Michael Burkhardt

According to feedback that a developer received from Apple, Live Activities won’t be able to update as often as they were able to in iOS 17 and prior. While this won’t affect most apps, it’s still a change worth talking about.

With Apple Intelligence requiring an M1 chip or newer, it’s never been a better time to buy your first MacBook, or upgrade an older MacBook you’re still holding on to. MacBooks are more affordable than ever in the Apple Silicon era, with the cheapest options starting below $700. These are the best deals if you’re looking to buy a new MacBook on a budget.

Meta began experimenting with an option for auto-archiving posts on Threads back in April, but the feature never came to fruition in that form. However, the company has now confirmed that they’re experimenting with a new ephemeral post format, where users can choose to have a post disappear after 24 hours.

According to some new tweets from Mark Gurman, Apple has scheduled a mandatory meeting for all Apple Store employees shortly after the iPhone 16 event, which is expected to take place on September 10th. The meetings are happening on either the evening of September 12th and the morning of September 13th, depending on the store.

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.

Capture is a productivity app that allows you to easily take notes, write down tasks, save links, and set reminders, all in one clean interface. The app fully supports iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro.

According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s upcoming base model Macs could start with 16GB RAM by default, up from 8GB. This breaks a tradition that Apple has had going for around 8 years now.

Apple has recently started testing new welcome bonuses for Apple Card. The smaller $100 offer is being advertised on social media, while the all time high $300 offer is being sent to targeted users via email. Both offers last through September 3rd.

Apple unveiled one of its largest updates to the Mail app back in June. The changes include an all new design, Apple Intelligence enhancements, and a number of other quality of life improvements. Although most of the non-AI features aren’t yet present in the beta, Apple currently says that we should expect everything “later this year.”

A new image shared on social media appears to show the camera lens rings of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models, reaffirming the previously leaked colors. The leak also contains details about the new bronze color.

According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, Apple is on track to release two new variants of AirPods 4 as soon as next month. They’ll introduce both an entry level model and a mid tier model, meant to replace both AirPods 2 and AirPods 3.

Although iOS 18 is about a month away from release, the vast majority of iPhone users are still running iOS 17. Apple is preparing a new minor update for those who aren’t running beta, according to a reputable source.

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.

SubManager is a simple app that allows you to easily keep track of all of your subscriptions across the web. In a world where it feels like every app wants to charge you monthly for something, this management tool is actually quite helpful! The app fully supports iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.

Epic Games relaunched Fortnite in the EU a couple days ago, after a 4 year legal battle with Apple over the App Store’s 30% revenue cut. Apple announced changes to app distribution in the EU earlier this year, and Epic is finally taking advantage of it to bring Fortnite back to Apple platforms.

In the latest Power On Newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman clarifies some details about next year’s slim iPhone 17 model, which he refers to as an iPhone 17 “Air.” The analyst also goes on to provide details about Apple’s future iPhone plans, including a “Pro” model with a slimmer chassis, as well as the possibility of a folding iPhone.

According to the latest edition of Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple’s Vision group is continuing to experiment with a couple different products to follow up the launch of Apple Vision Pro from earlier this year. These new products include a cheaper Apple Vision headset, a second generation of Apple Vision Pro, as well as a version of Smart Glasses.

Apple is expected to unveil two new iPad models this fall, potentially at its annual iPhone keynote next month. This will include a new entry-level 11th generation model, as well as the 7th generation of iPad mini. Both of these models have gone over 2 years without an update, so we’re overdue for a refresh.

After allowing people to buy their way to the top of the replies section by purchasing an X Premium subscription, the social media platform has now launched a new menu to allow users to sort through replies with more traditional options.

After becoming the first Apple Store in the country to unionize back in June 2022, the retail employees at the Towson Town Center location have reached a “historic” union contract with Apple this week, providing numerous benefits to the workers. This win comes after the union planned a strike earlier this year regarding the contract negotiations.