Yesterday, OpenAI rolled out Codex remote access in the ChatGPT app for iPhone and iPad, allowing mobile users to connect to remote instances of the full Codex app running on a Mac. While we could argue about the decision to turn ChatGPT into an “everything app” that contains a chatbot, a Codex remote, and image...
Automation Academy: How I Can Automate Anything I Want Using Codex for Mac
It’s hard to spot long-term trends in the AI world when things are changing so quickly on a weekly basis, but if we try and look back at the first five months of 2026, it’s undeniable that the rise of personal AI agents has been a central theme of the year. What started as a...
Read moreA Dictation App with a CLI Is Exactly What I Needed
As I mentioned in a recent issue of MacStories Weekly for Club members, I believe that reliable dictation and text-to-speech are largely solved problems in the AI industry right now for most languages. There are certainly subtle differences between the latest models and not-so-subtle discrepancies when you consider local (and free) transcription models versus cloud-hosted (and often expensive) solutions, but by and large, LLMs have “fixed” the problem of fast and high-performance speech-to-text transcription. Whether you’re using Superwhisper, Wispr Flow, Aqua Voice, or a local wrapper for Parakeet or Microsoft’s VibeVoice, chances are that your transcribed text will be more than good enough these days. Just like with regular chatbots, benchmarks matter less and less: it’s the overall user experience that defines products that are otherwise very similar to each other.
An App Swap Challenge
JohnThis 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 OS features that we wish we used more but don’t.
Also available on YouTube here.
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AppStories Episode 484 - An App Swap Challenge
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29:12
This episode is sponsored by:
- Steamclock: We make great apps. Design and development, from demos to details.
How I Keep Codex Skills and AGENTS.md In Sync Between Multiple Macs
Earlier this week, prompted by the useful suggestion of a MacStories reader, I finally fixed something that’s been bothering me for months: I consolidated my Codex skills and main AGENTS.md instructions file so that they’re always in sync between multiple Macs. If you’ve been working with coding agents like Codex and Claude Code lately, and...
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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AppStories Episode 483 - Codex as a Productivity Super App
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44:40
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This episode is sponsored by:
- Mercury Weather: Forecasts, beautifully done. Download now for free.
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 which we haven’t found apps.
Also available on YouTube here.
We deliver AppStories+ to subscribers with bonus content, ad-free, and at a high bitrate early every week.
To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our [Plans page](macstories.net/appstories-plans/, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
This episode is sponsored by:
- Steamclock: We make great apps. Design and development, from demos to details.
- Claude: For problems worth solving — get started with Claude today.
Remodex Is the Best Codex Remote Client for iOS (Until OpenAI Releases an Official Codex Mobile App)
Various OpenAI employees and members of the Codex team have been hinting at a native Codex app for iOS lately. While I very much hope that’s in the cards – especially if the project involves connecting to a remote Mac running the full Codex app – I wanted to highlight an indie utility I’ve been using a lot lately to access my Codex setup on my Mac Studio server from my iPhone.
The app is called Remodex, and it was created by Italian indie developer Emanuele Di Pietro. Remodex, as the name suggests, acts as a remote for the Codex CLI installed on a macOS computer, and it lets you operate your existing projects and chats with a UI that is reminiscent of the official Codex app for Mac. Even better, Remodex is not based on some hack-y workaround: it’s entirely powered by OpenAI’s official (and open-source) Codex App Server.
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 additional details on a John’s ongoing HomeKit makeover project.
Also available on YouTube here.
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To learn more about an AppStories+ subscription, visit our [Plans page](https://appstories.net/plans, or read the AppStories+ FAQ.
AppStories Episode 481 - Apple Frames 4 and the AI Multiplier
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38:12
38:12
This episode is sponsored by:
- Mercury Weather – Forecasts, beautifully done. Download now for free.