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Windscribe's free plan is one of the most popular options on the market – and it currently sits in the #3 spot in our best free VPN rankings. With plenty of monthly data, a decent spread of servers, and a long list of security tools, it's easy to see why.

However, Windscribe Free falls short when compared to premium alternatives, including the paid Windscribe plan. If you want a free VPN that'll add an extra layer of security to your browsing sessions, well, it'll do the job nicely, and even toss in an ad and malware blocker for free.

If you want a robust VPN with sleek apps and access to servers around the globe, you might be disappointed. Keep reading, and we'll dig into Windscribe Free's offering in more detail.

Features

Windscribe Free gives users 10 GB of data per month to use as they see fit. This is fairly generous and should be enough to get you through four weeks, but it will run out quickly if you use Windscribe Free for streaming or online gaming. However, there is the option to post on X for an extra 5 GB a month or upgrade to unlimited data for $3 a month.

If you’d rather not shout Windscribe Free’s praises from the rooftops or provide an email during signup, you’ll still receive 2 GB of data a month. It’s a great option for the more privacy-conscious who find themselves in need of a reliable free service.

We were also glad to see that Windscribe Free offers unlimited simultaneous connections. That means you can share your login details with friends and family without worrying about how many people are using the VPN at any one time. The same goes for Windscribe’s paid plans, too, if you choose to upgrade.

Windscribe Free Windows app (Image credit: Windscribe )

Windscribe Free does a good job of ticking off all the core VPN features you'd expect to see. The kill switch, called Firewall, is front and centre on the Windows, Android, and Linux apps, and we found it incredibly easy to toggle on (or off).

The firewall is set to "Automatic" mode by default. This activates the firewall whenever you connect to a Windscribe Free server, ensuring that you remain protected if the VPN connection drops out, but it deactivates when you manually disconnect from the server.

For folks who want maximum protection, it's possible to toggle the firewall to "Always On". This blocks the internet unless you're connected to the VPN. We didn't find this to be hugely convenient, but it did guarantee that we couldn't use the internet without first being protected by Windscribe.

The same goes for Windscribe Free’s auto-connect feature, which we were able to customize, alongside the split tunneling functionality. The latter is a nice addition that’s often neglected by other free providers.

Windscribe Free's version of split tunneling is far more configurable than a lot of the competition, though it currently isn't available on iOS. There are two modes to choose from: "Exclusive" allows users to build lists of apps that won't route traffic through the VPN tunnel, which is how most split tunneling tools work.

"Inclusive" works slightly differently, and lets you build a list where only the apps on it will have their traffic routed through the tunnel. It's a real time-saver if you only intend to use Windscribe Free for a few specific purposes (like unblocking streaming platforms) and aren't hugely concerned about your privacy.

The star of the show is Windscribe Free’s ad and malware blocker, R.O.B.E.R.T. There are no hidden fees here as it’s included in the app and works quietly in the background to clean up your browsing sessions. During testing on our Windows 11 Chromebook machine and iPhone 13, we found that it was effective at steering us away from malicious domains and removing invasive ads.

During our review process, we assembled a list of 50 brand-new malware-hosting links and pitted Windscribe Free against them. The provider successfully blocked 46% of these threats - a decent result that beats some dedicated antivirus tools. VIPRE Antivirus Plus, for example, only blocked 34%, but Bitdefender managed to stop 80%. Still, this underscores the fact that you shouldn't rely on Windscribe Free as your sole security tool.

We were intrigued by Windscribe Free's claim that none of its tools are hidden behind a paywall. That's not the norm, after all, and we just had to put the boast to the test. Windscribe Free says that its premium and free users have access to the exact same roster of tools and, well, we found that this is mostly true.

For a start, free users miss out on port forwarding, which is readily available to paid users. You'll also need to pony up for a subscription to take advantage of Windscribe's full server network spanning 69 countries - and not the meagre 10 that free users have access to. Similarly, some advanced aspects of R.O.B.E.R.T are only available to paid users.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

Free VPNs don’t offer as many servers in as many places as premium VPNs – and Windscribe Free is no exception.

All of Windscribe Free's servers run entirely on RAM. This ensures that no files are left to linger in its storage for too long. Better yet, Windscribe Free had its server setup audited in 2024 to confirm that user privacy is adequately protected.

There are currently 10 countries to choose from: the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

This puts Windscribe Free on par with our top-rated free VPN, PrivadoVPN Free. The server distribution is heavily weighted towards Europe, which may be an issue for folks in Asia, Africa, or South America looking for a nearby VPN server to connect to in order to maximize their performance.

Windscribe Free's server location list (on Windows 11) (Image credit: Windscribe )

We think that including a free server in Hong Kong is a pleasant surprise, as very few VPNs typically offer servers in or around China, even if they charge a subscription fee. It’s also nice to see that Windscribe Free lets users actually choose which server location to join, unlike Proton VPN Free.

During testing, we found that Windscribe’s Free servers didn’t suffer from any discernible congestion, as the VPN doesn’t shunt free users into specifically designated free servers (which could cause slowdown).

Plus, Windscribe Free makes it perfectly clear which servers are restricted to paid users in the app, marking them with a star icon.

Server network score: 4/10

Apps

Windscribe Free is available for all of today’s most popular platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and even Linux. In fact, we found Windscribe Free's Linux GUI to be one of the best on the market. It looks and feels just like the other desktop apps.

Additionally, Windscribe Free is compatible with Fire TV and Apple TV, and has browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Windscribe Free doesn't support routers, however, and you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan to download the necessary configuration files.

During our day-to-day use, we found Windscribe Free’s apps to be basic and serviceable. The core features, like the on/off switch and server list, are easy enough to navigate, but the layout proved to be unintuitive – especially compared to the polished offerings from PrivadoVPN and Proton VPN.

We did enjoy that the experience remained similar across all platforms, although there are a handful of key differences to point out. The iOS app, for example, lacks split tunneling, and the Mac app doesn't support split tunneling for apps (meaning you can only exclude specified IP addresses or hostnames).

Finally, Windscribe Free's Android and iOS apps don't have a standard kill switch/firewall, but they do come with an Always-On VPN option, which works in a similar way.

Apps score: 7/10

Ease of use

Windscribe Free’s apps, while easy enough to set up and navigate, were not our favorite to actually use.

We found that the installation process was a piece of cake, however. Simply download the Windscribe Free app from the website, run through the installation wizard, and log in with credentials when prompted.

Windscribe Free opens as a small tile, similar to ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, and clicking on options, like the server list or settings, expands dropdown menus and new tabs to explore.

We found this to be relatively easy to navigate through – the large on/off button makes connecting to a server nice and quick, and it was great to see that Windscribe Free clearly states how much data remains for the month (and gives users the option to upgrade to a paid plan).

Some of the visual elements of Windscribe Free look pretty snazzy. When we chose a location, for example, the background of the app changed to a hi-res flag, and the location list drops down like a physical panel when you click or tap it.

During our testing process,, however, we did notice areas where the UI was not as intuitive as it could (or should) be – on both desktop and mobile.

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Windscribe Free's settings menu displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe)Image 2 of 3

Windscribe Free's settings menu displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe)Image 3 of 3

Windscribe Free's available protocols, as displayed on a Windows 11 machine. (Image credit: Windscribe )

For a start, changing VPN protocol isn’t signposted clearly. You need to tap or click the protocol to choose which one you use, and this might seem obvious, but VPN newbies may be unaware that this text is a clickable element at first glance.

Similarly, there’s an odd gap between the “Firewall” text and the actual toggle switch, which had us wondering, at first, if it was something else that wasn’t labeled.

Finally, Windscribe’s settings could be grouped more intuitively. Currently, users have to do a lot of scrolling to check out all of the options and toggles which, on a mobile device, gets tiresome quickly – especially when we were just looking for one setting in particular.

These are small design quibbles, but today’s top VPNs have truly mastered the art of crafting consumer-friendly apps that don’t raise these questions, which puts Windscribe Free on the back foot in terms of ease of use.

Ease of use score: 6/10

Speed and performance

Windscribe Free impressed us during our in-house performance tests. We recorded respectable speeds of 496 Mbps using the WireGuard protocol, marking it as one of the quickest free services available today. As you might expect, however, Windscribe's premium version was faster, clocking in at 785 Mbps.

We found that these speeds correlated to a smooth, seamless browsing experience where we forgot that Windscribe Free was even running in the background. This was the case regardless of whether we were connected to a local UK server or a transatlantic US server. This kind of consistency is fantastic, and even the lowest speeds we recorded, of 466 Mbps, are more than the average user needs for a stress-free browsing session.

One thing to note is that Windscribe Free did take over five seconds to connect to a server when we began our testing process. Subsequent connections only took a fraction of a second, however, which is what we’d expect to see, so we can’t totally knock the service.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

Free VPNs typically struggle when it comes to accessing streaming platforms, as they don’t have the resources necessary to evade VPN bans and blacklisting. Plus, with limited monthly data caps, free services aren’t all that suited to movie marathons or binge-watching.

The good news is that, for us, Windscribe Free accessed Netflix without any hiccups at all. We were able to browse through the UK, US, and Canada libraries without waiting an age for the page to load.

Similarly, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ worked like a charm alongside smaller regional services, including BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, and YouTube.

The picture quality of these streams was high-quality, too, and we didn’t experience any dropouts or stuttering, which is in large part due to Windscribe Free’s excellent speeds.

However, as mentioned earlier, streaming in HD or 4K gobbles up a lot of data, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to really enjoy Windscribe’s streaming capabilities (and its dedicated Windflix servers).

If you're looking for a solid VPN for torrenting, however, Windscribe Free doesn't quite achieve a perfect score. While the service allows P2P traffic across all of its free servers, the port forwarding tool is reserved for paying customers, which means you may run into issues when seeding files.

Unblocking score: 7/10

Privacy and Security

Windscribe supports a variety of VPN protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. WireGuard uses ChaCha20 encryption, and OpenVPN and IKEv2 use AES-256 encryption. The WSTunnel (OpenVPN over web sockets) and Stealth (OpenVPN over SSL) are also included in the mix, and are designed to bypass VPN detection.

We were able to switch between them easily – although the app did fail to connect at first when using the WireGuard protocol. After switching to IKeV2 and back again, however, the issue resolved itself.

This selection of protocols is pretty par for the course, and we found we had the best overall experience with WireGuard, as it’s a fantastic blend of speed and security.

OpenVPN is a better pick for the security-conscious, though you can expect slower overall speeds. IKEv2, as it automatically reconnects, tends to be the option of choice for mobile VPN users.

During testing, we found Windscribe Free’s R.O.B.E.R.T. tool to be especially effective. We didn’t encounter any ads while going about our day-to-day browsing while it was enabled.

It won’t take the place of a dedicated ad-blocker, but it’s a nice additional layer of security that can help save that precious data by preventing ads from loading and eating it up.

R.O.B.E.R.T. is also customizable, though we found that free users can’t tweak it quite as much as its paid counterparts. For example, R.O.B.E.R.T. allows free users to create just 3 custom rules for blacklisting sites and IPs, and customizable blocklists can only contain ads and malware, and not the adult content, cryptocurrency, social media posts, and more that paid users can add to the mix.

Windscribe’s censorship circumvention tool claims to be able to evade VPN blocks in highly restricted territories – though the service is cagey about how it actually works.

We appreciated that Windscribe Free offers other options for privacy purists, like the ability to pay with cryptocurrency. Plus, users have the option of whether to hand over an email address or not during sign-up. This gives users more control over how much identifiable data they hand over to the VPN.

Finally, Windscribe Free is quietly preparing for a post-quantum world by boosting its KEM (Key Encapsulation Mechanism) in TLS and OpenVPN protocols. In Windscribe's own words, this means: "Our encryption covers more than a 14-year-old boy with a bottle of Axe body spray".

Privacy and security score: 7/10

Track record

Windscribe Free abides by a clear no-logs policy that, refreshingly, is easy to read through and digest. It makes it clear that the VPN isn’t interested in collecting or storing identifiable data.

However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Back in June 2021, two Windscribe servers were seized by Ukrainian authorities, though the VPN asserts that it has: "[....] no reason to believe that the servers were compromised or that there was any unauthorized access before seizure."

Given that, on the disk of these two servers, there was an OpenVPN server certificate and private key, a bad actor could feasibly impersonate a Windscribe VPN server and capture and decrypt traffic. This is, however, extremely unlikely, and Windscribe Free invited third-party auditors to comb through its infrastructure to confirm its safety.

This is exactly what we like to see, but this audit took a seriously long time. Windscribe intended to complete the audit in 2021, but the full audit wasn't released to the public until the summer of 2024.

It is also worth noting that, according to recent release notes, there's a "known issue" with the Circumvent Censorship feature – where it does nothing when using the TCP protocol. That could be a major issue for folks living under an oppressive regime who were drawn to this tool, and we'd prefer it if Windscribe Free warned users about the issue when they select TCP and enable Circumvent Censorship. Currently, the only way to figure out that this hiccup even exists is by reading the release notes, and not everyone is going to do that.

Windscribe is headquartered in Canada, a country that’s part of the infamous Five Eyes Alliance, an intelligence-sharing network. Windscribe claims that this “doesn’t matter”, but given the scope of past NSA surveillance, it’s something that users should decide for themselves.

Track record score: 6/10

Windscribe explains that there's no long-term logging, save for what's necessary to work out data usage (Image credit: Windscribe)Customer support

Windscribe Free offers all of the most common avenues of customer support you’d expect from a VPN: live chat, email ticketing, FAQs, and a knowledge base.

During testing, our first port of call was Garry, Windscribe’s AI chatbot. It was able to point us in the direction of well-written articles related to our problem. When it comes to responses from the support team beyond Garry, however, Windscribe warns that it ‘aims’ to reply to your initial ticket within "24 hours", and that "Free users might wait a little longer than Paid users."

Windscribe has also built a chatty userbase in its years of operation, and users have the option of joining the conversation on Reddit and Discord if they want to do some community troubleshooting.

Customer support score: 6/10

Pricing and plans

Windscribe Free doesn't cost a penny, though users have the option to upgrade at any time.

A monthly subscription costs $9.00, which makes the yearly plan a better budget-saving option at $5.75 a month. Windscribe also lets users create their own plan, if they're so inclined, charging $1.00 a month per location.

These prices are pretty steep. Even ExpressVPN, the most expensive VPN in our top rankings, comes in at $4.99 per month (for a 2-year plan). Ultimately, if you're after a feature-rich VPN service that can handle ads, trackers, and malware, it's worth checking out NordVPN, instead, which costs just $3.09 per month if you pick up a 2-year plan.

Pricing and plans score: 4/10

Should you use Windscribe Free?

Windscribe Free is a decent free VPN that has your back if you need VPN protection for absolutely no cost. The addition of R.O.B.E.R.T., a wide selection of server locations, and speeds that rival premium providers make it a fairly tempting option – but it’s let down by its apps.

We found Windscribe Free’s interface to be clunky, especially on mobile, which could be a deal-breaker for VPN newbies looking for the best VPN for beginners. In that case, you’d be better off with Proton VPN or PrivadoVPN, both of which offer more user-friendly apps.

However, if your main use case is scrolling through social media, checking emails, and other day-to-day activities, Windscribe Free will serve you well, so long as you're not using it for anything mission-critical.

Overall score 60/100

Windscribe Free alternatives

1. PrivadoVPN – from $1.11 per month
The best free VPN overall
PrivadoVPN is our favorite free VPN. It packs a lot of functionality into its free plan – and, like Windscribe, is able to reliably access streaming platforms. Add sleek apps into the mix, as well as a 10 GB monthly data allowance, and you have a free service that truly ticks every box.View Deal

2. Proton VPN – from $4.49 per month
The best secure free VPN
Proton VPN Free can't quite keep up with PrivadoVPN Free when it comes to streaming, but if privacy is your main concern, you'll want to check out its full roster of tools. It's also worth noting that Proton VPN doesn't impose a monthly data cap on its free users, meaning you won't have to ration out your browsing, and a recent update made its Windows and mobile apps even easier to use. What's not to like?View Deal

3. Surfshark – from $2.19 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
If you're open to a paid commitment, Surfshark is a stellar choice that won't break the bank. In exchange for as little as $2.19 a month, you'll have access to servers dotted all over the globe, a full security suite, and the fastest speeds we've ever recorded in our in-house testing. As a result, Surfshark is one of the very best Netflix VPNs on the market. You can try Surfshark out in your own time, risk-free, with a handy 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

Windscribe Free FAQsWhere is Windscribe based?

Windscribe is headquartered in Canada. From a privacy perspective, this raises concerns due to the country's involvement in the Five Eyes Alliance intelligence sharing network. Windscribe's free and paid plans both adhere to a no-logs policy, however, though we'd like to see the provider invest in a third-party audit of the policy and its apps.

How to get free Windscribe data?

Windscribe Free gives users 10 GB of data per month. However, it's possible to claim an extra 5 GB of monthly data by posting about the service on X.

On paper, Hide.me Free boasts an impressive offering – unlimited data, customizable tools, and a truly free VPN that’s more than just a trial. There are a handful of limitations – par for the course for a free VPN – but Hide.me Free’s strong core features and server array are strong counterpoints.

Ultimately, if you're on the hunt for a free service that has your privacy in mind and will watch your back as you go about your usual browsing, Hide.me Free has the right features and pretty nifty apps.

Features

Hide.me Free, like its premium counterpart, gets the VPN basics right. We were impressed when tried out the number of VPN protocols available and found IKEv2, OpenVPN, WireGuard, SSTP, and SoftEtherVPN. We also liked that we could select a “fallback protocol”, which the VPN used if our first choice failed to connect – which it didn't, incidentally.

However, the availability of these protocols varies depended on the platform we tried, which were Windows, Android and iOS.

Platform

WireGuard

OpenVPN

IKEv2

SSTP

SoftEther

Windows

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Mac

❌

✅

✅

❌

❌

Android

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

iOS

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

IPv6 support
All of Hide.me Free’s apps boast full IPv6 support, which is a leg up on other free providers that offer a vague checkbox feature claiming to prevent IPv6 leaks – if they address it at all.

Hide.me Free is the only free service on our list that allows users to connect using IPv4, IPv6, or both. If you’re unfamiliar with IPv6, this won’t matter that much, but if you are – and if your ISP allows you to use IPv6 – Hide.me Free will work with it right out of the box with no risk of IPv6 leaks.

Still, this is way more control than we see even from the likes of our best VPN overall, NordVPN.

Auto-connect
Hide.me Free’s auto-connect tool is one of the best we’ve ever tested, too. Available on desktop apps and Android and iOS, we enabled it with a simple toggle we could further customize it to allow us to select different actions when connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi, secured Wi-Fi, or Ethernet networks.

The options for each are: “Connect or Disconnect”, “Ask what to do”, or “Ignore Network”. This is a nice array of options. So, if security is your primary concern, you could configure the auto-connect tool to ask whether you want Hide.me Free to automatically connect whenever you join an unsecure network – like the free Wi-Fi you find in cafes, airports, and hotels – so you don’t accidentally join a dodgy hotspot that lacks encryption or, in the worst case scenario, is a bogus connection monitored by a data-hungry bad actor. This is especially useful for folks who commute to work or have a vacation on the cards.

Each time the app made one of these automated decision, it then added the name of the network and the decision it made to a list. That's better reporting than most VPN apps, which typically expect you to maintain that list yourself or manually add networks to a trusted list as you access them.

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(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Split tunneling
We were glad to see that Hide.me Free offered split tunneling for Windows, Mac, and Android, though the feature is currently missing from iOS. Like the auto-connect tool, Hide.me Free’s split tunneling is highly customizable, allowing users to pick and choose which apps or sites use the VPN tunnel and which don't.

So, using the split tunneling tool, you could route traffic headed to your streaming app/site of choice through your regular internet connection, and not the encrypted Hide.me Free tunnel.

This will reduce the amount of traffic the VPN has to deal with on its limited data budget and ensure that you can actually enjoy your content without any buffering or lag.

Kill switch
Hide.me Free has a reliable kill switch that we weren't able to trip any time we tampered with the VPN protocol software to cause it to disconnect. It never registered any leak of our real IP. That's a must for any credible free VPN.

The kill switch is available on all platforms, including iOS, unusually. It’s not always easy to find, though – it’s named “Network Protection” in the Android settings, for example.

In addition to a simple on/off toggle, users can also configure a script inside the app that’ll launch whenever the kill switch is triggered (cutting your internet connection) or disabled. You could use this to create an alert warning you that the kill switch was triggered, or forcibly close a process or launch an app.

Why is this useful? Well, imagine that you always leave your VPN on at home, connected to a nearby server. What happens if that connection drops out? Usually, a VPN will display a notification to let you know, but what if you wanted something else to happen?

If your VPN is connected to a local network, you might want to send a notification to other devices connected to it or, to prevent communication across a now unsecured connection, you might want to close some apps and programs. Hide.me Free makes this possible via scripts – a series of commands that give you more control over how the app responds to a kill switch failure.

Other features
Hide.me Free also boasts obfuscation – but we found that it was pretty basic. Still, it might help you establish a secure VPN connection if you live in a privacy-unfriendly country (like China or Russia) where VPNs are routinely sniffed out and blocked. If you’re looking for the most reliable VPN for China, Hide.me Free probably shouldn’t be your first choice, but it may help with less intensive VPN blocking, and we’re glad that the option is there for free users.

The lock setting allows users to lock the VPN app whenever it’s minimized or after a specified number of minutes has passed. It works like a mobile device App Locker: select a PIN and rest assured that, without this PIN, nobody will be able to unlock (and interfere with) your VPN.

It might seem like security overkill, but it ensures that friends, family, and other nosy individuals can’t happen across your device and adjust your VPN settings. You wouldn’t want a sibling to disconnect the VPN while you’re torrenting, right? Network Lock puts a stop to this kind of meddling.

As mentioned earlier, Hide.me Free gives users unlimited data to play with – there are no monthly caps and no hard limits. Admittedly, that’s a huge bonus that means you won’t have to carefully ration out your VPN usage over the month. Hide.me Free does have its hangups, however, that mostly hinge around the differences between its free and premium plans.

Missing features and hangups
Hide.me Free users are limited to a single simultaneous connection. That means only one person, on one device, can use the VPN at any given time. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to free VPNs, although Windscribe Free is a notable exception to the rule, offering unlimited connections for free and paid users.

Free users won’t find support for port forwarding or SOCKS5 proxy, either. There’s no option for TOR over VPN, and multi-hop is restricted to paid users.

On a more technical note, Hide.me Free also lacks support for downloading OpenVPN or other manual configuration files (like WireGuard keys). This makes it a lot more difficult to use the VPN with a router. Lots of routers work with OpenVPN but, more often than not, they also require a configuration file that tells them exactly how to set up the connection and the IP address of the server they’re trying to access. Without this file, we can’t recommend Hide.me Free as a fully-fledged router VPN.

Features score: 7/10

Server network

We were unable to discern the total number of VPN servers in Hide.me Free’s network but, as free users are restricted to a small subset of locations, this isn’t a huge stumbling block.

Hide.me Free gives users access to servers in 7 countries: Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, USA. It is worth noting that Hide.me claims that free users have 8 locations to choose from but, on our Windows testing machine, we only saw the 7 listed above. Singapore is often listed as a free location, but during our testing, we saw it marked as Premium-only.

We took a closer look at the free locations to determine whether the listing in the app matches the likely real location of the server. We’re happy to say that all 7 locations are accurately listed, although the Finnish servermay be in Estonia.

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As with other VPNs, Hide.me Free allows users to add servers to a favorites list for easy access and set specific servers as the default, so the VPN automatically connects to them when the big “Connect” button is clicked or tapped. It’s a nice time-saving measure we’re glad to see included.

One notable aspect of Hide.me Free’s server array is that 6 of its 7 locations are based in Europe, with the 7th being in the US. Lots of free VPNs have blank spots on the map, so this isn’t entirely surprising, but today, we find that most top-rated free VPNs have at least one server location in Asia.

For example, Windscribe Free has coverage in Hong Kong, and Proton VPN Free has servers in Japan. Extending the range of the server network benefits everyone, giving folks outside of Europe access to nearby servers, improving their overall browsing experience, and offering people elsewhere the opportunity to location-hop and check out a new region of local content.

Servers score: 6/10

Apps

Hide.me Free is available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. This is a decent spread, and it’s nice to see that Hide.me doesn’t neglect its Linux userbase. We were also glad to see that Hide.me Free has its very own Firefox, Chrome, and Edge browser extensions, too.

There are also Hide.me Free apps for Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV. We’d like to laud this selection, but it is, unfortunately, irrelevant, as the free version isn’t quick enough to keep up with HD streaming.

Overall, nothing major is missing from Hide.me Free’s app offering, which is impressive for a free service, as are the three browser extensions.

The only hiccup to note is that the missing access to the OpenVPN files means that it's not going to work as a VPN for your router.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

First things first, we were impressed that Hide.me Free doesn’t require any registration or sign-up to use. We simply downloaded the app from the provider's website and followed along with an installation wizard. In fact, across all platforms, we didn’t run into any trouble when installing Hide.me Free.

The more we dug into Hide.me Free’s usability, however, the more cracks appeared. We installed Hide.me Free on a device that we’d previously used the paid edition on, and it automatically logged in, presumably because it didn’t remove our old credentials when uninstalling.

The dashboard warned us that our plan had expired and that it was time to upgrade, and there was no obvious “use free version” button – or even a hint that a free version existed.

Eventually, we double-clicked a server location in the location list, and a new “Trial Expired” screen appeared. It gave us the option to “Downgrade to a free plan”. When we hit downgrade, we were finally able to use Hide.me Free.

Of course, most users won’t be affected by this issue as they’ll be installing the app on a device that hasn’t used Hide.me before. Still, if you’re one of the unlucky few who has, it’s an unnecessary hassle. Hide.me could make life way easier by offering a “Downgrade” button to everyone with an expired plan rather than forcing them on a digital goose chase.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

We also experienced an odd quirk where, once the app had installed and displayed the “Finished” page, the app launched immediately. Most VPNs wait until you’ve closed the page to do this, so the app appeared before we’d even closed the installer. It’s odd, but it didn’t cause any issues.

Once the Hide.me Free Windows app was up and running, we were greeted by a quick tutorial that introduced us to all the most important sections of the app. If you’re an experienced VPN user, this won’t be all that useful, but anyone on the hunt for a good VPN for beginners will appreciate the easy-to-digest signposting.

Overall, we found Hide.me Free’s Windows app to be rather overcomplicated. It looks more like an operating system desktop than a simple app. The dashboard is designed to be customizable – it can contain all kinds of widgets that users can edit and reposition to suit their needs.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

One widget displays the currently-selected location and connect button, another holds the map of Hide.me Free’s locations, and a third contains your account information. There are even widgets listing your favorite servers, streaming servers, account information, a “Privacy Search” button that allows you to make searches from within the app, and a long list of links to Hide.me Free’s social media channels.

It’s a great idea in theory, and we always like to see customization, but it’s also almost entirely unnecessary. We didn’t need the dashboard to constantly tell us that we were using the free version, and we didn’t find ourselves needing immediate access to Hide.me’s X account. Plus, there’s already a link to the map view in the left-hand sidebar, rendering the one in the dashboard redundant.

We didn’t see any massive benefit to the dashboard. If anything, it actually makes the app look worse than the competition because the widgets have fixed sizes, meaning there’s a lot of wasted white space. Compare that to the super-compact Windscribe Free VPN UI which takes up no more room on desktop that it does on mobile.

Still, there are plenty of ways to avoid the dashboard. Clicking the “Locations” option in the sidebar takes you to a simple location list. From here, you can double-click any free location to join a server and, once you’re done, double-click again to disconnect.

When we tried Hide.me Free on iOS, we found that the layout is much more conventional, which was a plus for us. The iOS app is well-designed and works similarly to premium mobile VPNs. Joining a server is as easy as tapping the “Connect” button, and users have the option of selecting “Best location” to choose another free location.

Regardless of the platform we used, Hide.me Free did a good job of underscoring which features are available to free users and which aren’t. We selected the SmartGuard ad blocker, for instance, and the app warned us that our experience was “restricted”.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Digging into Hide.me Free’s advanced tools, we found that they’re organized unusually. Almost every other app we’ve tested puts options like auto-connect and split tunneling in a settings menu, but Hide.me Free lists them (and other significant tools) in their own Features menu. If you’re used to diving into the settings to find these things, you might miss them at first, but it’s nothing a bit of exploration can’t fix.

Hide.me Free’s actual settings menu is nice and easy to parse. It mostly consists of simple on/off options. The technical settings, however, are laid out a little differently across platforms, which can make it difficult to find the specific setting you’re looking to tweak.

Fortunately, Hide.me Free’s menus have a search box – which we found rather unique. It’s a great addition to the mix that makes hunting down tools quick and easy, so long as you know what you’re looking for. So, if you’re searching for a DNS setting but can’t find it, just type “DNS” into the search box, and Hide.me Free will display every setting that includes “DNS”.

During our testing, when we went about our regular browsing, we encountered a lot of CAPTCHA tests. These tests went on for a long time, too, often cornering us into 7 or 8 rounds of selecting the squares containing motorcycles or chimneys. This ground our browsing to a halt – and given that Hide.me Free also throttles speeds, it makes for a less-than-ideal everyday experience.

More CAPTCHAs usually means that the IP addresses on Hide.me's free servers aren't as fresh as they might be – either through age or the number of customers on those free servers using them – and that's not a great sign.

Finally, when we weren’t using Hide.me Free and made a big change to our network configuration (by connecting to a second VPN, for example), the Hide.me Free dashboard would suddenly appear. We hadn’t clicked on it or switched to it – it simply popped up.

We can only assume that the Hide.me Free Windows app thinks it’s solely responsible for our network settings and, if something changes, it’s the app that’ll take charge. It doesn’t matter all that much, however. We simply minimized the dashboard and went about our business as usual. It’s another small interface irritation, however, and it could become seriously frustrating if it happens regularly.

Ease of use score: 5/10

Speed and performance

We put Hide.me Free's speeds to the test using our 1 Gbps connection and the WireGuard protocol. The service achieved pretty decent results, clocking in at 415 Mbps on our Windows machine and 25 Mbps on Android.

While this isn't quite as quick as Proton VPN Free and Windscribe Free, both recording 900 Mbps, it's still more than you need for easy-breezy day-to-day browsing.

How we perform speed tests

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US, using a 1 Gbps connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

It is worth noting that, during the course of our hands-on testing, we did notice inconsistencies in Hide.me Free's speeds. Initially, our testing machine reported that we had been throttled to a measly 1 Mbps, but subsequent testing proved more fruitful.

It's uncertain whether this vacillation in results will repeat but, if it does, it could cause issues for free users attempting to use Hide.me Free to stream, torrent, or check out social media feeds – as 1 Mbps just isn't enough to keep up with resource-intensive activities.

Speed and performance score: 6/10

Unblocking

As part of our real-world tests, we tried streaming Netflix and YouTube, and were successful on both occasions. The only caveat here is that we were forced to reload Netflix before the page loaded fully, and we did experience some buffering when initially tuning in to content. After about five minutes or so, however, the experience settled and remained smooth.

We'd still recommend looking to a paid service for the most reliable access to today's top streaming platforms (and smaller regional services), but Hide.me Free impressed us by holding its own.

Hide.me Free isn’t our first-choice torrenting VPN, either, despite the fact that all of its free servers appear to support P2P activity. You’re better off with PrivadoVPN or Proton VPN. Hide.me Free also lacks a port forwarding option – you’ll have to subscribe to the paid version to check it out.

Unblocking score: 6/10

Privacy and security

Hide.me Free uses AES-256 and ChaCha20 via WireGuard. There are a lot of protocols to choose from when you open up the app, though we typically recommend WireGuard, thanks to its blend of speed and security. We’re also glad to see that Hide.me Free ditched less secure options, like L2TP, a long time ago.

We also believe that Hide.me Free is geared more towards technical users and folks who want to learn about VPN technology and cybersecurity. This is most visible in the provider’s blog, where the company regularly posts in-depth articles covering essentials like encryption.

Digging into Hide.me Free’s server infrastructure, there was no real technical detail to be found, but the Network page on the provider site claims that: “Our servers are hand-picked, security-hardened and self-maintained… To protect our users’ privacy, we control and run a self-managed VPN network without any involvement of outsiders. Every server stores sensitive cryptographic keys in a temporary storage to minimize attack surface.”

Terms like “hand-picked” and “security-hardened” don’t raise any eyebrows. “Self-maintained” and “self-managed without any involvement of outsiders”, however, does. It seems unlikely or, worse, misleading. Unless Hide.me Free is running its own data centres, others will, at least, have physical access to the servers.

Servers storing keys “in a temporary storage” fit with them being RAM-based. We suspect that, if it’s true, Hide.me Free would simply claim as much. Instead, perhaps the provider means that the keys are stored in a folder of temporary files, which is always emptied when the server closes or starts.

Hide.me Free hasn’t implemented full post-quantum encryption, but it has achieved a degree of quantum resistance with its custom dynamic WireGuard configuration. Currently, Hide.me is working to deliver a better and more complete post-quantum solution.

Hide.me Free generates a random username and an internally-assigned (not public) IP address when users connect to a server. Any data related to their session links solely to that ID. The company says that this means usage data remains anonymous and unconnected to your real, public IP address.

Like a lot of VPNs, Hide.me Free’s apps include crash reporting and related telemetry features which might send app usage and troubleshooting information back to the company. This data is anonymized and not linked to you personally. It helps Hide.me determine if a lot of users are having problems connecting to a certain country – not that you, in particular, are.

Finally, as a cherry on top, Hide.me had its no-logs policy successfully audited in 2024. This is a good foundation to build on, and we’d like to see the service commit to annual audits of its policies, apps, and servers.

Privacy and security score: 6/10

Track record

Hide.me was founded over 13 years ago and is currently based in Labuan, Malaysia, and owned by a Malaysia-based IT security company, eVenture Ltd. The provider also has a second office in Zagreb, Croatia, according to its LinkedIn page.

The VPN makes some impressive claims, including that it was the first BSC VPN to offer IPv6 and WireGuard support, and that it was one of the first services to implement WireGuard in a privacy-friendly way.

In mid-2024, Hide.me published the results of a privacy audit conducted by Securitum. The security consultancy inspected server configurations, interviewed Hide.me staff, reviewed deployment procedures, and more. Hide.me didn’t publish the full report, unfortunately, and instead published a summary of the results. The good news is that the summary still contains plenty of detail.

Overall, the audit was positive with Securitum stating: “As a result of the audit, it was confirmed, that declared by Hide.me no-logs policy is indeed applied, and the audit did not reveal any issues on VPN container that could lead to a compromise of user privacy.”

We’re happy to see Hide.me invest in its transparency, but there’s more that could be done. We’d like to see Hide.me undergo more regular audits of different types (covering the provider’s apps, for example) and publish the full report afterwards.

The only blemish on Hide.me’s record we found was a Mac app bug discovered in 2019. The bug possibly allowed a privilege escalation, a type of exploit that malware could use to acquire extra rights on your system, perhaps infect your device, or cause other issues. This is bad as security vulnerabilities go, but it’s not uncommon; NordVPN had three of these reported in 2018.

Track record score: 7/10

Customer support

A lot of free VPNs don’t offer customer support to their user base. The good news is that Hide.me Free bucks this trend, and customers have access to 24/7 technical support.

There are also community forums. These are a handy resource for folks who prefer to do their own troubleshooting, and other users are generally happy to share their own experiences and ideas that you simply won’t hear from customer support. Unfortunately, these forums aren’t as active as they could be, so you may end up waiting a while for a response.

(Image credit: Hideme.Free)

Hide.me Free’s support site contains a huge number of detailed articles, which is great, but there’s not a lot of material for beginners. The FAQ page warns that “port 25 is blocked for security reasons”, for instance, but doesn’t attempt to explain what port 25 is, why it matters, or why a user should care.

Fortunately, if you have any burning questions or want to clarify your confusion, free users get full access to the Hide.me Free support team. We opened a live chat session, reached position 1 in the queue, and an agent joined us within seconds. When we raised an email ticket, we received a helpful reply in under half an hour, which is impressively quick – and a much faster response time than we’ve seen with many paid VPNs.

Customer support score: 8/10

Pricing and plans

As Hide.me Free is the limited version of the full-fat Hide.me subscription, the plan naturally comes with notable omissions that are only available to paying customers. These include:

• Access to 91 server locations
• 10 simultaneous connections
• Port forwarding
• SOCKS5 proxy
• SmartGuard ad, tracker, and malware blocker
• Bolt "Fast Proxy" technology (speed booster)
• Multi-hop

A 2-year plan comes in at $2.69 a month - which makes Hide.me's premium offering one of the more reasonable options on the market. Still, Surfshark has it beat at $1.99 a month and a long list of innovative security-boosting tools. In comparison, Hide.me doesn't quite stack up.

Pricing and plans score: 5/10

Should you use Hide.me Free?

Hide.me Free does a decent job of holding its own against other free providers on the market, but the truth is that you can get a lot more for nothing elsewhere. The clunky Windows dashboard really lets the service down – other providers do it better.

On the other hand, if you can handle having a single device connection and deal with a few hiccups during setup, Hide.me Free’s customizable tools and features are some of the best on the market.

Being able to use the service without handing over an iota of personal information is an impressive plus, too. So, if you’re looking for a free VPN that’ll have your back during your day-to-day browsing, with an audited no-logs policy, Hide.me Free could be worth investigating.

Overall score: 64/100

Hide.me Free Alternatives

1. PrivadoVPN – from $1.11 per month
The best free VPN overall
PrivadoVPN is our favorite free VPN - and its premium version is one of the best options on the market. It's a much more reliable pick than Hide.me Free when it comes to streaming and, as an added bonus, it even offers P2P-optimized servers in 10 countries. The only downside to keep in mind is that PrivadoVPN Free caps users' data to 10 GB per month - which won't go far if you regularly stream, torrent, or game online.View Deal

2. Proton VPN – from $4.49 per month
The best free VPN
Proton VPN Free is a seriously security-first service that packs a ton of nifty tools into its free package. You won't have to deal with ads, you'll have access to a top-notch kill switch, and sleek apps for all platforms. Proton VPN Free doesn't impose any caps, either, giving you unlimited data to play with.View Deal

3. Surfshark – from $2.19 per month
The best cheap VPN (and also the fastest)
Surfshark is a premium provider, sure, but it's also the very best cheap VPN we've ever tested. For a measly monthly fee, you get a massive raft of functionality – unbeatable speeds that are ideal for streaming, torrenting, and gaming, ad and tracker blocker, and unlimited simultaneous connections. Plus, you'll be covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, letting you try the VPN in your own time before committing to a subscription.View Deal

• Donkey Kong Bananza doesn't offer the Nintendo Switch 2's Nvidia DLSS upscaling technology
• Digital Foundry explains in its tech review that the game only supports AMD's FSR1 tech with SMAA
• Mario Kart World also doesn't feature DLSS

One of the Nintendo Switch 2's most appealing traits is Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), an upscaling technology that wasn't offered with the original Switch and majorly improves graphics quality and performance. However, just like Mario Kart World, this feature isn't available for Donkey Kong Bananza.

In Digital Foundry's tech review of Donkey Kong Bananza, it's noted that the latest Switch 2 exclusive title doesn't support DLSS, despite it being one of the console's major features.

While the game is still commended for its visuals, it's confirmed that it only utilizes AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 1 (FSR1) with Subpixel Morphological Antialiasing (SMAA).

"The Switch 2 supports technologies such as DLSS, and we've seen them in numerous games," said Digital Foundry's John Linneman.

"But Nintendo does not take advantage of it at all. Instead, we simply have this combination of AMD's FSR1 with SMAA, a post-process anti-aliasing. I'll admit it, the image quality is decent. But seriously, FSR1 again? Come on, Nintendo, we can do better than this."

Digital Foundry also notes that finer details are less pronounced in the game's target resolution of 1080p to 1200p using dynamic resolution, but in handheld mode, the game does seem to "produce a convincingly 1080p presentation on the internal screen".

It's unclear why Nintendo has chosen not to utilize the hardware's powerful upscaling tech for its latest first-party games. Interestingly, DLSS is available for the Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, as well as several third-party games such as Cyberpunk 2077.

In TechRadar Gaming's Donkey Kong Bananza review, hardware writer Dash Wood said the game "is the greatest Nintendo Switch 2 title to date, delivering an incredible destruction system that showcases the power of the new system."

"It’s visually impressive and, while the story isn’t anything to write home about, benefits from charming and expressive voice acting and animations. Throw in a seemingly endless stream of collectibles and secrets, and you have a meaty adventure that’s a delight to explore."

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• MIXX StreamQ D3 headphones are affordable but with active noise cancellation
• £80; non-ANC D2 version available for £50
• Sonos Ace headphones are also deeply discounted today

If you want good-looking headphones but don't want to pay a high price, today could be your lucky day: MIXX has launched a set of extremely affordable ANC over-ears that look rather like the Sonos Ace headphones – and if you've got a bit more cash to splash, those Sonos headphones are actually available with a pretty big discount right now.

The MIXX StreamQ D3 ANC headphones are one of two new launches alongside the even more affordable, non-ANC StreamQ D2. Those are £50 (about $67 / AU$104), and their ANC siblings are £80 ($107 / AU$166). They're available now in the UK – as US launch is planned too, but with no confirmed price or date yet.

The D3 on the left, and D2 on the right – not a lot of visual difference in the core design. (Image credit: MIXX)MIXX StreamQ D3 ANC headphones: key features

The MIXX StreamQ D3 ANC headphones deliver up to 45 hours of battery life, customizable sound profiles and of course, active noise cancellation. There's a transparency mode as well as normal noise cancellation, and the MIXX Control app enables you to toggle transparency/ANC and adjust the EQ settings.

The spec is impressive for a pair at this price: there are beamforming mics with algorithmic enhancement to deliver clear voice in calls, and there's wear sensing to automatically play and pause tracks when you put the headphones on or take them off. The package also includes a 3.5mm cable for wired listening.

We've also spotted a serious Sonos saving

If like us you think these new over-ears look like they're hitting the same aesthetic goals as the Sonos Ace, you might want to check out the Amazon deal on the Sonos Ace that's currently more generous than Sonos's own: while Sonos has dropped the price of the Ace from its £449 RRP to £299 in the UK, Amazon's gone lower with a price tag of £269. That means they're currently sitting at the lowest price we've ever seen them listed for.

In the US, you can get the Sonos Ace for $299 at Amazon (down from $449), which is also a record-low price.

The Sonos Ace are capable of dynamic Dolby Atmos head-tracked spatial sound over Bluetooth or from a Sonos soundbar, and have high-end active noise cancellation and a comfortable, slimline design. There's also hi-res connectivity for music. This is the lowest price we've ever seen them, £30 cheaper than the previous best, and makes they seriously good value.View Deal

In the US, this is the lowest price that these headphones have been, and it makes them strong value – they're very comfortable, amazing with movies in particular, and are very enjoyable with music. The noise cancellation is extremely good, too.View Deal

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• Windows 11 had a change in testing to streamline the taskbar
• The tweak made the date and time display in the system tray more compact
• Microsoft ditched the idea due to negative feedback from testers, but this seems shortsighted, and I'm not sure why choices weren't provided here

Windows 11 won't be getting a simplified date and time panel in the taskbar, an idea that was introduced in preview builds in the past, and the reason is simple - testers hated this more streamlined look (apparently).

The rejig of the date and time display dropped the year, so it only showed the day and month, as well as also ditching the AM or PM label from the time. The result was a space-saving measure in the system tray - freeing up about the width of an icon - which worked quite effectively, I thought, to streamline this part of the taskbar (at the bottom-right of the desktop).

Windows Central's Zac Bowden remembered that this change had been paused in testing - and then never reintroduced - and asked on X as to when it might return, receiving a reply from Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc (senior product manager for Windows).

The feedback we got about that was not pleasant. That’s why is disappeared.July 12, 2025

As LeBlanc indicates, there was clearly quite a lot of negative feedback about this idea, and therefore it was abandoned.

There was another space-saving tweak accompanying this change, whereby the notifications bell didn't appear in the system tray when ‘Do not disturb’ mode was switched on. That, too, has been scrapped.

Analysis: a middle road not worth the effort?

(Image credit: Future)

Do we need the year shown in the clock display in the taskbar? I'd argue very much not (though it may be handy for time travellers, perhaps - newspapers being trickier to find these days for that all-important year reveal). As for the indication of whether it's morning (AM) or afternoon (PM), there's perhaps more of a case for that, though again, I don't think it's needed (and I use the 24-hour clock anyway, rendering it redundant, of course).

I appreciate that some folks may not like the look of the new, slimmed-down clock and date info, and that's fair enough. So, my question for Microsoft is: why not just have a choice of which configuration you want? It seems like a simple enough compromise to let folks choose, and indeed an option to have the more compact affair, or the standard date and time, was present in testing way back when. (You could toggle 'Show time and day in the system tray' under the Date and Time options in the Settings app).

Choosing what you want - isn't this the best of both worlds? And if Microsoft was worried about the change confusing people, the company could have simply made the traditional form the default - and the compact mode a change you needed to opt-in for (by switching the relevant setting).

I don't see how this wasn't the path chosen, frankly, unless Microsoft thought that so few people wanted the new (abandoned) layout that it wasn't worth the effort to implement the tweak (or that it was bulking up taskbar options unnecessarily, as there are already quite a few).

Even if it was the case among testers that the change was pretty much universally hated - which I can only assume was the case - Microsoft must remember that those Windows Insiders are more hardcore enthusiasts whose views may not reflect the broader computing public. Indeed, looking at some of the reaction online, it's clear there's some feeling that the compact view for the date and time was appreciated in some quarters (and yes, still shot down in others, to be fair).

Am I just nit-picking here? Yes, to an extent, and of course this is far from the biggest problem with Windows 11 - this is comparative small fry, naturally - but it still feels odd to me that Microsoft didn't at least compromise here and provide a choice.

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• The Sonic Racing: Crossworlds Switch 2 physical release arrives in 2026
• The full game will be included on the cartridge, seemingly dodging Nintendo's divisive game-key card system
• A car customization trailer has also been published to YouTube

Some good news from Sega today as the publisher confirmed that the physical Nintendo Switch 2 version of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will have the full game on cartridge.

If you're unsure as to why exactly that's positive, it means that Sega is seemingly side-stepping Nintendo's controversial (and honestly extremely pointless) game-key card system that effectively makes a game a glorified digital download.

Announced via a press email received by TechRadar Gaming, you will unfortunately have to wait a bit longer for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' physical release, as it's currently set to launch in "early 2026." A Switch 2 upgrade pack will also be made available for those who purchase the original Switch version, with which all "content and progress will carry over to Nintendo Switch 2."

Sega has also released a new Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds trailer, which you can view above. The trailer focuses on the game's car customization and equippable gadgets that can help give you an edge in each race.

Sega has confirmed that CrossWorlds will feature more than 40 vehicles, over 70 gadgets, and "100+ vehicle parts and decals," so players should have no trouble finding a favorite driver and kitting their vehicle out with all manner of creative styles and liveries.

The Extreme Gear boards, returning from the Sonic Riders series, also appear to be fully customizable. Furthermore, customizations do seem to have an effect on your car's stats, including speed, acceleration and handling.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds launches on September 25, 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Once again, those hoping for the physical Switch 2 release will still need to wait until early 2026.

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• Google Pixel Watch 4 specs have reportedly leaked
• According to Android Headlines, Watch 4 will sport a larger capacity battery
• Other improvements include a brighter screen, but the watch will wield the same Snapdragon chipset as last year

The Google Pixel Watch 4 specifications seem to have leaked, giving us an advance preview of what's sure to be one of the best Android smartwatches of the year.

As reported by Android Headlines, the Google Pixel Watch 4 will again arrive in two sizes: a 41mm and 45mm. It's said to be getting a revamp in several areas, including a brighter screen with up to 3,000 nits of brightness, and a new co-processor to handle the workload of on-device AI.

Crucially, it will apparently be getting a larger capacity battery, with the 41mm said to be able to reach 48 hours in battery saver mode and the 45mm reaching 72 hours.

Battery saver mode on Pixel Watch disables the always-on display, can delay notifications and dims brightness. We're not sure yet how it would interact with Gemini, but it's likely the power-hungry AI features would be affected too.

Wear OS 6, the operating system the Google Pixel Watch 4 will be running, is said to be battery-efficient despite the colorful Materia 3 Expressive redesign and AI functionalities, with Google stating watches running the OS get 10% more battery life. That's really encouraging, although if battery saver mode prevents users accessing Gemini features, the larger capacity battery will only serve to keep the Pixel Watch 4 at the same 24 hours between charges as its predecessor.

Analysis: I've been begging for longer battery life on smartwatches for years

I've been saying it for years: health-focused watches that are designed to be worn for battery-sapping GPS workouts and sleep tracking need longer battery lives in order to be useful. There are a lot of people who hate charging their watches every day, so seeing Google equip its latest Pixel Watches with larger-capacity batteries is very encouraging.

However, there's not much point in buying an AI-equipped watch if you don't use the AI features. If battery saver mode impacts Gemini on Google watch, it's likely that we'll be stuck with the same old 24 hours or so, as we'll mostly leave battery saver off in order to make the most of Wear OS 6's advanced suite of AI-powered tools.

Whether you're asking Gemini to summarize your notifications, add something to your workout plan or text your significant other to ask for items to add to your grocery list, this is going to be the Pixel Watch 4's key selling point. I'd just love it if I could wear my Pixel Watch for 48 hours straight while using all its features, like I can the best Garmin watches.

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The Senate voted to approve a rescission package that claws back funds allocated for public media and foreign aid. And, President Trump floats the idea of firing the Federal Reserve chair.

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

If you need a fast and fully featured multifunction printer at a sensible price for your business or home office, I’d recommend the Xerox C235. It’s a mid-price printer retailing around $400 (£275), which is at the affordable end of Xerox’s own laser line-up.

With a print rate of 24 pages per minute (22ppm outside the US) it’s faster than any inkjet and it comes with strong security features, a large touchscreen and a high monthly print volume that all suggest it would function well as a workgroup printer in a shared office. It’s a compact desktop design capable of holding 50 sheets of letter or A4 paper in its ADF (automatic document feed), another 250 sheets in its main tray, and a single sheet in its multi-purpose tray.

There’s frustratingly little toner in the box, but high-yield cartridges for this model are available and they’re fairly economical, so if it lives up to Xerox’s usual standard for print quality, this could be a very safe purchase. Let’s find out.

Xerox C235: Design and buildImage 1 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Specs

Type: color laser 4-in-1 printer

Functions: Print, copy, scan, fax

Connectivity: Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi

Data storage slots: USB Host

Max print speed: 24ppm

Max paper size: A4/legal

Print quality: 600 x 600 dpi

Apple AirPrint: yes

Consumables included: 4 toner cartridges (500 black; 500 color)

Dimensions/Weight: 411 x 349 x 344 mm (WxDxH)/19.4kg

This conveniently compact MFD (multifunction device) weighs almost 43lbs or 20kg and it feels as sturdy as Xerox’s more expensive machines. The desktop design is small enough to share your desk, but too big and heavy to sit on a shelf or stow away after use. The main tray at the bottom can hold 250 sheets of paper and, unfortunately, you cannot add paper cassettes to this mode. The single-sheet multi-purpose tray is at the front for easy access and the 50-sheet ADF sits on top, above the scanner.

The large 7.1-inch touchscreen display is angled upwards for easy viewing and beside it is a USB Host port for printing from, or scanning to a flash memory drive. Connections for an Ethernet, fax modem and USB data cables are at the rear with the power cable port. It’s a very familiar form factor and its two-tone off-white casing with rounded-off corners looks functional rather than stylish. It’s your typical Xerox design.

Xerox C235: Features & specifications Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

This variant of the Xerox C235, or C235dni comes with all the features essential for use in a shared office and a couple of extras. That includes duplex printing, scalable copying, a fax facility, a multi-purpose input for single print jobs, integrated Wi-Fi with AirPrint and Chromebook compatibility, and some strong security software. The extras are a color touchscreen interface and USB Host port for walk-up printing from a thumb drive. Note that the C235dw variant has no fax facility.

I can think of a few features that I’d like to have seen at this price. There’s no Bluetooth or NFC connectivity, for instance, no automatic two-side scanning, and only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi (not 5GHz). To be fair, it’s almost the same feature set as the slightly more expensive Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw. However, Canon beats this Xerox on three key points. With a maximum print speed of 24ppm (timed using letter-sized paper), the Xerox is slower, and it cannot be upgraded by adding paper cassettes as you can with the Canon.

It also ships with way less toner. The setup cartridges that come with the Xerox yield a measly 500 black pages and 500 color, compared with Canon’s 2,300 black and 1,200 color pages.

Xerox C235: Setup and operation

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

I had no problem setting up the Xerox C235. The printed quick start guide is clear, but it’s unlikely you’ll need it. The four cartridges come pre-loaded, so it’s simply a case of removing all the orange packaging tape, loading your paper and plugging in.

The printer’s touchscreen display will tell you when to input the date and your Wi-Fi password. Alternatively, you can download the helpful iOS/Android app called Xerox Easy Assist, which will connect you to your Wi-Fi network without bothering with passwords.

The conveniently angled touchscreen interface is a lot smaller than those found on Xerox’s more expensive models, but it is sensitive and makes the Xerox C235 an easy printer to operate. The paper tray slides smoothly and the multi-purpose slot is handily located at the front.

Xerox C235: Performance

The print quality is up to Xerox’s usual high standard, with uniformly bold and precise pages of text emerging reliably and promptly every time. For a laser printer, it’s rather slow to print, but it’s faster than the best inkjet printers and probably fast enough for any small to medium sized business. It also produces a finer finish than any inkjet when it comes to printing crisp characters on plain paper.

The Xerox C235 is also good at producing eye-catching color documents, maps and line drawings thanks to its vivid colored toner. Glossy photo paper for laser printers is harder to find than inkjet photo paper, but it is available and Xerox has a paper setting to support it. In fact, it is better than most lasers at recognizing paper types with 17 different presets to choose from.

But like nearly all laser printers, the print resolution is limited to 600 x 600 dpi and it’s not able to deliver the enhanced resolution and fine detail needed for photography. It’s good enough for printing handouts and mixed media documents, but the dots that make up the images will always be visible.

The ADF proved perfectly capable of pulling in piles of documents and copying them as single-sided or duplex duplicates, and it was hard to tell the copy from the original. Without the ability to duplex scan, however, did mean turning each document to copy the other side. If you want automatic 2-sided scanning, you’ll need to step up to the Xerox C325, or Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw.

Xerox C235: Consumables

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

The CPP (cost per page) for this printer is about average for a laser printer at around 3 cents (2p) per black page, and 12 cents (9p) per color page. That’s for standard yield cartridges. The setup cartridges in the box contain considerably less toner and will only yield up to 500 pages per cartridge. That seems pretty mean at a time when most ink tank printers are shipping with enough bottled ink for around 10,000 pages.

Xerox C235: Maintenance

Being a laser printer, you won’t need to worry about it drying out if left unused, but you will need to change the drum cartridges as they run out and replace the waste toner container when prompted by the printer. This container costs around US$20 (£18) and Xerox reckons it’s good for around 30,000 prints.

Xerox C235: Final verdictImage 1 of 1

(Image credit: Xerox // Future)

The Xerox C235 put in a strong enough performance to justify its US$400 (£275) price tag and proved itself a reliable and easy to operate multifunction printer. Xerox has come up with a solid and compact design that would fit well in any home or small office and given it the features it needs to serve a workgroup in a small business.

It’s a pity there’s no scope to upgrade the 250-sheet paper capacity and the miserly amount of toner in the supplied setup cartridges is annoying, but the rest is all good. The touchscreen makes it easy to use, the front-loading multi-purpose tray and USB Host port are very convenient and the print quality is excellent.

For more print solutions, I've comprehensively tested the best small business printers and best home printers.

Leave your bank account alone -- you only need a TV or phone.

T-Mobile's plans have changed this year in name and also the services they include. We break down what's offered.

• New renders show the alleged colors coming to the iPhone 17 Pro range
• Information on the iPhone 17 colors has also leaked out
• The iPhone 17 Pro might also get an even stronger display

We don’t normally get a peek at Apple’s upcoming iPhones until the company unveils them at its September launch event. But that’s all changed with the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, as AppleInsider has produced a set of renders that it says are based on “prevalent rumors and speculation.”

Much of that speculation is based on a report from Macworld earlier this week, which claimed to have obtained an “internal document” used by Apple to detail the forthcoming colors, complete with Pantone color names.

Now, AppleInsider has put that information to use in its renders. The images show the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in five colors: Orange, Dark Blue, Gray, Black and Silver.

That’s quite a departure from the colors found in the iPhone 16 Pro range. Although the Black and Gray tones will supposedly correspond with the Black Titanium and Natural Titanium of the iPhone 16 Pro, the Orange, Dark Blue and Silver shades do not match with any color currently in use in a Pro-tier iPhone.

(Image credit: AppleInsider)

AppleInsider didn’t provide renders for the non-Pro devices in the iPhone 17 range, which is set to include the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Air. However, Macworld’s recent leak gives us a few hints of what we might see there too.

According to Macworld’s report, the iPhone 17 will apparently be available in six different options: Black, White, Steel Gray, Green, Purple and Light Blue. The Black and White tones will be the same as the ones you find in the iPhone 16, with the other four being new.

As for the iPhone 17 Air, it will supposedly come in Black, White, Light Blue and Light Gold – colors claimed by leaker Majin Bu earlier in July. While its Black shade will be the same as that found in the iPhone 16, the White option will be a touch brighter compared to that device.

An even stronger display

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

The new colors are not the only enticing iPhone 17 Pro leak that has just appeared. According to a source speaking to MacRumors, the iPhone 17 Pro could get a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective display that provides more protection than Apple’s current Ceramic Shield protective glass.

What’s unusual is that this tech was originally rumored in March 2024, but it was later suggested that production issues meant Apple might put it on hold. Now, it seems to be on the way again – although only in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, not the iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Air.

Given the back-and-forth history of this feature, we’ll take this latest rumor with a dose of skepticism. But if Apple is able to strengthen the iPhone 17 Pro’s display – and offer the device in a range of intriguing new colors – it could be a tempting device when it launches later this year.

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• A joint operation has disrupted a major pro-Russian DDoS network
• Operation Eastwood saw 2 suspects arrested and over 100 servers affected
• Major infrastructure related to the group was taken offline

A joint international operation carried out by law enforcement agencies from France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and others, has disrupted a major pro-Russian cybercrime network NoName057(16). Operation Eastwood, supported by Europol and Eurojust, saw 12 countries take simultaneous actions against offenders and infrastructure belonging to the criminal network.

As a result of the operations, 2 suspects were arrested, 7 arrest warrants were issued, 24 houses were searched, 100 servers were disrupted, over 1,000 supporters were notified of their legal liability, and major parts of the NoName057(16) main infrastructure were taken offline.

The criminal network unsurprisingly primarily attacked targets in Ukraine, but had recently shifted its focus to Ukraine’s allies in the Russia/Ukraine war, many of which are NATO members.

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NoName057(16)

The group is allegedly responsible for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks across Europe against organizations and critical infrastructure including banks, defense firms, transportation firms, government agencies, and energy suppliers.

“National authorities have reported a number of cyberattacks linked to NoName057(16) criminal activities. In 2023 and 2024, the criminal network has taken part in attacks against Swedish authorities and bank websites. Since investigations started in November 2023, Germany saw 14 separate waves of attacks targeting more than 250 companies and institutions” Europol confirms in a statement.

Criminal cybernetworks like these are a bit of a cat and mouse game for law enforcement, which is illustrated by the fairly regular major disruptions to criminal networks, which may temporarily subdue the attacks in one area, but barely make a dent in the number of overall attacks or offensives.

Earlier in 2025, Europol arrested 17 suspects and seized millions from a criminal banking network which allegedly provided money laundering services to criminals and evaded law enforcement by using cryptocurrency and a structured underground financial system.

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Former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Loretta Mester says it's important that the Fed stays independent and that fiscal politics should not interfere with monetary policy makers and their decisions.

(Image credit: Karen Bleier)

The last Apple event came and went without even the smallest of hints at a foldable iPhone. And with the rumors thin on the ground, I'd be skeptical if such a phone is even in the works; it could just be a shelved Apple project.

As it stands, our list of best foldable phones is dominated by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, and OnePlus Open. So there's room for some iOS-orientated disruption, though when that will happen isn't clear.

Our best guess is 2025 at the earliest, when Apple can be fairly confident that the foldable phone tech is mature enough for its foray into the arena. Until then, read on for everything we've heard so far and what you need to know about the so-called foldable iPhone.

Latest news

The foldable iPhone could be 4.8mm thick.

• The best foldable phones we've seen so far

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Potentially the first folding phone from Apple
• When is it out? Possibly 2026, or maybe much later
• How much will it cost? Expect it to be expensive

Foldable iPhone release date and price

It's possible (based on multiple rumors) that the iPhone Fold could land in 2025.

But if anything, it might land much later, with a report from October 2018 suggesting Apple might first launch a foldable iPad in late 2024 or early 2025, with a foldable iPhone landing at a later date.

Another report back in February 2024 said a September 2026 launch was planned for the foldable iPhone, which would likely see it land alongside the iPhone 18. This report added that Apple was apparently moving much of the Vision Pro team over to development of this phone, and that the company is aiming for sales of 50 million. The 2026 claims have since been backed up by a leaked Apple roadmap too.

More recently still, we've heard that the foldable iPhone might be delayed from late 2026 until early 2027, and some analysts now believe the foldable iPhone project might end up getting canceled, so there's a chance we won't see it at all.

And even more recently, a TrendForce report states that Apple is "unlikely to release a foldable phone before 2027", due to the company's "strict requirements for crease and reliability".

Since then, we've heard that while a 2026 launch was previously planned, Apple has accelerated development so that it can launch the foldable iPhone in 2025.

However, the most recent foldable iPhone leaks again point to a 2026 launch. We've heard a 2026 release date multiple times in late 2024 and early 2025, with a leak as recently as June 2025 pointing in that direction, while in July of 2025 we heard that Apple had started making prototypes of the device, with an aim to launch it in the second half of 2026, so that's our best guess for now. That said, Apple is at least apparently close to choosing a display supplier for the phone.

Whenever it lands, the foldable iPhone probably won't be a one-off, with one report suggesting it will get an annual refresh.

Naturally, we don't know how much the foldable iPhone might cost if and when it does land, but given that a lot of foldable phones demand well over the $1000 / £1000 / AU$2000 mark, it's safe to expect a high price to pay. One of the few foldable iPhone price leaks we have seen so far points to a figure of $2,500 (which is around £2,220 / AU$3,970), so we'd recommend saving now.

That said, a more recent foldable iPhone price leak points to a lower but still high price of $2,000 (around £1,540 / AU$3,175), while a third leak splits the difference, claiming a price of roughly $2,300, and more recently still we've heard the foldable iPhone will cost between $2,100 and $2,500.

The latest price leaks at the time of writing put the foldable iPhone at either $1,800-$2,000 or much more than current foldables, depending on who you believe.

But despite the likely high price, this could prove a very successful phone, with reputable analyst Mark Gurman predicting that a foldable iPhone will sell much better than any of the Plus or mini models, or the rumored iPhone 17 Air.

That said, analyst Ming-Chi Ku says to expect "premium pricing" for the foldable iPhone, and that this could limit its sales.

As for the name, we've heard mutterings that it could be called the iPhone Flip, likely referring to the Galaxy Z Flip-like patents we've seen that hint at a clamshell folding format. In truth, though, it could be called anything.

Foldable iPhone leaks and rumors

At this point, foldable iPhone rumors fall broadly into two camps: those which suggest the device will have a true folding display, and others that point towards it having two distinct screens separated by a hinge.

Several designs were revealed in a patent dump back in February 2019, some with a large display on the inside of folding sections with a single hinge, while another had two hinges for a hypothetical three displays that fold in on themselves in a Z-shaped formation.

Image 1 of 3

Image credit: Apple / US Patent and Trademark Office (Image credit: Apple / US Patent and Trademark Office)

This design shows how an iPhone could look when folded.

Image 2 of 3

Image credit: Apple / US Patent and Trademark Office (Image credit: Apple / US Patent and Trademark Office)

These two designs show possible ways the screen could store in the body of the device when folded.

Image 3 of 3

Image credit: Apple / US Patent and Trademark Office (Image credit: Apple )

This design shows what a device would look like when folded into three sections.

Other patents, like the one discovered in March 2020, reveal that Apple could be working on a foldable with two distinct displays separated by a hinge. While the patented design suggests the tech giant would attempt to minimize the bezel between the screens as much as possible, it would still be more noticeable than a truly folding long display.

That’s what leaker Jon Prosser suggested on Twitter in the same year: Apple’s foldable iPhone design (at the time) had two separate display panels on a hinge.

While it’s purportedly just a ‘current prototype’ and not a final design, it’s described as having rounded edges like the iPhone 11, unlike the squared-off edges on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 ranges.

There’s also no notch for front-facing cameras: the sensors checking Face ID will be housed in a ‘tiny forehead’ on the outer display, according to Prosser.

(Image credit: Patently Apple)

This matches a later Prosser leak that suggested the iPhone Flip may come in a clamshell shape – similar to the Motorola Razr 2020 or the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – and the same source said it'd be sold in "fun colors."

We think that means you can expect some bold shades for the iPhone Flip when it lands.

We've seen another image of what the foldable iPhone could look like thanks to another patent, this one showing a device that folds out into a bigger device like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. This device, which we're dubbing the iPhone Fold, has one display that's longer than the other, so when it's folded shut you can see your notifications to one edge.

A separate leak suggests this folding iPhone could come with Apple Pencil support, and have a display measuring 7.3-inch or 7.6-inches across.

Indeed, we've more recently heard that Apple's first foldable may have a screen of roughly 7-8 inches, which likely means it would be a book-style foldable.

More recently, another source claimed the foldable iPhone could have a 7.9-inch screen and that the foldable display could be on the outside of the phone, like the Huawei Mate Xs 2 pictured below. This would mean there's only one display, but it can be used either like a phone or a tablet depending on whether it's folded or unfolded.

Image 1 of 3

The Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Image credit: Huawei)Image 2 of 3

The Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Image credit: Basil Kronfli)Image 3 of 3

The Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Image credit: Basil Kronfli)

In January of 2025 we similarly heard that the foldable iPhone could have a main display of between 7.6 and 7.9 inches, along with a surprisingly small 5.3-5.5-inch cover screen. This leak adds that it will have a wider aspect ratio than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and that it will use LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide), likely meaning a 120Hz refresh rate.

Elsewhere, we heard that the foldable iPhone might have a foldable display of over 12 inches, which sounds unusually large. They also stated that the phone would be 9.2mm thick when folded, and just 4.6mm thick when unfolded (though a more recent foldable iPhone leak puts it at 4.8mm). The same source as the 4.6mm claim also points to a 5,000mAh battery, and a dual-lens rear camera, with an ultra-wide snapper but no telephoto.

More recently still (in February of 2025) we heard that the foldable iPhone could have 7.74-inch and 5.49-inch screens.

The same source (Digital Chat Station) has since added that the foldable screen will have a resolution of 1,920 x 2,713 and the cover screen will have a resolution of 1,422 x 2,088. They also claim that the foldable screen will have an under-display camera but that the foldable iPhone won't have Face ID.

And they've said to expect the two rear cameras to both be 48MP, the foldable screen to be 7.58 inches, and the construction to include "a hinge made of a more durable amorphous metal glass composite, and a titanium alloy body."

That claim of an under-display camera and no Face ID for the iPhone Fold has since been made by another source too, so this at least may well be the case.

We've also heard from another source that this screen might be thinner and lighter than existing foldable phone displays, as well as delivering higher brightness and better color accuracy.

Beyond the size and resolution of the screen, we've also heard that the foldable iPhone's display might have a near invisible crease.

We've also heard from an analyst that Apple is testing an Electronic Paper Display (EPD) from E Ink for the cover screen of a foldable phone. This would be like an e-reader screen, but in color, and could be left on for long periods without draining much battery.

Apple's foldable phone might also have a protective layer on top of the screen that can defend against cracks and fill in pre-existing micro-cracks, to help avoid fractures. Apple has a patent for this tech, so it's certainly something the company is toying with, at least.

Elsewhere, an Apple patent details a slim yet strong hinge that could be used with a smartphone with a flexible display. This doesn't tell us much but it's more evidence that an iPhone Fold or iPhone Flip might be in the works. On a related note, we've heard the foldable iPhone could have a liquid metal hinge for better durability, with another source adding that the hinge will be higher quality than on other phones.

Plus, one report also suggests that Apple has two foldable iPhone designs that have already passed durability tests. That doesn't mean this will be happening any sooner, but it's a good sign that Apple is on the right track.

Another Apple patent we've seen details touch-sensitive, solid-state buttons that would allow users to navigate a foldable iPhone using its edges, rather than its display alone. Alongside basic illustrations of the device (below), Apple explains how touch sensors would sit within “sidewalls” (as opposed to conventional walls) made up of “thin metal lines that are sufficiently small to be invisible to the eye."

Apple illustrates how solid-state buttons might work on a foldable device (Image credit: United States Patent and Trademark Office)

Beyond the design and display, we've heard that the foldable iPhone might have a dual-lens camera, Touch ID, and an ultra-thin battery. Despite that, the foldable iPhone could offer all-day battery life, with Apple apparently making its battery longevity a priority.

And beyond all the leaks, we've also now seen essentially a prototype iPhone Flip made unofficially by a team in China. You can see some images of this below.

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: AST)Image 2 of 4

(Image credit: AST)Image 3 of 4

(Image credit: AST)Image 4 of 4

(Image credit: AST)

There were a lot of compromises involved in making it, but if Apple's foldable is similar in design to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip line, then it could look like a much more polished version of this.

iPhone Flip: 5 things we’d like to see

(Image credit: Future)1. Top-tier cameras

Foldables bridge the gap between phones and tablets, but the ones we’ve seen released, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate Xs, have packed the best cameras featured on those brands’ other flagship phones.

While there’s no reason to guess Apple wouldn’t do the same, the tech giant hasn’t bothered to upgrade the cameras on its iPads in generations. What's more, given that the iPhone SE 2020 didn’t improve upon the lens of its predecessor, the iPhone 8, Apple set a precedent that could see it give its foldable iPhone a single camera instead of the full suite seen in today's best iPhones.

(Image credit: Future)2. Apple Pencil support

One way Apple could easily match other foldables: introduce Apple Pencil support. Samsung introduced stylus integration with its Z Fold series, and given how the Apple Pencil 2 attaches magnetically to the newest iPad Pro tablets, we’d love to see how Apple’s styluses could be integrated with its foldable iPhone.

(Image credit: Apple)3. The old Apple polish

Yes, we'll say it: even though the first few rounds of foldables have been impressive for simply pulling off folding screens, they’ve come with design weaknesses, from hinge issues to cracking screens. We’d love to see a design that makes everything move smoothly and stand up to punishment.

Not that Apple’s lineup is unimpeachable, as crackable iPhone displays, malfunctioning butterfly keyboards, and battery-throttling on older iPhones have shown. But in looks and function, at least, Apple has maintained a reputation for sleek and functional design.

(Image credit: Apple)4. iPadOS integration

When iPadOS split off from iOS, we got excited for the possibilities of a new operating system forking off to truly take advantage of iPad screen real estate. Thus far, we’ve been pretty pleased with the multitasking features that let us pull up multiple apps at the same time, which we’ve found personally handy in writing in Google docs while looking up stuff in Safari, for instance..

We’d love to see a version of the OS in the foldable iPhone for the same reasons, though of course, there’s a lot of unknowns. Will the device’s display be large enough to properly handle the iPadOS controls? If it expands to 7.9 inches, the size of the iPad Mini’s screen, it conceivably could be able to, but until we know what the foldable will look like, it’s unclear how good a fit iPadOS will be.

(Image credit: Future)5. Strong battery life

Foldable phones like the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X have had respectable battery life for first-generation devices, but we’d like more in Apple’s take on foldable phones. iPhones in general aren’t known for lasting longer than a day, and flagships from Samsung and Huawei pack larger-capacity (in sheer milliamp Hours) batteries that seem to take them past the one-day mark handily.

We’d like Apple to use the extra device space to keep its own foldable last longer than the competition.

• Wix introduced AI Visibility Overview
• The tool is designed to help with Generative Engine Optimization
• Sites can monitor and manage how AI mentions them in responses

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has flipped the script on virtually all informational and affiliate websites. With AI overviews displayed directly in search engine results, fewer people are clicking links and are just getting their answers directly from AI.

It’s a seismic shift that’s causing headaches throughout the industry, but Wix seems to have a solution.

One of the best website builder platforms around just launched AI Visibility Overview, a new AI optimization solution designed to help websites reposition themselves in this new normal. The tool allows users to “understand, monitor, and actively improve” on how their websites and brands appear in AI responses.

With AI Visibility Overview, users will be able to track how often their website is cited by AI platforms, and add/remove questions to better reflect their businesses. They will also be able to monitor brand sentiment in LLMs, and benchmark visibility and competitive context. By comparing AI visibility performance to competitors, users can better understand how their visibility stacks up against industry peers, identifying growth opportunities and discovering other sources being cited in similar contexts.

"Generative Engine Optimization"

Finally, AI Visibility Overview allows users to measure AI-driven traffic and query volume, gaining critical insight into how much traffic is being driven from AI platforms and how frequently people ask AI about certain brands and services.

Wix calls it “Generative Engine Optimization” initiative - or GEO.

“GEO is SEO for the AI era, providing users an all‑new level of search visibility,” said Doreen Weissfelner, Head of Analytics at Wix. “We are empowering users to bring AI search into focus by giving them information on how their sites are being cited, perceived and surfaced by leading AI-platforms. Just as we’ve supported our users in optimizing for traditional search engines, we’re now equipping them to navigate and succeed in an AI-driven landscape. With the AI Visibility Overview, businesses can finally see how they’re being represented - and take steps to increase visibility, influence perception, and drive real outcomes”

Wix claims to be the first CMS to offer this kind of AI visibility natively, hoping to set a new benchmark for AI search optimization tools within website platforms.

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• Google Cloud will provide OpenAI's infrastructure in a number of countries
• Google also has a cloud deal with OpenAI rival Anthropic
• Then, there are Google's own in-house AI efforts

OpenAI has now added Google Cloud Platform as a cloud provider for ChatGPT and its APIs in a number of countries, according to CNBC reporting.

This comes as the AI giant diversifies its infrastructure to meet growing demand – the company also famously uses Microsoft, as well as Oracle and CoreWeave.

Once the company's exclusive cloud provider, Microsoft has lost exclusivity as the relationship between the two companies evolved. Today, Redmond still has first right of refusal, but it's no longer the sole vendor.

OpenAI adds Google to its list of cloud providers

OpenAI's use of Google Cloud Platform is a significant win for the company, whose cloud business is much smaller than AWS and Microsoft Azure even though it's the third-largest cloud provider globally. Its infrastructure will be used in the US, the UK, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.

On the other side of the deal, OpenAI isn't Google's only AI customer. The tech giant already has a partnership with Anthropic – a rival AI company founded by former OpenAI execs.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously cited a shortage of GPUs as a motivation to not only increase, but broaden the range of cloud services.

According to Reuters, the deal with Google could have been on the cards for a number of months, but it wasn't until the exclusive partnerships with Microsoft ended that discussions could progress.

For OpenAI, diversifying suppliers reduces single-vendor lock-in, ultimately giving the company more leverage to negotiate on pricing and to access the latest chips.

However, the deal raises questions about how Google and its rivals will allocate resources, each offering their own alternative to ChatGPT. Looking ahead, OpenAI is on track to finalize accelerator designs soon, which could further reduce its reliance on third parties.

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I want it, you want it, we all want it, but as it stands, there’s no news confirming Ballard season 2. The Bosch: Legacy spinoff has had astonishing success on Prime Video during its first week of release, scoring the elusive 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. These days, though, even that doesn’t guarantee a future.

Ballard, which follows LAPD detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) as she oversees a cold case in a new department, remains the most streamed new TV show on the platform at the time of writing, with positive critical reviews flying in thick and fast. Even to someone who knows very little about how the industry works, there’s clearly more than enough evidence to commission new episodes.

But according to Maggie Q, there’s just as much chance that we could never see Ballard again if a second season isn’t green lit. The biggest shame if the new series quits while it’s ahead? We’ll never get to see the “very exciting” season 2 arc that’s been teased by Q herself.

Ballard season 2 isn’t guaranteed to be renewed by Prime Video, but a ‘very exciting’ arc would make a cancelation devastating

Spoilers for Ballard season 1 finale ahead.

“I have no sense,” Q told The Hollywood Reporter about a potential Ballard season 2. “This industry is not what it was before. It’s barely recognizable to me, and shows are so expendable. They can throw out a show in two seconds, and it doesn’t make a ton of difference that whole worlds and livelihoods are at stake. Studios always have options. But we have a writers room, and they’ve been writing away.

“The arc for the second season is very exciting,” she confirms. “But I’ve had writers room hired before and then gotten cancelled. So everyone’s like, ‘Maggie, of course!’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no.’ There is no ‘of course.’ I am not a negative person at all. I’m a very positive person, but I’m a realist.”

Let’s recap what we know. Season 1 left off with the unexpected reveal that Councilman Jake Pearlman’s (Noah Bean) own father, Gary Pearlman (Kevin Dunn) murdered his own daughter over an alleged confrontation about his marital affair. Robert Olivas (Ricardo Chavira) was also exposed as being a dirty cop alongside being a generally terrible human (bear in mind the earlier assault accusations), but when he’s also killed off, Ballard is arrested for it.

We’ve not seen how Olivas died, but we did see Ballard draw her gun on him in the final moments of their confrontation. If season 2 never gets off the ground, Ballard is essentially stuck in jail, for possibly no good reason, for the rest of her fictional life. Not only this, but Ballard has already defied the typical crime drama stereotype by blending the personal and professional in an entirely new way, so it would be an extra shame to lose something that’s bringing us something fresh.

As far as I’m concerned, Prime Video owes it to the franchise, fans and the undoubtedly the strongest Bosch spinoff so far to give over some answers. In the meantime, you can check out everything else new on Prime Video in July 2025 to get yourself out of a post-Ballard slump.

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Israel launched airstrikes Wednesday on Syria's capital of Damascus, saying it targeted the Syrian military headquarters and near the presidential palace in response to attacks on the Druze minority.

This segment originally aired July 16, 2025.