Apple says the camera “uses AI” to expand the field of view and adjust the orientation. It’s super convenient, especially considering that you don’t have to alter how you hold your phone, meaning no more precarious grip. It much more comfortable too, but it will probably still take time to retrain your muscle memory and stop yourself switching to landscape mode for selfies.

Don’t forget, all of the selfie cameras on these new devices are also getting a boost in image quality thanks to a new 18-megapixel sensor that can pack in more detail. If you shoot a lot of selfie videos, your clips will have much better stabilization in 4K HDR, too.

Dual Capture

You can finally record with both the front and rear cameras natively in the iPhone camera app! OK, this is technically not new. You’ve been able to do this via a third-party app for years, and a few Android phones have had this feature natively in the camera app for as long as a decade. Samsung calls it Dual Recording on its Galaxy phones, while HMD’s Nokia phones—when they were still a thing—called it a “bothie.” Now it’s native on the new iPhone.

Tap the overflow camera menu on the top right in video mode and choose Dual Capture. It works up to 4K 30 frames per second, and you’ll see a floating preview of the front camera—like when you’re on a video call—with the main viewfinder displaying the view from the rear camera. The placement of the floating front camera view seems to be important because it doesn’t look like you can change it post-capture, so you’ll want to make sure you flick it to a spot where it doesn’t block the action.

It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a fun little capability I think a lot of people will take advantage of now that it’s natively built into the camera app.

8X Zoom

I test phones for a living, but I’m also a photographer, and the camera I use most often is the telephoto zoom. I find the main cameras on most phones these days a little too wide, so optical zoom options let me get closer to the subject.

Color me excited that the new iPhone 17 Pro models can go up to 8X zoom and retain optical-like quality! Apple has upgraded the telephoto camera to 48 megapixels, meaning you’ll be able to see more detail in your shots. It’s also a 4X optical zoom camera. That might sound like a step back, considering Pro iPhones have offered 5X optical zoom for several years. However, the upgrade in megapixel count and the larger sensor should offer better quality images overall, whether at 4X, 5X, or even up to 8X.

“How do we break down the journey into bite-sized pieces, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming or insurmountable?” says Jesse Levinson, the cofounder and CEO of Zoox. “This moment is a huge one, but the service is still unpaid and fairly limited.” Zoox launched in 2014, and though it’s been testing its technology in San Francisco, at its Foster City, California, headquarters, and in Las Vegas for years, this will be the first time it’s allowing anyone willing to download an app to ride. The company was acquired by Amazon in 2020 for a reported $1.2 billion.

Olsen, the May Mobility CEO, says he is comfortable with the company’s slower launch process after watching others rush to put self-driving cars on the road. “One of the things we’ve seen across the industry is that a vehicle might perform brilliantly some of the time, but then will do wildly inappropriate things in the edge cases,” Olsen says. He declines to say exactly when the firm would remove the safety drivers from its vehicles, or when it might expand its Lyft partnership to other areas or cities, but he says any moves the company makes will be tested and validated with real-world and simulated data. The service will scale more quickly as time goes on, he says.

May Mobility offers rides through Lyft.

COURTESY OF Lyft and May Mobility

Climb in, Lyfters.

COURTESY OF Lyft and May Mobility

Two US self-driving vehicle firms shut down this past decade after their robotaxis were involved in serious road accidents. In 2018, a testing self-driving vehicle operated by Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. Uber sold off its self-driving technology to a competitor in 2020. In 2023, General Motors subsidiary Cruise struck a pedestrian in San Francisco after the person was thrown into the empty robotaxi’s path by a collision with another car; state regulators later learned that the Cruise dragged the person 20 feet while it attempted to move out of traffic, and revoked the company’s permit to operate. General Motors got out of the robotaxi business a year later, citing high development costs and a desire to focus on personal vehicles.

Keep On Robotaxiing

Still, robotaxi companies say they have plenty more public deployments on the horizon. Zoox says it will start picking up public riders in San Francisco later this year, and will then launch in Austin and Miami. May Mobility plans to deploy robotaxis in Arlington, Texas, before the end of the year, this time on the Uber platform. Waymo has announced future service in several US cities, including Miami, Washington, DC, and Dallas. Tesla is running a small, invite-only ride-hail service in the California Bay Area with drivers behind the wheel using its more limited Full Self-Driving (Supervised) tech, which requires the person up front to stay alert at all times. Musk plans to move quickly: He said this spring that the company would have “millions” of vehicles operating autonomously by the second half of next year.

Vegas residents can download Zoox’s app.

Chris Noltekuhlmann

Rides are free for the time being.

COURTESY OF ZOOX

Developers of self-driving vehicles have argued that their tech will increase safety and ride efficiency, bringing down prices in the long term. (Of course, these companies will also no longer have to pay a cut of each ride to human drivers.) But even in Phoenix and San Francisco, where Waymo has been running public robotaxis for years, cities have yet to catch a clear glimpse of how the expensive-to-develop technology might transform residents’ lives.

“It’s not at the scale yet where it’s really dramatically changing anything,” says Adam Millard-Ball, an urban planning professor who directs the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

Robotaxi services will likely have to get much bigger, Millard-Ball says, before they can prove out their expansive visions. Waymo has released studies suggesting that its tech is safer than human drivers in many situations, but some experts still argue that it’s hard to compare robots’ performance to humans’ given the still-limited number of miles the cars have driven.

“Can this make the rideshare industry grow the pie?” asks Jeremy Bird, Lyft’s executive vice president of driver experience, who collaborated with May Mobility on the Atlanta launch. Bird says Lyft has studied data from where autonomous vehicles have already been deployed, and he thinks the answer is yes. But when robotaxis will become a moneymaking venture is still a big question mark. Clearly, though, plenty of people are still working to find out.

Skincare has a way of taking the body’s own biology, bottling it, and selling it back to us. Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is the latest example. It’s a weak acid that your white blood cells naturally produce to fight infection and kill bacteria. Now it’s being spritzed across morning and nighttime routines as an all-around skin fix.

But HOCl isn’t new. Hospitals have been using synthetic versions for decades as a disinfectant. In fact, the lab-made form dates back to 1834 and was used in both World Wars. So while #SkinTok makes it sound like a cutting-edge discovery, dermatologists have known its potential for a long time.

Here’s what it is, how it works, and what dermatologists want you to know before adding it to your skincare routine.

Hypochlorous Acid, Clarified

Chemically, HOCl is a weak acid and a potent oxidant. The body produces it during an immune response, but it can also be synthesized in a lab by running an electric current through saltwater. This synthetic version was first developed in 1834, used as a disinfectant during both World Wars, and has long been employed in hospitals for wound care and even in veterinary medicine.

Unlike harsher disinfectants like bleach, HOCl is biodegradable, nontoxic, and free of noxious fumes. Actually, research shows it can kill certain bacteria faster than bleach. In skincare, it’s bottled at ultra-low, stabilized concentrations. “Think of it as your skin’s built-in defense mechanism, bottled,” writes Dr. Mollie Kelly Tufman, molecular biologist and founder of the Beauty Lab.

Why It’s In Skincare

Dermatologists have used HOCl for decades to prevent infection, keep wounds clean, and reduce scarring. Early research suggests potential in treating acne vulgaris, seborrheic dermatitis, and tumor suppression. More recently, it’s popped up as topical sprays and mists, promising to calm breakouts and soothe redness.

Its appeal comes from its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. HOCl neutralizes acne-causing bacteria and other microorganisms that trigger flare-ups. “Compared to niacinamide, which works gradually to regulate oil and support your barrier, HOCl is more of a first responder,” writes Tufman. “It shows up fast, calms things down, and makes recovery easier for irritated or breakout-prone skin.”

“Benzoyl peroxide also has antimicrobial effects, but it can be a lot more drying and irritating, so it can lead to rashes or dermatitis,” says board-certified dermatologist Gloria Lin, MD. HOCl, by contrast, is gentle enough for sensitive skin and safe for conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea. Plus, unlike benzoyl peroxide, it won’t bleach your clothes or towels.

It’s effective for reducing bacteria from helmets, masks, makeup brushes, and sweaty gym gear. Some people spritz it under their arms or on their feet for a quick refresh (though it won’t replace deodorant). In eye care, HOCl is used to help with dry eyes, styes, and conditions like blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). It can also reduce microbial buildup around the lashes and eyelids.

The Caveats

There are limits. Because it’s an oxidizer, it can interfere with ingredients like vitamin C and other antioxidants. If both are in your regimen, dermatologists suggest spacing them out (vitamin C in the morning, HOCl at night). Lin also says highly acidic exfoliants like strong AHAs can disrupt HOCl’s pH.

Stability is another concern. HOCl breaks down when exposed to light, heat, or poor packaging, so most products come in opaque bottles with stabilizers. Store in a cool spot. Don’t pour it into a different container; the molecule degrades once transferred.