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Apple is testing improvements that will allow iPhone and Mac users to more intuitively manage their numerous Reminders and Calendar events with iOS 18 and macOS 15, AppleInsider has learned.

Apple Calendar and Reminders get tighter integrations with macOS 15 and iOS 18

In particular, people familiar with pre-release versions of iOS 18 say Apple's core Calendar and Reminders applications are finally able to talk to each other, solving the years-old annoyance of having to juggle screen time between both apps in order to manage often-related tasks.

Manage events and reminders -- all from one app

A new-and-improved version of Calendar, slated to roll out as part of iOS 18 and macOS 15 later in 2024, will include a new feature that will let users schedule and organize reminders directly from within the Calendar app, without the need to launch the standalone Reminders app.

Add reminders directly from the Calendar app interface

Tapping or right-clicking an area within the Day, Week, or Month views in pre-release versions of the new Calendar app will reveal an option that prompts the user to either set a reminder or schedule an event. Both can be scheduled from the same UI element, allowing for greater convenience.

When adding a reminder through the Calendar application, users will be able to select a title and add a note or tag to their reminder, as a way of describing it or making it easier to locate.

Reminders created via the default Calendar app will behave similarly to those made with Apple's built-in Reminders application. The Calendar app will include options to select a specific date, time, and location for new reminders, along with a priority setting.

As Apple intends to integrate both apps, reminders made through the updated Calendar application also appear in pre-release versions of the new Reminders app. In internal versions of Apple's operating systems, all reminder-related notifications are tied to the Reminders app -- even reminders created through Calendar.

Toggle inclusion of Reminders in Calendar from the sidebar

Alongside reminders integration, the Calendar application is expected to receive minor design alterations. In the Today view, numbers that denote hours within a day will become slightly larger than in previous versions, according to people familiar with the matter.

These improvements to Calendar and Reminders are expected to join a host of other enhancements to Apple's new operating systems designed to help keep its users on track and make them more productive.

Not quite a Sherlock

Apple has a history of Sherlocking ideas from third-party applications as well as features from rival products and services, operating system extensions, jailbreak tweaks, and much more. These base applications improve slowly, and while some features are borrowed from other apps, they won't always mean the end of competition.

Fantastical goes above and beyond simple calendar and reminders integrations

One excellent third-party app made by Flexibits is called Fantastical. It utilizes Apple's iCal and Reminders integrations to combine both tools into one app with a pile of features on top.

While the intersection of reminders and events is one of the tentpole features, Fantastical and apps like it will hardly be threatened by Apple's latest feature update. Instead of calling this a Sherlock, it's more of a "finally," as integrating the two is obvious low hanging fruit.

Apple's push into AI with iOS 18 could prove to be a bigger threat to Fantastical. While the latest information on the company's plans doesn't include information about AI capabilities in Calendar, it would be another obvious next step to add natural language entry to the app.

Unless Apple does that, Fantastical will still stand strong as a powerful third-party option with natural language processing, meeting app integrations, and other useful tools.

AppleInsider has covered other potential software updates that pose a bigger threat to third-party apps than this Calendar and Reminders integration. Those include Intelligent Browsing in Safari, Voice Notes, and an upgraded Calculator.

Making the defaults better

Calendar first started its life under the name iCal, as a free download for macOS 10.2 Jaguar and later became a default system application with the release of macOS 10.3 Panther in 2003. The default application has offered a base set of actions fit for most users and gave third-party developers a launch pad for designing even better tools.

Calendar on iPad has plenty of space for the incoming Reminders integration

The information provided by those familiar with Apple's upcoming operating systems isn't all encompassing and lacks access to APIs and server-side tools that will be integrated for the public launch. As of now, there is no way of knowing what AI capabilities could be integrated in Reminders or Calendar.

Apple appears to be focusing on building on-device AI models that can take advantage of the powerful Apple Silicon processors while providing private and secure tools. How these models work and interact with the system apps won't be known until after WWDC in June.

With all of the news surrounding AI models and what to expect from Apple's developer conference, it is refreshing to hear about something as straightforward as melding two core apps together. The tighter integration will likely enable some users to operate more efficiently when planning since all tasks will be visible in a single UI in Calendar.

WWDC is only a little more than a month away and there's a lot of details still to be seen. Apple will reveal iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2 during the packed event -- not to mention a mountain of new AI tools.

Rumor Score: Likely

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As surgeons in other countries get a chance to work with the Apple Vision Pro, they are seeing it as a revolutionary tool -- and a big improvement on previous headsets.

Following examples in the US of the Apple Vision Pro being used in surgeries, a new example has come to light from Brazil. The headset was used in a shoulder arthroscopy procedure dealing with a rupture of the rotator cuff.

The operation, reported on by MacMagazine, was performed in Jaragu do Sul in Santo Domingo. Dr. Bruno Gobbato and his team typically peform this type of operation looking at a screen anyway, using a camera inserted into the injured area.

Gobbato had previously used Microsoft's HoloLens to perform such surgeries. However, the cameras in the Apple Vision Pro had a much higher resolution and better handling of the bright lights focused on the patient's shoulder.

"Shoulder arthroscopy surgery uses a camera inside the joint and surgeons perform it by looking directly at a screen," Dr. Gobbato said. "With this device, I was able to see the image on the size of a movie screen with high resolution, as well as being able to see the patient's exams and 3D models in real time."

He has posted a video of the surgery on YouTube, with the procedure highly sped-up to demonstrate the perspective of a surgeon using the Apple Vision Pro. Gobbato was able to clearly see his notes, the patient's x-rays, and the live camera all at the same time.

Also employed during the surgery was an app called MyMako. It's a 3D program that allows doctors to create models of what they will be doing in the surgery beforehand, and have those models in 3D available to them during the actual procedure.

Despite being used for surgeries previously in the UK, and now Brazil, the Apple Vision Pro is currently only purchasable in the US. Availability in other countries, likely including China, is expected to be announced soon.



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Apple has plans to move its existing Montreal-based Saint-Cathrerine location to a heritage building in downtown Montreal.

Apple's existing Apple Sainte-Catherine location | Image Credit: Apple

This relocation comes as part of Apple's efforts to revitalize its physical retail presence across the globe. The new Apple retail store will be located at Apple will settle at 1255 Sainte-Catherine Street West, according to sources who told La Press.

The existing store opened in 2008 at 1321 Sainte-Catherine Street West. According to a previous report by Bloomberg, the store is estimated to re-open in its new location by February 2025.

Apple has slowed launches of new stores to focus on renovating and refurbishing existing stores.

In March, it was learned that Apple would open its eighth Apple Store in Shanghai, China.



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Despite Apple's recent rule change, it has been a bumpy few days for emulators on the App Store as small developers fear the wrath of Nintendo and others.

Nintendo may be waiting in the shadows to smash any emulator out of existence

Software emulation has been around for decades and is perfectly legal, at least the technology is. The implementation of emulators, business models, and how users obtain games live in this unchallenged legal gray area that developers are scared to test.

The Google Play Store doesn't restrict developers from submitting emulators either, and plenty of popular versions exist. So, since Apple now allows emulators on the App Store, the world has been standing by waiting for a flood of software built to play old video games -- yet it hasn't arrived.

The latest emulator, called Bimmy, came and went in a matter of hours. It was capable of running NES games with the applicable ROMs.

Bimmy was pulled by the developer Tom Salvo without any action from Nintendo or Apple. According to a MacRumors forum post, he pulled it out of fear of reprisal.

Tom Salvo's is clear about why he pulled the emulator.

Pulled by me, just out of fear. No one pressured me to, but I got more nervous about it as the day went on. Very sorry to get everyone's hopes up, but hopefully hopefully there will be other more brave devs than me in the future.

The latest removal comes only two days after another public mishap where a developer accidentally violated a license for open source code. The Gameboy emulator was quickly removed after the developer was accused of publishing shovelware filled with ads.

Apple's emulator guidelines don't say much about legality, but it appears to lay the blame at the developer's feet if any legal action is sought. Again, emulators are legal if implemented correctly -- it's the ROMs that live in a legal gray area.

The legality of emulators and ROMs

A ROM is simply the data file found on a game disc or cartridge, the Read Only Memory which can be legally obtained if removed from original hardware. Users are expected to obtain ROMs legally, though finding them on the web isn't difficult.

Bimmy was taken down out of fear of reprisal from Nintendo

The ease at which old software can be pirated is a problem for game companies. It removes a potential revenue stream (one these companies seem to have no intention of pursing anyway), but like when people pirated music in the 2000s, it's difficult to enforce and pursue in court.

Instead, companies like Nintendo try to use laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, to take down emulators. Nintendo successfully took down Yuzu, a Switch emulator, because it cracked the console's encryption, thus violating the DMCA.

Other emulators don't need such sophisticated methods to run classic software. Therefore, without the DMCA, there isn't a legal basis to pursue most of these emulators core software -- at least not yet, anyway.

Developers like Tom Salvo are worried about becoming a legal precedent. If Nintendo decided to try its luck against an emulator published in Apple's App Store, it could be successful.

For whatever reason, the same level of scrutiny hasn't been brought to Google's Play Store, where emulators exist by the bucketload. Perhaps the legal gray area protects these emulators, and Apple's App Store will soon be filled with them.

The only way to find out is if a high-profile emulator succeeds at being published to the App Store and remains without a challenge. The problem is finding a developer willing to risk a showdown with Nintendo or Sony.

Still waiting on a high-profile emulator for iOS

All eyes are on Riley Testut and his handful of emulators. He created GBA4iOS to emulate Gameboy games, and then he followed up that project with Delta, which can run everything from NES to N64.

Delta emulator is able to run several classic console games

However, Testut has remained quiet about his intentions to bring Delta or GBA4iOS to Apple's App Store. It could prove a conflict of interest as he brings AltStore online as an alternative app marketplace in the EU.

Some speculate Apple's purpose for allowing emulators now, after fighting against the idea since the conception of the App Store, is to undercut Testut's efforts to implement AltStore in the EU. The timing of Apple's guideline update suggests as much.

Many questions still remain about emulation on iOS and Apple's other platforms. While Apple seems ready to approve Gameboy and NES emulators, we've yet to see emulators that require system BIOS files like PlayStation One.

There's no reason why even Nintendo Gamecube or Wii can't run on an iPhone or iPad beyond legal issues. We'll just have to wait and see who is willing to take the gamble between App Store success and lawsuit hell.



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Users in 92 countries worldwide have had notifications from Apple warning that they may be victims of a severe and sophisticated iPhone hack.

Apple has been warning users of a spyware attack on iPhones

In November 2021, Apple announced that it would alert iPhone users to state-sponsored spyware attacks that it detects, and it has done so. According to Reuters, though, the latest warning concerns a rarer and reportedly much more highly sophisticated attack.

In a notification seen by Reuters, Apple has told certain users in 92 countries that they have potentially been victims of a "mercenary spyware attack." The attack is an attempt to "remotely compromise the iPhone."

It's known that India is one of the 92 countries affected, but there is no detail of any of the others. Neither Apple nor any of the countries' governments have commented.

Separately, however, India's government did previously attack Apple over its similar warnings in October 2023. In that case, the warnings chiefly went to journalists and opposition politicians in the country.



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