Mac and iPhone apps.\nIn addition to mirroring the iPhone’s display and interacting with iPhone apps from the Mac, iPhone notifications will also be forwarded to the Mac’s Notification Center, and will carry a special badge indicating that they’re coming from an iPhone app. Clicking these iPhone notifications will directly open the corresponding apps on the Mac in iPhone Mirroring mode.\nWhile the iPhone is being mirrored to a Mac, it will remain locked, and StandBy mode will remain active if that was the case.\niPhone Mirroring in macOS Sequoia. Source: Apple.\niPhone Mirroring is joining the ever-growing Continuity family of features on the Mac that also include Universal Clipboard, Sidecar, and more recently, Universal Control.\nWindow Tiling\nI never thought this day would come, but here we are: macOS Sequoia is finally getting the ability to tile windows side by side. Today, Apple announced that you’ll be able to drag windows to the edges of the display to tile them on either half of the screen, or to any of the four corners to have them fill a quarter of the screen. Obviously, this is something that Windows has been able to do for a long time, but I can only be glad that it’s finally coming to the Mac.\nApple says that window tiling will also be accomplished with keyboard and menu shortcuts, but it remains unclear at the moment how advanced those will be, and whether they’ll be customizable or not.\n\n \nSource: Apple.\n\nNew Passwords app\nIn macOS Sequoia, Apple’s native passwords manager will move out of System Settings and Safari and into a standalone app aptly named Passwords. However, this new app will not be limited to storing passwords and Passkeys. Just like its competitors, it will also let you store Wi-Fi passwords, and other security codes. It’s unclear if users will be able to store secure notes in the app as well.\nIn addition to macOS, the app will be released as part of iOS and iPadOS 18, and will ship on Windows as well.\nThe Passwords app, with dedicated sections for Passkeys, security codes, and Wi-Fi passwords. Source: Apple.\nUpdates to Safari\nThe Mac’s default web browser is getting a new intelligence feature called Highlights, a new button in the app’s address bar that will automatically detect and highlight information as you browse the web. According to material provided by Apple, this seems to include a variety of data points, ranging from locations and directions, to Apple Music and Apple TV links, and information about people mentioned on the page.\nSafari in macOS Sequoia is also getting a redesigned Reader view, which will feature a table of contents on the side, as well as a summary of the page.\nLastly, ‘Viewer’ is a new feature in Safari that will detect videos on a webpage and let you obscure the rest of the page to focus on the player. Apple mentions that, in this mode, users will be able to access full system controls for video playback, and that videos will automatically enter Picture in Picture when clicking away from Safari.\nHighlights in Safari’s address bar. Source: Apple.\nRedesigned Reader in Safari. Source: Apple.\nVideo Conferencing\nApple unveiled two new system-wide features for video conferencing in macOS Sequoia.\nA new ‘presenter preview’ will display a live preview available from the menu bar to let you know what is about to be shared when starting screen sharing in apps like Zoom. \nStill directly from the menu bar, you’ll be able to set a custom background image to use with your camera.\nJust like last year’s Live Reactions, we expect the custom background image feature to be supported at the system level, and as such, that it will be available in any third-party app utilizing your camera.\nCustom background images in macOS Sequoia. Source: Apple.\nGame Porting Toolkit 2\nToday, Apple announced version 2 of the Game Porting Toolkit, which is Apple’s software translation layer that can help game developers easily port their Windows games to the Mac. The Game Porting Toolkit 2 is said to feature improved compatibility with Windows games and an easier process for developers to port games to iOS and iPadOS as well.\nApple Intelligence and Everything Else\nApple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia will include writing tools across the system. Source: Apple.\nmacOS Sequoia is also getting numerous new features in Apple’s built-in apps:\nMessages is getting new text effects, redesigned Tapbacks and emoji Tapbacks, and the ability to schedule a message to send later.\nApple Maps is adding support for hiking routes.\nPhotos on macOS is getting Collections, the new feature released as part of the app’s redesign on iOS and iPadOS 18, which organizes photos by themes, locations, events, and trips.\nReminders are now integrated in the Calendar app.\nJust like in iOS and iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence will be sprinkled throughout macOS Sequoia, starting with a redesigned interface for Siri. During today’s keynote, Apple most notably demoed their new system-wide writing tools that rely on AI to perform operations on text. According to what we’ve seen so far, this includes summarization, rewriting prompts, tone correction, proofreading, and more. macOS Sequoia is also getting Apple’s new image generation and editing features in Photos and Messages, as well as audio transcription features in Notes. We’ll have more details in a dedicated overview of all that was announced today in relation to Apple Intelligence.\nYou can follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2024 hub or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2024 RSS feed.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-06-10T18:10:12-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-06-16T15:37:18-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "macOS", "macOS Sequoia", "WWDC 2024", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75632", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/controller-for-homekits-interactive-floor-plan-is-the-best-way-to-control-your-home-yet/", "title": "Controller for HomeKit\u2019s Interactive Floor Plan Is the Best Way to Control Your Home Yet", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-hero-1717709238936.png\")
Controller for HomeKit is an alternative way of controlling and setting up your HomeKit accessories, scenes, and automations from your iPhone. While the app has been around for some time, this month it received a major upgrade with a new feature that turns the app into a fun and powerful control center for your home.
\nNow, in Controller for HomeKit, you can leverage the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor to scan your entire home and create a 3D floor plan, on top of which you can overlay your lights, scenes, and other HomeKit accessories. The result is a fun, customizable, and interactive UI that works so well and is so intuitive that it almost feels like it belongs in Apple’s own Home app for the iPhone.
\nLet’s check it out.
\n\nThe first thing to note about Controller for HomeKit is that the app’s entire interface has been refreshed. The main screen now features a fairly simple layout, from which you can easily jump into a room or a list of your HomeKit categories filtered by type. This is also where you can get into the app’s more advanced sections, where you can create workflows, build scenes, or even set up automations around custom NFC tags. Since a home full of smart devices can quickly become overwhelming, the simplicity of Controller’s main screen is a welcome departure in this app category, so it gets a big thumbs up from me.
\nAmong the app’s more advanced sections, my favorite one is probably ‘Maintenance’. This is where Controller for HomeKit lists all of your potential setup issues, such as devices that are low on battery, have duplicate names, or are currently unreachable. This section may finally give me the motivation necessary to work through all of my HomeKit issues over the next few weeks.
\n![\"Controller's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-homescreen-1717709238964.png\")
Controller’s main screen lets you easily jump into your rooms, automations, and the app’s advanced sections, including a ‘Maintenance’ overview.
But the star of this update by a long mile is Controller’s new ‘Floor Plan’ feature. Right from the main screen of the app, you can start the process of scanning your home with the iPhone’s camera and LiDAR sensors. Although the process can take some time depending on the size of your home, it is fairly easy and intuitive. All I had to do was follow the app’s instructions and hold the phone in front of me as I started walking through every room in our apartment.
\nHonestly, this was a lot of fun. The quality of the scan underlines how powerful the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor and AR capabilities can be. All of our main pieces of furniture showed up exactly where they were meant to be, and some specific types of furniture (couches, chairs, beds, kitchen appliances, and tables) even had their own 3D models.
\n![\"To](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-startscan-1717709245659.png\")
To start creating a floor plan, tap ‘Discover’ on the app’s main screen, follow the instructions, then walk around your home to scan it room by room.
Once you’re done scanning, the app brings you to an edit screen where you can start dropping your HomeKit accessories and scenes directly on top of the floor plan. This is where your floor plan becomes interactive. You can place room labels that you can tap to quickly jump into a room view, lights that can be turned on and off, and even sensors that can display their readings right on the map.
\n![\"When](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-accessoriesmap-1717709240161.png\")
When you’re done scanning your home in Controller, you can start manually placing your HomeKit accessories and room labels on the floor map. All of the icons are customizable.
![\"Controller](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-floorplaninteractive-1717709242815.png\")
Controller for HomeKit’s floor plan is interactive. Tapping an accessory icon on the map lets you toggle its state, and tapping a room label lets you jump into a room overview where you can control and edit accessories.
Again, this may take a while depending on the number of accessories you want to add, but the result of this whole process is incredibly satisfying. And on the iPad and the Mac, the experience is even more glorious. The app takes full advantage of the devices’ widescreen layout.
\n![\"Our](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-macos-1717709238776.png\")
Our home in Controller for HomeKit on macOS.
In addition to being able to view your floor plan from inside the app, Controller for HomeKit comes with two new widgets that display your floor plan on the Home Screen. Sadly, these widgets essentially act as simple buttons to open the app. Your accessories and room labels are not displayed in the widget, and you can’t interact with them without having to open the app. This means that Controller’s Home Screen widgets are merely decorative for now. This is too bad; there’s great potential for a fully interactive widget here, and I really hope this is coming.
\n![\"Currently,](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/controller-widgets-1717709245553.png\")
Currently, Controller’s Floor Plan Home Screen widgets are not interactive and only serve as a shortcut to open the app.
Still, Controller’s interactive floor plan is now a must-have on my iPhone. Even if, at its core, the feature is not revolutionary by any means, the UI paradigm that it creates for controlling your HomeKit devices is one of the most intuitive that I’ve ever seen on iOS. I find it hard to think of a more natural interaction to turn on a specific light in the apartment than to glance at the room on the map and simply tap the light exactly where it is in the room’s physical space. If Apple ever decides to go this route, it could be the best upgrade to the UI of the native Home app in years. As a result, I have now officially added an interactive floor plan to my wishlist for iOS 18.
\nIf you would like to give it a try, Controller for HomeKit is available for free on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. Its floor plan feature can be unlocked with a $29.99 yearly subscription or a $99.99 lifetime one-time purchase.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Controller for HomeKit is an alternative way of controlling and setting up your HomeKit accessories, scenes, and automations from your iPhone. While the app has been around for some time, this month it received a major upgrade with a new feature that turns the app into a fun and powerful control center for your home.\nNow, in Controller for HomeKit, you can leverage the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor to scan your entire home and create a 3D floor plan, on top of which you can overlay your lights, scenes, and other HomeKit accessories. The result is a fun, customizable, and interactive UI that works so well and is so intuitive that it almost feels like it belongs in Apple’s own Home app for the iPhone.\nLet’s check it out.\n\nThe first thing to note about Controller for HomeKit is that the app’s entire interface has been refreshed. The main screen now features a fairly simple layout, from which you can easily jump into a room or a list of your HomeKit categories filtered by type. This is also where you can get into the app’s more advanced sections, where you can create workflows, build scenes, or even set up automations around custom NFC tags. Since a home full of smart devices can quickly become overwhelming, the simplicity of Controller’s main screen is a welcome departure in this app category, so it gets a big thumbs up from me.\nAmong the app’s more advanced sections, my favorite one is probably ‘Maintenance’. This is where Controller for HomeKit lists all of your potential setup issues, such as devices that are low on battery, have duplicate names, or are currently unreachable. This section may finally give me the motivation necessary to work through all of my HomeKit issues over the next few weeks.\nController’s main screen lets you easily jump into your rooms, automations, and the app’s advanced sections, including a ‘Maintenance’ overview.\nBut the star of this update by a long mile is Controller’s new ‘Floor Plan’ feature. Right from the main screen of the app, you can start the process of scanning your home with the iPhone’s camera and LiDAR sensors. Although the process can take some time depending on the size of your home, it is fairly easy and intuitive. All I had to do was follow the app’s instructions and hold the phone in front of me as I started walking through every room in our apartment.\nHonestly, this was a lot of fun. The quality of the scan underlines how powerful the iPhone’s LiDAR sensor and AR capabilities can be. All of our main pieces of furniture showed up exactly where they were meant to be, and some specific types of furniture (couches, chairs, beds, kitchen appliances, and tables) even had their own 3D models.\nTo start creating a floor plan, tap ‘Discover’ on the app’s main screen, follow the instructions, then walk around your home to scan it room by room.\nOnce you’re done scanning, the app brings you to an edit screen where you can start dropping your HomeKit accessories and scenes directly on top of the floor plan. This is where your floor plan becomes interactive. You can place room labels that you can tap to quickly jump into a room view, lights that can be turned on and off, and even sensors that can display their readings right on the map.\nWhen you’re done scanning your home in Controller, you can start manually placing your HomeKit accessories and room labels on the floor map. All of the icons are customizable.\nController for HomeKit’s floor plan is interactive. Tapping an accessory icon on the map lets you toggle its state, and tapping a room label lets you jump into a room overview where you can control and edit accessories.\nAgain, this may take a while depending on the number of accessories you want to add, but the result of this whole process is incredibly satisfying. And on the iPad and the Mac, the experience is even more glorious. The app takes full advantage of the devices’ widescreen layout.\nOur home in Controller for HomeKit on macOS.\nIn addition to being able to view your floor plan from inside the app, Controller for HomeKit comes with two new widgets that display your floor plan on the Home Screen. Sadly, these widgets essentially act as simple buttons to open the app. Your accessories and room labels are not displayed in the widget, and you can’t interact with them without having to open the app. This means that Controller’s Home Screen widgets are merely decorative for now. This is too bad; there’s great potential for a fully interactive widget here, and I really hope this is coming.\nCurrently, Controller’s Floor Plan Home Screen widgets are not interactive and only serve as a shortcut to open the app.\nStill, Controller’s interactive floor plan is now a must-have on my iPhone. Even if, at its core, the feature is not revolutionary by any means, the UI paradigm that it creates for controlling your HomeKit devices is one of the most intuitive that I’ve ever seen on iOS. I find it hard to think of a more natural interaction to turn on a specific light in the apartment than to glance at the room on the map and simply tap the light exactly where it is in the room’s physical space. If Apple ever decides to go this route, it could be the best upgrade to the UI of the native Home app in years. As a result, I have now officially added an interactive floor plan to my wishlist for iOS 18.\nIf you would like to give it a try, Controller for HomeKit is available for free on the App Store for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. Its floor plan feature can be unlocked with a $29.99 yearly subscription or a $99.99 lifetime one-time purchase.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-06-07T10:59:01-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-06-07T11:00:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "apps", "HomeKit", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75452", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-rolls-out-support-for-paris-transit-passes-in-wallet-just-in-time-for-the-olympics/", "title": "Apple Rolls out Support for Paris Transit Passes in Wallet Just in Time for the Olympics", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/navigowallet1-1716293263128.png\")
Today, Apple rolled out support for Paris’ Navigo transit passes in the Wallet app, just in time for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Travelers are now able to acquire a Navigo pass directly from Apple’s Wallet app and load it with transit tickets. Not only that, but this now also makes it possible to use your iPhone to get through any gates on the Paris transit network, simply by holding the iPhone near the stations’ contactless readers.
\nNavigo in Wallet also supports Apple’s Express Mode feature, which means the pass is automatically activated when holding the iPhone near a gate, without having to authenticate with Face ID. Additionally, this features lets you use the pass for up to five hours after your iPhone runs out of battery.
\nAs French publication Numerama notes, this full integration with Apple’s transit pass system is a first of its kind in continental Europe. In my testing, you can add a Navigo pass in Wallet and pay for a new batch of tickets without even having to install Paris’ official transit app at any step of the process. However, this only applies to occasional travelers since the official app is still required to purchase weekly and monthly tickets before you can load them onto the pass in Apple Wallet.
\n![\"Loading](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/navigowallet2-1716293263026.png\")
Loading tickets onto the Navigo Pass in Apple Wallet, and enabling Express Mode.
This integration with Apple Wallet has been a long time in the making. Android smartphone owners have already been able to replace their physical Navigo pass with their device since 2022. At the time, Île-de-France Mobilités (Paris’ transit authority) announced they were actively working with Apple to bring the feature to the iPhone in 2023. Today, one year later than originally expected, it has finally arrived.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Today, Apple rolled out support for Paris’ Navigo transit passes in the Wallet app, just in time for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Travelers are now able to acquire a Navigo pass directly from Apple’s Wallet app and load it with transit tickets. Not only that, but this now also makes it possible to use your iPhone to get through any gates on the Paris transit network, simply by holding the iPhone near the stations’ contactless readers.\nNavigo in Wallet also supports Apple’s Express Mode feature, which means the pass is automatically activated when holding the iPhone near a gate, without having to authenticate with Face ID. Additionally, this features lets you use the pass for up to five hours after your iPhone runs out of battery.\nAs French publication Numerama notes, this full integration with Apple’s transit pass system is a first of its kind in continental Europe. In my testing, you can add a Navigo pass in Wallet and pay for a new batch of tickets without even having to install Paris’ official transit app at any step of the process. However, this only applies to occasional travelers since the official app is still required to purchase weekly and monthly tickets before you can load them onto the pass in Apple Wallet.\nLoading tickets onto the Navigo Pass in Apple Wallet, and enabling Express Mode.\nThis integration with Apple Wallet has been a long time in the making. Android smartphone owners have already been able to replace their physical Navigo pass with their device since 2022. At the time, Île-de-France Mobilités (Paris’ transit authority) announced they were actively working with Apple to bring the feature to the iPhone in 2023. Today, one year later than originally expected, it has finally arrived.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-05-21T08:20:51-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-05-21T11:35:46-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "Wallet", "news" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75352", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/altstores-clip-is-the-best-clipboard-manager-on-ios-yet/", "title": "AltStore\u2019s Clip Is the Best Clipboard Manager on iOS Yet", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/clip-hero-1715358039924.png\")
Last month, AltStore was finally made available on iOS for everyone living in the European Union. Not only does the first alternative app marketplace on iOS ship with the great Delta videogame emulator, but it also lets you install Clip, a clipboard manager unlike any other on the iPhone.
\nThe app’s uniqueness resides in the sole fact that it’s the first ever clipboard manager on the iPhone that can actually run in the background and continuously monitor your clipboard, regardless of the app you’re in. And despite the fact that the app is pretty bare-bones right now, this core ability alone makes a huge difference in usage, enough to crown Clip the best clipboard manager to ever ship on iOS.
\nLet’s check it out.
\n\nTo be able to monitor your clipboard and build a history, a proper clipboard manager needs to keep running in the background at all times. However, due to the system limitations of iOS and Apple’s rules on the App Store, building a clipboard manager for the iPhone isn’t as straightforward for developers as it is on macOS. On iOS, only some system entitlements allow apps to do this, and to this date, Apple still doesn’t permit third-party developers to release an app on the App Store that can continuously run in the background to monitor your clipboard.
\nAs a result, clipboard manager apps like Yoink and Paste have long relied on cumbersome workarounds, like manually adding content to the clipboard history via the share sheet, having to tap a Home Screen widget, or even installing a full third-party keyboard to access and manage your clipboard history from any app’s text fields. These workarounds aren’t ideal to say the least. They require you to jump out of your context, and they simply won’t work if you regularly forget to save your clipboard content.
\nClip is different. Since it doesn’t have to follow Apple’s strict rules for apps released in the App Store, Clip is able to use the iPhone’s location services to continuously run in the background. This allows the app to send you a notification every time you copy something on iOS, regardless of the app you’re in. All you have to do is swipe down on the notification banner, and that’s it. You’ve just updated your clipboard history. You didn’t have to use a share sheet extension, install a new keyboard, or go back to the Home Screen to tap a widget — and best of all, you didn’t have to leave the app you were in. It’s glorious.
\n![\"Clip](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/clip-2-1-1715358040580.png\")
Clip sends you a notification every time you copy something on iOS. Simply swipe down on the notification to add it to Clip without leaving the app you’re in. It even works with images.
To set up Clip (assuming you’ve already gone through the process of installing AltStore and Clip on your iPhone), open Settings, scroll down to ‘Clip’, then make sure you give the app the proper permissions:
\n![\"For](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/clip-settings-1715358039252.png\")
For Clip to work properly, make sure the app’s location access is set to ‘Always’ and clipboard access to ‘Allow’.
Inside the app itself, the only two settings you can tweak are the number of clipboard history items to keep and a toggle to disable location icons.
\nApart from that, the UI is very basic. You can tap on clipboard history items in the List tab to copy, delete, or share them via the share sheet, and you can switch to the Map tab to view your clipboard history items on a map. The app supports various types of clipboard content, including text, URLs, and images (in which case a preview is displayed).
\nAdditionally, in the current beta version of the app (which you can also install via AltStore), Clip is adding a custom keyboard to allow you to paste items from your clipboard history directly into any text field. Simply tap the globe icon to view your clippings and select one of them to paste it. You’re then automatically brought back to your regular keyboard so you can continue typing. It’s a welcome addition that makes it even easier to tap into your clipboard history without having to switch apps.
\n![\"You](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/clip-inapp-settings-1715358040501.png\")
You can tweak the number of clipboard history items to keep in Clip.
![\"Clip](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/monday-13-may-2024-14-56-17-1715605221406.png\")
Clip Beta is adding a custom keyboard to allow you to paste items from your clipboard history directly into any text field.
Even in its current basic state, Clip is already far ahead of any other clipboard manager app on the iPhone in that I actually use it without having to actively think about it. Still, I think the app would cement itself as a great productivity tool if it gained a couple of more advanced features in the near future.
\nHere’s my small wish list for Clip:
\nAdd Shortcuts support. Right now, it’s pretty easy to go back and forth between Clip and other apps to string together multiple clipboard history items in, say, a note. However, it can quickly become frustrating if you’re trying to act on more than two or three items at once. As a result, I would love to be able to create simple shortcuts to fetch a set number of recent clipboard history items and manipulate them. Even better, I would love a shortcut action that could let me fetch all my clipboard history items that contain a specific keyword or string of text.
\nAdd drag and drop support. This one will make more sense once Clip and AltStore are available on iPadOS (hopefully later this year), but even on iOS, being able to drag and drop clipboard history items from Clip to other apps would be amazing. On the iPad, I can’t wait to be able to keep Clip in Slide Over, or in a floating window with Stage Manager, and quickly pick up and drop items from my clipboard history to a code editor or a note in Obsidian.
\nAdd a Home Screen widget. Even if Clip doesn’t need a Home Screen widget to function, it would be helpful to be able to see your recent clipboard history right on the Home Screen without having to open the app. Already, I suspect many heavy Clip users will want to keep the app icon on their Home Screen; since the app is already taking up precious space there, it might as well be functional.
\nShip on macOS. Like I said, hopefully we’ll get to use Clip on both iOS and iPadOS later this year. But the even greater prospect would be to have Clip run on macOS as well. When using Clip, you may notice that the app is already able to monitor your Mac clipboard thanks to Universal Clipboard. As soon as I copy something on my Mac, a Clip notification appears on my iPhone, letting me add what I just copied on macOS to my clipboard history inside Clip on iOS. If a Mac version of Clip existed, it could automatically add my Mac’s clipboard content to its history and keep it in sync between the two devices. Clip could be the app that brings us closer than ever to the productivity dream of having a proper universal clipboard manager that works across all of Apple’s platforms.
\nSince it was not nearly as anticipated as Delta, Clip is flying a bit under the radar following AltStore’s release in the EU. But here’s the thing: Clip represents and highlights the potential for apps released outside of Apple’s App Store, apps that could have never existed because of the company’s limitations. It will be interesting to see whether apps like Clip take off in the EU in the coming months and years. If that happens, hopefully Apple will take the hint: if it isn’t going to add a native clipboard manager to iOS and iPadOS anytime soon, then it should at least let apps like Clip thrive in its own App Store for all to enjoy.
\nIn the meantime, if you don’t live in the EU, you should be jealous. We have working clipboard managers here.
\nClip is available in AltStore. In the EU, AltStore requires a €1.50 (+ VAT) annual subscription. Clip can be installed after pledging to the AltStore team’s Patreon.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Last month, AltStore was finally made available on iOS for everyone living in the European Union. Not only does the first alternative app marketplace on iOS ship with the great Delta videogame emulator, but it also lets you install Clip, a clipboard manager unlike any other on the iPhone.\nThe app’s uniqueness resides in the sole fact that it’s the first ever clipboard manager on the iPhone that can actually run in the background and continuously monitor your clipboard, regardless of the app you’re in. And despite the fact that the app is pretty bare-bones right now, this core ability alone makes a huge difference in usage, enough to crown Clip the best clipboard manager to ever ship on iOS.\nLet’s check it out.\n\nTo be able to monitor your clipboard and build a history, a proper clipboard manager needs to keep running in the background at all times. However, due to the system limitations of iOS and Apple’s rules on the App Store, building a clipboard manager for the iPhone isn’t as straightforward for developers as it is on macOS. On iOS, only some system entitlements allow apps to do this, and to this date, Apple still doesn’t permit third-party developers to release an app on the App Store that can continuously run in the background to monitor your clipboard.\nAs a result, clipboard manager apps like Yoink and Paste have long relied on cumbersome workarounds, like manually adding content to the clipboard history via the share sheet, having to tap a Home Screen widget, or even installing a full third-party keyboard to access and manage your clipboard history from any app’s text fields. These workarounds aren’t ideal to say the least. They require you to jump out of your context, and they simply won’t work if you regularly forget to save your clipboard content.\nClip is different. Since it doesn’t have to follow Apple’s strict rules for apps released in the App Store, Clip is able to use the iPhone’s location services to continuously run in the background. This allows the app to send you a notification every time you copy something on iOS, regardless of the app you’re in. All you have to do is swipe down on the notification banner, and that’s it. You’ve just updated your clipboard history. You didn’t have to use a share sheet extension, install a new keyboard, or go back to the Home Screen to tap a widget — and best of all, you didn’t have to leave the app you were in. It’s glorious.\nClip sends you a notification every time you copy something on iOS. Simply swipe down on the notification to add it to Clip without leaving the app you’re in. It even works with images.\nTo set up Clip (assuming you’ve already gone through the process of installing AltStore and Clip on your iPhone), open Settings, scroll down to ‘Clip’, then make sure you give the app the proper permissions:\n‘Allow location access’ must be set to ‘Always’; otherwise, Clip will not be able to keep running in the background. This will also let you see your clipboard history items on a map inside the app. If you’re understandably weary about this setting, know that the developers behind Clip and AltStore specifically mention that, ”Your location data never leaves this device.“\n‘Paste from Other Apps’ must be set to ‘Allow’ (instead of the default ‘Ask’); otherwise, iOS will systematically display a permission popup every time Clip attempts to read your clipboard. Note that even after granting this permission, Clip is not able to read your clipboard unless you swipe down on the app’s notification.\nFor Clip to work properly, make sure the app’s location access is set to ‘Always’ and clipboard access to ‘Allow’.\nInside the app itself, the only two settings you can tweak are the number of clipboard history items to keep and a toggle to disable location icons.\nApart from that, the UI is very basic. You can tap on clipboard history items in the List tab to copy, delete, or share them via the share sheet, and you can switch to the Map tab to view your clipboard history items on a map. The app supports various types of clipboard content, including text, URLs, and images (in which case a preview is displayed).\nAdditionally, in the current beta version of the app (which you can also install via AltStore), Clip is adding a custom keyboard to allow you to paste items from your clipboard history directly into any text field. Simply tap the globe icon to view your clippings and select one of them to paste it. You’re then automatically brought back to your regular keyboard so you can continue typing. It’s a welcome addition that makes it even easier to tap into your clipboard history without having to switch apps.\nYou can tweak the number of clipboard history items to keep in Clip.\nClip Beta is adding a custom keyboard to allow you to paste items from your clipboard history directly into any text field.\nEven in its current basic state, Clip is already far ahead of any other clipboard manager app on the iPhone in that I actually use it without having to actively think about it. Still, I think the app would cement itself as a great productivity tool if it gained a couple of more advanced features in the near future.\nHere’s my small wish list for Clip:\nAdd Shortcuts support. Right now, it’s pretty easy to go back and forth between Clip and other apps to string together multiple clipboard history items in, say, a note. However, it can quickly become frustrating if you’re trying to act on more than two or three items at once. As a result, I would love to be able to create simple shortcuts to fetch a set number of recent clipboard history items and manipulate them. Even better, I would love a shortcut action that could let me fetch all my clipboard history items that contain a specific keyword or string of text.\nAdd drag and drop support. This one will make more sense once Clip and AltStore are available on iPadOS (hopefully later this year), but even on iOS, being able to drag and drop clipboard history items from Clip to other apps would be amazing. On the iPad, I can’t wait to be able to keep Clip in Slide Over, or in a floating window with Stage Manager, and quickly pick up and drop items from my clipboard history to a code editor or a note in Obsidian.\nAdd a Home Screen widget. Even if Clip doesn’t need a Home Screen widget to function, it would be helpful to be able to see your recent clipboard history right on the Home Screen without having to open the app. Already, I suspect many heavy Clip users will want to keep the app icon on their Home Screen; since the app is already taking up precious space there, it might as well be functional.\nShip on macOS. Like I said, hopefully we’ll get to use Clip on both iOS and iPadOS later this year. But the even greater prospect would be to have Clip run on macOS as well. When using Clip, you may notice that the app is already able to monitor your Mac clipboard thanks to Universal Clipboard. As soon as I copy something on my Mac, a Clip notification appears on my iPhone, letting me add what I just copied on macOS to my clipboard history inside Clip on iOS. If a Mac version of Clip existed, it could automatically add my Mac’s clipboard content to its history and keep it in sync between the two devices. Clip could be the app that brings us closer than ever to the productivity dream of having a proper universal clipboard manager that works across all of Apple’s platforms.\nSince it was not nearly as anticipated as Delta, Clip is flying a bit under the radar following AltStore’s release in the EU. But here’s the thing: Clip represents and highlights the potential for apps released outside of Apple’s App Store, apps that could have never existed because of the company’s limitations. It will be interesting to see whether apps like Clip take off in the EU in the coming months and years. If that happens, hopefully Apple will take the hint: if it isn’t going to add a native clipboard manager to iOS and iPadOS anytime soon, then it should at least let apps like Clip thrive in its own App Store for all to enjoy.\nIn the meantime, if you don’t live in the EU, you should be jealous. We have working clipboard managers here.\nClip is available in AltStore. In the EU, AltStore requires a €1.50 (+ VAT) annual subscription. Clip can be installed after pledging to the AltStore team’s Patreon.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-05-13T12:25:42-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-05-13T16:52:41-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "clipboard manager", "iOS", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=75237", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/hands-on-with-frances-digital-id-app-on-the-iphone-not-as-digital-as-digital-can-be/", "title": "Hands-on With France\u2019s Digital ID App on the iPhone: Not as Digital as Digital Can Be", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/franceid-1714671049373.png\")
Almost three years ago now, Apple announced that it would support adding state IDs and driver’s licenses to the Wallet app on the iPhone and the Apple Watch, with the feature first rolling out to a handful of US states. Today, digital IDs in Wallet still haven’t materialized in most of the states that committed to support the feature back in 2021, and Apple hasn’t announced any expansion of the feature beyond the US.
\nHere in France, the government has long pledged to offer the ability to get a digital ID for all holders of the redesigned national identity card that started rolling out in 2021. The new ID card format was to be smaller than the old one (finally reaching the size of any standard credit card), but more importantly, it would feature an RFID chip that would enable contactless interactivity with, say, a dedicated terminal or any NFC-enabled smartphone. Fast-forward to today, and with this new ID card now widely in the hands of French citizens, France’s government has released France Identité, an app that allows any French ID card holder to get a digital version of their ID or driver’s license on their smartphone.
\nWhile the app was publicly made available earlier this year on iOS and Android, I have been using the beta for close to a full year now. France Identité is a strange, frustrating mix of physical and digital that says a lot about the privacy concerns and technical issues that inevitably get raised when a state wants to take their IDs digital.
\nLet’s take a look at the app, what it can do, and how it differs from Apple’s vision for digital IDs.
\n\nTo get started with France Identité, all you need to do is scan your French ID card. Since the app is leveraging the iPhone’s NFC chip, you just have to hold your ID card near the top of the iPhone for a few seconds. You are then prompted to choose a six-digit passcode. The process is fairly intuitive. Within a few minutes, you’re enrolled, and your ID card is available in the app.
\nThe app’s settings are super limited. In fact, there is currently only one setting you can change: enabling Face ID. If enabled, Face ID is then always required to open the app, but it does not supplant the passcode that you regularly have to enter in the app to perform actions.
\nCurrently, France Identité can be used for three specific use cases:
\n1. Presenting your ID in person. Presenting your French digital ID is completely straightforward. Unlike Apple’s implementation in the Wallet app, which assumes the presence of a contactless terminal on the other end, here the process feels very analog. Simply open the app, and the card is immediately visible. So, you should just be able to present your phone to an agent so they can read your information on the screen. Every piece of personal information that’s present on your physical card is readily viewable in the app, including the unique ID card number.
\nWhile it should soon be possible to pick and choose what information to share in face-to-face situations, this feature is not available yet, so it’s an all-or-nothing kind of deal for now. It’s also currently unclear if you can present your digital ID instead of your physical card in all situations. For instance, France’s national train company (SNCF) is still refusing to accept France Identité as a valid way to present your ID to their agents in stations and aboard trains.
\n![\"France](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/franceid2-1714671048915.png\")
France Identité lets the card holder see all of their personal information on one screen. Note: France Identité automatically strips any personal information from screenshots.
This is very different from the way Apple envisions presenting your ID in person. In its various support documents on the feature, Apple specifically mentions that when using a state ID inside Apple Wallet, “you don’t need to unlock, show, or hand over your device to present your license or ID.” A contactless terminal is always needed. Although this significantly reduces the number of situations where it’s actually possible to present your digital ID instead of a physical ID card, this is an immense layer of protection for both your sensitive data and your iPhone that the French digital ID app does not have in its current state.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/applesupport-digitalid-identity-reader-1714671043431.png\")
In person, digital IDs stored in Apple Wallet can only be presented to a contactless terminal according to Apple Support.
2. Logging into France’s online services. The French digital ID app can be used to sign in to most of France’s online public services. This includes, for instance, the official revenue tax website where French people go every year to pay their taxes (impots.gouv.fr), as well as other official portals like the French social benefits platform (caf.fr) and the national health service dashboard (ameli.fr). And let me tell you, the way France Identité works in this use case is weird. Let me walk you through the process.
\nWhen signing in to an online public service, you need to look for a button that says ‘Sign in with FranceConnect’, then select ‘France Identité’ as the authentication method. At this point, on your computer, you’re presented with a QR code. Now, open the digital ID app on your phone, and use it to scan the QR code. The app will show you a list of the personal information that will be shared in order to connect to the site, and you can either approve or cancel the connection. If everything is in order, tap ‘Approve’ to continue.
\nThat’s it, right? No, to proceed, you now need to enter your digital ID passcode, even if you enabled Face ID in the app’s settings. But now, surely that’s enough to sign in, right? Nope, the app is now asking you to fetch your physical ID card and scan it with your iPhone. Hold the card near the top of your phone for about five full seconds, and now you’re done. You’re finally logged in.
\n![\"French](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/franceidentitebutton-1714671042745.png\")
French ID card holders can log in to almost any French online public service using their digital ID by clicking the ‘Sign in with FranceConnect’ button.
![\"Using](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/franceid-loggingin-1714671049361.png\")
Using France Identité to log in to an online public service is a five-step process involving scanning a QR code, approving the connection, entering your ID passcode, and scanning your physical ID card.
When I first went through this process, I assumed that scanning my physical card was only needed the first time, and at least not for a while after that. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that scanning the physical card is an integral part of the process that is required every time. I am sure that this choice was made for very specific security reasons, but having to fetch my physical card every time I need to log into one of those platforms really made me question the digital nature of this digital ID app.
\nIn US states that support digital IDs in Apple Wallet, users can actually give access to specific information from their digital IDs to third-party apps. This can be used to restrict minors’ access to certain content, for example, in which case iOS would only let the app see the age data point after you have consented via Face ID. So it’s not unreasonable to imagine a government body allowing its residents to log in to official online services in this way. But as far I can tell, this method would never involve actually scanning a physical version of the ID.
\n![\"Apple](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/applesupport-digitalid-sharetoapps-1714671043389.png\")
Apple Support details how information from IDs stored in Apple Wallet can be shared to third-party apps.
3. Generating a proof of identity. This one is pretty cool. France Identité lets you generate a PDF that you can address to any person, organization, or body to prove your identity, without having to send a copy of your physical ID card. You can set an expiration date so that the document can’t legally be used after a certain amount of time and even fill in a specific purpose for the document so that it can’t legally be used in any other context than the one you specified. The generated PDF document includes a QR code that anyone also using France Identité can scan to verify its authenticity. It’s a pretty well-thought-out system.
\nThe only issue is, once again, that you need to fetch your physical ID card and scan it every time you want to generate a proof of identity.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/franceid-proof-1714671043328.png\")
The French digital ID app can be used to generate a one-time-use proof of identity in the form of a PDF document containing a QR code.
The technical choices that were made here are interesting. I’m glad to see that they were able to leverage the RFID chip inside the card to make it easier to scan, and that the app’s UI is not nearly as bad as most other government-issued apps. I’m also thankful for its clever way of generating proofs of identity without having to give away all my information. Still, it’s hard to call France Identité a digital ID. Unlike Apple’s implementation of state IDs in Apple Wallet, where the physical ID card is only needed to add it the first time, France’s digital ID feels more like a companion to the existing physical ID that only serves as a bridge between it and online apps.
\nUnfortunately, it’s safe to assume that even if Apple had reached out to France’s government to support French IDs in the Wallet app, France would have probably refused. France isn’t historically known to trust US tech companies with its sensitive data, even when Apple says it’s encrypted and stored on-device. One fairly recent example of this dates back to 2020, when Apple and Google offered to natively support contact tracing in iOS and Android amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, while most European countries decided to get on board – including almost all of France’s neighboring countries – France notoriously refused to adopt the protocol, opting instead to ship its own contact tracing app with a homemade protocol.
\nAlthough the context is obviously very different, I see a small parallel between this story and France’s digital ID app that’s available today. Even if it doesn’t seem like Apple and Google are even trying to offer support for digital IDs outside the US for now, France could have chosen to wait. But instead, it went ahead and once again shipped its own implementation.
\nIf you’re thinking, “But it’s still better than nothing,” I wish I could agree with you. Unfortunately, despite having had my French digital ID on my iPhone for close to a full year now, I still take my physical card with me everywhere I go, present my physical card in face-to-face situations out of fear that my digital one won’t be accepted, and almost never use France Identité to sign in to online public services because, most of the time, I just can’t be bothered to fetch my physical ID card to complete the five-step login process. France’s digital ID just isn’t digital enough to have made a difference in my life.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
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\nJoin Now", "content_text": "Almost three years ago now, Apple announced that it would support adding state IDs and driver’s licenses to the Wallet app on the iPhone and the Apple Watch, with the feature first rolling out to a handful of US states. Today, digital IDs in Wallet still haven’t materialized in most of the states that committed to support the feature back in 2021, and Apple hasn’t announced any expansion of the feature beyond the US.\nHere in France, the government has long pledged to offer the ability to get a digital ID for all holders of the redesigned national identity card that started rolling out in 2021. The new ID card format was to be smaller than the old one (finally reaching the size of any standard credit card), but more importantly, it would feature an RFID chip that would enable contactless interactivity with, say, a dedicated terminal or any NFC-enabled smartphone. Fast-forward to today, and with this new ID card now widely in the hands of French citizens, France’s government has released France Identité, an app that allows any French ID card holder to get a digital version of their ID or driver’s license on their smartphone.\nWhile the app was publicly made available earlier this year on iOS and Android, I have been using the beta for close to a full year now. France Identité is a strange, frustrating mix of physical and digital that says a lot about the privacy concerns and technical issues that inevitably get raised when a state wants to take their IDs digital.\nLet’s take a look at the app, what it can do, and how it differs from Apple’s vision for digital IDs.\n\nTo get started with France Identité, all you need to do is scan your French ID card. Since the app is leveraging the iPhone’s NFC chip, you just have to hold your ID card near the top of the iPhone for a few seconds. You are then prompted to choose a six-digit passcode. The process is fairly intuitive. Within a few minutes, you’re enrolled, and your ID card is available in the app.\nThe app’s settings are super limited. In fact, there is currently only one setting you can change: enabling Face ID. If enabled, Face ID is then always required to open the app, but it does not supplant the passcode that you regularly have to enter in the app to perform actions.\nCurrently, France Identité can be used for three specific use cases:\nPresenting your ID in person.\nLogging into France’s online public services.\nGenerating a proof of identity without having to send a copy of your real card.\n1. Presenting your ID in person. Presenting your French digital ID is completely straightforward. Unlike Apple’s implementation in the Wallet app, which assumes the presence of a contactless terminal on the other end, here the process feels very analog. Simply open the app, and the card is immediately visible. So, you should just be able to present your phone to an agent so they can read your information on the screen. Every piece of personal information that’s present on your physical card is readily viewable in the app, including the unique ID card number.\nWhile it should soon be possible to pick and choose what information to share in face-to-face situations, this feature is not available yet, so it’s an all-or-nothing kind of deal for now. It’s also currently unclear if you can present your digital ID instead of your physical card in all situations. For instance, France’s national train company (SNCF) is still refusing to accept France Identité as a valid way to present your ID to their agents in stations and aboard trains.\nFrance Identité lets the card holder see all of their personal information on one screen. Note: France Identité automatically strips any personal information from screenshots.\nThis is very different from the way Apple envisions presenting your ID in person. In its various support documents on the feature, Apple specifically mentions that when using a state ID inside Apple Wallet, “you don’t need to unlock, show, or hand over your device to present your license or ID.” A contactless terminal is always needed. Although this significantly reduces the number of situations where it’s actually possible to present your digital ID instead of a physical ID card, this is an immense layer of protection for both your sensitive data and your iPhone that the French digital ID app does not have in its current state.\nIn person, digital IDs stored in Apple Wallet can only be presented to a contactless terminal according to Apple Support.\n\n2. Logging into France’s online services. The French digital ID app can be used to sign in to most of France’s online public services. This includes, for instance, the official revenue tax website where French people go every year to pay their taxes (impots.gouv.fr), as well as other official portals like the French social benefits platform (caf.fr) and the national health service dashboard (ameli.fr). And let me tell you, the way France Identité works in this use case is weird. Let me walk you through the process.\nWhen signing in to an online public service, you need to look for a button that says ‘Sign in with FranceConnect’, then select ‘France Identité’ as the authentication method. At this point, on your computer, you’re presented with a QR code. Now, open the digital ID app on your phone, and use it to scan the QR code. The app will show you a list of the personal information that will be shared in order to connect to the site, and you can either approve or cancel the connection. If everything is in order, tap ‘Approve’ to continue.\nThat’s it, right? No, to proceed, you now need to enter your digital ID passcode, even if you enabled Face ID in the app’s settings. But now, surely that’s enough to sign in, right? Nope, the app is now asking you to fetch your physical ID card and scan it with your iPhone. Hold the card near the top of your phone for about five full seconds, and now you’re done. You’re finally logged in.\nFrench ID card holders can log in to almost any French online public service using their digital ID by clicking the ‘Sign in with FranceConnect’ button.\nUsing France Identité to log in to an online public service is a five-step process involving scanning a QR code, approving the connection, entering your ID passcode, and scanning your physical ID card.\nWhen I first went through this process, I assumed that scanning my physical card was only needed the first time, and at least not for a while after that. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that scanning the physical card is an integral part of the process that is required every time. I am sure that this choice was made for very specific security reasons, but having to fetch my physical card every time I need to log into one of those platforms really made me question the digital nature of this digital ID app.\nIn US states that support digital IDs in Apple Wallet, users can actually give access to specific information from their digital IDs to third-party apps. This can be used to restrict minors’ access to certain content, for example, in which case iOS would only let the app see the age data point after you have consented via Face ID. So it’s not unreasonable to imagine a government body allowing its residents to log in to official online services in this way. But as far I can tell, this method would never involve actually scanning a physical version of the ID.\nApple Support details how information from IDs stored in Apple Wallet can be shared to third-party apps.\n3. Generating a proof of identity. This one is pretty cool. France Identité lets you generate a PDF that you can address to any person, organization, or body to prove your identity, without having to send a copy of your physical ID card. You can set an expiration date so that the document can’t legally be used after a certain amount of time and even fill in a specific purpose for the document so that it can’t legally be used in any other context than the one you specified. The generated PDF document includes a QR code that anyone also using France Identité can scan to verify its authenticity. It’s a pretty well-thought-out system.\nThe only issue is, once again, that you need to fetch your physical ID card and scan it every time you want to generate a proof of identity.\nThe French digital ID app can be used to generate a one-time-use proof of identity in the form of a PDF document containing a QR code.\nThe technical choices that were made here are interesting. I’m glad to see that they were able to leverage the RFID chip inside the card to make it easier to scan, and that the app’s UI is not nearly as bad as most other government-issued apps. I’m also thankful for its clever way of generating proofs of identity without having to give away all my information. Still, it’s hard to call France Identité a digital ID. Unlike Apple’s implementation of state IDs in Apple Wallet, where the physical ID card is only needed to add it the first time, France’s digital ID feels more like a companion to the existing physical ID that only serves as a bridge between it and online apps.\nUnfortunately, it’s safe to assume that even if Apple had reached out to France’s government to support French IDs in the Wallet app, France would have probably refused. France isn’t historically known to trust US tech companies with its sensitive data, even when Apple says it’s encrypted and stored on-device. One fairly recent example of this dates back to 2020, when Apple and Google offered to natively support contact tracing in iOS and Android amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, while most European countries decided to get on board – including almost all of France’s neighboring countries – France notoriously refused to adopt the protocol, opting instead to ship its own contact tracing app with a homemade protocol.\nAlthough the context is obviously very different, I see a small parallel between this story and France’s digital ID app that’s available today. Even if it doesn’t seem like Apple and Google are even trying to offer support for digital IDs outside the US for now, France could have chosen to wait. But instead, it went ahead and once again shipped its own implementation.\nIf you’re thinking, “But it’s still better than nothing,” I wish I could agree with you. Unfortunately, despite having had my French digital ID on my iPhone for close to a full year now, I still take my physical card with me everywhere I go, present my physical card in face-to-face situations out of fear that my digital one won’t be accepted, and almost never use France Identité to sign in to online public services because, most of the time, I just can’t be bothered to fetch my physical ID card to complete the five-step login process. France’s digital ID just isn’t digital enough to have made a difference in my life.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-05-03T09:05:27-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-05-03T09:05:27-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "digital IDs", "Wallet", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=74991", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/single-space-challenge-trying-to-manage-my-macos-windows-all-in-one-virtual-desktop/", "title": "Single-Space Challenge: Trying to Manage My macOS Windows All in One Virtual Desktop", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/singlespacechallenge-1712422347337.png\")
A couple of weeks ago, in a members-only special episode of the Accidental Tech Podcast, John Siracusa went in-depth on his window management techniques on the Mac. This was absolutely fascinating to me. I strongly recommend checking the episode out if you can. One of the many reasons it captivated me is the fact that John Siracusa uses macOS in only a single space (the system’s name for virtual desktops) and lays out windows in a very specific way to take advantage of his entire display.
\nThis is completely opposite of the way I’ve been managing and arranging windows on my Mac for the past ten years. To work on my Mac, I always heavily rely on having at least three spaces and switching between them on the fly depending on the task at hand. Moreover, I rarely keep more than two or three windows open at a time in each space.
\nHowever, since I’m always up for an experiment and shaking things up, I thought I would try going back to a single space on my Mac for a full week. I approached this by drawing inspiration from John Siracusa’s window management techniques and digging up an old Mac utility that helped me with the transition. I’ve learned a lot from this challenge; even more surprisingly, it has sparked in me a newfound interest in Stage Manager on the Mac.
\nLet me tell you how it went.
\n\nFirst, I should briefly catch you up on why I’m such a big fan of spaces on macOS.
\nWhen I purchased my very first Mac about ten years ago, I was coming from many years of using Linux distributions as my main desktop operating systems. At the time, I was particularly fond of the GNOME desktop environment, which started featuring a radically-redesigned user interface in 2011 called GNOME Shell. That UI had one huge appeal for me: an overview called ‘Activities’ where you could see all your open windows and all your virtual desktops laid out in a bird’s-eye view. Sound familiar? That same year, as part of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple also introduced a similar UI paradigm called ‘Mission Control’, which lets you see all your open windows, fullscreen apps, and active spaces in a single interactive overview.
\nSo suffice it to say, after switching to a Mac, I was feeling right at home. GNOME had already engraved in my brain this habit of spreading my open windows across virtual desktops and constantly moving between them thanks to its intuitive UI. On the Mac, Mission Control allowed me to keep working this way, and that has been the case for the past ten years now. The Mac even has a special advantage to bring this workflow together: an amazing trackpad experience. To this day, nothing beats macOS’s fast and fluid three-finger swipe gesture to flick between spaces on the fly.
\n![\"GNOME's](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/gnome_3-2_shell-1712422342482.png\")
GNOME’s ‘Activities’ view, released in 2011, allowed you to see an overview of all your open windows and virtual desktops. It also acted as a full-blown app launcher. Source: Wikimedia Commons
![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/10-7-lion-mission-control-2-1712422347369.png\")
In 2011, as part of OS X Lion, Apple introduced ‘Mission Control’, which lets you see an overview of all your open windows, fullscreen apps, and spaces. Source: 512 Pixels macOS Screenshot Library
As for how I like to spread my windows across spaces, it’s pretty straightforward. As far back as I can remember, I have always arranged them in this way:
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/obsidian-2024-04-06-15-50-2x-1712422342016.png\")
My usual three-space setup. Communication apps live in Desktop 1, Safari in Desktop 2, and everything else in Desktop 3.
While this is flexible and can change to fit specific tasks, the main constant is to always keep Safari in Desktop 2, and always keep my messaging apps in Desktop 1. They’re my anchor windows. The only exception is when I’m on a call, in which case I usually bring Discord or Zoom to Desktop 2 to keep them side by side with Safari.
\nOtherwise, when I’m working on a document or researching something, I like to add Notes or Obsidian to Desktop 2, next to Safari. Similarly, if I’m working on a design in Figma or a project in VS Code, that’s going to happen in Desktop 2 where the browser is. And if, during any of those tasks, I need to reply to a message, I can just swipe on the trackpad with three fingers to switch to Desktop 1 where all my communication apps live, then swipe back to Desktop 2 or 3 when I’m done.
\nNow you can probably see why getting rid of my spaces and using only one instead might be a considerable challenge for someone like me.
\nStill, I went ahead and deleted my two extra spaces. Now, with all my windows stacked in a single space, I had to experiment with ways to make this work – and make sense of the apparent mess.
\n![\"After](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/obsidian-2024-04-06-16-05-2x-1712422355267.png\")
After merging all of my spaces into one, my Mac desktop looked like this.
After experimenting for the first couple days of my single-space challenge, I put together a collection of tricks that have allowed me to start enjoying this experience. Here are the main three:
\n1. Generously hide your apps. I must admit, since I could always just switch to a different space at any time, I was really not used to hiding windows when I wasn’t actively using them. However, switching to a single-space workflow made this a necessity if I didn’t want my desktop to look extremely cluttered, even during light tasks. This led me to discover a handful of macOS keyboard shortcuts that have been around for ages but that I had no idea existed.
\nOf course, Command (⌘) + H hides the application in the foreground. But that’s not all. If you hold Option (⌥) and click a window in the background, this will instantly hide the app you were previously on. Even better, if you hold ⌥ and ⌘ at the same time and click any window, this will hide all apps except for the one you just clicked. Both of these also work if you click an app’s icon in the Dock. Using these keyboard shortcuts has made a world of a difference in managing my windows on a single desktop.
\n![\"Cleaning](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/finder-2024-04-06-16-28-1712422355085.gif\")
Cleaning up my desktop in a few seconds by holding ⌥ or ⌥ + ⌘ when clicking on windows.
Despite these useful shortcuts, I was still finding myself drowning in windows at times. This was mainly due to the fact that I frequently need to reopen Discord and other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, and I tend to leave those visible in the background even when I’m done with them. To solve this, I dug up a tiny utility that I hadn’t launched in a long time: Quitter by Marco Arment.
\nQuitter is a fantastic free Mac app that automatically hides or quits apps after a set amount of time. I’ve set it to hide all my messaging apps automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity. The result is that they’re still open and active in the background if I need them, but their windows will go away even if I forget to hide them manually.
\n![\"My](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/quitter-2024-04-06-16-42-2x-1712422347113.png\")
My Quitter rules include most of my messaging apps.
2. Find a pattern to arrange your windows onscreen. If this experiment has taught me one thing, it’s that you can make your life a lot easier if you place and resize every window with intention, instead of just letting them pile up wherever they spawn. Let me explain.
\nIn my case, since the web browser is central to most, if not all, of my workflows, I came up with a general way of organizing my windows onscreen that makes a lot of sense to my brain: Now, I always keep the Safari window in the center of the screen, with every other window around Safari along the edges of the display, as if they’re only poking out from under the Safari window. I like to think of it as an imperfect planetary system. Safari is Saturn, and all the other apps are its orbiting moons. Moon windows can move around Safari freely, but Safari always remains in the center.
\nAnd if, at any point, I need to focus on a single application, I can just ⌥ + ⌘ + click it to make it the only visible window, then temporarily move it to the center of the screen.
\n![Making sense of my single-space desktop: I keep Safari in the center and all the other apps \"in orbit\" around it. To the left of Safari are Ivory and Mimestream. Telegram is in the top right corner, Obsidian on the right side of the screen, and Music in the bottom right.](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/safari-2024-04-06-17-03-2x-1712422350366.png\")
Making sense of my single-space desktop: I keep Safari in the center and all the other apps “in orbit” around it. To the left of Safari are Ivory and Mimestream. Telegram is in the top right corner, Obsidian on the right side of the screen, and Music in the bottom right.
A key part of making this work is not being afraid to make your windows smaller. Apps don’t have to fill the entire screen to be useful. Some apps can even be super tiny and still be fully usable in a corner of the display. This is especially true for Safari and other web browsers. In a world where most people access the web on their phones, most sites will work just fine in a narrow window.
\nThis has also led me to rediscover the Music app’s MiniPlayer window, which you can activate by clicking on the album art of the currently playing track. (You can also ⌥ + click the album art to open the MiniPlayer while keeping the main window open.) The MiniPlayer is super easy to tuck in a corner of the screen so you can keep an eye on your current queue at all times. This has been a nice way to curb my habit of always keeping the main Music window open.
\n![\"In](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/music-2024-04-03-01-25-1712422349561.gif\")
In the Music app, click the currently playing album art to switch to the MiniPlayer, or ⌥ + click the album art to open the MiniPlayer above the main Music window.
My Safari-focused “planetary system” arrangement is obviously very personal, and it may or may not work for you. If you want to try this approach, I recommend first thinking about which app would work best as your centered window.
\n3. Give Stage Manager a try. Alright, this may be a controversial one. As you know, Stage Manager, first introduced in macOS Ventura, is Apple’s newest mode for managing windows on your Mac’s desktop. It lets you group windows together and lists your recently active apps on the left edge of the screen. To be honest, despite loving some aspects of working with Stage Manager on the Mac, I think it still has many flaws I can’t quite get over.
\nStage Manager has felt superfluous to me since its release. After all, I was already used to grouping my windows together; I was just doing it using macOS’s spaces. However, during my single-space challenge, I was inexorably drawn back to it.
\nStage Manager is an amazing way of eliminating clutter on your desktop with a single click in Control Center, and I found myself turning it on sporadically instead of relying on my above two tricks for managing windows. In many cases, it was just simpler to use Stage Manager instead of thinking about where and how I should place my apps. And I must admit, the way it positions your active app in the center of the screen while still letting you keep an eye on all the other apps that are running to the side – it clicks for me.
\nOne other reason that I was drawn to Stage Manager during the single-space challenge is that I had a really hard time kicking the habit of swiping with three fingers to switch between spaces. I often found myself reflexively swiping with three fingers to no effect. To address this, I re-enabled one of my BetterTouchTool triggers, which allows me to three-finger swipe between app groups in Stage Manager.
\nWith the addition of this gesture, Stage Manager is so close to being perfect. If it had a setting to open new windows in the current stage instead of spawning a new one every time, and the ability to reorder the app groups in the strip by dragging them, I would keep it on permanently. But for now, I just like to toggle it on and off depending on the state of my desktop.
\nNow that my single-space challenge is over, I find myself at a crossroads. To my surprise, this experiment has been quite enjoyable, and now I honestly can’t decide whether I want to continue this way or revert to my ten-year-old three-space setup. The answer is that I’m probably going to land somewhere in-between. I will keep using a three-space setup, but I will upgrade Desktop 2 (the center space) to the Safari-focused “planetary system” arrangement. Similarly, I will consider turning on Stage Manager when one of my spaces gets too crowded.
\nOverall, this past week has made me realize how amazing macOS can be when it comes to window management. While it is severely lacking in some areas, especially when it comes to tiling and snapping windows, the fact that you can pick and choose which layers of Apple’s window management tools you want to leverage means that, in just a week, you can get used to a workflow that would have felt completely alien before. There is a certain beauty to this. My only hope is that Apple finally iterates on Stage Manager this year.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "A couple of weeks ago, in a members-only special episode of the Accidental Tech Podcast, John Siracusa went in-depth on his window management techniques on the Mac. This was absolutely fascinating to me. I strongly recommend checking the episode out if you can. One of the many reasons it captivated me is the fact that John Siracusa uses macOS in only a single space (the system’s name for virtual desktops) and lays out windows in a very specific way to take advantage of his entire display.\nThis is completely opposite of the way I’ve been managing and arranging windows on my Mac for the past ten years. To work on my Mac, I always heavily rely on having at least three spaces and switching between them on the fly depending on the task at hand. Moreover, I rarely keep more than two or three windows open at a time in each space.\nHowever, since I’m always up for an experiment and shaking things up, I thought I would try going back to a single space on my Mac for a full week. I approached this by drawing inspiration from John Siracusa’s window management techniques and digging up an old Mac utility that helped me with the transition. I’ve learned a lot from this challenge; even more surprisingly, it has sparked in me a newfound interest in Stage Manager on the Mac.\nLet me tell you how it went.\n\nFirst, I should briefly catch you up on why I’m such a big fan of spaces on macOS.\nWhen I purchased my very first Mac about ten years ago, I was coming from many years of using Linux distributions as my main desktop operating systems. At the time, I was particularly fond of the GNOME desktop environment, which started featuring a radically-redesigned user interface in 2011 called GNOME Shell. That UI had one huge appeal for me: an overview called ‘Activities’ where you could see all your open windows and all your virtual desktops laid out in a bird’s-eye view. Sound familiar? That same year, as part of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple also introduced a similar UI paradigm called ‘Mission Control’, which lets you see all your open windows, fullscreen apps, and active spaces in a single interactive overview.\nSo suffice it to say, after switching to a Mac, I was feeling right at home. GNOME had already engraved in my brain this habit of spreading my open windows across virtual desktops and constantly moving between them thanks to its intuitive UI. On the Mac, Mission Control allowed me to keep working this way, and that has been the case for the past ten years now. The Mac even has a special advantage to bring this workflow together: an amazing trackpad experience. To this day, nothing beats macOS’s fast and fluid three-finger swipe gesture to flick between spaces on the fly.\nGNOME’s ‘Activities’ view, released in 2011, allowed you to see an overview of all your open windows and virtual desktops. It also acted as a full-blown app launcher. Source: Wikimedia Commons\nIn 2011, as part of OS X Lion, Apple introduced ‘Mission Control’, which lets you see an overview of all your open windows, fullscreen apps, and spaces. Source: 512 Pixels macOS Screenshot Library\nAs for how I like to spread my windows across spaces, it’s pretty straightforward. As far back as I can remember, I have always arranged them in this way:\nAll of my messaging and communication apps go in Desktop 1.\nThe web browser goes in Desktop 2.\nMusic, plus everything else overflowing from the first two desktops, goes in Desktop 3.\nMy usual three-space setup. Communication apps live in Desktop 1, Safari in Desktop 2, and everything else in Desktop 3.\nWhile this is flexible and can change to fit specific tasks, the main constant is to always keep Safari in Desktop 2, and always keep my messaging apps in Desktop 1. They’re my anchor windows. The only exception is when I’m on a call, in which case I usually bring Discord or Zoom to Desktop 2 to keep them side by side with Safari.\nOtherwise, when I’m working on a document or researching something, I like to add Notes or Obsidian to Desktop 2, next to Safari. Similarly, if I’m working on a design in Figma or a project in VS Code, that’s going to happen in Desktop 2 where the browser is. And if, during any of those tasks, I need to reply to a message, I can just swipe on the trackpad with three fingers to switch to Desktop 1 where all my communication apps live, then swipe back to Desktop 2 or 3 when I’m done.\nNow you can probably see why getting rid of my spaces and using only one instead might be a considerable challenge for someone like me.\nStill, I went ahead and deleted my two extra spaces. Now, with all my windows stacked in a single space, I had to experiment with ways to make this work – and make sense of the apparent mess.\nAfter merging all of my spaces into one, my Mac desktop looked like this.\nAfter experimenting for the first couple days of my single-space challenge, I put together a collection of tricks that have allowed me to start enjoying this experience. Here are the main three:\n1. Generously hide your apps. I must admit, since I could always just switch to a different space at any time, I was really not used to hiding windows when I wasn’t actively using them. However, switching to a single-space workflow made this a necessity if I didn’t want my desktop to look extremely cluttered, even during light tasks. This led me to discover a handful of macOS keyboard shortcuts that have been around for ages but that I had no idea existed.\nOf course, Command (⌘) + H hides the application in the foreground. But that’s not all. If you hold Option (⌥) and click a window in the background, this will instantly hide the app you were previously on. Even better, if you hold ⌥ and ⌘ at the same time and click any window, this will hide all apps except for the one you just clicked. Both of these also work if you click an app’s icon in the Dock. Using these keyboard shortcuts has made a world of a difference in managing my windows on a single desktop.\nCleaning up my desktop in a few seconds by holding ⌥ or ⌥ + ⌘ when clicking on windows.\nDespite these useful shortcuts, I was still finding myself drowning in windows at times. This was mainly due to the fact that I frequently need to reopen Discord and other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, and I tend to leave those visible in the background even when I’m done with them. To solve this, I dug up a tiny utility that I hadn’t launched in a long time: Quitter by Marco Arment.\nQuitter is a fantastic free Mac app that automatically hides or quits apps after a set amount of time. I’ve set it to hide all my messaging apps automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity. The result is that they’re still open and active in the background if I need them, but their windows will go away even if I forget to hide them manually.\nMy Quitter rules include most of my messaging apps.\n2. Find a pattern to arrange your windows onscreen. If this experiment has taught me one thing, it’s that you can make your life a lot easier if you place and resize every window with intention, instead of just letting them pile up wherever they spawn. Let me explain.\nIn my case, since the web browser is central to most, if not all, of my workflows, I came up with a general way of organizing my windows onscreen that makes a lot of sense to my brain: Now, I always keep the Safari window in the center of the screen, with every other window around Safari along the edges of the display, as if they’re only poking out from under the Safari window. I like to think of it as an imperfect planetary system. Safari is Saturn, and all the other apps are its orbiting moons. Moon windows can move around Safari freely, but Safari always remains in the center.\nAnd if, at any point, I need to focus on a single application, I can just ⌥ + ⌘ + click it to make it the only visible window, then temporarily move it to the center of the screen.\nMaking sense of my single-space desktop: I keep Safari in the center and all the other apps “in orbit” around it. To the left of Safari are Ivory and Mimestream. Telegram is in the top right corner, Obsidian on the right side of the screen, and Music in the bottom right.\nA key part of making this work is not being afraid to make your windows smaller. Apps don’t have to fill the entire screen to be useful. Some apps can even be super tiny and still be fully usable in a corner of the display. This is especially true for Safari and other web browsers. In a world where most people access the web on their phones, most sites will work just fine in a narrow window.\nThis has also led me to rediscover the Music app’s MiniPlayer window, which you can activate by clicking on the album art of the currently playing track. (You can also ⌥ + click the album art to open the MiniPlayer while keeping the main window open.) The MiniPlayer is super easy to tuck in a corner of the screen so you can keep an eye on your current queue at all times. This has been a nice way to curb my habit of always keeping the main Music window open.\nIn the Music app, click the currently playing album art to switch to the MiniPlayer, or ⌥ + click the album art to open the MiniPlayer above the main Music window.\nMy Safari-focused “planetary system” arrangement is obviously very personal, and it may or may not work for you. If you want to try this approach, I recommend first thinking about which app would work best as your centered window.\n3. Give Stage Manager a try. Alright, this may be a controversial one. As you know, Stage Manager, first introduced in macOS Ventura, is Apple’s newest mode for managing windows on your Mac’s desktop. It lets you group windows together and lists your recently active apps on the left edge of the screen. To be honest, despite loving some aspects of working with Stage Manager on the Mac, I think it still has many flaws I can’t quite get over.\nStage Manager has felt superfluous to me since its release. After all, I was already used to grouping my windows together; I was just doing it using macOS’s spaces. However, during my single-space challenge, I was inexorably drawn back to it.\nStage Manager is an amazing way of eliminating clutter on your desktop with a single click in Control Center, and I found myself turning it on sporadically instead of relying on my above two tricks for managing windows. In many cases, it was just simpler to use Stage Manager instead of thinking about where and how I should place my apps. And I must admit, the way it positions your active app in the center of the screen while still letting you keep an eye on all the other apps that are running to the side – it clicks for me.\nOne other reason that I was drawn to Stage Manager during the single-space challenge is that I had a really hard time kicking the habit of swiping with three fingers to switch between spaces. I often found myself reflexively swiping with three fingers to no effect. To address this, I re-enabled one of my BetterTouchTool triggers, which allows me to three-finger swipe between app groups in Stage Manager.\nWith the addition of this gesture, Stage Manager is so close to being perfect. If it had a setting to open new windows in the current stage instead of spawning a new one every time, and the ability to reorder the app groups in the strip by dragging them, I would keep it on permanently. But for now, I just like to toggle it on and off depending on the state of my desktop.\nNow that my single-space challenge is over, I find myself at a crossroads. To my surprise, this experiment has been quite enjoyable, and now I honestly can’t decide whether I want to continue this way or revert to my ten-year-old three-space setup. The answer is that I’m probably going to land somewhere in-between. I will keep using a three-space setup, but I will upgrade Desktop 2 (the center space) to the Safari-focused “planetary system” arrangement. Similarly, I will consider turning on Stage Manager when one of my spaces gets too crowded.\nOverall, this past week has made me realize how amazing macOS can be when it comes to window management. While it is severely lacking in some areas, especially when it comes to tiling and snapping windows, the fact that you can pick and choose which layers of Apple’s window management tools you want to leverage means that, in just a week, you can get used to a workflow that would have felt completely alien before. There is a certain beauty to this. My only hope is that Apple finally iterates on Stage Manager this year.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-04-10T10:10:12-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-04-22T12:42:39-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "macOS", "Mission Control", "Stage Manager", "stories" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=74916", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/reviews/transit-is-still-the-best-designed-transit-app-on-the-iphone-in-2024/", "title": "Transit Is Still the Best-Designed Transit App on the iPhone in 2024", "content_html": "I like trains. I like them so much that, despite being 27 years old now, I still don’t have a driving license. I travel by train and use public transit exclusively to get around in my daily life. The island where I grew up had none of that, and it has made the car a fundamental necessity for most inhabitants there. But I’m fortunate enough to live in continental France now, in a city where I can get anywhere pretty quickly by hopping on a bus, tram, train, or even a high-speed train.
\nThe result is that I spend a lot of time on my phone on a daily basis looking up transit itineraries and glancing at waiting times. Like in most places in the world where public transit is a thing, you can use the transit authority’s first-party application or website to do this. There is a universal truth about those apps and sites, though: they are almost always really bad. They’re slow, confusing, and often bloated with useless information. This is why, for so many years now – since I first arrived in France in 2014 – I’ve been a huge fan of Transit.
\nTransit is an amazing app that lets you look up transit itineraries and will even guide you along as you travel to your destination. The app has been around for a long time, but my mission today is simple: I want to tell you why I believe Transit is still the best-designed transit app available on the iPhone right now.
\nLet’s get into it.
\n\nWhen you think about it, if you travel by bus, tram, or train every day, you pretty much know your way around the network already, especially when you just want to get to the places you visit frequently – that can be home, work, the city’s main train station, your favorite restaurant, or a friend’s place. This means that, most of the time, you are not necessarily going to need to look up an itinerary in a transit app. Instead, what you are going to need is an efficient way to evaluate your options. Which lines can I use from here? How long am I going to wait? Where is the station exactly?
\nTransit’s competitors Moovit, Citymapper, and even Apple’s transit integrations in Apple Maps, have never clicked for me for this reason. They tend to want me to start typing a destination, or fumbling around the UI, instead of immediately surfacing this information. In Transit, on the other hand, the first thing you see when you open the app is the waiting times of all the running lines around you. This is absolutely what got me into using the app back in 2014, and it’s still the main reason why I love the app so much today. Wherever I am in the city, I can just tap the app’s icon on my Home Screen to instantly get a view of my options to get to my next destination, along with the real-time waiting times. Usually, I can handle myself from there, and I can close right out of the app. Other times, if I need more guidance, I can just tap on a line and follow the directions.
\n![\"When](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-citymapper-apple-maps-1711756154133.png\")
When you open Transit, you immediately get a view of nearby lines with their real-time waiting times. In Citymapper, this information is only available after you select one of the main ‘Bus,’ ‘Metro,’ or Tram’ buttons (1). In Apple Maps, it’s hidden behind a ‘Transit Nearby’ button (2).
For those times when I’m on a line that I don’t know well, or when I’m in the gigantic maze that is Paris, Transit is an app that I’ve come to rely on a lot. Over the years, the app has been pretty good at supporting the newest features in iOS, the latest of which is support for Live Activities in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen.
\nTransit’s Live Activities are the best use of the Dynamic Island that I’ve seen to date. It’s the perfect use case for the feature. It happens to the best of us: you’re on a train, not necessarily paying attention to your surroundings, reading today’s headlines on your phone, so it’s easy to miss your stop. Seeing the number of remaining stops tick down at the top of the screen is incredibly useful for this. The Dynamic Island will expand on its own when you’re two stops away, then again when you need to get off.
\nTo be honest, I even use this feature on the trips that I know by heart, just because it puts me at ease to know that the app has my back in case I get too distracted.
\nTransit’s Live Activities start running as soon as you tap ‘Go’ on an itinerary in the app. The Live Activity shows how many remaining stops are on the route and lets you know when to get off the vehicle.
Transit is a beautiful app in the way it combines satisfying animations, fast interactions, and super clever design. I first mentioned how the app’s main screen is a view of nearby lines and their waiting times. Something else in the app that’s both remarkably simple and smart is the way itinerary suggestions are presented.
\nWhen you pick a destination in Transit, the itinerary suggestions are shown on a timeline. For each suggestion, you can quickly see the number of lines you’ll need to use, the duration of each change, and the time it will take to walk to and from the stations. Most importantly, since the itinerary suggestions are all sitting on the same timeline, you can directly compare them. I have never been able to find another transit app that lets me find the best itinerary in this way. Sure, some of them may let you toggle a few preferences in the settings: would you rather walk or minimize waiting times? The issue for me is that it depends. At times, I’m fine with walking, but other times, I simply want to reach my destination quickly. Thanks to this clever design, Transit allows me to make that choice in the moment.
\nSearching for itineraries between Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse in Paris. Transit lets you compare its suggestions on a timeline (left). You can tap on any suggestions to preview it on the map (middle), and read a detailed breakdown of the itinerary (right).
This thoughtful design is present throughout the app. I find myself in awe of how every single data point has been carefully placed in the interface without ever feeling overwhelming. Your estimated time of arrival is exactly where you’d expect it to be (in the Live Activity, as well as at the top of the itinerary view). Gestures to navigate the app feel natural. Almost everywhere in the app, you can pull down on views to get back to the previous screen. This is complemented with a subtle use of haptic feedback that brings the whole UI together.
\n![\"Looking](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-1711756150867.gif\")
Looking up directions in Paris using Transit
I have always found Transit’s performance to be significantly superior to its main competitor, Citymapper. A key example of this is each app’s map view. In Citymapper, navigating the map is a bit of a pain. You can’t get a clear view of the lines, location pins take a while to load, and panning the map is, at best, a 20 FPS experience. The main difference here is that Citymapper is using Google Maps as the map provider, while Transit uses Apple Maps. This is clearly making a huge difference: navigating the map in Transit feels super smooth in comparison. I encourage you to try out the two side by side; it’s hard to unsee.
\n![\"Zooming](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/transit-citymapper-map-view-1711756152749.png\")
Zooming out on the map view in Transit (left), versus in Citymapper (right).
To be fair, Citymapper isn’t available in my home town. The app can only be used in a handful of cities in France, which unfortunately doesn’t include Grenoble. I used it on a regular basis when I was living in Lyon a few years ago. But today, I am only able to use it when I’m in Paris about once a month. It is never a great experience for me, though. I struggle a lot with the information density in Citymapper.
\nHowever, I will concede that Citymapper is great at one thing: keeping you up-to-date on service incidents. Transit does integrate those in the app, but Citymapper lets you see all current incidents in one place, which is super handy. I’m also impressed with the amount of local transportation services that Citymapper always manages to integrate into their app. In general, the experience in Citymapper seems to be particularly well curated for the urban areas that it covers – which probably explains why it is not as widely available as Transit.
\nStill, Transit has always amazed me with its ability to scale up and down depending on where you are. The app’s UI is fast and simple, and that remains true whether I’m in Grenoble with its relatively small five-line tram network, or in Paris with the mind-boggling size of its Metro and RER network. Sure, when you are in the underground stations of the Paris Metro, Transit provides information that you wouldn’t see in a smaller town: which platform you need to get on, which exits you need to look for, and even on which end of the next train you should board to be closer to the exit upon arrival. These never feel out of place, though. They show up as needed, and they go away if you ignore them. And the UI, overall, remains just as intuitive and efficient.
\nWhile some of its competitors need to curate their experience for each city, the fact that Transit’s UI easily scales with no manual adjustments on the user’s part is a testament to its beautiful design. If you’re not already a fan, and if the app is available where you live, I strongly recommend giving it a try.
\nTransit is available for free in the App Store, with an optional $5 monthly (or $25 yearly) subscription to unlock more nearby lines in the main view, access to the full line schedules, additional app icons, and custom color themes.
\nFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.
\nJoin Now", "content_text": "I like trains. I like them so much that, despite being 27 years old now, I still don’t have a driving license. I travel by train and use public transit exclusively to get around in my daily life. The island where I grew up had none of that, and it has made the car a fundamental necessity for most inhabitants there. But I’m fortunate enough to live in continental France now, in a city where I can get anywhere pretty quickly by hopping on a bus, tram, train, or even a high-speed train.\nThe result is that I spend a lot of time on my phone on a daily basis looking up transit itineraries and glancing at waiting times. Like in most places in the world where public transit is a thing, you can use the transit authority’s first-party application or website to do this. There is a universal truth about those apps and sites, though: they are almost always really bad. They’re slow, confusing, and often bloated with useless information. This is why, for so many years now – since I first arrived in France in 2014 – I’ve been a huge fan of Transit.\nTransit is an amazing app that lets you look up transit itineraries and will even guide you along as you travel to your destination. The app has been around for a long time, but my mission today is simple: I want to tell you why I believe Transit is still the best-designed transit app available on the iPhone right now.\nLet’s get into it.\n\nWhen you think about it, if you travel by bus, tram, or train every day, you pretty much know your way around the network already, especially when you just want to get to the places you visit frequently – that can be home, work, the city’s main train station, your favorite restaurant, or a friend’s place. This means that, most of the time, you are not necessarily going to need to look up an itinerary in a transit app. Instead, what you are going to need is an efficient way to evaluate your options. Which lines can I use from here? How long am I going to wait? Where is the station exactly?\nTransit’s competitors Moovit, Citymapper, and even Apple’s transit integrations in Apple Maps, have never clicked for me for this reason. They tend to want me to start typing a destination, or fumbling around the UI, instead of immediately surfacing this information. In Transit, on the other hand, the first thing you see when you open the app is the waiting times of all the running lines around you. This is absolutely what got me into using the app back in 2014, and it’s still the main reason why I love the app so much today. Wherever I am in the city, I can just tap the app’s icon on my Home Screen to instantly get a view of my options to get to my next destination, along with the real-time waiting times. Usually, I can handle myself from there, and I can close right out of the app. Other times, if I need more guidance, I can just tap on a line and follow the directions.\nWhen you open Transit, you immediately get a view of nearby lines with their real-time waiting times. In Citymapper, this information is only available after you select one of the main ‘Bus,’ ‘Metro,’ or Tram’ buttons (1). In Apple Maps, it’s hidden behind a ‘Transit Nearby’ button (2).\nFor those times when I’m on a line that I don’t know well, or when I’m in the gigantic maze that is Paris, Transit is an app that I’ve come to rely on a lot. Over the years, the app has been pretty good at supporting the newest features in iOS, the latest of which is support for Live Activities in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen.\nTransit’s Live Activities are the best use of the Dynamic Island that I’ve seen to date. It’s the perfect use case for the feature. It happens to the best of us: you’re on a train, not necessarily paying attention to your surroundings, reading today’s headlines on your phone, so it’s easy to miss your stop. Seeing the number of remaining stops tick down at the top of the screen is incredibly useful for this. The Dynamic Island will expand on its own when you’re two stops away, then again when you need to get off.\nTo be honest, I even use this feature on the trips that I know by heart, just because it puts me at ease to know that the app has my back in case I get too distracted.\nTransit’s Live Activities start running as soon as you tap ‘Go’ on an itinerary in the app. The Live Activity shows how many remaining stops are on the route and lets you know when to get off the vehicle.\nTransit is a beautiful app in the way it combines satisfying animations, fast interactions, and super clever design. I first mentioned how the app’s main screen is a view of nearby lines and their waiting times. Something else in the app that’s both remarkably simple and smart is the way itinerary suggestions are presented.\nWhen you pick a destination in Transit, the itinerary suggestions are shown on a timeline. For each suggestion, you can quickly see the number of lines you’ll need to use, the duration of each change, and the time it will take to walk to and from the stations. Most importantly, since the itinerary suggestions are all sitting on the same timeline, you can directly compare them. I have never been able to find another transit app that lets me find the best itinerary in this way. Sure, some of them may let you toggle a few preferences in the settings: would you rather walk or minimize waiting times? The issue for me is that it depends. At times, I’m fine with walking, but other times, I simply want to reach my destination quickly. Thanks to this clever design, Transit allows me to make that choice in the moment.\nSearching for itineraries between Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse in Paris. Transit lets you compare its suggestions on a timeline (left). You can tap on any suggestions to preview it on the map (middle), and read a detailed breakdown of the itinerary (right).\nThis thoughtful design is present throughout the app. I find myself in awe of how every single data point has been carefully placed in the interface without ever feeling overwhelming. Your estimated time of arrival is exactly where you’d expect it to be (in the Live Activity, as well as at the top of the itinerary view). Gestures to navigate the app feel natural. Almost everywhere in the app, you can pull down on views to get back to the previous screen. This is complemented with a subtle use of haptic feedback that brings the whole UI together.\nLooking up directions in Paris using Transit\nI have always found Transit’s performance to be significantly superior to its main competitor, Citymapper. A key example of this is each app’s map view. In Citymapper, navigating the map is a bit of a pain. You can’t get a clear view of the lines, location pins take a while to load, and panning the map is, at best, a 20 FPS experience. The main difference here is that Citymapper is using Google Maps as the map provider, while Transit uses Apple Maps. This is clearly making a huge difference: navigating the map in Transit feels super smooth in comparison. I encourage you to try out the two side by side; it’s hard to unsee.\nZooming out on the map view in Transit (left), versus in Citymapper (right).\nTo be fair, Citymapper isn’t available in my home town. The app can only be used in a handful of cities in France, which unfortunately doesn’t include Grenoble. I used it on a regular basis when I was living in Lyon a few years ago. But today, I am only able to use it when I’m in Paris about once a month. It is never a great experience for me, though. I struggle a lot with the information density in Citymapper.\nHowever, I will concede that Citymapper is great at one thing: keeping you up-to-date on service incidents. Transit does integrate those in the app, but Citymapper lets you see all current incidents in one place, which is super handy. I’m also impressed with the amount of local transportation services that Citymapper always manages to integrate into their app. In general, the experience in Citymapper seems to be particularly well curated for the urban areas that it covers – which probably explains why it is not as widely available as Transit.\nStill, Transit has always amazed me with its ability to scale up and down depending on where you are. The app’s UI is fast and simple, and that remains true whether I’m in Grenoble with its relatively small five-line tram network, or in Paris with the mind-boggling size of its Metro and RER network. Sure, when you are in the underground stations of the Paris Metro, Transit provides information that you wouldn’t see in a smaller town: which platform you need to get on, which exits you need to look for, and even on which end of the next train you should board to be closer to the exit upon arrival. These never feel out of place, though. They show up as needed, and they go away if you ignore them. And the UI, overall, remains just as intuitive and efficient.\nWhile some of its competitors need to curate their experience for each city, the fact that Transit’s UI easily scales with no manual adjustments on the user’s part is a testament to its beautiful design. If you’re not already a fan, and if the app is available where you live, I strongly recommend giving it a try.\nTransit is available for free in the App Store, with an optional $5 monthly (or $25 yearly) subscription to unlock more nearby lines in the main view, access to the full line schedules, additional app icons, and custom color themes.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-04-02T11:22:24-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-04-02T11:22:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "app", "iOS", "reviews" ] }, { "id": "https://www.macstories.net/?p=74708", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/stories/roampod-exploring-the-untapped-potential-of-a-portable-homepod-mini/", "title": "RoamPod: Exploring the Untapped Potential of a Portable HomePod mini", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/nileane-s-roampod-1710602636863.jpeg\")
A couple of months ago, my partner and I were contemplating purchasing a Bluetooth speaker for the bathroom. We both like to listen to podcasts and music while in the shower, and using our iPhones at maximum volume outside of the shower booth was getting old.
\nHere’s the thing, though: Bluetooth speakers aren’t great. I tried a bunch of small portable Bluetooth speakers. The JBL Go 3, in particular, was pretty good. It has a decent sound, it’s small and easy to move if we want to use it in other rooms, and it’s waterproof. Unfortunately, when it comes to connectivity, the JBL Go 3 was no exception in the sea of similarly-priced portable speakers: you often have to re-pair your iPhone, and that becomes especially painful if you’re sharing the speaker with your partner like I am. I really didn’t want to go back to this life of spending two full minutes to pair my iPhone every time I’m headed for the shower. We would only end up giving up on it and going back to blasting our iPhones at maximum volume.
\nIn the end, I had a suggestion for my partner: what if we used a HomePod mini instead?
\n\nWe’ve been pretty happy with the four HomePod minis that we own. We use two as a stereo pair in the living room with the Apple TV, one in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom on my desk, so it would make sense to get one more for the bathroom. The HomePod mini already has everything we need: a decent sound and great connectivity with our iPhones. No daily pairing needed.
\nUnfortunately, after thinking about it for more than two minutes, I realized that it was probably a bad idea with our particular bathroom setup. It’s a compact bathroom, and we only have one available wall plug… near the sink. Setting up a HomePod mini there permanently would be an accident waiting to happen.
\nAs a result, here’s what I concluded: I wanted to be able to move one of our existing HomePod minis around the apartment, so I could occasionally plop it down in the bathroom when taking a shower (at a safe distance from the sink) and simply move it back to where it belongs when I was done. Sadly, though, Apple’s HomePods are wired only.
\nBut then, I remembered Federico mentioning on Connected back in July how he turned one of his HomePod minis into a portable speaker using the $69.99 PlusAcc Battery Base. I ordered it, we’ve been using it in our apartment for the past few weeks, and I am now convinced that Apple should be making this product, a portable HomePod mini. I even have the perfect name for it: RoamPod. (You’re welcome, Apple.)
\nThe battery base is super easy to set up. Apart from its plastic enclosure, which is specifically molded to fit a HomePod mini and its cable, it’s a really basic object. The only tech inside is a 10,000 mAh battery, a battery level LED indicator, one USB-C port to plug the HomePod mini in, and another to plug the battery base into the wall to charge it. The result is a bottom-heavy HomePod mini that you can just unplug, pick up, and move around your space as needed.
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/roampod-dismounted-1710602636404.jpeg\")
The battery base is simply a battery enclosure with a HomePod mini on top.
![\"On](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/nil-ane-s-roampod-back-1710602636524.jpeg\")
On the back, the battery base has one USB-C port for the HomePod mini’s power cable and another to charge the battery base.
Now, when I head off to the shower, I can just start playing music on the RoamPod by approaching with my iPhone, unplug the battery base from the wall, pick it up, and take it with me to the bathroom. If you live in a house with a garden, I can only imagine the joy of using the RoamPod to listen to some music outside while basking in the sun.
\nDon’t get me wrong; I fully realize that the end result is not a revolutionary product. It’s basically just a portable speaker with the added benefits of Siri and good software integration with Apple devices. But hear me out, because I think there are four ways that Apple could turn the RoamPod into an even more appealing product:
\nHand off playback between HomePods. What if, if Apple made its own portable HomePod mini, it leveraged an Ultra Wideband chipset inside for nearby interactions? The RoamPod could have a special feature that would allow you to hand off playback between two RoamPods simply by tapping them together. This would work exactly the same way as you can currently bring an iPhone nearby to hand off audio to a HomePod.
\nCreate and undo stereo pairs on the fly. One of the HomePod mini’s greatest features is the option to combine two of them and create a stereo pair. This is how we use our HomePod minis in the living room. Stereo makes them sound amazing for their small size and for their price. So, still building on the idea that Apple could leverage an Ultra Wideband chipset inside, you could imagine a scenario where you would be able to set a RoamPod down next to another, tap them together, and immediately create a stereo pair on the fly. As soon as you moved them away from one another, they would each go back to their single-speaker mode – no fiddling around in the Home app’s settings necessary.
\n![\"What](\"https://cdn.macstories.net/homepod-handoff-whatif-1710602638696.gif\")
What if you could tap two HomePods together to hand off playback or create a stereo pair? This is the portable HomePod future I want.
Make it dust- and waterproof. Obviously, I’m writing this because I want to be able to use the RoamPod in the shower. So, if Apple made this product, I would really want them to make it waterproof. But it would also make a lot of sense for the various use cases that a RoamPod could fit into. I know many people like to take their portable speakers to the beach, the park, or even the poolside. A portable HomePod should definitely be waterproof (and dust-proof, too) to truly make it the ideal outdoor product, even if that means ditching the fabric material for its outside shell.
\nShip it with a magnetic base. Just like Federico, Apple loves to add magnets to their products, and the RoamPod should be no exception. The reason why I love MagSafe accessories is how easily removable they are. The same can be said for Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad, which makes it super easy to take the iPad off the keyboard when you want to switch between tablet and laptop mode. If Apple made a RoamPod, they should absolutely ship it with a stationary magnetic base, just like Sonos does with their rather expensive Move 2 portable speaker. You would be able to keep the base plugged in at all times, pick the RoamPod up when needed, and easily put it back on the base when it needs charging, or when you just want to use it as a regular, stationary HomePod.
\nWhen you think about it, it’s quite surprising that this product isn’t already being sold by Apple. Complete with the AirPods and the HomePods, the RoamPod feels like an essential subcategory of audio products that Apple would have a lot of success venturing into. The fact that you can already get a taste of this experience by plugging the HomePod mini into a small battery suggests that this potential product isn’t that far-fetched at all.
\nIt’s certainly worked out for me and my partner. Although we could purchase one of Sonos’ existing portable speakers to fulfill most of these wishes today, we truly couldn’t justify the expense. So, in the meantime, we will keep using our hacky battery base we bought on Amazon for a fraction of the price. And, we’ll do our best to ensure that our RoamPod stays at a safe distance from the sink and our shower splashes.
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\nJoin Now", "content_text": "A couple of months ago, my partner and I were contemplating purchasing a Bluetooth speaker for the bathroom. We both like to listen to podcasts and music while in the shower, and using our iPhones at maximum volume outside of the shower booth was getting old.\nHere’s the thing, though: Bluetooth speakers aren’t great. I tried a bunch of small portable Bluetooth speakers. The JBL Go 3, in particular, was pretty good. It has a decent sound, it’s small and easy to move if we want to use it in other rooms, and it’s waterproof. Unfortunately, when it comes to connectivity, the JBL Go 3 was no exception in the sea of similarly-priced portable speakers: you often have to re-pair your iPhone, and that becomes especially painful if you’re sharing the speaker with your partner like I am. I really didn’t want to go back to this life of spending two full minutes to pair my iPhone every time I’m headed for the shower. We would only end up giving up on it and going back to blasting our iPhones at maximum volume.\nIn the end, I had a suggestion for my partner: what if we used a HomePod mini instead?\n\nWe’ve been pretty happy with the four HomePod minis that we own. We use two as a stereo pair in the living room with the Apple TV, one in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom on my desk, so it would make sense to get one more for the bathroom. The HomePod mini already has everything we need: a decent sound and great connectivity with our iPhones. No daily pairing needed.\nUnfortunately, after thinking about it for more than two minutes, I realized that it was probably a bad idea with our particular bathroom setup. It’s a compact bathroom, and we only have one available wall plug… near the sink. Setting up a HomePod mini there permanently would be an accident waiting to happen.\nAs a result, here’s what I concluded: I wanted to be able to move one of our existing HomePod minis around the apartment, so I could occasionally plop it down in the bathroom when taking a shower (at a safe distance from the sink) and simply move it back to where it belongs when I was done. Sadly, though, Apple’s HomePods are wired only.\nBut then, I remembered Federico mentioning on Connected back in July how he turned one of his HomePod minis into a portable speaker using the $69.99 PlusAcc Battery Base. I ordered it, we’ve been using it in our apartment for the past few weeks, and I am now convinced that Apple should be making this product, a portable HomePod mini. I even have the perfect name for it: RoamPod. (You’re welcome, Apple.)\nThe battery base is super easy to set up. Apart from its plastic enclosure, which is specifically molded to fit a HomePod mini and its cable, it’s a really basic object. The only tech inside is a 10,000 mAh battery, a battery level LED indicator, one USB-C port to plug the HomePod mini in, and another to plug the battery base into the wall to charge it. The result is a bottom-heavy HomePod mini that you can just unplug, pick up, and move around your space as needed.\nThe battery base is simply a battery enclosure with a HomePod mini on top.\nOn the back, the battery base has one USB-C port for the HomePod mini’s power cable and another to charge the battery base.\nNow, when I head off to the shower, I can just start playing music on the RoamPod by approaching with my iPhone, unplug the battery base from the wall, pick it up, and take it with me to the bathroom. If you live in a house with a garden, I can only imagine the joy of using the RoamPod to listen to some music outside while basking in the sun.\nDon’t get me wrong; I fully realize that the end result is not a revolutionary product. It’s basically just a portable speaker with the added benefits of Siri and good software integration with Apple devices. But hear me out, because I think there are four ways that Apple could turn the RoamPod into an even more appealing product:\nHand off playback between HomePods. What if, if Apple made its own portable HomePod mini, it leveraged an Ultra Wideband chipset inside for nearby interactions? The RoamPod could have a special feature that would allow you to hand off playback between two RoamPods simply by tapping them together. This would work exactly the same way as you can currently bring an iPhone nearby to hand off audio to a HomePod.\nCreate and undo stereo pairs on the fly. One of the HomePod mini’s greatest features is the option to combine two of them and create a stereo pair. This is how we use our HomePod minis in the living room. Stereo makes them sound amazing for their small size and for their price. So, still building on the idea that Apple could leverage an Ultra Wideband chipset inside, you could imagine a scenario where you would be able to set a RoamPod down next to another, tap them together, and immediately create a stereo pair on the fly. As soon as you moved them away from one another, they would each go back to their single-speaker mode – no fiddling around in the Home app’s settings necessary.\nWhat if you could tap two HomePods together to hand off playback or create a stereo pair? This is the portable HomePod future I want.\nMake it dust- and waterproof. Obviously, I’m writing this because I want to be able to use the RoamPod in the shower. So, if Apple made this product, I would really want them to make it waterproof. But it would also make a lot of sense for the various use cases that a RoamPod could fit into. I know many people like to take their portable speakers to the beach, the park, or even the poolside. A portable HomePod should definitely be waterproof (and dust-proof, too) to truly make it the ideal outdoor product, even if that means ditching the fabric material for its outside shell.\nShip it with a magnetic base. Just like Federico, Apple loves to add magnets to their products, and the RoamPod should be no exception. The reason why I love MagSafe accessories is how easily removable they are. The same can be said for Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad, which makes it super easy to take the iPad off the keyboard when you want to switch between tablet and laptop mode. If Apple made a RoamPod, they should absolutely ship it with a stationary magnetic base, just like Sonos does with their rather expensive Move 2 portable speaker. You would be able to keep the base plugged in at all times, pick the RoamPod up when needed, and easily put it back on the base when it needs charging, or when you just want to use it as a regular, stationary HomePod.\nWhen you think about it, it’s quite surprising that this product isn’t already being sold by Apple. Complete with the AirPods and the HomePods, the RoamPod feels like an essential subcategory of audio products that Apple would have a lot of success venturing into. The fact that you can already get a taste of this experience by plugging the HomePod mini into a small battery suggests that this potential product isn’t that far-fetched at all.\nIt’s certainly worked out for me and my partner. Although we could purchase one of Sonos’ existing portable speakers to fulfill most of these wishes today, we truly couldn’t justify the expense. So, in the meantime, we will keep using our hacky battery base we bought on Amazon for a fraction of the price. And, we’ll do our best to ensure that our RoamPod stays at a safe distance from the sink and our shower splashes.\nAccess Extra Content and PerksFounded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.\nWhat started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.\nClub MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;\nClub MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;\nClub Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.\nLearn more here and from our Club FAQs.\nJoin Now", "date_published": "2024-03-18T11:31:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2024-03-20T08:30:21-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Nil\u00e9ane", "url": "https://www.macstories.net/author/nileane/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b55eb09d47f76fc227900bcaa9322a91?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "tags": [ "homepod", "stories" ] } ] }![Wikimedia Commons](\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnome_3.2_shell.png\"){kind=link}