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I just released Unread 3.0 with support for Unread Cloud. Unread Cloud is a new syncing and article retrieval system for Unread.
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I have the best walking route.
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Of his many transgressions, Mr. President, let’s not worry about he was drunk during his attempt to overthrow the government.
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A 30-day walking streak.
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Safari Views, Mail Compose Views, and Default App Settings
iOS allows any app to present Safari Views and Mail Compose Views. These views are fantastic because they provide the functionality of Safari and Apple Mail without forcing the user to leave the app presenting them.
Safari Views incorporate the user’s content blockers. Bookmarking a webpage from a Safari View adds that webpage to the user’s Safari bookmarks. Safari’s reader mode is available, and the app presenting the Safari View can indicate that the Safari View should be opened in reader mode by default.
Mail Compose Views let the user send a message from any email account setup in Apple Mail. The app can specify an initial subject, list of recipients, and message content. The initial message content can either be plain text or HTML. The user then edits the message and sends it.
iOS 14 added a Default Browser App setting and a Default Mail App setting. The system honors the settings when opening webpage URLs and
mailto:URLs, but does not when presenting Safari Views and Mail Compose Views. Those views just incorporate functionality from Apple’s apps. When an app presents a Safari View or a Mail Compose View to a user with an alternative default app setting, it looks like a bug that prevented the default app setting from being honored.When presenting webpages, the result is that bookmarking a webpage adds the bookmark to Safari instead of the user’s browser of choice. Mechanisms to prevent tracking and to block obnoxious content that might be available in the user’s preferred browser are not available in the Safari view.
For email the situation is worse. A user might not have Apple Mail setup with their accounts, or they might have it setup with their iCloud account but not their preferred email account. They might use a service like HEY that does not work with Apple Mail.
An app can check
MFMailComposeViewController.canSendMail()to determine whether the user is able to send a message from Apple Mail, but my customer interactions have led me to conclude that this is a weak indication of the user having their preferred account setup in Apple Mail. There is no way for an app to determine whether the Default Mail App setting on a device is set to Apple Mail or something else.This leaves app developers with these options:
- Use
mailto:links and accept their limitations: that you cannot specify default HTML content, that many email apps do not handle default plain text content with more than one line inmailto:URLs, and that the user gets bounced out of the app. - Use a Mail Compose View when
MFMailComposeViewController.canSendMail()returns true, accepting that this will not let all customers send from their preferred account. - Add a setting.
I tried to avoid adding a setting to Unread, but I ended up creating a Send Mail In setting. When set to Unread, it presents a Mail Compose View. When set to Default App, it tells iOS to open a
mailto:URL.When using Unread’s mechanisms for contacting customer support while this setting is Default App, I cannot automatically incorporate information like the Unread version identifier into the outgoing message because multiline plain text content often does not work with
mailto:URLs. I cannot honor this setting for Unread’s Mail Article functionality because there is no way to specify HTML content in amailto:URL.Apps need the ability to create Mail Compose Views that honor the default email app setting. A third party email app should be able — perhaps required — to provide an extension with its implementation of Mail Compose View functionality. Similarly iOS needs a Browser View that honors the Default Browser App setting.
Relevant Feedback Assistance reports:
- FB10005791: Safari View Controller should honor default browser
- FB9093370: MFMailComposeViewController and Default Email Apps
Update: I removed FB9093357 from the list of relevant Feedback Assistant reports. It reported that
mailto:URLs with multiline message bodies do not work in Apple Mail. That appears to be fixed in the current iOS 15.5 beta release. - Use
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I walked to my local post office around 1:30, only to find that my post office is closed between 1:00 and 2:00 for lunch. I cannot decide whether to find that annoying or adorable.
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Just posted a first beta of something I have been working on for some time. 🤞
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I reconfigured my
sshconfiguration to use the new 1Password SSH Agent. It is working well for me so far. It does require the 1Password 8 beta. -
I am helping someone look for a tutor to help a high school student taking a Python class. If you know Python well and would be interested, get in touch. The student’s family is willing to pay tutoring market rate.
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I have been experimenting with the replication functionality in PostgreSQL in order to maintain warm backup database servers. I am pleasantly surprised at how straightforward it is to setup.
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Irrationally excited to have KN95 respirators.
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Anecdotally, in my area of Massachusetts I see about 50% of folks wearing masks inside stores.
I spent some time in New York City early last week, and was heartened to see most individuals — maybe 95% — wearing masks when walking outside.
My N95 should arrive tomorrow.
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New Home Office
My home office tends to get cluttered. I have an annual tradition of thoroughly cleaning it on New Years Day.
I am a day late this year, but I went a step further. I moved my office to an entirely different room.
I also setup a card table and chair as a place for video calls. When on video calls I do not use external displays or a laptop stand. I want to look straight into the MacBook Pro’s camera, so I use only the built-in display and put it directly in front of me. I now have a dedicated place to do so in my office where the room’s overhead light is in front of my face.
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A start-of-year status update on Unread: Unread in 2021 and 2022
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I’ve been quiet on micro.blog and on social media in general over the past few months. One of my resolutions for 2022 is to rectify that.
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Wishing everyone a healthy and safe 2022.
(I deleted an earlier post with a similar sentiment.)
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I am working as a clerk for a voting location in my city today. We are electing a mayor, city councilors, and school committee members.
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Seen while out walking:
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Amplosion ⚡️ is a simple app with a twist. On iOS 15 as a Safari extension it automagically redirects AMP links to their normal version, with powerful customizability and stats.
This is brilliant.
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I just released Unread 2.8 with support for extra large widgets, Quick Notes, and more.
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There is a mayoral primary in my city today. I am working at the polls. If today is election day for you, please vote.
This scene from The West Wing always inspires me on election days:
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Yesterday I launched the Webpage Text API: a cloud service that lets an app or web service request the HTML content of a webpage without the junk (chrome, navigation, ads, and scripts) that clutters modern webpages.
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