It happened… I got one. My friends are awesome and got me an Apple Watch for my birthday. So there, after months of resisting the overwhelming temptations to buy one, I am now a proud owner. Having been asked multiple times what my intentions are for my Pebble Time, I’ll write them here. It is superior to Apple Watch in certain ways, and where it leads I’ll continue to make use of it: - Sleep tracking - Morning alarms - Situations where I need more than a single day’s battery life - Podcast/Music playback controls (physical buttons on Pebble make for a far superior experience) - Travel Back to Apple Watch, I’m most excited to dive into the health/fitness tracking, aided by the heart rate monitor, and the quick voice-reply feature … Something that couldn’t be done on Pebble. ✌🏻️
Rebranding
During what is a time of already great change, I am now saying goodbye to “ZachApps”…
Such is the name I’ve gone under when developing apps for the App Store up until now. It was a fun little name to ‘hide’ under for many years, but now I’ve decided I’m more than happy to use my real name. I operated an @ZachApps Twitter account for many years, with updates on new products, features and services. However it isn’t a very active account, its logo is horrible and I don’t want to continue maintaining it. This account will be deactivated shortly, along with the “ZachApps” Facebook page that I once ran.
The second part of this announcement relates to my apps on the App Store. Being a young and eager developer many years ago, I released a handful of games which, while they were fun to make and play at the time, are now evidently of poor quality. I am a huge advocate for only keeping good quality, well maintained and up-to-date apps on the store (looking at you over there, yes you, the one who hasn’t updated for retina displays or 4″ screens.) None of the three games I have on the App Store at present have been updated for the 4.7″ and 5.5″ screens of the larger iPhone(s) we have today, and I have no intention of updating them in the future. For that reason, it is my responsibility to remove them from the App Store. As I’m not much of a gamer myself, it makes sense that my game designing abilities were poor. In an already crowded market, I don’t see the need to have my apps compete with the thousands of great games already out there. Farewell Jumping JellyBeans, JumpTouch and Launch it!. They will be removed from the App Store shortly, probably by the time you read this.
I will be leaving the two apps I’m most proud of on the store, as they are still receiving active development. You can check out Daily Steps and Freedom at their respective places on the App Store.
In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter, or keep an eye on this blog for all future updates and announcements related to my apps. I have some interesting updates planned for existing apps, as well as some unique and exciting new projects I will begin working on shortly. Stay tuned.
iOS Software Updates
There is one indisputable advantage of using an iPhone, and that is the consistent experience related to software updates.
There’s a lot to be said in the never-ending iOS v Android debate. A lot of the criticisms of both platforms are warranted. One area in which iPhone, and hence iOS, are leaps and bounds ahead are in is field of software updates. Around 18 hours ago, Apple released iOS 9.1 with plenty of under-the-hood improvements and other perks, including new emoji which have gotten many people excited. Aside from 9.0 itself, this is the biggest software release Apple will have this year - a major revision to its popular mobile operating system that will be installed on hundreds of millions.
Earlier today, Apple let us know that iOS 9 is now installed on over 60% of devices. That’s not just eligible devices, that’s ALL iOS devices still in use. No small feat in just over a month, when compared to the adoption of Android 5.0, which has been out for nearly a year and is just over 40%.
Now what amazes me is that within these short 18 hours, I have updated all four iPhone devices in my household - quickly and seamlessly. Each device is different, and was released in a different year:
- iPhone 5 - 2012
- 2x iPhone 6 - 2014
- iPhone 6s - 2015
Just to reiterate, they are now all running iOS 9.1, a mere 18 hours after it launched. There was no ‘staged’ release or ‘rollout’ of iOS 9.0 or 9.1, merely a button was pressed in Cupertino and bam! all iPhone models released in 2011 or later got the update.
Android 6.0 has now begun rolling out to ‘select’ phones, and only a handful at that. It will take months, if not years for phones that were released only this year to receive the update. And I can sure as hell say no phone from 2012 will be getting an update to Android 6.0.
So, my point? An undoubtable advantage of using a phone that runs iOS is the consistent and timely updates. Not to mention the huge security benefits that come with software updates, and the risks that arise from running outdated firmware. iPhone owners know when they buy their device it will be supported with new features and security updates through the plentiful and timely software updates provided to them from Apple, for years to come.
Rene Ritchie writing over at iMore puts it better than I can in one of his #SwitchToiPhone articles. If you enjoyed this piece, I strongly recommend you go and check out Rene’s article.
Stop force closing apps on your iPhone, it's not making it run faster or last longer
PSA: I’ve been saying this for years. iOS intelligently handles background tasks, and the task switcher is exactly that: to quickly, conveniently and easily switch between tasks (apps). Force quitting then re-opening apps puts unnecessary strain on the CPU and RAM and is likely to impact negatively on battery life. So please, don’t force quit your apps constantly.
3D Touch and Daily Steps - progress update
Having just quickly played around with 3D Touch API’s (I’m a bit short of time at the moment), here’s a small progress update demonstrating where I’m at with 3D Touch on the icon of my app Daily Steps. I think it’s coming along nicely.
There are still small challenges I’m facing, as it’s difficult to figure out how/when the 3D Touch menu updates. Does it update automatically only, or am I responsible for calling an update? These are all questions I’ll be able to answer when I get more spare time to play around with 3D Touch. I look forward to releasing this update to Daily Steps!
Changing URL’s
Just a quick note that I have changed the URL of this blog.
It can now be accessed by visiting my personal domain: http://zachsim.one/
This cleaner, more personalised URL is nicer to look at and is also shorter to type. Who knows if I’ll find another use for it somewhere down the line, but at the moment it’s being used to host this blog.
iPhone 6s first impressions
I’ve been fortunate enough to play around with an iPhone 6s for the last half hour or so, albeit isn’t mine, and I wanted to write up a few quick and general impressions.
- Firstly, 3D Touch is not the gimmick I coined it when it was first announced. I was Peeking and Popping all over the system, in Safari, in Messages, to quick-launch the Selfie camera, to flick back between apps etc. It saves time and will only get better as more third party developers implement it.
- Live Photos are a disappointment for me. They work every time (even with the front “selfie” camera!) but they appear to be low resolution and have a low frame rate. This makes for a poor playback experience, and I feel as though I’m watching a video off of an iPhone 3GS - not off of a smartphone camera in 2015. I’m not sure if they’ll get better over time, but I sure hope they do. Side note, a lot of “Live Photos” end with the camera being put down towards the floor, which ruins them, but I won’t complain about that because I hear it’s fixed in the forthcoming iOS 9.1 update.
- The A9 chip. This this is a beast. iPhone 6s flies, literally. I presume it’s also got something to do with the 2GB of internal RAM. Animations are faster, apps launch faster and iPhone 6s feels like it can handle anything.
- Yes, it’s heavier than its iPhone 6 predecessor however that’s barley noticeable. It is visually thicker too, but only when held side-by-side an iPhone 6. Nothing to worry about here, move on…
- Touch ID. It’s ludicrously quick. Easily twice as quick when compared to an iPhone 6. Need I say more?
Well, there you have it. My initial impressions of all the flagship features of iPhone 6s. It’s a very impressive device. Dare I say it… best on the market.
hey fam,
one of my good friends developed an ad blocker for iOS devices running iOS 9 (the latest release) and it allows for your mobile browsing experience to be a cleaner and less intrusive one at that! He’s currently in the midst of trying to see if tumblr in-dash ads are at all blockable for those who use safari when mobile blogging. If you are at all interested in an ad-free mobile browsing experience, you can download his app here: https://appsto.re/au/PIMN9.i and compared to a lot of other adblockers that are out there, it’s absolutely free!
Freedom - ad blocker on the App Store
My new app Freedom, which I introduced briefly a few days ago, is now available on the App Store. Go get it!
Introducing Freedom
Yep, I’m launching an app later this week to coincide with the release of iOS 9. Development started many weeks ago and was initially a hobby project, but I turned it into a fully-fledged app ready for release.
Introducing Freedom - an iOS 9 content blocker that blocks most ads and tracking scripts, resulting in a cleaner, faster, smoother and less data-heavy web browsing experience.
Beta tester feedback has been fantastic so far, and I’m super excited about this launch. Can’t wait to get Freedom into the hands of users.