LJPUK

Very Good Camera app

2026-10-21T05:20:00Z

Dave Herring is one of my favourite photographers and I’ve been part of his community for a little while now. Over the summer I helped to test out a new camera app he developed and today it’s been officially launched in the App Store.

I’ve tested on both the iPhone Air and 17 Pro and I’ve been really happy with the results. Results aside the UI is very intuitive and I love the amount of options I have. Out of all of the third party camera apps it just works with how my brain works and it’s not overly complicated. Being an iPhone Air user it also allows me to shoot in RAW.

It also lets me buy once at £9.99 and that’s it, I much prefer this model rather than a monthly charge.

I’ll write up a more thorough review once I have tested the official version but for now I wanted to share a new camera app that works well for me.

iPhone Air overheating? Turn off Siri

2026-10-20T04:50:05Z

I’ve been having an issue with iOS 27 on my iPhone Air since release - random overheating. I can be just surfing in Safari and the phone gets so hot it stops charging or syncing. It’s also uncomfortable to hold. In all of my time with iOS 26 I never experienced it.

I did some investigating and apparently using a MagSafe accessory in some cases can cause this so I also took off the pop socket I’ve been using. But no help.

So a couple of days ago I turned off Siri and all of the AI features I’ve been able to manually and so far so good. No overheating like it was before and I’m back just using the phone and not thinking about it.

Using the iPhone 13 Mini in 2026

2026-10-20T04:01:04Z

A month or so ago I picked up a cheap, used iPhone 13 Mini in a bid to put an end to my current nerve compression and carpal tunnel syndrome. I thought I’d found my phone solution but unfortunately I did not. I used the iPhone 13 Mini for two years when it was released and going back to something smaller I thought would make my problems go away. My issue and showstopper was the screen size. Since my last venture with the Mini I’m obviously older and my eyes are at the point I need larger fonts, the Mini gave me eye strain I’d not felt for years.

In the few days though the iPhone 13 Mini was surprisingly useable. iOS 27 was pretty fast only seeming slower thanks to the slower refresh rate screen. The camera has a contrasty quality about it that I like better than the modern iPhone image processing.

If the screen hadn’t given me eye strain then I’d still be on it. I had no other issues with all functions not seeming different to my iPhone Air. If you’re looking for a small phone and can deal with smaller text it’s still the go-to phone. The iPhone Air isn’t a successor to it, yes it’s light but way too big to even be considered.

Photography isn’t a competition (downsides of some photography groups)

2026-10-19T05:29:58Z

I’ve moved around a bit over the last couple of years and when I have I’ve looked to photography classes to help my social anxiety and help me grow my passion for the craft. But there’s one common theme across all of the ones I’ve looked at - competition.

Don’t get me wrong I like the idea of taking photographs within a theme then reviewing them but the ones in my area I looked at had competitions where you are judged and knocked out to create a “winner”. This isn’t particularly good for self esteem when you’re building your experience.

This is probably taken from the larger world of photography where competitions seem to form a large part to getting “noticed” but I don’t see photography as competition, I never have. It’s about finding expression or sharing what you see around you.

I recommend to keep looking if you find a group that operates this way, at least to begin with. I know several photographers who quit taking photos because of competition that led them to nitpicking their own work.

Look for groups that do photo walks and meet to chat, not competitively compare.

Using the iPad as my main computer isn’t that complicated

2026-10-18T06:15:06Z

I’ve been using the iPad Pro as my main computer for months now and I’ve come to realise that it really isn’t that complicated. For years I tried to think about all of the use cases and how I’d replace them in an iPad workflow but I’ve been overthinking it. Once I stopped doing that and just used it day to day it became clearer to me that the iPad is the best computer for me.

I don’t think about what I might use it for in the future, I think about how I need to use it now.

I prefer my photography workflow on the iPad
It works in any situation I need it to
It goes with me almost everywhere
App and productivity wise it does everything
I like using the Apple Pencil, note taking and colouring

Even when I dock it to my desk setup it works just great.

The only place it isn’t working out is due to my storage limitations. At the time I had a MacBook Pro and that stored all of my photos locally. I currently have a 256GB iPad Pro and I have no storage space for my photos, meaning I have no local copy of my photos. I’ll need to look into this once things settle down for me as I have a lot going on.

iPadOS 27 and my iPad Pro M5 11” are working out great, not perfect (despite what tech influencers say, there is no perfect) and i have no desire to replace it with another Mac at this point.

My iPad Pro Home Screen

2026-10-17T10:02:10Z

CMF make my kind of speaker: CMF Speaker S

2026-10-17T06:31:00Z

Nothing has become one of my favourite designed tech over the last few years. I’ve owned the Nothing Phone 1, which was compromised but still a design I loved. CMF, their more affordable offshoot haven’t compromised that philosophy of design just because the products are more affordable.

Their new Speaker S is a great example of this and I’ll be ordering one when things settle down a bit for me. I want a speaker that I can take around the house with me and this fits the bill. I just need to figure out if I like the white or orange more.

It’s getting harder to find the fun in technology

2026-10-17T05:34:00Z

I’ve worked in IT for over 20 years and I enjoy what I do, it’s more about those I work with and the team side of things. It’s enterprise B2B and nothing to do with my enthusiasm for gadgets and technology outside of work. This has historically been consoles, phones, cameras, apps and personal tech you all probably have liked too. But I’m finding it harder and harder to be enthusiastic about personal technology. Phones all look and operate largely the same, companies seem to be caught doing worse and worse things for humanity each day, influencer culture poison my YouTube algorithm, people loving shiny gadgets defy their morals, showing constraint goes out of the window and AI seems to be shoehorned in everywhere. I was recommended a video today “iPhone Duo preorders ruined my life”! Get a grip influencers. Tech YouTube is particularly bad at the moment it seems to have seeped into most of my hobbies on that platform, it’s largely click and rage baiting that Google encourages to keep us all “engaged”. You can’t even tailor your YouTube algorithm, it’s by design.

Personal technology companies seem to just have one mantra, let’s extract as much revenue and keep our customers hooked as much as humanly possible. I know this is capitalism 101 but I’ve had enough.

There are a few companies out there doing interesting products like Nothing and Fairphone from a design or environmental perspective but they are still companies. Design led products are where I enjoy things a little more but I don’t see much outside of these two companies. Apple has been where I’ve found this before but the iPhone is largely incremental improvements, I don’t think the design on the whole is that exciting or cool (with the exception of the iPhone Air, which I use and really like) as I like fun design (think Teenage Engineering) and they seem to be geared towards tightening the screws on the money extraction process with their love of selling users services over a good experience. I still see ads for their services within the settings app almost daily. I’ll give it to them on the privacy front but I’m more skeptical of privacy in 2026 so I’m not that tied to Apple and don’t fully get on board with their messaging around it anymore.

All of this has come to a head where I’m done with it. I’m not writing here much because I’m not a good writer and these days with all of the above in mind I struggle to find positives to talk about. I don’t want to just write about things that annoy me. I want to put positive energy out there given the times we’re in. I’m not sure where this is leading me but I’m just taking it day by day, maybe I’ll start to talk more about products I like the design of, apps I enjoy and leave my annoyances inside. I have no idea… I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling like this though. Maybe I’ll stop everything and move to a cave in the mountains or maybe I’ll stop following tech completely and get back into photography but being honest I’ve dropped that pretty much too, again as I feel about my writing my enthusiasm for taking images is also seeping away.

I try to give myself grace for both being neurodivergent and being at a time in life with what seems like constant change so I’m unsettled almost always.

I’m not sure how to end this one but I had to get this out there, in fact it’s come pretty easy and at least has me writing up a blog post so that’s a positive thing because I’ve not even thought about posting for weeks.

macOS Sequoia wallpapers for your iPad and iPhone

2026-09-27T06:52:38Z

macOS Sequoia still has my favourite wallpaper of all of the operating systems but I don’t really use a Mac much anymore. I had to port it over to my main devices, iPad Pro and iPhone Air.

A nice camera or a new phone?

2026-09-18T06:51:51Z

I’ve been thinking about how to do more creative work and I see my YouTube numbers growing each month but do nothing about it. This always leads me to think I need a Pro iPhone but for the investment in money I’m trying to decide if it’s better to use my already bought camera, I just need to figure out how to use it for video. I am having RSI issues with pretty much any phone I use so am probably going to be changing my setup. iPhone Air is most likely going back and I’m trying to decide to get an iPhone Pro again with that money or a used old SE 3 and a Sony RX100. I am using my Sony a6700 a lot more now I have it set up on my desk for when I see something out of the window but for video creation it’s not ideal.

Apps I use to see the world around me

2026-09-16T04:30:40Z

I try to be in wonder of the world around me even as I’m getting older, I think it’s important. For as long as I can remember I’ve always looked up and been in awe of the skies. Two apps I use to help me do this are Zephy and Sky Guide.

Zephy allows me to see the planes overhead in an intuitive and playful UI. It’s not as detailed as some apps but it has everything you need to quickly reference what you are hearing or seeing overhead.

Sky Guide is my app of choice when it comes to spotting stuff in the night sky. Like this morning seeing a planet from my bed, so I grab the app and realise it’s Saturn. This then leads me to reading more about the planet within the app.

End of an evening

2026-09-15T18:54:43Z

iPhone Air

How did Apple manage to break the Journal app in iOS 27?

2026-09-15T15:27:13Z

Since moving to the iPad last year I have been handwriting my journal entries with the Apple Pencil but since the last couple of iOS 27 beta cycles and in the final release there are bugs that have stopped me using the app.

I am handwriting my entry and at some point the app will change from handwriting mode to handwritten to text without me asking, this then causes the entire passage of text to be selected and 80% of the time it gets deleted and I lose the entry.

I have been reporting this for the last month or so and nothing, no changes to address it.

Moving Apple Photos to an external hard drive

2026-09-15T12:26:38Z

For years I’ve been wanting to move my iCloud photo library of 53,000 items and 500GB to an external hard drive, so much so that when I bought my MacBook Pro in 2025 I made sure it had 1TB so I could avoid the whole thing. Well, that MacBook Pro is now with my daughter and I am on a 256GB M1 MacBook Air that has become a desktop with my 11” iPad Pro becoming my main device these days. This obviously isn’t going to store 500GB of data… for the last few months I have only had iCloud as my backup…

I had to take the plunge somehow to resolve this. I did what I immediately thought of, put the MacBook Air on eBay for £200 and looked at replacing it. But thanks to the AI bubble all RAM is in demand and super expensive so anything I looked at was out of reach. After a bit of searching that gave me some confidence I decided to keep the Air and use an already in the drawer doing nothing external spinning Samsung 2TB drive to fulfill the need of having a desktop that could store my iCloud Photo Library locally.

I took the plunge, I had to address it and here are the steps I took

I did a fresh restore of macOS 27 just to clear the whole machine back down
Logged into iCloud once the machine was restored but I didn’t sync iCloud photos
Plugged in the external hard drive and formatted it (APFS)
Held down the OPTION key and clicked on Photos app icon
Clicked create new and created a new library on the external hard drive
On loading Photos I went to ‘Photos’, ‘Settings’ and under General clicked ‘Use as system photo library’
Clicked on the iCloud tab and checked iCloud Photos and then download originals

This now forces all images to download and will use the external drive as the source location from now on. Given I am using an external spinning hard drive rather than SSD it will be slower to navigate through my library but I am ok with this as it is only meant to be a desktop machine that is mainly used for backing up. I prefer to use my iPad or iPhone for photo editing and management anyway so not a big deal for me at the moment.

Taking a break from text based social media

2026-09-14T03:32:05Z

I’m struggling a lot in life, I’ll admit it. I’m not able to properly write down my thoughts on what’s going on but just know it’s a challenging time. This has led me to drop almost everything I enjoy. However my blog is an outlet that I’ve enjoyed over the years and will continue to do so but text based blogging services are something that isn’t helping my overall mental health anymore. I appreciate the friends that I’ve met on social media and still interact with but my use is passive these days mainly, I don’t find I’m engaging like I used to. I’m in protective mode right now and anything that I can do to help keep my mood a bit more level is where I’m going to have to concentrate, at least for a little while.

I’m still going to be writing here and posting my photography and thoughts but having a text based social media app on my devices is going to need to stop.

I find that I struggle to

stop comparing myself to others
be influenced by others and make decisions that aren’t healthy for me or my finances
have my mood changed almost every time I check in, a habit that removing the apps will curb almost completely
spend more time on my phone

See, my neurodivergent brain makes this 10 times worse and I want to concentrate my limited energy on the challenges I’m facing.

I’ll still be posting here so make sure I’m bookmarked or in your RSS and there’s a contact page on the blog that you can use if you want to reach out.

My posts have stopped aggregating to social media so you’ll stop seeing them after this post in your timeline so I’ll need to get my head around how to fix this.

This is a break not my deleting my bluesky or mastodon accounts it’s just something I feel like I need to do at the moment.

Why I returned the Casio F-B100w

2026-09-12T07:02:22Z

This image summarises why I ultimately returned the Casio F-B100w - the digit size.

Casio have wasted space on their larger display by making the time element smaller than the F-91w, I couldn’t easily see the time or date when I started to wear it full time so it had to go back.

Does the iPhone Air have an overheating problem on iOS 27?

2026-09-11T04:40:53Z

I’m on my third iPhone Air this year and I’m starting to see more issues around mine in particular overheating. I’ve never had a warning before that the phone actually stops charging because it’s too hot but I get it with my current one. This is a replacement for one where the camera stopped working completely.

On iOS 26 it was ok and my previous use in Nov-Apr was ok too but my current phone on iOS 27 gets really warm. This is with anything I’m doing, just pop into Safari to get the football scores and it starts to get hot. It’s to the point I don’t want to even hold it.

This unit is going to be going back and I’ll have to decide what to do next.

How to customise the camera app in iOS 27

2026-09-10T13:18:27Z

I’ve been using the release candidates of iOS 27 since launch yesterday and I am pleased to see a new feature that has been added since the last beta, the ability to customise your camera app. I saw this as part of the iPhone 18 Pro introduction and am glad that isn’t a feature exclusive to that model.

To do this

Open the camera app
Tap the icon with the 6 small circles to the right of the shutter button
At the top left you will now see ‘Edit’
You can then add photo controls as you need from the panel

Walk to the post office

2026-09-10T10:00:04Z

What the iPhone Duo tells us about the iPhone Air 2

2026-09-10T06:06:54Z

I was really interested in seeing what Apple did with a folding phone as I’d always been curious to try one and with the iPhone Duo we got a look. At this point in time I’m not considering an order due to it’s weight but as an iPhone Air user it’s got me thinking about where the iPhone Air 2 will borrow features from it.

Personally I haven’t felt restricted by the camera or the battery on my iPhone Air but I do believe, price aside the one camera cost it a lot of sales. With that consideration it gives us our first look at what the back of an iPhone Air 2 will look like.

So Imagine the camera plateau above going across the entire width of the phone but still two lenses and that’s your iPhone Air 2 back. A wide and ultra wide will be your two lenses on the iPhone Air 2. I’d prefer a zoom instead but ultra wide seems most popular.

The sides of the iPhone Duo could be mistaken for an iPhone Air. It’s very slightly slimmer but this confirms to me that the iPhone Air 2 will stick with its existing material and more importantly width, I don’t feel like it’ll be thinner than the existing model or as the Duo.

The Duo uses both sides to give all day battery life, I don’t see any improvements in the iPhone Air 2 over the current model. Apple will keep the same capacity but use adaptive power mode in software to sell us as it having more battery life.

Given the RAM shortage only getting worse I look at the price increase on the current model as a guide. I see the iPhone Air 2 starting at £1099.

I see an April 2027 release in the same colours as we get today.

iPhone weight gains

2026-09-10T04:26:35Z

I was disappointed to see that the iPhone 18 Pro has gotten heavier again, up from an already heavy 204g to 211g. At 204g on the 17 Pro I could no longer manage it as you most probably know I have hand and wrist pain. The 165g Air I swapped it for is ok but the device is wide and causes it’s own issues but I’m still testing and have added a pop socket and very thin case. I might end up back on the 13 Mini or SE but I’ll see how this week goes.

With the introduction of the 254g iPhone Duo and 211g 18 Pro I realise that Apple no longer makes a flagship phone I can go near, which is great for my wallet but not my tech enthusiasm. I have a dedicated camera so photography from my iPhone is something that I no longer rely on but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want the option.

But for me I’m on the base model or Air upgrade cycle and I until titanium comes back to the Pro I’ll be looking elsewhere.

Apple Audio Intelligence: Before we talk is your Apple Watch recording this?

2026-09-10T03:38:52Z

General privacy in 2026 I feel is at an all-time low. When I say general privacy I mean the amount of times we are under surveillance in our day-to-day lives.

GPS in our pockets
The most surveillance cameras in existence, especially in the UK
Ring doorbells on every house you seem to walk past taking video that you haven’t agreed to
People wearing meta glasses in public, yes I’ve seen them at personal appointments and in toilets when at the mall
Now Apple Watch

Yes, that’s right. Add Apple Watch to your list of devices to check with the people you are with that they aren’t recording your conversations. This is especially important for work situations where personally I’m in client confidential meetings a lot of the day and there is already a lot of security training we go through. Meta glasses are starting to join the discussion so we’ll need to add Apple Watch, in fact I’ll be flagging it so it’s understood that it’s an attack vector.

I’m am glad thought it’s there for accessibility (as someone close to getting hearing aids I can see the benefit) and I’m also glad it’s opt in so suddenly hundreds of thousands of people aren’t unsuspectingly recording themselves and the people around them.

Apple is going to have to walk a tight line here, especially with the general suspicions around AI that I hear from the younger generation and gives me some hope it’s bubble is getting even closer to bursting with each day. It’s early days but this is clearly leading the way for those rumoured glasses, that are also going to be recording everything you say and do, it’s an uncomfortable future I’m not into but I fear the general publics views on privacy and mine don’t match up.

iPhone Duo Wallpapers

2026-09-09T18:46:19Z

Let’s stop buying new phones

2026-09-04T04:45:00Z

Over the last few years my interest in Apple and smartphones has slowly but surely been reduced, especially in the wake of AI and the lack of spine in any tech CEO. I’m also very aware of the heatwaves we’ve had this summer and the climate crisis we are going to be facing. I’m tired of all of it and following it has become more stressful. Seeing a post on MacRumors this morning titled “Six sleeps until iPhone 18 Pro” made me realise how weird this timeline is, it’s a new phone…

I’m sure the phone you’re most likely reading this on is perfectly fine and doesn’t need replacing, let’s stand up a little to consumerism this year and make a small dent in these companies wallets and show them they some of at least still have morals.

we can do our bit for the planet by reducing our carbon footprint
we can stand up and say that AI price increases are unsustainable (I still think it’s bubble will burst in a couple of years time)

I trust my audience already know this stuff but for those that will complain about the prices then still immediately order, for those that think they are fan of a corporation (it’s not a sports team and they don’t care about any individual over profit regardless of who they are) and those that think they need the best camera - take a break from this cycle even if it’s just for this iPhone. Watch the keynote, enjoy it even but then take a step back and instead of the usual habit of preparing for an order, take a moment to appreciate your current device and the satisfaction of having some money for other things and sending that little micro signal that you’ll no more be part of the machine.

Once you skip a phone year, like I did skipping the 12, 14 then again then 16 series you realise that you don’t need the latest and greatest. I think it’s more important than ever to skip and stand up with what we know are going to be at least £100 increases.

I appreciate this might come across as a strange post given I had to move phones recently for RSI reasons so you may think I’m part of the problem but remember the preowned market.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this or how to finish but please consider keeping the device you have for another year or buying used.

My most used Safari extensions

2026-09-03T12:48:26Z

These are the Safari extensions I have to enable anytime I set up my iPad or iPhone.

DeArrow for YouTube, let me use YouTube without the mostly terrible thumbnails
Firefox Focus for ad blocking
Hush for cookie and tracker blocking
Noir forces all websites to dark mode

What are some of your favourite extensions?