Linked List: June 25, 2020

Thursday, 25 June 2020

On iOS 14 Picking Up Features Android Had First 

Raymond Wong, writing for Input:

There used to be a time and place for pointing fingers and bashing one company for blatantly copying another’s ideas. But now it feels juvenile. Who really cares? “Good artists copy, great artists steal” as the saying goes. Everyone borrows. Everything is inspired by something before it.

iOS 14 may not be a complete overhaul with a system-wide-UI upgrade à la iOS 7, but that’s okay because the sum of everything new in iOS 14 is so robust that there are virtually no meaningful reasons to pine for Android’s green pastures.

The headline for Wong’s piece is clickbait-y (“After iOS 14, There’s Almost No Reason to Buy an Android Phone Anymore”) but the actual article is thoughtful. Above and beyond any specific features — home screen widgets, app clips, built-in language translation — it occurs to me that there’s simply an enthusiasm gap.

Do you get the sense that Google, company-wide, is all that interested in Android? I don’t. Both as the steward of the software platform and as the maker of Pixel hardware, it seems like Google is losing interest in Android. Flagship Android hardware makers sure are interested in Android, but they can’t move the Android developer ecosystem — only Google can.

Apple, institutionally, is as attentive to the iPhone and iOS as it has ever been. I think Google, institutionally, is bored with Android.

Apple Approves Hey Update for App Store 

David Heinemeier Hansson:

Apple has definitively approved HEY in the App Store!! No IAP, no 30% cut, but we’ve opened the door to a free temp address service, and use same app for work accounts. I’m so incredibly relieved! And now HEY is open to EVERYONE! No invite code needed.

Glad to hear it.

My quick take on Hey, a few weeks into using it: it’s really great, especially on the phone. I feel super efficient in every single aspect of using it on the phone — triage, reading, responding. Adrian Holovaty nails it:

hey.com is the most exciting app I’ve used in years. A complete rethinking of email, full of bold, brilliant ideas. Highly recommended. Not only for the product itself, but because its boldness will inspire you to question your assumptions and think differently.

Mike Davidson:

If you designed email from scratch such that it vigorously protected your privacy and your time, this is what it would look like.