Pushing Forward
Supporting Pencil Pro, Bricked iPad, and Keeping Things on Track.
Hey there 👋 It’s me, Hasan.
Lately, Mockup has been taking up most of my time. And between planned and unplanned work, a lot was going on.
Grab your coffee and let me catch you up. But first, here’s a photo I took while hiking in Chouwen, Lebanon!
Working on Apple Pencil Pro Support
In my previous newsletter, I mentioned that I was experimenting with the Apple Pencil Pro squeeze gesture, trying out a few ideas. This was the main focus for the next Mockup update.
I came up with two concepts: the first being a squeeze gesture to bring up a quick actions menu, and the second allows users to squeeze and tap on objects to add them to a selection, kind of like using cmd-select on a keyboard.
I laid the groundwork for these features, but then something unexpected came up that demanded my immediate attention.
Shifting Focus
I had to pivot from my current work to focus on something quite important but confidential. Hopefully I can share the full details later.
This new task needed to be completed quickly, so I paused everything else and did it in a few days.
One part involved creating a custom splash screen, which our designer absolutely nailed.
iPadOS 18 Beta Bricked My iPad
After wrapping up that work, I was ready to dive back into the public update, with a focus on iPadOS 18 features like zoom transitions and win-back App Store offers.
But when I tried updating my iPad to the iPadOS 18 developer beta, it turned off and wouldn’t turn back on!
I tried everything: force restart, recovery mode, DFU mode… nothing worked. I had to take it to a service center, where they confirmed that the iPad was bricked and placed an order for a replacement.
The downside? The replacement iPad will take a month to arrive!
Slowing Down
I have an older iPad, but it doesn’t support Apple Pencil Pro. And I couldn’t risk updating it to beta. So, I had to slow down and rely on the simulator for development. Unfortunately, this meant I could only work on iPadOS 18 features—no progress on the Apple Pencil stuff, since it requires a physical device.
Mockup Instagram Collaboration
While I’ve been deep in development, my team has been hard at work on other fronts, including social media. I’m especially excited about a recent collaboration with @thatwrapperguy, a UI/UX designer.
Back All-In
After a few days of working with the simulator, I realized it just wasn’t cutting it. I couldn’t afford to wait a month for the replacement iPad to arrive, so I decided to grab another iPad and dive back into work.
With the new device, I explored several concepts and had some productive meetings with the team. We now have a clearer roadmap for the upcoming update, which will not only support the squeeze gesture and iPadOS 18 transitions but also include several key improvements to the app.
One tough decision was deciding to scrap some of the initial squeeze gesture concepts. It’s never easy to throw away something you’ve put effort into, but I had to remind myself that these were just experiments. At the end of the day, only what truly brings value to our users will make the cut.
That’s all for now
Thanks for reading and following along on this journey. Until next time!
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