Google is updating the Chrome app for the iPhone and the iPad with a dedicated "AI Mode" button that matches functionality found in the desktop version of Chrome. AI Mode is located under the Google search bar, next to an Incognito Mode button.


The AI Mode option provides quicker access to Chrome's Gemini-powered AI search feature. Google says that AI Mode lets users ask more complex, multi-part questions, and follow up on answers.

Chrome users in the United States will see the AI Mode button in the Chrome apps for ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, and Android as of today, with Google planning to expand it to additional countries in the near future.
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Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is starting off with an early Black Friday bang – the M4 MacBook Air has now dropped to a new all-time low price on Amazon. Both the 13-inch and 15-inch models, including 16GB and 24GB configs, have dropped to the best Amazon price ever at $250 off. Those offers join a massive open-box deal on M4 MacBook Pro at over $400 off, Apple USB-C cables from just $7 Prime shipped, and more. Scope it all out down below. 

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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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iOS 26.2 beta 1 arrived yesterday with a lot of changes, one of which is a new Reminders app feature that I’ve been wanting for years.

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In Google Maps, Gemini already exists in place listings, and it’s now coming to the navigation experience on Android and iOS. Google equates this “hands-free, conversational driving experience” to having a “knowledgeable friend in the passenger seat who can confidently help you get where you’re going.”

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The wait is over. Our annual best new iPhone pro-model pictures roundup has concluded. After combing through the thousands of iPhone 17 Pro images submitted by the 9to5Mac community across a variety of social platforms, here were the standouts and arguably best we’ve seen yet.

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A new Nintendo Store app is now available on the iPhone and iPad, allowing you to browse games, review your play activity across select consoles, and more.


The app lets you browse Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles and accessories, physical and digital games, merchandise, and select other products, but it will direct you to Nintendo's web store if you wish to proceed with a purchase.

My Nintendo Store could already be accessed through a web browser on the iPhone and iPad, but now customers who prefer to use an app have such an option.

There is another feature that Nintendo fans will love. In the app, you can sign in to your Nintendo Account and review your Switch and Switch 2 play activity, as well as any Nintendo 3DS and Wii U play activity logged until February 2020.

Other features include the latest news about Nintendo games and events, the ability to receive push notifications when items on your wish list go on sale, and more.

The free Nintendo Store app is available now in the App Store in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and many European countries. It is also available in Japan, where it replaces a similar My Nintendo app that was released in 2020.
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Apple has announced the season 2 premiere date for The Last Thing He Told Me, the Jennifer Garner-starring series based on a hit book. Here are the details.

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iOS 26.2 beta 1 arrived yesterday with a bunch of exciting new features, but hidden in the release’s code, there’s also reference to a new ‘Apple Creator Studio’ in the works.

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There are official ways to play Fortnite on a Mac, using one of three cloud gaming services. But you can also visit GitHub to install the real native mobile Fortnite on any Apple Silicon Mac …

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Apple's AirTag is seeing a big discount as we head into Black Friday later this month, with both Amazon and Best Buy providing an all-time low price on the 4-Pack accessory.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You can get the AirTag 4-Pack for $64.99 from Amazon and Best Buy, down from $99.00. This is a match for the best price we've ever seen on the AirTag 4-Pack.



Amazon currently has the AirTag 1-Pack for $24.00, down from $29.00. This is not the best price we've ever seen on this version of the accessory, so we recommend looking toward the 4-Pack option to maximize your savings.

You can find all the Apple Black Friday Deals currently available in our dedicated post. For everything else, we're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2025.

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Apple is rolling out a Liquid Glass redesign to another one of its apps. A new version of Shazam is now available on the App Store with a “sleek, new Liquid Glass look.”

The update also makes it easier to quickly glance at the recent songs you’ve identified with Shazam right on the Home tab.

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Apple’s monopoly on the sale of iPhone apps is set to be further eroded according to a new tweet showing third-party app stores in the iOS 26.2 beta in Japan. This follows a ruling by Japan’s Fair Trade Commission in August that both Apple and Google must allow alternative app stores.

This will make Japan the 29th country to get third-party app stores for the iPhone, with others set to follow as courts and antitrust regulators continue to issue rulings …

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Apple today updated its Shazam app with a new Liquid Glass design, for iPhone users who are running iOS 26 and later.


The app has a new navigation bar that provides quick access to Home, Library, and Concerts tabs, as well as a search button. In addition, recently-identified songs now appear directly on the Home screen, without needing to swipe up.

These changes require the latest version of the Shazam app, which is rolling out now.

Shazam is a popular music identification service that Apple acquired back in 2018. In addition to being available as an app, Shazam powers a Recognize Music control in Control Center on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and you can use Shazam via Siri.
This article, "Shazam App for iPhone Updated With Liquid Glass Design on iOS 26" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The iPhone Air managed to beat the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge to become the slimmest smartphone on the market, though we noted at the time that it’s not the slimmest smartphone we’ve ever seen.

The latest contender on the Android front is the shiny new Motorola Edge 70, which is very slightly thicker than the iPhone Air, but has a much thinner camera bump and compares well in several other ways …

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Apple on Tuesday released the first beta of iOS 26.2 to developers, and it appears that the software will allow users in Japan to install alternative app marketplaces on their devices when it is released to the public in December.


According to a post shared on X by @Tzzlala, iPhones running the beta in Japan are able to install alternative app stores like AltStore PAL and Epic Games, and download apps from them, though Fortnite in-app purchases are currently region-blocked by Epic.

Apple only lets iPhone and iPad users based in the EU to install apps using alternative app marketplaces in addition to the App Store. The ability was introduced in iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 18 in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act, and Apple does not currently allow it in any regions outside the 27-member bloc. However, that's set to change.

In June 2024, the Japanese parliament approved and enacted legislation that requires Apple to allow third-party app stores and payment providers on the iPhone. The law seeks to curb the dominance of major tech firms like Apple in the smartphone market.

More recently, in August 2025, the Japan Fair Trade Commission established the Mobile Software Competition Act Guidelines. Under the new guidelines, platform operators like Apple and Google are banned from blocking or restricting the availability of alternative app stores and payment systems on their mobile operating systems.


The guidelines are set to come into effect by December 18, 2025, while Apple is expected to release iOS 26.2 in December, sometime between December 9 and December 16. Epic Games has already announced plans to bring Fortnite and its game store platform to iOS in Japan by late 2025.
This article, "iOS 26.2 to Allow Third-Party App Stores in Japan Ahead of Regulatory Deadline" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Most people upgrade their MacBook Pro no more frequently than once every five years, and some leave it considerably longer than that. But Apple always makes it sound like even last year’s model is now hopelessly outdated, something it did again with the launch of the M5 MacBook Pro.

There’s no doubt that the company is achieving incredibly impressive year-on-year increases in Apple Silicon performance, but real-life tests show that upgrading from one generation to the next doesn’t make sense for the vast majority of MacBook owners …

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The new sci-fi drama Pluribus lands on Apple TV this Friday. The highly anticipated series from Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol, a woman in a world that needs saving from a contagion of happiness. Apple has been ramping up the marketing for this show significantly, clearly expecting it to be a big hit. And part of that is the announcement of a new official Apple TV companion podcast …

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Apple has released new APIs and sandbox tools to help developers comply with the new requirements for apps available in Texas. Here are the details.

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Apple doesn't release an "Ultra" variant for every Apple silicon chip, but the company is planning to debut an M5 Ultra chip in 2026, reports Bloomberg.


The M5 Ultra is slated for the Mac Studio, and it's also likely that Apple will use it in a Mac Pro update. There's no word on when the M5 Ultra might come out, but historically, Ultra chips have followed the Pro and Max chip variants.

Apple already debuted the M5 chip in the MacBook Pro, but we'll be waiting until early 2026 for the M5 Pro and the M5 Max. The M5 Ultra will likely come after that, perhaps in June or even September 2026.

Earlier this year, Apple decided to launch an updated ‌Mac Studio‌ with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, making it clear there was no M4 Ultra. Ultra chips are two Max chips fused together with "UltraFusion" technology, but the M4 Max chip does not have the UltraFusion connector needed for an M4 Ultra chip.

Apple also made it clear that it did not plan to create a high-end Ultra chip for every M-series generation.

There are no other rumors of new features for the ‌Mac Studio‌, so the M5 Ultra update might be focused on internal improvements. Apple is rumored to be developing a pair of new displays, and at least one of those could launch alongside the ‌Mac Studio‌ in 2026.
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Apple today detailed the tools it is providing developers for compliance with the App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420) that goes into effect in Texas in 2026.


Starting on January 1, 2026, Apple users in Texas will need to confirm whether they are 18 years or older when creating an Apple account, and parents will need to provide consent for their children's ‌App Store‌ downloads and in-app transactions. Apple will share user age ranges for developers, and developers will need to have systems for notifying parents about significant app changes and allowing parents to revoke child access to an app at any time.

To help developers meet these requirements, Apple is adding several new APIs in iOS 26.2, and sandbox testing is now available for them.

Declared Age Range

Declared Age Range provides an app with a user's age category rather than a specific age. Categories include under 13, 13-15, 16-17, and over 18. Apple says that the API will also provide developers with a signal from the user's device about the method of age assurance, such as a credit card or government ID.

Significant Change

The Significant Change API prompts parents or guardians to provide consent for a child or teen to continue using an app after a "significant change" is made. Apple says that developers will need to determine when there's a significant change in their apps to comply with the law.

The API will prompt the child or teen to request parental consent, and developers can restrict app access until consent is given.

Changing the age rating of an app is one example of a significant change that would require developers to re-obtain consent.

Consent Revocation

Texas parents and guardians can withdraw consent for any app, which blocks the launch of the app on a child or teen's device. Apple says that the ‌App Store‌ will provide a server notification that developers can configure to receive notifications that consent has been withdrawn from an app.

More information about the changes can be found on Apple's developer site.
This article, "iOS 26.2 Adds APIs for Texas App Store Parental Consent Law" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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It's been almost two months since Apple released the AirPods Pro 3, and MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has been using them since they came out. He has some new thoughts to share on longer-term ‌AirPods Pro 3‌ use, so check out our video if you're thinking of picking up a pair for the holidays.


There have been recent reports from some people who are experiencing an ongoing static issue with the ‌AirPods Pro 3‌, so that's something to be aware of. Apple does seem to be replacing affected units for customers who are bothered by the noise, which appears to be audible when ANC is active but no sound is playing.

Other users have been hearing a high-pitched whine when on airplanes, which could be related to pressure. Not all ‌AirPods Pro 3‌ units are experiencing the issue, but it sounds like Apple is looking into it.

The ‌AirPods Pro 3‌ offer excellent sound quality and noise cancellation capabilities, and for some people, the fit is much better than the AirPods Pro 2. Battery life has held up well in our testing, and the heart rate sensor offers readings almost identical to the Apple Watch.

What do you think of the ‌AirPods Pro 3‌ if you've been using them since launch? Let us know in the comments below.
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Just hours after Apple launched a revamped web interface for the App Store, a GitHub project was released with the site’s entire front-end source code. Here’s how that happened.

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Apple Card purchases made in the Hertz app or through Hertz.com are now eligible for 3% Daily Cash back, according to an updated Apple Support document.


The Daily Cash bonus is available when booking a rental car at U.S. Hertz corporate locations through the app or the website. Hertz is also offering ‌Apple Card‌ users free emergency roadside service, a discounted loss damage waiver ($16.95 per day), one free additional driver, and at least 5% off Pay Later base rates.

To get these benefits, ‌Apple Card‌ holders will need to visit the Rewards and Offers Hub in the Wallet app. 3% Daily Cash back is not available through Hertz franchise locations, and other limitations are listed in the fine print on Apple's website.

Hertz is one of several companies that Apple has partnered with to offer special cash back rates for ‌Apple Card‌ users when using Apple Pay and the ‌Apple Card‌ for a purchase.

Other merchants that offer 3% Daily Cash back include Ace Hardware, Booking.com, ChargePoint, Duane Reade, Exxon and Mobil gas stations, Nike, Uber, Uber Eats, and Walgreens. ‌Apple Card‌ holders can also get 3% Daily Cash from Apple purchases.

‌Apple Pay‌ purchases earn ‌Apple Card‌ holders 2% cash back by default, with 1% cash back available for non-Apple Pay purchases.
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