The AR and VR headsets you’ll actually wear

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 54, your usher to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, truthful psyched you recovered us, and besides you tin work each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.) 

I besides person for you a mates of caller Meta gadgets, the mobile crippled that volition devour up each your escaped time, a mates of hotly anticipated caller movies, the champion Spotify diagnostic successful forever, and overmuch more. So overmuch going on! Let’s excavation in.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into close now? What should everyone other beryllium speechmaking / watching / playing / trying / gathering retired of clay this week? Tell maine everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you cognize idiosyncratic other who mightiness bask Installer, archer them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Screen share

Fun fact: Joanna Stern is the main crushed I ever got a occupation astatine The Verge in the archetypal place. (That communicative is agelong and, if I retrieve correctly, involves her playing a fairy successful a video? But I promised her I wouldn’t archer that story.) These days, she’s a columnist astatine The Wall Street Journal, an Emmy winner, and astir recently, the creator of Joannabot, the AI chatbot that volition archer you everything you request to cognize astir the iPhone 16. (And seemingly also bash immoderate different things, if you’re clever enough, but again, we’ll permission that alone.) 

I asked Joanna to stock her homescreen due to the fact that she conscionable reviewed the iPhone 16, which means she just had to acceptable up a homescreen. And due to the fact that she’s everlastingly utilizing caller gadgets and switching betwixt things, I was funny what ever made it to the apical of the pile.

Here’s Joanna’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected the apps she uses and why:

I’m submitting my homescreen and my Control Center surface due to the fact that I’m arrogant of the enactment I did connected the Control Center. I whitethorn taxable it for an award. But really, I’d similar to conscionable usage this arsenic a forum to kick astir the all-in-one connectivity widget successful the caller Control Center successful iOS 18. I don’t similar it. I similar the azygous buttons truthful I tin easy conscionable crook them connected and disconnected oregon long-press to get successful there. Sadly, they person gotten escaped of the azygous Wi-Fi button, but I work connected this large website that it’s coming backmost successful iOS 18.1. 

The phone: iPhone 16 Pro Max.

The wallpaper: This is my canine Browser. It isn’t the champion changeable of him, but the framing is bully for putting him successful the mediate of the screen. My lockscreen wallpaper is this awesome retro iPod made by a decorator named Shane Levine. I bought it done this site past twelvemonth aft featuring it successful my newsletter. 

The apps: WSJ, ChatGPT, Apple Notes, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Instagram, YouTube, Clock, Threads, Signal, Photos, Slack, Spotify, Phone, Safari, Messages, Gmail.

My apps are truthful basal and marque maine consciousness truthful basic. I enactment (Slack, Gmail). I connection (Messages, Signal). I perceive and ticker things (YouTube, Spotify). I societal media (Threads, Instagram). I enactment much (Google Docs, WSJ). If it isn’t connected this main homescreen, I usually conscionable hunt for it.

Before iOS 18, I had a widget stack connected the homescreen with upwind and clip portion widgets, but I moved it disconnected to different screen. I mightiness determination it back. I mightiness not. Got to unrecorded a little. 

I besides asked Joanna to stock a fewer things she’s into close now. Here’s what she shared:

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer assemblage is into this week. I privation to cognize what you’re into close present arsenic well! Email installer@theverge.com oregon connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll diagnostic immoderate of our favorites present each week. And for adjacent much large recommendations, cheque retired the replies to this station connected Threads.

“Sliding Seas. It’s a match-three (or four!) crippled but besides truthful overmuch more: there’s existent strategy required down your moves to bushed levels astatine the higher end, but it’s ne'er unfair, and portion determination are in-app purchases and power-ups you tin bargain to marque a level easier, you crucially ne'er request to. It is the astir compelling and well-suited-to-mobile crippled I’ve ever recovered and a gem I urge without reservation.” – Jamie

“Gisnep is different regular puzzle game, this clip by David Friedman of Ironic Sans. It appears arsenic a crossword-esque grid, but the words lone spell crossed and wrapper around. The extremity is to uncover some a punctuation and the root by filling successful letters from vertical columns. I’ve gotten a fig of my friends hooked already.” – Kyle

“Satisfactory 1.0 launched a week agone oregon so. A large radical of devs person efficaciously made a crippled that feels similar enactment but is fun. If you emotion conveyor belts and staying up each night, this mightiness beryllium for you.” – Matt

“Can’t judge you haven’t mentioned switching to OmniFocus! As a chap perennial ‘task manager switcher,’ this app is simply a staple successful my rotation.” – Pedro

“I antecedently recommended App successful the Air arsenic a large question companion, but unfortunately, it’s shutting down. If you’re looking for an alternative, Flighty is excellent, particularly for question stats, and they’re gathering an importer for App successful the Air users.” – Vivian

“We’ve been watching English Teacher connected FX. Constant laughs and, truthful far, each occurrence has been amended than the last. Easily 1 of the funniest shows connected TV close now.” – Danial

“I was talented the Humanscale FR300 Ergonomic Foot Rocker, which is simply a precise tech-sounding sanction for a precise manual / mechanical rocking footrest. It’s precise pleasant to use. I’ve besides been lasting connected it sometimes... which I’m not definite is harmless but definite is fun!” – Wisdom

“Repeatedly putting successful my Amazon cart the Black Milanese Loop for the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I was truthful adjacent to buying it similar 3 times. Now it’s retired of stock. Even Apple says aboriginal November for shipping.” – Scott

“Been playing with antithetic LLMs utilizing LM Studio. Integrated it into my Obsidian vault to assistance summarize and signifier things into circumstantial formats. It’s been highly cool!” – Cody

Signing off

I’ve had back-to-back-to-back-to-back trips implicit the past 2 weeks, and I would conscionable similar to rapidly outcry retired my caller No. 1 question hack: a partition charger that doubles arsenic a big-ass portable battery. I person this Anker model, which is $55, charges a USB-C and a USB-A instrumentality simultaneously, and besides charges itself truthful I tin get 10,000mAh of powerfulness erstwhile there’s nary outlet nearby. (There’s besides a newer one with 2 USB-C ports and adjacent faster charging but little artillery capacity.) It’s immense and heavy, but this happening and a agelong cablegram are present the lone charging cogwheel I question with, and they’re the lone reasons my gadgets person survived trains and level rides. Here astatine Installer, we emotion a sensible charging strategy, and this is arsenic sensible arsenic it gets.

See you adjacent week!