We recommend sticking with well-known brands when buying accessories, and a recent example illustrates why this is important. Anker, a highly regarded accessory manufacturer, has initiated voluntary recalls of power bank models sold from 2016 to the present due to the risk of overheating, melting, smoke, and fire. In mid-June, the company recalled 1.1 million PowerCore 10000 power banks; it has now issued another recall for more recent models of its Power Bank, MagGo Power Bank, and Zolo Power Bank. If you own one of these products—even if it’s working fine—go to Anker’s product recalls page for more information and a serial number checker. If your power bank is affected, stop using it immediately and contact your municipal household hazardous waste collection center for disposal guidance—neither the trash nor standard recycling boxes at retail stores are acceptable. Anker will give you a free replacement or a gift card for use on the Anker website.

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(Featured image by iStock.com/Pradit_Ph)

Social Media: Anker has issued major recalls for six power bank models due to fire risk. If you own an Anker power bank, check if yours is affected, even if it seems to be working fine. The company is offering free replacements or gift cards.

If you own a smart TV or are shopping for a new one, you should be aware of a troubling trend: modern TVs have evolved from simple screens into sophisticated surveillance devices. You can protect your privacy by using an Apple TV as your streaming device rather than relying on built-in smart TV features.

If you have an older non-smart TV that meets your needs, you’re in luck—an Apple TV provides streaming capabilities while avoiding the privacy concerns that plague modern TVs. For everyone else, here’s what you need to know about how TV manufacturers are monetizing your viewing habits and how an Apple TV protects you.

Data Mining: How TV Makers Profit from Your Viewing Habits

Arguably, the longevity of large-screen TVs has contributed to this trend. In the past, TV manufacturers focused on selling as many TVs as possible. Consumers see less need to upgrade when a modern 55-inch TV offers little beyond what a 15-year-old TV of the same size can provide. Sure, it might be a bit brighter, have better color accuracy, or provide higher refresh rates, but for most people watching streaming video in a dark room, such changes aren’t very noticeable.

In response, TV manufacturers have lowered prices to boost sales and turned to alternative revenue streams, including collecting and selling viewer data and displaying ads. Data can be sold to companies like Nielsen, a data and marketing measurement firm, and leveraged to provide advertisers with targeted audiences. Smart TV ad revenue is estimated to reach $46 billion worldwide this year, up 20% after another 20% increase in 2024. These ads appear on the smart TV’s home screen and in free, ad-supported streaming channels.

TV manufacturers track viewing habits using a technology called automatic content recognition (ACR). Software loaded on the smart TV captures frame-by-frame screenshots of content, creates a fingerprint for each frame, and then matches the fingerprint against an online database to determine what you’re watching. It works with all types of viewing, from standard TV to gaming. Since that data is tied to your specific household, companies can create audience segments and either use it for their own advertising or sell it to third parties. One analyst suggests you’re worth about $20 per year.

Wait, it gets worse! Many smart TVs feature microphones to enable voice commands, and some also include cameras to support video calling capabilities. Manufacturers can use captured audio and video to monitor viewer engagement—are you actually watching the show, or is it just playing in the background? That data also feeds into the profile that the TV manufacturers maintain about you.

If all this feels creepy to you, you’re not alone. Most annoyingly, apart from the opportunity to buy a cheap TV, there’s essentially no ongoing benefit to you in having your viewing habits packaged and resold. At most, you might get to ignore slightly more targeted ads.

Protect Your Viewing Privacy with an Apple TV

If you currently have a smart TV or are looking to replace an older TV, there’s an easy solution: use an Apple TV instead of the smart TV’s built-in apps or a similarly problematic media streaming box from the likes of Amazon, Google, and Roku. Although Apple isn’t perfect when it comes to privacy, the Apple TV provides a complete streaming solution that doesn’t share your viewing data with advertisers and data brokers. Here’s how:

• No ACR tracking: Apple has confirmed that the Apple TV doesn’t use ACR at all.
• No built-in advertising: Unlike Roku OS and Samsung’s webOS, the Apple TV doesn’t display ads on the home screen or in the screensaver.
• Privacy-first setup process: During setup, you’re given the opportunity to disable Siri, location services, and analytics.
• Limited data collection: Even when you do allow Apple to collect data, it’s done in ways that guarantee anonymity and used only in aggregate. No personal information is ever shared with Apple.
• Strong third-party app tracking controls: tvOS apps must ask for permission to track you, just like iOS apps. You can (and should) always reject such requests or prevent them from asking at all by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking > Allow Apps to Request to Track.

Even with an Apple TV, you’ll need to take a few additional steps to protect your privacy since smart TVs can still track content playing through HDMI connections:

• Disable ACR tracking: Turn off ACR in your TV’s settings to prevent it from analyzing what you’re watching. This setting can be tricky to find since TV manufacturers deliberately make it difficult and use different names. Consumer Reports provides instructions for many TV models and streaming media devices.
• Consider blocking Internet access: For maximum privacy, you can prevent your TV from connecting to your Wi-Fi network and accessing the Internet, though this comes with trade-offs. While it ensures that no data leaves your TV, you’ll miss out on bug fixes, security updates, and certain features like picture calibration. You may also encounter connection error messages, and some TVs require occasional Internet connectivity for validation purposes. You may have to connect periodically to keep it working.

By turning off ACR, disconnecting the smart TV from the Internet, and using an Apple TV instead of a smart TV’s built-in apps or other streaming devices, you can enjoy your favorite shows without feeling like you’re being watched.

(Featured image by Apple)

iOS’s Photo Shuffle wallpaper does a great job of identifying attractive photos for your Lock Screen. However, if you’re like us, you’ll sometimes wonder when or where you took a Lock Screen photo. Here’s how to figure that out. Touch and hold the Lock Screen when it’s displaying the photo in question, tap Customize, tap the Lock Screen wallpaper, tap the ••• button in the lower-right corner, and tap Show Photo in Library. Then you can swipe up to reveal more information about the photo, swipe left and right to see the photos on either side, or pinch to see it in the context of your entire photo library.

(Featured image by Apple)

Questions about AI from our clients keep coming in, with many asking which tools to choose. It’s understandable confusion—the number of AI chatbots has skyrocketed, and lesser-known ones are often highlighted or promoted on social media as the next big thing. The rapid pace of change in the field can be overwhelming, with major announcements happening every month.

For those who don’t want to spend time getting to know all the different AI tools, here’s our advice on the best options right now. This isn’t an area to go for an underdog—if you want to get serious work done, stick with one of the major systems. That means choosing from these five, which make up about 90% of the market:

• ChatGPT from OpenAI
• Gemini from Google
• Claude from Anthropic
• Copilot from Microsoft
• Perplexity from Perplexity AI

That’s roughly the order in which we recommend you choose, although there are particular areas where one outperforms the others. Realistically, though, you’ll be fine with any of them, so the decision may come down to which feels the best during your interactions on the Web and through the system’s mobile app.

Although you can test all five chatbots for free, you’ll get much better results if you pay for an account to unlock unlimited access to all models and features. The free accounts use older, less advanced models and will cut you off if you try to use them too much in a day. All these chatbots cost $20 per month, other than the full version of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is $30 per month and requires an annual commitment.

Let’s explore different usage scenarios that could make one chatbot a better fit for your needs.

General Purpose Usage: ChatGPT and Gemini

If you’re unsure about what you want to do with a chatbot but want to explore all options, the best overall choice is ChatGPT, with Gemini as a close runner-up. Both excel at generating text and images, can include content from real-time Web searches in their responses, offer a voice mode that lets you speak and hear responses, provide a choice between fast and advanced models, and can conduct in-depth research.

Writing and Editing: ChatGPT and Claude

ChatGPT is regarded by many as the top choice for writing, thanks to its fluency across different styles. It provides excellent rewriting and summarizing capabilities, and its GPT-4.1 model is currently the favored option in the AI-enhanced Lex word processor, which merits honorable mention for those who do a lot of writing. Claude also performs well with writing, especially when you’re interested in a deep understanding of structure, tone, and intent. If your writing mostly happens in Microsoft Word and Outlook, the Copilot add-on offers useful integration. Likewise, if you live in Google Docs, you might prefer Gemini for its integration.

Research and Current Information: Perplexity and ChatGPT

Many people think of—and interact with—chatbots as souped-up search engines. That’s not entirely helpful because chatbots can do vastly more than search the Web, but incorporating current information from the Web is essential for many tasks. Although most chatbots can now access the Web, you’ll get the best results from Perplexity and ChatGPT, with Gemini being a close second. Claude had the weakest search in our experience.

Image and Video Generation: ChatGPT

ChatGPT shines here as the front end for OpenAI’s DALL-E 3. What makes it stand out from most other chatbots is its prompt understanding—how well it translates your request into a desired image—and its ability to do “inpainting.” Before DALL-E 3, most artbots refined images by changing the prompt and starting over each time, which often led to frustrating results when all you wanted was a specific change. With inpainting, you can ask ChatGPT to modify an image—such as changing a person’s hair color—without affecting the rest of the picture. Although generating videos with a chatbot is mostly a gimmick right now, using Sora through ChatGPT will also provide the best results.

Voice Mode: ChatGPT and Gemini

One of the most impressive tricks of chatbots is their ability to engage in natural conversations with you about nearly any topic. ChatGPT’s Voice Mode is generally regarded as the best, and its speech can be highly realistic, down to pauses, occasional “um” insertions, and varied inflection. Gemini is also good, and both are noticeably better than Claude at this time. When you use voice mode in the chatbot’s iPhone app, you can turn on the camera and ask it questions about what it sees.

Coding and Data Analysis: Claude and ChatGPT

Here’s where Claude takes top honors. Many developers say that Claude does the best job of helping you write code, providing a nuanced understanding of existing code and top-notch capabilities for solving complex coding problems. ChatGPT also performs well with coding if your needs tend more toward smaller and more specialized development environments like AppleScript, shell scripts, and Shortcuts.

Deep Research: Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Gemini

Most chatbot responses are quick and relatively brief, but if you want a much more detailed answer on a topic, enable a “deep research” option. That causes the chatbot to break the task into smaller steps, perform each one in order, and assemble the result into a detailed report. It might take 10–15 minutes or longer. Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Gemini are the top tools in this area and are worth trying for a range of possibilities, from gift ideas and travel plans to background information on home projects.

Choosing Your AI Assistant

If you’re just getting started with AI chatbots, we recommend beginning with ChatGPT. It’s the most well-rounded option, excelling in most categories and providing a solid foundation for exploring what AI can do for you. It’s also easy to start with Perplexity even without subscribing to the Pro plan, especially if you want to use the chatbot primarily as a research assistant. Gemini and Microsoft Copilot may be better options if you’re heavily invested in the Google or Microsoft ecosystems, though Copilot costs more than the others. Claude isn’t quite as consumer-focused as the others, but it may be your best option if you plan to do extensive coding and data analysis.

Keep in mind that these tools are advancing rapidly, with new features and capabilities emerging on a monthly basis. The best approach is to choose one that feels comfortable and learn how to use it well, rather than constantly switching between options. All are quite capable, and the differences are often less important than your familiarity with their particular quirks and capabilities.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, people have been using AI chatbots to brainstorm, speed up research, draft content, summarize lengthy documents, analyze data, assist with writing and debugging code, and translate text into other languages. Recently, the major chatbots have gained Web search capabilities, allowing them to access live information beyond their training model data.

Using a chatbot effectively requires new approaches to thinking and working, especially when it comes to searching for information. Just as with a human assistant, you need to play to their strengths when figuring out the best ways to get the results you want. Incorporate these tips into your chatbot conversations, and you’ll see significantly better outcomes.

1. Be specific and complete: Decades of search engine use push us toward short, focused search phrases with keywords that will appear in the results. In contrast, chatbots thrive on specificity and detail. For instance, prompting a chatbot with “iCloud photos syncing” won’t generate nearly as useful a response as “Tell me what might prevent iCloud from syncing photos between my Mac and iPhone.” Also, don’t shy away from negative prompting—tell the chatbot what not to include or consider in its response. You can even be specific about formatting the output as a bullet list, table, or graph.
   
2. Every prompt is a conversation: We are accustomed to standalone searches, where, if the search fails, you must start over. You’ll achieve much better results with chatbots if you consider everything a conversation. Even responses to specific, detailed prompts may not fully address your question or could lead you to think of additional ones. Ask follow-up questions, clarify what you want to find out or accomplish, provide feedback, or redirect the conversation as needed. (For the ultimate chatbot conversational experience, try voice mode in the ChatGPT or Claude apps, where they talk back to you. It’s excellent for capturing ideas, refining your thinking, or just doing a brain dump.)
3. Edit your last prompt: If the most recent response from a chatbot is entirely unsatisfactory, you may have better luck editing and resubmitting it rather than informing the chatbot that it has made a mistake. There’s usually an edit link or pencil button that appears when you hover over it.
   
4. Context can help: Most chatbots maintain libraries of previous conversations, allowing you to search through them to find old ones easily. Because chatbot responses improve with more context, it can be helpful to return to one of those conversations when you want to explore that topic further. Similarly, if you’re asking a chatbot to create something similar to something you’ve already done, provide the previous work as an example.
5. Ask it to role-play: Another way to increase context is to ask the chatbot to “act as” a particular type of professional, such as an editor, coach, marketer, or software developer. In essence, you’re asking the chatbot to respond in the context of a certain role. Conversely, it can be helpful to ask it to tailor its response as if you were a high school student, someone with a basic understanding of the topic, or an expert in the field.
6. Know when to start over: Although context is key, chatbots have a limited memory, so long conversations can overwhelm what’s called the “context window.” If you notice the chatbot hallucinating, starting to repeat itself, or going off into the weeds, try saying, “Please summarize what we’ve discussed in a prompt I can use to continue working on this topic.” Then, copy that prompt into a new chat before continuing the conversation.
7. Force Web searches as necessary: Most chatbots make it explicit when they are searching the Web, which means you can also tell when they aren’t searching and are thus relying on potentially outdated training data. If you want to ensure that you’re getting the latest information, tweak your prompt to start with something like “Search for…”
8. Test its limits: Since every chatbot response is based on just what you say in the prompt, it won’t necessarily go as deep as you would like. Try asking it to critique its own output, generate multiple options, or present the best argument for different perspectives. You can even request it to be more cautious or more creative. It’s fine to challenge a chatbot in ways that would be socially inappropriate with another person.
9. Save and reuse effective prompts: When you identify prompts that work particularly well for recurring tasks—such as generating meeting summaries, analyzing data, or drafting specific types of content—save them for reuse so you don’t have to start over each time.
10. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. While chatbots are incredibly confident and often truly astonishing in what they can produce, it’s your responsibility to verify important facts and details (just as with human-created information, which isn’t necessarily any more trustworthy). The statistical models they use can lead to completely fabricated information. Although this is less true with Web searches, even there, they can combine information in ways that simply aren’t accurate.
11. Try deep research: Bonus tip! Many chatbots offer a so-called deep research mode, which allows the chatbot to go off for 5 or 10 minutes to gather information, analyze it over multiple steps, and produce a much more comprehensive response. Deep research is too slow for a conversation, but it can provide a good foundation when you’re exploring a new topic that requires a lot of detail.

While AI chatbots are powerful tools, they work best when you think of them as collaborative partners rather than magical solutions. The key is experimentation—try different approaches, refine your prompting style, and don’t hesitate to push the limits of what they can do. Start with these fundamentals, but remember that becoming proficient is an ongoing process.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Memorystockphoto)

How would you realize that one or more of your Internet accounts—email, social media, financial—have been hacked? (Some prefer the terms “compromised” or “breached”—you may hear them from support techs.) Unfortunately, there’s no telltale warning sign because “hacked” could mean any number of things. Here are some possible indications:

• People you trust report receiving email that you didn’t send.
• Social media friend requests are made to people you don’t know, or messages you don’t recognize are sent from your account.
• Although you’re certain you have the correct password, you can’t log in to an account.
• You become aware of your personal data appearing in places it shouldn’t.
• Unknown charges or transfers appear in a bank or credit card account.

However, attackers will also try to fool you into thinking an account has been compromised to get you to enter passwords or financial information on a website designed to steal data. Don’t assume you’ve been hacked just because you received a phishing email saying so or because you see unexpected notifications claiming your computer is infected. No legitimate entity will ever send such email, and the only notification about malware you should ever see would come from anti-malware software you installed.

(Speaking of malware, dealing with that is a topic for another day—we’re focusing on online accounts in this article. Nonetheless, if one of your accounts has been compromised, it’s also worth scanning your Mac with the free version of Malwarebytes or VirusBarrier Scanner, just in case.)

First off, don’t panic. It’s important to take a deep breath, document everything you see with screenshots (press Command-Shift-5), and move quickly to regain control over whatever accounts were hacked and prevent others from falling prey to the attacker.

When you suspect an account has been compromised, try to verify the problem. Do the following:

• Alert techs: If the account in question is for work, immediately alert your IT department and follow their instructions. If it’s a personal account, contact us. Tell whoever is helping you that you have screenshots you can send and be ready to forward any suspicious messages you have as well.
• Gather evidence: Ask the person who told you about the problem to forward the message they received to another of your email addresses, or to a close friend or family member so you can see what’s being said in your name. Scrutiny of the fake message may reveal information about what has happened, though you may need help from someone with more technical experience.
• Examine email: Since email account breaches are the most concerning (because they can be used to reset passwords elsewhere), scan your email for messages you didn’t send or replies to such messages. Along with the Inbox, look in the Sent mailbox and the Trash. Also, check your settings and filters to ensure incoming messages aren’t being forwarded elsewhere and then deleted.
• Check social media: Connect to all your social media accounts—even those you don’t use regularly—and look for posts, friend requests, messages, or anything else that suggests an attacker has been impersonating you.
• Audit accounts: Log in to important accounts and look for suspicious activity, such as login attempts from unfamiliar locations or IP addresses or changes to account settings.

If you find evidence to suggest that one or more of your accounts have been compromised, follow these steps:

• Immediately change the passwords for any affected accounts. We always recommend using a password manager like 1Password to generate strong, random passwords.
• Whenever possible, turn on two-factor authentication.
• If available for the account in question, follow advice from the service. Apple, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, and Twitter all have advice on how to respond, as will many other companies.
• Review account settings for unauthorized changes, especially recovery options like backup phone numbers and email addresses.
• Look through your accounts in your password manager and change the passwords for the most important ones and any that might be related.
• If you can’t get into an account because the password has been changed, make sure you have sole control of your email account and then trigger a password reset.
• For affected financial accounts, along with changing the password, immediately call the institution and ask for their help locking the account to prevent any transfers.
• If your email account was used to send phishing messages to contacts, you should alert any friends, family, and colleagues who might have received the messages that your account was hacked and that the previous message wasn’t from you.

Security breaches are stressful, we know, but it’s imperative that you deal with them right away. The longer you wait, the more damage the attacker can cause, including stealing your money, impersonating you, scamming your friends and family, and compromising your employer’s systems. We’re here to help.

(Featured image by iStock.com/PUGUN SJ)

In 2020, Apple introduced the M1 chip, the first of the family of Apple silicon chips that now power the entire Mac lineup. At the time, Apple said it would “continue to support and release new versions of macOS for Intel-based Macs for years to come.”

Since then, it has become clear that Macs with Apple silicon are notably better than Intel-based Macs in nearly every way, and we’re now up to the impressive M4 chip family. Nonetheless, some people continue to hold onto their Intel-based Macs. Now we know precisely when those Macs will ride off into the sunset. Intel-based Macs had a good run, but it’s time to move on to Macs with Apple silicon.

macOS Support for Intel-based Macs

During WWDC 2025, Apple announced that macOS 26 Tahoe will be the last version of macOS to support Intel-based Macs, specifically these four models:

• 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2019
• 13-inch MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt ports from 2020
• 27-inch iMac from 2020
• Mac Pro from 2019

macOS 27, expected in 2026, will run only on Macs with Apple silicon. However, the Intel-based Macs listed above will continue to receive security updates for macOS 26 for another two years. That means that all Intel-based Macs will have lost security viability by 2028.

How can you determine the type of Mac you have if you’re unsure? Choose About This Mac from the Apple menu and look at the Processor or Chip line.

Rosetta 2 Support for Intel-based Apps

There’s another aspect to Apple’s waning support for Intel-based Macs: Rosetta 2. The Rosetta translation environment allows apps written for Intel-based Macs to run on Macs with Apple silicon. The process is almost transparent because macOS downloads Rosetta the first time it needs it, and after that, Intel-based apps just work. They may be slower than native Apple silicon apps, but Apple’s M-series chips are so fast that the translated apps often run faster than on Intel-based Macs.

During WWDC, Apple published documentation clarifying the future of Rosetta. Apple plans to keep Rosetta available in its current state in macOS 26 and next year’s macOS 27. After that, however, Apple says it “will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles that rely on Intel-based frameworks.”

Given that Apple silicon has been the future since 2020, nearly all developers have updated their apps to run natively on the M-series chips. Very few actively maintained apps still require updates; Rosetta is primarily useful for those who rely on obsolete apps or older versions of current apps.

How can you find out whether an app you rely on is Intel-based? Open System Information (it’s in your Applications folder, nested in the Utilities folder), click Applications in the sidebar, click the Kind column header, and then scroll to find all the apps listed as Intel. To find out where one of these apps is stored on your Mac, select its listing and look at the Location field at the bottom of the window.

What All This Means

There’s a difference between what’s possible and what’s recommended.

Apple’s announcements draw a line in the sand at 2028 for when it will be too dangerous to continue using the last batch of supported Intel-based Macs. Older Intel-based Macs will cease to receive security updates even sooner—two years after they are no longer supported by macOS. If budget or compatibility with obsolete software or hardware prevents you from upgrading to a Mac with Apple silicon, it is possible to limp along with an Intel-based Mac for a bit longer.

Similarly, Rosetta will make it possible for you to continue using an obsolete Intel-based app on a Mac with Apple silicon through macOS 27, which will cease to receive security updates in 2029. Old games may continue to work for longer.

If we don’t sound enthusiastic about those possibilities, we’re not. Even the very first M1-based Macs outperform Intel-based Macs, and the performance difference is far wider with today’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips. You aren’t doing yourself any favors by hanging onto an Intel-based Mac if you can afford to buy a new one.

Because so much time has passed, it’s likely that any Intel-based app that has not already been updated to run on Apple silicon will never be updated, so we recommend that you start looking for a replacement.

With both hardware and software, the longer you wait, the more problems you’re likely to encounter when upgrading. In part, that’s because both professional and community expertise fades with time—people who solved the problems you’ll encounter did so years before and may no longer remember the details. We also often see small conversion utilities built to help with transitions, but those tend to disappear or stop working after most people have moved on.

Most businesses upgrade their Macs every three to five years because the frequency of problems in that time frame increases to the point where employee downtime and maintenance and consulting costs outweigh the cost of upgrading. That financial equation is less evident to individuals, but it applies similarly.

So if you’re still using an Intel-based Mac or app, you now have a firm end date. But seriously, don’t wait that long.

(Featured image by Apple)

As digital threats become increasingly sophisticated, individuals need protection just as much as businesses do. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12 billion to fraud in 2024, with a significant portion coming from digital scams. While we’d all like to think we’re too savvy to fall for such schemes, even security experts can become victims: Troy Hunt, creator of the Have I Been Pwned site that tracks data breaches, recently fell prey to a sophisticated phishing attack.

As cyber threats evolve and become more convincing, personal cyber insurance is becoming increasingly common, either as a standalone policy or as an add-on to a standard homeowner’s or renter’s policy. It can help you recover from cyberattacks, online fraud, ransomware, identity theft, social media hijacking, cyberbullying, and similar threats.

The financial impact of these incidents can be significant. The average loss from identity theft is between $500 and $1,500; however, sophisticated scams can result in far greater damages. For example, an individual lost $30,000 to a “pig-butchering” scheme, though they fortunately recovered $25,000 through their cyber insurance policy.

What Personal Cyber Insurance Covers

Although the specifics vary by policy, personal cyber insurance typically protects in three key areas:

• Financial protection:

• • • Identity theft recovery: Coverage for expenses related to restoring your identity, including legal fees, lost wages, and document replacement
    • Fraud reimbursement: Recovery of money stolen through cyber attacks, including unauthorized charges, stolen bank funds, and deceptive transfer fraud
    • Cyber extortion coverage: Payment for ransom demands and professional negotiation services if your data is held hostage

• Technical support:

• • • Data breach response: Professional IT services to recover compromised data and restore systems
    • Device recovery: Assistance with cleaning infected devices and replacing damaged smart home systems
    • Credit monitoring: Ongoing surveillance of your credit reports and financial accounts

• Personal assistance:

• • Cyberbullying support: Coverage for counseling, private tutoring, and reputation management
  • Legal assistance: Access to legal professionals specializing in cyber-related incidents
  • Identity restoration: Dedicated help with replacing documents and clearing fraudulent records

However, as with other forms of insurance, it’s important to be aware of common exclusions that cyber insurance won’t cover:

• Prior incidents: Cyber policies won’t cover known compromises that occurred before the policy’s start date.
• Intentional acts: Self-inflicted losses or intentional policy violations are not covered.
• Business-related incidents: Coverage is for personal activities only unless otherwise specified.
• Cryptocurrency scams: Most policies don’t cover cryptocurrency losses.
• Poor security practices: Failing to maintain basic security measures may void coverage.
• Physical device damage: Standard damage to devices is typically covered by homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.

Getting Personal Cyber Insurance

For many people, the easiest way to get personal cyber insurance is as an endorsement (an add-on) to an existing homeowner’s or renter’s policy. That’s the case with State Farm, for instance. These endorsements are often quite affordable, with fees as low as an additional $25 per year, and they provide coverage up to $100,000.

Those who need a dedicated cyber insurance policy can look into the broker-sold Cyberboxx Home, which NFP sells directly as DigitalShield in many states, and Allstate Identity Protection, which focuses on identity theft. Prices start around $65 per year.

For most people, the most straightforward and economical approach is adding an endorsement to an existing policy. Contact your insurance broker and see what they can provide—even if your policy doesn’t offer what you want, they may be able to put together similar coverage for you. Of course, if you don’t yet have an insurance policy or are looking to switch providers, it’s worth reviewing exactly what’s covered, along with costs and coverage limits, when comparing policies or insurers.

Don’t Ignore Key Security Practices

Having cyber insurance doesn’t allow you to skimp on security. Even if an insurance policy recompenses you for lost money, having your identity stolen or being tricked into transferring funds to a scammer will be a huge hassle. Worse, being sufficiently negligent could prevent you from receiving coverage.

To reduce the chance that you’ll need to file a cyber insurance claim—and to ensure your policy remains valid—follow these essential security practices, which we’ve recommended many times:

• Use strong, unique passwords with a password manager.
• Enable two-factor authentication wherever available.
• Keep all devices and software updated.
• Maintain backups of important data.
• Be cautious with unexpected links or attachments.
• Monitor financial accounts regularly.

While personal cyber insurance can’t prevent attacks, it provides crucial financial protection in our increasingly digital world. As scammers ramp up the sophistication of their tactics, having a safety net becomes ever more important.

(Featured image by iStock.com/inkoly)

Google has created a free service that lets you see what of your personal and professional information has been published on the Web. Once you provide your name, address, phone numbers, and email addresses to Google’s Results About You website, Google will inform you if that info appears in search results. (Don’t worry, you’re not telling Google anything it doesn’t already know.) It may take a few days or weeks for the initial results to come back, and Google will keep adding more results over time. You can review each page with your information and, if it’s data you would prefer to keep private and it meets Google’s policy requirements, request its removal from the search results. This only removes your data from Google’s search results; to remove it from the Web entirely, you’ll need to contact the website hosting the information.

(Featured image by Google)

If you own an iPhone 14, 15, or 16 and are in the US, Canada, or Mexico, you now have access to a feature that could make all the difference the next time you find yourself staring at the dreaded SOS icon in your status bar. With iOS 18, Apple introduced Messages via satellite, a technology that lets you send and receive text messages even when you’re completely out of range of cellular and Wi-Fi networks. While it’s not a substitute for your usual messaging habits, it’s a powerful tool for minor emergencies, remote travel, or moments when the infrastructure fails you.

Why Messages via Satellite Matters

Cellular coverage is nearly ubiquitous—until it isn’t. It’s all too easy to find yourself without a signal in rural areas, and increasingly frequent natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires can disrupt cell networks for days or even weeks. In those situations, the ability to communicate can range from a minor convenience to a literal lifesaver.

Apple’s satellite connectivity, first introduced with Emergency SOS and Find My features in iOS 16 and expanded to Roadside Assistance with iOS 17, has already proven its worth in real-world emergencies, most notably during the Maui wildfires. Now, with iOS 18 and a compatible iPhone, you can use Messages to let someone know you’re safe during a storm, get help from a friend if your bike gets a flat in a remote area, check in with family while hiking in rural regions, and stay in touch during large-scale network outages, all without a cell tower within range.

Who Can Use Messages via Satellite?

Messages via satellite is available on all iPhone 14, iPhone 15, and iPhone 16 models, and it currently works only in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The feature is included for free for two years after activating a supported device, and Apple has already extended this window once without indicating any plans to charge for the service.

Messages via satellite works best when both you and your recipient are running iOS 18 or later. However, SMS fallback is available for non-iPhone users and those on older iOS versions. If you haven’t messaged someone recently, you may be prompted to use SMS instead of iMessage. The best approach may be to send them a regular iMessage while you’re still online to “prime” the conversation for satellite use.

How to Access Messages via Satellite

Apple designed Messages via satellite for use only when you truly need it. You can’t just switch it on whenever you want—your iPhone will offer the option only when there’s no cellular or Wi-Fi connection available. When this happens, the SOS icon in your status bar indicates that Messages via satellite can be used. It may or may not have a satellite icon next to it.

To get started, open the Messages app. If you’re in SOS mode, you’ll see a prompt to enable satellite messaging. Alternatively, go to Settings, where a Satellite option will appear under Battery. Apple also provides a Satellite Connection demo (accessible from Control Center) so you can practice connecting your phone to a satellite even when you have connectivity. We recommend trying this demo at least once—don’t try Messages via satellite for the first time when you actually need it.

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Once you’re ready to send a message, follow the on-screen instructions to point your iPhone at the sky. The phone will guide you to align with an available satellite, and you’ll see a green haze on the connection screen or a checkmark in the Dynamic Island when you’re connected. If you lose the connection, you’ll need to realign, as satellites move quickly across the sky. (Yes, you might look a bit eccentric waving your phone around in a field, but that’s a small price to pay for satellite connectivity.)

What You Can—and Can’t—Do

Messages via satellite has impressive capabilities, but it does come with some restrictions and quirks:

• Text-only chats: You can send and receive text messages using iMessage or SMS. No photos, videos, audio messages, stickers, or other attachments are supported. However, emoji and tapbacks work.
• Message length limits: iMessage conversations are restricted to 500 characters per message, while SMS messages are capped at 140 characters. If you go over these limits, the send button becomes disabled.
• No group chats: Group conversations aren’t supported, even if everyone is using iMessage.
• No location sharing in Messages: While you can’t send your location directly in a satellite message conversation, you can update your Find My location via satellite, which can then be viewed by those you’ve shared it with.
• Slower delivery: Messages take longer to send and receive, anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds per message. You must stay connected to the satellite to receive replies.
• Incoming message restrictions: Only emergency contacts and members of your Family Sharing group can initiate messages to you while you’re offline, and only via SMS. Their messages are delivered once you establish a connection to a satellite.
• End-to-end encryption: iMessage conversations via satellite are end-to-end encrypted, but SMS messages are not.

Practical Tips for Using Messages via Satellite

To make the most of Messages via satellite when you need it, keep these tips in mind:

• Practice connecting: Try Apple’s Satellite Connection demo before you need it. Familiarity with the process will save you time and stress in a real-world situation.
• Update emergency contacts: Make sure your emergency contacts and Family Sharing members are current. They are the only people who can reach you first when you’re off the grid.
• Prime important contacts: If you anticipate needing to reach someone while offline, send them a message while you still have coverage. This helps ensure the conversation is ready for satellite use.
• Stay connected for replies: Keep your phone pointed at the satellite until you get a response. Dropping the connection will interrupt the flow of messages.
• Don’t expect instantaneous service: Patience is key—sending and receiving messages via satellite is much slower than what you’re used to.

Messages via satellite is a significant step forward in making iPhones more useful in challenging situations. While we certainly hope you don’t need it every day, it’s a feature that’s good to have in your back pocket. The next time you see the SOS icon on your iPhone, don’t panic. Open Messages, follow the prompts, and stay connected when it matters most. It’s not magic, but it’s close enough for most practical purposes.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Jacob Wackerhausen)