Hacker News: cindori

Reverse Engineering NSVisualEffectView

cindori — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 09:01:38 +0000

Article URL: https://oskargroth.com/blog/reverse-engineering-nsvisualeffectview

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46299722

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Tracking down an upside-down text bug in the ChatGPT macOS app

cindori — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 10:25:24 +0000

Article URL: https://oskargroth.com/blog/debugging-strange-calayers-chatgpt

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46242717

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Rendering macOS in Virtual Reality

cindori — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:35:20 +0000

Article URL: https://oskargroth.com/blog/rendering-macos-in-vr

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46192053

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

Lessons from a Swift Interview

cindori — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 11:33:56 +0000

Article URL: https://oskargroth.com/blog/swift-interview-lessons

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172516

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:30:43 +0000

Thanks! Should be resolved now, and show AUD correctly.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:52:31 +0000

1. Yes, they are technically supported but sourcing material is hard. 2. It does not currently, but I’ll consider adding support for that! Although I feel that it might not work well on macOS Tahoe, which ships with a new ”faded blur” menu bar background.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:49:10 +0000

I haven’t tried those, but Hopper has been working pretty well for me. Although I mostly just sift through the assembly and pseudocode, and don’t use many advanced features.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:45:50 +0000

I started developing Backdrop years ago, but it was funny to see that video go viral!

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:44:01 +0000

Thanks for reporting this! To clarify, what currency did you expect to see?

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:47:02 +0000

Apps break on OS updates all the time. I'll do my best to keep supporting this feature. Who knows, maybe Apple will take note and make it a default feature in next macOS?

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:44:17 +0000

I have not written about it yet. I use Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com) to disassemble related binaries and frameworks. It's a great way to explore whats actually happening within macOS or Apple apps.

My current workflow is to run Hopper, export assembly files and then throw various agents (Gemini, Claude etc) at them to learn more or validate my theories. It's surprisingly effective! Maybe I'll write about it.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:43:08 +0000

It's not available (it's just a promotional video), but I've received to many requests for it so I guess I'll have to make a real wallpaper from it!

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:42:05 +0000

Reverse engineering is hard! I use Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com) to disassemble related binaries and frameworks. It's a great way to explore whats actually happening within macOS or Apple apps.

You can also export assembly files and throw various agents (Gemini, Claude etc) at them to learn more. It's surprisingly effective!

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:24:05 +0000

Thanks! I don't publish any of my apps on the App Store. Partly because I want the creative freedom that publishing independently provides, but also because I don't want arbitrary decisions from unknown reviewers to risk ruining my business, and prevent my users from accessing their purchases.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:19:47 +0000

I think you will find that if you try to do that, it will actually not work properly. Visiting the lock screen repeatedly will eventually crash the wallpaper extension, producing a black screen. And updating macOS will reset all your wallpapers.

Backdrop uses a more advanced approach that ensures that it works seamlessly across reboots and macOS updates.

New comment by cindori in "Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers"

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:07:08 +0000

That’s totally valid. In the end, all apps on Apple platforms exist at the liberty of Apple. I have several friends who’ve seen their app stop working on Tahoe or previous macOS due to subtle changes in the SDK or the OS.

I think Backdrop fills a specific need that Apple does not want to cover, much like other utility apps like Bartender etc. It will likely require continuous updates, but I’m not new to that, having supported my Trim Enabler utility all the way from OS X Leopard to current macOS.

Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers

cindori — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 08:28:09 +0000

Hi HN, I'm Oskar, a solo indie Mac developer from Sweden. For those in the Mac community, you might know me from my other apps like Sensei and Trim Enabler.

For years, I've been frustrated by the lack of customisation of macOS. In particular the Lock Screen which supports animated wallpapers, but only ones provided by Apple. There's never been a way to add your own personal videos.

I decided to figure out how to solve this, and the result is Backdrop 2.0. Backdrop is my Live Wallpaper app for Mac, it can play video wallpapers on your desktop. And now it can play on your Lock Screen too.

The core technical challenge, as you can imagine, came from trying to do something that Apple otherwise does not allow. However, through extensive reverse engineering of the macOS wallpaper system, I figured out a way to provide Backdrop wallpapers to the system in a way that allows them to play on the lock screen, and even appear in a custom section in System Settings.

I'm here all day to answer any questions—especially about the reverse engineering process, the challenges of integrating with macOS, or the experience of being an indie Mac developer.

Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45247396

Points: 82

# Comments: 56