Cult of Mac

Spotify submitted a major app update to the App Store with several significant changes Thursday. The company moved quickly to capitalize on a judge’s Wednesday ruling that requires Apple to allow external payment links in apps effective immediately.

Update: Apple quickly approved Spotify’s update. The company formally changed its App Store rules Thursday to bring them into “compliance with a United States court decision regarding buttons, external links, and other calls to action in apps.”

Apple plans to challenge the ruling, which forces major changes on the company’s handling of the App Store.

During a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company strongly disagrees with the judge’s ruling. “We’ve complied with the court’s order, and we’re going to appeal,” he said.

With the PlayAIBox — a combination wireless CarPlay adapter and car streaming device — you can enjoy Apple’s in-car infotainment system, stream video and more without physically connecting your iPhone to your car. It works with nearly all cars, and puts CarPlay (or whatever you want to mirror from your iPhone or Android device) on your in-car display.

You could listen to your YouTube watchlist on the road, stream a quick episode of Fallout on your lunch break, or let your kids watch a movie while you watch the road. The first step is to get the PlayAIBox while it’s on sale for $74.97 (regularly $129.99).

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that he expects the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump to add at least $900 million to the company’s costs during the current quarter, which ends in June.

Speaking with investors after the company announced its quarterly earnings results, Cook also said Apple will assemble most of the products it sells in the United States outside of China this quarter to avoid the tariffs fueling an ongoing trade war between the two countries.

Apple revenue increased 5% annually to $95.4 billion during the first three months of 2025, and profits grew 8%. Those are the top takeaways from the March-quarter financial results Apple revealed after Wall Street closed Thursday. Both numbers beat analysts’ expectations.

“Today Apple is reporting strong quarterly results, including double-digit growth in Services,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

Managing passwords is and always has been a giant pain. It isn’t the best system, but it’s the system we’ve got. Well, not if Apple can do anything about it. Passkeys are a new system that automatically signs you in to online services using your phone’s Face ID (or Touch ID) or your computer’s password. It’s one less thing to remember; it works without fiddling around with a password manager.

Passkeys aren’t an Apple-exclusive feature. You can bet the technology will be supported no matter what devices you have because all of these companies are part of the FIDO Alliance that created the system … eventually.

Apple fully supports it in iOS 16 and Safari 16 for Mac, as does Google’s Chrome browser on multiple platforms. Android 9 and above supports passkeys via Credential Manager, and Google added passkey support to user accounts on “all major platforms.” Microsoft added support to Windows 11 in the 22H2 update.

Follow along as I show you how passkeys work.

May 1, 2008: The iTunes Store takes a gigantic step toward cinematic relevancy, selling new movies on the day of their DVD releases for the very first time.

“We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, in a press release. “We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios.”

Movies out that week include Cloverfield, Juno, Alvin and the Chipmunks and American Gangster.

Some people simply can’t stop using stupid, weak passwords. An analysis of the phrases used to secure various accounts in 2024 finds that “123456” was used 3 million times, making it the most popular. And the rest of the top 10 are all easily guessed also, with “password” showing up in the No. 4 slot.

It’s World Password Day, a good opportunity to change the horribly weak ones you’re using now. Especially as Apple makes it easy

The new Apple Passwords app makes it easier than ever to save login details for your apps, start using passkeys and create shared groups.

iCloud Keychain has been around for years, saving your passwords for you. But if you’ve ever had to copy a password out of the system to enter on a different computer, you had to dig through Settings — if you could even figure out how. The functionality discouraged a lot of people from using Apple’s password manager. It’s easy to find in iOS 18, thanks to a dedicated Passwords app you can put on your Home Screen.

The time of using the same password on all your internet accounts is over. Apple’s password manager is free, syncs everywhere (even with Windows PCs) and is incredibly easy to use. It creates strong passwords and automatically fills them in so you never need to.

Here’s how it works.

When companies talk about quarterly earnings, executives often deploy language designed to puff up, excuse or obfuscate their companies’ recent performance. The goal is to excite investors over implied future success. And ultimately to give the company more money. Always. More. Money. The Apple quarterly earnings call takes place Thursday afternoon.

But when you’re the iPhone giant — with a mind-blowing market cap and a seemingly never-ending supply of hit products, including ongoing growth in services — you typically don’t need to craft hopeful-yet-non-material statements or deflect questions designed to get at the true bottom line.

So CEO Tim Cook and new CFO Kevan Parekh will report on all the numbers (former CFO Luca Maestri stepped down January 1, 2025). Because many tariff impacts are yet to come, analysts predict a 4% revenue increase year-over-year, plus a jump in earnings per share. Note that Apple starts its fiscal year with Q1 in the previous year’s holiday season, so calendar quarters trail its fiscal quarters.

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, hopes to strike a deal with Apple to bring Gemini to iPhones by the middle of this year. The CEO revealed this during his testimony in an antitrust trial against Google.

Pichai discussed the possibility of bringing Gemini to iPhones with Apple CEO Tim Cook last year.

In a major blow to Cupertino, a judge ruled Wednesday that Apple “willfully chose not to comply” with a 2021 injunction that required the company to let developers include in-app links directing users to third-party payment options on the web.

“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” said U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the ruling.

She also found clear evidence that an Apple executive lied under oath in his court testimony, and asked U.S. attorneys to investigate whether Apple’s vice president of finance should be charged with criminal contempt of court.

Staying connected while traveling can feel like a nightmare, especially when those international roaming fees hit you like a ton of bricks after your trip. An international eSIM like aloSIM makes it easy to stay online while you travel abroad.

Sure, you could buy a SIM card for every new place you visit, but aloSIM is a simpler option. The company’s international eSIM plans let you tap into local data networks in more than 175 countries. That means you can ditch those pesky roaming fees and stay connected without worrying about your budget. It costs just $24.97 to get the base eSIM (which lasts for life), and you also get a $50 credit.

Wall Street is putting out positive vibes about the March quarter results Apple will announce Thursday. Analysts anticipate a 4% increase in Apple’s revenue, plus a jump in earnings per share.

That might seem surprising in the wake of President Donald Trump imposing a 20% tariff on electronics coming in from China. However, the Apple financial results about to be revealed are for the quarter that ended in March. Trump didn’t announce the tariffs until April, so they don’t affect these numbers. That won’t happen until Apple provides its June quarter results.

Apple’s new Visual Intelligence feature provides a quick way to find information just by pointing an iPhone 16’s camera at an object in the real world. Then you can ask ChatGPT to explain what you’re looking at, do a reverse image search to find products and look things up visually, get information on a business as you walk down the street, quickly add events to your calendar and identify plants and animals.

With the release of iOS 18.4, Apple added the capability to use Visual Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro models. Here’s how it works.

A new battle brews in the tech world as major app developers band together to challenge Apple and Google’s control over the mobile ecosystem, according to a new report. Meta, Match and Spotify join forces against Apple and Google, forming a lobbying coalition aimed at influencing policy around age verification requirements and addressing long-standing grievances about app store practices.

“Everything starts with a dream,” goes an old saying — and it even applies to computer setups. Today’s attractive and highly functional M4 Pro MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Studio Display setup amounts to a dream for its owner. But in expressing that dream on social media, its owner found commenters had plenty to say about their versions of “an Apple fan’s dream setup.”

April 30, 2010: Almost a month after the first-gen iPad went on sale, the first Wi-Fi + 3G iPads arrive in the hands of U.S. customers.

The devices ship in boxes identical to the Wi-Fi-only models, but with an additional sticker noting their cellular connectivity capability. The tablets come preloaded with micro-SIM cards branded AT&T, the only wireless carrier that initially supports the iPad.

The GameSir X5 Lite is the game controller for those who’ve hoped for a truly affordable way to add physical buttons and sticks to their iPhone. It costs a fraction of the price of its chief rival.

But don’t call it cheap. The accessory includes Hall Effect sticks plus a full set of the buttons and triggers needed for cloud gaming or on-device apps.

I enjoyed my time testing the GameSir X5 Lite — read the full review to find out why.

The excellent Beats Studio Pro noise-canceling headphones from Apple subsidiary Beats by Dre normally cost $349 — though they’re often on sale at around $250. But right now you can grab a nice Beats Studio Pro deal on Amazon for just $169.99 in two colors, dune and matte white (51% 0ff). Meanwhile, Best Buy goes with the $250 price, as does Amazon for several colors.

And if you want to save even more, you can buy open-box Beats Studio Pro headphones for just $145 from Cult of Mac Deals.

Want your videos to go viral ASAP? You need AI-generated captions. Joyspace is a powerful, easy-to-use solution that lets creators of all levels add stunning, brand-ready captions to videos and podcasts with just a few clicks.

And right now, you can get lifetime access to Joyspace for just $79.99 (regularly $379), with no recurring fees.

You can now access Meta AI through a dedicated iPhone app, bringing the Llama AI assistant right to your fingertips. Until now, you could only access Meta AI through WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.

Meta calls the app a first step toward creating a “more personal AI experience.”

Memories fade, and so does film. Whether it’s old negatives or a box of dusty slides, your memories are safer in a digital format. The Kodak Slide N Scan digital slide and film scanner transforms old film negatives and slides into digital images you can save, share and enjoy — forever.

Normally, this classic media scanner would cost $224. But you can grab one for just $164.97 for a limited time.

Put a Satechi OntheGo 3-in-1 Charger on a hotel nightstand and it’s ready to juice up your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at once. When it’s time to go, it folds up into a travel-friendly shape.

There’s also a 2-in-1 version, and both hit store shelves on Tuesday.

The new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 lineup opens the Camera app, takes pictures and adjusts camera settings on the fly. It offers a quick shortcut to using one of the most popular and important iPhone features.

Apple baked a lot of controls and interactivity into this innovative button. But while Cupertino’s designers are usually restrained, some people find this new user interface a little fiddly. The physically clicking button also accepts touch input when you swipe your finger along it. And it utilizes pressure sensitivity and haptic feedback as you maneuver through the iPhone’s camera settings.

Learn how to master the iPhone 16’s new Camera Control button in our guide below.

Apple’s redesigned Photos app in iOS 18 brings the biggest changes ever to how you browse your pictures, videos and memories on your iPhone. Gone are the separate tabs across the bottom. Now the Photos app delivers a single, scrollable view. Scroll up to see your library; scroll down to sort through albums, people and memories.

It takes some getting used to — and the big changes are driving some people absolutely insane. To get a grip on all the changes, you need to learn where to find your recently saved images, deleted photos and your album of hidden photos.

Here’s how it works.