For a product that isn’t debuting until 2024, Apple has said a lot about the Vision Pro, its mixed reality headset. Apple spent nearly an hour in the WWDC keynote discussing it. It has rolled out developer tools for visionOS, which has given us even more clarity about what visionOS can and can’t do.

And yet I remain firmly convinced that Apple hasn’t told us the whole story. The WWDC keynote was the time to make a first impression–but there’s half a year to go before the final story is told. As a result, Apple emphasized the features of the device that it felt would best represent the device. It emphasized the fact that it’s an augmented-reality product that keeps you connected with people around you as a way to blunt criticism that Apple’s trying to use its technology to wall people off from each other.

With the Vision Pro, there’s more to come. Here’s where I think Apple will have a much larger story to tell.

Yes, it’s really a VR headset

By defaulting to a view of the world around you and requiring that the user dial reality out via the Digital Crown, Apple sends the signal that the Vision Pro is an augmented-reality headset. But the truth is, it’s a VR headset that emulates AR, and that emulation can be dropped easily. If you don’t want to work in the very spacious rooms on display in Apple’s demo video, you can just as easily work in a virtual-reality environment.

But even more than that, app developers can create entire VR experiences within their apps. While Apple will strongly encourage apps to work in augmented reality–and if you want to walk around objects, it’s required–that won’t stop the ability for apps that do what we think of as “traditional” VR experiences.

In other words, Apple didn’t talk about VR games, the most popular category of software in existing VR hardware, but VR games will absolutely be a part of the Vision Pro experience. No, we don’t know how good Apple’s hand- and eye-tracking technology will be when it comes to the needs of various VR games. But we will certainly find out.

Yes, there will be fitness apps

Apple didn’t announce any Vision Pro integration with its Fitness+ service, which I admit was a bit of a surprise. On Meta’s headsets, apps like Supernatural and Beat Saber have gained huge followings as ways to spice up the drudgery of regular workouts.

I can’t say whether Fitness+ will appear on Vision Pro at launch–Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests it won’t–but if Apple doesn’t fill the gap, someone else will. Savvy app developers will try to be the next Beat Saber. And no matter how heavy or awkward the Vision Pro might be, no matter how much sweat the Vision Pro’s 3-D-knit headband might soak in, people will try to use VR for workouts. It’s going to happen.

Yes, there will be Memoji

Apple wanted to impress everyone with the Digital Persona, a replica of your face created via an in-depth initial scan that’s animated by Vision Pro sensors looking at your eye, face, and body gestures. I found them creepy, and I definitely wasn’t the only person who used the Vision Pro at WWDC who thought so.

I’m pretty sure Apple has never intended the Digital Persona to be the only option for users who need a proxy for interaction with other people when wearing the Vision Pro. It’s technology Apple was proud of, so it showed it off as a way to boast–as well as a way of explaining how the EyeSight feature was created.

But it can’t be the only option. Let’s start with the fact that not everyone will feel comfortable using a representation of themselves as they are if they can help it. There’s a good reason why Apple’s Memoji creation interface lets you choose a wide range of characteristics, including many that don’t even exist in human beings! Or you can choose to be an animated emoji character.

And really, if we’re being honest, it’s highly likely that the entire Memoji project was an early move in the direction of avatars for the Vision Pro. Do we really think Apple’s going to insist on Digital Personas for everyone, even if they’d rather just be an elephant? Not gonna happen.

Yes, Siri will be involved

Apple’s film about the Vision Pro shows a user reading out a website address via voice at one point. It’s pretty much the only example of Apple’s voice assistant being shown with the headset. But it’s almost inconceivable that voice control won’t be a major portion of the device’s interface.

When I used the Vision Pro, there were numerous moments when I realized that rather than manipulating a virtual interface via hand gesture, I’d probably be better off just issuing a voice command. But Siri wasn’t active on our demo headsets, probably because it’s just not good enough–and because if Apple leaned into it too much, it would make the rest of the Vision Pro interface work the company has done look a little less special.

A reliance on voice control by all of those people in solitary environments, sprawled on couches or sitting in chairs, might also reinforce the antisocial nature of these devices–if you’re comfortable constantly interjecting to Siri, that implies that nobody else is within earshot–and that’s very much not the impression Apple wants to give right now.

But there’s just no way that visionOS is a platform that isn’t strongly linked to voice commands. It just makes too much sense.

Yes your other Apple devices will play a role

The Vision Pro appears to be a peer to the iPad and iPhone, capable of running iOS apps itself without any connection to those devices. Still, we didn’t see much direct integration between Apple’s most popular product and the Vision Pro.

Perhaps it won’t be there on day one, but I have a hard time believing that the iPhone won’t work tightly with Vision Pro. In macOS Sonoma, Apple’s introducing the concept of iPhone widgets that are projected right onto your Mac desktop. Why not extend that to Vision Pro? What about launching apps on your iPhone and viewing them right within Vision Pro? Maybe even more than one at a time?

Sure, you can look down and use your iPhone while using Vision Pro, but that’s always going to be a pretty limited experience. I have to think that Apple is working hard to figure out the best ways to use Continuity features to attach all of its devices to the Vision Pro–but most especially the iPhone.

The Vision Pro won’t be here for some time yet. We’ve heard Apple’s opening sales pitch, but it isn’t nearly time for the company to close the deal. There’s more to this story than we’ve heard so far. Stay tuned.

Virtual Reality

The long-running legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games finally reached a verdict two years ago. But the battle, which began when Epic bypassed Apple’s 30 percent cut for in-app purchases and Apple responded by booting Fortnite out of the App Store, is far from over. And now it’s headed to the highest court in the land.

Given that Apple hailed Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ 2021 ruling as “a huge win,” it was no surprise when Epic filed an appeal. Less predictably, Apple appealed too. In a filing this week, Apple attorneys argued that the court overreached in issuing a broad nationwide injunction applying to all developers, rather than just Epic. Maybe it wasn’t such a huge win after all.

While the judge ruled in Apple’s favor on nine counts, the Cupertino company was unhappy about the 10th: this one went in Epic’s favor, with the result that Apple was “permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms.” This means iOS app developers can link to their own payment systems, and Apple has to put up with it. In other words, Epic gets its own way on the issue at the very heart of the original dispute.

Both Apple and Epic appealed (different parts of) the ruling to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but were unsuccessful. The companies then appealed against the appeal court’s upholding of the ruling and were unsuccessful again. So now Apple is taking its case all the way to the Supreme Court.

“The district court issued a sweeping injunction prohibiting Apple from enforcing its anti-steering rules against all developers of iOS apps offered for distribution in the United States, even though the sole named plaintiff (Epic Games, Inc.) did not seek or obtain class certification, and did not prove that an injunction running in favor of non-parties was necessary to make it whole,” the filing reads.

“The panel’s decision affirming the injunction departs from Supreme Court and Circuit precedent holding that an injunction cannot be any broader than necessary to make the plaintiff whole, and that relief cannot otherwise extend beyond the named plaintiff without class certification.”

Slightly less convincingly, the filing argues that “there would be no prejudice to Epic from a stay: Epic is not an iOS app developer and does not stand to benefit from the injunction.” Epic is not an iOS app developer because Apple terminated its account.

Apple has been rumored to be opening iOS 17 to third-party app stores and sideloading in the European Union following the Digital Markets Act’s strict terms regarding third-party app stores and payments. However, Apple has not yet announced any such changes in the operating system, which launches this fall.

Apple Inc, iOS

For a product that isn’t debuting until 2024, Apple has said a lot about the Vision Pro, its mixed reality headset. Apple spent nearly an hour in the WWDC keynote discussing it. It has rolled out developer tools for visionOS, which has given us even more clarity about what visionOS can and can’t do.

And yet I remain firmly convinced that Apple hasn’t told us the whole story. The WWDC keynote was the time to make a first impression–but there’s half a year to go before the final story is told. As a result, Apple emphasized the features of the device that it felt would best represent the device. It emphasized the fact that it’s an augmented-reality product that keeps you connected with people around you as a way to blunt criticism that Apple’s trying to use its technology to wall people off from each other.

With the Vision Pro, there’s more to come. Here’s where I think Apple will have a much larger story to tell.

Yes, it’s really a VR headset

By defaulting to a view of the world around you and requiring that the user dial reality out via the Digital Crown, Apple sends the signal that the Vision Pro is an augmented-reality headset. But the truth is, it’s a VR headset that emulates AR, and that emulation can be dropped easily. If you don’t want to work in the very spacious rooms on display in Apple’s demo video, you can just as easily work in a virtual-reality environment.

But even more than that, app developers can create entire VR experiences within their apps. While Apple will strongly encourage apps to work in augmented reality–and if you want to walk around objects, it’s required–that won’t stop the ability for apps that do what we think of as “traditional” VR experiences.

In other words, Apple didn’t talk about VR games, the most popular category of software in existing VR hardware, but VR games will absolutely be a part of the Vision Pro experience. No, we don’t know how good Apple’s hand- and eye-tracking technology will be when it comes to the needs of various VR games. But we will certainly find out.

Yes, there will be fitness apps

Apple didn’t announce any Vision Pro integration with its Fitness+ service, which I admit was a bit of a surprise. On Meta’s headsets, apps like Supernatural and Beat Saber have gained huge followings as ways to spice up the drudgery of regular workouts.

I can’t say whether Fitness+ will appear on Vision Pro at launch–Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests it won’t–but if Apple doesn’t fill the gap, someone else will. Savvy app developers will try to be the next Beat Saber. And no matter how heavy or awkward the Vision Pro might be, no matter how much sweat the Vision Pro’s 3-D-knit headband might soak in, people will try to use VR for workouts. It’s going to happen.

Yes, there will be Memoji

Apple wanted to impress everyone with the Digital Persona, a replica of your face created via an in-depth initial scan that’s animated by Vision Pro sensors looking at your eye, face, and body gestures. I found them creepy, and I definitely wasn’t the only person who used the Vision Pro at WWDC who thought so.

I’m pretty sure Apple has never intended the Digital Persona to be the only option for users who need a proxy for interaction with other people when wearing the Vision Pro. It’s technology Apple was proud of, so it showed it off as a way to boast–as well as a way of explaining how the EyeSight feature was created.

But it can’t be the only option. Let’s start with the fact that not everyone will feel comfortable using a representation of themselves as they are if they can help it. There’s a good reason why Apple’s Memoji creation interface lets you choose a wide range of characteristics, including many that don’t even exist in human beings! Or you can choose to be an animated emoji character.

And really, if we’re being honest, it’s highly likely that the entire Memoji project was an early move in the direction of avatars for the Vision Pro. Do we really think Apple’s going to insist on Digital Personas for everyone, even if they’d rather just be an elephant? Not gonna happen.

Yes, Siri will be involved

Apple’s film about the Vision Pro shows a user reading out a website address via voice at one point. It’s pretty much the only example of Apple’s voice assistant being shown with the headset. But it’s almost inconceivable that voice control won’t be a major portion of the device’s interface.

When I used the Vision Pro, there were numerous moments when I realized that rather than manipulating a virtual interface via hand gesture, I’d probably be better off just issuing a voice command. But Siri wasn’t active on our demo headsets, probably because it’s just not good enough–and because if Apple leaned into it too much, it would make the rest of the Vision Pro interface work the company has done look a little less special.

A reliance on voice control by all of those people in solitary environments, sprawled on couches or sitting in chairs, might also reinforce the antisocial nature of these devices–if you’re comfortable constantly interjecting to Siri, that implies that nobody else is within earshot–and that’s very much not the impression Apple wants to give right now.

But there’s just no way that visionOS is a platform that isn’t strongly linked to voice commands. It just makes too much sense.

Your other Apple devices will probably be more involved

The Vision Pro appears to be a peer to the iPad and iPhone, capable of running iOS apps itself without any connection to those devices. Still, we didn’t see much direct integration between Apple’s most popular product and the Vision Pro.

Perhaps it won’t be there on day one, but I have a hard time believing that the iPhone won’t work tightly with Vision Pro. In macOS Sonoma, Apple’s introducing the concept of iPhone widgets that are projected right onto your Mac desktop. Why not extend that to Vision Pro? What about launching apps on your iPhone and viewing them right within Vision Pro? Maybe even more than one at a time?

Sure, you can look down and use your iPhone while using Vision Pro, but that’s always going to be a pretty limited experience. I have to think that Apple is working hard to figure out the best ways to use Continuity features to attach all of its devices to the Vision Pro–but most especially the iPhone.

The Vision Pro won’t be here for some time yet. We’ve heard Apple’s opening sales pitch, but it isn’t nearly time for the company to close the deal. There’s more to this story than we’ve heard so far. Stay tuned.

Virtual Reality

Want to buy a new Mac and don’t want to spend a fortune? Buying a new Mac is an expensive business, but there is a way to get a new Mac for less money.

We don’t mean buy a second-hand Mac from someone on eBay. We mean you can get a brand-new Mac directly from Apple for less money. Read Should I buy a secondhand Mac?

Want to know how? Shop at Apple’s Certified Refurbished Store. On the Refurbished Store you can find Macs from the past few years all with money off Apple’s usual price. See just how much you can save here: How much can you save at Apple’s Refurbished Store.

The price isn’t the only reason to shop at Apple’s Certified Refurbished Store though. Here we’ll tell you all the reasons why you should buy a refurbished Mac.

Apple’s not the only place that sells refurbished Macs. We discuss the Best place to buy a refurbished MacBook or Mac in a separate article and also make some recommendations below.

1. Refurbished Macs are as good as new

You might be thinking that buying from Apple’s Refurbished Store is a bit like buying secondhand, assuming that the Mac had a previous owner and for one reason or another they returned their Mac to Apple. Your concern might be that this means there is something wrong with the Mac, but as you will see from the point below, Apple will have identified and fixed any faults.

The Mac you are buying probably hasn’t come straight from the factory, but its interlude with a prior customer will have been brief. The previous owner may have exercised their consumer rights and returned it unused within 14 days (which is the extent of Apple’s refund and exchange policy). Or the Mac might have been used as a demonstration model, but this doesn’t mean that it will have been used by lots of people and it is unlikely to have undergone any intensive processing.

2. You can get the current generation Macs for less

You can save money on the current generation of Macs if you shop in the Refurbished Store.

For example, in July 2023 we found a refurbished 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip for $929, which is a saving of $170, and less than the M1 MacBook Air still sells for.

It usually takes a few months before Apple starts selling the current generation of Macs on the Refurbished Store, but Apple started selling refurbished M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pro and M2 Mac mini in the refurbished store in May 2023, about four months after they initially went on sale in January 2023.

3. You can get more for your money

Buying from the Refurbished Store is a great way to get a more powerful Mac than the current entry-level for less money.

If you shop for your Mac in your local Apple Store, at an Apple Authorized Reseller, or in Apple’s online store, you can only buy the newest version of a particular Mac. Turn instead to the Refurbished Store and you will find Macs from the past few years at a lower price than their successors.

The really enticing thing is that these older Macs often aren’t a lot different from the current models. Sure, the newer Mac might have the next-generation processor, but if you had the choice of an M2 or an M1 Pro then the M1 Pro would still be a more powerful option. See our Mac processor comparison.

For example, we took a look at the Apple Refurbished Store in July 2023 and found a refurbished 14-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip (14-core GPU, 512GB SSD, and 16GB Unified Memory) for $1,539. This is a saving of $360 on the $1,899 price it had when it was new. But the deal is even better when you consider that a brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip, configured to have the same 512GB SSD and 16GB memory, would cost $1,699 and would be a less powerful Mac with a 10-core GPU.

Typically you can see the following savings at Apple’s Refurbished Store for the current generation and older generation Macs:

• $90-$170 off a MacBook Air.
• $190 -$610 off a MacBook Pro.
• $90-$200 off a Mac mini.
• $200-$260 off an iMac.
• $270 off a Mac Studio.

There are also some big savings to be had on Intel-powered iMacs.

4. Apple tests and replaces parts if necessary

You might be thinking that this is all very well, but these are Macs that are likely to have been returned to Apple due to a fault with them. Would it be unwise to buy a Mac that has already proven to be faulty?

The great news here is that you can be sure that any fault will have been rectified by Apple. The company says that all refurbished Macs include “full functional testing, genuine Apple part replacements (if necessary),” as well as “a thorough cleaning”.

The Mac you are buying will have had more checks than any Mac coming straight from a factory so you can be sure that any problems will have been caught.

5. You get a one-year warranty and 90 days of tech support

Even better, you get a one-year warranty, so if anything does go wrong getting it fixed will be easy and free.

You also get complimentary technical support, which means you will be able to phone Apple up if you have any problems with setup, installation of software, and any connection problems.

You can also extend the one-year warranty up to three years if you buy AppleCare protection when you purchase your refurbished Mac.

If you buy secondhand from another source you will only have any remaining warranty left over–and since the model you are buying is likely to be more than a year old this protection will have expired.

6. It’s dispatched for free with free returns

Because you are buying the Mac from Apple directly it comes with other benefits. For example, not only will there be no shipping costs associated with your new Mac (Apple will dispatch it to you for free).

You will also be protected by Apple’s 14-day returns policy, which means that if you change your mind you can send it back, no questions asked, within two weeks.

7. You could get your new Mac today!

Another benefit is that if the Mac is in stock at your local Apple Store you could pick it up today. And if you would prefer that it was delivered to you, it could arrive as soon as tomorrow.

8. You can purchase your refurbished Mac with financing options

If you don’t have the money right now you can still get your new Mac. Apple offers financing options. In the U.S. Apple offers its own Apple Card which brings the advantage of 3% Daily Cash Back when you buy from Apple.

The Apple Card isn’t available in the U.K., but Barclays and PayPal Credit provides finance if you want to buy a new Mac. You just need to apply for financing when you check out.

You can also trade in an old product to get credit toward your new purchase. You could get up to $775/£615 credit for trading in a MacBook Pro, for example.

9. You don’t have to deal with a previous user

Dealing with Apple is a real benefit. You don’t need to deal with a previous owner who might not be completely honest about problems with the machine, or might be difficult if later on you experience problems.

Dealing with Apple directly should give you peace of mind that you are buying exactly what is advertised and that if there are any issues they will be dealt with professionally.

10. You might be able to save even more

Apple isn’t the only place you can buy a refurbished Mac. There are a number of Apple Resellers and Refurbishment specialists who will also sell you a secondhand Mac that has been thoroughly checked over.

We’d advise that you are a little more cautious if it isn’t Apple selling the refurbished Mac, and we recommend that you don’t buy a very old Mac, even if it has been refurbished, but this can be a good way to get a reasonably new Mac for less.

These refurbished stores will have thoroughly checked the Mac so you can be confident it will work!

In the U.S.:

• Apple
• Amazon
• Back Market
• Best Buy
• Decluttr
• Gainsaver
• OWC
• Mac Of All Trades
• Refurb.me

In the U.K.:

• Affordable Mac
• Apple
• Amazon
• BackMarket
• Hoxton Macs
• Laptops Direct
• MacFinder
• Mac 4 Sale
• Music Magpie

If you want to know more about buying a refurbished Mac, read this: Where to buy a Refurbished Mac.

We also have
Best Place to buy a Mac and
When is the best time to buy a Mac.

For advice about which Mac to buy read out
Best Mac Buying Guide

And if you want a deal on a new Mac, read:
Best MacBook Pro deals or
Best iMac deals

Mac, MacBook

There’s nothing like having the convenience of hands-free use of your iPad. Whether you’re in the kitchen, streaming a film, or working at your desk, a stand becomes an essential tablet accessory.

Of course, those using their iPad for work may also want to pair the iPad with a keyboard (here are some of the best ones).

An iPad stand will help your posture and viewing comfort, or make typing or using a stylus much easier.

We’ve rounded up some of the best iPad stands out there for every budget–from the lightweight and portable, to the adjustable, to the ones that just look great, and one that will turn your iPad into a desktop workstation.

Some are basic, some are stylish or super-bendy, one comes with an array of handy ports, and one looks like a cuddly toy.

For more hands-free gadgetry, also see our round-up of the best iPhone car holders and mounts.

Updated June 28 to add Moft Float Folio

iPad, Tablet Accessories

3 days until the #Silo finale.

Here’s the entire first episode. pic.twitter.com/lIcTXCQ9D6

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) June 27, 2023

I have spent the last couple of decades writing about new features in Apple’s operating systems. Tens of thousands of words about new items, large and small, that enhance the experience of using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices. And yet this past weekend, I was reminded that most users simply don’t notice new features, even when they’ve been available for years.

If you’re reading this column right now, you’re one of the most well-educated people on the planet about Apple stuff. But your friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances? They might never know about flashy new operating-system features unless you personally show them off. It’s one of Apple’s most vexing problems: keeping devices relatively simple while also trying to make complex new features discoverable.

Lunch of discovery

My family spent the last few days attending my daughter’s college graduation. After a walk around a funky Oregon neighborhood, my wife and I dropped into a bakery restaurant for lunch. The place was busy, and we found a table and sat down, and waited for our order to arrive. I set my iPhone 14 Pro down on the table, and she gestured at the always-on lock screen, gently ribbing me for using nature pictures on my lock screen instead of pictures of our children.

I explained that the lock screen is set to shuffle between nature photos in my library, based on machine learning, and it quickly became clear that she’d never tried to edit her lock screen, a feature introduced in iOS 16 last fall. (Also missing from her lock screen are another banner feature of iOS 16, lock screen widgets.)

If you don’t read websites about Apple features, how are users supposed to intuit these changes? To edit a lock screen, you have to lock your phone and then long press on the lock screen–a pretty unnatural sequence of events.

In iOS 17, Apple is introducing a new feature for app developers called TipKit, which brings a unified way for all apps to provide helpful advice about features their users may not miss. It’s a great idea, but Apple itself seems to really struggle when it comes to getting users to embrace new features.

But it gets worse.

Face the music

Once I explained to her that she could literally create a lock screen that shuffled among photos of her kids, as identified by machine learning–not a set of images she selected herself–she was enthusiastic. Unfortunately, my next discovery was that Apple’s shiny new feature was backed by a bunch of rickety technologies that couldn’t rise to the challenge.

To do a Photo Shuffle of people on the lock screen, you pick their faces from your Photos Library–but my wife had never spent any time in the People album in the Photos app on her iPhone, merging faces together and assigning them names. (Why would she? The People album is buried on iPhone. Name and face assignments don’t sync across a shared photo library, so all of my work classifying faces on my Mac don’t extend to her.)

Worse, Photo Shuffle’s method of offering people to display appears utterly broken. It offered my wife a small number of faces, most of whom were completely random and fairly uncommon. She’s got hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures of me and our kids on her phone, and yet we weren’t among the faces offered. And if the faces you’re looking for aren’t in Photo Shuffle’s very small list of options, there’s no recourse. You’re stuck.

So, off to Photos to spend five minutes doing a quick pass through her photo library to identify her family members by name, mark them as favorites, and clean things up by merging duplicate entries together. Unfortunately, whatever process provides the list of faces in Photo Shuffle apparently doesn’t get updated with any priority–when I came back to it at the end of our lunch, none of the family members had appeared in her Photo Shuffle options. So much for that clever idea.

How many apps?

The other thing I discovered at lunch was that, despite Apple’s innovations in iOS features over the last few years, my wife remained set in the behaviors she had learned when she started using the iPhone. In other words, Apple made changes to make the experience better–but they just never registered with her.

Let me get specific: this is about apps. My wife has pages and pages of apps on her home screen. We’re at a wedding, and there’s an app you need to download to contribute photos to the happy couple. It gets downloaded and stays forever. Need to pay to park in a new city? Download an app and keep it forever. And they’re all getting tacked on to the end of the last page of her home screen, forever.

(In fact, she complained that she hated dragging apps she actually wanted all the way from the last page forward onto the first page. I pointed out that she could now hold the wiggling app with one finger while rapidly swiping with another in order to quickly change pages, which blew her mind–because she was still following the old behavior of dragging the app icon to the left side of the screen and waiting for the page to scroll. Another new feature she never knew about!)

Turns out, she uses one or two pages of apps and searches for everything else. She’s got a few folders from back when she made an attempt to organize her phone, but at some point, she gave up and went to search. I ended up deleting several pages of her home screen and showing her how to use App Library.

The truth is, her behavior–a page or two of key apps and then using search to find apps in the junk drawer–is probably the way most people use their iPhones. Apple knows it, which is why they added App Library and stopped requiring people to put every app they’ve downloaded somewhere on the home screen. But if my wife is any indication, that new feature just never registered.

I don’t have any answers here. I recognize how hard a problem it is to make new iPhone features discoverable and how hard it is to change ingrained user behavior. The new TipKit APIs suggest that Apple continues to wrestle with the issue.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing (and Macworld will keep publishing) articles about what the new features are. And you, dear reader, will presumably share them with your friends and family. So far as I can tell, we may be the best way Apple has of getting its message out.

iOS, iPhone

I have spent the last couple of decades writing about new features in Apple’s operating systems. Tens of thousands of words about new items, large and small, that enhance the experience of using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices. And yet this past weekend, I was reminded that most users simply don’t notice new features, even when they’ve been available for years.

If you’re reading this column right now, you’re one of the most well-educated people on the planet about Apple stuff. But your friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances? They might never know about flashy new operating-system features unless you personally show them off. It’s one of Apple’s most vexing problems: keeping devices relatively simple while also trying to make complex new features discoverable.

Lunch of discovery

My family spent the last few days attending my daughter’s college graduation. After a walk around a funky Oregon neighborhood, my wife and I dropped into a bakery restaurant for lunch. The place was busy, and we found a table and sat down, and waited for our order to arrive. I set my iPhone 14 Pro down on the table, and she gestured at the always-on lock screen, gently ribbing me for using nature pictures on my lock screen instead of pictures of our children.

I explained that the lock screen is set to shuffle between nature photos in my library, based on machine learning, and it quickly became clear that she’d never tried to edit her lock screen, a feature introduced in iOS 16 last fall. (Also missing from her lock screen are another banner feature of iOS 16, lock screen widgets.)

If you don’t read websites about Apple features, how are users supposed to intuit these changes? To edit a lock screen, you have to lock your phone and then long press on the lock screen–a pretty unnatural sequence of events.

In iOS 17, Apple is introducing a new feature for app developers called TipKit, which brings a unified way for all apps to provide helpful advice about features their users may not miss. It’s a great idea, but Apple itself seems to really struggle when it comes to getting users to embrace new features.

But it gets worse.

Face the music

Once I explained to her that she could literally create a lock screen that shuffled among photos of her kids, as identified by machine learning–not a set of images she selected herself–she was enthusiastic. Unfortunately, my next discovery was that Apple’s shiny new feature was backed by a bunch of rickety technologies that couldn’t rise to the challenge.

To do a Photo Shuffle of people on the lock screen, you pick their faces from your Photos Library–but my wife had never spent any time in the People album in the Photos app on her iPhone, merging faces together and assigning them names. (Why would she? The People album is buried on iPhone. Name and face assignments don’t sync across a shared photo library, so all of my work classifying faces on my Mac don’t extend to her.)

Worse, Photo Shuffle’s method of offering people to display appears utterly broken. It offered my wife a small number of faces, most of whom were completely random and fairly uncommon. She’s got hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures of me and our kids on her phone, and yet we weren’t among the faces offered. And if the faces you’re looking for aren’t in Photo Shuffle’s very small list of options, there’s no recourse. You’re stuck.

So, off to Photos to spend five minutes doing a quick pass through her photo library to identify her family members by name, mark them as favorites, and clean things up by merging duplicate entries together. Unfortunately, whatever process provides the list of faces in Photo Shuffle apparently doesn’t get updated with any priority–when I came back to it at the end of our lunch, none of the family members had appeared in her Photo Shuffle options. So much for that clever idea.

How many apps?

The other thing I discovered at lunch was that, despite Apple’s innovations in iOS features over the last few years, my wife remained set in the behaviors she had learned when she started using the iPhone. In other words, Apple made changes to make the experience better–but they just never registered with her.

Let me get specific: this is about apps. My wife has pages and pages of apps on her home screen. We’re at a wedding, and there’s an app you need to download to contribute photos to the happy couple. It gets downloaded and stays forever. Need to pay to park in a new city? Download an app and keep it forever. And they’re all getting tacked on to the end of the last page of her home screen, forever.

(In fact, she complained that she hated dragging apps she actually wanted all the way from the last page forward onto the first page. I pointed out that she could now hold the wiggling app with one finger while rapidly swiping with another in order to quickly change pages, which blew her mind–because she was still following the old behavior of dragging the app icon to the left side of the screen and waiting for the page to scroll. Another new feature she never knew about!)

Turns out, she uses one or two pages of apps and searches for everything else. She’s got a few folders from back when she made an attempt to organize her phone, but at some point, she gave up and went to search. I ended up deleting several pages of her home screen and showing her how to use App Library.

The truth is, her behavior–a page or two of key apps and then using search to find apps in the junk drawer–is probably the way most people use their iPhones. Apple knows it, which is why they added App Library and stopped requiring people to put every app they’ve downloaded somewhere on the home screen. But if my wife is any indication, that new feature just never registered.

I don’t have any answers here. I recognize how hard a problem it is to make new iPhone features discoverable and how hard it is to change ingrained user behavior. The new TipKit APIs suggest that Apple continues to wrestle with the issue.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing (and Macworld will keep publishing) articles about what the new features are. And you, dear reader, will presumably share them with your friends and family. So far as I can tell, we may be the best way Apple has of getting its message out.

iOS, iPhone