Welcome to the August 2022 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly summary of what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of 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
Banish: Block Popups in Safari (iOS/iPadOS, US$1.99)
Banish is an ultra-efficient Safari Extension that removes annoying "Open in App" banners and other dark patterns on the web. Block annoying popups and save valuable screen real estate!
PRIVATE: Banish does not collect or store any of your data - nothing leaves your device.
FAST: The app performs the minimal, necessary changes to block popups and free up screen space.
SIMPLE: It's as easy as downloading the app and enabling it in Safari settings. No maintenance needed.
MODERN: Banish is written in Apple's latest programming paradigm Swift UI and Safari Extension functionality.
TINY: The app download is about one megabyte.
Current Version: 1.17 (August 29, 2022)
Read Banish: Block Popups in Safari's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Banish: Block Popups in Safari's App Store page
Medieval Fantasy RPG (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
If you like old-school D&D-style RPG games where you make the choices for the main character, this is for you! Play a wizard, a succubus, and a rogue in this epic series of text-based games.
Here, old-school doesn’t mean primitive. There are hundreds of achievements to uncover—from the silly and surprising to the epic. As you make choices, stats go up and down, with rarely an “instant death”. You have ready options for going back on choices while gripping you with a sense of suspense and challenge.
Current Version: 3.0.41 (May 19, 2022)
Read Medieval Fantasy RPG's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Medieval Fantasy RPG's App Store page
Möbius Sync (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Möbius Sync brings Syncthing to your iPhone or iPad, allowing you to synchronise selected files between iOS devices and other devices supported by Syncthing, without the need for any cloud service.
Supports multiple folders and multiple remote devices. Files can be added to and retrieved from shared folders via the Files app.
Uses the open-source Syncthing engine internally.
Usage is free up to 20MB. Unlimited file sync is available for a one-time purchase.
Current Version: 1.18.4 (November 9, 2021)
Read Möbius Sync's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Möbius Sync's App Store page
Pitch Black A Dusklight Story (iOS/iPadOS, US$5.99)
A narrative driven exploration game. Close your eyes and listen. Uncover. Choose. Fight. All within the dark and eccentric sound world of Pitch Black.
This is the first instalment of a six episode saga, and featuring [b]around one hour of gameplay[/b] with features for replay-ability.
The world of Dusklight is bleak yet filled with character. The last remaining capital city of a post-apocalyptic wasteland remains in the grips of a deceitful church and tyrannical corporations. With the aid of a unique Auditory Zoom mechanic you will uncover the mysteries of Dusklight.
Choices matter, choose to listen and explore, choose to charge and fight, choose the dark or the light. Pitch Black subtly adapts to how you want to play it, and you'll experience different aspects of the narrative depending on how you play.
Fight your past, fight for your future, with the choices you make and if you choose to, with your bare hands. Using a unique audio combat mechanic unlike anything you've played before.
Don't want to fight? You always have a choice, you can sneak by, or run from enemies. Experience the stealth mechanic here.
Current Version: 1.1 (August 10, 2022)
Read Pitch Black A Dusklight Story's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Pitch Black A Dusklight Story's App Store page
Sleep When I Sleep (watchOS, Requires Subscription)
SWIS is a wearable App that alerts you that you are falling asleep & if not dismissed will pause audio playback.
Audiobook & podcast users know that it is almost impossible to find your place once you have fallen asleep and play has continued.
Here is what you will love about SWIS for iOS:
- It is so easy to use.
- SWIS detects that you are falling asleep & sends you an alert through the watch. We recommend that you stop audio playback when alerted. However, should you feel that you are not falling asleep and dismiss it the App will reset at a less sensitive level and alert you should it again detect sleep.
- SWIS uses health data from your Apple Watch to determine that you are falling asleep. For accuracy, this data updates throughout the day.
- Simply open SWIS on your watch when you are listening to audio and press Start. When alerted or when finished press Stop.
Current Version: 1.0.1 (July 25, 2022)
Read Sleep When I Sleep's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Sleep When I Sleep's App Store page
Truecaller: Block spam calls (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Identify and block spam calls or SMS, search for unknown numbers, call and chat with friends. With a community-based spam list from over 300 million users, Truecaller is the only phone app you’ll ever need.
AVOID ANNOYING SPAM CALLS & SMS
- Automatically identify spam, fraud and Robocalls before you pick up
- Filter unwanted calls and SMS
- The leading spam call blocker for iPhone
Current Version: 12.2 (August 29, 2022)
Read Truecaller: Block spam calls' AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Truecaller: Block spam calls' App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
iOS/iPadOS
Mac
Apple Watch
Apple TV
Notable App Updates
Sonar Islands (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Sonar Islands is a MULTIPLAYER ONLINE game, where all relevant events happen in your ears.
On various islands you explore and discover, seek hidden TREASURES and conquer OBSTACLES. Every new island has a special atmosphere and a different gameplay. Do your best to fortify your islands and be clever enough to take the gold from your opponents.
- Visit the ancient TEMPLE island, the ancestors built, where snakes are biting and down falling parts may block your way.
- Take a trip to the JUNGLE island, watch abandoned lions on your way, but be aware of the tree traps, set up by the natives. You can go up, but there is no coming down.
- The FUN FAIR island is a happy place to be. You can shoot toys coming towards you. Some carry a treasure, some carry a bomb, that's the risk.
- The VOLCANO island is a chilly place, for some too hot, especially if you step near the lava flows. Ash and stone rain down due to the eruptions of terraforming, raise your shield to protect you.
- In the MACHINE HALL you will meet the friendly robots from Feer, but this time you carry a stun gun to short-circuit their brains, at least for a while, till their self-repair is complete.
- On PING island you will get a sonar device for orientation, send out a tone and the echo tells you, where to go. That’s good, because you may discover, this island is a labyrinth.
- High up on the TREETOP island you have to deal with wind and mosquitos. The wind is really disorientating, leaves are rustling, while the mosquitos chase you. And don't fall, while balancing on the twigs.
- On the ELECTRO island you face the invisible power of ELECTRICITY. Tesla coils sparkle round their high voltage, better shoot some metal confetti to divert the current. The nice thing here are catapult plates, they make you fly all over the island. A pity, that you don’t know where you will end up.
Happy vacation!
Current Version: 1.1.4 (August 28, 2022)
Changes in Version 1.1.4
- New island "Himalaya"
- New language support for Japanese and Portuguese
- minor bugfixes
Read Sonar Islands' AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Sonar Islands' App Store page
Voice Reader Speech Central (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
Feature set that exceeds the competition, no subscription for the premium tier with the free tier limited by the quantity not by the quality, that is the reason why you'll love Speech Central. Here are just some of our outstanding features:
- The best PDF support in text to speech apps - your reading flow will not be interrupted by footers, headers, footnotes, in text citations and long web links as they are detected by the advanced artificial intelligence in most cases. No other app has all those features. Even the scanned PDF documents are imported with titles recognised.
- The best web support in text to speech apps - for the first time you can listen everything as both articles and headlines (including RSS feeds) are supported. Articles can be added from the headlines page for fully uninterrupted flow or from Safari. And you can send articles from the desktop browser with the Pocket extension.
- The widest support for documents/office and e-book formats.
- Knowledge and text annotation tools built-in.
- Import the text from the physical books with the camera.
- The widest choice of options to customize the voice, appearance and various other parameters.
- Sync playlist items across Apple devices including with the macOS app and the current position in the text.
- Apple Watch app that can play the content independently of the main app.
- Export the text with annotations to .docx format
- Functions of audio buttons can be customized for high productivity and accessibility. The widest selection of tools to control the speed and browse the text that is read aloud.
- The app can be used with dozens of languages that have text-to-speech support on the device with automatic language detection from the content.
- Export the text to the audio file.
- The best in class accessibility. The only app that supports Dynamic Type accessibility sizes in the interface. It is completely free when used with VoiceOver and tested to be accessible by legally blind users.
- Your data stays truly private, we collect only analytics data with no identifiable reference to the user or imported content even when the syncing is enabled.
- Using the local voices instead of streaming limits the global warming effects.
Current Version: 13.0.3 (August 28, 2022)
Changes in Version 13.0
Speech Central delivers in this update more than any other text-to-speech app has delivered in this whole year!
- New voice picker: - pick multiple voices so that reader can switch among them
- filter voices list
- visual indicators for voice gender, voice quality and voice locale
- Dynamic Type support for very large fonts
- View images on the full screen
- Preview of the current PDF page on the lock screen
- High-res images on the lock screen
- New grey style for the sentence highlighter
- Remembering the voice speed per language
Read Voice Reader Speech Central's AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Voice Reader Speech Central's App Store page
Recent News and Views
This Month in Podcasts
AppleVis Unleashed July/August 2022: Mashed Potatoes and the Whistling Beans
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:
- AppleVis Updated Policy for Beta Discussions
- The Potential Fall of the Wall Garden in the Latest Blow to Apple
- Apple Continues to Push in to the Sport World
- Apple Releases iOS 15.6 and 15.6 .1, Bringing a Fix for a Braille Focus Issue in Mail
- Get Ready as iOS 16 is Coming Soon
- Latest News and Rumors on the Upcoming iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8
- What's in this month AppleVis News
Listen to “AppleVis Unleashed July/August 2022: Mashed Potatoes and the Whistling Beans”
An Introduction and Overview of Pages for macOS (the 2022 edition)
To help start off a new school year, Tyler gives us a podcast demonstration covering some of the aspects of Pages for macOS using VoiceOver.
Listen to “An Introduction and Overview of Pages for macOS (the 2022 edition)”
Podcasts by Thomas Domville
- Envision AI; Use Your iPhone's Camera and Artificial Intelligence to Recognize Text, Objects, Products, and More
- Quick Tip: Customizing Your Email Signature on iOS
Hot AppleVis Content
Here are some of our posts which have got people talking in the past month:
- Third-party speech synthesizers coming to macOS, iOS, and tvOS.
- Eloquence has change once again, for the better!
- iOS 16, Should You Update as a Voiceover User?
- What is your take on the best portable podcasting setup including apps and hardware?
- Best current app to scan and read print documents?
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