MacStories Weekly: Issue 532
Our Favorite Indie Apps for iOS 27, Vol. 3
We have another collection our favorite indie apps that take advantage of Apple’s latest OS features. Today, we’re highlighting: Haven, Structured, Capture, Scrappy, and Fin.
Haven
Haven is a HomeKit and Matter pairing code utility by João Franco for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch that added Siri AI features this fall. The app is exactly what you want with this sort of utility because it makes storing codes for safekeeping fast and easy. Later when you need to re-pair a smart plug behind a couch or a lightbulb in a hard-to-reach spot, you’ll be glad you dropped the codes into Haven.
Retrieving codes is made even simpler, thanks to Haven’s Siri AI integration. Just ask for a code based on the name of your device in Haven, and Siri will fetch the code for you without opening the app. The feature works with both HomeKit and Matter codes and is compatible with natural language queries. The app also supports tagging and the ability to use Apple Intelligence to suggest a tag from among your existing tags.
In addition to the new Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features, Haven can track the home where your device is installed, its room, category, brand, model, serial number, protocol, power source, and status. You can mark items as favorites and add notes and attachments, like a photo of the device, too.
That’s a lot, which will appeal to the HomeKit nerds out there, but as a free download that offers unlimited pairing codes for just $6.99, it’s worth setting up Haven even if all you do is name your device, add the room where it’s located, and then search for it when needed via Siri. Siri AI is perfect for databases, and as anyone who is deep into the HomeKit world knows, a database is the best way to keep your smart home humming.
Structured
I had the pleasure of meeting the Structured team at WWDC this year. It was fun to walk through the app with them, learning about all their plans for the summer development season. But it’s been even more fun to actually play with the final product on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.
Structured is a day planning app with a beautiful and unique design that made it a finalist for both the 2025 iPad App of the Year Award and an Apple Design Award. I have a bad habit of overstuffing my workday, which is precisely the problem that Structured is designed to solve by visualizing your day and work on a timeline. The app can integrate with Reminders, your calendars, handle recurring tasks, start focus timers, and more.
As for Siri AI, Apple’s assistant can now assist Structured users with creating and editing tasks. There’s also a color prediction feature that’s in beta that learns from your past color choices to help suggest the color of a new task. Plus, Structured got a Liquid Glass update, which makes the app feel right at home among other modern apps without sacrificing the app’s simple design and legibility. If you need help organizing your day and want to see everything in one place, you can’t go wrong with Structured.
Scrappy
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to save random things I find on the Internet. I’m a digital hoarder by nature because you never can be sure when a link, image, or article that piques your curiosity will become something more in the future. The trouble is keeping these sort of bucket apps organized.
With Scrappy, by developer Steve Harris, you can save it all: notes, images, PDFs, links, videos, photos, screenshots, and more. Harris is also the developer of Keep It a notebook and document organizer app that we’ve covered on MacStories before. There are similarities between Keep It and Scrappy, but the thing that unique about Scrappy is that it’s much more visual.
The app, which works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, puts a handy shelf just off the edge of your Mac’s screen where you can drag items, and across all platforms, it feautures fast search and smart lists. Plus, thanks to Siri AI, you can search and open what you’ve saved and create and edit notes. There are filtering and sorting options, along with an extraordinarily long set of Shortcuts actions that make the app uniquely suited for automation. Scrappy also has a wonderfully modern card interface that takes advantage of Liquid Glass, and it displays previews of links, images, and other content. There are lots of “bucket apps” on the App Store, but Scrappy is one of my favorites.
Capture
Apps like Capture are a unique obsession of mine as the online world relentlessly accelerates. Capture acts as an inbox for text, links, images, files, and tasks that works on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch. While you can store information in Capture long-term, it’s really meant to act as an inbox because the app has nearly 60 integrations with other third-party apps.
Capture has been building a deep library of integrations for a long time now, which I appreciate. It’s the sort of user-first approach that also made the app a perfect fit for App Intents. That integration makes it simple to find, create, and edit items with Siri. There is also an extensive set of Shortcuts actions, making the app a great fit for cross-app automations. Capture also offers creating, finding, and editing via Siri AI, note transcription using Apple’s on-device model, and a voice-based agentic mode.
Fin
Finally, I want to shout out Fin, the personal budgeting app for iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch. Getting data into a budgeting app quickly and easily makes all the difference in the world when it comes to sticking to your budget. Fin excels at quickly recording and organizing your expenses in a clear, colorful interface that takes advantage of Apple’s modern design language.
With the latest version, Fin adds onscreen awareness that lets you ask Siri questions about what’s onscreen. The app also exposes transactions and accounts to Spotlight making it easy to pinpoint data in both. Plus, Fin lets you search, import, export, and add data to the app using Siri. There’s an extra large chart widget too. If you’re looking for a simple on-device way to privately manage your expenses, Fin’s a great choice.
Apple Announces October 2026 Event
In a post by Greg Joswiak on X and email to creators and media outlets, Apple has said it will hold an ‘Experience’ in Tribeca, New York on Tuesday, October 13 at 09:00 am Eastern.
Speculation and rumors have circulated for months that a home hub product is imminent. The latest reports from Mark Gurman suggest it will sit on a semi-circular base reminiscent of an iMac G4 and control your HomeKit devices, incorporates SiriAI, and uses voice and facial recognition to identify with whom it is interacting. There have also been rumors that a new HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K may be launched. The ‘Welcome home’ tagline of the event certainly seems to suggest the announcements will be HomeKit-related.
As always, MacStories will be covering the event, so stop by next Tuesday for all the news.
MacStories Setups: A Summer of Workflow Refinements and Experimentation→
We’re back with another MacStories Setups update. I swear Federico and I didn’t coordinate our purchases this summer, but you’ll notice that both of us began experimenting with XTEINK readers and the Pebble Index 01 smart ring without discussing it in advance.
Since June, you’ll see from Federico’s changes that many revolve around fine-tuning his app workflows. From re-adding Claude and Superhuman to reluctantly adopting Chrome for agentic workflows, his update reflects a refinement of the way he works. As for gadgets, Federico has begun using the DJI Mic Mini and Pebble Index 01 for dictation and refined his work and gaming desktop setup with a UGREEN Thunderbolt 5 dock and Steam Controller.
My setup changes this summer revolve around experiments. I first tried the XTEINK 3 reader and enjoyed creating a custom UI for it so much that I also bought the XTEINK 4 Pro, which is patiently waiting for a free weekend when I can see what more I can do with it. Plus I’ve been trying a bunch of new apps like T3 Code for working with multiple AI subscriptions, Open Minis to get more out of iOS than Siri AI allows, and working with a wide variety of remote access apps, including Beam and Jump Desktop. Finally, I’ve partially abandoned my custom social media web apps for Typefully, which has more features than I’d ever want to build myself.
That’s it for this edition of Setups. Be sure to check out the links here and on the Setups page because some of these gadgets are on sale on Amazon for its Prime Big Deal Days event. Also, be sure to follow the MacStories Deals social media accounts on X.com, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
MacStories Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Roundup
Amazon’s Big Deal Days for Prime members has begun, and we’ve collected some of our favorite deals offered. As usual, we’ve kept our picks simple, including only those that we’ve reviewed, use ourselves, or that are from brands we trust.
It’s worth noting that this sales event is focused on Prime members, so many of the deals require a Prime subscription. However, not all do.
Smart Home
I’m a big fan of Philips Hue Festavia string lights, which I reviewed on MacStories in 2023. I hung a strand on our balcony, which has provided great outdoor atmosphere year-round.
The lights are great for the holidays, too. The Hue app lets you pick all sorts of festive presets that animate and color the lights to mimic candles, stars, and more. Festavia lights are also compatible with Apple’s Home app, giving you multiple ways to control and automate them, which I love. Both the 65-foot and 130-foot models are on sale.
The Aqara G5 Pro camera is on sale, too. It’s been over 18 months since I wrote about this sturdy and reliable outdoor HomeKit security camera, and it’s still one of our most popular hardware reviews on the site. There’s a reason for that, too. The G5 Pro serves as a hub for your other Aqara devices, and stays connected reliably with clear nighttime footage, support for HomeKit Secure Video, and an onboard spotlight. Mine has been installed outside my home ever since I reviewed it, and it’s never missed a beat. I use the Wi-Fi model, but the PoE version is on sale too.
Travel Accessories and Headphones
I’m a big fan of batteries and one of the best is Anker’s 20,100mAh Prime power bank, which Federico added to his setup just before WWDC this year. I have a similar model, which is great for use with a laptop and other devices because it can deliver 220W of power with one USB-C port delivering 140W of charging.
Another interesting battery option is UGREEN’s 20,000mAh Qi 2 battery that delivers 25W of wireless power. I haven’t used this exact battery before, but I have a similar UGREEN model with a smaller capacity that I like a lot. This model also has a built-in USB-C cable and digital screen that shows how much charge is left.
A good travel wall charger is a must, too. When I’m on the road with my MacBook Pro, I always bring UGREEN’s 100W Nexode Pro GaN charger. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, and its prongs fold flat so it’s easy to pack. Combined with its small size, it’s a great choice for any trip.
A portable Wi-Fi router is great for traveling with your family when you want to stream a movie at night or when you’re working away from home at a coffee shop. My favorite is the Slate 7 by GL.iNet, which I covered on MacStories last summer. It works well to extend an existing network or to connect to your iPhone to create an ad hoc wireless network.
Finally, I wanted to mention the Satechi USB-C 2.5Gbps Ethernet adapter, which I carry whenever I stay in a hotel room because even slow Ethernet is better than most hotel Wi-Fi. I’ve had this adapter for a couple of years and it’s been a lifesaver on the road more than once, including at WWDC this year where I found myself uploading 4K video to YouTube from the Mountain View public library.
My favorite wireless earbuds and over-the-ear headphones are on sale too. AirPods Pro 3 are my go-to everyday headphones for walking around the neighborhood or working remotely. The active noise cancelation is top tier, and I love both transparency mode for hearing what’s happening around me and the fit.
I’m also a fan of the Beats Studio Pro headphones for their versatility. They work wirelessly, with a 3.5mm headphone cable, or a USB-C cable, with both cables packed in the box. The sound and noise cancelation are excellent, too. Today’s sales price is one of the lowest I’ve seen, so it’s a great time to pick up a pair.
Alright, that’s all for now. We’ll have more finds during Big Deal Days on the MacStories Deals social media accounts on X.com, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
And for more recommendations beyond the sale, visit the MacStories Setups page, where Federico and I share the hardware and apps we use for work and play. We’ll have an update to that coming tomorrow.
Deflector Turns iOS 27 Notification Triggers into a Shortcut Launcher
In my iOS and iPadOS 27 review, I wrote about one of the more interesting additions to the Shortcuts app for power users: automation triggers based on the contents of push notifications received on your device. As I explained, with this new trigger, you can create automations that run certain actions whenever a notification from a specific app, ideally containing a specific title or body text, arrives on your iPhone and iPad.
iPhone Duo App Submissions Are Open→
Yesterday, Apple announced on its developer blog that it has begun taking App Store submissions for iPhone Duo apps. The new foldable phone will be in customers’ hands in just over two weeks on October 23 and with Xcode 27.1, developers can recompile existing apps and build new ones.
To prepare for the launch, Apple has provided links to design and App Store asset guidance, as well as submitting apps to App Store Connect.
Also, if you’re a developer, don’t forget to check out Federico’s Frames CLI 1.5.0, which includes experimental support for the iPhone Duo. The feedback from developers has been that it saves a lot of time when preparing screenshots for the App Store. The Frames CLI is available on GitHub and there’s more information on MacStories here.
GoodLinks: Read Later and Do More with Your Articles [Sponsor]
It happens to all of us. You come across an article you want to read, but you’re in the middle of something and don’t have the time. GoodLinks gives those articles a home on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with a clean, customizable reading experience when you’re ready to return to them.
Recently updated for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 27, GoodLinks lets you organize the articles you save for later with tags and stars before sitting down to read with its highly customizable reader. Article Sync, which is part of GoodLinks Premium, can sync complete articles along with their images through iCloud, so they’re available on every device.
GoodLinks also lets you highlight your favorite passages of articles, export your highlights as Markdown, and add notes to your highlights. Plus, GoodLinks has extensive Shortcuts support, allowing you to use what you save with your other apps and workflows, and a local API on the Mac to script your links, tags, and highlights.
The app can summarize articles using Apple Intelligence on compatible devices or external AI providers when you provide your own API keys. That allows you to use the model that suits your needs best, or you can turn off summarization entirely.
A single universal purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac and includes all current features plus one year of feature upgrades. Everything you unlock is yours to keep. After that, an optional GoodLinks Premium subscription unlocks new features, which you keep even if you cancel.
Whether you’re catching up on your latest saved stories or building a complex reading workflow to handle hundreds of articles, visit GoodLinks to learn more and download the app today.
Our thanks to GoodLinks for sponsoring MacStories this week.
Apple Announces Plan to Impose New Full Disk Access Controls on Mac Developers→
Today, on its developer blog, Apple announced plans to “…introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action.” The company says it’s doing so because of the dangers posed by AI agents.
Full Disk Access largely sidesteps these controls in order to allow backup apps to function properly on the Mac.
That’s nonsense. Looking at this MacBook Pro, only a handful of apps to which I’ve granted Full Disk Access are backup apps. Others include the Finder replacement Bloom, launchers like Alfred, the wonderful selection utility PopClip, Apple’s own Pixelmator Pro, Setapp, TestFlight, Supercharge, Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition, Hazel, and many others. It’s a diverse selection of apps covering everything from Apple’s own apps to Mac utilities that are longtime favorites of MacStories readers, and even one Apple Arcade game.
What is valid is that AI agents pose risks if common-sense steps aren’t taken to limit their access to your data. So while the suggestion that Full Disk Access is just for backups doesn’t pass the smell test, Apple’s concerns about agents are well-founded.
The thing that bothers me about this post, though, is that it’s vague. On the one hand, it seems to suggest that users will simply have to jump through additional explicit hoops to grant Full Disk Access to their agents and other apps. On the other hand, claiming that Full Disk Access was designed solely for backup apps raises red flags that could signal that the company intends to restrict the kinds of apps that can use Full Disk Access. I sure hope not.
Even if you want nothing to do with AI agents, the changes that Apple is contemplating could impact a wide variety of the Mac apps you rely on every day. Apple needs to find a way enable reasonable customer protections without hamstringing the Mac’s utility.