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It seems like iOS 26 just dropped, and yet, Apple is back at it with another update. As of Monday, iOS 26.1 is officially in beta testing, which means developers and public testers can try out Apple’s next update early.

“Point updates” like iOS 26.1 are never as feature-filled as the main releases, though 26.1 seems particularly small in scope. Apple seems to have done most of what it planned to do with iOS 26, saving just smaller changes for this upcoming update. Still, there are some interesting new additions in this latest beta, and more could come in subsequent releases. Here’s what’s new.

Apple Music gestures

If you want to skip a song in Apple Music, you hit the forward button. If you want to get back to the previous song, or restart the current song, you hit the back button. With iOS 26.1, however, you’ll have the option to swipe to switch between songs.

In the current beta, you can swipe right and left on the Now Playing bar to switch back and forth through your queue. With it, Apple has removed the skip forward button from the Now Playing bar. (The back button wasn’t present.) It’s a small but cool feature, but one that might take a little time to get used to.

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Video playback bar

In the current version of iOS 26, the video playback bar in the Photos app is flush with the UI. You might love or hate it, but it can be a bit difficult to make it out, depending on the video in question. The play button and mute button, for example, can disappear when iOS can’t change their colors to stand out from the background.

iOS 26.1 beta 1, however, introduces a new video playback bar that is separate from the UI. It looks good, and is easy to see at all times. Again, a small change, but a smart one.

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Live Translation languages

Live Translation for AirPods is a fantastic new feature that automatically translates conversations you’re having with someone who speaks a language you don’t understand. So long as you have an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, as well as AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, or AirPods 5 with Active Noise Cancellation, you’ve been able to try it out since iOS 26’s launch.

Apple initially rolled out support for French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain), but plans to expand the list in the future. With iOS 26.1, it adds four new options, including:

• Chinese (Mandarin, simplified)

• Chinese (Mandarin, traditional)

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

Eight new languages for Apple Intelligence

Users with an iPhone 15 Pro and newer, listen up: Apple Intelligence supports eight new languages in iOS 26.1. As of this first beta, that includes the following:

• Chinese (traditional)

• Danish

• Dutch

• Norwegian

• Portuguese (Portugal)

• Swedish

• Turkish

• Vietnamese

Liquid Glass comes to the Phone’s keypad

Liquid Glass, Apple’s new design language, isn’t everywhere in iOS 26. While much of the UI now has a glassy look, some elements still look like iOS 18 and earlier. The Phone app’s keypad was one such example: While the app itself is very much changed with this update, switch to the keypad, and it looks the same as ever.

That changes with iOS 26.1. The beta brings Liquid Glass to the keypad, which, while consistent with most of iOS 26’s design, does reduce the visibility of the keys a bit, especially in light mode. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple workshop this one a bit.

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Calendar

Whenever you have Calendar in List view in iOS 26.1, you’ll see your daily events color-coded by their respective calendars, rather than simply listed against the same white background.

References to third-party smartwatch support

If you have an iPhone, you know the only smartwatch that really works well with it is the Apple Watch. Some watches offer notification support, but most simply don’t jive well with iOS.

That might be changing in the future. Code within the iOS 26.1 beta references a new “Notification Forwarding” feature, that might allow you to choose a third-party device to send your iPhone alerts to. In addition, an unfinished “AccessoryExtension” option might be the framework that lets you pair a third-party watch to your iPhone.

These are just references in code, not something that you can actively test out in the 26.1 beta, but it’s worth noting. Apple is experimenting with supporting third-party watches on iOS, though it could just be to appease the EU’s “Digital Markets Act.”

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This week I did over a dozen workouts with Apple’s new Workout Buddy. I ran, I walked, I strength trained, and even did a little indoor cycling. I’ve learned a few things, but the strangest is that I didn’t need an Apple Watch for any of it. 

Workout Buddy is an AI-powered feature that sends a little voice into your headphones to motivate and congratulate you as you’re working out. Apple touted Workout Buddy as a feature of WatchOS 26 and promoted it among the features of the new Series 11 Apple Watch, so you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s part of of the Apple Watch, specifically. But that’s not what I found. 

How to use Workout Buddy without an Apple Watch

But as I found when I took a supported Apple Watch out for a trail run with an old iPhone (a 12 Mini), Workout Buddy requires a phone that supports Apple Intelligence, so I didn’t have access to it. OK, fine, it needs a newer watch and a newer phone. (Or so I thought.) Eventually I got my hands on a 16 Pro and, yep, was able to enable and use Workout Buddy. 

But this week—with a Series 11 Apple Watch on my wrist and WatchOS 26 installed—I discovered something. I could power off the watch, or even leave it at home, and still get Workout Buddy. Here are a few things I tried, all of which got me Workout Buddy: 

• Starting a workout from the Series 10 or Series 11 Apple Watch

• Starting a workout from the Fitness app (you can do that now!) with the Powerbeats Pro 2 headphones paired

• Starting a workout from the Fitness app without any other Apple products in range, just a Coospo heart rate monitor and some Shokz headphones

• Starting a workout from the Fitness app with just Shokz headphones paired (no heart rate monitor, since it was a GPS-enabled walk)

The only configuration that wouldn’t give me Workout Buddy was using the Fitness app without headphones paired. It’s serious about needing headphones, but they can be paired to either the Watch or the iPhone. 

Workout Buddy is more of a chipper sidekick than a coach

I hoped Workout Buddy might provide some kind of coaching or workout guidance, but found that’s not quite what it’s there for. The biggest difference between having Workout Buddy on versus off during a run is that, with Workout Buddy, you get your splits read to you in a more conversational voice.

The main advantage of Workout Buddy is that it gives you a check-in at the beginning and end of your workout to let you know where you stand on your goals and progress for the day and the week, and it will call out any notable recent achievements. 

For example, at the start of pretty much every workout this week—whether running, walking, or strength–it congratulated me on running my fastest-ever 5K last Tuesday. It also let me know I logged at least 16 workouts every week for the past four weeks, which is very consistent of me. 

The workout count seems to be correct (I log a lot of short workouts for device testing), but the 5K callout is wrong. Last Tuesday I earned a 5K badge, but that’s just for logging a run of more than five kilometers, not for running my fastest 5K. According to the Fitness app—remember, the same app that contains Workout Buddy—my fastest 5K was in July of 2021. 

Besides those hallucinations, the information seems to be reasonable. The overly-enthusiastic voice of the Workout Buddy always tells me at the start of each workout where I stand on my ring-closing goals. I need 22 more minutes to close my Exercise ring, it might say, or 37 more calories to close the Move ring. At the start of a run, it will tell me how many miles I’ve already run this week. And if I have music playing, it will name-check the band—seemingly just to let me know it can read that data. “Get into the rhythm with Fleetwood Mac!” it told me once, just as a Fleetwood Mac song was fading out. 

Overall, I find the goal-oriented check-ins useful; knowing I have 22 minutes left on my exercise goal does make me more likely to extend my workout if I was only going to do a 20-minute one. The conversational voice giving me my mile splits is a bit nicer than hearing the generic, more robot-like voice. And if I had run my fastest 5K recently, I’d probably love to be reminded about it at every opportunity. 

(Washington, D.C., September 24, 2025) – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., was sworn in as the National Advisor for Nutrition, Health, and Housing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

(Washington, D.C., September 24, 2025) – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is proposing changes to strengthen the stocking requirements for retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These changes would protect the program, participants, and taxpayers by mitigating fraud, waste, and abuse and ensuring additional healthy food options for recipient families.

(Washington, D.C., September 23, 2025) — Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the USDA Forest Service is investing $200 million in 58 projects through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program. These investments, thanks to Congressionally mandated funding, help at-risk communities plan for and reduce wildfire risk, protecting homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

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As fall creeps toward winter, we know we’ll have to turn on the heat. But when is the right time? If you’re arguing with your partner or roommate about the thermostat, we’re happy to be able to end that argument for you. (They’ll probably never admit they’re wrong, though.)

The easiest answer, which is not necessarily the correct answer, is to look for nighttime lows falling below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That said, neither the calendar nor the weather forecast can give you very good advice here. The temperature inside your house is what matters. If your house occupies a sunny spot in a warm climate, you may be able to delay turning on your heat until it’s nearly the dead of winter. On the other hand, if your house is poorly insulated, sits in a shady area, or your local climate is on the chilly side, you may need to turn it on sooner.

So while you can ask your neighbors what date or what outdoor temperature they usually use as their guideline, you’ll need to look at your own thermostat to know when it’s time.

Keep the indoor temperature above 64 degrees for your health

A report from the World Health Organization points out that temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius (about 64 Fahrenheit) may cause issues for smokers, people with asthma, and people with cardiovascular disease. Warmer temperatures are associated with better lung function and better blood pressure in these people. They conclude that 64 is a good minimum for most of us, but that people with these conditions—and people who are 65 or older—should be especially sure to keep their house at 64 degrees or warmer.

That said, if you’re under 65 years old and don’t have lung or heart conditions, the WHO is fine with you putting on a sweater and dealing with it. They say lower temperatures aren’t a health risk for healthy people who are moving around enough to generate plenty of body heat. You can also safely use clothing, bedding, or heating devices to stay warm at those lower temperatures—say, snuggling up in flannel pajamas with a hot water bottle under a warm duvet.

Set your programmable thermostat to turn on the heat when the temperature drops

So that’s the general rule, but what if you have a thermostat that lets you program different temperatures for different times of day?

Energy Star suggests setting your thermostat to kick on the heat when the temperature drops to 70 degrees in the morning or evening. If you have a programmable thermostat, you can set a “setback” to allow the house to cool down a bit at night and when you’re not home.

An eight-degree setback is recommended for when you’re out of the house during the day (at the office, for example) and then again for nighttime, since cool temperatures help us sleep, and we can use blankets if we’re too cold. That eight-degree setback would give us an indoor temperature that could fall as low as 62 degrees. Try that and see how the house feels. If it’s too cold, consider bumping up to at least 64.

If you want to wait as long as possible, at least do a test run

No matter what I say here, I know that some of you will want to wait as long as possible to turn on the heat for the first time. Just do yourself a favor: Turn on the heat at some point in the early fall just to make sure everything is working OK. When it finally gets too cold to go without the heat, you don’t want that day to be the day you learn something isn’t working properly.

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Walmart has jumped on the October Prime Day bandwagon in an attempt to sway you away from the biggest online sale of the fall. The main event is Amazon’s two-day Prime Big Deal Days promotion, aka October Prime Day. This week, Walmart officially announced its own “Prime Day”-esque promotion, and there’s some good news for those of you who balk at the idea of paying for a membership to take advantage of a sale—it’s free to everyone.

What is Walmart Deals?

Walmart Deals is meant to be the answer to Amazon’s Prime Day sales. It is both an in-store and online sale with deals on most things that Walmart sells (food being arguably the biggest omission). The sale happens every year around spring, summer, fall, and winter, revolving around Prime Day sales.

When does Walmart Deals start?

Walmart Deals kicks off Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET for Walmart+ members (a five-hour head start) and Oct. 7 for everyone else. It runs until Oct. 12, both online and in stores at local opening times.

Do you need to be a Walmart+ member to shop during Walmart Deals?

No. But, if you are a Walmart+ member, you’ll get early access to the sales beginning Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET, the evening before the event opens to the public. You can sign up for a free 30-day Walmart+ subscription or get the annual plan for $98 ($8.17/month).

What you can expect from Walmart Deals

Walmart says its sale will include many different categories, including deals on electronics, home, toys, travel, and many other categories—similar to the deals we found last year. The sale will be on Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and in stores. You can already see the landing page, even though the sale hasn’t started. Here are some deals Walmart says will be available:

Electronics

• ASUS 16” R7 4050 16/512 Gaming Laptop – $400 (Walmart exclusive)

• Proscan Elite, 14.1” Wi-Fi Digital Picture Frame – $25 Savings

• VIZIO 50″ Class Quantum 4K QLED HDR Smart TV – $100 Savings

Home

• Better Homes & Gardens Farm Apple Pumpkin Scented 1-Wick 16.1oz Ribbed Jar Candle – $7 Savings (Walmart exclusive)

• Dyson Ball Animal Origin Upright Vacuum – $80 Savings

• Lasko Oscillating 1500W Electric Motion Heat Whole Room Ceramic Heater with Remote Control – $30 Savings

• HART 215-piece Mechanics Tool Set, Chrome finish – $52 Savings (Walmart exclusive)

Seasonal Decor

• 5Ft Halloween Inflatable Pumpkin Ghost with 360° Rotating Colorful LED Lights – $102 Savings

• 4′ Pre-Lit Starburst Gold Artificial Christmas Tree – $42.97 (Walmart exclusive)

• Govee Christmas LED Net Lights – $30 Savings

• Mr. Christmas Santa’s Magical Telephone – $59.88 (Walmart exclusive) 

Toys

• Hot Wheels Mario Kart Bowser’s Castle Track Set – $36.42 Savings

• LEGO Harry Potter Buckbeak  – $24.99 Savings

• Monster High Frankie Stein Make-A-Monser Pet Doll  – $20 Savings

• Pokemon Scarlet & Violet – Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Box – $60 Savings 

Fashion

• Free Assembly Women’s and Women’s Plus Cozy Yarn Welt Pocket Cable Cardigan Sweater – $11 Savings (Walmart exclusive)

• Chaps Men’s Stretch Regular-Fit Denim Jeans, Sizes 30-42 – $10 savings

• Madden Girl Women’s Bells Slide-on Strappy Heeled Mule – $25 savings

 Beauty

• Calvin Klein Eternity, Eau de Parfum, 3.4 oz – $55.02 Savings

• Oral-B iO Series 2 Rechargeable Electric Powered Toothbrush, Peach – $15.03 Savings

Food

• Frito Lay Flamin’ Hot Mix 6 Flavor Variety Pack 40 Ct – $6.73 Savings

• Sanpellegrino CIAO Lime Sparkling Flavored Water – $2.88 Savings

• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino 13.7oz 12ct – $30.40 Savings

You can choose between in-store pickup and different delivery options, including early-morning delivery, late-night express delivery, and next- and two-day shipping.

All of the other competing sales for October Prime Day

You can always expect major retailers to have their own competitive sales, the big ones being Best Buy, Target, and, of course, Amazon. Target has been the only other retailer to officially announce their October competition sale. Like in previous years, the dates for these sales will start earlier, overlap, and run longer than October Prime Day. There are usually a couple of deals that are better than Amazon’s Prime Day from each of the retailers, but the majority of the good deals will be on Amazon. I will be updating this post with details on those offerings as soon as they’ve been announced.

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In a press conference totally divorced from reality as scientists and doctors understand it, President Trump announced yesterday that the FDA would be warning providers and patients away from acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) in pregnancy. There were some other unsubstantiated claims about vaccines and autism mixed in, so let me break down what’s actually known and understood here. 

What is acetaminophen? 

Acetaminophen is an over-the-counter medication used to relieve pain and fevers. The flagship products of the Tylenol company are acetaminophen pills and syrups, but Tylenol sells other products as well, including medicines with a mixture of active ingredients. (Always check the Drug Facts label when you take medications to know what you’re getting.) I’ll often use the word Tylenol, since it’s more commonly known, but acetaminophen is also available in other products, like Excedrin and NyQuil..

Outside the U.S., acetaminophen is often known as paracetamol: Same drug, different generic name, though Trump seems to have stuck with the brand name Tylenol during the press conference. The Tylenol company now has a pop-up on its website pointing customers to this response, which correctly points out there is no credible link between Tylenol and autism.

What the science actually says about acetaminophen and autism 

The short answer: There is no credible link between autism and the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy. But HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sorta-kinda spoke correctly when, during the press conference, he said there were some studies that “suggest a potential” connection between acetaminophen and autism. For example, a review published this year (not a study itself, but an analysis of prior studies) found that some studies do in fact show a link between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and autism, although the evidence is mixed. 

A press release about the review noted, “While the study does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders [emphasis mine], the research team’s findings strengthen the evidence for a connection and raise concerns about current clinical practices.” That said, it seems most medical experts aren’t convinced that this review, or the studies that claimed to find a link, are strong enough to change clinical practice. (More in the next section on what medical experts are saying about these claims.) 

So why doesn’t this count as strong evidence? An association (two things tend to occur together) is not the same as causality (this thing definitively causes that thing). People who take acetaminophen during pregnancy tend to be different than those who don’t—for example, if somebody takes Tylenol during pregnancy because they are sick, it may be the sickness rather than the Tylenol that is the risk factor. Or the people who take Tylenol may be different from people who don’t in some other way.

A large study published last year took this into account. The researchers looked at 2.5 million children in Sweden, and their initial analysis found an increase in risk of autism in children whose mothers had taken acetaminophen. But then they looked at whether this relationship held up between pairs of siblings, where one was exposed to acetaminophen in utero and the other was not. And the relationship disappeared. 

In other words, if acetaminophen increased autism risk, you’d expect the sibling exposed to the drug in utero to have a higher likelihood of autism than their sibling who wasn’t. But that wasn’t the case. Instead, it seems some families have a higher likelihood than others of having children with autism, and taking acetaminophen doesn’t increase the risk within that family. 

What medical experts say about acetaminophen in pregnancy

Acetaminophen (including Tylenol) is generally considered the safest pain reliever for use in pregnancy. Other common alternatives, like ibuprofen, have known risks and are not recommended if you are able to take acetaminophen instead. Medical experts also agree that it’s dangerous to leave pain and fever untreated during pregnancy. 

Several medical organizations issued statements in response to the president’s press conference, all of which are worth reading in full, but here are some key quotes from each: 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a statement: “Suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism are not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients, including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy.” The statement goes on to discuss the strength of the evidence, saying that “not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children.”

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said in their statement: “In response to today’s White House press conference announcement, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) reiterates its recommendation advising both physicians and patients that acetaminophen is an appropriate medication to treat pain and fever during pregnancy.  Despite assertions to the contrary, a thorough review of existing research suggesting a potential link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children has not established a causal relationship.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics said in their statement: “Today’s White House event on autism was filled with dangerous claims and misleading information that sends a confusing message to parents and expecting parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals. … Families who have questions about their child’s medications, autism care plans or other health care should consult with their pediatrician or health care provider.”

The Autism Science Foundation said in their statement: “Any association between acetaminophen and autism is based on limited, conflicting, and inconsistent science and is premature… Today’s announcement distracts from the urgent scientific work needed to understand the true causes of autism and to develop better supports and interventions for autistic people and their families.”

The European Medicines Agency, which plays a similar role in Europe as the FDA does in the U.S., issued a statement that there is no new evidence that would require reevaluating the status or labeling for acetaminophen, which they call paracetamol. “Paracetamol remains an important option to treat pain or fever in pregnant women. Our advice is based on a rigorous assessment of the available scientific data and we have found no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children.”

There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, either

The press conference also repeated long-debunked myths about vaccines and autism. There’s no credible link here, either to vaccines in general, to specific vaccine ingredients like mercury, or to combined vaccines like the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella vaccine). 

And I shouldn’t have to tell any parent this, but babies are not in fact “pumped” with a “vat” of “80 different vaccines” at “one visit,” as Trump claimed. Babies see the pediatrician every few months during their first year of life, getting a few shots each time, many of which are combination vaccines (not just the MMR). Many of these vaccines need to be given in multiple doses—it’s not a one-and-done shot for each one. 

So it’s not true that separating the MMR into its components has “no downside.” Splitting the shots means kids are getting more needle sticks and delaying the date at which they’ll get their last dose of each and be fully protected. (The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, which was gutted of its longtime experts and filled with controversial replacements handpicked by the HHS secretary, who has long been an anti-vaccine activist himself, has already voted to remove the combined MMR-chickenpox vaccine as a standard option for young children.) 

Trump also repeated the myth that there’s no reason for babies to get hepatitis B shots at birth. Hepatitis B can be sexually transmitted, sure, but it’s not only sexually transmitted. Babies can get it at birth from a parent who doesn’t know they have it; they can also get it during childhood from various non-sexual, non-drug exposures. Hepatitis B is a more severe disease the younger you get it, and it’s one of the vaccines babies’ immune systems can process even in those early days (not all vaccines will work that early) so the risk-benefit calculation is an easy one: this vaccine, like others, offers children real protection.