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Amazon has dropped the 46mm Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS + Cellular) to $679 from $799, taking $120 off this titanium model. Although it's no longer Apple's newest smartwatch, the Series 10 still has plenty going for it, with PCMag giving it an "outstanding" rating and an Editors' Choice award, along with naming it the best Apple smartwatch of 2024. Much of its appeal comes down to the design, which is thinner and more comfortable than the Series 9, with a larger always-on OLED display that gives you more room to read notifications and messages without making the watch feel particularly bulky. The titanium case also gives it a more polished appearance than most smartwatches, especially if you plan to wear it beyond workouts.
The cellular connectivity is particularly useful if you like leaving your iPhone behind occasionally, since an active carrier plan lets you make calls, reply to messages, stream music, and receive notifications directly on the watch, even when your phone isn't nearby—in practice, that means your phone can stay on the kitchen counter during a morning jog or a quick trip to the corner store, and you’ll still be able to pick up a call from work or reach someone if something goes wrong. It also supports Apple Music playback through its built-in speaker, though you'll probably want to connect wireless headphones for longer listening sessions.
The watch is just as capable as a health tracker, logging your heart rate and sleep, taking ECG and blood oxygen readings, and using its accelerometer to spot breathing disturbances overnight that could point to sleep apnea. Swimmers get a depth gauge and water temperature sensor as well, handy for seeing whether you’ve drifted a few feet below the surface while snorkeling or how chilly the lake is once you’re in. As for battery life, PCMag recorded around 36 hours in testing (though using LTE regularly can drain it faster), which is decent for an always-on smartwatch but still falls short of the Apple Watch Ultra 2. You’ll also need an iPhone to use it, since the Series 10 doesn’t work with Android devices.
Hours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdown
An OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal account and later made a presentation about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.
In the filing in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple’s HomeView product this week.
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Apple announced a lot of new devices during its "Welcome Home" event yesterday. The Apple HomeView, the company's first smart display hub, stole the show, with its squared-off seven-inch display and its "oversized Apple Watch meets iMac G4" design, but Apple is also collaborating with LG and Schneider on a collection of smart devices, like lights, doorbells, and cameras, that the HomeView can control. Plus, the company also announced updates to existing products, including the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini.
None of these items is currently available to pick up in-store. However, many—but not all—of them are already available to preorder, if you're interested in being among the first to try them. Here's how you can reserve the HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini 2 today.
The best preorder deal on the Apple HomeView
Apple's HomeView is a unique product for the company. With it, you can control your entire smart home, chat with Siri AI, check your messages, take FaceTime calls, and play music, among other tasks. Though it's generally far more limited than an iPad, it's the only device of the two to offer individualized experiences per user: It can recognize up to six people in your household and display personalized information (like Messages) for each. You can preorder the HomeView from stores like Apple, Amazon, and Best Buy. However, if you opt for Amazon, you can take $10 off the Space Gray and Starlight standard models:
Just remember: If you're buying a wall-mounted option, you'll need to buy the actual mount separately. If you buy the Power Mount USB-C wall connector, that'll add $59.99 to your total, while the Power Mount AC-wired option will add $79.99.
Apple's newest Apple TV 4K looks a lot like the previous model, but what's inside has changed. This model uses Apple's A19 chip and can connect to up to four HomePod devices at once. The new Siri Remote supports Precision Finding through Find My, and has a speaker you can ping if you lose it in your couch. Apple doesn't always make its product names all that clear. For example, the latest iteration of Apple TV 4K is simply called "Apple TV 4K." If you're looking to buy one, don't just buy any "Apple TV 4K" you see. Instead, make sure it is the fourth-generation model. You'll have two clues there, besides the (4th-gen) label: First, it isn't currently available to purchase, so you'll only be able to preorder it; second, it costs $299, $100 more than the third-gen Apple TV 4K.
The HomePod mini 2 comes in refreshed colors that just so happen to match Apple's iMacs. The new speakers run on the Apple S10 chip and come with a new "Sound Glow" feature that can pulse to the music with colors that match the track's album art. They can also act as default speakers for iMacs over Wi-Fi 6e. Amazon doesn't have Apple's latest HomePod mini device ready to preorder. If you search for it, you'll only find previous-generation speakers available to purchase now—and only renewed versions, at that. In addition to Apple, Best Buy also has the new HomePod mini 2 available to preorder in all five colors:
The Apple Home Collection is pricey, but Apple won't be taking your money for it just yet. While the company has a landing page for the new smart devices, including the $349.95 LG Smart Deadbolt Lock and $399.95 LG Floodlight Cam, none of them are officially available to preorder or purchase. Apple says some of these devices will be available in December, while others will arrive in early 2027, though it doesn't say which devices will launch when.
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Apple’s latest flagship headphones, the AirPods Max 2, are currently $429 (down from $549.99) on Amazon—taking $120 off every available color and bringing them within $30 of their lowest price ever, according to price trackers. They’re still a considerable investment, but the AirPods Max 2 have plenty going for them, earning a spot on our shopping editor Daniel’s list of the best over-ear headphones of 2026. PCMag is similarly impressed, giving them an “outstanding” rating for their excellent sound quality, noise cancellation, and seamless integration with Apple devices.
Much of what makes the AirPods Max 2 an improvement over their predecessor comes down to two hardware changes: a new high-dynamic-range amplifier and Apple’s H2 chip, replacing the older H1. The amplifier delivers cleaner audio, fuller bass, and better instrument separation with minimal distortion, while spatial audio makes movies and compatible music feel more immersive. Meanwhile, the H2 chip improves active noise cancellation, Transparency mode, and Voice Isolation, which helps callers hear you more clearly when you're speaking from a crowded environment.
Also, noise cancellation is now adaptive, meaning it adjusts how much outside sound comes through as your surroundings change, saving you from constantly switching listening modes. You’ll also find some useful additions beyond audio performance, including Live Translation, which lets you hear supported foreign-language conversations translated through the headphones when paired with a compatible iPhone. The buttons on the headphones can also act as a remote shutter for your iPhone’s camera, which could come in handy for group photos or hands-free recording. All said, the AirPods Max 2 makes the most sense for someone already invested in Apple's ecosystem, since several of their more interesting features depend on compatible Apple devices and software.
Apple's new HomeView smart hub is fun. It looks like a cross between an iMac G4 and an Apple Watch, especially if you opt for the one with the stand—which you should probably do, seeing as the wall-mounted option requires separate hardware purchases. If you have more than one Apple user in the house, it's certainly a tempting product. But as sleek as the HomeView looks, I can't help but wonder: Is this really a better decision than an iPad on a stand?
After all, you can already control smart devices from the Home app on your iPad, not to mention take FaceTime calls, play music, check the weather, etc. And, since it's an iPad, it's inherently more versatile than a device made as a smart hub. Would you be better off buying one of Apple's tablets with a stand, and calling a day? The short answer: maybe, but not necessarily. After thinking it through, it might not make sense for everyone to splurge on the iPad in this scenario.
Feature crossover between the HomeView and iPad
Despite being a new product, there's a lot of crossover between the HomeView and your average iPad. They both support FaceTime, and both place the camera along the top bezel—at least, if you have one of Apple's modern iPads. (For years, the company put the camera along the short side of the iPad, which meant it was always off-center for landscape video calls.) They both run the Home app, which means both can control your compatible smart devices. You can access Apple Music on both devices, as well as the Messages app. To that point, they both run some of the same first and third-party apps, including Calendar, Weather, Podcasts, and Find My, but it's a bit too early to know the full list of compatible apps. That said, Apple told The Verge that any app that works with CarPlay and supports audio and video streaming will appear on your HomeView if you have it on your iPhone or iPad.
Both devices also come with Safari. That's obvious on the iPad, but it's a welcome addition on the HomeView. I'm not seeing much about how Safari works on HomeView, however, other than the fact you can tap "Start Cooking" on a recipe you find in the browser to see the steps in a "streamlined format." While you can do many things on HomeView with simple gestures and voice commands, Apple also includes an on-screen keyboard here, so the iPad isn't the only device of the pair you can type on. Depending on the iPad, HomeView might actually be on-par power-wise, as well: Apple outfitted this device with the A18 chip, one generation newer than the A17 Pro in the iPad mini, and two generations newer than the chip in the A16 iPad. That runs Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, a big selling point for Apple with this device. Like other smart displays, the company wants you to ask Siri AI complex questions and make requests across your apps. That's something you can do on certain iPads too, as long as they support Apple's AI suite.
The iPad can do a lot the HomeView can't
It might sound like the HomeView and the iPad are surprisingly similar, but there's a wide array of features that are exclusive to Apple's dedicated tablet. Perhaps most importantly, you have a dedicated OS to work with on iPad. It might not be macOS, but you can run multiple apps side-by-side, including with desktop-like window management, if you'd like. Speaking of apps, you'll have many more options on iPad than on HomeView. It's great that there's third-party support on HomeView, but your iPad can also tap into the entire App Store; HomeView can't.
iPads have mouse and keybord support as well, in case you don't want to rely on gesture and touch controls for everything. There's also Apple Pencil support; optional, but useful. And while both devices have front-facing cameras, all iPads have rear cameras—some better than others, but they come in handy. If you're on a FaceTime call, you don't have to turn the entire device to show someone something in front of you. There's a host of other smaller features that may matter to some, but not all, like a USB-C port, or external drive support.
The HomeView has exclusive features of its own
On the flip side, there are perks you get with a HomeView that you just don't get on an iPad. While you can place an iPad on a stand in your kitchen, you won't be able to take advantage of HomeView's dedicated "faces." That includes the Home face, which puts all your smart devices on-screen in tiles. If your home is relatively smart, this is useful (not to mention sleek), and is a bit more streamlined than moseying over to the Home app on your iPad. To that point, HomeView's other faces make it stand out in your room: You can use it as a dynamic clock or calendar, with fun designs and effects. Even the Weather app's face looks better on HomeView than the Weather app on iPad.
The HomeView really shines if you have multiple people in your house—at least, on paper. Apple says the device can recognize up to six different users, and personalize the experience to each. You can have a custom Home Screen layout, and only be able to access your own data (like Messages); then, when a different member of your household looks at HomeView, they can access their personal setup. This type of personalization is great, and is sorely missing from the iPad. Hopefully, Apple adds profiles to iPadOS at some point in the future, like it does on macOS. Until then, HomeView offers a much better experience for multiple users.
HomeView also has the advantage when it comes to speakers—particularly if you buy the model with the stand. Apple says the screen comes with two full-range drivers, while the base has a down-firing woofer and two force-canceling passive radiators. If you opted for an iPad on a stand, you'd need some sort of external audio solution to match that, which would only increase your costs.
The HomeView's price actually makes sense
If you're torn on buying an iPad as a HomeView alternative, the cost might just be the decision maker here. Apple is pricing the HomeView on a stand at $299, which, to me, sounds a bit pricey at first. But you get a lot for that money, especially when you consider the other option: Apple's cheapest iPad is still quite expensive, retailing for $449. The iPad mini, which gives you a more comparable display size to the HomeView, is even more expensive. Your best bet would be to find a refurbished iPad, but even then, you're likely still spending more than the cost of the HomeView. That's before you factor in a stand, or even alternative audio solutions, like a Bluetooth speaker or HomePod mini.
If you plan to use your iPad as a dedicated tablet in addition to a smart home display, that additional cost might be worth it. After all, you can switch from taking FaceTime calls in the kitchen to sending emails, making music in GarageBand, or playing games like Minecraft and Stardew Valley. But if your main goal is finding a smart display that fits in well with your existing Apple ecosystem, the HomeView isn't a bad buy.
Apple opened preorders for the HomeView smart home hub today.
The HomeView is a 7-inch smart display and speaker that aims to be a central access point for up to six members of a family to access and control Apple’s ecosystem of devices, apps, and the Siri generative AI chatbot that's currently in beta.
Users can speak to HomeView to control smart home devices, such as, for example, telling Siri to close the smart blinds or activate smart locks. HomeView can also show a livestream for up to nine video feeds simultaneously.
Apple's "Welcome Home" event has come and gone. Unlike the company's recent iPhone event, this one wasn't livestreamed. Instead, Apple invited select members of the media to see the announcements firsthand in New York City. Concurrently, the company posted all of its updates to its Newsroom. If you weren't at the event in person (I wasn't), you can check out everything that's new below—including a look at the company's first smart hub, new Apple TV 4Ks and HomePod minis, and a new line of smart home devices.
Apple HomeView is the company's first dedicated smart hub
Without a doubt, the biggest announcement of the day is the new "Apple HomeView." This is Apple's first dedicated smart hub, complete with a seven-inch square display attached to a domed speaker by a stainless steel hinge. While it doesn't resemble anything in Apple's current collection of devices, it is vaguely reminiscent of the iMac G4. Like Apple's other screens, the display comes with True Tone, and while it reaches a respectable 500 nits of brightness, it can also drop to as low as 0.3 nits, which Apple says makes it great for nightstands. It is also selling a display-only HomeView that mounts to your wall.
Apple isn't positioning HomeView as a personal device—the smart hub can recognize up to six people, so each member of a household can set their own Home Screens with custom apps and widgets, while shared data (like photos and music) can be accessed by anyone, even guests. Apple also designed Apple Watch-like faces for HomeView: You can customize your HomeView face to include things like calendars, clocks, full-screen images, the weather, and more.
Like other smart hubs, HomeView uses an AI assistant to answer questions and run tasks. As such, it seems well-timed with the launch of Apple's new Siri AI. If you have an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone or iPad, you can ask Siri AI to take action in the app or pull relevant info from Messages, Calendar, and Apple Music. Any conversation you have with Siri on HomeView syncs across the Siri app on your other devices.
Apple is also touting the HomeView's speakers. The company says the device has two custom full-range drivers in the display, as well as a down-firing woofer and two force-cancelling passive radiators in the base. You can stream audio and video from Apple's many services, including Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, Apple TV, as well as some third-party apps. If you have more than one HomeView, HomePod, or AirPlay-compatible device, you can beam audio to all. It even works with Handoff, so if you're listening to or watching something on your iPhone, you can pick it up on your HomePod.
The HomeView's greatest strength might be as an always-available FaceTime receiver. It has a camera built into the top bezel with Center Stage, which makes it easier to stay in frame when walking around the room. HomeView can read your messages and let you respond with your voice, but there's also an on-screen keyboard. If you have other HomeViews or HomePods, you can use Intercom to send an audio message to everyone in the house.
This is a smart hub, so HomeView comes with a smart home dashboard to control all of your smart devices. You can check on video feeds (including up to nine at once), adjust lights, or change the thermostat, in addition to a number of other tasks. Apple is adamant that the A18 chip in the HomeView, including its Secure Enclave, ensures all data passing through the device is protected. It even notes that personal data, like Messages, is not accessible until the user verifies themself via Face ID.
How much will the Apple HomeView cost?
Apple is charging $299 for HomeView or HomeView (Wall Mounted). If you choose the latter, you can pick from three different wall-mounting options, each sold separately. You can preorder either starting today. A note: You need an iPhone or iPad running iOS 27.2 or iPadOS 27.2 or later to use the HomeView, so don't order one if you don't.
Apple also announced its next-generation Apple TV 4K this morning. At first glance, you wouldn't know anything's changed. Both the Apple TV and its remote look just about the same as the previous model. But the major changes are inside, not out. Apple is positioning this Apple TV 4K as a home hub of its own, pairing an upgraded processor with Siri AI to offer new smart capabilities.
Like other smart devices, you can ask Siri AI on Apple TV 4K questions in natural language and get results in kind. Apple says you can request things like "What Apple TV shows won at the Emmy Awards this year?" or "What are some nature documentaries available on Apple TV?" While watching content, you can ask Siri AI about what's on screen, including questions like "Where was Pluribus filmed?" or "Is this movie appropriate for a 14-year-old?" Apple says Apple TV 4K won't stop your content to answer a question; it will place answers in a subtle overlay, so you can keep watching while getting your answer. Apple even recommends trying to control Apple TV 4K hands-free now, which I suppose is a response to complaints about how easy it is to lose the remote.
If you do lose the remote, you're in luck: It now comes with Find My support with Precision Finding. You can play a sound on the remote from your iPhone to make it easier to find, or you can get guided directions to know exactly where it is. (Spoilers: It's between your couch cushions. It's always between your couch cushions.)
Inside, the Apple TV 4K runs Apple's A19 chip, which Apple says improves the CPU performance by up to 50% and offers up to double the GPU performance of the previous model. Apple says the new Apple TV 4K offers a new AV1 decoder, which should improve the quality of streams while using less data. You can also pair the new Apple TV 4K with four speakers if you have Apple's new HomePod mini 2 (more on that below). Apple's AI calibrates the speakers to your space by analyzing their position in your room.
While Apple would love for you to buy a HomeView too, you can also control all your smart devices from the new Apple TV 4K. You can see who's at your front door and unlock it if necessary, and even set the Apple TV 4K to guest mode if you want your friends to be able to adjust the lights when you're not around.
How much is the new Apple TV 4K?
Apple's newest Apple TV 4K starts at $299, or $49.83 for six months. You can pre-order it today, and it will go on sale starting Friday, Nov. 13.
HomePod mini 2 has an upgraded chip and cute new colors
Credit: Apple
Apple's second-generation HomePod mini is now official. While the new HomePod mini 2 isn't as radical a change as the HomeView or even the Apple TV 4K, it does have some upgraded hardware and comes in new colors: pink, green, blue, white, and midnight.
Apple says the new HomePod mini 2 comes with its S10 chip, quite an upgrade from the S5 chip used in the original HomePod mini. While we'll need to wait for testing to confirm sound quality, Apple says the S10 chip powers the mini's new computational audio, which automatically optimizes things like dynamic range, loudness, and acoustics to fit your space. As mentioned above, you can now pair four HomePods together with the Apple TV 4K, including any assortment of HomePods and HomePod mini 2s.
While the original HomePod mini has a glowing touchpad, the new HomePod mini 2 takes it a step further with "Sound Glow." This new feature glows and pulses in sync with your audio, and reacts to both bass and treble in real time. Sound Glow pulls the color scheme from the current album art. Of course, this announcement is all about smart home, so Apple also touted how you can control your smart home from your HomePod mini 2 as well. You can ask Siri AI on the speaker to configure your smart home devices, and you can find manual controls from the Home app as well.
Apple Home Collection includes third-party devices designed to work together
Credit: Apple
Finally, there's "Apple Home Collection." This is a series of devices not made by Apple, but by partner companies that now sell their devices through Apple. The idea is that these devices were all designed with Apple's smart home experience in mind, which means you can buy them knowing they'll work with HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and the HomePod mini 2. (Apple also seems quite proud of how each device matches the company's overall look.) Here's what's in the collection:
LG Video Doorbell: This doorbell has dual cameras (one 2.5K camera, one 1080p camera), a built-in spotlight, and a chime that plays on HomeView, HomePod, and HomePod mini. ($249.95).
LG Floodlight Cam: This camera comes with dual floodlights that automatically turn on when it detects motion. It also supports low-light color night vision. ($399.95.)
LG Outdoor Cam: This camera supports low-light color night vision with flexible angles. ($299.95.)
LG Indoor Cam: This camera can automatically adjust itself, including tilting out of frame when someone comes home. ($199.95.)
LG Smart Deadbolt Lock: This lock uses Ultra Wideband to automatically unlock when the user approaches it. You can also tap to unlock with your iPhone or Apple Watch, use the hardware keypad, or use the hidden physical key slot. The lock alerts users if it detects tampering. ($349.95.)
Smart Thermostat: Apple is working with both LG and Schneider to sell two different thermostats. Schenider's is square, while LG's is round. Both pull from iPhone data to automatically adjust the temperature based on certain scenarios, such as whether anyone is home, time of day, or user preferences. There are also optional temperature and humidity sensors. ($199.95 per thermostat, $39.95 per sensor.)
With an iCloud+ plan, you can access up to 10 days of video event history, with automatic video descriptions and summaries of those events. You can use natural language to search your event history for specific clips, and there are built-in storage options to retain data when a connection goes down.
Upgraded, cheaper AirPods have noise cancelling, sound and controls to rival many plugged-in buds but without tips
Apple’s latest AirPods set a new standard for open-fit buds with upgraded noise cancelling that now rivals many plugged-in designs of the same price.
The AirPods 5 have the same design the popular AirPods 4 offering an option for those that do not like silicone ear tips used by most noise cancelling earbuds. They come in two versions, with or without a wireless charging case and swipe controls, costing from £119 (€149/$129/A$219) – £10 cheaper than the launch price of their predecessors.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC, H2 chip
Battery life: four or five hours with ANC (22 hours with case)
Just over 10 years after its initial release, space exploration and survival crafting game No Man's Sky is making its way to the iPhone and iPad, Apple and developer Hello Games announced today.
It will run on devices as far back as the iPhone 11 and the third-generation iPad Air. No Man's Sky might not have the most cutting-edge AAA graphics (though they're still strong, and they've come a long way since launch via updates), but the game's uncommon method of generating galaxies of incomprehensible scale on-device, and consistently for all players from a single-seed, happening on a phone is remarkable for those of us who remember phones performing far behind consoles or desktop PCs.
A giant screen, big battery, rapid chip and top cameras push the great iPhone 18 Pro to the max with a price tag to match
Apple’s largest Pro iPhone gets its biggest battery upgrade yet to make it a true two-day phone with new Siri AI and a variable aperture camera.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the supersized sibling of the regular 18 Pro and, though it is no longer Apple’s most expensive phone thanks to the £2,000 iPhone Duo, it has a similarly large price tag to match costing from £1,299 (€1,599/$1,299/A$2,299).
Screen: 6.9in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)
The Museo de Historia de la Computación in Spain has unveiled a 1:1 scale visual replica of the famous Cray-1 supercomputer from 1976. Instead of sourcing expensive, cutting-edge tech to run the system, the creative team powered the project with 30 2012-era Mac Minis. Developed over 18 months, the project serves as a 50th-anniversary tribute to the Cray-1 and Apple's founding.
Mac Minis from over a decade ago might not seem like the obvious first choice for building a cluster supercomputer, but when networked together, the developers can orchestrate the 64 active processing cores into a combined 1.3 teraflops of performance in their most recent tests. The museum reportedly achieved 1.5 teraflops previously using all 70 available cores, prior to one node going offline. Benchmarks were obtained using a custom matrix-multiplication Python script. Five PCs are quad-core i7s, and the remaining 25 are dual-core i5 models. Except for two units from 2014, the rest of the array dates to 2012.
The replica is a valuable tool for museum-goers to understand the shifts in computer architecture since 1976. The original Cray-1 used vector processing, applying a single instruction to multiple data elements simultaneously, whereas the replica distributes work across independent processors in a parallel cluster. The peak theoretical performance of the original Cray-1 was approximately 160 megaflops. What was originally a purpose-built research machine has been re-created with consumer hardware that's vastly more capable than the machine that inspired it.
If you're like most people, you might still be getting used to iOS 27 on your iPhone. Perhaps you haven't even installed it yet, or maybe you're confused about why iOS 27.0.1 exists. (The short answer: The iPhone 18 Pro is a bit glitchy.) But there's a new iPhone update on the horizon that adds even more new features and changes to the mix: iOS 27.2. While this update isn't nearly as big of an overhaul as iOS 27 itself, it's still impactful—even if Apple already removed its best new feature. Here's what's new.
The update is currently in testing, so if you want to try it out early, you can enroll your iPhone in Apple's beta and check these features out today. Just know that all betas come with some level of risk, so if you decide to go down this path, create a proper backup of all important data before installing the beta.
Call Context is an excellent use of Apple Intelligence. When you're on a phone call, Apple Intelligence checks if the phone number you're calling is related to a business that you have relevant information for elsewhere on your device. If so, it fetches that information for you and displays it on the call screen. For example, if you're talking with your airline's customer service line, Call Context can proactively display your flight number based on the itinerary it finds in your email.
With iOS 27.2, Call Context now includes anniversary alerts. If you're on a phone call with someone you have a saved anniversary for, that alert will appear on-screen. That way, you can get a small reminder if you call a friend on their birthday, but you happened to forget the occasion. (Thank you, technology, for saving some of us from our thoughtlessness, even if you are enabling bad habits.)
FaceTime is getting ASL support
As part of a previous announcement of accessibility features, Apple revealed it was adding a new API to FaceTime that supports adding a human interpreter to video calls. This feature did not make it to iOS 27, but it appears to be rolling out in Apple's next update, making video calls more accessible going forward.
Apple TV profiles are coming to iPhone and iPad
If you have an Apple TV, you likely know you can set up profiles, so individual users can personalize the experience when watching shows and movies. As MacRumors highlights, these profiles are now coming to the Apple TV app in iOS and iPadOS 27.2. That way, multiple users can personalize the Apple TV experience on a single device: If your family shares an iPad, for example, each user can switch to their Apple TV profile when it's their turn to watch. Now, if we could only get system-level profiles too, Apple.
Siri AI is coming in more languages
At launch, Siri AI is only available in English. But with iOS 27.2, Apple is expanding that list. Once you update to the latest version, you'll be able to use Siri AI in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.
iOS 27.2 introduces small UI changes
Apple isn't thrilled with how some of its apps look in iOS 27, apparently. MacRumors also spotted that in the Music app, Apple removed some of the red accents and turned certain buttons from red to black—including the Play and Shuffle buttons, and the icons in the Library sections. In subsequent betas, Apple introduced a subtle new Apple Music icon, with a black music note against a white background, and changed the "active tab" color from red to blue.
In the Clock app, "AM" and "PM" are now smaller than the time when setting alarms. In Podcasts, "Up Next" is now "New Episodes," perhaps adding a touch more clarity. Finally, Apple changed "App Access" in Siri to "Excluded Apps," and now allows you to exclude multiple apps from Siri at once.
Apple was testing a new Health app with iOS 27.2
With the first iOS 27.2 betas, Apple totally overhauled the Health app. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem destined for release just yet. With iOS 27.2 beta 4, Apple removed the new version of the Health app, reverting it to the one you'll find in iOS 27. As such, when I first published this article, there were five new features coming to iOS 27.2. Now, there are four.
When Apple does roll out the new Health app, fitness users will likely welcome many of these new features. With the new Health app, you'll be able to see your Fitness rings within the Health app, rather than the Fitness app; there's a new "Longevity" tab that gives you insights into key aspects of your long-term health, including mental wellbeing, nutrition, daily movement, heart health, metabolic health, sleep, and hearing health. There are also new assessments you can take to analyze your current overall health and where you can improve, including a new "Health Age" feature. You can even allow your iPhone's camera to watch you exercise in order to rate your fitness in categories like flexibility, balance, VO2max, and strength.
This is by far the Health app's biggest revamp in years, and I'm looking forward to exploring the new features when Apple eventually releases it, hopefully in iOS 27.3. For more on what's new with this upgraded Health app, check out Lifehacker senior health editor Beth Skwarecki's guide here. (Beth is particularly fond of the new step count that appears at the top of both the Health and Fitness apps.)
Since iOS 15.4, Apple has allowed you to add a driver’s license or other state ID to your iPhone’s digital wallet. That was a while ago, seeing as we just got iOS 27 (or what would've been iOS 20, had Apple not changed how it names the updates) last month. But that doesn’t mean you’ve been needlessly carrying your ID around since then—some participating states have been slow to roll out support for the feature, and most have yet to sign on at all.
Here’s the full list as it stands in October 2026:
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Puerto Rico
Virginia
West Virginia
In addition, the U.S. supports adding your password to the Wallet app as a digital ID.
Support is still "coming soon" in these states
These states had originally pledged that support was "coming soon," but after four years, still haven't committed:
Connecticut
Kentucky
Mississippi
Utah
States that will not support digital ID
I am not surprised that some states are delaying support for digital IDs, but up until recently, none had rejected the features outright. That changed this week, as reported by 9to5Mac, as officials from both Florida and Rhode Island independently rejected digital IDs for their states. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida posted his dismissal on X:
Meanwhile, Walter Craddock, Chair of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) International Board of Directors, said the following on a podcast:
I want to see more universal adoption or need for an MDL [mobile drivers license]. I had one of my senators approach and try to talk me into doing it. I had to give him the old Heisman move and push him back…the main user right now is TSA. Up until recently, there was no airport in New England area that could accept an MDL. So why would I spend the money in the development of it? And also, I’m looking to do a solution that is across all platforms. Instead of just doing one for Apple or the Google Wallets, I don’t want to replicate and duplicate efforts.
In short, don't expect digital IDs to come to either of these states anytime soon—not that the program is expanding all that quickly elsewhere.
Airports where you can use a digital ID in Apple Wallet
Now, be warned: You can't simply hand a cop your iPhone when you get pulled over. There are specific, limited use cases for this feature. Right now, that means identifying yourself at the airport, as well as at select businesses. Apple worked with the TSA to make this happen, and while it used to maintain an active list of supported airports, it seems to have taken it down. This is the list as it was last updated:
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG)
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
Denver International Airport (DEN)
Des Moines International Airport (DSM)
Eastern Iowa Airport (CID)
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
Los Angeles International (LAX)
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU)
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
San Jose Mineta International (SJC)
Missoula International Airport (MSO)
Great Falls International Airport (GTF)
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN)
Billings Logan International Airport (BIL)
Lea County Regional Airport (HOB)
Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ)
This feature will also work with participating businesses to verify your age, including bars, restaurants, liquor stores, festivals, concerts, and certain age-restricted apps. However, there is no list of venues that support this feature.
How to add a digital ID to your iPhone
If you do live in a supported state, setting up the feature is simple. Open Wallet, then tap the (+) in the top right, then choose “Driver’s License and ID Cards.” Choose your state, then choose whether to add the ID to your iPhone 8 or newer, as well as your Apple Watch Series 4 or newer. (There are caveats here: California requires an iPhone XS or later running iOS 17.5 or newer, or an Apple Watch Series 4 running at least watchOS 10. Puerto Rico requires an iPhone XS or later running iOS 18.1 or newer, or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 11 or newer.)
If you're adding a passport to the Wallet app, there are different requirements. Apple says you'll need an iPhone 11 or later with iOS 26.1 or later, or Apple Watch Series 6 or later with watchOS 26.1 or later. Either way, you’ll need to scan your ID with your iPhone’s camera, then scan your face to prove your identity. Once complete, send all information to your state to confirm. If you live in North Dakota, you will need to pay a $5 fee to use this feature.
Credit: Lifehacker
The next time you fly from a participating airport, you can unlock your iPhone and place it next to the ID scanner. You’ll see your digital ID appear, complete with all information you will be sharing with the TSA if you approve (name, date of birth, sex, issuing authority, and issue and expiration dates).
Last month's Apple event was a big one. The company announced (and subsequently released) the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4. It also announced the iPhone Duo, though the company's first foldable phone still isn't out yet. Despite all these new products, Apple apparently wasn't finished. Next week, the company will host another product announcement, titled "Welcome Home." Here's what we know.
What will Apple announce at its "Welcome Home" event?
Apple's product announcement hints are usually pretty subtle. This time, it isn't. "Welcome Home" is almost assuredly referencing Apple's long-rumored smart home devices. Sure, the company makes some smart devices, like the HomePod and HomePod mini, but leaks suggest the company has some big updates up its sleeve.
Perhaps no announcement will be bigger than its smart home hub. This device, according to the rumor mill, will be a mix between an iPad and a HomePod, competing with similar devices from companies like Amazon and Google. It may ship with a six-inch display (some reports suggest the screen is a square), but it won't be like an iPad on a stand. Instead, the experience seems more focused, letting you control smart home devices, make and receive FaceTime calls, watch videos, display the news and water data, and check your calendar. Of course, it will likely work with Siri AI, the company's new AI-powered assistant.
Apple may even expect users to buy more than one of these hubs. The idea could be to have multiple hubs throughout your house, which could let you use them like intercoms. (Apple currently offers a similar feature with its HomePods.) If the rumors are to be believed, the smart hub will understand the voice of whoever is talking to it, and tailor the experience to that user personally. If you have guests over, you could switch to a "visitor mode" to avoid revealing sensitive information.
While the smart home hub may steal the show, Apple is planning some updates to existing devices as well. The HomePod mini may come in new colors, and is expected to get both the N1 chip for improvements to wifi and Bluetooth, as well as an upgraded S-series chip for Siri AI. Apple may also update the Apple TV 4K with the A19 or A19 Pro chip, as well as that new N1 chip, and a new Siri remote. Apple may take this opportunity to reveal its new OLED iPad mini, but the company may keep the focus on smart home specifically.
When is Apple's "Welcome Home" event?
According to Apple's announcement, "Welcome Home" kicks off on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. PT). That's an early start time, considering the company is based in California, though it seems Apple is hosting the event in New York City this time around. For context, Apple's events usually kick off at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) when the company hosts them in Cupertino. It's not yet clear if there will be a livestream of the event, or if it will be exclusive for invited members of the media.
Apple's smallest Mac is a favorite amongst AI enthusiasts and value-seekers alike. Despite its size, this Mac is as powerful as any other, which makes it as great an option for running AI agents as it is for handling simple macOS tasks.
While the "mini" isn't as affordable as it used to be—the memory crisis has certainly taken its toll—it's now cheaper than ever, even after October Prime Day has ended. If you've been thinking about picking up a Mac mini, now's the time to buy.
Apple's latest Mac mini runs the company's newest M6 chip, with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. This processor is so new, in fact, that the company hasn't ported it over to its laptops yet. That means the M6 Mac mini will largely outperform Apple's M5 laptops, like the M5 MacBook Air and M5 MacBook Pro, at a much lower price. Why the discount? Because Apple isn't providing you with a keyboard, trackpad, or display. This is a standalone computer, and it is priced accordingly. It's a great value if you already have those peripherals on hand, but your investment does increase if you need to buy one, two, or three of those items.
Most users will likely connect one or two displays to this Mac mini, but it actually supports up to three. While it doesn't have a webcam, it does come with a built-in speaker, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. For ports, you have three Thunderbolt 4, two USB-C, HDMI, and 2.5Gb Ethernet—though you can upgrade to a model with a 10Gb Ethernet port. All that typically costs you $899. But as we close out October Prime Day, you can spend just $779.99 on this machine, saving around $120. While it's still more expensive than Apple's former Mac mini MSRP, it's the best price yet for the M6, and a great value for what you get.
One of Donald Trump’s biggest goals as president is to increase domestic manufacturing and reshore supply chains so that the most in-demand technologies in the world can be 100 percent made in the United States.
By executive order last December, he launched his “Genesis Mission,” an ambitious plan seeking to leverage US dominance in AI to maintain or seize an edge in advanced robotics, biotechnology, semiconductors, and nuclear technologies. According to Trump, that plan works best with self-sustaining supply chains. Not even neighboring countries or longtime allies should be relied upon to manufacture a single component of any US product in his ideal world.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has long warned that Trump’s reshoring goals are not grounded in reality, but only recently has America’s largest technology trade association attempted to estimate what it would cost businesses and consumers to follow through on Trump’s plan.
Apple just released a system called “Reference Image.” It can verify the image is exactly as taken by an iPhone—new models only—without tying it to a specific iPhone or photographer. It can also verify that multiple images came from the same iPhone.
Other industry solutions require a photographer or institution to vouch for an image using their own credentials. We are concerned this puts some photographers, such as those operating in conflict zones, in a difficult position; it should not be necessary to forgo anonymity in order to prove image authenticity. We built Apple Reference Image to avoid using an explicit, public credential for photographers, and to avoid even implicit public association between different photos taken by the same sensor. The final reference image is instead signed by Apple’s signing service, after validation by PCC. That signature is backed by Apple’s strongest technical guarantees.
Our implementation also protects the confidentiality of the image itself, including from Apple. Merely capturing a reference image should never expose the actual pixels to Apple or anyone else. We achieve this through the exceptional privacy properties of PCC—the nodes themselves are architected so that not even Apple can access image data, just as Apple cannot see the information processed for Apple Intelligence in PCC. While the revocation service must maintain a private record of photo GUIDs and associated sensors to allow for revocation, it never has access to the image data, and does not allow for public access to this record. And as final revocation checks occur using on-device lists, a device never reveals to anyone which photo it’s looking at in order to find out whether it’s still valid.
The report makes for good reading; the details are interesting.
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Last month, Apple released two new smartwatches: the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4. These wearables offer brand-new features like a heart rate monitor that takes your pulse every five seconds; "Audio Intelligence," which can display a transcript of the last 15 seconds of an in-person conversation; and Apple's new S11 chip, its fastest wearable processor yet.
Despite all these perks, neither the Series 12 nor the Ultra 4 is the best Apple Watch for most people. That title goes to the Apple Watch SE 3, which is currently as cheap as $219, even after October Prime Day.
The Apple Watch SE 3 doesn't have Apple's latest and greatest features, nor does it have its biggest and best display. It doesn't have to: The SE 3 comes with all the features and options most people expect from an Apple Watch. It is available in two sizes, 44mm or 40mm, both with Always-On OLED displays and brightness up to 1,000 nits. The SE 3 has a heart rate monitor and can track both workouts and your sleep. It supports the Vitals app, which can report on heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, and sleep duration. It can track menstruation cycles and predict both period windows and ovulation estimates.
While it doesn't support Audio Intelligence, it does support Apple Intelligence—including the company's new Siri AI assistant. If the AI-powered Siri is important to you, you'll be able to use it with the SE 3 and your AI-capable iPhone. This watch also supports Emergency SOS, as well as fall and crash detection. That means your watch can call emergency services on your behalf if you become unresponsive after a fall or a collision. If you take the SE 3 swimming, you can dive as deep as 50m before you should worry about water resistance.
This watch doesn't have Apple's newest S11 chip, but it does come with last year's S10 chip, which should be plenty powerful for running watchOS for the foreseeable future. It gets up to 18 hours of screen-on time, and up to 32 hours when in Low Power Mode. You can fast charge the watch up to 80% in 45 minutes with the right charger, or get eight hours of use in as little as 15 minutes of charging.
Really, some of the bigger misses here won't matter to most people. The SE 3 doesn't have an ECG monitor, nor can it detect your blood oxygen levels or send you hypertension alerts. Its screen isn't as bright as the one on the Series 12 (2,000 nits) or Ultra 4 (3,000 nits), nor does it have Emergency SOS via satellite. It doesn't support Precision Finding for iPhone, nor does it have as long a battery life as Apple's other watches (24 hours on the Series 12, and 50 hours on the Ultra 4). But for everything save battery life, most users likely aren't going to be swayed, especially when you consider the price difference. Speaking of which, the SE 3 starts at $219 right now for the 40mm option—a bit higher than its October Prime Day low of $199. If you want the 44m option, you'll spend an extra $30, or $249.
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AirPods Pro are Apple's "premium" earbuds, but that definition isn't as clear-cut as it used to be. Active Noise Cancellation used to be a "Pro" feature, but now, Apple's standard AirPods come with it, too. So why spend $249 on the Pros when you can get AirPods with ANC for about half that? Tough question, but even though October Prime Day is done, Amazon is still making it a bit easier to answer, as right now, you can take $70 off the AirPods Pro 3, bringing the price down to $179. That's $10 more than the all-time low of $169 they hit back in June.
The new AirPods 5 may come with Active Noise Cancellation, but it's not quite as good as that on the AirPods Pro 3. According to Apple, the Pros can cancel sound up to three times more effectively than AirPods 5, which makes them the better choice for noisy environments like airplanes. Part of that may be due to the seal created by the Pros' silicone ear tips. While some prefer the one-size-fits-all approach of the AirPods 5, AirPods Pro 3 come with different-sized tips, so you can choose the size that fits your ears best.
Another "Pro" feature is the built-in heart rate sensor. If you don't have a fitness tracker, or just want to leave it at home, you can use your AirPods to keep tabs on your heart rate during workouts. While you shouldn't go swimming with them, the Pros are IP57 rated against dust and water, so working out in the rain shouldn't be a problem.
The Pros are also the only AirPods in Apple's lineup that are FDA-certified hearing aids. As part of that feature, you can take a hearing test with the AirPods Pro to learn more about your personal hearing health. In addition, the Pros come with hearing protection features, which can help block out loud sounds that might otherwise damage your hearing. AirPods Pro 3 also come with Adaptive Audio, which automatically blends Transparency and Active Noise Cancellation based on how loud or quiet your environment is. There's also Conversation Awareness, which automatically lowers the volume of your audio when you start speaking. A few seconds after you stop speaking, your AirPods will bring your audio back up again.
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I love my AirPods Max, but I have a hard time recommending them. They sound great, pair seamlessly with my other Apple devices, and offer excellent Active Noise Cancellation, so they're my go-to for long flights and travel days. And yet, I can't in good conscience advise most people to buy them, because of the price. $549 is way too much for any pair of headphones, even if they are my favorite pair I've ever used.
I have good news, however. Even though October Prime Day is over, Amazon is still discounting the latest model of the priciest AirPods. The AirPods Max 2 are now $429, down 22%, or $120, from the $549 list price. According to Keepa, that's the best price since August. While the headphones are still wildly expensive, it's much easier to recommend them at this price point than at their normal MSRP—at least while this deal is still live.
The AirPods Max 2 aren't expensive for nothing. They come jam-packed with features that make them Apple's best over-the-ear headphones yet. Apple says these AirPods support up to 1.5 times more Active Noise Cancellation than the original AirPods Max, though the benefits also extend to Transparency mode. These are Apple's first AirPods Max to come with Adaptive Audio, which automatically adjusts the loudness of sounds coming in through Transparency mode, as well as Conversation Awareness, which lowers audio when your AirPods detect that you're speaking. (The audio levels rise once the headphones note you've stopped speaking for a length of time.)
While these headphones sound great when used wirelessly, they're worth using with a USB-C cable, too. With it, you can listen to lossless music through a service like Apple Music, which offers more detail than lossy music over a Bluetooth. Apple says you can expect 20 hours of battery life on one charge when using Active Noise Cancellation, and although the company doesn't specify, you can presumably extend that usage with ANC or Transparency mode turned off. You can also get 90 minutes of playback on just five minutes of charging.
Like all AirPods, these headphones work best when you already have other Apple products. That's personally my favorite thing about AirPods in general: You can use your AirPods Max with your iPhone, then play a video on your Mac, and your AirPods will automatically switch to the new audio source. They're also easy to pair with an Apple TV, which makes for a great way to watch movies and shows without bothering others around you.
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There's a reason the MacBook Pro is so expensive. Apple saves its most premium features for this product line—mini-LED displays, built-in fans, HDMI and SD ports, and, depending on the model, the most powerful chips. None of these comes cheap, and, after recent RAM-related price hikes, the MacBook Pro now starts at a steep $1,999. That's not the case following October Prime Day, however: Right now, you can take a decent chunk off many MacBook Pro models, and even more if you opt for one of Apple's M5 Pro or M5 Pro Max devices.
You can save $160 on the M5 MacBook Pro
Let's start with the standard M5 MacBook Pro. This uses a similar M5 chip to the one found in the MacBook Air, though the Pro does come with 10 GPU cores (that costs extra on the Air). Other than that, these are the same processors, running the same 16GB of RAM—though the M5 MacBook Pro comes with 1TB of storage standard. You also get most of the hardware perks of the other MacBook Pro devices, without venturing into $2,499 and up territory, including three USB-C ports, the HDMI and SD card ports, a 14.2-inch mini-LED display, and a 12MP FaceTime camera. Typically, that'd cost you $1,999. But on Amazon, you can pick this machine up today for $1,869.
This is a great price for this MacBook, but it's not the only savings you'll find on MacBook Pros this October Prime Day. If you upgrade to the M5 Pro MacBook Pro, you can save $155 off its retail price, bringing the machine down to $2,345 from $2,499. With this laptop, you get all the perks of the M5 MacBook Pro, but with the M5 Pro chip, which is much more powerful. This chip comes with a 15-core CPU and 16-core GPU, along with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It also supports Wi-Fi 7, while the M5 MacBook Pro only supports Wi-Fi 6E.
Amazon also has the M5 Pro MacBook Pro with an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU $150 off. But the biggest discounts are on Apple's most expensive 14-inch MacBook Pros. If you're in the market for a souped-up M5 Pro model, or one of Apple's M5 Max configurations, Amazon has huge discounts:
Similarly, Amazon has big discounts on the 16-inch version of these MacBook Pros. The best option for most people in this category is going to be the base model 16-inch, which comes with the M5 Pro with an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU, as well as 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
Amazon Prime Day is an annual event held in June or July. Amazon's October Prime Day event, known as Prime Big Deal Days, is a two-day sale that starts Oct. 6 and ends on Oct. 7.
What goes on sale during October Prime Day?
Since Prime Big Deal Days happens in the fall, you're likely to see more deals on gaming and indoor gym equipment. Amazon has already announced some of the 35 categories that will be on sale, including beauty, tech, kitchen, fashion, and home. Some brands Amazon has already mentioned are: Shark, Princess Polly, Soundcore by Anker, UGG, Nest New York, Sony, Tarte, Adidas, and Barefoot Dreams.
Is Prime Day once a year?
Prime Day happens every summer. Prime Big Deal Days (or October Prime Day) happens every October. Amazon's Big Spring Sale happens every spring.
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Amazon has taken $100 off the 256GB Apple iPad mini (Wi-Fi + Cellular) for October Prime Day 2026, bringing the compact tablet down to $749 from $849. This is the A17 Pro model Apple introduced in 2024, and while the design will look familiar, the newer chip gives the mini enough power to handle more demanding apps and games, along with support for Apple Intelligence. PCMag gave it an "excellent" rating for its performance and portability, and those remain the strongest reasons to consider it, since you're getting much of what a larger iPad can do in a device that weighs about 10.5 ounces and is far easier to carry around.
That portability comes largely down to the 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, which is easy to hold for reading, watching something on a flight, or taking notes without balancing a full-size tablet on your lap, though the smaller screen can feel cramped for multitasking or for anyone hoping to replace a laptop. As for storage, the 256GB leaves plenty of room for downloaded movies, photos, and larger apps, and support for the Apple Pencil Pro (sold separately) makes the mini a handy portable notebook or sketchpad.
The 12MP front and rear cameras cover the basics, with Center Stage on the front keeping you in frame during video calls, but what really sets this configuration apart from the cheaper Wi-Fi models is 5G cellular connectivity. Once you add a cellular plan, you can get online while commuting or traveling without relying on public wifi or your phone's hotspot, and Wi-Fi 6E is there for compatible networks at home or in the office. Staying connected does cost a little battery life, since Apple rates the mini at up to 10 hours of web browsing or video playback over wifi and nine hours on cellular data, though your actual results will vary with screen brightness and what you're running.
October Prime Day FAQs
When is Prime Day?
October Prime Day begins Oct. 6 and runs through Oct. 7. It happens every year during October.
When does Prime Day end?
October Prime Day ends on Oct. 7, 2026. It’s a two-day online sale.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
October Prime Day is the fall version of Prime Day, which is the biggest sale Amazon hosts during the spring, summer, and fall. You can find deals on many categories during the sale, including tech, tools, appliances, apparel, and more.
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You don't expect to see Apple's latest and greatest products on sale, especially not weeks after their initial release. While there are plenty of discounts on Apple products this October Prime Day, including on some Apple Watches, I certainly wouldn't have predicted that Apple's latest flagship would get a price cut. And yet, here we are. The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399. But during the final hours of October Prime Day, Apple has the watch $50 off. With the discount, it now starts at $349, a fantastic price for a watch with all of Apple's latest wearable perks.
The Apple Watch Series 12 comes with Apple's newest wearable processor, the S11 chip. This processor is what powers things like Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, as well as the new "Audio Intelligence," which can give you a text recap of the last 15 seconds of an in-person conversation—a feature that has generated a bit of controversy. It also comes with a new heart rate sensor, which can notably check your pulse every five seconds, or 20 times a minute. This model supports up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge, and its Ceramic Shield 2 display should prevent more scratches and cracks than past Apple Watches in this category. Lifehacker Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki thinks the Series 12 is worth the upgrade at its original MSRP, so this is a bit of a no-brainer if you were already interested.
The only caveat here is that the Series 12 isn't the only Apple Watch discount worth considering this October Prime Day. While the Apple Watch Ultra 4 isn't on sale, the Apple Watch SE 3 is. This isn't a "new" watch, per se, but it is Apple's best watch for most people. You don't get any of the above perks of the Series 12, but you do get the capable S10 chip, Apple's standard heart rate monitor, sleep and exercise tracking, and the ability to send and receive texts. There's a host of fitness and health crossover here, and if you opt for the cellular model, you'll connect to the same 5G network as the cellular Series 12. While $349 is a great starting price for the Series 12, the SE 3 currently starts at $199 for October Prime Day. That's a tough price to beat.
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If you bought one of Apple's M5 MacBook Airs at launch, it would have cost you $1,099 for the base model. Then, the memory crisis took its toll, and all of a sudden, that same machine shot up in price by $200 without any new features or changes. The MacBook Air, which for years has started at $999 and jumped to $1,099 with the M5 (while also giving you more storage, at least), now starts at $1,299. If you want more storage, or to upgrade to the 15-inch model, it'll only cost you more.
These prices only push customers towards Apple's less expensive MacBook Neo. That's not necessarily a bad thing: the Neo comes with most of the features that people are looking for in an Apple laptop, at about half the cost of the MacBook Air. But these are not identical machines. Users choosing the Neo over the Air lose out on a bigger, higher-quality display; a processor made for macOS; a backlit keyboard; and MagSafe charging, just to name a few perks. These are all excellent features, but it's tough to justify the additional $600. But what if you could save $200? That makes those perks a bit more worth the upgrade.
Even though October Prime Day is over, Amazon has an excellent deal on the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air, taking $200 off Apple's new and beefier MSRP, bringing the cost down to...well, the M5's launch price. If you've been kicking yourself for not buying one of these machines between March and June, now's your chance to turn back the clock.
This MacBook Air comes with a 13.6-inch display (Apple calls it the "13-inch" for marketing purposes), with a resolution of 2560 by 1664 and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. You get the M5 chip, which, according to Geekbench, outperforms the MacBook Neo's A18 Pro by nearly 22% in single-core tasks and 134% in multi-core tasks. That extra $400 isn't just going towards an "Apple tax," as you'll notice real-world performance increases for your money. You'll also get a 12MP Center Stage camera for video conferencing and FaceTime calls, Touch ID built into the keyboard, and support for MagSafe charging—though you can also charge using either of the two USB 4 ports.
Importantly, this model comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That should be plenty for most users, but Amazon is also hosting discounts on both the 1TB model ($1,399 instead of $1,599), as well as the 1TB model with 24GB of RAM ($1,599 instead of $1,799). But again, most people will make do just fine with the base configuration. And for $1,099, it's a fantastic deal.
A new tool is allowing Mac users the ability again to easily turn off Apple Intelligence with one click and free up to 12GB of storage.
Unlike with previous versions of macOS, macOS 27 Golden Gate doesn’t have a toggle for turning off Apple Intelligence. That makes disabling AI features that you may not want more difficult. It also means that the AI models necessary for running Apple Intelligence will take up space on your disk,even if you don’t use them or if you go through your settings to individually find and disable AI capabilities.
In response, a developer known as Om Lahore on GitHub last week created RemoveMacAI, a command-line tool that allows macOS 27 users to “turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27" in a way that is “fully reversible,” per the GitHub page. They said that Apple's Intelligence models take up "about 12GB," but the models can actually take up over 30GB, The Verge noted.
Your iPhone 18 Pro Max can do a lot. It has a variable aperture that lets you control the amount of light that hits the camera sensor; it can charge up to 50% of its battery in 15 minutes (with the right adapter, of course); and it can run all of Apple's latest AI features, thanks to the new A20 processor. But the 18 Pro Max is still, above all, a phone. If it can't connect to the cellular network, you no longer have an iPhone, but a glorified iPod touch.
Unfortunately, that's the situation some iPhone 18 Pro Max users find themselves in. Despite being "the best" iPhone Apple has ever made, Apple confirmed that a "small number" of 18 Pro Max units—specifically on the AT&T carrier network—can no longer connect to cellular service, with the devices only displaying an "SOS" icon at the top of their screens. That's a pretty glaring issue: Without cellular service, you'll need a wifi connection to use any apps or features that require the internet and you'll lose the ability to make calls over cellular entirely. It's so bad that some users may not even be able to call 911.
What if my iPhone 18 Pro Max can connect to cellular service right now?
If your iPhone 18 Pro Max has the ability to connect to cellular service, that doesn't mean you're in the clear. Just because there's nothing wrong with your unit yet, you can still be affected by the glitch, and you'll need to install the latest update, iOS 27.0.1, as well as the latest carrier update from AT&T, to ensure your 18 Pro Max won't be affected by these mysterious cellular issues in the future. That's what Apple told 9to5Mac in the following statement: “We have identified an issue affecting a small number of iPhone 18 Pro Max users on the AT&T network that may cause a device to lose service and be unable to make calls. We released iOS 27.0.1 earlier this week and strongly encourage all iPhone 18 Pro Max users to update now, and are also issuing a carrier settings update today. These updates together are meant to help prevent this issue from occurring.”
While you can always install iOS 27.0.1 from Settings > General> Software Update, Apple says that the carrier update will install on its own at some point over the next 14 days. However, I'd advise manually installing it by heading to Settings > General > About. There won't be any confirmation that the carrier update installs, but rest assured, this process will ensure that it has.
What if my iPhone 18 Pro Max cannot connect to cellular?
Unfortunately, if your iPhone is already experiencing issues connecting to cellular service, there is no fix. The updates above only help with prevention; they cannot patch an iPhone 18 Pro Max that already can't reach the network. Unfortunately, the only solution is to swap out the unit with either Apple or AT&T. The good news is your store will make the trade for you free of charge, as it is a hardware defect covered under warranty.
It's not clear why this issue is only affecting iPhone 18 Pro Maxes and not the standard iPhone 18 Pro, nor is it evident why only AT&T devices appear to be experiencing it. A possible point of failure: The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses a Qualcomm modem, while the iPhone 18 Pro uses Apple's proprietary C2 modem. Perhaps there's some flaw with Qualcomm's hardware specifically on the AT&T network.
That's not to say the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro has been otherwise drama-free—far from it. As it happens, the 18 Pro (along with the 18 Pro Max) has also experienced three other public-facing issues since Apple launched the devices last month. First, there was an issue with phones randomly rebooting following a failed Face ID attempt; next, some users noticed their devices emitting a cracking or popping sound through the speakers. Finally, some units also appear to be losing their exterior color. If you've upgraded, I hope your fancy new iPhone is doing well.
Apple says it is changing its macOS privacy settings to stop third-party app developers from misusing them to access message histories.
Friday's announcement comes two weeks after tech columnist Jason Aten said that Meta’s new general-purpose AI agent Muse sent him an unsolicited notification referencing a thread between him and a co-worker over Apple Messages. Aten said he never granted Muse permissions to read his messages and had assumed they were off-limits. Social media last week blew up with masses of people who agreed and said the incident showed that AI assistants given access to calendars, emails, messages, shopping accounts, and other resources are akin to a skill saw or other power tool. While potentially useful, they can do real damage if not used carefully.
He said/she said
Meta CTO David Singleton joined the fray with a rebuttal that appeared solid. For Muse to access Apple Messages, a user must manually give it two privileges. One is full-disk access, a macOS system-level permission. The other is to enable a Messages connector setting in Muse.
If you've updated your iPhone to iOS 27, you might have already put Siri AI to the test or tried out some of Apple's AI-powered photo editing features. But you may have also noticed something else: Your iPhone's battery isn't lasting as long between charges. While I can't say this is a universal experience (I'm don't believe my iPhone is dying faster on iOS 27 than it did on iOS 26), some users are adamant the update has had a detrimental effect on their battery life. And while there are many possible factors here, some think they have found the culprit: a feature called Connectivity Assist.
What is Connectivity Assist?
Connectivity Assist's mission is noble. The feature is designed to tap into cellular data any time your wifi connection grows too weak. In theory, it should be particularly useful when you're leaving an area with wifi; rather than deal with the slow loading times a weak wifi connection forces you to endure before it disconnects outright, your cellular network would kick in to maintain your speed. (Once you've left wifi range, you'd be back on cellular completely either way, of course.)
Technically, this feature isn't new. Before iOS 27, Apple called it "Wi-Fi Assist," but it worked a bit differently. In iOS 26, Wi-Fi Assist simply switches over to cellular when your wifi signal is too weak. With iOS 27's Connectivity Assist, it seems your iPhone can tap into both networks at the same time. If so, that may play some role in why this rejiggered feature seems to be dragging down people's batteries more than it used to.
There's another new addition with Connectivity Assist that could also be part of the problem: Unlike Wi-Fi Assist, Connectivity Assist sends DNS requests over cellular data, which can bypass the rules that ad blockers put in place to stop pop-ups from making their way into your iPhone. As such, even Apple recommends that you disable Connectivity Assist if you use an ad blocker. So, if your iPhone is constantly sending out DNS requests while on cellular data, bypassing your active ad blockers, that could be putting extra strain on your battery, too.
How to disable Connectivity Assist in iOS 27
Reddit user ZoteTheMitey shared their experience on the r/iPhone subreddit, claiming that their iPhone 15 Pro Max, with 89% battery health, was only lasting for three to four hours following the switch to iOS 27. Once they disabled Connectivity Assistant, they claim their battery usage time jumped to seven hours. Some users in the thread shared similar experiences, and one even claimed disabling the feature fixed an issue with their device overheating.
If you want to try the potential solution yourself, here are two ways to disable Connectivity Assist: First, you can disable it on a per-network basis. To do so, head to Settings > Wi-Fi, then tap the (i) next to your network name. Here, scroll down, and make sure the toggle next to "Use Connectivity Assist" is turned off. That was, you can make sure your battery isn't experiencing faster drain when you're away from a charger—say, at a cafe you frequent.
If you'd rather disable the feature globally for your iPhone, head back to the Wi-Fi settings page and ensure the toggle next to "Connectivity Assist" is set to off. Note: if this feature was previously enabled, you'll be able to see the amount of cellular data the feature has used to date, which will give you an idea of how often it has been active on your device. More data could mean more potential battery drain.
When Apple releases a new watch, it’s not always worth upgrading. Last year’s Series 11 only had a few barely noticeable features to recommend it over the 10, and we said it’s probably one to skip if you’re happy with your current watch. But the Series 12 is different, and this one is worth the upgrade no matter which Apple Watch you’re coming from.
One of the biggest reasons to upgrade is that the Series 12's new processor (called, confusingly, the S11 chip) can support some features older Apple Watches can't. That's why only the new models are getting step counts, for example; Apple chose to implement those in a way that only the new hardware can calculate. Whenever there's a break in software compatibility, it makes sense to get the newer model. I'd expect more features are coming in future years that will be back-compatible with the 12 but not earlier models.
The heart rate sensor is a big upgrade
Apple upgraded the hardware on the back of the watch that optically reads your heartbeats. (This new sensor is in both the Series 12 and the Ultra 4.) I’ve tested its accuracy, and found it’s substantially better than the sensors in previous Apple Watches like the Series 10 and 11. If you train by heart rate during workous, or if you use heart rate data after the fact to evaluate and plan your training, the upgrade is worth it.
Apple claims it provides the most accurate heart rate of any wearable. I tested that claim and can partially agree: It’s as good as Garmin’s top-of-the-line sensor. I wouldn’t say it’s better than Garmin’s, but the two are tied in my book for the best wrist-worn sensor. (Chest straps are better than any wrist-based system, of course.)
Steps on the watch face are a nice plus
I wouldn’t buy a new Apple Watch just for the step count, but it’s a nice upgrade and one I deeply appreciate. I can add a step count complication to my watch face (I have it in a corner of the Modular face right now) and I have step count pinned to my Smart Stack.
If you don’t upgrade, you use use a third-party step counter to provide a complication for your watch face. But it’s nice that Apple finally has this feature built in. Apple says its step counts are the most accurate; I’ll be testing that claim soon.
Readiness and recovery HRV are another nice extra
The Apple Watch was always capable of measuring HRV, but until the Series 12 (and Ultra 4), it didn’t use the RMSSD version, which is most useful for gauging how stressed or recovered you are. (Instead, it used the SDNN version that can provide some information about cardiac health; the newer Apple Watches can do both.)
This means you can now get an overnight HRV reading that matches the kind of data you can get from the Oura ring or Whoop. I find HRV useful in monitoring how stressed or fatigued I am, so if you already wear an Apple Watch, it’s nice to be able to get that data from the watch instead of needing a second device. Apple has added a readiness score that uses HRV to tell you how “ready” you are for the day.
What I’m less excited about in the Series 12
Besides the features above, Apple has announced a few things that it’s using as selling points for the Series 12, but I wouldn’t put too much weight on these. Some are software features, like a small upgrade to Workout Buddy and a big upgrade to the Health app on the phone; you don’t need a new watch for these. Others are actually tied to the watch, but they wouldn’t be a reason to upgrade, at least for me personally. They include:
Siri AI
There’s a new AI-based version of Siri, and it’s available on the watch. It can do a few things better than the old Siri, like searching your messages and emails, but it seems to have gotten worse in some respects. I wrote about my experience trying Siri AI on the watch; I got plenty of delays and errors that negated any small benefit of the new algorithm. I suppose it will get better over time, but right now, it's not very good.
Rewind and recaps
Apple touted two features on the new watches that feel a little more creepy than useful to me: Live Rewind, which gives you a text transcription of whatever audio it heard in the last 15 seconds; and Siri Recaps, which summarize meetings. Despite Apple’s assurances about privacy, it’s still a feature that's always listening to you and to bystanders who didn’t consent to be rewound or recapped. This feature isn’t live yet on my watch, so I can’t comment on what it’s like to use—but I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea.
On paper, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are Apple's best smartphones yet. They run the new A20 chip, feature cameras that use a revolutionary variable aperture, and, according to Apple, have the longest battery life of any iPhone ever. And yet, the iPhone 18 Pro's launch has been a rocky one, beset by glitches and hardware issues that range in severity. Some have been fixed by simple software updates, while others remain unresolved.
None of this is to encourage you to return your iPhone 18 Pro or discourage you from buying one if you have your sights set on Apple's newest Pro phones. However, it's important to note that this has hardly been a drama-free rollout. As of this article, these are the four major problems I've seen with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
iPhone 18 Pros were randomly rebooting
The first iPhone 18 Pro issue that I saw was random reboots. Users complained that, after a failed Face ID attempt, their iPhones would freeze up and, after a short period of time, reboot. Curiously, Apple's newest Apple Watches, the Series 12 and Ultra 4, had similar reboot issues. While annoying, this was clearly just a glitch with Apple's newest iPhones running iOS 27 and Apple Watches running watchOS 27. The company quickly released patches for all devices in iOS 27.0.1 and watchOS 27.0.1, each of which only mentioned this singular patch in the release notes.
iPhone 18 Pro Max might not be able to dial 911
While Apple says iOS 27.0.1 only patches this reboot glitch, AT&T says otherwise. The company sent alerts to iPhone 18 Pro Max users last week urging them to update to this latest version of iOS, warning that iPhone 18 Pro Max users might not be able to text, call, or connect to data at times, including when dialing 911. The full message reads: "Hi, it's AT&T. Action needed: An important Apple software update for your iPhone 18 Pro Max is available. Some phones may be unable to complete calls/text/data, including to 911. Update to iOS 27.0.1 immediately — Settings > General > Software Update. Please contact AT&T or Apple if you have questions."
As it happens, iPhone 18 Pro users are not included in this alert. As MacRumors speculates, it might have something to do with the iPhone 18 Pro Max's modem. This is the only new iPhone this year to ship with a Qualcomm modem rather than Apple's own C2 modem. As MacRumors notes, affected iPhone 18 Pro Max users can lose service, forcing their phones to drop into SOS mode.
What's more, this update may only be effective at preventing the issue, not solving it. In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said: "We have identified an issue affecting a small number of iPhone 18 Pro Max users on the AT&T network that may cause a device to lose service and be unable to make calls. We released iOS 27.0.1 earlier this week and strongly encourage all iPhone 18 Pro Max users to update now, and are also issuing a carrier settings update today. These updates together are meant to help prevent this issue from occurring.” If your iPhone 18 Pro Max has already lost the ability to connect to cellular, however, 9to5Mac says you will need to swap it out for an entirely new phone with either Apple or AT&T.
Some iPhone 18 Pros have a cracking or popping noise
Some iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max users are reporting strange "cracking" or "popping" noises coming from their new smartphones' speakers. This Redditor shared that the sound comes intermittently from the upper speaker, and sounds like someone pulling an aux cable out of a headphone jack. Users in the thread concurred: One user complained of a light buzzing when the volume is set to 100%, while another said their iPhone has a crackling sound when on calls with "mono speaker." According to one Redditor, updating to iOS 27.0.1 didn't fix the issue.
While the thread is full of users complaining of similar issues, not everyone has the same experience. Some Redditors say they haven't heard the sounds on their iPhone 18 Pros, including multiple Mashable reporters. Another user noted that they're experiencing the issue on their iPhone 16 Pro Max since they updated to iOS 27.
Some iPhone 18 Pros are already losing their color
As Mashable highlights, some iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max users are noticing that the finish on their devices is starting to wear away, particularly around the camera lens. It seems the majority of the complaints, if not all of them, are from users with burgundy and black iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max devices, and it's not clear how widespread the issue is. Some users have claimed that cleaning the affected area with a Q-tip is enough to fix the issue, while others say the finish itself has worn away.
Apple's Photos app is more than a simple camera roll that eats up all your iCloud storage space. Contrary to popular belief, you can customize the app to make it easier to find the pictures and videos you're looking for, while hidden features help you clean up your storage and keep your media collection organized. If you have an iPhone, these 10 hacks are a must.
Use Reorder to customize what’s shown in the Collections screen
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
The Collections tab in the Photos app arranges itself automatically, showing you suggested photos, memories, and highlight reels at the top. Unfortunately, the way Apple orders things is a bit of a mess. The thing is, Photos has plenty of useful categories and shortcuts for accessing media quickly, such as for screenshots, custom albums, and utilities like Hidden Folder. As such, you should reorder the Collections tab to make it work better for you. Tap the Menu button at the top of the Collections tab and choose Reorder. My advice is to bring the Utilities and MediaTypes collections to the top, as they serve as useful shortcuts.
Use "Captured By Me" to hide screenshots and saved photos
If you're like me, your camera roll is filled with too many screenshots, saved photos, memes, GIFs, and videos. They all have their place, but the clutter gets in the way when you want to see or show photos you’ve actually clicked with your iPhone’s camera. As it happens, iOS 27 adds a new feature called "Captured By Me" that only filters photos and videos you’ve shot yourself. If you go to the Collections tab, you’ll find a new Captured By Me section in Utilities. You can also activate this when browsing photos in Library using the Filter button.
Hide photos of an ex from showing up in Memories
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Apple’s Photos suggestions are so good, I let the app handle the images that show up on my iPhone and Apple Watch's wallpaper, along with a widget on my iPhone's Home Screen. But suggestions are only as good as your curation. The last thing you want is to see a photo of your ex (or an ex-friend) when you’re trying to get through emails in the morning. If you don’t want to see a person too often, open their photo, tap the Menu button and choose Don’t Feature a Person. You have two choices here. You can either choose Feature This Person Less or Never Feature This Person. The latter option, of course, is best for exes, while the former works better for anyone you don't want to cut out entirely, but would like to see a little bit less of.
Hide the Hidden folder to truly protect your sensitive photos
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
The Photos app's Hidden folder is an excellent tool for locking away pictures and videos from your main library. The issue is, the folder might still be accessable by anyone who gets their hands on your iPhone. As such, make sure to lock the Hidden folder behind a Face ID lock to truly protect your sensitive pics. To do so, go to Settings > Apps > Photos > Albums and enable Face ID to automatically enable the hidden folder lock.
Make sure to completely delete photos from the Trash
Deleted photos aren’t actually deleted—at least, not right away. Apple actually stores deleted photos for 30 days, helpful when you accidentally delete a photo or have second-thoughts, but it’s a double-edged sword. Someone in the know could snoop through your deleted album and retrieve images you assumed were gone forever. These photos and videos are also taking up storage you likely assumed you got back by "deleting" them. As such, make sure to empty the Trash as well. Go to Photos > Utilities > Recently Deleted and tap the Delete All button.
Use the Identity Documents collection to quickly find photos of your IDs
While it’s not the most secure option, keeping some identification documents, passes, or tickets as photos can help in a pinch. It seems like Apple knows that this is a common use case. In iOS 27, if you go to the Collections tab, you’ll find a new Identity Documents section under the Utilities dropdown. When you open it, you’ll find an automatically curated grid of all the photos that contain IDs. If you like this feature, I highly recommend using the first hack in this list to reorder the Collections screen, putting the Identity Documents section right at the top.
Use this hidden feature to force Photos to sync immediately to iCloud
iCloud can be a huge help for managing your ever-growing Photos library. As long as you have available cloud storage, photos and videos are uploaded in the background automatically, and if you’re low on storage on your iPhone, "Optimize Storage" automatically offloads the files to the cloud.
Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t work when you really want to. Perhaps you want to add photos in a shared album, or you want to see photos on your Mac. But your iPhone is low on battery, or on a spotty connection, so the photos never seem to sync. Now, if you’re running iOS 27, you can use a hidden setting to force iCloud sync. Go to Settings > Photos > Sync Immediately and enable For Today.
Use Clean Up's "High-Quality" mode to remove objects from your photos
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
When it launched, Apple’s Clean Up tool left something to be desired. It would remove objects, but leave weird shadows or blobs behind. With the release of Apple’s new Siri AI, Clean Up gets a big upgrade—but only if you use Apple’s iCloud servers. (Apple says its service, Private Cloud Compute, secures your data.) As such, Clean Up is now a reliable option to quickly remove objects from your photos. Open an image, tap on Edit, choose the Tools option, and select the Clean Up tool. From the top, make sure to switch to the High-Quality option to use Apple’s servers. Highlight parts to remove, and tap Clean Up. If it’s a heavier edit, you might need to wait for a minute or two. In my experience, the result will be worth it.
Use "Paste Edits" to copy and paste edits from one photo to multiple photos
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
It can get tedious to apply the same edits across multiple photos. Luckily, you don't need to waste time fiddling with the same sliders on each image: Photos lets you copy all edits from one image and paste them to multiple photos. To do so, choose your edited photo or video, tap the Menu button, and choose Copy Edits. Then, review and disable any edits you don’t want, and choose Copy. Now, go back to your Library, tap Select, and choose all the photos or videos where you want to apply the same edit. Tap the Menu button and choose Paste Edits to add the same edit settings to all images.
Use Live Text to pull text from images
Credit: Apple
Apple’s Live Text feature turns any text digital. Snap a photo of a menu, and you can copy it. Scan a page, and you can paste it in Notes. But it’s not just limited to the camera or screenshots: It’s integrated directly into the Photos app as well, and arguably, it’s the easiest place to use this feature. When you are viewing an image with text in it, you will see the Live Text icon in the bottom right. Tap on it, and iOS will highlight the text in the image. You can tap and hold to take action on text, and you can easily copy things from here as well.
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Apple products are infamously expensive, but that doesn't mean those prices never come down. While Apple doesn't typically offer discounts of its own, retailers frequently cut prices MacBooks, AirPods, and iPads, and such is the case with Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale. Even though October Prime Day is officially over, these are the best Apple deals you can still take advantage of.
M5 MacBook Air (13-inch)
The MacBook Air has long been the best choice for most people. While many would likely benefit from the simpler, budget MacBook Neo, there are plenty of perks for those who upgrade to the M5 MacBook Air: a bigger, better display; the M5 chip, which is much more powerful than the Neo's A18 Pro chip; Touch ID by default; and MagSafe charging, to name a few. Right now, Amazon has the 13-inch MacBook Air at $1,099, $200 below its newly inflated list price of $1,299.
Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air is a good option for users who want more screen real estate without having to pay "Pro" prices. Following recent price hikes, Apple's 512GB model retails for $1,499, but ahead of October Prime Day, you can save $200 on the laptop when buying through Amazon. According to Keepa, this is the 15-inch MacBook Air's best price in at least the last three months. With this MacBook Air, you get a 15.3-inch display, Apple's M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, 512GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and up to 18 hours of battery life (according to Apple).
Apple's "Pro" MacBook Pro line used to start at $1,999. No longer: Apple's MSRP for the M5 Pro MacBook Pro is now $2,499. Expensive, but for many, worth it, since you get a powerful Mac chip with Apple's most feature-filled MacBook design. If you've been eyeing this model, good news: Amazon is currently taking $160 off. For $2,339, you can get a 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with a mini-LED display, the M5 Pro chip with 15-core CPU and 16-core GPU, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. If you're looking for even more power, Amazon has a number of M5 Pro configurations discounted, including the 18-core CPU/20-core GPU model with a 2TB SSD ($2,699, down from $3,199).
While the M5 chip in the MacBook Air is more than enough to handle most computing tasks, Apple's M5 Max is on a whole other level. For users who do intense graphics work or AI processing, there are few chips better than the one found in this 14-inch MacBook Pro. Of course, all that power comes at a cost: Apple's MSRP for this particular configuration is $4,099. But right now, Amazon has it discounted by $600. For $3,499, you get a 14.2-inch mini-LED display, the M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU and 32-core GPU, 36GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD.
Apple's Mac mini is a favorite among AI agent fans, as well as users who want the best possible value in a powerful Mac. You'll need to provide your own keyboard, mouse, and monitor, but Apple's latest Mac mini is currently 13% off during the last hours of Prime Day, $779.99 instead of $899. It comes with Apple's latest M6 chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. You'll find a 14% discount if you upgrade to the 512GB SSD, and an 11% discount on the M6 Pro model with 24GB of RAM.
As much as I love my AirPods Max, I have a hard time recommending them because of the price—$549 is expensive for wireless headphones, and it's tough to ignore other excellent options that cost hundreds of dollars less than Apple's. However, they become easier to recommend when they're on sale. Right now, you can pick up Apple's AirPods Max 2 for $429—still expensive, but a bit more reasonable. These are Apple's latest AirPods Max, with "new" features like Live Translation and Adaptive Audio.
Apple's third-generation AirPods Pro are excellent, but they're also pricey. For $249, you get Apple's best earbuds, with Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Transparency, a built-in heart rate monitor, and interchangeable tips to fit the buds to your ears. While these earbuds are arguably worth their MSRP, they're especially worth it on sale: Right now, you can take $70 off the price of the AirPods Pro 3, as Amazon is currently selling them for $179. Apple also offers cheaper AirPods with similar features, so unless you need the Pros' exclusive perks, you can save even more with the new, full-featured AirPods 5 ($149 for the version with the wireless charging case).
If you're looking for a pair of AirPods at the lowest possible price, look at this deal from Best Buy. The retailer has the Apple AirPods 4 for just $79, down from their original list price of $129.99. These are one generation old at this point, and this model doesn't have Active Noise Cancellation, but for the price, this deal is an excellent way to get the AirPods experience.
Apple's basic iPad—sometimes called iPad (A16)—is the best iPad for most people. Most of us only need an 11-inch tablet with a chip capable of running iPadOS, with 12MP cameras on the front and back of the tablet. While there are iPads with bigger displays, including some with OLEDs, as well as more powerful chips and better cameras, this iPad will generally be more than enough. Right now, Amazon has the 128GB model discounted by 11%, bringing the price from $449 to $399. If you think you might need more storage, Amazon has smaller discounts on the 256GB and 512GB options, as well as on the 128GB and 256GB cellular models.
Apple's latest iPad mini doesn't have the 17% discount it did during October Prime Day, but you can still save 5% right now. This iPad mini comes with Apple's A17 Pro chip, an 8.3-inch display, 128GB of storage, and 12MP cameras on the front and back of the tablet. 128GB isn't much, though it can go a long way if you mostly keep your files in the cloud. If you think you need more storage, Amazon is taking 5% off the 256GB model.
Apple's 11-inch iPad Pro is powered by the same M5 chip as the MacBook Air—though it still runs iPadOS. Despite missing perks you get with a laptop, like a built-in keyboard, trackpad, and macOS support, this iPad Pro isn't too far off from the MacBook Air's price tag. Typically, this unit retails for $1,199, but Amazon has it listed at $100 off. Not the biggest discount, but you could apply those savings towards an Apple Pencil Pro—currently 23% off—or take a chunk off of Apple's Magic Keyboard. This model comes with an 11-inch OLED display, the M5 chip, and two 12MP cameras—one on the front and one on the back.
The Apple Watch SE 3 is the best Apple Watch for most people. Despite the existence of bigger and "better" Apple Watches, the SE 3 does everything most people want their Apple Watches to do. It tracks your workouts, lets you send and receive texts, keeps tabs on your sleep habits, and checks your heart rate. It may be missing perks like an ECG reader, the latest S11 chip, and Apple's new persistent heart rate monitor, but most of us don't need these extra features. What's more, the SE 3 is currently 20% off on Amazon. You can pick up a new SE 3 for as little as $219 for the 40mm model, or $249 for the 44mm option. You can also save on the 44mm cellular option, which is currently $299.
The new Series 12 already has a discount, but unfortunately not for the 42mm option. If you're eyeing the larger model, however, you can spend $399 for the 46mm instead of $449—though it does seem the sales are only for some colors. The Series 12 comes with Apple's latest S12 chip, as well as the new heart rate sensor that takes a reading once every five seconds, or 20 times a minute.
Apple's AirTags are excellent trackers for anyone in the Apple ecosystem. Once set up, you can place AirTags on or in any of your possessions (bags, bikes, keys, etc.) and track those items through Find My. While AirTags cannot connect to the internet themselves, they communicate with other Find My-enabled devices out and about. Those devices then securely and privately update your AirTags' locations. Right now, Amazon is taking $10 off a pack of four, or $5 off an individual AirTag.
People often make fun of Apple's Magic Mouse for its odd charging port location (since it's on the bottom, you can't use the mouse while it's charging) as well as its less-than-ergonomic design. But despite this, it's often the best mouse choice for Mac users, if for no other reason than its easy pairing and compatibility with macOS gestures. If you're looking for a new mouse for your Mac—or even your iPad—you can save 24% on the Magic Mouse at Amazon, bringing the price to $59.99 from $79.
Spotlight is the gateway to everything on my iPhone. From looking up contacts to toggling obscure features, I use Spotlight every day to get things done. But while many of us use it, I don't think most use Spotlight to its fullest potential. Yes, it's a way to search for things on your iPhone, but it's also a "launcher" for automations, a calculator, a currency converter, and a way to run tasks inside your favorite apps. If you have an iPhone, these are 10 Spotlight search hacks you should know.
Bypass the Clock app to set timers, alarms, or to use the stopwatch
The Clock app lets you set timers, alarms, and set a stopwatch, too. Normally, you'd launch the Clock app to access all those features on your iPhone, but Spotlight lets you bypass that. Open Spotlight on your iPhone, and search for "Clock." The top results will be: Clock, Set Timer, Add Alarm, and Stopwatch. Tap any of the last three buttons to run those features from your iPhone's Dynamic Island.
Tapping "Set Timer" shows a slider to choose the timer's length. Similarly, "Add Alarm" lets you set an alarm without opening Clock, and "Stopwatch" immediately starts the count, and even lets you pause or set a lap time without opening the app.
Locate text in photos and screenshots via Spotlight search
Your iPhone has built-in OCR (optical character recognition), which means that it can identify, select, and copy text in photos and screenshots. Spotlight lets you search for text in images without opening the Photos app. Just fire up Spotlight and search for a word or a phrase. The "Photos" section of results will show you all images containing your search term.
Convert units and currencies without opening websites or apps
Credit: Pranay Parab
I grew up in a country that follows the metric system, and I just can't wrap my head around Imperial units used in the U.S. and U.K. Every time I read something that mentions gallons, fluid ounces, miles, stones, or other units that should've been retired in the 19th century, I use Spotlight to convert them quickly. Try searching for "1 inch to cm," or similar terms with different units, and the result will display at the top.
For currency conversions, type the currency symbol followed by the amount, and Spotlight will convert it to your local currency by default. Try searching for "£120" or "$240," and the converted currency will show up in the results. You can also try a more specific query such as "£360 to USD" to convert to a currency of your choice.
Perform calculations in Spotlight's search box
I rarely open the calculator on my iPhone. When I need to perform basic math, I fire up Spotlight and type the calculation. It works with addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and even percentages. The syntax for calculations is straightforward in Spotlight, but to get percentages, you'll want to try something like "20% x 180." This is great for calculating tips or splitting bills.
Type any date to create a calendar entry or to find photos
You can use Spotlight to quickly add calendar entries. Activate Spotlight on your iPhone, type a future date, and tap the Add button in the Event widget. This will open a Calendar entry page, and allow you to add the event without opening the Calendar app. You can also search for specific months from the past, such as "October 2024" to look for photos, messages, and emails from that month. The results show up in neatly organized sections under each app's name, and tapping a result takes you to specific photos, messages, or emails.
Type "Record" to start a voice recording
Credit: Pranay Parab
Spotlight also allows you to start a voice recording quickly. Type "Record" to reveal results related to the Voice Memos app on your iPhone. Tap the Record button to record a voice note, and it'll show a timer and a stop recording button in your iPhone's Dynamic Island.
Download videos from Instagram, Threads, or YouTube directly from Spotlight
If you use iPhone automations to download videos from Instagram, Threads, or YouTube, you can run these directly from Spotlight. Just search "Download" in Spotlight, and the shortcuts named "Download Instagram,""Download Threads," and "YouTube Download" will appear in the results. As long as you have a video URL from one of those sites copied to the clipboard, tapping the respective shortcuts will instantly begin downloading the video. This is perfect for times when you receive a social media link in a messaging app. You can copy it, then run the automation via Spotlight.
Use Spotlight to enable greyscale mode when you want to eliminate distractions
I use this automation every day to reduce my smartphone usage. Searching for "Color Filters" lets me toggle that setting directly from Spotlight, and enables greyscale mode when I need to focus on work. Disabling this feature is just as easy. If you use any other feature that is buried deep in iOS settings, you can use Spotlight to search for it, and toggle it as needed.
Type "Focus" to toggle various DND modes on your iPhone
The search bar is not the most obvious place for switching between different Focus modes on your iPhone, but it works quite well. Just type "Focus" in Spotlight search, and it'll list multiple DND modes, allowing you to toggle the one you need. These results appear in the "Settings" section in Spotlight's search results.
Check iOS Settings to hide apps and content from Spotlight
You can also hide apps and search results from Spotlight. This is a good way to keep dating apps or sensitive data away from results. To set this up, go to Settings > Search on your iPhone. Under "Before Searching," tap the drop-down menu next to "Suggest Apps." Choose "Don't suggest" if you want to hide all app suggestions from Spotlight. Instead, you can use your iPhone's App Library to find and launch apps faster.
If that feels a bit extreme, scroll down to find individual apps you want to hide from Spotlight. Tap the app's name, and disable "Show App in Search." To hide results from that app in Spotlight, disable "Show Content in Search" on the same page. You'll have to do this once per app.
Apple has released updates for iPhones, iPads, and Macs to fix a flaw that could let an attacker run code when a device processes a malicious file. Apple says it may have been used in highly targeted attacks against iPhone users running versions of iOS before iOS 27.
The fix is in iOS and iPadOS 26.7.1, as well as macOS Sequoia 15.8.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.7.1. Check Software Update on each of your Apple devices and install the latest version offered.
Updates for your particular device
The table below shows which relevant updates are available and links to Apple’s security information for each one.
iPhone 11 and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation and later, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 8th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later
To check if you’re using the latest software version, go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll see if an update is available and be guided through installing it.
Turn on Automatic Updates if you haven’t already—you’ll find it on the same screen.
Available update options on iPad
How to update macOS on any version
To update macOS on any supported Mac, use Software Update:
Click the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of your screen.
Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions).
Select General in the sidebar, then click Software Update on the right. On older macOS, look for Software Update directly.
Your Mac will check for updates automatically. If updates are available, click Update Now (or Upgrade Now for major new versions) and follow the on-screen instructions. Before you upgrade to macOS Tahoe 26, read Apple’s instructions.
Enter your administrator password if prompted, then let your Mac finish the update. It may need to restart.
Make sure your Mac stays plugged in and connected to the internet until the update is done.
Technical details
The bug, CVE-2026-86950, affects CoreGraphics, an Apple framework used throughout its operating systems and apps to display and process visual content such as images and PDFs.
It’s an out-of-bounds write issue, which Apple addressed with improved bounds checking. This type of bug happens when software writes data beyond the limits of its allocated area of memory. It can overwrite other data in memory, interfere with the normal operation of the program, cause a crash, or even let an attacker take control of the affected process. In this case, processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to an attacker running their own code.
Apple says it is aware of a report that the issue may have been exploited in an “extremely sophisticated attack” against specific people using versions of iOS before iOS 27. Although the reported attack was highly targeted, other attackers could try to exploit the flaw now that it has been disclosed.
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Apple released a bunch of new devices this month. The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 support new health-tracking features and Siri AI, while the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max introduce the A20 chip and variable aperture for the first time on Apple's smartphones. But while all these new products are objective upgrades over their predecessors, they all have one issue in common: They keep randomly rebooting.
As reported by 9to5Mac, some iPhone 18 Pro users are noticing that their smartphones are freezing up after a failed Face ID scan. When this happens, you won't be able to interact with your iPhone, even if the "Try Face ID Again" button appears onscreen. Instead, after a few moments, the iPhone will reboot. It's not a catastrophic issue, but it is annoying, and it's affecting a number of users, as this Reddit thread shows.
It's a similar story with the latest Apple Watches. While the Series 12 and Ultra 4 obviously don't use Face ID, users are still experiencing random reboots—emphasis on "random." Unlike the iPhone 18 Pro users, affected Apple Watch users aren't doing anything in particular when their watches reboot. They could be in the middle of a workout, chatting with Siri AI, or using the Maps app, when all of a sudden, the Apple logo appears. Some analyses showed that the Neural Engine was at fault, but Apple never confirmed the exact issue.
Apple just released a fix for iPhone 18 Pro users
Apple did find solutions to the reboot issues on all of these devices. Apple released watchOS 27.0.1 exclusively for Series 12 and Ultra 4 users on Wednesday, Sept. 23, which it says should fix random reboots going forward. Then, on Monday, Apple released iOS 27.0.1 for iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. This update doesn't only fix rebooting issues, either. Apple also patched a bug that could add a color artifact on photos shoot at 2x at f/1.48 aperture, as well as a glitch that would freeze the display when opening Notification Center and Control Center at the same time. Here are the full release notes:
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may unexpectedly restart when Face ID fails to authenticate.
A color artifact may appear on photos captured at 2x under certain lighting conditions at f/1.48 on a small number of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max devices.
Opening Notification Center and Control Center simultaneously may cause the touchscreen to become unresponsive.
As such, don't feel the need to take your new iPhone 18 Pro to the Apple Store if your only issue is covered by one, two, or three of the above. While some Apple Store employees have swapped out affected units, this software update should be enough to take care of the issue. To update, head to Settings > General > Software Update.
One of the big features Apple announced alongside the new Apple Watches is Siri AI—now available on your wrist! You need to join a waitlist to try Apple's new and improved chatbot, and since my turn just came up, I put the new on-wrist Siri through its paces. Here's how it went, and why I don't think the experience lives up to Apple's promises (yet, anyway).
Since Siri AI requires Apple Intelligence, you’ll need a device that supports it. Those include iPhones 15 Pro and newer, and an Apple Watch that is Series 9 or newer. If you want to use Siri AI on the Apple Watch, you need both a supported watch and a supported phone—a new watch and old phone won’t do the trick. With my phone and watch both on iOS 27 (the iOS 27.2 developer beta on the phone; watchOS 27.0 on the Apple Watch Series 12), I enabled Siri AI in my phone’s Settings app, which put me on a waiting list. A few days later, I got a notification that I was in.
Siri AI on the Apple Watch is occasionally useful, but mostly disappointing
Once I'd upgraded to Siri AI on my watch, I went about asking it plenty of questions and watched it struggle to answer many of them. The first thing I tried was to ask where I could find the nearest yoga studio; it responded with a list of yoga studios, none of them particularly close to my home. After rewording my question a few times, it finally listed one about a mile away. This is one of those examples where using AI is less efficient than a Google search—or even plain old regular Siri: When I asked this same question of the old Siri model last week, it quickly found the closest studio.
With my phone in another room, I next decided to try some of the questions that Apple provides as examples on the WatchOS 27 page. Here’s how that went.
“What’s a good warm-up for deadlifts?” Siri gave me paragraphs of text about the purpose of warmups in general. When I tapped "Show More," I was sent to the bottom of a long bulleted list of exercises. I’m not reading all that.
“Read my upcoming events.” Siri needed a good five seconds to think about this one, but then correctly rattled off my next few calendar appointments.
“Set a new move ring goal.” Actually, I first started by asking what my Move ring goal was, and Siri could not tell me. So I blindly set a new goal, and later saw it updated to the new value in the Fitness app...sort of. When I asked for a goal of burning 350 calories, it gave me a goal of 350. When I asked for a goal of 325, Siri responded that it has changed my goal to 325, but when I checked the Fitness app, it showed that my goal had been set to 320 calories.
Siri AI sometimes performed well on the Apple Watch, but seemed to do better on my iPhone
I then put Siri AI to the test with a few requests that other Apple Watch users have reported give the chatbot some trouble. The first involved setting a timer; perhaps that function is buggy for some users, but it worked quickly for me. “Siri, set a timer for five minutes” did exactly that, with only a few seconds of waiting. Likewise, “Siri, what’s the weather for today?” brought up the weather forecast instantly.
One of the purported new features of Siri AI is its ability to search your emails and messages for information that is relavent to a conversation you're having with it. On the Apple Watch, this doesn’t work for me as well as I would like. First, I asked Siri what my daughter had recently asked me to buy for her. (She is constantly texting me to ask for things.) Siri responded that my daughter had sent me a wish list of LEGO sets on Sept. 12. This is true. But it wasn’t until I specified, “wasn’t there a makeup kit?” that Siri was also able to find that request, which was from Sept. 13.
Meanwhile, the iPhone version of Siri AI was able to find the wishlist and makeup kit requests and tell me about them in the same initial response, without the additional prompting. In another test of its search capabilities, I asked who I had sent “Ramona’s dad’s phone number” to. The Watch version of Siri AI found that text message, but was only able to tell me the phone number of the person I had sent it to. Siri AI on the phone, on the other hand, was able to figure out that the person requesting the number had introduced themselves by name earlier in that conversation, and it told me exactly who that person was (even though I had not entered the name into my contacts).
Where Siri AI struggles on the Apple Watch
Still, plenty of requests don’t work even that well, or don’t work at all. The watch’s Siri app routinely crashes, taking me back to the home screen. Sometimes Siri’s voice breaks up, and it interrupts itself to start its message over again. Good save, but weird to listen to. Sometimes Siri “thinks” for a long time. Many requests take five to 10 seconds, during which time I certainly could grab my phone and look up the answer myself. Whenever Siri is stumped, it searches the web and gives me a sea of unhelpful text.
For example, I tried to see if Siri could explain a mysterious icon on my watch screen. I asked, “Why is this icon gray?” (in a variety of phrasings to clarify I meant one that I was looking at right now). Instead of telling me anything useful, or explaining that it can't see my watch screen, it read me some text from the Internet about what gray icons mean, in general, as a concept. Another time, I asked it to resume playing my podcast. Instead of starting up my usual podcast app, it told me that Episode 550 of My Favorite Murder had just come out. I don’t like murder podcasts, have never listened to My Favorite Murder in my life, and episode 550 was—now that I check—the third-most-recent episode, not the one that just came out. (The iPhone’s version of Siri AI, on the other hand, happily started my podcast app.)
At least one thing worked better on the watch: Both versions of Siri AI said they had no information on my sleep data, but the version on the watch was at least able to tell me what time I had gone to bed and what time I had woken up. That's something.
The promised Conversations app likewise did not work as expected. When you press the digital crown on the watch, a mini app picker pops up with Siri in the center, surrounded by a few of your most recent apps. If you scroll down, you get the full list (or grid) as before. Tapping that center button is supposed to show you a list of recent conversations, but mine kept showing me “No conversations.” Later, exactly one conversation showed up there: the one where I asked what a gray icon meant. That was the only question in that conversation, even though I had been conversing with Siri all day.
Still a work in progress
I like the idea of the new Siri AI, and being able to ask follow-up questions is nice, especially now that I can interrupt the chatbot to clarify my questions. (“Give me two specific warm-up exercises I can do before snatches” got it to stop lecturing me about warm-ups in general.) But the long waits for answers, the frequent crashes, and the bot's inability to access data that is right there on the device are frustrating. Here’s hoping it gets better with the next update.
Apple's latest Apple Watches, the Series 12 and the Ultra 4, should be the "best" smartwatches the company has to offer. While they're minor upgrades over the Series 11 and Ultra 3, there are some key improvements, including the new S11 chip and a heart rate monitor that checks your pulse every five seconds. If you picked up one of these watches, you might have put these new upgrades to the test—that is, if your watch didn't restart on you.
As reported by MacRumors, Apple's latest smartwatches appear prone to unexpected restarts. That's according to numerous posts on the site's forums, with users saying their watches abruptly show a blank screen with the Apple logo. There doesn't appear to be any particular action that triggers it: Users say their watches rebooted when recording a workout, using Siri AI, editing watch faces, or using the Maps app. Many users on this Reddit thread share similar experiences with their new watches. Some users dug deeper, pulling their Apple Watches' diagnostics at the time of rebooting. Rather than a specific function, the culprit appears to be a timeout with the Neural Engine, the hardware that processes Apple's AI features.
Users tried multiple workarounds themselves: One Redditor simply turned the watch off and on themself, and the issue never returned; others tried resetting the watch as new, but experienced rebooting again. MacRumors highlighted one case where a user received a replacement from Apple, and it, too, rebooted unexpectedly. It does appear to be an issue with the Series 12 and Ultra 4, and, luckily, Apple figured it out.
watchOS 27.0.1 fixes unexpected reboots with Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
On Wednesday, Apple unexpectedly released watchOS 27.0.1. The update has a brief changelog, with only one new addition: "This update provides bug fixes for your Apple Watch, including fixing an issue where Apple Watch may restart unexpectedly." Apple didn't clarify exactly what it changed to fix the issue, but at least the reboots should be over.
This update is only for Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 users, so don't expect to see it unless you have one of Apple's newest wearables. If you do, make sure to install it as soon as possible to avoid dealing with these unexpected restarts. To install watchOS 27.0.1, head to the Apple Watch app, then tap My Watch and go to General > Software Update.
Apple's latest updates are all about AI—Apple Intelligence, that is. When you update to iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple will invite you to try Siri AI and other new Apple Intelligence features. (Assuming your iPhone supports Apple's AI features.) But whether you use the new AI-powered Siri all the time or find yourself frequently scrolling past the AI additions, Apple Intelligence is taking up space on your device—perhaps requiring more storage than you bargained for.
I'll admit, I didn't think much of it when I updated my iPhone and Mac to the latest versions. I gave Siri AI a shot, adjusted Liquid Glass, and went back to doing pretty much the same things I was doing before I made the update. But once I saw headlines about how much storage Apple Intelligence actually takes up on these new updates, I had to see for myself. And, wow, were the headlines right: On my iPhone 17 Pro, Apple Intelligence alone takes up 20.65GB. On my M3 MacBook Pro, it takes up a solid 30GB.
These numbers will vary by device: My M1 iMac, for example, only has 13.88GB allocated to Apple Intelligence. But still, these are large slices of my overall storage. Anyone with a small SSD knows how valuable each gigabyte really is, and upwards of 30GB for Apple Intelligence is a lot. Not only that, it's often more space than Apple's own metrics suggest: As MacRumors highlights, Apple says that Apple Intelligence should only take up to 14GB of storage at most, and even less for certain devices. So why is my MacBook Pro allocating more than double that space for Apple's AI?
Why does Apple Intelligence take up so much storage on iPhone and Mac?
I can't answer why Apple Intelligence is taking up so much more storage space than Apple says it should. But I can explain why Apple says its AI is supposed to occupy as much as 14GB on certain devices: Apple Intelligence is designed to run on-device whenever possible. While Apple does push certain tasks to its Private Cloud Compute platform, the company wants its AI models to run on your iPhone or Mac whenever possible. This safeguards your privacy, as none of your data has to leave your device to achieve the task—though Apple says Private Cloud Compute also protects your privacy throughout the entire process.
Regardless, for this reason, your iPhone or Mac will download Apple Intelligence models directly onto your device, so it can run processes on-device when it makes sense to do so. If you have a newer or more powerful device that supports Apple's more demanding AI features, like personalized Siri voices, you may need to store more Apple Intelligence data on-device to run those processes—up to 14GB for certain devices—yet it's not clear why Apple Intelligence takes up more than double that storage limit on some devices, like my MacBook Pro.
Check how much storage Apple Intelligence takes up on your devices
It's easy to check how much storage Apple Intelligence is taking up on your device, though Apple doesn't make it obvious. To start, head to System Settings > General > Storage (macOS) or Settings > General > iPhone Storage (iOS). Scroll down and choose either "macOS (i)" or "iOS," respectively. Here, you'll see your system storage breakdown, including a figure for "Apple Intelligence."
There's no solution at this point
Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a way to tell iOS or macOS to remove some Apple Intelligence models while leaving others intact, or to run all processes through Private Cloud Compute. In fact, it doesn't seem like there is any reliable way to disable Apple Intelligence on a device running iOS 27 or macOS 27 at all. The closest option I can find is to disable Siri (Settings or System Settings > Siri > Turn Off Siri), but while this disables a host of Apple Intelligence options, I still see the models taking up storage on my device, even after a restart. This might be one for Apple to fix in a future software update—hopefully as part of iOS 27.2.
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Woot has the 13-inch iPad Air with the M4 chip, 256GB of storage, and wifi plus cellular down to $1,019—a $180 cut from its $1,199.99 list price and $80 less than the same configuration on Amazon, which is currently $1,099. The deal runs for two days or while supplies last, with free shipping for Prime members and a $6 shipping fee for everyone else.
PCMag calls the M4-powered iPad Air an excellent tablet with powerful performance and future-proof connectivity, and in daily use that mostly comes down to how much you can do at once without the machine complaining—its 12.9-inch screen leaves enough room to keep Safari open beside Notes during a lecture or to mark up a PDF with the Apple Pencil Pro without pinching and zooming your way through it, and with an M4 chip and 12GB of memory behind it, cutting together a short video or juggling a dozen tabs and a couple of apps doesn't slow things down.
The bigger story with this generation is connectivity, since Apple's N1 chip finally brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the Air, and cellular models carry the C1X modem from the iPhone Air, which Apple says draws 30% less power. That last piece is really what you're paying extra for here, because it means answering emails on a train or finishing a draft at a park bench over 5G without fishing your phone out to tether.
That said, the display runs at 60Hz, so scrolling and Pencil strokes won't feel as fluid as they do on an iPad Pro with ProMotion, and the Air has no water resistance rating, which is worth noting if you plan to use it outdoors, near a kitchen counter, or by a pool. Also, at 1.36lb, the 13-inch model is noticeably heavier than the 11-inch version, so holding it for longer sessions could potentially get tiring—and if you want to get more out of your iPad (or any other Apple device), check out our Apple section for guides, how-tos, settings, and other handy tips.
Homebrew is the package manager you wish your Mac shipped with. Once you set it up, Homebrew lets you install and update apps quickly and securely. It launched as a command-line interface, where you would type commands into the Terminal app on your Mac to install, update, or uninstall your apps. Recently, Homebrew launched its own GUI, which makes it easier than ever to use the service. Here are 10 Homebrew hacks that you should know, great for new and legacy users alike.
Once you update to Homebrew version 7.0.0 or newer, you'll notice that the service has a new GUI-enabled app for your Mac. You can launch it like any other app from the Applications folder, and use the interface to discover, install, update, and remove apps. The left pane has a few tabs that allow you to keep tabs on apps you've installed via Homebrew, updates available for those apps, fixes for issues with installation, and Homebrew settings. It also has an option called "Discover," which lets you search for apps available to install via Homebrew. Just use the search bar to look for your favorite apps, and if they show up, click the "Install" button. This will download that app to your Mac, and automatically complete the installation.
Check out Homebrew's "doctor" to fix software issues
Homebrew has a "doctor" feature that lets you fix issues with the service. This can be anything from unsupported or deprecated apps, to issues with the Homebrew configuration itself. You can run this from the "Doctor" tab in the Homebrew GUI, or use the following command via Terminal:
brew dr
The service will recommend some fixes, and you can run the suggested command in Terminal to solve the problem.
Use the -q suffix to keep Terminal free of clutter
When you're using Homebrew via Terminal, you'll quickly notice that every action leaves you with a wall of text. This is great for those who want to track all those updates, or those who are roleplaying as characters from The Matrix, but not for everyone. If you want Homebrew to do its work quietly, just add the "-q" suffix to your commands. For example:
brew install firefox -q
This will minimize the number of text updates on-screen, and leave you with a much cleaner Terminal. If you'd like to see more updates, you can replace "-q" with "-v" at the end of the command.
Try the "list" command to view all installed apps via Terminal
Credit: Pranay Parab
If you're not using Homebrew's GUI, it's easy to forget which apps you installed via Homebrew, and which ones are outside of it. To solve this, use the following command to show a list of all apps installed via Homebrew:
brew list
Use this command to add manually installed apps to Homebrew
If you're like me, you've probably installed some apps via Homebrew, and downloaded a few others from the developers' websites. This means you can't update all your apps in one go, since some of them are not managed by Homebrew. You can fix this issue by adopting those apps into Homebrew. Use the following command to get this done:
brew install cask adopt APPNAME
As long as the apps are supported in Homebrew, this command will adopt them into the service. You can confirm the adoption by using the "brew list" command mentioned above.
Use the cleanup command to free up storage space
When you install a lot of apps via Homebrew, it tends to create some clutter. Old versions of apps and cached downloads aren't always deleted immediately. If you're running short on space, you can try the following cleanup command to free up space without deleting apps:
brew cleanup
Use this Homebrew command to update all apps in one go
This is one of the best features in Homebrew, and it works best right after a new version of macOS is released. This is when a flurry of app updates arrives to support the new operating system, and you can try this command to update all Homebrew apps in one go:
brew upgrade
In case you just want to see which apps need an update, you can try this command:
brew outdated
The upgrade command is also listed under the "Upgrades" tab in the Homebrew GUI.
Use "dry run" to check which packages will be installed or updated
If you add the "dry run" flag to any install or update command, it will reveal a list of planned updates without commencing the installation. When you're dealing with command-line interfaces, "dry run" can be a useful way to preview changes before they take place, and to ensure that the correct app is being installed or updated. This is how you can use it:
brew install APPNAME --dry-run
Set up aliases to avoid typing long commands
If you're tired of typing long commands in Homebrew, you can set up aliases to minimize keystrokes. For instance, you can use "brew i" instead of "brew install" to update all Homebrew apps. Use this command to set this up:
brew alias i='install'
Feel free to set up aliases for as many Homebrew commands as you like. The following command will list all the aliases you've set up:
brew alias
To remove an alias, use this command:
brew unalias i
Just remember to replace "i" with whichever alias you wish to remove.
Use this command to stop specific apps from updating
If you don't want to update to the newest versions of certain apps, you can use the "pin" command to stop updates, and then "unpin" when you are ready to update again. This can be useful when an app you trust gets acquired by new owners who have yet to prove themselves, or if it adds new features you don't want, etc. Here's how to use it:
brew pin APPNAME
When you're ready to update it again, try this:
brew unpin APPNAME
Note that you may also have to disable auto-updates from the app's interface separately because some apps just update themselves without confirmation.
Typically, software updates introduce new features rather than taking them away. So, when you install watchOS 27 on your compatible Apple Watch, you probably aren't surprised to see updates like Siri AI or a step counter on the watch face. But you might be taken aback by what's missing—a multitasking feature that your Apple Watch has had for years.
watchOS 27 removed the app switcher on Apple Watch
As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple quietly removed the app switcher from Apple Watches with watchOS 27. As a result, users running the beta over the summer, or those who updated in September, were likely confused when double-clicking the Digital Crown: On watchOS 26 and earlier, that gesture pulls up a menu with all open apps, similar to the app switcher on iPhone. This allows you to quickly return to a previously used app without needing to dive into the "honeycomb" main app menu.
With watchOS 27, that's no longer the case. Not only is the app switcher gone, but the honeycomb app menu has been sidelined. In their place, Apple is pushing its new "Dynamic app grid." When you press the Digital Crown once, you'll see this new menu, which features the apps Siri thinks you're most likely to use. That might include recently used apps, but also apps you frequently use, even if you haven't used them in a while.
That might prove to be useful. The honeycomb menu can certainly make apps difficult to find, especially if you have a lot of them on your watch. But replacing the app switcher entirely doesn't make much sense: There's no guarantee Siri is going to list the recently used app you want to use on the new menu, so you might be forced to manually hunt for it anyway, whereas with the app switcher, you could quickly bounce back to any app, provided you had opened it recently.
It seems Apple is changing its mind (or coming to its senses): 9to5Mac recently spotted that the app switcher is back as of the watchOS 27.2 beta. Apple didn't make a note of the addition in any changelogs, so it's unclear why the company undid the change, but it's a welcome recursion—though at this point, there's no guarantee it will make it to the official build of watchOS 27.2. If you're hoping for similar news about Walkie-Talkie, unfortunately that feature has officially been discontinued, so don't expect to see it in a future update.
Speaking of which, the only way to try watchOS 27.2 now is to install the watchOS beta on your Apple Watch. That's a risky venture, since you can't downgrade back to watchOS 27 if something goes wrong. Still, if you're really missing the app switcher, you can get it back by enrolling your watch in Apple's beta.
Apple releases its yearly cluster of operating system updates today, with the two most prominent of course being macOS and iOS/iPadOS. These new versions focus heavily on Apple’s “AI” stuff, but there are a few actual improvements and changes to the actual operating systems as well.
Across both iOS and macOS, users now have a slider to affect how transparent or opaque the “Liquid Glass” design is across the operating system.
And on the macOS side especially, Apple has made numerous small design tweaks to address user feedback, which has been accumulating since Liquid Glass was introduced. There’s nothing radically new in terms of design here, but this is a much-needed polish pass.
Across all the releases, but in particular macOS and also iOS, there are a bunch of quality-of-life or performance improvements. For example, macOS now supports HDR for all system UI elements and gets more robust support for a wider range of display modes for external monitors.
If you’re not into “AI”, there’s not a lot of meat on these bones, but at least you can turn the “AI” nonsense off through a switch buried deep in the settings applications of Apple’s operating systems (which will probably be flicked back on whenever the next update comes).
Do tech companies ever stop to think about the misery they unleash on people’s lives? The Apple Watch Series 12 uses “Audio Intelligence” that, as well as secretly taking notes, also has a Live Rewind feature that can replay the last 15 seconds of recently detected audio and view a text transcript.
So that is the whole pipeline exercised end-to-end. GrandSlam authenticates the Apple Account and obtains the IDS delegate. authenticateDS and id-register turn the Linux process into a registered Apple messaging identity. The Friends sequence attaches that identity to the existing accepted relationship. A missing-key SubscribeAndFetch makes the sharing device deliver its current P-224 key over APNs/IDS, inside a sender-verified P-256 NGM envelope. A second SearchParty fetch returns the encrypted report, and the P-224 key opens it locally.
So yeah, in one sentence: authenticate to Apple’s private services, register the Linux machine as an IDS client, receive the existing Find My share key, and use it to fetch and decrypt a consented friend’s latest location.
I wonder if it would be possible to build a proper third-party client for Apple’s Find My network like this, or if it would be trivial for the company to block it. I’m fairly sure quite a few people would love to be able to keep using Find My when moving away from Apple’s operating systems.
If you thought pervert glasses weren’t bad enough, Apple is taking it up a notch by adding cameras to its AirPods.
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate.
In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. “With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later,” says the voiceover text.
AirPods are tiny. I’ve seen people use them at the gym. I’ve seen them on playgrounds. I’ve seen them around swimming pools. People use them at the beach. They’re used at schools. In locker rooms. Tiny cameras in tiny AirPods that can photograph anything in front of the user are a pervert’s wet dream. Abusers are going to love this. Why wear bulky glasses anyone can see and try to demand you take off, when you can wear tiny AirPods that have already been fully normalised in society? Was there not a single woman or parent on the team that made this?
All over the United States, people are destroying Flock surveillance cameras. More and more communities are rising up and demanding these things removed from their streets and neighbourhoods. The awareness of just how pervasive mass government surveillance has become is growing, and Silicon Valley’s complicity is not exactly a secret. And in this climate of rapidly growing concern and anger, Apple is going to add tiny cameras to its tiny AirPods. Was there not a single person of colour or protester on the team that made this?
How detached from reality do you have to be to greenlight something like this? Does anyone – regardless of skin colour, gender, or political leaning – want even more cameras around them?
The Touch Bar arrived in 2016 seemingly already pre-doomed, on a generation of machines that had a “we’ve run out of ideas” smell all around them. The arrow keys were reshaped, the keyboard got a slimming down, and even the beloved MagSafe wasn’t, in fact, safe. All of these changes would prove unpopular and get reverted in time, and the axe would eventually come for the Touch Bar, too.
With an enormous benefit of hindsight, a decade after its arrival, and on the (rumored) eve of fully multitouch MacBooks, I wanted to look critically at the Touch Bar in more detail. I put a spicy title above this post, and while I’m not sure I can answer it in the affirmative, I feel I got surprisingly close to that.
I have never spent this much reading about and pondering a technology seemingly nobody liked and that I never really used. I still think there’s merit to the idea of screen on a keyboard, but only if the screens are integrated into the individual keys (as some products have tried over the years). Of course, this would also be astronomically expensive, delicate, and virtually impossible to repair, so I’m not sure something like that can be reasonably made at an affordable price.
The Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued a warning after being notified of several incidents where a vulnerability in Apple’s Screen Sharing feature was exploited to install Monero cryptominers.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-65400, was patched by Apple on August 6. It is an authentication-bypass flaw in macOS Screen Sharing that can let an attacker on the network connect without valid credentials.
macOS’s built-in Screen Sharing service is a remote-control feature commonly associated with port 5900. Successful exploitation can allow a remote attacker on a reachable network to authenticate to the service without legitimate credentials.
Apple said the bug was fixed through “improved state management,” which suggests an authentication-flow or session-state validation failure rather than a cryptographic break.
The patch was issued for macOS Tahoe 26.6.1, Sequoia 15.7.9, and Sonoma 14.8.9. Practical exposure requires Screen Sharing to be enabled, so the highest-risk systems are those where port 5900 is internet-accessible, typically through a router port-forward, public IP assignment, or hosting-provider setup. Hosts reachable only from an internal network are still potentially exposed, but attackers would have to gain a position on that network.
An attacker could view and control the Mac remotely because that is the function Screen Sharing provides. NCSC says active cases involved attackers gaining root access and installing cryptomining software, specifically for Monero mining.
The criminals likely chose Monero mining because it does not depend on heavily specialized, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), but can be done with any CPU or GPU.
Cryptomining isn’t necessarily the worst an attacker could do. With a root-level compromise an attacker could enable persistence, data theft, credential and key harvesting, deployment of additional malware, and lateral movement.
How to stay safe
Install the update
The best way to protect your Mac is to install the update.
To update macOS on any supported Mac, use the Software Update feature, which Apple designed to work consistently across all recent versions. Here are the steps:
Click the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of your screen.
Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions).
Select General in the sidebar, then click Software Update on the right. On older macOS, just look for Software Update directly.
Your Mac will check for updates automatically. If updates are available, click Update Now (or Upgrade Now for major new versions) and follow the on-screen instructions. Before you upgrade to macOS Tahoe 26, please read these instructions.
Enter your administrator password if prompted, then let your Mac finish the update (it might need to restart during this process).
Make sure your Mac stays plugged in and connected to the internet until the update is done.
Make sure Screen Sharing is disabled
If you can’t update immediately, check whether Screen Sharing is enabled and turn it off if you don’t use it.
Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen.
Select System Settings.
In the left sidebar, click General.
Click Sharing on the right; you may need to scroll down.
Find Screen Sharing:
If the switch is off/grey, it is disabled.
If the switch is on/colored, click it to switch it off.
Also check Remote Management on that same Sharing page. It provides another remote-control route and should be off unless the owner knowingly uses it for work or IT support.
Apple now shows a warning directly on an iPhone’s Lock Screen and in Settings when it believes the device owner has been targeted by mercenary spyware. The new on-device alert is meant to make a high-risk warning harder to overlook and complements notifications by email and through the user’s Apple Account page.
In the explanation, Apple states:
“Apple threat notifications are high-confidence alerts that a user has been individually targeted by a mercenary spyware attack, and should be taken very seriously.”
“Apple Threat Notification Apple detected a mercenary spyware attack targeted at your iPhone. There are actions you can take now to help protect your data and device.”
Apple says its threat notifications are intended for people individually targeted by mercenary spyware attacks, which are highly sophisticated campaigns usually associated with commercial surveillance vendors and their government customers. Apple says it has notified targets in over 150 countries since the launch of the program in 2021, while the latest round of notifications reached people in 110 countries.
Mercenary spyware campaigns are usually not aimed at the average iPhone owner—at least at first. The initial targets are often people selected for who they are, what they know, or the work they do. But it would be a mistake to view this as someone else’s problem.
Attack techniques developed for narrowly targeted operations have a habit of spreading. Exploits can be reused, sold onward, reverse engineered, copied by other surveillance vendors, or adapted by criminal groups. A vulnerability initially valuable because it compromises a small number of carefully chosen devices may become much more dangerous once public disclosure, patch analysis, or exploit sharing makes them available for more widespread campaigns.
How to stay safe
Apple advises users to:
Update your devices to the latest software, which includes the latest security fixes.
Protect your devices with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID.
Use strong and unique passwords, and passkeys where available.
Don’t open links or attachments from unknown senders.
We’d like to add:
Potential targets of mercenary spyware should consider applying Apple’s Lockdown Mode.
Check if an Apple Threat Notification is real. Scammers will undoubtedly try and mimic them. You can verify a notification by signing in to your Apple account. A genuine Threat Notification will always be clearly listed there.
If you receive an Apple Threat Notification, Apple recommends seeking expert help, such as the Digital Security Helpline from Access Now.
Scammers know more about you than you think.
Malwarebytes Mobile Security protects you from phishing, scam texts, malicious sites, and more. With real-time AI-powered Scam Guard built right in.
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act keeps delivering for EU citizens.
Apple is working on a new feature that will support cross-device copy and paste between iOS devices and Windows PCs.
Microsoft asked for the feature using Apple’s EU interoperability request system for developers, which Apple implemented to comply with the Digital Markets Act. Apple began evaluating the request in March, and on June 26, proposed a project plan.
According to Apple, this minor feature is going to cost Apple “significant engineering effort”; I’d estimate it’ll cost them about one to two golden statues.
If you’ve spent any time browsing lately, you may have run into a full-screen popup warning you that your Apple ID or Amazon account was just used for a mysterious $149.99 purchase. It looks urgent. It looks official. And if you look at two examples side by side, it becomes obvious that it’s neither.
Below are two popups pulled from real pages—one dressed up as Apple Support, one as Amazon.
Same con, two costumes
Below, one popup is skinned as Apple Support, the other as Amazon. Swap the logo and color palette and the structure is identical: a warning icon, a claim that a $149.99 purchase was just made “via Pre-Authorization,” and a phone number to call immediately. That phone number is exactly the same in both.
Fake Apple alertFake Amazon alert
That reused phone number is the tell. If you only see one popup, running the number through a lookup tool like Malwarebytes Scam Number Check is usually enough to expose it—a real Apple or Amazon line won’t come back flagged, but a scam number typically does, often tied to complaints about several unrelated companies at once.
Why the copy is built the way it is
Every element in these popups is doing specific psychological work:
A believable, moderate dollar amount. $149.99 is high enough to alarm you, low enough to sound like a real subscription or product charge rather than an obvious lie.
“Pre-Authorization” jargon. This is real payment terminology (used for things like hotel holds or gas station charges), borrowed here to sound technically credible to someone who doesn’t handle payments professionally.
Manufactured urgency. “Call immediately,” “Immediate Action Required,” “no hold times”—all are designed to get you dialing before you stop to verify anything.
Visual authority. Red warning triangles, brand-matching fonts and layouts, and a full-screen modal that blocks the rest of the page all borrow the visual language of legitimate security alerts.
A single, frictionless call to action. One button, one phone number. The popup wants exactly one thing from you: to pick up the phone.
If you do call, the number connects to a live scammer posing as support staff, whose actual goal is to get remote access to your device, walk you through “verifying” your identity in a way that hands over real account or payment info, or push you toward paying a fake fee—often via gift cards or a wire transfer.
How to tell if it’s fake
A few checks work regardless of which brand is being impersonated:
Real companies don’t alert you this way. Apple and Amazon notify you about account activity through email, in-app notifications, or your account’s activity log—never through an unexpected popup while you’re browsing.
No legitimate company tells you to call a phone number to stop a charge. Disputing a charge happens through your bank, your card issuer, or the company’s actual account dashboard—not a hotline dictated by a popup.
Check where the popup is actually served from. These often ride in on malicious ads, compromised sites, or browser redirects—the underlying page may be spoofed or injected, not the real apple.com or amazon.com support page it appears to sit on top of.
A popup you can’t easily close is a red flag on its own. Legitimate sites don’t need to trap you behind a full-screen modal to relay account information.
If in doubt, go direct. Close the tab (force-close via task manager if needed) and navigate to the company’s site yourself, or call the number printed on your card or official account page—never the one in the popup.
Check the number before you dial it. Run it through Malwarebytes Scam Number Check to see if it’s already been flagged as a scam line.
Block it before it loads. A browser extension like Malwarebytes Browser Guard catches both known malicious pages and unknown ones showing scam-like behavior, so these popups often get stopped before they ever render.
Don’t judge a scam by its logo
The brand on screen—Apple, Amazon, or whoever’s next—is the least important part of this scam. What actually matters is the pattern underneath: an unexpected popup, a suspiciously specific dollar amount, urgent language, and a phone number that wants you to call before you think. Once you recognize that pattern, it doesn’t matter which company’s name is stamped on top of it.
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