Edge Light Brightens Your Video Calls in the macOS Tahoe 26.2 Beta

By John Voorhees

Edge Light doesn’t show up in screenshots.

The latest macOS Tahoe beta 26.2 includes a new video-calling feature called Edge Light, coming to Apple silicon Macs later this year. It’s a video effect that you can access from the menu bar, just like Backgrounds, Center Stage, and Portrait mode, that creates a virtual ring light on your Mac’s screen, helping to light your face on FaceTime, Zoom, and other video calls as the days grow shorter.

The idea is simple, and the implementation is clever. When you enable Edge Light, the outer edge of your Desktop is replaced with a bright, adjustable border. The brightness of Edge Light is adjustable, as is its color temperature, allowing for a range from warmer to cooler colors, just like many physical LED lights designed specifically for video production. The virtual ring light sits on top of your Desktop and windows, but it fades away as your pointer approaches, allowing you to see everything on your screen.

Edge Light’s brightness, temperature, and other controls, including the Automatic option available on Macs released in 2024 and after.

Edge Light is made possible by Apple silicon, using a combination of the Mac’s Neural Engine, which detects your face, and the Image Signal Processor, which measures and adjusts Edge Light’s brightness based on surrounding lighting. Edge Light will work on all Apple silicon Macs when Tahoe 26.2 is released, but Mac models released in 2024 or later will also have the option to turn the feature on automatically when low light is detected.

Edge Light off. Note, Edge Light isn’t captured in screenshots.

Edge Light on. Note, Edge Light isn’t captured in screenshots.

In my brief testing of Edge Light, I noticed that the effect is noticeable in a very dim room, but as you’d expect, less so as the room brightens. I also noticed that Edge Light was brighter when set to turn on automatically rather than manually, even though switching between the two didn’t move the brightness slider. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it’s a beta, so that may change. I also enjoyed how the virtual ring light widened as I increased the brightness.

I have a couple of lights set up along the back edge of my desk because we record video for our podcasts, but most people don’t have that setup. For them, Edge Light will be a nice addition, reducing those early-morning and late-afternoon shadows. And despite the lights I have installed, sometimes it’s just easier to turn on something like Edge Light, so I expect to get use out of it too, whether I’m away from my desk on a laptop or sitting at my desk.

We’ll have more macOS Tahoe 26.2 coverage when it and Apple’s other 26.2 releases exit beta.

Picmal Streamlines Batch Conversion and Compression on the Mac

By John Voorhees

One of my favorite aspects of macOS is the endless supply of great utilities for doing anything you can imagine. If there’s something you want to do on your Mac, the chances are that there isn’t just one good utility to accomplish your task; there are several.

My latest discovery is a file conversion and compression app called Picmal. The app has a wonderfully simple, modern interface that sits on top of a lot of complexity, enabling batch conversion and compression with minimal effort.

You can mix and match file types in one conversion or compression operation.

Picmal handles images, videos, and audio files in a single-window utility that features a Convert/Compress toggle at the top and a lot of empty space to start. The center of the window invites users to “Drop Your Files Here.” Once you do, the window animates into something a little closer to a Finder window with alternating white and light gray rows that make it simple to track metadata about each file.

Files can be dragged into Picmal from anywhere on your Mac, allowing for batch processing without moving your files to one location first, which I appreciate. Once converted, files are saved as new files in the folder they came from with a prefix or suffix that you can specify in the app’s Settings. You’re not limited by file type either. You can drag any combination of images, videos, and audio files into Picmal’s window, picking and choosing what to convert them into as you go.

For some file types, Picmal includes metadata.

Next to some file types is a small info button that reports the sort of basic file metadata you find in the Finder’s info panel. That’s followed by a column that lists the file’s starting type, and a column with a dropdown menu for picking the destination file type. The list of supported file types is long, too, with the exact number of options dependent on the type you begin with.

If you want to check the file you’re about to convert before doing so, there’s also an arrow button on the far right of each file’s row that will take you to it in the Finder. The other columns report the output file’s size, any compression savings, and the status of each conversion. Whenever you want, you can add more files for conversion, kicking off a new batch once any ongoing conversions complete.

Most file conversions I tried went well, but I couldn’t manage to convert large MP4s to the MOV format.

In my testing, Picmal performed well overall. I converted images, audio, and videos to and from a variety of common formats such as PNG, JPEG, PDF, MP3, AAC, WAV, MP4, and MOV. However, I did run into trouble trying to convert a 1.55 GB MP4 of an episode of MacStories Unwind from MP4 to MOV. The conversion failed, even though much smaller files worked. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in an upcoming update.

Another smaller issue I ran into is that there’s a checkbox next to each file in the Picmal file conversion interface that appears to be intended as a way to change the conversion file type for multiple files at once. However, the dropdown that appears when selecting multiple files of the same type didn’t give me an option to pick a new conversion type. The developer is aware of this and the large video file issue and is working to resolve both.

The other primary use for Picmal is file compression. The workflow is largely the same as converting files, with the size savings reported in a dedicated window column. By default, compressing files requires you to click on Picmal’s Compress button, but you can change the process so that it happens automatically instead. From Settings, you can also add compression to your file conversions, completing both steps together.

Compressing images.

Audio and video compression quality are set to 85% by default, while image compression quality is set to ‘balanced.’ However, in each case, you can tweak the compression settings with more fine-grained controls. Another nice touch is that your compression selections and a link to Picmal’s Settings are both accessible from the bottom of the Picmal window, making your compression choices clear and simplifying the process of making any adjustments.

Aside from a couple of hiccups in my testing that the developer will likely have fixed soon, my experience with Picmal has been great. About the only thing I’d love to see added is support for Shortcuts. Otherwise, Picmal is an excellent way to manage file conversion and compression jobs of any size. There are other apps that accomplish something similar, but the simplicity and speed with which you can manage batch conversion and compression with Picmal sets it apart and makes it worth checking out.

Picmal is available directly from its developer for $9.99. That gets you the use of the app on one Mac at a time, which can be expanded to more Macs at an increasing per-Mac discount based on the number of licenses you purchase.

Apple and ISSEY MIYAKE Introduce a Limited-Edition iPhone Pocket

By John Voorhees

Source: Apple.

Apple has announced a new limited-edition iPhone accessory, the iPhone Pocket, created in collaboration with design brand ISSEY MIYAKE. Here’s how Apple describes the accessory, which will be available in select Apple Stores and online beginning Friday:

iPhone Pocket features a ribbed open structure with the qualities of the original pleats by ISSEY MIYAKE. Born from the idea of creating an additional pocket, its understated design fully encloses iPhone, expanding to fit more of a user’s everyday items. When stretched, the open textile subtly reveals its contents and allows users to peek at their iPhone display. iPhone Pocket can be worn in a variety of ways — handheld, tied onto bags, or worn directly on the body. Featuring a playful color palette, the short strap design is available in eight colors, and the long strap design in three colors.

The short version of the iPhone Pocket comes in eight colors, the longer strap version, just three. Source: Apple.

The iPhone Pocket comes in two styles. A short strap version will be available in eight colors: lemon, mandarin, purple, pink, peacock, sapphire, cinnamon, and black, while the longer strap model, which is long enough to wear like Apple’s Crossbody Strap, is limited to sapphire, cinnamon, and black.

The iPhone Pocket will be available starting Friday, November 14, for $149.95 for the short strap version and $229.95 for the long strap version from Apple’s online store and ten retail stores worldwide:

Apple Canton Road, Hong Kong
Apple Ginza, Tokyo
Apple Jing’an, Shanghai
Apple Marché Saint-Germain, Paris
Apple Myeongdong, Seoul
Apple Orchard Road, Singapore
Apple Piazza Liberty, Milan
Apple Regent Street, London
Apple SoHo, New York City
Apple Xinyi A13, Taipei

Echos of the iPod Socks. Source: Apple.

The iPhone Pocket makes a bold design statement that Apple says was “[i]nspired by the concept of ‘a piece of cloth.’” I’m not going to venture to guess what that means. Still, the Pocket fits neatly into few Apple knit products that came before it echoing the thick ribbing of both the Vision Pro Solo and Dual Knit Bands and the iPod Socks, a comparison that is inevitable though left unstated in Apple’s press release.

Apple’s connection with ISSEY MIYAKE goes back further, though. It was Miyake who designed Steve Jobs’ signature black turtleneck, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs. Now, all these years later, your iPhone can have a turtleneck of sorts for itself, too.

Apple accessories have always been about fashion. Source: Apple.

Fashion is nothing new to Apple accessories, but the company’s emphasis on it has ebbed and flowed over the years. However, with the fashion-forward iPhone Air in its lineup and rumors of folding iPhones coming as soon as next year, it’s not surprising that Apple is fanning the fashion flames. Some may see the Air as an iPhone that costs more but does less, but a big part of its appeal is its striking profile, for which others are willing to pay a premium. The iPhone Pocket fits that narrative perfectly.

Google and Epic Games’ Settlement Is Far from a Done Deal →

Linked By John Voorhees

Last week, Epic and Google made a big show of settling their antitrust dispute. The only trouble is that they didn’t do so until after the judge in the case had entered a permanent injunction requiring Google to make changes to how it operates its Play Store, which were upheld on appeal. That makes it harder to settle, as the mobilegamer.biz reports today:

The agreement was framed by Epic and Google as a conclusion to the court battle between the two that has been rumbling on since 2020. But a report from Law360 quotes the Judge overseeing the case as saying the proposals do not go far enough to rectify Google’s behaviour. Judge Donato also wants another hearing in December or January to straighten it all out.

“My concern here is that these proposed modifications … [are] not providing an adequate remedy for Google’s wrongdoing,” said Judge Donato, according to Law360.

This sort of thing isn’t unheard of, especially when the dispute is over a legal issue that takes into account the effect on consumers along with the parties involved. The judge in the case has scheduled hearings for December and January to consider the proposed settlement, but it looks like this case could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court after all.

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Proposed Epic–Google Deal Would Expand Access to the Play Store →

Linked By John Voorhees

Late yesterday, Epic Games and Google announced a settlement of their Google Play Store litigation that, subject to court approval, would open Google’s storefront more widely than ever before.

Like Apple’s revisions to its store in response to the European Commission, Google’s settlement is complex, but here are some of the highlights, as reported by Sean Hollister for The Verge:

Whereas the U.S. District Court’s injunction only applied to the U.S. Play Store, the settlement is global.
The settlement also runs through 2032, which extends beyond the three years ordered by the court.
Google has agreed to reduce its standard fee to 20%, and in some cases, 9% depending on the type of transaction.
Google will create a registration system to allow third-party storefronts.
Developer fees for using Play Billing, Google’s payment system, will be separated from the transaction fees.

As I said, though, there’s a lot more to the proposed settlement that you can read in full in the PDF linked in The Verge’s story, and it’s subject to court approval, but it does seem to reflect significant concessions by Google.

What does this mean for Apple and its App Store skirmishes with regulators around the world? Nothing technically; however, contextually, if the settlement is implemented, it should add to the pressure on Apple to open the App Store more widely in the U.S. and elsewhere.

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Shop Nintendo Hardware, Games, and Merch with the New iOS App

By John Voorhees

Nintendo fans in Japan have had a “My Nintendo” storefront app for everything Nintendo for five years. Now, it’s finally here for the rest of us, rechristened Nintendo Store for iOS and iPadOS. With the release of the Switch 2, the Nintendo eShop’s performance is much better than before, but it’s still not a great experience to navigate, which is why I was so excited to dive into the new app.

Search, News, and Wish List.

If you’ve ever shopped on Nintendo’s website, the new app will look familiar. The home tab is a mix of featured games, consoles, and accessories, a best sellers list, sales, and other collections. The app also includes tabs for:

Search, which pre-populated lists for hardware, franchise merch, games, and more;
News, which features upcoming games and other announcements;
Wish List where products you’ve marked as favorites show up; and
Your Profile, where you can check your Play Activity by game title.

Play activity is built into the Profile tab.

When you’re ready to purchase something, the transaction happens in a Safari view controller rather than as an in-app purchase, and the process is smooth, especially if you already have a Nintendo account. The app also has extensive notification settings for everything from game releases and sales to check-in events and app updates, which can be individually turned on or off.

There’s nothing in the Nintendo Store app that you can’t find elsewhere on the web or eShop on the Switch. However, the experience of having it all available in a single app that you can use when you might not have your Switch nearby or want to navigate Nintendo’s website is a convenience I’m glad is now available.

The Nintendo Store app is available as a free download on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad. The Nintendo Store app is available on Android, too.

Apple Releases 26.1 Updates to Its Operating Systems

By John Voorhees

Today, Apple released version 26.1 of its full family of OSes. Every platform received attention, including the proverbial “bug fixes and feature enhancements,” but it was iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1 that received the most changes that are likely to be noticed by users.

Liquid Glass: Tinted

Liquid Glass: Clear or Tinted.

Let’s start with iOS 26.1 because most of the changes to it are reflected in iPadOS, too. Probably the biggest news is a new setting that allows users to choose between Clear and Tinted versions of Apple’s signature Liquid Glass design. Many readers we’ve heard from like Liquid Glass or didn’t notice a substantial difference when they updated to iOS and iPadOS 26, but for some, the design change was a regression in readability. With iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26.1, users can opt for a Tinted version of Liquid Glass that reduces transparency, increasing the design’s opacity and enhancing contrast.

Liquid Glass is an opinionated design, so I’m a little surprised at this change. I like Liquid Glass in more places than I don’t, but given the readability issues some people experienced, this change is a good one. If you like Liquid Glass or barely noticed it to begin with, you’re fine. However, if it rubbed you the wrong way, check out the Liquid Glass setting in the Display & Brightness section of Settings, which has a helpful before-and-after preview of what the change looks like.

Slide to Stop

Slide to stop alarms.

With iOS 26, Apple placed two big buttons onscreen when an alarm went off. One was for stop and the other snooze. That wasn’t a big deal for many of the alarms you set throughout the day, but when you’re waking up in the morning blurry-eyed, two big buttons stacked on top of each other weren’t ideal. For a lot of users, it was a toss-up whether stabbing at their iPhone through a morning haze would stop their alarm or snooze it.

With iOS and iPadOS 26.1, the ‘Stop’ button for an alarm set in the system Clock app now requires a slide to stop gesture, which echoes the Slide to Unlock gesture of the original iPhone. The more deliberate gesture is a good move on Apple’s part. I can’t imagine someone tapping and sliding their finger to stop an alarm by accident.

Local Capture Refined

Apple has also refined Local Capture for the iPhone and iPad, which is great. Local capture allows you to record high-quality audio and video from an iPhone or iPad, while simultaneously on a video call using a service like Zoom. It’s a feature that podcasters wanted for many years, and although I was excited to find that Apple had listened to our annual requests with iOS and iPadOS 26, the implementation fell a little short because it didn’t allow for gain control, making it difficult to get a properly balanced recording with some microphones. Likewise, there was no option in the first iteration of the feature to pick where your recording was saved.

With iOS and iPadOS 26.1, both issues have been addressed sooner than many of us expected, which is fantastic. Now, you can adjust gain and pick a save location for the files you record from Settings. It’s great to see Apple react so quickly to the feedback it received on this feature. The feature fell just short enough in its original implementation that I had decided not to rely on it unless I had no choice. However, although it’s not how I’m going to record most of the time, local recording now has sufficient settings that I will feel a lot more comfortable relying on it in the future.

Camera and Photos

I don’t know about you, but it’s not uncommon for me to accidentally activate my iPhone’s camera by inadvertently swiping left on my Lock Screen. For me, it’s a once-in-a-while thing, but if it happens to you a lot, you can now deactivate the gesture in Settings under the Camera section.

There are relatively minor changes to Photos, too. The interface elements for playing multiple selected images as a slideshow, marking them as favorites, or hiding them are now at the top of the Photo app’s three-dot “More” menu.

Everything Else in iOS

The iOS update includes a bunch of other small changes:

A new accessibility setting to “Display Borders” around buttons, which replaces the old “Button Shapes” setting;
The Lock Screen wallpaper picker includes new prompts to help users through the setup process;
Rapid Security Responses has been replaced by a toggle in Settings that allows users to choose whether automatic security updates are applied to their iPhone or iPad;
The Fitness app has gained new custom workout options for workout type, estimated Active Calories, effort, duration, and start time;
Many interface elements in Settings are now left-aligned;
The color backgrounds of events in Calendar have been reverted to their pre-iOS and iPadOS 26 look;
Swiping on the mini-player in Music now skips forward and back among tracks in your queue;
Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Also, AirPods Live Translation now has support for Japanese, Korean, Italian, and both Mandarin Traditional and Simplified Chinese; and
The Vision Pro app includes a 3D model of your Vision Pro.

iPadOS 26.1: Slide Over and New Window Management Options

The lion’s share of changes to iOS are carried over to iPadOS 26.1, but there are a couple of revisions to the iPad’s OS that are unique to it.

First, Slide Over is back. Apple heard from a vocal group of iPad users who relied on Slide Over to get their work done and has added the feature back to the OS with a twist. The new Slide Over supports a single app tucked just offscreen with a little Picture-In-Picture style indicator along the edge of your iPad’s screen. Previously, you could switch between multiple apps using a dedicated Slide Over switcher interface. However, now, your Slide Over window can be resized to any size, which wasn’t possible before. Also, the single Slide Over app is a per-display restriction, meaning that if you use an external display with your iPad, you get a second Slide Over app.

Second, Apple has added some new menu items for managing window. There are now options to hide your current window, hide your other windows, and close all of your windows, all of which close gaps between how windows work on the iPad and Mac.

macOS 26.1 Tahoe

Like iOS and iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe has gained a tinted version of Liquid Glass. If Apple is intent on preserving maximum transparency in Music and Photos, I may give the “tinted” version a try. I generally like Liquid Glass on the Mac, but it’s not perfect, and “tinted” mode may help.

Finally, AutoMix, the feature that uses Apple Intelligence to transition tracks of a playlist by matching their beats, now works with AirPlay. When I first tested this feature over the summer, I assumed AutoMix would work automatically with my Bluetooth speakers that I use at my desk, but that wasn’t the case. Now, however, whether you use AirPlay speakers or wired speakers, AutoMix will work.

Sadly, there’s not much to report about visionOS, watchOS, or tvOS. Each undoubtedly received under-the-hood improvements, but you’ll have to wait for substantive new features from them.

If there’s a theme surrounding the 26.1 updates to Apple’s OSes, it’s that the company is listening to its users. Tinted Liquid Glass, the return of Slide Over, and the updates to the very niche Local Capture feature are all great examples of Apple’s engineering teams turning around meaningful updates to its OSes based on feedback from users. That’s great to see, and a trend that I hope continues long into the future.

Apple Recreated the App Store on the Web with No Way to Download or Buy Apps

By John Voorhees

Today, Apple launched a web version of the App Store, with a twist. I’ll admit that this wasn’t on my “things Apple will do this fall” bingo card. I’ve wondered since the earliest days of the App Store why there wasn’t a web version and concluded long ago that it just wasn’t something Apple wanted to do. But here we are, so let’s take a look.

You’ll find the new web-based App Store at apps.apple.com, where you’ll be greeted by a sort of amalgam of the App Stores on each of Apple’s platforms. Along the left sidebar, you’ll find the same Today, Games, Apps, and Arcade tabs found in the native App Stores. This is where Categories reside, too. One big difference is that in the top-left corner, you’ll see what store you’re viewing, which defaults to the iPhone even if you’re on a different device. Click the drop-down label, and you can switch to another storefront.

Stray is $29.99, but you’ll need to open the Mac App Store app to buy it.

An even bigger difference from the native App Stores is that you can’t buy anything on the web. That’s right: there’s no way to log into your Apple account to download or buy anything. It’s a browse-only experience.

The site looks great and is a fully responsive replica of the native App Store apps in just about every way, but in place of the usual ‘Get’ or ‘Buy’ buttons, there’s a ‘View’ button, which is replaced by a ‘Share’ button when you go to an app’s dedicated page. I really don’t get it. At least on the Mac, there’s a button to open an app in the Mac App Store, but the same isn’t true on the iPhone and iPad.

The website is a great amalgamation of the native App Stores, but it’s not really a store if you can’t download or buy anything.

Sure, you can always share an app to yourself on a device where you can buy it. But shouldn’t the point of a web store be to allow you to make purchases when you’re not on an Apple device or, for example, to buy a Mac app on your iPhone and have it waiting for you when you return to your Mac? I’ve literally checked the site multiple times because I can’t believe Apple built a storefront but left out the commerce part.

Look, the website is very nice and does a great job replicating the UI of the App Store, just like the web versions of Music, Maps, and iCloud do. I just wish I could buy something.

Apple Reports Q4 2025 Revenue of $102.5 Billion

By John Voorhees

Today, Apple announced its 2025 Q4 earnings, posting quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion, an 8% increase over the same quarter last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say of the results:

Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services. In September, we were thrilled to launch our best iPhone lineup ever, including iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone Air. In addition, we launched the fantastic AirPods Pro 3 and the all-new Apple Watch lineup. When combined with the recently announced MacBook Pro and iPad Pro with the powerhouse M5 chip, we are excited to be sharing our most extraordinary lineup of products as we head into the holiday season.

As CFO Kevan Parekh noted in Apple’s press release, fiscal 2025 was a record year for revenue, coming in at $416 billion, which also represented a double-digit increase in earnings per share. Apple’s board of directors also approved a $0.26/share dividend for shareholders of record as of November 10, 2025, which will be paid on November 13.

The results beat analyst expectations, and the outlook for the company looks good with Cook telling CNBC that earnings in the next quarter should grow 10-12% over the same quarter the year prior. Cook attributed the growth outlook to the iPhone 17 line of mobile phones.

Here’s the breakdown of earnings by category versus estimates, according to CNBC:

iPhone revenue: $49.03 billion vs. $50.19 billion estimated

Mac revenue: $8.73 billion vs. $8.59 billion estimated

iPad revenue: $6.95 billion vs. $6.98 billion estimated

Other Products revenue: $9.01 billion vs. $8.49 billion estimated

Services revenue: $28.75 billion vs. $28.17 billion estimated

According to CNBC, Apple’s gross margin exceeded expectations at 47.2%, too.

Despite multiple challenges from tariffs to antitrust suits to regulation, the continued popularity of the iPhone continues to drive Apple’s success. With the iPhone 17 line only available for a short part of the end of Q4 2025, it will be interesting to see if it continues to drive Q1 2026 earnings and whether Apple releases any new products that add to its earnings momentum.