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Droppy 16: Build your own extensions, get a free iPhone companion, and supercharge your Dynamic Island.

r/macapps

Droppy 16 was announced with major new features including a public SDK (DroppyKit) for building custom extensions, a free iPhone companion app, and significant improvements to its Spotlight replacement Thunderstorm. The community response was overwhelmingly positive, with users praising the developer's dedication and the quality of the updates.

Summary

Jordy announced Droppy 16, a substantial update to their native macOS utility app that lives in the notch/Dynamic Island. The original post detailed four major areas of development: (1) DroppyKit, a new SwiftUI SDK enabling users to build custom droplets with a public review-based store model where community submissions are merged directly into the app without requiring updates; (2) a free iPhone companion app with end-to-end encrypted syncing of clipboard, files, notes, and droplets, with Live Activities support; (3) Thunderstorm, a rebuilt Spotlight replacement that now runs Raycast extensions natively; and (4) six new droplets including Teleprompter, DropClip, Ring, Mac Duo, Audio Control, and Kaset, with an AI Agents droplet coming later in the week. The pricing remained at $9.99 one-time with a 3-day trial and 14-day refund guarantee. The developer emphasized transparency, native Swift implementation, privacy protections, and public source code for the SDK and store droplets. Community responses were uniformly positive with no substantive criticism or counterarguments raised. Commenters repeatedly highlighted the UI/design quality, the power of features like Element Capture with screen recording, and the developer's exceptional dedication to continuous improvement. One commenter noted they were an early adopter who had requested many features and felt the update exceeded expectations. Another emphasized the smooth progression from version 14 through 16 and appreciation for the purchase decision.

About this episode

Hey r/macapps, When I posted Droppy 15 here, the question that kept coming back was "can I build my own extensions for this?" I said an SDK was coming. It's here. And the iPhone app I said was almost ready is out too. The video shows what changed since 15. If you missed the last post: Droppy is one native Mac app for all the in-between stuff. A shelf for your files, a clipboard manager, screenshots and screen recording, live activities, file sharing, and a bunch of optional "droplets" you s...

Key Insights

  • The community consensus strongly reflects that this developer stands out for exceptional dedication—multiple commenters specifically called out the frequency and quality of updates, with one noting version 16 exceeded all expectations from an early adopter perspective
  • The UI/design quality was cited as 'unrivaled for a third-party app' and 'the envy of competitors,' suggesting Droppy differentiates primarily through polish and user experience rather than unique functionality alone
  • The decision to implement a public GitHub-based droplet store with human review before release creates a model that balances ecosystem openness with quality control—16 droplets from 11 developers were already in review at announcement
  • Thunderstorm's evolution into a Raycast extension runner demonstrates strategic feature layering—rather than competing directly with Raycast, Droppy absorbed its ecosystem, allowing users to consolidate multiple tools into one interface
  • No criticism or counterarguments appeared in the discussion, indicating either strong product-market fit within the r/macapps community or a self-selecting audience of satisfied existing users rather than critical engagement

Topics

SDK and extensibility for third-party developersCross-platform syncing between Mac and iPhoneSpotlight and launcher replacement functionalityPrivacy and transparency in software developmentScreen recording and element capture featuresRaycast extension integrationPricing and licensing model

Transcript

[Original Post] (score: 28, upvote ratio: 94%, by u/iordv) Title: Droppy 16: Build your own extensions, get a free iPhone companion, and supercharge your Dynamic Island. Link: https://v.redd.it/v8pc4mxgn9sh1 Hey r/macapps, When I posted Droppy 15 here, the question that kept coming back was "can I build my own extensions for this?" I said an SDK was coming. It's here. And the iPhone app I said was almost ready is out too. The video shows what changed since 15. If you missed the last post: Droppy is one native Mac app for all the in-between stuff. A shelf for your files, a clipboard manager, screenshots and screen recording, live activities, file sharing, and a bunch of optional "droplets" you switch on.…

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