We have two presentations Thursday, Sep. 4:

Where: North Seattle College, 9600 College Way N, room LB 1105 in the library

When: Gather and mingle at 6:30 pm. Talks start at 7 pm

The talks are…

Developing a Watchfaces and Widget app from Idea to AppStore by James Clarke and Lisa Valentine

The Seattle Xcoders were the very first beta testers of our app “Remindful Watchfaces & Widget” at the meetup on April 3, 2025. Tonight, UX Designer and App Developer collaborators give an overview of their journey from the need for “tech wellness” in 2024 to an app that has already begun to help users thrive more mindfully in a busy world.

Tapping Into Visual Intelligence in iOS 26 by John Gillilan

Using an example artwork viewing app, we’ll take a dive into the new APIs for 3rd party developers to tap into Visual Intelligence in iOS 26. Beyond this new Visual Intelligence framework, the implementation will leverage other frameworks including App Intents, Core Video, and Vision. And if there’s time, we’ll take a quick look at the new Translation framework and my latest VoiceOver implementation in the same app.

Reminder: if you’d like to give a talk (long or short), contact us at info@xcoders.org. We’re a friendly group! And this is a great place to get some public speaking practice or to explore a topic you’d like to learn. (Or both!)

We don’t normally have an Xcoders event on fourth Thursdays — but this week we do!

Standard time and place for social:

Where: Bale Breaker in Ballard, outside, at the fire thingies

When: 6 pm to 10 pm (but show up and leave at any time, of course)

Why the surprise event? Because longtime Xcoder and friend Olof is visiting, and we all want to see him. 🌴

(It’s beautiful out! You should come even if you don’t know Olof, even if this would be your first Xcoders.)

We have a very special Xcoders social coming up on the third Thursday of August — a special performance by James Dempsey and the Breakpoints!

You’ve seen him and various Breakpoints (conditional and otherwise) at WWDC, Live Near WWDC — and at any number of conferences such as CocoaConf and Deep Dish Swift.

You may know “Almost Dropped My iPhone” by heart — or at least have wondered how you’ll ever get “The Liki Song” out of your head! 🌴

And now’s your chance to see the legend himself, plus a star-studded lineup of mostly local Breakpoints, at a free outdoors show in a chill venue in Seattle in the summer.

Where: normal place for social events — Bale Breaker and Yonder Cider taproom in Ballard. Outside at the picnic tables.

When: Thursday, August 21, starting at 6 pm (earlier than normal) and going till closing (10 pm). The music will probably start around 7 pm. 7-ish. We’ll play it by ear. :)

Food note — the scheduled food truck is the Thursday regular: Impeckable Chicken.

This Thursday, July 31, we’ll be celebrating longtime Xcoder Brent Simmons’s retirement from the working world! He’s still coding, though — ever and always an Xcoder. 🐥

Where: normal place for social events — Bale Breaker and Yonder Cider taproom in Ballard

When: starting at 5 pm (earlier than normal) and going till closing (10 pm)

There will be cake! 💥

It’s been a long time since we’ve had meetings with presentations!

We have managed to keep up with social meetings (held outdoors), because social is important.

But actual presentations are important! And we’re finally back. Presentation meetings will be on the first Thursday of each month, starting April 3. (Social-only meetings will continue on the third Thursday of each month.)

When: Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm - 9 pm (gather at 6:30 pm; talk starts at 7 pm)

Where: North Seattle College, 9600 College Way North, in room LC 1105 in the library

After: Watershed Pub and Kitchen (all-ages friendly), across the John Lewis bridge, one block from the Northgate Link Light Rail station

You can subscribe to the Xcoders calendar and/or follow along on Meetup. Here’s the Meetup page on the April 3 event.

Note: there’s a social-only meeting sooner: this week, Thursday, March 20, 7 pm - 9 pm, at Bale Breaker & Yonder Cider taproom in Ballard (826 NW 49th St.). We meet outside.

All are welcome! You don’t have to be a coder — the group includes testers, support humans, designers, writers, and everyone who loves Mac and iOS apps. We even welcome managers! 🎩😀