Watch History Journal 2.1

Today, I’m releasing version 2.1 of Watch History Journal, my shortcut for adding the shows and films you watch to your favorite journaling app in the style of Apple’s journaling suggestions. Here’s the full list of new features:

• Improved Journal app integration on iPhone. Watch History Journal creates new entries directly in the Journal app on iPhone using the app’s new Shortcuts actions introduced in iOS 18. (On other devices, the Journal integration remains unchanged, generating images and copied text that you can import into the app manually.)
• A new advanced option: This Week's History. This option allows you to create a journal entry reflecting your watch history over the past week. (Thanks to Miles Jefford for coming up with this idea.)
• A bug fix for Text Lists. A blank line will no longer appear at the beginning of Text List entries without a title.

When Watch History Journal 2 came out in early June, I thought it might be the final update. To be honest, I was hoping Apple would sherlock me with native TV app journaling suggestions in iOS 18. But despite some nice additions to the Journal app this year – including the Shortcuts actions used in this version of Watch History Journal – shows and films still aren’t included as journaling suggestions. And so the shortcut lives on.

You can download Watch History Journal 2.1 here. I appreciate everyone who’s taken the time to try the shortcut, and I’m always open to hearing feedback and new ideas for it. If you’re using it and have thoughts, I’d love to know.

iMessage Notification Overwhelm

Jason Snell, writing at MacWorld regarding iMessage Tapbacks:

They’re fun! But they also generate, by default, an additional notification and a haptic tap every time a new one is made. And that means that the average post in a group text thread will now generate three, four, five, or more notifications–because it includes not just the post, but notifications for every single reaction.

Jason makes some great points about iMessage notifications and ways Apple could empower users to fine tune them, but this part about Tapbacks really resonated with me. In a world where the 👍 emoji is shorthand for, “I saw this message,” there’s no need to clog up my notification center with a bunch of them. We need the option to turn Tapback notifications off.

iPad mini: No Longer a Tiny iPad Air

The iPad mini is Apple’s most infrequently updated tablet. Still, there used to be a pattern to the upgrades it received when its time finally came: take the features of the most recent iPad Air and put them in a smaller package. That’s been Apple’s approach to the mini for years. But that time seems to have passed.

Today’s iPad mini update features an A17 Pro chip, not the M2 featured in the latest iPad Air. This has been rumored for quite some time, but I was hoping against hope that Apple would surprise us here. An M-series iPad mini capable of running Stage Manager when connected to an external display would be the most versatile tablet Apple has ever produced. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

The choice of the A17 Pro chip over the A18 chip is an interesting one. It’s obvious that Apple wanted to make the iPad mini capable of running Apple Intelligence, but it’s also considered common wisdom that the company wants to get away from the fabrication technology used to make the M3 and A17 Pro chips. The iPad Pro skipped M3 and went straight to M4, and rumors suggest that M3 Macs will be upgraded to M4 sometime next year. Unless there’s another iPad mini update in the near future, it will be the only device in production that uses this older fabrication process for a while to come.

A few more stray thoughts on the new iPad mini:

• The blue and purple finishes are great, and I’m glad space grey remains an option rather than midnight.
• Apple Pencil Pro support means that the Apple Pencil 2 can finally be retired, bringing some much-needed clarity to the Pencil line.
• Doubling the base storage tier to 128 GB is a great move. Previously, I couldn’t recommend the base version of the iPad mini with only 64 GB of storage, but 128 is just right.

I love my iPad mini, and I’ll be sticking with it for the time being. Apple Intelligence and Apple Pencil Pro aren’t things I currently feel the need for on my little tablet. If, like me, you don’t consider those features necessary, you can pick up the outgoing version of the iPad mini at a $100 discount right now.

Maybe someday the iPad mini will realign itself with the iPad Air and we’ll get the tiny powerhouse many of us have been waiting for. Today isn’t that day, but I’m glad to see the mini getting some attention and updates to keep it in step with the current lineup – even if this particular update isn’t for me.

Talking visionOS 2 on Vision Pros

Tim Chaten was kind enough to have me back on Vision Pros this week to talk about my visionOS 2 review and our overall thoughts on the update. I enjoy nerding out with Tim about visionOS regularly, and this time, we recorded it for all to hear!

My visionOS 2 Review at MacStories

Joining the MacStories team – first as a podcast host and then as an editor – has been one of the highlights of my year. I love the amazing team I get to work with, and I’m really proud of the work we do for the site and the Club every day. Today is extra special, though, because I have the honor of doing something I never dreamed of: writing an official MacStories Review.

Federico’s annual iOS and iPadOS reviews are legendary in the Apple community, and John’s macOS reviews have become a staple as well. Being asked to write a review with the MacStories name on it is something I don’t take lightly. And so it’s with great humility that I took on the challenge of reviewing this year’s update to visionOS.

visionOS 2 is out this week, just seven months after the platform made its world debut. The progress the team has made in that time is downright impressive, bringing new features and quality-of-life improvements that users will benefit from everyday.

What might seem on the surface like a quiet update actually reveals foundational changes underneath. Spatial computing is a young paradigm, and no rules are set in stone. It’s an exciting time.

I’ve spent the last few months living with visionOS 2, using it for work, entertainment, and to relive my favorite memories in a new way. I have thoughts on changes to the system, the experience of using it every day, and what I hope is on the horizon.

It’s my privilege to present visionOS: The MacStories Review.