Apps for Mac, iPhone and iPad

Pick an app

Small apps made at home, each one built because I wanted it: music, a few Mac helpers, and maps for the boat and the hills. alSpot is free to download for the Mac; the others are personal projects, shown here as they are.

alSpot on the Mac: a grid of album covers with genre buttons and a speaker picker Mac · iPhone · iPad
Free download for Mac

alSpot

Album player for Spotify and Apple Music

Your Spotify albums and your Apple Music library side by side, as covers, played on any speaker in the house: the Mac, a HomePod, an Apple TV, or the old AirPlay speaker newer apps forgot about.

  • Spotify + Apple Music
  • AirPlay 1 and 2 speakers
  • Menu bar
Visit alSpot

Mac helpers

Small tools that sit in the menu bar or a corner of the screen and do one job for my desk.

Mac

SoundToggl

Sound switcher and screenshot tray

A little bar beside the Dock that moves your Mac's sound between headsets and speakers in one click, plus a menu bar tray for fresh screenshots, a clipboard history and a shelf for dragging files.

  • Menu bar app
  • Sound output
  • Screenshots
See SoundToggl
Mac

Bubbl

Bubbles for unread Teams chats

Small floating bubbles in the top-right corner of your Mac, one for each unread Microsoft Teams chat, like chat heads on a phone. Click one and Teams opens on that conversation.

  • Menu bar app
  • Microsoft Teams
  • No sign-in
See Bubbl
Mac

MOX Optimize 3

Mac slowdown detective

A menu bar helper that reads the last 30 seconds of your Mac's system log and suggests what to fix. A quick scan stays on your Mac; the full AI report sends a log summary to OpenAI with your own API key.

  • Menu bar app
  • System log
  • OpenAI optional
See MOX Optimize 3
Mac

ExoDOSMac

Launcher for eXoDOS games

A Mac front end for the eXoDOS collection of classic DOS games: browse the box art, install a game when you want it, play it in DOSBox and keep snapshots of your saves. Bring your own copy of the collection.

  • DOS games
  • Save snapshots
  • Bring your own eXoDOS
See ExoDOSMac

Video, paper and kids

For the living room and the paperwork.

iPhone · iPad

alPlex

Plex player with offline downloads

Take your own Plex movies and shows offline. Stow a film, a season or a whole series in one tap, then watch with no connection at all, in a player you steer with a swipe.

  • Works offline
  • Your own Plex server
  • Background downloads
See alPlex
iPhone · iPad

ios-Scanner

Scanner that names your paperwork

Point, scan, save: it straightens each page, reads the text on your phone, then asks an AI service you choose to name, date and tag the PDF before copying it to iCloud Drive or OneDrive.

  • Bring your own AI
  • Searchable PDFs
  • iCloud and OneDrive
See ios-Scanner
The Captain Patch video library on an iPad: a grid of eleven 1940s public domain cartoons with colourful thumbnails, running times and progress bars. iPad · iPhone

Captain Patch

Eye patch helper for kids

A cartoon player for little ones in eye patch therapy. Cartoons play while the patch and glasses are on, and pause with a friendly cartoon animal when they come off. All the checking stays on the device.

  • Amblyopia patching
  • On-device camera check
  • Cartoons included
See Captain Patch

On the water and in the hills

Made for boating and hiking around Howe Sound, in British Columbia.

EasyNav on iPhone: a Canadian nautical chart of Howe Sound, Bowen Island and English Bay with depths, buoys and shipping lanes, the boat's blue arrow near Gambier Island, zoom buttons on the right and a position and speed bar at the bottom. iPhone · iPad · Apple Watch

EasyNav

Marine chart plotter

A chart plotter in the spirit of Navionics, made for a small RIB in Howe Sound and the Salish Sea: Canadian charts, tides, currents, wind and routes, with the boat on the chart. Reference only, not for navigation.

  • Marine charts
  • Works offline
  • Apple Watch
See EasyNav
iPhone · iPad

ZodiacFinder

Boat tracker and anchor watch

Where is the boat right now? ZodiacFinder shows the Zodiac's latest GPS fix on a map, raises an alarm if it drags anchor, and keeps an eye on the boat battery, from the tracker and over Bluetooth.

  • Anchor alarm
  • Bluetooth
  • GPS tracker
See ZodiacFinder
iPhone · iPad

HoweTopo

Hiking map for Howe Sound

A topographic hiking map for Howe Sound and the Sea-to-Sky. Drop waypoints, get a route that follows real trails with its climb and elevation profile, record your hikes, and save the map for places with no signal.

  • Topographic maps
  • Trail routing
  • Offline map tiles
See HoweTopo