Apple Stores warn off iPhone Duo walk-ins, an iOS 27.0.1 jailbreak is shown, and moreApple Stores warn off iPhone Duo walk-ins, an iOS 27.0.1 jailbreak is shown, and more

Apple Store staff have been told to warn iPhone Duo shoppers without a pre-order against coming in on launch day, MacRumors reported on 17 October. It leads this morning's smaller Apple news, alongside a jailbreak shown running on the iPhone 18 Pro, a liquid-cooled MagSafe battery from UGREEN and a free app for keeping track of a drawer full of old Apple devices.

Can you walk in and buy an iPhone Duo on 23 October?

Probably not at an Apple Store. Employees told MacRumors' Hartley Charlton they had been advised there would likely be no iPhone Duo stock for walk-in customers on Friday 23 October, and to tell people without an order that a visit would end in disappointment. MacRumors says it is unclear how firm the guidance is, or whether it applies outside the US. 9to5Mac and iClarified repeat that account without staff sources of their own, so it rests on one outlet's reporting.

It matches what the store has shown since pre-orders opened on 16 October, when every US configuration slipped to a late January delivery within half an hour. Apple told the Financial Times that demand was "nothing short of extraordinary". According to MacRumors, the online store tells pickup customers to check back on Saturday 24 October, which is a date to look again rather than a promise of stock. When we loaded Apple's US iPhone Duo page this morning it still read "Available starting 10.23", from $1,999, with no pickup or in-store availability shown at all.

If you missed pre-orders, place an online order now to hold a place in the queue, and treat a store visit as a chance to try the hinge on one of the demo units Apple is putting out in its stores, not as a way to skip it.

iOS 27.0.1 jailbreak shown on iPhone 18 Pro by Calif

Security firm Calif showed what it calls a persistent iPhone jailbreak at the Hexacon conference in Paris on 16 October. A jailbreak removes Apple's limits on what software can do to the system; an untethered or persistent one survives a restart without being run again. Calif's own write-up is little more than captioned videos: a one-click attack through Signal, another through iMessage, and a promise that everything "will be released in due time", with no date and no flaws named.

iClarified, reading the terminal output in the videos, identifies the phone as an iPhone 18 Pro on iOS 27.0.1, with full administrator access that stays in place after a restart and a passcode unlock. On Apple's security releases page this morning, iOS 27.0.1 from 28 September is still the newest iPhone update, and it lists no security fixes at all; its main job was stopping the Face ID restarts. Since the demonstration ran on the current version and nothing newer exists, there is no fix to install yet.

What you can do is make sure the fix lands the day it ships: switch on Automatic Updates in Settings, General, Software Update, and if you have reason to think someone might target you personally, turn on Lockdown Mode under Settings, Privacy & Security.

UGREEN MagFlow Pro: a 25W MagSafe battery with liquid cooling

UGREEN's MagFlow Pro is a 10,000mAh magnetic battery that charges an iPhone wirelessly at up to 25W over Qi2.2, with a USB-C cable built in for wired charging. MacTech reported its launch in early September at $149.99. A small pump moves coolant past the hot parts behind a window in the back, and a side display shows the charge level and speed.

In 9to5Mac's hands-on, published on 17 October, it ran cooler than most MagSafe batteries but still felt warm, and the reviewer faulted its thickness and the lack of a kickstand at that price. On an iPhone Duo it hangs over the bottom edge.

UGREEN's own claim is peak temperatures up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit below what it calls the industry benchmark; 9to5Mac quotes the figure without a unit, and in Celsius it works out at about 10 degrees, not 18. Warmth is what makes an iPhone slow its charging, so the pump pays off for someone who charges in a pocket or a car every day, and an occasional top-up is served just as well by a cheaper Qi2 pack.

Hoardware: a free app for tracking an Apple device collection

Hoardware, spotlighted by 9to5Mac on 17 October, catalogues the Apple hardware you own: model, serial number, installed software and notes, with a tab counting how many devices sit on each iOS version and alerts when new software ships. It is free, with no ads, in-app purchases or subscriptions, and syncs through iCloud.

Its App Store listing, checked this morning, fills in what the spotlight leaves out. The developer is Aaron Perris; model and firmware details come from AppleDB, a community-run database; and the app runs on iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro as well as iPhone, needing iOS 17 or macOS 14. Version 1.1, released a day earlier, adds the iPhone Duo. The developer's privacy label says user content, identifiers and diagnostics are collected and linked to you, for the app to work.

It earns its place in a family that hands iPhones down, where knowing which old phone is stuck on which iOS version matters; if your list holds serial numbers, leave the optional read-only web link switched off.

Our take

For nearly everyone who did not pre-order, the iPhone Duo is now a January phone whatever they do: the store guidance only says out loud what the delivery estimates already showed. The people most likely to lose money are the ones in a hurry, and the case for waiting is easy to make, because pre-orders reselling on eBay for up to $5,000 cost far more than three months of patience. APPDOOK would rather readers spent that gap trying a demo unit and deciding whether the fold is worth Apple's price at all.

The jailbreak matters to far more people than will ever jailbreak a phone. A chain that can start with one tap in iMessage is exactly what Apple's next update needs to close, so that update is the one to install without delay, whenever it comes. Anyone hoping to tinker should not plan around Calif's.

The two smaller items say something about the new shape of iPhone. Five days before the Duo reaches its first buyers, one indie app already lists it and one 25W battery already overhangs it. Accessories bought for a slab phone will not all suit a phone that folds, so check how a MagSafe battery or stand sits on the Duo before carrying old gear across.