Welcome to the May 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
AdGuard Pro — adblock (iOS, US$1.99)
AdGuard Pro is More than just ad blocking in Safari! It’s the most effective adblock browser plugin with data tracking prevention.
With AdGuard Pro you can select different DNS service providers, which opens new possibilities: faster and more reliable internet access both for Wi-Fi and cellular connections, parental control, protection from phishing and malware and shielding your DNS traffic against interception and snooping. Add to this the Privacy module that detects trackers in real time and lets you decide which to block and which to let through. And all this on top of the excellent ad blocking in Safari, which has already proven to be of an unrivaled quality by the free AdGuard for iOS version.
Highly customizable AdGuard Pro will make your web surfing safe and fast!
Current Version: 2.1.1 (June 21, 2018)
Read AdGuard Pro — adblock’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit AdGuard Pro — adblock’s App Store page
Advent (iOS, Free)
Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) (Crowther, 1976; Crowther & Woods, 1977), an iPhone version of the first text adventure computer game.
Rewrote game to implement 1000-point version by David Malmberg. Also, added Game Center support! In addition to leader boards, you can now invite other players and give them a virtual tour to help them should they get stuck.
Current Version: 3.0 (April 16, 2017)
Read Advent’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Alt-Frequencies (iOS, US$4.99)
What happens when everyone is stuck in the same time loop, without knowing?
Alt-Frequencies is an audio mystery game where you use the airwaves to open the world’s eyes to the truth. Record, rewind time and broadcast snippets of radio shows to expose radio hosts, conspiracy theorists, politicians, underground activists - and a dog.
By redistributing information, you change what happens in the next 3 minute time loop and impact both news cycles and the lives of the people behind them.
Listen as their personal stories evolve, in a world that seems to stand still.
Features:
- A new kind of narrative game that blurs the lines between the fantastical and the everyday while examining our relationship with mainstream media through the prism of radio stations.
- Built-in accessibility features that make the game available to a wide range of people - including blind and visually impaired players.
- Brought to life by a diverse cast of 20+ amazing voice performers, including TV, podcasts and YouTube personalities such as Jasika Nicole (Fringe, Welcome to Night Vale).
- By the studio behind the critically acclaimed A Normal Lost Phone and Another Lost Phone: Laura’s Story.
A co-production from ARTE, the European cultural network, with Accidental Queens.
Current Version: 1.2 (May 17, 2019)
Read Alt-Frequencies’ AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Alt-Frequencies’ App Store page
App Wish List & Price Tracker (iOS, Free)
App Wish List lets you keep track of all the apps you’d like to get at a later time. Here’s how it works:
- Apps are added to your wish list directly from within the App Store using the share extension.
- Notifications are shown when there is a price drop or update of an app on your wishlist.
- You save money by waiting until the app you are interested in reaches the perfect price.
- Share the app discounts you’ve found with your friends and help them save money too!
With App Wish List you can track an unlimited number of apps, there are no ads, and the app is completely free to use. Enjoy!
Current Version: 1.2.2 (November 8, 2018)
Read App Wish List & Price Tracker’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit App Wish List & Price Tracker’s App Store page
Bedr alarm clock radio (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Wake up every day to your favourite radio station! Download this free app now and turn your iPhone into an alarm clock with radio streaming. With over 7.000 radio stations from all over the world, we deliver you the local news, sports, your favorite music and any radio station from any place in the world straight to your home.
With the free bedr radio app:
- wake up to radio stations from all over the world
- alarm clock with smooth alarm, snooze-timer, vibration and auto-stop
- snooze by simply tapping into the screen, tap twice to stop the alarm
- shake to stop the alarm but to continue the radio streaming (e.g. to listen in the bathroom)
- artist and title of the current song
- use the night mode feature and turn your phone into a night clock
- adjustable brightness for the night clock
Current Version: 2.5.3 (November 15, 2018)
Read Bedr alarm clock radio’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Bedr alarm clock radio’s App Store page
Court TV (iOS, Free)
Court TV brings you live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of our nation’s most important trials, all anchored by the most talented and trusted legal journalists in America. Plus, you can catch up with recent coverage and access a library of iconic trials On Demand.
Current Version: 1.3 (May 29, 2019)
Read Court TV’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Court TV’s App Store page
Draftpad (iOS, Free)
DraftPad is a simple notepad which is like a single sheet of paper. You can use it to write a draft for messaging, posting, blogging, or any writing tasks.
For the simplicity, DraftPad doesn’t have features for filing multiple notes and decorating text elements. Instead, it is always ready to start jotting.
DraftPad allows you to
- Simply write and read on a plain field without any functional complexity or visual clutter.
- Share or export your text via iOS standard activity sheet.
- Restore previous text from the automatic History list.
- Change font size and line spacing.
- Helped by the counters for characters, words, and lines.
Current Version: 2.0 (March 17, 2018)
Read Draftpad’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Draftpad’s App Store page
Dreams, Your dream journal (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Dreams is an application that will help you track and analyze your dreams.
Your personal dream journal:: Make notes about your sleep patterns and the dreams you’ve had, including the characteristics and how well you remember them.
Analyze your dreams:: View important information and stats about your sleep and your dreams.
Identify recurring signs:: Signs are events, places, feelings, people or objects inside your dreams. This application will help you recognize the recurring ones allowing you to understand many things about your dreams. Signs are also very important for those who want to practice lucid dreaming.
Always with you:: Keep your dream journal in sync across all your devices.
Your dreams are safe:: Set a passcode or use Touch ID to keep your dreams safe from prying eyes.
Reality checks:: Are you a lucid dreamer? Get notifications to help you remember to do reality checks.
Health:: Automatically import information about your sleep into the Health app.
Current Version: 1.3.0 (April 21, 2019)
Read Dreams, Your dream journal’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Dreams, Your dream journal’s App Store page
Song Quiz: The Roadtrip Game (iOS, Free)
Song Quiz is the interactive music trivia game that’s completely hands free- all you need is your voice!
Join our community of over a million music buffs and put your music knowledge to the test.
Listen to the music clip and guess the song title and artist with your voice.
- Choose a playlist from every decade- 2010s, 2000s, 90s, 80s, 70s and 60s.
- Listen to real music clips from your favorite artists, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Eminem, and much much more!
- Play against friends and family or compete head to head with music fans from around the world, whether you’re sat in your car or on the couch.
Already a Song Quiz player on Amazon Alexa? Login to the app with your Amazon Alexa account to see your scores and continue to master your favorite playlists on the go!
Current Version: 2.6 (May 24, 2019)
Read Song Quiz: The Roadtrip Game’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Song Quiz: The Roadtrip Game’s App Store page
Tank Battle Endless Gunner (iOS, US$1.99)
Blow up or ram your way through wave after wave of enemies.
Keep enough of fuel, armour and weapons to keep fighting on.
Be careful to not waste the resources as this will cost you precious stars.
Upgrade and replenish your tank in the shop with the stars you earn from completing the current wave.
Features:
- Random levels long re-play ability.
- Rich sound effects.
- Intuitive game play.
- Easy to pick up and hard to put down.
- Fully compatible and designed to be used with VoiceOver.
Current Version: 1.0 (May 29, 2019)
Read Tank Battle Endless Gunner’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Tank Battle Endless Gunner’s App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
Notable App Updates
Dropbox (iOS, Free)
Dropbox is the home for all your work. You can store and share files, collaborate on projects, and bring your best ideas to life. All whether you’re working alone or as part of a team.
Features:
- Store and access files from any device
- Share files with anyone, even if they don’t have a Dropbox account
- Get real-time updates on shared files. You’ll know anytime someone makes a change, leaves a comment, or moves your work.
- Turn receipts, whiteboards, and notes into PDFs with doc scanner
Current Version: 144.2 (May 29, 2019)
Changes in Version 144.2
- Record audio files straight from the Create menu!
- Improvements for accessibility (now conforms to WCAG Level A)
Read Dropbox’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Dropbox’s App Store page
Fiery Feeds: RSS Reader (iOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Fiery Feeds is a powerful and highly customisable feed reader and read-it-later client that syncs with most services.
- Smart Views -
- Custom URL Sharing -
- Text Extraction -
- Safari Extension -
- Keyboard Shortcuts -
Fiery Feeds fully supports external keyboards and keyboard shortcuts. You can navigate the entire app using only the keyboard if you want to.- Today Widget -
- Automatic Theme Switching -
- Feed Managment -
- Folder Groups -
- VoiceOver -
- Highly customizable - Almost every aspect of Fiery Feeds is customisable. Color Themes, Fonts, Text sizes. If you want a leisurely reading environment, just the headlines, or anything in between, Fiery Feeds has you covered.
Current Version: 2.2.2 (May 29, 2019)
Changes in Version 2.2
Fiery Feeds 2.2 is a huge update with the following headline features:
- iCloud RSS Account
- iCloud Read Later Account
- Local RSS and Read Later Accounts
- Three Pane Layout on iPads
- Improved navigation: Long press menu (on articles and folders) and full screen swipe to go back
- Configurable short / long swipe actions in article list
- Completely redesigned subscribe and read later Safari Extensions
- Support for deleting and tagging articles, if supported by your service
- Backup and Restore local data and settings
- iCloud sync for app and account settings
- Saves reading progress in long articles
The complete changelog is literally too long to fit here, but you can read all the details at http://blog.cocoacake.net/fiery-feeds-changelog
Read Fiery Feeds: RSS Reader’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Fiery Feeds: RSS Reader’s App Store page
Voice Dream Scanner (iOS, US$5.99)
Scan paper documents with the camera and recognize text. Listen using built-in text-to-speech. Save and export. Unlimited use: no subscriptions or additional charges.
State-of-the-art A.I. for OCR and text recognition: Fast and accurate, even in poor lighting conditions. Works entirely on device: No need for internet and your data stays private.
Export scans as plain text or PDF with embedded text to another app, or save them on your local device, iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive.
Works with Voice Dream Reader, our full-featured text-to-speech reader. After downloading this app, you will be able access the scanner directly from Reader. In addition, you’ll be able to read scanned PDF documents in Reader.
Current Version: 1.2.0 (May 7, 2019)
Changes in Version 1.2.0
- ScanTone. ScanTone is a sound that represents the amount of recognizable text in the camera’s field of view. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze the live feed from the camera for text, angle, rotation, and document edges. Louder is better. It replaced the tone for edge detection in previous versions.
- Improved Auto Capture.
- Share extension. You can send one or more images from another app to Scanner.
- Improved langauge and orientation detection.
- Manual rotation. Most of the time, Scanner finds the correct orientation automatically. This is for those rare exceptions.
- Improved handling of multi-column layout. And we’re working on further improvements in the area.
Read Voice Dream Scanner’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Voice Dream Scanner’s App Store page
Recent News and Views
Revisiting VoiceOver on iPad With the 2019 iPad Air and a Brydge Keyboard
By David Goodwin | May 17, 2019
When writing last November about my short time with an 11-inch iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard Folio, I commented on being generally disappointed by the performance of VoiceOver on iPad and concluded that the iPad had little to offer for my use case and circumstances.
In the months that followed, I regularly found myself reflecting on that post and wondering whether I had been too harsh on the iPad and the performance of VoiceOver. In particular, there was a growing acceptance that the cost of the iPad Pro and the Smart Keyboard Folio had significantly skewed and prejudiced my experience and opinions.
The release of the 2019 iPad Air presented a good opportunity to find out whether a much smaller hit on my bank balance would warm me towards the iPad and the experience of VoiceOver on iPad.
I’ve now had an iPad Air for approaching two months, which is nearly two months longer than I had the iPad Pro, so you can already safely conclude that my experience has been quite different this time around.
Yes, there are still niggles and glitches with the performance of VoiceOver. Yes, there are still plenty of occasions when I will reach for either my iPhone or MacBook Pro because doing so will enable me to be more productive or offer a better user experience. But, the significantly lower price paid appears to have had a dramatic effect on what I am prepared to tolerate and my willingness to seek out and enjoy ways in which an iPad does in fact have something to offer.
Read More: “Revisiting VoiceOver on iPad With the 2019 iPad Air and a Brydge Keyboard”
Participate in Global Accessibility Awareness Day
By Paul Martz | May 15, 2019
May 16, 2019 is the eighth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD); when people are encouraged to talk, think and learn about digital access and inclusion. This year, we ask both users and developers to get involved. Here’s how you can participate.
Users, Let Developers Know What You Think
GAAD is an excellent opportunity to contact developers about their apps, websites, and digital content. Before you contact a developer, read through this previous AppleVis GAAD blog, which enumerates best practices for reporting accessibility issues.
Please don’t simply use GAAD as an excuse to complain! Developers who have created accessible apps that you use and love deserve our thanks. Be sure to express gratitude to developers who have created accessible apps. Mention specific features and describe how easy they are for you to use. Post about the app or website to social media using #GAAD. This kind of feedback encourages developers to continue making apps accessible.
Read More: “Participate in Global Accessibility Awareness Day”
Apple Software and Hardware Releases
- Apple Releases Seventh Generation iPod touch with A10 Fusion Chip and 256GB Storage Option
- Apple Releases iOS 12.3.1 With VoLTE and iMessage Bug Fixes
- Apple Releases iOS 12.3 with Redesigned TV App and Some Accessibility Improvements for Blind and Low Vision Users
- Apple Releases macOS Mojave 10.14.5, watchOS 5.2.1, and tvOS 12.3
This Month in Podcasts
AppleVis Unleashed May 2019: Anyone Seen My AirPod?
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 earnings tidbits: record $11.5B in services revenue, 390 million total paid subscriptions, and more
- These are all the new features found in iOS 12.3
- Apple unveils the new iPod touch with 2016’s A10 Fusion chip and more
- What to expect from WWDC 2019
- Supreme Court rules that consumers can sue Apple for App Store practices
- You can now try out Microsoft’s new Edge browser for macOS
- AirPod survives trip through man who swallowed it
- Jay for Tweeting
- New action game seeking beta testers
- How to Set Up Mail VIP Contacts in iOS; and Why You Should
- How to Use the VPN on iOS
Listen to “AppleVis Unleashed May 2019: Anyone Seen My AirPod?”
This Month’s Podcasts by Thomas Domville
- Blow Up Your Way Through Wave After Wave of Enemies in Tank Battle Endless Gunner for iOS
- How to Use the VPN on iOS
- How to Set Up Mail VIP Contacts in iOS; and Why You Should
- How to Send and Receive SMS Text Messages on iPad
- Protect and Shield your device with the AdGuard Pro for iOS
A complete list of all podcasts posted to the AppleVis website can be found at www.applevis.com/podcasts
Hot Forum Topics
Here are some of our forum topics which have got people talking in the past month:
- Starting a new coding program for the blind
- Our latest game Tank Battle Endless Gunner has been released!.
- New action game seeking beta testers
- Music Competition for AudioWizards game
- Is the iPad a viable laptop replacement yet?
- What’s on your iOS 13 wish list?
- Introducing CountBackwards, game for training your brain
Club AppleVis
Club AppleVis offers members and friends of our community a means of directly contributing towards the financial costs of operating AppleVis—thus 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
The AppleVis Editorial Team
www.applevis.com