Michael is 9to5Mac’s Associate Editor, leading all of our Apple news coverage on Saturday and Sunday, and contributing to reporting from Monday to Wednesday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and started the weekly Indie App Spotlight series, which has covered dozens of indie apps since it launched.
Today, Apple has unsigned watchOS 11.4 beta 1 for all Apple Watch Series 6 models, meaning it is no longer possible for those users to test out the new beta. This news comes from Aaron Perris on X. They’ve also unsigned iOS and iPadOS 18.4 beta 1 for some iPhones and iPads.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Finma is a financial management app for your iPhone. It has a focus on user privacy and doesn’t require a connection to your bank account. It also features beautiful charts and many useful features to give you a better financial picture.
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When 5G debuted with the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple introduced a sneaky new pricing tactic. Apple would list iPhones as “starting at $799”, but that price would require you to activate with one of the major US carriers at the point of purchase. If you wanted an unlocked iPhone, the actual starting price point was $829.
iPhone 16e gets rid of this annoying upcharge.
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Brought to you by Uniq: Check out the new rugged cases from Uniq including the glow in the dark Combat Active iPhone case featuring a textured grip for ultimate control and a reflective lanyard. And the Stride SE, a high-performance Apple Watch sports band built tough with durable FKM.
Yesterday, Apple launched the new iPhone 16e, the cheapest new iPhone model in the lineup. It brings Apple Intelligence, Face ID, USB-C, the 48MP Fusion camera, and much more – all down to a starting price of just $599.
Obviously, the iPhone 16e is a noteworthy upgrade over the iPhone SE 3. However, there’s an easy comparison to be made to previous generation entry-level iPhones, such as the iPhone 12, 13, 14 and even iPhone 15 – for many great reasons. We’ll be diving into that here.
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Apple will debut its first new product of the year this Wednesday. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the launch through a tweet last week. While we can’t say for certain that the new product launch will be, it’s highly likely to be the new iPhone SE 4, which may receive a new name.
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With the Mac transition to Apple Silicon, Apple replaced its 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models with one singular 24-inch iMac. Many had assumed that there’d eventually be a larger iMac, perhaps a 30 or 32-inch model, maybe even an iMac Pro. However, we’re yet to see that come to fruition.
Despite the fact that it’s been three years since the 27-inch iMac was discontinued, and Apple has since said it’s not making another 27-inch iMac, there’s still some hope. Lets discuss.
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Have you ever wondered what it’d look like to see a Windows Phone, specifically – Lumia 1020, would look like if it were running iOS? I haven’t either, but it’s still a pretty cool project to look at. Seeing iOS run on radically different form factors is pretty uncommon, so it certainly piqued my interest.
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According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple is once again considering monetizing its Maps app with search ads. The company already does this with its News and Stocks apps. The goal is to boost its in-house advertising business.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is ramping up development on a Studio Display replacement. The company initially debuted this monitor in 2022 and has left it untouched since. There isn’t much word on what’ll be new with this Studio Display refresh, but it’ll apparently be a companion to the upcoming M5 MacBook Pros.
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There’s loads of varying third party MagSafe wallets on the market, many of which offer more features than Apple’s official wallet. Apple’s MagSafe wallet comes in at $49, and is exclusively available in the less-than-ideal FineWoven material.
MOFT’s Magnetic Wallet Stand comes in at half the price, is made of vegan leather, and has a number of unique features.
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For me, one of the biggest issues with making the switch from a MacBook to a Mac mini was the display aspect of it. MacBooks all have fairly great displays, especially on the MacBook Pro. However, finding a good display that pairs nicely with a Mac desktop always feels like a little bit of a challenge.
You either have to go with Apple’s expensive options, or compromise significantly on the experience with a third party. Some common compromises include poor brightness, a lack of USB-C, or a lack of macOS integration. While the BenQ MA270U certainly isn’t a Studio Display replacement, it performs excellently in all of the qualities that matter to me.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Due Tomorrow is a students ultimate homework companion. It helps you manage your assignments, keep track of everything with reminders and calendar integration, and includes a neat little AI chatbot that provides pointers for your assignments.
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On Wednesday, Apple begun selling refurbished M4 Mac mini models on its store, starting at $509 for the base model. This was great, though there was one problem, pointed out by MacRumors on Thursday: an M2 Mac mini with the same specs would cost $50 more than an M4 model, despite the dated design.
Apple has now fixed that pricing problem, cutting refurbished model prices by at least $100.
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Yesterday morning, Hector Martin resigned from his position as project lead of Asahi Linux. This was a community effort that kicked off shortly after the Mac transition to Apple Silicon begun, in early 2021. After a ton of effort, the team finally released an alpha build of Asahi Linux for M1 and M2 Macs in early 2022. The project was going well.
However, because of burnout and an uphill battle with the Linux community, including Linus Torvalds himself, Hector Martin decided to resign. The project should ideally continue on without him.
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Apple just introduced a new trade-in promo for new Mac purchases, now through April 2nd. Trade-in values for all models are now slightly higher, with increases ranging from $10 to $50 (via MacRumors).
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After the reported cancellation of Apple’s Mac-tethered AR glasses, Apple is still working towards making a pair of standalone AR glasses. It just might take a little bit longer to get right, reports Mark Gurman from Bloomberg.
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Apple’s next generation iPhone SE may debut as early as next week. The device is rumored to provide the design language of the iPhone 14, with USB-C, an A18 chip with Apple Intelligence, and more. You’ve likely heard all of those headlining features already, but there are some other substantial rumors that may have gone under the radar for you, which we’ll be recapping today.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Bento|Craft is a great tool for easily making Apple-style bento box graphics in a matter of seconds. It provides dozens of templates and mockups, allows you to customize layouts, and export very quickly. It’s a high quality and simple-to-use design tool.
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Apple last updated its cheapest iPad in October 2022, introducing the largest refresh to the base model iPad since it returned in 2017. This marked the 10th generation of the iPad, and even though it’s been 2.5 years since then, the 11th generation model won’t bring anything substantial, for one big reason.
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We’ve been off to a light start in 2025 in terms of Apple products, with the main announcement this year being the new Black Unity Sport Loop. However, we’re approaching the spring time, and Apple has five relatively major products in the pipeline.
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According to a tweet from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple will stop offering the option to purchase a 2-3 year plan of AppleCare+ in physical Apple Stores and on device. This change will be taking place next week.
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According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is still on track to enable support for PlayStation VR controllers on Apple Vision Pro. This partnership was originally reported on back in December, and things are still going as expected.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple will be launching a new events and invites service as part of iCloud. This new service will differ from calendar, and will launch as early as “this coming week.”
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Wheels aims to be your all-in-one digital skate journal, allowing you (presuming you’re a skater) to track all things skating. It helps track your rides, your skateboards, and offers a clean interface to manage it all.
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