Bluetooth

Cook: AirPods shipping over the “next few weeks”

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 30, 2016

We were originally promised the AirPods in “late October” before Apple delayed launch because, as the company explained in a statement, “we don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready.” Since then, multiple sources reported conflicting availability information pertaining to the product, ranging from end of November to year-end to January 2017.

According to an alleged reply that a MacRumors reader received after emailing Tim Cook, Apple's first Bluetooth earphones with an in-house designed W1 wireless chip will be shipping to customers over the next few weeks.

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French retailer tells customers AirPods will begin shipping on or around November 30

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 12, 2016

Another European reseller is claiming that it's privy to when Apple's $159 AirPods wireless headphones will start shipping after German authorized reseller Conrad told a customer a week ago that it would be kicking off AirPods sales tomorrow, November 18.

French retailer Fnac has apparently started the pre-order process for the wireless earphones.

Fnac reportedly told customers who pre-ordered their AirPods that the accessory would start shipping on or around Wednesday, November 30, Mac4Ever said Thursday.

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AirPods production said to kick off in December

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 12, 2016

A report earlier this week alleged that one of Apple’s European resellers told a customer it would receive first AirPods stock on November 17 and start selling the earphones by November 18-19.

Contradicting the story, Barclays analysts heard chatter in the Asian supply chain that mass production of the delayed accessory is scheduled to kick off in December in time for Christmas, but in limited quantities, Yahoo Finance reported Friday.

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Surenix releases Power 2, an iPhone battery life companion app for Apple Watch

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 3, 2016

Thientam Bach, better known by a large amount of the jailbreak community as Surenix for his design work on high-end themes and jailbreak tweaks, released his first app in the App Store last year called Power.

It was essentially an information-based app that showed data about your iPhone's battery level on your Apple Watch at a glance. But because so much has changed in iOS 10 and watchOS 3, Bach has released Power 2 in the App Store on Thursday with new features and support for the latest operating systems.

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AirPods may not ship until January 2017

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 1, 2016
Male headshot showing a profile of a young person wearing an AirPod in their left ear

After Apple shared disappointing news that the much vaunted AirPods aren’t quite ready yet and won't meet its self-imposed late-October deadline, a new report from Chinese-language Economic Daily News re-published Tuesday by Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes suggests that Apple's first-ever wireless earphones may not actually go on sale before January of next year.

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More people are interested in buying AirPods than Apple Watch Series 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2016

According to a new survey of more than a thousand customers in the United States, conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and cited in today's BusinessInsider article, a whopping twelve percent of respondents are interested in buying Apple's $159 wireless AirPods earbuds when they go on sale next month, resulting in an incremental $3 billion in revenue.

In fact, more respondents said they planned to purchase the AirPods than the new Apple Watch Series 2 (eight percent).

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MacID update brings improvements for iOS 10, watchOS 3, and macOS Sierra

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 27, 2018

An important update for the popular MacID utility for iOS and macOS has been released this week with improvements for iOS 10, watchOS 3, and macOS Sierra.

The utility is known for its ability to let you securely unlock your Mac with the Touch ID sensor on your iPhone or iPad, but it also has built-in features that let you unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch over Bluetooth or with a Tap to Unlock gesture on the trackpad.

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Turning on Power Reserve mode on your Apple Watch

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated December 28, 2021
Apple Watch in Power Reserve mode showing just the current time on its watch face

Power Reserve mode is a feature of watchOS that let's you conserve what's left of your battery when you get low on juice by limiting your Apple Watch's functionality to nothing more than a time piece.

Starting with watchOS 3, the steps to enable it has changed, so we'll show you how it's done.

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A mysterious wireless Apple device with Bluetooth and NFC has surfaced in an FCC filing

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 23, 2016

A mysterious low-powered wireless device from Apple has just passed testing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and could be released in the United States in the next few months, according to an FCC filing that was first spotted by French blog Consomac.

It's designated by the model number “A1844”, includes both Bluetooth wireless functionality and built-in NFC and is rated at between 100mA and 700mA (from 5.5V to 13.2V).

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