MacStories is a daily publication from MacStories, Inc. about all things apps, automation, the latest in tech, and more.
Founded in Viterbo, Italy by Federico Viticci in April 2009, MacStories attracts readers thanks to in-depth, personal, and informed coverage that offers a balanced mix of technology news, app reviews, automation how-tos, and opinion. Today, MacStories is run by Federico and John Voorhees who joined MacStories in 2015 and has been running MacStories alongside Federico as his business partner since 2020.
Well into its second decade, MacStories, which is now based in the United States, has become one of the leading publications covering the world of apps and Apple, with editors, writers, developers, and designers based in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, working together to deliver quality content to a growing global readership.
Today, in addition to the website, MacStories is comprised of Club MacStories, which offers exclusive access to extra MacStories content every week, and a family of podcasts, including AppStories, a weekly podcast that explores the world of apps, Comfort Zone, a weekly podcast that pushes its hosts outside of their, well, comfort zone, MacStories Unwind, a weekly podcast covering movies, TV, videogames, music, and more, Magic Rays of Light, a weekly show focused on the world of Apple TV and Apple originals, NPC: Next Portable Console, a bi-weekly show about the games we take with us, and Ruminate, a bi-weekly podcast about the web, games, and terrible food.
MacStories’ global audience includes creative, professional, and tech-savvy readers who care about quality apps designed for Apple products and appreciate detailed, insightful reviews, editorials, and tutorials.
The MacStories Team
You can contact the MacStories team via the email addresses listed below.
Subscribe
MacStories offers a full-text (non-truncated) RSS feed to read every story in a standard RSS client. The site’s main content feed is also available in JSON Feed format.
- Main RSS Feed: macstories.net/feed
- JSON Feed: macstories.net/feed/json
Every MacStories article is shared on our Mastodon account @macstories and Threads.
MacStories’ homepage features a mix of regular and linked posts. If you only want to subscribe to regular MacStories posts and skip the linked posts, an articles-only feed is available.
Furthermore, any category, author, or tag page on MacStories can be turned into a dedicated RSS feed by appending /feed/ to its URL. Here are a few examples of special news hubs and categories that are available as standalone RSS feeds:
Key Topics
Here is a collection of recurring topics regularly covered by the MacStories team:
- iPad coverage and dedicated hub at MacStories.net/iPad updated on a regular basis
- MacStories Shortcuts Archive – a collection of 300+ custom shortcuts for the Shortcuts app, created and maintained by Federico
- iOS Automation
- App Reviews by the MacStories team
- Our Setups: A guide to the gear and apps that Federico and John use
Podcasts
MacStories launched its first podcast in 2017. That show, AppStories, is a weekly podcast hosted by Federico Viticci and John Voorhees that explores the world of apps and the social and cultural impact of the App Store. In addition to in-depth app coverage, AppStories has been the home of interviews with Apple executives, including Craig Federighi, leading developers, and winners of the Apple Design Awards and the WWDC Swift Student Challenge.
We also offer an extended, ad-free version of AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio to subscribers of AppStories+ and Club Premier members.
Since AppStories’ launch, it has been joined by MacStories Unwind, a fun weekly exploration of media and more. Each Friday, Federico and John explore the differences between American and Italian culture and recommend media they enjoy, whether it’s a book, movie, TV show, music, video game, or other media. We also release MacStories Unwind+ every week to all Club MacStories subscribers, which is an early, ad-free version of Unwind.
MacStories is the home of Magic Rays of Light, a weekly show that explores the world of Apple TV hosted by Sigmund Judge and Devon Dundee, too. Named one of the 50 best podcasts of 2021 by The Atlantic, Magic Rays of Light offers an insightful look at Apple’s TV+ streaming service, tvOS, Apple Arcade, and more that is published every Wednesday.
You can subscribe to our podcasts using the buttons below:
AppStories:
MacStories Unwind:
Magic Rays of Light:
All Club members can find details on how to listen to MacStories Unwind+ by logging into their Club account and visiting the Club podcast page. AppStories+ subscribers and Club Premier members access the show’s podcast feed by logging into the AppStories homepage.
Club MacStories
Since September 2015, the MacStories team has also been producing Club MacStories, a members-only subscription service to get access to exclusive perks such as weekly and monthly newsletters that are available by email and on the web, MacStories Unwind+, free downloads, and app giveaways.
Club MacStories’ weekly newsletter, MacStories Weekly, combines in-depth app coverage with advanced iOS workflows, tips and tricks, and longform interviews – and it’s read by thousands of members every week. Over the past eight years, Club MacStories has delivered nearly 500 newsletters to its members, all of which are available on the web for every Club member at club.macstories.net. Past downloadable perks are also available no matter when you joined the Club.
In 2021, the Club was expanded to add two new tiers, Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ includes everything offered by Club MacStories, as well as two exclusive columns, search and filtering functionality, user-customizable RSS feeds, a Discord community, and a rotating list of discounted apps and services. Club Premier includes everything in a Club MacStories and Club MacStories+ subscription, along with AppStories+, the extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories, that is delivered early and with enhanced audio.
Visit the Club MacStories website here for more details.
You can read more about Club MacStories and sign up at $5/month here. Issue 285 of MacStories Weekly is available as a free sample on club.macstories.net.
You can read more about Club MacStories+ and sign up at $10/month here. You can learn more and sign up for Club Premier for $12/month here.
What Guides Us
Every day, we try to follow these guidelines at MacStories. These are the principles that guide us and that shape our relationship with MacStories readers and podcast listeners.
- We report news in a timely fashion but without rushing to get stories out.
- Whenever possible, we try to add context and analysis to news reports.
- We don’t publish leaks or rumors.
- We focus on in-depth app reviews; we always use our own screenshots (unless we can’t for privacy-related reasons) and only write about apps if we have personally tested them. We do not rehash App Store release notes. We share our opinions fairly and by explaining the things we don’t like about an app too.
- We have never done and never will do paid reviews.
- We don’t write sensationalistic headlines “for clicks”, nor do we publish posts exclusively designed to criticize or attack others. Our readers are interested in useful products that can make their lives better, not industry gossip.
- If Apple provides us with review units of new products, we’re still going to write the things we don’t like about them because honesty is more important than access. This is true for all review units of products we are sent.
- We take as much time as necessary to work on our editorials.
- MacStories is made by people for people. We don’t use generative artificial intelligence to write our articles or synthesize facsimiles of our voices for podcasts.
- We always credit sources for news, tutorials, and other articles; we link to other websites profusely because the Open Web is a beautiful thing and because it’s the right thing to do.
- We make MacStories the fastest website it can possibly be. We only use one analytics service and serve no ads or other media with creepy tracking codes attached.
- Finally, we write the Apple blog we would like to read ourselves. If readers do not find MacStories useful or inspiring, it means we’ve failed. Therefore, we should do whatever we can to make sure we deserve our readers’ time and attention every day.