App Store regulatory changes are beginning to affect Apple Services growth as developers gain more ways to avoid Apple’s payment system or pay lower commissions in major markets.

Apple finance chief Kevan Parekh told investors that changes to the App Store business model in some countries had affected its performance during the June quarter. Softer spending on mobile games created additional pressure.

The acknowledgement is significant because regulatory risk has appeared in Apple filings for years without producing a clearly identified effect on Services performance. Apple is now confirming that rule changes have advanced far enough to influence reported results.

The impact does not mean the App Store has stopped growing. Apple described the store as reaching another June-quarter revenue record, while Services expanded by approximately 12% from the previous year.

The emerging issue is the rate of growth. A purchase can still occur inside an iPhone app while generating less revenue for Apple when the customer pays through a developer’s website or uses terms carrying a reduced fee.

App Store Regulatory Changes Affect Several Markets

Apple did not identify one country or policy as solely responsible for the effect.

The company is adapting to a collection of court orders, competition laws and regulatory agreements that differ substantially among the United States, European Union, China, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and other markets.

Some rules concentrate on payment choice. They allow developers to place links or buttons inside apps leading customers to external checkout pages.

Other changes permit alternative app marketplaces or direct distribution outside the App Store. Several regulators are also examining whether Apple can charge developers for transactions completed through another payment provider.

The financial result depends on the model adopted in each country. Apple may receive no commission, a reduced commission or another fee connected with platform technology and distribution.

This creates a more fragmented App Store business. A subscription sold through the same application can produce different revenue for Apple according to the customer’s country, payment route and the developer terms governing that version of the app.

The United States Changed External Payment Links

The most direct change in the United States came from the long-running legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games.

A federal court previously ordered Apple to stop preventing developers from directing customers toward outside purchasing options. Apple responded by allowing certain external links while seeking commissions of between 12% and 27% on purchases completed through them.

The company also introduced design restrictions, an approval process and a warning screen displayed when customers left the App Store environment.

In April 2025, the district court found Apple in civil contempt for failing to comply fully with the anti-steering injunction. The ruling prohibited the company from collecting a commission on purchases made through external links and removed several restrictions governing their appearance.

Apple updated its App Review Guidelines in May 2025. Apps distributed through the United States storefront can include buttons, external links and other calls to action leading customers toward another payment method.

The rules no longer require a special external-link entitlement for the U.S. storefront.

That change gives developers a straightforward financial reason to move some transactions to the web. A company can process a payment through another provider instead of giving Apple a percentage of the digital sale.

The customer can return to the iPhone app and use the purchased subscription or content. The app remains distributed through Apple, but the associated transaction no longer produces the same App Store commission.

Enough developers adopting that route can slow Apple Services growth even if total spending on iPhone applications continues increasing.

The European Union Introduced Alternative Distribution

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act requires Apple to permit alternative app marketplaces, outside payment systems and other changes intended to reduce its control over iOS distribution.

Developers can remain under Apple’s conventional App Store terms or adopt business terms designed for the European market.

The alternative structure separates several services that were previously combined inside one commission. Developers can choose different levels of App Store support, use Apple’s payment system, provide another payment option or distribute software through a competing marketplace.

Apple introduced reduced commissions and technology-related fees to preserve compensation for the tools, security systems, distribution infrastructure and platform access it provides.

Those terms have changed several times following regulatory objections. Beginning in 2026, Apple started moving from its earlier Core Technology Fee toward a Core Technology Commission applied to eligible digital transactions under particular conditions.

The structure means outside payments do not always eliminate Apple fees in Europe. They can still reduce the amount Apple collects or shift revenue among different fee categories.

Regulators continue examining whether the terms provide meaningful choice or discourage developers from leaving the standard model.

Apple argues that alternative stores and payment systems create additional privacy, security and fraud risks. The European Commission has focused on whether Apple’s warnings, technical requirements and fees make those options unnecessarily difficult to use.

European developers must calculate more than one commission. They need to consider payment-processing costs, marketplace charges, customer acquisition, reporting obligations and the Apple terms attached to each distribution method.

The result may be lower App Store revenue without an equally large shift toward independent marketplaces. External website payments can change Apple’s economics more quickly because they do not require customers to install another store.

China Reduced Some App Store Commissions

App Store regulatory changes are not limited to alternative stores and external payments.

Apple lowered several commission rates in the China mainland storefront beginning March 15, 2026.

Qualifying transactions under the App Store Small Business Program and Mini Apps Partner Program now carry a 12% commission. The same rate applies to eligible auto-renewing subscriptions after the subscriber’s first year.

These transactions previously qualified for a higher 15% rate.

A three-percentage-point reduction may appear small beside demands for completely independent payments. At the scale of China’s app economy, it can remove a meaningful amount of revenue while improving the share retained by developers.

The Mini Apps Partner Program is particularly important in China because large platforms can contain many smaller services inside one host application.

Reducing the commission can encourage those ecosystems to continue using Apple In-App Purchase. It also demonstrates how Apple may respond to pressure by offering more favorable terms before regulators require a more disruptive change.

Lower commissions can support transaction growth over time, but the immediate calculation is straightforward: Apple receives less from each qualifying purchase.

Brazil Opens iOS to Outside Stores and Payments

Apple introduced alternative app distribution and payment options in Brazil through an agreement with the country’s competition regulator, CADE.

Beginning with iOS 26.5, developers can distribute apps through alternative marketplaces, operate those marketplaces and process digital payments outside Apple In-App Purchase.

Apps can also present links leading users to an external website where the transaction is completed.

Apple continues applying notarization and other technical requirements to software distributed outside the App Store.

The company maintains that these protections reduce risks but cannot provide the complete safeguards associated with App Review.

Brazil is a major smartphone and digital-services market. Its effect on Apple Services will depend on whether large developers adopt the new options and whether customers are willing to leave the familiar App Store purchasing flow.

An external option existing in software does not guarantee that people will use it. The developer must usually offer a meaningful advantage, such as a lower price, a different subscription package or payment methods better suited to local customers.

Adoption can increase gradually as existing apps release updates. The financial impact may therefore become more visible over several quarters rather than appearing immediately after the regulatory agreement takes effect.

Why Outside Payments Reduce Apple Services Revenue

Apple receives a commission when an eligible digital purchase uses its in-app payment system.

The fee compensates Apple for distribution, payment processing, fraud management, developer tools, customer support and access to the iOS platform, according to the company.

The standard percentage varies. Small developers and long-running subscriptions can qualify for reduced rates, while other eligible digital transactions may carry higher commissions.

When payment moves to a developer’s website, an independent processor handles the financial transaction. The developer pays that provider, manages more of the customer relationship and retains the amount that would otherwise become an App Store fee.

Apple may still provide the operating system, APIs, development tools and App Store distribution without receiving the conventional payment commission.

This separation explains why App Store activity and App Store revenue can move differently. People may download more applications and spend more on digital services while Apple captures a smaller percentage of the commerce.

The same customer could maintain several subscriptions used exclusively on an iPhone without any of their monthly payments passing through Apple.

Apple can collect other revenue from that user through hardware, advertising, iCloud or its own subscriptions. The external transaction nevertheless removes one part of the Services model.

Most App Store Commerce Never Paid Apple a Commission

The size of the App Store economy should not be confused with Apple’s commissionable revenue.

Apple says the global App Store ecosystem facilitated more than $1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales during 2025. More than 90% of that commerce did not produce a commission for the company.

The largest categories involve physical goods and services such as retail purchases, travel, grocery delivery, restaurant orders and transportation.

Apple does not collect a percentage when someone uses an Amazon app to order furniture, books a hotel or pays for a meal delivered through an iPhone.

App Store commissions generally concentrate on digital goods, application features, virtual items and subscriptions sold through Apple In-App Purchase.

Regulatory changes target this smaller but financially important part of the ecosystem.

Digital transactions require no physical inventory or delivery network, allowing payment commissions to carry attractive margins. Losing part of that revenue can therefore affect profitability more than the dollar amount alone suggests.

Apple does not disclose App Store revenue or profit separately. The category remains combined with cloud services, advertising, media subscriptions, AppleCare, payments and other operations inside Services.

Mobile Gaming Weakness Adds Another Pressure

Regulation was not the only factor Apple identified.

Parekh said softer mobile gaming activity also affected the App Store. Games represent an important source of digital transactions because players purchase virtual currency, characters, cosmetic items, subscriptions and access to additional content.

A decline in game spending directly affects the commission Apple receives through In-App Purchase.

Gaming is also one category where developers have pushed aggressively for alternative stores and payments. Epic Games began its legal confrontation with Apple after introducing another payment method inside Fortnite and attempting to bypass App Store commissions.

The simultaneous effects are difficult to separate. A game can generate lower revenue because players are spending less, because payments moved outside Apple’s system or because both changes occurred together.

Apple does not provide enough category detail to calculate the contribution from each factor.

The distinction matters for the outlook. Gaming demand can recover with successful releases and stronger consumer spending. A permanent regulatory change does not reverse when one popular game reaches the top of the charts.

Developers Gain Revenue but Assume More Work

Outside payments can improve the amount a developer retains from each purchase.

A company moving from a conventional App Store commission to a lower-cost web payment processor may use the difference to reduce prices, fund development or improve profitability.

The developer also assumes responsibilities previously handled through Apple.

Independent billing requires payment processing, tax management, fraud protection, refunds, account recovery and customer support. Subscription status must synchronize correctly between the website and the iPhone app.

Customers changing devices or reinstalling an app expect their purchases to remain available. The developer needs its own account system capable of verifying ownership without relying entirely on Apple’s purchase history.

Small developers may decide that Apple In-App Purchase remains worth its fee because it removes operational complexity and gives customers a familiar checkout experience.

Large subscription businesses have stronger incentives to build their own systems. They already maintain accounts and payments across websites, televisions, Android devices and other platforms.

The regulatory effect will therefore vary by developer size and business model. One company may remove Apple billing completely, while another continues using it because external infrastructure would cost more than the commission saved.

Customers May Receive Lower Prices

External payments create the possibility of lower subscription prices because developers no longer need to incorporate the complete App Store fee into the amount charged.

Some services already cost more when purchased through an iPhone app than through their websites. The higher price allows the developer to preserve similar revenue after Apple receives its share.

A visible external link makes comparing those prices easier. Customers can leave the app, complete the transaction on the web and return with an active account.

Savings are not guaranteed. A developer can retain the entire difference rather than passing it to subscribers.

Independent billing can also make subscription management less consistent.

Purchases completed through Apple appear in one location:

Settings > Apple Account > Subscriptions

A subscription purchased directly must be canceled through the developer’s website or account system. Customers using many external services may need to remember several billing portals and renewal policies.

Refunds and purchase disputes also move away from Apple. The developer or its payment processor becomes responsible for resolving the transaction.

Choice can reduce prices while increasing complexity. The practical outcome depends on whether developers make external checkout clearly cheaper and easy to manage.

Apple Is Expanding Other App Store Tools

Apple is responding to the changing environment by adding business models and marketing systems that can keep developers using its commerce platform.

Monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment allow participating apps to offer lower recurring payments while securing a complete year of revenue.

The Advanced Commerce API supports more complex content catalogs, optional add-ons and subscription structures that were previously difficult to manage through standard In-App Purchase products.

Apple has also expanded tools for custom product pages, promotional offers, application analytics and international distribution.

These additions increase the value attached to App Store billing. A developer may tolerate a commission when Apple provides conversion tools, subscription management and access to promotional placement that would be expensive to reproduce independently.

The company can also adjust rates for particular categories. The Small Business Program, Mini Apps Partner Program and reduced commission for longer-running subscriptions already demonstrate differentiated pricing.

A more competitive payment market may push Apple toward additional service tiers rather than one universal commission.

The UK Could Create the Next Material Change

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority is consulting on rules that would allow developers to direct customers outside Apple and Google’s payment systems.

The regulator expects any fee charged for steering to be fair, reasonable and lower than current app-store commissions. It wants the resulting savings passed to customers or reinvested in developer businesses.

The UK proposal is not yet a final requirement. Its eventual structure could determine whether developers receive the broad freedom available in the United States or a fee-based model closer to some European arrangements.

Regulators are also considering app-review fairness, interoperability and access to mobile-platform capabilities.

The outcome will matter beyond British customers. Each major jurisdiction creates another model that regulators elsewhere can examine when designing their own rules.

Apple must decide whether to continue maintaining different commercial systems by country or move toward broader global terms that reduce operational complexity.

Developers face the same choice. Supporting a separate payment route, marketplace package and reporting process for every region can become expensive enough to cancel some of the benefits regulation intended to create.

The next evidence will come from behavior rather than another policy announcement: how many major apps add external payment links, whether they offer lower prices and how quickly customers move away from Apple’s checkout.

The post App Store Regulatory Changes Begin Slowing Services Growth appeared first on AppleMagazine.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced the successful test flight of a fully AI-controlled F-16 fighter aircraft that was specifically modified to serve as an anonymous flight testbed. The successful test comes just months after the same AI pilot software platform successfully piloted a one-of-a-kind X-62A VISTA aircraft in an aerial dogfight against an F-16.

DARPA officials said the successful flight of an aircraft category that is still in use for combat operations advances the state-of-the-art technological infrastructure needed to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving aerial environment and will enable rapid, scalable combat AI pilot development across the broader U.S. military forces.

“These groundbreaking flight tests of VENOM-modified F-16s advance the infrastructure needed to develop trusted, autonomous air combat capabilities,” said Brig. Gen. James “Fangs” Valpiani, Ph.D., DARPA program manager.

AI-Controlled F-16 Test Flights Part of VENOM Program

According to a statement announcing the successful AI-controlled flights, the F-16 used in the tests was specifically converted to an AI testbed under the agency’s joint venture with the U.S. Air Force, the Viper Experimentation and Next-generation Operations Model (VENOM) program. The specific AI pilot installed in the F-16 is known as the VENOM Autonomy Kit, or VAK.

DARPA said VAK utilizes a “novel interface with the aircraft’s flight controls and mission systems.” This component allows an on-board human pilot to toggle between their traditional control systems and VAK “with the flip of a switch,” ensuring pilot safety during the testing phase where a human is still in the loop.

Valpiani said that the VENOM team installed the AI-controlled VAK interface, which successfully automated the F-16’s sensors and flight controls “without changing the jet’s core software.”

“This enables an efficient pipeline for developing dominant AI for aerial combat, allowing us to rapidly innovate for the warfighter,” the program manager explained.

Creating Dominant Autonomy Beyond Visual Range

When discussing the significance of the successful AI-controlled test flights, Valpiani once again highlighted the “emerging threat environment” in relation to aerial combat, including its increasing complexity.

“AI has tremendous potential to help humans manage this complexity in beyond-visual-range combat, but many hard questions remain concerning the performance and trustworthiness of combat AI in the extreme fog and friction of modern warfare,” explained the project leader, who was due to conclude his tenure as a DARPA program manager in the weeks after the announcement. “The AIR program aims to apply cutting-edge combat agents to operationally relevant scenarios to address these questions and field war-deterring, war-winning capabilities to our warfighters.”

Incoming program manager, Lt. Col. Patrick “Dice” Highland, Ph.D., highlighted the milestone’s role in “advancing our nation’s combat autonomy,” while also offering an eye toward the program’s future.

“We now have the opportunity to create dominant autonomy for beyond-visual-range, multi-ship combat,” Lt. Col Highland said. “These flights give us an early glimpse of how AI agents may begin actively transforming air warfare.”

Moving VAK’s Capabilities “Out of Simulation and Into the Sky”

Following the successful AI-piloted F-16 tests, the specially designed VENOM aircraft will join DARPA as it moves the entire venture under the umbrella of the agency’s Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) program. According to the agency, this new program will use the aircraft in the VENOM fleet to “test multiple AI agents in live-flight scenarios.” If successful, DARPA said the program will “pave the way for human pilots to seamlessly command and orchestrate teams of autonomous, uncrewed aircraft.”

Current deputy program manager Terry Wilson, Ph.D., who will remain with the program, highlighted AIR’s longer-term goals of future joint force operations, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs. DARPA said that these efforts will focus on improving the speed and predictive ability of AI model development and “scale in-flight testing to multi-ship operations with increased complexity to unlock novel and robust AI-driven autonomy.”

“I share Gen. Valpiani’s deep appreciation for the incredible dedication of our DARPA and industry teammates, joint engineers, the System Program Office, Eglin’s test and maintenance crews, and the entire AIR and VENOM ecosystem which has made this milestone possible,” said Wilson. “I look forward to unleashing the VENOM platform and moving these capabilities out of simulation and into the sky.”

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

John Gruber (Mastodon):

In most Mac apps, since the dawn of time, if there is nothing selected to be copied, the Edit → Copy (and Cut) commands are disabled. If you invoke the ⌘C shortcut while the Copy command is disabled, you hear an alert sound, letting you know that whatever you thought you were copying could not be copied because it wasn’t selected. That beep is useful context. This is proper behavior for all menu items — if they’re not available to do something, they should be disabled, and invoking a disabled menu item keyboard shortcut should beep. In any app that uses WebKit, since early in 2025, the Copy command is always enabled when a WebKit view has focus — but if nothing is selected, you get useless clipboard data that can’t actually be pasted anywhere. (And whatever was on your clipboard is now gone, or pushed back if you use a clipboard history utility.)

Jeff Johnson:

I decided to file a bug report on behalf of Gruber: Copy main menu item is enabled with no selection in the web page. I subsequently learned that the first appearance of the bug was January 2025 in the WebKit source code, February 2025 in Safari Technology Preview 213, and March 2025 in Safari 18.4, as a result of attempting to fix another bug, document.execCommand("copy") only triggers if there is a selection, reported in 2016, nine years prior!

[…]

Sadly, my bug report was closed with the resolution “won’t fix.” The refusal appears to be based on a misunderstanding[…]

Jeff Johnson:

LOL that was fast.

Sometimes Apple is hilarious.

Previously:

• Web Pages Can Overwrite Your Clipboard

Update (2026-07-30): Saron Yitbarek (via Jeff Johnson):

Fixed the Edit menu’s Copy item being incorrectly enabled when there was no selection in the web page.

macOS Golden Gate 27 Beta Release Notes:

AppKit adds NSRefreshController, providing pull-to-refresh functionality for NSScrollView.

[…]

NSToolbarItemGroup adds the role property and the NSToolbarItemGroupRole enum, allowing toolbar item groups to be tagged with a semantic role. NSSegmentedControl similarly adds a role property and the NSSegmentedControlRole enum, including a tabs role for controls that represent tab-based navigation and content selection.

[…]

NSTextSelectionManager provides common text selection interactions (click, drag, shift-click, double/triple-click word/line/paragraph selection) to a NSView with a set of NSGestureRecognizers rather than overriding NSEvent mouse methods. NSTextView now uses NSTextSelectionManager and provides its own set of NSGestureRecognizers to provide additional features in addition to text selection.

[…]

By default, NSMenu hides all menu item symbol images — non-symbol images remain visible. […] Use the new preferredImageVisibility property on NSMenuItem to customize the image visibility for your menu items. As in macOS 26.0, NSMenu automatically provides default visible menu item images for certain common system-wide menu items, such as Settings, Share, and Print.

AppKit updates:

Create events similar to UIControl events on NSControl with the new NSControl.Events type.

[…]

Initiate a drag operation from a gesture recognizer using the new beginDraggingSession(items:gesture:source:) method on NSView.

[…]

Update views automatically in response to Observable model changes using the guidance in Updating views automatically with observation tracking.

How is this different from what was announced last year?

Modernize your AppKit app:

Bring your AppKit app up to date with modern macOS conventions. Dive into handling input with control events and gesture recognizers, moving beyond traditional tracking loops. Enhance keyboard navigation in your app, implement graceful state restoration after restarts, and take advantage of new corner concentricity APIs that let your interface blend seamlessly with the macOS aesthetic.

Steve Troughton-Smith:

To summarize the singular AppKit session this year: hey remember all these APIs and design patterns from UIKit? Well they’re now in AppKit and you should use them! Also make your glass use interactive bounce effects.

Why? No reason!😉

TN3212:

In macOS 27, AppKit continues to standardize on gesture recognizers as the primary mechanism for input handling. This change directly affects Sidecar because gesture recognizers are the only way to respond to touch input from a Sidecar-connected iPad running iPadOS 27. If your app relies on tracking loops for mouse event handling, migrate to gesture recognizers to support Sidecar touch input.

This article explains how the gesture recognizer model works, how to implement gesture recognizers correctly for Sidecar touch input, how to update your existing event-handling code, and which APIs macOS 27 adds. Codebases that implement nextEvent(matching:) or mouseDown(with:), mouseDragged(with:), and mouseUp(with:) events are most affected by the updates discussed.

Greg Pierce:

After the AppKit session blindsided me a bit after telling me not to override mouseDown, and then telling me I should override hitTest

Mario Guzmán:

A few years ago, Apple introduced:

func tableView(_ tableView: NSTableView, userCanChangeVisibilityOf column: NSTableColumn) -> Bool

for NSTableView, which Is a native way users could control-click on a TableView column to show/hide columns.

This year, in #macOS27, they updated it to have a new “Reset to Defaults” option.

This is awesome bc I have done my own implementation of this feature JUST to have the option to “reset all columns” and now Apple just includes it!

Elevate your app’s text experience with TextKit:

Discover how to combine the convenience of built-in text views with the control of TextKit. We’ll show you how new APIs make it easy to extend UITextView and NSTextView with custom behaviors like line numbers and collapsible sections. We’ll also explore the TextKit architecture and walk through new caching and reuse policies for text attachments.

Previously:

• macOS Touch
• WWDC 2026 Links
• Golden Gate Menu Icons
• Golden Gate Sidebars and Toolbars
• TextKit 2: The Promised Land

General:

• Keynote / SOTU / Videos / YouTube
• Unofficial WWDC App / Script to Title Videos in EagleFiler
• OS Beta / Xcode Beta
• macOS 27 Installers / IPSW / Creating Install Disk With DropDMG
• Sample Code
• Group Lab Summaries
• WWDC.ai Session Summaries / Viewing Guide

Documentation:

• Updates / AppKit / Foundation / Swift / SwiftData / Security / SwiftUI / UIKit / Xcode / App Intents / Core Spotlight / Foundation Models
• Xcode Release Notes / macOS / iOS & iPadOS / Safari / tvOS / visionOS / watchOS
• Design / Resources
• New Frameworks / App Intents Testing / Core AI / CrashReportExtension / DiskImageKit / Visual Intelligence
• Technotes

Sessions:

• AppKit / UIKit / Privacy and Security / Power and Performance / TextKit
• Design / Icon Composer / Names / Brand / Search
• Swift / gRPC / MLX / Lab
• SwiftData / Code-along / Lab
• SwiftUI / With AppKit and UIKit / Lazy / Graphics Effects / Drag and Drop / Beginners Lab / Lab / Lab
• Xcode / Device Hub / Testing / Cloud / MetricKit / Lab
• Coding Intelligence / ML and AI Lab
• Agents / Instruments / Prototypes / Translate
• Core Spotlight / PaperKit / Shortcuts / Visual Intelligence / Web Extensions / WidgetKit
• Core AI / Authoring and Optimization / On-Device Models
• App Intents / Advanced / AppIntentsTesting / App Schemas / Code-along
• Foundation Models / Agentic / Evaluations / Image Understanding / LLM Provider / Private Cloud Compute / Security

Podcasts:

• Accidental Tech Podcast
• AppStories
• The Dalrymple Report
• Dithering
• Empower Apps
• MacBreak Weekly
• Mac Power Users
• The Talk Show
• Upgrade

Previously:

• WWDC 2026 Keynote
• WWDC 2026 Wish Lists
• WWDC 2026 Preview
• WWDC 2025 Links

Tim Hardwick:

Apple’s new version of Safari browser in macOS 27 and iOS 27 can be tasked to monitor a webpage and notify you of any changes, thanks to a new built-in feature.

[…]

In other upcoming feature additions, using the power of AI, Safari tabs that you have open can automatically be organized into topics.

Saron Yitbarek et al.:

Don’t miss our WWDC26 sessions on web technology, including What’s new in WebKit for Safari 27, to go deeper on our work in this release. Now, let’s dig into this beta, packed with 58 new features, 525 fixes and 4 deprecations that will hopefully make your work as a web developer a little easier.

Saron Yitbarek:

This year, the WebKit team is here with six sessions covering new CSS layouts, customizable form controls, 3D models, immersive spatial experiences, and browser extensions.

See also: Safari 27 Beta Release Notes.

Previously:

• WWDC 2026 Keynote
• iOS 26.2: App Marketplaces and Search Engine Choice in Japan
• How Safari Search Engine Extensions Work

Update (2026-06-17): Jeremy Keith:

But credit where credit is due. The upcoming version 27 of Safari is looking very good.

That’s not because it’s at the cutting edge of the latest web standards. Quite the opposite. Most of the changes listed for this release are bug fixes. That’s what I want to acknowledge and applaud.

Previously:

• Glow Leopard

Apple (Hacker News):

Siri AI is an entirely new version of Siri deeply integrated into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. It can draw on personal context understanding to search across messages, emails, photos, and more, and get things done across apps with even more systemwide app actions. Additionally, Siri AI can answer questions related to the content on a user’s screen or go out to the web to get up-to-date information using broad world knowledge and generate a helpful answer. A dedicated Siri app allows users to revisit a past conversation or kick off a new one — all in one place — and uses iCloud to privately sync conversational history across a user’s products.

Apple (MacRumors, MacStories):

Powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence, Siri AI is a completely reimagined version of Siri that is more helpful, more capable, and more intelligent. With detailed, engaging responses and natural back-and-forth conversation, Siri AI helps users get more done than ever.

[…]

Siri has been rebuilt from the ground up with powerful AI at its core. It takes full advantage of the bold new architecture for Apple Intelligence, including the next generation of Apple Foundation Models that run on device and on servers using Private Cloud Compute. When Private Cloud Compute is handling users’ requests, their personal data is not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else. Outside experts can continue to verify this privacy promise at any time. Additionally, Siri AI uses the system orchestrator to tap into core capabilities like the Spotlight index and App Toolbox, which work entirely on device to keep users in control of their data.

[…]

For products that support Apple’s most advanced on-device model ever, Siri AI offers even more expressive voices, as well as a major boost in accuracy with systemwide dictation. Users have the ability to customize the expressiveness and pace of Siri’s voice so it’s just right for them. Dictation now captures what users say as polished text with greater precision, automatically handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting as they speak. With improved speech understanding, users can speak naturally and trust that their words will appear clearly, accurately, and as intended.

I remain uninterested in these more advanced Siri features. They matter in that Apple needs to show that they’re not “behind” and that they can actually deliver on what they announce and advertise. But I don’t find the use cases compelling and wouldn’t trust the results.

If you really care about a particular concert, would you believe Siri about how the tickets work and that it will auto-create a reminder at the right time? Why should I believe that it can figure out whether a particular irregularly shaped object can fit inside an irregularly shaped container when said shapes are probably not even published on the Web? Can it really dig into my e-mail to find the right flight info? An answer without being able to see the sources is not useful. And I certainly don’t want it to pick for itself which vacation photos to send out.

I just want the basic features—from a decade or so ago, like music controls, reminders, and access to my purchases—to work quickly, reliably, and offline to the extent possible. I did not hear anything to suggest that this was a focus. Instead, everyone is celebrating how slow the demos were because that proves they weren’t fake.

Ben Thompson:

It’s actually super important that the Siri demo was kind of slow, because it emphasized it was real. Would be even better if it were live, though.

Mark Gurman:

The other interesting thing to note from the keynote: watching the demos, there is ZERO doubt these are real, recorded demonstrations on live devices. There will be no confusion about what is real or fake like there was at WWDC 2024 and the initial attempt at the new Siri.

John Gruber:

In fact, I think most of them were single takes of multiple demos back-to-back. That’s the way it should be, even when they feel a little slow.

Jonathan Wight:

Who the fuck wears a $4000 VR headset to find out if their boots will fit in their fucking backpack?

THATS the best example they could come up for that feature?

Rob Terrell:

also I wouldn’t trust the answer anyway

Kyle Howells:

These Siri demo’s feel like OpenAI demo’s from a view years ago. However, this is built in to the operating system.

Much like Dropbox vs iCloud, I feel like long term, once it’s good enough Apple will succeed in making AI a “feature” rather than a product.

Simon B. Støvring:

Apple needed to show that they could make a version of Siri that wasn’t three years behind. They didn’t succeed.

Ben Thompson (Hacker News):

And, if your standards are the state of the art in AI circa June 2024, when Apple took their first crack at answering the question, they did quite well.

[…]

What’s fascinating about this specific demo is that it also showed just how far behind Apple is.

[…]

Still, the bubble was strong enough to convince OpenAI to make the exact same mistake Dropbox did: the company somehow convinced itself that it could make enough money selling subscriptions to consumers; Anthropic, meanwhile, realized that it was enterprises who were willing to pay for AI’s massive productivity benefits, even as OpenAI failed to capitalize on their consumer market penetration by refusing to build an advertising product.

This is a long-winded way of saying that I don’t think that Apple’s agentic shortcomings are a big deal, at least for now. Agents help you do work and be more productive, and consumers don’t want to work or care about being productive. What they do want to do is watch short-form video, and an iPhone is simply much better at that than any other device ever will be; in that context, Siri being good enough is enough, and it appears that Apple crossed that bar.

John Gruber:

They need to execute, they need to prove this can scale, and most of all, they need to get third-party apps on board with App Intents and App Schemas. But it seems like they’re doing all of that. This is not a done deal but it is very realistic.

Steve Troughton-Smith:

Siri doesn’t have access to the filesystem or tool-calling, so it’s completely unable to do the kinds of tasks you might easily do with Codex or Claude. It’s a good start, but the state of the art has already dramatically shifted over the past year. The question is will Siri move in this direction, or stick to providing answers from the web?

Will Apple introduce its own distinct Codex-style agentic programming model that can do all this, and work with Xcode? You would hope so…

Aaron Pearce:

Have new Siri now. Siri still can’t do “turn lamp off and turn plug on” in one command.

Joe Rossignol:

The revamped version of Siri that is officially named “Siri AI” will be available to test in the iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27 developer betas starting today, and it is coming to the Apple Watch in a future watchOS 27 beta. “Siri AI” will also be included in the public betas of each platform that are launching in July.

“Siri AI” requires a device that is compatible with Apple Intelligence.

Hartley Charlton:

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi has explained why the company launched a standalone Siri app in iOS 27, after previously characterizing a dedicated chatbot as contrary to its Apple Intelligence strategy.

[…]

“We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, just an unintegrated place you go and chit-chat, but rather as an integral, conversational tool that you use in the moment, deeply integrated into your experience.”

Clear as mud.

ldt:

How to bypass the new Siri waitlist (Mac only)

See also: New Siri Waitlist.

Previously:

• No Siri AI in EU
• WWDC 2026 Keynote
• Delayed Siri Features Settlement
• Gemini-Powered Siri Features Delayed
• How Apple Fumbled Siri’s AI Makeover
• Apple Shifts Siri From Giannandrea to Rockwell
• Rotten
• Apple Delays “More Personalized Siri” Apple Intelligence Features
• Revamping Siri With iOS 18

Update (2026-06-11): famebot:

…And playlists, contacts, settings and preferences. Peel off the agentic slop bandwagon and focus on core performance, smarter caching, and resilience under adverse network conditions.

Joe Fabisevich:

Love the new Siri, sick.

Update (2026-06-12): Juli Clover has a hands-on video.

Nick Heer:

Though this is a test conducted on the very first version of Siri A.I. from a fixed point in Calgary, it seems to work quite well. So far, it is better than any version of Siri Apple has released yet and, as you can see above, it is almost as good as the original 2010 demo, before Apple acquired the company.

Update (2026-06-16): Riccardo Mori:

On the one hand, if Siri has indeed become this reliable at understanding queries like those demoed so far, it’s indeed impressive. On the other hand, I can’t help but ask myself, once again, whether people at Apple even know how regular people actually use their phones and devices.

Jeff Johnson:

Apple executives downplay and obfuscate the role of Google in Siri AI. The Siri AI announcement didn’t even mention Google or Gemini once! Does anyone actually believe Apple’s BS? The argument seems to be that since Google made a bespoke implementation for Apple, Google is not really involved, and it’s all Apple. Ridiculous.

Jeff Johnson:

It’s really odd to me that Apple is getting so much credit for Google’s work. Siri now “works” to the extent it does because Siri is to a very large extent Gemini, and Apple has wrapped that in a bow.

Apple didn’t “nail” anything. Apple failed at its own internal efforts and was forced to outsource.

This is the advantage of being a platform: you can fail and still win.

Chance Miller (via John Gruber):

Apple’s Siri team, led by Craig Federighi, held a post-WWDC keynote tech talk with members of the press this afternoon to talk through iOS 27 and the new Siri AI.

During the talk, Federighi shared more details about Apple’s collaboration with Google.

Matthew Green (Lobsters):

Apple looks like it will use some combination of Google Gemini models, combined with Google’s Confidential Inference and Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute for private hosting. These systems will process both your queries and evaluate private data from your devices.

[…]

Apple has since “expanded” PCC to encompass Google’s hardware as well. I will confess that I find the details of the new “expanded” PCC just a bit vague. It sounds a lot like Apple is primarily going to rely on Google’s existing confidential compute (running in Google datacenters) to process this data, but they’re bolting on a new layer of technical security to control which models are actually running. In any case: security experts can argue about whether this is good enough to keep Cozy Bear away from your data. What I will grant is that it’s probably good enough to keep Google and Apple from accessing your stuff, which is what most people are worried about in the first place.

So why am I so nervous?

[…]

So far we’ve discussed two adversaries: the misaligned designers of private agents (such as search operators), and the possibility of remote prompt injection attacks. But of course, in any discussion of technical privacy systems we need to talk about the last elephant in the room: your government.

Previously:

• Apple Foundation Models in appleOS 27
• Apple Intelligence in appleOS 27

Conheça o SwitchBot RGBICWW, luminária de teto com Matter nativo e efeito RGBIC para luzes vibrantes e personalizáveis.

O post SwitchBot RGBICWW: iluminação hardwired com Matter nativo e efeito RGBIC apareceu primeiro em Blog do Edivaldo - Informações e Notícias sobre Linux.

ARK augmented reality describes a form of spatial interaction in which artificial intelligence does more than place digital objects in the physical world. It uses knowledge from foundation models to understand unfamiliar scenes, generate useful information and adapt its response to the person, task and environment.

The concept comes from a 2023 research paper titled “ArK: Augmented Reality with Knowledge Interactive Emergent Ability.” Its authors proposed a system that transfers knowledge from large foundation models into new physical and virtual environments. Instead of training an AI agent separately for every room, object or activity, ArK uses existing knowledge memory to interpret what it sees and generate appropriate 2D or 3D content.

Traditional augmented reality places information over reality. ARK augmented reality tries to understand reality before deciding what should appear.

That distinction creates a compelling direction for Apple. Vision Pro already blends digital content with physical space. Apple Intelligence adds language, image understanding and personal context. Visual Intelligence lets users look at objects, text and scenes before asking for information. Siri AI adds a conversational layer. ARKit, RealityKit and visionOS provide the spatial foundation.

Apple now has many of the components required to build a knowledge layer over the physical world.

ARK Augmented Reality Goes Beyond Digital Overlays

Most familiar augmented reality experiences are relatively fixed. A furniture app places a digital sofa in a room. A navigation app displays arrows over a street. A museum app identifies an artwork. A repair app shows where a component belongs.

These experiences can be useful, but they usually depend on predefined content and rules. The system recognizes a known object or location, then presents prepared information.

ARK augmented reality proposes something more adaptive. A knowledge-enabled system could enter an unfamiliar environment, interpret what is present and generate assistance based on a broader understanding of objects, relationships and possible actions.

A user looking at a complicated electrical panel would not only see labels. The system could identify the panel type, explain the purpose of each section, compare the arrangement with standard configurations and warn the user not to touch dangerous components.

A student examining a machine could ask how it works and receive a spatial explanation attached to its real parts. A surgeon could review anatomical information positioned around a medical model. A technician could receive repair guidance even when the exact equipment had not been included in a previous training dataset.

The display becomes less like a floating screen and more like an informed interpretation of the environment.

Why Apple Is Positioned to Build It

Apple’s advantage would not come from inventing every part of ARK augmented reality. It would come from combining hardware, software, artificial intelligence and personal context into one controlled ecosystem.

Vision Pro already understands rooms, surfaces, hands, eyes and objects well enough to place digital content convincingly in physical space. Its cameras and sensors continuously map the environment while visionOS manages windows, volumes and immersive experiences.

Apple Intelligence provides another layer. Foundation models can interpret language, summarize information, generate content and connect requests with app actions. Visual Intelligence can identify text, images and real-world objects. Siri AI can act as the conversational interface.

The Apple ecosystem also provides personal context that a generic AR platform may not have. Calendar knows the user’s schedule. Maps understands location. Photos contains visual history. Notes and Mail hold project information. Health contains personal trends. Home understands rooms, accessories and automations.

An Apple-built knowledge layer could combine the environment in front of the user with the information already available across trusted devices and apps.

A person preparing for a meeting could look at a conference room and see the agenda, participant names and relevant documents arranged around the table. A traveler could look across a train station and receive directions connected to the correct platform, departure time and digital ticket. A homeowner could examine a room and see live information from temperature, air-quality and energy sensors.

The physical environment becomes the interface.

Vision Pro Is the Laboratory

Vision Pro is the obvious development platform for this idea because it already offers the cameras, displays, sensors and processing required for advanced spatial understanding. Its size and price limit broad adoption, but those same characteristics allow Apple and developers to test experiences that would be harder to build first on lightweight glasses.

ARK augmented reality on Vision Pro could become especially useful in enterprise environments. Apple already promotes the headset for employee training, product design, field service, collaboration and specialized visualization.

A worker could enter an unfamiliar facility and receive contextual instructions attached to real equipment. An engineer could inspect a physical prototype while design changes, performance data and maintenance history appear around it. A new employee could learn a workflow through spatial guidance generated from company manuals and operational knowledge.

The system would not need to display every available fact. It would need to understand which information fits the current task.

That is where AI knowledge becomes more valuable than a traditional AR overlay. Too much information can be as disruptive as too little. A strong system should filter, prioritize and explain rather than cover the room with floating labels.

The iPhone Could Bring ARK to More People

Vision Pro may be the development environment, but iPhone could provide the scale. The iPhone already combines cameras, LiDAR on Pro models, location, motion sensing, Visual Intelligence and Apple Intelligence.

An iPhone-based ARK experience would be less continuous because users would need to hold up the device. It could still deliver useful knowledge interaction without requiring a headset.

A user could point the camera at a plant and receive care guidance based on its species, visible condition, local weather and placement in the room. Someone assembling furniture could receive generated guidance positioned over the actual parts. A shopper could compare products by looking at them rather than manually searching for each model.

The difference from ordinary visual search would be interaction. The user could ask follow-up questions, change the goal and let the system update the visual guidance.

Future glasses could eventually make the experience persistent. The iPhone would help Apple develop the intelligence, privacy controls and app ecosystem before lightweight eyewear becomes ready.

A World That Explains Itself

The most ambitious version of ARK augmented reality is a world in which information is attached to objects, places and situations only when requested or needed.

A city could become understandable without searching through maps, review sites and separate transit apps. Buildings could reveal history. Streets could explain temporary closures. Restaurants could surface reservations, dietary options and accessibility details. Public transport could show the correct entrance and platform.

Inside a home, Apple’s knowledge layer could explain energy use, identify maintenance problems and guide repairs. In a classroom, physical models could become interactive lessons. In healthcare, patients could receive visual instructions for approved home procedures or medication devices.

The experience would depend on context rather than menus. The user looks, asks and receives information positioned where it belongs.

This is the transition from augmented reality as decoration to augmented reality as understanding.

Privacy Will Decide Whether It Works

A knowledge layer capable of understanding the physical world also creates serious privacy questions. The system may see homes, workplaces, documents, faces, screens and private conversations. The more context it receives, the more useful it becomes. The same access can also make it invasive.

Apple’s privacy architecture could become one of its strongest advantages. On-device processing would allow some scene understanding without sending continuous camera feeds to external servers. Private Cloud Compute could handle more complex requests while preserving stricter controls than an ordinary cloud AI service.

Apple would also need visible controls over what is analyzed, remembered and shared. A user should know when the system is interpreting the environment and whether information is temporary or retained. Workplaces and public spaces would need rules for recording, identification and sensitive data.

ARK augmented reality cannot become socially acceptable if people feel that nearby devices are constantly cataloging them.

The successful version would behave less like surveillance and more like intentional assistance. The user asks for understanding. The system processes only what is needed. The knowledge disappears when the task ends unless the user chooses to save it.

Developers Could Build Knowledge Worlds

Apple would not need to create every knowledge experience itself. visionOS, ARKit, RealityKit and App Intents could let developers connect specialized knowledge with physical environments.

A medical company could build guidance for approved equipment. A manufacturer could create spatial maintenance systems. A university could attach interactive explanations to laboratories and museums. A retailer could create product comparisons based on inventory and customer preferences.

Apple could provide the shared intelligence layer: scene understanding, object recognition, language interaction, privacy permissions and spatial presentation. Developers would provide the trusted domain knowledge.

This division would be essential. General AI can explain many things, but professional environments require verified information. A generated answer about a historical building has different consequences from an answer about industrial machinery or medical treatment.

Apple’s platform could distinguish between general knowledge and certified domain sources, allowing users to see where information comes from before acting.

From Spatial Computing to Contextual Computing

Apple describes Vision Pro as a spatial computer because digital content can occupy physical space. ARK augmented reality suggests the next progression: contextual computing.

A spatial computer knows where digital content is placed. A contextual computer understands why the content is useful in that location, what the user is trying to accomplish and which knowledge should appear.

That would connect several Apple strategies that currently look separate. Vision Pro supplies spatial awareness. Apple Intelligence supplies reasoning and generation. Siri AI supplies conversation. Visual Intelligence supplies real-world understanding. The ecosystem supplies personal context.

Together, they could create a system that does not wait for users to open the correct app and search through the correct menu. The environment itself becomes the starting point.

Apple’s opportunity is to make that interaction restrained rather than overwhelming. The company does not need to cover reality with digital noise. It can use design, privacy and contextual intelligence to make information appear only when it improves the moment.

ARK augmented reality offers a useful description of that future. Reality remains visible. Knowledge becomes interactive. The computer begins to understand the world in front of the user instead of asking the user to translate everything into a search box.

The post ARK Augmented Reality Could Build Apple’s Knowledge Layer appeared first on AppleMagazine.

Saron Yitbarek, writing on the WebKit blog:

In Safari Technology Preview 247, we’re introducing the Safari MCP server — a Model Context Protocol server for web developers that makes your web development and debugging workflow faster and more powerful. We know agents are increasingly integral to the coding process and the Safari MCP server gives your agent the ability to know how your code actually renders in the browser by connecting it to a Safari browser window.

Any MCP-compatible client can connect to the Safari MCP server. By connecting your agent to a Safari browser window, your agent can emulate what your users experience, giving it the information it needs to debug more autonomously, like access to the DOM, network requests, screenshots, and console output.

Importantly:

The Safari MCP server runs entirely on your local machine and makes no network calls of its own. It also does not have access to your personal information in Safari (e.g. AutoFill or other browser activity). When it captures page content, screenshots, or console logs, that data goes directly to the agent you’re running — not to Apple. What happens to that data from there depends on the agent and model you’re using. As with any agent you give access to your browser, only use ones you trust.

For the past few months, I’ve been using Google Chrome on my MacBook Pro and Mac Studio not because I like the browser (in fact, I really dislike Chrome’s text rendering and UI), but simply because it was the best option for agents. In Codex specifically, between Playwright, Chrome Dev Tools, and OpenAI’s own Chrome extension, I could kick off research tasks (such as vacation planning and booking a hotel) that involved a browser directly from my iPhone, letting Codex drive the research on my remote Mac.

Now, thanks to Safari’s new MCP server, I no longer have to use Chrome on desktop and can return to a unified browser setup across all my devices. Even better: it actually looks like Apple shipped the most ergonomic browser MCP for agents to date. The MCP server has dedicated tools for page extraction (including getting webpages as Markdown, based on WebKit’s own conversion pipeline), evaluating JavaScript, DOM interactions (clicking, scrolling, resizing the viewport for mobile screens, etc.), taking screenshots, and more. I set this up immediately in Codex, and I also asked Codex about comparing Safari’s MCP to its own Chrome extension and the older Playwright. The verdict: although Chrome has a richer API with Chrome Dev Tools when it comes to network requests, Codex actually preferred Apple’s leaner, more direct approach for letting an agent drive and debug a browser.

I’m really happy to see folks at Apple embrace agentic tools: between the new MCP capabilities of Xcode and now this, it looks like Apple’s software (on the Mac, of course) is becoming more and more approachable by people who are working in new ways thanks to agents. Whether you’re a web developer or tinkerer, I highly recommend checking out what Apple has released in Safari Technology Preview. More of this, please.