Benjamin Mayo

The new Double Tap gesture for Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 is now available with the new watchOS beta seed released today.

Double Tap is activated by pinching together your index finger and thumb twice in compatible apps. This allows you to perform a contextually-relevant action in the active app without needing to tap the actual watch screen.

Last year, iOS 16 introduced a whole new world of dynamic lock screens to personalize your iPhone experience.

One of these options was the Photo Shuffle lock screen, which randomly cycled through images from your photo library. However, it was missing a critical point of customization that made it hard to use for most people. But thankfully, this functionality gap has now been filled with iOS 17.1 …

Apple TV+ today announced that its first Lionel Messi documentary series will premiere on October 11.

Messi Meets America covers the arrival of the soccer phenom to the US Major League Soccer league, when he joined Inter Miami in July. It features interviews and commentary with David Beckham, Messi himself, and more.

Last week, the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything found that he could crack the back of his iPhone 15 Pro Max by bending it in his hands. People have wondered whether the new titanium frame with rounded edges is less durable, although it’s worth noting the smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro did not crack in the same way.

Consumer Reports tried to repeat the findings with the use of a slightly more scientific methodology, and found that the iPhone 15 Pro Max did not crack under the pressure. Consumer Reports was one of the leading critics of the iPhone design back when the iPhone 6 ‘#Bendgate’ was a thing.

According to a report in the latest issue of the Business F1 magazine, Apple is eyeing Formula 1 as its next big sports investment. The company is reportedly considering an offer worth about $2 billion per year, which would eventually make Apple the exclusive streaming rights holder of Formula 1 racing.

The value of the Apple deal would be about double what the Formula 1 league currently gets from its global TV rights. The magazine says that Apple’s interest in clinching Formula 1 has increased following the success of MLS Season Pass. An Apple F1 pass would likely live alongside MLS and Apple TV+ in the Apple TV app, as a standalone subscription.

The Mujjo leather case is a premium and luxurious case for your phone, at competitive price points. The exterior sports long-lasting European leather that looks great and, crucially, feels great in the hand.

It is not just style without substance, of course. The case offers a reassuring level of protection, including a raised bezel around the display and metal surround for the rear camera module. The case also integrates strong magnets for compatibility with the ecosystem of MagSafe charging accessories. The high-quality case is available in sizes fitting for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Read on for full my review (Monaco Blue, iPhone 15 Pro pictured).

The Apple TV+ service is currently experiencing a glitch which is affecting playback of content on the service. Inexplicably, the foreign language dubbing credits that are usually inserted at the end of a show are being played first as the ‘intro’. There’s also a related issue where affected episodes end too soon, meaning viewers often miss the climax of the final scene.

Apple is soft launching a new iPhone Wallet app integration today that is powered by the United Kingdom’s Open Banking API. The Wallet app will now be able to show the user’s current account balance from their bank, as well as a history of deposits and payments. The balances will also be shown inline when buying something with Apple Pay, helping users be more financially aware about whether they can responsibly afford the purchase.

This integration is rolling out first as part of the upcoming iOS 17.1 developer beta. It will be available to a subset of Wallet app users in the UK, who have an Apple Pay card associated with a supporting bank.

After a near record-breaking 148 days on strike, the Writers Guild of America have finally agreed a new deal with the Hollywood studios (including streamers like Apple). The guild described the deal as “exceptional”, and it is expected to easily pass when members vote next week. Even before it is officially ratified, though, the labor strike has been lifted and work in Hollywood can resume.

At least, writing duties can restart. Filming cannot pick up again until the Hollywood studios agree a new deal with the Screen Actors Guild, and thus end the ongoing actors strike. The gains reached in the new WGA deal are expected to serve as a template for the fresh SAG negotiations, which could begin as soon as next week.

One of the silicon improvements in the iPhone 15 series is the new second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip. This chip can communicate with other devices that have the same chip at extended range, compared to the U1 chip found in previous-generation iPhones and AirTags.

A new Find My feature allows iPhone 15 users to find nearby friends who also have an iPhone 15, with the Precision Finding interface that shows continuously updating distance and direction indicators. You can see it put to the test in this hands-on demo by Teknófilo.

Following the iPhone 15 release on Friday, the first battery test results are coming in. Apple touted the efficiency of the 3nm A17 Pro chip, so anticipation was high for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to take the top spot.

Indeed, the Pro Max outlasted all previous iPhones in Mrwhosetheboss’s test. But it was actually bested by the 15 Plus, which racked up more than 13 hours screen on time, and now holds the title of longest iPhone battery life on record.

By flying to Australia, AppleTrack’s Sam Kohl brings us the first iPhone 15 drop tests available on YouTube. Based on his video, it seems the new rounded titanium edges are not better for drop test durability than the remarkably enduring iPhone 14 Pro design.

Whereas the flat stainless band on the 14 would absorb much of the impact, the iPhone 15 Pro rounded titanium sides seemed to cause the impact to spread into the front and back glass, causing spiderwebbing cracks.

Apple has identified an iOS 17 bug that may affect the iPhone 15 upgrade experience today. During iPhone setup, the Transfer from another iPhone option may fail and leave your new iPhone in a state where it is stuck booting on the Apple logo black screen. Here’s what to do if that happens to you.

In a new GQ interview with Eddy Cue, the Apple exec shares his take on the success of the Apple-MLS deal so far and some commentary on the future of Apple’s contribution to the sports industry.

Cue seems emboldened by the initial response to MLS Season Pass and keen to capitalize on the momentum since Lionel Messi joined the league. You do get the sense though that Apple is on the hunt for something even bigger, when the right deal comes around …

For the first few years, the HomePod exclusively supported Apple Music and AirPlay. It was not possible for third-party music apps to integrate with the device. In 2020, Apple did a HomePod Siri music API, and some services, such as Pandora, have adopted it.

Unfortunately, Spotify, the biggest music streaming service, has still not implemented this — in part because Apple and Spotify are embroiled in an EU legal battle over abuse of monopoly power. While you still can’t play Spotify natively from the HomePod, iOS 17 does streamline the experience significantly.

CNBC is reporting Apple was working on a stock trading service where iPhone users could buy and sell shares on the stock market. The service was meant to launch in 2022, but reportedly Apple shelved the plans once interest rates started climbing and the market tanked, fearing Apple users would invest and then lose money.

The service was in development in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The pair switched gears and developed the Apple Card high-yield savings account feature instead, which launched earlier this year and has been very warmly received by users.

Alongside the dozens of new iPhone features found in iOS 17, Apple also took the opportunity to update the collection of ringtone and alert sounds. There’s a bunch of new tones to choose from in the Sounds setting for incoming alerts, text alerts and more.

The default app notification sounds have also changed. The classic ‘Tri-tone’ has been replaced by ‘Rebound’. However, not everyone is a fan of the new notification sound … and iOS offers no way to change it back.