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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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news

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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news

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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news

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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news

Yummy 3.5

If I said that there were no new features in the latest version of Yummy, you might very well get the wrong idea.

In fact, a lot has changed.

Rather than add new things, Yummy 3.5 concentrates on making existing things easier and faster, while also updating the core code to make it more maintainable and future proof.

Bookmark Edit
Bookmark Editing screen in Yummy 3.5

In terms of things you’ll notice, three screens have been completely re-written. At the centre is one of the main screens in the whole app: the dialog used to create and edit bookmarks. There are also new screens to filter and sort bookmarks and tags.

The new screens are completely new, using Apple’s latest user interface framework, SwiftUI. Arguably they all have a cleaner, more modern look.

The bookmark editing view has had the most changes. New this time are the tag suggestions. In addition to the auto correct suggestions at the bottom of the screen, beneath the tags you’ll now see tag suggestions. It will show you three suggestions based on what you’ve typed so far. Hopefully that will save you some typing.

Additionally, as you type tags, they appear as tags rather than just as text. The visual representation is helpful, I think, but there’s also utility. You can quickly remove tags that you added by mistake just by tapping them. Again, saves some typing.

The funny thing, though, is that I never got many complaints about the bookmark entry screen. One of the most frequent requests was about the “Share Extension,” the screen that allows you to add new bookmarks in Safari and other applications. As a way of heading those off, in addition to rewriting the whole bookmark editing screen, I also ported the whole thing over to the “Share Extension.” There are a couple of minor differences, but, basically, the “new bookmark” screen is now the same whether you access it from Yummy itself or from another application.

Of course, there are the usual collection of “bug fixes and performance improvements.” It’s been “modernised,” uses more of Apple’s latest APIs and has more updated dependencies so that it operates as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Overall, while it is technically accurate to say that there are no new features, it’s not fair to say that Yummy 3.5 isn’t greatly improved. It’s currently with Apple for review and hopefully should be available for download shortly. Hope you like it.

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news

Yummy 3.4.3

New shortcut menu
Yummy

Yummy 3.4.3 has just been approved by Apple and should be available for download from the App Store shortly (if it isn’t already).

It’s a pretty small update, one of those “bug fixes and minor update” releases. The main user-visible change is that it now supports all the latest Apple devices and their new screen sizes. It’s built with the latest Apple developer kit but doesn’t currently take advantage of any of the new iOS 14 features.

I have heard a few reports of Yummy’s Share Extension not appearing correctly on iOS 14. I think this is a problem with iOS since I’ve not changed anything in Yummy and it’s been working since 2015. Indeed, Yummy 3.4.2 is still built against iOS 13. I can’t guarantee that this version will miraculously fix it, but that’s my hope.

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support

Wandle Apps and macOS 11 Big Sur

If you upgraded to macOS 11 last week, hopefully, you also got the latest version of Quick Calendar which also includes a new Widget.

Something that you might have seen in Apple’s marketing literature is the ability to run iOS apps on the Mac. To be clear: this is not something that works on existing Mac, only on the brand-new-out-this-week Apple Silicon-based Macs. And the obvious question is, what about Wandle Software’s app? Can you run them on new Macs?

Big Sur Quick Calendar Widget
Big Sur Quick Calendar Widget

There are two answers to this. The first one is yes. I’ve allowed Yummy to be downloaded from the Mac App Store. I turned off the ability to download Quick Calendar since there’s already a Mac app.

But the second answer is: I don’t know. I don’t have an Apple Silicon Mac, so I’ve not tested it. It might work well, or it might not work at all. This also means that if you have problems, I can’t really help. If I hear about a lot of problems I’ll probably disable downloads until the point that I can adequately test it.

So, if you have a new M1 Mac, I hope you enjoy your new toy and I hope my apps work well on it! Please let me know your experiences in the comments below.

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news

Yummy 3.4.2

The way that Yummy talks with Pinboard is using what’s called an API, an application programming interface. Pinboard’s API is based on the now-defunct Delicious bookmarking site, now also owned by Pinboard.

Why am I telling you all this? The funny thing is, the Pinboard API is not very good for syncing your whole collection of bookmarks with a third-party app. Of course, this is the whole raison d’être for Yummy.

Since 2008, Yummy has gone through a few iterations of its synchronisation code. In the very early days, it was limited by both the hardware and the software of the time. The slow, single-core CPU of early iPhones, plus the lack of memory, meant that some approaches just wouldn’t work reliably. Plus I had to make it sync with both Pinboard and Delicious.

Yummy 3.4.2 represents the latest update. It’s the fastest version yet and is more efficient, taking less of a toll on your battery life.

There are also a few bug fixes and minor improvements that most people won’t notice. I guess that’s the theme of this release!

It’s now with Apple for review and hopefully will be available to download very shortly.