News

iOS 26 promises a lot of new and updated features for iPhone fansSome of the most interesting changes come to music and CarPlayHere are five of the best changes coming to these areasIf you watched Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2025) keynote video earlier this week, you might have noticed all the new features coming to Apple’s music and CarPlay offerings.Whether you love using your Apple tech with your favorite tunes or while driving, there were some notable updates to pay attention to. Here, we’ve outlined five of the best features coming to these areas in iOS 26.Mix tunes like a pro(Image credit: Apple)Any good DJ knows how to mix one song into another, ensuring the beats line up and one track fades into another so seamlessly that it’s almost unnoticeable. In iOS 26, Apple Music can now do that for you.That’s thanks to a new feature called AutoMix, and it uses some clever under-the-hood analysis to pick the “perfect moment” for your songs to transition, smoothly blending the music as one track ends and the next begins. AutoMix replaces CrossFade (which did a similar thing, albeit in a much less advanced way), and can be enabled when you open Apple Music in iOS 26.Apple Music Replay(Image credit: Apple Music)Like Spotify Wrapped, Apple Music Replay lets you check out your listening habits and see exactly how many hours you’ve spend listening to that one guilty pleasure. Before iOS 26, though, it could only be accessed as a popup web view, which didn’t provide the best experience.Now it’s a native part of the Apple Music app, meaning it’s a lot easier to find and view than before. You’ll also find an Apple Music Replay playlist at the bottom of the app’s Home tab, and this updates throughout the year to give you the very latest stats and figures.Custom ringtones(Image credit: Future)Apple has a dedicated ringtone section in iTunes – just tap the More tab in the iTunes Store app on iOS, then select Tones. But if you’d rather create your own custom ringtones, the process has always been a bit more involved, requiring you to create a ringtone of your own, export it from the GarageBand app to your phone, then choose it manually in the Settings app.In iOS 26, that process has been simplified. If you open a ringtone in an app like Files, you just need to tap the Share button and pick the Use as Ringtone option. That can cut out a few steps, although you still need to create the ringtone in the first place.Widgets and Live Activities in CarPlay(Image credit: Apple)CarPlay is all about putting useful controls at your fingertips, all with the goal of not distracting you from the road. That fine balancing act has had a new update in iOS 26 with the addition of widgets and Live Activities.Widgets like the weather forecast and your calendar appointments are now available in your car, and they use a compact layout that Apple says offers “quick and glanceable” information. And you’ll find Live Activities in CarPlay too, showing ongoing data like flight status, helping to keep you in the know.CarPlay zoom settingsImage 1 of 2The CarPlay interface before Smart Display Zoom is enabled. (Image credit: Apple)Image 2 of 2The CarPlay interface after Smart Display Zoom is enabled, with compact icons allowing more to fit on the screen. (Image credit: Apple)It’s always important that CarPlay’s information is appropriately sized for your car dashboard, and that’s been made a little easier in iOS 26 with the addition of Smart Display Zoom. This automatically resizes CarPlay’s interface to fit your vehicle’s display area (where possible).In an example given by Apple, Smart Display Zoom shrinks the on-screen icons slightly, which allows an extra row of buttons to be shown. With less swiping, you should be able to get to the info you need a little quicker.You might also likeWWDC 2025 as it happened: all the iOS 26, MacOS Tahoe, and iPadOS news, with live video from Apple ParkApple CarPlay just got 4 big free upgrades with iOS 26 – here's what you need to knowiOS 26: new features, a new design, and everything you need to know

iOS 26 has introduced a new feature that will help CarPlay take better advantage of the shape of your vehicle's display, Apple announced at WWDC 2025. When enabled, the new Smart Display Zoom will shrink down elements on the screen to fit an extra row of app icons.

"Vehicle screens come in many shapes and sizes," CarPlay engineer Olivia Hess explained in a developer video spotted by MacRumors. "In iOS 26, some screen configurations allow drivers to adjust their display scale with Smart Display Zoom configurable within Settings in CarPlay. When Smart Display Zoom is enabled, your CarPlay app will be automatically resized to the new display scale."

Apple

Though the change is relatively small, it should make CarPlay less of a hassle to use if you have a lot of apps. The feature is only available in a developer beta for now, but will appear in a public beta next month and in the final iOS 26 release by September this year.

CarPlay is receiving other updates as part of the iOS 26 update. It will feature a more compact view for incoming calls so the display doesn't obfuscate directions. Tapbacks (i.e. emoji responses) and pinned conversations are coming to Messages in CarPlay, and widgets and Live Activities can be reflected on the infotainment system. These updates will be present in CarPlay Ultra too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/ios-26-will-fit-carplay-to-better-match-the-shape-of-your-cars-screen-120036182.html?src=rss

Taking a DNA test might yield some surprises about your heritage; a recent survey shows that more than a quarter of those who use mail-in DNA tests end up learning about close relatives they didn't know about. But it's not always happy or comforting news. Rita Braver talks with people who have met siblings for the first time, and with members of a support group for those who suddenly discover they have different biological parents from those who raised them. She also finds out how employees at 23&Me get special training to counsel people who've made shocking discoveries about their families.

Trend Micro patches multiple high- and critical-severity flawsThe issues were found in Apex Central and Endpoint Encryption PolicyServerThere are no workarounds or mitigationsTrend Micro has fixed a handful of critical-severity vulnerabilities it recently discovered in a pair of enterprise-level tools.In security advisories, the company said it fixed six remote code execution, and authentication bypass vulnerabilities, in Apex Central and Endpoint Encryption (TMEE) PolicyServer products.Apex Central is a web‑based centralized management console designed for IT and security teams in mid‑sized to enterprise organizations using Trend Micro’s security products across endpoints, servers, email, and network. Endpoint Encryption PolicyServer, on the other hand, is a central management server used to manage encryption policies across devices. Users can handle authentication, key management, real-time policy synchronization and auditing, and are allowed remote commands such as locking, resetting or wiping lost or stolen endpoints.No evidence of abuseThe vulnerabilities fixed with the most recent patches are listed below:CVE-2025-49212CVE-2025-49213CVE-2025-49216CVE-2025-49217CVE-2025-49219CVE-2025-49212All of these are deemed either high-severity, or critical. More details about them can be found on this link.While Trend Micro stresses there is no evidence of abuse in the wild, it still urges its users to apply the fixes and secure their premises as soon as possible.There are no mitigations, or workarounds, and the only way to secure the endpoints is to bring TMEE to version 6.0.0.4013 (Patch 1 Update 6), and for Apex Central, to install the Patch B7007.Just because threat actors did not take advantage of the flaws yet, it doesn’t mean they won’t. Many hacking groups watch for newly-released patches to try and exploit the vulnerabilities, banking on the fact that many organizations don’t rush with installing the fixes.For example, in March 2025, Trend Micro warned about a Windows zero-day vulnerability which has remained unpatched for eight years and has been exploited by 11 nation-state attackers, and countless financially motivated groups.Via BleepingComputerYou might also likeMicrosoft Copilot targeted in first “zero-click” attack on an AI agent - what you need to knowTake a look at our guide to the best authenticator appWe've rounded up the best password managers