May 12, 2005: Longtime Apple frenemy Bill Gates tells a German newspaper that Apple may have hit it big with the iPod, but that its success isn’t going to last forever.
The reason? Mobile phones are going to steal the iPod’s market share. The good news for Gates is that he was right on the money. The bad news for Microsoft is that Apple cannibalized itself by making the iPhone. And Apple’s smartphone became even more successful than the iPod.
The iPhone has a one-handed mode for the keyboard and a feature called Reachability for tapping buttons on the top of the screen. Learning how to use both these features can help you shoot out a text or use apps on your phone in one hand while you’re doing something else or walking around with a cup of coffee.
As iPhones continue to get bigger and bigger, these features become ever more important. Here’s how to activate the iPhone’s one-handed keyboard and use Reachability. Keep reading or watch the video.
Apple shined a light on LGBTQ+ communities Monday with its new Pride Collection. It includes a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop plus a matching watch face and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers. In a first, you can customize the watch face and wallpapers by choosing colors.
You can order the new Apple Watch band starting May 22. The watch face and dynamic wallpapers for iOS and iPadOS arrive with an upcoming software update, Apple said.
Apple reportedly plans some big design changes for next year’s iPhone 17 lineup. The changes include a smaller Dynamic Island and a “more complex” aluminum design.
The company might even revamp its lineup with the addition of the iPhone 17 Slim.
Tennis love-triangle movie Challengers looks like a contender so far in theaters, but one co-star is getting panned — the iPhone alarm on the sports drama’s soundtrack. Social media shows viewers and listeners saying they find it “triggering,” among other rants.
Maybe that’s not the sort of product placement Apple would prefer, but hey … all press is good press, right?
You can change the name of your Apple devices, whether you have an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods or Apple TV. By default, it’s just “[your name]’s iPhone.” But you can give your iPhone its own unique name, like Kit-Kat or Magic Rectangle.
Also by default, when you set up a new iPhone, the name is transferred. This can get confusing if you keep old phones around because you’ll see “John’s iPhone,” “John’s iPhone (2),” maybe even “John’s iPhone (3)” and more. The same is true for Apple Watch, Mac, iPad and AirPods.
The name of your device shows up among a bunch of Apple features like AirDrop, Find My, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay and more. If you use these features often, giving it a unique name will make it easier to identify.
Here’s how to fix this mess on all your Apple devices. Keep reading or watch our video.
No, you didn’t deactivate the wake-up alarm in your sleep this morning. Apple is aware of a problem that sometimes causes the iPhone’s Clock app to fail to set off alarms.
A fix is on the way.
Apple reportedly will increase the screen size in the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Two tipsters recently revealed mockups of the 6.9-inch version alongside the smaller models in the iPhone 16 series.
If the rumor of a larger iPhone 16 Pro Max proves true, it’ll be among the more significant changes to the iPhone design in years.
It’s possible to remove an Apple ID from your iPhone without a password using UnlockGo.
You can unlock iCloud Activation Lock without a password or the previous owner, remove a forgotten Screen Time passcode without data loss, bypass MDM locks and more. It’s a really powerful app and it’s available for both Mac and PC.
If you get a second-hand iPhone but find out the seller didn’t fully reset it beforehand, UnlockGo will fix it. Here’s how it works.
If you don’t have your phone on silent, you may as well have a fun, custom iPhone ringtone. After all, custom Home Screens and Lock Screens are all the rage — you can create a ringtone that matches your aesthetic.
Between wearing an Apple Watch and leaving my phone muted, I almost never hear my ringtone, but needs and preferences vary. If you don’t wear an Apple Watch and you carry your phone in a bag or purse, a ringtone is the only way you’ll hear a call coming in.
It’s not super straightforward, but here’s how you can make a custom iPhone ringtone out of an MP3 using just your phone. Keep reading below or watch our video.
If you want a game emulator on iPhone, the Delta app is now available on the App Store to play games for Nintendo DS, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES and N64.
That means you can play classic Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Zelda, Castlevania, and many, many more.
Download it for free on the App Store or from AltStore PAL in the EU. Playing classic Nintendo games on iPhone has never been easier. You don’t need to jailbreak, sideload through a computer or compile the emulator from source code anymore. And it’s legal-ish.
Here’s how to use Delta. Keep reading below or watch our latest video.
The upcoming iPhone 16 series will have no traditional buttons at all, according to information leaking out of the company that will supply the capacitive buttons that will supposedly replace them.
If true, the change would make the iOS devices more durable and waterproof.
Recover and undelete lost photos from an SD card with Stellar Photo Recovery Premium, a versatile tool that can rescue your work from corrupt files and formatting.
The worst nightmare of every content creator is getting back to your Mac, plugging in your SD card, only to find all your work from a photo shoot is missing.
Stellar Photo Recovery can save the heartache. This tool for Mac and PC can restore photos and videos that have been deleted or corrupted from all kinds of storage media and all major cameras.
It’s available from Stellar’s website with a free trial. The Premium version typically costs $69.99, but Cult of Mac readers get an extra $10 discount.
iPhone Stolen Device Protection offers increased safety for your accounts and financial information if someone steals your handset and its passcode.
Here’s how to activate the security feature that debuted in iOS 17.3, and — more importantly — why you should do it now.
The long wait for easy access to AirPlay in hotel rooms is over. Sort of. Apple announced Thursday that a hotel chain is supporting the feature that allows iPhone and iPad users to wirelessly stream content to hotel TVs.
It’s a limited rollout, so travelers are left hoping there’ll be wider adoption.
The 2025 iPhone 17 Plus could sport a smaller screen than previous Plus models. This could make the phone more compact and fit better in Apple’s lineup.
Apple currently uses a 6.7-inch OLED panel on the iPhone 15 Plus. This is the same display size as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, albeit the latter uses a superior 120Hz panel.
iPhone 16 Pro storage will start at 256GB, according to a tipster. That’s twice as much capacity as any previous iOS device.
If true, it’ll help differentiate Apple’s Pro handsets from the standard ones.
Apple wants the process of moving from Android to iPhone to go as smoothly as possible, of course. To make the switch simpler, it created a Move to iOS application.
A recent video from Apple Support explains how to use the Android app.
Customers and independent repair services can include used Apple parts in repairs for the first time beginning in fall 2024 with select iPhones, the company said Thursday.
This-coming fall is when a new parts calibration process will launch. And it includes an Activation Lock to prevent use of parts from lost or stolen devices.
Mercenary spyware is being used to target specific iPhone users in almost 100 countries. Apple reportedly sent warnings to these people on Wednesday.
This is different from general warnings that all computer users need to be careful about malware. The individuals warned Wednesday are being targeted — probably for political reasons.
Everyone knows iPhone is made in China, right? Well, yes and no. A new report indicates that as many as 14% of Apple handsets are actually produced in India.
It’s part of Apple’s plan to diversify where its products are assembled to reduce its dependence on China.
Progress is reportedly going well at Apple’s chipmaker TSMC on development of the 2nm and later 1.4nm processors to power the 2025 through 2027 Mac and iPhone models.
Getting these chips into production is a critical part of keeping Apple at the forefront of technology.
You can scan and open a QR code directly from your iPhone camera or a picture — you don’t have to download a third-party app. Here are the three ways you can open them: inside the camera, using a shortcut in Control Center and directly from your photo library.
If you’re in a restaurant and you want to open their digital menu, or you’re setting up two-factor authentication using a code, you don’t want to fiddle with installing an app. This functionality is built right into your phone.
Keep reading or watch our short video.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After pulling the plug on an ambitious project — creating a self-driving car — Apple sets its sights on making … home robots?!? Say it ain’t so, Tim!
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
A collection of 100 wild-looking smartphone cases inspired by the upcoming solar eclipse is selling out fast. The one-of-a-kind solar eclipse iPhone cases, made by the craftspeople at Carved, will give your handset an out-of-this-world look.
“We’ve been working hard to capture the essence of this coming 2024 eclipse,” the company said Friday on its Facebook page. “In all the excitement we’ve made a very limited run of eclipse designs just for you!”
