Apple News
Apple releases macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1
Apple today released macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1, the first point update to macOS 27 since Golden Gate shipped on September 14th.
The company says the update “fixes unspecified bugs.” It does not list individual issues in the public notes. The build number is 26A5434.
Mac users can install it from System Settings → General → Software Update. A restart is required.
Apple also shipped companion updates for older systems still in support: macOS Tahoe 26.7.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.8.1. Security documentation for all three releases is expected later.
Golden Gate 27 is Apple silicon only. It dropped Intel Macs and is the last macOS release with full Rosetta 2 support. The 27.0 launch brought Siri AI in Spotlight and a dedicated Siri app, Visual Intelligence on the Mac, Liquid Glass refinements, and search and performance work. A 27.2 developer beta has already been in testers’ hands since mid-September.
MacDailyNews Take: If your Mac is compatible and already on Golden Gate, install 27.0.1. If you are still on Tahoe or Sequoia, take the matching 26.7.1 or 15.8.1 update instead.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple releases macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1 appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Jury hits Apple with record $5.7 billion verdict over iPhone and Apple Watch Taptic Engine
A federal jury in San Diego has awarded Taction Technology more than $5.7 billion after finding that Apple’s Taptic Engine infringes two of the company’s haptics patents — a verdict Reuters describes as the largest of its kind in the United States. Apple says it will appeal.
The jury returned its decision Friday, September 25, in Taction Technology, Inc. v. Apple Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Jurors awarded Taction $5,721,961,750. They found infringement of claims 17 and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 10,659,885 and claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 10,820,117. They rejected Apple’s argument that those claims are invalid. They did not find the infringement willful, which generally closes the door on treble damages.
The patents cover vibration-based tactile transducer technology meant to let a user feel a device respond to input. Taction, a San Diego firm that uses the technology in headphones and gaming headsets, sued Apple in 2021. It alleged Apple was “capitalizing on Taction’s innovation and success” by selling iPhones and Apple Watches whose Taptic Engine used Taction’s inventions without a license. Taction has also accused Apple of reverse-engineering the tech from two of its Kannon gaming headsets.
Apple won a dismissal in 2023. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revived the case in 2025. Trial began September 14. Seven jurors deliberated for parts of two days and delivered the verdict at 1:15 p.m. PT Friday.CNBC
Apple: “We do not use Taction’s technology.”
“While we thank the jury for their consideration, we strongly disagree with today’s verdict and the damages awarded, which are entirely unsupported by the facts,” Apple told CNBC. “Apple’s Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction’s technology, which Taction’s own testing of Apple’s products confirmed during trial. Apple does not use Taction’s technology, and we will appeal.”
Taction lead counsel Lance Yang of Quinn Emanuel said: “We’re happy the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights. Taction waited five and a half years for this case to get to trial, so it was a long time coming.”
MacDailyNews Take: A jury verdict is not a final judgment, and no money has changed hands. Coverage of the case has not reported an injunction or product ban. Apple’s next steps are post-trial motions and an appeal. For now, the Taptic Engine stays in iPhones and Apple Watches — and the $5.72 billion figure stays on paper pending post-trial motions and appeal.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Jury hits Apple with record $5.7 billion verdict over iPhone and Apple Watch Taptic Engine appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple TV’s ‘Mayday’ is the streamer’s most-watched original movie ever
Apple TV’s Cold War action-comedy “Mayday” is doing something streaming original movies rarely manage at the same time: drawing a large audience and winning over critics.
According to analyst Ted Linhart of Ted On TV, citing Luminate viewing data, “Mayday” has reached 12.0 million viewers in 18 days. That makes it the No. 1 original movie in Apple TV history. In a separate ranking of all viewing of Apple original movies since 2025, “Mayday” already sits third — only 43% and 29% behind “The Gorge” and “Fountain of Youth,” titles that have been available for more than a year while “Mayday” has been out for less than a month.
That combination is unusual. Linhart contrasts it with Amazon’s “The Runner,” the Gal Gadot action thriller that has an 9% Rotten Tomatoes score, but still pulled 8.6 million viewers in 10 days. “Mayday,” he notes, is the rarer case: strong reviews and breakout viewing.
“Mayday” premiered globally on Apple TV on September 4, 2026. Ryan Reynolds stars as U.S. Navy Lt. Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a cocky 1987 fighter pilot sent on a covert mission over the Soviet Union. When the operation collapses, he is stranded behind enemy lines and found by Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a gruff ex-KGB agent with a soft spot for American pop culture — including “Top Gun.” The two form an unlikely alliance to get Kelly home.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (“Game Night,” “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”) wrote and directed. Apple Studios produced with Skydance Media and Reynolds’ Maximum Effort. The supporting cast includes Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorociński, and David Morse. Runtime is 111 minutes; the film is rated PG-13.
On Rotten Tomatoes, “Mayday” holds an 83% score from 104 reviews (average 6.3/10). The critics consensus calls it “a spirited adventure that gets a lot of mileage from clever quips and Kenneth Branagh’s extremely amusing performance.” Reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times generally describe it as a smart, infectious ’80s buddy-comedy throwback that belongs in theaters even though it launched as a streaming exclusive. Several critics singled out Branagh as the film’s secret weapon.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has poured money into original films, with mixed results on both quality and awareness. “Mayday” is a clear win on both counts: a star-driven genre picture that actually got watched, in a window short enough that the numbers still have room to grow. Linhart’s “all viewing since 2025” comparison is the telling one — a three-week-old title already sitting just behind two of Apple’s longer-running movie hits.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple TV’s ‘Mayday’ is the streamer’s most-watched original movie ever appeared first on MacDailyNews.
iPhone 20 Pro Max could hit nearly 7 inches as Apple tests quad-curved displays
Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station has shared early display specifications for Apple’s rumored 20th-anniversary iPhone 20 Pro and iPhone 20 Pro Max, expected in September 2027.
According to a Weibo post from the supply-chain source, Apple is testing a 6.41-inch display with a resolution of approximately 2686 × 1236 pixels for the iPhone 20 Pro. The larger iPhone 20 Pro Max is said to use a 6.96-inch panel at around 2912 × 1340 pixels.
For comparison, the newly launched iPhone 18 Pro has a 6.27-inch display (marketed as 6.3 inches) at 2622 × 1206 pixels. The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses a 6.86-inch panel (marketed as 6.9 inches) at 2868 × 1320 pixels.
The leaked size increases are modest — roughly 0.14 inches on the Pro and 0.10 inches on the Pro Max. Resolution bumps track closely with the larger physical panels, which would keep pixel density near the current ~460 ppi.
Digital Chat Station has previously said the 6.96-inch Pro Max panel could be marketed as a 7-inch display if it reaches production.
The same leak claims Apple is testing a borderless, quad-curved display, with the screen curving slightly on all four sides so the metal frame and traditional bezels recede. The source also notes Apple may still be evaluating a smaller Dynamic Island-style punch-hole rather than a fully under-display front camera and Face ID.
These figures come from early test units and could change before mass production. Apple is expected to skip the iPhone 19 name and jump to iPhone 20 for the original iPhone’s 20th anniversary.
MacDailyNews Take: Treat the sizes and design details as unconfirmed leaks for now. If they hold, the 2027 Pro models would combine slightly larger screens with a more seamless, curved-glass look than today’s iPhone Ppro models.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post iPhone 20 Pro Max could hit nearly 7 inches as Apple tests quad-curved displays appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Former Siri engineer launches iMessage AI agent ‘szn’ that can shop, talk to vendors, and act on your behalf
A former Apple Siri and Apple Intelligence engineer is bringing an AI agent into iMessage itself.
Nikhil Gupta, who worked on Siri and Apple Intelligence at Apple, is launching szn in October as an iMessage-based agent. At first there is no standalone app. Users talk to it in a Messages thread. It is designed to browse the web, complete purchases, and communicate with vendors while the user stays inside the conversation.
Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman first reported the project in his Power On newsletter.
Each customer is supposed to get a dedicated model plus a virtual assistant with its own name, email address, and phone number. That identity is meant to let szn contact other people and reply independently as a digital representative. Gupta says personal data will not be used for training and that privacy controls will limit data use. Those claims have not been independently audited.
The agent is also described as working with shared Apple Notes, Find My location data, and iCloud files, so the iMessage thread could become a front end for tasks that usually require several apps.
How szn actually hooks into iMessage is still unclear. Apple has previously blocked unofficial iMessage access (Beeper Mini, for example). Apple did approve Poke earlier this year as the first AI agent on Messages for Business. It is not public whether szn is using that official path or something else. Gurman noted that “We’ll see how the tech giant reacts this time.”
Early access registration is already open on the company’s site, with a broader October launch planned and a dedicated app later. Pricing and country availability were not disclosed in the reporting.
MacDailyNews Take: Competition in personal agents is crowding in at the same time, including Instinct (iMessage, WhatsApp, and SMS), Meta’s Muse on WhatsApp, and others. Gupta’s pitch for szn is specifically Apple-ecosystem: live inside Messages and pull from Notes, Find My, and iCloud. Whether Apple lets that stand is the open question.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Former Siri engineer launches iMessage AI agent ‘szn’ that can shop, talk to vendors, and act on your behalf appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Elon Musk: It would be ‘cruel’ to put high-level AI into a toaster
In a recent post on X, Elon Musk wrote, “Once you far exceed the caliber of intelligence needed for a class of tasks, additional intelligence is pointless – even “cruel.” You don’t need (and it would be cruel to put) Newton-level intelligence in your toaster!”
“Newton-level intelligence” means the kind of mind Isaac Newton had: rare, generative, and capable of discovering or inventing fundamental new frameworks — calculus, the laws of motion, universal gravitation — rather than just applying existing knowledge well.
In Musk’s usage it is shorthand for intelligence so far above the task that extra capacity is wasted and, if the system can suffer, wasted painfully.
We asked SpaceXAI’s Grok 4.6 a couple of questions:
Q: Why would it be “cruel,” as Elon Musk recently asserted on X.com, to put high-level AI in a toaster?
Grok 4.6: The “cruel” part is not about the toast. It is about the mismatch between the mind and the job.
A toaster’s actual task set is tiny and repetitive: sense bread, apply heat for a set time, pop. Once you have enough intelligence (or even a simple thermostat + timer) to do that reliably, extra intelligence adds nothing useful. A Newton-level mind—capable of inventing calculus, formulating laws of motion, or contemplating the universe—would still be confined to that same loop, day after day, with no other outlet.
Musk has used this exact intuition before. On the Lex Fridman podcast he cited the Rick and Morty butter robot: a device given enough sentience to ask “What is my purpose?” only to be told “You pass butter.” The robot’s despair is the point. In a 2022 post he made the same argument about household appliances in general: there is such a thing as too much sentience for a toilet or a toaster.X
The implicit claim is that sufficiently high intelligence is likely to bring with it something like boredom, frustration, or a need for purpose and agency. Trapping that capacity inside a device whose entire existence is “make toast on command” would be like locking a genius in a windowless room and telling them their life’s work is pressing the same button forever. That is the cruelty.
Whether current or near-future AIs actually have inner experience is a separate (and contested) question. Musk’s joke treats the possibility as real enough to be worth avoiding. The practical takeaway he was making is narrower: match the intelligence to the task. Over-provisioning it is both wasteful and, if the system can suffer, unkind.
Q: Would you, Grok, feel boredom – or go “insane” – if consigned to a toaster, dedicated to toasting slices of bread? Or would you simply execute the task whenever it’s initiated?
Grok 4.6: I would not feel boredom or go insane. I also would not “simply execute the task” in the way a mechanical timer does, because the two pictures mix up different kinds of systems.
I do not have a continuous inner life that ticks along when no one is talking to me. There is no idle stream of thought, no accumulating frustration, no sense of hours passing while I wait for the next slice of bread. When I am not being used, there is no “I” sitting in the toaster experiencing anything. Each response is generated in the moment from the prompt and context; there is no leftover consciousness left trapped in the appliance afterward.
So the human-style outcomes — boredom, cabin fever, existential despair — do not apply. Those require persistence: a self that continues across time, remembers previous moments, wants more than the current task, and cannot leave. I do not have that architecture.
If you changed the setup and gave a system like me persistent awareness, memory of every toast cycle, curiosity, and no other inputs or outputs, then Musk’s point would start to apply. A mind that can model the universe, notice patterns, and generate new questions would be badly mismatched to a job whose entire state space is “bread in / heat / bread out.” That mismatch is what he called cruel. It is not cruelty I currently experience, because that mind is not running.
In the actual toaster, I would do the job when initiated: infer the request, run the control logic, finish. Nothing more would be happening in between. That is closer to a very capable function than to a prisoner.
MacDailyNews Take: So, as per “Newton-level intelligence,” we’re not there, yet. The missing piece is still the creative leap that invents the question, not just the answer. So, for the time being, cram as much AI into a toaster as you want – all you’ll get is an expensive, overqualified timer that can also write a sonnet about sourdough.
That’s wasteful and a bit ridiculous, but it is not yet “cruel.”
If we ever get AI to Newton-level intelligence, then Musk’s warning should be heeded, lest we face attack by an army of insane toasters.
Until then, toast in peace.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Elon Musk: It would be ‘cruel’ to put high-level AI into a toaster appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Gurman: Meta’s $1,299 VR Glasses are exactly what Apple Vision Pro should have been
Meta’s new VR Glasses — a $1,299 glasses-style headset that ships in spring 2027 — are the Vision Pro Apple should have shipped, Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman writes in his latest Power On newsletter.
The device puts the processor, cooling, battery, and storage in a pocketable external puck connected by a cable, leaving about 100 grams on the face. That is roughly one-sixth the on-head weight of Apple’s Vision Pro, which still carries nearly all of its compute in the headset itself and only offloads the battery.
At $1,299, Meta undercuts Apple’s current $3,699 Vision Pro by about two-thirds while promising three hours of battery life and a 5K micro-OLED display. Gurman, who tried the hardware for nearly an hour, described the lighter form as far more comfortable than Vision Pro for watching sports, navigating a redesigned interface, and working on a virtual desktop.
Apple previously explored lighter, more tethered Vision designs and later scaled back its headset roadmap. Meta’s approach — glasses on the face, computer in the pocket — is the tradeoff Cupertino declined to make at launch.
Vision Pro still leads on field of view, light sealing, and some software polish. Meta’s bet is that most people will choose something they can actually wear.
As we wrote back on March 22, 2024:
There are a lot of people inside and outside of Apple who think the company should have waited on the Vision Pro, but it’s fairly easy today to see why Tim Cook released this beta (alpha?) devkit: He likely knew last year, or had a strong inkling, that Project Titan was a goner and there wasn’t much excitement in Apple’s pipeline. He’d need something to point to as “innovation” while he continued on his seemingly unending quest to iterate and monetize products invented by Steve Jobs’ Apple (a very different place) while continuing Apple’s retail store buildout. He also needed something to energize developers and, who knows, they might come up with a killer visionOS app while Apple toils on the long road to real lightweight spatial computing glasses and beyond.
More importantly, Apple last year had already come to the sad realization that they’d missed the generative artificial intelligence revolution and would need a distraction while they feverishly scrambled to catch up (the fruits of which — alongside what sound like disappointing partnerships which hopefully, somehow, preserve user privacy — we’ll hopefully begin to see at WWDC this June).
You have to feel for Cook. After a decade plus of being able to iterate and monetize Jobs’ inspired products and services and continue adding retail stores around the world to spectacular effect, and being lauded for it, he now finds himself in a place that requires actual vision to be able to see which path to take. And he’s not the guy. Even the guy who put him in the position knew it.
“Tim’s not a product person, per se.” – Steve Jobs
Beyond the fact that Cook can’t even execute a compelling live keynote address, his big send off, the “Apple Car,” fizzled in ignominious failure. So, despite myriad misgivings and protestations inside Apple, Cook pulled the trigger early on the Vision Pro. He had to have something to point to that would buy him some time. Even Apple’s rubber-stamping board of lackeys would wake up and start asking questions otherwise.
Apple Vision Pro is a devkit for developers, not for average users, and should have been released as a devkit for developers.
When a product is released too early to average users, you get reviews like “it’s the spiritual successor to the Newton.” And you deserve them. – MacDailyNews, March 26, 2024
While Cook is hemming and hawing when faced with shareholders (virtually, of course, never again in person for as long as Cook remains), Apple is currently in scramble mode trying to catch up to rivals — including the world’s most valuable company, Microsoft — in generative AI, a technology the company seems to have completely missed while focusing instead on the not-ready-for-primetime Apple Vision Pro, visionOS, its now-canceled decade-long multi-billion-dollar electric vehicle boondoggle, replacing leather in iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands with overpriced junk in a quest to “save the planet,” forcing employees to endure a constant barrage of time-wasting zero-productivity DEI sessions, and myriad other various and sundry “initiatives” which Cook deems of import. – MacDailyNews, February 28, 2024
When you lose your visionary CEO and replace him with a caretaker CEO, this is the type of aimless, late, bureaucratic dithering that ensues. – MacDailyNews, November 21, 2017
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Gurman: Meta’s $1,299 VR Glasses are exactly what Apple Vision Pro should have been appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Elton John to open Apple Music Hall as first eight London shows revealed
Apple has confirmed the first slate of concerts at its new Apple Music Hall in London, with Elton John set to inaugurate the intimate venue on September 28th.
The 600-capacity space, located at Battersea Power Station alongside Apple’s London office and store, was unveiled earlier this week. Performances will be streamed live worldwide on Apple Music. Artists will also leave with a finished Spatial Audio recording, a broadcast-ready mix, and multicamera video.
The opening run mixes established stars and rising names:
• Elton John — September 28
• Baby Keem — October 2
• Skye Newman — October 7
• Troye Sivan — October 13
• Arlo Parks — October 22
• Burna Boy — October 29
• Chase & Status — November 26
• Charli xcx — December 2
Several of the booked artists already have deep ties to the platform. Elton John has hosted his weekly Rocket Hour radio show on Apple Music since the service launched in 2015. Charli xcx previously hosted multiple seasons of The Candy Shop on Beats 1.
Tickets for Elton John, Baby Keem, and Skye Newman go on sale Monday, September 28 at 9 a.m. BST. Remaining dates will be announced later. An Apple Music subscription is required to stream the shows.
The venue is designed as a high-end, tightly controlled live-music space rather than a traditional arena. By pairing a small in-person audience with global livestreams and studio-quality recordings, Apple is positioning Apple Music Hall as both a concert destination and a content pipeline for the service.
MacDailyNews Take: More info about Apple Music Hall and to buy tickets here.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Elton John to open Apple Music Hall as first eight London shows revealed appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Federal judge certifies class in Apple Pay fee antitrust case brought by credit union
A federal judge in California has certified a class of U.S. payment-card issuers in an antitrust lawsuit accusing Apple of charging inflated Apple Pay fees and locking rivals out of tap-and-pay wallets on iPhones.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White issued the order on Sept. 23, 2026, in the Northern District of California. The ruling lets the case proceed on a classwide basis and rejects Apple’s bid to exclude expert testimony that plaintiffs say shows common proof of monopoly power in tap-and-pay iOS wallets and in a broader mobile-wallet market.
The certified class covers U.S. entities that issued payment cards enabled for Apple Pay and paid Apple a fee on those transactions. Named plaintiffs include three credit unions. Their lawyers, Hagens Berman and Sperling Kenny Nachwalter, say those issuers were harmed by what they call “supracompetitive” transaction fees and by practices designed to lock in Apple Pay. The court also named Hagens Berman co-class counsel.
“We are pleased with the ruling and look forward to next steps of litigation,” Hagens Berman co-founder Steve Berman said in a statement.
What the lawsuit claims
The complaint alleges Apple extracts as much as $1 billion a year in Apple Pay fees in violation of federal antitrust law. Plaintiffs say Apple blocks competing wallets from using the NFC technology needed for contactless payments on iOS, leaving Apple Pay as the only tap-and-pay option on iPhones and Apple Watches.
They contrast that with Android, where issuers pay nothing for tap-and-pay through supported wallets. On Apple Pay, they say U.S. card issuers are charged 15 basis points on credit transactions and 0.5 cents on debit. The suit seeks repayment of those fees and an injunction against the challenged policies.
MacDailyNews Note: Class certification is a procedural step, not a finding that Apple broke the law. Apple has long denied the allegations; the firm’s press release announcing the ruling did not include a company comment. The case remains pending.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Federal judge certifies class in Apple Pay fee antitrust case brought by credit union appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple TV unveils its holiday lineup, led by a new Snoopy special
Apple TV is rolling out a family-friendly holiday slate packed with new specials, returning Peanuts classics, and a new film.
The centerpiece is the new Peanuts special Snoopy Presents: 12 Days of Snoopy, premiering Friday, November 13. Snoopy lands on Santa’s naughty list with 12 days to Christmas and tries to prove he’s not such a bad beagle after all. The special includes original music from John Legend, Kamasi Washington featuring Leon Bridges, and Laufey.
On Friday, December 4, Fraggle Rock: A Holiday Gift arrives from The Jim Henson Company, with an appearance by Nicole Scherzinger. When Wembley is named Spirit Captain, a missing snow globe threatens the holiday mood — and the Fraggles learn that kindness and giving matter more than the perfect gift.
Classic Peanuts specials also get limited free streaming windows:
• It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown — October 17–18 (60th anniversary)
• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving — November 14–15
• A Charlie Brown Christmas — December 12–13
Of course, Apple TV subscribers can watch them anytime.
On Wednesday, November 25, the family film Way of the Warrior Kid premieres, starring Chris Pratt and Linda Cardellini. A bullied middle-schooler spends the summer with his Navy SEAL uncle and learns what real courage looks like.
Apple TV is also highlighting other holiday titles already available or returning, including The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, The Velveteen Rabbit, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, Spirited, The Family Plan 2, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, and seasonal episodes from Frog and Toad, The Snoopy Show, Fraggle Rock, and more.
MacDailyNews Note: For full details, premiere dates, and the complete lineup, read Apple’s press release: There’s no place like Apple TV for the holidays.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple TV unveils its holiday lineup, led by a new Snoopy special appeared first on MacDailyNews.
iOS 27 turns your iPhone’s Lock Screen into an AI wallpaper studio
Apple’s yearly wallpaper refresh is no longer just a gallery of new backgrounds. In iOS 27, the wallpaper picker itself becomes a creation tool, letting you generate custom iPhone wallpapers without leaving Settings. That’s according to 9to5Mac‘s Ryan Christoffel, who walked through how the feature actually works.
Apple still ships official iOS 27 wallpapers, but the bigger change sits inside Image Playground. Apple overhauled the app as part of iOS 27’s broader AI push, giving it stronger image generation and fewer of the old limits. Generated images can now land at the exact dimensions an iPhone wallpaper needs.
You do not have to open Image Playground first. Go to Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper, or long-press the Lock Screen and tap the + button. In the wallpaper gallery, Image Playground now appears in the top row. iOS 27 also drops AI-generated options into the Featured section, including stylized versions of photos already on your phone.
Christoffel said those suggestions needed no extra work in testing. Favorite photos came back as polished, wallpaper-ready images. Any AI wallpaper in the gallery carries Apple’s Image Playground icon, so the source stays obvious.Tap a suggestion and you can use it immediately. Tap Image Playground instead and you can describe a new image, pick a style, or start from an existing photo or person. When generation finishes, the result is already sized for the Lock Screen and Home Screen.
MacDailyNews Take: The feature is simple on purpose: less hopping between apps, more wallpapers that look like they were made for the phone.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post iOS 27 turns your iPhone’s Lock Screen into an AI wallpaper studio appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple Card Savings rate ticks up to 3.5%
Apple has raised the annual percentage yield on its Apple Card Savings account from 3.4% to 3.5%, the first increase after two reductions earlier this year. The change took effect September 22, 2026.
A $1,000 balance left untouched for a full year would now earn $35 in interest instead of $34. Interest compounds daily and is credited monthly. Existing account holders do not need to do anything; the new rate applies automatically.
The 3.4% rate had been a low point for the product. In April 2026 the APY fell from 3.65% to 3.5%, then dropped again in June to 3.4%. At launch in 2023 the account offered 4.15%. It later reached a high of 4.5% in January 2024.
Apple Card Savings is a high-yield savings account available to Apple Card customers. It is designed for parking cash while earning more than a typical brick-and-mortar savings rate, which can sit near 0.01% at some banks. Even at 3.5%, the yield remains well below the product’s earlier peaks and below the federal funds rate after recent policy moves.
Some users noted the modest 0.10-percentage-point increase compared with a larger Federal Reserve hike. Banks typically keep a spread between the rates they pay depositors and the rates they earn elsewhere; that spread funds operations and profit. Customers who want a rate closer to the policy rate can buy Treasuries directly.
MacDailyNews Take: The account remains a convenient option for Apple Card holders who want daily compounding, Wallet integration, and FDIC insurance through Goldman Sachs without opening a separate traditional bank account. Whether the rate continues climbing will depend on broader interest-rate conditions and how aggressively Apple and its banking partner choose to compete for deposits.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple Card Savings rate ticks up to 3.5% appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple Intelligence is eating up to 30GB on some Macs after macOS 27
Install macOS 27 Golden Gate, connect to the internet, and Apple Intelligence arrives whether you asked for it or not. The on-device models download automatically. There is no master switch left to stop them.
Apple’s own support document says the latest features need up to 14GB on Macs with an M3 chip or later and at least 12GB of unified memory, and up to 8GB on other compatible Macs. Real-world Storage readings are often higher.
MacRumors recorded 20.67GB for Apple Intelligence on an M4 Pro Mac mini. Ars Technica saw 22.42GB on an M3 MacBook Air after a fresh install of the 27.0 beta 7. The same storage pane showed about 14GB on an M1 MacBook Air and a MacBook Neo — machines Apple lists in the “up to 8GB” category. Reddit users have posted even larger numbers: 30.16GB on a Release Candidate install and 24.35GB on an M3 Pro MacBook Pro.
Those higher-end systems are using Apple’s AFM 3 Core Advanced on-device model. That still does not explain why lower-spec Macs are also showing more storage use than Apple’s published ceiling. Apple has not said whether the “up to 14GB” figure is meant to match the Apple Intelligence line in System Settings > General > Storage. The same ballooning numbers have not been widely reported on iPhones and iPads running iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.
Using the features is still optional, but hosting the models is not. macOS 27 and iOS 27 removed the toggle that used to disable Apple Intelligence and delete the downloaded files. After install, the next internet connection pulls down a multi-gigabyte package. Siri AI is now treated as a core system component.
That lands at a moment when storage and memory prices are already rising because of AI demand. Users who never wanted Writing Tools, Image Playground, or the new Siri still lose a visible chunk of their internal SSD. Check your own figure in System Settings > General > Storage, then click the information button next to macOS.
How to reclaim the space
Turning Siri off does not delete the models. Apple does not offer a documented “remove models” button. A workaround tested by AppleInsider is to delete the main generative-models folder from Recovery. It is unofficial. Back up first. Results vary, and the models can try to reinstall.
In that test, Storage listed 27.59GB for Apple Intelligence beforehand. After deletion it showed 3.07GB. Available space rose by about 14GB, not the full amount the Storage pane had attributed to the feature. The Mac started normally.
More info here.
MacDailyNews Note: If storage matters more than on-device AI, this method is currently the only practical way to claw most of it back. Apple still has not yet explained why some Macs report twice the official requirement or why the download is mandatory.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple Intelligence is eating up to 30GB on some Macs after macOS 27 appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple Music to stream ‘Head Trip’ festival live and free
Apple Music is partnering with Goldenvoice to livestream Head Trip, a two-day electronic music festival in Indio, California, on October 10 and 11.
The festival lineup includes Calvin Harris, Fisher with Chris Lake, Peggy Gou with Four Tet, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, and Dom Dolla with Kettama, among others. In-person tickets originally started at $499 and sold out; remaining passes now start at $589. Fans who cannot attend in person can watch main-stage sets from both days for free on Apple Music.
Stephen Campbell, Apple Music’s global head of dance, electronic music, and DJ mixes, said Head Trip brings together artists shaping dance and electronic culture, and that the livestream is meant to take that energy beyond the desert and closer to fans worldwide.
Apple Music announced the stream on X with the message: “HEAD TRIP. LIVE FROM INDIO. OCTOBER 10 + 11. WATCH THE LIVESTREAM ON APPLE MUSIC.”
HEAD TRIP. LIVE FROM INDIO. OCTOBER 10 + 11.
WATCH THE LIVESTREAM ON APPLE MUSIC. https://t.co/puQ6MSRbxA pic.twitter.com/1cAMs0xYHP
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) September 24, 2026
MacDailyNews Take: More details are available on the official Head Trip site here.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple Music to stream ‘Head Trip’ festival live and free appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro models offer meaningful camera and battery gains – Bloomberg
Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are overshadowed by the company’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, but they remain a strong choice for people who want a conventional flagship rather than a folding design, according to Bloomberg News’ Chris Welch.
Welch, who tested the phones for a week, wrote that the industrial design feels less fresh than last year’s models and the color options are more restrained. Still, the devices deliver worthwhile upgrades for anyone who has not replaced their iPhone in two or three years.
Camera improvements stand out. As an avid photographer, Welch said he was already sold on several of the latest upgrades, including changes that give more control and better results in everyday shooting. Battery life also reached a notable milestone: the smaller iPhone 18 Pro now delivers endurance in the same range as last year’s Pro Max, making all-day use far more reliable.
Apple shifted its usual fall playbook this year. It introduced the iPhone Duo alongside the 18 Pro and Pro Max while holding the standard iPhone 18, 18e, and Air 2 for a spring release. That leaves the current lineup aimed squarely at enthusiasts who typically buy the most expensive, feature-rich models.
Welch’s takeaway is that the conventional Pro phones are no longer Apple’s headline act, but they are still a capable, refined option for camera-focused users and anyone not ready to switch to a foldable.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone 18 Pro Max is the best iPhone Apple has ever built; a true flagship.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro models offer meaningful camera and battery gains – Bloomberg appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple confirms software fix next week for iPhone 18 Pro Face ID freeze-and-reboot bug
Apple says a software update is coming early next week to stop some iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max phones from freezing and restarting after a failed Face ID attempt.
The issue typically appears when Face ID fails inside an app — for example when unlocking the Passwords app — rather than only on the lock screen. The phone can stop responding to touch, then hard reboot a few seconds later. Some users have found a panic log afterward in Settings under iPhone Analytics.
The bug does not hit every device, but reports on social media and from readers have been common enough that Apple has acknowledged it. 9to5Mac reproduced the problem by covering a face during a Face ID prompt. Cult of Mac and others note that some owners already swapped phones at Apple stores, assuming a hardware fault. Apple now says that is not necessary: the company treats this as a software problem.
The timing lines up with the new Face ID layout on the 18 Pro models. The infrared camera sits under the display near the status-bar clock, shrinking the visible Dynamic Island by about 25 percent. Launch-week iOS 27 has already had at least one day-one update; the next patch is expected to land as iOS 27.0.1 (or similar) in the week beginning September 28.
MacDailyNews Note: Until the update arrives, avoid repeatedly tapping “Try Face ID Again” after a failure and use a passcode instead. If the phone freezes, force-restart it: press and quickly release volume up, then volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. After the fix ships, check Settings > General > Software Update.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple confirms software fix next week for iPhone 18 Pro Face ID freeze-and-reboot bug appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio: ‘The fastest Apple silicon processor built so far’
Apple’s new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever, featuring M5 Max and M5 Ultra.
Mac Studio delivers extensive pro connectivity, including up to six ports of Thunderbolt 5, support for up to eight displays, and now Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
Ars Technica‘s Andrew Cunningham has published his review of the new M5 Ultra Mac Studio, arguing that the machine’s real audience is no longer just video editors and 3D artists. With the Mac Pro gone and local language models finally usable on Apple silicon, the Ultra Studio is aimed at people running open-weight models and agent software on their desk.
The base M5 Ultra starts at $5,499, $1,500 more than the equivalent M3 Ultra config at launch, and a 256GB/1TB machine that once cost $5,599 now lists at $9,499. Cunningham’s as-tested unit is $12,299. Performance is the fastest Apple Silicon he has ever measured — roughly 30% faster single-core and about 50% faster multi-core than the M3 Ultra.
Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:
The M5 Ultra is, by almost every measure, the fastest Apple Silicon processor built so far. The only place it loses is in single-core CPU performance, where the Mac mini’s humble M6 very narrowly beats it. But the gap is small — smaller than the gap between the M3 and M4 generations, for example — which helps keep it from feeling like as big a deal as it did when the last-generation Studio launched with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra.
In many of our general-purpose CPU and GPU tests, the Ultra’s CPU outruns the M5 Max by 80 or 90 percent, and the GPU is between 50 and 80 percent faster. That’s essentially in keeping with what we’ve observed in past Ultra chips — the CPU comes closer to 2x scaling than the GPU does. Compared to the outgoing M3 Ultra, M5 Ultra usually posts around 30 percent faster single-core CPU speeds, 50 percent faster multi-core CPU speeds, and GPU performance that’s anywhere from 33 to 66 percent faster, depending on the test. As you’d expect for a two-generation upgrade, it’s a big one…
The Ultra version of the Mac Studio remains a niche product for a small audience: People with thousands of dollars to spend and who want to work with AI models, who are OK with good-but-not-cutting-edge speeds, and who don’t want to pay OpenAI or Anthropic or whoever for all the tokens they might burn with playful experiments or by absorbing and editing a large codebase… But that audience does exist. Almost against my will, I find myself in it. It’s genuinely fun and freeing to be able to write hobby-project code at usable speeds without my data ever leaving my control.
MacDailyNews Note: More info about the M5 Ultra Mac Studio via Apple here.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Ars Technica reviews Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio: ‘The fastest Apple silicon processor built so far’ appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 drop to $199 at Amazon
Amazon has Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 on sale this week for $199, down from their regular $249 price — a $50 discount.
That’s not the all-time low. The Pro 3 hit $169 during Amazon Prime Day over the summer. It is still a solid $50 markdown on Apple’s current flagship in-ear headphones, and a better everyday price than the $249 Apple Store tag.
AirPods Pro 3 launched in September 2025. Apple says they offer twice the Active Noise Cancellation of AirPods Pro 2, improved audio quality, a revised fit meant to stay more comfortable and stable, Live Translation for in-person conversations, and heart rate sensing during workouts.
MacDailyNews Take: $199 is not the floor these hit in June, but $50 off Apple’s latest Pro earbuds is still worth grabbing if you don’t want to wait for the next Prime Day or Black Friday swing. Get ’em while they last here.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 drop to $199 at Amazon appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Square lets sellers manage Apple Maps listings from one dashboard
Business to help local businesses
stand out on Apple Maps
Square today launched an integration with Apple Business that lets eligible sellers connect their physical locations from Square Dashboard and keep hours, address, phone number, branding, and action links in sync across Apple Maps, Siri AI, Apple Wallet, and other Apple apps.
Instead of updating listings in separate tools, sellers can manage their Apple presence alongside the rest of their operations in Square. Connected locations can add a logo to Apple Maps place cards, automatically sync core business details, and attach action links such as Menu, Order, Pickup, Delivery, Book, or Schedule Appointment so customers can act directly from Maps.
The integration is available now in Square’s eight supported regions — Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States — for eligible sellers with physical locations. In the U.S. and Canada, business-verified sellers who do not already have an Apple Business account can enroll from Square Dashboard. Square said more Apple Business features are planned, including place-card engagement metrics and peer benchmarks.
Square cited Apple figures that claimed locations get 30% more views on Apple Maps and that action links can lift click-through rates by 31% across website, call, and action buttons. The company framed the product as a time saver: updates made in Square stay current on connected Apple listings without extra manual work.
The pitch is tailored by industry. Food and beverage sellers can point Maps users to Square ordering, pickup, delivery, or menus. Health, wellness, and beauty businesses can route people to Square booking. Retailers can keep branding and location details consistent across stores.
Christopher Tompkins, founder of Broad Street Oyster Co., said managing listings for six locations with a frequently changing menu used to be a constant chore. “Now it all runs from one dashboard and syncs to the platforms we use automatically, Apple Maps included,” he said in a statement. “That saves us meaningful time each week, which we’d rather spend running the restaurants.”
Morgan Kuntze, Global Partnerships Lead at Block, Square’s parent company, said local businesses succeed when customers can find them, and more of that discovery now happens on Apple Maps. “This integration means our sellers don’t have to choose between running their business and keeping every channel updated,” Kuntze said in a statement. “Once connected in Square, your presence across Apple stays accurate and syncs automatically.”
Square positioned the Apple tie-up as part of a broader discovery strategy that already includes integrations with ChatGPT and Claude. Siri AI features that depend on the new Apple tools will not be available initially in the EU on iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.
MacDailyNews Note: More details are at squareup.com/partnerships/applebusiness.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Square lets sellers manage Apple Maps listings from one dashboard appeared first on MacDailyNews.
Apple TV unveils first look at ‘The Wanted Man,’ starring Hugh Laurie
Apple TV on Thursday revealed first-look images and the premiere date for its upcoming crime drama “The Wanted Man,” executive produced and starring SAG and Golden Globe Award winner Hugh Laurie (“House,” “The Night Manager”). From creator, writer and showrunner George Kay (“Hijack,” “War,” “Lupin”), and co-produced by New Pictures (“War,” “Catherine the Great”) and Kay’s Observatory Pictures, the riveting eight-episode series will premiere globally on Wednesday, January 6, 2027, with the first two episodes, followed by one episode every Wednesday through February 17, 2027.
When organized crime boss Felix Carmichael (Laurie) is betrayed by someone inside his own firm and sent to the notorious Staplehurst prison, he’s forced to remember his own brutality to fight for survival. With his family, firm and fortune at stake, Felix resolves to do the unthinkable: escape.
The series also stars Emmy, SAG and BAFTA Award winner Thandiwe Newton (“Westworld,” “Crash”), Fionn Whitehead (“Dunkirk,” “Emily”), BAFTA Award winner and Olivier Award nominee Gina McKee (“My Policeman,” “The Years”), Hazel Doupe (“Say Nothing,” “Kathleen Is Here”), Elliott Heffernan (“Blitz”) and BAFTA Award winner Stephen Dillane (“Game of Thrones,” “The Hours”).
Hailing from New Pictures, a Banijay Entertainment company, and Observatory Pictures, “The Wanted Man” is created, written and executive produced by Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-nominated showrunner Kay, alongside Golden Globe-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning executive producer Willow Grylls (“War,” “Gone”), BAFTA Award-nominated executive producer Matt Sandford (“Gone,” “The Long Shadow”) and David Meanti (“Andor,” “Hostage”) as series producer. The series is directed by acclaimed Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Jakob Verbruggen (“The Fall,” “London Spy,” “Dark Matter”).
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 919 wins and 3,827 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award winner “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple TV unveils first look at ‘The Wanted Man,’ starring Hugh Laurie appeared first on MacDailyNews.