iMessage Contact Key Verification is an optional security feature that allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing verification codes in person or on a phone call. The feature launched on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac starting with iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, watchOS 9.2, and macOS 14.2 last year.
iMessage Contact Key Verification also includes "advanced protections" that can help prevent attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation, according to Apple. These protections only apply if both parties in an iMessage conversation have turned on the feature. Apple provides more details in a support document.
Thanks to Ryan Isaacs for alerting us to this change.
Monday August 10, 2026 10:06 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers with the fifth beta of an upcoming visionOS 27 update for testing purposes, with the beta coming two weeks after Apple released the fourth beta.
visionOS 27 can be installed by opening the Settings app, going to Software Updates, and opting into Beta Updates.
visionOS 27 introduces Siri AI, the smarter and more capable version of Siri that's similar in...
Surgeons who wore an Apple Vision Pro as their primary display during a tear duct procedure finished operations 19% faster than surgeons using a traditional monitor, according to a peer-reviewed study by UC San Diego.
The study, published in the journal AJO International (via iPhone in Canada), looked at 32 endoscopic surgeries to clear blocked tear ducts. In half the cases, surgeons wore...
Apple and MLB today released the September schedule for Apple TV's weekly Friday Night Baseball doubleheader. The games are included with an Apple TV subscription at no additional cost, and there is a new perk for Vision Pro users.
For the first time, Friday Night Baseball will be streamed live in the Apple Immersive format, allowing Vision Pro users to watch a 3D video feed recorded in 8K...
I consider myself a very "standard" user of most of the Apple ecosystem, and I've never heard of or used this feature. So for the posts above me that this should have been a day one feature, I say "Uh, sure. Ok."
Nor should they. The vast majority of people should wait until it's a more mature OS, and product.
Totally agree. BUT I think the point is, if the vast majority should wait for a more mature OS and product, the vast majority should probably wait to be so effusive with their complaints about what is missing from version 1. Sure some constructive criticism and what they would like to see is helpful, but calling a product a fail because they should wait, seems to be over the top.
Seems like Apple needs to hire more software engineers. Things that should’ve been day one features had to be pushed off. And let’s not forget the bugginess on other platforms
