Benjamin and Chance assess the final iPad rumors ahead of next week’s ‘Let Loose’ event. Beats launches an incredibly compelling new addition to their headphones lineup, the Beats Solo Buds. At the same time, Apple fails to acknowledge what happened with people getting locked out of their Apple IDs over the weekend, in the same week as it releases a statement promising to fix an issue with iPhone alarms. 

And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin and Chance discuss what podcast client they currently use and why, and how their listening habits reflect their app preferences. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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We’re getting closer every day to a password-free future. Less than two years after Apple launched passkeys with iOS 16 and macOS 13, more and more companies continue adding support. Following in the footsteps of Amazon and Nintendo, among others, today Microsoft announced that passkey support is rolling out for all its consumer accounts across Apple platforms, Windows, and Google products.

Users of Word, Excel, and the host of other popular products requiring Microsoft sign-in will be able to authenticate using simple biometric tools like Face ID or Touch ID.

Apple has launched its newest specials when using its payment platform. For Mother’s Day, use Apple Pay to get up to 20% off a range of gifts from flowers, jewelry, chocolate, clothing, gift boxes, and more. Here are the details.

Thursday’s best deals are now live and headlined by Apple’s Magic Keyboard Folio for 10th Gen iPad at $199. It comes joined by the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e Headphones at $319, which are our favorite AirPods Max alternatives at $80 off. Plus, Satechi’s new SM1 Slim Keyboard for Mac is seeing a rare discount to $85. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

Today, Arc Search, the iOS app from the Browser Company that debuted earlier this year, has been updated with three key feature improvements: widgets for your Home screen, Voice Search that can be triggered from an iPhone’s Action button, and handy new tab controls for controlling page zoom and requesting a desktop site.

All of these added conveniences aim to take the AI-focused search and web browsing tool to a new place of frequent engagement for users.

While Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust law forced Apple to allow developers to sell apps outside the company’s own App Store, there were a number of potential problems with the company’s terms and conditions – not least of which is that an unexpected viral hit could have bankrupted an indie developer.

Apple had already made a number of changes to its terms to reduce the risk, and has now added two more protections which should prevent that nightmare scenario …

Earlier this week, the European Commission announced that iPadOS is now designated as a gatekeeper platform in the European Union, just like the iPhone and the App Store.

In a new developer announcement today, Apple acknowledged this change and confirmed it will bring features like alternative app marketplaces, third-party browser engines, and more to the iPad in the EU later this fall.

In February this year, we learned that after more than a decade of work, Project Titan – the Apple Car effort was officially canceled. Naturally, details have been sparse around the topic as it was a secret project. But today an interesting detail has surfaced about how Apple is dismantling the project.

Anyone following Apple supply chain reports knows that the company has been working toward adopting OLED displays on the iPad Pro for quite some time. Though the iPhone has featured an OLED display since the 2017 iPhone X, bringing the technology to the iPad lineup has proven difficult.

Delays seem to finally be reaching their end, however, as this new display technology should see its debut at the May 7 Apple event. A new report details how exactly the 2024 iPad Pro has produced fresh challenges for suppliers, and another highlights OLED supplier changes coming to the iPhone 16.

A new report says that Apple CEO Tim Cook will “hint” at upcoming AI features during next week’s Let Loose event.

New iPads are the main focus of the event, but there are possible reasons for suggesting that Apple might also use it to outline new artificial intelligence features ahead of a detailed briefing at WWDC …

The Apple Watch AFib feature – which detects abnormal heartbeat patterns indicative of atrial fibrillation – has received a new tick of approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Doctors have already credited the health feature with saving lives.

While the FDA had previously granted clearance for AFib detection, that was a limited endorsement …

A court is being asked to decide whether or not Meta has a legal obligation to allow the use of Unfollow Everything – a browser tool which effectively empties your Facebook feed.

The idea behind the tool is that instead of being sucked into an effectively endless feed of posts from every friend, group, and page you have ever followed, you get to proactively choose the posts you read …

Songs from UMG artists are now again available to TikTok creators, after a dispute over royalty payments and AI policies was resolved.

This has seen the return of a lengthy list of artists, including Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, Drake, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, and Post Malone …

As the frantic investor hype around streaming dies down, every studio is re-evaluating the way they do business, what shows they are commissioning, and their relationships with creators.

The financially-rich Apple has less pressure to do this than most, but we have seen changes at Apple Studios too, albeit perhaps to a lesser extent compared to other streaming outlets. The Ankler reports today in its Dealmakers column that Apple is talking to producers and agents about a potential new deal structure for their originals going forward.

It’s no secret that Google pays Apple a lot of money to be the default search engine for the Safari web browser on iOS and macOS. In 2021, the company paid $15 billion to keep Google as the default search engine on Apple platforms. Now a report has just revealed how much Google has spent to keep the deal going in 2022.

We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about an “Apple Watch X,” which would be a completely redesigned Apple Watch to celebrate the product’s 10th anniversary. However, little has been said about what to expect from the next generation Apple Watch Ultra – so read on as we dig into the details.

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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Today, Snap announced a host of feature updates coming to Snapchat that are sure to make its users happy. The two standout improvements center around messaging: editable messages and emoji reactions. These join a handful of service-wide enhancements that are driven by Snap’s AI efforts, such as AI reminders, creating custom Bitmoji looks, and more.

I’m someone who likes to replace my devices often, always getting the latest and greatest of what Apple produces. One glaring exception has been the iPad. I used to buy nearly every new generation, a trend that continued after I made the iPad my primary computer. But for nearly six years, I’ve been using the 2018 iPad Pro—a shockingly long time by my standards. And despite several new models releasing in recent years, I’ve never been enticed enough to upgrade.

Why? Because the 2018 model has worked remarkably well. Next week though, my new iPad drought will finally come to an end. Based on what’s widely expected in the 2024 iPad Pro—whether it includes an M4 chip or not—I’m eagerly ready to upgrade. And I suspect a lot of 2018 owners plan to do the same. Let me explain.

Apple Watch with watchOS 10 has with a range of new health and fitness features with one in particular aimed at supporting mental health. Follow along for how to track mood on Apple Watch in the latest Mindfulness app and the benefits of doing so.

Mac display aficionados know that pixel count must scale with screen size to maintain Apple’s standard for “Retina” resolution.

That’s why the 24-inch iMac is 4.5K, the 27-inch Studio Display is 5K, and the 32-inch Pro Display XDR is 6K. These resolutions and display sizes each amount to 218 pixels per inch. The result is a balance of sharpness and screen real estate for the price of $1499, $1599, and $4999, respectively.

The pursuit of pixels per inch is also why the Mac community endured the LG UltraFine 5K monitor for so long, and why Samsung’s more featured version of the Studio Display gets our attention.

With that being said, is a larger display with less resolution always a compromise? I’ve been reviewing a BenQ DesignVue Design Monitor for several weeks, and this 4K 32-inch setup has solved a real problem for me.

Apple is reportedly planning to supercharge the Calendar and Reminders apps with iOS 18 and macOS 15 this year. These updates join a long list of other expected iOS 18 improvements, including new AI features, upgrades to Safari, and more.

Technology comes with its pros and cons, and among modern Apple devices that’s been especially true with AirTag. Like other Bluetooth trackers, since their debut AirTags have been used by stalkers and other bad actors to track others without their consent or knowledge. Authorities have begun taking action, with Pennsylvania the latest state to move toward criminalization of unauthorized trackers.

Following a report that iPhone activation market share has hit a new low, CIRP released its newest study today. The data shows which iPhone models are the most popular in the US for Q1 2024 and how the iPhone 15 lineup is being adopted compared to the iPhone 14 devices and earlier.