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.
Space Black has been the hot new Apple color lately, coming to products like the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro. However, Apple never released Space Black for the new Mac mini, and stuck to just silver. Luckily, one Apple enthusiast decided to paint his Mac mini in black, and it looks pretty good…
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It’s Black Friday season once again, meaning it’s the best time of year to save some money. We’ve gathered a list of our favorite indie app deals this holiday season – allowing you to try out something new on your iPhone, all while supporting small, independent app developers. There are 25 apps highlighted here, but there’s even more deals to find, linked at the bottom.
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After releasing the HomePod 2 in early 2023, there have been a number of varying rumors about what’s next for HomePod. Some rumors suggest that Apple is taking a dive into smart home tabletop robotics, while others suggest that Apple is working on a more traditional smart display, one that provides Apple Intelligence for the home, while being cheaper than an iPad.
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According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple has reportedly postponed a high number of iOS 19 features for a later iOS 19.4 release, meaning we potentially won’t get our hands on them until spring 2026.
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According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, Apple has no ‘meaningful’ plans to refresh AirPods Max after the introduction of the USB-C model earlier this year. If you were waiting for a bigger refresh with a newer chip, improved noise cancellation, or anything else – you’re out of luck.
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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.
Pestle is a recipe manager for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. It offers a number of unique features, including the ability to easily import recipes from anywhere, meal planning features, and more. It makes every recipe easily achievable.
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In a move to improve repairability across its product lineup, Apple will soon be selling MacBook Pro speakers as an individual component, something that the company hasn’t done since the 2015 MacBook Pro model.
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While the new M4 MacBook Pros got a number of sweet quality of life upgrades, the new MacBooks looked about the same externally, except for the M4 MacBook Pro gaining an additional Thunderbolt port over the M3 model, something that the M3 Pro/M3 Max models already had.
The same also holds true for the internals – with no noteworthy changes over the M3 models.
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Snapchat unveiled a new version of Spectacles back in September, providing a peak at the future – with augmented reality glasses. I got the opportunity to try them out earlier this week, and honestly, they’re pretty impressive. Far from perfect, but definitely amazing.
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Originally introduced in 2016, it now seems like Apple’s Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter may soon be discontinued (via MacRumors).
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Apple released its new MacBook Pros with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chipsets last week – and early CPU benchmarks (via Geekbench) painted a very promising picture for Apple’s highest end M4 Max chipset. Now we’re taking a look at some GPU benchmarks, and the M4 Max continues to hold quite strong.
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It’s long been rumored that Apple will be partnering with other AI chatbot companies in the future, to support Apple Intelligence features. Apple already partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iOS, and that integration is now here in the iOS 18.2 beta, which is expected to release in December.
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According to this weekend’s Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is ‘evaluating’ the idea of releasing an Apple-branded TV set, once again.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing the release of AirTag 2 around the “middle of next year.” The design will stay pretty similar but will improve on the original model in three key ways.
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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.
Pinning is a unique calendar countdown app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision. It offers a visually appealing way of keeping track of birthdays, calendar events, anniversaries, and more! It also includes a number of native-feeling design elements.
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This weekend is Indie Charity Weekend – a new initiative started by notable app developer Will Bishop! Starting today, 100% of this weekends proceeds from the 23 participating apps will go to the charity of the developers choice.
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Apple users across the globe have been reporting that they’re receiving refunds for AppleCare+ on iPhones they purchased and traded in years ago. Seemingly, there isn’t anything specific triggering the refund, but there are a number of varying cases.
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Late last month, Apple unveiled the first Macs with the M4 chip: the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini. That’s about half of the Mac lineup, leaving the MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Among the two remaining desktops, the Mac Studio is definitely the more popular one – though it’s a bit outdated, still sporting the M2 Max and M2 Ultra. Here’s everything we’re expecting with the next Mac Studio, though it is a bit light.
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In the latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reported that the 2nd generation of Apple Vision Pro is expected to hit the market between fall of 2025 and spring of 2026. This mostly aligns with previous reports, although slightly less optimistic.
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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.
Currency is a completely free currency conversion app for iPhone and Mac, with no ads, a clean design, and offline functionality. It has support for over 160 currencies, making it an easy to use tool for any international travel.
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Earlier this week, we reported that the storage in the new Mac mini is actually modular, meaning that it isn’t soldered to the logic board of the Mac, and ultimately would be user accessible. However, that didn’t necessarily mean it’d be easy for users to upgrade the storage on their own – though that didn’t stop one individual.
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Initially spotted by Brad Lynch on X, Apple has recently listed a new Belkin Head Strap for Apple Vision Pro, one that looks very similar (though not quite identical) to the strap that they unveiled back at WWDC23. It works in addition to the Solo Knit band.
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On Friday, Pixelmator, the company behind many popular photo-editing apps for Apple platforms, announced that Apple will be acquiring them. While some people are rightfully skeptical of the deal, I’m optimistic that it might solve one of my biggest grips with the iPad.
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According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple is ‘seriously considering’ developing a cheaper Apple Vision device that offloads all of the computing power to your iPhone, essentially developing a headset with primarily displays and battery.
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