Macworld

Prime Day isn’t until next week, but there’s never been a better time to get your hands on an iPad mini. Ahead of the 4-day Prime Day sale extravaganza, Amazon has dropped the price of the A17 Pro iPad mini down to $399, its best price yet.

The smaller form is one of the main benefits of getting the iPad mini because its 8.3-inch screen can fit just about anywhere. It’s also super fast thanks to the A17 Pro chip and a whopping 8GB of RAM, enough to run all of the Apple Intelligence goodies. The gorgeous Liquid Retina display and 12MP Center Stage camera make this tablet fantastic for streaming content, playing games, and...

The upcoming iPhone 17 base model might have a bigger screen compared to its predecessor. An online leak from China from Digital Chat Station mentioned how the base model of the iPhone 17 will have a 6.3-inch screen. The current iPhone 16 base model has a 6.1-inch screen. This report has been corroborated previously by […]

The post iPhone 17 Might Have a Bigger Screen appeared first on iLounge.

The latest developer macOS Tahoe beta brings several apps to the Mac, including Journal and Phone. Games, Journal, and Phone will be pre-installed on Mac computers when updating to macOS Tahoe. The Journal app has been revamped and can be used for daily thoughts, as well as writing, drawing, and supports audio recording, videos, and […]

The post Journal and Phone App Heads to Mac via macOS Tahoe appeared first on iLounge.

Popular messaging platform WhatsApp announced a new feature where unread messages are summarized using AI. With the AI-assisted feature, users can get a private summary of any unread message, divided into bulleted summaries with the help of Meta AI. It will use the company’s ‘Private Processing’ technology, which Meta says will keep the messages private. […]

The post WhatsApp Integrates AI Summary of Unread Messages appeared first on iLounge.

Ring launched a new feature that lets AI describe video footage for iOS users. Collected videos will now have a description powered by AI in the iPhone notification field, specifically when motion alerts are triggered. iPhone users will see a text summary of the motion captured so they can identify what it is at a […]

The post Ring iOS App Now Has AI-Summarized Video Descriptions appeared first on iLounge.

Both LG Display and Samsung Display have reportedly begun to mass produce the OLED panels for the upcoming iPad Pro with M5 chip. The iPad Pro with OLED display debuted last year- LG covered the 13-inch panels while the 11-inch panels were manufactured by Samsung. ZDNet Korea said that the supply will be shared for […]

The post Production of OLED Screens for M5 iPad Pro Has Begun appeared first on iLounge.

Apple is planning to debut a new AirTag with a brand-new battery feature, according to online reports. The AirTag 2 might be announced alongside the iPhone 17 lineup in September. Code found in iOS 18.6 beta points to a software update for the device tracker. It’s believed that the new AirTag will alert users to […]

The post Upcoming AirTag 2 to Have a New Feature appeared first on iLounge.

In the first major update since it was acquired by Apple, the Pixelmator Pro image editor for Mac has added features for pros with more RAW support, plus Image Playground from Apple Intelligence.


The new Pixelmator Pro 3.7 remains a standalone app, but has Apple improvements throughout — image credit: Pixelmator
If you've been crossing your fingers since November 2024 that Apple wouldn't strip its newly-acquired Pixelmator Pro for parts, now is the first real clue of just how Apple intends to use the...

Apple's potential low-cost MacBook using the A18 Pro iPhone chip may have surfaced earlier than thought, with code references to the model apparently surfacing back in July 2024.


A new MacBook could use an A-series chip
Early on Monday, commentary from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo advised that Apple was working on a MacBook that runs on an A-series processor instead of an M-series chip. Hours later, it seems that the model may have been teased quite a while ago.

According to posts shared by Aaron Perris via X in July 2024, code references in...

Macworld

As a diehard Apple fan and a technology journalist, I try to refresh my gear every year or so to keep up with the latest features. However, while my three-year-old M2 MacBook Air could certainly use an upgrade—and I’ve got my eye on a new MacBook Pro—it’s going to have to last for another year. Not only are the M5 MacBooks not expected to bring...

Macworld

Thanks to the excellent quality of smartphone cameras these days, we take so many pictures when we’re on holiday, with friends, or just when we see something that we want to remember. Sadly, the results aren’t always as good as we’d hope, and there’s the problem of how you can easily share the images with your family or friends.

Yes, there are plenty of photo-editing options around that can help fix the problems, but they can be expensive or have too many options and features for someone who just wants to quickly remove something or have the colours and lighting look their best. Well, that’s why Adobe offers its Lightroom app – all the power to make your photos look professional, with none of the complications. 

How Adobe Lightroom can instantly improve your photos

One of the main aims of Adobe Lightroom is that anyone can...

Macworld

Apple is expected to introduce noticeable changes to the iPhone this fall, especially with the Pro models. For the first time, the camera won’t be confined to a square in the upper-left corner but will now stretch across the entire back of the device with the flash at the far right.

For a company obsessed with symmetry and balance, that change will force another adjustment that’s both visual and practical. According to leaker Majin Bu, Apple will reposition the Apple logo that’s long been centered on the back of the iPhone, about an inch lower on the back of the Pro models. 

Majin...

On the latest HomeKit Insider Podcast, Ryan Okimoto joins to talk about the latest home automation news, and the relaunch of Brilliant.


HomeKit Insider Podcast
Ryan Okimoto — or Oki — is the Senior Director of Customer Engagement at Brilliant, and is our special guest this week on the show. He has a long history in tech hardware companies, spending time at Sonos and Eero before Brilliant.

Brilliant had faced a future of uncertainty after it was unable to meet its financial obligations. Despite this, the company website and its servers never went dark.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Marking ten years of Apple Music, the streaming service is hosting a week of special programming, ranging from the countdown of its top streaming chart, to documentaries about the streamer.


Apple Music celebrates its tenth anniversary with special programming
Since it launched on June 30, 2015, Apple Music has continuously streamed radio shows as well as individual tracks, and it has created performances from live sessions to the Super Bowl. Now, alongside unveiling a new Los Angeles studio for musicians, Apple...

Alongside celebratory shows on Apple Music live streaming, Apple is marking the first decade of its streaming service by opening a 15,000-square foot studio for musicians.


Exterior of the new Apple Music studio in Los Angeles— image credit: Apple
Apple Music went live on June 30, 2015, and since then has added Apple Music Classical, Spatial Audio — and opened a studio in Paris. Now Apple has announced a new complex that provides two studios, a soundstage, and facilities for artists in Los Angeles...

The long-rumored Apple Glass smartglasses may actually reach consumers' faces in late 2027, Ming-Chi Kuo claims.


Optimistic renders of what Apple Glass could look like - Image Credit: AppleInsider
As a concept, Apple Glass has featured heavily in rumors. Smart glasses taking multiple forms is a hot favorite to come out of Cupertino at some point in the future.

In a Monday post TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recaps and offers new forecasts on Apple's smart glasses...

On June 30, 2015, Apple launched Apple Music, the service that has brought music pleasure to millions — and cost Apple billions in fines — plus it included a social media feature no one wanted.


It's fine to be nostalgic for red blobs.
If you joined Apple Music when it first launched and have stayed with it since, you have probably paid out at least $1,198.80. The price has gone up over the years, plus there are more expensive tiers with a family plan, cheaper ones with the student offering, and Apple Music is also part of the Apple One bundle, but you've been paying something for up to a decade.

What won't have happened, though, is that you'...

Macworld

I have long complained that, for all its impressive hardware and software technology, the Apple Vision Pro is thus far a failure mostly because Apple doesn’t understand AR. Or Spatial Computing, or whatever it wants to call it.

That’s been the case for two years, since the Vision Pro arrived in February 2024 and the first major update in visionOS 2. But based on what Apple showed of visionOS 26 at WWDC, I feel like the company is finally starting to understand what a spatial computing experience should be.

Floating iPad window syndrome

Vision Pro is a device you’re supposed to wear on your head for a long time, looking “through” it (via camera passthrough) with rendered graphics incorporated into and onto real-world objects,...

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple intends to launch a MacBook using the processor currently in the iPhone 16 Pro, as part of a plan to produce a significantly lower-cost Mac.


Apple could be looking to bring out a successor to its lower cost MacBook
Apple has been designing its A-series processors for the iPhone — and originally the iPad — since its A4 release in 2010. Consequently, when Apple Silicon's M-series was first announced for Mac,...

A prominent leaker has proposed it is time for the Apple Ring to be the company's next wearable. It's an idea that Apple has been working on for years, but is still far from becoming a reality.


A render of a ring with the Apple logo and health sensors
The rumor mill often goes through a cycle where it surfaces hints and claims about unreleased Apple hardware. This often happens for products that sound like a logical leap for Apple's next release, but haven't been the subject of a rumor for quite some time.

On Sunday, it was the Apple Ring's turn, thanks to Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg. In the email to subscribers, Gurman proposes that the...

Macworld

Writing a book can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re staring down a blank page with no clear starting point, but AI can help. Youbooks is an AI-powered platform that helps you turn non-fiction ideas into professional, polished books in a fraction of the time it usually takes. With a lifetime subscription, you get ongoing access to tools that let you generate up to 300,000-word manuscripts tailored to your style, with real research and your own supporting materials built in. It’s also only $49 for a lifetime subscription (reg. $540).

What makes Youbooks stand out is that it’s not just...

Savings of up to $100 off are in effect on a large selection of Apple Watch Series 10 and SE 2 styles during this weekend's early Prime Day sale.


Save up to $100 on Apple Watch styles.
Save up to $100: Early Prime Day Apple Watch deals have dropped prices to as low as $169 at Amazon.

The weekend price drops include a selection of Apple Watch Series 10, Ultra 2, and SE 2 models, with various case sizes and band styles eligible for double-digit and triple-digit savings. You can jump directly to Amazon's sale page or peruse highlights from the sale below and in our Apple Watch Price Guide...

A self-described computer geek has revealed a previously secret "easter egg" image file buried in the ROM code of the 27-year-old Power Macintosh G3 that shows the team that worked on the project.


The secret image of the team that worked on the Power Macintosh G3. Image credit: Doug Brown
Doug Brown, who maintains a blog that documents his experiments and research into older computers, said that he accidentally discovered the Easter egg while looking through resources in the Power Mac G3's ROM. This model was made by Apple between November 1997 and August 1999.

The same ROM was used for the minitower, all-in-one, and beige desktop models. Brown said he was spending "a lazy Sunday" using a pair of tools called ROM Fiend and Hex Fiend to look through the G3's ROM...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, software engineer Doug Brown published his discovery of how to trigger a long-known but previously inaccessible Easter egg in the Power Mac G3's ROM: a hidden photo of the development team that nobody could figure out how to display for 27 years. While Pierre Dandumont first documented the JPEG image itself in 2014, the method to view it on the computer remained a mystery until Brown's reverse engineering work revealed that users must format a RAM disk with the text "secret ROM image."

Brown stumbled upon the image while using a hex editor tool called Hex Fiend with Eric Harmon's Mac ROM template to explore the resources stored in the beige Power Mac G3's ROM. The ROM appeared in desktop, minitower, and all-in-one G3 models from 1997 through 1999. "While I was browsing through the ROM, two things caught my eye," Brown wrote. He found both the HPOE resource containing the JPEG image of team members and a...

Meta's latest feature gives Facebook the power to continuously upload your private photos to its cloud — even the ones you never intended to share. Here's how to stop it.


Image credit: Meta
In a time where internet users are goaded into giving away their data to nearly every company, Meta has decided to take it several steps further. It wants you to give Facebook access to your entire camera roll and allow it to upload your photos to its cloud.

The "feature," spotted by TechCrunch has recently begun rolling out to users. When creating a story, a prompt pops up and asks users to opt into "cloud processing."


Continue Reading on...

The FTC is handing out $126 million in "Fortnite" refunds after years of shady charges, surprise bills, and retaliatory bans. Here's how to get yours.


Credit: Epic Games
Nearly one million Fortnite players are getting refunds totaling $126 million. The payouts address years of unauthorized charges and access restrictions tied to billing disputes.

This round of payouts is for those who submitted a valid claim before February 14, 2025. The FTC is currently reviewing claims that were made after February 14 and will provide information to claimants at a later date.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

This is a funny gag from Claude Zeins, but if you think about it, it shows just how destructive Apple’s decision was to send a push notification from the Wallet app promoting F1 The Movie.

It’s a fact that no company can inject an ad into your physical wallet. It just can’t happen. So if Apple’s message to users is that they should trust Apple Wallet, and move more of their “shit that goes in your wallet” life from their traditional analog wallet into their digital Apple Wallet, that’s the bar. No ads, ever. They’re competing against the privacy and intimacy of one of the most personal things people carry with them.

It’s not just that many people find ads annoying, no matter where they appear. It’s that Apple Wallet ought to be sacrosanct — like the Passwords and Journal apps....

Macworld

Wireless AirPods are fun and all, but they can be easy to lose if you’re not careful, and can run out of juice right in the middle of a run. These Apple EarPods, however, are affordable, always attached to your phone, and never run out of battery. You can get a pair for $16 right now, the cheapest they’ve ever been, an impressive 16 percent discount.

These old-school earbuds come with a USB-C port so you can connect them to all the most recent iPhone models, as well as pretty much any other device with a USB-C port, including laptops, tablets, and even Android devices. The EarPods have a sleek design that’s in line with pretty much all other Apple devices and only come in white. They have a round cable, so you’re going to have to be careful about those dreadful tangles.

The volume controls are built into the cable, so you can adjust the volume, control media...

Macworld

We all know the importance of backing up our Macs, but what is the best Mac backup software to use for the job? To many of us, backing up a Mac means using Time Machine, the free backup app included with macOS. Time Machine can make incremental backups of everything on a Mac and can be used clone an old Mac to a new Mac. Also popular is iCloud, which although not a way to back up your Mac, can be used to sync photos, music, files and more so you can access them on all your Apple devices.

However, while Time Machine and iCloud are great resources, they aren’t perfect, and relying on them alone to keep your data safe is a mistake that could have disastrous...

Macworld

At a glanceExpert's Rating

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• Good performance
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The expandable storage options provided by the DS925+ make it a great option for small businesses and home offices that need a fast, reliable network drive. However, Synology’s apps and documentation could be a lot simpler and more straightforward for first-time users.

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Apple has annoyed some users with its F1 Wallet promotion, and pleased others with its Finder icon redesign. Plus, there's news of the M5 iPad Pro, how Apple Intelligence briefly went down, and more, on the AppleInsider Podcast.


Apple Wallet and Apple Watch have both had chance to annoy users — but please others
It had already seemed as if Apple had found every possible way to promote its "F1: The Movie," and yet no, there was at least one more way — and judging by social media, it deeply aggravated users. But Apple using its Wallet app to promote a Wallet offer is arguably useful, so let's argue it.

Plus this is week three of the OS 26 betas, and it's the first time that Apple Intelligence has gone down. Apple will surely never admit to a problem, but host Wesley Hilliard has figured out how on-device Apple Intelligence can possibly go down....

Apple is changing its App Store policies in the EU in a last-minute attempt to avoid a series of escalating fines from Brussels.

The $3 trillion iPhone maker will allow developers in the bloc to offer apps designed for the iOS operating system in places other than Apple’s App Store, the company said.

Apple has been negotiating for two months with the European Commission after being fined €500 million for breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the landmark legislation designed to curtail the power of Big Tech groups.

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Macworld

Apple does its best to keep upcoming product launches a secret, but this isn’t always easy. Supply chains have to be briefed, regulatory database entries have to be filed, software for other products has to be updated to work with the new ones. There are lots of clues for eagle-eyed analysts to spot.

The latest example of this concerns an unreleased Apple audio product which appears to be on the verge of launch. We don’t yet know what it is, but there’s a decent chance it’s the long-awaited AirPods Pro 3.

According to MacRumors, Apple this week updated its codebase “with a numerical reference to an unreleased audio product.” This numerical reference is a Bluetooth identifier used to enable wireless headphones to sync with other devices.

Apple’s list of such identifiers includes all of its current audio devices and,...

DeepSeek has been declared by German regulators to contain illegal content because of its security issues, and the local government wants it removed from the App Store and Google Play Store.


DeepSeek is China's equivalent of ChatGPT
DeepSeek is the Chinese generative AI app that jumped to the top of the US App Store, was famously developed for a fraction of what OpenAI spent on ChatGPT, and has even been politely praised by Tim Cook. However, it also comes with severe...

Macworld

One of the most consequential developments in the history of computing happened 50 years ago. It set Apple on course to becoming one of the most valuable companies on the planet and changed the face of computing in unfathomable ways. Yet, you’ve probably never even heard of what went down. It’s an often-overlooked moment that had incredible consequences for years to come.

Typing on a computer is something we all take for granted. One of Apple’s key philosophies has long been to get the technology out of your way–Steve Jobs and Jony Ive have waxed lyrical on that idea–so day to day, we never really think much about how writing on a computer actually works.

We can debate the pros and cons of various displays and even build our own custom mechanical keyboards to tune the experience to our liking. But the fundamental concept of typing on a keyboard and see the characters appear on your screen in front of you is...

A new rumor surfaced on Thursday about Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone, set to be released next year. In a previous report, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he expects the foldable iPhone (or “iPhone Fold” for short) to include a dual-lens rear camera, but Kuo provided no other specifics. Now, prolific Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station […]

Source

Apple's Swift programming language is expanding official support to Android through a new "Android Working Group" which will improve compatibility, integration, and tooling. "As it stands today, Android apps are generally coded in Kotlin, but Apple is looking to provide its Swift coding language as an alternative," notes 9to5Google. "Apple first launched its coding language back in 2014 with its own platforms in mind, but currently also supports Windows and Linux officially." From the report: A few of the key pillars the Working Group will look to accomplish include:

- Improve and maintain Android support for the official Swift distribution, eliminating the need for out-of-tree or downstream patches
- Recommend enhancements to core Swift packages such as Foundation and Dispatch to work better with Android idioms
- Work with the Platform Steering Group to officially define platform support levels generally, and then work towards achieving official support of a...

A new Bluetooth ID appeared in a database related to device syncing, and it may be a reference to the AirPods Pro 3 that are expected to launch in the fall.


A new generation of AirPods Pro could be on the way
Apple is fairly careful to avoid inadvertent leaks, but it isn't immune to mistakes. A couple of small flubs occurred in 2025 already, one referencing AirPods Pro 3 directly and another stating AirPods Pro 2 or later.

The latest tidbit was discovered by MacRumors in an undisclosed codebase. The codebase was updated and normally contains a list of Bluetooth IDs for accessories like AirPods and Beats headphones, but the...

Apple will allow developers in the European Union to distribute iOS apps outside its App Store, the company said Thursday in a bid to avoid escalating fines from Brussels regulators. The policy change came on the deadline for Apple to comply with EU rules or face new financial penalties that can reach up to 5% of average daily worldwide revenue.

The $3 trillion iPhone maker has been negotiating with the European Commission for two months after receiving a $585 million fine for breaching the EU's Digital Markets Act. The landmark legislation targets the power of Big Tech companies and requires Apple to open its mobile ecosystem to competitors.

The second change, set to go into effect in January 2026, would replace the current "core technology fee" model -- a separate charge imposed on developers -- with a commission-based structure.

...

Leaked images reveal a small shift in the iPhone 17 Air's front camera, which may hint at internal design compromises required by its ultra-thin build.


Apple is expected to debut an ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air or iPhone 17 Slim in 2025.
It's almost rumor season, which means we're getting a steady flow of new leaks that may give us some insight into the next iPhone lineup. And, right on cue, we've got yet another new leak related to the iPhone 17 Air.

This time the leak consists of a photograph of a series of screen protectors designed to work with Apple's iPhone 17 lineup. At first blush, the images aren't terribly noteworthy — that is, until you look at the one for the iPhone 17 Air.


Rumor Score:

Macworld

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 isn’t all that different than the original Apple Watch Ultra, but we love one thing: the new black titnium color. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go on sale as often as the natural titanium color, but today you can get a great deal on one: Amazon is seling the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with a black titanium case and black ocean band for $730, a savings of $69 and the price we’ve ever seen for this colorway.

This is an amazing smartwatch with a ton of features, a super bright screen, and a super slick operating system. When we reviewed the Ultra 2, we gave it a four-star rating, finding it’s super great for tracking workouts, hiking trips, and so on. It comes with built-in GPS and cellular connectivity (for a monthly fee) so you always know where you are. Plus, it does a...

The T1 "Trump" Phone won't launch in time to fight the iPhone 17 release, and more than a week after debut, claims of the device being made in America have been scrubbed from the website.


Photoshop of what the T1 Phone might look like. Image source: Trump Mobile
The so-called "Trump Phone" was announced by the Trump Organization on the 10th anniversary of Donald Trump announcing he was running for president. It is being marketed alongside Trump Mobile, a T-Mobile-powered MVNO, and was originally called a smartphone that is "made in America."

It was quickly proven that the T1 Phone was not only not made in America, it was likely a re-skin of the REVVL 7 Pro 5G, a $169 smartphone that's made in China and that has...

Apple is marking two decades of podcasting, and is highlighting 20 standout shows across that time, that helped shape the medium.


Apple shares top 20 podcasts from the past 20 years
Podcasts first landed on iTunes in 2005. To celebrate 20 years of podcasts, Apple has launched a new page titled "Apple Podcasts 20 Years, 20 Podcasts We Love" promoting its favorite podcasts throughout the years.

"This list is a love letter to the podcasts that left a lasting impact on us and the ones we continue to recommend again and again," the page reads.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider |...

No one can say that Apple has taken a light touch in promoting, "F1: The Movie," but the film is being distributed theatrically by Warner Bros. — and Apple reportedly wants more power.


Brad Pitt in "F1"
It's perhaps a sign of confidence in how "F1" is going to fare at the box office, and it's definitely a turn around from when Apple said to be cutting back on both big-budget movies and theatrical releases of them. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple executives are now looking at moving into film distribution.

Apple does tend to prefer to own the whole stack in any field, and a lot of its iPhone success has been down to how it controls everything from the...

Macworld

Every year, when Apple rolls out betas of the new operating systems after WWDC, we advise readers to be cautious about installing them on their primary devices. Betas are, by their nature, unfinished and imperfect software, and they are likely to contain bugs. (Spotting the bugs is what the beta program is for!) So it should come as no surprise that the second developer beta of watchOS 26 contains a known bug… and it’s quite a serious one.

For one specific line of Apple Watches, the Hermès editions, simply installing the second beta is enough to cause continuous crashing. Apple acknowledges the issue in its watchOS 26 beta release notes. Under the section for beta 2, the company notes:

...

Macworld

At a GlanceExpert's Rating

Pros

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• Advanced features

Cons

• Fewer servers than other options

Our Verdict

Hide Me is likely to be the ‘Goldilocks’ VPN for many users. It offers a free tier, has a whole host of power features (if you want them), and has a whole host of servers recommended for streaming services. It could do with a few more servers in general, but it’s a fantastic option.

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