Graham Bower

Last year, WWDC25 inspired me to rewrite my strength-training app Reps & Sets in Swift so it could take advantage of Apple’s latest frameworks, like Foundation Models and Image Playground. It was a massive undertaking, even with the help of today’s AI-powered coding tools.

When I introduced the new version of Reps & Sets on Cult of Mac in January, it was fairly basic. The polite term is “minimum viable product.” All the core features were there, along with a slick Liquid Glass interface and iPad support. But there wasn’t much beyond that.

Many of my users are Cult of Mac readers, and you’ve had no shortage of ideas for improving the app. I’m a solo indie developer. So, over the last five months, in my spare time, I’ve been steadily implementing your ideas. Reps & Sets now includes Apple Intelligence workout summaries, Live Activities, custom exercise photography, a fully standalone Apple Watch app and much more. And it’s still completely free.

Is it weird that I just bought an Apple Vision Pro when everyone says the platform is dead? Maybe. But I have zero regrets.

I’ve always supported the underdog. I guess that’s why I became an Apple fan in the first place. Back in the ’90s, using a Mac really did feel like being part of a “cult.” We believed in the platform when no one else did. And so it is with Vision Pro. It’s actually nice to see Apple as the underdog again, because that’s how Cupertino does its best work.

Everyone knows Apple Watch is an excellent health and fitness companion. But did you know it’s also handy for taking selfies? That’s thanks to Apple Watch’s best-kept secret: the Camera Remote app.

This indispensable Apple Watch app lets you use your iPhone’s best camera to take selfies. Using the app will elevate your selfie game, enabling you to take more flattering shots — with better compositions, more interesting poses and much, much more.

I use it all the time to take photos for Cult of Mac, and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. So here’s my definitive guide to taking better selfies with Apple Watch.

A year ago, I had no clue how to write an iPhone app. Now I’ve shipped a fully-fledged strength training app, built with AI coding tools, or “vibe coding” as it’s become known.

A lot of people get vibe coding wrong. They think it’s just for prototypes and messing around. It’s not. Used properly, it’s a skill you can learn and master. And with modern AI tools like Cursor, and the new Coding Assistant in Xcode, it’s now more accessible than ever.

So, if you’re curious about vibe coding and keen to give it a go, here are ten lessons I learned the hard way.

Reps & Sets 26 is a brand-new strength training app designed exclusively for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. It was developed by a long-time Cult of Mac contributor: me, Graham Bower.

Reps & Sets 26 isn’t just another generic cross-platform fitness app. I made it Apple-exclusive, to take full advantage of the latest OS 26 technologies like CloudKit, SwiftUI and HealthKit, to deliver a truly native experience. And right now, it’s a free download. Perfect timing for your New Year’s resolutions. Get Reps & Sets 26 now, and get ripped in 2026.

Apple Watch Series 11 finally brings long-rumored hypertension notifications, along with other new features that make it a great incremental upgrade. Chief among them are 24-hour battery life, speedier 5G connectivity for cellular models, and a more scratch-resistant screen.

“Today, we’re making the best watch in the world even better,” said Stan Ng, Apple’s VP of Apple Watch and health marketing, as he introduced Apple Watch Series 11 during Tuesday’s Awe Dropping product launch. “It’s our thinnest and most comfortable watch, and it’s even more durable.”

The new features look promising, but those hoping for a redesign will be disappointed. Series 11 rocks the same curves as its predecessors.

Apple took the wraps off watchOS 26 on Monday, showcasing its new Liquid Glass design and other key new features. The Workout app gets the biggest makeover, featuring a new Workout Buddy that delivers personalised attaboy messages when you need a little extra mojo.

Other apps get improvements in watchOS 26, too, and a long-missing app finally makes an appearance.

There’s less than a week to go until WWDC, the annual developer fest where Apple takes the wraps off its latest OS releases. While the rumor mill has mostly focused on iPhone this year, there’s plenty for Apple Watch fans to look forward to.

Rumor has it that the next big watch update — possibly dubbed “watchOS 26,” in line with Apple’s rumored naming convention shakeup — will get a fresh new user interface, Apple Intelligence, conversation transcriptions and a smart AI coach that delivers tailored health and fitness advice.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and take a closer look at what’s in store for Apple Watch.

Closing your three Apple Watch Activity rings can become such an obsession that it’s easy to forget why you’re doing it. But what does it really mean to close an Apple Watch ring? The Stand ring seems obvious. We all know we shouldn’t sit around on our asses all day. But how about the Move and Exercise rings, which sound so similar?

Actually, no. The Apple Watch’s Move and Exercise rings are very different, and understanding that difference is massively important if you want to achieve your fitness goals.

Wanna know how your favorite tech news website became a thing? Then check out the latest episode of the Apple Core podcast, featuring an interview with Cult of Mac founder Leander Kahney.

In his 30-year career, Leander has covered many pivotal moments in Apple history. Like Steve Jobs’ return in 1997 and his legendary iPhone launch keynote 10 years later.

Leander literally wrote the book on Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Jony Ive, and he shares loads of fascinating insights in this unmissable one-hour interview.

The all-new Apple Watch Series 10 is the slimmest Apple Watch yet. With a bigger screen, longer battery life, improved water resistance, and a titanium finish upgrade, it’s now a serious alternative to Apple Watch Ultra. But despite all these sporty new features, Apple Watch Series 10 looks more refined than ever, with an elegant new polished aluminum look. 

“It’s the thinnest Apple Watch ever, with our largest and most advanced display in a sleek, lightweight, all-metal case that comes in gorgeous new finishes of aluminum and polished titanium,” said Apple COO Jeff Williams during Monday’s taped “It’s Glowtime” event. “The design of Series 10 is truly a milestone of watchmaking.”

A new Apple history podcast from two Cult of Mac contributors launched this month. In each episode of Apple Core, hosts Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel explore the history of a different Apple product, focusing on what we can learn from Apple’s past, and what this tells us about the company’s future plans.

Some upcoming guests will be familiar to Cult of Mac readers, including Leander Kahney and CultCast host Griffin Jones.

watchOS 11 will monitor your Training Load, enable you to pause your Activity Rings when you’re sick, and track your pregnancy, Apple said Monday. These features, together with a new Vitals app, represent another major step forward for Apple’s health and fitness wearable.

Your Apple Watch face gets some love, too, with improvements to the photo face and widget stack.

2024 looks like a big year for Apple Watch. The world’s most popular wearable could get the biggest redesign in its 10-year history in the form of a device potentially called “Apple Watch Series X” or simply “Apple Watch X.”

That’s excellent news, because 2023 was not a great year for Apple Watch. Sure, we got a fresh new look with watchOS 10. But on the hardware side, the updates to Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 seem pretty minor. And then there’s the looming U.S. ban on Apple Watch imports and exports due to a patent dispute.

So, what should we expect from the Apple Watch 2024 lineup?

watchOS 10 will introduce widgets and bring a new look for many built-in Apple Watch apps. But the biggest changes come to the Workout app, which adds features that serious cyclists have been demanding for years, including support for third-party Bluetooth power and cadence meters.

The big and rugged Apple Watch Ultra is a very different beast than the “normal” Apple smartwatches that came before it. With so many new features, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it.

But over the past couple of weeks, I have discovered nine fascinating factoids that most reviewers haven’t picked up on yet. So to celebrate Ultra’s launch day, I’m sharing them with you now.

Apple took the wraps off Apple Watch Ultra — describing the sports-oriented smartwatch as the most rugged and capable Apple Watch yet — during Wednesday’s Far Out event. Big, bulky and beautiful, it delivered on everything the rumor mill predicted and more.

Apple Watch Ultra is huge, with a bulky exterior, chunky buttons and a massive display. It boasts a tougher case, designed to withstand knocks from extreme sports, and a battery that can last the distance for endurance races. It features a new Depth Gauge app for scuba and free divers, improved GPS for running and cycling, a redesigned compass app for exploring, and even an 86-decibel siren to let people know if you get lost. Like the new Apple Watch Series 8 models, the Ultra comes with a temperature sensor.

Retailing at $799, Apple Watch Ultra is the Apple Watch that hardcore fitness fans have long been craving. But will its quirky, uncompromising looks catch on with mainstream audiences? Or is the Ultra destined to occupy a niche in the lineup?

When Apple Watch got a larger screen last year with the Series 7 update, most commentators just yawned. Apparently screen size isn’t everything. It’s what you do with your watch that counts.

So I was surprised to read recent rumors of an Apple Watch Pro with an even bigger screen. Supposedly, this larger model, with its tougher titanium case, will be ideal for extreme sports. But does a bigger screen really help when you’re bungee jumping? And could titanium ever be rugged enough to withstand whitewater rafting?

Something about all this doesn’t add up. Instead, I suspect Cupertino will position the Apple Watch Pro model as a wearable for endurance sports. A bigger watch means a bigger battery. And in endurance sports, you really need that extra juice.

Apple’s next big thing might not be a car or an AR headset. Thanks to a rule change announced this week by the Food and Drug Administration, Cupertino could soon add hearing aids to its product lineup. The potential market is huge, and Apple stands uniquely positioned to disrupt the status quo.

The new rules allow companies like Apple to sell hearing aids over the counter and online, so buyers can set them up in the comfort of their own homes. Previously, if you wanted to buy hearing aids, your only option was to make an appointment for a hearing test and fitting at a specialist store.

This small change looks set to have a big impact. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf told CNN he expects the ruling “will unleash the power of American industry to improve the technology.” And there’s one company in particular that has all the know-how to do just that — Apple.

In a recent report, Apple outlined the “rigorous scientific validation processes” used to develop the health and fitness features baked into its products.

Wearables like Apple Watch monitor our bodies around the clock, providing health insights in real time. That’s a new and unprecedented development in medical technology. The benefits are already clear, as the report illustrates, with anecdotes about how Apple Watch has saved lives.

But anecdotal evidence is not the same as scientific research. By cherry-picking the best outcomes, anecdotes risk overlooking the bigger picture. Scientists must look at all the outcomes, not just the good ones. With that in mind, I took a closer look at the scientific studies cited in Apple’s report, to find out what they tell us about the impact Apple Watch is having on our health.

Imagine if Apple sold AirPods for $5,000, and they were so buggy they kept disconnecting from your iPhone. Sounds crazy, right? But that’s the reality faced by me and millions of other hearing aid users today.

Apple offers a solution for hearing aids called Made for iPhone (MFi). This enables third-party hearing aids to work like regular AirPods. In hardware terms, there’s not much difference between them anyway these days. But while AirPods will set you back just $129, MFi hearing aids cost 30 times more, and they’re far less reliable.

So, why did I just buy a pair? It’s complicated.

The iPhone Health app’s Cycle Tracking feature provides a simple solution for logging menstrual cycles. If you menstruate, it’s an effective way to monitor your overall health and estimate when you’re most likely to get pregnant.

Given the personal nature of Cycle Tracking data, you need to be sure that it’s stored securely, away from prying eyes. The good news is, Apple’s security for health and fitness data is very robust. There are just a few things you need to know to ensure your data is safe.

Rumors of an Apple Watch Explorer Edition started last year, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was working on ruggedized smartwatch designed specifically for athletes. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, from TF International Securities, added fuel to the fire last December, claiming that an “extreme sports version” could debut in 2022.

This month at WWDC, Apple’s focus on new fitness features for watchOS 9 lent further credence to these rumors. As a fitness-fanatic myself, all this hype has got me pretty excited. It inspired me to create these Photoshop mockups, exclusively for Cult of Mac, to explore exactly what the Explorer Edition might look like.

When Apple TV 4K launched last year, it had fans salivating. But not for the sharper picture or faster processor. It was the new Siri Remote that caught everyone’s eye. Had Cupertino finally made a TV remote control that didn’t suck?

With its iPod-style scroll wheel, the second-generation Siri Remote promised to make scrolling through content effortless. In reality, the scroll wheel turned out to be hard to use, and lacked support from third-party apps like YouTube.

But don’t throw your remote at the TV just yet. When you get the hang of its quirks, the Siri Remote scroll wheel works surprisingly well. And you can use it with loads of essential apps, including Netflix, HBO Max and, of course, Apple TV+.

Apple revealed what it has up its sleeve for Apple Watch during its WWDC22 keynote Monday. watchOS 9 includes some fun new watch faces and various other minor additions. But the Workout app really stole the show with a host of welcome new features.

Apple is taking on fitness specialists like Garmin with prosumer experiences such as Heart Rate Zone training, Running Form Metrics, Custom Workouts and Kickboard Detection for swimmers. Could this newfound interest in elite fitness suggest a rugged Explorer Edition Apple Watch will debut in the fall?