Perpetual Random Apple Rants Thread

[wco81]

Does anyone regularly open old Aperture libraries in Photos?

Not necessarily to edit but to browse, to take advantage of the library management work one might have done when they were using Aperture?

I can obviously look into the Aperture library package and manually see the source files but this is a clumsy and slow process.

Will Photos honor the keywords and ratings if you search through old Aperture libraries?

Will it render whatever edits you had done in Aperture or that's not a realistic expectation?

 

[wco81]

Out of warranty?

My pair seems okay but I rotate with AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2.

 

[wco81]

Yeah, but think of all the time you've saved! Now you don't have to watch the game, and can do something more Apple-approved, like perfecting your selfie technique, or choosing the perfect Memoji!

I rarely watch games hours afterwards.

So I know the scores anyways and sports fans likely have apps which are sending score notifications anyways.

 

[wco81]

watchOS and HomePod 17.1 as well as iOS 17.1 completely screwed up my setup of routing podcasts to my HomePod Mini via my Series 6 Watch.

AirPlay is broken on the Watch now, can't select output any more like I yesterday before these updates.

 

[wco81]

Is there any worse app to try to get data out of than the Messages app?

[Edit] I found this, which is pretty awesome.

Yeah the search is bad.

And it’s taking up a couple gigs of iCloud storage.

 

[wco81]

I don't know if it's iPhone 15 Pro Max or iOS 17 but Podcasts have gotten caught in a loop and I'd have to go and wipe past the spot and then return to the spot.

I usually listen at 1.5x and there have also been times when it would change to 1x or 2x on its own and then react as if I tapped the skip forward a half dozen times.

Not sure why there are these regressions. Maybe they're trying to do more to put up the podcast indicator int he Dynamic Island or something and the additional processing is going haywire some times.

 

[wco81]

Me neither, on my 2017 iMac.

No problem with Messages or sending photos or other media.

 

[wco81]

I know people say Apple Maps have improved and Google is terrible for privacy.

But AFAIK, Apple Maps is a lot weaker outside the US, except for selected cities like London and even then, it doesn't compare to Google Maps.

If you choose Apple Maps, you are going to have to give it a lot more rope for being less useful and usable.

 

[wco81]

Does Apple Maps have anything like StreetView?

Or for that natter, all the user-uploaded photos, including 360 panos?

I use that a lot in Google Maps for travel planning.

 

[wco81]

Somewhere around iOS 13-15, GPS no longer works offline.

When on a short flight, usually within Europe, I would load maps in Google Maps so that I could track where I was on the flight.

But once there's no mobile signal, it doesn't reliably update GPS. Instead whole flights lasting 2 hours or less show my location as the originating airport.

It used to be that you could download offline maps and still use without mobile data for things like navigation because GPS worked even if you were offline.

The behavior seems to have changed within the last few IOS revisions.

 

[wco81]

Have you tried Apple Maps instead?
I recently travelled Mexico with it and it worked flawlessly (not in-flight though)

I try it with Apple Maps too. When it's a gray dot in Apple Maps, it's also gray dot in Google Maps.

In any event, Apple Maps is too limited. Google Maps I've saved hundreds of places, even though Google's set up for saving places is also very limited, at least I can do it on a desktop browser and access it on mobile apps and vice versa.

 

[wco81]

Heheh... makes me think the best thing Apple can do with Future Siri is to cite its sources.

Keep Siri the meta above all information repositories, the assistant happy to consult ‘experts‘ in search of an answer. Should some sources happen to hallucinate occasionally, Siri will make sure you know which one.

They may want to do that for branding reasons if nothing else.

They're not going to call it whichever agent that OpenAI or Google wants to call their AI LLM on an Apple device.

 

[wco81]

I walk a lot, at least 4 times a week, 3-4 miles each time. I walk a brisk pace, get my HR to 110-125.

I record each walk on the Workout app on my Series 6 Watch.

I've never gotten that kind of warning but I usually don't look at the Health app on my iPhone either.


Speaking of rants, the Workout app for some reason I'm not understanding the UI or something. Sometimes I launch it and tap Outside Walk and it records it.

Other times, it makes you do 2 more taps to start tracking the walk. More than once, I've walked a quarter mile or so, look to check my pace and the Workout app isn't tracking.

Instead it's on some prompt to tap Start icon. Well that Start icon doesn't come up all the time.

So I don't get the inconsistency.

 

[wco81]

I haven't tried any of the third-party apps.

I don't know if they accommodate walking as much as running and people who want to share their runs or whatever.

I just want the basic stats accumulated.

I used to use Map My Hike or Map My Run but now that's tied to Under Armour and they seem to advertise a lot.

But they do have the nice feature of letting you save hikes, which will map the hike and let you upload pictures so you can save it.

Looks like AllTrails though has a much larger community and a more comprehensive database of places hiked by members, since they have way more members. So when I search about hikes in some areas in another country, often returns AllTrails links.

But when I'm hiking on trips, it's with photo gear and I'm often stopping a lot. Workout will either prompt me to start recording a hike or ask me if I'm done.

Maybe with AI, they'll track the acceleration and decide if I'm pausing for breaks and restart automatically. That's one reason I still have a Fitbit, because it's always on.

 

[wco81]

Wow, I'm running into a ridiculous overscan issue on my 2017 iMac 5K running on Ventura 13.6.7.

I use Spaces.

Looks like it gets into an overscan state switching between spaces.

Never had this problem before Ventura.

 

[wco81]

Overscan as in I can't see the menu bar and the full dock at the bottom at once.

I have to scroll by moving the pointer up and down.

 

[wco81]

Hmm, I never used zoom but I see that a couple of the settings were on.

Turned them all off. hopefully that addresses it.

 

[wco81]

Is Apple trying to tell me something?

I use an 'old' 2018 mini as a "media server" - it has all of my movies and music on it (things I've imported myself, things I've gotten from iTunes) - using it as a 'shared' library with whatever Apps replaced iTunes.

I keep it up to date - so it has Sonoma on it.

And this is at least the second time since originally upgrading it to Sonoma that following a macOS update the location of the media has changed from where I want it (on an external drive with plenty of room) back to the default (on the mini's internal drive which is too small for the media I have)

I spent too long moving my media from 1 external drive to another larger external drive several months ago (an annoying process because just changing the location and checking the 'keep organized' checkbox doesn't always move it for you) for Apple to reset everything back to where it DIDN'T want it.

(And some of my media is still referencing the old external drive and not the new one - not sure how that happened. It's all on the new drive but getting the app to recognize that? No easy.)

Which media server software are you using?

 

[wco81]

I have APP1 and APP2 as well as Beats Fit Pro.

They are all going strong.

My APP1 was already replaced in the past year as part of some recall. I kept the same case. The tips are kind of dirty but otherwise, the batteries on the APP1 should be going strong for awhile now.

BTW, Samsung is now copying the APP design with the stems. Not just for cosmetic reasons but the stem design is better for keeping the buds in the ears.

 

[wco81]

I use Numbers for budget and investment tracking, some travel planning.

These are small tables so more than sufficient.

Once in awhile I download some CSV data or some template formatted in Excel.

Sometimes Numbers handles them well, sometimes it doesn't. In those cases I try Google Sheets, which I also use regularly.

These are all lightweight, consumer uses obviously.

 

[wco81]

Have they bothered to make Office for Mac ARM-native or they just rely on Rosetta?

 

[wco81]

M4 iPad Pro doesn’t do FaceID with masks.

Which sensors is it missing compared to iPhones that it lacks the functionality of devices which cost much less?

 

[wco81]

My HPM won't bind to a 5 Ghz network.

When will IoT and smart home devices ditch 2.4 Ghz Wifi?

 

[wco81]

Probably never; 2.4 GHz Wifi is a cheap least-common-denominator, and you can't drop it entirely (needs to be around as a fallback for users without a 5 GHz network or for devices that need to be outside the range of the user's 5 GHz network).

No idea why your HomePods won't connect to a 5 GHz network, though. All HomePods should be able to (mini or otherwise); maybe a range issue? (Mine are all on 5 GHz just fine, and I have a mix of Minis and full-size second-gen HomePods.)

For setup in the Home app, I have to select the 2.4 Ghz network.

But once set up, I'm streaming from devices which are on the 5 Ghz network.

The HPM isn't the only device which needs 2.4 Ghz so I would have enabled it anyways.

I can understand it for a cheap Wifi smart home device, brands most people never heard of.

It's just annoying for an Apple product.

 

[wco81]

Another annoyance, I like to take photos from flights. But I want GPS data in the photos so I preload map apps before takeoff.

However, either a point update or iOS 17 has changed the behavior of Location Services in Airplane mode.

Before you could see your location on Maps, Google Maps and Compass in Airplane Mode.

Now, you can only see it update sometimes. It seems if you close one of the apps, after awhile it stops updating the location. In fact what it does is use sone cached data and show your location as the tarmac where your flight was when you turned on Airplane Mode.

I tried keeping one of the map apps open but eventually the device goes to sleep.

It's really hit and miss now.

When you tap the arrow to update your location, it will just say that you're in Airplane Mode, as if now you shouldn't expect updated GPS data in Airplane Mode.

 

[wco81]

Why would you do that?

GPS is not determined from maps; it's determined from triangulation of several satellite signals, assisted by wi-fi mapping and cellular tower recognition for a quicker fix (satellite GPS may take a few minutes to get a hold).

The presence of map material is completely irrelevant to GPS position saved as image metadata in photos…?

If you're not getting GPS metadata in your images, it's either because location services have been switched off, or because the phone is taking too long to get a GPS fix.

Because if I'm going to open the map apps frequently, I might as well see where the plane is.

For instance, you can have a body of water which appears as a light blue polygon or more like a lake on a map if you preload enough details.

Presumably, opening the apps keeps querying for GPS data and keeps it going.

At least that used to be the behavior before iOS 17.


There are now GPS devices from Garmin, Bad Elf and others which will pair to your phone and send it's own GPS data. However, I think only specialized apps can access and render the GPS data stream, not just any iOS app which may use Location Services.

 

[wco81]

You can pair up GPS tracker protocols with your photo metadata in the Photos app on Mac after the fact. Or at least, you used it be able to.

I used to do that, now I have devices to geotag when the file is saved.

I still have some GPS receivers which pair to dongles that I put on the camera. I've taken photos on long flights this way, geotagging them.

Generally phones can acquire satellites from a cold start better than these dedicated GPS devices because of A-GPS. For instance, in places like NYC where skyscraper canyons blot out a lot of the views to the sky.

There are dedicated GPS devices for aviation like the Bad Elf. But again, I think only some specialized apps support them.

Android is reportedly better about supporting external GPS devices.

United just announced that they will install Starlink on all their planes, so that might make situation better, though I don't know if Location Services can get a better fix from an Internet connection on board a plane. Obviously the DHCP IP address you would get on flights wouldn't be tied to any geo location like IP addresses issued by ISPs.

 

[wco81]

It is random. On some flights, the GPS doesn't work for like a couple of hours after takeoff and then towards the middle or end of flight it updates to around the current location.

And that could be with the iPhone sitting on the tray table, doing nothing except charging.

On other flights, it works for the first couple of hours because it was nearest the time when it had connectivity.

Thing to note also is that it has no problems acquiring location when on the ground and they're still boarding. It doesn't have to be near a window, as it is getting the mobile network connectivity.

I've also tried turning off airplane mode. At cruising altitude, it of course doesn't connect to anything but shows the satellite SOS. Sometimes that "kicks" the GPS and it updates but I usually turn airplane mode back on and it loses the updating.

This has happened on short flights and long-haul flights, it's hard to discern a pattern.

And like I said, I feel this wasn't as much of a problem before iOS17.

 

[wco81]

The ephemeris data makes sense. That is why it could track for awhile but then a couple of hours later, it shows you back at the original airport, which is now hundreds or even over a 1000 miles away. It's as if the initial ephemeris is cached on the device and it wasn't updated and flushed, even though Google Maps showed you moving several hundred miles away fro the original airport for awhile before showing you back at the airport.

Also, I guess on an intercontinental flight, it would have to be constantly acquiring different satellites, different ones than the ones it was locked to several hundred miles ago.

However, there is definitely a difference between how well it tracked in Airplane Mode in iOS 17 vs. previous iOS.

Or maybe my iPhone 15 Pro Max is somehow deficient in GPS performance compared to my previous iPhone.

 

[wco81]

The satellites are moving too, which complicates things a bit.

I can think of a number of software changes that might impact how well it tracks, but the only reason I can think of to make any of them is to save battery life.

Hmm, I think some of the time, especially the long-haul flights, I had the iPhone plugged in. So if it's a power-saving feature, should be different when plugged in?

 

[wco81]

Use my own charger.

 

[wco81]

My 14 Pro Max did. I like the functionality.

So do I.

Most of the time I probably wouldn't adjust, just turn it on from the lock screen.

The adjustments are there if you want.

 

[wco81]

I hate the way Apple reports your account transactions.

The only services I pay for is the second iCloud storage tier at $2.99 a month and Apple TV + at now 9.99 a month.

I didn't have any credit card info there until I got the Apple Card a year ago. But I've always paid for these services by loading prepaid gift cards. I didn't want to store one of my credit cards and I bought the gift cards on deals, usually something like $80 for $100 worth of gift cards.

In any event, I checked about a month ago and I had about $17 credit. Then I added a $35 gift card last week and it shows $35 balance on my account.

So I went and looked up purchases and it doesn't add up, I should still have the credit.

Well it turns out they took the balance I had an added to my iPhone 16 Pro Max purchase, which I haven't received yet (and won't according to the order tracking page until Oct 15-20). But they charged my credit card as well.

Had to go to support chat before they told me what happened.

In any event, you can't find these transactions. They don't show when I added gift cards on the account either.

I get regular emails when they charge for iCloud but I think it's not consistent and they don't show your balance. Probably because they plan to charge to my credit card whenever they can.

 

[wco81]

A couple of years ago, they made the today page of the App Store some splashy thing.

It takes older devices a few seconds to render.

My iPhone 16 Pro Max takes a second.

My 13-inch M4 iPad Pro with 1 TB of storage (meaning it has 8 GB of RAM) just took about 15 seconds.

WTH?

 

[wco81]

Maybe it's worth using the older TouchID keyboard instead?

Costs less? You might need a hub with USB-A ports though to plug in the Lighting cable when charging? Or just use an external charger.

 

[wco81]

Will the old keyboard not charge from a USB-C port using the appropriate cable?

Works for me.

I charge my older Magic Keyboard (non-TouchID extended keyboard version), Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad using an Apple USB-C to Lightening cable plugged into my Mac Studio when necessary.

(In no hurry to get the new ones with USB-C ports... they still work & I like my space grey things.)

Well looks like they mostly have USB-C keyboards, Mouse and Trackpad now, in the Apple Store.

So if you buy a new Mac mini and want keyboard and mouse/trackpad, you'd be paying for the USB-C versions from Apple.

The TouchID is nice but if you have an Apple Watch, then the TouchID isn't as important.

Really though, Apple should be putting Face ID on laptops and on monitors.

 

[wco81]

Or just use an Apple Watch to avoid typing in your password to log into your Macs.

My Watch saves me having to log in at least a dozen times a day.

Also can be used to authenticate an Apple Pay purchase via websites which support Apple Pay, which seem to be growing.

 

[wco81]

Just got my M4 Pro MacMini today to replace my 2018 MacMini. Suddenly I can't use Apple Pay without a Magic Keyboard. What? On my old intel mode, I could authorise ApplePay using my watch or phone. Why the retrograde step, Apple? I have a nice mechanical keyboard, so I don't want a Magic Keyboard.

That doesn't sound right.

If anything, they'd want Mac users to buy Apple Watch and iPhones instead of special keyboards.

 

[wco81]

If go to Wallet and Apple Pay in settings, I get a message to tell me that:

“Apple Pay is not available on this Mac.

This Mac requires Magic Keyboard to make purchases using Apple Pay. To continue, set up your Magic Keyboard in Bluetooth Settings.”

There's something in your setup that's wrong.

I can unlock my Intel iMac and my M1 Pro MacBook Pro with my Apple Watch. The latter also has TouchID but I rarely use it now that I wear the Watch most of the time.

So Watch works with both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

Why wouldn't it, they want to encourage sales of it.

 

[wco81]

Yes, I can unlock my Mac using my Watch. My compliant is that the OS is telling me explicitly that, without a Magic Keyboard, I may not use ApplePay on this Mac.

I can use Apple Pay on both Intel iMac and M1 Pro MacBook Pro. With the Watch or with TouchID on the MBP.