Made a little landing page for FrameBuddy

launchbuddy.app/frames/

FYI: You can also frame screen recordings! It creates a video with a transparent background, so you can use it anywhere!
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LaunchBuddy 7.3.0 unfolds

- iPhone Duo support
- Task break down
- UI improvements
- Microinteractions

... and more: launchbuddy.app/changelog/7.3.…
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Finally got around to try an iPhone Duo with my own hands

I must say, even with the clunky security pin on the back it does feel great to hold!

If it wasn't for the bad camera & hefty price, I would probably pick one up ASAP
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I like this approach, so I'm building something similar for @LaunchBuddy_App

I've been using WhatsNewKit for years. It's a simple package, so I replaced it with a custom screen that leads into that second social proof screen, which then asks for a review.

I'm still working on le to make it more interesting, but the concept is pretty cool!

Thanks for sharing @CristianRus4
Left has over 2.8K reviews on the App Store, with a 4.7 rating

my method for getting reviews is simple and it works. no dodgy tricks. it respects Apple's guidelines and the user experience, and you don't need to measure and stress with "aha! moments" or reward triggers

I tried honestly I don't think any of it worked. the biggest jump in reviews (and in positive ones) came in the last few months, after this change, I know because I track it

here's how:

1. make a "What's New?" screen that shows after major updates. not after every update, only a few times a year, when you ship something big like a major new feature. I version my app as 2026.XX.YY so whenever XX changes it appears this screen

2. make your own review screen. show reviews from other users and community proof (if you have them!)

3. connect the two. show the review screen right after the "What's New?" screen every time, unless the user is in a cooldown because they already left a review

this gets you 5 stars almost every time because:
- it never interrupts someone while they're actually using the app
- it shows up right after good news about new features, which shows you care about the app
- only people who actually use your app see it, because no one else opens the app after an update

two more tips:
- notice the "Send feedback" button under the CTA button, pretty explanatory
- after rating, people can close the screen or tap the CTA button again. it now says "Write a review", so they can add a written review if they want. never force it

try it and let me know how it goes!
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Time to charge the Switch 2 up again.. haven't touched it in quite a while!
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FrameBuddy 2.0 ships with a new CLI

So your agents can frame your screenshots with a single CLI command

I use this extensively myself and it's super helpful

Get FrameBuddy 2.0 for FREE: apple.co/3UUftXR
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App Review has become really slow

This is makes it even more important to get accepted on the first try. A rejection can lead to a multi-week wait for that release...

Learn more about how to make it easy for reviewers to accept your app: youtu.be/NZlwavilR0M
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The fact that nobody tells you to include a video walkthrough is annoying

So that's what I'm doing now!

Include a walkthrough video for the app reviewer for every future submission: youtu.be/NZlwavilR0M
Apple seems to be rejecting new apps that don't include a walkthrough video for the reviewer.

Why don't they just make the field mandatory in ASC?
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I've been working on @bienapp for the past few months and we're launching on Product Hunt today

Bien is a calm take on social media: no likes, views, followers or public profiles. Just you sharing with your inner circle.

Please upvote on Product Hunt if you think this is what k like
Launching @bienapp on Product Hunt today, check it out ! producthunt.com/products/bien
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If you're submitting a new app this week, record a short walkthrough video for the reviewer.

And if you want to avoid the other common rejections too, watch this: youtu.be/6G0z4MAEl1o
Apple seems to be rejecting new apps that don't include a walkthrough video for the reviewer.

Why don't they just make the field mandatory in ASC?
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Many interesting videos uploaded to my channel recently:

• Hero Images in ASC
• How to build for HomeView
• RocketTrace by @twannl
• Agents for SwiftUI
• iPhone Duo APIs
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FrameBuddy 2.0 is here 🥳

The new update is out on macOS, and it's still free despite all the new features: apple.co/3UUftXR

I've also built a brand new iOS app, that is still waiting for review. It's probably taking a little longer, since this is the first iOS dy.

In the mean time, please enjoy adding frames to your screenshots & screen recordings with just one click in Finder, Shortcuts or in FrameBuddy's brand new visual editor on macOS
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Working on a banner for @bienapp today!

Some thoughts about banners:
Most big apps just use their main color as a background and their name as big text in the center. No playfulness or creativity. I think it works for them, because they have major brand recognition.

We don't ith Bien yet. So we decided to have the branding be our main differentiator instead of the app's name.

This first version is just an image, but once that's approved I've also created an animated version that just moves the icons around a little bit to make it feel more alive.

I love this new creative slot!
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New App Icon, who dis?

FrameBuddy 2.0 is live on the Mac App Store - and it's still free! This is an incredible update:

- Visual editor
- Automatic device detection
- Change device colors
- Rotate screenshots
- Finder extension
- Shortcuts support
- CLI support

Grab o/kcGM3X6erh
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Waiting for review!

The new update includes a new app icon, but ASC only updates it once the update was approved :/

And the best thing: FrameBuddy remains free for now!
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The App Store finally has new creative slots

They're called banners and they can be either images or videos (!!)

Why you should create one today & more: youtu.be/imM1LEDvF1I
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I really enjoyed speaking at @KotlinLeeds two weeks ago

This talk was personal. I shared the mental limitations that held me back.

I first wanted to learn iOS development in 2012. I emailed myself the Xcode link. But it felt impossibly hard to learn, so I only really started 9 years later.

Don't let your thoughts limit you. Do it anyway and figure things out along the way.

You've got this!
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🫡 On a mission to make it easy to add device frames to screenshots

I've been cooking for this next FrameBuddy update

- all new devices
- automatic device detection
- video support (!!!)
- finder extension
- much more, **to be announced**
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FrameBuddy is receiving a major update soon:

- Added all missing device bezels
- Automatically detects device
- Visual editor
- Drag and drop screenshots onto FrameBuddy

... and a few secret changes I'll tell you soon!
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I built LaunchBuddy specifically to bring everything in one place!

It has:
- apps as projects
- releases with tasks
- backlog of ideas
- notes for your apps
- experiments to track ASO
- MCP support so your agents can talk to it
- much more
Still not happy with my productivity setup. Notes, AI agents, todos and daily planning, journaling ... all live in different places. What are you using, please share your setup?
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If your agents still write bad SwiftUI ...

... it isn't a "model" problem
... it likely isn't a "prompt" problem

but instead the agents are just missing important information 👇
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Interesting. @Telemetry_Deck reports that in the two days leading up to the Duo launch, @LaunchBuddy_App was used by 1,000+ iPhone99,8 devices on iOS 27.3.0.

They all skipped the onboarding at the exact same step and gave me a heart attack thinking my onboarding is completely ple is doing automated tests? My other apps didn't see this spike.
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Kudos to @RevenueCat for the improved (?) experiments setup flow!
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I absolutely love that I can have my HomeKit accessories inside the macOS control center. I literally use this every day.
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LaunchBuddy 7.2.0 is out!

This update is a major step towards @LaunchBuddy_App's vision of "everything in one place". Here's what's new:

• View your @RevenueCat metrics right inside the LaunchBuddy analytics screen (together with your ASC data if you've connected your ASC xperiments screen to track your ASO experiments easier
• Redesigned task board with majorly improved performance
• Open your tasks as prompts in @cursor_ai / Codex / Claude Code
• Add your app's release dates to your Calendar with one click
• Improved navigation on iOS
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I had a blast giving the closing keynote at @KotlinLeeds last week.

I spoke about my journey into iOS development and how mental limitations held me back.

Don't let "I can't" stop you. It doesn't matter. Do it anyways and learn how along the way.

Why join the navy when you can bs, 1983
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I used to have a macOS app on the App Store to show a list of SwiftUI font sizes for my own reference

I always got confused with callout, subheadline, and footnote

But I removed it from sale, because this is also baked into @LaunchBuddy_App (has been for a few years)
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There's no HomeViewKit SDK bringing your apps on the new HomeView

But there are two existing APIs instead. And they don't need Xcode 27.2 or above. You can get started building for this new device today.

Watch the full breakdown: youtu.be/9pJUv15Gkt4
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Got a first banner ready for @LaunchBuddy_App

I will work on an animated one soon, just wanted to get a first version out

iOS 27 introduces so many funnel-related changes, it’s quite exciting!
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During Shipaton, I saw dozens of developers get their apps rejected.

It happens all the time! But did you know that there are a few tricks to avoid rejections?

They're pretty simple too: youtu.be/6G0z4MAEl1o
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LaunchBuddy's next update (7.2.0) is PACKED with new features and improvements.

This could have easily been 2 or 3 updates, but I wanted to get out a banger!

Will be available soon for both iOS & macOS.
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While I was in Leeds, I spent the little free time that I had to rebuild the task board of LaunchBuddy

It looks better, but most importantly it's MUCH smoother than before. You can also reorder tasks in each column by just dragging between two other tasks.
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Little swag-corner coming back from Leeds @RevenueCat @kotlin @RunwayTeam
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And just a few days later, @KotlinLeeds is coming to an end as well.

I genuinely enjoyed chatting with people and hanging out with the community. Thank you @Adam9Rush & team for making it happen!

Thanks as well for inviting me to give the closing keynote. It was tons of fun!
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Day 1 of @KotlinLeeds kicking off
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So HomeView is essentially your iOS app’s widgets (free if you already have some) + your CarPlay app

What a weird API decision
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Day two of @swift_leeds with @dvrzan talking about CloudKit public databases
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Improving the reviews screen of LaunchBuddy

The goal is to make it super easy to reply to your app's reviews & turn them into tasks if you want
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Another perk of visiting @swift_leeds and @KotlinLeeds is that I can finally try iPhone Mirroring since I'm outside the EU!
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Xcode Instruments can be super confusing...

so many templates
so many graphs
and no clue what to do with all this data

@twannl just released RocketTrace, a new Mac app that makes performance optimization much more manageable

Watch our interview: youtu.be/cDtgTlDeev0?si…
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Control your Codex & Cursor agents inside Minecraft

> HUD on the left screen edge with running & unread agents
> full screen window to chat with agents
> start new agents

No need to constantly switch between Minecraft and Codex/Cursor
Keep playing while your agents work: github.com/FloWritesCode/…
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Of course this setting doesn't get persisted and automatically switches back to list mode every time...
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Trying out the new Asset Library in ASC by uploading a banner image for LaunchBuddy

Your app can really stand out in the next few months by just adapting this new creative slot
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Yesterday I asked what everyone does while waiting for their agents

I try avoiding doomscrolling, so instead playing games is a nice alternative. The issue is that they pull you in and you miss your agents' updates...

So I (Cursor) built a Minecraft Mod that shows all ongoing + rs & Codex agents. It also lets you reply to them & start new agents.

Grab it here: github.com/FloWritesCode/…
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I still see people saying that agents produce bad code and don't know their way around SwiftUI

The thing is: it's definitely not a model problem anymore - all of the flagship models are beyond smart enough

You're lacking something else: youtu.be/HSvaQ5wq4zA
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One prompt, no screenshots or recordings provided

Opus 5.5. created this App Store Preview video based on Apple's requirements

It took about 2 hours on Extra High inside Cursor

I will make a video about this process soon!
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I worked on increasing the quality & value of my content over the last weeks

If you enjoy watching my videos & want to learn more about buildings iOS apps, please subscribe to my YT channel: YouTube.com/FloWritesCode
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Another variant produced by this prompt:

"Similar to this, I want you to create a VSL that I can put at the top of launchbuddy.app."

Opus 5.5 is absolutely nuts at motion graphics
Opus 5.5. as a motion designer is absolutely insane

This is from just one prompt with no additional assets. Opus worked inside LaunchBuddy's repo, so it knew about the codebase. No images provided though.
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Opus 5.5. as a motion designer is absolutely insane

This is from just one prompt with no additional assets. Opus worked inside LaunchBuddy's repo, so it knew about the codebase. No images provided though.
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And here I was thinking it'll never use more than 50GB...

I'm not even running anything intense. All these apps are just idle (Xcode, Cursor, Codex, Slack)
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Replying to @JJDogegg
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Hey I'm Flo, a Freelance & Indie Developer + Content Creator from Germany

I live from Freelance work, and love teaching others about iOS development

Trying to escape the rat race & enjoy everyday life
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iPhone Duo might be the biggest opportunity for indie devs right now

Barely any big company will have its app ready on day 1.

Get ahead of them & get featured: youtu.be/JcHrnv1dspA
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iPhone 17 Pro takes incredible pictures at night
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No better feeling than setting up a new Mac from scratch!
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Make your apps stand out in the App Store by adopting the new image & video banners

youtube.com/watch?v=PJv9T8…
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Cool little detail - Xcode 27 has a menu bar item showing which projects have an active MCP connection to an agent

I think this is actually not from Xcode itself, but the new MCP CLI it ships with
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Making lots of progress porting LaunchBuddy from platform-based layout decisions to sizeclass-based

I'm using my own agent skill for SwiftUI on iPhone Duo + Xcode's built-in "App Resizability" skill

Took a few iterations to get to this state, but I'm super happy with the will have to improve the layout for the Duo + make sure iPhone, iPad, and Mac layouts didn't break!
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And here's the Simulator in the Xcode 27.1 Beta

Xcode 27.1 also includes an agent skill to help with adapting your apps to iPhone Duo

You can also grab my agent skill below (it's based on the documentation & developer session videos)
iPhone Duo is coming and your agents won't have a clue how to build for it

So I turned all the new documentation, APIs and developer sessions into an agent skill

Grab it here: github.com/FloWritesCode/…

The skill will get updated as new APIs / Xcode 27.1 gets introduced
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Let's see what this is about!
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iPhone Duo ist a GREAT opportunity for indie developers

Use SwiftUI, stay close to the system look, and you'll get the new layout for free

Submit a nomination request and you might even get your app featured

More thoughts: youtu.be/JcHrnv1dspA
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Xcode 27.2 finally fixes the most annoying issue

You used to get merge conflicts in the project file all the time - even if nothing really changed

Check out this new JSON-based project structure and their new agent skills
project.pbxproj is dead 🪦

Xcode 27.2 ships a JSON project format (.xcproj): default for new projects, readable, merge-friendly, agent-editable.
developer.apple.com/documentation/…
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If your agents suck at SwiftUI, you should hand them these tailor-made skills by Apple Engineers

They’re built right into Xcode and you can export them to use inside other agents with this command.
2/ Xcode 27 ships 10 handwritten skills with best practices for app development and modernization. Export them to read yourself or drop into any agent with:
xcrun agent skills export
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There are issues with liquid glass ToolbarItems / ToolbarItemGroups on macOS

Notice the + button? It has this weird vertical inset effect, despite having zero styling. It's literally just a Button with a systemImage...
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Replying to @FloWritesCode
After a bit of iteration, I landed on these (minimal) changes for macOS 27
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LaunchBuddy looking JUICY on macOS 27!

I didn't have the beta, so a few things are looking off! Will get out an update ASAP.
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How do some people get their apps & updates accepted every time?
Why do yours get rejected after waiting for 7+ days?

There are real strategies you can use to increase your chances of going into review faster & getting accepted every time.
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Such a fond memory being on stage at @swift_leeds a few years ago!

So I'm beyond excited to announce that I will be speaking at @KotlinLeeds this year! Once again, I will give the closing talk to an incredible conference.

I'm in town all week and will be attending both Leeds!
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Replying to @vidIQ
@vidIQ Looking forward to your feedback!
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iPhone Duo ... isn't free for Developers

You need to actively make sure your app looks great & behaves as the user expects

Get started: youtu.be/dPZq_nyFYWE
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Replying to @kashif_mehmood_
@kashif_mehmood_ Absolutely, this is part of the skill to help prevent hallucinations!
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iPhone Duo is coming and your agents won't have a clue how to build for it

So I turned all the new documentation, APIs and developer sessions into an agent skill

Grab it here: github.com/FloWritesCode/…

The skill will get updated as new APIs / Xcode 27.1 gets introduced
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iOS 27 & SwiftUI make it super easy to reorder items in lists / sections

It's literally a 2-line API: youtu.be/dgL-kkv9jh8
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The new analytics screen for @LaunchBuddy_App is looking soooo nice!

You'll soon be able to connect your @RevenueCat account to see monetization data

And I've majorly improved performance & how long it takes to fetch new reports from ASC
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Saw this post on Reddit about reducing RAM for iOS simulators

OFC it only makes sense to disable services if you don't need them (e.g. when not working on widgets)

Nice to know!
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Replying to @emin_builds
@emin_builds You get confetti if you use LaunchBuddy 🤩
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You can now remove support for Intel-based Macs when targeting macOS 27+
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Replying to @SebJVidal
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Last year while I was on vacation, I built Ekho, an app that turns tweets into social-ready images (e.g. to crosspost to IG & TT)

I'll be on vacation again from tomorrow... what will I build this time?
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Every time I open X I see people getting rejected or being stuck "waiting for review"

I absolutely know the pain - I almost missed the #shipaton submission last years because I was waiting for over 2 weeks to get into review

So I made a video covering everything that helps ter & avoiding unnecessary rejections: youtu.be/6G0z4MAEl1o
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It‘s super annoying to get stuck waiting for review!
While there is no magic pill, there are several things you CAN do to help the process (no, I‘m not talking about expedited reviews)

Just made a video on this:
youtu.be/6G0z4MAEl1o
I THOUGHT BUILDING MY FIRST IPHONE APP WOULD BE EXCITING.

It wasuntil App Review.

Microdex has been stuck in review for almost two weeks. I already have updates ready, but I can’t ship any of them.

Honestly, Apple is starting to drain all the excitement I had when I built it.
review really take this long?
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Picked up the Logi Master 4 today ... and finally the microlag that I had with multiple Master 3Ss is gone.

Feelsgoodman

Gotta get used to the haptics and different way of switching between desktops, but so far a nice upgrade!
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Are you working on your @RevenueCat #shipaton submission?

There's nothing worse than working on your app all summer and adding "one more feature" over and over.
... But then never actually ship

Make sure you actually ship: launchbuddy.app
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Replying to @cursor_ai
@cursor_ai For some reason my daily automation started getting rate limited a week ago. This is the only automation I have and it worked great for several weeks straight. When I run it manually, it works. Any ideas?
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