• Apple charges 15-30% extra for in-app purchases and subscription fees like YouTube Premium
• This has become known as the 'Apple tax'
• Third-party developers have been protesting this, mainly Fortnite founder Epic Games

Apple’s App Store is a one-stop shop for all your needs. It’s made subscribing to third-party services a lot easier, and you can manage your memberships all from one place right there on your iPhone. That said, subscribing to platforms through Apple comes with a small but pricey catch.

If you’ve subscribed to the best streaming services such as YouTube Premium through the App Store, you might not know that this could cost you a lot more than if you were to sign up through YouTube itself — and it’s all down to App Store fees.

For example, if you were to sign up to YouTube Premium’s standard tier via its website, it would cost $15.99/ £12.99/ AU$22.99 a month, but if you signed up through the App Store, that monthly price becomes slightly more expensive ($20.99/ £16.99/ AU$23.99).

So, if you’ve started to wonder why your YouTube Premium subscription fee has skyrocketed in comparison to your Netflix and Disney+ memberships, this could be the reason. But why is the margin a lot higher for purchasing directly through Apple’s App Store?

Two words; Apple tax

Apple doesn’t just make bank from selling its extensive range of smartphones, laptops, and other devices; its App Store has created another source of revenue for the tech giant, which is now often referred to as the ‘Apple tax’.

Since Apple charges developers to implement alternative payment systems that aren't Apple Pay, these developers will bump up monthly subscription costs by roughly 15-30%, charging you more per month for simply subscribing to platforms via the App Store in order to avoid paying this fee. It doesn’t just apply to monthly subscriptions; Apple applies this tax to most of its digital goods and in-app purchases.

Now, Apple has been doing this pretty much since the App Store launched on iPhone some 18 years ago, resulting in a protest to this tax — mainly by Fornite-founding company Epic Games.

Back in 2020, Epic Games started its protest against Apple’s App Store fees by implementing its own direct payment system in iOS. As a result, Apple booted Epic’s developer accounts and removed Fortnite, but it didn’t end there.

Epic Games retaliated with a claim of its own, arguing Apple decided to remove Epic's developer accounts because it saw Epic Games as a threat to its ecosystem. Fortnite was then listed back on the App Store following a five-year absence, but the dispute is still very much unresolved. As it stands, the US Supreme Court has decided to hear Apple’s appeal of contempt in the ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games. This will begin in the Supreme Court’s next term, which starts in October.

For most of you who are literate with the ways of Apple, its App Store fees probably won’t come as a big shock to you, but for the average user who relies on their Apple device to make digital purchasing more convenient, they might not be as aware of the catch and are still being blindsided by the Apple Tax.

• Nanoleaf announced a new $80 smart ceiling light
• It comes with three different lighting modes and also supports Matter
• It's on sale in the US and Canada now

Nanoleaf has unveiled a new device coming to its range of smart home tech, and it’s a small ceiling light that packs quite a punch.

Yesterday (June 30) the Toronto-based company announced its small 12-inch Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Ceiling Light on its blog, which is now available to purchase for $79.99 in the US and Canada. We don’t know when or if its new ceiling light will be available internationally, but we’re keeping our eyes peeled for more news.

There’s not an evening spent in my home where the big light is turned on, so having a neat device like Nanoleaf’s new ceiling light is perfect for when you want to set the ambience for an entire room without turning on individual lamps. It can also be wired into your home, easily replacing your existing ceiling light.

As far as its features go, Nanoleaf’s ceiling light packs 19 LEDs and has three modes. ‘Front’ mode projects 2600 lumens of light filling rooms of up to 150 sq. ft, making it ideal for things such as cooking or reading. ‘Back’ mode shines light onto the ceiling to set the mood for times where you want to relax or indulge in a good movie, while ‘Front and Back’ mode is a combination of the two.

We’ve tested an extensive range of the best smart lights from Nanoleaf and there’s a plethora of reasons why we keep going back for more. One of them is its endless color wheel of lighting options, and the new ceiling light is no exception.

Nanoleaf says its ceiling light has roughly 16 million color choices, so I think it’s safe to say that you won’t run short of options when setting the right mood in your home. Additionally, it has a CRI 95 rating which, if you’re unfamiliar with the lingo, means that every color in your room will shine naturally when the light hits. Essentially, this rating is the gold standard.

Ceiling lights have had their time in the spotlight quite a bit recently. Philips, another behemoth in the world of smart lighting, launched an impressive ceiling device that imitates natural sunlight. However, though it looks stellar, it’s very pricey and falls flat on the smart features front, which is where Nanoleaf’s latest device wins.

While the Philips Skylight automatically adjusts daylight temperature as the day goes on, it’s not a smart light in the conventional sense as you can’t connect it to smart home hubs. In the case of Nanoleaf, the ceiling light is Matter compatible and supports Apple Home, Google Home, SmartThings, and Alexa smart speakers, allowing you to use voice control to set the mood regardless of which system you’re using.

The other handy trick with the ceiling light is that it can do all the thinking for you when you set schedules, so the mood will automatically change to correspond with your set times. That’s not the only means of control however, the ceiling light can also be used with the Nanoleaf Sense+ switch (sold separately) which uses motion and daylight sensors to take the light’s smarts to the next level.

Despite Philips having the more premium ceiling light, Nanoleaf’s newest addition tackles a lot of pain points from its $500 rival. And yes, it’s not as big or bold, but for the roster of color options, Matter compatibility, and other smart home tools, $80 is quite the steal.

Spotify has the upper hand out of all the best music streaming services because of its hyper-personalized feed and social features, but its app design isn’t the greatest.

I’m not the first power user to call out the platform for its stuffy and, at times, unorganized layout. The ‘Your Library’ section, for example, is a cluster of your recent activity, which you can only rearrange using the filters at the top of the screen — full customization is out of the question.

After using Spotify alongside Apple Music, there’s no comparison — the latter packs a simple and concise interface, with a bright and sleek finish, and there’s Spotify could certainly take a page out of Apple Music’s book on the organization front. However, one user has, at least, found a hidden setting that allows you to switch from Spotify’s dark color scheme to a brighter one similar to Apple Music's.

A Reddit post shared by u/Hot_Perspective (see below) shows two images of the Spotify mobile app with inverted colors enabled, which essentially replaces Spotify’s dark appearance with a ‘light mode’ one consisting of an all-white background reminiscent of Apple Music’s interface.

Do you know u can use Spotify in light mode in iOS it looks pretty 😍 from r/truespotify

The thing to note here is that it’s not actually controlled via the Spotify app; it’s all done through iOS or Android settings — and it’s simple to enable.

If you’re using an iPhone, open Settings and head to Accessibility, then tap Per-App Settings. From there, you’ll need to tap Add App and search for Spotify. Once you’ve added Spotify select Smart Invert and enable the toggle. Android users can enable this feature also by heading to Settings and tapping Accessibility, then Text and Display. Find Color Inversion and toggle it on.

What an eyesore

If you haven’t yet come across this tool, it’s a stark difference from Spotify’s traditional dark-theme interface to say the least.

While it flips the dark in-app color scheme on its head, it’s smart enough to know not to invert album and playlist covers, so not every part of the Spotify app is inverted — which I think is quite clever. But despite its accessibility benefits, it hasn’t been a huge hit with music fans, myself included.

For one, it doesn’t solve the issue of the cluttered and unorganized interface, it just adds funky colors to the app. That aside, it’s frighteningly bright, I’d say even brighter than the average smartphone display setting — the meme replies in the Reddit thread have cracked me up (see the countless reaction images).

Comment from r/truespotify

I can’t exactly explain it, but there’s something very 'uncanny valley' about Spotify with inverted colors. It sort of looks like Apple Music, but I know it’s not. I even lost my muscle memory while trying to navigate it — it threw me off that much.

As we all know, Spotify loves a good visual, and most songs on the platform display a short looping video in the playback section of the app, but inverted colors interfere with this, making visuals look like X-rays. But even if you like how it looks, it has a knock-on effect for both iOS and Android smartphones.

Because Android doesn’t allow this tool to be enabled for individual apps, you’ll have to put up with inverted colors across your entire system, which is quite a strain on the eyes. While iOS allows you to enable inverted colors for separate apps, you need to have the system-wide Light Mode setting turned on for it to work. This means that if you’re like me and prefer to use Dark Mode in apps like Instagram and iMessages, you’ll have to sacrifice this — it’s an all-or-nothing situation.

I think it’s appropriate to say that, overall, it doesn’t sit well with a lot of subscribers. It does, however, remind us that while Spotify has yet to fix a few layout issues, at least the platform has a solid brand identity.

• SVP at Samsung says the Galaxy Ring 2 is officially in development
• It could come with a slew of design upgrades as well as deeper integration with other Samsung devices
• The biggest improvement is support for iOS, a first for Samsung wearables

When Samsung released the Galaxy Ring in 2024 it shot to the top of our list of best smart rings, but the Korean tech company has been rather silent on plans for the next-gen wearable — until now.

Speaking with Forbes, Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team at Samsung, Hon Pak, shared that the company’s next smart ring (presumably named the Galaxy Ring 2) is officially in development; “We are working on the next generation. I can tell you that,” he shared.

The announcement arrives just after the new Oura Ring 5 hit the shelves which, compared to its predecessor, is roughly 40% smaller with an even longer battery life, although does come with a higher price tag. It’s about time Samsung returned to the smart ring world given how fierce the competition has grown over the last two years — so how will the Galaxy Ring 2 stand against its rivals?

When Samsung released the first Galaxy Ring, Pak described it as “a comprehensive and simplified approach” to health and sleep, and it seems that he wants to build on this across both hardware and software.

For starters, if we look at the Oura Ring 5’s slimmer redesign, it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise if Samsung replicated a similar ‘smaller but tougher’ approach to its own smart ring for added comfort improvements.

Additionally, Samsung could take a page out of Oura’s book and remove skin contact bumps from the inside of the ring, all while extending its battery life — we also predicted that it will come with a solid state battery.

Though design upgrades are likely, Pak hinted that this won’t be the biggest difference with the Galaxy Ring 2. “If you look at the comparison of other rings, regardless of the competitor, the sensors are not that different right now,” he said, adding “It’s really about what services you create on the top layer. It’s really the software differentiation that you see.”

With these remarks in mind, the Galaxy Ring 2’s main focus will be on developing deeper software integration rather than reupholstering the hardware. Pak also shared that Samsung has plans to build on its connected ecosystem to help users receive more accurate metrics and get a better sense of their health habits.

Instead of using just the Galaxy Ring 2's collection of metrics to present the full picture of your well-being, Samsung takes your data from the smart ring and blends it with other devices in its network via the Samsung Health app. This could include Galaxy Watches and smartphones, and even its range of SmartThings home appliances to give you more detailed context into your daily activity and overall well-being.

For users who are deep into Samsung’s ecosystem of devices already, it’s a huge win, but one of the biggest setbacks with the first-gen Galaxy Ring is its lack of support for iOS. While Samsung has the overall edge over the likes of Oura, the latter supports iOS, giving users more reason to opt for its wearables over Samsung’s — but this could change with the Galaxy Ring 2.

In addition to software upgrades, Pak heavily teased that iOS support will finally be coming to the Galaxy Ring; “I’m smiling but I can’t say anything,” he hinted. Out of all the new upgrades, iOS support would throw the biggest curveball into the competition, giving non-Android users even more reason to make the switch to Galaxy Ring over rival wearables.

While it’s not exactly a formal announcement, it’s certainly a promising affirmation of what to expect from the long-awaited wearable. Despite not giving any details on an official launch date, Galaxy Unpacked 2026 is just around the corner where we’re expecting the announcement of the S26 lineup — could Samsung also throw the Galaxy Ring 2 into the mix?

• WhatsApp is rolling out the option of reserving unique usernames
• Username reservations are coming to users worldwide from this week
• They're designed to make communicating through WhatsApp "even more private"

WhatsApp has become one of the world's most popular messaging apps, but not everyone is comfortable with handing out their phone number to a stranger to start a chat. Fortunately, Meta is rolling out a new feature to help change that.

Today (June 29), Meta announced the arrival of WhatsApp usernames, which the company says will be rolling out to over three billion users. From this week, you’ll be able to reserve a username that you can then use when the tool rolls out fully over the coming months.

Since there are a lot of users on WhatsApp, Meta is opening up reservations in advance so you can claim one that’s unique to you before it’s taken by someone else. Meta is also making it easier for organizations and small businesses to claim theirs, and owners will have the option to claim their existing Facebook and Instagram username for their WhatsApp account.

Adding new contacts to WhatsApp is fairly straightforward already — all you have to do is simply enter their number and a pop-up saying ‘this person is using WhatsApp’ will appear. But the addition of usernames paves a way for an even more convenient and private way of adding new contacts — aligning with how other social media platforms work.

Meta added that “usernames are [our] latest step to make WhatsApp even more private” in its announcement. For one, Meta says that there’s no search function that allows you to find anyone via username like you can on Instagram — there’s no directory for browsing, or suggestions and results.

If someone wants to add you as a contact, they’ll need to know your exact username if you want to add you. Additionally, Meta has also integrated an optional four-digit key which you can enable, which others will need to enter if they want to add you.

How to reserve your username

The first step is to make sure your WhatsApp app is updated. Then, once username reservations have been rolled out in your region, head to Settings > Account > Username.

Meta says it'll alert you in the WhatsApp app when usernames are available in your country. It added that "we'll be rolling out usernames gradually over the coming months", so you may need to be patient to see the option.

Usernames have been in the works for WhatsApp for a while. Username reservations were first spotted back in October 2025, and in April users spotted a tool in the service’s beta that allowed them to create their own username, but was only available to a very limited number of users.