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iPhone

Over the past ten years, Apple’s iPhone has become the company’s most valuable —and recently, somewhat volatile— asset. Since its introduction in 2007, the iPhone helped to jumpstart the smartphone revolution, and with it came some big innovations. The App Store, touchscreen gaming, the mass adoption of social media, and protecting user data with biometrics. Its product lineup is enmeshed in Apple’s ecosystem, and the impact that it continues to have around the globe is vast.

Featured stories

iPhones will soon be able to stream live video on 911 calls

The iOS 18 feature adds to Apple’s growing list of Emergency SOS features, including Crash Detection and Messaging via satellite.

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Verge Score

Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max review: by the numbers

Apple didn’t choose the USB-C life, but boy are we glad it got here anyway.

RCS on the iPhone is almost the solution to our green-bubble nightmare

Texting an Android user from an iPhone still isn’t as good as the blue-bubble life. But at least it’s not awful anymore.

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Remember when the iPhone 15 Pro was rumored to have haptic buttons?

That didn’t pan out, but if you’re curious what it could have looked like, AppleInsider published some pictures of a purported prototype iPhone 15 Pro Max with haptic buttons for the volume rocker and the power button. The report also includes some details on how the buttons might have worked.


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This $149 phone gimbal can leverage Apple’s tracking tech.

The new Insta360 Flow Pro can use the company’s own tracking algorithm to keep subjects in frame, but adds support for Apple’s DockKit framework so tracking works with the iPhone’s camera app, too.

The Flow Pro also introduces a ring light so creators can easily see when tracking is working, and a price that’s $10 cheaper than its predecessor.


The front and back of the Insta360 Flow Pro with a smartphone attached.

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The Insta360 Flow Pro can be used handheld or standing on its own tripod legs.
Image: Insta360
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Epic is one step closer to relaunching Fortnite on iPhones — in the EU.

Hours after posting that a notarization submission for the Epic Games Store had been rejected by Apple, Epic and its CEO Tim Sweeney now say it has been un-rejected (a familiar situation here).

We’re still months away from EU residents actually getting the store on their iPhones and iPads, complete with Fortnite, but one barrier has been removed.


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iPhone 7 owners still have time to claim part of a microphone lawsuit settlement.

If you owned an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus between September 16th, 2016 and January 3rd, 2023 and met certain requirements, you may be eligible to claim part of a settlement after a class action lawsuit over issues with the Apple devices’ microphones.

The deadline was originally June 3rd, 2024, but it was extended earlier this month to July 3rd instead.


Here are the features Apple didn’t announce in the WWDC keynote

Here’s everything we could find for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch that didn’t get screen time.

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Apple might try “electrically induced adhesive debonding” on iPhone batteries.

The Information reports the reversible adhesive could be tried on one iPhone 16 and potentially every iPhone 17, replacing the stretchy pull tabs seen in every teardown.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “cool idea,” even if we’ll need to see how it works in practice. Here’s a demo from adhesives giant Tesa, which is also developing approaches using lasers, heat, solvents, and magnets.


Tesa demo of electical “debonding on demand” adhesive that unsticks with no residue after an electrical charge is applied for 60 seconds.
“Debonding on Demand”
Image: tesa
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It’s happening, y’all.

RCS appears to be working for people with the iOS 18 beta installed — no tinkering necessary. RCS support is part of the second iOS 18 developer beta, but despite toggling the feature on it wasn’t working for people yesterday. 9to5Mac notes that this has changed today, indicating that carriers in the US have flipped the switch to enable RCS. It’s happening! It’s really happening!


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This is why I love iOS animations.

When Apple created the Dynamic Island to make the notch on the iPhone 14 Pro display useful, it was largely mocked by Android fans, but I instantly fell in love with Apple’s animation work. Apple’s attention to detail with animations plays a big part in making iOS feel silky smooth to use, and now the new iOS 18 animation for Siri is giving me Dynamic Island vibes.


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RCS on an iPhone alert!

RCS isn’t in the current iOS 18 developer beta but that hasn’t stopped one enterprising tinkerer from getting it working. It’s early days so what we’re seeing now likely isn’t final, but file transfers and read receipts appear to be operational. Oh, and those bubbles are definitely still green, but we knew that would be the case.


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“Hello, computer.”

As seen in MacRumors, iOS 18 beta testers can set a new Siri wake word using Vocal Shortcuts, a new accessibility feature. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Vocal Shortcuts > Set Up Vocal Shortcuts, then find and tap “Siri” to try it.

It won’t work with HomePods. And your iPhone won’t acknowledge it unless you pause after saying the word. That’s good; otherwise, you learn just how frequently you say a word like “computer.”