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Itā€™s not only a milestone for OS X/macOS this week. Here we are at Issue 500!

It was almost ten years ago, but I can recall pressing send on Issue 1 quite vividly. I remember at first being surprised by and then immediately loving the Mailchimp high five. I remember wondering if I had made any typos or got any links wrong.

I also remember feeling unqualified to send that first email. Who was I to think I could recommend articles from the community? I was an experienced iOS developer, but even so, I had no right to do that! I decided not to try and guess what others would find interesting or try to find ā€œthe bestā€ articles, whatever that means! Instead, I chose to only link to things that I found interesting or valuable. If people agreed with me, the newsletter might work, and if they didnā€™t, Iā€™d call it a failed experiment and move on. I donā€™t feel much more qualified to be a judge of articles today, but I still know what I find interesting, and I think after 500 issues, Iā€™m ready to call it a successful experiment! šŸ˜‚

If thereā€™s anything to take away from this slightly self-indulgent opening comment, let it be that you shouldnā€™t be afraid to try new things. When I launched this newsletter, I didnā€™t have any grand plans for it to become a huge success, and I certainly didnā€™t start it with the intention of it generating money. It started because I enjoyed other technical newsletters in this style and wondered if I could do the same for iOS. If I had worried too much about whether it would be popular or successful, Iā€™d never have pushed send that first time and wouldnā€™t be writing this today. It turns out that the best way to know if youā€™re ā€œsupposedā€ to be doing something is toā€¦ start doing it!

 

So, what comes next?

I do have something new to announce today! The newsletter will continue as usual, but you can also become an iOS Dev Weekly Insider.

Over the years, people have occasionally emailed asking if there was any way to pay for the newsletter. My reply has always been to say that just subscribing and reading is enough! That remains true, but if you asked me the same question today, Iā€™d reply that becoming a Supporter would be for you.

But I wanted to offer more, so Iā€™m trying something new. Become an Insider if you want a closer connection to the newsletter. Iā€™ll be hosting weekly live audio discussions that take a more candid look at whatā€™s happening in iOS development. Weā€™ll typically start on the topic from my latest comment, but there will also be a chance to talk about the articles I linked to and the industry in general. I want these sessions to be live as Iā€™m hoping they will be genuine discussions rather than a monologue, and Iā€™d love to get to know the Insiders personally. The first chat will be early next week (scheduled via Patreon), and weā€™ll start by talking about the first story in this weekā€™s news section around the App Store review process.

Finally, if youā€™d like my advice and guidance more directly, I now have a way to provide that on a One to One basis. Iā€™ll get to know you and your app(s) and guide you on your trickiest product, design, and marketing challenges. The only thing to note here is that this is not coding support as there are far more qualified people for that side of things! These sessions are the first time Iā€™ve offered consultancy outside big companies, and Iā€™m excited to work with individuals or smaller companies.

All that said, I want to reiterate that I donā€™t want anyone to feel pressure to subscribe to any of these Patreon tiers. The newsletter remains free, and I have no plans to change that. However, if you would like to get an inside look or just say thank you for 500 issues, sign up to become an iOS Dev Weekly Insider today.

Dave Verwer  

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iOS Developer @ Atomic Robot ā€“ Atomic Robot works with some of the most exciting companies and brands to help them bring their innovative projects to life! We have a highly collaborative team that is focused on high quality engineering and continuous learning. ā€“ Remote

Humbly Confident Senior iOS Developer @ You Need A Budget (YNAB) ā€“ We strive to make working at YNAB a unique and fantastic experience (weā€™ve even been named Fortuneā€™s #1 Best Small Company to Work For). We have a team full of truly exceptional peopleā€”the kind youā€™ll be excited to work with. Weā€™re a software ecosystem that includes apps for web, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android phones. We have some big plans for our iOS app, and thatā€™s where you come in! ā€“ Remote

iOS Developer @ Doximity ā€“ Doximity, the medical network used by over 70% of US clinicians, is hiring passionate iOS engineers (full-time remote!). You'll get to be part of an amazing product team and work on an app that is constantly evolving. Use your skills (Swift, MVVM, FRP) to be an integral part of our newly launched telemedicine feature. Apply today! ā€“ Remote within the US

 

Are you hiring? Get your open iOS development positions listed right here by posting a Featured Listing over at iOS Dev Jobs.

 

And finally...

Letā€™s wrap this week up with a few stats from the last 500 issues. Iā€™ll resume the usual ā€œAnd finallyā€¦ā€ service next week!

First, the obvious one. How many links? 6,989 ā€œmainā€ links, with an additional 5,249 in my comment or the summary text under each link. Surprisingly, in the first 100 issues, I only included 23 links in comments/summaries. In contrast, in the last 100 issues, there have been 2,560. šŸ˜±

How many words have I written? Iā€™ll admit I was slightly disappointed when I counted the total across all issues, and it was a relatively meagre 428,582. I felt a little better when I saw the reading time as a solid 35 hours and 42 minutes. Who wants to read through from the start? Youā€™ll finish before the end of Saturday! Enjoy! šŸ˜‚

What about top domains? The top of the list is predictable, with github.com taking the top spot with 703 links, followed by twitter.com with 326, apple.com with 265 and medium.com with 262, and github.io finishing the top 5 with 88. The list has a very long tail, though, with 65% of links being to domains Iā€™ve never linked to before.

How about links in my comments and summaries? Again, predictable. Starting with 1,579 links to twitter.com (thatā€™s 30% of all links in summaries!), then github.com with 466, apple.com with 397, medium.com with 72, youtube.com with 62, and swift.org coming in at 49.

But, I know what statistic youā€™ve all been anticipating most. Which emoji has been most popular over the 500 issues, and to answer that, Iā€™ll sign off withā€¦

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