The iPad is a product equally beloved and criticized: It has its devoted fans, who love it as it is, and use it for everything from work, passion projects, and entertainment. But it also has detractors, mostly those who see it as a limited experience thanks to an underpowered OS.

While Apple rarely seems to cater to the whims of its critics, it has made some iterative changes to the iPad over the years: iPadOS used to be an undeniably "tablet" experience, before Apple revamped its multitasking features, not once, but twice. Throw in mouse and trackpad support, and the iPad can be used as a computer replacement.

Apple hasn't made many fundamental changes to the overall design of the iPad in some time: The design of the Pro models remains almost identical to the ones released back in 2018, minus the 12.9-inch Pro's mini-LED display. This year, however, could mark some massive changes in the iPad lineup, across both hardware to software.

Apple's new iPads

iPad rumors have been in circulation for months now, but as we approach Apple's big iPad event next week, the claims are only getting more serious.

Case in point, a new Bloomberg report from noted Apple reporter Mark Gurman presents the highlights of Apple's iPad presentation: The star of the show is the iPad Pro. Apple is moving on from the mini-LED display on the 12.9-inch Pro (as well as the standard LCD on the 11-inch Pro) in favor of OLED. It's the first time Apple has used this display tech in an iPad before, but better late than never: On OLED displays, each pixel can be lit up individually, which means they can be completely shut off for dark scenes. The contrast is incomparable to LCD, which is lit by one solid backlight, and improved over mini-LED: The latter uses many dimming zones to boost contrast, but comes with the side effect of light bloom, or white zones in the dark areas around an image.

In addition to the display upgrades, the rumors suggest these iPads could be the first to get Apple's upcoming M4 chip, which may power many of Apple's upcoming AI features. (At least, the ones not outsourced to OpenAI or Google.) Perhaps the 2024 iPad Pro will usher in Apple's long-awaited AI strategy. We'll just have to see.

While OLED iPads will certainly make headlines, the iPad Air is also getting an upgrade: Gurman expects Apple to unveil a new 12.9-inch version of the Air, for those who want a larger iPad without paying Pro prices. The standard 10.9-inch will also be available for anyone who likes the traditional form factor of the Air, and both are expected to come with Apple's M2 chip. So, not the tablets to get for AI or the best contrast, but probably the best tablets for most people to consider.

Some new accessories for your new iPad

Of course, what's an iPad without some additional (expensive) accessories? Gurman expects Apple to unveil new versions of both the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. The new Pencil will come with haptic feedback, which I'm all for: Those are the tiny vibrations you feel in certain pieces of tech, which offers some physical feedback whenever completing an action. It's not clear how Apple plans to implement that into the new Pencil, but it'd be cool if they came into play when drawing, erasing, or selecting items on-screen.

The new Magic Keyboard also sounds like a step up: It will reportedly use more durable materials, like aluminum, and will make the iPad "look more laptop-like." While I'm a fan of the current Magic Keyboard, it does feel quite fragile compared to other Apple products. There are other areas I'd like to see improvements as well: The main keyboard is nice, but I hope Apple increases the size of the trackpad and adds a row of function keys. Honestly, if all they did was add brightness and volume controls to the keyboard, I'd be set.

The iPad is becoming a bit more like a computer

People have wanted to replace their Macs and PCs with iPads since the tablet's launch in 2010. And although we've come a long way since that initial design, there's no denying an iPad simply can't do everything a traditional computer can. Sure, you can now have up to four windows on your iPhone running at once, and the Magic Keyboard lets you interact with your tablet much like a laptop, but you will continue to run into roadblocks and jump through painful workarounds to accomplish tasks that would be simple on a Mac.

There are many such differences Apple still needs to iron out, but one big one comes down to apps. Yes, the App Store is full of apps you can discover and download, but it isn't the same experience as a computer: On a Mac or PC, you can find a fun app or utility on the web, install it, and be on your way. On iPadOS, if Apple didn't approve the app on the App Store, you're not running it.

That's changing this year, at least in Europe: Apple confirmed Thursday it will allow app developers to sell their apps through third-party app stores and through websites, following the same rules the company rolled out for iPhones as of iOS 17.5. While app developers will still need to play by Apple's rules and give a percentage of their revenue to the company (this isn't a way to skirt Apple's fees, after all), it gives users more options for where they can download their apps. It means iPhones feel more like Androids, and iPads feels more like computers: If you see an app online, and you want to install it directly on your iPad, you can.

Of course, the only reason Apple is doing this is because the European Commission is forcing them to. The E.U. sees the iPhone and the iPad as "gatekeeping technologies," and, as such, must open up their platforms to allow for more competition. Unless we see similar legislation passed in the U.S., it's unlikely we'll get sideloading on iPads anytime soon.

That said, this is a reality for European iPad owners: While there are still plenty of small advantages computers still have over iPads, this change is another small step towards a future where Apple's tablet can be most people's all-in-one device.

New iPads are always fun, but arguably the best part of a product release is watching prices on older devices shrink. If you want a new iPad, but don't want to pay new iPad prices, keep an eye on the prices for these iPads post-Apple event:

• 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro (renewed)

• 11-inch M2 iPad Pro (renewed)

• iPad Air (5th generation)

Enlarge / The promotional image for Apple's May 7 event. (credit: Apple)

On May 7, Apple will host a product announcement event at 9 am ET. Labeled "Let loose," we expect it will focus on new iPads and iPad accessories.

We won't be liveblogging the stream, but you can expect some news coverage as it happens. Below, we'll go over our educated guesses about why Apple might be doing this.

Why hold an event now?

It's unusual for Apple to host an event shortly before WWDC. New products debut at that event all the time, so if it's just a faster chip and a nicer screen for the iPad Pro and iPad Air, why not wait until June?

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Enlarge / The Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. (credit: Anadolu Agency | Getty)

Apple's earnings report for the second quarter of the company's 2024 fiscal year showed a slide in hardware sales, especially for the iPhone. Nonetheless, Apple beat analysts' estimates for the quarter thanks to the company's rapidly growing services revenue.

iPhone revenue dropped from $51.33 billion in the same quarter last year to $45.96 billion, a fall of about 10 percent. This was the second consecutive quarter with declining iPhone revenues. That said, investors feared a sharp drop before the earnings call.

Notably, Apple's revenue in the region it dubs Greater China (which includes China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong) fell 8 percent overall. The company fared a little better in other regions. China's economy is slowing even as China-based Huawei is taking bigger slices of the pie in the region.

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iPhone sales fell 10% compared with the same time period last year, but the company still beat Wall Street’s expectations

Apple released its earnings report on Thursday, revealing a drop in overall revenue fueled by slackening iPhone sales.

Earnings exceeded market expectations, however, and Apple’s shares rose in after-hours trading. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in a statement released before the call that “Apple is reporting revenue of $90.8bn for the March quarter, including an all-time revenue record in services”.

Enlarge / John Schmidtlein, partner at Williams & Connolly LLP and lead litigator for Alphabet Inc.'s Google, arrives to federal court in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

Halfway through the first day of closing arguments in the Department of Justice's big antitrust trial against Google, US District Judge Amit Mehta posed the question that likely many Google users have pondered over years of DOJ claims that Google's market dominance has harmed users.

"What should Google have done to remain outside the crosshairs of the DOJ?" Mehta asked plaintiffs halfway through the first of two full days of closing arguments.

According to the DOJ and state attorneys general suing, Google has diminished search quality everywhere online, primarily by locking rivals out of default positions on devices and in browsers. By paying billions for default placements that the government has argued allowed Google to hoard traffic and profits, Google allegedly made it nearly impossible for rivals to secure enough traffic to compete, ultimately decreasing competition and innovation in search by limiting the number of viable search engines in the market.

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Apple Notes is a great app for jotting your thoughts down. It ships with your iPhone, reliably syncs across Apple devices, has great features like sharing, and best of all—it's free. Even so, there are a number of easy ways to improve the app you might not know about.

Not every note needs a title

Credit: Pranay Parab

By default, the first line in each of your notes is automatically in title formatting, which means it'll be bold and use a large font size. Some people love this, but if you'd rather use a different font size, go to Settings > Notes > New Notes Start With. Instead of a title, you can choose to start your notes off with a Heading, Subheading, or Body text. For normal sized words, Body is the right option. The other two settings let you retain a title at the start of each note, but with a smaller font size when compared to the default.

Change how checklists are sorted

Credit: Pranay Parab

You can use Apple Notes to make checklists, which are great if you use the app to create shared to-do lists or shopping lists. By default, when you check an item off in these lists, Notes will keep it in place. Some people like it when completed items are moved to the bottom of lists, which you can set by going to Settings > Notes > Sort Ticked Items, and selecting Automatically.

Use a different background color

Credit: Pranay Parab

Apple doesn't allow you to choose a custom background color for Notes, but you still have a couple of options. If your phone is in dark mode, you can still force notes to use a white background. This is great for people who prefer dark mode in general, but find it easier to read text against a white background. Make this adjustment by going to Settings > Notes > Note Backgrounds and selecting Light. This option doesn't appear at all if you use light mode on your phone—it's only for people who've enabled dark mode.

Pick lines or grids for handwriting

Credit: Pranay Parab

Apple Notes lets you use a stylus to handwrite your notes, but the default setting shows you a blank page when you start writing. If you're the kind of person who prefers a ruled notebook, go to Settings > Notes > Lines & Grids and take your pick. 

Make sorting work for you

Credit: Pranay Parab

Apple Notes' default sorting options are good, but you can still make changes if you'd prefer something else. Go to Settings > Notes and scroll down to the Viewing section. If you don't like your notes grouped by date, you can disable that option, although I don't recommend it. You can also select Sort Notes By and choose Date Created or Title. The former will stop reordering notes every time you make a change to an older note, while the latter will sort your notes alphabetically.

View your notes as a gallery

Credit: Pranay Parab

If you're tired of viewing notes as a text-based list, you can switch to a gallery view. Some people find the gallery view easier to skim through and others like it because it's aesthetically pleasing. Make the switch by opening the Notes app on your iPhone and tapping the three-dots icon in the top-right corner. Select View as Gallery to switch. 

Keep some notes on your iPhone

Credit: Pranay Parab

You likely keep all your notes tied to your accounts in the cloud, which is convenient when jumping between devices. But if you'd rather keep some notes on one device specifically—say, your iPhone—you can do that. Go to Settings > Notes and enable "On My iPhone" Account. This will show a new folder in Apple Notes: Notes in this folder won't appear on other devices. However, if you have Notes enabled for iCloud, this folder will be included in an iCloud backup of your iPhone.

Embrace notes wherever you are

Credit: Pranay Parab

Your iPhone lets you access notes from wherever you happen to be on your iPhone, including the Lock Screen, if you add the app toI Control Center. Just go to Settings > Control Center and add Notes. Now, when you open the app from the Control Center, it'll automatically open a new note. You can also make the app open your most recent note instead. To do this, go to Settings > Notes > Access Notes from Lock Screen and select Resume Last Note.

In the market for a new iPhone? Check out these latest options:

• iPhone 15

• iPhone 15 Plus

• iPhone 15 Pro

• iPhone 15 Pro Max

According to the rumor mill, Apple is poised to announce new iPads any day now, which often means it's the best time to pick up an older model. Whether you're seeking the entry-level iPad or a more powerful iPad Pro, brand new models of both are currently available new from Woot at their lowest prices yet, according to price tracking tools.

The sale continues until May 10, 2024, at 2:59 a.m. ET or until the iPads sell out. Note that Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. If you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping; otherwise, it's $6. Here's what's on sale:

The 10th Generation Apple iPad

Apple iPad (10th Generation)

with A14 Bionic chip, 10.9-inch Liquid Retina Display, 256GB, Wi-Fi 6, 12MP front/12MP Back Camera.

$459.00 at Woot

$599.00 Save $140.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$459.00 at Woot

$599.00 Save $140.00

Apple's May event will likely introduce the new 11th-generation iPad. If you're not necessarily into the latest specs and features and prefer getting a good deal on a capable Apple tablet, the 256 GB 10th Generation iPad is $459.99 from Woot, down from $599. This iPad came out in late 2022 and received an "excellent" review from PCMag for its premium design (borrowed from the iPad Pro), the introduction of a USB-C charging, a better-placed and higher-quality webcam, and better cameras and speakers compared to the previous model. You'll get about six hours of battery too, making this arguably the best tablet under $500 that you can buy.

The 2021 Apple iPad Pro

Apple 12.9" iPad Pro (2021 Model)

Wi-Fi + Cellular, 256GB Storage.

$849.99 at Woot

$1,199.00 Save $349.01

Get Deal

Get Deal

$849.99 at Woot

$1,199.00 Save $349.01

The 2021 iPad Pro is a year older than the 10th-generation iPad, the ones Woot is selling offer some clear advantages. First, it's the cellular version, meaning you will not need to rely on wifi connectivity to have an internet connection. One of the biggest reasons to justify paying nearly twice the price over the standard iPad is that it features Apple's M1 processor. As Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson explains, the M1 is still the best processor for most people when it comes to balancing price and performance. PCMag gave it a "good" review, nothing that while it is a powerful machine, iPadOS isn't great for multi-tasking. Still, if you're looking for an iPad Pro, it's the best price for a new model you're likely to see for a while.

Company says it is aware of issue as users complain alarms are playing too quietly or not going off

Apple is working to fix a problem that has resulted in some users complaining that their iPhone alarms are not going off – or playing too quietly.

The company said it was aware of the issue, which has been picked up by TikTok users, who have complained about incidents where their alarm has failed to sound.

2024 is shaping up to be the year Apple jumps on the AI bandwagon. Most analysts are expecting the company to roll out new AI features with the company's latest updates, including, of course, iOS 18 and macOS 15, as Apple has yet to adopt generative AI in any meaningful way.

While we've heard about many different AI functions Apple may be planning for this year, the latest rumors point to Safari: AppleInsider's sources say Safari 18 will add at least one new AI-powered feature that may bring it more in-line with existing services like Gemini in Chrome, Copilot in Edge, or Aria in Opera. In addition, the website shares some other non-AI changes Apple may be cooking up.

Intelligent Search

One AI feature engineers have reportedly discovered is "Intelligent Search," which may evaluate a web page for key words and phrases to build a summary for quick reference. These engineers say the feature uses Apple's on-device AI model to look for particular sentences that explain or describe a problem, as well as repeating words and sentences, to inform this summary.

According to these insiders, Intelligent Search isn't enabled by default, and isn't currently up and running, so it's still not clear exactly how this will work. However, it only makes sense for Apple to offer an AI assistant within Safari: Most other companies that offer internet browsers also offer some type of AI boost alongside it. If Safari 18 didn't include an AI web page summarizer, it'd be a bit of a surprise.

Web Eraser

This feature is aptly named: With Web Eraser, you can "erase" parts of a web page you don't want to see, including advertisements, pictures, blocks of text, etc. Plus, Safari remembers your previous eraser settings, so when you return to a web page, the same selections will be missing.

We've seen this type of tool in other services before, namely ad blockers, but it's certainly a first for Apple. The company will likely rope Web Eraser in with its other Safari privacy settings, such as iCloud Private Relay.

Quick settings

Intelligent Search, Web Eraser, and other Safari features and settings (such as the Aa menu on iOS and iPadOS) may all be available under Safari's quick menu. Right now, macOS Safari's quick menu includes privacy features, the share menu, and the option to bookmark the page, so it makes sense to fold all of Safari's biggest features into one place.

Will Safari 18 make an impact in the browser world?

It might not be everyone's first choice, but there's an argument to be made that Safari is the best web browser right now. Apple has an opportunity with Safari 18 on iOS 18 and macOS 15 to make the browser even better: I'm not quite sold on how useful AI can be for day-to-day use, but if Apple can figure out how to add genuinely useful AI tools to Safari (especially if you can turn them off or ignore them) I'm all for that.

While AppleInsider only broke these three changes for Safari 18, there are no doubt more changes in the works, big and small. In fact, the outlet claims Apple is aiming to release an improved Visual Lookup tool for Safari in 2025, which could let you search images you find on the web and learn more about them. While that big swing isn't coming this year, there are likely more features and adjustments to Safari on the way with iOS 18 and macOS 15. We'll keep an eye out for any new rumors, but luckily WWDC isn't that far away.

Enlarge / Part of the cover illustration from "The Applesoft Tutorial" BASIC manual that shipped with the Apple II computer starting in 1981. (credit: Apple, Inc.)

Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That's when mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz successfully ran the first program written in their newly developed BASIC (Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language on the college's General Electric GE-225 mainframe.

Little did they know that their creation would go on to democratize computing and inspire generations of programmers over the next six decades.

What is BASIC?

In its most traditional form, BASIC is an interpreted programming language that runs line by line, with line numbers. A typical program might look something like this:

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Enlarge (credit: Apple)

If you've ever sent an iPhone in for repair, you might be familiar with the dance Apple asks you to do if your device still powers on: back up your data, then either erase the phone or disable the Find My feature so your phone can easily be serviced (or, if it's being exchanged for a new one, refurbished and resold). If you're also using the Stolen Device Protection and Security Delay feature introduced in iOS 17.3, this can be a pain, since you need to wait a full hour to turn Find My off after you make the request.

It looks like Apple is making some changes to that process in iOS 17.5, which is currently in beta testing. The update adds a new "repair state" mode that leaves the device functional while keeping both Find My and Activation Lock enabled. This means that iPhones swiped while in transit will still be trackable and that they'll still stay locked to your Apple ID so they can't easily be wiped and resold.

MacRumors has a good overview of the feature as it currently functions. You can set an iPhone to repair state mode by pulling it up in the Find My app and attempting to remove the device from your account while it’s still online and active. Rather than removing the device from your account, the app will offer to put it in the repair state instead; unlike when you try to disable Find My entirely, this doesn't trigger the one-hour Security Delay waiting period. If your phone is offline, Find My will offer to remove it from your account, as it currently does.

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Enlarge / Assassin's Creed Mirage returned to the earlier games' focus on stealth assassinations in a historical urban environment. (credit: Ubisoft)

Apple has spent the last year trying to convince gamers that they can get a console-like, triple-A experience on the latest iPhones. The newest test of that promise will be Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage, which now has a release date and pricing information.

Mirage will land on compatible iPhones—the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max—on June 6, according to Ubisoft (though the App Store listing says June 10.) That coincides pretty closely with Apple's annual developer conference, so we'd expect it to get a shoutout there. Ubisoft's blog post also says it will come to the iPad Air and iPad Pro models with an M1 chip or later.

The game will be a free download with a 90-minute free trial. After that, you'll have to pay $50 to keep playing, which is pretty close to what the game costs on PC and consoles. It will support cross-progression, provided you sign into Ubisoft Connect. Ubisoft Connect is not exactly beloved by players, but it's nice to be able to take your saves back and forth between other platforms if you can stomach it.

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Enlarge / An iPhone in Standby mode, charging wirelessly on a desk. (credit: Apple)

If your iPhone's alarm hasn't woken you lately, it seems you're not alone: Apple has confirmed to Today that a software bug is to blame, following user complaints on TikTok and other social platforms.

Apple is "aware of an issue causing some iPhone alarms to not play the expected sound," according to the report and "is working on a fix." The company's official statement didn't go into more detail on what caused the bug or why it seems to affect some users but not others.

These sorts of bugs usually relate to some kind of time change; one circa 2010 iOS alarm bug was caused by Daylight Saving Time, and another cropped up in the first two days of 2011 when alarms suddenly stopped working for the first two days of the year (for whatever reason. they began working properly again on January 3 without any kind of software update). Daylight Saving Time in 2024 kicked in all the way back in mid-March, so it's hard to say whether the problem is related to the change this time around.

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Three of the most popular models of Apple's AirPods are discounted on Amazon right now, with one of them matching the lowest price they've ever been. The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro are $179 (originally $249), which is the lowest I've ever seen them. The 2nd Generation AirPods are $89 (originally $129) after a 30% discount. This isn't the lowest price they've been, but it's still a decent discount. The 3rd Generation Apple AirPods are at their usual $161.99 listing price, but if you wait, you can probably get them for $139.99, which they hit this past December.

If you're not sure which AirPods to pick, we have a breakdown of all three to make the choice a little easier.

• Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) $179 (originally $249), matching lowest price ever

• Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) $89 (originally $129)

• Apple AirPods Max $519 (originally $549)

The AirPods Max are rarely discounted, but you can get them for $30 off right now.

Apple AirPods Max

Wireless Over-Ear Headphones, Active Noise Cancelling, Transparency Mode, Personalized Spatial Audio

$519.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $30.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$519.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $30.00

The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro are some of the best earbuds you can get if you have the funds for them. This newest model, which came out in September, is the first to feature charging via USB-C as opposed to a lightning cable. They have a few new features, like adaptive transparency, but the change in the charging port is the biggest difference. You can expect solid battery life, with Apple claiming up to 30 hours of listening time on a single charge.

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Like most tech products, the Apple Watches have a basic model (the SE), a midtier model (the Series 9), and a high-end version (the Ultra 2). But the Series 9 has arguably the best bang for your buck, with many premium features and designs, while being closer to the price of the SE than the Ultra 2. Right now, the Apple Watch Series 9 is $299 for the GPS version (originally $399), and $399 for the GPS and cellular versions (originally $499), both at their lowest price since their release, according to price-checking tools.

Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 45mm, Midnight, Loop One Size Band, Without Blood Oxygen)

$329.00 at Amazon

$429.00 Save $100.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$329.00 at Amazon

$429.00 Save $100.00

If you're not sure if the Series 9 or the Ultra 2 is best for you, you can read our full breakdown. Essentially, the Series 9 is a smaller watch with fewer features for outdoor enthusiasts than the Ultra 2. But if you want to save yourself a few hundred dollars and don't need a brighter screen or a more rugged design, the Series 9 is a great choice. PCMag gave the Series 9 an "outstanding" review for its powerful processor, the in-demand double-tap gesture for hands-free operation, access to Siri, the ability to find iPhone 15s with "Precision Finding," and its bright display.

To choose between the GPS and cellular version, ask yourself if you want to be able to have access to your phone without carrying it with you or being in the same network. Is being able to go on a run without your iPhone, play music on your AirPods, and take calls worth $100 to you? If so, consider the GPS and cellular versions. You'll still be able to do these things with the GPS version as long as you're within the same wifi network as your phone or within Bluetooth range.

Right now, only the 41mm sized screen is available for both versions, but band sizes from 130mm to 200mm are available for both.

You can change the default browser on your iPhone, but you still can't change the default maps app—at least, not officially. This is annoying for those who prefer using something like Waze, which has superior traffic data and a slew of other features. If you get a navigation link in iMessage, it's going to open in Apple Maps, and if you find one in Google Search, it will open in Google Maps. But as it happens, there is a way to make any maps link in Safari open in the maps app of your choice.

This is possible thanks to a simple Safari extension called Map Redirect for Map Links. With this app setup, any link can open in Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, Bing Maps, or HERE WeGo Maps. If you like different maps apps for different purposes, you can set the extension up so it asks you which app to use every time.

How to set up the Map Redirect Safari extension

Start by downloading the Map Redirect for Map Links app from the App Store ($1.99). When you open the app, it will give you directions to set it up in Safari. To enable it, open Safari and tap Aa after opening a web page. Choose Manage Extensions at the top, and enable Map Redirect.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Back in the Aa menu in Safari, tap Map Redirect to customize the app. Here, you can choose your target app, so any maps link opens in that app by default, or you can configure the extension to ask you each time to tap on a link. This is a good idea if, say, Apple Maps is your default, but you use Waze occasionally to check for traffic on longer routes. If you ever feel like switching default apps, you can jump back into these settings at any time.

Enlarge (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Starting in March with the release of iOS 17.4, iPhones in the European Union have been subject to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a batch of regulations that (among other things) forced Apple to support alternate app stores, app sideloading, and third-party browser engines in iOS for the first time. This week, EU regulators announced that they are also categorizing Apple's iPadOS as a "gatekeeper," meaning that the iPad will soon be subject to the same regulations as the iPhone.

In a developer blog post released today, Apple said that it would comply with the EU's regulations "later this fall, as required." All changes that Apple has made to iOS on European iPhones to comply with the DMA will be implemented in the same way on the iPad, though it's not clear whether these changes will be brought to iPadOS 17 or if they'll just be a part of the upcoming iPacOS 18 update.

The EU began investigating whether iPadOS would qualify as a gatekeeper in September 2023, the same day it decided that iOS, the Safari browser, and the App Store were all gatekeepers.

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MDM Hindered: Android phones are still OK; this is Samsung’s home, after all.

The post South Korean iPhone Ban: MDM DMZ PDQ appeared first on Security Boulevard.

This Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (10th Gen) is on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through April 30. It's an open-box return—part of excess inventory from store shelves—but has been given clean packaging and works the same as new. The keyboard comes with a click-anywhere trackpad for scrolling, a 14-key function row with loads of shortcut options, and an adjustable stand to make your tablet setup feel more like a laptop. The two-piece design is detachable, so you can use the keyboard wirelessly while the back panel holds up your tablet. Both attach magnetically, and you can adjust the stand to different viewing angles.

You can get this open-box Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for the iPad 10th Gen on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through April 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

At this point I think that Passkeys will fail in the hands of the general consumer population. We missed our golden chance to eliminate passwords through a desire to capture markets and promote hype. Corporate interests have overruled good user experience once again. Just like ad-blockers, I predict that Passkeys will only be used by a small subset of the technical population, and consumers will generally reject them. To reiterate - my partner, who is extremely intelligent, an avid computer gamer and veterinary surgeon has sworn off Passkeys because the user experience is so shit. She wants to go back to passwords. And I'm starting to agree - a password manager gives a better experience than passkeys. That's right. I'm here saying passwords are a better experience than passkeys. Do you know how much it pains me to write this sentence?

Since the private portion of the cryptographic key is stored on device, big tech seems to have seized the opportunity to keep their users locked into their respective ecosystems, not making it possible to use them cross-platform. However, the situation does appear to opening up somewhat, but there are still concerns about their entrenchment, as well as some possible safety concerns too.

In this article we'll explore the Apple passkeys implementation, how passkeys compare to traditional FIDO credentials and why the decision of Apple to get rid of device attestation and resident keys is a significant step back for security.

When passkeys work seamlessly, it's a glimpse of a more secure future for millions, if not billions, of people, and a reinvention of how we sign in to websites and services. But getting there for every account across the internet is still likely to prove a minefield and take some time.

One of the Apple ecosystem's core philosophies is that all Apple devices should work well together. Perhaps the feature that captures that spirit best is Universal Control. With it, you can use the keyboard and mouse on your Mac to control an iPad or a second Mac. On top of that, you can drag and drop files, Safari tabs, and more between machines without the need for AirDrop. 

If you use your iPad along with your Mac at your workstation, you really should be using Universal Control. It can even be paired with Sidecar, Apple’s feature that turns your iPad into a touch-less second monitor. 

Setting your iPad up for Universal Control

Universal Control is available to all macOS devices running macOS 12.3 (macOS Monterey) and all iPads running iPadOS 15.4 and higher. Hardware wise, every MacBook Pro released after 2016 and MacBook Air released after 2018 will work. Most new Macs from the last 5 years are supported. All models of iPad Pros work, and every iPad starting from the 6th generation, as well as every iPad Air from the 3rd generation on, will work here. 

The software side requires a bit of a setup. Both devices need to be signed in from the same Apple ID, and you need to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also have to enable Bluetooth, wifi, and Handoff on your iPad. To enable Handoff, go to Settings > General > Airplay & Handoff > Handoff. 

To enable Universal Control on your iPad, go to Settings > General > AirPlay & Handoff and enable the Cursor and Keyboard option. On your Mac, go to System Settings > Displays > Advanced and enable the “Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad” feature. 

How to use Universal Control with multiple devices 

After you set up Universal Control once, just push your cursor to the left or right edge of the screen, towards where the iPad is placed, and your Mac will automatically pick up its location. It's pretty cool.

Credit: Apple

As you push the cursor towards the iPad, you’ll see a bar appear on the edge of the display. Keep pushing through, and the mouse will turn into an iPad cursor. Voilà: You've just enabled Universal Control. 

If you don’t like this pushing gesture, you can also enable Universal Control from Control Center. Expand the Displays menu, and from the Link keyboard and mouse to section, choose your iPad.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Your Mac should automatically pick up where your iPad is placed next to your Mac, but if it’s placed above or below your computer screen, you’ll need to change the setup manually. Go to System Settings > Displays. Click the Arrange button to drag your iPad's screen to match where it is physically. Press Done to go back. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you have a second Mac that you want to use this way, let’s say an iMac that’s on your desk, you can follow the same instructions above, this time just picking your second Mac instead of your iPad. 

The magic of drag and drop

Now that it’s all set up, you can move your cursor to your iPad, where you can click on buttons and select fields like you would if the mouse was directly paired with the iPad. This works with your keyboard too. All you need to do select a text field on your iPad and type with your Mac keyboard. 

Drag and drop works well here. You can select files or photos from your iPad, drag it over to your Mac screen, and drop them in a Finder folder to copy them over. The same works the other way around, too.

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Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

In the world of AI, what might be called "small language models" have been growing in popularity recently because they can be run on a local device instead of requiring data center-grade computers in the cloud. On Wednesday, Apple introduced a set of tiny source-available AI language models called OpenELM that are small enough to run directly on a smartphone. They're mostly proof-of-concept research models for now, but they could form the basis of future on-device AI offerings from Apple.

Apple's new AI models, collectively named OpenELM for "Open-source Efficient Language Models," are currently available on the Hugging Face under an Apple Sample Code License. Since there are some restrictions in the license, it may not fit the commonly accepted definition of "open source," but the source code for OpenELM is available.

On Tuesday, we covered Microsoft's Phi-3 models, which aim to achieve something similar: a useful level of language understanding and processing performance in small AI models that can run locally. Phi-3-mini features 3.8 billion parameters, but some of Apple's OpenELM models are much smaller, ranging from 270 million to 3 billion parameters in eight distinct models.

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It's no secret that Apple products work well with one another. But you might not know you can actually turn your iPad into a high-quality secondary display for your Mac. Whether you have a desktop setup, or you’re traveling, you can use your iPad as a wireless display to showcase any app from your computer. It’s as easy as screen mirroring your Mac to your TV, thanks to a relatively hidden macOS feature called Sidecar.

What you need to use your iPad as a display

First, the requirements. You’ll need a Mac running macOS Catalina or higher, and an iPad running iPadOS 13 or higher. There are some hardware restrictions as well, though every MacBook Pro released after 2016, and MacBook Air released after 2018 will work. In general, the latest Macs from the last 5 years are supported. The same goes for the iPads as well. All models of iPad Pros work, and every iPad 6th generation and newer, as well as iPad Air 3rd generation and newer will work here.

Still, you might need to do some work on the software side. First, both devices have to be signed in from the same Apple ID, and you have to use two-factor authentication. To use this feature wirelessly, you have to enable Bluetooth, wifi, and Handoff on your iPad. To enable Handoff, go to Settings > General > Airplay & Handoff > Handoff. If you’re using tethering on your iPad or your Mac, this feature won’t work. 

How to connect your iPad as a second display to your Mac 

Now that the housekeeping is done, you can set up your iPad as a secondary display. First, place the iPad next to the Mac, turn on the display, and unlock it. 

Next, go to Control Center on your Mac, click Screen Mirroring, and choose your iPad from the list. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

To use it as a secondary monitor, make sure you choose the Use As Separate Display option. You’ll notice your iPad will instantly show your Mac’s screen, including the menu bar, and some apps might even move to the iPad screen. To help you out, the iPad can show a sidebar, plus touch bar controls that are useful if you’re using the iPad away from your Mac. If you want more screen space for your Mac apps, we suggest disabling both the sidebar and the touch bar. You can do this on your Mac under System Settings > Displays.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The above instructions will work if you’re using macOS Monterey and higher. If you’re using macOS Big Sur, you’ll find the mirroring menu in Control Center's Display section. 

Lastly, make sure how you’ve placed your iPad in physical space aligns with how your macOS software is set up. If you’ve ever attached an external monitor to your Mac, and tried to use it next to your MacBook, you’ll be familiar with this. 

Essentially, you can tell macOS that your iPad sits on the left or right of the Mac so that your cursor can seamlessly move from one screen to another. To do this, go to System Settings > Displays. Here, you’ll see the current arrangement of your displays. If the default option works for you, then you don't need to do anything. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you want to move your iPad screen position, click the Arrange button, freely drag the iPad screen to where it is in your physical space, and click the Done button.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Everything you can do with your iPad as a second display 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now that you're all set up, you can freely move your cursor between your Mac display and your iPad, and you can use the iPad like it's any other external display. This is similar to Apple’s other feature, Universal Control, where you can use the keyboard and mouse on your Mac with a connected iPad. The crucial difference with Sidecar, however, is that your Mac screen is also extended to the iPad. With Universal Control, your iPad still displays iPadOS. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you don’t like dragging and dropping windows between the Mac and the iPad, there’s a shortcut for you. Hover over the Maximize button on any macOS window, and you’ll see an option to move the window to the iPad. I like using this option because it automatically resizes the window to take up the full iPad display. 

This feature does disables the touch screen on your iPad, so it's not the touch screen Mac of your dreams. That said, Sidecar does support Apple Pencil. You can use your Pencil to draw on the screen, and you can even go to System Settings > Displays to enable the double-tap feature on the Apple Pencil, which lets you make selections on your iPad. 

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In iOS 17.4, Apple introduced a new system called eligibilityd. This works with countryd (which you might have heard about when it first appeared in iOS 16.2) and the Apple ID system to decide where you physically are. The idea is that multiple sources need to agree on where you are, before giving you access to features such as those mandated by the Digital Markets Act.

↫ Adam Demasi

The way Adam Demasi managed to convince Apple his very much Australian iPhone in Australia was, in fact, a European Union iPhone in the European Union was by making sure not a single wireless signal managed to escape the device. He had to disable location services, insert an Italian SIM, set up a pfSense Wi-Fi router using the regulatory country of Italy, and go into his basement where there’s no mobile signal. Between all these steps, the phone was reset multiple times.

And then, and only then, did the iPhone think it was in the European Union, with all the benefits that entails. Demasi has no idea which of these steps are actually needed, but the process of figuring this all out is ongoing, and more information is sure to be discovered as smart people sink their teeth into the process by which Apple determines where an iPhone is from.

Enlarge (credit: Apple/Andrew Cunningham)

Last year, Apple introduced the ability to set multiple timers at once in the Clock app on its various platforms.

“We truly live in an age of wonders,” deadpanned Apple’s Craig Federighi in the company’s official presentation, tacitly acknowledging the gap between the apparent simplicity of the feature and the amount of time that Apple took to implement it.

The next version of iPadOS may contain another of these "age of wonders" features, an apparently simple thing that Apple has chosen never to do for reasons that the company can't or won't explain. According to MacRumors, iPadOS 18 may finally be the update that brings a version of Apple's first-party Calculator app to the iPad.

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WWDC 2024 might be Apple's big software event, but it's not the only announcement the company is making this spring. It turns out Apple also has an event planned for May, and while there are no official details, it seems pretty obvious what this one's all about: iPads.

When is Apple's iPad event?

Apple's new event, dubbed "Let Loose," will kick off Tuesday May 7, at 7 a.m. PT (10 a.m. ET). That's an early start for the Cupertino-based company, which usually holds events at 10 a.m. PT, or 1 p.m. ET.

It isn't the first time in recent memory the company has deviated from this timing, however. For its "Scary Fast" Mac event in October, which launched the M3 line, Apple begun its prerecorded event at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. PT). I suppose 10 a.m. PT is now reserved for major events, like WWDC and iPhone announcements.

Like "Scary Fast," the "Let Loose" event will be prerecorded, and will be hosted on apple.com.

What will Apple reveal during its iPad event?

Apple hasn't confirmed any of the events details, but it seems likely it'll be all about iPads. The logo for the event is someone holding an Apple Pencil, "painting" the iconic Apple logo. Not to mention, iPad rumors have been in circulation a lot over the past couple of months.

Tweet may have been deleted

As for specifics, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims Apple will refresh the iPad Pro line with the latest M3 chips, a larger iPad Pro display, as well as a new OLED display, a first for the iPad. Apple may also launch new Magic Keyboards, specifically with larger trackpads.

If you're more of an iPad Air fan, you're in luck: Gurman says Apple is also refreshing the Airs, this time with its M2 chip as well as two size options: a 10.9-inch (the standard option for the iPad Air), and a 12.9-inch, the current size of the larger iPad Pro. Apple isn't likely to bring OLED to the iPad Air (I guess they think OLED is a "Pro" feature), but some rumors say the company is outfitting the Airs with mini-LED, really the next best thing to OLED.

Mini-LED displays have thousands of local dimming zones to finely control the contrast of the display, so the darker areas of the image seem pitch black. It can't match OLED, which allows all pixels to turn off if they need to, and the tech does suffer from "blooming," where some light bleed will surround elements on screen, but it creates a much better contrast than the traditional LED displays found on the current iPad Airs.

In any case, right now is probably a bad time to buy an iPad.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Apple is going to announce some new things on Tuesday, May 7, at 10 am Eastern, according to an invitation the company sent out to members of the press (and posted to its website) this morning.

The name Apple has given the event (“Let Loose”) doesn’t tell us much about what the company might announce, but the art does: It’s a hand holding an Apple Pencil, which almost certainly means the event will be iPad-focused.

Apple has reportedly been on the cusp of releasing new iPads since late March, and the rumor mill has already delivered most of the key details. The headliner is likely to be a pair of new iPad Pros with M3 chips, OLED displays, slightly larger screens, and refined designs. Riding shotgun will be a refreshed 10.9-inch iPad Air with an M2 chip, plus a brand-new 12.9-inch Air meant to give large-screened iPad fans an option that doesn’t cost as much as the iPad Pro.

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Enlarge / The M2 Pro Mac mini. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman thinks that Apple's M4 chips for Macs are coming sooner rather than later—possibly as early as "late this year," per a report from earlier this month. Now Gurman says Apple could completely skip the M3 generation for some Macs, most notably the Mac mini.

To be clear, Gurman doesn't have specific insider information confirming that Apple is planning to skip the M3 mini. But based on Apple's alleged late-2024-into-early-2025 timeline for the M4 mini, he believes that it's "probably safe to say" that there's not enough space on the calendar for an M3 mini to be released between now and then.

This wouldn't be the first time an Apple Silicon Mac had skipped a chip generation—the 24-inch iMac was never updated with the M2, instead jumping directly from the M1 to the M3. The Mac Pro also skipped the M1 series, leapfrogging from Intel chips to the M2.

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Enlarge / Don't expect to see this on the iOS App Store any time soon. (credit: OatmealDome)

Last week's release of the Delta emulation suite finally gave iOS users easy, no-sideloading-required access to classic Nintendo game emulation up through the Nintendo 64 era. When it comes to emulating Nintendo's subsequent home consoles on iOS, though, some technical restrictions imposed by Apple are making it difficult to get a functional emulator on the App Store.

In a recent blog post, DolphiniOS developer (and longtime Switch hacker) OatmealDome explains how a Dolphin code fork—which ports the popular GameCube and Wii emulator to Apple's smartphone OS—uses just-in-time (JIT) compilation to translate the PowerPC instructions from those retro consoles into ARM-compatible iOS code. But Apple's App Store regulations against apps that "install executable code" (Section 3.3.1B) generally prevent JIT recompilation on iOS, with very limited exceptions such as web browsers. That restriction may have some valid security reasoning behind it, but it can also get in the way for developers of tools like third-party browser engines (except recently in the EU).

While MacOS developers can make use of an explicit entitlement to allow JIT recompilation in an app, that exception doesn't apply to iOS developers. And while alternative App Stores and sideloaded apps (including DolphiniOS) have discovered various ways to enable JIT compilation on both jailbroken and stock iOS devices, these workarounds can get quite arcane and occasionally break with new iOS releases.

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Raycast, which is free for individual users, is my favorite Spotlight replacement. This is an application you can launch with a simple keyboard shortcut to see a simple text box. Type a few characters to do just about anything. There's plenty of functionality built in—you can launch any application just by beginning to type its name and hitting "Enter," for example, or you can type a URL and hit "Enter" to open it in your default browser. You can also search for files or toggle various system settings.

That functionality alone would make Raycast worth installing. The truly great thing about Raycast, however, is the plugins. Now, Raycast is far from the first launcher app to offer plugins, but the application is unique for offering a built-in store that allows you to add these plugins in just a few keystrokes. Just type "Store," hit "Enter," and you can browse the collection. Failing that, you can browse the Raycast store online.

There are a lot of really useful tools here, and which ones are best is going to vary depending on your workflow. Here are the most useful sorts of plugins I've found.

Search your notes

Credit: Justin Pot

I brew beer and mostly store my recipes in OneNote. I'm also a big Obsidian user—my personal journal and work life both live there. Raycast makes it easy to search these and other note-taking applications. There are extensions for Apple Notes, OneNote, Obsidian, and even Bear. All of these allow you to search your notes right in Raycast and preview them right there. If you want to open the note, no problem: Just hit enter. It is so great being able to quickly find and pull up such information.

Quickly grab passwords

Credit: Justin Pot

Modern password managers integrate well in the browser but it can be annoying to pull up passwords when you're not browsing. The Raycast extensions for Bitwarden, 1Password, Dashlane, and KeePassXC all make it easy to copy any password in a couple of keystrokes. Just open the plugin, type the password you're looking for, and hit enter.

You can take this even further and quickly grab two-factor authentication codes. There's an extension for Authy, which notably still works even though that application no longer offers a desktop app. There's also an extension that can grab 2FA codes from iMessage, meaning you won't have to open up your messages just to copy and paste a code. Both work really well.

Control music

Credit: Justin Pot

I usually know which album I want to listen to next. The Raycast extension for Spotify allows me to quickly type the name of an album and play it. It also works for playlists, artists, and songs. I love being able to quickly start any music without having to fuss around in the Spotify user interface. There's a similar extension for Apple Music, if that's your go-to player.

Read Wikipedia

Credit: Justin Pot

Wikipedia is an excellent starting point for researching basically anything. The Wikipedia extension for Raycast allows you to search for a page and even read it, all without moving your hands from the keyboard. You can also open the article in your default browser by hitting enter.

Eject drives

Credit: Justin Pot

Ejecting a drive on the Mac means opening the Finder and clicking the eject button in the left-hand sidebar. It's annoyingly slow. The extension Single Disk Eject shows you all currently connected external drives and allows you to disconnect by hitting Enter. It's great.

Keep your Mac awake

Credit: Justin Pot

There are no end to the number of Mac applications that do nothing but keep your Mac awake. The extension Coffee offers this without the need to install an application. You can trigger it from Raycast or you can enable a menu bar icon if you prefer.

So much more

I could go on for a long time. Here's a few more quick highlights:

• System monitor lets you quickly look over CPU, memory, and disk use.

• MyIP shows you your current IP address.

• Speedtest lets you quickly test your internet connection speed.

• Shell allows you to run any Terminal command without actually opening the Terminal.

This is just a start: There are so many more tools. I recommend checking out the store to get a better idea of what you can do.

Enlarge (credit: PM Images | DigitalVision)

On Wednesday, Colorado expanded the scope of its privacy law initially designed to protect biometric data like fingerprints or face images to become first in the nation to also shield sensitive neural data.

That could stop companies from hoarding brain activity data without residents realizing the risks. The New York Times reported that neural data is increasingly being collected and sold nationwide. And after a market analysis showed that investments in neurotechnology leapt by 60 percent globally from 2019 to 2020—and were valued at $30 billion in 2021—Big Tech companies have significantly intensified plans to develop their own products to rake in potentially billions.

For instance, in 2023, Meta demoed a wristband with a neural interface used to control its smart glasses and unveiled an AI system that could be used to decode the mind. In January, Elon Musk announced that Neuralink implanted its first brain chip in a human that can be used to control a device with their thoughts. And just last month, Apple Insider reported that "Apple is working on technology that could turn the Apple Vision Pro into a brainwave reader to improve mental health, assist with training and workouts, and help with mindfulness."

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Enlarge / That is in no way what the Z button looks like or where it goes...

Apple's decision earlier this month to open the iOS App Store to generic retro game emulators is already bearing fruit. Delta launched Wednesday as one of the first officially approved iOS apps to emulate Nintendo consoles from the NES through the N64 and the Game Boy through the Nintendo DS (though unofficial options have snuck through in the past).

Delta is an outgrowth of developer Riley Testut's earlier sideloadable GBA4iOS project, which recently had its own unauthorized clone removed from the App Store. Before Wednesday, iOS users could load Delta onto their devices only through AltStore, an iOS marketplace that used a Developer Mode workaround to sideload apps from a self-hosted server. European users can now get that AltStore directly on their iOS devices (for a small 1.50 euro/year fee), while North American users can simply download Delta for free from the iOS App Store, with no ads or user tracking to boot.

All that history means Delta is far from a slapdash app quickly thrown together to take advantage of Apple's new openness to emulation. The app is obviously built with iOS in mind and already integrates some useful features designed for the mobile ecosystem. While there are some updates we'd like to see in the future, this represents a good starting point for where Apple-approved game emulation can go on iOS.

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The introduction of Shortcuts in iOS 13 opened the door for a lot of new little iPhone tricks—but less attention has been given to the Shortcuts and Automations that can be applied to AirPods. I use my AirPods Pro almost every single day, and they're already quite convenient to connect and tweak via the iPhone's settings, but I have set up a couple Shortcuts and Automations to make using them even easier.

Setup an Automation for whenever you connect your AirPods

Perhaps one of the handiest and most convenient things you can do with Shortcuts is to set up an Automation whenever you connect your AirPods. This can be great for those who like to have their media volume set to the same level all the time, or if you have a certain playlist that you always listen to first.

To set up an Automation that is triggered anytime you connect your AirPods, navigate to Shortcuts > Automation > New Automation and then scroll down until you see the Bluetooth option. Tap it, select Is Connected, then you can choose between Run After Confirmation and Run Immediately. Run After Confirmation will require you to physically press the Run button, but if you do Run Immediately, it will run the Automation without any user input. Finally, make sure to choose your AirPods from the Choose Devices category.

Once you’ve got the basics filled in, select Next, and then you’re free to choose from any of the Shortcuts that it offers here. You can also build a custom Automation using the New Blank Automation option. This particular functionality can be great if, say, you want your iPhone’s media volume to lower to a certain amount when connecting your AirPods or if you want to start a specific playlist from Apple Music.

I’d recommend playing around with some different options here to find what works best for you, as Automations can make things a lot more convenient in the long run, but here are a few really good examples of ways to use Automations that trigger whenever you connect your AirPods to your iPhone.

Set the volume on your AirPods automatically

This Automation can be really handy if you prefer to have a set media volume whenever you're using your AirPods. Some folks may prefer to run theirs at max volume, but others may find that 51 percent or some other setting works best for them. This can be done really easily by setting an Automation that triggers the media volume to a certain level anytime your AirPods connect. To set this up, navigate to the Shortcuts app then select Automation > New Automation (select the + sign in the top right-hand corner if you already have an Automation saved), and then select Bluetooth. Change the trigger time to Is Connected, then set your AirPods in the Device section. If you want to confirm before each run, then select Run After Confirmation, or choose Run Immediately for the most convenience.

Tap Next, then select New Blank Automation. From here, look for Set Volume in the search bar and select it. Tap the percentage showed in blue text to change it to a specific level, and then tap Done to save the Automation. Now, whenever you connect your AirPods to your iPhone, the media volume will automatically be set to whatever percentage you choose.

Set ANC mode on AirPods automatically

By default, your AirPods tend to remember which ANC mode you had set when you last used them. That's why having an Automation that sets them to your preferred ANC mode can be really handy. Setting this one up is exceptionally easy, too, as you'll just need to follow these quick steps to do it.

Open Shortcuts and navigate to Automation > New Automation (or use the + icon at the top right if you already have other Automations saved). Tap Bluetooth, then select your AirPods from the Device dropdown and select Is Connected and then choose when you want to run it (after confirmation or immediately). Select New Blank Automation, then search for Set Noise Control Mode. Now make sure you have your AirPods connected to your iPhone and then tap Route and select your AirPods again. Now tap Noise Control mode. Depending on which AirPods you have, you'll have a few different options to choose from here. If you want ANC to be on, select Noise Cancellation. If you want Transparency, then select that. If you have AirPods with the new Adaptive mode, the you can select that, too. Alternatively, if you would like to change the mode you're using a lot, you can have Automation ask you each time.

Start a playlist or podcast automatically

Another really handy option you can take advantage of with Shortcuts and Automations is to start a playlist or podcast automatically when you connect your AirPods to your iPhone. Unfortunately, Apple Shortcuts and Automations only currently support some apps. As such, I couldn't find a way to get Spotify to work with the playlist command, as it doesn't appear in the Shortcuts app without utilizing an exploit. If you use Apple Music or Apple Podcasts, though, you'll be able to take advantage of both of these Automations without any issue. The following examples assume that you're using Apple Music and Apple Podcasts, as they are the only apps available in Shortcuts for these purposes by default.

Start the Automation just like before, by selecting opening the Shortcuts app, then select Automation > New Automation > Bluetooth. Now, choose your device, select Is Connected, and then choose between Run After Confirmation or Run Immediately. The next few steps can differ depending on whether you want to play a playlist or a podcast.

Setting up a playlist: select Music > Play > Library > Playlists and then tap on the playlist that you want to use. While viewing the playlist, find the + icon at the top and tap it to add it to the Automation.

To start a podcast on connection: select Podcasts > Play and then search for the podcast that you want to start. If you want to just play the next podcast in your queue whenever you connect, you can select Up Next instead of Play after choosing Podcasts.

Set an exercise Automation while using Apple Watch

If you exercise regularly, you can also set up specific Automations that will automatically change the noise transparency settings, which is helpful if you want to be more aware of your surroundings. This is especially helpful if you typically listen to your AirPods in Noise Canceling but want to turn on Transparency or Adaptive modes while running outside.

There are technically two ways you can go about this, with the easiest method requiring the use of Apple Watch workouts to trigger the Automation. I’ll also show you how to do this without an Apple Watch.

To set up this Automation, start by going to Shortcuts > Automation > New Automation and select Apple Watch Workout as the Trigger. From here, you can select the Set Noise Control Mode action to have it turn off noise cancellation (or turn it on) whenever you start a workout on Apple Watch. You can also toy around with the other actions available to change the media volume or even start a specific workout playlist. To do that, select Play Music from the actions, select the blue text, find the playlist you want to use, and tap the + icon to add it to the Action.

Set up an exercise Automation for a specific time without using Apple Watch

To set up an Automation for exercising at a specific time without using an Apple Watch, go to Shortcuts > Automation > New Automation > Bluetooth, then select your AirPods, Is Connected and select Run After Confirmation or Run Immediately. Tap Next, then select New Blank Automation. This one is a bit more complicated to set up, but bear with me. Next, set a few actions into the Automation in this order:

1. Date

2. Format Date: select Custom and then change the Format String to HH:mm:ss.

3. Get time between: select the two times that you want this Automation to check for.

4. If: this scripting basically lets you set up a branching scenario for your Automation, allowing it to check if you’re doing something and if you are to set the AirPods to the specific mode that you want.

5. Set Noise Control Mode: You’ll actually need to do two of this Action. One is to turn off Noise Cancellation, and one is to turn it back on.

As I said, it's a bit more complicated than just using the previous Workout Automation that I mentioned, but it’s still a great option if you prefer to use something other than the Apple Watch to trigger your workouts.

Ultimately, there are a lot of things you can do with Shortcuts and your Apple AirPods (or even any other Bluetooth headphones). Toy around with Shortcuts and Automations to find options that work for you, and be sure to give the ones outlined above a try if you want to make things a little bit more convenient for yourself.

You can also download third-party apps to increase the amount of Actions available in the Shortcuts app, so be sure to check those out if you need more options to choose from.

Start music automatically when you arrive at your preferred gym

If you go to the gym for your workouts, you can also set your AirPods to automatically start playing music whenever your iPhone detects you are at the gym. You'll need to have the address of the gym for this Automation, but a quick Google search should bring that up. To set this up, follow these steps:

Open Shortcuts and select Automation > New Automation > Arrive. Input the address of your gym into the Location dropdown, then select Any Time or input a specific Time Range if you have a certain time you usually go to the gym. I recommend setting this one to Run After Confirmation, just because you might not want to start your music right away.

After tapping Next, you'll want to set the playlist that you want to start listening to. This can be done using the same steps that I outlined above: Music > Play > Library > Playlists and then tap on the playlist that you want to use.

If you want to do more, like set the volume and the noise mode, then you can set up multiple actions in the Automation by selecting New Blank Automation instead and then adding Play Music, selecting the playlist, then adding in additional actions for Set Volume and Set Noise Control Mode. Here's how that whole setup would look:

Automation > New Automation > Arrive > input gym location and select Any Time or Time Range. Now select New Blank Automation > Play Music (choose the playlist you want), then add Set Volume and select the volume percentage that you prefer. Finally, add Set Noise Control Mode and change it to Noise Cancellation, Transparency, or Adaptive, depending on your preference. Once saved, any time your phone detects you are at your gym, it will offer to start playing your preferred playlist. Unfortunately, there's no way to make this Automation check if your AirPods are connected, which is why I recommend requiring confirmation for this one.

Enlarge / Here it is: two virtual Mac displays in Vision Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple's Vision Pro headset holds the promise to be a powerful extension of your Mac workflow, but the Mac integration it shipped with is just neat, not a big step forward. Now, an app by established independent developers Jordi Bruin, Mathijs Kadijk, and Tom Lokhorst aims to fix that.

Called Splitscreen, it enables you to use two virtual displays at once while working with your Mac and wearing Vision Pro. By contrast, Apple's default implementation only supports mirroring a single Mac display to a resizable virtual one.

Further, the developers are working on achieving what I said I'd like to see from Apple when I wrote up my first impressions of the headset: the ability to move individual Mac windows around your space freely like visionOS apps when your Mac and Vision Pro are connected to one another.

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If you’ve read my first post about Spatial Video, the second about Encoding Spatial Video, or if you’ve used my command-line tool, you may recall a mention of Apple’s mysterious “fisheye” projection format. Mysterious because they’ve documented a CMProjectionType.fisheye enumeration with no elaboration, they stream their immersive Apple TV+ videos in this format, yet they’ve provided no method to produce or playback third-party content using this projection type.

Additionally, the format is undocumented, they haven’t responded to an open question on the Apple Discussion Forums asking for more detail, and they didn’t cover it in their WWDC23 sessions. As someone who has experience in this area – and a relentless curiosity – I’ve spent time digging-in to Apple’s fisheye projection format, and this post shares what I’ve learned.

↫ Mike Swanson

There is just so much cool technology crammed into the Vision Pro, from the crazy displays down to, apparently, the encoding format for spatial video. Too bad Apple seems to have forgotten that a technology is not a product, as even the most ardent Apple supporterts – like John Gruber, or the hosts of ATP – have stated their Vision Pro devices are lying unused, collecting dust, just months after launch.

Enlarge / Photos of iGBA that appeared on the App Store before the app was taken down. (credit: Internet Archive)

Over the weekend, developer Mattia La Spina launched iGBA as one of the first retro game emulators legitimately available on the iOS App Store following Apple's rules change regarding such emulators earlier this month. As of Monday morning, though, iGBA has been pulled from the App Store following controversy over the unauthorized reuse of source code from a different emulator project.

Shortly after iGBA's launch, some people on social media began noticing that the project appeared to be based on the code for GBA4iOS, a nearly decade-old emulator that developer Riley Testut and a partner developed as high-schoolers (and distributed via a temporary security hole in the iOS App Store). Testut took to social media Sunday morning to call iGBA a "knock-off" of GBA4iOS. "I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads + tracking)," he wrote.

GBA4iOS is an open source program released under the GNU GPLv2 license, with licensing terms that let anyone "use, modify, and distribute my original code for this project without fear of legal consequences." But those expansive licensing terms only apply "unless you plan to submit your app to Apple’s App Store, in which case written permission from me is explicitly required."

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Apple has reportedly sent alerts to individuals in 92 nations on Wednesday, April 10, to say it’s detected that they may have been a victim of a mercenary attack. The company says it has sent out these types of threat notifications to over 150 countries since the start in 2021.

Mercenary spyware is used by governments to target people like journalists, political activists, and similar targets, and involves the use of sophisticated tools like Pegasus. Pegasus is one of the world’s most advanced and invasive spyware tools, known to utilize zero-day vulnerabilities against mobile devices.

The second number became known when Apple changed the wording of the relevant support page. The change also included the title that went from “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against state-sponsored attacks” to “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against mercenary spyware.”

If you look at the before and after, you’ll also notice an extra paragraph, again with the emphasis on the change from “state-sponsored attacks” to “mercenary spyware.”

The cause for the difference in wording might be because “state-sponsored” is often used to indicate attacks targeted at entities, like governments or companies, while these mercenary attacks tend to be directed at individual people.

The extra paragraph specifically calls out the NSO Group and the Pegasus spyware it sells. While the NSO Group claims to only sell to “government clients,” we have no reason to take its word for it.

Apple says that when it detects activity consistent with a mercenary spyware attack it uses two different means of notifying the users about the attack:

• Displays a Threat Notification at the top of the page after the user signs into appleid.apple.com.
• Sends an email and iMessage notification to the email addresses and phone numbers associated with the user’s Apple ID.

Apple says it doesn’t want to share information about what triggers these notifications, since that might help mercenary spyware attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future.

The NSO Group itself argued in a court case started by Meta for spying on WhatsApp users, that it should be recognized as a foreign government agent and, therefore, be entitled to immunity under US law limiting lawsuits against foreign countries.

NSO Group has also said that its tool is increasingly necessary in an era when end-to-end encryption is widely available to criminals.

How to stay safe

Apple advises iPhone users to:

• Enable Lockdown mode.
• Keep devices up to date.
• Protect devices with a passcode.
• Use Multi-Factor-Authentication (MFA) for your Apple ID.
• Only install apps from the App Store.
• Use strong and unique passwords online.
• Don’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders.

We’d like to add:

• Use an anti-malware solution on your device.
• If you’re not sure about something that’s been sent to you, verify it with the person or company via another communcation channel.
• Use a password manager.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Apple is currently testing iOS 17.5, available as a beta update for developers and public software testers. There aren't many user-facing changes in this latest beta update, which isn't a huge surprise because we're only about two months away from our first look at iOS 18.

Still, iOS 17.5 will be another monumental update for some iPhone users, as Apple is adding support for downloading apps from the web. Once iOS 17.5 is officially out, you'll be able to sideload apps on iPhone—as long as you live in the European Union.

App installation via the web (E.U. only)

Following an announcement in March, iOS 17.5 introduces the ability to download apps directly from developers' websites, as opposed to using an app store. The first 17.5 beta gave developers the option to host their apps on the web, while the second beta actually lets users download those apps onto their iPhones. It's the latest fundamental change Apple has made to its platform in the wake of rulings from the European Commission that forced the company to allow developers to run their own third-party app stores, offer true third-party web browsers, and more.

If you don't use iOS, downloading software from a website for use on your phone isn't a novel experience. The practice, known as sideloading, is quite normal on Android, and is essentially the go-to way to get new apps on desktop operating systems like Windows, Linux—and, yes, macOS.

Apple has resisted the practice on the iPhone since iOS' inception, claiming that sideloading puts users at risk. While there is some truth to that, as the lack of oversight invites bad actors to trick users into installing malware, there are plenty of legitimate apps that don't exist on an official app store. As long as users are careful, they should be able to download programs safely.

Apple being Apple, even after this change rolls out, you won't be able to simply download any old app from the internet you want: The company is placing restrictions on both the developers that can offer this service, as well as the apps that can be sold online. In addition, devs will still need to offer a cut of their earnings to Apple, so the entire process won't be that far removed from what goes on in the App Store. Still, it's a step in the right direction—for users in the E.U., anyway. Nothing about Apple's app download policies is changing outside of Europe.

Other stuff coming to iOS 17.5

The only major new feature to appear in the second iOS 17.5 beta is a fun one: Quartles, a new word game for Apple News+ subscribers. Players pick from tiles containing two or three letters each to build words, which can be made up of one to four tiles. MacRumors has access to the game, and shows how picking the tiles "art," "ist," "ic," and "ally" creates the word "artistically." If you pay for Apple News+, you can add this game to your roster of news-based games, including Wordle and Connections.

Aside from major E.U.-centric changes, the 17.5 update is a minor one, though there are a few new features to check out. The Podcasts widget will now change its color to reflect whatever you're listening to, rather than the stock purple color of Podcasts itself, and there's a new icon for the Passkeys Access for Web Browsers menu in Privacy & Security. As of the second beta, you'll find a tip in the Notes app pointing you to features like tags and checklists, while the Books app has a new shortcut to the Reading Goals section.

9to5Mac also discovered code in iOS 17.5 that identifies unknown Bluetooth trackers and walks users through how to disable them. This would be a welcome security feature, as trackers like AirTags have raised concerns that people could use them for stalking. This code suggests that both Find My-enabled devices as well as third-party trackers would be detectable by iOS 17.5; however, the feature is not currently active. Other features found in code that may be on the horizon are a "Block All Participants" button in FaceTime, a Battery Health menu for iPads, and references to a new Apple Pencil that apparently uses a "squeeze" feature.

Before the cancellation of The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, Apple forbade the inclusion of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as a guest and steered the show away from confronting issues related to artificial intelligence, according to Jon Stewart.

↫ Samuel Axon at Ars Technica

Just when you thought Apple and Tim Cook couldn’t get any more unlikable.

Simply put, MFA bombing (also known as “push bombing” or “MFA fatigue”) is a brute force attack on your patience. Cybercriminals use MFA bombing to break into accounts that are protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA).

MFA normally requires a user to enter a six-digit code sent by SMS, or generated by an app, or to respond to a push notification, when they enter a username and password. It provides an enormous increase in security and makes life much harder for criminals.

Because it’s so hard to break, criminals have taken to getting users to defeat their own MFA. They do this by using stolen credentials to try logging in, or by trying to reset a user’s password over and over again. In both cases this bombards the user with push notifications asking them to approve the login, or messages asking them to change their password. By doing this, the criminals hope that users will either tap the wrong option or get so fed up they just do whatever the messages are asking them to do, just to make the bombardment stop.

Now, according to this blog by Bran Krebs, these attacks have evolved. If you can withstand the pressure of the constant notifications, the criminals will call you pretending to come to your rescue.

In one example Krebs writes about, criminals flooded a target’s phone with password reset notifications for their Apple ID. Each notification required the user to choose either “Allow” or “Don’t Allow” before they could go back to using their device.

After withstanding the temptation to click “Allow”, and declining “100-plus” notifications, the victim receved a call from a spoofed number pretending to be Apple Support.

The call was designed to get the victim to trigger a password reset, and then to hand over the one-time password reset code sent to their device. Armed with a reset code, the criminals could change the victim’s password and lock them out of their account.

Luckily, in this situation the victim thought the callers seemed untrustworthy, so he asked them to provide some of his personal information, and they got his name wrong.

Another victim of MFA bombing learned that the notifications kept coming even after he bought a new device and created a new Apple iCloud account. This revealed that the attacks must have been targeted at his telephone number, because it was the only constant factor between the two device configurations.

Yet another target was told by Apple that setting up an Apple Recovery Key for his account would stop the notifications once and for all, although both Krebs and the victim dispute this.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a lot you can do once an MFA bombing attack starts other than be patient, and be careful not to click Allow. If you get a call, know that Apple Support will never call you out of the blue, so don’t trust the caller, no matter how convenient their timing.

If you lose control of your Apple ID, go to iforgot.apple.com to start the account recovery process.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Backing up your Mac computer doesn’t need to be intimidating.

By taking advantage of a user-friendly feature released by Apple several years ago, the entire backup process can be handled almost automatically, preserving your most important files, photos, applications, and emails from cyberthreats and mishaps.

Before starting the backup process, you will need an external storage device that can connect to your Mac with a USB or Thunderbolt cable. External storage devices, which are sometimes called external hard drives, are developed and sold by many different companies, including Lacie, SanDisk, and Western Digital.

If you do not have an external storage device, you must first get one. You should also follow Apple’s recommendation that your external storage device be twice as large as the hard drive of your Mac computer.

To find the hard drive size of your current Mac, open the System Settings app on your computer. On the left-hand rail, click General and then, in the window open to the right, click Storage.

Several statistics and options will be shown.

At the top of the Storage section, the hard drive space is shown. Here, it is 494.38 GB, or 500 GB roughly.

The Mac shown here has 500 GB of internal storage. If we were to back this Mac up, we would need to use an external storage device of 1 TB (terabyte).

Once you have your external storage device, you can begin the actual backup processs.

The simplest way to back up your Mac is with the built-in feature “Time Machine.”

First, connect your external storage device to your Mac.

Then, you need to set up that storage device as your “backup disk.” This means that, from this point forward, your external storage device will have one primary use, and that is as a backup device that syncs with Time Machine. Apple recommends that you do not use your external storage device that you are using with Time Machine for anything other than Time Machine backups.

To set up your storage device as your backup disk, follow these instructions:

Go to System Settings.  

Click on General in the left sidebar.

From here, click on Time Machine in the main window displayed to the right.

From the Time Machine menu, click Add Backup Disk or click the “Add” button (+).

From here, select your external storage device and then click Set Up Disk.

At this point in the process, you may receive two options from Time Machine:

1. If your device has other files on it, you will be asked if you want to erase the device so that it can be used solely as a backup with Time Machine. You can erase the files immediately and then continue the backup process through Time Machine. If you do not want to erase the files, you need to get a separate external storage device that will be used exclusively as a backup with Time Machine.
2. If your external storage device already has backups from a prior computer, you will be asked whether you can to keep those backups and roll them into new backups made with Time Machine. This is up to you.

From here, the backup process is nearly done.

To make a backup, simply click on Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu.

Your first backup could take a long time to complete, but know that you can continue using your computer like normal while the process happens in the background.

From here on, whenever you attach your external storage device to your Mac, Time Machine will automatically ask to make a backup of the changes to your Mac. You can also change the frequency of your backups in your Time Machine Settings.