Category: Apps

Greg Pierce, the developer behind great apps like Drafts, Tally, and more is out with a new app that I am loving. It’s called Simple Scan, and it’s the fastest and least-annoying way I’ve ever seen to scan documents with the iPhone and iPad.

Here is how Greg describe it:

Do you love the Apple Notes document scanner, but would you like more flexibility in sending the scans to email, messages, files, or other apps? Then Simple Scan is for you. Simple Scan is the quick, easy way to scan paper documents to optimized, searchable PDF documents (or images) and send them almost anywhere.

Continue reading ⇢

Jason Snell:

When I got my first demo of the new Apple Sports app, I admit to being a little surprised: didn’t Apple already do live sports scores? Hadn’t I just seen the Arsenal score and play-by-play on my iPhone on Sunday morning when I was in the kitchen making breakfast?

I had. And it has led to a lot of confusion about what the Apple Sports app does and doesn’t do, which highlights just how scattered Apple’s current effort to bring information to sports fans really is. I imagine that it wasn’t planned to work this way, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple connects all of its disparate sports pieces eventually, but in the meantime things are a little confusing.

Continue reading ⇢

Today’s the opening day of MLS, and Apple has a new iPhone app out for sports lovers. Here’s a bit from the company’s press release:

Apple today introduced Apple Sports, a free app for iPhone that gives sports fans access to real-time scores, stats, and more. Designed for speed and simplicity, the app’s personalized experience puts users’ favorite leagues and teams front and center, featuring an easy-to-use interface designed by Apple. Apple Sports is available to download now in the App Store in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.

Continue reading ⇢

I think John Voorhees has played just about every game out for visionOS, but it’s interesting that the software isn’t the biggest issue:

In the final analysis, the trouble with the Apple Vision Pro is its lack of ports. Unless you’re relying on the games available on the App Store, that means you’ll have to contend with some sort of wireless connection. And, although there are some fun games on the App Store, the selection is far more limited than on iOS, iPadOS, or macOS, so it’s worth casting a wider net.

Continue reading ⇢

Juli Clover:

The Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps that Apple has been testing for Windows machines have officially launched, ending a long preview period and bringing an end to the iTunes app on some computers.

This comes almost 21 years since iTunes for Windows initially launched. Here’s a bit from the 2003 press release:

Apple today launched the second generation of its revolutionary iTunes Music Store for both Mac and Windows users. The new iTunes Music Store offers Windows users the same online music store that Mac users love—with the same music catalog, the same personal use rights and the same 99 cents-per-song pricing. Since its launch six months ago, music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 13 million songs from the iTunes Music Store, making it the number one download music service in the world. With music from all five major music companies and over 200 independent music labels, the iTunes Music Store catalog is growing every day and will offer more than 400,000 songs by the end of October.

Continue reading ⇢

The folks at The Iconfactory have a Kickstarter campaign running for an app built for the open web:

What if you had one app that gave an overview of nearly everything that was happening across all the different services you follow? A single chronological timeline of your most important social media services, RSS feeds, and other sources. All of the updates together in one place, in the order they’re posted, with no algorithm deciding what you should see or when you should see it.

Continue reading ⇢

Michael Steeber:

Despite the profound impact Apple Vision Pro will have on the Apple Retail experience, I’ve scarce mentioned it here on Tabletops, and that’s no accident. A major new platform deserves careful study and an awful lot of context — the kind that’s only possible to grasp when the product is available in stores.

The future makes more sense when you understand the past, which is why I’m sharing this slice of history with you today.

Continue reading ⇢

As part of the sweeping changes coming to the iOS ecosystem in the wake of the Digital Markets Act, iOS will be opened up to run third-party browser engines, and regardless of their underpinnings, third-party browsers will be presented as options to users. John Voorhees has the details:

One element of the changes coming to iOS in the European Union is that beginning with iOS 17.4, EU users will see a choice of browsers when they first launch Safari that can be set as the systemwide default browser. For each country, that list will contain the 12 most popular browsers from its App Store storefront displayed to the user in a random order.

Continue reading ⇢

I can’t think of another first-party Apple app that has had a weirder rollout than this thing.

Especially given the fact that it seems to crash at launch.

The app has been updated again and the CarPlay version has been removed.

Continue reading ⇢

There’s been a lot of news about HEY’s new calendar app being rejected by App Store Review. In a lengthy X thread discussing the issue, David Heinemeier Hansson revealed that HEY has resubmitted the app to Apple, this time with some built-in content that seems awfully familiar:

You’re going to love our “make it do something” implementation (and hopefully @appstore will too!). If you don’t have a HEY account, you can use the calendar to explore Apple’s history. Check this out: pic.twitter.com/j8cXnfOsaf

Continue reading ⇢

The Castro podcast app is currently experiencing another extended outage. It started over the weekend, when entire castro.fm domain seemed to disappear, bringing the app, company website and email all down.

After a couple of days of no communication from Tiny (who bought Castro in 2018), the app’s X account tweeted today:

Hello Castro Users!

We are having issues with our DNS on Digital Ocean. We have been working over the weekend to fix it. We will be back shortly.

Continue reading ⇢

Michael Steeber:

Today I’m launching a major update to Facades, the field guide to Apple Retail Stores. I’ve added detailed timelines filled with store history, new ways to track and share your store visits, custom lists, and much more. This update is the product of feedback from readers like you, and I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve made.

I’ve been using the updated version for a while via TestFlight, and it is delightful. The title design touches are fabulous.

Continue reading ⇢