Widgets, Wi-Fi, and Big Sur — Mac Geek Gab 839

The fall is a crazy ride for Apple users. New hardware, new software, lots of changes, and more. John and Dave are right there with you to answer your questions, share tips, and dissect the new technology to help us all understand everything better. Listen this week as your two favorite geeks answer some Wi-Fi questions, share Cool Stuff Found, and revisit Big Sur as it surely gets closer to release time. Press play and enjoy learning five new things!

Privacy Advocates Call on Tim Cook to to Implement iOS 14 Privacy Features

Ranking Digital Rights, along with seven other organizations, sent a letter [PDF] to Apple CEO Tim Cook, urging the company to implement iOS 14 privacy features that are delayed until 2021.

Apple has the opportunity to reinforce its position as an industry leader on protecting the privacy of its users by empowering them to control who can track their online behavior. At the same time, this change can and should enable the company to become more transparent about how it enforces its terms against apps that violate its policies. By delaying the introduction of crucial privacy measures, the company is slowing the momentum it created.

This Developer Made Over $100k Selling Custom App Icons

Developer “Traf” wrote a blog post saying he made over US$100,000 in six days selling custom app icons that can be used on iOS 14.

As soon as I noticed the hype, I put together some icons in my own style, downloaded some widgets, and tried it all out. I thought it looked cool, so I shared a screenshot of it on Twitter. Right away, people started asking about the icons in the screenshot. So I quickly packaged them, uploaded them to Gumroad, and embedded them on a Notion site using Super. All of this took about two hours.

It’s cool to see all of the customization people are doing on iOS 14, but I wonder if this developer could get into legal trouble by making money off of companies’ icons.

Here’s How to Replace the iOS 13 Favorites Widget on iOS 14

We all know how much I like shortcuts, and Juli Clover came up with a clever way to replace the iOS 13 Favorites widget that was removed in iOS 14.

Why the Favorites widget was removed is a mystery and it could be a simple oversight with Apple planning to reintroduce it later, but for now, those who relied on the widget can recreate its functionality with Shortcuts. It takes some effort, but it may be worth the time investment if you often relied on your Favorites.

As my image above suggests, it’s only the widget that was removed. You can still add favorites in the Phone and Contacts apps.

MindNode Update Supports iOS 14 Scribble With Apple Pencil

MindNode issued an update on Wednesday that adds support for the iOS 14 Scribble feature with Apple Pencil. Users can try the new image picker to add photos, trigger actions with the new context menu, and use their Apple Pencil to hand write in nodes. Other improvements: Added support for opening URLs in third party browsers; Fixed opening of documents on Apple Watch that are outside MindNode’s iCloud container; Fixed image loading on Apple Watch of single file format documents and documents outside MindNode’s iCloud container; Improved support for third-party fonts by adopting the system font picker; Fixed an issue with opening documents that are outside MindNode’s iCloud container.

Can iOS 14 Widgets Steal Your Keyboard Info?

After claims that iOS 14 widgets are up to no good, can they access your keyboard and act as keyloggers? First, as the developer of Widgetsmith says:

Leaving for a moment that I don’t think that is technically possible for a widget to read the keyboard. Widgetsmith was built from the ground up with complete privacy in mind and collects essentially no data about its users.

After using the app I wrote about this morning, Sticky Widgets, I’d say yes they can access your keyboard, because if not then Sticky Widgets would be unusable and you couldn’t type anything into them. Can they access the keyboard without user consent? Most likely not, as the quote continues: “Widgets use SwiftUI views to display their content. WidgetKit renders the views on your behalf in a separate process. As a result, your widget extension is not continually active, even if the widget is onscreen.”

Put Sticky Notes on Your Home Screen With ‘Sticky Widgets’

Many Mac users have fond memories of Apple’s sticky notes widget and you can replicate that experience with Sticky Widgets. It lets you add sticky notes on your Home Screen in two steps: 1) Add a Sticky Widget to your Home Screen; 2) Tap on the widget to edit it. This is one app you should download immediately, although you probably don’t need me to tell you that since sticky notes on the screen are so useful. With these widgets easily accessible and in my face, I no longer have to create a reminder for stuff to get at the store, and a reminder to remind myself to set the other reminder.

That CPU is Hot! — Mac Geek Gab 835

Of course your Quick Tips for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 keep rolling in, and of course your two favorite geeks take pleasure in sharing them for you. But there’s more… there’s always more! This week, John and Dave dig into what’s making your CPU hot, what’s causing your CarPlay woes, and much, much more! Press play to enjoy learning at least five new things.

iOS 14 vs Android, App Library, Widgets, and Default Apps

Writer Nicole Lee is happy with iOS 14 features that are similar to Android, like widgets, default apps, and App Library. And she wants more of that.

But for me, the real star of iOS 14 is not quite so obvious (It’s so low-key that Apple didn’t mention it at its WWDC keynote). It’s the fact that, at long last, iOS now lets you pick your own default email and browser apps. This one feature, more than any other, is what I feel is a key factor in preventing me from switching to Android. That’s because, as an iOS user, it is not Android that I find attractive — it’s Google.

I’m trying to wrap my head around this argument. I don’t want to be one of those people who say, “If you’re not happy with iOS, then switch to Android.” But it doesn’t make sense to me that setting default apps would stop her from switching, considering Android had that all along. She goes on to say that she hasn’t bothered with iOS 14 widgets and that Android widgets don’t appeal to her. Okay, don’t use them?? Just like you’re not using iOS 14 widgets?? There’s more I have to say but this is running up against the length limitation of our Linked Teasers. Go read.

Create iOS 14 Widgets With the “Widgetsmith’ App

Widgetsmith lets you create iOS 14 widgets and customize them to suit your needs and Home Screen theme. The app includes a variety of widget categories like weather, calendar, timezone converter, and others. Widgets can even by scheduled to appear on your screen following rules you define. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)

iOS 14 Quick Tips and More — Mac Geek Gab 834

We’ve got first-run Quick Tips for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 for you right here. You know those things that surprise and delight your friends when they see you do them? That’s what Quick Tips are! Come and learn at least five new things as John and Dave talk through Quick Tips plus answer your questions about everything Mac, Apple, iPhone, and more. Press play and enjoy hanging out with your two favorite geeks!

iOS 14 Reveals Facebook Spying on Your Camera Through Instagram

Facebook is being accused of accessing peoples’ cameras through Instagram, thanks to a iOS 14 feature that tells you when your camera is active.

Facebook denied the reports and blamed a bug, which it said it was correcting, for triggering what it described as false notifications that Instagram was accessing iPhone cameras.

In the complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, New Jersey Instagram user Brittany Conditi contends the app’s use of the camera is intentional and done for the purpose of collecting “lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to.”

Facebook: “It’s a bug because you weren’t supposed to know we were doing this.”