MacRumors

Today marks the 15th anniversary of Apple releasing Mac OS X Snow Leopard, which became available to purchase for $29 on August 28, 2009.

After advertising Mac OS X Leopard as having "over 300 new features" in 2007, Apple previewed Snow Leopard at WWDC 2008. Notably, during that year's "State of the Union" session, Apple showed a presentation slide that said the update had "0 new features," as Apple opted to focus on under-the-hood performance and stability improvements.

"We've built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown," said Apple's former software engineering chief Bertrand Serlet. "Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before."

With Snow Leopard, Apple said it refined 90% of the foundational "projects" that were built into Mac OS X. Apple pitched the update as offering a more responsive Finder app, an improved Mail app that loads emails up to twice as fast as before, up to 80% faster Time Machine backups, and a 64-bit version of Safari that was up to 50% faster than the previous version. Snow Leopard also took up around half as much disk space as Leopard.

You can watch Serlet speak more about Snow Leopard at WWDC 2009 below.

Apple's Beats brand is partnering with Japanese graphic artist Verdy for a limited edition collectible art figure that doubles as a holder for the new Beats Pill speaker. The $500 hyper-limited drop includes a matte black Beats Pill and a cream-colored bear named Vear that holds the speaker between its paws.

Beats has a tradition of fun characters associated with the Beats Pill, including ad campaigns and speaker stands for previous models centered around the Beats Pill Characters or "Dudes" in various colors. Apple revived the Dudes for the launch of the updated Beats Pill this year, so the new Vear character fits right into that theme even though it won't be seeing a wide release.

Beats and Verdy also have a history of collaborations, most recently in 2023 for Beats Flex earphones themed around Verdy's Girls Don't Cry brand.

The Vear and Beats Pill bundle will be available to order this Friday, August 30, exclusively through Complex, with shipping following in two to three weeks.

Apple today provided developers with the third beta of iOS 18.1, and it adds Clean Up, a new Apple Intelligence tool created for the Photos app. With Clean Up, you can remove unwanted objects from your photos, but its performance is hit or miss right now.

When you tap into any of your photos and then tap on the edit button, you'll see a new "Clean Up" tool that has an eraser icon. Tap on that, and if there's something obvious that can be removed from the image, it'll be automatically highlighted.

You can tap on the highlighted object to remove it, and it works like magic. If there isn't something automatically highlighted, don't worry, you can circle or scribble on any object in the photo to use Clean Up on it.

With the automatically highlighted objects, Clean Up works well. Apple has already done all the work in the background to find depth information and to calculate the fill the object should be replaced with. When you're selecting your own objects, it can be a little more difficult to get a clean look.

Clean Up works best when there's a clear, uncluttered background behind the object that you want to remove, and the smaller the object the better. Trying to remove a whole person from the foreground of image (such as in a group shot) with a lot going on in the background doesn't work super well, but it's really more designed for small, unwanted objects in the background of images anyway.

You can go through multiple iterations of Clean Up to try to get it to look better, and to remove small areas, just zoom in and then circle.

Clean Up can't be used on Live Photos, and when you use Clean Up, it turns off ‌Live Photos‌. You can turn ‌Live Photos‌ back on, but then you lose the Clean Up edit. You also can't use Clean Up on videos, but it does work on all other kinds of images, including screenshots, old photos, and photos you didn't take with your iPhone.

For quick edits on an ‌iPhone‌, Clean Up works well. It's not on par with some other desktop tools at this time, but Apple will undoubtedly make improvements going forward. Also, when you use Clean Up, a note is added to the metadata that lets you know that an AI edit has been made, so people will be able to see that it's been modified.

All Clean Up edits are reversible, so if you want to get back to your original image, you can revert at any time.

Other New Features in iOS 18.1 Beta 3

Along with Cleanup, iOS 18.1 beta 3 adds a couple of other features. The notification summary feature that was previously working for Mail and Messages now works for all of your apps, so you can see summaries of both multiple incoming messages and single notifications, giving you more information at a glance.

Also, in the Messages app, you can now use third-party stickers in-line like emoji. This was a feature in prior betas, but it only worked with stickers from Apple apps and stickers you created from photos.

As a result of the first Apple Intelligence features being delayed, iOS 18 and iOS 18.1 are currently in beta testing simultaneously.

Below, we explain the differences between the two upcoming software updates, including new features and estimated release timing.

New Features

iOS 18.0

iOS 18 introduces new customization options for the Home Screen and Control Center, a redesigned Photos app, numerous enhancements to the Messages app, an option to lock apps behind Face ID or Touch ID, and much more.

The highlight of iOS 18 is Apple Intelligence, but the rollout of these artificial intelligence features was pushed back to iOS 18.1.

Read our in-depth iOS 18 roundup to learn more about the update.

iOS 18.1

The first iOS 18.1 developer beta added some Apple Intelligence features for testing, including new writing tools for generating and summarizing text, suggested replies in the Messages app, email summarization, phone call recording and transcribing, and a few others.

The third iOS 18.1 developer beta added a few more Apple Intelligence features, including a "Clean Up" tool in the Photos app that "can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo," and notification summaries for additional apps beyond Mail and Messages.

Apple Intelligence features that are still not available to try include Image Playground for custom-generated images, Genmoji for custom-generated emoji, and several enhancements to Siri, including ChatGPT integration, richer language understanding, deeper per-app controls, on-screen awareness, and personalized context.

Release Timing

iOS 18.0

iOS 18 will likely be released in mid-September, based on the timing of previous major releases:

• iOS 17: September 18, 2023
• iOS 16: September 12, 2022
• iOS 15: September 20, 2021
• iOS 14: September 16, 2020

iOS 18.1

iOS 18.1 will likely be released in late October, based on the timing of previous similar updates:

• iOS 17.1: October 25, 2023
• iOS 16.1: October 24, 2022
• iOS 15.1: October 25, 2021
• iOS 14.1: October 20, 2020

Latest Versions

As of August 28 at 12:55 p.m. Pacific Time, the latest iOS 18 and iOS 18.1 betas are as follows:

• iOS 18 Developer Beta 8
• iOS 18 Public Beta 5
• iOS 18.1 Developer Beta 3
• iOS 18.1 Public Beta not currently available

How to Install Betas

Developer Betas

iOS 18 and iOS 18.1 are both available as developer betas.

To enroll in Apple's developer beta program, visit developer.apple.com, sign in to your Apple ID, and accept the terms and conditions of the Apple Developer Agreement.

Since 2023, installing iOS developer betas no longer requires being enrolled in the Apple Developer Program for $99/year. Anyone with an Apple ID can accept the Apple Developer Agreement and access the betas for free.

After accepting the agreement, open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap General → Software Update → Beta Updates. This is where the iOS 18 and iOS 18.1 developer betas are listed, and you can tap on one to begin the installation process. Note that the iPhone must be signed in to the same Apple ID set up as a developer account.

Due to software bugs and other potential issues, we recommend installing the iOS 18 or iOS 18.1 betas on a secondary iPhone, rather than the device that you use daily. We also highly recommend backing up your iPhone to your Mac before installing beta software on the device, to prevent data loss in the event something goes wrong.

Step-by-step guide: How to Get the iOS 18 Developer Beta on Your iPhone

Public Betas

iOS 18 is available as a public beta, but iOS 18.1 is not currently.

To enroll in Apple's free public beta program, visit beta.apple.com, sign in to your Apple ID, and accept the terms and conditions.

After signing up, open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap General → Software Update → Beta Updates. This is where the iOS 18 public beta is listed, and you can tap on it to begin the installation process. Note that the iPhone must be signed in to the same Apple ID enrolled in the public beta program.

Due to software bugs and other potential issues, we recommend installing the iOS 18 public beta on a secondary iPhone, rather than the device that you use daily. We also highly recommend backing up your iPhone to your Mac before installing beta software on the device, to prevent data loss in the event something goes wrong.

Step-by-step guide: How to Install the iOS 18 Public Beta

Compatible iPhones

iOS 18 is compatible with the same iPhone models as iOS 17 is:

iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max

While the iOS 18.1 beta is currently limited to the iPhone 15 Pro models, the update should be released for all of the iPhones listed above eventually. However, Apple Intelligence features will remain exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro models and newer.

With the third beta of iOS 18.1, Apple has introduced new Apple Intelligence features for notifications. The notification summarization option that was previously available for the Mail and Messages apps now works with all of your apps.

After updating to the latest beta, there is an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ setup flow that walks through some of the new features and includes settings for the Summarize Notification Previews section.

During setup, you can opt to summarize all of your notification previews or choose which apps should use the summarization feature. After setup, these preferences can be tweaked in the Summarize Previews of the Settings app under the Notifications heading.

Notification summarization allows ‌Apple Intelligence‌ to glean key details from groups of notifications from an app, making them more succinct so you can see what's important at a glance. From the Settings app:

Summarize content in direct messages and groups of notifications making them more succinct and easier to read. Summary accuracy may vary based on content.

There are individual toggles to enable or disable summarization on a per-app basis, and it can also be entirely disabled for those who do not want to use the feature.

You will see notification summaries on the Lock Screen, and it is a feature that pairs well with the new Reduce Interruptions Focus Mode.

As with other ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features, notification summarization requires a device that can run ‌Apple Intelligence‌, aka the iPhone 15 Pro models or an iPad or Mac with an M-series chip. The functionality is limited to developers who have installed the third beta of iOS 18.1 at the current time, but ‌Apple Intelligence‌ will see a public release later this year.

Today's beta also adds the Clean Up object removal tool to the Photos app.

The third beta of iOS 18.1 that Apple provided to developers today includes a new Apple Intelligence feature for the Photos app. Clean Up can be used to remove distracting objects from the background of a photo while leaving the subject of the image intact.

The Clean Up tool in the ‌Photos‌ app is able to automatically detect objects in an image that might not be wanted, but users can also tap, circle, or brush over an unwanted object to remove it.

Zooming in on an image can help with using a finger as a brush to remove smaller blemishes and issues with an image, and it is intelligent enough not to remove part of a person even if a person or main subject is selected.

Clean Up works on all images in the ‌Photos‌ library, including older images and images captured by other devices like a point and shoot camera or a DSLR.

Apple says that Clean Up works using multiple machine learning models to detect distractions, determine the where the edges of an object are, and then fill in the area seamlessly to replace the unwanted object, even filling in the object's shadow or reflection.

The update also includes notification summaries for additional apps beyond Messages and Mail.

Apple today provided developers with the third betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 to continue testing Apple Intelligence features. The third betas come two weeks after Apple seeded the second iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.1 betas.

A device capable of supporting ‌Apple Intelligence‌ is required to download the updates, which includes the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, Apple silicon iPads, and Apple silicon Macs. The updates can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device, with developers able to choose between the standard iOS 18/iPadOS 18/‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15 betas or the .1 betas with ‌Apple Intelligence‌ functionality.

‌Apple Intelligence‌ includes Writing Tools that are available wherever text can be selected and edited, and it can be used for spell checking, fixing grammar, rewriting with a new tone, and summarizing text.

Siri has a new design with a subtle glow around the display, and there is a Type to ‌Siri‌ feature so you don't have to speak to ‌Siri‌. ‌Siri‌ can follow along if you stumble over your words, and can maintain context between requests. Safari can summarize articles, and there's a new Reduce Interruptions Focus Mode.

Smart replies are available in Messages and Mail, plus the Mail app surfaces time sensitive messages and puts them at the top of your inbox. Photos has a Memory Movie feature for creating slideshows based on text descriptions, and you can record, transcribe, and summarize phone calls. Transcription and summarization are also available for any audio recording.

More on all of the features that are available in the betas right now can be found in our Apple Intelligence guide. Image Playground, Genmoji, and other new ‌Siri‌ features have not yet been implemented.

Apple has split ‌Apple Intelligence‌ into a separate set of betas because these features will not be available in the initial launch versions of ‌iOS 18‌, ‌iPadOS 18‌, and ‌macOS Sequoia‌. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ will be available to the public later in the fall after a developer testing period.

Apple today seeded the eighth betas of upcoming iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the release of the seventh betas.

Registered developers are able to opt into the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the ‌‌iOS 18‌/‌iPadOS 18‌‌ Developer Beta setting. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta. The ‌iOS 18‌ and ‌iPadOS 18‌ beta track is now separate from the iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 beta track, with the .1 betas adding support for Apple Intelligence on devices that are able to run the features.

‌iOS 18‌ introduces ‌Apple Intelligence‌, a set of AI features that are built deeply into the operating system. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ won't be coming until later in the beta testing process, but it includes features for refining and editing writing, generating images and emoji, and most notably, improving Siri and search. ‌Siri‌ is gaining a better understanding of natural language, improved contextual awareness, and the personal assistant will integrate with ChatGPT to answer more complex queries.

‌Apple Intelligence‌ features are limited to the iPhone 15 Pro models and iPads with an M-series chip, but there are a number of other features that are coming. Apple is allowing users to rearrange Home screen apps to have open spaces, plus there's a dark mode for app icons and tinting options.

The Control Center is customizable and third-party developers can add controls for their apps, with the Lock Screen Flashlight and Camera icons able to be replaced or removed. Messages is gaining Rich Communication Services support to improve conversations with Android users, the option to schedule texts to be sent later, new text effects, messages over satellite when there's no cellular, and the option to use any emoji for Tapback responses.

There's a dedicated Passwords app for logins, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes, and there's now an option to lock and hide apps, which means they can't be opened without secondary Face ID or Touch ID authentication even when your phone is unlocked.

Safari has a highlights feature that summarizes articles and surfaces key information on websites, the Photos app interface has been overhauled, and there's a new Tap to Cash feature for privately and securely transferring money using Apple Cash. Other features include equation solving and voice memo transcription in Notes, a game mode for improving game performance, and an option to respond to ‌Siri‌ on AirPods with head gestures.

Apple will release ‌iOS 18‌ and ‌iPadOS 18‌ to the public this fall.

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of an upcoming macOS 15 Sequoia update to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the release of the seventh beta.

Registered developers can opt-in to the macOS Sequoia beta through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. An Apple ID associated with an Apple Developer account is required to get the beta.

‌macOS Sequoia‌ includes iPhone Mirroring, which allows you to control your locked ‌iPhone‌ from your Mac. You can open and use ‌iPhone‌ apps, interact with notifications, and drag and drop files between your ‌iPhone‌ and Mac and vice versa.

There are new options for window tiling, and dragging a window to the edge of the display will suggest a tiled location to make it easier to use multiple apps at once. Apple is adding a Passwords app for managing passwords, Safari can summarize websites, surface key information, and Notes has support for live audio transcription and math equations.

All of the Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18 will also be available in ‌macOS Sequoia‌, but Apple does not plan to add these until later in the beta testing process. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ includes Writing Tools for editing, proofreading, and summarizing text in apps, and an Image Playground allows for AI images to be created from prompts.

Custom emoji or "Genmoji" can be created for any situation and used just like emoji, and Siri is getting much smarter. ‌Siri‌ will be able to do more in apps and will better understand requests, especially those made in regard to on-screen content.

Apple today released the eighth beta of an upcoming visionOS 2 update to developers, with the beta coming a week after the seventh beta.

Registered developers are able to opt into the betas by opening up the Settings app on their device, going to the Software Update Section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the Developer Beta. Note that an Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.

‌visionOS 2‌ is able to take the depth information from 2D photos and turn them into 3D photos using advanced machine learning. Apple says that the feature is meant to add depth to photos to make memories more immersive.

There are new hand gestures for activating the Home View and Control Center, and the Home View is also now customizable with apps able to be rearranged. Travel Mode now includes support for trains, and Guest User profiles are now saved for 30 days so guests don't have to do the setup process every time they try out the headset.

Later in the year, Mac Virtual Display will support higher resolution and larger sized virtual displays, which Apple says will be equivalent to two 4K monitors side by side. With an AirPlay update, the Vision Pro can serve as an ‌AirPlay‌ receiver, so content from the iPhone, iPad, or Mac can be shared to the headset.

The Mindfulness app can track and respond to breathing patterns using the camera for an improved meditation experience, and the Vision Pro supports Bluetooth mice with ‌visionOS 2‌.

Apple today seeded the eighth beta of the upcoming tvOS 18 refresh to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming a week after the seventh beta came out.

Registered developers are able to download the tvOS 18 update by opting in to the beta through the Settings app on the Apple TV. A registered developer account is required.

tvOS 18 adds an InSight feature to the TV app, and it is able to provide real-time information about actors, music, and more in ‌Apple TV‌+ shows and music. Enhanced Dialogue has been refined with machine learning and computational audio so it is better able to boost vocal clarity over background noise and music, plus it is now available on built-in TV speakers, AirPods, and other Bluetooth devices.

Subtitles will now show up automatically when relevant, such as when the TV's volume is muted, a show or movie is rewound, or when the language of a show doesn't match the device language.

Other new features include 21:9 aspect ratio support for projectors, new screen savers and improved controls for swapping screen savers, and support for Live Captions during FaceTime calls through an iPhone or iPad.

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple recently started rolling out the ability for Hawaii residents to add a digital version of their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports, businesses, and venues.

Hawaii is the seventh U.S. state to support this feature so far, joining Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, and soon California.

To add a driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app, tap on the plus sign in the top-right corner, select Driver's License or State ID, and follow the on-screen steps. Hawaii is not yet showing up as an option for all iPhone users.

Apple first announced this feature in September 2021, but it has been slow to roll out, and the digital IDs can only be used at a very limited number of locations.

For example, the IDs can be used at select TSA checkpoints within select U.S. airports:

• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
• Denver International Airport (DEN)
• Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG)
• John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
• Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)

Apple says travelers should refer to TSA checkpoint signage to confirm availability of the feature, and the TSA's website offers more details.

Apple's website says that the digital IDs in the Wallet app can also be used to show proof of age or identity at "select bars, concerts, festivals, and more," but the company does not list any specific locations, and adoption is far from widespread.

In a press release earlier this month, Apple reiterated that iPhone users "do not need to unlock, show, or hand over their device to present their ID."

In 2022, Apple said the six additional states listed below would "soon" allow residents to add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app, but over two years have passed and none of these states support the feature yet.

Those six states:

• Connecticut
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Oklahoma
• Utah

Apple's website has a page with more details about the digital IDs.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To support this important cause, well-known podcast network Relay FM has launched its annual fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2019, the Relay FM community has raised nearly $3 million for the hospital.

St. Jude's mission statement is that no child is denied treatment:

The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay.

Relay FM has multiple Apple-related podcasts, such as Connected, hosted by Stephen Hackett, Myke Hurley, and Federico Viticci. Hackett's son received treatment at St. Jude as an infant, so this initiative is near and dear to him and his family.

Donations can be made on the Relay FM for St. Jude website, with rewards such as Relay FM stickers, wallpapers, and a macOS screensaver available above certain dollar amounts. The page outlines other ways you can get involved, such as starting your own fundraising campaign, and sharing the page also greatly helps.

Apple is planning to unveil its new iPhone 16 models in September, but Google decided to move its usual October smartphone announcement to August, beating Apple to new AI-powered devices. We picked up Google's new Pixel 9 Pro XL and thought we'd compare it to the iPhone 15 Pro Max since we don't have an ‌iPhone 16‌ to pit against it just yet.

Design wise, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has an iPhone look and feel, and Google has done a lot better matching software with a high-end smartphone design. The Pixel 9 Pro XL has a more premium design than prior Pixel models, and this is the first time that Google has done two "Pro" models like Apple. Google didn't use titanium and instead opted for stainless steel for the chassis, so the Pixel 9 Pro is bulkier and heavier than the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max.

Google has adopted a unique camera design for the Pixel series, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a camera bar with a triple-lens setup. There's a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens (with 5x zoom like the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max), and a 48-megapixel ultra wide lens, pixel binned to 12-megapixels.

That last camera is what we're expecting to see for the iPhone 16 Pro models, with Apple planning to adopt a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera that does better in low light. Right now, the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro models only have a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera. Pixel binning means that multiple pixels are combined to create a better image without a larger image size.

We're going to save a full camera comparison for when the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max launches, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL is taking incredible photos, which is to be expected from any premium smartphone these days.

All of the Pixel 9 smartphones have a whole host of AI features, some of which Apple can't yet match with Apple Intelligence. There's a "Reimagine" feature for adding AI objects into existing photos, which Apple has no plan to adopt. When the new Pixel phones first came out, reviewers were able to do things like add dead bodies, bombs, and blood into their images, but Google has shut that down. Google also tweaked its Pixel Studio image generation app to prevent people from using it to do things like create Nazi versions of Elmo.

Other image capabilities include "Add Me" for putting an extra person into an image (AI artifacts included), Video Boost for improving video content, and Zoom Enhance for digital zooming in further than the 5x optical zoom with enhanced clarity.

Google added Call Notes, which is essentially identical to the call recording option Apple introduced in the iOS 18.1 beta. You can record a phone call and get a transcription of what was said. The Pixel Weather app offers an AI roundup of local current and upcoming conditions, which is useful, and there's a surprisingly nice Screenshots app.

If you screenshot an article or a website, the Pixel 9 will remember where the screenshot came from and it can bring you back to that website later. It doesn't work within apps, unfortunately, but it's still nice to have.

With Gemini integrated into the Pixel 9 models instead of Google Assistant, you can have live conversations with an AI. It's definitely weird to have a chat with your phone, and that may be something that never really catches on. Plus it costs extra money because you'll need the premium version of Gemini. Overall, the Gemini integration is better with context and is more helpful than before, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to the revamped version of Siri that Apple is working on.

We'll come back to the Pixel 9 Pro XL later in 2024 and 2025 to see if Apple is able to match the feature set both with the ‌iPhone 16‌ models and with future ‌Apple Intelligence‌ capabilities.

Apple's annual iPhone event is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 9. Typically, this would suggest that iPhone 16 pre-orders would begin on Friday, September 13, but German blog Macerkopf this week claimed it heard that the pre-orders could instead begin on Thursday, September 12. The report did not elaborate on the source of this information, nor did it provide a reason for this potential change, so skepticism is warranted.

It is worth noting that Apple's annual iPhone event most often takes place on a Tuesday, but the upcoming event on September 9 will be the first-ever iPhone event to be held on a Monday. It is unclear if the event being held one day earlier than expected has any relation to pre-orders potentially starting one day earlier as well.

In any case, Apple will reveal when iPhone 16 pre-orders will actually begin during its event. Will it be a Thursday or a Friday? Place your bets.

iOS 18 overhauls the Control Center by letting you reorder, resize, and remove buttons, access a controls gallery, and add multiple screens, moving away from the single-screen layout of recent years. In this article we are going to show you how you can create dedicated pages for various control types, such as connectivity, HomeKit devices, and Accessibility options.

The new Control Center comes pre-configured with multiple default pages, which you can freely customize, add to, or remove. The system accommodates up to 15 separate screens, offering unprecedented flexibility when compared to previous versions of iOS.

Navigation between these pages is easy. You can swipe up and down through Control Center, tap small icons on the right side of the display, or hold and scrub through these icons for quick access. The following steps explain how to add additional pages to your Control Center.

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to launch Control Center.
2. Tap the circle icon at the bottom of the icon list, which indicates a new blank page.
3. Tap Add a Control to open the Controls Gallery.
4. Use the search field at the top, or browse the controls with a finger scroll to find the control that you want to include on the page, then tap it.
   
   

5. Using the corner anchor, drag with your finger to expand the control if you wish.
6. When finished, tap a space on the page to exit editing mode.
   
   

Control Center intelligently assigns icons to each page based on its content. When controls exceed the available space on a page, or if a resized control becomes too large, Control Center automatically creates a new page and relocates the excess controls. Bear in mind that the option to create a new page only appears when an existing page is approximately half full, ensuring adequate spacing between icons and maintaining a clean, organized layout.

• How to Install the Fifth iOS 18 Public Beta

‌iOS 18‌ and iPadOS 18 are currently in beta and expected to go on general release around mid-September.

Amazon today has all-time low prices across the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air lineup, starting at $1,049.00 for the 256GB model, down from $1,299.00. You can get this model on sale in all four colors: Silver, Midnight, Space Gray, and Starlight.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Additionally, Amazon is also discounting both 512GB models: the 8GB RAM/512GB computer is available for $1,249.00 and the 16GB RAM/512GB computer is available for $1,449.00. Both of these are matches for record low prices on each model, and they're both available in every color.

In regards to the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air, we aren't tracking any best-ever prices right now on Amazon, with the exception of the 16GB RAM/512GB computer at $1,249.00, down from $1,499.00. Otherwise, you'll find second-best prices across the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air lineup.

Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.