Apple

Apple are a company where good design is at the centre of everything they produce, both hardware and software. They don’t always pull it off, but I love that they sweat the tiniest details. A full list of categories is also available.

  1. WWDC 2023 roundup

    Article posted 11th June 2023 in Apple

    Around this time every year I make a pizza, close the living room door, open a cold beer, and sit down to watch WWDC (Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference). Here are my thoughts.

  2. Getting VoiceOver to shut up

    Article posted 30th April 2023 in Accessibility and Apple

    The whole point of VoiceOver is that it talks out loud, but sometimes you need it to be quiet for a moment.

  3. VoiceOver’s Trackpad Commander on Mac

    Article posted 21st April 2023 in Accessibility and Apple

    Did you know there’s a way to make VoiceOver on a Mac behave like VoiceOver on an iPhone or iPad? No? Let me introduce you to Trackpad Commander!

  4. WWDC 2022 roundup

    Article posted 10th June 2022 in Apple

    The opening keynote at Apple’s WWDC is one of my favourite events of the year, and I’ve written a list of the things that got me most excited.

  5. I deleted 1Password

    Article posted 29th April 2022 in Apple

    I’ve been dragging my heels a bit as it’s such a big job, but this week I deleted 1Password.

  6. Upgrading from iPhone XS to 13 Mini

    Article posted 8th April 2022 in Apple

    After three and a half years using an iPhone XS, I’ve upgraded to the 13 Mini. Here’s my take on jumping to the new model.

  7. Safari 15.4

    Article posted 15th March 2022 in Accessibility, Apple, CSS and HTML

    macOS 12.3 and iOS 15.4 landed yesterday, and with them came Safari 15.4 and some exciting new features. Here are the five that stood out to me.

  8. Going all-in on iCloud Passwords

    Article posted 8th February 2022 in Apple

    1Password’s subscription push, one-size-fits-all Electron app, and Apple’s efforts with their password manager mean it’s time for a change.

  9. Apple Watch’s default app view is bad

    Article posted 5th January 2022 in Apple and Design

    My mum and brother counted Apple Watches amongst their Chistmas presents, and the one problem they both had was the default app view.

  10. Safari 15’s Tab Groups

    Article posted 30th December 2021 in Apple

    The road to Safari 15 was a bumpy old ride. Some things were announced at WWDC and then undone; others, like Safari’s Tab Groups, turned out great.

  11. Mac event 2021

    Article posted 19th October 2021 in Apple

    Apple had their final event of the year last night and it was especially exciting as I’m in the market for a new Mac. Here are my thoughts.

  12. Face ID on the Mac won’t happen

    Article posted 11th October 2021 in Apple

    With an October Mac event looming, I got to thinking about Face ID on the Mac; I don’t think it’ll be added now, and might not ever be.

  13. A week with iOS 15

    Article posted 29th September 2021 in Apple

    I’ve been using iOS 15 for just over a week and there are some and there are some changes that have made a big difference. Here’s a short list.

  14. iOS 15, Face ID, sunglasses, and Apple Watch

    Article posted 27th September 2021 in Apple

    The latest iOS release uses Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone when you’re wearing sunglasses. This is not only very convenient, but great for security.

  15. Apple dials back the Safari 15 for macOS redesign

    Article posted 15th July 2021 in Apple

    The ultra-condensed tab bar in the up-coming Safari for macOS has been reverted in the betas; it’s now just an option in Safari’s Preferences.

  16. Craig Federighi on, essentially, mobile first

    Article posted 17th June 2021 in Apple

    In a post-WWDC interview, Apple’s Craig Federighi explained why Shortcuts for macOS looks to be such a success; essentially as it was mobile first!

  17. Styling code snippets in Keynote

    Article posted 15th June 2021 in Apple

    No sooner than I had published my story on why I like Keynote, I spotted a post in my RSS feeds on how to highlight code syntax in Keynote.

  18. I’d forgotten how much I like Keynote

    Article posted 14th June 2021 in Apple and Tools

    When COVID-19 struck, Keynote became unusable for remote presentations. I used other, lesser tools for over a year before Apple released a fix.

  19. WWDC 2021 roundup

    Article posted 9th June 2021 in Apple

    Just like last year, I’ve written a list of the announcements that stood out at this year’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).

  20. Custom numeric passcodes on iPhone

    Article posted 18th February 2021 in Apple

    I’ve been keen to ditch my 6 digit iPhone unlock passcode for a while now, as even a very short alphanumeric code is so much more secure.

  21. Face ID and masks

    Article posted 17th February 2021 in Apple

    Face ID is great, but now that we’re all wearing masks in public our passcodes are seeing a lot more use. Luckily, Apple have a solution in the pipeline.

  22. Using VoiceOver’s rotor on macOS

    Article posted 21st January 2021 in Accessibility and Apple

    If you’re new to VoiceOver, once you’ve got the hang of the basics, the next thing to learn is the ‘rotor’; a supercharged navigation tool.

  23. Getting started with VoiceOver on macOS

    Article posted 20th January 2021 in Accessibility and Apple

    Understanding how screen readers work is important for anyone who works on digital products. Here’s how to get started with VoiceOver on macOS.

  24. Upgrading from a Home button to a Face ID iPhone

    Article posted 14th January 2021 in Apple

    One from the Unpublished Drafts archive: my thoughts on moving from a Home button iPhone to a Home button-less Face ID iPhone.

  25. Voice Control for macOS commands cheatsheet

    Article posted 29th December 2020 in Accessibility and Apple

    I have a list of all the commands for Voice Control for macOS, and it comes in handy pretty much every time I do any speech recognition testing.

  26. Moving to Apple One with existing Apple subscriptions

    Article posted 19th November 2020 in Apple

    I had some questions before upgrading to Apple One, as I had existing Apple subscriptions. If you’re in the same position I was, this should help.

  27. First impressions of iOS 14

    Article posted 18th September 2020 in Apple

    After 24 hours using iOS 14, I’ve found some of the new features unexpectedly useful. Here are my first impressions.

  28. 3D touch is gone on Apple Watch

    Article posted 17th September 2020 in Apple

    I noticed it when I went to try out the new Faces that arrived with watchOS 7: the new Apple Watch operating system has removed 3D Touch entirely!

  29. iOS 14’s Back Tap; a better way to access Control Centre

    Article posted 21st August 2020 in Accessibility and Apple

    My most anticipated iOS 14 feature wasn’t mentioned at WWDC 2020, but will sort my biggest issue with iPhones X and above: Control Centre access.

  30. Text snippets on Apple devices

    Article posted 13th August 2020 in Apple and Workflows

    I’ve been using Apple’s built-in Text Replacement instead of TextExpander for a while now. It’s pretty basic, but it’s free and it does the job.

  31. WWDC 2020 roundup

    Article posted 23rd June 2020 in Apple

    I did it last year, so here it is again. Far from a complete list of the features Apple announced at WWDC 2020, but the ones that stood out to me.

  32. Sleep on watchOS 7

    Article posted 23rd June 2020 in Apple and Design

    One of only a handful of real stand outs from the WWDC 2020 Keynote was native sleep tracking on watchOS. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!

  33. What watchOS 7 might have in store

    Article posted 27th February 2020 in Apple and Design

    I was pretty pleased with watchOS 6 when it landed last autumn, but a recent article got me thinking about what watchOS 7 might have in store.

  34. Apple’s Keyboards revisited

    Article posted 21st November 2019 in Apple and Design

    Apple released a new MacBook Pro last week and the keyboard has been revised, fixing almost all the issues the current/outgoing models have.

  35. If only Apple’s Voice Memos did transcription

    Article posted 30th October 2019 in Apple

    Imagine dictating a memo and coming back to it later as text for editing into a blog post. You can do that with the new Google Pixel…

  36. Some brief thoughts on watchOS 6

    Article posted 9th October 2019 in Apple

    After using it for a couple of weeks, here’s a quick summary of my thoughts on the newest operating system for Apple Watch.

  37. SwiftUI is more than just a developer convenience

    Article posted 19th September 2019 in Apple

    Apple announced SwiftUI at this year’s WWDC; I reckon it’s more than just a developer convenience – it’s a tactical move on Apple’s part.

  38. iPhone event 2019

    Article posted 18th September 2019 in Apple

    Apple’s iPhone event has just passed and it was interesting, but didn’t get me too excited. Here’s a brief list of my take-aways.

  39. Folder sharing and the new Apple OSs

    Article posted 13th July 2019 in Apple and Workflows

    The up-coming Apple operating systems will allow folder sharing in both Files/Finder and the Notes app. This is a big step forward!

  40. Looks like 3D Touch is going away

    Article posted 8th June 2019 in Apple

    In spite of my recent enthusiasm for 3D Touch, there have been murmurs that it is on its way out. I think they might be right.

  41. WWDC 2019 roundup

    Article posted 6th June 2019 in Apple

    I love watching the opening Keynote for WWDC. Here’s a brief overview of the things they announced this year that I’m excited about or interested in.

  42. Face ID and sunglasses

    Article posted 21st May 2019 in Apple and Design

    Face ID worked perfectly every time until the sun started coming out. Seems its achilles heel is sunglasses, but I think I might be ok with that.

  43. Thoughts on 3D Touch

    Article posted 8th May 2019 in Apple and Design

    Moving from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone XS has been great, and I know it has been around for a while but one of my favourite things is 3D Touch.

  44. I can’t wait for Dark Mode on iOS

    Article posted 24th April 2019 in Apple and Design

    Dark Mode on iOS looks to be right around the corner. I’m already all-in on Dark Mode on my Mac but it’s even more compelling on the iPhone.

  45. Choosing Dark Mode on macOS

    Article posted 17th April 2019 in Apple and Design

    It’s nice to dust the cobwebs off with a UI overhaul every so often, so when macOS Mojave was released last year I couldn’t wait to try Dark Mode.

  46. Reading at night with a neat iPhone hack

    Article posted 20th March 2019 in Apple

    I love reading in bed each night but even my iPhone’s lowest brightness is too fierce in the dark, so here’s a neat trick to make it even dim further.

  47. The new MacBook keyboard

    Article posted 9th January 2019 in Apple and Design

    The new MacBook keyboard has certainly been a talking point. From the new layout to the Touch Bar and keys sticking; I both love and loathe it.