In iOS 26, you can use Apple Cash in a group chat to make it super-easy to split a bill. You won’t need to chase down everyone separately if you use this incredibly convenient feature.
Here’s how to request money and send payments using Apple Cash from a group chat.
Your iPhone is too trusting of new USB accessories. Plug your handset into the wrong public charger at an airport or coffee shop and it might get hacked. Fortunately, there’s a setting you can (and should) change that prevents your iPhone from falling victim to data theft via juice jacking.
Here’s what to do. And don’t worry … it’s easy. I’ll walk you through it.
If you’re uncomfortable with social media apps tracking your movements, or worried about data falling into the wrong hands, here’s how to stop them using your iPhone’s built-in location settings.
If you find yourself traveling to a country with an authoritarian government, clearing your phone’s location history is a safe bet. Or if you’re moving to a different city or to a new job, it can be annoying seeing travel suggestions to the wrong place. Resetting your location history will start from a clean slate.
These moves may also protect you from shady data brokers, who spy on and sell your movements. Here’s how.
Screening calls on iPhone has finally gotten good. It’s now possible to block and screen all calls from unknown numbers and lead a life of peaceful zen. Apple has added a trio of features to iPhone to screen calls: one aptly named Call Screening, as well as Live Voicemail and Silence Unknown Callers.
Using these features together gives you a great way to stop unknown callers on iPhone. The Call Screening feature pairs very well with Live Voicemail. With both of these turned on, unwanted calls will be far less intrusive, but you will still be able to pick up important calls as they come in.
Here’s how to screen calls and other annoyances without missing any crucial conversations.
Apple released new firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 on Tuesday that offers bug fixes for a major recent firmware upgrade. Version 8A358 merely tweaks the wireless earbuds, but is still worth installing, as it might fix a bug that’s bothered some users.
Apple recently explained exactly how to update your AirPods firmware. The process can happen automatically, in the background, but there is a way to speed things up. It’s a good idea to manually check that you’re running the latest version, which brings bug fixes and sometimes great new features.
Read on for more details, and find all current AirPods firmware versions, along with instructions for getting the AirPods update as quickly as possible.
You can record your screen with audio (and a voiceover) on your iPhone to talk over your video. This functionality is built right into the iPhone. You don’t need to use a Mac or PC, or pay for an app to do it.
This can come in handy for making presentations or projects — and you don’t want to waste an hour or more editing a video yourself. You can also make a recording with your voiceover explaining how something works for helping someone out, testing an app, making a tutorial, recording your reaction to watching a video or more.
Here’s how to record your screen with audio — and add a voiceover — right from your iPhone.
You can have your iPhone read out loud any text on its screen with a useful accessibility feature called Accessibility Reader. Apple designed this feature for people who have trouble reading small text, but you will find it handy even if you don’t — in lots of situations.
For instance, your iPhone can read recipes aloud while your hands are busy cooking. Or you can quickly hear how to pronounce a word you don’t know — that’s what I use Accessibility Reader for most often. You can even hear what you’re typing as you write.
The potential applications for everyday use are incredibly broad. Here’s how to use Accessibility Reader and all of the iPhone’s Read & Speak features.
In several states, Apple’s digital ID initiative enables iPhones and Apple Watch to hold a digital copy of the user’s driver’s license, in the same way these devices store credit cards and airline tickets.
The day when an iPhone can completely take the place of an old-fashioned wallet is still years away, but it’s a goal Apple is working toward. Apple Pay is making progress on replacing credit cards, you can put airline tickets in the Wallet app, and the same goes for loyalty cards.
But no wallet is complete unless it can hold a driver’s license. And that’s where Apple’s digital ID initiative comes in.
Here’s what you need to know to add your driver’s license and ID to your Apple Wallet.
You can scan a QR code directly from your iPhone — you don’t need to download a third-party app to get the information you need. Apple even gives you three ways to do it. You can scan a QR code using your iPhone’s camera, using a shortcut in Control Center, or directly from an image in your Photos library
As QR codes become increasingly prevalent, it’s good to know these methods. If you’re in a restaurant and you want to open the digital menu or join the Wi-Fi network, you don’t want to fiddle with installing a third-party app.
To learn three ways you can scan a QR code using your iPhone, keep reading or watch our short video.
iOS 26 includes an anti-spam feature that can protect you from getting bombarded with text message spam on your iPhone. You just have to activate it.
It’s easy. Here’s what to do to save yourself from the hassle and potential cost of spam texts.
There are a lot of things you can do with old iPhones. In fact, it might be worth keeping them around rather than trading them in. You can use an old iPhone as a DIY HomePod, a games console, a camera, a weather station, a smart display or a digital clock.
Here are the nine things you can do with an old iPhone. Keep reading or watch our video.
The latest iPhones show the devices’ battery cycle count, helping users track the long-term “health” of the battery. Displaying this data is simple, though it’s somewhat hidden.
In addition, you can check when the iPhone 15, 16 or 17 was manufactured and first activated. (Note: This does not work with older iPhones.)
AirPods have a new trick that lets them work as a camera remote. Simply pressing the earbuds’ stem can control your iPhone’s Camera app and snap a picture. This proves helpful when you want to set your iPhone to take a large group photo with you in it.
However, the feature is off by default. You need to activate it. Here’s what to do.
Liquid Glass in iOS 26 brings dramatic change to the look of the iPhone user interface, so it’s no surprise that some people hate it. If it’s just not for you, the option to turn off Liquid Glass exists. And it’s easy.
The same setting is available in macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26, so you can turn off Liquid Glass on all your devices. Here’s how:
The HomePod operating system occasionally needs updating, because the device is a lot more than a simple speaker — it’s a computer. Here’s how to make sure your Apple smart speaker has the software version released Monday. The new HomePod Software version 26 is more than a simple bug-fix update, as it adds crossfade support to Apple Music as well as improvements to AirPlay.
If you depend on automatic updates, it’s possible your smart speaker hasn’t yet installed the update. Here’s how to do so manually.
In iOS 26, the awesome new Spatial Scenes feature lets you convert an ordinary 2D photo to a 3D scene that moves in your hand. It doesn’t have to be a recent picture or one taken with a special camera, either. You can try out Apple’s new 3D effect on any decent photo, even if it’s from 20 years ago.
You can play with Spatial Scenes in the Photos app, converting images and seeing how the effect works. But the best part is that you can set one as your iPhone’s Lock Screen wallpaper, and see it every time you unlock your phone. It even works with the excellent Photo Shuffle feature, so you’ll keep getting new ones to gawk at.
Check out the GIFs below that show how Spatial Scenes work, or watch our hands-on demo video.
iPadOS 26 is the biggest iPad revamp since 2010, bringing new features that make the tablet far more Mac-like. And there are other enhancements too, especially the user interface overhaul dubbed Liquid Glass that Apple’s latest software brings to all of he company’s devices.
Here are the best changes to iPadOS 26 … the ones you’ll use every day. (Many of the new iPadOS 26 features can also be found in the latest iPhone software, so be sure to also read our guide to everything new in iOS 26.)
visionOS 26 is a modest update, but you’ll want to check out the game-changing features it includes. Widgets come to the Vision Pro in a clever way; you can freely arrange them in space or pin them to a wall. Personas are much improved, making your virtual FaceTime calls less creepy. And there are about a dozen other excellent quality-of-life features that’ll draw you back in, like app folders, a Jupiter environment, automatic iPhone unlocking and more.
You may have forgotten about the Vision Pro, but Apple hasn’t. Despite middling sales numbers, Apple is in this for the long haul — with regular software updates, a spec bump update due this year and a whole family of products in the works.
The update is out now; here’s what to expect.
watchOS 26 is a more modest update with one headlining new feature, Workout Buddy — on top of 15 other new tweaks. You might overlook the Apple Watch after the excitement of Liquid Glass on your iPhone and Mac, but your tiniest screen still has some stuff worth checking out.
There are loads of smart new features for those with the latest and greatest. A new wrist flick gesture silences timers and calls. Your volume automatically lowers in quiet rooms. And everyone can appreciate that the Notes app finally makes its way to the watch.
The update is out now; here’s what to expect.
macOS 26 Tahoe is a milestone update with a dramatic new look, new power tools for pro users — and over 45 new features. It’s still recognizably Mac, but with a fresh coat of paint (or, should I say, glass). And there’s plenty to dive into once you get settled.
Spotlight has picked up lots of new features, replacing Launchpad and adding a native clipboard manager. There are loads of great enhancements to group chats in Messages. Other great enhancements are in Safari, Passwords, Maps, Photos, Journal and more. And a few new apps come over from iOS: Phone, Journal, Magnifier and the all-new Games app.
The update is out now; here’s what to expect.
iOS 26 is a major new update that brings the biggest visual redesign in 12 years — on top of more than 70 new features. It’s easy to overlook the new goodies that Apple sprinkled throughout the operating system because the shiny Liquid Glass user interface takes center stage.
But iOS 26 brings loads of great enhancements to Apple’s major apps. Group chats in Messages become much more useful. The Phone app gets a fresh design and plenty of smart new features. Other great enhancements level up Safari, Passwords, Maps, Photos, Journal and other Apple apps. And just like previous years, Apple added an expansive list of useful accessibility features you should check out.
iOS 26 is out now. Here’s where to find the good stuff — keep reading or watch our video.
How can you watch Apple’s iPhone event? You can stream the keynote on YouTube, on the apple.com website or on your smart TV. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, September 9.
At the September event, Apple unveils new iPhones, Apple Watches and other accessories. The iPhone 17 series will be the highlight — with the iPhone 17 Air being a standout new model. Rumors point to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 getting a faster processor, satellite messaging and (possibly) blood pressure monitoring. Some of these features might make it to the Apple Watch Series 11. A couple of other new devices might put in an appearance at Apple’s September event, too. We’ve heard rumors of AirPods Pro 3, an updated Apple TV 4K and AirTag 2.
Here’s how you can watch it all live, whether you’re watching at home or secretly at work.
For the first time in 18 years, Apple redesigned the oft-overlooked Phone app. The overhaul coming soon in iOS 26 simplifies the Phone app’s layout, putting your favorites, call history and voicemails in one tab, and providing easier access to search.
Its fancy Liquid Glass-inspired layout goes hand-in-hand with the Phone app’s excellent call filtering features.
Here’s how you can learn to love the new design — and how to nope out of it if you don’t like it.
In a pinch, you can charge your AirPods with your iPhone. This feature is very convenient if you know how to use it. You can also use your iPhone to charge your Apple Watch, or even another iPhone.
Here’s how to take advantage of this capability.
If you stumble across a webpage or a link in a different language, you can instantly translate the website to English directly from Safari. Unlike Google Chrome, Safari even translates the text inside images using Live Text.
And, if you accidentally change the language of a website to one you don’t speak, you can turn this feature on to help you change it back. At Cult of Mac, we use the feature to translate rumors or blog posts often written in Chinese, Korean or Japanese, like this.
You don’t need to select the words paragraph by paragraph and copy them into Google Translate (or even Apple’s own Translate app). Get the entire page in English at the tap of a button. Here’s how to make the most out of this handy Safari feature.