Ilium Software Blog

Behind the Scenes at Ilium Software

Apple

Apple, Privacy, and What’s my phone’s name?!

by Ken

Apple has a strong focus on privacy and we believe that’s a good thing. For example, all third-party apps need to ask for permission to access your personal information such as location, contacts, calendars, and photos. An app using the microphone or camera requires your permission as well. And iOS 16 debuts a new feature called Safety Check that allows you to quickly stop sharing your private information if your personal safety is at risk.

We believe in privacy too, especially in our eWallet app where the whole point is keeping your information private. Sometimes though, privacy can (at least temporarily) make things more difficult…

Before iOS 16, apps could get the name of the device by by asking it (using an API), "hey, what’s your name?" Pre iOS 16, the actual name of the device would come back, something like "Mary’s Awesome iPhone". When iOS 16 was released, a new privacy feature in iOS kicked in, and instead of getting back "Mary’s Awesome iPhone", iOS just returns "iPhone" regardless of the actual name. Normally that might not be a big deal, but for our customer families using local Wi-Fi sync with multiple iPhones (rather than cloud sync), they couldn’t tell from their Mac or PC which phone they were connecting with — every phone reported itself as "iPhone".

The story has a happy ending though. Although Apple has a strong policy, we were happy to see that they had an exception process for certain situations, including eWallet’s. We applied for the special permission to get be able to get the real phone name and were approved, so now when eWallet asks iOS what the iPhone (or iPad) name is, it get’s back the real name on iOS/iPadOS 16 (and newer) as well.

If you’ve run into this problem, just check to make sure you’re using the latest version of eWallet for iPhone & iPad, 8.7.1. The update is free for all users who already have purchased eWallet 8 for iPhone & iPad.

eWallet 8.7.1 for iPhone & iPad runs on iOS 11 and greater, including iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. The latest version is available via the on-device App Store. Get all the info about eWallet for iPhone & iPad here on our site.

App Store logo

eWallet is a registered trademark of Ilium Software, Inc.

ListPro for iPhone update now available

by Ken

ListPro logo

The latest ListPro® update, with support for iOS 15.5, is now available on iPhone.

Quick note

Just a quick note to let you know about the changes in the latest version of ListPro. Many of them were behind-the scenes infrastructure type changes, but there are some clearly visible updates as well. The biggest noticeable area is better support for iOS 15 (including 15.5). As one example, buttons in toolbars should be much easier to see with this update. We made some improvements to landscape as well, taking advantage of the additional screen width.

Finally, ListPro now remembers where you were scrolled in a list when the app starts. This is really handy if you’re in the middle of a long list and come back to ListPro later — you’ll be right where you left off.

  • portals view
    Easily create different lists
  • man list types
    So many lists!
  • Reusable grocery list
    Reusable grocery list
  • Reusable packing list
    Reusable packing list

Contact Us

As always, if you have any questions about these updates, or have other suggestions, please do contact us!

About this release

ListPro 5.2.4 for iPhone runs on iOS 9 and up, including iOS 15. The latest version is available via the on-device App Store. Get all the info about ListPro for iPhone here on our site.

ListPro is a registered trademark of Ilium Software, Inc.

eWallet updates featuring thousands of card icons now available

by Ken

The latest eWallet® updates, with support for thousands of card icons are now available on Android, iPhone and iPad, Mac, and Windows PC (see below for platform details).

Emoji image

We want more card icons!

eWallet users have told us they really like to customize the look of their cards, and one way to easily do that is with the icon that can be displayed in the card’s corner. This same icon shows up in your list of cards and categories too, making spotting your card quick work. eWallet has more nearly 50 built-in icons to choose from but sometimes that’s simply not enough. Then we thought, what about using Emoji as icons? There are thousands of them on almost every platform; many more in addition to the smileys we usually think of. People, Animals, Food, Travel, Activities/Sports and so many more. There are over 3,000 emoji you can choose from to customize your cards. You can even search to find the emoji that best fits your particular card and eWallet will size it and place it, just like the built-in icons.

  • eWallet for Android
    eWallet for Android
  • eWallet for iPhone
    eWallet for iPhone
  • eWallet for iPad
    eWallet for iPad

Small, fast, lean

One of the really nice advantages of using Emoji as card icons is that they are already on your device or computer, so your wallet doesn’t get large with tons of extra graphics and the eWallet app stays lean and mean too. For even further customization, change the card and text color, or add a full-card background graphic (Unsplash has some really nice images).

So what else do the releases have? Well each release also got a platform-specific list of enhancements and fixes to better support the latest versions of their host OS and respond to some popular requests. For example, eWallet for Android has additional support for Android OS 12, new export options and an update to the Wallet Info panel, to name just a few.

Contact Us

As always, if you have any questions about these updates, or have other suggestions, please do contact us!

About these releases

eWallet 8.7 for Android runs on Android OS 8.0 to 12.x including both phones and tablets. The latest version is available from Google Play or the Amazon AppStore. The emoji as icons feature requires Android 8+ if purchased from Google Play, and Android 11+ if purchased from the Amazon Appstore. Get all the info about eWallet for Android here on our site.

eWallet 8.7 for iPhone & iPad runs on iOS 9 and up, including iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. The latest version is available via the on-device App Store. The emoji as icons feature requires iOS / iPadOS 14.2+. Get all the info about eWallet for iPhone & iPad here on our site.

eWallet 8.6 for macOS runs on macOS 10.13 or later, (includes High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey). The emoji as icons feature requires macOS 11+. Get all the info about eWallet for macOS (including access to a 30-day trial version) here on our site.

eWallet 8.6 for Windows PC (desktop) runs on Windows 10 and 11 PCs and tablets as a desktop app, Windows 8.1 in Desktop mode, and all versions of Windows 7 (sp1+). The emoji as icons feature requires Windows 10+. Get all the info about eWallet for Windows (including access to a 30-day trial version) here on our site.

eWallet is a registered trademark of Ilium Software, Inc.

eWallet 8.5 Update featuring Apple Silicon and Big Sur support now in Mac App Store

by Ken

eWallet header logo

eWallet® 8.5 for macOS is now in the Mac App Store. The update adds support for Apple’s new Apple silicon chip as well as the recently released Big Sur version of macOS.

New from Apple

There’s been a lot going on at Apple with Macs, not the least of which is transitioning from Intel-based chipsets to their own Apple silicon. Apple also released macOS Big Sur with a refreshed and redesigned interface. eWallet for macOS will run natively on both Intel-based and Apple silicon-based Macs, and has been refreshed as well for Big Sur.

eWallet for macOS with tabs
eWallet 8.5 running on Big Sur (Dark Mode)

Touch ID

eWallet users on iPhones and iPads have told us they really like the convenience of unlocking their wallet using biometrics, so this new release includes full support for Touch ID on compatible Macs running Catalina or later. Like with eWallet on mobile devices, users have complete control over enabling Touch ID on a wallet-by-wallet basis.

Mac Touch Bar showing Touch ID prompt
Touch Bar showing Touch ID prompt to unlock wallet

Many other enhancements

In addition to supporting the new hardware and new version of macOS, we also added lots of tweaks to eWallet like fully supporting tabbed windows, a new font to make passwords more legible, dynamic link color on cards, along with many other enhancements. We now even include a What’s New feature that will show you what has changed in the latest release. Perhaps most noticeable on MacBook Pros is the new support for the Touch Bar, providing a handy way to access a feature while keeping your hands on the keyboard. And like the Toolbar, the Touch Bar is customizable, letting you change which icons are visible as well as their order.

All the basics are still there too including being able to sync with eWallet on your iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, and even other Macs and Windows PCs.

About this release

eWallet 8.5 for macOS runs on macOS 10.13 or later, (includes High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur). This update is free for all users who already purchased a license for eWallet version 7 or 8 from Apple’s Mac App Store. Get all the info about eWallet (including access to a 30-day trial version) here on our site.

Mac App Store logo

eWallet is a registered trademark of Ilium Software, Inc.

Customer Service – Question of the Day

by Lee

question of the day image

Hi!

I’m back with another post for the Question of the Day. Today’s question is, “How do I move eWallet to my newly upgraded phone or tablet?” We get this question a lot from people who upgrade within the same platform. (As a side note, switching between platforms, e.g., Android to iPhone or vice versa, is not that different, you just need to work with a different app store).

Probably the easiest way is to backup your entire device and then restore it to your new phone, that way all your apps and data will be on your new device and ready to go. If you haven’t done that, then you simply need to re-install eWallet and copy your wallet(s) to your upgraded device.

If you have a new mobile device (same platform), you can log back into the app store you purchased eWallet from, go to your Purchased apps list in the app store, and click the icon next to eWallet to redownload. You’ll get the latest version of eWallet for that device!

To get you wallet file(s) on your new device, that’s easy too. It’s always good to have a backup, so start eWallet on your old device, tap More (three dots) then Email Backup or Share/Backup Wallet File to send yourself a copy of your encrypted wallet file. You can open that copy on your new device, or if you’ve been syncing to the cloud or a PC/Mac, simply sync your wallet over to your new device instead.

As always, if you get stuck, need more details, or have a question, please contact us!

Customer Service – Question of the Day

by Lee

Hi!

My name’s Lee, and if you have contacted our Support department here at Ilium Software any time in the last decade and a half, you may have heard back from me. I’m still here because good companies are hard to find, and I love working here!

You may not see us posting a ton online as we tend to focus on the products (there’s always new versions in the works!) and our customers; in fact, I spend most of my time answering questions about our software.

With all that in mind, I would like to post “the question of the day” here occasionally. Maybe it will help someone out that thinks it might be a waste of time to contact us directly (it’s not, by the way!). Or maybe just for fun. Let us know what you think!

Since I didn’t see a common theme in our emails today, I’m going to write about a cool tip for iOS apps that a few eWallet for iOS users ran into. Recently, there was some sort of isolated hiccup with Apple’s Family Sharing in iOS 13 where an app licensed under the Family Sharing plan sometimes wouldn’t start up, and a user gave us a heads-up on a very easy fix.

Did you know you can “Offload” and then “Re-install” an iOS app and still have your data? Doing this re-install resolves the licensing glitch with the App Store and the app will then start up just fine. There are Very Specific Steps for this, so don’t just randomly remove apps from your device! See the steps below.

To “Offload” an app from your iOS device, and reload without losing your data:

  1. Backup your device (always good practice)
  2. Go to the device Settings app → General → [device] Storage → (iOS app)
  3. Tap “Offload App” and confirm
  4. Tap “Reinstall App”

That’s all for today! Talk to you again soon!

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