Five native Mac & iOS workflow utilities. Private, local, secure and insanely fast.

Software
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My name is Michael Shear, a journalist for the New York Times by day and an indie Mac/iOS developer in my spare time, writing to share five native utilities designed around low-friction workflows, speed, and open data architectures:

  1. Clipfile (macOS / iOS / Safari & Chrome) – Save articles with one tap from browser toolbars, share sheets, annotate context immediately, and retrieve text offline with end-to-end encryption. Synced securely across devices.

  2. Jottle (macOS / iOS / Apple Watch) – Frictionless hotkey thought capture. Pressing a hotkey drops a floating notepad over whatever window you’re working in. Type, save, and return to work without window-switching. Notes sync via iCloud, support Face ID-locked entries, and pin to widgets.

  3. Prexy (macOS / iOS) – A story and long-form writing dashboard organized by beat and status (not started, in progress, filed). Every note automatically mirrors to a plain Markdown directory on disk, ensuring reporting is never locked inside a silo.

  4. Notch (macOS / iOS) – A minimal front-end and menu bar client for Apple Reminders. It uses no proprietary database, operating entirely on native Reminders data while parsing buried URLs (emails in Mimestream/Spark, files, web links, or Prexy story schemes) into tappable pill

  5. Deets (macOS / iOS / Apple Watch) – Deets is a fast contacts app built around one thing: getting to a person. Press ⌥C in any app, type a few letters of a name, Return, and their card is there to call, message, copy or share. No avatars, nothing to scroll. It reads your existing Apple Contacts, so there’s nothing to import.

In my opinion, the most exciting feature is the use of simple, clean HUDs for all five apps on the Mac. No more crowding up your screens with five individual apps. Five hotkeys fire simple heads-up displays much like Siri, Spotlight or Raycast. Its simple and intuitive. And fast. The Mac apps are each a small, lifetime purchase with no subscriptions ever. The iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps can all be downloaded for free and are usable without purchasing the Mac apps.

Full details on the entire workflow suite are available here: https://mikeshear.com/coding/

All of the apps are available on the Apple App Stores.

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Welcome, Michael. Curious if you’ve seen uptake of these from other journalists in your private testing, etc. I can see the quick HUDs fitting that world well.

The marketing copy and design being standard Claude-ish might slow uptake from the public; any plans to make it more “yours”?