Category: Mac

Transition to subscription done right – Enpass password manager

I started moving to Enpass when 1Password 6 stopped working with Safari 13 on Mac.

Here’s why. To continue using 1Password with Safari 13 on Mac I would need to purchase a 1Password 7 subscription or a new 1Password 7 standalone license. Which by the way, in my opinion, is just wrong! Users of 1Password 6 should have been offered a free upgrade to a 1Password 7 standalone license and not forced to buy it. It’s not the user’s fault that 1Password 6 stopped working with Safari 13. That said, I’m not going to purchase a subscription or a standalone license.

I’m using the Pro version of Enpass on iOS and the free version on my MacBook Pro. Since purchasing Enpass it has moved to a subscription. I have to congratulate Enpass on the way they have handled the transition for existing users.

How will our subscription model affect existing users? | Enpass

We’ve worked out the transition in such a way that all our current Enpass Pro users will have access to the full version of the app on all platforms without paying anything extra.

Everything you need to know about subscription on Enpass | Enpass

As we shared in our blog post last week, existing Enpass Pro users will not have to pay anything extra as we make this transition. All our current Pro users will have access to the full version of the app on all platforms without paying anything extra. They will continue to receive future app updates and new Pro features that we’ll release over time – for lifetime, on all supported platforms.

My choice for a Safari 13 content blocker on Mac

With Safari 13 my favorite Mac ad and tracker blocker uBlock Origin, along with a few other extensions, no longer work. Because of this, I have switched to Firefox as my main browser. That said there will still be times when I will want to use Safari and will want an ad and tracker blocker.

I tried Ghostery Lite but I had two issues with it. It doesn’t block YouTube ads and I didn’t like the way it handles space left behind by blocked ads.

For now, I’ve settled on Wipr. Wipr blocks all ads, trackers, cryptocurrency miners, EU cookie and GDPR notices, and other annoyances. I also switched to Wipr for Safari on my iPhone and iPad in place of BlockBear. BlockerBear was working fine but for consistency, I switched to Wipr.

Fastmail now lets you snooze emails

Those of you that follow my blog will remember that I replaced Gmail with Fastmail several years ago and have never looked back. Up to now, I have been using Fastmail IMAP in Apple Mail on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Now I’m using the official Fastmail app on my iPhone and iPad and Fastmail’s webmail on my MacBook Pro so that I can take advantage of snoozing emails. So far I’m very happy with the Fastmail apps.

As a quick side note, I used Unite 2 to create a native Fastmail Mac app. This works out really well since Fastmail doesn’t offer an app for Mac.

If you would like to try Fastmail use this link to get a 30 day free trial and a 10% discount for the first year.

Drafts 5 special subscription offer

I’m going to do a 1 year subscription to Drafts 5. Under normal circumstances, I would continue using the free version because that’s all I need. But today the developer posted a tweet with a special offer that I’m interested in.

Now through the end of the day tomorrow, Sept. 18, 2019, all proceeds from new Drafts Pro subscriptions will be donated to support the @_RelayFM St. Jude Fundraiser. Details:. I’ve been thinking about donating but as of yet I haven’t done so. This is a perfect way to do it. I get Drafts Pro for 12 months and the developer is donating the proceeds of my purchase to the RelayFM St. Jude Fundraiser. That sounds like a win-win to me.

Thanks to Greg Pierce for this great offer.

Brave browser not remembering per site Shield settings

The other day I wrote that I have been testing Brave on my Mac as my primary browser. So I’m in the process of setting everything up the way I want it. One issue I was having was Shield changes that I made on individual sites weren’t being remembered after quitting and restarting Brave. I tried finding an answer to this issue with a google search but with no luck.

So I did a little tinkering around and here’s how I fixed it.

Go to Settings > Additional settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data and make sure Site settings is unchecked in the Advanced and On exit tabs.

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 DNS server issue

I thought I was having intermittent WiFi dropouts with my MacBook Pro. It started all of a sudden a couple of days ago. The odd thing is, it wasn’t happening on any other devices or my wife’s new MacBook Air.

It was getting frustrating. Websites would take forever to load. Sometimes they would time out. I rebooted my MacBook and turned WiFi on and off. I rebooted my modem and Eero. I ran a speedtest and that also checked good. And after all that the issue persisted.

At a loss for what to do next, I finally remembered that I’m using Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS servers. Could that be it?

Yes! I switched back to my ISP’s DNS servers. After doing that everything was working as it should work. I then switched to OpenDNS servers and they worked fine as well.

I’m guessing Cloudflare is having some sort of an unresolved issue with there 1.1.1.1 servers.

Brave browser

I recently wrote about my disappointment that 1Password 6 isn’t going to work with Safari 13.

In Safari 13, the Safari Extensions Gallery is being replaced with Safari App Extensions. What that means is that Safari App Extensions must run through native Mac apps and will only be available through the Mac App Store. Extensions from Extension Gallery will stop working.

That means that my favorite privacy extension uBlock Origin along with other extensions will also stop working in Safari 13. I have a feeling that Safari 13 will have a lot of folks looking for a new browser. I’m one of them.

Based on lots of positive comments in the MPU forum I’m now experimenting with Brave privacy browser. Since it’s open-source and based on Chromium all the extension in the Chrome Web Store will work with it. I’ve been using it for about 2 weeks and so far I’m very pleased.

Reference MPU Forum
Surfin’ with Safari
Brave vs. Firefox vs. Safari?

By the way, the 1Password 6 extension doesn’t work with the current version of Brave browser. You’ll have to upgrade to version 7 or switch to a different password manager. As I mentioned before I’m in the process of switching over to Enpass 6. If you’re interested you can read about it here.

Update – Alfred or Keyboard Maestro or both

This is an update to my Alfred or Keyboard Maestro or both article that I wrote the other day.

I’m back using both Alfred and Keyboard Maestro. After using just Alfred for a few days I discovered a couple of Keyboard Maestro macros that I use that I wasn’t able to replicate in Alfred. So since I need Keyboard Maestro for them I switched back to Keyboard Maestro for all my automation.

I like the way Keyboard Maestro macros work better than Alfred workflows and as a side note, they execute much faster. I also prefer the way web searches are executed using Keyboard Maestro. It’s several keystrokes quicker.

I’ll be upgrading to version 9 very soon.

Alfred or Keyboard Maestro or both

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Alfred and Keyboard Maestro.

Alfred was one of the first apps that I discovered after moving from a PC to a Mac. I use its features many times every day.

I discovered Keyboard Maestro a little later on. Since Alfred was already ingrained in the way I used my Mac there were a lot of its features that I didn’t use. There’s a lot of feature overlap between Alfred and Keyboard Maestro. Over time I created or accumulated a couple of dozen Keyboard Maestro macros some that I used often and others that I rarely used.

When Alfred 4 came out in June I immediately upgraded without a thought. I think the cost was around $15. Today I received an email from the developer of Keyboard Maestro letting me know that version 9 is now available with lots of new features and an upgrade price of $25. But, I’m having trouble justifying the upgrade. After reviewing what’s new I’m not sure I’ll use any of the new features or actions.

So that leads me to question whether I even needed Keyboard Maestro. I figured if I could recreate my KM macros as Alfred workflows I wouldn’t need Keyboard Maestro any longer. So that’s what I did. To my surprise, I was able to create Alfred workflows that would do the same thing that my KM macros did. To be fair to Keyboard Maestro I love the app but don’t need to apps that will do the same thing. Also, my macros were just scratching the surface of what Keyboard Maestro can do.

For now I’ve stopped using Keyboard Maestro and I’m using Alfred for 100% of my automation. Folks, this is what works for me but may not be what works for you.

I wrote an update to this article. You can find it here.

 

Sell Your Mac Experience

The other day I wrote that I was selling my old iMac and that I was selling it to Sell Your Mac.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive to sell it to someone other than Gazelle but since they are no longer buying Macs I had no choice.

Selling my iMac to Sell Your Mac was simple and payment was fast. I got a quote, shipped my iMac to them, and had a check for the amount quoted within a few days.

If you’re looking to sell Apple hardware be sure to get a quote from Sell Your Mac. And, don’t let the name fool you. They buy all of Apples hardware Mac, iPhone, iPad and more.