[[ryan]] How do you remember the last time you washed your sheets? Or changed your contact lenses? Or got a haircut? Called your mom? Went to the doctor? Replaced the fire alarm batteries? Worked out at the gym? The answers to these questions, and many more, often don’t stick in our minds on their own....
Serial Reader
[[ryan]] Have you ever wished there was more book reading in your life? Most of us read huge amounts of content every day – like reading about apps in a weekly newsletter – but that content tends to be messages, tweets, headlines, emails, articles, and so on. In a world with massive amounts of text...
The Best Big-Screen iPad Apps
{[[ryan]] Not all iPad apps are created equal, especially when it comes to utilizing the additional screen real estate the tablet offers over other iOS devices. Many iPad apps are simply larger versions of their iPhone renditions, with vast amounts of wasted space or UI elements that appear improperly stretched and ill-designed. Fortunately, not all...
Two iOS 13 Features Making the Most Impact
[[ryan]] This year when WWDC commenced and Apple released the first beta versions of iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and more, I exercised enormous personal restraint: unlike in years past, when the betas were on my devices day one, this time I made it all the way to day two. Who am I kidding? The only...
AutoSleep
[[ryan]] In most cases, an app I choose as a MacStories Favorite is the kind of tool I turn to often, and may even put on my device’s primary Home screen. That’s not always true, however. Some types of apps prove their usefulness not by how often you open them, but by how seamlessly they...
Apple Watch Apps with Siri Face Support
{.app-collection} [[ryan]] It’s no secret that I love the Siri face in watchOS and consider it the only legitimate option for me. Unlike faces whose utility is limited by how many complications they can display, the Siri face can integrate with a virtually unlimited number of apps, divvying up precious screen real estate based on...
My Favorite WWDC 2019 Announcements
{.app-collection} [[ryan]] WWDC is always a crazy week, filled with lots of exciting announcements that signify what the next year of Apple computing will bring. The keynote on Monday revealed significant changes for all five Apple operating systems, so it was naturally difficult to pick just a few favorite announcements, but here’s my best attempt....
Beta Season Always Draws Me to Apple’s Apps
[[ryan]] When you follow Apple closely, you quickly catch on to the different patterns and schedules the company follows throughout the year. The first half of the year is typically on the quieter side, with perhaps a smaller event and minimal hardware announced, then WWDC ushers in a wave of new software releases ahead of...
HomeRun
[[ryan]] I’ve been playing around with HomeKit a lot lately, largely due to the challenge Federico gave me for our second episode of Adapt. Since that experiment focused on using HomeKit on the iPad, I wasn’t able to mention one of my favorite third-party HomeKit apps: the Apple Watch-centric HomeRun. HomeRun enables configuring a grid...