Starting with iPadOS 18, which will be widely released later this year, iPad apps can offer custom drawing tools for the Apple Pencil.
For example, in a WWDC 2024 coding video last week, Apple demonstrated how an app could implement a tool that allows for cat paw prints and other animal-related symbols to be added to a drawing. The custom tools support features on the new Apple Pencil Pro, including the squeeze gesture and barrel roll action.
iOS 18 and visionOS 2 also support custom drawing tools in apps, but the iPhone and Vision Pro do not support the Apple Pencil. As always, any drawing tool can also be controlled with your finger and other input methods.
In addition to custom tools, apps across iPadOS 18, iOS 18, and visionOS 2 are able to change the selection of default drawing tools that appear in the system tool picker. Apple said apps are even able to offer multiple tools of the same type for added convenience, such as two colors of pens or two colors of markers.
iPadOS 18, iOS 18, and visionOS 2 are currently in beta.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory.
A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June.
The original AirTag was announced...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Isn't it a violation of human rights or something that the iPencil doesn't work on other tablets, and that other tablets can't use the iPencil? Where's the EU when you need them?
I believe the iPad mini's screen area is more like double the screen area of the iPhone 15 Pro Max?
Agree that the physical dimension is double in size. And the screen resolution of the iPPM 15 is higher than that of the current iPad mini. I still think the pencil would work well for notes et al on the phone.
They say this but the support for custom tools is very bare bones. The custom tools get a very generic look in the tool picker with only a basic icon to differentiate them from built-in tools (see the paw print icon on the custom tool in the screen grabs). The custom tool content also has to be rendered in a separate view from the rest of the drawing, so developers do not benefit from Apple's gesture handling or low latency rendering. For this reason developers cannot intermix their custom tool drawing content with the built-in tool drawing content. If you run the sample code the paw prints are always on top of the built-in tool content, even if you go in and try to draw on top of them, which is pretty unacceptable.
I hear a lot of people suggesting that developers "just use pencil kit". But for many applications it's just not flexible enough and continues to not be flexible enough.
