It’s that time of year when those early adopters amongst us trash our data and devices with beta software for a few months. Every year I tell myself I’m not doing it and always end up enrolling in the developer program again. I’m preparing for this year I’ve gone all in and installed iOS, iPadOS and macOS betas across all of my devices.

I’m embracing it this year and planning to write up more of my thoughts on the new software versions and its impact on my workflows.

Almost all of my apps use data in the cloud so I never even back my devices up. This makes restoring non stressful knowing all my data is either in iCloud or a third party. If you’re new to the beta train then make sure you have an iCloud backup before doing anything! And if you can also do it make sure you’re photos are exported out somewhere separately.

I’d always wanted dark mode in iOS but since using my Mac more I found it quite oppressive to have on all of the time so I switched it to automatic based on time of day.

On going back to my iPhone I suddenly felt the same and it’s been so long since I used it in light mode I did the same switch.

I’m actually enjoying the two different contrasts. Being in light mode most of the day and dark mode at night now seems to have become my go to setup. It’s strange that for years I wanted it all to go dark but now I’ve made this switch I appreciate being able to make that choice whenever I want.

What do you use?

Don’t worry I’m not going to do many more “I don’t currently have an iPad” posts but I wanted to share an experiment I’ve been doing. I do have an iPad Mini 2 but I’ve lost my patience with 1 minute app load times and it’s going to be traded in with Apple (£50 isn’t bad for a 7 year old device).

I cleared down the iPad for trade and decided to work completely off my iPhone. In terms of performance and apps it’s perfect, I’m on an 11 Pro and everything runs just great.

I’m using apps for writing, banking, photography, music and even the odd bit of recording.

The only downside of this workflow is screen size. I haven’t gone as far as plugging in a keyboard but could use a Bluetooth if I wanted to.

I love iOS and for me the only stopper is that bigger screen but I’ll be ok for now. I can still update the blog and do my creative projects from the iPhone.

Switching back to the MAC also had me thinking about the core apps I’m using to manage my day, I’ve now settled into a little routine using Apple Reminders. The iCloud sync seems solid now and using across iOS and macOS I’m starting to find the benefits of using Apple’s own apps. I keep it fairly simple in terms of creating lists and haven’t overwhelmed myself by dumping everything into it.

I have

• INBOX, everything goes in here to start with if it’s an idea when I’m out or if it doesn’t belong to a list it also goes here
• HOME, anything related to home (like putting out the bins) goes in here
• WELLBEING, anything health related goes in here
• FINANCES, money stuff goes in here
• CREATIVE (as a group)
• Podcast, anything related to podcasting
• Writing, anything related to blog post ideas or admin on the site
• Ambient Album, a little project to get me back into writing music
• Travel, anything holiday related

I then have the widget on iOS Today view to show me what’s due, I don’t bother with this on my MAC.

Keeping it simple has really helped me just focus on a few things and not be overwhelmed by a complicated TO DO app.

I trashed my beloved iPad Pro 10.5” and my iPad mini 2 is proving frustrating trying to do production work so I’ve switched back to the 12” MacBook that’s been sat unloved mostly for the last few years. It’s a base model and comes with that original (badly thought of) keyboard. Here’s my experience of switching from iOS full time back to the macOS.

Specs:

• Early 2016 MacBook 12”
• 1.1 GHz Dual Core M3
• 8GB Ram
• 250GB SSD

I picked up this MacBook refurbished from Apple back in early 2017 and although it’s only just over 3 years this processor is showing it’s age worse than my 3 year old iPad Pro was, it’s mostly ok for what I do though to be honest. The storage space is a step up from the base model and as I don’t store pictures or music on it I’m finding space to not be a problem at all. I’m out of Apple Care+ now but in the time I’ve had it I haven’t had any problems, not even with the keyboard. I guess now is the time to test that theory as I’ll be using as my daily machine for now.

My workflows:

• Recording my podcast and editing in GarageBand
• Editing images using Photos
• Writing on the blog
• Browsing the internet
• Listening to music with the Music app
• Apple Notes, Calendar and Reminders

Performance is varied, very much depends on the activity that I’m doing. For recording my podcast (even when I tested with Logic Pro) and editing the performance holds up for me. Editing images in Photos isn’t amazing, if you go full screen with thumbnails scrolling isn’t too smooth and there is lag on opening up the image to edit. Anything browser based is fine as you’d expect and also Notes etc. all run fine too. Overall for my use it’s ‘fine’ as I’d expect from a few year old machine, macOS holds up well and it’s only really the Photos app that I can’t believe is so slow compared to what I can do on an iPad.

Getting back using macOS has both it’s positives and negatives as I’m learning each day I get back used to using it.

Pros:

• File management beats Files on iOS hands down, here’s an example. I recorded a voice memo on the iPhone and moved it onto the files app on iOS. I found that managing this file was a lot slower. I couldn’t rename the file and move it into the Music App. I ended up going to iCloud on my Mac, pulling them onto the desktop, renaming and then importing into Music all on my Mac. I could then see it show up on my Music app on the iPhone
• A trackpad built in, yes I know it’s a silly one given iPad cursor support but having a trackpad under my keyboard is great
• Screen adjustment, I forgot how nice it is to be able to adjust the angle rather than the Smart Keyboard being fixed
• Pro apps, I know it keeps coming up but where are the pro apps on iOS? Even an app like GarageBand is better on macOS, it’s not like for like between the platforms. There’s no doubting the hardware and iOS as a professional platform but I’d like to see Logic Pro moving over to iOS with as close functionality to the Mac as possible
• USB-C, it’s nice to be able to share a power cable between my laptop, Nintendo Switch and work phone

Cons:

• Less flexible than an iPad in terms of helping with posture and RSI. I like the flexibility of my iPad in that I can use it as a tablet or laptop style with a keyboard. I do miss the touchscreen a lot when trying to sit and relax so tending to use my iPhone when I’m not in my office
• I miss the Apple Pencil…
• I’m not a huge fan of the keyboard on the MacBook (it’s very flat) and I prefer the Smart Keyboard cover
• I miss the speed of iOS, I mean (for me) I get work done quicker on an iPad and used to flying around apps and functionality of the apps
• I don’t get my iOS apps I’m used to so falling back on Apple apps, which most are fine but I still find them a little limiting in places e.g. Reminders tagging but both Calendar and Notes work great on both platforms
• Battery life isn’t as good as my iPad was although I’m still testing this one. As I mentioned above though as I mostly have my Switch plugged in (thanks, Animal Crossing) I can easily reach over and plug my MacBook in
• Missing TouchID

This isn’t meant to be an iOS vs macOS post but just my experience on coming back to the Mac after being on iOS for so long. I think I’ll be ok for now and want to give it a go.

I’ve been restoring all of my devices and noticed that iCloud Keychain was out of sync between my devices, through some testing I came across what looks to have kicked it back in sync.

1. Check your iOS devices and turn off iCloud Keychain on all of them apart from the one where the Keychain is correct (see Settings --> Passwords & Accounts --> Website & App Passwords), I'd go with the device with the higher number
2. Wait for around 20 minutes (vague I know but this seems to depend on how quick Apple's servers are working)
3. Turn iCloud Keychain back on one device at a time

You want to be looking at the count within Settings -> Passwords & Accounts –> Website & App Passwords. The number should be in sync across all of your devices.

Since setting up my iPad Pro and Mini again I think I might have a fix for my iCloud sync issues. Notes seems to have sorted itself out now across all of my devices but Reminders is still acting weird on my iPhone and I’m also getting some strange Calendar Ui glitches. This seems fine on my iPad so I think the answer is to reset my iPhone.

I’ve not done this since getting it out of the box back in September so it might be time to do a full iTunes reset (DFU mode) on the iPhone and see if it fixes my issues.

I’m going to take this opportunity to reset a little mentally and try not to install social media or podcasting apps. Time to get a little headspace back on my devices and take a step back for a bit.

I bet you’re sick of hearing me write about productivity apps, especially Reminders but fear not I’m done.

I’ve been trying a few different apps but still not settled but that’s a post for another day, back to Reminders.

I reinstalled the app on my iPhone and it was immediately broken.

Here’s my app badge telling me I have 6 reminders overdue.

Here’s the app.

As you can see it’s completely empty, this knocks your confidence in trusting the app, especially when it only gets updated maybe once a year if we’re lucky.

I finally decided to eat that frog and stop putting off the worst thing I could imagine setting up iOS - Family Sharing. With us all using Apple Music in the household (with different accounts mainly) and the fact I’m paying for 2TB of iCloud it was time.

It took a couple of hours and now it’s mostly setup up but wow the experience isn’t the best or least buggy I’ve seen on iOS.

If like me you are adding a child under 13 you’ll need to create an AppleID for them which included creating their email and the mostly useless in these days security questions. This part of the process was ok and logging into the account on my daughters device with her new AppleID was also ok.

Where the experience falls down is granting access to your family members.

You grant access on an individual application level.

iCloud storage was pretty straightforward but Music and Purchases are a bit of a nightmare.

For Apple Music I upgraded to the family account but whenever I tried to use the interface above to add family members it just took me to the Music app with a dialogue saying I had already purchased Apple Music. I restarted both of our devices several times but nothing worked. In the end all it took was time, after a couple of hours this workflow changed and I could see I was sharing music. Seemed like a time delay where something in the backend needed to tell the Apple servers I had upgraded. Once this happened I could go into Music on my daughters device and it knew she was part of the family plan. I still have a bug though where the ‘For You’ tab just says error retry later and a start your free 3 month trial message but everything else works.

The most annoying though is sharing content you’ve purchased via iTunes. I want the TV app to know what I’ve purchased so can be watched but it seemed to link my wrong AppleID, defaulting to iCloud. I have to wait 90 days to be able to change this to my actual iTunes account email address. Not a huge deal but still something that could be checked on entry rather than defaulting to iCloud.

You’ll need to redo content and restrictions for your child if you were using this previously. This has to be done on the family owners device. One thing that doesn’t work though is allowed apps. You need to do this on the device of your child. If you want to hide Safari you’ll need to do this via screen time on the device of your child. Doing this on your device doesn’t sync the app removal on your child’s device, I’m raising a ticket for this one.

Overall the experience is unintuitive but eventually mostly works so far.

If I experience any showstoppers I’ll let you know.

Yesterday I looked at whether you should be closing apps after using them and the overwhelming majority of you don’t, seems to be a habit I’m into. Once I’m done with an app I close it, moving forward I’m going to try to change this and leave them open as a test.

Well that got me thinking about Background App Refresh. This setting controls which apps can work in the background updating their data. I usually turn this off for almost every app in a bid to save battery life. But with the latest iPhone I don’t even think about the battery so should I be leaving it on for most apps?

I’ve enabled it for a few more apps (I usually only have it on for 2 or 3) to see how it changes my battery life and general refresh of iCloud sync data.

What do you do?

I know I don’t have to close an app as soon as I’m done but I find I’m still in the habit of doing this. I’m going to try to leave them open and use app switching to navigate between them. How do you use your apps? Do you close them straight after using them like me?

There’s been a lot of talk about Apple not offering encrypted backups over the last week, personally I’m keeping out of this one for now but if like me you don’t need to backup your device to iCloud here is how to do it. Please make sure you are happy turning off your device backup, all of my photos, notes and music etc are in the cloud already so I don’t need this secondary backup method.

Head into settings:

Then follow these highlighted steps in the screenshots below:

Tap on iCloud:

Tap on iCloud backup:

Toggle the switch to OFF:

It’s strange, they’ve been around forever but I’ve only really started using them properly over the last year.

Here are the 6 that I have pinned and use daily.

• Weather: I use the weather app that comes with iOS. I do occasionally try third party ones but find the way they don't update all the time annoys me. Working at home I only really look at the weather a few times a week and the standard app gives me what I want.
• Fantastical: I've made the switch really due to frustrations switching views with the Apple app. I like to have a list view and Fantastical is the quickest way to view this, the up next widget view and quick monthly calendar view makes it a winner for me
• OmniFocus: It shows me all of my items due today, it's amazing the amount of to do apps that don't do this and just show the first few.
• Shortcuts: I have a few shortcuts I run multiple times a day, this is for quick access.
• Favourites: I like to have quick access to make phone calls to certain contacts. This works great but it doesn't remember favourites in iCloud so new iPhone and you have to set it up again.
• Batteries: Handy for keeping an eye on AirPods and Apple Watch battery.

What are some of your favourite widgets.

Following on from my Zombie Reminders post I deleted all of my lists and yet the reminders keep coming back, this is from today.

Anyone else?

Saying no to something isn’t always easy but with the Decline sticker pack it makes things a little easier to select the right response.

I use sticker packs a lot and having another one to pick from is something I’m always going to take a look at.

There’s a good selection of responses and the artwork is clean and stylish. Personally I’m looking forward to more sticker packs, no pressure!

Great work from Alyssa and Tim, well done. Check out more at their site here.

I didn’t realise this was possible but on reviewing the latest app updates I discovered you can swipe to delete directly from the update section of the App Store on your iPhone.

Being able to do this is a nice little time saver when I realise an app I haven’t used in ages is being updated and I don’t even need it anymore.

My apple Notes sync issue seems to have bedded down now and I’m using it again slowly.

One thing going back is how dull it looked so I added emoji to the folder names.

I think it looks a lot more inviting, what do you think?

As I’m using the latest public builds of iOS 13 I’m still amazed at the number of UI issues across the system. This actually applies to watchOS too and iPadOS. I’m not trying to pile on as there have been plenty of posts about iOS 13’s lack of stability but simply to share my experiences. Performance wise I’m happy with iOS 13 but the little glitches around the system really have me scratching my head into what the QA actually does and how they test.

The main offender is my iPad Mini, which I honestly think has never been tested internally at Apple given the devices popularity. Rotation issues are a daily occurrence for me across both of my iPads but the Mini seems to get stuck in one orientation or the other mode often than not.

I’m not sure if this down to the performance of the older 10.5” iPad Pro and slower processor of the Mini but I do wonder if this is an issue on the latest iPad Pro and if Apple are testing on older devices.

watchOS has it’s share of UI issues with little glitches like the one above.

Here’s a nice share sheet bug that doesn’t show the Reminders icon but if you tap the blank space it opens the app.

Apple Music on my iPad Pro is the worst offending app though. This layout issue above occurs in multiple places and I still get issues when using the app in landscape mode. An example of this is when it shifts to album view it resets the left hand pane and takes me to the top of my music again.

This isn’t really a rant post but I can’t air these bugs with Apple as I get zero response or a fix as these have been going on since beta 1. I gave up reporting bugs or asking Apple for help a while ago, I still haven’t been called back for my Notes sync issue despite multiple promises I would be.

I’m writing this to get it off my chest and the little hope someone from Apple might come across it and reach out.

Keeping my fingers crossed that iOS 14 has very little new features and a focus on stability.

Ah, my favourite iOS issue is back with a vengeance. With the latest public iOS release my iPhone has been pretty great but on the iPad (especially the Mini) iPadOS is still giving me daily issues that has me actually using my MacBook a bit more. It took me a restart to get rid of the above issue this time, something I was doing on my iPhone at least once a day. iPadOS seems to be getting a little less love internally right now as I can’t believe it’s just me experiencing this. On a side note I’m also getting other issues that appear just on the Mini, which has me scratching my head and wondering if they actually test on physical devices at all.

This iOS bug just my problem? I know spotlight has it’s moments but I’ve been finding it buggy since iOS 13.2.3 - just me?

So we’re a couple of months in with iOS 13 and it struck me that after updating to iOS 13.2.3 it seems to have finally settled down. I’m getting far fewer bugs than I did before the update and it’s where it should have shipped back in September. Before this update I was having to turn my iPhone on and off at least once per day due to audio bugs. Now the only time I’m doing that is when I use CarPlay.

I’ve got one bug that I’m not seeing anywhere with CarPlay. Once I’m done using it in the car the audio app stays on the lock screen even though the app is closed. The only fix is to restart the iPhone.

I also still experience the odd camera bug when I’m taking photos from the lock screen.

I don’t use the Apple Watch now so can’t comment on the fixes I needed on the Series 2 when I was using it.

iPadOS seems ok although I still get rotation issues but they have been there for years now.

We are only a matter of weeks away from WWDC so I wanted to (as it traditional) jot down some thoughts on what I’d like to see from Apple.

IOS

As you know I use iOS as my operating system of choice and use it many times a day be it consuming or creating content. The hardware that I use the most is the iPad Pro 10.5” along with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard cover. Using it day in day out I’ve got an appreciation of what it does and more importantly what I’d like to see improved.

Productivity

There are enough rumours to make me believe that we are indeed getting a new Reminders app and a small (most probably) update to Mail. I use the Apple Mail app for managing my iCloud and Gmail accounts and to be honest it does everything I want it to. I’m not a power user of mail, I hardly use it to be honest these days but seeing Apple put some effort into their own app would be a positive. I’m more intrigued by the reimagined Reminders app and it certainly stands out as an app that needs an update, something I don’t think it’s seen for 5 years since iOS 7. It’s full (in my use) of UI bugs and if you try to use it on the Mac it’s even worse. I’ll be so happy to see it finally getting some love. It’ll be interesting to see how much it’s changed and if it can finally be my go to productivity app of choice.

The TODAY view could do with a bit of a clean up and I still get UI glitches but I’m not sure if that’s Apple or the third party developer.

Dark all the things

Dark mode on iOS will be interesting, most of the apps I use are in dark mode so being able to see the system in this mode will be great. I constantly blow my eyeballs out when I’m in apps at night and open up Messages to reply to something.

Audio enhancements

When I did a podcast I was ok on my own but when I guested I always used my MAC, I’d like some audio enhancements to allow me to record my local audio plus talk to someone on SKYPE for example.

Apple to embrace external keyboards on iPad

It’s bad how little the keyboard is being used in some of the Apple apps, the main offender for me is Photos. Every time I use it I get annoyed that I can’t use the left and right arrow to scroll through images. I’ve raised a radar with Apple but to be honest I can’t see how anyone using the iPad for any length of time and an external keyboard wouldn’t get frustrated with this one.

Ability to shoot in RAW using the in built camera app

Yes third party apps are great but I’d like to at least see a little toggle in the camera app that allows me to toggle RAW. This can be hidden somewhere in the settings not to confuse but it would be a good addition to the app (for me anyways).

Apple Music knows what I’ve downloaded

Every time I set up a new device I have to manually (remember) and download each album that I’ve downloaded in the past. I’d love it to ask me on first start up ‘Do you want to re-download all of your music you did in the last backup’. The iPad interface also needs a bit of work to clear up some of the UI glitches that I still encounter.

WatchOS

Generally I’m happy with watchOS and it’s been improved at a good rate of pace but I’d like to see:

Native sleep tracking

I can’t believe we are on the 6th iteration of the OS and we don’t have native sleep tracking yet. It’s the one question I get from anyone looking to move from a Fitbit.

More options or Third Party Watch Faces

When series 4 launched we got two new ones but it broke some of the older ones, such as changing the bottom complication on Utility to be more rounded. I’m not sure where I stand on third party ones but I’d at least like Apple to put a bit more effort into their own ones.

Dynamic Complications

I try not to use too many complications but it would be nice to have dynamic ones, what I mean is if there isn’t a timer set for example it changes to a secondary one like the current weather.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a big one this year.

I’m trying to stay off Social media a bit more limiting myself to about 20 minutes a day. The side effect of this is that I’m blogging more short form thoughts, which is good. This has meant that I’ve been using the Wordpress app as a replacement for writing down quick thoughts.

With the most recent announcement from Bear and Wordpress that they were more closely integrated I had to give it a go and it’s been working pretty great. After a little hiatus I’m back using Bear, with its tagging and theme options it’s working well with how my brain works. The only downside that I’ve found is that the post when put into the Wordpress share sheet interface doesn’t remove tags so you’ll need to remember to do this yourself. It even works with images, like the screen shots I’m adding below. I’ve found even just in the day using this method it’s going to be a lot smoother than using the Wordpress app itself.

I’m back on the iPhone XS after 4 days on Android and I’ve got a lot of thoughts. I’ll be posting up these in a series of posts in the coming weeks but in summary

• I’m glad to be with my Apple Watch again (it’s Apple lock in at its best)
• iMessage needs an independent app
• I’m using more Third Party apps (I’m writing and posting this via Bear)
• I miss the Pixel always on display
• I miss Android Notifications
• The iPhone XS naked is a slippery beast!

I’ve been playing with a lot of third party productivity apps and you know what I’ve discovered - it’s best to stick with the defaults, at least in terms of data storage. I’ve been missing things because I haven’t been seeing them, I forgot which app I’d put it in (I appreciate this is my problem).

On sitting back and thinking about what I have to manage going on and how I want my data to be stored, here are the apps I’m using with iCloud:

• For my Calendar I remain stuck in the default app camp, whilst it isn’t the prettiest I like being able to see the date on my home screen with it’s app icon and it does the basics fine. I don’t micro manage everything on my personal Calendar so fits the bill quite nicely
• For my Reminders I’ve switched over to GoodTask, it’s a much better interface to iCloud and I like both the Today widget and Apple Watch complications
• For my Notes I use Apple Notes for everything. I write posts like this one in there, store images or receipts etc.. and food recipes. I like the simplicity of it and the fact I can do both handwritten and typed notes
• For my Photos I use iCloud Photo Library
• For my journal I back up DayOne to iCloud rather than sync with their service

These are the areas that are most important to me.

The only data in the cloud outside of iCloud that I rely on is Gmail and Blog posts.

For the first time in a while I’m content with this setup and for me even though the apps are pretty basic I find all the extra functionality in apps like OmniFocus adds unnecessary complication (for me) and I spend more time messing with my systems (and tags I don’t need) rather than actually doing stuff.

An interesting post over at Bloomberg about iOS 13 dropped today and I’m more interested in it from a productivity angle.

An updated Reminders app that better competes with the several to-do list programs available on the App Store. The new app has a main screen with four default sections laid out in a grid: tasks to be done today, all tasks, scheduled tasks, and flagged tasks. Each section has its own different-colored page that users can add items to.

An update to Reminders is about 5 years overdue and can’t come soon enough. When I read this I thought, great but when I read ‘scheduled tasks’ I started to get a little concerned about what we’ll see. I’m thinking it’s going to simply be a skin on top of what we already have. The current scheduled view is basic and full of bugs and at the moment I have zero confidence they’ll address these issues but simply put a new front end to the content.

This also means that there will be no way to have a list of tasks due today. What I mean is every task will need a due time as it is today. This is one of my main complaints with Reminders today.

I’m hoping I’m being my usual pessimistic self and Apple will truly put in some effort into their own apps.

I started and stopped using Bear about a month ago but after struggling to organise with Apple Notes I’ve gone back in.

The main reason I’ve gone back is tags. Folders in Apple Notes is ok but I’m finding that the ability to add a quick tag at the bottom of the page I’m writing on is clicking with my brain more. All the dividers such as ‘gifts’ and ‘shopping’ above are tags that Bear automatically uses to create this structure.

I’m in the process of getting ready to reset my original iPad but thought it would be fun to look back at the older design a little bit. When using it I was struck with how much I prefer the pre iOS 7 folder look.

This is how it looked, I think the darker background and clear division of content looks a lot cleaner than what we have now.

I’m not a huge fan of the smaller semi transparent look of iOS 7. Yes I can swipe though multiple pages of apps within the folder but for me it’s a lot more user friendly in iOS 5.

This isn’t an old man yelling at the clouds but a look back at different elements of iOS in a nostalgic fashion.

Overall I love iOS these days but I’m looking forward to comparing old app versions and seeing how far (or not) we’ve come.

Believe it or not this post was written in Apple Notes and posted to me blog via the share sheet. It’s pretty simple to do and I’ll be writing up a how to, this is my ‘hello world’ moment for Apple Notes and Wordpress publishing.

I just noticed that I passed the three year anniversary of a bug I raised when trying to use Reminders on macOS. There been no update since and it’s marked as duplicate, like a lot of them do 😀

Mine actually stops me being able to use Reminders on macOS.

It’s a great one too. When I create a new list it doesn’t apply the name to the right hand window as you can see above.

I really hope Apple is throwing Reminders away and starting again on iOS 13. As someone that tried (I’ve moved on now) to use Reminders to get things done it’s pretty embarrassing how bad the app is.

I’ll be posting iOS 13 wish list stuff soon but expect Reminders to feature.

After going back to my MacBook for a bit it’s become painfully obvious to me that iOS is severely lacking in the keyboard control department.

I’d gotten used to using my keyboard again for navigation and coming back to iOS I’m struck with how little is supported. It’s also important for those of us encountering RSI issues with iOS and want to keep our hands on the keyboard rather than constantly reaching up.

I’m not talking third party apps, which on the whole make an effort but Apple apps.

My main wish list app is Photos, there is no keyboard support that I can see. I’d expect navigation through the photo library but nope nothing.

Reminders and Calendar the same.

Mail is serviceable but basic, same for Notes.

I’ve raised radars with Apple on all of these but not expecting any responses but it’s all I can do to flag it up with them. I’m sure they are perfectly aware of this but it’ll be down their list on the product roadmap favouring adding more services over software quality.

Now I’m starting to think more about iOS 13 this has moved right up my list above a home screen redesign. If Apple want switchers from macOS to take it seriously it needs to embrace the keyboard.

I’ve had so many little UI niggles lately I though I’d finally use my developer account and jump into the beta on my iPad and iPhone.

So far I’ve only really noticed a couple of things.

News got an Apple logo instead of the company name, it also got a new app icon.

I’m not sure what to think about this one, it doesn’t really say News to me. I don’t think I like it.

Secondly even though it’ll be logging more information at an OS level it seems snappier than the public release. Where I notice it most is in app switching.

Here’s a post on all the changes, my one is about things I’ve personally found when using it.

Believe it or not this isn’t as straightforward as you might think if you aren’t looking beyond the end of your nose.

To turn off shuffle make sure you have the current track playing full screen as per the image on the left (see above).

Swipe down a bit and there is the shuffle button. Tap to disable shuffle.

Wow, this amazing shortcut developed over at MacStories is phenomenal. If you want to see your most listened to artists, songs and genres in a calendar year get it now.

I’ve been bumping up the font on iOS slowly over the last year or so but after switching my Apple Watch to bold text (and preferring the look of it) thought I’d do the same on iOS. I’ve done this on my iPad and iPhone and prefer the look, I’ve also been able to reduce the font size back to normal.

The keyboard is the biggest change that I’ve gotten to terms with but it’s much easier for me to see now with my older eyes.

Apps (well most of them) support this mode, some apps (looking at you Amazon) don’t seem to support bold everywhere.

Anyone else using this?

I don’t normally do roundups on here but this year I thought I’d start a new tradition. As you know I switch apps quite a lot through the course of a year and I’ve tried a lot of different ways to get things done on my iOS devices.

So here we go my first apps of the year round up. Note these aren’t apps that came out in 2018 but my most used ones.

Productivity

OmniFocus

I’ve been a user of OmniFocus on and off for many years but with the latest version that supported tags it’s actually stuck. It may seem complicated from the outside but with OmniFocus you can really make it your own. I’ve gotten into a workflow with it now and don’t see me switching again anytime soon. The functionality that got me was the ability to show a specific tag in the ‘today’ (called Forecast) view. This shows all of the calendar events and any tasks with a due date of today. With the addition of tags I can now show anything I want. So I have a ‘today’ tag that I show in my forecast view. This gives me a less formal way to organise things I want to get done today without adding a due date. The Apple Watch app is also solid and the sync works well between all of my devices.

Apple Notes

This is easily my favourite Apple app, it had a big update a few iOS versions ago and has stuck with me. I use it for recipes, mind maps using Apple Pencil, storing important documents and project planning. It’s sync works great and it’s always with me no matter what device I’m on. I might be in the minority but I actually want an Apple Watch version as I store codes in there and would like quick access, but that’s probably just me.

iA Writer

If you’ve been following me for a while this app choice shouldn’t be a surprise. I’ve used iA since it was launched and it continues to keep being updated and just works for me. I use iCloud to sync my documents and the app is great across all of my devices.

Shortcuts

I have to admit I didn’t get shortcuts right away but now it’s a massive time saver for me. Aside from quickly adding health information being able to create images for the blog is worth the time investment in learning it alone. I’m nowhere near the level of some shortcut devotees but steadily finding ways that it suits me and can improve how I use my devices.

Email and Calendar

Just wanted to mention it as we’re talking productivity, I use the Apple apps for both email and calendar. They both work fine for my needs and although I’ve tried several third party options none of them have stuck.

Creativity

Ferrite

One of my finds of the year, I love this app. It took me a little bit to get my head around it but now I know the workflow I use it for recording iOS Only. It allows me to use only my iOS devices to record and produce a podcast.

LumaFusion

Another standout and allowed me to produce YouTube videos on my iOS devices. I actually prefer this experience to anything I’ve done on macOS, it’s great. I used to do everything on iMovie but LumaFusion has replaced the need to even have it installed.

Wordpress

Since moving my blog from squarespace to Wordpress I haven’t looked back. The iOS app gets constant updates and I feel more in control of my site. I can write posts like this one, check my stats, reply to comments and even change my theme via the iOS app. As an iOS Only user this is especially important as the experience in Safari on iPad isn’t the greatest. My only wish is for a dark mode.

Photography

Halide

This year with the camera improvements in the X and then the XS I’ve tried to replace my DSLR for those smaller family day trips and shots for the blog and social. One of the ways to get the most of out this is to shoot in RAW so I gave Halide a go. Out of the box it was intuitive to use and I’ve found that especially in low light I’ve gotten shots that I wouldn’t have been able to rescue if I’d used the stock camera app. I don’t use it for every shot when I’m out but if I’m doing a landscape or something I’ll want to share I’ll use Halide.

Darkroom

Darkroom has slowly become my go to photo editing app of choice. I find it intuitive to use, has a tonne of options and is tightly integrated with Halide.

Wellbeing

DayOne

I’ve been using DayOne since 2011, it’s become a long standing habit to journal my thoughts and keep a log of photos. I use it without a premium account and still use sync with iCloud via export and import of backups. It’s not I don’t trust DayOne with my data but why pay when my workflow already does the job. I just have to remind myself to do a weekly backup.

Calm

Calm has slowly become my meditation app of choice. I find it intuitive to use and I like the voice of the teacher. I don’t always use it everyday but do my best when I’m feeling particularly anxious. The music addition is nice and I find myself using it whilst I’m working, it seems to help my focus.

Sleep++

I’ve swapped between a few sleep tracking apps but find that Sleep++ is the most reliable.

Consumption

Marvel Unlimited

I got back into reading comic books this year and being more into Marvel I naturally went for the Marvel Unlimited app. I’m paying my monthly subscription and have access to everything I’m after. It’s intuitive to use and the only downside is that you can only store 12 comics for offline viewing.

Apple Music

I’ve been a subscriber to Apple Music from the beginning and I’ve become particularly keen on the for you tab to see what I’ve recently played and what my friends are listening to.

Other apps

Apple Maps

Now I’m using CarPlay I’ve become used to using Apple Maps and to be fair it’s not sent me to the wrong location once. As privacy becomes more important it’s my only option so thankfully it’s been great so far.

DuckDuckGo

I’ve completely switched to the DuckDuckGo app as my browser of choice. It blocks all of the ads and lets me browse as privately as I can.

Apollo

A big change is getting into Reddit, it’s replaced my use of Apple News. I avoid what’s popular and just view my favourites.

Night Sky

Myself and my daughter have really gotten into astronomy this year and I find Night Sky to be a great reference for both information and where in the Sky stuff is, like our daily viewings of the ISS.

Tweetbot

I have to use the official app to check notifications but that’s maybe a few times a day but every other time it’s Tweetbot. I love the themes, lack of ads and a clean (in time order) timeline.

Which apps have you been using this year?

Notes

• This article was completely done on iOS
• Thanks to MacStories for their shortcut to add frames to images

I’ve been using Apple Reminders or at least its backend for years on and off and always thought it needed work. Whilst the backend sync has been good the app hasn’t been updated since what feels like years. It looks out of place and especially on iPhone isn’t easy to use.

I’ve been raising issues for a while and still have open bugs that have been there for years with no updates.

Well it looks like I have my answer

This is for a macOS bug in which the list name doesn’t update in the entire UI on new creation. I’ve not received bug updates on iOS like this yet but I expect them to be coming.

This makes me think either Reminders is being dropped or on a more positive thought being redone.

Anyone else had one of these?

Not sure why it’s taken me so long to spot this one but I’ve found a way to move quickly through email.

If you tap on a mail to view then want to move to the next without going back to the inbox use these arrows in the top right to move between mails.

I was feeling overwhelmed and my TO DO apps weren’t serving me well so I did a brain dump to get everything out of my head and into a system to bring some calm and planning into my life, something I really need right now.

1. I took my iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil and created a grided note within Apple notes to give me something to line up my text
2. I then wrote down areas of focus (health, family, social, recreation, money, house)
3. Next I created an ‘inbox’ line and proceeded to write everything down that I had in my head
4. Then I went through the list and put an * next to all of the important ones
5. Once I had read them all I then had all of my thoughts on ‘paper’

I’ve been playing around with a few apps but settled on TickTick as an app to try out this month, who knows it might stick.

I created tags for my areas of focus and then proceeded to copy my list I made above and  get it all in order. I only have 2 projects (blog and podcasting), everything else is categorised using the tags.

I then went back through and set reminders and repeats E.g. put bins out every Thursday at 3pm.

I also created a smart list to show me anything that I ‘Must do!’ that I mark as High Priority in the app.

That’s everything out of my head, now to get on and do it!

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Google and their services over the last year and finally decided to stop using their products on iOS. This means that I’ll be using iCloud for my mail and Apple Maps, which actually works pretty well for me. When I refreshed my iPhone and iPad I decided to not sign into Google for my mail in settings or the Google sign in for their apps. I don’t entirely trust what iOS is giving them access to.

This also means that YouTube is a service that will stick with my main TV. This isn’t actually a bad thing as it means I have less distractions to stop me from being productive on my mobile devices.

The only issue I’ve run into so far is my micro.blog app won’t work as I need to authenticate using gmail. So I won’t be using it and will use the Wordpress app to post my thoughts instead.

Let’s see if I can make it.

I’ve been playing for years, it’s not had an update in forever but Plants vs Zombies is still my favourite game on iOS.

As I mentioned yesterday I’ve refreshed my iOS devices. It’s all gone fine but the bit that catches me every time is downloading my music. I’d love it if iOS could remember which songs I’d previously downloaded and ask me if I want to download the same ones again.

The latest update brings app icon selection, I’m going retro.

Whilst trying to do a how to and find an image app to combine screenshots it hit me - this is why we have shortcuts.

Using Rosemary Orchard’s amazing Day One shortcut here as a foundation I managed to create my first shortcut.

This takes images from today, allows you to select and creates a side by side image of them that can be used in how to’s.

Here’s the link

Here’s a sample:

I feel like I’m in the minority but I loved my white iPhone 5c. To this day it’s still my favourite iPhone (looks wise) that Apple have released. With its plastic back there was no need to worry about breaking it and I carried it case less for the entire time I owned one.

I started to think about this when I realised we are close to the new XR being able to preorder. I’m on my XS and part of me wants to return it to get a refund to try one out. I picked up the white and silver XS so I at least have some colour now but I’m looking over at the Yellow XR with a little envy.

When the 5c came out putting the last year innards was a mistake, although performance wise I didn’t have any issues but in making a more affordable iPhone Apple compromised it out of the box. For some it gave the impression that it was just last years phone in a new shell, which it totally was but set it off in the wrong light. For me the 5c brought an element of fun to the iPhone line up, which it needed. Everyone’s phones look the same suddenly seeing a blue or yellow 5c really stood out and even now when I see them I reminisce to when I had mine. Let’s not also forget how durable and comfortable it was. More friendly than the sharp corners of the 5 it brought back that soft feel of the 3G I loved so much. I also dropped it multiple times and didn’t break it, yes scratches but that looks cool.

I’m really hoping the XR is a success and Apple embrace colour back in its line up, imagine a colourful iPad!

Since moving to the iPhone XS I’ve been seeing the low power warning pretty much every day. It was way worse than my X. I’m glad to report I’m getting through a day again, all by turning off screen time.

(How to: go to Settings, screen time, turn off screen time).

This has made a difference to my day to day experience and I feel the XS is back on par with my previous X.

If you’re having battery issues on iOS 12 try doing this setting change and turning off screen time.

Let me know how you get on.

When iPhone 6S launched we got Live Photo’s but there was a school of thought that it had an affect on the quality of the resulting image. Since this is always turned it off to make sure I had the best quality possible. This was more evident in low light where the iPhone increases the shutter speed to get a Live Photo. I just left it off all of the time.

But in 2018 is this still the case?

I’m done with third party to do apps (famous last words), I’m feeling overwhelmed. I was in the car and used CarPlay to add a few things I needed to do via Siri. I also gave the Siri watch face a go and surprisingly liked it. Both of these combined gave me some clarity in what I wanted in a to do system. Be easy to enter and easy to remember.

Here’s my initial Reminders setup.

I’ll share more as I get through my setup. All I’ve done so far is to create these areas of focus.

Nightshift is a feature in iOS that allows you to have a warmer display. It cuts out the blue and should help with eye fatigue and sleep patterns. I’m going to test having it on all of the time, I actually quite like a warmer display anyways. I’ll report back on how I get on.

• Head into settings
• Then 'display & brightness'
• Then 'night shift'

Copy these settings

I’m trying to use Apple Reminders for about the millionth time to see if it can fit the way my brain works.

I’ve switched to do apps so many times I’m declaring app bankruptcy and trying the default. The main draw is no fiddling with other accounts and knowing where my data is. I trust iCloud and Apple, that means a lot to me.

After looking at what I wanted in a to do app the main two were as follows.

Being able to create a free ‘today’ view. No time assignment just a list of things I’d like to get done today. I’ve achieved this by having a ‘today’ list that I can maintain.

Next up are reminders. As the app name suggests it’s good at reminding me to do stuff when I need to do it.

Another bonus of using Reminders is being able to call on Siri. I’m in the car for work quite a bit and being able to use CarPlay to set reminders and add ideas to my lists has been invaluable.

Lastly the Siri watch face integrates with Reminders so I’m not missing what I need to do when I need to do it.

Let’s see if it sticks this time.

I’ve started the first steps into podcasting on iOS, whilst I spent a bit of time planning I realised I needed to use iOS to create some artwork. I ended up using procreate, the Apple Pencil and an image I took of my iPhone X.

Imported the original image into Procreate then created a new layer and started to sketch an outline. I’m no artist but pleased with how it came out. It’s almost finished…

Even if you set a passcode on your iPhone you maybe less secure than you might think. Buried under FaceID security settings you can tweak what is available on your lock screen when locked. I’ve included the above screen shot that shows how mine is locked down so that even if I lose my phone I’ve done all I can to secure it.

Head over to Settings then FaceID & Passcode. Scroll down and you will see the settings above. If you copy mine then it’ll be locked down.

Inspired by the Center for Humane Technology I've decided to take some control back and adopt some of their suggestions for using my iPhone less. The first stage to this was to implement the greyscale filter, not only does it give you more battery life but makes your iPhone screen seem less playful and in turn less likely to play around with too much.

Here's how to enable this

• Tap Settings
• Tap General
• Tap Accessibility
• Tap Display Accommodations
• Tap Colour Filters
• Tap the toggle and make sure Greyscale is selected

You can easily disable when you want to take a photo or view images by adding a shortcut in control centre like this

• Tap Settings
• Tap Control Centre
• Tap Customise Controls
• Tap the + next to Accessibility Shortcuts

Now when you want to get some colour back simply swipe down from the top and tap on the Accessibility Shortcut button.

Lory Gill over at iMore has written up a few thought on running iOS 12 beta on the iPhone SE. As resident tech support for friends and family this is encouraging and hopefully stays when released in September.

I’ve done a little how to over on my YouTube channel.

I look at my home screen and generally I’m happy but I look at those app labels and wish there was an option to remove them.

[gallery ids=“337,338” type=“rectangular”]

This shouldn’t be the default behaviour but I’d like a user option to remove all app and folder labels. It looks much cleaner and I never have to use them. I’ve seen friends and family rely on these labels but for me they add visual clutter.

Making this change will also help remove this sort of eyesore from your device.

I look at the dock on my iPhone X and it looks so much better without labels underneath the apps.

Please Apple, give us some options here. Not that long to go now until WWDC so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I’ve been using a lot of default Apple apps in a bid to simplify both my workflows and data. In this day and age it’s good to have your data in just a few places and I’m starting to delete third party apps that hold my data (more on this in a later post).

Here’s how I add lined paper to the Notes app on iOS.

[gallery ids=“311,312,313” type=“rectangular”]

1. Open up Notes
2. Create a new note
3. Tap on the Share icon (see first image above)
4. Tap 'Lines & Grids'
5. Choose the grid pattern that you want

My favourite Twitter app Tweetbot has got a shiny new version for the MAC. This is just a short post to let everyone know it’s available but I’ll be digging into it over the next week and will write up my thoughts.

We aren’t too far away from WWDC 2018 and iOS 12 so I’m doing my usual write up.

This years theme I’m hoping is “speed and stability”. I want iOS to run better on older hardware and deal with some of the long time outstanding bugs such as rotation on iPad (dock being left in wrong orientation etc.). I also see a lot of UI issues in Apple Music, especially on iPad.

I’d also like to see some investment in Reminders but Apple appear to have all but given up on improving their productivity apps so I won’t even talk about what I want to see. Same deal with Mail and Calendar.

Yes, it’ll seem like a boring release but I’d be quite happy with a low amount of visual changes but a high amount of polish and bug fixing.

This will be shorted post I’ve written for an iOS update but I really don’t want to see many bells and whistles, just a ‘boring’ stability update please.

At last…