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The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) is a peer networking organization for people who work in the legal technology field, such as the people who work in law firm IT departments.  This week, ILTA released the results of ILTA’s 2017 Technology Survey, which is based on survey responses fro 579 law firms (including mine).  

Unlike the ABA Tech Survey, which indicates the percentage of lawyers using an iPhone and iPad, ILTA’s technology surveys have always just asked which operating system is supported at law firms.  For many years now, virtually every law firm has had at least some attorneys using an iPhone or iPad, so these survey responses have not been particularly exciting to me for a while now.  I started paying attention to this survey back in 2013, when 97% of all law firms had one or more iOS devices in use.  That number increased slightly to 98% in 2014, and in 2015, 2017 and 2017 the percentage has held steady at 99%.  Breaking down that number by firm size, the 2017 survey says that 98% of law firms with under 50 attorneys have iOS use, 99% of law firms with 50 to 149 attorneys have iOS use, and 100% of law firms with 150 or more attorneys have iOS use.  Suffice it to say that, for many years now, virtually all law firms have supported iPhones and iPads.

Most law firms also support other smartphone devices, but for the most part that means Android nowadays.  In 2017, 80% of law firms support Android devices, 25% support Blackberry OS devices, and 18% support Windows Mobile devices.

ILTA also asks law firms if they are using third-party systems for Mobile Device Management (MDM).  Since 2012, there has been a slow-but-steady increase in use, from 34% in 2012 to 58% this year.

For those firms who are using MDM to manage their iPhones and other mobile devices, the five most popular vendors (in order) are Airwatch, MobileIron, IBM Fiberlink MaaS 360, Blackberry Work (formerly Good Technology) and Citrix XenMobile.

They survey also reports that most law firms (81%) provide some type of financial support for attorneys and others using smartphones, but the amount varies widely among law firms, and 45% of law firms do not pay anything at all towards the cost of the smartphone itself.  A different question on the survey shows similar results:  56% of law firms do not buy smartphones for attorneys, 37% do, and 7% have some other response.  I would have guessed that the 56% number would be even higher because, just anecdotally, it seems that most attorneys I talk to tell me that their law firm has a Buy Your Own Device (BYOD) approach towards smartphones.

One of the last questions in the survey is the top three technology issues or annoyances within your firm.  At the top of the list are items like security compliance and user acceptance of change.  But mobile device maintenance is at the very bottom of the list, right next to print drivers and print-related issues.  There are a lot of technology challenges at law firms today, but apparently iPhones and iPads cause far less trouble for law firm IT professionals than other legal technology items.

If you have been thinking of getting Lit Software’s incredibly useful iPad apps for attorneys, this is a good time to do so if you act quickly.  The TranscriptPad, TrialPad and DocReviewPad apps are all available in a bundle called the Ultimate Litigation Bundle.  That bundle typically goes for $300, which is a $10 discount versus buying the apps individually.  But Lit Software is having a flash sale today and tomorrow only (December 18-19, 2017) where you can get the bundle for $50 off. 

I’ve written about these apps many times before.  And while Lit Software has been a sponsor of iPhone J.D. in the past, I started using these apps long before that sponsorship started.  I use TranscriptPad at least once a week to annotate and work with deposition transcripts (my review).  TrialPad is a great app that lets you present evidence on screen during a trial, arbitration, meeting, etc. (my review).  And DocReviewPad (my review) is an app that you can use to review and annotate documents on your iPad, so this app is especially useful during the request for production of documents process.

While nothing official has been announced, Lit Software has indicated that it is considering a switch to subscription pricing, which is what many other apps like Microsoft Office and 1Password have done.  If and when that takes place, I’m sure that Lit Software will come up with a way to make the transition to a subscription make sense and be appealing from both a technical and financial standpoint.  But if you like the idea of buying the three apps outright, you should take advantage of this limited sale because these sales do not happen very often and this is as good of a price as I would ever expect to see on this bundle.

Click here for the Ultimate Litigation Package (sale for $249.99, normally $299.99): 

Need some last-minute gift ideas for an iPhone user?  Florida attorney Katie Floyd recommends some tech-related gifts, most of which work with the iPhone.  And CarPlay Life recommends gifts for folks who use Apple CarPlay.  Here are my own recommendations for folks who use CarPlay:  (1) I really like the Anker PowerLine+ USB to Lightning cord that I reviewed last month; (2) To keep your CarPlay screen nice and clean, without the dust, keep a MobileCloth in your car.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Attorney John Voorhees reports on MacStories that app developers can now make their new apps available for pre-order on the App Store.
• Voorhees also notes that Apple purchased Shazam this week, the service that can identify a song that is playing.  Apple has incorporated Shazam technology into iOS for a while now and didn’t need to acquire the company to do that, so I’m curious what bigger plans Apple has for Shazam its technology.
• Speaking of Voorhees, in the latest episode of the Free Agents podcast of California attorney David Sparks and Jason Snell interviews John Voorhees.  He explains why he quit his job as a bankruptcy attorney at a large Chicago law firm to be an app developer and to cover Apple-related stories at MacStories.
• LitSoftware, the maker of apps like TrialPad and TranscriptPad, explains why it is likely to shift to a subscription model for its apps.
• Maps in iOS supports not only the great outdoors, but also some indoor areas including airports and shopping malls.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac has a list of all of the locations currently supporting this feature. 
• Rene Ritchie of iMore shows some examples of the Maps app working inside of New York LaGuardia Airport.
• Mikey Campbell of AppleInsider discusses an interview with Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP for Environment, in which she discusses how Apple designed the iPhone 8 and iPhone X to be more environmentally friendly.
• Dan Grabham of the UK website T3 interviewed Apple’s VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, to discuss the iPhone X and other Apple topics.
• Zac Hall of 9to5Mac discusses how he used his Apple Watch and Apple AirPods to run his first half marathon.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors explains how you can use Homebridge to make HomeKit  support a device that is not HomeKit compatible. 
• And finally, here is a short video featuring magician Simon Pierro, who incorporates an iPad into his act as a stand-in for a glove.  You can keep the audio muted (unless you speak German).  The slight-of-hand techniques are impressive:

As we approach the end of the holiday season, I suspect that many of you — like me — have lots of packages coming your way via FedEx, UPS, the U.S.P.S., etc.  Thus, you are likely to be wondering what you have coming and when you will get it.  I reviewed the Deliveries app back in 2015, and I continue to use that app all of the time, especially during time periods like right now when I have lots of packages coming.  It is so incredibly useful to have a single app that lists the shipping status of each of my packages.

All of the core features of the app are the same as when I reviewed it in 2015, so if you don’t currently use Deliveries, I encourage you to check out that review.  In short, you just copy your tracking number from an email or website or wherever else you have the number.  When you launch the Deliveries app, it sees that there is a tracking number on your clipboard and it offers to create a new entry.  Just add a title for the item.  Then you can launch the app whenever you want to see a list of items, and you can tap any item for more details.

The app was recently updated to take advantage of the larger screen of the iPhone X:

Deliveries is a fantastically useful app for anyone who receives (or sends) packages.  If that sounds like you and you don’t currently use the app, check out my prior review for more details, and get this app.  You’ll be glad that you have it.

Click here to get Deliveries ($4.99): 

One of my favorite tips to share for using an iPhone and iPad is Apple’s built-in text replacement system.  You access it by going to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Text Replacement.  You can create traditional shortcuts, such as as series of letters that your device will turn into something longer.  (For example, if I type jji my iPhone/iPad changes it to jeff@iphonejd.com; if I type jja it becomes jeff.richardson@arlaw.com; etc.)  You can add a phrase without a shortcut to add a word to the built-in dictionary.  (For example, I added the phrase “limine” and left the shortcut field blank so that my auto-correct doesn’t annoy me whenever I type “motion in limine” on my iPhone or iPad.)  And you can even use the feature to access characters that cannot be directly typed on the keyboard.  (For example, I have ¶ as a Phrase which appears when I type #7, which is useful because there is no way to directly type the paragraph symbol on an iPhone.)  I mention all of this today because California attorney David Sparks reported this week that the built-in text replacement on the iPhone, iPad and Mac is much more reliable now that Apple improved the way that phrases and shortcuts are synced among multiple devices using iCloud.  It is nice to see a good feature get even better.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• New York attorney Nicole Block recommends a few of her favorite Apple Watch and iPhone apps for lawyers.
• Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports that the iPhone remains the most popular camera on Flickr.
• In an article for Lifehacker, Patrick Lucas Austin agrees with my recommendation that you add a clip to your Apple Pencil.
• Cody Lee of the iDownloadBlog has gift recommendations for Apple Watch owners.
• Seamus Bellamy of Macworld says that if you like Apple’s AirPods but want something that sounds better (and costs more), the B&O Beoplay E8 are a good option, which are $299 on Amazon.
• Charlie Sorrel of Cult of Mac says that the AirPods are the best wireless earbuds, but has some other recommendations if you want an alternative.
• Adam Engst of TidBITS reports that watchOS 4.2 was released this week, which lets you send and receive payments using Apple Pay Cash on the watch, and which also adds support for HomeKit sprinklers and faucets.  I’ve never thought about turning on a faucet using my watch, but I suppose I could do that now.
• Tom’s Guide names the most innovative tech of 2017, and explains why the iPhone X is on the list.
• Amazon Prime Video is (finally) available on the Apple TV.  Dave Mark of The Loop explains how to get it up and running.
• Jason Cipriani of PC World recommends the best USB car chargers for your phone.
• Nick Guy of Wirecutter recommends the best iPhone X cases.  His overall pick is the Anker Karapax Touch, but for a leather case he likes the Apple Leather Case that I reviewed last week.
• Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that Apple updated its Renew and Recycling program to accept the Apple Watch.  Apple will pay you $50 to $175 for your used watch, depending upon which model it is.
• And finally, earlier this week I mentioned that Apple Pay Cash is now active.  If you haven’t had a chance to try Apple Pay Cash yet, Apple posted a short video this week that shows off how easy it is to use:

Juli Clover of MacRumors did some incredibly useful testing and wrote a helpful article on MacRumors to compare and contrast the different ways to charge an iPhone X.  I suspect that many of her conclusions carry over to other models of the iPhone as well, and her tests confirmed many of the things which I have seen more anecdotally.  If you are interested in great tips for iPhone charging — and pretty much every iPhone owner falls into this camp — I strongly recommend that you check out her article, which also includes some great graphs. 

Normally I would save a link like this for my Friday In the news post, but I wanted to take some extra space to highlight some of the most important take-aways from this article, most of which I can also confirm from my own experiences:

• The charger that comes with the iPhone is slow.  The iPhone has long shipped with that small, almost cube-shaped 5W charger.  It charges the iPhone very slowly.  For the iPhone X, it gets you up to an 11% charge in 15 minutes and 39% in 60 minutes.
• USB-C charging is 2x to 3x faster.  Back in early 2016, I reviewed the combination of Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable, which together cost around $75.  In that review, I pointed out that it is the fastest way to charge an iPad Pro.  But the iPhone X can also take advantage of USB-C charging, and it can get you almost three times the charge of a 5W charger after 15 minutes and about two times the charge of a 5W charger after 60 minutes.  If you need to get the maximum charge to your iPhone X in the shortest amount of time, this is the way to go.  And while this Apple combination will cost you $75, Clover notes that you can pay about half as much by using reputable third-party devices.  If you own an iPad Pro. I think it is well-worth the $75 investment to get the fastest charge on all of your iOS devices.
• Higher-wattage USB-C doesn’t make a difference.  Although I reviewed Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter, Apple also has a 87W USB-C Power Adapter that comes with the 12" MacBook, and third party USB-C adapters come in 18W.  For the iPhone X, the test results are the same for all of those.
• The 12W charger is a nice sweet spot.  Apple’s 12W charger, which is included in the box with an iPad, will charge your iPhone much faster than the 5W charger that comes with the iPhone.  It’s not quite as fast as USB-C, but it is much less expensive.  It may even be free, if you own an iPad and thus already have one.  Even if you buy another one, it only costs $19, and you can use the same USB-to-Lightning cord that came with your iPhone.  So for either free or $19, you can charge almost as fast as USB-C without spending the $75 for the Apple USB-C products (or about half as much with third party products).  If you don’t think it is worth spending the money for USB-C, this is the perfect alternative.
• Wireless charging is slow, but the 7.5W version is a little faster.  The iPhone X and iPhone 8 support what Apple calls wireless charging, the ability to place the back of the iPhone down on a charging plate and let it charge without plugging in a cable.  Some consider it a major convenience, even though it isn’t the fastest way to charge.  Most of these wireless chargers are 5W and charge at essentially the same speed as that slow 5W plug that is included in the box with an iPhone.  Some Apple-approved devices are 7.5W, and when Apple releases its AirPower wireless charger in 2018 it will also support 7.5W.  Those 7.5W chargers are a little faster than the 5W version — not a big difference, but enough that if you are going to buy a wireless charger, you might as well buy the 7.5W version to get more bang for your buck.

A few days ago, Apple released iOS 11.2.  For those with iOS 11.2 installed, yesterday Apple turned on the Apple Pay Cash feature, which lets you send and receive money within the Messages app.  Need to pay someone to split the cost of lunch, or want to send someone a request to send you a specific amount?  You can now do so, and it is just as quick and easy as sending a text message.  Writing a check to someone seems prehistoric compared to Apple Pay Cash.

When you receive money, it goes into your Apple Pay Cash card on your iPhone.  You can keep the money in there so that you have it in the future to pay other folks using Apple Pay Cash, or use it to pay a merchant using traditional Apple Pay, or you can transfer it to your bank account.  If you need to make a payment and don’t already have sufficient funds on your Apple Pay Cash card, the service will let you add money to your account from either a credit card or a debit card.  If you use a credit card, Apple charges you a 3% fee, so if you owe someone $20 and you use your credit card to add the funds to Apple Pay Cash, it will cost you 60¢.  But if you connect your bank’s debit card to Apple Pay Cash, then you can add money without any service fee.

I received two bucks from someone last night and then sent $2 back just to see how the process works, and it was really easy to use.  Perhaps the most startling aspect of all was that for the first time, I saw a color in the Messages app other than blue or green.  Messages associated with sending or receiving Apple Pay Cash are in black.  When you send money, you need to confirm money using either Face ID (on an iPhone X) or Touch ID on older iPhones.

 

You can also send or receive money just using an Apple Watch (after you upgrade to watchOS 4.2).  Or you can ask Siri to “send 25 dollars to Martin” or even “ask Martin for $22 for lunch.”

Other services like Venmo have offered something similar for a while, but because Apple Pay Cash is built-in to Messages and works with the Wallet app, and because Apple is a trusted company when it comes to preserving your privacy, Apple Pay Cash has the potential to become incredibly popular.  And as more people become comfortable with using the service, it will become even more useful.

The minimum amount that you can send or receive is $1, and the maximum limit on any specific transaction is $3,000.  There is also a $10,000 limit on transactions within each seven-day period, and $20,000 is the most that you can have on your Apple Pay Cash card at one time.  So you probably won’t be using Apple Pay Cash for asking your clients to pay their invoices for legal services, unless it is just a small, one-off type of thing.  But for sending and receiving small amounts of money between friends and family, Apple Pay Cash should be perfect.

Following Apple’s on-screen instructions for setting up Apple Pay Cash is pretty easy, but if you want some detailed step-by-step instructions for doing so, Joseph Keller of iMore wrote a helpful guide to Apple Pay Cash.  And for a good overview (including some animations) showing how Apple Pay Cash works, check out this page on Apple’s website.

Even though many analysts are reporting that Apple is selling huge numbers of iPhone X devices, it is finally getting to the point where you can get one without too much delay.  Mikey Campbell of AppleInsider reports that delivery times in the U.S. are now done to just one week.  And sure enough I am finally to starting to see other folks using an iPhone X, including several of my law partners.  If you are thinking about upgrading to an iPhone X, I really cannot recommend this product enough.  Apple’s AirPods and Apple’s iPhone X are two of my most favorite Apple products ever, and I really enjoy using both of them every day.  And now, here is the recent news of note:

• Don’t call it the ABA Journal Blawg 100 anymore; this week the ABA Journal released its new Web 100 which includes law blogs, law podcasts, and Twitter accounts.  As always, it is a great resource for learning about law-related sites — and now podcasts and tweeters as well.
• More and more apps are getting updated for the new screen size of the iPhone X.  Yesterday, Michael Potuck reports that Google Maps for iOS is one of the latest such apps.  The map in that app looks so much better now that it fills the full screen, as do the Google Street View pictures.
• Dan Provost of Studio Neat runs some tests and concludes that because the telephoto lens on the iPhone X is so much better, you can now take higher quality telephoto pictures even when there is less light available.
• For a while now, CARROT Weather has been my favorite app for checking the weather on my iPhone.  Ryan Christoffel of MacStories reported yesterday that the Apple Watch app for CARROT Weather was substantially updated, and it is now one of the best weather apps on an Apple Watch — perhaps the very best.
• Apple announced yesterday that it is starting the Apple Heart Study, a joint effort with Stanford Medicine to use the Apple Watch to identify irregular heart rhythms, to try to prevent serious heart complications including strokes.  If Apple accepts you into the study, you will receive a notification if an irregular heart rhythm is identified, plus a free consultation with a study doctor and an electrocardiogram patch for additional monitoring.  More details are available on Apple’s website.
• Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels reviews the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE after using it for three months.  My Series 2 is doing me just fine for now, but I’m still jealous of the new features.
• I’m a fan of home automation technology, but I haven’t gotten as deep into it as many folks have.  I don’t have cameras in my home, nor do I have smart locks on my door.  But Serenity Caldwell of iMore does, and she shares the amusing tale of how she got locked out of her smart home.
• Josh Centers discusses the iPhone Upgrade Program in an article for TidBITS.
• Tim Bajarin describes the role that Corning’s Gorilla Glass had in the original iPhone, in an article for Fast Company.  Corning has a fantastic museum in Corning, New York called the Corning Museum of Glass.  It has a fascinating mix of Corning hsitory, the artistic sculptures that you might expect to see in a glass museum, plus high technology made possible by glass, such as fiber optics, and I really enjoyed visiting the museum with my family this past summer.  However, there was no mention of the iPhone anywhere in that extensive museum; I thought that they might have a Gorilla Glass exhibit or something like that.
• And finally, Apple has a new commercial for the holidays, advertising the AirPods as a way to spark romance.  It’s a cute ad, and it is called Sway:

Although this is intended to be a review of a specific iPhone X case, it is also a review of the idea of using a case with the iPhone X in the first place.  I love the feel of the iPhone X, and the perfectly black OLED screen blends in beautifully with the smooth black edges of the Space Gray model.  For my first week with the iPhone X, I didn’t use a case at all, and I liked it.  But I was also very nervous about it.  The smooth round edges of the iPhone X — like the iPhone 7, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 before it — make the device just slippery enough that I was often afraid that I would drop it when I was out and about.  So after a week with no case, I decided to purchase the Apple iPhone X Leather case for $49.  For over a week I kept it on my iPhone all of the time, and then after that I would often take it off when I was working at my desk or in a safe place at home, but otherwise kept it on.  I like this case, and if you are looking for something slim that looks nice and makes your iPhone less slippery, this is a good choice.

Leather exterior

I’ve been using Apple’s leather cases since 2014, when I purchased a model for my iPhone 6 (my review).  I used that case with both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s, and then I used a similar model with the iPhone 7.  Apple made a nice improvement between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 7 version, replacing the leather bumps covering the buttons on the iPhone 6 version with actual aluminum buttons on the iPhone 7 version.  After a lot of use, the leather over the buttons would wear down to almost nothing, as you can see from this photo of the side of the iPhone 6 version (where the volume buttons are) after two years of use.  You can barely even see where the two buttons are:

Fortunately, the iPhone X version (like the iPhone 7 version) uses aluminum buttons, which are easy to find and press and which won’t wear away over time.

Although I didn’t like how the leather wore over time directly over the buttons, otherwise I really like the way that the leather case ages.  My old iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 leather cases feel very nice and soft in my hands. In this photo, the iPhone 6 version is on the left, and the iPhone 7 version is on the right:

My new iPhone X case also feels nice, but not quite as soft, and I look forward to it maturing over time.  Here is how Apple describes it on its website:  “They’re made from specially tanned and finished European leather, so the outside feels soft to the touch and develops a natural patina over time.”

In addition to feeling nice in the hand, the leather also makes the iPhone considerably less slippery, dramatically reducing the risk of accidentally dropping your expensive iPhone.  A more rubbery case, such as the silicone case sold by Apple and many other companies, also makes it harder to drop the iPhone.  But for me, that style of case provides too much friction, making it harder to slip my iPhone in and out of the pocket on the front of a button-down shirt.

Shape

Apple made a lot of great decisions when it comes to the shape of this case.  First, this case is incredibly thin, so the size and weight that it adds to your iPhone X is almost negligible.  I haven’t yet had an opportunity to try wireless charging with my iPhone X, but Apple confirms that you can charge through this thin case.

Second, I love the bottom.  Ever since the iPhone 6 leather case, Apple has kept the bottom of the case open.  For the iPhone 6, that made it easier to access the Lightning and headphone ports, and I continue to like that it makes it easy to access the Lightning port on the iPhone X.  But with the iPhone X, the open bottom is even more appreciated because swiping up from the bottom of the screen is a gesture performed countless times every day.  I’ve tried using other brands of cases on iPhone X devices used by some of my friends, and the bottom portion of those cases has always seemed to get in the way when I swipe up from the bottom of the screen, or when I swipe left to right to switch between open apps.

The open bottom of this case is one of its best features for the iPhone X.

Third, one advantage of using this case is that it makes your iPhone X lay perfectly flat on the table.  A naked iPhone X wobbles a bit due to the bump on the back for the cameras.

Colors

I purchased the simple Black version of this case, but if you want to add some pizzazz, Apple currently offers this case in nine colors:  Cosmos Blue, Pink Fuchsia, Dark Aubergine, Charcoal Gray, Taupe, Saddle Brown, Midnight Blue, Black and (PRODUCT)RED:

Protection

The primary reason I purchased this case was to protect my iPhone X, making it less slippery.  But the case also adds protection to the sides and back, in the event that something makes contact.  My older leather cases have tiny bumps and scratches on them, none of which I mind on a leather case, but each of them represents a time when my iPhone could have been damaged without a case.

The inside of the case is lined with a microfiber, protecting the iPhone from scratches, and making it easier to slide the case on or remove it.

Conclusion

Because I still like using an iPhone X without a case, I don’t use this case all the time.  But I do have my iPhone X in this case most of the time, and as far as cases go, this one has a lot going for it.  The leather feels good and protects the phone, and the thin shape is perfect, especially because it does not cover the bottom.  If you are considering a case for your iPhone X, I can recommend the Apple iPhone X Leather case.  And while I bought mine for $49.00, I see that you can currently save a few bucks buying it on Amazon.

Click here to get Apple iPhone X Leather Case from Amazon ($44.99)