Some of you might have noticed that the recent (or rather: previous) version of libayatana-appindicator (v0.5.94) notified users and developers of the library being deprecated.

This short post is to notify you, that with today's libayatana-appindicator v0.6.0 release [1] this deprecation warning has now been removed again. Another new feature (added to AppIndicator without ABI breakage) is tooltip support. The new package version has just been uploaded to Debian experimental. Please test if your application (if it gets linked against libayatana-appindicator) continues to work flawlessly. Thanks!

libayatana-appindicator will receive continued support until GTK-3 becomes end-of-life (because libayatana-appindicator has a baked-in GTK-3 dependency which should not be ported to GTK-4 imho). That said, in the future, GTK-3 applications can continue using libayatana-appindicator for sending AppIndicator-like icons and menus over DBus to KStatusNotifierItem-based system tray renderers.

If you are looking for an AppIndicator implementation for GTK-4 applications (or other), I'd like to encourage you to help making libayatana-appindicator-glib [2] a new standard (can be used in GTK and Qt applications alike, implementation is using pure Glib-2.0). Currently, there is only one renderer (ayatana-indicator-application), so more work needs to be done on the renderers' side. (One of the next work items here is to get AppIndicator-Glib support working in Lomiri's desktop/windowed mode).

[1] https://github.com/AyatanaIndicators/libayatana-appindicator/releases/ta...
[2] https://github.com/AyatanaIndicators/libayatana-appindicator-glib/

During its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, Apple briefly showed a slide with hundreds of new features and enhancements coming across iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27. All of the software updates are currently available as developer betas, and they are expected to be released to all users in September.


We already highlighted some of the key new features from the slide, and now we have shared a categorized list of all of the more than 250 changes shown.

iPhone & iOS 27 & iPadOS 27

• Switch between two iPhone devices with the same phone number


• More seamless transitions between Wi-Fi and cellular networks


• Live Activities in Dynamic Island in landscape


• Enhanced power efficiency for Safari in iOS


• Faster Voice Control response in iOS


• Extra-large widgets in iOS


• Streamlined setup for Touch Accommodations in iOS and iPadOS


• Live Activity for Precision Finding with Friends


• Smoother scrolling in App Library


• Smoother unlocking on iPhone


• Undo and redo Home Screen edits in iPadOS


• Extra-large widgets in Today View in iPadOS


• Faster window closing in iPadOS


• Faster browsing and transfers in Files in iPadOS


• Faster menu bar access in iPadOS


• iPhone app resizing in iPadOS


• Apple News+ audio support in iPadOS


• Faster window switching in iPadOS


• Optional persistent menu bar on iPad


• App names in iPad status bar


• Dual camera in FaceTime


• Faster Lock Screen switching


• Lock Screen consistently stays awake while scrolling notifications


• More power-efficient Personal Hotspot on N1 devices


• Expanded touch support in Sidecar


• Independent alarm volumes


• Smoother camera switching when zooming in video


• Smoother paging between Home Screen pages


• Smoother scrolling in Control Center and Control Gallery


• Easier-to-reach Camera experience


• More accurate photo orientation


• Faster and more reliable NFC reading


• Quick Start with a recovery contact


• Pairing and handoff improvements for Made for iPhone hearing devices


• Faster entry and exit from Assistive Access and Guided Access modes


• Proactive car key setup

macOS 27

• More relevant Spotlight search suggestions


• Faster shortcuts and actions indexing in Spotlight


• Drawing in Notes in macOS


• Updated video podcasts experience in macOS


• Enhanced power efficiency for Safari in macOS


• Edge-to-edge sidebars


• Colorful sidebar icons


• Updated menu bar icons


• Uniform toolbars


• Consistent corner radii


• Faster user account creation in macOS


• Ethernet status in menu bar in macOS


• Improved RDMA over Thunderbolt


• Support for Mac mirroring in 5K resolution


• More high-resolution and high-refresh-rate display modes for external displays


• Swipe down to refresh in macOS


• Smoother scrolling in Safari in macOS


• App resizing in iPhone Mirroring


• DRM video support in iPhone Mirroring


• Drawing in Freeform in macOS


• Smoother animations in Mission Control and Spaces


• Show Borders for macOS accessibility


• HDR for macOS system UI

Apple TV & tvOS 27

• Faster AirPlay connections to Apple TV


• Smart downloads on Apple TV


• AppleCare coverage details in Settings in tvOS


• More responsive Control Center in tvOS


• Redesigned Podcasts app for tvOS


• Larger text sizes in tvOS


• Smoother animations and app launches in tvOS

Apple Watch & watchOS 27

• Better battery efficiency on Apple Watch


• More accurate step tracking on Apple Watch


• More efficient water detection on Apple Watch


• Improved Wi-Fi connectivity in watchOS


• Apple Wallet guest keys in watchOS


• Consolidated Find My app in watchOS


• Faster app extension launch in watchOS


• Tap gesture on Apple Watch


• Faster media playback in watchOS


• Dynamic app grid in watchOS


• Maps Parked Car widget in Smart Stack


• Redesigned settings in the Apple Watch app


• Support for time zone changes in Sleep


• View card balance in Wallet in watchOS


• Transit cards and IDs in Smart Stack in watchOS


• New Smart Stack suggestions in watchOS

Vision Pro & visionOS 27

• Use your panoramas for Environments in visionOS


• Extra-small widget option in visionOS


• New windows with curvature in visionOS


• Improved Control Center in visionOS


• Look and tap to view and respond to notifications in visionOS


• Spatial scene support for panoramas in visionOS


• Faster boot and connect to Wi-Fi in visionOS


• Widget for Mac Virtual Display in visionOS


• Multiple tab views in Safari in visionOS

Home & HomePod

• Faster AirPlay connections to HomePod


• Improved connectivity for Thread home accessories


• Faster smart home accessory updates


• Faster HomeKit accessory pairing


• More reliable HomeKit camera storage

CarPlay

• Audio scrubbing on CarPlay's Now Playing screen


• Improved navigation heading and GPS accuracy in CarPlay


• Improved wireless CarPlay reliability


• Audio MiniPlayer in CarPlay

Photos

• Filter photos and videos in Shared Albums


• Add keywords to photos and videos in Photos


• Album organization improvements in Photos


• Customize slideshows in Photos


• Captured by Me collection in Photos


• Save any slideshow as a video in Photos


• Choose a specific pet in Photo Shuffle


• Search for photos and videos using additional metadata


• Search returns more pleasing photos of people and pets in Photos


• Option to prioritize syncing to iCloud Photos


• Easier to save photos from Shared Albums


• Option to include photos of yourself in Photo Shuffle


• Faster rendering of Collections tab in Photos


• Selection view in Photos


• Identity Documents collection in Photos


• Faster loading of new captures in Photos


• Save a video frame as a photo


• Star rings in Photos


• Full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Shared Albums


• Additional participant permissions in Shared Albums


• Expire your Shared Albums


• Recent activity in Shared Albums


• React with any emoji in Shared Albums


• Participate in iCloud Shared Albums from Android and Windows


• Easier to invite others in Shared Albums

Messages

• Drawing app in Messages


• Find offloaded media in Messages


• Failed messages automatically retry sending in Messages


• Continuous sending of photos, videos, and texts in Messages


• Consolidated notifications for multiple Tapbacks in Messages


• Thumbnails displayed for offloaded media in Messages


• Search for conversations in Messages by phone number or a contact's nickname


• Faster to add recent camera captures in Messages


• Improved Messages syncing across devices

Apple Music & Podcasts

• Improved reliability of Apple Music streaming


• New AutoMix transitions


• Refreshed album pages in Apple Music


• Faster Now Playing view loading in Music


• Refreshed artist pages in Apple Music


• Search within shows in Podcasts


• AirPods Custom EQ


• Faster Apple Music playback start

Mail

• Improved Top Results in Mail


• Faster message loading in Mail


• More reliable search indexing in Mail


• Improved list formatting in Mail


• Improved unread badge accuracy in Mail

Maps

• More accurate Visited Places in Maps


• Guides in Maps available in more places


• Enhanced Flyover in Maps


• Offline Maps update improvements


• Natural language search for routing in Maps

Health & Fitness & Journal

• Sort by completed Fitness+ workouts


• Faster data updates in the Health app


• Perimenopause and menopause support in the Health app


• Perimenopause and menopause symptom logging in the Health app


• Increased attachment limits in Journal


• More accurate route maps in the Fitness app after workouts


• iCloud sync status for Journal entries


• Improved distance accuracy during treadmill workouts


• Synced step count in the Health and Fitness apps


• Faster workout start in the Workout app


• Time stamps for Journal entries


• Fitness+ workouts for perimenopause and menopause


• More intuitive journaling streaks


• GymKit on iPhone and AirPods Pro 3

Notes

• Section links in Notes


• Stylized notes from third-party Calendar accounts


• Copy and paste as Markdown in Notes


• Divider lines in Notes

Shortcuts

• Else if support in Shortcuts


• Group conversation support in Shortcuts


• Expanded Get What's on Screen capabilities in Shortcuts


• Store data in Shortcuts


• Redesigned Shortcuts editor


• Screenshot and notification automations in Shortcuts

Freeform

• Faster board previews in Freeform


• More reliable right-to-left text editing in Freeform


• Smoother Freeform board performance


• Dark Mode adaptive canvas in Freeform


• Collaborative folders in Freeform

Safari

• Faster start page content loading in Safari


• Faster web application performance in Safari


• Smoother animations and graphics in Safari


• Faster handling of JavaScript in Safari


• Smoother start page resizing in Safari

Apple Wallet & Apple Pay

• Easier card selection and payment management with Apple Pay


• Wallet order tracking support in Australia and Canada

Find My

• More flexible sharing options in Find My


• Find My UI enhancements

Home

• Support for 4K camera recordings in the Home app


• View streams from compatible cameras simultaneously in the Home app

Calendar

• Modify multiple Calendar events


• Streamlined Calendar event details


• Smoother Calendar scrolling

Accessibility

• Easier reading and editing of PDFs using VoiceOver


• Improved PlayStation Access controller support


• Streamlined Assistive Access setup

System & Performance & Miscellaneous

• Updated Liquid Glass


• Customize Liquid Glass


• Faster app launches


• Web audio no longer interrupts system audio


• Faster PDF saving


• Faster AirDrop transfers


• Faster AirDrop recipient discovery


• Improved Bluetooth power management


• Improved FaceTime quality on poor connections


• Faster network file browsing


• Support for media sharing from third-party apps


• More document formats in Preview


• More efficient emergency alert monitoring


• More consistent window positioning persistence across external displays


• Improved game controller settings


• Improved battery insights


• Improved navigation in Game Overlay


• Improved performance in Apple News


• All options displayed in Camera settings


• Password help accessible from the Lock Screen


• Camera uses less power in Low Power Mode


• Faster Camera launch in Low Power Mode


• Richer iCloud collaboration link previews


• Access requests for items shared via iCloud


• Faster Text Recognition in photos and documents


• Updated app icons


• Optimized CPU scheduler


• Autosize and reset columns


• Faster to open full-screen view from Photos widget


• Faster access to shared content on iCloud.com


• Smoother animations in News and Stocks articles


• More easily accessible share link for iCloud collaboration


• More distinct active windows


• Real-time updates for widgets when app is open


• Faster Rapid Return to Service


• Updated hourly and 10-day views in Weather


• Faster to start uploading to iCloud Photos


• Option-click to secondary sort


• Content-based recipient suggestions for sharing photos and links


• Faster loading of emoji and sticker keyboards


• Smoother scrolling in the widget gallery


• Easier to access recovery codes for Apple Accounts

Languages & Regional

• New UI language for English (Canada) and English (Philippines)


• New keyboard layout for Slovenian and Estonian


• Automatic punctuation when typing on multilingual keyboards


• Natural language time formats for Chinese and Hindi


• Call Recording transcriptions support for Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese


• New keyboards for languages including Afrikaans, Basque, Baybayin, English (Philippines), Galician, Guarani, Luxembourgish, Xhosa, and Zulu


• New keyboards for Indigenous languages, including Blackfoot, Comanche, Cree, Kiowa, and Tsuu'tina


• Faster multilingual text processing for handwriting in multiple languages


• Chāizì typing


• Smart language and keyboard configuration suggestions


• QuickPath and typing suggestions for Vietnamese VNI keyboard


• Multilingual grammar checking


• Holiday-aware alarms in China


• Punctuation suggestions as you type in Chinese


• Alternate calendars for India to support the current time zone while traveling


• Grocery List in Reminders language expansion


• Improved conversion from phonetic scripts like Pinyin and Kana when typing in Simplified Chinese and Japanese


• Live Voicemail transcription for English (Singapore) and Japanese


• Visited Places in Maps available in more markets


• Scribble support for Hindi and Marathi with Apple Pencil


• On-screen context for more relevant typing suggestions for Chinese and Japanese


• Expanded language support for auto-categorization in Reminders


• FaceTime Live Captions for Traditional Chinese

This article, "Apple Shares List of 250 Changes Across iOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The smarter, more capable version of Siri is finally here, available in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate. The updates are limited to developers right now, but there's a lot to look forward to this fall.


Personal Context is a ‌Siri‌ capability that distinguishes ‌Siri‌ AI from other chatbots like Claude and OpenAI. ‌Siri‌ has access to the data on your iPhone, from emails and messages to photos and files. ‌Siri‌ can find anything you're looking for. Apple rebuilt its search index for ‌Siri‌ AI, and it's more comprehensive for a better search experience.

‌Siri‌ can see what's on your screen with onscreen awareness, and answer questions about what you're looking at. If there's an image on Instagram and you want to know where it was taken, you can just ask ‌Siri‌ where it was taken and get a response. Visual Intelligence is now part of the Camera app, and ‌Siri‌ can answer questions about anything you take a picture of.

Like other chatbots, ‌Siri‌ can search the web and access general world knowledge, so it can provide responses to any questions you might have. It can evaluate documents, solve math problems, craft recipes, walk you through DIY tasks, help you plan a party, and more.

‌Siri‌ can take action in and across apps, getting detailed maps directions with multiple stops, editing and sharing photos, or writing an email from scratch in your own writing style. It can do multiple tasks that are included in the same request.

‌Siri‌ is located in the iPhone's Dynamic Island, and there's a glassy new ‌Siri‌ bubble with bright colors that pops up when ‌Siri‌ is activated. You can use Hey ‌Siri‌ or hold down the side button, but ‌Siri‌ also comes up with a swipe down from the top center of the display. Responses show up in that same area, and if you swipe on a response, you can get more information and ask follow-up questions.

Apple also created a full ‌Siri‌ app where you can revisit past conversations and start a new conversation. The ‌Siri‌ app syncs across devices, so you can start a conversation on your iPhone and wrap it up on your Mac. ‌Siri‌ AI is available in ‌iOS 27‌, ‌iPadOS 27‌, ‌macOS Golden Gate‌, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27, plus it works on AirPods and CarPlay.

‌Siri‌ AI has the same device requirements as Apple Intelligence, so you'll need an iPhone 15 Pro or later to use it. ‌Siri‌ AI is available in beta right now, and Apple is still refining. ‌iOS 27‌ is limited to developers, with a public beta set to come out in July. ‌iOS 27‌ with ‌Siri‌ AI will launch in September.
This article, "Hands-On With iOS 27's Siri AI" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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iOS 27 has a new "Tap to Share" feature that lets merchants use their iPhone to connect to a customer's device with an NFC tap for the purpose of data exchange. This is useful for small business owners, vendors at local markets, and so forth.


Tap to Share is an extension of the existing Tap to Pay on iPhone feature, which lets merchants accept contactless payments on an iPhone, with no point-of-sale hardware required. The latter feature allows customers to pay by simply tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch, contactless credit card or debit card, or other contactless payment option on the merchant's iPhone. Payment is securely completed using NFC, like Apple Pay.

During an active Tap to Pay on iPhone session, iOS 27 users can now share contact details for membership sign-up, provide a shipping address or email for receipts, add or share Apple Wallet passes, view their cart, and pay with Apple Pay.

Tap to Share requires an iPhone 12 or newer, and the feature is not currently available in the European Economic Area (EEA), which consists of all of the countries in the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Apple did not explain why the feature is not immediately launching in the EEA or provide a timeframe for future availability there.
This article, "iOS 27 Introduces New 'Tap to Share' Feature, But Not Available in EU" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Sonos this week kicked off a new summer sale, with big discounts aimed at dads and anyone else shopping ahead of Father's Day. This sale includes deals on Sonos smart speakers, sound bars, subwoofers, and more.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Sonos. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

One highlight of the event is the Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar at the record low price of $899, down from $1,099, which is being matched at Amazon. For a cheaper soundbar, you can get the second generation Beam for $369, down from $499.



Additionally, the new Sonos sale has a few bundle deals, which combine a few different home audio devices at one discounted price. This includes the 2 Room Set with Era 100 for $378 ($60 off), Premium Entertainment Set with Arc Ultra for $1,658 ($340 off), and more.

• Arc Ultra Soundbar - $899, down from $1,099


• Beam (Gen 2) Soundbar - $369, down from $499


• Roam 2 Speaker - $134, down from $179


• Ace Headphones - $299, down from $399


• Era 100 Speaker - $189, down from $219


• Era 300 Speaker - $379, down from $479


• Sub Mini - $399, down from $499


• Sub 4 - $759, down from $899

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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This article, "Sonos Summer Sale Takes Up to 25% Off Speakers, Headphones, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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On this week's special episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the major announcements Apple unveiled at WWDC 2026, including Siri AI, new Apple Intelligence features in apps, and system-wide performance and design improvements.


Apple framed the keynote around three areas: platform improvements, Trust and Safety, and a sweeping overhaul of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ and ‌Siri‌. Developer betas of all six operating systems are available now, with a public beta expected in July and a general release in September.

Liquid Glass received a series of improvements in response to user feedback, with Apple reworking the foundations of how the translucent design language is constructed to deliver more uniform refraction and improved contrast. A new system-wide opacity slider lets users dial transparency anywhere from completely clear to fully tinted. App icons also gain sharper definition with additional layering. macOS Golden Gate receives the same Liquid Glass refinements with particular attention to the transparency and shadow issues most pronounced on the Mac.

A significant chunk of the keynote was devoted to performance improvements across all platforms. iPhone and iPad apps launch up to 30% faster, new photos appear in iCloud Photos up to 70% faster after capture, AirDropped photos transfer up to 80% faster, and file transfers in Files are up to 50% faster. A redesigned CPU scheduler reportedly makes older iPhones feel more meaningfully responsive, and iOS 27 supports every iPhone compatible with iOS 26, going back to the iPhone 11.

The search index has been rearchitected to be more stable and comprehensive, with new content indexed almost immediately and a new ranking system in Mail to surface more relevant results. iCloud Shared Albums also gain support for contributions from Android and Windows users.

Apple announced an expanded set of parental controls and Screen Time tools, giving parents more granular ability to monitor and approve what children are doing on-device and within apps, with changes the company said are grounded in expert research.

The centerpiece of the keynote was Siri AI, a ground-up rebuild of Apple's personal assistant built on new Foundation Models co-developed with Google using Gemini technologies. Apple described the result as a profoundly more capable assistant supporting natural back-and-forth conversation, personal context understanding across all on-device content, onscreen awareness, image understanding, and broad world knowledge via web access.

‌Siri‌ now has a dedicated app for browsing and continuing conversations, which sync across devices via ‌iCloud‌. On the iPhone, ‌Siri‌ is embedded in the Dynamic Island and on the Mac it lives inside Spotlight. A new customizable voice model is available at setup. ‌Siri‌ AI extends to CarPlay and AirPods as well.

Visual Intelligence has been folded into a dedicated ‌Siri‌ mode in the Camera app, with new capabilities including nutritional information from a photo of food and bill-splitting from a receipt snap. ‌Siri‌ can now write anywhere text input is available, generate first drafts from natural language descriptions, give feedback on existing writing, and ‌Apple Intelligence‌ adds automatic proofreading system-wide.

Apple said ‌Siri‌ AI uses on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, with cloud processing running on Apple's servers using Google's infrastructure, but handled such that data remains inaccessible to Apple or third parties. ‌Siri‌ AI is free, with some features such as image generation carrying daily usage limits and expanded access available through most ‌iCloud‌+ plans.

Users must join a waitlist to access the new ‌Siri‌. ‌Siri‌ AI will not be available in the EU or China at launch and launches in English only.

Safari gains tab grouping, with ‌Apple Intelligence‌ analyzing pages and organizing open tabs without manual intervention, and a new webpage monitoring feature that notifies users when a page is updated. Safari will also let users describe what they want a browser extension to do in natural language, with ‌Apple Intelligence‌ generating one accordingly, and can automatically change compromised passwords, updating them in the Passwords app.

Shortcuts gains natural language creation, so users can describe a workflow and have ‌Apple Intelligence‌ build it automatically. Messages and Mail both gain contextual one-tap suggestions for actions such as creating a reminder or inserting a photo. Calendar adds natural language event creation and can automatically update recurring events when their pattern changes.
 
Photos gains an improved Clean Up tool with more realistic infill, a new Extend tool that adds breathing room around images or straightens a crooked horizon without cropping, and Reframe, which uses on-device spatial models to adjust perspective. Image Playground is updated with a new generative model capable of photorealistic output, support for editing existing photos, and the ability to circle specific areas for targeted changes.
 
The Home app now aggregates notifications to reduce noise, and uses ‌Apple Intelligence‌ to generate summaries of recorded footage, linking content from multiple cameras together. Maps Flyover has been overhauled with significantly more detail, combining aerial imagery with vision intelligence models.

CarPlay gains new features including video app support, AirPods gain custom EQ settings, Apple Vision Pro gains the ability to turn panorama photos into spatial scenes, and the Health app adds perimenopause and menopause tracking. watchOS 27 brings a dynamic app grid, new gesture controls, and a ‌Siri‌ app to the Apple Watch.

Developer betas of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27 are available now, with a public beta to follow in July. All of the updates are expected to release to the public in September alongside the new iPhone lineup. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or other podcast apps. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your player.



If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about all of the major rumors surrounding Apple's announcements at WWDC 2026.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kayci Lacob, Kevin Nether, John Gruber, Mark Gurman, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at podcast@macrumors.com or head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
This article, "The MacRumors Show: Siri AI, Apple Intelligence in Apps, and More at WWDC 2026" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Computex has always been one of the most important moments of the year for the PC industry — a stage where our partners come together to show what is next for hardware, silicon and the experiences they unlock. This year our partner ecosystem is shaping the future of the PC for more than a billion daily users around the world. Partners unveiled a new wave of Windows 11 PCs that span every form factor and customer need. Together, these announcements reflect the deep collaboration across the Windows ecosystem and how it is accelerating industry‑wide transformation — delivering greater performance, more efficiency and thoughtful new designs for the way people work, create and play. The power of the Windows platform means that there’s a Windows device for every person and purpose no matter what price point. Let’s look at a selection of the key announcements from our partners at Computex 2026.

New Windows 11 PCs from across the ecosystem

Acer

Acer announced a comprehensive lineup of innovation, with all new laptops running on Windows 11. The lineup featured Copilot+ PCs prominently, including several new entries to Acer’s mainstream Aspire product line: the high-powered Aspire X 16 AI laptop for prosumers, the Aspire 18 AI laptop with greater screen space for creative workflows and productivity and the Aspire C AI Series all-in-one desktops with an innovative new ErgoStand design. Acer also added two new Copilot+ PCs to the premium Swift line with two versions of Swift Spin 14 AI — one powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors and the other by Snapdragon X2 Series processors — also marking Acer’s first convertible 2-in-1 laptops under the Swift line. [caption id="attachment_263872" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Acer Swift Spin 14 AI[/caption]

ASUS

ASUS showcased its latest AI PC portfolio designed to make AI more practical and accessible for every user. The new ProArt P16 and P14, powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark, bring next-generation agentic AI workflows and powerful local AI capabilities to creators and developers. For mainstream consumers, the new Zenbook 14 delivers a Windows experience with premium design, all-day mobility and fresh new Ceraluminum colors, while the Snapdragon-powered Vivobook S series expands AI-enhanced productivity to an even broader audience. Together, these innovations demonstrate ASUS’ vision of bringing advanced AI experiences across every category of personal computing. [caption id="attachment_263865" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Asus ProArt Laptop[/caption] The 2026 ROG Strix SCAR 18 redefines the gaming flagship laptop with up to 320W total system power, powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 290HX Plus and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, and featuring the world’s first 18-inch 4K 240Hz Mini LED ROG Nebula HDR display with ROG Nebula Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) for uncompromising gaming and creator experiences [1].

Dell

The new XPS 13 starting at $699 proves that a lower price doesn't mean accepting less. As Dell's thinnest and lightest laptop yet, with up to 17 hours of streaming battery life, it delivers true all-day portability. Every detail reflects XPS craftsmanship – from the durable CNC aluminum chassis to the 2.5K touchscreen, backlit keyboard and Intel Wi-Fi 7 that all come standard, redefining what a premium laptop can be at this price.

“With XPS 13, we’re proving that a lower price doesn’t mean accepting less. It's the thinnest and lightest XPS we've ever built. This reflects where XPS is headed: more power, more innovation and stronger competition across price points.” - Donnie Oliphant, XPS Product Lead, Dell Technologies

[caption id="attachment_263866" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Dell XPS 13[/caption] The XPS 16 Creator Edition is a creator-class laptop built for the most demanding creative and developer work on the go. Powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark with a powerful RTX GPU and ultra-efficient CPU, it's the first XPS laptop to deliver NVIDIA's full stack AI platform and complete suite of NVIDIA RTX technologies in a portable form factor. It delivers smoother playback on 4:2:2 4K timelines, faster exports, more responsive multitasking across complex 3D scenes and compositing work, and a more fluid experience with AI-assisted creation. [caption id="attachment_263864" align="alignnone" width="720"] Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition[/caption]

HP

Beginning later this year, HP will bring RTX Spark to its HP OmniBook Ultra 16 and HP OmniBook X 14 laptops, built for powerful performance. The company is also planning to expand its RTX Spark offerings with a compact desktop, bringing new choices to creators, AI enthusiasts and developers. RTX Spark is designed for creators, gamers and AI developers, bringing NVIDIA’s full-stack AI platform and suite of RTX technologies to slim laptops with all-day battery life. [caption id="attachment_263873" align="alignnone" width="1024"] HP OmniBook Ultra 16[/caption]

MSI

MSI unveiled the Prestige N16 Flip AI+, the company’s first laptop developed in collaboration with NVIDIA powered by the new RTX Spark. It reinvents personal computing, combining advanced content creation, AI development and high-performance gaming in a new platform engineered from the ground up for the next wave of Windows PC experiences. It features a 16-inch UHD+ Tandem OLED display with a dual-layer emissive structure that stacks two OLED layers to share light output. This advanced panel technology delivers over 1000 nits of peak brightness while improving display longevity and power efficiency. Designed for versatile everyday use, the 2-in-1 flip design allows seamless transitions between laptop, tablet, tent and presentation modes, adapting easily to different workflows and environments. [caption id="attachment_263874" align="alignnone" width="960"] Prestige N16 Flip AI+[/caption] MSI also announced its latest innovation in handheld gaming, the Claw 8 EX AI+, powered by Intel Arc G3 Extreme processors. It delivers a significant leap in graphics performance, enabling exceptional AAA gaming on handheld devices while maintaining strong power efficiency for extended play sessions. Designed for sustained gaming on the go, the Claw 8 EX AI+ features an 8-inch 120Hz VRR display, delivering fluid visuals. [caption id="attachment_263887" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Claw 8 EX AI+[/caption]

Surface

The Surface Laptop Ultra is the most powerful Surface Laptop ever built, designed for world makers, creative pros, developers and AI builders. Powered by an NVIDIA RTX Spark superchip, Surface Laptop Ultra combines a powerful NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU, full CUDA support and up to 128GB of unified memory to help creators and developers take on demanding local AI, rendering, compiling and multi-model workflows in a thin, precision-engineered laptop. Surface Laptop Ultra brings uncompromising craft and raw power to the people creating what’s next, with up to 1 petaflop of AI compute, capable of running up to 120B parameter models with 1 million token context locally [2]. It pairs that performance with the hardware world makers need on the go: a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen, all-day battery life and creator-ready ports. To learn more, visit the Devices blog by Brett Ostrum, Corporate Vice President, Surface. [caption id="attachment_263860" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Surface Laptop Ultra[/caption]

Next generation silicon powering AI PCs

Intel

Intel introduced Intel Arc G-Series processors, a new family of products designed for next-generation handheld gaming systems. Launching with Intel Arc G3 and Intel Arc G3 Extreme processors running on Windows 11, the series builds on the architecture of Intel Core Ultra Series 3 to bring optimized performance and power efficiency to portable play. Designed for handheld with optimized core counts, power management and software, Intel Arc G3 processors deliver leadership performance and efficiency for smooth, immersive gameplay and exceptional battery life without compromise. Handheld designs from leading partners will launch in the coming months, beginning with Acer’s Predator Atlas 8, MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and OneXPlayer.

"Intel Arc G-Series represents years of focused innovation and a deep commitment to gaming. It delivers uncompromising PC performance in the palm of your hand, combined with the console-like accessibility and immediacy gamers expect. With cutting-edge graphics technologies like XeSS 3 and breakthrough efficiency for longer unplugged play, Intel Arc G-Series proves that while others make tradeoffs, gamers don't have to." – Dan Rogers, Vice President and General Manager, PC Product, Client Computing Group

NVIDIA

At Computex 2026, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang announced the RTX Spark, a new Arm-based AI superchip developed in collaboration with MediaTek and Microsoft, designed to run personal AI agents locally on Windows laptops and compact desktops. It is designed for AI, creating and gaming, delivers up to 1 petaflop of AI performance, Blackwell RTX cores, industry-leading power efficiency, full-stack NVIDIA AI and graphics technology and up to 128GB of unified memory. NVIDIA and Microsoft collaborated to bring NVIDIA OpenShell runtime to Windows, built on MXC. Integrating MXC through OpenShell provides an easy-to-integrate package for developers to deploy autonomous, always-on agents safely. Beginning this fall, RTX Spark will power a full range of Windows laptops and small form factor desktop PCs, with Microsoft Surface, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and MSI. Jensen also announced the NVIDIA DGX Station for Windows, a deskside AI supercomputer powered by the GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip. It allows enterprise developers to run frontier AI models with up to 1 trillion parameters locally on Windows environments without cloud costs. [caption id="attachment_263879" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Beginning this fall, NVIDIA RTX Spark will power a range of Windows laptops from Microsoft Surface, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and MSI, Surface RTX Spark Dev Box from Microsoft Surface, and small form factor desktop PCs from Acer, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo and MSI. We're also introducing the NVIDIA DGX Station for Windows that puts a trillion-parameter AI supercomputer on every enterprise desk.[/caption]

Qualcomm

Ahead of Computex, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the Snapdragon C Platform, a new entry-tier processor designed to make modern, responsive computing more accessible for students, families and small businesses. It delivers efficient performance with cool, quiet designs and all-day battery life. In tandem with Qualcomm’s announcement, Acer unveiled the Acer Aspire Go 15, expanding access to capable laptops at more affordable price points, becoming the first PC maker to announce a device powered by the new Snapdragon C processor. The company also introduced the Acer Swift Spin 14 AI, powered by Snapdragon X2 Elite or X2 Plus, delivering up to 80 TOPS of AI performance. ASUS announced the ASUS Ascent QN10, the world’s first AI mini PC powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite platform, featuring an 80 TOPS NPU. The device supports intelligent, agentic AI experiences and expands Snapdragon X2 Elite into a new mini PC form factor. Together, these announcements highlight a significant leap in performance and AI capability while broadening Qualcomm Technologies’ compute portfolio across tiers and form factors.

“As costs rise and customer expectations evolve, Snapdragon C brings together value-oriented computing, all-day battery life, AI capabilities and responsive performance in cool-quiet devices for expanded platform choice. We’re delivering modern computing experiences that help our ecosystem reach new audiences and expanding access to reliable, efficient technology for students, families, customer-facing small businesses and beyond.” - Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Compute and Gaming, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Acer’s announcements reflect the strength and breadth of the Snapdragon portfolio from premium AI experiences with the Snapdragon X2 Series to accessible, everyday computing with the new Snapdragon C Platform. Together, these platforms are helping expand the Windows ecosystem, while giving our partners new opportunities to reach more users.” - Nitin Kumar, VP, Product Management, SVP & GM, Compute and Gaming, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Empowering a billion users together

These announcements and many more from our partners last week are a powerful reminder of what makes Windows special: an open ecosystem of partners pushing boundaries together, delivering performance, longer battery life, AI experiences and thoughtful design across more form factors than any other platform. From everyday productivity to premium consumer devices to commercial fleets and frontline workhorses, the Windows ecosystem is meeting customers wherever they work, create and play. Thank you to every partner who joined us in Taipei, to the teams who made it happen, and to the more than a billion daily users who continue to choose Windows. If you are looking for a new Windows 11 PC, there has never been a better time to explore the wide range of devices available from our partners and find the one that best fits the way you live and work. [1] Based on publicly available information as of April 2026, ROG Strix SCAR 18 is the only gaming laptop known to feature a 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate in a single 18" mini-LED panel with ELMB.  [2] Source: NVIDIA. Based on 1 Theoretical FP4 TOPS using the sparsity feature.

My Debian contributions this month were all sponsored by Freexian.

You can also support my work directly via Liberapay or GitHub Sponsors.

OpenSSH

I backported various security fixes from 10.3 to trixie, bookworm, bullseye, buster, and stretch. For trixie, I also backported several IPQoS fixes to line up with upstream’s traffic management settings and drop a rather hacky Debian-specific patch; this needed a quick follow-up fix.

I upgraded trixie-backports to 10.3.

I fixed openssh uses pidof but does not depend on procps.

PuTTY

I upgraded from 0.83 to 0.84.

Python packaging

New upstream versions:

• bitstruct
• ormar
• pdm (fixing a build failure)
• pydantic
• pydantic-core
• pydantic-settings
• pyglet (fixing a build failure)
• python-asyncssh
• python-bitarray
• python-btrees
• python-build
• python-certifi
• python-charset-normalizer (fixing a build failure)
• python-fakeredis (contributed supporting fix upstream)
• python-holidays
• python-jsonschema-path
• python-memray (fixing a build failure and CVE-2026-32722)
• python-openapi-schema-validator
• python-pathable
• python-persistent
• python-pyftpdlib
• python-pytest-run-parallel
• sorl-thumbnail
• twisted
• zope.interface
• zope.proxy

Other build/test failures:

• beets
• buildbot (contributed upstream)
• dep-logic (contributed upstream)
• diskcache
• khard
• matplotlib
• mkdocs-rss-plugin
• ormar: compatibility with fastapi 0.125 and pydantic 2.13
• pgzero
• py7zr
• pydantic-extra-types (contributed upstream)
• pydata-sphinx-theme
• python-invocations (contributed upstream)
• python-localzone
• python-maturin
• python-nacl
• python-pampy
• python-treq (contributed upstream, including fixing some CI bitrot)
• python-txrequests (contributed upstream)

Other bugs:

• buildbot: (Build-)depends on deprecated module python3-pkg-resources (contributed upstream)
• pysodium: Depends on cruft package libsodium
• python-fakeredis: lua support not working, breaking django-redis cache locking
• python3.14: Drop libnsl-dev build-dependency

I updated python-treq upstream to stop vendoring multipart, now that the packaging issues with that have been sorted out.

Code reviews

• debmirror: User-Agent blocked by Ubuntu/Launchpad repositories (uploaded, and cherry-picked into trixie)
• pydantic: Fix CVE-2024-3772 in bookworm (merged and uploaded)
• pyodbc: Run SQLite tests (merged and uploaded)
• python-jsonschema-path: Transition to starlette 1.0 (merged and uploaded)
• python-maison: FTBFS with the nocheck build profile (followed up to fix the nodoc build profile as well)
• python-openapi-core: Transition to starlette 1.0
• python-openapi-schema-validator: Transition to starlette 1.0 (merged and uploaded)
• python-openapi-spec-validator: Transition to starlette 1.0 (merged and uploaded)
• python-pathable: Transition to starlette 1.0 (merged and uploaded)
• python-rich-argparse: New upstream version 1.8.0 (merged and uploaded)

Other bits and pieces

I contributed a debian-policy patch to fix several links related to build profiles.

Apple this week detailed a broad set of improvements to Liquid Glass, the translucent design language it introduced last year, spanning readability, personalization, sidebar behavior, and app icons.


Announced at the WWDC 2026 keynote and elaborated on further at the Platforms State of the Union, the changes address feedback that followed last year's rollout by making adjustments to the underlying foundations of how Liquid Glass is constructed.

At the core of the updates is a tuning of how the material handles content behind it. Apple has adjusted Liquid Glass so it more effectively diffuses complex content, improving readability throughout the system. To add greater depth and visual separation, Apple has also introduced a darkened edge around Liquid Glass elements, along with brighter specular highlights.

The headline change for users is a new transparency slider in Settings, which allows the look of Liquid Glass to be adjusted anywhere from ultra clear to fully tinted. The control goes considerably further than a binary toggle, giving users granular control over how much the glass effect appears across the system.

Apps already using Liquid Glass will gain many of these improvements automatically when running on iOS 27, without needing to be recompiled. Liquid Glass also adapts to accessibility settings such as Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast.

Apple has also addressed behavior when content scrolls under floating bars. A uniform toolbar now appears across the top in these situations, keeping text legible while improving contrast. The effect is applied automatically for standard toolbars and can be further adjusted using the existing scroll edge effect APIs.

Icon rendering has been updated substantially. Apple says icons will now appear sharper and more defined, with new refraction features that can be selectively applied for added character. On macOS and iPadOS, developers also now have access to an API to surface icons for key app actions in menus, which are hidden by default.

Icon Composer, Apple's dedicated tool for designing app icons, has been updated to support building icons from multiple layers of Liquid Glass. New annotation features allow developers to add refraction or dial in content effects, while an interactive preview shows how a designed icon will look on earlier operating system releases.

Apple has also made a number of changes specific to macOS 27 Golden Gate, including further sidebar refinements and window corner radius updates. For a full breakdown of how Liquid Glass is evolving on the Mac, see our dedicated article.
This article, "Here's How Liquid Glass Is Changing in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple this week unveiled macOS 27 Golden Gate, and the upcoming software update hints at the rumored "MacBook Ultra" in at least three ways.


"MacBook Ultra" is the rumored name for a new high-end model above the MacBook Pro. The laptop is rumored to feature an OLED display, touch-screen capabilities, a Dynamic Island, a thinner design, and M6 Pro and M6 Max chips.

macOS 27 includes a trio of hints about touch-screen support and a Dynamic Island in particular.

First, the update adds direct touch input to Sidecar, the feature that allows you to use an iPad as a second display for a Mac. This enhancement allows users to tap and interact with macOS elements with a finger on their iPad. This strongly hints at Apple preparing to bring touch-screen support to macOS after years of resisting.


Second, macOS 27 adds iPhone-like pull-to-refresh support to the Mac. This allows you to swipe down on the trackpad to refresh the page or visible content in apps such as Safari, Mail, News, Podcasts, and Calendar. Apple may have finally expanded this functionality to the Mac in preparation for a "MacBook Ultra" with a touch screen.


Third, the new "Search or Ask" feature powered by the revamped version of Siri is built into Spotlight on macOS 27, resulting in a dark, pill-shaped interface that would be very fitting for a MacBook screen with a Dynamic Island.

On the MacBook Ultra, the "Search or Ask" interface would likely be positioned higher so that it surrounds the Dynamic Island when visible.


macOS 27 is currently available in developer beta, with a public beta to follow in July. The update is expected to be released in September.

Apple reportedly plans to launch the "MacBook Ultra" in early 2027.
This article, "macOS 27 Hints at 'MacBook Ultra' in Three Ways" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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We started tracking early Prime Day deals last week, and today Amazon expanded its selection of items on sale ahead of Prime Day, which will begin on June 23. New deals include UGREEN's best desktop NAS systems, the Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar at a record low price, and more.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

These new deals join ongoing highlights of early Prime Day deals, including Anker's Prime 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, available for $109.99 on Amazon this week, down from $149.99. This is one of Anker's newest accessories, and Amazon's sale today is a solid second-best price on the device.



The Prime 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station features Qi2.2 support, which lets a compatible MagSafe ‌iPhone‌ charge at up to 25W. It's the same speed as Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ charger, and it is 10W faster than the standard Qi2 ‌MagSafe‌ chargers. You can also simultaneously charge an Apple Watch and AirPods with the device.

We're also tracking big discounts from brands like Sony, Samsung, Sonos, and more in the lists below. Accessories on sale include USB-C wall chargers, MagSafe-compatible wireless chargers, portable batteries, headphones, and soundbars.

UGREEN

• 2-Bay Desktop NASync - $186.99, down from $219.99


• 2-Bay Desktop NAS - $369.99, down from $439.99


• 4-Bay Desktop NAS - $619.99, down from $729.99


• 4-Bay Desktop NAS Pro - $679.99, down from $799.99

Docks

• iVANKY 23-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 FusionDock Max 2 - $399.99, down from $499.99

Wall Chargers

• Anker Nano USB-C Wall Charger - $29.99, down from $39.99


• UGREEN 100W GaN 4-Port Charger - $33.23, down from $54.99


• Anker 140W 4-Port GaN USB-C Charger - $79.99, down from $99.99


• Anker 3-Port Prime Charger - $115.99, down from $149.99

Wireless Chargers

• Anker 3-in-1 MagSafe-Compatible UFO Charger - $69.99, down from $89.99


• Anker 3-in-1 MagSafe-Compatible Foldable Charging Station - $79.99, down from $109.99


• Anker 3-in-1 MagSafe-Compatible Charging Cube - $89.99, down from $129.99


• Anker 3-in-1 Prime Wireless Charging Station - $109.99, down from $149.99


• Anker Prime MagSafe-Compatible 3-in-1 Charging Station - $159.99, down from $229.99

Portable Chargers

• Anker MagGo Power Bank 10,000 mAh - $69.99, down from $79.99


• Anker Prime Power Bank 20,100 mAh - $149.99, down from $179.99


• Anker SOLIX C300 Power Station with Lantern - $169.99, down from $249.00


• Anker Prime Power Bank 26,250 mAh - $199.99, down from $229.99


• Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station - $449.99, down from $799.00


• Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 Portable Power Station - $449.00, down from $799.00


• Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station - $799.00, down from $1,499.00

Audio

• Sonos Beam Gen 2 - $369.00, down from $499.00


• Sony WH-1000XM6 Noise Canceling Wireless Headphones - $398.00, down from $459.00


• Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar - $899.00, down from $1,099.00

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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This article, "Amazon's Early Prime Day Deals Expand With New Sales on Desktop NAS and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple appears to be quietly discontinuing the Vision Pro Travel Case in international markets, with the $199 accessory removed from storefronts across much of the world.


MacRumors can confirm that the Apple Vision Pro Travel Case is no longer listed on Apple's online storefronts around the world, including the UK, Japan, Germany, France, Ireland, and Hong Kong. The Apple Vision Pro accessories page in these countries no longer list the Travel Case at all, and the product web pages that once contained it have been completely removed, which would indicate discontinuation with no plans to revive the product, at least in these countries.

In China and Australia, the listings remain live and visible but the product is grayed out and unavailable to purchase. The case continues to be sold as usual in the U.S., Canada, and the UAE. It is unclear when the changes were made, but they appear to have taken place recently.

The Belkin Travel Bag for Apple Vision Pro remains available for customers in international markets as an alternative. Apple has not announced any changes to the original product's availability.

The move comes as Apple appears to have scaled back its Vision Pro ambitions. The headset's October 2025 M5 refresh reportedly failed to revive meaningful consumer interest, with the $3,499 price tag remaining unchanged despite the chip upgrade. Apple is believed to have sold around 600,000 Vision Pro units in total, and sources have noted an unusually high rate of returns compared to any other recent Apple product.

Following the M5 model's weak reception, the Vision Pro team was reportedly disbanded and its members redistributed across other projects. Vision Products Group chief Mike Rockwell has been leading Apple's Siri team since March 2025. Plans for a cheaper, lighter "Vision Air" were reportedly scrapped in October 2025, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that if a new headset does eventually materialize, he would not expect it for "around two more years at least," given that the bulk of Apple's mixed-reality hardware talent have been moved to other projects.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported this month that incoming Apple CEO John Ternus signed off on canceling both a second Vision Pro and the Vision Air, with Apple's focus now shifted to smart glasses. Kuo says two products remain in development: AI-equipped glasses to rival Meta's Ray-Bans, expected in 2027, and a display-equipped set of AR glasses unlikely to arrive before 2029. Gurman separately indicated that a slimmer, cheaper Vision Pro remains a possibility in the long term, but is unlikely to arrive before late 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.

Whether it signals a complete discontinuation or simply a quiet inventory wind-down, it is difficult to not see the apparent phasing out of the Vision Pro Travel Case as part of the device's uncertain future.

Thanks, Ben!
This article, "Apple Seemingly Discontinuing Vision Pro Travel Case Around the World" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The upcoming iOS 27 update that Apple unveiled this week includes many new features and enhancements for Apple's Wallet app on the iPhone.


Below, we have outlined six additions to the Apple Wallet app on iOS 27.

New Features

Enhanced Passes

iOS 26 introduced enhanced Apple Wallet boarding passes, and iOS 27 will gradually expand this improved experience to all other types of passes in the app, including for loyalty, rewards, membership, and gift cards.


The newer passes have an elevated design with more detailed background images, and there are tiles below them that provide relevant information.

Apple has introduced a new macOS app called Pass Designer for creating and previewing passes.


Pass Designer is available in beta on macOS 27.

Enhanced Hotel Keys

iOS 27 supports enhanced Apple Wallet digital keys at participating hotels and resorts. You can view more details about your trips, receive updates about booked activities, access services available during your stay, and more. Apple did not share a list of hotel brands or locations that will be offering these upgraded keys.

Create Passes

You can now create custom passes in Apple Wallet by scanning physical cards, like loyalty or membership cards.


With the new Siri mode in the Camera app, you can simply point your iPhone at any physical card with a barcode and save it to Apple Wallet. Once added, passes are ready to present as a barcode or QR code right from the iPhone.

New Barcode Types

Apple Wallet passes can display four new barcode types: EAN-13, Code 39, Codabar, and ITF.

Split Bills With Apple Cash

In the U.S. only, iOS 27 allows you to split bills with a new feature powered by Apple Cash and Apple Intelligence. This capability is available in the Apple Wallet and Messages apps, or by using the new Siri mode in the Camera app.


"When users point their iPhone at a receipt using Siri mode, it can surface the relevant action to split a bill with Apple Cash and identify the items on the receipt," said Apple. "As users select their items, their total payment is calculated, including their share of tax and tip, so they can pay back exactly what they owe with Apple Cash."

Wallet Order Tracking in More Countries

Starting with iOS 27, Apple Wallet's order tracking feature is available in Australia and Canada. The feature was limited to the U.S. and the U.K. previously.

Learn More

Apple shared a WWDC 2026 video outlining new features coming to the Wallet app this year, and it has a page on its developer website with more details.

iOS 27 Availability

iOS 27 is currently available as a developer beta, with a public beta to follow in July. The update is expected to be released to all users in September.

• How to Install the iOS 27 Beta

iOS 27 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer.
This article, "iOS 27 Adds Six New Features to Apple Wallet on Your iPhone" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple unveiled iOS 27 at WWDC this week, and while the headline-grabbing Siri overhaul has received the most attention, the Lock Screen has picked up several refinements that you may have missed.


Some are brand-new additions, while others are tweaks to features Apple introduced in iOS 26, but together they give you more control over how your Lock Screen looks and behaves.

Here are five to try if you plan to install the public beta next month, or when iOS 27 becomes generally available in the fall.

Extend Your Wallpaper

A new wallpaper extension feature in iOS 27 uses Apple Intelligence to automatically expand a photo beyond its original boundaries so it fills the entire Lock Screen more naturally. If a photo is cropped too tightly, doesn't match your iPhone's aspect ratio, or it leaves empty space when positioned on the Lock Screen, iOS 27 can generate additional image content around the edges with the "Extend" option. It will analyze the existing image and create matching background details that blend with the original photo, so there's no need for aggressive cropping. The Extend option can also be found in the Photos app.

Make the Clock Tiny

A new compact clock mode is available as a new Lock Screen layout option in iOS 27. Found in the top-right corner of the Font & Color panel, the option moves the time from its traditional large, centered position to a much smaller format alongside the date and widgets at the top of the screen. It's a nice option to have if you like a cleaner Lock Screen look that shows off your wallpaper more fully, and it's the complete opposite effect introduced in iOS 26 that stretches the clock down the screen.

Generate Wallpapers With AI

iOS 27 also expands Image Playground with support for AI-generated Lock Screen wallpapers. You can create custom backgrounds using text descriptions, and the app will generate entirely new images tailored to your preferred style, subject matter, or aesthetic, allowing you to set it directly as your Lock Screen wallpaper.

Change Liquid Glass Opacity

In iOS 27, Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under Settings ➝ Appearance ➝ Liquid Glass. It changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and you can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that allows some of the background to show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves the legibility of text, or choose something in between. Granted, it's more of a system-wide customization feature than a Lock Screen-exclusive feature, but it directly impacts the look of your clock setup, buttons, widgets, and notifications.

New Siri Interface

To go with Apple's tentpole "Siri AI" chatbot-style overhaul, iOS 27 introduces a redesigned Siri experience. Instead of the glowing light effect that previously traced the edges of the display, a swirling Siri orb now expands and animates within the Dynamic Island. Siri requests and responses are also now presented in a more compact interface surrounding the Dynamic Island, so interactions should feel more focused rather than completely taking over your Lock Screen.
This article, "iOS 27 Brings These Five New Features to Your iPhone Lock Screen" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Amazon today has the AirPods Pro 3 available for $179.00, down from $249.00. This is a new all-time low price on the AirPods Pro 3, beating the previous low by $20.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This model of the AirPods Pro launched in September 2025 and has 2x better Active Noise Cancellation than the previous generation, better audio quality, a revised fit that's meant to improve comfort and stability, Live Translation for in-person conversations, and heart rate sensing for workouts.



Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Update: The $179.00 deal price has been fluctuating today; if you don't see it when you click through Amazon, there's a chance it may come back later. Otherwise you can still shop on Walmart.

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This article, "AirPods Pro 3 Hit New Low Price of $179" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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macOS 27 Golden Gate is the final version of macOS to feature full Rosetta 2 support, meaning the translation layer that keeps Intel-built apps running on Apple silicon Macs is set to disappear entirely with next year's major macOS release.


Golden Gate is the first macOS release limited to Apple silicon Macs and marks the end of the road for Intel-based hardware, but the implications reach Apple silicon owners too.

Rosetta 2 is the dynamic binary translator Apple introduced alongside the M1 chip in late 2020. It currently allows Intel-compiled apps to continue running on Apple silicon without modification. Apple first confirmed this timeline at its Platforms State of the Union during WWDC 2025:

Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases — through macOS 27 — as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks.

With macOS 27 Golden Gate now in beta testing, that commitment has reached its final stage. Apple silicon Mac owners running Intel-only apps have one macOS release left before those apps stop working.

Apple began warning users ahead of the cutoff. With macOS 26.4 and 26.5, a system alert surfaces whenever a user launches an Intel-only app, flagging that support will end in a future macOS release. The notifications are designed to give both end users and developers time to find or build native Apple silicon alternatives before the deadline arrives.

Most widely used apps have been updated with native Apple silicon support in the six years since the transition was announced in 2020. Developers and organizations still dependent on Intel-only software, however, will need to find replacements or push for updated builds before macOS 28 ships, or simply remain on macOS 27.

Golden Gate also automatically uninstalls Rosetta 2 if you had it installed in macOS 26 Tahoe, so those who need to continue using it will have to reinstall the feature.

macOS 27 Golden Gate is currently in beta for developers, with a public beta coming next month and launch expected in September.
This article, "macOS 27 Golden Gate Is the Last to Support Intel Apps via Rosetta 2" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi has explained why the company launched a standalone Siri app in iOS 27, after previously characterizing a dedicated chatbot as contrary to its Apple Intelligence strategy.


The new ‌Siri‌ app, announced at WWDC earlier this week, gives users a centralized place to manage and revisit their conversations with ‌Siri‌ AI. Federighi addressed the apparent about-face during a post-keynote discussion for the media at Apple Park this week, responding directly to a question about Apple's prior public stance.

Following WWDC 2025, Federighi and senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak went on a media tour in which they described Apple's approach as weaving ‌Siri‌ into the user's existing workflow rather than offering "a bolt-on chatbot on the side."

Federighi this week said the decision came down to a practical user need to return to and continue past ‌Siri‌ conversations. Apple determined that a home screen app was the most natural affordance on its platform for that purpose, and framed the ‌Siri‌ app as an extension of the system experience rather than a standalone product:

We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, just an unintegrated place you go and chit-chat, but rather as an integral, conversational tool that you use in the moment, deeply integrated into your experience.

Understanding what's on screen, able to interface, not in some separate world, but directly in the document that you're editing and that you want help proofreading, that you want tips on. And so all these experiences are conversational. They are really an extension of your system experience, deeply integrated into your flow.

Now, we did go back and forth on what's the best way, if you want to get back to such a chat that you had, because you want to continue it, you want to reference it, and quite honestly, in our platform, the most natural affordance for any user to go find something like that is to have an app that they can manage on their home screen, launch, and get back to. And so we have a Siri app, and that Siri app just re-embodies those capabilities of that core system experience.

The ‌iOS 27‌ developer beta is available now, though access to the new ‌Siri‌ requires joining a waitlist in Settings, with a public beta expected in July.
This article, "Craig Federighi Explains Why Apple Pivoted to a Siri Chatbot App" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has quietly removed the Walkie-Talkie app from Apple Watch in the first developer beta of watchOS 27, with the app vanishing from both the app list and Control Center.


Walkie-Talkie launched with watchOS 5 in 2018 and allowed Apple Watch users to send push-to-talk voice messages to one another over Wi-Fi or cellular using FaceTime infrastructure. Unlike traditional walkie-talkies, it worked over any distance, making it a novel way to communicate without picking up an iPhone. Despite the promise of the feature at launch, however, Apple gave it very little attention in the years that followed, with no meaningful updates across eight major watchOS releases.

Shortly after its debut, Apple was forced to temporarily disable Walkie-Talkie following the discovery of a security vulnerability that could allow a user to listen through another person's microphone without their knowledge. Apple resolved the issue with a watchOS 5.3 update, but the episode did little to build lasting enthusiasm for the feature.

The app's removal has not been officially confirmed by Apple, but users running the first ‌watchOS 27‌ beta observe that the app is nowhere to be found, with no option to reinstall it.

‌watchOS 27‌ is still in very early beta testing and there remains a slim possibility Apple could reintroduce the app before the software reaches a public release later this year. Given how little attention the feature has received over the years, however, its removal looks more like a quiet retirement than an accidental omission.

A public beta of ‌watchOS 27‌ is set to arrive next month, followed by launch in the fall, likely alongside new Apple Watch models.
This article, "Apple Removes Walkie-Talkie From Apple Watch in watchOS 27 Beta" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple at this year's WWDC emphasized that its approach to iOS 27 development was to add fewer newer features and instead make existing features better. Examples of that approach can be seen across the operating system, but it is arguably most obvious in the changes coming to Messages.


That's not to say there's nothing original coming to Messages in iOS 27. For instance, one new Apple Intelligence feature brings content-aware suggestions directly into conversations. If someone asks for photos, for example, Messages can recognize what's being discussed and suggest searching your photo library, using details like people, places, and keywords to surface relevant images.

The app can also detect when a conversation would benefit from creating a reminder or note and offer a shortcut to do so without leaving the thread. Apple is also bringing drawing tools directly into Messages, allowing users to create and share hand-drawn sketches within conversations.

Otherwise, Apple's focus has been on making the following enhancements and improvements to its broader Messages platform:

• Faster message loading: Large conversations, especially those containing years of history and thousands of attachments, should load and scroll more quickly.


• Improved syncing across devices: Apple says Messages, read states, reactions, and attachments sync more reliably and quickly between iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.


• Find offloaded media in Messages: Search can surface photos and videos that have been offloaded from local storage and stored in iCloud.


• Thumbnails for offloaded media: Offloaded photos and videos now get visible preview thumbnails instead of generic placeholders, making older media easier to identify.


• Personalized Smart Reply suggestions: Apple Intelligence-generated Smart Reply suggestions can now reflect a user's own writing style, making suggested responses feel more natural and personal.


• Consolidated notifications for multiple Tapbacks: Multiple reactions to a message are grouped into a single notification rather than generating separate alerts.


• Continuous sending of photos, videos, and text: Messages continue sending in the background and automatically resume when connectivity returns, reducing interrupted sends.


• Search conversations by phone number or nickname: Conversation search now works with saved nicknames and phone numbers, not just contact names.


• Faster access to recent camera captures: Newly captured photos and videos appear more quickly in the Messages media picker.


• Failed messages automatically retry sending: Messages that fail because of temporary network issues will automatically attempt to resend without the user's intervention.

Early adopters of iOS 27 will receive access to the public beta next month, when they can try out the new features and improvements themselves. Apple is expected to make a general release available in the fall.
This article, "14 Ways Apple Is Improving Messages in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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With the launch of iOS 27 and HomePod Software 27, Apple is adding support for AutoMix, Apple's AI-powered Apple Music feature that blends songs using matching key and tempo.


Apple says it has improved AutoMix's underlying algorithms to generate new transition types, making for more seamless blends between tracks, so this should also benefit the newly introduced feature for HomePod.

Running Apple's current HomePod Software 26, the AutoMix feature in Apple Music is not available on HomePod. Users running the existing software only have access to the crossfade feature that improves transitions between songs.

If users AirPlay to HomePod and the device they are using to AirPlay supports AutoMix (and it is turned on), then it will play on the AirPlay stream to HomePod, but that's the only workaround.

OG HomePod Support

In case anyone was wondering, the new HomePod Software 27 beta does support the original HomePod. There was some confusion about this earlier in the week, but MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris was able to independently confirm support for Apple's first smart speaker, which launched in 2018 and was discontinued in 2021.

HomePod Software 27 will come out of beta when iOS 27 becomes generally available in the fall.
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Apple this week revealed what its most advanced on-device AI model does, and the feature list is shorter than the hardware requirements might suggest.


In its Siri AI announcement during WWDC 2026, Apple confirmed that the model powers two things: more expressive Siri voices and a major accuracy gain for systemwide dictation.

Both require 12GB of unified memory. Among current iPhones, that limits the more powerful AI model to the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, alongside iPad models with the M4 chip or later, Macs with M3 or later, and Apple Vision Pro with M5.

That's right, the standard iPhone 17 misses out. Having only 8GB to its name – the minimum Apple Intelligence has required since launch – the base flagship model falls short of the new threshold. This is the first time Apple has raised that bar, given that Apple Intelligence has required 8GB since its introduction two years ago.

So What Does 12GB Get You That 8GB Doesn't?

On the voice side, users can adjust the expressiveness and pace of Siri's speech so that the assistant sounds the way they want it. However, it's the dictation feature that includes the more substantial change. Apple's most advanced on-device AI model is said to be able to turn speech into polished text on the fly, handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting automatically, with improved speech understanding that's meant to cut down on errors.


Everything else in the Siri AI rollout – personal context, onscreen awareness, web answers, the dedicated Siri app, Visual Intelligence, and Writing Tools – runs on the broader Apple Intelligence device list. That list still includes iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 series, and iPhone 17.

The 12GB requirement, in other words, does not refer to Siri AI wholesale; it improves how Siri sounds and how well it transcribes. Base iPhone 17 owners will still get the new chatbot-style assistant with iOS 27, they'll just get the older voices and a less precise dictation engine.

Whether that matters will vary from user to user, but for anyone who dictates messages and notes all day, the better transcription is the kind of thing you will likely notice immediately. For everyone else, the difference may be something they can quite happily live with.

iOS 27 is currently in developer beta, with a public beta launching next month and a general release arriving in the fall.
This article, "iPhone 17's 8GB Limit Costs It These Two Siri AI Features in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple Music is bringing Hi-Res Lossless Audio to tvOS 27, in addition to standard Lossless Audio.


Apple says subscribers with compatible external speaker outputs will be able to enjoy their favorite songs in the highest audio quality and experience studio-quality sound directly through their Apple TV 4K.

As of tvOS 26, Apple TV 4K supports Apple Music Lossless audio up to 24-bit/48 kHz, but does not support Hi-Res Lossless playback (above 48 kHz, or up to 24-bit/192 kHz).

Lossless audio refers to a form of compression that preserves all of the original data, which can result in an improved listening experience, although to what extent is debated.

The tvOS 27 developer beta is already out, and registered developers can install it through Settings ➝ System ➝ Software Update ➝ Beta Updates on a supported Apple TV. tvOS 27 will go on general release in the fall.
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The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. The Alpine Linux development team has announced the release of Alpine Linux 3.24.0, a significant update of the project's independently-developed, general purpose Linux distribution designed primarily for power users: "We are pleased to announce the release of Alpine Linux 3.24.0, the first release in the 3.24 stable series.....

AI slop is invading the web. A recent story about disallowing LLM-generated submissions on Lobsters triggered a lot of debate. My personal worst offenders are LinkedIn articles with AI-generated images and uninspired articles filled with emojis from people trying to masquerade as experts on a subject they don’t care enough to write themselves. While I am unhappy about this situation, I rely on LLMs for grammar, copyediting, and translation. I don’t see this as a contradiction.

I am a native French speaker, but I blog in both English and French. When I started writing this blog in 2011, I was composing in French and translating to English, but I found it was better to work in the reverse order to avoid unnatural and non-idiomatic constructions. One of my goals is to write “good” English but I never felt it was my strong point.¹ For example, verb tenses are often an issue, even if I mostly stick with the present tense. I learn the rules and forget them right away. I also don’t feel like hiring an editor for something I see as a hobby.

As an example, I have kept the history of the successive iterations when writing “Scaling Akvorado BMP RIB with sharding”:

1. the first draft, authored with the help of a thesaurus,²
2. the edited copy revised by the copyediting skill,
3. the translation to French generated with the translation skill, and
4. the human proofread of the French translation, with minor edits to the English version.

I know that LLMs may alter the author’s voice when editing, but the corrections in the second step are minor. The prompt asks to “apply light stylistic edits,” with some guidance around avoiding passive voice, long sentences, bland verbs, and filler words. It also defines the target audience: technical with a B2 level in English.

In the following excerpt, I used “long time” instead of “long-standing.” The former is missing a hyphen and applies to people—a long-time friend, while the later relates to a situation—a long-standing agreement. I had a hard time understanding the reason of the second change: the LLM prefers a defining relative clause to provide the definition of “RIB sharding.”

As the Internet routing table contains more than 1 million routes, Akvorado needs to scale to tens of millions of routes. This has been a long time long-standing challenge, but I expect this issue is now fixed by using RIB sharding, a method to split that splits the routing database into several parts to enable concurrent updates.

In the next modification, the LLM puts “device” instead of “equipment.” This is correct as “equipment” is an uncountable noun. I know that, but I still fall into this trap.

When Akvorado does not find a route from a specific device, it falls back to a route sent by another equipment device.

I ask the LLM to use “descriptive verbs” and it complies by replacing a multi-word predicate with a lexically rich verb:

The benchmarks demonstrate it has better performance than outperforms other packages, both packages for lookups, insertions, and memory usage.

It also fixes grammar errors. In the next excerpt, a “list of routes” is a singular expression. Moreover, “stored” is a state and I should not use “into” as it expresses a change.

The list of routes for each prefix are is not stored directly into in the prefix tree.

As a last example, consider the following snippet. The “require” verb accepts a noun or an object followed by a to-infinitive. I can’t use it with just a to-infinitive.

An alternative would be to have one prefix tree for each peer but it would require to configure configuring all routers to export their routes.

As someone who didn’t grow up speaking English, I struggle with these grammar rules despite reading a lot of English material.³ French is more complex to get started but more systematic. English is full of irregularities.

---

On each page, I disclose in the footer whether an AI modified the content. There are three levels:

• 🧠: no AI or almost no AI (e.g., grammar corrections)
• ✨: enhanced (e.g., copyediting)
• 🤖: generated (e.g., translated from another language, even if human-edited)

Hover or tap the icon to reveal the AI’s name and its role in the document.

Example of AI usage disclosure: Claude Sonnet 4.5 edited this article.

The graph below shows which tool altered each post, year by year. Recently, I applied the grammar skill to past articles. Since 2018, French articles have been translated with the help of DeepL first, then of an LLM. Since 2024, English articles are copyedited.

🖼 Graph showing the AI usage over the years. Each level get its own color.

AI usage over the years. Hover or tap a band for the details.

---

If you are strongly against any usage of LLMs specifically for writing, I hope you accept my more nuanced position on the usage of these tools as a trade-off to provide clearer and more engaging articles. Years of literature on improving English told us it is important to choose the right word to keep the reader engaged.

[…] Good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style) and then filling the third level of your toolbox with the right instruments.

― Stephen King, On Writing

Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines this week, adding stricter language around low-quality apps.


The 4.3 Spam rule already barred overly simple apps in saturated categories, but Apple now includes language saying low-effort apps could be pulled from the App Store. Apps in oversaturated categories that are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers may be removed, according to Apple.

App Guideline 4.3(b) New Language:

Don't submit apps that are indistinguishable from what's already widely available. Opportunistically creating variants of existing app categories or popular apps degrades App Store discovery, reduces overall app quality, and harms both users and developers. Certain kinds of apps, such as dating, flashlight, sound effects, wallpaper, simple timers, and fortune telling, are well established on the App Store and we will not accept new submissions unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. We may remove these apps from the App Store going forward if they are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers. Other kinds of apps, such as drinking games, Kama Sutra, fart, and burp apps, are mediocre, low-quality, or low-effort and do not add value to the App Store. Repeated submissions of this kind may lead to removal from the Apple Developer Program.

App Guideline 4.3(b) Old Language:

Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, fortune telling, dating, drinking games, and Kama Sutra apps, etc. already. We will reject these apps unless they provide a unique, high-quality experience. Spamming the store may lead to your removal from the Apple Developer Program.

Apple says it won't approve dating, flashlight, sound effect, wallpaper, simple timer, and fortune telling apps unless they are meaningfully different from existing apps. Apple says fart, burp, Kama Sutra, and drinking game apps are "mediocre, low-quality, or low-effort" and add no value to the ‌App Store‌. Repeated app submissions of this type could lead to removal from the Developer Program.

Wording on spam apps is clearer than before, and it sounds like Apple will approve fewer apps in saturated categories and may even clean up some clutter apps that get no interest.

Apple also added new detail to its 1.2 rule on apps with user-generated content, which is a guideline that has seen Apple threaten to remove apps like Grok from the ‌App Store‌. Apple now makes it clear that app developers are responsible for removing content that violates ‌App Store‌ guidelines, such as pornographic content.

It is your responsibility to remove content that violates this guideline, your terms of service, or your community standards. If we find such content, we will ask you to remove it, and provide a plan to improve your compliance with this guideline. Based on your response, your app may be removed from the App Store until you can demonstrate improvements that bring your app into compliance. Egregious or repeated behavior is grounds for immediate removal of your app from the App Store, and from the Apple Developer Program.

Apps that do not have a compliance plan for addressing content violations could be removed from the ‌App Store‌.

Apple's final guideline change (4.5.3) bars app developers from using Live Activities to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers.

The full ‌App Store‌ Review Guidelines are available on Apple's website.
This article, "Apple Updates App Store Guidelines With Stricter Rules for Low-Quality Apps" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Anthropic today announced the launch of Claude Fable 5, a Mythos-class model that it says is safe for general use.


According to Anthropic, Fable 5's capabilities exceed those of any model it has made generally available, and Fable has demonstrated "exceptional performance" for software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and more. It outperforms Opus models on longer, more complex tasks. Fable 5 can work autonomously for longer than any prior Claude model.

Fable 5 is being released with conservative safeguards to prevent it from being misused in areas like cybersecurity. Questions about some topics will instead be answered by Opus 4.8, with safeguards expected to trigger in less than five percent of sessions on average. Most queries related to cybersecurity, chemistry, and biology will get responses from Opus 4.8 instead of Fable 5.

Anthropic is also releasing Claude Mythos 5 for a small group of cyberdefenders and infrastructure providers. It uses the same underlying model as Fable 5, but with some of the safeguards lifted. Mythos 5 is being deployed through Project Glasswing as an upgrade to the Claude Mythos Preview. Anthropic says Mythos 5 has the strongest cybersecurity capabilities of any model in the world, with access set to expand through a broader trusted access program.

Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are available at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, which is less than half the price of the Claude Mythos Preview. Mythos 5 is available to those who have access to the Mythos Preview, and that includes Apple. Apple is one of Anthropic's Project Glasswing partners.

Claude Fable 5 is included in Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans from today until June 22. On June 23, the model will be removed from those plans and using it will require usage credits. When Fable 5 capacity is sufficient, Anthropic plans to re-add it to subscription plans.
This article, "Anthropic Launches Claude Fable 5, Its First Public Mythos-Class Model" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Messaging app Telegram now has a native Apple Watch app. The app supports viewing and responding to Telegram messages from the wrist.


Features like stickers, voice messages, and location information can be shared from the Apple Watch app.

Telegram had an Apple Watch app back in 2015, but it was discontinued and removed from the App Store a few years back. There have been third-party Telegram apps for the Apple Watch, but now Telegram users can once again use a first-party solution.
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The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. Franco Conidi has announced the release of SysLinuxOS 13.2, an updated build of the project's Debian-based distribution made primarily for system integrators and network administrators. The new version uses the Btrfs filesystem on new installation and integrates the Snapper utility for managing snapshots of Btrfs subvolumes. "SysLinuxOS 13.2....

When Liquid Glass launched in macOS Tahoe, Apple faced criticism over how the design looked on the Mac. Some people felt that Liquid Glass in ‌macOS Tahoe‌ was an afterthought with little impact from the design update, while others had issues with contrast, readability, rounded corners, and design consistency. There were long complaint threads on the MacRumors forums and on Reddit, and some people refused to update.


Apple is making several changes to Liquid Glass and the overall macOS Golden Gate design, and while subtle, some of the changes could make Liquid Glass on Mac easier to digest.

Transparency and Diffusion

Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under System Settings > Appearance. It changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and users can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that allows some of the background to show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves the legibility of text, or choose something in between.


Unfortunately, there is no ultra-clear version of Liquid Glass available with the slider. Even the setting that's as clear as possible does not match the original version of Liquid Glass that Apple showed off at WWDC 2025.

Apple changed the overall Liquid Glass opacity, and it now diffuses complex content more effectively. Apple says a darkened edge and brighter specular highlights establish more depth and separation for the UI.

Toolbars and Window Shapes

Apps have uniform toolbars to make text headings and groups of controls more legible. Windows also all have the same corner radius for more consistency between apps.


Corners of apps are not as dramatically rounded in ‌macOS Golden Gate‌, and the difference is noticeable.


It's easier to tell when a window is active because of the sidebar design, the opacity update, and changes to window shadows.

Sidebars

Sidebars are no longer floating and are instead edge-to-edge. It's a design that's less distracting and more uniform because there's no unnecessary sidebar shadowing that just takes up space.


Sidebar icons have color again, which is something Apple removed in ‌macOS Tahoe‌.

Icons

Apple didn't budge on requiring squircle Mac icons, but it did change icon design. Icons have more layers of Liquid Glass to improve detail and sharpness in light, dark, tinted, and clear icon modes.


Apple is also using icons for some menu bar items to make it easier to find commonly used actions.

HDR

Apple is using HDR for depth and dimension in the ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ interface.

Launch Date

‌macOS Golden Gate‌ also includes all of the new Siri AI features coming in iOS 27, along with performance improvements that make the Mac feel faster.

The update is limited to developers right now, but Apple plans to release a public beta in July. ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ will launch this fall.

This article, "All the Liquid Glass Changes in macOS Golden Gate" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today released new beta firmware for the AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3. The firmware is limited to developers at the current time, and it has a build number of 9A5292e.


In iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, Apple is adding a new AirPods interface and support for custom EQ. AirPods are also compatible with the new Siri AI.

With iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe, Apple added a beta firmware update installation option that's available from the AirPods settings interface when the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which facilitates beta testing.

Developers can use the beta option to turn on beta downloads.
This article, "Apple Releases New AirPods Beta Firmware With iOS 27 Features" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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