Meta has officially started testing ads on its Threads micro-blogging social network. The company says this is a “small test” for the time being with a handful of different brands across the United States and Japan.

Apple has shared the first details on user adoption of iOS 18 so far. The company says that iOS 18 is currently installed on 68% of all iPhones and on 76% of iPhones introduced in the last four years.

These numbers show that iOS 18 adoption is on the same trajectory as iOS 17 adoption last year.

One rumored change for the iPhone 17 might not come to fruition after all. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today says that the size of the Dynamic Island across the iPhone 17 lineup to be “largely unchanged” compared to the iPhone 16 models.

Apple Intelligence has arrived, but Siri and Apple’s AI suite of features are nowhere near the level of rivals OpenAI, Anthropic, and others — especially with the absence of an Apple chatbot. For that reason, the company has recruited an internal software veteran to help course correct the path for Apple’s AI efforts. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg has the report:

The is one of the most advanced smartphone gimbals on the market. We’ve had a chance to play with it for a few weeks, and these are five things we really love about the new gimbal.

Immersive Video on the Vision Pro is one of the product’s must-try experiences, and Apple’s first new release of the year—Man Vs. Beast—arrives next week to take you on a bull-riding adventure.

Friday has arrived and so has a surprisingly extensive list of fresh new Apple gear deals along with it. First up, and perhaps most notable of all, Apple’s 16GB M4 MacBook Pro in Space Black or Silver has now fallen back to the $1,399 all-time low at $200 off – this is the most affordable model in the M4 lineup. From there we move over to the latest Apple Watch lineup – all of the GPS-only Series 10 configurations have now dropped back to Black Friday prices with deals starting from $329 – and the M2 iPad Air configurations with just about all of the most affordable models now seeing straight up $99 drops on Amazon. All of that and more awaits down below. 

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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On this day 41 years ago, Apple’s first Macintosh went on sale, just two days after being introduced to the world during a commercial break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Although “1984” became a cultural phenomenon and a watershed moment for product launches, Apple’s Board of Directors was against it from the start. Here’s how the legendary ad almost didn’t air…

Apple is launching three new Home products this year: ‘HomePad,’ a new Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini 2. At least two of these devices will come with a key upgrade that could make a big difference for the smart home’s future.

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Last weekend, Google was found again serving a malicious website at the top of Search as a sponsored result. This isn’t the first time Google Ads has approved websites with embedded malware; in fact, the first instance of this goes back to 2007 when the platform (then called Google AdWords) was promoting fake antivirus software widely referred to as “scareware” at the time. But how, in 2025, can Google, with its DeepMind and deeper pockets, still allow this to happen? How are hackers outsmarting it?

This week, I want to briefly discuss this new campaign and how they were likely able to pull it off.

Security Bite is a weekly security-focused column on 9to5Mac. Each week, I share insights on data privacy, discuss the latest vulnerabilities, and shed light on emerging threats within Apple’s vast ecosystem of over 2 billion active devices.

Tim Cook has officially revealed his innie, Tim C., in the latest of many Severance promos for Apple TV+.

Apple Watch bands are safe to wear, says the company, after concerns were expressed about the presence of PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) in a number of smartwatch bands.

PFAS has been linked to a number of health concerns, and is known as a “forever chemical” as it doesn’t break down in the body or the environment …

Scheduled Threads posts are now available to all, after the company first began rolling it out to a small number of users last month. Additionally, users in a few countries can now highlight and annotate parts of other people’s posts when sharing them …

The newly-launched Samsung Galaxy S25 copied more than a dozen iPhone features, argues Macworld, pointing to everything from the slab-sided design to Siri’s glowing border.

The piece acknowledges that both companies copy from each other, but suggests that Samsung is a little less subtle in its approach …

Apple commentator John Gruber yesterday described Siri’s current performance as “an unfunny joke,” giving its inability to correctly name the winner of Super Bowl 13 an example, noting that this is a basic query that any US chatbot ought to be able to answer.

It turns out that wasn’t an entirely random example: it was prompted by his friend Paul Kafasis, who decided to test Siri on Super Bowl 1 to 60 inclusive – and the results were not good …

Welcome to 9to5Neural. AI moves fast. We help you keep up. In our inaugural edition, we’re exploring the start of the next frontier for OpenAI, Anthropic’s thoughtful solution to a common AI critique, and presidential AI executive order ping-pong. Let’s start making sense of the latest in AI news.

Apple’s developer site has shared news of a new API coming for apps that will offer expanded options for managing In-App Purchases. It’s called the Advanced Commerce API, and here’s what we know so far.

Three weeks into 2025, Apple has now updated its CarPlay website with one small, but noteworthy change: CarPlay 2 is no longer promised to arrive in 2024, thus confirming the delay.

Apple, however, says its work on next generation CarPlay continues…

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: an iPhone 17 Air leak, Apple’s spring product details, iOS 19 redesigns, and more. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.

Need to lock down your new ? Apple has added a new desktop accessory to its online store just for that purpose.

Benjamin and Chance give their thoughts on Apple’s attempts to placate the BBC’s complaints about notification summaries with iOS 18.3. Also, the rumored iPhone 17 Air design has a divisive camera bar on the back, and this week also saw an intriguing leak showing apparent design changes for the iOS 19 Camera app. 

And in Happy Hour Plus, Chance struggles to find new things to watch and — much to Benjamin’s delight — brings his own Apple TV app complaints to the table. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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Over the last year, we’ve seen multiple long-term holdouts finally cave to the pressure and adopt Apple Pay. At this point, the largest holdout in the United States is Walmart, and the company today indicated that it has absolutely zero plans to change its stance.