My name is Philipp and you are reading Creativerly, the internet corner where I unpack my musings, curate and write about noteworthy apps and software, and explore the latest trends in design and tech.

Hey and welcome to Creativerly 317 👋

Over the course of the past weekend, I started researching, exploring, evaluating, and working on a new project. While doing so, I discovered a new service that I wanted to use for that project. I wanted to set up some sort of automation, and in order to make that work, I needed some more guidance. Instead of rifling through loads of posts, videos, and documentation, I decided to join the community Slack of that specific service. After an introduction, I shared my questions with fellow community members. As a result of that, I had an awesome discussion with fellow creative minds who ran into similar issues as I did, we helped each other out, shared some further insights and inputs, and I even had the chance to engage with the CEO of the service I am now using.

I am thankful for such community spaces, and I deeply think that so many companies can profit from such. Seeing users of your app or service discuss different topics, sharing what they learned, and helping each other out to get the most out of the app is simply amazing. It is a fun practice to discuss all sorts of things about an app, learn how other people are using it, and especially seeing what kind of workflows they have built and established.

Community platforms can act like a direct line of communication between the makers of the app or service, and their users, which allows real-time feedback, support, and engagement, and I truly believe that this leads to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. But besides that, users can share tips, best practices, and solutions to common problems, which turns the community space into a valuable resource for both new and experienced users. Additionally, there are also cases in which such communities led to networking among users, leading to collaborations, partnerships, or shared learning opportunities.

This is a clear win for everyone. Sure, it needs some sort of community management and moderation, which can be hard, but the work you put into this definitely pays off. Reading a blog post or documentation potentially would have solved my problem too, but would I have made the connection to other creative minds that way? Nope. So, I am glad I decided to join the community and simply ask questions.

upload in progress, 0
The best new app for newsletter reading.

Meco is a distraction-free space for reading newsletters outside the inbox. The app is completely free and packed with features designed to supercharge your learnings from your favourite writers. Become a more productive reader and cut out the noise with Meco - try the app today!
Get started for free

This is an affiliate link to support Creativerly. If you are interested in putting your tool, product, or resource in front of over 2000 creative minds, consider advertising in Creativerly and book a sponsor or classified ad spot. Find all the important information at creativerly.com/advertise.

Fresh Updates & News

Pocket Casts Web Player is now available to all →

Pocket Casts, the beloved podcast app that got acquired by Automattic (owner of WordPress.com among other companies) back in 2021, announced that its Web Player is now available to everyone, and you do no longer need a subscription to access it. This is a very welcomed change, as Pocket Casts has been criticized since the acquisition because of multiple subscription price increases, while leaving users with vague promises in order to justify increasing the yearly subscription from $9.99 to $14.99 in January 2023, to just bump it to $39.99 three months later in April 2023. Active subscribers before the second price increase stayed on the $14.99 yearly subscription pricing.

Until recently, only subscribers had access to Pocket Casts web player. But as they state in a blog post that they stand for the open podcasting ecosystem and believe that podcasts should be free accessible everywhere, discovery should be organic, and listeners should have full control over their listening experience, the web player is now available to everyone, as Pocket Casts was to reinforce their belief that podcasts belong to the poeple, not corporations.

Bjango celebrates two decades →

Bjango, the software studio and makers of beloved apps iStat Menus (also available via Setapp*), Snowflake, Pinwheel among others, celebrates 20 years of building lovely apps. It is amazing to read that they have been working on iStat Menus for almost 18 years, as it was released back in May 2007.

Strongbox gets acquired by Applause →

Strongbox, a popular password manager for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, has been acquired by Applause as they announced within a recent blog post. If you do not know Applause, they are a company that turned acquiring apps into a business, created a bunch of controversies after acquiring Voice Dream and Bartender, as their first official act after the acquisition was to add app tracking and trying to keep it more or less secret without informing the users of Bartender.

The absolute irony of all of that is that on their website, Applause displays a 'Founder Letter' which states "For users lost in a sea of dark patterns, we aspire to be a beacon of light". It surely needs a certain level of self confidence to put something down those lines on your website, when you created such dark pattern controversies as with Voice Dream or Bartender in the past.

In the announcement post by Strongbox, they state that users can be sure that their data stays theirs, critical features like local storage and self-hosted sync options stay, and that the initial creator of Strongbox will support Applause in an advisory capacity ensuring a seamless transition. I hope only for the best here, but Applause's past acquisition makes me skeptical.

Mental Wealth

❯ Why Is Everyone Obsessed With Chat Interfaces – “I've been thinking a lot about this: why does every app, tool, and platform seem to be adding a chat interface? I get it — chat is powerful. You can freely ask for something and get results fast. But as an interface designer, I can't help but feel that products are forgetting an important lesson. It's like we're just slapping a chat box onto everything and calling it a day. And honestly, that feels off.”

❯ Tips to Maintain Your Focus, Concentration, and Discipline – “Every day, you’re fighting a battle. The enemy? Your own mind. Distractions, doubts, and impulses pull you in every direction. You want to focus, but you keep getting sucked into nonsense. You know what you need to do, but you don’t do it.”

❯ Embrace your dark side: A new perspective on negative emotions – “In the 4th century A.D., Evagrius Ponticus escaped into the desert to contemplate salvation. An ascetic and philosopher, Evagrius came to believe that only by revoking the needs of the flesh could the spirit be united with God. And no emotions shackled the spirit more powerfully than lust, gluttony, sloth, greed, wrath, pride, vainglory, and despair.”

❯ From mindfulness to learning something new: seven simple strategies for wellbeing – “Life can be mentally demanding: your job, paying bills, caring for family, financial or housing difficulties, relationship problems or physical illness – all of this can cause stress arousal in the body and brain, leading to fatigue, psychological distress or mental ill health.”

Do not miss out on this ...

❉ Experience the ultimate vector editor for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Get started with Amadine*.

❉ Think tasks, not apps. Setapp* is you one-stop subscription to solving every task on Mac and iPhone.

❉ Fathom is cookie-free, GDPR compliant, privacy-first website analytics software. Get $10 off your first invoice and a 7-day free trial when you use this link*.

These are paid promotions or affiliate links to support Creativerly. If you are interested in putting your tool, product, or resource in front of over 2000 creative minds, consider advertising in Creativerly and book a sponsor or classified ad spot. Find all the important information at creativerly.com/advertise.

Appendix

❯ ICYMI

With feedle you can streamline your discovery process of blogs and podcasts by leveraging feedle's index of independent creators. Check out my deep dive to learn more about how you use feedle and how you can contribute to their growing index.

❯ Quick Bits

Till next time! 👋‌‌‌‌

Support: Do you have a friend who is looking for inspiration, news about design, and useful tools and apps? Forward this newsletter to a friend or simply share this issue and show some support. You can also show some love by simply clicking the button down below and keep this newsletter a sustainable side-project by buying me a coffee. ☕️ 🥰

Some of the links in my newsletter and my blog posts are affiliate links. Those links are marked by an asterisk. If you buy something through the link, the product will not cost you anything more, but I will receive a small commission which not only supports Creativerly and my work but also helps me to keep this publication a sustainable side-project.

Creativerly is proudly published with Ghost*.