Apple 'Sherlocked' These Apps at WWDC 2025

[MacRumors]

Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple.

When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred to as sherlocking. The name dates back to a "Sherlock" search tool in OS X that Apple enhanced with features that were cribbed from a third-party app called Watson. Watson's developers accused Apple of copying the product without compensation, and from then on, sherlocking has been used to describe apps that are supplanted by Apple.

Here are the features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26 that, to various extents, sherlock popular existing apps.
Apple's Sherlocking New Features

• Enhanced Spotlight with Actions – Provides suggested apps, commands, and custom shortcuts with the ability to perform actions like creating calendar events or making GIFs directly from search. Sherlocks Raycast and LaunchBar.
  
• Call Assist with Screening – Takes calls from unknown numbers silently, captures the caller's name and reason for calling, then lets you choose to accept or reject with typed responses. Sherlocks Robokiller and Truecaller.
  
• Parcel Tracking in Wallet – Uses Apple Intelligence to automatically track and summarize order status by analyzing emails from merchants and delivery services. Sherlocks various package tracking apps.
  
• Flight Tracking via Live Activities – Allows users to track and share flight status through Live Activities in Wallet, plus airport navigation with gate and amenity information in Maps. Sherlocks Flighty.
  
• AI Model Integration in Xcode – Makes ChatGPT the default assistant for Xcode 26 and allows developers to connect other AI models using API keys for coding assistance. Sherlocks Alex for Xcode.
  
• Local Capture for iPad – Enables creators to record videos locally using any video calling app and share recordings with others for podcast creation. Sherlocks Riverside.
  
• Notes App for Apple Watch – Brings the official Notes app to Apple Watch with watchOS 26, allowing users to take notes directly on their wrist. Sherlocks various note-taking apps for Apple Watch.
  
• Allow in the Menu Bar – In macOS Tahoe's System Settings, you can now control which third-party apps are allowed to display menu bar items. Sherlocks Bartender and Ice.
  
• Spotlight Clipboard Search – In macOS Tahoe, Spotlight users can search and view previously copied content in their clipboard history – including both text and images – making it easy to retrieve items copied earlier. Sherlocks Paste and Pastebot.

Of course, some of these apps may still offer additional functionality beyond what Apple has implemented, and developers of sherlocked apps sometimes find ways to improve their apps to differentiate them from Apple, so there's hopefully life left in many of them yet.

Do you know of any other new features not listed here that potentially sherlock existing third-party apps? Let us know in the comments.




Article Link: Apple 'Sherlocked' These Apps at WWDC 2025

 

[sniffies]

I'll continue to use Raycast for its superior and robust Clipboard with 3-month history until Apple removes the measly 20-item limit from their Clipboard.

 

[FasterQuieter]

I would settle for a Spotlight that works. The only reason I use Alfred is because Spotlight is broken. I try very hard to avoid third party apps that run in the background all the time.

 

[AusMness]

The only app I use here is Ice, which I will keep but it will be reduced to just keeping the chevron dropdown active

 

[NJRonbo]

I immediately sensed that RAYCAST and ALFRED had just been Sherlocked, though I know both have plug-ins that still make them powerful software.

I also realize that I might not need PASTEPAL anymore, as Spotlight now has a Clipboard Manager. I am not certain, however, if, like PASTEPAL, it can display copied images.

I use PARCEL to track my deliveries. Not certain the Wallet function can replace that, as I don't know if all my Amazon orders would automatically be added to Wallet the same way they are in PARCEL.

Finally, had no idea that Tahoe could do a BARTENDER-like function, displaying only the icons I want in the menu bar. If this is true, and it's easy to configure, that's another app I will be getting rid of.

 

[johnrlaporta]

The real term should be “Super Clocked” or “MultiFindered”” if they went back to their Mac history far enough.

 

[Stella]

Enhanced Spotlight with Actions – Provides suggested apps, commands, and custom shortcuts with the ability to perform actions like creating calendar events or making GIFs directly from search. Sherlocks Raycast and Launch Bar.

These apps also allow custom plugins. Will Mac OS 26 also allow custom plugins? If not, there's still a lot of value in Alfred et al.

 

[JOyo246]

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[spazzcat]

I have never heard of most of these apps. And some of these actions are kind of generic, like tracking packages.

 

[hagar]

The only app I use here is Ice, which I will keep but it will be reduced to just keeping the chevron dropdown active

I installed it recently but don’t understand how it works. Many menu items require interaction like dragging files to them. That does not seem to work with the ones in the hidden menu.

 

[NJRonbo]

I also realize that I might not need PASTEPAL anymore, as Spotlight now has a Clipboard Manager. I am not certain, however, if, like PASTEPAL, it can display copied images.

To answer my own question, I found this screenshot that shows that the clipboard indeed captures and saves images

 

[BOB-86]

Glad they are bringing the notes app to the watch. There was no way I was paying a monthly or yearly subscription to a developer, just to have some notes on the watch.

In that vain, they need to Sherlock even more apps

 

[Sowelu]

I've found that most 'Sherlockings' have been partial Sherlockings, not totally rendering the app they pulled 'inspiration' from useless. Most people who use these apps are power users (or at the very least, not casual users) and most will continue to use them for the features that Apple's implementations don't have.

Sure, some will ditch 3rd party apps because Apple's versions are 'good enough', but Apple tends to bring the 'lite' versions (in terms of functionality) to macOS when they 'Sherlock'. For me, 'Passwords' didn't Sherlock '1Password'. It's a lite version of a full-featured password manager that's just fine for casual users.

 

[thebarrkbyte]

Apple is not allowed to develop their own? So I don't have to pay a subscription to someone who either improves the app often or just makes it and forgets it?

 

[nt5672]

I would settle for a Spotlight that works. The only reason I use Alfred is because Spotlight is broken. I try very hard to avoid third party apps that run in the background all the time.

I agree, and the fact that it is so broken and Apple does not care, gives me little hope for Apple's AI.

 

[BigxMac]

Apple Maps’ new boarding pass feature sherlocked Trippie

 

[hieranonymous]

The link to Launchbar is incorrect.

 

[H2SO4]

I would settle for a Spotlight that works. The only reason I use Alfred is because Spotlight is broken. I try very hard to avoid third party apps that run in the background all the time.

I don't. My view is that no operating system will do everything best or everything at all. For that I turn to 3rd party apps and I try and support them even if Apple now does its own version by periodically upgrading and feeding back to them.

 

[zinacef]

Apple Maps’ new boarding pass feature sherlocked Trippie

Is Trippie similar in to Flighty? The article mentioned Flighty was sherlocked.

 

[nt5672]

Apple is not allowed to develop their own? So I don't have to pay a subscription to someone who either improves the app often or just makes it and forgets it?

Paying a subscription and it not being updated should be a crime. But Apple will release the App, then forget it because there is no income stream. Cook's policy and it applies across the board with Apple Apps.

At some point in time, people will need to realize that Apple makes it very expensive to keep Apps up to date. There are 2 reasons:

1. Apple policy does not allow paid upgrades, only subscriptions. Most developers that use subscriptions abhor them, but they are the only way to get paid to keep up with required Apple changes.
2. Apple policy is to not make new APIs (that do not require upgraded hardware and software) work with old OS's. They want to sell new hardware. This forces unnecessary App software churn for code that works just fine.

Most third party apps, that are regularly updated, are much better and more bug free than Apple's Apps.

 

[zarmanto]

When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred to as sherlocking. The name dates back to a "Sherlock" search tool in OS X that Apple enhanced with features that were cribbed from a third-party app called Watson. Watson's developers accused Apple of copying the product without compensation, and from then on, sherlocking has been used to describe apps that are supplanted by Apple.

With all due respect to Mr. Hardwick... I believe the true origin of the term "Sherlocking" is a good deal more nuanced than that. I've done a bit of research on this in the past, and in short: I discovered that arguably Watson copied Sherlock first.

 

[Doomtomb]

Do people understand now why they foster a developer community?

Many reasons including but not limited to:
- free R&D
- 30% cut of successful ones
- insights into download and usage trends

Can easily make a burndown chart of what to incorporate into Apple's own OSes next

 

[spazzcat]

Paying a subscription and it not being updated should be a crime. But Apple will release the App, then forget it because there is no income stream. Cook's policy and it applies across the board with Apple Apps.

At some point in time, people will need to realize that Apple makes it very expensive to keep Apps up to date. There are 2 reasons:

1. Apple policy does not allow paid upgrades, only subscriptions. Most developers that use subscriptions abhor them, but they are the only way to get paid to keep up with required Apple changes.
2. Apple policy is to not make new APIs (that do not require upgraded hardware and software) work with old OS's. They want to sell new hardware. This forces unnecessary App software churn for code that works just fine.

Most third party apps, that are regularly updated, are much better and more bug free than Apple's Apps.

Apps do upgrades all the time. They release the upgrade as an in app purchase.

 

[ignatius345]

Enhanced Spotlight with Actions – Provides suggested apps, commands, and custom shortcuts with the ability to perform actions like creating calendar events or making GIFs directly from search. Sherlocks Raycast and Launch Bar.

No mention of Alfred? Really? It's a stellar app. I think a lot of its more advanced workflow features are beyond me but it does a LOT. (Whether Shortcuts can accomplish the same stuff, I leave to the power users out there as I don't know)

Allow in the Menu Bar – In macOS Tahoe's System Settings, you can now control which third-party apps are allowed to display menu bar items. Sherlocks Bartender and Ice.

Eh. Devil is in the details with this. Bartender has all kinds of options for temporarily displaying icons if they're changing, etc. It's not a binary show/hide control, which I think is what Apple is offering.

 

[thebarrkbyte]

Paying a subscription and it not being updated should be a crime. But Apple will release the App, then forget it because there is no income stream. Cook's policy and it applies across the board with Apple Apps.

At some point in time, people will need to realize that Apple makes it very expensive to keep Apps up to date. There are 2 reasons:

1. Apple policy does not allow paid upgrades, only subscriptions. Most developers that use subscriptions abhor them, but they are the only way to get paid to keep up with required Apple changes.
2. Apple policy is to not make new APIs (that do not require upgraded hardware and software) work with old OS's. They want to sell new hardware. This forces unnecessary App software churn for code that works just fine.

Most third party apps, that are regularly updated, are much better and more bug free than Apple's Apps.

Okey dokey. Don't use Apple's version then.
I am merely saying that Apple is NOT forbidden from developing an app for their system just because someone else did.