Notification Center

Glimpse lets you check your favorite webpages from Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ December 18, 2014

Glimpse is a new app that lets you pin one or more favorite webpages to the Today tab of Notification Center, allowing to have a quick glance at your most visited websites, without having to launch Safari. The Notification Center extension is particularly handy to check news-focused websites where information is often time sensitive, and where a quick look is usually enough to get an idea of what is going on, without necessarily unlocking the device and opening up the full web browser.

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Thermos lets you set your Nest thermostat temperature from OS X Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Thermos is a recently released Mac application that works hand in hand with Nest to allow you to set the temperature of your thermostat right from Notification Center. Additionally, and if you also have Nest Protect smoke detectors in your home, the app will be able to send you push notifications in case smoke or carbon monoxide has been detected by the devices.

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Apple threatens removal of another Notification Center widget from App Store, this time Drafts

Jake Smith ∙ December 2, 2014

Apple is about to force the removal of yet another Notification Center widget from the App Store, this time saying the Today view is for information presentation only and not buttons.

The Drafts 4 app, which contains the widget in question, once enabled users of the app to create new documents by simply pressing a button in Notification Center to launch the text editor app. Not anymore, says Tim Cook and Co. 

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Apple asks ‘Neato’ to remove keyboard in ongoing war on widgets

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple is once again going after a Notification Center widget for overstepping its bounds. Neato, a popular note-taking widget with a built-in keyboard and share controls, says the Cupertino firm has threatened to remove the app for violating its App Review Guidelines.

More specifically, the developers behind Neato told Gizmodo that Apple has asked them to remove the keyboard from their widget, or else. The team tried to appeal, but Apple wasn't going to budge, and gave them two weeks to submit an update to correct their issue.

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Say ‘hello’ to Overglide, a tiny game playable from the Lock screen and Notification Center

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 11, 2014

I should have suffixed the headline with “no jailbreak required” for added punch. Yes, Overglide for the iPhone and iPad indeed is a tiny game that you play within iOS 8's Notification Center and right on the Lock screen, even while your iOS device is locked.

This cave flyer has you piloting a paper plane as far as possible while dodging the obstacles, and it even comes with Game Center leaderboards and achievements.

How's that possible? Read on or grab Overglide for 99 cents in the App Store and see for yourself.

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Mooncast adds the current moon phase to Notification Center

Lory Gil ∙ November 5, 2014

In general, most of us take the moon for granted. It’s always there. All we have to do is look up at night to see it (depending on the time of the night and the moon’s phase). Some people claim that it has an effect on how we act.

Mooncast is a simple app that displays an image of the moon in its current phase with a few additional bits of information about its status in the night’s sky. The app recently received a major update that adds the moon’s phase to your Notification Center’s Today view.

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Neato lets you jot quick notes directly from Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Neato is a new application that mostly consists of a Notification Center extension that lets you quickly jot down quick notes from anywhere on iOS. After installing the free app from the App Store, simply add the Notification Center extension to start typing in notes from the Lock screen, Home screen, or directly from within an application.

Notes can be synced with Evernote or with Dropbox. Additionally, whatever you type can be easily shared to Twitter, or via email or text message.

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MusiXmatch brings the lyrics of your currently playing songs to Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

MusiXmatch isn't a new application by any means, although I must admit I had never heard of it until this past week when I read about it on French blog iGen. The app has been around for quite some time but it was recently updated to bring its lyrics engine to Notification Center, where it displays the lyrics of your currently playing songs so you can sing along or just try to finally understand what the heck this song is all about once for all.

Assuming you have an internet connection, musiXmatch allows you to have direct access to the exact lyrics that are being sung in virtually any song in your library. This works from the musiXmatch app, or from its Notification Center widget. 

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Apple changes its mind again, will allow calculator widgets in Notification Center after all

Sébastien Page ∙ October 30, 2014

Yes. No. YES!

These three words sum up the situation of PCalc, a powerful calculator app that features a Notification Center widget, whose developer was asked by Apple yesterday to remove as it apparently wasn't in line with App Store rules.

Today, it appears that Apple has changed its mind (again), as TechCrunch reports that they've been "hearing that Apple is changing its course. The PCalc app and widget will remain in the App Store, and all calculator-type widgets will be allowed as well, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed to us."

So what gives?

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Activity by LogYourRun helps you visualize the intensity of your activity

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

I'm not a slug but I'm also far from being a health freak. You won't find me at the gym, and if you ever see me running, then call 911 because it means something went terribly wrong. Yet, with the introduction of the M7 coprocessor in the iPhone 5s which helps you keep track of how many steps you made in a given day, I became more aware of little things I could do to maintain my health. I quickly established a daily goal of 6,000 steps, which I usually track with Pedometer++, a beautifully simple step tracker.

Federico Viticci of Mac Stories recently introduced me to a similar application called Activity by LogYourRun. Just like Pedometer++, Activity tracks your steps but it also helps you visualize the intensity of your activity in a very original way.

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