Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off on Monday with a keynote address showing everything coming to the company’s lineup of devices. WWDC has been typically where the company gives us a first look at new software for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Macs. But this year, Apple revealed a bevy of new hardware, too.
The big announcement was the debut of the Apple Vision Pro headset, a “new kind of computer,” as CEO Tim Cook put it in the presentation. But with MacBook Air and other Mac hardware announcements — including new silicon — as well as software upgrades, no corner of Apple’s ecosystem lacked for updates.
Watch this: Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2023
11:44
For a detailed summary of everything announced as it happened, give our live blog a look. Read on for the highlights of the presentation and links to our stories.
The Vision Pro will cost $3,499.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
Apple Vision Pro, a new headset
The Apple Vision Pro is the company’s answer to the AR and VR headset race. It’s a personal display on your face with all the interface touches you’d expect from Apple, with an operating system that looks like a combination of iOS, MacOS and TVOS. And it’s not going to come cheap: The Apple Vision Pro retails for $3,499 and will start shipping early next year, though only in the US.
The device itself looks like other headsets, though the glass front hides cameras and even a curved OLED outer display (more on why later). The headset is secured to the wearer’s head with a wide rear band (an over-the-top strap is optional), though as rumors suggested, there’s an external battery back that connects over a cable and sits in your pocket. There’s a large Apple Watch-style digital crown on the right side that lets you dial immersion (i.e. the outside world) in and out.
The Vision Pro has three-element lenses that enable 4K resolution, though you can swap out lenses, presumably for different vision capabilities. Audio pods are embedded within the band to sit over your ears, and “audio ray tracing” maps sound to your position. A suite of lidar and other sensors on the bottom of the headset track hand and body motions.
Technically speaking, the Vision Pro is a computer, with an M2 chip found on Apple’s highest-end computers. But a new R1 chip processes all the other headset inputs from 12 cameras, five sensors and six microphones, and sends it to the M2 to reduce lag and get new images to its displays within 12 milliseconds. The Vision Pro runs the new VisionOS, which uses iOS frameworks, a 3D engine, foveated rendering and other software tricks to make what Apple calls “the first operating system designed from the ground up for spatial computing.”
Interior cameras track your facial motion, which is projected to others when on FaceTime and other video chatting apps.
Apple Vision Pro can scan your face to create a digital 3D avatar.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
To keep users from being cut off from the outside world, the EyeSight feature uses inside-pointing cameras and the headset’s outer display to show your eyes — essentially showing people around you what your eyes are focusing on. If you’ve dialed your immersion all the way on, your eyes will disappear on the outside screen. But you’re not totally cut off. While wearing the headset, if someone approaches you they’ll filter in to your vision.
The interface uses hand motions to control the device, though there are also voice controls. It’s tough to tell how these controls will work, and we’d expect that users will need some time to adapt to not using a mouse and keyboard.
This isn’t just an entertainment device. Apple is pitching its first new product in eight years as a work-from-home and travel device, essentially letting you open however many windows you want. It can work in the office as a display for Macs, and supports Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Trackpad devices.
The Vision Pro has Apple’s first 3D cameras and can take spatial photos, providing 3D depth with binaural audio to experience moments with more immersion. Of course, this spatial experience is extended to movies that’s “impossible to represent on a 2D screen,” Apple said during its presentation, continually teasing the exclusivity that non-headset wearers won’t even understand without trying out a Vision Pro. Disney CEO Bob Iger took the WWDC stage to vouch for the headset, and followed with a short video showing interactive 3D experiences that Vision Pro users will soon get to experience on the Disney Plus streaming service.
Now that Apple has all these new cameras and eye-tracking, it’s introduced a way to secure your data and purchases with Optic ID, which uses your eyes as an optical fingerprint for authentication. Camera data is processed at the system level, so what the headset sees isn’t fed up to the cloud.
The 15-inch MacBook Air is powered by an M2 chip and gets up to 18 hours of battery life. Configurations can come with up to 24GB of memory and up to 2TB of storage, retailing for $1,299 to start (or $1,199 with a student discount).
The 15-inch model is 11.5mm thick and 3.3 pounds, and has two Thunderbolt ports and a Magsafe cable connector — along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has an above-display 1080p camera in a notch, three microphones and six speakers with force-canceling subwoofers.
A new Mac Studio has landed and it comes with Apple’s latest silicon. The new model comes with an M2 Max chipset, or the new M2 Ultra chipset — essentially two M2 Max chips combined, which enables up to 192GB of memory.
The M2 Ultra stole the spotlight with new capabilities, with a 24-core CPU and streaming 22 videos at 8K ProRes resolution at once. It can support up to six Apple Pro Displays at once.
The Mac Studio starts at $1,999 and will be available starting next week.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
Mac Pro with M2 Ultra
Apple wasted no time announcing that its new high-end desktop Mac Pro model would get the M2 Ultra as well. The new Mac Pro gets all the M2 Ultra upgrades as the Studio, including support for up to 192GB of RAM.
The Mac Pro has eight thunderbolt ports, two HDMI ports and dual 10GB ethernet ports, with six open PCIe Gen 4 slots. The new Mac Pro comes in both upright tower and horizontal rack orientations.
The new Mac Pro starts at $6,999 and will be available starting next week.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
iOS 17
iOS 17 brings a ton of quality-of-life improvements, and the iOS 17 developer beta is available now to download. Finally, you can use more filters while searching within your Messages. In addition to pressing and holding on messages to reply, you can also simply swipe on specific messages to reply to them, and voice notes will be transcribed.
Say goodbye to gray screens when you get calls — now you can set full-screen photos or Memoji to contacts when they call you. And if someone leaves a voicemail, you can see it transcribed in real time to help you screen calls if you don’t recognize a caller.
Watch this: WWDC 2023: Here Are All the Major iOS 17 Features
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A new safety feature, Check In, sends a note to a trusted contact when you reach a location — like when you make it home safe after late-night travel. If it’s taking you longer to get to a destination, you’ll be prompted to extend the timer rather than alert your contact. It also shares your battery and signal status. Check In is end-to-end encrypted.
Last year, Apple introduced an iOS feature to let you copy photo subjects and paste them as stickers — and now you can do that with video to essentially create GIFs to share with friends or even as responses to Messages. All emoji are now shareable stickers, too.
AirDrop has been a helpful tool to send files between Apple devices, but now you can share your contact info with Name Drop. You can choose what you want to share between email addresses, phone numbers and more.
Also, say goodbye to relying on Notes to jot down your thoughts — Journal is a new secure app for personal recollections. Apple is pitching it as a gratitude exercise, but iOS will auto-include activities like songs and workouts you’ve done to your personal log.
Apple Maps got an update that Android owners have had for years — the ability to use Maps offline, especially helpful when you’re outside network range while outdoors or conserving battery.
A new mode, StandBy, converts an iPhone to an alarm clock when it’s charging and rotated horizontally. It gets smart interactions like a large visible clockface along with calendar and music controls.
Lastly, as was rumored, you won’t have to say, “Hey Siri,” anymore. Just saying “Siri” will bring up the voice assistant.
iPadOS 17 brings more controls to widgets, which don’t just show more info at a glance — they have more interactive buttons to let you control your smart home or play music.
iPadOS 17 is bringing more interactive personal data to the Health app, including richer sleep and activity visualization.
The next iPadOS update brings quality-of-life upgrades like more lock screen customization and multiple timers (helpful when cooking), as well as improvements to the follow-you-during-video-calls Stage Manager feature for iPad selfie cameras.
With all the screen space on an iPad, Apple expanded what you can do with PDFs, which can be autofilled and signed from within iPadOS. iPad owners can collaborate in real time while tweaking PDFs, and the files can now be stored in the Notes app.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
MacOS Sonoma
MacOS Sonoma, named after one of California’s most famous wine-producing areas, continues the WWDC theme of adding more widget functionality.
Sonoma also has some gaming upgrades like a new gaming mode that prioritizes CPU and GPU to improve frame rate. Apple is paying attention to immersion with lower latency for wireless controllers and speakers or headsets. The company is also courting developers with game dev kits and Metal 3. But the biggest gaming announcement is that legendary game creator Hideo Kojima’s opus Death Stranding is coming to Macs later this year. “We are actively working to bring our future titles to Apple platforms,” Kojima said during the WWDC presentation.
On the business side, Mac has improved videoconferencing with an overlay that shows slide controls while you’re presenting. Apple also introduced new reactions — like ticker-tape falling for a congratulations — that can be triggered with gestures.
PassKey, the end-to-end encrypted password chain tech Apple introduced last year, can now be shared with other contacts, and everyone included can edit and update passwords to be shared with the group.
Safari has security updates including locking the browser window when in private browsing mode, and profiles to separate accounts, logins and cookies between work and personal use.
AirPods and audio upgrades
Apple has a handful of improvements to its audio products. AirPods will get Adaptive Audio, which combines noise canceling with intelligent audio to drown out annoying background noise while letting through important sounds — like car horns or bike bells. It’ll also pass through voices in case someone starts a conversation in person.
And it’s far easier to digitally take control of the music with SharePlay while somebody with CarPlay is driving — a prompt will go out to others in the car asking if they want to take control.
Apps in WatchOS 10 are getting a new look.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
WatchOS 10
Yet again, widgets make an appearance with WatchOS 10, the next operating system upgrade for Apple Watches. Widgets are now accessible in a stack from your home screen — just use the digital crown to scroll between them.
Apple has focused on cycling this year, improving workouts by showing functional threshold data, an important metric for cyclists. It also connects over Bluetooth to sensors on bikes, and there’s a new full-screen mode for iPhones that allows you to use it as a full screen while cycling.
Hikers, rejoice! WatchOS 10 has upgraded its compass with cellular connection waypoints, telling you which direction to walk and how far you have to go before you can get carrier reception. It also shows SOS waypoint spots, and shows elevation view in the 3D compass view. There’s also a neat topographical view.
Apple is also expanding its Mindfulness app to log how you’re feeling in State of Mind, choosing between color-coded emotional states. You can even access this from your iPhone in case you’re away from your Apple Watch.
Health focuses for 2023
On top of the WatchOS Mindfulness updates, Apple introduced a neutral survey to self-report mood and mental health, which acts as a sort of non-medical way to indicate whether you may want to get professional help.
Apple also has a new cross-device Vision Health focus in the Health app, and a new feature on the Apple Watch measures daylight time spent outside to watch for myopia in younger wearers. Screen Distance uses the TrueDepth camera on iPads to warn people if they’re too close to the screen.
3D printing — or additive manufacturing, to give it its technical name — has been around for a long time now. It’s a fun way to create models that can be practical or just for fun. You can print giant pieces of cosplay armor or small statues to give as gifts. You can even buy a few printers, open your own Etsy store and start a business that way.
It costs less than ever to get into 3D printing, with printers available for under $200. The catch is that these budget machines usually require some tweaking to get it right. You’ll save money, but it’s a rough-and-tumble way to get started. The best budget 3D printers have a healthy balance between cost and usability, so that’s what we are looking at in this list.
What’s the best budget 3D printer?
Budget 3D printing is a category that is growing fast. For my money, the best you can buy right now is the Elegoo Neptune 3. It has enough upgraded features to make it an incredibly useful machine while sitting firmly around the $200-$250 mark. Having this much quality in a printer that costs so little makes it the perfect budget 3D printer.
These budget 3D printers all cost under $500 (though prices can drift a bit month to month), and some are better suited to beginners than others. Our list of picks for the best 3D printer overall covers a much wider range of choices, but these are excellent for getting started — or for buying several at once. If you are thinking of creating a print farm, then buying several Neptune 3 printers from Eegoo is an excellent way to get started.
The Elegoo is one of my favorite ultracheap printers. When testing it, I kept expecting it to fail and it just didn’t. It produced amazing results for the price, and continues to do so every time I use it. The latest update from the Neptune 2 to the Neptune 3 has added automatic bed leveling, making it the best choice for a budget printer. And because it’s based on the popular Ender 3 (see below), it has a lot of mods available to make it even better.
The Mini Plus is one of the best small-footprint printers you can buy. It has everything you would expect from a Prusa machine: Auto bed leveling, crash detection and great print quality, all for under $450. Building it with my son gave us a lot of good insights into how a 3D printer works, and potentially how to fix one.
The Ender 3 is one of the bestselling 3D printers of all time. Its under-$200 price removes a huge barrier to entry for anyone looking to spend as little as possible for their first machine.
Its popularity means there is a huge community of people to help you get it set up and working — it’s not exactly plug-and-play — and you may need to spend a fair amount of time tweaking the Ender 3 to get it to print well.
The latest entry-level printer from Anycubic is surprisingly good. It comes in kit form, which gives you a chance to learn a little bit more about the machine. While that makes the setup more complicated, printing is much easier with auto bed leveling, something I have never seen in a $200 printer. It makes everything easier, believe me.
If you’re looking to get into 3D printing and want to learn what each of the parts does, this is a great way to find out.
I’ve recently been working with the Finder 3 and I’m impressed with the quality it was able to produce straight from the box. It is easy to set up and comes with a flexible build plate that you can replace the glass bed with. It makes it far easier to remove builds.
In my CNET torture test, the Finder 3 coped really well with overhangs, as well as the points of the towers. Ringing was minimal, though it did struggle with bridging.
Overall, the Finder 3 is a great printer for the price. It’s perfect for a teacher in the classroom as the enclosure makes it stable, and the slicer can control multiple printers at once via Wi-Fi.
As Dan Ackerman said in his review of the Creality Ender 3 S1, “At $399, the S1 version of the Ender-3 is about $100 more than older versions but includes so many upgrades and quality of life features that it qualifies as a great beginner-friendly, plug-and-play printer.”
It’s also a great budget-friendly Direct Drive printer, making it easier to use for materials such as TPU.
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Resin 3D printers for beginners
Most beginner printers use a plastic filament to create models, but there are plenty of affordable resin 3D printers too. Liquid resin is a little more difficult to use than standard 3D printing material and requires safety equipment. But it also produces amazingly detailed results.
This small resin printer is Elegoo’s latest model in its popular Mars line. Because of the 4K monochrome LCD (these printers use light from an LCD to cure liquid resin) it can print much faster than older printers. The level of detail on models is something that standard 3D printing simply can’t reproduce. At this price, the Elegoo Mars 3 is the best resin printer for the money.
This is expensive for a budget printer, but well worth it if you want a large enough print area to make something special. I have been using this as my main resin printer and it can handle anything I throw at it, from a D&D miniature army to highly detailed sculptures.
Budget 3D printer FAQ
What material should I use to print with?
Most home 3D printers use PLA or ABS plastic. Professional printers can use all sorts of materials, from metal to organic filament. Some printers use a liquid resin, which is much more difficult to handle but offers sharper details. As a beginner, use PLA. It’s non-toxic, made mostly of cornstarch and sugarcane, handles easily, and is inexpensive. However, it’s more sensitive to heat, so don’t leave your 3D prints on the dashboard of a car on a hot day.
What settings should I use?
Most 3D printers include or link to recommended software, which can handle converting 3D STL or other files into formats supported by the printer. Stick with the suggested presets to start, with one exception. I’ve started adding a raft, or bottom layer of filament, to nearly everything I print. It has cut down dramatically on prints that don’t adhere to the bed properly, which is a common issue. If you continue to have problems, rub a standard glue stick on the print bed right before printing.
What are supports?
Your 3D models probably need some help to print properly, as these printers don’t do well with big overhangs — for example, an arm sticking out from a figure. Your 3D printer software can usually automatically calculate and add supports, meaning little stands that hold up all those sticking-out parts of the model. After the print is done, clip the supports off with micro cutters and file down any nubs or rough edges with hobby files.
How we test budget 3D printers
Testing 3D printers is an in-depth process. Printers often don’t use the same materials, or even the same process to create models. I test SLA, 3D printers that use resin and light to print, and FDM, printers that melt plastic onto a plate. Each has a unique methodology. Core qualifiers I look at include:
Hardware quality
Ease of setup
Bundled software
Appearance and accuracy of prints
Repairability
Company and community support
A key test print, representing the (now old) CNET logo, is used to assess how a printer bridges gaps, creates accurate shapes and deals with overhangs. It even has little towers to help measure how well the 3D printer deals with temperature ranges.
James Bricknell/CNET
Testing resin requires different criteria so I use the Ameralabs standard test — printing out a small resin model that looks like a tiny town. This helps determine how accurate the printer is, how it deals with small parts and how well the UV exposure works at different points in the model.
Many other anecdotal test prints, using different 3D models, are also run on each printer to test the longevity of the parts and how well the machine copes with various shapes.
For the other criteria, I research the company to see how well it responds to support queries from customers and how easy it is to order replacement parts and install them yourself. Kits (printers that come only semi-assembled) are judged by how long, and how difficult, the assembly process is.
Apple’s MacBook Air first appeared in 2008. Back then, Apple claimed the 13.3-inch ultraportable was the world’s thinnest laptop. Flash forward to WWDC 2023 and Apple has announced another world’s thinnest laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air. To be clear, Apple claims it’s the thinnest 15-inch laptop at 11.5 millimeters, and it weighs only 3.3 pounds. While Apple has gone smaller in the past with the MacBook Air, the new model is the largest Air ever and features a new 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display.
Apple fans who watched the announcement may have noticed that, aside from the display size, there are almost no differences between the current 13-inch M2 MacBook Air and the new 15-inch Air. Yes, it’s slightly bigger and heavier, as you would expect, and Apple also added two more speakers for a total of six. But really, that’s about it.
Not that it’s a bad thing for the 15-inch to be the same as the 13-inch; the latter is one of the best laptops you can buy. It’s just that the jump from the 13-inch M1 MacBook Air to the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air was sizeable. So it’s slightly disappointing that the new MacBook Air didn’t get a new processor or other unique features. Then again, sometimes all you want is a larger screen. And, oddly enough, there’s not a lot of Windows competition at this size; they’re mainly 14- or 16-inch models.
Watch this: New MacBook Air: Hands-On With the 15-Inch Display
04:50
One more thing: The 15-inch MacBook Air is actually reasonably priced for Apple. Although I would still recommend bumping up to $1,499 to get 16GB of memory for the sake of longevity, the $1,299 base model will probably be enough laptop for many people. Anyway, here’s how the Air specs measure up, and I through in the M1 Air which is still available starting at $999. Also, here’s our hands-on with the new MacBook Air and its 15.3-inch display.
MacBook Air (13-inch, M1) vs. MacBook Air (13-inch, M2) vs. MacBook Air (15-inch, M2)
Apple’s serious modular pro desktop gets its first real update since 2019, incorporating the new M2 Ultra chip announced at WWDC 2023. The move finally completes Apple’s transition of its hardware to its own CPUs, which not only brings the system into line with the rest of its laptops and desktops, but seems to make significant cost savings possible as well.
The system starts at $6,999 — $1,000 higher than the former Intel Xeon model’s base price was at launch — but the top configuration maxes out at around $12,000, far lower than the Xeon’s top configuration had been. Not having to pay for Intel’s CPU or AMD’s Radeon graphics cards, as well as removing the necessity of one or more Afterburner cards at $2,000 a pop (for accelerating ProRes and ProRes Raw video transcoding), probably helps cuts a lot from the cost of upgraded configurations.
Watch this: Apple Upgrades the Mac Pro with Silicon
02:45
The Ultra is a pair of M2 Max chips tied together, delivering a 24-core CPU, 60- or 76-core GPU and 32-core neural engine. But there’s also a $1,000 difference between the 60- and 76-GPU core versions of the M2 Ultra chips Apple offers for its configuration options. In practice, that’s a lot more performance over the antiquated Xeon in the old version and means support for more high-res displays. It also means support for more modern standards, like PCI Gen 4, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Finally moving to Apple silicon from the out-of-date (circa 2019) Xeon chips also means Apple could integrate two HDMI 2.1 ports — HDMI 2.1 first arrived for Apple in the MacBook Pro 16. The system can support up to 192GB of unified memory and has eight Thunderbolt 4 ports.
One irony of the M2 Ultra upgrade, though, is that Apple has essentially made the Mac Pro less modular, which was the reason everyone clamored for it to begin with. Apple has integrated all the options that traditionally were added via the PCI bus (an Apple I/O card still comes in the four-channel PCI 3 slot). It doesn’t look like you can use a discrete AMD GPU or the GPU MPX modules of the old model; being able to upgrade the GPU is one of the big reasons why modularity is important.
That’s not to say you won’t ever be able to do it. For all we know, Apple is just pretending you can’t for now (or waiting for someone to try it before admitting it’s possible), or plans to enable GPU add-on cards or modules via a firmware upgrade at some point. Because no matter how powerful a GPU is, the type of tasks you perform on a workstation can always benefit from more — if not right now, then in a couple years.
You can read the play-by-play of the announcement in the archive of our live blog.
PCs coming in 2024 with Intel’s Arrow Lake processors will get a speed boost thanks to a new technique sending electrical power through its chips.
In tests detailed Monday, Intel said a technology it calls PowerVia offered a 6% speed boost on test chips. Another big change called RibbonFET that’s coming with Arrow Lake should offer further advantages.
That’s a big deal for Intel, which has struggled to reclaim a once formidable chipmaking advantage that it lost to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung. Those two companies are “foundry” companies that make other chips, notably Intel’s top competitors: Apple, AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm, but they aren’t expected to match PowerVia until later.
If PowerVia and RibbonFET arrive on time in 2024 with the Intel 20A manufacturing process, then are improved with 18A in 2025, it could help Intel better match rival chips when it comes to packing in lots of circuitry and running efficiently to extend battery life. Apple’s MacBook laptops run unplugged for hours, and many models completely do away with a cooling fan to keep their chips from overheating.
“It looks like a good incremental step,” but not a permanent advantage for Intel, Tirias Research analyst Kevin Krewell said of PowerVia. “Everybody’s going to follow suit and will have the same technology in place over time.”
And because Intel is trying to become a foundry too, it could mean some of those competitors actually could become customers that, like Intel’s own chips, benefit. Intel missed out on making smartphone chips, but in Intel’s ideal future, it could be building the Apple processor that powers a future iPhone.
Meet backside power delivery
Chips process data and perform calculations using tiny electrical switches called transistors that can switch on and off billions of times per second. Today, the necessary power to do that comes on equally tiny electrical links that wind their way through a complex 3D labyrinth of wires that also carry instruction signals to the transistors.
But with Arrow Lake, the 2024 successor to this year’s Meteor Lake processor for PCs, Intel will separate the power delivery from the communication links, moving it to the opposite face of the chip. In the semiconductor industry, it’s called a backside power delivery network, but Intel calls its version PowerVia.
“PowerVia is a revolutionary change for on-chip interconnects that improves power, performance, area, and cost,” all important dimensions of transistor design, said Ben Sell, an Intel vice president who worked on the technology.
Backside power delivery originated at Imec, a Belgian research lab funded by several chipmakers to develop new technology. Along with better performance, the technology also should unclutter data connections to the front of chips, helping chipmakers squeeze transistors even smaller, said. Julien Ryckaert, Imec’s vice president logic technologies.
And with Intel, TSMC, and Samsung all pursuing it, backside power delivery “is now being established as a mainstream technology,” Ryckaert said.
Problems with manufacturing progress
By incorporating PowerVia in its highest volume, highest profile processor, Intel is counting on backside power delivery working well and not degrading manufacturing with flawed chips. To guard against that possible disaster, Intel developed PowerVia using test chips built with its current Intel 4 manufacturing process, used to make elements of Meteor Lake. It works well enough that it’ll be standard for Intel 20A and its successor, 18A.
PowerVia is a crucial element to Intel’s recovery effort. In the relentless effort to miniaturize transistors, to keep pace with Moore’s Law, Intel faltered a decade ago and hasn’t fully recovered. Although Samsung and TSMC are working on backside power delivery, PowerVia could beat it to market. For example, TSMC’s backside power technology isn’t expected until 2026.
“From everything we know, this is coming a node ahead of what the industry is doing and gives our customers the advantages of PowerVia as soon as possible,” Sell said. A node is a major step in chip manufacturing technology.
PowerVia adds new processing steps to the hundreds already required to make a chip. Once the transistors are carefully built on the front of a silicon wafer of chips, the wafer must be flipped over, ground thinner, polished, and have power connections installed.
That adds cost and time. But removing the power lines from the front of the wafer means there’s more room for communication links, simplifying designs and overall lowers manufacturing costs.
“Rerouting” is the last thing you want Siri to tell you when you’re lost in a no-signal zone on the road. Fortunately, with the iOS 17 update, you’ll soon be able to use your iPhone’s Maps app offline, Apple announced at its WWDC event Monday. This long-awaited feature has been available on Google Maps for years and will finally be available for iPhone users later this year.
The iPhone is getting offline maps for its Maps app this year. That means you’ll be able to access any map you’ve downloaded, even if you don’t have Wi-Fi or a cellular signal. For instance, if you’re going on a trip, you can download the route and access it without using cellular data. This is helpful if you’re low on data or if your route takes you through an area with little to no signal that would cause the Maps app to stop navigating correctly, potentially causing you to veer off course.
What can you do with Apple Maps offline?
When iOS 17 becomes available later this year, you’ll be able to download designated areas and access turn-by-turn navigation while using Maps offline. Also, you’ll be able to see your estimated time of arrival and find places in Maps, among other things.
In addition, Maps will make it easier to find thousands of trails in parks across the US. The app will also support drivers of electric vehicles with real-time charging availability information, Apple said.
When will iPhone’s offline maps be available?
Offline maps will be available on iPhone with the launch of iOS 17, which is coming this fall (it usually arrives in late September with the new iPhone). You’ll want to make sure your iPhone is compatible with Apple’s latest software — if not, you won’t have access to this new Apple Maps feature.
Apple wants to make screening phone calls, dictating text messages and receiving audio messages easier in iOS 17. For Google Pixel fans, that should sound very familiar.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple demonstrated a bevy of new features arriving on iPhones this fall. While the new live photo stickers and stylized “posters” for contact photos may have grabbed headlines, Apple also previewed a handful of features that were reminiscent of Google’s Pixel devices. Like Google, Apple is infusing more audio transcription and speech recognition into its phone and messaging apps.
Their approaches may differ, but Apple and Google clearly have the same goal: to modernize and improve the calling and texting experience. Communication, along with personalization, has been a major theme throughout both iOS 17 and Google’s recent Pixel updates. (Remember those new cinematic wallpapers for Pixel devices Google flaunted at its I/O conference last month?)
Apple’s iOS 17 shares some other similarities with recent Google products, such as its new StandBy Mode, which essentially turns your iPhone into a smart display. Apple also added the ability to download offline maps to its navigation app, which Google Maps has had for years. (However, this functionality has technically been available on the iPhone previously through the iOS version of the Google Maps app.)
Here’s a look at some new features in iOS 17 that feel similar to what we’ve seen from Google in recent years.
Live Voicemail lets you preview a transcription in realtime as a voicemail is being recorded.
Apple
With iOS 17, you’ll be able to see transcriptions of voicemails in real time, enabling you to pick up if it’s important. Spam calls will be automatically declined and won’t show as transcripts. While it may not be exactly the same, it sounds a lot like Google’s Call Screen feature, which has the Google Assistant screen your calls for you before answering the phone. It’s one of many phone call-oriented features Google added to its Pixel devices over the years, including Hold For Me and Direct My Call. The former has the Google Assistant wait on hold for you when calling certain businesses, while the latter helps you navigate automated phone menus.
Watch this: Apple iOS 17: Every New Feature (Supercut)
11:05
Audio message transcriptions
You’ll see transcriptions of audio messages in iOS 17.
Apple (screenshot)
It’s not always appropriate to listen to voice messages right away. Maybe you’re in public and don’t have your headphones, or perhaps you’re in the middle of a meeting. Apple wants to address this in iOS 17 with support for audio message transcription, which displays the text in line underneath the audio file in a messaging thread. Message transcriptions was also a key feature that Google highlighted when announcing the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro last year.
Better voice dictation for texting
Apple says voice typing is improving in iOS 17.
Apple (screenshot)
When Google announced the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, the first phones to run on its Tensor processor, it noted that the phones would have better speech recognition when dictating messages with the Google Assistant. Apple made a similar announcement during WWDC, saying that dictation in its Messages app should be more accurate because it now uses an improved speech recognition model.
StandBy mode
iOS 17 adds an attractive screen that shows photos, widgets and info when your iPhone is charging.
Apple
One of the more intriguing new features in iOS 17 is StandBy mode, which allows your iPhone to double as a smart display when it’s in landscape mode and charging. When in this mode, your phone can display the time, photos, widgets, notifications and Live Activities, which show real-time updates from time sensitive apps on the lock screen.
While it may sound very similar to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s always-on display, the content is stylized to make it look more like a bedside clock or a smart display. Clock faces are colorful and can occupy the whole screen, for example. It feels like a hybrid between the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display and the Apple Watch’s nightstand mode.
Google’s execution is a bit different, but it’s accomplishing the same goal with its new Pixel Tablet. Google’s tablet is designed to be a cross between a general-purpose tablet and a smart home hub. Google leans into this approach more fully by including a charging dock that doubles as a speaker in the box, enabling the interface to change automatically when docked.
Taken together, these updates suggest that phones are getting more personalized, whether that’s by transcribing calls or providing more customizations. And based on Apple’s WWDC keynote and Google’s recent Pixel updates, it seems like that will continue to be true whether you prefer the iPhone or Android.
If you’re still running Windows 10 and are looking to upgrade your current computer with Windows 11 — the latest Windows operating system — you may want to go ahead and spring for the Pro version. Downloading it directly from Microsoft will cost you $200. However, if you’re looking for a bargain you can get it — along with lifetime access to top productivity apps via Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2021 — for just $60 at StackSocial for a limited time with a bundle that saves you 85%. Theres no expiry listed for this offer, so we recommend making your purchase sooner rather than later.
Windows 11 Pro offers some additional features that you won’t find on the base version including Microsoft Remote Desktop, BitLocker device encryption, Windows Sandbox, Hyper-V, Azure Active Directory and much more. You’ll receive an activation key that you can use on up to three devices. Not all computers are compatible, so if you’re considering upgrading, be sure to check out the system requirements before you purchase.
And your purchase comes with a lifetime license to Office Professional 2021 as well, which includes popular programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, OneNote and more. With a single one-time payment, you’ll retain lifetime access on the installed PC, which will save you a ton over the recurring charges you’ll accrue via a Microsoft 365 subscription and offers you more than the free online version of Microsoft Office. However, it’s worth noting that you’ll be limited to installing Office on just one computer and the “lifetime” part of the license refers to the lifetime of the machine you install it on.
And as long as you pay for the Apple Developer Program ($99 a year), you can download iOS 17 on your iPhone right now if you wanted to, but before you even think about doing that, there are a few things to know. Here’s everything you should do before installing iOS 17 on your device.
Watch this: WWDC 2023: Here Are All the Major iOS 17 Features
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First, is your device even compatible with iOS 17?
As long as you own an iPhone XS or later, you should be able to download the iOS 17 developer beta. Below is a full list of every iPhone compatible with Apple’s new software update. And if your current phone isn’t on the list, here are some more recent iPhone models to consider purchasing.
Before you update to iOS 17, make sure you’re updated to the latest iOS 16 version so that you don’t encounter any issues if you decide to revert. Also, it’s just good to always be updated to the newest mobile software version in case there are major bugs or other issues in older iOS versions.
To update your iPhone to the latest version iOS 16, go to Settings > General > Software Update and check for any available updates.
Now, back up your iPhone before updating to iOS 17
This is important: The iOS 17 developer beta is experimental software intended for developers, which means it will have many bugs and issues that could potentially cripple your iPhone. Your phone may unexpectedly restart or get really hot — with developer betas, you never know what to expect, so it’s best to prepare beforehand so that if you face major issues you can return to iOS 16.
The best way to do that is to back up your iPhone while it’s still running iOS 16. The reason is that if you update to iOS 17 but then decide to go back to iOS 16, you have an up-to-date backup to revert to, so that you keep your most recent photos, text messages, app data and more.
Now, there are two ways too back up your iPhone: via iCloud and your computer.
Back up your iPhone with iCloud
Your iPhone should automatically back up by default once a day, as long as your device is connected to both a power source and Wi-Fi and locked.
To check if this feature is enabled, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud Backup and make sure that Back Up This iPhone is enabled. Also, if you have a compatible 5G iPhone, including the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models, you can enable Back Up Over Cellular to have your iPhone back up over your cellular network when you’re not connected to W-Fi.
You can also just manually back up your iPhone with iCloud. In the same iCloud Backup page, simply tap Back Up Now. Underneath that, you’ll see the last time a successful backup was created. Under All Device Backups, you can check out more information about your backups, including backup size, and customize what is backed up.
If your iPhone doesn’t automatically back up, you can do it manually in your settings.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
Back up your iPhone with Mac or Windows
If you don’t have storage on your iPhone or iCloud, you always have the option to back up your device via your computer.
On Mac, connect your iPhone to your computer via lightning cable, open Finder and select your iPhone. Next, check the circle next to Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac and then hit Back Up Now.
You can back up your iPhone on your Mac if you don’t have phone storage.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
The process with Windows is pretty similarly. Again, connect your iPhone to your computer via cable, but this time open the iTunes app and click the iPhone button on the top-left of the window. In the Summary page, click Back Up Now to back up your iPhone to your Windows PC.
