The iPhone is the world’s most popular smartphone.
The iPhone is Apple’s smartphone. Launched in 2007, it is Apple’s best-selling product, representing around half of the company’s revenue for more than a decade.
The slim device’s innovative touchscreen interface revolutionized the way users interact with smartphones. Apple continually updates the iPhone, releasing new models with new features every year.
The iPhone runs on a proprietary operating system known as iOS, which shares many features with iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and visionOS. iOS 26 is the current version.
In 2025, the iPhone lineup currently includes five models — the budget iPhone 16e, the regular iPhone 17, the iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Apple announces most models every year in early September, while replacements for the 16e are expected around February. Apple also continues to offer older models for sale at a reduced price after they’ve been replaced.
Table of contents: Everything you need to know about the iPhone
It was the first smartphone with an all-screen design, capacitive touchscreen and advanced modern software with full web browsing capabilities. Phones before the iPhone came with physical keyboards, required you to click around with arrow keys for navigation instead of tapping the screen, and ran limited proprietary software.
The iPhone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen display and powerful software (based on Mac OS X) set it apart from the competition. These two technologies enabled all kinds of innovation in the interface that we still use today: the Home screen of apps, inertial scrolling, slide to unlock, pinch to zoom and a software keyboard.
The original iPhone lacked many major features, though. There were no third-party apps or App Store, because the software was still being developed. That would not arrive until the following year. The camera didn’t take video, only very low-resolution pictures. Cellphone cameras in 2007 were not expected to be good. There was no copy and paste feature — the design team hadn’t figured out a good interface for it yet. iMessage wouldn’t launch for another few years — the iPhone only supported SMS/MMS texting.
iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS
The iPhone 3G was a big step forward.
The iPhone 3G in 2008 brought a much improved wireless connection. The original was limited to the 2G Edge network, with typical download speeds a measly 0.1 Mb/s. Without Wi-Fi, downloading emails or browsing the web was nigh unusably slow. The 3G radio significantly helped.
It also added GPS, offering precise location tracking in Google Maps.
The iPhone 3G switched out the two-tone design for a plastic shell, in either black or white. The headphone jack was no longer recessed, allowing for more kinds of headphones to be plugged in.
The iPhone 3GS in 2009 was the first model to get a faster processor, making it twice as fast. It also had a higher resolution 3 MP camera capable of recording video.
iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 had a timeless and beautiful design.
The iPhone 4 in 2010 was a huge leap forward when it debuted in 2010. Its design, with glass on the front and back sandwiched around a silver stainless steel band, is one of the most iconic. It still feels very premium and nice in the hand to this day.
The Retina display doubled the resolution of the screen, so text is easier to read and images and video look crisper and higher-resolution. It maintained the same 3.5-inch size, but with pixels doubled from 480 × 320 to 960 × 640 resolution. Apple rolled out Retina displays across the rest of its product lineup, onto the iPad in 2011, the MacBook Pro in 2012 and the iMac in 2014.
It introduced the first front-facing “selfie” camera on an iPhone, and brought with it FaceTime video calling. (Although, at first, you could only FaceTime other people who had an iPhone 4.)
This iPhone is famous for leaking before its official introduction. A prototype iPhone 4 was accidentally left in a bar by an Apple engineer. It ended up in the hands of Gizmodo, which bought it for $5,000 and published all kinds of details about its design and features.
In the United States, the iPhone 4 was the first model to be offered on Verizon, ending its exclusivity with AT&T. Interestingly, the Verizon iPhone 4 had a different physical design, with antennas repositioned around the outside. This design would be used on the iPhone 4s.
Those antenna lines on the outside were famous for causing the iPhone to lose some of its signal strength if they were covered up by your hand. Steve Jobs was called back home from his Hawaii vacation in order to hold a press conference addressing the issue. In the end, Apple offered customers a free bumper case that would cover up the lines, and future models were designed with the antenna lines in different spots that are harder to cover up.
The iPhone 4s introduced us to Siri, clad in gray linen.
The iPhone 4s in 2011 was a significant internal upgrade. It again had a significantly faster chip inside, the A5. It was the first iPhone to get 4G LTE connectivity. The rear camera was also now capable of recording 1080p video, with some image stabilization.
The iPhone 4s was most famous for introducing Siri. The first generation voice assistant, then in beta, could set timers, read and send texts, play music from your library, perform math calculations via Wolfram Alpha, give information on movies and actors from Wikipedia, and more. (Not much has changed on that front.)
It was also the first iPhone not to be introduced by Steve Jobs. The keynote was hosted by CEO Tim Cook; the iPhone 4s was introduced by Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall. The iPhone 4s was announced on September 4, 2011; Jobs died the following day.
From this point onwards, new iPhones were introduced in September, with few exceptions.
iPhone 5
The iPhone 5 and 5s raised the size of the screen for the first time.
The iPhone 5 in 2012 was the first model to come with a bigger screen, raising it from 3.5 inches to 4. It increased the height of the display without changing the width, making it a standard 16:9 aspect ratio. Apple marketing claimed that the new display was still easy to use with one hand, as one thumb could easily reach over to the opposite edge or up to the very top. The taller screen allowed for an extra row of icons on the Home Screen, or an extra email to display in your inbox.
The iPhone 5 came in a very dark black finish, that had a tendency to chip away as it aged.
iPhone 5s and 5c
The iPhone 5s in 2013 brought two major innovations.
Touch ID let you authenticate your iPhone using a fingerprint sensor built into its Home Button. With one simple click of the button, you could wake up your iPhone and instantly unlock it. Prior to Touch ID, many people didn’t set up their phone with a passcode. This significantly increased the security of iPhone users everywhere.
The A7 chip inside the iPhone 5s was also the first 64-bit chip in a smartphone. This gave the iPhone 5s a much longer lease on life than previous models. The iPhone 5s launched with iOS 7, but can be updated to iOS 12.5.7 — that’s five major updates. Previous models had only received three or four.
It also came in three colors: Silver, Space Gray and a new Gold.
The iPhone 5c was Apple’s most colorful iPhone yet.
After the debut of the iPhone 5s, instead of continuing the sale of the iPhone 5 at a lower cost, Apple replaced it with the iPhone 5c. It was essentially an iPhone 5, but with a colorful plastic shell instead of the similar-looking metal body.
iPhone 6, 6 Plus and 6s
The iPhone 6 had a more simple design that stayed for many years.
The iPhone 6 was the first iPhone to have a protruding camera. While this change was wildly controversial at the time, it now seems quaint. Its single lens looks like a tiny blemish on the back compared to today’s iPhones, with gigantic multi-camera arrays.
It also adopted a more basic design, with a rounded aluminum body, that would stay for many years.
The iPhone 6s in 2015 was a large internal upgrade. The A9 chip significantly boosted performance by 70%. A second-generation Touch ID sensor was much faster. The display introduced 3D Touch — a pressure-sensitive layer that added an extra dimension to interaction. In addition to a tap, you could press. This would let you preview an email without opening it, or you could press the edge of the screen to quickly switch apps. The camera also introduced Live Photos for the first time.
iPhone 7 and 8
The iPhone 7 came in a brilliant Jet Black finish.
The iPhone 7 in 2016 brought with it a haptic Home Button. The button no longer physically clicked, but instead used a precisely controlled motor to simulate a button click. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone to introduce a dual-lens camera system, offering a telephoto optical 2× zoom. Portrait Mode combined the image from both lenses to simulate a shallow depth of field effect, also known as ‘bokeh.’
It also came in a special Jet Black color, with a highly polished black aluminum finish.
The all-screen design abandoned the Home Button that had been present since the very beginning, along with the chunky bezels on the top and bottom. The screen reached all the way to the edge, allowing for a significantly larger screen in a phone was largely the same physical size.
Shrinking the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, speaker and camera — along with the new Face ID sensors — led to a large notch in the top of the screen. The iPhone 13 Pro would reposition the speaker even higher, allowing the notch to shrink; the iPhone 14 Pro would replace the notch with the Dynamic Island.
The A11 chip inside the iPhone X was the first to include a Neural Engine, for better performance with machine learning-based tasks and features. The Neural Engine would later become an integral part of Apple silicon, powering Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15 Pro and later.
iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, 11 and 11 Pro
The iPhone XS marked the return of gold.
The iPhone XS debuted on September 12, 2018. The A12 chip inside was a monumental leap forward, with a 50% faster GPU and 8× faster Neural Engine. The modern all-screen design now came in two sizes — the iPhone XS Max was the same phone, in a much larger 6.5-inch size.
The iPhone XR debuted at the same event, as a lower-cost model with a similar design. It featured a lower-resolution LCD display rather than an OLED panel, with a screen size squarely in the middle at 6.1 inches.
The iPhone 11 lineup replaced all three models on September 10, 2019. Last year’s iPhone XR was revised to become the iPhone 11, with a much-upgraded camera. The iPhone XS and XS Max became the new iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max, featuring much brighter displays, a new triple-camera layout and far greater battery life.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineup
The iPhone 12 was the first with 5G.
Three became four with the new iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, featuring a fresh redesign with flat edges all around. These models were the first iPhones with 5G connectivity, and introduced the MagSafe line of chargers and accessories. The entry-level models were finally bumped from an LCD display to OLED, like the Pro models.
The quadruplets carried over the following year as well, with the iPhone 13 lineup. The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max now featured always-on displays, letting you keep an eye on your notifications and the time while your phone is locked.
iPhone 14, iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 lineup
The iPhone 15 and 16 Pro (pictured) switched from polished stainless steel to a matte titanium frame.
The iPhone 14 lineup dropped the mini. It now consisted of the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPhone 14 Plus — a budget phone with the same screen size as the Pro Max. The iPhone 14 introduced Emergency SOS via Satellite, for contacting emergency services in remote locations. On the pro models, the notch was replaced by a new Dynamic Island — a floating black cutout in the display, that can show background tasks like timers and navigation up in the status area. The main rear camera could take 48 MP photos for the first time.
The iPhone 15 lineup switched all models away from Lightning to the industry-standard USB-C connector. The lower-end models now featured the Dynamic Island. On the iPhone 15 Pro, the traditional ring/mute switch was replaced by a customizable Action button. The pro models support Apple Intelligence.
The iPhone 16 lineup introduced a new Camera Control button for quickly opening and operating the camera. It is also pressure-sensitive for detecting half-presses and touch-sensitive for swiping along the surface. The lower-end models also received the Action button. All models support Apple Intelligence. The Pro models can now seamlessly shoot 4K 120 fps video.
An addition to the 16 lineup was released the following February, the iPhone 16e. This replaced the aging SE model. It modernizes the budget model with an edge-to-edge screen, Face ID and a single 48 MP rear camera. Reviews praised its lightweight and gorgeous design, though it was criticized for lacking MagSafe — a standard feature since 2020.
iPhone 17 lineup
The iPhone Air is shakes up the lineup.
Apple changed things up in 2025 once again. The Plus model was discontinued in favor of an all-new model, the iPhone Air. Thin is in like it’s 2014 again. It made sacrifices on speakers, rear cameras and battery life for the sake of being just 5.6 mm thin through its body — although the camera and plateau protrude a little farther. Reviews were glowing about its stunning design.
All 17 models received a much-needed update to the selfie camera, with a square sensor that can take both vertical and horizontal selfies, no matter how you hold the phone. The Pro models were updated with a 48 MP sensor in the telephoto lens, allowing for smooth zooming between 4–8× levels at full quality. All models were also bumped up to 256 GB of storage.
iPhone Features
iPhone camera
The camera dominates the back of the iPhone.
The camera is one of the iPhone’s most prominent features, with a large multi-camera system dominating the back of the phone on the pro models. Here’s a quick guide to the features of the iPhone’s camera:
Portrait mode will artificially blur the background, like a DSLR camera. This works best if there’s a lot of clear separation between your subject and the background. I also recommend using this feature outside during the day, or indoors with a lot of even light, for the best results. You can also pick a few color effects; the zoom control is moved to the corner.
If your phone has multiple lenses, you can tap .5, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to switch between them. You can also pinch to freely zoom in and out. Tap the Reverse button in the bottom right to switch to the front-facing camera.
Pano will take a panorama. Hold your phone steady (or put it on a tripod) and tap the button to start. Slowly and steadily spin your phone around in a circle to capture your surroundings.
Video modes
Swipe right or tap Video to record instead. In the upper right corner, you can tap to change the video resolution or frame rate. As you’re recording, hit the white button to take a picture.
Tap the icon of a person running to turn on Action mode. This will stabilize the video if you’re filming handheld with a lot of motion. This feature requires an iPhone 14 or newer.
Cinematic mode is like Portrait mode for video. It’ll intelligently determine the focus of the shot and blur the background. You can even adjust the focus after the video’s been taken. This is available on the iPhone 13 or newer.
Slo-Mo will record video at a much higher frame rate, played back in slow motion. In the upper right corner, you can set the speed. 120 is 4 times slower; 240 is eight times slower.
Time-Lapse is the opposite; it’ll speed up your video. Set your phone steady on a ledge, shelf or tripod and start recording. However long you record for, it’ll shorten the result to about twenty seconds or so.
Camera Control
The Camera Control button on iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro gives you instant access to your camera AND camera settings.
The Camera Control is a new button on the side of the iPhone 16 lineup. It makes opening the camera and taking a picture faster than ever before:
Click the button to open the Camera app.
Click the button again to take a picture.
Hold the button down to take a video.
It also has some advanced functionality, for operating the camera, that you can enable in Settings:
Half-click the button to bring up a control slider to zoom in and out. Swipe your finger along the button to control the zoom level.
Double-half-click the button to switch between other camera controls.
Half-click and hold the button down to lock the focus and exposure.
Dynamic Island
The Dynamic Island morphs into different sorts of interactive widgets at the top of the screen.
The Dynamic Island is a status area at the top of the screen on the iPhone 15, iPhone 14 Pro and later models. Music or podcasts playing in the background, active phone calls, running timers, Apple Maps navigation and more will add little widgets to the Dynamic Island so you can quickly switch back to them.
Tap on an item to switch to that app.
Tap and hold on it to bring up quick interactive controls.
iPhone screen
Modern iPhones have an OLED screen, where each pixel can be individually lit. That means you get true, deep blacks and higher contrast. iPhone screens can also show HDR (High Dynamic Range) content. This brightens parts of the image for more vibrant colors.
Newer iPhones can hit a maximum typical brightness of 1,000 nits, considered bright enough to be legible outdoors, with a higher peak brightness for HDR content. The iPhone 15 and newer models can reach up to 2,000 nits outdoors, making them ideal for those bright sunny days.
The iPhone 13 Pro, later pro models and the iPhone 17 have a ProMotion display. Whereas a typical display refreshes at 60 Hz, a ProMotion display can refresh up to 120 Hz for smoother animations. It can also match the refresh rate of the content onscreen, if you’re watching a 30 FPS video or a 24 FPS movie. When nothing is moving on the screen, it can drop down to 10 FPS for preserving battery life.
The iPhone 14 Pro, subsequent pro phones and the iPhone 17 come with an always-on screen. When the phone isn’t being used, it dims the brightness of your Lock Screen, while keeping your notifications and wallpaper visible. Apple says the always-on screen only takes approximately 1% of battery life per hour.
StandBy
It turns your phone into a little smart display when you’re not using it.
StandBy is a special mode you can put your phone in while it’s sitting on your desk, nightstand or counter. To enter StandBy, your phone has to be charging and held horizontally. This works great if you have a MagSafe charging stand, but also works if your phone is plugged in and propped up.
In StandBy mode, your phone can show you the time, rotate through photos, or show a variety of widgets.
StandBy was introduced in iOS 17 on models with MagSafe.
iPhone storage
Every iPhone, just like a computer, has internal storage for saving photos, apps, messages and more. The latest iPhones come with 256 GB of storage on the base model, but can be ordered in higher capacities of 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB.
iPhone Photos
The new Photos library in iOS 18 has a floating toolbar at the bottom.
Apple Photos is the photo management app on your iPhone. Images you take on the camera, or save from the web, are added to your photo library here.
The Photos app is divided into two sections.
When you launch the app, you can scroll up to browse through your library. Tap the Sort & Filter button in the bottom left to view pictures sorted by date added instead of date taken, or to show screenshots in with the rest of your photos.
Scroll down to browse through collections and albums. You’ll see your albums, named people and pets, pinned collections, intelligently chosen collections of trips and memories and different media types and utilities. You can customize the order of these items by tapping Customize & Reorder at the bottom.
You can assign names to the people and pets in your photo library to make them easier to find. You can tap the Search button at the top to find images based on the name of the people, the location, the date and even objects inside the photo.
Photos automatically sync every night to iCloud when your iPhone is charging and connected to Wi-Fi. New photos and edits will sync across all your devices.
You can create a shared photo library with those close to you. You can each continue to have photos private to yourselves, but photos you take together can be added to the shared library automatically.
iMessage on iPhone
iMessage is a special feature that kicks in when you’re texting another person with an iPhone. Instead of texting by SMS (or RCS) using your cell carrier, it’ll send your text over iMessage.
iMessage allows for higher-quality photos and videos, text formatting, larger file attachments, stickers, SharePlay and built-in apps and games.
You can use iMessage from any iPhone, but also on a Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.
iPhone Backup
You can sync huge amounts of data to the web with iCloud.
iCloud can seamlessly back up your iPhone every night when it’s charging and connected to Wi-Fi. This means that if you ever lose or upgrade your device, you can pick up exactly where you left off.
Turn it on in Settings, tap on your name at the top, tap iCloud and tap iCloud Backup. Make sure you enable Back Up This iPhone.
Find My iPhone
Find My lets you find a lost device. Whether it was misplaced around the house, left at a friend’s place or stolen, Find My will help you get it back.
You can launch the Find My app from any of your other Apple devices, like an iPad, Mac or Apple Watch. You can also use Find My from a Windows PC or Android device via icloud.com.
iPhone Accessories
MagSafe
MagSafe is the name for accessories, cases, stands, chargers, wallets and more that attach to your iPhone magnetically. The feature was introduced on the iPhone 12 and is compatible with all subsequent models (except the iPhone 16e).
MagSafe chargers
A MagSafe charger can charge at speeds up to 25W on the iPhone 16 and later. Most officially certified MagSafe devices charge at 15W, while other third-party “MagSafe-compatible” devices only charge at 7.5W.
MagSafe chargers typically either snap onto the back of your phone with wired cables or attach your phone to solid charging stands. You can also find MagSafe battery packs, if you want to top up your battery without dealing with a messy cable in your pocket. MagSafe car chargers let you quickly prop up your phone with navigation, while charging it up as well.
A thicker case will prevent your iPhone from connecting to MagSafe, as the magnets will not be able to make a strong connection. But a MagSafe case will include the same pattern of magnets built in, so that you can keep using the same accessories.
MagSafe wallets
If you want to carry around a small handful of cards, you can carry them in a magnetically attaching MagSafe wallet.
You'll need to turn on Developer Mode to put your own apps on your iPhone. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Developer Mode lets you run unsigned code on your iPhone or iPad. Enable it, and you can download and run apps that are not from the App Store (or alternative app marketplaces) or in TestFlight, Apple’s tool that lets developers invite users to beta-test new apps.
If you want to write your own apps in Xcode, you will need to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad before running your app.
Developer Mode is also essential if you want to sideload apps onto your device from a Mac, using an app like Sideloadly. This could include apps that aren’t allowed on the App Store (such as porn app Hot Tub) or apps that are no longer available from their original developers, like Apollo (the now-shuttered Reddit client). For sideloading to work, you will need to turn on Developer Mode.
Read on to see how to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad, as well as the potential security implications.
Do you want a flip iPhone? AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Before Apple even launches its first folding iPhone, the company is reportedly exploring a follow-up model with a clamshell-like form factor, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr.
There’s no guarantee that Apple will launch such a model. But for now, it’s at least under consideration.
Apple's shocking numbers start with $143.8 billion in gross revenue. AI image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
“I am proud to say that we just had a quarter for the record books,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during Thursday’s earnings call, before rattling off numbers that surprised Wall Street analysts — in a good way.
The highly successful quarter was also one for the stat geeks. Apple racked up several all-time highs during the quarter (technically Apple’s Q1 2026). From overall revenue (a new all-time high!) to customer satisfaction ratings (through the roof!), the numbers Apple put up during the 2026 holiday quarter will blow your mind.
Apple blew past Wall Street predictions on revenue and EPS last quarter. AI image: Gemini/Cult of Mac
Apple broke all kinds of revenue records during the critical holiday quarter, the company said Thursday, including setting an all-time quarterly high of $143.8 billion. The shockingly good revenues led to sky-high earnings per share that blew past Wall Street’s lofty expectations. And Apple gave the iPhone much of the credit.
“Apple is proud to report a remarkable, record-breaking quarter, with revenue of $143.8 billion, up 16 percent from a year ago and well above our expectations,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press release. “iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment, and Services also achieved an all-time revenue record, up 14 percent from a year ago.”
Apple's performance during the holiday quarter should make Wall Street smile. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Get set for Apple to report boffo results from its latest financial quarter on Thursday. Wall Street expects Apple’s earnings report to reflect a record-breaking holiday season, with analysts anticipating significant growth driven by strong iPhone 17 demand.
Revenue may be up as much 11% year over year. Apple hasn’t seen revenue growth that strong since 2022. This should lead to truly stellar earnings per share.
Two things I use all the time in one elegant shortcut. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
I finally figured out the perfect set of controls to assign to the iPhone’s Action button. I created a shortcut that cleverly combines the two controls I want to use it for.
The Action button can toggle the flashlight, mute audio, toggle an accessibility feature, open the camera, start translation, run any shortcut of your choosing and more. It’s so open-ended that figuring out what to use it for can trigger decision fatigue.
Don’t panic — I discovered what you should use the iPhone’s action button for. And I’m sharing the shortcut, which combines two actions into one elegant system, so you can use it, too.
Bet you can't wait to pin Siri to your shirt collar. Image: Cult of Mac
On the latest Cult of Mac podcast: Details emerge about Apple’s work on an AI pin, and we’re all wondering the same thing. What the heck will it do?
The AirTag-size device that Apple’s testing reportedly packs multiple cameras and microphones. And it will work with the new, chatbot-style Siri that’s also in the works.
We might get our first look at (and first earful of) the new, super-chatty Siri at WWDC26 in June. Please, for the love of all that’s holy, let’s hope it works (and that it ships in a timely fashion).
Uh-oh. It looks like price hikes for iPhones and Macs might be in the works. Who can you blame? AI, of course.
Griffin walks us through the benefits of using Hot Corners on your Mac, including some masterful techniques that simplify his workflow.
And we wrap up the show with a look at some cool setups that show the importance of lighting.
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast 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.
Some feared we officially hit "peak iPhone" in 2016. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
January 26, 2016: After nine years of spectacular growth, iPhone sales flatline for the first time. Some observers say the sales plateau means that “peak iPhone” has finally arrived.
Numbers posted by Apple show that during the final three months of 2015, iPhone sales grew by only 0.4%. The crucial holiday season sales compare quite unfavorably with the 46% jump recorded during the same period a year earlier.
iOS 26 adoption isn't as bad as reported earlier. Not that it's great. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple’s attempt to keep online advertisers from tracking Safari users had the unintended effect of completely throwing off reporting on iOS 26 adoption.
Rather than only a small percentage of iPhone users installing some version of Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 26 adoption is only a bit below average.
Make Control Center your own with these customization options. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you want to make your iPhone easier to use, you can customize its Control Center to gain faster access to the buttons and toggles you rely upon to perform frequent tasks.
Plus, you can remove all the junk you never touch from the iPhone Contol Center, putting the vital controls you actually use front and center.
Keep reading to find out how and why you should customize the iPhone Control Center to make the device your own.
Your Apple devices can work together in more ways than you may expect. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Nothing illustrates the power of Apple’s ecosystem like the Continuity features that help your Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch work seamlessly together.
Thanks to Continuity, your iPhone can serve as your Mac’s webcam — and you can remotely control your iPhone from your Mac. You can start an email on one device and instantly pick it up on another. You can use the same keyboard and mouse with a Mac and iPad, copy and paste across devices and more.
These features flex the power of Apple’s hardware and software — and they would never be possible on a PC.
In this post (and the accompanying video), I will show you some of the time-saving, annoyance-busting Continuity features you can enjoy when you go all-in on the Apple ecosystem.
It has magnetic wireless charging, USB-C and USB-A charging and AC outlet charging via good ol' plugs. Photo: Pisen
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!
As a condo owner, I don't need more than Anker Solix C800 Plus (now called X) to keep the place going in a power outage. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
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.
The alleged breach culled huge amounts of secret date, attackers claim. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
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.
Does it seem like iOS apps keep getting bigger and heavier? It's not your imagination. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
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.
Rising component costs could leave Apple no choice but to raise prices. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple likely will struggle to acquire a critical component for all its products this year. In fact, the whole electronics industry will face the same problem, and the competition will drive up prices, according to analysts.
What’s the missing product? RAM. Why is it so hard to get? AI. But the full story is more complex than those two basic facts.
Using Google Gemini to juice Siri is a shocker! AI image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: It’s finally official — Siri is getting a long-awaited AI brain transplant, courtesy of Google Gemini.
We discuss the pros and cons of the deal, but more importantly, we express our sincere hope that Siri will actually work in the future.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
The soon-to-launch Apple Creator Studio software bundle seems like an unbelievable deal — especially if you’re a student or teacher.
OpenAI’s first piece of Jony Ive-designed hardware sounds like a legit head-scratcher. Can it really compete with AirPods? It’s anybody’s guess, but we’re not big fans of betting against the former Apple design god. Lots of unanswered questions remain, but hey, at least now we know what an egg stone is!
And finally, Griffin wraps up the show with a hands-on demo of a 3D-printed mockup of the rumored folding iPhone. If the leaked specs prove true, this device is going to be a strange one. We’ve got plenty of questions (and not a few concerns).
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast 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 stream, embedded below.
An iPhone that’ll be like no other. Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
After the purported dimensions of the first folding iPhone leaked a few weeks ago, it didn’t take long for mockups to hit MakerWorld, a popular site for people with 3D printers to share their models. I got my hands on one of those models, and I have lots of thoughts. If the rumored folding iPhone looks anything like this, it’ll be weird.
For one thing, it’s almost as short as the original iPhone, but wider than the widest iPhone ever. Lots of design questions remain unanswered, too. Where will the volume buttons go, since there isn’t any room on the left side? Will it only have one speaker, like the iPhone Air? Will the two cameras arranged horizontally across the back mean the camera sensors are in landscape, not portrait?
I’ve been fiddling with a 3D model of the first folding iPhone all week. Here are my thoughts and observations.
Take better care of your email inbox with these hidden features. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Some people achieve and maintain zero unread emails; some let that red badge climb into the thousands. It’s never too late to change your ways — you can become one of those clean inbox people like me. These six tips will help you get to Inbox Zero using features in Apple’s Mail app that you might not have known about.
The obvious Tip No. 0 is this: You should always hit the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of every unsolicited promotional email as soon as you get the first one.
After you kill all those unwanted subscriptions, these six lesser-known features of the Apple Mail app on iPhone, Mac and iPad will make you a true pro at managing your email.
You can customize your iPhone's Home Screen in fun new ways. Screenshot: Apple
You’ve probably seen some beautiful custom iPhone Home Screens on social media. Some people go to great lengths to creatively customize their Home Screen. You can go for a specific theme and aesthetic using custom icon colors and widgets.
Why spend so much time and effort? For one thing, you likely look at your Home Screen dozens (or even hundreds) of times every single day. A custom Home Screen that matches your style can bring a little spark of joy to your daily life every time you whip out your iPhone. And iOS makes Home Screen customization easier than ever.
Keep reading (or watch our video) for a quick introduction into the world of custom iPhone Home Screens. You’ll find out about new features in iOS 26, how to go above and beyond using Shortcuts, and how you can top off your iPhone aesthetic with widgets. I’ve scoured the internet (Reddit, mostly) to find the finest examples.
Take control of your notifications. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can set up persistent notifications from specific apps so they stick to the top of your iPhone screen. With persistent notifications in iOS, when your phone is unlocked and an important alert comes in, the notification will stay visible at the top of the screen until you act upon it.
It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t miss (or forget about) critical notifications on your iPhone.
This proves super-handy for things like medication reminders. It also works wonders if you’re the sort of person who ignores notifications once they disappear from your iPhone screen. I’ll show you how to make your notifications sticky.
Rumors indicate the iPhone 17e will look very much like the iPhone 17. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
A new iPhone 17e could be right around the corner, and rumors suggest Apple’s next budget model will be a sizable jump over last year’s. Expect it to dump the old screen notch as well as boast other enhancements that bring Apple’s budget handset closer to the more premium options.
In short, those looking for a bargain on a new iPhone should keep their eye out for the 17e.
Samsung's creaseless folding screen could be coming to Cupertino. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Did the world just get its first glimpse at the folding iPhone’s screen? And how the heck does anybody bend glass?!?
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Plastering the iPhone 17’s camera plateau with tiny stickers is a thing.
A new auction lets you bid on some truly bizarre Steve Jobs artifacts, and we’re generally amazed. Will people pay for Jobs’ old 8-tracks and bow ties?
Special guest (and frequent Cult of Mac contributor) Graham Bower explains how he vibe-coded his new strength-training app, Reps & Sets 26. It’s an inspirational tale!
And finally, we pay tribute to the best Apple setups we saw last year.
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast 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, embedded below.
And, as a reminder, you can still hear our friend and colleague Erfon Elijah on The CultCast.
Add more blur to the background or bring it into focus. Image: King of Hearts/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can adjust the background blur of a Portrait mode photo on iPhone and Mac — even after you’ve taken the picture.
Because the iPhone stores the depth data that it uses to create the blur effect along with the image itself, you can adjust how blurry or clear the background looks. It’s super-easy to get just the right amount of aesthetically pleasing background blur, aka bokeh, to make your images look perfect.
Why would you want to tweak the background blur on your iPhone photo? A blurrier background, under the right conditions, can make for a very dramatic picture. It can effectively emphasize the subject of your shot. Or, you might want to turn up the blur to intentionally hide details behind you. On the other hand, if you’re in a photogenic location, you might want to decrease the blur so you can see more of the gorgeous background scenery.
Either way, I’ll show you how to edit Portrait mode’s background blur in photos on iPhone and Mac.
January 26, 2016: After nine years of spectacular growth, iPhone sales flatline for the first time. Some observers say the sales plateau means that “peak iPhone” has finally arrived.
You can set up persistent notifications from specific apps so they stick to the top of your iPhone screen. With persistent notifications in iOS, when your phone is unlocked and an important alert comes in, the notification will stay visible at the top of the screen until you act upon it.
