We should never read too much in Apple’s invite graphics. They rarely have anything to do with the content of the event itself except maybe with the iPad with Retina Display invite a few years ago. Remember the finger on the screen? Besides the obvious, an iPhone 12 line up announcement, what’s in store? AirTags? Updated Apple TV with Apple’s own game controller? HomePod mini? Don’t expect Apple Silicon Macs until November. Continue reading →

Undiscoverable, Essential UI birchtree.me

Apple and undiscoverability in their UIs... a never ending issue.

I miss him. The world is different. Apple has become something else. He would probably like what it has become without him, probably not all of it but most of it. I don’t care what he would have done differently. It’s no longer relevant as we need to keep looking forward, something he always did. But I still miss him dearly. Continue reading →

I have a 2018 11” iPad Pro. Today, I asked myself: what upcoming features or improvements could entice me to upgrade my iPad Pro? I’m still scratching my head. Faster? Nope. 😐 Lighter? Not quite. 🤨 More system memory? Mmm not really. Maybe. Maybe not. 🙂 Better screen? Is it even possible? 😬 Longer battery life? Nope. 🙄 Better speakers? Nah. 🥱 Integrated U1 chip? 🤔 A new size? Depends. 😶 Smaller bezels? Continue reading →

By curiosity today, I went in the battery health section on my iPhone 11 Pro to find out the current status is 96%. Already. I’m a bit surprised by this as I’m mostly at home and using my computer or my iPad. How could I loose 4% in a year? Continue reading →

I’m thinking way too much about widgets these days, thanks to iOS 14 most prominent new feature. I’m still reflecting on the possible reasons why the full widgets experience is not available on iPadOS 14. That being said, @mattbirchler this week came out with an interesting and informative video showing how Apple could possibly enable the full widgets experience. This morning, still thinking about this concept, I realized something: Apple doesn’t need to keep the today view support on the iPad in order to enable the full widgets experience. Continue reading →

Here is a free tip to those developers thinking of adding widget support in their apps: widgets are not a great way to display information from high density, high speed info channels like social network feeds (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc). You are welcome. #iosdev #apple

Learned something really cool today. A few weeks ago I published my review of the well known router, the Unify Dream Machine (available here). The context of this review was the fact that this new router was replacing my aging Apple AirPort. One of the reasons why I chose this device was because of its external look and finish as well as its superb management app. One of the founder of Ubiquiti is an ex-Apple employee according to this 9to5Mac article: “an ex-Apple employee went on to found a company that currently sells enterprise networking gear. Continue reading →

It’s coming. Two days. Thanks to the soon to be updated Deliveries app. I can “see” where my order is. Can’t wait for version 9.0 launching tomorrow and see how much improved the app is. Can’t wait for my Apple Watch Series 6, coming this Thursday. Still so far from home, yet it feels so close. Continue reading →

Who can remember the Pinball Construction Set? If you do, or you are well documented or you are probably as old as me. Now, consider iOS 14 and the widgets feature: how long before someone comes up with something like a “Widgets Construction Set” for iOS? What I’m seeing now isn’t close enough to my taste. Continue reading →

We have to realize that we are only at the early stage of widgets support for iOS 14. There is a lot of untapped potential and frustrating design choices. Widgetsmith is having a moment right now but looks like a work-in-progress to me. It is a great idea but it can be tricky to configure and is not fully intuitive. There is so many more data sources the developer could add. Continue reading →

When iPadOS 14 beta came out, we were all quick to notice how crippled the widgets experience was compared to iOS 14. So we got frustrated. I’m still unable to get over it. Apple is holding back the iPad. Again. In the last few days, I tried to understand the possible reasons behind this. To my surprise, it’s not easy and there could be many explanations to why the iPad widgets experience is limited to the Today view. Continue reading →

To get a bird’s eye view of the current Apple’s rumours landscape, check out my daily “Apple’s Upcoming Products” newsletter with all the well known leakers in one place. There is still a lot going on for the rest of 2020 and beyond. Subscribe, it’s free and time saving. You’ll thank me later. It’s the best way to spoil any upcoming Apple events. Trust me. Continue reading →

I wrote about that a long time ago but here it is again: Apple’s iWork suite is probably the best expression of Apple software these days. This week, the venerable suite got updated to take advantage of iOS 14’s latest features (scribble, new import photo library, etc.). Keynote got an outline mode! 😍 Continue reading →

Carefully designed and thought out widgets are still scarce. Many developers show a lack of understanding of a widget’s purposes. Every single day, I’m baffled by the lack of flexibility on iPadOS. It’s a crime or a lack of courage, you tell me 🤦🏻‍♂️. From an end-user perspective, managing widgets can be a frustrating experience. Apple can do better here. For example: in the screenshot below, users should be able to add a widget on an existing stack. Continue reading →

Are you like me and never satisfied with your Apple Watch face arrangement? Why is it so? Why is it so hard to come up with a watch face configuration that totally fit my needs and my taste? iOS 14 helped me solve part of my problem, but it isn’t enough. watchOS doesn’t help either as it allows for even more flexibility. A third-party application named “Buddywatch” is super cool, yet doesn’t fix the problem. Continue reading →

I’m working on something that Apple fanboys won’t like at all: a cornerstone piece of more than 4000 words about my personal view of Apple’s less glorious facets. Many Apple pundits will disagree. I don’t care. I worked hard on this one in the last few weeks and my undistorted field perception is finally about to come out. Wait for it. 👨🏻‍💻 Continue reading →

After installing Safari 14 on macOS Catalina, I went on Apple.com to see what trackers would be reported. Unsurprisingly, Apple doesn’t use any trackers. Now, the big question: do you believe Apple doesn’t track its main website usage? Continue reading →

There is something fundamentally wrong with the way iOS 14 widgets are being implemented by many developers. Here is a simple example. The popular Reddit client, Apollo, introduced widgets support, see the following picture. Now, how can a widget with two posts can be useful if you are following many subreddits with dozens of new posts each day? What is the point in doing that? Continue reading →

A message to all official and less official Apple leakers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for spoiling today’s Apple event. Without you, I don’t know if I could have taken today’s announcements. You made a big difference, you showed to the world how indispensable you are. Apple must be proud of you guys, think about it. Special thanks to @LeaksApplePro, @jon_prosser, @Jioriku, @markgurman. Continue reading →