Apple has been working on AI smart glasses for a little while, both to compete against Meta Ray-Bans and to provide a hardware platform for Siri and its Visual Intelligence features. While they were originally set to be announced at the end of this year and debut early next year, that’s now been delayed, with a launch now set to take place by the end of 2027, per Bloomberg.

On the flip side of things, a cheaper and lighter version of Apple Vision Pro, dubbed Vision Air, may arrive as soon as 2028, potentially 2029.

According to the HomePod mini later this year – alongside the long-awaited release of next-generation Siri in iOS 27. These devices will largely be chip upgrades, though the Apple TV 4K may get an updated Siri Remote.

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.

Navigating across different cities and figuring out their public transportation can sometimes be a bit messy. Maps apps might not always have the best information, or the apps that do exist aren’t presenting data in a super readable manner.

NextThere aims to tackle that problem, and also packs loads of historical data for providing more informed information regarding delays, on-time performance, and so on. It’s great for tourists and frequent commuters alike.

Last week, reports emerged around Apple developing a new pair of Beats over-ear headphones, with the FCC leaking an outline of the headphones, model number A3577. Now, leading into the world cup, Lamine Yamal has just openly teased the new Beats headphones in an Instagram post, likely to be a successor to Beats Studio Pro.

For the better part of a year, we’ve been hearing about Project Mulberry: Apple’s AI-powered health coach. Back in February, it was reported that these efforts had been scaled back. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the features should still be on track for iOS 27, though they may not release until later in the cycle.

On the other hand, Apple is apparently going to greatly improve Apple Watch heart-rate tracking with watchOS 27, which could tie in nicely with Apple’s eventual health coach.

According to this weekend’s Power On newsletter, Apple’s image generation models – used in Genmoji and Image Playground – will be receiving a ‘big boost’ in visual quality. Currently, they’re far from anything to write home about.

In response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple is reportedly working on the ability to replace AirPlay with other third-party streaming protocols at a system level. This feature may only roll out in the European Union, similar to third-party app marketplaces.

While many of the iOS 27 rumors have focused on Apple Intelligence, Siri, and performance – there’s a plethora of upgrades reportedly coming to the Camera app, building on top of the redesign that we saw last year with iOS 26. There’ll also be a number of new AI-enhanced editing tools coming to the Photos app.

Apple has just registered a new subdomain record ahead of WWDC: genai.apple.com. All signs point to WWDC 2026 being Apple’s major AI renaissance, where the company will live up to the promises it made back at WWDC 2024, as well as a few additional new announcements.

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.

In a world full of AI assistants and tools that try to make your life easier, Poppy takes a different approach. Rather than requiring your effort up front, Poppy does its best to be proactive – and give you helpful context before you even know you need it.

Introduced in iOS 16, Focus Filters are excellent in premise. If you’re in say, a Work focus, you can block out distracting apps, websites, and notifications. It even works in Messages, where you’ll only see texts from people in your Work focus.

There’s one caveat with its implementation in Messages though, and it makes it much less useful for me than it could be.

After being introduced at CES, Belkin has recently started shipping some of its newest MagSafe and Qi2 products for 2026. First up is their slim Qi2 battery bank for iPhone – sporting a built in kickstand.

According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an interesting new Genmoji feature in iOS 27 to bolster its usage: suggested Genmoji’s based on your photo library and keyboard history.

Next month at WWDC 2026, Apple is expected to finally live up to its AI Siri promises, and more. The company has long been working on a new standalone Siri app to boost how users interact with Siri and Apple Intelligence – and it should be debuting in beta next month.

According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Siri app will come with a privacy feature similar to one on iMessage: auto-deleting chats. He also expects Siri to launch with a beta label even when it’s available publicly in the fall, similar to some previous Apple rollouts.

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 a beloved cat owner, you might often have your cat running across your Mac’s keyboard, causing loads of unnecessary keyboard input, and sometimes even unwanted communications. Cats Lock has a solution for it, and soon your cat will be able to roam your MacBook keyboard freely.

As is the case every year, this September – Apple will be unveiling its next-generation Apple Watch model. Apple Watch Series 12 will likely carry on the same design language as the Apple Watch Series 11, but with a few changes. Let’s dive in.

Apple debuted iPhone 16e last year at its $599 price point – and it’s been an okay phone since. It got refreshed this year with an A19 chipset, more storage, and MagSafe, but for the most part, its positioning in the market hasn’t really changed. It’s an okay phone at an okay price.

It’s been selling decently, but it hasn’t really been a killer appeal to Android users in the same way that MacBook Neo has been for PC users. I think that could change.

Introduced in iOS 15, Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature that does exactly what it says on the tin – you can create an alternative email address for each individual service you sign up for, and easily cut off said email whenever you’d like. It prevents advertisers from having your primary email address, and gives you better inbox control – a total win-win.

That said, despite being introduced 5 years ago, the feature hasn’t progressed as much as it realistically could have. Here are my suggestions for how Apple could improve Hide My Email.

For the most part, iPad has dominated the tablet market – and that probably won’t be changing anytime soon. In recent years, though, I think many people have been struggling to come up with reasons to buy a new iPad – especially when the previous generations have been so good. While this likely isn’t a huge problem quite yet, I do think it raises some questions going forward.

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.

Most people believe they’re spending too much time on their phones – but don’t necessarily know how to do better. Developer Florian Schimanke has created four great apps to help you with your screen time in different ways. You can get them individually, or you can also buy them all as a bundle at a discounted rate.