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With iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura last year, Apple introduced Lockdown Mode, an optional security setting designed to protect the "very small number" of users who may be at risk of "highly targeted cyberattacks" from companies developing state-sponsored spyware, such as journalists, activists, and government employees.

Starting with iOS 17 and watchOS 10, enabling Lockdown Mode on an iPhone also turns on Lockdown Mode on a paired Apple Watch. Apple says Lockdown Mode provides an "extreme" level of security, with strict limitations on apps, websites, and features.

At launch, Lockdown Mode included the following protections:

• In the Messages app, most message attachment types other than images are blocked, and some features like link previews are unavailable.
• Incoming FaceTime calls from people you have not previously called are blocked. Incoming invitations for other Apple services from people you have not previously invited are also blocked.
• In Safari and other WebKit browsers, some complex web technologies and browsing features, including just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation, are disabled unless the user excludes a trusted site from Lockdown Mode.
• Shared albums are removed in the Photos app, and shared album invitations are blocked.
• When a device is locked, wired connections with other devices/accessories are blocked.
• Configuration profiles cannot be installed, and the device cannot enroll into mobile device management (MDM), while Lockdown Mode is turned on.

In a press release last week, Apple said it is expanding Lockdown Mode's protections to encompass "safer wireless connectivity defaults, media handling, media sharing defaults, sandboxing, and network security optimizations."

Apple today seeded the third beta of macOS Ventura 13.5 to developers for testing purposes, with the beta introduced two weeks after the release of the second beta.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, with the betas available through the Software Update mechanism in System Settings.

No notable features were found in the first beta of macOS 13.5, so it's not yet clear what's included in the update. iOS 16.6 lays the groundwork for iMessage Contact Key Verification, so if that feature ultimately launches in the iOS 16.6 update, iMessage Contact Key Verification will also be included in macOS Ventura 13.5 as it is a cross-platform setting.

With macOS Sonoma now in development and slated for launch this fall, Apple's work on macOS 13 will soon be wrapping up. macOS 13.5 is likely to be one of the final updates to macOS Ventura.

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after the release of the second betas.

Registered developers can opt in to the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to Software Update, tapping on the “Beta Updates” option and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.

iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 lay the groundwork for iMessage Contact Key Verification. It is meant to let Apple device owners verify that they are messaging with the people they intend to message rather than a malicious entity that has intercepted a message or is eavesdropping on a conversation.

The feature is designed for Apple users who are facing “extraordinary digital threats.” Apple intends for iMessage Contact Key Verification to be used by journalists, human rights activists, government officials, and others who are in danger of malicious digital attacks from state-sponsored attackers or other malicious actors.

Apple said that iMessage Contact Key Verification would be available on the iPhone and other Apple devices at some point in 2023, and it is one of the last features we are expecting to see in iOS 16. In the first two betas, hints of iMessage Contact Key were available, but the option was not fully enabled.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 9.6 update to developers for testing purposes, with the software update coming two weeks after the release of the second beta.

To install the watchOS 9.6 update, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center.

Once installed, ‌watchOS 9.6 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update. To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it has to be placed on the charger, and it will need to be in range of the ‌iPhone‌ it is paired with.

It is not yet known if there are new features in the watchOS 9.6 update, but we did not find anything in the first beta. This is expected to be one of the final updates to the watchOS 9 operating system as Apple has shifted its work to watchOS 10, the next-generation version of watchOS.

If you change your iPhone's passcode and forget it soon after, iOS 17 has a new option available to help out. Specifically, it is now possible to reset an iPhone's new passcode with the previous passcode for up to 72 hours after the change is made.

If you enter an incorrect passcode, tapping on "Forgot Passcode?" at the bottom of the screen will lead to another screen with a "Try Passcode Reset" option. Tapping this option allows you to enter the iPhone's previous passcode and create a new passcode.

As a safeguard, an option in the Settings app lets you expire the previous passcode immediately so that it cannot be used to reset the new passcode.

As of the first beta of iOS 17, it is still possible to change an Apple ID account's password with an iPhone's passcode, despite a Wall Street Journal report in February highlighting instances of thieves spying on an iPhone user's passcode in public and then stealing the device in order to gain widespread access to the device. In an interview with Daring Fireball's John Gruber last week, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said Apple has continued to "look at other ways to address this," but no changes have been made as of yet.

iOS 17 will be released later this year for the iPhone XS and newer, and it is currently available in beta with a free Apple developer account.

Woot today has a pair of deals on Beats earphones, including all-time low prices on the Beats Studio Buds and Beats Fit Pro. Both devices are in new condition and come with a one year manufacturer limited warranty.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Woot. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Starting with the Beats Studio Buds, you can get these noise cancelling earphones for $89.95 in six colors, down from $149.95. This is a match for the best price we've ever seen on this accessory, and right now only Woot has the sale.

The Beats Fit Pro are on sale for $144.95 in four colors, down from $199.95. This one is a new record low price on the earphones, beating the previous discount by about $5. Both accessories have free standard shipping for Amazon Prime members.

Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

As outlined in a WWDC 2023 video, iOS 17 includes a new Cinematic API that enables developers to support Cinematic mode video playback and editing in third-party apps.

"The Cinematic framework enables you to add professional-level editing and playback features to movies, recorded with the Camera app's Cinematic mode, to your apps," says Apple's developer documentation. "These are the same features used in applications such as Final Cut Pro, Photos, and iMovie. For example, this enables your apps to change focus distance and aperture in movies, creating a bokeh effect, even after recording."

Apple offers Cinematic mode in the Camera app on iPhone 13 models and newer. Inspired by professional Hollywood films, the feature allows users to record video with a shallow depth of field and automatic focus changes between subjects.

Cinematic mode uses a technique called "rack focus" to seamlessly shift the focus from one subject to another. It does this by locking the focus on the subject in a scene and blurring the background to achieve depth of field. If you subsequently move the camera to center on a new subject, or a new subject enters the scene, Cinematic mode automatically switches the focal point to this new subject and blurs out the background.

For more details, read How to Shoot Video in Cinematic Mode on iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.

Apple announced the new 15.3-inch MacBook Air last week, and since then we've been tracking a $50 discount at Amazon, which was the first deal ever seen on the computer. Today, Amazon is sweetening this sale with an even steeper markdown at $100 off select models.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You can get the 256GB 15-inch MacBook Air for $1,199.00, down from $1,299.00. This one is available in three of the four colors, and all are in stock and ready to deliver between June 17 and June 21.

There's also the 512GB 15-inch MacBook Air for $1,399.00, down from $1,499.00. This one is only available in Midnight, and stock is dwindling fairly fast on Amazon. Its delivery date is estimated for around June 21.

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Apple last week previewed watchOS 10, its next major software update for compatible Apple Watch models. Among a handful of new features, one of the most impactful is the introduction of widgets. Let's take a closer look at how they work and what you can do with them.

What's Up With Widgets?

Widgets offer a new way to quickly bring up app-related information from any watch face on your Apple Watch, without having to open the corresponding app or rely exclusively on complications. In other words, if you choose simple faces without complications, you can still access the information you want, and if you like complication-rich faces, now you can get even more info at a glance.

In watchOS 10, an upward turn of the Digital Crown or a swipe up from the bottom of the watch face using your finger (Control Center is now accessed via the Side button) reveals a dynamic Smart Stack of widgets below the time and date that takes up half of the screen. You can scroll through these widgets with the Digital Crown or your finger, and tap a widget to open its corresponding app.

By using machine learning, the order of widgets can change based on your needs at any given time of day.

For example, if you have upcoming events in your calendar, a boarding pass for an upcoming flight, or tasks you need to complete, these will be displayed in order of priority. Or if you start a timer, it will appear at the top of the widget stack so you can easily see how long is left.

In addition to relevance-based ordering, Smart Stack also includes the ability to manually organize widgets, so the Smart Stack can be as dynamic or as fixed as you want.

There are actually two types of widget in watchOS 10: Dedicated app widgets that provide information from a single app, and a user-configurable complications widget that shows up to three watch face-style complications.

At the very bottom of the widget stack is a button that takes you to the traditional app menu to access all your Apple Watch apps.

Choosing the Widgets You Want to See

Like iPhone Home Screen widgets in iOS 16, Apple Watch widgets in watchOS 10 can work as a Smart Stack that changes based on the context or time of day, or you can manually choose the ones you want to include and also pin widgets to the top of the stack. The following steps show you how to edit widgets from any watch face.

1. On an Apple Watch running watchOS 10, scroll up using the Digital Crown, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen using your finger.
2. Long press any widget to enter the stack's jiggle mode. (Note that you can't edit the date and time display at the top of the stack.)
3. Tap the red minus button on a widget to remove it from the stack, or tap the large plus button above the stack to add one.
4. To pin a widget so that it remains at the top of the stack, tap its yellow pin icon.
5. To edit the complications widget, scroll to the bottom and tap the minus icon next to a complication, then tap the plus symbol to replace it with another available complication. (Note: You can also pin the complications widget.)

Summing Up

Apple is pitching widgets as a way of enjoying simple watch faces like Portrait, without being far from the sort of onscreen information that complications typically provide. By using the Digital Crown, real-time data from your favorite apps is just a dial turn away. What do you think of widgets? Let us know in the comments.

watchOS 10 will be released to the public this fall and is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 4 and later. In addition, you'll also need an iPhone capable of running iOS 17. This includes the iPhone XS or later and iPhone XR or later. For a full list of iPhones compatible with iOS 17, check out our quick guide.

In a support document published today, Apple said certain SATA hard drives might unexpectedly disconnect from the 2023 Mac Pro after the computer wakes from sleep. Apple said it is "aware of this issue" and will fix it in a "future macOS update."

While the Mac Pro is configured with SSD storage, it has SATA ports for connecting internal hard drives, and some can disconnect due to a bug.

"Certain models of internal SATA drives might unexpectedly disconnect from your computer after your Mac wakes from sleep," said Apple. "This can occur if your Mac automatically goes to sleep or if you manually put your Mac to sleep. If you see a message that your disk was not ejected properly, you can restart your Mac to reconnect to the drive."

As a temporary workaround, users can prevent their Mac Pro from automatically going to sleep by opening the System Settings app, clicking on Displays → Advanced…, and turning on "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off."

Released on Tuesday, the new Mac Pro features Apple's M2 Ultra chip. The desktop tower has the same design as the Intel-based model from 2019, but lacks graphics card support and user-upgradeable RAM due to Apple silicon's unified architecture. Customers who do not need PCIe expansion should consider the Mac Studio instead.

Starting August 15, the Apple Card Monthly Installments term for new Apple Watch purchases will change from 24 months to 12 months, according to fine print on Apple's website. This means each payment will be higher, but the Apple Watch will be paid off faster.

In a recently updated support document, Apple also says a carrier connection with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon will be required at the time you purchase an iPhone with Apple Card Monthly Installments starting August 15.

Apple Card Monthly Installments is an interest-free financing option available for most Apple products purchased with the Apple Card on Apple.com and at Apple retail stores. Customers can view their monthly installments, remaining balance, and payment history in the Wallet app, and the balance can be paid off in full at any time.

Apple offers a 24-month installment term for iPhones, a 12-month term for Macs and iPads, and a six-month term for AirPods and Apple TVs. Other eligible products and accessories are outlined in a support document on Apple's website.

(Thanks, Brandon Fawcett!)

With macOS Monterey in 2021, Apple introduced a MailKit framework that developers can use to build modern and secure extensions for the Mail app on the Mac. Extensions can be created to block content, perform message actions, improve security, and more.

In turn, Apple said legacy Mail app plug-ins would stop functioning in a future macOS release, and it appears that time has now come. AltStore today said it confirmed with Apple during WWDC last week that plug-ins are not supported on macOS Sonoma, and that MailKit-based extensions are the only supported solution going forward.

While MailKit extensions are more secure, they have more limited functionality compared to legacy plug-ins, so not all plug-ins may live on as extensions.

Legacy plug-ins cannot be opened in the Mail app as of the first beta version of macOS Sonoma. The update will be released to the public later this year.

(Thanks, @aaronp613!)

Luxury company LVMH today announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone will be available at select Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Celine, and Dior stores in the U.S. later this year. The feature will allow customers to tap their iPhone or Apple Watch, credit card, or other contactless payment option on the store employee's iPhone, and the payment will be securely completed using the same NFC technology behind Apple Pay.

Launched in 2022, Tap to Pay on iPhone allows for iPhone-to-iPhone contactless payments, with no additional point-of-sale hardware from companies like Square or Clover required. The feature is also available in Australia and Taiwan.

LVMH said offering Tap to Pay on iPhone is part of its efforts to ensure that the "customer experience is absolutely impeccable, from the moment people walk in the door to payment for a purchase," and reflects growing demand for contactless payments. LVMH said the feature will be available for purchases of any amount.

Any business can offer Tap to Pay on iPhone via supported iOS apps like Shopify Point of Sale on an iPhone XS or newer running iOS 15.4 or newer.

British mobile phone operators Vodafone and Three UK have agreed a deal to merge their UK-based operations, which if approved by regulators will make it the biggest mobile network in the country.

Currently the biggest players in the UK mobile market are Virgin Media O2, with around 24 million customers, and EE, which has 20 million users.

Vodafone and Three UK are the third and fourth largest mobile firms, but the merger will give them around 27 million customers, taking their combined market share past Virgin Media O2's.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will now examine the merger, specifically to look at whether it will push up customer prices.

Vodafone and Three claimed the deal will be "great for customers, great for the country, great for competition," but the CMA may not see it that way.

The same competition watchdog in May blocked UK approval for Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard.

Speaking to the BBC News, Karen Egan, head of mobile at research firm Enders Analysis, said similar deals in other countries had not led to price hikes, but added that "CMA's hawkish approach to mergers of late is not encouraging."

The Unite union, which represents Vodafone and Three workers, disagreed, saying that the deal was "reckless" and would "hike people's bills and mean job losses."

Vodafone has already set out plans to cut 11,000 jobs, with CEO and CFO Margherita Della Valle admitting in May that its "performance has not been good enough." Both companies have since indicated additional job cuts within five years if the merger is approved.

Amazon has a collection of AirPods discounts today, including savings on the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 3, and AirPods 2. Across the board, these are some of the best prices of the year so far on each AirPods model, and Amazon has all three in stock and ready to ship today.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Verizon and Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You can get the AirPods Pro 2 for $199.99, down from $249.00. We very briefly saw a discount on this model to $194.99 back in March, but this rare deal never emerged again and today's deal remains a great second-best price.

Additionally, Amazon has a deal on one of the AirPods 3 models. You can get the AirPods 3 with Lightning Charging Case for $149.00, down from $169.00. This is about $10 off from the all-time low price on this model of the AirPods 3, but we haven't tracked that price in months and Amazon's deal is a solid second-best option.

Lastly, Amazon has the AirPods 2 for $99.00, down from $129.00. Although this is an overall second-best price, we haven't seen an all-time low price on the AirPods 2 since the holiday season, making this the best price of the year so far on the model. It's being matched at Verizon.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones. Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

Best Buy today announced it has expanded its Upgrade+ program to include the iPad Pro and Apple Watch Ultra. Launched in October in partnership with Apple, the program provides monthly financing via Citizens Bank for select Apple products purchased from Best Buy in the U.S., similar to Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program. APRs range from 0% to 29.99% based on creditworthiness, according to the program's fine print.

The program is also available for the latest models of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Studio, and Mac mini, including the new 15-inch MacBook Air.

The monthly payments are spread across three years. After 36 months, customers who purchase an eligible iPad Pro, Apple Watch Ultra, or Mac have the options of upgrading to a newer device, paying off the remaining balance of the purchase in the 37th month and keeping the device, or returning the device and leaving the program.

Upgrade+ also offers customers the option to finance the purchase of an AppleCare+ plan for their Apple device and select Apple accessories. Best Buy Totaltech members who purchase an iPad Pro or Apple Watch Ultra through the program will receive AppleCare+ at no additional charge for up to 24 months while their membership is active.

More details about the Upgrade+ program are available on Best Buy's website.