Apple efforts to increase iPhone production in India might have hit a snag. Photo: Cult of Mac
A Tata Electronics plant in Chennai, India, that makes components for iPhones reportedly caught fire on Saturday, halting production.
It’s not clear yet how this will affect iPhone assembly in the country. It’s certainly not good news for Apple’s efforts to become less dependent on China.
Now there’s an easy way to keep your apps hidden. Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
In iOS 18, you can hide and lock apps on your iPhone. You can hide apps so they’re completely invisible, and you can lock all kinds of apps so they require Face ID to open.
Why would you want to? Maybe you have sensitive content you don’t want anyone to see, or you don’t want anyone to know you’re using dating or hookup apps. Hiding apps is also good for staying off social media or away from addictive games. Plus, it’s a great way to declutter your Home Screen. You can really clean things up without deleting apps you may want to keep.
There are, however, a few essential apps on your phone that can’t be hidden. Here’s how it all works.
These are the hottest features coming in Messages. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
In iOS 18, Apple’s Messages app gains five great new features that will make texting all the more fun. New message effects let you bold and animate text. If you’re the forgetful type, you can schedule your messages to send later — automatically. You can reply to a message using any emoji you like. Finally, texting will get easier with your friends on Android — and in the middle of the Gobi desert.
Watch our video or keep reading to see the best new Messages features after you upgrade to iOS 18. (You can find the new iPhone operating in Settings > General > Software Update.)
Apple can’t bypass the encryption on iPhones, not even when they belong to criminals. Image: Apple
A request by former President Donald Trump that Apple help law enforcement access the contents of iPhones owned by men who tried to assassinate him is apparently based on a mistaken idea about how encryption works.
If the contents of the devices are secured by encryption, there’s nothing Apple can do to access them. That’s the very nature of encryption.
Create great videos with the Hohem iSteady v3 Gimbal Stabilizer for iPhone. Photo: Hohem
Whether you’re shooting an iPhone video of a breaking news event, chronicling your global travels for your vlog, or capturing a particularly choice dance move to show off on TikTok, certain tools can help you boost your video quality as well as your creativity. For example, the Hohem iSteady V3 Gimbal Stabilizer is a great tool to steady and extend your shots.
It’s a three-axis iPhone gimbal with a magnetic AI tracker and fill light, a built-in extendable rod and tripod, and a detachable remote control. We explain how this must-have video tool can help below. And what’s more, you can get it now for 20% off at Amazon.
★★★★☆
Desert Titanium and Black Titanium. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
The iPhone 16 Pro is a much-refined iPhone. All the features that make the it pro have been improved. The cameras are better, faster and higher-resolution. The screens are bigger, the bezels smaller, the chips faster. Even Siri works better!
But the bright colors of the iPhone 16 are swaying a lot of people back to the entry-level models, and I don’t blame them. The iPhone 16 Pro is for those who want the top 10%, the uncompromising best-of-the-best — if you can live with a gray phone.
This year, the best gets a little better all around. Keep reading or watch the video.
Apple finally cracked the 10 million sales opening weekend benchmark. Photo: Apple
September 22, 2014: Apple notches a new sales record with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch, selling an astonishing 10 million units in the first weekend the handsets go on sale.
The eagerly anticipated smartphones bring a redesigned form factor that will persist for years. The most obvious change? Larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays built to lure phablet fans. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also boast an A8 chip, improved iSight and FaceTime cameras, and — significantly — Apple Pay for secure mobile payments.
“Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn’t be happier,” Apple CEO Tim Cook says in a press release. “We would like to thank all of our customers for making this our best launch ever, shattering all previous sell-through records by a large margin.”
You will have to wait until iOS 18.4 to try out all the Apple Intelligence features. Photo: Apple
Apple Intelligence is not a part of iOS 18’s initial public release. Apple plans to debut its AI features with iOS 18.1 sometime in October and continue improving them with subsequent releases.
With iOS 18.2, Apple Intelligence will gain features like Genmoji, Image Playground app, and optional ChatGPT integration.
Fix the worst sins of the Photos app. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you’re one of the many people frustrated by the Photos app redesign in iOS 18, you can fix it to make it easier to use again. Apple’s updated design replaces the Photos app’s tab bar for navigation with a single, scrollable list view.
You scroll up for your photo library, and scroll down to browse your collections, people and albums. But its default layout makes it hard to find a few useful features, like Hidden and Recently Deleted. There’s only one library view now, but it’s sorted by Date Captured by default — a lot of people prefer to sort by Recents.
It’s possible to revert some these changes to “fix” the Photos app in iOS 18 and make it easier — or at least more comfortable — to navigate. However, the changes aren’t obvious. Here’s how to restore your sanity.
2nm processors made by TSMC will be faster while using less power than today's 3nm iPhone and Mac chips. Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Although Apple’s chip maker TSMC is moving toward 2nm processors, the technology will not be ready in time for to go into the iPhone 17 series next year, according to a noted analyst.
That means iPhone will use 3nm chips for three years running, though the process for making these gets improved annually.
Get a gorgeous state ID in Apple Wallet. Image: Apple
In several states, Apple’s digital ID initiative enables iPhones and Apple Watch to hold a digital copy of the user’s driver’s license, in the same way these devices store credit cards and airline tickets. Here’s what you need to know to add your driver’s license and ID to your Apple Wallet.
You'll be able to customize your iPhone's Home Screen in fun new ways. Photo: Apple
You’ve probably seen some of the beautiful custom iPhone Home Screens on social media after the iOS 18 launch. Some people go to great lengths to creatively customize their iOS 18 Home Screen layout, icons and widgets.
It makes sense. After all, you open your phone and look at your Home Screen dozens (or even hundreds) of times every single day. A custom Home Screen that matches your style can bring a little spark of joy to your daily life every time you whip out your iPhone. And iOS 18 makes Home Screen customization easier than ever.
Keep reading (or watch our video) for a quick introduction into the world of custom Home Screens. You’ll find out about new features coming in iOS 18, how to go above and beyond using Shortcuts, and how you can top off your iPhone aesthetic with widgets. I’ve scoured the internet (Reddit, mostly) to find the finest examples.
Apple might be required to make iPhone cooperate better with VR headsets and other accessories made by other companies. Photo: Oculus
The European Commission intends to require iPhone and iPad to be more open to working with third-party smartwatches, headphones, virtual reality headsets and other accessories. On Thursday, the EC began proceedings to “specify how Apple will provide effective interoperability with functionalities such as notifications, device pairing and connectivity.”
Apple devices already work with a broad variety of accessories, but the company also says it has to balance connectivity with protecting user privacy.
★★★★☆
The little bot charger gives you a digital smile to indicate charging status. Here, eyes-only means it's plugged in, on standby. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
In the ever-expanding world of wireless chargers, I’ve come across a fun new entry worth talking about — the Ugreen Uno 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Station. The nifty device, designed to make charging our Apple gadgets a breeze, offering an option for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods users tired of dealing with multiple chargers. Oh, and it’s kind of like a cheerful little robot, too. Its screen offers a digital smile indicating charging status.
Take control of your notifications. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can set notifications from specific apps to stick to the top of your iPhone screen. With persistent notifications in iOS, when your phone is unlocked and an important alert comes in, it will stay visible at the top of the screen until you act upon it. It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t miss (or forget about) critical notifications on your iPhone.
This proves super-handy for things like medication reminders. It also works wonders if you’re the sort of person that ignores notifications once they disappear from your iPhone screen. I’ll show you how to make your notifications sticky.
The revamped Photos app in iOS 18 is a big change. Learn how to use it now. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
The new Photos app in iOS 18 brings the biggest changes ever to how you browse your pictures, videos and memories on your iPhone. Gone are the separate tabs across the bottom. Now the Photos app delivers a single, scrollable view. Scroll up to see your library; scroll down to sort through albums, people and memories.
It takes some getting used to — and the big changes are driving some people absolutely insane. To get a grip on all the changes, you need to learn where to find your recently saved images, deleted photos and your album of hidden photos.
iPhone 16 Pro Max is in heavy demand. Photo: Apple
It’s already too late to preorder an iPhone 16 Pro Max and have it delivered on its September 20 launch day. Three hours after preorders began today, the delivery window for iPhone 16 Pro Max slipped to mid-October.
It’s not just customers putting in orders who care. Analysts watch these delivery times to judge demand for Apple handsets.
Update: A day after preorders began, the wait for iPhone 16 Pro Max still stretches to mid-October, while delivery for iPhone 16 Pro models now begins in early October.
Your iPhone takes some fantastic video with just a little attention to lighting. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Lighting is a crucial part of any video shoot, whether you’re filming a scene for an indie movie with an expensive camera or using your iPhone to capture video of your kid’s soccer game. These easy phone lighting tips can really boost the quality of your videos, whether you’re using the latest iPhone or an old Android device.
Don't wait! Or procrastinate! Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The iPhone 16 series goes up for preorder on Friday, and Apple’s latest and greatest handsets might sell out quickly. You need do some early prep work to be sure to get your hands on the iPhone 16 Pro Max or the other models as soon as possible.
Here’s how to be completely ready to put in a preorder.
Apple Maps can help you find your way anywhere you need to go — but I can help you find hidden features in the app. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
With tons of advanced features, Apple Maps competes quite handily with the likes of Google Maps and Waze. I put together a big list of the best eight features hidden in Apple Maps.
You can learn them all in this post — and see them in action in our video below.
Turns out using an iPhone at a Microsoft event is a bad idea. Photo: Off2riorob/Wikipedia CC
September 11, 2009: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly snatches an iPhone from an employee during a meeting and pretends to destroy it.
The iPhone freakout isn’t the first time Ballmer behaves in a wacky way and incurs negative publicity as a result. However, it’s an embarrassing moment for a man who ranks among the tech world’s most powerful people.
A new MagSafe charging puck from Apple is much faster than its predecessor. Photo: Apple
Apple improved MagSafe wireless charging in the new iPhone 16 models by increasing the maximum charging capacity. It’s a considerable jump: the handsets can charge up to 66% faster.
Wireless charging is now as fast as plugging in a cable…with the right equipment.
Take better care of your email inbox with these hidden features. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Some people achieve and maintain zero unread emails; some let that red badge climb into the thousands. It’s never too late — you can become one of those clean inbox people like me. What can help you along the way to Inbox Zero are these six tips in Apple’s own Mail app for iPhone and Mac that you might not have known about.
Well, beyond the obvious Tip Number 0: You should always hit the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of every unsolicited promotional email as soon as you get the first one. After you kill all those unwanted subscriptions, these six lesser-known features of the Apple Mail app will make you a true pro at managing your email.
Get a sneak peek at Apple's upcoming flagship smartphones. Photo: Don Kaveen/Unsplash License
With the iPhone 16 release date almost certainly mere days away at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” September 9 event, rumors have already revealed quite a few details about the design, colors and more. There have been leaks about all four handsets in the iPhone 16 series, to the point where we already know most of what’s coming in the 2024 lineup.
Here’s what to expect: larger screens, better cameras, additional buttons and more.