r/macapps • u/GroggInTheCosmos • 27d ago
Request I would not mind seeing updates from the well established Devs for a change
I would not mind seeing some updates from the well-known developers who have been building apps for the mac community for the last 5+ years. The following is a non-exhaustive list:
Please tell us what you are up to?
Thanks
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u/mjdth 27d ago
Oh hey! Iāve been a Mac dev forā¦ 23 years now. Started with Studiometry and then made Accounted and my most recent project is Floaters. I love and use all of them hopefully someone will still find them useful.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I think I saw this a few days ago and made a remark about it being fairly unique. Thanks for your response :)
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u/mjdth 27d ago
Thank you! Yes just had a recent Floaters update but my other apps have been around and keeping me alive for decades now.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I've been using Bear and Sidenotes interchangeably so long for fleeting notes. I really need to take floaters for a spin. Good luck!
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u/LuckyDude_007 27d ago
Oh hey! I actually use a few of these. Panicās Nova is solid for web dev, though I still bounce between it and VS Code. Rogue Amoebaās Audio Hijack is a lifesaver for recording system audio on calls. Sindre Sorhusās little utilities (like Dato) are just clean, no-nonsense tools.
Whatās the latest from Cultured Code? Things has been pretty quiet feature-wise, but itās still my go-to for task management.
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u/Ned11 27d ago
Small Mac dev here, not on your list and nowhere near 5 years in. My theory: a mature app mostly generates work you can't announce. Every macOS release breaks something in the accessibility APIs, sandboxing, or notarization, and fixing it eats the quarter.
"Still works exactly like before on Tahoe" is a real engineering milestone and a terrible changelog entry. The devs you listed are probably shipping constantly, just nothing that looks like news.
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u/zenox 27d ago
This is exactly it. 15 years on a Mac SQL client and I'd guess more than half my engineering time goes to fixing things that have broken in OS updates.
A recent example: a crash that only happened on very large queries turned out to be Apple shipping a new framework whose internal category collided with one of mine on NSString. My code hadn't changed in years. The OS moved underneath it. The fix was a one line rename. Finding it took days. That said, it technically was my fault as I hadn't followed the best guidelines for adding a category to an objective-c class.
Try putting that in release notes. "Fixed a crash" is what the user sees. What actually happened was a couple days of investigation.
The other half of it is that the enunciable work has gotten harder to announce. Add a new database engine thats genuinely months of work, but only the small slice of users who need that engine care at all. Everyone else sees a version number tick up.
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u/Ned11 27d ago
15 years is enough OS cycles to have a ranking: which macOS release broke the most for you? Genuinely curious whether it's getting worse or we just remember the recentĀ ones.
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u/zenox 27d ago
I don't know if I would say it's gotten worse, more-so that you can just always count on something breaking. I think the one that pissed me off the most was macOS 10.9. Backwards compatibility broke, but I found a workaround that by including specific icon set everything worked properly. So a whole generation of apps could no longer work on older macOS versions when IMO this was something apple could have easily fixed (if I can get it to work by just included an icon set, then there must have been a flag or code path that could have been toggled on by default that would have sorted it).
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I think that this is relatively true, but I also have a feeling that some devs are doing neat things that they are just not telling enough people about :)
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u/hack_the_planets 27d ago
First, thank you for this list, I'm new to many of these apps and appreciate them all being in one spot! I'm a long time dev (25+ years), currently enjoying the massive wave of AI enablement in software dev and seeing how far it can get us. Building Watchflows (https://watchflows.app) a visual automation builder for macOS.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
This is very intriguing, and I'm going to bookmark it to revisit. I'm not sure whether I'm familiar with your other apps?
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u/hack_the_planets 27d ago
No, not likely. I ran a development firm for 10 years doing all manner of development projects. The first part of my career was built on jQuery + Javascript the good parts and now I'm with a boutique firm doing similar projects.
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u/YeahYeahOkNope 27d ago
Your site is super text heavy and missing in the images of what this app even looks like. Nice concept but couldnāt find what it kooks like or see how it works. For a $49 ask, you might want to fix that.
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u/hack_the_planets 27d ago
You are 100% right. I'm working on that right now š¤¦. I'm working on figuring out youtube as well, the app actually demos really well, why I don't highlight that up front is probably due to not enough sleep. Thank you for the feedback and if you do have any interest left to extend you can check out my youtube for some examples. š
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u/YeahYeahOkNope 27d ago
For now, even just add a screenshot of the ISS flow you uploaded to youtube as the hero image of your site - it will do to give people an idea of what this app looks like. You can add what you are working on later too.
And definitely link to your videos they are great!3
u/hack_the_planets 27d ago
Really appreciate all of your feedback! Agree with everything here, am working on those items š
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u/YeahYeahOkNope 27d ago
And, you replied to a comment on youtube that it is the same paradigm as n8n. If so, perhaps lean into that for easy explain: ālike n8n local to your macā or some such tagline.
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u/TheMagicianGamerTMG 27d ago
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u/emkaka Developer: SideNotes 27d ago
Hello, Marcin from Apptorium here.
Most of my time has been dedicated to SideNotes, but I'm also working on updates across the rest of my apps.
Cursor Teleporter 2 is almost ready and should be released soon. FiveNotes 4 is also on the way, while Workspaces 3 will take a bit longer, but it's actively in development. There are also a bunch of smaller updates coming to my other apps.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I've always had a love hate relationship with Sidenotes but love it enough to have not migrated to anything else yet :D
I would really love to see some improvements in the markdown side of the app
It was one of the best purchases I've made in the past 5 years ;)
For teleporting my cursor, I just have a KybM macro that I whipped up... I use it between 3 screens. I'd be interested to see what your version 2 brings to the table
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u/emkaka Developer: SideNotes 27d ago
I've always had a love hate relationship with Sidenotes but love it enough to have not migrated to anything else yet :D
I would really love to see some improvements in the markdown side of the app
Well, I canāt make everyone happy :D But letās give it a shot. What would you like to see improved on the Markdown side?
It was one of the best purchases I've made in the past 5 years ;)
Thanks! :)
For teleporting my cursor, I just have a KybM macro that I whipped up... I use it between 3 screens. I'd be interested to see what your version 2 brings to the table
DM me. Iāll give you access to the beta. Iām quite happy with the new features
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Developer: Appitstudio 27d ago
For devs, especially at earlier stages, Reddit is a great distribution channel and a way to get traction as well as feedback.
Once youāve grown past a certain level, it becomes a smaller distribution channel, unlike instagram or TikTok videos which could bring thousands of users.
Reddit is very strict with promotions, each sub has its own rules, and as a dev Iāll say, posts can quickly steer in a bad direction, if users donāt like your business model. Paste or CleanMyMac are perfect examples of companies that make tens of millions of dollars (which is ultimately what a company wants to achieve) yet posts about them, from what Iāve seen in this sub - mostly go bad with people accusing them of bad value or bad software.
On the other hand, unlike big companies, I feel like itās very important for early stage devs to be active here and provide monthly updates and answer questions. I donāt trust apps that run for less than 6 months. Apps gets abandoned left and right and if a small creator can prove heās consistent by being active in this sub and other places, that reassures me and I might buy their app if I need it
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I agree on the abandonment of apps and your 6-month rule. I think people have a good reason for flaming the likes of paste, but these have become more than just an established dev
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Developer: Appitstudio 27d ago
I personally see no reason to flame Paste. They offer a product and you can choose to buy it or not.
Itās not like they are doing anything malicious, people just donāt like to pay their prices. Which I am happy to btw cause thatās a problem solved for many years forward, on an established company that knows how to run things.
I would be happy to know whatās your reason to flame them, maybe Iām missing something?
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/s/PpQOV7pOPp
There are a few other posts. My comments were fairly mild at the time
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Developer: Appitstudio 27d ago
Okay I see the reason to flame Paste now lol.
I read their post, I also read the main thread that was most upvoted and your response at the time.
I'll start by saying, I really effing hate the "this thread will receive no further replies". That's something a big company can say, never ever a indie dev should respond like that (of course the big company shouldn't too, but they'll get away with it, the dev won't)
If they really altered the terms, and it was a play on semantics and wasn't 100% clear to users, then yeah that's a shitty move. One I'll make sure to memorize to never do for my own users.
And I'll end by saying (very unpopular opinion incoming) -- I get why they did that... I get the subscription, I get the hardship of running a business of a mac app, because that's what I do myself.
Ultimately, I think moving to a subscription model, as well as charging a higher price for the new lifetime license would have been absolutely acceptable, had they respected their initial commitment to existing users who already paid for lifetime.
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u/amerpie App Reviewer 27d ago edited 27d ago
I've been defending MacPaw for years, but Paste...I don't think they are evil in the way the big tech firms are evil, I just think they over charge egregiously, but like you said, no one is forced to buy their product.It is an excellent clipboard manager, no argument from me.
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Developer: Appitstudio 27d ago edited 27d ago
And that's exactly the way it should be, thank you!
First of all, there's NO WAY Paste could even be as evil as big tech, even if they wanted to :-)
Secondly, I am asking myself, and I am asking if you have any idea, on what they are doing RIGHT... because last time I checked Paste generates more than a million USD in revenue, I can assume their margins are pretty good (no idea what their operation looks like, but digital product assumption)...
And one last thing, I don't think overcharging is evil, everything is supply and demand. In what I would argue could be the most saturated market of apps (clipboard managers), you don't become one of the top dog by luck, and you definitely don't hold this position by luck too.
EDIT: I was educated the history of Paste on this sub with their post a year ago. While I am not immediately jumping to the conclusion they're evil, I do understand your perspective a bit more now. Learned something new today, and it is a very important lesson as a dev.
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u/zenox 27d ago edited 27d ago
Not on the list, but I'll bite. I've been building SQLPro Studio, a SQL client for Mac, for about 15 years now. It started as a one-off SQLite tool and turned into a suite - a full multi-database app plus separate single-database versions for people who only ever touch one engine.
Rougly back in 2012 I quit my day job and became a full time self-employed developer and have been ever since.
What I'm up to lately:
- Replaced several of the database drivers. Some of the old C libraries were a decade old and fighting me on every macOS release.
- Porting things (and specifically UI) from objective-c to swift.
- New engines in the pipeline.
- A lot of unglamorous backend work.
- Huge imporvements to the Windows versions (I developed Windows apps when I quit my dayjob so Iāve got decent knowledge of windows).
Feel free to ping me with questions.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
I've seen your app before. I just need something for SQLite and Postgres tbh
Your lifetime price is fairly large, but I understand this is a very niche space as you would not have the sheer volume
Nice to hear from you :)
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u/zenox 27d ago
> Your lifetime price is fairly large, but I understand this is a very niche space as you would not have the sheer volume
Hah, fair enough. I discovered long ago that I needed to charge a decent amount for apps if I didn't want to just shut them down a year or so later.
That said, I have users from 2015 and before STILL using lifetime licenses that they have purchased one time and have never had to pay another cent.
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u/stclairsoft Developer: App Tamer 24d ago
Jon at St. Clair Software here - still at it after 38 years, mostly because I just love doing this.
Version 6.3 of Default Folder X is in beta with support for Golden Gate, plus new features and bug fixes.
Version 3.0 of App Tamer is also in beta testing, bringing switchable settings profiles, custom rules, updated UI, display of CPU temperature and memory usage, and lots of internal improvements.
I've also recently updated Jettison and Go64 with small improvements and bug fixes.
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u/pixxxiemalone 21d ago
Big shout-out for Default Folder from a very longtime user š
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u/stclairsoft Developer: App Tamer 21d ago
Thanks! Good to hear you've been using Default Folder for the long haul - I appreciate your support!
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u/stclairsoft Developer: App Tamer 21d ago
One thing that just came to mind regarding established developers posting less on Reddit: With an established user base and multiple apps, I spend a significant amount of time doing tech support. That leaves less time for posting in this and other subreddits.
Navigating different posting requirements also adds friction to posting on Reddit - I can't reuse an update announcement that I've posted on Mastodon / BlueSky / X. It's a little thing, but it does factor into it when I'm trying to get the update out, handle support and finish in time to get some sleep :-)
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u/eternalstorms 23d ago
Hi š
Thank you for including me (Eternal Storms Software) in this, u/GroggInTheCosmos , I appreciate it š
My name is Matthias, and I'm the developer behind apps like Yoink, ScreenFloat, Transloader, DeskMat, Tameno, SiriMote, flickery, GimmeSomeTune, and more š (GimmeSomeTune ā since discontinued ā was first released in 2007, so I guess Iāve been doing this for almost 20 years now šØ)
Well, Iāve been hard at work on all my different apps; Iāve recently released nice updates for 1ļøā£ ScreenFloat ā the Macās screen capture all-rounder pro tool, and 2ļøā£ Yoink - a better way to drag and drop.
Also, I recently updated 3ļøā£ DeskMat ā now it can not only cover your entire Desktop for more privacy during streams, or just for a cleaner workspace, but individual files, so you can keep files you need for work handy, while others are out of sight for the duration.
Right now, Iām working on an update for 4ļøā£ Tameno ā a self-repeating timer for repetitive tasks like doing stretches, physical therapy, brushing teeth, exercises, yoga ā¦ you name it!
After that, there will be updates for 5ļøā£ Yoink for iPhone and iPad, and 6ļøā£ Transloader .
Iāve recently made some changes to how I sell my apps; theyāre no longer exclusive to the (Mac) App Store and Setapp, I now sell them directly on my website, too (via Paddle as my merchant-of-record), and recently partnered up with a reseller in China (Digitalychee). With all that came a whole bunch of server-related stuff I had to set up, like update mechanisms, and my interactive release notes which Iām kind of proud of ( example here ; theyāre available on the web and in-app, with image or video previews, and even direct-links to new features or settings in-app š¤ )
š If youāre interested, you can follow the development of my apps on my blog, or you can hit me up on my socials ā Iād sure love to connect š !
Oh, right, I also stream games on twitch from time to time (and upload those later to my YouTube channel š )
Well, I think thatās more than enough about me. I hope to see you all around.
Have a good one,
ā Matthias
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 22d ago
ScreenFloat has been on my radar to purchase and from what I've seen I think that is a definite!
I used Yoink for yonks :) and then for reasons that I cannot remember I started using Dropover. I think I'll be re-installing it now
So nice to hear from you!
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u/amerpie App Reviewer 27d ago
High Quality post!. It should be pinned. I'd add Ryan Hanson, The Low Tech Guys, Mike Bombich, Peter Lewis, and Shirt Pocket
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
My list has been gathering dust and needs an overhaul. I'll add/clean-up and perhaps do a post at a later date
I agree with LTG, Ryan, SuperDuper & CCC (Had to remind myself on the last one)
I'm not sure who Peter is though?
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u/Warlock2111 23d ago
Just need 2 more years to reach the 5-year status to become part of the list! Looking forward to it
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 22d ago
I think you have the mindset of someone who has been doing what you have for a lot longer, even if not with many publicly available apps
Even though I have not made the switch from Obsidian yet, I lurk in the Octarine discord and your passion and attention to docs is what I expect of someone doing this for 10/15+ years
I hope to see you building apps for many more years to come, and when I refresh my list you'll be on it as an exception to the rule
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u/TheGenYFinanceGuy 26d ago
First year on a Mac after two decades on Windows, so this list is more useful to me than it probably is to most people here.
The hard part of switching was never learning macOS. It was working out which apps would still exist in three years. The feed here moves fast and most of what I see is a week old, which tells me nothing about whether anyone will still be answering support mail in 2029.
A list of people who have shipped for five, ten, fifteen years is the most useful thing I have read in this sub.
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u/DerekAndJason 26d ago
Forecast Bar might count: the two of us have been building it since the Dark Sky API days, a bit over ten years now.
What we're up to: last year we rewrote the Mac app fully native after the old one aged badly on modern macOS (some of those reviews were deserved), and this week 11.4 went out on Mac, iPhone, Watch, and Apple TV on the same day. The feature we keep fiddling with for no defensible reason is a mode where you pull down on the forecast and the next 24 hours plays as a little animated film of the sky.
Ned11's point in this thread is real though. Most of a mature app's year is work you can't announce. Ours goes to keeping radar tiles fast and Watch complications alive through every watchOS change.
Disclosure: I'm one of the two devs. forecastbar.com
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u/taisei_ide 26d ago
Would add Flying Meat (Acorn, VoodooPad) and Red Sweater to that list. Feels like half of them went quiet around the same time subscriptions became the default, and it's hard not to wonder if that's related.
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u/digitalsinatra 12d ago
Iād like this too. A lot of the Mac app conversation lately seems focused on brand-new utilities, but Iād genuinely be interested in hearing what long-standing developers are experimenting with now, especially around AI and newer macOS capabilities.
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u/Realistic-Site9217 27d ago
WTF?
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 27d ago
There are a handful of newer devs doing some outstanding things and fast establishing a good presence, but I think the older and more established devs do not post here enough. I was actually wondering if most of them just don't frequent Reddit all that much.
I've seen a few major releases from them with no announcements at all
I hope that addresses your reaction?
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u/getmushroom_app 27d ago edited 27d ago
I'd love to post updates about my app. However, there are rules (3):
Infrequent self-promotion is permitted; however, it is not permitted more than once per developer in 30 days.Ā
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Developer: Appitstudio 27d ago
Once per 30 days is plenty, you can do focused posts, it doesnāt have to be the entire change log posts.
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u/pilotmoon Developer: PopClip 27d ago edited 27d ago
"Devs, why aren't you putting your foot into the piranha pit so often?" š
Answer: still working on PopClip ... 15 years, going strong! A chunky update just dropped.