Apple (transcript, Hacker News):

The Company posted quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16 percent year over year.

[…]

“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,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Jason Snell:

iPhone revenue was up 22%, Mac revenue was up 10.4%, Services revenue was up 12%, and Wearables revenue was up 6%. iPad revenue was down 6%.

John Voorhees:

Together, iPhone and Services accounted for 77.7% of Apple’s $109.4B in net sales.

Jordan Golson:

Gross margin for the quarter was 50.1 percent, compared to 46.5 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Jason Snell:

You can’t argue with the strong iPhone and Mac sales figures, and Apple specifically called out the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Neo, which Cook said “has been especially popular” and suggested that the company is still struggling to make them fast enough.

It’s admirable (and sensible) that Cook isn’t pointing fingers at anyone but customers who want Apple products, but the key phrase in his statement is “the supply chain just has less flexibility in it than normal.” This is an acknowledgement that while in the past, Apple might have been able to boost chip production from its partners, today the chip industry is maxed out thanks to the wild building of chips for AI applications.

[…]

As an aside, Cook also alluded to reports that Apple has tried to get the U.S. government to authorize purchase of RAM from some forbidden Chinese chipmakers, which has aroused political ire.

See also: MacRumors.

Previously:

• Apple Financial Statements: Products vs. Services
• Apple Hardware Price Hikes
• Apple’s Q2 2026 Results
• MacBook Neo Sales
• Apple’s Q3 2025 Results

John Voorhees:

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.

[…]

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.

I’ve long been aware of this app but hadn’t paid much attention because I’m happy using LaunchBar as my clipboard and snippet manager. LaunchBar has some transformations built-in, and I’ve built up a collection of my own scripts, but it’s appealing that Pastebot comes with so many out of the box.

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.

Juli Clover:

There are also rule-based Smart Pastebins for automatic organization, like every link or image copied from Safari. Smart Pastebins can be filtered by clipping size, type, file extension, creation date, text, text length, and more. Multiple parameters can be combined for detailed filtering, and custom notes can be added to clippings to make them easy to find via search.

[…]

Tapbots says Pastebot 3 was built to work with Apple's Universal Clipboard feature, and when enabled and active, anything you copy on your iPhone is saved in Pastebot automatically.

John Gruber:

Chief among my favorite features:

• Remembers up to 1,500 clippings (up from a mere 1,000 in v2).
• Syncs via iCloud. If I copy something on one Mac, it’s in my Pastebot history on my other Macs.
• That sweet Tapbots UI.

Marcus Mendes:

Importantly, Pastebot 3 requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later and comes with a 14-day free trial. Users can buy the app directly from Tapbots for $39 or subscribe through the App Store for $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year.

[…]

The direct purchase includes one year of updates, with additional years available for $19 each. Users who stop paying for updates can continue using the latest version covered by their purchase. Pastebot 2 owners can also get a $12.99 upgrade discount by entering their existing license key at checkout.

scottybee:

They are not offering any upgrade path for MAS customers. The reason they stated was “upgrade pricing has always been our way of thanking people who bought directly from the site.”

Paul Haddad:

I generally try to avoid complaining about App Store review, since I do think they have a really hard job to do. But I’m about 2 more PB3 rejections from just giving up.

Previously:

• Apple’s Spotlight Clipboard Manager
• Boop 1.3.1
• Processing the Selected Text via Script
• iOS Background App Kludge

Marcin Wichary:

The problem is that PAMS is drunk with power and flattens everything on its way[…]

That includes:

• emphasis by italics or bolding
• links
• bulleted and numbered lists
• strike-through text
• headlines

None of these are “style.” This is actual information that should not be removed.

Sometimes, Paste and Match Style is what you want, but I like when apps also provide other options, as he discusses. For example, the Omni apps now offer Paste and Merge Styles.

Previously:

• OmniFocus 4.8.10
• OmniOutliner 6.1
• Pure Paste 1.1
• Paste Without Style

Gus Mueller (release notes):

• A new brushing engine that has been rewritten using Metal shaders. It includes an option for “velocity thinning”, where the faster you draw your brush strokes, the thinner the lines.
• A new acorn shell tool that you can use to send JavaScript to Acorn, as well as start an MCP server. So if you’ve got a favorite LLM you like to use, you can now use it to drive Acorn. The JavaScript section of the release notes are a good read if you’re interested in that. In addition:
  • The JS API has also been updated with examples for most calls.
  • The shell tool has a -jsio argument which lets you do things like:
    echo "acorn.takeLayeredScreenshot();" | acorn -jsio
• Big ML models (used for Select Subject and Super Resolution Scaling) are now downloaded on demand. If AI isn’t your thing, they won’t take up any space on your Mac.

I feel lucky that Acorn is enough for me.

Chris Person:

Very few software companies outside of Microsoft have the kind of leverage over entire industries. Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom and After Effects are all load bearing to some extent within their respective fields despite the fact that many people I know loathe using them.

Via Nick Heer:

I have said it before and I will say it again: if I had known the path Adobe’s software would eventually go down, I might very well have picked a different career.

Previously:

• Photoshop’s “Modern” Spectrum User Interface
• Acorn 8.5

Sayan Sen (Hacker News):

For a while now the transition away from Manifest V2 (MV2) to MV3 has been on-going and it looks like it is entering its final phase of deprecation, at least, in the case of Google Chrome. A recent discussion thread in the w3c WebExtensions Community Group GitHub repo has highlighted how the latest and upcoming versions of the most popular browser are expected to be its final releases with support for MV2 extensions.

[…]

Here is a rundown of the changes coming in the final such releases of Chromium releases:

• Chromium 150 lost ExtensionManifestV2Disabled option
• Chromium 151 will loose ExtensionManifestV2Unsupported option
• Chromium 151 will loose ExtensionManifestV2Availability option
• Chromium 151 will likely loose AllowLegacyMV2Extensions option

Other Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Microsoft Edge could soon follow suit too. Although it is not specified, Edge began disabling uBlock Origin back in February, and Opera could also stop the functioning of MV2 add-ons, even though it had committed to support MV2 for longer in October 2024.

Google:

Aug 31st 2026: All remaining Manifest V2 extensions removed from the Chrome Web Store

Previously:

• Chrome Warning About Manifest V2 Extensions
• Chrome’s Manifest V3 and uBlock Origin

Update (2026-09-02): Web Iterate (Hacker News):

Google today reached the final milestone in a browser-extension transition that has been years in the making, all remaining Manifest V2 extensions were removed from the Chrome Web Store.

Marcus Mendes:

Last April, Brazilian officials notified Apple and Google over an alleged lack of age controls in betting apps on their respective app stores.

9to5Mac:

Brazilian users browsing the App Store rankings in categories such as Navigation, Travel, and Weather have noticed a growing number of poorly made games appearing among the top results, many of them featuring AI-generated illustrations of animals as their app icons. Many carry an AL age rating, making them available to users of all ages, including children.

As it turns out, these are so-called jacket apps, which are just a front for hidden betting and gambling apps.

[…]

The repository also includes explicit instructions intended to prevent the apps from being flagged as suspicious during App Store review. These include giving each app uniquely named startup and remote-configuration codes, making it harder for reviewers to identify them as part of the same group.

Ironically, the App Store’s own recommendation system appears to have little trouble grouping the apps together, as the “You Might Also Like” section on several of these apps points users toward other suspicious apps more frequently than they point to genuine apps.

John Gruber (Mastodon):

Obviously the main problem is that these apps disguise themselves Trojan Horse-style, and slip through App Store review undetected. I don’t think it’s reasonable to think App Store review could catch every attempt at this sort of thing though — if the horses are disguised well-enough, some of them are going to slip through. That’s actually fine.

I agree that it’s unreasonable to expect App Review to catch all those, but then Apple should not be pretending that it can. This was all obvious from day one. The public perception of App Review is completely at odds with what it actually can and does do.

But the first example 9to5Mac cites isn’t well disguised at all. What sense does it make that “PotatoPlot Puzzle” — a game featuring a rabbit potato farmer — is a weather app? How is that not a red flag right there?

[…]

I always mention that the point of such a squad shouldn’t be to make the App Store 100 percent scammer-free — which I believe is an impossible goal that would set the team up for failure. The point should be only to make the App Store free of successful scams. Focus on the most popular apps and the most lucrative apps.

The App Store is more than 18 years old. The idea of patrolling the top charts probably occurred to Apple before it even shipped. They just don’t want to do it.

Nick Lockwood:

Apple only took 24 hours to approve my iOS app update that crashed instantly on launch. Such a blessing to have that extra level of reliability and security that only a manual review process can provide 🙏

Incidentally, the crash was due to a missing dylib - something that could easily have been detected by the automated scan process, if only that scan were designed to protect users’ and developers’ interests instead of Apple’s.

Kyle Hughes:

There is simply no other way to maintain a modern, healthy software ecosystem without making sure that apps that have been around for 7 years and 20 major versions can’t get a build looked at within 48 hours. There’s no other way. Probably needs to be longer, honestly.

I had to file an Expedited Review Request because this update is a legitimate emergency. Four hours later, App Review rejected the build because they didn’t follow the first sentence of the testing instructions (which haven’t changed in 7 years). Back to Waiting for Review! There’s no other way.

Previously:

• Chrome Browser Default at the Top of the Mac App Store
• Sparrow Wallet Lawsuit
• Sirius Pomodoro
• The App Store Scammer Strikes Back
• Brazil: App Marketplaces and External Payments
• Scam Authenticator App Steals QR Codes
• Sketchy ChatGPT App Soars Up App Store Charts
• Gambling Ads on App Store Product Pages
• Schneier on Sideloading
• The App Store Isn’t Catching the Most Egregious Scams
• Scammy KeyWatch and Trezor Apps
• Widgetsmith and The Case of the Missing App Store Bunco Squad
• Big Fish Casino
• Apps Removed in Ban of Gambling-Related Apps

Update (2026-07-30): Kyle Hughes:

We got rejected in the Expedited Review again, this time for not having an account deletion feature. Except we do, and it’s one button press away from the screen that the reviewer was on. And it has always existed. Is this how the expedited review works? Malicious incompetence?

Update (2026-07-31): Kyle Hughes:

If you were wondering how long one of the “you can ask us to approve this build and can fix this issue in the next release” App Review errors takes to resolve when you’re in the Expedited Review Queue… me too! So far, 18 hours. (Ignoring the fact that we have the feature the rejection was for.)

Kyle Hughes:

Certainly it means “within a week,” right? “Within a month,” please? “In your lifetime,” I can only hope.

I continue to have problems with Contacts in Tahoe. The latest issue is that the Messages app constantly displays a banner showing that one of my contacts has updated her poster. I don’t want to use it; I want to keep the photo that I chose. But clicking the × button does not dismiss the New poster available from [Person] banner. It remains anchored atop that conversation.

Sidenote: I hate that it wants me to click Update Contact but that the image shown is the old photo. How can I commit to the new photo without even knowing what it looks like? How can I undo if I don’t like it?

Sidenote 2: I’m also getting repeated Siri found an event banners in Messages, but they go away after about three clicks. They’re extra annoying because (unlike above) they animate in again each time I dismiss them, and they’re for events that are already on my calendar.

I thought maybe I could fix things by going into the Contacts app. Unfortunately, the Contact Photo & Poster button there is inoperative. Sometimes it flickers when I click it. Sometimes nothing happens at all. Sometimes after clicking the button it will open the photo chooser sheet for the next contact that I view.

I just want a single setting to let me choose my own photos. I never want to use a poster or be notified that one has changed.

Ben Lovejoy:

Ternus, said he was committed to building on the company’s momentum in the entertainment business when he takes the helm of the iPhone maker in September […]

“I think we have such tremendous momentum right now in ​Apple TV,” Ternus told Reuters on the red carpet at the premiere of the fourth season of Ted ​Lasso. “There’s so many amazing shows, so many amazing characters and stories, and so we’re just going to keep building on the momentum.”

Have we seen any indication yet that he cares about software?

Previously:

• Apple Financial Statements: Products vs. Services
• Contacts in Tahoe
• Turning Off iOS 17 Contact Posters

Apple (Hacker News):

Apple today announced Apple Upgrade, a new product leasing program provided by Klarna for iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iPad available on the Apple Store online, in the Apple Store app, and at Apple Store locations in the United States.

[…]

Apple Upgrade offers 12- and 24-month leasing options for iPhone and Apple Watch, and 24- and 36-month leasing options for Mac and iPad. Leasing prices start as low as $17.99 per month for iPhone, $11.99 for Apple Watch, $24.99 for Mac, and $11.99 for iPad.

The $17.99/month gets you a base model iPhone 17e for 24 months. This is a total of $431.76 vs. $599 for buying a new one today, but then you have to make a decision:

At the end of the lease term, customers can upgrade their device to the latest generation, purchase it with a one-time payment, or simply return it and exit the program.

I used to get a new phone every other year, but I kept my iPhone 12 mini for three years and will likely keep my 15 Pro for four years. In addition to making it easier to buy phones without the up-front payment, Apple is probably hoping this will encourage more customers to get back on the two-year cycle. Given the choice between continuing a small monthly payment and getting a new phone or making a larger payment to keep their old phone, many may opt to upgrade.

Juli Clover:

The payoff amount is the difference between what was paid during the leasing period and the retail price of the device, minus any remaining trade-in credits. Klarna is not charging a fee for the leasing program, so an iPhone that’s $1,099 can be leased and then purchased for $1,099 with no extra cost beyond taxes.

I guess this means that, for a bit of hassle, you can essentially buy the device for the list price at 0% interest.

Lease participants can opt to end a lease early and return a device, but Apple says there may be “substantial fees” for terminating a lease before the end of the term.

[…]

Customers must upgrade, end the lease, or purchase the device at the end of the lease term. If that doesn’t happen, the lease converts to a month-to-month lease for up to six months.

[…]

Damage to an iPhone, losing an iPhone, or having an iPhone stolen could incur fees.

Aisha Malik:

The rollout of the program comes as Apple has been struggling with supply chain issues related to “RAMageddon,” which refers to the industry-wide shortage of memory chips that is driving up the price of hardware. As a result, Apple recently announced price hikes for its Mac and iPad lineups, sparing the iPhone for now. The new Upgrade program seems to be Apple’s answer to making those higher prices more manageable for consumers.

Customers can manage their lease directly in the Klarna app, where they can view their billing schedule and track remaining payments.

With the launch of the new Upgrade program, Apple is discontinuing its existing in-house financing and installment programs in the U.S., which include the iPhone Upgrade Program and iPhone Payments.

John Voorhees:

For iPhones, you have to have a carrier and can’t use a prepaid plan.

[…]

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.

[…]

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.

Marcus Mendes:

9to5Mac can now confirm that code found in the iOS 27 beta appears to reveal a broader system for managing a financed iPhone, including the ability to restrict apps and services when payments are missed.

The code describes a system called App Managed Features, which allows an authorized financing or provider app to enroll an iPhone and perform ongoing status checks.

If the contract is no longer in good standing, Apple’s system services can place the iPhone in “Restricted Mode,” which blocks access to most apps until the payment or contract issue is resolved, while keeping a small set of apps available.

I bet there are some governments that would love to commandeer that for their own purposes.

Finally, the new framework also introduces a new type of activation lock called “Partner Finance Lock,” which is meant to prevent users from erasing, reselling, or stripping a restricted device for parts.

Previously:

• Apple Hardware Price Hikes
• Mac Upgrade Program
• AppleCare One
• Getting a New iPhone

Update (2026-07-29): Emma Roth:

Apple says it won’t limit the capabilities of devices leased through its new Upgrade program if you miss a payment. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Apple spokesperson Brian Bumbery says, “There will be no restricted mode and/or there will be no limitations put on device functionality due to missed payments or default with the Apple Upgrade program.”

So then what is the code that 9to5Mac found for?

Marcus Mendes:

One possibility is that it was developed for financing programs offered by carriers, retailers, or other partners outside Apple Upgrade, potentially including markets where device restrictions are already used to enforce installment agreements.

See also: Mac Power Users, TidBITS, MacRumors, Slashdot.

Update (2026-07-30): Ryan Christoffel:

Here’s what every eligible product costs with Apple Upgrade.

Emma Roth:

Here’s a breakdown of how much you’d pay for the devices included in the Apple Upgrade program, as well as how much more you’d pay to purchase the devices outright at the end of your lease[…]

[…]

Klarna doesn’t say what will happen if you don’t pay the outstanding balance.

[…]

During the lease, Klarna owns your device. You’re responsible for any damage, and will get charged a fee if you don’t return the device in “good condition.” That’s why Apple is encouraging customers to sign up for an AppleCare subscription that could drive up the cost of your lease even more.

[…]

Apple also notes that you’ll have to pay an early termination fee if you want to return the device before your lease ends or if you want to upgrade early.

Eyes:

If you lose the leased phone you have to pay Klarna for the phone plus early lease cancellation fees.

D. Griffin Jones:

The Apple Card Monthly Installments aren’t going away, so I’ll keep using that.

[…]

When you finance using the Apple Card Monthly Installments, you pay a fixed amount to own your device. There are no savings here — aside from the 3% cashback — the monthly payment is the purchase price divided by either 12 or 24 months.

John Gruber:

When you lease an iPhone through Apple Upgrade, you need a cellular account on one of the big three U.S. carriers: AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon. That kind of stinks, and I’m not quite sure I understand why.

Eyes:

The iPhone upgrade program always required it. For a time you could do Apple Card installments without a carrier if you bought it online but never in store. I assume there is carrier pressure to tie the phones to the carriers. Activating iPhones on carriers was a key metric at the Apple Store.

Previously:

• Boom Mobile Restructuring

Update (2026-08-03): John Gruber (Mastodon):

Credit-risk assessment is seemingly part of it. There’s a lot of fraud in iPhone purchases specifically and cell phone service generally. The big three carriers do a significant amount of risk assessment before letting you open a new postpaid account; that you have an active account with one of them is a signal that you’re not trying to lease an iPhone using phony credentials in order to sell it.

But the bigger reason is the complex nature of the contracts between Apple and each of the big three carriers.

Juli Clover (release notes, security, enterprise, developer, full installer, IPSW):

According to Apple’s release notes for the update, macOS Tahoe 26.6 includes security fixes for the Mac and it optimizes Spotlight for the release of macOS 27.

Mr. Macintosh:

Additionally a fix addressed where some notifications incorrectly displayed deprecation notices for some apps identified as Intel processor only. Also addressed was that HDR screenshots might appear garbled when sent in Messages.

Mr. Macintosh:

The macOS Tahoe 26.6 update breaks the all‑time record for CVEs patched in a single macOS release, with a total of 155.

Here’s a look back at how many CVEs were patched in each Tahoe update so far.

See also: Hacker News.

Howard Oakley:

Patrick Wardle has also drawn attention to a change in the leaf certificate used to sign Apple binaries to “macOS Software Signing”, where previously it was just “Software Signing”.

Previously:

• Golden Gate Spotlight
• macOS 26.5.1

Marcus Mendes:

Following the rollout of no less than seven Release Candidates, Apple has now finally released macOS Sonoma 14.8.8 and macOS Sequoia 15.7.8 officially.

macOS 15.7.8 (security, full installer):

This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users.

macOS 14.8.8 (security, full installer):

This update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users.

Previously:

• macOS 15.7.7 and macOS 14.8.7

Juli Clover (iOS/iPadOS release notes, security, enterprise, developer):

iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 include security fixes for the iPhone and iPad. The updates also optimize the Spotlight index in preparation for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.

There are a lot of security fixes.

Rosyna Keller:

Yay, iOS 26.6 is out. And it fixes a privacy leak I filed in April that allowed malicious apps/Ad SDKs to track a user across apps.

Previously:

• iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2

Update (2026-07-29): Kirk McElhearn:

Yesterday’s iOS update fixed the battery problem that I’ve had for the past couple of months. My iPhone 16 Pro Max would not make it a full day on a single charge.

Juli Clover (release notes, security, developer):

According to Apple’s release notes, watchOS 26.6 includes unspecified bug fixes and security updates.

Previously:

• watchOS 26.5

Juli Clover (no release notes, security, developer):

No new features were found in tvOS 26.6 during the beta testing period, so it likely focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements.

Previously:

• tvOS 26.5

Ryan Christoffel (no release notes):

But beyond under-the-hood changes, you won’t find new features in these updates.

It still doesn’t play all my purchased music.

Previously:

• audioOS 26.5
• HomePod Late Adopter

Juli Clover (release notes, security, no enterprise, developer):

Apple’s release notes say that visionOS 26.6 includes bug fixes and security improvements in addition to optimizing the Spotlight index for the upcoming visionOS 27 launch.

Previously:

• visionOS 26.5

EagleFiler 1.9.21 is a maintenance release of my Mac digital filing cabinet and e-mail archiving app. It can now capture the selected messages from MailMaven, including all their metadata, and can link back to the original message. The capture key now works with the Helium browser, and importing from Mariner Paperless and Microsoft Outlook is improved as well.

• There was an interesting regression caused by the fact that macOS now implements pop-up menus using separate windows (NSPopupMenuWindow) that post their own notifications for becoming key and for resigning key status.

• Encrypted libraries need to be converted to APFS, since a future version of macOS will drop support for CoreStorage. You can do this now, or it’s possible that we’ll be able to offer an automatic converter in a future version.

• There were more problems with PyObjC importing symbols, this time generic Swift classes that have angle brackets in their names. I had previously added more precise imports to skip over these symbols, which aren’t needed anyway, so it’s a mystery why a few users were still seeing this problem despite using the same macOS versions as everyone else. In any case, I adjusted the PyObjC importer to hopefully avoid problems with all such symbols, even if Apple adds more in future versions.

• macOS Tahoe introduced a bug displaying custom folder icons, which was finally fixed in macOS 26.4.1.

Previously:

• MailMaven 1.2
• Sunsetting CoreStorage
• EagleFiler 1.9.20

SmallCubed:

AppleScript support makes it possible to automate message processing and connect Maven with other applications such as Hookmark, EagleFiler, Filemaker, and DEVONthink. Almost anything you normally do by interacting with MailMaven’s interface, such as searching for messages, tagging, filing, flagging, and composing, can now be automated.

[…]

AppleScript makes it possible to control Maven using the natural language capabilities of AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT via a MCP server. […] To connect AI assistants to Maven, we have developed a basic MCP server that implements over 25 end points. This can be downloaded and installed from our MailMavenMCP repository on GitHub. With the MailMavenMCP you can instruct your assistant to access and process messages without the need to write any AppleScript. For example, if you want a summary of the conversation you are reading, simply instruct the assistant to “Summarize the conversation of the currently selected message in MailMaven”.

The AppleScript support is really impressive. It’s extensive and thoughtfully designed and implemented, with performance in mind:

A query is a temporary AppleScript-based smart mailbox that can are used to locate and examine/manage messages.

Using queries is much faster than iterating through messages in mailboxes because it uses Maven’s internal mechanism for locating messages that smart mailboxes use.

Depending on the scope and nature of an iterative search which can take seconds, if not minutes to process, queries are almost instantaneous. Moreover, queries have the ability to sort messages and filter duplicates.

[…]

Scripts can be performed from Maven’s inbox, outbox, and keystroke rules via the Run AppleScript Rule action.

I’m excited to see a new app leaning into this old technology, which remains unsurpassed. EagleFiler is already taking advantage of the AppleScript support to enable importing messages (with all their metadata) just by pressing a hotkey. I also expect it to enable some great new features in future versions of SpamSieve.

Previously:

• EagleFiler 1.9.21
• MailMaven 1.0

Joe Rossignol (PDF):

The complaint alleges that Apple violated California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act and other laws by failing to adequately review and monitor apps distributed through the App Store, despite marketing it as “a safe and trusted place to discover and download apps.” Due to these assurances in Apple’s marketing, the complaint said the plaintiffs trusted that a Sparrow Wallet app they downloaded from the App Store on iOS was legitimate, when in reality it was a fraudulent spoof designed to steal Bitcoin from users.

Sparrow Wallet is only available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The popular Bitcoin wallet is not available on iOS, but scammers have released fake lookalike apps in the App Store that can trick users into giving up control of their funds.

[…]

Even when victims reported fraud, the lawsuit alleges that Apple often took little to no action, and it says other fake Sparrow apps remain in the App Store.

Sparrow Wallet developer Craig Raw has publicly addressed Apple’s slow response to multiple fake versions of his app appearing in the App Store. In a January 2024 social media post, for example, he said “there is still a scam ‘Sparrow Wallet’ app on the @Apple App Store, despite myself and others having reported it weeks ago.”

Craig Raw:

My attempt to protect users from scam apps on the @AppStore has gotten my Apple Developer account flagged for termination - ironically, for “dishonest activity”.

[…]

I’m the developer of the real Sparrow Wallet, a desktop app, and I hold the registered US trademarks for the name and logo. I have publicly warned @Apple and the community about these fake apps from early 2024, but they keep appearing.

The app @Apple flagged was a placeholder that was never published. Its only purpose was to warn users that Sparrow is desktop-only and that other “Sparrow” apps aren’t mine. This approach may have been misguided, but there was nothing dishonest about it.

Joe Rossignol:

In response to our request for comment, Apple said it has taken swift action to remove any apps impersonating Sparrow Wallet[…] Apple says it takes immediate action against apps that do not comply with its guidelines.

Previously:

• Hide My Email Vulnerability Exposes Real Address
• Sirius Pomodoro
• The App Store Scammer Strikes Back
• Sanctioned Entities Slip Through App Store Controls
• Some of the Apps in the App Store
• Fake Bitcoin Wallet in the App Store
• Fraudulent Rabby Wallet App

Update (2026-07-28): Sarah Perez:

The complaint targets one of Apple’s longtime competitive arguments: that its tight control over its App Store makes its platform safer than those offered by its rivals. The company has used this claim to push back against deregulation of the app ecosystem, including third-party app stores and sideloading.

“As part of a sustained marketing campaign, Apple has positioned itself, its products and services, as offering a level of security and trustworthiness superior to any competing technology company,” the new filing states. “This includes assurances about the safety of applications distributed through its App Store. By retaining exclusive control over which apps are permitted on Apple devices, Apple has structured its platform to ensure that consumers depend entirely on its promise of safety and reliability,” it reads.

With third-party app stores, there would be an incentive to do better vetting than Apple, and with sideloading it would be clear that the app was not being downloaded from sparrowwallet.com.

Update (2026-07-29): Jeff Johnson:

What struck me about Apple’s response is that it places the burden of curating the App Store on developers and users rather than taking responsibility for it. After all, Apple reviews every version of every app before it can be published to the App Store. If Apple is curating the App Store, then why do scams have to be reported and removed? One wonders how the scams get past Apple review in the first place, and even if Apple review “is not perfect” (a gross euphemism), how the second line of defense, Apple employees patrolling the App Store for scams that the review team missed, also fails. The burden of App Store curation should not fall to me, a lone indie developer.

Apple’s response also ignores that the indie developer did report the scams, multiple times.

Previously:

• Hidden Gambling Apps in Brazilian App Store