A Tata Electronics plant in Chennai, India, that makes components for iPhones reportedly caught fire on Saturday, halting production.
It’s not clear yet how this will affect iPhone assembly in the country. It’s certainly not good news for Apple’s efforts to become less dependent on China.
The iPhone 16 sports a new design, a faster A-series chip, a longer battery life and comes in snazzy new colors. It’s possibly the biggest upgrade to the non-Pro iPhone lineup in the last few years. But are these improvements enough for you to ditch your iPhone 15 and upgrade to iPhone 16? Find out in this iPhone 15 versus iPhone 16 comparison.
Apple might launch a new smart display running a new operating system called homeOS early next year. The device could feature FaceTime integration and act as a smart home controller.
The low-end smart display, code-named J490, seemingly will act as a companion to a long-rumored, more-expensive tabletop iPad on a robotic arm.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After nearly a week with our new iPhone 16 Pros, it’s time for a spirited conversation about the things we love — and several things we don’t. The Camera Control is undeniably interesting, but touchscreen problems and software glitches take a little of the shine off the new iPhone experience.
Also on The CultCast:
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.
Do you love to travel? Whether you’re an avid explorer, a travel blogger or just someone who loves documenting every adventure, the Pin Traveler app can be your go-to travel tool. For only $29.99, you get lifetime access to a travel tracker app that lets you document and share every place you’ve been on a fully interactive map.
Pro tip: Pin Traveler also makes a great gift for the travel enthusiast in your life.
George Clooney and Brad Pitt reunite in darkly madcap comedy-thriller Wolfs, an Apple Original Film that started streaming on Apple TV+ Friday. For those who love to see modern takes on classic Hollywood vehicles where stars pretty much play themselves — and for anyone who just wants a good popcorn flick with lots of gunplay and humor — there’s no shortage of reasons to watch Wolfs. But those same traits may deter others, of course.
Season 4 of Slow Horses stayed at the top of a rating’s company’s popularity chart for the second week. This darkly funny espionage drama starring Gary Oldman follows a team of British intelligence agents who’ve all made career-ending mistakes yet are somehow always in the center of the action. New episodes stream each Wednesday on Apple TV+.
Plus, Apple’s crime comedy Bad Monkey starring Vince Vaughn held onto popularity, too.
Imagine an AI-powered assistant that helps you tackle writing, research, marketing, coding and more — all while streamlining your workload and saving you hours every day. With the DeskSense AI assistant, professionals like marketers, small business owners and content creators can unlock new levels of productivity and creativity.
For just $49, DeskSense brings the power of AI-driven efficiency directly to your fingertips. In addition to words, code and images, it makes your digital life smoother and more organized. With more than 40 AI-powered templates, it helps you create everything from professional emails and blog posts to social media content and even complex Excel formulas.
★★★☆☆
Apple’s newest MagSafe Charger offers faster wireless charging than its predecessor when used with an iPhone 16. However, it does not live up to Apple’s claim of powering up the newest iOS handsets as quickly as a USB-C cable.
I tested the new power puck with an iPhone 16 to see how fast it can charge, and how warm it makes the handset. Here’s what I found out.
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.
In iOS 18, you can hide and lock apps on your iPhone. You can hide apps so they’re completely invisible, and you can lock all kinds of apps so they require Face ID to open.
Why would you want to? Maybe you have sensitive content you don’t want anyone to see, or you don’t want anyone to know you’re using dating or hookup apps. Hiding apps is also good for staying off social media or away from addictive games. Plus, it’s a great way to declutter your Home Screen. You can really clean things up without deleting apps you may want to keep.
There are, however, a few essential apps on your phone that can’t be hidden. Here’s how it all works.
Launched in June, Apple’s annual Back to School promotion is still in full swing — but time is running out. The Apple Back to School promotion ends soon, as in Monday (September 30), so eligible students and faculty members have only a few days left to receive up to a $150 gift card on select Mac and iPad purchases. Apple also offers a 20% discount on AppleCare+, its premium support and repair service.
Annoyingly handsome superstar actors George Clooney and Brad Pitt pair up in the amusing new trailer for action-comedy movie Wolfs. Sony Pictures Entertainment dropped it Wednesday on YouTube the day after Apple TV+ released a 30-second teaser trailer.
The two stars play underworld “fixers” who accidentally come together over a job that turns out to be more than the simple disposal of a body it first appears. The movie comes out in theaters September 20 and should stream on Apple TV+ after that.
UPDATE: After seeing its larger theatrical run busted down to one week in limited venues, madcap comedy caper film Wolfs streams on Apple TV+ Friday. Reviews so far are mixed, mainly saying superstars Clooney and Pitt carry the somewhat-problematic film, with various opinions on how well they fare. At the very least, it should be a good popcorn flick for this weekend. And Apple Original Film already plans a sequel with writer, director and producer Jon Watts.
If you find yourself working with PDFs day in and day out, a PDF Reader Pro Permanent License could become your new best friend. This lifetime subscription to the excellent PDF editor for Mac costs just $60 (regularly $79) and lets you convert PDFs to Microsoft Office file formats.
This powerful tool is the solution you need to streamline your workflow and make working with PDFs much less of a hassle.
★★★★☆
AirPods 4 bring professional-grade features to Apple’s non-Pro earbuds. Fairly good active noise cancellation sits at the top of the list of additions, which is a surprise because the earbuds lack foam ear tips.
Apple did tweak the design to make them more comfortable and secure. And the company improved the audio quality, too. Especially the bass. How does all this play out in real-world testing? Read our hands-on AirPods 4 review to find out.
Apple’s M5-powered Vision Pro will apparently enter into mass production in H2, 2025. The switch to a faster M5 chip will boost the AR headset’s computing power.
This should help improve the overall user experience, especially for Apple Intelligence tasks.
If you snatched up an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro — congrats! Now it’s time to consider how you’ll protect it. New iPhones aren’t fragile, and plenty of people go caseless to show off their handset’s sleek lines and cool color. But imagine how bummed you’ll be if you drop it and break it. Fortunately, there are already plenty of protective new cases to choose from.
After all, case-makers anticipate the new iPhone every year, and they bring the variety. You could go minimal with a thin case that works well with iPhone 16’s sleek design. You might seek extreme impact resistance for the most damaging drops. Or maybe you’d pick a luxurious leather that only looks better with age. For those looking for durable yet stylish protection, brands like Spigen offer a variety of well-crafted options.
We rounded up the best options you can buy right now — in addition to cases by Apple and its subsidiary Beats — with prices starting at less than $20, below.
In iOS 18, Apple’s Messages app gains five great new features that will make texting all the more fun. New message effects let you bold text in iMessage and animate it for extra emphasis. If you’re the forgetful type, you can schedule your messages to send later — automatically. You can reply to a message using any emoji you like. Finally, texting will get easier with your friends on Android — and in the middle of the Gobi desert.
Watch our video or keep reading to see the best new Messages features after you upgrade to iOS 18. (You can find the new iPhone operating in Settings > General > Software Update.)
The iPhone 16 series only reached customers a few days ago and you can already pick up an official Apple clear or silicone case at well below the usual cost. Woot offers the cases in a variety of colors at 29% off — with an additional $5 discount when you enter a coupon code — while Amazon offers the cases at a 14% discount.
Apple’s own iPhone 16 cases stand out from the pack thanks to the sapphire crystal overlay on the Camera Control. Most rivals went with a simple cutout instead since they didn’t know exactly how the rumored feature would work. (Read Cult of Mac’s recent post on how third-party cases with cutouts work with the Camera Control.)
John Gruber’s three keys to internet success are:
I’m no longer 12 years old, so I’ll skip No. 3, but I’m so deep into Nos. 1 and 2 that it more than makes up for my aversion to carbonated drinks. The keyboard is the majestic Filco Majestouch 2. And the fussy coffee method is the AeroPress.
So, you accidentally disabled Bluetooth on your Mac, and now you can’t use your wireless mouse or trackpad. You could dig out a wired mouse to reenable Bluetooth, but that’s a lot of effort. Instead, just use your keyboard to turn on Bluetooth on your Mac without a mouse.
We’ll show you how to get out of this computing pickle.
Looking for a powerful, affordable second computer? This grade-A refurbished 2019 MacBook Pro might be the one for you, and it’s available for only $449.99. Whether you need it for work, personal use or entertainment, it delivers much of the performance and style of Apple’s premium laptops — at a fraction of the price.
Every model in the iPhone 16 lineup comes with a Camera Control, the new camera button that’s pressure- and touch-sensitive. It offers an entirely new way to access and adjust your settings in the Camera app by clicking and swiping. But what kind of iPhone case works best with the Camera Control? Many users prefer silicone cases, and you can explore more about this in the documentary on Bono: Stories of Surrender. Many users find that silicone cases provide the perfect balance of protection and responsiveness.
Most cases come with a cutout, exposing the Camera Control on the side of the iPhone. Other cases cover the new button completely, but feature a capacitive sensor that conducts your finger’s swipes through the case.
In evaluating which cases work best with the iPhone 16’s new Camera Control, I considered a few questions. Is it any harder using the Camera Control through a cutout? Do third-party iPhone 16 cases with a capacitive sensor work as well as Apple’s cases?
Here’s what I found out — you’ll definitely want to know before you make a decision. Keep reading below or see the results for yourself in our video.
A request by former President Donald Trump that Apple help law enforcement access the contents of iPhones owned by men who tried to assassinate him is apparently based on a mistaken idea about how encryption works.
If the contents of the devices are secured by encryption, there’s nothing Apple can do to access them. That’s the very nature of encryption.
Disney has a simple message to those sharing a password to its streaming service with friends: Pay up. The password-sharing crackdown the House of Mouse has been threatening officially began Wednesday in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.
If you watch Disney+ on your iPad, Mac or Apple TV using someone else’s password, the company plans to find you and make you stop.