Author: krishna

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PSA: Changed behavior of saving screenshots in iOS 26

Unlike in previous versions of iOS, taking a screenshot now takes you to a full-screen preview, and if you close it, the screenshot will be deleted without any confirmation.

Full-screen screenshot is a setting that’s turned on by default in iOS 26, instead of showing a temporary thumbnail at the bottom left corner. You can change it from here: Settings > General > Screen Capture.

If you have the habit of taking screnshots all the time to reference later, your muscle memory is going to be impacted, and will need to adjust to this new workflow.

Let’s explore both screenshot options and see how we can adapt to the new screenshot flows.

1. Full-screen preview

There are two new functionalities added at the bottom.

First, you can ask ChatGPT natively about the contents of the image.

Second, you can look up a part of the screenshot or the full image on Google and Etsy. There’s no option to configure these services.

If you’re not using any of these options, you have to save your screenshot manually, or else the image is sent to Recently Deleted in the Photos app.

Additionally, if you want to do regular screenshot markup, again, you have to manually take an action to save the screenshot. Otherwise, your markup progress is lost and your screenshot is sent to Recently Deleted in Photos.

2. Temporary thumbnail

If you turn off the default full-screen preview of screenshots, you get a regular temporary thumbnail at the bottom left of the screen. Swiping left on the thumbnail means your screenshot is automatically saved in Photos. But if you open the screenshot from the thumbnail and close it, it’s sent to Recently Deleted unless manually saved.

This breaks the earlier muscle memory where any screenshot taken was safely stored in Photos if no action was taken.

This change represents a significant shift in Apple’s approach to screenshot management, moving from automatic saving to intentional curation. The understandable integration of AI services (ChatGPT) and shopping platforms (Etsy) directly into the screenshot workflow indicates that Apple is positioning screenshots as more than just image captures but as starting points for discovery and interaction as part of its visual intelligence offering.

The inclusion of Etsy specifically is interesting – it doesn’t make sense to me that Apple sees screenshots as frequently containing items people want to purchase handmade or unique goods that Etsy specializes in. I don’t see Etsy’s appeal to users in India anyway. This choice could also be to steer red flags away from anticompetitive laws by including a smaller marketplace alongside the dominant Google search.

All these features aside, the muscle memory disruption is real and could lead to lost screenshots for those who don’t adapt. To avoid accidental loss of screenshots, deliberate action is now needed from users. This might reduce screenshot clutter but could frustrate those like me who are accustomed to the previous automatic saving behavior. This change essentially forces users to decide the value of each screenshot immediately rather than letting them accumulate and sort later.

For power users who frequently screenshot for reference, documentation, or sharing, this change will require developing new habits around screenshot management. The key will be remembering that screenshots now require explicit saving actions to avoid losing important captures to the Recently Deleted folder.

Give me an option to save any screenshot to Photos by default and we’re gold.

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Apple Hebbal

Apple:

Apple today previewed its newest store in India, Apple Hebbal, located in the technology capital of Bengaluru. The store will be Apple’s first in South India and third in the country, joining Apple BKC in Mumbai and Apple Saket in Delhi and the Apple Store online.

This caught my eye about inclusion for a city like Bengaluru, where people migrate from all states:

The store’s 70 team members hail from 15 states across India and are ready to help customers learn about Apple products, monthly financing options, and the Apple Trade In program. Customers can receive one-on-one support in-store with Personal Setup and switching to iOS.

Observations

  • No major Apple executives visited, unlike Mumbai and Delhi. Tim Cook visited the opening of these stores in April 2023.
  • Closer to the airport but alienated with the Silicon Valley of India: roughly 30 km from Whitefield, Electronic City, Outer Ring Road IT Corridor (Bellandur, Marathahalli, Sarjapur Road side).
  • When someone in Bengaluru hears ‘Hebbal,’ a few common associations usually come to mind: one of the busiest and most traffic-heavy junctions in the city, often mentioned with frustration. This is especially true around the flyover, a notorious pain point for commuters. Curious choice of location, but North Bengaluru is growing.
  • The store is technically not in Hebbal. Apple Hebbal is in Phoenix Mall of Asia, which is in Byatarayanapura, Yelahanka. Who’s to ask if it serves Apple? The bottleneck near the mall is even more notorious; it took me an hour once to come out of the mall’s service road during a weekend, which I regretted. Apple Store is known to be placed in architecturally striking and unique locations. Hebbal doesn’t sound like it.

Here’s the link to Apple Hebbal official wallpaper which is not unique to Bengaluru.

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Latest: The app update manager macOS has been missing

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For those apps that push the limits of macOS, they’re sometimes not distributed via the App Store due to Apple’s restrictions. When I have a bunch of such apps alongside the apps I’ve downloaded from the Mac App Store, there’s no central way for me to see and update them to the latest versions. This is where Latest helps me manage app updates seamlessly. The app asks you to choose the folders where your apps are installed and then scans them for updates.

Latest is a free and open source app for macOS that acts as a unified dashboard for all my app updates. Rather than me bouncing between the Mac App Store and individual app updaters, I get a single interface that shows everything that needs my attention.

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I can update the macOS apps natively form inside the Latest app, which is great. I can see what’s new (release notes) and check version numbers. The app pulls this information from the Sparkle framework (open source) used in Mac apps, which according to developer Max Langer covers most apps outside the Mac App Store.

Key features

The app is very simple and clever. I can update a single app or update all at once (keyboard shortcuts are available). One thing that’s missing from the macOS App Store’s “Updates” section is the option to manually refresh and look for new updates. Latest addresses this gap perfectly.

What I particularly like about Latest:

  • Unified update management
  • Release notes integration
  • Clean, native interface
  • Open source and free
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With the popular MacUpdater being discontinued by the end of this year, Latest becomes an even more valuable alternative for me.

Trade-offs

Some apps need to be opened manually for updates, which isn’t ideal but is a necessary tradeoff. And some apps require redownloading from their website rather than updating in place. These limitations aren’t deal-breakers for me, but they’re worth noting. I can also ignore an app to skip checking for updates.

Latest fills a genuine gap in the macOS ecosystem by bringing much-needed organization to app updates across different sources. For a free, open-source utility created by a single developer, it punches well above its weight.

Since I find myself forgetting to update applications or getting frustrated with the scattered nature of Mac app updates, Latest is absolutely worthy of keeping in my dock. It’s one of those simple utilities that quietly makes my Mac experience better without getting in my way.

Latest is available as a free download from max.codes/latest.

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Tot 2.0: My plain text companion gets even better

I love Tot. I love how it treats plain text as a first-class citizen, and I use it constantly alongside Apple’s Notes app. The sync is rock solid, and it’s like a Swiss Army knife for quick text capture.

I use Tot on both iPhone and Mac. On iPhone, I have a Control Center shortcut for Quick Note in the Notes app to capture text snippets for later use. I fire up Tot on Mac and iPhone to jot down snippets of information like meeting notes or phone numbers during calls. I also depend on the helpful stats display like “31 lines • 103 words • 646 characters” to keep track of my content.

I got a chance to test Tot 2.0 after reaching out to the nice folks at Icon Factory, and this new update brings some really useful improvements.

What’s new in 2.0

One of the most helpful additions is the timestamp showing when each dot was last updated. This seemingly small feature eliminates a lot of confusion about which notes are current.

The new version simplifies many features that were hidden in previous versions. While I don’t personally use the Smart Bullets functionality, I’m excited about the new text dividers feature, which offers eight different styles accessible through the symbol picker.

The app continues to stay out of my way. I can still hit the escape key to quickly dismiss it. While customizable dot colors would have been a nice touch, I appreciate that the app now shows dot numbers.

Plain text, always

I always use Tot in plain text mode. If I need formatting, there’s the Notes app for that. I stick with the Menlo font and keep things simple. The automatic backups are excellent, and there’s now a proper history feature. I used to struggle with losing text occasionally, so this improvement gives me peace of mind.

iPhone experience

On iPhone, I wish the “Compact Dots” feature was available as a keyboard shortcut (this feature moves full dots to the left to eliminate empty gaps, though you can’t undo this action). I also use asterisks to make lists constantly, and having that symbol more accessible on the keyboard would be helpful.

I tried Sindre Sorhus’s barebones Scratchpad app, but the iCloud sync still seems unreliable compared to Tot’s rock-solid syncing.

Interface improvements

The redesigned settings screen is much cleaner and more discoverable. The new undo/redo buttons in the status bar of the iPhone app are handy. I’d love to see the status bar become more configurable in the future, since I don’t use the formatting, indentation, or Smart Bullets features.

Tot 2.0 refines an already excellent app. The Icon Factory team has focused on the right improvements: better organization, clearer interfaces, and rock-solid reliability. For anyone who needs quick, reliable text capture across devices, Tot remains an essential tool.

The app doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, and that’s exactly why it works so well. Sometimes the best tools are the ones that do one thing exceptionally well, and Tot continues to excel at being my tiny text companion.

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Save URLs from Google Chrome to Apple Notes on Mac with Automator and a simple keyboard shortcut

I use the Notes app on my Mac more than my bookmark manager. I needed a system to capture links that I actually visit and act on.

That’s when I started looking for a way to capture any webpage’s URL and title directly to Apple Notes with just a keyboard shortcut.

Here’s how I created a simple yet powerful automation using Apple’s built-in tools that can transform your link-saving workflow.

Creating the Automator workflow

Step 1: Launch Automator and Create a Quick Action

  1. Open Automator (found in Applications or via Spotlight)
  2. Choose Quick Action when prompted for document type
  3. At the top of the workflow area, set:
    • “Workflow receives” to no input
    • “in” to any application

Step 2: Add the AppleScript Action

  1. In the Actions library on the left, search for “Run AppleScript”
  2. Drag the Run AppleScript action into your workflow area
  3. Replace the default code with this script:
-- Get URL from Chrome and save to Apple Notes
tell application "Google Chrome"
    if it is running then
        -- Get the URL and title of the active tab
        set currentURL to URL of active tab of front window
        set currentTitle to title of active tab of front window
        
        -- Create the note content
        set noteContent to currentTitle & return & currentURL
        
        -- Send to Notes app
        tell application "Notes"
            tell account "iCloud" -- You can change this to "On My Mac" if preferred
                tell folder "Links" -- Save to Links folder
                    make new note with properties {name:currentTitle, body:noteContent}
                end tell
            end tell
        end tell
        
        -- Display confirmation with URL
        display notification currentURL with title "Added to Notes"
        
    else
        display alert "Chrome is not running"
    end if
end tell

Step 3: Save Y\your Quick Action

  1. Save the workflow with a descriptive name like “Get URL from Chrome and save to Apple Notes”
  2. This automatically installs it as a system service

Setting up the keyboard shortcut

Step 4: Configure System Keyboard Shortcuts

  1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS)
  2. Navigate to Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts
  3. Select Services from the sidebar
  4. Look under the General section for your newly created service
  5. Check the box next to “Get URL from Chrome and save to Apple Notes”
  6. Click Add Shortcut and press your desired key combination

How it works in practice

Once set up, the workflow is simple:

  1. Browse to any webpage in Chrome
  2. Press your assigned keyboard shortcut
  3. Watch the notification confirm your URL was saved
  4. Find your link organized in the Notes app’s “Links” folder

Troubleshooting common issues

Permission prompts: macOS will ask for permission to control Chrome and Notes the first time you run the automation. Grant these permissions for the workflow to function.

Folder not found error: If you get an error about the “Links” folder, either create this folder in Notes manually or modify the script to use an existing folder.

Script not triggering: Ensure you’ve properly assigned the keyboard shortcut in System Settings and that it doesn’t conflict with existing shortcuts.

This Automator workflow is a reliable way for me to capture web content directly into my note-taking system. On iPhone, there’s a simple ‘Add to Quick Note’ option from a browser share sheet that’s easily accessible.