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The big day is approaching and there’s plenty of pressure for you to hand over a gift that says a lot all at once. It may be called Father’s Day, but this is an event for you to say a loving thank you to whatever person held that special role in your life, irrespective of gender. Here’s a list of the best gifts you can give to show your appreciation for all of the parenting they did, and may even still do.

Sony’s XM series ofheadphonesare the default option for pretty much every regular buyer these days. Sony's latest model, theWH-1000XM6, offer a better looking design, a more comfortable fit and even better sound than its predecessor. As Billy Steele wrote in hisreview, if you thought the XM5s couldn’t get better, you’ll be staggered by the improvement here.

A lot of small things have been tweaked, including the fact there's an updated processor, more microphones and improved ANC. For $450, they're pricier than the previousXM5model, but that one is still available as of right now, so it could be a good option if you need to stick to a budget.

I’ve been obsessed with Dremel’s electric multi-tools ever sinceI watched Alexi Sayle ask “did I mention we cut?” back in the early ‘90s. And yet, despite being an adult with my own home, I’ve never needed to actually go out and buy a Dremel like the 8220 I’ve had my eye on for years. Look at the thing — it’s like an electric Swiss Army Knife, complete with drill and screwdriver bits, sanding bits, polishing bits, metal-cutting discs, grinding stones and engraving tools! Just think about all of the things I can drill, screw, sand, polish, cut, grind and engrave if I had one of those right now. It’s ‘cos my kids are still under the age of 10, and so haven’t grasped the hints that I want them to buy me a Dremel. Hey kids, buy me a Dremel.Anyway.

This year, the company launchedBlueprint, a new range of dinky cordless power tools to tackle Dremel-sized jobs. That includes the Blueprint 3-in-1 Drill Driver, a handheld drill with a built-in stud finder and its own laser level, even if the latter is only attached to the body with sticky putty. I’m more excited by thePortable Saw Station, a handheld compact electric saw whose carry case turns into its own workbench. That includes templates for making bevel, miter and cross cuts, a line laser and guide track to keep your cuts nice and straight.

You see, while my DIY skills might charitably be described as “elementary,” I’ve always harbored an ambition to build my very own backyard TARDIS. You know, the blue police box fromDoctor Who— hidden between the trees as a little piece of magic. I just need to take six months or so to learn how to do it, and I reckon these sorts of tools would be ideal for the job. Especially since I don’t have my own woodshop and would need everything to fit down into as small a space as possible.

If you own an iPhone, then theApple Watchis essentially the default option for what smartwatch you should buy. There’s only a handful of devices that match Apple’s product for versatility, use and affordability. If you’re concerned about your parent’s health, then the fall detection features alone may justify the investment. Not to mention the general health tracking capabilities and the ability to keep them healthy with a Fitness+ subscription. I haven’t even mentioned the built-in ECG, which is useful for enabling them to keep an eye on their own heart health.

Benefits of the Apple Watch Series 10 include its bigger display that’s far easier to look at from off-angles. It also carries its own water temperature tracking, so if your parent is a water baby, they can keep an eye on the conditions. This time around, Apple also improved the microphone, making it easier to make calls from your wrist — useful if your parent might want to use it as a lifeline when they’re on their own.

Of course, there are people who don’t want a smartwatch, or at least not one that looks like a smartwatch. I get it, some folks don’t want to look like aneeeerrrrrrdin their dotage, and it’s for those people that I recommendWithings’ ScanWatch Nova. It’s a hybrid smartwatch in the body of a classic diver’s watch that embodies everything that most smartwatches can’t.

Withings’ policy is to build a best-in-class hybrid watch, like the ScanWatch 2, and then put those same guts in a classier body. It has a digital subdial for notifications and an analog one for step counting, which can be set to meet your specific goals. But lurking underneath that body is also an ECG, SpO2 (blood oxygenation) monitoring and a temperature sensor – which can be used for cycle tracking and to warn of infections.

All of that tech is hidden in a submariner-style diver’s watch that comes with black, blue or green face and bezel options. Put it on and you’ll instantly feel like a rugged, outdoors-y type who has their poop together, and is ready to either Do An Espionage or Solo Pilot A Yacht Around The World. Withings is even smart enough to throw in a whole bunch of tools to help you size your band without needing to schlep to a jewelry store. Oh, and I didn’t even mention the 30-day battery life.

Even if your dad isn’t an A/V nut, there’s a good chance they’ve still watched those YouTube videos of people building their own cinemas. But the idea of owning a projector is often better than the reality, which can be quite the time and labor-intensive process. That’s why I’m smitten with theNebula Cosmos 4K SE, a portable projector with the power of a full one. It’s small enough to stow in a cupboard when not in use, and can go anywhere in your home or outdoors on warm evenings.

Plus, it lacks many of the compromises inherent in those dinky projectors you often see on the market. It’ll pump out 1,800 ANSI Lumens of bright, 4K Dolby Vision-tuned light to a screen size of up to 200 inches. The automatic setup is effortless, and I tested it on a wall painted gray and it was able to compensate for the color quite easily. It’s not as expensive as some rivals on the market and it’ll do a fairly fantastic job no matter the task you ask of it

Let’s face it: You want your loved ones to stay healthy, keep an eye on their heart and generally be around for as long as possible. One way to do that is by upgrading your bathroom scales to something likeWithings’ Body Cardio smart scale. Designed to look as unobtrusive as possible, but hidden inside its shell is a number of extra special features you don’t get elsewhere.

You’ll get a heart-health check, automatic person tracking and a full body composition breakdown, telling you how much fat, water and muscle you’re carrying. I’d be remiss not to mention, too, Withings’ class-leading Health Mate app, which is great for collating large chunks of health data and helping you understand it in an easy-to-digest manner.

I’m a big fan of distraction-free writing machines that help me get my head down away from the temptations of the internet.reMarkable’s e-paper slateshave been a mainstay on this guide for years, and now the company has launched a new flagship model.The reMarkable Paper Prois bigger and faster than its predecessor, but most importantly of all comes with a color display.

On its own, it’s a fancy pants e-reader with a stylus that’ll let you write, draw and annotate PDFs. But when paired with its own Type Folio, it becomes something much greater indeed, a writing and editing machine that’s perfect at home or on the go. If I’m struggling with a draft and need to get away from my desk, the Paper Pro is the perfect gadget to come with me. Plus, I can’t get pulled into a Slack chat or avoid the problem by staring hopelessly at my emails.

If there’s a downside, it’s the price. It was already more expensive than the equivalent slate from Apple, and tariffs exacerbated that. But if you’ve got siblings and can club together to get your parent the thing they need to harness their literary ambitions, you should.

There are a lot of Bluetooth turntables which are designed for the hip crowd who want to show off their ye olde-fashioned record player. But if you’re looking for something a bit more capital-S serious without shelling out for a high-end Technics unit, Audio Technica’s romantically-namedATLP120XBTmight be worth a glance. The fact it could be confused for a Technics SL-1210, right down to the s-shaped tone arm is, I’m sure,just a total coincidence.

The sound is good, and you’ll get adjustable pitch control alongside the belt-driven turntable (sorry, no scratching on this unit). And connectivity-wise, it’s well-stocked, with Dual RCA-out, USB or Bluetooth 5.0, with support for aptX. It’s a unit I’m thinking about getting for my mum, since it’ll enable her to digitize her stack of 78rpm records over that USB connection.

Look, if your dad is anything like me, then they’re probably not a massive gamer, or might just play the odd title. I’m told that there’s a whole genre of Dad Games out there that apparently appeal to the fathers in our lives, which are all about following some sort of process. It’s likely then that they won’t have paid much attention toThe Legend of Zeldaseries, which feels as un-Dad a game as you could imagine. Which is why I’m here to say that, until the start of this year, I felt the same, butI’ve since had my eyes opened to how amazing it really is. Even better, is that there’s a brand new title in the Zelda series,Tears of the Kingdom, which I’d urge all of you to check out.

You play as Link, a little dude who – much like Mario – has to rescue a princess countless times throughout history. That normally involves traversing a beautiful, unspoiled paradise called Hyrule that’s scattered with all sorts of monsters who want to kill you. From the outside, you might think that it’s all just button-mashing and hyperactive combat, which is not a dad-friendly genre. But, in fact, the game puts far more emphasis on puzzle-solving and lateral thinking, and it has the best 3D puzzles this side of thePortalseries which alone makes it ideal for dads the world over. Not to mention the freedom to tackle the game any which way you want to, giving you the choice to build your own solution rather than being forced to comply with Nintendo’s.

In the last game,Breath of the Wild, you could harness the game’s physics and chemistry engines to dispatch troublesome enemies by using the environment against them. For instance, you could freeze them and then give them a whack, building up the kinetic energy to such an extent that they’re sent hurtling miles away from you. Or, if you approach them in the middle of a storm, you can get them to raise their metallic swords in anger and get a dose of lightning. In this one, you can find scattered electronic components and assemble them however you want to jury-rig vehicles to help you get around. I mean, what could be more Dad-Game than that?

And if you’re buyingTears of the Kingdom, then you might want to get the console to go with it.Nintendo’s Switch OLED Editiontakes the same portable-home console hybrid you already know and love, but dials it up to 11.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m not recommending you get your elbows out and try to snag aSwitch 2instead. Honestly? If your dad is more of a casual gamer, then the existing Switch is already such a compelling option, it’s hard to justify the extra cost for the newer model. After all, the OLED Edition got a lot of necessary hardware upgrades, including a far better display.

Given the game recommendation, my preference would be the Tears of the Kingdom specific Switch. It comes with gold Joy Cons with lovely Zonai designs on the body and a gorgeous white and gold TV dock. Even nicer is the concentric circle watermark on the underside, which looks significantly classier than the plain option. Especially if they’re going to play the game on the go, when they might want to let the world know that they appreciate the finer things in life. Plus, the Switch has a mature and deep library of games that won’t be going anywhere in a hurry, especially given the emphasis on backward compatibility between the old and the new.

At school, one of my friend’s dads converted one of his home’s bedrooms into a White Room. It’s a soundproofed room with nothing but a single armchair facing a fancy HiFi, a dedicated space for Music Appreciation. In retrospect, the fact that my friend's bedroom was half the size and he had to share with his younger sibling was pretty rough. I suspect, deep down in the DNA of every dad, is the Dad Urge (™) to develop an unhealthy interest in high-end audio gear. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to prevent your parent blowing your inheritance on a pair of B&W Nautilus.

Chinese high-end audio masters Fiio produce a wonderfully elegant desktop DAC and speaker pair that’ll do the same job as a White Room at a fraction of the cost. TheR7has an Android music player in front that’ll connect directly to their streaming service of choice. And it can also play locally stored music, or connect it to another player via AirPlay, USB, Bluetooth, optical or analog audio lines. The R7 can be paired with Fiio’s matching set ofSP3 speakersthat have 3.5-inch woofers, 1-inch tweeters and wonderfully smooth sound. The price all-in is a bit steep, but it might scratch that itch without causing any ructions around the Thanksgiving dinner table.

I’ll make no bones about the fact that, as a dad, I’m writing this guide as much as a vehicle for wish fulfillment as I am to dole out consumer advice. And, like a lot of people. I’ve gradually grown more and more obsessed with Fujifilm’s X-series ofcameras. A combination of old-school rangefinder styling, great photo quality and relatively limited supply has made them a hot ticket. The fact the X-series comes with film simulation modes is, for many, the thing that puts it on top over plenty of cameras from other manufacturers. But the high price of the flagship – edging north of $1600 — X100 means it’s a pricey and dicey proposition for any hobbyist photographer.

Thankfully, Fujifilm has a cheaper and I might even argue better option in the form of theX-T30. It’s a step down on the spec list, with an older 26.1-megapixel sensor compared to the 40.2 of its newer sibling. But what it’s got going for it is the smaller body size which makes it so portable as to be pocketable, ease of use and the same analog dials for fine-grain control. Not to mention that, when paired with the 35mm f/2 lens, it’s wicked fast and takes pretty beautiful shots. I’ve been into my local camera shop multiple times to try out the X-T30 with this lens but, so far, neither of my kids have picked up the hint and bought one for me.

If anyone asks me what TV to go for, my knee jerk reaction is to recommend LG given the broad advantages it has over its competitors. The company’s OLED TVs remain best in class and I think the base-ish model OLEDs offer excellent value for money.2023’s OLED C3, for example, offers plenty of the same features as its higher-priced siblings. There may not be too many extra bells and whistles but for pure picture quality, you’re good to go with its massive contrast ratio and great black reproduction. Essentially, it’s a TV for people with champagne tastes but something a bit closer to a Bud Light budget.

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

I suspect a lot of dads fall into the trap of having the ability to buy themselves nice things, but never actually go through with it. (I could easily buy myself a Dremel, for instance, but I still haven’t!) One thing they’ve probably thought about but not followed through on is to upgrade their coffee routine from whatever they bought before you were born. I myself was making at home lattes with instant coffee and a microwave for far longer than I’m prepared to admit. But I was wary about buying a bean-to-cup machine given that they can become a time-consuming hobby in and of themselves.

So, after plenty of research, I bought theCreatista Plus, a Nespresso-compatible machine that makes pretty decent coffee at home. As well as producing standard drinks, you can use the built in steam wand to prepare milk for something that’s close enough to barista-standard. Now, I’ll say that it is a lot pricier than some of the machines in its class, but I chose it as much for how it looked as what it did. Sure, there’s a built-in digital display that’ll give you fine-grain control over every fact of your coffee, but it also looks like a proper grown-up coffee machine. And it’s the sort of thing that should stand proudly on your countertop as it forms a key part of your dad’s morning routine.

Do you find that it’s harder and harder to relate to your folks as you, and they, get older? Some of this, I’m sure, is down to the media they consume, especially if they’ve become trapped in the echo chambers found in the basement of your cable TV guide. If they’re an avid reader, however, then it might be worth offering themCapitalist Realismby the British philosopher Mark Fisher. It serves as a relatively short, and fairly gentle introduction to Fisher’s viewpoint on the culture at large, especially given what’s going on right now.

At 81 pages, it can hardly be called a weighty tome, and it lacks some of the florid language you often see from philosophy books. Fisher often draws parallels between his points and various pop culture milestones that most folks will be familiar with. A treatise onOffice Space’srules around pieces of flair dovetails into an exploration of how politicians focus on metrics for success will hide the diminished quality of whatever they’re trying to improve. References to lines of dialog fromHeatbecome points to connect the destruction of community and the way mental health has become an individualized issue, rather than a societal one. And it might just help make your Thanksgiving dinner conversations a little more pleasant in future.

Google has released Android 16 to the masses, as it's now available for compatible handsets. The company says new devices will come preloaded with the OS in "the coming months." As usual, it's first coming to Google's own Pixel phones.

The update includes several notable features. The biggest one might be live updates in notifications. This means that stuff like ride-shares and food deliveries will get a progress bar directly in the notification, so folks won't have to constantly open and close the app to wonder why a burrito seems to be stuck four blocks away.

Also, notifications from the same app will now be automatically grouped together to reduce clutter and pings. There's now support for LE audio hearing aids, with a native control option. Users can also switch to the phone's microphone when using one of these hearing devices for clearer audio in noisy places.

Google has tied all of its security features together, so users can now be protected from "online attacks, harmful apps, unsafe websites, scam calls and more in just a tap." This includes newscam detection featuresthat were previewed back in May.

Shutterbugs are getting a fairly robust suite of new features, including automatic night mode scene detection, hybrid auto exposure and more precise color temperature adjustments. UltraHDR images have been improved, with support for HEIC encoding, and Android 16 offers integration with the high-end Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec.

The company is finally bringingdesktop windowing to Android, but it's not ready just yet. That feature will be available to general users later in the year, but Android 16 QPR 3 Beta 2 is currently previewing the feature.

There's also a neat Android ecosystem update with some nifty features. This includes upgraded RCS group chats, with custom icons and the ability to mute threads. Google Photos now offers an AI-enhanced image editor that will recommend suggested edits. Emoji Kitchen is receiving new sticker combinations and Wear OS devices can now pay for transit fares without having to open a dedicated app.

Finally, Google has offered details on the Pixel Drop for June. New features include a Pixel VIPs widget that displays information on preferred contacts and more expressive captions on videos.

Update, June 10, 2PM ET:Well, we jumped the gun on that a little bit. Android 16 should now be available, as previously (and incorrectly) stated. We regret the error.

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission.Read more about how we evaluate products.

Proton VPN stands out for two main reasons: it's one of the only virtual private networks (VPNs) to include a free plan with no data limits, and it's one of the few services majority-owned by a nonprofit. It's the best VPN in both of those categories, and it makes a strong case for being the best overall.

Even if you don't care about the work of the Proton Foundation, Proton VPN is a service worth using. It's easy to install and manage, runs like the wind and meets high standards for security and privacy. It has more IP locations in Africa than any of its competitors. It's even looking toward the future by working toward full IPv6 support.

In short, Proton VPN gets our enthusiastic recommendation, especially for torrenting (which it supports on almost every server). It's not perfect — the apps for Apple systems lag behind their Windows and Android counterparts, and the free servers can be noticeably sluggish — but the cons pale in comparison to the pros. We'll get into it all below.

Proton VPN is a superlative service that's proven itself willing to fight for your privacy — plus, it unblocks Netflix and keeps your internet fast.

Installing, configuring and using Proton VPN

Proton VPN speed test: Impacts of VPN Accelerator

Proton VPN security test: Watertight protocols

Proton VPN side apps and bundles

Close-reading Proton VPN's privacy policy

Can Proton VPN change your virtual location?

Investigating Proton VPN's server network

Proton VPN customer support options

Proton VPN background check: The CERN origins of Proton AG

The table summarizes what we found while reviewing Proton VPN, both good and bad. Keep it open in a tab while you comparison shop for a VPN.

Windows has the best interface, but all apps are smooth

Android users get unique preset protocols

Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox can be used for split tunneling on Mac and iOS

Retains 88 percent of download speeds and 98 percent of upload speeds

Global latency average stays under 300 ms, with 52 ms on the fastest server

No DNS leaks or WebRTC leaks on any servers

Full IPv6 support is available on Android, Linux and browser extensions; Mac, Windows and iOS still block IPv6 to prevent leaks

WireShark test showed active packet encryption

Best plan costs $81.36 for two years ($3.39 per month)

Free plan includes unlimited data and critical security features, but you can't choose your server

Proton Unlimited saves money if you want two or more Proton products

General Proton policy prevents collection of IP addresses unless a user has violated the terms of service (such as by using a Proton VPN server to abuse another site)

No third parties are allowed to handle personally identifiable information

Confirmed by Securitum audit in 2024

Unblocked Netflix repeatedly in all five testing locations, with new content proving a successful location change

A free server in Romania got into Netflix but had trouble loading the library

More servers in Africa than any other VPN, plus many others across the globe

About two-thirds of server locations are virtual

NetShield can block just malware, or all malware, ads and trackers

Kill switch on all platformsSplit tunneling on Windows, Android and browser extensions only

Secure Core servers route VPN through two locations, one of which is physically secured in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland

Almost all paid servers are P2P-enabled

Tor over VPN servers in six countries let you access dark web sites from any browser

Profiles saves time when you repeatedly need specific connection settings

Most articles in the online help center, while well-written, are invisible unless you use the search function

Live chat is only for paying customers, and is unavailable from midnight to 9 AM CET

Launched in 2017 by the same company that developed ProtonMail

Majority owned by the Proton Foundation, whose board includes the company founders and can resist takeover attempts

While ProtonMail has worked with Swiss authorities in the past, Proton VPN is not governed by the same laws that compelled this

Claims of a vulnerability in WireGuard's memory don't hold water

This section explains how it feels to run Proton VPN on the various platforms it supports. As a rule, it's not difficult. Proton VPN has more features than ExpressVPN, and a couple of them might trip up new users, but you'd have to really scrounge to find an actual inconvenience to complain about.

Proton VPN installs easily on Windows — you'll need to grant it permission to make changes, but that's it. Once you've signed in on the app, you'll reach one of the best interfaces we've tried on a VPN. The server network is immediately visible as both a list and map, and the location search bar, connect button and major features are all laid out around the same window.

It's honestly amazing how much you can reach from the launch window without anything feeling cluttered. They even squeezed in keyboard shortcuts for the search field. We also love that settings open in the same window, since dealing with both the main VPN app and a separate preferences panel can get annoying. Our only real gripe is that there should be an easier way to adjust the size of the map.

The desktop app for Mac isn't quite as deftly laid out as the Windows app. You can reach most of the important features from the main window, including Profiles, NetShield, Secure Core servers and the kill switch. However, there's no longer a way to filter out a list of the P2P or Tor servers, except by digging through the Profile controls. On the plus side, you can adjust the size of the map, so it's now a viable alternative to the server list.

The other preferences are hidden in the menu bar — go to Proton VPN > Settings to reach them. They're laid out in four tabs, and shouldn't take more than a minute to go through at setup.

The Android app takes the same design cues as the Windows app, and works as well. Four tabs along the bottom switch between the home screen, the country list, Profiles and all other settings. You can search the list of countries by tapping the magnifying glass at the top-right. In another nice touch, tapping the dots by any virtual location will tell you where the server is physically located.

Android users get some nifty exclusive Profiles, including "anti-censorship," which automatically connects to the fastest country except for the one you're in. The Settings tab is a single menu with subheadings and no unnecessary complication.

Proton VPN for iPhone and iPad looks almost the same as it does on Windows and Android, but with some of the same drawbacks found on Mac. The server list is more cluttered, and once again there's no easy way to sift out the P2P and Tor locations.

The Settings tab puts all the feature descriptions in the open, which makes it look denser than it is. But these are minor quibbles — this is still a VPN that's very easy to activate and forget about.

Proton VPN has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. These serve as de facto split tunneling, as connecting through the extension protects only browser traffic; everything else goes unprotected. You can split the tunnel further by setting the VPN to not work on certain URLs (unlike the other apps, you don't need to know the IPs of those sites).

We used Ookla's Speedtest app to determine how much Proton VPN drags on a user's latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), and download and upload speeds, measured in megabits per second (Mbps). Together, these three stats show whether a VPN will noticeably slow down your internet, especially during demanding tasks.

We had high hopes for Proton here because of its VPN Accelerator technology, which runs VPN communications across several parallel tracks to process everything faster. It didn't disappoint — for the most part. Although download speeds didn't reach the heightswe saw from ExpressVPN, Proton VPN's browsing performance still looks excellent nearly across the board.

To choose our locations for the test, we checked Proton VPN's list ofsmart routing servers, which use servers in one country to simulate IP addresses in another. Almost all the smart routing servers are based in five cities: Miami, London, Marseille, Bucharest and Singapore. We ran these tests on a Mac using the automatic protocol setting.

Portland, OR, USA (unprotected)

San Jose, CA, USA (best server)

Proton VPN looks very good in that table. Its average download speed was 88 percent of our unprotected speeds. To put that in perspective, if you started with 30 Mbps down (about half what we get) and connected to any Proton VPN server, you'd almost certainly still have a fast enough connection to stream in 4K.

Note the "almost" — Proton VPN did drop noticeably on its French server in Marseille. It's not uncommon for one of a VPN's data centers to have trouble while the others work fine, and you can usually fix the problem by just disconnecting and reconnecting. Just note that while drops to about 75 percent of your download speed are rare, they're not inconceivable.

When we talk about VPN security, we're really talking about reliability. Can this VPN establish an encrypted tunnel and transmit all your information through it, every time, without leaks or failures? With Proton VPN, we're happy to say the answer is yes; we probed its security and found no cracks to speak of. Read the section below for specifics.

Proton VPN uses four VPN protocols to communicate between your devices, its servers and the internet. Three of them (WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2) are common choices with no serious flaws as long as they're implemented thoughtfully. The fourth, Stealth, is an obfuscation protocol you should only use if the other three are blocked.

OpenVPNis the most secure option. Without getting too technical, OpenVPN encrypts its backend functions as well as the data itself, which leaves it with no obvious vulnerabilities. It can also communicate using the same ports as common HTTPS traffic, so it's hard to block.

WireGuardis more efficient than OpenVPN, both in its source code and the cryptography it uses. It normally requires an exchange of fixed IP addresses, but the Proton VPN implementation overwrites those IPs with randomized addresses, cutting the security risk.

IKEv2is a safe choice that's occasionally faster than either OpenVPN or WireGuard. You probably won't use it unless it happens to come up while you've set the protocol to Smart. As such, it's on the way to being phased out of Proton VPN.

Stealthis unique to Proton VPN, though its function is not. It's got the same architecture as WireGuard, but adds another TLS tunnel to evade network blocks that catch VPN traffic. That extra encryption slows it down, so we don't recommend using it unless the other three protocols don't work.

The first option on the app, called "Smart," is not a protocol — it means your VPN client selects the protocol that will give you the best speeds on your current server. Since all four protocols are safe, there's no downside to using the Smart setting most of the time.

We usedAirVPN's IP leak toolto check all four of Proton VPN's protocols for DNS and WebRTC leaks. Proton VPN uses its own DNS servers to reduce the risk of sending unencrypted requests, but since leaks are still possible, we tested using a simple method: checking our visible IP address before and after connecting to the VPN.

Despite testing several locations over three days, we never saw our real IP address show up on the tool. This held true even outside the Secure Core server list, where data centers might have been managed by third parties. It's not perfect proof, but it's a very good sign that Proton VPN enforces a consistent security regime on all its servers.

We also usedBrowserLeaksto check for WebRTC leaks. These are mainly an issue on the browser side, but a VPN is doubly important if your browser happens to be leaking. We enabled WebRTC on our browser and tested the same set of Proton VPN servers without springing any WebRTC leaks.

Proton is working on making its entire VPN compatible with IPv6 addresses. If a VPN that's only configured for IPv4 has to resolve an IPv6 address, it can cause a leak — that's why most VPNs, even the best ones, block IPv6 altogether. That said, the whole internet will run on IPv6 one day, so it's nice to see Proton VPN leading the pack.

So far, IPv6 is automatically enabled on Proton VPN's Linux apps and browser extensions, and can be optionally activated on its Android app. The Proton VPN apps for all other platforms still block IPv6 traffic, but this should hopefully change soon.

Even if a VPN's protocol choices are solid, it's possible for individual implementations of those protocols to fail. We used WireShark, a packet inspector app, to test whether Proton VPN's encryption worked no matter what settings were in place. We're happy to say we never saw plaintext once.

To get full access to Proton VPN, you'll need a Plus subscription, which costs $9.99 per month. You can knock off half that price by subscribing for a full year and paying a lump sum of $59.88, working out to $4.99 per month. A Plus account with Proton VPN also gives you free access to every other Proton app.

You can also pay $107.76 in advance to subscribe for two years, an average of $4.49 per month — perhaps more convenient, but it doesn't save you much. The one-year plan is the best value, though it's also nice that you don't have to pay through the nose for only one month. There's a 30-day, money-back guarantee on all plans.

Proton VPN is currently offering Engadget readers an exclusive dealthat offers a 12-month plan for $47.88 ($3.99 per month) and a 24-month plan for $81.36 ($3.39 per month).Learn more about it here. One final option is the Proton Unlimited subscription, discussed in the "side apps and bundles" section below."

Proton VPN is one of the best free VPNs on the market right now. No other VPN backed by as much experience and good judgment has a free plan with no data limits. Instead of capping how much data you can use per month, Proton VPN restricts which servers free users can access, limiting them to five countries: the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

The frustrating part is that you can't choose which of these servers you use; Proton VPN just auto-connects to whichever one is the least burdened. A Proton representative told us that this change goes along with improvements to the selection algorithm, better load balancing and the addition of the Poland and Romania locations. It is also possible to try for a better connection by clicking "change server."

The fact remains, though, that a free Proton VPN plan is useless for unblocking content in specific locations — but this may be by design. The free plan seems more aimed toward privacy and anonymity than streaming, and the placement of the free locations near Russia and China reflects that. Free Proton VPN plans don't sacrifice any essential security features.

Proton VPN's main bundle is Proton Unlimited, which gets you all six Proton products in one package: VPN, Mail, Drive, Calendar, Wallet and Pass. This costs $12.99 for a month, $119.88 for a year ($9.99 per month) and $191.76 for two years ($7.99 per month). We won't be going in-depth on any of them in this review, but here's a quick rundown of each.

Proton Mail:An end-to-end encrypted email service. Proton can still see a Mail user's real IP address, but can't read any of their messages.

Proton Drive:Encrypted cloud storage. As with Mail, Proton can identify users, but can't read any of the content they store.

Proton Calendar:An encrypted scheduling app with events and reminders.

Proton Wallet:A self-custody wallet for storing Bitcoin unconnected to any exchange.

Proton Pass:A password manager that generates, stores and autofills passwords for online accounts.

Even if you only need two of the six, Proton Unlimited saves you money. Separate monthly subscriptions to Proton VPN and Proton Mail would cost a total of $14.98, so you've already knocked off $2 per month. That increases if you're able to commit to a year in advance.

Proton's privacy policy comes in two parts: thegeneral Proton policyand the shorter policyspecific to Proton VPN. We'll cover them in that order.

Proton tracks user activity on its product websites using its own marketing tools; the data set collected does not include IP addresses. It retains an email address connected to each user's account, but it's not allowed to connect IP addresses (and thus identities and locations) to those emails unless the user breaches the terms of service.

You may rightly ask how Proton would know a user is abusing one of their services if they don't keep activity logs. The answer is that logs aren't needed; most forms of abuse can be detected in other ways and observed in real time. For example, if someone used a Proton VPN server to launch a DDoS attack, the team could inspect that server and find the hacker while the attack was still ongoing.

The policy goes on to list the five third-party data processors Proton uses (Zendesk, PayPal, Chargebee, Atlassian and Stripe), none of whom are allowed to store customer activity data. Proton cautions that it will share what data it does have in response to unblockable requests from the Swiss government, but not "until all legal or other remedies have been exhausted." This is standard for a VPN that wants to remain in business, and thetransparency reportshows the company does indeed fight court orders when it can.

Proton's VPN-specific privacy policy is quite short. It states that Proton cannot log user activities or identifiable characteristics of devices connected to the VPN, cannot throttle internet connections and must extend full privacy and security to free users.

In one sense, a privacy policy requires you to take the VPN provider at their word, but it's dangerous for a company to make promises they don't intend to keep. The policy is legally binding, and breaking it is grounds for a lawsuit. Proton VPN's succinct no-logs policy is therefore a great sign. It's also been confirmed several times by a third-party audit, most recently inJuly 2024.

Testing a VPN's ability to mask a user's location isn't complex — all you need is a streaming subscription. We connected to five test locations and tried to unblock Netflix with each one. If we managed to access the site, and saw different shows than those on the American library, we concluded that the location had masked us successfully.

Proton VPN passed the test every time in all five locations. The only hiccup came in Romania, which we chose because it's one of the free locations. The app connected us to a free server, which was too slow to load Netflix; when we chose a paid server, the problem disappeared.

Proton VPN's free plan includes servers in five locations: the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the United States and Japan. When you connect as a free user, you'll be automatically connected to whichever location is fastest.

A paid plan opens up the full network of 154 servers in 117 countries and territories. The menu includes a huge selection of African locations, more than any VPN we've tested in some time. The Middle East, along with central and southern Asia, are also well represented, and U.S. users will find 20 different locations to choose from.

Keep in mind that about two-thirds of these server locations are virtual, meaning they're not physically located where they claim to be. This includes all the African servers except South Africa and Nigeria; all the South American servers except Brazil, Colombia and Argentina; and all the Middle Eastern servers except Turkey, Israel and the UAE. A majority of the locations in Asia are also virtual, including South Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

To be clear, virtual locations can hide your IP address just as well as physical ones. It's only a problem if you're expecting the kind of performance, particularly in terms of latency, that you get from a nearby server. Luckily, Proton VPN gives you fast enough download and upload speeds that distance shouldn't be a problem.

Proton VPN has a number of extra features that go beyond standard VPN functionality. We've already mentioned the Stealth protocol and IPv6 support. In this section, we'll cover an additional five features that might be of interest.

Proton VPN's built-in ad blocker is known as NetShield. It's available on the main UI page, and has two settings: one that blocks only malware sites, and one that blocks sites connected with malware, ads and trackers. The stronger feature is on by default.

NetShield works by checking any DNS requests against a database of web servers known to host malware, inject ads or attach cross-site trackers to your browsing session. The DNS-blocking approach means it's not capable of blocking ads served from the same domain that hosts them — so no blocking YouTube video ads. On the positive side, it means NetShield works across your entire device, not just on your browser.

NetShield also displays a running total of how many of each form of interference it's blocked. It catches most banner ads, but since you can't customize the blocklist in any way, it's best when combined with another browser-level ad blocker.

Here's an interesting one. Secure Core is a form of a common feature known as double VPN or multi-hop VPN, in which a connection runs through two VPN servers before being decrypted. If one server fails or gets compromised, the other server keeps your connection private.

Proton VPN takes this a step further. When you activate Secure Core, your connection will still end at your chosen server location — but before that, it will travel through a designated server in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland. A few touches make Secure Core servers more reliable than the average VPN node:

All three countries are safe jurisdictions, with consumer-friendly privacy laws and courts sympathetic to privacy claims.

Secure Core data centers are locked down physically; for example, the Iceland location is a refitted military base, and the Sweden location is literally underground.

Proton owns and operates all Secure Core locations itself, with no rentals or third-party managers.

Almost no other VPNs pay as much attention to physical security as Proton VPN does with this feature. The second hop makes Secure Core connections slower on average, but it's worth it if you have something especially sensitive to do online.

Proton VPN includes a kill switch, a standard feature. When active, a kill switch cuts off your internet whenever your connection to the VPN drops. This means you're never in danger of leaking your real identity or location, even for a second. It also protects you against the TunnelVision exploit, which requires the hacker to make a fake VPN server.

Split tunneling is included on the Windows and Android apps, but users on other devices can access it through the browser extension. With split tunneling, some apps or websites get online through the VPN, while others stay unprotected.

Proton VPN allows split tunneling by both app and IP address. This grants you a precise level of control over your split, as long as you know the IP of each website you're placing on the list (you can find that out usingDNS checker).

Proton VPN is one of the best VPNs for torrenting. It restricts torrenting to P2P servers, but nearly every server on the list is a P2P server — only Secure Core servers and some free servers don't permit torrenting. Combine that with the fact that it maintains 96 percent of your upload speeds on average, and you should have few problems using a torrenting client.

It also has some support for port forwarding, which can improve torrenting speed. Windows and Linux users can enable it with a simple toggle, which provides an active port number for configuring private servers. Mac users can set up port forwarding through manual OpenVPN or WireGuard configurations.

A handful of Proton VPN servers route you directly to the Tor network after encrypting your connection. While connected to one of these Tor over VPN servers, which are marked with TOR in their names and an onion symbol, you'll be able to open .onion links on a normal browser.

This is more than just convenient — Tor over VPN is the safest way to access the dark web. With the VPN as an intermediary, you're never connecting to Tor with your own IP address, so malicious node operators can't see your real identity. For maximum privacy, use Tor Browser to create your Proton VPN account, so you're never exposed at any point in the process.

Proton VPN hasTor serversin six countries (the U.S., France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Hong Kong). Each just has one Tor server, except the United States, which gets two. Tor over VPN is supported on all platforms, but it won't work on Mac or iOS unless you have the kill switch enabled.

A "profile" on Proton VPN is a group of pre-established settings you can use to quickly configure the VPN for a particular task. Two profiles are available from the start: Fastest, which connects to the fastest server, and Random, which always connects to a different server. You can create more profiles by toggling four settings:

Feature:The type of server used. Choose from Standard, Secure Core, P2P or Tor over VPN.

Country:The country to which the profile connects.

Server:A server within that country. You can also select "fastest" or "random."

Protocol:Which VPN protocol the profile will use. "Smart" can be selected.

As an example, say you want to watch a TV series that's only available on Netflix in Canada. You could create a profile called "Netflix Canada" that connects to the fastest Canadian server with just one click. We'd call profiles situationally useful, but they can save a lot of time if you regularly perform the same action on your VPN.

We went to Proton VPN's FAQ pages with two questions that came up while researching other sections: which of Proton VPN's servers are managed by third parties, and why do certain server locations (like Marseilles) run slow despite the app showing a light load?

You can access the help center through any of Proton VPN's apps, or by going directly to the website. Articles appear to be organized into six categories. Oddly, clicking any category button only shows you a handful of the articles in that section — for example, the Troubleshooting category looks like it only has five articles. If you type "troubleshooting" into the search bar, though, you'll see dozens pop up. There are even some sections, like Billing, that don't appear on the main page at all.

It has the feel of a website update that wasn't adequately brought in line with the bulk of the support content. Until Proton fixes it, just use the search bar for everything. The articles themselves are well-written, give or take some stilted English.

We couldn't find written answers to our questions about ownership and server load, so we turned to live chat. Free users should keep in mind that live chat support is only available on paid accounts, but there's a fairly active subreddit at r/protonvpn where Proton staff frequently post.

Live chat is not intuitively located on protonvpn.com. We finally found it by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the main page, only to be told nobody was online to help at the moment — live chat is only accessible from 9 AM to midnight Central European Time (CET). We submitted our question about the Marseille servers as an email ticket instead.

This part was easy, at least, as the form helpfully populated our system information. We also got a prompt response within 24 hours. We ended the interaction there, as we weren't able to reproduce the sluggish behavior on the French server locations, but it's nice to know the team will answer quickly.

Proton VPNlaunched in 2017, but its team's experience goes back much farther. The founders of its parent company, Proton AG, met while working at CERN in Switzerland, and the company remains under Swiss jurisdiction.

Their first product, Proton Mail,went live in 2014after a successful crowdfunding campaign, and claims to have 100 million users today. Proton VPN was Proton AG's second project. Like Proton Mail, it consists of a free plan supplemented by paid upgrades.

Since then, Proton has introduced several more products: Proton Calendar in 2020, Proton Drive cloud storage in 2022 and the Proton Pass password manager in 2023, each designed around using end-to-end encryption to make user data inaccessible.

Protonannounced in 2024that the majority of its shares had been acquired by the Proton Foundation, a nonprofit whose only purpose is to control Proton stock. Among other benefits, this prevents it from being purchased by anyone who disagrees with its mission. To sell to an objectionable parent company, the entire board of trustees would have to agree, which feels unlikely based on Proton's track record.

Throughout Proton's history, we only found two incidents serious enough to comment on, and only one of them concerned Proton VPN. We'll cover them both below.

On the page that hosts itsannual transparency report, Proton states openly that it "may be legally compelled to disclose certain user information to Swiss authorities" (see the Privacy Policy section of this article for more on precisely what information that describes). In 2021,the company admittedit had given Swiss police (acting on a French warrant) a ProtonMail user's IP address and device logs. The police arrested the user, a French environmental activist.

While that's unnerving for privacy-minded users, there are some important contextual issues to consider. Most importantly, ProtonMail is not governed by the same policy as Proton VPN. At the time the case unfolded, Swiss lawobliged all email companiesto comply with court orders from Swiss authorities to hand over data.VPNs aren't subject to those retention requirements.

Today, Swiss email companies have been reclassified so they're also exempt from data retention requirements, thanks in part toa policy change Proton fought for. A representative from Proton confirmed that "under Swiss law, we are not obligated to save any user connection logs." It's also reassuring that, despite complying with the subpoena,Proton wasn't able to turn over the contents of any emails.

In January 2025, researchers at Venak Security alleged that Proton VPNlacks memory protectionfor keys generated under the WireGuard protocol, which might let hackers scrape the keys and decrypt intercepted communications. Proton responded to Venak in ablog post, which a Proton representative confirmed remains their official response to the allegations.

In short: the Venak article only demonstrates that it's possible to view public keys, not private ones. This isn't much of a bombshell, given that "public" is right there in the name. But asymmetric encryption — the kind used by VPN protocols like WireGuard — requires both keys to decrypt any messages. Even if a hacker were able to get ahold of a private key, they likely wouldn't be able to use it for anything. WireGuard incorporates perfect forward secrecy by default, changing session keys often enough that any given key is obsolete by the time it's stolen.

In short, we're prepared to recommend Proton VPN to almost anybody. Whether you're mainly concerned with security, streaming or something else, chances are good that you'll be satisfied. The only serious downsides are that the long-term plans are overpriced and that it's hard to get live tech support if you live outside of Europe.

It's also our unqualified pick for the best free VPN, but with the caveat that it's a bad choice for anyone who needs to choose specific server locations. If all you care about is staying hidden from your ISP and advertisers, Proton should be your first choice.

You don't have to make a huge effort planning Instagram posts anymore so that your profile takes on a certain aesthetic or so that your grid reads or looks a certain way. Instagram will soon (and finally) let you re-order the posts already on your grid. Alessandro Paluzzi, who reverse engineered apps and posted upcoming features online,found an "edit grid" optionwithin Instagram way back in 2022. Instagram didn't say when exactly the feature will be available, but when you do get the edit grid option, tapping it will take you to a screen where you can rearrange your posts in the way you want them to appear on your profile.

In the post announcement from Instagram head Adam Mosseri, he also revealed that Instagram is "exploring a way" that will allow you to post to your account without broadcasting it to your followers' feeds. The idea is to make posting less intimidating and to allow you to keep your account active without the pressure. Mosseri also didn't say when the feature is rolling out, but take note that his post is about Instagram's investments in creativity for this year.

Finally, the Instagram head announced thattrial Reelsare now available to everyone. Trial Reels will allow you to publish Reels that bypass your followers' feeds. Those Reels are then recommended to non-followers instead, since the feature's original purpose was to give creators a way to experiment with new types of content that could alienate their current audience. Mosseri said that the hope is for trial Reels to "give everyone greater freedom to explore their creativity in a low-pressure way."

Microsoft has begun rolling out a major update for Copilot. Starting today, Windows 10 and 11 users in the US can try out the assistant's Vision feature. The tool allows you to share up to two apps with Copilot, so that you can then chat about what it sees. "[Copilot Vision] acts as your second set of eyes, able to analyze content, help when you’re lost, provide insights, and answer your questions as you go," Microsoft says.

Additionally, with its new Highlights functionality, Copilot can even show you how to complete a specific task within an app. To try out Copilot Vision, open the Copilot app on your computer, click the glasses icon in the composer window and then select the browser or apps you want to share. You can stop sharing at any time by pressing "Stop" or "X" within the prompt dialogue. Microsoft says Windows users in non-European countries can look forward to the feature rolling out to their computers soon.

Microsoft began testing Copilot Vision with Copilot Pro subscribersin October. Following thecontentious launch of Copilot's Recall feature, the company took a more careful approach with Vision by making it something testers had to manually activate and limited to a select list of websites. Now the company is expanding the available functionality before rolling it out to other markets.

Apple'sWWDC 2025keynote gave fans a good look into what their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers will look like come this fall when the new software updates come out. Key to the changes is Apple's new Liquid Glass design language, which will bring UI tweaks to all of its operating systems later this year. The redesign focuses on streamlining things and boosting productivity while giving most elements a semi-translucent look. As to be expected Apple Intelligence features are baked into all of the forthcoming software updates, and users can expect to see updated widgets, a few overhauled apps and more. Here's everything Apple announced at WWDC 2025 this year.

As was expected, Apple revealed a new visual design language coming to all of its operating systems dubbedLiquid Glass. It called this new system its "broadest" design update yet, and it features semi-translucent features like redesigned widgets, notifications and more. Apple is billing it as more dynamic than the previous design language, and a way to bring even more consistency across all operating systems including iOS, iPadOS and macOS.

In addition to the redesign, Apple isrevamping the namesof all of its operating systems. Instead of iOS 19, for example, we’ll have iOS 26 coming out this fall. iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 and others will follow suit, marking the first time Apple has given its software updates year identifiers instead of arbitrary generation numbers.

The changes coming toiOS 26are subtle, but they give it a clean look and feel, with lots of overlapping elements, rounded corners and more. Apple said the design is inspired by visionOS, the operating system that powers Vision Pro headsets. App icons have a slightly different look, while toolbars and text inputs have see-through appearances. Folks will be happy to know that things are largely the same — you shouldn't have an issue identifying key apps like the Phone, Messages or FaceTime.

Speaking of the Phone app, it's getting the biggest redesign since its launch with the original iPhone all those years ago. It puts scrolling front and center, allowing you to scroll through key contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. A translucent bar at the bottom of the screen gives you quick access to additional contacts and the keypad. Hold Assist, a new feature, will mute hold music but keep you on a call until someone picks up on the other line.

Messages is getting a few new features as well, including the ability to change the entire message background color for group messages and polls among group chat members. New screening features includes "unknown senders," which sequesters those pesky spam messages to a separate space in Messages, so you can keep your most important conversations in the forefront and ignore those that don't matter.

Apple Intelligence featuresare spread throughout all of the software updates, and in Messages, there are some related to Genmoji. In iOS 26, you'll be able to combine two existing emoji to create an entirely new, custom Genmoji, and you can even use ChatGPT to create Genmoji as well.

Live translateis coming to Messages, too, automatically translating messages as you type and delivering them to the receiver in their preferred language. Similarly functioning live captions will be available in FaceTime, and Apple Music will get live translation and live pronunciation features to help listeners enjoy music in other languages. The Call Translation API will be available to third-party developers to use in their communication apps as well.

Apple Maps will gain the ability to learn your routine and suggest alternative routes based on traffic. It will also log your "visited places": cities, landmarks and business that you've been to, making it easier for you to find places you want to revisit again.

Separately, the Wallet app will support Digital ID, which lets you create a digital ID that's different from your driver's license and passport and can be used to verify your identity in some locations. You'll also be able to add updated boarding passes to Wallet when you're flying.

iOS 26 will feature a dedicatedGames appas well. It will feature a Library tab, where you can find all of the games you've ever downloaded for iOS, and a dedicated Apple Arcade tab for all of the titles included in that service. Challenges is a new feature will let you compete against friends in supported games, including supported single-player games that developers.

Visual Intelligence is getting baked into iOS 26's interface a bit more, allowing you to visually search for anything that pops up on your iPhone screen. For example, if there's an image of a jacket you like on your social media feed, you can take a screenshot and use the new Visual Intelligence image search feature to search for similar jackets across the web and other apps. You can highlight certain areas of your screenshot to refine the search further.

In addition to the Liquid-Glass visual overhaul,watchOS 26will bring Workout Buddy to your wrist. The new feature will analyze your fitness history and identify insights in real time as you're working out. It takes shape as a sort of audio coach that can inform you of things like the distance you've run, average pacing and those compares to previous runs you've completed. New Apple Music integration can choose playlists for you as well, based on the type of workout you're doing.

Smart Stack on Apple Watch is getting an update as well, prioritizing the information that matters most to you depending on your routine. For example, when you walk into your gym, a Smart Stack hint will appear on your watch that will quickly take you to the workout app so you can dive right into your training session.

The next version of Apple's desktop operating system is dubbedmacOS Tahoe, keeping the classic California naming scheme the company has been using for a long time. Liquid Glass design language is at the forefront here, but long-time Mac users will find most things look quite familiar, just with a semi-translucent, rounded edge now. Users will have the option to make custom backgrounds, change the color of their desktop folders and even add emoji to them.

iOS' Phone app will be available on macOS Tahoe, improving the calling capabilities of Mac computers. With it, you can more easily access your contacts and voicemail messages, and it will support all of the new features the new Phone app in iOS 26 will, including things like Hold Assist.

Intelligent actions are coming to the Shortcuts app, which integrates Apple Intelligence into the existing Shortcuts program. This lets you access Apple Intelligence models on-device, creating your own Shortcuts with AI capabilities. In a similar vein, Spotlight will be more powerful in macOS Tahoe, allowing you to call upon and execute multi-step Shortcuts and actions directly from Spotlight search, without navigating to other apps. You can also use Spotlight to access your clipboard history in the latest software update, too.

iPadOS 26will feature a Liquid Glass redesign along with most of the new features detailed for iOS 26, including the revamped Phone and Games apps. Unique for the iPad, though, is a new menu bar and windowing feature that makes the tablet's UI look and feel a lot more like macOS. That means it should improve multitasking, something iPad power-users have wanted for a long time. You can resize windows, snap them to different corners or swipe them away temporarily to get a glimpse of your home screen. Apple claims the window system is designed to work just as well with touch input (either via fingers or a stylus) or trackpads on compatible accessories.

The Files app on iPad will feature an updated list view and the same custom color options you'll find on the new macOS Tahoe. You'll also be able to choose which programs or apps you want to open certain files, so for example, you can opt to open an image in Photoshop rather than the default option. Speaking of, a new Preview app is coming to iPads in the new software update. A mainstay on macOS, this app will bring native PDF management, annotation and editing to Apple's tablets.

iPadOS 26 will bring a number of new features for podcasters and the like, including the ability to record "studio quality" vocals with AirPods. Users will also be able to press and hold their AirPods to start and stop the recordings they're making on their iPads. In addition, a new local capture feature will integrate with video conferencing apps to let users record their video on iPads for things like remote group podcasts.

The next software update coming to Vision Pro systems will include new Apple Intelligence features, spatial experiences and more. Spatial widgets are coming tovisionOS 26, allowing you to put, say, a calendar widget somewhere in your Vision Pro field of view and it will stay in that place even as you move around. Native and third-party apps can support spatial widgets, and they'll all be available in the new Widgets visionOS app.

Spatial scenes is a new feature that uses AI to bring your photos to life in front of your eyes while using Vision Pro. Spatial scenes also extend to photos you'll see while browsing, so for example, those travel photos you see while researching your next vacation will look even more lifelike using spatial scenes.

Arguably the most exciting visionOS news is that it will allow the Vision Pro headset to be used with PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers. This will make Vision Pro more of a contender in the gaming space, since lack of compatible controllers was a big factor holding it back. In addition, the new software update will bring eye-scrolling to the Vision Pro, which will allow users to scroll documents, apps, webpages and more just by using their eyes.

The new Liquid Glass design language brings more cinematic film and TV art to the Apple TV app intvOS 26. A new Profiles feature in Apple TV+ lets you customize your viewing experience with your own tastes, and each member of your household can have their own profile. Elsewhere, Apple Music on Apple TV is getting a karaoke-esque feature that lets you sing along to your favorite songs using your iPhone as the microphone.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference kicked off on June 9. Check out ourWWDC keynote liveblogto experience how things unfolded in real time and get a recap oneverything Apple is announcing at WWDC 2025.

A remake of the original Silent Hill is in development, it was revealedduring Konami's Press Start streamon Thursday. An image announcing that another Silent Hill game from developer Bloober Team was in the works appeared during the stream. It was accompanied by music from the first game in the series. The official Japanese Silent Hill account on X laterclarifiedthat Bloober is modernizing the original 1999 entry.

Back in February, itemergedthat Bloober is making a new title based on Konami's intellectual property. The two companies previously worked on a remake ofSilent Hill 2, which was released in October and, by January, had sold more than 2 million copies. It was also one ofour favorite games of 2024.

The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh…#SILENTHILL#KonamiPressStartpic.twitter.com/wlKYdOnX79

— Konami (@Konami)June 12, 2025

So, going back to the game that started it all makes a lot of sense. Konami and Bloober haven't revealed any other details about the remake yet, such as when it's likely to arrive.

There was plenty more on offer during Konami's showcase, including a behind-the-scenes developer diary forSilent Hill f. The first game in the series to be set in Japan willdrop on September 25.

Before that,Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater(a remake ofMGS 3) will hit PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/Son August 28. Konami revealed on the stream that the Xbox version will include gameplay from the Bomberman series — the PlayStation and Steam variants have an Ape Escape tie-in. It also emerged thatMetal Gear Solid Deltawill have a brand-new multiplayer mode called Fox Hunt. This is a camouflage-based hide and seek mode that builds on the stealth aspect of the series. You can expect more details on that soon.

Press Start included looks at some other games, such asSuikoden Star Leap(a new RPG adventure set in the world of Suikoden for PC and mobile).Suikoden I&II HD Remastersare getting upgrades on Nintendo Switch 2 as well. A demo for action RPGEdens Zero(based on a manga and anime of the same name) has dropped, while there was a peek at action-adventure platformerDarwin’s Paradox, in which you play as an octopus.

Razer hasannouncedits latest lineup of Kishi mobile gaming controllers, capable of housing your phone, small tablet and, in the most comically extreme case, a full-size iPad.

The Kishi V3 Pro XL is seemingly designed for people who like to play games on the largest possible mobile canvas, but don’t want to rely on touch controls or just pair a wireless pad. The two sides of the controller stretch out so wide that the V3 Pro XL is able to accommodate a 13-inchiPad Airor Pro, or compatible Android slate of similar proportions, morphing the tablet into a handheld console that makes theSwitch 2look decidedly miniature in comparison.

Take away the "XL" bit and the supersized controller offers the same functionality as the standard Kishi V3 Pro, which is built for USB-C phones and tablets up to 8 inches. Both controllers feature precise anti-drift TMR thumbsticks with swappable caps, dual mouse click-back buttons and claw grip bumpers, as well as Razer’s Sensa HD haptics (not currently supported on iOS). Wired and remote play is possible on PC via the Razer Nexus launcher, and you get USB-C passthrough charging built in. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack too if you prefer wired audio.

Rounding out the refreshed lineup is the Kishi V3, which is designed for iPhone and Android handsets. Many of the Pro features trickle down to the streamlined option, including the full-size TMR sticks (without the swappable caps) and back buttons. The USB-C “island” design of the controller makes it widely compatible with cases, so you don’t need to yank yours off every time you want to play a game.

Whatever model you pick up, Razer will give you up to six free months of Apple Arcade, normally priced at $7 per month. Will that soften the blow of the prices for these controllers? Not really. The Kishi V3 costs $100, the V3 Pro is $150, and the V3 Pro XL comes in at a whopping $200, which seems extremely high for a controller add-on for your massive tablet. But if you’ve been looking for a controller for that very specific use case, Razer has you covered.

Star Trek: Strange New Worldswill only visit around 26 strange new worlds before shuttling into that cancellation sunset. The show will end with a truncated fifth season of six episodes,according to reporting byDeadline.

This news is relatively surprising, given thatStrange New Worldsseems like the most popular and successful show of the modern era. However, not a single newer Trek series has made it past five seasons, so maybe that's just the way things go now. It's worth remembering that Captain Kirk's narration in the original 1960sStar Trekspoke of a five-year mission.

“We’re deeply grateful to Paramount+ for the chance to complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it, alongside our extraordinary cast and crew. And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey," executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers, and Alex Kurtzman said in a joint statement provided via press release.

This is a bummer, asStrange New Worldsis a fantastic watch, but it's not the end of the world. The show is about to premiere itsthird season on July 17. A full fourth season is already in production, and the shortened fifth season will ramp up sometime in the next year. So there are still 26 episodes left to watch. That's a good amount of Trek.

It's also not the end of live-action Star Trek on television screens. The upcomingStarfleet Academyhas alreadybeen renewed for a second season, though that's the only new show on our radar. There have been rumblings of movies, but we aren't sure what's actually being made. A film chronicling the formation of Starfleetwas announced around 18 months ago, but there hasn't been any news since then. Patrick Stewart has been openly campaigning for a Captain Picard movie, but, well, he's 84 as of this writing.

Here's an AI-government collaboration of a less…unsettlingvarietythan some. Google DeepMind is teaming up with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for tropical cyclone season. The AI research labclaimsit can predict hurricane paths and intensities with at least the same accuracy as traditional methods.

NHC forecasters have already begun using DeepMind's AI model. Google says they're designed to support, not replace, human NHC forecasters. (Although President Trump's National Weather Service cuts have alreadyreducedits headcount.) The company is also careful to repeatedly describe its models as "experimental."

Google claims that its models offer fewer trade-offs than physics-based predictions. The more accurate those methods are at forecasting a hurricane's path, the worse they are at predicting its intensity. (And vice versa.) The company says its experimental system offers "state-of-the-art" accuracy for both.

DeepMind backs that up withdatafrom real-life storms over the last two years. On average, its five-day hurricane track prediction gets 87 miles closer to the storm's actual path than ENS, a widely used traditional model. Google's was comparable to a 3.5-day prediction model. In other words, it's like gaining an extra 1.5 days of warning with the same level of confidence. The company says such an improvement typically takes over a decade to achieve.

Alongside the NHC collab, Google is launching a new website that you can try. Now in a public preview, Weather Lab lets you see the AI storm predictions. It lets you view both live and historical predictions. You can even compare them to physics-based models to see how the AI version measures up.

It's important not to treat Weather Lab's experimental forecasts as official. But the website could come in handy if you live in Hurricane Alley. You cancheck it outnow.