Apple has released iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, watchOS 11.4, visionOS 2.4, tvOS 18.4, and HomePod Software 18.4, bringing new Apple Intelligence features, improved Photos organization, Mail categorization on the iPad and Mac, and bug fixes. Apple also announced that WWDC 2025 will take place online from June 9–13, with a special Apple Park event for selected developers. Plus, Garmin has launched a Health and Happiness Study to research happiness and wellbeing in daily life—Adam Engst examines the study’s methodology and potential biases. Finally, in a reminder about how complex our technical world has become, we link to a Pew Research article that explains how “yes” was replaced by the word “forks” in a recent survey. Notable Mac app releases this week include Mimestream 1.6.2 and SoundSource 5.8.
Mark your calendars—Apple has announced that its Worldwide Developer Conference will kick off on 9 June 2025. Last year’s question if WWDC would bring an AI-powered version of Siri remains open.
In partnership with researchers from Harvard University and the University of Oxford, Garmin is launching an ambitious academic study to investigate happiness through wearable tech and smartphone-based surveys. Unlike Apple’s health research, this study is entirely grant-funded and offers participant rewards.
Apple’s latest operating system updates bring Apple Intelligence to more languages and regions, improve Photos organization, expand Mail categorization to the Mac and iPad, and address what must be a record number of security vulnerabilities.
Watchlist
Maintenance release for the Gmail-specific email app. ($49.99 annual subscription, free update, 11.8 MB, macOS 12+)
Brings a lengthy list of improvements and bug fixes to the audio control utility. ($39 new, free update, 43.2 MB, macOS 14.5+)
