Accurate and rapid COVID-19 testing has become a critical hallmark in the battle against the pandemic. Unfortunately, getting tested on a mainstream level currently requires a trip to a clinic or government instituted site.
However, in a possible breakthrough of what it means to get tested, Kroger Health today announced it's planning to obtain FDA approval for the first smartphone-enabled COVID-19 rapid antigen test.
According to a press release, patients will administer a nasal swab themselves and complete a rapid antigen test. Then, patients will scan the rapid test using the app on their iPhone, and using AI technology, the app will provide their results "within seconds."
What the app aims to do is remove any doubt of the actual results of the test by using AI to correctly determine the location of the results line. In COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, the presence and location of a line in different areas determines whether the patient tests positive or negative for COVID-19, and some patients may misinterpret the lines, leading to a false understanding of what their result actually is.
In compliance with U.S. law, the app will automatically share the results with appropriate public health agencies and abides by all HIPAA rules and regulations. The hope is that this new test will increase the number of people who can get tested for COVID-19 themselves with a higher level of accuracy.
The new test is awaiting FDA approval, and clinical trial results submitted to the agency shows the test has a "93% positive agreement and 99% negative percent agreement compared to high-sensitivity, emergency-use-authorized PCR tests," according to Kroger Health.
Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose.
Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account.
In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen.
Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone.
iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more.
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by Juli Clover
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
Wednesday November 12, 2025 3:29 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26.2, which adds a few new features worth knowing about.
Measure App
Apple's Measure app now features a Liquid Glass design for the level, with two Liquid Glass bubbles instead of white circles.
Games App
There's now an option to sort games in the Games app Library by size, in addition to Name and Recent.
CarPlay
The...
Apple's entry-level iPhone 16e model is selling poorly, just like the iPhone Air, according to an Asia-based leaker.
The Weibo user known as "Fixed Focus Digital" said that the iPhone 16e is not selling well and the attempt at delivering a popular, low-cost iPhone has "failed." That being said, both models are expected to see successors. The iPhone 17e is expected to debut in the spring of...
The overlooked factor is the self administered nasal swap. Having had a swab myself I know how uncomfortable it is (it feels like the swab is scraping your brain) and I would seriously doubt how reliably the average person would be able to self-administer this. Not going far enough up the nose likely won't gather the required antigens resulting in false negative results. In the UK dome doctors have esitmate that 1 in 3 negative test results may be invalid, presumably due to this.
I know it's hard to perfectly copyedit stories, given the short time you have to write and post them. But even by the relaxed standards of internet publishing, this is the worst article I've ever seen on this site.
The first three sentences, in particular, are amazing. While I'm pretty sure I can figure out what the author meant to say, what they actually wrote was virtually babble. "tested on a mainstream level"? "breakthrough of what it means to get tested"?
The issue is the reliability of the rapid COVID-19 test:
if a person is asymptomatic, they might not have high enough levels of virus in their mucus to test positive.
And this is the real concern with using rapid testing:
Experts warn that you shouldn't treat rapid testing as a free pass to attend a party or wedding ('https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a32400011/how-to-see-friends-and-family-once-quarantine-ends/').
