Apple's Invites App Requires an iCloud+ Subscription to Host an Event
Apple launched a new app this week called Invites. It saw all the attention Partiful was getting—the free online party-invite app was Google's best app of 2024—and said, 'Hold my beer.' Partiful threw a jab at Apple, calling it a copycat, though it's hardly the first event-invite app.
You can download Apple's Invites from the App Store right now, and while anyone can RSVP to an event on any device (Android or iOS), an iCloud+ subscription is required to create and host events. To create an invite, choose an image from your photo library or use a preloaded option in the app. Don't like the options? Guess what? You can use Apple Intelligence's Image Playground to generate images and its Writing Tools to drum up text for your invitation. Anything to get you to use Apple Intelligence.
Photograph: Apple
With the Weather app and Apple Maps integration, the invite will include the forecast for the day of the event and directions to the location. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can contribute to a collaborative playlist accessible through the invite. The most natural integration is Apple Photos, as you can create a Shared Album that allows invitees to add photos and videos from the event so they're all in one place. No need to message your friends asking to 'send the photos from last night!' after a night out.
If you have an iCloud+ subscription, you can create an event, share invitations, view RSVPs, and manage which details are included in the preview (like the home address or event background). For invitees, the app works with both Apple and non-Apple devices. Guests with an Apple device running iOS 18 or later can interact with an invite through the app (you need to be signed in to iCloud) or a web link. Android users need to use the latter but can still contribute to the Shared Album. This would've come in handy for a joint birthday party I threw with a friend last weekend, but at least I can now delete the Partiful app from my phone. —Brenda Stolyar
Gear Roundup
All the top gear news of the week in one place.
Sonos' Next Chapter
Sonos is reportedly readying a new video streaming box designed to expand its reach deeper into the home theater marketplace. According to a report from The Verge, the new box, nicknamed Pinewood, is an Android-based device with software developed in partnership with a digital ads firm. The box aims to wrangle streaming services like Netflix, Max, and Disney+ under a common interface with universal search via the Sonos app, Sonos Voice Control, and a physical remote.
Pinewood will reportedly offer multiple HDMI inputs to connect devices like game consoles and Blu-ray players directly, giving Sonos control over the entire home theater I/O ecosystem. Additionally, the box could allow users to assemble Sonos speakers like the Era 300 and Era 100 into a surround sound system, bypassing the current requirement for a Sonos soundbar like the Arc Ultra (9/10, WIRED Recommends). Which speakers and configurations will be supported has yet to be determined.
All this potential functionality explains the price, which the report estimates could run from $200 to $400—a hefty sum that would put it well beyond traditional streaming boxes like the Roku Ultra, Google TV Streamer 4K, and Apple TV 4K.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
29 minutes ago
- CNET
Apple Sports App Gets Tennis and More Updates
Apple continues to expand its sports offerings for mobile users. On Wednesday, the company announced new updates to the Apple Sports app that include a revamped home screen and the addition of tennis ahead of the Wimbledon championships. All the changes were launched on the app today. This tennis season, you can check out live scores (or from past tournament rounds) for men's and women's matches. Apple Sports will allow you to track points and player advancement throughout events like Grand Slam or Wimbledon. Though the app doesn't currently offer the ability to follow individual players, tournament information can be showcased on the home display if you add and customize the tennis options. Sports fans will notice that the home screen is now organized by whichever leagues you keep up with. For example, if you follow MLB, you'll see a more personalized display for your favorite teams, with game stats for yesterday, today, and information for any upcoming events. If you're following multiple sports and leagues, -- including tennis -- you can re-order which ones show up first on your screen and the app will adapt to your preferences. The revamped home screen display in the Apple Sports app for 2025. Apple The free app, which is available for iPhone in the US, UK and Canada only, initially launched in February 2024. It offers features such as shareable game cards and real-time stats and game updates for NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, college sports and international soccer leagues. Its Live Activities function serves up scores and gameplay on your iPhone's lock screen or Apple Watch, and is conveniently connected to Dynamic Island.
New York Post
30 minutes ago
- New York Post
Taron Egerton's AppleTV+ drama 'Smoke' drops huge reveal in episode 2: creator Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane knows his way around a crime drama. The prolific author's novels were the basis for several star-studded movies, including Clint Eastwood's 'Mystic River' starring Sean Penn, Martin Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' with Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ben Affleck's directorial debut 'Gone Baby Gone.' (Affleck also revisited Lehane's work in his 2016 movie 'Live By Night'). Now, Lehane, 59, is the creator, exec producer, and writer of the AppleTV+ drama 'Smoke' starring Taron Egerton, premiering Friday, June 27. Advertisement 9 Taron Egerton in 'Smoke.' Apple TV+ The story follows a detective and an arson investigator who are on the trail of serial arsonists. It's loosely based on a true story of John Leonard Orr, a serial arsonist from the 1980s who was the subject of the podcast 'Firebug,' but Lehane exclusively told the Post, 'I don't want to tell a story set in the 1980s. I don't want to be locked down in the past again, like I was with 'Black Bird,'' he said, citing his previous Emmy-winning Apple show, also starring Egerton. Advertisement 'But, I love the pathology of this guy – it's crazy,' Lehane said about Orr. 'He sees himself as a hero, and he cuts off one part of his mind from the part of him that knows he's a villain…There's something particularly American about it, too. It's like the need for celebrity trumps your own self-preservation since it was [something attention-grabbing he did] that, in the end, got everyone super suspicious about him.' Lehane borrowed elements of Orr's 'pathology' he said, but set the story in the present day, as well as changed character names and many details. 9 Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett in 'Smoke.' Apple TV+ Advertisement 9 Dennis Lehane, from left, and actors Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Greg Kinnear, Jurnee Smollett, Taron Egerton, Anna Chlumsky and Rafe Spall attend the 'Smoke' premiere at the SVA Theatre June 12, 2025, in New York. Andy Kropa/Invision/AP 'Smoke' is a darker role for Egerton, who has done more zany action flicks, like the 'Kingsman' franchise and playing Elton John in the 2019 biopic 'Rocketman.' 'I think he has infinite levels of depth and range, and I like to exploit it,' Lehane said about Egerton. 'I don't think it's been exploited as much as it could be.' The plot of 'Smoke' isn't much of a 'whodunit' since it reveals who the arsonist is by the end of the second episode. Advertisement 9 Taron Egerton in 'Smoke.' Apple TV+ 9 Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo Dicaprio in 'Shutter Island' in 2010. Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Lehane explained that he initially wrote a version that revealed it in the pilot. 'Then I thought we didn't have enough time to get to know the people. So then we tried three episodes, and that was too much. So then we said two episodes because the audiences now are always looking for the twist. So, why not respect their intelligence and get it out of the way as early as possible? And that's what I did. Because we knew there were so many more surprises coming down the pike.' Lehane published his most recent novel in 2023 and said it might be his last as he moves more into TV. He said he took some lessons from watching Hollywood giants adapt his work. 9 Jurnee Smollett and Dennis Lehane at the premiere of 'Smoke' at Tribeca Film Festival on June 12, 2025. Marion Curtis/StarPix forApple TV+/INSTARimages 'I took a lot of pointers from watching Clint Eastwood work,' he shared. 'Clint runs a very polite, low-drama, low-tension set. I thought that's the type of leader I wanna be when I finally get there. And that's what I do. I don't think you need to have chaos and conflict to create art. Ben Affleck runs his sets much like Clint Eastwood. Ben gets it. He's from the area,' Lehane said, referring to how they both grew up in Boston, where the author set many of his novels. Advertisement As for what he observed watching Scorsese on 'Shutter Island,' he said, 'He's so far beyond what I think anybody could learn from because you're watching a genius. And he doesn't direct his actors in front of anybody. He comes up very close and speaks to them in low tones, so you never know what he's saying.' 9 Clint Eastwood directing 'Mystic River' in 2003. Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock 9 Ben Affleck directing 'Gone Baby Gone' in 2007. Miramax Films/Kobal/Shutterstock 9 Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck on the set of 'Gone Baby Gone' in 2007. Miramax Films/Kobal/Shutterstock Advertisement Lehane said that he likes crime stories, 'because they're what Cormac McCarthy called 'fiction of mortal events.' Big things happen. I like things where big things happen. I'm not good at doing the polite comedy of manners. That's not my jam. There was enough blood and guts and fury in this story – and comedy, I thought it got funny in places – that it just felt really rich.' As for whether he's truly done writing books, he said, 'If an idea strikes me like lightning, then I'll do it. I love writing novels. I just felt like the tank ran dry, and it was like pulling teeth for me to write prose.' Since his 2023 book 'Small Mercies,' Lehane's only written scripts, the New York Times bestselling author said. 'That's two years – I've never gone two years since I was nineteen years old. It's a very long time to not write prose, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything… yet.'
The Verge
32 minutes ago
- The Verge
Apple's sports app now shows tennis scores
Apple Sports, the company's sports app for iPhone, now shows scores for tennis matches. 'Tennis fans can access live scores for Grand Slam and 1000-level tournaments, and can track every point across all men's and women's singles matches, beginning with Wimbledon,' Apple says in a press release. The company is also adding a 'brand-new home experience' to the app. 'Events and matchups are now grouped by league, with intuitive controls for fans to set their preferred order, ensuring their top leagues appear first,' Apple says. Your favorite teams will 'always appear at the top.' Apple launched the Apple Sports app in February 2024. Since then, it's introduced a number of updates to the app, including support for Live Activities, football-focused improvements, and the ability to see where games are being broadcast nationally in the US. The app is part of an increasing interest in sports from Apple, which also has a soccer streaming deal with the MLS.
