iOS

On Google’s iOS apps

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Federico Viticci lambastes Google’s latest iOS app release. I agree.

How to search within the iOS Settings app

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Kirk McElhearn walks you through the process of searching through the sea of settings to find one in particular. Search within Settings has been available since the original release of iOS 9, but it’s easy to overlook/forget about. Take a quick read through Kirk’s post, pass this one along.

Apple’s app review process needs big improvements

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Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories:

Earlier this year we set out to get a better understanding of what developers think about App Review. We wanted to hear about their positive and negative experiences with App Review, and find out how App Review could be improved. It is hard to ignore from the results we got, from a survey of 172 developers, that beneath the surface there is a simmering frustration relating to numerous aspects of App Review.

Great, long read.

Life and death in the App Store

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A well written exploration of the stratification that’s come to the App Store. It’s tougher than ever to make a living building apps.

Many Siris

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Terrific article, well worth reading. Some thoughtful insights on Siri’s potential.

Inside the Secure Enclave

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The Secure Enclave is a mechanism inside your iPhone and Apple Watch, walled off from the rest of iOS, that holds the key to verifying your identity. Read the post for a short explanation of this mechanism by Apple and a link to an excellent, more detailed explanation from Mike Ash.

Siri and Microsoft’s new Windows vs Mac campaign

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Microsoft has launched a series of ads focusing on login via face recognition, Cortana (Windows equivalent of Siri), and touchscreens, three features on modern Windows machines that are not found on the Mac. Interesting timing with the recent Siri rumor. Connection there?

A third party iOS app store that evaded Apple’s official App Store review process

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Dave Verwer:

Claud Xiao wrote about an app released late last year which presented one of two sets of functionality based on your location. When launched outside China it showed a fully featured app to help you learn English, but inside China it showed an App Store style app that (ab)used enterprise certificates to install pirated apps.

Wow!

On adding a trackpad to the iPad

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Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note:

The iPad Pro’s last frontier is adding a trackpad to the Smart Keyboard.

The article itself is an interesting read, but this core idea struck me as one of the defining differences between an iPad and a MacBook.

Apple Maps and fantastic 3D Touch shortcuts

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Christian Zibreg, writing for iDownloadBlog, pulled together this tutorial that walks you through the various ways you can use 3D Touch with Apple Maps.

Why iOS is compelling

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Fascinating exploration of the idea of moving to iOS full time. Lots to think about here.

The case against Control Center

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Stephen Hackett on why he finds Control Center just too busy. I agree and have my own suggestion for a fix.

iOS Safari shortcuts

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Rene Ritchie pulled together a list of shortcuts for iOS Safari. As always, even if you know most of these, it’s that one new trick that makes the list worth looking through.

Oh, Samsung

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Samsung working on their version of Live Photos.