To me, modern UI isn’t getting out of the way, it’s often asserting itself over the content it claims to get out of the way of.
In Liquid Glass, there are obvious places where this is absolutely true—the big Play/Pause button in Quicktime being an example.
We’re only on beta 2, but there’s so much to refine between now and September.
Like other developers, I’ve spent a few weeks with Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language. In some areas, I think it’s tremendous: the macOS dock, iOS folders, text selection hover effects on iOS, and the new sidebars are standout elements. In other areas, it’s middling: toolbars and tab bars that don’t update quite in *real-time *as advertised leave the UI looking out-of-sync with the underlying content. And, the final bucket, where it’s rubbish: clear glass icons.
My working assumption is that the rough areas will be smoothed out over the next few months.
So, on to the plans:
Singapore Buses is currently on v2025.5. There may be a few summer updates to keep the bus stops and routes current.
Singapore Buses v2026:
Will target iOS 26
Will have Liquid Glass UI (I am experimenting with toolbars, tab bars, and more…)
Will have new server-side code (written in Python)
Will, tentatively, drop Core Data (which has been the biggest source of crashes)
Refresh the macOS and iOS UI.
No new features (except the NetNewsWire About panel on macOS)
Imagine being next to this when it hit the ground. No thanks.
Raphael Boyd, The Guardian:
The claim is being brought against the company by Dr Rachael Kent, an academic at King’s College London, on behalf of herself and about 19.6 million other iPhone and iPad users in the UK. … “This is the behaviour of a monopolist and is unacceptable. Ordinary people’s use of apps is growing all the time, and the last year in particular has increased our dependence on this technology. Apple has no right to charge us a 30% rent for so much of what we pay for on our phones – particularly when Apple itself is blocking our access to platforms and developers that are able to offer us much better deals. This is why I am taking this action.”
Singapore Buses has a monthly in-app subscription that costs users £0.99, of which I receive £0.70. Here’s the thing, though: I set the price, not Apple. If Apple decided it was going to remove its 30% commission—a commission that is charged to developers, not end users—I’d still set the price at £0.99, because it’s* *only £0.99.
Enabling screen recording requires the installation of third party software. These instruction are for the Mac. Proceed at your own risk.
Here’s what you’ll need:
First, install OpenMTP. This can be done in two ways:
brew installed, run brew install openmtp --cask which will download the application and install it for you.Second, connect your Wahoo ELEMNT ACE to your Mac by following these instructions:
**Third, **open the OpenMTP app from Applications.
capture.**Lastly, **disconnect the ACE from the Mac, reboot the ACE. At the bottom of the *Device Settings *page on the ACE you’ll have a new Screen Recording tool.
To extract recordings from the ACE, connect the ACE to the Mac, open up the capture folder in OpenMTP, and then drag the recording from the right-side to the appropriate folder on your Mac on the left-side of the app.
⚠️ This review reflects the features and fixes introduced in the
ELEMNT WG29-300745firmware, released on 19 December 2024.
My Garmin Edge 530 was a temperamental device. On more than one occasion it would freeze, reboot, and lose portions of a ride. Garmin rarely updated maps. And, for one reason or another, Edge devices have a user interface that is largely inscrutable.
For those reasons, I switched to a Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM v2. Despite having fewer features than the Edge, it excelled in its core functioanlity. Maps, navigation, and both the software and physical user interfaces were (and remain) superior to the Edge series in every way.
The challenge for the ACE is to best the ROAM. In some ways it does; but it others it comes up short.
Inside the rather spartan ELEMNT ACE box is the ELEMNT ACE, a USB-C cable, a mount with various fittings, a tether, and a selection of important manuals.
When turning on the ACE you’re greeted with the same 16-bit character that you see on the ROAM followed by a higher quality bike loading animation. You’re then invited to scan a QR-code and complete the setup process with the Wahoo app (not the ELEMNT app, which is being retired).
While setup was relatively smooth, I have had several ongoing connectivity issues with the Wahoo app (see Software Issues).
By moving device management from the ELEMENT app to the Wahoo app, Wahoo X*—your all-in-one membership for personalised, immersive workouts designed to make you a more complete athlete*—gets a more prominent push. You’ll see a raft of Wahoo X related workouts under your Recent Activities on the app. It’s not obstructive, but it’s not entirely welcome either, particularly for users who have been using the ELEMNT app exclusively.
Physically, there’s no getting around the fact that the ELEMNT ACE is a big unit.
| Device | Size | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| ELEMNT ACE | 4.9 x 2.8 x 0.8in | 208g |
| ELEMNT ROAM | 3.56 x 2.34 x 0.8in | 94g |
| ELEMNT BOLT | 3.05 x 1.86 x 0.84in | 68g |
| Edge 1050 | 4.7 x 2.4 x 0.6in | 161g |
| Edge 840 | 3.4 x 2.3 x 0.8in | 84.8g |
| Edge 540 | 3.4 x 2.3 x 0.8in | 80.3g |
The size of the device will pose a problem for current mounts.
The new screen is a significant improvement over the ROAM. It’s brighter, clearer thanks to the higher resolution, more colourful as a result of the expanded colour range, and, while it’s a touch screen, it’s not smartphone quality in terms of responsiveness. Swiping left and right works as you’d expect but it’s slower to respond to those gestures than a modern phone. That said, swiping left to go back a page instead of having to cycle through all configured pages is a frustration-busting win.
There is welcome consistency in the ACE’s physical button layout as it is the same configuration available on the ROAM—we want things to be better, but we don’t them to be different. Brooking no argument, physical buttons are a necessity in rainy weather.
Strangely, while Wahoo has slimmed the bezels on the sides and the top—there are no LEDs on the ACE—the bezel between the bottom of the screen and the bottom button array is huge. I assume there’s a good reason for its existence because it’s really quite ugly.
Wahoo advertises the ACE’s battery life as lasting up to 30 hours under optimal conditions*. *That claim is only achievable if you use the 5-second backlight timeout mode. On early morning rides, when it’s dark and the display needs constant backlighting, that mode is unusable as the screen is unreadable when the backlight is off.
I have been using the stock *Auto *setting—to my eyes, I haven’t seen the backlight turn off or go below 100% brightness—and after several two-hour rides the battery is consistently in 85-88% range (only slightly less if screen recording is active). Assuming a linear depletion all the way to 0%…that’s ~17 hours.
If you want to enable screen recording on your ELEMNT ACE, see this post for instructions.
Is 17 hours OK for a bike computer? I think so. Only on very rare occasions would you be in the saddle for that amount of time.
The aluminium mount provided is of high quality. I’ve attached it to my city bike and it performs well with no discernible shakes, creaks, or anything else that would cause concern.
The ACE comes with a wind sensor that is designed to measure headwind and tailwind. The theory (courtesy of Wahoo):
When coupled with bike speed (‘regular’ speed) data, the ACE can estimate the approximate speed impact of wind conditions (headwind, tailwind, or drafting benefit) and present a Wind zone – **AirBoost **(Heavy (dark green) / Light (light green)) When bike speed is aided by a tailwind or reduced air resistance from drafting behind another cyclist Bike speed is > Air speed **Neutral Air **(blue) When there is little to no headwind, tailwind, or draft benefit Bike speed is = Air speed AirDrag (Heavy (red) / Light (orange)) When bike speed is hindered by a headwind Bike speed is < Air speed
In practice, it works broadly as advertised. Leading at the front of a pack, or when you’re on your own, you’ll generally see Neutral Air or *AirDrag (unless you have a tailwind); *whereas if you tuck in behind you’ll generally see *AirBoost. *If you tuck in behind, and there’s still a strong headwind, you’ll now have the *AirDrag *data to prove it. (If you’ve been out on a fast ride and most of the data is AirBoost then that indicates strategic thinking and laziness.)
Though the Wind Dynamics data is included in .fit files, no third-party I am aware of (e.g., Strava, intervals.icu) is using it. For the moment, beyond seeing the benefits of being closer to the rider in front of you via the ACE or the Wahoo app, there’s not much more you can do with this data right now. (I have rolled my own clunky solution to get Wind Dynamics data from Wahoo to Strava.)
Workout pages are, broadly speaking, a huge improvement over the ROAM. Data fields are crystal clear thanks to the larger, higher resolution screen. (Tip: if you’ve configured 11 data fields and you’re wondering why you’re seeing less than that on screen, use the physical up and down buttons on the side of the device to display more or fewer fields.)
Similar to the ROAM and the BOLT, workout pages continue to be to configured via your smartphone. I don’t understand why this needs to be the case: the ACE has a touchscreen bigger than the original iPhone, why do I need a second device to configure it?
The new Connectivity Dashboard is a solid step-up from previous models. Each connected device has its own logo and you connect to a new device by tapping the + button.
As you’d expect, maps look much better on the ACE than they do on the ROAM or the BOLT. They have a higher resolution, a wider range of colours, smoother animations, and support pinch-to-zoom and panning via the touch screen. Map layers can also be added or removed: Points of Interest, Custom Waypoints, Street Names, Wind, Summit Segments, and Strava Live Segments.
The ELEMNT ACE has 64GB of storage and, by default, all maps are installed, leaving around 6GB of free storage.
As I have a Garmin Varia radar as my rear light, there’s usually competition for what audio the device should be playing: traffic alerts or navigation alerts, or both at the same time. If you leave the settings at their default, then the *audio mix *when you’re out on a ride is similar to that of the ROAM. However, the ACE comes with some new features not heard before in a Wahoo device: voice-based turn-by-turn directions and a bell.
The voice-based turn-by-turn directions are good if there’s no headwind. It really doesn’t take much for the voice audio to become inaudible when you’re travelling at speed. (I’ve gone back to using tone-based navigation alerts.)
The best feature is the bell. Double-tap (almost) any of the data screens and the bell will sound. It’s useful when you’re on slower rides, on pavements with pedestrians, or you’re overtaking someone and want to give them a cheeky ring. You cannot double-tap the map to ring the bell.
Strava Live Segments, added in 19th December firmware update, work as you’d expect. As you approach a segment, the ACE will automatically move to the Live Segment page and/or keep you updated on segment progress on other pages, dependent on your configuration.
If you’ve somehow got time to focus on it, there’s a nice animation along the bottom of the screen with your current position, your current PR, and the current overall best time.
Strava Live Segments | Wahoo ELEMNT ACE Beat my own PR…miles behind the best time.
I’ve always found Wahoo devices glacially slow when acquiring a GPS-lock. Unfortunately, the ACE does nothing to rectify this. Starting a ride from the same position on three different days, the lock time in comparison to other computers is abysmal:
| Device | GPS-Lock Time |
|---|---|
| ELEMNT ACE | 33 – 45s |
| ELEMNT ROAM v2 | 19 – 22s |
| Edge 530 | 8 – 12s |
I’m sure this can be improved through firmware updates. Crucially, GPS accuracy is excellent (though the below screenshot is also applicable to the ROAM).
It’s not quite death-by-a-thousand-cuts, but there are issues.
While others will baulk at the size of the ACE, the only problem I have with the hardware is the bottom bezel. I would have gladly sacrificed a bit of battery life for a longer screen and a slimmed bezel. Everything else: increased screen real estate, resolution, and colours are all welcome improvements over the ROAM, and a solid response to the Edge 1040/1050.
Software-wise, there are simply too many issues for a device that costs €599. The silver lining is that software issues can be fixed and Wahoo does have a track record of keeping their devices updated.
Lastly, Wind Dynamics, worth it? *Not yet. *On-device, it needs to do more than it currently does; while off-device, the data needs to be utilised in more places than it currently is (Wahoo only right now).
If you want a ROAM with a bigger and better screen, I’d wait a few months to let the software in the ACE stabilise before making up your mind. Whether Wind Dynamics develops into a must-have feature is anyone’s guess.
It’s the last day of 2024! I launched this version of Singapore Buses in September 2023, so 2024 is the first full year of statistics I have available. The data below is captured through Firebase and App Store Connect.
Number of sessions: 133,000
Geolocation Alerts (to tell a user when they’ve arrived): 1,600
Live Activities: 627
Crashes: 48 (though 0 since October)
End of Year Ratings:
4.6 ★★★★★ | 266 ratings (Singapore App Store)
4.9 ★★★★★ | 34 ratings (Malaysia App Store)
4.8 ★★★★★ | 11 ratings (US App Store)
4.7 ★★★★★ | 10 ratings (UK App Store)
4.9 ★★★★★ | 7 ratings (India App Store)
4.3 ★★★★☆ | 6 ratings (Thai App Store)
4.0 ★★★★☆ | 4 ratings (Australia App Store)
4.8 ★★★★★ | 4 ratings (Japan App Store)
The Live Activity count is not as high as I would have hoped, but it is gated behind a (very small) in-app subscription so it is perhaps not surprising. The majority of the 48 crashes were caused by a daft programming error (i.e., my error) where I was trying to update the UI from a background thread. I haven’t seen a crash report since I fixed it in October.
Ratings-wise, I’m happy. (The overall 4★ rating from Australia is broken down to three 5★ ratings plus one 1★ rating, with no written review. I’m ignoring it.)
I’m happiest with the number of sessions. At 133,000 for the year, it averages at over 2,500 sessions-per-week.
On to the money:
App development truly is a high-margin, high-profit, gold-rush business.
Here’s to 2025 ⌚️!
What’s New?
Live Activities
What’s Changed?
NetNewsWire 6.1 is out now on macOS, and custom themes are the tentpole feature. Yes, custom themes, for your RSS reader. It’s not just changing the tint colour or the font, custom themes change the entire reading experience. It sounds nuts. It is nuts. It is also great fun.
From version 6.1, NetNewsWire will recognise .nnwtheme theme packages and install them automatically.
Two of my themes—Promenade and NewsFax—are included in the 6.1 release.
I also have a few others available for download for members:
Prior to iOS 16, UISheetPresentationController only supported two detents: medium and large. With iOS 16, we can now create our own detent with a custom height.
sheetPresentationController?.detents = [.medium(), .large()]In iOS 16, create a detent identifier and then create a detent with that identifier and provide a maximum height.
let smallId = UISheetPresentationController.Detent.Identifier("small")
let smallDetent = UISheetPresentationController.Detent.custom(identifier: smallId) { context in
return 80
}
sheetPresentationController?.detents = [smallDetent, .medium(), .large()]