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ForeFlight made room for the pilot.
A weather tool for the first iPhone grew into a connected flight bag. Its useful trick was bringing the pilot’s scattered decisions onto the same screen.
Goodnotes made handwriting searchable. Now it wants a say in what comes next.
A maths student’s battle with loose pages became a note-taking business used by more than 25 million people each month. Its next test: adding AI without crowding out the person holding the pen.
Apple Sells You a Smaller World, and You Keep Buying It
It started in a garage and now runs on custom silicon, a services machine, and a billion-plus devices that all talk to each other. Here is how the walled garden actually works - and why leaving it feels like moving countries.
Federico Viticci
Federico Viticci is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, the Italy-based Apple publication he started in 2009 at age 21. He is best known for his book-length annual iOS and iPadOS reviews, his pioneering, almost evangelical insistence on using the iPad as his primary computer, and his deep work on Apple's Shortcuts automation. He co-hosts the AppStories podcast and several Relay FM shows including Connected, and runs the membership community Club MacStories.
Matt Birchler
Matt Birchler is a UX/UI product designer, tech blogger, YouTuber, indie app developer, and podcaster based in Illinois, USA. By day he designs at payments tech company NMI; by night he runs Birchtree - one of the longest-running independent Apple blogs on the internet, active since 2010 - and produces the 'A Better Computer' YouTube channel. He co-hosts the Comfort Zone podcast on MacStories, has built 8+ apps on the App Store, and operates a paid membership newsletter. His editorial independence is a point of pride: he never leaned on ads for income, keeping his voice authentically his own.