Category: iOS

Home Photo Widget updated to 2.4.0

This new version adds quite a lot of content:

First: You can now test the full version for free. Create one multi photo widget with a maximum of four photos and with all its features

For the FULL version:

  • Last Selected Widget: Mosaic widgets can have a new widget associated that will show the photo that was last tapped on the mosaic widget. Useful for a kind of ‘now playing’ showcase
  • Maximum number of photos shown in a mosaic: Normally a mosaic widget will adapt the number of photos shown to its size, for example a large widget will show at most 16 photos. If you want only 8 shown at a time (so they rotate in time) you can now set this limit
  • Name on mosaic widgets: You can optionally show the name of the multi photo widget on the mosaic.
  • Random order for galleries and mosaics: If your multi-photo widget uses a time duration for each photo (as opposed to a specific time for each photo), you can set the order to random.
  • New Time mode: Weekly time: Now you can set your multi-photo widgets to show each photo at a specific time of a specific day of the week: Make a daily inspirational picture widget, album of the day, or use it for daily remainders at specific times…

For both the FREE and FULL version:

  • Full Screen View: A photo with no links will now open in a special full screen view when tapped on a widget. You can pinch for zoom and drag to pan the picture
  • Background color for name labels: You can now set a background color (with transparency) on the text labels for any widget
  • Duplicate widgets to make variations

Bug fixes and optimizations:

  • Fixed the look of the mosiac widget with margins.
  • Fixed a memory issue where widgets would sometimes be displayed blank because of a problem with how WidgetKit handles images.
  • Storing optimized images for each widget size: Now the app saves scaled versions of the photos for future use as a work around for a bug within WidgetKit that causes a memory issue when loading images from ram.

Mosaic widgets are here!

Plus each of the pictures (in medium and large widgets) can link to a different action: Make your custom favorite contacts widgets, favorite music widget, etc…

And if you combine this with the time settings you can even have the widget show different contacts/actions at different times of the day: work related contacts in the morning, family ones in the evening…

Home Photo Widget

Set any photo you want as a widget on your home screen

So my latest app has been out for a while, but I haven’t updated this website in a long time…

First: you can download the app at: Home Photo Widget

So I updated my phone to iOS14 back when it was released and the first thing I wanted to do with the new widgets on the home screen feature was add some photos. Then I noticed the stock Photos widget wasn’t customizable so I made my own…

Since then I’ve updated it with many more features and plan on implementing more. About a month ago I added IAP for the big new features (the original and basic features will remain free).

Current free features are:

  • Add your own photos as widgets on your home screen
  • Select which part of the image you want visible, as the aspect ratio of the widget may not match the picture…
  • Add a name to the picture and select its color

Current payed features are:

  • Add custom links to photos: You can use them as quick links for calling/messaging contacts, start playing your favorite albums, open websites, run shortcuts from Apple’s Shortcuts app, etc…
  • Create multi photo widgets in two modes: Gallery (each photo will be displayed for your chosen duration or at the specific times you choose) or Mosaic, where up to 16 pictures will be shown in a grid (with or without spacing). This mode is great to create your own favorite contacts widget, or favorite music albums…

So, enjoy and I’ll be updating this site showing examples of what can be done using the widget. Contact me if you have problems running the app or if you want a feature.

Vector Star Brawl and Endless Space Shooter updated

New ship landed

I just updated both games. Endless Space Shooter was still 32bit so it wasn’t available on the App Store. I complied with the latest SDK and it’s working fine on new iOS versions.

Vector Star Brawl was 64bits and has been working pretty well all these years but there were a couple of annoying problems I’ve wanted to fix for a long time, so I finally did it:

  • It was impossible to take off from the planet in Challenge mode. In the last update I made the planet’s gravity force stronger for more dramatic gravity effects (bending bullet paths, possibility of entering orbit…) but this had the side effect that the gravity was too strong for the engine power of the ships. I’ve increased the power to all ships and now it’s fine again. Also this makes the game more responsive and faster to play.
  • I developed the game on an iPad, only tried it at the time on an older iPhone, but if you played the game on a newer iPhone with a longer screen, the zoom calculation that makes sure ships are always visible was off. The ships would often disappear out of the sides of the screen. This has now been corrected.

I’ve been trying the game out these last few days and still think it’s my best game, and still fun, especially considering the fact that it runs now much better than in the older device it was developed on. As the graphics were done without GPU acceleration.

Endless Space Shooter now supports 2 players and has no ads

Endless Space Shooter has just been updated. The game now supports 2 players, each playing on one side of the screen, with the second ship flying inverted, oriented towards the second player.

A new leader board has been added for 2 player games which are cooperative.

I’ve also added a few fx so that bullets explode into tiny bits when they hit something. This should make it easier to see when you’ve been hit and looks cool.

Download here