Anyone who’s been around Irreal for any length of time knows that I’m an Apple user. I like the build quality of their hardware and macOS/iOS are generally good enough. But the thing that really makes it all work for me is the entire ecosystem. I have an iPhone, an iPad, and (at the moment) two MacBook Pros. That’s just me and doesn’t include other family members. The thing about this is that it all works together more or less seamlessly.
For example, I keep my memo book in the Apple Notes app. That means that I can make an entry from my phone, iPad, or Mac and have it appear on the other devices essentially instantly. The same is true of my calendar and contact list. The only thing that doesn’t work that way is, sadly, Emacs. If you don’t have this type of integration across your devices, it’s hard to describe what a boon it is.
Ali Abdaal, whom I’ve mentioned occasionally, has a really nice video up that describes the Apple ecosystem and how he uses it. It will be of interest primarily to Apple users but others may find it enlightening too. Even though I am all in on the digital lifestyle, Abdaal demonstrates a few things that I didn’t know you could do.
Most of the integration involves what Apple calls “continuity”: the idea that an action you take on one device is reflected on your other devices. The file syncing for things like the Notes app is one trivial example. Another, not so trivial, example is the “Universal Clipboard,” which makes anything you’ve copied onto the system clipboard on one device available for pasting on the other devices. Abdaal shows how useful that can be.
There are a bunch of other features that Abdaal explores so if you have interest at all in Apple devices—even if you think you’re a master of all things Apple—it’s definitely worth while spending a few minutes watching the video. It’s just over 12 minutes so you can probably squeeze it into a break.