Apple makes three headline speed claims for iOS 27: app launches up to 30 percent faster, new photos loading in your library up to 70 percent faster, and AirDrop transfers up to 80 percent faster. Each of those figures comes from a different test on a different iPhone, according to the footnotes on Apple’s iOS…
Tips
Does Siri AI Use Google Gemini? What Apple Actually Says About the Foundation Models Collaboration
Google is involved, and Apple has described that involvement in exactly one published sentence. Apple’s June press release says its next-generation Apple Foundation Models “were custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models for deeply integrated Apple Intelligence experiences,” and nothing on Apple’s consumer pages goes further than that. Siri AI arrives in beta…
AirPods 5 vs AirPods Pro 2: Open-Ear ANC at $129 or the Older Pro
AirPods 5 costs $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, and Apple’s tech specs rate it at up to 4 hours of listening with Active Noise Cancellation switched on. AirPods Pro 2 launched at $249 in September 2022, is rated at up to 6 hours with ANC on, and Apple no longer sells it.…
AT&T iPhone 18 Pro Offer: Apple Lists Up to $1,200 Trade-In Credit Over 36 Months
Apple’s Store page for iPhone 18 Pro lists exactly one AT&T launch term: up to $1,200 for an eligible trade-in in any condition, paid as monthly bill credits over 36 months. That line is the whole of what Apple publishes about the offer, and Apple adds that the amount varies by plan tier and customer…
macOS 27 Golden Gate: Release Date, Compatible Macs and Siri AI on Mac
macOS 27 Golden Gate arrives as a free update on Monday, September 14, 2026, and it runs on Apple silicon Macs only, from the new MacBook Neo back to the 2020 MacBook Air. It is also one of just two platforms where Siri AI works in the European Union at launch, which is the largest…
Siri AI Voice Options in iOS 27: Choosing a Voice and Tuning Expressivity and Pace
Siri AI in iOS 27 lets you pick a voice and then, in Apple’s words, “customize expressivity and pace until it clicks for you.” A deeper set of controls covering pitch, speed, tone and accent is limited to six iPhone models, according to the footnotes on Apple’s Apple Intelligence page: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18…
Siri AI Is Not Available in the EU on iPhone: Apple's DMA Dispute, What EU Users Get and When
Siri AI will not be available on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch in the European Union when iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and watchOS 27 ship on Monday, September 14. Apple’s press release says EU users can access Siri AI on Mac and Apple Vision Pro instead, and it has given no date for the iPhone.…
iPadOS 27 Release Date and Features: What Comes to iPad on September 14
iPadOS 27 arrives as a free update on Monday, September 14, 2026, the same day as iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27. Apple’s iPadOS 27 page lists Siri AI in beta, external drive transfers up to 5x faster, Visual Intelligence built into the screenshot experience, and the same Apple Intelligence…
AirPods 5 as a Microphone: Voice Isolation and Studio-Quality Recording Explained
AirPods 5 pick up your voice with dual beamforming microphones, an inward-facing microphone and a speech-detecting accelerometer, and Apple’s tech specs list two features built on that hardware: Voice Isolation for calls and what Apple calls studio-quality audio recording. Both are listed for the $129 AirPods 5 and the $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging…
AirPods 5 and Find My: Separation Alerts on Both Models, but Only the $149 Case Can Play a Sound
Both AirPods 5 models support Find My with separation alerts, according to Apple’s tech specs, but only the $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case has a speaker in its case, so it is the only one that can play a sound to help you find it. The $129 AirPods 5 ships with a USB-C…
How to Use Sound Recognition Alerts on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
Sound Recognition on Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 alerts you when the watch’s microphone picks up sirens, alarms, doorbells or a baby crying. Apple says the feature requires one of those two models, runs on the S11 chip, and keeps no audio recordings. Sound Recognition is part of Audio Intelligence, the…
How to Set Up Apple Watch Series 12 for a Family Member or Child
Apple Watch Series 12 can be set up for someone who does not have their own iPhone. Apple’s support guide puts the choice at step four of the pairing flow, where you pick “Set Up for Myself” or “Set Up for a Family Member,” and points to a separate support article (109036) for the family-specific…
What's in the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 Box: Fast Charger to USB-C Cable, One Band, No Power Adapter
Apple’s tech specs list three items in the Apple Watch Series 12 box: the watch, a band, and an Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable, 1 meter long. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 box lists the same three items. Neither box includes a USB-C power adapter, so you need your own. Apple Watch…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch SE 3: $799 or $249, What $550 Buys
Apple Watch Ultra 4 costs $799 and Apple Watch SE 3 costs $249 on Apple’s Store page, a gap of $550. Apple’s tech specs show what that money buys: the S11 chip instead of S10, 50 hours of battery instead of 18, 3000 nits instead of 1000, a 100 m water rating instead of 50…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Series 12 for Runners: 10 vs 18, 25 and 45 Workout Hours, L1 vs Dual-Frequency GPS
For a runner, two lines on Apple’s spec sheets separate Apple Watch Ultra 4 from Apple Watch Series 12: workout battery and GPS. Series 12 is rated for up to 10 hours of outdoor workout with Precision L1 GPS, while Ultra 4 is rated for 18 hours, 25 hours in Extended Workout and 45 hours…
How to Use the Tap Gesture and Dynamic App Grid in watchOS 27
watchOS 27 adds two navigation changes Apple describes on its watchOS page: a tap gesture, a single tap of your index finger and thumb, that selects Smart Stack widgets one-handed, and a dynamic app grid that automatically suggests your frequently and recently used apps. Both arrive with the free update on Monday, September 14, the…
Apple Watch Series 12 Has Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.3: What the Gap With iPhone 18 Pro's Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 Means
Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 connect over Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Bluetooth 5.3, according to Apple’s tech specs, while the iPhone 18 Pro announced the same day has Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) and Bluetooth 6. Apple has not explained the gap, but its compare page shows the watch radios are unchanged from…
Ceramic Apple Watch Series 12 Is Slightly Bigger: 43 mm and 47 mm Cases, 9.85 mm Deep
The ceramic Apple Watch Series 12 is not quite the same size as the aluminum and titanium models. Apple’s tech specs list the ceramic cases at 43 mm and 47 mm tall and 9.85 mm deep, against 42 mm and 46 mm and 9.7 mm for the other materials, even though Apple sells all three…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Series 11: Last Year's $399 Watch or the New $799 One
Apple Watch Ultra 4 costs $799 and Apple Watch Series 11 launched at $399 a year ago, so the question is whether the S11 chip, 50-hour battery, 100 m water resistance and satellite messaging are worth $400 over last year’s mainstream watch. They are if you hike, dive, run long distances or hate charging; if…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: 36 to 50 Hours, S9 to S11 and Satellite Added
Apple Watch Ultra 4 raises the battery rating from the Ultra 2’s 36 hours to 50, moves two chip generations from the S9 to the S11, adds satellite messaging that Ultra 2 never had, charges to 80 percent in about 45 minutes instead of about an hour, and keeps the $799 price Apple set for…
iPhone Weight Ranked: 165 g iPhone Air to 254 g iPhone Duo, Every Current and Recent Model
The lightest iPhone Apple has sold in the past five years is the 165 g iPhone Air, and the heaviest is the new 254 g iPhone Duo, according to Apple’s tech specs. The iPhone 18 Pro weighs 211 g and the iPhone 18 Pro Max 249 g, both heavier than the 17 Pro models they…
How to Set Up Cycle Tracking and Perimenopause Notifications on Apple Watch Series 12
Cycle Tracking for Apple Watch Series 12 is set up in the Health app on iPhone: tap Search, then Cycle Tracking, then Get Started. Once it is on, you log a period from the Cycle Tracking app on the watch, and the perimenopause and menopause notifications Apple added for watchOS 27 arrive with the free…
How to Read Recovery HRV and the Daytime Vitals View on Apple Watch Series 12
Apple Watch Series 12 measures heart rate variability every five minutes and reports it two ways: Recovery HRV, which Apple describes as a daily stress and recovery signal, and overall HRV. Both appear in the Heart Rate app on the watch, and a new daytime vitals view lets you toggle between overnight and daytime metrics…
How to Use Live Rewind on Apple Watch Series 12: Double-Press the Digital Crown for the Last 15 Seconds
Live Rewind is not available yet: Apple says it arrives in beta late in 2026. Once it does, Live Rewind on Apple Watch Series 12 shows the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as a text snippet after you double-press the Digital Crown. Apple says the feature needs a paired Apple Intelligence iPhone 16 or…