Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge As connected becomes the default for every household appliance — from TVs and washing machines to ovens and vacuums — we break down exactly what makes a home ‘smart’ and help you decide if it’s the right fit for you. I find the simplest way to explain the concept of a smart home is that it’s a natural evolution of our homes. A smart home isn’t fundamentally different from a “regular” home — it’s just the improvement of one. In the same way that electricity made our homes better and more functional, so is connectivity improving the way we live in and use our homes. I’ve lived in a smart home for a…

Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge As connected becomes the default for every household appliance — from TVs and washing machines to ovens and vacuums — we break down exactly what makes a home ‘smart’ and help you decide if it’s the right fit for you. I find the simplest way to explain the concept of a smart home is that it’s a natural evolution of our homes. A smart home isn’t fundamentally different from a “regular” home — it’s just the improvement of one. In the same way that electricity made our homes better and more functional, so is connectivity improving the way we live in and use our homes. I’ve lived in a smart home for a…

iCloud Keychain gets a major improvement with iOS 17 – the ability to seamlessly share credentials. Follow along for a look at how to share passwords on iPhone in iOS 17 with the new Family Passwords feature. more… The post Share passwords on iPhone: How to use Family Passwords in iOS 17 appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Apple has been improving password management over the last several years to encourage people to use separate, hard-to-guess passwords for each site, and the latest improvement adds password sharing. In iOS 17, Family Passwords is designed to let you share your passwords and passkeys with friends and family members. Using the Passwords section of the Settings app, you can create a group of people to share passwords with. Using a setup process, you can select trusted contacts to share information with. Each person who is in the group can select passwords and passkeys to share with others. You can, for example, share passwords to streaming services and online bill paying sites without having to share the password for your bank.…

Apple Maps is catching up with Google Maps on iOS 17 by finally letting iPhone users download maps for offline use. iOS 17 will be released to the public later this year for the iPhone XS and newer, and is currently available in beta for developers. Users can download a specific area of Apple Maps to their iPhone and view it while offline, complete with turn-by-turn directions for driving, walking, cycling, and public transit. While offline, users can also see their estimated time of arrival, view information like hours and ratings on place cards, and more. You can also use downloaded Apple Maps on the Apple Watch when a paired iPhone is turned on and in range of the Apple…

The first developer beta of iOS 17 includes code-level references to a new MagSafe Battery Pack with model number A2781, and a new MagSafe Charger with model number A3088, according to tech enthusiast @aaronp613. No further details are known about the accessories at this time. Last year, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the MagSafe Battery Pack would be updated with a USB-C port for charging in the foreseeable future, alongside the iPhone 15 series moving to USB-C. The current MagSafe Battery Pack has a Lightning port. As for the MagSafe Charger, one potential improvement could be Qi2 support, which could allow for up to 15W charging of non-Apple devices instead of the current 7.5W limit. The first…