iOS

Widgets in iOS are a helpful way to get a quick look at information that’s important to you like calendar, maps, weather, news, and much more. However, if you haven’t customized or organized your Widgets they might not feel so handy or worse overwhelming. Let’s take a look at how to make the most of this iOS feature by customizing it to your preferences.

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This week I bought and played through my first audiobook in iBooks (Shoe Dog) after realizing I have a habit of buying a lot of books then rarely making time to actually read them. I finished the 13 hour 22 minute book over the weekend and really enjoyed the experience (and the book). I listen to a lot of podcasts, so playing audio in the background while running errands is something I know I enjoy.

iBooks on the iPhone is a solid audiobook player. It works with Apple CarPlay, 3D Touch from the Home screen, and to my surprise has arguably the best Now Playing screen of any Apple app. Apple currently has three different versions of its audio Now Playing screen between its Music, Podcasts, and iBooks apps, the audiobooks version has features that every Now Playing screen should adopt.

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Twitter today is rolling out an update to its iOS app that makes it easier to manage the storage space used by the app, allowing you to regain some of your device’s internal storage.  The update brings Twitter for iOS to version 6.7.31 and is available now on the App Store.

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Apple is rolling out the fifth iOS 10.3 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The upcoming software update includes Find My AirPods support, CarPlay improvements, Apple’s new filesystem, and more. We’ll update and highlight any additional changes discovered below.

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KRFT for iOS takes a unique approach to music production and performance allowing producers to not only create the musical notes, melodies and chords in a particular song or set, but also the Surface with which it will be performed on.

Using a simple system of touch-controlled geometric shapes, users can arrange a series of hand-crafted loops, drum beats, modifier Dials, Morph buttons and more into a custom-made performance control surface. Due to the almost modular nature with which the app treats the various elements of your song, KRFT’s performance Surface becomes a new and interesting way for coming up with entire song arrangements as you morph riffs and beats with the app’s built-in effects. Here’s how it works: 
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Finances 2 is a new personal and business bookkeeping app for iOS and macOS from developer Matthias Hochgatterer. Prior to Finances 2, Hochgatterer created the excellent third-party HomeKit app Home before Apple’s version in iOS 10. Like his Home app, Finances 2 takes advantage of modern iOS technologies including 3D Touch, Spotlight integration, and Split View on the iPad.

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Apple’s iOS and macOS platforms both lost share to Chrome OS in the US K-12 education market last year, according to new data from Futuresource Consulting (via The New York Times).

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Over time browsing history, website data, and cookies build up on our iPhones and iPads, and it can be a good idea to clear it out to keep devices running smoothly. As iCloud allows the option to synchronize Safari data between multiple Apple devices, it can build up even more quickly. Let’s take a look at how to view and delete website history and data on iPhone and iPad.

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Apple is rolling out the fourth iOS 10.3 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The upcoming software update includes Find My AirPods support, CarPlay improvements, Apple’s new filesystem, and more. We’ll update and highlight any changes discovered below.

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Apple has started prompting iOS 10.3 beta users to enable two-factor authentication with a new push notification. The prompt has only started appearing over the last 24 hours or so and seems to have hit most users in the middle of the night last night.

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First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning, however you can also use the series overview if you’d like to go buffet style.

Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this series is designed as a resource you can share with those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.

Background, Expectations, & Best Practices

Now that we’ve got the priorities of backing up your information and password management addressed it’s time to focus on becoming more confident in the everyday use of your devices. In today’s post we’re going to focus on the iOS user interface.

If you’re not already familiar, iOS is the operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Apple is often known for having the most friendly and easy to use mobile operating system on the market. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a learning curve or that everything is obvious.

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The Girl Scouts of San Diego are currently crowdfunding a new app coding project for an iOS game called Marshmallow Run. The project has just three days to go and over $10,000 left before reaching its goal on Kickstarter.

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Instagram is introducing a new sharing format that lets you publish multiple photos and videos in a single post on the social network. Posts were previously limited to single photos or videos with the exception of Stories which are ephemeral.

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Apple has released the third iOS 10.3 public beta for testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 10.3 public beta 3 follows the third developer version of the upcoming software update.

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Marco Arment’s Overcast podcast player updated to version 3.0 this week and includes a new design with a novel monetization strategy: in-house advertising. Overcast has relied in in-app purchases and subscriptions in the past as well as Google-based advertising, but Arment is now rolling his own ads starting with the latest version.

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Sony XAV-AX100 is the company’s first aftermarket receiver that works with Apple CarPlay. Priced competitively at $499, XAV-AX100 features a 6.4-inch resistive touch display that rivals larger capacitive touch screens in quality. Sony has also integrated CarPlay in better ways than other aftermarket receivers available so far. Read on for our full review…

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Apple is rolling out the third iOS 10.3 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The upcoming software update includes Find My AirPods support, CarPlay improvements, Apple’s new filesystem, and more. We’ll update and highlight any changes discovered below.

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D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD is the first home security camera with HomeKit support to hit the market since Apple added video support with iOS 10. Read on for our quick hands-on to see how Omna 180 HD works with HomeKit and Apple’s Home app for iPhone and iPad.

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