CarPlay is used and loved by millions of iPhone owners. And while the wait for CarPlay 2 keeps getting longer, iOS 18.4 and other recent updates hint at a promising CarPlay trend.

Here’s a weird one. My son and I were discussing shapes on the drive to school earlier this week. His question for me was, “What is the name of the shape that looks like a square with uneven sides?”

I’m now in the habit of saying “ask ChatGPT” before any Siri request that isn’t taking an action like creating a reminder or sending a message. In this instance, though, I picked up my iPhone and pressed the Action button to open Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT. The results satisfied his curiosity.

A few days later, I decided to use his query as an example for how ChatGPT through Siri is useful. The results surprised me.

iOS 18.4 arrived late last month packed with a variety of new features, including an upgrade you might have missed that provides a fast way to open your go-to conversations in the Messages app. Here’s how it works.

Your Friday edition of the best Apple deals is starting off with a straight up $200 price drop on the 13-inch 512GB M4 iPad Pro in Space Black – but you can also score this one a $345 off in open-box condition with a full Apple warranty. Then it’s on to the new M4 MacBook Air lineup – some new all-time lows have hit alongside the $110 off open-box deals – as well as a series of particularly notable accessory deals. We have an exclusive 50% off all Burton Goods leather iPhone cases and wallets alongside new lows on Twelve South’s latest 15W 2-in-1 Butterfly MagSafe travel charger, Find My gear, chargers, and more. 

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I’ve recently found myself down the rabbit hole of lesser-known Terminal features. These past months, I covered everything from enabling Touch ID for sudo authentication to cleaning up public Wi-Fi connections stored on your Mac. But this past week, I journeyed deeper and found even more neat features you probably didn’t know Terminal could do, and I’m not talking ping command here. In this edition of Security Bite, allow me to elevate your command line prowess further.

The behind the scenes journalistic recaps of Apple’s AI drama continues today at The New York Times. And in this latest report, blame for Apple’s struggles to compete in AI is assigned to a surprising source: Luca Maestri and budget.

It’s been a busy couple days for in-depth journalistic explorations of Apple’s recent Siri and AI struggles. Following yesterday’s The Information report, today The New York Times has its own deep dive. One of the biggest takeaways? Apple’s planning to launch its new iOS 19 Siri upgrades sooner than we expected.

Apple last year introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, which allowed users of other platforms to access the company’s mapping service for the first time. However, Apple Maps on the web was labeled as “beta” — until now. And as the platform is no longer beta, it has also gained support for mobile devices.

The most recent instance of benefiting from Apple Intelligence with about 70% satisfaction just occurred. I’m writing another piece using an and Magic Keyboard. I selected the opening paragraph, invoked Writing Tools, and selected Proofread.

This is how the proofread version was presented:

Apple has finally and officially released the iPhone 16 for customers in Indonesia. Not just the recently introduced iPhone 16e, but the whole lineup that was announced last fall. New iPhones typically don’t take more than 200 days to reach other markets. However, the Indonesian government forced Apple to pay for the opportunity to bring the latest iPhone technology to customers in its country.

Apple launches its latest prestige series today, Your Friends & Neighbors starring Jon Hamm in the lead role. The mix of drama and comedy sees Hamm playing a disgraced former hedge fund manager called Andrew Cooper, who turns to a life of crime to preserve his lavish lifestyle.

The first two episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV+, with the remainder of the season airing weekly. Apple is running a special promo where new subscribers can get Apple TV+ for $2.99 per month for 3 months, enough to cover the full run of Your Friends & Neighbors.

If I could snap my fingers and make AirPods in any color, we’d have AirPods in black by now. My second choice? Translucent AirPods. Apple sells a version of “Transparent” colored that I should probably own just to support the clear product cause. AirPods, of course, only come in white with the exception of the AirPods Max line.

This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: new iOS 19 leaks, iPad Fold on track for 2026, HomePad status update, and a special 20th anniversary iPhone Pro design. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.

I used to change up task managers often, always looking for a new app that could make keeping up with todos just a little bit better. But for years now I’ve stuck with Apple’s Reminders app, and a tiny new iOS 18 feature has turned out to make a big difference for me.

Benjamin and Chance react to the unfolding trade tariffs and Apple’s uncharacteristically silent stance on matters. Also, there’s a bunch of new purported renders of iOS 19 design changes, and Apple is said to be working on bold new iPhone designs for next year’s 20th anniversary. Also, Chance comes away super impressed with the new Vision Pro Yankee Stadium tour.

And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin preps his iPad for an upcoming road trip, and bemoans Plex’s latest app update. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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We’ve seen many good examples of how AI can help people make their lives easier, and AI agents play an important role in this, as they can complete many tasks on behalf of the user. Last month, the popular web browser Opera announced its AI-based Browser Operator, and now we’ve seen it live in action.

For as long as the Apple Watch has existed, users have shared stories of the device offering life-saving aid. Recently, a couple especially powerful such stories have emerged. Yesterday we reported on a woman’s Apple Watch helping her catch cancer early. Now per a new video, the Apple Watch Ultra and Emergency SOS were involved in an ocean rescue in Australia.

Today’s Apple gear deals are headlined by a couple notable open-box listings with full Apple warranties – the most affordable M4 iPad Pro is now $180 off and we have some rare discounts on the USB-C Magic Mouse (including both the black and white models). From there a new low has emerged on the 13-inch M3 iPad Air in brand-new condition alongside unlocked iPhone 15 Pro units at up to $650 off the original listings. All of that and more awaits below. 

Apple TV+ shows no signs of ending its current hot streak. Though the streamer has found success launching brand new series of late, Apple TV+ also announced today that two of its biggest existing hit shows are returning for new seasons this summer.

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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Today a revealing new look into Apple’s recent Siri struggles was published at The Information. That report contains myriad details on internal drama and conflicts, but it also ends with a big piece of news: under Craig Federighi’s leadership, for the first time Apple engineers can now use third-party LLMs to build Siri features.

Last month Apple experienced a major internal shake-up related to Siri, part of the fallout of its delayed Siri upgrades. An extensive new report at The Information provides the best look yet into the drama happening behind the scenes, and where things stand with Siri now.

We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about iOS 19, but not so much about watchOS 12. However, it seems that Apple also has big plans for the next version of the Apple Watch operating system. A new report claims that Apple has been working to bring Apple Intelligence features and a refreshed interface to the Apple Watch.

ChatGPT is everywhere, from the web to desktop and mobile devices. However, when it comes to the official app, it only runs on the latest iPhones and iPads as it requires iOS 17 or later. But a 17-year-old developer has now created an alternative ChatGPT app that runs on really old iPhones, such as the iPhone 3GS.

It’s been a wild day for the global economy. Amid US tariff turmoil and reversals, the stock market went on quite the ride. After nearly a week of big losses, Apple stock rebounded significantly with more than 15% in gains—a result not only of the current tariff pause, but likely also exemption optimism thanks to new comments from President Trump.

We’ve heard many stories about the Apple Watch alerting people to life-threatening health conditions. A new story out of New Zealand, however, truly shows the breadth of what the Apple Watch’s preventive health monitoring can do for users.

Spring has finally arrived, bringing with it the perfect opportunity to refresh your favorite tech essentials. TORRAS has unveiled the , designed specifically to blend practicality with a style you’ll love. The Ostand Fitness case is a great fit for everything from casual strolls in the park to intense workouts at the gym, all while keeping your iPhone protected and stylish.

Apple Notes has been on a tear over the last few years with big feature updates. While the app used to lag behind third-party alternatives, now it’s easily among the iPhone’s best notes options. Among the last couple years of updates, one powerful new feature that got overlooked by me is note links, but it’s recently made me rethink how I use Apple Notes.

President Trump may have announced a 90-day tariff pause on most countries earlier today, but China isn’t one of them. In fact, the China tariff increased from 104% to 125%, effective immediately.

In case you haven’t been keeping track, the China tariff started off at 20%. Then, in a matter of a week, it became 54%, then 104%, and now 125%.

Update 4/10: The tariff on imports from China is now 145%.

As Apple continues to grow the catalog of immersive video content for Apple Vision Pro users, we’re now learning more about the production process of this content. In a new interview on the Voices of VR podcast, Kent Bye was joined by Ant Williams, a freediving athlete featured in the “Ice Dive” episode of “The Adventure Series” immersive video show.

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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Today was the first day that huge tariffs went into effect for most US imports, but it seems the impact will be short-lived—at least for many. President Trump has just enacted a 90-day pause on the most severe of the tariffs, with China a major exception. As a result, risk to Apple may be lessened, but they certainly aren’t in the clear.

Meta has been working on a new privacy feature for WhatsApp, which will enable “advanced privacy” for chats. With the feature, users will have the option to further protect sensitive messages.

Meta is rolling out a new feature that will make it easier to switch from X to Threads. The new option is rolling out today in beta and allows you to “follow the same popular creators you’re following on X.”

Apple released iOS 18.4 for iPhone users last week. The update included Priority Notifications, new emoji, an Ambient Music feature, and more. Now, the company is working on iOS 18.4.1 as a bug fix update.

Following Severance’s success, Apple TV+ has been rolling out compelling new shows one after another. And coming soon is Murderbot, a new sci-fi dark comedy that could be one of the best yet based on its just-released trailer.

While Amazon is still offering some deep clearance pricing on the M3 MacBook Air with 15-inch models at up to $550 under the original prices, we also spotted some notable chances to save on the most affordable new M4 model today. Best Buy’s open-box listings with full Apple warranties are now starting at $890, or up to $110 off the going rate, much like this deal on Apple Pencil Pro down at $88 shipped. From there, we also spotted the Jet Black Apple Watch Series 10 GPS + Cell at $100 off alongside deals on Magic Mouse and the Braided Solo Loops. All of that and more awaits below in today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

A new image shared on social media today by leaker Majin Bu provides an… interesting look at iPhone 17 Pro cases. They might not all necessarily look what we initially expected.

Rumors about next year’s iPhone Fold have increased of late, but not much has been leaked about Apple’s other big foldable device in the works. Now, despite some reports stating a later timeline, a new analyst note says the 18.8-inch iPad ‘Fold’ is on track for a 2026 release.

Apple TV+ has been finding more mainstream success of late, fueled by the popularity of hits like Severance and The Studio. But there’s one demographic that, per a new survey, is not tuned in to TV+: teens.