Matt Langford

Apple Beta Software

I know it’s risky, but I installed the initial developer betas on my iPhone and Mac. Some years I do it, some I don’t. I have no criteria whatsoever that helps determine when I do and don’t other than impulse. Here are a few of my initial thoughts that I have not seen expressed elsewhere:

• The default Safari bar isn’t my favorite. I don’t think I should have to tap twice just to see my other tabs¹. Fortunately, there’s a setting you can change to remedy this without losing the Liquid Glass design.
• Messages has slightly more powerful filtering now, including showing your drafts which is a nice touch.
• Apple Intelligence in Shortcuts is going to be a bigger feature than people realize. I quickly created one that allows me to add a short note to the notes app. First it takes my input, corrects grammar, and creates a relevant title. Next, it pulls in 3-5 research resources connected to my note. Lastly, it writes a 1 paragraph sample introduction to a potential longer form thought. As a pastor, having a quick research assistant like this will be valuable.
• The background feature in Messages will drive me nuts as it is now. Text can be very hard to read. However, there’s plenty of time for them to fix this.
• Control Center has too much opacity. It’s hard to read when overlaid over certain things (like a colorful Home Screen).
• Reminders still does not allow you to create a recurring task based on completion date instead of due date.
• Selecting specific text to copy in messages instead of the entire message is nice.
• I actually like the clear widget style on Mac.

Beyond that, I’ve decided to give some of the stock apps/features a full trial. They are:

• Spotlight instead of Raycast
• Default screenshot utility instead of CleanShot X
• Reminders app instead of Godspeed (least likely to stick)
• Default Clipboard History instead of Raycast’s Clipboard History
• Default Emoji Picker instead of Raycast’s Emoji Picker
• Default Package Tracking in Wallet instead of Parcel

We’ll see how things go.

Email Changes Reverted

I was excited to switch to Gmail for some specific automations to make my life easier. While the automation part worked mostly as I’d hoped, living with Gmail just wasn’t going to stick. So I’m in the processes of reverting all of the work/time I spent into that migration. It’s back to iCloud Mail. The migration back will take forever as it seems I have hit some pretty serious rate limiting from Google due to all of my indecisiveness. I’ll miss Mimestream, but I think I’m content with where I am now.

I did finally figure out how to fix the annoying issue of swipe-to-archive in the Mail app if you use one Google account (my work) and one Apple account (my personal). By default, swipe to archive is one direction for Google and another for Apple which can be really confusing in a unified inbox. There are settings for Swipe direction, but those do not allow you to fix this particular issue. It can only be remedied deep within the advanced settings for your Google account on an individual device. But once fixed, it’s fixed!

Summer Wallet

I’m a huge fan of the Lochby wallet and I’m not getting rid of it. However, I quickly realized that it will not work for me in the hot Louisiana summer. I’m switching back to my kangaroo leather wallet for the next few months. It’s slimmer, cooler, and handles moisture way more effectively.

Photo of the Week

This week’s photo is a throwback to our honeymoon to Maui 12 years ago.