Apple today shared a new television ad on its YouTube channel, designed to introduce people to the new Screen Effects feature in iOS 10. In the minute-long spot, a sole red balloon drifts through mountains, over the sea, and through hilly terrain to reach the city, where it's joined by hundreds of additional balloons floating through the streets.
The shot pans to an iPhone user who receives a "Happy Birthday" message, where balloons fill up the screen to accompany the text. It ends with the tagline "Expressive messages on iPhone 7. Practically magic."
Introduced in iOS 10, Screen Effects are designed to make the messages experience more emotive, personal, and fun. Screen Effects temporarily alter the look of the Messages display with full screen animations that play alongside text messages. There are several animations, ranging from balloons and confetti to lasers and fireworks.
With certain keywords like "Congratulations!" or "Happy Birthday!" Screen Effects play automatically whenever the relevant text phrase is sent to an iPhone user who has iOS 10 installed.
Tuesday October 13, 2026 5:29 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has launched a new "Switch to Safari" marketing campaign that encourages Chrome users to switch to Safari as their web browser of choice on the Mac.
"Safari is a more powerful and private browser than Chrome," says Apple.
Apple has a new "Switch to Safari" page on its website that outlines more than 10 reasons that Chrome users should switch to Safari, including faster performance...
DoorDash is inviting U.S. customers to join a waitlist for an AI assistant that can take food orders through Apple's Messages app (via Bloomberg).
The phone number used in the conversation connects the request to a customer's DoorDash account. The assistant can use previous purchases and preferences to help put together an order, then use a saved payment method at checkout. Customers can...
Monday October 19, 2026 9:37 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple today sent out invites for an experience in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, and the "Pro and tell" tagline on the invitation likely means that the rumored MacBook models with touch-enabled OLED displays will stick with MacBook Pro branding instead of the once-rumored "MacBook Ultra" name.
The long-rumored "iPhone Ultra" ended up being named iPhone Duo, so speculation that Apple...
I find apples new ads to be stupid. Honestly, my favorite was the retina macbook pro ad they ran years ago for the 15 inch. short sweet and to the point.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
