Welcome to the April 2025 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, your monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This newsletter features a curated selection of community-submitted content, including new app entries; updates; news; podcasts; how-to guides; and popular discussions.
New and Noteworthy App Entries
Accelerate for Safari (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Accelerate is a Safari extension with powerful, customizable features for controlling video playback and speed.
FEATURES
- Control playback speed of HTML5 video
- Personalize keyboard shortcuts for common media controls, e.g., play/pause, skipping, mute, Picture-in-Picture, etc.
- Global shortcuts to control Safari playback while using other apps
- Supports Picture-in-Picture and AirPlay
- Works with YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Twitch, and more
Current Version: 4.2.3 (March 10, 2025)
Accelerate for Safari's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Accelerate for Safari's App Store page
Eldermyth (iOS, US$2.99)
Defend a mythical land as ancient beasts in this high-score roguelike. Use powers, weather and land synergy to save villages and stop invaders from colonising the land.
A once hidden land, inhabited by indigenous villagers and mythical beasts, is under threat from foreign invaders.
Play as one of the beasts, using the weather, your unique powers and your synergy with the different land types, to save villagers, drive off invaders and prevent them from mining and colonising the land. All in the name of chasing a high score!
Current Version: 1.0.13 (April 19, 2025)
Eldermyth's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Eldermyth's App Store page
Magical Maintenance Mystery (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Launch Sale: Premium Unlock In-App Purchase 20% off!
At first it seems like an ordinary apartment maintenance job. Meet the residents, help them with their problems, and definitely don't search their apartments while they're not home (but it's just so tempting, and no one will ever know, right?). But you'll quickly realize something else is going on. Lights flicker, toilets attack you, and there are plenty of secret rooms and lost histories to discover. This apartment is much bigger on the inside than on the outside...
Magical Maintenance Mystery is a half cozy, half spooky incremental text adventure from the developer of Nano Empire, Evelyn's Farm, Pocket Reality, and more.
Current Version: 1.1.1 (April 4, 2025)
Magical Maintenance Mystery's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Magical Maintenance Mystery's App Store page
Mullvad VPN (iOS, Requires Subscription)
Free the internet from data collection with Mullvad VPN â a service that helps keep your online activity, identity, and location private. Only âŹ5/month.
GET STARTED
- Install the app.
- Create an account.
- Add time to your account via in-app purchases, vouchers or on our website.
To make sure to block third-party cookies and other tracking technologies â use Mullvad VPN together with Mullvad Browser (free of charge).
Current Version: 2025.3 (March 6, 2025)
Mullvad VPN's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Mullvad VPN's App Store page
My IP: Address Location (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Discover everything about your IP address with My IP: Address Location. You can easily find, detect, copy, and share all basic and extended information about any IP address on WiFi or a mobile network, such as: IP, host, ISP, DNS, country, region, city, location, ZIP code, and time zone. My IP can search and track the address of a hostname or website owner. The integrated map helps you see the geolocation.
KEY FEATURES:
- IP & Hostname Lookup â Search and track any IP or website owner's address to identify its origin.
- Precise Geolocation â See the exact position of an IP on an interactive map with geolocation data.
- Quick Copy & Share â Easily copy or share IP details with friends, tech support, or network administrators.
Current Version: 1.17 (April 17, 2025)
My IP: Address Location's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry My IP: Address Location's App Store page
ScribeMe (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Empowering Accessibility with AI. ScribeMe makes the world more accessible for blind and visually impaired individuals. Extract text from PDFs and PowerPoint presentations, generate automatic alt text for images, and capture or upload pictures for AI-powered image descriptions. Designed with simplicity in mind, ScribeMe is your essential tool for making documents and visuals accessible anytime, anywhere.
Current Version: 1.7.0 (April 29, 2025)
ScribeMe's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry ScribeMe's App Store page
Search Ninja for Safari (iOS, US$0.99)
Change how you browse! Save time, be more efficient and upgrade your Safari browsing experience.
Search Ninja is a Safari extension that has been built from the ground up to make it easy for you seamlessly switch between different search engines with preceding your search queries with a "hint". Search Ninja will do the rest.
Looking for direction? Just type: "dir walmart near me"
Search Ninja will automatically open Google Direction to give take you directly to the nearest Walmart. No complicated setup. Just install and use.
Not just that Search Ninja comes pre-configured almost a dozen "hints". For example type "ppx how to cook sushi" and Search Ninja with use the Perplexity engine to give you an intelligent answer automatically. Do the same with other search engines like Bing, preceed b, or ddg for DuckDuckGo.
Your privacy is important to us. The app does not collect, process or retain any information so use it with complete peace of mind. The app also comes with setup guide, as so setup is a breeze.
Current Version: 1.4 (March 3, 2024)
Search Ninja's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Search Ninja's App Store page
Speakers assistant (iOS, US$2.99)
Transform every presentation into a flawless experience with the Speaker Assistant! Our innovative app is designed to help you shine in any event, conference, or meeting. Whether you're an experienced speaker or someone just starting in the art of public speaking, the Speaker Assistant offers you the tools to deliver your ideas with confidence and precision.
Knowing how long your presentation has been, consulting your notes, or receiving reminders at a specific time of your presentation is possible thanks to the Speaker Assistant.
A tool to help you have an accessible experience as a speaker.
Features:
- Smart Time Manager: Keep control of your presentation with our temporal event system. Set up custom alerts to make sure you cover all the important points without exceeding the allotted time.
- Presenter Notes: Access key notes directly on your device screen or read through your headphones.
- Use the Speaker Assistant on your Apple Vision Pro, your Macbook, your iPhone or Apple Watch.
- Friendly and Customizable Interface: Customize the interface to suit your needs and preferences. With a clean design and intuitive navigation, you'll feel comfortable from the first use.
Current Version: 1.8 (October 16, 2024)
Speakers assistant's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Speakers assistant's App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis may be found at:
Notable App Updates
ally - accessible ai assistant (iOS, Free)
ally is an ai assistant built for accessibilityâdesigned to empower people who need a smarter, personal & more intuitive way to interact with the world.
unlike mainstream ai tools that assume users can see a screen or type, ally is fully voice-first, context-aware, and designed to support how you interact with the world.
Itâs not just a one-off answer. ally remembers context, learns your preferences, and responds in a way that fits your needsâwhether itâs reading, navigating, recognizing objects, or managing daily tasks.
designed for accessibility from the ground up
ally is built entirely around accessibility features. itâs designed for voice-first interactions, works seamlessly with screen readers, and prioritizes ease of use.
help whenever and wherever you need it
talk to ally on your smartphone, computer, or smartglasses. whether youâre at home, commuting, or at work, ally is always ready to assist, on any device.
how does ally work?
ask ally for help â speak or type a question, whether itâs reading a menu, describing your surroundings, or summarizing a document.
get fast, intelligent responses â ally gives clear, detailed answers, designed for accessibility.
works across multiple devices â ally moves with you, from your phone to envision glasses to the web.
Current Version: 1.1.0 (April 14, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for Version 1.1.0 (April 14, 2025)
some of the new updates with this release:
- now ally can check the weather at your exact spot. ask ally about the weather (umbrella or sunglasses?) and get precise answers wherever you are.
- calendar integration is here! easily find out âwhoâs joining the all-hands today?â or âwhatâs my schedule this week?â
- plus the usual improvements and bug fixes to keep things running sharp.
ally's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry ally's App Store page
Eter: Streaming Internet Radio (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Eter Radio is an app for listening to Internet radio stations. Eter Radio is available in a universal version for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS.
Eter Radio uses the publicly available radio-browser.info database, which contains a collection of free and publicly available Internet radio stations. You can also add any stream by URL.
Eter for iOS, iPadOS and macOS offers a hand-crafted list of recommended stations and the ability to search radio-browser.info for other radio stations. To be able to save favorite stations, you must unlock the program with a one-time In-App Purchase. (The price in the App Store may vary depending on the country and the local currency rate). Eter on tvOS and watchOS works as a companion app. If you've upgraded to Premium, you can play your favorites on these platforms too.
Curious what that song is? You can optionally use Shazam automatic song recognition to know whatâs playing. (Available for all users.)
Enjoy unlimited listening with Eter on any Apple anything, including CarPlay, for free.
We strive to provide an outstanding internet radio experience to all users, including those using VoiceOver. If you spot shortcomings, please reach out to [email protected] so we can work together to improve things.
Current Version: 2.5.2 (April 26, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for April 2025 Updates
Version 2.5 (April 2, 2025)
- Deleted some cruft for a slimmer binary, so you can pack your phone with even more whatever!
- Fixed a bug where song title and artist was said twice in VoiceOver
- Added VoiceOver action in player to toggle the announcement of title and artist
- macOS: smoother list scrolling and reduced CPU usage
- macOS: new setting to hide station art
Version 2.5.1 (April 25, 2025)
Mini Player improvements:
- Added volume control slider.
- Added Open in Apple Music to History in Mini Player (previously one could only copy to clipboard).
Fixes:
- Better copying song info from History to the clipboard (artist, song title, and album).
VoiceOver:
- VoiceOver announcement after a favorite station is added or deleted (beta).
Version 2.5.2 (April 26, 2025)
Mini Player improvements:
- Added volume control slider.
- Added Open in Apple Music to History in Mini Player (previously one could only copy to clipboard).
Fixes:
- Fixed misplacement of Mini Player when station lists are hidden.
- Better copying song info from History to the clipboard (artist, song title, and album).
VoiceOver:
- VoiceOver announcement after a favorite station is added or deleted (beta).
Eter's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Eter's App Store page
lire: RSS Reader (iOS, US$9.99 with In-App Purchases for Tips)
Love RSS feeds? So do we!!
RSS feeds are a great way to follow updates on your favorite website. However, some sites set up their feeds to only show a portion of each entry, you know, to get you to click through to their actual website. We find that really annoying, and we're sure you do too.
Which is why, unlike other RSS feed readers, that either push you into a browser (in-app or otherwise), or depend on third party text parsing services and require you to be online to fetch the full text of one article at a time (which makes it no different from having to click/tap through to a website), in lire, you get your favorite RSS feeds as they should've been. You don't need to click through to any website (though, you do still have the option to, if you really wanted). It takes your favorite partial feeds, does its magic, and converts them in to full feeds, so you don't have to click/tap on those annoying 'Read more' or 'Continue reading' links.
Once they're cached, you don't even need to be connected to read your full-text feeds.
Use as a standalone feed reader, sync with iCloud, or, sync with any of the several services: Feedly, Feedbin, FeedHQ, The Old Reader, Inoreader, BazQux Reader, Newsblur, Feed Wrangler, FreshRSS, Miniflux, Nextcloud News, Tiny Tiny RSS.
Current Version: 6.2.1 (April 21, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for Version 6.2.1 (April 21, 2025)
[Editor's Note: In the interest of brevity, information about older versions of the app not released during April 2025 was not included in our quotation of the below release notes.]
Version 6.2.1
FIXED:
- Fixed a bug that could cause a crash in when loading a specific Feed's article list.
- Other minor bug fixes.
Previously in Version 6.2.0
ADDED:
- Ability to find and subscribe to various media & social media feeds. (Including: YouTube, Mastodon, Pixelfed, Bluesky, Micro.blog, Glass, Flickr & Reddit).
- Improved how items in feeds from various media & social media feeds (i.e. YouTube, Mastodon, Pixelfed, Bluesky, Micro.blog, Glass, Flickr & Reddit) are presented in Article Lists & Article Reading View.
- Ability to set the action the app performs after marking all as read in an article list. To set this up, please visit Settings > Article > Mark all as read > Action (There, you can select between "Go to next", "Go back" & "None").
FIXED:
- A bug that could cause a crash when clearing out the "Errors Occurred" list, while the app was in the process of generating more errors.
- Other minor bug fixes.
Version 6.0.0
ADDED:
- Newsletter Mode (re-written from ground up): Some sync services (like Feedbin), and some 3rd Party services (like kill-the-newsletter.com) allow you to read Newsletters in your RSS reader. In Newsletter mode, articles are rendered as is, without applying lire's internal styling, this is especially useful for reading newsletters (most of which include their styling inline).
Feeds that are known to be Newsletters are automatically set to open their articles in Newsletter mode. You can also set specific feed to open their articles in Newsletter Mode in Settings > Article > Open in.
Newsletter Mode has been tested to work with :-
- kill-the-newsletter.com (Full support in Standalone mode, with iCloud sync, Feedbin & Feedly) (Partial support with BazQux, Inoreader & The Old Reader)
- Newsblur (Full support)
- Feedbin (Full support except sender's email address)
- Inoreader [Pro] (Supported, but does not include some inline styling & sender's email address)
- Feedly [Pro+] (Supported, but does not include some inline styling & sender's email address)
- Open articles in Inline Webpage: Some sites prevent scraping of their content by lire's full-text parser because of various reasons, while some other sites put their content behind paywalls, or login-walls. Inline Webpage provides a more reasonable way to read the content of these websites than was previously possible with In-app browser/Safari-View-Controller, or the Safari app, or some 3rd party web browser. You can set specific feed to open their articles in Inline Webpage in Settings > Article > Open in.
- Open articles in Default Browser: Open articles directly in Safari (or any other app that you set as your system default browser). You can set specific feed to open their articles in Default Browser in Settings > Article > Open in.
- Full-text Search (Experimental): Allows the in-app search engine to look in every article's body and full-text (if cached). Set it up in Settings > General > Search > Full-text Search.
- Ability to disable Spotlight indexing/search. Set it up in Settings > General > Search > Spotlight.
- "3 Days" option in all app-wide "Mark older as read" menus.
- iPadOS 17 Lock Screen widgets.
- iOS 17 iPhone StandBy mode widgets.
IMPROVED:
- Hot Links now open in the new Inline Webpage view.
- Support for rendering of embedded 'X' (formally Twitter) & Instagram content.
- The way the app reports & displays errors related to Inoreader's Rate Limits.
FIXED:
- A bug that caused an intermittent crash while opening some articles.
- Tons of minor (and major) bug fixes.
If you enjoy using lire, please leave a review, or tell a friend about it. That helps a lot!
lire's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry lire's App Store page
Please Don't Rain (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Please Donât Rain is a fun, convenient way to track whether rain (or snow) will affect a day thatâs important to you.
When you have an important day coming up it can be cumbersome having to look up the weather for it over and over again. Not anymore! Choose a place and a day and youâll get details about the weather for that day that will continue to update automatically if you have the Pro version.
Please Don't Rain is a nominee for the 2023 AppleVis Golden Apple awards for its accessibility support.
FREE FEATURES
- (NEW) Image Creation (where available) - Create and share weather images from your friends, family, or your imagination. Requires Apple Intelligence.
- Demo Mode - Lets you see what a majority of the app is like with having to start a free trial or subscription.
- Privacy First! - The app does not know your location, need your location, or ask for your location.
- Accessibility â VoiceOver, Voice Control, dynamic text, and audio graph support. Adjustable colors for some parts of the user interface.
- No advertising in the demo or Pro version.
- Clean and playful design.
- Dark Mode support (can be automatic).
- Numerous settings to configure the user interface.
PRO FEATURES
- Beautiful Weather Images - A variety of choices for each weather type that will automatically update to match the predicted weather. Standard weather symbols can also be used instead of these images.
- (NEW) Image Creation (where available) â Have your creations used instead of the built-in images for weather conditions. Requires Apple Intelligence.
- Random Images â Canât choose which images to use? Have them picked randomly! You can even choose to only pick from your own creations.
- Themes - Easily change the weather images to a matching theme.
- Widgets - Multiple Lock Screen, Home Screen, and Standby widgets. Track precipitation with a glance.
- Automatic Updates â Automated forecast updates for your selected day will be reflected in the app and widgets.
- Precipitation Chart â Percent Chance and amount.
- Temperature Chart - "Feels Like" and actual temperatures. See each hour of the day at a glance. Long press an entry on any chart for more details.
- Wind Chart â Wind speed and gusts.
- UV Index Chart - See the UV Index throughout the day.
- Weather Alerts â If the app finds weather alerts for the currently specified location then it will provide a link to them for more details.
- Weather Statistics - High/Low temperature, precipitation chance, precipitation amounts, UV Index, wind, gusts, humidity, dew point, cloud coverage, sunrise, and sunset data for your selected day.
- Monthly Charts - Monthly statistics for average temperature, rainfall, snowfall, and precipitation probability. Precipitation probably not available in all areas.
- Shortcuts - See the basic forecast or the next hour for predicted rain for your selected day with shortcuts without having to open the app.
- Alternate App Icons - Fun alternatives.
- Favorites - Easily choose your most used locations.
- Nearby Days - See some weather statistics for days close to your special day.
Current Version: 5.7 (April 22, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for April 2025 Updates
Version 5.6 (April 6, 2025)
Accessibility Font Support
Iâm so excited to announce that Please Don't Rain now supports three different accessibility fonts!
The supported fonts are OpenDyslexic, Lexend, and Atkinson Hyperlegible.
- OpenDyslexic (by Abbie Gonzalez) is a typeface designed against some common symptoms of dyslexia.
- Lexend (by Bonnie Shaver-Troup, EdD) is intended to reduce visual stress as well as "improve retention and comprehension".
- Atkinson Hyperlegible (by Braille Institute) is "designed to improve legibility and readability for individuals with low vision".
Any of these can be enabled under Settings, Accessibility and their license info can be found under Settings, Licenses.
Huge thanks to Klemens Strasser for inspiring and helping me with this effort.
Misc
- Significant improvements to how the app adjusts its content when used on an iPad in Slide Over mode.
- Added a wind type description to the popover in the Wind chart. Perform a long press gesture on any chart to view a popover.
- Added more data to the Data Table of several charts.
- Added a âContent Unavailableâ View for places such as Antarctica that can have days where there are no UVIndex values above zero.
- The weather service sometimes returns tiny amounts of hourly precipitation for days that are marked as not having any precipitation. These are now filtered out of the âHourly Forecastâ section.
Version 5.7 (April 22, 2025)
UI Improvements
- Several buttons got some styling to make them look nicer.
- More changes to make the UI adjust better when iPad Slide Over mode is in use.
Bug Fixes
- Donât launch a sheet from the Nearby Days section if the day that was tapped was the currently tracked day. Its details are already being shown.
- The popover for the monthly temperature chart could have some words that were cut off when accessibility fonts were in use.
- Some of the popovers for monthly charts werenât using accessibility fonts.
- The UV Chart description would always say âtodayâ even when today wasnât the tracked day.
Please Don't Rain's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Please Don't Rain's App Store page
Podcast Player App - Castro (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Lockscreen scrubber disabling!
Castro is a beautiful, full-featured podcast player that makes it easy to track and manage lots of podcasts at the same time. Only listen to the episodes you want and easily skip the rest, queue up hours of podcasts at a time and enjoy a seamless listening experience with carplay compatibility, chapter support, trim silence and much, much more!
HOW IT WORKS
- New episodes land in the NEW tab. Read their descriptions, add episodes you like to your QUEUE, and clear the rest.
- Press play to listen to episodes from your QUEUE in order. Queued episodes are downloaded automatically.
- Re-order your QUEUE to plan your next few hours of listening at any time. Browse your LIBRARY to review the back catalogue, quickly access starred shows, and see your listening history.
Subscribing to a podcast is no longer a commitment to listen to every episode. You donât have to manage a huge list of subscriptions or choose a few shows and miss the rest.
Current Version: 2025.4.2 (April 23, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for April 2025 Updates
2025.3.2 (April 1, 2025)
- Explore UI Improvements
- Fixed an issue where voiceover wasnât properly reading podcast titles in search
- Fix an issue where the queue could be reordered if something goes wrong
- Various fixes for deep links and opening the app when it was previously closed
- Add progress indicator back to bottom nav
- Fixed issues around private feeds with passwords
- Redo subscribe/unsubscribing to make them much faster
- Improvements and fixes to backup/restore
- Fix per podcast playback speed
- Better onboarding content
- Improvement to queue download hours limit handling and fix various issues where a download might not be deleted
- fix a crash when filtering the queue by show or category
- Refresh events when activating carplay
2025.4.1 (April 9, 2025)
- Total revamp to push notification settings allowing you to easily set a push notification per podcast
- Fix a crash when using voiceover related to folder selection
- Fix a race condition where search results screen might load forever
- Fix some crashes related to queueing items
- Remove mini progress bar by popular demand
- Improvements to the launch screen and empty view backgrounds
- Other crash fixes / UI tweaks
Version 2025.4.2 (April 23, 2025)
- add option to disable lock screen scrubber
- fixes for dragging around multiple items in the queue
- fixes for the splash screen centering
- fixes for visual artifacts around the now playing bar
- fix notification settings going to the old notification page
- fix for an issue where restoring a backup could time out if you have tons of subscriptions
- fixes for audio interruption/ducking related to the watch
Castro's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Castro's App Store page
Speakaboo: Blind AI Assistance (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
Speakaboo is an intuitive app designed to help you interact with your surroundings by providing real-time descriptions and answers to questions about the world around you. If you are visually impaired or simply need extra guidance, Speakaboo makes daily tasks easier and more accessible.
Free Features:
- Main button: get a quick description or ask a question about your environment
- Choose imperial or metric measurements
- Wider field of view
- Improvements to AI accuracy
- Support for English, Spanish, French, German, and Hindi
- Quick Describe shortcut for use with Siri or Action Button/Back Tap gesture
Premium Benefits:
- Repeat and follow-up button for more detailed interactions
- Voice selection
- Toggle between concise or detailed responses
- Lightning quick responses with Turbo Mode
- Unlimited uses
Current Version: 0.31 (April 14, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for Version 0.31 (April 14, 2025
Enhanced Shortcuts with Image Input: Shortcuts now also support images, so you can quickly ask about photos or screen content from anywhere.
Experimental Offline Mode: Access Speakaboo even without internet! While not as powerful as the online version, it's handy when you have no internet.
Speakaboo's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry Speakaboo's App Store page
VoiceVista (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)
VoiceVista is a critical application for the blind and low vision users' community. It is built upon Microsoft's discontinued and open-source project Soundscape (https://aka.ms/ossblog) and is licensed under the MIT License (https://github.com/microsoft/soundscape/blob/main/LICENSE.txt).
The app leverages advanced iOS audio technology and precise location services to empower individuals in developing a heightened sense of their environment. It offers reassurance in unfamiliar settings, assisting users in forming mental maps and confidently navigating their desired routes.
Current Version: 1.9.6 (April 23, 2025)
App Store Release Notes for April 2025 Updates
Version 1.9.3 (April 3, 2025)
Estonian and German translations updated by Artur RĂ€pp and Sharo
Version 1.9.4 (April 10, 2025)
- Fixed an issue where beacon audio was disabled after tapping any command
- Added confirmation prompt when stopping a beacon
Version 1.9.5 (April 16, 2025)
- Added option to cancel beacon or route when selecting navigation type
- German and Italian translations updated by Sharo and Simone Dal Maso
Version 1.9.6 (April 23, 2025)
Generate routes from GPX using detected turn points
VoiceVista's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry VoiceVista's App Store page
Recent News and Views
Review: The AirPods Max with USB-C and Lossless Audio
By Levi Gobin | April 29, 2025
Apple recently launched new features for the USB-C AirPods Max, which include lossless audio over USB-C, ultra-low latency audio, as well as the ability to use AirPods Max with a USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable for wired playback. This also means that when Bluetooth is turned on, you will have access to all features that you would with a Bluetooth connection but with the wired connection. I thought I would share my experience for anyone who potentially is thinking about upgrading to the USB-C AirPods Max or who is curious.
Read More: "Review: The AirPods Max with USB-C and Lossless Audio"
iPhone 16e Review: An Excellent 'Basic' iPhone
By Michael Hansen | April 17, 2025
The iPhone 16e (released February 2025) is Appleâs newest member of the iPhone 16 family. Apple kindly lent me an iPhone 16e for review; since its release, Iâve spent a little over a month using the iPhone 16e as my daily driver and have enjoyed the experience much more than I ever thought I would. The speaker quality is head and shoulders above my much larger (and much more expensive) iPhone 16 Pro Max. VoiceOver performance is fast and responsive. Battery life is strong and better than anything I ever thought possible on a handset of this size. In short, the iPhone 16e is a very nice phone, and it is a joy to use.
As with any product, the iPhone 16e isnât perfect; it lacks some pro (and, unfortunately, some not-so-pro) features. Those who need MagSafe charging should definitely look elsewhere. If Precision Finding for AirTags and AirPods is important to you, the same applies. And while it canât be helped, like all other iPhone models now, the iPhone 16e does not have a Home Button and instead relies on Face ID.
But if all you need is a modern iPhone to do the basics today, tomorrow, and for years to come, the iPhone 16e is great in day-to-day use and may very well be the phone for you. I didn't think I would like itâbut I did.
Read More: "iPhone 16e Review: An Excellent 'Basic' iPhone"
Apple Releases iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, and tvOS 18.4.1
By AppleVis | April 16, 2025
Apple has today released iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, and tvOS 18.4.1, bringing bug fixes and security updates, including for vulnerabilities that Apple believes may have been actively exploited.
As these updates were not distributed to external testers prior to their release, we do not have any information on whether they contain any accessibility fixes for blind, def blind, or low vision users at the time of writing. However, as these updates appear to have been released to address a small number of specific issues, we do not expect them to contain any such fixes.
Read More: "Apple Releases iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, and tvOS 18.4.1"
This Month in Podcasts
How to View Your Mac's Battery Capacity and Cycle Count
In this episode, Siddarth walks you through the process of checking your MacBook's battery capacityâan indicator of how well the battery retains a charge compared to when it was new. He also explains how to determine the cycle count, which tracks the number of times the battery has been completely drained and recharged.
Battery capacity can be viewed by going to System Settings > Battery and clicking the "Show detail" button. Cycle count can be viewed by opening System Information (located in the Utilities folder), selecting "power" in the table, and pressing VO-J to jump to the information pane.
Listen to "How to View Your Mac's Battery Capacity and Cycle Count"
How to Hide Your Recent Searches in Safari on iOS and iPadOS
In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to hide your recent searches from showing up when double-tapping the address and search field in a new Safari tab on iOS or iPadOS.
Starting in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, your recent searches will by default appear above the keyboard when opening a new tab in Safari and double-tapping the address and search field. If you'd prefer your search activity wasn't so immediately visible, you can turn this off by going to Settings > Apps > Safari, and toggling the "Show recent searches" switch off. Note that this will only hide recent searches from showing above the keyboard in the address and search field; it won't hide them from your browsing history. For searches you want to keep truly private from others who can access your device, you'd need to either clear your browsing history, or use private browsing.
Listen to "How to Hide Your Recent Searches in Safari on iOS and iPadOS"
Resetting Control Center in iOS: A Fresh Start
In this episode, Thomas Domville will demonstrate how to reset the control center back to its factory default state.
In iOS 18.1 and later, Apple introduced a convenient feature that allows users to reset the Control Center to its default layout. This is particularly useful if you've customized the Control Center extensively and wish to return to the original setup without affecting other settings on your device.î
Listen to "Resetting Control Center in iOS: A Fresh Start"
New Guides
How Apple Devices Can Work Better Together with Continuity Features (for iOS 18, macOS Sequoia)
By Tyler | April 21, 2025
As is widely known, a major selling point of Apple devices is the interconnected ecosystem they collectively foster, allowing users to work seamlessly between iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other devices. Some of these features, like iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime, are facilitated by central servers, whereas others, like the Continuity features discussed in this guide, are largely facilitated by Appleâs proprietary peer-to-peer networking protocols that allow devices to directly communicate with each other.
Keep in mind that this guide is not intended as an exhaustive list or explainer of every feature, but rather an overview of those which I consider to be most useful, and that I feel I have sufficient experience with to comment on their overall utility. Features that involve platforms I donât personally have experience with, like iPadOS and watchOS, will be mentioned, but not covered in detail.
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