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Claude's plug-ins for third-party services, known as connectors, have previously covered work-focused apps such as Gmail and Slack. Now, it's adding a whole host of lifestyle apps to its Connectors catalog, including Spotify, Uber, Tripadvisor, Audible, Instacart, Intuit TurboTax, and AllTrails.

There are more connectors on the way as well, Anthropic says, with the aim that you can do more inside the Claude chatbot interface. It's not dissimilar to the ChatGPT app store, which lets you add apps such as Photoshop and Apple Music. But do these plug-ins really offer the convenience that Claude claims? And is the experience any better than just using the apps themselves?

Finding and adding connectors in Claude

The connectors directory isn't new, but there are now many more lifestyle options in it: Head to the connectors page to browse through what's available, or click the + (plus) button on the prompt box in the Claude web interface and choose Connectors > Add connector from the pop-up menu.

Each connector listing comes with a description of what the tool does and how it works, and once you've added a new connector you'll be returned to the main Claude interface. To use a connector, you just namecheck it in a prompt—there's no need to select it or even @ mention it, because Claude will figure out what you're referring to.

Claude AI
There are now many more connectors to choose from. Credit: Lifehacker

On the first run of a new connector, you'll be asked to give permission for the AI to connect to the app, using your login credentials. This works in the same way as most other plug-ins: You get a list of the permissions that Claude will have inside the app you're linking to, and you can then either confirm or reject the connection.

To manage connectors and the permissions Claude has inside them, click the + (plus) button in the prompt box, then pick Connectors > Manage connectors. With Spotify, for example, there are separate permissions for accessing details of what you're currently playing, searching through the Spotify library, and creating playlists—you can enable or disable each of these permissions separately.

Spotify was the first connector I tried, as it matches a similar one inside ChatGPT. I asked what the most popular Radiohead song was on Spotify, which it got wrong, and then requested a playlist of "hidden gems" and "lesser-known tracks" for R.E.M.—which surfaced such deep cuts as "Shiny Happy People" and "Man on the Moon" (two of the band's biggest hits).

Claude AI
Credit: Lifehacker

Not the best of starts, but some other playlist prompts—for chill-out jazz, for instrumental post-rock, for one-hit wonders of the '90s—worked better. I can imagine playing around with some of these playlist options when I don't really know the artists I'm interested in and aren't too concerned with specifics.

You can't play the playlists inside Claude, though—you have to jump to Spotify to hear anything longer than a preview. And considering there are already so many ways to get AI-powered playlists (including inside Spotify itself), I'm not sure this Claude plug-in really adds all that much, even if AI can be trusted to curate music (which remains debatable).

You can use Claude to help find Ubers, hotels, and hiking trails

I experimented with several other new connectors in Claude. When it comes to Uber, you're able to look up the current pricing for a ride, so you'll see an approximate ETA, how much the journey will cost you, and the travel options available. It's helpful, up to a point, but it's not all that much more convenient than just checking the app—and Claude always hands off the actual searching and booking to the dedicated Uber app.

The Wyndham Hotels and Resorts connector was promising, not just bringing up results for hotels in a location, but also letting me compare pricing, user reviews, and features—a pool, a gym, free parking, and anything else you might be looking for. It's this kind of searching and summarizing AIs like Claude can be really good at.

Claude AI
Claude asks for permission before connecting to apps. Credit: Lifehacker

As far as I could tell by cross-referencing on the web, Claude didn't make any mistakes when weighing up the differences between my hotel picks, but I'm still not sure I'm ready to entirely trust my travel planning to AI just yet.

AllTrails is another connector I took a look at, asking for a variety of weekend hiking options around my local area. I was easily able to look up walks based on time, user rating, and difficulty, and Claude helped me narrow down the different options I had and what each one involved. As with the other connectors here, I got some nicely formatted embedded previews within Claude itself.

Again, though, it's not all that different to just using the dedicated AllTrails app from the start. Claude's AI adds the sheen of conversational interface, which makes searching and comparing a little more straightforward, but it's really just joining dots that are already there.

Claude AI
The integrations are neatly done, but are only really previews. Credit: Lifehacker

Having Claude sweep through your Gmail for meeting times and present the results in Slack is one thing (and something you could already do with the enterprise-focused connectors), but giving you limited access to Spotify's tools for building playlists is another. At the moment, these lifestyle extensions feel a little half-baked.

I got that feeling with the Tripadvisor plug-in too, when I tried to look up the reviews of a local attraction inside Claude. The AI displayed a widget with details for the wrong location, told me that it had failed to find an accurate match from the Tripadvisor database, and advised me to check the Tripadvisor app directly, which I will be doing from now on.


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The Anker Soundcore Nebula P1 portable projector has dropped to $639 from its usual $799, and price-trackers show this is the lowest it has reached so far. Here, the hinge-based body does most of the heavy lifting—instead of stacking books or adjusting furniture to get the angle right, you tilt the projector head itself until the image lines up with your wall or screen. It sounds simple, but in practice, it makes setup faster and less frustrating, especially in smaller rooms.

The detachable speakers add to that flexible setup. Each one pushes 10W and can be placed closer to where you are sitting, which creates a wider soundstage than you would expect from a compact projector. Around the back, the port selection keeps things simple with HDMI 2.1, USB-A, AUX, and USB-C for power, which is enough for a console, laptop, or streaming stick. The software side runs on Google TV, and the included remote has a built-in microphone along with dedicated buttons for YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video, so jumping between apps feels quick. The bigger limitation is portability. There is no internal battery, so using it outdoors or in a different room means carrying a power source, which takes away some of the convenience the design suggests.

As for the picture quality, the 650 ANSI lumen brightness of this projector works best in a dark room, where colors look clean and bright scenes have a decent punch. Turn on the lights, though, and the image starts to lose impact quickly. Also, while the Soundcore Nebula P1 outputs at 1080p using pixel-shifting and looks sharp for most content, fine text and small UI elements can appear slightly rough around the edges. Setup is mostly hands-off, with auto keystone and focus running at startup, but features like screen fitting and obstacle avoidance still depend on the Nebula app instead of happening directly on the device—it gets the job done, though it is not as seamless as fully automatic systems.


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I strongly suspect the most desired smartphone attribute is longer battery life. After all, these are mobile devices, which means they're meant to be used on the go. The longer you can wait between charges, the more mobile your phone can be. But no matter how large your battery is, at some point, it's going to run out. The issue is, what happens if it doesn't turn back on, even after you've left it on the charger?

Some iPhone 17s aren't powering back on

I didn't know about these claims until coming across Benjamin Mayo's post on 9to5Mac. In a report on Monday, Mayo explained his iPhone Air's battery died, so he plugged the device into power, expecting the Apple logo to appear as it usually does. However, according to Mayo, nothing happened, even after his iPhone stayed connected to power for minutes. It was as if the phone wasn't plugged in at all. Mayo even tried a hardware reset, which involves quickly pressing the volume up button, then quickly pressing the volume down button, then holding the side button. This usually snaps a buggy iPhone back into place, but still, no dice.

Mayo found that his story wasn't unique. In his article, he highlighted multiple forum threads of users complaining about iPhone 17 models that wouldn't power back on after their batteries had totally run out. What's particularly concerning is how many users comment on these posts sharing similar experiences. This thread has 144 comments at the time of writing, and most appear to be users confirming the issue happened to them, or to someone they knew. It's not necessarily proof of a widespread issue, but it does suggest that something is going on with the iPhone 17's battery.

For full transparency, I've been using an iPhone 17 Pro Max since late last year and this is the first I'm hearing of this. In the months I've owned this iPhone, I've never experienced any of the issues highlighted here. (I've been frustrated by a slow Face ID experience, but that's a problem for another day.) That being said, I'm not sure I've ever actually let my iPhone completely die in the time that I've had it—and I'm not necessarily jumping at the chance to drain it now.

How to turn your iPhone 17 back on after the battery dies

Luckily, this isn't an issue without a workaround—and a couple, at that. Mayo's was particularly interesting: He said he hadn't been able to get his iPhone to power back on until he switched from wired to wireless charging. By throwing his Air onto a MagSafe charger, he was able to get his phone back up and running as if there had never been an issue in the first place.

Some users in the forums linked above found success leaving their iPhones plugged in for extended periods of time. One said that 30 minutes was enough, while another claimed that it took two to three hours of uninterrupted connectivity before the iPhone turned back on. This iFixit user was able to force the iPhone into DFU mode, which involves the same button combination as a hardware reset, but requires you to plug your iPhone into a Mac or PC. Perhaps something about DFU mode triggers the iPhone to respond in a way that a simple hardware reset cannot.

We don't know much at this time, but I'm hoping this is a software bug, not a hardware issue. These forum posts do span a number of months, suggesting this isn't tied to a specific iOS version. But if an iOS bug carried over throughout each iOS 26 update is the culprit, Apple could solve the problem in its next update. If it's something that affects the iPhone 17 hardware directly, or the A19 chip embedded in each, that's obviously a larger problem. Based on the many different workarounds users have found, however, my guess is still software more than hardware.


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There are many generative AI apps and services out there, but ask most people what "AI" means to them, and they'll likely say "ChatGPT." As of this article, the chatbot remains the most-downloaded free app on both the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store, beating out competitors like Claude, Gemini, and Meta AI. But it's one thing to download a free AI program; it's another entirely to buy a phone built around that AI.

What would a ChatGPT phone look like?

On Monday, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made headlines by reporting that OpenAI might be working on its own smartphone. As part of this process, Kuo says OpenAI may be collaborating with MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Luxshare—major players in different elements of smartphone manufacturing. MediaTek and Qualcomm would be responsible for manufacturing OpenAI's smartphone chip, while Luxshare may help design and develop the smartphone itself.

The report suggests OpenAI may have a different take on the smartphone concept with this product. Unlike iPhones and Androids, which largely run on individual apps, OpenAI's phone may rely on AI to accomplish similar tasks. Agentic AI is currently all the rage, so it would make sense for OpenAI's goal to be for its AI to perform tasks and functions on behalf of the user. Instead of a notation app, maybe you'd ask the AI to dictate and store your thoughts away until you need them again; perhaps the "Phone" app would be replaced by an AI that could connect you to whomever you'd like to speak to; even a traditional web browser could look like ChatGPT retrieving the sites and information you're interested in.

Replacing apps with agentic AI would require an enormous amount of processing. Kuo thinks that OpenAI's plan is to develop two different types of models: one that runs on-device, perhaps to handle simpler requests, and one that runs in the cloud, maybe to handle more demanding tasks and functions. These models could work together to monitor the user at all times, and understand the user's context when they issue new requests.

When would OpenAI roll out its own phone?

This is still an early discussion, according to Kuo. OpenAI may not finalize plans with these companies until the end of this year, or by Q1 of 2027. As such, ChatGPT phones may not start mass production until 2028. That's not to say that OpenAI will wait two years to unveil any products at all. The company has previously stated that it will announce a device in the latter half of this year, perhaps the product ex-Apple designer Jony Ive is developing for OpenAI. Rumors suggest this device could be earbuds that would, of course, work with ChatGPT.

While OpenAI has been open about its plans to develop actual devices in concert with its AI services, this report from Kuo is the first real indication yet that the company is working on an iPhone and Android competitor. That might make sense from OpenAI's view: Right now, the vast majority of ChatGPT users are running these apps on their smartphones, so why not disrupt that market with a phone designed by ChatGPT's makers? It also seems like evidence that, despite the push for smart glasses and subtle wearables, OpenAI still considers the smartphone the definitive device for the foreseeable future.

The issue as I see it, however, is that the smartphone is definitive becauseof its current systems and designs. People like their iPhones, and they like their Androids, not just because they can run ChatGPT, but because they can run all of their other daily apps as well. They're not buying a phone because of ChatGPT: they're installing ChatGPT on the device they already use. You're not going to convince someone who relies on iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple Maps to switch to a phone that revolves around ChatGPT, just as you won't budge a customer who uses Google Messages, Google Meet, or Google Maps—not to mention all the other apps and games that they may use every day.

I don't think we're going to be using iPhones and Androids until the end of time: Something is going to disrupt the status quo, and convince people to move on to the next big thing. I just seriously doubt that thing is going to be a "ChatGPT Phone."

Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.


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Google's Gemini AI has recently become more agentic and capable inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—and now Microsoft is pushing out a similar upgrade for Copilot. These features have been in testing for a while, but they're now more widely available to individuals and companies who pay for any of the Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Essentially, Copilot in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can now do more on its own—not just offering advice and help, but actually taking over the business of creating and editing itself. There are a host of ways to use this, but here are just a few examples I tested to give you an idea of what's possible.

If this kind of AI interference isn't for you, you can hide Copilot from view inside the Microsoft Office apps. On Windows, Choose File > Options > Copilot and uncheck Enable Copilot; on macOS, open the app menu (e.g. Word), then Preferences > Copilot.

Copilot can draft and edit documents in Word

Copilot in Word
Copilot in Word will do most of the writing for you, if you let it. Credit: Lifehacker

Create a new document in Word, and via a prompt bar at the top, Copilot asks you to "Describe what you'd like to draft with Copilot"—so I asked for a 200-word introduction suitable for the foreword of a book on AI chatbots, written in a tone that's friendly, engaging, and accessible to anyone no matter what their technical level. You can also, via the + (plus) button, give it an existing file to work from.

In seconds, I had a generic and stilted intro, processed from the mixing together of millions of human-crafted words and sentences. I then got a second prompt box for refining the text. I asked for my intro to be made more formal and verbose, and Copilot got to work, looking up longer and fancier words in its internal thesaurus.

Click the Copilot button in the ribbon menu, and you get a side panel for requesting all kinds of edits and tweaks—whatever you can put in a prompt, Copilot can respond to. If your boss has said your report needs to be focused more on client benefits and real-world examples, Copilot can take care of it. You then get chance to review all of the edits that have been made, and accept or reject them.

It's maybe worth saying at this point that I would never get AI to write anything for me, or even suggest edits or come up with alternative headlines or article ideas—not just because I think I can do these tasks better, but also because I'd like to engage my brain as much as possible for as long as possible. If you're happy with your work containing machine-written text, however, Copilot is certainly capable of it (and will absolutely make fewer typos than a flesh-and-blood human).

Copilot can build and edit charts in Excel

Copilot in Excel
Copilot in Excel can create entire spreadsheets or make tiny edits. Credit: Lifehacker

I'm much less familiar with spreadsheets than I am with articles, so I was interested to see how Copilot could help me out in Excel. There's no prompt box at the top of a blank sheet, like you get with Word documents, but you can call for AI assistance by clicking the Copilot button on the ribbon toolbar.

Here I asked Copilot to create a demo spreadsheet showing 10 kids and their running times in a school sports day, putting the data in a simple table and in a chart. If you're a more serious Excel user than I am, you can get Copilot to combine data from existing spreadsheets and reports, as well as putting together spreadsheets from scratch.

Copilot carried out my instructions with a reasonable amount of precision, though the chart was rather hit-or-miss and could've done with some neatening up (Copilot tried and failed to do some tidying on this). Follow-up edits were carried out well, and if you're exact about the changes you want, Copilot takes care of them for you.

I'm not sure I'd trust Copilot with company financials, for example, but as far as spreadsheets-via-prompts goes, I was mostly impressed. Instead of manually tallying up rows and columns, tweaking formatting, or trying to figure out the exact formula you need for the job, you can get Copilot to take over.

Copilot can create slideshows in PowerPoint

Copilot in PowerPoint
Copilot in PowerPoint creating and editing slides. Credit: Lifehacker

Finally, I took a look at what Microsoft's AI could do for me with a PowerPoint slideshow. Again, the Copilot button on the ribbon toolbar is the way into the AI editing capabilities, and this time I asked it to make a slide deck promoting Lifehacker. I wanted to test its ability to pull up information from the web and to put together an entire slideshow from scratch (something I've previously tried with Claude Design).

I answered some questions about the length and tone of my slideshow, and then Copilot got to work. Overall, the AI was up to the challenge, albeit in that generic, template-like way that we're all now familiar with when it comes to these synthetic creations. Producing an accurate series of slides out of nothing in seconds is impressive, though, even if I think I could've done the job better given an hour or two.

Prompt-based edits work fine. Want to change the color of a background? Just say so—it's quicker and easier than messing around with menus and toolbars, though perhaps not as satisfying. Whether you want to change the entire tone of a presentation or tack on an extra two slides of summaries, Copilot will do it.

I can see these tools being useful, whether to get the basics done with the minimum of fuss, or to automate advanced edits and processes that would otherwise take up a substantial amount of time. I can also imagine many users just sticking with their current workflows. For me, I think I'll carry on doing my own Word, Excel, and PowerPoint tasks for now.


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If you’re in the market for tools, you might have noticed that they can be expensive, especially if you don’t have batteries. Here are some deals from Home Depot on Ryobi cordless tools that can help you save some of your DIY budget and get your projects done quickly.

These Ryobi cutting tools are up to 53% off

The Ryobi 18-volt oscillating multitool is on sale for $79, 53% off its usual price. The tool includes a two-amp-hour battery, but no charger—so this is a good deal if you already have one. With the right blades and accessories, this tool can be used for cutting metal, wood, PVC, or drywall. You can also use it for sanding and buffing with the sanding attachment, and it’s really handy for getting into tight corners.

The Ryobi 18-volt, 7 ¼-inch circular saw is currently $139, 40% off its regular price. The tool comes with a high performance two-amp-hour battery but not a charger, so again, you’ll need an 18-volt Ryobi charger to use it. A circular saw can be used either for cross cutting boards or for making long, straight cuts, so it’s useful to have on hand, especially if you don’t have a table saw.

The Ryobi 18-volt 5 ½- inch circular saw is now $89, 50% off its regular price. It comes with a high performance, two-amp-hour battery. You can use this saw for cross cutting or making longer cuts, but the smaller blade does make it a little more difficult to cut a straight line over a longer distance. A smaller, lighter-weight saw is great for making quick cuts, especially if you’re working somewhere that doesn’t have power for a corded chop saw.

This Ryobi sheet sander is 60% off

The Ryobi 18-volt ¼-sheet sander is on sale for $59, 60% off its typical price. It comes with a high performance, two-amp-hour battery, but not a charger, so you’ll need a Ryobi 18-volt charger to use it. This sander is a good tool for removing old paint or smoothing out a rough board, so it can be used for all kinds of DIY home improvement and woodworking projects.


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Sent by a Spanish diplomat. Apparently people have been working on it since it was rediscovered in 1860.


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