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Walmart today has the AirPods Pro 3 available for $179.00, down from $249.00. This is a new all-time low price on the AirPods Pro 3, and it's a deal that we're only tracking at Walmart as of writing. 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. This model of the AirPods Pro launched in September 2025 and has 2x better Active Noise Cancellation than the previous generation, better audio quality, a revised fit that's meant to improve comfort and stability, Live Translation for in-person conversations, and heart rate sensing for workouts. $70 OFFAirPods Pro 3 for $179.00 This deal beats the current Amazon discount by about $20, although Amazon does typically follow suit and match all-time low prices from other retailers so there is a chance we'll see this deal on Amazon soon. If it appears, we'll update this article. Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week. Deals Newsletter Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2026? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season! Related Roundup: Apple Deals This article, "AirPods Pro 3 Hit New Low Price of $179" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

macOS 27 Golden Gate is the final version of macOS to feature full Rosetta 2 support, meaning the translation layer that keeps Intel-built apps running on Apple silicon Macs is set to disappear entirely with next year's major macOS release. Golden Gate is the first macOS release limited to Apple silicon Macs and marks the end of the road for Intel-based hardware, but the implications reach Apple silicon owners too. Rosetta 2 is the dynamic binary translator Apple introduced alongside the M1 chip in late 2020. It currently allows Intel-compiled apps to continue running on Apple silicon without modification. Apple first confirmed this timeline at its Platforms State of the Union during WWDC 2025: Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases — through macOS 27 — as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks. With macOS 27 Golden Gate now in beta testing, that commitment has reached its final stage. Apple silicon Mac owners running Intel-only apps have one macOS release left before those apps stop working. Apple began warning users ahead of the cutoff. With macOS 26.4 and 26.5, a system alert surfaces whenever a user launches an Intel-only app, flagging that support will end in a future macOS release. The notifications are designed to give both end users and developers time to find or build native Apple silicon alternatives before the deadline arrives. Most widely used apps have been updated with native Apple silicon support in the six years since the transition was announced in 2020. Developers and organizations still dependent on Intel-only software, however, will need to find replacements or push for updated builds before macOS 28 ships, or simply remain on macOS 27. Golden Gate also automatically uninstalls Rosetta 2 if you had it installed in macOS 26 Tahoe, so those who need to continue using it will have to reinstall the feature. macOS 27 Golden Gate is currently in beta for developers, with a public beta coming next month and launch expected in September.Related Roundup: macOS Golden GateTags: Intel, Rosetta This article, "macOS 27 Golden Gate Is the Last to Support Intel Apps via Rosetta 2" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi has explained why the company launched a standalone Siri app in iOS 27, after previously characterizing a dedicated chatbot as contrary to its Apple Intelligence strategy. The new ‌Siri‌ app, announced at WWDC earlier this week, gives users a centralized place to manage and revisit their conversations with ‌Siri‌ AI. Federighi addressed the apparent about-face during a post-keynote discussion for the media at Apple Park this week, responding directly to a question about Apple's prior public stance. Following WWDC 2025, Federighi and senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak went on a media tour in which they described Apple's approach as weaving ‌Siri‌ into the user's existing workflow rather than offering "a bolt-on chatbot on the side." Federighi this week said the decision came down to a practical user need to return to and continue past ‌Siri‌ conversations. Apple determined that a home screen app was the most natural affordance on its platform for that purpose, and framed the ‌Siri‌ app as an extension of the system experience rather than a standalone product: We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, just an unintegrated place you go and chit-chat, but rather as an integral, conversational tool that you use in the moment, deeply integrated into your experience. Understanding what's on screen, able to interface, not in some separate world, but directly in the document that you're editing and that you want help proofreading, that you want tips on. And so all these experiences are conversational. They are really an extension of your system experience, deeply integrated into your flow. Now, we did go back and forth on what's the best way, if you want to get back to such a chat that you had, because you want to continue it, you want to reference it, and quite honestly, in our platform, the most natural affordance for any user to go find something like that is to have an app that they can manage on their home screen, launch, and get back to. And so we have a Siri app, and that Siri app just re-embodies those capabilities of that core system experience. The ‌iOS 27‌ developer beta is available now, though access to the new ‌Siri‌ requires joining a waitlist in Settings, with a public beta expected in July.Tags: Craig Federighi, Siri, Siri AI, Siri Chatbot, WWDC 2026 This article, "Craig Federighi Explains Why Apple Pivoted to a Siri Chatbot App" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple has quietly removed the Walkie-Talkie app from Apple Watch in the first developer beta of watchOS 27, with the app vanishing from both the app list and Control Center. Walkie-Talkie launched with watchOS 5 in 2018 and allowed Apple Watch users to send push-to-talk voice messages to one another over Wi-Fi or cellular using FaceTime infrastructure. Unlike traditional walkie-talkies, it worked over any distance, making it a novel way to communicate without picking up an iPhone. Despite the promise of the feature at launch, however, Apple gave it very little attention in the years that followed, with no meaningful updates across eight major watchOS releases. Shortly after its debut, Apple was forced to temporarily disable Walkie-Talkie following the discovery of a security vulnerability that could allow a user to listen through another person's microphone without their knowledge. Apple resolved the issue with a watchOS 5.3 update, but the episode did little to build lasting enthusiasm for the feature. The app's removal has not been officially confirmed by Apple, but users running the first watchOS 27 beta observe that the app is nowhere to be found, with no option to reinstall it. watchOS 27 is still in very early beta testing and there remains a slim possibility Apple could reintroduce the app before the software reaches a public release later this year. Given how little attention the feature has received over the years, however, its removal looks more like a quiet retirement than an accidental omission. A public beta of watchOS 27 is set to arrive next month, followed by launch in the fall, likely alongside new Apple Watch models.Related Roundups: Apple Watch 11, watchOS 26Tag: Walkie-TalkieBuyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)Related Forum: Apple Watch This article, "Apple Removes Walkie-Talkie From Apple Watch in watchOS 27 Beta" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple at this year's WWDC emphasized that its approach to iOS 27 development was to add fewer newer features and instead make existing features better. Examples of that approach can be seen across the operating system, but it is arguably most obvious in the changes coming to Messages. That's not to say there's nothing original coming to Messages in iOS 27. For instance, one new Apple Intelligence feature brings content-aware suggestions directly into conversations. If someone asks for photos, for example, Messages can recognize what's being discussed and suggest searching your photo library, using details like people, places, and keywords to surface relevant images. The app can also detect when a conversation would benefit from creating a reminder or note and offer a shortcut to do so without leaving the thread. Apple is also bringing drawing tools directly into Messages, allowing users to create and share hand-drawn sketches within conversations. Otherwise, Apple's focus has been on making the following enhancements and improvements to its broader Messages platform: Faster message loading: Large conversations, especially those containing years of history and thousands of attachments, should load and scroll more quickly. Improved syncing across devices: Apple says Messages, read states, reactions, and attachments sync more reliably and quickly between iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Find offloaded media in Messages: Search can surface photos and videos that have been offloaded from local storage and stored in iCloud. Thumbnails for offloaded media: Offloaded photos and videos now get visible preview thumbnails instead of generic placeholders, making older media easier to identify. Personalized Smart Reply suggestions: Apple Intelligence-generated Smart Reply suggestions can now reflect a user's own writing style, making suggested responses feel more natural and personal. Consolidated notifications for multiple Tapbacks: Multiple reactions to a message are grouped into a single notification rather than generating separate alerts. Continuous sending of photos, videos, and text: Messages continue sending in the background and automatically resume when connectivity returns, reducing interrupted sends. Search conversations by phone number or nickname: Conversation search now works with saved nicknames and phone numbers, not just contact names. Faster access to recent camera captures: Newly captured photos and videos appear more quickly in the Messages media picker. Failed messages automatically retry sending: Messages that fail because of temporary network issues will automatically attempt to resend without the user's intervention. Early adopters of iOS 27 will receive access to the public beta next month, when they can try out the new features and improvements themselves. Apple is expected to make a general release available in the fall.Related Roundup: iOS 27Tag: Messages This article, "14 Ways Apple Is Improving Messages in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Introduction Entering the world of software development and IT infrastructure can feel overwhelming. Many new students face an avalanche of technical terms like containers, orchestrators, and automated workflows right at the start of their learning journey. It is entirely common to feel confused about how all these pieces fit together. The primary reason for this struggle is that traditional computer science education often focuses heavily on writing code, while ignoring how that code actually reaches real users. In modern enterprise environments, code writing is only the first step of a long and complex journey. Modern software delivery demands absolute speed, safety, and reliability. This is exactly where the concept of software deployment automation becomes essential. To bridge the massive gap between writing applications on a local laptop and running them safely on live enterprise servers, companies rely heavily on systematic workflows. For any new student or career switcher, learning Continuous Delivery for beginners is the single most important milestone in building a sustainable IT foundation. This concept serves as the core operational bridge that connects development teams with operations teams. When you understand this foundational pillar, you no longer look at software as isolated text files. Instead, you begin to see it as a flowing, continuous stream of value. Aspiring IT professionals can access comprehensive, industry-aligned foundational resources and structured guidance directly at DevOpsSchool, which offers deep insights into real-world pipeline implementation methodologies. What Is Continuous Delivery in Simple Words? At its absolute core, Continuous Delivery is a software engineering practice where code changes are automatically prepared, tested, and built for a production release. The foundational rule of Continuous Delivery is simple: your software must always be in a release-ready state. Continuous Delivery means ensuring your application is completely ready to be deployed to live users at any given second, with the simple click of a single button. Think of it as an automated manufacturing assembly line. When a software developer finishes writing a new feature or fixing a minor bug, they do not manually copy files onto a web server. Instead, they commit their work into a version control tracking system. Once that code is submitted, an automated release pipeline takes over immediately. The system compiles the code, executes comprehensive quality checks, runs security scans, and configures the application for deployment. If every single validation test passes successfully, the code sits safely in a staging environment, fully prepared for immediate production deployment. The software is ready to go live whenever the business stakeholders decide the market timing is perfect. Why Continuous Delivery Is Important for DevOps Students Understanding Continuous Delivery early in your education completely changes how you view software development. It serves as the logical extension and foundation of modern CI/CD patterns, which form the bedrock of all cloud engineering activities. If you attempt to learn advanced tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Kubernetes without mastering the core philosophy of automated delivery, you will end up memorizing commands without understanding their actual purpose. Furthermore, mastering this domain provides unmatched real-world job relevance. If you look at entry-level job descriptions for cloud engineers, release analysts, or system automation practitioners, pipeline design skills are universally required. Learning these concepts early allows you to build a genuine DevOps mindset. You stop thinking purely like a programmer who only cares if the code runs on their local machine. Instead, you start thinking like an operational architect who cares about system stability, automated testing metrics, and repeatable infrastructure patterns. How Software Deployment Worked Before Continuous Delivery To appreciate why modern teams value automated systems so highly, it helps to understand the historical challenges that plagued the IT industry for decades. Before software deployment automation became standard practice, releasing an application update was an incredibly stressful, slow, and error-prone ritual. The Manual Nightmare In the traditional software era, developers would write code for several months in complete isolation. Once a major release window approached, they would bundle all their code files together and email them or upload them to a shared network drive. From there, system administrators had to manually read long, text-heavy instruction manuals to figure out how to install the software. The Problem of Environment Mismatches Because humans were executing these installation steps manually, mistakes were inevitable. A technician might forget to copy a single database configuration file or neglect to install a specific version of a software library on the server. This led to the classic operational conflict: “It worked perfectly fine on my machine, so it must be an operations issue.” Delayed Testing and Fragile Systems Testing occurred at the very end of the long development lifecycle. Quality assurance teams would discover critical architectural bugs weeks after the code was originally written. Fixing these deep issues right before a major launch caused massive delays, long nights of stressful troubleshooting, and frequent system outages for paying customers. How Continuous Delivery Changed Software Engineering The advent of automated release pipelines completely transformed the software engineering landscape. By replacing unreliable manual labor with deterministic, predictable software scripts, organizations achieved unprecedented operational efficiency. Automation Over Manual Labor: Software tasks that previously required teams of engineers working over an extended weekend are now executed completely by automated systems in minutes. Radical Risk Reduction: Because software updates are broken down into small, incremental additions, the overall surface area for potential errors drops dramatically. Repeatable Deployments: An automated pipeline ensures that deploying software to a testing environment uses the exact same mechanics as deploying to a live production environment. Blazing Fast Feedback Loops: Developers receive definitive confirmation within minutes if their code updates have broken existing system functionality, allowing them to fix errors immediately. Continuous Integration vs Continuous Delivery (Beginner Comparison) Many new students frequently confuse Continuous Integration (CI) with Continuous Delivery (CD). While they are tightly linked and work together as a unified process, they focus on entirely different segments of the software lifecycle. MetricContinuous Integration (CI)Continuous Delivery (CD)Primary FocusCode consolidation, compilation, and early validation testing.Release readiness, environmental staging, and deployment preparation.Automation BoundaryAutomatically triggered when a developer pushes code to a central repository.Extends through staging validation and stops right before final manual production approval.Core GoalTo detect integration bugs as early as possible in the development loop.To ensure that code is always stable and fully certified for live deployment.Typical OutputsValidated software binaries, compiled code packages, or clean container images.A fully verified environment that is completely prepared to serve live production users. To put this in simple terms, Continuous Integration is about making sure all the individual ingredients blend together perfectly without ruining the recipe. Continuous Delivery is about cooking that meal completely, placing it under a warming lamp, and making sure it is ready to be served to the customer the moment the waiter arrives. Basic Structure of a Continuous Delivery Pipeline A DevOps pipeline basics journey can be broken down into a series of highly structured, sequential stages. Each stage acts as a quality gateway that the code must successfully pass through before moving forward. [ Code Commit ] ──> [ Build Process ] ──> [ Automated Testing ] │ [ Production Release ] <── [ Approval Stage ] <── [ Staging Deployment ] 1. Code Commit The pipeline begins the exact millisecond a developer pushes their updated source code to a central platform like GitHub or GitLab. This action alerts the automation engine that new material is ready for processing. 2. Build Process The automation tool fetches the newly updated source code, compiles it into functional machine language, and gathers all necessary external software libraries. If there are syntax errors or missing structural dependencies, the pipeline halts immediately. 3. Automated Testing Once the software build is verified, the pipeline subjects the application to rigorous automated testing suites. This includes unit tests checking individual code functions, security vulnerability scans checking for known structural exploits, and style checks ensuring compliance with industry standards. 4. Staging Deployment If the testing suite passes perfectly, the pipeline automatically deploys the application into a staging environment. This environment is an exact architectural clone of the live production system where real customers operate. 5. Approval Stage This is the definitive marker of a Continuous Delivery pipeline. The software sits securely in the verified staging environment, fully operational. It waits for human business logic or management sign-off to authorize the final transition to the public production space. 6. Production Release Once authorized, the pipeline executes the final transition scripts, deploying the thoroughly tested code to live production servers with absolute precision and zero down-time for active users. Real-World Analogy to Understand Continuous Delivery To firmly grasp the mechanics of a release pipeline explained without getting bogged down in complex syntax, let us look at a real-world analogy: an advanced automobile manufacturing plant. Imagine a modern car factory utilizing a highly sophisticated assembly line system. The car begins as raw, unformed sheets of metal at the very start of the track. As the vehicle moves smoothly along the conveyor belt, automated robotic arms weld specific components, apply protective paint coats, install the engine, and attach safety wheels. At various intervals along this assembly line, automated tracking sensors inspect the work. One machine checks the alignment of the doors, another verifies the engine compression, and a computer scans the electrical wiring for short circuits. If a single defect is detected at any point, the entire assembly line halts instantly so technicians can correct the flaw before the vehicle moves another inch forward. Once the car reaches the absolute end of the factory floor, it is fully fueled, thoroughly inspected, polished, and parked safely in the shipping yard. The car is 100% functional and completely ready to be driven out on public roads immediately. The factory does not need to build a new car from scratch when a buyer places an order; the vehicle is already sitting there in a state of absolute readiness. This is precisely what Continuous Delivery does for digital software. Common Beginner Confusions About Continuous Delivery When first studying this field, certain conceptual misunderstandings tend to pop up repeatedly. Clearing these up early will accelerate your progress. Confusion 1: Thinking CD means every single change goes to live production automatically. This is incorrect. That specific process is called Continuous Deployment. Continuous Delivery simply ensures the software is fully capable of going to production at any moment, but the final step still relies on a conscious human business decision. Confusion 2: Believing that tools are more important than the underlying process. Beginners often rush to memorize complex Jenkins configurations or GitHub Actions syntax. Tools change constantly, but the foundational principles of testing, isolation, environment parity, and automated validation remain identical across all technology stacks. Confusion 3: Overestimating the complexity of starting a pipeline. You do not need a massive corporate data center to practice these concepts. A basic pipeline can be built using a simple two-line automation script that copies a basic text file from a local code repository into a testing folder on your own personal computer. Why Continuous Delivery Is Critical in DevOps Careers If you want to build a highly resilient, long-term career in the cloud computing ecosystem, mastering deployment automation is non-negotiable. Modern enterprise teams no longer hire individuals who only know how to perform manual server administration. DevOps Engineer In this role, your core responsibility is designing, maintaining, and troubleshooting the very automation pipelines that development teams use daily. You will be expected to optimize pipeline speeds and ensure seamless integration across various cloud systems. Cloud Architect / Cloud Engineer Cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are built entirely around programmatic interfaces. As a cloud engineer, you will write automated delivery tracks that provision computing infrastructure dynamically alongside the core application code. Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) SRE professionals focus heavily on system availability, uptime, and performance metrics. Understanding Continuous Delivery helps SREs design automated rollback pipelines that can instantly withdraw a malfunctioning software update before it compromises user experience. Platform Engineer Platform teams design internal developer portals that abstract away underlying infrastructure complexities. A deep knowledge of delivery automation allows these engineers to build standardized pipeline templates that hundreds of developers can safely leverage with zero friction. Tools Used in Continuous Delivery (Beginner Overview) While concepts must always come first, you will eventually utilize specialized software tools to construct and manage automated release operations. Below is a foundational roadmap of the core tools dominating the modern enterprise space. ToolCore Technology ClassPurpose in the Delivery PipelineGit / GitHubVersion Control SystemServes as the absolute source of truth for code changes and triggers the initial pipeline run.JenkinsAutomation / Orchestration ServerAn open-source classic used to script custom workflows, execute build scripts, and coordinate tests.GitHub ActionsCloud-Native CI/CD PlatformBuilt directly into GitHub, allowing students to write automation configurations easily using simple YAML files.DockerSoftware Containerization EnginePackages applications alongside their exact operating dependencies to completely eliminate environment mismatches.Argo CDDeclarative GitOps ToolConceptually monitors cloud environments to ensure live production systems always match the code stored in Git. Real-World Scenario: Without Continuous Delivery To see these concepts in action, let us observe a hypothetical software team operating without an automated continuous delivery framework. Imagine a retail banking company trying to launch an urgent mobile application update on a Friday night. The development team finishes editing the code at 5:00 PM. They manually package the application into a compressed file and upload it to a shared server directory. At 8:00 PM, the night-shift operations team logs in to deploy the update. They open a lengthy, outdated word document containing manual step-by-step setup instructions. Halfway through the manual process, an engineer accidentally types an incorrect database command, subtly corrupting the storage connections. The system crashes immediately. Because there are no automated testing layers built into this workflow, the team has no way of knowing whether the crash was caused by a coding bug or a manual typing error. The entire team spends the rest of the night frantically digging through thousands of lines of server logs under extreme corporate stress. By Saturday morning, exhausted and defeated, they perform a messy manual rollback, having completely failed to deliver the new features to their waiting customers. Real-World Scenario: With Continuous Delivery Now, let us examine the exact same retail banking company operating with a fully realized Continuous Delivery paradigm in place. The developer finishes writing the urgent mobile application update and pushes the code changes directly to the main GitHub repository. The moment the code lands, the automated delivery pipeline springs to life. The automation system compiles the application code, runs 500 individual unit tests within two minutes, and executes a thorough security compliance scan. Every single check returns a clean green status indicator. The pipeline then seamlessly deploys the application update into an isolated staging environment that precisely mirrors the live banking servers. Automated integration scripts simulate 1,000 digital customer transactions to verify system stability under heavy load conditions. The entire process finishes flawlessly in less than ten minutes. The system automatically sends a notification to the operations manager stating that the update is fully validated and ready for production. The manager logs into the dashboard, reviews the automated test reports, and confidently clicks a button labeled “Approve Release.” The pipeline pushes the update to live production servers instantly with zero downtime, zero stress, and complete operational transparency. How Beginners Should Start Learning Continuous Delivery If you are wondering how to practically approach this vast field without getting lost in the details, follow this structured, step-by-step learning progression designed specifically for newcomers. Step 1: Master the Basics of Git Before touching an automation engine, you must understand how version control operates. Learn how to create a code repository, perform basic commits, manage branching pathways, and push code up to platforms like GitHub. Git is the primary engine that drives all modern deployment pipelines. Step 2: Grasp Continuous Integration First Focus on the initial phase of the pipeline. Write a incredibly basic code script—such as a simple Python file—and configure a basic tool like GitHub Actions to automatically run that script whenever you make a change. Your only goal here is to get used to automated execution loops. Step 3: Understand Core Pipeline Environments Learn the conceptual differences between a local computer, a development testing server, a staging mirror environment, and a live production space. Understand how data configurations shift as an application progresses through these different zones. Step 4: Practice Basic File Automation Write a simple pipeline script that automatically moves a text file from one folder to another on your computer after verifying its contents. This simple practice strips away the intimidation factor and helps you see that pipelines are just ordered scripts performing logical actions. Step 5: Build Tiny, End-to-End Projects Create a basic web page, containerize it using a simple Dockerfile, and write a straightforward pipeline that builds that container and places it onto a free cloud hosting tier. Focus on the workflow end-to-end rather than building a complex application. Common Mistakes Beginners Make Avoid these frequent learning traps to save time and build cleaner habits as you advance through your DevOps training. Jumping Directly Into Complex Tools: Do not try to master advanced Kubernetes cluster orchestrations or complex enterprise Jenkins configurations during your first week. Focus heavily on fundamental architectural concepts before scaling up. Ignoring the Core Fundamentals: Skipping basic command-line navigation, networking rules, and fundamental file permissions will make troubleshooting an automated pipeline nearly impossible. Failing to Practice Hands-On Pipelines: Simply watching video lectures or reading textbook theory will not build operational muscle memory. You must write the configuration code yourself and intentionally break it to see how error logs operate. Confusing the Boundaries of CI and CD: Ensure you can clearly explain where integration validation ends and where continuous delivery readiness begins during any architectural discussion. Role of DevOpsSchool in Learning Continuous Delivery Navigating the transition from writing basic code to orchestrating complex enterprise delivery pipelines requires structured guidance. This is where specialized educational frameworks become incredibly valuable for students seeking to accelerate their technical growth. A structured training approach focuses heavily on breaking down deep architectural concepts into clear, digestible operational milestones. This methodology ensures that students do not just learn how to run individual software tools, but thoroughly comprehend the foundational “why” behind enterprise automation strategies. By interacting with realistic pipeline scenarios and sandbox testing systems, learners gain hands-on experience dealing with simulated production failures, environment mismatches, and automated testing errors in a completely safe training space. This experience-driven mentorship bridges the wide gap between theoretical knowledge and practical career ready implementation. It helps aspiring cloud professionals develop the genuine technical confidence needed to manage modern software deployment automation systems across global enterprise environments. Industries Where Continuous Delivery Is Used Automated delivery methodologies are no longer restricted to specialized silicon valley technology firms. Today, every modern industry relies heavily on these systems to survive in a highly competitive digital marketplace. SaaS (Software as a Service) Companies SaaS platforms like streaming services, digital design tools, and productivity applications use automation pipelines to continuously deploy micro updates, perform real-time A/B feature testing, and patch security issues multiple times a day without interrupting active user sessions. E-Commerce Platforms Online retail platforms experience massive, unpredictable traffic spikes during major holiday shopping events. Automated pipelines allow these companies to dynamically scale up their checkout systems and quickly update inventory algorithms with absolute safety. Banking and Financial Institutions Modern fintech platforms and legacy banking enterprises utilize strict automated release pipelines to ensure every single code change passes exhaustive security compliance scans, encryption audits, and financial regulation validations before getting anywhere near customer account ledgers. Healthcare Systems Medical technology portals and hospital tracking databases require absolute system stability. Continuous Delivery allows health IT systems to roll out critical software fixes and data management updates smoothly, ensuring zero operational disruption to patient care workflows. Telecom Industry Telecommunication providers manage massive global communication networks. Automated release pipelines help these companies deploy software configurations to thousands of remote cellular stations and digital routing nodes reliably without causing service dropouts. Future of Continuous Delivery The landscape of software delivery continues to evolve at an incredible pace. As systems grow larger and more complex, automation paradigms adapt to handle the immense operational scale. [ Traditional Automation ] ──> [ GitOps Frameworks ] ──> [ AI-Driven Deployments ] The industry is moving rapidly toward fully automated, self-healing release architectures. A major manifestation of this evolution is the widespread adoption of GitOps frameworks, where your entire infrastructure configuration is managed using version-controlled text files that constantly self-correct to prevent system drift. Furthermore, artificial intelligence and machine learning models are being integrated directly into advanced delivery systems. Future pipelines will not just run static pre-programmed tests. Instead, intelligent deployment systems will automatically analyze live system performance, monitor real-time user behavior, and autonomously decide whether to roll back an update or continue scaling a deployment based on live system metrics. FAQs What is Continuous Delivery? Continuous Delivery is a DevOps engineering methodology where software code updates are automatically built, tested, and systematically prepared for a live production release. It guarantees that your software application remains in a release-ready state at all times. Is CD difficult for beginners to learn? Not if you focus on the underlying concepts first. Beginners typically struggle only when they try to memorize complex software tools before understanding the basic principles of automated testing, environment isolation, and step-by-step pipeline structures. Do I need to be an expert coder for CD? No, you do not need to be an advanced software developer. However, you should understand basic programming logic, script configuration files using straightforward languages like YAML or JSON, and comfortably navigate a standard command-line interface. What is the core difference between CI and CD? Continuous Integration focuses on automatically compiling, merging, and testing developer code variations within a central repository. Continuous Delivery picks up right where integration ends, focusing on preparing and staging that verified code so it is fully optimized for a live launch. What tools should a beginner learn first for CD? Beginners should start by learning basic Git version control commands. Once comfortable with Git, move on to configuring simple, lightweight automated workflows using user-friendly cloud-native platforms like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD. Is Continuous Delivery used by real real-world companies? Yes, it is the standard operating baseline across the global tech sector. Companies ranging from small innovative tech startups to massive multinational banking institutions utilize these automated systems to deliver software securely and efficiently. How does a deployment pipeline work? A deployment pipeline functions as a highly ordered, automated sequence of quality stages. When code changes are submitted, the automation engine compiles the code, executes verification tests, deploys the app to a mock staging environment, and awaits a final release confirmation. Can beginners learn CD easily without a computer science degree? Absolutely. Modern cloud automation focuses heavily on systemic operational logic, clear configuration management, and consistency. Anyone with strong logical problem-solving skills and a dedication to hands-on practice can master these concepts. What is a release pipeline? A release pipeline is the digital structural pathway that code travels through on its journey to production users. It encompasses the entire automated infrastructure responsible for building, testing, securing, and deploying software updates systematically. Why is automated testing necessary for CD? Without automated testing, a pipeline cannot safely verify the health of code updates. Manual testing is far too slow and prone to human oversight. Automated tests serve as the digital security guards that confidently certify whether an update is safe for public use. What is the difference between Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment? In Continuous Delivery, the final step to push an update live onto production servers requires a manual human confirmation click. In Continuous Deployment, that final step is completely automated; if the code passes all testing stages, it goes live to users immediately without any human intervention. Do I need to learn Linux before studying Continuous Delivery? Yes, a foundational understanding of basic Linux command-line operations is highly recommended. The vast majority of modern enterprise deployment pipelines and cloud infrastructure servers run on Linux operating systems. How does CD help improve overall software quality? By breaking down massive software releases into small, frequent, automated updates, teams can easily identify bugs early, maintain consistent testing standards, and ensure that flawed code is caught before it ever reaches a real-world customer. Can a fresh graduate secure a DevOps job by knowing Continuous Delivery? Yes, displaying a deep conceptual clarity of pipeline automation, along with a few hands-on personal portfolio projects demonstrating functional CI/CD paths, makes a entry-level candidate stand out significantly to modern engineering recruiters. What exactly is a staging environment in a CD pipeline? A staging environment is an isolated, highly secure testing sandbox that is built to be an exact architectural clone of the live production website or app. It allows teams to safely run final validation checks without impacting real users. Final Thoughts As you continue forward on your DevOps path, always remember that Continuous Delivery is far more than a simple collection of automation tools. It is a fundamental mindset focused on absolute reliability, consistent quality, and operational efficiency. Do not get discouraged if your first automated pipeline fails, or if a configuration script returns confusing error codes. Encountering and troubleshooting broken pipeline stages is the exact process that transforms a curious beginner into a seasoned DevOps professional. Focus heavily on mastering the core architectural fundamentals first, build simple automation routines consistently, and prioritize systematic learning over tool hype. Over time, these foundational concepts will become second nature, giving you the clarity and confidence to architect world-class software delivery systems. View the full article

With the launch of iOS 27 and HomePod Software 27, Apple is adding support for AutoMix, Apple's AI-powered Apple Music feature that blends songs using matching key and tempo. Apple says it has improved AutoMix's underlying algorithms to generate new transition types, making for more seamless blends between tracks, so this should also benefit the newly introduced feature for HomePod. Running Apple's current HomePod Software 26, the AutoMix feature in Apple Music is not available on HomePod. Users running the existing software only have access to the crossfade feature that improves transitions between songs. If users AirPlay to HomePod and the device they are using to AirPlay supports AutoMix (and it is turned on), then it will play on the AirPlay stream to HomePod, but that's the only workaround. OG HomePod Support In case anyone was wondering, the new HomePod Software 27 beta does support the original HomePod. There was some confusion about this earlier in the week, but MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris was able to independently confirm support for Apple's first smart speaker, which launched in 2018 and was discontinued in 2021. HomePod Software 27 will come out of beta when iOS 27 becomes generally available in the fall.Related Roundups: HomePod, HomePod mini, iOS 27Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Caution), HomePod Mini (Don't Buy)Related Forum: HomePod, HomeKit, CarPlay, Home & Auto Technology This article, "iOS 27 Brings New Functionality to HomePod" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple this week revealed what its most advanced on-device AI model does, and the feature list is shorter than the hardware requirements might suggest. In its Siri AI announcement during WWDC 2026, Apple confirmed that the model powers two things: more expressive Siri voices and a major accuracy gain for systemwide dictation. Both require 12GB of unified memory. Among current iPhones, that limits the more powerful AI model to the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, alongside iPad models with the M4 chip or later, Macs with M3 or later, and Apple Vision Pro with M5. That's right, the standard iPhone 17 misses out. Having only 8GB to its name – the minimum Apple Intelligence has required since launch – the base flagship model falls short of the new threshold. This is the first time Apple has raised that bar, given that Apple Intelligence has required 8GB since its introduction two years ago. So What Does 12GB Get You That 8GB Doesn't? On the voice side, users can adjust the expressiveness and pace of Siri's speech so that the assistant sounds the way they want it. However, it's the dictation feature that includes the more substantial change. Apple's most advanced on-device AI model is said to be able to turn speech into polished text on the fly, handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting automatically, with improved speech understanding that's meant to cut down on errors. Everything else in the Siri AI rollout – personal context, onscreen awareness, web answers, the dedicated Siri app, Visual Intelligence, and Writing Tools – runs on the broader Apple Intelligence device list. That list still includes iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 series, and iPhone 17. The 12GB requirement, in other words, does not refer to Siri AI wholesale; it improves how Siri sounds and how well it transcribes. Base iPhone 17 owners will still get the new chatbot-style assistant with iOS 27, they'll just get the older voices and a less precise dictation engine. Whether that matters will vary from user to user, but for anyone who dictates messages and notes all day, the better transcription is the kind of thing you will likely notice immediately. For everyone else, the difference may be something they can quite happily live with. iOS 27 is currently in developer beta, with a public beta launching next month and a general release arriving in the fall. Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPhone 17Tags: Siri, Siri AIBuyer's Guide: iPhone 17 (Neutral)Related Forum: iPhone This article, "iPhone 17's 8GB Limit Costs It These Two Siri AI Features in iOS 27" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple Music is bringing Hi-Res Lossless Audio to tvOS 27, in addition to standard Lossless Audio. Apple says subscribers with compatible external speaker outputs will be able to enjoy their favorite songs in the highest audio quality and experience studio-quality sound directly through their Apple TV 4K. As of tvOS 26, Apple TV 4K supports Apple Music Lossless audio up to 24-bit/48 kHz, but does not support Hi-Res Lossless playback (above 48 kHz, or up to 24-bit/192 kHz). Lossless audio refers to a form of compression that preserves all of the original data, which can result in an improved listening experience, although to what extent is debated. The tvOS 27 developer beta is already out, and registered developers can install it through Settings ➝ System ➝ Software Update ➝ Beta Updates on a supported Apple TV. tvOS 27 will go on general release in the fall.Related Roundup: Apple TVTag: Apple MusicBuyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater This article, "tvOS 27: Apple Music Gains Hi-Res Lossless Audio on Apple TV 4K" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines this week, adding stricter language around low-quality apps. The 4.3 Spam rule already barred overly simple apps in saturated categories, but Apple now includes language saying low-effort apps could be pulled from the App Store. Apps in oversaturated categories that are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers may be removed, according to Apple. App Guideline 4.3(b) New Language: Don't submit apps that are indistinguishable from what's already widely available. Opportunistically creating variants of existing app categories or popular apps degrades App Store discovery, reduces overall app quality, and harms both users and developers. Certain kinds of apps, such as dating, flashlight, sound effects, wallpaper, simple timers, and fortune telling, are well established on the App Store and we will not accept new submissions unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. We may remove these apps from the App Store going forward if they are not updated, improved, or do not attract customers. Other kinds of apps, such as drinking games, Kama Sutra, fart, and burp apps, are mediocre, low-quality, or low-effort and do not add value to the App Store. Repeated submissions of this kind may lead to removal from the Apple Developer Program. App Guideline 4.3(b) Old Language: Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, fortune telling, dating, drinking games, and Kama Sutra apps, etc. already. We will reject these apps unless they provide a unique, high-quality experience. Spamming the store may lead to your removal from the Apple Developer Program. Apple says it won't approve dating, flashlight, sound effect, wallpaper, simple timer, and fortune telling apps unless they are meaningfully different from existing apps. Apple says fart, burp, Kama Sutra, and drinking game apps are "mediocre, low-quality, or low-effort" and add no value to the ‌App Store‌. Repeated app submissions of this type could lead to removal from the Developer Program. Wording on spam apps is clearer than before, and it sounds like Apple will approve fewer apps in saturated categories and may even clean up some clutter apps that get no interest. Apple also added new detail to its 1.2 rule on apps with user-generated content, which is a guideline that has seen Apple threaten to remove apps like Grok from the ‌App Store‌. Apple now makes it clear that app developers are responsible for removing content that violates ‌App Store‌ guidelines, such as pornographic content. It is your responsibility to remove content that violates this guideline, your terms of service, or your community standards. If we find such content, we will ask you to remove it, and provide a plan to improve your compliance with this guideline. Based on your response, your app may be removed from the App Store until you can demonstrate improvements that bring your app into compliance. Egregious or repeated behavior is grounds for immediate removal of your app from the App Store, and from the Apple Developer Program. Apps that do not have a compliance plan for addressing content violations could be removed from the ‌App Store‌. Apple's final guideline change (4.5.3) bars app developers from using Live Activities to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers. The full ‌App Store‌ Review Guidelines are available on Apple's website.Tags: App Store, App Store Review Guidelines This article, "Apple Updates App Store Guidelines With Stricter Rules for Low-Quality Apps" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Anthropic today announced the launch of Claude Fable 5, a Mythos-class model that it says is safe for general use. According to Anthropic, Fable 5's capabilities exceed those of any model it has made generally available, and Fable has demonstrated "exceptional performance" for software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and more. It outperforms Opus models on longer, more complex tasks. Fable 5 can work autonomously for longer than any prior Claude model. Fable 5 is being released with conservative safeguards to prevent it from being misused in areas like cybersecurity. Questions about some topics will instead be answered by Opus 4.8, with safeguards expected to trigger in less than five percent of sessions on average. Most queries related to cybersecurity, chemistry, and biology will get responses from Opus 4.8 instead of Fable 5. Anthropic is also releasing Claude Mythos 5 for a small group of cyberdefenders and infrastructure providers. It uses the same underlying model as Fable 5, but with some of the safeguards lifted. Mythos 5 is being deployed through Project Glasswing as an upgrade to the Claude Mythos Preview. Anthropic says Mythos 5 has the strongest cybersecurity capabilities of any model in the world, with access set to expand through a broader trusted access program. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are available at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, which is less than half the price of the Claude Mythos Preview. Mythos 5 is available to those who have access to the Mythos Preview, and that includes Apple. Apple is one of Anthropic's Project Glasswing partners. Claude Fable 5 is included in Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans from today until June 22. On June 23, the model will be removed from those plans and using it will require usage credits. When Fable 5 capacity is sufficient, Anthropic plans to re-add it to subscription plans.Tag: Anthropic This article, "Anthropic Launches Claude Fable 5, Its First Public Mythos-Class Model" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Messaging app Telegram now has a native Apple Watch app. The app supports viewing and responding to Telegram messages from the wrist. Features like stickers, voice messages, and location information can be shared from the Apple Watch app. Telegram had an Apple Watch app back in 2015, but it was discontinued and removed from the App Store a few years back. There have been third-party Telegram apps for the Apple Watch, but now Telegram users can once again use a first-party solution.Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11Tag: TelegramBuyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution) This article, "Telegram Gets Native Apple Watch App" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

When Liquid Glass launched in macOS Tahoe, Apple faced criticism over how the design looked on the Mac. Some people felt that Liquid Glass in ‌macOS Tahoe‌ was an afterthought with little impact from the design update, while others had issues with contrast, readability, rounded corners, and design consistency. There were long complaint threads on the MacRumors forums and on Reddit, and some people refused to update. Apple is making several changes to Liquid Glass and the overall macOS Golden Gate design, and while subtle, some of the changes could make Liquid Glass on Mac easier to digest. Transparency and Diffusion Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under System Settings > Appearance. It changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and users can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that allows some of the background to show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves the legibility of text, or choose something in between. Unfortunately, there is no ultra-clear version of Liquid Glass available with the slider. Even the setting that's as clear as possible does not match the original version of Liquid Glass that Apple showed off at WWDC 2025. Apple changed the overall Liquid Glass opacity, and it now diffuses complex content more effectively. Apple says a darkened edge and brighter specular highlights establish more depth and separation for the UI. Toolbars and Window Shapes Apps have uniform toolbars to make text headings and groups of controls more legible. Windows also all have the same corner radius for more consistency between apps. ‌macOS Tahoe‌ Corners of apps are not as dramatically rounded in ‌macOS Golden Gate‌, and the difference is noticeable. ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ It's easier to tell when a window is active because of the sidebar design, the opacity update, and changes to window shadows. Sidebars Sidebars are no longer floating and are instead edge-to-edge. It's a design that's less distracting and more uniform because there's no unnecessary sidebar shadowing that just takes up space. Sidebar icons have color again, which is something Apple removed in ‌macOS Tahoe‌. Icons Apple didn't budge on requiring squircle Mac icons, but it did change icon design. Icons have more layers of Liquid Glass to improve detail and sharpness in light, dark, tinted, and clear icon modes. Apple is also using icons for some menu bar items to make it easier to find commonly used actions. HDR Apple is using HDR for depth and dimension in the ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ interface. Launch Date ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ also includes all of the new Siri AI features coming in iOS 27, along with performance improvements that make the Mac feel faster. The update is limited to developers right now, but Apple plans to release a public beta in July. ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ will launch this fall. Related Roundup: macOS Golden Gate This article, "All the Liquid Glass Changes in macOS Golden Gate" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple today released new beta firmware for the AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3. The firmware is limited to developers at the current time, and it has a build number of 9A5292e. In iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, Apple is adding a new AirPods interface and support for custom EQ. AirPods are also compatible with the new Siri AI. With iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe, Apple added a beta firmware update installation option that's available from the AirPods settings interface when the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which facilitates beta testing. Developers can use the beta option to turn on beta downloads.Related Roundups: AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 3, iOS 27Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Caution), AirPods Pro (Neutral)Related Forum: AirPods This article, "Apple Releases New AirPods Beta Firmware With iOS 27 Features" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

iOS 27's key new feature is a more intelligent and personal version of Siri, but the changes go well beyond that. In a press release today, Apple outlined additional enhancements coming across Apple Maps, Find My, Apple Wallet, Apple Music, and more. Apple Maps has gained an enhanced Flyover experience powered by AI, enabling you to view aerial imagery in "stunning detail" for select cities. In the U.S., Apple Maps has also received a new Local Lists feature, which surfaces things such as trending restaurants and kid-friendly places to visit. In the Find My app, you will have the ability to share your location with others for a custom duration, such as four days and six hours. Or, you can set a set an exact date and time for your location sharing to expire. In addition, you can now pause your location sharing with specific people until the end of the day. On iOS 26 and earlier, there are only three preset timeframes available: indefinitely, until end of day, and one hour. In the U.S., iOS 27 allows you to split bills with a new feature powered by Apple Cash and Apple Intelligence. This capability is available in the Messages and Apple Wallet apps, or by using the new Siri mode in the Camera app. "When users point their iPhone at a receipt using Siri mode, it can surface the relevant action to split a bill with Apple Cash and identify the items on the receipt," said Apple. "As users select their items, their total payment is calculated, including their share of tax and tip, so they can pay back exactly what they owe with Apple Cash." You can now create custom passes in Apple Wallet from physical cards, like loyalty or membership cards. With the Siri mode in the Camera app, you can simply point your iPhone at any physical card with a barcode and save it to Apple Wallet. Once added, passes are ready to present as a barcode or QR code right from the iPhone. iOS 27 provides an enhanced Apple Wallet key experience for participating hotels and resorts. You can view more details about your trips, receive updates about booked activities, access services available during your stay, and more. Apple Pay's checkout flow on the web and in apps is getting an updated design that allows you to swipe to switch payment cards. And if you have an eligible card in Apple Wallet, it will be accompanied by more information, including rewards balances, debit account balances, pay later options, and more. As part of the Tap to Pay on iPhone feature, new Tap to Share functionality allows you to connect to a participating small business owner's iPhone and securely share shipping information, email addresses, loyalty rewards, and more. In the Apple Podcasts app, there is a new "search within show" feature. In the Photos app, iCloud Shared Albums now support full-resolution sharing, more file types, emoji reactions, and more. Even people without an Apple device can now join and contribute photos to these shared albums on the web. In the Apple Music app, Apple said the AutoMix feature has "even better transitions" that feel "more immersive and engaging for listeners." Introduced in iOS 26, AutoMix adds seamless, DJ-like transitions between songs. Apple Music's Lyrics Translation feature is expanding to seven additional language pairings: English to French, English to German, English to Italian, English to Korean, English to Spanish, French to English, and Japanese to English. Apple's press release provides more details about these features and a few others. iOS 27 is currently available in developer beta, with a public beta to follow in July. The update is expected to be released in September.Related Roundup: iOS 27Tags: Apple Maps, Apple Music, Apple Wallet, Find My This article, "Apple Says iOS 27 Adds These 12 New Features to Your iPhone" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple has added direct touch input to Sidecar with macOS 27 Golden Gate and iPadOS 27, allowing users to tap and interact with macOS interface elements using a finger on their iPad for the first time. Previously, ‌Sidecar‌ was deliberately limited as a touch interface. While multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom, and three-finger editing gestures for copy, cut, paste, and undo have been supported for years, directly tapping to click links, open apps, or interact with macOS UI elements was not possible with a finger. Those interactions required either the Mac's connected mouse or trackpad, or an Apple Pencil. The new Direct Touch capability closes that gap. In ‌macOS 27‌, users can can now tap, swipe, and interact with macOS apps on their ‌iPad‌ screen using a finger, bringing ‌Sidecar‌ closer to how third-party tools like Luna Display have worked for some time. ‌Apple Pencil‌ support continues alongside the new touch capabilities. ICYMI: You can now use touch controls on your Mac display with Sidecar on iPad! 👀 pic.twitter.com/KOErLtoZCA — BLCNYY (@BLCNYY) June 9, 2026 The expanded ‌Sidecar‌ functionality requires an Apple Silicon Mac running ‌macOS 27‌ Golden Gate and a compatible ‌iPad‌ running iPadOS 27. As with previous versions of the feature, both devices must be signed into the same Apple ID, connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and have Bluetooth enabled, with the two devices within 10 meters of each other. The feature is likely another indication of impending touch support on the Mac, along with other features like pull-to-refresh. Apple is said to be planning to launch a "MacBook Ultra" as a new top-tier laptop with a touchscreen OLED display, an M6-series chip, the Dynamic Island, and a thinner design. Reports suggest that the device is scheduled to launch in early 2027.Related Roundup: macOS 27Tag: Sidecar This article, "macOS 27 Finally Brings Direct Touch Control to Sidecar" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Nomad today introduced two new products in its Stellar Orange colorway, expanding the number of accessories it offers in the unique shade. Stellar Orange matches the Cosmic Orange color that Apple used for the iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. The Stellar Orange Stand One is a 2-in–1 charging stand that's priced at $135. It was previously available in silver and carbide, but it now comes in bright orange. It is a Qi2 charger that charges a MagSafe iPhone at up to 25W. The upright charger supports charging an iPhone in portrait or landscape orientation for Stand By, and it has a quality glass and metal build. A second Qi charger at the bottom of the stand allows AirPods to be charged at 5W. The stand charges over USB-C, and you'll need to supply a 40W or better power adapter, but it does come with a braided nylon USB-C cable. An anti-slip base keeps it in place, as does the weight of the charger. Nomad's Stellar Orange Tracking Card Pro is $39, and it is made to slip into a wallet to add Find My tracking capabilities. It connects to the ‌Find My‌ network so it is locatable in the ‌Find My‌ app's Items tab, and it can use nearby Apple devices to report its location if lost or stolen. The Tracking Card Pro can charge using any Qi or ‌MagSafe‌ charger, and the battery lasts for up to 16 months. It is 2.5mm thin, which makes it three times thinner than an AirTag and better suited for use in a wallet. It does not support Precision Finding because Apple doesn't make the iPhone's Ultra Wideband chip available to third-party trackers. Nomad's $135 Stellar Orange Stand One and $39 Stellar Orange Tracking Card Pro are available from the Nomad website as of today. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner Nomad. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.Related Roundup: iPhone 17 ProTags: Find My, NomadBuyer's Guide: iPhone 17 Pro (Caution)Related Forum: iPhone This article, "Nomad's New Stellar Orange Charger and Find My Card Match the iPhone 17 Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Last year, singer Justin Bieber turned to social media to complain about the placement of the dictation button in the Messages app's text field on the iPhone. Specifically, he said he kept accidentally pressing the dictation button after sending a text, given it shows up in the same spot as the send button. Apple has seemingly listened to this feedback, as iOS 27 lets you turn off the dictation button in the Settings app under Apps → Messages → Show in Text Field.Related Roundup: iOS 27 This article, "iOS 27 Fixes Justin Bieber's Problem in Messages App" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple's WWDC 2026 keynote may have seemed relatively quiet on the Vision Pro front, but the visionOS 27 beta contains a decent amount of new features and quality of life improvements that are likely to be welcomed by the headset's user base. As you'd expect, visionOS 27 is getting the new Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features that Apple has brought to iOS 27 and macOS 27, but this time they feel more seamlessly integrated into the platform compared to previous efforts. For example, Vision Pro users can ask ‌Siri‌ about anything in their surroundings, and using Visual Intelligence, the assistant will see and interpret it in real time, identifying the content, answering questions about it, and providing contextual information to boot. Interacting with Apple's ‌Siri‌ is achieved via a new 3D orb that users can place anywhere in their virtual space, and just looking at the widget is enough to start a conversation – no "Hey ‌Siri‌" needed. A new ‌Siri‌ app also makes it easier to revisit previous interactions and continue conversations. Curved windows in visionOS 27 Below is a summary of what else is new in visionOS 27: Panoramas as environments: Panorama photos can now be turned into immersive spatial environments. Rather than viewing panoramas as flat images, users can step into them and experience added depth and realism, making photos and landscapes feel more lifelike. Curved app windows: Apps such as Safari, Freeform, and Apple TV now take advantage of new curved window layouts that wrap content around a user's field of view. The feature is designed to create a more immersive workspace and make better use of Vision Pro's virtual display area. Faster Wi-Fi: Apple says visionOS 27 significantly improves wireless performance, with supported networks delivering speeds up to three times faster than before. Safari 3D environments: A new Web Environments feature means developers can now use a new immersive API to launch users into a full 360-degree environment from within Safari. Apple says these environments can completely surround a user's physical space, making browsing feel more like a native Vision Pro experience. Redesigned Control Center: Control Center has been reorganized with dedicated sections for notifications and media playback, system controls, and immersive environments. The redesign aims to make common controls easier to find and reduce the number of steps required to access frequently used settings. Smaller widgets: A new extra-small widget size allows users to place more widgets throughout their physical space without overwhelming their environment. The additional size option gives users greater flexibility when placing clocks, weather widgets, photos, and other persistent spatial content. Glance-to-expand notifications: Notifications will now automatically expand when a user looks at them, thereby reducing the need for hand gestures or manual interaction. The feature means quicker access to information, while remaining in line with visionOS's eyes-first interaction model. Spatially preview your Mac: Mac owners can now preview and edit 3D models from their laptop directly in visionOS, while Quick Look enhancements allow for annotations to be added directly to 3D models. New Environment: Apple has added a new immersive environment based on Thórsmörk, a nature reserve in Iceland known for its dramatic mountains, valleys, and glaciers. Users can select the environment as a virtual backdrop for work and entertainment, just like the existing environments. Developer enhancements: Apple is introducing new frameworks, APIs, and tools to help developers build more advanced spatial experiences. The updates include RealityKit improvements, Environment Occlusion for more realistic blending of virtual and physical objects, enhanced asset rendering technologies, updates to Reality Composer Pro 3, and improvements for popular game engines. The new Control Center design for visionOS 27 The visionOS 27 developer beta is available now, ahead of the software's full release this fall. Apple says ‌Siri‌ AI will begin rolling out later this year as a beta feature and will initially support English only. However, unlike on iPhone and iPad, where ‌Siri‌ AI will not be available at launch in the European Union, Vision Pro users in the EU will have access to the feature from day one.Related Roundup: Apple Vision ProTag: SiriBuyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Neutral)Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro This article, "visionOS 27: Siri AI, Eye-Aware Notifications, Curved Windows, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

macOS 27 Golden Gate adds pull-to-refresh support to the Mac, adopting one of iPhone and iPad's most familiar gestures for the first time. The feature, which Apple calls "Swipe down to refresh," lets users swipe down within apps to fetch the latest content, rather than relying on a keyboard shortcut or menu item. Apple confirmed that Safari, Mail, News, Podcasts, and Calendar are among the apps that support the gesture at launch. Pull-to-refresh has been a staple of iOS and iPadOS for many years, offering an intuitive, gesture-driven way to update app content. Its arrival on macOS suggests Apple is continuing to blur the interaction patterns between its platforms. Apple is reportedly planning to launch a "MacBook Ultra", a new top-tier laptop expected to feature a touchscreen OLED display with an M6-series chip, the Dynamic Island, and a thinner design. Reports suggest early 2027 is the most likely launch window, following delays attributed to the global memory chip shortage. Touch-friendly interface updates to macOS are almost certainly related to that future product.Related Roundup: macOS 27 This article, "macOS 27 Golden Gate Adopts iPhone-Like Pull-to-Refresh Support" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple has published a five-minute recap video summarizing the key announcements from its WWDC26 Platforms State of the Union, covering rebuilt intelligence frameworks, platform design changes, and major developer tools updates. Apple said its Foundation Models have been rebuilt from the ground up in collaboration with Google, leveraging technology from the Gemini family of models. The Foundation Models framework now supports image input and cloud model integration, allowing developers to connect to any cloud model provider for more complex tasks. New dynamic profiles are also included to simplify building AI agents and skills by swapping tools in and out and updating instructions on the fly. Core AI, an entirely new framework for running on-device models, is built into the OS and designed to take full advantage of Apple Silicon. App Intents have been updated to connect apps to Apple Intelligence, making content discoverable and actions available through Siri via natural language, with a new View Annotations API allowing users to act on what's on screen just by asking. The refined Liquid Glass design system features prominently in the recap. Apple said the design is more consistent and personalizable, with better readability. On macOS, every window now shares a tighter corner radius. App icons receive sharper rendering automatically, with new refraction effects available through Icon Composer. iOS apps are now resizable, allowing users to take advantage of larger displays when running them on iPads or Macs via iPhone mirroring, with a new resizable iOS Simulator to make testing across sizes easier. SwiftUI received a range of updates, including drag-to-reorder and swipe actions in any container, nested layouts that resize up to twice as fast, and automatic async image caching. Toolbars now offer finer control over visibility as space shrinks, and a new Spatial Preview Framework for the Apple Vision Pro lets developers stream 3D models from a Mac into physical space. In Xcode 27, projects load faster and the app is 30% smaller as it moves to Apple Silicon-only. Settings now sync via iCloud, the toolbar is fully customizable, and themes including Emerald, Neon Noir, and Coral Reef bring color throughout the app. Xcode Cloud is easier to set up with builds up to twice as fast. A new Device Hub replaces Simulator, bringing virtual and physical devices together in one place with live resizing and full hardware control from the Mac. Apple said it is working with Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google to bring their agents into Xcode. Agent conversations now behave like files and can be opened, split, and stacked in the Navigator. Agents can run tests, use Playgrounds, customize previews across light and dark mode and other configurations, and drive a running app end-to-end. Developers can extend Xcode further through plugins that bring skills, MCP tools, and agents via the agent-client protocol, with Figma and GitHub shipping their own plugins at launch. The full Platforms State of the Union video is available on the Apple Developer app, website, and YouTube.Related Roundup: WWDC 2026Tag: WWDC 2026Related Forum: Apple, Inc and Tech Industry This article, "Apple Shares 5-Minute WWDC Platforms State of the Union Recap Video" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple yesterday announced several improvements to Apple Podcasts, including video podcast playback on macOS and a fully redesigned tvOS app. Mac users will gain a new, enhanced video podcast experience in ‌Apple Podcasts‌, including Picture in Picture support for watching episodes while multitasking. The update brings the full mobile ‌Apple Podcasts‌ experience to the Mac, with audio and video content alongside transcripts, timed links, and chapters. The ‌Apple Podcasts‌ app on tvOS is receiving a complete redesign with video podcast playback, a new sidebar navigation for easier browsing, and support for podcast creators' episode and show artwork. The update is aimed at making it simpler to discover and enjoy video content on the big screen. Across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro, as well as on the web at podcasts.apple.com, Apple is also adding a new search within show feature. The tool allows users to search directly within a show from its See All Episodes view, making it easier to locate a specific episode without scrolling through an entire back catalog. The updates will arrive this fall as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, visionOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, and tvOS 27.Related Roundup: Apple TVTag: Apple PodcastsBuyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater This article, "Apple Podcasts Gets Video on Mac and Apple TV, Plus New Search Feature" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple has shared updated iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 adoption figures, revealing how many iPhones and iPads were running those software versions on the day before the start of WWDC 2026 and the release of the first iOS 27 developer beta. These adoption numbers are based on iPhones and iPads that transacted on the App Store on Sunday, June 7, according to Apple. The statistics are as follows:86% of all iPhones introduced in the last four years were running iOS 26. 79% of all iPhones were running iOS 26. 79% of all iPads introduced in the last four years were running iPadOS 26. 68% of all iPads were running iPadOS 26.Here is how that compares to the iOS 18 adoption figures that Apple shared based on iPhones and iPads that transacted on the App Store on Thursday, June 5, 2025:88% of all iPhones introduced in the last four years were running iOS 18. 82% of all iPhones were running iOS 18. 81% of all iPads introduced in the last four years were running iPadOS 18. 71% of all iPads were running iPadOS 18.iOS 27 beta testing is now underway, so this will be Apple's final update on iOS 26 adoption.Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, WWDC 2026Tag: iOS AdoptionRelated Forums: iOS 26, Apple, Inc and Tech Industry This article, "Apple Reveals How Many iPhones Were Running iOS 26 Before WWDC" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

The European Commission has responded to Apple's announcement that Siri AI will not launch in the EU, saying the decision is entirely Apple's and that the company sought an exemption from its legal obligations rather than a compliant solution. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels (via Reuters) that Apple had failed to develop interoperability solutions meeting EU privacy and security standards, and instead asked to be let off the hook entirely. The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's only. Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security standards. Instead of trying to find a suitable compliance solution, Apple simply made a request to the European Commission to be exempted from their interoperability obligations. That's not an option. The statement appears to contradict Apple's characterization of events somewhat. Apple announced yesterday that Siri AI would not be available in the EU on iOS or iPadOS, blaming regulators for refusing to engage constructively on proposed solutions. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, said the company was "deeply disappointed" and cited what it described as regulators' refusal to accept any of Apple's proposals, including a system called Trusted System Agent that would have allowed third-party virtual assistants to safely access the same device capabilities as ‌Siri‌ AI. The Commission's account tells a different story. Rather than negotiating over Apple's proposed solutions, regulators say Apple simply requested a blanket exemption from its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act, something the Commission says is not an available option. Apple's statement framed the DMA's requirements as demanding that any AI system be given "nearly unlimited access" to a user's device. When iOS 27 and Apple's other major new software updates are released later this year, users in the EU will not have access to ‌Siri‌ AI or any of its new features, including the app for revisiting and starting new conversations. Apple said it hopes to eventually bring ‌Siri‌ AI to the EU and will continue to engage with regulators, but offered no timeline.Tags: European Commission, European Union, Siri, Siri AI This article, "EU Says Decision Not to Launch Siri AI in Europe Is Apple's Alone" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Apple executives have detailed the architecture of the company's new Apple Foundation Models (AFM) and clarified exactly how Google's technology factored into their development. Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering, held a post-keynote tech talk (via 9to5Mac) with press on Monday alongside AI VP Amar Subramanya, Siri lead Mike Rockwell, and software VP Sebastien Marineau-Mes to walk through how the third-generation AFM family was built and how it powers Apple Intelligence. "The amount of the Google Assistant we use is none," Federighi said, explaining that Apple uses none of the Gemini models deployed to Google's customers, none of Google's client-side code, and no Google Search infrastructure as the knowledge backbone. Of course, we don't have the Gemini app as our app. In fact, none of that client code is part of how we run on iOS. For these models, we use none of the models that Google deploys to their customers, nor do we use the infrastructure and means by which they deploy models to their customers. And then, when it comes to the knowledge base, we of course don't use Google Search or anything like that as the foundation of our system. Subramanya outlined the new AFM family, which spans two on-device models and three server-side models. The on-device tier consists of AFM Core, a next-generation dense architecture model, and AFM Core Advanced, which uses a sparse architecture and is natively multimodal. Subramanya said AFM Core Advanced is "unlike any on-device model we've run before," enabling new features including invitation and expressive voices without any cloud requests. On the server side, AFM Cloud handles latency-optimized Private Cloud Compute requests, while AFM Cloud Image powers image generation and editing features including spatial reframing. The key detail on the Google collaboration came in Subramanya's description of how these four models were trained. "All of these are custom built for Apple Silicon, trained using proprietary data with reinforcement learning and refined using outputs from Gemini frontier models," he said, making clear that Google's contribution was distillation-based, not a wholesale adoption of Gemini. The fifth and most capable model, AFM Cloud Pro, is designed for agentic tool use and complex reasoning tasks, with quality that Subramanya said is "similar to Gemini frontier models." This model marks a departure from Apple's standard Private Cloud Compute setup. To run it, Apple worked with both Google and Nvidia to extend its private cloud infrastructure to Nvidia GPUs hosted in Google's cloud. Marineau-Mes said Apple wanted to use Nvidia's latest chips but required them to be configured so they couldn't read the contents of Apple's servers. A recent Nvidia technology called "ambiguous confidential compute" provided the solution. We wanted to avail ourselves of the latest technology from Nvidia, and so we set out to extend private cloud compute to third-party cloud. Federighi described the broader system architecture as being organized around a System Orchestrator, a piece of software he called "key to the privacy architecture of our entire system." The orchestrator routes any given query to the appropriate model, on-device or cloud, based on the complexity of the request and the personal context required. It draws on an App Toolbox for in-app actions, a Spotlight Semantic Index for personal content, and on-screen context for real-time awareness. For queries involving current events, responses are found through Apple's own World Knowledge Service, which Federighi said the company has been building for several years. Apple also maintains that all Private Cloud Compute infrastructure, including the extended Nvidia GPU capacity in Google's cloud, can be independently verified by third-party researchers to confirm that user data is never stored or accessed.Tags: Apple Intelligence, Craig Federighi, Google This article, "Apple's New AI Models Contain 'None' of Google's Gemini Assistant" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article