Writing

Notes from the build process

Engineering, design and product writing from the team - the decisions behind what we ship, and what we would do differently.

Abstract cover art: small bodies orbiting a bright core

Engineering

11 Sept 20264 min read

Apple made on-device AI free for small studios. Here is the catch.

Free Private Cloud Compute below two million downloads removes the infrastructure bill from shipping AI features. It does not remove the harder problems - and that threshold has an odd shape.

Pinkesh Gajera

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Product

8 Sept 20263 min read

Apple wants 15% for sending users off-platform. Do the arithmetic first.

Link-out entitlements sound like an escape from the 30% cut. Once you add payment processing, support and chargebacks, the gap is narrower than the headline and sometimes negative.

Pinkesh Gajera

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Design

4 Sept 20263 min read

Xcode 27 removes the Liquid Glass opt-out. Audit before you recompile.

The ability to opt out of Liquid Glass is going away: recompile with Xcode 27 and your app adopts the new design whether it suits it or not. That turns a routine toolchain bump into a design review.

Pinkesh Gajera

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Product

27 Aug 20263 min read

App Store age verification is an engineering requirement now, not a legal footnote

Texas SB 2420 took effect in June, and Apple now gates 18+ downloads in Australia, Brazil and Singapore. If your app has an age rating above 4+, the Declared Age Range API is part of your build.

Pinkesh Gajera

Abstract cover art: a timeline with milestone markers, one emphasised

Product

24 Aug 20263 min read

How to plan a release around Apple's beta cycle without gambling

The sixth developer beta of the 27 generation arrived in August. If your project plan assumes a September GA date, you are making a bet - here is how to structure it so losing is survivable.

Pinkesh Gajera

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Engineering

15 Aug 20263 min read

Offline-first is a data-layer decision, not a feature you add later

Retrofitting offline support into an app that assumed connectivity is close to a rewrite. The reason is that offline is not a feature - it is an assumption about who owns the truth.

Pinkesh Gajera

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Engineering

1 Aug 20263 min read

Your app is fast on your phone. That is the problem.

Development happens on the fastest hardware in the building, on office wifi, with a fresh install and no data. Almost none of your users are in that situation.

Pinkesh Gajera

Design

18 Jul 20265 min read

Nobody designs the empty state, and it is the first thing users see

Design files show screens full of perfect content. Real users arrive at an app with nothing in it, on a bad connection, having just made a mistake. Those screens decide what they think of the product.

Pinkesh Gajera

Abstract cover art: a checklist with the first items ticked

Product

4 Jul 20264 min read

The release checklist we read out loud before every submission

Most failed releases fail on something trivial that everyone assumed somebody else had checked. The fix is boring and it works: a written list, read aloud, every time.

Pinkesh Gajera

Notes from the build processNotes from thebuild process

Apple made on-device AI free for small studios. Here is the catch.

Apple wants 15% for sending users off-platform. Do the arithmetic first.

Xcode 27 removes the Liquid Glass opt-out. Audit before you recompile.

App Store age verification is an engineering requirement now, not a legal footnote

How to plan a release around Apple's beta cycle without gambling

Offline-first is a data-layer decision, not a feature you add later

Your app is fast on your phone. That is the problem.

Nobody designs the empty state, and it is the first thing users see

The release checklist we read out loud before every submission

Notes from the build process