• ChatGPT: Go to Settings > Data Controls and turn off “Improve the model for everyone.”
• Claude: Navigate to Settings > Privacy and disable “Help improve Claude.”
• Gemini: Visit the Your Gemini Apps Activity page and turn off Gemini Apps Activity.
• Meta AI: Avoid it entirely, as it doesn’t allow you to opt out of training.

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First off, we’re not offended. If you can work through simple problems on your own with the help of an AI chatbot, that lets us focus on helping you with the bigger picture and issues that can be solved only by someone with awareness of your physical setup or broad knowledge of your workflow.

However, the mere fact that we’re getting these questions shows that people aren’t entirely comfortable with the AI answers, which is a good thing. Because chatbots work by giving you the most statistically likely words from their training models or extracted from search results, they can sometimes return incorrect information that could be harmful or even damaging. And, of course, they’ll do so in a breezy, confident tone that doesn’t suggest any concern.

For instance, we’ve seen chatbots confidently suggest deleting files or resetting permissions from the command line (be very afraid of anything that starts with sudo), disabling System Integrity Protection (almost never necessary), turning off Gatekeeper to install unsigned apps, resetting iCloud Keychain syncing, and more.

Here’s how to think about those responses. First, if you sense that following the chatbot’s instructions might cause problems, ask it to explain potential concerns and how to address them. Also, if you don’t understand what it’s telling you to do, say so and ask it to restate the instructions in simpler terms for someone less experienced. After pushing the chatbot for more details, use your critical thinking skills to ask yourself if its instructions could lead to irreversible changes or data loss.

If you still have any hesitation after going through that process, then it’s time to contact us. It’s helpful to share your chatbot conversation with us so we can assess what it suggested and explain why there was no need to worry or why you were justified in checking before taking action that you might regret.

Although this may seem like a modern problem, we’ve seen many similar situations over the years, where people get fired up about an article they read in an airline seatback magazine or hear something from their brilliant nephew who’s getting a degree in computers from a very good college. Although there’s no intent to deceive from any of these sources (chatbots don’t have intent at all, much less any to deceive), technical advice only makes sense in the context of your goals and resources.

In fact, having conversations about AI suggestions can be helpful because they help you develop better technical judgment. We can help you understand the principles behind different technical solutions, highlight what details matter when evaluating recommendations, and build your confidence in knowing when to trust (or distrust) technical advice from any source. Think of it as collaborative problem-solving that makes you better equipped to handle future technical challenges, whether you tackle them independently or with our professional help.

For the record, chatbots can help you understand basic settings, find features in common apps, and interpret standard error messages. But whenever a suggested solution involves system-level changes or seems risky, that’s when you should contact us.

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1. Before anything else, ensure that both your current iPhone and Apple Watch (if you have one) are running the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. Remember that these updates can take some time to install, so don’t leave them for the last minute.
2. Ensure you have your login details ready: you’ll need your iPhone and Apple Watch passcodes, along with your Apple Account credentials.
3. Back up your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. If you choose to back up to a Mac, make sure you encrypt the backup; otherwise, it won’t include passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history. For safety, consider backing up to both. We recommend iCloud backups because they are more straightforward and avoid issues like unreliable USB cables. If you don’t typically back up to iCloud, Apple offers temporary iCloud storage for 21 days when transferring to a new iPhone. To start an iCloud backup, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
4. If you have an Apple Watch, you can transfer it to the new iPhone during the setup process. If the automatic transfer doesn’t work for some reason, you can unpair the Apple Watch manually from the old iPhone and pair it again to the new one. If you choose the manual route with a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be prompted to keep or remove your cellular plan. Assuming that you intend to keep your Apple Watch and re-pair it with your new iPhone, be sure to keep the plan.
5. Your phone number should transfer automatically during activation if you ordered your new iPhone through Apple and linked it to your cellular carrier account during purchase. The same is true if you bought directly from your carrier. iPhones sold in the US rely exclusively on eSIM, and rumors suggest the iPhone 17 will also go eSIM-only in countries other than China, meaning that transferring the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one should be a thing of the past for most people.
6. Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content using one of these three methods. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so start the transfer only when you have plenty of time.
   • Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly to your new one. We recommend this method because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, which is less certain when restoring from an iCloud backup. Make sure both iPhones are charged above 50% or plugged into power before starting. Put your iPhones next to each other, use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the remaining steps that appear.
   • iCloud: This method allows the new iPhone to download your content from the old iPhone’s iCloud backup, making it ideal if the old iPhone is not available. After connecting to a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapping the From iCloud Backup button, select the correct backup—probably the most recent one you just created. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power to ensure all your content syncs during this process.
   • Finder or iTunes: Use this method to restore your old iPhone’s data from a backup saved to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable. Then, open a Finder window (or iTunes if your Mac is still running macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier) and select your device in the sidebar on the left. Next, click Restore Backup and select the correct backup—likely the newest one.
7. Complete post-transfer tasks. Some app data needs to sync, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps to check for your information; it may take a few minutes to populate. Verify you can make and receive calls. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. Also, pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new device. Apps might ask for notification permissions again, and you might need to download content and in-app purchases.
8. If you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, confirm that your codes appear on the new iPhone. Many apps now sync codes automatically once you log in, but don’t assume—verify before wiping the old phone.
9. Finally, if needed, set up single sign-on for work or school. Most enterprise authentication systems now support automatic device migration, but check with your IT department about their specific requirements. For systems that require manual activation, you’ll need to activate your new iPhone and deactivate the old one. Go to the standard single sign-in login page for your organization, find the link to manage your logins, click it, and follow the instructions.

Although Apple works hard to make transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as smooth as possible, some things may not transfer perfectly. We strongly recommend keeping your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one did. During that time, thoroughly test the new iPhone, checking each app you need.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

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These are updates to mature product lines, so the changes from last year’s versions may not be enough to persuade you to upgrade. However, this year’s releases are attractive for anyone wanting to replace an old iPhone, Apple Watch, or set of AirPods that is showing its age or suffering from weak battery life. Pre-ordered products will be delivered and become available in stores on September 19.

After the announcement, Apple revealed on its website that all its next-generation operating systems—macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, and likely tvOS 26 and HomePod Software 26—will ship on September 15. Wait a week or two before upgrading essential devices to avoid any last-minute bugs, and hold off on Tahoe for a few months or until you’re confident your necessary Mac apps are compatible. Regardless of when you upgrade, make a backup right before, in case an unexpected problem forces you to erase and restore.

Let’s look at the new products.

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Lineup

As with the last few years, the best bang for your iPhone buck comes from the new iPhone 17, which gains even more features previously exclusive to the Pro models and is available in black, white, mist blue, sage, and lavender. Apple replaced the Plus model with the ultra-thin iPhone Air, available in space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue. Lastly, the company enhanced the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max to make them even more compelling to professional photographers and videographers. These models come in three anodized aluminum colors: silver, deep blue, and cosmic orange.

Notable features shared by all the new models include:

• Center Stage front camera: Powered by a new square sensor, the new selfie camera automatically reframes shots to keep multiple people in view without rotating the phone. The 18-megapixel sensor also promises higher-resolution photos and stabilized video. You can even now record video using both the front and rear cameras at the same time.
• A19 and A19 Pro: The latest generation of Apple silicon boosts CPU and GPU performance, with the A19 Pro adding neural accelerators to each GPU core for faster AI processing. The A19 powers the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air; the iPhone 17 Pro models rely on the A19 Pro.
• Enhanced scratch and crack resistance: Apple made much of its new Ceramic Shield 2 coating, which reportedly provides three times better scratch resistance for the front glass. The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models also feature Ceramic Shield 2 for the back glass, where Apple says it’s four times more resistant to cracks.
• Better battery life: All the iPhone 17 models have improved battery life compared to last year’s models, and although the iPhone Air has less internal space for the battery, it still offers the same battery life as last year’s iPhone 16 Plus.
• Brighter displays: All models now support 3000 nits of brightness outdoors, making them easier to read in sunlight.
• More storage: 256 GB has become the new standard in storage levels. You can upgrade to 512 GB on the iPhone 17, choose 512 GB or 1 TB on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models, and go up to 2 TB on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
• N1 wireless chip: All new models now rely on an Apple-designed N1 chip that provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking. You won’t notice this—wireless should just work.

More specifically, the iPhone 17 gains a new 6.3-inch display, up from the 6.1-inch screen in the iPhone 16. The display also supports ProMotion adaptive refresh rates up to 120 Hz and includes always-on functionality. Additionally, the display can scale its refresh rate down to 1 Hz to preserve battery life. The iPhone 17’s Dual Fusion camera system is also a significant upgrade from the previous generation, moving from a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera to a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera that delivers more detail in landscapes and macro photos.

Thanks to a titanium frame, the iPhone Air measures just 5.6 mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone ever. However, its 6.5-inch screen places it between the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro (6.3-inch) and the iPhone 17 Pro Max (6.9-inch) — it’s slim but not small. To make space for the internal components and battery, Apple replaced the traditional asymmetrical camera bump with a wider “plateau” that runs across the entire back of the iPhone Air. The biggest compromise in the iPhone Air, which may drive many potential buyers toward the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro, is the single 48-megapixel Fusion camera system, which lacks the Ultra Wide camera found in other models or the Telephoto camera in the iPhone 17 Pro. Its photos are likely fine, but they won’t match the quality of those taken with other iPhones if you want to zoom in or out. Lastly, the iPhone Air uses Apple’s new C1X cellular modem chip, which improves upon the C1 introduced in the iPhone 16e. We still don’t know how it compares to the Qualcomm chips in the iPhone 17 models.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max trade last year’s titanium frames for aluminum that provides better thermal conductivity with only a 7-gram weight gain. Heat dissipation was a focus this year, with Apple also adding a vapor chamber—that’s right, there’s water inside. All three of the iPhone 17 Pro’s Fusion cameras are now 48 megapixels, up from 12 megapixels for the Telephoto camera in last year’s models. You can now enjoy 4x optical-quality zoom with 48-megapixel shots and 8x optical-quality zoom with 12-megapixel images. Professionals will also appreciate ProRes RAW capture and Genlock synchronization support.

In terms of prices, the iPhone 17 starts at $799, the iPhone Air at $999, the iPhone 17 Pro at $1099, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1199. If those prices are too steep for your budget, the iPhone 16e ($599), iPhone 16 ($699), and iPhone 16 Plus ($799) remain for sale.

Should you upgrade? Probably not from one of last year’s models or an iPhone 15 Pro, all of which support Apple Intelligence. With an older iPhone, the decision largely depends on whether you want a larger screen and a better camera (all three have the helpful Camera Control that debuted last year). Also consider how weak your current battery is—that’s often what prompts people to upgrade. You can’t go wrong with an iPhone 17, and even though the iPhone 17 Pro is pricey, you’ll get the best cameras and top performance. Even if it sacrifices some photo quality, the iPhone Air certainly makes a design statement.

Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3

Last year saw only the release of the Apple Watch Series 10, featuring a thinner case and larger screen, while this year brings new models across all three Apple Watch lines: the Apple Watch SE 3, the Apple Watch Series 11, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

• Apple Watch SE 3: The new entry-level model improves on its predecessor with a welcome always-on display. Its new S10 chip enables features like double-tap and wrist flick gestures, along with on-device Siri processing. It provides sleep apnea notifications, and the addition of temperature sensing allows cycle tracking. Fast charging and the ability to play media through the built-in speaker round out the major upgrades, along with 5G cellular capabilities for better connectivity. It’s available in midnight and starlight colors, starting at $249 (cellular adds $50). The Apple Watch SE 3 is a solid option with many fewer compromises than in the past, though it still lacks the ECG app, blood oxygen monitoring, and hypertension detection. It also has a smaller, less-bright display and a shorter battery life (18 versus 24 hours).
  
• Apple Watch Series 11: There are few changes from last year’s Series 10. A new ceramic coating improves scratch resistance, and 5G connectivity for cellular-enabled models may provide better wireless performance with less battery drain. The battery life is now rated at up to 24 hours. Apple also touted the new hypertension detection and sleep score, but both are features of watchOS 26 and will be available on some earlier models as well. The Apple Watch Series 11 is available in aluminum (jet black, silver, rose gold, and space gray) and titanium (natural, gold, and slate) finishes starting at $399 (cellular adds $100).
  
• Apple Watch Ultra 3: The most technologically impressive change is support for Messages, Find My, and Emergency SOS via satellite, much like the iPhone 14 and later. There are caveats—you’ll need a cellular plan for Messages and Find My via satellite to work, and sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages requires a powered-on iPhone connected to the Internet, though it doesn’t need to be nearby. It also supports 5G cellular. Another enhancement is a larger display that’s easier to see at off angles and can refresh once per second to show a ticking seconds hand. It also offers up to 42 hours of battery life and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available in natural or black titanium, starting at $799.
  

It’s difficult to recommend upgrading from an Apple Watch Series 9 or Series 10—the Series 11 is just too similar. However, the Apple Watch SE 3 offers real-world improvements over previous Apple Watch SE models and may also be sufficient for many users upgrading from an old Series 4 or similar. The main reason to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is for satellite connectivity; if you frequently go off-grid, it might be worth trading in an older Apple Watch Ultra.

AirPods Pro 3

The smallest new product Apple announced might be one of the most popular: the upgraded AirPods Pro 3. Apple’s premium earbuds have gained many fans due to their excellent noise cancellation, which effectively blocks out sounds like airplane engines, construction machines, and more—they even let you enjoy loud concerts without worrying about your hearing.

The new AirPods Pro 3 feature an internal redesign and new foam-infused eartips to provide twice the noise cancellation of the AirPods Pro 2 and four times that of the original AirPods Pro. Apple also slightly reduced their size, improved stability, and now offers five sizes of eartips, all designed to make the AirPods Pro 3 more comfortable. Those who exercise with AirPods will appreciate the new IP57 sweat and water resistance, along with heart rate tracking during workouts. The AirPods Pro 3 can even detect your movements and automatically start up to 50 workout types in the Fitness app on your iPhone. Finally, Apple boosted battery life to 8 hours with noise cancellation active (up from 6 hours) and up to 10 hours in Transparency mode.

The most impressive AirPods demo during Apple’s event was Live Translation, which enables real-time translation of face-to-face conversations in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish initially, with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese coming later this year. If the other person isn’t wearing supported AirPods, you can use your iPhone as a horizontal display to show your speech in their language. Live Translation is powered by computational audio on an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26, and it also works on the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation.

The AirPods Pro 3 remain priced at $249 with a wireless charging case. If noise cancellation is important to you, they’re an easy upgrade, especially if you’re coming from regular AirPods or the original AirPods Pro.

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However, since we live in an increasingly global world, we occasionally have to consider time zones when scheduling meetings. Business travelers have long needed to keep track of meeting times as they move across time zones, and the number of online meetings spanning the globe has skyrocketed since the pandemic. Whether you’re scheduling appointments on the other side of the country or collaborating with a remote team, it’s essential to be able to work effectively with time zones on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Here’s what you need to know.

Fact 1: All Events and Reminders Have Time Zones

The first thing to understand is that every calendar event and reminder has an associated time zone. However, that’s not always obvious—you won’t see any options for adjusting time zones in Calendar on the Mac unless you enable an advanced setting, and reminders never show their time zone.

By default, events use the local time zone of the device on which you create them, which is usually appropriate. However, you can adjust an event’s time zone to make sure you’re notified at the right time after traveling.

Unlike calendar events, timed reminders in the Reminders app are permanently linked to the time zone in which they were created, and this setting cannot be altered. When traveling across time zones, reminders’ local times will adjust accordingly, triggering alerts at unexpected times.

Fact 2: Time Zone Display Can and Will Change

The second point to grasp is that calendar apps display the times of events based on two factors:

• Device time zone: Apple devices typically set their time zone automatically based on location. If you live in Virginia and fly to Oregon, your iPhone will switch from Eastern Time to Pacific Time as soon as you take it out of airplane mode, and your Mac will do the same once it connects to the Internet. You can manually set the device time zone in Settings/System Settings > General > Date & Time, but that’s seldom necessary.
• Calendar time zone overrides: You can make the Calendar app display events as if you were in a different time zone. This feature can help you confirm that events scheduled in another time zone show up at the correct times. On the iPhone or iPad, enable Settings > Apps > Calendar > Time Zone Override. Be careful not to forget about this override, or it may lead to confusion later. On the Mac, go to Calendar > Settings > Advanced, select “Turn on time zone support,” and choose a time zone from the pop-up menu that appears near the upper-right corner of the window.
  

When an event’s time zone differs from your device’s current time zone or the time zone override setting, Calendar will indicate the discrepancy. For example, an event at 2 PM Eastern Time event viewed on a device set to Pacific Time will display as 11 AM, with the original time zone noted in parentheses.

Working with Event Time Zones

When creating events where the time zone might be significant, you have three options:

• Stick with the local time zone: Since all events are associated with a time zone, if you do nothing when creating an event, it will default to your current time zone. This is appropriate when the event will be shared with someone in another time zone through an invitation or shared calendar. However, it poses issues when creating events related to a trip.
• Change to a remote time zone: When scheduling your future self in another time zone—perhaps for business meetings or conference sessions—you can set those events to the time zone of your destination, ensuring they appear at the correct time once you arrive. On the iPhone and iPad, choose the time zone when setting the start time. On the Mac, with time zone support enabled, select it from the Time Zone menu.
  
• Switch to the floating time zone: For travelers who frequently cross time zones, Apple supports a special “floating time zone” that ensures events appear at the same local time regardless of location. For example, a noon lunch meeting set with a floating time zone will always appear at noon, whether you’re in Boston or Denver. However, the floating time zone does have its limitations. While all Apple devices synced through iCloud honor the floating time zone, you can create events with it only on the Mac, not on the iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com. Additionally, syncing events through Google Calendar or Microsoft Exchange should work, but if you edit an event on the Web or with non-Apple apps, it will revert to the local time zone.

Common Time Zone Scenarios

Now that you understand that events are always associated with time zones, how they appear in Calendar, and how to specify particular time zones for events, let’s look at some common time zone scenarios:

• When traveling to another time zone: For events during an upcoming trip, you can either manually set the event’s time zone to match your destination or use the floating time zone. The manual approach ensures that events appear at the correct local time once you arrive, although it may be confusing to visualize before departure. The floating time zone maintains the same “wall clock time” regardless of your location, making it easier to plan your schedule before you leave.
• Creating events while away: Conversely, when scheduling an appointment back home while traveling, set the event time zone to your home time zone. The event will appear on your calendar at the correct adjusted time. The floating time zone works well as an alternative for personal events that should take place at the same local time, no matter where you are.
• Trips with multiple time zones: For complex itineraries involving flights and travel transitions with departure and arrival times in different zones, the Calendar app on the iPhone and iPad allows you to create events that start and end in different time zones. Tap the Time Zone option beneath the Start and End time pickers to set different time zones. Although you cannot create these multi-zone events on the Mac, they will display correctly on all your synced devices.
• Remote scheduling: When inviting people from different time zones to an event or scheduling meetings with team members in various locations, create the event in your local time zone. The invitations and shared events will automatically adjust to each recipient’s time zone. When searching for optimal meeting times across multiple time zones, use a tool like World Time Buddy, which provides visual guidance for overlapping business hours.
• Reminders can be tricky: Since reminders always use the time zone where they were created, their local times will shift as you travel, leading to notifications at unexpected times. The only workaround is to edit their times manually when you arrive at your destination and again when you return home. Alternatively, consider using an app like Due that keeps reminders consistent with “wall clock time.”
• Scheduling global events: When planning a webinar or other online event that people in many different time zones might attend, use a tool like Every Time Zone to identify suitable times across various regions. After creating the event at the selected time, drag it from Calendar to the desktop to generate an ICS file for sharing with participants. This file will reflect your local time zone, and when attendees double-click it to import, their calendar app will display it at the appropriate time for them.

Although we’ve focused on Calendar on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac here, the same concepts—except for the floating time zone—apply to other apps like Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar. By keeping these time zone concepts in mind, you can avoid calendar confusion and ensure that you don’t miss important meetings, regardless of where in the world you find yourself.

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Apple previewed numerous features during the keynote and listed even more on its website afterward. Below, we’ll focus on those we think will make the most difference to your Apple experience, but we also encourage you to read Apple’s pages for each platform to learn more about what’s coming. Those are linked here, along with basic hardware requirements, so you can determine if your devices will be eligible to upgrade this fall:

• macOS 26 Tahoe: MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later), MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later), MacBook Pro (16‑inch, 2019), MacBook Pro (13‑inch, 2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports), iMac (2020 and later), Mac mini (2020 and later), Mac Studio (2022 and later), Mac Pro (2019 and later)
• iOS 26: iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, and later
• iPadOS 26: iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro (M4)
• watchOS 26: Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), Apple Watch Series 6 and later, and Apple Watch Ultra and later
• visionOS 26: All Vision Pro headsets
• tvOS 26: Apple TV 4K

First, let’s look at Liquid Glass, after which we’ll examine a handful of changes we think Apple users will find most interesting.

Liquid Glass Gives Apple’s Platforms a Fresh Look

Apple’s last major interface redesign occurred in 2013 with the release of iOS 7. Since then, the company’s hardware and graphics technologies have advanced significantly, enabling the new Liquid Glass interface design. It brings to life a new glass-like “material” for interface elements that blurs the line between the physical and the virtual. Liquid Glass is both translucent and malleable, allowing background content to refract through the controls, which can morph, flex, and illuminate in response to user interaction.

Liquid Glass encompasses all of Apple’s platforms and extends to every aspect of the interface, including controls, navigation bars, tabs and sidebars, alerts, widgets, icons, the menu bar, and the Dock. Functionally, Apple has taken the opportunity to improve some interactions, so alerts appear from where you tap rather than taking over the entire display, and context menus expand into scannable lists rather than requiring awkward horizontal scrolling. When you interact with toolbars or other controls, they expand and become more prominent, but as soon as you’re done, they minimize themselves to let you focus on the content. Watch Apple’s intro video to get a feel for it.

The main concern with Liquid Glass is that it may lack contrast and be difficult to read for those whose vision isn’t perfect. In the past, Apple has provided a Reduce Transparency option in the Accessibility settings for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS to eliminate any color bleeding through translucent menus and dialogs; we’ll see if such an option proves necessary for some.

iPadOS 26 Takes Lessons from macOS

Ever since the introduction of the iPad, people have been frustrated by the extent to which it was a larger iPhone rather than a smaller, touch-sensitive Mac. Apple took small steps toward enhancing productivity by adding features like Slide Over and Split View, but they were fussy to use and never achieved widespread acceptance. With iPadOS 26, Apple has finally acknowledged that the iPad should just work more like a Mac. To that end, iPadOS 26 will offer Mac-like features in the following areas:

• Window management: Every app can now be transformed into a standalone window that you can move and resize freely. Windows remember their size and position, and you can tile them flexibly, with options to split the screen into two, three, or four sections. The familiar traffic light window controls from the Mac reappear along with the macOS Move & Resize and Fill & Arrange options. Swiping up invokes Exposé, allowing you to view all windows and switch to your desired one easily.
  
• Menu bar and Dock: iPadOS gains a menu bar that looks and works like the one on the Mac, but it only appears when you swipe down from the top of the screen. You can also put folders in the Dock and access their contents in much the same way docked folders appear as a stack on the Mac.
  
• Filesystem access: The Files app resembles a Finder window much more now, thanks to the addition of collapsible folders and resizable columns. It allows you to select which apps will open specific document types and even modify the defaults. Additionally, you can customize folders with colors and icons.
  
• Preview makes the move: One of the core Mac apps, Preview, is coming to the iPad. Just as on the Mac, you can use Preview for viewing and editing images and PDFs, and it offers full support for the Apple Pencil.
  
• Background processing: Computationally intensive processes and other activities that take a long time, like exporting edited videos and downloading large files, can now run in the background while you engage in other tasks.
  

Apple Intelligence Expands Across the Ecosystem

Apple Intelligence has been far from a rousing success, with Apple’s failure to deliver last year’s promised update to Siri being the most prominent misstep. But Apple isn’t giving up and will be tapping into Apple Intelligence in many more places across all its operating systems and apps.

Even more important, the company announced that it is opening Apple Intelligence to developers, so we can expect to see features powered by Apple’s on-device large language models appearing in third-party apps this fall. That’s a big deal because Apple’s models provide fast response times, prioritize privacy, and incur no per-prompt costs.

Some of the new and expanded uses of Apple Intelligence include:

• Visual Intelligence: You can now use Visual Intelligence to learn more about and act on information displayed on your iPhone screen. You could research a piece of clothing you see while browsing, or create a calendar event based on a social media banner. You can also ask ChatGPT about anything you see on screen.
• Shortcuts gets Apple Intelligence: New intelligence actions in Shortcuts enable you to leverage Apple Intelligence to summarize text, create images, and more. Interestingly, shortcuts can even access Apple Intelligence’s Private Cloud Compute for more power-intensive tasks.
• Image Playground & ChatGPT: When using Image Playground, you can create images in a wider variety of styles with ChatGPT.
• Combine emoji for Genmoji: Previously, you could use text descriptions to create custom Genmoji; now, you can make them by combining existing emoji.
• Messages backgrounds: Chats in Messages will offer shared backgrounds, and users can create custom backgrounds with Image Playground.
• Messages polls: Group chats in Messages will gain polls—where should we go for dinner tonight?—and Apple Intelligence will automatically detect when a poll might be helpful and suggest one.
• Wallet order details: With Apple Intelligence, the Wallet app can identify and summarize order details, including tracking information.
• Workout Buddy: In the watchOS 26 Workout app, Apple Intelligence powers a virtual workout buddy that talks to you while you exercise, offering motivation, real-time stats, and post-workout feedback.

These new applications of Apple Intelligence may not rock your world, but together, they offer some appreciated enhancements. We also look forward to seeing how developers leverage Apple Intelligence models in innovative ways.

Live Translation Edges Toward the Universal Translator

Perhaps the most significant additional feature driven by Apple Intelligence in the new operating systems is Live Translation. It’s integrated into the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps. In the Phone app, you get spoken translations between supported languages. In FaceTime, you see the other person’s translated text as a caption, and Messages translates their text. Live Translations may prove to be a lifesaver on your next international trip.

Spotlight Gains Enhanced Capabilities

Whenever you do a search on the Mac, you’re using Spotlight. It can also search within apps like Contacts and Calendar, access various online sources, open documents, launch apps, and more. Despite that, Spotlight has paled in comparison to launchers like Alfred, LaunchBar, and Raycast. No more.

In Apple’s new operating systems, Spotlight will enable users to perform hundreds of actions across various apps. It will also be capable of understanding what you’re working on and suggesting relevant files, apps, or actions. For instance, you’ll be able to start a timer, create calendar events, generate a new email message with pre-filled fields, play a podcast episode, and more.

Spotlight also introduces the concept of “quick keys,” which are short, custom mnemonics for specific actions. For instance, you might type sm to trigger Spotlight to send a message or ar to add a reminder.

In addition, Spotlight becomes a clipboard manager, providing access to recently copied items, including text, images, and links. You can browse, search, and insert previous clipboard entries directly through Spotlight.

Phone App Introduces Call Screening and Hold Assist

Phone calls may not be the primary use of the iPhone for many people, but they remain a fact of life. With iOS 26, Apple has introduced two features that, if they work as promised, will alleviate two common pain points associated with calls.

Call Screening builds on the Live Voicemail feature by automatically answering calls from unknown numbers, without even alerting you. Once the caller provides their name and the reason for their call, the Phone app rings and presents information to help you decide whether to answer.

The other new feature is Hold Assist, which automatically detects hold music and asks if you want it to wait on hold for you, allowing you to attend to other tasks. When someone on the other end picks up, it informs them that you’ll be there shortly and notifies you that it’s time to return to the call.

Although we think of using the Phone app exclusively on the iPhone, Apple is also bringing it to macOS 26 and iPadOS 26, thanks to Continuity. Once you upgrade, you’ll be able to take advantage of these features—and Live Translation—on those platforms as well.

Dismiss Notifications with the Flick of a Wrist

Finally, watchOS 26 introduces a new gesture that we believe will be popular: the wrist flick. Whenever a notification appears on screen, you can quickly rotate your wrist away from you to dismiss it. This feature is a great little addition to the Apple Watch interaction model.

If none of these changes seem earthshaking to you, we agree. With six operating systems and billions of users, Apple can’t move as quickly as smaller companies. While Liquid Glass will dramatically change the look of our Apple devices, the other new features shouldn’t require us to learn completely new methods of interaction.

(Featured image by Apple)

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(Featured image by Apple)

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