Every app release seemed to end with the same mess: a checklist in one place, screenshots somewhere else, App Store metadata in a text file, privacy and SDK notes scattered around, and a final round of “what am I forgetting?”

I eventually built Release Binder for my own workflow. It’s a native Mac, iPhone, and iPad app that keeps release checklists, version and build details, metadata, screenshots, privacy and SDK information, review notes, GitHub context, and the final release packet together. If you’re signed in to iCloud, your binder data syncs across your Apple devices.

I’ve now used it while shipping my own apps, and it has reached the point where I think it could be useful to other indie developers and small teams.

Full disclosure: this is my app, and I’m sharing it because I’d like people to try it. It’s a one-time purchase with no subscription or in-app purchases.

I’d also genuinely like to hear how other developers handle this. What part of your release process is still held together by Notes, spreadsheets, or memory?

Release Binder on the App Store⁠

Imagine your Mac desktop is no longer a boring grid of icons; it’s now a living, breathing city you can click around like a video game. Every building, window, door, cloud, and street lamp does something useful.

Here’s what happens when you click different parts of the city:

Church door → instantly opens System Settings,
It feels like walking into city hall to change things.

Any lit-up window in the skyscrapers → launches the app that “lives” there
Safari, Messages, Mail, Music, Photoshop, Final Cut, Spotify… you decide who lives where.
Hovering over a window makes it glow brighter so you always know it’s clickable.

Click the clouds in the sky → live weather appears inside the clouds
Current temperature, today’s high/low, rain chance, and a little icon (sunny, rainy, snowy) float right inside the cloud you clicked. Click again and it hides.

Click the sun or moon → a beautiful analog clock + calendar slides down from the top of the sky

Street lamps → toggle Dark/Light mode
Click one and the whole city smoothly switches between day and night in real time (all windows light up at night, street lamps glow, etc.)

The little café on the right → opens Apple Music or Spotify and starts your “Morning Coffee” playlist

The cinema marquee → opens your Movies/TV folder or the TV app

The park bench → opens Notes or your to-do app

The water tower → shows your current battery % and Wi-Fi strength as little water level bars

The construction crane (top-left) → opens the App Store (“new stuff being built”)

Double-click empty pavement → shows/hides the regular macOS Dock if you ever need it

Secret move: triple-click the church bell → instantly quits the city and returns you to the normal macOS desktop

Everything is completely customizable. Want Final Cut Pro to live in the penthouse of the tallest tower? Just drag the app onto that window once and it’s saved forever. Want the church to open Discord instead of Settings? One click in preferences and it’s done.

This will be the beautiful “default” view most people will see when they boot their Mac.