The Messages app on the iPhone and iPad has supported stickers for several years now, but Apple in iOS 17 is overhauling the sticker experience to make them more important. All emoji are now considered stickers and can be used in the Messages app like stickers, with emoji listed right alongside Memoji stickers and sticker packs that you've downloaded from the App Store. In addition, you can make your own stickers using the remove subject from background tool that Apple added for images in iOS 16. In any of your images in Photos (or images from Safari or another location), you can long press on the subject of the photo to highlight it and to bring up an options interface.…

Rumors about Apple's Vision Pro headset have been circulating for years, but something that was never quite clear was how it would be controlled. There were some early rumors of control devices, which eventually faded away as leaks focused more on gesture control, and as it turns out, that's the way Apple went. The Apple Vision Pro uses hand gestures, eye movements, and spoken commands for navigation. You can choose something on the display by looking at it, for example, and then select it by tapping your fingers together. Scrolling is done with a quick flick, and only small movements are required. You can look at the microphone button in a search field and then start speaking in order to…

With watchOS 9 on the Apple Watch Ultra, Apple introduced a new battery feature called Optimized Charge Limit, which uses on-device machine learning to analyze your daily usage and dynamically set a maximum charge limit for your watch. Available now as a developer beta and coming to all users later this year, watchOS 10 will extend this Optimized Charge Limit to additional Apple Watch models, including Apple Watch SE, Series 6, Series 7, and Series 8. Any new models released later this year alongside the public release of ‌watchOS 10‌ will undoubtedly also support the feature. Optimized Charge Limit is an extension of the Optimized Battery Charging feature that waits to fully charge your battery until just before your device…

Apple at WWDC this week announced its latest privacy and security innovations, including major updates to Safari Private Browsing, Communication Safety, and Lockdown Mode, as well as app privacy improvements. Additionally, Apple introduced new features designed with privacy and security at their core, including Check In, NameDrop, and Live Voicemail. These new efforts are the latest manifestation of Apple’s deeply held belief that privacy is a fundamental human right and that good privacy is built on a foundation of strong security. “Privacy is designed into every new Apple product and feature from the beginning,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a statement. “We are focused on keeping our users in the driver’s seat when it…

Apple at WWDC this week announced its latest privacy and security innovations, including major updates to Safari Private Browsing, Communication Safety, and Lockdown Mode, as well as app privacy improvements. Additionally, Apple introduced new features designed with privacy and security at their core, including Check In, NameDrop, and Live Voicemail. These new efforts are the latest manifestation of Apple’s deeply held belief that privacy is a fundamental human right and that good privacy is built on a foundation of strong security. “Privacy is designed into every new Apple product and feature from the beginning,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a statement. “We are focused on keeping our users in the driver’s seat when it…

Apple's stock Notes app got hardly any screen time during yesterday's WWDC keynote, but one powerful addition to the app in iOS 17 is a new ability to link notes and connect related notes together. With just a few taps, you can create links between notes, making it easy to jump from one idea to another. Long press on a space in any note, and a new "Add Link" option can be found in the pop-up menu. Tapping it lets you link to another note by searching its title or entering a URL. You can create an optional alternative title for the link, or just stick with the original title for clarity. Once you're done, the link appears as hyperlink-style…