Apple moved to address many of the privacy concerns raised after the release of AirTags. The item trackers launched with anti-stalking features, but a new firmware update is tightening them up further.

AirTags will start more quickly warning people if they’re being used to follow someone. And an Android app that can detect these trackers is in development.

If you’re going away this summer and leaving your home in the hands of someone else, you might want to give them control of your HomeKit devices. And it’s really easy to do that inside the Home app.

Here’s how to invite anyone with an iPhone, iPad or Mac to control your smart home gadgets as a guest.

Turn your iPad Pro into a desktop computer almost anywhere with the Satechi Aluminum Stand & Hub. It folds to be easily carried, but opens to hold up the tablet and provide a USB-A port, HDMI port and more.

Keep your AirTag protected and secured to almost anything with the simple, stylish and affordable SwitchEasy Skin.

Made from sturdy silicone, the Skin is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. It shows off both sides of your AirTag while allowing you to easily attach it to backpacks, purses, suitcases and more.

Bag yours today for as little as $12.99.

Want to capture a low-light photo without using the Night mode feature on newer iPhone models? It’s real easy to turn off right inside the built-in Camera app. We’ll show you how.

Apple employees are expected to return to the office this autumn. A memo sent to employees says they should plan to be on the office three days a week, if not more. That includes the company headquarters.

The change comes as COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S. have fallen dramatically in recent weeks.

A simple copy-and-paste app called Paste Keyboard shot to the top of the App Store charts this week after languishing in obscurity for years.

Made by 28-year-old South Korean developer Techin Park, the keyboard app hitched a ride on TikTok’s massive success — and then dethroned it as the most popular app in the United States.

“Everyone is curious how such [a] simple idea, copy and paste, has trumped the almighty TikTok in app rank,” Park told Cult of Mac. “Copy and paste is a feature we all use at least once daily. Not many think it’s special. But in reality, increasing efficiency [when it comes to] how we copy and paste can save a lot more of our time than we possibly think.”

And, apparently, score you crazy numbers of downloads, too.

There are so many productivity-boosting apps out there, it can be difficult to choose just one when it comes to the functionality you want. Whether you want the perfect communication tool, an easy-to-use video editing app or a bunch of different things in between, the cost of multiple subscriptions can really add up. And it gets worse if you want to run Windows apps on your Mac.

Luckily, there’s The All-Star Mac Bundle Featuring Parallels Pro. This bundle includes five award-winning apps that cover a wide range of functions, from productivity to contact management, cybersecurity to PDF navigation. And the headline app lets you run Windows apps on your Mac.

This bundle is on sale for just $49.99. That’s 94% less than the total value, which is $876. Even better, you can get an additional 30% off with code ALLSTARMAC for a limited time.

Keep your iPhone, iPad, Mac and more topped up and connected with generous discounts on Amazon Basics charging cables and USB-C hubs.

Prices start at just $6.31 for a three-foot fast charging cable, while a 30W USB-C charger with GaN technology can be yours for $17.29. Amazon’s 3-in-1 USB-C hub is down to just $25.49.

The discounts are good for a limited time only, so enjoy them while you can.

This year’s iPhones will debut in the third week of September, although that date could “push out into early October” due to “continued product model tweaks,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

In a new note to clients, Ives gives his expectations for the debut of the next-gen iPhones — as well as a forecast of Apple’s expectations for the handsets. If he’s accurate, Apple’s expecting some very big things indeed for the iPhone 13.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives thinks overhauled 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros will be among Apple’s announcements at the usually software-focused Worldwide Developers Conference next week.

Recent rumors provide a pretty decent picture of what the new MacBook Pro might look like. The updated laptops supposedly will be a pretty major rethink of the pro-grade, M1-powered notebook Apple introduced last November. Among the changes will be a redesigned chassis, built-in SD card reader and HDMI port, a MagSafe charger and a faster M2 chip. However, the next-gen MacBook Pro supposedly will not come with an LED Touch Bar.

As CEOs of Apple, both Tim Cook and his predecessor Steve Jobs pride or, in Jobs’ case, prided themselves on the ability to say “no” to ideas. For obvious reasons, most of the time the world never gets to hear what those shot-down ideas actually were.

However, emails disclosed as part of the discovery for the Epic vs. Apple trial, now adjourned, shows one of the ideas that was talked about internally — but ultimately abandoned. That ideas was for a 15-inch MacBook Air, discussed as far back as 2007, the year before Apple debuted its ultra-thin notebook.

Whether you’re looking to boost your programming skills or switch careers, smartphone app development is a growth market that will only see higher demand as time goes on. Right now, you can take advantage of our red-hot Memorial Day sale on The Complete Mobile & App Development Bundle. We dropped its already discounted price of $44.99 even further to just $20.

The App Store ecosystem enabled $643 billion in billings and sales during 2020. That’s up 24% over the previous year, with much of the increase related to people taking more of their lives online during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study that examines how the App Store helps small businesses.

Apple touted these numbers as it waits for a federal judge to decide whether to order significant changes to the App Store.

The Fox family’s adventures will continue in The Mosquito Coast on Apple TV+. The streaming service committed to second season on Wednesday.

The series is adapted from the best-seller by Paul Theroux, and the story isn’t anywhere near its conclusion in the final episode of season 1, which will premiere June 4.

Update: Apple changed the status for Apple Card from “outage” to “resolved outage” Wednesday afternoon. The service was offline for almost exactly six hours.

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Apple Card users may find that they’re unable to make a payment or see recent transactions. Apple reports that the software that handles these tasks for its credit card has been having problems for several hours.

Arizona-based Tyler Botha, aka theallseeingeye on Reddit, is a TV-focused copywriter for a San Francisco startup and a retired pro DJ. The setup and epic gear list he sent to our attention does triple duty with a capable “WFH Desk,” a powerful “Gaming Corner” and a remarkably complete “DJ Desk.”

Talk about “complete.” Botha’s gear list, represented in the links below, is probably the longest one ever published in a Cult of Mac Setups article. You don’t have to be a DJ to appreciate it, but it helps.

An improved display in the iPhone 13 series reportedly will force Apple to put in a larger battery, making the upcoming handsets slightly thicker.

This could mean we finally get an iPhone screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The faster rate makes the user interface of a phone or tablet just a bit smoother and more responsive.

There’s macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS. How about homeOS, signaling a ramping up of Apple’s smart home ambitions?

That is one take-home from a new Apple Music job posting spotted online. It references a hitherto-unannounced mobile operating system called “homeOS.” While Apple rolled out its HomeKit smart home platform in 2014, it has — to date — been a part of iOS/iPadOS, rather than its own fully fledged operating system. That could change soon.

Want a fancy new M1 iMac? Now’s a great time to bag one with some retailers already offering up to $86 off the normal selling price. And Cult of Mac can help make yours even more affordable.

Sell your old machine to us today and we’ll send you a sweet wad of cash to put toward your upgrade. We pay great prices and we make the whole trade-in process quick and simple.

The bumpy, pothole-filled road to Apple Car continues, with Bloomberg claiming Wednesday that Apple has “lost multiple top managers of its self-driving car team” in recent months.

The company reportedly has hundreds of engineers working on self-driving software, along with multiple groups of employees working on a physical vehicle. However, multiple managers on the project have thrown in the towel this year alone. That’s never a great look.

Slapping a smartwatch on your wrist has long been a luxury with a major payoff. It’s convenient to manage your day from your watch. Using an Apple Watch can allow you to step away from your iPhone or Mac while remaining in touch via notifications and other smart features.

However, smartwatches can also be quite expensive. The most-affordable Apple Watch costs $199, and higher-end models go for hundreds of dollars more. But for a limited time, you can score an Apple Watch alternative called the ChronoWatch for just $32.97. It’s an affordable wearable that offers many of the benefits of top smartwatches. (Typically listed at $199, the ChronoWatch will still be a bargain at $39.99 if you miss this exceptional price drop.

Tim Cook is “afraid of [the] shareholder blowback” that might come with buying a Hollywood studio, claims one executive, quoted in a new story from the Hollywood Reporter.

The article, published Wednesday, suggests that Apple missed out on buying MGM Studios because it wasn’t bold enough to do so. Amazon recently snapped up MGM, home of the James Bond movies, for a massive $8.45 billion. Apple was supposedly in the bidding at some point, but didn’t wind up going through with it.

Because Tim Cook’s chicken. Or something.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at VivaTech, described as Europe’s biggest startup and tech event, later this month. The multiday conference runs from June 16 through June 19. It has yet to be confirmed which day Cook will appear, and we still don’t know whether his talk will be given live or (as is more likely) virtually.

In a tweet, VivaTech’s organizers said: “Newsflash! Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at #VivaTech for the first time!”

Don’t waste your time vacuuming when you can get a robot to it for you. The excellent Ecovacs Deebot 500, which gets glowing reviews on Amazon, is now available for less than $110 today only. Bag yours before they’re gone!