Ryan Christoffel

Former Contributor

Monthly Log — October 31, 2020

Apple’s Fall Event Strategy

Ryan

One of the fun things about following Apple for several years is that you grow used to the cadence of the company’s regular release schedule. Apple seems content not rocking the boat and changing tradition without good reason, so it’s become commonplace for us all to expect some minor product releases in the spring, perhaps with a small event or maybe just press releases; then the first full week of June is WWDC time, where we get to learn about all the latest software updates and often new hardware too; September is iPhone season, with an event usually shortly after Labor Day and release a week or two later; finally, we’ll often get a second event in October covering iPad, Mac, or other miscellaneous products.

The year infamously known as 2020 has, aside from being abnormal in so many other ways, also thrown Apple entirely out of its normal rhythms.

246 — October 30, 2020

Pro or mini: The Unexpectedly Difficult Decision

Ryan

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

Pro or mini: The Unexpectedly Difficult Decision

Ryan

Last week I picked up an iPhone 12 Pro from my local Apple Store, securing the device I had always assumed would be the best choice for me. This is a purchase I’d been planning on for practically the entire year, so I made it without much debate or second-guessing. Though it’s true that we’ve only known the full details of the iPhone 12 line since Apple’s recent event, due to the reliability of many supply chain reports, basic knowledge of each of the different iPhone 12 models has been available for quite some time. We’ve known the screen dimensions, industrial design, and more for the better part of a year.

Before picking up my 12 Pro model, I was using an 11 Pro, and before that I had a XS Max, and a X before that. My time with the XS Max taught me that while the larger screen is great in lots of ways, my preference for one-handed iPhone use makes smaller models a better fit for me. I can use Max phones with one hand, it’s just not that comfortable, and particularly when I’m using my phone on the go, I get a little nervous walking the streets while using a big phone that isn’t as securely gripped in my hand.

245 — October 23, 2020

Keep →

MACSTORIES RECOMMENDS

Great apps, accessories, gear, and media recommended by the MacStories team.

Ryan

Keep

Ryan

Do you like reading articles that retain the distinct identity of their source site? I always have, and don’t anticipate that changing anytime soon. For this reason, read-later services like Pocket and Instapaper have never been good fits for me. One of the strengths of those services is that they provide content in reading-friendly modes, free of ads or other clutter and with uniform type settings. I can see why lots of people would want to catch up on articles that way, I’ve simply never enjoyed reading content that’s stripped of its source’s distinct branding. As a result, my go-to service for saving articles was Safari Reading List for the longest time.

Earlier this year, though, my backlog of articles started getting out of control, and I needed a way to organize them. After trying countless read-later apps with little success, I finally stumbled upon Keep, an app that checks all the boxes I’d been looking for.

245 — October 23, 2020

iPhone Setup Practices

Ryan

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

iPhone Setup Practices

Ryan

A very happy iPhone day to you all. To mark the occasion, I wanted to share the iPhone setup practices that I’ve been using for several years now.

I used to restore new iPhones from iCloud backups each year, but three or four years ago I began setting them up as new devices instead. The reason was twofold. Partly, I had grown annoyed by the standard restore process whereby it takes a very long time to download everything, and even when the device thinks it’s downloaded everything, often it hasn’t. There’s nothing like thinking that all the apps and data you need are ready to go, then finding yourself outside of Wi-Fi and being surprised by things that are missing. Even more important in my decision to start fresh every year, however, is that it’s a nice way of decluttering, removing unnecessary apps from my device while also taking the opportunity to rethink whether my Home Screens are best optimized for my needs.

244 — October 17, 2020

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Ryan

Albums

If your music listening preferences involve albums more than playlists and singles, Albums is a music app that gets you. This week, the album-centric app introduced three new widgets for iOS and iPadOS 14: Now Playing, Collection, and Quick Actions. I’m especially a fan of Collection, as I’ve always wanted a music app that enables me to group albums by collection rather than relying on the default grouping by artist. Now I can make a collection of Favorite albums, one for Fall, another for Christmas, another for Broadway, and so on, then access those albums from widgets.

244 — October 17, 2020

October Event Highs and Lows

Ryan

MACSTORIES COLLECTIONS

October Event Highs and Lows

Ryan

The week of an Apple event is always a busy time, and the publication of Federico’s iOS and iPadOS 14 review made that even more true this week. There’s always a lot to digest following an event, even with these shorter virtual events Apple has been hosting this fall. So today I want to share some of the processing I’ve been doing related to Apple’s latest product announcements, including my highs and lows for the iPhone 12 and HomePod mini.

iPhone 12

High: MagSafe. The return of MagSafe and its arrival on iPhone for the first time is one of my favorite details of the iPhone 12. I can’t wait to see what ideas third parties come up with for accessories that utilize the phone’s new magnets, and I’m also eager for a closer look at the MagSafe Duo charger. But in the realm of already-materialized products, I’ve ordered a Leather Wallet and am excited to ditch my standalone wallet. I’ve considered getting a wallet case in the past, but prefer not to use a case with my phone, so now I’ll have the best of both worlds, snapping on the wallet accessory only when I need it.

243 — October 9, 2020

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Ryan

Retro Widget

If you long nostalgically for the days when mobile phones were simpler, had less colorful displays, and you didn’t have to deal with spammy In-App Purchase games because Snake was all you needed, you can add a blast from the past to your Home Screen with Retro Widget. The app offers retro-style widgets featuring information like your device’s carrier name and signal strength, battery level, a clock, and more. And if you want to share the retro style with the world, you can also create custom messages meant for social sharing using the app’s signature design.

243 — October 9, 2020

iPadOS 15 Wishes

Ryan

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

iPadOS 15 Wishes

Ryan

Maybe you laughed when you saw the title of this column, since after all, iPadOS 14 was just released in the last few weeks. In my defense I’ve wanted to write up an iPadOS 15 wishlist ever since the WWDC keynote ended back in June, and we knew what was and wasn’t going to be included in iPadOS 14. So I’d say four months of waiting shows fairly good restraint!

This year brought important changes to the iPad, as Federico’s annual review will explore in a matter of days, and overall I’m really pleased with things like new sidebar navigation, multi-column layouts, Pencil improvements, and more. However, as nice as these updates are, none of them addressed the biggest pain points I experience in my iPad use these days. They’re all valuable changes, and greatly appreciated, making my iPad computing better in a meaningful way. But my list of wishes for next year involves things that I think would make a significantly bigger impact, both for me and, in some cases, for a wide base of iPad users.

242 — October 2, 2020

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

John

Mastermine

I’ve been going through a classic game phase lately, which is undoubtedly why Mastermine caught my eye. The game is a variant of the classic Minesweeper game. The twist with this modern take on the game is that it’s played in three dimensions on the surface of a cube. There are multiple difficulty levels and leaderboards, but what really attracted me to Mastermine when I saw it was the beautiful graphics. Mastermine is a great rendition of a classic with an added dimension that makes it worth checking out.

242 — October 2, 2020

Apps with iOS 14 Widgets, Vol. 3

Ryan

MACSTORIES COLLECTIONS

Apps with iOS 14 Widgets, Vol. 3

Ryan

More than two weeks after the release of iOS and iPadOS 14, there are still plenty of great widget implementations in third-party apps worth highlighting. In case you missed them, John and I have each shared collections of other widget apps worth checking out in the last two newsletter issues (here and here). For today, I have another collection of six apps to share.

Spark

Spark is Readdle’s powerful email client, and the app we at MacStories use due to its excellent team features that can’t be found anywhere else. Spark offers an impressive assortment of widget options. There’s a small widget to see your unread inbox count divided across People, News, and Notifications categories; medium and large widgets can display a list of your latest inbox emails with info like their sender, subject line, and more; the Emails and Actions widget includes not only your latest messages but also a set of buttons you can tap to quickly open a specific part of the app; finally, there are a handful of calendar-related widgets too, including ones that combine your latest emails with your next upcoming calendar event. The widgets all look great and offer a lot of power, especially considering that Apple’s own Mail client doesn’t offer even a single widget.