The Latest on iOS & iPhone

Apple's shiny new CarPlay Ultra promised to transform your entire dashboard into an iPhone-powered command center. But three years after its grand debut, most automakers are delivering a collective "thanks, but no thanks" to Cupertino's most ambitious in-car takeover yet. What you need to know: Apple's next-gen CarPlay goes way beyond mirroring your phone to control A/C, speedometer, and radio — but major brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volvo are saying "don't invade our systems."

Your iPhone has a powerful feature that can keep your secrets hidden from other people. With it, you'll never have to worry about sharing or showing someone something embarrassing or incriminating ever again.

The iOS 18.5 update is now out for iPhones, landing on May 12 with a tidy bundle of convenience tweaks sprinkled across Apple's core apps and settings. It isn't a headline‑grabbing release like last time, but the update still shaves steps off everyday tasks, surfaces helpful info where you need it, and quietly prepares your device for what's coming next.

Even if you don't know a gundark from a gonk droid, you can still sling Baby Yoda stickers and lightsaber emoji like a seasoned Jedi Master. And if you happen to be reading on May 4, may the 4th be with you.

Apple's iOS 18.4 update for iPhone is finally available, and it brings some exciting new tools, smart refinements, and deeper Apple Intelligence integration that make your iPhone experience even better. Whether you're looking for ways to stay more organized, enhance your daily workflow, or enjoy new forms of entertainment, this update has something for everyone.

Safari on iOS is more powerful than it looks, especially when you know the hidden gestures that can make your browsing faster and more productive. These shortcuts quietly transform how you navigate the web, manage tabs, and share content across devices. Once you know them all, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.

Your days as an ordinary Muggle are over — as long as you have an iPhone. With just a word or two, you can use your iPhone and newfound Muggle-born powers to cast spells or utilize charms just like Harry Potter and team. Only your "wand" is from Apple, not Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.

Apple just released iOS 18.3, its latest software update for iPhone, on January 27 — after 42 days of beta testing. While it's not as feature-packed as the previous updates for iOS 18.2 and iOS 18.1 were, there are still a few important changes you'll want to know about.

One of the coolest aesthetic features of iMessage is its animated message effects. If you're like many users, you might even have discovered them by accident, where wishing your friend a "Happy Birthday!" or congratulating them on a promotion unexpectedly flooded your screen with balloons or confetti.

In today's digital world, where inboxes are often inundated with endless emails, the latest updates to Mail in iOS 18 are nothing short of game-changing.

Voice Control has long been a cornerstone of hands-free convenience on iPhones, but for users with unique speech patterns or atypical speech, standard recognition systems often fall short. Apple's solution? Vocal Shortcuts. While this innovation is a game-changer for those with speech differences, it's also a versatile tool for anyone looking to streamline tasks.

Apple's iOS 18 update brings powerful new features to your iPhone's Camera app, but some tools are easy to overlook yet incredibly useful once you find them. From new shooting modes to expanded preserve settings, iOS 18 adds more ways to capture and manage your shots exactly how you want.

Your iPhone only has a few physical buttons, buttons with a set number of default actions assigned to them, like sleeping your display, controlling volume levels, and even taking pictures. But as much as these buttons can do for you, they can do more. You're not stuck with the out-of-the-box defaults. Every push button on your iPhone can be customized in one way or another.

There are more actions available for the Action button, but only a handful of iPhone models have that button. However, there is another button with new features you can use, and you can access all the fresh features on any iPhone model that can run iOS 18.

Recording phone calls has always been tricky due to legal, ethical, and technical considerations. With iOS 18.1, Apple brings your iPhone a native call recording feature that simplifies this process while addressing privacy concerns.

Tech tends to move forward without looking back, but that doesn't mean new is always better. One feature that dominated mobile phones in the late '90s had made a comeback thanks to Apple, and you can take advantage of it on your iPhone when making calls.

Apple's Weather app keeps getting better and more refined with each new software update. For example, 2023's big update gave us yesterday's weather, averages, and wind maps, while 2022's unleashes Lock Screen widgets, severe weather alerts, and an iPad version. Now, we have significant changes to feels-like details, an update to measurement units, more pollutant statistics, and more.

While Apple keeps the Pro and Pro Max iPhone models nearly the same this year, there are still a few differences between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Knowing them may help you decide which Pro model to get.