Enthusiastic Recommendations — August 22, 2025

Happy Friday! Sophia is six months old today. It’s wild that we’re already halfway to a year. Some days are amazing, some days are hard — but every day has felt like a blessing. We’re lucky to have her.

As I mentioned last week, Relay turned 11 on Monday. Stephen and I recorded our annual Q&A, which we released to everyone. It’s been an interesting week of reflection — looking back at how far we’ve come while also preparing for our annual St. Jude fundraising campaign. Having these two milestones happen so close together each year really puts things in perspective. I think it helps frame what our legacy will be, and both Stephen and I believe now that our work with St. Jude is the most meaningful impact Relay will have on the world. I’m very proud of what we’ve all accomplished together.

Here are some rec-rec-recommendations:

• First up, a two-fer. I had a great time on Upgrade this week, where Jason and I put together a tier list of Apple products based on how much we think Apple cares about them. Then on Upgrade+ we tried renaming a bunch of Apple apps under the convention of “The Finder.” We called the game “The Phoner,” and it was a riot.
• Google held their Pixel event this week. I really enjoyed MKBHD’s overview of everything and Victoria Song’s video on the Pixel Watch 4 specifically. The phones look like a solid bump, with “Magic Cue” standing out as the most interesting feature — though it’s a shame they aren’t bringing it to other devices yet. The Pixel Watch 4 looks fantastic. I love round smartwatches, and the watch face shown in all the images is peculiarly reminiscent of the beautiful designs from Ressence.
• I’ve been doing a lot of competitor research recently on popular widget apps in the App Store, and I’ve been struck by how many include some form of animation in their widgets. I watched a great video by Bryce Bostwick explaining the absolutely bonkers workarounds and hacks developers are using to make this work. The video is really engaging and easy to understand — even if you don’t understand code — and I came away thinking I’d never want to build app functionality on such shaky ground. It seems like you’re always at risk of upsetting your customers when things inevitably break.

Alright, I need to go get ready for my next interview in the State of the Workflow series. I hope you have a great week!