The macOS Tahoe menu bar icons are one of the more universally panned changes in Apple’s redesigned Mac operating system. They clutter the interface, making it hard to find what you’re actually looking for. And on top of that, different apps use different icons for different actions — it’s not remotely consistent. 

You don’t need to live your life this way, though. Developer and hacker Steve Troughton-Smith figured out a quick way to disable the icons. You need to crack open the Mac’s Terminal app, but luckily, you can paste a single command in to bid (most of) the icons adieu. 

Apple’s iPhone cases provide stylish protection, and a new deal cuts $9.01 off the price of various Silicone, Clear and TechWoven models for iPhone 17, iPhone 17e, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

As you might expect, the company’s cases fit its smartphones perfectly. This sale applies to cases for various models in multiple colors and sizes. And if you happen to own an iPhone Air, you can currently save a whopping 54% on a bumper case.

Find big discounts on practically the full range of official Apple iPhone 17 cases in Amazon’s sale.

April 13, 2005: The tech world gets excited when a sketchy rumor suggests Apple is building a tablet computer.

The Chinese-language report claims Quanta will build a 15-inch touchscreen tablet PC with a detachable keyboard. Apple will supposedly ship the device in the first quarter of 2006. Things don’t turn out quite like that, but the rumor offers the first hint about Apple’s secret iPad project.

You can convert any bitmap image — think logos, clip art and scanned sketches — into clean, scalable vector graphics with Super Vectorizer Pro. It’s great for rescuing old artwork from the digital trash heap so it can be used for modern pursuits.

A lifetime license to the app, available for Mac and Windows, is on sale now for just $19.99 (MSRP $120).

If you’ve ever looked at a foldable phone and winced at the visible crease down the middle of the screen, you’ll want to know what Apple has reportedly been working on as its first foldable iPhone approaches.

The industry’s approach to eliminating that unsightly fold line has fundamentally changed — and materials in development go well beyond clever hinge engineering, according to a new report. It’s how Apple’s fast-approaching folding iPhone will crack the crease problem.

Apple’s sleek, simple smart glasses without a display, internally dubbed “N50”, reportedly will launch in 2027. The company is testing four designs for the wearable, in multiple finishes.

The smart glasses supposedly will integrate tightly with the iPhone and Siri to offer an experience like no other.

April 12, 1976: Apple’s third co-founder, a former Atari colleague of Steve Wozniak’s named Ron Wayne, cashes in his Apple shares for just $800.

Wayne, who owns a 10% stake in the company, throws in the towel after worrying that he doesn’t have the time or energy to properly invest in Apple. He later receives an extra $1,500 check to seal the deal. When he cashes it, he loses out on an investment that could have been worth billions.

“I was 40 and these kids were in their 20s,” Wayne told Cult of Mac decades later, referring to Apple co-founders Wozniak and Steve Jobs. “They were whirlwinds — it was like having a tiger by the tail. If I had stayed with Apple, I probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.”

Anyone still dissatisfied with the amount of RAM in the MacBook Neo should be pleased to learn that the second-generation version of Apple’s hit entry-level notebook will almost certainly boast 50% more RAM.

And that’s not a guess. Apple is already making the processor/RAM combos to go into the notebook, even though the release is not expected for almost another year.

To understand why, you need to know where Apple gets the chips for this popular computer. And once you know that, you’ll realize why we can confidently say the 2027 MacBook Neo will include 12GB of RAM.

Apple no longer accepts orders for certain high-end Mac mini and Mac Studio models. As of Sunday, the company’s online store lists the computers as “currently unavailable.”

This comes after delivery times for most Mac mini and Mac Studio models slipped to a few months.

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: The MacBook Neo looks like a runaway success. And Apple’s clever use of binned chips in the budget laptop is textbook Tim Cook — magically turning slag into gold.

However, the brilliant tactic might have paid off too well.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• Dummy units of the rumored folding iPhone and iPhone 18 Pro give us a better look at what Apple has planned for later this year. But will the foldable be called the iPhone Fold, the iPhone Ultra or something else? And do we really need a folding iPhone?
• Try to buy a Mac mini or a Mac Studio and you’ll likely be waiting quite some time (up to five months!). What’s going on?
• There’s a simple way to add gorgeous moon shots from the Artemis II mission as wallpaper on your iPhone.
• Griffin gives us an update on his AirPods Max 2 review.
• And finally, we check out a gorgeous Mac Studio setup that’s one of the best we’ve seen.

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 version, embedded below.

You can change out your iPhone Lock Screen buttons from the standard flashlight and camera icons to whatever you want. There’s a huge selection of buttons you can swap in their place. Just about any button you can put in Control Center is a button you can put on your iPhone’s Lock Screen.

Plus, you can assign different shortcut buttons on different Lock Screens, making them context-dependent (and tied to a Focus Mode if you like). Apple offers a standard selection, but your options will vary depending on what apps you’ve installed.

Here’s how to swap out the iPhone Lock Screen buttons to put whatever you want at your beck and call.

April 11, 1976: Apple releases its first computer, the Apple-1.

Designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak, the computers are sold wholesale by “Steven” Jobs. To finance their manufacturing, Wozniak sells his HP-65 calculator for $500, while Jobs sells his Volkswagen van.

MacPaw’s CleanMy®Phone app frees up storage space on your iPhone by scanning for duplicate photos, massive videos, screenshots you forgot about and other silent space-eaters.

CleanMy®Phone offers a smarter, more Apple-like way to take control of your storage on your iPhone or iPad. And one year of access is on sale for just $19.99 (MSRP $44.99) for a limited time. Alternatively, you can grab a lifetime sub for just $59.99.

Apple once again beat all its rivals to stay the world’s top smartphone vendor, according to new data from a market-research firm, with its latest quarterly performance underscoring the strength of the iPhone lineup. This is the first time the iPhone has led the world in Q1, traditionally a weak quarter for the company.

Apple’s smartphone shipments grew 5% year over year, while all of its top competitors declined.

Those who aren’t fans of Apple’s Liquid Glass have a new way to disable some of its distracting features. “Reduce Bright Effects” appeared in iOS 26.4, as well as macOS and iPadOS. As the name suggests, it is intended to minimize highlighting and flashing when pushing on-screen buttons.

Here’s how to find the toggle switch.

Apple has been busy this week rolling out updates to two of its most popular creative apps — Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro. The updates bring meaningful new features to musicians, producers, photo editors and designers alike. The rest of the iWork lineup got minor updates, too. 

Update: And just like that, now Lexus enters the fray. Reports indicate the Toyota-owned luxury brand will add support for iPhone car keys in the coming months, according to references found in Apple’s backend code. It joins many others.

From a single BMW model in 2020 to dozens of brands today, Apple Wallet’s digital car key keeps gaining momentum. Could it soon become as standard as a seat belt? It looks to be headed that way, at least — and for good reason. 

Apple will permanently close three of its U.S. retail locations this June — one of which made history as the first Apple Store in the country to unionize — citing deteriorating conditions at the shopping malls that house them, the company said Thursday. 

The closures have drawn swift backlash from the workers’ union. It called the move a deliberate effort to undermine organized labor.

Not everyone who switched to Mac left the PC world entirely behind. Whether it’s a gaming rig they can’t give up, a work-issued Windows laptop they feel stuck with or a legacy tower they repurposed for specialized tasks, plenty of power users run both platforms side by side. Behold the top 9 Mac-and-PC setups from the Cult of Mac archives.

Track every subscription, avoid surprise charges, and take control of recurring spending with SubscriptionNotebook, a tool that makes it easy to answer the question, “What subscriptions do I have again?”

You can get this money-saving subscription finder for a one-time payment of $47, a 90% discount off the regular price of $504.

Apple TV scored five nominations for the 86th Annual Peabody Awards, the streamer said Thursday. Nods spanned entertainment, documentary and children’s programming categories.

The nominated titles — Pluribus, Come See Me in the Good Light, Mr. Scorsese, Vietnam: The War That Changed America and Shape Island — are all currently streaming on Apple TV.

April 10, 1985: During a fateful meeting, Apple CEO John Sculley threatens to resign unless the company’s board of directors removes Steve Jobs as executive VP and general manager of the Macintosh division.

Sculley’s threat triggers a series of events that ultimately will result in Jobs’ exit. The marathon board meeting — which continues for several hours the next day — leads to Jobs losing his operating role within the company. However, the Apple board allows him to stay on as chairman. Things won’t exactly play out like that.

Apple’s CarPlay voice commands offer a safe way to handle dozens of tasks without lifting a finger or shifting your gaze away from the road. CarPlay’s Siri integration is one of the most underused safety tools in modern cars. However, it only works if you know what to say. 

Get to know the best CarPlay voice commands for every driver with Cult of Mac’s handy roundup. Commit them to memory now so you’ll know how to employ them once you hit the road.

Apple on Thursday released macOS 26.4.1, a minor but essential update for Mac users running macOS Tahoe. The software arrived a day after the corresponding iOS 26.4.1 and iPadOS 26.4.1 reached iPhone and iPad users.

The update does not introduce major changes. Instead, it focuses on fixing bugs.

Apple shipped more Macs in the first three months of 2026 than it has in any quarter going back years. And its share of the world PC market reached a milestone, too.

It’s surely no coincidence this occurred in the quarter the the MacBook Neo launched — Apple’s first entry-level notebook is a huge hit.