Zac Hall is a Senior Editor, covering Apple, AI, and the modern technology landscape.
He joined 9to5Mac in April 2013, originally as a writer and copy editor.
He later served as Lead Editor from May 2016 through December 2020, before shifting focus to creating the Space Explored website.
In 2015, Zac began co-hosting 9to5Mac Happy Hour, establishing the format of the site’s premier podcast, which he hosted for eight years.
In 2018, he created 9to5Mac Daily, providing audio recaps of Apple and technology news each weekday. He also created and hosted multiple seasons of the 9to5Mac Watch Time podcast, a health and fitness-focused interview series.
Zac currently focuses on writing for 9to5Mac. He is based in the lovely Gulf Coast town of Ocean Springs, MS, where he lives with his brilliant kids and Nova, his adventurous Cavachon rescue pup.
Apple has brought its Apple Intelligence feature called Visual Intelligence to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. iOS 18.4 beta 2 is the first software update to bring the Google and ChatGPT-connected visual search feature to a model outside of the iPhone 16 lineup.
Apple has released the second developer beta version of its upcoming iOS 18.4 software update. 9to5Mac collected 50 changes and features coming to the iPhone and iPad in the previous beta release…
Happy M4 MacBook Air week for those who celebrate! In his first edition of Power On since officially becoming Bloomberg’s managing editor of consumer tech, Mark Gurman reports that there are no delays in the way of Apple unveiling the 2025 model MacBook Air this week.
Apple has updated its support document for the recently introduced purchase migration tool, removing the EU and UK from the availability exclusion. India is the only remaining region listed where the Apple Account purchase migration tool isn’t offered.
It turns out the Apple Watch has been playing a crucial role in helping hockey referees manage NHL games. That’s thanks to a purpose-built app called NHL Watch Comms for on-ice NHL Officials. The app will be used for the first time in an outdoor setting for tomorrow’s Stadium Series in Ohio.
Welcome to Neural. AI moves fast. We help you keep up. OpenAI has officially unveiled GPT-4.5, the latest version of the fastest ChatGPT model. While GPT-4.5 excels in a number of areas including accuracy and emotional intelligence, OpenAI emphasizes that GPT-4.5 is not its most advanced model for now.
The iPhone 17 Pro concept image above seems more and more likely to be exactly what Apple will reveal this fall. Sonny Dickson has shared additional images from CAD files claiming to show the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max design and dimensions.
Apple does say the Mac is the best AI PC, and Microsoft is here for it. Starting today, Microsoft’s AI app called Copilot is now available on the Mac App Store. Copilot, which includes OpenAI and Microsoft models, was previously limited to the iPhone and iPad for Apple device users.
Fifteen days ago, Apple released a tool for iPhone and iPad that allegedly allows you to migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another. The primary requirement is that you must be logged in with both Apple Accounts on the same iPhone or iPad.
The only problem is that there are also secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, and denary requirements as well. There were so many requirements that I had to learn what comes after tertiary!
Best of all is that the tool doesn’t explain what went wrong when your two Apple Accounts don’t meet the very strict criteria. It just fails.
Heart Month may be coming to a close, but Apple Watch continues to save lives.
The latest story comes out of Austin, Texas. Mike Gomez credits the Apple Watch with helping to save his life after receiving a number of irregular heart rate notifications and an Afib detection alert.
Siri has many opportunities for improvement, but there’s one voice assistant feature Amazon’s Alexa+ has that Apple has always needed — long before the age of modern generative AI.
Apple Watch for kids is something parents are embracing more and more. The New York Times once reported that Apple Watch adoption is happening among children as young as five. Parents are finding the Apple Watch more appropriate for kids wanting smartphones.
The Apple Watch gives kids a way to stay in touch with parents, share location, and build responsibility without the full cost and complexity of a smartphone. Wondering if it may be time to consider adding more connectivity without the commitment of a smartphone? Read this first…
No, Friday didn’t come early and you didn’t get fired. Slack and a bunch of other online services are just going in and out for everyone.
“Our teams are aware and are investigating the issue,” a Slack spokesperson tells 9to5Mac. “For the latest updates, please keep an eye on status.slack.com.”
According to a letter seen by 9to5Mac, the Trump Administration is investigating whether the UK may have broken a bilateral agreement when secretly demanding that Apple build a global backdoor into iCloud.
Welcome to Neural. AI moves fast. We help you keep up. Much has unfolded in AI Land since we last spoke. Amazon has officially announced Alexa+, OpenAI has made a feature cheaper that used to cost $200/month, Anthropic unveiled and released Claude 3.7, and Perplexity has previewed its new AI-driven Comet browser for agentic search.
President Trump has calmly suggested that Apple should consider reevaluating its policies around diversity, equity, and inclusion, while making the case that meritocracy could yield better results and reduce workplace division. Wait, scratch that, President Trump has blasted Apple on social media in an all-caps message, demanding that “APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM.”
This week Sophia and Zac go behind-the-scenes on what happened at Humane, what the future could hold for the Ai Pin, and a quick look back at Apple’s iPhone 16e announcement.
With the iPhone 16e announcement behind us, the next big thing to anticipate is the upcoming iPhone 17 lineup. A new leak gives us our best look yet at how the iPhone 17 Pro Max will most likely look…
If you’re coming from an iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone XS, Apple’s newest iPhone may look like a downgrade when it comes to the camera. Fortunately, there’s more than meets the eye in Apple’s latest iPhone camera.