When Apple announced the Emergency SOS via Satellite service with the iPhone 14 line-up, it said at the time it would be free for the first two years – implying that it would require a paid subscription after that.

Earlier this month, Apple gave iPhone 14 owners an extra year. As things stand, then, both iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 owners will get free service until September 2025. After that, though, Apple has a problem …

Apple launched two amazing new accessibility features this year called Personal Voice and Live Speech. They allow users to not only create and securely store a replica of their voice but also to allow iPhone to speak for them. Today Apple has shared the moving story of a disability advocate and physician who has found himself using the feature along with a new video that he narrates with is own Personal Voice called “The Lost Voice”.

In 2021, Apple committed to investing $430 billion in the US economy over a five year period. Now the company has detailed plans to bring Apple silicon packaging to Arizona as part of that investment. The announcement seems to refute an earlier report that Apple silicon fabbed by TSMC in the US would still need to be packaged in Taiwan.

We learned earlier this month that a Reddit user had his iPhone 15 Pro Max order from Apple intercepted somewhere in the shipping process, and received a fake iPhone 15 Pro Max instead.

While he was sufficiently savvy to quickly realize that it wasn’t the real thing, we can now take a close look at the fake he likely received – with both hardware and iOS 17 software cloned …

Three former Apple employees – two of them the ones who developed the Shortcuts app – are working on a new project: Bringing AI to the Mac.

The trio say their aim is to bring back some of the magic you used to feel when powering-up a personal computer back in the 80s – though they do also give a simple example of the kind of practical application they have in mind …

The OpenAI mess was all but over as of last November, but there was one outstanding item: an official review into the actions of CEO Sam Altman. Update: The internal review is now complete, Altman has now been officially appointed to the board, with three new directors.

The board expressed full confidence in the leadership of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, but the mystery of what led to his removal in the first place remains unsolved – more at the end …

If you use Chrome on Mac, it’s strongly recommended to update it immediately, as a security flaw discovered by Google is being actively exploited by attackers. It could potentially allow personal data to be extracted from your Mac (the same issue also affects Chrome on Windows and Linux).

Google says it is aware of at least one real-life case of the exploit being used by a bad actor …

After teasing the finalists earlier this month, Apple has now unveiled the full list of App Store Award winners for 2023. AllTrails has taken home the iPhone App of the Year crown, while Photomator was crowned the Mac App of the Year. Head below for a full breakdown of the winners across all of Apple’s platforms and categories.

A recent report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that Apple and Goldman Sachs are ending the partnership they made in 2019 to introduce the Apple Card. Although the news didn’t come as a surprise, it’s still unclear what will happen to the Apple Card – but a job opening on Apple’s website suggests that the company may be working with a Brazilian fintech to sort it out.

Earlier this month, Apple and a number of other companies made the decision to pause advertising on X (formerly known as Twitter). Elon Musk has now directly responded to those companies with a vulgar message: “Go fu*k yourself.”

Teddy, a 10-year-old Apple fan from the UK, has started a petition calling on Apple to redesign the “nerd face” glasses emoji. Teddy believes that the nerd face emoji’s prominent front teeth make it “absolutely horrible for people wearing glasses.”

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are coming. Even though we’re still several months from any official announcement, rumors have already started to paint a picture of what to expect. The iPhone 16 Pro lineup will feature Apple’s biggest iPhone screens ever, significant camera improvements, and more.

Head below as we round up everything we know about the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max so far.

Apple’s official iPhone 15/Plus silicone cases are some of the best covers around, and right now, you can score the first-party Winter Blue styles at $32. Speaking of iPhone 15 accessories, these Anker 6-in-1 GaN charging stations now start from $56 to go alongside a collection go ZAGG and mophie chargers at 40% off. Not to mention a rare chance to save on Sonos Arc from $509. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

Following up on the slick limited edition Strike Sport Apple Watch band, Nomad is out with its latest limited-run band and iPhone case. Here are all the details on the new vibrant Racing Yellow finish for Nomad’s popular Apple Watch Sport Band and iPhone Sport Case.

Update 1/15/24: The limited edition Racing Yellow Apple Watch Sport Band is back in stock – for now (Racing Yellow iPhone Sport Case remains sold out).

Apple is continuing its annual tradition of donating a portion of all Apple Pay sales during the holiday shopping season to The Global Fund. This is an extension of Apple’s ongoing partnership with (RED), which has raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars so far.

We’ve seen some impressive new Thunderbolt and USB-C monitors launch over the last year to compete with Apple’s and Pro Display XDR. However, most monitors aimed at Mac users don’t support the MacBook Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion refresh rates, even Apple’s displays. Now the Spectrum One arrived from Dough that offers an enticing 27-inch, 4K monitor with 144Hz refresh, USB-C with 100W power, an allegedly advanced glossy finish, and more.

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.

Sponsored by Dreametech: Check out Dreametech’s ultra-intelligent AI vacuuming and mopping solutions, now available with a 40% discount on selected models, offering savings of up to $450!

Despite Apple’s reliance on Arm as the instruction set for iPhone chips, Arm earns less than 5% of its annual revenue from Apple. A new report details how this has been a heated point for Arm, especially now that the company is publicly traded and looking for growth. However, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son has proved unsuccessful at forcing Apple to pay more in licensing fees.

Update: Whether AirDrop is vulnerable to this exploit is unclear, but the odds are against it. See the update at the end.

Two newly-discovered Bluetooth security flaws allow attackers to hijack the connections of all devices using Bluetooth 4.2 to 5.4 inclusive – that is, all devices between late 2014 and now.

Six separate exploits have been demonstrated, allowing both device impersonations and man-in-the-middle attacks …

Following the debut of Apple Music Replay yesterday, Spotify Wrapped is also now available. This year’s Spotify Wrapped gives users the ability to view in-depth information on their top songs, artists, albums, and more. There’s also a new “Me” feature that assigns you a “listening character specific to your tastes and habits on Spotify.”

A sketchy report claims that plans to design an in-house Apple 5G modem chip have been abandoned, after the company struggled to make progress with the project.

It follows a series of reports describing the challenges faced by the company, including one which suggested that the project was proving a “spectacular failure” …

Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charles T Munger died yesterday – the man Warren Buffett credited with the change of investment strategy which led to the conglomerate investing massively in AAPL …

The advanced glass-plastic hybrid lens used in the iPhone 15 Pro Max is likely to be adopted by high-end Android phones, according to a new investment note by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

The hybrid design brings some of the benefits of glass lenses to smartphones, which usually have to use plastic lenses …

Apple changed the charging port from Lightning to USB-C with the iPhone 15. A USB-C charging cable comes in the box, but upgraders may need to purchase a separate cable to continue using CarPlay.

One of Apple’s most successful British shows, Slow Horses, returns today for season three on Apple TV+ with a two-episode premiere. The remainder of the season rolls out weekly. Based on the books by Mick Herron, Slow Horses follows a department of MI5 reject spies led by Jackson Lamb (played by Gary Oldman).

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.

Sponsored by Dreametech: Check out Dreametech’s ultra-intelligent AI vacuuming and mopping solutions, now available with a 40% discount on selected models, offering savings of up to $450!

Play is a third-party companion app to YouTube introduced last year that lets users organize videos, whether to bookmark their favorites or save them to watch later. The app has now been updated to version 2.0, which adds many new features, including the option to follow channels and organize them into folders. Read on as we detail what’s new with Play 2.0.

Apple and Goldman Sachs are ending their partnership that currently consists of the Apple Card and Apple Card Savings Account. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple has “sent a proposal to Goldman to exit from the contract in the next roughly 12-to-15 months.”

Update: In a statement to CNBC, Apple said that it will “continue to innovate” for Apple Card customers:

Apple and Goldman Sachs are focused on providing an incredible experience for our customers to help them lead healthier financial lives. The award-winning Apple Card has seen a great reception from consumers, and we will continue to innovate and deliver the best tools and services for them.

Google Drive is bringing the document scanner that was just redesigned on Android to the iPhone and iPad for the first time.

After the release of iOS 17.1 in October, Apple has now released iOS 17.2 with a number of major new features for iPhone users. Here’s everything new.

Joining Apple Music Replay, which shows you your top songs, artists, and milestones of the year, is a new feature for your digital books and audiobooks purchased through Apple. Here’s how to see Apple Books Year in Review and learn your “reader type.”

Apple has been running tests with iOS 17.2 beta since last month. In addition to the new Journal app, this version brings some other new features for iPhone and iPad users. With iOS 17.2 beta 4, which was released today to developers, Apple is finally letting users change the default notification sound. At the same time, the company has removed the shared playlists feature from Apple Music.

The fourth iOS 17.2, macOS 14.2, tvOS 17.2, and watchOS 10.2 developer and public betas are now available. The final version is expected to be ready in December. We’ll update you with any changes we discover. (Update: Here’s what’s new.)

Continuing with the “year-in-review” trend of the day, Apple Music has shared an in-depth look at the top songs of the year. This comes after Taylor Swift was crowned Apple Music’s Artist of the Year earlier this month.

A new all-time low is dropping Apple’s M2 Mac mini down to $479. It’s $120 off and joining all of the other best Apple deals today, like the original Apple Watch Ultra at $659. And if you’ve been waiting on an Apple TV 4K discount, one has finally arrived for $115. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

Earlier this month, Basic Apple Guy released an internal schematic wallpaper for the Space Black MacBook Pro. Now he’s back with his favorite and most impressive creation of the year – the iPhone 15 Pro Internals Wallpapers. Check out all the behind-the-scenes details and grab it for iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max below.

Apple CarPlay is the safest way to interact with your iPhone in the car. You never need to touch your iPhone while driving – something you should never ever do anyway. Instead, you control navigation, communication, and entertainment with voice control and a simplified interface on your car’s screen.

What if your car doesn’t have a built-in display? What if it has one that doesn’t work with Apple CarPlay? The good news is you don’t have to go out and buy a brand new car. In most cases, you can have a really good in-dash system installed for anywhere from $200 to $1,000. Picking the right solution before you make the investment is important.

Whether you’re working out with Apple Watch or just trying to live healthier, smart scales that sync data to the iPhone can be a fun and useful way to track your progress.

If you want to easily collect your weight and other measurement data in the Health app on iPhone and iPad (new with iPadOS 17), the trick is to find a scale that works with HealthKit.

Bloomberg last month reported that Apple is working on a 2nd-gen Vision Pro headset which could reduce the price by around half, and that is today backed by a new supply-chain report.

The report says that the company is currently working on no fewer than four variants of a future headset, and that Apple is aiming to halve the manufacturing cost with one of these …

Alongside end-of-year recaps for Apple Books and Apple Podcasts, the full Apple Music Replay 2023 recap is also now available. This shows Apple Music users a breakdown of their listening data for 2023, including top songs, albums, artists, and more.

Three new Ikea sensors are being added to the company’s smart home product line-up, each set to cost less than $10.

None of them natively support HomeKit, but the company says that all support the $69 Dirigera hub, and has promised that will be upgraded to Matter at some point …

As we approach the end of 2023, Apple is taking a retrospective look at the last year in media. After recently naming Taylor Swift artist of the year for being the “most-streamed female artist in Apple Music history,” it’s time to check in with Apple Books and Podcasts.

More than 100 brands have now ceased ads on X over antisemitic content allowed to propagate on the social network. They are following the example of companies like Apple and Disney, which made the decision early last week.

X itself had estimated that the financial hit could be around $11M, but the company’s own internal documents reveal that the total loss could be as high as $75M …

After an earlier test, all Evernote free users now have their accounts limited to a single notebook containing just 50 notes.

While the company claims that most free users won’t be affected, that is almost certainly counting anyone who briefly trialled it before abandoning it. Almost no active users will fall within the new limits, effectively ending the free tier. The change will likely drive many to switch to Apple’s Notes …

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In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Alex Lowe from HostiFi about the state of Wi-Fi 6E, what to expect from Wi-Fi 7, and the state of the UniFi ecosystem.

The first iPhone SE was introduced in 2016 as a more affordable iPhone option, but it also became the favorite choice of customers who weren’t fans of large-screen smartphones. A few years later, the SE got a slightly larger 4.7-inch screen, but it looks super outdated with its iPhone 8-based design.

With rumors about Apple working on a new iPhone SE, we’d like to know: What would make this device ideal for you?

Decluttr is known for offering the best blend of generous cash values and a seamless experience for trading in your Apple devices. But did you know you can shop and save big on refurbished tech with 9to5Mac’s exclusive trade-in partner, too? For Black Friday and Cyber Monday week, Decluttr is offering up to $150 off its refurbished iPhone, iPad, and MacBook devices and more – that’s on top of savings hundreds of dollars compared to buying new tech.

One of the more interesting features recently added to iPhone is something called Clean Energy Charging. Apple says that this feature aims to “reduce your carbon footprint” by charging when lower carbon-emission electricity is available. In a support document, Apple has more details on how this feature works…

Can you really call yourself a Mac power user without mastering the new Reactions feature in macOS Sonoma? Apple has been tinkering with software features for improving webcam video quality for a few years. macOS Sonoma takes a more fun approach with the introduction of frame-filling 3D augmented reality effects.