Podcast
AppStories
Hosted by Federico Viticci, John Voorhees · EN
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.
20episodes
Episodes
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Terminal Tips and Claude Code Workflows
Jan 2500:43:26Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John share their workflows and tips on how they use Claud Code and Codex to build automations. On AppStories+, John and Federico explore the Apple and Google Gemini deal and the end of Shortcuts as we know it. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. This episode is sponsored by: HTTPBot: A powerful API client and debugger for Apple platforms. Get a 7-day trial and 25% off your subscription. Links and Show Notes Our Claude Code and Codex Workflows Federico’s Setup Jump Desktop Termius tmux John’s Setup Jump Desktop Screens Claude Usage Tracker PopClip Extensions Using PopClip Extensions to Get Started with Claude Code Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →A Very 'Just Build It' Holiday
Jan 1800:42:35Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John complete their tour of holiday projects with a look at the tools both of them built with the help of Claude Code, Codex, and other tools. On AppStories+, John pushes Claude Code by building a Safari web extension that integrates with Notion. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes Holiday Coding Projects Continued Federico’s Projects: HTML tools collection (12+ tools) inspired by Simon Willison’s approach MacStories Markdown Preview tool MarkdownFixer (Python in browser via Pyodide) Custom MCP servers for: Feedbin, Readwise Reader, YouTube Transcript, and Raindrop Home automation tools: NAS Control, Roon Visualizer, Custom TV Remote (LG webOS + Philips Hue Sync Box) Notion tools: DailyNote Append, DailyNote Viewer, Notion Clippings web app, YouTube Watch Queue Liquid Glass CSS design guide for web apps Using Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex comparison Remote coding workflow with Termius and Pushover notifications John’s Projects: MacStories Common (shared code library) Podcast production tools (loudness matching, transcription improvements) Obsidian plugins for sending to Matter and Readwise Reader Article Highlights tool Notion OAuth integration Reviving Blink app (Objective C to Swift/SwiftUI conversion) Other Tools and Services Mentioned GitHub Cloudflare Workers Tailscale Secure Shellfish FFmpeg Wispr Flow Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →A Very Nerdy Holiday Break
Jan 1100:47:53Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John are back from their holiday break, included so many hardware and automation projects that this is part one of a two-part episode regarding Federico’s networked music automation setup and John’s new research tool. On AppStories+, Federico shares his foldable phone experiments. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. This episode is sponsored by: Copilot Money – Your money, beautifully organized. Links and Show Notes Presenting Our Nerdy Holiday Projects John’s Research PWA Parallel.ai Firecrawl Example Club MacStories article by John where he used his research tool How iTunes Shaped the Apple of Today Tools John used: FastAPI Tailscale LLM by Simon Willison Feedbin Federico’s Networked Music Library Roon ROCK (Roon server) Qobuz M4 Mac mini (Refurbished) Terramaster F8SSD+ NAS FiiO R9 FiiO M17 DAP FiiO FT1 headphones John got a FiiO Snowsky Echo Mini DAP Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →What’s Next for Apps in 2026
Dec 2100:28:22Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John look ahead to 2026 and what it will mean for apps, smarter Siri, and more. On AppStories+, Federico and John update listeners on their latest app experiments and holiday hardware projects. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes App and Apple Preditions and Trends for 2026 Vibe Coding & AI Development Trends for 2026 Mentioned: Google AI Studio [Swift Playground](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swift-playground/id908519492 Manus AI Wabi Claude Code Codex The junior bet has gotten better iPhone Opening Up to Wireless Wearables Index 01 Ring Android AI Agents & Computer Use Google Gemini Research Apps & NotebookLM Alternatives NotebookLM EXA API Parallel AI API Perplexity’s iPad app focuses on research tools Siri with App Intents & Apple Intelligence MCP on Mobile MCP (Model Context Protocol) Rumored MCP bridge in development for iOS 26 Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →The 2025 MacStories Selects Awards
Dec 1600:57:26Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John reveal the winners of the 2025 MacStories Selects Awards, which celebrate the exceptional design, innovation, and creativity of apps across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. On AppStories+, John has some Apple Music discovery tips for Federico, and they reveal the iPhone features they don’t use. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. This episode is sponsored by: RevenueCat – It’s the easiest way to add in-app subscriptions and native paywalls into your mobile apps, and getting started is free. Links and Show Notes MacStories Selects 2025 Read More on MacStories here: MacStories Selects 2025: Recognizing the Best Apps of the Year The winners: Best New App: Quick Reviews Runner-up: Wispr Flow Runner-up: Activas AI Best Mac App: Bloom Runner-up: Supercharge Best Watch App: Athlytic Runner-up: µBrowser Best New Feature: Matter’s TTS voices Runner-up: Bridges Runner-up: Longplay MCP Best Design: Sequel 2.6 Runner-up: Not Boring Camera Readers’ Choice Award: Alfred App of the Year: Drafts Runner-up: Athlytic The MacStories Selects 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award Read more on MacStories: The MacStories Selects 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award The winner: Lifetime Achievement Award: Unread Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →Vibe Coding Your Own Productivity Tools
Dec 700:39:51Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John explain how they go about creating personal productivity tools with the assistance of AI and walk through some of what they have created. On AppStories+, we talk about our Black Friday tech purchases. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes Vibe Coding Personal Productivity Tools Simon Willison’s blog Harper Reed Vibe coding apps and startups: Vibecode Wabi Bitrig Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →Designing for Liquid Glass: Outstanding Indie Apps
Nov 3000:26:28Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John dig into some of their favorite apps that have adopted Apple’s Liquid Glass design language. On AppStories+, it’s John’s 10th anniversary at MacStories, so he and Federico look back at the last decade. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes Liquid Glass Apps Denim Locally AI Longplay Matter Gentler Streak Unread Todoist Also Mentioned: Manus AI Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →The Ever-Changing App Store
Nov 2300:32:35Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John explore current changes to the world of apps through the lens of its past evolution. On AppStories+, we build “money’s no object” holiday wish lists for ourselves. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes The Evolving App Store Some of our 2025 coverage about the changing app environment: Apple Recreated the App Store on the Web with No Way to Download or Buy Apps Apple Removes ICEBlock and Similar Apps From the App Store Under Pressure From the DOJ EU Sets DMA Compliance Deadline in App Store Anti-Steering Dispute Developers and Platforms React as App Store Rules Change in the U.S. A Breach of Trust Apple Held in Contempt Over App Store Rules Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →Our Latest App and Automation Experiments
Nov 1600:38:52Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John kick off their holiday app and automation experimentation season a little earlier than usual with a mix of apps, automations, and services. On AppStories+, Federico and John look ahead, considering the future of Shortcuts and automation. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes App and Automation Experiments Follow Up Claude Skills Federico’s Ongoing AI Testing Typing Mind OpenWeb UI Kimi K2 on Groq Kimi K2 Thinking MiniMax M2 Ticci article on MS Cerebras integration of GLM 4.6 by Z.ai John’s App Experiments Bloom Superhuman Federico’s Service Experiments Firecrawl Parallel Exa Pushover Zapier John’s Claude Code - Python - Notion Experiments Notion Federico’s Drafts and Readwise Reader workflow Drafts Readwise Reader Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
Transcribe →The Great Digital Declutter
Nov 900:31:12Tap to summarizeThis week, Federico and John clean house, deleting old apps, screenshots, half-built shortcuts, huge downloads, and more. A look at the workflows and apps we use to stay organized and clean up our digital messes. On AppStories+, Federico’s Typing Mind experiments continue, while John shares his experience of Claude Code to build tools to run MacStories. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week. To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our Plans page, or read the AppStories+ FAQ. Links and Show Notes Tackling Digital Clutter Backups Backblaze Arq Carbon Copy Cloner Samsung T9 SSD Finder Alternatives Bloom Forklift Hazel’s App Sweep feature File Management Apps CleanMyPhone CleanMyMac Shutter Declutter Daisy Disk Fluent - similar to Sky Federico’s Sky Preview Leave Feedback for John and Federico AppStories Feedback Form Follow us on Mastodon AppStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Follow us on Bluesky AppStories MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees
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