Late yesterday, Anthropic announced messaging support for Claude Code, allowing users to connect to a Claude Code session running on a Mac from a mobile device using Telegram and Discord bots. I spent a few hours playing with it last night, and despite being released as a research preview, the messaging integration is already very capable, but a little fiddly to set up.
Let’s take a look at what it can do.
[Update: Perplexity has released an iPad version of Comet alongside the iPhone version, which you can install using the same App Store links below. However, because it wasn’t part of the TestFlight version of the app that we tested, we were unaware that it was launching with the iPhone version.]
For the past three weeks, I’ve been testing Comet, Perplexity’s cross-platform agentic web browser, on my iPhone Air. The iOS version of Comet, launching today on the App Store and (sadly) lacking an iPad counterpart, follows the expansion of Comet from macOS to Windows and Android devices, and it carries the inherent limitations of Apple’s platform. Comet for iOS is based on Safari’s WebKit engine; you cannot install third-party browser extensions due to iOS sandboxing restrictions; you can make Comet your default iOS browser, but in-app web views in third-party apps will still open with Safari View Controller, not Comet. By and large, Comet on iOS is a skin of Safari, but for the first time since the debut of Arc Search on iPhone two years ago (R.I.P.), I’m actually excited about an alternative to Safari on iOS once again.
Today, Anthropic launched a new Cowork feature called Dispatch as a research preview that allows you to control a Mac-based, sandboxed Cowork session from a mobile device. Currently, the feature is only available to Max subscribers, but Anthropic has promised Pro users will get Dispatch within a few days.
Dispatch is a close cousin of Claude Code’s recently-released Remote Control feature, but for Cowork. Remote Control requires a Claude Code session to be active in Terminal on your Mac. Similarly, Dispatch requires that your Mac be awake with the Claude app open.
Apple has announced a new iPad Air featuring the M4 chip and 12GB of unified memory. According to the company, the new Air is 30% faster than the M3 iPad Air and 2.3× faster than the M1 Air. Apple says the 50% boost in unified memory enables better AI performance. The new models come in blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, with storage configurations of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.
Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said of the new Air:
iPad Air gives users more ways than ever to be creative and productive, offering powerful performance and incredible versatility to help them turn their ideas into reality. With its blazing performance thanks to M4, incredible AI capabilities, and game-changing iPadOS 26 features, there’s never been a better time to choose or upgrade to iPad Air.
The M4 iPad Air is available in 11” and 13” sizes and features the Apple-designed N1 and C1X chips for networking and wireless connectivity. The N1 brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support to the Air, while Apple says the C1X reduces cell network energy consumption by 30% compared to the M3 iPad Air. Of course, the M4 chipset itself also unlocks new functionality for the Air, including hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing for gaming.
The 11” iPad Air starts at $599, and the 13” model begins at $799. Education market pricing starts $50 lower for each model. Both Air models support the Apple Pencil Pro, the USB-C Apple Pencil, and Apple’s Magic Keyboard case. Preorders begin this Wednesday, March 4, with deliveries and in-store availability starting March 11.
Earlier this week, the founders of Dark Sky made their post-Apple debut with a new weather app for the iPhone and Apple Watch: Acme Weather. It’s a terrific 1.0 with all the details you’d expect, plus a few interesting features that set it apart from other apps in its category.
One of the greatest frustrations I’ve had with Claude Code is feeling tied to my desk or being stuck in a macOS Screen Sharing window. Claude Code’s new Remote Control feature, which was introduced late yesterday, promises to eliminate that frustration entirely. Here’s how it works.
Over time, I’ve gravitated towards a two-calendar system on my Mac because I’ve never found an app where both the desktop app and the menu bar version meet all my needs. That’s probably because my calendar use is a little backwards. I don’t have a lot of meetings each week; instead, my calendar is a mix of reminders, package deliveries, and a handful of work and family events. With just two or three entries each day, I’ve found myself managing events more and more often from a simple menu bar app, reserving my full calendar app for more involved event entry and planning.
On the desktop side, I’ve used Apple Calendar the most, but I’ve also used Fantastical and BusyCal for extended periods, ultimately landing on Notion Calendar. It isn’t perfect, but its Notion integration can be handy at times. On the menu bar side of the equation, I used Dato for many years. It’s an excellent app, but even it is a little more than I need, which is why I was excited to recently discover Dot.
Starting today, Apple is offering a subscription bundle of its creative apps called Creator Studio. Some of what’s included is exclusive to the subscription package, while other parts of it remain available à la carte. It’s a lot to absorb, and I’ll get to all the details in due course.
However, what’s most exciting to me is the fact that Apple is clearly repositioning these apps to appeal to a broader cross-section of creatives. Apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are no longer just for Hollywood and music studios. By filling out the iPad lineup and adding Pixelmator Pro along with enhanced versions of their productivity apps, Apple has taken the first steps toward realigning its apps with what it means to be a creative professional in 2026.
This transition isn’t the sort of thing that happens overnight, which is why it’s easy to spot the gaps in Creator Studio’s offerings. I ran into a couple of bugs along the way, too. However, by and large, I think the bundle of apps hits the right notes and is heading in the right direction. Let’s take a closer look.
The new unified MacStories website is here, bringing Club MacStories content under the same roof as the rest of the site for the first time. While this transition delivers a more cohesive experience for members, a few things are different and others are still being implemented.
Club MacStories+ and Premier members have access to custom feeds as part of their subscriptions. With today’s update, you’ll need to resubscribe to those feeds. The old ones will no longer work. Here’s what to do.
These new feeds are personal to you and will continue to work going forward as long as you maintain your Club membership. Since these feeds are uniquely tied to your paid Club account, please don’t share them publicly.
If you’re a Club MacStories+ or Premier member who joined before today’s transition, your Discord access remains intact. There’s nothing you need to do.
New or returning members who want to join the Discord community will need to wait just a bit longer. We are working with Memberful engineers to migrate users from our previous system. Once that process is complete, we’ll provide you with instructions to connect your Discord account from MacStories.
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Find a bug on the new site? You can submit it here.
The launch of the new site required some tough decisions about which features to prioritize. Three capabilities from the previous Club website aren’t available yet but are actively being worked on for future updates.
These features are coming back. However, the priority was on delivering a functional, unified experience now rather than continuing to maintain a fragmented system, while we waited for every legacy feature to be rebuilt.
We hope you enjoy the new Club experience on MacStories. The transition to a unified website is a significant step forward for the Club and greater MacStories community that will allow us to do more for everyone in the future. Thanks for bearing with us during this transition, and please feel free to get in touch with any questions or bug reports.
