When I play more than one song from my phone, only the first song shows up as played on Apple Music. This has been the case for many years. So “song last played” smart playlists are useless for me.
(I’ve only ever had one Apple account, so the sync issues aren’t because of multiple account issues. I did talk with an Apple tech about the problem several years ago, but she kept trying to solve problems I don’t have, and eventually took off her headset and walked away from her desk. True story!)
I have no idea what Apple Music does - I don’t subscribe to it and I never stream content from any source.
I routinely play tracks from my Mac’s Music library (purchased or ripped) that I sync to my iPod Touch via USB. It does update the play count and last-played timestamp, and the values get updated in the Mac’s Music app at the next USB sync.
There is no way I’d be able to remember to toggle Wi-Fi on and off as I come and go. I’d end up accidentally using slower, more power-hungry cellular service all the time.
Moreover, wi-fi is used by Location Services to refine your position even when you’re not connected to a network.
iPhones also randomize the MAC address when you are passing by WiFi access points you haven’t already connected to deliberately, so there should be no privacy / tracking concern.
And FTR, the whole “Dub dub” thing is just plain embarrassing.
Nothing worse than a bunch of aging tech bros trying to come across as cool but trying too hard. 
the only real way to limit screen time is to remove the screen
Which is exactly what we do.
My daughter regularly hops onto my phone without me seeing and unchecks the Block at End of Limit toggle for each app.
If my teenager did that they’d lose their device privileges.
So all in all I’d say the problem is with the parent writing the article.
They’re both off and always have been on my phone unless I am actively using them. Mobile data because it is expensive and very limited, Wi-Fi because leaving it on wastes power.
I thought there is a Shortcuts Automation that will turn wifi on/off with reference to Significant Locations, but now I don’t see it as an option. There might be some automated way to do this, if you use those features and you have a fairly fixed routine.
Sounds like you have a specific situation that favors such behavior. My cell plan has unlimited data, so it doesn’t cost extra to use. And even still, I use very little since I’m usually at home, on my Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi being on may consume slightly more power than when it’s disabled, but I don’t care as long as my iPhone doesn’t run out of power before the end of the day, which it never does.
Keep in mind if you have poor cell coverage (like me), cellular will use a lot more power trying to find and maintain a good signal, so Wi-Fi on prolongs battery life.
Maybe. If you enable (and your carrier supports) Wi-Fi calling. Otherwise, the cellular radio must remain on and active in order to handle non-IP traffic (e.g., voice calls, SMS text, etc.)
I have noticed much greater battery life disabling the cellular radio (via airplane mode) when spending a lot of time in a location without any signal (e.g., in below-ground ballrooms in conference hotels). But I don’t notice much additional drain if there is at least a weak signal available. (e.g., indoors at my home, I frequently see only 1 or 2 bars.)
I was on vacation the last two weeks but I was able to download the Youtube version of the keynote on my iPad so I could watch on the plane yesterday. One thing that I thought was very different was that there were no separate sections for what’s changed in all of the specific device versions, which seemed to be the usual presentation in the past.
But I guess what they really needed to do is get everyone ready for how Siri will change. I give credit to them for showing what seemed to be real-time performance for the different queries they did. Some of them took quite a while to return something. I think that the Apple before they messed up the Siri that was promised in 2024 would have shortened those sequences for the presentation.
Excellent article and it worries me they said nothing about HomePods as they are my only sound system! However, I manage to operate mine part ot the time without Siri. The Home app, on iOS (but not on macOS) lets me access a selection of recently played music, and I can juggle which HomePods play them, all without Siri. Plus, of course, I can cast sound to them from my Mac or iPhone.
Maybe not, but it’s good to know that they are focussed on their customers.
I started putting my secondary iPad (mostly used as a remote control) into airplane mode when not using it. Before that, I’d have to charge it daily, now it lasts about 5 days between charges.
I don’t really buy that. Ads in Maps and other subscription enshittification they’re pushing tells me they still value short-term cashflow more than they value their customers’ user experience and the long-term loyalty that renders.
I would say they don’t like bad press and in the case of Liquid Glass and their software QC they finally reached the point where even they couldn’t ignore the prevailing consensus. And I’m happy that has forced them to correct at least some wrongs. I look forward to seeing what else John Ternus will rectify.
Hate to be negative, but it is next to exactly zero that in the news presented here that I find in any way useful at all. The exception would be that somethings might get a bit faster and that maybe I can get rid of the annoying Grammarly to only use Apple (where I could maybe also add spellings when it of course cannot spell properly some words as usual). I really wished I could see one more example of something useful coming up, but there are no traces here … .
Out of curiousity, what sort of announcements were you looking forward to from WWDC?
Keep in mind that WWDC is focused on new/changed APIs for developers to use. The primary goal is to get the developers interested in new OS features, so their apps will be ready to use those features in six months, when the OS actually ships.
If you’re primarily interested in new hardware products, you’re probably not going to hear much about it at WWDC unless it’s a massive change (e.g., new processor architecture, or completely new kind of device) that they need to get in developers’ hands.
Hi Adam, I was not expecting much and I have come to expect less for each new macOS release, which I also think is natural and what to be expected as progress is not as “big” as it once used to be, when you really felt you had to get a new computer every time a new macOS was released. That said, AI might require a new computer now if you are on M2, like me. (I am working as Mac consultant since 2000.) Asking Siri to create a new note will take longer than just creating it … things like that. But, yes, also a bit frustrated that they might not focus on more important things like improving Mail, Contacts, Messages – which really would make me change my tune. Also the UI is not the best (but we agree there). Trying to think: maybe they could warn users of Safari tabs consuming too much memory and the most important thing I miss in Safari is date stamps with time for visited websites, just like one have in Chrome based browsers. Giving us an iCloud syncable Notes app that uses plain text (just like FSNotes, which is not working so well). Etc – mostly very many small annoyances. That said, I just noted that people on the same early M-macs seems to have less problems now than they used to do on the same Macs, so in general there is some progress. On the other hand, if you want to laugh at Apple’s incompetence, then try and migrate users between Macs remotely … ;-) – it is a bit fun seeing the exact same procedure can give different results … . Apple somehow also seem to think you can these days (or maybe they always thought so) could have Wi-Fi and Ethernet both connected at the same time…. oh well.
PS: If Apple could get Adam back to using Apple Mail, that would be real news! ;-)
(Mail problems still around, apart from corrupting databases etc): Column layout still sometimes change the column widths choosen. Being able to set the main mail window to open as default when clicking the Mail icon in dock instead of having to use cmd+0 all the time. Safari: Merging all tabs in some windows instead of all windows. Contacts: being able to drag more than one card after each other to a group without restarting the app (works intermittently). etc.)