Dan Moren, Six Colors:

The redesign is more than skin deep, however. Apple has rethought the way some of its most fundamental interactions work. For example, the increasingly long horizontal popover menus that hid options behind an interminable scroll have morphed into a dual-stage design. Tapping and holding on the screen brings up a popover with a few common options, but it now doesn’t make you scroll; instead, there’s an arrow indicating more options. Tap that, and you’ll get a big pop-up panel of all the available commands in a much easier-to-read and use format. As someone who frequently finds himself swiping through a very long list to find the one command I want (and somehow, it’s always the last one), this is a tangible improvement.

The big improvement here is that in the old popover (from iOS 3 — when copy and paste were finally added to iOS, and the popover typically only contained three or four items — until last year’s iOS 18), the scrolling you had to do was horizontal. And a lot of items were added to that menu over the years. And it wasn’t really scrolling, it was panning. And panning sideways through a long list of options is just a bad interaction experience. For me, a lot of the times I used this popover, I wanted the “Share...” command, and that was the last one, all the way on the right.

In iOS 26’s new tap-and-hold popover, it’s a vertical menu, just like a Mac contextual menu. And you don’t really have to scroll at all most of the time, because all the contextual menu options fit on screen. And even if you do have to scroll (which happens when the keyboard is open, reducing vertical screen real estate), you don’t have to scroll much to get to the bottom.

It’s one of the very best, most thoughtful, most useful changes in iOS 26. But also one of the most overdue: we know how contextual menus should be oriented. Vertically. We naturally make lists vertically, not horizontally. I sort of suspect Apple resisted making iOS contextual popovers vertical for so long because they didn’t want to make iOS more like a desktop computer OS.

My thanks to Dekáf Coffee Roasters for sponsoring last week at DF. Dekáf believes that people who drink coffee for its flavor are the true connoisseurs. While other roasters treat decaf as a side project, they’ve made it their entire mission. They’re dedicated to creating exceptional decaffeinated coffee that stands toe-to-toe with the world’s finest caffeinated beans.

I drink coffee every single day. I literally can’t remember the last day I didn’t have coffee in the morning. A few years ago, though, age started catching up to me and I stopped drinking coffee after lunch or so, lest it screw with my sleep. I really missed my afternoon coffee though. Why I didn’t think to try decaf I don’t know, but Dekáf sent me a few samples when they first sponsored DF back in April, and it’s been a revelation. In addition to fully decaffeinated roasts, they also have some half-decaffeinated roasts, and they’re absolutely delicious — my style of roast, for sure — and they don’t leave me jolted into the evening. Maybe you like tea, but I don’t. I like coffee, and I love being able to have a cup or two late in the afternoon again. It’s so good.

Also, I’m a big believer that you can judge a book by its cover. Just look at the Dekáf brand. It’s perfect. Color, typography, artwork — so cool, so spot-on for what they do.

Dekáf offers 9 single origins, 6 signature blends, and 4 Mizudashi cold brews (perfect for summer). All shipped to you within 24 hours of roasting. No shortcuts. You won’t believe it’s decaf. That’s the point. Even better, get 20% off with code: DF.

Forget everything you think you know about decaf.

Nine single origins. Six signature blends. Four Mizudashi cold brews. All micro-lot and top-rated coffees shipped to you within 24 hours of roasting. No shortcuts. No crash. This is coffee at its most refined, just without the caffeine.

20% off for DF readers with code “DF” at dekaf.com.

We’re betting you’ll never look at decaf the same way again. But that’s kind of the point.

Hello dear readers. Daring Fireball has been silent for the last week. I realize how unusual it is for the site to go un-updated any week of the year, let alone this particular week of the year. I’m so sorry...

Ben Thompson has a wonderful take on yesterday’s event and what it says about Apple overall:

Apple, to be fair, isn’t selling the same sugar water year-after-year in a zero sum war with other sugar water companies. Their sugar water is getting better, and I think this year’s seasonal concoction is particularly tasty. What is inescapable, however, is that while the company does still make new products — I definitely plan on getting new AirPod Pro 3s! — the company has, in the pursuit of easy profits, constrained the space in which it innovates.