The next big push for Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro has been revealed: live baseball games. Starting August 28 and running through the rest of the regular MLB season, the company will stream one real-time immersive matchup per week exclusively on Vision Pro as part of its Friday Night Baseball lineup on Apple TV.

Immersive games will feature an in-stadium experience with Spatial Audio captured by ambisonic microphones, special graphics like team lineups and stats floating in view, and a dedicated commentary team made up of play-by-play commentator Paul Severino, analyst Xavier Scruggs, and sideline reporter Michelle Margaux. If you’ve seen any of the immersive Lakers basketball games broadcast this year, you have an idea of how these elements come together with Immersive Video to create a rich, lifelike experience.

The first immersive baseball game will pit the Boston Red Sox against their rivals, the New York Yankees, at 7:00 p.m. PT on August 28. Weekly immersive games will continue into September:

Friday, September 4
Los Angeles Angels at Pittsburgh Pirates
6:30 p.m. ET

Friday, September 11
San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants
10 p.m. ET

Friday, September 18
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
10 p.m. ET

Live immersive games will be available to Apple TV subscribers via the TV app on Vision Pro in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK, and the U.S. Full game replays and highlights will be made available after the games are over as well.

Streaming Friday Night Baseball in Apple Immersive Video seems like a natural move for Apple to make. The company has been airing baseball games on Friday nights for four years now and has worked to integrate more of its technology into the broadcasts. Plus, MLB has already won many baseball fans over with a fantastic enhanced viewing experience for baseball games in its own visionOS app. Just as Apple is beefing up its sports offerings in the Apple TV service with MLS and F1, so it’s rounding out its sports strategy on the Vision Pro with a regular output of live baseball.

To me, there’s nothing that quite matches the energy and sense of camaraderie you feel when you walk into a baseball stadium. Apple Immersive Video is a powerful medium for recreating in-person experiences, so I’m very keen to watch one of these live games for myself. If Apple’s immersive baseball games can offer a taste of what it’s like to actually be in the stadium – and based on what we’ve seen from the format before, I think it’s likely – this will quite a compelling way to watch some baseball.

We’ll find out exactly what it’s like on August 28, so stay tuned for more details once Friday Night Baseball in Apple Immersive officially debuts.

If you read MacStories, you might have caught John’s Finalist 1.0 review a few years back. A lot has changed since: version 4.0 is out this week, its biggest update yet. Finalist is a paper-inspired daily planner for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and now Apple Watch, giving you one place to plan your day, week and month. It wrangles all your stuff into one cohesive system to help you stay on top of it all: Reminders, Calendars, habits, tasks, notes, weather, and lots more.

New in 4.0 are Notes. Write native notes that sync to your iCloud, or point Finalist at a folder of markdown files and it round-trips cleanly with Obsidian vaults, GitHub, or any editor you like. Markdown tasks inside those files show up in your timelines as real tasks, on the right date, with the right tags. There are even timeline swimlanes per tag, to visualize any endeavour.

The Watch app is also new and it extends Finalist to your wrist. Its Now card answers the day’s current question: your first moves in the morning, the running time block with a countdown, an evening wrap-up with streaks to protect. It has some very nifty complications and a Smart Stack widget.

Or take a look at Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired layout that shines on big screens. It has delightful touches throughout: tap a World Clock and the whole page retunes to another city, with date, weather, tasks, and appointments all in that timezone. The Timeline tab lets you sketch your day in pencil. Perfect for timeblocking, especially with Pencil Pro and its squeeze menu.

Apple has featured Finalist as App of the Day multiple times, and a large Discord community drives it forward. To help you try it, MacStories readers get 50% off their first year with code MACSTORIES40.

Our thanks to Finalist for sponsoring MacStories this week.

EA Sports has released Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition, a version of the popular football simulation franchise that Apple Arcade subscribers can play on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. It’s a big release built specifically to take advantage of Apple hardware, allowing players to play the game on a wide variety of hardware.

I was struck by how easy it is to pick up and play the game whether you’re a diehard NFL fan or not. I don’t follow football closely, but I was able to get the hang of the game and have fun right away, knocking out a Quick Play match when I had a few minutes to spare.

Quick Play tightly limits the overall time it takes to complete a matchup, but it doesn’t sacrifice depth in the process. There are long lists of plays you can run, including suggested plays, play types, formations, and recents, as well as a wide variety of statistics. And after a big play, you can replay it with total control over the camera angle, too.

However, if you want to go really deep, the game’s Franchise Mode lets you play a full NFL season, managing your team all the way through the playoffs. You can also draft your dream team from the game’s huge catalog of real-world NFL stars. Plus, during the real-world NFL season, player attributes shift based on their actual performance.

Madden NFL 27 also looks terrific. The 120Hz playback is smooth on the iPhone, where I spent most of my time with the game, and even nicer on a bigger screen like my 14” M4 Max MacBook Pro, making for an immersive experience.

What impresses me most about Madden NFL 27, though, is how well it makes use of the Apple hardware and technologies at its disposal. Too often, those sorts of details get left behind when a big release is published on Apple platforms.

To its credit, EA has done an excellent job adapting Madden NFL 27 for Apple Arcade subscribers. You can play across every device mentioned above, leaving off on one device and picking up on another seamlessly because saves sync across devices. Every device supports game controllers and touch where applicable, and those devices with 120Hz displays support that, too.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition is available now on the App Store as part of an Apple Arcade subscription. The game is debuting on other platforms next week.

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John cover the app and agent experiments they’re both running.

On AppStories+, John explores the sort of rapid workflow iteration enabled by agents.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, handheld news and a nerdy look at the recomp and decomp scene that is rapidly expanding to new operating systems.

On NPC XL, the gang revisits GameNative and the extent to which it has improved.

Comfort Zone

Today’s episode is all about tier listing the contenders to be the new Euro banknotes. What will these Americans think of Europe’s next top currency?

This week’s Cozy Zone is a very fun “name that app” game as Matt trots out some of the really weird apps from his Mac’s Applications folder.

---

AppStories, Episode 496, ‘Summer Projects - Automation, Email, and Dictation’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

• Inoreader – Build Your Own Newsfeed and Cut Through the Noise
• Shipaton, from RevenueCat: The world’s biggest mobile hackathon for people who actually ship.

Summertime Projects

• John’s Logic to Final Cut Automation
  • Logic Pro
  • Final Cut Pro
  • Riverside
• Federico Switches Email Clients
  • Superhuman
  • Spark
  • ChatGPT Work
  • Codex
• Federico Retests Dictation Apps
  • Wispr Flow
  • Monologue
  • Aqua Voice
  • Typeless
  • Superwhisper
• T3 Code
  • T3 Code
  • T3 Code on GitHub
  • Nerd Snipe with Theo and Ben
• John’s Research System
  • Parallel
  • Firecrawl
  • Defuddle

AppStories+ Post-Show

• Advancing Voice Intelligence With New Models in the API (OpenAI)
• Desert Ant Labs
• Pokémon Red & Blue mod turns the classic RPG into a sick 3D voxel game

Subscribe to AppStories+

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

---

NPC, Episode 91, ‘Recomps, Decomps, and Playable Dioramas’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

• Retroid Announces Nova Shipping Dates
• Qualcomm reportedly notifies hardware partners of impending chip price hikes

The Recomp and Decomp Scene

• Pokemon Gen 1 Recompilation adds HD-2D to the original games.
  • A mod team has made a recompilation of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow.
  • The Dramatic Shape Voxel Mod, which turns the game into a full 3D voxel-based experience.
• Ocarina of Time decomp on iOS
• Also Mario Kart 64 iOS decomp

Subscribe to NPC XL

NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here.

---

Comfort Zone, Episode 112, ‘Dollar Dollar Bills Y’all’ Show Notes

Things Discussed

• Proposed new € banknotes

Cozy Zone

For even more from the Comfort Zone crew, you can subscribe to Cozy Zone. Cozy Zone is a weekly bonus episode of Comfort Zone where Matt, Niléane, and Chris invite listeners to join them in the Cozy Zone where they’ll cover extra topics, invent wilder challenges and games, and share all their great (and not so great) takes on tech. You can subscribe to Cozy Zone for $5 per month here or $50 per year here.

---

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Comfort Zone, NPC: Next Portable Console, and First, Last, Everything that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

The App Store is evolving at a breakneck pace not seen since its earliest days. We saw the first glimmers of what was to come early in 2025, but it wasn’t until late last year that the tsunami of apps developed with the help of AI agents really took hold.

Since then, veteran developers are releasing new apps and updating existing ones faster than ever, and new developers are releasing their first apps in droves. Today, supply is dramatically up, demand is flat, and quality is seemingly simultaneously up and down, depending on where you look.

How these forces play out long-term is anyone’s guess, but it’s worth examining because, just as Federico’s link to Bryan Irace’s post about agentic coding tools foreshadowed the rise of tools like Codex and Claude Code, today’s trends are sparks that have the potential to become tomorrow’s App Store wildfires or simply fizzle out.

Utility apps are on the front lines of this change. The TechCrunch story I linked in April picked up on this trend:

Another interesting tidbit from Appfigures is that the Utilities app category moved up the top five chart.

If anything, the trend has accelerated in the months since.

It’s not surprising at all that utility apps have taken off. They’ve been a staple of new developers since long before agents came along. That’s because many are UI wrappers around command line tools. That isn’t a knock against the developers of those apps; most users don’t want to open Terminal to convert a video or audio file to another format using ffmpeg, for example. By building a great UI around command line tools, developers have made them far easier to use.

However, the relative simplicity and narrow scope of many utility apps have made them a natural fit for AI agents, too. That’s why the App Store (and my inbox) is deluged with Mac menu bar and single-screen iPhone and iPad utility apps.

On the one hand, the abundance of utilities has been great for users. More choice means you’re more likely to find the app that perfectly fits your needs.

On the other hand, though, I don’t think what’s happening in the category is sustainable and expect to see it dramatically shift again in the coming months. As we’ve seen from reporting by The New York Times, app supply is outstripping demand by orders of magnitude, which will drive down prices. That alone is likely to cause the utility app market to shrink. But there’s more to it than that.

Remember, the demand shifts that The New York Times reported, based on Sensor Tower numbers, are for the entire App Store, where download numbers have grown 2-3% this year and last. I expect utility downloads to actually shrink in the coming months – again, because of agents. Utilities, especially simple ones, are exactly the sorts of apps that are becoming trivially easy for power users – the very users these utilities are made for – to create themselves. From frontier labs‘ model improvements to a growing number of app-building tools from those same labs and third parties, it’s never been easier to build a web or native app yourself.

And although I agree with people, like Nilay Patel, who say the notion that everyone will build their own software is overblown, the utility market is different. Your average person is not downloading apps to adjust the frame rate and file format of a video or downloading YouTube videos to watch later. But those are exactly the sort of things that people who are using agents are doing with them, whether they’re having an agent do those things directly via a command line tool in an app like Codex or Claude Code or building an app to do the same thing. That’s going to put even more pressure on the category.

That said, I think there will always be a cohort of users who would rather pay for an app than build it themselves, so I’m not predicting the demise of utilities in general – just the end of today’s frothy market. I also think there remains a place for simple utilities that solve hard problems with clever solutions. Not every utility is a UI wrapper for a terminal command. Plenty of apps feature original solutions or thoughtful and unconventional remixes of disparate tools.

Utilities aren’t going away, but just like other App Store deluges, the trend will recede. It’s just that this time, it’s likely to flip faster than usual.

It’s a big sports month for Apple TV, starting with Apple Arcade, which goes all-in on football with Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition and Retro Bowl College+. On the Apple TV side, Ted Lasso returns for a fourth season, Formula 1 is coming out of its summer break, the MLS Leagues Cup begins, and MLB continues.

Let’s take a closer look.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade is adding two new games this month, both on Thursday, August 6, and both of them football games. That’s not a coincidence. The NFL and college football seasons are right around the corner, and these games offer great ways to get ready for both. They’re also part of a broader trend across Apple Arcade where sports games like NBA 2K26 and PGA TOUR Pro Golf, which also have continued receiving updates, have found a fan base.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition (Release Date: August 6)

The headliner this month is Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition, an all-new entry in EA’s long-running NFL franchise built specifically for Apple Arcade. The game includes Franchise and Quick Play modes, featuring current NFL player rosters and ratings that adapt to real-world performance. And as part of Arcade, the game cane be played across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro with controller support and no ads, paywalls, or in-app purchases.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Retro Bowl College+ (Release Date: August 6)

I’m a huge fan of retro-style games of any kind, and Retro Bowl College+ looks like another winner. I love the game’s chunky pixel vibe and depth. You can choose to act as the head coach of any of 250 college teams, recruiting players, managing your school’s athletic budget, dealing with player drama, and more. Who knew an 8-bit game could be packed with this much style and story?

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Apple TV

Ted Lasso, Season Four (August 5, 2026)

It’s been three years since the Ted Lasso series finale, and it still holds a special spot in the hearts of many fans. This week, the show returns on Wednesdays with a 10-episode run, in which Ted comes back to Ricmond to coach a second-division women’s team. Other returning cast members include Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

Women in Blue, Season Two (August 12, 2026)

Women in Blue, Apple’s Spanish-language drama, returns August 12. Bárbara Mori’s character María is promoted to lieutenant and pulled into an investigation of a student’s death that stretches back to 1968. The season portrays María, Valentina, Gabina, and Ángeles’ fight against crime as they simultaneously endure corruption in their precinct. Episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays through September 30.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

The Dynasty: UConn Huskies (August 21, 2026)

The Dynasty: UConn Huskies is a three-part docu-series covering 40 years of the most dominant college basketball program in history – one that eclipses teams like Duke, UNC, Kentucky, and UCLA. The series covers the career of famed coach Geno Auriemma, who led the Huskies women’s team to 12 national championships, more than any other team in NCAA Division I history. Directed by Matthew Hamachek and Erica Sashin, it pairs never-before-seen footage with in-depth access to players and coaches as it explores UConn’s extraordinary legacy.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Stillwater, Season Five (August 21, 2026)

Stillwater returns August 21 with five episodes that will all drop the same day. Based on Jon J Muth’s “Zen” books, the kids’ series follows siblings Karl, Addy, and Michael and their neighbor Stillwater, a wise panda voiced by James Sie who helps them work through everyday problems with stories and humor.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Dark Matter, Season Two (August 28, 2026)

Blake Crouch’s multidimensional sci-fi thriller Dark Matter returns for 10 more episodes on August 28. Season two picks up with the Dessen family settling into a quiet, seemingly safe life, until they’re sent running again. Jason’s obsession with the Box deepens, and Daniela’s paranoia threatens their relationship. Meanwhile, Amanda and Ryan try to find their way home, and Blair races to stop Leighton from building what he thinks is a perfect world.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Sports

Formula 1: Dutch Grand Prix (August 21–23, 2026)

Formula 1 comes back from its summer break at Zandvoort for Round 12, and it’s a sprint weekend, which will be a busy three days. Practice 1 and the Sprint Qualifying run on Friday, August 21 are free, followed by the Sprint and Qualifying rounds on Saturday, August 22. Then, the Grand Prix itself is on Sunday, August 23.

Add to Your Calendar:

• iCal
• Google Calendar

---

Friday Night Baseball

Apple’s weekly doubleheader continues every Friday in August on Apple TV, with no local blackout restrictions and coverage in 60 countries and regions:

• August 7
  • Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers (8:00 PM Eastern)
  • Tampa Bay Rays at Seattle Mariners (9:30 PM Eastern)
• August 14
  • St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs (2:00 PM Eastern)
  • New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays (7:00 PM Eastern)
• August 21
  • Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles (7:00 PM Eastern)
  • Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers (8:00 PM Eastern)
• August 28
  • Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees (7:00 PM Eastern)
  • Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays (7:00 PM Eastern)

August 14 is the highlight, with a Cardinals–Cubs matinee followed by a rematch of last year’s Yankees–Blue Jays Division Series. August 28 is nearly as good, with the Red Sox facing the Yankees while the Mariners and Blue Jays revisit last year’s Championship Series.

---

Leagues Cup and MLS

Beginning August 4, the Liga MX clubs face off against 18 MLS clubs for the Leagues Cup. Phase One is 54 matches in nine days, from August 4–13, with quarterfinals August 25–27. This is the first edition to include matches in Mexico, and every match is on Apple TV. The MLS regular season games continue alongside the Cup, with midweek Leagues Cup games followed by weekend MLS matches.

---

That’s it for August. I’m personally looking forward to Ted Lasso and playing Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition.

If you’re a Club MacStories Plus or Premier member, drop by the TV and Movies channel in Discord to chat about what you’re looking forward to from Apple TV this month, and be sure to listen to MacStories Unwind, where Federico and I cover some of these shows and games, along with our other media recommendations, every week.

You think faster than you can type. Across a day of email, Slack, notes, and chatbot prompts, that gap quietly eats your time.

Cotypist closes that gap. It’s smart autocomplete for your Mac: as you write, it predicts your next few words and shows them inline, right at your cursor. Press Tab to take the next word or the whole line, then carry on. If a suggestion isn’t what you had in mind, keep typing and it catches up within a letter or two. Accept a word here and a line there, and you’ll have to type far less than you used to.

Most AI writing tools try to do too much and don’t sound like you. Cotypist only fills in the words you’d have typed anyway (just faster), and it picks up your vocabulary as you go, so the result still sounds like you. It works almost everywhere you write: Mail, Messages, Slack, Notes, Obsidian, your browser, even the prompt box in ChatGPT. And it all runs on your Mac, so nothing you type ever leaves your Mac.

Cotypist comes from the maker of Timing, the Mac time-tracker many MacStories readers already know, so it’s built to feel native and stay out of your way. Setup takes about a minute: drag it into Applications, launch it, then start typing, no account required.

Cotypist is free to download, with a 30-day Pro trial and no credit card. When the trial ends, you can keep Pro or drop to the free plan. Until the end of August, MacStories readers get 10% off their first bill at cotypist.app/macstories. Give it ten minutes and see if it can keep up with you.

Our thanks to Cotypist for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, John and Federico discuss the changing face of the AI-fueled App Store and questionable changes made to TestFlight before going into the nerdiest details of Open Minis, an iOS app that brings desktop-class agents onto the iPhone and iPad.

Then on AppStories+, Federico and John explore Cmux, a Mac terminal app with an iPhone and iPad beta that makes it easier than ever to sync coding projects across devices.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, the refreshingly complete announcement by Anbernic of the RG SP, Ticci buys a handheld, and people are tired of months-long hardware reveals.

Then on NPC XL, Cocoon 3.0 and Syncthing!

Comfort Zone

We have a guest! D. Griffin Jones is here to show the gang technology they could only dream of: the MessagePad. After that, we look at the brand new Pastebot 3 and the surprisingly useful Clop, and we close it out by trying to sell Niléane on a 3D printer.

This week’s Cozy Zone is all about the games we’ve been enjoying lately.

MacStories Unwind

This week, John realizes that too much Wi-Fi is never enough, Federico wonders what he’s going to do with a Linux PC, and John recommends Apple TV’s Lucky.

---

AppStories, Episode 495, ‘Open Minis Turns iOS into an Agent Playground’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

• Inoreader – Build Your Own Newsfeed and Cut Through the Noise
• Claude – For problems worth solving — get started with Claude today.
• Scribe – AI-powered workflow documentation. Get your first month free.

App Store Chaos

• App Store Chaos
• See also: A.I. ‘Vibecoded’ Apps Are Flooding Apple’s App Store

TestFlight Woes

• TestFlight: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
• See also: Apple just improved TestFlight for users with a lot of beta apps

Open Minis

• Open Minis on the App Store
• Open Minis Is the iOS Agent I Wish Siri AI Could Be

AppStories+ Post-Show

• Cmux
• Founder’s Edition ($30) includes iOS beta
• CLIProxyAPI

Subscribe to AppStories+

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

---

NPC, Episode 90, ‘The Stickless Clamshell Everyone Wanted’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

• Anbernic Announces the RG SP With Almost Everything We Need to Know
• Retroid Pocket Nova Gets Hands-On Treatment Ahead of Release
  • See also Russ’ video at Retro Game Corps
• AYANEO Restocks the Pocket Micro 2 Again
• MANGMI AIR Y and AIR Y Pro Full Spec Sheet Finally Revealed
• Handheld Makers Need to Stop Turning Every New Handheld Into a Month-Long Reveal

Subscribe to NPC XL

NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here.

---

Comfort Zone, Episode 111, ‘I’m the Guest, I Have No Consequences’ Show Notes

Things Discussed

• Griffin’s blog
• Apple MessagePad
• Pastebot 3
• Clop
• Omori on Nintendo Store
• Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

Cozy Zone

For even more from the Comfort Zone crew, you can subscribe to Cozy Zone. Cozy Zone is a weekly bonus episode of Comfort Zone where Matt, Niléane, and Chris invite listeners to join them in the Cozy Zone where they’ll cover extra topics, invent wilder challenges and games, and share all their great (and not so great) takes on tech. You can subscribe to Cozy Zone for $5 per month here or $50 per year here.

---

MacStories Unwind, ‘Flooding the Wi-Fi Zone’ Show Notes

Networking Projects

• John’s existing setup
  • TP-Link Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 BE22000 Whole Home Mesh System
  • Added 2 TP-Link Deco 7 Pro BE63 Tri-Band WiFi 7 BE10000 routers
• Federico’s Beelink SER9 Pro mini PC
• More of our networking and other gear is on MacStories Setups.

Picks

• John’s Pick: Lucky on Apple TV

Unwind Deal

• Meet the Parents Triple Feature starring Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro is on sale for $17.99 in the TV app.

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free with high bitrate audio every week. To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

---

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Comfort Zone, NPC: Next Portable Console, and First, Last, Everything that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

Today, Apple reported its 2026 Q3 earnings, posting quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion. Here are the highlights:

• Revenue was $109.4B, up 16.4% from Q3 FY25.
• iPhone revenue was $54.3B, up 21.7%, and represented 49.6% of Apple’s total revenue.
• Services revenue was $30.7B, up 12.1%, and represented 28.1% of Apple’s total revenue.
• Gross margin was $54.8B, up 25.3%, with an overall gross margin rate of 50.1%.
• Net income was $29.8B, up 27.1%.
• Operating cash flow was $34.4B, up 23.3%.
• Diluted EPS was $2.02, up 28.7%.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say about the results:

Today, Apple is proud to report our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment. At WWDC26, we were thrilled to introduce the all-new Siri AI, alongside all of Apple’s latest software innovations and important new child safety features.

For additional context, here’s how the results break down:

In Apple’s latest quarter: every region grew, Services reached $30.7B, and gross margin was 50.1%.

iPhone remained Apple’s largest business at $54.3B, and four of five categories grew year over year. Together, iPhone and Services accounted for 77.7% of Apple’s $109.4B in net sales.

iPhone revenue reached $54.3B, or 49.6% of Apple’s total revenue, keeping it the company’s largest consumer business.

Services reached $30.7B at a 75.6% gross margin, accounting for 28.1% of revenue but 42.4% of gross margin.

Products carried most of the revenue at $78.7B, but Services kept 75.6% of every dollar against Products’ 40.1%.

Every reported region grew, and Europe contributed the most new revenue at $5.4B, or 35.0% of Apple’s $15.4B in growth.

Going into today’s earnings call, expectations were high among analysts, who anticipated revenue of $108–109 billion and diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Apple’s results landed at the high end of the expected revenue range and exceeded expectations for earnings per share.

Matt Corey, the maker of Bills to Budget and Signals, has organized indie developers for a big sale that runs from July 28 - 30. The sale includes over 200 apps that will be offered at a discount through Thursday. The list is too long to publish here, but it includes many apps we’ve covered here on MacStories and on Club MacStories in the past, including:

• Gentler Streak (40% off)
• Kaleidoscope (40% off)
• Paku for PurpleAir (50% off)
• Plinky (50% off)
• Tap Forms Database Pro (30% off)
• FitWoody (20% off)
• BoltAI (30% off)
• SideNotes (40% off)
• TV Remote (50% off)
• Kompressor (50% off)
• Sunlitt (60% off)
• Everlog (45% off)
• Play (30% off)

There are a lot of great deals, with many apps discounted 50% or more. What’s listed above is a small fraction of the participating apps, so be sure to visit Indie App Salesand support these great indie apps.

Apple has revealed its new hardware leasing program called Apple Upgrade, which is being offered in collaboration with Klarna. This is Apple’s pitch:

Introducing Apple Upgrade, a new way to always have the Apple products you love. Lease a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch with pocket-friendly payments and terms that work for you. Then easily upgrade to something new at the end of your lease, and return your current device. It’s that simple.

That pitch comes with a footnote that includes other details worth considering:

• The program is U.S. only (excluding U.S. territories).
• You need to be a U.S. resident who is at least 18 years old, or whatever the legal age is where you live.
• There are eligibility and credit approval requirements and you must have a credit or debit card and an Apple ID.
• When a device is returned, it must be in good condition or damage fees will be assessed.
• Upgrades require a new lease subject to whatever eligibility and credit requirements apply at that time.
• For iPhones, you have to have a carrier and can’t use a prepaid plan.
• The program isn’t available for refurbished devices or through the Apple Employee Purchase Plan, corporate Employee Purchase Plans, Apple at Work, Government, Education, or Veterans and Military Purchase Programs.

Okay, so maybe it’s not “that simple” after all.

The program is available for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch product lines. For the iPhone, monthly payments start at $17.99 for an iPhone 17e and start at $34.99 for an iPhone 17 Pro Max, for leasing periods of either 12 months or 24 months.

For iPads, the starting prices range from $12.99/month to $24.99/month, Macs range from starting prices of $24.99/month to $48.99/month, and the Apple Watch ranges from starting prices of $11.99/month to $47.03/month. But again, these are just starting prices. You can configure a fully loaded 16-inch MacBook Pro that is just under $230/month, and it won’t include AppleCare.

As a point of comparison, under the current program that is being discontinued, I pay $69.50/month for an iPhone 17 Pro Max, but I have a 512GB model, so my lease price for the same phone would be $40.83/month, significantly lower, but keep in mind that doesn’t include AppleCare+, which would add $13.99/month or $139/year for that iPhone. On a monthly basis, that puts a new iPhone 17 Pro Max with 512GB of storage and AppleCare+ at just under $55/month. Still a superior deal, but not nearly as good as the landing page might initially lead you to believe.

At the end of your lease you’ll have six months to decide to return the leased device, during which you’ll continue to make monthly payments, or pay a fee equal to the difference between the original purchase price and your lease payments to buy it outright. Your other option is to enter into a lease for a new device. If you return your leased device in poor condition, Klarna will charge you a damage fee. You can also terminate your lease early if you pay the remaining lease payments in full plus any taxes and fees.

If you lease accessories for your device, those don’t have to be returned. Why? Presumably because they have no value to Apple or Klarna.

Of course, if you have a device to trade in, that monthly figure could be significantly reduced. If I had the iPhone 16 Pro Max I had last year to trade in and leased a 17 Pro Max for 12 months, my monthly payments would be under $1. However, keep in mind that once you’re on the leasing train, you no longer own your iPhone, so future upgrades won’t reduce your payments the next time you swap your device for a new model. If you don’t own it, the value isn’t yours to trade in.

If you’re on the existing iPhone Upgrade Program like me, it’s being discontinued, but Apple has a transition offer for you. The old program spread payments over 24 months with the option to turn in an iPhone for a new one after 12 months. That’s not changing. If you’re paid in full on your first 12 months of an iPhone, you can sign up for the new program, get a new iPhone, and return your old iPhone to Apple, which will close your old account but won’t reduce your lease payments. You’re not obligated to join the new leasing program, though. You can also trade in your old iPhone, ending your finance contract, and buy a new full price iPhone.

---

As you may have figured out by now, I’m not a fan of this program, though I expect it will be successful.

Apple products, like all consumer electronics, are getting more expensive every day. The monthly payments on a leased device look very attractive compared to the pay-up-front price. For years, car leases have induced people into monthly payments that can become a burden when their financial situation changes. Now the same will be true of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.

Maybe as a practical matter this program isn’t that different from the old financing program, but at least there, you owned your device at the end and could just keep using it indefinitely. With the new program, that’s not an option. When your lease is over, you’re empty-handed and faced with leasing again, buying out the lease, or buying at full price with no trade-in, which is objectively worse.

Ultimately, Apple isn’t responsible for customers’ bad financial decisions, but this program feels like Apple is putting its customers in harm’s way.

Tapbots has released Pastebot 3, a ground-up rewrite of the Mac clipboard manager that includes several powerful automation and customization options, along with two new pricing models.

Pastebot was already one of the Mac’s best clipboard utilities, capable of managing an extensive collection of copied text and images in multiple formats, PDFs, URLs, files, and HTML, along with metadata. The app can handle up to 1,500 clippings and features fast search, extensive customizable keyboard shortcuts, list and detail views of clipboard items, and iCloud sync between multiple Macs.

What sets Pastebot 3 apart is its addition of deep automation tools. Not only does the update add MCP support, making it an excellent tool to use with Claude or ChatGPT/Codex, but it includes a brand new CLI that you or an agent can use from Terminal or incorporate into scripts you build. Commands include:

• List available Pastebins
• Browse and search clipboard history
• Filter results by Pastebin or date
• Retrieve the full text of a clipping
• Retrieve images from clippings
• List available Pastebot filters
• Apply filters to clippings or supplied text
• Place an existing clipping on the clipboard
• Create new text or image clippings
• Paste clipboard contents into the frontmost app
• Delete individual clippings
• Clear the main clipboard history

If you’re looking to automate with Shortcuts instead, Tapbots has you covered there, too, with nine actions that feature a variety of parameters and filter options:

• Clear Pastebin
• Copy Clipping to Clipboard
• Filter
• Find Filter
• Find Pastebin
• Get Clipping by Index
• Get Clippings
• Paste Clipboard
• Paste Clipping

New filters have been added that allow you to transform clippings using text transformations and even shell scripts. Using the ability to script custom filters, I’ve begun adding a few of my own to Pastebot for things like adding and removing bullets from multiple lines of text. For any filter, just select a clipping, and you can preview how it will affect the clipping. You can even assign keyboard shortcuts to filters and combine them with other filters to chain actions together.

Another powerful productivity booster available in Pastebot is called Stacks. This feature used to be called Sequential Paste, but Stacks are much easier to visualize. From Pastebot’s main UI, you can select multiple items at once and right-click to add them to a Stack, or you can pick them one at a time in any order you’d like. As you select items, they’re numbered in the order you’ll paste them into a document using a keyboard shortcut. It’s an excellent feature for filling out forms or copying data from one spreadsheet to another.

Pastebot’s design has been modernized, too, while remaining recognizable to long-time users. Along with a new icon, Pastebot 3 features new toolbars and a more customizable sidebar that lets you rearrange items inside each section and collapse sections for a more streamlined look.

Pastebins, user-defined collections of saved clippings that won’t roll off the end of your clipboard once it fills up, are joined by customizable Smart Pastebins that remind me of Smart Lists in Reminders. Smart Pastebins can be created by combining any or all of up to nine criteria, providing a lot of flexibility. I haven’t used Smart Pastebins extensively yet, but they’re already making it easier for me to find copied URLs simply by setting up a Smart Pastebin that looks for “http” at the beginning of a clipping. Smart Pastebins can even match text using regex, which is great for creating lists of Markdown-formatted URLs and image links.

The bottom line is that whether you simply want to retrieve recently copied items and paste them somewhere or you’re a power user who wants to automate the way you work with lots of clippings all day long, Pastebot 3 has you covered. About the only shortcoming of the app, and it’s a big one, is the lack of an iPhone and iPad version. Pastebot got its start on the iPhone before moving to a Mac-only version a decade ago. I hope Pastebot returns to the iOS and iPadOS someday because a lot of users want that, me included. An iOS version of the app couldn’t do as much as it does on the Mac, but there are plenty of benefits to syncing your clipboard history to an iPhone or iPad, as apps like Paste and PastePal have shown.

---

Copy and paste is as timeless as any task on a computer. If you fill out forms and spreadsheets, maintain a collection of prompts for your AI agents, or just grab a lot of links, images, and other scraps from the web and other sources, having a clipboard manager like Pastebot 3 at your fingertips is essential – so essential, in fact, that when the beta ran out on me just before the app’s release date, my Mac immediately felt broken, which is about the highest recommendation I can give a Mac utility.

Currently, Pastebot is available directly from Tapbots for $39, which includes one year of updates, after which you can purchase an additional one year of updates at any time for $19.

Pastebot 3 is also available on the Mac App Store as a subscription with a 14-day free trial, after which it will cost $2.99/month or $24.99/year.

I don’t think I ever mentioned it on MacStories (although I probably did at some point on AppStories or Unwind), but my favorite “launcher” app for iOS is a utility called Lock Launcher, which I’ve been using on and off for the last couple of years. Lock Launcher started as an app for adding URL schemes to the Lock Screen a few years back, and it gradually evolved into a comprehensive “widget studio” app to design launcher widgets of all kinds for the Home Screen, Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, Live Activities, and more.

Anyway, I’m covering the app on the site today because it was updated with two features that I didn’t think were possible or allowed on the App Store, and I want to highlight them for our readers. I’m not really sure how the developers were able to add these features to the app; you may want to download it from the App Store quickly, just in case.

For starters, Lock Launcher now lets you create launcher shortcuts that open apps directly and immediately, rather than redirecting you to the Lock Launcher app first.

For years now, launcher apps on the iPhone have had to employ this workaround: you’d tap on a shortcut that opened, say, Ivory, but you would see the launcher app flash onscreen briefly before redirecting you to the actual destination app you selected. Somehow, Lock Launcher is now circumventing this limitation with a ‘Direct Open’ mode that I haven’t seen in other launcher apps for iOS. That sequence of widget, host app, and destination app was, ultimately, the reason why I always stopped using third-party launcher apps, and I love that it’s been removed by Lock Launcher.

At long last, I’ve been able to create a dense Home Screen with 40 icons (36 in the widget plus 4 in the dock), and they all launch directly when tapped.

The screenshot above brings me to the second feature added in the version of Lock Launcher currently available on the App Store: XL widgets on iPhone in iOS 27.

Now, as far as I know, if an app wants to adopt an API exclusive to a future version of iOS, it typically needs to be built against that version’s SDK using the corresponding Xcode beta. However, the App Store isn’t currently accepting apps built with the iOS 27 SDK. And yet, the Lock Launcher developers must have figured out a way to support the new systemExtraLargePortrait widget size and make it work on devices running iOS 27 even though the app was built with the iOS 26 SDK. My best guess: they’re using a workaround that involves visionOS 26 APIs, since the Vision Pro received support for that family of widgets last year. (I’d love to know more about this.)

These two features, combined with the ability to apply the Liquid Glass material to widgets for beautiful refractions of the system wallpaper, make Lock Launcher the most powerful and customizable launcher utility on iOS to date. I hope writing about it doesn’t get the developers in trouble.

Lock Launcher is available for free on the App Store, with advanced features available through an optional Pro in-app purchase.

Staying up to date has never felt more overwhelming.

Between websites, newsletters, podcasts, social media feeds, and specialized publications, valuable information is scattered across countless apps and platforms. The challenge is no longer finding content – it’s keeping up with it without wasting time or missing what matters.

That’s where Inoreader comes in.

Inoreader helps you build your own personalized newsfeed by bringing together the sources you care about in one place. Instead of jumping between websites, inboxes, and apps throughout the day, you can keep up with everything from a single interface designed to help you stay informed while cutting through the noise.

Unlike algorithm-driven feeds, Inoreader puts you in control. Follow the websites and creators you trust and receive their updates directly. No engagement-driven recommendations and endless scrolling, just the content you’ve chosen to follow.

For those who need more than a traditional feed reader, Inoreader offers powerful monitoring tools. Create custom feeds to track keywords, brands, companies, competitors, products, or industry trends across the web and receive updates automatically whenever something new appears.

As your reading list grows, Inoreader helps you organize and revisit important information. Save articles for later, highlight key passages, add notes, and build a searchable archive of knowledge and insights that remains accessible long after you’ve finished reading.

To help you process larger volumes of content, Inoreader’s Intelligence features can summarize articles, extract key insights, and help you make sense of information faster. Whether you’re following daily news, researching a topic, or monitoring developments in your industry, Inoreader helps you stay informed without getting overwhelmed.

Advanced filtering and automation tools can further streamline your workflow by automatically organizing incoming content, surfacing what matters most, and reducing distractions – saving you time while ensuring important updates never slip through the cracks.

Inoreader is available on the web, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, with offline reading support on mobile, so your newsfeed is always available when you need it.

You can get started with Inoreader for free, or explore everything the Pro plan has to offer with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required. New Pro subscribers can also get 30% off their first year.

Learn more and get started at inoreader.com.

Our thanks to Inoreader for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, Federico and John look at what Siri AI is good at, where it needs improvement, and where it might be heading.

On AppStories+, the conversation expands to Federico and John’s experiences with the betas of macOS Golden Gate, iOS 27, and iPadOS 27.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, AYANEO is chasing the classics again, teasing a Game Boy Advance clone, while Magmi is getting vertical – plus, a Mechanism desk stand for your handheld, 8BitDo’s FlipPad, and the GPD Win Max 3 blurs the lines between laptop and console.

On NPC XL, Brendon and John try Armada and report to listeners about whether it’s ready for prime time.

Comfort Zone

Niléane brings her newest fan (literally), Chris just assumed his co-hosts have installed the betas (they have), and they all tell each other how their respective apps could start earning millions.

This week’s Cozy Zone is a complete, and authoritative, tier listing of every Men’s World Cup logo ever.

MacStories Unwind

This week, app launchers, universal truths about ISPs, and an epic movie.

---

AppStories, Episode 494, ‘All About Siri AI’ Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by:

• Daylite: The only made-for-mac CRM solution. Start your free trial today.
• Decagon: The AI concierge for every customer. Get a personalized demo.

All About Siri AI

• Siri AI and Apple’s Trickle-Up Strategy
• Also: Apple introduces Siri AI, a profoundly more capable and personal assistant

AppStories+ Post-Show

• macOS 27 Golden Gate: The MacStories Public Beta Preview

Subscribe to AppStories+

Visit AppStories.net to learn more about the extended, high bitrate audio version of AppStories that is delivered early each week and subscribe.

---

NPC, Episode 89, ‘AYANEO Teases a New Game Boy Advance’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

• KONKR Pocket Fit 8 Elite review: excessive power in a comfortable package
• Mangmi announces the Air Y, a new vertical Android handheld for 2026
• GPD WIN Max 3 detailed with Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and a unique detachable 97Wh battery
• 8BitDo Opens Pre-Orders for the FlipPad Phone Controller
• Mechanism’s desk stand turns your handheld into a tiny desktop

Subscribe to NPC XL

NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here.

---

Comfort Zone, Episode 110, ‘Only One Person Being Strangled’ Show Notes

Things Discussed

• Classy filing
• Horror show filing
• Vivaldi is trying to bring Blink to iOS
• Niléane’s fan
• Tiny Start
• Parchment
• Quick Reads
• Quick Reviews

Cozy Zone

For even more from the Comfort Zone crew, you can subscribe to Cozy Zone. Cozy Zone is a weekly bonus episode of Comfort Zone where Matt, Niléane, and Chris invite listeners to join them in the Cozy Zone where they’ll cover extra topics, invent wilder challenges and games, and share all their great (and not so great) takes on tech. You can subscribe to Cozy Zone for $5 per month here or $50 per year here.

---

MacStories Unwind, ‘A Long Journey Home’ Show Notes

Unplugged Segment

• TinyStart
• Rocket
• Raycast
• Alfred
• LaunchBar

Picks

• John’s Pick: The Odyssey

Unwind Deal

• Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 9-Movie Collection - All 9 movies for $69.99

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free with high bitrate audio every week. To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

---

MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017 with AppStories. Since then, the lineup has expanded to include a family of weekly shows that also includes MacStories Unwind, Magic Rays of Light, Comfort Zone, NPC: Next Portable Console, and First, Last, Everything that collectively, cover a broad range of the modern media world from Apple’s streaming service and videogame hardware to apps for a growing audience that appreciates our thoughtful, in-depth approach to media.

If you’re interested in advertising on our shows, you can learn more here or by contacting our Managing Editor, John Voorhees.

Kalley Huang, writing for The New York Times about apps written with the help of AI agents that are flooding the App Store:

But as with many things A.I., just because something is easy to build doesn’t mean people will use it. It is not clear if vibecoding is breathing new life into the App Store or just cluttering it.

Last year, the number of new apps released in the App Store grew 30 percent to about 600,000, according to estimates by Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm. In the first half of this year, new apps doubled to about 560,000.

Now, Sensor Tower metrics should always be taken with a grain of salt. They don’t have direct access to Apple’s sales data, so they’re extrapolating from incomplete data that they collect themselves. That said, I think it’s fair to take their numbers as broadly representative of sales trends over time, and the story they tell, as reported by Huang, is interesting.

Based on Sensor Tower’s numbers, the total number of App Store releases peaked in 2016 at 890,000, hit a low of 420,000 in 2022, and this year, is on pace to pass 2016’s peak by a healthy margin. But app releases don’t equate to downloads, let alone sales. According to Huang’s reporting, downloads increased 3% in 2025 and 2% in the first half of 2026, far lower than the growth of new releases.

All of this tracks closely with what we’ve seen at MacStories. One subtle trend I’d add is that whereas for years most developers contacted us before they released an app, a lot of new developers are doing so after their apps are on the App Store. I suspect what I’m seeing is a new generation of developers learning the hard discoverability lessons of the App Store for the first time because when I check out these apps, they rarely have any App Store reviews.

The upshot of all these statistics and trends is App Store chaos of a magnitude that we haven’t seen in a long time. It’s a little like the App Store gold rush of the early days, but without the gold. Discoverability has gone from bad to worse, and the supply of apps is off the charts compared to the demand. With download numbers barely creeping up, the flood of new apps is making selling on the App Store harder for everyone.

Yet, it’s exactly this sort of chaotic disruption that leads to exciting new apps. And, it’s tools like Codex and Claude Code that empower and democratize app development, allowing people who would never have built an app to see their ideas become a reality. Those are things I love to see.

There’s no doubt that the App Store is out of whack thanks to agent-assisted coding, but like any market it will find its equilibrium again. In the meantime, it’s never been a better time to be a fan of apps because while a lot of those record numbers are comprised of mediocre apps, there are hidden gems, and we’re on the hunt for them.