Apple has pulled 60 VPNs from its App Store in Russia, according to research from anti-censorship org GreatFire. From a report: The iThing-maker's action comes amid a Kremlin crackdown on VPNs that has already seen a ban on privacy-related extensions to the open source Firefox browser. The software's developer, Mozilla, defied that ban and allowed the extensions back into its web store. In July, Apple removed at least one VPN from its Russian App Store. Cupertino removed at least 60 more between early July and September 18, according to research by GreatFire posted to its site that tracks Apple censorship. The org's research asserts that 98 VPNs are now unavailable in Russia -- but doesn't specify if the removals were made in the iOS or macOS app stores.

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Benjamin and Chance share their hands-on reviews with Apple’s latest products, from the impressive noise cancellation in AirPods 4 to the useful — if fiddly — Camera Control on the iPhone 16 Pro, and the redesigned Apple Watch Series 10. The latest iOS 18.1 beta also includes some useful enhancements to Control Center and iPhone Mirroring.

And in Happy Hour Plus, Meta impresses with its Orion prototype, but shipping the AR glasses form factor is another thing entirely. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

• Sponsored by Things: The award-winning to-do app, ready for iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
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'Balatro' and 'Balatro+' are now available on iPhone and iPad, with players able to choose between the paid edition from the App Store or the Apple Arcade Plus version.


Balatro for iOS
Previously teased as arriving on iPhone and iPad late in September, Balatro from LocalThunk and Playstack is now available to download on mobile devices. The launch on Thursday brings the game to both the App Store and the Apple Arcade subscription.

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If you're experiencing issues with USB on your Mac after installing macOS Sequoia, you're not alone, with some users reporting drive connectivity issues.


macOS Sequoia with iPhone Mirroring
Following the release of major operating system updates, there are often small issues that crop up that weren't picked up during the beta-testing process. As expected, this has happened to macOS 15 Sequoia, which was released on September 16.

There are a few reports on Reddit and on Apple's support forum claiming that some upgraders to macOS Sequoia are having USB port trouble. Drives and chargers plugged into the USB-C ports of a MacBook aren't being detected, or take a...

We’ve been hearing multiple rumors about Apple working on a new home accessory that combines capabilities of an , Apple TV, and HomePod. A few months ago, references to a “HomeAccessory” were found in Apple’s backend code. Now 9to5Mac has learned more details about this new device.

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Apple Arcade added a big new title today. Balatro+ is now available for Arcade users, bringing the addictive card game to a new audience across all of Apple’s platforms. Here’s what you should know.

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A year-long test of Apple's 80% charge limit feature on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has revealed only marginal benefits to battery health. MacRumors editor Juli Clover reported her device maintained 94% battery capacity after 299 charge cycles, compared to 87-90% capacity for iPhones without the limit. The opt-in setting, introduced with iPhone 15 models, aims to extend battery longevity by restricting maximum charge.

Clover adhered strictly to the 80% limit for 12 months, noting occasional inconveniences like depleted batteries during long days. While the test showed slightly better battery health retention, Clover questioned whether the trade-off in daily usability was worthwhile. She adds: I don't have a lot of data points for comparison, but it does seem that limiting the charge to 80 percent kept my maximum battery capacity higher than what my co-workers are seeing, but there isn't a major difference. I have four percent more battery at 28 more cycles, and I'm not sure...

Amazon's eero mesh WiFi routers are heavily discounted as the countdown to fall Prime Day begins, with WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 options up to $400 off.


Credit: Amazon
The limited-time deals at Amazon include numerous eero WiFi routers and mesh systems, with WiFi 6, 6E and 7 prices slashed by up to 36%. Check out the selection of devices that are on sale below.

Shop eero deals


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Apple is now testing iOS 18.0.1, according to 9to5Mac analytics. This update will likely include fixes for a few different bugs that iPhone and iPad users have reported experiencing. It comes two and a half weeks after the release of iOS 18 for iPhone users.

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Today’s price drops are selling out fast folks – we have already seen the best price ever on the new AirPods 4 come and go. But you can still score the all-time low on Apple’s brand new iPhone 16 cases as both the silicone and clear Camera Control models are now sitting at $30 for a limited time. From there we move over to the M3 MacBook Air – you can now land one with 16GB of RAM down at $1099, alongside up to $1,000 in savings on...

The EU's AI Pact has a lot of big-name tech companies pledging to develop AI in a safe way, but Apple and Meta are the two outliers who aren't getting involved.


An iPhone running Apple Intelligence, in front of the EU flag
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had secured over a hundred signatures from companies signing up to the EU Artificial Intelligence Pact. Made up of voluntary pledges, the pact asks companies to work to ensure that AI is safe and produced in a responsible way.

The list of companies taking part in the pact includes quite a few major names, including Adobe, Google, IBM, HP, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Open Ai, the creator of ChatGPT. However, that list doesn't include two major names in AI: Apple and Meta.


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While the iPhone 16 introduced a variety of hardware improvements, some of Apple's planned features never made it to the final mass-production units. Here's everything that was scrapped during development.


Some iPhone 16 features didn't make it past the prototype stage.
Apple's iPhone 16 lineup went through several different prototype stages, as is typically the case for new hardware projects. During these various development stages, the company sometimes makes significant design changes, altering the appearance of devices in the process.

In other situations, however, Apple can remove new hardware features. This can happen for a variety of reasons, depending on the situation in question. The company has to make sure that new hardware components adhere to...

The Meta Quest Pro headset has been discontinued, with the company officially bidding goodbye to its most expensive headset while selling off remaining units. This follows an earlier decision to abandon work on an even more expensive Vision Pro competitor.

Meta had already slashed the price of the Pro from $1,499 to $999 within months of launch, but has now completely given up on the four-figure market …

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Enlarge / From left to right: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. (credit: Samuel Axon)

With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, it has never been clearer that the cycle of radical invention has given way to iterative updates—not just on an annual basis, but a monthly one, due to delayed features coming in later software updates during the iOS 18 cycle.

The final form of the smartphone as we know it has been reached and nearly perfected. Nothing fundamental is changing anymore. But if you take the long view of just a few years, you can still see some impressive progress.

Year after year, the iPhone 16 is Apple’s most lightly iterative flagship...

Longstanding Apple site iMore will no longer be publishing new content, but at least its 15 years of archives will remain online for posterity.

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Disney is coming down hard on users that share accounts across households, with the company forcing users that are doing so to add a paid sharing add-on to their account.


Disney+'s password crackdown
Streaming services often miss out on subscription revenue because of the common practice of password sharing. Families often use the same account credentials between houses, which saves them money.

However, Disney has decided to try and recoup the missed-out subscriptions for Disney+, by clamping down on the practice.


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My colleague Filipe Espósito yesterday said that the prototype Meta Orion glasses are what he wants for the future of Apple Vision, and I agree that they are an incredible step in the right direction.

I’ve long said that an Apple Glasses product is what I really want to see, but as impressed as I am by what Meta has shown us, I still think it will be a few years before any of us will be wearing a pair of Apple Glasses …

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Apple's efforts with bringing technology to young people in education has been honored with a Michigan 4-H Citation Award.


Michigan State University
Apple has been working in 4-H — "Head, Heart, Hands, and Health" — with its Community Education Initiative since 2019. More recently, Apple has established a Detroit Developer Academy, and worked with the University of Michigan on hearing studies that have led to the new functionality in the AirPods Pro 2.

Now Michigan State University (MSU...

Shazam, the popular music recognition app, now supports the new Music Haptics feature in iOS 18. Music Haptics, an accessibility tool, lets iPhones vibrate along with the rhythm of the music. This feature enhances the listening experience for Apple Music, Apple Music Classical, and Shazam users​. Shazam’s Latest Accessibility Feature in iOS 18 Music Haptics […]

Apple Music Classical has released its version 2.0 update, introducing album booklets for a richer listening experience. These booklets provide detailed information about the music and its creators. This new feature enhances the platform’s already vast classical music library. Thousands of Album Booklets Now Available The update adds thousands of album booklets to Apple Music […]

Apple’s iPhone users who upgrade their devices more frequently are exhibiting a strong commitment to the brand’s entire product ecosystem, recent data suggests. According to a study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), individuals who replace their iPhones within two years or less are significantly more likely to own other Apple products, such as iPads […]

I’ll link first to The Verge’s “Everything Announced at Meta Connect 2024” roundup because Meta still hasn’t posted today’s keynote address on YouTube; best I’ve found is this recording of the livestream, starting around the 43m:20s mark. I watched most of the keynote live and found it engaging. Just 45 minutes long — partly because it was information dense, and partly because Mark Zuckerberg hosted the entire thing himself. He seems very comfortable, confident, and natural lately. Nothing slows an on-stage keynote down more than a parade of VPs. There was clearly no political infighting at Meta for stage time in this keynote. The keynote was Zuck’s, and because of that, it was punchy and brisk.

In terms of actual products that will actually ship, Meta announced the $...

Former Masimo CEO Joe Kiani may have won the war against Apple, but he has resigned after losing a fight with a hedge fund.


Apple Watch Series 9 and newer are sold with a deactivated blood oxygen sensor
After spending over $100 million and betting the company he founded on principle alone, Joe Kiani is out at Masimo. However, the reason he has resigned as CEO has nothing to do with Apple or a patent dispute.

Reuters has the story, stating that Kiani stepped down after being removed from Masimo's board by shareholders. The move came after a proxy battle with hedge fund Politan Capital Management.


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Apple and Masimo have been battling it out in court after the company specializing in health technologies managed to temporarily ban Apple Watch sales in the US due to alleged patent infringement. In the midst of this dispute, Masimo CEO Joe Kiani has now announced that he’s resigning from the company.

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While Meta might be playing fast and loose describing its Orion smart glasses as having the look and feel of a regular pair of glasses, it is a clear look at the future possibilities of Apple Vision.


Meta Orion are a pair of AR glasses that hope to pass as regular specs
Words used to mean something, like "Artificial Intelligence," "hologram," and "regular pair of glasses," but we're throwing out all pretense in light of Meta's latest announcement. These definitely "regular" looking spectacles promise to bring augmented reality computing to your face — well, not your face exactly.

Orion isn't a public product. It is being revealed to show that Meta has made progress in the last five years towards, well, something.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider |...

Ubisoft is delaying Assassin's Creed Shadows' by three months, with the macOS-destined game now having its original release on February 14, 2025.


Assassin's Creed Shadows [Ubisoft]
Ubisoft made a big splash in May that it will be launching a game from the Assassin's Creed franchise on Apple Silicon Macs on the Mac App Store at the same time as other platforms. Unfortunately, that game won't be making its initial release date of November 15.

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Spotify on Wednesday announced updates for podcast creators. More specifically, the Spotify for Podcasters platform is adding new conversion metrics for both hosted and non-hosted creators. Read on as we detail what changes with this update.

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Only a few months remain in 2024. Apple has some big launches coming in October. But a variety of products won’t get updated before the year ends. Instead, they’re set for release next year. Here’s every Apple product that won’t get updated this year, but is coming in 2025.

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Juli Clover of MacRumors used a new feature of the iPhone 15 lineup to restrict her iPhone 15 Pro Max from charging over 80% for an entire year. It was an inconvenience, but it may have slightly improved her battery longevity.

A survey of lead times has led investment bank Morgan Stanley to claim that iPhone 16 orders are lower than for its predecessors.


The new larger iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus may have sold 37 million in their first weekend, and Russians are ordering more despite that country facing much higher prices on iPhones. In a message to investors that has been seen by AppleInsider, Morgan Stanley says that its surveys show iPhone 16 demand is lower than before.

Specifically, on average, those lead times (compared to 2023's ) are:


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Microsoft has announced a big shift for its mobile app strategy. The standalone Xbox Game Pass app is being discontinued, with its features being merged into the existing Xbox app for iOS. Here are the full details.

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Amazon has launched record-breaking price cuts on the Apple Watch Series 10 today. And for those interested in the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 2, steeper discounts are in effect on 2024 models with a black titanium case.


Save on Apple Watch Series 10 & Apple Watch Ultra 2.
The Apple Watch Series 10 lineup sees its first significant markdown on the aluminum case this Wednesday, with Amazon now offering the 42mm GPS version in Rose Gold Aluminum for $369, down from its usual $399.


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Frequent iPhone upgraders aren't just loyal to their smartphones — they're building entire personal device ecosystems with iPads and Macs at the core.


iPhone and MacBook Pro
According to recent data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), iPhone buyers who upgrade their phones more frequently — specifically within two years or less — are more likely to own additional Apple products, such as iPads and Mac computers.

These customers are described as the "fastest upgraders," and they show a distinct pattern of behavior that sets them apart from those who hold onto their iPhones for extended periods. For example, approximately 67% of all iPhone buyers also own an iPad, and 36% own a Mac computer.


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Apple's Mac business was still growing in the U.S. in Q2, but not at the same scale as other PC vendors, with analysts reporting a small rise in shipments compared to its rivals.


MacBook Pro, one of Apple's main Mac lines
Apple has enjoyed growth of its Mac business when looking at the overall global market. However, when it comes to the United States, Apple's fortunes are much more muted.

According to Canalys analysis of Q2 PC and notebook shipments in Q2 2024, Apple managed approximately 2.32 million Mac shipments. This is a small improvement compared to the 2.31 million shipments of Q2 2023, representing a year-on-year growth of just 0.5%.


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A new report says that Apple's plans for a budget Apple Vision Pro are now expected to see it using lower-resolution displays than it previously planned.


Inside the Apple Vision Pro
The new report follows a previous one claiming that Japan Display Inc (JDI) had delivered a test sample of a lower-resolution display to Apple. Now Digitimes says that it's believed Apple is sampling displays at even lower resolution than that.

Specifically, Apple had requested bids for displays of 1,700ppi, and for those screens to be OLED-on-Silicon (OLEDoS) ones, which are brighter than the white OLED plus color filters in the current headset....

Logitech is expanding its line of digital creator peripherals with the MX Creative Console, a Stream Deck-like setup for Mac to help in imaging and video production workflows.


Logitech MX Creative Console
While the keyboard and mouse are the usual tools of digital creators, peripherals have been introduced over time that promise to improve workflows. Following devices like the Elgato Stream Deck and the Loupedeck series, Logitech is offering its own take, in the form of the...

Apple is researching how the use of mixed reality in the Apple Vision Pro may provide pain relief for injuries.


Apple Vision Pro
The first generation of the Apple Vision Pro is quite comfortable, but it does weigh down on you. That's one aspect that Apple will certainly be working on for future generations, and especially the potential Apple Glasses.

Alongside those engineering efforts, though, a...

Maintenance release with a number of improvements and bug fixes for the videoconferencing app. (Free, 129.1 MB, macOS 10.13+)

Introduces a new command-line tool called vmcli. ($149.99/$199.99 new, free update, macOS 13+)

Brings some handy new features to Keynote. (Free, various sizes, macOS 14+)

Enlarge / The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the first iteration of a very, very long-lived phone design. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

This past weekend, I said goodbye to Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6 design after 10 long years.

It started with the iPhone 6 itself in 2014, a long-awaited screen size upgrade for the iPhone (some of the 2011-era Apple punditry insisting that 3.5 inches was the functionally perfect size for a phone screen and that Apple would never, ever change it, is an interesting time capsule). It ends with my wife’s third-...

Aqara has three Apple Home smart locks with Home Key support, but they address different needs depending on required security and protocols. Here's how they compare.


Aqara smart locks with Apple Home compatibility supporting Home Key
Smart home product manufacturers are a dime a dozen, but they are not all equal in their execution. Aqara's 13 years of experience has led to over 1,000 smart home devices in more than 30 categories, and they are a leader in Apple Home products.

Internet-connected smart locks are some of the most critical smart home products you can buy — so trust is paramount. The U50, U100, and U200 smart locks from Aqara offer a range of features at affordable prices.


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Enlarge / Control Center has a whole new customization interface. (credit: Samuel Axon)

iOS 18 launched this week, and while its flagship feature (Apple Intelligence) is still forthcoming, the new OS included two significant new buckets of customization: the home screen and Control Center.

We talked about home screen a few days ago, so for our next step in our series on iOS 18, it’s now time to turn our attention to the new ways you can adjust the Control Center to your liking. While we’re at it, we’ll assess a few other features meant to make iOS more powerful and more efficient for power users.

This is by no means the most significant...

"Apple has begun manufacturing its A16 SoC at the newly-opened TSCM Fab 21 in Arizona," writes Slashdot reader NoMoreACs. AppleInsider reports: According to sources of Tim Culpan, Phase 1 of TSMC's Fab 21 in Arizona is making the A16 SoC of the iPhone 14 Pro in "small, but significant, numbers. The production is largely a test for the facility at this stage, but more production is expected in the coming months. The volume will ramp up massively once the second stage of the Phase 1 fab actually concludes. If everything stays on schedule, the Arizona plant will hit a target for production sometime in the first half of 2025.

Sources say TSMC is achieving yields that are marginally behind those of Taiwan-based factories. Yield parity is expected to happen within months. TSMC has also raised its investment and moved to build additional plants in Arizona, with three set to be constructed in total. The U.S. Commerce Department previously claimed this will create 6,000 direct...

Audio control utility is stuffed with a plethora of additions, improvements and bug fixes. ($39 new, free update, 41.8 MB, macOS 14.5+)