Apple's iPhone Duo Case uses adhesive to attach to the device, according to people who have picked one up.


The case comes in two pieces and uses adhesive strips along the inside edges to attach securely to an ‌iPhone Duo‌. An included insert instructs users to peel off the adhesive's protective film, put each half on the Duo, and then press down to make sure it's well-adhered.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ Case is made from polycarbonate and comes in Sand and Navy Blue. It is designed to protect the back of the iPhone where the camera bump is located and the front around the outer display. It has a cutout for the front display, and no protection for the inside of the device when it's unfolded.


Apple also sells the ‌iPhone Duo‌ Folio with Kickstand, and that case does not use adhesive. It attaches to the ‌iPhone Duo‌ magnetically, but it does not offer protection for the sides of the device and it covers the front display when in use. It uses magnets to make it easy to fold back if the outer display is needed.

‌iPhone Duo‌ pre-orders began today, and the first devices won't arrive to customers until next Friday, but cases are in stores today. Initial ‌iPhone Duo‌ stock sold out, and shipping estimates are now at January 25 for all colors and capacities.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ Folio is priced at $129, and the ‌iPhone Duo‌ Case is priced at $79.
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Apple is now accepting pre-orders for the iPhone Duo through its online storefront and Apple Store app. If you don't see the option to order, refresh both the website and the app until the store loads.


Pre-orders for the ‌iPhone Duo‌ are launching in more than 70 countries and regions. Customers who used the "Get Ready" option to set up a purchase should be able to check out with a couple of taps.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ is Apple's first foldable smartphone. It features a 5.4-inch display when closed and a 7.6-inch display when open. It has an iPad-like aspect ratio and at 5.2mm when unfolded, it is Apple's thinnest iPhone to date.

Apple designed the ‌iPhone Duo‌ with an aluminum and titanium frame, complete with ceramic fiber antenna inserts and support ribs. It has a hinge with more than 100 components, and can be used in multiple orientations and positions. It lacks Face ID and adopts Touch ID instead, and it has a two-lens camera system without a telephoto lens.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ is priced starting at $1,999 for 256GB of storage, and it comes in star white and night sky colors. Apple says its specialists are available to help users find ways to save and pay, including with Apple Upgrade, a Klarna-run lease program. With a 24-month lease, ‌iPhone Duo‌ pricing starts at $57.99 per month. Apple says customers can save from $175 to $885 by trading in an eligible iPhone 13 or newer.

If you're ordering an ‌iPhone Duo‌, it's a good idea to opt for AppleCare+. Some ‌iPhone Duo‌ repair fees are as high as $1,499 without a protection plan.

Along with Apple, carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are accepting ‌iPhone Duo‌ pre-orders. Carriers have trade-in deals and discounts available, but make sure to read all of the fine print ahead of time.

Rumors suggest ‌iPhone Duo‌ supplies are limited due to production issues. The new iPhone could sell out quickly, so order right away if you want one on launch day.

Customers who successfully pre-order an ‌iPhone Duo‌ for launch day delivery will get their devices on Friday, October 23.
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Apple has an unreleased iPad mini Smart Folio listed on its French regulatory website, hinting that a new ‌iPad mini‌ is coming. The case's A3632 model number doesn't match current or past ‌iPad mini‌ cases.


Apple appears to have added the case to its website recently, and it's listed alongside iPhone 18 Pro accessories added in September.

The listing doesn't include any ‌iPad mini‌ specs, but it does suggest design changes to the device it's meant for as a new Smart Folio may mean current cases won't fit the next ‌iPad mini‌.

Rumors suggest the ‌iPad mini‌ 8 with an OLED display and a more water-resistant design will be introduced on October 27 or 28 alongside an ‌OLED‌ MacBook Pro. The A3632 Smart Folio could be for the ‌OLED‌ ‌iPad mini‌.
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Apple is "pretty much done" with M6 chips, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated today on his podcast. Apple debuted the M6 chip in the Mac mini and has plans for an M6 iMac and entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro, but the company is not planning to make M6 Pro, M6 Max, or M6 Ultra chips.


Apple will instead go from the M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra to the M7 lineup. The upcoming OLED ‌MacBook Pro‌ models will use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips Apple uses in the current ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, with no chip upgrade planned until 2027. The M5 Pro and M5 Max came out in March.

Gurman says the high-end touchscreen ‌MacBook Pro‌ models will get M7 Pro and M7 Max chips "at the end of next year." A refreshed low-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an M7 chip will launch next year, and an M7 Ultra chip is slated for the first half of 2028. It's unlikely we'll get a new Mac Studio in 2027 with the next Ultra chip planned for 2028.

Apple is reportedly skipping the rest of the M6 line to focus its resources on the M7 chips, which have technologies for artificial intelligence workloads.
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Apple pledged $25 million for Trump's White House ballroom, according to a list of donors obtained by The Washington Post.


Chipmaker Nvidia also committed $25 million, making Apple and Nvidia two of the top donors. Other donors include Microsoft, Comcast, Amazon, Cisco, Meta, T-Mobile, HP, Google (from a lawsuit settlement), Palantir, Salesforce, and Micron. Private donations on the list totaled $333 million, with some donors paying in full and some paying in installments.

The White House has not publicly disclosed donation amounts, even though political giving typically requires public disclosure and adherence to campaign finance rules. The Trump administration is collecting ballroom donations through a nonprofit and moving the funds into a White House account controlled by Trump.

A White House spokesperson said the administration will "relentlessly pursue those responsible" for the leaked list.

The ballroom's final cost hasn't been released, but a June contractor estimate suggested it would cost around $600 million and that more than half of the money would come from taxpayer funds.

Trump says the ballroom will be around 90,000 square feet and will seat 1,000 guests. The White House's East Wing was demolished to construct the ballroom.
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Apple is planning to introduce new OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro models on October 27 or October 28, and the machines could launch on Friday, November 6, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said during his latest podcast.


Apple retail stores apparently have a "big floor reset" scheduled for the evening of Thursday, November 5, and into Friday, November 6, which Gurman says could be in preparation for the new Macs. The store reset will follow a debut in late October, with Apple planning a creator-focused gathering in Los Angeles to introduce the new products.

Along with the ‌OLED‌ touchscreen ‌MacBook Pro‌, Apple is rumored to be launching the ‌OLED‌ iPad mini, M6 iMac, and M6 entry-level 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌. Gurman did not say whether there would be a classic Apple event, but suggested Apple will "do something" and will "have those videos" at the "very least."

Gurman previously said Apple might name the new ‌OLED‌ Macs the "MacBook Ultra," but he more recently walked that back and suggested they would be part of the ‌MacBook Pro‌ line. He also said the foldable iPhone could be the iPhone Ultra and that Apple would debut AirPods Ultra, but so far Apple has not embraced the Ultra naming.

The ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ models could be sold as a higher-end option alongside the current mini-LED models, but new chips are not expected. Apple is said to be using the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that are in the existing ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.

If the ‌MacBook Pro‌ models do launch on November 6, Apple will have several weeks of product launches. The iPhone Duo is coming out on October 23, while the HomePod mini 2 launches October 30. The HomeView and the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K will be released on November 13.
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Meta today announced the release of Muse Spark Open, which it says is the "most capable U.S. open-weight model to date."


‌Meta‌ worked with Apple to bring Muse Spark Open to the Mac, and the model can run on a desktop setup with two 512GB Apple M5 Ultra Mac Studios running the latest MLX framework. ‌Meta‌ CEO Mark Zuckerberg thanked Apple CEO John Ternus for working with Meta.


Muse Spark Open has 816 billion total parameters with 42 billion active parameters and a 1 million-token context window. It is meant for coding and agentic work, and ‌Meta‌ says it excels at extended tasks, multi-step reasoning, and software engineering.

The new Muse model was tuned to run on Mac Studio, and ‌Meta‌ says the ‌Mac Studio‌ paired with Muse Spark Open is the "best way to run a powerful model on your own desktop." From ‌Meta‌:

Apple's unified memory architecture lets the M5 Ultra's integrated GPU use up to 512 GB per Mac Studio, so two machines can hold an entire model. And the chip's 1.2 TB/s of memory bandwidth is fast enough to read the small slice each token needs. The result is two Mac Studios behave like one supercomputer with a terabyte of unified memory.

Apple hasn't released the 512GB ‌Mac Studio‌ as of yet, but it's supposed to be coming later this month. It won't be cheap, because the 256GB ‌Mac Studio‌ is already priced over $10,000.

The model is available through API platforms at Baseten, Fireworks AI, Groq, Modal, Nebius, OpenRouter, and Together AI, with model weights downloadable from Amazon SageMaker AI, Google Cloud Model Garden, Hugging Face, and Microsoft Foundry Models. Muse Spark Open is free to download and has a license allowing limited commercial use.

Apple and ‌Meta‌ often argue more than they work together, so it is something of a surprise to see the two companies partnering for Muse Spark Open. "We're excited for mommy and daddy to be playing nice again," ‌Meta‌'s AI chief Alexandr Wang told Axios.
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The iPhone Duo unsurprisingly offers performance similar to the iPhone 18 Pro, according to an early iPhone Duo benchmark shared on Geekbench 7. Both devices are equipped with Apple's 2nm A20 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU and a 7-core GPU.


The benchmarked ‌iPhone Duo‌ (iPhone19,4) is running iOS 27.1, as expected, and it had a single-core score of 3986 and a multi-core score of 11067. That's in line with multiple benchmarks collected from ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max models.

Scores vary from test to test, so while the result does fall short of the top ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ benchmark scores, we're only viewing a single score. The ‌iPhone Duo‌ has the same 6-core CPU with a 4.93GHz base frequency that's identified in ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ benchmarks, and it lists 11.30GB memory, which means 12GB of RAM.

While the ‌iPhone Duo‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models use the same A20 Pro chip, there could be differences in real-world performance based on thermal management, the ‌iPhone Duo‌'s two screens vs. a single screen, and other factors.

Apple says the A20 Pro offers up to 20 percent faster CPU performance than the A19 Pro and up to 40 percent faster GPU performance. GPU speeds were not tested.

Pre-orders for the ‌iPhone Duo‌ will start on October 16, and a launch will follow on October 23.
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Apple plans to launch the HomeView on November 13, so we have a month to go until we can learn more about it. Right now, we're limited to the information Apple has shared and what members of the media learned during limited hands-on time.


We've rounded up some interesting HomeView tidbits you might have missed.

• Recipe walkthroughs - HomeView makes Safari recipes easier to follow by pulling out the ingredients and steps. You can tap on a "Start Cooking" button to get step-by-step instructions you can use as you cook. The device also supports multiple voice-activated timers.


• Siri access - You can say Siri (English only) or Hey ‌Siri‌ for hands-free access, but there are also options for activating ‌Siri‌ with a swipe down from the top of the display or using Type to ‌Siri‌.


• Apple Intelligence - HomeView has some Apple Intelligence features built in. You or members of your household can use ‌Siri‌ AI for general knowledge questions if you don't have an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ iPhone or iPad, but you do need one for any requests involving personal context.


• Guests - Personal data is private, but guests can control smart home accessories, check the weather, set timers, and play music. Visitors can also AirPlay audio to the HomeView using peer-to-peer discovery.


• Adaptable interface - HomeView can tell when someone is approaching and parts of the interface will change based on proximity. If someone is across the room, it shows less information in a larger view. As the person approaches, the view can change to show more information.


• Faces - HomeView has multiple customizable faces similar to watch faces. Apple says some faces can "wake with you in the morning, wind down with you at night." The Snoopy face, for example, has different animations based on time of day, weather, and holidays.


• Third-party apps - There's no App Store, but the HomeView has CarPlay-like software capabilities. It can show CarPlay audio and video apps from a linked iPhone. There are no ‌CarPlay‌ video apps except for Apple TV, so app developers will need to add support.


• Handoff - You can transfer songs, podcasts, calls, videos, and recipes from the iPhone to the HomeView.


• Live Activities - HomeView supports Live Activities, so if you have a timer running or get an incoming Intercom message, content will be visible while you use other apps.


• Sensors and HomeKit - The HomeView has temperature and humidity sensors that can be used in Home app scenes and automations. It also serves as a home hub for controlling HomeKit and Matter devices when you're away from home.

HomeView is available for pre-order now, and it will launch on November 13. It is priced at $299 and comes in either a tabletop version with a speaker base or a wall-mounted version.
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Apple today closed with a market capitalization above $5 trillion, making it the second company to do so after Nvidia.


As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Apple's market cap has exceeded $5 trillion six times before today during intraday trading, but this is the first time the company stayed above the mark at closing.

Apple closed at $342.96, for a market cap of $5.005 trillion. The new valuation comes just over a month after John Ternus took over for Tim Cook as Apple CEO, and two days ahead of iPhone Duo pre-orders.

While Apple surpassed Nvidia to briefly become the most valuable company in the world in July, Nvidia has since retaken the title and continues to hold the top spot with a market cap of $5.33 trillion.
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There's been some confusion about which of Apple's new and existing home devices will support Siri AI and when, because ‌Siri‌ AI isn't going to be available at launch on some products.

Devices With Siri AI

• HomeView - Available at launch (November 13)


• Apple TV 4K (4th generation) - Available at launch (November 13)


• Apple TV 4K (3rd generation) - Available in tvOS 27.2


• Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) - Available in tvOS 27.2


• HomePod mini 2 - Ships October 30, ‌Siri‌ AI coming in a future software update

Despite a report from CNET suggesting the first HomePod mini would support Siri AI, Apple has since confirmed that's not the case.

No Siri AI Support

• Original HomePod mini


• Original HomePod


• Original Apple TV 4K (no tvOS 27)


• Apple TV HD (no tvOS 27)

Unconfirmed

• HomePod 2 - Possibly coming, with mentions in website metadata

Siri AI Requirements

On the ‌HomePod‌ and Apple TV 4K models that support ‌Siri‌ AI, the home owner in the Home app must have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad on the latest version of the software. ‌Siri‌ AI has to be turned on, and it has to be set to a supported language. Other members of the household don't need an Apple Intelligence-enabled device once ‌Siri‌ AI is turned on, except for personal requests.

HomeView does not require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or ‌iPad‌ for ‌Siri‌ AI, except for requests that use personal context.

‌Siri‌ AI for HomeView, ‌Apple TV‌ 4K, and HomePod mini 2 is English only and is limited to the United States, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, and the UK at launch.

EU Restrictions

‌Siri‌ AI is not available in the EU on the iPhone and ‌iPad‌, so ‌Siri‌ AI won't be available for home devices that support it. HomeView isn't even launching in the EU.

Siri AI Beta

Apple is still calling ‌Siri‌ AI a beta, and it will be in beta when it's available on HomeView, ‌Apple TV‌ 4K, and ‌HomePod mini 2‌.
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Apple plans to bring Apple Intelligence to China in iOS 27.3 after two years of regulatory delays, reports Bloomberg. The launch will include basic ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features for things like photo editing, but Siri AI won't be available. Image Playground and the newer version of Genmoji will be missing, plus text generation tools will be limited.


The South China Morning Post today reported that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently gave Apple network access permits to add Alibaba's Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models to the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and earlier iPhones, paving the way for an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ debut.

Apple introduced the first ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features in iOS 18.1, but they have been missing from China since launch. Apple received initial clearance to launch ‌Apple Intelligence‌ in China in July, but needed additional clearance for a consumer launch.

China restricts foreign AI technology, which meant Apple had to partner with Alibaba and Baidu to launch ‌Apple Intelligence‌ in the country. Apple also has to allow the Chinese government to approve ongoing updates to the AI models.

Competing smartphone makers in China like Huawei have long offered artificial intelligence features, and Apple has been at a disadvantage without comparable tools.

iOS 27.3 is expected in December.
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OpenAI today suggested Apple could be using its trade secrets, the very thing Apple is already suing OpenAI for. In a court filing, OpenAI accused an ex-employee of giving sensitive data about an unreleased product to Apple.


The unnamed employee joined OpenAI from Apple and then returned after six months. OpenAI claims the person sent "over a hundred highly confidential files" to personal accounts, including manufacturing data and detailed images of at least one unreleased product. The former employee allegedly "made a presentation" on OpenAI product plans for Apple's senior leadership "months ago," and OpenAI is worried Apple could use that information to further its work on AI devices.

OpenAI is very concerned that its trade secret and confidential information is now circulating inside Apple, where Apple engineers can shape Apple's upcoming products based on OpenAI's confidential and innovative work. OpenAI has raised these issues directly with Apple, but to date, Apple has not provided OpenAI with the requested assurances that Apple is not in possession of, and has not used, OpenAI's trade secret and confidential information.

OpenAI asked the court for permission to investigate and pursue counterclaims if necessary. Apple told Reuters it has found no evidence to support OpenAI's claims and it has policies in place to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers.

Apple and OpenAI have been involved in a tense legal battle since Apple sued OpenAI in July. Apple says OpenAI employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan stole trade secrets from Apple to develop new AI hardware. OpenAI called the lawsuit "careless, aggressive and oddly personal," stating that it does not "have, nor want, any of their trade secrets" because it is "much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier."

Yesterday, the court partially granted Apple's request for expedited discovery. OpenAI has up to two weeks to hand over forensic evidence as well as materials used when interviewing former Apple employees. Liu, Tan, and Alyssa Peng, Liu's former Apple colleague, will need to sit for depositions after Apple gets the requested information.

Judge Edward Davila, who is overseeing the case, said during a hearing today that he is "highly likely" to grant a preliminary injunction prohibiting OpenAI from using Apple's allegedly stolen trade secrets. Bloomberg says an injunction would "mark a potential setback" for OpenAI's hardware development efforts.
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Popular Meta chat app WhatsApp today gained guest calling, a feature that lets users invite anyone to join a voice or video call, even if the invitee doesn't have a WhatsApp account.


WhatsApp says everyone has access to free, end-to-end encrypted calls with no time limits and support for up to 32 people at once.

A guest joining a call needs permission from the call host, and guests will show up in a waiting room until the host lets them in. Guests cannot see other participants' phone numbers, send messages, or add others to the call, and hosts can remove them from the call at any time. Guests have access to screen sharing for reviewing materials, thumbs up and heart emoji reactions, and a raised hand to ask a question.

WhatsApp users can start a guest call through the Calls tab. Tap "+" to create a call link and then send the link to anyone. WhatsApp calls can be joined in a computer browser with a WhatsApp call link.

WhatsApp says that it plans to roll out calendar integrations later this year for creating a WhatsApp call from a Google or Outlook calendar.

With the option to join a call from a browser, WhatsApp is matching a feature that Apple started offering for FaceTime with iOS 15. Anyone can join a ‌FaceTime‌ call with a ‌FaceTime‌ link.
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Apple debuted three new home products today, but the October announcements aren't over yet. Rumors suggest there will be another "event" on October 27, plus we're still waiting on the iPhone Duo.


Here's everything we're expecting to see launch or be announced in October.

• October 16 - ‌iPhone Duo‌ pre-orders start.


• October 23 - ‌iPhone Duo‌ launches.


• October 27 - OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro, M6 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, M6 iMac, ‌OLED‌ iPad mini


• October 30 or before - iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS 27.2, and other 27.2 updates launch.


• October 30 - HomePod mini 2 launch, ‌iPhone Duo‌ launches in more countries.


• Late October - Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM comes out.

Apple is rumored to be holding content creator sessions in Los Angeles on October 27 and October 28 to show off the new Macs and ‌OLED‌ ‌iPad mini‌. As with the "Welcome Home" announcement, we may hear about the new devices via press release, with an in-person event for content creators and members of the media to get some hands-on time with the new products.

The new Macs will debut in October, but won't ship to customers until November. With an October 27 announcement, pre-orders could happen that same day and a launch could follow as soon as November 6.

Apple's ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ is the product to watch because it will be Apple's first touchscreen Mac and the first redesign of the ‌MacBook Pro‌ since 2021. The new ‌MacBook Pro‌ will be lighter than the current version, and it will use M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.
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Apple didn't hold an event today, but it did refresh its lineup of smart home products with the Apple HomeView, HomePod mini 2, and fourth-generation Apple TV 4K. The $299 HomeView is an all-new device that serves as a central home hub, offering apps, widgets, and personalized content for up to six people.


The $299 ‌Apple TV‌ 4K now has microphones for Siri, more internal storage, a faster A19 chip, and Wi-Fi 7, while the $149 HomePod mini has a faster chip and new colors. All three home devices will support for ‌Siri‌ AI. More detail on all of the announcements is available in our coverage linked below.

HomeView

• Apple Announces 'HomeView' Smart Home Hub


• Apple HomeView Won't Be Available in the European Union


• HomeView Needs an iPhone or iPad for Some AI Features


• Apple's HomeView Touts These 5 Privacy Features


• HomeView's Wall Model: Pay More, Get Less Speaker


• HomeView Brings Guided Recipes and Hands-Free Timers to the Kitchen


• HomeView Comes in Four Colors, but Wall-Mounted Model Gets Just Two


• Apple Details HomeView's Audio Hardware


• HomeView Can Dim to Apple's Lowest-Ever Display Brightness


• HomeView Runs Third-Party Apps From Your iPhone or iPad

Apple TV 4K

• New Apple TV 4K Announced With A19 Chip, Updated Siri Remote, More


• Apple TV 4K is Now Even More Expensive, 128GB Model Priced at $299


• Apple TV Finally Gaining Apple Intelligence and Siri AI


• New Siri Remote is $59 and Compatible With These Apple TV Models


• Older Apple TV 4K Models to Gain Apple Intelligence and Siri AI Support


• New Apple TV 4K Adds Far-Field Microphones for Hands-Free Siri


• New Apple TV 4K Supports Surround Sound via Four HomePods


• New Apple TV 4K and Siri Remote Have These 14 New Features

HomePod mini

• Apple Announces $149 HomePod Mini 2 With Siri AI, 'Sound Glow', and Four-Speaker Surround Sound


• Apple Says HomePod Mini 2 Won't Support Siri AI Right Away


• Apple Shares Videos for HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod Mini 2

Other News

• Apple Launches 'Apple Home Collection' With Cameras, Lock, Thermostats and More


• ADT to Offer In-Home Installation of Apple's New HomeView and More


• RIP, homeOS


• Beats and Pokémon Team Up for Special-Edition Beats Pill Speaker

You can pre-order the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K, ‌HomePod‌ mini, and HomeView right now. The ‌HomePod‌ mini launches on October 30, while the HomeView and ‌Apple TV‌ 4K are coming out on November 13.
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Apple today seeded the third betas of iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, and watchOS 27.2. The software comes a few hours after Apple provided the betas to developers.


To get the new betas, you can sign up on Apple's beta testing website. After you're signed up, the betas can be installed through the Software Update section in the Settings app on each device.

iOS 27.2 includes the redesigned Health app that Apple introduced at its September iPhone event. It features new Insights and Longevity tabs with more insight into health and fitness data. There's also a Health Age feature that uses your metrics to determine your fitness age vs. your actual age.

In the Apple TV app, there are new profile options, and Siri AI is now available in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.

There are a few other features in the updates, which are listed in our iOS 27.2 guide.
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In the fourth beta of iOS 27.2, Apple updated the Apple Music icon. The new icon is black and white, replacing the prior red and white icon.


In light mode, the logo is black on a white background, and in dark mode, it's white on a black background.

The refreshed Music app icon comes after Apple debuted a new Apple Music logo in an earlier version of iOS 27.2 and in marketing materials for its recent ‌Apple Music‌ Hall announcement.


Along with a new icon, the ‌Apple Music‌ app in iOS 27.2 beta 4 has blue highlights for the selected navigation bar icon rather than red, and text in the Music app's settings also swaps red for blue. ‌Apple Music‌ widgets also have a black background instead of a red background, suggesting Apple is phasing out much of the red branding for the music service.
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Earlier this year, Elevation Lab announced the launch of a "Silencer" for AirTag meant to pierce the speaker on the device to disable the sound.


Elevation Lab explained that it created the Silencer to keep thieves from detecting an ‌AirTag‌ on valuable products like bikes, but the company didn't think easy speaker removal would be problematic.

The ‌AirTag‌ plays a sound when it is away from its owner to alert users that a tracker might be following them. AirTags have been criticized for making stalking simple, and Apple has improved safety features multiple times since the trackers launched in 2021. The latest ‌AirTag‌ 2 even has a louder speaker and more adhesive to make the speaker harder to remove.

We did not cover the launch of the Elevation Lab Silencer because we didn't want to publicize an accessory that does away with the ‌AirTag‌'s anti-stalking feature, and Elevation Lab must have heard several complaints. Six Colors' Glenn Fleishman, for example, said the device was "appalling." When he asked Elevation Lab about it, Casey Hopkins, the company's CEO, explained that users can already silence AirTags themselves, and people will still get smartphone notifications if an unknown ‌AirTag‌ is traveling with them.

Elevation Lab reversed course and sent out emails today letting customers know that the Silencer is no longer available for purchase.

We launched an AirTag silencing tool recently. We've always made products we want for ourselves, and this was no different - we wanted it for AirTags on our bikes. (Some of us have bikes more valuable than our cars.)

In retrospect though, this also has the side effect of aiding someone with bad intentions to track someone that wouldn't get phone notifications.

We have removed the product and will use our patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future.

The Silencer had a pin located where the ‌AirTag‌ speaker is. The device description instructed users to remove the ‌AirTag‌ battery, apply the Silencer, and hit it with a hammer to cause the pin to pierce the ‌AirTag‌'s plastic cover and the speaker below.

‌AirTag‌ alerts do make the trackers less useful for locating items stolen deliberately, but audible sound is an essential safeguard that exists to protect people from stalkers. Elevation Lab plans to use its patent to make sure other companies do not design and release a similar accessory.
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The iOS 27.2 beta Apple released today removes the updated Health app that Apple was testing in earlier betas.


The removal of the Health app is not a surprise because Apple previously said the redesign wouldn't be introduced until late 2026.

After upgrading to the fourth beta, the Health app has a popup that says the new app features will come in a future update. Data collected during the beta remains available in the Settings app.


Apple is planning to release iOS 27.2 later in October, and the removal of the Health app suggests a launch is getting closer. The HomePod mini 2 that launches on October 30 uses HomePod software 27.2, so the updates will need to come out before that date.
This article, "iOS 27.2 Beta 4 Removes New Health App" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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