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  Funny how for years many iPad users (including me) asked Apple to create a shell/Terminal app for iPadOS. We were told that nobody cared, was unnecessary, no developer wanted to work on iPadOS anyway. Guess where you CAN'T use Claude Code today?

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  It's been a tough few years for MacStories. An explanation of why we resumed posting on X, and what comes next: https://ticci.craft.me/explanation

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  Unexpected Codex use case: set up an Android handheld for me. @johnvoorhees@mastodon.macstories.net got me into this: enable USB debugging and just let the agent rip. Codex installed Cocoon frontend on my AYN Thor, transferred all my ROMs, and is currently configuring emulators, mods, and other apps. It's just working in the background and cross-referencing YouTube/Reddit sources to set everything up, so I can focus on cooking for the family instead. Incredible. @dimillian@mastodon.soci...

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  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the most impressive iOS app I've seen in a long time. Open Minis is an iOS agent app that combines LLMs with native Apple frameworks – dozens of them – and gives us a glimpse of Siri AI for power users, today. My story: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/open-minis-is-the-ios-agent-i-wish-siri-ai-could-be/

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  From last night, we published: My thoughts on Siri AI https://www.macstories.net/stories/siri-ai-and-apples-trickle-up-strategy/ First impressions for: Golden Gate https://www.macstories.net/stories/macos-27-golden-gate-the-macstories-public-beta-preview/ watchOS 27 https://www.macstories.net/stories/watchos-27-the-macstories-public-beta-preview/ visionOS 27 https://www.macstories.net/stories/visionos-27-the-macstories-beta-preview/

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  The rollout of the unified ChatGPT for Mac app really isn't going well on X/Reddit 🥶 They kinda fumbled it and I think Anthropic did a slightly better job on first try. Even OpenAI's existing iOS app makes more sense than their new Mac layout right now. The difference between "normal" chatbot chats, Work/Cowork harnesses with connectors, and Code/Codex local threads and filesystem access is the new UX hell for these companies.

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  Let's talk about Siri AI's web search and App Intents index. I'm asking for the latest single by Phoebe Bridgers. A text search works, and brings up web sources. If I'm asking to * play* it, Siri actually plays a song from years ago. Why? Is Siri AI technically incapable of parallel tool calling (web search ⇾ App Intents ⇾ action is executed)? This wouldn't be a surprise for something distilled from Gemini (which sucks at tools.) I remain skeptical of Apple's indexing...

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  I wrote some thoughts on the role of the iPad and iPadOS in a post-agent world, and the continuous rise of macOS. Headless Macs and Hamstrung iPads https://www.macstories.net/stories/headless-macs-and-hamstrung-ipads/

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  "Don’t hold back on telling people they made something you love or admire." https://daringfireball.net/2026/06/om

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  Figured out how to decrypt Apple OS .ipsw image files with a CLI, had Codex install another CLI for extracting .icon files, set it on a goal and… …I can now quickly do icon comparisons between iOS 26 and 27 for my review 🫡 iOS 26 on the left. Some examples here.

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  We're also honoring a new Lifetime Achievement Award winner this year: the outstanding @unread@social.goldenhillsoftware.com. I wrote a personal story about why this app is so special: https://www.macstories.net/stories/the-macstories-selects-2025-lifetime-achievement-award/

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  Introducing RemCTL: the power-user CLI for Apple Reminders. Unlike other CLIs, RemCTL supports the complete Reminders feature set. Subtasks, tags, sections, image attachments, templates – you name it. Everything is here. Designed for people and agents. I've been using this for the past two months, and I love it so much. Hope you'll like it too! Free and open source: https://github.com/viticci/remctl My story: https://www.macstories.net/stories/introducing-remctl-the-power-use...

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  This week for @club members, I wrote about a great Computer Use plugin for Codex that is region-free and can be used by anyone: https://www.macstories.net/club/macstories-weekly-issue-515/region-free-computer-use-in-codex-for-mac-with-cua-driver/

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  🤖 This week on @appstories: we share our WWDC automation wishes. 🔎 On the members-only post-show: Summer research setups. Episode out tomorrow, or available today (and ad-free) for AppStories+ subscribers. 🎧 https://www.macstories.net/podcasts/appstories-plus/487/

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  A proof of concept: I figured how to remotely start a Codex session from an iOS shortcut. The shortcut writes to a file; a macOS file watcher picks up the change, and uses the new thread APIs of Codex App Server to start a new thread. The thread is immediately visible in the Codex app too. I'll combine this with dictation so I can kick off tasks from Apple Watch, etc. (Would be great to have native webhook/external triggers @dimillian)

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  Codex pricing page leaked an unreleased model: GPT-5.5-Codex-Spark (research preview). Curious to see how a small GPT-5.5 on Cerebras works. I didn't really like 5-3-Codex-Spark. https://chatgpt.com/codex/pricing/

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  This week for @club members, I wrote a guide with some tips and tricks for using Codex remote access from iOS as well as multiple Macs: https://www.macstories.net/club/macstories-weekly-issue-513/my-favorite-tips-and-tricks-for-working-with-codex-inside-chatgpt-on-ios/

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  Today on @macstories, I wrote about why I like Monologue for dictation so much: its new Monologue Notes feature + CLI is great for agents and automation: https://www.macstories.net/notes/monologue-notes-cli/

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  And also today for @club members: The Automation Academy is back with a deep dive into my Codex Automations setup, and how you can configure the Codex app to automate basically anything on your Mac. Detailed guide + prompts and ideas here: https://www.macstories.net/club/automate-everything-on-macos-with-codex/

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  We're going to have more on this soon – Codex remote control is now in the ChatGPT app and, so far, it's exactly what I wanted. Full remote control of a Mac server running Codex. Multiple Macs supported. Shares the same config for permissions, projects, plugins, everything. 😍

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  The trend of native apps + CLIs is picking up. I've been loving the new CLI and agent skills of Spark desktop. Our @johnvoorhees with more details: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/spark-mail-adds-a-mac-cli-and-agent-skills/ (And another CLI-related story from me later today!)

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  You may have heard that Apple's brand new LLM for iOS 18 is code named 'Ajax'. What you may not know is that in classic Greek mythology, Ajax (or Aias) The Great is a warrior in Homer's Iliad, second only to Achilles in strength. As the myth goes, upon his death, a single flower sprang from his blood, with its petals marked with the initials of his name: AI. As a Greek mythology nerd: well done, Apple. 🌸 https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Mad...

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  Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉 Every year, I put together a 'Best of' playlist on Apple Music with my favorite songs of the year. Here is the latest version with my top 50 songs of 2022: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/best-of-2022/pl.u-4bxBIMzpVy2

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  For the (very few) people who probably care: It appears that Apple's signing server for Shortcuts (accessed from macOS with `shortcuts sign` CLI) has been down for a while, and I can't programmatically sign any .shortcut files right now. 🤔

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  It's time for a new episode of @npc! This week: 🎮 OnePlus adds trigger-only phone controls (?) 🕹️ GameCube and Wii emulation to Switch 💸 Ayn raises Thor prices 🧪 Proton 11 news 📺 Watch here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jEIDW1DfL7o And for our Patreon members, who get access to NPC XL: 👨‍🔬 @brendonbigley tries ROCKNIX on the Ayn Odin 2 Mini. https://www.patreon.com/NextPortableConsole

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  RE: https://mastodon.macstories.net/@macstories/116535077084726529 This is pretty genius; would love to see it elsewhere.

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  This week for @club members, I wrote about how I fixed something that annoyed me for a while: Syncing Codex skills and AGENTS.md between multiple Macs: https://www.macstories.net/club/macstories-weekly-issue-512/how-i-keep-codex-skills-and-agents-md-in-sync-between-multiple-macs/

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  Been playing around with Readwise Reader (now in public beta), and I have to say I'm impressed. - Excellent text parser - Lets you listen to articles (voice quality seems better than Matter) - Add tags to highlights and sync them to Obsidian/other apps - Advanced query syntax to create custom views for anything - Solid business model with support for API - Web app + native apps Very promising!

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  This is a great video by @stephenrobles showing S-GPT in action and applied to a podcasting workflow. Love this: https://youtu.be/lZjI5dh9RL8

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  In today's issue of @club MacStories Weekly: 🤖 @johnvoorhees wants Apple Intelligence to build mini apps 🔄 @jonathanreed sets up a new Mac from scratch with Supercharge 📦 I made a shortcut that uses Parcel's new API to track deliveries 🔗 Plus lots of links + app debuts Link for members: https://club.macstories.net/posts/macstories-weekly-issue-455