We typically avoid posting a story each time the Apple Store goes offline for updates. While the Apple online store famously goes offline to introduce new products, it also goes down for routine maintenance.
Tonight's downtime is likely related to maintenance or other non-product tweaks, but notably the "We'll be back soon" graphic that should be quite familiar to long time Apple followers has been changed.
The original graphic (above) was on a sticky note and has been in place for many years. Every time Apple's online store goes down, visitors would be greeted with this yellow sticky. Tonight, we see a new graphic overlaying a linen background that has been popularized in iOS.
Apple has several product lines that are due for updates soon, including the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. These overnight downtimes, however, are more typically related to routine maintenance rather than new products. The change in "We'll be back" graphic may foreshadow other graphical tweaks to the online store.
Update: The online store returned without any notable changes.
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps.
To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features.
The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4.
There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...
Anyone notice that the wording also slightly changed from "shortly" to "soon"?
"Soon" would seem to imply a longer duration than "shortly"... so it sounds like they might be updating two product lines at once. I'll go ahead and place bets that the two are:
1) New MacBook Pros with Ivy Bridge
2) Updated iPad 3 with new display tech to fix yellow screen issue