John Voorhees

5685 posts on MacStories since November 2015

John is MacStories' Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico. John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
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@johnvoorhees.macstories.net
voorhees@macstories.net

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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.

Interesting Links

John

The Verge has declared the passport style to be the future of foldable phones, right on cue for Apple’s entry into the category. (Link) GrapheneOS is a phone operating system designed for privacy, which makes the story of a man who was criminally charged for giving police a false passcode that wiped his phone...

App Debuts

John

Caxton Caxton is a new Mac app that solves the problem of opening huge text files in a beautifully designed, native way. The kind of huge logs, databases, and CSVs that developers sometimes encounter will choke almost any text editor because they try to load the file into memory. I think I’ve run into...

This Week on MacStories Podcasts

This week on MacStories 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,...

Summer Vacation

It’s summertime, which means it’s the season when we take a couple of weeks off to recharge and get ready for the fall review season. This year, we’re breaking up the off weeks, starting with next week. That means there will be no MacStories Weekly on August 7. We’ll be back with another issue on...

My New Automation Calculus

YouTube tags and suggested show notes links generated by Claude.

YouTube tags and suggested show notes links generated by Claude.

Coding agents have upended the automation calculus for many people by reducing the friction of creating complex workflows, and soon, Describe a Shortcut will do the same for simpler automations. Both are big wins for anyone who can’t stand the drudgery of repetitive tasks, but they come with potential downsides, too. I love to tinker...

Previously, On MacStories

Apple Reports Q3 2026 Earnings Indie App Sales Event Begins Today with Over 200 Apps Apple Upgrade Trades Ownership for Lower Monthly Payments Pastebot 3 Doubles Down on Mac Clipboard Automation and Introduces Two New Business Models Lock Launcher Introduces “No Redirect” Launchers, XL Widgets for iOS 27...

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.

The Rise of the Designer-Developer

iOS 6 examples via [uxdesign.cc](https://uxdesign.cc/the-power-of-familiarity-in-design-skeuomorphic-triggers-and-personified-machines-7fb66ba8bf98)

iOS 6 examples via uxdesign.cc

I began building my first app in the wake of iOS 7, the controversial update that swung the iPhone design pendulum from the skeuomorphism of iOS 6 to a very flat UI. Like Liquid Glass, a lot of people disliked iOS 7’s design, but it had a couple of practical advantages: iOS 7 was easier...