Welcome to the July 2019 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight 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
Button by Neatebox (iOS, Free)
18 years working for Guide Dogs for the Blind watching my blind and visually impaired friends struggle to interact with pedestrian crossings prompted me to look for a solution which would make the lives of all disabled people easier in this area.
Many crossings poles are out of reach or too far from the crossing to be useful so I set up Neatebox and looked for a way in which we could press the button at the crossing using our mobile phones.
āButtonā by Neatebox is the result of this hard work and gives you a hands-free remote crossing control from your phone. It removes the need for you to make physical contact with the crossing pole and leaves you free to focus on a safe and efficient crossing.
Simply download the free app and input your details and you are ready to go.
At this time there are limited locations in which the system can be used but we are keen to install more. If you feel that a crossing near you could do with an innovative solution such as this please let us know using the ārequest a crossingā feature within the app's settings and we will contact the Local Authority on your behalf to ask for our system to be installed.
Current Version: 1.02 (February 1, 2018)
Read Button by Neatebox's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Button by Neatebox's App Store page
Complicated (watchOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Complicated. Your Watch, Your Way. Complicated is the simplest way to customize your Apple watch.
Complicated gives you endless control over your apple watch faces. Complicated supports an ever growing list of customizations.
Use Complicated to:
- Set custom messages on your apple watch face. Including Emoji on your Watch
- Add custom icons to your watch face. Search from a large library of icons to find the perfect icon for your Watch Face
- Reminders on your Watch. Show your most important to-do items right on your watch
- Create custom dials and progress bars on your watch face. See the progress of your goals or projects, at a glance
- Build your own customizations with Webhooks. Supports IFTTT, Zapier, curl, and any programming language. The possibilities are endless!
Coming Soon to Complicated!
- Daily Motivational Messages. A new motivational message every day directly on your watch
- Daily Bible Passages. Display a new Bible passage on your watch every day
- RSS Feeds. Show text from any RSS feed directly on your apple watch
Current Version: 2.3.1 (July 23, 2019)
Read Complicated's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Complicated's App Store page
Encarda (iOS, US$4.99)
The Encyclopedia of Arda is an indispensible reference guide to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, based on the popular Website of the same name. The Encyclopedia contains around 4,000 individual entries, many with additional features such as maps, family trees and images.
Also included in the Encyclopedia are a selection of articles and reference guides, including a detailed lexicon and a guide to old and rare words used in Tolkien's works. The interactive Chronicle and Calendar let you explore the history of Middle-earth from its earliest times, and the Encyclopedia even contains detailed guides to the recent film versions of The Lord of the Rings.
FEATURES:
- Search the Encyclopedia, choose from an A-Z index, or browse articles by topic. Each entry is rich in hypertext links, letting you freely explore the world of Middle-earth and beyond.
- Many entries provide their own factbox and timeline, along with maps, genealogical charts, and images.
- The interactive Chronicle of Arda lets you explore any period from Middle-earth's history. The Interactive Calendar lets you choose dates in any of seven different calendars and see which events took place on those dates.
- Language guides include a dictionary of old and rare words used by Tolkien, and also a lexicon explaining the origins of many names of characters and places in Elvish and other languages.
- The 'Excyclopedia' feature is an additional guide to less canonical topics, exploring concepts from Tolkien's earlier work, and related topics from other sources.
- This is a standalone app that works completely independently of the Encyclopedia of Arda Website; no Internet connection is required.
Current Version: 1.15 (September 6, 2017)
Read Encarda's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Encarda's App Store page
Infuse 6 (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Ignite your video content with Infuse ā the beautiful way to watch almost any video format on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. No need to convert files! Infuse is optimized for iOS 12, with powerful streaming options, Trakt sync, and unmatched AirPlay & subtitle support. Gorgeous interface. Precise controls. And silky-smooth playback.
- PLAY MORE VIDEO TYPES: A powerful video player that plays just about anything, including the standard MP4, M4V and MOV ā plus MKV, AVI, WMV, MTS, ISO, VIDEO_TS, FLV, OGM, OGV, ASF, 3GP, DVR-MS, WebM, and WTV. Includes fully certified DolbyĀ® Digital Plus (AC3/E-AC3), DTSĀ® and DTS-HDĀ® audio.
- STREAM FROM OTHER DEVICES: Browse and play videos stored on your Mac, PC, NAS, Wi-Fi hard drive, UPnP/DLNA apps like Plex and Kodi (XBMC), or from cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive ā no syncing required!
- AIRPLAY & GOOGLE CAST OPTIONS: Stream a wide variety of videos types such as MKV, MP4, M4V, and others over AirPlay & Google Cast with full surround sound and subtitles.
- TRAKT 2-WAY SYNC: Connect with Trakt to sync watched history, submit ratings and post comments.
- OPTIMIZED SUBTITLES POWERED BY OPENSUBTITLES: Bring your own subtitles, or download them on the fly (for free) in virtually any language.
Current Version: 6.1.4 (July 31, 2019)
Read Infuse 6's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Infuse 6's App Store page
My Hurricane Tracker Pro (iOS, US$1.99)
My Hurricane Tracker Pro gives you the most comprehensive tools for tracking tornados, cyclones, tropical storms and weather warnings available. In a beautiful interface, you won't be overwhelmed with cluttered screens like you might with other apps. We give you exactly what you need in an easy to understand way.
- Interactive tracking maps for each hurricane.
- NOAA forecast map & storm satellite imagery where available!
- Historic search of previous storms from 1851 (or 1949 for Pacific).
- Receive weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
- Push notifications for weather warnings or new storm formations!
- Radar, satellite and sea temperature images automatically updated in the app!
- See an outlook for the next 5 days from the NOAA.
- Track specific hurricanes and receive notifications every time they are updated just by pressing the "+" button!
- Apple Watch support!
Current Version: 1.9.9 (July 16, 2019)
Read My Hurricane Tracker Pro's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit My Hurricane Tracker Pro's App Store page
Welcome by Neatebox (iOS, Free)
Do you feel that society has disabled you and hinders you from receiving the level of customer service you would like?
āWelcomeā by Neatebox aims to redress this balance and provides you with an effective communication tool which can help customer service teams give you with the support you deserve.
Simply download the free app, input your details, specify your needs and plan your first trip.
Please request any venues you would like to see included and remember there is strength in numbers so invite your friends and request together for greater impact.
Current Version: 1.9.0 (July 24, 2019)
Read Welcome by Neatebox's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Welcome by Neatebox's App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
Notable App Updates
Cash Reader: Bill Identifier (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Cash Reader identifies banknote denomination for the largest number of currencies.
Point your camera to the money in hand and hear, see or feel its value.
All banknotes supported by Cash Reader are listed below alphabetically by region.
European Union: Euro, British pound, Bulgarian lev, Croatian Kuna, Czech Crown, Danish krone, Hungarian Forint, Polish zloty, Romanian leu, Swedish krona
Europe: Bosnian mark, Icelandic crown, Norwegian krone, Russian Ruble, Serbian dinar, Swiss franc, Turkish Lira, Ukrainian hryvnia
North America: United States dollar, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso
Central America and the Caribbean: Honduran lempira, Trinidad and Tobago dollar
South America:Argentine peso, Bolivian Boliviano, Brazilian real, Colombian peso, Uruguayan peso, Paraguayan guarani, Peruvian sol
Middle East: Bahraini Dinar, Israeli shekel, Iranian rial, Jordanian Dinar, Kuwaiti Dinar, Lebanese pound, Omani rial, Qatari riyal, Saudi riyal
Asia: Chinese yuan, Hong Kong dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Japanese yen, Malaysian ringgit, Pakistani rupee, Philippine peso, Singapore dollar, Indian rupee, Vietnamese dong, Thai Baht
Oceania: Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar
Africa: Egyptian pound, Ghanaian Cedi, Kenyan shilling, Tunisian Dinar, Moroccan dirham, Rwandan Franc, South African Rand, West African CFA Franc, Nigerian Naira, Ethiopian Birr
App is localised to these languages:
English, Arabic, Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Japanese, Macedonian, Vietnamese
Current Version: 1.31 (July 31, 2019)
Changes in Version 1.31
Siri Shortcuts are here! Record a personal phrase and quickly identify your currency just by saying it.
- Create Siri Shortcut for all your favorite currencies and never search for that Cash Reader icon again!
- Do you no longer need to identify some currency? You can now delete its data and save some space.
- Cash Reader is now able to identify the banknotes of these new currencies: Thai Baht, West African CFA Franc, Nigerian Naira, Ethiopian Birr, Zambian Kwacha.
- Cash Reader is now localized also into these new languages: Danish, Vietnamese
Read Cash Reader: Bill Identifier's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Cash Reader: Bill Identifier's App Store page
Eye-D (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Eye-D is here to assist the visually impaired in independent living by helping them evaluate the world around them with help of their smartphone.
It will work as your companion when you travel, help you explore places, tell you about the objects in front of you and read text whenever you need.
This is what we have built for you:
- Where Am I: Be it the busiest suburbs of Mumbai or the loneliest roads of Siberia, whether you are a common man or zombie, Eye-D will make sure that you are never lost. Tap on āWhere Am Iā and let the magic happen. You get to know your location with a list of landmarks nearby. Found any of the landmark interesting? Then why wait tap the preferred landmark and Eye-D guides you to it with directions (currently by opening Apple/ Google maps for navigation).
- Around Me: Stuck in an alien town? Calm down, fire the Eye-D app and select āAround Meā. Bingo!! You can now find ATMās, Banks, Bus stops, Cinemas, Restaurants, Hospitals, Stores and even the Religious places nearby. Select the desired category and navigate to the preferred place. To ensure that you never miss out a place we have provided a search radius controller. So the next time you donāt find a relevant place nearby try adjusting the search radius to anything in the range of 500 to 5500 meters. What? Still in that alien town? Come-on find the nearest bus stop and head out.
- See Object: Iām facing the gateā¦ No the lemon treeā¦. No the bike, Easy pal!! Use the See Object mode in the Eye-D app to evaluate your surroundings. Click on this mode, take a picture and Eye-D app will tell you whatās in front. So the next time you are standing at the window use the See Object mode to check whatās happening on the other side. In case you missed the description the first time simply swipe right to hear again.
- Read Text: We designed this feature so that next time your visit a restaurant or want to get a novel for your friend you wonāt have to ask anyone for help. Open read text mode, click a picture and Eye-D app will read the text in front you. You can swipe right to hear the text again in case you missed it the first time.
Current Version: 1.3.3 (July 16, 2019)
Changes in Version 1.3.3
This update includes a number of UX enhancements. We have also squashed for bugs that you guys have reported. So please give it a try and do not forget to share your feedback with us @ shaswat@eye-d.in
Read Eye-D's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Inquisitor's Heartbeat (iOS, US$4.99)
The hazard is invisible to the eyes.
Your only allies are your ears.
Explore up to 35 audio scenarios, search, escape and donāt get caught by the sentinelsā¦ Or by something even worse than that.
Feel the Inquisitorās heart beating! Play Inquisitorās Heartbeat.
Game description
Inquisitorās Heartbeat catapults the player right into the 1300s, the height of the brutal Inquisition.
Accused of heresy for being in possession of a forbidden book, Nicholas Eymerich, the gameās main character is imprisoned in the dungeon of a castle: he must escape from his cell and retrieve the precious book that has been stolen from him, before it is taken to the monastery beyond the forest, and destroyed forever.
In more than 6 hours of gameplay, the player has to find his way through 35 labyrinthine levels divided into 7 different settings, without being spotted by guards and ferocious beasts, trusting only his own ears.
There is also an āendlessā game mode, where the mazes are generated one after the other, always with a different map.
Current Version: 0.3 (May 14, 2019)
Changes in Version 0.3
Compatible with iOS 11
Read Inquisitor's Heartbeat's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Inquisitor's Heartbeat's App Store page
LetSeeApp (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
LetSee is an app for vision.
It integrates different visual recognition and detection functions for visually impaired people. The basic operating principle for most functions is super easy: just point the camera towards the target and wait until you hear the result.
- Money reader: It recognizes banknotes of several currencies, including US Dollars, Euros, Chinese Yuan, Hungarian Forints and South Korean Won, and we keep adding new currencies.
- Plastic card recognizer: You have to register your own cards through the menu. Thereafter it works the same way as the money reader does. Card images are not stored and no sensitive information is saved, only the general design of the card is recognized. *Light measurement tool: This is not a recognizer function. Instead it measures the light level to let you find light sources, such as spotlights, screens, or even windows. The stronger the light the higher the pitch of the tone you hear. You may also get a percentage value by tapping the screen. Different sound scales can be selected in the menu. On iPhone light measurement is based on your back camera.
Current Version: 3.5.0 (July 17, 2019)
Changes in Version 3.5.0
- Improved light measurement: percentage value is displayed and audio feedback is given on a single tap
- Added auto pause feature
- Extended card slots available as in app purchase
- Stability improvements and bug fixes
Read LetSeeApp's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit LetSeeApp's App Store page
Strongbox Password Safe (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Strongbox is an application for keeping all your passwords safely stored and protected by one master password. Supporting the open source Password Safe and KeePass formats. Strongbox is a Freemium application offering enhanced Premium options as well as a super functional basic feature set.
Face ID & Touch ID capability or PIN Codes, for the ultimate in convenience and speed.
Cloud Support, so you can access your cloud safes using iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, WebDAV or SFTP even when offline. Use the built in Files app for many other storage options, or store them securely only on your local device. You choose your storage.
Secure, protected by time tested industrial strength cryptography.
Current Version: 1.37.1 (July 30, 2019)
Changes in Version 1.36.0
- Yubikey Secret Workaround (Read-Only Open)
- Improved Accessibility (Fix missing voice over labels)
- iPhone Split Screen capability (Master-Detail on large format screens)
- Onboarding: Ask about iCloud if available
Read Strongbox Password Safe's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Strongbox Password Safe's App Store page
Texas Holdāem (iOS, Free)
Appleās Texas Holdāem is back! To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the App Store, weāve brought back one of its first games, a popular classic. Originally created for iPod, then brought to iPhone, fans will love the polished redesign, featuring new characters, more challenging gameplay, and stunning graphics for the newest iPhone and iPod touch. Players will also love that itās free to playāfor the very first time.
Texas Holdāem lets you play like a pro against 24 realistic opponentsāor with your friends over Wi-Fi. Use all of the hints, tips, tells, and your mastery to gain access to more challenging locations with higher stakes and even bigger rewards!
Features:
- Opponents bet, bluff, and have secret tells
- Winning advances you to the next location
- Includes 10 distinctive locationsāincluding Las Vegas, Paris, and Macau
- Bring up in-game hints, tips, statistics, and player ratings
- Texas Holdāem is entirely free-to-play, works online or off
- Play against up to 8 friends with Wi-Fi multiplayer
- Rotate between immersive first-person and top-down gameplay
- Re-designed, re-rendered, and re-built to use high-resolution graphics that look stunning
- Designed for iOS 12 and later
Current Version: 2.0 (July 8, 2019)
Changes in Version 2.0
Appleās Texas Holdāem is back! To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the App Store, weāve brought back one of its first games, a popular classic. Originally created for iPod, then brought to iPhone, fans will love the polished redesign, featuring new characters, more challenging gameplay, and stunning graphics for the newest iPhone and iPod touch.
Read Texas Holdāem's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Texas Holdāem's App Store page
The Life Simulator (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Life Simulator is a realistic life simulation game that is both fun and educational! Choose a starting life scenario and see if you can go from rags to riches! Start as an uneducated bum living on a park bench and end as a yacht driving CEO living in a mansion.
The game contains subtle lessons about financial investment, relationship, career, time management, and life philosophies. Life is a balancing act between health, happiness, mental sanity, and wealth constrained by our limited lifespan, you get to decide how you want to live your life. There are many ways to win!
Current Version: 1.15 (July 10, 2019)
Changes in Version 1.15
The Game Saves Update is here!
- You can now have multiple saves so you can start new lives without erasing your current progress
- New achievement: High Achiever to unlock a third save slot
- New In-App Purchase to unlock 3 additional save slots
- Bill Pay is now turned on by default
- New Life Scenarios: Football Captain and Basketball Pro
- New Trait: Athletic
- Improved VoiceOver support for visually impaired users - thanks for the patience!
- Added player avatar to the Profile section
Bug Fixes
- Fix bug causing users to be bankrupted even if they have money
- Fix bug where drafting to a team make you pay twice
- Improve sport winning odds for championship games
Read The Life Simulator's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit The Life Simulator's App Store page
Recent News and Views
Using the iPad as a Laptop Replacement, Part 1
By Lysette Chaproniere | July 22, 2019
In late 2017, I got my first iPad, and started using it as a laptop replacement. I'm sure this would've been surprising to my younger self. When Apple launched the iPad, I thought it was pointless. It's a big phone that doesn't make phone calls, I thought. But then, I didn't think I'd ever be able to use a touch screen. Apple can prove me wrong.
So why did I decide to get an iPad? I'd been using Windows for many years, but never liked Windows 10 very much. My Windows laptop was getting slow, and would sometimes get itself into an endless loop on startup which I usually couldn't exit without sighted assistance, because my screen reader hadn't launched yet. Meanwhile, my iPhone never had that problem. VoiceOver was always there for me, and if my phone ever crashed, it was up and running again within a few seconds. My phone could do virtually everything my laptop could do and more. Since I had become dissatisfied with Windows, and getting another iOS device would be easier and cheaper than getting a Mac, I decided that an iPad would be a good solution.
With the upcoming launch of iPad OS, I'm expecting that the iPad will work even better as a main computing device. For more information on what's coming to the iPad this September, see this Summary of Announcements from WWDC 2019 Keynote and this iPad OS preview from Apple
In the rest of this post, I'll discuss some of the features already available on the iPad before the launch of iPad OS. The next article in this series, to be posted in September, will be about the features introduced in the update.
Read More: āUsing the iPad as a Laptop Replacement, Part 1ā
Apple News
- Apple Releases iOS 12.4 With Apple News Enhancements and New Data Migration Option
- Apple Releases macOS Mojave 10.14.6, watchOS 5.3, and tvOS 12.4
This Month in Podcasts
AppleVis Unleashed July 2019: The Smell of a Horse Barn
In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include:
- Apple announces 'disability-themed emojis' to arrive in the fall
- Apple updates 13-inch MacBook Pro, adding Touch Bar to entire range
- Apple may fund original podcasts exclusive to its own services
- Apple Releases iOS 12.4 with New iPhone Migration Utility, watchOS 5.3 Expands ECG Support to Canada & Singapore
- Apple releases watchOS 5.3 with ECG app support in Canada and Singapore, Walkie-Talkie bug fix
- Apple issues iOS 9.3.6 and iOS 10.3.4 updates for older iPhone and iPad models
- Notes of interest from Apple's Q3 2019 earnings report and conference call
- Stop punishing developers who are trying to make their games accessible
Listen to āAppleVis Unleashed July 2019: The Smell of a Horse Barnā
This Month's Podcasts by Thomas Domville
- How to Make and Receive Phone Calls with your iPad
- How to Check Weather Information with Siri in iOS
A complete list of all podcasts posted to the AppleVis website can be found at www.applevis.com/podcasts
Hot AppleVis Content
Here are some of our forum topics which have got people talking in the past month:
- Stop punishing developers who are trying to make their games accessible
- Iām just curious what is everyone looking forward to when iOS 13 comes out?
- Do you think Mac with VoiceOver will ever replace Jaws with Windows?
Additionally, the following App Directory entries have received many new comments:
Club AppleVis
Club AppleVis offers members and friends of our community a means of directly contributing towards the financial costs of operating AppleVisāthus ensuring that we can continue to deliver the information, help, and support that so many people have come to value and rely on over the past 9 years.
To learn more about Club AppleVis; the perks of membership; and how you can join, please visit www.applevis.com/club-applevis