Apple Developer Weekly #251 Upgrade Announcement
Operation Model Adjustment Notice
In recent months, readers may have noticed that the publication schedule of Apple Developer Weekly has been unstable. Sometimes it’s delayed until Wednesday or Thursday, or an entire week is skipped altogether. The truth is, it’s not that I don’t have time, but rather I’ve begun to lose enthusiasm for writing the newsletter.
Collecting materials and writing the newsletter has become increasingly mechanical for me, lacking significant challenge.
On the other hand, since mid-August, I’ve been publishing a new article every weekday in the 13+ column. These contents are carefully thought out and organized outputs.
I still have passion for writing, but it’s currently not focused on the newsletter. And passion is the most precious thing for a creator.
The newsletter has accumulated 251 issues with over 2,800 subscribers and should have helped many people. I don’t want to terminate this newsletter just because my enthusiasm has waned.
I believe the right approach is to adjust the operation model to make it more interesting for me.
Abandoning Fixed Weekly Updates
So, how can writing the Apple Developer Weekly become interesting? The key is to have things I find fun and interesting, that I think are important for developers to know, plus my commentary and experience sharing.
To achieve this, I feel we can no longer continue with the “weekly” publication frequency.
Weekly publication comes with deadline time constraints, content is limited to the previous week’s news, and I don’t have time to research the news content. Over time, the reporting process becomes repetitive labor: collecting materials, organizing titles (including selecting emojis), writing supplementary text, formatting, and then scheduling publication.
If I could explore things without time pressure, I might be able to share some interesting discoveries. This would not only be more interesting for me but also provide readers with more than just surface-level news (Want to experience what “surface-level” means? Recent important developer news is listed at the end of this article).
Simply put, it’s about transforming “Apple Developer Weekly” into “Apple Developer News & Commentary,” without limiting it to the most recent week’s timeframe and topics.
In the future, the writing angle will focus more on:
What recent Apple developer news is worth knowing?
Why did I select this news, and why do I think it’s important for developers?
How does it relate to perspectives or experiences I’ve written about?
Integration with 13+ Column
13+ Column is where my writing passion currently lies, publishing articles every day, almost transforming from a blog into an “Apple Developer Daily.”
However, the situation is a bit subtle. What do I mean? I write about iOS development-related topics every day, but the content rarely addresses “recent” iOS-related news, which seems somewhat unreasonable.
I think 13+ readers would also want to read my commentary and perspectives on some development current events.
So the answer becomes increasingly clear: I should integrate the two publications.
Let me research or analyze some interesting development current events and write them into articles. Part of the content remains free and will be published in the original ethanhuang13.com. More in-depth content will be reserved exclusively for 13+ (ethanhuang13.plus) paid members.
This way, existing newsletter readers will receive the “Apple Developer News & Commentary Newsletter” on an irregular basis (this name is too straightforward😅, I’m still thinking of a better one). The content will be important developer news I’ve selected, with my perspectives and commentary, even hands-on experience.
You can imagine it as current event commentary in the style of 13+ articles.
As for publication frequency, if there are many good things to discuss, publishing several pieces a week wouldn’t be unusual. But if there are no topics worth sharing, we’ll leave it.
Existing newsletter readers (including English version readers) don’t need to make any subscription adjustments.
And the enhanced extended version of this newsletter will be published on 13+, counting as one of the daily updates on 13+. The enhanced content I plan to include:
More in-depth perspective discussions
Code examples
Complete supplementary materials
Thought-provoking questions
Action prompts
Key takeaways
Simply put, if you’re not satisfied with the free version on ethanhuang13.com, you can upgrade to paid 13+ membership. (I don’t have an English version, though.)
Summary
After integrating the two newsletters, I expect the positioning to be:
13 (ethanhuang13.com): “Apple Developer News & Commentary” basic version, irregular updates, can be several pieces a week when there’s good stuff to discuss, or left alone when there’s nothing. Remains free subscription, existing members don’t need to make adjustments (but upgrades to 13+ for the complete version are very welcome)
13+ (ethanhuang13.plus): Paid subscription, unchanged with a new article every weekday, adding a new category of the complete version of “Apple Developer News & Commentary” with more in-depth discussions, materials, code examples, etc.
Integrating the two newsletter brands will allow me to concentrate my energy and passion on writing better content. For existing newsletter readers, you’ll get more valuable perspectives and experience sharing. 13+ readers will receive my commentary on recent developments with member-exclusive content.
Thank you for the long-term support from Apple Developer Weekly and 13+ readers. Please let me know your thoughts, thank you.
Finally, let me list some recent important developer news. Just from these items alone, I could write at least 5 articles. If I continue to maintain a weekly publication format, those articles might never come to be. But going forward, they might show up in your inbox at any time😉
26.1 Official Release and 26.1 beta 1 Launched
Please refer to Apple Releases
2026 Asia iOS Developer Conferences Ready to Roll
App Store Business Updates
App Store launched web version, making it easier for developers to view App Store across different platforms and regions
Apple Student Developer Competition News
Mobile Application Innovation Contest 2025 Finals Winners, Taiwanese students performed brilliantly
Swift Student Challenge upload period 2026/2/6-28, announced on official website
AI News Apple Developers Should Care About
Apple Intelligence features are now available in Traditional Chinese
Mattt released AnyLanguageModel compatible with Foundation Models syntax
ChaoCode‘s HuggingFace series videos: Easily Try Various AI Apps with Spaces, Understanding “Model Pages” from a Beginner’s Perspective
Apple Developer YouTube Channel Recently Started Live Recording