MacRumors

An estimated 1 in 3 Americans are exposed to harmful levels of noise on a regular basis, based on data gathered as part of the Apple Hearing Study. In recognition of International Noise Awareness Day, University of Michigan researchers working on the hearing study in partnership with Apple shared a blog post noise exposure.

Extrapolating data collected from 130,000 Apple Hearing Study volunteers who contributed readings from their Apple Watch between November 2019 and December 2022, the University of Michigan estimated that 77 million adults across the United States are consistently exposed to high noise levels.

According to the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, an annual average noise exposure level of 70 decibels (dBA) poses no risk for hearing loss, but exposure over 70 dBA can result in damage to hearing.

The study assumes that people with repeated daily average noise exposures over 70 dBA likely have an annual noise exposure over 70 dBA, which researchers say can result in hearing issues, irritation, heart problems, and sleep disturbances, in addition to impacting mental health. Higher noise levels for longer time periods can increase risk.

The Apple Watch has a built-in feature for detecting environmental sound level, and it collects data to tabulate an average daily environmental sound exposure level. The information collected by the watch can be located in the Hearing section of the Health app.

The Health app will let you know if your noise exposure levels are below 75 dB on average and are "OK," or if you have been repeatedly exposed to higher levels of sound that can impact your health. At 80 dB, 40 hours of exposure over seven days could potentially result in damage, but at 120 dB, 14 seconds over seven days could cause problems. The Apple Watch is able to send an alert when it detects a harmful noise level so you can move to a quieter location.

People in Puerto Rico, Delaware, Rhode Island, Mississippi, and Connecticut experienced the highest noise pollution levels, and adults aged 35 to 44 were more likely to be exposed to high noise levels compared to those in other age groups.

Additional details about the study can be found in the full blog post on the University of Michigan website. To cut down on hearing damage, researchers recommend that those regularly exposed to excessive noise pollution move away from noisy areas and take "quiet breaks," buy quiet appliances, and wear ear muffs and ear plugs when possible.

Former Apple employee Dhidrenda Prasad was this week sentenced to three years in prison and was ordered to pay more than $17 million in restitution to Apple. Back in November, Prasad pled guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States after stealing millions of dollars from Apple.

Prasad was part of Apple's Global Service Supply Chain department between 2008 and 2018, and his job was to buy parts and services from vendors for servicing older devices. In 2011, Prasad started accepting kickbacks, inflating invoices, and stealing parts, causing Apple to pay for components and services that it did not receive.

Two vendors worked with Prasad to steal money from Apple. His schemes included funneling illicit payments from the vendors to his creditors, tricking Apple into paying for components twice, and stealing components purchased by Apple and reselling them to Apple through his co-conspirators. In total, he was found guilty of stealing $17 million through mail and wire fraud.

He will forfeit nearly $5.5 million in assets that the government has already seized, and will need to pay an additional $8 million in forfeiture money. The $13.5 million forfeiture is on top of the $17 million that he must pay to Apple and the $1.8 million he owes to the IRS for not paying taxes on the money he received from Apple.

After serving three years in prison, he will have another three years of supervised release.

Google today announced that YouTube Music on the web and the YouTube Music app for iOS devices now offer podcasts in the United States. Users who watch podcasts through the main YouTube app can now continue listening to them through YouTube Music.

Podcasts on YouTube Music are free, with no Premium subscription required. Podcasts are available on-demand, offline, and can be listened to in the background and while casting, with options to swap between audio and video versions.

Google says that the podcast listening experience on YouTube Music is designed to complement the video podcast experience that's available on YouTube. Podcasts will be available through the Home tab by tapping on the Podcasts section at the top of the screen.

There is an Explore feature for finding popular podcasts based on categories that include gaming, music, true crime, comedy, health and fitness, business, and society and culture, plus a search tab for locating specific content.

Podcasts in YouTube Music are rolling out to U.S. users starting today, but Google says support is being implemented "gradually" so it may take a few days for the podcasts to show up in the YouTube Music app and on the web. While podcasts are limited to the United States at the current time, Google has plans to bring access to other regions in the future.

Apple is working on an updated version of the Apple Watch Ultra that has an improved microLED display, but the device won't launch until the second half of 2025, according to information shared by display analyst Ross Young.

Young believes that the microLED Apple Watch has now been "pushed out" to 2025 at the earliest, which means rumors of a 2024 launch may now be outdated. Earlier this year, Young gave a more vague 2025 release timeline, but now he has dialed his prediction in to the latter half of the year.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has confirmed Apple's work on a ‌microLED Apple Watch‌, and in January, he suggested that the device could come out at the end of 2024, but Apple's timeline has likely since shifted.

Early rumors about devices that are a year or two out can be unreliable in terms of launch timing as Apple often has to push back its release dates due to delays in design, component sourcing, manufacturing, and more.

The Apple Watch Ultra is expected to be the first Apple device to adopt a microLED display, but Apple is planning to bring the technology to the iPhone and other devices in the future.

Some of the year's best deals on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 3, and AirPods 2 remain at Verizon and Amazon this week, including $50 off the AirPods Pro 2 at $199.99. As with all other Verizon deals, you don't need to be a Verizon customer to get these savings, and all orders receive free two-day shipping.

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

Verizon has the AirPods Pro 2 available for $199.99, down from $249.99. We very briefly saw a discount on this model to $194.99 last month, but this rare deal never emerged again and today's deal remains a solid second-best price.

Verizon also has both models of the AirPods 3 on sale. You can get the AirPods 3 with Lightning Charging Case for $149.99, down from $169.99; and the AirPods 3 with MagSafe Charging Case for $159.00, down from $179.00. Verizon has been one of the only retailers to provide any consistent deals on the AirPods 3 this year.

Lastly, only Amazon has the AirPods 2 for $99.00, down from $129.00. Although this is an overall second-best price, we haven't seen an all-time low price on the AirPods 2 since the holiday season.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones. Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

With all four iPhone 15 models expected to feature a USB-C port instead of Lightning, several Apple accessories will switch to USB-C as well. For example, EarPods with a USB-C connector are already in mass production, according to a tweet today from leaker ShrimpApplePro. They previously said Foxconn is supplying the earbuds.

The new EarPods would connect directly to the USB-C port on iPhone 15 models, without an adapter. Apple's wired earbuds are currently available with a Lightning connector or a 3.5mm headphone jack, with both versions priced at $19.

EarPods have become less popular since Apple released wireless AirPods in 2016, and removed the headphone jack on iPhones, but they remain a more affordable option for customers. EarPods also provide a simple plug-and-play wired listening experience, with a built-in remote and no charging or pairing necessary.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup in September, and the new EarPods would likely launch around then. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously claimed that other accessories like AirPods charging cases, the MagSafe Battery Pack, and the Magic Keyboard/Trackpad/Mouse trio will switch to USB-C in the future as well.

Earlier in the week, we tracked a new all-time low price on Apple's 8-Core GPU, 256GB M1 iMac, and now today Amazon has introduced more colors of this computer on sale. You can get four colors now at $999.99, down from $1,499.00, which is a massive $499 discount on the 24-inch iMac.

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.

Colors on sale include Yellow, Purple, Orange, and Pink. Shipping estimates have slipped into the middle of May with the fastest options, and as far into early June for some. This is quite a discount, so we recommend getting your order in as soon as possible if you're interested; these have been known to disappear quickly.

With this discount, the 8-Core/256GB model is now cheaper than the entry-level 7-Core/256GB model, which has only ever reached as low as $1,099.00 in previous sales. The M1 iMac first launched two years ago in April 2021, and it features a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, M1 chip, Touch ID keyboard, and more.

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.

Siri and Apple's use of AI has been severely held back by caution and organizational dysfunction, according to over three dozen former Apple employees who spoke to The Information's Wayne Ma.

The extensive paywalled report explains why former Apple employees who worked in the company's AI and machine learning groups believe that a lack of ambition and organizational dysfunction have hindered ‌Siri‌ and the company's AI technologies. Apple's virtual assistant is apparently "widely derided" inside the company for its lack of functionality and minimal improvement over time.

By 2018, the team working on ‌Siri‌ had apparently "devolved into a mess, driven by petty turf battles between senior leaders and heated arguments over the direction of the assistant." ‌Siri‌'s leadership did not want to invest in building tools to analyse ‌Siri‌'s usage and engineers lacked the ability to obtain basic details such as how many people were using the virtual assistant and how often they were doing so. The data that was obtained about ‌Siri‌ coming from the data science and engineering team was simply not being used, with some former employees calling it "a waste of time and money."

Many Apple employees purportedly left the company because it was too slow to make decisions or too conservative in its approach to new AI technologies, including the large-language models that underpin chatbots like ChatGPT. Apple CEO Tim Cook personally attempted to persuade engineers who helped Apple modernize its search technology to stay at the company, before they left to work on large-language models at Google.

Apple executives are said to have dismissed proposals to give ‌Siri‌ the ability to conduct extended back-and-forth conversations, claiming that the feature would be difficult to control and gimmicky. Apple's uncompromising stance on privacy has also created challenges for enhancing ‌Siri‌, with the company pushing for more of the virtual assistant's functions to be performed on-device.

Cook and other senior executives requested changes to ‌Siri‌ to prevent embarassing responses and the company prefers ‌Siri‌'s responses to be pre-written by a team of around 20 writers, rather than AI-generated. There were also specific decisions to exclude information such as iPhone prices from ‌Siri‌ to push users directly to Apple's website instead.

‌Siri‌ engineers working on the feature that uses material from the web to answer questions clashed with the design team over how accurate the responses had to be in 2019. The design team demanded a near-perfect accuracy rate before the feature could be released.

Engineers claim to have spent months persuading ‌Siri‌ designers that not every one of its answers needed human verification, a limitation that made it impossible to scale up ‌Siri‌ to answer the huge number of questions asked by users. Similarly, Apple's design team repeatedly rejected the feature that enabled users to report a concern or issue with the content of a ‌Siri‌ answer, preventing machine-learning engineers from understanding mistakes, because it wanted ‌Siri‌ to appear "all-knowing."

In 2019, the ‌Siri‌ team explored a project to rewrite the virtual assistant from scratch, codenamed "Blackbird." The effort sought to create a lightweight version of ‌Siri‌ that would delegate the creation of functions to app developers and would run on iPhones instead of the cloud to improve performance and privacy. Demos of Blackbird apparently prompted excitement among Apple employees owing to its utility and responsiveness.

Blackbird competed with the work of two senior leaders on the ‌Siri‌ team who were responsible for helping ‌Siri‌ understand and respond to queries. These individuals pushed for their own project, codenamed "‌Siri‌ X," for the 10th anniversary of the virtual assistant. The project simply aimed to move ‌Siri‌'s processing on-device for privacy reasons, without the lightweight, modular functionality of Blackbird.

Hundreds of employees working on Blackbird were assigned to ‌Siri‌ X, which killed the ambitious project to make ‌Siri‌ more capable. ‌Siri‌ X was mostly completed in 2021 and now many of the voice assistant's functions are processed locally.

Most recently, the group working on Apple's mixed reality headset were reportedly disappointed by the demonstrations provided by the ‌Siri‌ team on how the virtual assistant could control the headset. At one point in the device's development, the headset team considered building an alternative method for controlling the device using voice commands because ‌Siri‌ was deemed to be unsatisfactory.

Earlier this week, Google updated its Authenticator app to enable the backup and syncing of 2FA codes across devices using a Google Account. Now an examination by Mysk security researchers has found that the sensitive one-time passcodes being synced to the cloud aren't end-to-end encrypted, leaving them potentially exposed to bad actors.

Prior to the integration of Google Account support, all codes in the Google Authenticator app were stored on device, which meant that if the device was lost, so too were the one-time passcodes, potentially causing loss of account access as well. But it seems that by enabling cloud-based syncing, Google has opened up users to a security risk of a different sort.

"We analyzed the network traffic when the app syncs the secrets, and it turns out the traffic is not end-to-end encrypted," said Mysk via Twitter. "This means that Google can see the secrets, likely even while they're stored on their servers. There is no option to add a passphrase to protect the secrets, to make them accessible only by the user."

"Secrets" is a term used to refer to private pieces of information that act as keys to unlock protected resources or sensitive information; in this case, one-time passcodes.

Mysk said that its tests found the unencrypted traffic contains a "seed" that's used to generate the 2FA codes. According to the researchers, anyone with access to that seed can generate their own codes for the same accounts and break in to them.

"If Google servers were compromised, secrets would leak," Mysk told Gizmodo. Since the QR codes involved with setting up two-factor authentication contain the name of the account or service, the attacker can also identify the accounts. "This is particularly risky if you're an activist and run other Twitter accounts anonymously," added the researchers.

Mysk subsequently advised users not to enable the Google account feature that syncs 2FA codes across devices and the cloud.

Responding to the warning, a Google spokesperson told CNET it had added the sync feature early for convenience's sake, but that end-to-end encryption is still on its way:

End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) is a powerful feature that provides extra protections, but at the cost of enabling users to get locked out of their own data without recovery. To ensure that we're offering a full set of options for users, we have also begun rolling out optional E2EE in some of our products, and we plan to offer E2EE for Google Authenticator in the future."

Until that happens, there are alternative services for syncing authentication codes across devices, such as Apple's own 2FA code generator and third-party apps like Authy.

Apple is working on software updates that will make it possible for users to pair their Apple Watch with multiple Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac, according to a new rumor.

Currently, an Apple Watch can be paired to one iPhone only, and though it is possible to pair multiple Apple Watch models to the same iPhone, Apple offers no facility for pairing or syncing Apple Watches to other devices in its ecosystem.

Once an Apple Watch is paired to an iPhone, it can be used in conjunction with an iPad logged into the same Apple ID to follow Apple Fitness+ workout routines on the iPad's screen. Also, Mac users can use their Apple Watch to unlock their computer, authenticate apps and view passwords, and authorize online Apple Pay transactions, but that is where the exceptions end.

These limitations could be set to change, however. According to the Twitter account holder @analyst941, Apple is planning changes to the pairing/syncing process that mean an Apple Watch will no longer be tied to a single iPhone, but will instead be able to sync across multiple iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

The leaker confesses that they do not know how this will be implemented, but iCloud syncing could be one possibility, similar to how AirPods work across devices. Whether this means that an iPhone will still be required for setting up an Apple Watch before it can sync with other Apple devices logged into the same iCloud account is unclear.

The leaker added that they do not know whether the change will come this year with watchOS 10, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14, or if it will be held over until 2024.

The anonymous source behind today's rumor leaked accurate information about the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island before the device was announced last year. However, they do not have a long-term track record with rumors yet, so there is no guarantee the latest information they shared will prove to be accurate.

Apple is developing a version of iPadOS 17 that is specifically designed for larger unreleased iPad sizes, the first of which will arrive next year, claims a new rumor.

According to the Twitter account holder @analyst941, a special version of Apple's upcoming iPad software will support the more advanced capabilities of a range of bigger iPads that are in the works, beginning with a 14.1-inch iPad with an M3 Pro chip that is set for release next year.

The leaker claims that the 14.1-inch iPad model will be able to run up to two 6K displays at 60Hz via Thunderbolt 4, with iPadOS 17 including support for the capability. As @analyst941 notes, this could be achieved by daisy-chaining displays, but it could also indicate that the larger iPad features multiple Thunderbolt ports instead of just one.

A 14.1-inch ‌iPad would be the largest iPad to date, beating the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro size. The leaker suggests that Apple could adopt a new name for the larger forthcoming device(s) to differentiate them from the current crop, such as "iPad Ultra" or iPad Studio," although this specific claim appears to be based on speculation rather than hard evidence.

Apple is believed to have been working on iPads with even larger displays since mid-2021, but rumors have been conflicted about when the first models will arrive and in what size.

Bloomberg has repeatedly discussed Apple's interest in bigger iPads, while reliable display analyst Ross Young at one stage reported that a 14.1-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ with a mini-LED display was slated to launch in the first quarter of 2023.

However in December 2022, Young reversed his prediction and said that Apple is no longer planning to launch the new 14.1-inch form factor. Young suggested that the device was canceled entirely or significantly delayed.

Separately, in October 2022, The Information's Wayne Ma reported that Apple is developing a 16-inch iPad that it hopes to release in the fourth quarter of 2023. Despite that, larger ‌iPad‌ models were missing from ‌Mark Gurman‌'s Apple device roadmap for this year, saying that there will be no significant ‌iPad‌ hardware updates in 2023.

The anonymous source behind today's rumor leaked accurate information about the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island on the MacRumors Forums before the device was announced last year. However, they do not have a long-term track record with rumors yet, so there is no guarantee the latest information they shared will prove to be accurate.

Apple is expected to preview iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 during the WWDC 2023 keynote on June 5. For more on what to expect in the new software, click the iOS 17 tag below.

Amazon is discontinuing its line of "Halo" health and fitness bands, Amazon announced today (via Bloomberg). The first Halo band was introduced in August 2020, and it was positioned as a low-cost competitor to the Apple Watch.

The Halo wristband had no watch face, instead offering a sensor wrist worn sensor module with an accelerometer, temperature sensor, heart rate monitor, two microphones, and an LED indicator light. It was used alongside an app that displayed the health data collected from the band.

Priced at $99, the band had no GPS, WiFi, cellular connectivity, or Alexa integration, and some features were locked behind an Amazon Prime subscription. Amazon included a 3D body scan feature and a feature for analyzing speech, both of which were criticized for their invasiveness. The scanning function asked users to change into minimal clothing to let their smartphone camera see their body, while the tone readings used the always-on microphones.

Amazon eventually expanded to the Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Rise, and accessories, all of which are being discontinued.

The Amazon Halo line will no longer be supported as of July 31, 2023, and Amazon is refunding all customer purchases and subscriptions that were made in the preceding 12 months. Amazon is informing customers about the upcoming discontinuation via email.

Halo customers will need to download any data that they want to keep from the app by August 1, 2023.

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized more than 1,000 pairs of counterfeit AirPods Pro 2 devices from Washington Dulles International Airport back in March, the CBP announced yesterday.

Four shipments bound for Fairfax County, Virginia were inspected on March 15, and investigators found the 1,000 knockoff AirPods and 50 fake Apple Watches. The products were shipped from China, and counterfeiters would have made more than $290,000 selling the goods at Apple's suggested retail price had they been genuine.

The counterfeit Apple products were seized on March 29, but no one has been charged in the case.

"Unscrupulous manufacturers and vendors illegally profit on the sale of substandard counterfeit products at the expense and safety of American consumers," said Christine Waugh, CBP's Acting Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C. "Customs and Border Protection urges consumers to protect their health and wallets by buying authentic consumer goods from reputable or authorized vendors."

The CBP says that during fiscal 2022, it seized close to 21,000 shipments containing counterfeit goods that violate the U.S. Intellectual Property Rights enforcement program.

Popular Apple accessory maker Belkin recently introduced the Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub, which is the company's first U.S. product made from post-consumer recycled plastics (PCR). Belkin in January announced plans to transition to more environmentally friendly material for its products, and the launch of the hub is part of that effort.

The Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub is made from 72 percent PCR in its product housing, a transition that was made without impacting the quality or the safety of the accessory. Made to be compact, the hub includes four USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and it supports pass-through charging of up to 100W. USB-C headphones and speakers are supported, and it works with Apple's Macs and iPads.

Belkin says that its new USB-C hub is the only hub on the market able to deliver a maximum of 10Gb/s, which is 2x faster than other available hubs. It's also using Fast Role Swap (FRS) in an effort to prevent data loss and interruption of device connections when adding or removing a power source from the hub.

Belkin's Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub is priced at $52 and it can be purchased from Amazon. Belkin also sells it directly for $45, but it is out of stock at the current time.

Apple today released the third beta of macOS Ventura 13.4 to its public beta testing group, allowing the general public to try out the software ahead of its official launch. The third macOS Ventura 13.4 public beta comes two weeks after Apple seeded the second public beta and a day after the beta was provided to developers.

Public beta testers can download the macOS 13.3 Ventura update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

The macOS Ventura 13.4 beta adds a new beta installation method where developers and public beta testers can opt-in to receive beta updates without the need for a profile to be installed. For developers, an Apple ID needs to be associated with a developer account to get access to a developer beta, while public beta testers need to sign up on Apple's public beta website with their ‌Apple ID‌ and then elect to receive beta updates using the System Settings app.

Work on macOS Ventura is winding down as Apple prepares to shift its focus to macOS 14, the as-of-yet-unnamed next-generation version of macOS that we expect to see introduced this June at WWDC.

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test out the software head of its official launch. The third public betas come two weeks after the second public betas, and a day after Apple provided the betas to developers.

Those who have signed up their accounts for Apple's free beta testing program can enable the beta by opening up the Settings app, going to General, selecting Software Update, tapping on Beta Updates, and selecting the iOS 16 Public Beta option.

iOS 16.5 appears to be a relatively minor update, and few changes were found in the first developer beta. There is a new Sports tab located in the Apple News app, and Siri can now be asked to start a screen recording.

Development on iOS 16 is slowing down as Apple prepares for the upcoming June debut of iOS 17, the next-generation version of iOS.

While the latest rumors claim Apple dropped its plans for solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models, the upcoming devices are still expected to feature a customizable "Action" button in place of the traditional Ring/Silent switch.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple-certified accessory makers are currently working with CADs showing the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature two mechanical volume buttons, and an additional mechanical button that replaces the Ring/Silent switch. Like the "Action" button on the Apple Watch Ultra, users would be able to assign the new button to system functions like Ring/Silent, Do Not Disturb, or Flashlight.

Mechanical buttons move when pressed, while solid-state buttons would rely on Taptic Engines inside the iPhone to simulate the feeling of movement. Apple analyst Jeff Pu believes solid-state buttons have been postponed until the iPhone 16 Pro next year due to unspecified "design issues" encountered during iPhone 15 Pro development.

Apple has included a Ring/Silent switch on every iPhone since the original model in 2007, so the switch's removal would still be a fairly significant change this year. The standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models are still expected to have the switch, however, as the "Action" button is rumored for iPhone 15 Pro models only.

The new CADs also reveal that the rear camera bump on iPhone 15 Pro models will not protrude quite as much as the publication initially expected.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup in September.

Astropad Studio, the app that is designed to turn the iPad into a drawing tablet for a Mac, is today gaining a major new networking feature that will cut down on latency.

Peer-to-peer networking will allow an ‌iPad‌ to connect directly to a Mac using a wireless connection, which Astropad says will cut latency in half by bypassing the router. No cable between the two devices will be necessary, so this is a function that improves the wireless connectivity between two devices.

Astropad Studio users can take advantage of peer-to-peer connectivity even when a WiFi connection is not available

According to Astropad, peer-to-peer functionality removes the uncertainties of WiFi for artists who rely on Astropad Studio, introducing smooth and low latency drawing. Peer-to-peer connectivity works with all Astropad Studio features, including Apple Pencil integration, touch gestures, shortcuts, and more. I

Peer-to-peer is limited to Mac users and it is not available for those who use Astropad Studio with a PC. It requires an iOS device with iOS 13 or later and a Mac running macOS 10.15 or later.

Peer-to-peer networking is a free update for all current Astropad Studio users. Astropad Studio is priced at $99.99 per year, with a 14-day free trial available for testing it out, but there is a 20 percent discount through May 19. More information on the feature can be found on Astropad's blog.