Apple today shared a new television ad on its YouTube channel, designed to introduce people to the new Screen Effects feature in iOS 10. In the minute-long spot, a sole red balloon drifts through mountains, over the sea, and through hilly terrain to reach the city, where it's joined by hundreds of additional balloons floating through the streets.
The shot pans to an iPhone user who receives a "Happy Birthday" message, where balloons fill up the screen to accompany the text. It ends with the tagline "Expressive messages on iPhone 7. Practically magic."
Introduced in iOS 10, Screen Effects are designed to make the messages experience more emotive, personal, and fun. Screen Effects temporarily alter the look of the Messages display with full screen animations that play alongside text messages. There are several animations, ranging from balloons and confetti to lasers and fireworks.
With certain keywords like "Congratulations!" or "Happy Birthday!" Screen Effects play automatically whenever the relevant text phrase is sent to an iPhone user who has iOS 10 installed.
As reported by MediaPost, businesses in the U.S. and Canada can buy Apple Maps ad slots starting today. An introductory offer provides advertisers with a 15% credit towards future ad spend, on up to $1,000 per month of spend over the first year.
The ads do not appear to be visible in Apple Maps just yet, but they should be rolling out soon, as Apple previously stated that the ads would go live ...
Thursday August 20, 2026 8:58 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
In a new ad shared on its YouTube channel today, Apple highlighted how the Apple Watch alerted an athlete named Connor to signs of atrial fibrillation. Apple said doctors later uncovered that Connor had a congenital heart condition, which resulted in him having open-heart surgery, so the Apple Watch potentially saved his life.
After noticing he had a very fast heart rate while training for a ...
Tuesday August 25, 2026 1:40 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Ads in Apple Maps are live in the United States and Canada, which means iPhone and iPad users will see them when searching for locations and when viewing Suggested Places.
Apple announced plans to bring ads to the Maps app in March, and said the feature would roll out starting in late summer. Apple confirmed to 9to5Mac that ads began showing up for users over the last few days, with ad...
I find apples new ads to be stupid. Honestly, my favorite was the retina macbook pro ad they ran years ago for the 15 inch. short sweet and to the point.
