Douglas Hill
@douglashill.co
iOS team lead at Nutrient (previously known as PSPDFKit) and an organiser of NSLondon. I travel overland, work on iPad, and go wakeboarding, ice skating, and skiing. European. he/him
That’s some long overdue cleanup. Ask your parents about [email protected].
October 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
That’s some long overdue cleanup. Ask your parents about [email protected].
I was lucky to be in Tirol for the ski season opening on Friday!
October 5, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I was lucky to be in Tirol for the ski season opening on Friday!
Excited about this new book. The sequel to my favourite book of last year.
August 22, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Excited about this new book. The sequel to my favourite book of last year.
Interesting email in my inbox. I’m thinking about purchasing Greenland next.
July 22, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Interesting email in my inbox. I’m thinking about purchasing Greenland next.
Reminder that calendrical calculations are hard, so you should always use Foundation’s Calendar and DateComponents APIs.
April 1, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reminder that calendrical calculations are hard, so you should always use Foundation’s Calendar and DateComponents APIs.
Is there a trick to getting iPad app screenshots to not show rotated on Apple’s anticompetitive store? Looks fine on App Store Connect. I guess maybe because one screenshot is portrait it breaks the others, but the only way to know is to release a new app version and see.
March 2, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Is there a trick to getting iPad app screenshots to not show rotated on Apple’s anticompetitive store? Looks fine on App Store Connect. I guess maybe because one screenshot is portrait it breaks the others, but the only way to know is to release a new app version and see.
At first, I thought it was a Zoom programming error that this popup appears every time I start a video call on my Mac, but it looks like this is a system feature that boring Zoom users like me should be constantly nagged about. Clicking the × doesn’t do anything.
February 28, 2025 at 9:16 AM
At first, I thought it was a Zoom programming error that this popup appears every time I start a video call on my Mac, but it looks like this is a system feature that boring Zoom users like me should be constantly nagged about. Clicking the × doesn’t do anything.
In the iOS 18.2 SDK, there are 41 header files that escaped Apple’s standard legal preamble and instead show the Xcode default template with the original filename, module name, author and creation date.
December 18, 2024 at 10:20 AM
In the iOS 18.2 SDK, there are 41 header files that escaped Apple’s standard legal preamble and instead show the Xcode default template with the original filename, module name, author and creation date.
Well this fixed one issue but introduced another. One day I’ll learn to read comments from my previous self. (Line below the added part.) 🙈
December 14, 2024 at 9:53 AM
Well this fixed one issue but introduced another. One day I’ll learn to read comments from my previous self. (Line below the added part.) 🙈
I tried many things and concluded there’s nothing I can do to sign into my newly-created Instagram account. People using Threads will have to wait until Threads rolls out bidirectional ActivityPub support to be able to follow me.
November 11, 2024 at 8:46 AM
I tried many things and concluded there’s nothing I can do to sign into my newly-created Instagram account. People using Threads will have to wait until Threads rolls out bidirectional ActivityPub support to be able to follow me.
The Nintendo Music app is here to solve all our problems. It’s pretty good! Sadly they blocked it from download on Mac, but at least it runs on iPad.
November 1, 2024 at 8:52 AM
The Nintendo Music app is here to solve all our problems. It’s pretty good! Sadly they blocked it from download on Mac, but at least it runs on iPad.
In all the discussion about macOS 15’s screen recording permission alerts, I haven’t seen anyone mention that when the alert is shown, the app already has access to the screen. This is an unusual approach to consent. E.g. here’s the excellent Claquette recording its own alert.
October 10, 2024 at 3:23 PM
In all the discussion about macOS 15’s screen recording permission alerts, I haven’t seen anyone mention that when the alert is shown, the app already has access to the screen. This is an unusual approach to consent. E.g. here’s the excellent Claquette recording its own alert.
Xcode now has a Hide Listed option for filename extensions. I want to hide .swift but show everything else, so this is much nicer than before where I had six rows of extensions listed.
September 10, 2024 at 6:01 PM
Xcode now has a Hide Listed option for filename extensions. I want to hide .swift but show everything else, so this is much nicer than before where I had six rows of extensions listed.
Which iOS 18 do I want? (If I tap through, the one at the bottom is actually 18.1.)
September 10, 2024 at 5:42 PM
Which iOS 18 do I want? (If I tap through, the one at the bottom is actually 18.1.)
⚠️ The Shortcuts Save File action doesn’t work for me on macOS 15 Sequoia in a trivial example. It asks for permission, then fails anyway. Giving Shortcuts Full Disk Access didn’t make any difference. Happens with folders other than Desktop too.
September 10, 2024 at 4:40 PM
⚠️ The Shortcuts Save File action doesn’t work for me on macOS 15 Sequoia in a trivial example. It asks for permission, then fails anyway. Giving Shortcuts Full Disk Access didn’t make any difference. Happens with folders other than Desktop too.
Done with my lightning talk on zoom transitions at iOSDevUK 2024. (Not recorded.) Here’s the sample code.
Thanks to Vicente Garcia for the photo.
Thanks to Vicente Garcia for the photo.
September 4, 2024 at 11:55 AM
Done with my lightning talk on zoom transitions at iOSDevUK 2024. (Not recorded.) Here’s the sample code.
Thanks to Vicente Garcia for the photo.
Thanks to Vicente Garcia for the photo.
Big day! Automated upload of App Store release notes for all languages now for visionOS with fastlane 2.222.0. This will save so much tedious pasting.
August 7, 2024 at 8:04 PM
Big day! Automated upload of App Store release notes for all languages now for visionOS with fastlane 2.222.0. This will save so much tedious pasting.
Scotland was beautiful but cold (14ºC in the day). We went swimming, but also booked a sauna on the beach so it sort of balanced out.
July 16, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Scotland was beautiful but cold (14ºC in the day). We went swimming, but also booked a sauna on the beach so it sort of balanced out.
Maybe a bug, but I’m no longer able to browse purchased movies in one list in the TV app. Have to browse by genre, which is a game of hide-and-seek given how fuzzy the boundaries are. Worst genre is ‘foreign’, which is a concept I reject and associate with xenophobia.
May 14, 2024 at 7:51 PM
Maybe a bug, but I’m no longer able to browse purchased movies in one list in the TV app. Have to browse by genre, which is a game of hide-and-seek given how fuzzy the boundaries are. Worst genre is ‘foreign’, which is a concept I reject and associate with xenophobia.
Trying to write self-documenting ‘code’ in Shortcuts by using clear variable names. This is just to disable a thing, which I think is very common in programming, but it’s so cumbersome. Hoping we get a Swift environment for Shortcuts at some point.
April 27, 2024 at 8:41 AM
Trying to write self-documenting ‘code’ in Shortcuts by using clear variable names. This is just to disable a thing, which I think is very common in programming, but it’s so cumbersome. Hoping we get a Swift environment for Shortcuts at some point.
Apparently PDF Viewer made us a nice round TEN MILLION DOLLARS overnight. 🤨
April 11, 2024 at 2:28 PM
Apparently PDF Viewer made us a nice round TEN MILLION DOLLARS overnight. 🤨