Posts

Bandwidth Monitor 3.3.1 is here! This is a maintenance release that is built against iOS 27 and brings support for its new features.

This is the final Part 3 of the blog series in which I reflect on eleven years of work on Bandwidth Monitor. You can find Part 1 here, which goes into detail on how it started, or go to Part 2, which covers the changes of version 2.

This is Part 2 of the blog series in which I reflect on eleven years of work on Bandwidth Monitor. You can find Part 1 here, which goes into detail on how it started, or go to Part 3.

Bandwidth Monitor 3.3.0 is here! This release includes many improvements under the hood that pave the way for more features and fixes in the future. While it doesn’t have too many new and shiny features, you will appreciate the changes in everyday use.

On Saturday 8th August 2015, I opened Xcode 6.4 and started work on the app Bandwidth Monitor. It would eventually be released to the iOS App Store on 10th April 2017.

Bandwidth Monitor launched on 10th April 2017 on the App Store. Today, I am celebrating 3.333 days since the public release of Bandwidth Monitor on the App Store.

In 2022, I bought my height-adjustable desk that I still use and enjoy every day. One feature that really sold me on it was the USB connection to the desk’s controller. I wanted the ability to integrate it into my smart home setup: moving it remotely, querying its current height, and building logic on top of that information.

Bandwidth Monitor 3.2.0 is here! This release builds on the groundwork laid with 3.1.0 and 3.1.3 and focuses on polish, correctness, and future compatibility. While it doesn’t introduce a new headline feature, it improves some important areas that should make the app feel more robust and reliable in daily use.

In September 2025, I had the pleasure of hosting the CocoaHeads Hamburg iOS developer meetup at the LichtBlick office. As always, it was a great evening: exchanging ideas, talking shop, eating pizza, and drinking beers (or lemonade). Meeting like-minded developers and hearing what everyone is currently working on is one of the most inspiring parts of our community.

I am a PC gamer. Although I spent far less time in front of my desk gaming nowadays than I do developing, I still like to maintain a (way-too-beefy) system for my needs.

This post is a short, easy-to-skim guide for anyone who wants to add fediverse creator attribution to their site, at least until official documentation becomes available.

We recently noticed a CarPlay crash in our app piling up that started appearing after we released app version 3.2.0. There were no compiler errors or warnings associated with the troublesome code, and we didn’t touch the implementation either. Let’s look at the issue together.

Swift finally has official Android support (in preview) — a milestone that opens up exciting new possibilities for developers working across iOS and Android.

The german supermarkt chain REWE offers delivery of orders right to your home. This is a great service when you live in the city where parking and hence getting big grocery shopping orders can be cumbersome. The process is pretty smooth from start to order but has a major drawback once the delivery is on its way to you: The REWE app doesn’t tell you when it is expected to arrive. Instead, you get a text message with a web link to the actual delivery tracking webpage instead.

Bandwidth Monitor 3.1.0 is here! After eight months of development, it brings the network debugging tools and contains a lot of changes under the hood. I was initially planning to release this milestone earlier but am happy that the improvements finally make their way into the hands of my users. If you cannot wait to try it out, head over to the App Store to download the update.

With WWDC25 ending, and after processing my initial reactions to what was announced, I took some time to organize what new features and enhancements I could bring to Bandwidth.

Managing dev tools across projects can be messy: The version you installed from Homebrew is outdated or your project actually requires an ancient version of your tools to build. I feel like this era of “lets cross our fingers I get this to work” is now over. At least for me, mise is my new go-to for managing development tools.

I previously described my hopes for iOS 19, noting that I was looking for a more incremental design change. My opinion was that changing around layouts and design at the same time would be too big of a burden for developers at this time.

With iOS 18, Apple introduced the powerful MeshGradient API in SwiftUI. It allows for the definition of gradients using 2D coordinates.

Today, I want to present a frequently used command line tool of mine: git home. It makes working with repositories on web-based hosters faster, so I thought I would share this delightful everyday helper with the world.

With WWDC25 officially set for June 9th, iOS 19 is on the horizon. During the opening keynote, Apple will announce the next major versions of their operating systems. What features and changes can we expect? There have been a lot of discussions around some leaks recently. Typically, iOS design changes don’t leak in advance, so this year’s rumors are especially noteworthy. I want to focus on those rumored changes from the perspective of an indie app developer for a small app.

The subscription pricing for Bandwidth Pro will be reduced, starting on 1.11.2024. The new prices will be 0.99€ per month, 9.99€ per year, or local equivalent amounts in your country’s currency.

Today, I am proud to announce the release of Bandwidth Monitor version 3.0.0. After more than a year of development, the app is more modern and feature-rich than ever before. If you cannot wait to try it out, head over to the App Store.

As referenced in my earlier article about the Desktopia Pro desk, I wanted to make it controllable in my smart home. More specifically, I wanted to have it in HomeKit so that it could be controlled by touch and voice. While I didn’t get it directly into HomeKit — mainly because of the missing “desk” accessory type — I am now able to control it from my Apple devices and even via Siri!

After two years in the making, Bandwidth Monitor has been released in version 2.1.0. Of course, I wasn’t actively developing throughout the entire time. Most of the features were done every now and then, whenever I got the time for it.

The SwiftUI Layout protocol is a powerful tool for defining your own complex layouts. It is new with iOS 16. Previously, you had to become creative if the capabilities of HStack, VStack, ZStack and Grid were not enough for your layouting needs.

I recently got a new desk setup for my home office. The reason I got a new one in the first place is because the previous desk was designed and built for entirely different requirements. It was drawn up pre-COVID and was meant mainly for gaming and a few hobby projects in the evenings. Because we used to go to the office back then, kids. The design was even meant to allow for two people to work together there side by side from time to time. However, because I have been working from home now for three years straight, my requirements have naturally changed, and I wanted to accomodate my shifted perspective.

About a year ago, I got myself a Logitech BRIO Stream webcam. The reasons for buying the particular webcam were simple: For uninteresting reasons, I had 175€ I needed to spend and I wanted a better webcam. It still is around the same price of 175€ on Amazon.de, by the way. However, it was not until a few weeks ago that I realized something was off with the behaviour of that tech.

When you want to add a custom @propertyWrapper to an existing @Published variable in your SwiftUI code, e.g. in your ViewModel, you will quickly discover that @Published does not play well with other property wrappers.