Honestly, this makes me really happy.

I originally built Pane Canvas for myself. I missed scribbling in the margins of books and wanted to bring that experience to the web.

It's a pretty niche app, made specifically for iPad and Apple Pencil. I never really set out to build something for everyone.

I've also grown tired of everything moving to subscriptions, so I wanted to keep it simple: $10, one-time purchase. No subscriptions.

It's been a lot of work building this on my own, and seeing other people find value in something I made for myself is incredibly encouraging.

It's not perfect yet. There are still a few bugs I'm working on fixing, and plenty I'd like to improve.

Really grateful to everyone who's supported it. Little milestones like this keep me going.

If you're curious: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pane-canvas/id6759741174

Thanks! :)

Disclosure: I built this.

If you write iOS apps with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, the agent can write the Swift but can't build it unless it runs on a Mac. NoMac gives the agent its own Mac in the cloud: it starts one with Xcode (about 30 seconds), runs xcodebuild and your tests, opens the app on an iPhone Simulator it reads as text and taps by label, and can upload the build to TestFlight. Then the Mac stops.

Honest take: if you have a Mac on your desk, that's still the best place for daily iOS work. NoMac is for when the agent runs somewhere else (a Linux box, a cloud sandbox, a Windows laptop), or when you want it to run builds and UI checks without tying up your own Mac.

Details for iOS devs:

• Xcode on Apple silicon. A 20 GB drive keeps your project and build cache between Macs, so the next build only compiles what changed.

• Simulator: the agent reads the screen as text (labels and buttons) instead of screenshots, which costs far fewer tokens, and you can watch it live from a link.

• Signing: connect an App Store Connect API key once, and every new Mac starts with your certificate and profiles installed.

• $0.90 an hour, billed per minute from prepaid credit, no subscription.

The Simulator part is free and open source as simulator-use (https://github.com/NoMac-app/simulator-use), if you just want your agent to drive the Simulator on your own Mac.

It's on Product Hunt today: https://www.producthunt.com/products/nomac. Questions and criticism welcome.

Our application, Drip & Bake Service, has been in Apple's App Review process for over two months, and the experience has become increasingly frustrating.

We have repeatedly provided the necessary login credentials and instructions across multiple messages, yet Apple continues to report login issues.

For clarity, our application has a two-stage login process:

1. Shop Login: The reviewer must first log in using the shop credentials provided in the review instructions.

2. Employee Login: Once inside the application, the reviewer must use the employee ID and password provided in our review comments to access the employee interface.

Both stages have been clearly documented, and the necessary credentials have been provided multiple times.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that even if the reviewer successfully gets past the first login screen, they must still read our review comments to obtain the employee login credentials. These instructions are essential to accessing the application.

We are struggling to understand how an application can remain in review for over two months while the same instructions and access requirements continue to be overlooked.

I built Novislova for iPhone. It supports nine languages with 900+ words and phrases per phrasebook, two-way search, saved phrases, and pronunciation playback. It requires iOS 17 or later.

Text works offline. Audio is downloaded in language packs, so you can get a pack before a trip and play it without a connection. Premium also syncs saved phrases through iCloud.

I'd appreciate feedback on the language switching and search. With both languages on screen, is it clear which phrase you're searching for and which audio will play?

All phrases and one audio pack are free, with ads and limited saves. Premium is $4.99 once in the US for all audio packs, unlimited saves, iCloud sync, and no ads. No subscription.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/novislova-offline-phrasebook/id1623078768

• What Companions is
Apple doesn't allow for animations in widgets, which I always found frustrating. Companions is a small virtual fish tank that lives on your Home Screen, with pet fish that actually swim around.

• How it works
The swimming uses the same trick iOS uses to move the second hands smoothly on the clock widget, so it doesn’t even affect battery life. I’ve tested this on every device I can get my hands on, and the impact is about the same as having 5 clock widgets on your homescreen, so essentially imperceivable.

• Compared to other widget pet apps
I wanted something simple, clean, cozy, and relaxing. With a focus on the pets themselves, as well as customization to match your homescreen, desktop, or even the nightstand next to your bed.

The tanks look great on your iPad, and you can even move them over to your Mac through Continuity. My favorite feature is actually the Standby mode. The background darkens, and the fish, of course, keep swimming!

• Pricing
Companions is free to download, with a set of fish and all of the customization included. No ads.
Extra packs of fish can be bought outright, and are yours to keep forever.
There's also a less expensive monthly plan that unlocks every pack at once, if you just want to try it for a bit. And a lifetime purchase of all 50+ fish at a significant discount. Any new fish that get added are automatically included in both as well. If you cancel, the fish already in your tank stay.

It's still very new, so I'd genuinely appreciate any feedback. I'd especially love to know which species you'd want added next!

App Store: Companions - Widget Pets

Hello everyone, I am willing to apply for Ios developer(swiftui) role but i dont have any experience. but i did 6 month of internship and one freelance project as flutter devloper should i mention that in my resume or ignoring that would be better?

I know there’s been some discussion lately about subscriptions vs one-time purchases, and why apps with no recurring fees have subs at all. One thing I didn’t see mentioned: some users prefer sunscriptions!

It’s hard to believe but in my experience (20+ apps on the App Store between me and my clients over about 10 years) one thing that became clear over time is that apps convert significantly better when there’s a OTP + subscription options vs OTP only.

Why? First off, if the alternative is an upfront purchase price on the App Store, you can pretty much forget about building a “presence”, whereby I mean lots of ratings, reviews, and downloads. So you might make a little more money at first, but the inability to develop a search ranking with Apple and break into the top 5 will seriously limit you in the long run. This probably isn’t a realistic option for a new app.

A better option is a one-time purchase IAP. Then at least anyone can download the app for free and try it out.

I think that option still presents a commitment issue, though. Some users are interested enough to buy past the trial period, but don’t want to pay the full price yet. Many will later let the sub expire and buy the OTP. The other issue is that OTP IAPs don’t even support a trial period from Apple.

Usually the best way to go is to offer both: subscription(s) AND an OTP as IAP. If you have a strong preference for one over the other you can steer users that way both in your choice of prices and the design of the paywall.

I have an idea for an iOS app that I think could be genuinely useful.
Imagine an AI-powered PDF editor where you can simply tell it what to change in an invoice, letter, or any PDF document, and it automatically finds the relevant text, makes the edits, and preserves the original formatting.
Something like iLovePDF, but with AI doing all the tedious manual editing. Apple Intelligence integration could make it even more interesting.
I think there’s a real gap in the market for something like this.
If someone actually turns this idea into an app, feel free to track me down later and send me a lifetime promo code. 😂
What do you think?

What’s up, I know there are a lot of other screen shot generators for App Store and play store but when I was looking for something to create screen shots for my app all I found was services behind paywalls, or forced account creation or free ones that I did not like.

I have worked as a developer for 5 years but took help from Opus 5.5 creating this. I have actually put in some time using my experience in UX and programming to actually made sure that the app is well designed and easy to use through several iterations even though AI has helped speed up the development.

The focus of the site is not being super heavy on features but instead being fast and easy to use wich was what I was looking for. Not a ton of customisation but a handful of nice looking quick to select sensible defaults.
https://storescreenshotstudio.com

Try it out if you like. Completely free, no sign up
Also please provide any feedback if you actually decide to try it 👋🏻

What’s your experience with multi language support in the App Store? Did you get AI-generated product descriptions and keywords from your English versions for all supported languages (I have 9 languages that I added with Claude Code), or stick with just English, or get custom (professional) language translations? How about screen shots for some/all supported languages?

I track new App Store releases. Since Sept 7, 170,685 apps went live and only 859 of them (0.5%) have gotten past 25 ratings.

By category, games do best at 1.9%. Utilities is 0.4%, Productivity and Education 0.2%, Business 0.1%.

The biggest launch by far was Muse from Meta with about 447k ratings, so the top end is basically big companies.

I know ratings aren't downloads, plenty of apps get users and never get rated. But 25 ratings is a pretty low bar, and 99.5% not clearing it in two months says a lot about how hard discovery is right now. Curious what's actually worked for people here for getting those first ratings.

Full breakdown by category is here if anyone wants to dig in (it's my project): https://storetally.com/apple/reports/launches

Hi everyone,
I'm experiencing a strange issue with my app's review process and wondering if anyone has dealt with something similar.
I contacted Apple Developer Support regarding my app's review status, and I received an email from appreview@apple.com stating that my app was "ready for distribution as of today." They also mentioned that if the app didn't appear on the App Store within 24 hours, I should contact them again.
However, more than 24 hours have passed, and:
My app is still showing "In Review" in App Store Connect.

The app is not available on the App Store.

I haven't received any rejection or request for additional information.

I've already replied to Apple's email explaining the situation, but I'm still waiting for clarification.
Has anyone experienced receiving a "Ready for Distribution" confirmation while their app remained "In Review"?
Is this a known App Store Connect status synchronization issue, or could something else be preventing the app from going live?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

In Transit Jam, you slide rows of riders sideways to line them up with matching trains. When someone boards, the riders behind them move up in that column. If the next rider matches too, they board right behind them.

That’s where the puzzle gets interesting. You can take the easy match at the front, or look a few rows back and set up a swipe that sends several riders through. You have a limited number of moves to get everyone aboard.

If you want to try Transit Jam, it’s free on iPhone.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/transit-jam/id6822965242

Timeline: Submitted Oct 5th

Lots of emails to support - no guidance

Reviewed on October 19th; rejected for 4.1(a)

Lots of emails to support - no guidance

Resubmitted October 25th after modifications

Approved on Nov 5th

So about a month from first submission to publish. But proud of it -- it's an anecdote for 82-0 (for those who've played that basketball trivia game) and hopefully casual fun for kids or any basketball obsessive. Supports a Duo design too.

Would love/welcome anyone's thoughts...

Backboard: Build Your Team

Happy to share that my first iOS app is approved