David Blue


Backup Things' Actual Database from iOS/iPadOS

This fucking code

491348

is one of those things I somehow always manage to forget before I ever need it, again, and - naturally - is somehow not fucking documented anywhere but this support page, that I’ve ever been able to find.

  1. Open Things 3.
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. Tap General → Diagnostics → Enter Code.
  4. Enter the code `491348`
  5. Tap Send Things Database.

The file you’re getting is called `Things Database.aar`. We recommend that you save the file into iCloud Drive, or, if you own a Mac, we suggest you select to AirDrop it to your Mac as it is the most secure way of transmitting the data.

If you do not own a Mac, you can only unpack the `.aar` file on your iPhone or iPad. Locate it where you saved it in iCloud Drive and tap it once. That will produce `Things Database.thingsdatabase` which contains the actual database file.

	<p class="fineprint">If you are on iOS 13 or older, the file you’re getting is called Things.sqlite3 and it can be viewed in a separate app as explained below.</p>

Discovering Apple Podcast Transcription's Opprobrious Limitations

Comment
byu/dkmj01 from discussion
inpodcast

There's a tedious way to do it, but it worked for me:

•Open the podcast using the Apple Podcast app (I used an iPhone with the latest iOS, didn’t try earlier versions or desktop app)

•Play the podcast and click the circle with three dots inside it, select “View Transcript”

•Now the entire transcript displays on your iPhone. Select and copy a large chunk of text. It has a limit of how much it copies, so just select a random larger amount after you get an idea how much text it copies.

•Open the Notes app and make a new note. Paste the copied text into the note

•Since it won’t copy everything you selected it will paste to its limit and add some characters at the end and copyright info from the podcast.  Delete this text back to the actual content then go back to the podcast transcript and copy the next section and do the process again.

•Tips to make it go faster:

•It is easier to edit the Note on the desktop Notes app…after pasting it syncs in about 5 seconds, and you can just select and delete what you don’t want. This then syncs back to your iPhone Notes app by the time you are ready to paste the next section.

•In the podcast app when looking for the next section I needed, I used the search function to find my place in the transcript. Look for a unique word near the end of the previous section to dial it in the part you need.

Like I said, tedious and time consuming but it worked for me.

Having just experienced the text selection limitation myself, I am actually and absolutely offended by this.

Apple, Inc. - wealthiest company in the history of the world, often celebrated for their pro-accessibility effort in consumer technology - went through the trouble of developing and implementing an intentional limitation like this.

What the fuck do you think I’m going to do… sell your auto-generated transcription???

"Tumblr iOS Architecture" Deck from 2014

Combined Slide Deck

https://engineering.tumblr.com/post/93985550454/tumblr-ios-architecture

Whyp in CarPlay!

Today, Uuganbayar Otgonbayar added astonishingly responsive and (like the rest of the app) quite original CarPlay support to their React Native-based iOS/iPadOS client for Whyp and…

Oh man! I spent nearly an hour pushing it as hard as I could but found only delight.

Whyp - Upload & Share Audio

"Oleophobia" - Logic Pro for iPad Experiment

iPadOS 18 Audio Capture Anecdotes

Aiko Transcript

All right folks, it’s your favorite thing, favorite time.

It’s time to play around with the changes to audio capture specifically, an iPadOS 18.1 beta 2.

I don’t actually, I don’t know if this is as a beta 2.

Two things I noticed, the thing that they introduced in 16 I believe, which is called mic modes, where you could switch between standard wide spectrum and voice isolation.

I say you could switch.

This was in control center, it’s still in control center, they redesigned where it is, and the interface is very pretty, but they didn’t fucking fix it, and by fix that I just mean have it, I don’t know, it’s an API thing I guess.

I really just need to put on a list of things that I go down and make a mock-up fucking app so that I can see what the actual control is, the actual fucking backend code.

Not that I’m capable of this, or at least it doesn’t come easily, because um, in order to switch mic modes, and I don’t know if I’m recording in voice isolation or standard or wide spectrum right now, this is in voice memos, which is a native app which has transcription now, which is very cool, except even as I’m recording right now I don’t have access to that mic modes menu.

I had to start a live stream on Telegram.

Telegram, of course, is the one app that semi-reliably gives me access to the mic modes thing, but it still sticks as in you make a selection.

There was no selection at first.

Anyway, this is voice memos recording in lossless.

I don’t know if stereo voice memos is a new capability, but if you go to the app specific menu for voice memos in iPadOS 18, there was a toggle that was default off, just called stereo, and it’s on now.

Good morning.

All right, same device, same setting, but this is ferrite.

Ferrite being, well, the closest that we’ve ever come, really, to a professional audio capture app on this device.

Um, let’s see, do I have access to mic modes?

Nope, that’s okay.

Um, but uh, yeah, I, notably, one thing that ferrite recently added, and I know it’s silly, but uh, when I was in high school growing up around musicians and audio stuff, uh, FLAC files were basically a fucking meme because, um, you know, I explored all the drywall stuff in FLAC, which is, which is, if you know what I’m talking about, kind of funny.

Anyway, you can export it to FLAC now in ferrite.

And finally, recording in 96 kilohertz directly into Logic Pro for iPad.

Same microphone array, I think.

Um, yeah.

Oh, I guess it’d be very weird if I had access to mic modes here.

But I, so I listened back to, um, at least the voice memos recording, uh, and I’m almost positive that that was indeed in voice isolation.

Um, I guess the last subject would be, uh, I’m gonna see if I can, I’ll have a go at putting this together in fucking Logic Pro. Oh wait, actually, no, I’ll put it in, I’ll put it in ferrite and export it to WIP because WIP does 320 playback.

Uh, transcription.

I, um, think that on-device transcription is really cool, you know, native.

Uh, I would just like to mention that Cinder’s sword, his sword, who’s, wow, I actually know how to pronounce his name, but I’m not going to continue to fail.

Uh, his app, ICO, which is free, A-I-K-O, um, at least for my recordings so far, it’s just fucking better.

And you can import anything, video files.

Uh, I try to, the weirdest fucking file format, I think I did a WebM and it was fine and allows you to immediately copy, uh, and also export into all, uh, a bunch of different text formats and it’s free.

And it is also on-device and it’s bizarrely fast, but, uh, you know, I’ve got the newest chips.

Yeah.

Just buy a Shure SM57 and a Sema and a used, buy a used Shure SM57, uh, and a USB audio interface, a relatively good quality one.

Um, just do that.

Don’t buy an iPad.

ChatGPT Responds to My Old Apple Dev Forums Question

Back in July, 2021, I posted a thread on the Apple Developer forums asking for clarification on the differences between hardware keyboard support on iPad and iPhone.

The response… blew my mind, suffice it to say, but I would like to take a moment to champion ChatGPT, of all fucking things, for its reply when given the same request and asked to respond:


Hi David,

Thank you for your detailed question and the context provided. Your observations about the state of Bluetooth keyboard support and documentation for iPhones are insightful and highlight a gap in current resources.

Current State of Documentation and Support

  1. Bluetooth Keyboard Support on iPhone:

    • As you’ve noted, iPhones do support Bluetooth keyboards, and there is ongoing development in this area. However, the documentation has not kept pace with these developments, particularly since the split of iPadOS from iOS.
  2. Discrepancy in Documentation:

  3. Developer Awareness:

    • Your experience with developers unaware of their apps' Bluetooth keyboard shortcuts on iPhones indicates a need for better communication and documentation from Apple to bridge this knowledge gap.

Answer to Your Question

Where can I find complete documentation of both keyboard shortcuts support in native apps/the OS and UIKeyCommand’s uniquely-iPhone considerations?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single comprehensive source that documents all the keyboard shortcuts supported on iPhones across native apps and the OS. However, here are some steps and resources that might help:

  1. UIKeyCommand Documentation:

    • The UIKeyCommand class is the primary resource for developers to implement and understand keyboard shortcuts in their apps. While this documentation doesn’t differentiate between iPhone and iPad, the principles apply to both.
  2. Accessibility Features:

    • Apple’s support pages on accessibility features can provide some insight into keyboard usage on iPhones, particularly for those who use keyboards for accessibility reasons. For example, Full Keyboard Access is a feature available on both iPhones and iPads.
  3. Developer Forums and WWDC Sessions:

    • Engaging in Apple Developer Forums and watching relevant WWDC sessions can provide additional insights and updates. Sessions such as this one from WWDC 2021 cover many topics related to keyboard navigation and accessibility.

Recommendations and Next Steps

  1. Feedback to Apple:

    • Given your detailed observations and the gaps in documentation, I recommend submitting feedback to Apple through the Feedback Assistant. Your input could help prioritize better documentation and resources for iPhone keyboard support.
  2. Community Collaboration:

    • Consider collaborating with other users and developers to compile a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts for iPhones. This could be shared on platforms like GitHub or a dedicated website, providing a valuable resource for the community.
  3. Sharing Your Findings:

    • If you have already documented some keyboard shortcuts through your testing, sharing these findings on forums or community platforms could benefit other users facing similar challenges.

Thank you again for your question and your efforts in highlighting this important issue. Your initiative is greatly appreciated, and I hope these suggestions help you find the information you need.

Working Copy App Store Review

Working Copy Icon

My absolute favorite Git client… on ANY platform.

I had the relatively unique experience of coming to Git, mobile-first, via this very application on my iPhone 8 Plus, almost exactly 4 years ago. Thanks to GitHub’s Education program, I’ve had access to unlimited repository creation since that first day, and it’s honestly quite a testament to the power of Working Copy just how much of a mess I made in those initial few months.

Now on my iPad Pro, I keep so many repos (89 as of this writing) that I have an automation that maintains a browsable index of the lot (which is, itself, a testament to Working Copy’s incredibly comprehensive and solid Siri Shortcuts support.)

Keka for iOS/iPadOS App Store Review

Keka for iOS/iPadOS App Icon

The best compression/extraction utility on the platform.

By far the most delightful compression/extraction utility for macOS (imo) is somewhat diminished in delightfulness in its mobile form, though not in its pure functionality. From the perspective of a year one iOS user with plenty of experience exploring what alternatives have been offered since the introduction of the File Provider API in iOS11, Keka for iOS/iPadOS' shear speed is distinct enough from its few platform competitors to warrant the title of Best such utility on the platform.

Also unique/notable:

Audio Waveforms Visualized in a Snap via Siri Shortcut

Just wanted to highlight and demonstrate @verdictum’s absolutely incredible Visualize Audio Siri Shortcut.

ShowCuts source image export of the Visualize Audio Siri Shortcut.

Apple Music Replay 2023

Replay 2023 Album Art Grid

See the full-sized image here.

Siri Simone Voicemail Greeting

As of iOS17, it would appear that responsibility for synthesizing the Default Greeting preview (locally on one’s device) has now fallen to whichever Siri voice you currently have selected in settings at the time.

Upon noticing this, I verified that the actual recording a missed caller will hear is the same (apparently carrier-side) as its been since before the trees and rocks on Earth and it occurred to me just how much better stock, out of the box Siri Voice 2 sounds than her, so I gave it a shot.

I plan to leave it as my greeting for the time being so - if you’re curious/require hearing what your missed callers will actually hear - horrendous noise and all - I would encourage you to call me, anytime). I do not experience or follow up with unknown callers unless they leave a voicemail… which I’d also be more than fine with you doing.

+1 (573) 823-4380

Enjoy!

Clippings Backup Taio Action

Clippings Backup action open in the Taio Action Editor.

This action uses the Get Clippings action step to return the content of all clippings, which is then counted by lines and backed up (by default) in the root of one’s iCloud Drive storage for Taio as clippings.md. (iCloud Drive/Taio/Editor/clippings.md) Before finishing, the action displays the number of lines it has backed up.

Video Demo

Source

{
	"actions": [
		{
			"type": "@clips.get-text",
			"parameters": {
				"mode": 1
			}
		},
		{
			"type": "@flow.set-variable",
			"parameters": {
				"value": {
					"value": "$",
					"tokens": [
						{
							"location": 0,
							"value": "@input"
						}
					]
				},
				"name": {
					"value": "clippings"
				}
			}
		},
		{
			"type": "@text.count",
			"parameters": {
				"mode": 0,
				"text": {
					"value": "$",
					"tokens": [
						{
							"location": 0,
							"value": "clippings"
						}
					]
				}
			}
		},
		{
			"type": "@flow.set-variable",
			"parameters": {
				"value": {
					"value": "$",
					"tokens": [
						{
							"location": 0,
							"value": "@input"
						}
					]
				},
				"name": {
					"value": "count"
				}
			}
		},
		{
			"type": "@editor.new",
			"parameters": {
				"location": 2,
				"openInEditor": false,
				"filename": {
					"value": "clippings.md"
				},
				"text": {
					"value": "$",
					"tokens": [
						{
							"location": 0,
							"value": "clippings"
						}
					]
				},
				"overwriteIfExists": true
			}
		},
		{
			"type": "@ui.toast",
			"parameters": {
				"style": 0,
				"waitUntilDone": false,
				"title": {
					"value": "$ Clippings Backed Up",
					"tokens": [
						{
							"location": 0,
							"value": "count"
						}
					]
				}
			}
		}
	],
	"buildVersion": 1,
	"name": "Clippings Backup",
	"clientMinVersion": 1,
	"summary": "Backs up all clippings content - merged in a single text file - at [iCloud Storage]/clippings.md.",
	"icon": {
		"glyph": "externaldrive.badge.checkmark",
		"color": "#10ADC0"
	},
	"clientVersion": 1222
}

Jayson App Store Review

Jayson App Icon

I Am No Longer Afraid of JSON

All of Simon’s apps are genius and wholly unique, but Jayson will always have a special place in mine own heart as the single application which finally killed my phobia of JSON, in general. It is by far the most elegant and intelligent means of manipulating JSON dictionaries I’ve ever seen on any platform. I’ve worked with both the iOS and macOS apps, now, and both are - dare I say it - a genuine joy to use. BUY!

Jayson