David Snow

For millions of Apple Watch owners, the Hypertension Notifications Feature available on recent models is a big leap in wearable health monitoring. It promises to alert users to potential high blood pressure before it leads to serious health problems. But how reliable are the alerts, and what should Apple users realistically expect?

I’ve had measurably high blood pressure for years. I wear Apple Watch 10, one of the models with hypertension alerts. And yet I’ve never seen one up close and personal. Apparently my meds are working!

Apple just gave new subscribers an extended opportunity to try its music streaming service, offering three months of Apple Music completely free. The promotion to get three months of Apple Music free — which runs through February 24 — greatly expands the standard one-month trial period.

The new offer coincides with Apple’s sponsorship of the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show with musical act Bad Bunny.

With the launch of Apple Creator Studio Wednesday, Apple also updated its suite of productivity apps otherwise known as iWork. That’s Keynote, Pages and Numbers, which were always free and are now “freemium.” Some features will only work for Creator Studio subscribers, but others work for anyone using free versions of the productivity apps.

The beloved comedy series Ted Lasso comes back to Apple TV for its fourth season with a premiere set for summer 2026, Apple said Wednesday. It’s not a specific release date, but hey, fans will take it. And it comes with first-look photos, too.

Apple released significant updates to Final Cut Pro alongside the debut of Apple Creator Studio software bundle for creatives Wednesday. And in a new feature story, it showed how video director, dance choreographer and Blackpink collaborator Kyle Hanagami uses new AI-powered tools for video editing.

The first new Sonos hardware product in over a year is the Sonos Amp Multi, a professional-grade multi-channel streaming amplifier designed specifically for large-scale residential audio installations, the company said Tuesday.

“Sonos Amp is the most widely used two-channel streaming amplifier in residential installation because it’s powerful, dependable, and intuitive,” said Tom Conrad, CEO of Sonos. “Amp Multi takes that same philosophy and applies it to larger systems. It makes ambitious designs more efficient to build and install, and easier to live with.”

The announcement marks a significant expansion of Sonos’ product lineup into the custom integration market, targeting professional installers rather than typical consumers. And it’s the first hardware to come out in a while following shakeups at the company.

As the new home of Formula 1 on TV in the United States, Apple TV really wants its users to dig big-time car racing. So it just raised the green flag on a caravan of F1 content for fans to watch before Grand Prix races get underway in March as the start of the 2026 season.

And it’s all free for subscribers.

When Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler gave ChatGPT access to a decade of his Apple Watch data, he expected useful insights. Instead, the AI delivered wildly inconsistent health assessments that left him questioning the readiness of AI-powered health tools.

The new Apple Watch Unity Connection Braided Solo Loop honors Black History Month, coming up in February, while celebrating themes of human connection and community bonds, Apple said Monday.

As a major winter storm barrels across the United States this weekend, iPhone users have once again noticed something peculiar. Well ahead of the actual precipitation, Apple’s Weather app seems to predict wildly different snowfall totals from day to day. It might forecast 18 inches of snow one day, then drop that to 8 inches the next. What’s up with how weather apps mislead users? A new report sheds some light. 

The new Pisen Qi2 8-in-1 140W Mega Charging Hub — just launched on Amazon — offers Apple users a comprehensive desktop charging solution that combines wireless charging for iPhone and Apple Watch with high-power wired charging for MacBooks and iPads, the company said Thursday. 

It features not only a Qi2 MagSafe charging platform for recent iPhones, but a magnetic Apple Watch charger, USB ports and even power outlets for plugs. And you can get it not only in basic black, but in a surprising yellow!

Whether you’re working remotely from a coffee shop, camping with your MacBook or preparing for the next power outage, the Anker Solix C800 X Portable Power Station delivers reliable backup power for all your Apple devices. And it’s currently available as a killer deal with savings of $250.

In a bit of a shocker, Apple Original Film F1: The Movie earned a Best Picture nomination plus three other nods when the 98th Academy Awards nominations came out Thursday. Four out of Apple TV’s six nominations went to the racing drama, while the documentary film Come See Me in the Good Light and the wildfire drama The Lost Bus drew two others.

“With F1, Joe, Jerry, Brad, Lewis and the entire creative team delivered something only they could — the most authentic, visceral and entertaining racing film ever made,” said Jamie Erlicht, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video. “They pushed technical boundaries at every turn, and it’s been a privilege to partner on a project of this ambition. Seeing F1 nominated for Best Picture is a testament to their remarkable artistry, vision and unwavering passion.” 

A major ransomware attack on Luxshare, one of Apple’s most critical manufacturing partners, allegedly exposed over 1TB of confidential data from the iPhone giant and other tech behemoths. Stolen information in the Luxshare data breach includes product designs, engineering documents and employee information spanning from 2019 to 2025, according to a new report.

Apple TV’s critically acclaimed space drama For All Mankind returns for a fifth season on Friday, March 27, the streamer said Wednesday, offering “first look” photos and video. The new season continues the alternative history of the space race launched in 2019.

The 10-episode fifth season will debut globally with a single episode followed by new episodes released weekly every Friday through May 29. 

If you’ve noticed your iPhone storage filling up faster than it used to, you’re not imagining things. Modern iOS apps now routinely consume hundreds of megabytes, with some reaching multiple gigabytes in size. What’s behind this relentless growth? Why do iOS apps take so much space? And what can you do about it? Read on. 

New security research repository Firehound uncovered widespread data leaks affecting millions of iPhone users who downloaded AI-powered apps from the App Store.

If you’ve downloaded AI apps lately, as millions of others have, you might want to check to see if they made Firehound’s list.

Apple dedicated its website homepage to Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, as it has done on his national holiday each year since 2015. This year a free book of the slain Civil Rights movement icon’s essential works and a Time to Walk podcast with King’s daughter, Bernice A. King, are included.

“We honor Dr. King and reflect upon his life and legacy,” Apple said in print alongside a pixellated, constellation-like image of a smiling MLK against a black background filled with stars.

Desk lighting plays a surprisingly transformative role in creating memorable workspaces. Here are seven Mac setups where lighting — whether RGB gaming effects, professional video illumination or ambient mood enhancement — elevates the entire experience.

Setapp Mobile, MacPaw’s ambitious alternative iOS app store for European Union users, will close its doors in February after just over a year of operation, the service said Thursday.

On a support page, MacPaw cited Apple’s “still-evolving and complex business terms that don’t fit Setapp’s current business model” as the reason.

When it comes to keeping your devices powered up, the right charger makes all the difference. Right now, Amazon offers compelling deals on two exceptional Ugreen Nexode 100-watt chargers that serve different but complementary purposes in your charging arsenal. So get both while they’re cheap!

Apple Arcade subscribers will soon get access to one of gaming’s most legendary franchises when Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition arrives on the service February 5, Apple said Wednesday. It’s a first for Apple Arcade, though it joins some other civ- and sim- game options on the App Store.

And other new titles join it at the same time on Apple Arcade: the Retrocade collection of classic arcade games, the whimsical adventure Felicity’s Door and the I Love Hue Too+ puzzle game.

Update: Anker renamed the Soundcore Work AI Voice Recorder reviewed below as Soundcore Work AI Note Taker to more directly reflect the main use of the product, the company said Tuesday. Its listings tend to put it down now as “note taker/voice recorder.” Soundcore also noted the problem I had with Find My functionality should be fixed now on production units. 

Original review: In an ecosystem where seamless integration matters most, the new Soundcore voice recorder and note taker arrives with a compelling proposition for Apple users. As this Soundcore Work AI Note Taker review finds, the coin-sized device promises to transform how iPhone and Mac users capture, transcribe and organize voice recordings.

After examining its features through an Apple-centric lens, here’s what you need to know about whether this $159.99 recorder deserves a spot in your productivity arsenal.

A new Apple Creator Studio subscription bundles six major professional creative apps into a single monthly or yearly plan. The new bundle, announced Tuesday by Apple, includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage, plus premium artificial intelligence features in other Apple apps.

“There’s never been a more flexible and accessible way to get started with such a powerful collection of creative apps for professionals, emerging artists, entrepreneurs, students and educators to do their best work and explore their creative interests from start to finish,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, in a press release.

Not every Apple TV show gets merchandise like T-shirts and hats, but Vince Gilligan’s oddly original sci-fi head-scratcher Pluribus — the most-watched Apple TV show ever — just did. Too bad the merch is on the lame side.

One of the most weirdly refreshing sci-fi dramas in recent history deserves better than what Sony Pictures is peddling.