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A Song of Ice and Fire and Bowling: the VR games and apps I played in June 2023
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This month I’ve used VR to become an action movie star in Pistol Whip, explore the new Polus Point map in Among Us, and entered a VR bowling tournament in ForeVR Bowl.

June has been a jam-packed month for VR – what with Apple announcing its brand new Apple Vision Pro at WWDC 2023 just days after Meta officially announced the Meta Quest 3. But when I’m not writing news and features about the hardware reveals, I’ve found time to enjoy several VR games and apps using my Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro headsets, and I want to highlight three of them below.

For our picks of the all-time greatest VR games you can play right now check out our best VR games list, but read on to find out about the VR games and apps I’ve been playing in June 2023.

Among Us VR: Polus Point

Ahead of its release on July 27, I got to try out Polus Point the new map headed to Among Us VR for free for all players.

Polus is my favorite Among Us map, so I was initially disappointed to hear that Polus Point is merely a tribute to it rather than a complete remake in VR. Having tried the map out for myself though I’ve seen that it’s an excellent stage in its own right – while still honoring the original that I love.

Despite it being intimidating to newer players, I stand firm that Polus is Among Us' best map. Mira can feel a tad claustrophobic with lots of Crewmates running around, The Airship can feel too massive once a few players have been bumped off, and while I like Skeld it’s a bit too easy for people familiar with the map’s room and vent layout to sus out Impostors. 

Polus sits between these options; it’s big while not feeling overwhelmingly large, and its more complex layout allows players to take multiple different paths between the same points. This means that Crewmates can still have their suspicions about who might be responsible for a dead body, but Impostors can retain some plausible deniability over the route they traveled allowing them to potentially survive a few meetings even if they’re caught out.

Polus Point isn’t an exact replica of Polus but it retains its spirit. The sprawling map is something of a labyrinth, with a few branching paths to take you between different sections. This layout allows Impostors to get away with murders they might not on the Skeld 2 (Among Us VR's other stage).

The new Polus Point map also borrows the aesthetics of the original with Polus’ iconic decorations like the bridge to nowhere over a pool of lava, Crewmate snowmen (snow-beans?), and the docked Drop Ship. There are also new locales to explore too, like a crystal mine that features a new claw-machine-like visual task – meaning other players can watch you complete it and know you’re not an Impostor.

I had an absolute blast exploring Polus Point, and if you want to try it out early there’s a beta going on right now, from June 29, 1pm ET to July 3, 1pm ET (5pm GMT on June 29 / 3am on June 30 to 5pm GMT on July 3 / 3am on July 4)

To get involved Meta Quest players need to head to the Among Us VR game’s store page on a web browser and look at the Version section. In the dropdown menu change the version from Live to Beta and your game should update and take you to the new map – though you may need to uninstall and reinstall the game on your device to get this to work.

As for Steam players, you’ll want to right-click Among Us VR in your Library and select Properties. In the Betas tab change the dropdown menu option from None to Beta, and then boot up the game. If this doesn’t work you may need to exit Steam (close it completely rather than just minimize it) and then reopen Steam for the Among Us VR update to happen.

ForeVR Bowl

This month I was also invited to take part in a bowling tournament hosted by developer ForeVR Games, with its game ForeVR Bowl being the battleground for the event.

ForeVR Bowl feels like a bowling game made for everyone. Pros looking for an accurate bowling sim with realistic physics and different ball stats will appreciate the depth that the title can offer, while more casual players like myself can dial back the realism and enjoy an experience that’ll take you back to the good ol’ days of Wii Sports bowling, albeit with some solid upgrades. 

One of my favorite improvements is the game environments that have you bowling in more typical joints – like a 90s-era alley and a club that could have been ripped straight out of Brooklyn – as well as alleys deep under the sea and in space. Much like Walkabout Mini Golf’s courses, these are places you and your friends will want to hang out, and if you go exploring your crew might be able to find hidden ball designs dotted around each location to add to your collection.

My first-round match in the tournament was against UploadVR’s Henry Stockdale; a fellow Brit who has previously freelanced for a number of sites including this one to share his thoughts on VR and it was great to finally meet him in person (well, virtually).

The match started off close, but after a few balls I could see victory slipping away from me. I was doing well, but when I would leave some pins standing Henry would be able to score a few extra points, or even secure a spare or a strike.

I was trailing, and as I stepped up to take my fourth turn I was convinced that the first round of the competition would be my last. With it feeling like my back was against the wall I grabbed the virtual bowling ball, made a quick prayer to the bowling gods, then did what I do best – I lobbed the ball as hard as I could and hoped it would go well.

For what felt like an age I watched the ball roll its way to its destination, convinced that I’d only score another six points or so. It appears the bowling gods had other plans, as I saw every single pin tumble; I had earned my first strike.

Henry was still ahead, but the gap had shrunk, so with my newfound confidence I tried the tactic again, and again, and again getting two more strikes in a row. I only managed to win a spare in my 7th round, but that was fine – my burst of skill (read: luck) had helped me pull comfortably ahead of my competition. A few more good throws later and I had won, with 171 points to Henry’s 130. 

At the time of writing, I’m organizing my second-round match. Hopefully, I’ll be able to report next month that I’ve progressed further in the competition – maybe even madethe finals – but we’ll have to wait and see how well I do.

Pistol Whip

If you love action movies and wish you could star in one then you’ll love Pistol Whip. I regularly play Pistol Whip, and with it being one of the first two titles on Meta’s new Meta Quest Plus subscription this is the perfect time to write about it.

Pistol Whip is an on-rails shooter that has you race through levels armed with a firearm – there’s the classic single or dual-wielded pistol, but also a range of different weapons. You earn points by blasting the enemies that come your way, and you can earn bonus points by shooting your foes in time with the beat (like a well-choreographed fight scene in a film) and by pistol-whipping them (hitting them with your gun rather than shooting them).

@hamishhector

♬ original sound – Hamish Hector

This title sounds fairly simple, but particularly on higher difficulties it can become an intense VR workout. You’ll have to contort your body a fair amount in order to dodge the rain of bullets that the baddies will be firing at you.

Each level has a unique music track, and there’s a huge range of stages inspired by different action movies. You’ll find classic Westerns and cyberpunk sci-fi stages, as well as levels that take clear inspiration from franchises like John Wick and Mad Max.

If you want to try out Pistol Whip you can pick it up for $ / £22.99 / AU$ or you can sign up for Meta’s Quest Plus service for $ 7.99 / £7.99 per month ($ 59.99 / £59.99 per year) and download it for free (Meta hasn’t released details yet about the service’s availability in Australia). Once it's downloaded you’ll have access to Pistol Whip until you stop paying for Quest Plus – unless you buy the game separately.

Not liking the look of anything on this list? Check out the VR games and apps I played in May 2023.

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Microsoft Outlook is getting an AI upgrade that will make the Mail and Calendar apps redundant
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Microsoft plans to shut down its Mail and Calendar apps and merge the two into an updated Outlook for Windows, and use this as an opportunity to introduce more artificial intelligence features.

In a blog post from Microsoft earlier this month, the company noted that Windows 11 devices that will be shipped next year will include the new Outlook for Windows as the default mailbox app. The updated Outlook will include both mail and calendar tools that will eliminate the need for the respective Mail and Calendar apps: so you’ll just use the newer Outlook instead.

The Register notes that the Mail and Calendar apps will still be available to download through the Microsoft Store up to the end of 2024, but the move doesn’t seem to be a popular decision going by reactions online – and tweet from a systems engineer and Office 365 specialist Michael Reiners suggests that Microsoft might be rethinking the plan, or at least the timing.

The tweet below shows a screenshot of an email or memo from Microsoft that says “We are reevaluating the timing and implementation of this change and will provide updated information shortly.”

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It's unclear why the tech giant is hesitant to roll out these changes, and the company has not responded to a request for comment from the Register as of yet.

Microsoft is giving users a chance to look at the latest Outlook for Windows. If you’d like to give it a try head over to the Mail and Calendar app and hit the 'Try the new Outlook' toggle. Merging the mail and Calendar Capabilities into Outlook is part of Microsoft’s larger One Outlook plan laid out in 2020 to create a single Outlook for PCs, Macs, and the web.

These changes present an opportunity for Microsoft to implement AI into Outlook, and hopefully streamline everyday tasks within mail and calendar capabilities, in a similar way to how Google has introduced Bard and generative AI into the Google Workspace.

Whether you're for AI integration into your daily workspace, it seems like that is the direction companies like Microsoft and Google are adamant to head towards. It would be interesting to see exactly how Microsoft plans to introduce artificial intelligence to declutter and improve your task management. 

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How to uninstall Mac apps (and their settings too)
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It is widely believed to be the case that simply dragging the icon of an unwanted app into Trash is all it takes to uninstall it. In some instance this is true, but not always. If you do this, you're likely to find that all manner of data is left behind. So we thought we'd take a look at how to uninstall Mac apps and ensure that nothing is left behind.

It's difficult to say just what might get left behind if you fail to uninstall an app correctly, but some of the files and data could potentially be very revealing. While there is something to said in favour of having an app leave behind your preferences and settings — it makes personalisation much faster should you decide to reinstall it in future, for example — the chances are that when you decide to uninstall an app from your Mac, you are done with it and don't want any traces left behind.

While there are additional files that you can manually delete after moving an app to the Trash, it can be difficult to know precisely what you're looking for and where to find it. And this is why it can be useful to turn to a third party uninstaller tool to help you out. There are also some apps that are helpful and include their own uninstaller that will do the hard work for you, tidying up after themselves quite neatly should you decide to remove them from your Mac.

1. Uninstall with Finder

Uninstall Mac apps with Finder

Uninstall Mac apps with Finder (Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)

To uninstall apps using the Finder, switch to the tool and click Go > Applications. Here you will find a pretty exhaustive list of all of the software you have installed, and you should locate the app you are looking to uninstall. You can then drag the app icon to Trash, or select the app and click File > Move to Bin.

2. Using Launchpad to uninstall

Using Launchpad to uninstall

Using Launchpad to uninstall (Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)

You can also use Launchpad to uninstall apps, so open it using the trackpad gesture, via the Dock shortcut, or from the Applications folder. Press and hold the Option key and the app icons will jiggle; alternatively you can click and hold on any app icon. Click the x button in the upper left-hand corner of whatever app you want to uninstall, and it will be deleted.

3. Clean up after uninstalling

Clean up after uninstalling

Clean up after uninstalling (Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)

It is a good idea to check whether files and settings have been left behind after uninstalling apps using either of these two methods, and there are various locations you will need to look in.

Check in the following folders in Finder by clicking Go > Go to Folder and then typing each location in turn: ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins, ~/Library/Preferences, ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter, ~/Library/Saved Application State, ~/Library/Caches. Delete any folders relating to uninstalled apps that you find.

4. Download AppCleaner

Download AppCleaner

Download AppCleaner (Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)

Third-party app uninstallers are generally thought of as being for Windows users, but they have their place on Macs too. There are a huge number of such tools to choose from, and while many are very similar to each other, some are much more reliable than others. A good option is AppCleaner which can be downloaded from freemacsoft.

5. Uninstalling with AppCleaner

Uninstalling with AppCleaner

Uninstalling with AppCleaner (Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)

Using AppCleaner is very similar to the drag-to-trash app uninstallation method. Rather than dragging apps to the trash, you should instead launch AppCleaner and drag and drop an unwanted app icon onto the app window. The software will not only remove the main app you have specified, but also track down any related files so you can delete these in a couple of clicks without having to manually search for anything.

In conclusion

With so many different methods of uninstallation available, it is little wonder that there is a degree of confusion when it comes to getting rid of unwanted Mac apps. The fact that app can be installed both from the App Store and directly from developer websites slightly complicates matter, and it is a good argument for only using App Store apps — they are significantly quicker and easier to delete without worrying about traces being left behind.

That said, the existence of dedicated uninstaller or clean-up utilities is a great lifeline for anyone who doesn't fancy spending their time manually tidying up after a messy uninstallation. 

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Microsoft gives one of its oldest apps dark mode in Windows 11
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Microsoft is further improving the Paint app in Windows 11, with new changes coming through in testing including a dark mode.

The new version of Paint (11.2304.17.0) is rolling out to testers in both Canary and Dev channels (and the latter just got a new preview of Windows 11, as you may have seen, with a nifty change allowing for viewing smartphone photos on the desktop).

As mentioned, one of the big tweaks for Paint here is the addition of a dark mode, and the app will automatically use it if you’ve turned on dark mode in Windows 11’s settings. (Note that you can turn off the option to automatically switch, mind).

Microsoft Paint Dark Mode

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Another useful change comes with zoom controls. Microsoft has given users a higher level of fine-tuning with the zoom slider, and you can set a custom zoom value if needed. On top of this, a ‘fit to screen’ option is now present which will do just that – zoom to match the size of the app window.

In the blog post describing all the changes, Microsoft further tells us that it has overhauled ‘Image Property’ dialog boxes to match Windows 11’s modern design, and fit with the new backdrop for the Paint client.

Finally, we’re informed that there have been “many accessibility and usability improvements” to dialog panels throughout the app, with better access key support (keyboard presses for interface controls, rather than having to use a mouse) and keyboard shortcuts in general.

Analysis: Could bigger changes be in the pipeline?

Accessibility has been a major focus for Microsoft with Windows 11 for some time now, and again and again, we’re seeing either small tweaks or larger feature introductions coming through for the OS. Good stuff.

The dark mode looks smart and is another piece of the puzzle for those wanting this option throughout Windows 11, wherever they’re working.

Paint remains a popular app, so it’s not surprising to see Microsoft continuing to improve the software. Folks want more though (don’t they always), and we’re still seeing calls for layers to be introduced to the app.

If you remember, the addition of layers is something we’ve seen (in the early stages) from the modding community, and recently an innovative Paint hack brought in the ability to create simple animations.

Maybe – just maybe – those are features we might see Microsoft officially working on in the future. Who knows, stranger things have happened, and the software giant certainly appears keen to keep on motoring ahead with Paint improvements.

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Windows 11 gets a nifty tweak to kill frozen apps, catching up with macOS
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Windows 11 is getting the ability to kill an unresponsive app, known as ‘force closing’ (or force quitting) right from the taskbar in what’ll be a very useful tweak for the OS.

This functionality was previously spotted hidden in test builds of Windows 11, and caused a fair bit of excitement at the time, so it’s good to see Microsoft confirm it is indeed inbound.

The move represents a far more convenient and easy way to deal with a misfiring app than the current scheme of things in Windows 11, where you have to head into the Task Manager and hunt around a bit to accomplish the same feat.

The Verge reports that Microsoft let us know that the ability is coming to Windows 11 at its Build conference for developers.

Quite a bit of stuff has been announced at Build, in fact, and a bunch of minor but important changes along similar lines – like native support for dealing with RAR or 7-Zip files in Windows 11 (instead of having to download and install a third-party utility).

And of course there’s a huge change that has been announced, one we’re viewing with a little trepidation – namely the introduction of AI into Windows 11 in the form of Microsoft’s Copilot.

Analysis: Mirroring the Mac – finally

So, what’s the big deal here? When apps go rogue and freeze up, they can simply hang around, slowing down your system’s performance (perhaps) and generally being annoying.

To force close such an unresponsive app right now in Windows 11, you have to open Task Manager, which is a bit of a faff in itself, unless you know the keyboard shortcut (press Control+Shift+Escape together). Then you must scroll through the list of running processes to find the rogue app, select it, and click the ‘End Task’ button.

With the new option, all you have to do is right-click on the app in the taskbar, and select ‘End Task’ from the context menu – a far easier and quicker way of taming the application that’s gone awry.

As Mac users will realize, this exact ability is something present in macOS, so Windows 11 is catching up to Apple’s desktop operating system in that respect – and it’s about time, to be honest.

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Windows 11’s new Restore Apps feature is so close to being great
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Windows 11 will soon be much easier to set up exactly how you like it on a new PC thanks to a freshly introduced feature which has now entered testing.

PC World reports that Microsoft revealed the new Restore Apps feature at its Build conference for developers.

The feature – if turned on, as apparently it’s an optional ability – will shift not just your personal data onto a new PC (as can already be done via OneDrive, of course), but also your apps (with a catch – we’ll come back to that). Also, it’ll port over the customization you have applied to the interface too – so, for example, your desktop icons and layout, or apps you have pinned to the taskbar.

In essence, this means you can fire up a new installation of Windows 11 and soon have it exactly like your old system, with a minimum of hassle and effort.

As you might imagine, though, to get Restore Apps rolling and the full benefit of this easy migration to a new machine, you’ll need to be signed into a Microsoft Account (as opposed to using Windows 11 with a local account).

Windows 11 Restore Apps Feature

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: A couple of caveats

This is a great move from Microsoft in terms of making it really easy to get a new PC going. The catch is that with the apps being reinstalled, Windows 11 only preserves applications you’ve installed from the Microsoft Store, so you will have to manually set up other software.

And yes, you do have to use your Microsoft Account for the Windows 11 installation, but that’s no surprise. We don’t have a problem with Microsoft leveraging its account where necessary and when it’s of genuine benefit to users, after all. (What we don’t like to see is dubious ‘suggestions’ and ‘help’ in the Start menu which are just thinly veiled adverts for an account).

We’re told that Restore Apps should be available to testers imminently, perhaps by the time you read this, but it’s not clear in which channel Microsoft will deploy the feature first (Canary or Dev, presumably).

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Microsoft admits Windows 11’s default apps system needs work – and changes are coming
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Windows 11 is getting some fine-tuning around how default app selections are handled and how apps are pinned on the desktop, making these systems work better and with more overall consistency.

XDA Developers spotted that Microsoft wrote a blog post on its new ‘principled approach’ to these app behaviors, with the incoming changes set to arrive in testing (Dev channel) in the “coming months,” we’re told.

The first measure to be implemented is with app defaults. Windows 11 will get a new Settings deep link URI (uniform resource identifier), allowing developers to take users directly to the correct place in Settings whenever any given app flags itself up as wanting to be the default.

The default app is the software which is opened automatically for a specific file format, so for example, your default browser is the one used when you click a link in, say, an email.

Secondly, Microsoft is changing the way that pinning apps – putting icons permanently on the Start menu or taskbar – works, by introducing a new notification. In the case that an app wants to request being pinned, this notification will pop up explaining just that, allowing the user to either click Accept or Decline.

Crucially, the software giant wants consistency with these interface tweaks, so all third-party software, and Microsoft’s own core apps for Windows 11, work the same way and abide by these rules. That’s the plan, anyway, although whether things work out this neatly, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Windows 11 Pinning Prompt

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: Defending against dodginess, and making up for past mistakes

As made clear in its blog post, part of Microsoft’s aim with this tweaking of app behavior is defending against “unrequested modifications” from dodgy developers. In other words, things happening in the background unbeknownst to the user, and the likes of adware or other rogue software managing to infiltrate into the system.

It’s also designed, no doubt, to reassure Windows 11 users that Microsoft is putting the past well and truly behind it regarding the firm’s own policies on default apps, which have been a source of criticism previously.

You might remember that when Windows 11 first launched, Microsoft made it an unnecessarily clunky process to change browser defaults away from its own Edge product (you had to go through every file type and change the preference individually, such as HTML, PDF and so on – a ridiculous state of affairs, really).

That nonsense was canned a year ago now, but it still lives on in the memories of some folks (likely because of the many other ways Microsoft has tried to push Edge within Windows 11).

Indeed, Microsoft even mentions its browser specifically in the post, noting that: “We are committing that Microsoft Edge will release an update that adopts the new Settings deep link URI for defaults and public pinning APIs as they become available.”

At any rate, this is a welcome move, although in all honesty, app defaults should never have appeared in the state they were when Windows 11 was launched in the first place. Mind you, the same could be said about a number of things in the Windows 11 interface upon its release, with the OS having very much been a work in progress as Microsoft has gone along.

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Zoom is shutting down one of its most popular apps
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One of the most widely-used Zoom apps is closing as the company looks to modernize some of its offerings for users around the world.

The video conferencing giant has announced it is shutting its app for Chromebooks, the low-cost machines running Google's ChromeOS that have become incredibly popular among schools and universities.

Users shouldn't fear the loss of Zoom forever though, as the company says it is only making the change in order to build something better.

Zoom on Chromebook

“This app will no longer be officially supported after August 2022. Please use the new Zoom for Chrome PWA to join meetings on ChromeOS,” said a notice in the Zoom app for Chromebooks that has recently begun appearing.

The app is set to close by August 2022, meaning users have a few more weeks of the original offering, which was released during Zoom's heyday in the early weeks and months of the pandemic.

9to5Google, which first spotted the alert, notes that the Zoom app for Chromebooks is pretty basic, only offering standard access to video calls and meetings without any of the added functionality that has been added to other versions of Zoom over the years.

Read more

> Zoom is adding its own tiny metaverse for private meetings

> Zoom update delivers quick hack for more productive meetings

> LinkedIn is taking on Zoom with a new virtual events platform

Google had announced back in August 2020 that it would be phasing out Chrome apps on all platforms, with support on Windows, Mac and Linux ending in June 2021. This was later extended to all Chrome apps on ChromeOS for June 2022, with the company no longer accepting new apps, and existing apps no longer being listed or made available to download on the Chrome Web Store.

Zoom had shown off a Progressive Web App (PWA) for Chromebooks in 2021, offering much of the standard functionality familiar to users on other platforms, as well as up to date UI and apps.

The news comes shortly after Zoom recorded a huge rise in enterprise customers to go alongside its consumer base as hybrid working remains popular.

In its most recent financial results, the company said that the number of customers contributing more than $ 100,000 was up 46% year-over-year, as it now has around 198,900 enterprise customers, up 24% from the same quarter in its last fiscal year.

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I got married this week, and these five iOS apps helped reduce our stress levels
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April 14 was the day that I became a married man. And during the two years spent arranging it, there were a few apps on iOS 15 that we constantly used to make sure everything was paid for, and perfectly scheduled to play its part on the day.

Planning a wedding involves tasks that you would never expect to have to sort out – from agreeing on the music that would play while you sign the marriage certificate, to checking if the right tree logs for the table have been picked up by the best man.

If we didn't have our iPhones and apps at hand, we may have had to hire a wedding planner to avoid the multiple moments of stress we would have inevitably had.

But thankfully, there were five apps that helped us manage big chunks of the wedding that I was not expecting when I proposed back in 2020.

Notes

iOS 15 Wedding Notes

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Apple's Notes app is one I've relied on since the first version of iOS. It's simple, useful, and has always helped remind me of what's needed to be done for certain tasks.

For the wedding, its usefulness went to another level, thanks in part to the ability to manage notes with someone.

Having both of us add and remove checklists across the two years helped a bunch, especially when an update can appear as a push notification.

Things 3

Things 3 Wedding list on iOS 15

(Image credit: TechRadar)

While we had been arranging the wedding since 2020, tasks didn't really ramp up until the beginning of this year, which is where a to-do app came in.

Having tried other apps in this category, such as OmniFocus, Things 3 won out thanks to the quick actions of its Today screen. I could add and remove sudden jobs, and they'd also display in a helpful widget on my iPhone.

It's not just available on your iPhone for $ 9.99 / £9.99 / AU$ 11.99, it's also available on the iPad for $ 19.99 / £19.99 / AU$ 24.99, and on the Mac priced at $ 49.99 / £29.99 / AU$ 59.99.

Being reminded to pay for a photo booth or to decide on types of flowers in Things was a big help. In fact, it was so helpful I've expanded it to other aspects of my life, including my job at TechRadar, and hobbies like, embarrassingly, weekly Fortnite challenges.

Shazam

iOS 15 Shazam Playlist

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Spotify and Apple Music are two apps I've constantly used for the last decade. I still pay for iTunes Match, which is a yearly service that allows me to host all the music content that I owned on my iPod.

For the wedding itself, we found Spotify useful in arranging the entire playlist from start to finish, mainly due to the ability to have collaborative playlists.

This allowed us to add and remove songs in a playlist as we pleased, with our initials letting each of us know who added the most embarrassing song of the evening.

However, Shazam was most useful in helping us discover artists and tracks that we never would have considered. Going to wedding fayres and shops we heard a lot of music and by using Shazam to discover what the titles were, we could add them to our Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

It's a handy app that can help bolster your music library on whichever music app you use, without being intrusive.

A recent update also allows Shazam to be set up as a shortcut in Control Center on iOS 15, which saves you time before the track stops playing.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds Classic on iOS 15

(Image credit: TechRadar)

For me, managing a wedding is the equivalent of spinning 50 plates while standing on one leg, and reciting the alphabet backward in Spanish.

And that can lead to moments where you just want to escape the planning and the picking, and the paying, and just play a game instead.

This is where I decided to revisit some games thanks to Apple Arcade, and I rediscovered Angry Birds. It was an ideal pick for alleviating some of the frustration that occurred with some suits in February.

The game's maker, Rovio has also re-released the original game on iOS and Android, which I promptly downloaded. Flicking the irate fowl across four worlds on my iPhone 13 Pro turned out to be a great stress reliever while I was on a train to sort out the suits again or deciding on the right type of chairs for the reception.

Monzo Pots

iOS 15 Monzo Pots

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Weddings cost money – lots of money. If you want to make sure that the location or items you had your heart set on for years can be part of your special day, you're going to hear the word deposit a lot until the big day arrives.

It's also a great lesson in managing your funds, which is where a feature from Monzo came in handy for us. Pots are a way of moving money into sections that can't be used by your debit card. They're essentially saving methods without creating a savings account.

You can lock a pot to stop you from withdrawing any money from it, alongside naming it whatever you wish and setting it with a picture. If you want, you can set any transactions to round up the payment to the nearest unit, with the spare change being sent to this pot.

It removes a worry about how much you have ready for the wedding or other saving goals, alongside making sure it's safe from temptation.

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I got married this week, and these five iOS apps helped reduce our stress levels
  • No Comments

April 14 was the day that I became a married man. And during the two years spent arranging it, there were a few apps on iOS 15 that we constantly used to make sure everything was paid for, and perfectly scheduled to play its part on the day.

Planning a wedding involves tasks that you would never expect to have to sort out – from agreeing on the music that would play while you sign the marriage certificate, to checking if the right tree logs for the table have been picked up by the best man.

If we didn't have our iPhones and apps at hand, we may have had to hire a wedding planner to avoid the multiple moments of stress we would have inevitably had.

But thankfully, there were five apps that helped us manage big chunks of the wedding that I was not expecting when I proposed back in 2020.

Notes

iOS 15 Wedding Notes

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Apple's Notes app is one I've relied on since the first version of iOS. It's simple, useful, and has always helped remind me of what's needed to be done for certain tasks.

For the wedding, its usefulness went to another level, thanks in part to the ability to manage notes with someone.

Having both of us add and remove checklists across the two years helped a bunch, especially when an update can appear as a push notification.

Things 3

Things 3 Wedding list on iOS 15

(Image credit: TechRadar)

While we had been arranging the wedding since 2020, tasks didn't really ramp up until the beginning of this year, which is where a to-do app came in.

Having tried other apps in this category, such as OmniFocus, Things 3 won out thanks to the quick actions of its Today screen. I could add and remove sudden jobs, and they'd also display in a helpful widget on my iPhone.

It's not just available on your iPhone for $ 9.99 / £9.99 / AU$ 11.99, it's also available on the iPad for $ 19.99 / £19.99 / AU$ 24.99, and on the Mac priced at $ 49.99 / £29.99 / AU$ 59.99.

Being reminded to pay for a photo booth or to decide on types of flowers in Things was a big help. In fact, it was so helpful I've expanded it to other aspects of my life, including my job at TechRadar, and hobbies like, embarrassingly, weekly Fortnite challenges.

Shazam

iOS 15 Shazam Playlist

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Spotify and Apple Music are two apps I've constantly used for the last decade. I still pay for iTunes Match, which is a yearly service that allows me to host all the music content that I owned on my iPod.

For the wedding itself, we found Spotify useful in arranging the entire playlist from start to finish, mainly due to the ability to have collaborative playlists.

This allowed us to add and remove songs in a playlist as we pleased, with our initials letting each of us know who added the most embarrassing song of the evening.

However, Shazam was most useful in helping us discover artists and tracks that we never would have considered. Going to wedding fayres and shops we heard a lot of music and by using Shazam to discover what the titles were, we could add them to our Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

It's a handy app that can help bolster your music library on whichever music app you use, without being intrusive.

A recent update also allows Shazam to be set up as a shortcut in Control Center on iOS 15, which saves you time before the track stops playing.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds Classic on iOS 15

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For me, managing a wedding is the equivalent of spinning 50 plates while standing on one leg, and reciting the alphabet backward in Spanish.

And that can lead to moments where you just want to escape the planning and the picking, and the paying, and just play a game instead.

This is where I decided to revisit some games thanks to Apple Arcade, and I rediscovered Angry Birds. It was an ideal pick for alleviating some of the frustration that occurred with some suits in February.

The game's maker, Rovio has also re-released the original game on iOS and Android, which I promptly downloaded. Flicking the irate fowl across four worlds on my iPhone 13 Pro turned out to be a great stress reliever while I was on a train to sort out the suits again or deciding on the right type of chairs for the reception.

Monzo Pots

iOS 15 Monzo Pots

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Weddings cost money – lots of money. If you want to make sure that the location or items you had your heart set on for years can be part of your special day, you're going to hear the word deposit a lot until the big day arrives.

It's also a great lesson in managing your funds, which is where a feature from Monzo came in handy for us. Pots are a way of moving money into sections that can't be used by your debit card. They're essentially saving methods without creating a savings account.

You can lock a pot to stop you from withdrawing any money from it, alongside naming it whatever you wish and setting it with a picture. If you want, you can set any transactions to round up the payment to the nearest unit, with the spare change being sent to this pot.

It removes a worry about how much you have ready for the wedding or other saving goals, alongside making sure it's safe from temptation.

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