Apple’s next large software updates are getting a huge new feature for playback speed scales like me: You will be able to listen to shows on a maximum 3x speed on the podcast app, Apple has noted in a press release about the features of new services. Before that, there was a maximum of 2X.
You can go from the Podcast Play Screen to the Podcast app, but you have to do a little work to get there, the first iOS 26 manufacturer based on my test. When you tap the playback speed button, a small popup appears that show some different speed buttons: 0.8, 1, 1.3, 1.5, 1.8, and 2. To adjust the playback speed more finely or to access faster than 2x, you need to swipe on buttons to get to the dial.
The popup also includes a new “dialogue enhancement” option that you can tape or turn off. According to Apple’s press release, “Using real -time audio processing and machine learning, users can activate better conversations to listen to speeches on background sounds more clearly.”
With Apple’s latest updates, Apple News Plus users will have access to a new daily puzzle game called Emoji game. “Emoji game Apple says, “One of the favorite ways of communicating players in a fun and interesting way, players have been challenged to use emoji to complete three sentences, which aims to resolve this puzzle as much as possible.
In the press release, Apple also highlighted some features that were published in Monday’s WWDC 2025 key note, including the latest boarding pass with direct activities and the ability to create a “digital ID” in your Apple wallet with US passport.
