Among the highlights on the Club MacStories+ Discord: Paul shared an incredible video of his dogs’ reaction to the Apple TV ‘home screen’ sound. Screen recording permissions seem to be renewed weekly in macOS Sequoia, to the despair of members. rynot asked about using the Whoop as an alternative to the Apple Watch for sleep...
Entering the Macro Keyboard World with the Creator Micro
Macro keyboards are custom keyboards with several programable keys or dials. They’re very simple, but they can become quite powerful when you customize them via software. Up to now, the world of macro keyboards has eluded me. With the exception of a couple of people – such as Comfort Zone host Matt Birchler – I’ve...
Speed Dialing, MacStories Staffing, and Gamifying Feedback
Among the highlights on the Club MacStories+ Discord: Nicolas shared a tip for calling and storing phone numbers without going into the Phone app. StorresJayrMx shared an alternative way of testing your Internet speed on your Mac directly from Terminal. Apple Intelligence seems to have a suggested hire for MacStories. Federico had an update on...
Fortnite Coming to AltStore PAL as Epic Announces New Plans for Distribution→
Yesterday, AltStore co-creator Riley Testut posted on Mastodon that the ‘cat’s out of the bag.’ That cat was the announcement from Epic Games that their hugely popular game ‘Fortnite’ would be coming to AltStore PAL in the EU.
Epic had previously announced they would be launching the Epic Games Store in the EU on iOS and worldwide on Android ‘soon’ with what they called ‘great terms’ for developers. However, this announcement of their most popular title coming to an alternate App Store was somewhat of a surprise.
In the statement, Epic also said they plan to bring their games — including Fortnite — to other mobile stores, though AltStore PAL was the only one confirmed.
This being Epic Games, the statement didn’t forget to take some shots at the larger App Store owners. In addition to mentioning the recent legal battles Apple and Google have faced in Europe, the statement also reminded everyone of Epic’s win against Google in the US before making one final announcement.
In what Epic Games called a ‘protest of Samsung’s anticompetitive decision to block side-loading by default on Samsung Android devices,’ the company announced it would be withdrawing Fortnite and their other games from the Samsung Galaxy Store.
While it was only one sentence in another spicy statement from Epic Games, the announcement of Fortnite on AltStore PAL is a testament to the hard work Riley Testut and Shane Gill have put into the store. It’s also the realization of a joke Riley made way back in 2020.
Meta Data Training, Lots of Podcast Apps, and Jumping on the Beta Train
Among the highlights on the Club MacStories+ Discord: MadMax (the very same) posted an interesting link to a guide showing how you can opt out of letting Meta use your data from Facebook and Instagram to train its AI. Federico put out a call for feedback from anyone who has recently been toying with both...
I Lived with Another (Not Boring) App Family for a Week
watchOS 11: The MacStories Public Beta Preview
Last year, Apple declared watchOS 10 the biggest update to the Apple Watch’s software since its introduction. I don’t think that was actually the case, but there were undoubtedly some notable changes to how we interact with our watches every day, with the introduction of the Smart Stack being key among them.
While Apple hasn’t forgotten about UI enhancements like the Smart Stack, this year sees the company turning its focus back to health and fitness tracking with some significant new features in those areas. I’ll be saving a deeper dive into the software update – including all the tiny changes and fun additions – until the fall, but with the watchOS 11 public beta going live today via the Apple Beta Software Program, now is the perfect time to go over the key features Apple has in store for Apple Watch users.
Finance Apps, Vision Pro Starter Tips, and Menu Bar Spacing
Among the highlights on the Club MacStories+ Discord: Rod found a handy new UI feature in the iOS 18 Calendar app. haphazard’s search for a good personal finance app led to some suggestions from members. Niléane linked to a fantastic little utility that allows you to quickly adjust the spacing of items in your menu...
Everyone Should Try a Slice of Pie Menu
The search for interesting Mac utilities is an endless quest. Lots of apps are innovative or cleverly made, but only occasionally do I come across one that jumps out at me. I’ve made a list of some of my previous picks, but the latest app to impress me is Pie Menu. Pie Menu has...