You Can Give Siri a New Name With iOS 18’s Vocal Shortcuts Apple in iOS 18 added a Vocal Shortcuts accessibility feature, and now that ‌iOS 18‌ is available in a beta capacity, users have figured out that this option can be used to give Siri a new wake word. With Vocal Shortcuts, you can assign a custom phrase that ‌Siri‌ can understand to launch shortcuts and complete “complex tasks,” and one of the s…

Sonos’ Privacy Policy Change Suggests It Might Sell Your Data Popular audio company Sonos recently updated its U.S. privacy policy to make a small but notable change that seemingly puts customer data at risk. As noted by Louis Rossmann (via The Verge), the new Sonos privacy policy removes a line about not selling customer data. In the 2023 version of its privacy policy, Sonos had this sentence: “We do not…

Apple Explains How iOS 18 Genmoji Work One of the Apple Intelligence features coming in iOS 18 is Genmoji, which will allow iPhone users to use AI to generate all-new emoji characters based on text input. The Genmoji will look similar to emoji, but are custom created, according to an iOS 18 WWDC session focused on Genmoji. Emoji are not images, but are instead pictographs that are e…

iOS 18 Gains Emergency SOS Live Video Support iOS 18 is giving iPhone users who find themselves in an emergency situation a way to provide more information and context to emergency responders with an update to Emergency SOS. Emergency SOS now supports live video, which means once the SOS feature is activated, streaming video and recorded media can be sent to emergency personnel. Emergency …

You Can Select a Preferred Home Hub in iOS 18 The Home app in iOS 18 allows HomeKit users who have more than one device that serves as a home hub to select which one should be used as the preferred hub. It is a small but useful change because it prevents ‌HomeKit‌ from choosing a hub that is further away from most ‌HomeKit‌ products or that has a weaker connection. In iOS 17 and earlier, …

Beats Solo Buds Unboxed, Available to Order Starting Next Week Apple today shared a Beats Solo Buds unboxing video on YouTube, providing a closer look at the wireless earbuds before they launch next week. Priced at $79.99, the Beats Solo Buds feature up to 18 hours of battery life, a USB-C carrying case, and Find My support on both iOS and Android. However, they lack active noise cancellation, and the carr…

Apple Redesigning TestFlight App in iOS 18 Apple plans to overhaul the design of its TestFlight app that is available to developers for beta testing their apps, and the updated design was highlighted in a WWDC session on App Store Connect. TestFlight in iOS 18 features a new invitation experience that will better showcase the app by highlighting key information including app name and ic…

iOS 18 and tvOS 18 Reintroduce SharePlay for Apple Music on HomePods and Apple TV iOS 18 and tvOS 18 reintroduce SharePlay for Apple Music on the HomePod, HomePod mini, and Apple TV. The feature first appeared in the iOS 17.4 and tvOS 17.4 betas earlier this year, but it was removed before those updates were released. This feature allows others to control Apple Music playback on your HomePod or Apple TV with permission, rega…

EU Reportedly Planning to Charge Apple for Violating Digital Markets Act The European Commission plans to charge Apple for violating the Digital Markets Act after determining that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer” users to offers outside of the App Store without fees, according to the Financial Times, which cites three people familiar with the matter. It appears th…

iPhone 14 vs. iPhone 16: 30+ Upgrades to Expect After over a year of reports, there are now more than a dozen specific rumors about the features and improvements set to be offered by the two non-Pro iPhone 16 models later in 2024. While the upgrades that the ‌iPhone 16‌ offers over the iPhone 15 will likely be at the center of Apple’s marketing strategy later this year, many users are on t…

Here’s What’s New in Apple Wallet on iOS 18 for Event Tickets and More iOS 18 includes a handful of enhancements to the Wallet app on the iPhone, with new features for Apple Pay, Apple Cash, event tickets, and more. Below, we outline everything new for the Wallet app on iOS 18, based on information from Apple’s press release and a WWDC 2024 coding session. Redesigned Event Tickets Event tickets have an all-new de…

Japan Passes Law to Allow Third-Party App Stores on the iPhone New legislation in Japan requires Apple to allow third-party app stores and payment providers on the iPhone. The Japanese parliament has passed the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, a law that compels Apple to allow access to third-party app stores and payment providers on devices that run iOS. The legislation, …

The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2024 Now Available on YouTube Update: While the video was briefly available, it has now been set to private due to a minor issue. The Talk Show Live host John Gruber said the video should return in a matter of hours, so bookmark this page and check back later! The Talk Show Live From WWDC 2024 is now available to watch on YouTube. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber discussed App…

First Look at Messages via Satellite in iOS 18 Apple has been gradually expanding its suite of satellite connectivity features for iPhone, and iOS 18 brings a significant new one in the form of Messages via satellite. The feature allows users to send and receive iMessages and SMS texts, including emoji and Tapbacks, while out of range of cellular and Wi-Fi networks. CNET met up with Apple’s…

iOS 18 Enables You to Use Apple Pay With Chrome and More on Desktop Apple this week previewed a new system that will allow iPhone users who update to iOS 18 to use Apple Pay in any desktop web browser, such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and others. The computer running the browser can even be a Windows PC. Any website that implements the latest version of Apple Pay will support this new system. When a customer chec…

iOS 18 Adds These 5 New Features to CarPlay Apple did not mention CarPlay during its WWDC keynote this week, but iOS 18 includes a handful of new features for the in-car software. Overall, there is not a whole lot new for CarPlay on iOS 18, with changes seemingly limited to the Messages and Settings apps so far. Below, we recap everything new for CarPlay on iOS 18. New for CarPlay on iO…

Low Prices Hit Apple’s AirTag and Anker’s Bluetooth Trackers, Alongside Apple Pencil Deals Amazon today has a few discounts across popular Apple accessories, including the AirTag and Apple Pencil. We’re also tracking a few discounts on Eufy’s own Bluetooth tracking accessories, the SmartTrack Link, which are slightly more affordable than the AirTag. AirTag Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you cl…

visionOS 2: Spatial Personas Can Touch Fingers, High Five, Fist Bump Each Other With Visual and Audio Feedback First introduced in April, spatial Personas in Apple Vision Pro are designed to feel as if they are in the same physical space, and to enhance the experience, the lifelike avatars will soon be able to interact directly with each other using some new gestures in visionOS 2. Previewed at WWDC last year, spatial Personas allow Vision Pro users to …

The MacRumors Show: WWDC 2024 Recap From Apple Park On this week’s special episode of The MacRumors Show from Apple Park, we look at all of the major updates coming to Apple’s operating systems later this year and Apple Intelligence. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Monday’s keynote event was insane, and jam-packed with an overwhelming number of AI features that ar…

watchOS 11: Smart Stack Gains Live Activities and Suggested Widgets Introduced in iOS 16, Live Activities changed the way users interact with their iPhone. Instead of getting multiple notifications when tracking a delivery or a sports score, for example, users see a single, dynamically updating Live Activity with real-time information right on their Lock Screen. Starting in watchOS 11, when a Live Activity begi…