With the release of iPhone 4, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has fired up his email account again and is responding to a number of customer emails. First it was his description of the signal strength concerns as a non issue. And in another pair of publicized responses, Jobs has briefly addressed both future wireless syncing of iOS devices and the replacement of the iPhone's on-screen "hold" button available during calls with a button for activating the new FaceTime video calling feature.
Mashable first reported on the Wi-Fi phone syncing topic earlier this week amidst the excitement of the iPhone 4 launch, noting that Jobs replied "Yep, someday," to a question from a customer about possible future wireless syncing of his iPhone to his Mac. Jobs offered no timeframe for a launch of the feature.
Earlier this year, one developer created his own Wi-Fi syncing solution and hoped that Apple would distribute it through the App Store, but the company rejected the application last month. It is now available for jailbroken devices connecting to both Mac and Windows computers at a price of $9.99.
The second issue comes to our attention via TechCrunch, which points to a LiveJournal posting from a user who asked about the removal of the "hold" button from the iPhone's on-screen calling screen to make room for a new button for initiating FaceTime video calls. Jobs' response: "Hold doesnt do anything more than Mute."
Table from Page 50 of iPhone OS 3.1 User Guide (PDF link)
Interestingly, Jobs was neither entirely correct nor thorough in his answer. As noted in Apple's own user guide for devices running iPhone OS 3.1, the "mute" functionality silences the user's own voice in the conversation while continuing to allow them to hear the party on the other end of the line. The "hold" functionality silences both ends of the conversation.
Fortunately for users looking to make use of the hold functionality that seemed to have disappeared, a commenter on the TechCrunch piece notes that simply holding down the "mute" button for a few seconds will activate the "hold" functionality.
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Apple is "drastically" cutting production of the iPhone Air and shifting focus toward the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, Nikkei Asia reports.
The business publication claims to have learned of a major cut to iPhone Air production motivated by weaker-than-expected consumer interest, nearly to "end of production levels." Despite early reports of the iPhone Air selling out within hours of...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below.
Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle
Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...
