Welcome to the August 2020 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
New and Noteworthy App Entries
Commtech USA (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
Commtech USA is everything we offer online via our website in the palm of your hands! The latest news, reviews, tech tips and tutorials. Audio and Video training samples, access to the Support Staff Podcast, and quick access to our staff via phone, iMessage, email and more! When we release a podcast, training video or audio or announce something big, youâll be the first to know via alerts straight to your device. (Requires enabling of Notifications).
Read Commtech USA's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Commtech USA's App Store page
Doing It Right (iOS/iPadOS, US$1.99)
Audio game fully accessible to blind and visually impaired people.
Doing it Right is an audio puzzle with brain-busting challenge. Test your hearing and logic.
Follow the sound instructions and win the game. With each chapter and level instructions will become more difficult and mental discomfort stronger. Try to test yourself. It is harder than it seems at first sight.
Current Version: 1.2.0 (August 4, 2020)
Read Doing It Right's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Doing It Right's App Store page
GitHub (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Thereâs a lot you can do on GitHub that doesnât require a complex development environment â like sharing feedback on a design discussion, or reviewing a few lines of code. GitHub for iOS lets you move work forward wherever you are. Stay in touch with your team, triage issues, and even merge, right from the app. Weâre making these tasks easy for you to perform, no matter where you work, with a beautifully native experience.
You can use GitHub for iOS to:
- Browse your latest notifications
- Read, react, and reply to Issues and Pull Requests
- Review and merge Pull Requests
- Organize Issues with labels, assignees, projects, and more
- Browse your files and code
Current Version: 1,2,4 (August 11, 2020)
Read GitHub's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Laundry Lens (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
Laundry Lens is the perfect companion for doing the laundry. Just point your camera at a care label and you will be presented to the proper instructions on how to take care of your clothes and garments. By swiping up, you can also look up the laundry symbols manually and discover many others. Laundry Lens includes a full list of symbols, from washing to ironing, and even professional ones, so you know exactly what type of care your laundry requires.
Current Version: 1.0.3 (July 29, 2020)
Read Laundry Lens' AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Laundry Lens' App Store page
Mercury for Mastodon (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Introducing Mercury, a customisable client for the Mastodon social network!
Notable features of Mercury:
- Customise swipe gestures to shortcut actions you perform often
- Choose a custom theme to personalise the app to your tastes with automatic dark mode switching
- Listen to audio uploaded to the Fediverse
- Save a list of hashtags that you would like to follow
- Add descriptions to images and GIFs that you upload
- Support for custom emoji when posting a status
- Open Twitter and Reddit links in popular native apps
- Create custom timeline filters
- Translate status text
- Bookmark statuses
- Schedule statuses
- Manage lists
- Multiple account support
- All without ads
Current Version: 1.3.2 (August 20, 2020)
Read Mercury for Mastodon's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Mercury for Mastodon's App Store page
Sounds Of Eden (iOS/iPadOS, US$1.99)
Sounds of Eden is a meditative, audio experience. Designed to inspire a sense of peace and calm within the listener. Walk through an endlessly generated garden where the only things that grow are blissful sounds. Each time you enter your garden, you'll find a unique array of plants that grow around you as you explore.
This is an audio only experience, there are no visuals.
Read Sounds Of Eden's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Sounds Of Eden's App Store page
Untold RPG (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
UNTOLD is an immersive text-based RPG where you create your own adventure. You wake up on a beach, confused and vengeful and soon encounter a nomad. Like you, she suffers from memory loss and wishes nothing but vengeance upon those responsible.
âEven in its early stage, it is a delightful game â the eloquent writing, amount of surprise elements and uncertainty paint a wonderful experience unique to every play-through!â â Player
Choose your own UNTOLD story by making decisions that impact your adventure. Some of these choices will pave way for survival, others will condemn you to the realm of the dead. As you venture through the world, you gain experience, gather equipment and build your character. Keep in mind though, that strength is not everything you need to survive the cruel continent that is Tem Khiris.
Current Version: 1.3.1 (August 27, 2020)
Read Untold RPG's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Untold RPG's App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
iOS/iPadOS
Mac
Apple Watch
Apple TV
Notable App Updates
Bump Bump Braille Learn (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
Bump Bump Braille Learn puts learning braille at your finger tips. Learn the entire alphabet, and the in, and outs of braille. If you already know braille we provide a cheat sheet with the entire alphabet. We will add more features in each incremental update. Bump Bump Braille makes learning braille easy.
Current Version: 1.6 (August 18, 2020)
Changes in Version 1.6
- You can now learn braille contractions, and get even better at braille.
- Performance improvements.
Read Bump Bump Braille Learn's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Bump Bump Braille Learn's App Store page
Dolphin EasyReader (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
EasyReader is a FREE accessible reading app for readers with dyslexia, low vision or blindness. Browse & download from the World's largest collection of talking book and newspaper libraries. Open your own DAISY, Epub or text books. Or copy text from anywhere on your phone & hear EasyReader read it back to you. Experience perfectly synchronized text & audio. Or for text only titles, EasyReader can add a human sounding voice of your choice. Boost comfort or contrast - choose colours, text size and highlights to suit your visual needs.
Current Version: 2.10 (August 13, 2020)
Changes in Version 2.10
- RNIB Reading Services: Searches for books from the audiobook collection by default. Text-only EPUB files are still available in the "Search all" category
- Bookshare: New category added for ISBN search. Several improvements made for periodicals
- Nota: Cover images are now included for titles from the Nota library
- EPUB: Books in EPUB format are now split by page
- VoiceOver: An option to change the audio speed has been added to the VoiceOver rotor
- You can now sign into the Dolphin Account using âSign in with Appleâ
- Remaining reading time is now displayed in âWhere am I?â
- Various additional fixes and improvements
Read Dolphin EasyReader's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Dolphin EasyReader's App Store page
Microsoft To Do (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
Stay organized and manage your day-to-day with Microsoft To Do. Make shopping lists or task lists, take notes, record collections, set reminders and more to improve your productivity and focus on what matters.
Microsoft To Do is the task management app that makes it easy to stay organized and manage your life. Accomplish whatâs important to you each day with My Day and Suggestions, personalized day planner tools. Intelligent suggestions recommend tasks from across your lists that may be relevant each day.
Current Version: 2.25.1 (August 28, 2020)
Changes in Version 2.25
- Fixed issues related to "Planned List" filters
- Fixed some accessibility bugs
Read Microsoft To Do's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Microsoft To Do's App Store page
NetNewsWire: RSS Reader (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
NetNewsWire is a free and open source RSS reader. Itâs fast, stable, and accessible.
NetNewsWire shows you articles from your favorite blogs and news sites â and keeps track of what youâve read.
If youâve been going from page to page in your browser looking for new articles to read, let NetNewsWire bring them to you instead.
Current Version: 5.0.3 (August 18, 2020)
Changes in Version 5.0.3
- VoiceOver: now reads expansion state in sidebar
- VoiceOver: now reads âstarredâ when an article is starred
- Article view: subject is now populated in mail composer when a mailto link includes a subject
- Settings: fixed some URLs to our GitHub repo that included obsolete name for main branch
Read NetNewsWire: RSS Reader's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit NetNewsWire: RSS Reader's App Store page
Supersense AI (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Supersense is the smartest and simplest scanner app made for the blind and visually impaired users to read any text format, currency or product details from a barcode independently.
With the power of AI, Supersense automatically figures out what you are trying to scan, guides you on how to point the camera, and reads the content in the right format. Its unique design minimizes the time and frustrations of scanning and reading text for a blind and visually impaired user.
Full features of Supersense:
- Smart Scanner: The app automatically detects whether you are trying to quickly read a piece of text, a long document, a currency or a barcode.
- Smart Guidance: The app guides you on how to point the camera and finds the best angle to have the most accurate results
- Quick Read: Instantly read the text presented in front of the rear camera
- Document: Read longer documents with the assistance of smart guidance. Once the text has been recognized, use VoiceOver commands to navigate through the recognized text and share it to other apps.
- Currency: Recognize currencies and hear the value of a banknote
- Barcode: Scan barcodes to hear the name and brand of the products with additional information
- Import: Read and explore text from the photos in your camera roll. Also you can send them directly from any other apps with using "Supersense Image" tool in your share menu.
- Read History: Display your text recognition history in a single screen so you can navigate through the recently recognized text and share it to other apps
Current Version: 1.3.5 (August 12, 2020)
Changes in Version 1.3.5
- A new Object Explorer mode is added to the the features menu! Now you can scan your environment and hear about the objects that are around! This feature can help you to explore unfamiliar environments and find objects that you are searching for.
- An Invite Friends button is added to the menu to share Supersense with friends directly from the app.
- Fixed bugs and made some UI changes to provide a better experience.
Read Supersense AI's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Supersense AI's App Store page
Weather Gods (iOS/iPadOS, US$3.99)
Meet the Gods: Fire, Ice, Water, Air & Moon delivering you the Weather as you have never experienced it before. Weather Gods redefines the weather app with painstakingly crafted data visualizations, procedural graphics and audio that enable you to literally see, hear and feel the weather. With no more weather icons to decode, the Weather Gods is simply the quickest, most engaging, most enjoyable way to get the accurate weather information you need.
The Weather Gods skillfully integrates premium weather data into an elegant, iOS Exclusive, easy-to-use interface that will delight casual users and weather enthusiasts alike.
With a wealth of rich weather data from the worldâs most respected providers, the Weather Gods provide detailed site-based forecasts for over a million locations worldwide. Our advanced, next-generation notifications are easy to setup and bring you exactly the information you want right when you need it.
With 24 hour charts, observed weather, built in moon phase, widget, world clock and much, much more, the Weather Gods is a powerful personal time machine that lets you travel the world and visit the future. Please come join us on this exciting journey as we begin our mission to bring you the finest, most practical, most enjoyable weather app experience ever. We canât wait to hear what you think!
Current Version: 2.4.2 (August 27, 2020)
Changes in Version 2.4
Whatâs New
- Ambient Sounds
- New weather god animations
- Improved sunrise and sunset animations
- The Weather Wheel has been re-written to make it more accessible
- Additional moon information
- Weather Highlights - a new watch complication which delivers timely highlights throughout the day
- Many bug fixes and performance improvements
Read Weather Gods' AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Weather Gods' App Store page
Recent News and Views
A Dozen Dozen: Dreaming of iPhone 12 and iOS 14
By Morgan Watkins | August 10, 2020
I cut my own hair last week. I purchased the Elite Pro electric hair clippers through Amazon, and unpacked the much anticipated and quickly sanitized cardboard box. My overly long, unruly, very silver hair felt yucky and gross. It was time to shed the extra weight. I plugged in the clippers, stripped off my shirt and sat on a low plastic footstool over the tiled kitchen floor. Now, I was poised and personally empowered to do great damage. This was going to be fun! I drove those clippers across my locks like a 1965 Ford Mustang. What was the worst that could happen? I could leave a skid mark or two. Luckily, only my wife of forty years, who expects the unexpected from me, would witness the carnage. No one else would ever know. Hair grows, and I'm not going anywhere. We have been in solitary confinement for more than a dozen dozen days.
It has been odd spending the last twenty-one consecutive weeks avoiding any other human contact. Admittedly, I am glad we chose to stay safe, to stay at home during the pandemic, but what a strange way to live. I used to be somewhat of a "people person." Now, I share every moment of every day with my incarcerated wife and my temporarily retired guide dog. We go nowhere and see no one. We live in the shadows. Nowadays, we jump and scramble like cockroaches on the rare occasion when someone rings our doorbell. Who are they? What are they doing here? Are they going to step on us? How dare they approach our house. I want to bellow through the locked door, "I'm 65 years old. Now back off!"
In truth, we have adapted rather well. Life in the stir is all about routine. I know exactly how many calories we ingest every day. Exactly. I know how many eggs I will eat for breakfast. One. Slices of wheat toast? Two. We wrap up every day with a carefully pre-planned dinner and two small glasses of boxed red wine for me. As a treat, one plain, unbuttered and unsalted tortilla is a late night snack for us both. Rinse and repeat daily, forever.
Despite the days melting into weeks and months, we don't waste the time. Every day, my wife gets focused on her projects and I drop into my comfy chair. I have important stuff to do. I read AppleVis, play my mandolin and listen to Audible books. And, then I get serious.
On the coffee table next to my chair are two Apple Magic keyboards, a Belkin charging pad, a Mophie battery, AirPods, AirPod Pros and two iPhones. It is where I go to play.
Read More: âA Dozen Dozen: Dreaming of iPhone 12 and iOS 14â
Apple News
- Apple Releases iOS 13.6.1, iPadOS 13.6.1, and macOS Catalina 10.15.6 supplemental update
- Apple Warns VoiceOver Users Not to Install watchOS 7 Beta 4 or the first Public Preview (Update: issue resolved in beta 5)
This Month in Podcasts
AppleVis Unleashed August 2020: The Helium Effect
In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie are joined by Club AppleVis member Anna Dresner to discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include:
- Apple's $59.7B Q3 smashes Street expectations amid ongoing pandemics
- Examining Apple's record-breaking $59.7B June quarter by the numbers
- Apple becomes first public company to reach a $2 trillion market cap
- CBS and Showtime bundle offer now available for Apple TV+ subscribers
- Apple May Soon Offer 'Apple One' Subscription Bundles for Digital Services
- Apple One might launch a fitness streaming service to take on Peloton and Daily Burn
- Apple Reportedly Considering Extending Apple TV+ Free Trial
- more
Listen to âAppleVis Unleashed August 2020: The Helium Effectâ
How to Disable Raise to Wake on iPhone, and Why You Might Wish to as a VoiceOver User
In this podcast, Tyler shows us how to disable Raise to Wake on an iPhone; explaining why as a VoiceOver user you might wish to.
This month's podcasts from Thomas Domville
- How to enable Do Not Disturb temporarily on iOS
- Challenge Your Brain with the Doing It Right Game for iOS
- How to Turn on Fall Detection on Apple Watch
- How to remove suggested contacts in Mail on iOS
- How to Unlock your Apple Watch using your iPhone
Hot AppleVis Content
Here are some of our forum topics which have got people talking in the past month:
- gold wave, a classic audio editor for windows now available on iOS and accessible
- Opinion: Why VoiceOver Users Should Be Excited for Apple Silicon
- Please sign my petition, Apple, commit to never again wilfully excluding disabled people from public betas
- I've had it with dictation! Absolutely had it!
- iPhone SE 2020 battery life isn't good
- Should I buy an iPad and magic keyboard to replace my old lap top?
- Weather Gods 2.4 Released
Club AppleVis
Club AppleVis offers members and friends of our community a means of directly contributing towards the financial costs of operating AppleVisâthus ensuring that we can continue to deliver the information, help, and support that so many people have come to value and rely on since our launch in 2010.
To learn more about Club AppleVis; the perks of membership; and how you can join, please visit www.applevis.com/club-applevis
We hope that everybody in our community, your families, and loved ones continues to remain safe and healthy in these difficult times.
The AppleVis Editorial Team
Comments
wow I downloaded bump-bumpâŠ
wow
I downloaded bump-bump braille learn earlier as I wanted to learn contractions. but since it wasn't there, I deleted it.
I'm so excited they have introduced contractions now!
thank you so much for this update and newsletter! I'll be re-downloading the app again!