iOS 26.2 gives Freeform app brand new tables feature
iOS 26.2 beta 1 arrived earlier today, and it gives Apple’s Freeform app support for tables for the first time. more…

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Apple Watch Activity badges: Veteran’s Day challenge on November 11
Macworld Achievement badges are a funny thing. You know they’re just a simple little bit of visual flair, they don’t even do anything, and yet for some reason you just have to collect them. Gamification can be a great motivator, and the achievement badges for the activity tracking on the Apple Watch have inspired many users to get more exercise. If you want to maximize your badge count, you’re going to want to chase down as many activity achievements as you can. Most are available year-round, but there are also some time-limited special events to grab, too. Here’s a list of all the activity achievements for the Apple Watch and how to unlock them. Updated November 4, 2025: On Veteran’s Day (November 11) you can earn a badge by doing any workout for 11 minutes or more. Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm) Read our review Price When Reviewed: $399 Best Prices Today: $292 at Walmart | $329 at Amazon | $329 at Best Buy Standard achievements Most of the achievements can be earned year-round. If you open the Activity app on your iPhone, then head over to the Achievements tab, you’ll see some of them listed even before you earn them (in which case they will be represented by a grey outline). However, there are some achievements that are not shown until you earn them. Past and future monthly challenges, for example, won’t show up, nor do all the various individual exercise workouts. Here is a list of all the standard badges you can get. First [exercise] Workout The first time you perform a new exercise for at least 5 minutes, you’ll get a achievement badge. Every workout type that does not fall under the “Other” category is eligible for this badge: from walking to yoga to HIIT to hiking and more. Activities with both indoor and outdoor variants, like Cycling and Walking, are bundled together; you can do either activity to get the badge, and can only get it once. [exercise] Workout Record Every time you beat your previous best record for calories burned in any of the exercises listed above, you get this badge. There is one caveat: You must complete five workouts of that type first. If you want to game the system, make sure your first four workouts of each type are short and easy, so it won’t take much effort to beat them. You get a badge the first time you do each major exercise type, and when you break a record. 7-Workout Week Simply complete any workout of at least 15 minutes every day of the week. Note that the week is Monday-Sunday, and you have to do a workout on each of those days (you can’t simply do any seven days in a row). If you start a walking workout whenever you walk outside, you can achieve this easily. New Move Record Any day that your Move ring goes further than ever before (meaning you burned more calories in a day), you’ll earn this award. There’s one catch: you have to use your Apple Watch for 10 days before you can complete this. New Exercise Record This is just like the Move Record achievement, only for the green ring. This one is based on minutes of exercise, not calories burned, so it’s really easy to get. Just like the Move Record achievement, you have to use your Apple Watch for 10 days first. Move Goal 200%, 300%, 400% You earn this when you exceed your calorie target (the red Move ring) by 2x, 3x, or 4x, respectively. In other words, it’s given for making the red activity ring go around two, three, or four times in a day. It’s easy to get if you just set your Move goal very low. Double, triple, and quadruple your Move ring goal. Reduce your goal if you’re having trouble. New Move Goal Every time you change your daily Move goal, and then exceed that new goal, you get this achievement. You can change your Move goal by opening the Activity app on your Apple Watch and force-pressing the screen. Longest Move Streak When you hit your Move goal (close the red ring) several days in a row, that’s a “streak.” You get this award when your streak finally ends, if it’s longer than your previous best streak. Perfect Week This is given out for four categories: Move, Exercise, Stand, and All Activity. For the first three, simply close the rings (red, green, or blue) every day of the week. To get the Perfect Week (All Activity) badge, close all three rings every day for an entire week. You can earn this multiple times, though it only shows one badge. Remember, one week in the Activity app is from Monday-Sunday! Close those rings every day from Monday to Sunday to earn a handful of badges. Perfect Month Unlike Perfect Week, there are not multiple different Perfect Month badges for the different color rings. The lone Perfect Month achievement is for closing the red Move ring every day of the month. There’s a separate Perfect Month badge for every month and every year, though. So you can earn this in February and again in March, and again in February in the next year. Monthly Challenge Each month has its own unique fitness challenge. If you have notifications set for the Activity app on our Apple Watch, you’ll see the goal presented at the beginning of the month, but you’ll also see the current month’s challenge in the Achievements tab of the Activity app on your iPhone. It will be a grey outline before it’s completed, but you can tap on it to see what the challenge entails. The monthly challenge may task you with burning a specific number of calories, working out a number of times, or traveling a certain distance. There’s no telling what each new month will bring, you just have to look! There’s a different challenge every month, so check your Activity app. 100, 365, 500, 1,000 Move Goals When you hit your daily Move goal (close the red ring) 100 times, you get an achievement badge. You get another for hitting it 365 times, 500 times, and 1,000 times. These do not need to be in a row; it’s just the total number of times you’ve ever hit the goal. Close the Move ring often to unlock a series of badges. Set the Move goal low if you want to make it easier. Apple Watch Ultra 2 Read our review Price When Reviewed: $799 (base) Best Prices Today: $699.99 at Amazon | $799 at Apple | $799 at Walmart Limited Achievements Apple offers multiple one-off challenges per year that are only available for a limited time. Often, they’re only around for one day or one weekend. Some are limited to the U.S. because they’re based on U.S. holidays. You’ll get a notification on your Apple Watch when one of them is coming up (make sure you have notifications enabled for the Activity app, using the Watch app on your iPhone). Veteran’s Day (November 11, 2025) Foundry Earn this award on November 11 by doing any workout for 11 minutes or more. Record your time with the Workout app or any app that adds workouts to Health. World Mental Health Day Challenge (October 10, 2025) Foundry Record 10 minutes of mindfulness or meditation with any app that adds mindful minutes to Health to get this award. National Parks Challenge (August 24, 2025) Foundry The anniversary of the founding of the U.S. National Parks is on August 25. Every year, Apple celebrates this is a global National Parks badge (on the 24th this year, since the 25th is a Monday). Just do a workout of 20 minutes or more on August 24 with any app that records workouts the the Health app to earn this badge. Global Running Day (June 4, 2025) Apple Apple’s description says: “Let’s run this one together. On June 4, record a running workout and go at least 5K (3.1 mi) to earn this special badge. Record it with any app that adds workouts to Health.” Global Close Your Rings Day (April 24, 2025) Apple To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of the first Apple Watch. Users who close all three Activity rings will earn a limited-edition award, plus 10 animated stickers and an animated badge for Messages. Earth Day (April 22, 2025) Apple On April 22, celebrate Earth Day and win this award with any workout of 30 minutes or more. Try to get outside for it! Heart Month challenge (February 14, 2025) Apple Show your heart some love! Close your Exercise ring this Valentine’s Day, February 14, to earn this award. New Year’s 2025 challenge (January 2025) Apple Let’s start 2025 off right. Earn this award by closing all three rings for seven days in a row in January.

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Apple and Amazon seek $2 million from law firm over alleged misconduct
In the time it'll take you to read this article, Apple will make $2 million in revenue. Still, it's the principle that counts. Apple and… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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New in iOS 26.2: Liquid Glass, News, Podcasts, and Sleep Score changes
The first developer beta of iOS 26.2 is finally here with Liquid Glass customization options and improvements for built-in apps. Here's what's new.iOS 26.2 developer beta 1 features new customization options and UI enhancements.On Tuesday, following the public release of iOS 26.1, Apple rolled out iOS 26.2 developer beta 1. The iOS software update bears the build number 23C5027f, as does its iPadOS counterpart.As a whole, iOS 26 introduced a variety of enhancements, including Apple's controversial "Liquid Glass" design language. The following update, iOS 26.1, brought additional customization options for Liquid Glass, as well as new toggles. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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iOS 26.2 could add 30-day AirDrop pairing option between devices
Apple is working on a new feature that will allow users to keep AirDrop pairing active between devices for up to 30 days. Here are the details. more…

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New airline adds support for iOS 26 boarding passes in Wallet
As part of iOS 26, Apple launched a redesigned boarding pass experience for flights in the Wallet app. The new design features Live Activities, quicker access to key flight details, and more. Last month, United became the first US airline to roll out support for the new set of Wallet features. Air Canada also recently launched support for the features. Now, Delta is following suit … more…

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iOS 26.2 beta brings changes to Sleep Score, Apple News, and more
Macworld A day after the wide release of iOS 26.1, Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.2. This release is again expected to focus primarily on polish, tweaking, while adding quality-of-life enhancements rather than any big new features. iOS 26.2: What’s new We will continually update this list as the beta progresses and more changes are added and discovered by the community. Updated Sleep Score ranges: Apple has adjusted what the various Sleep Score ranges mean, making it require higher scores for the better descriptions. For example, “High” used to be a score of 70-89, and is now 81-95. Lock Screen Liquid Glass slider: The clock control for the Lock Screen how has a slider to adjust how transparent/glassy the time readout should be. This replaces the old “clear or tinted” toggle. Apple News design: The design of Apple News has been tweaked, with four quick-select categories at the top. These appear to be based on your previous activity. Podcasts improvements: The Podcasts app gets auto-generated chapters along with the ability to more easily follow mentioned podcasts or follow up on links mentioned in a podcast episode. Set Alarms and Timers for Reminders: If you set a reminder as “urgent” you will be asked if you wish to create and alarm or timer for it. Freeform app: You can now insert tables into your boards. iOS 26.2: How to install If you want to test the iOS 26 beta releases but are not a registered developer, follow these steps: Click Sign Up on the Apple Beta page and register with your Apple ID. Log in to the Beta Software Program. Click Enroll your iOS device. Open the Settings app, tap General, then Software Update. In the Beta Updates section, select the iOS Public Beta. It may take a few moments after registering for the beta option to appear in Software Update. iOS 26.2: How to install the developer beta You’ll need to be registered as an Apple developer, but a free developer account will do. You can get one via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app: Download the Apple Developer App from the App Store. Open the app. Tap on Account. Sign in using your usual Apple ID. Find out everything you need to know about iOS 26 in our iOS 26 superguide.

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Jawohl! Full Live Translation with AirPods coming to EU.
Apple’s Live Translation feature that lets AirPods translate speech will reportedly soon be available for EU residents to use anywhere. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Report: Low-cost MacBook will arrive in ‘the first half of next year’
Macworld Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook for “luring away customers from Chromebooks and entry-level Windows PCs” during the first half of 2026. The unnamed laptop is actively being tested at Apple, and overseas production has reportedly begun. Apple has been rumored to be working on a cheap MacBook that is lower in price than the $999 M4 MacBook Air. Apple has never really competed in the “cheap” laptop market, instead promoting iPads or older models as affordable options. For example, Apple struck a deal with Walmart in 2024 to sell the M1 MacBook Air for $699, and the price has subsequently been cut to $649 and now $599. However, that model, which was originally released in November 2020 and has just 8GB of RAM, doesn’t run Apple Intelligence, and isn’t promoted by Apple. This new cheap MacBook will reportedly be powered by an A-series iPhone chip instead of an M-series Mac chip. Early reports stated that the chip would be an A18 Pro, but Apple has since released the A19 Pro in the iPhone 17 Pro. Gurman’s report does not state which A-series chip is being used. Apple’s M-series chips are based on the A-series, but they are bigger and faster, which means they run at higher temperatures than the A-series chips are designed for mobile use. However, as Gurman points out, whichever chip is used in the new MacBook will perform better than the M1. Gurman also states that the new MacBook will have “less advanced” components compared to those in the current MacBook lineup, and the display will be a low-end LCD that’s “slightly smaller” than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air. He also says the new machine will have “an entirely new design.” It has been reported that Apple has a goal of increasing its Mac sales. In its recent Q4 2025 financial report, Apple announced a big quarter for the Mac with a double-digit increase in year-over-year sales. The introduction of this new, cheap MacBook would be Apple’s first entry in the low-cost market. The customer for this laptop would be a general-purpose user whose primary tasks involve productivity apps, internet access, and basic content creation.

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Everything new in iOS 26.2 beta 1
iOS 26.2 beta 1 is here. The pre-release iPhone software update includes a surprising amount of changes and refinements. Here’s everything new: more…

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Apple TV lands international thriller ‘Safe Houses’ from Emmy Award-winning showrunner Gideon Raff
On Tuesday, Apple TV announced it has landed “Safe Houses,” a thrilling new eight-episode series that will be showrun and executive produced… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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AirPods Live Translation is coming to the EU soon after regulatory delays
Apple plans to bring Live Translation to AirPods users in the European Union by the end of 2025 after earlier delays tied to the Digital Markets Act.Live Translation supports many European languages — just not for European users yet.| image credit: AppleApple is preparing to roll out Live Translation on AirPods to users in the European Union before the end of 2025, as learned by Germany-based Apple Blog Macerkopf. The release will likely be a part of the iOS 26.2 update, which is expected to release in mid-December. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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iOS 26.2 will let you set alarms and timers for reminders
Apple rolled out iOS 26.2 beta 1 for developers today and introduced the ability to set alarms and timers directly from the Reminders app. Here’s how it’s going to work. more…

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Next Apple Watch Challenge set for Veterans Day on November 11
The next Apple Watch fitness challenge is set for Veterans Day on Tuesday, November 11th, 2025. Apple Watch Challenges increase awareness about fitness features and healthy habits while observing holidays and other notable occasions. more…

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First iOS 26.2 beta hints at new AirDrop feature for secure sharing
Macworld Just one day after releasing iOS 26.1 to the public, Apple has made the first beta of iOS 26.2 available to developers. While it’s too early to know everything that will be coming in the update, we already have a clue about something Apple has been working on: making AirDrop more secure and private. Based on code discoveries, Macworld has learned that Apple is developing a new option that will presumably allow users to set a PIN code for AirDrop, so that other people will need this PIN before sending files via AirDrop. References to the ‘‘AirDropPINPairing’ feature were found in iOS 26.2 beta 1, but interestingly, this is not the first time we have found a reference hinting at updates to AirDrop. With iOS 26.1, Macworld found a mention of another feature called “AirDropPrivacyImprovements” being implemented by Apple. This could work similarly to Bluetooth pairing or AirPlay authentication, where the receiving device shows a short numeric code that the sender must confirm before a connection is established. The change would make AirDrop safer in public places, preventing unwanted or mistaken file transfers, an issue Apple has been slowly addressing in recent years. Currently, AirDrop lets users choose between three options: “Contacts Only,” “Everyone for 10 Minutes,” or “Receiving Off.” The new PIN pairing system could add an extra authentication option as part of Apple’s ongoing privacy initiatives. It’s not yet clear when or if AirDrop PIN Pairing will be officially introduced. The feature we found hidden in the code can’t be enabled in beta 1. Apple sometimes tests features internally for several beta cycles before making them available to the public. We’ll continue to keep an eye on upcoming betas to see how Apple develops this new AirDrop security mechanism. For now, iOS 26.2 beta remains available exclusively to developers, with a public beta likely to arrive later this week. There’s no word on when the update will be released to the public, but presumably it will land sometime in December.

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M5 Mac Mini, Mac Studio updates expected in early 2026
Desktop Mac users will have to wait until 2026 for updates, with M5 versions of the Mac mini and Mac Studio still rumored to be months away from release.Mac StudioApple's initial rollout of the M5 Apple Silicon lineup has started, but so far it has only reached one model of Mac. For Apple's desktop Mac selection, there will be a few months to wait before seeing any other model refreshes.In Tuesday's report about the low-cost MacBook rumor, Mark Gurman for Bloomberg writes that there will be multiple models arriving in early 2026. That roadmap includes a refresh of the Mac mini line to include M5 and M5 Pro variants. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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iOS 26.2 adds Liquid Glass slider to customize your Lock Screen
iOS 26.2 beta 1 is now available for developers, and it adds a new Liquid Glass slider for customizing the time on your iPhone’s Lock Screen. Here’s how it works. more…

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9to5Mac Daily: November 4, 2025 – iOS 26.1 now available
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Sponsored by Backblaze: Never lose a file again. Use code “9to5daily” at checkout for 20% off or try for free.  more…

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Apple pushes Home app update requirement to February 2026
Apple plans to end support for the previous version of Apple Home on February 10, 2026, according to an updated support document published… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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AirPods Live Translation feature coming to the EU next month
After being delayed due to the regulatory uncertainty of rules surrounding the Digital Market Act, Apple has now confirmed that the flashy Live Translation feature for AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation will be available in the European Union from next month. The feature requires compatible AirPods paired to an iPhone capable of running Apple Intelligence, that is iPhone 15 Pro or newer. It will presumably debut in the EU as part of the iOS 26.2 update, which hit the developer beta channels today. more…

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