Even after all these years, there are lots of Android users who jump ship for iPhone. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The percentage of U.S.-based iPhone owners who just dumped their Android has grown in recent years, according to a market-analysis company.
That’s exactly the opposite of what conventional wisdom says should be happening. Nevertheless, the percentage of Android switchers hasn’t been this high since 2018.
Imagine getting a text from a friend and your iPhone reads it to you in your friend’s voice. Photo: Rodolfo Clix/Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple’s newly announced Personal Voice technology enables an iPhone to read text in the user’s own voice. The same tech could be used to read incoming text messages in the sender’s own voice, making them feel more personal.
This isn’t a theory — Apple submitted a patent for exactly this idea in early 2023.
Quick, someone check to see if hell has frozen over. Photo: Microsoft
Windows users can now send and receive messages and calls via an iPhone. The new capability — which many thought would never happen — comes courtesy of Microsoft’s Phone Link for iOS, which is rolling out now.
This is the latest software release from Microsoft to make it easier for Windows users to own an iPhone.
Microsoft started rolling the feature out in April, and announced on Monday it’s available to all Windows 11 users.
You probably won’t find these features on your own. Image: Jonatan Svensson Glad/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
In the United States, iMessage is one of the first features iPhone users mention as a benefit over Android. In the rest of the world, nobody cares, because everyone uses WhatsApp and other cross-platform services.
But there are a lot of cool features inside the Messages app these days — we’ve previously covered how to edit and unsend messages and share your screen. Here are five more hidden features inside Apple’s messaging app. Keep reading or watch the video below.
People want seamless. They might want sensing. But they absolutely do not want screenless. Photo: Humane/TED Talks
Humane, the hot Silicon Valley startup that’s been drumming up interest in its secretive product recently, finally showed the world what its A-list talent has been working on. In a TED talk released on Tuesday, Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri unveiled a small, screenless, badge-like device that the company hopes will replace the smartphone.
Humane is a buzzy startup that’s raised more than $230 million from investors and has hired a lot of ex-Apple talent. It’s estimated 50% of the company’s 200 employees are from Apple. Chaudhri was one of the lead designers of the original iPhone, and contributed to dozens of Apple’s biggest products (the Mac, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod). His name is on thousands of patents. He met his wife, Humane co-founder Bethany Bongiorno, at Apple. And they hired Ken Kocienda, who literally wrote the book on Apple’s creative process.
I’m laying out their credentials here at the top because it is remarkable to me how such a team could miss the mark by such an incredible margin. Humane’s badge thing cannot and will not replace your iPhone, no matter how hard Chaudhri wishes that to be the case.
Final Cut Pro for iPad offers pro camera mode when recording video. Photo: Apple
The iPad version of Final Cut Pro that Apple recently unveiled includes a “pro camera mode” with a number of manual settings not included in the standard camera application. iPhone users saw this and quickly started calling for these features to be brought over to iOS, too.
William Fryer, 83, said Apple Watch saved his life. Photo: WCPO ABC-9 Cincinnati
When an Ohio man went for his usual walk along the river recently and felt his knees turn to rubber, he had no idea what he was in for — other than he was “going down.”
But it turned out his Apple Watch and a health app had a few ideas, and they helped save the fallen 83-year-old’s life.
iPhone 12 to iPhone 14 upgrade: Is the jump worth it, or should you wait for iPhone 15? Image: Apple/Cult of Mac
Six months from now, the iPhone 12 will be 3 years old. If you got the phone on launch day in October 2020, it must already be showing its age, with poor battery life and sub-par camera performance.
Does that mean it’s time to ditch your iPhone 12 and upgrade to the iPhone 14, which starts at $799? Or should you save your money and wait for the upcoming iPhone 15? Find out with our comparison.
Apple could give the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro series a big display upgrade. Photo: asda
Apple could bump the screen size by nearly 0.2 inches on its 2024 iPhones. The iPhone 16 Pro could ship with an OLED display nearly 6.3 inches large.
As for the iPhone 16 Pro Max model, it could use a gigantic 6.9-inch panel. The screen sizes of Pro iPhones have remained unchanged since the 2020 iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max.
Thanks to AirPlay, you don't have to watch video on your iPhone's small screen. Screenshot: Apple Support
With AirPlay, you can wirelessly stream video from your Apple devices to a large-screen TV. It’ll let you enjoy Ted Lasso or share a TikTok video with a group of friends on a big screen, not your iPhone’s relatively small one.
If this handy option is new to you, Apple made an explainer video. Watch it now.
Despite a 3% year-to-year drop in quarterly revenue (to "only" $94.8 billion), Apple delivers plenty of reasons for optimism. Photos: Michael & Diane Weidner and Sumudu Mohottige/Unsplash License/Modified by Cult of Mac
Perhaps the best phrase to describe the results of Apple’s most recent financial quarter is, “It could have been worse.” Total revenue dropped 3% as the company battled inflation and other macroeconomic problems not of its making.
Still, Apple’s quarterly numbers beat the overly pessimistic Wall Street estimates. And there is more good news buried in the results Apple reported Thursday (and in the company’s earnings call with investors). Read on for five reasons to be optimistic about Apple’s future.
Your Apple device might be worth more than you think. Photo: Cult of Mac
The amount of money Apple will pay you to trade in a previous-generation iPhone just increased. And that’s the second time this spring. The same holds true for Mac and iPad.
So, if you have an older Apple device sitting around, it might be worth more than you suspect.
The Holafly app makes managing eSIMs easy. Photo: Holafly
If you own an iPhone XS or newer, your device comes with eSIM built in. That means you can skip physical SIM cards and simply set up cellular plans for international travel right on your phone, avoiding roaming charges wherever you go.
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You can do that using one of the best apps out there — the Holafly: International eSIM app. With the free app, you can activate and manage eSIMs for different countries from your iPhone. And that means you can enjoy reliable, affordable internet on all your international travels.
Smith, just through the airplane's door, loses his iPhone at 14,000 feet. Photo: [email protected]
You might’ve dropped your iPhone on the floor and felt massive relief to find it undamaged. Or maybe a bit cracked. But what happens when an iPhone plummets 14,000 feet?
Thanks to TikTok and a skydiver who failed to secure his handset, now we know. At least in this one very lucky case.
This free, open-source app makes it easy to fake your GPS location. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can use a free Mac app called LocationSimulator to hide your real location on your iPhone. It works great as a Pokémon Go spoofer. Just set it up, then plug your phone into a Mac and tell it where you want to “be.” You don’t need to jailbreak your phone or install anything on it.
When using LocationSimulator, every app on your iPhone will use this new GPS location. It’s useful for maintaining privacy — for instance, if you’re posting screenshots online, it’ll mask your real home address. Developers can use it, too, for testing location features in their apps.
Best of all, you just need a Mac. LocationSimulator is free and open-source.
Get a bundle of six new iPhone 14 Pro accessories for less than $100. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
As iPhone 14 Pro owners already know, the latest generation of Apple’s signature device can do a whole lot. But just because you’ve got the “next big thing” doesn’t mean you can’t go bigger. This six-piece iPhone 14 Pro accessory bundle will make your sexy smartphone cooler and easier to use in multiple ways.
What's good enough for mom? An iPad? An Apple Watch? Maybe both. Photo: Marek [email protected]
Apple has shared its annual Mother’s Day gift guide to help you celebrate your mom on May 14 in the United States and many other countries. Dozens of gift ideas, from AirTags to iPhones to various accessories, cover a range of prices from $15 to about $1,000.
And you can “make it mom’s” with free engraving of emojis and messages on a range of gifts, too.
iPhone is selling well around the world. Android-makers can't say that about their products. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
iPhone shipments increased modestly in the first three months of 2023, according to a market research firm. That’s in stark contrast to Android-makers, most of which experienced double-digit drops.
The trend carried through in China, making Apple the largest smartphone seller in this critical market.
iOS 17 might bring Apple Music lyrics to your iPhone's Lock Screen. Photo: Cult of Mac
As WWDC23 inches closer to its scheduled date, more leaks about iOS 17 are surfacing online. A new rumor details all the Lock Screen changes Apple plans to debut in the next iOS release.
The tweaks include changing the Lock Screen font size, sharing custom Lock Screen designs with other iPhone users, and more.
Is this what the prolific Mr. Hammer was singing about? No. Image: Jonathan Cutrer/Flickr/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Taking a moment to add an extra passcode to your iCloud account might save your skin if your iPhone is ever stolen by a shady character who’s eyeing you like a hawk. By default, your iPhone passcode is all someone needs to lock you out of your devices and wreak financial havoc on your life. And it’s not that difficult to capture your passcode if you tap into your phone in a public place.
In fact, a recent spate of coordinated scams have played out like this: A spy watches for anyone entering their iPhone passcode in a bar or other public place. Then, the device is yoinked out of the victim’s hands. And before they can do anything, they find themselves locked out of their own iCloud account. Soon, the criminals who stole the iPhone proceed to make unauthorized purchases, empty bank accounts and generally wreak havoc on the victim’s finances and personal life.
Luckily, setting up a second passcode just for iCloud can protect you from this type of criminal operation. I’ll show you how to keep these thieves at bay — and offer some additional advice for keeping your account secure.
A trio of hikers in Utah got trapped at the bottom of a deep canyon, and their situation could have been dire except they were able to call for help via the Emergency SOS via satellite service built into the iPhone 14 series.
It’s a new feature anyone going where they’ll out of range of cellular network coverage should know how to use.
Face it: You could probably use some pointers if you have a lot of photos. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
It might not be apparent at first, but Apple’s Photos app gives you plenty of ways to manage your photo library and tweak the images in it.
If you have tens of thousands of photos like I do, your photo library is probably a big mess. You could spend hundreds of hours meticulously sorting images into albums, and tweaking settings to get everything just right. Or you can use some of the features Apple offers to make things easy.
I’ve already covered my top tips for taking photos. Here are my top five tips for managing and manipulating the great photos you took, using tools in Apple’s Photos app.
A first-generation iPhone with a “Lucky You” sticker recently sold at auction for $40,320 because it was still in the original packaging. It was purchased by Marques Brownlee — known to many as MKBHD — who then made a YouTube video of unboxing the handset.
Watch as Brownlee reduces the value of the device to nearly nothing just for the shock value of it.
The iPhone of the future is coming into focus ... Photo: Apple/Modified by Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest iPhone 15 rumors provide a fuller picture of what to expect this year. Sounds like big changes are coming in iOS 17. But a last-minute reversal means a hardware feature we were counting on probably won’t happen.
Also on The CultCast:
Whatever you do, don’t get “juice jacked” this summer. We offer easy ways to avoid this menace.
How much would it take to get you to give up your iPhone forever?
The morons running General Motors ditched CarPlay. Get ready for sales to crash!
A new edition of What We’re Into dishes up pasta, podcasts and a sci-fi show.
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.
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This iPhone 14 case pays tribute to Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Image: Pitaka
For this week’s giveaway, we teamed up with Pitaka to offer four people the chance to win a limited-edition iPhone case worth $89.99.
The lucky winners will get their hands on Pitaka’s Sunset Moment case for iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max. (Be sure to enter the proper giveaway to match your iPhone model).
Pitaka made only 1,500 of these cases, which were inspired by Jack Kerouac’s Beat Generation novel On the Road. This tribute to Route 66 and the classic American road trip is nearly sold out. With a unique product number on the camera ring, the Sunset Moment case you get will be uniquely yours.