The Home app in iOS 18 allows HomeKit users who have more than one device that serves as a home hub to select which one should be used as the preferred hub. It is a small but useful change because it prevents HomeKit from choosing a hub that is further away from most HomeKit products or that has a weaker connection.
In iOS 17 and earlier, there has been no way to select a home hub, and HomeKit has picked randomly. That can lead to connectivity issues in some situations. For those who do not care about which home hub HomeKit selects, Automatic Selection remains an option.
The Apple TV and the HomePod are able to serve as home hubs, but the option to set a preferred hub seems to be limited to the Apple TV as of right now, because Apple has not yet provided a HomePod beta to developers.
Other features coming in HomeKit include Customize Access for managing how and when people access devices like alarm systems, door locks, and garage door openers, with support for guest schedules. There's also a new Express Mode for unlocking door locks automatically as you approach, and support for robot vacuum cleaners is set to come later this year.
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
You will "soon" be able to add a digital version of your U.S. passport to your iPhone, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Bailey reiterated that the feature is coming soon during her keynote at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas on Sunday.
On its iOS 26 page, Apple says the delayed feature will be "coming later this year."
Apple's...
This was already a thing? I have 2 Apple TVs. Enabled one as the hub while the other is disabled...
Yes. It's a thing. Come back and report when you have > 10+ Homepods and Apple TVs and running dozens of Thread, Matter and standard Homekit devices in a mash WIFI Network and not 2 Apple TVs and one Homekit Light bulb in a 25 sqft student shoe box. Thank you.
Every single time my HomeKit gets slow it always ends up being some random HomePod or older Apple TV taking over from my wired, latest-model Apple TV. I'm so glad they're finally making this change.
Now if the other HomePods could somehow understand when an alarm is going off on another and you want it to stop it should stop it vs saying "there's no alarm set on HomePod". Lack of interaction between them is maddening sometimes.
That option is totally not available on my beta version of iOS 18.
Both iOS and tvOS need be on the betas for the option to appear. If you're still not seeing the option, Apple Intelligence is deciding if you deserve the feature yet. It's already starting.
