Encountering bugs and feedback that our development and beta testing didn't or couldn't uncover.

The rush to submit our iOS 17 apps for its general release, and the last window of opportunity to prepare our test devices for last year's OSes.

Our final plans and preparation for iOS 17's launch, now that we can confidently predict its timing.

How to communicate new features to new and existing customers — and which features are worth communicating.

Splitting your time between iOS 17 and visionOS development, and tips for attending a visionOS lab.

The value of exploration and experimentation.

Examining the constant anxiety of feeling like you're falling "behind" in your app's development.

Our expectations for the visionOS app market when Apple Vision Pro launches next year.

An interview with Josh Shaffer and Chris Thielen about Swift macros, SwiftData, interactive widgets, and more, recorded at Apple Park during WWDC 2023.

Our annual pre-WWDC episode: practical advice for those attending the event, and how everyone — virtual or in-person — can make the most of the week.

Controlling the urge to over-invest in details that won't proportionally benefit our customers.

Modern Apple devices offer incredible power — use it!

We talk ourselves into, and then back out of, hiring more people.

Updating a decade-old app to a new subscription business model, and how the change has performed so far and been received by the existing users.

Strategies for self-help channels in your app to minimize support email.

A huge update to Pedometer++ including a complete UI rewrite and significant new features.

Taking risks to move an old app forward.

The benefits of a work-"vacation" and the discipline of shipping.

Understanding subscription metrics and the inherent limits they impose.

Our plans for the first half of this year, which may include the launch of a new platform from Apple.

Abandoning the CloudKit plan for Overcast in light of new information.

How publishing our processes and open-sourcing our code help us build our skills, clarify our thoughts, and produce better outcomes.

Refining and improving the most boring and rudimentary experiences in our apps, and testing variations on Widgetsmith's paywall.

Considerations for feature removals in the context of the Overcast website player.

Reflections on launching a new app that's extremely different from our usual work.

Feeling unmotivated, inspiration vs. motivation, and techniques to get moving again. Be kind to yourself.

David's experience taking the Apple Watch Ultra into its natural habitat.

How our iOS 16 launches went, and what we're focusing on next.

Last-minute preparations for the imminent launch of iOS 16 and the iPhone 14 series.

Balancing the needs of your customers with your needs as a business.

We don't have the capabilities of larger staffs, and we can't do everything, so we must keep our scope and expectations within the capacity of what one person can do.

Are SwiftUI apps destined to be mediocre, or can we still make great apps? Introducing the famous App Development Pentagon.

Rewriting major parts of your app with aggressive new targets while keeping the old code around for compatibility.

With the dust settling from WWDC, we have more realistic expectations of the new APIs and can make achievable plans for the summer.

In this special extended episode, we interview Serenity Caldwell and Andreas Wendker from Apple in the new Developer Center from WWDC 2022.

Mentally preparing ourselves for WWDC 2022.

An update on our hardware and software setups for development, considering Apple's current lineup.

The decision to shut down a service, and how to best take care of its customers.

A collection of mini-topics: the WWDC announcement, Phased Release for Automatic Updates, and the value of in-app Help documentation.

Considerations that went into the Overcast redesign, and its initial reception.

The benefits and pitfalls of data-driven choices.

A big update to Widgetsmith, and two developers giving fashion advice.

Our perceived ideals of quality don't always win.

How we choose and manipulate colors as non-designers.

So you have an idea to make an app. Is it available, is it worthwhile, and will you feel good about doing it? What happens if it works?

How our expectations for 2021 panned out, and the kind of work we're planning to do in 2022.

Our icon-design journeys over time have led us to lean heavily into SF Symbols today.

Managing customer support, customer expectations, and frequently asked questions.

Finally starting the Overcast redesign, and pragmatic considerations when tackling modernization of older codebases.

A healthy balance for subscription-expiry grace periods, and how the new MacBook Pro helps our development workflows.

Getting over shyness to ask your app's users for money in more prominent and direct ways.

How we decide whether, when, and to what degree we should adopt the headlining features of each iOS release.

We were given a reprieve with a lack of new developer-facing features in the iPhone 13 line and Apple Watch Series 7, but with the continuation of the Series 3, we all lose.

The effects of legal settlements and regulations on independent iOS developers, and how we can ensure that we still have a place in the scary potential futures that may come.

Needing to offer different features and experiences to different parts of your userbase due to hardware limitations and OS differences.

The power of default settings and choices, and the impact of changing your app's default behavior.

When fixing a simple visual bug unexpectedly becomes a much larger problem.

How we're spending our summers so far.

Approaching a change with very, very high stakes.

The second digital-only WWDC, how iOS 15 and watchOS 8 impact our apps, and what we'll be tackling first this summer.

What to expect from WWDC, how to prepare for the virtual event, and how to follow the material.

Dealing with features we wish we'd never added.

When big-company maneuvers hit the little fish like us.

Forgiving ourselves for a year of greatly reduced productivity.

WWDC 2021's announcement, and whether Overcast should adopt a terminology change along with Apple and Spotify.

You should totally run your own servers. It'll be fine! Well, most of the time.

A _DavidSmith Story Half-Hour on the surprising journey to build a simple photo complication for Apple Watch. How hard could it be?

Deforestation, timber production, and wood preparation. [taps earpiece] What?… Oh, sorry. Scratch that. Writing lines of text to files for diagnostic purposes.

Trying to remove emotion and assumptions from indie business decision-making.

Copying someone else's work as a learning exercise, and the tricky balance between copying and inspiration.

The kind of year we expect 2021 to be for Apple-platform developers, and an update on Overcast's SwiftUI progress.

Apple's new privacy labels in the App Store, and how we've designed our custom analytics frameworks for minimal data collection.

The tricky balance of making big changes to your app to better serve your current market without upsetting your initial customers.

How the M1 Macs are game-changers for developers, and our thoughts on the lower fees from the App Store Small Business Program.

The continued challenges of modernizing Overcast with Swift and SwiftUI, and deciding whether to rewrite Objective-C components in Swift.

Refactoring and rewriting the foundations of a 6-year-old Objective-C codebase using Swift and modern APIs.

Settling into a baseline, leaving no room to be undercut, and where Widgetsmith goes from here.

Dave's app is number one in the App Store! We explore the mind-bending scale and perspective of such a defining moment in an indie developer's career.

What Apple's event and iOS 14's timing means for us.

Our second-annual wishlist for how we hope this fall's Apple hardware spends the efficiency gains from another year of technological progress.

How Epic vs. Apple might affect developers like us.

The new App Store privacy disclosures and tracking-permission prompt in iOS 14.

What we're working on so far this summer, and why we're not keeping it secret.

Adapting to the continued consolidation of Apple's platforms and frameworks.

How the online-only format of WWDC 2020 is working out in practice, and how quickly we plan to adopt the new APIs.

Putting mental health above productivity during challenging times.

Using compatibility shims and abstractions to gain some of the newest APIs' benefits on previous OS versions.

Imposing arbitrary limits on yourself to produce better projects.

The risks and rewards of using custom fonts, and how to implement them in a modern app.

The launch of David's new app that pushes the boundaries of watchOS and finally makes our smartwatch faces actually smart.

The business side of Apple Watch app development in 2020.

Business decisions for app developers during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Considering how Apple could replace and expand the roles filled by WWDC if it's canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

How we tackle the occasional need for more advanced math skills than what we actually have.

Looking back at the launch of the iPad, and what its present and future hold, from an app-development and business perspective.

As Marco discovers the value of staying with the old, David plows headfirst into the new.

Making plans, setting goals, and setting guidelines for decision-making — and, taking a page from our friends at Cortex, our chosen themes for 2020.

Revisiting the decision to go iOS 13-only with Overcast, and the pros and cons of potentially re-adding support for iOS 12.

Time-saving tips and tricks, and the value of test-harness mini-apps during development.

If you ship a major update, but don't announce it anywhere, does it make a sound?

A huge update to the computer that most of you are probably using.

Energy logs, API-misuse terminations, and other unexpected ways our apps crash due to system policy enforcement.

Gather around the campfire as Uncle Dave tells the tale of how the conditions formed for today's App Store subscription scams.

David's new app, Moon++, and experiences working with SwiftUI and the standalone App Store on the Apple Watch.

New possibilities for users and developers opened up by the always-on screen of the Apple Watch Series 5.

Our summers turned out very differently than we had planned.

We didn't think we had anything to talk about, but then we discovered unit testing and version control.

Recognizing three groups that only partially overlap, and how to prioritize the feedback we get from them.

How we'd improve the Apple Watch by "spending" the power-efficiency gains likely to come in the next hardware update.

Facing the tough decisions when you know, in your heart, that it's time.

Our makeshift travel-work setups, and managing expectations about how much and what types of work you'll get done while traveling.

As the dust settles on an overwhelming WWDC 2019, we figure out what we should tackle first.

What we hope to see at WWDC 2019 in Apple's APIs and developer tools.

As WWDC 2019 approaches, we review the major changes announced in WWDC 2018 and how they've actually played out over the past year.

The advantages of switching from semantic versioning to a sequential calendar-based system with no semantic implications, and the different marketing mindset it brings.

Launch day for David's new app, CalZones!

Using David's upcoming app as an example, we take a journey through curiosity, excitement, productivity, despair, polishing, and shipping.

The design challenge of a podcast app's now-playing screen, how Overcast's design has progressed over the years, and the unexpected usability failures along the way.

Taking vacations or staycations to get a lot of work done in a short time and take full advantage of being in the zone.

Creating a new app as a fun exercise, and making choices that minimize its ongoing maintenance needs.

Including large or small databases and other data files with your app.

Producing and embedding content in your app that changes continuously, such as monthly challenges, directories, and user-generated content.

Running servers is easy the vast majority of the time. But sometimes, something goes wrong at the worst possible time.

Tracking down hard-to-find, hard-to-reproduce bugs that don't show up in your own usage.

When, why, and how it's OK to ship updates to your app with known bugs.

Good and bad fears of embarking on major code changes to our apps.

Exercising atrophied programming muscles by experimenting with languages, technologies, and environments that lack the safety and convenience of our usual work.

Small design features, flourishes, and other indulgences to satisfy ourselves and make our apps feel more delightful.

Budgeting our time for ongoing commitments vs. exploratory and hobby projects, and an update on iOS device statistics.

The challenge of writing complex algorithms, and the joy of finding a simpler way.

Accepting that our motivation and productivity are cyclical, with periods of very little work getting done.

Developer-relevant analysis of this week's Apple releases and how we can use them in our work.

App Store subscription scams, and considering the ethics of how our apps make money.

Why the Apple Watch needs third-party faces, tools to make them for yourself today, and overcoming the reasons why Apple may not want to offer them.

Long-term career planning, predicting where Apple is going, betting on the right technologies, and wondering whether we'll still be doing this in ten years.

Answering the surprisingly difficult question of "How many steps did you take today?"

The value of making apps only for yourself that you never release.

Concepts and considerations for implementing full-text search in your app, with examples from Overcast 5.

Finalizing our iOS 12 and watchOS 5 updates, and updating our apps for the new iPhones and Apple Watches before we can actually buy them.

Setting up your business for extended times away, and how to start working again when you get back.

The huge gifts we were given in watchOS 5, and today's environment for building Apple Watch apps.

How we're affected by the iOS 12 changes and revised App Store review guidelines.

The first things we do after WWDC every year, and why this year might be different.

Live interviews at Social Policy in San Jose, with first impressions from Curtis Hurbert, Joe Cieplinski, and Kaya Thomas.

Packing, preparation, and logistical tips for a happy, healthy, and productive WWDC.

The challenge of trying to form a union or other collective action group for developers.

Considering accessibility as part of usability, and testing with the most common iOS accessibility APIs.

Whether you need one of the new .app domains, and the ramifications of Microsoft's lower app-store commissions.

Lessons from Android's success, hot new things from past WWDCs that didn't pan out, and trying to improve or avoid social problems with our apps.

Planning out our apps before writing any code, deciding which ideas NOT to pursue, a converged "Marzipan" world, and accessibility.

In our third Q&A episode, we address the many questions we received about running servers.

Our second-ever Q&A episode, including questions on React Native, reusable code vs. duplication, learning beyond Hello World, and the art of packing lightly for travel.

The fast drop-off of typical usage over time, and how to improve our customer-retention rates.

Minimizing the collection and storage of your users' personal data, and high-level strategies to think about in the dawn of the EU's new GDPR law.

The development and release of Sleep++ 3.0, and best practices for prompting the user for permission to access iOS-protected data or features.

Whether to sign up for a WWDC 2018 ticket and what to do if you don't get one, and the ramifications of David's latest Apple Watch usage stats.

Celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the first iPhone SDK release, imagining alternate timelines that could have been, and remembering what we were doing ten years ago.

Considering the temptation and pitfalls of developing features out of fear of missing an opportunity. Also, how best to communicate changes to customers.

Adopting inefficient hacks to save developer time, since hardware is so fast that it's often a worthwhile tradeoff.

Considerations for travel, coffeeshops, offices, vacations, and other secondary work setups.

Tackling complex math, data analysis, or other challenging problems to give your app a competitive advantage.

Desktops vs. laptops, single vs. multiple monitors, and how we're enjoying our iMac Pros so far.

A two-part crash course in starting an indie business. In part 2, we cover health insurance, retirement planning, professional services, and other common expenses.

A two-part crash course in starting an indie business. In part 1, we cover business entities, taxes, and income.

What we're hoping to see from Apple's APIs and developer platforms in 2018.

How the App Store's 2017 changes have panned out so far, and our hopes for 2018.

Being pressured by users or reality into features or choices we don't think we should need to do.

Considering the potential benefits and ramifications of the rumored unified app framework between macOS and iOS.

David keeps a diary of what the day was like while he launched Workouts++ 2.0. It didn't turn out exactly how he'd hoped.

Our experiences and best practices we've found for App Store Search Ads after a year of use, and whether to use the new Search Ads Basic.

Getting from when you think it's 99% complete to being actually releasable.

Possibilities for value when apps don't bring in money directly.

Getting through long projects while maintaining motivation and perspective.

Rethinking designs now that we have the iPhone X in-hand.

Lessons from Overcast's public beta, and using Slack as a feedback and bug-reporting channel.

Prioritizing usability over design trends — even Apple's.

Procrastinating by working on other productive tasks instead of the big one we really don't want to do.

Real-world results of switching in-app purchases from multiple price tiers to a single option.

(Sent with Balloons) How to view and start projects that have a good chance of making it to episode 100.

Trying to get Apple to change something, and knowing what you can and can’t change.

An "off-the-air" discussion working through the challenges of standalone Apple Watch podcast playback.

New design challenges to tackle for the iPhone X, and new potential unlocked by the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE.

Building apps for popular third-party services, or in opportune but high-risk areas.

The responsibilities we have to ensure that we're protecting and respecting our users' privacy when we embed third-party code in our apps.

Effectively communicating changes and improvements to our apps via release notes.

Supporting multiple screen sizes and device types, and strategies to make adoption of new sizes easier.

Using notifications to bring users back to your app without being spammy or annoying.

Deciding to remove a feature, or having that decision made for you.

What trademarks do, searching for conflicts before you name something, and whether indies should file for their own.

Which Mac models are usable for software development, and the benefits and drawbacks of using desktops, laptops, or both.

Options, benefits, and challenges of working at home.

Deciding whether to adopt the newest iOS styles and APIs in existing apps that may not have needed them.

Adopting the new fields and changes in our apps' product pages in the redesigned iOS 11 App Store.

What's new in iOS 11 and how it can benefit our apps.

How and when to efficiently watch WWDC session videos, and reviewing the new capabilities in watchOS 4.

Our initial impressions of WWDC 2017, recorded live at CocoaConf Next Door.

Developer-related wishes and expectations for WWDC 2017 next week.

Optimizing performance using Instruments, Xcode, and the iOS Simulator — and when not to bother.

How we debug our apps, and avoiding common bugs in the first place.

The new Sources and Metrics in iTunes Connect that show us more about where our customers come from within the App Store.

Tackling hard problems to improve our skills, or simply as a form of intellectual indulgence.

In the second of a two-part series, we discuss app creation in iTunes Connect, including screenshots, keywords, descriptions, and other metadata.

In the first of a two-part series, we explore the non-app parts of iTunes Connect, including reporting, sales, and analytics.

Deciding which App Store reviews to respond to, and the types of responses worth giving.

Minimizing the mental burden and labor cost of accounting and taxes by optimizing for simplicity.

Planning for WWDC attendance (or not), and the value of the other conferences and social events around WWDC 2017.

Building apps with acquisition in mind, calculating your app's valuation, and what to expect in a sale.

Accumulating a portfolio of apps that provide long-term income with minimal maintenance.

The difference between good and bad hacks, and some glorious hacks we've shipped in our apps.

Adding features to your app that you don't want or won't use in order to satisfy requests or reach new markets.

Some of the challenges and decisions that led to the newly released Overcast 3.

Maintaining, testing, and modernizing old apps.

Where we are on our gradual conversion to Swift programmers.

Preparing for and reacting to Apple implementing your app's core functionality themselves.

The potential impacts of the new "rate this app" API and our upcoming ability to respond to App Store reviews.

Experiences and skills we lack by being indie developers, and whether our career path may ever include them.

The significance of App Store star ratings and reviews, and how to tastefully ask people to review your app.

How to get back into the zone after the holidays.

Unrelated abilities and techniques that prove surprisingly useful in indie app development.

David's audio diary recorded throughout the launch day of his newest app, Workouts++.

How we test our apps before release.

Deciding how much of your app to keep secret before release, and how to slowly reveal it.

Strategies for surviving the ups, downs, and increasing challenges of today's App Store and nearby businesses.

The effectiveness and side effects of sales and price changes.

Appearance managers, self-theming views, and rapid design iteration with code and variables.

Planning for annual events and marketing opportunities, and accommodating variable cycles of productivity.

The challenges of learning new languages, APIs, and tools, how we avoid facing these difficulties, and what drives us to overcome them.

Overcoming fears of speaking at conferences, how much work it really takes, and deciding whether it's worthwhile.

Responsibly shutting down a failed app.

An overview of advertising terms, costs, and metrics, and getting started with App Store Search Ads for indie developers.

Adopting techniques, tools, and APIs long after they've been introduced, with specific examples from Overcast's development.

Choosing a database or scheme for local data storage, including Core Data, SQLite, property lists, JSON, user defaults, and NSURLCache.

When to require new iOS versions, and the real-world need for test devices.

David's app income shifting to ads over time, and Overcast switching to ads.

Ramifications of pruning very old apps from the App Store and cracking down on title-keyword spam.

Preparations in the final week before a major iOS release, and handling Apple requests for promotional artwork.

Lessons from Vesper's shutdown and strategies to navigate the difficult environment for paid apps today.

Why and how to localize and internationalize your iOS apps.

Using lessons and analytics from watchOS 1 and 2 to rethink our Apple Watch apps for watchOS 3, using Overcast's app as a case study.

Quick takes on eight topics submitted by listeners.

Techniques often used by games to increase engagement, revenue, and addictiveness, and their potential ethical uses in our apps.

Creating and managing shared code, using Git submodules effectively, and whether to open-source your libraries.

Pros and cons of releasing your personal utility apps, focusing mostly on Mac apps.

The value of app ideas, evaluating their feasibility, and considering the business you want to be in.

Concluding our WWDC 2016 coverage, we discuss what's new (or not?) for indie developers in tvOS, macOS, and Swift.

Following on from last week's discussion of the newly announced changes to watchOS 3, this week we dive into iOS 10. We discuss what changes are especially relevant and how we think we might adopt them.

Live from WWDC 2016, we discuss what's new for developers in watchOS 3.

The App Store's new subscription options and search ads that were announced today.

David revisits Android development after four years away.

Using data, market research, and analytics to improve your apps and better allocate your time.

Becoming more comfortable with self-promotion in the right contexts.

How iOS development will change if the recent app-review speedup becomes permanent.

Experimenting with Mac development and considering its future potential.

What to do (and not do) in the few months before WWDC.

The value of a WWDC ticket — or going to San Francisco without one.

Handling the launch of David's newest app, and lessons to be learned from it.

The immense value of version control for very small teams — even teams of one.

Tips on avoiding rejections by Apple's app-review staff and what to do when your app get rejected.

In the second of a two-part series, we discuss some specific ideas on how the App Store could realistically be improved.

In the first of a two-part series, we discuss whether the App Store needs improvement for our benefit, or whether it's working well enough for Apple and customers already.

Considering paid-up-front, freemium, ad-supported, and completely free business models for David's newest app.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance for consultants and the self-employed.

Accommodating unexpectedly heavy usage, basic web security, and avoiding user-generated spam.

Marketing, promotion, and celebration of successful launches and major updates.

An introduction to running your own Linux servers.

Weighing the costs of external dependencies in the wake of the Parse shutdown announcement.

Apps with personality vs. neutral voices, and whether independent developers should project a corporate image.

Real-world experience with ad-funded apps, and what the iAd shutdown announcement may mean.

Getting by without a designer, and programmatic drawing of image assets.

Where Apple Watch development stands today, and what could improve it in the future.

Avoiding burnout, minimizing self-imposed stress, and taking vacations.

How we design, build, and ship new features in our apps.

Our origin stories and tips for beginners to get started.

Considering feedback and feature requests from beta testers and customers.

Handling unexpected complexities, and deciding whether to tackle complex problems.

Ensuring your work setup is as comfortable as possible for long-term use and reducing the risks of developing RSI.

Why we haven't adopted Swift yet, when we might, and whether we should expand into additional platforms instead.

How independent iOS app developers can find ways to thrive in a highly competitive, commoditized App Store.