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Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 36 years
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Category: iPhone, iPad, & iOS

Adam Engst 15 comments

26.5.2 Updates Squash Vulnerabilities in macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Safari

Apple has released macOS 26.5.2, iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2, and Safari 26.5.2, addressing 29 security vulnerabilities. Most fixes target WebKit, with additional patches for the kernel and other components. No exploits have been reported in the wild.

Adam Engst 8 comments

Fruit Specs Slices and Dices Apple Product Features

Need to know which Apple devices or operating system versions support a specific feature or compare features across products? Glenn Fleishman’s Fruit Specs website makes answering such questions fast and—if you’re like us—kind of fun.

Adam Engst 1 comment

iOS 26’s Confusing Hidden Folder Drag Behavior

A TidBITS reader thought he had found a bug in iOS 26 that made apps inaccessible. After investigation, the real culprit turned out to be misleading visual feedback when dragging apps to the App Library’s Hidden folder.

Adam Engst No comments

Upcoming NMUG Presentation on the Phone App’s Classic and Unified Views

Join Adam Engst for a free online presentation explaining the difference between the iOS 26 Phone app’s Classic and Unified views—and the big win of the Unified view—at the Naples MacFriends User Group meeting on 17 June 2026.

Adam Engst 21 comments

All 264 Items on Apple’s WWDC26 “Sweating the Details” Slide

At WWDC26, Apple flashed a slide listing hundreds of small refinements coming to OS 27. We captured, OCRed, and categorized every item so you can actually read everything that Apple included.

Adam Engst 68 comments

WWDC26 Keynote Shows Apple’s Tacit Acknowledgment of External Pressures

Apple spent the entirety of its WWDC26 keynote responding to external pressures, including user complaints about Liquid Glass, community and regulatory worries regarding child safety, and the embarrassment of Siri delays and Apple Intelligence weaknesses.

Adam Engst 14 comments

Does the iOS 26 Lens Cleaning Hint Work?

Adam Engst investigates the mysterious “Lens cleaning hint” feature introduced in iOS 26. Despite his best efforts—including one involving a tomato—the warning message never appeared. Is it broken, or just random about what counts as smudged?

Adam Engst No comments

iOS 26.5.1 Fixes Charging Bug, macOS 26.5.1 Tackles Shutdown Issue

iPhone 17 and iPhone Air owners should update to iOS 26.5.1 promptly—it fixes a bug that blocks USB charging when the battery is nearly dead. macOS 26.5.1 addresses an enterprise-only shutdown issue.

Adam Engst 17 comments

TipBITS: How Fake Contacts Can Fix Dictation’s Proper Noun Problems

Does Dictation substitute a contact’s name for a common word, fail to capitalize proper nouns, or mangle unusual spellings? You can fix these frustrations by adding—or subtly editing—entries in Contacts.

Adam Engst 2 comments

Apple Extends Notification Privacy Fix to iOS 15, iOS 16, and iPadOS 17

If your iPhone or iPad is too old to run iOS 18 or later, Apple hasn’t forgotten you—new updates for iOS and iPadOS 15, iOS and iPadOS 16, and iPadOS 17 patch the notification retention flaw that could expose deleted messages.

Adam Engst 4 comments

OS 26.5 Adds Encrypted RCS Messaging, Fixes Bugs

The OS 26.5 updates bring end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging to iPhones, a Pride Luminance wallpaper and watch face, and Suggested Places recommendations in Maps. Otherwise, expect a few bug fixes and numerous security updates.

Adam Engst 19 comments

Flighty Now Tracks Airport Disruptions Worldwide

The Flighty flight-tracking app has introduced Airport Intelligence, which uses AI to explain conditions at every airport worldwide, plus a free Flighty Airports webpage showing real-time disruption levels at major airports.

Adam Engst No comments

FindYourTag Website Catalogs the Expanding Find My Ecosystem

Glenn Fleishman has cataloged the surprisingly diverse ecosystem of Find My-compatible products—now numbering over 70—and built a comparison website to help you navigate the options.

Adam Engst 13 comments

iOS 26.4.2 and iOS 18.7.8 Address Notification Privacy Flaw Highlighted by FBI Case

The FBI extracted Signal messages from an iPhone by exploiting a notification database flaw. Apple has now released iOS 18.7.8 and iOS 26.4.2 to fix a bug that allowed deleted notifications to persist on devices.

Adam Engst 12 comments

Apple Releases OS 26.4.1 to Fix CloudKit Syncing Bug

If iCloud syncing has been unreliable since you updated to iOS 26.4, relief has arrived. Although Apple’s release notes don’t mention it, developers confirm that iOS 26.4.1 and iPadOS 26.4.1 fix the CloudKit bug. Apple also released macOS 26.4.1 Tahoe, presumably to incorporate the same code changes.