In the latest update of the Monzo app , they’ve introduced a bill splitting feature, that is a cut above the rest. With the information that Monzo can already calculate form your transactions, such as the location, restaurant name, and even storing receipts, this feature simply makes sense.

How To Use It

Simply find a transaction in your Monzo app, and then select Split Cost Using Monzo.me. You’ll be presented with a list of options, where you can quickly share the bill with 1 to 4 other people, or you can also set a custom amount to request.

Once you’ve selected an amount to request, you’re presented with the standard iOS Share Sheet, and this means you can send it wherever, and however you like! Whether it’s through iMessage, WhatsApp, or some magical Workflow!

Then once you or your friend have received the link, they can then pay directly on any device, including from a browser on their laptop! It also supports Apple Pay, so if you’re on an Apple Pay supported device, you can literally pay your end of the bill in seconds.

Who Can Use It?

You can ask anyone to pay you, by using your own personal Monzo.me link. From there, they’ll be able to use their own card (even non-Monzo cards) to pay you back.

There’s no fees involved, so the amount that’s sent, is exactly the amount that is received. Of course the Monzo.me website is fully secure, accepts any major debit card, and in usual Monzo style, the money appears in less than a minute.

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This update to the Monzo app, takes them even further forward in comparison to other payment providers, and even full banks. Even though it’s just a prepaid debit card at the moment, there are literally so many things that Monzo let’s you do, that no-one else does.

You can read more about Monzo on their website , and download the Monzo app for iOS from the App Store .

If you want to quickly see what a payment request looks like, then here’s an example I made up. Of course you won’t be forced to actually pay anything, but you can see what it’s like.

Later this week, there is an update to Pokemon GO that will bring over 80 new Pokemon to catch!

Pokemon

The new Pokemon will be Gen 2, so from the Pokemon Gold and Silver games. You will be able to catch the three starters, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile, along with loads more!

Encounters

When you face a Pokemon in the wild, they will also react in a new way, there are no specifics yet though, so you’ll have to find out for yourself. While in an encounter, there will also be a simpler way to select and use items.

Berries

From PokeStops, you’ll now be able to find berries. These can have various different effects, such as a Nanab Berry will slow a Pokemon’s movements, making it easier to catch, or a Pinap Berry which will double the amount of Candy you’ll receive if you catch the Pokemon on the next attempt.

Apparel

There’s also a few more pieces of apparel that you can use to customise your avatar, so it will be a bit less generic.

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It’s not a huge update, but it’s good to see that Pokemon GO is still moving forward. I’m still waiting for a battle system, where players will be able to battle each other, but I can only hope. For now, we’ll have to settle with trying to catch them all!

If you haven’t already, download Pokemon GO from the App Store.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll already know this, but I’m now developing a regular expression app for iOS!

It’s called “Pretty Regular Expressions”, and I’m going for a minimal approach, but with some optional settings, and a clean interface. Of course a dark theme was the first thing I built!

It’s still in development, but it’s moving pretty fast, so an open beta is very imminent. I already have a landing page, where you can subscribe to keep updated with the application. Of course I will only send out an email for when the beta opens, and then when the app is released.

If you want to watch the progress of the development, then just follow me on Twitter at @chrishannah, because I post a lot of screenshots.

Straight after teasing everyone with a glance of the upcoming Carpool Karaoke series, Apple has also released a trailer for their Planet of the Apps series.

Planet of the Apps, is a competition format television series, where developers will pitch their ideas, and compete for investment, and a premium spot on the App Store.

The judges on the show are: Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk and will.i.am.

Apple have just released a one minute trailer of their Carpool Karaoke series, and with it comes a bit more information about the upcoming episodes.

Hollywood Reporter said last year that Apple had ordered 16 episodes, and we now know that they won’t all be hosted by James Corden. There may be people on multiple episodes still though, as they only mention 13 celebrities “and many more”. However they did say specifically “celebrity pairings”, so this seems like they’re moving the series away from a host/guest structure.

The thirteen celebrities already confirmed are: James Corden, Will Smith, Billy Eichner, Metallica, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Ariana Grande, Seth MacFarlane, Chelsea Handler, Blake Shelton, Michael Strahan, John Cena, and Shaquille O’Neal.

The series as we expected, will be available exclusively on Apple Music. I’m quite looking forward watching these, and also whether Apple can go on to create/produce/purchase even more content.

Update:
Apple have now released a second video, showing more of the series content!

The Macalope has another great piece on the common misconceptions about Apple’s design, and it’s an opinion I quite agree with.

I encourage everyone to read it, but I just wanted to share my favourite quote from the article:

Maybe the problem isn’t Apple’s choices, it’s the fact that so many Apple competitors refuse to make their own choices of the same kind.

Federico Viticci, the King of iOS Automation has just written a great piece, regarding the latest update to Workflow for iOS.

With today’s 1.7 update, the Workflow team isn’t introducing Instant Variables. Instead, they’ve rebuilt the engine behind variables on a new system called Magic Variables, which completely reimagines how you can create workflows and connect actions for even more powerful automations.

More than a mere tweak for power users, Magic Variables are the next step in Workflow’s goal to enable everyone to automate their iOS devices. By making workflows easier to create and read, Magic Variables are the app’s most important transformation to date, and the result far exceeds my expectations.

I’m not a full time iOS user for work purposes, but with the features and innovation that is happening on the iOS platform, it makes me ever so more curious to take a bigger step. Just today I we looking at my automation options on macOS, and although there’s things like Keyboard Maestro, or the built-in Automator, there just isn’t a Workflow alternative.

Time like these make me wonder what it would be like moving fully over to iOS, but as an app developer it seems like I’ll be to macOS for a while. I’m certainly not saying I dislike the Mac platform, I’m a huge fan of it, and I’m loving my new Touch Bar MacBook Pro, but there’s just more happening over there.

The grass seems greener.

That’s right. On the 10th April I will be off to the Úll Conference.

It will be my first ever conference trip, and I’m doing it all by myself. It’s exciting and a nervous prospect, but I just had to go.

I’m already thinking about developing a new application so I can pay myself back for the trip. So expect a new app to come out soon!

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, or you just have a super large iTunes library, then downloading all of your music to a device can be a giant pain.

With the iPhone storage sizes getting bigger, having your entire collection downloaded is even more of a possibility. I for example have a 128GB iPhone 7 Plus, so I easily have enough space for my entire library.

The only problem is that on iOS, there isn’t a “download all” button. However there’s a really simple solution if you have a Mac available.

Step 1 – In the sidebar, right click and choose Create Smart Playlist.

Step 2 – Change the rules to “Artist is not (blank)” like the image below.

Step 3 – Open the Playlist in the Music app on your iOS device.

Step 4 – Tap on the “…” button in the top right, and press Download.

That’s it!

All of your music library should then start to download.

Another bonus that this gives you, is that because it’s a Smart Playlist, it will continue to update as you add music to your library. As the rule simply is that it matches any item where the Artist name isn’t blank, which should be all of them!

Earlier today, Apple announced their financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2017.

There’s a huge amount of data, and I’ll leave that for other people to try to understand.

Put simply, this quarter was Apple’s all-time highest revenue of $78.4 billion, and also an all-time earnings per share record of 3.36. In this quarter they sold 78.3 million iPhones, 13.1 million iPads, and 5.4 million Macs (That doesn’t sound dead to me).

If that’s not good enough for you, then over at MacStories John Voorhees has written a great article covering everything you need to know, and of course it’s filled with their usual well designed graphs!