MacRumors

Geekbench scores allegedly for the upcoming "M2 Max" chip have surfaced online, offering a closer look at the performance levels and specific details of the forthcoming Apple silicon processor.

The Geekbench results, first spotted on Twitter, are for a Mac configuration of with the ‌M2‌ Max chip, a 12-core CPU, and 96GB of memory. The Mac listed has an identifier "Mac14,6," which could be upcoming MacBook Pros or the next-generation Mac Studio. Apple offers a maximum of 64GB of memory on the current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, while the ‌Mac Studio‌ can be configured with up to 128GB of memory with the M1 Ultra.

According to the test, the ‌M2‌ Max chip scored 1,853 in single-core and 13,855 in multi-core. For comparison, the M1 Max chip in the Mac Studio scored 1,755 in single-core and 12,333 in multi-core. If the ‌M2‌ Max chip results are accurate, the performance increase will be relatively minor for the upcoming chip.

The ‌M2‌ chip, announced in June 2022, is based on an enhanced version of TSMC's 5nm process. What fabrication process the upcoming ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max chips will have is not entirely clear. While they could feature the same enhanced 5nm process as the standard ‌M2‌ chip, there are also rumors it could leapfrog to 3nm, offering significant performance and energy efficiency gains.

According to the results, the chip was tested on a Mac running macOS Ventura 13.2, which has yet to enter developer or public beta testing but is being worked on internally at Apple. The first Macs expected to feature the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max chips are rumored to be updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, with the ‌Mac Studio‌ to follow sometime next year. The updated MacBook Pros were initially rumored to launch in the October to November timeframe but are now expected to launch in early 2023.

Apple has several Macs in the work for 2023, including updated MacBook Pros, an updated iMac, and the long-rumored Apple silicon Mac Pro. For a complete rundown of all the new Macs we expect next year and beyond, be sure to check out our guide.

Tapbots, the company behind the popular Tweetbot app designed for Twitter, is working on developing a new app called Ivory that integrates with the Mastodon social network.

Currently in beta testing, the Ivory app is in the early stages of development, with many features that still need to be implemented and bugs that need to be worked out, but it is a promising start.

Many Twitter users have been swapping over to Mastodon following the Twitter takeover by Elon Musk, and Mastodon has seen a major uptick in adoption over the past few weeks. The app now has over one million monthly active users, with roughly one half of those added since October.

Mastodon is a decentralized social network that allows for people to create their own servers, and it is more confusing to use than Twitter. The website and the app are not immediately familiar to Twitter users, but apps like Ivory could ease the transition for those who are leaving Twitter.

Ivory has a design that is quite similar to Tweetbot at the current time, offering access to a timeline, @ mentions, search, profile, and other options. There's also a dedicated compose button shaped like a horn, as posts on Mastodon are referred to as "toots."

It will be some time yet before Ivory is ready for a public release as a number of features like push notifications and lists are not yet implemented, but Tweetbot fans who have moved to Mastodon will be pleased to hear about the Tapbots project.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple CEO Tim Cook this week traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with top Republican lawmakers, reports Bloomberg. Cook is said to be aiming to create ties with the GOP as it prepares to assume control of the House in the new year.

Cook has scheduled meetings with Ohio's Jim Jordan, California's Darrell Issa, and Washington's Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Jordan and McMorris Rodgers will likely be involved with committees that are overseeing the tech industry, heading up the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively.

Apple is dealing with U.S. antitrust legislation that could result in major changes to the company's App Store policies. There are five separate bipartisan bills that are being considered, and just this week, Twitter CEO Elon Musk spurred lawmaker interest in Apple with his claim that Apple has threatened to "withhold Twitter from its ‌App Store‌" and has stopped advertising on Twitter.

As Bloomberg points out, Cook's meetings were scheduled weeks before Musk's Twitter rant, but Twitter could be a topic of discussion. Jim Jordan, who Cook is meeting with, has publicly supported Musk, for example.

Cook will also meet with Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas, Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich from New Mexico and Democratic Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii as Apple aims to steer regulators away from ‌App Store‌ legislation and questions about the company's device manufacturing in China.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Anker's popular Eufy-branded security cameras appear to be sending some data to the cloud, even when cloud storage is disabled and local only storage settings are turned on. The information comes from security consultant Paul Moore, who last week published a video outlining the issue.

According to Moore, he purchased a Eufy Doorbell Dual, which was meant to be a device that stored video recording on device. He found that Eufy is uploading thumbnail images of faces and user information to its cloud service when cloud functionality is not enabled.

Moore demonstrates the unauthorized cloud uploading by allowing his camera to capture his image and turning off the Eufy HomeBase. The website is still able to access the content through cloud integration, though he had not signed up for cloud service, and it remains accessible even when the footage is removed from the Eufy app. It's important to note that Eufy does not appear to be automatically uploading full streaming video to the cloud, but rather taking captures of the video as thumbnails.

The thumbnails are used in the Eufy app to activate streaming video from the Eufy base station, allowing Eufy users to watch their videos when away from home, as well as for sending rich notifications. The problem is the thumbnails are uploaded to the cloud automatically even when the cloud functionality is not active, and Eufy also seems to be using facial recognition on the uploads. Some users have taken issue with the unauthorized cloud uploads because Eufy advertises local-only service and has been popular among those who want a more private camera solution. "No Clouds or Costs," reads the Eufy website.

Moore suggests that Eufy is also able to link facial recognition data collected from two separate cameras and two separate apps to users, all without camera owners being aware.

Other Eufy users responded to Moore's tweet and saw the same thing happening, and there is also a dedicated Reddit thread on the subject. Moore tested the Eufy doorbell camera, but this also appears to be how other Eufy cameras function. As Moore demonstrates, the images can be accessed with simple URLs after logging in, which is a potential security risk for those concerned. Eufy did remove the background call that reveals the stored images after Moore's tweet, but did not remove the footage.

Moore received a response from Eufy in which Eufy confirmed that it is uploading event lists and thumbnails to AWS, but said the data is not able to "leak to the public" because the URL is restricted, time limited, and requires account login.

There is also another issue that Moore has highlighted, suggesting Eufy camera streams can be watched live using an app like VLC, but little information on the exploit is available at this time. Moore said that unencrypted Eufy camera content can be accessed without authentication, which is alarming for Eufy users.

We've contacted Anker for additional comment on the Eufy issue and will update this article if we hear back. Moore said that he has been in touch with Eufy's legal department and will give them time to "investigate and take appropriate action" before he comments further.

Update: Anker provided a statement to MacRumors, explaining why the images are collected and how the issue will be addressed going forward.

eufy Security is designed as a local home security system. All video footage is stored locally and encrypted on the user's device. With regard to eufy Security’s facial recognition technology, this is all processed and stored locally on the user's device.

Our products, services and processes are in full compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards, including ISO 27701/27001 and ETSI 303645 certifications.

To provide users with push notifications to their mobile devices, some of our security solutions create small preview images (thumbnails) of videos that are briefly and securely hosted on an AWS-based cloud server. These thumbnails utilize server-side encryption and are set to automatically delete and are in compliance with Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging standards. Users can only access or share these thumbnails after securely logging into their eufy Security account.

Although our eufy Security app allows users to choose between text-based or thumbnail-based push notifications, it was not made clear that choosing thumbnail-based notifications would require preview images to be briefly hosted in the cloud.

That lack of communication was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for our error. This is how we plan to improve our communication in this matter:

1) We are revising the push notifications option language in the eufy Security app to clearly detail that push notifications with thumbnails require preview images that will be temporarily stored in the cloud.

2) We will be more clear about the use of cloud for push notifications in our consumer-facing marketing materials.

eufy Security is committed to the privacy and protection of our users' data and appreciates the security research community reaching out to us to bring this to our attention.

An unnamed 27-year-old man who purchased 300 iPhones from Apple Fifth Avenue on Monday morning was robbed shortly after leaving the store, according to 1010Wins Radio in New York.

He was carrying 300 iPhone 13s in three bags and walking to his car at 1:45 a.m. when another car pulled up next to him. Two men jumped out and demanded that he hand over the bags. Not wanting to hand over 300 iPhones, the victim put up a fight and was ultimately punched in the face before thieves made off with one of the bags.

The bag contained 125 iPhones that were worth $95,000. Police said the man in question often made large ‌iPhone‌ purchases from the Fifth Avenue Store in order to resell them through his small business. It is not clear why he was making the purchase at 1:00 in the morning, nor whether he was specifically targeted based on past purchasing habits.

Apple's Fifth Avenue location is open 24 hours a day, allowing for the early morning purchases. Apple also had a Black Friday sale going on at the time, which the thieves may have been aware of.

The NYPD is investigating the robbery, and the victim was not seriously injured. A description of the suspects and their vehicles has not yet been released.

Apple's plan to pay $50 million to settle a long running class-action lawsuit over the faulty butterfly keyboard today received preliminary approval from a California federal judge (via Law360). The payment will include $13.6 million in attorney fees, up to $2 million in litigation costs, and $1.4 million in settlement administration costs, with the rest distributed to class members.

Dating back to 2018, the lawsuit covers customers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, who complained that Apple was well aware of the faulty keyboard mechanism used in MacBook Pro machines between 2015 and 2019. The lawsuit claimed that Apple concealed the defect from consumers in order to continue to sell the devices.

Apple added the butterfly keyboard to MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro machines in 2015 and 2016, claiming that the keyboard offered superior key feel and stability while also allowing for a thinner design. Not long after the initial butterfly keyboard Macs launched, customers learned they were prone to failure.

Thousands of people ran into problems with repeating keys, sticky keys, and keys that otherwise failed when dust and other particulates got into the butterfly mechanism. The complaints led to a huge controversy over the butterfly technology, and Apple ended up launching a keyboard repair program in June 2018.

The repair program covered MacBook, MacBook Pro, and ‌MacBook Air‌ models for only four years, and Apple was only replacing butterfly keyboards with another butterfly keyboard, so some customers had repeat failures that were ultimately no longer covered. The lawsuit alleged that Apple's repair program was not sufficient for this reason.

Apple attempted to iterate on the butterfly mechanism to make it more durable, so there were three butterfly keyboard generations in total, but all of them were prone to failure. Apple had to replace butterfly keyboards with more reliable scissor switch keyboards, with the company phasing out the last butterfly keyboard in 2020. All Macs now use the scissor switch mechanism that does not experience the same issues.

Apple initially agreed to the settlement in mid-2022, but it now has early approval from the judge overseeing the case. Awards to customers from the settlement will be based on the number of repairs required, with amounts up to $395 for those who had two or more topcase replacements.

Mac owners who received butterfly keyboard replacements will begin receiving class notices later in December.

iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 will be "significantly lower" than the market consensus due to labor protests at Foxconn's main iPhone factory in China, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo today said iPhone production at the factory in Zhengzhou has been "significantly affected" by the protests over unfavorable working conditions, leading him to cut his iPhone shipments forecast for the fourth quarter of 2022 by 20% to 70-75 million units, compared to a market consensus of 80-85 million units.

The average capacity utilization rate at the factory was only about 20% in November, and is only expected to improve to 30–40% in December, according to Kuo. He said Pegatron and Luxshare have each obtained about 10% of iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max orders from Foxconn, but said mass shipments will not be until late December at the earliest.

Kuo believes that the production issues could result in iPhone revenue being "significantly lower than the market consensus by 20–30% or more" this quarter.

Due to lengthy shipping delays and a recession, Kuo believes that most of the demand for iPhone 14 Pro models this quarter will simply "disappear" rather than be deferred, suggesting that many customers who would have purchased an iPhone 14 Pro right now will not return to order the device in January or later once supply improves.

iPhone 14 Pro models currently face at least a four-week shipping delay on Apple's online store in the U.S. as the company struggles to maintain supply.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, many of the season's best deals have expired. Although we expect some to return before the holiday season ends, today we're tracking two M2 iPad Pro deals you can still get on Amazon.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Starting with the 11-inch M2 iPad Pro, you can get the 256GB Wi-Fi model for $829.00, down from $899.00. This one is only available in Space Gray on Amazon, and it's an all-time low price.

Secondly, the 128GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro is on sale for $999.00, down from $1,099.00. This sale emerged a few days before Black Friday and has remained one of the more consistent deals this season, and it's another record low price on the 2022 tablet.

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Apple today announced that Slate's narrative podcast series "Slow Burn" has won the first-ever Apple Podcasts Award for Show of the Year.

Apple says the podcast won the award in recognition of its latest season "Roe v. Wade," in which Slate executive editor Susan Matthews explored the events leading up to the landmark Supreme Court decision in 1973. The four-part miniseries was released throughout June and is being awarded for "outstanding quality, innovation, and impact."

The new award is made from 100% recycled aluminum and has the Apple Podcasts app icon on the front and the award winner printed on the back. It looks very similar to the App Store Award that has been awarded since 2020. Apple says the award represents the company's "decades-long commitment to supporting creators as they share their voices with the world and helping listeners to discover the best podcasts."

"Apple Podcasts is where users discover new shows, enjoy their favorites, unlock premium listening experiences, and support the creators who make them possible," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Beats. "Podcasting plays an important role in our lives — helping us stay informed, keep entertained, and get inspired — and we're pleased to honor the Slate team with this recognition."

Starting today, users can explore six new "Slow Burn Extras" episodes available for free exclusively on Apple Podcasts.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple today rolled out an updated Apple Music Replay experience for 2022, showcasing a new "highlight reel" feature.

The overhauled experience, which started to be noticed by ‌Apple Music‌ subcribers on Twitter earlier today, puts the new highlight reel feature at the forefront of the Replay webpage, which users are encouraged to interact with before delving into more detailed information and expanded listening insights.

The highlight reel presents a series of social media-style animated cards that show musical highlights from the past year based on your listening history. Relevant music plays in the background for each card. The highlight reel is viewable on desktop browsers, but it appears to be primarily designed for mobile displays.

After the highlight reel, users can scroll down to see featured sections with more informative breakdowns of their top albums and playlists from the past year. Users can add their ‌Apple Music‌ Replay 2022 playlist to the Music app at the bottom of the page.

The move brings the experience somewhat closer to Spotify Wrapped, but ‌Apple Music‌ Replay remains a web browser only experience. The Music app itself can only show and play a basic playlist of your top songs for the year, ranked by most played, once it has been added via the Replay webpage.

To view your 2022 ‌Apple Music‌ Replay experience and try out the new highlight reel, visit replay.music.apple.com.

---

Update: Apple has now officially announced the redesigned ‌Apple Music‌ Replay experience. It also revealed its ‌Apple Music‌ year-end charts, highlighting 2022's top songs, top Shazams, top fitness songs, and most-read lyrics. See ‌Apple Music‌'s complete list of Year-End Charts for more information.

Apple today announced its 2022 App Store Award winners, highlighting the 16 best apps and games selected by Apple's global ‌App Store‌ editorial team.

The top apps were chosen by Apple for their quality, innovative technology, creative design, positive cultural impact, and ability to deliver "exceptional experiences." Apple CEO Tim Cook said:

This year's App Store Award winners reimagined our experiences with apps that delivered fresh, thoughtful, and genuine perspectives. From self-taught solo creators to international teams spanning the globe, these entrepreneurs are making a meaningful impact, and represent the ways in which apps and games influence our communities and lives.

Apps

• iPhone App of the Year: BeReal, from BeReal.
• iPad App of the Year: GoodNotes 5, from Time Base Technology Limited.
• Mac App of the Year: MacFamilyTree 10, from Synium Software GmbH.
• Apple TV App of the Year: ViX, from TelevisaUnivision Interactive, Inc.
• Apple Watch App of the Year: Gentler Streak, from Gentler Stories LLC.

Games

• iPhone Game of the Year: Apex Legends Mobile, from Electronic Arts.
• iPad Game of the Year: Moncage, from X.D. Network Inc.
• Mac Game of the Year: Inscryption, from Devolver.
• Apple TV Game of the Year: El Hijo, from HandyGames.
• Apple Arcade Game of the Year: Wylde Flowers, from Studio Drydock Pty Ltd.
• China Game of the Year: League of Legends Esports Manager, from Shenzhen Tencent Tianyou Technology Ltd.

Apple also highlighted five "Cultural Impact Winners," which it says "have made a lasting impact on people's lives and influenced culture." The winning apps in this category are as follows:

• How We Feel, from the How We Feel Project, Inc.
• Dot's Home, from the Rise-Home Stories Project
• Locket Widget, from Locket Labs, Inc.
• Waterllama, from Vitalii Mogylevets
• Inua - A Story in Ice and Time, from ARTE Experience

"This year's winners encourage users to engage more deeply with their emotions, authentically connect with others, and pay homage to their heritage and the generations that came before them while envisioning how to create a better world today," according to Apple.

Each App or Game of the Year winner will receive a physical App Store award that's modeled after the design of the ‌App Store‌ logo. Each award is created from 100 percent recycled aluminum and it has the name of the winner engraved on the side.

Popular skiing and snowboarding app Slopes over the weekend added support for the Apple Watch Ultra's Action Button, making it one of the few third-party apps with native support for the feature.

‌Apple Watch Ultra‌ owners can program the Action Button to start a workout using the Slopes app, making it quicker to begin a skiing or snowboarding session. The Slopes app is designed to automatically determine your resort or backcountry location when a workout is started, so all that's needed is to activate the Action Button.

There are a limited number of third-party apps that support the Action Button at this time, and popular titles like Strava have yet to implement support. Apps and features can be launched using Shortcuts, but it is more convenient for users when developers build the feature into their apps.

The Action Button can be customized through the Settings app on the ‌Apple Watch Ultra‌. It supports several native Apple Watch functions, such as launching a workout, starting the stopwatch, adding a waypoint to the Compass app, starting a dive, activating the flashlight, and launching a user-created Shortcut.

Slopes is available for free from the App Store, but there is a premium subscription or a daypass subscription that is required to unlock all features. The developers behind Slopes are often quick to add new iOS functionality, so the app also offers Live Activity support for the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, widgets, and other features.

Apple today announced it is opening a new retail store at the massive American Dream shopping mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Saturday, December 3, at 11 a.m. local time. The store is located around 10 miles outside Midtown Manhattan by car.

American Dream is the second-largest shopping mall in the U.S. behind the Mall of America in Minnesota. Opened in 2019, the three-million-square-foot shopping destination has several indoor attractions, including the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park, DreamWorks Water Park, a year-round indoor skiing and snowboarding resort, an NHL-sized ice skating rink, a burger restaurant owned by YouTube star MrBeast, and more.

The store features Apple's latest retail design, including a dedicated pickup area for orders placed on Apple's online store. Like other locations, the store will offer free Today at Apple creative sessions and Genius Bar appointments for hardware support.

Apple's grand opening date at American Dream was first spotted by Michael Steeber, who recently released an iPhone app tracking all of the company's retail locations.

Apple operates over 520 retail stores worldwide, including 11 other locations in New Jersey.

Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 models will be equipped with Sony's newest "state of the art" image sensors, according to a report from Nikkei.

Compared to standard sensors, Sony's image sensor doubles the saturation signal in each pixel, allowing it to capture more light to cut down on underexposure and overexposure. Nikkei says that it is able to better photograph a person's face even with strong backlighting, as an example.

Sony is using semiconductor architecture that puts photodiodes and transistors in separate layers, allowing for more photodiodes. It is not clear if all of the ‌iPhone 15‌ models will use the new sensor technology, or if Apple will limit it to the higher-end "Pro" ‌iPhone 15‌ models.

At the current time, rumors suggest that the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro will have several exclusive features that will not be available in the standard ‌iPhone 15‌ models, including an updated A17 chip, a faster USB-C port, more RAM, and most notably, updated zoom camera technology.

Apple is working on a periscope telephoto lens that will improve the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro's optical zoom capabilities, allowing for up to 10x optical zoom to match some Android smartphones that are on the market.

The Sony image sensor technology described here would likely be used for the Wide camera that Apple considers the iPhone's "main" camera as Apple typically uses different technology for each lens.

Apple has cut back on its Twitter advertising, according to Twitter CEO Elon Musk. In a tweet, Musk said that Apple has "mostly stopped" its Twitter ads, asking if Apple hates "free speech."

Musk went on to publish a poll asking if Apple should "publish all censorship actions" taken that impact customers and he began retweeting content from companies that Apple has had moderation discussions with. He also retweeted the 1984 parody video from Epic Games that suggested Apple has an App Store monopoly.

Since Musk took over Twitter, advertisers have been pulling back on Twitter-based ad campaigns because of Musk's approach to moderation and the re-enabling of previously suspended and banned accounts, such as that of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Musk eliminated more than half of Twitter employees over the course of the last few weeks, including many who handled policy creation and content moderation. This has caused issues with advertisers, especially after the bungled launch of the $8 Twitter Blue subscription that included account verification. Twitter users quickly learned they could pay $8 to impersonate high-profile accounts and companies, leading to chaos on the platform.

Last week, nonprofit organization Media Matters released a report suggesting Twitter has lost half of its top 100 advertisers. These advertisers spent $2 billion in 2020 and more than $750 million in 2022, so Twitter is facing notable losses in ad revenue. Companies like AT&T, CNN, Dell, Allstate, DirecTV, HP, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Verizon, General Mills, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo, and others are no longer running Twitter ads.

Musk has attempted to persuade advertisers to remain on the platform, going as far as personally calling the CEOs of some brands, according to Financial Times. Musk has been "berating" companies that have pulled out of Twitter ads, leading some to reduce spending to a bare minimum to "avoid further confrontation" with Musk, who has been championing "free speech" and "civil debate" on the platform.

Apple ‌App Store‌ chief Phil Schiller deactivated his Twitter account following Musk's takeover, a signal that Apple executives are not pleased with the direction that Twitter is heading, which could lead to additional clashes over moderation in the future. Last Friday, Musk commented on Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies, giving some insight into what might happen if content on Twitter grows problematic. Musk has confirmed that Apple is "making moderation demands" and has threatened to "withhold Twitter from its ‌App Store‌."

Should Twitter get to the point where its lack of moderation causes Apple and Google to remove it from their stores, Musk said that he will "make an alternative phone." He said that it hopes "it does not come to that," but will do so if there is "no other choice."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Ahead of the Oceanic+ app launching on the Apple Watch Ultra today, a few individuals received some early hands-on time with a beta version of the app. Designed by Huish Outdoors in collaboration with Apple, the app allows the Apple Watch Ultra to be used as a dive computer for recreational scuba diving at depths up to 40 meters/130 feet.

For those unaware, rising to the surface level too quickly after scuba diving can result in decompression sickness, which occurs when dissolved gases like nitrogen in the blood and tissues form bubbles inside the body due to rapid depressurization. A dive computer aims to prevent decompression sickness by measuring the depth and elapsed time during a dive and using an algorithm to warn you if you are ascending too fast.

Apple Watch Ultra uses the Bühlmann decompression algorithm, which is said to be widely used and trusted across the scuba diving industry.

TechCrunch's Haje Jan Kamps believes the Apple Watch Ultra offers a "significantly nicer" user experience than traditional dive watches:

The Apple Watch Ultra's huge touch-screen makes the user experience significantly nicer than on traditional dive watches, which can be pretty indecipherable from time to time. Think user interfaces that seem like relics from the 1980s Casio watch era, and you get a pretty good idea.

Jan Kamps praised the app's color-coded safety warnings for no-decompression limit, excessive ascent rates, safety stop guidance, and water temperature, and noted that the haptic feedback for alerts is "easily felt through a wetsuit."

All in all, Jan Kamps was impressed with the Apple Watch Ultra and said it compared excellently to his dive watch from Finnish company Suunto:

Once in the water, there is remarkably little to say about the Apple Watch Ultra as a dive computer: It's easy to use; the crown and buttons are phenomenal as far as user interfaces go, the screens are well-designed; and the important information is clear and very easy to read.

I brought my trusty old Suunto that has been with me on many a dive to serve as my secondary dive computer for these test dives. The readouts from the two dive computers were almost identical all the way through. The small differences can be attributed to having the Suunto in my pocket while the Apple Watch was on my wrist.

Jan Kamps did note that two out of around 40 divers he tested Oceanic+ with experienced unspecified issues with the app, but he was not entirely sure if this was the result of user error or whether the app malfunctioned in some way.

Priced at $799, the Apple Watch Ultra features new depth gauge and water temperature sensors that allow Oceanic+ to function. On a "cost-per-day-used basis," Jan Kamps argued that the Apple Watch Ultra is an "absolute bargain compared to every dive computer on the market today" since it can also be used for other smartwatch functions.

Conversely, CNET's Jesse Orrall said the Apple Watch Ultra being a smartwatch rather than a dedicated dive computer "sometimes made it difficult" to use. Specifically, he said most dive computers "don't have a touchscreen or a water lock, and they don't require a passcode," but it's worth noting that the Oceanic+ website says as soon as the Apple Watch Ultra enters the water, it works even without a passcode for diving.

Orrall said scrolling through the Oceanic+ screens with the Digital Crown can be tricky:

Scrolling through the various screens with the digital crown was doable in gloves, but I accidentally scrolled past the screen I wanted a few times. I wish I could use the Apple Watch Ultra's physical side buttons to "press and hold" and toggle through the different dive screens.

DC Rainmaker's Ray Maker agreed:

About the only complaint I'd have was that the digital crown underwater seemed a bit finicky in terms of over-spinning the data pages. Getting it exactly the page I want was sometimes tricky. I'd imagine with gloves it'd be messier. It's almost like the sensitivity was…well…too sensitive. But that's a minor nit overall.

Both Orrall and Maker also pointed out that the Apple Watch Ultra cannot show how much air is remaining in a tank like some dive computers can.

Overall, Maker was impressed with the app:

As for the Oceanic+ app, it's a solid starting point, especially for casual divers. It includes everything pretty much any casual diver would need, and does it in a silly easy to use fashion. I mean, you literally just drop in the water and the app automatically starts. You don't even need to press anything to use the app. During the dive, it dutifully let me know when it was time to head up, as well as would have alerted me had I ascended to fast. It also kept track of my safety stop and reminded me of that as I passed up through that depth.

Maker said the Apple Watch Ultra's depth tracking was virtually lockstep with the Garmin Descent G1 dive computer in an indoor diving facility.

Oceanic+'s basic plan for snorkelling is free and includes depth, time, and a log of most recent dives. For $4.99 per day, $9.99 per month, or $79.99 per year, more experienced scuba divers can get access to decompression tracking, tissue loading, unlimited logbook capacity, and other stats for deeper dives. Maker said this pricing is "fairly reasonable," especially for casual divers who already own an Apple Watch Ultra.

Oceanic+ is available on the App Store and requires an Apple Watch Ultra running watchOS 9.1 or later paired with an iPhone 8 or later running iOS 16.1 or later. A companion iPhone app serves as a digital logbook for dives with detailed post-dive summaries.

Apple says users should always follow diving protocols, dive with a companion, and have a secondary device for tracking depth and time.

Scuba Diver Magazine's Mark Evans also reviewed the Oceanic+ app.

Apple today released a Rapid Security Response update that is available for those running the iOS 16.2 beta, marking the launch of the second RSR update since the feature was released in iOS 16.

The Rapid Security Response Update is designed to provide iOS 16.2 beta users with bug fixes without the need to install a full update. The initial RSR release for iOS 16.2 beta users was a test with no actual bug fixes, and given the size of this update, it too is likely for testing the RSR system.

iOS Security Response 16.2 (b) is available through the standard Software Update mechanism in the Settings app, but is a quick update, requiring just a couple of minutes to download the update and then a quick restart for the install process.

Once the Rapid Security Response update is installed, iOS 16.2 users will see an updated version of iOS 16.2 (b), and tapping on the version in the About section of Settings will display information about the installed iOS version and the Rapid Security Response update. Those who want to disable Rapid Security Response updates can do so by following our how to.

Earlier today we shared a huge list of deals on Apple products for Cyber Monday, and now we're shifting our focus to accessory sales from popular third-party retailers. This includes discounts from Sonos, Ecobee, Twelve South, Nomad, Satechi, and many more.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

If you browsed our Black Friday coverage, many of these sales will look quite similar. Most retailers keep their Black Friday sales and promotions up through Cyber Monday, so if you missed out on any last week, now's your chance to save on these Apple-related accessories.

Sonos

Today is the last day of the Sonos Black Friday/Cyber Monday event, which has savings on six accessories. This includes speakers, a subwoofer, and soundbars, and no coupon codes are required. Deals on Sonos products are rare, so be sure to check out the sale soon if you're interested.

• Roam SL Portable Speaker - $127, down from $159
• One SL - $159, down from $199
• One - $175, down from $219
• Beam (Gen 2) Soundbar - $359, down from $449
• Arc Wireless Soundbar - $719, down from $899
• Sub (Gen 3) - $599, down from $749

Ecobee

Ecobee's Cyber Monday sale runs through November 30, with some of the year's best prices on the company's smart thermostat and camera accessories. Below we've shared deals from Ecobee itself and a few matching prices on Amazon.

• Smart Thermostat Premium - $219.99, down from $249.99 [Amazon]
• Smart Thermostat Enhanced - $159.99, down from $189.99 [Amazon]
• SmartThermostat with voice control - $199.99, down from $219.99 [Amazon]
• SmartCamera with voice control - $69.99, down from $99.99 [Amazon]
• SmartSensor - $79.99, down from $99.99 [Amazon]
• SmartSensor for doors and windows - $59.99, down from $79.99 [Amazon]

Satechi

Satechi has 25 percent off sitewide when you spend under $149 on the site (use code BFCM25), and 30 percent off when you spend over $150 (use code BFCM30). This sale will end later today.

ZAGG

ZAGG has one of the lengthiest Black Friday/Cyber Monday events, offering 40 percent off sitewide until December 5. This sale covers up to three items in your cart, and it includes all of ZAGG's brands: Mophie, InvisibleShield, and Gear4.

Mophie's charging products make great holiday gifts, and include wireless chargers, Lightning cables, USB-C accessories, battery cases, and much more. Once you find up to three items to purchase, the discount will automatically be applied to your cart.

Twelve South

Twelve South's Cyber Monday event has most of its Apple accessories at a discount this week. This includes savings on MacBook stands, iPad stands, iPhone cases, wireless chargers, and much more.

Anker

As usual, Anker has massive savings on a variety of charging accessories this Cyber Monday. This includes sales on USB-C chargers, portable batteries, MagSafe-compatible chargers, solar-powered generators, USB-C hubs, and much more.

Anker's Cyber Monday event will run all the way through December 4, including new discounts every day until the end of the sale.

Brydge

At Brydge, you can save on keyboards compatible with Apple's iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro tablets. The company's Black Friday sale also includes discounts on its Vertical Dock for the MacBook Pro.

Nimble

Nimble is hosting a variety of sales this Cyber Monday, including ones on Nimble's own website, on Verizon's website, and on Target's website. Nimble's own sale has up to 60 percent off all products sitewide, and it will end December 2.

On Verizon, sales focus on the Apollo Wireless Pad, which is 50 percent off through December 25. On Cyber Monday, you can get 40 percent off Champ Portable Chargers from Nimble on Verizon.

On Target, sales run as long as December 2. During this time you can get 25 percent off Nimble products, and 50 percent off the Apollo Wireless Pad.

Nomad

Nomad's Cyber Monday sale has 30 percent off all Nomad products sitewide through November 29. No codes are needed, and there are even deeper savings on outlet items (which are final sale).

Hyper

Hyper is holding its Cyber Monday event through November 29, and it includes up to 60 percent off numerous chargers, battery packs, hubs, docks, cables, sleeves, and tons more.

Casetify

Casetify's Cyber Monday sale runs through November 30. During the event, if you buy one accessory you'll get 15 percent off, if you buy two you'll get 25 percent off, and if you buy three you'll get 30 percent off. This applies to not only cases but all products on Casetify's website.

Moment

Moment is taking up to 60 percent off on cameras, lenses, bags, mobile accessories, and much more.

Specifically, you'll find iPhone cases from $4.99, MagSafe mounts for 20 percent off, camera bags and backpacks up to 40 percent off, camera lens filters up to 50 percent off, and iPhone lenses from $79.99.

Jabra

Jabra's holiday prices run through December 4, and will be available at multiple retailers. Below we've focused on Amazon's deals for Jabra headphones, mainly covering the company's in-ear headphones.

• Elite 3 – $49.99, down from $79.99
• Elite 4 Active – $79.99, down from $119.99
• Elite 7 Active – $99.99, down from $179.99
• Elite 7 Pro – $119.99, down from $199.99
• Elite 85t – $139.99, down from $229.99

Das Keyboard

Das Keyboard's Cyber Monday sale includes $40 off the Das Keyboard 5QS and Das Keyboard 4Q on Amazon, as well as up to half off accessories. For the keyboards, you'll need to clip an on-page coupon in order to see the deals.

• $40 Off the Das Keyboard 5QS
• $40 off the RGB version of the 4 Professional, the Das Keyboard 4Q
• Up to 50% off all accessories, including keycaps, palm rests, and Das Keyboard swag

Adobe

Adobe has numerous specials running this season, starting with 27 percent off Creative Cloud All Apps for Individuals ($39.99/month, down from $54.99/month).

Students and teachers can get Creative Cloud All Apps at 71 percent off ($15.99/month, down from $54.99/month), marking the year's best price on the platform. Both of these prices are for your first year only and regular prices will resume at the end of your first year.

Jackery

Jackery is offering up to 33 percent off its popular power station accessories this Cyber Monday. Shoppers should note that all of the deals listed below require you to clip an on-page coupon to see the discount.

• Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Pro - 30% OFF
• Jackery Solar Generator 1000 - 33% OFF
• Jackery Explorer 300 Portable Power Station - 30% OFF
• Jackery Explore 1000 Portable Power Station - 30% OFF
• Jackery Explore 1500 Portable Power Station - 30% OFF
• Jackery Solar Generator 1000Pro- 10% OFF

Pad & Quill

Pad & Quill has quite a few Cyber Monday specials running on its website, with plans for the discounts to continue throughout the end of the month. You can save on MacBook Pro cases, iPhone cases, cord organizers, Apple Watch bands, and more.

Function 101

Function 101 is offering up to 40 percent in savings on its holiday bundles collection. These bundles include desk and charging accessories for the Mac, the Button Remote for Apple TV, BentoStack, and more.

Grid Studio

Grid Studio has 15 percent off all of its products sitewide when using the code BF15 at checkout, which is a carryover from its Black Friday sale. The retailer is known for its framed deconstructions of tech products, like the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and more.

If you're shopping for anyone who loves tech this season, Grid Studio's frames are great gifts. This sale ends later today.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.