Podcast Rewind: Swapping Apps, Multiple Steam Controllers, Matt’s New Cult, and John’s High-Tech Shoes

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts: AppStories This week, John and Federico kick off the app swap challenge, with each of them giving the other three apps to use. We’ll be checking in on how it’s going each week with a fin…

MacStories Weekly: Issue 513

Apple Recognizes Developer Community Leaders

Source: Apple. Yesterday, Apple published a new page on its Developer site highlighting the contributions of 50 prominent members in the Apple developer community. The page recognizes individuals from around the world and across a variety of discipl…

Automation Academy: How I Can Automate Anything I Want Using Codex for Mac

Automations in Codex for Mac. It’s hard to spot long-term trends in the AI world when things are changing so quickly on a weekly basis, but if we try and look back at the first five months of 2026, it’s undeniable that the rise of personal AI agents…

A Dictation App with a CLI Is Exactly What I Needed

Monologue for iOS. As I mentioned in a recent issue of MacStories Weekly for Club members, I believe that reliable dictation and text-to-speech are largely solved problems in the AI industry right now for most languages. There are certainly subtle d…

Spark Mail Adds a Mac CLI and Agent Skills

About two weeks ago, Spark, the email app by Readdle, was updated with a CLI and a set of agentic skills for Claude Code, Codex, and other agents, allowing them read-only access to messages, calendar events, contacts, and meeting notes. These featur…

iOS 26.5 Beta Adds RCS Encryption Starting Today

Source: Apple. Apple announced that beginning today, users on the iOS 26.5 beta will be able to send encrypted RCS messages to Google Messages users who are on the latest version of that app. Apple says that means a message that is intercepted in tr…

Podcast Rewind: Codex, GameHub, a Mouse Lament, a Peacock Invasion, and an Interview with Niléane Dorffer

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts: AppStories This week on AppStories, John shares a tip for moving files with Taildrop before he and Federico dig into Codex and its unique capabilities. On AppStories+, Federico and John …

MacStories Weekly: Issue 512

Spotify CLI Turns Personalized Audio into a Podcast Feed

Spotify introduced a new feature called Personal Podcasts today that’s really clever. It’s a CLI, a set of agent skills, and a Claude plugin available from GitHub that, once installed, lets users prompt AI agents to create personalized audio that ca…

A Look at Apple’s 2026 Swift Student Challenge Winners

Source: Apple. Earlier today, Apple profiled the accomplishments of Swift Student Challenge winners. The 350 students who built the winning app playgrounds come from 37 countries and were chosen from the largest pool of participants ever. Susan Pres…

Astropad Workbench Rethinks Remote Mac Control for AI Agents

There are a lot of ways to connect remotely to a Mac, and I’ve tried most of them. Today, though, I want to focus on one in particular: Astropad Workbench, an app and service for remotely connecting to your Mac that includes unique features that mak…

Apple Releases Watch Band, Watch Face, and Wallpapers to Celebrate Pride Month

Source: Apple. Apple has released its annual Pride Collection, including a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Loop band, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpapers celebrating LGBTQ+ communities. The commemorative Sport Loop uses 11 colors of nylon…

Coming Soon: What’s Next on Apple TV and Apple Arcade in May 2026

It’s a new month and it’s F1 season, which means it’s time for a roundup of everything coming to Apple TV and Apple Arcade in May 2026. This month we’re adding F1 and other sports airing on Apple TV this month, starting with tomorrow’s Miami Grand P…

Podcast Rewind: App Gaps Filled, GameCubes Emulated, Quick Reads Released, Holidays Bridged, and Craig Hockenberry Interviewed

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts: AppStories This week, John and Federico cover Apple’s executive transition, follow up on OpenAI’s super app, share the apps they’re looking for, and give each other suggestions on how to…

MacStories Weekly: Issue 511

Apple Reports Q2 2026 Revenue of $111.2 Billion

Today, Apple reported its 2026 Q2 earnings, posting quarterly revenue of $111.2 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say of the results: Today Apple is proud to report our best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit g…

Monthly Log: April 2026

GameHub’s Desktop Beta Promises to Expand Mac Gaming

If you follow our show NPC: Next Portable Console, you probably know about GameHub, an app from controller maker GameSir. GameHub first appeared on Android, where it has become one of the hottest recent developments in handheld gaming because it let…

Pedometer++ 8: Glimmers of an Apple Wrist Renaissance

Today, when you mention David Smith’s name, most people probably think of Widgetsmith, his runaway success that caught fire on TikTok and is still going strong today. But for me, Pedometer++ is what comes to mind first. Still a couple of years away …

Cronos: The New Dawn Showcases the Mac’s MetalFX and Ray Tracing

Source: Bloober Team. Top-tier games continue to roll out on Apple’s platforms at a steady clip. Recently, Crimson Desert landed on the Mac on the same day as other platforms, and then last week, Control: Ultimate Edition added support for the iPhon…