Douglas Hill’s recent posts

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14 November 2024

Oh AirPods Pro Hearing Test and Hearing Aid aren’t available in the UK and I don’t see this option. Unclear how this is actually determined. My physical location and Apple account are UK, while my device region is set to Ireland (which is supported). »

11 November 2024

I tried many things and concluded there’s nothing I can do to sign into my newly-created Instagram account. People using Threads will have to wait until Threads rolls out bidirectional ActivityPub support to be able to follow me.

Screenshot of Instagram website showing a reCAPTACHA with the message “Error: Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again.” »

8 November 2024

I’ve been hearing the Apple Vision Pro simulator randomly booting up in the background recently. Not the best thing for my Mac’s battery life! Guessing it might be due to Xcode 16.1, so I’ll try going back to 16.0. »

7 November 2024

Don’t mention Apple Intelligence in App Store release notes. Our Mac app was rejected because the reviewer couldn’t work out how to use Writing Tools. »

5 November 2024

Added showing publication dates on my articles archive page, which could be useful because some of these are on our company blog, which doesn’t include dates. »

Great article from Stefan about the API design behind our customisable main toolbar. We want our API to be modular for SwiftUI, which means we need a way to communicate between our document view and associated toolbar buttons. API design for SwiftUI is really tough! This post was published today. »

I’m extremely excited about our NSLondon at Apple Battersea in two weeks! We’ll have talks by Rebecca Owen and Oliver Binns. RSVPs open at 1pm this Thursday. The organising team, especially Aled, are putting in a lot to make this happen. 💜 »

3 November 2024

Since full ActivityPub support in Threads seems a while off, I thought I’d try Micro.blog’s cross-posting. But my newly created Instagram account was immediately banned. I guess I was put on a lifetime blocklist after I deleted my original account on the day Facebook bought Instagram. »

Added a recent posts page to my website similar to the homepage of a convential blog. (My homepage is what’s often set up as an about page.) »

1 November 2024

The Nintendo Music app is here to solve all our problems. It’s pretty good! Sadly they blocked it from download on Mac, but at least it runs on iPad.

Screenshot of Nintendo Music app on iPad showing Main Theme (Wii Shop Channel) »

30 October 2024

Michael Tsai:

So I wonder whether they actually made the iMac’s camera worse by using better hardware but coupling it with Center Stage.

My observation is that the 2024 iPad Pro’s front camera is slightly lower quality than the 2018 iPad Pro’s because of Centre Stage. »

The number one improvement I’d like to see to the Apple Magic Mouse is multitasking gestures on iPad. The hardware is there for multitouch, but the software only uses this for single-finger scrolling. Multitasking gestures also don’t work on a Mac when connected via an iPad with Universal Control. »

27 October 2024

Interesting post from James Froggatt about app development with Swift Playgrounds on iPad (via iOS Dev Weekly). iPad is my go-to device for almost everything except Xcode for now. It seems a shame being limited to code (including third-party code) written in Swift and JavaScript. »

23 October 2024

PSPDFKit is now Nutrient. Same company. Same products. New name. »

22 October 2024

The “Backtrace in Editor” in Xcode 16 is a debugging superpower. So quick to jump around between frames. It’s a wonderful feature. 💙 »

Recently my MacBook Pro seems to often forget it has Touch ID and asks for my password to unlock. It’s not displaying “Your password is required to enable Touch ID”, and this issue happens more often than that message used to show up. »

16 October 2024

As an: iOS developer

I want to: see shocking headlines in the Apple News widget preinstalled on the iPad simulator

So that: I can be distracted from programming »

14 October 2024

Update on verifying our phone number for the EU’s DSA trader requirements after Apple’s automatic verification didn’t work with our US Aircall number: I requested manual verification. Apple asked for a business or court document. I attached a PDF of our website contact page. It was accepted. »

11 October 2024

Has anyone managed to verify a US Aircall number with Apple for the EU’s Digital Services Act trader requirements? For us, text messages don’t arrive, and calls go straight to voicemail without leaving a message. »

10 October 2024

In all the discussion about macOS 15’s screen recording permission alerts, I haven’t seen anyone mention that when the alert is shown, the app already has access to the screen. This is an unusual approach to consent. E.g. here’s the excellent Claquette recording its own alert.

Screenshot of Mac alert: Claquette is requesting bypass the system private window picker and direct access your screen and audio »

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