All Articles
Building an Ambient Display App for Apple TV with Rork Max
Use the native Swift that Rork Max generates as a foundation for an Apple TV app that quietly plays on a loop. We cover Top Shelf, the focus engine, and seamless video loops, with the practical lessons that only surface in real operation.
Adding an Apple Wallet Stamp Card to a Rork Max App — Signing and Updates
You want a shop stamp card in Apple Wallet. When you issue a PassKit pass from a Swift app generated by Rork Max, the hard parts are not design — they are signing and remote updates. Here are the implementation essentials.
Staging Wallpaper Packs Before the First Launch: Where Rork Max and Background Assets Fit
Content-heavy apps tend to greet new users with an empty grid. Background Assets downloads content out-of-band, ahead of the first launch. Here is how I implement it in Rork Max's native Swift, a domain Rork (Expo) cannot reach easily, plus how I decide when it is worth it.
Building an iMessage Extension with Rork Max to Bring Your App's World into Messages — Notes on Distribution as Code
A walkthrough of adding an iMessage extension to the native Swift project Rork Max generates, sharing your app's assets right inside Messages. Covers compact/expanded presentation, sending messages, and diagnosing why the extension won't appear in the drawer — from an indie developer's distribution lens.
Building a WeatherKit App with Rork Max — The Auth and Attribution Pitfalls
When you add WeatherKit to a native Swift app generated by Rork Max, the first walls are authentication and attribution. Here is the workflow I confirmed: token handling, rate limits, and the mandatory data-source display.
Adding NFC Tag Reading to a Rork Max App with Core NFC
How to add Core NFC to a Swift app generated by Rork Max and read NDEF tags, covering the entitlement and Info.plist setup through the production gotchas, with real code.
Designing WidgetKit Timelines Around the Refresh Budget: Why My Wallpaper Widgets Stopped
Why does a home screen widget stop updating after the evening? A clear look at WidgetKit timeline design through three lenses: the refresh budget, the reload policy, and entry density. With a working TimelineProvider, an entry design that does not burn through the budget, and relevance-based prioritization, drawn from running six wallpaper apps solo.
Shipping Wallpaper Packs Without an App Review — Versioning and Delta Delivery for Remote Assets Across Six Apps
Re-submitting your app every time you add ten wallpapers grinds operations to a halt. Here is a manifest-based versioning scheme with delta downloads, cache invalidation, and rollback — with the implementation and measured transfer savings from running six apps in parallel.
When and How to Remove Features Nobody Uses — Auditing and Safely Retiring Functionality in Rork-Built Apps
Unused features quietly make an app harder to maintain. A field-tested playbook from running six wallpaper apps in parallel — how to measure feature usage, decide what to retire, and remove functionality in three safe stages with Remote Config.
Keeping a wallpaper app's binary small: moving images out of the bundle
Wallpaper apps bloat every time you add images. Here is where I draw the line between bundled and remote assets, how I keep first paint fast with prefetching, and the format work that cut transfer size to a third — with real numbers.
expo start --offline Says 'forbidden'? Corporate Proxy (403) vs Dependency Validation
Two different failures make 'expo start --offline' or EXPO_OFFLINE=1 die with 'forbidden': an HTTP 403 from a corporate proxy, and Expo CLI validateDependenciesVersions guard. How to tell them apart, when to set HTTP_PROXY to route through the proxy, and when to go fully offline with pre-generated caches instead.
How I Localized My Play Store Screenshots into 16 Languages — Swapping PSD Text with Python and Standardizing on Noto Fonts
An implementation log of localizing an Android wallpaper app's store screenshots into 16 languages: swapping PSD text layers per language with Python, auto-shrinking overflow, and assigning the right font per script — with the actual code and a font cheat sheet.