2025-04-26 01:59:13
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Matt finally found a new use for the action button, Niléane is here to fix your Finder, and Chris raises the bar in the challenge in a way no one saw coming.
This week, Federico gets silly with the Vision Pro, and John learns about crypto – typical Unwind stuff.
Sigmund and Devon share their hopes for the next Siri Remote and recap Apple Original medical drama Berlin ER.
Number Go Up by Zeke Faux
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MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.
If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
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Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.
Join Now2025-04-25 21:46:32
For a long time, the go-to method for quickly framing a screenshot taken on an Apple device was Federico’s excellent Apple Frames shortcut. Iterating on it each year, he even added an API for expanded customization. It’s still a terrific way to create a device-framed screenshot in a pinch, but due to the limitations of Shortcuts, you can’t manually adjust the layout of multiple screenshots or their output sizes.
Within the last year, not just one, but two well-made screenshot-framing apps have come on the scene. The first was Shareshot for iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro, and, more recently, Mac. John reviewed Shareshot in August of last year and came away impressed, but with a few reservations. In February, Dark Noise developer Charlie Chapman released his take on this new kind of app with Framous for macOS. At launch, the app showed promise but lacked a lot of features that I and many others desired. Version 1.2, available now, is a stacked release that adds a vast number of requested capabilities and customizations. Let’s take a look.
It’s easy to drag and drop your screenshots directly into the app.
As in previous versions of Framous, you can use drag and drop or the file picker to add multiple screenshots to the main canvas. The app then chooses the appropriate device frame to use based on each screenshot’s dimensions and adds it around the screenshot. In version 1.0, the app’s relatively basic settings allowed you to adjust the padding between devices and change the color or model of each frame before exporting the canvas as a PNG. Version 1.2 offers much more customization, starting with more padding settings.
Padding is highly customizable.
Padding is now specific to each device. This allows you to control the position of each device as it relates to the devices around it, as well as to the document as a whole. You can take that further still with the ability to specify the padding on each side of a device for ultimate control. For example, you could frame two iPhone screenshots and create a gap between them where you could add some text in another app.
Applying a shadow to the device frames.
Entirely new in this release is the ability to add shadows to your frames. You can apply these to individual devices or the entire group on the canvas. When you turn the shadow on for a device, you are presented with four main options: Blur, Distance, Direction, and Color. You can adjust the values of the first two by dragging a slider or manually entering the number of pixels. For the shadow’s direction, you can again enter a figure (in degrees) or use the circle-within-a-circle widget to set the angle by hand. In a nice touch, the angle will snap to 45-degree increments if you hold down the Shift key. Choosing the color for your shadow is easy, too, using the native macOS color picker and its opacity slider.
Right at the bottom of the pane is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Resolution Info section. Here, you will find the dimensions for the currently selected screenshot, the screen dimensions for the device frame used, and the dimensions of the whole canvas.
All of these device-specific settings are stored in the new Device tab in Framous’s sidebar. The other tab is Document, which contains everything you need to adjust the document as a whole.
The new Document tab contains several new settings.
First up in the Document tab is another new setting, and probably one of the best additions in this update: Export Size. By default, the width and height are set to ‘Auto’, so the document output is determined by the previously mentioned ‘Whole Frame’ resolution plus any padding you have added. For many people’s use cases, this will result in documents that are far too large. (Multiple iPhone screenshots in a row can quickly add up.) Specifying the exact export size is an invaluable control. Personally, I like to create all the images that appear in my MacStories writing at 1920×1080px. Now, I can specify that document size precisely, and once I’ve exported my image, I can drop it directly into my articles – no cropping or resizing needed.
Setting your export size also allows you to go back and re-space your devices to look just right on the canvas. You can even specify the measurement for only one axis, and the canvas will automatically adjust depending on how many devices you’ve added. For example, you could set the height to 1080px, and as you add more and more devices to the image, it will grow wider while maintaining that constant height. If you get the devices in the wrong order, one of the app’s killer features is the ability to drag screenshots left and right to change their sequence.
It’s easy to reorder your devices.
Next in the Document tab is Alignment. If you’re framing several devices of the same kind, the alignment is irrelevant. However, if you have various devices of different sizes together, you can align them to the top, center, or bottom of the canvas, which is very useful. You can also align them right or left, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what that does. As it is, the setting is a very welcome one.
The ‘Space Between’ and ‘Document Padding’ settings are next. The former controls the horizontal spacing between each device quickly and uniformly, while the latter controls the space around the edge of all the devices as a group. At first, I was confused about how this was different from the device padding setting, but I now understand the difference between the two. Nevertheless, with all of these settings in the app, I wonder whether some small explanatory text or tooltips would be a smart addition to help onboard new users.
Last up in the Document tab is a significant addition: backgrounds. Rather than simply allowing users to drop in a background image or select a color, Charlie has gone to town on this part of the layout process, and it’s all the better for it. You can select from a variety of options for your background: Transparent, Solid Color, Gradient, Photo, or Screenshot. Those first two are pretty self-explanatory, so let’s start with how you add a gradient.
You can now create background gradients.
When using a gradient, you can choose the start and end point colors using the native color picker, as well as whether you’d like a linear or radial gradient. If you choose a linear gradient, you can change the angle; for a radial gradient, you can specify its start and end points, aligned from the center. It’s a solid start, but I would like to have the ability to add more color points to a gradient and an option to generate random, compatible color pairings.
Adding a photo background is simple, but the customization options once you’ve done so are excellent. You can scale the photo within your canvas, cropping out the edges as it grows larger. You can also blur the background and adjust its brightness. These options are great for adding any image you like while pulling it back a bit so that it doesn’t clash with your framed screenshots.
Why not have a huge iPad in a field?
You can add any type of image as a background.
A blurred screenshot as a background is a common use case for many blogs.
Finally, you can choose ‘Screenshot’ to use the left-most screenshot (without its device frame) as the background. I can imagine this setting being used extensively for blogs. As with adding a photo, you can scale the screenshot, blur it, and adjust its brightness.
These background settings are very flexible, and along with the new Export Size setting, they allow you to create really nice images containing framed screenshots, rather than a simple group of devices on their own.
Quickly create iOS-style app icon frames.
There are a couple more new features I want to touch on in this sizeable release. The first is the ability to paste an image into Framous instead of adding one via the file picker or drag and drop. I’ve been using this option in conjunction with Universal Clipboard: I take a screenshot on my iPhone, select ‘Copy and Delete’, switch to my Mac, and paste the screenshot directly into Framous. This removes a lot of friction. You can also do the reverse and copy the final image directly out of Framous without saving a file.
The second extra feature I want to point out is the addition of rounded corners to the ‘No Frame’ setting. In version 1.0, Framous would let you combine screenshots without adding the device frames. Now, having the ability to add rounded corners opens up additional design possibilities for people who want to capture nice screenshots without including the frames.
Framous can be used to create a lineup of several app icons on a background, too, and the app is optimized for this use case. If it detects a square image, Framous will automatically add the custom corners Apple app icons are so famous for. Above, you can see a sample Charlie created using the alternate app icons for his Dark Noise app, and I can easily see many other developers doing the same. It’s another example of how powerful Framous is despite its ease of use, and I wish I’d had it when I did my app icon roundup.
This is undeniably a chunky release, but there are still some capabilities I’d like to see added to Framous. I mentioned before my desire for the app to better explain some of its settings. I’d also like the ability to create templates for layouts so I can quickly apply the settings I want, add screenshots, and export the image. Additionally, it would be helpful if Framous would save your settings when you close and reopen the app. These features would allow users to apply consistent design guidelines across many images, and it would save a lot of time.
Framous is a Mac-only app, and there have been occasions when I’ve wanted to create these kinds of mockups with only my iPhone in hand. To fill in this gap, I built a shortcut to create some of the images for my regular column in MacStories Weekly. This workflow uses Federico’s Apple Frames API and includes adding custom shadows I have made myself. I’ll be sharing more about it with Club MacStories members in this week’s edition of the newsletter.
With Framous you can create really nice screenshot mockups.
To sum up Framous 1.2, this update turned the app into an invaluable utility for my screenshot framing needs. I really care about how my screenshots look. I previously used Photoshop to achieve the desired result, but it took a lot of time. Framous takes all the hard work off my hands and allows me to quickly create custom screenshot lineups that I can craft exactly the way I want. For several weeks now, this has been my main solution for building these types of images. I don’t foresee that changing any time soon.
Framous is available on the Mac App Store and is free to use with generic frames. To unlock device-specific frames up to Apple’s 2025 products – including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs – you can purchase a one-time $19.99 upgrade or subscribe to Framous Pro for $9.99/year.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
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Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.
Join Now2025-04-24 03:39:28
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, Federico and I revisit the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence to describe how we use a variety of AI tools in our everyday workflows.
This episode is sponsored by:
This week, Federico and I hold down the fort without Brendon, discussing U.S. Switch 2 pre-orders, Super Mario Kart World, upcoming hardware from Epilogue, Playdate’s Season 2, Razer Remote Play, and more.
This week on NPC XL, Federico and I flip out over the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, sharing their first 24-hours with the clamshell handheld.
On AppStories+, I share my theory of the way we’ll look at AI models in the future.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Ruminate, Comfort Zone, and NPC: Next Portable Console that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.
If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.
Join Now2025-04-23 23:15:55
Rumors have been flying for a while about a planned redesign for iOS 19. One of the rumors is that iOS tab bars will support search bars, which led Ben McCarthy, the developer of Obscura, to write a terrific breakdown of how tab bars should be used:
If search is the primary form of navigation, as in Safari, Maps, or Callsheet, it should be at the bottom. If a search bar is just used for filtering content already on screen, then it can make more sense to leave it at the top, as scrolling is probably the more natural way to find what you’re looking for (the Settings app is a good example of this). So I’m delighted at the rumours that iOS 19’s Tab Bars can adapt into Search Bars when needed. I think it’ll be [a] big improvement and allow for more flexible navigation patterns with less code.
But Ben didn’t just provide pointers on how tab bars should be used. They also explained that tab bars:
It’s a great post, well worth studying as we wait to see whether and how far Apple will go in modifying the tab bar. As Ben notes, the tab bar has been around since the beginning of the iPhone, has changed very little, and is due for a redesign. I agree.
→ Source: benricemccarthy.ghost.io
2025-04-23 22:54:04
Last week, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on the iPhone and iPad. I’ve had a chance to play the game on both platforms, along with the Mac version, and thought I’d share what it’s like playing on each.
The Lost Crown was released at the beginning of last year. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier in France, the game was released to critical acclaim and won an Innovation in Accessibility Award at The Game Awards in 2024, but Ubisoft was unhappy with the game’s sales. The comeback of the celebrated series sold around 300,000 copies in its opening weeks, totaling around $15 million in revenue. In today’s “blockbuster or bust” gaming world, that wasn’t enough. Ubisoft released the Mask of Darkness story DLC in the fall but disbanded the team behind the game.
However, Ubisoft wasn’t finished trying to recoup its investment in The Lost Crown. The company called on its Da Nang studio to port the game to other platforms, starting with the Mac last December. The same group also adapted the game for the iPhone and iPad.
Today, The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available everywhere. It’s on the Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PS4 and PS5, Switch, PC, Android, and other platforms, with Android being the latest addition alongside the iPhone and iPad.
If you’re a console or PC gamer, it would have been hard to miss The Lost Crown’s release in early 2024. The game follows Sargon, a warrior in an imagined version of ancient Persia, who is tasked with trekking to Mount Qaf to save Prince Ghassan. Along the way, there are puzzles to solve and a fun combination of platforming and fluid combat. It’s a shame the game didn’t fare better because it’s an absolute gem.
I’ve played at least the opening level of The Lost Crown on an M1 MacBook Air, M4 Max MacBook Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, M4 iPad Pro, and Sony PS5. Ultimately, the game ran well on all five devices, but there were differences. The PS5 was the smoothest of all, and the game looked phenomenal on my OLED TV.
As you’d probably expect, the game runs very well on an M4 Max MacBook Pro and M4 iPad Pro, although both got quite warm, and I could clearly hear the MacBook Pro’s fans when I removed my headphones. In both cases, I noticed a little hitch in the frame rate from time to time when transitioning from one area of the map to another, but it wasn’t a big deal in either case. The Lost Crown’s gorgeous artwork and sound design really shine on both devices, too.
The worst experiences were on the iPhone and M1 MacBook Air, for different reasons. The iPhone 16 Pro Max handled the game well, and it looked great, but the game is a lot more fun on a bigger screen. I noticed more frame rate hitches on the M1 MacBook Air than on any other device, but I didn’t really expect the game to be playable, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it worked.
Dialogue scenes work better on the iPhone than combat where everything is tiny.
Both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game have been adapted for touch. There are on-screen touch controls, but I’d highly recommend using a controller instead. The onscreen controls are well done, but The Lost Crown’s combat feels much, much better with a controller. If you’re looking for a good controller for iPhone or iPad, check out our Setups page for a few recommendations.
An example of the mobile version’s touch controls.
The mobile versions of The Lost Crown have added automatic parrying and healing potion use, as well as a new option to slow down time during combat, all of which are designed to make the game more touchscreen-friendly. I’m glad those options are there, but again, you really should use a controller with this game. It’s also worth noting that none of the Apple platform versions of the Lost Crown include the DLC, and the Mac version is capped at 60 fps; that doesn’t bother me, but I know it’s an issue for others. The Lost Crown also supports cloud saves if you have an Ubisoft Connect account, but the saves only work Mac-to-Mac or among iOS and iPadOS devices, which stinks.
Finally, we need to talk about the princely price Ubisoft is charging for The Lost Crown on the Mac. The game is $40, which is less than the $60 launch price over a year ago, but now, you can pick it up for as low as $15–$25 on other platforms, depending on whether it comes with the DLC. Given that difference, it’s hard to recommend the Mac version of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown unless you have no other way to play it.
Playing on iPhone with a controller.
The iPhone and iPad versions are much more reasonable. First of all, you can download and play the tutorial level of the game for free to see if The Last Crown is for you, which I appreciate. Second, until May 5, the full game is available for $9.99 – the best deal available anywhere. There’s no guarantee you’ll ever have the option to play the DLC on either device, but $10 is fair for anyone who prefers to play games on their iPhone or an iPad. After May 5, the price is set to rise to $14.99, which is in line with console versions of the game that don’t come with the DLC.
So in the final analysis, there’s not much to commend the Mac version of The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown if you have any other way of playing it because it’s more than double the price of PC and console versions. The iPhone and iPad versions are a closer call, especially while the game is on sale for $10. The Lost Crown looks great on both and plays well (though not perfectly), but any iPhone’s screen is a little small for a game like The Lost Crown. That said, if your preference is for portability or you don’t have the option of a PC or console, The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is worth downloading on your iPhone or iPad to try the free tutorial level.
The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad as a free download, with the full game available via an in-app purchase of $9.99 until May 5, after which it will be $14.99. The Mac version of the game is available on the Mac App Store for $39.99.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.
Join Now2025-04-23 18:58:16
In a press release issued today, the European Commission (EC) announced that it has fined Apple €500 million for violations of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The EC also fined Meta €200 million.
The EC’s press release explains that:
Under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.
The Commission found that Apple fails to comply with this obligation. Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers. The company has failed to demonstrate that these restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate.
In addition to the fine, the EC has ordered Apple:
…to remove the technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating the non-compliant conduct in the future…
The Commission also closed its investigation into Apple’s user choice obligations under the DMA, finding that the company’s browser choice screen and interface for setting new default apps to satisfy the DMA’s requirements.
An unnamed Apple representative speaking to CNN criticized the fine:
A representative for Apple said the fine is “yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting” the company and forcing it to “give away (its) technology for free.” It added that it plans to appeal the decision.
We have spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way.
The EC’s fines aren’t surprising given the long history and tenor of the investigation. What remains open as a point of potential future disputes is Apple’s compliance with the EC’s new order. As stated by its representative to CNN, Apple also plans to appeal today’s decision.
Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.
What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.
Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;
Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.
Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.
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