Today, Apple announced the finalists for the 2025 App Store Awards. The App Store Awards are Apple’s annual celebration of exceptional apps and games across 12 categories spanning the company’s platforms. It’s an excellent collection that includes solo developers, small indie teams, big companies, and many MacStories favorites.
Here’s the complete list of finalists.
As we head into the final weeks of 2025, Federico and I figured it would be a good time to update the MacStories Setups page. There’s an ebb and flow to the gear and apps we test each year, and as the fall OS update season fades into the past, it’s not unusual for one or both of us to take stock of our setup and make changes. That’s been very true for both of us this year, but in different ways.
Federico has been focused on simplifying his hardware setup and testing a long list of apps and services. In contrast, I’ve made fewer gear cuts, focusing more on strategic changes to the gadgets I use and settling on a core set of work apps.
The result is that Federico’s hardware setup changes have primarily been updates to his Apple and portable gaming gear. He made the transition from the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the iPhone Air, and couldn’t be happier with the result. He also replaced the M4 iPad Pro with the latest M5 model and moved from the AirPods 4 to the AirPods Pro 3.
Both of us ditched our previous Apple Vision Pro head strap solutions for the Apple Dual Knit Band, which has been a big upgrade. It’s comfortable, and having one dial to adjust both bands is both clever and far simpler than other solutions I’ve tried.
Federico also added the Ayn Thor to his handheld gaming lineup. The Thor, which I also bought this fall, is a dual-screen OLED gaming handheld that runs Android. It’s perfect for emulating dual-screen systems like the Nintendo DS and 3DS, but it has also been excellent for game streaming and testing the emerging world of emulating SteamOS on Android. If game tinkering is your thing and this sounds intriguing, we have two episodes of NPC: Next Portable Console that go in-depth on the Ayn Thor.
Following the comeback of Slide Over in iPadOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to iterate on iPadOS 26 multitasking by restoring functionalities that had been removed from the launch version of iPadOS 26.0 in September. Yesterday, in the third developer beta of iPadOS 26.2, the company brought back drag and drop gestures to put app windows directly in Split View and Slide Over without having to interact with additional menus. To understand how these old gestures work in the context of iPadOS 26, I recommend watching this video by Chris Lawley:
As you can see, the gestures are pretty much the same ones as iPadOS 18, but the interaction is slightly different insofar as the “pull indicator” for Slide Over (re-introduced in iPadOS 26.1) now serves two purposes. That indicator now acts both as a signal that you can drop a window to instantly tile it as one half of a Split View, and it’s also a drop target to enter Slide Over right away. The design is clever, if maybe a little too hard to discover…but that’s always been the case with multitasking gestures that aren’t exposed by a menu – which is exactly why Apple is now offering plenty of options in iPadOS 26 to discover different multitasking features in different menus.
I’m glad to see Apple quickly iterate on iPadOS 26 by finding ways to blend the old multitasking system with the platform’s new windowing engine. Based on the comments I received after publishing my iPadOS 26 review, enough people were missing the simplicity of Split View and Slide Over that I think Apple’s doing the right thing in making all these multitasking systems coexist with one another.
As I argued on last week’s episode of Connected, and as Myke and Jason also elaborated on this week’s episode of Upgrade, the problem with the iPad Pro now is that we have a great foundation with iPadOS 26 and very few third-party apps that take advantage of it beyond the usual names. I suspected as much months ago, when I explained why, in a world dominated by web apps, the iPad’s next problem was going to be its app ecosystem. The web services I use on a daily basis (Slack, Notion, Claude, Superhuman, Todoist – the list goes on) simply don’t make iPad apps of the same caliber as their desktop/web counterparts. So I find myself using Safari on the iPad to get my work done these days, but, for a variety of reasons and dozens of small papercuts, Safari for iPad simply isn’t as good as Safari on the Mac.
Given how the third-party app ecosystem story for iPad is outside of Apple’s control and how most companies aren’t incentivized to make excellent native iPad apps anymore, now that multitasking has been largely “fixed” in iPadOS 26.2, I hope Apple turns its attention to something they can control: making Safari for iPad truly desktop-class and not a baby version of Safari for Mac.
Last week, I wrote about Apple’s new policies surrounding mini apps. However, that wasn’t the only change made to the App Review Guidelines last week. Apple also added a new subsection “c” to its rule against Copycat apps:
4.1(c) You cannot use another developer’s icon, brand, or product name in your app’s icon or name, without approval from the developer.
As I wrote earlier this year, this isn’t a new problem, especially for developers of popular games on other platforms. Copycat versions of Blue Prince, Palworld, Wordle, Cuphead, Balatro (before it was released on the App Store), and Unpacking have all appeared on the App Store in recent years.
The update to App Guideline 4.1 shows that Apple is aware of the problem, which is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the awareness will lead to better enforcement, too.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
Matt has a mouse that looks like a zebra, Niléane quotes some cool new stuff in the Mastodon world, and everyone pitches their dream app. (One of them may already exist!)
On Cozy Zone, the gang roasts their very lovely listeners’ desk setups.
This week in a special early release of NPC, the guys dig into Valve’s announcement of the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Stream Controller, a trio of SteamOS devices poised to make a big splash in 2026.
On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon cover the Steam Frame but are mostly excited about it means for Windows gaming on ARM.
This week, John shares how he plans weekend activities with Instagram and Apple Maps, Federico tests dictation apps, and both share their first impressions of the new Apple TV show Pluribus.
Sigmund and Devon highlight Apple Original documentary Come See Me in the Good Light and return to Palm Beach for the second season of Palm Royale. Then, they discuss changes coming to profiles in tvOS 26.2.
Today on its news site for developers, Apple announced a new Mini Apps Partner Program for the App Store. The announcement is brief but backed by a more detailed explanation about the eligibility requirements. Here’s how it works.
As Apple explains, mini apps are “self-contained experiences that are built using web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript” that are hosted within a native app. That’s not something new. Companies like WeChat and Line have offered this sort of thing for a long time, and Apple has supported mini apps officially since 2017. What’s different is that now, developers who meet Apple’s eligibility requirements can offer those mini apps at a reduced commission. That means for any mini app not made by the developer of the native app that hosts them, the hosting developer will pay Apple a flat 15% commission.
To be eligible for the program, developers must ensure that the mini apps they host support certain APIs, including the Declared Age Range API and the Advanced Commerce API, the In-App Purchase system, and the Send Consumption Information endpoint that enables the processing of refunds. In other words, native app developers who do the work to ensure that mini apps meet the program requirements will pay Apple a reduced commission on mini app sales in return.
If you’re wondering what constitutes a mini app, Apple has provided some examples. Mini apps are “software packages, scripts, or game content that are added after app installation and executed on the device, provided such code is written in HTML5 or JavaScript, or another language approved by Apple”, such as mini games, streaming games, chatbots, plug-ins, and game emulators. As I mentioned above, it’s also important to keep in mind that mini apps are apps that are not controlled by the developer of the native app that hosts them.
Also, to participate in the Mini App Partner program, developers must apply – that link takes you to a form requesting information about the mini apps a developer wants to offer, so eligibility can be determined.
App Store users stand to benefit from the program, too. APIs like the Declared Age Rating API will help ensure that only age-appropriate mini apps are available to kids. Plus, by supporting the Advanced Commerce API, mini apps will include more metadata, providing users with a richer experience in places like their App Store purchase history.
Mini apps based on web technologies are a growing part of the App Store. The App Review Guidelines have accounted for mini apps since 2017 and the rules around them have continued to adapt to the market ever since. The Mini App Partner Program reflects the further evolution of the category, promoting privacy and transparency for users, while offering the carrot of lower commissions to developers.
What will be interesting to watch is the extent to which developers sign up for this new program. The program isn’t required (although compliance with App Review Guideline 4.7 still applies), so it will come down to whether the reduced commission provides sufficient incentive for developers to further police the mini apps they host.
The latest macOS Tahoe beta 26.2 includes a new video-calling feature called Edge Light, coming to Apple silicon Macs later this year. It’s a video effect that you can access from the menu bar, just like Backgrounds, Center Stage, and Portrait mode, that creates a virtual ring light on your Mac’s screen, helping to light your face on FaceTime, Zoom, and other video calls as the days grow shorter.
The idea is simple, and the implementation is clever. When you enable Edge Light, the outer edge of your Desktop is replaced with a bright, adjustable border. The brightness of Edge Light is adjustable, as is its color temperature, allowing for a range from warmer to cooler colors, just like many physical LED lights designed specifically for video production. The virtual ring light sits on top of your Desktop and windows, but it fades away as your pointer approaches, allowing you to see everything on your screen.
Edge Light’s brightness, temperature, and other controls, including the Automatic option available on Macs released in 2024 and after.
Edge Light is made possible by Apple silicon, using a combination of the Mac’s Neural Engine, which detects your face, and the Image Signal Processor, which measures and adjusts Edge Light’s brightness based on surrounding lighting. Edge Light will work on all Apple silicon Macs when Tahoe 26.2 is released, but Mac models released in 2024 or later will also have the option to turn the feature on automatically when low light is detected.
In my brief testing of Edge Light, I noticed that the effect is noticeable in a very dim room, but as you’d expect, less so as the room brightens. I also noticed that Edge Light was brighter when set to turn on automatically rather than manually, even though switching between the two didn’t move the brightness slider. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it’s a beta, so that may change. I also enjoyed how the virtual ring light widened as I increased the brightness.
I have a couple of lights set up along the back edge of my desk because we record video for our podcasts, but most people don’t have that setup. For them, Edge Light will be a nice addition, reducing those early-morning and late-afternoon shadows. And despite the lights I have installed, sometimes it’s just easier to turn on something like Edge Light, so I expect to get use out of it too, whether I’m away from my desk on a laptop or sitting at my desk.
We’ll have more macOS Tahoe 26.2 coverage when it and Apple’s other 26.2 releases exit beta.
Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:
This week, John and Federico spin a Saturday morning of iPhone app cleanup into a full blown digital declutter across all devices with the help of some of their favorite apps.
Then on AppStories+, Federico has more to share from his ongoing Typing Mind experiments, and John explains how he’s using Claude Code to crunch spreadsheets with one million rows.
This week on NPC, Brendon, Federico, and John explore where mobile phone gaming is heading and reflect on what Nintendo’s latest earnings report means for the Switch 2, before Brendon shares his first impressions of the Miyoo Mini Flip
On NPC XL, Federico, John, and Brendon explore what’s behind the sudden surge of innovation in mobile phone controllers and where mobile gaming may be heading.
One of my favorite aspects of macOS is the endless supply of great utilities for doing anything you can imagine. If there’s something you want to do on your Mac, the chances are that there isn’t just one good utility to accomplish your task; there are several.
My latest discovery is a file conversion and compression app called Picmal. The app has a wonderfully simple, modern interface that sits on top of a lot of complexity, enabling batch conversion and compression with minimal effort.
Picmal handles images, videos, and audio files in a single-window utility that features a Convert/Compress toggle at the top and a lot of empty space to start. The center of the window invites users to “Drop Your Files Here.” Once you do, the window animates into something a little closer to a Finder window with alternating white and light gray rows that make it simple to track metadata about each file.
Files can be dragged into Picmal from anywhere on your Mac, allowing for batch processing without moving your files to one location first, which I appreciate. Once converted, files are saved as new files in the folder they came from with a prefix or suffix that you can specify in the app’s Settings. You’re not limited by file type either. You can drag any combination of images, videos, and audio files into Picmal’s window, picking and choosing what to convert them into as you go.
Next to some file types is a small info button that reports the sort of basic file metadata you find in the Finder’s info panel. That’s followed by a column that lists the file’s starting type, and a column with a dropdown menu for picking the destination file type. The list of supported file types is long, too, with the exact number of options dependent on the type you begin with.
If you want to check the file you’re about to convert before doing so, there’s also an arrow button on the far right of each file’s row that will take you to it in the Finder. The other columns report the output file’s size, any compression savings, and the status of each conversion. Whenever you want, you can add more files for conversion, kicking off a new batch once any ongoing conversions complete.
Most file conversions I tried went well, but I couldn’t manage to convert large MP4s to the MOV format.
In my testing, Picmal performed well overall. I converted images, audio, and videos to and from a variety of common formats such as PNG, JPEG, PDF, MP3, AAC, WAV, MP4, and MOV. However, I did run into trouble trying to convert a 1.55 GB MP4 of an episode of MacStories Unwind from MP4 to MOV. The conversion failed, even though much smaller files worked. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in an upcoming update.
Another smaller issue I ran into is that there’s a checkbox next to each file in the Picmal file conversion interface that appears to be intended as a way to change the conversion file type for multiple files at once. However, the dropdown that appears when selecting multiple files of the same type didn’t give me an option to pick a new conversion type. The developer is aware of this and the large video file issue and is working to resolve both.
The other primary use for Picmal is file compression. The workflow is largely the same as converting files, with the size savings reported in a dedicated window column. By default, compressing files requires you to click on Picmal’s Compress button, but you can change the process so that it happens automatically instead. From Settings, you can also add compression to your file conversions, completing both steps together.
Audio and video compression quality are set to 85% by default, while image compression quality is set to ‘balanced.’ However, in each case, you can tweak the compression settings with more fine-grained controls. Another nice touch is that your compression selections and a link to Picmal’s Settings are both accessible from the bottom of the Picmal window, making your compression choices clear and simplifying the process of making any adjustments.
Aside from a couple of hiccups in my testing that the developer will likely have fixed soon, my experience with Picmal has been great. About the only thing I’d love to see added is support for Shortcuts. Otherwise, Picmal is an excellent way to manage file conversion and compression jobs of any size. There are other apps that accomplish something similar, but the simplicity and speed with which you can manage batch conversion and compression with Picmal sets it apart and makes it worth checking out.
Picmal is available directly from its developer for $9.99. That gets you the use of the app on one Mac at a time, which can be expanded to more Macs at an increasing per-Mac discount based on the number of licenses you purchase.
