Apple @ Work Podcast: Inside the 2026 Mac Admin Survey and what it means for Apple IT
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple. In this episode of Apple @ Work, Alexander Tatarchuk joins the show to talk about MacPaw’s Mac Admins Survey 2026. more…

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Aukey MagFusion 2X 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station review: Twice as nice
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Two 25W wireless charging modules Raised charging pad is adjustable Cons Requires USB-C wall charger Our Verdict The Aukey MagFusion 2X is superior to standard 2-in-1 wireless chargers by being able to wirelessly 25W fast-charge two iPhones simultaneously, as well as swapping one for a wireless-charging AirPods case as you require. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed$66.99 Best Prices Today: Aukey Qi2.2 MagFusion 2X 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station Retailer Price Aukey $66.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket One of the hits of the 2025 IFA technology tradeshow in Berlin was Aukey’s range of 25W MagFusion chargers for iPhone and Apple’s other devices. The first 25W MagFusion product to hit the shelves is the MagFusion 2X Wireless Charging Station 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger (or LC-MC213 if you want to be formal). This stands apart from most 2-in-1 wireless chargers, not just because of the 25W charging speed, but also because it can charge two iPhones at that speed. Aukey MagFusion 2X: Double the power Most 2-in-1 wireless chargers can power up an iPhone and a pair of AirPods or maybe an Apple Watch. Those standard 2-in-1 chargers usually employ a 5W or 7.5W area for the AirPods or Apple Watch, which don’t require a great deal of power to charge. The Aukey MagFusion 2X, on the other hand, boasts two Qi 2.2-supporting 25W charging pads: one on a 6-inch (15.2cm) arm and the other flat on the stand’s base. Simon Jary Of course, you can certainly use it to charge an iPhone and an AirPods case, just as with other 2-in-1 chargers, but the ability to fast-charge two iPhones is the real selling point. Even if you don’t have two iPhones, surely someone in your house or office needs to charge their phone at the same time as you. Either way, the Aukey MagFusion 2X is unique in its ability to simultaneously wirelessly service two iPhones at such a speed. Simon Jary Aukey MagFusion 2X: Performance A Qi2.2-certified 25W charger should wirelessly power up an iPhone from 0 to 50 percent in just over 30 minutes, where a 15W charger will take more like 45 minutes to do the same. To get the iPhone to 100 percent takes more than twice that time, as iPhones (and any other device) will charge more slowly as they get nearer to full capacity, which is why we compare chargers at their speed to 50% percent rather than 100 percent. That said, a 25W charger should beat a 15W charger by about 25 minutes from 0-100%. Note that only the iPhone 16 and 17 series support 25W wireless charging, with the iPhone Air limited to 20W due to the size of its battery. Older iPhones will charge at Qi2’s standard 15W. Check out which wireless charging speed your iPhone supports. In our tests, the Aukey MagFusion 2X took 31 minutes to get an iPhone 16 Pro from 0 to 50 percent. Older 15W Qi2 versions of the Aukey MagFusion range an active cooling system (called Omnia-Frez Cooling Technology) to ensure efficient and safe charging. The 15W MagFusion 2X doesn’t feature such a fan or cooling fins despite the higher power. That might result in lower charging times in some situations, but we didn’t experience any slowdowns in our real-world tests. The Aukey MagFusion 2X doesn’t ship with a wall charger, and the company recommends you use one with an output power of 67W or higher. If you can’t use your MacBook’s charger or need a spare, check out our reviews of the best USB-C chargers for options. Simon Jary Aukey MagFusion 2X: Design The Aukey MagFusion 2X looks suitably futuristic in gunmetal gray. Its raised charging pad is adjustable, with a 30-degree vertical rotation. Of course, the iPhone can be placed in either a portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation. At 6 x 5.3 x 2.4 inches (15.2 x 13.5 x 6cm), it’s a small desk footprint, and it’s pretty light too at 11.2oz (318g). The arm feels robust and stable, and the magnetic connection to both charging pads is strong. The charging port attaches to your wall charger via the supplied 6ft USB-C cable, neatly positioned at the back of the base. Simon Jary Aukey MagFusion 2X: Price The Aukey MagFusion 2X is available only in the U.S. and E.U. at the time of writing, with a price of $67 or €70. While this is a more than reasonable price tag, just keep in mind that you need to provide your own USB-C wall charger (67W or higher for maximum charging speeds) if you don’t own a spare already. Check out alternative options in our reviews of the best magnetic wireless chargers. Should you buy the Aukey MagFusion 2X? The Aukey MagFusion 2X is superior to standard 2-in-1 wireless chargers by being able to wirelessly 25W fast-charge two iPhones simultaneously, as well as swapping one for a wireless-charging AirPods case as you require.

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Backbone Pro review: A premium gamepad at a very premium price
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Comfortable to use Robust and accurate controls Works with and without a phone case Cons No rumble ALPS rather than Hall-effect joysticks High price Our Verdict The lack of vibration and Hall-effect joysticks may be off-putting, and that price tag is no joke. But I love the attractive design, comfortable and reliable controls, and easy-switching, device-agnostic versatility. This gets my recommendation. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed$169.99 Best Prices Today: Backbone Pro Retailer Price Backbone $169.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket As a gaming device, the iPhone has much to recommend it: it’s highly portable, you’re probably carrying one anyway, and you’ve got a million compatible games to choose from. The main problem is that many of the best iOS games (such as Fortnite, which finally returned to iOS this year) were designed with other platforms in mind, and don’t suit touchscreen controls. That’s when you need to buy yourself a gamepad. As iPhone gamepads go, the Backbone Pro sits right at the top end. It costs a whopping $169.99/£159.99, more than three times what you’d pay for an official Xbox controller (which iPhones are compatible with), so it needs to perform miracles to justify that price. Does it? Well, let’s find out. Design and workmanship The Backbone Pro looks like a gamepad or gaming handheld with the middle part missing. There’s a reason for that: the gap is designed to accommodate an iPhone, although this isn’t compulsory. More on this in the next section. There are lots of hardware controls. On the left side you get an ALPS thumb joystick, a D-pad, and two option buttons; on the right there are X/Y/A/B buttons (in the traditional Xbox configuration rather than the heretical Switch style), another thumb joystick, another option button, and a dedicated button for the Backbone app. Then there are four shoulder buttons–L1 and L2, and R1 and R2–and even two lower rear M1 and M2 buttons which sit under your ring fingers. There are also two ports on the bottom, a female USB-C for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack, together with a final button for wireless pairing. The Backbone Pro feels great in the hand.David Price / Foundry Aside from being astonishingly numerous, these controls are robust, accurate in use, and mostly very comfortable. (The one exception is that I wouldn’t want to use the M1 and M2 buttons very much, because the ring fingers are naturally weaker than the rest, and with my hand size it wasn’t possible to use middle fingers while still being able to reach L1 and R1. But for occasional functions, they’re fine.) Serious gamers will quibble about some choices, such as the joysticks being ALPS rather than Hall effect, which is more precise and has a longer lifespan. The lack of rumble/vibration may also cause some raised eyebrows at this price point. But using the Backbone Pro is a delight, and thanks to the ergonomic design, weight in the hand, and pleasingly textured finish, it feels like the premium gaming accessory it is. What’s the Backbone Pro like to use? Setting up the Backbone Pro is relatively easy. Tuck the top edge of your phone into the slot on the left, push the gamepad’s two halves apart, then attach your iPhone to the male USB-C connector on the right. (This is the method illustrated in the marketing video, and I find it much easier than opening the halves before fitting the phone into the slot, which was my misguided first instinct.) Your iPhone is thus held securely in landscape orientation, and you can use the D pad, thumb controllers, and X/Y/A/B buttons to play games on a super-sharp display without having to waste screen space on sub-optimal touch controls. I tested the Backbone Pro with an iPhone 17, and this fit just fine with or without a standard silicone MagSafe case. That’s an important consideration, because having to uncase your iPhone and then recase it after adds an element of friction that will put you off using the product. It’s also compatible with the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the iPhone Air, all five 16-series iPhones, and all four 15-series iPhones. Note that you can also use the device as a standalone controller by connecting wirelessly to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, smart TV, VR headset, or other device (even a PC!). This adds the complications of Bluetooth–you may notice some slight lag on very speed-intensive games, although I didn’t–and of course you will need to keep track separately of the Backbone’s battery as well as that of whatever device you’re playing on. The simplicity of plugging a single USB-C cable into the Backbone’s port and charging both the gamepad and its docked phone can be a pleasing convenience for the forgetful. The Backbone Pro works with an iPad just as happily as an iPhone.David Price / Foundry There is, however, one minor point in favor of playing wirelessly: the first few times you use the gamepad in docked mode, you may find it fiddly navigating to your desired game. iOS home screens don’t have a landscape orientation, so you end up awkwardly holding the docked phone at 90 degrees until you’ve found the app and launched it, before returning to a normal position in the game. The slot covers on either side also block access to the short edges of your phone’s screen, which makes it difficult to access the home indicator when you’re in a portrait-orientation app–which you shouldn’t be, but this may still catch you out if you dock your phone before thinking to close down the previous app. But these are just teething pains. You’ll quickly realise that the best approach is to open your game of choice, then put the phone in the gamepad. Testing out the app There’s another option which you may find easier still, and that’s to use the Backbone app. This can be accessed at any time by pressing the bright orange button assigned to that purpose. The makers would clearly like you to treat the Backbone app as your central gaming hub, and it serves moderately well in that role. The “Your games” library is a convenient way to jump straight to your favorite titles without having to navigate your phone. Sensibly, this list is compiled manually rather than simply auto-populating with all the compatible titles on your device, and while the in-app search function isn’t always intuitive (insisting I need to download games that are already on the device, for example, or serving ads encouraging me to sign up for the Apple Arcade service I already get through Apple One) you can simply press the orange button while in a game to add it to the library. The Backbone app is a useful starting point for your gaming sessions.David Price / Foundry The app also contains a rather endearing selection of “Instant games,” quick and cheap retro browser games that are good for a laugh. It’s a shame that, here again, the interface proves less than helpful; the app initially offered a selection I could add to my library, but once I’d done so, that option was no longer easy to find. (Eventually, I found the remaining games by going to the main search and selecting Edit filters > HTML5 Games.) But the most useful functions of the Backbone app are more utilitarian. Under Settings, you’ll find recording modes (together with Twitch integration), and the ability to create controller profiles with assigned buttons. And under Controller Center, you can pair with, manage, or forget known devices. This is important because the gamepad will, by default, try to connect with the most recently connected device. But to be honest, my experience of device switching was very impressive; almost Apple-esque in its ability to second-guess what I wanted it to do without needing to be prompted. Thanks to a clever feature called FlowState, you don’t need to keep re-pairing each time you want to switch devices, and that’s a big plus point. Should you buy the Backbone Pro? There are certainly issues with this product. If you’re a serious gamer, the lack of vibration and Hall-effect joysticks may be off-putting; if you’re not, there’s that $169.99/£159.99 price tag. So the head says no, but the heart says yes. I love the attractive design, comfortable and reliable controls, and easy-switching, device-agnostic versatility. Against my better judgment, and with several caveats, this extremely premium gamepad gets my recommendation.

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iOS 26.3 will give third-party earbuds a taste of Apple’s pairing magic
iOS 26.3 takes another step toward opening Apple’s ecosystem, making it easier for third-party earbuds and wearables to work seamlessly with the iPhone. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Complete your new Mac with Microsoft Office for just $50
Macworld TL;DR: You can get Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac for $49.97 (MSRP $219) and keep it for life. A lot of people unwrap a brand-new computer around the holidays, whether it’s a gift from someone else or a much-deserved upgrade you treated yourself to. But a new machine does not always come with the software you actually need. If your setup feels a little unfinished, a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 can fill in the gaps for $49.97 with no ongoing fees. This version gives you the core apps most users rely on every day: Word for writing and editing Excel for budgeting, tracking, and number crunching PowerPoint for presentations Everything installs directly on your Mac and runs as native desktop software. No subscription, no cloud dependency, and no surprise charges. Once you redeem the license and activate it with your Microsoft account, it stays tied to your Mac for life. If your holiday computer upgrade did not include Office, this is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to complete your setup. It works with current macOS versions like Sonoma, Sequoia, and Tahoe and is ready to use right after download. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac is available now for $49.97 while this limited-time offer lasts. Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime LicenseSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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iPad Pro & Nintendo Switch 2 are perfect companions with a portable dock
The Nintendo Switch 2 requires a compatible dock to work, and the official one is quite big, but Kuxiu has a functioning dock that works great at a desk and on the go with your iPad Pro.iPad Pro can be a display for the Nintendo Switch 2When Apple introduced support for connecting devices like capture cards via USB-C in iPadOS 17, my first idea was to use the iPad Pro as a portable Nintendo Switch display. Due to restrictions with how the Nintendo Switch 2 works, third-party docks are harder to find, but I managed to get one from Kuxiu.This tiny dock can be purchased with or without a LAN port at $25 or $30 from Walmart, so it's quite a bit cheaper than even the standard dock sold by Nintendo. It supports 4K output and has two USB-A ports for accessory charging. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer review: easy multi-color printing with AMS
The Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer is about as easy as this hobby can get, with simple setup, one-button printing from an app, auto-leveling, and a four-spool AMS, it'll be hard to stop printing.Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer reviewI'm still a 3D printing novice that has only dabbled in the space since I tested the Flashforge AD5X. That was a good starter printer, but I've moved up a tier to the Bambu Lab P1S, and it's tough to look back.One of the first things I learned about 3D printing was that the filament needed to be stored somewhere dry. The lack of an Automatic Material System, or AMS, was a big sticking point for the AD5X, even though it did have four spools built in for multi-color, it wasn't enclosed. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Apple lands third in Cloudflare’s global Internet Services rankings for 2025
Cloudflare has released the 2025 Cloudflare Radar Year in Review, highlighting the trends it observed throughout the year as one of the world’s largest internet infrastructure providers. Here’s how Apple did. more…

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OpenAI rolls out a fun ‘Your Year with ChatGPT’ feature in select countries
OpenAI has joined the Spotify Wrapped-style personalized year-end recap trend with “Your Year with ChatGPT,” which is rolling out to users in the U.S. and select additional countries. Here’s how to see yours. more…

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Samsung looks to chase Apple iPhone’s foldable design with ‘Wide Fold’
The foldable smartphone market is gearing up for a high-stakes rivalry in fall 2026, but emerging details paint Samsung as the follower… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Apple reiterates long-term commitment to China in meeting with commerce ministry
In a meeting with Li Chenggang, China’s International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of Commerce, Apple Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan said Apple plans to continue its long-term development and investment in China. Here are the details. more…

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Limited-time deal: Upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for just $9.97
Why pay list price for Microsoft software? This Windows 11 sale allows you to upgrade your PC to Windows 11 Pro for less than $10. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Apple warns some employees not to leave the U.S. amid return delays
As reported by Business Insider, a law firm representing Apple has cautioned some visa-holding employees against international travel, citing extended and unpredictable delays when returning to the U.S. Here are the details. more…

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Apple TV cancels ‘The Last Frontier’ after one season
Apple TV has canceled the thriller series “The Last Frontier” after one season. The series hailed from co-creators Jon Bokenkamp… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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WhatsApp is working on quiz-based interactions for channels
The latest WhatsApp beta for iOS includes a new quiz tool designed to drive engagement in channels. Here are the details. more…

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iOS 26’s Reminders app got a new feature inspired by Calendar
Apple’s Reminders app keeps getting better, including a key iOS 26.2 addition I’ve long wanted. But one of the most overlooked recent changes is an iOS 26 feature inspired by Apple Calendar that’s perfect for travelers: time zone support. more…

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Apple fined by Italian antitrust watchdog over App Tracking Transparency rules
Italy’s competition watchdog agency, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), has fined Apple € 98.6 million ($ 116 million) over the App Tracking Transparency feature. Here are the details. more…

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iPhone XS, iPhone XR, Apple TV HD get critical security updates
Apple has released updates targeting the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPad 7, and Apple TV HD in a patch fixing security issues with the older models.iPhone XRWhen it comes to operating system updates, the main attention is on releases for newer devices, though sometimes patches arrive for older hardware too. It's rare, but sometimes Apple does updates that are small enough not to be mentioned on its Developer release page.On Monday, Apple issued a series of smaller builds intended for a selection of devices, IsTheAppleStoreDown.com told AppleInsider. The updates are very minor, and only partly apply to the current 26.2 generation of software. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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MagSafe Monday: The Zens USB-C Pro 3 cable charges your MacBook and your entire Apple setup at the same time
When you travel with a Mac, an iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch, the charger pile starts to get out of hand fast. Most multi-device chargers focus on the iPhone side of the equation, leaving the Mac out entirely. That means you still need to pack a laptop brick, a MagSafe stand, a separate Apple Watch charger, and a cable for your AirPods, in addition to whatever other accessories you may use. more…

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Apple released a new iOS Firmware
Apple just released iOS 18.7.3 (Build 22H217) for:iPad 7 (Wi-Fi) (iPad7,11) — DownloadiPad 7 (Cellular) (iPad7,12) — DownloadiPhone XS (iPhone11,2) — DownloadiPhone XS Max (China) (iPhone11,6) — DownloadiPhone XR (iPhone11,8) — Download

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