Are you considering getting one of Apple’s new iPhone 18 models? While it’s tempting to unbox a new iPhone and dive right in, a methodical setup will save you from potential frustrations down the road. When you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, that means much of your digital life—to the new iPhone, follow these step-by-step instructions. For visual learners, Apple also provides a video showing how to transfer your data and set up a new iPhone.

1. Ensure that both your current iPhone and Apple Watch (if you have one) are running the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. These updates can take a while to install, so don’t leave them for the last minute.
2. Have your login details ready: you’ll need your iPhone and Apple Watch passcodes, along with your Apple Account email address and password.
3. Back up your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. If you back up to a Mac, make sure you encrypt the backup (and record the encrypted backup password!) so it includes passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history. For safety, consider backing up to both iCloud and your Mac. iCloud backups are typically more straightforward and avoid issues like unreliable USB cables. If you don’t usually back up to iCloud, Apple offers temporary iCloud storage for 21 days when transferring to a new iPhone, with another 21 days if your new iPhone doesn’t arrive in time. To make a temporary iCloud backup, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone and tap Get Started under Prepare for New iPhone. The temporary backup sticks around for 7 days after you restore it to the new iPhone.
4. If you have an Apple Watch, you can transfer it to the new iPhone during setup. If the automatic transfer doesn’t work for some reason, you can manually unpair the Apple Watch from the old iPhone and pair it again with the new one. If you choose the manual route with a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be prompted to keep or remove your cellular plan; be sure to keep the plan to continue using it after you re-pair.
5. If you ordered your new iPhone through Apple and linked it to your cellular carrier account at purchase, or bought it directly from your carrier, your phone number usually transfers automatically during activation. If the transfer doesn’t happen automatically and your carrier supports eSIM Quick Transfer, Setup Assistant will guide you through transferring your eSIM directly from your old iPhone.
6. Use Apple’s Quick Start to set up the new iPhone. Put your old iPhone nearby, follow the on-screen instructions, and use it to scan the animation that appears on the new iPhone. When Quick Start asks how you want to transfer your data, you have two main choices: iCloud or a direct transfer. Neither is especially quick, so start only when you have plenty of time. (If your old iPhone isn’t available or Quick Start fails, you can instead set up the new iPhone manually and restore from an iCloud or Mac backup.)
   • Download from iCloud: Restore from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. This approach lets you begin using the new iPhone while apps and data continue downloading in the background. After connecting the new iPhone to Wi-Fi and choosing Download from iCloud, select the correct backup—probably the most recent one you just created.
   • Transfer from iPhone: Transfer your apps, data, and settings directly from the old iPhone, either wirelessly or with a wired connection—a wired connection can be useful if wireless migration proves unreliable, but there’s no way to know which will be faster. With a direct transfer, regardless of wired or wireless, both iPhones remain unavailable until the process finishes. For wireless transfers, keep them near each other and plugged into power.
   • Finder or iTunes: Although Apple still supports restoring your old iPhone’s data from a backup saved to your Mac, it gets the least attention these days, and we would resort to it only if the Quick Start methods failed. When you get to the Transfer Apps & Data screen on the new iPhone, tap From Mac or PC, connect the new iPhone to your Mac, open a Finder window (or iTunes on macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier), select the iPhone, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup.
7. Complete post-transfer tasks. Some app data needs to sync, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps to check for your information; it may take a few minutes to populate. Verify you can make and receive calls. You’ll need to add your payment cards to Apple Pay, and transfer or re-add any transit or ID cards that don’t appear in Wallet. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. Also, pair your Bluetooth accessories—you shouldn’t need to re-pair AirPods, which sync automatically via iCloud. Apps might ask you to log in again and grant notification permissions, and you might need to re-download content and in-app purchases.
8. If you rely on Apple’s Passwords app for passwords, passkeys, and two-factor authentication codes, everything should sync via your iCloud account, assuming you have Passwords & Keychain enabled in iCloud. 1Password and other password managers also usually sync via an online account. Two-factor authentication apps like Authy and Google Authenticator may need additional configuration—confirm that your codes appear on the new iPhone. Regardless, verify that you can log in to key accounts before wiping the old phone.
9. If your employer or school requires you to register your iPhone for access to organizational systems, verify that everything works before erasing your old phone. Authentication apps, VPNs, device-management systems, and other security services may treat the new iPhone as a new device and require you to sign in again, re-register it, or obtain approval from your IT department. Test these services on the new iPhone while the old one is still available in case you need it to approve a login or transfer an account.

Although Apple works hard to make transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as smooth as possible, some things may not transfer perfectly. We strongly recommend keeping your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one did. During that time, thoroughly test the new iPhone, checking each app you need. Once you’re confident the new iPhone is working well, follow Apple’s instructions for erasing the old iPhone before selling, trading it in, or giving it away.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Social Media: Getting a new iPhone 18? Don’t rush the setup. A little prep work now can save you from missing data, apps, and settings later. Here’s what to do before and after transferring from your old iPhone.

(Images by Adam Engst; heron added by ChatGPT)

Social Media: Need to capture a moment fast? On iPhone 16 and later, press the Camera Control once to open the Camera app, then press and hold to start recording video instantly.

The easiest, built-in solution to this admittedly first-world problem for Apple users is Safari Reader on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which you can use to “hide navigation menus and other distracting items.”

Apple is careful not to say that Reader hides ads—which it does, most of the time—to avoid conflict with publications that rely on advertising, some of which may even be placed by Apple itself.

Beyond hiding distracting items, Reader displays articles as a single page and automatically generates a summary and table of contents for longer articles to make navigation easier.

Even better, you can configure Safari to show articles in Reader automatically for specific websites, so you don’t have to turn it on manually for each article.

Here’s how to use it.

Switch to Reader

Since Reader’s reformatting would break many non-article Web pages, Safari offers Reader only when you’re viewing a page that it can reformat. As a reminder, Safari on the iPhone and iPad shows a brief “Reader Available” mention in the address bar when you open a Reader-compatible page.

To display a compatible page in Reader, tap the website button at the left of the address bar ➊, then tap Show Reader ➋. Safari immediately reformats the page, removing many extraneous items and potentially changing the background and font.

The reformatting can be even more significant in Safari on the Mac, where websites often add columns of ads, pop-ups over the text you want to read, and more.

When Reader decides a page is long enough and has enough headings, it automatically generates a summary and table of contents, displaying them in expandable sections at the top. This feature is, frankly, a little random. We couldn’t always predict when Reader would generate those sections, and it even sometimes varied by device.

Adjust the Look of Reader

By default, Reader uses a white background with Apple’s San Francisco sans-serif font. That’s entirely acceptable, but you can switch to a sepia, gray, or black background, choose from a selection of serif and sans-serif fonts, and increase or decrease the font size.

Tap the page icon at the left of the address bar to pick from those options.

The presentation looks a little different on the iPad (left) and Mac (right), but the options are essentially the same.

Use Reader Automatically

For websites you regularly read, it’s best to set Reader to kick in automatically. It won’t reformat pages that don’t make sense, such as section pages that contain links to multiple articles. How you enable this option varies by platform:

• iPhone and iPad: Whether or not you’re in Reader, tap the icon at the left of the address bar, tap the ••• button, scroll down in the page menu, and turn on Use Reader Automatically.
  
• Mac: When you’re not in Reader, click the website icon at the left of the address bar, choose Website Settings, and select “Use Reader when available.”
  

If you want to manage which sites use Reader automatically all together, on the iPhone and iPad, open Settings > Apps > Safari > Reader (way at the bottom), and on the Mac in Safari, choose Safari > Settings > Websites.

Helpfully, Safari syncs appropriate website settings between devices via iCloud, so once you set a site to use Reader automatically, all your other devices will default to that as well.

Switch Back to Standard View

Although Reader works well most of the time, it’s possible to run across an article with interactive elements that don’t display in Reader. If something seems wrong about an article in Reader, you can switch back to the standard presentation of the page. Just tap the page icon at the left of the address bar and tap Hide Reader.

The hardest part of using Reader is getting started. Once you’ve become accustomed to switching into it and setting it to trigger automatically for websites you visit regularly, you’ll find reading the Web easier, more relaxing, and less likely to tempt you down a rabbit hole of additional content.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Tippapatt)

Social Media: Tired of ads and pop-ups interrupting your reading? Safari Reader reformats Web articles for distraction-free viewing on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac—and it can even activate automatically.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

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The price hikes took effect on June 25. In a statement to the press, Apple blamed the AI industry’s insatiable appetite for memory chips, which has caused prices for memory and storage to increase up to sixfold:

The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.

Apple’s price increases vary widely. The base model of the Apple TV 4K took the biggest percentage hit, jumping from $129 to $199—a 54% increase that’s particularly puzzling given the device has only 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of memory. It may be setting a new price floor for the next-generation Apple TV. At the other end of the percentage increase spectrum, the Vision Pro rose just 6%, from $3,499 to $3,699.

Mac and iPad Price Changes

The Mac lineup saw significant increases at both the low and high ends:

• MacBook Neo: $599 → $699 (+17%)
• MacBook Air (13-inch): $1,099 → $1,299 (+18%)
• MacBook Pro (14-inch base): $1,699 → $1,999 (+18%)
• Mac mini (M4): $599 → $799 (+33%)
• Mac Studio (M3 Ultra): $3,999 → $5,299 (+33%)

The $1,300 increase for the M3 Ultra model of the Mac Studio is the largest absolute dollar jump in the lineup—a reflection of just how much high-memory configurations are affected by the shortage.

iPads saw increases of 15–30%, with the base iPad hit hardest:

• iPad: $349 → $449 (+29%)
• iPad mini: $499 → $599 (+20%)
• iPad Air (11-inch): $599 → $749 (+25%)
• iPad Air (13-inch): $799 → $949 (+19%)
• iPad Pro (11-inch): $999 → $1,199 (+20%)
• iPad Pro (13-inch): $1,299 → $1,499 (+15%)

Base prices tell only part of the story. Memory and storage upgrade prices also jumped dramatically, with the 64 GB and 128 GB memory upgrades for M5 Max models of the MacBook Pro doubling in price.

Why iPhones and Apple Watches Were Spared

Apple left the prices for the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and Studio Display unchanged. The Studio Displays and AirPods likely escaped because they use minimal memory. The iPhone and Apple Watch are a different story—Apple may be willing to accept lower margins on its flagship products, betting that stable prices will drive enough additional sales to offset reduced profit per unit.

There’s also the timing factor. New iPhone and Apple Watch models are expected in September, and rumors suggest Apple will introduce only high-end (and higher margin) iPhone 18 models then, with more affordable models held until early 2027. That makes buying a current-generation iPhone now potentially the better deal—new models will almost certainly debut at higher prices.

Apple Isn’t Alone

The memory crisis has hit the entire consumer electronics industry. Microsoft raised prices on all Surface PCs. Samsung is raising prices on its Galaxy smartphones. Lenovo, HP, and Dell have all raised laptop prices.

The culprit is the industry’s rapid expansion into AI. Data centers are consuming memory and storage at a pace the industry wasn’t equipped to handle. Memory chip suppliers like Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix have directed production toward AI chipmakers like Nvidia, who are willing to pay top dollar, leaving consumer electronics to compete for whatever remains. Industry observers expect the shortage to persist through at least 2027 due to the time required to build manufacturing capacity.

What Should You Do?

If you need a Mac or iPad, some retailers may not have updated prices yet, but that won’t last. Similarly, you could look for a refurbished Mac from Apple or a certified pre-owned Mac from retailers like OWC, but those prices have largely increased as well.

For the iPhone and Apple Watch, the calculus is unusual: normally, we’d encourage waiting for September’s new models, but this year, buying now at current prices may save you some money.

Ultimately, the only options may be to bite the bullet and pay current prices, buy a less-expensive model or configuration, or hold on to your existing hardware in the hopes that prices come back down.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Social Media: Apple just raised Mac and iPad prices by 15–33%, blaming the AI industry’s hunger for memory and storage chips. The iPhone and Apple Watch were spared, but the next new models may be more expensive. Here’s what you need to know.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Social Media: Tired of hunt-and-peck typing on your iPhone? Try QuickPath—just drag your finger across each letter in a word to swipe-type it. It’s surprisingly accurate and worth learning.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Thaspol and modified with ChatGPT)

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The answer is yes, and the specifics depend on the type of device, whether it’s used for work or personal tasks, and how central it is to your daily life. Here’s our advice, including recommended timeframes and the warning signs that suggest it’s time to upgrade.

Mac Upgrade Cycles

Macs boast impressive longevity, particularly those with Apple silicon. With proper care, a Mac can easily remain productive for 5–7 years, though business environments typically benefit from shorter replacement cycles. Apple provides security updates for the current macOS version and the two previous versions, giving you roughly 2 years of security updates after a Mac loses support for the newest macOS.

For business use, we recommend a 3–5 year replacement cycle. Research shows that hardware problems increase after this point, performance lags compared to current machines, and resale value drops. The loss of productivity from slow performance and downtime outweighs the cost of a new Mac. If you don’t already have one, make an inventory of all your Macs, including purchase dates, and use it to create a replacement schedule. Also consider shuffling Macs around—an employee doing video work might get annual upgrades to the most powerful Mac available, with their old machines handed down to others.

Consider upgrading a Mac when:

• It no longer receives security updates: Once security updates stop, the Mac becomes increasingly vulnerable to attack. Intel-based Macs are coming due here—macOS 26 Tahoe is the last version to support them, so security updates will end in 2028.
• Its battery no longer holds a reasonable charge: For MacBooks, battery degradation often drives upgrade decisions. Although Apple will replace the battery for $149–$249, it’s usually more effective to upgrade the entire MacBook.
• Performance hampers productivity: If apps launch slowly, you see the spinning beach ball regularly, or you find yourself waiting on the computer throughout the day, a newer Mac will increase your productivity.
• Storage is perpetually low: Running low on storage can reduce performance, block software updates, and force distracting cleanups. If you can’t offload files to external or cloud storage, consider upgrading to a Mac with more capacity.

For personal Macs, you can extend the replacement cycle to 5–7 years or even more as long as the Mac meets your needs and continues to receive security updates.

iPhone Upgrade Cycles

Despite the rough treatment they often receive, iPhones are remarkably durable, with many users keeping them for 4–5 years without significant issues. Apple typically supports iPhones with software updates for 5–6 years after release, making them the longest-supported smartphones on the market.

For business use, we recommend a 3-year replacement cycle. That ensures employees always have devices that support the latest security features and iOS capabilities, including Apple Intelligence, which requires an iPhone 15 Pro or later. A 3-year cycle also means better resale or trade-in value—iPhones depreciate more gracefully than most technology, but that advantage diminishes after the third year.

For personal use, replace your iPhone when:

• Battery health drops below 80%: Check in Settings > Battery > Battery Health. Below 80%, you’ll notice significant performance throttling and shortened battery life. Replacing the battery for $69–$119 through Apple—it’s best to avoid third-party replacements—can extend a phone’s life by another 2–3 years if everything else works well.
• It no longer receives iOS updates: Once security updates stop, it’s worth considering replacing it. Typically, Apple releases updates only for the current version of iOS, but this year, it has been providing iOS 18 security fixes for the iPhone XR and XS models, and even released a few critical security updates as far back as iOS 15 and iOS 16.
• Storage is consistently full: If you’ve enabled Optimize iPhone Storage (Settings > Apps > Photos), turned on Offload Unused Apps (Settings > Apps > App Store), and are still frequently managing storage to make room for new photos, videos, and iOS updates, it’s time to upgrade.
• The camera no longer meets your needs: Camera improvements have been substantial year over year. If photography matters to you and your iPhone is more than 3–4 years old, a new model will deliver noticeably better results.

iPad Upgrade Cycles

iPads have a longer practical lifespan than Macs or iPhones. It’s not unusual for an iPad to remain useful for 6–7 years, particularly for basic tasks like Web browsing, email, video streaming, and reading.

The upgrade trigger for iPads is usually one of three things:

• Battery life has declined noticeably: iPads from 2024 and later (starting with the M4 iPad Pro, M2 iPad Air, A17 Pro iPad mini, and A16 iPad) display battery health in Settings > Battery > Battery Health. For older iPads, you can check battery health using Mac apps like coconutBattery or iMazing. If capacity has dropped below 80% or the iPad no longer holds a charge through a typical session, it’s time to upgrade. Apple offers iPad battery replacement for $99–$199, but upgrading may make more financial sense.
• Performance becomes frustrating: iPads used for demanding tasks like video editing, illustration, or running multiple apps will show their age faster than those used for content consumption.
• Software support ends: Apple supports iPads for roughly 5–6 years. Once updates stop, security risks increase.

For business use with demanding workflows, a 3–5 year cycle makes sense. For general business use (email, documents, presentations), an older iPad will probably work well enough for 5–6 years. Personal iPads used primarily for media consumption can last until software support ends.

Apple Watch Upgrade Cycles

Apple Watch upgrade cycles depend heavily on how you use the device. Battery degradation is the primary limiting factor—most users report noticeable battery decline after 3–4 years of daily use.

Consider upgrading your Apple Watch when:

• The battery no longer lasts a full day: Check your battery’s condition on the watch in Settings > Battery > Battery Health. If maximum capacity has dropped below 80% or you’re charging midday to make it to bedtime, the battery has degraded significantly. Battery replacements cost $79–$99 from Apple, but given the watch’s age at that point, upgrading usually makes more sense.
• Performance feels sluggish: Newer watchOS versions can bog down older hardware. If apps take a long time to launch, Siri responds slowly, or the interface stutters, a newer watch will feel dramatically faster.
• New health features matter to you: Apple regularly adds meaningful health capabilities. Recent additions like sleep apnea detection may be worth upgrading for.

For most users, a 4–5 year upgrade cycle is reasonable. If you rely on your Apple Watch for health monitoring or use it heavily for workouts, you might prefer a 3–4 year cycle to ensure accurate sensors and reliable battery life.

Other Apple Devices

What about the other items in Apple’s product lineup?

• Apple TV: Most people can keep an Apple TV for 5–7 years without issue. The only real reason to replace an Apple TV HD or 4K is if performance has become sluggish or you want specific new features like Thread support for smart home devices.
• AirPods: Battery degradation is unavoidable in devices this small. Most users find that AirPods need replacement after 2–3 years as battery life diminishes. Battery replacement costs $49–$79 from Apple, but the economics and new features usually favor replacement.
• HomePod: HomePods have long useful lives with little reason to upgrade. Replace a HomePod only if it stops working or if you want features exclusive to newer models, like sound recognition for smoke alarms.
• AirTags: You can replace the CR2032 batteries in AirTags, so the main reason to replace an AirTag is if it’s lost or physically damaged. Apple released a second-generation AirTag with improved range, but if your current AirTags are working fine, there’s no compelling reason to upgrade.
• Vision Pro: There’s now an M5-based Vision Pro, but it’s a modest update—if you have the original M2-based model, there’s no reason to upgrade. If you have a Vision Pro, enjoy it—you’re still pretty much on the bleeding edge.

If you’re unsure whether it’s time to upgrade a specific device, we’re happy to help you evaluate your options.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Social Media: When’s the right time to upgrade your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch? The key warning signs: a battery that no longer lasts all day, performance lags, and the end of security updates. Here’s how to time it right.

(Featured image by iStock.com/PeopleImages)

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(Featured image by iStock.com/Jacob Wackerhausen)

Social Media: Frustrated when Dictation on the iPhone mangles what you meant to say? Create fake contacts for troublesome words, and Dictation will learn to recognize them correctly across all your Apple devices.

Text expansion speeds up typing words or phrases that you use regularly, and it’s especially helpful for character combinations that your fingers find awkward—just try touch-typing “Hyundai IONIQ 5” or “acetaminophen.” Apple has long offered text expansion capabilities in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, and third-party utilities take them even further.

Configuring and Using Text Expansion

To configure the built-in text expansion on the Mac, look in System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements; in iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. In each, a text replacement consists of a shortcut and a replacement phrase.

Then, in almost any app, type the shortcut, followed by a space or a punctuation character, and its phrase will replace it. If text expansion doesn’t work in a Mac app like Mail or Safari, make sure Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacement is selected.

If you’re signed into the same Apple Account on all your devices, text expansions sync between them automatically. So, you can type omw and tap the Space bar to have “On my way!” typed out for you, regardless of what device you’re using.

Tip: To create replacements more quickly, you can export a list of text replacements, edit the list, and re-import it; Apple provides instructions. This export/import capability also lets you share text replacements with someone else.

What Text to Expand

Replacements can be as short or long as you like—up to about 1900 characters—and can contain anything you can type from the keyboard, including spaces, returns, symbols, accented characters, and emoji. It can be hard to know where to start, but once you try text expansion, possibilities quickly become obvious. A few common categories include:

• Your email address, phone number, and postal address
• Boilerplate text for common email replies (“To subscribe to our mailing list…”)
• Email signoffs (“Sincerely, your close personal Internet friend…”)
• Frequently shared URLs or email addresses (https://www.apple.com/feedback/)
• Long scientific, medical, or technical terms (esophagogastroduodenoscopy)
• Proper nouns with unusual spelling, capitalization, or accents (Zoë Saldaña)
• Words you consistently misspell or mistype (teh)
• Unix commands with arguments (ls -la)

Shortcuts are usually shorter than their replacements, but you can also use text expansion to simplify entering individual characters that are hard to access.

• Commonly used emoji (🙄 or 👍)
• Special characters (½ or →)

One helpful convention is to start shortcuts for special characters with a colon. For example, :roll for 🙄 or :tu for 👍. The colon prefix makes these shortcuts easy to remember and prevents accidental expansions. Make sure not to create shortcuts that you’ll also want to type normally. It might seem like a good idea to use mm for “Mickey Mouse,” but that will get in the way of writing about 35mm film.

Third-Party Text Expansion

With such a useful feature built into macOS and iOS, why would you want to spend money on a third-party utility like TextExpander (macOS and iOS), Typinator (macOS and iOS), or TypeIt4Me (macOS)?

Apple’s built-in text expansion works well for most everyday uses, but it has some limitations—its interface is cramped, it doesn’t work in every app, and you can’t include formatted text or images in your expansions. Third-party utilities fill those gaps.

They can include styled text and graphics in expansions, insert the current date and time, respect case when expanding abbreviations, include the contents of the clipboard in expanded text, automatically fix common typos, and much more.

So think about which bits of text you might want to expand automatically, and give Apple’s built-in text expansion feature a try today! If it seems constraining after a while, a third-party app can take text expansion to the next level.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Social Media: Tired of typing the same email address, phone number, or tricky words over and over? Text expansion on Mac and iOS can save you keystrokes every day.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Tippapatt)

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Making matters worse, the complete DarkSword exploit code was published to GitHub, making it easy for any hacker to deploy. Security researchers warn that the exploits “will work out of the box” with no iOS expertise required—anyone could copy and paste the code and have it running on a server within hours.

Because it ultimately operates with elevated system privileges, DarkSword can silently harvest alarming amounts of data from vulnerable iPhones, including passwords stored in the keychain, photos, call logs, contacts, browsing history, chat message history, and more. It takes a smash-and-grab approach: collecting and exfiltrating data quickly, then disengaging. Coruna is more targeted and persistent, focusing on stealing cryptocurrency wallet credentials and scanning notes for financial information.

Protection Is Simple

Happily, it’s easy to protect yourself against these and future vulnerabilities: keep your devices up to date. We’ve been beating that drum for years, but DarkSword and Coruna are sufficiently worrying that Apple published a dedicated support page urging users to update, saying: “Keeping your software up to date is the single most important thing you can do to maintain the security of your Apple products.”

If your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS it supports, you’re already protected. But if you’ve been putting off updates—or are still running an earlier version of iOS 18 to avoid iOS 26’s Liquid Glass interface redesign—your iPhone may be vulnerable. Happily, Apple has taken the unprecedented step of releasing an update to an older operating system—iOS 18.7.7—to protect users who don’t wish to upgrade to iOS 26. (You may have to scroll down in the Software Update screen to find it under Also Available.)

Check and Update Your Device

To check your iOS version, go to Settings > General > About and look at the iOS Version line.

DarkSword targets iPhones running iOS 18.4 through iOS 18.7.2. If you’re running iOS 18.7.3 or later, or have upgraded to iOS 26.3 or later, you’re protected. Although none of the DarkSword security reports specifically mention the iPad, it’s best to assume that the corresponding versions of iPadOS are similarly affected.

Coruna can compromise older iPhones and iPads running iOS 13.0 through iOS 17.2.1. Apple recently released iOS 15.8.7 and iOS 16.7.15 to address these vulnerabilities on devices that cannot run newer iOS versions. Devices running iOS 13 or iOS 14 must be upgraded to iOS 15.8.7. Devices running a vulnerable version of iOS 17 should update to the latest version of iOS their device supports.

You can update using Settings > General > Software Update to the latest version of iOS your device supports:

• iPhone 11 and later (and other devices that support iOS 26): Update to either iOS 18.7.7 or iOS 26.4 or later.
• iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max: Update to iOS 18.7.7, the latest version these devices support, which includes the DarkSword fixes.
• Older devices that can’t run iOS 18 (iPhone 6s through iPhone X, plus various older iPads and 7th-generation iPod touch): Update to iOS 15.8.7 or iOS 16.7.15, depending on your device. Devices still running iOS 13 or 14 will need to upgrade to iOS 15.8.7.

If you cannot upgrade for some reason, Apple says that enabling Lockdown Mode in Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode in iOS 16 and later will block DarkSword attacks. However, Lockdown Mode significantly degrades the iPhone experience by blocking most message attachment types, disabling certain Web technologies, limiting incoming FaceTime calls, and more. For most people, upgrading to the most recent version of iOS available is the better option.

These discoveries make it clear that installing security updates promptly is more important than ever. Sophisticated exploits that were once reserved for targeted attacks against activists and journalists are now being deployed more broadly. Check your iOS version today, update all your devices, and encourage family members and colleagues to do the same.

(Featured image by iStock.com/sqback)

Social Media: Two major iPhone exploit kits—DarkSword and Coruna—can steal passwords, messages, and photos from everyday users who visit an infected website. Check your iOS version and update immediately to protect yourself.

(Featured image by iStock.com/demaerre)

Social Media: Apple Music’s new Playlist Playground in iOS 26.4 uses AI to create custom playlists based on any mood, genre, or activity you describe. Just type what you’re in the mood for and let the app do the rest.

Apple’s Focus feature on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac can silence those interruptions, but Focus is considerably more complex than the straightforward Do Not Disturb feature it replaced in 2021. Misconfiguring Focus such that it activates unexpectedly can cause you to miss important calls, messages, and other notifications.

What Focus Does

Focus lets you create customized notification environments that block unwanted interruptions while allowing important ones through. You can have a Focus for different situations—when you’re at work, eating dinner, at the gym, and more—each with its own rules about when it activates and which people and apps can reach you.

When a Focus is active, it can:

• Silence notifications from selected people and apps
• Allow specific people and apps to break through
• Change your Lock Screen appearance
• Hide certain Home Screen pages
• Automatically reply to messages explaining you’re unavailable
• Filter content in apps like Mail, Calendar, and Messages
• Make a certain profile or tab group active in Safari

Focus can share your settings across all your Apple devices, which saves you from having to configure it on each device but can also create confusing interactions.

The Built-In Focus Modes

Apple provides three essential Focus modes that cover most people’s needs:

• Do Not Disturb: A general-purpose Focus for when you need to ensure your iPhone doesn’t interrupt you. It’s ideal for doctor appointments, workouts, movies, and similar situations. You can schedule it, but it’s often best to activate it manually from Control Center for a specific amount of time or until you leave the current location.
• Sleep: This Focus activates according to the Sleep schedule you set on the iPhone (in either Settings > Focus > Sleep or in the Health app) to minimize nighttime interruptions. It lets you choose a specific Lock Screen, Home Screen, and Apple Watch face to limit distractions at night.
• Driving: Automatically activates when your iPhone connects to a car’s Bluetooth system or detects driving motion. (The Bluetooth connection may be best if you’re frequently a passenger and want to use your iPhone while being driven.) It blocks nearly all notifications to keep your attention on the road and can send custom automatic replies to people who text you.

For further customization, you can create additional Focus modes—Apple suggests modes for Gaming, Mindfulness, Personal, Reading, and Work. For instance, if you take a spin class every Tuesday at noon and yoga on Thursdays at 7 AM, you could create a Focus for Working Out that would automatically activate during those times.

Configuring a Focus

To set up a Focus, go to Settings > Focus on your iPhone or iPad, or System Settings > Focus on your Mac. Select the Focus you want to configure or create a new one, then:

1. Choose allowed people: Decide whether to allow or silence notifications from specific people. You can also specify whether phone calls from certain groups (Allowed People, Favorites, Contacts, or Contacts groups) can break through.
   
2. Choose allowed apps: Similarly, allow or silence specific apps. You can also enable Time Sensitive Notifications, which lets urgent alerts (like delivery notifications or security alerts) come through even from disallowed apps.
   
3. Set a schedule: Have the Focus turn on at certain times, locations (on when you arrive, off when you leave), or when using specific apps (but not when apps are in the background). App-based triggers are useful for presentations, live performances, and games. A Smart Activation option on the iPhone can automatically turn on a Focus based on your location, app usage, and time of day.
   
4. Add Focus Filters: Customize how Calendar, Mail, Messages, Safari, and others behave when the Focus is active—for example, showing only certain Safari tab groups and your work email accounts during a Professional Focus.
   
5. Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing: If you have Apple Intelligence enabled, this option “intelligently” allows priority notifications to interrupt you and silences others. It doesn’t override your explicit settings for allowing or silencing notifications.

The Complexity Problem

While Focus is powerful, its complexity can create unpredictable behavior. Here are common pitfalls to avoid:

• Unexpected activation: With automatic schedules based on time, location, and apps, it’s hard to predict when a Focus might turn on. You may not realize notifications are being silenced until you’ve missed something important. This is especially important if your routine is interrupted. Perhaps you normally work out at noon, but today you are at a professional conference or dealing with a family emergency.
• Cross-device confusion: By default, Focus syncs across all your Apple devices via the Share Across Devices option. Syncing means a Focus activated on your iPhone—such as Sleep—might also silence notifications on your Mac when you’re working late and need to communicate with colleagues. Consider turning off Share Across Devices unless you’re certain you want synchronized behavior.
• Unpredictable AI: Focus includes two features that rely on machine learning—Smart Activation and Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing—to make contextual decisions about when Focus should activate and which notifications are important enough to bypass it. We recommend against using them because they make an already unpredictable scenario even more unpredictable.
• Silenced notifications indicator: When a Focus is active, people who text you in Messages see that your notifications are silenced. While this can be helpful, it can also confuse others when a Focus activates unexpectedly.
  
• The forgotten Focus: A Focus that activates automatically when you go to a specific location or open a particular app might remain active longer than you expected. For instance, what if a Focus activates when Mail is your frontmost app, but you have to leave unexpectedly and your Mac doesn’t sleep automatically, so Mail remains the active app over the weekend? That might be particularly confusing when a Focus Filter hides certain accounts or data.

Practical Recommendations

To get the benefits of Focus without the confusion:

• Keep it simple: Start with Do Not Disturb, Sleep, and Driving. These three cover the needs of most people and have the most predictable behavior. If you created Focus modes you’re not using, delete them.
• Be conservative with triggers: If you add schedules or triggers based on location or apps, keep them to a minimum. The more triggers you add, the harder it becomes to predict when a Focus will be active.
• Allow more calls: These days, unexpected calls from people you know well are fairly uncommon, and those that do happen are more likely to be important. So consider allowing calls from family and close friends (perhaps via Favorites or a Contacts group) and enabling Allow Repeated Calls, which lets someone through if they call twice within three minutes.
• Check Focus status when troubleshooting: If you or someone you know is missing notifications, check whether a Focus is unexpectedly active. The easiest place to check is Control Center.
• Review Share Across Devices: If you experience unexpected Focus behavior, turn off Share Across Devices and configure each device’s Focus settings independently.
• Control notifications directly: Rather than rely on Focus, limit notifications to just those that are actually important to you. Many apps are unnecessarily chatty.

Focus is a powerful tool for managing the constant stream of notifications from our devices, but it requires careful configuration. When in doubt, keep it simple: Sleep to protect your sleeping hours, Driving to block distractions in the car, and Do Not Disturb for ad hoc appointments and performances may be all you need.

(Featured image by iStock.com/DragonImages)

Social Media: Apple’s Focus can silence distractions when you need quiet time, but its complexity can cause you to miss important notifications. Learn how to configure it safely—and avoid the pitfalls that lead to missed calls and messages.