Michael Burkhardt

When AirPods Pro 3 initially debuted, I was a little bit hesitant about upgrading. I felt that AirPods Pro 2 were still excellent. On top of that, one of the key features of AirPods Pro 3, Live Translation, was also coming to AirPods Pro 2. However, after giving them plenty of usage, I can definitely say they’re worth an upgrade for a lot of people.

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.

If you’re an Apple Watch user, the Apple Health app has loads of useful data based on what it can collect from the watch. However, it’s not always easy to analyze that data and turn it into actionable health advice. Peaks solves one part of the problem, by utilizing your sleep data to help you plan your circadian rhythm.

Later this year, Apple will once again unveil a full set of flagship iPhones. It may feel like iPhone 17 Pro is still pretty recent, but actually – it’s already been five months. Out of everything in the rumor mill, iPhone Fold certainly sounds the most interesting – but there’s still a few interesting upgrades coming to the iPhone 18 Pro.

At CES 2026, Rolling Square introduced new versions of two unique Find My accessories they offer: AirCard Pro and AirNotch Pro. Both of these now support both Apple’s Find My and Android’s Find Hub networks, and they’re better than ever – while coming in at lower price points.

At CES 2026, Keychron introduced a new line of keyboards for Mac with its Q Ultra series. They all offer an 8K polling rate and a fantastic all metal build, and they come in three size variants: 75%, 80%, and full size. I’ll be going hands on with the Q1 Ultra.

Apple has two new iPad models slated for early in the year: a new base iPad with A18 chip, and a new iPad Air with an M4 chip. While Apple product launches can often sound exciting, there might not be too much more to the story for these iPad models.

Apple’s next iPhone launch is expected to be one of its cheapest. With the new iPhone 17e, a follow up to last years first generation iPhone 16e – the company will add three important upgrades to the device, though one thing won’t be changing: the price.

There’s been loads of speculation as to when the next generation MacBook Pros with high-end Apple Silicon would launch. Many thought January, then January came and went. All we knew is that they’d launch alongside macOS 26.3 – which should go out to the public in the coming days.

However, that only means that the MacBook Pros have to launch sometime before macOS 26.4 launches to the public. Despite the imminent launch of macOS 26.3, the MacBook Pro launch isn’t quite as imminent, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

In many of its most recent hardware launches, including iPad Pro and iPhone 17 Pro, Apple has prioritized one thing heavily: thermals. With how powerful Apple Silicon can be, having sufficient passive cooling is important on fanless devices.

There’s one key product line that’s so far missed out on this treatment: the MacBook Air.

While iPhone Fold is certainly the more interesting iPhone launching this fall, the iPhone 18 Pro will always be important for one reason: cameras. iPhone Fold won’t be able to pack a flagship camera experience, so if that’s something you’re after, you’ll have to settle for the “boring” iPhone 18 Pro.

Despite looking similar on the outside though, there’ll be a number of interesting camera upgrades to look forward to.

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.

If you’re an avid Apple Watch user, you might find yourself wanting more workout choices than what the Workout app can offer you. WatchFit bridges that gap, allowing you to build custom, structured workouts to your choosing.

Last year, Apple confirmed that it’d be supporting end-to-end encryption with RCS in a future software update. At the time, iOS 18 was still the latest version of iOS – thus implying that the upgrade would come as part of the next round of software – iOS 26.

So far, end-to-end encryption is yet to ship. That’s not the only thing though. The upgrade to end-to-end encryption would’ve also necessitated other major upgrades to the RCS protocol, and as of iOS 26.3 RC, it’s all still missing.

In today’s Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, an interesting new possibility was shared for the iPhone lineup: a smaller, clamshell foldable iPhone. This model is far from fruition, though Apple is currently considering it.

In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman provided an updated release timeline for the new MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max. Previously, these models have been expected to launch before the spring.

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.

Obesity remains a rampant concern in America, with 2 in 5 adults struggling with obesity. GLP-1 medications have become popular in recent years to help people manage their weight – and Within Reach is a companion app to help you track everything related to the journey.

Apple Watch certainly feels like a rather mature platform at this point. Software wise, there isn’t usually a ton I’d like to see – though there probably is a lot of potential for the Apple Watch to serve as an AI wearable. Nonetheless, there is one nifty software upgrade I’d really like to see them add to the Apple Watch.

Across the computing industry, computer memory (both in the form of RAM and flash storage) has only been getting more and more expensive – largely due to supply shortages caused by AI datacenter buildout. Memory prices have up to quadrupled in recent months, and it’s likely going to worsen.

That leaves the question: will Apple be adjusting its own memory prices?

Apple reportedly has an exciting plan for the Mac lineup for 2026. That includes new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro refreshes, a massive MacBook Pro redesign, new Mac desktops, an all new budget MacBook offering, as well as a second generation Studio Display.

We’ll be delving into what’s expected for all of these new Mac products right here.

Earlier this month, Apple and Google officially announced that they’d be partnering together. Apple has long struggled with its own model development, so now, Google Gemini models will power future Apple Intelligence features, using Apple’s private cloud compute servers.

Today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that this partnership is on track to debut in iOS 26.4 beta as soon as next month, and Apple plans to demonstrate the features to the public in some capacity. He also reports some interesting new details on how this partnership came to be.

Early last year, Apple agreed to settle a class action lawsuit regarding ‘unlawful and intentional recording’ of conversations with Siri. The issue dates back to 2019, and the company denies any wrongdoing. Since then, Apple has taken efforts to improve Siri privacy, but it still settled this case to go forward.

Claims started being accepted mid last year, and now users are starting to receive their payouts.