Guilherme Rambo is a Mac and iOS developer based in Brazil. Known for discovering Apple’s secrets and analyzing leaks, he writes about his discoveries on 9to5mac.
If you have any tips or suggestions, contact him at guilherme@9to5mac.com
Organizing Combine-based code, the security of smart home devices, whether the Apple TV is gaining eARC support, and how to use compiler directives and launch arguments to customize an app at both compile time and runtime.
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The security of millions of iOS apps could have been compromised due to a security vulnerability in the popular dependency manager CocoaPods.
Software developers often rely on code written by other companies or developers in order to speed up the development of their products. To facilitate the management of code from other sources — known as dependencies — developers use a tool called a dependency manager. The same is true when developing for Apple’s platforms, and the most popular dependency manager for iOS apps by far is CocoaPods.
This past Monday, the maintainers of the project released a statement uncovering a security issue that’s been recently discovered and was present in the software since June 2015, giving attackers plenty of time to potentially exploit it.
John and Rambo discuss all of the major announcements from Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event, including the new iMac, AirTags, the M1-powered iPad Pro, and the updated Apple TV. Also, the key factors that can help make a code base easier to navigate, and the benefits of going all-in on HomeKit.
During its Spring Loaded event, Apple has finally unveiled the long-rumored and profusely leaked AirTag, its item tracker integrated into the Find My network. We’ve known about this product since early 2019, when 9to5Mac reported about its development. Since then, the product has made several appearances in iOS builds and even appeared briefly in a YouTube video on Apple’s Support channel.
It’s finally time for another round of Apple Event Keynote Poker, with John and Rambo placing their bets as to what Apple might announce during their “Spring Loaded” event on April 20th. Also, the power of HTTP, SwiftUI for AR, Swift’s Result Builders feature, and more.
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John and Rambo talk about Kara Swisher’s recent interview with Tim Cook, Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency initiative and the new additions to Apple Arcade, and classic vs modern UIKit. Also, behind the scenes of this year’s April Fools’ jokes, and a somewhat unique #askStacktrace segment.
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John is excited about SwiftUI animations, Rambo updates the unofficial WWDC app, Xiaomi resurrects AirPower, and Apple announces WWDC21. Also, the latest Apple TV rumors, and what’s good to keep in mind when hosting a Hackathon.
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Rambo launches a new app, John has thoughts about SwiftUI’s heavy usage of Swift’s type system, and it turns out that there might be more to the HomePod mini than meets the eye.
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Optimizing the performance of SwiftUI views, mixing client work with indie development, Apple’s recent discontinuation of the original HomePod, and what it takes to provide really good feedback and bug reports when testing an app.
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Rambo picks up Android development, John is continuing to turn into a Mac developer, and the two discuss the recent discontinuation of the iMac Pro and how developers can improve the way they communicate with other team members.
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The first report about Apple working on an item tracker was back in April 2019, here on 9to5Mac. Since then, we’ve seen the device appear and disappear from iOS builds and even show up in an official Apple video on YouTube. More recently, rumors started picking up again about its imminent release, given the presence of support for third-party item trackers in iOS 14.5, which will also work for Apple’s own item tracking device.
But if you’re tired of waiting for Apple to release their own item tracker, there’s an open-source project that might help you, but only if you’re into hacking. Researchers from German university TU Darmstadt reverse-engineered the protocol used by Apple devices to participate in the Find My network and released free resources for those who would like to create their own item-tracking device at home.
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Localizing an indie app, the stability of SwiftUI previews, various ways of storing and handling app data, and whether Apple might be building a general-purpose cloud computing platform.
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App Clip analytics, building macOS apps using SwiftUI, Apple’s initial response to the latest App Store scams, speculation about what a potential Apple March event might include, and getting started with unit testing.
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App Store scams have recently resurfaced as a developer exposed several scam apps in the App Store making millions of dollars per year. Most of these apps exploit fake ratings and reviews to show up in search results and look legit, but trick users into getting subscriptions at irrationally high prices.
After a deep dive into various ways of making Swift interact with C++ code, as well as the latest AirBuddy and humidifier hack updates, John and Rambo discuss the recent discontinuation of Swift for TensorFlow, and whether open sourcing commercial projects is a good idea.
Rambo hacks a humidifier, John is excited about linting and continuous integration, and the two discuss the most recent set of exposed App Store scams and what Apple could do to improve the situation. Also, SwiftUI jobs and minimum deployment targets.
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John and Rambo discuss some of the key new features that are being introduced in iOS 14.5 and Xcode 12.5, as well as their preferred debugging workflows, and how to deal with tech debt and refactoring in a pragmatic and sustainable way.
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The joy of writing apps using SwiftUI and modern UIKit, a review of the AirPods Max, will FaceID come to the iMac anytime soon, and what sort of things are good to consider when working with third party SDKs and frameworks?
John and Rambo react to the latest Mac and iPhone rumors, design a new feature for AirBuddy, talk about Swift Evolution and not-quite-public language features, and discuss various ways of using frameworks and libraries on Apple’s platforms.
Rambo goes indie, John realizes once again how important breaks are, and the two discuss the latest rumors around Apple’s AR glasses in great detail, all the way down to the API design level. It’s Stacktrace, after all.
On the final holiday special for this year (or, last year?), John and Rambo discuss their expectations for 2021, and what products and new developer tools that they hope to see from Apple during this new year.
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On this second Stacktrace holiday special, John and Rambo look back at the past year and what some of the highlights were among the hectic, strange rollercoaster ride that 2020 has been.
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On the first ever completely non-technical episode of Stacktrace, John and Rambo answer #askstacktrace questions about everything from local holiday traditions to what their favorite airplanes are.
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An accidental deep dive into how the AirPods’ transparency mode is activated over Bluetooth, the launch of Swift by Sundell 3.0, running macOS code in the cloud, multiple headphone reviews and a comparison between the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 mini.
