AppleVis Unlimited: What's New and Noteworthy for January 2026

Welcome to the January 2026 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, your monthly digest of the latest and most notable content on the AppleVis website. This newsletter features a curated selection of community-submitted content, including new app entries, updates, news, podcast episodes, and popular discussions. We hope that you find this publication to be both helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback about this newsletter, please feel free to reach out using our Contact Form.

AnonyMouse's App Pick of the Month: Theseus & the Minotaur

This month, my pick is Theseus & the Minotaur, a strategy-based puzzle game that delivers a thoughtful and challenging experience on iOS. I chose this app because it immediately reminded me of one of my most loved games from years agoā€”Robo-E, a title that has long since disappeared from the App Store. Ever since then, Iā€™ve been hoping for something similar, and Theseus & the Minotaur feels like a natural evolution of that idea, offering even more depth and challenge.

At its core, Theseus & the Minotaur is inspired by the classic Greek myth. You take on the role of Theseus, navigating a maze while being pursued by the Minotaur. Every move you make is mirrored by the Minotaur, creating a constant sense of tension. The goal isnā€™t speed or combatā€”itā€™s survival through smart planning and careful positioning.

This is not a game built around speed or reflexes. Instead, it asks you to slow down, think carefully, and plan every move. Each step forward feels deliberate, because one wrong move can place you directly in the path of the Minotaur. For players who enjoy thoughtful, planning-focused gameplay and problem-solving, this game quickly becomes absorbing.

One of the things that stands out about Theseus & the Minotaur is how intentionally itā€™s designed. Each level feels handcrafted, presenting a new variation on the maze and introducing different mechanics that change how both you and the Minotaur move through the space. Progress isnā€™t about trial-and-error aloneā€”itā€™s about learning the rules of the maze and using them intelligently to outthink your pursuer.

While this style of gameplay may not appeal to everyone, it strongly resonates with players who enjoy classic puzzle and strategy games. If you remember Robo-E fondly and have been wishing for something in that same spirit, this game will likely feel very familiarā€”in a good way.

Read more about Theseus & the Minotaur here.

New Apps

Accessible Solitaire

From the App Store:

The Accessible Solitaire app has been designed to provide a fun experience for all players.

For players who are blind or partially sighted, the iOS VoiceOver screen reader announces details of the playing cards as you move through the game, and the app includes several in-app features to help make the contents of the cards easier to see. Using speech at the game together with the iOS Voice Access feature, or using a switch device together with the iOS Switch Access feature, means can all playing cards can be moved around the game using either speech or a switch.

Additional Details:

Flip Unit: Unit Converter

From the App Store:

Flip Unit: The unit converter built for everyone. Convert cooking measurements, distances, temperatures, weights, area & currency - all for free. No ads, no tracking.

Additional Details:

GoodLinks

From the App Store:

Save links effortlessly. View them later, from anywhere, on all your devices. Sync, organize, and share your linksā€”privately, without ever creating an account.

GoodLinks is a powerful bookmarking app with a sleek reading experience. Save the content of the link while eliminating the ads and other clutter.

Additional Details:

Shadows of the Circuit

From the App Store:

Escape a dystopian world where sound is your guide. Procedural sectors, strategic upgrades, and 3D audio stealth ensure every run is tense, tactical, and different.

No one knows the true origin of The Circuit. They only know the pattern: a lone Runner, a sea of surveillance drones, and a desperate race for the exit. In Shadows of The Circuit, you are that Runner. Navigate a dystopian, low-light megastructure where sight is a luxury and sound is your only true ally.

Additional Details:

Shopify: Sell online/in person

From the App Store:

Shopify is not just any commerce platform; it's the AI-empowered solution that brings your business dreams to life. Sell online, in person, locally, globally, and everywhere in between. With Shopify's innovative suite of AI tools, start and manage your ecommerce enterprise from anywhere, without any coding or design skills.

Additional Details:

Theseus & the Minotaur

From the App Store:

Theseus and the Minotaur is a turn-based logic maze and puzzle maze game about escaping a monster through planning and strategy.

Itā€™s a calm thinking game and brain puzzle where every move matters. No timers. No reflex tests. Just pure logic.

Additional Details:

Vox Libri

From the App Store:

Read your way: accessible, comfortable, and without barriers.

Vox Libri is designed to help anyone read books and documents in a flexible, personalized, and fully accessible way. Whether you prefer reading on screen, using a braille display, or listening with high-quality text-to-speech, enjoying your content has never been easier.

Additional Details:

All recent app entries posted to AppleVis may be found at:

Notable App Updates

Adventure To Fate: Core Quest

From the App Store:

2025 Apple Vis Golden Apple Accessible Game of The Year WINNER! The Follow-up to TouchArcades 2024 Game of The Year! Celebrating 200,000+ downloads for the ATF Series!

Descend into the Core of the Dungeon, where the dark entity Thanatos awaits, spreading corruption and chaos.

Adventure To Fate: Core Quest is a casual yet deeply strategic turn-based RPG featuring roguelike gameplay, endless customization, and thousands of hand-crafted NPCs, skills, and loot. Uncover the secrets of six immersive environments, collect powerful spirits, and wield legendary weapons forged by your own hands. The fate of the dungeon is in your hands, can you survive the quest to the Core?

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Versions 1.54-1.55)

A huge update which brings tons of QoL update, new content and adjustments!

  • Prefix system (50+ prefixes to modify your equipment)
  • Auto-equip system (equipment Auto-equips from all sources)
  • Animated and scaling text/color on damage output.
  • Animated shaking/scaling on skills/item/spirit rewards.
  • Vibration system (as well as a toggle option)
  • Visual indicators for equipment slots.
  • Line-by-line reading of the action and combat log for Voiceover Users
  • New Sounds and Effects added
  • Map layout adjustments for smoother play (mostly for Forest Area).
  • Added Taunt removal relic to forest shop
  • Added update notes popup after updates.
  • Added Dungeons link on about and Character Creation page
  • Revamp of loading of new game files (makes the game 1000x easier to update in the future)
  • Tons of other fixes and adjustments

-New ultra-hard endgame enemies (with rare loot) added to Endless and Battle Arenas!

Additional Details:

Anytime Podcast Player

From the App Store:

Anytime Podcast Player is a free and open-source podcast player that's designed to be simple and easy to use. Anytime is Podcasting 2.0 ready and will support more features as the app is developed.

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Version 1.4.1)

  • Fixes issue with failing downloads if notification permission is not granted.
  • Chapter selector no longer highlights a random chapter if the current playback time is outside a defined chapter.
  • Added support for Turkish.

Additional Details:

Dungeon Scoundrel

From the App Store:

Enter the dungeon. Survive the deck. Become a legend.

Dungeon Scoundrel is a tactical card based dungeon crawler where every decision matters. Explore a fixed 55 card dungeon deck in portrait orientation, battling monsters, collecting loot, and managing scarce resources to escape alive.

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Versions 1.0.6-1.0.7)

  • Unlockable Spells
    • Power up your runs like never before. Earn Mana Crystals as you play and unlock devastating new spells for every class. Mix, match, and experiment to forge unique builds and discover game-changing playstyles.
  • New Class: Soundweaver
    • Meet the Soundweaver, a ferocious blind warrior who turns sound into a weapon. Master shockwaves, echoes, and sonic strikes to dominate enemies and experience combat in an entirely new way.
  • Hero Run Mode
    • Dive into Hero Run, a brand-new story-driven mode featuring 12 handcrafted dungeons packed with unique challenges. Uncover the secrets of the dungeon and explore the deeper lore of Dungeon Scoundrel as you fight your way through a full narrative journey.
  • More ways to play. Deeper strategy. New powers to master. The dungeon has never sounded this dangerous.
  • Several bug fixes
  • New card animations
  • Tip jar added to settings

Additional Details:

Perspective Intelligence

From the App Store:

Experience fast, private, on-device AI for chat, image descriptions, OCR, and more. Perspective Intelligence keeps your data securely on your device.

Perspective Intelligence brings fast, creative, private, and personal AI to your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Perspective Intelligence includes a suite of on-device capabilities to help you describe images, recognize text, and stay productive. The app uses Appleā€™s Foundation Models framework along with other builmmt in on-device AI technologies to process requests locally, keeping your information securely on your device.

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Versions 1.3-1.3.1)

Welcome to Version 1.3 of Perspective Intelligence. This Version includes some exciting new features!

  • Perspective Intelligence can now be used on your Apple Watch. The iPhone app is still required.
  • Image Playgrounds support - You can now create images while in chat
  • Weather lookup for All Access Users - You can now get weather information for your current location or for any city you request.
  • Accessibility Improvements - There are several new accessibility improvements throughout the app
  • Chat improvements - The app should process chat messages more efficiently instead of just calling tools

This Version of Perspective Intelligence fixes an audio transcription crash when starting transcription for the first time.

Additional Details:

ScribeMe

From the App Store:

ScribeMe is your all in one AI-powered assistant for making documents and images fully accessible. Instantly scan PowerPoints and PDFs, and the app automatically preserves formatting by labeling headings, lists, and tablesā€”while generating detailed alt text to make your files 100% accessible. With advanced OCR in over 50 languages, ScribeMe extracts text with high accuracy and even lets you ask AI questions about your documents, from quick summaries to deep insights.

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Versions 2.0.14-2.0.15)

Live Assist now supports screen share

  • ScribeMe can now recognize faces
  • Bug fixes and stability improvements

Additional Details:

Skeets for Bluesky

From the App Store:

Skeets is a native Bluesky app that supports both iOS and iPad OS.

App Store Release Notes for January 2026 Updates (Versions 1.27.0-1.27.1)

New features:

  • A new ā€žExplain postā€œ feature has been added to the context menu of posts. This feature works with on-device Apple Intelligence. Give it a try.
  • You can now skip update notifications.
  • An accessibility setting has been added. When enabled, VoiceOver will no longer announce ā€šFollowingā€˜ or ā€šNot followingā€˜ status after each username.
  • When creating new lists, the user is automatically subscribed to them.
  • URL/link previews are now automatically generated in the composer.

Fixes:

  • A bug that caused images to be posted upside down has been fixed.
  • A bug that prevented the ā€žcloseā€œ button from working in the fullscreen image view has been fixed.
  • The display of horizontal dividers has been fixed.
  • Opening the threadgate settings dialog in the Share Extension no longer closes the dialog.
  • A bug that prevented new lists from appearing in the Feed picker after pinning them has been fixed.
  • A bug that prevented users from selecting the Cloud icon has been fixed.
  • A bug that prevented users from scrolling the GIF picker view has been fixed.

Whatā€™s New

  • Added full app localization for Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Polish, and Italian.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the first character was auto-accepted when using the Japanese keyboard.
  • Fixed ā€œHide repeating post content in timelineā€ not applying correctly.
  • Fixed replies ignoring the selected language setting.
  • Fixed double-tap on the Notifications tab not scrolling the view to the top.

Additional Details:

Recent News and Views

Apple Releases iOS 26.2.1, iPadOS 26.2.1, and watchOS 26.2.1 with Support for New AirTag

By AppleVis | January 26, 2026

Apple has today released software Version 26.2.1 for the iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS platforms. Apple has also released updates for the iOS/iPadOS 12, iOS/iPadOS 15, iOS/iPadOS 16, and iOS/iPadOS 18 operating systems.

According to Apple's release notes, these updates include the announced support for Precision Finding of the new AirTag on Apple Watch Series 9/Ultra 2 and later,, along with other unspecified bug fixes.

Apple Introduces New AirTag with Longer Range and Louder Speaker

By AppleVis | January 26, 2026

As spotted by MacRumors, Apple has today introduced the next generation of its AirTag, bringing increased finding range and a louder speaker to the device.

This Month on the AppleVis Podcast

Dungeon Scoundrel: A Solitaire-Style Dungeon Crawler You Can Play Anywhere for iOS

This podcast episode features a detailed, hands-on review of the iOS game Dungeon Scoundrel, presented by Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse. The episode focuses on exploring the gameā€™s mechanics, accessibility, and overall design, offering listeners a thorough understanding of how the game plays from start to finish. Thomas introduces Dungeon Scoundrel as a tactical, turn-based dungeon crawler card game with solitaire-style elements, designed for short but strategic play sessions that typically last around fifteen minutes. Dungeon Scoundrel: A Solitaire-Style Dungeon Crawler You Can Play Anywhere for iOS (MP3)

Apple Crunch December 2025: Trophies, Turbulence, and a Fold Too Far

In the December 2025 edition of Apple Crunch, hosts Thomas Domville (AnonyMouse) and John Gassman wrap up the year with a wide-ranging discussion covering AppleVis community awards, Appleā€™s own App Store recognitions, major Apple hardware and business news, and an accessibility-focused app pick to close out the month. Apple Crunch December 2025: Trophies, Turbulence, and a Fold Too Far (MP3)

How to Manage Login Items on macOS

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to manage login items on macOS.

If there are certain apps or files that you always want open, you can configure them to open automatically when logging into your Mac. To do this, go to System Settings > General > Login items & Extensions, click Add, and select the item in the open dialog. To delete a login item, select it in the table and click Remove. Alternatively, items in the Dock can be added as login items by selecting them and choosing "open at login" from the "options" submenu in the item's context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M); uncheck this option to remove it. How to Manage Login Items on macOS (MP3)

New and Updated Guides

a guide to creating and running shortcuts on iOS and macOS

By Levi Gobin | Updated January 2026

For iOS and macOS 26

This guide covers how you can create shortcuts on both macOS and iOS, from automation to creating shortcuts that can enhance your workflow, to turning your shortcuts into .app files on Mac.

Using your custom VoiceOver preferences at the Login window

By Levi Gobin | January 21, 2026

For macOS Tahoe

Ever since the introduction of macOS 15, you have been stuck with using your region's default voice as the voice at the login window (Samantha for English US, Daniel for English UK, etc.).

Previously, you could just change this back to whatever voice you like. With the introduction of macOS 15, this became impossible because you couldn't add voices to the voice rotor on the login screen. Pressing VO+F8 doesn't work to open VoiceOver Utility.

Then there's no way to do this. Why even bother writing this guide?

That's what I thought up until a few months ago. There is a way to get all of your custom VoiceOver preferences to be used on the login screen, beyond the voice, such as verbosity settings, Braille settings, and anything else you have modified for your user account.

Popular Topics

Below is a selection of popular topics on the AppleVis Forum during January 2026:

All recent forum topics on AppleVis may be found at:

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Wishing you the best and every good thing in February,

The AppleVis Editorial Team

A Be My Eyes Company