The June 2025 MacVoices Update looks back on a packed month of content, including The Road to MacStock and NAB wrap-ups. Some format changes to make episodes more approachable, resources like the weekly Dispatch newsletter and Flipboard magazine, and the Support Report complete this week’s comments.
Kelly Guimont returns to The Road to Macstock Conference and Expo to talk about her session on practical, privacy-conscious home automation. Starting from zero, she will help attendees make informed choices and avoid feeling overwhelmed, with real-life examples and insights drawn from years of experience. She also shares why MacStock remains a favorite event—thanks to its community, connection, and even the karaoke.
The MacVoices Live! panel discusses Apple’s claims of saving users billions through App Store fraud prevention, questioning the methods and statistics behind the figures. They explore the implications for developers, consumer safety, and legal battles like Epic. Chuck Joiner, Dave Ginsburg, Jim Rea, Marty Jencius, Web Bixby, Eric Bolden, and Jeff Gamet also cover the new self-repair option for iPads, skepticism over third-party repairs, and Apple’s acquisition of the game developer behind Sneaky Sasquatch—hinting at a potential new direction in Apple’s gaming strategy.
In this Road to Macstock Conference and Expo conversation we welcome longtime speaker Kirschen Seah to discuss her upcoming session, Passkeys Demystified. Kirschen explains the promise of passkeys as a more secure, user-friendly alternative to passwords, and why adoption has been slower than expected. She shares insights into how passkeys work using public key cryptography, addresses common concerns about biometric data, and outlines how password managers like Apple Keychain and 1Password integrate with the system. With real-world scenarios and practical examples, Kirschen aims to help attendees confidently adopt passkeys and understand the evolving standards behind them.
Senior Software Engineer Serhii Popov and Product Manager Pavlo Haidamak, both of MacPaw, offer an inside look at how CleanMyMac is built with user trust, transparency, and security at the forefront. They discuss how evolving regulations like GDPR and Apple’s system restrictions have changed the way software is developed, tested, and updated. The conversation explores balancing user control with ease of use, why informed permission requests matter, and how user feedback directly shapes product improvements. With examples from their own workflows and challenges, they highlight what it means to build responsible software in an age of heightened privacy concerns.0:09 Introduction to MacPaw’s Perspective (Part 1)
Our multi-part conversation with Take Control author Glenn Fleishman concludes with discussions of Take Control of Securing Your Apple Devices, Take Control of Find My and AirTags, and Take Control of FaceTime and Messages. Glenn points out some lesser-known features such as Lockdown Mode and Private Wi-Fi Address, talks about using GateKeeper effectively, and explains some new features in FaceTime and Messages that improve the user experience. (Part 3)
Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Eric Bolden, Jeff Gamet, Marty Jencius, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, and Web Bixby discuss how smart watch use has spread, with the Apple Watch leading the pack. The panel debates the implications of Meta apparently throwing in the towel on competing with the Apple Vision Pro, and the wisdom of Microsoft sending its recall feature out to testers again. Threads is testing expiring posts, leading the panel to contrast one company wanting to capture everything you do on your computer, and another wanting to let you put a time limit on social posts. But will they really disappear?
Did you know that Microsoft knows about software vulnerabilities in their Mac software and decided not to patch them? Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Marty Jencius, Jim Rea, Mark Fuccio and Web Bixby talk about how some are locked in to Office365 in spite of the risks. The panel also looks at Apple’s decision to scale back screen recording notifications in the upcoming OS release, and whether the dial needs to be turned off even further.
Chuck Joiner, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Dave Ginsburg, Mike Potter, Marty Jencius, Jim Rea, and Web Bixby disagree on the Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra’s resemblance to Apple’s design, address the recent Squarespace security breach, and highlight platform developers’ role in ensuring user safety. The panel wraps up with a broader discussion of security on a variety of platforms.
In this episode of MacVoices, Chuck Joiner, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, David Ginsburg, Mike Potter, Marty Jencius, Jim Rea, and Web Bixby cover a data breach involving AT&T’s call logs, discussing the implications for privacy and security, including the ethics of ransomware payments and highlighting the importance of data protection and backups. The panel also touches on how a U.S. Appeals Court decision impacts the future of net neutrality and lawmakers’ understanding of the issue.
Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Ben Roethig, Eric Bolden, Marty Jencius, Mark Fuccio, Jeff Gamet, Jim Rea, Web Bixby, and Brian Flanigan-Arthurs have thoughts on the controversies surrounding Adobe, including user ownership issues and legal actions over subscription practices. Panel members comment on personal experiences with Adobe service pricing and subscription confusion. The discussion turns to privacy-related news, including Sonos’ recent change in terms of service, Microsoft’s decision to pause a contentious feature, and a hack on tracker maker Tile.
Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Ben Roethig, Eric Bolden, Marty Jencius, Mark Fuccio, Jeff Gamet, Jim Rea, Web Bixby, and Brian Flanigan-Arthurs considered Apple bonds and their tax strategies as an investment alternative to Apple Stock (no investment advice intended!). Then, the MacVoices Live! panel express concerns about transparency and credibility in the software market, especially in light of recent ownership changes in apps like Bartender. The importance of trust and transparency in the tech industry, particularly with apps accessing sensitive data rounds out the conversation.
Jill McKinley joins The Road to Macstock Conference and Expo for the second time. Last year she brought a stick. This year, she will focus on the versatility of Notion beyond being “just” a database tool. Jill highlights its project management and productivity features and talks about how she uses it for task management, note-taking, and data organization across devices.
Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Marty Jencius, Jeff Gamet, Web Bixby, and Brian Flanigan-Arthurs take on a range of topics, from AirTag’s successful tool recovery to Google’s privacy issues and Microsoft’s AI integration. We explore the pros and cons of AI advancements, while considering privacy, job security, and the broader impact of AI in daily life. We look at the automation trend in industries like fast-food chains and supermarkets and the importance of striking a balance between AI utilization for productivity gains and preserving human judgment and values in decision-making processes.
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