MacRumors

With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence.

The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine learning, which require the advanced neural processing capabilities found in Apple's latest A-series chips. Here's what iPhone 15 Pro users and newer can expect from iOS 26 that older device owners will miss out on.

• Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, Phone – Provides real-time translation across Apple's communication apps, automatically translating messages as you type, displaying live captions during FaceTime calls, and speaking translations aloud during phone conversations.
• Shortcuts Actions with AI Features – Adds new Shortcuts app actions that tap into Apple Intelligence models, enabling users to create images, summarize text, and access AI responses within their automated workflows.
• Reminders Suggestions and Organization – Uses on-device AI to suggest new tasks and grocery items based on text found in Messages and emails, while automatically categorizing task lists into organized sections.
• Messages Background Generation and Poll Suggestion – Adds AI-powered poll suggestions for easy creation and enables custom background generation through Image Playground integration, beyond the standard background options available to all users.
• Apple Wallet Order Tracking – Leverages AI to extract order tracking information directly from emails in your inbox, eliminating the need for merchant participation in Apple's tracking system.
• New Genmoji and Image Playground Features – Enhances existing Apple Intelligence image tools with the ability to mix emoji together, customize generated characters, and access ChatGPT-powered style options including anime, oil painting, and watercolor effects.
• Visual Intelligence with Screenshots – Expands the camera-based AI feature to work systemwide with screenshots, allowing users to analyze captured content for shopping, calendar events, and more information gathering.

Users with iPhone 14 Pro and earlier models can still get to experience the visual refresh and many other iOS 26 improvements, but the new AI-powered capabilities remain limited to Apple's latest iPhone models.

It's worth noting that the new Spatial Scenes effect might sound like an Apple Intelligence feature, but it actually uses the Neural Engine to create a spatially reactive version of a photo that animates as you move your device. The Spatial Scenes option is available in the Photos app and on the Lock Screen, but since it does not use Apple Intelligence, it's available on iPhone 12 and newer devices.

With iPadOS 26, Apple has introduced a new multitasking UI that allows for several open apps at the same time. You can change the size of ‌iPad‌ app windows, move them on top of each other, and rearrange them as desired, much like on the Mac. In a new interview with Ars Technica, Apple's software chief Craig Federighi has explained why the iPad took so long to gain proper windowed multitasking.

The delay apparently stemmed from early hardware limitations. According to Federighi, original iPads lacked the power for true multitasking, and the touch-first interface demanded perfect responsiveness.

"It is a foundational requirement that if you touch the screen and start to move something that it responds," Federighi told Ars. "Otherwise, the entire interaction model is broken – it's a psychic break with your contract with the device."

Early iPads "didn't have the capacity to run an unlimited number of windowed apps with perfect responsiveness," he added. Apps weren't designed for dynamic resizing either.

Stage Manager's troubled 2022 debut brought its own challenges. Apple restricted it to high-end models to ensure consistent eight-app performance, but that inevitably frustrated users with older iPads. However, as iPad Pro hardware became Mac-equivalent in power, technical barriers disappeared. "Over time the iPad's gotten more powerful, the screens have gotten larger, the user base has shifted into a mode where there is a little bit more trackpad and keyboard use in how many people use the device," Federighi told Ars.

"And so the stars kind of aligned to where many of the things that you traditionally do with a Mac were possible to do on an iPad for the first time and still meet iPad's basic contract."

For iPadOS 26, Apple changed its approach. "We decided this time: make everything we can make available, even if it has some nuances on older hardware, because we saw so much demand," Federighi said. While iPadOS 26 allows for multiple app windows, there are limitations on how many apps can be open at once. On older iPads, for example, you're limited to four apps. Newer iPads can have more open app windows.

‌iPad‌ app windows feature the Mac traffic-light controls, and these can be used for resizing and closing apps. ‌iPad‌ apps also have Mac-style menu bars for tweaking settings, and there's a feature for running system-intensive tasks in the background. While the new interface borrows familiar Mac design elements like window controls and colors, there are key differences. Background processing remains restricted to finite tasks like file transfers rather than continuous system agents, for example.

"We've looked and said, as [the iPad and Mac] come together, where on the iPad the Mac idiom for doing something, like where we put the window close controls and maximize controls, what color are they – we've said why not, where it makes sense, use a converged design for those things so it's familiar and comfortable," Federighi told Ars. "But where it doesn't make sense, iPad's gonna be iPad."

Stage Manager survives as an optional mode alongside the new windowed system, giving users multiple multitasking approaches. iPadOS 26 also preserves the traditional single-app interface for users who prefer the iPad's original simplicity.

The changes are Apple's biggest step yet toward treating the iPad as a legitimate laptop replacement, particularly for the base $349 model that stands to gain the most from enhanced multitasking capabilities. iPadOS 26 is currently in developer beta, with a public beta arriving next month and a general release expected in the fall. What do you think of the multitasking changes Apple has introduced? Lets us know in the comments.

Barnes & Noble has updated its Nook app for iPhone and iPad with a new "buy on BN.com" button that redirects users to the company's website to complete e-book and audiobook purchases (via GoodReader).

The button appears alongside book listings and opens the user's default browser to the corresponding product page on Barnes & Noble's website. After completing the purchase, content automatically syncs to the Nook app and any connected Nook devices.

Previously, iOS users had no clear path to purchase books through the app, often leaving customers confused about how to buy content. The new system mirrors recent updates to Amazon's Kindle app and Spotify, which added similar external purchase options.

The changes stem from a court ruling in the ongoing litigation between Epic Games and Apple. In April, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a contempt order prohibiting Apple from blocking external purchase links or imposing commissions on them.

For over a decade, Apple's App Store guidelines required developers to either use Apple's in-app purchase system with a 30% commission or remove any links directing users to alternative payment methods.

The ruling has enabled e-reader apps to offer more intuitive purchasing experiences, with Kobo also implementing similar functionality.

iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look.

Apple has multiple Accessibility options that are designed to customize iOS for different visual needs, and one of these options is Reduce Transparency. Toggling on Reduce Transparency adds a darker background to translucent areas like the Control Center, app icons, and app folders, improving contrast.

You can turn on Reduce Transparency by opening up the Settings app, going to Accessibility, selecting Display and Text Size, and tapping on the Reduce Transparency toggle. If you want to be able to turn the setting on and off quickly, you can add it to your Accessibility Shortcuts to get to it from the Control center interface.

Activating Reduce Transparency does not remove all translucency from the iPhone's interface, but it does give everything more of an opaque look. It does not change the shape of buttons or return things to a pre-iOS 26 look.

We're still very early in the beta testing process, and Apple will make tweaks and refinements to the Liquid Glass design based on user feedback. It's always tough to get used to an entirely new interface, so if you're a developer running the beta and you're having trouble adjusting or reading some text, temporarily activating Reduce Transparency might help ease the transition.

In all likelihood, most people will adjust to the updated Liquid Glass design within a few days. Apple hasn't made significant changes to app interfaces and layouts, so even though there's a whole new look for ‌iOS 26‌, Apple says it's still going to feel familiar to people.

Liquid Glass could look different by the time that ‌iOS 26‌ launches to the public, and we'll see it evolve over the next few months. Right now, ‌iOS 26‌ is limited to developers, but a public beta is coming in July. A launch will follow in September.

Apple overhauled the Shortcuts app in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe, and there are now Apple Intelligence options that users can take advantage of. The app supports ‌Apple Intelligence‌ models for things like summarizing PDFs, generating recipes, answering questions, and more.

There are several pre-programmed Shortcuts in the Gallery that you can select in ‌iOS 26‌. Here's what Apple offers, along with the descriptions:

• Morning Summary - Use Model to describe the day ahead of you.
• Action Items From Meeting Notes - Use Model to grab action items from meeting notes.
• Haiku - Use Model to write a you a fun haiku.
• Leftover Recipes - Use Model to whip up a quick recipe with leftovers you have in the fridge.
• Summarize PDF - Use Model to summarize the open PDF in Safari.
• Is Severance Season 3 Out? - Use Model to find out if something has been released.
• ASCII Art - Use Model to draw you some ASCII art.
• Document Review - Use Mode to help you compare and contrast documents.
• Reminders Roulette - Use Model to punt an unimportant reminder to tomorrow.
• Get Started With Language Models - A tutorial for Use Model with examples.

As the last pre-made Shortcut suggests, you can create your own shortcuts that incorporate Apple's AI model, and Apple's offerings serve as examples.

When you go to create a Shortcut, there's a new ‌Apple Intelligence‌ section. You can opt to use an on-device model, a cloud model that takes advantage of Private Cloud Compute, or ChatGPT. There are some pre-determined options, so you can do things like open Visual Intelligence or generate an image with Image Playground.

There are several Writing Tools features for adjusting the tone of text, proofreading, creating a list from text, summarizing text, or rewriting text.

When you tap on Cloud, On-Device Model, or ChatGPT, there's an open-ended prompt where you can write in what you want to do. You need to work within the confines of the model that Apple provides, pairing it with other functionality in Shortcuts. You can pull in data from the Weather app, your Calendar, and Reminders, then ask the model to prepare a summary, for example. AI models can be incorporated into any Shortcut.

‌iOS 26‌, ‌iPadOS 26‌, and macOS Tahoe are in the early stages of beta testing, so the work on Shortcuts has just started, and Apple will be refining the app over the course of the beta testing period.

With iOS 26, Apple is adding a new AlarmKit framework for developers that offer apps with alarm clocks and timers. AlarmKit provides system-level access to alarm functionality, which was previously reserved only for Apple's Clock app.

Developers will now be able to create apps that have the same feature set and permissions as Apple's built-in alarm functionality, including alerts that always activate even if Silent mode or a Focus mode is enabled, full-screen snooze and stop display options, and access to the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and Apple Watch.

In iOS 18 and before, developers used time sensitive alerts for alarms, and critical alerts when given the entitlement from Apple, but there was no option for an alert that can't be missed like the alerts that comes from the Clock app. There was also no Lock Screen overlay, and there were limits on the number of alarms that could be set.

Alarms from third-party apps could fail to trigger if the iPhone restarted or if the app updated, which was problematic, and alerts could be silenced with Focuses.

The new framework will support unlimited alarms and repeating options, so there won't be the same limitations there were before, and alarm alerts won't be simple notifications. In the coming months, we should see much more full-featured alarm apps and apps with timers that are able to better compete with Apple's built-in options.

Apple's own alarm feature in the Clock app has a new look in ‌iOS 26‌, with a larger time display and larger stop and snooze buttons. Apple also now allows users to customize snooze length, choosing a length of time between 1 minute and 15 minutes. Previously, tapping snooze always snoozed an alarm for nine minutes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today said that Apple TV+ is driven by a commitment to storytelling and artistic excellence, rather than an effort to boost iPhone sales.

In a new interview with Variety, Cook said that Apple's video streaming platform is designed to support original storytelling and cultural influence, distancing the initiative from any direct hardware-related sales strategy. The position is a notable clarification amid long-standing belief that ‌Apple TV‌+ functions primarily as a marketing tool to strengthen brand loyalty and drive product purchases.

‌Apple TV‌+ debuted in November 2019. Apple deliberately chose to launch with only original titles and not to license a back catalog. Cook said:

We elected not to go out and procure a catalog. I know that's a faster way into the business, but it didn't feel like Apple at the end of the day. Apple should have something that we pour our passion into, and that's exactly what we're doing with the shows. And now you can see us hitting a stride. It feels wonderful.

Cook said that ‌Apple TV‌+ is consistent with Apple's identity as a "toolmaker," a term originally used by co-founder Steve Jobs:

We're a toolmaker. We make tools for creative people to empower them to do things they couldn't do before. So we were doing lots of business with Hollywood well before we were in the TV business.

We studied it for years before we decided to do [Apple TV+]. I know there's a lot of different views out there about why we're into it. We're into it to tell great stories, and we want it to be a great business as well. That's why we're into it, just plain and simple.

The remarks come as Apple prepares to debut F1: The Movie, a $200 million racing film starring Brad Pitt, co-produced by Lewis Hamilton, and directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski. The film represents the largest production effort to date by Apple Original Films and will be distributed theatrically by Warner Bros. before arriving on ‌Apple TV‌+.

To bring something to life that would be authentic to the sport, that would tell a great story as well about the ups and downs of life — F1 hit on all the things. And then we could bring some things that are uniquely Apple to the movie, like our camera technology. And we plan to have the whole of the company support it as well — our retail operation and everything. So it was something that we could get the entire company around. It feels wonderful to be a part of it.

Apple developed camera technology specifically for capturing high-speed racing sequences in F1, which is apparently now present on the latest iPhones.

I don't have it in my mind that I'm going to sell more iPhones because of it. I don't think about that at all. I think about it as a business. And just like we leverage the best of Apple across iPhones and across our services, we try to leverage the best of Apple TV+.

[...]

We really only do a few things. We only have a few products for the size of company we are. We pour all of ourselves in each one of those — and we do TV and movies the same way. It's about staying true to what Apple has always been. It's about staying true to innovation, staying true to our North Star. And if you're able to do that and entertain people in a great way, then we're doing pretty good.

I think the business of our being in this business will be good for us.

Cook added that 2025 is the first year the platform will release a full, weekly content slate, unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic and industry strikes.

iOS 26 has an updated Phone app with several new functions. There are notable new additions like Hold Assist and Call Screening, along with smaller options like a feature to flag spam voicemails.

When you tap into a voicemail from an unknown number, you'll see a new "Report Spam" button that you can tap if it is a spam call. Tapping on option sends the voicemail to Apple, and you can either report the message as spam and keep it, or report it and delete it.

Apple doesn't include information on what it does with spam voicemails, but the company has allowed similar reporting of spam iMessages for some time now. It's also not clear what Apple does with iMessages that are reported as spam, but they appear to inform spam filtering functionality added in ‌iOS 26‌.

As with spam iMessages, reporting a voicemail as spam does not block the caller, and that needs to be done with a separate step.

Apple is working to implement features that cut down on spam messages and calls. The Call Screening option in ‌iOS 26‌ intercepts calls from numbers that are not saved in your contacts list, and asks the caller for more information like a name and reason for calling before forwarding the call along to you.

The Messages app also has a refined spam reporting workflow in ‌iOS 26‌. Messages that Apple detects are spam are sent to a specific Spam folder, which is now distinct from the Unknown Senders folder. Messages from numbers that aren't in your contacts, such as two-factor authentication messages, go in Unknown Senders. Scam messages are sent to the spam folder. If you get a spam message that's not correctly categorized, you can tap into a miscategorized message and tap on the "Report Spam" option.

Messages from unknown senders and spam messages are both silenced and you won't get a notification for them, but you will see a badge at the top of the Messages app. You can disable these features in the Messages section of the Settings app, if desired.

There is no automatic filtering of spam voicemails, but that is a feature that Apple could use in the future after receiving enough voicemails that people flag as spam.

‌iOS 26‌ is limited to developers right now, but a public beta will be launching in July. The software will see a public release this fall alongside new iPhone 17 models.

As we previously reported, iOS 26 enhances Apple Wallet app boarding passes in a few ways. First, the passes now support Live Activities, allowing you to keep track of a flight at a glance on your iPhone's Lock Screen, and in the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro and newer. In addition, new shortcuts below the passes provide one-tap access to Apple Maps for airport directions, and to the Find My app for baggage tracking. And, the Wallet app automatically updates flight details, such as the gate and departure time.

Apple has since announced that the refreshed boarding passes will be available starting with 10 airlines, including Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, United, Jetstar, Lufthansa, Qantas, and Virgin Australia.

Live Activities support for flights was already available through the Flighty app, so Apple is playing catch up here with the iPhone's built-in Wallet app. Flighty still offers many more features, including the Passport, which lets you keep track of cities that you have flown to, see your total distance traveled, and compare stats with friends.

iOS 26 is available now in developer beta, with a public beta to follow next month.

Apple's new Liquid Glass design is the big news of the week, because it's the first major design change we've had to iOS in years, and because it's the first design that extends across all of Apple's platforms. Liquid Glass is sure to evolve over the coming months, but we thought we'd share a first look for those who are excited to see what it looks like in action right now.

After updating to iOS 26, Liquid Glass is the first thing that you'll see. The Lock Screen features a new Liquid Glass design for the clock (opt-in, of course), and the time is able to be expanded so you can make it take up more of the display to better fit your wallpaper.

Widgets that you have on the Lock Screen have the same translucent look, as do the quick access buttons on the bottom. Notifications are glassy and see through, and you can see hints of your wallpaper behind them.

Moving on to the Home Screen, the search bar, dock, and app folders are translucent. By default, app icons have a new layered glass look that gives them dimension, but there's also a new option for "clear" glass-like icons. This setting turns your app icons transparent, and widgets too. So if you want the full glass effect, it's available.

Control Center is entirely Liquid Glass, with see-through icons that reflect the color of the background. Liquid Glass elements are in apps, too. Safari has a new compact Tab bar that uses Liquid Glass, and it's also in Photos, Camera, Mail, Podcasts, TV, Apple News, Messages, and more.

In apps, Apple has also tweaked the look of buttons and menu bars, making them more rounded, and navigation has been simplified. When you tap on some buttons, such as in the Camera app, it'll expand into a popup Liquid Glass menu that makes it easy to see all of the available options in one spot. It's a more minimal look than we had before, with more focus on minimizing the display space that UI elements take up.

Liquid Glass extends to iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26. ‌iPadOS 26‌ looks a lot like ‌iOS 26‌, and macOS 26 has a translucent menu bar and dock background, plus it uses Liquid Glass for buttons, side bars, navigation bars, and the Control Center.

watchOS uses Liquid Glass for navigation and buttons, and there's a Liquid Glass clock option for some watch faces. You'll see Liquid Glass in tvOS 26 primarily in apps like Apple TV. Overall, the design changes are more subtle in ‌watchOS 26‌ and tvOS 26, and even in macOS and iOS, there are places where Apple needs to emphasize and refine the Liquid Glass design.

This is the first beta, and Liquid Glass is still in development. There will undoubtedly be updates made before ‌iOS 26‌ and the other updates launch to the public this fall, and it's even something that we're going to see updated for years to come. Apple says that Liquid Glass will be the basis for the next decade of software design.

iOS 26 includes significant updates for Messages, with the app set to receive at least 10 new features and changes on the iPhone.

Below, we recap what is new in the Messages app on iOS 26:

• Polls: You can now create polls in group chats, allowing people to vote on topics or questions, such as which restaurant to go to. Apple Intelligence can detect when a poll might come in handy and suggest one.
• Backgrounds: You can now add a background to any conversation, and all participants will see it. You can choose from Apple's selection of backgrounds, or you can set any of your own photos as a background. You can turn off conversation backgrounds in the Settings app if desired.
• Apple Cash in group chats: You can now send and receive Apple Cash in group chats.
• Typing indicators in group chats: You can now see who is typing in group chats.
• "Add Contact" button in group chats: This button makes it easier to add people to the Contacts app in group chats.
• "Select" option: When you tap and hold on a message bubble, a new "Select" option appears. Tapping on it allows you to select a portion of text in a message, whereas you could previously only copy an entire message.
• Unknown sender screening: This new option automatically moves messages from unknown senders to the Unknown Senders folder, and hides notifications for them until you accept them. The app can also detect spam and move it to a new Spam folder, with notifications for these messages also hidden.
• Natural language search: You can now search for photos within a conversation by describing what you are looking for. Examples: "Eric skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt," or "Juli with stickers on her face."
• Photo previews: When a new "Send Photo Previews" setting is turned on, the Messages app will only send a lower-quality preview of a photo while an iPhone is in Low Data Mode. The full photo will be sent later.
• End-to-end encryption for RCS: In March, Apple announced that it planned to add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to the Messages app in a future iOS update, which is likely to be iOS 26, or a later version like iOS 26.1. This change would prevent Apple and any other third party from being able to read RCS messages and attachments while they are being sent between devices, as has always been the case with iMessage blue bubbles.

iOS 26 is available now in developer beta, with a public beta to follow next month. The update will be released later this year for the iPhone 11 and newer.

In iOS 26, Apple is introducing a deceptively simple feature that could transform your morning routine: customizable alarm snooze intervals.

The update allows users to set snooze duration anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes, finally breaking free from the rigid 9-minute default that has frustrated iPhone users for years. You can access the feature by tapping any alarm and tapping the number next to "Snooze Duration" in the options.

While it might sound trivial, the change nixes a long-lingering frustration. Some people need just a quick 2-minute buffer before rising from their slumber, while others prefer a longer window to properly wake up. The fixed 9-minute interval – a holdover from mechanical alarm clock limitations – never made sense in the smartphone era.

It's the kind of quality-of-life improvement that feels overdue yet welcome. Sometimes the smallest tweaks make the biggest difference, especially when it comes to your morning routine. iOS 26 is currently in developer beta, with a public beta expected next month and a full release coming in the fall.

The rumor was true: iOS 26 introduces an option to view full-screen animated album art on the iPhone's Lock Screen for certain Apple Music songs.

To enter the full-screen mode, simply tap on the album art in the Lock Screen's music player for the song that is currently playing, and the artwork will expand and become animated, which contributes to a more immersive listening experience.

Animated album art was already visible in the Apple Music app for many popular songs, and now it has come to the Lock Screen for the first time.

Not all songs have animated artwork, but the selection is growing.

This is a nice touch that complements the new Liquid Glass design, which allows background content to shine through the interface elements.

iOS 26 is available now in developer beta, with a public beta to follow next month. The update will be released later this year for the iPhone 11 and newer.

The upcoming macOS Tahoe update that Apple previewed this week gives the Mac more personality, with several new customization options.

iOS 18 introduced Dark and Tinted options for iPhone app icons, and macOS Tahoe extends those options to the Mac for the first time.

Just like on iOS 26, macOS Tahoe also offers a Clear option for app icons, which pairs nicely with the new Liquid Glass design.

Second, macOS Tahoe brings the iPhone's customizable Control Center layout to the Mac, allowing you to easily add and rearrange controls.

Third, macOS Tahoe makes it easy to change the colors of folder icons, and you can add a symbol or emoji to them for a unique flair.

macOS Tahoe is available now in developer beta, with a public beta to follow next month. The update will be released later this year.

Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple.

When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred to as sherlocking. The name dates back to a "Sherlock" search tool in OS X that Apple enhanced with features that were cribbed from a third-party app called Watson. Watson's developers accused Apple of copying the product without compensation, and from then on, sherlocking has been used to describe apps that are supplanted by Apple.

Here are the features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26 that, to various extents, sherlock popular existing apps.

Apple's Sherlocking New Features

• Enhanced Spotlight with Actions – Provides suggested apps, commands, and custom shortcuts with the ability to perform actions like creating calendar events or making GIFs directly from search. Sherlocks Raycast and LaunchBar.
• Call Assist with Screening – Takes calls from unknown numbers silently, captures the caller's name and reason for calling, then lets you choose to accept or reject with typed responses. Sherlocks Robokiller and Truecaller.
• Parcel Tracking in Wallet – Uses Apple Intelligence to automatically track and summarize order status by analyzing emails from merchants and delivery services. Sherlocks various package tracking apps.
• Flight Tracking via Live Activities – Allows users to track and share flight status through Live Activities in Wallet, plus airport navigation with gate and amenity information in Maps. Sherlocks Flighty.
• AI Model Integration in Xcode – Makes ChatGPT the default assistant for Xcode 26 and allows developers to connect other AI models using API keys for coding assistance. Sherlocks Alex for Xcode.
• Local Capture for iPad – Enables creators to record videos locally using any video calling app and share recordings with others for podcast creation. Sherlocks Riverside.
• Notes App for Apple Watch – Brings the official Notes app to Apple Watch with watchOS 26, allowing users to take notes directly on their wrist. Sherlocks various note-taking apps for Apple Watch.
• Allow in the Menu Bar – In macOS Tahoe's System Settings, you can now control which third-party apps are allowed to display menu bar items. Sherlocks Bartender and Ice.
• Spotlight Clipboard Search – In macOS Tahoe, Spotlight users can search and view previously copied content in their clipboard history – including both text and images – making it easy to retrieve items copied earlier. Sherlocks Paste and Pastebot.

Of course, some of these apps may still offer additional functionality beyond what Apple has implemented, and developers of sherlocked apps sometimes find ways to improve their apps to differentiate them from Apple, so there's hopefully life left in many of them yet.

Do you know of any other new features not listed here that potentially sherlock existing third-party apps? Let us know in the comments.

Amazon this week is discounting a collection of Beats headphones and speakers, including an all-time low price on the Powerbeats Pro 2. You can get this new 2025 model for $199.95 in four colors, down from $249.99. This deal on the Powerbeats Pro 2 is being matched at Best Buy, along with a few other Beats deals.

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

This sale also includes major discounts on products like the Beats Pill, which has hit $99.00 on Amazon, down from $149.95. This discount is available in three colors of the Bluetooth speaker.

Additionally, Amazon has the Beats Studio Buds+ for $99.95, down from $169.95. These have up to 9 hours of playback (up to 36 hours with charging case), USB-C, active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and an IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance.

You'll also find a few steep discounts on over-ear headphones, like the Beats Studio Pro at $169.95, down from $349.99. Many of these deals are matches for the record low price on each pair of headphones.

• Beats Studio Buds+ - $99.95, down from $169.95
• Beats Pill - $99.00, down from $149.95
• Beats Solo 4 - $99.95, down from $199.95
• Beats Fit Pro - $169.95, down from $199.99
• Beats Studio Pro - $169.95, down from $349.99
• Powerbeats Pro 2 - $199.95, down from $249.99

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

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Many of Apple's announcements during its WWDC 2025 keynote this week were leaked ahead of time, but there were also a few rumors that proved to be inaccurate.

In this WWDC 2025 edition of our Rumor Report Card, we have reflected on some of the bigger hits and misses leading into Apple's annual developer conference.

The grades that we have assigned to each rumor below are just for fun.

A+

We give full marks to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who accurately leaked a wide range of software details ahead of WWDC 2025, including the new naming convention for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and so forth, the Liquid Glass design, iPads getting several Mac-like features, several new Phone and Messages app features, new preinstalled Games and Preview apps on iOS 26, live translation of calls and texts, and much more.

9to5Mac also accurately leaked several details, ranging from the Messages app getting polls to a full-screen album artwork option on the iPhone's Lock Screen.

B

Jon Prosser was first to report that iOS 26 would feature a new translucent design. In videos on his YouTube channel Front Page Tech, he accurately leaked several iOS 26 design elements, including the new floating tab bar within apps. However, at one point he incorrectly said that Home Screen app icons would be round.

The leaker @MajinBuOfficial accurately claimed that iPadOS 26 would feature a Mac-like menu bar at the top of the screen. However, he wrongly said that the menu bar might only appear when the iPad is connected to a Magic Keyboard.

C-

Ahead of the WWDC 2025 keynote, 9to5Mac and MacRumors reported on homeOS trademark activity that was potentially linked to Apple. homeOS could end up being the name of the operating system that powers Apple's rumored smart home hub, but neither the software platform nor the device were announced at WWDC 2025.

homeOS very well might end up being announced in the future, but speculation that it might be unveiled at WWDC 2025 proved to be inaccurate.

F

@MajinBuOfficial claimed that iOS 26 would enable Stage Manager on iPhones with a USB-C port, but no such feature was announced at WWDC 2025.