New year, new you, right?
Personally, I’ve got a few New Year’s resolutions: Get in shape, eat better, smoke less pot, etc., etc. And this year, I’m actually sticking to them!
It’s not a resolution per se, but one thing I’d like to explore in 2026 is making an app.
I have a billion-dollar idea that’s going to be fabulously successful, but unfortunately, I can barely program our coffeemaker, let alone a sophisticated piece of software.
But as you can see from today’s top post, the complete absence of programming skills is no longer an impediment!
Longtime Cult of Mac contributor Graham Bower, a graphic designer by trade, just relaunched his weightlifting app, Reps & Sets, which he vibe coded!
Crucially, the app takes advantage of Apple’s modern frameworks, like SwiftUI, HealthKit, Liquid Glass and CloudKit for seamless syncing.
It’s not all vibes, though. Graham watched a lot of WWDC videos, learning how these frameworks operate, how Apple’s APIs work, how to submit apps to the App Store, and so on. But as he said to me:
In writing a prompt, you need to know what you want. And to know what you want, you need to know what's possible with Apple's frameworks. I think vibe coding broadens who can do apps, because you don't have to get too into the complex code. But you do still have to have an interest in learning what the APIs do, and the UI design principles, etc., at a high level. To me, as a designer, that's the fun stuff!
Graham’s app looks great, and one of my resolutions is to start weight training again instead of just riding my bike. I don’t want to get ripped. I’d just like to be able to open a jar of peanut butter, and Reps & Sets 26 looks like a great way to get started again.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Data shows that most people abandon their resolutions by mid-January, but here are three apps to keep your new streaks going.
Wow. Apple crunched its own data and found that Apple Watch wearers buck the quitting trend. Strapping on your wearable actually increases your time working out. Of course, this is a self-selecting group, but Apple Fitness+ is highly underrated. My daughter’s been doing a few Fitness+ workouts and is a big fan.
We’ve relaunched The CultCast podcast as the Cult of Mac podcast, and our first show looks ahead to the banger year Apple is poised to have. Lots of exciting stuff coming. (The video version of the podcast is embedded below.)
My mom saw my iPhone in StandBy mode the other day. When I explained what it was, she said, “I want that; why don’t I have that?” She does — and you probably do, too. Here’s how to get the most out of StandBy mode, like setting it up for different tasks in different rooms! 🤯 🤯 🤯
We have a really good deal on AnyTrans, an alternative to iMazing and other comprehensive device-management tools. The number of things the software does is dizzying, including being a quick and easy way to transfer music from an old iPod. One use case that caught my eye is making it easy to rearrange the app icons on your iPhone, a task that drives even Zen masters homicidal.
Over the holidays, the socials blew up with images of the latest iPhones decorated with stickers. It horrified some people, but decorating your device has a long and storied history. Who hasn’t slapped a sticker on their MacBook?
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
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One more thing ...
I love what we're doing at Apple now, I think it's the best work that Apple's ever done. But I think all of us on the Mac team point to that as the high point of our careers. It's like The Beatles playing Shea Stadium. We were really working 14-to-18-hour days, seven days a week. For, like, two years, three years. That was our life. But we loved it, we were young, and we could do it.
Today’s poll
Are you making any New Year's resolutions?
Results from Wednesday’s poll: Are you intrigued by a touchscreen MacBook Pro?
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