iMessage Contact Key Verification is an optional security feature that allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing verification codes in person or on a phone call. The feature launched on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac starting with iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, watchOS 9.2, and macOS 14.2 last year.
iMessage Contact Key Verification also includes "advanced protections" that can help prevent attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation, according to Apple. These protections only apply if both parties in an iMessage conversation have turned on the feature. Apple provides more details in a support document.
Thanks to Ryan Isaacs for alerting us to this change.
Recent layoffs of Apple employees working on the Vision Pro were broader than previously thought, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Last month, Gurman said that Apple cut around 100 jobs from the Vision Products Group, with those cuts centered on the headset's gaming and immersive video teams. Gurman now says the layoffs also reached Vision Pro staff across the rest of the company, including ...
Wednesday September 9, 2026 12:06 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 to developers and public beta testers. The release candidates are the final versions of the updates that will be seeded to the public as long as no final bugs are found during this last round of testing.
The updates can be installed through the Software Update section in the Settings app on each...
Friday August 21, 2026 12:16 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In addition to cutting dozens of Vision Pro employees who worked on features like immersive video and gaming, Apple is laying off people who worked on Siri and AI, reports Bloomberg.
Apple is "largely shutting down" the Vision Pro team focused on gaming, and it is paring down the team that makes immersive video content. Approximately 100 employees who were part of the Vision Products Group...
I consider myself a very "standard" user of most of the Apple ecosystem, and I've never heard of or used this feature. So for the posts above me that this should have been a day one feature, I say "Uh, sure. Ok."
Nor should they. The vast majority of people should wait until it's a more mature OS, and product.
Totally agree. BUT I think the point is, if the vast majority should wait for a more mature OS and product, the vast majority should probably wait to be so effusive with their complaints about what is missing from version 1. Sure some constructive criticism and what they would like to see is helpful, but calling a product a fail because they should wait, seems to be over the top.
Seems like Apple needs to hire more software engineers. Things that should’ve been day one features had to be pushed off. And let’s not forget the bugginess on other platforms
