You might not want to rely on Apple's built-in Weather app to see if you need a jacket today. As Apple's status page confirms, many users are reporting that the app isn't loading information on all of the company's platforms, including iOS and macOS. We've asked Apple for comment, but the alert pins the issue (initially limited to Alaska) on a "data provider outage."

The company noted the problem late Monday, but it's still ongoing as of this writing. Apple hasn't provided an estimated time for restoring weather data. MacRumors says some users have had intermittent problems with the Weather app since the release of iOS 16.4 last week.

The outage comes a few months after Apple shut down Dark Sky for iOS, but years after the company started integrating Dark Sky's info into its Weather app. The transition and the glitch aren't necessarily connected, but this isn't great news for Dark Sky users who've had to use Apple's software to get the fine-grained forecasts they're used to. For now, you'll have to rely on third-party apps or the web to know if you should carry your umbrella.

DirecTV users can now watch Ted Lasso without buying extra hardware. The television provider announced today that the Apple TV+ app is now available to install on the company’s DirecTV Stream box.

This is the first time Apple’s streaming network has been available on DirecTV Stream, a multipurpose device for subscribers that supports live TV, streaming apps, on-demand content and DVR recordings. The satellite provider launched the device in 2020; subscribers can rent it for $20 per month, and it’s bundled with some premium plans. In addition, it includes a remote control with access to Google Assistant.

The Apple TV+ app will include the iPhone maker’s original content like Ted Lasso, Severance and CODA, and access to Apple’s broader library of rentals / purchases for television series and movie rentals. Additionally, it includes in-app support for premium add-ons like AMC+, Paramount+ and Starz. The app is widely available on other streaming devices, including PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, Roku, Fire TV, Google TV and smart TVs from Samsung, LG and others.

Netflix might have started (or is at least looking to start) testing games for TV, based on code within its app that developer Steve Moser has shared with Bloomberg. Moser reportedly found hidden code referencing games played on television, as well as additional code that indicates the possibility of being able to use phones as controllers to play them. One line from within the app apparently reads: "A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?" Moser also previously found hints that the service's then-upcoming ad-supported plan might not come with offline viewing. He turned out to be spot on. 

The streaming giant launched its gaming experience on Android, iPhones and iPads in 2021. It requires mobile users to download games from the App Store or from Google Play due to rules set by Apple and Google. But since the point of these games is to increase engagement and retain users, they can be launched from within the Netflix app and an active subscription is necessary to be able to access them. On the Netflix app for TV, these games are notably absent. 

It remains to be seen how the company intends to implement gaming on TVs and whether it will also require users to download the games before being able to play them. Netflix VP of game development Mike Verdu said last year, though, that the company was "seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering" and that it's looking to launch more than just casual games for television. 

For now, users will have to make do with what's available on mobile. At the moment, Netflix's catalogue has around 55 titles available, though it's rolling out 40 more games throughout 2023. 

Apple Music Classical is now available for download globally with more than 5 million tracks. Offered as part of an Apple Music subscription, it's designed to make it easier to find things unique to classical music, including orchestras, conductors, musicians and more. 

The app sprung from Primephonic, the streaming service Apple acquired in 2021. It was originally slated to be released at the end of 2022, but earlier this month, Apple revealed a firm release date of March 28th. 

The app is available on iPhones running iOS 15.4 or later, with an Android version "coming soon." As you'd hope, it offers 192KHz/24-bit high-resolution lossless audio quality, with "thousands" of recordings offered in spatial audio as well. It also lets classical enthusiasts browse composer biographies, descriptions of key works, "deep-dive" guides and more. The search feature has been rewritten for classical music queries and lets you choose from over 700 curated playlists. 

There are few things missing from the main Apple Music app, though. Apple Music Voice Plan subscribers can't use Classical, there's no native iPad app yet and you can't download music for offline listening. The navigation bar has just four buttons (Listen Now, Browse, Library and Search), as there's no Radio shortcut. Apart from that, it should appeal to classical music lovers seeking things specific to the genre, especially those hard-to-locate performances. 

WhatsApp has rolled out a new desktop client for Windows that brings its calling features up to par with its counterpart for mobile. In an announcement, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said the new app enables users to host end-to-end encrypted video calls with up to eight participants. For audio calls, up to 32 people can participate, making it a viable choice for company meetings and family reunions where all the aunts, uncles and extended relatives can join in. WhatsApp says it will increase these limits further to allow for even larger calls in the future. 

In addition to announcing the new client's improved calling features, it also touched upon some of its other recent upgrades. The messenger updated its multi-device capabilities to make it easier and faster to link new devices to user accounts. WhatApp also enabled better syncing so that people can simultaneously access their chats on up to four linked devices. 

The service launched true multi-device syncing in 2021, allowing people to access their accounts even if their phone is offline or nowhere nearby. After that, WhatsApp must have recognized the need for better apps on different platforms for users to be able to enjoy using the messenger on multiple devices. WhatsApp first released a native app for Windows 10 in 2022, and back in January, it made the beta version of its native app for Mac available to all users. Since the latter was optimized for Mac hardware, it works better than the previous web-wrapped app for Apple's desktop OS.

Reading some of your favorite Manga series may be getting a little easier soon: Kodansha, the publisher behind hit titles like Attack on Titan and Ghost in the Shell, has announced that it's launching a new digital reading platform in May. Simply titled, K Manga, the new app promises to launch with a backlog of 400 titles, and will provide early access to new chapters from the publisher's most popular series.

The announcement doesn't say if K Manga will sell Manga by the volume or have a paid subscription tier, but users will be able to "read limited chapters of manga for free." That, paired with a promise that K Manga releases will be "official translations" seems to be positioning the app as an alternative to the unofficial pirate sites that share fan-translated Manga for free online.

As for what you'll be reading on the app? Kodansha highlights a few contemporary series such as The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse and Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, but the company's back catalog has enormous potential. Although none of these series are officially announced for K Manga yet, Kodansha is the publisher for iconic hits like Sailor Moon, Akira and Battle Angel Alita.

The K Manga app will launch on May 10.

You most likely know Duolingo as an app you can fire up when you want to learn a new language or at least familiarize yourself with the local tongue of a place you're visiting. It has ventured into other subject matters over the years, though, and now it looks like the company is also hoping to be the one people turn to when they want to learn about music. According to a job posting (seen by TechCrunch), Duolingo has a small team that's currently working to build an app for teaching music. 

The job ad is for an "expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience." Whoever gets the job will be in charge of making sure that the app is "well-grounded in learning science." They have to translate "research findings into concrete ideas" that can be used for "learning by doing" activities that Duolingo is known for. They also have to take the lead on curriculum development, which signifies that the app is still in its very early stages. 

If and when Duolingo's Music app comes out, it will join the company's growing list of learning applications that include its ABC app, which teaches kids how to read and write. It also has an English Test app for language certification and a Math app that uses colorful animations and interactive exercises to help people learn multiplication, division, fractions, geometry and measurements. As TechCrunch notes, the company is most likely diversifying to ensure its survival and income growth in the future. And its plan seems to be working so far: In its earnings report (PDF) for the fourth quarter of 2022, Duolingo revealed that it enjoyed a 67 percent increase in paid subscribers from the year before. 

If you’ve owned your iPhone or iPad for a while, there’s a good chance there are apps, contacts and settings that you either don’t use anymore or aren’t serving you as well as they could. This guide will take you through how to reclaim your notifications and your device’s storage.

Delete your unused apps

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

You don’t need me to tell you to delete apps you don’t use to free up space on your iPhone, but you might not know that iOS has a dedicated tool to help you do this. You can access it by opening the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, then tapping “General,” followed by “iPhone Storage” or “iPad Storage.” It may take a few moments for the interface to populate, but once it does, you’ll see a handy visual representation of how much of your device’s storage you’ve given over to apps, photos and other types of files. You will also see a list of every app installed on your device, as well as how much space it takes up and when you last used it – all helpful information you can use to decide what to delete.

Depending on the app, iOS will present you with at least two options when you tap on it. You can delete the app and all its related data or “offload” it. In the latter case, iOS will delete the app from your iPhone or iPad but leave your data untouched. As such, when you reinstall the app, you can pick up right where you left off. It will also remain in your App Library for easy access. From the iPhone Storage menu, you can also set your device to automatically offload unused apps when you’re running low on storage, which is useful for all, but especially those with older, low-storage devices.

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

If you use Apple Music and Messages frequently, tap on them since they offer a few additional options for managing their footprint. The interface for Apple Music includes a list of every download on your iPhone or iPad sorted by artist and album, offering a much better way of culling your library than from within the app itself.

Messages, meanwhile, has a few handy options for serial texters. At the bottom of the interface, you will see a breakdown of all the different attachments you may have received in messaging with your friends and family. Seeing how much storage those old photos, videos and GIFs take up may be eye opening; in fact, iOS will prompt you to review large attachments. That’s a good place to start since the interface does a good job of highlighting the biggest space hogs right at the top. You can also set iOS to automatically delete messages and attachments that are more than a year old. Unless space is at an absolute premium on your device, I would recommend against turning on this option, if only because it might delete a photo or video that has sentimental value to you.

Trim your contacts list

If you’ve had an iPhone for a while, there’s a good chance your contacts list could use an edit. Unless you plan to one day call everyone on that list, why not delete contacts you don’t speak to anymore? Your iPhone will give you a head start by identifying suspected duplicate contacts. Outside of that, there’s not much to this process other than going through each contact and ensuring the information you have is up to date.

Review your notification settings

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Something everyone should do every so often is review their notification settings since alerts can be a drain on your device’s battery (not to mention frequently take your attention away from more important things, too). To get started, open your device’s Settings app and tap on “Notifications.” If you haven’t already, I would recommend taking advantage of iOS 15’s scheduled summary feature. Let’s be honest, most notifications don’t require your immediate attention, and you’re better off addressing them all at once instead piecemeal. The schedule feature will help you do that by allowing you to set a few times per day when your device displays some notifications all at once.

For most people, that should make their notifications more manageable, but if you want to take things a step further, you can adjust individual settings for each app. For some of the worst offenders (Instagram and Twitter come to mind), it’s worthwhile to jump into their in-app settings to limit or disable the notifications they send you.

Focus Modes

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget

Another tool you can use to get a handle on your notification is Apple’s Focus feature, which allows you to configure custom do not disturb settings for different activities. By default, your device will come with a few preconfigured ones, and it’s worth reviewing the settings for each to optimize them for your needs.

To create a new custom Focus Mode, open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap “Focus,” which is located in the same subcategory as notifications. You can also create a new Focus mode directly from your device’s Control Center by long pressing on the “Do Not Disturb” icon and tapping “New Focus.”

Once you create a new Focus, customizing it is straightforward. You can specify contacts you want iOS to either silence or allow notifications from. You can do the same for apps as well. After you customize those lists to your liking, tap the “Options” prompt below your contacts and apps lists to see a few additional settings. Specifically, there’s an option to allow silenced notifications to display on your lock screen that you might find helpful.

The last thing I want to draw your attention to are the options around customizing your Home Screen for different Focus modes. By limiting the apps I can easily access, I find I’m less likely to get distracted. For instance, I’ve set my Reading Focus to limit my Home Screen to apps like Libby, Pocket and Apple Music.

Apple said it was building a standalone app for classical music when it purchased, and subsequently shut down, the Primephonic streaming service. That was 2021, and until now, we haven't known when the new software would be available. The company announced today that Apple Music Classical will be available on March 28th as part of an existing Apple Music subscription. Users on the individual, student, family or Apple One plans will get access, but customers on the Apple Music Voice Plan won't be able to use the new app. 

At launch, Apple Music Classical will be available on all iPhones that run iOS 15.4 or later. Apple says a version of the app for Android is "coming soon." The catalog includes over five million tracks spanning new releases to "celebrated masterpieces." Apple says you'll be able to stream up to192 kHz/24 bit high-resolution lossless audio quality and "thousands" of recordings are available in spatial audio. The company also explains that a portion of its classical library is "thousands" of exclusive albums. 

In addition to the music, you can expect to browse written content like composer biographies, descriptions of key works and "deep-dive guides." Apple also says it rebuilt the app's search feature specifically for classical music queries and the app will serve up over 700 curated playlists. Overall, the app carries much of the same design as the main Apple Music software, although one key change is the company has swapped out the modern sans serif font for a serif for the main titles and section headings. The navigation bar is just four buttons in Apple Music Classical — Listen Now, Browse, Library and Search — as the Radio shortcut has been removed. Lastly, the music note on the app icon has been replaced with a treble clef.

Apple is letting eager listeners "pre-order" the app starting today in the App Store. Once you do, Apple Music Classical will automatically download on launch day as long as you have Auto Update selected in iOS settings. 

Following a beta that saw just 5,000 people get a chance to use the software, Aimi’s iOS and Android app is now available to all. The release brings the company’s generative music platform to mobile, where it was not available previously. Engadget’s James Trew has been using the app since January. Since then, Aimi has made a few user interface tweaks.

What hasn’t changed is the premise of the app. As before, Aimi is built around continuous music “experiences” you can subtly tweak by interacting with a handful of interface elements. If you're familiar with platforms like Endel and Brain.fm, you probably know what you're getting into. As a free user, you can tap the thumbs-up and down buttons to guide Aimi’s algorithm. There’s also a shuffle button if a section comes on that you don’t like at all. With today’s release, Aimi will also prompt you to indicate if you want to hear a section more or less frequently, as well as for longer or shorter periods of time.

Users who pay $10 per month gain access to additional controls. First, a “Section” view allows you to isolate individual elements of a musical composition, including parts like the harmony and melody, and adjust the gain and tell Aimi whether you like what you’re hearing. An additional “Composition” interface allows you to shape what you’re hearing by adjusting a set of four sliders. For instance, by moving the “Progression” slider, you can instruct Aimi to modify the experience you’re listening to more or less often. Meanwhile, the “Intensity” and “Texture” sliders allow you to control the number of effects Aimi employs and whether a composition sounds organic or synthetic. Last but not least, there’s a self-explanatory Vocals slider.

The release of a mobile app is part of a broader plan by Aimi to bring more people into the world of generative music. Later this year, the company plans to release Aimi Studio, which will allow users to take a more hands-on approach to craft their own compositions. “One of the strengths of generative music is that we can use it to attract casual listeners with continuous music experiences and then introduce them to interactive music by letting them take ownership of their music experience,” Aimi CEO Edward Balassanian told Engadget at the start of the year.