Apple News
Apple’s iOS 26.1 now available for iPhone
Apple on Monday released iOS 26.1 which includes the following features and enhancements:
• Liquid Glass setting gives you the option to choose between the default clear look or a new tinted look which increases opacity of the material in apps and notifications on the Lock Screen
• Live Translation with AirPods support for Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean, and Italian
• Apple Music MiniPlayer swipe gesture to go to the next or previous track
• Apple Music AutoMix support over AirPlay
• Gain control is available for external USB microphones when recording with local capture
• Local capture files can be saved to a specific location
• Manual workout logging is available directly from the Fitness app
• New Camera setting to turn on or off Lock Screen swipe to open Camera
• Improved FaceTime audio quality in low-bandwidth conditions
• Communication Safety and Web content filters to limit adult websites are enabled by default for existing child accounts for ages 13-17 (Age varies by country or region)
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: https://support.apple.com/100100
Some features may not be available in all regions or on all iPhone models. To learn more, please visit:
https://apple.com/jos/feature-availability/.
Software updates, like this one, add new features and improvements that may affect performance and/or battery life. To learn more, please visit: https:support.apple.com/125039
MacDailyNews Take: It’s snappy and stable!
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Apple is expecting a record-breaking Christmas shopping season
Apple is set to kick off its 50th year with what’s expected to be a nearly $140 billion quarter. Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman discusses with Caroline Hyde on “Bloomberg Tech.”
Apple’s executives are projecting a stellar holiday quarter, fueled by robust demand for its flagship iPhone 17 lineup and expanding services ecosystem.
Apple’s Christmas shopping season playbook emphasizes experiential retail events and targeted promotions, positioning the company to capture some 30% of global smartphone market share. As Cyber Monday draws near, Wall Street consensus tilts toward “Buy” on Apple.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple could bring in revenue close to $140 billion for the Christmas quarter (Q126), shattering the all-time quarterly record of $124.3 billion set in Q125. For perspective, Pfizer’s current market value is $140 billion.
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Apple’s new Siri will quietly use Google’s Gemini in the background
According to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman, Apple has finalized its strategy for the revamped Siri, set to debut as early as iOS 26.4 next spring. The upgraded assistant will rely heavily on a custom version of Google’s Gemini models, running securely on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers to process and fulfill user requests.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Apple is betting heavily on the new Siri, which will lean on Google’s Gemini model and introduce features like AI-powered web search. But there’s no guarantee users will embrace it, that it will work seamlessly or that it can undo years of damage to the Siri brand.
MacDailyNews Take: Which is why Apple should follow our advice from April:
With Siri now basically holding a full house of negative associations built up over years of neglect, incompetence, and empty promises, perhaps, if Apple actually manages to fix Siri this time around (a big IF; we’ve heard it all before), a rebrand might be useful. Kill off Siri and introduce something new – since it will actually finally be new – in order to allow it to take off on its own without the weighty baggage of the Siri name.
Then there’s the issue that Google’s Gemini is arguably the third-best of the top three, trailing xAI’s Grok and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
If you’re going to with an external AI partner, why not choose the smartest one? We find xAI’s Grok to be more accurate and useful than Google’s Gemini, ChatGPT, and the rest. – MacDailyNews, July 21, 2025
The issues are: Google’s Gemini is not the best and everyone knows it, Google has a poor reputation for privacy that will tarnish Apple’s, and Google, hello, ripped off the iPhone with Android. Enough with the Google, Apple! – MacDailyNews, July 22, 2025
Apple will likely keep Siri’s Google Gemini underpinnings very secret for many reasons, including:
Google Gemini? Why not just get a Samsung Galaxy phone which already integrates Google’s Gemini AI as a core component of their AI-powered features?
Google Gemini on an iPhone offers precious little differentiation from Samsung, the chief iPhone knockoff peddler. – MacDailyNews, August 22, 2025
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Apple launches new web-based App Store
Apple today unveiled a web-based App Store at apps.apple.com, enabling users to browse, search, and discover apps across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro — all from any browser.
The site features platform-specific dropdowns, the familiar Today tab with curated app and game recommendations, category browsing, and Apple Arcade highlights.
A comprehensive search bar lets you find specific apps, while individual app pages deliver optimized screenshots, descriptions, and details in a clean, web-friendly layout that echoes the native App Store experience.
Found apps can be shared via link or opened directly in the installed App Store app on your device.
MacDailyNews Take: Very nice.
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Apple TV debuts trailer for Apple Original podcast ‘Adrift’
Today, Apple TV announced “Adrift,” a new Apple Original podcast that shares the incredible true story of the Robertsons, a young British family who sold everything they owned to sail around the world. When disaster strikes, their dream voyage turns into a desperate fight for survival in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The eight-episode podcast will premiere on Apple Podcasts on November 10, 2025.
With immersive audio, first-person accounts and exclusive interviews revealing never-before-heard details, “Adrift” takes listeners inside the Robertsons’ extraordinary journey, following parents Dougal and Lyn, their teenage children Douglas and Anne, and 12-year-old twins Sandy and Neil, as they find themselves hundreds of miles from land with no radio, few supplies and sharks circling. Stranded in the vast emptiness of the ocean, they must rely on ingenuity, instinct and one another to survive. But even surrounded by danger, the greatest challenges they face may come from within.
“Adrift” is brought to life by a searing original score and ambitiously cinematic sound design, created with sailors and sound recordists from around the world to tell the most complete version of the Robertsons’ story. Hosted by award-winning journalist Becky Milligan, “Adrift” is the third Apple Original podcast produced by Blanchard House, following the award-winning series “Extrasensory” and “The Pirate of Prague.” Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts apple.co/Adrift.
Apple TV subscribers can connect their subscription to Apple Podcasts and access all eight episodes of “Adrift” on November 10. Nonsubscribers can access the first three episodes of the eight-episode podcast, with remaining episodes releasing weekly until the finale on December 15, 2025.
The podcast joins a growing offering of Apple TV original podcasts now streaming on Apple Podcasts, including this summer’s smash hit “Unicorn Girl,” the duPont-Columbia Award-winning “The Line,” Webby Award-winning “Hooked,” “Run, Bambi, Run,” “Operation: Tradebom,” “My Divo,” “The Pirate of Prague,” “Magnificent Jerk” and “Missed Fortune,” as well as official companion podcasts for Apple TV series “Foundation,” “For All Mankind” and the docuseries “The Big Conn.”
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 $12.99 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 or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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Apple’s iPhone is four-times more likely to be stolen than an Android phone
Even smartphone thieves don’t want Android phones. An iPhone is four-times more likely to be stolen than an Android phone, but Apple could well have the solution, one already inside your iPhone.
If you own an iPhone, it’s four-times more likely to be stolen than an Android. The police say “up to three quarters of stolen phones are moved abroad, with 28% ending up in China or Hong Kong.” Put simply, if it’s taken then you’re not getting it back.
But Apple could well have the solution, one already hidden on your iPhone… A kill switch. When devices are looted from Apple stores, this feature turns up on social and local media. Phones lock up and sound an alarm, displaying a message on screen: “This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.”
If ever there was a solution to phone theft, this is it. A toggle on a user’s Apple Watch or a quick log in to iCloud could enable this to be triggered. There could even be an option that can recognize when a phone is snatched. Given how locked down Apple accounts are now, it would be easy to disable the kill switch using an online identity process.
Thus far, this kill switch only works on devices stolen from Apple’s own stores…
The current plague of phone thefts cannot continue without more drastic measures. It seems that this is the next logical move, and it falls to Apple to take the initiative.
MacDailyNews Take: Many would consider it a strong selling point if every iPhone user had the ability to disable and track their stolen iPhone – as Apple does to iPhones (and other devices) stolen from Apple Retail Stores in smash and grabs, BUT:
Apple already empowers iPhone users with robust tools like Find My, Activation Lock, and Stolen Device Protection to remotely track, lock, erase data, and render a device unusable without the owner’s Apple ID credentials—effectively bricking it for thieves in most cases.
For retail store smash-and-grabs, Apple deploys an even more aggressive, immediate “kill switch” via proximity-based software on demo units, triggering alarms, disabling functionality, and alerting authorities the instant devices leave the store’s Wi-Fi network. Extending this instant, foolproof remote disable to every consumer iPhone sounds empowering, but Apple likely holds back for several pragmatic drawbacks that could outweigh the benefits:
• Abuse and False Claims: Verifying theft would be a nightmare — requiring police reports, proof of purchase, or eyewitness accounts for millions of reports annually. Malicious users could falsely flag devices to spite ex-partners, settle grudges, or sabotage secondhand sales, overwhelming Apple’s support and leading to wrongful bricks.
• Retail cases are straightforward: Apple owns the inventory and has direct telemetry.
Impact on Innocent Buyers and the Used Market: Stolen iPhones often resurface cheaply on secondary markets like Craigslist or eBay. A permanent disable could punish good-faith purchasers who bought unknowingly, stranding them with e-waste and eroding trust in Apple’s ecosystem — especially since sellers vanish with cash. Activation Lock already mitigates this by tying devices to Apple IDs (removable with proof), but a “retail-style” brick might be irreversible without Apple’s manual intervention, complicating legitimate transfers.
• E-Waste and Environmental Backlash: Bricking devices en masse would accelerate electronic waste, as thieves might dismantle for parts anyway, but victims couldn’t recover or repurpose hardware. This clashes with Apple’s sustainability pledges and could invite regulatory scrutiny or consumer boycotts over planned obsolescence perceptions.
• Privacy and Security Risks: A universal kill switch demands constant connectivity and deeper device monitoring, raising red flags for surveillance fears or vulnerabilities to hacks (e.g., nation-states coercing Apple to disable dissidents’ phones). It could also conflict with laws like right-to-repair mandates, locking users out of repairs or third-party services.
• Legal and Liability Hurdles: Broadening this feature might expose Apple to lawsuits from affected parties (e.g., disabled devices in rentals or family-shared plans) or demands from governments for backdoor access. Carriers already blacklist IMEIs for theft, so Apple avoids redundant, litigious territory.
In essence, while retail disables are a controlled, low-risk demonstration of the power of Apple’s infrastructure, scaling it consumer-wide invites chaos Apple has wisely sidestepped by prioritizing user-empowered (but reversible) tools over an iron-fisted kill swtich. If theft spikes, though, expect iterative tweaks like enhanced Stolen Device Protection rather than a full switch.
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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CarPlay’s days are numbered as much of the auto industry goes to war against Apple
Apple’s CarPlay gives you the ability to safely use what you love about your iPhone while you drive, but it’s not long for this world, according to Patrick George.
Patrick George for The Atlantic:
Last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that new cars made by the auto giant won’t support CarPlay and its counterpart, Android Auto…
Because GM’s software isn’t tied to a phone like CarPlay is, access to the full suite of software requires its own data plan—through GM, of course. (The cheapest plan costs $10 a month.) Get used to these kinds of subscriptions, regardless of what kind of car you drive. In recent years, automakers have realized how much money they can make from in-car technology…
For GM, eliminating Apple as a middleman provides more opportunities to charge for things. “It’s a turf war, and the car is real estate,” Craig Daitch, an auto-industry analyst and a former GM marketing manager, told me…
Some automakers have made a point of proclaiming their allegiance to CarPlay, knowing that’s what buyers want. Toyota’s EVs tell CarPlay how much electric range they have left, so that Apple Maps can prompt the driver to stop at a nearby charger on a road trip…
No matter what car you drive, the glory days of CarPlay may be numbered. For the auto industry, there’s just too much money to be made from creating their own versions. Get ready for a day when your car’s technology expenses are another line item on the credit-card statement, right next to the Netflix subscription.
MacDailyNews Take: The death of Apple’s CarPlay has been greatly exaggerated above. There are currently over 800 vehicle models from over 60 automakers that support CarPlay. Smart vehicle makers will continue to offer CarPlay and they will be rewarded with increased sales that are shed by every poorly run peddler of mediocrity like GM that fails to offer customers what they want while attempting to monetize them.
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Apple sees sustained strong demand for iPhone 17 base model
Apple’s iPhone 17 features the new Center Stage front camera that takes selfies to the next level; a powerful 48MP Fusion Main camera with an optical-quality 2x Telephoto; and a new 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera that captures expansive scenes and macro photography in more detail. The 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion is bigger and brighter, enabling supersmooth scrolling, immersive gaming, and improved efficiency. And with the new Ceramic Shield 2, the front cover is tougher than any smartphone glass or glass-ceramic, with 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation and reduced glare. It is all powered by the latest-generation A19 chip for higher performance and longevity.
iPhone 17 will now be available starting with 256GB of storage — double the entry storage from the previous generation — and a 512GB option, in five beautiful colors: black, lavender, mist blue, sage, and white.
Sam Boughedda for Investing.com:
Apple’s iPhone 17 base model remains the standout performer in the company’s latest smartphone lineup, according to Jefferies analysts, who said it “continues to show the most consistent strength” across major markets.
“Our tracking shows no delivery lead time for 17 Air/17 Pro in all six markets that we track, same as the previous week,” Jefferies analyst Edison Lee wrote.
“The base model continues to show the most consistent strength, as HK saw a big WoW fall, but the U.S. showed a rise of 13 days, and the rest saw no drop.”
Jefferies stated that overall demand remains strongest for the iPhone 17 base model and, to a lesser extent, the 17 Pro Max.
The brokerage added that Apple “may have cut the order for 17 Air by 4 million (from 10 million to 6 million), but raised the orders for the other models by 10 million,” reflecting stronger demand for higher-end versions.
Lee noted that in Hong Kong, only the 512GB variants of the 17 Pro Max “still trade at a small premium (0.4% to 2%), indicating reasonably strong demand.”
That’s “much stronger than last year, when all variants of 16 Pro Max began trading at discounts as of the third week of launch,” the analyst added.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple continues to adjust the iPhone mix as the sales data comes in and, as CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s conference call last week, iPhone supplies remand constrained due to strong demand across multiple models.
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Apple’s macOS 26.1, iOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 are imminent
After extensive developer and public beta testing, Apple is set to roll out macOS 26.1, iOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1. The updates bring a new toggle to dial down the clear effect in Liquid Glass, a refreshed Apple TV icon, various bug fixes, and, importantly, increased stability to Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Apple plans to roll it out to users this week, and I expect that to happen on Monday — barring any last-minute delays, which have occurred in the past for various reasons… And as usual, the same update pattern applies to Apple’s other platforms, so look for macOS 26.1 and the first beta version of watchOS 26.2…
It’s more reliable, with fewer bugs. The OS just feels a bit more polished, even if there’s nothing revolutionary about it. A refreshed Apple TV app icon is a nice touch, and the new button to reduce the Liquid Glass effect is a welcome tweak to improve legibility.
MacDailyNews Take: For everyone who waits for the first point version of new operating systems, today’s likely the day!
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