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John Voorhees

Managing Editor

Mastodon: @johnvoorhees@macstories.netEmail: voorhees@macstories.net

John, MacStories’ Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015. He also co-hosts MacStories’ podcasts, including AppStories, which explores of the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, a weekly recap of everything MacStories and more, and MacStories Unplugged, a behind-the-scenes, anything-goes show exclusively for Club MacStories members.

468 — May 30, 2025

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Guided Meditation & Sleep

Guided Meditation & Sleep is a new meditation and sleep app for the iPhone with an extensive library of content. You can download the app for free to try a selection of its 200+ meditation programs that range in length from a few minutes to 45 minutes. A subscription unlocks the full library. The app’s programs include breathing exercises, affirmations, and visualizations, plus there are over 300 music tracks and sounds that are designed to help you fall asleep. It’s a very deep library with a lot more content that’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a meditation app with plenty of variety.

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468 — May 30, 2025

First Look: Obsidian Bases

MACSTORIES EXTRAS

More stories for Club members.

First Look: Obsidian Bases

Getting started with Bases.

Bases is a brand new Obsidian feature that’s currently only available as part of the app’s early access program. However, I’ve been playing around with it this week, and the beta documentation is available to anyone, so I thought I’d share how it works for anyone who already has access and hasn’t tried it as well as for those who will be getting it soon.

If you’ve ever tried the third-party DB Folder or Dataview plugins, Bases is similar. But it’s a new core plugin that ships with the default Obsidian configuration, so you don’t have to hunt for it. At its core, Bases is a way to turn notes into databases, which are perfect for organizing large collections of similar notes, whether that’s something like a list of books you’ve read, entries in a journal, or a series of meeting notes.

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467 — May 23, 2025

Smart Siri: One Brick at a Time

THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

Smart Siri: One Brick at a Time

As WWDC approaches, I thought it would be useful to step back and evaluate where things stand with Apple’s plans for what I’ll call ‘Smart Siri,’ a yet-to-be-shipped Apple Intelligence feature that oddly doesn’t have a catchy marketing name of its own. So far, most Apple Intelligence features are pretty underwhelming. Some – like Writing Tools, webpage summaries, and the ChatGPT integration with Siri – can be useful but are done better by other apps, while the utility of other features is questionable at best.

For those of us who are into automation, perhaps the biggest letdown from WWDC 2024 has been the realization that we aren’t going to get Smart Siri anytime soon. At the conference, Apple showed what in hindsight turned out to be a concept video and not a demo. In the video, Siri accessed flight details, combining information from Mail, Contacts, Messages, and Calendar to determine a person’s arrival time. What’s more, Apple said this functionality would be available not just to first-party apps, but to third-party developers, too.

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467 — May 23, 2025

Interesting Links

INTERESTING LINKS

Great reads and links from around the web.

Vivaldi’s iOS app (which has been my default browser for the past month) now supports background audio playback, letting you keep YouTube and other media playing when you switch apps or lock the screen. Vivaldi has also added support for tab stacking and pinning on mobile. (Link)

Apple has launched a new feature in Australia and New Zealand that allows users to transfer their music libraries and playlists from other streaming services directly into Apple Music, using a third-party service to match songs with Apple’s catalog. I’m so intrigued by this: what service are they using? When is this launching in other countries? (Link)

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467 — May 23, 2025

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Subo

If you’ve ever been surprised by a subscription renewal you forgot about, Subo is a new app to help you keep track of all your recurring charges. Created by indie developer Niclas Schmidt, the app lets you monitor when your subscriptions renew and how much you’re spending monthly and yearly across various currencies. The app comes with templates for popular services to make the setup process easier, and it can send you reminders before your next renewal date. The app is free to download, with some features requiring a paid upgrade. I love how this app looks and the attention to animations in the UI; I hope to see more data visualizations in future updates.

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466 — May 16, 2025

Interesting Links

INTERESTING LINKS

Great reads and links from around the web.

Motor Trend takes an in-depth look at CarPlay Ultra and what it means for the auto industry. (Link)

Leica’s pro iPhone camera app, Leica Lux, was updated this week to allow users to simulate the styles of famous photographers. It’s a nice app, but significantly more expensive than an app like Halide, which is just as capable. (Link)

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466 — May 16, 2025

App Debuts

APP DEBUTS

Noteworthy new app releases and updates, handpicked by the MacStories team.

Lookup

This week, Vidit Bhargava added a new feature to his dictionary app Lookup called Explainers that helps people learn new words in a variety of ways. The feature, which is available to subscribers, offers contextual explanations of words as well as usage examples, and it integrates with App Intents, making it available via Spotlight Search, Siri, and more. It’s a great idea that meets users where they are by letting them tune it to their proficiency in English and their native language.

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