In this week's "Reboot" column, the unintended consequences of video on Apple Podcasts, Apple TV and AI on CarPlay, and Apple's big F1 push beyond your iPhone screen.
Reboot is a new weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get the next week underway with a good first step.
After a week that saw new import tariffs replacing struck-down ones, Siri unexpectedly missing from Apple developer betas, and more legal wrangling, we can do with all the help we can get.
Video podcasts and keeping up appearances
On Monday, it was revealed that Apple Podcasts is receiving a monumental update that brings video podcasts to the app. Admittedly, it's not earth-shattering as a change, since the app did support some video previously.
Not to mention that I remember watching video-based podcasts such as Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show downloaded using iTunes well over a decade ago. To me, it's less a massive change, more a correction to what Apple did before.
Apple Podcasts is getting more video content - Image credit: Apple
To the rest of the podcasting universe, Apple's changes are probably not big either. Video podcasts have been around for years, and supporting them properly in Apple Podcasts simply makes it easier to bring them to a wider audience.
The actual changes are things like native video playback powered by HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), which also brings along adaptive streaming and dynamic video ad insertions.
To Apple Podcast users, they will see this as a new addition to the app in spring 2026. For podcasters who may not necessarily have worked on video podcasts before, the work begins now.
It's one thing to be ready to record audio for a podcast. It's another if you have to care about how you look, how your background looks, and what opinions the Internet may form of visual-you instead of audio-you.
Audio podcasters aiming to catch the wave will have to do a lot more to prepare. That means getting a decent webcam if Continuity Camera doesn't work with their iPhone for some reason.
Then there's making the set look good, or at least cleaning the space on camera behind them. More obviously, picking the smarter clothes to wear and actually brushing your hair are real considerations.
With the prospect of possibly having to visibly appear on the AppleInsider Podcast in the future, some members of the editorial team have taken time to rework their office space to be more camera-friendly.
Your humble writer lovingly refers to his office as less workspace, more "bombsite with cats."
There's also having to learn how to talk on camera. You can't stare at an iPad full of notes constantly as you speak, as you have to look confident as well as sound it.
This is a lot of work, and many podcasters who haven't yet ventured into the video realm will be unprepared for it.
But on the plus side, more people will be able to justify getting a fancy haircut as a business expense for tax purposes.
CarPlay AI and Apple TV?
Beta builds often include hints of what to expect from Apple in its future operating system releases. The iOS 26.4 update included two upcoming changes that were somewhat unexpected.
The first one to be found was code snippets referring to Apple TV, the video streaming service. Those references were minor, but ultimately, you will be able to watch Apple TV shows from your car's infotainment system.
Apple already does allow some video playback apps to run on CarPlay, so an expansion to Apple TV was an eventuality. However, do not expect to be watching Ted Lasso as you barrel down the road at high speed.
Apple already limits video playback in CarPlay to when the vehicle is stationary and parked. The last thing Apple wants is to be named in a lawsuit caused by driver inattentiveness, again.
CarPlay will soon have Apple TV.
As for the actual viewing experience, you're not going to get much in the way of visual quality, as car infotainment systems aren't really designed for a pleasurable viewing experience. Their chief function is to provide drivers and passengers with information and control options, not to perfectly show Hannah Waddingham's face as you turn into a McDonald's drive-thru.
That said, it will use the same speaker system as you pipe music through. Cinema sound, but not drive-in visuals.
The other CarPlay introduction is actually something Apple confirmed. An update to the CarPlay Developer Guide mentions a new entitlement category for voice-driven conversational apps.
Think access to chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude, alongside Siri.
This experience will be limited, as Apple doesn't allow the apps to delve far into CarPlay's systems at all, based on the guide. It's also clamping down on responses, limiting the interactions so that the driver isn't bombarded with speech while trying to concentrate on the road.
The main thing to understand here is that Apple is allowing AI chatbots to work in CarPlay in an extremely controlled manner, because everything to do with CarPlay is made in a safety-first way.
As much as people may dream or fear that ChatGPT will start driving your car while you watch The Studio, we are extremely far from that happening.
F1 and more Apple TV
While you won't be able to watch F1: The Movie while stuck in traffic anytime soon, there are some more recent developments when it comes to F1: The Sport.
Apple's acquisition of the rights to Formula 1 content in October 2025 was a big move for the company. While it has grown in some areas, including baseball coverage and soccer, Formula 1 rights in the United States was a massive coup.
With the 2026 season starting in early March, Apple has to start promoting its partnership to its audience to capitalize on the deal.
For home users, this has emerged as a new channel in the Apple TV app called Formula 1. It's a channel that has snuck onto the sidebar in the app, giving users quick access to F1 content, similar to the MLS tab.
At least, if you're in the United States. In other countries, you don't get that tab at all, since the partnership only covers the United States.
That new Formula 1 channel cannot be removed in the U.S. Sorry.
Apple TV users in the United States have discovered that the sidebar listing is static. Like the MLS line, you can't move or get rid of it at all.
Of course, not everyone wants to watch millionaires driving expensive cars in a loop for two hours from their iPhone screen or a small home TV. For fans wanting a more sociable experience, they will have options.
If you happen to have an IMAX theater near you, select races will be shown live from the same fancy screens that showed the Brad Pitt vehicle.
But even if you don't have an IMAX cinema within range, you may have a sports bar or two.
Under a partnership with EverPass, Apple TV sports content will be accessible to various commercial establishments in the United States. That will include coverage of every grand prix in Formula 1, Major League Soccer matches, and the weekly MLB Friday Night Baseball double-header.
Just remember not to drink and drive, and especially don't use the bar-based F1 as inspiration to take the "racing line" as you head home.
No cop will take "I saw it on Apple TV" as an excuse.
Last week's first Reboot discussed more Apple TV news, Jony Ive's Ferrari design coverage, and questioned the need for robot cat toilet apps.
