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Yesterday, one of my grown adult sons took the dog for a walk, then disappeared for two-and-a-half hours as darkness fell.
My wife and I weren’t particularly alarmed, but we did start checking Find My with increasing urgency as time dragged on.
A month before that, another of our adult sons borrowed our rickety old Land Rover for a trip to Los Angeles, a 400-mile drive from our home in San Francisco.
He’s an excellent driver and not reckless at all, but I spent most of the day tracking his progress in Find My — as, I found out later, did my wife.
After those experiences, I just discovered a better way to track our children using the iPhone. (Although, in the first case, this new tracking technique might have made things much, much worse!)
The discovery? A little-known feature in the Messages app called Check In. It allows you to share your travels with loved ones — and it automatically notifies them if anything goes wrong.
It’s great for situations where safety is a concern, like a single friend going on a date or a young child venturing out on their own.
It would have been perfect for my son’s drive to LA, and I wish I’d known about it.
But my other son, who was taking a detour on a dog walk? Using the Check In feature might have caused panic where none was warranted. On the other hand, it might have made him think about his worrywart parents.
All in all, it’s a great thing to know about this holiday season when a lot of people are traveling, partying and doing risky things like skiing backcountry trails. Here’s all you need to know.
Also in today’s newsletter:
I always kinda wanted an iMac Pro — the beefed-up, all-in-one desktop machine that Apple sold for a couple of years before quietly putting it out to pasture. But a pro-grade iMac never made that much sense because it was pricey and non-upgradeable. So I’m not sure what to make of this rumor that the iMac Pro will come roaring back to life. Maybe it sold better than expected the first time around?
Elder fraud is exploding, according to FBI stats, and a staggering 72% of it is enabled or worsened by personal data that’s been exposed. Erase your sensitive data with Incogni, and use code CULTOFMAC to get a whopping 55% off.
Sonos is like Apple: Its products are so good, so well-made, that they never go on sale. Except every now and again.
Clearly getting ahead of the European Union’s demands, iOS 26.3 beta 1 makes it a cinch to switch from iPhone to Android!
Today’s the day in Apple history that Cupertino took a page from Microsoft’s playbook and licensed Mac clones. What looked like a reasonable idea on paper proved disastrous in real life.
If you or anyone you know needs a dirt-cheap Mac, this refurbished M1 MacBook Air is a genuine good deal. At just $400, it’s cheaper than the refurbs on Amazon.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
A message from Incogni
Elder fraud: Data exposure implicated in 72% of cases
Incogni’s analysis of the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report shows elder cybercrime is rising sharply, with both complaint numbers and financial losses hitting record highs.
Financial losses grew 43% year over year to nearly $4.9 billion, while victims aged 60-plus increased to about 147,000. Researchers estimate 72% of the 113,906 elder-related crimes were enabled or worsened by victims’ personal data being exposed online, driving 86% of total losses.
Phishing and spoofing exploded, too — up about 700% year over year to 23,300 reports — while investment scams caused the highest average losses, around $194,100 per complaint.
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Tweets of the day
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One more thing ...
What I’m best at doing is finding a group of talented people and making things with them. I respect the direction that Apple is going in. But for me personally, you know, I want to make things.
Today’s poll
Do you use Check In and Find My?
Results from yesterday’s poll: Do you have faith in Apple to resurrect curved screens?
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