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Apple preps battery case for its sleekest iPhone yet

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iPhone 17 Air rumors
The iPhone 17 Air's thin design will come with a battery life compromise.
Photo: Cult of Mac/Jon Prosser

Apple might rely on one of its old accessories to compensate for the iPhone 17 Air’s short battery life. The company reportedly will launch an iPhone 17 Air Smart Battery Case to extend the device’s runtime.

In Apple’s internal testing, the iPhone 17 Air reportedly does not last as long as other members of the iPhone 17 family. Given its focus on an ultra-slim design, this comes as no surprise.

Let Apple Mail organize your emails for you

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Sorting So You Don’t Have To
And with Writing Tools, it can reply to your emails for you, too.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

With the new automatic mail categorization in Apple Mail, you can organize your emails and keep your personal inbox less cluttered. It’ll intelligently put all your newsletters, receipts and promotions into separate folders.

If you struggle keeping up with your inbox, this feature is a great way to make your email easier to understand at a glance.

Keep reading below or watch our quick video.

Apple teams up with Anthropic for AI coding

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Anthropic and Xcode logo
Apple will use Anthropic's expertise for its vibe-coding platform.
Graphics: Anthropic/Apple

Apple is using Anthropic’s AI models to build a “vibe-coding” software platform for programming. However, it may limit this platform for internal use, never releasing it publicly.

The Cupertino giant will partner with the young AI startup on this project.

How to transfer video from iPhone to iPad via cable

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Transfer video from iPhone to iPad
Apple makes moving images and video from iPhone to iPad via a cable quick and easy.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Now that both iPhone and iPad have USB-C ports, transferring video and images between them can be easily done by connecting them with a cable, without mucking about with wireless transfers.

It’s easy, and brings some advantages over AirDrop. Most notably, iPhone Pro 15/16 users get a big speed boost.

Here’s what to do.

Create custom emoji in Messages using Genmoji

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Make Your Own Emoji
Genmoji can fit every occasion.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Using Apple’s Genmoji, you can create custom emoji when you can’t find the exact right one to express yourself nonverbally. The Apple Intelligence feature generates emoji on the fly based on your descriptions.

Finally, you can enhance your conversations about ostriches or shovels or tissue boxes with your own custom emoji. Or make an emoji that matches your pet, like a white cat or a Pomeranian dog. You can even make emoji versions of people you know.

Here’s how to use the fun new feature.

Apple finally bows to major, court-ordered changes to App Store

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iPhone App Store
The iPhone App Store won’t be quite the same.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple changed its App Store rules late Thursday to allow third-party iPhone application developers to steer customers toward their own websites to make purchases. The move comes after a years-long delay in complying with a court order.

The alteration in the rules should result in many iPhone apps allowing customers to pay for services and subscriptions without giving Apple a cut. Streaming music service Spotify became one of the first to take advantage of this major change to the App Store. The modification gives customers more buying options, and the hope is that this will save them money.

Today in Apple history: Apple’s first watch is a freebie for upgraders

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The first Apple watch was ... well, just a watch, actually.
Apple's first watch was ... well, just a watch, actually.
Photo: Jonathan Morrison

May 2: Today in Apple history: First Apple watch is a freebie for upgraders May 2, 1995: Apple enters the wearables space with its first watch. However, the first Apple watch is a timepiece with no fitness-tracking tech, no on-screen notifications and a whole lot of 1990s styling.

The device comes two decades before wearables actually will become a thing. A regular wristwatch, the freebie gadget is available via a special mail-in offer to Mac OS upgraders.

Spotify takes advantage of new App Store payment rules [Updated]

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Spotify logo on iPhone
Spotify is putting the heat on Apple.
Photo: 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.

Price drop: This wireless CarPlay adapter lets you watch videos on your car’s screen

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Add streaming abilities to your car with PlayAIBox, a $90 wireless CarPlay adapter.
The PlayAIBox does CarPlay (and Android Auto) without wires, and also supports streaming services like Apple TV+, Netflix and YouTube.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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).

Trump tariffs will cost Apple almost $1 billion this quarter

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AI image of an Apple logo in a post-apocalyptic landscape, with the words
Newly imposed tariffs could cost Apple $900 million dollars this quarter -- and that's just the start.
Illustration: Midjourney/Cult of Mac

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.

What economic problems? Apple posts solid growth.

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AI image of the Apple logo, with a see-through, glassy look, and the word
Revenue from services like Apple Music jumped to an all-time high last quarter, and strong iPhone 16e sales didn't hurt, either.
Illustration: Midjourney/Cult of Mac

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.

How to join the awesome password-free future and use passkeys

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No More Passwords
Passkeys are here, and I’m here to tell you they’re awesome.
Image: Santeri Viinamäki/Wikimedia Commons, D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

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.

Today in Apple history: iTunes puts the hurt on DVDs

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iTunes movie
iTunes getting day-and-date releases for new movies was a big deal.
Photo: Apple

May 1: Today in Apple history: iTunes begins selling digital movies on same day as DVD release 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.

Stop using these stupid, stupid passwords immediately

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Stupid passwords
You’re not a idiot. Stop acting like one.
Photo: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac

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

Celebrate World Password Day by getting to grips with the Apple Passwords app

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Stop Using The Same Passwords
The time has come to use a password manager.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

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.

Brush up on financial lingo for Apple’s quarterly earnings call

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Learn the financial lingo to get the most out of earnings call chatter.
Learn the financial lingo to get the most out of earnings call chatter.
Photo: Kevin Dooley/Flickr CC

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 Gemini might land on iPhones this year

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Gemini logo with concept iOS 19 logo
iOS 19 could finally bring deeper Gemini integration to iPhones.
Photo: Concept logo: Kevin Kall/Google

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.

Judge blasts Apple for willfully defying order on App Store payments

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Photo of an iPhone with the App Store app on the screen
Judge's ruling will force Apple to make big changes to the App Store.
Photo: Brett Jordan

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.

Don’t board the plane without this travel hack for your phone

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Man setting up the eSIM from aloSIM.
Get an aloSIM Traveler's Mobile Data Plan for $34.99.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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.

Despite tariff turmoil, Wall Street expects good news from Apple

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Apple financial results expectations: Bullish
It seems a bit surprising, but analysts think Apple is about to deliver some upbeat financial news.
AI image: Google Gemini/Cult of Mac

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.

Look things up with your iPhone’s camera using Visual Intelligence

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Looking up a computer mouse using the camera with Visual Intelligence, captioned, “Look It Up With The Camera”
Search for products and get information with Visual Intelligence.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

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.

Meta, Match and Spotify join forces against Apple and Google

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Meta Match and Spotify join forces against Apple and Google
Once again, conflicts arise over App Store practices.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

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.

Behold ‘an Apple fan’s dream setup’ [Setups]

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dream setup
This dream setup features an M4 Pro MacBook Pro and a Studio Display.
Photo: [email protected]

“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.”

Today in Apple history: First iPad 3G tablets land in customers’ hands

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iPad
The iPad was the fastest-selling new product line in Apple history.
Photo: iPad

April 30: Today in Apple history: iPad 3G arrives 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.