We came away impressed with AirPods, Apple’s first take on wireless Bluetooth earbuds. The intrepid Digital Trends review team was especially impressed by their simplicity. But they’re certainly not perfect. They sometimes drop connectivity during phone calls. They don’t always charge properly. And the lack of a physical tether between the left and right earbud makes them easier than ever to misplace.
Thanks to the newest iOS update, though, that last problem’s a thing of the past. Version 10.3 of Apple’s mobile operating system introduces support for AirPods in the Find My iPhone app. With it, AirPod owners will be able to see the earbuds’ current location. And even better, a “pinging” feature will play an audible alert on lost AirPods. Tapping the “Play Sound” option under Find My iPhone’s “Actions” menu queues the sound on the earbuds, and next time they connect to a logged-in device, it will play.
The new feature’s a godsend for AirPod owners considering the prospect of replacing a missing earbud. A pair costs $160, and Apple charges $70 to replace each lost AirPod piece.
It works by querying the device to which the AirPods were last paired. If they’re connected to a Mac, for instance, the finder will request location data from computer’s positioning hardware. It will use that to log the earbuds’ location, and then populate the Find My iPhone app with that data.
Tapping on the AirPods listing in the app will plot the most recent location data on a map, which can then be added as a navigation waypoint in Apple’s Maps app. It’s not particularly precise — AirPods lack GPS radios of their own, meaning the navigation circle is much larger than other Find My iPhone devices. But it’s good enough to point frantic AirPod owners in the right direction.
The Find My AirPods feature is available in beta now, as part of Apple’s Developer Preview program.
Interestingly, a third-party outfit launched an app earlier this month that used AirPods’ signal strength to pinpoint the earbuds’ location. But it appeared to run afoul of iTunes’ terms of service — Apple yanked the title from the App Store shortly after.
Apple introduced the AirPods alongside the iPhone 7. They didn’t go on sale until December, but quickly came to dominate the wireless headphone market. According to shopper tracker Slice Intelligence, the Apple-owned Beats brand topped online sales with a 26 percent market share, trailed by Bose with an 11 percent share and Jaybird at 8 percent.
Motorola has built some of my favorite foldables and flagship phones. I had a great time with both the Razr Fold and last year's Signature. So when the company began teasing the Signature 27, I couldn't help be excited. The new model comes with Qualcomm's blazing-fast Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, and better still, it is finally getting a proper global release.
One of the reasons I was obsessed with the last-gen Signature was its amazing price tag. But it seems like that budget flagship dream might be officially dead. Portuguese retailer MegaPC has prematurely listed a 12GB RAM and 512GB storage Signature 27 in Pantone Coal Smoke for €1,594.90 (approx. $1,775).
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.