This morning, Bloomberg reported that tech imports would be excluded from the Trump administrations 125% “reciprocal” China tariff. To be specific, this includes “smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips.” In short, Apple doesn’t really have something to worry about anymore – at least for now. The initial 20% tariff for the “fentanyl crisis” is still in place, however.

While we are safe from imminent price hikes for now, an additional 125% tariff on China would’ve been extremely damaging. Here’s a quick overview bullet we just dodged.

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

VoicePen is a native app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro that transcribes your lectures, meetings, and any sort of speech into clear notes. All of the transcriptions run through OpenAI’s Whisper model, making it accurate and fast. It also offers more than just meeting transcriptions, and can be used for YouTube videos and other online content.

Apple has long offered a refurbished store on its website, where it sells recent generation products at a pretty sizable discount. Unlike other refurbished offerings, Apple guarantees a replaced outer shell, battery, and glass – ensuring no wear and tear. You also get a 1 year Apple warranty and the ability to add AppleCare if you’d like.

That sounds great, but is it actually a good deal? Well, it depends. We’ll be delving into Apple refurbished listings, and comparing it to other offerings on the market.

Some of you may not know this, but during a brief period from summer 2021 to fall 2023 – Apple made a battery bank.

Of course, since it’s Apple, it was MagSafe. This MagSafe battery pack had a number of interesting features and quirks, and ultimately it only stuck around for two years. However, thanks to an interesting new Apple trend, I think it’s plausible that it comes back – but not as an Apple product.

Apple and its customers can breathe a sigh of relief today after the White House carved tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, and more. The iPhone maker was facing a 145% fee on products imported into the United States from China. This caused weeks of speculation that the iPhone and other electronics could be subject to price hikes to cover the cost.

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One of the constant challenges for IT teams is balancing security and productivity, especially regarding network access. It’s easy to give people broad permissions to keep things moving, but that creates long-term cybersecurity risks when that access lasts longer than is needed. I am a massive fan of Tailscale, and the company has rolled out a new feature that addresses that problem.

Apple makes a variety of Apple Pencil products, but they only differ in features, not so much in design. Thanks to ColorWare, however, you can now buy an Apple Pencil Pro that’s designed to resemble a crayon—and it comes in seven different color options.

ChatGPT’s growth keeps hitting new heights, including last month earning the honor of top downloaded app (not game) in the world per Appfigures—no doubt thanks to Studio Ghibli.

Apple’s TV division is having a standout year so far. Following the conclusion of Severance, its biggest hit ever, Apple TV+ now has three excellent new shows airing that all offer something unique.

Our long national nightmare is over. No, not that one. This one. According to posts on social media, Apple has completed installation of the more durable rainbow arches found within the circular campus.

Aqara continues to be one of the best smart home vendors for HomeKit fans. This week, the company announced a major update to its Matter integration that will benefit anyone using HomeKit as their primary platform.

CarPlay is used and loved by millions of iPhone owners. And while the wait for CarPlay 2 keeps getting longer, iOS 18.4 and other recent updates hint at a promising CarPlay trend.

Here’s a weird one. My son and I were discussing shapes on the drive to school earlier this week. His question for me was, “What is the name of the shape that looks like a square with uneven sides?”

I’m now in the habit of saying “ask ChatGPT” before any Siri request that isn’t taking an action like creating a reminder or sending a message. In this instance, though, I picked up my iPhone and pressed the Action button to open Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT. The results satisfied his curiosity.

A few days later, I decided to use his query as an example for how ChatGPT through Siri is useful. The results surprised me.

iOS 18.4 arrived late last month packed with a variety of new features, including an upgrade you might have missed that provides a fast way to open your go-to conversations in the Messages app. Here’s how it works.

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I’ve recently found myself down the rabbit hole of lesser-known Terminal features. These past months, I covered everything from enabling Touch ID for sudo authentication to cleaning up public Wi-Fi connections stored on your Mac. But this past week, I journeyed deeper and found even more neat features you probably didn’t know Terminal could do, and I’m not talking ping command here. In this edition of Security Bite, allow me to elevate your command line prowess further.

The behind the scenes journalistic recaps of Apple’s AI drama continues today at The New York Times. And in this latest report, blame for Apple’s struggles to compete in AI is assigned to a surprising source: Luca Maestri and budget.

It’s been a busy couple days for in-depth journalistic explorations of Apple’s recent Siri and AI struggles. Following yesterday’s The Information report, today The New York Times has its own deep dive. One of the biggest takeaways? Apple’s planning to launch its new iOS 19 Siri upgrades sooner than we expected.

Apple last year introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, which allowed users of other platforms to access the company’s mapping service for the first time. However, Apple Maps on the web was labeled as “beta” — until now. And as the platform is no longer beta, it has also gained support for mobile devices.

The most recent instance of benefiting from Apple Intelligence with about 70% satisfaction just occurred. I’m writing another piece using an M4 iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard. I selected the opening paragraph, invoked Writing Tools, and selected Proofread.

This is how the proofread version was presented:

Apple has finally and officially released the iPhone 16 for customers in Indonesia. Not just the recently introduced iPhone 16e, but the whole lineup that was announced last fall. New iPhones typically don’t take more than 200 days to reach other markets. However, the Indonesian government forced Apple to pay for the opportunity to bring the latest iPhone technology to customers in its country.

Apple launches its latest prestige series today, Your Friends & Neighbors starring Jon Hamm in the lead role. The mix of drama and comedy sees Hamm playing a disgraced former hedge fund manager called Andrew Cooper, who turns to a life of crime to preserve his lavish lifestyle.

The first two episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV+, with the remainder of the season airing weekly. Apple is running a special promo where new subscribers can get Apple TV+ for $2.99 per month for 3 months, enough to cover the full run of Your Friends & Neighbors.

If I could snap my fingers and make AirPods in any color, we’d have AirPods in black by now. My second choice? Translucent AirPods. Apple sells a version of “Transparent” colored Beats Studio Buds + that I should probably own just to support the clear product cause. AirPods, of course, only come in white with the exception of the AirPods Max line.

This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: new iOS 19 leaks, iPad Fold on track for 2026, HomePad status update, and a special 20th anniversary iPhone Pro design. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.