Apple says the new iMessage Contact Key Verification and Security Keys for Apple ID features will be available globally on the iPhone and other devices in 2023.
iMessage Contact Key Verification allows users who face "extraordinary digital threats," such as journalists, human rights activists, and government officials, to further verify that they are messaging only with the people they intend. In conversations between users who have enabled iMessage Contact Key Verification, users are alerted if a state-sponsored attacker or other malicious actor were ever to succeed breaching cloud servers and inserting their own device to eavesdrop on the conversation.
As an additional layer of security, iMessage Contact Key Verification users can compare a Contact Verification Code in person, on FaceTime, or through another secure call to further verify they are communicating only with whom they intend.
Security Keys for Apple ID
Second, Security Keys for Apple ID will give users the choice to use third-party physical security keys to further protect their account. For users who enable this feature, Security Keys strengthens Apple's two-factor authentication by requiring a hardware security key as one of the two factors instead of an authentication code.
"Our security teams work tirelessly to keep users' data safe, and with iMessage Contact Key Verification, Security Keys, and Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, users will have three powerful new tools to further protect their most sensitive data and communications," said Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi.
Wednesday February 11, 2026 10:07 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, the latest updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out in September. The new software comes almost two months after Apple released iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
According to Apple's release notes, ...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works.
We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
Thursday February 12, 2026 11:17 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release an iPhone 17e and an iPad Air with an M4 chip "in the coming weeks," according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple retail employees say that inventory of the iPhone 16e has basically dried out and the iPad Air is seeing shortages as well," said Gurman. "I've been expecting new versions of both (iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air) in the coming weeks."...
Apple acquired Canadian graph database company Kuzu last year, it has emerged.
The acquisition, spotted by AppleInsider, was completed in October 2025 for an undisclosed sum. The company's website was subsequently taken down and its Github repository was archived, as is commonplace for Apple acquisitions.
Kuzu was "an embedded graph database built for query speed, scalability, and easy of ...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 1:51 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report said the iPhone 17e will be announced in a press release on the Apple Newsroom website, so do not expect an event for this device specifically.
The iPhone 17e will be a spec-bumped successor to the iPhone 16e. Rumors claim the device will have four key...
I really wish the journalists on this site were a tiny bit more critical of Apple, rather than just copy pasting press releases. Even if this is true and implemented it still serves Apple to provide customers with a false sense of privacy.
Apple does not care about your privacy. They are ramping up their ads on all their platforms. They are still storing the key to decrypt all your messages into the backup which often is backed up on Google Data Centres.
They still haven't sworn off the entire photo library scanning they attempted last year.
The longer Apple fails to innovate majorly (think, ipod, iPhone, Watch) the more they will become a standard Coca Cola who will try to appease shareholders over customers. Apple in the wrong hands traps a lot of people into the walled garden.
The only safe app today is Signal and has been for the last half decade.
So you chime in roughly 2 times a year (over the last 7) to what, bash an article here and there without searching current articles first…?
They don’t trap anyone. No one has yet to be found cuffed to a chair in TC’s basement, being forced to buy one, let alone more devices from Apple. Don’t like the ecosystem, don’t buy the products.
I really wish the journalists on this site were a tiny bit more critical of Apple, rather than just copy pasting press releases. Even if this is true and implemented it still serves Apple to provide customers with a false sense of privacy.
Apple does not care about your privacy. They are ramping up their ads on all their platforms. They are still storing the key to decrypt all your messages into the backup which often is backed up on Google Data Centres.
They still haven't sworn off the entire photo library scanning they attempted last year.
The longer Apple fails to innovate majorly (think, ipod, iPhone, Watch) the more they will become a standard Coca Cola who will try to appease shareholders over customers. Apple in the wrong hands traps a lot of people into the walled garden.
The only safe app today is Signal and has been for the last half decade.
The only safe app today is Signal and has been for the last half decade.
If only Signal made a phone. Because, as long as it’s always running on top of someone else’s OS and hardware, it’s only as secure as the underlying framework. Signal seems to trust Apple enough to run their app on it’s hardware.
It would be nice if they also allowed mac login via yubico security keys besides biometry on the fancy keyboards or by proximity of the apple watch, more options are always good.
Yeah, been like that forever but suddenly Chinese citizens started using it to avoid government censors and suddenly Apple wants to fix the "spam problem". You can't be serious.
How a technology is created is its focus. How people’s situations in use cases to use it is a completely different thing.
In the UK many boys (not men, men don’t do this) would send pics of their swollen members to women that have AirPlay on by default to accept from anyone for years! There is charges for doing this btw. Look it up.
That’s long before recent events of lockdowns in mainland China where citizens there have to go against internet restrictions to leak out such atrocities therein.
Again technologies main use - sharing files (pics videos and documents & websites) amongst iPhone and Mac users is different form an end users purpose to use the tech doesn’t change what the tech is designed for or is.
