The Breakroom • A blog for the Iconfactory

Iconfactory Tapestry 2.0: What You’ve Always Wanted

September 21, 2026

Today’s update of our personal timeline app, Tapestry, is the one you’ve been waiting for and pushes the app to a whole new level. Bring together your social media, RSS feeds, podcasts, YouTube and more in one chronological timeline—with no algorithm deciding what you see. Version 2 most notably enables subscribers to reply and post directly to Bluesky and Mastodon from within Tapestry along with loads of other improvements.

Take Action with Tapestry

Tapestry’s new compose screen lets you reply to Bluesky and Mastodon items in your timeline or compose new posts quickly and easily. Attach images, GIFs, polls, links and more. Tapestry automatically resizes and transcodes videos for you which means posting a short clip is a no-brainer. It also strips out metadata of all attachments prior to posting to help protect your privacy.

Bluesky users can attach more than four pictures to create a carousel of images for their followers. Mastodon users can now create fun polls for others to participate in, set quoting permissions, write ALT text and more.

The Mac App Just Got Better

The macOS version of Tapestry now has an improved native appearance on the desktop, features new menu & nav bars and includes a bevy of brand new keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the app. Of course the Mac also adopts all of 2.0’s posting and replying abilities, adds new helpful tooltips and more.

New APIs for Tapestry Developers

Third party developers can now bring replying and posting to their connectors with a major update to Tapestry’s APIs. A whole host of new functionality unlocks exciting possibilities for your users. The list of updates is extensive so be sure to check out the complete what’s new and the API docs on Github if you develop for Tapestry.

One (Hundred) More Things

There’s so much to love but here are just some of the highlights:
– Smoother timeline scrolling
– Vote in polls directly in Tapestry
– Swiping on items in the timeline feels much better (more like Twitterrific)
– Bluesky quoted posts open directly in Tapestry
– Better animated GIF support including animated avatars
– Greatly improved first run experience for new users
– New alternate app icons
– Faster iCloud syncing
– Did we mention there’s lots more?

Tapestry is free to download and try on the App Store and is built by a small, independent team – no venture capital, no data harvesting and no algorithm deciding what you see. A subscription unlocks premium features like composing, removes both ads and reminders to subscribe, enables timeline filtering and much more. Your purchase helps keep it alive and makes it better. Thanks and enjoy!

Inktober 2026 – “We are the dreamers of dreams.”

September 19, 2026

By Ged Maheux

October is creeping closer, and with it comes one of our favorite annual creative traditions — Inktober! Every year, artists around the world grab their pens, brushes, Apple Pencils, and more to challenge themselves to draw something new each day throughout October.

Although we’ve been participating since 2018, this year it feels especially poignant. Generative AI has changed the very nature of how we create and what it means to give our ideas form. And so it feels truly rewarding to put pencil to paper and craft something that comes from within us once again.

Inktober isn’t about generating the perfect image; it’s about pushing yourself and your creativity, exploring ideas, styles and ways to enjoy the uniquely human process of creating art. Even if you’ve never drawn before, this is a great time to give it a try.

For the last several years we’ve been releasing free Inktober templates for use with our iPad drawing app, Linea Sketch. This year we’re continuing the tradition so you can stay organized and get drawing early to take some of the pressure off those daily drawing deadlines.

Download the 2026 Inktober templates here.

This year’s templates include our traditional layout with four drawings on a single Linea page, along with our handy mini-template, which fits twelve days of drawings onto a single sheet to help keep yourself focused as you draw.

As always, Linea’s Inktober templates are completely free and easy to set up. If you’re new to Linea Sketch, be sure to check out our short video tutorial showing you how to import the templates into Linea on your iPad. Easy peasy.

We hope you charge those Apple Pencils, break out the brushes and get ready to flex that grey matter once again. We can’t wait to see what your imagination will dream up for Inktober 2026. Remember to have fun, everyone!

Now Playing: Triode 2.4

September 1, 2026

By Webmaster

Today we’re releasing the latest version of Triode, our Internet radio app for iOS, macOS, and tvOS.

The focus of the new version is the Now Playing view: it has been improved on all platforms with a special focus on iOS/iPadOS. If there’s folding phone in the fall, Triode is ready for it!

We’ve made improvements with readability, discoverability, and access to the information that appears from the view that appears while you’re streaming:

The text on the blurred background is adjusted dynamically to maintain readability with a wide range of album artwork. Additionally, we changed how its generated so there are fewer banding artifacts on large TV screens that can display a wide range of color. The tvOS app also has some new modes that darken the interface to match the room.
Tap & hold on the track information to quickly get to details, including access to Apple Music and Spotify. Tapping on the new indicator at the bottom of the screen also hides controls when they’re not needed.
Tips are now displayed to explain the new gestures.
Smaller windows on iPadOS or screens like the iPhone SE now adapt the layout to get the most out of the available real estate.
Better support for Dynamic Type and the large text sizes that come with age!

We’ve also added support for Shazam in the CarPlay interface. There’s a new button that lets you identify tracks quickly while driving!

There are many other improvements and bug fixes in this release. Check out the version history for a full list of changes. You can download the new version for iOS, macOS, or tvOS on the App Store now. Enjoy!

Pro Icons. Indie Prices.

July 28, 2026

By Cheryl Cicha

Bringing an app to life is difficult. It’s a labor of love that’s the culmination of thousands of hours of hard work. A personal expression of yourself.

After all that, your app’s icon might seem like a finishing touch, but it’s actually an important part of your software’s identity. It may just be one little square, but if things go well, people will stare at it for years. Better make it a good one!

The good news is: we like making icons. We’ve been doing it for more than 30 years, and had the pleasure of designing icons for apps like Transmit, Fantastical, Firefox, and many others. We love getting to know our clients and helping them craft unique and memorable icons that delight users.

Things are tough right now. We know indie devs don’t have a lot of money to spare for custom icon work. So for a little while, we’re trying something different. For $750, we’ll design your app icon for you.

Whether you’re launching your first app, want to convert an AI image to something created by hand, or refresh an existing icon that just needs some love, we’ve got you covered. You’ll get three rounds:

Concept sketches for review and feedback.
A render with color and detail.
A final Icon Composer file with any changes – ready to drop into your project.

Simple as that.

We’re only opening a handful of spots. Buy now to get started, or send us an email to tell us what you’re building.

Celebrate 30 Years of Iconfactory at Cotton Bureau

June 22, 2026

By Ged Maheux

This month marks the Iconfactory’s 30th year pushing pixels and to celebrate we’ve partnered up with our friends at Cotton Bureau to offer a special t-shirt for the occasion. This high-quality, on-demand shirt sports the 30th anniversary logo on the front breast and a large, retro pixel-clicked design on the back.

We’ve also updated our online Cotton Bureau store to offer up a host of fun new retro-styled pixel shirts, plus a new Tranquility Touchdown tee as well as a re-released Twitterrific Ollie t-shirt (RIP Ollie!) so be sure to take a look, there’s something there for everyone.

The Iconfactory Turns 30 – How Time Flies!

June 9, 2026

By Ged Maheux

Thirty years ago this month, three friends working at a small multimedia company in Greensboro, NC, decided to post a few fun sets of Mac desktop icons on an AOL webpage. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into back then, but here we are, incredibly, thirty years later.

So much has changed since we started it’s hard to keep track of it all. There have been creative highs and emotional lows. We’ve watched friends enjoy tremendous success and witnessed the death of companies we were sure would outlast us along the way. Somehow, thanks to your support, our clients and our drive to create fun, amazing art & software, we’re still here and ticking.

So this month, we hope you’ll join us and celebrate this major, minor milestone by kicking off a sale of some of our most popular apps. The offer is good from now until July 4th for new or previous subscribers only. Click the following redemption links to take advantage of the savings:

Tapestry – Create your own personal, chronological timeline of blogs, podcasts, social media and much more. Easily create filters to see only what you want and customize the look of your feeds. – Tap here to redeem just $2.99 for 3 months. This is roughly 50% off the normal price of a 3-month run.

Linea Sketch – Draw, take notes and sketch on the iPad with ease. Linea lets you stay focused on your creations, not the tools and is a perfect digital sketchpad for novices and professionals alike. – Tap here to redeem $2.99 for 3 months. Roughly 50% off the normal 3-month subscription price.

Triode – Listen to your favorite internet radio stations no matter where you go, in your pocket, on your Mac or in your car via CarPlay. Beautifully designed and seamlessly syncs your music via iCloud. – Tap here to redeem $2.99 for a 6-month run, roughly 50% off the normal price.

We have some other fun things in the works that we’ll be posting about in the days ahead too, but we don’t want to spoil the surprises, so stay tuned.

If you’ve enjoyed our artwork, software, and community contributions over these many years, or even if you’re just discovering us for the first time, the best way to say thanks is to buy our apps, subscribe to our Patreon or hire us to design something awesome for you. It’s been a career-long blast serving you and this community these past three decades and we’d love nothing more than to keep on, keeping on. Oh, how time flies when you’re having fun!

Triode 2.3 – It Hits the Spotify

May 28, 2026

By Webmaster

We’re proud to announce a new release of Triode. Version 2.3 of our Internet radio app gains a couple of new features along with a bunch of bug fixes and improvements.

For customers who use the Spotify app, there’s now a new button in the track history details that lets you search for the song and artist. The results are shown in the Spotify app where you can learn more about the track, play the song again, or add it to a playlist. On iOS, the track history is available from the music note button; on macOS it’s in the Station > Show Track History menubar item (or with Cmd-T).

We’ve also updated code on our server to update the stations database more frequently. The app will automatically update the search database each week, or you can use Refresh iCloud Data in Settings to update manually.

Other minor improvements include a way to remove favorites while in the organizer and a smoother artwork animation in the macOS app. For a full list of changes, check out the version history.

To learn more about Triode, check out the product page. Free downloads are available for iOS, macOS, and tvOS. An inexpensive subscription gets you additional features across all platforms.

Bust Out New Moves with Linea Sketch 4.4

May 6, 2026

By Ged Maheux

Today’s update to our venerable digital sketchbook for iPad, brings a mix of precision tools, interface refinements, and under-the-hood improvements designed to make drawing more fun and fluid than ever.

A Fresh Look for iOS 26

Linea’s interface has been updated to feel right at home on iOS 26 and Liquid Glass. Today’s update emphasizes your canvas while keeping tools just as accessible and intuitive as ever.

Redesigned transformation handles make it more obvious how to scale, rotate, and adjust your selections, reducing friction when refining your work.

Skewing: A New Dimension of Control

ZipShapes also get a meaningful upgrade making it easier and faster to draw geometric shapes. You can now create left, right, and equilateral triangles with ease. In addition, ZipSquare corner radius controls offer more flexibility and precision.

Tapping and dragging the center side handles of a shape lets you skew horizontally or vertically—either freely or in precise 15º increments with snapping enabled.

You can also skew ZipShapes, lassoed selections, and even annotations to create new text effects. All subtle but powerful additions that open up new creative possibilities.

But There’s More

Drawing in Linea with the Apple Pencil is better than ever thanks to a new hover preview showing the brush size of the selected drawing tool.

Canvas management is also smarter, with Set as Canvas Defaults now preserving size and orientation. It also presents a new clearer confirmation when the preference is updated, as well as a new option in Settings to review or reset your default canvas setup at anytime.

Linea Sketch 4.4 also fixes a bevy of bugs and crashes so be sure to update your copy. Finally, there’s also an update to Linea Link for macOS, the app that let’s you move your iPad sketches into your favorite desktop image editor quickly and easily.

Visit Linea’s version history page for the complete list of What’s New. The app is free to download and try on the App Store and comes with additional paid, premium features.

Free Artemis Wallpapers are Out of this World!

April 6, 2026

By Ged Maheux

Today we watch as the astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission fly further from Earth than any human beings have before. As we write this they are approaching their historic fly-by with our celestial neighbor, the moon.

Last week we were inspired by the NASA journey and released a fun, free wallpaper that Artemis and space fans are sure to love. You can find the Artemis wallpapers in Wallaroo, our handy iOS wallpaper app in the App Store or download them completely free for iPhone, iPad and macOS on our Patreon. Have fun, everyone!

Wallaroo 1.5.3 Brings Searching (Finally!) and More

April 1, 2026

By Ged Maheux

There’s an important update to our handy wallpaper app, Wallaroo that brings one of the most requested features: searching. It’s now possible to search for words, tags, artists and more to quickly find your favorite wallpapers. Results are returned in the currently selected tab as you type and we encourage you to give it a try, it’s a great way to explore all the fun content the app has to offer on both iOS and macOS.

The 1.5.3 release also updates the Patreon API. This means our patrons who subscribe to the Superhero or Legends tiers and enjoy bonus wallpapers each month, will need to re-link their account in Wallaroo. Subscribing on Patreon is a great way to show your support for real human artists, keep The Iconfactory up and running, and also get easy access to the entire gallery of wallpapers, including exclusives not available via the App Store.

Re-enter your Patreon account information in Settings > Manage Subscription > Login with Patreon and grant Wallaroo permission to access your pledge status. Once you do, all of the bonus wallpapers will be unlocked and free to use.

The Wallaroo 1.5.3 update is available today. Download Wallaroo for iOS and macOS for free and have fun customizing your lock and home screens with hundreds of fun, amazing walls with new ones added each week.

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