Macworld Gaming subscription services are all the rage now, but Apple Arcade isnt a little different from the likes of PlayStation Plus, EA Play, or Xbox Game Pass. If youve got questions about it, weve got plenty of answers. Updated May 2, 2025: There are five new games released this month: LEGO Friends Heartlake Rush+ , SUMI SUMI: Matching Puzzle+ , What the Clash? , with My Buddy , Words of Wonders: Search+ . What is Apple Arcade? Apple Arcade is a gaming subscription service for iPhone, iPad

Macworld Apple has planted its own flag in the streaming wars with Apple TV+ , its in-house streaming service that focuses almost entirely on original programming rather than an extensive library of existing TV shows or movies. This guide will list all the Apple TV+ content you can watch today, divided into episodic shows or series and movies. Theres also a ton of new content in the works for Apples $9.99-a-month service. If you want to know whats on the way, check out our list of upcoming Apple

Macworld Few computer-related disasters can drain the color from your face quicker than losing a document youve been busily working on. Whether your Mac crashed, froze, you forgot to save, or you accidentally clicked on delete, it can feel like an instant disaster. But, all might not be lost. Well show you how you can recover that vanished Word document. In fact, if everything is working as it should, its quite hard to lose a file in Word. The software has an autosave feature that means that, in

Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Attractive 32-inch, 4K display Competitive price Good connectivity features Adjustable height and rotation Cons Not intended for professional use Fiddly Display Pilot app Light, plastic casing Our Verdict Its not going to challenge Apples professional-level displays, but the MA320U is an attractive and affordable 4K display for general use at home or in an office. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined

Macworld In a major ruling this week, Apple has been forced to stop taxing app developers a huge fee just for the privilege of making apps on its platform. After years of delay tactics and stonewalling (and, the judge says, outright lies in court), Apple has to allow app developers to offer in-app purchases through stores outside the App Store, here in the U.S. Apple will appeal the decision, but is required to comply with it in the meantime. Its not the sweeping rules instituted by the European

Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Sturdy, water-resistant design Strong sound quality USB-C provides wired audio Cons No Wi-Fi or AirPlay Bass could be firmer No charging cable included Our Verdict The compact design means that the bass output could be a little firmer, but the updated Flip 7 can still match its backpack-sized rivals for sound quality. Throw in a rugged, water-resistant design and both Bluetooth and USB for wired audio, and this lightweight speaker can really earn its kee

Macworld Youre probably paying Microsoft 365 way more than you need to and for what? The same apps, just on an endless subscription loop? With a Microsoft Office lifetime license , you can break free from the monthly payments and get the classic Office suite for a one-time fee. Right now, you can pay just $69.97 and its yours forever (reg. $219.99). This lifetime license works on one Mac and includes all the essential apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote . Youll get full ac

Macworld Following news that Apple will be forced to allow external purchase links inside apps and could face criminal charges over its battle with Epic Games, the company announced some good news on Thursday. In the second quarter 2025, Apple posted revenue of $95.4 billion, a 5 percent increase year over year and a second-quarter all-time high. Quarterly earnings per diluted share are $1.65, up 8 percent year over year. The company reported $24.8 billion in profit. Apple beat the analysts pred

Macworld WWDC kicks off on June 9, where well get our first look at Apples new software for the fall: iOS 19 , iPadOS 19, tvOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, and visionOS 3. Weve heard theres a big redesign in store this year, the most dramatic change in years. So what does that leave for May? Not much. There probably wont be any big hardware or software releases or announcements this monthanything Apple has to reveal, it will do so at WWDC. That leaves software and services as the lone Apple release

Macworld Apple has reacted to what appears to be a huge spyware campaign this week by sending warnings to iPhone owners around the world. Recipients of the warnings are advised that a mercenary spyware attack is attempting to remotely compromise their device. As of Wednesday, according to TechCrunch , only two iPhone owners have publicly acknowledged receiving the warning. Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino wrote an article about the experience Wednesday, while the Dutch activist Eva Vlaardinger

Macworld Once upon a time, my iPhone and Mac dominated my screen time. Id use the former for texting, social media scrolling, listening to music, and so on, while the latter would handle work tasks, movie streaming, and long web-browsing sessions. But a few years ago, everything changedwhen a less-popular Apple product unexpectedly joined my workflow. When someone mentions the Apple TV, you immediately think of Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max, and the like. All of these services offer native tvOS ap

Macworld If it seems like weve been writing about this Epic vs. Apple Fortnite case for years , its because we have. The case has been raging since 2020 , and finally ended (sort of) with a ruling in 2021. The gist of it is that Apple makes developers who sell digital goods process all payments through its own in-app purchase system and payment processing, and takes a cut of up to 30 percent. However, if a vendor sells physical goods and services (such as Amazon and Uber), it can use its own ext

Macworld Every year, we are introduced to a new version of iOS (alongside Apples other operating systems) at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. At an event on the first day of the conference, Apple will reveal all the new features coming to iPhones with the release of iOS 19 in the fall (probably in mid to late September). In this article we will run through what we know about the new features coming in iOS 19 in 2025, what phones will get them, and when we expect Apple to release iOS

Macworld In a recent video as part of its iOS Decoded series , 9to5Mac takes a look at some rather interesting code found within the latest iOS 18.5 betas. This code references and enables features that arent expected to be a part of iOS 18.5 when it goes into wide release, however. Instead, it looks like experiments for what might be a part of iOS 19, or maybe even future products. Some of these features may ship, some may not, but they at least give us a look at what Apple is considering. Here

Macworld Its been a while since we got a new Apple Watch SE: after the first version of Apples budget smartwatch came out in 2020 and the second in 2022 with few changes, the company has kept quiet about further releases. But new reports suggest were finally going to see the 3rd-gen SE later in 2025, and that it will come in two new sizes. On Tuesday, Ross Young, a remarkably reliable leaker and analyst who covers the screen supply chain, tweeted that two Apple Watch SE displays have entered pro

Macworld Remembering all the passwords you use on a daily basis can be a struggle. Whether its logging into Amazon, checking your online banking or settling down to watch something on Netflix, seeing the log-in box appear can make your heart sink. Then theres the fact that each site seems to require a different length or combination of certain characters, meaning you need different ones for nearly every site or service (which, sadly, is also a good idea). How are our limited human brains suppose

Macworld Apples AirPlay technology makes it easy to stream media from an Apple device to a device such as a speaker or a television. But the wireless connection that AirPlay uses has vulnerabilities that hackers can use to gain control of those devices. Cybersecurity firm Oligo posted a report today that covers vulnerabilities it discovered in the AirPlay protocol and the AirPlay Software Development Kit. The vulnerabilities, dubbed AirBorne, have been patched in the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other

Macworld Im going to wax a little philosophical for this weeks column, which also happens to be my last. Stay Foolish debuted a decade ago, almost to the day , but Ive been writing regularly for Macworld for nearly 20 years. When I first started out, we were all excited about what the latest in technology Intel-powered Macs would mean for Apples long-term prospects for survival. Two decades later, nobody ever even whispers that Apple is doomed anymore, because to suggest it would mark you as som

Macworld Now the suns out you may be wearing your sunglasses and wondering why your iPhone wont unlock. If you are fed up with having to remove your sunglasses every time you need to unlock your iPhone. Heres what you can do to speed up the process. The reason why Face ID isnt unlocking your iPhone is it cant verify that you are looking at the phone. Face ID normally only unlocks the phone when you are looking at your phonethat way it offers you greater security as someone cant just hold your ph

Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 charging Fast 15W for iPhone Fast 5W for Watch and AirPods Compact and lightweight Cons Requires USB-C wall charger Our Verdict This 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 Hyperjuice multi-device chargers are compact and good-looking enough to look sharp in a modern home or work environment. Both are light enough to take with your on a trip, and the smaller will slip in your pocket. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for pro

Macworld Every day, the Macalope is more and more convinced that we need less artificial intelligence and more human intelligence. (Zing! Walk that one off, human race.) Fresh off credulously telling us how close we are to artificial general intelligence, The New York Timess Kevin Roose is back to ask, if you prick AI, does it not bleed? If A.I. Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights? You will be surprised to read that, once again, after talking solely to a group of people who work in

Macworld Your Mac is capable of so much more than the default settings let on. Beneath that polished exterior, theres a treasure trove of powerful features waiting for you to access. Instead of digging through Terminal commands or endless menus, MacPilot makes it easy to unlock over 1,200 advanced macOS features , and you can grab lifetime access for $29.97 when you use code MAC10 at checkout. Thinkstock Customize your Mac your way MacPilot hands you deep system control with a simple, user-frien

Macworld Apple is quite secretive about the sales numbers of individual products, so we have to make do with revenue figures for entire categories. But even with those vague numbers, most analysts agree that this years iPhone 16e is shifting considerably more units than the 3rd-gen iPhone SE it (sort of) replaced. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, widely followed Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says this is not surprising. For fans of the SE, he explains, the jump from the second

Macworld With every iPhone launch, people are excited until they start to voice their frustration over Apples incremental hardware changes. The rage is typically justified. Over the past several years, Apple has given us largely tweaked iterations of the same device. Nevertheless, these small improvements do add up to meaningful year-over-year upgrades, but its been a while since Apple has truly blown us away This years iPhone 17 lineup could follow the same pattern. Were not expecting groundbre

Macworld Keeping your iPhone or iPad backed up and organized can be more of a chore than it should be, especially if you use iCloud, iTunes, and your computer to store different things. Between scattered music files, old texts, and cloud backups that are hard to manage, its easy to lose track of whats where, but theres a new app that can help. AnyTrans is a streamlined tool that lets you manage all of your iOS content in one place, and it just went on sale. Whether your files are on your device,

Macworld After a decade of development, the Apple Watch is basically the same as it was when it launched in 2015. Yes, the technology inside has gone through significant improvements its early days a dacade ago. Bigger, brighter displays. More powerful processors. An ever-growing suite of sensors to detect everything from your heart rate to incredibly fine movements. But outside, the Apple Watch still looks like the Apple Watchmore so than any other Apple product. From 10 feet away, you wouldnt

Macworld Apples newest MacBook Air is already a great value at $999, but thanks to its current discount over at Amazon, its even more affordable as its price drops to $909 , the lowest weve ever seen. This laptop features the super speedy M4 chip and a gorgeous 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display that will make everything look gorgeous, whether youre working, doomscrolling, or watching Netflix. We reviewed the 15-inch version but loved it just the same. We gave the M4 MacBook Air a perfect 5-star re

Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Enjoyable survival-horror action Modest system requirements Free demo available Cons Definitely not suitable for children Zombie-slaying can get a bit monotonous at times Our Verdict It might not be the best game in the series, but the zombie-slaying action is still good fun, and a new enemy called Nemesis adds a bit of variety. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Review

Macworld Until the company was granted an exemption a fortnight ago, President Trumps reciprocal tariffs threatened to be a major headache for Apple. A large proportion of its products are manufactured in China, and the severe tariffs on that nations exports could have forced it to put up prices. While Tim Cook may be feeling relieved for now, the chaotic way in which the tariffs have been applied, and Trumps insistence that the exemption isnt really an exemption and that the levies will simply

Macworld Whether or not the iPad can replace a MacBook often depends on what you do. For students and professionals, the iPad Pros superior display, Apple Pencil input, and portability have made it the ideal productivity device. It worked for me; I earned my college degree and worked as a TV script translator while relying solely on an iPad. However, anyone with a more complicated workflow beyond reading, researching, writing, and illustrating like I did wont find the iPad a suitable platform fo

Macworld At a glance Expert's Rating Pros 6-in-1 charging High-capacity power bank Fast 15W for iPhone Solid stand Cons No Apple Watch fast charge Our Verdict The Alogic Roam is a solid power bank for those with mid-range travel or a long commute, with three power ports, a built-in USB-C cable and clever fold-out wireless charging points for iPhone, AirPods and Watch. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed

Macworld My 20-year-old didnt like that when they typed excited in a text message on their iPhone, iOS automatically seemed to apply a Ripple effect, part of the set of somewhat pointless Text Effects that Apple added in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia. When I test this out, I see suggestions for certain words in the QuickType bar where other suggestions appear. However, my older kid has them dropped insomething other people have complained about in online forums since the features intro

Macworld Many people think Macs dont need antivirus, but they are not immune from viruses and malware dont wait until its too late to protect your Apple computer from threats. Our experts have tested multiple security suites, and in this article outline only the best Mac antivirus programs. These are the security apps they would install on their own Mac or MacBook. Not everyone knows how to check their Mac for viruses , but you dont need to be a security expert to keep your Mac safe. Apple incl

Macworld As we get ever closer to the iPhone 17 launch, were starting to see more solid leaks of the new phones, and today we have another up-close look at the enclosure of all four handsets. And once again, the iPhone 17 Air looks insane. Its one thing to read that the phone is less than 6mm thickits another thing to see it. Well-known leaker Sonny Dickson has shared dummies of all four iPhone 17 modelsthe iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Maxand you can instantly see how thin the new phone

Macworld Apple provides one clue in macOS as to which of many windows you may see on screen is the current frontmost active one: the traffic light red, yellow, and green buttons for close, minimize, and resize are lit up in color. Thats it. You can use Mission Control (F3) to shrink all windows to fit across your displays, but it doesnt provide clues about the active one. The only solution is an inexpensive third-party app, HazeOver , which is $5.99 on the App Store . Its a single-purpose app wi

Macworld The smart home market seems like its an ideal fit for Apple, but what does the company have to show for its efforts so far? On todays show, were talking about Apple and its approach to the smart homewhat it does now and what we could see in the near future. Thats all in this episode of the Macworld Podcast! This is episode 931 with Jason Cross , Michael Simon , and Roman Loyola . Watch episode 931 on YouTube Listen to episode 931 on Apple Podcasts Listen to episode 931 on Spotify Get in

Macworld Apple has been battling the European Commission over the Digital Markets Act since practically the day it was first passed in 2022. The sweeping regulations, most of which went into effect in 2023, have resulted in major changes for Apple, from the wholesale adoption of USB-C charging instead of Lightning to a separate version of iOS for the European Union that is more open and flexible. But the EU has been investigating Apple and other so-called gatekeepers over the past year to see if

Macworld Is your Mac slowing down, frequently freezing, regularly running out of RAM or just not behaving like it used to? Are you short of space on your Mac? Have you spotted the immense amount of room taken up by System Data and are now looking for a safe way to delete some of that data? What you need is a Mac cleaner app that will delete the clutter and digital debris from your system and free your RAM from memory hogs. What is the Best Mac Cleaner? The Best Mac Cleaner for you depends on wha

Macworld We dont yet know if Apples iPhone 17 Air will be a commercial success when it launches this fall, but the unreleased slimline handset already has one fan. The YouTube channel Unbox Therapy got hold of an early prototype and showed it off in a video this week, describing the phones design as crazy and insane and predicting that, assuming the chassis strength is good enough to avoid another Bendgate controversy, Apple will sell a boatload of these things. The initial reaction of the YouTu

Macworld The Apple Watch Series 10 disappointed some users last year. After hearing about major design changes for a while, the new Apple Watch turned out to be more or less identical to the one sold over the last few years. The display was just a tad larger and the body was slightly thinner, but overall it was very similar to the Series 9. At this point, Apples extremely successful watch is a proven formula and the company isnt rocking the boat. So whats in store for Apple Watch Series 11 in th

Macworld With the ever-rising popularity of video content, fast and convenient video converters have become essential. HitPaw Univd is a professional cross-platform application that enables you to easily convert videos, audio and images on Windows, Mac, online, and mobile phone, making it appealing to content creators and viewers alike. Introduction to HitPaw Univd HitPaw Univd is a smart software that uses AI tools to enhance, edit and convert video. With a rich feature set and a clear, simple

Macworld Rumors abound that Apple is about to redesign all its operating systems, dramatically changing the devices we use every day starting this fall. It would be a perfectly understandable reaction to wonder why Apple would focus on aesthetics while so many parts of its business seem to be in turmoil. But Im here to propose the opposite. That a lot of the symptoms of what Apples done wrong latelymost powerfully represented by the disastrous update to the macOS Settings (formerly System Prefer

Macworld If you like using Windows apps on your Mac through Parallels Pro, listen up. Microsoft is going to phase out Windows 10 in a few months. If you had a Windows computer, you might be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free. Mac users, dont worry. You can still upgrade for cheap because its now only $14.97 to get Windows 11 Pro, but it wont stay that way. Windows 11 Pro has a few upgrades that seriously improve productivity, security, and user experience. The new interface is more streamlin

Macworld Were used to nice savings on Apples MacBook Air, but we cant remember the last time we saw such a huge discounteven on last years model. The 15-inch MacBook Air with 512GB of storage is only $999 at B&H Photo right now, a whopping savings of $500 and the best price weve seenor will likely ever see. Powered by last years M3 chip, this MacBook Air will still deliver swift performance for a wide range of tasks, from editing photos and videos to doomscrolling your socials. Its got a fantast

Macworld It doesnt take long for iPhone rumors to circulate. Its one of the most iconic and influential tech gadgets of all time, and everyone wants to know whats coming next. That Apple is so secretive only heightens the appeal of iPhone rumors and leaks. So it should come as little surprise that iPhone 17 rumors, leaks, and info started to circulate months before the iPhone 16 was even formally announced. Heres everything we know so far, but dont take any of it as solid info: even when early r

Macworld Many of us are quite used to carrying around a handy power bank to top up our iPhone batteries during a long day away from a power socket, but these pocketable battery packs are usually not powerful enough to keep an unplugged and energy-hungry MacBook going all day. Weve rounded up the best portable laptop power banks with battery capacities high enough to recharge a fading Apple MacBook if you wont be able to plug it into an electrical outlet for some time. Despite new laptops boastin

Macworld Leakers have revealed plenty of details about the upcoming iPhone 17 handsets, including changes to the external design (nothing startling: a range of new looks for the camera module, essentially). What we havent heard about is the range of new color finishes until now. Writing on his own website Monday, the well-known leaker Majin Bu claimed Apple has been working on a variety of new hues for this years new phones, and that the current frontrunner for release in the fall is sky blue. U

Macworld With every iPhone launch, people are excited until they start to voice their frustration over Apples incremental hardware changes. The rage is typically justified. Over the past several years, Apple has given us largely tweaked iterations of the same device. Nevertheless, these small improvements do add up to meaningful year-over-year upgrades, but its been a while since Apple has truly blown us away This years iPhone 17 lineup could follow the same pattern. Were not expecting groundbre

Macworld With great thanks to Bloombergs Mark Gurman, the Macalope is happy to report that we have something to talk about this week which is neither AI nor tariffs! And you thought it wasnt possible. To be fair, the Macalope also thought it wasnt possible, but hes glad to be proven wrong. According to Gurman , Apple is working on an iPadOS 19 overhaul that will make the tablets software more like macOS, focusing on productivity, multitasking and app window management. Somethe Macalope swears th

Macworld macOS Sequoia arrived on Macs in September 2024, but the beta development continues and if you are a registered developer or registered as a public beta tester, you can continue to get the latest updates and try out new features still not available to the general public. In this article, well explain whats in the latest version of the Sequoia beta, what you need to do to get your hands on a copy, how to install it, and what you should bear in mind if you dont want to end up in a pickle.