Last week, we were invited to speak at the Apple Developer Academy in Naples, Italy. We also had a reunion with almost everyone on the team and it was a great time.

The Speech

Our co-founders, Matteo, Danilo, and Konstantin, took the stage to share the Shiny Frog journey. They talked about what indie app development really looks like, the hard decisions, the restarts, and the lessons along the way, and also gave a few hints about what is coming next for Bear and our (not so) secret new project.

The students in the Academy asked wonderful questions and some even shared their own projects with us. It is always good to be in a room full of people who are genuinely excited about building things. It was also a lovely surprise to meet a few Bear fans among them.

The Reunion

Since Shiny Frog is a remote team, getting almost everyone together in the same place is a rare thing. Naples gave us a good excuse. We took team photos, including at least one where nobody was behaving, had an enormous amount of pizza, pasta, Neapolitan desserts, and coffee, and generally made the most of being in one of the best food cities in the world.

One of our co-founders Konstantin showed up with Bear icon biscuits in our color themes, including a googly-eye beta edition and a 1977 Apple rainbow-striped one. They were too beautiful to eat, but we proved they were delicious too!

We also found time to sit down and talk seriously about what is ahead. Some features you have been asking about for a while are on their way, and we spent some time on the secret new project that is coming sooner than you think.

Till Next Time

Naples, it was a pleasure. Now back to building. There is a lot coming your way soon.

Reach out to us on our Community Forum, Reddit, X (Twitter), Bluesky, or directly at bear@shinyfrog.net.

🐻❤️🍕