
Empower Apps
An exploration of Apple business news and technology.
Leo Dion, Principal CEO and Swift Developer at BrightDigit
Show overview
Empower Apps has been publishing since 2018, and across the 8 years since has built a catalogue of 217 episodes. That works out to roughly 150 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 35 min and 48 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Business show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 4 days ago, with 14 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2020, with 43 episodes published. Published by Leo Dion, Principal CEO and Swift Developer at BrightDigit.
From the publisher
An exploration of Apple business news and technology. We talk about how businesses can use new technology to empower their business and employees, from Leo Dion, founder of BrightDigit.
Latest Episodes
View all 217 episodesYou’re Better Than AI with Daniel Steinberg
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Then 20 Years Later with Georg Tuparev
We Don’t Have Any Futures or Promises Anymore with Tim Condon
The More You Know with Stewart Lynch
Skynet Came and Automated Everything with Jared Sorge
Swift on Windows with Saleem Abdulrasool
Practical Agents with Donny Wals
Independence Update
Everyone Thinks They're Good at Prompting with Joe Fabisevich
120% Likely with Cihat Gündüz
Platforms State of the Union 2026 with Peter Witham
Who's Wendy with Joannis Orlandos
Actually Really Useful

Ep 203Milk Diary with Kaya Thomas
Kaya Thomas (kayathomas.is) comes back after half a decade to tell us about how motherhood inspired her new app Milk Diary (milkdiary.com). She talks about using new APIs like Foundation Models, SpeechAnalyzer, and AlarmKit to handle the complex stuff other feeding apps miss: intelligent scheduling and reminders, combo feeding that's actually easy to track, hassle-free tracking for twins and smart milk management.GuestKaya ThomasKaya Thomas (@[email protected]) - MastodonKaya (@kayathomas.is) — Blueskykmt901 (Kaya Thomas)Kaya Thomas | LinkedInKaya Thomas (@kayathomas.is) • Threads, Say moreMilk Diary AppRelated LinksRob Napier - TIL:AI. Thoughts on AIAI Code Reviews | CodeRabbit | Try for FreeRelated EpisodesNotifications with Kaya ThomasLive from CommunityKit WWDC 2025 with Matt MassicottePlinky with Joe FabisevichChatGPTovski with Kris SlazinskiThe Making of Callsheet with Casey LissApples, Glasses, and HAL, Oh My!Social MediaLinkedIn - @leogdionGitHub - @brightdigitGitHub - @leogdionTikTok - @brightdigitMastodon - @[email protected] - @brightdigitBlueSky - @leogdion.bsky.socialTwitter Leo - @leogdionTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - What is Milk Diary (04:20) - Foundation Models (10:56) - The Feeding App Market (13:59) - Liquid Glass (17:01) - AlarmKit (19:34) - Local and Server Side Storage (22:28) - SpeechAnalyzer (25:13) - Developing with AI Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 202Swift Testing with Rachel Brindle
Rachel Brindle, maintainer of Nimble and Quick, comes on to talk about what's new in Swift Testing and what the future of Swift Testing may hold.GuestRachel BrindleRachel Brindle (@[email protected]) - Hachyderm.ioyounata (Rachel Brindle)Rachel Brindle (@rachelbrindle) • Instagram photos and videosRelated LinksWhat's new in Testing, 2025 Editionnalexn/ViewInspector: Runtime introspection and unit testing of SwiftUI viewsQuick/Nimble: A Matcher Framework for Swift and Objective-CQuick/Quick: The Swift (and Objective-C) testing framework.pointfreeco/swift-snapshot-testing: 📸 Delightful Swift snapshot testing.swift-evolution/proposals/testing/NNNN-polling-confirmations.md at younata/testing-polling-expectations · younata/swift-evolutionRelated EpisodesLive from CommunityKit WWDC 2025 with Matt MassicotteThe Case of the Crimson Test Suite with Daniel SteinbergEmpowering Accessibility with Via FairchildIt Depends with Brandon WilliamsPractical Year - Part 1 with Donny WalsSwiftUI Tips and Tricks with Craig ClaytonMobile System Design with Tjeerd in 't VeenSocial MediaLinkedIn - @leogdionGitHub - @brightdigitGitHub - @leogdionTikTok - @brightdigitMastodon - @[email protected] - @brightdigitBlueSky - @leogdion.bsky.socialTwitter Leo - @leogdionTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - Comparing Swift Testing and XCTest (11:08) - SwiftUI Testing (17:37) - Advanced Testing Techniques and Tips (23:47) - Future of Swift Testing Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 201Deconstructing Xcode with xTool with Kabir Oberai
Kabir Oberai joins us to talk about xTool, Cross-platform Xcode replacement and how Xcode works under the hood to build apps.GuestKabir OberaiKabir Oberai (@[email protected]) - Mastodonhttps://x.com/kabiroberaiAnnouncementsmacOS Virtual Machine App for Developers - BushelSyntaxKit - More Friendly SwiftSyntax APIPost Show Discussion with Kabir on PatreonBrightDigit NewsletterRelated Linksxtool | Documentationxtool-org/xtool: Cross-platform Xcode replacement. Build and deploy iOS apps with SwiftPM on Linux, Windows, macOS.cirruslabs/tart: macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon to use in CI and other automationskabiroberai/node-swift: Create Node modules in SwiftKabir Oberai - Batteries Not Included: Beyond Xcode - YouTubeRelated EpisodesLive from CommunityKit WWDC 2025 with Matt Massicottev26.0 with Peter WithamSwift on Android with Marc Prud'hommeauxSwift Toolkit with Natan RolnikSwift Student Challenge with Dezmond BlairWWDC Notes with Cihat GündüzWe Have All The Heroes with Stefano MondinoThe Bushel Holiday SpecialSwiftly Tooling with Pol Piella AbadiaSocial MediaLinkedIn - @leogdionGitHub - @brightdigitGitHub - @leogdionTikTok - @brightdigitMastodon - @[email protected] - @brightdigitBlueSky - @leogdion.bsky.socialTwitter Leo - @leogdionTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - Introduction and Announcements (00:53) - Kabir Oberai and WWDC (06:20) - What is xTool (19:48) - Mastering iOS App Signing (35:57) - Future Plans and Community Contributions Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 200Live from CommunityKit WWDC 2025 with Matt Massicotte
Live from CommunityKit, Leo is joined by Matt Massicotte to discuss everything announced today at WWDC 2025.GuestMatt Massicotte - @[email protected] | I write stuff here.Matt Massicotte (@massicotte.org) — Blueskymattmassicotte (Matt Massicotte)Matt Massicotte | LinkedInMatt Massicotte (@mattie) / XAnnouncementsBrightDigit #110 - WWDC 2025 = EmpowerApps 200th Episode + Bushel Sale! 🙌macOS Virtual Machine App for Developers - BushelRelated Episodesv26.0 with Peter WithamFull Stack Things with Werner Jainek and Vojtěch RylkoFear of the Main Thread with Matt MasicotteSwift on Android with Marc Prud'hommeauxSOTU 2024 with Peter WithamWWDC Notes with Cihat GündüzSwift Server Workgroup with Joannis OrlandosEpisode 151 - Platforms State of Union 2023 with Peter WithamEpisode 149 - How to WWDC with Peter WithamEpisode 124 - WWDC 2022 - Platforms State of the Union with Peter WithamSocial MediaLinkedIn - @leogdionGitHub - @brightdigitGitHub - @leogdionTikTok - @brightdigitMastodon - @[email protected] - @brightdigitBlueSky - @leogdion.bsky.socialTwitter Leo - @leogdionTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - Keynote Highlights and Initial Reactions (12:06) - Exploring Machine Learning and App Intents (15:55) - Swift 6.2 and Concurrency Enhancements Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 199v26.0 with Peter Witham
Before Leo heads to California, Peter joins to discuss Apple's crazy year and what we expect from WWDC 2025.GuestPeter Witham - Developer, Podcaster, StreamerCompileSwift PodcastPeter Witham | LinkedInPeter Witham - YouTubeCompileDev - TwitchPeter Witham (@compileswift) • Instagram photos and videosCompileSwift | FacebookGrfxGuru - Github (Peter Witham)Peter Witham (@[email protected]) - C.IMPeter Witham - Compileswift.com - TwitterAnnouncementsBrightDigit #110 - WWDC 2025 = EmpowerApps 200th Episode + Bushel Sale! 🙌EmpowerApps.Show LIVE with Leo Dion · LumamacOS Virtual Machine App for Developers - BushelOne More Thing Conference – OMTConfCommunityKit | WWDC | June 9th to 11th in CupertinoRelated EpisodesSwift on Android with Marc Prud'hommeauxSOTU 2024 with Peter WithamWWDC Notes with Cihat GündüzSwift Server Workgroup with Joannis OrlandosEpisode 151 - Platforms State of Union 2023 with Peter WithamEpisode 149 - How to WWDC with Peter WithamEpisode 124 - WWDC 2022 - Platforms State of the Union with Peter WithamSocial MediaLinkedIn - @leogdionGitHub - @brightdigitGitHub - @leogdionTikTok - @brightdigitMastodon - @[email protected] - @brightdigitBlueSky - @leogdion.bsky.socialTwitter Leo - @leogdionTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - WWDC Announcements (02:48) - Apple Intellegence (08:16) - iPad (12:52) - New Version Numbering and New Design (19:40) - Swift Everywhere (22:45) - Future of the iPhone (30:23) - Vision Pro (35:43) - App Store (45:14) - Peter and Game Development Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 198Full Stack Things with Werner Jainek and Vojtěch Rylko
Werner Jainek and Vojtěch Rylko from Cultured Code talk about their migration of Things Cloud to Server Side with Swift and what they learned along the way.GuestThings - To-Do List for Mac & iOSThings (@things.app) — BlueskyThings (@culturedcode)Things (@[email protected])Werner Jainek (@[email protected])Vojtěch RylkoVojtech Rylko (@[email protected])Vojtěch Rylko | LinkedInVojtěch Rylko (@vojtechrylko)vojtarylko (Vojtech Rylko)AnnouncementsJoin Bushel BetaJoin our Patreon!Newsletters | BrightDigitLinksSwift.org - How Swift's server support powers Things CloudThe Success Story of Server-Side Swift at Cultured Code - Vojtech Rylko - YouTubeRelated EpisodesSwift on Android with Marc Prud'hommeauxSwift, Server Side, Serverless with Sébastien StormacqFull Stack Lyriq with Adegboyega OlusunmadePixelBlitz in Public with Martin LasekSwiftly Tooling with Pol Piella AbadiaBackend Decisions with Mikaela CaronWhat is Firebase with Peter FrieseAWS and SOTO with Adam FowlerSocial [email protected] - @brightdigitTwitter BrightDigit - @brightdigitLeo - @leogdionLinkedInBrightDigitLeoPatreon - brightdigitCreditsMusic from https://filmmusic.io"Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (00:00) - Overview of Cultured Code and Things App (02:19) - Migrating to Server-Side Swift (09:07) - Technical Challenges and Solutions (27:56) - Background Workers and Swift (32:11) - Swift 6 Adoption (36:34) - Chaos Testing and Deployment Thanks to our monthly supporters Swapnil S Steven Lipton ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★