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Balatro+ Is Coming to Apple Arcade on September 26th

Balatro+. Source: Apple.

Balatro+. Source: Apple.

Earlier today, Apple announced several new and updated games are coming to Arcade, including one of my favorites of 2024: Balatro. Balatro is a roguelike deck-builder that mixes the familiarity of poker with special joker and other cards for combos that result in an incredibly fun roller coaster ride that’s hard to put down.

The game was originally released earlier this year on consoles and PC, but the potential for a mobile version was immediately obvious. My and many others’ wish for an iOS version of Balatro will come true on September 26th as part of the Apple Arcade service with Balatro+, which will also be available on the iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro.

Other notable Arcade announcements today include NFL Retro Bowl ‘25 and Monster Train+, which are out today along with Puzzle Sculpt, a spatial puzzle game for the Apple Vision Pro. NBA 2K is returning with NBA 2K25 Arcade Edition on October 6th, too.

Of all these games, though, I’m mostly excited about Balatro+. We’ve discussed this on NPC and elsewhere many times, but this is exactly the sort of game that Apple Arcade needs. There’s plenty of room for variety on Apple Arcade, but for a while, it’s felt like the artistic, indie corner of the catalog has been in decline. Balatro+ is just one game, but it’s an important one that many consider a contender for ‘Game of the Year,’ so I’m very happy to see it on Arcade.

Reeder: A New Approach to Following Feeds

15 years into its life, Reeder is one of the most popular and beloved RSS readers available on Apple’s platforms. You can’t have a discussion about the best way to follow RSS feeds without Reeder coming up as a contender – and believe me, we’ve had many such discussions here at MacStories and on the Club MacStories+ Discord. It’s an institution, and one that many people have very strong feelings about.

With a product as successful and engrained as Reeder, it would be easy for the app’s developer Silvio Rizzi to stick to what works and keep it the same without rocking the boat. But to Rizzi’s credit, that’s absolutely not the case with the new version of Reeder, which is available today. Instead, the new Reeder expands the app’s scope far beyond that of a typical RSS reader and fundamentally rethinks the traditional approach to keeping up with feeds. It’s a massive break from the past that will likely prove divisive among Reeder’s longtime user base. At the same time, it has the potential to appeal to a whole new audience of users who’ve never tried RSS readers before.

Reeder Classic (formerly Reeder 5) is here to stay.

Reeder Classic (formerly Reeder 5) is here to stay.

There’s a lot to cover in this update, but first, a word of reassurance for fans of Reeder as we know it: it isn’t going anywhere. The previous version, Reeder 5, has been renamed Reeder Classic and remains available on the App Store. In fact, Rizzi intends to continue developing Reeder Classic in conjunction with the new version. If you want to stick with the Reeder you know and love, you certainly can, and I think offering both versions is the right call given the huge change in direction Rizzi has gone with this update.

The best word to describe the new Reeder is “ambitious.” Its purpose is not just to be your RSS reader, but your inbox for keeping up with feeds of many different kinds from various sources across the Internet – text from websites, sure, but also videos on YouTube, audio from podcasts, posts on social media, and more. It’s a one-stop shop for the feeds you follow online, collecting them together into a single timeline that you can seamlessly browse across all of your devices. As I said, it’s a lofty goal.

It’s also quite different from what previous versions of Reeder were trying to do. In order to take on this new role as an inbox for all of your feeds, Reeder has been rebuilt from the ground up, a characteristic that shows both in its design and functionality. Many new features have been added, but nearly as many have been removed. Whether this update looks like a streamlined evolution or a stripped-down regression depends largely on if you’re interested in this sort of catch-all tool at all, but that’s the risk one takes when reimagining an established product in such a substantial way.

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Apple Music Vibes with Five New Mood Stations

Today, Apple Music introduced five new mood stations:

The music featured by the stations is automatically updated from Apple Music’s catalog of over 100 million tracks and tuned to your listening tastes.

This isn’t the first time Apple has introduced mood stations. You may recall that it released Love and Heartbreak stations on Valentines Day. All seven mood stations are in a new ‘Find Your Mood’ section in Apple Music’s Home tab.

I haven’t spent a lot of time with Apple Music’s new mood stations yet, but as I sampled each, I was met with a familiar song or band, with every track matching the mood I picked. I’ll be digging into each of these station more as I edit my macOS Sequoia review.

Ivory 2.2 Adds New Navigation Design and More→

Ivory, the Mastodon app by Tapbots, was updated on iOS and iPadOS yesterday with a new navigation design.

The app’s new tab bar can accommodate up to six of its many views and adds a ‘More’ button on the far right for ones that don’t fit. From the ‘More’ button, there’s also a shortcut to configure the order in which Ivory’s tabs appear. I’ve been using the new design in beta for a while and love having the added level of control over my Mastodon experience.

Tapbots has also added the ability to translate hashtags by long-pressing on them and now displays media, cards, and quotes when a post is truncated with a ‘Read More’ button. Posts that quote an account you’ve blocked are no longer visible either. Finally, there’s an all-new Blueprint app icon.

The Ivory update is available on the App Store.

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The Latest from AppStories and Ruminate

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

On AppStories+, John explains how Apple is working to make the Apple Pencil more useful to a wider audience with Smart Script.

This episode is sponsored by:

  • Sentry – Mobile crash reporting and app monitoring. Try it for free.

John hits some limitations of Sequoia, Robb isn’t playing anything but John is, and they both bring some chili snacks

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Ticci Tabs: A Simple Way to Keep Up With Your Favorite Six or Seven Websites

It seems the tech community’s search for the perfect reading setup continues unabated. Just this week on AppStories, Federico and John discussed which RSS readers have stood the test of time. Between text-to-speech apps, RSS readers, eReaders, and more, surely there’s no room left for another approach to catching up on articles? Apparently, there is. Enter Ticci Tabs with a straightforward but specific solution.

You may have noticed something familiar about the name of this app: it contains the nickname of our venerable Editor-in-Chief here at MacStories, Federico Viticci. That’s because Ticci Tabs has an amusing backstory. Several weeks ago on Connected, Federico lamented that there wasn’t an app that allowed him to browse his favorite “six or seven” websites in their original form, separate from a browser or RSS reader in a stripped down version of Safari. Less than a week later, developer Jonathan Ruiz released a beta version of Ticci Tabs on TestFlight, and it did just what Federico described. What might have seemed at first like a fun app carrying out a function requested by one specific person has blossomed into an intriguing and well-thought-out utility. Let’s take a closer look.

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Moom 4: Mac Window Management, Upgraded

This summer, my all-time favorite window management utility Moom received a major 4.0 upgrade more than 12 years after the initial release of Moom 3. Ever since I went back to the Mac as my main computer, Moom has allowed me to create automations to arrange my windows and easily save and restore specific window layouts. From a fully customizable palette to new keyboard shortcut options to the ability to chain custom commands, Moom 4 offers a wide range of new features that make it an even more advanced utility that will appeal to anyone looking for more flexibility than Apple’s new window tiling feature, which is coming in macOS Sequoia.

Let’s check out the main new features in Moom 4.

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Bitmo Lab Opens Pre-Orders for a Delta Emulator-Friendly iPhone Case→

Source: Bitmo Lab.

Source: Bitmo Lab.

Bitmo Lab, an affiliate of JSAUX, a videogame accessory maker, has announced pre-orders for an intriguing new iPhone case. The GAMEBABY case, which I came across on Overkill.wtf, is a two-part iPhone case that allows users to remove the bottom half, moving it from the rear of an iPhone to the front. The switch transforms your iPhone into a Game Boy lookalike with A and B buttons, a D-pad, Start and Select buttons, and more.

According to Bitmo Lab, the GAMEBABY’s buttons are capacitive, meaning they don’t require power, a Bluetooth connection, or other technology to work. It’s a simple solution that, when paired with the Delta iOS game emulator, should be able to play classic emulated games on the go with the added benefit of physical buttons.

How well the GAMEBABY works remains a mystery. Bitmo Lab’s website says the case is still under development, but you can pre-order one for the iPhone 15 Pro Max or iPhone 16 Pro Max with expected shipping in October for $19.99, which is 50% off the launch price.

I’ve pre-ordered a GAMEBABY and will report back after I’ve had a chance to use it for a while.

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The Latest from Magic Rays of Light, Comfort Zone, and MacStories Unwind

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts:

Sigmund and Devon compete to predict what Apple will announce at the upcoming It’s Glowtime event. Then, they go on a quick trip through the ages with the Time Bandits and land in 1960s Baltimore to recap Lady in the Lake

Matt is trying to find the right temperature, Chris is floating on Air(table), and Niléane finds out if she’s feeling lucky about getting 10 blue links.

This week, I research a local dive bar, as you do, before Federico and I both recommend gadgets that aren’t computers or videogame consoles and chat about Loot, Season 2.

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