Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This week on AppStories, John and Federico cover Apple's executive transition, follow up on OpenAI's super app, and share the apps they're looking for and give each other suggestions on how to fill their app gaps.
On AppStories+, we round up the tools we've built for ourselves that fill gaps, for which we haven't found apps.
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Sponsored By:
* Steamclock: We make great apps. Design and development, from demos to details. — steamclock.com/appstories
* Claude: For problems worth solving — get started with Claude today. — claude.ai/appstories
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Links and Show Notes
Apple Leadership Transition
- Apple's Executive Leadership Transition Announced — macstories.net/news/apples-executive-leadership-transition-announced
- Community Letter from Tim — apple.com/community-letter-from-tim
OpenAI Codex and Computer Use Follow-Up
- OpenAI Codex — openai.com/codex
- Claude Code — claude.ai/code
Filling the App Gap
- HomeKit Automation
- Controller for HomeKit — apps.apple.com/us/app/controller-for-homekit/id1198176727
- Home Assistant — home-assistant.io
- Cross-Device Screenshot and File Transfer
- CleanShot X — cleanshot.com
- macOS Screen Sharing utility
- Workspace Management
- Workspaces+ — https://workspaceplus.app
- Workspaces — apptorium.com/workspaces
- Calendar Apps
- Notion Calendar — https://calendar.notion.so
- Fantastical — flexibits.com/fantastical
- Calendar 366 — nspektor.com/en
- Dot — https://www.trydot.app
- Bookmarking and Read-It-Later
- Shiori, by Brian Lovin — https://www.shiori.sh — brianlovin.com
- Readwise Reader — readwise.io/read
- Matter — getmatter.com
AppStories+ — Self-Built Tools and the Services Behind Them
- ElevenLabs — elevenlabs.io
- Buffer — buffer.com
- Google Gemini — gemini.google.com
- Kokoro TTS — huggingface.co/spaces/hexgrad/Kokoro-TTS
- Defuddle — https://defuddle.md
- CrossPost (John's cross-platform social media posting tool)
- Research Feed (John's ranked, filtered social media reader)
- Dialog (John's article-to-podcast converter using Defuddle, Claude, and Kokoro TTS)
- Daily Star (John's twice-daily magazine-style digest from Notion, RSS, and Matter) — notion.com — web.getmatter.com
- Notion Daily Notes Appender (Federico's quick-capture web app)
- Notion Daily Notes Viewer (Federico's horizontal tray viewer for open daily notes)
- Ghost Reader (Federico's Readwise Reader audio-preview tool using ElevenLabs) — readwise.io/read
- CLI Chats (Federico's session-log viewer for Claude Code and Codex)
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Leave Feedback for John and Federico
- AppStories Feedback Form — https://giant-smash-219.notion.site/2d235e3fe8d880129f22fb81cdd47acc?pvs=105
Follow us on Mastodon
* AppStories — mastodon.macstories.net/@appstories
* Federico Viticci — mastodon.macstories.net/@viticci
* John Voorhees — mastodon.macstories.net/@johnvoorhees
Follow us on Bluesky
- AppStories — https://bsky.app/profile/appstories.macstories.net
- MacStories — https://bsky.app/profile/macstories.net
- Federico Viticci — https://bsky.app/profile/viticci.macstories.net
- John Voorhees — https://bsky.app/profile/johnvoorhees.macstories.net
Affiliate Linking Policy — macstories.net/privacy-policy
Timestamps
0:00 - Time for Ternus
15:09 - Codex Follow-Up
22:43 - Sponsor: Steamclock
24:16 - Filling the App Gap
24:47 - A Simple and Reliable HomeKit App
31:04 - A Cross-Mac File Transfer Utility
36:46 - Sponsor: Claude by Anthropic
39:04 - Workspace Templating
43:14 - A Better Calendar App
This week on AppStories, John and Federico cover Apple's executive transition, follow up on OpenAI's super app, and share the apps they're looking for and give each other suggestions on how to fill their app gaps.
On AppStories+, we round up the tools we've built for ourselves that fill gaps, for which we haven't found apps.
---
Sponsored By:
* Steamclock: We make great apps. Design and development, from demos to details. — steamclock.com/appstories
* Claude: For problems worth solving — get started with Claude today. — claude.ai/appstories
---
Links and Show Notes
Apple Leadership Transition
- Apple's Executive Leadership Transition Announced — macstories.net/news/apples-executive-leadership-transition-announced
- Community Letter from Tim — apple.com/community-letter-from-tim
OpenAI Codex and Computer Use Follow-Up
- OpenAI Codex — openai.com/codex
- Claude Code — claude.ai/code
Filling the App Gap
- HomeKit Automation
- Controller for HomeKit — apps.apple.com/us/app/controller-for-homekit/id1198176727
- Home Assistant — home-assistant.io
- Cross-Device Screenshot and File Transfer
- CleanShot X — cleanshot.com
- macOS Screen Sharing utility
- Workspace Management
- Workspaces+ — https://workspaceplus.app
- Workspaces — apptorium.com/workspaces
- Calendar Apps
- Notion Calendar — https://calendar.notion.so
- Fantastical — flexibits.com/fantastical
- Calendar 366 — nspektor.com/en
- Dot — https://www.trydot.app
- Bookmarking and Read-It-Later
- Shiori, by Brian Lovin — https://www.shiori.sh — brianlovin.com
- Readwise Reader — readwise.io/read
- Matter — getmatter.com
AppStories+ — Self-Built Tools and the Services Behind Them
- ElevenLabs — elevenlabs.io
- Buffer — buffer.com
- Google Gemini — gemini.google.com
- Kokoro TTS — huggingface.co/spaces/hexgrad/Kokoro-TTS
- Defuddle — https://defuddle.md
- CrossPost (John's cross-platform social media posting tool)
- Research Feed (John's ranked, filtered social media reader)
- Dialog (John's article-to-podcast converter using Defuddle, Claude, and Kokoro TTS)
- Daily Star (John's twice-daily magazine-style digest from Notion, RSS, and Matter) — notion.com — web.getmatter.com
- Notion Daily Notes Appender (Federico's quick-capture web app)
- Notion Daily Notes Viewer (Federico's horizontal tray viewer for open daily notes)
- Ghost Reader (Federico's Readwise Reader audio-preview tool using ElevenLabs) — readwise.io/read
- CLI Chats (Federico's session-log viewer for Claude Code and Codex)
---
Leave Feedback for John and Federico
- AppStories Feedback Form — https://giant-smash-219.notion.site/2d235e3fe8d880129f22fb81cdd47acc?pvs=105
Follow us on Mastodon
* AppStories — mastodon.macstories.net/@appstories
* Federico Viticci — mastodon.macstories.net/@viticci
* John Voorhees — mastodon.macstories.net/@johnvoorhees
Follow us on Bluesky
- AppStories — https://bsky.app/profile/appstories.macstories.net
- MacStories — https://bsky.app/profile/macstories.net
- Federico Viticci — https://bsky.app/profile/viticci.macstories.net
- John Voorhees — https://bsky.app/profile/johnvoorhees.macstories.net
Affiliate Linking Policy — macstories.net/privacy-policy
Timestamps
0:00 - Time for Ternus
15:09 - Codex Follow-Up
22:43 - Sponsor: Steamclock
24:16 - Filling the App Gap
24:47 - A Simple and Reliable HomeKit App
31:04 - A Cross-Mac File Transfer Utility
36:46 - Sponsor: Claude by Anthropic
39:04 - Workspace Templating
43:14 - A Better Calendar App
