A new version of Fin is now available from the App Store. It includes the usual set of bug fixes and enhancements, as well as a few new features centered around the end of timers. When a timer runs out in Fin, an animation sequence begins, with the screen fading from black to red, as the main timer shows 00:00. In addition, a small indicator at the bottom of the screen begins counting up, to indicate how much time has passed since the timer ran out. Some have requested…

Way back when I shipped Fin 1.0, it wasn’t very easy to set the timer to anything except a small set of presets. The presets weren’t even editable.[1] The only way to set a timer for anything beyond the presets was to swipe up or down to add or subtract one minute at a time. You could change the increments in settings—to make it two minutes, or five minutes, or whatever, per swipe—but this gesture was always meant for quick adjustments, not as the…

Rumor has it Apple is cooking up a new framework that helps unify the development of macOS and iOS apps. At least, that’s the part of the rumor that makes the most sense, anyway.[1] Code-named, Marzipan, this new framework would help developers who make either iOS apps or Mac apps to make both using the same basic toolset. Obvious differences between the platforms would necessitate some variation, of course (clicks vs taps, and all that), but the underlying APIs for creating either would be largely the same. And…

I was recently asked on Twitter for practical examples of how I use Tally, made by Greg Pierce of Agile Tortoise. My response is way too long, even for the new 280-character limit, though, so I thought I’d write it up here. Note: This is not a paid endorsement. I know Greg, and I know he makes great apps. Which is why I downloaded Tally in the first place. But he has never asked me to promote anything of his. I just like talking about great products. Tally, for…

I’ve seen a number of complaints about the iPhone X keyboard implementation. “So much wasted space.” “They should put the spacebar down at the bottom, where it always was.” “They should fill that space under the spacebar with emoji buttons.” And so on. All of these suggestions strike me as poorly thought out. I immediately understood why Apple made the choice to leave that area mostly blank. The space bar is where it used to be. The home button used to be where that empty space is. Given how…