📱💻 Finer Tech Newsletter ⌚️📺 iOS 15, Focus Mode, Fantastical, Low Power, Workouts

Alright everyone, we now live in a world where Apple’s latest OSes are publicly available in beta. I’ve been digging into the iOS/iPadOS side and taking notes, but these days I play it safer with my Mac. Today I’ll start mixing in iOS 15 and watchOS 8 tips, Monterey and tvOS 15 are en route.

Please enjoy this latest batch of productivity mutating tips while I remind @Apple on Twitter it can release the 16-inch M1X MacBook Pro. The world is ready.

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If you save a lot of stuff to Photos from apps like Mail, Twitter, and TikTok, Photos in iOS makes it easy to find all items saved from an app. 

An example: tap an image saved from an app, then swipe up to see its metadata. One of the new details there is its originating app. Tap that label, and Photos will display all other items it can find from that app.

Focus Mode is one of the standout features of iOS 15, and for good reason—it’s like Do Not Disturb turned up to 11 for maximum non-disturbance.

Among the notification-silencing and device-altering features of Focus is the ability to hide some Home Screen pages. Each Focus mode can hide its own set of pages, so your ‘personal page’ of apps can be the only thing visible when you’re not working.

To set up Custom Pages: 

Now, pull down Control Center, select your Focus Mode, and enjoy some device-augmented discipline we all probably need in our emerging cyberdystopia.

Fantastical events that contain video and audio call links get special treatment in the menu bar. When a meeting time approaches, a unique button to join appears next to Fantastical. Click it, then click join to participate in what should have been an email, but performed IRL as a slow motion interpretive dance or maybe just a conversation.

On iPad, go to Settings > Battery and enable Low Power Mode. 

On Mac go to System Preferences > Battery then Battery in the sidebar (hey, I didn’t name these menus) and toggle Low Power Mode. Bonus option: Select Power Adapter in the sidebar to control whether Low Power Mode kicks in only when on battery power or also when plugged in.

As far as I can tell in this initial public beta, macOS 12 doesn’t display any indicator when Low Power Mode is enabled. I also don’t see a shortcut or Control Center option; for now, you have to dig into System Preferences.

When exercising with Apple’s Workout app, press both the Digital Crown + Side Button to pause the workout. Press them again to get back to work.

Sure, you could swipe right and tap Pause instead. But you know who else goes through all the work to swipe right and tap pause while they’re exercising? Nickelback, that’s who.

How did you like this issue? Was it useful and bite-sized enough? Are there certain kinds of tips or apps you’d like to see here? Let me know what you think via email and Twitter.

You can also find me on Mastodon, Tumblr, and Micro.blog.