Adam Engst walks you through Apple’s OS 26.2 updates, highlighting new alarms in Reminders, auto-generated chapters in Podcasts, Enhanced Safety Alerts, and Edge Light for Mac video calls—along with urgent fixes for two actively exploited WebKit vulnerabilities.
Was it a sophisticated iPhone hack, a pickpocketing distraction, or just a weird coincidence? After a TidBITS reader’s suspicious encounter with a lost tourist, we examine the security of modern iPhones and offer practical tips for travelers who want to help strangers without becoming targets.
Apparently, humor columnist Dave Barry’s brain is full, causing him to leave his iPad in public places—well, one public place—but Find My helped him recover it not just once, but twice. It’s a good reminder to turn on Find My and use Apple’s lost device options.
In iOS 26’s Phone app, Unified view lets you tap a call to show contact info instead of initiating a callback. A hidden setting lets you switch that tap-a-call behavior back to a callback—but it appears only when in Unified view and isn’t available to those using Classic view.
Two years after Apple introduced contact posters in iOS 17, our Do You Use It? poll shows that over half of respondents haven’t created a single one. The feature’s limited visibility and fussy creation process may explain the lackluster adoption.
Apple’s new N1 wireless chip in the iPhone 17 family boosts Wi‑Fi speeds by up to 40% over the Broadcom‑based Wi-Fi radio used in the iPhone 16 lineup—especially in poor conditions.
Want to make your iPhone’s Phone app and contact cards more visually appealing? Adam Engst walks you through the often frustrating process of customizing contact avatars and posters.
Apple’s new Digital ID lets US passport holders add an ID to the iPhone’s Wallet app for TSA identity checks, but it’s no replacement for your physical license or passport.
Apple’s iPhone Pocket collaboration with Issey Miyake might seem like the spiritual successor to iPod Socks, but it’s closer to luxury Hermès Apple Watch bands. Crafted in Japan and selling for as much as $230, it may reveal more about your opinion of the fashion world than anything else.
Apple redesigned the Phone app in iOS 26 with a new Unified view that combines Favorites and Recents—and, crucially, makes it much harder to call someone. Adam Engst walks through the differences between Classic and Unified views to help you decide which to use.
Update to OS 26.1 for incremental improvements and security fixes across Apple’s platforms. Highlights include Tinted Liquid Glass, AutoMix over AirPlay, Slide Over’s return to iPadOS, and dozens of patched vulnerabilities.
Responding to widespread criticism of Liquid Glass’s excessive transparency, Apple has added an opacity control in iOS 26.1 beta 4 that significantly improves interface readability. While not a complete solution, it’s a welcome acknowledgment of user feedback.
Apple Intelligence’s visual intelligence feature helps you learn more about or interact with anything you see through the iPhone’s camera or on its screen. It’s quicker to access than dedicated apps, but suffers from reliability issues and Apple restrictions.
Apple’s newest M5 chip debuts in three devices, bringing substantial performance improvements to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro, and Vision Pro while leaving nearly all other features unchanged.
Apple’s protection against juice jacking attacks—theoretical though they may be for everyday users—isn’t working as intended in iOS 26, with some users finding their security settings locked to Always Allow.