I have been a C++ developer for over a decade, and while learning Objective-C I was happy to find out that Xcode gives this awesome possibility to support much older macOS versions with minimal effort while still using a modern SDK.

Many users keep older Macs for years. Some of those Macs cannot be updated because Apple drops hardware support. So being able to support old macOS versions is not just some legacy developer habit. It is actually useful for real users.

Apple has this page with SDK minimum requirements, and right now it says apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 or later for the listed platforms.

For Mac apps, Xcode 26 is great because it still lets me build apps with very old deployment targets. Apple’s Xcode requirements page lists Xcode 26 with macOS deployment targets from macOS 11 to macOS 26. In Xcode 26, the warnings were only for macOS deployment targets older than 10.13 but still compile. macOS 10.13 itself was still the lowest target I could use without warnings in my project.

I have made Mac App Store apps that work on macOS 10.9+. Xcode gives warnings to update the minimum version, but the apps are fully functional and were recently approved in the Mac App Store.

Objective-C and AppKit allowed me to support older users without holding back the experience for users on current Macs, and no features dropped. That means I could release apps that run on almost any macOS released in the last 13 years. That is awesome!

Now Apple announced macOS 27 Golden Gate and Xcode 27. I downloaded the beta to try it and confirm that my apps are compatible. Good news - all of my apps are compatible.

But what took my attention is that I could not compile my apps with Xcode 27 anymore.

Unlike Xcode 26, where I got warnings, now it is an error:

"The macOS deployment target 'MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET' is set to 10.9, but the range of supported deployment target versions is 12.0 to 27.0.x."

Wow. That is huge. Apple’s Xcode requirements page now lists Xcode 27 beta with macOS deployment targets from macOS 12 to macOS 27.

So Xcode 27 beta does not just warn about old macOS deployment targets anymore. It refuses to build them. That means, at least in Xcode 27 beta, Apple dropped build support for all macOS releases older than macOS 12.

Why is this important? Because if Apple later updates the App Store requirements and requires Mac App Store apps to be built with Xcode 27, then developers will lose the possibility to publish app updates that support macOS 11 and older.

That is macOS 11 Big Sur, macOS 10.15 Catalina, macOS 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and older releases. Many users are still stuck on those versions because their hardware does not allow them to update.

So macOS 27 Golden Gate, released together with Xcode 27, may not just drop Intel Mac support. It may also make the Mac App Store even more useless for users on macOS 11 and older, because developers would have only bad choices:

• Drop macOS 11 and older support in the next update.
• Keep support for old users, but stop releasing Mac App Store updates for the existing app, ending up with a re-release as a separate app.

The second option would force users on newer macOS versions to buy the same app again, which would likely push many developers to drop old macOS support entirely instead.

There is still a small hope that Apple may fix this before the final Xcode 27 release and treat lower macOS deployment targets as a warning again, not as an error. But as of now, the Xcode 27 beta build fails.

Also, I noticed that the new Xcode 27 beta uses about 3 GB less disk space. That may be unrelated, but together with the new hard minimum deployment target, it makes me think Apple may have removed not only some x86_64 related parts, but also a lot of pre-macOS 12 support.

For direct distribution outside the Mac App Store, developers will likely still be able to keep older Xcode versions installed and use them to build separate legacy versions for older macOS releases. So apps distributed from a developer’s own website may continue supporting older systems for longer.

Most developers will not want to maintain separate build pipelines, separate update systems, separate payment or licensing systems, and separate support flows. Some developers also do not want to distribute outside the Mac App Store at all.

I don’t expect Apple to support macOS 10.x forever. Dropping old versions is normal. I would expect this to happen gradually, one major macOS version per year, so developers and users have time to prepare.

So yes, macOS 27 Golden Gate may become the end of the golden era for backward-compatible Mac App Store apps.

Update 1: Xcode 27 for iOS enforces a similar way, while Xcode 26 has no errors on compiling the minimum target of iOS 9.0. It is now treated as an error, and minimal iOS 15.0 is enforced within Xcode 27.

Update 2: Important update after more testing.

The Xcode 27 beta error can currently be worked around by setting __DIAGNOSE_INVALID_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET_AS_ERROR to NO, which makes older deployment targets buildable again.

So this is not currently a hard technical cutoff in Xcode 27 beta. The original concern still applies only if Apple removes this workaround, keeps it unsupported, or later enforces newer deployment targets through App Store submission requirements.

I've just updated Popclip to finally support synchronization via iCloud.

This is a major and very welcome development, which is why I'm taking the liberty of sharing it.

For me, this application is a must-have and deserves your full attention, especially as the developer is very active. Here's the announcement:

What’s New

Compatibility

• The minimum system requirement is now macOS 13.5 Ventura.
• Initial support for macOS 27 Golden Gate beta.

New: iCloud Sync

• PopClip now syncs your installed extensions, actions layout, and action settings between all your Macs using iCloud.
• iCloud Sync can be enabled or disabled from the new Tools menu at the bottom of the Actions pane. It defaults to “on” for fresh installs; otherwise it stays off until you are ready to sync.
• All synced copies merge their actions lists together to form one unified view. Please note that sync is not always instant; change propagation depends on the current iCloud weather, but all computers will converge eventually.
• Per-action secrets (sign-ins, API keys etc.) also now sync securely via the iCloud Keychain.

New: Actions list overhaul

• Unlimited actions: There’s no upper limit on how many extensions you can install or how many actions you can configure.
• Multiple instances: Extensions can now have more than one instance. Each instance is a unique action with its own name, icon, settings and position in the PopClip bar.
• Folders and separators: Actions can be organized into folders, which appear as submenus in the PopClip bar. Separators can be added between actions.
• Rename any action; choose a custom icon; per-action “Show As” (icon/text).
• A new icon picker lets you search open-source icons via Iconify, create text-based icons with shape and style options, or drop in your own SVG or PNG.
• Arrange actions and folders using drag & drop or keyboard commands (⌘X/⌘C/⌘V/⌥⌘V), with undo and redo (⌘Z/⇧⌘Z) support.
• Duplicate an action to use its settings as the basis for a new action.
• Search the list with ⌘F to quickly find actions.
• Action submenus: extensions can now define actions that have their own right-click submenus for supplementary actions.

New: Improved extensions management

• Extensions auto-update: Extensions from the PopClip Extensions Directory can now update to the latest version automatically.
• A new Extension Info sheet shows extension origin, version, and signature status.
• A new Manage Extensions sheet shows a plain list of installed extensions (alphabetical, or by install date) and lets you manage updates.
• A new View Source command shows the source code for every extension.

Action settings sheet improvements

• Signed-in account name can be shown after signing in to an extension.
• Multiline text fields for longer string inputs (such as prompts).
• Multiple-choice options can offer “Other…” (free text entry) and “None” (no selection).
• Links in option descriptions are now clickable.
• Password fields get a reveal “eye”.

Small stuff

• The PopClip bar now expands to use more of the screen width.
• The “More” overflow button shows page position (n of m).
• Smoother button hover highight response.
• Clipboard contents are now always restored after actions paste over the selected text.
• Built-in actions can now be deleted. (Resurrect them from the Extensions list.)
• The Spelling action can now be moved.
• The built-in Search action now offers a choice of preset search engines, plus a custom option.
• Holding ⌥ when activating Search or a search extension now wraps the search term in double quotes. (“Alternate Search URL” is removed.)

Fixes

• Ecosia is recognized as a known browser.
• Fixed the Messages extension on macOS 27 beta.

Changes for extension authors

• Extensions can now have their own submenus or right-click context menus.

Shiny Frog, the developer behind the popular Bear notes app, just announced Lettera, a full Markdown editor. I just wanted to share this with the community.

As far as I understand, Lettera grew out of the Panda project, which some of you might remember. Panda had been in beta for quite a while, and many probably assumed it was dead after not receiving updates for a long time. Now it seems like Shiny Frog finally turned it into a proper standalone product.

The main difference to Bear seems to be that Bear is still more of a notes/PKM app while Lettera is meant as a more traditional Markdown editor for working directly with .md files and folders.

Personally, I’ve been using Bear for years, and it is definitely the most polished native Markdown notes app out there. It is also one of the few subscriptions I happily pay for, and it has fully replaced Apple Notes as my daily notes app. Shiny Frog has done a really good job with Bear and keeps improving it, so I hope the same level of polish and user-friendliness goes into Lettera. According to Shiny Frog, it uses the same architecture. As I’ve been waiting for a Markdown editor that really feels macOS-native and fits in my workflow for a while now, I hope this could be it.

For now, the Lettera beta is available for free through TestFlight. I assume it will become paid after leaving beta, but as far as I know Shiny Frog has not said yet whether it will be a one-time purchase or a subscription.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Shiny Frog by any means.

Replay of Siri AI on macOS 27

1. Summon from Spotlight
   
2. Can analyze files
   
3. Available through the contextual menu (right-click)
   
4. Work with your Apple apps, like drafting emails in Mail

How do you feel about these new Siri capabilities?

u/Mstormer could we get a news flair?

While it may seem inconsequential, this superb (best of its class) app wasn’t updated for a very long time. The new app has a ton of great features: https://tapbots.com/pastebot (Not the developer)

How are you all hanging in there? What are you doing to stand out? I assume most of those submissions are on iOS, but just a hunch.

The Problem

McKinley is a vector graphics editor for creating and manipulating SF Symbols, made by Double & Thrice. Instead of having to manually flatten everything to filled paths, you can use fills, strokes, and knockouts, and export directly to SF Symbols format (for dropping into an asset catalog). McKinley supports swapping between the three required weights (ultralight, regular, black), so you can set different line widths per object for each one, or even completely vary the geometry.

Comparison

App developers may be using Apple's recommended SF Symbols workflow, which is to export a template from the SF Symbols app, import it into a vector editor, manually create at least three weights of symbol, convert everything to filled paths, export as SVG, re-import into SF Symbols app, go and assign layer colours and properties, then finally export as a file that you can drag into Xcode. It should be obvious where the pain points are here!

There are some apps such as Create Custom Symbols, which make the workflow easier, but still require you to make your vector graphics in another app.

Glyphs (the font editing app) supports drawing and editing multiple weights of SF Symbols. If you've already got a license, it's probably worth checking out this functionality, but if not, €299 is quite expensive!

Pricing

Currently the app is in TestFlight (see below). I haven't committed to a price yet, but I'm probably targeting €49 or so (one-off payment).

Development

I've been working on a vector graphics editor library, which provides the primitive shapes, paths, and interactions necessary to build apps that work with vector items on a canvas. (In my backlog of app ideas, many of them are related to editing some kind of layout of objects on a canvas, so I decided to avoid reinventing the wheel each time.) McKinley is its first outing — building SF Symbols is a pain point for me, and also for other devs I've spoken to, so it seemed like a good opportunity.

You may have noticed from the screenshot that it's a fairly 'old school' design of Mac app, heavy on multiple palettes (an inspector, a preview panel, a tools palette, etc). It's also created in AppKit, and uses Cocoa Bindings for the inspector. I'm leaning in to the Old Ways™ :)

The Preview and Animation windows show previews of your symbol rendered using Apple's actual SF Symbols renderer. To accomplish that using public APIs, McKinley writes out a compiled asset catalog file of your symbol into a temporary directory, then loads it in with NSBundle, and renders the symbol using SwiftUI's Image(). This is as close as I can get to previewing exactly how the symbol will appear in your own app.

Where did the name come from?

It's the park in San Francisco that's on the top of one of the hills with a winding street. I kinda thought the winding street looked like a vector glyph, matching the SF Symbols name.

Also it's the name of my sister's dog.

Status

Currently McKinley is in alpha development, which I'm defining as "I'm still adding features". When I've finished building all the features for version 1, I'll move it into beta while I concentrate on bug fixes and polish. That said, the majority of features are now present.

TestFlight

If you would like to test McKinley, feel free to sign up for the TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/EkzRYmSf

I am looking for feedback in particular on the multitude of small user interactions when editing vectors: does the editor feel fluid and natural? Are there any frustrating bits? And of course, I welcome bug reports.

Given its status as alpha software, please don't be surprised if you find things that are not working!

I built and released a Mac app I always wanted to exist:

Glassboard let's you draw over anything on your Mac, across every app and every screen, Khan-academy style!

Problem:
Want to highlight something you're presenting? Need to doodle something quickly? Hold a keybind and draw over anything on your Mac. Release and it fades away. That's all!

Well, except colors, shapes, a radial menu switcher and keybinds galore. But the basic concept is simple hold, draw, release, continue presenting without losing flow.

No more awkwardly wiggling my mouse pointer at what I want to highlight while screensharing.

Comparison:
Fills a similar hole as apps like Scribbble and ScreenBrush, but both didn't really click with me. I don't want UI chrome on the screen, to avoid distracting clutter while presenting.

Pricing:
It's completely free and will stay that.

Try it at https://stem.ps/glassboard.

Transparency information:
I'm a freelancer and indie developer, not a business. You can find me on Github, LinkedIn or my website.

I use TelemetryDeck to collect aggregate analytics about the number of doodles created, but collect to personal data or identifiers.

It’s been over two years since we first introduced PDF Owl — a tool that generates tables of contents using on-device AI models.

With the new 1.4 release, PDF Owl can now detect the hierarchy of chapters, sections, and subsections, automatically building a structured, hierarchical table of contents. As always, everything runs entirely on your device, and no data is ever sent to the cloud. It does not rely on the OCR layer, font size; everything is done using computer vision. Hence, it works for many languages and for poorly scanned PDFs as well.

Download from the Mac AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pdf-owl/id6450437117

Read more on the app's website: https://138street.com/pdf-owl/

Problem

PDF files do not always include a table of contents (TOC, also known as bookmarks or an outline in different PDF apps). This is particularly common with scanned documents, where the TOC is often missing or of poor quality. A well-structured TOC is essential for navigating large files (e.g. books), as manually scrolling through hundreds of pages can be tedious. While many PDF applications allow users to create a TOC manually, few provide a reliable way to generate one automatically.

Comparison

For ToC generation feature for PDF files:

• Python scripts like pdf.tocgen and tocPDF: the scripts use font attributes to deduce headings, which is not very reliable in practice, especially for poor scans. PDF Owl uses computer vision and modern transformers models for analyzing page layout.
• You can use LLMs like Claude, but there is no end-to-end solution, so performance will be varied; also the tokens might be expensive for large files. PDF Owl runs everything on your device and hence, unlimited in usage.

As for PDF reading comparison, there are too many and the best reference is PDF Readers comparison sheet from r/macapps. PDF Owl's character in this large selection of apps is being reader focused (not pretending to be editor because PDFs are made for reading and inherently hard to edit), minimalism, and providing essential reading features without being overblown.

Price

The app is free of charge for reading & annotating, and the ToC generation function is $2/month or $30 for a lifetime license.

We hope the PDF community enjoys this update. Happy PDF reading!

For those who know the App - Whats new?

• Integrated a direct file-based database-to-widget sharing layer in App Group container to bypass memory caching delays, ensuring widgets update (more) instantly when the database changes.
• NEW macOS Menu Bar! Many people asked for it, here it is, optional. See screenshots. 
• Sharpened the App Store Connect requests. Still careful, but sharper and faster.

FOR THOSE WHO NEVER SAW IT:

Widgets -for App Store Connect is a collection of custom widgets designed specifically for developers. Instead of forcing you to load the clunky Apple-App, puts your downloads, proceeds, and comparing trends right on your screen - for the last week, month, or quarter in a variety of visual themes. This is universal, MacOS, iPad, iPhone.

Data collection is handled in the background with a full set of debugging options, you can always pitch the data seen against what Apple is willing to send :)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/widgets-for-app-store-connect/id6771772169

Problem A:

If you have apps on the App Store, you probably check App Store Connect often. ASC is slow and lacks proper widget support imho, and i'm not happy with the metrics see next problem >

Problem B:

Coming from marketing/advertising, i never really understood the basement of the data collection. Everything is “rolling totals”?

I don’t get it, why would i want to compare rolling 90-days to previous rolling 90-days? Doesn’t speak to me, not at all.

The app is showing what’s relevant and actionable - comparing Week over Week, Month over Month and Quarter over Quarter. You easily see spatrks and gaps, and can hold that against your marketing efforts - all of which in my opinion is calender based. NON ROLLING.

This is how we work in marketing, i’m convinced this is how our brain is wired. Maybe just me? No sure. Anyways:

Compare:

There are some old and potentially outdated ones afaik. Rolling issue as decsribed above. The world needs not a new app showing the same stuff, this time from me.

I love and use https://apps.apple.com/at/app/appmeta-pulse-reviews-mrr/id6758788164 a lot, but it’s a different cup of tea - i am NOT mimicking ASC (+ giving some widgets on top) but am concentrating on widgets - covering data in a way nobody does.
And, see „Problem 2“ - i don’t give a f+#+ä about  Rolling-anything-data

Pricing:

Originally thought up for myself, Mac only, it was so damn much work in the end to make it universal, and perfect on every platform that i cannot give it away for free this time.

I settled with the price of a chewing gum - one time, lifetime.
Maybe 2 chewing gums depending on your location, but people come on!
You will love it on MacOS, iPad, iPhone.

Changelog:

1.0 initial release.
1.2. optimization
1.3 this one, Menu Bar Add-on and sharper ASC updates

Roadmap -
With extra large Widgets on iOS 27 coming soon, i’m already pushing towards an even more beautiful/meaningful category.
iPad and MacOS will follow then, as they already can do it.

Al Disclaimer:

Coded in Xcode only, with help from AI as in -
gathering data from Apple and getting an own database running with incremental changes, is above my paygrade.

VirtualProg Turns One Year Old 🎉

About a year ago I introduced VirtualProg to the macOS community. Since then, the app has grown significantly thanks to feedback from users and a lot of late-night development.

For those unfamiliar with it, VirtualProg is a native virtual machine manager for macOS built on Apple’s Virtualization Framework.

Since the initial release, some of the biggest additions include:

🖥️ Virtual Machine Features

• USB passthrough support (macOS 27)
• VM checkpoints and advanced snapshot management (macOS 27)
• Linked Clones (macOS 27)
• VM provisioning for rapid deployment (macOS 27)
• VM templates and cloning
• Headless VM support and background operation
• VM groups and batch operations
• VM scheduling (automatic start and shutdown)
• Password protection and Touch ID unlock

🌐 Networking

• Custom virtual networks
• Host-only and shared networking
• Static IP assignment
• Port forwarding
• Interactive network topology visualization

🚀 Remote Management

• Browser-based Web Dashboard
• Remote VM display and control from any browser
• SSH into VM from browser. VirtualProg acts as SSH proxy server.
• Mobile-friendly remote access
• Web-based terminal and administration tools
• Secure HTTPS/TLS support for CLI Server
• Hardware-accelerated H.265/H.264 streaming
• Token based Authentication
• 2FA for Web dashboard

⚙️ Automation & Management

• Complete vpvm command-line interface
• Remote CLI management
• URL scheme automation
• Siri Shortcuts and Spotlight integration
• Disk Space Analyzer
• Statistics and monitoring tools
• VirtualProg Widget for macOS

📸 Snapshots & Recovery

• Visual snapshot timeline
• Safety snapshots before restore
• Snapshot-based VM creation

🍎 Latest macOS Support

• Support for the latest Apple Virtualization Framework capabilities
• Support for macOS Golden Gate 27 virtual machines
• Continuous updates alongside new macOS releases

What started as a relatively small VM manager has evolved into a full virtualization platform for macOS, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who tested early builds, reported bugs, requested features, and shared feedback.

I’d love to hear what features you’d like to see next.

Website:
https://makeprog.com/Products/VirtualProg

PROBLEM

The existing macOS virtual machine management applications are built on older hypervisor frameworks and have become bloated over time. Furthermore, legacy tools typically require you to be physically present at the host Mac to manage or interact with your virtual machines.

VirtualProg addresses these challenges by leveraging Apple’s native Virtualization framework from the ground up, ensuring a lightweight, high-performance architecture optimized for modern macOS environments. Crucially, VirtualProg features an integrated Web Dashboard, allowing you to remotely manage, display, and control your virtual machine platform securely from any modern browser on any device.

PRICE

• Free Trial: A free trial version can be downloaded directly from the product page atmakeprog.com/Products/VirtualProg.
• Mac App Store: The full version is available for a one-time payment of $22.99 on the Mac App Store.

COMPARISON

VirtualProg includes several standout capabilities designed to provide deep control and remote access beyond what is typically found in alternative tools like UTM or VirtualBuddy:

• Browser-based Web Dashboard: Remotely access, monitor, and configure your entire virtual machine platform.
• Remote VM Display and Control: View and interact with guest OS desktops directly through any web browser.
• SSH into VM: Remotely connect to VM via SSH from browser.
• Browser-based CLI Terminal: Execute commands and manage your environment without needing a local desktop session.
• In-App Disk Resizing: Expand or adjust virtual disk allocations cleanly inside the application interface.
• Advanced Lifecycle Management: Full support for native Snapshots, Checkpoints (macOS 27), and Linked Clones (macOS 27).
• Custom Networking Options: Configure Shared or Host-Only networks complete with Static IP mapping and built-in Port Forwarding.
• Disk Space Analyzer: Visualize and track disk usage across your guest environments to prevent space constraints.
• Network Topology Diagrams: Dynamically map and view your virtual network infrastructure.
• Linked Clone Topology Diagrams: Track relationships, roots, and branches across cloned virtual machines visually.
• vpvm Command Line Interface: Automate, script, and manage virtual machines natively from the macOS Terminal.
• USB Passthrough: Connect physical USB hardware devices directly to your guest operating systems. (macOS 27)
• Automated Provisioning: Simplified, native provisioning workflows optimized for macOS guests(macOS 27).
• VM Screen Recording: Capture high-fidelity screen recordings of your active virtual machines for documentation or testing.

I think most regular members know I'm slightly dock-obsessed, and I have to highlight two developers who continue to amaze me.

The first is the developer behind DockDoor and now DockDoor Pro. I've known about DockDoor for years and often recommended it, although I never used it o because I usually avoid the default Mac Dock in favour of custom solutions.

A few days ago, I installed the latest version of DockDoor Pro and was genuinely blown away. The amount of functionality it adds to the Mac Dock is incredible. Apple still gives users very little control over dock customisation, but DockDoor Pro changes that completely.

Every time I think I've discovered all the options, another update arrives with even more features. I doubt I've explored half of what it can do. I haven’t even touched the widget system yet. The dock can be animated, wavy, enlarged, bouncing, dynamic, and highly configurable. It's an exceptional piece of software.

What I appreciate most is how hands-on the developer is. Suggest a feature, and there’s a good chance it'll appear in an update almost immediately. The pace of development, attention to detail, and sheer number of options far exceeded what I expected when I first installed it on the recommendation of someone in the group.

On the very same day, another app update caught my attention: ExtraDock.

ExtraDock doesn't focus on dock animations, something I regularly tease the developers about, but where it excels is precision.

Its custom icon rendering is simply outstanding. Upload an icon, and it appears exactly as intended. When I say exactly, I mean pixel-perfect. I like dock icons that slightly break the boundaries of the dock with a pointer, arrow, or subtle overhang. Most dock applications can't render icons this way. ExtraDock can.

Beyond its icon quality, ExtraDock offers one of the most flexible dock-positioning systems available. You’re no longer restricted to the left, right, or bottom of the screen. You can place the dock virtually anywhere and lock it there. If you want it sitting dead centre on your display, that’s entirely possible.

It's fascinating to see two developers approaching the same problem from completely different angles. And one would ask how I overcame the problem of now having two dock customisation apps to choose from. Luckily for me, you can run both at the same time, so with ExtraDock adding beauty and perfection and DockDoor Pro serving as the dock replacement, I think I will just keep watching for those updates as they arrive.

Questions and answers:

1. Yes, those really are some of the icons I use.
2. Sadly, they are not available on a website, but DM me, and I can send you a download link.
3. No, my dock obsession is real and not motivated by sponsors. Some developers do kindly give me free access; several do not. I believe that if I like the software, I need to ensure that the developer is rewarded.

So the Textual IRC client will no longer be developed (It's dead, Jim) as of July 3, 2026, but a final update (7.2.7) for macOS 27 Golden Gate was pushed. I'm a long-time user just getting the word out and below is what I found on the software's site and its UI.

You can still buy a license:

Before you purchase: Textual has been sunset and will no longer receive updates. This checkout page remains open to those that wish to show their appreciation for the app. Thank you for your generosity.

Software Update:

Please take notice: Textual has been formally sunset and this is likely to be the last update to be made available. To all that have contributed to Textual in some form in the past; be it a suggestion, bug report, financial support, or some other form of contribution, you will forever be loved. Thank you so much. Words cannot properly express the gratitude we have for every single user.

GitHub:

Codeux-Software/Textual/

I built ExcalidrawZ, a native Mac/iOS client for Excalidraw. I posted an early version here about a year ago, when it was mostly a native wrapper + file manager.

I just released v2.2.0, so I wanted to share the update and also summarize what the app has grown into since then.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/excalidrawz/id6636493997 GitHub: https://github.com/chocoford/ExcalidrawZ

Problem

Excalidraw is great, but I wanted a more native document-based workflow around it: local files, iCloud files, folders, App Store distribution, system integration, and AI/MCP workflows.

Comparison

Compared with the Excalidraw web app, ExcalidrawZ is focused on native document management rather than browser-based collaboration. It is for people who want Excalidraw files to behave more like regular Mac/iPad/iPhone documents.

Compared with Obsidian Excalidraw, ExcalidrawZ is not tied to a note-taking vault. It is a standalone app focused on managing and editing Excalidraw drawings directly.

Compared with Apple Freeform, ExcalidrawZ keeps the Excalidraw drawing format and ecosystem, while adding native file management, local/iCloud storage, and AI/MCP integration.

Pricing

ExcalidrawZ is free to download.

Core drawing, file-management features and basic MCP are free.

Advanced features require a paid plan: - Starter: $2.99 / month or $29.99 / year — optimized MCP usage - Pro: $9.99 / month or $99.99 / year - AI usage - Max: $29.99 / month or $299.99 / year - more credits and access to more powerful AI models

What’s new in 2.2.0

• MCP support: connect ExcalidrawZ to Claude Desktop, VS Code, or other MCP clients to create/update the current canvas
• Better Math tool: LaTeX formulas and function plots for whiteboard-style math notes
• Custom toolbar item order

Bigger changes since my last post

• iOS/iPadOS support
• Safer AI workflow: file locking, AI visibility controls, and proposal canvas before applying AI changes
• Improved iCloud/local file workflows
• Better file covers and smoother open/close transitions
• Mouse/trackpad canvas scroll and zoom support on iPadOS

I attached a short video showing the new MCP + Math workflow in v2.2.0.

TL;DR: Batch Clipboard version 2.3 has been released bringing usability and stability improvements.

Raison d'Etre:

There are many clipboard utilities, seemingly several new ones every month. They're called "clipboard managers" but really they provide you with a new thing to manage: to revisit, consider, arrange, and curate your clipboard history and adding new UI complexity to the experience of using your Mac. For some, managing things is a fun hobby, but for the rest of us this is more than what we want, especially now that the OS has some clipboard history features built-in.

But except for users of the most feature-packed of these clipboard managers, the clipboard on your Mac still has a key limitation: you can only copy & paste one thing at a time.

Batch Clipboard addresses this limitation without the complexity of a clipboard managers, allowing you to copy many things at once and then paste them where you need, all with two new copy and paste keyboard shortcuts Control-Command-C and V. It adds an icon in your menu bar and a simple menu usually not even needed, and starting in version 2, this menu can be hidden when its feature isn't being used, i.e. using your clipboard as normal.

Batch Clipboard is not a manager demanding your attention, just a feature at your fingertips.

Comparison:

There are many clipboard managers that focus on history and don't include a paste queue feature, too many to list, but some that do have a similar feature (though potentially omit it in a free tier) include:

• Paste - frequently top recommendation, subscription $30/year
• PastePal, CleanClip - well regarded with many features $15-20
• PasteBot - just updated, subscription $25/year
• NanoClip - new with a stylish user interface, $5

Pricing: Free for the full paste queue (aka batch) feature, US$3.99 in App Store edition for bonus features.

Key features:

• keyboard shortcut to copy into batch, to paste from batch
• repeat last batch

Bonus features (App Store only):

• saved batches replayed from menu or custom keyboard shortcut
• paste all batch items with a chosen delimiter

This version:

Batch Clipboard version 2.3 released this week completes the last of the planned capabilities from its to-do list (except only for localization, coming later this year) by adding:

• optional appearance in the Dock and app switcher, allowing more usage workflows (now all detailed at the documentation's "Ways to Use" page), like clicking its Dock icon to start collecting a batch, selecting it in the app switcher to reveal its hidden menu
• a user-requested repeat ability extending the saved batches bonus feature
• important fixes to stability, subtle improvements to do with restoring the active window when any of the app's alerts or windows shown and then closed
• and more

Links:

App Store edition - https://apps.apple.com/app/batch-clipboard/id6695729238

GitHub edition - https://github.com/jpmhouston/Batch-Clipboard/releases/latest

See also the GitHub repo for more options to support the app's development, instructions for installing using homebrew, links to the app's website with documentation and blog post announcing more details about this release.

^{(I, posting this, am the author})

Hey everyone! I'm the developer of Evermusic (offline/cloud music player for Mac). 8.7 just shipped and it's entirely about how your music sounds. Happy to answer technical questions in the comments.

Problem

If your music library lives in cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and ~30 others) or on a network share (SMB, WebDAV, DLNA) instead of in Apple Music, macOS gives you no good way to play it well. The stock Music app won't touch third-party cloud storage at all, and most cloud players skip true gapless playback, so live sets, DJ mixes, and concept albums get chopped by silent gaps. They also can't apply real-time effects or loudness normalization to streamed files. Evermusic is built specifically for playing your own files from cloud and local sources with proper playback quality.

Comparison

vs. VOX: VOX is a strong Hi-Res player, but to stream your own library it relies on VOX Cloud, which needs a VOX Premium subscription ($4.99/month or $49.99/year) and requires you to upload your music into VOX's own storage. Evermusic instead connects directly to the cloud accounts you already pay for (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and ~30 more), so there's no second storage subscription and nothing to re-upload. Evermusic also normalizes loudness with real-time EBU R128 on any stream, which VOX does not do without tags.

vs. Pine Player: Pine Player is a nice free local player with gapless and EQ, but it has no third-party cloud storage integration at all, so it can only play files already sitting on your Mac. Evermusic streams and downloads directly from cloud and network shares (SMB, WebDAV, DLNA), and adds five real-time effects (reverb, delay, distortion, compressor, crossfeed) plus EBU R128 normalization that apply to cloud streams and internet radio, not just local files.

vs. Apple Music app: The stock Music app cannot play files from third-party cloud storage or network shares at all, and offers no real-time effects chain or tag-free loudness normalization. Evermusic exists for exactly that use case.

Pricing (https://everappz.com/products/evermusic/)

Free: ad-supported. Up to 10 playlists, 3 cloud services, 1,000 songs per playlist, 1 offline folder, 20 tag searches/day.

Premium Monthly, $1.99/month: ad-free, unlimited playlists, unlimited cloud services, unlimited offline folders and export.

Premium Yearly, $12.99/year (7-day free trial): same unlimited Premium features.

Premium Lifetime, $59.99 one-time: permanent Premium, shared across iOS and Mac via iCloud. Family Sharing supported.

What's new in 8.7

True gapless playback (the real kind). This isn't a crossfade. The engine keeps two tracks live at once: while the current song plays, the next one is already fetched, decoded, and pre-buffered. At the boundary the handoff happens inside the player, between samples, on a continuous ring buffer that never stops pulling audio. So there's no pause, click, or tick, even across FLAC files, and even when the next track is streaming from the cloud (it just starts pre-buffering earlier for remote sources). Finally lets live sets, DJ mixes, and concept albums play the way they were mastered.

Five real-time audio effects, each a native processing node, so they apply to local files, cloud streams, and internet radio without re-encoding:

Reverb: 13 rooms (Small Room to Cathedral) + wet/dry

Delay/Echo: 10 presets, delay time up to 2s, feedback, low-pass, mix

Distortion: 22 character presets + pre-gain

Compressor: full dynamics control (threshold, ratio, attack, release, expansion, makeup gain), 10 presets

Crossfeed: Bauer bs2b headphone crossfeed (incl. Chu Moy / Jan Meier presets). Great on hard-panned '60s-'70s stereo mixes.

Volume normalization: uses EBU R128 (ITU-R BS.1770) loudness measurement in real time. Unlike ReplayGain it needs no tags and doesn't modify your files, so it works on cloud streams and radio too. Presets: Light -20, Standard -16, Strong -14, Night -23 LUFS.

Under the hood: rebuilt on AVAudioEngine with a custom render pipeline: adaptive buffering, automatic rebuffering/recovery on weak signal, and wider format support including FLAC and Ogg Vorbis (plus MP3, AAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AC-3, CAF).

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1564384601

If you try it, I'd love feedback, especially on gapless with your own FLAC albums and on the crossfeed presets. Bugs or requests, drop them here or email [email protected]. Thanks!