Notes About the Next Feature Update to Unread

John Brayton (/)
2025-09-09T10:54:24-04:00

I spent the past couple of months getting Unread ready for Apple OSes 26. I plan to release updates to Unread shortly after Apple releases the operating system updates.

Keyboard Shortcut Changes on iPhone and iPad

The next feature update to Unread will embrace the new menu bar on iPad. Most keyboard shortcuts and some other commands will be available from the menu bar.

Since keyboard shortcuts will now work with the system menu bar, adopting support for the iPad menu bar warranted revisiting some keyboard shortcuts. I am making these keyboard shortcut changes in the next version of Unread for iPhone and iPad:

Command-M (⌘M) will no longer toggle the read/unread status of the current article. This is now reserved by iPadOS to minimize the window. Shift-Command-U (⇧⌘U) or an unmodified M key will toggle the read/unread status of the current article.
Command-N (⌘N) will create a new feed subscription. Option-Command-N (⌥⌘N) will create a new window.
Command-I (⌘I) will no longer be an alternative keyboard shortcut for the Messages article action on iPhone and iPad. Since article action keyboard shortcuts can be customized, you can still set it as your Messages keyboard shortcut.
There will be some changes around keyboard shortcuts that copy links for pasting elsewhere. Command-C (⌘C) will always copy the URL of the currently selected article in an article list or the URL of the currently selected feed in a feed subscription list. Shift-Command-C (⇧⌘C) will always copy the URL of the currently open article or the currently selected article in an article list.

These changes will not affect Unread for Mac. In some cases they will make keyboard shortcuts on iPhone and iPad more consistent with those in Unread for Mac.

I am always hesitant to change the behavior of a keyboard shortcut. In these specific cases I think the changes are for the best, and I hope they will have minimal impact.

Opting Out of Liquid Glass on iPhone and iPad at First

For now I am disabling liquid glass in Unread for iPhone and iPad. I anticipate incorporating liquid glass in future versions of Unread for iPhone and iPad, but I need to take some more time and do so carefully. Unread for Mac will have liquid glass on standard controls right away.

I look forward to sharing more when the operating systems are released.