Instant Bar – widgets and apps
Instant Bar for Apple Vision Pro is an innovative application that brings convenience and efficiency to your digital workspace by amalgamating essential system information and shortcut functionalities into one seamless status bar. Carefully designed to fit the aesthetic and user experience of visionOS, this app offers a refined and polished interface that integrates smoothly with your Apple Vision Pro device. For a one-time fee of $4.99, created by developer Yujian Yao, this app strives to enhance usability and streamline your daily interactions.
One of the standout features of Instant Bar is its ability to present immediate information at a glance. It keeps volume levels, date and time, upcoming events, and battery status always visible, allowing users to quickly glance at crucial information without interrupting their workflow. This characteristic is particularly helpful for those who need to stay informed without navigating away from their current task.
In addition to providing quick access to system information, Instant Bar excels in offering direct shortcuts. Users can place shortcuts to their most-used apps and essential web links right in the status bar. This eliminates the need to sift through various menus or the app launcher, thereby saving time and enhancing productivity.
The app is not only functional but also highly customizable. Users can tailor their Instant Bar by selecting which widgets and shortcuts to display. This level of customization allows individuals to arrange their virtual space to suit their preferences, making their interactions more streamlined and personal.
The user feedback for Instant Bar underscores its quality and utility. Customers have praised the application for its clean and polished look, and many have noted how it substantially enhances the functionality of the Apple Vision Pro. One user extolled the convenience of having volume controls, time, battery status, and shortcuts all neatly placed in one bar, emphasizing that Instant Bar feels like a natural extension of the operating system. Another user mentioned that the app is surprisingly useful for leaving open in the background while using other apps, recommending it for its seamless integration and utility.
However, some feedback highlights areas for improvement. A common request was for the ability to always launch Instant Bar whenever turning on the Vision Pro, enhancing ease of access. Users also expressed a desire for more advanced features, such as support for Reminders or the option to create folders for better organization.
The developer has shown an impressive commitment to evolving the app based on user feedback. One detailed review initially highlighted minor annoyances like the placement of the edit and rotation buttons, which detracted from the clean look of the bar. This review was updated later to reflect that the developer implemented a workaround for apps opening in awkward positions and made the interface buttons fade away for a more streamlined appearance. Such responsiveness from the developer not only improved the app but also reinforced user satisfaction and trust.
Instant Bar is a meticulously designed application that brings a host of benefits to Apple Vision Pro users. Its ability to provide quick access to vital information and shortcuts, coupled with a customizable interface, makes it an indispensable tool for enhancing productivity and usability. With continuous updates and improvements based on user feedback, Instant Bar only promises to get better, making it a worthy investment for anyone looking to optimize their Vision Pro experience.
Our Focus
Our Focus is a unique app designed for the Apple Vision Pro, created by developer Bas Oppenheim. Available for free on the App Store, the application promises a novel way to find your focus while allowing for meaningful connections with others.
At its core, Our Focus is centered around enhancing the user’s ability to concentrate and maintain productivity. But what really sets this app apart is its innovative approach to incorporating social elements into the focus experience. Instead of isolating users during their focus sessions, Our Focus encourages connection and interaction, fostering a sense of community and shared effort.
Upon launching the app, users are greeted with a sleek and intuitive interface that aligns well with the overall aesthetic of Apple’s Vision Pro. The design is minimalistic yet visually appealing, ensuring that users can navigate with ease. This thoughtful design choice effectively minimizes distractions and helps users dive straight into their focus sessions without any unnecessary friction.
The primary feature of Our Focus involves customizable focus sessions where users can set specific durations and goals. This flexibility allows for a tailored experience, catering to both short bursts of intense concentration and longer, more sustained periods of focus. During these sessions, users have the option to join virtual focus rooms.
These virtual focus rooms are where the app truly shines. Users can join rooms based on common interests or shared objectives, creating an environment of collective concentration. Joining a room is straightforward, and users can see who else is in the room, fostering a sense of camaraderie. This feature effectively applies the principles of social accountability, as users are more likely to stay on task when they know others are working alongside them. It’s a brilliant blend of solitude and sociability.
The app also includes a subtle layer of gamification. Users can earn focus points and achievements for maintaining their concentration, completing focus sessions, and interacting with others in meaningful ways. These rewards can be purely motivational or serve as milestones to track one’s progress over time. While the gamification elements are not overly prominent, they add an extra layer of incentive that can be particularly motivating for some users.
Another notable aspect of Our Focus is the seamless integration of communication tools. While the primary goal is to eliminate distractions, the app provides non-intrusive ways for users to interact, such as short messages or status updates. These features allow users to share tips, offer encouragement, or simply acknowledge each other’s presence without breaking the flow of concentration. This light-touch interaction enriches the experience without detracting from the primary goal of focused work.
For users concerned about privacy, Our Focus offers robust settings to control visibility and interactions. Users can choose to join public rooms, invite-only groups, or even create private sessions. This level of control ensures that users can tailor their experience to their comfort level, making the app suitable for a wide range of preferences and needs.
Performance-wise, Our Focus leverages the capabilities of the Apple Vision Pro effectively. The app runs smoothly, with fast load times and no noticeable lag during transitions. This technical reliability enhances the user experience, ensuring that users can focus on their tasks without being disrupted by technical issues.
Our Focus offers an innovative approach to productivity by combining focus tools with social features. Developer Bas Oppenheim has successfully created an app that not only helps users concentrate but also brings them together, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose. It’s a refreshing take on productivity apps that could appeal to a broad audience, from students and professionals to anyone looking to enhance their focus in a connected, supportive environment. Given its free price point, Our Focus is an excellent addition to the suite of apps available for the Apple Vision Pro, and it’s certainly worth a try for anyone looking to enhance their productivity in a socially engaging way.
As someone who recently had the opportunity to try out the Mail app for the Apple Vision Pro, I must admit that my experience has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The app promises a lot, with features such as access to multiple email accounts in one unified inbox, the ability to add images, scan documents, create sketches, and attach files using the Format Bar. It also advertises some great organizational tools like setting reminders for important emails, scheduling emails to send at designated times, and even receiving follow-up notifications for emails that haven’t received a response.
On paper, this sounds like a robust and comprehensive email application, but my actual experience has been quite different. Let’s dig a little deeper into the various aspects of this app.
The ability to access emails from numerous providers like iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, and Outlook is indeed a strong point. It should theoretically provide unparalleled convenience by consolidating all your emails in a single inbox. You can, of course, filter to see only Unread or Flagged messages or prioritize a specific mailbox. It’s a feature many users, like myself, find valuable because it reduces the hassle of toggling between different apps for different email accounts. However, the actual execution has been less than stellar for many users, myself included. There have been frequent issues with accounts showing errors, instances where messages simply don’t download from servers, and synchronization problems, especially with services like AOL and even iCloud itself. These issues crop up repeatedly, making the experience frustrating and unreliable.
Another functionality that seems promising is the ability to manage your inbox efficiently with options like scheduling emails, setting reminders, and following up on sent emails that haven’t received a response. But the usability of these features is again hampered by performance inconsistencies and glitches. For instance, there were several instances where important emails were either missing or couldn’t be retrieved during a critical moment, which was particularly problematic during business meetings. These moments exemplify the app’s unreliability and the potential for significant inconvenience.
One of the more exciting features on the mail app is the integration of the Format Bar, which allows for text formatting, adding images, scanning documents, creating sketches, and using markup tools to add drawings or signatures. It also supports Mail Drop for sending large attachments through iCloud, and intelligent search functionalities that correct typos and use synonyms. Unfortunately, these, too, are plagued with their own set of issues—ranging from spontaneous crashes to inconsistent performance of the markup features. The intelligent search is often criticized for being unreliable, failing to find emails that are clearly present, or not correlating searches correctly between devices.
The app also boasts Mail Privacy Protection, aimed at hiding IP addresses and preventing senders from tracking your activity. While this feature works relatively well and provides a semblance of digital privacy, it can’t compensate for the fundamental flaws that dominate the user experience.
The customer reviews echo my sentiments and highlight the same issues across the board. New iPhone users find the layout overwhelming and visually cluttered. There is excessive use of minimalistic design principles which, instead of aiding in a pleasant visual experience, create a barrage of text that’s exhausting to look at. It makes the process of finding and organizing emails more tedious than it should be, leading users towards alternatives like the Gmail app for better usability and interface design.
Others have pointed out deeper systemic issues, like the app’s inability to reliably handle junk mail, blocking unwanted emails, and maintaining a consistent inbox. These lapses might seem minor, but they add up to create an immensely frustrating experience. Just moving a single email to the junk folder or reporting it as spam seems to be a hit-or-miss affair, and the absence of more advanced spam filtering features is a notable letdown.
A particularly troubling problem reported by visually impaired users involves the app’s compatibility with voiceover features. Simple tasks like reading email content or accessing attached files become incredibly challenging, undermining the app’s accessibility and inclusivity.
On the other hand, long-time users have increasingly become dissatisfied with the app due to incessant glitches—such as constant prompts for passwords, accounts becoming non-functional for no discernible reason, and important folders getting swapped with the trash folder. Anomalies like these disrupt workflows and create unnecessary complications, especially concerning for business and critical emails where reliability is paramount.
Despite Apple being a trillion-dollar company, the email application looks and feels outdated. Given its long history of user complaints, it’s bewildering why Apple hasn’t implemented the necessary overhauls. It seems like a superficial attempt to maintain user engagement rather than solving the core issues, which is evident in the app’s fluctuating user ratings and the collective sentiment of frustration across various reviews.
While the Mail app for Apple Vision Pro brings some modern tools and functionalities to the table, its myriad issues and unreliable performance overshadow its potential benefits. The inconsistency in handling emails, frequent glitches, and the visually overwhelming layout make it less user-friendly than intended. For a company renowned for its intuitive designs and seamless functionality, this email client feels like a glaring anomaly that begs for significant improvements. Until such enhancements are made, I find it hard to recommend this app to anyone looking for a dependable email solution.
Second Display
Second Display for Apple Vision Pro aims to revolutionize how users interact with their Macs by providing an additional screen. Designed by Anderson Ribeiro, the app is engineered to enhance productivity and make multitasking more seamless for a range of users, from professionals and students to casual users. Also, at a price of $12.99, the app presents itself as a compact solution for Mac users who are in dire need of more screen real estate.
One of the main selling points of Second Display is its promise of easy integration. Imagine being able to effortlessly transition from one task to another without the constant need to toggle between multiple windows. The app promises a streamlined experience that can transform the way you handle your workload. Think about the benefits of extending your desktop space; whether it’s keeping your emails open on one screen while editing a document on another or having your coding environment alongside your reference materials. The app aims to cater to a broad spectrum of users’ needs, offering substantial efficiency improvements.
However, the initial feedback from customers paints a different picture. A recurring issue seems to be the difficulty with the app’s setup process. Users mention that upon launching Second Display, they are prompted to enter a code into a companion app that needs to be downloaded onto their Mac. Unfortunately, it appears that the app doesn’t generate this necessary code, leaving users stuck at the initial step. Additionally, people have reported issues with the Mac companion app, saying that it fails to launch because Apple is unable to verify the file for malware, prompting concerns about the app’s safety and credibility.
Several customers expressed doubts about whether Second Display is actually legitimate, citing these setup issues and the inability of their Macs to verify the downloaded application. One user even mentioned suspecting that the app could potentially be malware or a scam given the obstacles faced during setup.
These concerns are critical because they challenge the app’s core promise of seamless integration. A smooth initial experience is often integral for software aimed at enhancing productivity, and any roadblock, especially one as severe as potential malware warnings, significantly detracts from user confidence and satisfaction.
In terms of pricing, at $12.99, Second Display is relatively affordable when compared to the cost of an additional physical monitor. Yet, the setup woes and suspicious behavior cited by current users pose a serious risk to the perceived value. Unless these issues are resolved, users might find themselves regretting their purchase.
While Second Display theoretically promises a significant boost in productivity by offering additional screen space for Mac users, practical experience reveals substantial problems that need addressing. The app’s inability to effectively generate the necessary setup code and concerns over potential malware significantly undermine its value proposition. Until these issues are resolved, potential users might want to exercise caution and keep an eye on further reviews and updates from the developer.
Clay – Contacts + CRM
Clay – Contacts + CRM is a versatile and powerful contacts management tool designed for Apple Vision Pro users, aimed at helping individuals seamlessly manage and deepen their personal and professional relationships. This app represents a new paradigm for contact management, offering a one-stop solution for organizing and enriching your contact database.
With Clay, you no longer need to rely on fragmented memory aids like spreadsheets, notecards, and scattered address books. The app beautifully consolidates all your contact information by syncing with various platforms including email, calendar, address book, LinkedIn, Twitter, and iMessage. This automatic aggregation ensures that all relevant details such as profile photos, bios, education and work histories, locations, and social profiles are up-to-date, saving you the hassle of manual updates.
One of the standout features of Clay is its ability to help you maintain meaningful connections. The app allows you to set reminders for significant dates like birthdays and anniversaries. You can also establish reconnection cadences to ensure you never lose touch with important contacts. Imagine knowing exactly when to reach out to celebrate milestones or just to check in; that’s the edge Clay provides.
The powerful note-taking capability in Clay makes it the ideal companion for busy individuals. You can quickly jot down important details before, during, and after any conversation, encompassing anything from kids’ names to vacation itineraries or an article you want to share. Every note is securely attached to the relevant contact’s card, which makes retrieving such information effortless.
Organizationally, Clay allows you to create custom groups for various social circles such as dinner party favorites, book club members, or high school friends. These groups make event organization a cinch. The app’s search functionality is also incredibly user-friendly. You can find people based on contextual memories like where you last met or what you discussed, making it a robust search tool that works in milliseconds.
The Home feature is another compelling aspect of Clay. It provides a comprehensive, high-level view of all updates from your network, ensuring you’re the first to congratulate someone on a new job or a feature in a major publication. This keeps you on top of significant events within your circles, reinforcing your connections.
Clay also excels in team collaboration. Sharing contacts with team members is both private and seamless, potentially replacing traditional CRM systems. The app supports multiple integrations including Gmail, Exchange, Office365, iCloud, Facebook, LinkedIn, Airtable, and many more. This ensures that your contacts are always accessible from virtually any platform.
Additional features include business card digitization, contact clean-up, cross-device synchronization, birthday reminders, and contact deduplication. Clay also offers a variety of themes, including dark and light modes, so you can customize the app to your preference.
Despite its impressive array of features, reviews of Clay present a mixed bag. Some users have lauded its beautiful design and integration capabilities, stating it has saved them time and effort in managing their contacts. They praise its seamless reminders and the way it improves business contacts management with minimal need for manual organization.
On the flip side, several users report significant issues. These range from bugs during iMessage import to missing iPhone contacts and unreliable synchronization. These users feel that the app, although promising, falls short on execution. Problems such as slow syncing of new contacts, unexplained app crashes, and cumbersome handling of large contact imports have been highlighted. Additionally, the app reportedly struggles with basic tasks like contact deduplication and efficient archiving, rendering some users frustrated. A recurring complaint is the difficulty in deleting accounts, which is cumbersome and contrary to CCPA and GDPR requirements.
Other criticisms include poor onboarding experiences and an over-designed interface that doesn’t adhere to intuitive iOS interaction patterns. Some users find the app’s reliance on importing all contacts at once, without an option for selective import, overwhelming and unmanageable.
Given its free price tag, new users receive a 14-day trial of Clay Pro, after which they can continue using the free version with a limit of 1000 contacts. While Clay has undeniable potential with its rich feature set and beautiful UI, it appears that substantial improvements in stability and functionality are necessary to make this app fully reliable and user-friendly.
Notes
Notes for Apple Vision Pro is an incredibly versatile and powerful tool designed for users who want to capture ideas, organize information, and collaborate seamlessly across devices. From quick jottings to in-depth notes filled with multimedia, this app offers a comprehensive suite of features that caters to both casual users and professionals alike. Integrated into the Apple ecosystem, it offers seamless syncing with iCloud, ensuring your notes are always at your fingertips, no matter which device you’re using.
The core of the Notes app lies in its intuitive note-taking features. It allows you to quickly jot down thoughts or create detailed notes, complete with a variety of content types. You can add:
– Attachments: Notes supports a wide range of attachments, including PDFs, photos, web links, and maps. The built-in document scanner lets you quickly scan paper documents like receipts or bills, which is especially useful for storing important paperwork.
– Checklists: Whether it’s a grocery list, a to-do list, or a bucket list, the checklist feature is a simple yet powerful way to keep track of tasks. The ability to check off items as you go makes it a highly practical tool for productivity.
– Handwritten Notes and Sketches: For Apple Pencil users (on compatible iPads), Notes shines with its sketching functionality. You can draw directly within notes, choose from various brush styles, colors, and even add grids and lines to ensure your sketches or handwriting is well-organized. This feature feels particularly fluid on Apple Vision Pro, where spatial input and gesture controls can add new dimensions to note-taking, turning it into a more immersive experience.
– Text Formatting: You can apply different text styles such as headings, body text, bulleted lists, and more to enhance readability and organization. This is essential when creating structured, professional notes.
– Tables: Another excellent feature is the ability to add tables for organizing information, such as budgets, itineraries, or study materials. This adds another layer of structure, making Notes a strong competitor to traditional word processors.
Notes isn’t just a basic note-taking app-it offers a rich set of features for organizing content.
– Folders and Subfolders: Notes can be sorted into folders and subfolders, providing a hierarchical structure that works for both personal and professional use. You can drag and drop notes into different folders, making organization quick and intuitive.
– Smart Folders and Tags: For those who prefer more dynamic organization, the Smart Folder feature allows notes to be filtered and organized automatically based on specific criteria like dates, checklists, attachments, and more. This, coupled with the tagging system (e.g., work, personal), provides unparalleled flexibility in sorting and finding your notes.
– Note Linking: One of the standout features is the ability to link from one note to another. This allows you to connect related ideas, topics, or projects across your notes, fostering a web of information that’s easy to navigate. The shortcut (>>) makes it super convenient to add these links on the fly.
The Notes app makes collaboration effortless, enabling users to work together on shared folders or individual notes.
– Shared Folders and Notes: You can share an entire folder with someone or invite them to collaborate on a specific note. This feature is invaluable for teams, families, or students working on group projects.
– Mentions: Collaboration is enhanced by the ability to @mention someone in a note, which notifies them of important updates or changes, ensuring that everyone stays in the loop.
– Activity View: The Activity View feature keeps track of who made changes and when they were made. This is especially useful in collaborative settings, where it’s important to track updates and contributions from multiple participants. The clear, day-to-day breakdown of changes ensures transparency and accountability in shared notes.
The search functionality in Notes is another strong point. You can search not only for typed text but also for handwritten text, scanned documents, and even text within images like receipts or signs. This OCR (optical character recognition) capability makes finding specific content incredibly fast, no matter how disorganized your notes may be.
For quick and easy note-taking, the Quick Note feature allows you to jot down thoughts without even opening the full Notes app. On iPads, you can swipe up with an Apple Pencil or finger from the bottom right corner, and a Quick Note will open immediately. Similarly, on iPhones and Macs, you can access Quick Notes through keyboard shortcuts or the share menu in other apps. Deep links from apps or websites can also be added to Quick Notes, helping you mark important content or tasks for later.
One of the most convenient aspects of Notes is its deep integration with iCloud. All your notes are synced across devices-iPhone, iPad, Mac, and now, Apple Vision Pro. This allows you to start a note on one device and pick it up seamlessly on another. The synchronization is virtually instant, ensuring that your notes are always up to date no matter which device you are using.
For users who need to store sensitive information, Notes offers the ability to lock notes with a password or Face ID. This feature is critical for protecting personal or professional data, ensuring that even if someone gains access to your device, they won’t be able to read your most private notes.
The Apple Vision Pro version of the Notes app takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the device, creating an immersive and hands-free note-taking experience. Using eye-tracking and gesture-based controls, you can interact with your notes in a spatial environment, making organization and navigation more intuitive. This functionality could potentially revolutionize productivity workflows, particularly for professionals who need to multitask or manage multiple streams of information in real time.
The Notes app is entirely free, which is a huge benefit considering the breadth of features it offers. Most comparable apps with similar functionalities charge premium fees, but with Notes, all features are available at no cost, making it an unbeatable value.
While the Notes app is robust, a few areas could be improved:
1. Customization: Though the text formatting options are decent, more customization for fonts and formatting would be appreciated, particularly by power users.
2. Third-Party Integration: While it works seamlessly within the Apple ecosystem, the app lacks native integration with third-party apps or services such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Adding this functionality could improve its versatility, particularly for users who don’t fully reside within the Apple ecosystem.
Apple’s Notes app for Apple Vision Pro is a comprehensive and versatile tool that takes note-taking to a new level. Whether you’re looking for a quick jot-down option or need advanced features like collaboration, multimedia attachments, and organization, the app offers everything you’d need. With iCloud integration, security features, and performance enhancements specific to Apple Vision Pro, it provides a seamless and productive experience across all Apple devices.
Its free price point combined with its deep feature set makes it a must-have tool for any Apple user, particularly those invested in Apple’s productivity suite. For professionals, students, and everyday users alike, Notes is more than just a simple note-taking app-it’s a full-fledged organizational powerhouse.
One Task
The app One Task by developer Sindre Sorhus offers a minimalistic, no-frills approach to task management, designed for users of Apple Vision Pro. With a motto that embraces simplicity-“You can achieve almost anything if you focus on one thing at a time”-One Task is perfect for those who prefer focus over clutter. It eliminates unnecessary features like folders, tags, or priority rankings, sticking to its core mission: helping you focus on and complete tasks without distractions.
Previously available for free, One Task now costs a modest $2. While this change may disappoint some, the value offered by the app makes it a worthy investment for those seeking a streamlined productivity tool for their daily routines.
Key Features
1. Single-Task Focus:
The app’s core concept is that you should focus on one task at a time. When you open the app, or when it integrates with your desktop or Notification Center, you are greeted by just one task. This single-task visibility reduces distractions and helps maintain a laser focus on what needs to be done next.
2. Widget Integration:
One of the standout features of One Task is its widget integration. After entering your tasks into the app, you can add the One Task widget to your desktop or Notification Center. The widget displays one task at a time, allowing you to easily check off completed tasks with a simple tap. Once you complete a task, the next one automatically appears, allowing for seamless progression through your task list.
3. Customizable Task Order:
In the widget configuration settings, you can customize the order in which tasks appear. This is a great feature for those who prefer to tackle certain tasks in a specific sequence, without overcomplicating things with prioritization systems or other productivity app features.
4. No Overhead, Just Action:
One Task is the antithesis of complex task managers filled with sub-tasks, categories, and tags. It consciously avoids advanced features like folders, priority flags, or the ability to add notes to tasks. This minimalism is intentional and refreshing, especially for users who tend to get bogged down in over-organizing their to-do lists rather than acting on them. The app’s optimal use-case is clear: it’s designed to help you complete the tasks you’re committed to today, without overwhelming you with features for endless categorization.
5. Designed for Today:
The app encourages you to add only the tasks you plan to complete today. By maintaining this focus, One Task fosters a habit of daily productivity and commitment, rather than leaving users with an endless backlog of neglected tasks. This helps users adopt a healthier and more realistic approach to managing their day-to-day workload.
6. No Ads or Tracking:
One Task’s commitment to user privacy is commendable. Despite being a paid app, it does not include ads or tracking mechanisms, which is increasingly rare in today’s app ecosystem. This ensures a distraction-free and privacy-conscious experience for users.
One Task truly shines on Apple Vision Pro due to the immersive interface and larger screen real estate. The simplicity of seeing just one task at a time becomes even more powerful in the Vision Pro environment, where distractions from a traditional desktop or mobile screen can often interrupt focus. The app integrates seamlessly into the Apple Vision Pro’s workflow, with easy access to your tasks directly in the immersive AR space.
The widget functionality takes on a new dimension in Vision Pro, where you can literally glance at your task and interact with it in your visual field without breaking focus. It’s almost like having a digital sticky note that floats in your peripheral vision until you’re ready to check it off.
At $2.00, One Task offers a simple yet effective productivity tool. Some users might balk at the idea of paying for an app that was previously free, but the cost is minimal in comparison to the value it provides. The lack of ads and the focus on privacy also make it worth the price for many users. For those who appreciate minimalistic design and a productivity app that keeps things straightforward, One Task is a worthwhile purchase.
Pros
– Extreme simplicity: No complicated features to learn or manage.
– Focus-driven: Designed to help you focus on completing tasks, not organizing them.
– Widget integration: Easily view and complete tasks from your desktop or Notification Center.
– No distractions: No ads, no tracking, and no clutter.
– Customizable order: Tasks can be completed in the order you choose.
Cons
– Limited functionality: May feel too barebones for those who prefer more advanced task management tools.
– Paid model: While previously free, the app now costs $2, which might deter some users.
– No long-term task tracking: If you want to manage a backlog or organize future tasks, One Task isn’t designed for that use case.
For Apple Vision Pro users who are seeking a clean, simple, and efficient way to stay productive, One Task is a fantastic tool. Its single-task focus helps reduce distractions and encourages daily completion of tasks rather than endless organization. While the app’s stripped-down functionality might not suit those looking for advanced features, it’s perfect for people who appreciate the elegance of minimalism in their productivity tools. The shift from free to paid may be disappointing for some, but given the privacy features and ad-free experience, the $2 price tag is reasonable.
If you’re someone who believes in the power of focusing on one task at a time and want a tool that aligns with this philosophy, One Task is well worth trying out.
Finalist – The Daily Planner
As personal productivity tools evolve, it’s crucial to find a planner that integrates seamlessly with your workflow while providing powerful features. Enter Finalist – The Daily Planner, an app designed for the Apple Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad, and Mac users who demand more from their task management tools. Developed by Diversion Marketing Inc, Finalist takes the simple essence of a notepad and expands it with innovative features, making it an exceptional choice for both casual users and productivity powerhouses alike. Whether you’re organizing tasks, scheduling events, or managing shared reminders, Finalist proves to be a versatile, user-friendly solution for daily planning.
One of Finalist’s standout features is its minimalist design inspired by a notepad. It embraces simplicity without sacrificing functionality, making it easy to get started and immediately productive. The app’s one-screen interface reduces app switching, with tasks, reminders, calendar events, and even weather forecasts presented in a single view. This streamlined approach saves users time, allowing them to focus on completing their tasks rather than navigating between different apps.
The app has beautiful layouts for daily, weekly, and monthly planning, all customizable through new themes. These aesthetic enhancements not only make task management visually appealing but also help users differentiate between timeframes and tasks more effectively. Switching between views is quick and seamless, allowing you to get a holistic view of your day or week ahead.
Finalist’s task management capabilities go far beyond basic to-do lists. You can add notes, markdown links, countdowns, due dates, and even access an edit sheet to tweak your tasks. Whether you’re managing a complex project or just need to keep track of simple errands, the app provides an incredible level of depth and organization. Each task feels fully customizable to your needs, from simple reminders to more advanced projects requiring detailed tracking.
The app’s list feature is equally robust, allowing users to tag items with emojis for quick visual identification and even pin important tasks to the Today view. For those tracking expenses or items in a shopping list, Finalist provides support for price and quantity summing, making it ideal for budgeting or inventory tracking. These small but highly functional details elevate the planner beyond a simple task manager, offering a tailored experience for each user.
One of the key selling points of Finalist is its tight integration with native Apple technologies. It syncs effortlessly across your Apple devices through iCloud, ensuring that your data is always up-to-date, whether you’re working on your Mac, Vision Pro, iPad, or iPhone. Users can easily import their existing Apple Reminders and manage them directly within the app, including shared lists. This is perfect for teams or families who rely on shared tasks to stay coordinated.
The Calendar integration is equally impressive, allowing you to view and manage your events alongside your to-dos. Navigating the calendar is intuitive, with fast and convenient date navigators that make it easy to jump between dates and plan your schedule. the inclusion of weather forecasting within the same view means you can plan your outdoor activities without needing to consult a separate app, reducing the need for excessive app switching and saving valuable time.
Data security and the ability to back up and export your work are crucial, especially for users who depend heavily on their planners. Finalist supports full database backup, giving you peace of mind knowing that your data is protected. You can also export and import data via OPML, a useful feature for those looking to migrate their data from or to other productivity tools. With these options, users have full control over their data and can move between apps without fear of losing their information.
Finalist is designed with privacy and ease of use in mind. Since it uses native Apple technologies, there’s no need to create an external account. All data syncs over iCloud, so your information is securely stored and shared only with those you choose. It also supports Family Sharing, making it an ideal solution for households that manage tasks together. Whether it’s a shared grocery list, coordinating activities, or delegating tasks, the app makes it easy to keep everyone on the same page.
While Finalist offers a free version with substantial functionality, there are also premium options available for those who want more advanced features. The app is reasonably priced, with three in-app purchase options:
– Finalist Yearly: $14.99 per year
– Finalist Monthly: $2.99 per month
– Finalist Lifetime: $29.99 (one-time purchase)
Given the breadth of features and seamless integration, the lifetime option offers great value for users who plan to make Finalist a permanent part of their workflow.
For users on the cutting edge of technology with the Apple Vision Pro, Finalist shines even brighter. The immersive interface on Vision Pro makes interacting with your tasks and calendar an entirely new experience, allowing you to engage with your planner in a more natural, spatial way. The augmented reality (AR) component enhances the app’s usability, making task management not just more efficient but also more enjoyable.
Finalist – The Daily Planner is a versatile, powerful app that offers far more than your average to-do list. Its seamless integration with native Apple technologies, customizable task management, and visually appealing interface make it an ideal productivity tool for users of all kinds. Whether you’re a casual planner or a power user managing complex projects, Finalist delivers everything you need in a streamlined, aesthetically pleasing package. The additional support for Apple Vision Pro adds a new layer of functionality, taking advantage of AR to offer a truly immersive planning experience.
With flexible subscription options and powerful features that extend far beyond simple task management, Finalist is a must-have for anyone looking to take control of their schedule and boost their productivity. Give it a try-you’ll likely find it becomes an indispensable part of your daily routine.
Twin – 3D Scans for Passthrough
Twin, developed by 1984 LLC, is a remarkable application designed for the Apple Vision Pro that allows users to create 3D models from real-world objects and bring them into the immersive digital world of visionOS. Imagine being able to visualize your desk, keyboard, or other personal items while fully immersed in a virtual environment. This is what Twin makes possible, transcending the boundaries between the physical and digital realms through photogrammetry.
The process to make these 3D models is refreshingly simple and straightforward. First, you use the Twin app on your Apple iPhone or iPad to scan the item you wish to digitize. Then, on your Apple Vision Pro, you can place the digital twin wherever you like. This seamless interoperability across devices is a standout feature, requiring only that you are logged into the same Apple ID on both the scanning and viewing devices.
One of the most notable aspects of Twin is its use of photogrammetry to create the 3D models. This ensures that the models retain their real-world size and proportions, providing a highly realistic digital representation of your objects. Whether you want to bring your favorite desk decor into your work environment or visualize your keyboard to see what you’re typing, Twin makes it possible, enhancing how you interact with your digital space.
Twin offers an array of features that not only make scanning and creating 3D models efficient but also add an element of fun and creativity. The models can be filtered to introduce new colorways or effects that wouldn’t be achievable in the real world, which is a feature that adds an entirely new dimension to how you can manipulate and enjoy your digital twins.
To create a 3D model using Twin, the app requires a device with LiDAR and an A14 Bionic chip or later, which includes any iPhone Pro released from 2020 onwards or an iPad Pro from 2021 onwards. The models created are stationary and must be placed manually over your real-world objects or anywhere within your digital environment, making them ideal for use as static elements in your spatial computing setup.
The user experience is further streamlined with automatic syncing of models between devices signed into the same Apple ID. This facilitates smooth transitions and continuous access to your 3D models regardless of which device you are using. The app also provides functionalities to search, sort, favorite, and rename your models, giving you the freedom to organize them to your liking.
Twin does come with certain limitations and prerequisites. The effectiveness of photogrammetry depends on the nature of the objects being scanned. It works best with solid, non-reflective, evenly lit objects that are smaller than four feet in any dimension. Objects that are transparent, shiny, monochromatic, or those that cast shadows may not be accurately scanned, limiting their usability within the app.
Twin Pro, the subscription service of the app, offers additional features such as the ability to place multiple models simultaneously in Vision Pro and to apply filters to your models. This subscription is flexible, allowing users to cancel at any time. Payment for the subscription is handled through your Apple ID, with automatic renewal settings that can be managed easily.
Customer reviews highlight the app’s user-friendly nature and its impressive capabilities. Users appreciate the ability to see their personal items in a Vision Pro environment and are particularly captivated by the filters that can be applied to their models. The app’s integration with VisionOS has been praised for its ease of use and expansive functionality, making it a compelling choice for anyone interested in enhancing their spatial computing experience.
Twin is a powerful and intuitive tool for creating and interacting with 3D models in a digital environment. Its use of photogrammetry to create lifelike digital twins and its seamless interoperability across Apple devices make it a must-have for Vision Pro users looking to bring elements of their physical world into their virtual one.
Quick Notes – Email Me
Quick Notes – Email Me, developed by Manuel Escrig Ventura, is a versatile app designed to streamline the process of capturing and emailing notes, thoughts, tasks, and ideas. With its latest adaptation for the Apple Vision Pro, the app offers a seamless, immersive experience for users looking to efficiently manage their tasks and reminders across devices. Its core functionality revolves around sending quick notes, voice memos, images, and more directly to your email with minimal effort, ensuring that no important detail slips through the cracks.
The user experience on the Apple Vision Pro is nothing short of remarkable. The app leverages the device’s advanced capabilities to provide an intuitive, hands-free method of capturing notes. Whether you’re using voice commands or simple gestures, Quick Notes – Email Me ensures that the process is as swift and straightforward as possible. The interface is clean and uncluttered, allowing users to focus on their tasks without unnecessary distractions. This is especially important in the context of augmented reality, where clarity and ease of use are paramount.
The app’s primary feature is its ability to send notes to your email in just one tap. This is perfect for users who frequently need to jot down ideas or tasks on the fly. Whether you’re in the middle of a meeting or out for a walk, you can quickly capture your thoughts and have them delivered straight to your inbox.
With the Vision Pro’s enhanced audio processing, the voice memo and speech-to-text functionality is incredibly accurate. This feature is ideal for those who prefer speaking over typing, offering a hands-free solution to note-taking. The transcription is reliable, making it easy to convert spoken words into text for future reference.
Quick Notes – Email Me supports sending images from your camera or library with a single tap. This is particularly useful for professionals who need to capture visual data or creatives who want to store their inspirations. The ability to send clipboard content is another time-saving feature, allowing for quick sharing of copied text or links.
The app provides extensive customization, allowing users to set predefined email addresses, subject prefixes, and signatures. This is especially beneficial for users who frequently send notes to specific recipients or use a consistent format for their notes.
Quick Notes – Email Me is a universal app, meaning it works seamlessly across iOS, macOS, and watchOS. The Vision Pro version integrates these functionalities into an immersive AR environment, enhancing the app’s utility and accessibility. The macOS version, with its menu bar integration and widget support, ensures that notes are always within reach, no matter which device you’re using.
The app shines in its commitment to accessibility. It includes support for VoiceOver, dynamic text sizing, and dark mode, ensuring that all users, regardless of their needs, can use the app effectively. The inclusion of CoreHaptics for precise haptic feedback and reduced motion options further enhances the user experience for individuals with specific accessibility requirements.
In an era where data privacy is a significant concern, Quick Notes – Email Me stands out by not collecting or sharing any user data with third parties. This commitment to privacy is a reassuring feature for users who prioritize the security of their personal information.
Quick Notes – Email Me is available for free, with several in-app purchase options for those looking to unlock premium features. The premium subscription tiers are reasonably priced, offering options for monthly, quarterly, yearly, or lifetime access. The ability to send unlimited emails under the premium plan is a valuable addition for power users.
Quick Notes – Email Me is an indispensable tool for anyone who needs a quick and efficient way to capture and organize their thoughts. Its seamless integration with Apple Vision Pro elevates the note-taking experience to a new level, making it more intuitive and accessible than ever before. Whether you’re a busy professional, a student, or just someone who wants to stay organized, this app offers a reliable solution that is both powerful and easy to use.
The app’s broad range of features, commitment to accessibility, and strong emphasis on user privacy make it a standout choice in the crowded field of productivity apps. The free version offers plenty of functionality, while the premium options provide added value for those who need more from their note-taking tool. Quick Notes – Email Me is a must-have app for anyone looking to simplify their life and stay on top of their tasks with minimal effort.