iOS

You might have noticed that over the last several years, more and more companies have shifted to a subscription model for their products and services, and Apple has slowly begun to follow suit. As Apple hardware continues to improve, customers are keeping their devices for longer. Meaning that Apple is earning less per customer on their hardware purchases. This has pushed Apple to add more products to its services. Today, Apple offers subscriptions like cloud storage, media, productivity tools, AppleCare, and now products like Creator Studio. This suggests the company is willing to expand subscriptions into areas that were traditionally one-time purchases, a trend that we need to keep a close eye on. The easiest way to see how far Apple has leaned into subscriptions is to simply lay out everything the company currently offers.

While Tesla may be the last automaker anyone expected to consider CarPlay, there’s an even more unlikely vehicle maker that could adopt Apple’s infotainment feature in the future.

Storage on Apple devices has always been a sensitive subject. Whether it’s for an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you always pay the highest premium when upgrading the internal storage. An iPhone 17 Pro Max can go from $1199 for its 256GB entry-level model to $2000 for the 2TB model. That’s an additional $800 just for storage on your iPhone. So, for anyone shooting photos, working with large files, or recording Apple ProRes video on iPhone, those storage limits show up fast. I always recommend people get external storage rather than internal storage, since you can get 16TB for $800 these days! But external storage, specifically with iPhones, poses other challenges, like cables, mounts, and setups that can make things feel clunky. So when I saw the new Planck SSD and how tiny, compact, and purpose-built it was for iPhone, I had to check it out.

Following last week’s release of iOS 26.2.1, Apple has now stopped signing iOS 26.2. Here’s what that means.

Update 2, February 2, 2026 10:10am PT: Apple has released iOS 16.7.14.

Update 1, January 28, 3pm PT: As noted by Aaron Perris, Apple has started signing iOS 12.5.8, iOS 15.8.6, and iOS 18.7.4 again. iOS 16.7.13, however, remains unavailable.

Original story (published January 28, 4:19am PT below):

Apple this week released an array of iOS updates, including iOS 26.2.1, iOS 18.7.4, and more.

Now, however, it appears that Apple has pulled some of these new updates due to problems with network connectivity in Australia.

A new website takes Apple’s most persistent software bugs and reframes them as a hilarious scoreboard, using intentionally over-the-top math to estimate how many collective human hours they’ve supposedly wasted over the years.

Some of my earliest memories go back to the late 90s when the Game Boy Color launched. I remember being six or seven years old, walking into a store with my dad to pick up a Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokémon Blue. I spent countless hours playing that Game Boy, and looking back, it played a major role in sparking the tech interest I still carry today. Fast forward to 2026, and mobile gaming has evolved in ways we could not have imagined back then. Touchscreens are incredibly capable, but nothing truly replaces the tactility of real buttons, and most controllers are not portable enough to justify carrying everywhere. So when I saw just how tiny and lightweight the abxylute M4 Snap-On Mobile Controller was, I knew I had to test it for myself. Here is what you should know.

With iOS 26.3, Apple is rolling out a new feature that lets you limit the information that cellular networks can use to determine your location. The twist, however, is that the feature is only supported on devices powered by Apple’s in-house modem.

I think what’s more interesting than this specific feature itself is what it represents for the future.

Apple released the third iOS 26.3 beta this week for iPhone users. The update focuses a lot on interoperability between iPhone and Android devices, as well as support for third-party smartwatches. Here are all of the new iOS 26.3 features so far.

Apple has released iOS 12.5.8 for a small group of older iPhones, iPads, and the iPod touch, containing an important update for devices that can’t upgrade to modern versions of iOS. Here are the details.

In a new support document today, Apple details a new iOS 26.3 feature exclusive to devices with an Apple modem: “limit precise location.”

Apple explains that this setting allows you to “limit some information that cellular networks may use to determine your location.”

Apple has released iOS 26.3 beta 3 for iPhone. iOS 26.3 introduces an easier way to switch between Android and iPhone, tweaks to the Astronomy and Weather wallpaper gallery, and more.

Apple today has officially released iOS 26.2.1 for iPhone. This update comes a month after the launch of iOS 26.2, which brought changes to Liquid Glass, CarPlay, and much more.

Apple will unveil iOS 27 at WWDC in June, and rumors are already painting a clear picture: it sounds like exactly the update iPhone needs.

Apple reportedly plans to make a major pivot with Siri in iOS 27. According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple is developing its first chatbot with a version of Siri that will replace the existing experience.

Google is working on an on-device data migration feature on iOS that will let Safari users import their browsing data directly into Chrome. Here are the details.

Apple has released the second iOS 26.3 beta for iPhone. The first beta introduced an easier way to switch between Android and iPhone, tweaks to the Astronomy and Weather wallpaper gallery, and more.

Apple is fighting many elements of a list of 83 security requirements proposed by the Indian government. This reportedly includes a requirement to hand over iOS source code.

Reuters reports the government saying that it must be able to review the source code of all smartphones in order to allow vulnerabilities to identified …

It’s been half a year since iOS 26 debuted in beta, so I’ve had quite a bit of time to sit with it. In a release with such a massive redesign, it’s easy for some of the smaller additional features to fly under the radar – but after giving iOS 26 my fair shot, I’ve come to really like one underlying feature in particular, and it has to do with screenshots.

Apple generally adds new emojis to the iPhone with iOS updates in spring. As spotted by the folks at Emojipedia this week, the Unicode Consortium recently published the full list of draft emojis that could debut next year.

Among the list of new additions are a smiley face with squinting eyes, a pickle, an eraser, and more.

Apple is set to release a consistent stream of new iPhone software updates this year. There are major changes still to come with iOS 26, as well as iOS 27 coming at WWDC in June. Here’s the full timeline on when to expect these updates.