With Apple's Vision Pro VR/AR headset set to go on sale on February 2, we're starting to see more details about the app requirements. For example, the company has released guidelines for visionOS developers planning to release apps and there's one strange caveat. It would rather developers don't use the terms AR and VR when referring to Vision Pro apps, but rather call them "spatial computing apps," according to the developer page spotted by 9to5Mac. 

"Spatial computing: Refer to your app as a spatial computing app. Don’t describe your app experience as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR)," the company states. The headset itself should be called "Apple Vision Pro" with three uppercase words, while "visionOS begins with a lowercase v, even when it’s the first word in a sentence." The terms should never be translated or transliterated, Apple added. 

Given that they're definitely going to be AR and VR apps built for an AR/VR headset, Apple may want to differentiate its own offerings so that consumers don't confound apps for other VR/AR headsets, particularly Meta's Quest 3, with its own. At the same time, Apple has used those terms extensively to describe the headset, with CEO Tim Cook calling Vision Pro an "entirely new AR platform" when it launched at WWDC 2023. 

In the same document, Apple asked developers to indicate if their AR/VR, er, spatial computing apps contain movements like quick turns or sudden changes in camera perspective. That way, the product page will show a badge to warn users. It also described the use of privacy labels and game controllers. As mentioned, the Apple Vision Pro headset arrives on February 2 for $3,495 — a price likely to attract only highly motivated buyers. 

If you’re active on Facebook or Instagram, you might have noticed prompts about a setting called “link history.” The feature allows users to keep track of all of the links they visit via Facebook and Instagram’s in-app browsers.

According to Meta, the feature allows users to ensure they “never lose” a link. “Easily get back to recent links you’ve visited with your Facebook browsing activity now saved in one place,” an in-app notification about the feature says.

But, as Gizmodo points out, the feature also gives Meta a convenient way to improve its targeted advertising, which has taken a hit following Apple’s crackdown on app tracking. “Keep in mind that when link history is on, we may use link history information from Facebook’s Mobile Browser to improve your ads across Meta technologies,” the company notes in a support article.

Instagram has a similar feature, which keeps tabs on links users visit via the app’s browser. Though it seems many users are just now discovering the settings, a Meta spokesperson confirmed the features began rolling out last summer.

Though link history is not enabled by default, it’s the kind of setting many people may opt into without giving much thought, especially because the company markets it as a way to avoid “losing” links. That’s sparked concern among some privacy advocates who worry Meta is using increasingly sneaky ways to gather data about users’ online activity.

The good news, however, is that it’s easy to double check if you have link history enabled, and opt-out if you do.

On Facebook, users will need to open a link from within the app and tap on … menu to open the settings from the in-app browser. Then, look for the “link history” toggle. If it’s on, you’ll need to turn it off, and then confirm via the pop-up that you want it disabled.

Screenshots via Facebook

The process on Instagram is pretty much the same: Head to the in-app browser’s settings, look for “link history” and confirm your choice.

Of note, though both apps will immediately delete your link history from their respective apps, Meta says it can take up to 90 days “to complete the deletion process.” This means your previous browsing activity could still play a role in your targeted ads for several weeks after you’ve disabled link tracking.

Of course, the company still has numerous other ways of tracking your online activity, so opting out of link history alone won’t be enough to fully take back control of your data. Privacy conscious ad-haters who live in the European Union, however, do have another option, though it may be even less appealing. Meta recently began offering the ability for EU users to opt out of Facebook and Instagram ads entirely, in exchange for a rather hefty monthly fee.

If you haven’t heard, the popular budgeting app Mint is about to go away. Parent company Intuit will shut down the service on March 24, 2024. The company suggests folks migrate to its other personal finance app, Credit Karma. Mint had 3.6 million active users as of 2021, according to Bloomberg, and I’m one of them. I use the app to track all of my accounts in one place without having to log into too many disparate banking apps. But I’ve also used it to monitor my credit score, stick to a monthly budget, and set goals like building a rainy-day fund or paying down my mortgage faster.

Intuit has not commented on whether it intends to fold Mint’s budgeting features into Credit Karma but as it stands, Credit Karma is not a Mint substitute: It’s meant to monitor your credit and, Intuit hopes, steer you toward credit cards and various other financial products.

So, over the past month, I’ve downloaded a good half-dozen competing money apps to see if any might cut it as a permanent Mint replacement. What follows is the guide I would have wanted to read: a comparison of budgeting apps that promise to track your net worth and spending in one place. Join me as I fall down a rabbit hole.

How we tested

First, I had to do some research. To find a list of apps to test, I consulted trusty ol’ Google (and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store; and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps they might be using. Some of the apps I found were free, just like Mint. These, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me, “offers”) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.)

Since this guide is meant to help Mint users find a permanent replacement, any services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps are available for iOS, Android and on the web.

Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the sake of thoroughly testing these apps (and remember, I really was looking for a Mint alternative myself), I made a point of adding every account to every tracking app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

What is Plaid and how does it work?

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to pull in financial data, so it’s worth explaining up top what it is and how it works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid, the company claims.

To be clear, you don’t need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology is baked into a wide array of apps, including the budget trackers I tested for this guide. Once you find the “add an account” option in whichever one you’re using, you’ll see a menu of commonly used banks. There’s also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you find yours, you’ll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have two-factor authentication set up, you’ll need to enter a one-time passcode as well.

As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting “more financial data than was needed.” As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to change some of its business practices.

In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that “the crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more transparency into Plaid’s role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track.”

How to import your financial data from Mint

If only importing data from Mint were as easy as entering your credentials from inside your new budgeting app and hitting “import.” In fact, any app that advertises the ability to port over your stats from Mint is just going to have you upload a CSV file of transactions and other data.

To download a CSV file from Mint, do the following:

1. Sign into Mint.com and hit Transactions in the menu on the left side of the screen.

2. Select an account, or all accounts.

3. Scroll down and look for “export [number] transactions” in smaller print.

4. Your CSV file should begin downloading.

Note: Downloading on a per-account basis might seem more annoying, but could help you get set up on the other side, if the app you’re using has you importing transactions one-for-one into their corresponding accounts.

The best budgeting app overall: Quicken Simplifi

No pun intended, but what I like about Quicken Simplifi is its simplicity. Whereas other apps try to distinguish themselves with dark themes and customizable emoji, Simplifi has a clean user interface, with a landing page that you just keep scrolling through to get a detailed overview of all your stats. These include your top-line balances; net worth; recent spending; upcoming recurring payments; a snapshot of your spending plan; top spending categories; achievements; and any watchlists you’ve set up. You can also set up savings goals elsewhere in the app. I also appreciate how it offers neat, almost playful visualizations without ever looking cluttered. I felt at home in the mobile and web dashboards after a day or so, which is faster than I adapted to some competing services (I’m looking at you, YNAB and Monarch).

Getting set up with Simplifi was mostly painless. I was particularly impressed at how easily it connected to Fidelity; not all budget trackers do, for whatever reason. This is also one of the only services I tested that gives you the option of inviting a spouse or financial advisor to co-manage your account.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

In practice, Simplifi miscategorized some of my expenses, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to any of these budget trackers. As you’re reviewing transactions, you can also mark if you’re expecting a refund, which is a unique feature among the services I tested. Simplifi also estimated my regular income better than some other apps I tested. Most of all, I appreciated the option of being able to categorize some, but not all, purchases from a merchant as recurring. For instance, I can add my two Amazon subscribe-and-saves as recurring payments, without having to create a broad-strokes rule for every Amazon purchase.

The budgeting feature is also self-explanatory. Just check that your regular income is accurate and be sure to set up recurring payments, making note of which are bills and which are subscriptions. This is important because Simplifi shows you your total take-home income as well as an “income after bills” figure. That number includes, well, bills but not discretionary subscriptions. From there, you can add spending targets by category in the “planned spending” bucket. Planned spending can also include one-time expenditures, not just monthly budgets. When you create a budget, Simplifi will suggest a number based on a six-month average.

Not dealbreakers, but two things to keep in mind as you get started: Simplifi is notable in that you can’t set up an account through Apple or Google. There is also no option for a free trial, though Quicken promises a “30-day money back guarantee.”

The best budgeting app (runner-up): Monarch Money

Monarch Money grew on me. My first impression of the app, which was founded by a former Mint product manager, was that it's more difficult to use than others on this list, including Simplifi, NerdWallet and Copilot. And it is. Editing expense categories, adding recurring transactions and creating rules, for example, is a little more complicated than it needs to be, especially in the mobile app. (My advice: Use the web app for fine-tuning details.) Monarch also didn’t get my income right; I had to edit it.

Once you’re set up, though, Monarch offers an impressive level of granularity. In the budgets section, you can see a bona fide balance sheet showing budgets and actuals for each category. You'll also find a forecast, for the year or by month. And recurring expenses can be set not just by merchant, but other parameters as well. For instance, while most Amazon purchases might be marked as “shopping,” those for the amounts of $54.18 or $34.18 are definitely baby supplies, and can be automatically marked as such each time, not to mention programmed as recurring payments. Weirdly, though, there’s no way to mark certain recurring payments as bills, specifically.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

The mobile app is mostly self-explanatory. The main dashboard shows your net worth; your four most recent transactions; a month-over-month spending comparison; income month-to-date; upcoming bills; an investments snapshot; a list of any goals you’ve set; and, finally, a link to your month-in-review. That month-in-review is more detailed than most, delving into cash flow; top income and expense categories; cash flow trends; changes to your net worth, assets and liabilities; plus asset and liability breakdowns.

On the main screen, you’ll also find tabs for accounts, transactions, cash flow, budget and recurring. Like many of the other apps featured here, Monarch can auto-detect recurring expenses and income, even if it gets the category wrong. (They all do to an extent.) Expense categories are marked by emoji, which you can customize if you’re so inclined.

Monarch Money uses a combination of Plaid and Finicity, a competing network owned by Mastercard. Similar to NerdWallet, I found myself completing two-factor authentication every time I wanted to get past the Plaid screen to add another account. Notably, Monarch is the only other app I tested that allows you to grant access to someone else in your family — likely a spouse or financial advisor. Monarch also has a Chrome extension for importing from Mint, though really this is just a shortcut for downloading a CSV file, which you’ll have to do regardless of where you choose to take your Mint data.

The best up-and-comer: Copilot Money

Copilot Money might be the best-looking budget tracker I tested. It also has the distinction of being exclusive to iOS and Macs — at least for now. Andres Ugarte, the company’s CEO, has publicly promised that Android and web apps are coming in 2024 (more likely the second half of the year, Ugarte tells me). But until it follows through, I can’t recommend Copilot for most people with so many good competitors out there.

There are other features that Copilot is missing, which I’ll get into. But it is promising, and one to keep an eye on. It’s just a fast, efficient, well designed app, and Android users will be in for a treat when they’ll finally be able to download it. It makes good use of colors, emoji and graphs to help you understand at a glance how you’re doing on everything from your budgets to your investment performance to your credit card debt over time. In particular, Copilot does a better job than almost any other app of visualizing your recurring monthly expenses.

Behind those punchy colors and cutesy emoji, though, is some sophisticated performance. Copilot’s AI-powered “Intelligence” gets smarter as you go at categorizing your expenses. (You can also add your own categories, complete with your choice of emoji.) It’s not perfect. Copilot miscategorized some purchases (they all do), but it makes it easier to edit than most. On top of that, the internal search feature is very fast; it starts whittling down results in your transaction history as soon as you begin typing.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Copilot is also unique in offering Amazon and Venmo integrations, allowing you to see transaction details. With Amazon, this requires just signing into your Amazon account via an in-app browser. For Venmo, you have to set up fwd@copilot.money as a forwarding address and then create a filter, wherein emails from venmo@venmo.com are automatically forwarded to fwd@copilot.money.

While the app is heavily automated, I still appreciate that Copilot marks new transactions for review. It’s a good way to both weed out fraudulent charges, and also be somewhat intentional about your spending habits.

Because the app is relatively new (it launched in early 2020), the company is still catching up to the competition on some table-stakes features. Ugarte told me that his team is almost done building out a detailed cash flow section, which could launch before the end of 2023, but more likely in early 2024. On its website, Copilot also promises a raft of AI-powered features that build on its current “Intelligence” platform, the one that powers its smart expense categorization. These include “smart financial goals,” natural language search, a chat interface, forecasting and benchmarking. That benchmarking, Ugarte tells me, is meant to give people a sense of how they’re doing compared to other Copilot users, on both spending and investment performance. Most of these features should arrive in the ne

Copilot does a couple interesting things for new customers that distinguish it from the competition. There’s a “demo mode” that feels like a game simulator; no need to add your own accounts. The company is also offering two free months with RIPMINT — a more generous introductory offer than most. When it finally does come time to pony up, the $7.92 monthly plan is cheaper than some competing apps, although the $95-a-year-option is in the same ballpark.

The best free budgeting app: NerdWallet

You may know NerdWallet as a site that offers a mix of personal finance news, explainers and guides. I see it often when I google a financial term I don’t know and sure enough, it’s one of the sites I’m most likely to click on. As it happens, NerdWallet also has the distinction of offering one of the only free budget tracking apps I tested. In fact, there is no paid version; nothing is locked behind a paywall. The main catch: There are ads everywhere. To be fair, the free version of Mint was like this, too.

Even with the inescapable credit card offers, NerdWallet has a clean, easy-to-understand user interface, which includes both a web and a mobile app. The key metrics that it highlights most prominently are your cash flow, net worth and credit score. (Of note, although Mint itself offered credit score monitoring, most of its rivals do not.) I particularly enjoyed the weekly insights, which delve into things like where you spent the most money or how much you paid in fees — and how that compares to the previous month. Because this is NerdWallet, an encyclopedia of financial info, you get some particularly specific category options when setting up your accounts (think: a Roth or non-Roth IRA).

Dana Wollman / Engadget

As a budgeting app, NerdWallet is more than serviceable, if a bit basic. Like other apps I tested, you can set up recurring bills. Importantly, it follows the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which has you putting 50% of your budget toward things you need, 30% toward things you want, and the remaining 20% into savings or debt repayments. If this works for you, great — just know that you can’t customize your budget to the same degree as some competing apps. You can’t currently create custom spending categories, though a note inside the dashboard section of the app says “you’ll be able to customize them in the future.” You also can’t move items from the wants column to “needs” or vice versa but “In the future, you'll be able to move specific transactions to actively manage what falls into each group.” A NerdWallet spokesperson declined to provide an ETA, though.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that NerdWallet had one of the most onerous setup processes of any app I tested. I don’t think this is a dealbreaker, as you’ll only have to do it once and, hopefully, you aren’t setting up six or seven apps in tandem as I was. What made NerdWallet’s onboarding especially tedious is that every time I wanted to add an account, I had to go through a two-factor authentication process to even get past the Plaid splash screen, and that’s not including the 2FA I had set up at each of my banks. This is a security policy on NerdWallet’s end, not Plaid’s, a Plaid spokesperson says.

Precisely because NerdWallet is one of the only budget trackers to offer credit score monitoring, it also needs more of your personal info during setup, including your birthday, address, phone number and the last four digits of your social security number. It’s the same with Credit Karma, which also does credit score monitoring.

Related to the setup process, I found that NerdWallet was less adept than other apps at automatically detecting my regular income. In my case, it counted a large one-time wire transfer as income, at which point my only other option was to enter my income manually (which is slightly annoying because I would have needed my pay stub handy to double-check my take-home pay).

Budgeting apps we also tested

YNAB

YNAB is, by its own admission, “different from anything you’ve tried before.” The app, whose name is short for You Need a Budget, promotes a so-called zero-based budgeting system, which forces you to assign a purpose for every dollar you earn. A frequently used analogy is to put each dollar in an envelope; you can always move money from one envelope to another in a pinch. These envelopes can include rent and utilities, along with unforeseen expenses like holiday gifts and the inevitable car repair. The idea is that if you budget a certain amount for the unknowns each month, they won’t feel like they’re sneaking up on you.

Importantly, YNAB is only concerned with the money you have in your accounts now. The app does not ask you to provide your take-home income or set up recurring income payments (although there is a way to do this). The money you will make later in the month through your salaried job is not relevant, because YNAB does not engage in forecasting.

The app is harder to learn than any other here, and it requires more ongoing effort from the user. And YNAB knows that. Inside both the mobile and web apps are links to videos and other tutorials. Although I never quite got comfortable with the user interface, I did come to appreciate YNAB’s insistence on intentionality. Forcing users to draft a new budget each month and to review each transaction is not necessarily a bad thing. As YNAB says on its website, “Sure, you’ve got pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants — but you’ve still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants.” I can see this approach being useful for people who don’t tend to have a lot of cash in reserve at a given time, or who have spending habits they want to correct (to riff off of YNAB’s own example, ordering Seamless four times a week).

My colleague Valentina Palladino, knowing I was working on this guide, penned a respectful rebuttal, explaining why she’s been using YNAB for years. Perhaps, like her, you have major savings goals you want to achieve, whether it’s paying for a wedding or buying a house. I suggest you give her column a read. For me, though, YNAB’s approach feels like overkill.

PocketGuard

PocketGuard is one of the only reputable free budget trackers I found in my research. Just know it’s far more restricted at the free tier than NerdWallet or Mint. In my testing, I was prompted to pay after I attempted to link more than two bank accounts. So much for free, unless you keep things simple with one cash account and one credit card. When it comes time to upgrade to PocketGuard Plus, you have three options: pay $7.99 a month, $34.99 a year or $79.99 for a one-time lifetime license. That lifetime option is actually one of the few unique selling points for me: I’m sure some people will appreciate paying once and never having to, uh, budget for it again.

From the main screen, you’ll see tabs for accounts, insights, transactions and the “Plan,” which is where you see recurring payments stacked on top of what looks like a budget. The main overview screen shows you your net worth, total assets and debts; net income and total spending for the month; upcoming bills; a handy reminder of when your next paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you have; and any goals.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Like some other apps, including Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an “after bills” approach, where you enter all of your recurring bills, and then PocketGuard shows you what’s left, and that’s what you’re supposed to be budgeting: your disposable income. Obviously, other apps have a different philosophy: take into account all of your post-tax income and use it to pay the bills, purchase things you want and maybe even save a little. But in PocketGuard, it’s the “in your pocket” number that’s most prominent. To PocketGuard’s credit, it does a good job visualizing which bills are upcoming and which ones you’ve already paid.

PocketGuard has also publicly committed to adding some popular features in early 2024. These include rollover budgeting in January 2024, categorization rules in February and shared household access in March.

Dana Wollman / Engadget

Although PocketGuard’s UI is easy enough to understand, it lacks polish. The “accounts” tab is a little busy, and doesn’t show totals for categories like cash or investments. Seemingly small details like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy occasionally make the app feel janky. More than once, it prompted me to update the app when no updates were available. The web version, meanwhile, feels like the mobile app blown up to a larger format and doesn’t take advantage of the extra screen real estate.

Of note, although PocketGuard does work with Plaid, its primary bank-connecting platform is actually Finicity. Setting up my accounts through Finicity was mostly a straightforward process. I did encounter one hiccup: Finicity would not connect to my SoFi account. I was able to do it through Plaid, but PocketGuard doesn’t make it easy to access Plaid in the app. The only way, as far as I can tell, is to knowingly search for the name of a bank that isn’t available through Finicity, at which point you get the option to try Plaid instead. Like I said: the experience can be janky.

Beeper vs Apple has been our own little David and Goliath matchup, but it looks like the saga’s coming to a close. The Beeper Mini chat app has issued yet another fix after Apple once again disabled access to the iMessage platform. The company says this will be the last fix released. Beeper wrote in a blog post today that it's done “playing a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company" on the planet. 

“With our latest software release, we believe we’ve created something that Apple can tolerate existing. We do not have any current plans to respond if this solution is knocked offline,” the company wrote.

So what’s the latest workaround? It’s certainly not a simple patch. It involves pairing your current mobile device with a Mac or an old iPhone. Mac users with Beeper Cloud should be able to simply update and reconnect, though not all macOS versions will support the software update. You can also ask a friend with a Mac and Beeper Cloud to share their iMessage registration code, which can be used with the desktop app.

Finally, you can jailbreak an old iPhone (6/6s/7/8/X), install Beeper’s tool to generate an iMessage registration code and update to the latest Beeper Mini app to enter the code and access the service. The company’s also renting and selling jailbroken iPhones for this task. Jailbreaking an iPhone, after all, can be confusing for beginners.

On the upside, the company says these fixes work well and even bring blue phone numbers back to the Beeper Mini experience. However, if you don’t have a Mac or an old iPhone, or access to either, you’re pretty much out of luck. Beeper says it’ll hold onto your chat history if you happen upon an old gadget at some point in the future. 

This has been a month-long battle between the two companies, which started with the launch of the Beeper Mini app. This app offered true iMessage support to Android devices via a software exploit. Just a few days later, the app went on the fritz after Apple blocked the exploit. This led to more complicated fixes on Beeper’s part, with one requiring an official Apple ID and another requiring a Mac computer. Apple found ways around all of them, which actually spurred US lawmakers to call for a DOJ probe.

If Apple blocks this final fix, that’ll be it for Beeper Mini, but the company has made the software open-source for other folks looking to give it a go. Beeper may be giving up on iMessage integration, but it's powering full-steam ahead with its primary chat app. The company promises it’ll work throughout 2024 to turn it into the “best chat app on Earth.”

Samsung has added a new medication tracking feature to its Health app and it's expected to launch in the US when the app updates later this week. Using the new feature, you can set up alerts to remind yourself when to take medications and get reminders for when to request refills from your doctor.

When you enter a new medication into the app, you can log the shape and color of the pill, information about your prescribed dosage and the time you are scheduled to take the medication. The tool, which competes with the likes of GoodRx and Apple’s Medication app, will give you an overview of a drug’s use and possible side effects, including warnings about potential contraindications. Samsung says the information found within the app is backed by evidence-based content licensed from Elsevier, a publishing company that specializes in medical content.

To start using the new medication tracking tool when it launches, you need a smartphone with at least Android 8.0 and your Samsung Health app version needs to be updated to version 6.26 or later. The feature’s availability also might vary by device.

Apple’s recently-released tvOS 17 update allows for native VPN apps and big-name providers are wasting no time. ExpressVPN dropped an app a couple of weeks ago and now the same is true of one of its primary competitors. NordVPN now has an official Apple TV app available for download.

This is the real deal and works with your current NordVPN subscription, if you have one. The setup is simple. Just download the app and sign in. If you’re new to the service, download the app and create an account. Once connected, you’ll have access to the company’s global array of secure servers.

The app encrypts all network traffic and uses the company’s NordLynx protocol to speed up the connection, which should offer an optimized streaming experience with minimal buffering. Of course, this will likely depend on the locations of your actual network connection and virtual network connection.

Back when Apple first announced that native VPNs would be coming to tvOS 17, NordVPN expressed doubts, telling The Verge that the company was “concerned that there may be some limitations.” It looks like it got over those doubts.

So, why would you even want or need a dedicated VPN on your Apple streaming box? There are a couple of reasons, all of which involve traveling with the diminutive device. You can customize settings, like preferred server location, which helps get around geographic restrictions regarding streaming content. Nobody’s gonna stop you from binging Foundation while on vacation. Even without geo-restrictions, bringing your Apple TV into a hotel room will allow you to stream whatever you want instead of relying on, gag, cable.

Before tvOS 17, you couldn’t configure a VPN on these devices. You’d have to install a VPN client on the router, which is notoriously complicated. Kudos to Apple on this one. NordVPN isn’t the only available VPN on the Apple TV App Store. There’s the aforementioned ExpressVPN, PureVPN and several more. You can install VPN apps on Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K devices, running tvOS 17 or later.

Speaking of tvOS 17, the company just dropped an update. The latest and greatest tvOS 17.2 brings a redesigned interface and the ability to answer FaceTime calls directly from the TV.

Meta's Threads has finally arrived in Europe over five months after it launched in the US, UK and elsewhere around the world. Following a countdown and Instagram teaser invitation, the app is now officially available in the bloc on the web, though the iOS and Android apps still aren't available for many.

Threads.net is now live on the web, though the mobile apps are still showing as unavailable for many (you may have to wait patiently). I was able to sign in using my Instagram account, though Meta also offers access without creating a profile — though you can't post or interact with content in that case. Once I agreed to use Instagram and chose my profile, it asked if I was okay with it being public and if wanted to follow the same people I do on Instagram. A few more clicks and I was in. 

Steve Dent for Engadget

The delay was reportedly due to the EU's upcoming Digital Markets Act (DMA) set to take effect in 2024. As one of seven tech giant "Gatekeepers," Meta wanted to ensure it's in compliance with the DMA, particularly around rules for sharing data between apps. In compliance with EU policies, the app also allows users to access the platform without needing to create a profile.

Threads launched July 5 on mobile with a basic feature set and required users to sign in using their Instagram accounts. It was much like Twitter (now X) when it launched, with support for text posts up to 500 characters, along with photos and five-minute videos. It also supported reposts and quote posts, while allowing users to limit their replies and block/report other users.

Since then, it has added a web version, along with both "following" and "for you" feeds, the ability to send Threads posts on Instagram, following list sorting, liked posts on your profile page and more. In short, it's become a robust rival to X, Bluesky and its other short-form social media apps.

In addition, yesterday Meta started testing the ability to make Threads posts available on Mastodon and other fediverse apps. That compatibility with the decentralized "ActivityPub" service, and the ability to cross-post to other apps, was a key promise Meta made when it introduced Threads. 

Threads' rise came with the steep decline of Elon Musk's X, now seen as more polarized than ever. Among much other drama, the platform recently lost a number of key advertisers after Musk boosted an antisemitic conspiracy theory. In response to that, Musk delivered a new message for advertisers pulling back from the platform: “Go fuck yourself.”

Threads is still in a precarious spot, though. It was an instant hit, crossing the 100 million signup mark just five days after launch and counted 141 million users as of November 10, according to research company Quiver Quantitative. However, engagement is another issue — the number of daily active users has fluctuated and dropped steeply a month or so after launch. It should get a massive boost now that it's in Europe, though, and Meta easily has the might (and money) to make it work and crush both established and potential rivals. 

Apple’s AI-powered Journal app is finally here. The new diary entry writing tool was first teased for iOS 17 back in June, but it only became available on Monday with the new iPhone update — nearly three months after iOS 17 itself came out. After Apple released iOS 17.2, iPhone users can now access to the Journal app, which allows users to jot down their thoughts in a digital diary. Journaling is a practice that can improve mental wellbeing and it can also be used to fuel creative projects.

You can create traditional text entries, add voice recordings to your notes, or include recent videos or pictures. If you need inspiration, AI-derived text prompts can offer suggestions for what to write or create an entry for next. The app also predicts and proposes times for you to create a new entry based on your recent iPhone activity, which can include newer photos and videos, location history, recently listened-to playlists, and workout habits. This guide will walk you through how to get started with the Journal app and personalize your experience.

How to create a new entry in the Journal app on iPhone

Malak Saleh

When you open the Journal app, tap the + button at the bottom of the page to create a new entry. If you want to start with a blank slate, when you tap ‘New Entry’ an empty page will appear and from there you can start typing text. You can add in recent photos from your library when you tap the photos icon below the text space, take a photo in the moment and add it to your entry or include a recorded voice memo when you tap the voice icon. You can also add locations to your entry when you tap the arrow icon at the bottom right of an entry page. This feature might be helpful for travel bloggers looking back at their trips abroad. You can edit the date of an entry at the top of the page.

Alternatively, you can create a post based on recent or recommended activities that your phone compiled — say, pictures, locations from events you attended, or contacts you recently interacted with. The recent tab will show you, in chronological order, people, photos and addresses that can inspire entries based on recent activities. The recommended tab pulls from highlighted images automatically selected from your photo memories. For example, a selection of portraits from 2022 can appear as a recommendation to inspire your next written entry. Some suggestions underneath the recommendation tab may appear within the app with ‘Writing prompts.’ For example, a block of text may appear with a question like, “What was the highlight of your trip?”

Malak Saleh

Scheduling, bookmarking and filtering

If you're not free to write when a suggestion is made, you can also save specific moments you want to journal about and write at a later time. Using the journaling schedule feature, you can set a specific time to be notified to create an entry, which will help a user make journaling a consistent practice. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone and search for the Journal app. Turn on the ‘Journaling schedule’ feature and personalize the days and times you would like to be reminded to write entries. As a side note, in Settings, you can also opt to lock your journal using your device passcode or Face ID.

Malak Saleh

You can also organize your entries within the app using the bookmarking feature, so you can filter and find them at your own convenience. After creating an entry, tap the three dots at the bottom of your page and scroll down to tap the bookmark tab. This is the same place where you can delete or edit a journal entry.

Later on, if you want to revisit a bookmarked entry, tap the three-line icon at the corner of the main journal page to select the filter you would like applied to your entries. You can select to only view bookmarked entries, entries with photos, entries with recorded audio and see entries with places or locations. This might be helpful when your journal starts to fill up with recordings.

Adding music, workouts and other off-platform entries into your journal app

Using your streaming app of choice, (Apple Music, Spotify or Amazon Music), you can integrate specific tracks or podcast episodes into your entries by tapping three buttons at the bottom of your screen that opens up the option to ‘share your music.’ The option to share a track to the Journal app should appear and it will sit at the top of a blank entry when you open the app.

You can use the same method with other applications, like Apple’s Fitness app. You can share and export a logged workout into your journal and start writing about that experience.

Malak Saleh

Alongside iOS, iPadOS and watchOS updates, Apple has rolled out the latest version of tvOS. The main change this time around is a redesign of the core Apple TV app.

You'll now see a sidebar that blends content from Apple's own services (such as Apple TV+, MLS Season Pass and a Store where users can buy and rent popular movies) with access to third-party channels and apps such as Disney+ and Max. It seems that Apple is aiming to improve navigation and discoverability without straying too far from the industry standard tile browsing format on the homepage.

On living room devices (i.e. Apple TV hardware and the eponymous app on smart TVs and other devices), the sidebar will include profiles. Apple says this will allow you to swiftly switch between users for more personalized recommendations across the app and in the Up Next section. Meanwhile, Watch Now has been rebranded as Home.

Apple

The Apple TV app's Store tab is where you'll want to go to buy or rent movies and TV shows. Starting today, the iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps on Apple TV 4K and HD devices will redirect users to the Apple TV app's Store tab to find and manage their purchases. The same goes for the iTunes Store app on iPhone and iPad.

Meanwhile, you'll now be able to answer FaceTime calls directly on Apple TV 4K devices. Apple has added support for FaceTime audio calls as well.

After several weeks of testing the latest version of its iPhone operating system in public, Apple is now rolling out iOS 17.2 to all compatible devices. In addition, iPadOS 17.2 and macOS 14.2 Sonoma, which boast many of the same features, are here as well. Finally, watchOS 10.2 is also available for download. The biggest change this time around is the introduction of a new core app called Journal.

Apple's hope with the app is to help "iPhone users reflect and practice gratitude through journaling." It differs from third-party offerings like Day One, as Apple is able to offer suggestions for journal entries based on activity in other apps. Your iPhone might suggest logging a trip populated by photos from your camera roll, accompanied by a writing prompt such as "what will you remember most about your day out?" Your device might also suggest creating a journal entry after a workout or even to note a podcast episode you listened to.

Third-party developers can tap into a Suggestions API to nudge users to create journal entries based on activity in their apps. Apple says the Journal app is end-to-end encrypted and all information is stored locally (though you can sync everything to iCloud if you wish). Users will have control over which apps can offer Journal suggestions too.

The Journal app isn't all that's new in iOS 17.2. You'll be able to set up the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to act as a quick translation tool for spoken phrases. You could even use it to have a conversation with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you.

Apple is rolling out support for Qi2 charging on all iPhone 13 models and iPhone 14 models (it's already present on iPhone 15 models). Qi2-certified chargers are said to match the 15W wireless charging speeds of MagSafe. As Qi2 chargers become more widespread, it should be easier for both iPhone and Android users to top up their phones' batteries quickly.

Elsewhere, iPhone 15 Pro users can capture spatial video that can be viewed in 3D in Apple Vision Pro's Photos app (once you're eventually able to try out the headset, that is). You'll now be able to access and log Health data with your voice thanks to a Siri update. The Apple Music, Messages and Weather apps are getting a few new features too, while an AutoFill upgrade for PDFs and other forms could prove very useful.