Michael Burkhardt

Vibe coding has shaken the App Store. As stated at WWDC, over 1000 apps are being submitted every hour. Apps can be built substantially faster now – creating a flood of submissions. This is a bit of an issue when there’s only one true method of distributing apps on iPhone, at least in most of the world.

Apple recently introduced a higher review bar for App Store submissions, and while that’s certainly a step in the right direction – I don’t think it’s a full solution.

At WWDC26 this week, Apple announced its series of new software updates – iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and everything else. Of course, Siri and Apple Intelligence ended up being the star of the show, and Apple finally delivered on its AI promises from 2 years ago.

Apple didn’t stop there though. The company went above and beyond, and introduced far more than just what it unveiled at WWDC24. One of those features is called Call Context, and it’ll make everyones phone calls to customer support substantially easier.

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

Habit tracking apps are a dime a dozen, but Grit Method sets itself apart by requiring you to be more thoughtful. With your input, the app clearly outlines four clear goals for you to work towards daily, and it’s about more than just being more productive.

BenQ has been making excellent Mac-friendly monitors for years, and their new MA270S is the creme de la creme of their lineup. It’s a 27-inch 5K monitor, but with a feature that most monitors don’t ship with: a glossy finish.

All of Apple’s displays ship with glossy finishes by default, but for one reason or another, matte finishes have dominated the external monitor market – and BenQ is bucking that trend. This makes the MA270S much more at home with the Mac.

Over a decade ago, with the launch of the of the Apple TV HD and the first version of tvOS, Apple set off on a rather unsuccessful journey to turn the Apple TV into a gaming platform. The efforts have largely died off, but I think this year could potentially mark the beginning of a renaissance, if Apple wanted to. Let’s outline it.

Apple has been working on AI smart glasses for a little while, both to compete against Meta Ray-Bans and to provide a hardware platform for Siri and its Visual Intelligence features. While they were originally set to be announced at the end of this year and debut early next year, that’s now been delayed, with a launch now set to take place by the end of 2027, per Bloomberg.

On the flip side of things, a cheaper and lighter version of Apple Vision Pro, dubbed Vision Air, may arrive as soon as 2028, potentially 2029.

According to the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Apple is gearing up to finally launch new versions of the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini later this year – alongside the long-awaited release of next-generation Siri in iOS 27. These devices will largely be chip upgrades, though the Apple TV 4K may get an updated Siri Remote.

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

Navigating across different cities and figuring out their public transportation can sometimes be a bit messy. Maps apps might not always have the best information, or the apps that do exist aren’t presenting data in a super readable manner.

NextThere aims to tackle that problem, and also packs loads of historical data for providing more informed information regarding delays, on-time performance, and so on. It’s great for tourists and frequent commuters alike.

Last week, reports emerged around Apple developing a new pair of Beats over-ear headphones, with the FCC leaking an outline of the headphones, model number A3577. Now, leading into the world cup, Lamine Yamal has just openly teased the new Beats headphones in an Instagram post, likely to be a successor to Beats Studio Pro.

One of the core Apple Intelligence features to date has been Visual Intelligence. It started off in a rather limited capacity through Camera Control, but with iOS 26, the company expanded it to screenshots. I’ve found those capabilities very useful thus far, and I’d love to see Apple take it even further with iOS 27.

For the better part of a year, we’ve been hearing about Project Mulberry: Apple’s AI-powered health coach. Back in February, it was reported that these efforts had been scaled back. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the features should still be on track for iOS 27, though they may not release until later in the cycle.

On the other hand, Apple is apparently going to greatly improve Apple Watch heart-rate tracking with watchOS 27, which could tie in nicely with Apple’s eventual health coach.

According to this weekend’s Power On newsletter, Apple’s image generation models – used in Genmoji and Image Playground – will be receiving a ‘big boost’ in visual quality. Currently, they’re far from anything to write home about.

In response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple is reportedly working on the ability to replace AirPlay with other third-party streaming protocols at a system level. This feature may only roll out in the European Union, similar to third-party app marketplaces.

While many of the iOS 27 rumors have focused on Apple Intelligence, Siri, and performance – there’s a plethora of upgrades reportedly coming to the Camera app, building on top of the redesign that we saw last year with iOS 26. There’ll also be a number of new AI-enhanced editing tools coming to the Photos app.

Apple has just registered a new subdomain record ahead of WWDC: genai.apple.com. All signs point to WWDC 2026 being Apple’s major AI renaissance, where the company will live up to the promises it made back at WWDC 2024, as well as a few additional new announcements.

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

In a world full of AI assistants and tools that try to make your life easier, Poppy takes a different approach. Rather than requiring your effort up front, Poppy does its best to be proactive – and give you helpful context before you even know you need it.

Introduced in iOS 16, Focus Filters are excellent in premise. If you’re in say, a Work focus, you can block out distracting apps, websites, and notifications. It even works in Messages, where you’ll only see texts from people in your Work focus.

There’s one caveat with its implementation in Messages though, and it makes it much less useful for me than it could be.

According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an interesting new Genmoji feature in iOS 27 to bolster its usage: suggested Genmoji’s based on your photo library and keyboard history.

Next month at WWDC 2026, Apple is expected to finally live up to its AI Siri promises, and more. The company has long been working on a new standalone Siri app to boost how users interact with Siri and Apple Intelligence – and it should be debuting in beta next month.

According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Siri app will come with a privacy feature similar to one on iMessage: auto-deleting chats. He also expects Siri to launch with a beta label even when it’s available publicly in the fall, similar to some previous Apple rollouts.