Every May, Apple previews new accessibility features coming to devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The announcement typically occurs a few days before Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and it offers a glimpse into what will be included in the next major releases of Apple's software platforms, such as iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.


This year, one of the new capabilities shown off by Apple is natural language support for the Voice Control feature on the iPhone and iPad.

Voice Control is receiving an Apple Intelligence upgrade that will make the feature "more intuitive than ever," according to Apple. Specifically, iPhone and iPad users will be able to describe on-screen buttons and controls with natural language, instead of having to remember exact labels, numbers, or descriptions like before.

For example, users will be able to say things like "tap the guide about best restaurants" in Apple Maps or "tap the purple folder" in the Files app.

Voice Control powered by Apple Intelligence will initially be available in English in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to Apple.

AI-powered Voice Control hints at the more personalized version of Siri that Apple first announced all the way back at WWDC 2024. At the time, Apple said Siri would gain on-screen awareness, which would essentially turn the assistant into an AI agent that is capable of understanding natural language and taking action for you.


Apple's own example was an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info retrieved from the Mail and Messages apps, and it was later reported that Siri will be able to do things such as comment on an Instagram post, or scroll through a shopping app and add something to your cart.

Overall, the revamped Siri is expected to have a better understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. In March 2025, Apple announced that these capabilities were delayed until later this year. The new-and-improved Siri is expected to be a tentpole feature of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, which will be unveiled on June 8 and should be released to the public in September.

The more personalized Siri will likely require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, a Mac with an M1 chip or newer, or an iPad with an A17 Pro or M1 chip or newer.
This article, "New iOS 27 Feature Hints at Major Siri Upgrade Coming Soon" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple this week previewed new accessibility features that are coming later this year, and one is particularly notable: automatic captions for personal videos.


For videos that do not already have captions, Apple said a new on-device speech recognition model can automatically generate them for spoken audio. According to Apple, this feature will be available for videos that you record on your iPhone, videos that you receive from friends and family, and videos that are streamed online.

The automatic captions will initially be limited to English in the U.S. and Canada.

Apple ensured that the captions are generated privately, and you will be able to customize their appearance in the video playback menu or in the Settings app. The feature will be supported across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, with the "later this year" timing pointing to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.

Apple will unveil those software versions during its WWDC 2026 keynote, which begins on Monday, June 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, so we expect to learn more about this feature and its exact implementation in a few weeks from now.
This article, "Apple Says iOS 27 Can Automatically Add Captions to Your Personal iPhone Videos" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today shared stats that paint the App Store as a safe and trusted place for both customers and developers, even though the reality is that fraudulent or deceptive apps continue to make it past Apple's review process from time to time.


In 2025, Apple said its App Review team evaluated more than 9.1 million App Store submissions, with a mix of human review and AI. The company rejected over two million of these submissions, including over 1.2 million new apps and nearly 800,000 pending app updates, for failing to adhere to the App Store's Review Guidelines.

As bad actors continue to evolve their methods, Apple said it continuously improves its multilayered defenses, leveraging a combination of human review and advanced machine learning in an attempt to detect and prevent malicious activity.

"By utilizing AI to rapidly identify complex malicious patterns, analyze app similarity, and flag potentially problematic changes in app updates, Apple's systems help human reviewers focus their expertise where it matters most," said Apple. "This not only improves the customer experience by ensuring a high-quality, curated storefront, it also helps legitimate developers get their great apps and updates to users faster."

Apple added that it terminated 193,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and prevented over $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2025.

In 2025, Apple processed over 1.3 billion App Store reviews and ratings. Using a mix of human review and AI, the company said it identified and blocked close to 195 million fraudulent reviews and ratings from ever appearing.

"Apple's Trust and Safety teams integrate AI throughout the entire moderation process to detect spam, offensive content, and inauthentic reviews at scale," the company explained. "Additionally, AI-powered dashboards and rapid data analysis tools accelerate the discovery of new fraud vectors, enabling Apple's teams to react quickly to deceptive activity and protect the integrity of the platform."

Apple's press release contains many more stats that highlight the company's efforts to ensure the App Store is secure, even if they are not perfect.
This article, "Apple Provides Update on App Store, Highlights Key 2025 Safety Stats" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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