| Cult of Mac

Handy Mac tool lets you check the status of Apple services with one click

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StatusBuddy-Mac
Download it free today.
Photo: Guilherme Rambo

StatusBuddy is a brand-new app for macOS that lets you quickly check on the status of various Apple services in just one click.

The app sits in your Mac’s menu bar where it’s always accessible and displays a red badge when an Apple service is running into issues. It pulls information from Apple’s official status pages so you don’t have to go hunting for it.

Leaked HomePod sounds are absolutely delightful

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Apple's new HomePod smart speaker is ready to rock your house.
HomePod will launch in December, but supplies will be constrained.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s latest firmware for the unreleased HomePod revealed a new set of sounds that the smart speaker will use to indicate various user interactions.

The new tones for the Siri-powered speaker sound different from the ones leaked in a previous firmware build. They also serve different purposes. While the sounds are simple, they are quite lovely — and worthy of a $350 speaker.

Take a listen:

Apple’s biggest spoilers: The devs who cracked the code on iPhone X

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Apple keynote spoiler, Steven Troughton-Smith.
One of the devs who helped crack Apple's code. Literally.
Steve Troughton Smith/Flickr

When Apple execs stepped onstage for September’s big iPhone X unveiling, they had precious few surprises up their sleeves. This year’s iPhone keynote became one of the most spoiled in history, thanks to major software leaks — and a pair of industrious young developers who dug into Apple’s code to pierce the veil of Apple’s vaunted secrecy apparatus.

Steven Troughton-Smith and Guilherme Rambo, who live thousands of miles apart in Ireland and Brazil, dutifully combed through the leaked code. Working separately but in parallel, they pieced together clues that allowed them to reverse-engineer Apple’s plans. Then they released their findings on Twitter, painting an incredibly accurate picture of the iPhone X in a drip-drip-drip of juicy, spoiler-filled tweets.

The end result? An Apple event upstaged by leaks, and by the hard work of two curious coders. Cult of Mac talked with Troughton-Smith and Rambo to find out how they uncovered some of Apple’s most closely kept secrets.

iOS 11 GM leak reveals new details about next iPhones [Updated]

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Another apparent leak from Apple serves up more details about the upcoming products, including this swirly new iPhone wallpaper leaked
You'll soon be able to add wallpaper packs to your iPhone.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This post has been updated to include the latest info from the massive iOS 11 golden master leak.

Apple looks leakier than the White House these days. The latest unauthorized dump of info about upcoming Apple products comes in the form of a leaked golden master version of iOS 11.

Obtained late Friday by tech publications, the prematurely released final version of Apple’s mobile operating system reveals details about everything from the upcoming iPhones’ model names to dazzling new iOS wallpapers and details about the next Apple Watch.

Spoiler alert: If you want any surprises at all during next Tuesday’s Apple event, stop reading now.

iPhone 8 could silence notifications when you’re looking at it

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iphone
Sounds won't, well, sound when you're paying attention.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 8 might use its 3D facial recognition sensor to silence notifications when you’re looking at the device.

Developer Guilherme Rambo discovered the possible UI element buried inside code accidentally released as part of Apple’s HomePod firmware. Coders digging into the software discovered numerous other details about upcoming Apple devices.

HomePod software leaks new ‘SmartCamera’ feature for iPhone

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iPhone 8 facial recognition
We could be waiting a long time for iPhone 8.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s HomePod might have revealed another huge new iPhone feature after developers did some more digging into the beta software for the upcoming smart speaker.

The software appears to reference an unannounced “SmartCamera” feature built into iOS 11 or the yet-to-be-released 2017 iPhone. And it could totally change the way we snap photos.