In this episode, Ida Grace introduces the Connected Breath iOS app. Designed to promote mindfulness and relaxation, Connected Breath offers guided breathing exercises to help you pause, reset, and find serenity. The app boasts a simple and tranquil interface adorned with a night sky background. As you inhale and exhale, stars gently appear and fade, symbolizing other users across the globe who are also engaging with the app simultaneously. This shared experience fosters a sense of connection and support during your practice.

Download Connected Breath on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/connected-breath/id1166443182

transcription:

Hello AppleVis, good evening from Ida and tonight I'm going to be doing a podcast app demonstration of an app called Connected Breath.

This is a meditation app that connects people from all around the world to do a meditation together.

So this app works just similar to apps that are social media apps where you can connect in real time with people but you can't communicate with them.

It simply shows you how many people are using the app at a time.

So if I open the app, open Connected Breath, this app is used in portrait mode and the first thing we get is to select breathing duration.

You can do one, three, or five minutes.

I'm going to select three minutes and then I will show you what happens.

For anybody who's curious, I'm using an iPad.

I'm using Daniel as my voice over voice, the compact version of Daniel because I like him better than the enhanced and I'm using an Apple keyboard that doubles as an iPad case.

So you can choose to breathe for one, three, or five minutes in this app.

I'm going to double tap on three minutes and you're going to hear a bell.

And then go to the bottom of the screen, okay that message is going to change throughout the meditation.

I will show you, okay so that's the starting sound and then breathe in, breathe out.

This message is changing with the music.

Breathe in, breathe out, and now it's going to change.

You are breathing in and then it's going to tell you how many.

Seven other people are currently connected right now.

The stars in the distance are the people breathing, that's the visual representation.

We are all breathing together, we are all connected, I guess I don't need to repeat.

Now close your eyes and focus on your breath.

Now the rest of the time it's going to say breathe in and breathe out over and over again.

And for those of you with perfect pitch, you will notice that it's saying breathe in on the C chord and breathe out on this like A minor type chord.

So if you don't want to constantly listen to the messages, just listen to the music and follow the music.

You hear the peaceful nature sounds in the background?

You kind of hear a breathing noise too, it's kind of creepy honestly.

Breathe in and breathe out.

See it's still changing from breathe in to breathe out.

And it will…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to start your Mac in safe mode and explains in what situations this may be useful.

Safe mode is a feature of macOS that disables login items, third-party drivers, and legacy system extensions at startup, useful if an incompatible item in one of these groups is causing a problem with your Mac. In addition, system caches are cleared, and a light check of your startup disk is performed when starting up in safe mode, which can identify possible issues that could be causing slower than expected performance.

To start up in safe mode, start up the Mac while holding down the Power button, and interact with your startup disk (usually called Macintosh HD) in the grid that appears. Focus on the Continue button and route the mouse pointer to it by pressing VO-Command-F5, (or VO-Command-Globe-5 if you’re using a Mac with a Touch Bar) hold down the Shift key, and click the mouse. Maintenance tasks are completed once the Mac has finished starting; restart your Mac to exit this mode.

If you’re trying to isolate a particular issue, attempt to reproduce it when in safe mode, and again once you leave this mode. If the issue no longer occurs, it was likely resolved by the maintenance tasks that macOS performed. If it doesn’t occur when in safe mode but returns once you leave this mode, you may want to remove login items for third-party apps, update, remove, or reinstall any third-party drivers or legacy system extensions, or contact their developers for assistance. For more information, check out the Apple Support article “Use safe mode on your Mac”

Note: VoiceOver only works in safe mode on Macs with Apple Silicon.

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hey AppleVisers, Tyler here, with a quick tip for how and when to start your Mac in safe mode.

Safe mode is a feature of macOS that prevents certain software components like login items, third-party drivers, and legacy system extensions from loading at startup.

If you're having trouble starting your Mac or have some other issue that's tough to pin down, an incompatible item in one of these groups may be the culprit, and thus starting up in safe mode can help you rule that either in or out.

In addition, when starting in safe mode, a light check of your startup disk is performed, similar to what happens when running first aid in Disk Utility, and your system caches are cleared, which can potentially improve the performance and responsiveness of your Mac if such files have become corrupted over time.

Safe mode is a feature that's existed in macOS for a long time.

The problem for voiceover users prior to Apple Silicon was that, as part of this mode, the audio driver was disabled, and thus the Mac could not provide any audible feedback, making voiceover effectively useless.

However, with Apple Silicon, audio is supported, and thus voiceover users can use macOS in safe mode as if they were using it in any other boot screen.

If you have enough usable vision to see the screen and want to start an Intel Mac in safe mode, you can do so by restarting it or turning it on while holding down the shift key.

For a Mac with Apple Silicon, you'…

Ever misplaced your Apple Watch and spent minutes frantically searching under couch cushions? Worry no more! In this episode Thomas Domville dives into the handy "Ping My Watch" feature on iOS, turning your iPhone into a personal Apple Watch locator.

Here are the steps to activate Ping My Watch on your iPhone:

Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Bonus Tip: If your Apple Watch is on silent mode, the ping will still play through your Apple Watch speaker.

transcription:

You're listening to an AppleViz Podcast.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse.

Now, I've done a podcast before on Apple Watch and being able to identify and find your iPhone with the ping my iPhone from your Apple Watch.

So like myself, I tend to put my phone in places I don't remember where I left it.

Are you one of those people?

Raise your hand.

Yep.

There's a few out there.

And what that feature does is that it takes, I can go to my Apple Watch, go to the control center and use the ping my iPhone, double tap that, and then it'll start chiming and you can find your phone in no time by following the chime within the house or place that you left your iPhone.

What if I told you, you can do the other way around?

Yes.

So this was very useful for me as I was on vacation shortly ago.

And one of the things I came in, I was just hot.

I was just hot and the Apple Watch was just making me hotter, right?

You got to get that watch off.

And so I put it down and Lord, behold, I forget where I left the Apple Watch.

Then I remembered, Hey, there's a feature that I can do the other way around.

And that's using my iPhone to ping my watch.

So I'm going to show you how to set that up and how this works.

And so you can find your Apple Watch as you could with your iPhone, with your Apple Watch.

So it's great both ways.

So we are going to go to your iPhone and we are going to go to the settings, because that is where we are going to have to turn this feature on.

And that lives in the control center of settings.

So let's go double tap settings, settings.

Now swipe to the right until you get to control center button, control center button.

Once you find that one finger, double tap, swipe down from the top right edge to open control center.

Now the easiest way to get to where we need to go is to set your order to headings.

And let's go to the first headings here, included controls heading.

These are the included controls.

So these are controls that shows up on your control center as of right now.

So here's a few of the controls I have set.

Remove timer, reorder timer button, direct remove code scanner, reorder code scanner, remove voice…

Join Thomas Domville in learning how to use Carrot Weather for iOS with VoiceOver.

Carrot Weather for iOS is a feature-rich weather application that offers a unique blend of humor and functionality. It provides accurate and detailed forecasts, including current, hourly, and daily predictions. The app is known for its distinctive personality, featuring hilarious dialogue and delightful animations.

Key features include:

Apple Watch App: An award-winning app that allows you to check the weather from your wrist.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It is a paid download with in-app purchases to unlock premium features. The app was created by Brian Mueller, who codes, designs, illustrates, and writes the real-time gags himself. The app’s unique blend of humor and functionality has made it a popular choice among users.

CARROT Weather: Alerts and Radar on the app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/carrot-weather-alerts-radar/id961390574

Join Thomas Domville n listening in how to use the Carrot Weather for Apple iOS with VoiceOver.

Carrot Weather for iOS is a feature-rich weather application that offers a unique blend of humor and functionality. It provides accurate and detailed forecasts, including current, hourly, and daily predictions. The app is known for its distinctive personality, featuring hilarious dialogue and delightful animations.

Key features include:

Apple Watch App: An award-winning app that allows you to check the weather from your wrist.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It is a paid download with in-app purchases to unlock premium features. The app was created by Brian Mueller, who codes, designs, illustrates, and writes the real-time gags himself. The app’s unique blend of humor and functionality has made it a popular choice among users.

CARROT Weather: Alerts and Radar on the app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/carrot-weather-alerts-radar/id961390574

In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Mike Malarsie, and John Gassman discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this episode include:

• 2023 AppleVis Golden Apple Award Winners
• Apple Vision Accessibility: the 2023 AppleVis Report Card
• blood oxygen features Removed from Apple Watch
• At Last Apple Vision Pro has Arrived
• Apple’s Wall Garden Crumbling Before our Eyes Part 1: External App Payment Options
• Apple’s Wall Garden Crumbling Before our Eyes Part 2: Side Loading and Opening Tap to Pay Options
• What's in the new iOS 17.3
• Latest News on the Upcoming iPhone 16

Links:

• Be My Eyes, Timecrest, and Zanagrams Named 2023 AppleVis Golden Apple Award Winners
• Apple Vision Accessibility: the 2023 AppleVis Report Card
• Apple Watch Sales Ban Reinstated in U.S. Effective Tomorrow
• Apple Watches without banned blood oxygen features will go on sale Thursday morning
• Apple's biggest new product since the iPhone, the Vision Pro, launches soon — here's how to order the 'spatial reality' headset
• Apple’s 27% response to the Supreme Court decision is baiting antitrust regulators
• Apple Revises App Store Rules To Let Developers Link To Outside Payment Methods
• Apple wants $73.4 million from Epic Games for legal expenses
• Apple reportedly ready to enable sideloading for iOS users in the EU
• Exclusive-Apple offers to let rivals access tap-and-go tech in EU antitrust case, sources say
• Microsoft could offer one of the first third-party app stores on iPhones
• Apple Releasing iOS 17.3 Next Week With These New Features
• iPhone 16 Capture Button Will Respond to Touch and Pressure for Zooming and Focusing

If you have feedback or questions for the Unleashed team, you can reach them by email at [email protected] or by leaving a voice message at 1-816-287-1482 (US number, call charges may apply).

In this episode, Thomas Domville guides listeners through the process of sharing AirTags with others on iOS. Thomas explains why one might want to share

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Find My app on your iPhone.
2. Swipe right along the bottom tabs until you hear "Items" and double-tap to select it.
3. Swipe right until you hear the name of the AirTag you want to share and double-tap to open it.
4. Swipe right until you hear "Add person" and double-tap to continue.
5. Swipe right until you hear "To" and double-tap to enter the contact name or email of the person you want to share the AirTag with.
6. Tap the top right part of the screen and you should hear "Share" and double-tap to share the AirTag. The person you shared the AirTag with will receive a notification invitation to accept the sharing request.

To stop sharing the AirTag, swipe right until you hear the name of the person you shared the AirTag with and double-tap to open it. Then swipe right until you hear "Remove" and double-tap to confirm.

Remember, the person you’re sharing with will need to accept the invitation on their device. Once they do, they’ll be able to see the AirTag in their Find

In this episode, Thomas Domville explores the ‘Listen to Page’ feature on iOS 17. This feature allows your device to read aloud the content of a webpage, making it an excellent tool for multitaskers who want to consume text content while on the move.

To use the feature, ensure that your device is updated to iOS 17 and launch Safari. Visit the desired webpage and locate the Page Settings icon at the bottom left of the webpage. Tap it and select ‘Listen to Page’ to start the narration. To pause, tap the Page Settings icon again and choose ‘Pause Listening’. When you’re ready to continue, tap the Page Settings icon and select ‘Resume Listening’.

Please note that ‘Listen to Page’ may not support webpages with interactive features or minimal text. However, if a webpage supports Reader mode, it’s likely to support ‘Listen to Page’ as well. The feature remembers where you left off, so you can resume listening from the same spot. You can also customize the voice of the spoken audio in your iOS settings at any time.

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to encrypt an external disk on macOS for improved security of the disk's contents.

To encrypt a disk formatted as Apple File System, (APFS) connect it to your Mac, focus on it on the Desktop or Finder sidebar, and choose "Encrypt [disk name]" from the context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M). You'll then be prompted to create a password for the disk, which will be required to access its contents. As this password is the only way to access the disk's contents, it should be reasonably difficult for others to guess, but easy enough for you to remember.

The next time you connect the disk to your Mac, you'll be prompted for this password, and given the option to remember it in your Mac's Login keychain. This way, you won't need to enter the password when connecting the disk to your Mac, but others will if connecting the disk to theirs. Saved passwords in your Mac's Login keychain can be viewed and edited in Keychain Access (located in the Utilities folder).

If the disk you want to encrypt uses a different file system, like Mac OS Extended or XFAT, you must erase and reformat it as APFS. Note that this process will erase all data on the disk, so be sure to move anything you want to keep to another location before doing so. To erase and reformat a disk:

1. Open Disk Utility (located in the Utilities folder) and choose View > Show all devices (or press Command-2).
2. Select the top level of the external disk in the table and choose Edit > Erase (or press Command-Shift-E). If you’re unsure of what disk is what, you may wish to disconnect other external disks to avoid inadvertently erasing the wrong one.
3. In the resulting dialog, give the disk a name and choose “APFS (Encrypted),” from the format popup menu.
4. Enter the password you want to encrypt the disk with, click Choose, and then click Erase to begin the process.

Note: APFS-formatted Disks are not natively compatible with non-Apple platforms like Windows or Linux. To use an APFS-formatted disk with a non-Apple platform, use something like APFS for Windows, or APFS for Linux.

Update June 2025: Zanagrams is no longer available in the App Store. We are preserving this interview, as the developer's accomplishment remains the same and we believe it is an important piece of our community's history.

In this AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville talks to Zach Tidwell, the developer of Zanagrams, the word game that won the 2023 AppleVis Golden Apples Award for the Best Game of the year. Zanagrams is a fun and challenging game that tests your vocabulary and spelling skills. Zach shares his inspiration, challenges, and tips for creating an accessible and engaging game for blind and low vision users. Tune in to hear his story and learn more about Zanagrams.

You can contact Zach at:

You can follow Zach on X at:

Articles mentioned in this episode: Dark Horse Game Studios