Introducing Menus4All; Bringing 750,000 Accessible Restaurant Menus to the Palm of Your Hand

Is there a podcast on using the lock screen, How to setup photos and delete wall papers? Did a search and nothing. Can not believe there is no podcast on the lock screen!

Hi Holger,
Firstly, I have not gone back and listened to it lately, but the Lock Screen is covered in Thomas’ podcast covering new iOS 16 features:
https://www.applevis.com/podcasts/whistle-stop-tour-notable-new-features-enhancements-ios-16
If this needs more detail, I may be able to put one together after Xmas, or Thomas might like to, but the above may already be sufficient.
Secondly, by all means do please make podcast requests, but please keep in mind that creating content for AppleVis is a purely voluntary pursuit, done simply to contribute to the community. Perhaps unintentionally, or maybe it’s just me, but your tone above comes across a touch demanding and impatient.
Glad you find the podcasts useful.
Thanks, Dave

Nothing about ading photos or wall papers. Just widgets. The podcast on all menu was great. Nice job.

Hi Holger ,

This is on my list of things to do at some point. As you may know or not know that the Lock Screen customization has changed a lot since iOS 16 has been released. Thankfully, I believe it may have finally settled down. I have not created a podcast in covering the Lock Screen customization in-depth simply because it seemed they have changed how to do something in every release. Even in the last 16.2 there was a change. I just didn't want to release a podcast to only be outdated in the next minor iOS version.

As for your question to remove a wallpaper is simple. Just go to the wallpaper in question before you go into the customization and swipe up.

HTH

I've heard complaints that there are hardly any apps for where I live, but it might be fun to play with.

Thanks. Yes the app is nice but I am not planning to get it now. Nice job Thomas.

I thought it would be worth giving this app a try and consider paying the high $2.99 price tag for a couple of months but upon downloading and setting it up I reached a screen where I was to select a subscription option. The only two options selectable were the $2.99 monthly or the $29.99 annual subscription. I refuse to pay or be forced to subscribe just to take advantage of the free 14 days offered. Sorry but I'm not going through that. They're depending on folks to subscribe and then forget to turn off the auto-pay to stop it. Seems a bit sneaky to me and not something I want a part of.

I downloaded this. Thought it'd be a cool thing to have around. But anything beyond the first screen is locked behind a paywall. Why not just charge money up front? Highly disappointing so this app has been instantly deleted. I will not be recommending it.

Though I recognize this is the new model for devs, if you can't even get a 14 day trial to test it? I'd be a jerk. I'd pay the 2.99 then ask for a refund saying it's inaccessible. simply because it is. If the developers think i'm a complete jerk, I'm fine with that. If i can't get a lifetime support for an app, nope.

I'm an unashamed free marketeer and am entirely in favour of developers making money. However, I agree with others that t this is the wron approach and whenever I see it I don't buy into it. The developers of this app have created it because they believe we should have a right to read a menu, wherever we go. it's a point of principle, as I understand it. How then does that square with not allowing us to, well, see if we can read a menu wherever we go before making any sort of financial commitment? It sends out the wrong sort of message and there will no doubt be people who forget to cancel the subscription, or who don't know how to cancel the subscription and who leave it too late to find out. I'd change it, lest the market changes it.

to the app itself, I'm glad some folk find it useful. not available in the UK yet, I see, but even if it were I prefer to encourage restaurants to have accessible menus of their own. Where they dont, they can jolly well read it to me as the price of not doing So. indeed yes - Bingo Little is always very firm on that point - and yes, i mean read, not summarise. anyone had that annoying thing where staff in hotels try and summarise the menu for you instead of read it?

So as not to waste that much time, I want a shrimp dish, or i want a burger, the hardest is picking a beer lmao. seriously though, yes this app is out, but like with the cash reader before it, I spent a bit much, 30 dollars American so I can have updates, not the subscription model of whatever it is. Either go all in one, or you don't get my money.

Fair point, Siobhan, I also do that; but I am entitled not to do so if I really don't have a clue what I want. As for beers I usually ask what ales or craft beers they have. I like to try something local if I am away somewhere. As for wine, I'm afraid the standard of wine service can sometimes be embarrassingly poor - Chiraz isn't a country!

Here's my biggest issue with this app. You indeed have the right to not know what you want, have them read say the chicken or pasta dishes to you until you choose what you want. I'm just irritated they are charging for this when you don't give anyone who patronizes the exact same establishment, a price for a menu. Menus are free for everyone yet we pay. Why? You enjoy using it, have at it. :) I just am not ok with this practice. Have a good one.

Apple was pushing developers to employ a subscription model three years ago and now it's the rave. They make money, devs make money. You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours.

I get devs need to have sustainability, but Jesus Christ, not this way! When I see an app that has gone the subscription way, it's off my device and I do not recommend it to anyone. I hope Apple goes under with their bullshit app store policies and we get third party access to other stores. It doesn't seem fair to charge a 30% fee for software purchases and nothing for hardware purchases. It doesn't seem fair for Apple Music to charge $9.99 and other companies having to charge a higher price just to stay afloat. I support Spotify, Epic Games, and all other companies that are against the Apple app store charges

If you want to try it but not pay, even if you have to set it up to pay initially, just set it up knowing you get a 14-day trial period, and then set yourself a reminder on those iPhone things (you know the thing that has a reminder app) to cancel about 2 days beforehand. It's really easy to do. Even Siri might be able to do that without getting it wrong, but as she seems to get less intelligent with every iOS release, I wouldn't necessarily hold out hope that she will get it right.

This is just my take, but I think the database that they are pulling from is not free. So essentially somebody must pay for the service. I think a one-time pay wouldn't work because they would lose money in the long run. Now as for something like Cash Reader. That is different as that is just the cost of the development, and I don't think uses any services they have to pay to use. Don't get me wrong I think $2.99 is a bit high as I mentioned in the podcast, but they really have something useful here for those don't mind the monthly cost.

The free trial of this was great and for a lower monthly fee I would probably keep it but for what it is, the price is too steep. I'll just keep asking the restaurant staff what's on their menu when I get there.

If I know ahead of time what restaurant I will be going to, I make it a point to use Safari or DuckDuckGo and visit their website. That way I can determine how readable their menu is. That works for many restaurants. Sadly, there are still many restaurant owners out there who lack the intelligence to make their menu accessible to everyone, preferring to use a JPG or other form of photographic representation of their menu. Still, something to try if you have not already done so.

AnonyMouse, I hesitate to dissent from your opinions as you are such a fine contributor to this site from whose podcasts and resources i have benefitted hugely, but there is nothing inconsistent about deciding not to use an app on the one hand, and commenting negatively about it on the other. Indeed, I have never understood this 'if you don't like it, you can just choose not to use it rather than moan about it on here' argument. Surely it's of interest why I don't like it? surely it's of interest why I won't use it? If it's not of interest, well there's nothing in the guidelines saying that contributions are required to be interesting. So, as far as I'm concerned, complain away! Let's face it, many of the complaints on here (especially those motivated by frustration) are cracking good reads.

... I think it's important for those who try an app to list reasons why they would or would not buy it and what they like and dislike about it. Simply stating "oh, it's too expensive and might cost me a Happy Meal from McDonald's" does not a good review make. I like app threads where you hear both the positives and negatives about an app. Earlier in this thread, I gave my reasons why I would not buy the app, and also said what would need to change before I would consider paying money to this app. In my opinion, I wish more people would leave objective reviews of apps stating the good and bad.

I really like this app! I like that where ever you are, the closest restaurants are displayed. And it looks like they keep it up-to-date. I think this because, I looked at a place that has a seasonal milk shake on the menu, and it was on the app.

You made a good point and I have modified my original comment. I'll try to be more aware of the weight of my words can have on others. Thanks.

Hard to follow humility of that order save to say the magnanimous spirit is the mark of a great public interest contributor.

so, if a restaurant does not have a menu, do we just leave it here? or what. I'm not subscribed but a friend of mine is. and he found a restaurant without a menu. also, searches take forever to parce for whatever reason. All of that is his feedback, not mine.

Thanks. so, if a restaurant does not have a menu, do we just leave it here? or what. I'm not subscribed but a friend of mine is. and he found a restaurant without a menu. also, searches take forever to parce for whatever reason. All of that is his feedback, not mine.

Thanks.

Searches are a bit clunky. I don't know enough about the back end of this app, aka the allmenus.com website that these menus come from, to know how often they are updated or what someone has to do to get the menus listed on that site. Your friend is very correct about searches taking quite a bit of time. Also, I would be interested to know if your friend sees multiple listings for the same place.

After hearing Thomas' podcast on the app, decided to check it out for myself. After unsuccessfully subscribing without getting the 14-day trial (thank goodness I chose the monthly option), I searched in my area and found nothing. I also searched major cities in my area and got no results. So either I'm doing something wrong or the restaurants in my area have no online menus.

Kept the app on my phone as it's good until mid-January, so hopefully I'll either figure out what I'm doing wrong or find a location that has menus.

That is very interesting about that trial period. When you sign up, even though it takes your credit card information, I think it is supposed to then tell you your card will be charged after your 14-day trial period, unless you already went through a trial period earlier.

I know when I came to subscribe, below the monthly option, there was text that had the star (*) symbol just before it, saying something about the 14 day trial. When I chose the monthly subscription, got tht "pay with Apple" popup that you usually get when purchasing something and you have to use FaceID. Went through the pop up and saw nothing relating to the 14 day trial and figured to confirm the purchase anyway. Figured at best, I would get the trial and at worst, I'd pay for a month, which isn't that much really, can spare a month for sure.

Afterwards, looked at my Apple subscription, one to make sure that the auto-renew was disabled, but that's when I saw that the expiry date was a month away, so figured the trial didn't work.

No matter, like I said, searched various areas and cities near me and got nothing in return. So will probably explore the app a little more during the holidays and see if I was doing something wrong when searching. That or no restaurants in my area have menus in the app.

Very interesting. Like you said, a month for $2.99 is not terrible, but it is the principle of the thing. Anyway, I wish you luck with the app and hope that you do find something you can use.