Juli Clover:
Apple is allowing members of its public beta testing program to download and install iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 starting today. You can sign up for the public betas on Apple’s beta website. The first public beta features the same content as the fourth developer beta that came out earlier this week, though there is a new fourth beta available for developers as well.
Previously:
Update (2025-07-25): See also: TidBITS, ArsTechnica, Slashdot, Nick Heer.
Steve Troughton-Smith:
As a user, the Public Beta builds are mostly fine. Very livable.
As a developer, these builds are a train wreck, and beta 5 can’t come soon enough
Previously:
iOS iOS 26 iOS Beta iPadOS iPadOS 26 iPadOS Beta Mac macOS Beta macOS Tahoe 26 watchOS watchOS Beta
John Gruber (Mastodon, Hacker News):
The ICEBlock app is interesting in and of itself (and from my tire-kicking test drive, appears to be a well-crafted and designed app), as will be Apple’s response if (when?) the Trump administration takes offense to the app’s existence. Back in 2019, kowtowing to tacit demands from China, Apple removed from the App Store an app called HKmap.live which helped pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong know the location of police and protest activity. The app broke no Hong Kong laws, but scared the thin-skinned skittish lickspittles in the Chinese Communist Party.
Apple first rejected HKmap.live, on the grounds that it “allowed users to evade law enforcement.” That seems to be pretty much what ICEBlock is meant to do, too. I don’t think there was ever a written rule about this, however. The closest I see is rule 1.4.4, which says that “Apps may only display DUI checkpoints that are published by law enforcement agencies[…].”
HKmap argued that the app could be used for evading law enforcement, but that it was really to help people “note locations” and that it wasn’t for the user to avoid police but to avoid dangerous situations caused by other people clashing with police.
I don’t like these types of arguments. You built a hammer, and it could be used to build a house or to vandalize, and there’s a certain ratio of use (assuming that could be calculated) where it becomes bannable?
Anyway, ICEBlock is saying something similar. Officially, it’s not for evading ICE but to “stay informed” and to help report “civil rights abuses.”
Apple ended up approving HKmap.live without citing why it changed its mind. Speculation at the time was that the initial reviewer was just wrong.
But then, a few weeks later, Apple removed HKmap.live from the App Store, saying that it had “endangered law enforcement and residents.” Again, this is a terrible place to be as a developer: it’s not enough to follow the local laws and the written guidelines from Apple, but your app’s fate hinges on whether Apple determines that it endangers people? Of course, there was no attempt to balance this against the number of people it protected. But the real reason was probably political pressure, anyway.
It will be interesting to see what Apple does here. Presumably, if Congress or certain states passed a targeted law—e.g. radar detectors are commonly restricted and outright illegal in Virginia and DC—Apple would follow it. But so far all I’ve seen are vague claims from the administration that the app is already illegal—I guess on the grounds that it constitutes abetting/harboring—and it’s unclear how much Apple has been pressured.
One defense from Apple regarding HKmap.live, however, was that the iOS app was a thin wrapper around the website, and website remained fully functional and could be saved to an iPhone user’s home screen.
This always seemed to me like a legal case decided on a procedural issue to avoid ruling on the merits.
To deliver push notifications on Android, the developers claim they would need to maintain a database of device IDs, create a user account system to manage those device IDs, and all of that server-stored data would be susceptible to law enforcement subpoenas and pro-ICE red hat hackers. […] Only iOS supports the security and privacy features for ICEBlock to offer what it does, the way it does.
But doesn’t the database still exist with iOS, and it could just be subpoenaed from Apple? Apple doesn’t want to break the security of its own devices, but it’s always cooperated with law enforcement to share cloud data that it does have.
Previously:
App Review App Store China Department of Justice (DOJ) GPS ICEBlock iOS iOS 18 iOS App Law Enforcement Legal Privacy Push Notifications
Apple (MacRumors, Hacker News, Reddit, Slashdot):
For just $19.99 per month, customers can protect up to three products in one plan, with the option to add more at any time for $5.99 per month for each device. With AppleCare One, customers receive one-stop service and support from Apple experts across all of the Apple products in their plan for simple, affordable peace of mind.
[…]
AppleCare One includes all of the benefits that come with AppleCare+, including unlimited repairs for accidents like drops and spills, 24/7 priority support from Apple experts, quick and convenient Apple-certified service, and battery coverage. AppleCare One also expands theft and loss protection beyond iPhone to also cover iPad and Apple Watch.
It’s been about 12 years since I bought an AppleCare policy, and in all the years before that and since I don’t recall ever having a hardware problem that was outside of the original (included) warranty period but inside of the AppleCare period. So, to me, this doesn’t seem like a great deal, but I guess it’s a really simple way to get piece of mind. I could see it making sense if you want to take advantage of Apple now offering coverage for devices for more than three years or if you’re worried about theft or loss.
John Voorhees:
Customers can also add existing devices to the new program that are up to four years old (or one year for headphones) if they are in good condition. That’s a big change from the usual 60 days from the date of purchase that customers have had to purchase AppleCare in the past.
Malcolm Owen:
While AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss covers two claims per year for one device, AppleCare One will go up to a total of three claims per year.
This does reduce the total number of claims to the equivalent of one per device under AppleCare One versus three separate AppleCare+ plans, but it seems like a reasonable change.
[…]
There is one massive outlier in the Apple products list when it comes to AppleCare One: The Apple Vision Pro.
Normally, the Apple Vision Pro costs $24.99 per month for AppleCare+. This is $5 per month more than AppleCare One’s monthly fee.
Dan Moren:
But is the bundle cost effective? Apple says in its release that “a customer can enroll their iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and save up to $11 a month over enrolling in separate AppleCare+ plans for each device.”
Which…yes, they could. But herein lies the fine print, because in many cases it depends on what model devices you have; as always, AppleCare costs vary depending on how expensive the device is.
[…]
One lingering question involves the iPhone Upgrade Program, which already includes AppleCare+ coverage as part of its subscription fee. It’s unclear exactly how that works with AppleCare One, though I’ve reached out to Apple to ask.
Adam Chandler:
I’ll return and advocate for households like ours to just do BestBuy Total for $179 a year! Every one of those devices I listed above had 2 years of coverage paid for by BestBuy for the first 2 years and, via Best Buy’s account management area, I can attach monthly coverage to any device that is about to hit the end of the 2-years-free mark. I did that for my Apple Watch Ultra and iPad Pro M1 for a month or two until those devices were replaced. We’re on 2 year upgrades for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods so those don’t need anything beyond 2 years and we’re on 3-4 years for MacBooks which is why I switched to a $149 a year plan directly with Apple to continue coverage until those devices are replaced.
[…]
I also would like to say that Apple is rewriting history a bit by pretending that annual, 2-year and 3-year plans never existed because those were a good deal comparatively. Today, it’s $399 to cover a MacBook Pro 16″ M4 Max for 3-years, $149 for 1 year and $14.99 a month or $540 to cover for 3 years if you’re paying monthly. The 3-year plan is only $11 a month but Apple isn’t going to tell you that. They’re going to show you $14.99 for MacBook Pro and $13.99 for iPhone and pretend like they’re doing you a favor. You can still attach AppleCare 2 and 3 year plans to a device you bought by calling Apple’s hotline or chatting with them. They just don’t show you those plans or mention them to you in retail stores.
And the monthly rates are not locked in—they could increase.
Previously:
Update (2025-07-25): Joe Rossignol:
A quick addendum to the all-new AppleCare One plan that debuted this week: it is compatible with Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program in the United States.
iPhone Upgrade Program members receive AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss coverage as part of their monthly payment, but they can switch to AppleCare One if they prefer.
Eric Schwarz:
In my case, it would cost $5.68/month more to move these four devices to AppleCare One, but it would add theft and loss coverage across the board except for my MacBook (none of my devices have it currently.) In some ways, moving devices to have this would be a pretty good value, basically adding a form of insurance for theft and loss for $60/year.
[…]
On the other hand, for my long-term plans, I intend on dropping AppleCare+ on my MacBook next summer when it turns four and probably dropping it on my iPhone eventually, just due to value dropping the likelihood of me upgrading in the next year to two, as well.
[…]
I think that’s the toughest calculation about things like AppleCare, especially on older devices that feel like a reliable, known quantity. You’re spending a portion of the device’s value every year as it’s dropping in value in hopes that if something catastrophic happened, you’d be covered. However, as devices age, you may be better off setting money aside towards something newer (such as my idea of a Mac mini.)
Apple Services Apple Vision Pro Apple Watch AppleCare Best Buy Financial Hardware iPad iPhone Mac
Joe Rossignol:
A new “Select” option in the Messages app on iOS 26 lets you select and copy a portion of text within a message bubble in a conversation.
On earlier iOS versions, you can only copy an entire message bubble.
Finally. And how about selecting multiple bubbles at once?
My other pet peeve is that on macOS you can’t start a selection by clicking in the whitespace between the bubbles.
Previously:
iOS iOS 26 Mac macOS Tahoe 26 Messages.app
