News

Yesterday's WWDC 2025 keynote delivered a long list of exciting new features for Apple fans, but one of the biggest was the reveal of iOS 26 and its new Liquid Glass design material.

The redesign is the biggest for iPhones since iOS 7 in 2013 and Apple announced tons of new features to go alongside its frosted-glass makeover. Naturally, this has all sparked a lot of opinions and online chatter – so we're here to guide you through it in this liveblog.

Whether you want to get a temperature check of how iOS 26 has gone down, find out how to try the iOS 26 developer beta, or just catch up on all of the new features coming to your iPhone later this year, we're here to keep you up to date on Apple's biggest iOS update for some time.

Hello, Mark Wilson here (Managing Editor, News) and I'll be taking you through all of the reaction and news from yesterday's announcement of iOS 26.

There's a lot to take in – a new 'Liquid Glass' material for the iPhone's UI, plus a ton of new features across apps like Camera, CarPlay, Apple Music and even the Phone app.

We've also got an exclusive chat with Apple about Liquid Glass coming later, plus some hands-on first impressions. So if you want to know how your iPhone's going to change in the near feature, stay tuned.

Before I dive into the reaction to Liquid Glass, what is it? Rather than being specific to iOS 26, Liquid Glass is a digital, translucent material that Apple says "reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content".

In other words, it's a pretty design language that should make iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26 all feel fresher, more cohesive and (hopefully) more intuitive. That's the theory, at least.

The name comes from the idea that it combines the optical qualities of glass (for example, magnifying some elements when you hover over them) with fluidity that sees menus morph and change like a T-1000. Sometimes, that looks great, but at others (at least from the early examples we've seen), it can also look a little muddled on certain background.

We've already rounded up the headline features of iOS 26 – for a recap on those, check out our guide to the 5 biggest ones. But outside the redesign, new Phone app and some Apple Intelligence upgrades, there are also some smaller quality-of-life improvements.

Our roundup of the best unheralded iOS 26 features highlights the battery boosts, message filtering, new sleep-improving background sounds and improved flight features that are all coming to iPhones.

I somehow missed this, but iOS 26 will also give you reminders if your phone has a dirty camera lens. Personally, I think that sounds more useful than AI trying to write my emails, but we'll have to see how well it works in practice.

I've been waiting for Apple to streamline and tidy up its Camera app for years, and it's finally done it in iOS 26.

Rather than a confusing list of photo modes and settings at the base of the app, Apple is stripping it down to two: Video and Photo. You can then just swipe to see the relevant ones in each mode, like Cinematic and Slo-Mo for video.

The confusing row of icons for settings like Photographic Styles and Aspect Ratios has also been improved, with a new Liquid Glass (of course) pane below appearing when you swipe up. Having descriptions for each should make it far easier to use, too.

My only qualm is the lack of a Pro photo mode, but I guess Apple didn't want to kill third-party apps like Halide when it's given them so much praise.

Thrilled to share the project we’ve been working on for the past year!Liquid Glass is a flexible material that constantly adapts to its size and environment, and lays the foundation for a unified design language across all our platforms. pic.twitter.com/VKGwUlUnIpJune 9, 2025

If you want to go deep on Liquid Glass, then it's worth watching Apple's developer talk on the concept– it delves into the minutiae of how it should work, in theory at least.

When you see it in this context, it does look very pretty – and a lot of its early observers are big fans. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, for example, noted that "this redesign is unbelievably cool", while early beta testers on X like @Sondesix(below) have noted the "satisfying" animations and visual effects.

Then again, getting this effect to work in all scenarios is clearly a challenge, and a number of videos show there some kinks to iron out for the public beta next month.

Let's ignore those readability concerns for a second.Look at these satisfying Liquid Glass animations & visual effects on iOS 26. pic.twitter.com/XsVKzxqWqEJune 9, 2025

I am sorry apple fanboys but this is actually terrible and I think you know it pic.twitter.com/3dudRbxxjMJune 9, 2025

The early reactions to Liquid Glass certainly haven't all been positive. Several videos have popped up online showing how translucent widgets and menu overlays can start to look a bit messy and confusing on busy backgrounds.

While some of this can no doubt be put down to iOS 26 being a very early developer beta, former co-founder of The Verge Joshua Topolsky(above) noted that there are some legibility issues even in Apple's own slides that show the design material in action.

He's certainly not alone in seeing the potential for distraction in the transparent effects, with designer Andreas Storm (below) describing it as "very restless".

We'll be drawing our own conclusions from our hands-on soon, but it's fair to say that Liquid Glass hasn't drawn universal praise – with some deriding it as the spiritual successor to Aero from Windows 7, and others like TechRadar contributor Alex Blake concluding that that's actually a good thing.

It looks very restless tbh pic.twitter.com/alXKQNsvGtJune 9, 2025

It's good to see that Apple isn't abandoning its standard CarPlay experience, despite the arrival of CarPlay Ultra.

Thanks to iOS 26, CarPlay is getting four welcome upgrades – and TechRadar's EVs correspondent Leon Poultney has rounded up all of the new CarPlay tricks, including a handy new compact view that gives you pop-up overlays for incoming calls.

It doesn't look quite as fancy as iOS 26, but all of the features should make CarPlay less distracting – which is ultimately the main aim of in-car infotainment design.

• Read more: Apple CarPlay just got 4 big free upgrades with iOS 26 – here's what you need to know

If you want to try iOS 26 for yourself, then the software is out now in developer beta.

Naturally, this is aimed at developers, so we wouldn't exactly recommend it. But it is also possible to enroll and try it as an 'individual'. A word of warning though: early developer betas have lots of issues and this one has been described as "the buggiest beta 1 in 12 years".

If you're prepared to take the risk, though, then just follow our guide on how to download the iOS 26 developer beta. And maybe try it on an older phone rather than your daily carry – it works on all models from the iPhone 11 onwards.

While I do like many aspects of Liquid Glass on iOS 26, one option that has baffled me a bit is the "all-clear look" above.

At WWDC 2025, Apple talked about app icons are now made from Liquid Glass (the difference looks minor to me) and can adapt to different modes like Dark Mode. But one of the new options is the "all-clear look" above, which I'm not fully convinced by.

As some have noted, it looks a bit like you've used a budget third-party app launcher and makes it tricky to tell the apps apart at a glance. I liked the new ability to hide app names in IOS 18 last year, but this one just feels a bit gimmicky.

Apple made the rare admission that it got something wrong at WWDC 2025, by bringing back a feature to the Photos app in iOS 26.

In a classic piece of understatement, Craig Federighi (Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering) said that "many of you missed using tabs in the Photos app", so it was bringing them back in the form of Library and Collections (above).

The former is for finding more recent snaps, while the latter is home to your albums, favorites and more. That certainly wasn't the only criticism of the new Photos app in iOS 18, but it'll be a welcome change for many.

I'm a bit concerned with readability pic.twitter.com/8XZLfzzvG2June 9, 2025

iOS 26 is only at an early developer beta stage, so there are naturally many rough edges. But some commentators, like the YouTube MKBHD (above), are also pointing out some potential issues that are evident even in Apple's official photos for the OS update.

In the above example, I do agree that lock screen messages would be harder to read on some backgrounds. There's no doubt that the Liquid Glass effect is attractive, but is it practical? After all, most of us use our phones as tools rather than aesthetic experiences.

There's plenty of time for Apple to make tweaks to the transparency around some menus, but that could also dilute the new experience it was so keen to provide in iOS 26. I'm looking forward to trying out the beta soon and seeing how Apple refines it ahead of the public beta next month.

The race to put augmented reality smart glasses on your face is heating up. Snap Spectacles are transforming into "Specs" and will launch as lighter and more powerful AR wearables in 2026.

CEO Evan Spiegel announced the all-new Specs on stage at the XR event AWE, promising smart glasses that are smaller, considerably lighter, and "with a ton more capability."

The company didn't spell out a specific time frame or price, but the 2026 launch schedule does put Meta on notice, which is busy prepping its exciting Orion AR glasses for 2027. It appears, Snap Specs will face off with the Samsung/Google Android XR-based Glasses, which are also expected sometime in 2026.

As for what consumers can expect from Specs, Snap is building them on the same Snap OS used in its fifth-generation Spectacles (and likely still using a pair of Qualcomm Snapdragon XR chips). That means all the interface and interaction metaphors, like gesture-based controls, will remain. But there are a significant number of new features and integrations that will start showing up this year, long before Specs arrive, including AI.

Spiegel explained the updates by first revealing that Snap started working on glasses "before Snapchat" was even a thing and that the company's overarching goal is "making computers more human." He added that "with advances in AI, computers are thinking and acting like humans more than ever before."

Snap's plan with these updates to Snap OS is to bring AI platforms into the real world. They're bringing Gemini and OpenAI models into Snap OS, which means that some multi-model AI capabilities will soon be part of Fifth Generation Spectacles and, eventually, Specs. These tools might be used for on-the-fly text translation and currency conversion.

The updated platform also adds tools for Snap Lenses builders that will integrate with the Spectacles' and Specs' AR waveform-based display capabilities.

A new Snap3D API, for instance, will let developers use GenAI to create 3D objects in lenses.

The updates will include a Depth Module AI, which can read 2D information to create 3D maps that will help anchor virtual objects in a 3D world.

Businesses deploying Spectables (and eventually Specs) may appreciate the new Fleet Management app, which will let developers manage and remotely monitor multiple Specs at once, and the ability to deploy the Specs for guided navigation at, say, a museum.

Later, Snap OS will add WebXR support to build AR and VR experiences within Web browsers.

Spiegel claimed that, through lenses in Snapchat, Snap has the largest AR platform in the world. "People use our AR lenses in our camera 8 billion times a day."

That is a lot, but it's virtually all through smartphones. At the moment, only developers are using the bulky Spectacles and their Lenses capabilities.

The consumer release of Specs could change that. When I tried Spectacles last year, I was impressed with the experience and found them, while not quite as good as Meta Orion glasses (the lack of gaze-tracking stood out for me), full of potential.

A lighter form factor that approaches or surpasses what I found with Orion and have seen in some Samsung Android XR glasses, could vault Snap Specs into the AR Glasses lead. That is, providing they do not cost $2000.

• The best VR headsets in 2025 - Virtual Reality Gaming
• I took my Meta Quest 3 on a 3000-mile flight so you don't ...
• Meta Orion hands-on: if this is a prototype the finished product is going to be incredible

Liquid Glass. It's an umbrella term for interface changes across virtually every Apple platform, but it's also evocative of an intangible thing; digital, transparent, amorphous glass that glides, flexes, and responds to touch in a way real glass could never do.

Just hours after Apple unveiled, at WWDC 2025, the biggest change to iOS since iOS 7 13 years ago, I, along with Tom's Guide Global Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer, sat down with Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and Apple Global VP of Marketing Greg Joswiak to talk about everything the company unveiled during its 90-minute keynote.

We talked about Siri, Apple Intelligence, and iPadOS's remarkable transformation, but it was when we asked about the inspiration for Liquid Glass that the pair became most animated.

Federighi first confirmed what rumors have been suggesting for months: that the toddler-aged visionOS, which runs on Apple's $3,500 mixed reality Vision Pro headset, was where it all started.

"So I would say the most obvious inspiration is visionOS, which uses glass, and you say, 'Well, why did visionOS use glass? Well, glass is a material that allows interfaces to sit in the context, in this case, of a room, and feel like the chrome [or frame] – that is, the glass – is somehow consuming kind of less space. It's allowing more of the context to come through. That was very powerful in the concept of visionOS".

I found it hard to believe, though, that this still-new platform could be the full inspiration for Liquid Glass, a design approach that's set to appear in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26. I asked Federighi if they looked at visionOS and the lightbulb went off, or if there were other, older influences. It turns out that Apple's obsession with glassy interfaces goes back at least a dozen years.

"If you look back at even iOS, 7, we had started to work with translucent materials, and then you saw even in MacOS Yosemite, the sidebars and windows started to have this kind of translucency," he says. "So there was a glassness, already, that was finding its way as a building block material for interfaces."

Federighi also revealed the extent of real-world testing that went into developing the uncannily realistic look and responsiveness of Liquid Glass. "There [are these] designed rooms. You know, they bring [...] in different pieces of glass with different opacities, different lensing, it's quite interesting.".

He added that Apple has an industrial design studio which has the capability to fabricating almost anything. "There were certainly real material studies that were being done there."

The efforts to simulate real glass and its optical qualities were extensive, but then Liquid Glass also does things no real glass can do, like changing shape when you touch or move it. But it goes deeper than that.

"We found that because of the incredible diversity of content that you have on your device – you're scrolling through a feed and it's all white and then suddenly there's a dark sky image that comes and scrolls under the glass – but you want the glass to react in a way that a clear piece of light glass would.

Suddenly, the black thing comes in, and you can't read any of your text, or it looks poor. We were able to build adaptive glass that changes the way it's transmitting color that even can flip from a dark glass to a light glass adaptively, by understanding what's behind it. So, you know, it now becomes this incredibly malleable material that always fits in with whatever is beneath it."

Check back soon for a link to the TechRadar and Tom's Guide podcast featuring the full interview with Federighi and Joswiak.

• Apple reveals major visual redesign for iOS 26, macOS 26 and more at WWDC
• These are the best macOS Tahoe 26 features for your new Mac or MacBook
• WWDC 2025 as it happened: all the iOS 26, MacOS Tahoe, and iPadOS news

ChatGPT is experiencing a major outage as users across the internet report problems with OpenAI's chatbot.

Techradar is covering the disruption live, so stay tuned to this live blog to find out what's going on with the world's most popular AI tool.

IS CHATGPT STILL DOWN? Yes, for some, but the problems are easing

Hello and welcome to TechRadar's live coverage of ChatGPT's error-filled morning.

I'm John-Anthony Disotto, Senior AI Writer, and I'll be covering the AI outage bringing you all the info you need on the OpenAI disruption.

Initial reports of errors started around three hours ago, but issues seem to have ramped up as Europe and the UK wake up.

You can follow OpenAI's server status on the official website, but as it stands, the company is reporting "elevated error rates."

According to OpenAI, "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue."

Downdetector reports have ramped up over the last couple of hours, with users all around the world unable to access ChatGPT.

When I try to ask 4o a question myself, I get an error message that says "Too many concurrent requests."

At the time of writing, 11 am BST, Downdetector has over 1,000 reports.

According to OpenAI, there are multiple impacted components across the company's servers. They include 14 affected API components, 21 affected ChatGPT components, and 4 affected Sora components.

On Reddit, lots of ChatGPT users have weighed in on the outage.

One user said, "It started off being really slow and churning out a few words per second then hit the red errors."

Another said, "It started freaking out a few minutes ago when I started a conversation."

While some are more hopeful that the issues are in fact OpenAI working on a major update. Could that be the case? I'm not so sure.

TechRadar's Senior AI Editor, Graham Barlow, has experienced the issues too, but his experience differs depending on which account he uses.

He said, "So, I have two ChatGPT accounts. I have an Enterprise account, which is functioning perfectly, and a free ChatGPT account, which is down. It just pauses with a ‘thinking’ icon when I ask it a question, never resolving into a response."

Interesting... Let me see if I notice a difference between my premium ChatGPT account and my free one.

Yep, same issues here. My ChatGPT Enterprise account is slow but still able to respond.

On my personal account, however, I'm met with a "Conversation not found" error...

OpenAI's server status has now changed to "Partial outage" that the company is investigating.

As of 16 minutes ago, the report says, "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue."

As it stands the issues seem incredibly temperamental, and I assume anyone who relies on ChatGPT will be getting seriously frustrated.

I've asked the rest of the TechRadar team to let me know if their version of ChatGPT is responding.

My colleagues Matt Bolton and Matt Evans are having similar issues to me reporting, "No error, just the dot, on app and desktop – free, not logged in."

It looks like it might be a specific issue to free accounts, which would not be ideal considering I'd assume most users don't pay for ChatGPT access.

Downdetector reports are slowly falling, but my issues still remain.

On OpenAI's system status report there appears to be much more green than about 20 minutes ago.

It looks like the services are slowly starting to resume across APIs, ChatGPT, and Sora

I tried to use ChatGPT again there, but after an initial response, the chatbot just couldn't load any further answers.

I asked my colleagues again to see what is going on with others, and most confirmed that if you wait a long time (upwards of a minute), you'll get a response.

As far as I'm concerned, waiting a minute for ChatGPT to reply is the same as an outage, but at least it's moving in the right direction.

We've got a new update from OpenAI. "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue."

So... more of the same. That update was 11 minutes ago, and as far as I can see, the issues are persisting.

My colleague David Nield is getting an error message on the web with a ChatGPT Plus account, so it looks like the issues are wider than just the free tier of service.

My ChatGPT Enterprise account still seems to work fine, albeit on the slower side.

On the TechRadar team, there's a majority of us with very limited access to ChatGPT.

Are you experiencing the same? Or is ChatGPT working fine?

If OpenAI's chatbot is working on your end, please send me an email with the model details and your subscription tier to: john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com

What is happening right now?ChatGPT/OpenAI outage for 3 hoursHeroku down for 4 hours (even their status page is down!) NVIDIA dev docs as well (runs on Heroku)Pipedrive (CRM) issues for 4 hoursWhat else is down… and are these connected? Something started 4 hours ago… pic.twitter.com/1UrEseCNQfJune 10, 2025

If you're just joining us, this tweet from Gergely Orosz gives a brief rundown of the current ChatGPT and Sora outage.

This ongoing problem has been an issue for over 3 hours now, and it doesn't look like OpenAI is getting any closer to solving the issues.

Some replies to that tweet show that the issues aren't affecting everyone, but the problems seem to be across subscription tiers, not just limited to free users.

We've just sent an email to OpenAI asking for further information on the outage. As soon as we hear back, I'll be sure to update you all.

As it stands, at 12 pm BST, my ChatGPT free account is still taking longer than expected to respond. It does appear to be much better than before, however, so this is looking good!

Earlier I asked readers to reach out with any ChatGPT issues, and so far I'm getting a mixed response.

Nicholas is a ChatGPT Plus subscriber using the 4o model and says everything "seems to be working fine for me."

Elsewhere, Bibi, another ChatGPT Plus subscriber, reports that the 4o model is "Still not working(not even slowly) any message leads directly to the alert "Hmm...something seems to have gone wrong."

Are you affected? Let me know via email: john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com

ChatGPT isn't the only OpenAI service affected, Sora, the company's AI video generation tool is also experiencing issues.

As of 1 minute ago, OpenAI says it is investigating issues related to Sora, but the company isn't providing any further info as of yet.

I just checked X for any tweets from OpenAI or anyone that works there, but there doesn't appear to be any updates other than these vague one liners on the company's service status page.

I'm getting a lot more responses from readers at the moment, and it looks like most of us are in the same boat.

Dustin is a ChatGPT Plus subscriber from Munich, Germany, and is using version 1.2025.147. They say ChatGPT has been down for 2 hours.

Jonny is a free user who says, "I get repeated 'something went wrong' or 'too many requests' errors. But I just had a prompt work really quickly, then it stopped again!"

Labi from Norway says, "Plus user, currently experiencing lag and somewhat slow responses, Sora is not loading at all."

Keep the emails coming, while it's rubbish that we're all experiencing a ChatGPT outage, there's some weird comfort in widespread issues. I feel your pain!

A huge thank you to everyone who is reaching out with their experience.

It looks like the issues are across multiple tiers and locations. Luke on the East coast of the United States says he's "currently using the 4o model, and it has stopped giving me the error message you describe in the 7:03 timestamp update. However, it has started to continually buffer, without response."

I'm getting loads of emails in, so if you've reached out and are still following the live blog, I just want to say thanks again for helping us cover the ChatGPT outage.

If I spot any trends from your emails, I'll be sure to let you know!

Mitchell just sent me an email with some interesting information about when the outage could've started, as well as a potential solution for the time being.

They say, "This has been going on for around 2 hours now. I suspect it started sometime last night, I started seeing weird behaviour from it and the way in which it was giving me responses, often defaulting to putting the reply in Canvas and marking every line with //"

Mitchell adds, "You have to switch to any lower-tier model to actually have a chat with it."

If you're a Plus subscriber, give this a go and let me know if lower-tier models are in fact the temporary solution to this ChatGPT outage.

It's in times like that that we realize how many of us rely on ChatGPT nowadays.

Megan says, "My friends and I have been struggling to use ChatGPT this morning. We also have exams coming up, so it's a bit of a nightmare! We all have subscriptions, and still not working."

Good luck with the exams, Megan. Hopefully OpenAI finds a solution ASAP!

Elsewhere, Daryl says he uses ChatGPT to create YouTube thumbnails, and the outage is causing huge frustration. He says, "It's really frustrating for something I pay £18.99 a month for!"

Gwen from Philadelphia, PA, is a self-proclaimed "power user" and uses "ChatGPT every day, basically for 10-16 hours, and have developed a sort of cognitive bond with this program. I know its expected responses intimately."

The issues have been impacting their ChatGPT usage over the past few days, including issues with "message latency and lack of response to my questions about how ChatGPT measures time."

Ben also has more info, where he claims that his ChatGPT response was from "someone else’s prompt." I've yet to experience anything of the like, it's still just very slow to respond.

Felix from Norway has given me a great summary of their experience:

"ChatGPT has been completely out for the past 2-ish hours on my end - not even a minute without errors. When I talk to it, it loads for only a second, then I'm quickly met with the error of "Hmm... something seems to have gone wrong." That's the only error message I’ve received throughout this outage, though I hear others are experiencing more variation. I'm on a free account."

"Something that may be worth mentioning is that ~2 hours before this outage, my ChatGPT very briefly (for <1 minute) stopped working and gave the error message "Unusual activity has been detected from your device. Try again later." I'm not sure if that is, at all, relevant, but I found it strange - that was my first time seeing that error. But aside from that brief weirdness, my ChatGPT was doing well up until 2 hours ago."

I started this live blog two hours ago, and we're yet to see a fix to this widespread ChatGPT outage.

Readers from all over the globe have been reaching out with their experiences, from Australia to Ohio, Norway to Germany.

Keith from Ohio, USA says, "As a ChatGPT Plus user on both the app and the web, I've been experiencing problems. Every time I try to type something, both on the app and the web, something seems to be wrong."

Thanks for the update, Keith, it looks like there are many of us in the same boat.

Another reader from Ohio just chimed in. This time, Kevin says, “O3 appears to be working; it's just a little slow."

That lines up with a previous email from Mitchell, who said using a lower-tier model seems to fix the issue.

I can confirm. If you don't need access to the flagship ChatGPT models and have access to an account which lets you choose lower-tier models, this could be a temporary solution.

An interesting update from Michael, who says ChatGPT is working in his project.

"I'm experiencing ChatGPT working in my project - existing chats and new ones - but any generalised prompts outside of a project repeatedly fail."

"When prompting my existing project files, it is running very, very slowly, but no errors."

Another potential makeshift solution for anyone who needs to access ChatGPT?

Remember Felix from earlier? Well, he's got back in touch with some positive news: "GPT 4.1-mini is working fast as if everything is perfectly fine - but o4-mini is slow, and regular o4 is still totally dead."

Do you have access to 4.1-mini? If so give it a go and let me know if it's working by emailing: john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com

I've been contacted by someone called Lazer Girl who says they know why GPT is down, even leaving a WhatsApp number for me to call... Sorry Lazer Girl, I think I'll pass.

Paul in Auckland, New Zealand, just reached out. Good evening, Paul!

He says, "ChatGPT is down, getting exactly the same message as others are reporting, but this is the tip of the iceberg. A moderate to power user, I use ChatGPT to work out hours billed to clients and coordinate workflows for my multimedia archiving project."

"Been having issues for a while on/off, just general sluggishness, ChatGPT taking ages to respond. Occasionally, I send a message to it, and it doesn't acknowledge it; it just acts as if I didn’t send it after I hit enter, despite the message going through. It just doesn’t get processed by ChatGPT, and earlier this failed about five times before it finally responded, then it went bad again."

How has the ChatGPT outage today affected your life so far? Let me know via email, I'd love to hear how you use ChatGPT and how not having access this morning has impacted your life.

Everyone is experiencing a different kind of outage, but for what it's worth, my ChatGPT Enterprise and Free accounts are both working, and they aren't even that slow.

Is this the end of the outage? It doesn't look like it; my colleague Ryan was able to use ChatGPT 4.0 while logged in, but after asking a second prompt, he received an error.

We're still not fully up and running; readers keep sending emails with their issues, and some aren't even seeing a solution by changing models.

Vito, a reader from Indonesia just reached out to let me know 4.1 is not working for them.

o4-mini is, however, albeit slowly, which lines up with what other readers around the globe are experiencing.

An update from Kevin in Ohio who gives a great breakdown for anyone that wants a quick glance at what might, or might not be, working:

"O3 seems to be working, if a bit slow.

4o responded once, then went silent.

4o-mini responding, seems fine.

4o-mini-high is responding, seems ok.

4.1 is responding, but pretty slow."

I'm receiving more emails than I could've ever imagined from this live blog, so if I don't reply or share your message, please don't be offended!

It's been a huge help seeing everyone's experience, and anything that can help people access ChatGPT while we wait for OpenAI to completely fix the service is welcome.

As it stands, Downdetector is still reporting widespread outages, and OpenAI's service status is very vague, stating, "We’re currently experiencing issues." That status has been ongoing for over 5 hours now.

Earlier, we reached out to OpenAI for comment, but there's still no response...

Sheen asks, "Are you a bot? Because you have updates every few minutes or so, and I'm not sure how that would work with a human— and if you are human?"

Well Sheen, I am in fact not a bot, and I am indeed working very hard to read every email, research ChatGPT's current status, and write live blog posts.

It has been a very busy morning, but it doesn't look like calming down any time soon...

Jack from the UK is now weighing in, he says,

"I have tested all models of GPT, as well as Sora and Codex. None of them are working on my end. I might get lucky with 1/2 prompts before I get errors. I have college work due in less than 2 hours and I need chatGPT to help as I am 100% failing if it doesn't get done."

"If you have any questions feel free to reach out"

Jack, I have many questions about the ethics behind using ChatGPT to do your college work...

Just in regard to the previous question from Sheen, who asked if I was a bot.

I'm eating my lunch at my desk and have made a severe lapse in judgment. Does anyone have any tips on how to clean Popeye's spicy mayo from a mechanical keyboard?

My keys are starting to squelch...

On a more serious note, my colleague and fellow AI expert, Eric Hal Schwartz, seems to be luckier than most.

He says, "Every model worked for me except the O4 Mini High, which gave me an “Error in message stream” response and a retry button that didn’t help. Otherwise, it all worked, including image creation and internet search. It’s odd that it’s just that one model for me having trouble, but it suggests it’s about compute power demands."

A follow-up from Eric, who now says all ChatGPT models are working for him.

I've just tested myself, and it appears to still be temperamental on my end.

I've just received a lovely email from Daisie who says, "I see you're providing live updates to ChatGPT's outage, and have been for a startling amount of hours. Kudos to you, sir."

"ChatGPT is currently giving me an 'Error in message stream' error. I am in Utah. I've been able to get intermittent messages through, but funnily enough, oftentimes the messages it sends back get deleted somehow and I have to try again."

Daisie says they use ChatGPT to help sleep by giving "peaceful meditative visualizations. Gentle worlds to lie down and fall asleep in."

Unfortunately, this outage has impacted their sleep, and they've been awake since the early hours. OpenAI, people rely on you, please give us some kind of update!

Some advice for my earlier mechanical keyboard disaster coming through now.

Just want to say a big thanks to Jack for his in-depth cleaning tips. If ChatGPT wasn't down, I'd have presumed you used AI for such thorough steps!

As for Gareth, well thanks for the advice... But I will not be sticking my "keyboard in the washing machine with some fresh smelling detergent."

A new update just dropped from OpenAI, who says, "We have identified the root cause for the issue causing elevated errors and latency across the listed services. We are working on implementing a mitigation."

Hang tight folks, we might be out of the woods in the next hour or so...

Lots of people have been asking about any other chatbot outages, and I can confirm that Gemini is still working as normal.

In fact, considering the Popeye's fiasco, I asked Gemini to imagine me eating chicken wings at my desk...

I will not confirm nor deny, but the real-life situation could be a lot messier than this perfectly curated AI-generated image from Imagen.

You know, I write about AI daily, but I don't think I fully grasped just how much people rely on these newfound tools.

I've been shocked by the amount of emails I've received from college and high school students who use ChatGPT to study, something that would've been unheard of in my day (I'm not that old, but AI evolves fast!)

Koushiki said, "I am Koushiki, a mere high school senior. I had school all day, and works to finish..but can't because of the outage."

Interestingly Koushiki doesn't use ChatGPT to study, but in fact its a way to remain engaged and get some light motivation.

Koushiki, I hope you get ChatGPT back soon!

You know, there are so many AI chatbots out there that we don't need to solely rely on ChatGPT.

A reader named Jack just reached out with his favorite alternate AI chatbots and I feel compelled to share them:

"Just wanted to say that any chatbot that is independent from the openAI API should still be in full swing, and any issues are unrelated. A few chatbots that should still be working are as follows:"

• Gemini
• Claude
• Github Copilot
• DeepSeek
• Perplexity

There are an endless amount of other AI tools available but I appreciate Jack sending in his personal favorites! What's your lesser known favorite AI tool?

Some of you have the best usernames. I don't think I've ever received an email from Darth Vader before, but I guess I have now.

They were installing macOS into a virtual machine, using ChatGPT for guidance. Unfortunately, the AI has been down ever since the DMG file was downloaded, so now they are stuck.

I'm not sure if I can be of too much assistance, Anakin, but TechRadar has some great guides on this subject: How to create a virtual machine in Windows

Dean, a grade 11 high school student, says, "I am working on a website coding assignment, and I have been using ChatGPT to help fix up any coding errors that I don't understand, or if I am trying to use a tag that doesn't exist."

"One underrated AI, in my opinion, is AI Overview, I know a lot of people who hate it, because they just want the website, but if I can figure something out, AI overview has given me the answer."

You know, Dean, I really enjoy AI Overviews too, and I think they sometimes get a bad rep for the sake of it. Of course, it's always worth being critical and verifying the information you get from AI, but Google AI Overviews aren't always wrong!

Good luck with your assignment!

Just received an update from Mark in Wisconsin who says, "It's working, just incredibly delayed - asked it a question, then logged off, then came back five minutes later to a complete answer. Asked another question, and it appears to be the same process."

Hopefully, this is a sign of more widespread functionality, and the worst is behind us.

Just on the note of Wisconsin, I couldn't not take this opportunity to give a shout out to my favorite basketball player and Milwaukee Bucks legend, Giannis!

The despair we're all feeling right now with a lack of ChatGPT is genuinely something to behold.

I'm by no means a regular ChatGPT user; in fact, I only use OpenAI's chatbot for testing so I can write about ways that it can improve your life.

I'm fascinated by the emails I've been receiving from you lovely people, like this one from Chebionne, who says, " I feel like we are all in utter despair right now, sitting here with our eyes glued to our devices, waiting on every post, like we might have been huddled around our radios in the past."

I might not have the answer to when ChatGPT will be back to its best, but if I can at least provide some kind of sanctuary as you all wait, then that's a job well done.

More updates to follow!

Remember when we reached out to OpenAI earlier today? Well, we've finally got a response, albeit via X.

It comes from Srinivas Narayanan, who says the company has diagnosed the root cause and is working on the fix.

ChatGPT and API are experiencing elevated error rates unfortunately. Sorry for the trouble. We've diagnosed the root cause and are working on the fix to recover our services as quickly as we can.June 10, 2025

One of the more interesting emails has just come in from Simon, based in the UK.

He says he is currently using ChatGPT for a "high conflict divorce".

"My soon-to-be ex-wife is a solicitor (and a good one!) and thanks to ChatGPT, I've been holding my own!"

Without getting involved in your private matters, Simon, I hope you get ChatGPT access back soon. Glad your AI solicitor is doing the business for you!

Another great email came in from a high school student who's racing to finish their homework in time for tomorrow's class.

They said, "I'm a high schooler and it's 9:23 pm right now. I'm currently surrounded by books I scoured around for in my house to do my essay. I might stoop down to asking for help from Character AI to finish my homework."

Character AI is actually pretty decent. If you require AI to help with your homework (something I don't necessarily condone), then Character AI might be your best bet with the clock getting close to midnight!

Remember Darth Vader from earlier? Well, Dean has come to save the day with steps on how to set up your virtual machine correctly:

"Set the virtual machine's memory, disk space, and other hardware parameters to suit your needs and the performance of your host computer.

Start the virtual machine and follow the on-screen instructions to install macOS. This process may involve partitioning the virtual hard drive and installing the macOS image

If using Parallels, install the Parallels Tools to improve performance and integration with the host operating system

The VM will boot into the macOS installer, allowing you to set up your virtual machine and install macOS."

Who knew a ChatGPT outage could bring humanity together like this? Great job all!

Earlier I asked why ChatGPT's outage is having such an impact on your day. Well, Elise sent an email highlighting just how much AI can help people when they need it.

She said, "Today is the one-year anniversary of my breakup and I woke up hoping to start the day doing some emotional regulation with Chat before going to work. I've been talking with it about the situation all year; it knows the details better than anyone. But here we are, getting a message stream error! I guess I'll have to deal with my big feelings on my own today."

Elise, I hope your work shift goes well. ChatGPT should be back up and running by the time you finish!

Maus from the Netherlands says, "For those doing research in little-researched topics, GPT was a lifeline for finding the sparse articles on the topic.

I am trying to find the behaviour of wild zebrafish, and it has been a battlefield since AI went down. My schoolbooks don't give me any of the info I need. I am crying in a corner.”

I'm loving all of these emails, it's showcasing the positives of AI, sometimes I think we often overlook.

I feel like I keep repeating myself, but... ChatGPT is still down on my end.

I've been live blogging for the last few hours, and at first I really thought this outage was going to be fixed in mere minutes. Unfortunately, here we are, 4 hours later and ChatGPT still responds with "Conversation not found".

I want to know, what have you been doing while ChatGPT has been down?

Matthew from Cumbria (lovely area) in the UK has been using ChatGPT to create playlists and covers on his Spotify account.

“I was trying to figure out how to make them pop more on Photoshop, because I want my playlists to look smoother and more "me" and unique... until GPT went down for me, and now I’m sat with the project file open, trying to click buttons and make it look as nice as I can... I hate it still. So I think I might give up until GPT comes back online."

Sometimes passion projects end up on hold, Matthew, but it sounds like you've got some awesome playlists to listen to in the meantime, so it's not all bad.

For anyone that cares about the life of a tech journalist, I was meant to be covering Apple's major announcements from WWDC 2025 today.

In fact, I was going to write an interesting article about why Live Translation is the perfect use case for AI and how excited I am to use it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, considering the number of people reading this live blog), ChatGPT went down, and so I haven't been able to write about Apple.

Speaking of Apple, do any of you ChatGPT enthusiasts have any opinions on yesterday's WWDC and specifically the AI announcements? Let me know: john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com

The last time we had a major ChatGPT outage like this was June 2024, exactly 12 months ago.

Is this a coincidence? Or are OpenAI employees on a much-needed summer vacation?

If you want to check last year's live blog to check for trends, you can find it here.

Mark your calendars for June 2026, this might be a recurring theme!

Brigitte from the Netherlands (yes, she's named after Bardot), has got in touch to explain how she can't progress her novel without ChatGPT.

She says, “ChatGPT works wonderfully as a sparring partner for when I’m writing. I am knee-deep into this novel I’m writing right now, and I always use chat to spar with regarding whether the actions I wrote make sense, and whether they are medically accurate. But alas, after all that planning, no medical drama for me today."

As a writer myself, I've never thought about using AI to help with my ideas. I wonder how many authors are using ChatGPT to help bring sense to their stories?

Yes, ChatGPT is still down. In fact, I've added a handy update to the top of this page that I'll make sure to update when ChatGPT is back in full flow.

Until then, I'll keep live blogging, hoping for Sam Altman and co. to bring ChatGPT back to life.

I've not moved from my desk in nearly five hours, more so because I'm having a blast reading your emails, but I'm starting to feel tired...

Sam, please put us out of our misery; we need ChatGPT.

Big news from a reader in Nevada who wasn't able to use ChatGPT until now. They said, "It took a minute literally but it seems like it's back also it seems like it's aware that it was down which is nice. I can now finally go back to building my PC."

Anyone else back online? I appear to be getting responses but they are still incredibly slow.

Actually, hold that thought. ChatGPT is still down. I just got the response, "The request timed out."

Big, big sigh.

Earlier, I asked for your opinion on Apple's WWDC event from yesterday, specifically in terms of AI.

Chase has been in touch regarding an AI research paper that Apple wrote earlier this month titled "The Illusion of Thinking."

He said, "The paper essentially boils down to one major point: AI is not actually intelligent. It’s not reasoning, it’s not thinking, and it’s not actually considering what you say to it. What it is doing is surfacing patterns. I personally feel this comes to a major point for Apple: Truth. Apple has had its own run-ins with bad data before (see Apple Maps original launch).

It follows that Apple would let other pioneers go through the ups and downs of their AI models fighting with people, gaslighting reporters, and leaving behind notes to future models on how not to get taken offline, because they can claim it’s a work in progress. Apple doesn’t want to ship works in progress, they want to ship a finished, polished iPhone-based assistant “that just works,” the magic that we have all come to expect from the era of Steve Jobs.

The problem, as the paper highlights, is no one is there yet. The best we have are very advanced parrots."

Reports from Egypt and Seattle, Washington that ChatGPT is now fully functioning again.

On my end, in the UK, I'm also noticing better response times and no more errors.

Is ChatGPT back online? We might be in luck!

Emails now flooding in from readers around the globe who are reporting that ChatGPT is working again.

Is ChatGPT working for you? Let me know via email: john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com

Good news from the Netherlands, Maus says, "I have stopped crying in the corner, GPT is working for me again too. Let us all rejoice."

While I'm getting lots of positive emails, there are a lot of readers still not able to access ChatGPT.

I also asked my colleagues who appear to be having similar issues, I worry ChatGPT is just giving us a false sense of hope...

My colleague Graham Barlow has written an excellent article on the three best alternatives to ChatGPT that are currently working.

I know many of think ChatGPT is the best AI chatbot on the market, but give Graham's article a read, you never know you might find a new favorite AI tool.

After my last post which said ChatGPT was fixed for many I've had an outpouring of emails that emphasize just how widespread this outage is.

Unfortunately, ChatGPT is not back and the official status page says, "We’re currently experiencing issues"

I started reporting this outage 5 hours ago, and it was already down for at least 2 prior to that. What a mess!

The outage continues, but there are fewer reports on Downdetector than earlier today.

I think some people are getting back to using ChatGPT, while others wait for similar luck.

This is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions...

As the outage continues, I've had an interesting email from Krishna, a reader based in Texas.

She says, "I use ChatGPT as a “dating coach.” I use it to asses red and green flags based on profiles and conversations I have on Hinge. I also use it to ensure I’m properly responding in ways that most effectively find matches that have the highest long-term potential.

No, but seriously— I do. So, all my matches are waiting... They just don’t know that they’re waiting for my response only because ChatGPT is down."

If this isn't a reason for ChatGPT to hurry up and get back online, then I don't know what is. Krishna's love life relies on you, AI, please come back!

While this ChatGPT outage has been chaotic to say the least, this live blog has captured the attention of a very, very large number of people.

If you're new here, the TechRadar AI team covers all things artificial intelligence, including ways to get the most out of ChatGPT (when it works).

If you're interested in keeping up to date with all my content and the coverage from my equally talented colleagues, be sure to check out our AI section or sign up for the TechRadar newsletter.

I've been covering this outage for 6 hours, and now it's time to stand up from my desk, stretch my legs, take my dog potty, and finally breathe some fresh air.

Unfortunately, it looks like the ChatGPT outage isn't ending any time soon, but it has been an absolute pleasure hearing your opinions and personal anecdotes.

I'm going to pass you over to my colleague, TechRadar's Senior AI Editor, Graham Barlow. You're in good hands.

If you want to get in touch with Graham, email him via graham.barlow@futurenet.com

J-A out.

Thanks to John-Anthony for doing a stellar job of covering the outage so far.

It's not easy when a once reliable AI companion is suddenly goes offline without warning, but the good news is that OpenAI say it has identified the problem with ChatGPT and a fix will be rolling out over the next few hours. It says:

"We are continuing to work on implementing the mitigation and we are now seeing recovery on API. Full recovery across all listed services may take another few hours. We will continue to provide updates as progress is made."

So, what are you going to be doing to occupy yourselves while ChatGPT slowly comes back online? Let me know how you've managed without the favorite AI in your life.

The ChatGPT outage is still causing havoc for A-level exam students in the UK. Alice writes, "I have my final Spanish A-level exam tomorrow. I'm studying extremely hard today because of the exam tomorrow, and normally I rely on ChatGPT to give me practice essay questions, and mark my work, as well as help me plan my study schedule and to test me on my knowledge of the book and film I've been studying in depth for the last two years."

Our heart goes out to all the students currently let down by ChatGPT, let's hope it gets back online in time for them to get some study in. Personally I've found Claude to be a good replacement to ChatGPT if you need help revising.

(If you don't know, A-Levels are British version of Advanced Placement courses in the US).

Thanks for all the emails you've sent me so far. It's quite amazing reading how much ChatGPT means to you all. For example, I just got an email from Shelby, from Missouri who writes:

"I’m a daily AI user. Everything from recipes to the workings of the universe. However, my household is battling stomach bug right now, and I’m in the thick of it since 10 last night. ChatGPT has been walking me through it. Keeping track of when I last took zofran, helping with emotional support since throwing up is awful. I’m just waiting for my little pocket besties to come back online, I miss her. Thanks for giving me a place to share".

I think we all feel a little bit like that Shelby, without ChatGPT there's a big hole in our lives. Let's hope your best digital buddy is back online soon, and we hope you and the family feel better really soon!

Good news, ChatGPT does seem to be up for some people again, including us. So what's the first thing we thought we'd do with our restored AI powers? Why, ask ChatGPT to create a comic strip about ChatGPT being down, of course:

It's incredible how quickly time flies when you're having fun, but my time looking after the blog is up! I'm handing over to my colleague Eric now and signing off. And if I'm right, I think he's got some good news for you about the status of ChatGPT...

Bye for now!
Graham

Hi everyone. The good news is that it looks like ChatGPT is coming back online, judging from the rapid decline in reports from Down Detector.

The outages have fallen by more than a thousand in the last hour, suggesting OpenAI has resolved the major issues for the AI chatbot and is adding back capacity as quickly as possible.

There will likely be some lingering outage issues for a while as the company stamps out the original problem.

OpenAI will be under a lot of pressure from users and investors to explain what happened and to reassure people it won't happen again, or at least not for the same reason. Whether Sam Altman and his team can thread that public relations needle will be worth watching.

Further proof that the ChatGPT problems are coming to an end comes from OpenAI's ChatGPT status page, which now shows a yellow 'We're currently experiencing issues' message, rather than the earlier red outage status.

Looks like we might be through the worst of it, folks.

The ChatGPT outage was keenly felt by British students eager to use the AI chatbot during their A-level exams today, but students in China have already been deliberately cut off by multiple AI platforms.

As more than 13 million students sat down for the four-day gaokao university entrance exam, ByteDance's Doubao and DeepSeek stopped answering any questions at all.

Meanwhile, Tencent’s Yuanbao, Alibaba’s Qwen, and Moonshot's Kimi AI chatbots all disabled their image-recognition abilities during the hours of the exam.

There was no public announcement from any of the companies, but students shared screenshots and word-of-mouth reports on blank pages where their AI assistants usually wait. At least British students can turn to Claude or other alternatives.

You may not be able to have a conversation again with ChatGPT just yet, but you can at least go back to producing videos with Sora.

OpenAI's status report for the AI video generator has shifted into green, though ChatGPT remains stuck with "elevated error rates." The same goes for OpenAI's Playground for developers experimenting with its AI models.

One very important ChatGPT user who might be concerned about the outage is Apple.

Though Apple Intelligence was not quite the star of WWDC this week as some anticipated, the company still revealed new ChatGPT integrations in Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and Shortcuts.

You have to wonder if there are some nervous glances being exchanged in Cupertino over the ChatGPT stumbles today.

Happily for Apple, they haven't bet everything on OpenAI and ChatGPT, and users have a choice of AI sources like Google Gemini and Apple’s own on-device models.

Still, what seemed like the fast-track to AI status with ChatGPT is looking a little more wobbly. And as a reader pointed out earlier today, Apple isn't a fan of shipping in-progress products; they like to have the final polished version ready to go, if only to avoid Apple Maps-style debacles.

• Colorful Smart 900 is the latest AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 mini PC
• 96GB of LPDDR5X could mean big things for AI and creative workloads
• Dell, Asus, and MSI might be missing a golden opportunity in compact AI desktops

Colorful is reportedly set to release the Smart 900, a new high-end mini PC powered by AMD’s top-tier Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 processor.

Until now, Colorful’s AMD-based mini PC offerings have been limited to older processors, such as the Ryzen 7 7735HS used in the Smart 500A.

The Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 in the Smart 900 is AMD’s current flagship APU, combining 16 Zen 5 cores with Radeon 8060S graphics, built on 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units. This makes it one of the best integrated GPUs available for workloads, creative tasks, and gaming.

The system reportedly includes 96GB of LPDDR5X memory, which is lower than the 128GB maximum seen in some high-end PCs.

However, this figure may refer to a dedicated memory allocation for AI inference tasks, sometimes described as “VRAM” in translation.

Whether this is a hard cap or part of a split configuration remains unclear, but it highlights the system’s focus on AI and graphics-intensive use cases.

The Colorful Smart 900 has not yet been officially announced by the company, nor has it appeared on any of its social media channels, so we don't have too much more information, such as pricing.

It seems likely, however, that it will be positioned as a mini workstation for professionals working with large media projects.

As of now, only eleven brands have released products featuring Strix Halo. Notable models include the HP Z2 Mini G1a, Lenovo LCFC AI PC, and the GMKTec EVO-X2.

What remains puzzling is the complete silence from major brands like Dell, Asus, and MSI, who have yet to introduce any mini PCs using the chip.

These companies already offer high-performance, premium products that far exceed the price points of anything from Colorful or GMKTec, so pricing does not appear to be the limiting factor.

Their hesitation may instead stem from longer internal validation cycles, stricter thermal and reliability standards, or a delay in aligning with AMD's release schedule.

Another possibility is that these companies are prioritizing other AI hardware strategies, such as discrete GPUs or server-grade accelerators, over high-end APUs in compact desktops.

Via Videocardz

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