Federico Viticci turns up an iOS screen recorder, worth a look. If it solves a problem for you, best get it now. The sense is that Apple will pull this from the App Store.
iOS
Apple announces record breaking Holiday Season for the App Store
$20 billion spent in apps last year. That is an incredible number.
Why Messages randomly starts recording audio
Long story short, there’s a setting in Messages called Raise to Listen that will turn on recording when you raise your phone to your ear. Read the post if you are interested in how all this works. I found it fascinating.
Ways to increase your iPhone and iPad security
Rene Ritchie walks through a variety of iOS security settings, shedding light on the recommended balance between security and convenience. Definitely worth reading.
How to remove app purchases from iTunes
Many ways to remove apps from your device, all of them cumbersome.
Wallpaper from Mars
The default iPhone backgrounds for iOS 9 are actual pictures from Mars. Read on for the details.
Six ways to make your iPhone more secure
Matt Elliott, writing for CNET, lays out some solid tips here. See my post for one change I’d recommend to everyone.
Google Maps for iOS updated with business hours and gas prices
I’m a fan of any features that improve the usefulness of maps, both from Google and Apple. Their competitive position will push both teams forward.
Tumblr iOS app adds support for Live Photos
Tumblr adds support for Live Photo. Still no Android support. The question is, should Apple push the Live Photo experience into the Android ecosystem?
Poison Maps and a novel use of 3D Touch [VIDEO]
Poison Maps is an outstanding mapping app, based on the OpenStreetMap database, with over 20 millions points of interest (POI, which is the POI in POIson). More importantly, it uses a quite clever one finger zoom/pan gesture that Apple should take a look at. There’s a video embedded in the post that shows the gesture in action.
What’s new in iOS 9.2
Juli Clover on what’s new in iOS 9.2, and Kirk McElhearn digs through what changed in Safari when El Capitan shipped (old news, but a good read).
List of links to Apple hosted iOS 9.2 updaters
Worth bookmarking. Each link in the list points to an Apple hosted (so you know it is legitimate) iPSW file for a specific iOS device.
iOS 9.2 update turns Live Photos on by default
If you turned off Live Photos by default, perhaps to save space on your iPhone, you’ll want to check that setting once you install iOS 9.2.
Apple Maps, once a laughingstock, now dominates iPhones
Great success story for the Apple Maps team. Kudos.
The 100 best iPhone apps of all time
As with any list, there are quibbles (Plants vs. Zombies seems an obvious oversight to me), but I did enjoy the read.
Tell Siri to remind you about a specific web page, email, etc.
The word “this” is a meaningful keyword to Siri. Use it to associate a link with a reminder.
I am your father
Fire up Siri and say:
I am your father.
Use Siri to check store, restaurant business hours
Using Siri to find hours for local stores, restaurants and other businesses.
How the iPad Pro can get millennials hooked on iOS
Some interesting analysis about the potential for iOS to displace Windows as the OS of choice for millennials.
Where did the content blockers go?
Federico Viticci pointed out a lack of content blockers on the app store top paid list. Here’s my take.
iOS how-to: Get rid of junk files and recover storage space
Christian Zibreg, writing for iDownloadBlog, talks you through the process of clearing caches and other methods of eliminating cruft from your iOS device. Scan through it, take what’s useful, pass it along.
How to check the battery status of your Apple Pencil, and edit widgets on other devices
Jason Cipriani, writing for CNET, talks you through the process of enabling iOS 9’s battery widget. Do this even if you don’t have an iPad Pro, as you’ll learn how to edit widgets. Good stuff.
A trip back in iOS time
Stephen Hackett, writing for 512 Pixels, takes us on a trip through iOS 5.1.1. WARNING: Skeumorphism alert.
Fantastical gains Peek and Pop commands
Fantastical is a great calendaring solution. Loved it when they added their Apple Watch complication, love the peek and pop additions.
Tim Cook: Apple won’t create ‘converged’ MacBook and iPad
Tim Cook addresses the idea of merging OS X and iOS.
Sideloading
Sideloading is a way to deliver apps to people without going through Apple’s official distribution mechanism. Interesting piece from Federico Viticci.
Analogy of the day
Lovely bit of writing by Stephen Hackett. Nailed it.
Gruber’s iPad Pro review and the quest to replace the laptop
Read my post to get my take on the iPad Pro as a replacement for your laptop, then go read John Gruber’s iPad Pro review. There’s much more to it than these bits I’ve quoted in my post and well worth your time.
Google: You’ll soon be able to download iOS Google Map data for offline use
This is a huge benefit, especially for folks with limited data plans.
Google Maps for iOS updated with spoken traffic alerts
Like Waze. Every mapping app should have this feature.