apple – Tech News

MapQuest’s app surges to No. 1 in Navigation after refusing to rename Lake Ontario

The “OG of online mapping,” as the company calls itself, announced on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest’s mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store’s Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/mapquests-app-surges-to-no-1-in-navigation-after-refusing-to-rename-lake-ontario/

Apple’s Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action

Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate. In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover text.
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/17/camera-equipped-airpods-macos-26-7/

Apple announces Apple Intelligence powered accessibility feature updates

Ahead of Google’s annual developer conference on Tuesday, Apple announced several new accessibility updates powered by Apple Intelligence to features like VoiceOver, voice control, live recognition, and real-time caption generation for videos. The company also said that Vision Pro users will be able to control a compatible wheelchair with their eyes using this update.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/apple-announces-apple-intelligence-powered-accessibility-feature-updates/

Is the Vision Pro Dead? Apple Reportedly Stops Work on Its Pricey Headset

Apple has reportedly stopped work on its Vision Pro headset and shifted staff to other teams within the company, MacRumors reports. Some employees who worked on the Vision Pro have been transferred to the company’s Siri team, while others are being moved elsewhere.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/is-the-vision-pro-dead-apple-reportedly-stops-work-on-its-pricey-headset

The App Store is booming again, and AI may be why

According to a new analysis from market intelligence provider Appfigures, worldwide app releases in the first quarter of 2026 were up 60% year-over-year across both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. That percentage was an even higher 80% when looking at the iOS App Store alone. In April 2026 so far, the total number of app releases is up 104% across both stores compared to the same time last year, and up 89% on iOS. As Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Greg “Joz” Joswiak, quipped In a recent interview: rumors of the App Store’s death in the AI age “may have been greatly exaggerated.”
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/18/the-app-store-is-booming-again-and-ai-may-be-why/

Ads are coming to Apple Maps, as Apple expands its business offerings

Apple on Tuesday announced that it will begin to allow advertisers to target customers on Apple Maps, starting in the U.S. and Canada later this summer. The ads will be available to any size business that has a physical location and has already created a business listing on Apple Maps. Users, meanwhile, will see the ads appear next to relevant search results.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/apple-maps-ads-apple-business/

With Apple’s new Creator Studio Pro, AI is a tool to aid creation, not replace it

Apple lays out a vision that suggests the productivity suite of the future is the one that focuses on the needs of creators — whether that’s filmmakers, musicians, artists, or anyone else enmeshed in a creative industry of some kind — and empowers them to be more efficient using AI. Apple sees AI as a tool that handles more of the basics and tedious tasks — like generating a slideshow for you to edit from your notes, extracting chord information from a song, searching across hours of video footage for the clip you need, changing the camera angle on your images, and more.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/28/with-apples-new-creator-studio-pro-ai-is-a-tool-to-aid-creation-not-replace-it/