Apple reportedly held internal discussions to acquire AI startup Perplexity AI. The latter is an AI-powered search engine. It uses a large language model (LLM) to process the answers and presents them in an easier-to-understand format.
The discussions inside Apple are seemingly at an early level, and it may not even officially provide an offer to the young startup.
Apple focused heavily on the new Liquid Glass design language during the iOS 26 unveiling last week. But there’s more to the operating system than the glossy new look that’s coming to all the company’s operating systems.
While Apple highlighted iOS 26’s major features during the WWDC25 keynote, many meaningful quality-of-life improvements flew under the radar. Here are some of the smaller, hidden features in iOS 26 that you shouldn’t miss.
I’ve spent the week hands-on with iOS 26, living with its stunning new design and incredible features. I really love the direction iOS is going — even if there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out before its September release.
Liquid Glass, the flashy new user interface, is gorgeous. Loads of people will love the new Lock Screen and Home Screen features, like Spatial Scenes and clear icons. A few other features may need some tweaking, however, like the new Camera app and Phone app.
Should you install it yourself? God no, it’s a buggy mess. You should definitely not install it on your daily driver. But should you be excited to get it in September, after Apple irons out the kinks? Absolutely. Keep reading or watch our video for a hands-on look at the joys (and annoyances) of iOS 26.
Apple reportedly is cooking up significant changes to core iPhone and iPad apps, with redesigned interfaces coming soon to the Phone, Safari, Camera and Messages apps. The company plans to reveal the app updates Monday during the WWDC25 keynote, alongside other sweeping changes to its operating systems.
Before too much longer, doing a search in the Safari web browser might bring up AI-powered results rather than the standard Google search engine, according to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services.
Cue points out that this is Apple following a trend, as the company sees Safari users increasingly turning to AIs in place of traditional search engines.
You can easily change the default browser on your iPhone if you prefer to use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge or any other alternative. Maybe you use a PC at home and want your bookmarks, history and passwords to sync to your iPhone. Or maybe you simply prefer something other than Apple’s Safari browser.
Whichever browser you set as your iPhone’s default will open when you tap on a link from Messages or Mail, get AirDropped a URL, scan a QR code, search the web with Siri and perform other tasks. This doesn’t mean Safari will be deleted, however. Apple’s stock app will remain installed on your iPhone if case you decide to switch back (which is super-easy).
Here’s how to change the default browser on your iPhone — and transfer your bookmarks and data, too. Keep reading or watch our quick video.
Safari on the Mac feels a lot faster to use than Google Chrome. It is also more battery efficient and takes fewer resources. Yet, I prefer using Google Chrome on my MacBook.
Despite its faults, Google Chrome trumps Safari in many key aspects. There’s a reason why Google’s browser is the most popular choice worldwide.
So, you’ve been using Safari’s Private Browsing mode on your iPhone or iPad, for whatever reason, but you forget to close out of the tab. The next time you open Safari, you’ll be thrown into whatever unscrupulous web page you had open last time — and the result can range from unfortunate to embarrassing, depending upon what you were looking at and where you are when you unexpectedly resume the Private Browsing session.
Luckily, iOS offers a foolproof way to avoid reopening a Private Browsing mode session. Let me show you how.
The United Kingdom could precipitate a significant iPhone revamp after a government report found that “Apple’s rules restrict other competitors from being able to deliver new, innovative features that could benefit consumers.”
The findings in the report are sure to inform government regulators as they enforce the U.K.’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which goes into effect in January 2025.
Apple added several nifty new features to Safari in iOS 18. The iPhone’s redesigned web browser boasts an all-new Page Menu. Plus, two big new features help surface what you’re looking for on the web.
The last big Safari redesign for iPhone, which arrived three years ago, moved the address bar to the bottom of the screen by default. It also shoved several useful features into a menu in the address bar, which made it difficult to discover them. Apple tries to reverse that second problem in the new Safari.
Here’s what’s new in iOS 18 in Safari on iPhone — keep reading or watch our video.
European iPhone and iPad users will be able to kick Apple’s Phone and Messages apps to the curb if they wish. The same goes for an array of other applications that iOS currently makes the default options.
These join a long list of other changes being forced on Apple by the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
As an alternative to using the Apple Podcasts app, as of Monday anyone can browse, hear, sync and share Apple Podcasts in 170 countries on all major web browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
So now Apple Podcasts joins the likes of Podbay and Podurama in offering its own online player for anyone on any platform.
The Opera browser’s new mobile version for iPhone, dubbed Opera One for iOS, integrates artificial intelligence features like image generation and voice input, a free VPN for private browsing and other elements to offer a fresh alternative to pre-installed browsers on Apple devices like Safari, the company said Tuesday.
“Our research shows mobile phone users are six times more likely to be happy than not, after switching away from their system’s default browser,” said Jona Bolin, product manager at Opera. “So with Opera One for iOS, we want to further raise the bar and deliver a better browsing experience versus what users will find pre-installed.”
Apple should never have entered into the deal that had Google paying billions every year to be the default search engine for iPhone, Mac, and iPad. And it’s shameful that it’ll take a court order to finally make Apple do the right thing.
A company that claims to carefully protect the privacy of its users shouldn’t be part of an arrangement that steered those users toward Google, whose business is built on privacy violation. Interestingly, some users may find that certain websites require specific browser settings to function correctly, such as ensuring you enable JavaScript on iPhone for a smoother browsing experience.
A U.S. federal judge ruled Monday that Google paying Apple billions to be the default search engine on iPhone and other devices is a violation of antitrust law. He said it makes Google a monopolist.
This is the result of a court case brought by the Department of Justice against Google. Apple isn’t directly involved, though its annual income may have just dropped by $15 billion or $20 billion. Or more.
Apple added Distraction Control to the Safari web browser in the iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia 15 betas released Monday. The new feature allows users to remove elements they find irritating or distracting from web pages.
Some have called Distraction Control an ad blocker. It’s not. Or certainly not a very good one.
Apple is updating Safari this year for a cleaner, faster web browsing experience on iPhones, iPads and Macs. While the enhanced Reader mode and Highlights stand out as key additions to Safari in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, several other changes will come to Apple’s web browser as well.
Below we’ll look at all the improvements coming to Safari later this year.
A new report details that Google wants to reduce its reliance on Apple for search revenue. Despite being the leader in search, Google pays Apple billions of dollars yearly to remain the iPhone’s default search engine.
iPhone searchers comprise about 36% of Google’s total search revenue.
Apple’s Safari web browser will learn a few new tricks across Apple devices, including web page highlights and summaries, as well as better-integrated control of videos online, the iPhone giant pointed out Monday in its Safari updates at WWDC24 section of the Keynote.
“In this release, we’re making it even better with easier ways to discover content and streamline your browsing. When you’re on a site Safari can now help you discover more about the page with highlights,” said Beth Dakin, Apple’s senior manager, Safari Software Engineering.
Apple is further opening up iOS to alternative browsers and browser engines, as part of Cupertino’s plan to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.
In iOS 17.4 — launched Thursday as a beta — iPhone users in the EU will have a lot more choice over the default browser and browser engines.
The biggest change will be the ability to use alternative browser engines, like Google’s Blink renderer instead of Apple’s WebKit.
Now that iOS and the App Store have been labeled “gatekeepers” by the European Commission, the EU’s Digital Markets Act requires Apple to allow users to install applications directly onto iPhones. And sideloading is just one of the sweeping changes resulting from the DMA. Users apparently will be able to replace Siri with one of its rivals, for example. Other services, like iMessage, might require modification later.
One thing’s clear: The iPhone won’t be the same after the Digital Markets Act goes into effect in spring 2024.
Apple continues beta testing iOS 17, with the seventh beta dropping on August 22nd. As the beta program has progressed, the company has made fewer and fewer user-facing changes to new builds.
It’s the same story with iOS 17 beta 7, which hardly packs any meaningful changes or improvements. Below is everything new in the latest iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 beta.
iOS 17 has a lot of great headlining features — and many more features Apple didn’t have time to mention during the WWDC23 keynote. Today, I’m going one level deeper: Here are 10 more tweaks and smaller changes that could have a big impact on daily life with your iPhone after you update to iOS 17.
With Safari Profiles, Apple takes another swing at helping us organize all the browser tabs we have open. The new feature lets users put tabs and tab groups into separate areas, helping keep work and our personal lives from interfering.
Beyond that, Safari Profiles also could enable two or more people to more easily share the web browser, which can be a huge benefit for iPad users.
I’ve been testing the new feature in the first betas of iOS 17, macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17, all of which Apple unveiled at WWDC23 this week.
Private Browsing mode in Apple Safari will soon get even more secure. It’ll be locked against someone else accessing it, and incorporate new tools to prevent websites from tracking users.
The additional privacy features are coming in iOS 17, macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17, all of which were unveiled at WWDC23 this week.