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WWDC 2025 has just wrapped up, and it was one of the best keynotes in recent memory. While there were sweeping changes across Apple's entire range, from the already-lauded iPadOS update to iOS 26, as TechRadar's resident wearables expert, it's my beat to cover watchOS 26.And it's been a pretty big year for Apple's smallest device.There have been major changes to the Watch's user interface, as it will get the same slick Liquid Glass overhaul as all Apple's other devices, and there are flashy new Apple Intelligence features such as the AI Workout Buddy and Live Translation. There's even a much-clamoured-for on-wrist Notes app.However, the feature I'm interested in is Hints, a small change to Apple's widget stack that I think has the most potential to bring all of the Apple Watch's disparate features together into a lifestyle companion, unified under the Apple Intelligence banner.Hinting at GreatnessApple's new Hints feature works by taking contextual information about your surroundings and your previous behavior, and recommending actions based on its predictions. These recommendations take the form of a small visual prompt like the one above, so you can ignore it easily if you choose to do so.The two examples Apple gave were quite clever: if you arrive at the same pilates studio at the same time every week, Apple will look at your location, the time and date, your previous behavior, and understand you're about to start a pilates workout on your watch. A hot key to start your workout will appear as a visual prompt.The other example Apple used was during a hike. In this scenario, the Apple Watch detected you were off the beaten track, away from roads and near popular hiking destinations, and recommended you start a BackTrack to avoid getting lost again via a visual prompt.What this could mean for the future of Apple WatchThis could be, if expanded, a wonderful way to use the predictive power of Apple Intelligence to create a unified personal assistant. This could be more valuable than the Workout Buddy, and more significant than a UI redesign.Reminding you to start BackTrack could save you hours of wandering in the wilderness, and potentially save lives. If emergency services are contacted through Fall Detection, a prompt could serve up an on-wrist medical record for first responders, or link to your phone to show the Health app through your lock screen. A hotlink option to call your partner if you're halfway through your journey home, but stuck in traffic or delayed for another reason.The power of Apple Intelligence is going to be improving your life in small, everyday ways, and this watchOS 26 feature reinforces that fact. The feature is so unobtrusive on your Apple Watch's home screen when activated, meaning it's out the way but there when you need it. Like a butler discreetly signalling to you from the corner of a cocktail party.There are plenty of impressive-sounding security protocols in place around Apple Intelligence, which reinforces my positive feelings about it. I've generally, up until now, been quite negative about the predictive power of AI and its security implications. But for the first time, I'm starting to see the opportunities of an invisible personal assistant.You might also like...watchOS 26: these are the 6 big updates coming to your Apple Watch soon – including an AI Workout Buddy and a Notes appDoes your Apple Watch support watchOS 26? Here’s the full list of compatible Apple Watches (and which ones will miss out)Apple watchOS 26: Everything we know after WWDC 2025 today

I feel strangely numb. For years now – and I mean years – I have been advocating for Apple Music to have some kind of auto DJ feature that can beat-match your songs in a playlist. This was my most recent excuse to harp on about it.I first heard of this kind of feature in DJ apps a long, long time ago (I think Algoriddim's Djay was the first one I was aware of, but things go foggy back then), and I heard about the potential for machine-learning algorithms (you know, the things we now universally call 'AI' for marketing reasons) to make them work super-seamlessly.At this time, Apple was getting heavily into machine learning, promising to use it to suggest things on your Lock screen and manage your battery usage. So I made the case that this would be a really cool feature to have in Apple Music – much better than a boring old crossfade between tracks on your playlist.Now, at the time, Apple didn't even offer a crossfade… it only added that in iOS 17 two years ago, and last year we got a 'smart crossfade' in iOS 18. But in iOS 26 (Apple has switched to naming by year, rather than the version), I finally have my breakthrough.(Image credit: Brett Jordan / Unsplash)As one of several new features of Apple Music in iOS 26, Apple has announced 'AutoMix', which is exactly what I always wanted. Apple says, "AutoMix uses intelligence to transition from one song to the next like a DJ, using time stretching and beat matching to seamlessly move from one song to the next."I've always curated my playlists to flow reasonably nicely from one song to the next, trying to keep both variety and cohesion. What I've always wanted is the phone to take that to the next level (because I am no DJ), and now it's like a long-stuck splinter has been removed. I'm finally getting what I want; I don't know how to feel.Oh, wait, yes, I do: frustrated that AirPods still somehow don't have a higher-quality Bluetooth connection.Feeling BluetoothThe only scab I have picked at as consistently as the AI DJ – excuse me, AutoMix – is the fact that AirPods only support AAC-quality Bluetooth audio, even though it is the year of our Hi-Res Audio Lord 2025. Here I am complaining about it back in 2022, and that's only when I first started talking about it on TechRadar.Apple Music supports beautiful lossless audio, but AirPods still don't support anything beyond essentially the minimum of sound quality (okay, SBC is literally the minimum, but this is truly one step up).Actually, that's not quite true – the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C are capable of higher-res audio when used with the Apple Vision Pro, so that's nice for those few thousand people. The new AirPods Max with USB-C also support wired Hi-Res Audio, but so does anything with a 3.5mm jack, so I'm talking wireless here.Fun fact: I bought my first Apple product in 2006, and it was a MacBook Pro that supported aptX! I don't expect Apple to support aptX, of course – that system is owned by Qualcomm, and I'm not a maniac – but the world has moved on in terms of what wireless audio codecs are available to us.AirPods Pro 2 are Apple most advanced earbuds, but they're still limited to the AAC audio quality that iTunes offered back in the early 2000s… (Image credit: Future)Take, for example, Bluetooth LE Audio and the LC3 codec that powers it. This is a new wireless music encoder that's adaptive, so when you have a strong connection to your phone, it can offer really high-resolution music streaming – but if you're far away or there's a lot of interference, it can lower the quality and still maintain consistent audio. And it can do this potentially using lower energy than older codecs, so it could extend battery life.It's available as part of the spec for Bluetooth 5.2, which is supported by many models of the best AirPods, as well as the best iPhones, for years.Apple has chosen not to support it, and it's driving me to distraction at this point. It seems like there must be a good reason, though Apple hasn't revealed it. It appears that the company experimented with using it on the AirPods Max all the way back in 2022, but it hasn't gone anywhere since then.Given how talented the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max are at music reproduction anyway, maybe Apple just feels that it's unnecessary, but given that there's an open standard Apple can use, and the tech to run it is built into Apple's products already, maybe we could be the judges of that with an option to turn higher-res Bluetooth on or off?Either way, with another WWDC event gone without mention of it, I expect that means at least another year without it – unless Apple surprises us at the expected launch of AirPods Pro 3 later this year.I'll live – I'm currently using a Fiio BTR17 and Sennheiser HD600 for my hi-res thrills, and having a lovely time, thank you very much. It's just not a very pocketable solution.You might also like…AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 will get two useful free upgrades in iOS 26iOS 26 is official – here are the 5 biggest new features coming to your iPhoneThe 5 new Apple TV 4K features coming in tvOS 26 you need to know about

In 2012, when Colorado voters passed Amendment 64, legalizing pot for recreational use was called "The Great Experiment." Five years later, recreational pot is now legal in eight states plus the District of Columbia, while 21 other states now allow sales of marijuana for medical use. But anti-marijuana advocates - including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions - are pushing back against more permissive state laws. Barry Petersen looks at how that "Great Experiment" is working out.

While it still remains more of a dream than an obvious stop on Apple’s product roadmap, the company’s updates in macOS Tahoe 26 offer new evidence that Apple could one day sell Macs with cellular connectivity. Sure, the biggest takeaway from WWDC 2025 will probably be the new Liquid Glass design language the company is sprinkling over all of its operating systems, but based on the addition of a Phone app to macOS, Apple’s laptops and phones are converging in more ways than one.

The new Phone app, which combines recent phone calls, favorite contacts and voicemails all in one interface, will offer the same features in both iOS and macOS. That’s a first for Apple’s desktop operating system, which has a FaceTime app, but otherwise primarily interacts with phone calls through Continuity features. Currently, iPhone calls can be relayed and answered on a Mac, and you can place calls from the FaceTime app, but it’s far from intuitive. That should change in macOS 26. The Phone app lets you make calls, listen to voicemails and even use new features like Hold Assist as easily as you would on an iPhone.

Apple

Every year Apple nudges its platforms together, like letting you access your iPhone from your desktop with iPhone Mirroring or use your iPhone as a webcam with Continuity Camera. But porting apps directly from the iPhone feels like a more significant step. On iPad, which is sold in Wi-Fi and Cellular configurations, adding the Phone app (as Apple is with iPadOS 26) makes sense. The iPhone and iPad share a lot of similarities from both a software and hardware perspective. The Mac does not — at least, not yet.

In December 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was "investigating the idea of bringing cellular connectivity to the Mac." Apple has been trying to move away from relying on Qualcomm’s cellular modems for years. The company bought Intel’s smartphone modem team in pursuit of that idea in 2019, and debuted the iPhone 16e, its first device with a custom Apple C1 modem, earlier this year. A cellular Mac seems like a perfect opportunity to put future versions of that modem, say a C2 or C3, to the test.

Even with better multitasking, there’s still plenty of tasks that are easier on a Mac than on an iPad. A cellular Mac could let you upload a professionally edited video out in the field, or communicate with your team without having to be tethered to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Both are possible on an iPad, but would feel more natural on a Mac.

Gurman suggests the company wouldn’t try to bring its custom modem to devices other than the iPhone until 2026 at the earliest, but Apple could be laying the groundwork from a software perspective right now. Macs already use Apple’s custom chips, and they’ll soon feature software that’s increasingly similar to the iPhone. All that's missing is a modem that can connect to cellular networks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/the-phone-app-in-macos-26-is-another-baby-step-towards-a-cellular-mac-220854738.html?src=rss