Chance Miller

Benjamin and Chance answer some Ask9to5Mac questions to celebrate Happy Hour’s 500th episode, with commentary on upcoming Apple products, as well as some meta questions about the podcast itself. They also chat about the fact that Apple Podcasts is now available on the web, and how the rumored brown iPhone 16 is actually be in vogue.

And in Happy Hour Plus, Ask9to5Mac continues with questions about Benjamin and Chance’s career, and what could we imagine we’d be doing if 9to5Mac hadn’t panned out.

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Apple has announced another set of changes to its App Store and iPhone policies in the European Union. This time around, Apple is expanding default app controls, making additional first-party apps deletable, and updating the browser choice screen.

Apple’s App Store vice president is leaving the company in October, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

The structure of the App Store team is also being split into two teams, a change implemented by Phil Schiller in response to the ever-changing App Store policy worldwide.

Occasionally, an odd text string bug emerges in iOS that can crash your iPhone with just a few characters. This week, a security researcher on Mastodon found that typing these characters into Spotlight Search or App Library will crash your iPhone: “”::

iOS 18 beta 7 is now rolling out to developers as we inch closer to the public release in September. iOS 18 includes new Home Screen customization features, a redesigned Control Center, and more.

As we approach the public release of macOS Sequoia this fall, Apple continues to add new features. In the latest macOS Sequoia betas, there are nine new built-in backgrounds for video conferencing apps that showcase various different parts of Apple Park.

Apple is rolling out a big update to its Apple Sports app. As football season quickly approaches, the Apple Sports app now has full support for NFL and NCAA Football. There’s also a new “Stats” tab on game pages, showing box scores, lineups, and more.

While an image last month offered a clear look at three iPhone 16 Pro colors, it omitted the most exciting changes of all: a new “bronze” or “rose” colored option. Now, a new image posted to social media by Sonny Dickson toady shows off iPhone 16 Pro dummy units in all four expected colors.

Benjamin and Chance get excited about the news of an enticing Mac mini redesign coming this fall, talk about the changes in the latest iOS 18 betas, and question the appeal of the rumored $1000 table-top HomePod device. Plus, Apple tries to appease regulators with new policies for iPhone NFC and external link outs in the EU.

And in Happy Hour Plus, we debate Apple TV+ movie performance in light of the news that Wolfs is no longer getting a wide theatrical release. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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Following their initial launch last year, Apple’s Beats brand is teaming up with Kim Kardashian for a new edition of the Beats Studio Pro headphones. The Kim x Beats collaboration consists of three new Beats Studio Pro color options: Moon (light), Dune (medium) or Earth (deep).

The excellent podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz recently published a two-part series exploring “The Sound of Apple.” The episodes include conversations with multiple Apple Design Team members, audio engineers, and more, highlighting Apple’s work on creating “some of the most recognizable sounds ever made.”

Apple is moving forward with its plans for home robotics, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly ramping up its work on a tabletop smart home device with a robotic arm, which would serve as a “smart home command center, videoconferencing machine and remote-controlled home security tool.”

Apple has announced that it is opening up the iPhone’s NFC chip using the Secure Element to allow for third-party contactless payments, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. This feature will debut in a future release of iOS 18.1 and will be available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the U.K., and the United States.

Apple is pushing Tencent and ByteDance to “close loopholes” that currently allow their apps to skirt the App Store’s in-app purchase system, according to a new report from Bloomberg. In new quotes this week, Tencent acknowledged its talks with Apple for the first time, saying it wants terms that it thinks are “economically sustainable” and “fair.”

Apple has changed its screen recording privacy prompt in the latest beta of macOS Sequoia. As we reported last week, Apple’s initial plan was to prompt users to grant screen recording permissions weekly.

In macOS Sequoia beta 6, however, Apple has adjusted this policy and will now prompt users on a monthly basis instead. macOS Sequoia will also no longer prompt you to approve screen recording permissions every time you reboot your Mac.

iPhone Mirroring is one of the headlining features of iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, set to launch to the public this fall. With the latest betas of these updates, Apple has added a new feature to iPhone Mirroring: the ability to enter “jiggle mode” and rearrange your iPhone’s Home Screen.

Apple has officially opened applications for the fifth year of its Apple Entrepreneur Camp. Apple says that its Entrepreneur Camp “supports underrepresented founders and developers, and encourages the pipeline and longevity of these entrepreneurs in technology.”

Believe it or not, we’re just a month away from the iPhone 16’s announcement. Apple is expected to hold its event sometime in the first two weeks of September, which means the event will likely be announced in just a couple of weeks. Here’s what history tells us about the iPhone 16 event timeline.

Yesterday, Apple released not one but two new iOS 18 betas for testing. iOS 18 beta 6 is now available for developers and public beta users, while iOS 18.1 beta 2 is now available for developers.

Head below for a roundup of what’s new in each of these new releases.

Last week, Apple announced changes to its compliance strategy with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union. These changes apply to apps that link to a web page and include a new fee structure centered around the Initial Acquisition Fee and the Store Services Fee.

As it turns out, Apple’s changes to its guidelines around linking out in the EU are quite similar to Google’s Play Store policies in the EU – but with a few key differences. Here’s how the two arrangements stack up.

Alongside iOS 18.1 beta 2, Apple is also now rolling out macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta 2 for developers. This update includes the first set of Apple Intelligence features and comes two weeks after Apple kickstarted macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta testing two weeks ago.