Coming straight from the Pokémon GO blog:

Trainers, Get ready for even more realistic Pokémon encounters: AR+ is coming to Pokémon GO! AR+ leverages Apple’s ARKit framework to build on the AR work already implemented in Pokémon GO. Soon, Trainers around the world running iOS 11 on iPhone 6s and newer models can experience AR+ in Pokémon GO.

I think nearly everyone has seen the incredible ARKit in action, and it’s going to add a lot of benefits to Pokémon GO:

• Everything is based upon fixed locations, so the Pokémon should stick to their position and not move around everywhere.
• The scale will be much more accurate, so a Pikachu will not be the same size as Gyarados.
• Pokémon will now have a sense of awareness, meaning you may need to sneak around, otherwise you could scare it away. That’s certainly one great addition that is enabled by ARKit.
• Because of the real world positioning, it will enable them to place Pokémon in more suitable locations, such as a Snorlax blocking your path!

I can’t wait to start playing it again!

Read the full announcement.
Download Pokémon GO for iOS.

If you write in Swift, then there’s a good chance you’ve tried to access a section (Substring) of a String.

Usually it’s done by using an index, and an offset. But in some cases you need to specify the start index along with an offset, and also an end index with an offset.

It gets a bit messy.

Luckily I’ve just discovered Stryng on GitHub, and it’s a beautiful solution.

There’s a ton of examples, and you should totally read the README even if you aren’t going to use it. But here’s my favourite:

Before Stryng:

let message = “One Two Three”
message[message.index(message.startIndex, offsetBy: 4)..<message.index(message.startIndex, offsetBy: 7)] // “Two”

After Stryng:

let message = “One Two Three”
message[4..<7] // "Two”

🤩

This has got to be one of the nicest sliders I’ve seen.

“Fluid Slider – A slider widget with a popup bubble displaying the precise value selected.”(By Ramotion)

😍

GitHub

In a recent article by Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg, he wrote over 600 words on the supposed plan that Apple have, which would converge apps from iOS and macOS. Meaning that developers would be able to design just one app, and have it work on both platforms.

I personally dont think this is going to happen.

And if you read the whole piece, you’ll find that only 48 words out of the total 672 are relevant:

Apple currently plans to begin rolling out the change as part of next fall’s major iOS and macOS updates, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal matter. The secret project, codenamed “Marzipan,” is one of the tentpole additions for next year’s Apple software road map.

I’ve been hearing Mark’s name for a few years, and people always seem to make him sound like a very top Apple reporter, which I guess is why he now writes for Bloomberg. But his latest rumours, have been a bit lower in quality in my opinion.

Read the “full” article on Bloomberg.

I was pleasantly surprised by an Apple Watch app yesterday! That’s certainly something that doesn’t happen often.

It’s an app called Field Day, and it’s just a really simple version of the sort of farming games you get on iOS, where you have to grow crops, wait for a period of time, grow more, etc.

But I was playing around with my watch yesterday, and I found the Field Day app installed. I had no idea what extra functionality could be achieved with such a thing.

Turns out, it’s the entire game!

And it’s completely playable.

But not just playable, it ran like an iPhone app, and (although simple) it was showing 3D graphical models.

My thoughts on what can be achieved on an Apple Watch have most certainly changed.

In the latest update to Micro.blog for iOS, support was added for a URL scheme to start composing a post, and also a text parameter to include some text as well.

I combined this with Workflow, to allow me to share snippets from any website, and then easily write about them here. All it uses, is the article’s author, the title, and the url.

The format is:

[Author](URL):
> Text Snippet

Pretty simple, but it speeds up my micro blogging workflow!

I recorded the workflow running on my iPhone, and you can try out the workflow yourself

Just another perspective on the iMac Pro and generic “Pro” definition debate:

What if a “Pro” user had nothing to do with their understanding of how the device works, or the ability to fix any potential issues, but instead a user that uses a device for professional purposes.

For example, a video editor, music producer, and even some designers and developers, don’t need to know the intricacies about their Mac. They just need it to be able to do what they need to do for their role. And that still makes them a Pro user.