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Goodbye

This is an incredibly difficult post for me to write. It is the end of an era.

Yummy hit the App Store in August 2008 and has been there ever since. Its highest grossing years were at the beginning. Initially, it was the only Delicious.com client on the App Store, and sales grew as the iPhone itself did. Sales also grew when the iPad came out, and I was able to release a version that supported its bigger screen fairly quickly. I bought my first iPad for the express purpose of making it! I didn’t expect to like it.

Over the years, I’ve released fifty-four versions of Yummy. There was also Yummy Browser, the free version. I wrote support for various URL shortening services1 for Yummy’s “share” functionality2 and hived that out into a new app called www.cut3.

I also released Rootn Tootn4, ShareEverywhere and CameraGPS5. For the Apple TV I wrote Glider, which started as an experiment to help learn Swift. To help market the apps, I wrote a “Smart App Banner” plugin for WordPress. And most recently, I wrote a calendar “widget,” which I eventually ported from the Mac6 to the iPhone and iPad7, to the Watch and then, when Apple changed the way you write widgets, back again from the Watch to the other platforms.

What I’m saying is that it’s been a busy decade. But, sadly, not a profitable one. It was never completely about the money. It was always intended to be a hobby with potential rather than my sole income. But at some point, you have to acknowledge that you don’t have the time any more and that the odds of breaking even, much less making money, are increasingly remote.

If I’m honest with myself, that point was a few years ago.

You can see where this is going.

I’m shutting down Wandle Software. This means that all the apps are no longer available to download from the App Store. I won’t be able to update or support them.

For those who have supported me over the years, I am genuinely grateful. I hope there are other apps out there that meet your needs.


  1. Remember those? ↩︎
  2. Remember when iOS didn’t have built-in share sheets? ↩︎
  3. Twelve versions ↩︎
  4. Ten versions ↩︎
  5. Six versions ↩︎
  6. Five versions ↩︎
  7. Nine versions ↩︎
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Yummy is free for a limited time!

When Apple announced the App Store in 2008, I started playing around with the developer kit but didn’t actually finish anything. But when the App Store launched in June I found a gap that I wanted filling: a bookmark manager.

I had a goal.

By the end of July I had something working well enough that I wanted to try running on a real device. To do that, I had to join Apple’s Developer Program.

To commemorate that milestone, made an incredible fourteen years ago now, I have made Yummy for iPhone, iPad and Mac free for the next couple of weeks.

If you download it and like it, please use the “Tip Jar” to show your appreciation!

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Yummy for Mac

I’m happy to announce the immediate availability of Yummy, our Pinboard.in client, for macOS 11 (and later).

Yummy 3.6 for Mac

As far as I know, Yummy is the longest-serving Delicious and Pinboard client. It’s been continually in the iOS and iPad App Store since 2008, with dozens of free updates, keeping pace with iOS developments and adding new features. And now it’s here on the Mac.

Using Apple’s Catalyst technology, I have brought the full feature set over. Like the iPad version, it supports multiple accounts, full-text search, local access to all your bookmarks, downloaded to your machine and available offline. It has the same built-in web browser and the same three-pane view introduced in version 3.6 on the iPad, Shortcuts and the share extension, so you can save your bookmarks from Safari and other applications that support Mac standards.

There are a couple of minor things that didn’t make it to the Mac, but that’s mostly because they don’t make sense. I have some ideas on how to make it an even better Mac “citizen” over the next few releases, but it already has menus and partial keyboard support. There’s always more that can be done, of course, but, as they say, “perfect is the enemy of good.”

It’s taken a long time to finish this release. It took longer than expected to port and then a frustrating few weeks getting it through Apple’s review process, but I’m very happy that it’s now available to download. I hope you like it.

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trivia

WWDC 2022

For those who are not “in the loop,” WWDC is Apple’s developer conference, where they announce all the new software releases for the year. Usually the new updates are made available in September and October, but we get a preview of what’s coming in June.

So, what happened this year?

I don’t think there’s anything earth-shattering for Wandle Software. The improvement to SwiftUI should be beneficial, as should the enhancements to Catalyst. App Intents should make the Shortcuts that were included in Yummy 3.6 a little bit more useful.

I’m going to take a look at the new home screen widgets for iPhone, but I’m not convinced that this is the right place for Quick Calendar. You’ll also be disappointed that Apple did not allow widgets to be interactive, so the long wished-for ability to move back and forth between months is still not possible. Maybe next year.

My favourite new feature, PassKeys, is the beginning of the end for passwords, but there’s no immediate application of it in any of our apps.

All good stuff. We’ll continue to support the latest operating systems of course.

As a consumer, I’m most excited about the watchOS updates. The improvements to the Workout app look great. But — and this is important — I have not installed any of the new operating systems on my devices.

Please don’t install the betas on any of your devices!

I have not tested our apps on the new operating systems yet, and, even if I had, there has not been enough time to resolve any issues. Be patient.

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Yummy Update

A few weeks ago I said that there would be a new app, Yummy for Mac, coming along very shortly. What happened? Has the window for “very soon” not passed?

Well, yes, is the short answer. Those familiar with the Apple app ecosystem may well be able to predict what happened: App Review.

I did not expect Yummy to pass App Review on the first attempt, but since the iPhone and iPad versions have passed the same process many, many times over the years I did not anticipate what did happen. They said that they were unable to review the app since they can’t see what it does. As a third-party Pinboard client, I am not able to provide a sample username and password.

As App Rejections go… this is not entirely unreasonable. It does make me wonder how they’ve been reviewing the iPhone app. But it does present a problem. How can Apple see the app if I am unable to provide valid credentials?

The solution comes from the product’s history. Those with long memories may recall that Yummy used to be a client for a site called Delicious (hence the name). For a while after that, it supported both Delicious and Pinboard and, now that Delicious is defunct, it only allows Pinboard accounts.

With Yummy 3.6.0 for Mac, this changes again. The new version now also supports local accounts. You can now add bookmarks to your Mac and they won’t be uploaded to the cloud at all. I’ll be honest: the main motivation for this is to pass App Review. However, I have had requests for something like this in the past so hopefully, it will prove useful for some users rather than just Apple.

Since the Mac and iPhone apps both share a common code base, this feature will be coming to iOS in the next version, too.

With this additional account option, Yummy should be able to enter App Review proper and, with any luck, will actually be approved. There’s no guarantee that further obstacles will not be created, so please cross your fingers!

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Yummy 3.6

The latest version of Yummy is a surprisingly large release. In terms of lines of code changed, this is probably the most significant since version 3.0 back in 2014.

Three pane view on iPad

Since I use the development version on my own phone and tablet, I sometimes forget how much has changed since the last release. This is one of those times.

If there’s one theme for version 3.6, it’s a refreshed user interface. The most visible changes are available on the iPad, where you can see a new, three-pane view of your bookmarks. On the left is the main menu, next are your bookmarks or tags, and on the right is the usual web view. You’ll also see a refresh of many of the icons and graphics. Rather than use custom glyphs, Yummy now uses Apple’s SF Symbols wherever possible.

There’s also a completely new user interface: Shortcuts. Apple’s automation tool has been around for a few years now and is getting more powerful with every year. Yummy 3.6 adds a couple of new actions to the system, allowing you to add a new bookmark and get the title of a webpage when given a URL. It’s true that the system provides a version of both of these built-in, but, frankly, they’re not very good (especially the “add bookmark” option). When adding a new bookmark, you can add it to any account, and set the title, tags, shared and “to read” status. Naturally, any of these values can come from your automation.

In the “improved but not yet complete” category, we have keyboard shortcuts. There are more keyboard shortcuts in this version but there’s still work to be done.

Yummy has worked on every version of iOS since 2.0 in 2008. During that time, Yummy has acquired special cases for quirks and behaviours for those old versions of iOS and the “best practice” for doing some things has changed over time too. While supporting old phones I have not been able to use the “new” methods, resulting in what programmers call “cruft.” So one of the nice things about this version of Yummy, one that almost no one other than me will ever see, is the amount of code that has been removed from it! But less code means (hopefully) fewer bugs and better support for modern operating systems.

Oh, and did I mention that coming soon there is a Mac version of Yummy? (There will be another post about that shortly when it’s available for download.)

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trivia

Yummy for web3

Social bookmarking was forged in the fires of Web 2.0. Store all your bookmarks in the cloud and share them with your friends. While still tremendously useful, the world is moving on to the next big thing.

Today, we’re announcing that your social bookmarks are moving with the times: we’re adding them to the blockchain!

When you save a new bookmark, we will automatically add it to a blockchain uniquely designed for proving the authenticity of social links.

Each bookmark will simultaneously be published as an NFT that you will be able to purchase, with just one click, right inside the app.

Finally, with the version of Yummy that we’re announcing today, web3, the blockchain and NFTs finally have a use beyond GIFs of monkeys and hexagonal Twitter avatars.

We’re excited to share it with you.

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news

End of 2021 Update

The last update here was in June, so it may look as though there is nothing happening. Not true! So here, very quickly, is what’s going on behind the scenes and what you can expect to happen some time next year.

First: updates for iOS 15 and macOS 12. Broadly, all our software continues to work correctly on the latest operating systems even without updates. Additionally, the new operating systems do not appear to offer any new features or APIs that will enable exciting new features. So yes, there will be updates and they will be built for the new OSs, but there is no urgent need.

The main activity for the last few months, however, is pretty big. It’s driven by both my own, personal needs and customer demand, which is generally a good sign. I have been working on Yummy for Mac.

The new Mac version is a port of the iPad version using Apple’s “Catalyst” technology. Getting a version running was actually pretty straight forward. I had a version running back in May.

https://twitter.com/wandlesoftware/status/1392913061686747136?s=21

But it turns out that there’s a big gap between having a version that “basically” works and one that I’m happy to release.

The changes that are being made for the Mac version mostly improve the iPhone and iPad version too, so none of this is wasted effort. It’s just taking longer than I originally expected.

The Mac version will be released as a new app, initially only in the Mac App Store. Other download options may be made available later. Naturally, the iOS and iPad version will also have some new features but I’ll keep them under wraps for now.

So that’s the new from Wandle HQ. Wishing everyone a great festive season and success in 2022.

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trivia

WWDC21

WWDC is always a cool, exciting, busy, scary week for anyone developing apps for the Apple eco-system. Will your app get Sherlocked1? Will there be new APIs that completely change how your apps work? Are there exciting new opportunities? Long story short, if you Apple developer friends look stressed over the summer, the things announced at WWDC are likely the reason.

This year’s WWDC was great. The move from in-person to remote has been fairly seemless from an outsiders perspective, though I’m sure it didn’t feel that way to the organisers. My favourite feature is that the videos can be just the right length rather than having to be stretched to fill fourty minutes.

The keynotes were not the highlight. Unusually for Apple, there wasn’t much of a story connecting the announcements, just a list of features. Which is not to say that the features were bad. The improvements to FaceTime alone look like they’re worth the price of entry. Focus should be good — I use “Do Not Disturb” a lot — and the streamlining of notifications feels overdue.

From a developer perspective, I have not seen anything that dramatically change Wandle Software’s plans. I’ll start building our apps in the new developer kit sooner rather than later but at this time I don’t see any glitzy new features enabled by the update2.

If this all sounds negative or that I’m underwhelmed, that is not the case. iOS 15 appears to be a large number of very nice, relatively small improvements. There’s no one, big thing to get super excited about but, in the grand scheme, these quality-of-life updates often have a greater effect. From what I’ve seen, it’s quite stable, especially for a first beta, which bodes well for September or October when it will get a wider release.


  1. Will Apple incorporate all your functionality in the operating system itself. ↩︎
  2. Frustratingly, there are some good tools that I’d like to use but that will have to wait until I can stop supporting iOS 14. ↩︎
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App Tracking Transparency

A new feature in iOS and iPadOS 14.5 has been getting a lot of press recently. It’s called “App Tracking Transparency” and the idea is that it gives people the choice as to whether companies can track user behaviour across apps and websites.

Many companies that are funded by advertising dislike ATP as it limits their ability to target individuals. They claim that this will make advertising less effective and end up costing small business more.

We at Wandle Software are big fans of this feature.

We don’t track people. Our apps don’t even include third-party analytics. We literally don’t know how many people are using any of our apps, much less what features they use or any of their behaviour outside the app. Is this limiting? Yes! When we include a new feature we don’t know whether it gets used. But we don’t want our activities to be tracked, so we don’t inflict it on our users either.

Will ATP cost small businesses more? It shouldn’t. If Facebook and Google’s advertising is less effective, market forces would suggest that they should lower their prices. So maybe they make less money. And if they don’t lower their prices then either they didn’t need tracking or there is no effective market (in which case maybe governments should intervene).

Long story short: we don’t track people. You won’t see the “Can we track you?” prompt in any of our apps. But because we’re not supported by advertising, all the money used to fund development comes directly from users, either by purchasing the app or by contributing to the tip jar.