MacRumors

Meta today announced that it is adding several new web features to the Threads social network, as well as officially relocating the website to a new domain. Threads is migrating from Threads.net to Threads.com, and Threads.com will be the new default domain name.

When Threads launched in 2023, Meta did not own Threads.com, so it was located at Threads.net. Meta acquired Threads.com in September 2024, and since then, the Threads.com domain forwarded to Threads.net. Going forward, users who type Threads.net into a browser window will be forwarded to Threads.com.

To accompany the name change, Threads on the web is getting several interface updates to make browsing through posts on the social network easier.

• When using a single column view, custom feeds will be shown on the top of the web page in the same order they appear in mobile.
• Liked and saved posts can be accessed through the main menu icon.
• A column can be added by clicking on the column icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
• A Threads post can be copied as an image instead of being captured in a screenshot, which allows posts to be shared on Instagram and other social networks.
• Clicking the "+" button at the bottom of the screen shows a pop up composer that follows your cursor as you scroll through feeds.

Meta is also testing a feature that allows users to upload the list of people they follow on other apps to Threads, starting with X.

Meta says that it plans to continue to provide updates to the Threads web experience, with more web updates coming in the near future.

Netflix today announced that it is introducing a new subtitle option that only shows subtitles for spoken dialogue, aimed at those who don't need captions, but prefer to watch movies and TV shows with the subtitles turned on.

According to Netflix, nearly half of all viewing hours on the streaming service in the U.S. happen with the subtitles or captions on, which is why it is debuting the new setting.

The new option will show subtitles for dialogue, but no audio cues such as [phone buzzing], [door slams], or [fireplace crackling], which are normally shown when closed captioning is turned on. Netflix says the option will be available on new titles that are coming to Netflix, starting with the final season of YOU that launched today.

The dialogue-only subtitle setting can be selected by opening up the language picker when watching a Netflix show and choosing the "English" option. "English CC" will have both dialogue and audio cues as normal.

Going forward, dialogue-only subtitles will be available for all new Netflix originals in every language that Netflix offers in addition to the SDH and CC options.

Apple is removing another project from AI chief John Giannandrea, and he will no longer oversee Apple's secret robotics division, according to Bloomberg.

After Apple failed to deliver promised Apple Intelligence Siri features on time under Giannandrea's leadership, Apple asked Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell to oversee the ‌Siri‌ team and future ‌Siri‌ development instead.

Now the robotics team will make a similar move, transitioning to the hardware division where robotics development will be overseen by Apple senior vice president John Ternus instead of Giannandrea. Giannandrea continues to head up Apple's AI and machine learning efforts, and changing the robotics team leadership will give his team more time to focus on new artificial intelligence features. Giannandrea has hundreds fewer engineers to manage, and the shift is a clear indication that Apple leadership does not feel that he can lead multiple teams.

Apple is making major management changes in order to further prioritize ‌Apple Intelligence‌, as it needs to catch up with Google, OpenAI, Perplexity, and other AI companies that are leagues ahead in AI development.

Kevin Lynch, who oversaw the development of the Apple Watch and Apple's now-canceled car, is leading the robotics team. Apple has several robotics projects in the works, and a tabletop robot with an arm that can move around an iPad-style display could be the first device to come from the robot team. Apple is also planning for a more mobile robot that would be more like an iPad on wheels able to carry out simple tasks, place calls, and answer queries.

Ternus is a top Apple exec and he has worked on some of Apple's biggest products, overseeing the hardware engineering of the iPhone, ‌iPad‌, Mac, and other devices. He already oversees another hardware engineering team working on robotics and smart home technologies, and Bloomberg suggests that Apple's move to merge the two robotics teams could indicate that Apple is ramping up robot development.

With the launch of iOS 18.4, Apple introduced a new App Store feature that summarizes multiple user reviews to provide an at-a-glance summary of what people think of an app or a game. In a new blog post on its Machine Learning Research blog, Apple provides some detail on how ‌App Store‌ review summaries work.

Apple is using a multi-step large language model (LLM) system to generate the summaries, with the aim of creating overviews that are inclusive, balanced, and accurately reflect the user's voice. Apple says that it prioritizes "safety, fairness, truthfulness, and helpfulness" in its summaries, while outlining some of the challenges in aggregating ‌App Store‌ reviews.

With new app releases, features, and bug fixes, reviews can change, so Apple's summarizations have to dynamically adapt to stay relevant, while also being able to aggregate both short and long reviews. Some reviews also include off-topic comments or noise, which the LLM needs to filter out.

To begin with, Apple's LLM ignores reviews that have spam, profanity, or fraud. Remaining reviews are then processed through a sequence of LLM-powered modules that extract key insights from each review, aggregating themes that reoccur, balancing positive and negative takes, and then generating a summary that's around 100 to 300 characters in length.

Apple uses specially trained LLMs for each step in the process, ensuring that the summaries are an accurate reflection of user sentiment. During the development of the feature, thousands of summaries were reviewed by human raters to assess factors like helpfulness, composition, and safety.

Apple's full blog post goes into more detail on each step of the summary generation process, and it is worth checking out for those who are interested in the way that Apple is approaching LLMs.

When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.

This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management, and the addition of a macOS-like menu bar would certainly align with that overall plan.

In a blog post today, the leaker also claimed that iPadOS 19 will enhance Stage Manager, the feature that lets you use multiple apps at once on an external display. The leaker said that Stage Manager will work more seamlessly, but they did not provide any specific details about the alleged improvements. They also said that iOS 19 will enable at least a basic version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.

The first beta of iPadOS 19 should be available after the WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9, but some new features are not enabled until later betas.

Majin Bu has a mixed track record with Apple rumors, with some hits and some misses.

A leaker known as Majin Bu today claimed that iOS 19 will enable support for at least a limited version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.

In a blog post citing sources, the leaker said that when an iPhone with a USB-C port is connected to an external display, users will be able to take advantage of a Stage Manager-like interface with multiple apps open at once on the screen. However, he said that there might be more limitations compared to Stage Manager on iPads.

iPhone models with a USB-C port include all iPhone 15 models and newer.

iPhones with both Lightning and USB-C ports can already be connected to external displays, but only for basic screen mirroring.

The first developer beta of iOS 19 should be available immediately after the WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9, and the software update is expected to be released to the general public in September. It is unclear if Stage Manager support on USB-C iPhones would be available in the first beta, or enabled later in the iOS 19 software cycle.

Samsung offers a similar feature called DeX on its Galaxy smartphones.

Majin Bu has a mixed track record with Apple rumors, with some hits and some misses. They were one of the sources who accurately claimed that the device succeeding the iPhone SE would be named the iPhone 16e, but they also inaccurately claimed that the device would have a Dynamic Island instead of a notch. They also accurately leaked the redesigned Milanese Loop for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, the Desert Titanium color name for iPhone 16 Pro models, several iPhone cases, and much more.

Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last.

The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical counterpart to that digital award.

To receive the pin, simply visit an Apple Store and ask an employee about it. We were able to receive the pin without having our Activity rings closed yet today, so that does not appear to be a requirement, but your mileage may vary.

Given that Apple says the pin is only available while supplies last, keep in mind that some stores might already be out of them.

Here is what Apple said about the pin in a press release:

To celebrate Global Close Your Rings Day, customers can obtain a special pin inspired by the award. Customers can pick up a pin at Apple Store locations worldwide starting April 24, while supplies last.

The original Apple Watch launched 10 years ago today, on April 24, 2015, so the pin is a tiny momento of the anniversary.

Here is what Apple Watch chief Jeff Williams said about the 10-year anniversary:

Apple Watch has changed the way people think about, monitor, and engage with their fitness and health. A decade ago, we introduced Activity rings — and since then, Apple Watch has grown to offer an extensive set of features designed to empower every user. People write to us almost every day sharing how Apple Watch has made a difference in their life, from motivating them to move more throughout the day, to changing the trajectory of their health.

If you received the pin, feel free to share a photo in our forums.

Apple today shared a new ad that highlights a key advantage that iPhone 16 models have over Android smartphones: the Ceramic Shield.

Apple says the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max displays are all protected by the latest-generation Ceramic Shield material, which is advertised as being "2x tougher than glass on any other smartphone."

In the new "Trust Issues" ad, a father hands his iPhone to a stranger and asks them to take a photo of his family at a carnival. Unfortunately, the stranger drops the iPhone, leading to a moment of suspense given the device might have been damaged. However, the display glass remains intact due to the Ceramic Shield.

"Relax, it's iPhone 16," the video description concludes.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Apple introduced the Ceramic Shield on all iPhone 12 models, and it has continued to improve the glass-ceramic material's formulation over the years.

While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device.

Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a single speaker, and an A19 chip instead of a more powerful A19 Pro chip.

While there have been some concerns that the iPhone 17 Air's thin design could result in limited battery life, the device might end up beating expectations. There are three rumored features for the iPhone 17 Air that could contribute to longer battery life than one might imagine, including a higher-density battery, Apple's power-efficient C1 modem, and the lack of an Ultra Wide camera providing more internal space for a larger battery.

Below, we recap 16 key rumors for the iPhone 17 Air as of April 2025:

• The thinnest iPhone ever, measuring just 5.5mm at its thinnest point, but possibly up to 9.5mm with the rear camera bump included
• 6.6-inch OLED display with Face ID and a Dynamic Island
• ProMotion support for up to a 120Hz refresh rate
• A19 chip instead of A19 Pro chip
• A single 48-megapixel rear camera on an all-new elongated camera bar
• A 24-megapixel front camera
• A single speaker in the earpiece, no bottom speaker
• Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip
• Apple-designed C1 modem for cellular connectivity
• eSIM only, no physical SIM card slot worldwide
• USB-C port
• High-density battery
• Camera Control button
• Action button
• MagSafe
• Newly reported today: 12GB of RAM, exceeding the minimum for Apple Intelligence

Bookmark our iPhone 17 Air roundup to stay up to date with more rumors in the coming months.

The rumored ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model will be equipped with 12GB of RAM, according to the latest word from Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a blog post today, the well-known Apple supply chain analyst said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM. He previously only expected the iPhone 17 Pro Max to have 12GB of RAM, so this is good news for customers who will be purchasing the other models.

Kuo said even the base-model iPhone 17 might be equipped with 12GB of RAM, but only if supply chain shortages can be overcome. He said that Apple will make a final decision on the amount of RAM it will offer in this device by May.

All of the models in the iPhone 16 lineup are equipped with 8GB of RAM, so the jump to 12GB would be a significant increase. Increased RAM can contribute to improved performance for Apple Intelligence and multitasking.

Even if the base-model iPhone 17 sticks with 8GB of RAM, Kuo said he expects all models in the iPhone 18 lineup to have 12GB of RAM.

Kuo said the increased RAM will primarily benefit Apple suppliers Micron and SK Hynix.

Apple should announce the iPhone 17 series in September.

Amazon is discounting the 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE to $169.97 today, down from $249.00. This is just a few cents away from the best price we've tracked so far in 2025, and it's available in Starlight, Silver, and Midnight Aluminum color options.

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

Amazon has four 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE at this price, including multiple sizes of the Sport Band model. Most are in stock and available to be delivered by the end of April.

Additionally, you can get the 44mm GPS Apple Watch SE at the low price of $199.97 today on Amazon, down from $279.00. This one is available in Midnight and Starlight Aluminum colors, and in both Sport Loop and Sport Band options.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

---

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the original Apple Watch launching in the United States and eight other countries around the world.

The original Apple Watch launched in stores and began arriving to customers on April 24, 2015, after being announced in September 2014.

"Apple Watch begins a new chapter in the way we relate to technology and we think our customers are going to love it," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a press release announcing availability of the device. "We can't wait for people to start wearing Apple Watch to easily access information that matters, to interact with the world, and to live a better day by being more aware of their daily activity than ever before," he added.

"Apple Watch merges hardware and software like never before," said Apple's former design chief, Jony Ive, in the same press release.

Impressively, the Apple Watch has helped to save countless lives over the past decade, thanks to health and safety features like heart rate measuring, the ECG app, fall detection, sleep apnea notifications, Emergency SOS, crash detection, and more. These features have alerted many people to conditions like atrial fibrillation, sleep apnea, and even cancer, allowing them to seek medical attention earlier than they would have otherwise.

In several interviews over the years, Cook has said that Apple's greatest contribution to the world will be in the health space, and the Apple Watch is a testament to that. Over the next decade, we can expect even more health features on the Apple Watch, such as blood pressure measuring and potentially even non-invasive blood glucose monitoring.

It is not marketing hype to say that the Apple Watch has made a profound impact on humankind, and it is exciting to think about what the next decade holds.

Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports.

The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of so-called "gatekeeper" companies. According to the Commission, Apple violated the DMA by restricting developers from informing users about alternative payment options outside the App Store and by preventing the distribution of iOS apps through competing app marketplaces.

Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson for the White House condemned the EU's actions, signaling growing transatlantic tensions over regulation of U.S. technology firms:

This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States. Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation, and enable censorship will be recognized as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society.

Apple said it plans to appeal the decision. The company called it "another example of the commission unfairly targeting the company" with actions that are "bad for the privacy and security of our users." The penalties represent approximately 0.1% of each company's annual revenue, which is significantly below the potential maximum fine of 10% allowed under the DMA.

The ruling comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between the EU and the U.S., which could potentially add another layer of complexity to transatlantic tech regulations.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

New data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests Apple's iPhone 16e is off to a strong start, capturing 7% of U.S. iPhone sales in its first partial quarter of availability. The new mid-range offering outperformed the iPhone SE's share from the same quarter last year.

The entire iPhone 16 lineup, now consisting of five models with the addition of the 16e, accounted for 74% of total U.S. iPhone sales in the March 2025 quarter. It's a marked increase from the 68% share held by the four iPhone 15 models during the same period in 2024.

While the 16e drove much of this growth, CIRP's data shows some surprising shifts across the lineup. The standard iPhone 16 saw a decent boost, climbing to 20% of sales compared to just 14% for the iPhone 15 in the previous year's quarter.

Meanwhile, Apple's high-end models had an unexpected decline. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max together accounted for 38% of iPhone sales, down from 45% for the iPhone 15 Pro models a year earlier. The iPhone 16 Pro specifically dropped from 22% to 17% market share.

The numbers suggest Apple's strengthening of its mid-range offerings may be working overall, with more buyers choosing the standard iPhone 16 over the pricier Pro models. At the same time, the 16e appears to be wooing customers who previously might have opted for older models.

Legacy iPhones – defined as models more than a year old – fell to 26% of U.S. sales, down from 32% the year before. The decline coincides with Apple's streamlining of its iPhone lineup, which included discontinuing the iPhone SE and the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus during the quarter.

Apple chipmaker TSMC at the North America Technology Symposium has teased its next-generation A14 process node that will enter planned production in 2028.

The cutting-edge A14 node will allow for highly advanced 1.4nm chips that are likely to be utilized for future generations of Apple silicon. Compared to TSMC's N2 node, A14 promises up to 15% faster performance at the same power or up to 30% power savings at the same performance. A14 also boasts over 20% logic density improvement.

TSMC said it is also evolving its TSMC NanoFlex standard cell architecture to NanoFlex Pro, enabling greater performance, power efficiency, and design flexibility. From the company's press release:

"Our customers constantly look to the future, and TSMC's technology leadership and manufacturing excellence provides them with a dependable roadmap for their innovations," said TSMC Chairman and CEO Dr. C.C. Wei. "TSMC's cutting-edge logic technologies like A14 are part of a comprehensive suite of solutions that connect the physical and digital worlds to unleash our customers' innovation for advancing the AI future."

It's not known which of TSMC's clients will stand to benefit first from the new 1.4nm chips, but given the close partnership between the company and Apple, it's a good bet that the latter will be at the front of the queue to place orders.

TSMC's industry-leading 2nm process is set to enter volume production later this year. Apple is not expected to introduce devices using TSMC's 2nm (N2) process node until 2026, suggesting that the iPhone 18 series will be first to adopt the technology in Apple's A20 chip.

Both the iPhone 17 and the upcoming M5 chip for Macs and iPads are expected to continue to utilize TSMC's 3nm process, specifically the third-generation N3P node. This decision is primarily due to the high costs and limited production capacity associated with the 2nm process at this time.

Perplexity has updated its iOS app with a new Voice Assistant feature, bringing conversational AI capabilities to Apple devices, including older iPhones and iPads that don't support Apple Intelligence. The update allows iPhone users to interact with Perplexity's AI assistant through voice commands even when navigating away from the app.

The Voice Assistant can perform various tasks such as the following, given the requisite user permissions:

• Drafting and sending emails
• Sending messages and making calls
• Controlling smart home devices
• Providing Apple Maps directions and traffic updates
• Setting reminders
• Booking Ubers
• Scheduling and editing Calendar events
• Playing Podcasts, including search and subscribe
• Playing music and videos
• Answering general knowledge questions
• Making reservations via booking sites

Voice Assistant can browse the web and perform multi-app actions to complete these functions directly from the Perplexity iOS app.

The update includes a shortcut for Voice Assistant that can be added to the Lock Screen or assigned to an iPhone's Action button, making Perplexity a viable substitute for some of Apple Intelligence's delayed conversational AI enhancements for Siri, which are still likely months away from release.

Perplexity leverages the power of large language models like OpenAI's GPT-4.1, Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and xAi's Grok-2. The iOS app currently lacks the screen sharing capability found in the Android version of Perplexity, where the assistant can see and interact with content on the user's screen. Perplexity syncs across devices and is a free download with in-app subscriptions from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple is testing an iOS 18.5 update with developers and public beta testers, and we've had three betas so far. There aren't any notable changes so far, but the update will still bring important bug fixes and security improvements. So when can we expect it?

Based on historical release timelines for x.5 updates, iOS 18.5 and its sister updates are likely to launch in May. Here's when we saw updates in prior years:

• iOS 17.5 - May 13
• iOS 16.5 - May 18
• iOS 15.5 - May 16
• iOS 14.5 - April 26
• iOS 13.5 - May 20

Many of Apple's x.5 updates are released around the middle of the month, so the week of May 12 is a solid guess, though the week of May 19 is also a possibility.

Though we've only had three betas so far, there are so few new features in iOS 18.5 that we probably won't need too many more betas for it to be ready to launch.

Apple's x.5 updates have historically had fewer features than earlier releases, because Apple is often already transitioning much of its new development to the next-generation version of iOS. We're just a couple of months way from when iOS 19 will be introduced at WWDC, so Apple is working to get it ready to go.

iOS 18.5 won't be the last update to iOS 18, and we'll likely see at least one more major point update before iOS 19 rolls out this fall.

Following in the footsteps of Netflix and Disney+, streaming service Max is starting to crack down on password sharing between multiple households.

Max this week debuted a new Extra Member Add-On feature, which is designed to allow users to pay a fee to share a Max subscription with someone who does not live in the same home. Extra Member Add-On is priced at $7.99 per month, on top of the base subscription price. Max with ads is $9.99 per month, while the Standard plan is $16.99 per month and the Premium plan with 4K streaming is $20.99 per month.

Extra members are provided with their own account, password, and single profile, and add-on members can only watch Max on one device at a time. Max subscribers are only able to add one additional member to an account.

Only those who subscribe to Max through WarnerMedia are able to access the Extra Member Add-On feature, and it is not available to those who have the Disney+, Hulu and Max bundle, or those who subscribe through third-party providers like app stores and TV providers.

$7.99 per month for the Extra Member Add-On is only $2 cheaper than an ad-supported plan, but the Extra Member feature has the benefit of sharing the plan of the main subscriber. So if the main subscription is the 4K Premium plan, the Extra Member can access 4K streaming and other Premium benefits for the $7.99 price.

Max will likely prohibit password sharing between multiple households in the near future, and will prompt users who attempt to use an account from more than one location to sign up for the Extra Member feature or to pay for a separate subscription.