Apple's week June 20: living with the betas
It's the first week after WWDC, so that means we're all diving into the first developer beta and fighting bugs. Not much has happened news-wise, but there are still a few things I'd like to highlight.
Personas look much better in visionOS 26
I had to write a bit about how Personas have evolved for visionOS 26, and honestly, I was surprised. Looking back at the first time I really used the technology with Tim Chaten on the Vision Pros podcast was a bit of a shock. Those initial versions were not great.
Andrew and I tested the Spatial Personas when they were released, and while they are an improvement, the latest update is miles better. The new Personas look no better than a Zoom call from afar. There's some texturing that isn't realistic, but only when you zoom in.
I wonder if Apple shouldn't include Personas everywhere, including outside of visionOS. If it's something that's going to be used in the future, I think it would be cool to see as an option for FaceTime today.
Sure, LiDAR and facial scanning on iPhone won't replace the accuracy of Apple Vision Pro, but it would still be interesting to have as an option. I expect Apple will continue iterating on the technology in the near future.
Apple's promotion around F1 has been all out
Apple has been promoting the F1 movie with Brad Pitt heavily. The company sees it as a last-ditch effort to capture some box office attention, so of course, it is going all out.
WWDC promoted the film with an opening sequence where Craig Federighi drove a vehicle around the Apple Park Ring building. Haptics on iPhone were played during a special trailer. And now we've got an immersive video for Apple Vision Pro.
Apple even revealed that it used a customized camera system based on the iPhone for filming inside the vehicles. F1 vehicles are already too fast and powerful to bother recording high-definition video, so Apple has previously shared that in-vehicle sequences were filmed in slower F2 vehicles.
The immersive video Apple shared for Apple Vision Pro was interesting, if tame. Of course, there couldn't be anything too intensive filmed with these cameras because vibrations would ruin the footage. I hope Apple continues to feature immersive trailers and content for its Apple TV+ media.
It would be interesting to see Apple adapt a hybrid model for some media, like Apple TV+ shows. Give Apple Vision Pro users access to exclusive segments of shows or bonus content filmed with immersive 180-degree video.
iPhone Fold is a continuous mystery
iPhone Fold keeps showing up in rumors. This time, one suggests it will begin being manufactured in early 2026. Rumors like this have been appearing for years, so I'm not entirely sold.
Foldables seem to be a fad, and I will stand by that until an Apple Event shows off an official foldable with a release date. Until then, they're nothing more than ghosts in the supply chain.
Stay on top of your password hygiene
Another interesting story came out this week suggesting that there's a data store of at least 16 billion logins in the wild. While this sounds scary, it really shouldn't matter for anyone practicing proper internet hygiene.
As long as you're using unique passwords for every account via a password manager, you're likely fine. Take that further by using two-factor authentication, especially code generators over email or SMS.
Passkeys also provide an extra layer of security. Just make sure you're wary of potential phishing attempts, and it won't matter how many passwords have been stolen by bad actors.
Apple Intelligence was down
It's a weird situation, but on Thursday, Apple Intelligence was down for most of the day for those running the developer betas. Apple's various services experience outages from time to time, but this one affected everyone, even those with Apple Intelligence downloaded locally.
It seems the issue was attached to Apple's over-the-air update mechanism. Apple must have pushed some kind of update that failed to propagate properly, which put everyone in a limbo.
People posted on social media and various forums about noticing they could no longer access Apple Intelligence. It seemed to go without too much notice or complaint, but it hit me later in the day, and I decided to write about the apparent outage.
It wasn't long before Apple was reaching out asking about the problem. It got fixed shortly after, but I was never told any specifics about what went wrong.
It was noteworthy though because it made me realize how much I use Apple Intelligence. Writing tools no longer worked, I couldn't generate a Genmoji for a joke in a group chat, and I wasn't able to test Workout Buddy for a work thing.
Apple's AI efforts may not be that flashy, but they are missed when they disappear.
iPadOS 26 productivity
I wrote a bunch about being productive with iPadOS 26 for this week's AppleInsider newsletter. If you want to read it, all you have to do is provide an email address.
I'm pretty happy with all of the updates Apple introduced this year. It'll be really interesting to see how the updates are implemented by developers in the fall.
