Michael is 9to5Mac’s Associate Editor, leading all of our Apple news coverage on Saturday and Sunday, and contributing to reporting from Monday to Wednesday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and started the weekly Indie App Spotlight series, which has covered dozens of indie apps since it launched.
According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple has opened up an internal testing program for the upcoming smart home product, which some refer to as HomePad. It was scheduled to debut in March, but has unfortunately become delayed while the company figures out how to build its promised new Siri capabilities.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Rovelist is a simple habit tracker app with a clean design, home screen widgets, and an intuitive interface. It’s available on iPhone, and provides everything you’d need to stay motivated and on top of everything you need to get done regularly.
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Apple has just wrapped up a number of its spring releases, including MacBook Air, iPad Air, Mac Studio, and iPhone 16e. For the most part, that’s probably the end of what the company plans to announce for a little while. However, there’s more in the pipeline for the middle of this year, including the long-rumored AirTag 2.
Here’s what we’re expecting with the next generation of Apple’s popular and affordable item tracker, AirTag, later this year. It may sound boring, but it’s meaningful.
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Historically, Apple Card has never offered a standard sign up bonus. Apple has certainly run a number of limited time promos, and now there’s a new one on the table. It’s a unique offer, and doesn’t have a minimum spend requirement, unlike previous Apple Card sign up bonuses.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, multiple Apple product launches are around the corner. This includes a new M4 MacBook Air model, as well as new iPad Air and entry-level iPad models. The MacBook Air announcement is ‘imminent’, while the iPad models are slightly later.
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According to the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Apple is facing multiple major hiccups in its AI rollout. While that isn’t a surprise, it does mean that many of its roadmapped features are being delayed, and technical challenges are resulting in certain features, including the ‘more conversational’ Siri update – shipping later.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Fluro provides a delightful recap of everything you’d need to know in a day, all in a neat Mac interface with a special LED scroller. It delivers the weather, your calendar events, reminders, the news, and more – all with a pinch of nostalgia.
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Apple’s recently announced iPhone 16e hit store shelves yesterday morning. It serves as a new entry point to the iPhone lineup, and replaces the iPhone SE family. While the iPhone 16e has a number of big upgrades over the iPhone SE 3 that it replaced, there are some smaller ones that might’ve slipped under the radar.
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In late 2022, initial payments for the Small Developer Assistance Fund started going out, with each eligible US developer receiving at least $1000 – up to 4x the projected minimum payout. A second round of payouts begun toward the end of 2023, and now the third and final round of payments started going out this week.
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Apple released iOS 18.4 beta on Friday, with a number of unique new features. Some of the new features include Priority Notifications with Apple Intelligence, a new Food section in the Apple News app, and more. However, there was another smaller change that went under the radar, one that has to do with CarPlay – particularly on larger displays.
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Last July, citizens of South Korea started a petition asking Apple to enable Find My support in the region. It was assumed that Find My was unavailable due to government restrictions, but that wasn’t actually the case according to the petition.
Apple later agreed to launch Find My support for the region in spring 2025, and that integration is finally starting to roll out.
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In the latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports that Apple plans on integrating future modems within the main chipset of the device. This means that, in the future, there won’t be both an A18 chipset alongside a separate C1 modem, instead they’ll all be one. This development will take a few years, though.
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According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple plans to heavily focus on video recording improvements for the new iPhone 17 Pro models. The company has previously focused primarily on photography, so it’s nice to hear that video will be getting some much-needed love.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is “gearing up” to launch a new version of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip. The company is preparing for a debut in March.
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Currently, Apple Intelligence offers the ability to direct Siri requests to ChatGPT, providing more contextual answers than what Siri would be able to offer. Back at WWDC24, Apple software exec Craig Federighi suggested in an interview that they’d like to offer integration with other AI models, including Google Gemini. That integration may arrive in the not too distant future, according to a new leak.
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Today, Apple has unsigned watchOS 11.4 beta 1 for all Apple Watch Series 6 models, meaning it is no longer possible for those users to test out the new beta. This news comes from Aaron Perris on X. They’ve also unsigned iOS and iPadOS 18.4 beta 1 for some iPhones and iPads.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Finma is a financial management app for your iPhone. It has a focus on user privacy and doesn’t require a connection to your bank account. It also features beautiful charts and many useful features to give you a better financial picture.
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When 5G debuted with the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple introduced a sneaky new pricing tactic. Apple would list iPhones as “starting at $799”, but that price would require you to activate with one of the major US carriers at the point of purchase. If you wanted an unlocked iPhone, the actual starting price point was $829.
iPhone 16e gets rid of this annoying upcharge.
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Brought to you by Uniq: Check out the new rugged cases from Uniq including the glow in the dark Combat Active iPhone case featuring a textured grip for ultimate control and a reflective lanyard. And the Stride SE, a high-performance Apple Watch sports band built tough with durable FKM.
Yesterday, Apple launched the new iPhone 16e, the cheapest new iPhone model in the lineup. It brings Apple Intelligence, Face ID, USB-C, the 48MP Fusion camera, and much more – all down to a starting price of just $599.
Obviously, the iPhone 16e is a noteworthy upgrade over the iPhone SE 3. However, there’s an easy comparison to be made to previous generation entry-level iPhones, such as the iPhone 12, 13, 14 and even iPhone 15 – for many great reasons. We’ll be diving into that here.
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Apple will debut its first new product of the year this Wednesday. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the launch through a tweet last week. While we can’t say for certain that the new product launch will be, it’s highly likely to be the new iPhone SE 4, which may receive a new name.
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With the Mac transition to Apple Silicon, Apple replaced its 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models with one singular 24-inch iMac. Many had assumed that there’d eventually be a larger iMac, perhaps a 30 or 32-inch model, maybe even an iMac Pro. However, we’re yet to see that come to fruition.
Despite the fact that it’s been three years since the 27-inch iMac was discontinued, and Apple has since said it’s not making another 27-inch iMac, there’s still some hope. Lets discuss.
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Have you ever wondered what it’d look like to see a Windows Phone, specifically – Lumia 1020, would look like if it were running iOS? I haven’t either, but it’s still a pretty cool project to look at. Seeing iOS run on radically different form factors is pretty uncommon, so it certainly piqued my interest.
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According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple is once again considering monetizing its Maps app with search ads. The company already does this with its News and Stocks apps. The goal is to boost its in-house advertising business.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is ramping up development on a Studio Display replacement. The company initially debuted this monitor in 2022 and has left it untouched since. There isn’t much word on what’ll be new with this Studio Display refresh, but it’ll apparently be a companion to the upcoming M5 MacBook Pros.
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