Marvin and IOS 16 beta

[JSWolf]

I just wish Marvin would be updated to work properly with iOS 16.

[Turtle91]

And we all know it's not going to be updated,,,,but it works with iOS16 fine. I just wish Apple wouldn't force their customers to update to the latest iOS...oh, wait... lolz

Also, as stated previously, Marvin still works even with Apple's issues, you just might need to squint a little bit to see the submenus after Apple forced a color change (see my previous thread). Does anyone know how to disable Apple's forced submenu, or change the color scheme of said submenu?? That would actually be a helpful comment here!

[alper]

Can anybody reach out to the author of Marvin and ask for the source code to be open sourced?

[Turtle91]

You mentioned this in the other thread. He hasn't replied to my emails in awhile - which he is normally very good at. That's why I was worried about his health. You can continue sending emails however.

[MonkCanatella]

I've been looking for alternatives to the Kindle App to use on my iPad. I've tried 6-7 other apps and Marvin was easily the best until I noticed the issue with highlighting. That's pretty core to my use of any eBook reader app. It's pretty much why KyBook 3 isn't an option for me as much as it ticks every other box.

While both have context menus for text selections that you can eventually highlight and add notes for, they're pretty laborious. On KyBook there's no option to change the behvavior. For Marvin it's just a matter of updating to work with iOS 16 as it would probably have the best experience for annotations etc. I may even try setting my iPad to iOS 15 if that's possible as then Marvin would be my ereader of choice.

I gotta wonder what happened to the developer. Perhaps they're under NDA? I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon bought them out in order to stifle a competitor.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Also, as stated previously, Marvin still works even with Apple's issues, you just might need to squint a little bit to see the submenus after Apple forced a color change (see my previous thread)

Also when using the Apple “look up” feature, then returning to text, Marvin freezes and must be closed and restarted. I’ve switched to Mapleread.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Also when using the Apple “look up” feature, then returning to text, Marvin freezes and must be closed and restarted. I’ve switched to Mapleread.

Interesting...I don't seem to have that problem. "Look up" works fine, and I tried "Deep dive" as well with no issues.

Is this on an iPad/iPhone, what version of iOS are you running???

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Interesting...I don't seem to have that problem. "Look up" works fine, and I tried "Deep dive" as well with no issues.

Is this on an iPad/iPhone, what version of iOS are you running???

Older iPad 2017, iOS 16. On mini iPad gen. 5, iOS 15. Haven’t tried it on iPhone.

[gjohn4317]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Also when using the Apple “look up” feature, then returning to text, Marvin freezes and must be closed and restarted. I’ve switched to Mapleread.

Same thing with me. Instead of Look Up I’ve been using Search Web. I’m using a 2022 iPad Air.

[Turtle91]

Very strange. I’m using an iPhone 11 Pro Max on iOS 16.3.1 and haven’t seen any of these issues - I’ve tried Search Web as well with no difficulties.

Perhaps it’s another app on your device that might be causing conflicts??? Or maybe an iPad issue. If I remember way back when we tested Marvin the iPad has a slightly different format on the library page (book info off to the left or something)… so maybe there is a conflict if it detects the iPad.

[Hashbrownington]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

To be clear:
The highlight and customized commands still work on Marvin. Apple made a change to their “long press” or “hard press” functionality to put their own options in a sub menu. Marvin already had that submenu filled out with the highlighting, annotating, deep dive, etc. so Marvin’s options got shoved to the side… they are still there, you just have to scroll a bit. The other problem is that Marvin had a dark background with light lettering for the submenu, while apple forced a light background with dark lettering… that makes it hard to see Marvin’s options

If anyone can figure out how to change the submenu colors and/or turn off apples forced submenu that would be good info to have here.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but if the iOS app is updated to use SwiftUI, then I believe you would be able to more explicitly define when the Marvin app should show its own contextual menu or Apple’s.

I’m just assuming the app doesn’t currently use SwiftUI, I could be totally wrong. But in any case, it could be a way to address the issue.

[Turtle91]

Thank you for the idea - and welcome to MR!!!


Unfortunately Marvin hasn't been updated in awhile for some reason. I don't think Kris, the creator, is planning on doing anything further with Marvin.

[pdofak]

I very much enjoy using Marvin. I have books qued in the cloud (Dropbox) and a few downloaded to devices. I'm really bummed that when I replaced a tablet, Marvin reloaded but is asking for upgrade to full version. Which I of course have. I'd gladly pay for it again if I could but the app isn't talking to App Store. So it's not able to do that.
All I want is to lose the upgrade banner or find a replacement app that functions as nicely as Marvin.
I would gladly pay for either.
Any suggestions on how to satisfy the upgrade?
Any suggestions on alternative apps?
Thanks for any thoughts!

[Turtle91]

Make sure you are using the same appleID that you used on the original purchase. After you select upgrade it 'should' check Apple's database and see that you've already purchased...at least that's how it has worked for everyone in my family on all their devices over the last several years. I don't think apple has changed that process recently - it would require every app to be updated - and I haven't had that many updates to my apps???

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by MonkCanatella

I' I may even try setting my iPad to iOS 15 if that's possible as then Marvin would be my ereader of choice.

Anyone know of a way to go back from 16 to 15?