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The Utility App Flood Won’t Last

The App Store is evolving at a breakneck pace not seen since its earliest days. We saw the first glimmers of what was to come early in 2025, but it wasn’t until late last year that the tsunami of apps developed with the help of AI agents really took hold.

Since then, veteran developers are releasing new apps and updating existing ones faster than ever, and new developers are releasing their first apps in droves. Today, supply is dramatically up, demand is flat, and quality is seemingly simultaneously up and down, depending on where you look.

How these forces play out long-term is anyone’s guess, but it’s worth examining because, just as Federico’s link to Bryan Irace’s post about agentic coding tools foreshadowed the rise of tools like Codex and Claude Code, today’s trends are sparks that have the potential to become tomorrow’s App Store wildfires or simply fizzle out.

Utility apps are on the front lines of this change. The TechCrunch story I linked in April picked up on this trend:

Another interesting tidbit from Appfigures is that the Utilities app category moved up the top five chart.

If anything, the trend has accelerated in the months since.

It’s not surprising at all that utility apps have taken off. They’ve been a staple of new developers since long before agents came along. That’s because many are UI wrappers around command line tools. That isn’t a knock against the developers of those apps; most users don’t want to open Terminal to convert a video or audio file to another format using ffmpeg, for example. By building a great UI around command line tools, developers have made them far easier to use.

However, the relative simplicity and narrow scope of many utility apps have made them a natural fit for AI agents, too. That’s why the App Store (and my inbox) is deluged with Mac menu bar and single-screen iPhone and iPad utility apps.

On the one hand, the abundance of utilities has been great for users. More choice means you’re more likely to find the app that perfectly fits your needs.

On the other hand, though, I don’t think what’s happening in the category is sustainable and expect to see it dramatically shift again in the coming months. As we’ve seen from reporting by The New York Times, app supply is outstripping demand by orders of magnitude, which will drive down prices. That alone is likely to cause the utility app market to shrink. But there’s more to it than that.

Remember, the demand shifts that The New York Times reported, based on Sensor Tower numbers, are for the entire App Store, where download numbers have grown 2-3% this year and last. I expect utility downloads to actually shrink in the coming months – again, because of agents. Utilities, especially simple ones, are exactly the sorts of apps that are becoming trivially easy for power users – the very users these utilities are made for – to create themselves. From frontier labs‘ model improvements to a growing number of app-building tools from those same labs and third parties, it’s never been easier to build a web or native app yourself.

And although I agree with people, like Nilay Patel, who say the notion that everyone will build their own software is overblown, the utility market is different. Your average person is not downloading apps to adjust the frame rate and file format of a video or downloading YouTube videos to watch later. But those are exactly the sort of things that people who are using agents are doing with them, whether they’re having an agent do those things directly via a command line tool in an app like Codex or Claude Code or building an app to do the same thing. That’s going to put even more pressure on the category.

That said, I think there will always be a cohort of users who would rather pay for an app than build it themselves, so I’m not predicting the demise of utilities in general – just the end of today’s frothy market. I also think there remains a place for simple utilities that solve hard problems with clever solutions. Not every utility is a UI wrapper for a terminal command. Plenty of apps feature original solutions or thoughtful and unconventional remixes of disparate tools.

Utilities aren’t going away, but just like other App Store deluges, the trend will recede. It’s just that this time, it’s likely to flip faster than usual.

Coming Soon: What’s Next on Apple TV and Apple Arcade in August 2026

It’s a big sports month for Apple TV, starting with Apple Arcade, which goes all-in on football with Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition and Retro Bowl College+. On the Apple TV side, Ted Lasso returns for a fourth season, Formula 1 is coming out of its summer break, the MLS Leagues Cup begins, and MLB continues.

Let’s take a closer look.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade is adding two new games this month, both on Thursday, August 6, and both of them football games. That’s not a coincidence. The NFL and college football seasons are right around the corner, and these games offer great ways to get ready for both. They’re also part of a broader trend across Apple Arcade where sports games like NBA 2K26 and PGA TOUR Pro Golf, which also have continued receiving updates, have found a fan base.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition (Release Date: August 6)

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

The headliner this month is Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition, an all-new entry in EA’s long-running NFL franchise built specifically for Apple Arcade. The game includes Franchise and Quick Play modes, featuring current NFL player rosters and ratings that adapt to real-world performance. And as part of Arcade, the game cane be played across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro with controller support and no ads, paywalls, or in-app purchases.

Add to Your Calendar:

Retro Bowl College+ (Release Date: August 6)

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

I’m a huge fan of retro-style games of any kind, and Retro Bowl College+ looks like another winner. I love the game’s chunky pixel vibe and depth. You can choose to act as the head coach of any of 250 college teams, recruiting players, managing your school’s athletic budget, dealing with player drama, and more. Who knew an 8-bit game could be packed with this much style and story?

Add to Your Calendar:

Apple TV

Ted Lasso, Season Four (August 5, 2026)

It’s been three years since the Ted Lasso series finale, and it still holds a special spot in the hearts of many fans. This week, the show returns on Wednesdays with a 10-episode run, in which Ted comes back to Ricmond to coach a second-division women’s team. Other returning cast members include Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift.

Add to Your Calendar:

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Cotypist: Smart Autocomplete for Your Whole Mac [Sponsor]

You think faster than you can type. Across a day of email, Slack, notes, and chatbot prompts, that gap quietly eats your time.

Cotypist closes that gap. It’s smart autocomplete for your Mac: as you write, it predicts your next few words and shows them inline, right at your cursor. Press Tab to take the next word or the whole line, then carry on. If a suggestion isn’t what you had in mind, keep typing and it catches up within a letter or two. Accept a word here and a line there, and you’ll have to type far less than you used to.

Most AI writing tools try to do too much and don’t sound like you. Cotypist only fills in the words you’d have typed anyway (just faster), and it picks up your vocabulary as you go, so the result still sounds like you. It works almost everywhere you write: Mail, Messages, Slack, Notes, Obsidian, your browser, even the prompt box in ChatGPT. And it all runs on your Mac, so nothing you type ever leaves your Mac.

Cotypist comes from the maker of Timing, the Mac time-tracker many MacStories readers already know, so it’s built to feel native and stay out of your way. Setup takes about a minute: drag it into Applications, launch it, then start typing, no account required.

Cotypist is free to download, with a 30-day Pro trial and no credit card. When the trial ends, you can keep Pro or drop to the free plan. Until the end of August, MacStories readers get 10% off their first bill at cotypist.app/macstories. Give it ten minutes and see if it can keep up with you.

Our thanks to Cotypist for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Podcast Rewind: Open Minis, the RG SP Announcement, Too Much Wi-Fi, and the MessagePad with D. Griffin Jones

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

AppStories

This week, 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 John explore Cmux, a Mac terminal app with an iPhone and iPad beta that makes it easier than ever to sync coding projects across devices.

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, the refreshingly complete announcement by Anbernic of the RG SP, Ticci buys a handheld, and people are tired of months-long hardware reveals.

Then on NPC XL, Cocoon 3.0 and Syncthing!

Comfort Zone

We have a guest! D. Griffin Jones is here to show the gang technology they could only dream of: the MessagePad. After that, we look at the brand new Pastebot 3 and the surprisingly useful Clop, and we close it out by trying to sell Niléane on a 3D printer.

This week’s Cozy Zone is all about the games we’ve been enjoying lately.

MacStories Unwind

This week, John realizes that too much Wi-Fi is never enough, Federico wonders what he’s going to do with a Linux PC, and John recommends Apple TV’s Lucky.

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Shazam Releases Exclusive Ariana Grande Messages Sticker Pack

Long-time readers may recall that I used to regularly cover Messages sticker packs. As sticker popularity “settled,” I retired from that beat, but I thought I should come back for today’s news that Ariana Grande is the first ever music artist to release an Messages sticker pack.

The stickers are being released in collaboration with Shazam, Apple’s music recognition app, to mark the release of Grande’s new album petal. The implementation is interesting. According to Apple:

Fans can access the sticker pack by using the Shazam app to identify any Ariana Grande song and tapping the special message that appears on the song result or by adding the collection to their emoji keyboard directly in the Messages app. Once downloaded, the stickers can be used in Messages, FaceTime, or any app where emoji keyboard is available.

That in-app link takes you to the Messages corner of the App Store where they’re featured as a Shazam Special Event. You can also access the sticker pack from Shazam’s App Store listing.

I love seeing Shazam try new things to celebrate artists and their music, and stickers are a fun way to share your excitement about a new release.

Fun Fact: My Messages sticker situation has never quite recovered from downloading hundreds of sticker packs back in the day. Some features just aren’t meant to be loved so much.

Also, I am so back.

Apple Reports Q3 2026 Earnings

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple reported its 2026 Q3 earnings, posting quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion. Here are the highlights:

  • Revenue was $109.4B, up 16.4% from Q3 FY25.
  • iPhone revenue was $54.3B, up 21.7%, and represented 49.6% of Apple’s total revenue.
  • Services revenue was $30.7B, up 12.1%, and represented 28.1% of Apple’s total revenue.
  • Gross margin was $54.8B, up 25.3%, with an overall gross margin rate of 50.1%.
  • Net income was $29.8B, up 27.1%.
  • Operating cash flow was $34.4B, up 23.3%.
  • Diluted EPS was $2.02, up 28.7%.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say about the results:

Today, Apple is proud to report our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment. At WWDC26, we were thrilled to introduce the all-new Siri AI, alongside all of Apple’s latest software innovations and important new child safety features.

For additional context, here’s how the results break down:

In Apple’s latest quarter: every region grew, Services reached $30.7B, and gross margin was 50.1%.

iPhone remained Apple’s largest business at $54.3B, and four of five categories grew year over year. Together, iPhone and Services accounted for 77.7% of Apple’s $109.4B in net sales.

iPhone revenue reached $54.3B, or 49.6% of Apple’s total revenue, keeping it the company’s largest consumer business.

Services reached $30.7B at a 75.6% gross margin, accounting for 28.1% of revenue but 42.4% of gross margin.

Products carried most of the revenue at $78.7B, but Services kept 75.6% of every dollar against Products’ 40.1%.

Every reported region grew, and Europe contributed the most new revenue at $5.4B, or 35.0% of Apple’s $15.4B in growth.

Going into today’s earnings call, expectations were high among analysts, who anticipated revenue of $108–109 billion and diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Apple’s results landed at the high end of the expected revenue range and exceeded expectations for earnings per share.

Indie App Sales Event Begins Today with Over 200 Apps

Matt Corey, the maker of Bills to Budget and Signals, has organized indie developers for a big sale that runs from July 28 - 30. The sale includes over 200 apps that will be offered at a discount through Thursday. The list is too long to publish here, but it includes many apps we’ve covered here on MacStories and on Club MacStories in the past, including:

There are a lot of great deals, with many apps discounted 50% or more. What’s listed above is a small fraction of the participating apps, so be sure to visit Indie App Salesand support these great indie apps.