PODCAST · technology
AppStories
by Federico Viticci, John Voorhees
AppStories is a weekly exploration of the world of apps by MacStories’ Federico Viticci and John Voorhees. Each week, they discuss the best new apps, the impact of apps on our culture, and cover the stories behind popular apps. Hosted by Federico Viticci and John Voorhees.
Episodes
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Full Disk Access in the Age of Agents
This week on AppStories, Federico and John start realizing the benefits of their attempt to automate all administrative tasks and explain why Apple's vague developer blog post about Full Disk Access and AI agents should concern all Mac users whether or not they use AI. On AppStories+, as John…
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Meet Dot: OpenAI's Always On Agent
Meet Dot: OpenAI's Always On Agent This week on AppStories, John is back from OpenAI DevDay, so he and Federico cover the history of AI agents, the current landscape, and what OpenAI is doing with Dots. On AppStories+, Federico provides a sneak peek at what's in store for his Reminders, Notes…
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What's New in macOS and watchOS 27
This week on AppStories, John shares his favorite parts of macOS and watchOS 27 from his reviews of both. On AppStories+, Federico and John begin revisiting new their long lists of automation projects. Also available on YouTube here. Sponsored By: Scribe – AI-powered workflow documentation. Get...
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Local AI Gets Serious on the M5 Ultra Mac Studio
This week on AppStories, John interviews Federico about his review of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio and it local AI capabilities. On AppStories+, Federico takes listeners behind the scenes on how he tested the M5 Ultra Mac Studio. Also available on YouTube here. Sponsored By: Workbench: Remote desktop...
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iOS and iPadOS 27: The MacStories Review
This week Federico shares thoughts from his review of iOS and iPadOS 27. Then in the AppStories+ post-show, he explains how he used agents to support the production of the review and Club MacStories extras. Also available on YouTube here. Sponsored By: Granola – The AI notepad for back-to-back...
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The Once and Future App Store
This week on AppStories, we celebrate the 500th episode of the show with a look at the App Store's past, present, and future. On AppStories+, Federico and John pick some of their all-time favorite apps. Also available on YouTube here. Sponsored By: Claude: For problems worth solving — get started...
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Inside OpenAI’s Codex With Andrew Ambrosino
This week on AppStories, Federico and John are joined by Andrew Ambrosino, the Codex team lead at OpenAI, to talk about the evolution of Codex, the unification of ChatGPT and Codex, Computer Use and Computer History, designing for user trust, and more. On AppStories+, Andrew shares some of his...
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How Should the Siri App Be Graded?
This week on AppStories, John and Federico check in on Apple’s betas with a close look at the new Siri app and how it compares to past-Siri and other chatbot products. On AppStories+, John and Federico explain how they manage multiple Macs for automation and coding tasks. Also available on…
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Folding the iPhone into the Creator Economy
This week, on AppStories, John is joined by Christoper Lawley to discuss uses for a folding iPhone and Parchment, Lawley’s daily agenda app. On AppStories+, John and Chris dig into audio and video workflows for podcasting and YouTube. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver...
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Summer Projects: Automation, Email, and Dictation
This week on AppStories, Federico and John cover the app and agent experiments they’re both running. On AppStories+, John explores the sort of rapid workflow iteration enabled by agents. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content,...
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Open Minis Turns iOS into an Agent Playground
This week on AppStories, John and Federico discuss the changing face of the AI-fueled App Store and questionable changes made to TestFlight before going into the nerdiest details of Open Minis, an iOS app that brings desktop-class agents onto the iPhone and iPad. Then on AppStories+, Federico and...
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All About Siri AI
This week, on AppStories, Federico and John look at what Siri AI is good at, where it needs improvement, and where it might be heading. On AppStories+, the conversation expands to Federico and John’s experiences with the betas of macOS Golden Gate, iOS 27, and iPadOS 27. Also available on YouTube...
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Fable 5 and OpenAI’s Curious ChatGPT Update
This week on AppStories, Federico and John look at our experiences with Claude Fable 5 and how they differ from other models and break down the controversial changes made by OpenAI to its Mac’s ChatGPT app. Then on AppStories+, John and Federico contrast their experiences with Fable 5 and…
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Email Survival Guide
This week on AppStories, Federico and John talk about the 10+ email apps they’ve used over the years and how their strategies for dealing with recent spikes in email volume has caused them to change their approaches. On AppStories+, Federico and John update listeners on their summertime agentic...
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Are AI Aggregators Worth It?
This week on AppStories, Federico and John talk about the state of AI aggregator apps and their future prospects before checking in on their current AI app setups for the AppStories+ post-show. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus…
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WWDC Debrief
This week on AppStories, John and Federico are back home and reflect on all the WWDC announcements, including Siri AI, Apple Intelligence, design changes, developer tools, and more. On AppStories+, we check in on our research setups and how they fared at WWDC. Also available on YouTube here....
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WWDC 2026: The Apple Design Award Interviews
In a second special WWDC edition of AppStories, Federico and John interview Apple Design Award finalists and winners, including the developers of The Outsiders and Tide Guide and the publishers of Pine Hearts and BALL x PIT. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+…
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WWDC 2026 with Special Guests Myke Hurley and Christopher Lawley
Federico and John are joined this week by Myke Hurley and Chris Lawley to share their first impressions of the WWDC keynote and discoveries in the hours following the presentation. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every...
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Our WWDC Automation Wish List
This week on AppStories, Federico and John share their WWDC automation wishes. Then on AppStories+, they share more details on their research setups for the summer. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high...
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Our macOS 27 Wishes
This week on AppStories, Federico explains how he’s using the recently-released Notion developer platform before he and John share their wishes for macOS 27. On AppStories+, John asks Federico about the technical underpinnings and evolution of the Shortcuts Playground project that he published…
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Our iOS and iPadOS 27 Wishes
This week on AppStories, we share our wishes for iOS and iPadOS 27, and for AppStories+ subscribers, we tackle Visual Intelligence and whether there are any use cases that aren’t creepy. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content,...
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An App Swap Challenge
This week on AppStories, John and Federico kick off the app swap challenge, with each of them giving the other three apps to use. We’ll be checking in on how it’s going each week with a final roundup of the results of the experiment after WWDC. On AppStories+, we each pick aspirational apps and…
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Codex as a Productivity Super App
This week on AppStories, John shares his tip for moving files with Taildrop before he and Federico dig into Codex and its unique capabilities. On AppStories+, Federico and John have both returned to Apple Reminders and discuss why and how they’re using it. Also available on YouTube here.…
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Filling the App Gap
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...
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Apple Frames 4 and the AI Multiplier
This week on AppStories, we draw from Federico’s experience creating the Apple Frames 4 shortcut and CLI to discuss the multiplier effect that AI agents can have in the hands of someone with deep domain expertise. On AppStories+, we share our AI agent mishaps and horror stories along with...
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OpenAI’s Everything App Trap
[ This week, on AppStories, we return to a topic that’s an old favorite: the Everything App in honor of OpenAI’s announcement that they are building a Super App. On AppStories+, Federico consolidates the tools and services he uses. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver...
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Revisiting the Text Editor Landscape
This week on AppStories, John and Federico revisit the state of text editors on Apple platforms and how they use them. On AppStories+, John and Federico dig deeper into their writing workflows and the apps they’re using to write. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver...
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An Orchestra Without a Conductor, Apple’s AI Dilemma
This week on AppStories, Federico and John draw from their experiences using AI agents to imagine the sort of agent Apple could build with tight hardware and software integration if it had a LLM to orchestrate the pieces already in place. On AppStories+, John asks where artificial intelligence...
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Why Foldable Phones Matter: The Case for an iPhone Duo
This week on AppStories, Federico shares his experiences with foldable Android phones and what Apple might do for its first foldable hardware and its software. On AppStories+, Federico shares his experience using Samsung DeX. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+…
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The Fractal Fragmentation of AI Tools
This week on AppStories, Federico and John look at the confusing array of tools and naming conventions used by Anthropic and OpenAI. On AppStories+, John explains how he automated two unautomatable Mac apps. Also available on YouTube here. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers…
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Apple’s Big Neo Week
This week on AppStories, Federico and John discuss Apple’s latest hardware announcements. Then on AppStories+, Federico explains Notion Agents and Workers and how he’s using them. Subscribe here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every...
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Our Apple Hardware Wish List for 2026
This week on AppStories, Federico and John cast our wishes for Apple hardware in 2026, covering everything from the latest rumored gear to more outrageous hopes. On AppStories+, John and Federico share their top three everyday uses of AI tools. This episode is sponsored by: Claude – Ready to…
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App Intents and the Road to a Smarter Siri
This week, Federico and John revisit App Intents to discuss where it came from, what it can do today, and the challenges Apple faces in integrating it with Apple Intelligence. On AppStories+, John and Federico migrated their server setups and found themselves playing IT administrator. We deliver...
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Pick a Pair: New Apps We’re Using
This week, Federico and John share apps they’re trying for the first time, including a calendar app, a text editor, a snippets utility, and more. Then on AppStories+, John shares his first impressions of Xcode 26.3. This episode is sponsored by: Claude – Get 50% off Claude Pro, including access…
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One Notion: Two Approaches
This week on AppStories, John and Federico share the very different ways they use Notion. On AppStories+, we follow up on OpenClaw security concerns and explore the ways Federico is using it. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every…
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The Future of Apps in an AI-Coded World
This week, Federico and John update listeners on the ClawdBot-MoltBot-OpenClaw saga before digging into how AI will affect apps and app developers. On AppStories+, John covers why Creator Studio is such a fundamental shift in Apple’s approach to ‘Pro’ apps. [We deliver AppStories+ to...
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Terminal Tips and Claude Code Workflows
This week, Federico and John share their workflows and tips on how they use Claud Code and Codex to build automations. On AppStories+, John and Federico explore the Apple and Google Gemini deal and the end of Shortcuts as we know it. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content,...
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A Very ‘Just Build It’ Holiday
This week, Federico and John complete their tour of holiday projects with a look at the tools both of them built with the help of Claude Code, Codex, and other tools. On AppStories+, John pushes Claude Code by building a Safari web extension that integrates with Notion. We deliver AppStories+ to...
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A Very Nerdy Holiday Break
This week, Federico and John are back from their holiday break, included so many hardware and automation projects that this is part one of a two-part episode regarding Federico’s networked music automation setup and John’s new research tool. On AppStories+, Federico shares his foldable phone...
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What’s Next for Apps in 2026
This week, Federico and John look ahead to 2026 and what it will mean for apps, smarter Siri, and more. On AppStories+, Federico and John update listeners on their latest app experiments and holiday hardware projects. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a…
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The 2025 MacStories Selects Awards
This week, Federico and John reveal the winners of the 2025 MacStories Selects Awards, which celebrate the exceptional design, innovation, and creativity of apps across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. On AppStories+, John has some Apple Music discovery tips for Federico, and they reveal…
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Vibe Coding Your Own Productivity Tools
This week, Federico and John explain how they go about creating personal productivity tools with the assistance of AI and walk through some of what they have created. On AppStories+, we talk about our Black Friday tech purchases. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free,...
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Designing for Liquid Glass: Outstanding Indie Apps
This week, Federico and John dig into some of their favorite apps that have adopted Apple’s Liquid Glass design language. On AppStories+, it’s John’s 10th anniversary at MacStories, so he and Federico look back at the last decade. Also available on YouTube here. We deliver AppStories+ to...
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The Ever-Changing App Store
This week, Federico and John explore current changes to the world of apps through the lens of its past evolution. On AppStories+, we build “money’s no object” holiday wish lists for ourselves. Also available on YouTube here. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and…
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Our Latest App and Automation Experiments
This week, Federico and John kick off their holiday app and automation experimentation season a little earlier than usual with a mix of apps, automations, and services. On AppStories+, Federico and John look ahead, considering the future of Shortcuts and automation. We deliver AppStories+ to...
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The Great Digital Declutter
This week, Federico and John clean house, deleting old apps, screenshots, half-built shortcuts, huge downloads, and more. A look at the workflows and apps we use to stay organized and clean up our digital messes. On AppStories+, Federico’s Typing Mind experiments continue, while John shares his...
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Exploring AI Browsers
This week, Federico and John look at the hype surrounding AI browsers to see if there’s any there there. Then, on AppStories+, Federico explains his experiments with lightning fast alternative AI models in Typing Mind. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a…
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The Potential and Limits of the M5 iPad Pro
This week, Federico and John consider whether Apple made the case for running local LLMs and gaming on the M5 iPad Pro and discusss who should consider buying it. On AppStories+, we explain how Claude Skills work and why they are one of Anthropic’s most exciting features in a while. Also…
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Apple’s Intelligence Quest: Beyond Smart Siri
This week, Federico and John discuss what might be next for Apple Intelligence and how it fits into the broader AI market. On AppStories+, Federico and John cover the fallout from the Sora app and why AI can’t replace human creativity. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content,...
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What Else Do We Want from Apple in 2025?
This week, with rumors of more products in the pipeline, Federico and John share what they want most from Apple before the end of the year. On AppStories+, Federico experiments with lightning fast inference and iteration using Cerebras for scripting. We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
AppStories is a weekly exploration of the world of apps by MacStories’ Federico Viticci and John Voorhees. Each week, they discuss the best new apps, the impact of apps on our culture, and cover the stories behind popular apps. Hosted by Federico Viticci and John Voorhees.
HOSTED BY
Federico Viticci, John Voorhees
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does AppStories have?
AppStories currently has 489 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is AppStories about?
AppStories is a weekly exploration of the world of apps by MacStories’ Federico Viticci and John Voorhees. Each week, they discuss the best new apps, the impact of apps on our culture, and cover the stories behind popular apps. Hosted by Federico Viticci and John Voorhees.
How often does AppStories release new episodes?
AppStories publishes regularly with 489 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to AppStories?
You can listen to AppStories on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts AppStories?
AppStories is created and hosted by Federico Viticci, John Voorhees.
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