Other “digital wellness” tools don’t work at all on iOS. Siempo and other home-screen launchers only work on Android, because iOS doesn’t let developers make changes to the iPhone’s home screen. “We’re also not able to change anything about notifications or the icons,” says Dunn, Siempo’s CEO.
Even if Apple rolls out a set of native features similar to the ones Google announced—dashboards for tracking phone usage, app timers for setting limits on certain apps, and more intuitive gestures to flip on Do Not Disturb or night mode—most developers won’t be able to leverage them in their own apps. Last year, Apple added a new option to activate Do Not Disturb mode while driving. It prompts users to block incoming notifications as soon as they get into a moving vehicle. But the feature doesn't work for scenarios besides driving, and iOS developers can't incorporate it into their apps.
The tools might be there to help you quit, but will you use them? If you're obsessed with opening Twitter to stay on top of the news, or your email account, are you really going to put in the controls to limit how often you can use that app? Parents might do this for kids, but will adults use it? I don't think I will.
Developer Steve Troughton Smith today tweeted photos of macOS 10.14 with some very juicy details about Apple’s upcoming operating system. The OS is very clearly sporting a fresh new dark theme, presumably a toggle-able setting, with the dark UI affecting all application chrome. You can also see an icon for a Mac News app in the Dock, as well as a first look at Xcode 10.
Perhaps this is the biggest achievement of Apple’s 2018 iPad. Yes it’s a device that doesn’t introduce any world-shattering new features. There’s no edge-to-edge display or Face ID, no touch bar or dual-cameras.
But ultimately, it’s this sort of reliable standardised device that’s exactly what the education sector needs. It’s the kind of device that doesn’t mind disappearing in a child’s hands to let them get on with the rest of their education, even if that same education is increasingly built on a digital bedrock.
Will there be a WWDC session teaching designers how to design around different notch sizes?
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Thanks for reading.