iOS Today 827 Transcript

Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-free version of the show.

Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on iOS Today, Rosemary Orchard and I talk about some of the apps that you might want for your iPhone Duo. Stay tuned. Podcasts you love.

TWiT.tv [00:00:14]:
From people you trust.

Mikah Sargent [00:00:17]:
This is TWIT. This is iOS Today, episode 827, with Rosemary Orchard and me, Micah Sargent, recorded Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026 for Thursday, November 5th, 2026. Apps worth unfolding for. Hello and welcome to iOS Today, the show where we talk all things iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, HomePodOS, and all the other platforms that Apple offers. We try to help you make the most of your devices by telling you about apps and gadgets and gizmos and settings and features that you can change and help you with those. I am one of your hosts. My name is Micah Sargent.

Rosemary Orchard [00:01:00]:
And my name is Rosemary Orchard, and if I sound like I've got a cold, it's because I do. But that's because Apple left me out in the cold and didn't ship me a brand new iPhone Duo just yet.

Mikah Sargent [00:01:09]:
Very, very good. Very good. Yes, both of us have been left out in the cold. My date keeps, it seems like, getting longer instead of shorter. It still starts at the shorter date, but now the, From X to X date, that, uh, second— or I guess you should say from X to Y date, that Y keeps going, uh, keeps growing and growing and growing. And so right now, if I look, my iPhone Duo, I believe, is— I'm, I'm vamping, I'm vamping, we're almost there. We've tapped our little ID. Yeah.

Mikah Sargent [00:01:48]:
November 16th to November 23rd is, uh, my predicted date of arrival.

Rosemary Orchard [00:01:55]:
Oh yeah, no, mine is still saying November 30th to 7th of December. So exactly the same window for me that I had all the time, 'cause I just got stuck with insisting I used the iPhone, the Apple Store vouchers and credit that I had, uh, because I had £565 worth of it and I was not gonna let that go to waste. I mean, it wouldn't have gone to waste, but I wanted to use it against the iPhone Duo instead of anything else.

Mikah Sargent [00:02:19]:
Yeah, for me, it was just a matter of, uh, it, it, none of it happened fast enough, uh, per Apple. So, um, I wasn't able to get it. Uh, in any case, some people do have their iPhone Duos and that also a very good point, Scooter X, Rosemary Orchard and I are the OG iPhone Duo. Uh, but yes, uh, a lot of people have, or many people have their iPhone Duos and I thought that it would be good to go ahead and talk about some of the apps that are part of the, the App Store that have Duo support. But before we get to that, I wanted to start by talking about the new, some of the new support articles that are available for the iPhone Duo. And one of those is a new article called Pose iPhone Duo. And it talks about the different ways to hold and pose your iPhone Duo for doing different things. It says when iPhone Duo is open, you can use the expansive inner display to immerse yourself in your content or be more productive.

Mikah Sargent [00:03:29]:
You can also partially fold iPhone Duo and set it down, useful for features like standby and taking photos at a distance. It shows you special icons that Apple has come up with for the iPhone Duo in its 2 views so that you can have it open or closed to use the larger inner display. for reading, watching, and using 2 apps at the same time. It says for close, use the outer display for quick everyday tasks without unfolding it. But also, partially fold iPhone Duo like a book so the inner display faces you in landscape. You can hold it and use it this way, or you can place it down to use StandBy or take photos with SmartTake. It also shows folding it like a tent so that the outer display faces you in landscape. And you can do this to glance at information from a distance or face the display towards someone you're photographing.

Mikah Sargent [00:04:21]:
Mm-hmm. You can also partially fold it down and, or fold it to set it in a seated position that also gets its own icon so that the inner display faces you in portrait. Use this position to watch video from a distance with playback controls at the bottom or to take a FaceTime call without holding iPhone Duo. So these are some of the poses that are kind of built in. And you'll note that Apple is showing almost exclusively and quite possibly in every case, internal apps, the first-party apps, the apps that Apple actually ships so that you know, you know, what's possible without needing a third-party app. But the great thing is developers are able to take advantage of new tools that the system has to determine how your phone is folded or unfolded and use that as a means of changing what is displayed. So people are already already starting to get creative with this. But I wanted to ask you, Rosemary, before we get into things, like, is there a specific pose or way of holding your phone that you're most looking forward to when it arrives that you think will be kind of different from the way that you do things now?

Rosemary Orchard [00:05:32]:
Oh, I mean, this one's an interesting one, Micah, because one of the things that I don't like at the moment, ironically, is that when my phone is plugged in and just like laying there, if it tilts at a particular angle, it goes into nightstand mode. But I'm actually looking forward to this with the iPhone 2. So I've explicitly turned this back on, um, because I will be able to just put my phone in, like prop it up on like a little table next to me while I'm working or whatever, not necessarily on charge because I don't need it on charge all the time. And, uh, just have it show me like, you know, a little dashboard essentially. And that is something I'm really looking forward to, you know, that, that, that not the kickstand mode, the, uh, uh, my brain has completely forgotten the, the name of that pose now. Mm-hmm. Uh, but, uh, yes, the, uh, The tent mode. Mm-hmm.

Rosemary Orchard [00:06:19]:
That's the one. Uh, so I'm gonna be able to see that. I also think that this could be really handy in the kitchen for watching videos. Uh, but I say that as somebody who last week mounted a Samsung Frame TV on my kitchen wall to use as a dashboard and also, uh, to show, put things on whilst I'm cooking longer meals or cleaning the kitchen intensely and things like that. So I don't necessarily need it for that anymore, but it is useful for just wandering around the house and having information at hand. And yeah, I, I think it's gonna be fun looking at it in book mode as well. I, will be sticking with my Boox Palma for actual reading of book books because I love that E Ink. But I do love the fact that this is an option.

Rosemary Orchard [00:06:58]:
And yeah, I, I can't wait to get my hands on it and actually give it a solid try.

Mikah Sargent [00:07:04]:
That's how I'm feeling too. I really, really can't wait to, to try it out in its different iterations and, uh, how, how it's all done. Now there are a couple of other guides that will include, uh, including the the support article about opening 2 apps in Split View on iPhone Duo. And that's because it works a lot like if you've ever used Split View on an iPad, it works a lot like that. But it is nice that these apps can kind of be paired together. So when you're in one app, so it says when using an app, swipe up from the bottom of the screen, pause in the center, then continue to drag the app to the left or right side to place it there. The app you're using moves to the side to reveal your home screen. Find the second app you want to open on your home screen or in the App Library, then tap it.

Mikah Sargent [00:07:52]:
And then from that point on, you are able to kind of pair them together. With 2 apps open in Split View, tap the divider between them to pair them. So the next time you open either app, the other app will open at the same time. And then all you have to do to unpair them is drag that divider in the center all the way to the left or the right edge of the screen, and then that unpairs them. So very handy to be able to, in this case, they have the Photos app open on the left, the Messages app open on the right. And if you were sending those back and forth, then you'd be able to, or if you were sending photos back and forth, then you'd be able to kind of handle those at the same time. Now, the big thing was that we wanted to highlight some of the apps that are available for the Duo. Apple has put together a, or has put together now at this point, a few guides, but one of them, is a guide called Great Apps on iPhone Duo that's available in the App Store.

Mikah Sargent [00:08:51]:
And it shows off some apps that have been sort of as close to from the get-go as possible made, made, they make use of the iPhone Duo. There will be some familiar names in there, Not Boring Camera from the Not Boring team. Also Things 3, we've talked about before. Amazon Prime Video gets the Duo treatment. Tripsy, which is a trip planning app that Matthew Cassinelli has as a client. We have Fantastical, Crafty, and Domus et Plasmas

Rosemary Orchard [00:09:32]:
as well, which was

Mikah Sargent [00:09:33]:
made by friend of the show David

Rosemary Orchard [00:09:34]:
Smith.

Mikah Sargent [00:09:36]:
Lots of day one or close to day one apps, and they continue to be added to, which I think is great. But These apps are getting the full treatment to take advantage of this. It's interesting, as far as I can tell, I haven't checked the App Store this, this early morning yet, so I need to run that again. But I know people are really, really waiting for Google to hop on board and get its apps locked and loaded into the App Store with the Duo. It will be.

Rosemary Orchard [00:10:11]:
It'll either be sometime probably this week or next week, Micah, or it'll be sometime after Christmas knowing Google. It's gonna be one or the other. It's either gonna like not take them all that long or it's gonna take them what feels like forever, uh, to do this. So yeah, I mean, at least it's not Facebook. We only just got Instagram on iPad. So imagine if we had that sort of lead time, right?

Mikah Sargent [00:10:31]:
Uh, one thing that I've really been enjoying is seeing different apps pop up in the App Store and saying, you know, we've added support for Duo. And so that's one of the good things about waiting. Having to wait is that by the time our phones get here, many of the apps that we use will be taking full advantage of the new Duo features. So speaking of that, one of my favorite apps, which we talk a lot about, or I've talked a lot about, is Fantastical. It adds some some great support. So for the For the iPhone Duo, you basically, you can start on the outside as if it's your normal iPhone, and then you can unfold it to get an even larger view and be able to see kind of your full calendar. Uh, one, Michael Simmons of FlexiBits, whenever talking to Apple because it was a launch partner, said it feels like the full Fantastical experience from Mac and iPad right in your pocket. And that is something I'm looking forward to because as I've said before, I live and die by my calendar.

Mikah Sargent [00:11:43]:
If it's not on my calendar, it is not happening. And so being able to, and I usually do a lot of the management for that on my Mac because I just feel like I have the room for it. So now being able to unfold and interact with the larger calendar, I think it's going to be very handy for sure. So I'm looking forward to that. Are there any apps in particular that you're looking forward to trying out on the Duo?

Rosemary Orchard [00:12:10]:
Omni Group have announced that all of their apps are going to be upgraded for iPhone 15. I say upgraded, updated is more of the right word because it's not a pay-for upgrade. Omni Group are really good about that. And so yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing how that feels because with all of these apps, it's really easy to look at it in abstract and go, oh yeah, that looks really cool. But at the end of the day, it's really about how it feels when you're using it. How does it feel when you're looking at, for example, just a basic task list, just a simple view of a list of things to do on the outside of your your phone and then you unfold it, does that feel natural? Does it feel like it gives you that more information that you're looking for, or does it actually feel like it's overwhelm? Who knows? I'm hoping very much for the former. And knowing the folks at Omni Group and Ken Case in particular, I very much expect it to be that. But I really can't wait to get my hands on it.

Rosemary Orchard [00:12:58]:
And also being able to split-screen stuff on my iPhone and have my calendar and my task manager in the same view. Micah, oh, I'm gonna be so happy. This productivity nerd can't wait.

Mikah Sargent [00:13:12]:
Um, some of the other apps that I thought deserved particular attention, one of those is the New York Times Cooking app, um, from the New York Times, of course. Added iPhone Duo support and says that partly folded on the counter, it works well as a kitchen setup and will give you kind of the, you know, the recipe stand idea, uh, that, that you wouldn't need an extra You wouldn't need a book or you wouldn't need something else. You can just sort of use this as your little recipe stand. I'm a little nervous about my own use of this device in places where I've not been nervous to take an iPhone before. So like beach trips are now making me— the thought of bringing it or going camping or having it in the kitchen, sitting it on the counter. I, I, Are you feeling any of that hesitancy about, I'm already thinking about how precious I'm going to be as I'm closing it, and all of these different things that I'd— and putting it in my pocket, pulling it out, and then when I open it, wait, is there a subtle— Yeah. Is there something in the hinge? That's stuff that I've not had to think about in the past, and that I'm kind of nervous about having be part of the experience going forward.

Rosemary Orchard [00:14:33]:
Yeah, I— it's one of these things where I feel like I'm gonna be very, very ginger and nervous with it, and then I'm gonna get to the point that I'm at with my iPhone 17 Pro, and I'm gonna be completely honest, folks, I've been like this for a couple of years now. This thing hits the floor, the table, the metal table legs, the dog, the kid— not on purpose, just to be clear. Um, but this, this hits the deck so many times a day, I don't even wince anymore. I dropped this on a hard concrete floor the other day, and somebody was like, oh my gosh, I hope your phone's okay. And I was like, It'll be fine. Like, and it was, just to be clear. Now, I do have a decent case on here. I do have a decent screen protector.

Rosemary Orchard [00:15:12]:
It's going to take me a while to get like that with the iPhone Duo. I'm always a bit more precious about my new devices just after I get them. And I am a little concerned about the moving parts. We have seen reports from a number of people. I say a number because that number is not explicitly counted. We don't know exactly how many iPhone Duo units have sold just yet and had issues. We have seen some people have issues with some of their models. But that said, there's a reason why the supply is constrained, because just like every time Apple ships a new device, they've got to have a certain number in stock so that if there's an issue with it, they can replace your device for you.

Rosemary Orchard [00:15:49]:
And there's the only way that they will sell them is if they've got things to replace them. Because if you buy a brand new flagship phone and it breaks and you can't get a replacement For half a year. That's, you know, that, that's gonna be all sorts of problems. So Apple will have a solution just in case there's a problem. I'm hoping there won't be. I'm gonna cross my fingers, touch on wood, everything will be fine. But yeah, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be a little nervous and extra careful and special with it for a while. And then I'll probably forget that it's a particularly special device and it just becomes part of my life as every other piece of tech does.

Mikah Sargent [00:16:25]:
Yeah, that's, that's what I'm hoping as well, that, you know, eventually I'm just gonna go, it's fine, everything's fine, and that I won't have to just have that again, that sort of subprocess running in my head the whole time. But yeah, we'll see, we'll see how it turns out. Moving along, there are some other great apps that take advantage of the, the foldable display. Sky Guide which we've talked about on iPad being a great experience. It's the— it's one of the apps that lets you see, you know, your, your constellations and stars and figure out how to do some great stargazing. It will expand to take advantage of the full screen, and so you get this kind of star map, of course, that moves with the phone. And I think that this is definitely one of those opportunities to kind of go, oh, uh, you're wondering about, you know, you've got a family member or something that's like, what is that? You have that Duo now? What's that like? Taking them outside and showing them on the smaller screen and then unfolding it and going, now see, we can track the stars. And then you point out to the stars.

Mikah Sargent [00:17:47]:
I think that'd just be really fun, uh, and a really cool use of it. Also, For setting it down and still using it, Wakeout, which is a fantastic app for exercises that you can do anywhere. It's one of those apps that I have recommended to people who work in offices or who, you know, sit for a lot of the day. This app gets you some exercises that you can do, you know, in— when you take your little breaks or whatever it happens to be. It is, according to Wakeout, it says that they took it and rebuilt it around every way that it folds. So it has tent and laptop layouts, hands-free sessions, a split-screen home, and a wiggle timer that fits each fold. Closed navigation becomes a side menu beside the camera, which is nice. And so it has really been redesigned from the ground up.

Mikah Sargent [00:18:46]:
Specifically for the iPhone Duo, and they've really, I think, taken the time to make that, make that work and work well. And I love getting to see developers do the whole pose thing and, and nail it, and Wakeout seems to be one that has done exactly that. Another option is an app called TypeDraw. Uh, it is a notebook that you open by unfolding the Duo, and it even has an elastic band on the COVID Uh, you can type and use your own handwriting, and you can also use one of 12 fonts that are available. It's got lined grid dot paper, and then the pages will curl as you flip them. Uh, so it's a little bit— the idea is that, A, it's taking advantage of the new, uh, Apple Pencil support on the iPhone Duo. But it's also taking advantage of the sort of design of this. And I think the fun thing is leaning back into a little bit of skeuomorphism.

Mikah Sargent [00:19:49]:
Why not? Why not bring that back? I remember the surprise and delight of the original iPhone and the flipping open the lighter thing. And I've seen a few clever uses of, um, of the iPhone Duo in particular to kind of bring some of that whimsy back. And I think that TypeDraw Yes.

Rosemary Orchard [00:20:15]:
Yes, there's a really cool app by Marco Arment, creator of Overcast as well, which is all about writing on the iPhone Duo with the USB-C Apple Pencil. And I was wondering, Mike, are you considering getting a USB-C Apple Pencil to use with the iPhone Duo? Because I am very much on the fence about it. Now, I have a backup plan, so I am going to buy a USB-C Apple Pencil. I'm going to try it with the iPhone Duo. If I don't like it, I'm going to buy a Lightning Apple Pencil. But if I don't like it, my mom has an iPad Mini, which does not have a compatible iPad Pencil at the moment. And so therefore I would then give it to her because I've checked it and it will work with her iPad Mini. Um, and she would quite like an Apple Pencil.

Rosemary Orchard [00:20:49]:
So I have a plan for buying the Apple Pencil and trying it out and then seeing if I actually like it. And if I don't, I know where it's going. But I was wondering, what do you think about it?

Mikah Sargent [00:20:59]:
Um, I think that I have always purchased Apple Pencils with iPads. And I very rarely use them. And so because my Apple Pencil that I have, the Pro, doesn't work with the Duo, right, then I don't, I don't think I'm going to be buying a new one. It's, it's aspirational at best for me. And I just, if I, I felt that I would actually make regular use of it, then sure. But I just, I know, I know I wouldn't. If they made a stubby one, there's a good chance that I would.

Rosemary Orchard [00:21:42]:
Yes. Yes.

Mikah Sargent [00:21:44]:
That's something I would buy for the Duo. But keeping track of my Pro already is enough. I can't imagine also doing this. No. Yeah, I don't think so. Not for me.

Rosemary Orchard [00:21:58]:
That makes sense. I have to say, I think this is one thing that Samsung got right with the S Pen, where there was like a little slot inside the phone to put it into, because my boyfriend has one of those and every— I forget that exists. And every so often I'm trying to do something and I'm like, ah, this is really complicated. And he's like, oh, there's a pen. You can use the pen. It never makes it easier. But it's always a fun little thing where it's like, out it comes. So yeah, we'll have to see.

Rosemary Orchard [00:22:22]:
I'm sure somebody else is going to create something just like there are third-party Apple Pencils, like Ugreen make them and so on. I'm sure we're going to see other options coming soon. So we'll have to watch this space and see what happens. I'm sure there'll be some great options out there.

Mikah Sargent [00:22:35]:
Yeah, we will see for sure. A couple of other apps that I wanted to mention because they are also skeuomorphic are a vinyl music app and the cassette player app, which both kind of feature this retro design, but once again, take advantage of the display half open on a desk. It's a tiny record player. Player with album art above the spinning record. Lift and drop the tonearm to play and stop. And so you can kind of have that old-school experience, uh, on this brand new device from Apple, which is just fun. And then, uh, PicoCam interestingly is, uh, an app that works with the iPhone Duo. Polaroid-style shots that slide out of the Dynamic Island And the outer display, uh, as well closed, the gallery gets more room.

Mikah Sargent [00:23:35]:
Um, so the idea is that you take a photo and it's as if it's being processed right there on the device. So it's just a cute little thing, um, that I think people will potentially like, except for people who are pedants and go, you're not supposed to shake the photo. Uh, we Yeah, it's fine. It's fun. It's cute. It works. So that is, that is PicoCam. I don't know.

Mikah Sargent [00:24:02]:
Overall, I just am looking forward to getting, as you said, getting our hands on this and getting to actually try it and see what the experience is like, what apps work, what apps don't. I would be curious to hear from folks on there. For folks who've gotten an iPhone Duo, tell us about your experience. iOS Today at twit.tv. As there are Loads of apps that have been updated to take advantage of the new display. And I'm curious if Apple has, you know, missed any that you've seen that you go, oh, that was the way to do it. That was smart. That's good.

Mikah Sargent [00:24:40]:
I'd love to hear about that as well. All right. Any other apps that you wanna mention before we move along to the news?

Rosemary Orchard [00:24:50]:
I am just gonna say that Marco's app is called Fineliner for anybody looking to check it out. He said it's the most fun he's ever had creating an app. Yeah, it's, it's one of those ones where I really want to try it and see. So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on an iPhone Duo and actually having a solid play, but that's not going to happen unfortunately for a good period of time unless I manage to borrow one from an Apple Store. But I hear they frown upon that, so I'm not planning on committing any crime anytime soon.

Mikah Sargent [00:25:18]:
All right, moving along, uh, iOS 27.2 is now available. And there's not, you know, a whole lot going on in the 0.2 update. Some though, including Siri AI getting 5 new languages and then some new features. Now Siri AI can recall your past conversations. So that way you can ask it about something it told you before, like the restaurants that it recommended last week. It can also draw from more sources, photos attached in iMessage, calendar event attendees, voicemails, And then Safari history is supposed to be better as well. Excluded apps will let you choose which apps Siri can or can't access, which is, which can be nice. I know when Siri AI got switched on, it became a lot more difficult to just get a reminder added to the Reminders app because it wanted to suggest 5 different apps instead.

Mikah Sargent [00:26:21]:
And then granular text selection so you can select and copy parts of the Siri responses as you need them. Group FaceTime gets dual capture mode. Apple Podcasts has a new Up Next queue. And then there are some changes to the TV app as well, according to 9to5Mac. The update adds multi-view support to the iPhone, so you can watch up to 4 live sports streams simultaneously on the app on your phone. And the Apple TV app on iOS also adds support for profiles. So even though that's been on tvOS for a while, it has not made its way to, to the iPhone TV app. I love that it's got suggestions in Messages back.

Mikah Sargent [00:27:11]:
That was removed there for a while, and they're back in 27.2. So now when someone texts you, there are little suggestions underneath that say oh, do you wanna add this to Reminders? Do you wanna add this to Notes? And I think another one of the big ones, of course, are the security updates, but people will notice that Apple Music looks different in the 27.2 update. It is a white tile with a black music icon, and that certainly is different from the sort of red-orange that was there before. Uh, that is not a bug. That is the new design. And it has to do with Apple rebranding Apple Music similarly to how they rebranded TV, uh, with real human touches. Uh, you can look up Apple's Apple Music rebrand on its own website where it talks about the process there. But, um, yeah, when you update and you're looking for Apple Music by color, Just know it's now a white background with a black music icon on top.

Rosemary Orchard [00:28:20]:
Or a black background with a white music icon sometimes as well. True. Because this— it's driving me crazy in CarPlay because I'm like, oh, what is this app that's like taking over my audio? I also, at the same time as this came out, I had a bug in CarPlay where my car was then suddenly not showing me what music was playing and the car controls weren't working. Fortunately, a reboot fixed that, but oh my gosh, the music icon's driving me crazy to the point where on my home screen, I think I'm gonna replace it with a shortcut that is, obviously I'm going purple personally because if I'm gonna change the color of an app by using a shortcut to just open the app, then I'll do it. But unfortunately that does not affect the actual icon in CarPlay or the one that is shown adjacent to the app when you are using the app switcher. So yeah.

Mikah Sargent [00:29:06]:
All right. Um, I wanted to mention too that yes, you will see, uh, some apps appearing in an odd way on the iPhone Duo. And that is when apps that haven't been optimized or updated at all to take advantage of the larger, of the, of the new way of doing things, it will kind of place some strange bars, uh, around the app. And that's not a bug per se. It is just the way of things until those apps get updated. It's kind of wild though, some of the apps that are included. Spotify, Google Maps, Discord, the X app, Google Calendar. Those need to be redone to take advantage of the larger screen.

Mikah Sargent [00:30:03]:
And And it is, I think, fascinating how there's a big difference between sort of the— you can still have an app that only takes up half of the screen, but it does so in an optimized way versus the non-optimized way where it's just this awkward app. So, I found that really kind of fascinating. How it almost encourages the developers to hop on board and get things figured out, right? Because otherwise their app looks kind of ugly on the iPhone.

Rosemary Orchard [00:30:40]:
Yes. Yeah, I feel like it's a little bit of an overt pressure, if that makes sense.

Mikah Sargent [00:30:46]:
Yeah.

Rosemary Orchard [00:30:47]:
But at the same time, there are plenty of apps that didn't update for different screen sizes for a really long time. Instagram. And, you know, they did okay. But we will see. It might also potentially open up the opportunity for third parties to come along and make much better apps. Though, FYI, if you're somebody considering doing this, please don't do it for YouTube because, as Christian, who actually created the fabulous Reddit client Apollo, had the same problem. They just yoinked the API keys and told him absolutely not, don't do that. And this has happened to him twice now.

Rosemary Orchard [00:31:24]:
So, you know, make sure you're definitely checking, checking rules if you decide to make a third-party app for these things.

Mikah Sargent [00:31:31]:
All right, moving right along to our feedback section. Uh, this is a question that had kind of been ongoing, and, uh, we have sort of a, a, you know, a full answer. And if anyone else had been asking about this too, uh, James, who is a member of the club, asked, after updating to tvOS 27, The Club Twit private RSS feed stopped updating in podcasts on Apple TV while it still works on iPhone. We heard about this, James, and Patrick, our web engineer, all-around engineer, Patrick confirmed Apple removed private feed support from podcasts on tvOS. There are some workarounds. You can use AirPlay from your iPhone. You could also use a third-party app like Pocket Casts on Apple TV. And it has to do with updates to the Podcasts app, but it is possible that tvOS 27.2 fixes this or changes it.

Mikah Sargent [00:32:35]:
I don't know if we can call it a fix because I don't think Apple necessarily considered it a bug, even though I would, given that it worked before but then suddenly stopped working. In any case, give it a go after you update to tvOS 27.2 and see if it's back. If it's not, then reach out to Apple because they are the only ones who can actually change how this works. All right. Ooh, yeah, I think so. I can hear the music. It's time for Shortcuts Corner. All right, welcome to Shortcuts Corner.

Mikah Sargent [00:33:19]:
This is the part of the show where you write in with your shortcuts requests and Rosemary Orchard, our shortcuts expert, gives a response. Rose, do you have anything for us this week?

Rosemary Orchard [00:33:30]:
Well, as you can see, my iPhone Duo is opening perfectly here in my hands. I'm just gonna get a little saw and chop my actual iPhone in half. Unfortunately, I can't do that, which means I can't actually demo what I really wanted to show folks today, which is is the fact that the iPhone Duo has a custom automation trigger, folks. And this might not sound like much, but with all of these things, this is potentially a linchpin that can actually go, oh no, wait, this makes so much more sense because that automation trigger is when your iPhone opens or it closes. And by opens and closes, I mean physically opens like a book, closes like a book, right? And so just imagine, for example, you are on your home screen and OmniFocus is open. and then you open your phone and you want to go straight to OmniFocus and Fantastical as a paired duo of apps, and you want that to happen every single time that you are in OmniFocus specifically, not any other app, just that, you can create an automation to do that. And this is really exciting. MacRumors has got an article, uh, that just— I mean, it's 2 paragraphs, uh, that tells you that this exists, uh, which is very exciting.

Rosemary Orchard [00:34:42]:
Uh, but Federico Viticci, uh, has actually created a little lock and unlock option, and Stephen Robles has expanded upon that. And I'm really excited to see what all these people are actually doing with this and like trying it out for myself. I am very sad that I have to mime it with my hands at the moment because I don't have a Duo just yet, but I will be playing with this and I will be posting things somewhere once I've got my hands on this and can actually try it out and see what it's useful for. Because as with all of these things, I need to actually go through and have a bit of a Shortcuts clear out. I know that is, you know, sacrilege to say that I, oh, out of the over 1,000 Shortcuts that I have, I probably don't need some of them. So I'm gonna go through and have a clear out and redo all of my automation setups and everything once I get the iPhone Duo, because I feel like this is gonna be a great opportunity to do that. So yeah, I'm very excited. And I would love to know from folks, what do you think that you might use the iPhone Duo open or close automation triggers for? Because Yes, I have quite a few ideas up my sleeve.

Rosemary Orchard [00:35:48]:
But as always, you as an audience are a great audience, fabulous audience. And I would really appreciate hearing your feedback and ideas, even if it's just like a thought, like a sort of like glimmer of an idea that maybe could turn into something. Send us an email and let us know, because I would like to try all these things out.

Mikah Sargent [00:36:09]:
All right. We can head into the final portion of the show, which are our app caps. These are apps or gadgets we're using now or have been using for some time that we think are awesome and want to share with all of you. The app cap I want to mention is an app called the Tiny Computers app, and it's really cute. It's essentially a little. Museum of computers that's specifically made for the iPhone Duo. And in it, you can, excuse me, play around with these different computers that are part of the museum. I already said museum twice, sorry.

Mikah Sargent [00:36:55]:
But essentially, each of the computers that are listed has these little secrets built in. So there are these little Easter eggs. You can use hot dog stands, color scheme for one, ask the 1541 for its directory. Meet Rover, fill a 1984 Mac's memory until the bomb appears. It's little references to the original devices. And I think anyone who's a Mac nerd in particular is going to absolutely love this. And, uh, yeah, I just, it's delightful and it's called Tiny Computers and it's got a smiley face and I think it's wonderful. Um, from Fountain Interactive Limited.

Mikah Sargent [00:37:37]:
It's available for $3.99 in the App Store, and I think, uh, folks should check it out. Any app or gadget you want to mention, Rose?

Rosemary Orchard [00:37:48]:
Well, one of the things I've been playing with at the moment, and I don't yet have a definitive yes, I like this, no, I don't like this, here's what I'm doing, is I'm playing with 3D printing slicers on my, uh, actual, uh, phone because traditionally slicing prints for 3D is something that's always been done on a real computer. I use air quotes because my iPad is actually more powerful than a lot of people's computers, um, and so is my iPhone, at least nowadays. But slicing things for printing in 3D is something that traditionally has not really been available. So I've been going through and evaluating that, and I would actually love it if people could send me some recommendations for anything that they're using, or if you're using a web slicer I currently, I should note, I still have an Ender 3 V2. This now, like I've had my printer for over 5 years, um, and it's like a 7-year-old model, but it's still going just fine. So I've got like OctoPrint set up so I can, you know, connect to it via my phone and things like that if I want to. So I'm just very interested to know if anybody has specifically any iPhone or iPad recommendations, though I will, because there's an Android user in my life, also take Android recommendations if you have them for anything that I can use to hook up to this and make my 3D printing process better. Better, that would be really cool because at the moment I'm trying some things out and I have been playing today with print to 3D and I don't yet know how I feel about it.

Rosemary Orchard [00:39:06]:
I'm gonna have to actually print some of the things that I have sliced and see how I feel about it.

Mikah Sargent [00:39:12]:
All right, uh, well in that case it is time to say goodbye. I want to thank you all so much for tuning in to this week's episode of iOS Today. If you have questions, you can email us iosday@twit.tv. That's how you get in touch. Rosemary Orchard, if people would like to follow you online and check out all the great work you're doing, where should they go to do

Rosemary Orchard [00:39:29]:
The best place to go is the newly designed rosemaryorter.com, which has got links to all of the things that I have been doing. And of course, all the things that I am continuing to do. It's been very exciting redesigning my website. I redesigned it using Astro, which is a different operating system— operating system? CMS. It's very fun. If you go to rosemaryorter.com/socials, then you'll find links to all of my social media there as well. Michael, where can folks find you? If

Mikah Sargent [00:39:53]:
you're looking for me, looking to find me online, I'm @micasurgent on many a social media network, or you can head to chihuahua.coffee— that's chihuahua.coffee— where I've got links to the places I'm most active online. Thank you so much, and we'll see you again next week. Bye-bye!