Coding Agents Are Reshaping the App Store
App releases on Apple’s App Store jumped 60% year‑over‑year in Q1 2026, according to Appfigures data. The surge aligns with the rollout of AI‑powered coding agents like Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Code and Replit, which are lowering development barriers. Utilities and Productivity categories have re‑entered the top‑five rankings, indicating a shift in developer focus. Despite the volume increase, the overall quality of submissions appears largely unchanged.
Steam Announces Steam Link for Apple Vision Pro and Releases Beta Version
Valve announced a Steam Link app for Apple Vision Pro, now in TestFlight beta. The app streams 2D Steam titles from a local Mac or PC to the headset, offering up to 4K resolution and a curved panoramic view. By...
How Can Everybody Hate Their Weather App When There Are So Many Great Choices?
The New Yorker profiled Acme Weather, the latest offering from the Dark Sky team, highlighting its minimalist design that surfaces only the most relevant forecast data. The piece contrasts Acme’s approach with Carrot Weather’s highly customizable, humor‑laden interface and Hello Weather’s...
MacStories Weekly: Issue 507
MacStories released Issue 507, featuring a curated mix of new links, app launches, and recaps of recent articles and podcasts. The issue highlights two member‑only tutorials: "A Bunch of Batteries" by John and a guide to floating Apple Music lyrics...
For Apple’s 50th Anniversary, Tim Cook Looks Back to Move Forward
Apple marked its 50th anniversary with a candid Esquire interview featuring CEO Tim Cook. He reflected on Steve Jobs’ influence, reaffirmed Apple’s core values, and explained why engaging with political opponents matters. Cook described the company’s values as immutable rails...
Moods Faster: Effortless Mood Tracking
Moods Faster, the new iOS/iPadOS app from Nick Leith, offers ultra‑quick mood tracking through five tap‑friendly icons that expand to capture emotions and context. The app syncs with Apple Health, provides customizable icons, colors, and up to seven mood choices,...
The MacBook Neo Takes on Retro Gaming
The MacBook Neo, Apple’s latest M‑series laptop, proves surprisingly adept at retro game emulation, handling titles from the NES through the Saturn with ease and even upscaling recent Nintendo Switch games. It also runs lightweight Steam titles and streams via...
ETA Prime Answers the Question: What if the MacBook Neo Had Thermo-Electric Cooling?
The MacBook Neo, a low‑cost laptop powered by Apple’s A18 Pro, suffers from rapid thermal throttling because it lacks active cooling. ETA Prime first applied a copper plate and thermal pad to move heat to the aluminum chassis, which already...
Apple Overhauls App Store Connect
Apple has launched a major overhaul of App Store Connect, introducing more than 100 new privacy‑first metrics that give developers granular insight into sales, conversion, and user engagement. The update breaks down revenue sources by search, browsing, web referrals and...
MacStories Weekly: Issue 505
MacStories Weekly Issue 505 spotlights three notable tech releases. Anthropic’s Claude Code now supports Telegram and Discord, extending AI chat capabilities to popular messaging platforms. Comet launches the first agentic browser for iOS, promising autonomous web navigation on mobile. Claude Dispatch is introduced...
In a Surprise Move, Apple Announces AirPods Max 2
Apple surprised the market by unveiling the AirPods Max 2, its first over‑the‑ear headphones powered by the H2 chip. The new model delivers up to 1.5× stronger active noise cancellation, refined Transparency Mode, and enhanced Spatial Audio. Additional intelligent features include...
MacStories Weekly: Issue 504
MacStories Weekly issue 504 bundles three distinct tech stories. Apple announced an iPad Air powered by the new M4 chip, promising notable performance gains over the M2 generation. The newsletter also showcases a DIY bookmark manager built in Notion that leverages...
“This Is Not The Computer For You”
The article reflects on Sam Henri Gold’s essay about the MacBook Neo, noting how reviews often pigeonhole devices into narrow user categories. It points out the Neo’s modest specs—$599, A18 Pro chip, 8 GB RAM—and the common advice that it’s unsuitable for developers...
First, Last, Everything Season Two Launches Today
MacStories announced the launch of Season Two of its "First, Last, Everything" podcast, kicking off with Emmy‑winning YouTube creator Becca Farsace. The eight‑episode first season featured tech‑focused conversations with designers, developers, and creators, and the new season will deliver fresh...
MacStories Weekly: Issue 503
MacStories released its Issue 503 of the weekly newsletter, featuring a mix of new app launches, curated Apple news, productivity tips, and AI subscription advice. Highlights include the debut of Instant Note, a roundup of the week’s top Apple announcements,...