Mark Hendy

Back Tap

If you want an easier way to take a screenshot, launch an app or perform any other frequently used action, iOS 14 introduces a new gesture-based shortcut that could save you time. Called Back Tap, the feature lets you double- or triple-tap the back of your iPhone to perform a preset action.

You enable Back Tap in the Accessibility section of iOS 14’s Settings, and users are already sharing examples online of how they’re able to take screenshots or launch specific apps by tapping the back of their phone. You can even use Back Tap to trigger a shortcut you’ve assembled using the built-in tools found in iOS.

People who’ve tested Back Tap so far report that it even works with iPhones that are inside cases. However, it won’t work with all iPhone models, as our second-generation iPhone SE running the iOS 14 Developer Beta totally lacks the option for Back Tap.

UPDATE – Dropbox have published a fix.

Dropbox dropped a beta version build 101.3.422 Friday, June 26, 2020 which I’m happy to confirm now addresses the problem. You can download the update here

Last night Apple revealed the new iOS14 for iphone, the new ipadOS for iPad and its new Mac OS “Big Sur”. I should point out these are developer releases and not public facing releases. I’ve upgraded all of my devices. Dropbox still works with iOS and iPadOS but I can report that it doesn’t currently work with Big Sur. This is my exchange with the customer support team at Dropbox.

Mark, Jun 23, 2020, 8:18 AM PDT:

Chat transcript:
( 14:53:20 ) Visitor: Hello. I have upgraded my Mac to Big Sur, Apple’s new operating system. The dropbox application is no longer in the tray and why I try to launch it it fails to launch. Dialogue box says “The application ‘dropbox’ can’t be opened. 6” OK.
( 14:53:28 ) Visitor: Do you have known issues?
( 14:53:49 ) Cyrus: Hello Mark and thank you for contacting Dropbox Support, my name is Cyrus, and I will be assisting with your Dropbox app startup issue right away.
( 14:54:00 ) Cyrus: That’s interesting… Could you please send over a screenshot of that message? I’ll open up a file request for you.
( 14:56:46 ) Visitor: Trying to get a screenshot to upload. BE RIGHT BACK
( 14:56:56 ) Cyrus: Sure thing. Standing byu
( 14:56:58 ) Cyrus: by*
( 14:58:14 ) Visitor: Hum… dragging the screenshot image to this chat box fails and there is no + button to upload with. Do you have an email address?
( 14:58:31 ) Cyrus: I’ll reopen that file request for you.
( 14:58:47 ) Visitor: File: https://www.snapengage.com/fileuploads/snapabug-hr-fileuploads/74ae0953-fef9-4e4f-a91d-6546013ac1fc/d0f2defc-7e9d-4181-901e-03b14fc98f17_Screenshot_2020-06-23_at_15.57.16.png
( 14:59:01 ) Visitor: Thanks. That worked!
( 14:59:13 ) Cyrus: Beautiful! Now… let me check
( 15:00:06 ) Cyrus: OK thanks for that. Please give me a moment to investigate this, and I’ll be right with you
( 15:00:12 ) Visitor: np
( 15:01:19 ) Visitor: FYI. This error is on my imac. I’ve just replicated it on my macbook pro
( 15:02:00 ) Cyrus: So — this is on both computers with Big Sur on them?
( 15:02:08 ) Visitor: yes
( 15:02:45 ) Visitor: my ipad pro has also been updated, but the app in ipadOS seems to be working ok
( 15:03:48 ) Visitor: I’ve just tested on my iphone running iOS 14 and that’s ok too. Seems to be isolated to Big Sur
( 15:04:32 ) Cyrus: OK thanks for holding on Mark
( 15:05:01 ) Cyrus: It seems that due to the fact that Big Sur is in Beta currently, it’s an unsupported OS on our side, and this is why it won’t open
( 15:05:35 ) Visitor: Marvelous! Well thank goodness I didn’t upgrade to Dropbox for business!
( 15:05:57 ) Visitor: Do you have a timeframe for resolution?
( 15:06:54 ) Cyrus: That’s a good question… There’s no timeframe yet, as our engineers can work on a new compatible version of the app, only when the OS is on a Stable release
( 15:08:12 ) Visitor: Thanks for your time Cyrus.
( 15:09:07 ) Cyrus: You’re more than welcome! Is there anything else I can do for you today?
( 15:09:43 ) Visitor: No. Thanks. I’ll sit here biting my nails until I’m able to sync files again ;-o
( 15:11:15 ) Cyrus: Hmm.. Tell you what, I’ll go ahead and mark this case down as feedback, which will alert the development team that this already has started happening
( 15:11:37 ) Cyrus: Maybe that’ll facilitate an early fix at some point, maybe not, but it’s worth a shot!
( 15:12:43 ) Visitor: Again thanks. I’m a pro subscriber and have been for years. I use the dropbox environment all day every day as, amongst other things a backup solution for my files. For me this is business critical.
( 15:13:48 ) Cyrus: It’s my pleasure, and let’s hope for a speedy resolution to this then. I’ll send you a summary of what we discussed by email. Please feel free to reply to this email at any time if you have any further questions.
( 15:14:17 ) Cyrus: In the meantime we would love to hear how easy it was for you to receive the help you needed via the following one-click rating, after I close the chat.

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On Saturday we decided, for the first time in 12 weeks to go out to a public park for a walk. We’ve been out in the local lanes and fields surrounding the house, but living relatively rurally have been fortunate enough not to need to encounter other people; at least, not without being able to maintain a good social distance. Saturday was different. Firstly we drove to our destination of choice. Having not been there for many years my memory was of a reasonably quiet Tudor house and grounds with free parking. The parking’s not free anymore, although there were attendants at the barriers handling the ticket machine so I didn’t have to, but it’s ticket to enter and hard earned mullah to exit, paid via contactless terminals. Having entered the car park and parked bonnet out under a tree; I don’t like to park nose in ever since my time in motorsport where even the parking is done properly. There’s a saying in motorsport; “don’t be a nosey parker“. I adopt it most places including with all of the cars at home which are always reversed onto the drive. I digress. Anyway. People. Urgh. Lockdown has shone a light on and magnified my distain for people. Most are ok, but there are the thick inconsiderate ones that don’t seem to be able to comprehend the concept of social distancing, or who have their dog on a lead so long that the entire path is obstructed, or the amblers, who have no concept of time and who think it reasonable to take 10 minutes to walk across 30 yards of stone bridge less than two meters wide and that everyone behind them will think this is normal and stay calm. Suffice to say “Her Indoors” heart rate monitor failed to dip below 100bpm on our leisurely stroll out of the house for the first time in three months. So that was nice.

Seriously though, despite the (kind of) tongue in cheek comments above, we did enjoy getting out and did feel we had a glimpse of what normality might look like weeks from now. God alone knows how it’ll feel to get to a motor racing circuit and smell the sweet nectar of fuel exhaust accompanying the roar of engines. I can dream…

We’ve been living together as a family for about three years now. He’s alright really…

That woman who lives in the house decided that after 12 weeks without a takeaway due to lockdown that she was missing Chinese food. To be fair, so was I. Anyway, after throwing lots of things into the cooking implement thingy this came out and I can tell you, I don’t care what they all say about her, this tasted every bit as good as it looked. Bravo Emma.

The doorbell rang whilst I was enjoying a coffee in the garden and topping up my vitamin D. Finally, about three weeks after I ordered it my magic keyboard for my iPad Pro has arrived. I’ll get to grips with it and maybe I’ll write a review once I’ve had a few days testing it out.

With a £1 from each purchase going towards the NHS and because I like to support innovative small businesses I’ve made a purchase of one super cool face mask. Let me know what you think!

You can get yours at Mathieson & Brooke tailors

A couple of weeks ago I ordered the new iPad Pro in the wider 12.9 inch size. I’ve been an iPad owner since the first one came out and I’ve used it pretty much daily ever since. In a professional environment i use it often for taking and reviewing notes. In a personal capacity I use it a lot for reading news, mostly through the flipboard platform, and whilst travelling, which I do, or at least pre Covid-19, did a lot of for watching netflix or TV in an evening. The 2020 4th generation is clearly quicker than my prior iPad Pro. despite both my older one and the 2020 version both being sold as 12.9 inch, the 2020 model is smaller in physical dimension whilst the screen real estate is the same size. I have to say I love the feel speed and overall ergonomics of the 2020 one which feels in the hand a more “Pro” product.

About a week after ordering the iPad I decided that I also wanted the Magic Keyboard. It’s much more expensive than other non Apple branded products but it has two killer features that I know I’d permanently regret not having, being the trackpad and the external port allowing me to charge other devices off of it. The trackpad gives full cursor control and this week Microsoft released trackpad support across it’s range of 365 products with the notable exception of Excel, but that’ll come, and this makes the iPad pretty much a laptop replacement in the professional environment, particularly for meetings where I’m already a power user in terms of note taking and file referencing, which the iPad’s split screen view facilitates commendably.