I HATE APPLE

yeah what

anyone with kids successfully configured Downtime in IOS? I swear this was working last year but now it doesn't appear to do shit unless you also configure app limits, which....then what's the point of the 'downtime' feature? I set this to shut off at 10pm and you can still log right into the phone. googling this just takes me to 100s of pages that tell me to turn 'downtime' on. Yeah I did that, thanks wikifuckhow.

I feel like my kids have figured out how to get around Screentime/Downtime in some cases. Like I set all apps to an hour but it show they were on YouTube for an hour and a half..?

Possibly multiple devices?

it's supposed to span devices if they're under the same ID. frankly I think downtime and screentime are fucked and broken. and apparently apple yanked almost all apps in the app store that would serve as replacements for this; we used to use OurPact which was annoying but did work to an extent, but they kicked it out once they released these features in the OS. I think NetNanny's new apps are the only ones left; net nanny was a fucking piece of shit when I used it before but apparently they were purchased and all their software completely rewritten. maybe I'll give it a shot.

It turns out 'downtime' is frankly just a suggestion, I think. Like, it tells you time to get off, but doesn't actually restrcit anything and you can choose to ignore it. Thanks Apple, that's very useful. You need to put the time limits on the apps (or groups of apps) too. Why they don't just have a 'turn this phone off at 10pm' feature that works is beyond me.

I cancelled my spotify premium because I didn't use it enough. Still had the three-month trial option of Apple Music so I thought I'd give it a try and HOLY FUCKING SHIT ABSOLUTE STATE OF THAT.

don't get the criticisms on Apple music - I find the UI and layout much easier and relaxing than Spotify. Question of habit I suppose

I think the UI and apps are much better, but the curation/algos on Spotify are vastly better. AM has a tendency to be either v. square, unhelpfully obscure, or blatantly label-promotion

I think shoving Apple Music in with the Music app is kind of a shitshow when it comes to the mingled library. Searching for a particular album in the streaming service is OK, but the organization of individual artist pages sucks

The suggestions and playlist stuff are a complete pain, and the suggestions are wack

Yeah don’t really use curation and suggestions. The mingling with local libraries is precisely what I like about AM

otm

I’m wary of that initial integration with my carefully tagged local library. Last time I tried it it was a sh1tshow

google sh1tsh0w, find calstars

Apple Music automatically plays African Herbsman by Bob Marley every time I plug my iphone into my car, and also automatically plays it anytime my iphone is playing something else through my car stereo and I stop it or close that app.

As much as I love The Limiñanas' "A Dead Swan" over and over, autoplaying the first song when connecting to a phone is the stupidest goddamn thing ever. Updating the firmware on my car radio (2013-era Dodge uConnect system) stopped it whenever I connected via Bluetooth, but it still happens when I plug in directly.

can you upload something " " that's just silence?

(something called " ")

I have hard that's literally a thing people do

*heard

I stopped mine from playing Aaron Neville every time, I had to go in while the song was playing and tell it to shuffle on the now playing page.

That resets if I ever specifically choose anything to play and goes back to hitting me with "Hercules," so Apple Music (which I'm getting free because a friend signed up for the family plan and had an empty spot) is confined to library shuffle duty and I keep Spotify for when I want to listen to something specific.

‘A chicken ain’t nothing but a bird’ by cab Calloway every time I connect to a rental. Could be worse, it used to be ‘a bang and wimpy’ Attila the stock broker. (Yes, I’m not sure why Apple’s alphabetical sorting is not working quite right)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-b-WJe2nmg

Yeah don’t really use curation and suggestions. The mingling with local libraries is precisely what I like about AM

Same.

I made a silent mp3 called "__AA Silence" and synced it to my phone over this issue (xxp)

i always used to get aaliyah playing automatically on my old ipod when it would crash and reboot

apple music is head and shoulders above the unmitigated clusterfuck it was in its launch year. most of the bugs have gone and the ui is loads better, although not without its weird quirks. it got better while spotify got worse.

so... iPad or iPad air?

go to the store and balance them between hands a few times to get a feel for what’s comfortable

the big ipad pro, you can toss it in the air like a pizza pie

So I need to sync to an actual Mac computer to get smart playlists. Fuck you.
I got an iPad, and can finally rate songs...but only ones I've downloaded. Fuck you.

not just ‘you can’ but also ‘you should’ imo

er xp

I do like Apple Music the service, but Apple Music the app blows.

Got the new phone and took it out for some test camera shots last night , results in low light obviously don’t match an aps-c sensor or full frame but do seem better than previous gen. “Secret” to the new low light feature seems to be a long exposure (of course) in which the phone seems to encourage you to hold it still as the frame dims and then gradually comes back to regular brightness. In the background there’s probably some anti- shake algorithm running to produce the Final result.

The Xs camera was pretty obviously better but still pretty flawed from the first day I used it. Yet most of the reviews at the time were gushing about it. Those same reviewers are now gushing about the 11 Pro and damning of the Xs.

So it’s good to hear it might actually be OK this time, but Christ tech bloggerdom is woeful

I was enthused about this new Apple Watch app that tracks decibels ("Noise") since it could be a good way to remember when to put in my earplugs at those concerts I attend, but it's only available on the two most recent Watch versions. Phooey.

how are we feeling about this new iOS

adequate iirc

the share menu is pretty fuckin wild - i don't need all these names popping up

no way, i def want to share my family pictures with someone i met a conference four years ago

The new Mac OS Catalina is causing me problems, especially the new music app. It’s busy doing something -“downloading artwork” -and seems to be slowing down my iMac overall. Then the music app keeps crashing and going int “checking library” mode for ages.

That’s a feature, not an issue

not gonna upgrade my mac for months

tap-hold on iOS 13 brings up a lot of bullshit! in music at least I could edit it down, get ride of share for instance

my SE battery life seems worse but man how can you really know

ios13 is my favourite in years. even the music app is more responsive. i agree with too much shit popping up though, and the share sheet is a mess. you can edit the order in which stuff appears but you can’t get rid of all the people’s names afaict.

the Mail app is noticeably worse on my SE. If I open Mail immediately after getting an email notification the mail isn't there. A few seconds later, kerrrrlunk the headers show up, and if I'm lucky, the rest of the message. If not, the rest of the message doesn't show up for... a good 15 or 20 seconds? None of that happened on previous versions of iOS. scrolling in Mail is kind of laggy too. it feels sorta janktown.

In other news, Apple sends your data to TenCent: https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2019/10/13/dear-apple-safe-browsing-might-not-be-that-safe/

That shit is happening on my 11 Pro too.

Xp

Ditto on an X, sometimes you need to kill the app and start again to get the mail to show

https://i.ibb.co/NpPfgbt/aspens.jpg

Took this with the dark mode, 1/2 hourish after sunset. I was having trouble seeing well enough to finish the hike w/o a headlamp at that point.

I suspect the mail thing may be due to having multiple accounts and having to wait for the app to check them all

Love the live lyrics feature in the new iTunes, you can click on any line in a song and the audio goes directly there.