2026-01-30 05:47:10
Last February I released Fluted Gradient, a collection of eight gradient wallpapers with a vertical fluted design. And the people spoke. It went on to become the most popular wallpaper I released in 2025.
So yes, like Vanilla Ice, I am absolutely riding that one trick pony straight into the ground with the February 2026 Edition of Fluted Gradients.
This is an entirely new collection of 16 gradient wallpapers for iPad, Mac, and iPhone and yes, even iPod touch, if a few of you are still bravely rocking those out there.
Full disclosure, I have some other wallpaper projects on the go (yes, including my very delayed iPhone Air internals), but I'll be indisposed throughout most of February due to some travel, a heavy teaching workload, and a stupid busy work schedule. So rather than be radio, silent for whole month, I wanted to drop a new Fluted Gradient wallpaper for you every couple of days to enjoy.
And for those who wish to support the site and my work (thank you! 🥹), I will have this full collection available for a donation at the end of the month, but you can always provide a tip at the link either at the top of this page and at the bottom of the century. Enjoy!
Coming soon…
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
☕️ Tips2026-01-23 01:02:34
Introducing Floral - a collection of five minimalistic flower wallpapers for your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. 
When Apple released iOS 11 in 2017, it included a collection of beautiful flower photographs set against complementary gradient backgrounds. Floral is inspired by that collection. It features five flower wallpapers placed on soft gradient backdrops, with each flower emphasizing movement, bokeh, and blur. Together, these qualities give the wallpapers a gentle, delicate feel that I found especially pleasing across my devices.
Each of the five wallpapers is available for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone below. For iPad & iOS users running OS26, make sure to enable the spatial scene effect for the wallpapers as it gives it a really nice dimensional effect on your homescreen. Enjoy!
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🌸 TipsProcess & Stance on AI
Midjourney was used in the creation of these wallpapers. First, attribution-free photographs were put into Midjourney as a reference. After generating a wide range of images and refining the prompts, I produced hundreds of variations. From that set, the top five were selected. These images were upscaled using Topaz Labs’ Gigapixel software, then further edited in Photoshop. This included adding the gradient background, introducing additional elements, making image adjustments, debanding, and other refinements. Finally, each of the five wallpapers was adjusted and resized for Mac, iPad, and iPhone displays.
I know the use of AI is a divisive topic, and for some people there’s nothing I can say that will change how they feel about it. I respect that. I take a softer approach, aiming to find value in the technology while using it sparingly and being fully transparent when I do. For that reason, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to list this as a purchasable collection in the same way I do with wallpapers created entirely from scratch. I continue to focus on releasing projects that are 100% AI-free, and in rare instances like this one, I was genuinely pleased with the final result and wanted to share something I created for myself with the broader community.
2026-01-13 12:08:47
A look back at more than six years of Apple’s Lunar and Japanese New Year exclusives.
Apple has a long history of celebrating the Japanese and Chinese New Year with special discounts, products, and promotions during the holiday season.
Over the years, this has included partnerships with local artists in China, seasonal sales across Asian markets, and Japan’s beloved Lucky Bag promotion, which ran until 2015.
More recently, beginning in 2021, Apple shifted toward releasing its own limited-edition products branded with that year’s zodiac animal. The tradition began with the Year of the Ox in 2021 and has continued through 2026, with Apple most recently announcing special Year of the Horse AirPods Pro 3 for customers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I couldn’t find a resource that collated all this information, so for posterity’s sake, I wanted to create a small archive of the graphics and products Apple has released during this era. Enjoy!
Special envelopes featuring this mouse-inspired design were given out with Apple Gift Cards to customers who made qualifying purchases during the Japanese New Year sale.
I'm including this year because while Apple didn't release any products, it appears to have started the motif of blending thats year zodiac animal into the Apple logo.
That year Apple offered special discounts in the form of a Apple gift card on select products in Japan, similar to sales like Black Friday in Western Markets.
Apple’s Year of the Ox website logo.
Apple ran its Japanese New Year (Shōgatsu) sale on January 2 and 3 without any zodiac branding.
However, starting in other Asian markets, Apple marked the Chinese New Year by releasing a limited-edition Year of the Ox AirPods Pro.
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Ox AirPod engraving, AirPods Pro, and packaging.
These AirPods came in a special box and featured the same Ox engraving on the charging case. They were sold in select Asian markets including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Only 25,400 Ox-engraved AirPods Pro were produced, so count yourself lucky if you managed to get one of them.
Apple’s Year of the Tiger website logo.
Following the launch of AirTag earlier that spring, Apple released a special limited-edition Year of the Tiger AirTag as part of its New Year promotion in Japan.
The Tiger AirTag design for the Japanese New Year promotion.
During the two-day event, the first 20,000 customers who purchased an iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, or iPhone SE received a complimentary AirTag featuring a unique Year of the Tiger engraving. Interestingly, this artwork was different from the tiger design used on the AirPods Pro released for Chinese New Year, making it a distinct collectible in its own right.
Then, on January 1, 2022, Apple launched a special Year of the Tiger AirPods Pro set in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. Customers who purchased the AirPods in store also received a set of 12 special red envelopes, each featuring emoji-style zodiac characters dressed in adorable tiger costumes.
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Tiger AirPods engraving, AirPods Pro, and packaging.
Red envelopes featuring the 12 zodiac characters wearing tiger costumes. Source: ifanr on Weibo
Apple’s Year of the Rabbit website logo.
For the Year of the Rabbit, Apple once again released a special limited-edition AirTag as part of its New Year sale in Japan. It was limited to the first 30,000 customers who purchased a new iPhone SE, iPhone 12, or iPhone 13. Buyers also received a special Apple Store Gift Card worth ¥8,000
The Rabbit AirTag design for the Japanese New Year promotion.
Japan New Year Edition gift card design.
For Chinese New Year, Apple released a limited-edition Year of the Rabbit engraving on the new AirPods Pro (2nd generation) for customers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Rabbit AirPods engraving, AirPods Pro 2, and packaging.
Apple’s Year of the Dragon website logo.
For the Japanese New Year, Apple once again released a special AirTag, this time celebrating the Year of the Dragon. Nearly doubling the previous year’s run, the first 50,000 customers in Japan who purchased a new iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 13, or third-generation iPhone SE received this limited-edition accessory, along with an Apple Gift Card featuring the same design as the year prior.
The Dragon AirTag design for the Japanese New Year promotion.
For Chinese New Year, customers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam could, for a limited time, purchase a special Year of the Dragon edition of AirPods Pro (2nd generation with USB-C charging case).
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Dragon AirPods engraving, AirPods Pro 2, and packaging.
Apple’s Year of the Snake website logo.
In Japan, from January 2 to 5, Apple once again ran its New Year sale, offering special discounts to Japanese customers along with a limited-edition Year of the Snake AirTag for the first 50,000 people who purchased an iPhone 15, iPhone 14, or iPhone SE.
The Snake AirTag design for the Japanese New Year promotion.
Meanwhile, in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, Apple once again released special Year of the Snake AirPods, this time using the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. During this period, Apple also offered discounts on select products, and several third-party accessory makers released snake-themed items to join in the celebration.
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Snake AirPods engraving, AirPods 4, and packaging.
Apple’s Year of the Horse website logo.
This year, as part of the Japanese New Year promotion, Apple moved away from zodiac-themed AirTags and instead offered a limited-edition AirTag featuring a Daruma doll, a traditional symbol of perseverance and good luck for the year ahead. The AirTag was available to the first 65,000 customers in Japan who purchased an iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, or iPhone 16e.
The Daruma AirTag design for the Japanese New Year promotion.
A special Apple Gift Card design was also created and included with qualifying purchases.
Japan New Year Edition Gift card design for 2026.
In China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore, Apple is offering a limited-edition Year of the Horse engraving on the newly announced AirPods Pro 3 as part of its Lunar New Year celebration.
Gallery showcasing the Year of the Horse AirPods engraving, AirPods Pro 3, and packaging.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-holding-new-years-shopping-event-in-japan-on-january-2.2217282/?post=28097808
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/06/apple-ox-themed-airpods-pro-china/
https://macfan.book.mynavi.jp/article/36574/
https://m.weibo.cn/status/4720927805801613
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/27/apple-japan-new-year-limited-edition-airtag/
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/26/apples-japanese-new-year-promotion-2024/
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/17/airpods-pro-year-of-dragon/
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/12/26/apple-japan-new-year-promotion/
https://x.com/noric2014/status/2004593600957685956?s=61
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/30/apple-to-give-away-limited-edition-airtag-in-japan/
https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/05/limited-edition-year-of-the-horse-airpods-pro-3-go-on-sale-in-china
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/25/apple-japan-new-years-event-2020/
2026-01-09 04:26:50
Introducing Hive, a minimalist gradient wallpaper collection for your Apple devices. 
Already more than a week into 2026 and I’ve been buzzing away on new posts and wallpapers, but I won’t drone on. Let’s bee-gin the year with Hive, a minimalist gradient collection of five new wallpapers for your Apple devices.
The collection of Hive wallpapers is available below, free of charge and in full resolution, but if you can support the work I do, I am also making the collection available as a donation gift of $3.99.
The Hive collection includes five wallpapers: Aurora, Evenfall, Forage, Honeycomb, and Spring Light for your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Read more about my approach to making wallpapers available for purchase over at The WinRAR Approach.
Once purchased, a download link will be emailed to you to download the .zip file (10.1MB) containing all five versions for Mac (6016 × 3900), iPad (2752 × 2752), and iPhone (1320 × 2868).
The digital download link will expire 24 hours after the first download. If your link expires and you need to redownload the files, please send me an email with your order number and I can send along a new link for you.
Each of these wallpapers bee-gins as a custom gradient wallpaper. Next, an overlay of hexagons is placed over the gradient. From there, each of the cells is sampled and filled with a solid background colour. Repeat this 893 more times and you have a simple and elegant wallpaper that’s undeniably buzzworthy.
There are five variations to choose from: Aurora, Evenfall, Forage, Honeycomb, and Spring Light. Each of the wallpapers are available for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Enjoy!
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🐝 Tips2026-01-03 06:35:59
Three new apps to ring in the new year. Reclaim six years of your life, learn something new, and a journal app for people who don’t like to journal.
Welcome to 2026. New year, fresh start, and a good moment to rethink what actually earns a spot on our devices. For the first post of the year, I wanted to share three apps that align nicely with what I’m trying to improve on in 2026.
Nothing too ambitious, just a few simple goals:
Be more intentional with my devices and spend less time mindlessly scrolling.
Start learning a new language and dust off some long-forgotten maths skills.
Keep journaling.
Opal gives me the information and the tools to make my device use more intentional and productive.
The average person will spend 5 to 6 hours on their phone today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. Do the math out far enough, and if you’re lucky enough to make it to 80 and started using a phone around 18, you’re looking at 15+ full years of your life spent staring at a screen. Nearly a quarter of it.
Framed like that, it makes me want to chuck my iPhone across the room. But the phone isn’t really the problem. My relationship with it is. I still want to use my iPhone. I just don’t want a quarter of my life quietly disappearing into social feeds, doomscrolling.
Enter Opal, an Apple Design Award finalist for Social Impact in 2025. It’s a free app with optional subscriptions that’s designed to help you track, block, and generally be more mindful about how you use your devices.
First, tracking. I’m a big believer in the idea that awareness leads to change. Whether it’s fitness, food, or screen time, just having the data makes it easier to pause and make better decisions. Opal gives you a surprisingly detailed look at how much time you spend on your device, where it goes, and how “productive” that time actually is. It’s hard to ignore once you see it.
Second, blocking. Opal lets you flag the apps you personally find most distracting and block them during specific times of day. You can use their presets or build your own schedules, so it only kicks in when you want it to. Work hours, mornings, evenings, or all of the above.
Opal doesn’t punish you for liking social media, but it helps you schedule breaks and help you be aware of mindless pickups.
The real magic, though, is the friction. How many times do you pick up your phone without even thinking about it, and suddenly you’re ten minutes deep into nothing? With Opal, you're still able to access all your apps, but it adds just enough friction to help you be aware of what's going on, ranging from a splash screen reminding you that you're not supposed to be using this app, to a 7 second timer while having to answer a skill-testing question, to a full-on block. You decide how strict or annoying it gets. The goal isn’t punishment, it’s buying yourself a few seconds to make an intentional choice.
I’ve only been using Opal for about a week, but my wife has sworn by it for a while now. She credits it with making a noticeable dent in her morning social media habits, which was enough of a recommendation for me.
Plus… you can collect Opals! So pretty!
Think of Opal as Apple’s Screen Time, but on steroids. The developers claim it can save an average of 87 minutes a day. That’s over 500 hours a year, roughly 22 full days. Over time, that’s as much as six years of your life back.
Opal is free to use, with monthly, yearly, or lifetime subscriptions for the more advanced features. It’s available on iOS, iPadOS, and Mac.
New year, new language?
I’ve always wanted to learn a new language. I’ve also always been terrible at actually sticking with it. I’ll start strong, fall off quickly, forget everything I learned, and eventually abandon it altogether. Rinse, repeat.
Duolingo isn’t new, and it definitely has its critics when it comes to how effective it really is at teaching a language. But here’s the thing. I’ve stuck with it longer than any other language-learning attempt I’ve made so far, and that alone counts for something (right?).
Gamifying the language learning experience has been a potent motivating factor in helping me commit to language learning in the early days.
That's largely in part too how effectively Duolingo has been in gamifying language learning. Lessons tend to be relatively short, 10-15 minutes on average, it leverages a clever streak mechanic to keep you doing lessons at the risk of breaking your run, and offers incentives like experience points and ways to double that experience to keep you engaged. Add double XP boosts, leaderboards, and even those dumb little home screen widgets, and suddenly you’re doing lessons more often than you expected.
I’m under no illusion that Duolingo alone will make me fluent. It won’t. But my hope is that it keeps me engaged long enough to build a foundation, spark some confidence, and make me want to actually use the language while travelling. From there, I can layer in other learning methods without feeling overwhelmed right out of the gate.
Lastly, I've also started doing their maths courses, because I found that as the years have gone by, I've lost the same level of mental math I had a while back. Stuff that used to feel automatic in high school now takes way more effort than it should. The math content has been a surprisingly solid refresher on basic concepts.
From High Valaryian to something perhaps a smidge more useful, Duolingo has no shortages of languages.
All in all, Duolingo offers courses in over 40 languages (including High Valaryian & Klingon) and also has courses in math, music, and chess. The app is available on most platforms, with a free tier and paid monthly or yearly options too. It's far from perfect; it has some annoying in-app purchases to get gems to extend lesson time, but it's fun enough to get the ball rolling on learning something new.
The Journal app from Apple is a great app to get into that journal habit everyone’s been harassing you to start.
With iOS 26, Apple expanded the Journal app beyond the iPhone to the iPad and Mac. It’s kind of the perfect journaling app for people who don’t really think of themselves as “journal people.” And I mean that in the best way.
What I mean is that often the idea of setting aside a dedicated amount of time per day or week to write, whether it's about how you're feeling, what's going on, or what you've been doing, doesn't easily fit into people's day. Apple’s Journal app lowers that barrier by handling much of the heavy lifting for you. It surfaces photos, locations, and events from your life and gently nudges you with prompts that make it easier to start writing without staring at a blank page.
Tap into a new entry and hit the smart suggestions icon, the little sparkly pencil, and suddenly you’ve got options. Photos from Christmas with family. Shots from a recent sporting event. A walk you took last weekend. Pick one, and Journal automatically builds an entry with the photos, locations, and context already in place. From there, you just add whatever thoughts, text, or extra media you want. That’s it.
Inside the Journal app, you can also add voice memos, sketches (iPad and iPhone only), record your mood (iPad and iPhone only), add videos, and add additional locations. You can also add content like podcasts and music you’ve been listening to, along with activities and workouts you’ve been doing.
For over a decade, I’ve been, and will continue to be, a Day One user. I’ve logged over 6,700 entries there, filled with photos, stories, and moments from my life. It’s probably the most meaningful thing I’ve ever created, a personal archive of memories and lessons over time.
Insights gives you details like active streaks, words written, and most frequently visited places.
But if you’re just getting started with journaling, or if you’ve bounced off it in the past, Apple’s Journal app is a genuinely great place to begin. It’s simple, low-friction, and quietly encouraging. Give it a couple of honest weeks. You might be surprised how easily the habit forms when the app meets you halfway.
2026-01-01 00:05:01
Part II of my fifth annual Rewind Series is a look back at the year and my three favourite wallpapers from 2025.
To put a bow on 2025, my final two entries of the year reflect on my three favourite articles of the year, along with my three favourite wallpapers. This second part looks at my three favourite wallpapers of 2025.
Let’s look at some of the numbers that defined 2025:
3 million people visited the site, representing a slight uptick from this time last year. I have never taken that number for granted. With so many things competing for our attention, having people find the site and continue to come back is something I consider a real privilege.
48 percent of site traffic came from iOS devices, 34 percent from the Mac, with approximately 10 percent from PCs and 7 percent from Android devices.
I published 50 articles to the main blog, 30 of which were written pieces. These included my usual Bingo Boards for WWDC and Apple’s September event, alongside new entries chronicling the history of iOS and macOS icons, highlighting some of my favourite apps (April, July), reviewing products, and reflecting on milestones like the Apple Watch turning 10, as well as my frustrations with the AirPods Pro 3.
Another 20 articles focused on wallpapers, including new series such as Skyline I & II and Gradients of April and September.
An additional 26 new posted were added to the Haberdashery, with a particular focus on building out a back catalogue of wallpapers Apple releases around new store openings. A new Apple Retail Wallpaper Archive section was also added to the blog, and both new and older wallpapers will continue to be added and live there for posterity.
The blog now reaches approximately 100,000 RSS subscribers, a significant increase from the roughly 50,000 subscribers throughout most of 2024.
The top three wallpapers by number of views were:
The top three articles by number of views were:
But it’s time to share my top three articles of 2025. These are not necessarily my most popular pieces, but the three that stood out from the rest and felt worthy of a three-star shoutout to end the year.
Part I of my fifth annual Rewind Series is a look back at the year and my three favourite articles from 2025.
Wallpaper | Posted: November 12, 2025
My most ambitious and time-consuming wallpaper project of the year was the iPhone Internals. This year, not only was I traveling in the first few weeks following the release of the iPhone 17 lineup, but I was also, at various points, sick, teaching, working, and sometimes doing all of the above at once. Suffice it to say, getting these out the door this year was no easy feat.
Each wallpaper consists of nearly 3,000 unique layers, all carefully pieced together and placed by hand, or rather, by mouse, to form the final product. The work that went into these was met with a great deal of anticipation and, later, genuine appreciation, which truly helped push me over the finish line.
While I had previously mentioned a late-2025 deadline, I fully intend to release the iPhone Air schematics early in the new year.
Wallpaper | Posted: January 13, 2025
Fluted Gradients was my first wallpaper pack of 2025 and, much to my surprise, one of my most popular of the year. Taking custom-made gradients and applying a fluted, glass-like overlay resulted in a fun, minimal wallpaper that I continued to use across several of my own devices throughout the year.
It is also one of the collections I plan to revisit in early 2026, so keep an eye out for that.
Skyline I | Skyline II | Posted: May 28 & June 24, 2025
Maybe it is the Windows 95 homeboy in me, but a good cloud wallpaper will always have a place in my heart. Cue Skyline I and II, a collection of wallpapers featuring soft, billowing clouds set against a variety of gradient backgrounds.
Finally, thank you. Thank you for reading, supporting my work, connecting with me, and for every tip and purchase. I am beyond grateful. Wishing everyone a safe, successful, peaceful, and fulfilling 2026.
