Category: Apple

I’ve written about what seemed like random issues with my Apple devices here and here. It looks like these supposedly unexplainable Apple Migraines might not be quite so random. At least of late.

The issues are maddening.  At apparent random times the Macs I use will disconnect from iCloud, losing the ability to Sign in with Apple Watch and jettison the Continuity features including Handoff and Universal Control. At times a reboot would rectify the problem. At other times not. I’ve spoken several times with Apple Support and they have no answer they are willing to reveal.

Recently though I’ve detected a pattern.  Apple has released quite a few operating system updates in these last few months. Several of those were what Apple calls Apple Security Responses meant to fix security holes and are smaller updates. We’ve also seen two larger OS updates in recent months. If you follow the news you know roughly when these releases will drop. Regardless of type, the last five releases prompted an iCloud disconnection  the morning the updates would be released.

I’d say it’s like clockwork, but that’s a risky statement. Stranger still is that during at least two of these cycles after installing the OS updates I got the alert that a new Mac had been added to my account.

That notification haven’t appeared for the last three updates. I’d call Apple Support and talk to them about it, but that’s been proving to be a waste of time with this and other issues.

Apple just released what is probably the last major OS updates for Ventura and iOS 16 as well as their other devices. There may be more of those Security Responses before Sonoma and iOS 17 roll out in the fall. I’ll post updates if I see this behavior continue. Is this an answer? Probably not. But it is a clue.

In the meantime, it’s still catch as catch can when it comes to pinning this down conclusively, and as long as Apple Support remains silent on the issue who really knows what’s going on behind the scenes.

Apple is releasing iPad versions of its Pro apps, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro this week. For the uninitiated “Pro” is typically code for an expenisve, full featured app for professional users. Final Cut Pro for the Mac runs you $300. Logic Pro will set you back $200. It’s an investment.

Users have wished, requested, and even demanded that Apple release iPad versions of these two apps for Apple’s top of the line iPad Pro line. Heck, many even point to the lack of native iPad versions of these apps as proof of Apple’s lack of committment to the iPad. So, on May 9th when Apple announced that these two apps would be available for iPad Pro users on May 23 there was a rush of excitement about the release and also a hesitant holding of breath while examining the pricing.

That pricing, while lower than the Mac versions, ushered in a new era for Apple’s own apps: Subscription pricing. That raised some grumbles of discontent that Apple was releasing these two long awaited apps and for the first time using subscription pricing. Each app will be available for $4.99 a month or $49 a year. There’s also a one-month free trial.

The grumbles come from a lot of folks who don’t like the app subscription model. Some are quite vehement about it. For that crowd paying an annual or monthly price to use an app seems a bit too far. And since subscription pricing became more and more predominant there have been complaints from many users who don’t like to see an existing app that may have once been free, or purchased for a one-time cost go down this path. There are arguments aplenty on all sides of this issue. I’m not going to rehash any of those here.

Admittedly when subscription pricing for apps began to take hold I went back and forth on whether this was a good thing or not. But then after a few apps I use religiously chose this path I began to reframe how I thought about subscription pricing.

Where my thinkng landed rested on two points.

First, the value proposition: If I’m paying $X.XX a month for an app does it provide value to me? If yes, subscribing was no big deal. If not, it was easy enough to not subscribe or cancel.

Second: If this was a new app that looked promising, Apple’s App Store policies make it easy enough to try out the app and then cancel the subscription if it doesn’t offer enough value to reside in my toolbox.

Along the App-ian way of subscription pricing we’re starting to see some apps offer a free trial period. Typically they aren’t as lengthy as Apple’s one-month trial for these two apps, but generally they provide ample time to avoid committing if you’re unsure. Even so, signing up to test a new app for a month isn’t going to break my bank. Your bank balance may vary.

Extending these thoughts a bit, there’s another advantage to subscription pricing. That comes in measuring the success and potential future of an app for the developer. If enough users subscribe in the initial rush on a per-month basis and then choose to unsubscribe after the first month or so, the developer of that app should have a pretty good idea of the marketplace for the app going forward. Some users won’t try the app out until later, but I would think that after six months or so a developer should know whether or not to continue to commit resources to an app or not. It’s like up or down voting on an app but using your dollars to do the voting.

Of course using dollars is an important choice for users. Subscription fatigue is a real thing. So are budgets. And in the case of trying out new apps there are some things to think about.

1. Don’t sign on for an annual subscription, even though there is typically a discount for doing so. Use the month to month option if you’re trying things out. Sure it costs you a little more per month, but you maintain your flexibility.

2. Just know that app subscription pricing like any other type of subscription (streaming services in particular) or other monthly services (utilities, etc…) the price is eventually going to increase. It’s like taxes and death. It’s a given. When you hear of a price increase, it’s a good time to reexamine the value you’re getting out of the app.

3. Don’t wait until the end of a subscription period to cancel the app subscription. Once you’re sure the app won’t be something you want to keep paying for, cancel the subscription. If you’re unsure but leaning against keeping the subscription you’ll still have a portion of the month you subscribed in to test out the app.

4. Just like with media streaming services if you need an app for a specific job or not you can subscribe and then cancel. No one is going to turn your money down if you need to resubscribe in the future.

The bottom line for me is I’m not hesitant to try out apps with subscriptions if they are on the App Store.

There’s an interesting thread running on Mastodon started by Matt Birchler and picked up by John Gruber, Jason Snell and others if you roam with the Mastodons and have more thoughts on this.

Earlier this month I posted about iCloud issues preventing a number of services from working. The issues continued to plague me and other users. Apple support personnel had no answers and dealing with them proved…well let’s just call it less than satisfactory.

Apple recently released updates to all of its many devices on May 18 and lo and behold included in the release notes was this little gem.

Hope? Relief? Too early to tell. Losing the ability to sign in with an Apple Watch was usually the first indicator something was wrong. As mentioned in that earlier report this seemingly random disconnecting from some iCloud services was just that: random. And though I pinned the issue on a previous series of Ventura updates it didn’t manifest until few days after I had installed the updates. 

So I installed these new updates and crossed my fingers. For a day things seemed fine. Two days in though the problems resurfaced on the MacBook Air. A reboot has so far solved that. (There had been multiple reboots since installing the latest updates.) Three days in the issues returned to the iMac. Again a reboot seems to have solved things. For the moment. 

We’ll see how things roll going forward, but I’m guessing this isn’t solved yet. Neither are Apple’s support issues. Which is another story for another day.