MacRumors

After announcing that some Apple Intelligence Siri features promised for iOS 18 will be delayed, Apple has tweaked the wording on its ‌iOS 18‌, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia webpages to remove mentions of the Siri capabilities that are being pushed back.

siri personal awareness change mac 1
There is a section called "The start of a new era for ‌Siri‌," that previously suggested ‌Siri‌ was more capable and helpful than ever thanks to personal context, a feature that is not yet available.

Now the wording has been updated to point out more expansive product knowledge instead, as this is a feature that Apple rolled out with iOS 18.2.

  • Before: With richer language understanding and awareness of your personal context, ‌Siri‌ is more capable and helpful than ever.
  • After: With richer language understanding and expansive product knowledge about your devices, ‌Siri‌ is more helpful than ever.

Apple has been highlighting unavailable ‌Siri‌ features since last June, both on its website and in ads, but with the ‌Siri‌ delay, Apple is cleaning up its wording to avoid misleading customers. Apple Intelligence features were a main selling point of the iPhone 16, but none of them were available when the ‌iPhone 16‌ models launched. Some capabilities came in iOS 18.1, iOS 18.2, and iOS 18.3, but not the ‌Siri‌ features that Apple has been demonstrating.

Apple tied the new ‌Siri‌ features to the ‌iPhone 16‌ models, leading to disappointment when it became clear the updated ‌Siri‌ will not be available in the near future. Earlier this week, Apple removed an iPhone 16 ad showing off a "more personal ‌Siri‌," so it is no surprise that the website wording is being updated as well.

Last week, Apple said that the more personalized ‌Siri‌ that is able to do more in and across apps is "taking us longer than we thought to deliver," with the capabilities set to start rolling out "in the coming year."

Apple planned to release ‌Siri‌ features that include personalized context, onscreen awareness, and deeper app integration with iOS 18.4, but when the first couple of iOS 18.4 betas came out with no new ‌Siri‌ functionality, it became clear that ‌Siri‌ was not ready. There was some speculation that Apple could bring the abilities to iOS 18.5, but it's now sounding like the smarter, more capable ‌Siri‌ that's been promised won't be introduced until iOS 19.

Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham today published his review of the new Mac Studio. In it, he confirmed that the Mac Studio with the M4 Max chip lacks High Power Mode for intensive workloads. He also tested the higher-end Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip, and he did not mention anything about High Power Mode for that model either.

High Power Mode Feature 2
Mac Studio review units are running macOS Sequoia 15.3, according to the Geekbench database. macOS Sequoia 15.4 is currently in beta testing, but it is unclear if that update will expand High Power Mode to the Mac Studio.

Apple says High Power Mode allows a Mac's fans to run at higher speeds, and this additional cooling allows the system to deliver higher performance for graphics-intensive sustained workloads, such as 8K video color grading. On supported Macs, the setting can be turned on when the computer is on battery power or plugged in.

High Power Mode is currently available on 14-inch MacBook Pro models with the M3 Max, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro or M1 Max through M4 Max chips, and on the Mac mini with the M4 Pro chip.

Given that High Power Mode is offered on MacBook Pro models with the M4 Max chip, it seems like Apple has made a deliberate choice to not offer it on the Mac Studio with the same chip. It could simply be that the Mac Studio is a large desktop computer, meaning that High Power Mode is not necessary due to the lack of battery life or thermal constraints to begin with. However, we have not confirmed Apple's actual reasoning behind this decision.

It might not matter much, regardless.

In his Mac mini review last year, Cunningham said High Power Mode performance gains were "essentially negligible," despite "considerably increased" fan noise. However, he acknowledged that his tests were short and that High Power Mode could be more beneficial "over many hours of activity." Apple says the feature is for "sustained" workloads.

High Power Mode can be enabled in the System Settings app under "Battery" or "Energy."

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.3.2, a minor update to the ‌macOS Sequoia‌ operating system that came out last September. macOS 15.3.2 comes a month after the launch of ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3.1.

sequoia
Mac users can download the ‌‌‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings.

According to Apple's release notes, ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3.2 includes important bug fixes and security updates, and it is recommended for all users.

Related Roundup: macOS Sequoia
Related Forum: macOS Sequoia

Apple today released iOS 18.3.2 and iPadOS 18.3.2, minor updates for the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.3.2 and iOS 18.3.2 come a month after Apple released iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1.

iOS 18
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

According to Apple's release notes, the iOS 18.3.2 update adds important bug fixes and security updates. On some devices, it fixes an issue that could prevent playback of some streaming content.

Apple is also working on iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, which are more significant updates that are set to come out in early April.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Apple today released tvOS 18.3.1, the newest version of the tvOS 18 operating system that came out in September. tvOS 18.3.1 comes almost two months after the release of tvOS 18.3, and it is only available for the third-generation Apple TV 4K. Other ‌Apple TV‌ models will not have an update available.

tvOS 18 Thumb 3
tvOS 18.3.1 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌‌Apple TV‌‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌‌Apple TV‌‌ owners who have automatic software updates activated will be upgraded to tvOS 18.3.1 automatically.

Apple shares full release notes for tvOS in its tvOS support document, which is updated after each new version of tvOS comes out. Today's update addresses an issue that could prevent playback of some streaming content on the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K.

Update: This article has been updated to note that the tvOS 18.3.1 software is only available for the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Apple today released visionOS 2.3.2, a minor update to the visionOS 2 operating system that came out in September. visionOS 2.3.2 comes a month after the launch of visionOS 2.3.1.

visionOS 2 on Apple Vision Pro Feature
visionOS 2.3.2 can be downloaded on all Vision Pro headsets by navigating to the Settings app, selecting the General section, and choosing the Software Update option.

To install an update, the Vision Pro headset needs to be removed, and there is a software progress bar available on the front EyeSight display.

According to Apple's release notes, visionOS 2.3.2 provides important bug fixes, security updates, and addresses an issue that may prevent playback of some streaming content.

More information on the Vision Pro and ‌visionOS 2‌ can be found in our roundup.

Related Roundup: visionOS 2
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Apple today seeded the third public betas of upcoming iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 updates, allowing public beta testers to try out the new features in the software ahead of its public launch. The public betas come a day after Apple provided the beta updates to developers.

iOS 18
Public beta testers can download the updates from the Settings app on each device after opting into the beta through Apple's public beta testing website.

The new software for iPhone and iPad includes Priority Notifications, an Apple Intelligence feature designed to show you your most important notifications first, plus it adds a new Sketch style for Image Playground on all ‌Apple Intelligence‌ devices.

There is a new Apple News+ Food section for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers that aggregates recipes, food stories, and tips for healthy eating, plus an Ambient Music feature for playing chill music from Control Center On the ‌iPad‌ and Mac, the new updates introduce Mail Categorization, a feature that was previously limited to the ‌iPhone‌.

In beta 2, Apple added new emoji characters and debuted the Vision Pro app for ‌iPhone‌. The update also brings Visual Intelligence to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

An outline of all of the new features in iOS 18.4 can be found in our iOS 18.4 features guide.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia

In recent years, Apple has often released new iPhone color options as a mid-product cycle refresh, but the chances of a similar announcement in 2025 are looking increasingly unlikely.

iphone 16 lineup colors
Apple has added new ‌iPhone‌ colors on six occasions in the past, consistently in either the March or April following an ‌iPhone‌'s launch:

  • iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: (PRODUCT)RED (Tuesday, March 21, 2017)
  • iPhone 8 and 8 Plus: (PRODUCT)RED (Monday, April 9, 2018)
  • iPhone 12 and 12 mini: Purple (Tuesday, April 20, 2021)
  • iPhone 13 and 13 mini: Green (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)
  • iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max: Alpine Green (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)
  • iPhone 14 and 14 Plus: Yellow (Tuesday, March 7, 2023)

The last two times Apple released new ‌iPhone‌ color options midway through the year, it did so on the second Tuesday in March—which falls today in 2025.

There are currently no rumors about new color options for the iPhone 16, and it's possible Apple could skip this year like it did for the ‌iPhone‌ XR, ‌iPhone‌ 11, and iPhone 15 in 2019, 2020, and 2024. That being said, Apple has released new colors many more times than it has chosen not to do so since 2017.

The ‌iPhone 16‌ is available in Black, White, Teal, Pink, and Ultramarine. A new red, yellow, purple, or grey seem possible since these have all been offered on ‌iPhone‌ models in the past and are not too similar to any of the existing shades.

Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, as well as a range of new iPads and Macs, we're swiftly approaching the latest likely period for Apple to announce a new color option. There are usually rumors that point to which new color to expect, but with no sign of this, it looks like Apple will probably skip this year's new color option just like it did for the ‌iPhone 15‌.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 16 (Neutral)

Intuit QuickBooks today announced Tap to Pay on iPhone for QuickBooks Online customers in the United States, allowing small and mid-market businesses to accept in-person contactless payments without additional hardware.

Apple Tap to Pay iPhone
The feature integrates with the QuickBooks mobile and GoPayment iOS apps, enabling businesses to receive payments using only an ‌iPhone‌. Customers can accept contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and other digital wallets without requiring external devices. Transactions processed through the feature are automatically categorized and reconciled within QuickBooks Online.

By providing a direct, integrated payment solution, Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ is intended to help small businesses receive payments faster, reducing delayed transactions and reliance on invoice processing. The feature also allows businesses to accept immediate payments on open invoices or generate new invoices at the point of sale.

Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ is available exclusively to U.S.-based QuickBooks Online customers with an active QuickBooks Payments plan. The rollout begins today, with wider availability expected in the coming weeks.

Apple today announced that six additional games are coming to its Apple Arcade subscription service throughout April, including the iconic simulation game RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE, The Game of Life 2, Sesame Street Mecha Builders, Space Invaders Infinity Gene Evolve, and puffies.

Apple Arcade RollerCoaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic comes to Apple Arcade on April 3 across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac:

Combining features from two of the series' most successful and beloved games, RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, this new game invites players to create and run amazing parks with the most outrageous rides imaginable. Enhanced for iPhone and iPad, RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic+ delivers the same depth of gameplay and unique graphical style of Chris Sawyer's original best-selling PC games. It also includes three expansion packs — Wacky Worlds, Time Twister, and Toolkit — and is playable across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The first original Katamari game in nearly eight years is also coming to Apple Arcade on April 3, across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

Apple Arcade Katamari
Here is how Apple describes that game:

In this quirky action game — an Apple Arcade exclusive — players expand their Katamari by rolling up objects scattered across the earth. Featuring unique and whimsical gameplay, and a captivating soundtrack that blends different genres, the game invites players to energize the king's "live stream" by rolling their Katamari to create stars. As users advance, comments from in-game fans appear, and the longer they play, the larger their audience grows. By completing the king's challenges and boosting their subscriber count, players can unlock dynamic new stages.

More details about all of the games can be found in Apple's announcement.

Accessible through the App Store, Apple Arcade is a subscription-based service that provides access to hundreds of games across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, all free of ads and in-app purchases. In the U.S., Apple Arcade costs $6.99 per month and is bundled with other Apple services in all Apple One plans.

We've been highlighting pre-order discounts on the new line of Apple products over the past few days, and today we're focusing on deals for the 11th generation iPad on Amazon. Prices start at $329.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi iPad, down from $349.00.

11th gen ipad purpleNote: 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.

This sale is available in Silver and Blue, and Amazon remains one of the only major retailers offering pre-order discounts on the new iPad. The iPad launches tomorrow, March 12, so this will be your last day to get these pre-order discounts, and Amazon provides an estimated delivery between March 18-20.



You can also get the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad for $429.00, down from $449.00, and the 512GB Wi-Fi iPad for $614.00, down from $649.00. We're not tracking any pre-order discounts on the cellular models of the 11th generation iPad right now.

The 11th generation iPad is mainly a spec bump for the tablet line, now featuring the A16 chip and more storage, with the same design as the 10th generation iPad. The new ‌iPad‌ starts with 128GB of storage, and is also available in 256GB and a new 512GB configuration. The previous model was only available in 64GB and 256GB configurations.

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.


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Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2025? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!

Related Roundup: Apple Deals

The new Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip launches tomorrow. Ahead of time, the first reviews of the device have been shared by select publications and YouTube channels.

Mac Studio Desk
This is the first ‌Mac Studio‌ refresh since the desktop computer was updated with M2 Max and ‌M2‌ Ultra chip options in June 2023. The overall design of the machine has not changed. The front of the computer has two Thunderbolt 5 or USB-C ports depending on the configuration, and an SD card slot, while the rear side has four Thunderbolt 5 ports, an HDMI port, a 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, a headphone jack, a power cord connector, and a power button.

With the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips, the ‌Mac Studio‌ catches up to other newer Macs by gaining hardware-accelerated ray tracing for the first time. It can also now be configured with up to 16TB of SSD storage, up from the previous model's 8TB maximum.

Highlights

M4 Max Chip

With Apple's latest chip technology, the M4 Max ‌Mac Studio‌ mode outpaces the M3 Ultra in single-core performance, despite being considerably cheaper. The Verge's Chris Welch:

It's important to note that there are objective benefits to choosing the M4 Max Mac Studio model. It outpaces the M3 Ultra in single-core performance, which is the most critical element in making most everyday apps feel "fast."

The M4 Max chip was already released last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. It can be configured with up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified RAM. Geekbench 6 benchmark results indicate that the M4 Max is up to 75% faster than the ‌M2‌ Max chip available in the previous-generation ‌Mac Studio‌.

M3 Ultra Chip

The all-new M3 Ultra chip features up to a 32-core CPU, with 24 performance cores and eight efficiency cores, and up to an 80-core GPU. Apple says the M3 Ultra chip is up to 1.5x faster than the previous ‌Mac Studio‌'s ‌M2‌ Ultra chip, which has up to a 24-core CPU. Graphics performance is up to 2x faster than the previous ‌Mac Studio‌ with the ‌M2‌ Ultra chip, which was available with up to a 72-core GPU. The M3 Ultra chip supports up to 512GB of unified RAM, whereas the ‌M2‌ Ultra maxed out at 192GB of unified RAM. The Verge's Chris Welch:

The M3 Ultra chip is overkill for many. If you need this level of power, you already know exactly how you'll get the most from it. It's for visual effects artists and animators. It's for professionals doing ambitious audio and video production work. Are you regularly crunching big medical datasets? Maybe you can use all those cores and memory to their fullest potential. And as AI development continues to flourish, the kitted out configurations with 256GB or 512GB of memory could prove appealing to anyone interested in running sophisticated LLM models locally on their machine.

arsTechnica's Andrew Cunningham:

It's the magnitude of Apple's generation-over-generation updates that makes this Studio refresh feel odd, though. The lower-end Studio gets an M4 Max processor like you'd expect—the same chip Apple sells in its high-end MacBook Pros but fit into a desktop enclosure instead of a laptop. But the top-end Studio gets an M3 Ultra instead of an M4 Ultra. That's still a huge increase in CPU and GPU cores (and there are other Ultra-specific benefits, too), but it makes the expensive Studio feel like less of a step up over the regular one.

Thunderbolt 5 and Improved External Display Support

Following in the footsteps of ‌MacBook Pro‌ and Mac mini models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, the ‌Mac Studio‌ now supports Thunderbolt 5. There are four Thunderbolt 5 ports on ‌Mac Studio‌ configurations with the M4 Max chip, and six Thunderbolt 5 ports on configurations with the M3 Ultra chip. Thunderbolt 5 provides up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds. Tom's Guide's Alex Wawro:

While the USB-C ports on our Mac Studio M4 Max are capable of transmitting up to 10 GBp/second, the Thunderbolt 5 ports are theoretically capable of achieving up to 120GBp/second in certain conditions. And in standard use Thunderbolt 5 is specced to offer double the bandwidth capacity of Thunderbolt 4 (80 Gbps vs. 40 Gbps), which means it can move more data faster than its predecessors.

The practical payoff is that you can use a higher number of more capable displays via Thunderbolt 5 than Thunderbolt 4, for example, our Mac Studio M4 Max is rated to support up to five external displays (4 @6K/60Hz via Thunderbolt 5, 1 @4K/144Hz via HDMI) while the upgraded M3 Ultra model can supposedly support up to eight (at 6K/60Hz or 4K/144Hz) at once.

Alternatively, our M4 Max review unit can support a single 8K/60Hz display while the M3 Ultra version can support up to four 8K/60Hz displays. So if you really want to be future-proofed against a potential 8K future, the new Mac Studio has you covered.

If I were considering buying one of these Macs in 2025, I'd be more excited about the potential to build the ultimate workstation by investing in a great Thunderbolt 5 dock, along with a good display (honestly, I can live without Thunderbolt 5 speeds for my display needs) and a great Thunderbolt 5 external SSD for moving big files around fast.

And frankly, Thunderbolt 5 gear is still pretty sparse on the market despite the fact that the standard debuted in 2023. While you can buy 8K displays and 8K TVs right now, the fact is that 8K content only started arriving in small doses in 2023, and it's still very rare in Mac apps and streaming services.

So while it's great to get Thunderbolt 5 ports on the most powerful Mac desktop for the first time, it's not a great reason to upgrade unless you're really excited about investing in a lot of Thunderbolt 5 accessories.

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The new ‌Mac Studio‌ is available to pre-order now, and it will launch on Wednesday, March 12. In the U.S., pricing continues to start at $1,999 for configurations with an M4 Max chip, and at $3,999 for configurations with an M3 Ultra chip.

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

The new MacBook Air with the M4 chip launches this Wednesday. Ahead of time, the first reviews of the laptop have been shared by selected publications and YouTube channels, offering a closer look at new features and changes.

Apple MacBook Air hero
While it is a minor spec-bump year for the MacBook Air, the new model does offer a few upgrades beyond the M4 chip. There is an improved 12-megapixel camera with support for Center Stage, support for two external displays even when the MacBook Air's lid is open, Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a new Sky Blue color option. And in the U.S., the latest-generation 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $999, down from $1,099 previously.

Since the M4 chip existed prior to the new MacBook Air, we already know that it offers up to 30% faster multi-core CPU performance compared to the M3 chip in the previous model. Geekbench 6 results for the new MacBook Air already confirmed this 30% performance increase, before Apple's review embargo lifted.

Highlights

Center Stage Camera

Engadget's Devindra Hardawar said the Center Stage camera offers a small but noticeable quality-of-life improvement during video calls:

The leap to a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera isn't exactly Earth-shattering, but I appreciated having a slightly better picture during video calls. I typically turn off the actual Center Stage feature on Macs, but I'm sure some will appreciate its ability to track you around a room. The new camera also supports Desk View, which projects a slightly skewed view of the area directly in front of the MacBook Air.

$999 Value

Jason Snell of Six Colors said it is "generous" for Apple to offer 16GB of RAM in the MacBook Air at the base $999 price point:

That's why perhaps the most important change in the M4 MacBook Air is its base configuration, which starts at $999. When Apple introduced a winning new flat-with-rounded-corners Air design in 2022, it had to keep selling older models in order to get down under a thousand dollars. Three years later, Apple is finally able to sell a brand-new Air—with a generous 16GB of unified memory—at that important price.

Sky Blue

Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham likes Sky Blue, but he wishes the color was more saturated:

The laptop comes in four finishes—the traditional silver, the gold-ish Starlight, Midnight (still a bit smudge-prone), and a new Sky Blue option that replaces Space Gray. I like Sky Blue, and it's probably my favorite of the three light-colored options, though I do wish it was more saturated. It's similar in hue to the blue finish Microsoft offers for its Surface devices, but I prefer Microsoft's version because it's more noticeably blue.

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Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

When Apple released the second macOS 15.4 beta earlier this month, the company apparently made a change that means System Settings no longer shows how much local storage space Apple Intelligence features are taking up on a Mac.

apple intelligence storage settings
In macOS Sequoia 15.3.1, users with a Mac powered by Apple silicon can easily discover how much space any installed Apple Intelligence features are taking up on their drive by going to System Settings ➝ General ➝ Storage, and then clicking the circled "i" button next to macOS.

That hasn't been the case since the beta 2 release of Apple's upcoming macOS Sequoia 15.4 update. As spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris, when users click the "i" button, no further details are now given to explain the amount of storage that macOS is taking up locally.

However, it turns out that if the user has System Integrity Protection (SIP) disabled, System Settings reliably displays the information again. For those unfamiliar, SIP protects the entire system by preventing the execution of unauthorized code, and can only be disabled by entering Recovery Mode. The ability to disable SIP is useful for developers testing apps, but it is generally not recommended for most users.

According to iOS developer @b3lla_dev, Apple has made the Apple Intelligence assets unable to view unless SIP is disabled. This is apparently having a knock-on effect that makes the System Settings app unable to retrieve the file size of said assets.

Apple Intelligence utilizes something called the MobileAsset framework to manage and deliver its machine learning models and related assets to Apple devices. This framework dynamically downloads and updates the necessary components, ensuring that devices have access to the latest capabilities without requiring comprehensive system updates. According to Apple's support page, the assets for Apple Intelligence require up to 7GB of storage space on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

When storage is tight, 7GB is a significant amount that is bound to influence users when it comes to deciding whether to enable Apple Intelligence or not. It's not clear if this was a factor in Apple's decision to effectively hide the storage space that its suite of AI features eats up locally, but users will come to their own conclusions.

Perris has submitted a feedback report to Apple to notify them about the change, which persists in the latest beta 3, so we'll have to wait and see what action Apple takes, if any. Apple plans to release macOS Sequoia 15.4 in early April.

Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 in early April, and when it does, users with HomeKit devices still running on the old Home app architecture may be forced to upgrade them to the latest software.

homekit showdown redux
Apple has offered users the option to upgrade to new Home architecture since March 2023 when it released iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, and macOS Ventura 13.3. At the time, Apple said the new architecture brings faster, more reliable performance, especially for smart homes with a lot of smart accessories installed.

However, not all users were entirely convinced of its stability, mainly because it was actually the return of the update's availability after Apple temporarily pulled it in December 2022. Apple's decision came after reports of HomeKit devices becoming stuck in an "updating" or "configuring" status, devices going missing entirely, invitations to share the Home with other users failing, HomeKit Secure Video recording not working, and more.

Apart from the above issues, many users opted not to install the update because the new architecture breaks support for the Home app on devices running older versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. However, code in iOS 18.4 beta 3 unearthed by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris suggests Apple is going to end support for the original HomeKit architecture. Code strings include the warning "Support for your current version of Apple Home will end soon. Update now to avoid interruptions with your accessories and automations."

It's not clear if the policy will immediately come into effect when iOS 18.4 is officially released next month, but the existence of the code strings is telling, suggesting that iOS 19 almost certainly won't support the old HomeKit architecture when it arrives in September.

Bluesky has released an update that makes it possible for users to post longer videos to the social media platform and X (Twitter) rival. Version 1.99 of the app triples the maximum video length from 60 seconds to three minutes, addressing one of users' most frequent requests.

bluesky logo
As shared in a Bluesky post, the platform has also introduced a new DM filtering system that helps manage messages from unfamiliar accounts. The "Chat Requests" feature creates a separate inbox for communications from users you don't follow, allowing you to approve or reject conversations before they appear in your main inbox.

Account muting has been simplified, too. Users can now mute directly from a post by accessing the three-dot menu, rather than needing to visit the user's profile first. Other improvements include enhanced reporting tools for content moderation and an optimized web layout for tablet users.

Currently, Bluesky reports over 32 million active users. While still trailing Meta's Threads in total users, the platform continues to gain popularity as an alternative to X. The update is available now on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone users running iOS 15.1 or later.

Tag: Bluesky

It is looking more and more likely that iOS will be receiving a significant redesign this year — perhaps the biggest since iOS 7.

iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements
It has now been rumored by three separate sources that the iPhone's software platform will eventually look more like the Apple Vision Pro's operating system, visionOS. The changes are expected to be introduced with iOS 19, which should be available in beta starting in June, and released to the general public in September.

Israeli website The Verifier was first to report about the potential visionOS-like redesign, but it said the changes were coming in iOS 18. It is possible that this report was accurate about the details, but wrong about the timeframe.

visionOS design
Then, earlier this year, Jon Prosser claimed that iOS 19 will feature a redesigned Camera app. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel Front Page Tech, he shared renders of the app's alleged new design, revealing translucent menus and other visionOS-like elements. He speculated that the changes could extend to the Home Screen and beyond.

iOS 19 Alleged Camera App Render
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today corroborated the visionOS-like redesign rumor in a report about Apple's software plans.

Here is what he said, with emphasis added:

The revamp — due later this year — will fundamentally change the look of the operating systems and make Apple's various software platforms more consistent, according to people familiar with the effort. That includes updating the style of icons, menus, apps, windows and system buttons.

As part of the push, the company is working to simplify the way users navigate and control their devices, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project hasn't been announced. The design is loosely based on the Vision Pro's software, they said.

He said the changes are coming to the iPhone with iOS 19:

The changes are coming as part of iOS 19 and iPadOS 19 — code-named "Luck" — and macOS 16, which is dubbed "Cheer."

A big unanswered question: Will the iPhone have circular app icons on iOS 19, rather than squircle ones? Gurman acknowledged that visionOS has circular app icons, but he stopped short of saying if they will come to iOS.

At a minimum, you can expect iOS 19 to have a more simplified and translucent appearance, if these rumors are true.

Apple is expected to announce iOS 19 at WWDC 2025 in June.

Related Roundup: iOS 19

New MacBook Air and Mac Studio users who are expecting one of the machines later this week will need to install a day one software update to upgrade to the latest version of macOS Sequoia.

macOS Sequoia Night Feature
The M4 ‌MacBook Air‌ and M4 Max and M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ models will come with older versions of macOS installed. The ‌MacBook Air‌ models appear to ship with ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.2, while the ‌Mac Studio‌ models have ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3 installed.

Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.3.1 back on February 10, but the ‌Mac Studio‌ and ‌MacBook Air‌ were clearly prepared for launch before that update came out. macOS 15.3.1 is not available for the new machines just yet, but Apple is likely to release a new 24D2072 variant for the upcoming Macs ahead of their launch date.

Pre-orders for the M4 ‌MacBook Air‌, M4 Max ‌Mac Studio‌, and M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ began last week, and the first shipments are set to arrive to customers on Wednesday, March 12.