Hartley Charlton (Hacker News):
Apple today announced a suite of accessibility updates that use Apple Intelligence to expand capabilities across VoiceOver, Magnifier, Voice Control, and Accessibility Reader, with additional new features for generated subtitles and wheelchair control via Apple Vision Pro.
Shelly Brisbin:
With updates to live recognition, VoiceOver users can press the iPhone action button to quickly ask a question about what’s in the camera viewfinder and get a detailed response. Users can also ask follow-up questions in their own words to get more visual information. These question features resemble what’s available to users of the Be My Eyes app’s Be My AI feature, but it’s unclear whether Apple’s offerings will go further.
[…]
Voice Control is set to get an Apple Intelligence boost, giving users the ability to describe an element onscreen they want to act on, instead of using a numbered grid, or remembering an item’s label. The natural language support should also allow Voice Control users to navigate apps or elements that aren’t labeled for the feature.
Previously:
Accessibility Apple Intelligence iOS iOS 27 Mac macOS 27 Magnifier visionOS visionOS 27 Voice Control VoiceOver
Adam Engst:
Apple doesn’t provide a user-editable list where you can add special words, but there is a back-door way to train Dictation—on all your Apple devices—to work more the way you prefer: through the Contacts app.
[…]
Regardless of the number of words in the name or phrase, I put them all in the First Name field, with the hear-no-evil monkey 🙉 emoji in the Last Name field. That way, these spurious contacts sort to the very bottom of Contacts and don’t clutter the display. I also add them to a Proper Noun-Contacts list (mentally removing the “u” amuses me).
[…]
Dictation picks up some of these entries quickly, such that you don’t have to do anything more. However, in other cases, it requires more training.
[…]
Inserting a zero-width space in the middle of the word did indeed prevent Dictation from recognizing it. Unfortunately, the zero-width space also gets in the way of searching on the full name, so it’s best to put it as far back in the word as possible.
Contacts Dictation iOS iOS 26 Mac macOS Tahoe 26 Unicode
Flexibits:
So, grab a slice of virtual cake and join us on a trip down memory lane as we look back at how far Fantastical (and Flexibits) has come!
Still one of my favorite apps, though I don’t use most of the advanced features.
Previously:
Anniversary Fantastical History iOS iOS 26 iOS App Mac Mac App macOS Tahoe 26
Hartley Charlton:
Fortnite is back on the App Store in every country except Australia, Epic Games announced today, as the company declared it is entering the “final battle” of its long-running legal dispute with Apple.
Epic said the decision to push Fortnite back onto iOS globally was prompted by Apple’s own words to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which Apple acknowledged that “regulators around the world are watching this case to determine what commission rate Apple may charge on covered purchases in huge markets outside the United States.” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney framed the move as a strategic provocation, writing on X that the return marks “the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide.”
[…]
Epic said it won its court case there and that an Australian court found many of Apple’s developer terms to be unlawful, but Apple continues to enforce those terms regardless. Epic said it cannot return “under an illegal payment arrangement” and is waiting for a court order to compel Apple to comply.
Previously:
Antitrust App Store External iOS Payments Fortnite iOS iOS 26 iOS App Legal
Paul Hudson (Mastodon, Twitter):
It’s called Kickstart, and it has only one job: to help indie developers make more money on the App Store.
Instead of juggling spreadsheets, launch docs, analytics dashboards, review tools, and half-finished marketing plans, Kickstart gives you one focused workspace for launch, growth, and iteration.
[…]
Kickstart helps turn all those disconnected responsibilities into clear, manageable next steps. So, instead of wondering what to focus on next, Kickstart gives you practical day-by-day tasks that help move your app forward, and then helps you complete those tasks right inside the app.
Previously:
App Store Business Developer Tool iTunes Connect Kickstart Mac Mac App macOS Tahoe 26 Marketing Programming Simulator TestFlight Video
