As we reported in August, Meta has confirmed that it will discontinue Spark, Instagram’s AR filters, in January 2025. At the time, the company didn’t give many details except to say that it would prioritize its efforts on other products. Now we know what’s coming next: realistic AI-based filters.

Every year, MKBHD holds its Smartphone Awards, choosing the best smartphones in different categories. For 2024, the YouTuber chose phones for 10 categories, and surprisingly, won an unexpected one – this year’s Best Small Phone.

Apple on Thursday stopped signing iOS 18.1.1, preventing users from downgrading to this version of the operating system if their iPhone or iPad is already running a newer version. The move comes a week after the release of iOS 18.2, which introduced significant new features and improvements.

OpenAI last month announced a major update to the macOS ChatGPT app, which gained the ability to read on-screen content in certain apps. The company is now rolling out an update that expands support for Apple Notes and even more third-party apps.

Apple this year was forced to drastically change how iOS works in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust law, which establishes a series of rules to prevent big techs from engaging in anti-competitive practices. However, it seems that the EU wants even more from Apple, as the European Commission is now demanding that the company ensure the “effective interoperability” of iOS with other platforms.

OpenAI has been announcing a lot of new features and enhancements for ChatGPT in recent days, and the company still has a few more cards up its sleeve. Now OpenAI is introducing an intriguing feature: the ability to call ChatGPT using your phone line without the need for cellular data.

Meta this week announced new features coming to its smart glasses designed in partnership with Ray-Ban. will soon gain new AI capabilities as well as integration with Apple’s Shazam to identify songs.

Meta has been working on a lot of new features for Threads, its microblogging platform, and there’s another one coming soon. The company has now teased a long-awaited option that will let users schedule posts for a later time.

Apple in June introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, allowing users of other platforms such as Windows PCs to access its map service directly from a web browser. Although the beta was quite limited at launch, it is now getting an important new feature, which is Look Around.

With the launch of watchOS 11 in September, Apple announced that the would get a new feature capable of detecting possible sleep apnea. The feature was launched in more than 150 countries, and now Brazil is joining that list

Apple on Monday released the first betas of iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 to users, just a few days after the public release of iOS 18.2. There’s not much to say about today’s betas when it comes to new features, and unfortunately for Mac and iPad users, iPadOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 still don’t have the redesigned Mail app.

Back in October, OpenAI launched its own search engine integrated into ChatGPT. At first, the feature was made available only to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, but now OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT Search to everyone – including free users.

Apple recently introduced Genmoji with iOS 18.2, which lets iPhone and iPad users create their own emoji using Apple Intelligence. Although the feature wasn’t included in the macOS 15.2 update, Genmoji is now available on the Mac with the first beta of macOS Sequoia 15.3.

Christmas is almost here, and although it’s already a magical time, technology can certainly help make this time of year even more special. With that in mind, an app called “Better Call Santa” lets you arrange a call with Santa for your children, all with the help of AI.

It’s been a while since WhatsApp introduced the ability to make audio and video calls in the app. To make this process even easier, Meta has been experimenting with a new call dialer built into WhatsApp for iPhone that will let users call people who aren’t in their contacts.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported earlier today that Apple has been working on a new HomePod mini for next year. While the report is focused on mentioning Apple’s new wireless chip, my only request is that Apple brings Apple Intelligence support to its future HomePod models.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday visited Apple’s UK headquarters accompanied by His Majesty King Charles III. Cook, who has been spending a few days in London, took the opportunity to invite the king to visit the company’s offices and meet with students from local educational programs supported by Apple.

WhatsApp on Thursday announced a series of improvements coming soon to audio and video calls just in time for the holiday season. According to Meta, users can expect better call quality, as well as some other new features – so read on as we detail what’s coming.

OpenAI has acknowledged that its popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is currently experiencing an outage, making the platform inaccessible to users all over the world. This issue has also impacted the integration with Siri following the public release of iOS 18.2 on Wednesday.

As we recently reported, Apple released a second RC build of iOS 18.2 to developers and beta testers before releasing the update to everyone earlier today. Although the RC build is often the same as the one that becomes available to the public, this time beta users have another update to install on their devices.