AppleVis Podcast

In this edition of Apple Crunch, Thomas Domville and John Gassman discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest.Chapters:IntroductionApple Introduces iPhone 16e with 6.1-inch Display, Face ID, A18 Chip, and MoreApple finally lets you move your digital purchases to another accountAppleCare+ for iPhone Gets More ExpensiveLatest News and Updates on iOS 18.4 BetaApple TV is finally available on Android devices – just in time to stream MLS and Severance season 2Foldable iPhone Entering Mass Production This YearClosingResources:Apple Introduces iPhone 16e with 6.1-inch Display, Face ID, A18 Chip, and More9 Surprises from Today’s iPhone 16e Debut7 reasons you might want to skip the iPhone 16eApple finally lets you move your digital purchases to another accountAppleCare+ for iPhone Gets More ExpensiveApple Is Reportedly Having Trouble Smartening Up SiriYou Can Now Integrate ChatGPT Even More Deeply Into Your iPhoneiOS 18.3 Temporarily Removes Notification Summaries for NewsApple Intelligence is several years behind Samsung’s Google Gemini-powered Galaxy S25 phones – GurmanSave Up to 21GB of Storage Now by Disabling Apple Intelligence on Your iPhone, iPad, and MacApple TV is finally available on Android devices – just in time to stream MLS and Severance season 2Foldable iPhone Entering Mass Production This YearTranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello and welcome to Apple Crunch for February 2025.My name is Thomas Domville.I also go by the name of AnonyMouse, and along with me today to talk about all source of Apple news and rumors, is John Gasman.How are you doing, John?I'm doing fine.Are you ready for your CSUN?Yeah.…

In this podcast, Thomas Domville explores RYFT: A Timely Manor for iOS, an immersive audio-based mystery-adventure game designed for hands-free, voice-activated play. Inspired by classics like Myst, Monkey Island, and Zork, RYFT offers a unique experience where players navigate and interact entirely through voice commands.Game Overview:Setting: Players find themselves in Nexus Manor, a mysterious mansion beyond time, with no recollection of how they got there. Armed with a cryptic stone tablet covered in strange symbols, they must explore the estate to unravel its secrets.Gameplay: This fully audio-driven game allows players to:Move using voice commands such as “north,” “east,” “south,” and “west.”Verbally interact with objects and characters.Solve intricate puzzles by collecting and combining items.Engage with a fully voiced cast, each tied to The Master of the manor.Narrative: As they progress, players uncover recordings from a distressed girl, revealing a sinister scheme orchestrated by The Master. To aid her, they must navigate the sprawling mansion and uncover its hidden truths across time.Tune in to the podcast for a full demonstration of RYFT: A Timely Manor!RYFT: A Timely Manor on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ryft-a-timely-manor/id1661569093TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello and welcome.My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse.In this podcast, I'm going to be covering an iOS game called Rift.It's the first chapter called A Timely Manor.It is a free game, which I think all of us could say we love, and it's kind of compelling.It's kind of a lot of fun.There's some similarities to this to previous games I've done in the past years or so, and I thought I'd just pass this game along to you.It is an audio based adventure game.So it's kind of a voice control type game.So it reminds me a lot of the older text adventure games where you are put in a room or whatever not be.For example, in our first scenario, we're left in a room that has a desk and a coat stand and stuff like that.And you'll see that we just completely use our voice alone.Now, as a bonus, I will show you is not all has to be done by voice.So for those that prefer just using the regular old screen, or if you have a braille display, that might be something that you want to take a look at as well.So check on the availability of if that or this game is available to you in your country app store.So without further ado, let's jump into Rift.Now the first thing I want to note out is that as always voiceover sometimes kind of butchered the words.And you're going to hear it pronounced it as right.It seems like no matter which voice I use, it says right.And that's because the spelling…

In this episode, Scott Davert explores the different ways to access the Home Screen on iPhones without a Home Button. With the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple has fully transitioned to a buttonless design, changing how users interact with their devices. For those accustomed to the tactile feedback of the Home Button, this shift may feel challenging. However, several alternative methods can replicate its functionality.1. Using the Default Gesture:To return to the Home Screen without a physical button:Place a finger at the bottom center of the screen.Quickly swipe upward until you feel a slight vibration or hear a "pop" sound.Release your finger to navigate to the Home Screen.Tip: Using the charging port as a reference point can help with finger placement. Adding a small tactile marker, such as a bump dot, on your case near the swipe area can also provide a reliable guide.2. Customizing VoiceOver Gestures:VoiceOver users can assign the Home function to a different gesture for easier navigation:Assigning Home to a Two-Finger Swipe Right:Open Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Commands > Touch Gestures.Choose a gesture, such as a two-finger swipe right.Under the "System" section, select "Home".If the gesture is already assigned, iOS will notify you. Confirm the reassignment by selecting "Assign".Note: The two-finger swipe right is typically used for grouped navigation, so choose another gesture if this conflicts with your existing setup.3. Enabling Back Tap:Back Tap allows users to activate specific functions by tapping the back of their iPhone:Setting Up Back Tap for Home Screen Access:Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap.Toggle "Back Tap" on.Choose "Triple Tap".From the options, select "Home".Observation: If you use a thick phone case, Back Tap may not work as effectively. Adjust your tapping technique or consider using a thinner case if needed.4. Using the Action Button with Siri Shortcuts:On certain iPhone models with an Action Button, you can program it to bring you to the Home Screen using a Siri Shortcut:Configuring the Action Button for Home:Download the shortcut, courtesy of AppleVis' very own AnonyMouse. on a compatible iPhone.If the shortcut doesn’t run automatically, tap "Add Shortcut" to enable it.Navigate to Settings > Action Button.Select "Shortcut" from the menu.Choose "Go to Home Screen" from the list of shortcuts.Now, pressing and holding the Action Button will return you to the Home Screen.Reminder: To maintain security, only download shortcuts from reputable sources.By utilizing these methods, users can easily adjust to Apple's buttonless design, ensuring a smooth and intuitive experience on modern iPhones.If you'd like to read this in a written guide, you can find it here: Finding Your Way Home in a (Home) Buttonless World: Using an iOS Device Without a Home ButtonTranscript…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason and Thomas Domville speak to Ged Maheux from The Icon Factory, the developers behind innovative new universal timeline app, Tapestry. Long time iPhone users will be very familiar with the company, previously responsible for the highly popular and highly accessible app Twitterrific. Download Tapestry from the App Store.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there and welcome to the AppleViz extra podcast episode number 106.My name is David Nason and I'm delighted to be joined by AppleViz colleague and well-known voice Thomas Domville to talk today and talk to the developer of Tapestry a brand new app for iOS or pretty new.How are you Thomas?I'm doing great Dave.This is gonna be amazing interview.Tapestry is something just so revolutionary and something so unique and that's what's gonna make this so special.Definitely it's it's a really cool app Tapestry.It's from the icon factory who you may remember from Twitterific.So social media has changed so much Twitterific was one of those victims and our users with us when Twitter cut off third party apps.So Tapestry is part of the new the Fediverse that's the open social web call it what you will and hopefully a big part of the future of social media.So without further ado we can jump into our chat with Ged.Ged thanks for joining us it's great to meet you.Yeah me nice to meet you too thanks for having me it's yeah it's really we were we're delighted to get in touch with you and there was a lot of I guess excitement and a lot of talk on I guess mastodon specifically for me but I guess in in the blind community and on AppleViz.com of course when we saw that icon factory had released a new app so do you want to first of all tell us a little bit about Tapestry but we might also go back and talk about some of the stuff icon factory have done in the past as well.Yeah boy we've been in the home for so long it's hard to know where to start we've been doing this the 2026 will be our 30th year in business so we've been making apps for quite a while and some of your listeners may know us from Twitterific we made one of the first third-party Twitter clients back in the day and that of course has gone the way of the dodo but we've put our attention towards the open web and the Fediverse and created a new app called Tapestry which aims to be a unified personal timeline for all of your social or online needs it can pull in RSS feeds YouTube channels podcasts blue sky accounts mastodon accounts microblog and then a whole host of others to present them in a chronological unified timeline that you can control yourself how you read you decide what you see and what you don't see not some algorithm not some billionaire dictating what good doesn't doesn't go into your feed and we launched at the beginning of February and it's going pretty well I'm pleased with how it's been going so that's great there's a lot to dig into there I suppose question one is why did you think this was the way to go or why did you want to create an app that does…

In this podcast, Michael Hansen takes a first look at Apple's iPhone 16e, the latest member of the iPhone 16 family. He unboxes the device, goes through setup, and gives his initial impressions.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello Apple Vis.This is Michael Hansen.Thanks so much for tuning in.I hope you're having a great day.In this podcast, I'm going to be unboxing, setting up, and giving my initial first impressions of the iPhone 16e.The iPhone 16e is the latest member of the iPhone 16 family.It has all kind of the same foundational features as the rest of the iPhone 16 models.So the A18 processor, Apple intelligence, things like that, but it comes at a more affordable price point.I say more affordable because it's still a little bit more than kind of what I, and I think probably think it's safe to say many others, were hoping for.For reference here, the devices start out at $599 for the 16e, $799 for the 16, $899 for the 16+, $999 for the 16 Pro, and $1199 for the 16 Pro Max.But the other side of it is that this device has a lot, and I mean a lot of the same features as the more expensive, kind of the more costly other iPhone 16 models.It's got the action button, it's got the A18 processor, so there's no chipset, a generation behind, anything like that.It's got some new tech in there as well, and it's got the Apple C1, the new Apple C1 modem, which is going to deliver, hopefully deliver better battery life, the best battery life Apple says on a 6.1 inch phone.It also has the action button, which is really, really cool, and it's got some interesting uses, not just in terms of the types of things that you can do with it for turning off and on focus, which is what I use my personal unit for.But also you could even have it go to the home screen.Speaking of the home screen on the iPhone 16e, this device has face ID and does not have a home button, and I know that as soon as I say that, there is probably going to be a subset of people going, what, no home button, and that's okay.Don't feel bad if that's you, if the transition away from the home button concerns you.Don't be embarrassed about it, don't be ashamed of it.There's plenty of ways to make it work.There's some new gestures for going to the home screen and other functions like that.If the gestures are too difficult or just flat out don't work for you, you can always remap some voiceover gestures, some existing ones, or my favorite is you can use the action button to trigger a shortcut to take you right to the home screen.That's really, really cool.So Apple was kind enough to lend me an iPhone 16e and a case for review, and they sent me the white, I was thinking gold, these phones come in white and black, there is no gold.Apple sent me the white iPhone 16e 512 gigabyte storage and a white silicone case.I've got the boxes right here, so let's go ahead and I'll tell you about the case first because I like to, when I take a phone out, I like to immediately put it in a case.So let's go ahead and open this up…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to enable severe weather notifications on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. With this feature enabled for a supported location, the weather app will notify you whenever the weather authority for that location has issued a severe weather alert, such as a storm watch or storm warning.To enable this feature in the Weather app on iOS and iPadOS, double-tap the "Manage notifications" button near the bottom of the screen, and toggle the "severe weather" switch on to enable notifications for your current location, or double-tap a location under the "your locations" heading to access the same options for that location, if it is supported. To do the same in the Weather app on macOS, choose Weather > Settings (or press Command-Comma), click the Notifications button in the toolbar, and select the "Severe weather" checkbox to enable notifications for your current location, or interact with the collection under the "your locations" heading to access the same options for locations in your location list, if those locations are supported.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hey, Apple Visors, Tyler here, with a quick tip for how to enable severe weather notifications on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.With this feature enabled for a supported location, the weather app will notify you whenever the weather authority for that location has issued a severe weather alert, such as a storm watch or storm warning.To enable severe weather notifications on iOS and iPadOS, open the weather app, double tap the manage notifications button, and toggle the severe weather switch on.So to demonstrate that, I'm going to open the weather app on my iPhone, and I would expect at this point to be able to perform a four finger single tap near the bottom of the screen, and then swipe left with one finger, however, that does not seem to work at the time of recording, February 2025.And so for that reason, I'm going to scroll up with three fingers to go to the last page.Now perform a four finger single tap near the bottom of the screen, swipe left, manage notifications, double tap that, swipe right, current location, severe weather, that's on for me.If it's off for you and you want to turn it on, just double tap it.If I swipe right, next our precipitation, if you want that, you just turn it on the same way.And if I swipe right again, there's some information, right again, and these are the locations you have in your location list.So in my case, I have Boston.So I have severe weather turned on for Boston, if I double tap, I have the same thing, severe weather switched on for me, next our precipitation switch button, next our precipitation.If I go back, notifications back button, Boston, severe weather, here I am back on the main manage notification screen.So I'm going to double tap the done button, done button, home, Kate Elizabeth.So here I am back on the main screen of the weather app.So I'm going to go home now.So now severe weather notifications are enabled for the weather app on my iPhone.So now to demonstrate on Mac OS, I'm going to switch to my Mac…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Karthik Kannan, co-founder of Envision Technologies, winner of the inaugural AppleVis David Goodwin Award. This award recognises developers who have excelled in providing great apps and experiences for the blind and low vision community over a sustained period of time. They discuss the background of the company, key milestones, and the exciting Ally app which is due to launch soon.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis this extra podcast this is episode one hundred and five my name is david nason.Today we are talking about the AppleVis end of twenty twenty four awards again but this is a particular special one today because it's the inaugural david goodwin award david as you most likely know.Founded AppleVisway back in twenty ten and after fourteen years of real dedication he stepped away in the middle of last year.Thankfully we have been able to go on and it's really fitting that this award in particular has been named in david's honor.The david goodwin award rewards a developer who has shown a lasting and enduring dedication to the community with significant apps and really made an impact and they need to have been.Active with an at least one app for over three years and our winner has been many more years than that and so it's a really special awards and we're delighted to have started up this year and really excited to talk to the winner.Today before I get into that conversation I will give a quick overview of the nominees we had a lot of nominees for this award and which is a great sign in of itself really.Nineteen nominated on the panel so let us have a quick run through just to get that acknowledgement to those nominees we had a sharp LLC who make king of dragon pass.We had american printing house for the blind to make good maps at doors agile tortoise who make drafts era tech corporation who make era explorer cash reader sro who make that cash reader app dolphin computer access limited to of course make dolphin easy reader.Envision technologies bv who make the envision app flexi bits incorporated who make the fantastical calendar app junew quang who makes.Mona for mastodon and also spring for twitter canoe suit who makes the leer rss feeder app library of congress who make bird mobile.MIP soft who makes the blind square up national federation the blind to make nfp newsline oreo gomez makes round logic and accessible hangman accessible twenty forty eight and many more great games that we enjoy.Sneaky crab incorporated who make time crest twisted wave limited to make the twisted weight audio app.Ulysses gmbh to make the ulysses writing app and weather god's LLC who make of course the weather gods weather app a very popular app over the years as well.And finally would you juice limited to make hockey side and fright recording apps so big list congratulations to everybody who was nominated it's.Great to see so many developers who have shown that long term dedication to making great apps for our community.So the runners up…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Saqib Shaikh, a key member of the team behind Microsoft's Seeing AI, winner of Best App in the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple awards.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there, and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis Extra Podcast.My name is David Nason and I am delighted to be joining you again to talk about the 2024 Golden Apple Awards.Today's focus is the best app category.We had 10 brilliant nominees in this category and they were One Password, Anytime Podcast Player, Drafts, Mona from Astadon, OKO, Cross Street and Maps, PixieBot, Seeing AI, Tapit Pro Audio Recorder, Todoist, To Do List and Calendar, and Voice Vista.So a great list of nominees there, very strong.Our runners up getting special mention are PixieBot and Voice Vista.So again, huge well done to them for being runners up.Our winner and a very familiar winner, I think it's their fourth Golden Apple, which is amazing, is Microsoft's Seeing AI.So huge well done to them.It's an app that's been around a long time and is still available in the App Store.If you search for Seeing AI from Microsoft.So yes, huge well done to Seeing AI for winning the best app, Golden Apple 2024.And to chat about it, I am delighted to be joined from the Microsoft Seeing AI team by Saqib Shaikh.Hello Saqib, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.Hi, thank you so much for having me.It's a pleasure to be here.And you're here because Seeing AI, I don't think for the first time won a Golden Apple Award for 2024 in the best app category, which is fantastic.So congratulations on that, first of all.Thank you.A great honor and actually a surprise.And it means so much because it's from the community.You know, there are so many awards from either the government or industry, but I think the ones from the community just mean that much more.Absolutely.You know, to be voted by the people who are using apps and there's, you know, a great range of apps nominated this year.So to top the pole is absolutely brilliant.And actually, before we jump into too much detail, maybe for the uninitiated, if there are any in our community, can you give us a quick rundown of what Seeing AI is?Good point.Seeing AI, we talked about it as a talking camera app or a visual assistant.It's a mobile app where you open it up and it uses the camera to tell you what it can see.And it has different modes for different tasks in your daily life from reading things to you, whether that's immediately or more slightly with formatting through to describing photos that you take or from your camera roll or from other apps, all the way through to very task-specific channels, as we call them, like finding something or exploring the world around you or knowing if the lights are on.Amazing.What do you do yourself on the team out of interest and are you there long?Have you been there, you know, part of Seeing AI from the start or can you…

In this episode, Dennis Long demonstrates Eter: Streaming Internet Radio for iOS. Eter is a versatile internet radio application available across all Apple platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It provides access to over 40,000 global radio stations, encompassing a wide range of genres such as news, sports, and music. citeturn0search8Key Features:Extensive Station Access: Utilizes the publicly available radio-browser.info database to offer a vast selection of free internet radio stations. citeturn0search0Universal Compatibility: Designed for seamless use across various Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It also supports CarPlay and AirPlay for enhanced listening experiences. citeturn0search8User-Friendly Interface: Features a clean and intuitive design, making it easy to navigate and discover new stations. The app includes a hand-crafted list of recommended stations and allows users to search for others. citeturn0search0Recent Updates: The latest version, Eter 2.3, introduced on February 7, 2025, includes Shazam support for automatic song recognition, enabling users to identify tracks even when stream metadata is unavailable. Additional enhancements include customizable preferences for favorite stations and various bug fixes. citeturn0search0Premium Upgrade:While Eter is free to use, a one-time in-app purchase unlocks premium features, including:Saving favorite stations for quick access.Hiding recommended stations to view only personal favorites.Setting a sleep timer to automatically stop playback after a specified duration.Viewing listening history and opening tracks in Apple Music.Supporting the app's ongoing development.Eter is available for download on the App Store and offers a comprehensive internet radio experience tailored for Apple users.Eter: Streaming Internet Radio on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eter-streaming-internet-radio/id1523221566TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello everybody, this is Dennis Long and today's demo is of Eater Radio.Eater is spelled E-T-E-R.Eater is free, but to fully unlock it, it costs you $5, actually $4.99.What do you get for that $4.99?The ability to save favorites, the ability to hide recommended stations, the ability to support ongoing development, and the ability to set a sleep timer to drift off quietly to any station your heart desires.What database does this use, you ask?It uses the radio.browser.The radio browser database is what it uses.Okay, so what makes Eater different?That's what we're going to cover today because they've done some interesting things and we'll get into how to do that here in a moment.Alright, so without any further ado, let's go, shall we?At the top left, you have settings at the very top.Okay, so let's start…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Jianfeng Wu, also known as Jeff, the creator of Voice Vista, winner of Developer of the Year in the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple awards.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there, and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis Extra Podcast.I am David Nason.I'm delighted to be with you again talking about the 2024 Golden Apple Awards.The awards were held at the end of 2024 on appleviz.com with the AppleViz user community voting and winners announced in December.Today we are talking about and talking to the winner of the Developer of the Year award.So delighted to be having that opportunity.Today we had 12 nominees in this category and they were.We had Act Nun AB who make the Eldrum Untold app or game.Agile Bits Incorporated who make one password.Ben Hills from the Anytime Player podcast player app.Benvision Inc. who makes Speakaboo.Jianfeng Wu who makes Voice Vista.Junyu Quang, the creator of Mona for Mastodon and Spring for Twitter.Seyvan Sukiasyan who makes Asmar Quest, another great game.Sparkling Design who make Pixiebot.Split Atom Labs, great name for a company, and they make the Land of Livia game.Tapit Music GmbH who of course make Tapit.Touchmint LLC who make the Adventure to Fate Lost Island game.And No Stranger to the Golden Apples, we had Weather Gods LLC who of course make the Weather Gods weather app.So great list of nominees there 12 and we have two honorable mentions, two runners up first.And they were Pixiebot and Mona from Mastodon slash Spring for Twitter.So congrats to those two runner up developers.But our winner was Jianfeng Wu who makes as we said the Voice Vista navigation app.And I'm delighted to be joined by Jianfeng today to talk about his app and his work.Hello, Jeff, and welcome to the podcast.How are you?Good, thank you.And firstly, congratulations on winning the Developer of the Year award, which is voted by the Appleviz community.Yeah, it's great news.Yeah, I'm glad too and thank you very much.Thank you all my friends to vote.Thank you.Yeah, it's brilliant.And for those maybe you don't know or haven't used it yet, do you want to start by just telling us a little bit about Voice Vista?Oh, yeah, I can.I like coding as platform on my spare time.There are some side projects for myself in the case, for example, some turn-based games, some traditional chess, card games, or practice tools for the elementary and middle schools.And I have some radio and the television station, but all that's for my side projects.I have some other work.So one of my strategy games I built, a lot of people, we sort of impaired played it because it's lucky it's accessible.So one day, one of my friends, Greg, he sent me an email.He said Microsoft will discontinue the app Starscape.He said I may have interest to continue it.It's about time…