You’re current journal app has more features that you want, yet you use the new native Apple one more?

I basically have nearly everything within home assistant showing up in HomeKit and never had issues so far. Home assistant is the player in the background running all the automations while exposing the most important devices to HomeKit (esp. for voice commands with Siri) Only downside using HomeKit as the „UI“: Notifications are very limited.

• Text to speech Intercom as action in Home (not just in shortcuts): „Dear all, the front door has been open for more than 10 minutes“)
• Share iCloud libraries with write privilege to non Apple users
• same for shared folders
• when using an external monitor with an iPad, play sound over iPad (not the connected monitor)
• bullet points within table cells in notes app.
• better Siri

The weather app is so bloated! I like the new watch faces. But I really have to get used to using only one.

I am curious, when would you need offline maps? Do you live in an area with bad cell network? Or is your data plan expensive?

Edit: thanks for all your answers. Next time I travel I will download the map of the destination area. Also I added hot spots such as the local stadium and the city center, hoping, that when I take the subway during rush hours maps will work snappier.

Smaller steps. One at a time. Test.

I started off with HA, integrating all my devices i had at once, totally enthusiastic as I was. There were times where I installed several automations and integrations within just a few minutes, not giving them time to work for them selves, especially not in a „productive“ environment with wife, kids, neighbours, etc. all involved in the system.

Lots of automations broke or did not work as expected and I saw my self confronted fixing so many building sites at once.

I am through the roughest part. But should I start from scratch any time I will most surely start I’d small, test, iterate and move on.

If you don’t understand what you are paying how do you know you are upgrading.

I am fully aware of what I am paying for. I pay for more convenience in my life and for that I don’t need I don’t want to understand everything underneath the surface. I want to take photos, maybe in bad lighting. For that I don’t want to read a manual, buy some extra equipment, take some sort of classes, etc. I don’t care about the underlying technology (long-time exposure, lense-shift, AI-stuff, etc.)

but in general you should care about what you are buying. If you go to buy a washing machine you don’t go and point finger and black and say I want this one.

Of course not. I also check the programs what the product is capable of and how it eases my daily life. Therefore I don’t need to know the material the barrel is made of, how many holes it has and if the water flows counterclockwise or not.

99% of your daily life problems is solved with literally any laptop, PC or phone out there right now.

Sure, but within the Apple world there is no initial setup or tweaking required. Set the default browser on a Windows PC to Chrome? Windows: “I sometimes don’t care”. Attach two external monitors to a Windows PC? Lottery game, which one is left and right. Close the laptop in the same setting? Windows will ask you for your fingerprint to log in. I have encountered so so many absurd situations within the Windows world. Yes, maybe some Linux distro might be better, but just ask your neighbor two doors further to install it all on her own and I bet you she will fail.

What you are looking for is style over substance.

This mindset is the exact problem 80% of tec-savy people why there are still so many products that fail miserably in usability tests. No, they are NOT looking for “stylish” products (maybe some are, yes, but not the majority) but for products they can actually use without the need of taking care of them like a child (“I need an app to find those apps that drain my RAM on my Android device”.) or needing to take evening classes to sync contacts between phone and laptop. Sorry to say, but declassing these customers as blatant sheep, thinking they run for style only is condescending.

If you are looking to solve problems then you look at specs

No.

As a user (not a tec person) I seek solutions that fit my daily life problems. I don’t care for technical specs. I don’t want to fiddle and tweak my system until I can finally start proceeding my task. I want to take decent photos, I don’t care about the chip size or brand. I want to share those with others and not take care of the technical infrastructure (cloud, encryption, compression, etc.). I want to rotate videos I took, I don’t care about the processor who does that. If the product is not capable of doing so I will return it.

Apple does not overwhelm me with technical specs. They offer those features I need to proceed my daily private leisure time tasks. In 95% of my cases I probably don’t need to care about “RAM” or “Lidar”, unless I experience some downsides. I am willing to pay for a higher price tag to enhance my system if everything else “around” that system eases my daily life. And no, I am not willing to pay a ridiculous higher price tag like that monitor stand. Yes, there are some customers out there buying those products. No, they are not the majority.

No I personally haven’t.

Apple is leading the sales on in-ear headphones. Are they the leaders? Who defines leaders? I admit that there are users who deliberately buy the feeling when purchasing specific Apple products. Mostly those who don’t need to review the price-tag a few times. But they are surely not the majority.

And again: Its interesting to see how so many throw these two different buying personas in to the same pot and declare all Apple users mindless cattle.

I’m not defending anyone. I am not buying every product from Apple. Yes, those prices are absolutely insane.

Interesting to see how others tag passioned Apple users with that one cliche as if they were all mindless cattle.

I don’t buy logos. I buy products that solve problems in my daily life. Apple comes to be very very good at offering appropriate solutions I don’t need to deal with beforehand to become such a solution. In this case of course the product is crap, if it can’t handle the environment its supposed to work in.

I am quite sure this is a legal issue. If they admit the mistake, probably customers in many countries would be allowed a free replacement or refund. And then shareholders would sue the company because it is mandatory to work on maximising profit.

Ok thanks for the confirmation.

Ok thanks for the confirmation :-)

I am guessing that liking a song will have some sort of influence on my personal radio.

Yes it took me a while to understand that adding a song to a playlist shoves it in to my library also.

Oh nice thanks, will do so :-)

My watch loads over night on my bedside table which I only have to touch slightly in order to waken the display. No fumbling :)

If Gabriel is hosting the password file at home e.g. then this requires a VPN to sync your data when out and about.

Ugh, ok but thanks for your insights.

I am using an external monitor connected to my m1 iPad Pro but i ran in to following issues which might be resolved with the new update.

Maybe you could tell me:

• is it possible to share a connected external screen e.g. in MS Teams or is it still limited to the iPad screen only?
• is it possible to play audio on the iPad and not via the external monitor?

Many thanks in advance!