Waku: the visual PKM I wish I'd found on the App Store

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Why I built Waku

What Waku does

v1.0.0 features

• Instant capture — paste a link, Waku automatically extracts the title, description, image and favicon
• Rich notes — text + images + PencilKit drawings, a real visual notebook
• Collections & tags — organize your bookmarks your way
• On-device AI summary — Apple Intelligence summarizes your bookmarks and notes, everything runs on-device, no data sent anywhere
• Siri & App Intents — "Hey Siri, save this link in Waku"
• iOS Widgets — 3 sizes (Small, Medium, Large), your bookmarks on the home screen
• Spotlight — your bookmarks indexed, searchable from iOS search
• 100% offline-first — SwiftData, no account, no server, your data stays on your device
• Bento design — organic grid, rounded corners, warm orange accent, inspired by Bento.me and Arc

Waku on the App Store

The tech stack

Under the hood: metadata extraction

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func extract(from url: URL) async throws -> ItemMetadata {
    async let lpResult = extractWithLP(from: url)
    async let htmlResult = fetchHTML(from: url)

    let lp = try? await lpResult
    let htmlString = try? await htmlResult
    let html = htmlString.map { parseHTML($0, base: url) }
    let oembed = await extractWithOEmbed(from: url, html: htmlString)

    guard lp != nil || html != nil || oembed != nil else {
        throw ExtractionError.extractionFailed
    }

    let thumbnail = oembed?.thumbnailURL
        ?? html?.ogImageURL
        ?? youtubeDirectThumbnail(for: url)

    return ItemMetadata(
        title: oembed?.title ?? lp?.title ?? html?.title ?? url.host() ?? url.absoluteString,
        description: oembed?.description ?? html?.description ?? "",
        ogImageURL: thumbnail,
        faviconURL: html?.faviconURL ?? faviconFallback(for: url),
        siteName: oembed?.providerName ?? html?.siteName ?? lp?.siteName ?? url.host() ?? ""
    )
}

The SwiftData model

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@Model
final class WakuItem {
    var id: UUID
    var url: String
    var title: String
    var descriptionText: String
    var ogImageURL: String?
    var siteName: String
    var isPinned: Bool
    var isFavorite: Bool
    @Attribute(.externalStorage) var customImageData: Data?
    @Attribute(.externalStorage) var drawingData: Data?
    @Attribute(.externalStorage) var noteBlocksData: Data?
    var summary: String?

    var collection: ItemCollection?
    @Relationship(deleteRule: .nullify) var tags: [Tag] = []
}

Siri & App Intents

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@AppIntent(schema: .browser.bookmarkURL)
struct SaveBookmarkIntent: AppIntent {
    static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "intent.save.title"

    @Parameter(title: "URL")
    var url: URL

    @MainActor
    func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<BrowserBookmarkEntity> & ProvidesDialog {
        let displayName = url.host() ?? url.absoluteString

        switch BookmarkPendingStore.save(urlInput: url.absoluteString) {
        case .saved(let host):
            return .result(value: entity, dialog: "\(host) saved in Waku!")
        case .alreadyPending:
            return .result(value: entity, dialog: "This link is already pending")
        case .invalidURL:
            return .result(value: entity, dialog: "Invalid URL")
        case .storeError:
            return .result(value: entity, dialog: "Save error")
        }
    }
}

The dev log

Publishing an app in 2026 is a contact sport

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1,600 apps per day: the bottleneck

Apple's March 2026 crackdown

The real problem: quality

What makes the process stressful

What I learned

• Read the guidelines before writing a single line of code, not the night before submission
• Test on a real device, not just the simulator — Apple tests on real hardware
• Prepare your metadata in advance — descriptions, screenshots, category, keywords — it takes as long as the dev
• Plan buffer time — never promise a launch date without Apple's validation in hand
• Submit early, submit often — a pre-release with core features, then updates. It's easier to get updates through than a first submission

Waku is free

• Unlimited bookmarks and collections
• On-device AI summary
• iOS Widgets
• Custom accent color
• Import/export
• Siri guide

What's next?

• CloudKit — iCloud sync across your devices
• Share Extension — capture from any app in one tap
• Pocket/Raindrop import — migrate your bookmarks in one click