Apple Industry News

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    Apple’s upcoming Crossbody Strap accessory will use magnets

    Apple’s rumored Crossbody Strap lanyard accessory for the iPhone 17 lineup will apparently use magnets to avoid looping through itself.

    Several cases that leaked ahead of the iPhone 17 lineup net month suggest that the upcoming smartphones will support lanyard attachments. Leaker Majin Bu recently reveled that the upcoming TechWoven cases (replacing the discontinued FineWoven line) have two small holes at the bottom for attaching straps.

    He said that the new cases would work a new Apple accessory, dubbed Crossbody Strap, and today he has shared more details about the supposed magnetic system the Crossbody Strap apparently uses.

    Apple’s Crossbody Strap for iPhone 17 has some magnets

    Writing on his personal blog, Mu writes that the Crossbody Strap seems to feature a flexible metal core along the entire length. “At the ends, rings polarized oppositely to the strap close the system with enhanced strength, ensuring a robust hold,” he writes.

    Traditional lanyard straps are closed by looping the strap through itself, which can be a bit clunky and ruin the seamless appearance. Apple already uses magnets in several products and accessories for easy snapping and alignment; with the upcoming Crossbody Strap accessory, it looks like you won’t need to looping it through itself.

    “This mechanism allows for intuitive attachment and detachment, eliminating the need for traditional hooks or loops, and is perfect for those seeking practicality with iPhone 17 cases,” he explained.

    The Crossbody Strap is reportedly designed for wearing any of the upcoming iPhone 17 models around your neck or across the body, whether or not the phone is in a case. The accessory should be made from woven nylon, Bu has it, a material similar to that used in the Sport Loop Bands for the Apple Watch. A silicone version shouldn’t be ruled out, based on the leaked Apple silicone cases for the iPhone 17 lineup. The accessory should be provided in a range of color finishes matching the rumored iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro colorways.

    This also won’t be the first Apple product with lanyard support. Some iPod models supported lanyard. More recently, the AirPods Pro 2 case has two built-in lanyard holes on the side. In fact, Bu speculates that the Crossbody Strap may also be compatible with lanyard support on the AirPods Pro 2.

    The mystery will be revealed soon; Apple is scheduled to announce new products on September 9 at its “Awe dropping” event in Cupertino, California. Aside from thew iPhone 17 lineup, other expected announcements include the new Apple Watch lineup comprising updated Series, Ultra and SE models, along with the AirPods Pro 3 featuring a redesigned case with a capacitive pairing button and the possibility of health-tracking features.

    Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/28/apple-crossbody-strap-magnets-rumor/

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    Apple no longer signing iOS 18.6.1 after one week of iOS 18.6.2’s availability, ending downgrades

    Apple released iOS & iPadOS 18.6.2 one week ago, fixing security issues that needed fixing and helping to ensure its users were well-protected from vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited by bad actors in the wild.

    But as always shortly after Apple releases a firmware update, typically in the span of a week, the Cupertino-based company has made it impossible for iPhone and iPad owners to voluntarily downgrade to the previous iOS & iPadOS 18.6.1 firmware. That’s because they’ve tweaked their update servers to deny requests in a move that we frequently call ‘unsigning.’

    While users previously had the ability to downgrade from iOS or iPadOS 18.6.2 to iOS or iPadOS 18.6.1 by pressing the Shift key and clicking the Restore button in iTunes for Windows or pressing the Option key and clicking the Restore button in Finder for macOS, that all ends starting today.

    Firmware downgrades have long been used by jailbreakers to install older firmware that was vulnerable to exploits that jailbreak tools took advantage of, but this hasn’t been the case in a long time as Apple has been ahead of the exploiting curve for several years now. Instead, firmware downgrades have more commonly been used as salvation when a firmware update breaks something or destabilizes devices as in the examples below:

    • PadOS 18.0 bricking M4 chip-equipped iPad Pros
    • iOS 16.0 over-prompting users on clipboard access when pasting copied content into another app
    • iOS 14.7 breaking the Apple Watch’s ability to be unlocked with the host iPhone’s Touch ID sensor
    • iOS & iPadOS 13.2 imposing incredibly aggressive background management on backgrounded apps

    Despite firmware downgrades being interrupted as of now, it may still be possible to upgrade your device to iOS or iPadOS 18.6.1 from an older firmware via the DelayOTA method, which utilizes an Enterprise-oriented feature that enables lagged firmware downgrading up to 90-days past unsigning so that Enterprises can ensure continued software compatibility when it matters.

    When Apple prevents users from downgrading their firmware by choice, they remove users’ ability to experience control over the devices they paid for. In essence, Apple tells you what you can and can’t do with your device, and we’ve always felt this is wrong. Sadly, avaricious corporations don’t care what users think; as long as iPhones fly off the shelves and as long as regulations don’t dictate otherwise, nothing will change.

    The iDB team has long stood with jailbreakers and user choice when it comes to firmware downgrades. Even if Apple thinks its users are too irresponsible to think for themselves, and they may as well just openly state this in a PR campaign at this point, iDB believes that Apple should at least enable some kind of advanced option for users with advanced technical and troubleshooting knowledge to do what they want with their devices, even if they have to sign a waiver that says their warranty would be null and void if they did so. I’d still accept it.

    But will that ever happen? Probably not. Apple likes control. They’ve gone as far as to stifle jailbreaking efforts for years, so why would anything change now?

    As always, you can see what firmware is or isn’t being signed for your particular device by using the iPSW.me website. You can also download whatever firmware you might need for your device from our Downloads page.

    Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/27/apple-stops-signing-ios-18-6-1/