PDF Expert, Canon PRINT, Soulver 3
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Micah Sargent
Coming up on iOS today, Rosemary Orchard and I, Micah Sargent, talk about utility apps you should be using every day. Stay tuned.
Rosemary Orchard
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Micah Sargent
Podcasts you love from people you Trust this is TWiT. This is iOS Today with Rosemary Orchard and me, Micah Sargent. Episode 749 recorded Tuesday, April 15, 2025 for Thursday, April 24, 2025 Daily Utility Apps hello and welcome to iOS Today, the show. We talk all things iOS, iPad, OS, TV OS, WatchOS, HomePod OS and all the other OSes that Apple has to offer. We love to help you make the most of your Apple devices by showing you the apps and the features that you should check out so you are getting the very best you possibly can. I am one of your hosts and my name is Micah Sargent and I.
Rosemary Orchard
Am your other host, Rosemary Orchard and excited and happy to be here as always.
Micah Sargent
Yay. Yes, we are both excited and I am excited about this episode because Rosemary has essentially created a nice little story for us. As you are going along throughout your day and you have pain points, what are the issues you might experience and what are the ways to deal with those issues? And that is what makes, I think iOS in particular magical because there are so many different app offerings out there that can really kind of settle in and give you exactly what you need just when you need it and when you don't have something, then you could go take a peek and find new fun things. It's all great, it's all good. But let's kick things off on these utility apps you could be using every day.
Rosemary Orchard
Yeah, first up, I'm sure I'm not the only person that has random pieces of paper like this littering my desk or just collecting around my house. These are the Instructions for a rechargeable automatic drip irrigation kit. This is the user manual. When I say it's about the size of a matchbook, it's a bit bigger, but it isn't that big. It's dual sided. The other side is in Chinese because I've just bought something very cheap because I needed to water my plants while I was gone. This is great. Am I going to be able to find this when I inevitably need to reprogram it? No. Have I considered laminating this hole, punching it and just hanging it on the side of it? Yes, but it'll get in the way and it'll be annoying and it'll still at some point get damaged. So the best thing for me to do is to convert this into a digital format. Now I could of course just use the built in camera on my phone. It's great. It will even have text recognition built in. Sure. But maybe there is a better option for that and that is scanning. Now you can scan things in the file app or the files app or the notes app, that's another option. But I really love an app called Simple Scan which is by a lovely developer called Agile Tortoise. Greg, the creator behind Agile Tortoise, has created many apps over time and Simple Scan is one of the newer ones. And it allows you to say, hey, what am I scanning to start with? So do you want to make PDF, do you want to turn it into images or do you just want to get the text off of the thing? Because that can also be quite useful. And then you can choose your destination so you can say, hey, Untitled is one that I've created. We'll get back to that in a moment. Do you want to email it, send it via messages, save it as a file photos or just throw it, share it through the share sheet. So you could put it in something like dev and think that we've talked about previously. Um, and then you specify your quality. So original large, medium or small. So I'm just gonna start with the scan document function and I'm gonna put that right here in the viewfinder and then I'm gonna take picture button. And that allows me to specify where the corners are and as I drag it's actually magnifying that little corner to allow me to find it more easily under my finger. And then I can say hey, keep scan and then save and then it gives me the option so I can actually send this over to Micah instead. What I'm going to do for the time being because I have already saved this where I would like to put it is. I'll just throw it into yoink, which is my shelf app, which I've just realized I've not mentioned here, but I should. So I'm going to throw that one in. So yoink is a great place to put files when you're going, okay, like, I need this, but. But I need it for like five minutes or I need it until I use it again. But like, I don't need it forever and ever and ever. Um, and so that is where yoink comes into play. So you something you want for five minutes, you share it to yoink. And here it is. That is my PDF for the rechargeable automatic drip irrigation kit user manual. Ooh, it's very exciting. Um, but you know what, it works. And now I have this and I can do. Maybe I need to take a couple of actions with it. Maybe I want to print a copy. Because, you know, I mentioned this is really small. The text on it is super tiny. It's actually really not even readable if I put it right up into the camera. So you definitely would need like the magnifying feature on your iPhone if you wanted to use it. Or you can use the good old scan feature. And look, I can zoom all the way in. And now it's readable. So I could do a couple of things with this. I could send it to somebody else, maybe I bought two of them. So I'm sending them a copy of the manual and so on, save it and then, ta da, I'm done. And that's it, I've got my scan, I've done the things that I want to do. And then with yoink, if you have the padlock off, once you've done something with it, like for example, share it. So I could just put this into, say, devonthink and save it. Then it will actually disappear. And that, that is the beauty of Yoink come especially combined with something like simple scan, where you're gonna need to take like three or four actions with something instead of just one. So that is scanning pieces of paper, which is great if you've got something that's fairly flat like this, you know, it's not perfectly flat, but it's fairly flat. But what if you have something that is not flat? For example, this receipt here. Now in the case of a receipt, you can probably bend it, flatten it back out, and then it'll be a flat piece of paper and you can scan it. But something like a passport tends to like to try and close on itself. Again, and if you're trying to scan your passport for something, you don't want your fingers in the scan of your passport. And personally I would just say I don't recommend breaking the spine on your passport. And that's what happens when you grab the covers and you bend them back on each other to try and pin it so it opens. Because that is going to cause more wear and tear to your passport. And if you're going to be traveling a lot or if your passport at any point takes a beating, having added that little extra wear and tear to it is not great. So instead you might need to use a regular scanner. But just scanning something from your phone through a printer is a little tricky. However, the vast majority of printers, such as Canon for example, have a printing app. And Canon's app is called Surprise Surprise Canon Print. Now obviously you're going to need to substitute whatever printer you actually have here. I'm going to use Canon as an example. I don't actually have the Canon here, it's my parents place because I have been managing their printer for them. But this allows you to do things like actually scanning and you can specify your color modes and so on. And you'll be able to use the flatbed of a scanner or if you've got feeder on the scanner, so you need to scan like 20 or 30 pages at once, you can dump those in and then you can use a scanner and it will be able to do that. This is also ideal for doing maintenance on your printer. So usually you can then tap on the printer, you'll be able to connect to it and do things like clean the print heads, check the ink levels and so on without going and trying to print stuff. And this can be very, very handy for troubleshooting because I don't know about you, Micah, but personally in my experience, printers are evil. They are possessed.
Micah Sargent
Yes, yes.
Rosemary Orchard
They will do random things and they will almost certainly never do what you expected them to do, like print, because that, that would be logical or hell.
Micah Sargent
Yeah, if they printed then, I mean what, what, what troubleshooting would I be able to do? I would just like everything would just work. And that's not fun.
Rosemary Orchard
Yeah, exactly. And you know, we always like a little bit of fun and some surprises in our lives, but maybe, maybe not that one. So you know, that, that is, you know, I've used the Canon app as the example there, but you know, obviously if you've got a HP printer, the Canon app's not going to get you very far. But the HP app that'll work. And yeah, I, I highly recommend having it downloaded because it's very useful for troubleshooting things. And also, as a pro tip, if you have a printer that sometimes doesn't show up for AirPrint, try printing through the printer's app and at that point that will be able to communicate it with it. It'll send it something called a wake on LAN package, which basically goes over the network and goes, hello, wakey wakey. And the printer goes, oh, I wasn't asleep, it's fine. But for some reason Airprint doesn't always do that and I'm not 100% certain why. It's probably down to a variety of network settings and how AirPrint works and all sorts of things. But yeah, if your printer is not showing up and you know it's on, you can always try the, the printing app. But say you want to try and print something and you know you're trying to print, but it's a funny paper size. Okay, so I have my little example here. I wish they were two different colors, but I didn't. Oh, wait, there we go. So say for example, this orange fix it putty is regular paper size. Obviously it's not, but we're going to use that as an example. And I'm trying to print something and like, it doesn't fit on the piece of paper. Now you can rotate things in the regular print settings, but you know, it's still getting pretty close to the borders. And some printers can get a bit funny when you're a bit too close to the borders. And so for that I would recommend scaling it down. Now, when you go to print something, I am just going to open up a PDF here. Here's one I made earlier. Thank you, Scanner Pro. And then you can say, hey, print. And then that. That does give you the option of changing things like your paper size and also rotating it. So you can put like two pages, two sheets on a page, or print it as a booklet, etc. Things like that. But. And from there there's also the Share option and that share then gives you a PDF. So if you don't have something that's a PDF and you need to turn into a PDF, then you can tap on the share button at the top of the share sheet. But if you want to print something and scale it down, okay, so that it fits just a little bit smaller inside the sheet, then PDF Expert, the free version, you don't need to sign in with an account, you can skip all that. You don't need to Pay for anything extra. No subscription. Just download the app, skip all the things. There's literally a skip button or an X button on every page. And then when you go to print from here, there's a scaling option. And this is honestly one of those things that you don't need 90% of the time, but when you need it, trying to find it, because most apps don't support that scaling feature in the print sheet is so frustrating. But once you, once you know that it exists and it exists in PDF Expert, I'm sure other apps use it have it as well, then you can scale it down. So I'm just going to scale onto a 50% size and then that would be obviously half the size in the middle of my piece of paper. Um, and yeah, that, that is how you can scale something down for printing. Because I don't know about you, Micah, but especially if something's colorful, I don't want to be printing right to the edge. It makes the edges of the paper all wavy and it's just not necessary.
Micah Sargent
Alrighty. I look, that's. It can be kind of complicated trying to figure out exactly what you're going to do when it comes to, to printing and getting something to print exactly as you to. And as you point out on iOS with its built in print functionality, there's a lot, there are a lot of kind of hidden options. And I've also found it to be the experience that Even if your AirPrint situation works out and it gets in touch with the printer, sometimes it takes a minute for the printer to load what it is able to do. And so then you go back and then you can see in the print dialog, oh, wow. I actually have the option to do this, this and this where I didn't think I did before. What all of that has resulted in is for this household. Even though airprint is set up, my significant other just sends me, can you print this? I take care of it because too many times it's turned out poorly for him as he just tried to use the Airprint dialog. So yeah, I completely respect and understand that. It can be kind of difficult trying to figure out what, what to do with AirPrint. Even though I have to say, overall, I remain impressed with what airprint is able to do. And oftentimes it comes down to how an individual printer and its individual firmware and the company's decisions have impacted how AirPrint can work. I have one printer that I had to go find a very, very buried setting that was some quote unquote security Setting where you push a button on the printer itself to confirm that yes, the airprint print I just sent should be printed. No, I don't want that turned on. I need that setting off because I just want to be able to air print to this device. So it can be kind of complicated figuring that out. And if you know, you, you are struggling with airprint, sometimes going into the individual, as Rosemary pointed out, app can be very helpful to figure out what's up and why it's not working. It's expect. All right, what's next?
Rosemary Orchard
Wizardling in the chat has just mentioned they have a laser printer and I also have a laser printer. And just like wizardling mine, honestly, it just always works. I have a feeling it's because it's made for business people and for them time is money. But if anybody is looking to replace a printer at some point, it is well worth considering a laser printer. You can get color ones. I honestly find I can print in black and white 99% of the time and it's totally fine. So, yeah, have to have to recommend laser printers because, you know, it doesn't matter what paper I throw in there, it just produces a piece of paper which is also, it's nice and warm. So I always recommend that experience when you, when you pick it up, it's like, oh, nice warm paper. But yeah. So speaking of paper, I discovered recently, not recently, I rediscovered recently, America doesn't use standard international paper sizes. And I was trying to figure out as one does, because apparently I don't have a lot to do in my free time time, how big is our paper compared to American's paper? And of course, I didn't do something as simple as Google it because that would have made more sense. So instead I pulled open pcalc because pcalc, as well as being a calculator application, is actually also a conversion application. It's got things like functions that you can save in it to repeat again and again. So if you have to, you know, run numbers through a formula or calculation lots of times at work, then you can, you know, save those into PCALC and use those. But one of the things I use PCALC for so frequently is just conversions. So I've written 297 here. 297 millimeters is the height of a standard a four piece of paper in pretty much everywhere in the world except for America. So if I were trying to convert that, I tap the A to B button at the top. Now, I've already been doing some conversions, so I was already in length, but you've got conversions for angles, area, bytes. So that's like gigabytes, megabytes, terabytes, petabytes, et cetera. Cooking, which would include things like temperatures, but also cups, ounces, pints. Yes, there's different pints and fluid ounces for the UK versus the US of course, US and UK tablespoons also different, as are the teaspoons, because why would we have standards? But yes, you can convert things like currency. Now, this is not a currency converter, so it doesn't have all the currencies, and these are based on the euro currency. But either way you can convert things like density, energy, electric vehicle efficiency, all sorts of things. But in this particular case, I want to convert length and I'm going to start with millimeters. And now I can see that 297 is 29.7 centimeters. Whoa. Turns out decimalization really useful. You just move at a small point by one to go from milli to centi. But in inches, this is 11.69 inches. So that 9 by 11 is a standard letter sheet. Right, for us, Mica, if I'm remembering correctly, or was that legal?
Micah Sargent
8 and a half by 11 is.
Rosemary Orchard
Letter 8 and a half by 11. Okay, so yeah, we're not that off, but yeah, it's over eleven and a half. So yeah, but I can also see in nanometers or it's 0.32 yards. So the length of a standard piece of paper is 0.32 yards. So about a third of a yard, which, you know, that's just a random, fun piece of information. So peakalc is for more than just two plus two equals four or four times six. Because, you know, we all know the meaning of life, the universe and everything else, but sometimes you need to do a little bit more with your numbers than just straight addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. Etc. Absolutely, yes. However, sometimes and only sometimes, perhaps you actually need to do a little bit more with your numbers than just that, which is to actually go ahead and write things down in a way that you can figure them out. So, for example, I have been looking at rearranging my offline office. Now, I know the length of my office and I know the length of certain items in my office. So for example, I could write 1, 800 and I'll just switch back to the regular calculator millimeters desk, for example, and then I could write 45cm and then I'll just add drawers. And now at the bottom I happen to have a nice Little running total, which tells me 225cm is the total here. And this is Solver S O U L V E R. Now Solver is part of a setapp. If you have a setup subscription that you are using on iPhone, then you can get it through that. But it's also available on the Mac. It is such a great app for writing things down with annotations and calculating them. So if I needed to say, oh, actually no, this one kind of like gets inset so it's minus 45. I don't quite know how my drawers would subtract from the length of my desk, but let's pretend that they do. In this particular case I can just write a negative and then it will figure it out. And then, you know, if instead of this I were doing something else. So for example, I was visiting Mica so I could put flights down and let's say that I got really cheap flights for reasons unknown to the world economy at the moment. And maybe I could even get a really great deal on a hotel and I could get the hotel for, I don't know, say for example, 700. I am just making up prices here. I can now see my total price in dollars because that's the last currency I used. Solver is honestly just such a great app for scribbling things down to work out the back of the envelope maths. That's what I use it for. And I have to say I highly recommend it for that.
Micah Sargent
Solver is amazing and nothing comes close. Even iOS and Mac OS and iPadOS adding some of, of the basic features into the Notes app. It doesn't even scratch the surface of what Solver is able to do. Solver sort of thinks, I think, how the mind thinks and operates in that space, which makes it so much more than just a calculator. It's very, very cool. It's one of those tools that I recommend everybody at least try because I think you'll find, oh, wow, wow, this is going to be so useful to me in so many different ways. Just any sort of back of the napkin, back of the envelope math that you're trying to do. And then of course it can get more complicated from there if you need it to. I just, I really, I can't speak highly enough of that application and I know that the next one on the list, the final option on the list here is one that Rosemary can never speak highly enough about because it's a great application.
Rosemary Orchard
It is such a great application and I am going to attempt to limit myself here because if you wanted me to, I could probably talk for a good month on drafts. And Drafts is honestly one of those applications I find myself using. I'm guesstimating here 30 times a day for just all sorts of things. And one of the ways I commonly use drafts is through the widgets. And so I am adding a widget to my home screen here and I'm just going to tap on it to customize it. So I was already already in jiggle mode on the home screen. I'd already added a widget and I'm just gonna replace the dictate for a new with clipboard because this is one of the things that I often do. Like I'll copy something and I'll be like, oh yeah, no, I just need to like paste that somewhere where I can find it again. Or you know, you can have go to your last draft and you could even have appending so you could append to an existing draft, for example, and, and so on. And so there are all of things that you could do with drafts, which is just really cool. You can usually trickle through the widgets. Now, folks with an eagle eye who are zooming in on the video mega Rose, you have 1931 items in drafts to which I'll go, yes, I do. These are like my digital post it notes. However they are searchable so I can go back and find them. And unlike a real post it note, for me these don't just become, you know, a decoration on my monitor which gets ignored after about five minutes because I can see it and I know it's there and therefore it doesn't exist anymore. But what happens often is I'll be working and I'll pay, I'll copy something and I'll go, right, I need to remember this to come back to it later. Or ah, yeah, I wanted to look at this film but I don't have time now because I will get sucked down a rabbit hole. So I just create a quick note and I throw it in drafts. And this is honestly really, really useful for me. Or one of the things I do all the time is I share a link from something into drafts. This can be really helpful if you are like sharing a link from Safari, say for example, you found something on Amazon, you've opened it up and you want to share that link with somebody. That link is going to be about 20 furlongs long. Thank you chat room for the unit suggestion. I don't know how big a furlong is, But I'm guessing 20 of them is pretty long and everything from the word ref onwards in an Amazon URL is just tracking junk which tells Amazon how you got to that link so you can delete it. Now I personally, because I'm a nerd like that, created a custom action in drafts to clean up those links. But you don't have to do that. You could just share what it is from Amazon or from the webs or from Safari to Drafts and then at that point it allows you to clean up the link. And here's the best part. You don't actually have to create a draft. You can clean it up by seeing it there and then copy and then send it off to wherever you actually want it to go to. And this is one of the things I just love about drafts. Like it's a really great place for just working on text, just cleaning things up a bit, doing various things with it. And it does have fabulous extensions like tags and all of those things that you can use if you want to, but there is zero obligation to do it and it is free to use as well. There is an optional in app subscription which I believe starts at $30 a year. However, it is just genuinely one of my most used apps. You know, I, I probably use it 20, 30 times a day. So for me, assuming that I paid a dollar every time it I feel like I'm getting a very, very good deal.
Micah Sargent
Yeah, it's get again. This is another just go get it, try it out. I think you'll be impressed and surprised. That is going to bring us to the end of the picks for daily utility apps. I'm sure there are apps that some of you are using out there every day that you think are fantastic. You can always reach out to us iostodaywit TV to tell us about the apps you use and love. Let us move on to the news. The news is all right. I wanted to mention a report coming from, you guessed it, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who is talking about the plans for iPad OS coming up. We know now that Apple is. Well, it's been reported at least that Apple is set to do quite the overhaul on its various operating systems at WWDC this year, which is now right around the corner corner. And we have heard that this will be the largest visual update we've seen in a very, very, very long time. Along with that, Gurman reports that Apple is going to make ipados even more like macOS than it currently is. He says, quote, I'm told that this year's upgrade will focus on productivity, multitasking and app Window management with an eye on the device operating more like a Mac. It's been a long time coming with iPad power users pleading with Apple to make the tablet more powerful. Interestingly this morning, as I saw the reports of this news, I saw a reply from friend of the show, friend of the network, Renee Ritchie, who said that this, well, let me, I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially said this is kind of a mistake. Says that in this case it seems like Apple is listening to the tech reviewer landscape instead of the people who buy iPads more. The people who more likely are the people buying iPads, which is the sort of non prosumer, but the consumer that just wants this tablet device to be their little gaming system or their little media watcher or whatever it happens to be. And continuing to make the iPad more complicated is a mistake that is born out of sort of a reaction to the critiques of a smaller but louder group. And I wanted to hear your thoughts on that. Rosemary.
Rosemary Orchard
Yes, I have actually just found it because I saw the same thing from Rene earlier and the exact quote is giving them the faster horses they keep asking for. And obviously, you know, this is, you know, implying the thing that's often attributed to Henry Ford, which is if we'd asked them what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses, which he actually never said. But you know, the, the point is the customer doesn't know always what they want. And I see this right now actually with the iPad, with the Discord app, actually, because I'm often in Discord checking on the iOS today forum because, you know, we put up a post for every episode and sometimes people have got questions that they pop in there as well, which is lovely. And I use my iPad with Stage Manager and a magic keyboard which has a trackpad in it. And it's very obvious to me that this is not a combination that ever gets tested with the Discord application because all of the targets are off. So when you move the trackpad on iOS, it's supposed to sort of snap it to a button if you're like near a button. Okay. So if the button is here and my, my, my mouse moves like quite close to it, then it should just sort of snap it and highlight that button and what happens is something near it that doesn't exist gets snapped and highlighted and then I'm unable to move the, the pointer to tap on the thing and I have to use my finger instead. And I feel like this is a really obvious symptom of the fact that there's now, now too many different ways to use an iPad and it's not obvious to the user. And also I also find as somebody who owns both 11 inch iPad Pro and an iPad mini, the fact that I don't have stage pressure on the iPad mini, like I get it because it's 7.9 inches but also it's really confusing for me switching between the two. And it's one of these things where it's like I would love it to be more powerful and for me to be able to do more things that I could do from my Mac on my iPad. But is that what the iPad is for? Like that is the question. And Apple are the one that have to try and decide that like are they okay with sabotaging max sales by selling iPads, Is that what they trying to do? Or is the iPad a thing that should exist in its own category? And in their ideal world there is the space for an Apple watch, an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac, an Apple TV and a HomePod in everybody's life because none of them them do the exact same thing the exact same way. And at the end of the day it is down to user preference. You know my mum vast majority of the time is using an iPad air with a keyboard and she loves it. But every so often she pulls out a Mac because that is the better tool for the job and it works just the way that she's expecting. Because there are certain things which are big screen problems versus other things which are little screen problems. Like I'm happy looking at my bank statement or checking my transactions in the bank app on my phone. That's not something my dad would ever do. But the iPad is one of those things where it's in this awkward in between category where it's a digital photo frame and it's a computer and it can do a lot of things and every so often it just feels like it can't quite do enough. But the way to solve it, not quite being able to do enough. I'm not sure it's making it more Mac. Like I don't know what it is. Like maybe allowing us to dual boot it with Mac OS and ipados is the solution. So the nerds can happen both because let's face it, the hardware in it is more than powerful enough. It is the same hardware as what's in Macs. But I guess we'll have to wait and see what Apple decide to do and then we can critique it whether or not it's good enough. And as always we will provide commentary on whether we're happy with it or not. And somebody will always say, well, they should have done X because there's always something that they haven't done.
Micah Sargent
Absolutely. And that's what keeps us doing what we do. All right, that brings us to the end of this episode of iOS today. All that is left is to say thank you for tuning in to this week's episode. We will of course be back next week. If you would like to be part of a fun, exclusive and enjoyable venture, can I invite you to join Club twit at Twitter TV club twit when you join the club. $7 a month. And by the way, we have reintroduced the yearly option. Yes, you can join Club Twit annually. Then you will gain access to ad free versions of all of our shows. You will gain access to the Twit plus bonus feed that has extra content you won't find anywhere else, and access to the members only Discord Server, a fun place to go to chat with your fellow club Twitter members. And also those of us here at TWiT. We would love to see you in the club and have you hanging out, having a blast. You'll be able to tune in and share your thoughts tomorrow for my show, Micah's Crafting Corner and also have access to that back catalog of stuff that comes by the Twit plus bonus feed. So if you have yet to join the club, now's the time. With that two week free trial, you can see if it's for you and we can't wait to see you there. 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 so?
Rosemary Orchard
Well, the best place to go is rosemary orchard.com which has got links to all the things, apps, books, podcasts, you name it, it's there. And it's got links to all the social media sites sites. But you can also find me on Discord in the Club Twit server where we do have the iOS a day forum that I mentioned earlier with a thread for every episode. And you can create your own too. And also sometimes, you know, folks join us in the live chat if they happen to be around while we're recording, which is always fabulous when they are able to do so. What about you Micah? Where can folks find you?
Micah Sargent
If you're looking to follow me online, I'm ikasargent on many a social media network. Or you can head to Chihuahua Coffee, that's C H I H U a h a Coffee where I'VE got links to the places I'm most active online. Thank you so much for being here with us this week. And again, we'll see you next week for another episode of iOS today. Bye.
In episode 749 of iOS Today, hosts Micah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard delve into the realm of daily utility apps that can enhance the everyday experience of Apple device users. The conversation not only highlights essential applications but also provides practical insights and user experiences to help listeners optimize their workflow and device usage.
Rosemary introduces Simple Scan, an app developed by Agile Tortoise, as her preferred tool for digitizing physical documents. She praises its versatility and user-friendly interface, enabling users to convert paper manuals or instructions into digital formats effortlessly.
Rosemary Orchard [03:03]: "Simple Scan allows you to say, hey, what am I scanning to start with? So do you want to make PDF, do you want to turn it into images or do you just want to get the text off of the thing?"
To complement the scanning process, Yoink serves as a temporary storage solution for files users need to access quickly without cluttering their device.
Rosemary Orchard [07:45]: "Yoink is a great place to put files when you're going, okay, like, I need this, but I need it for like five minutes or I need it until I use it again."
Rosemary discusses the challenges of using printers with iOS devices and recommends using manufacturer-specific apps like Canon Print for enhanced functionality. These apps allow users to access advanced printer settings, perform maintenance tasks, and troubleshoot connectivity issues more effectively than the default AirPrint feature.
Rosemary Orchard [09:26]: "The Canon app allows you to do things like actually scanning and you can specify your color modes and so on... It's very useful for troubleshooting things."
Micah echoes the frustrations associated with AirPrint, noting its occasional inconsistencies and the hidden functionalities that can complicate the printing process for average users.
Micah Sargent [13:15]: "I've found it to be the experience that even if your AirPrint situation works out and it gets in touch with the printer, sometimes it takes a minute for the printer to load what it is able to do."
Rosemary highlights PDF Expert as a crucial tool for managing PDFs on iOS devices. The app offers advanced features such as scaling print documents, which is often missing in standard print dialogs, thereby providing users with greater control over their printed materials.
Rosemary Orchard [12:10]: "PDF Expert, the free version, you don't need to sign in with an account, you can skip all that... there's a scaling option. This is one of those things that you don't need 90% of the time, but when you need it, trying to find it can be frustrating."
By utilizing PDF Expert, users can adjust the size of their documents before printing, ensuring that content fits appropriately on the page and enhancing the overall print quality.
Rosemary Orchard [12:50]: "You can scale it down. So I'm just going to scale it onto a 50% size and then that would be obviously half the size in the middle of my piece of paper."
Rosemary introduces PCALC, a calculator and conversion app that goes beyond basic arithmetic, allowing users to perform complex conversions essential for various tasks, from design measurements to financial calculations.
Rosemary Orchard [16:10]: "PCALC has things like functions that you can save in it to repeat again and again... it's got conversions for angles, area, bytes... even electric vehicle efficiency."
Micah emphasizes the power of Solver, part of the Setapp suite, as an advanced tool for back-of-the-envelope calculations and detailed annotations, making it indispensable for users who frequently engage in complex computations.
Micah Sargent [21:57]: "Solver sort of thinks, I think, how the mind thinks and operates in that space, which makes it so much more than just a calculator. It's one of those tools that I recommend everybody at least try."
Rosemary extols Drafts as her go-to application for note-taking and quick text manipulations. She showcases its functionality through widget integration, allowing seamless capture and organization of information from various sources, including web links and copied text.
Rosemary Orchard [23:07]: "Drafts is honestly one of those applications I find myself using... I use my iPad with Stage Manager and a magic keyboard... it's just really cool."
The app's customizable actions enable users to streamline their workflows, such as cleaning up lengthy URLs or tagging notes for better organization, making Drafts a versatile tool for both casual and power users.
Rosemary Orchard [24:30]: "I created a custom action in Drafts to clean up those links... it's a really great place for just working on text, just cleaning things up a bit."
In the news segment, Micah discusses reports from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg about significant upcoming updates to iPadOS. The overhaul aims to enhance productivity, multitasking, and app window management, bringing the experience closer to macOS.
Micah Sargent [26:00]: "Apple is set to do quite the overhaul on its various operating systems... Apple is going to make iPadOS even more like macOS than it currently is."
Rosemary shares insights from the community, highlighting concerns that the updates may cater more to tech reviewers and power users rather than the broader consumer base, potentially making the iPad more complex for everyday tasks.
Rosemary Orchard [29:42]: "There are too many different ways to use an iPad and it's not obvious to the user... the iPad is in this awkward in-between category."
As the episode wraps up, Micah and Rosemary reflect on the discussed apps, emphasizing their practicality and the significant role they play in optimizing daily tasks on Apple devices. They encourage listeners to explore these utilities to enhance their device usage and productivity.
Micah Sargent [26:55]: "It's get again. This is another just go get it, try it out. I think you'll be impressed and surprised."
This episode of iOS Today serves as a comprehensive guide for Apple users seeking to enhance their daily device interactions through carefully selected utility apps, backed by expert insights and practical demonstrations.