AppStories is a weekly exploration of the world of apps by MacStories’ Federico Viticci and John Voorhees. Each week, they discuss the best new apps, the impact of apps on our culture, and cover the stories behind popular apps. Hosted by Federico Viticci and John Voorhees.
The podcast AppStories is created by Federico Viticci, John Voorhees. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
This week, Federico and John are joined by Chris Lawley for a fun defense of his taste in music and beverages, plus a discussion of Apple’s acquisition of Pixelmator, working on the iPad, Final Cut Pro for iPad, and the apps Chris uses for his daily work.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Jonathan Reed to check in on the parts of watchOS 11 that he’s still using, talk about browsing the web from an Apple Watch, and dig into the apps he uses day-to-day.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Niléane Dorffer who writes at MacStories and is a co-host of Comfort Zone, a podcast all about trying new things in your tech life, to talk about three of Niléane’s favorite apps – Raycast, Tailscale, and Day One – after which Federico quizzes Niléane about some of the everyday apps she uses.
This week, Federico and John announce that AppStories is now on YouTube and discuss the Club MacStories Fall Membership Drive and listener follow-up before digging into Federico’s iPad mini review and the concept of “The Third Place.”
This week, Federico and John share the changes they’ve made to their desk setups in recent months and the philosophies that have driven those changes.
macstories
at checkoutFederico and John share the iPhone Lock Screen and Control Center controls that they’re currently using them.
This week, Federico and John share their favorite app updates that take advantage of what’s new in iOS 18.
Visit AppStories.com to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.
This week, Federico and John cover the highlights of macOS Sequoia, a good update that feels unfinished.
This week, Federico and John tackle Apple’s updates to iOS and iPadOS 18 and Federico’s review of both.
In a special AppStories+ segment available as a special review season perk to all listeners, Federico explains what led him to take a different approach to this year’s annual review.
This week, Federico and John finish their tour of the apps they use for work and play to be productive.
This week, in part 1 of a two part series, Federico and John explore the note-taking, task management, and RSS readers that make them more productive.
This week, Federico and John celebrate episode 400 by considering what the future will hold for apps 400 more episodes from now.
This week, Federico and John look at the gadget landscape to find inspiration for expanding Apple’s hardware lineup.
This week, Federico and John rethink podcast apps, exploring why it’s such a tricking category to get right for the greatest number of users.
This week, John is joined by Jonathan to preview watchOS 11, which is one of the most feature packed OSes being updated this fall.
This week, John tours the highlights of the macOS Sequoia public beta.
This week, Federico and John run down the highlights of the iOS and iPadOS 18 public betas that were released today.
This week, Federico and John cover the developer features they’re excited to see come to third-party apps later this year?
This week, Federico and John share tips on iPadOS, macOS, RSS, cross-platform file transfers, and more.
This week, Federico and John attempt to clear up confusion about MacStories’ position on AI web crawlers before rethinking email apps in light of the update to Apple’s Mail app coming this fall.
- [How We’re Trying to Protect MacStories from AI Bots and Web Crawlers – And How You Can, Too](https://www.macstories.net/stories/ways-you-can-protect-your-website-from-ai-web-crawlers/)
- [Wired Confirms Perplexity Is Bypassing Efforts by Websites to Block Its Web Crawler](https://www.macstories.net/stories/wired-confirms-perplexity-is-bypassing-efforts-by-websites-to-block-its-web-crawler/)
This week, Federico and John recap WWDC week with more on their early testing of the iOS and iPadOS 18 betas and an in-depth conversation about why they are disappointed with Apple’s decision to train its large language models on the Open Web.
Today, for a special episode of AppStories recorded at Apple Park, Federico and John interview ADA winners Devin Davies, the maker of Crouton, Katarina Lotrič and Jasna Krmelj from Gentler Streak, and James Cuda and Michael Shaw of Procreate, plus Adelaide Humez and Dezmond Blair, Distinguished Winners of Apple’s Swift Student Challenge.
For the latest WWDC episode of AppStories, Federico is joined by Myke Hurley to talk about the Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence before John pops up with some AI tidbits and a WWDC vibe check from in and around Apple Park.
Related Coverage:
The Latest WWDC Coverage on MacStories
For this special episode of AppStories, Federico is joined by Jonathan and Niléane live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community to share their first impressions of the WWDC 2024 Keynote.
Recorded live in the Club MacStories Discord, Federico share their final preparations and plans for WWDC 2024 along with some last-minute predictions.
This week, Federico and John introduce Comfort Zone and NPC: Next Portable Console, two new MacStories podcasts and share their wishes for watchOS and tvOS updates.
This week, Federico and John continue their annual wishlists with a look at macOS and visionOS.
This week, Federico and John kick off their annual WWDC wishes episodes with a conversation about the changes they’d like to see made to iOS and iPadOS 18.
This week, Federico and John examine iPadOS and the ways it has failed to get the basics right.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Riley Testut for a conversation about the history of AltStore from side-loaded app to official alternative app marketplace in the EU and Delta’s dominance of the Top Free App chart in the US and elsewhere.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Susan Prescott, vice president of developer relations, education, and enterprise at Apple, along with 2024 Swift Student Challenge winners Harshitha Rajesh and Roscoe Rubin-Rottenberg to talk about the challenge and the students’ projects. Then, John is joined by Finn Voorhees and Ellie O’Sullivan, past winners of the Swift Student Challenge who share their advice about participating in the program and getting started with Swift.
This week, Federico and John revisit their Obsidian systems, themes, and favorite plugins.
This week on AppStories, Federico and John return with a classic Pick 2 episode focused on the Mac.
This week, Federico and John explore whether we’re experiencing the beginning of the end of apps and consider what might replace them.
This week, Federico and John explain what’s going on with the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple that claims the iPhone-maker is monopolizing the smartphone market.
This week, Federico and John take a hard look at Shortcuts to discuss what needs fixing and the new features they hope to see Apple announce at WWDC this year.
This week, Federico and John take a look at their latest app downloads on a variety of Apple devices.
This week, Federico and John examine Apple’s Sports and Journal apps and visionOS for clues to what their designs may mean for the next major revisions of Apple’s OSes.
This week, Federico introduces the world to the MacPad, a hybrid Mac/iPad that he built from an M2 MacBook Air and 11" iPad Pro, and John quizzes him on the build process, software involved, and what it’s like to use.
This week, Federico and John share some of their favorite visionOS entertainment apps.
This week, Federico and John move on from hardware to explore visionOS, where it hits, where it misses, and what they’d like to see in the future from the OS.
This week, Federico and John tell the story of how Federico got his Apple Vision Pro before sharing their first impressions of the Vision Pro hardware.
This week, Federico and John consider how Apple’s response to the Digital Markets Act will change the world of apps for developers and users in the EU.
This week, Federico and John Federico and John explore workflows they’ve been trying in a variety of apps.
Federico Experiments with: - Omnivore - Apple Podcasts at 1.2x speed - Journal - MacStories review
This week, Federico and John kick Apple Vision Pro preparations into high gear, sharing the questions they still have about the device and discussing the apps developers are working on.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Sigmund Judge and Devon Dundee, the hosts of Magic Rays of Light, a weekly show that explores the world of Apple TV and Apple Arcade, which has joined MacStories, to discuss the show’s move to MacStories as well as tvOS and the apps we use to track media.
This week, Federico and John pick two apps they’ve been enjoying recently.
John’s Picks
Federico’s Picks
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This week, Federico and John rethink the share sheet and other ways Apple’s platforms share data.
This week, Federico and John introduce the annual MacStories Selects award winners.
This week Federico and John explore alternative Apple timelines by asking the question: What if?
This week, Federico and John conclude their tour of their geeky holiday projects.
This week, Federico and John share their geeky holiday season tech projects.
This week, Federico and John tackle the struggle with staying organized in the face of the never-ending stream of files and other information.
This week, Federico and John explore why there are so many good task managers, but none is a perfect fit with the way they work.
This week, John is joined by Relay FM’s Stephen Hackett for a recap and thoughts on Apple’s Scary Fast event, which was recorded live in the Club MacStories+ Discord.
This week, Federico and John cover the web apps they use and why they’re sometimes preferable to native apps.
This week, John surprises Federico with a link gathering machine he designed for processing and reading the web.
Hardware
Core Apps
Other Apps Discussed
Chrome Extensions
Bookmarklet
This week, Federico and John spend time with the visionOS simulator and consider the design of the Apple Vision Pro system apps and what to expect from third-party developers.
This week, Federico and John are joined by tvOS expert Sigmund Judge, who just finished writing his tvOS 17 review for MacStories, to understand what has changed in tvOS and where it might be heading.
TV Forecast – Track, Explore and Discover Your Favorite Shows and Movies
This week, Federico and John take a look at some of their favorite apps with interactive widgets for iOS 17, iOS 17, and macOS Sonoma.
This week, Federico and John dig into Federico’s review of iOS and iPadOS 17.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Alex live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community for a special episode covering their initial impressions of Apple’s Wonderlust media event, which introduced new iPhones, Apple Watches, and more.
This week, Federico and John look at the history of bookmarking apps, their relationship to read-later apps, how their use of bookmarking apps has changed, and their favorite modern bookmarking apps.
This week, Federico and John look back at the gadgets they’ve accumulated over the summer and share what’s worked and what hasn’t.
This week, Federico and John each share two app recommendations in a classic Pick 2 episode.
This week, Federico and John look at how making apps has changed along with the evolution of Apple’s hardware lineup and what that means for the future of apps on those platforms.
This week, Federico and John look at the latest app trends and where Apple’s system apps are heading to try to answer the question of where the world of apps is heading.
Apps Discussed
This week, Federico and John to talk about Safari, videoconferencing, Messages, and gaming on macOS Sonoma, plus stickers and widgets on iOS and iPadOS 17.
This week, John is joined by Alex Guyot to talk about the watchOS 10 and macOS Sonoma public betas.
This week, Federico and John explore the web apps and services they use and how they use them.
This week, Federico and John conclude a look back at their pre-WWDC OS wishes for iOS 17, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17 and look at which came true.
This week, Federico and John revisit their pre-WWDC OS wishes, including visionOS, macOS, and iPadOS, and look at which came true.
This week, Federico and John consider the impact that this year’s OS releases will have on third-party apps.
This week, John is joined by Alex Guyot to talk about the new features coming to Apple Notes and Reminders, as well as new Mac hardware announced at WWDC.
Federico and John also had the opportunity to sit down with three winners of the Swift Student Challenge in the Apple Podcasts Studio at Apple Park. It was fun and inspiring to chat with Damian Perez, Henri Bredt, and Maria Eduarda Cabral de Lucena.
Today, Federico and John interview the creators of five apps that were finalists or winners of the 2023 Apple Design Awards: Zach Gage, the creator of Knotwords, Swupnil Sahai, the developer of SwingVision, Philipp Nägelsbach, the publisher of Endling, Leon Sasson of Rise: Energy and Sleep, and Jakob Lykkegaard of Lykke Studios the maker of stitch.
In today’s WWDC episode of AppStories, Federico shares his experience with Apple Vision Pro answering questions from John, Alex, and Club MacStories members.
In the latest WWDC episode of AppStories, Federico, John, and Alex are joined by MacPaw developer Serhii Popov for a developer’s perspective on WWDC before covering iPadOS 17’s Stage Manager changes in depth, along with Notes, Reminders, and StandBy.
For this special episode of AppStories, John and Federico were joined by Alex live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community to share their first impressions of the WWDC 2023 Keynote.
This week Federico and John recorded their last-minute thoughts and predictions for WWDC before a live audience in the Club MacStories+ Discord community.
This week, Federico and John talk about Logic Pro for iPad and their wishes for Apple’s rumored mixed reality OS, xrOS.
This week, Federico and John share their wishes for macOS 14.
This week, Federico and John explain the changes to watchOS and tvOS that they’d like to see made in 2023.
This week, Federico and John continue their wish list series with their wishes for iPadOS 17.
This week, Federico and John kick off their annual OS wishes series with a long list of rapid-fire wishes for iOS 17.
This week, Federico explains his return to the Mac, including his hardware setup and the apps he’s using, and John recommends some apps he should try.
appstories
at checkout.This week, Federico and John dig into third-party apps with excellent shortcuts support.
This week, John explains his new link management workflow, combining a series of apps and shortcuts, and Federico shares more about his S-GPT shortcut that integrates ChatGPT with Apple’s OSes.
This week, Federico and John check in on the shortcuts they use the most and the types of tasks they get the most bang for the buck from by automating.
This week, Federico and John each pick two apps they’ve been enjoying recently and explain why.
This week, Federico and John revisit RSS to talk about how syncing services and apps have changed and share how their use of RSS has evolved.
This week, Federico and John answer listener questions about apps, automation, podcasting, tattoos, and more.
This week, Federico and John cover the increasing competition among web browsers and the emerging features they find most useful.
This week, Federico and John compare notes on the Apple Watch Ultra, including what makes it special and what frustrates them, and share the apps they’re using regularly.
This week, Federico and John conclude their mini-series on artificial intelligence with a conversation about the apps they’ve used that include AI features.
This week, Federico and John begin a new series on the impact of artificial intelligence on apps and the world around us. This week’s episode sets the stage with a look at chatbots, image generation tools, and issues and opportunities they raise.
This week, Federico and John conclude their look at Mastodon apps with web and Mac clients, plus Mastodon utilities.
This week, Federico and John cover the iPhone and iPad Mastodon apps they’ve been testing and share what they like and don’t about each.
This week, Federico and John imagine the kinds of apps that may emerge for an Apple VR headset.
This week, Federico and John look at the history of read-later apps and the many similarities and differences between them and today’s read-later apps, like Matter and Reader, as well as link organizers, such as GoodLinks and Anybox.
This week, Federico and John conclude their ‘Gone but Not Forgotten’ series with more third-party apps, including productivity, communications, and entertainment apps, plus games.
This week, Federico, John, and Alex introduce the fifth annual MacStories Selects award winners and interview the MacStories Selects Lifetime Achievement award winner, Greg Pierce, the creator of Drafts.
Best New App: MusicBox
Best App Update: Audio Hijack 4
Best New Feature: Marvis Pro’s customizable sections
Best Watch App: Timery
Best Mac App: Raycast
Best Design: Pixelmator Photo
Readers’ Choice Award: CARROT Weather
App of the Year: Marvis Pro
This week, Federico and John extend last week’s ‘Gone but Not Forgotten’ theme to third-party apps, including Dropbox text editors, Twitter apps, email clients, and more.
This week, Federico and John explore the Apple apps and features that have disappeared from its platforms in recent years.
This week, Federico and John conclude their two-part series on their nerdy holiday projects with home automation, RSS, WiFi, and other plans.
This week, Federico and John share the nerdy holiday season projects they’ve lined up in part 1 of a two-part series.
This week, Federico and John dig into two excellent apps they’ve been enjoying recently: Anybox, a bookmark and file organizer, and Spring, a third-party Twitter client.
This week, Federico and John pick up where they left off in episode 300 by revisiting episode 200 about calendar apps, communications, home assistants, and Federico’s first surprise of 2021.
This week, Federico and John cover Apple’s controversial App Store advertising moves before going in-depth on John’s macOS Ventura review to discuss Stage Manager, System Settings, and Shortcuts.
For today’s second episode of AppStories, Federico and John explore Federico’s story about Stage Manager in iPadOS 16, including its bugs, missing features, and design flaws.
This morning, Federico and John get into the details of Federico’s review of the latest iPad Pro and the new 10th generation iPad.
This week, Federico and John mark episode 300 of the show by revisiting the app trends they covered in episode 100 and discussing the new trends that will shape the apps we use in the next several years.
This week, Federico and John return to the app grab bag to cover more of their favorite releases and updates from the past several weeks.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Widgetsmith developer David Smith to talk about the history of his app, Widgetsmith, iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets, and his recent hike through the Scottish Highlands, where he tested the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera and the Apple Watch
This week, Federico and John tour third-party apps with new iOS 16 features, including more apps with Lock Screen widgets and apps with support for Focus Filters and Shared with You.
More Lock Screen widget apps
Focus Filter apps
Shared with You apps
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This week, Federico and John cover some of their favorite new apps and updates that feature iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets.
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This week, Federico and John dig into Federico’s iOS 16 review, discussing the all-new Lock Screen, wallpaper creation, Focus modes and filters, App Shortcuts, and some of the smaller changes you might have missed.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
This week, John is joined by special guest Jason Snell to talk about macOS Ventura, including iCloud Shared Photo Library, Stage Manager, Shortcuts, and System Settings.
Special guest, Jason Snell
Ventura Previews
iCloud Shared Photos Library
Stage Manager on the Mac
Shortcuts for Mac
What Happened to System Settings?
This week, Federico and John roll up their sleeves to talk about the Music app and how it could be improved.
This week, Federico and John consider what it takes to create a great set of modern Shortcuts actions using examples of what Apple is doing in its own apps and what some of our favorite third-party apps are already doing to make Shortcuts accessible to a wider audience and more useful to power users.
This week, John is joined by Alex Guyot to talk about Alex’s MacStories origin story and walk through all of the changes coming to watchOS this fall as part of the MacStories Summer OS Preview series.
This week, Federico and John consider how iOS and iPadOS 16 are affecting their work and personal lives.
This week, Federico and John dig into the Recently Added folders on their iPhones and the stories they tell about what they’ve been up to lately.
This week, Federico and John conclude their in-depth look at changes coming to Apple’s system apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, including Home, Notes, Reminders, and Shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John continue the MacStories Summer OS Preview Series with part one of their in-depth look at changes coming to Apple’s system apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, including Weather, Clock, Safari, Mail, Messages, and Photos.
To kick off our Summer OS Preview Series, Federico and John cover the top new features of iOS and iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, that are now available as part of Apple’s public beta program.
This week, Federico and John survey some of their favorite reading and research apps across all of Apple’s platforms.
This week, Federico and John share some of their favorite Mac apps, including new discoveries and old favorites.
This week, Federico and John reach into the App Grab Bag and pull out five recommendations for listeners to try.
This week, Federico and John take a step back to consider the future of WWDC and what this year’s announcements mean for each of Apple’s platforms.
In the latest installment of AppStories’ special WWDC series, Federico and John talk about how they use the Developer app before diving into Shortcuts with a closer look at App Shortcuts and some of the new actions Shortcuts has to offer and considering some of the wishes that didn’t come true in 2022.
In the latest installment of AppStories’ special WWDC series, Federico and John are joined by Myke Hurley to talk about the M2 MacBook Air, as well as Stage Manager and gaming on macOS Ventura.
In the latest installment of AppStories’ special WWDC series, Federico and John dig in deeper on the desktop-class features being added to iPadOS and the new functionality in Reminders on all platforms.
For today’s special bonus episode of AppStories, Federico and John interview the creators of three 2022 Apple Design Award winning apps and games: Claire d’Este of Savage Interactive, the maker of Procreate, Curtis Herbert of Breakpoint Studios, the creator of Slopes, and Joe Lee of Netmarble, the developer of MARVEL Future Revolution.
In today’s first special WWDC 2022 episode that was recorded live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, Federico, John, and Alex cover the highlights of Apple’s keynote, including iOS and iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and watchOS 9.
This week, Federico and John conclude their annual OS wishes series with a look at what they want to see in macOS this year at WWDC.
This week, Federico and John tackle iPadOS and the changes they’d like to see come to iPad this year, and they revisit some of their Shortcuts wishes for 2022.
This week, John and Alex tackle their watchOS 9 wishes, and then Federico and John are joined by Myke Hurley to consider what they’d like to see added to tvOS 16.
This week, Federico and John kick off their annual ‘OS wishes’ series with a look at their wishes for iOS 16, including everything from system-level features to the iPhone’s built-in apps.
This week, Federico and John revisit the state of gaming on Apple’s platforms considering hardware, OS support, services, and the games themselves.
This week, Federico and John share their favorite third-party apps with deep Shortcuts integration.
This week, Federico and John dig into the collection of shortcuts that they’ve released during Automation April so far, including Federico’s Split View Presets and Cleanup Twitter Link and John’s Timestamped Notes and myTunes shortcuts.
Federico
John
This week, Federico and John interview Rodrigo and Victor Araújo, about the many-layered ways that Pushcut extends the utility of Shortcuts and Anders Borum, the creator of the iOS and iPadOS Git client Working Copy, about the app’s use of Shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John introduce Automation April, a month-long community celebration of automation on Apple’s platforms and share their Shortcuts library setups.
This week, Federico and John had the pleasure to interview Apple’s Vivek Bhardwaj about Universal Control, Shortcuts, Live Text, and more.
This week, Federico and John dig into the details of the iOS and iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3 updates that were released by Apple last week.
In this special bonus episode of AppStories, Federico and John dive into Federico’s review of Apple’s 5th generation iPad Air, which will be available Friday, March 18th.
Federico’s Review: iPad Air 2022 Review: Refined Balance
This week, Federico and John cover their first impressions of the iPad Air, Mac Studio, and Studio Display, including Federico’s thoughts on where the Air fits into the iPad lineup and John’s take on what to keep in mind when customizing a Mac Studio.
This week, Federico and John talk about how to get more out of Twitter while avoiding doom scrolling, through a combination of advanced Twitter features, third-party apps, and Shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John survey the many Apple hardware rumors circulating and take a stab at predicting the new hardware we’ll see in 2022.
This week, Federico explains his experiments with injecting code into shortcuts before he and John cover ten innovations from third-party apps that they would like to see Apple adopt in its system apps and OSes.
This week, Federico and John revisit their 2021 Shortcuts wishes to see what came true and share a long list of additional ways they’d like to see the app evolve in 2022.
This week, Federico and John conclude their tour of new apps they are trying for the first time or revisiting.
This week, Federico and John look back at their MacStories Starter Pack coverage last week, digging into the themes and details of each of the stories they wrote and the ways you can incorporate everything into your own workflows.
The MacStories Starter Pack
Also mentioned:
This week, Federico and John share a collection of apps they are trying for the first time or revisiting, including email apps, a new Mac launcher, an Apple Music utility, a podcast player, and a read-it-later app.
Federico and John continue their coverage of third-party Obsidian plugins and how they use them to customize the app’s functionality.
This week, Federico and John embark on a tour of the third-party plugins they use to customize Obsidian.
This week, Federico and John look at the trends they expect to see in 2022, including trends that will continue from 2021 and new trends they think will emerge in the new year.
This week, Federico and John introduce the fourth annual MacStories Selects award winners and interview the first MacStories Selects Lifetime Achievement award winner, James Thomson, the creator of PCalc.
This week, Federico and John continue their series on Obsidian with a look at the app’s core plugins, which enable many of the app’s most advanced features.
This week, Federico and John introduce part one of a new series on Obsidian, explaining what the app is and does, why it’s important, the compromises that come along with using a non-native app, and how they are using it.
This week, Federico and John explain how Shortcuts for Mac differs from other automation tools, cover some of the roadblocks they’ve hit, and discuss how they’re adapting existing shortcuts to the Mac and building all-new ones.
This week, Federico and John dive back into their favorite iOS and iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey tips.
This week, Federico and John go into detail on their iPad mini Home Screen setups, including how they differ from other devices and their use of widgets, Focus modes, and Shortcuts to manage the setups.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
This week, Federico and John dig into SharePlay and the other changes released last week with iOS and iPadOS 15.1.
This week, Federico and John dive into John’s review of macOS Monterey and what it means for users and the future of the platform.
This week, Federico and John are joined by Alex Guyot live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community for a special episode recapping and breaking down everything announced by Apple at its latest online event, including the Apple Music, HomePod, and AirPods 3 announcements and the all-new MacBook Pros.
This week, Federico and John share a long list of iOS and iPadOS 15 tips, highlighting lesser-known features that they are using to get the most out of the latest versions of the OSes.
This week, Federico and John look at the the best of the first Safari extensions released for the iPhone and iPad.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about the benefits included with an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
This week, Federico and John go beyond the specs to figure out what it is about the new iPad mini that makes it so special.
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This week, John interviews Federico about his iOS and iPadOS 15 review live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community, covering the challenges of writing this year’s review, Focus mode, Safari changes, Shortcuts, Live Text, the Shelf, listener questions, and more.
This week, Federico and John look at Apple’s evolving approach to the way HomeKit devices and entertainment features are incorporated into the company’s OSes.
This week, Federico and John examine the growing trend of app customization in the context of Apple’s system apps focusing on Reminders’ Tag Browser and Smart Lists and Notes’ Tag Browser and Smart Folders.
This week, Federico and John explore the many ways Mac apps can be made today and how the frameworks, along with design choices and other factors are redefining the landscape of apps on the Mac and what constitutes a great Mac app.
This week, Federico and John introduce two new tiers of Club MacStories, run down all the new features of each tier, explain the web app that powers it all, and officially release a back catalog of three months worth of bonus AppStories+ content.
This week, Federico and John explore the world of sideloaded apps and games on the iPhone and iPad, including AltStore and the kinds of apps and game emulators it makes possible.
This week, Federico and John continue the Summer OS Preview Series with special guest Malin Sundberg, the creator of time tracking app Orbit, for a chat about the development of Orbit, SwiftUI, Shortcuts for Mac, SharePlay, and more.
Malin Sundberg
– Website
– Twitter
– Orbit, a time tracking and invoicing app for Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch
– Cup of Tech podcast
This week, Federico and John dig into the latest public beta and share their thoughts on changes to Safari on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Books on the Mac, Quick Note, Focus, and Live Text.
This week, Federico and John consider whether changes coming to Apple’s OSes make a system app-only research and writing workflow possible and discuss where there’s room for improvement.
This week, Federico and John continue the Summer OS Preview Series with special guest Gui Rambo for a chat about SharePlay, Shortcuts for Mac, Gui’s app AirBuddy, SwiftUI, and more.
Gui’s Apps
SharePlay
Framework Wishes
This week, Federico and John discuss the emerging trend of app customization, which along with app modularity, lets users control how apps work and look.
This week, Federico and John continue the MacStories Summer OS Preview Series by interviewing Marcos Tanaka, the creator of MusicHarbor and MusicSmart about the latest changes to Apple’s music-related frameworks, his apps, and more.
Marcos Tanaka
Apps
MacStories Coverage
APIs
This week, Federico and John walk through all the changes coming to Shortcuts this fall, including changes to the Shortcuts editor and the new actions you’ll find in Shortcuts on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
This week, Federico and John dig into the latest iteration of the research and note-taking setup that Federico is using to prepare his annual iOS and iPadOS review, which features Obsidian.
For today’s special bonus episode of AppStories, Federico and John interview the creators of four 2021 Apple Design Award winning apps and games: Winston Chen, creator of Voice Dream Reader; Esther Huybreghts, Mathijs Demaeght, and Melissa Cash from Pok Pok, creators of Pok Pok Playroom; Brian Mueller, creator of CARROT Weather; and Maria Sayans and David Fernandez Huerta from ustwo games, creators of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.
This week, Federico and John cover the three features that will sell iOS 15 to most users: Focus Mode, SharePlay, and Live Text and share some of their recent audio gear purchases for lossless streaming and AirPlay. They also take questions from listeners who watched on Instagram Live.
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John discuss the sorts of tools that could be built with Safari Web Extensions and Federico explains how Live Text works and can be used in practice.
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John take a closer look at the new folder and file actions coming to Shortcuts, discuss the intriguing potential of Quick Note, and are skeptical about some of the Safari design changes.
In today’s special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John cover Shortcuts for Mac, new ways to navigate the iPad using the keyboard, and developer tools, including TestFlight for Mac, Swift Playgrounds, and RealityKit 2’s Object Capture.
In today’s first special WWDC 2021 episode, Federico and John cover the highlights of Apple’s keynote, including iOS and iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8.
This week, Federico and John are joined by MacStories editor and senior developer Alex Guyot to conclude their WWDC wish list series with a look at tvOS and watchOS.
This week, Federico and John jump back into their pre-WWDC wishlist series with a look at iPadOS and the sorts of OS improvements that are needed for apps to take advantage of the iPad Pro’s new M1 chip.
For this special bonus episode, Federico and John dig into Federico’s review of the 2021 iPad Pro to talk about its Liquid Retina XDR display, Thunderbolt, the gap between the iPad Pro’s hardware and its software, the M1 chip, Center Stage, and more.
This week, Federico and John continue their WWDC wish list series with a deep dive into the iOS 15 features they’d like to see announced at Apple’s annual developer conference.
This week, Federico and John begin their annual pre-WWDC wish list episodes with their 2021 wishes for macOS.
This week, Federico and John explore the popularity of Substack among writers leaving big media companies, rethink their email workflows after leaving Hey, and consider data portability and the tradeoffs of proprietary app systems.
This week, Federico and John take an in-depth look at everything coming later this week with iOS and iPadOS 14.5, which will be the subject of a comprehensive review by Federico on MacStories.
This week, Federico and John conclude their music miniseries with an episode dedicated to alternative and companion streaming services after checking in on Federico’s early experiments with an extensible text editor.
This week, Federico and John introduce part two of their Music miniseries, with a focus on third-party music discovery, playback, and utility apps.
This week, Federico and John talk about Apple Arcade’s big expansion and the iOS component of John’s retro gaming project before beginning a new mini-series focused on music. For the first installment, Federico and John focus on hardware and services, covering their current setups, how they listen to music, and the services they use.
This week, Federico and John scrutinize Apple’s home strategy from its discontinued Airport routers and HomePod to the Apple TV, HomePod mini, HomeKit routers, the Home app, and more, plus ongoing browser and calendar experiments, and the hunt for an elusive keyboard continues.
This week, Federico and John, who are always on the lookout for new ways to read and process the stories they find, discuss the features and approaches they’d like to see in the ideal read-it-later app.
This week, Federico and John consider why surprising apps seem increasingly rare and share some of the apps that have surprised them the most over the past year.
This week, Federico and John dig into email newsletters and how they manage and read them.
What’s New
Newsletter Management and Reading
This week, Federico and John take a hard look at Shortcuts, an app they rely on every day, and consider how they would like to see Apple evolve the app this year and beyond.
What’s New
Shortcuts Wish List, 2021 Edition
This week, Federico and John flip last week’s topic around and consider the hardware and software features that the iPad should steal from the Mac.
What’s New
Features We’d Like the iPad to Steal from the Mac
This week, Federico and John consider the hardware and software features that the Mac should steal from the iPad.
This week, Federico and John discuss the iPhone and iPad accessories they use most and explain a couple of recent failed accessory experiments.
This week, Federico and John cover everything about their writing workflows except the text editor, including research apps, their scratchpad setups, PDF annotation, mind mapping, dictionaries, and shortcuts, along with a segment on text-based podcast editing and transcripts.
This week, Federico and John discuss the many aspects of app modularity, including where it started, how it’s supported by Apple, what developers are doing to push modularity forward, and trends to watch for in 2021.
This week, Federico and John share their HomeKit device setups, how they control them, the automations they use, and provide advice on approaching home automation projects.
This week, Federico and John conclude their miniseries on workflows with a look at what they’re using to manage calendar events and team communications. Plus, Federico springs a big app surprise on John and listeners.
This week Federico takes listeners along on his recent tour of modern task managers, and he and John discuss the app they have settled on to keep track of their projects and to-dos.
This week, Federico and John reveal and discuss the 2020 MacStories Selects Award winners and runners-up.
This week, Federico and John continue their mini-series focused on breaking down and rethinking the core workflows behind MacStories by tackling note-taking and their adoption of Craft for personal and collaborative notes.
This week Federico and John kick off a new mini-series focused on breaking down and rethinking the core workflows behind MacStories. In this first installment, we revisit how the MacStories team uses email, a long-standing workflow that has changed very little since the site was founded, and why we chose to move to HEY by Basecamp.
This week Federico and John break down the App Store Small Business Program, other App Store and developer changes announced in 2020, and consider what else Apple could do to make the App Store a better place for developers.
This week, Federico and John dive into John’s macOS Big Sur review to talk about Control Center, Notification Center and widgets, Mac Catalyst apps, Safari extensions, design, and even the upcoming M1 Macs.
This week, Federico and John consider the rumor that TestFlight is coming for the Mac and share the iOS apps they hope will find their way to the Mac.
This week, Federico and John consider how widgets have changed how they use their iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
This week, Federico and John explore the third-party apps enabled by Apple’s latest hardware and developer frameworks.
In this special episode of AppStories, John interviews Federico about the all-new iPad Air, which Federico has been testing and reviewed on MacStories. Federico explains why the new iPad Air is Apple’s most forward-looking iPad that stands at the intersection of the iPad Pro and the rest of the company’s line-up, and covers every aspect of the hardware, design, and differences compared to other iPad models, along with practical advice on who should consider buying the new iPad Air.
This week, Federico and John dig into the latest Apple event to uncover new features and innovations coming to the Home app, Siri, and mobile photography.
This week, Federico and John dive into Federico’s annual iOS and iPadOS review to look at big picture trends like Compact UI along with the changes to iPadOS, the Apple Pencil’s new Scribble feature, and Shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John tour music widgets, one of their favorite categories, exploring the many widgets they’re using to listen to music and follow their favorite artists.
This week, Federico and John revisit their approaches to their iPhone Home Screens, including the third-party widgets they’re using, and how they are optimizing their mix of apps and widgets since the iOS 14 update. Federico also shares a trick for integrating certain widgets and folders of icons into his wallpaper.
This week Federico and John conclude the MacStories Summer OS Preview Series by interviewing designer Michael Flarup about Mac iconography, the design of Mac Catalyst apps, content-focused design on the iPad, augmented reality, and more.
This week, Federico and John dig into the details of Apple’s new App Review Guidelines, which address game streaming services, advertising, ‘reader apps,’ and more.
This week Federico and John explain their emerging strategies for using widgets in the Today view, mixed with apps on their Home screens, and on dedicated widget-only Home screens.
This week Federico and John explore Apple’s 2020 gaming updates, including deeper controller support and a refreshed Game Center, which are coming this fall.
This week Federico and John continue the MacStories Summer OS Preview Series by interviewing Vidit Bhargava, the creator of LookUp, a dictionary app available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, about design, Mac Catalyst apps, and a whole lot more.
This week Federico and John revisit Mac Catalyst, the technology used to bring iPad apps to the Mac, to discuss what’s changed since WWDC 2019, debate where Mac Catalyst fits in Apple’s overall app strategy, and share some of their favorite Mac Catalyst apps.
This week Federico and John interview developer David Smith about watchOS, widgets, what the announcements at WWDC this year mean for developers and users, and David’s apps, including a new one he’s working on for the fall.
This week Federico and John are joined by Guilherme Rambo for the first interview of the MacStories Summer OS Preview Series to talk about Mac Catalyst, SwiftUI, Apple Silicon, the App Store and more.
This week Federico and John consider what makes an app’s design great, the balance between form and function, and some of our favorite app designs.
This week Federico and John bring back an AppStories classic: Pick 2, an in-depth look at two apps. In this installment, Federico explains why he has been revisiting Castro for listening to podcasts, and John covers the evolution of Grammarly into a terrific grammar and spell-checking app for writers.
This week John is joined by Relay FM co-founder Myke Hurley to talk about the apps he uses to stay in touch with the hosts of the network’s shows and manage sponsorship sales, show research, episode production, and more.
This week Federico and John interview the creators of three 2020 Apple Design Award winning apps and games: Majd Taby of Darkroom, Sam Rosenthal of Where Cards Fall, and Jenova Chen of Sky: Children of the Light.
This week Federico and John cover updates coming to Messages, Home, Notes, Reminders, and Safari this fall.
Wrapping up AppStories’ WWDC coverage, Federico and John talk Apple Silicon, the macOS redesign, and dig into the many changes to Shortcuts.
In today’s special daily WWDC 2020 episode, Federico and John report on their first two days using the iOS and iPadOS 14 betas, obsess about some of their favorite small details, and examine App Clips.
In today’s special daily WWDC 2020 episode, Federico and John look at widgets, the dynamic, but not interactive, extensions available in iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps that provide new ways to deliver quick, glanceable updates to users.
In today’s first WWDC 2020 episode, Federico and John cover the highlights of Apple’s keynote, including widgets, the App Library, App Clips, and design changes in iOS 14, system-wide sidebars and Apple Pencil updates in iPadOS 14, sleep tracking and the Fitness app in watchOS 7, and macOS Big Sur’s big redesign, Safari, and the transition to Apple Silicon.
This week Federico and John cover the latest news about WWDC and conclude their WWDC wishes series with a look at iOS, including Messages, Files, Shortcuts, the share sheet, the App Store, and more.
This week Federico and John continue their WWDC wishes series with a look at macOS, including the bug fixes, system-level changes, and Apple app enhancements they would like to see at WWDC this year.
This week, Federico and John share their wishes for watchOS and tvOS including a fitness app, more customization and complication options, APIs for third-party TV remotes, and more.
This week, Federico and John, who have been spending too many of their waking hours investigating research apps on iPadOS and the Mac, discuss the features and approaches they’d like to see in an ideal research app or suite of apps.
This week, Federico and John share their wishes for iPadOS including audio source control, multitasking, external display support, Search, keyboard and trackpad support, and more.
This week, Federico and John discuss the evolution of Apple’s platforms and the new generation apps that are emerging across every platform from the Apple Watch to the Mac and embracing those new technologies and business models.
In this special episode of AppStories, Federico interviews Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi about iPadOS, pointer support, and more.
This week, Federico and John discuss the apps Federico uses to research, write, and edit his annual iOS and iPadOS review, including the changes he anticipates making this year and the new apps he’s considering.
This week, Federico and John dig into the utility grab bag to cover eight more of their favorite iOS and iPadOS utility apps.
This week, Federico and John look back at the origins of clipboard apps on iOS, how they’ve evolved, and the apps they’re currently using on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to save snippets of information for use elsewhere.
This week, Federico and John discuss their approaches to digital spring cleaning.
This week, Federico and John recap MacStories’ iPad at 10 coverage and then compare notes on the research apps they use and approaches they take when working on a big project.
This week, Federico and John kick off MacStories’ celebration of the 10th anniversary of the iPad’s launch with an episode that reflects on the device’s history, its place in Apple’s product lineup, and the iPad as a modular computing device.
This week, Federico and John talk about how the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way they relax, work, and approach their days.
This week, Federico and John discuss apps they’d like to see Apple build into iOS and iPadOS 14.
This week, Federico and John explore some of their favorite iOS and iPadOS utility apps.
This week, Federico and John revisit the topic of app subscriptions and what they’ve learned in the nearly three years since they covered subscriptions in episode 5.
This week, Federico and John explore how Apple is increasingly blending services with its apps, where the mix has worked, where it hasn’t, and where they expect the trend will lead next.
This week, Federico and John explore how they approach testing unfamiliar apps and workflows.
This week, Federico and John discuss the updates to Apple’s OSes and developer tools, the changes to the app economy they signal, and the impact they’ll have on users and developers.
This week, Federico and John discuss the features and technologies that go into building a modern iOS or iPadOS app with examples of some of their favorite implementations.
This week, Federico and John look back at the introduction of the iPad ten years ago, the apps announced onstage, and how the iPad’s app story has changed over the past decade.
This week, Federico and John tackle music discovery apps, third-party music players, websites, and MusicBot.
This week, Federico and John cover Shortcuts utilities including Toolbox Pro, Pushcut, and LaunchCuts. They also preview an upcoming Shortcuts utility from Simon Stovring called Data Jar and explain the difference between Shortcuts, shortcuts, Siri Shortcuts, and other terminology.
This week, Federico and John discuss the sort of sophisticated web apps that can be used with Safari on iPadOS 13 and share a bunch of tips and tricks based on Apple’s latest updates to Safari.
This week on AppStories, Federico and John reveal the 2019 MacStories Selects Awards.
This week, we share our 2020 wishes for Apple’s system apps on iOS and the Mac.
This week, Federico and John cover one of their favorite RSS client for the Mac and iOS: Reeder by Silvio Rizzi.
This week, Federico and John dive into their favorite HomeKit devices, apps, and automations.
This week, Federico and John are joined by developer Zac Cohan, the creator of Soulver, a combination notepad and calculator that reimagines how calculations are made on the Mac and iOS.
This week, Federico and John share their thoughts on Apple’s new TV+ video streaming TV app, including what works, what doesn’t, and ways they think it could be improved.
This week, in what has become an annual tradition, Federico and John talk about how they’ve set up their Apple Watches, including the complications they use, the third-party apps on which they rely, and what’s in their Watch docks.
HomePod Update
Our Apple Watch Setups
Apps
This week, Federico and John talk about GameClub, the classic iOS game service that launched last week, and some of the shortcuts they’ve been working on lately.
This week, Federico and John interview James Thomson, the creator of PCalc and Dice, for a developer’s perspective on Mac Catalyst and go behind the scenes of Federico’s iPhone 11 Pro camera story, Eternal City, Modern Photography: The iPhone 11 Pro in Rome.
This week, Federico and John discuss Mac Catalyst, the technology for bringing iPad apps to the Mac, and round up some of their favorite Mac Catalyst apps that have been released so far.
Federico helps John set up an iPod touch as a media companion for watching TV and movies, enjoying music, and controlling HomeKit devices.
This week, Federico and John cover the all-new MacStories Shortcuts Icons, a set of 300 custom icons for shortcuts that you can add to your Home screen and then revisit Apple Arcade in the wake of its public launch discussing some of their favorite games so far.
There are major changes to Shortcuts in iOS and iPadOS 13 and coming on September 24th with iOS and iPadOS 13.1. Federico and John explore what the changes mean to third-party apps, who’s using them, and what it means to users.
Federico’s iOS and iPadOS 13 review is out, so we’ve got a special episode of AppStories all about the big-picture changes to the OSes, the evolution of Shortcuts into a Siri development tool supported by third-party developers, the balancing act Apple performs when updating apps distributed to hundreds of millions of users, and lots of interesting little details about iOS and iPadOS 13.
Join Club MacStories for lots of great iOS and iPadOS 13 review extras:
This week, Federico and John dive into the new and updated apps announced at Apple’s fall keynote including Compass, Camera, and the upcoming Apple Arcade game subscription service.
This week, Federico and John introduce the fourth anniversary of Club MacStories and then discuss the changes coming to iOS and iPadOS 13’s share sheet and how it has begun to change how they use it.
This week, Federico and John discuss why they’ve both returned to Apple Mail after years of looking for a better email solution.
This week, Federico and John cover Apple’s new second-screen feature coming to macOS Catalina and iOS 13 in the fall and what it means for both platforms.
This week, John is joined by his MacStories colleague Ryan Christoffel to talk about the big changes coming to Apple Maps this fall with iOS 13.
This week, John is joined by Casey Liss to dig into the big changes coming to CarPlay in iOS 13 and the story behind Vignette, Casey’s app for assigning profile pictures to contacts.
This week, Federico and John consider the state of Apple’s built-in apps and whether it’s getting harder for third-party developers to compete with them.
This week, Federico and John talk about pro app subscriptions in the context of the recently-released flight tracker, Flighty, and the new home automation possibilities available when combining new features of iOS 13 with an app/service like Pushover.
This week, Federico provides an update on the progress he’s made on his iOS 13 review, and then he and John dig into how travel affects the apps and gear they use.
This week, Federico and John take a close look at the upcoming changes to the Photos app on iOS and the Mac.
This week, Federico and John look at the strange assortment of apps they’ve downloaded recently.
This week, Federico and John continue their series of episodes on the new and updated apps coming from Apple in the fall with Reminders.
This week, Federico and John dig into the role of Catalyst in Apple’s Mac and iPad strategy expanding on Catalyst Can Rescue the Mac and Grow the iPad, a story John wrote on MacStories.
This week, Federico and John start a series of episodes on the new and updated apps coming to iOS and macOS Catalina in the fall starting with Notes.
This week, Federico and John are joined by MacStories colleague Alex Guyot in San Jose where they talk about the upcoming Notes, Reminders, Apple Watch, and Shortcuts updates coming in the fall.
This week, Federico and John are in San Jose attending WWDC where Federico sat down with Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering to talk about Apple’s new developer tools like Catalyst and SwiftUI, as well as iPadOS.
This week, Federico and John talk about one of their favorite new iOS apps: Timery, a client app for Toggl’s time tracking service. They also preview Dialog, a new seasonal podcast from MacStories featuring weekly, in-depth conversations with special guests about the impact of technology on creativity, society, and culture, which debuts on May 28th.
This week, Federico and John discuss the process of creating Federico’s story, Beyond the Tablet: Seven Years of iPad as My Main Computer and some of the topics from the story; later, they are joined by Brian King who worked with Federico on the introductory animation and 3D-rendered images throughout the story.
This week, Federico and John share their thoughts on the latest iOS 13 app rumors reported by Mark Gurman and 9to5Mac and other features and updates they’d like to see Apple implement this year.
This week, Federico and John revisit their discussion of the breakup of iTunes from Episode 21 in light of the latest Marzipan rumors.
This week, Federico and John take a deep dive into two apps they’ve been using a lot lately, Moment Pro Camera and the recently-released MindNode 6.
This week, Federico and John talk about their new Mac minis, the very different ways they use them, and the apps they rely on the most.
This week, to mark MacStories’ 10th anniversary, John interviews Federico about how MacStories got started, what led to the MacStories that readers know today, and what’s in store for the site and other MacStories properties in the future.
This week, Federico and John take a close look at the apps and services announced by Apple at its March 25th services event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino including the TV app, News, Apple Arcade, and Apple Card.
This week, Federico and John cover pro iOS audio, photography, video, and art apps that stretch the platform and discuss where the OS is holding them back.
This week, Federico and John continue their discussion of iOS 13 wishes, this time focussing on HomeKit and Shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John discuss their favorite reading apps including Apple Books, Kindle, Comixology, Shonen Jump and Apple News.
This week, Federico and John dive back into their collections of iOS and Mac utilities and discuss four more favorites.
This week, Federico and John discuss their iOS 13 wishes for the Files app and iPad home screen.
This week, Federico and John discuss some of the trends they expect will drive app development on iOS and the Mac this year and into the future.
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This week, Federico and John each pick an aspect of their MacStories work and break down the apps, workflows, and processes they use to accomplish it.
This week, Federico and John dive into Federico’s experiments in mixed iOS and Mac automation for controlling his Mac mini, iTunes, and podcasting setup.
This week, Federico and John dive into their collections of iOS and Mac utilities and discuss some favorites.
This week, Federico and John consider Apple’s latest iPad ads and provide suggestions of other third-party apps the company could use to show off its hardware.
This episode of AppStories is sponsored by:
This week, Federico and John interview Yarrow Cheney, whose animated feature film credits include directing The Grinch and The Secret Life of Pets and production design for the Despicable Me movies and The Lorax, about the role the iPad plays in his filmmaking process.
Some of the films Yarrow Cheney has worked on:
Yarrow Cheney online:
Apps discussed:
This week, we interview Edwin Smith of Feral Interactive, the developer and publisher of Mac and iOS games about the design challenges of bringing complex desktop games to the iPad and iPhone.
This week, Federico and John discuss the themes that run throughout their 2018 iOS and Mac must-have apps and what they mean for 2019.
This week, Federico and John unveil the MacStories team’s 2018 MacStories Selects for Best New App, Best New Game, and Best App Update.
Introducing MacStories Selects: The Best New Apps, App Updates, and iOS Games of 2018
Best New App
Best New Game
Best App Update
This week, Federico and John explore the apps they use for planning everything from the upcoming year to the week ahead.
This week, Federico and John take on iOS photography by discussing some of their favorite RAW camera apps and photo editors.
This week, Federico and John take iOS for a car ride covering CarPlay, Do Not Disturb, in-car dongles, and automation.
This week, Federico and John talk about the extra RAM in the 1TB iPad Pro, external display confusion, and John’s return to the iPad Pro after a summer of using the 9.7-inch iPad.
This week, Federico and John go in-depth on two apps they’ve been using a lot recently: Grocery, a grocery shopping list app, and HomeRun, an Apple Watch app for triggering HomeKit scenes.
Expanding Apple’s Reminders with Third-Party Apps Grocery Mpow Car Bluetooth Adapter HomeRun
This week, Federico and John talk about the new iPad Pros announced at the event held by Apple in Brooklyn, New York, the apps announced onstage and that Federico tried in the hands-on area, Apple’s dubious comparison of the iPad GPU to the Xbox One S, and the first-party apps they expected but didn’t see.
This week, Federico and John talk about some of the ways they personalize and tweak their iOS setups, including wallpapers, widgets, control center, share sheet, app icons, and more.
This week, Federico and John go over more of their favorite shortcuts, focusing on web API-based shortcuts and creating menus to organize and launch shortcuts.
This week, Federico and John discuss some of their most frequently-used shortcuts for work and their personal lives.
This week, Federico and John talk about how they’ve set up their new Series 4 Apple Watches including the complications they use, new apps they are trying, and what’s in their Watch docks.
This week, Federico and John consider what the new Marzipan apps in Mojave may mean for the future of apps on all of Apple’s hardware platforms.
This week, Federico and John discuss more of their favorite iOS and watchOS app debuts and updates highlighting iOS 12 and watchOS 5 features.
This week, Federico and John dig into some of their favorite iOS app debuts and updates highlighting iOS 12 features.
This week, Federico and John explore Twitter clients, other specialized Twitter apps, and how they use them.
This week, Federico and John take a look at apps that integrate with Apple’s iOS Reminders app, which besides being a default app, is also a system framework.
Federico returns from vacation to discuss the share sheet extensions that he and John use on their iOS devices.
John is joined by Merlin Mann to discuss managing family tech use and the upcoming iOS 12 Screen Time family features.
John is joined by Alex Cox in an attempt to fix his messy iPhone screens.
John is joined by Stephen Hackett to compare and discuss their Mac menu bar apps.
Federico and John consider the elements that make an app a pro app.
Federico and John discuss the world of apps for viewing, organizing, marking up, editing, and creating PDFs.
Federico and John discuss the apps they use to manage large projects like the MacStories and AppStories coverage of the App Store’s 10th anniversary and Apple’s fall OS releases.
Federico and John are joined by Team Alto members Ryan Cash and Harry Nesbitt.
Federico and John interview Michael Flarup and Marc Edwards about iOS app design.
Federico and John are joined by independent game developer Zach Gage the creator of hit games like Ridiculous Fishing, SpellTower, Really Bad Chess, Typeshift, Flipflop Solitaire, and Pocket Run Pool to discuss the App Store’s effect on gaming.
Federico and John interview Becky Hansmeyer, the creator of Snapthread and Heidi Helen Pilypas, the designer of Stamp Pack and the upcoming Capsicum.
Federico and John interview Marco Arment, the creator or Instapaper and Overcast and David Smith who has many apps including health and fitness apps such as Pedometer++, Workouts++, Activity++, and Sleep++ about building sustainable businesses over the past decade of the App Store.
Federico and John interview Craig Hockenberry of The Iconfactory and James Thomson, the creator of PCalc and DragThing, about the earliest days of the App Store.
It’s storytime on AppStories. Federico and John tell some of their favorite personal stories about apps and the App Store.
This episode of AppStories is sponsored by:
Federico and John clear up confusion about SiriKit and discuss the apps that support it.
Federico and John take a close look at the tools coming in iOS 12 to help monitor and control time spent on iOS devices and compare those to what they wished for in Episode 56.
Federico and John discuss the new and updated apps announced at WWDC 2018.
Federico and John discuss the apps on their current iPhone X Home screens.
John’s Home Screen:
John’s Wallpaper:
John’s Apps:
Federico’s Home Screen:
Federico’s Apps:
Federico and John look at what Apple could do to use iOS and its large developer community to revitalize the Mac app ecosystem.
Federico and John go in-depth on two recently-updated apps. In this installment of Pick 2, Federico covers Spark 2, which has added app integrations into the iOS version and team collaboration to the iOS and Mac versions while John covers 1Password 7 for the Mac, a significant redesign that expands the functionality and flexibility of features like Watchtower and Vaults.
Federico and John talk about managing time spent on smartphones, including what manufacturers like Apple and Google are doing to address the issue, what users can do, and how they deal with being on their iPhones too much.
Federico and John discuss their wishes for Apple’s iOS system apps.
Federico and John pick two apps they use regularly to discuss. In this installment of Pick 2, John covers GoodNotes and how he uses it for planning and editing, and Federico explains how he and the MacStories team use Working Copy to collaborate on articles.
Federico and John cover how they use the Apple TV and highlight a handful of notable Apple TV apps.
Federico and John consider the pros and cons of do-everything and single-purpose apps.
Federico and John conclude their series on information overload with a discussion of how they save content for consumption later.
In part one of a two-part topic, Federico and John explore the apps they use to manage information overload and interruptions.
Federico and John take a deeper look at two favorite apps. In this installment: Bear and DEVONthink.
Federico and John interview filmmaker and YouTuber James Rath, who is legally blind, about accessibility on Apple’s platforms.
A Selection of James’ Videos:
Hardware and Apps James Uses:
Pikachu
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Federico and John look at the apps Apple has acquired over the years and where they are now.
Federico and John look back at where health, fitness, and quantified self apps have been, where they’re going, and how hardware and software advancements are changing the way we track and gain insights about our health and fitness.
Federico and John interview two members of Team Alto, Harry Nesbitt and Ryan Cash, about Alto’s Adventure, the challenges they faced in following it up with Alto’s Odyssey, the creative process of making games, and the mobile game industry.
Federico and John talk about the trends and app culture surrounding mindfulness and meditation apps.
This episode of AppStories is sponsored by:
Federico and John follow up their RSS app and service episode with a closer look at how each of them uses RSS for work and pleasure reading.
The RSS sync service and reader app landscape makes it difficult to find the perfect combination of features for the way you read the news. Federico and John sift through the many options and highlight what they look for in modern iOS and Mac RSS clients.
Nearly five months into iOS 11, Federico and John take a look at how iOS 11 has changed not only the way they work, but also how it has impacted their use of lifestyle, health and fitness, media consumption, and other types of apps.
Federico and John discuss their TV and movie watching habits, hardware, and how they use apps as part of the process.
Federico’s Setup
John’s Setup
The Mac App Store has fallen behind the iOS App Store. Federico and John discuss the Store’s problems and consider how Apple might address them.
Federico and John interview James Thomson about the origins of PCalc and DragThing, life as an indie developer, selling apps on the App Store and Mac App Store, and more.
Apps
James Thomson
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Federico and John discuss the features that their ideal iOS and Mac email clients would have and what they are using now.
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Federico and John discuss app pre-orders, a new feature introduced by Apple that has interesting implications for developers and their customers.
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Federico and John interview Christian Selig, the creator of the popular iOS Reddit client Apollo about the development and design of the app, incorporating Redditors’ feedback, the complexities inherent in building a Reddit app, and working in Swift.
Apollo
Christian Selig
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Federico and John pick two apps they’ve been experimenting with recently and discuss how it’s going so far. In this installment of Pick 2, John covers macOS image editor Pixelmator Pro, which was released last week, and Federico explains how he’s integrated Things 3 for iOS into recent projects.
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Federico and John talk about the Apple Watch apps they use and how their use of the Watch has changed as the product has evolved.
Federico and John consider why some apps sit unused in ‘folders of good intentions’ on their iOS and macOS devices.
Federico and John look at apps that have been designed for the iPhone X and consider what makes certain apps ‘sticky.’
Investment in Setup and Customization
Exclusive or Best-in-Class Features
Sharing and Collaboration Features
Sunk Costs – Subscription-based apps and services
Going Where Your Friends and Family Are
Federico and John explain the apps and workflows they use to cover Apple earnings calls and then cover updates to Newsify on iOS and Twitterrific for macOS.
Federico and John dig into their favorite geeky macOS apps that they use for work and play.
John interviews Greg Pierce of Agile Tortoise about the origins of x-callback-url, iOS automation, Drafts, and Greg’s other apps.
Federico and John love music, so this week, they compare the apps and services they use to listen to, discover, and share music.
With Federico’s trip to the United States for the Release Notes conference just around the corner, he and John talk about the travel apps they use, from planning a trip, to getting around an unfamiliar city.
Federico and John talk about iOS 11’s drag and drop feature, examples of some of their favorite apps that implement it, and the apps they’d like to see add it next.
Federico and John give an update on the iOS 11 review and anniversary activities at MacStories and Club MacStories then talk about some of their favorite new apps and updates that show off the new capabilities of iOS 11.
Federico and John lift the curtain on some of the special events at MacStories and Club MacStories surrounding the release of iOS 11, discuss the removal of the App Store from iTunes on macOS, and dive into the apps Federico used to plan, research, write, and produce his iOS 11 review.
Federico and John discuss what’s left now that Federico is finished writing the text of his iOS 11 review, preview some of the upcoming coverage on MacStories and the upcoming second anniversary of Club MacStories, and consider the importance of little human touches that make apps by indie developers a delight to use.
Federico and John consider ways to break up iTunes into multiple apps that are designed to accommodate how media consumption has changed, but also account for legacy devices and uses.
Federico and John revisit subscription pricing models in the wake of Ulysses’ switch to subscriptions and discuss what Apple’s transition from 32-bit to 64-bit apps means for the App Store and consumers.
Federico and John interview Dermot Daly, founder of Tapadoo, a Dublin-based app development studio, about how he got started in mobile development, the Tapadoo origin story, what it’s like to develop apps in the regulated medical field, the challenges of working for clients and that iOS developers face today, and more.
Federico and John look at shelf and clipboard apps on macOS and iOS, consider how third-party shelf apps are likely to work under iOS 11, and discuss the advantages of Apple adding a shelf feature to iOS.
Federico and John talk about the way their iPad Home screens reflect their use of the device and how that has changed since they’ve been running the iOS 11 beta.
Federico and John discuss the current shortcomings of the iMessage App Store and what Apple is changing in iOS 11 to address some of its problems.
John:
Federico:
Federico and John dive into the new Files app that’s coming to iOS 11 in the fall and discuss the history of file management on iOS, the shift in approach taken by the Files app, and how it works.
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Federico and John pick two apps and discuss how and why they use them for their work. For the first installment of Pick 2, Federico covers Ulysses and how he’s used it over the past year and for the iOS 11 review he is currently writing and John explains how he uses FullContact to keep in touch with developers and sponsors of MacStories and AppStories.
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Federico and John speak to actor David H. Lawrence XVII about his app Rehearsal Pro, which helps actors rehearse for parts, how understanding his audience has helped the app find a large following among professional actors, and how some of its more famous users have become its best marketing.
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Ten years after Scott Forstall suggested web apps as a ‘sweet solution’ for would-be iPhone developers, Federico and John look at the state of non-native apps, the trade-offs inherent to them, and discuss examples of non-native apps they like, and a few they don’t.
Federico and John consider the effect on third-party apps of PDFKit, the system Markup extension, changes to Notes, and password AutoFill for apps.
Apple announced a redesigned App Store for iOS 11 at WWDC. Federico and John take a look at the upcoming changes, the challenges Apple will face producing original content about apps, and consider what it will mean for users and developers.
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John and Federico consider the pros and cons of competing with, and what it takes to succeed against, Apple’s free, built-in system apps and highlight some of their favorite alternatives.
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Federico and John interview Adriaan de Jongh, the co-creator of the hit iOS and PC game Hidden Folks about the creation and design of the game, its unique sound design, gaming on mobile, and an exclusive look at what’s next for Hidden Folks.
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Federico and John cover more app pricing models including tip jars, patronage, fan clubs, bundles, and in-app merchandise sales.
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Federico and John interview Brian Mueller, the creator of the CARROT series of apps, about how he got started, the origins of CARROT, a corgi with a top hat and monocle, and his new CARROT game, Artificial Superintelligence.
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How app subscriptions work, the pros and cons for consumers and developers, and examples of apps using creative subscription models.
This episode of AppStories is sponsored by:
On the limitations of subscriptions and the argument against them, including some examples of low-cost subscriptions for premium features:
Some iOS apps that are using auto-renewable subscriptions in creative ways:
Other well-known companies that have also switched to auto-renewable subscriptions on the App Store:
Federico and John talk about the iTunes Affiliate Program and its importance for app discovery and independent curation with Kevin MacLeod of AfterPad. The episode was recorded before Apple’s clarification of changes to the program.
Federico and John interview Jean MacDonald and Grey Osten, the co-founders of App Camp for Girls – an organization that helps middle-school age girls get started with app development.
Federico and John discuss setting up a new iOS device, whether they do a clean install with new iOS releases, the first apps they install, and tips and tricks to make the process easier.
Federico and John introduce AppStories, talk about apps that made a difference in their lives, and highlight apps that have caught their attention recently.
In the first segment of this week’s episode, Federico and John remember four iOS apps that had an impact on their lives and changed their perspective on the App Store. Some of these apps predate MacStories and pioneered several conventions of modern app design.
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.