PDF Expert’s New Reading Mode Makes it Easier to Read PDFs on iPhone

We, at Readdle, have just shipped a massive update to PDF Expert for iOS that introduces Reading Mode — a feature that improves the experience of reading PDFs on iPhone. Reading Mode makes it easier to read the text from PDFs on the tiny iPhone screen. I’ve been playing around with this feature for a few weeks now as part of the marketing team, and have been terribly excited about its release. With Reading Mode, reading PDFs on iPhone is a delightful experience now.

Read PDFs on iPhone

PDFs are usually hard to read on the small screens of iPhones, especially the ones that are formatted in multiple columns. You have to constantly keep zooming in & out, panning in all four directions to make sense of the content. The Reading Mode reformats and adjusts the text and images in these PDF files and displays them on the screen in a single column, presented in a beautiful way. It’s like activating the Reader view in Safari or using Read Later apps like Pocket or Instapaper. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

You can change the theme from the default ‘Day‘ theme to ‘Sepia‘, ‘Night‘ or ‘Auto‘. You can also adjust the font-size and toggle the ‘Keep iPhone Awake‘ and ‘Crop Header and Footer‘ settings.

My dad loves to read, and spends several hours in the day reading e-papers, PDF books & magazines, blogs, etc. on his iPad. For many months now, he’s been asking me, complaining in fact, why he can’t enjoy reading PDFs on his Android phone. I think it’s time to switch him to an iPhone.

There are a lot more exciting features that we’re working on at Readdle, and I can’t wait to talk about our feature-packed upcoming releases. Stay tuned to our PDF Expert, Spark Email, and Readdle blogs in the coming weeks.

Now go grab the latest update of PDF Expert for iOS from the App Store to try out the Reading Mode on your iPhone. I’m happy to hear your feedback.

April 15, 2020 ✚ Permalink

Arq Backup Version 6 is Now Available

Haystack Software has announced the release of Arq Backup Version 6 — a major update to the backup app for macOS.

Michael Tsai has a written a fantastic overview about this release, so you should go ahead and read that first. Although I’ve been a SuperDuper! user for the longer time, I had been considering making a switch to Arq every now and then. Both apps are vastly different, and I was looking to use Arq to back up selective data from my primary machine, which is the 2016 MacBook Pro. However, Version 6 is a strict no-go for me, as Michael notes:

The bad news is that the app you interact with is now built with Electron. (The background agent process that does the work remains Objective-C.) The problems with Electron range from the superficial (everything just looks and feels off) to the functional (you can’t navigate outline views with the arrow keys or type-selection).

A lot of people are unhappy with the switch to Electron:

Marc Edwards tweets:

Agreed. This is absolutely a dealbreaker for me. If Electron stays, I go.

Peter Steinberger tweets:

Arq 6 is now Electron-based? ?

Joseph P. Hillenburg tweets:

Long time user: Use of @ElectronJS is a severe impediment to usability. Example: https://josephg.com/blog/electron-is-flash-for-the-desktop/

René Fouquet tweets:

Another crappy electron replacement for a once native Mac app. This just makes me sad, both as a user as well as a developer. This cross-platform disease has to die. Needless to say I’m not going to upgrade to Arq 6. I’ve been using Arq for ten years, but I’m not supporting this.

Now, I understand that the switch to Electron is just for the main UI, while the core backup agent is still Obj-C on the Mac. And the developers, who need to build both a Windows and Mac app, probably picked a method that they thought was best for them. But being a native app was what was so good about Arq.

Moreover, version 6 is also a big departure in terms of the familiar UI. Arq just doesn’t look and feel like the Arq everyone knew and loved. There are several complaints on Twitter about bugs and missing features. The makers are inspired by an improved mockup of the UI and are considering making improvements.

I’m very grateful to @mohrstudio for mocking up some ideas about an Arq UI. Very inspirational. Planning to rework Arq 6 so the layout is more like Arq 5, but more usable

As for me, Arq 6 was going to be my first dive into the app, and I just don’t want to make my first few interactions with the app through the utter shit that is Electron. I’ll definitely be waiting it out for a few updates and releases. Thankfully, the developers are hard at work releasing bug fixes and improvements to Arq 6.

April 14, 2020 ✚ Permalink

Satechi's Charging Dock for Apple Watch

Satechi has launched this pretty cool charging dock for the Apple Watch that can be used without a cord. It has a USB-C port that is attached directly to the dock, allowing you to plug it directly into your iPad Pro or Mac devices and rest your Apple Watch right onto it.

I’m not sure if I’d use it attached to the iPad Pro like that, but on the Mac, hell yes! Long cords are so unnecessary and need to die.

December 20, 2019 ✚ Permalink

The Morning Show Producers Feel Early Reviews Were an 'Attack on Apple'

Julia Alexander, writing for The Verge:

Early reviews for The Morning Show weren’t exactly positive, and executive producers Kerry Ehrin and Mimi Leder believe a lot of the feedback was an “attack on Apple.”

Both Leder and Ehrin felt like critics were reviewing Apple TV Plus as a service, and looping in The Morning Show with those critiques.

The Apple TV+ service launched with much hype and marketing around four shows — The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See, and Dickinson. I haven’t yet seen See or For All Mankind, but Dickinson and The Morning Show both look fabulous. I personally like watching The Morning Show, but that’s largely due to the star cast it has and the cinematography/direction, not because of its writing. I can see why the reviews were bad.

But to say that the reviews were an attack on Apple? Ha!

November 20, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Devanagari Digits — My Favorite Watch Face on Apple Watch in watchOS 6

The California watch face on watchOS 6 with Devanagari numerals

I updated my Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS) to watchOS 6 a couple of days ago and while it’s nice to have features like the ECG app in India or the new independent apps, by far my favorite thing in watchOS 6 is the new California watch face on watchOS 6 with Devanagari numerals. I have it set to show the StepsApp complication, and I love how minimal the whole thing looks.

How I wish I could display the day and date in Devanagari too.

Update: To learn how to enable Devanagari numbers on Apple Watch, follow this tutorial.

September 24, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Apple to Invest $1 billion in India

Pankaj Doval, reporting for TOI

“Apple will be investing $1 billion in India through its partners. They have said the production will be used for meeting the demand for its products across global markets,” an official source told TOI.

Foxconn, Taiwan’s contract manufacturing behemoth and the biggest production partner for Apple globally, will be investment partner for the iPhone maker’s latest push. Its factory in Chennai will be used to manufacture products for Apple’s global markets. Also, a host of component suppliers to the company will be making investments in the region for the local push.

Good to see these activities in recent times, although I’d like to see some concrete results from all this.

September 17, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Apple India is Hiring a Environmental Initiatives Program Manager in Gurugram

Apple has posted a new job listing on its ‘Jobs at Apple’ website for a Environmental Initiatives Program Manager focused on India and the Middle East.

The main focus of this position is on tracking, monitoring and implementation of environmental regulations in India and the Middle East, establishing relationships to key internal and external partners, and identifying and developing leadership opportunities for Apple in the field of environmental responsibility.

The position is located at Apple India’s offices in Gurugram, India and has a long list of key qualifications.

June 19, 2019 ✚ Permalink

'Sign In with Apple' FAQ Published by TechCrunch

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch, has published a detailed set of answers about Apple’s upcoming ‘Sign In with Apple’ feature on iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and to an extent, Android and the web.

The ‘Sign In with Apple’ feature is one of the most exciting announcements to come out of WWDC ’19 for me, and I’m really looking forward to its release. However, I do have a few concerns, all of which still remain unanswered.

  • What happens to your account when you sign out of iCloud and Sign In with another Apple ID?
  • What happens when you want to use a developer’s app on multiple devices that don’t use the same Apple ID?
  • Will Apple allow you to choose/specify a custom email address that is separate from the Apple ID to receive marketing emails from the developers?

I believe that SIWA is a phenomenal new feature and I see a majority of developers adopt this feature for their apps. I just hope that SIWA doesn’t end up being the only Sign In option in apps going forward.

June 12, 2019 ✚ Permalink