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At WWDC 2026 next week, Apple is almost assuredly going to reveal iOS 27 for the first time. But even with just days to go until that announcement, the company is still actively updating iOS 26. Astute observers may have noticed a new update hit their iPhones on Monday, iOS 26.5.1, and while it isn't the feature-filled new experience iOS 27 will be, it does ship with an important bug patch for anyone with the newest iPhones.

What does iOS 26.5.1 do?

According to Apple's release notes for iOS 26.5.1, the update fixes exactly one problem. It seems a "small number" of users with an iPhone 17 device (meaning iPhone 17, 17 Pro, or 17 Pro Max) or the iPhone Air are experiencing an issue with wired charging. Apple says that when these devices' batteries are "nearly drained," iOS may prevent wired charging. That means if your iPhone's battery is about to hit 0% and you plug it into power, nothing may happen, leaving your iPhone to wither away—at least, until you get it on a wireless charger.

Apple may say that this issue only affects a small number of iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users, but it was a big enough problem to make headlines a few months ago. Back in April, I covered how some iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users weren't able to charge their iPhones once their batteries ran out—unless they tried charging with wireless charging first. The bug iOS 26.5.1 aims to squash is almost assuredly the same one affecting these iPhones, though it's surprising it took this long for Apple to roll out a fix.

The good news, at least, is that this was clearly a software problem, rather than a hardware issue. When I first wrote about this quirk, that wasn't a foregone conclusion; had it been a hardware problem, Apple would have had more of a dilemma on its hands. But now that the charging glitch can be solved with a simple software update, affected iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users will be all set.

How to fix an iPhone 17 or iPhone Air that won't charge

The solution is simple: update to iOS 26.5.1 (or newer). To do so, open your iPhone's Settings app, then head to General > Software Update. Here, let iOS look for an update, then follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the latest version.


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Over the course of three seasons (so far), HBO’s The White Lotus has served up a delicious menu of murder mystery, eat-the-rich satire, and hilarious class warfare. From Hawa’ii to Sicily to Thailand, the show’s intricate storytelling and Mike White’s acerbic character work have made it an addictive sensation.

Season Four—set in Paris—is on the way, but if you can’t wait, and need more darkly comedic class warfare in your entertainment diet now (and you’ve already burned through the shows we’ve recommended as streamalikes), here are the books, movies, games, and podcasts you should try next.

The best books like The White Lotus

Nothing beats long-form fiction for complex character interactions, devious plotting, and lush descriptions of luxurious locales. Here are the books that will give you those White Lotus feels.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This classic banger of American literature still delivers—times may have changed, but Fitzgerald’s story of ill-gotten wealth and attempts to use it to buy, well, everything still hits hard. You can easily imagine Jay Gatsby showing up at a White Lotus resort in the late 1920s, chasing after something he can’t have and burying himself in purchased luxury before becoming embroiled in a tragic death of some sort (possibly his own).

The Grand Paloma Resort, by Cleyvis Natera

If you bonded with Armond, the manager of the White Lotus resort in Maui portrayed by Murray Bartlett in season one, this is a perfect read: Laura is the manager of the Grand Paloma Resort in the Dominican Republic, and she has a lot on her plate. Up for a promotion that will secure her future, she’s dealing with her wild younger sister, Elena, who works as a nanny for hotel guests—when she’s not partying. When a child is injured under Elena’s care, Laura embarks on an ill-advised scheme to protect her sister and her own career, and things quickly go very off the rails.

The Guest List, by Lucy Foley

The Guest List ticks all the boxes: Remote, luxurious location? Check—an exclusive island off the coast of Ireland and a spare-no-expense wedding. Monied people lugging secrets from the mainland? Check—wedding guests arrive with a lot of drama trailing in their wake. An inconvenient dead body? Check—along with a sinister bridesmaid, an old friend of the bride’s carrying a torch, and some reckless substance abuse. If the White Lotus had a resort in Ireland and hosted a wedding, this is exactly how it would all go down.

Bad Tourists, by Caro Carver

Love exploring how the guests at each White Lotus bring their own trauma as luggage? Bad Tourists digs into that juicy trope. Darcy has had a rough couple of years, a tumultuous period marked by violence and ending in a shattering divorce. She takes her settlement money and buys a luxury trip to the Maldives for herself and two friends, Kate and Camilla. The trio bonded over their shared trauma stemming from a massacre, and it haunts their vacation from the beginning. Soon they’re worrying over a newlywed whose husband might be an abuser and a flirty dance instructor who seduces Camilla—and promptly vanishes.

The Namaste Club, by Asha Elias

If season three of The White Lotus was your favorite because of the complicated girlfriend dynamics it explored, check out The Namaste Club. The titular retreat is a sun-soaked yoga center run by Insta-ready influencer Shakti. Wealthy women from all over Florida flock there to escape their messy lives and find some peace (or maybe just the attention of the handsome assistant instructor, Daniel). But they bring their personal messes with them, and by the end of this particular retreat, one of them will no longer have to worry about it—or anything else.

The best movies like The White Lotus

Each season of The White Lotus is a slow burn, giving us room to get to know the characters, the layout of the resort, and the dynamics that will swirl into murder. For those seeking similar slow burn mysteries with capitalism-skewering themes, these films are ideal.

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

One of the joys of The White Lotus is how it lampoons the wealthy, clueless tourists who float into the resort on fumes of privilege. Triangle of Sadness goes even further, following a pair of vacuous influencers who are gifted berths on a luxury yacht in exchange for views. The yacht is soaked in wealth and entitlement—until things go disastrously (and hilariously) wrong. It’s not subtle (there is a lengthy sequence documenting a case of epic food poisoning depicted in gross detail), but it is a hilarious look at the social dynamics of luxury, wealth, and the service workers who make it all possible. Stream Triangle of Sadness on Netflix or rent it on Prime Video.

Parasite (2019)

One of the great things about The White Lotus is that Mike White doesn’t forget the workers who make the comfortable, easy lives of the wealthy possible. Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film explores a similar dynamic, following the efforts of the poor, struggling Kim family to insert themselves into the wealthy Park family’s lives—only to discover they’re not the only ones surviving off the wealthy family’s resources. Stream Parasite on Kanopy or rent it on Prime Video.

Infinity Pool (2023)

Infinity Pool swims in the same class- and money-focused waters as The White Lotus, just in a more speculative way. The story follows a struggling author, James (Alexander Skarsgård), who falls in with a group of thrill-seeking tourists in the fictional nation of Li Tolqa. The country’s justice system is brutal—it generally offers the death sentence for any crime—but when James accidentally kills a native, he discovers a dark secret: Wealthy tourists can pay to have a clone of themselves executed instead. What follows is a terrifying exploration of what it means to truly be insulated by money while kind of, maybe definitely, hating yourself for it. Stream Infinity Pool on Kanopy or rent it on Prime Video.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant 1955 novel has been adapted several times, but it’s Matt Damon’s 1999 turn as the title character that resonates most with The White Lotus. His version of Ripley may be dealing with issues around his obvious attraction to Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf, but its Dickie's lifestyle of leisure and money that steals the show. After Ripley’s hunger for what Dickie has turns deadly, he takes over his life, viewing himself as better-suited to appreciate the privilege Dickie always took for granted. It’s easy to imagine Ripley taking a rest at a White Lotus location someday, and probably targeting one of his fellow guests for a bit of well-deserved fun. Stream The Talented Mr. Ripley on Kanopy or Paramount Plus, or rent it on Prime Video.

Saltburn (2023)

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to follow one of the vacationing families home from a White Lotus resort, check out Emerald Fennel’s 2023 film. The story follows Oliver (Barry Keoghan), a poor scholarship student at Oxford who worms his way into the lives of the wealthy Catton family. The film satirizes the out-of-touch lives of the incredibly wealthy, as Oliver weaponizes their insulation and privilege to his own advantage. Rent Saltburn on Prime Video.

The best video games like The White Lotus

Sometimes the viewing experience of The White Lotus is frustrating, because you want to physically interact with the characters (slapping a few, shaking some sense into others). If that’s your reaction, it’s time to get in on the action with one of these thematically appropriate video games.

The Sexy Brutale

If you want to actually solve a mystery involving wealthy people at an isolated location, check out The Sexy Brutale. You wake up to discover you’ve entered a time loop at a swanky party being held at a billionaire’s gothic mansion-slash-casino. All the guests at the party are being killed off, and you have to use the looping iterations to gather clues, eavesdrop on conversations, and explore the mansion in order to save them one by one. The story goes in wild directions, but the setting and characters make this a good way to relive those White Lotus vibes.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam

Hotel Magnate

Some of the fun of The White Lotus comes in the behind-the-scenes glimpses of how a high-end resort like this is actually run and managed. If that’s part of the appeal for you, load up Hotel Magnate and start working on your own luxury destination getaway. Build your offering, decorate and outfit it, then manage guests and reservations (and complaints and repairs). The customization options mean you can try to create the ultimate White Lotus-inspired resort without losing your shirt in the process—and there probably won’t be any murders to worry about. Probably.

Platforms: PlayStation, Steam

Forza Horizon

If you just want to pretend you’re a guest at a White Lotus, play some Forza Horizon. Yes, this is a racing game—but it’s no secret that players have been using Forza Horizon as a vacation simulator ever since the first game was released. The combination of an incredibly detailed open-world map and the ease of choosing and operating a variety of vehicles means you can skip the racing part and just drive around, checking out tourist sights, snapping photos, and enjoying yourself as if you were on a real vacation (Forza Horizon 6 allows you to explore Tokyo, Japan, any way you’d like to, for example).

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Steam

Lushfoil Photography Sim

If driving around isn’t your idea of a vacation and The White Lotus has made you pine for a long trip to an exotic location, load up Lushfoil Photography Sim, which combines photorealistic graphics with a robust walking simulation engine. The goal is to take photographs using your knowledge of real-world camera settings and photography, but you can also just visit the exotic locations on offer and explore to your heart’s content.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, Steam

Way of the Hunter

Another option to satisfy the wanderlust inspired by The White Lotus is this hunting game, especially if your idea of a vacation is to grab your gear and bag some dinner. On the other hand, if you’re not really into hunting, you can turn off the heads-up display, put down the gun, and enjoy a virtual vacation in the incredibly realistic wilderness settings. You’ll have the chance to observe and even interact with some wildlife and get lost in the natural beauty around you. And if you miss all the murder on the show, you do have a gun.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam

The best podcasts like The White Lotus

Whether you want to dig deep into The White Lotus and its characters, themes, and plot twists, or want a similar narrative experience in your earbuds, here are some terrific podcasts to check out.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

The White Lotus Official Podcast
Credit: Podcast logo

The official companion podcast for The White Lotus is a must-listen if you want behind-the-scenes access. The team breaks down each episode in impressive detail, augmented by cast and crew interviews and other exclusives. Whether you need to brush up on all the craziness before the new season drops or are starting a guided rewatch, this is the perfect podcast to sink into.

Welcome to the White Lotus

Welcome to the White Lotus
Credit: Podcast logo

If you’re looking for a more fan-focused discussion of The White Lotus, this podcast fits the bill. With a light, banter-filled tone and a commitment to thinking way too hard about fan theories and the subtle details, this is the perfect podcast for anyone who might admit to being a “little obsessed” with the show and its twisty little surprises.

The Last Resort

The Last Resort
Credit: Podcast logo

Skewing into sci-fi, this narrative fiction podcast is perfect for fans of The White Lotus because it explores similar themes (albeit a bit more broadly). Nikki is an influencer recovering from a public career disaster, so she heads off to an exclusive resort to recharge and rethink her life. Once among the wealthy guests, however, she notices some odd behaviors that quickly spin up to terrifying levels. If you’ve ever imagined what the folks at a White Lotus resort would do if they found themselves in a horror movie, this is your podcast.

The Last Trip

The Last Trip
Credit: Podcast logo

Each season of The White Lotus is at least one character’s last trip. Host Jaimie Beebe devotes each episode of this fascinating true crime podcast to the case of someone who murdered or vanished while on vacation, recreating their last known movements and trying to piece together what might have happened. It’s easy to imagine an episode being devoted to the folks who didn’t make it out of the White Lotus alive.


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An increasing number of powerful AI tools are now available to play around with, and they're becoming available to hackers and scammers as well as everyone else—which means a whole new set of attacks and dangers to watch out for. In the June Android Drop, Google's taking direct action against AI deepfake calls.

Here's how it works: A scammer sets up a call that appears to be from your mom. The caller ID is spoofed, and thanks to AI, it looks like your mom and it sounds like your mom. Before you can think of an excuse to not come home for Christmas, she's demanding $100 to cover an emergency with the plumbing.

With fake call detection, rolling out now in the Google Phone app on devices running Android 12 or later, that call should be flagged. You'll see a message on screen saying that your mom may not actually be your mom, and encouraging you to hang up. (Then you can call her from your end, to see if she really does need the money.)

AI spoof calls
The scam detection works through a digital handshake in the background. Credit: Google

Google says this detection works through the Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging protocol, so both you and your trusted contacts will need to have RCS enabled in Google Messages. When someone calls you, a "silent confirmation signal" gets sent in the background from their phone to yours, verifying their phone and identifying them as one of your contacts.

If the call is from a deepfaked AI character, that signal will be missing, and the Phone app will tell you about it. The security feature is going to be on by default once the update rolls out, though you can turn it off through the settings screen in the Google Phone app (tap the menu button, top left, to find them).

It's a reminder of the highly realistic audio and video that AI is capable of producing now, which contributes to yearly financial losses from impersonation scams totaling $2.95 billion, according to figures quoted by Google. With this update applied, you should be a little bit safer.

Here's what else is coming to the June Android drop

There's more to talk about in the June Android Drop, as well, though fake call detection is the headline feature. As tends to be the case, some of these features have previously been announced for select handsets, and are now becoming more widely available.

That's the case with a new outfit search feature rolling out to Circle to Search: Previously available on Galaxy S26 and Pixel 10 devices, it's now coming to all phones running Android 14 or later that have Circle to Search installed. Highlight an outfit on screen, and you'll get search results for every part of that outfit together.

Then there's a wardrobe feature for Google Photos, announced last month and now heading to devices running Android 10 or later in the U.S., India, and Brazil. You get a new wardrobe section in the app, with items of clothing pulled from your photo library—you can browse these items by type, mix and match them together, and use AI to try on any combination of items.

Google Photos
The new wardrobe feature in Google Photos. Credit: Google

More safety features are heading to the Personal Safety app for kids under 13, including medical information, emergency contacts, real-time location sharing, and car crash detection. Google has also confirmed that easier Android-to-iOS sharing, via AirDrop or QR code, is becoming more widely available.

There's an interesting update for Google Play Books: book insights. You get a "catch me up" option for summarizing the plot up to the current position (handy if you're returning to a book after an extended period), as well as the ability to ask questions about passages, themes, context, and characters.

Lastly, there are more combinations available in the Emoji Kitchen, Google's custom tool for combining emojis in a variety of fun ways—these emojis can be shared through the Gboard keyboard. With Android 17 now in beta testing as well, there should be more new features to look forward to in the coming months.


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I'm not sure that there's a name for the genre, but you know it when you see it: I'm thinking of thrillers involving women who find themselves embroiled in crime and mystery, either completely inadvertently or because they have no choice. Think The Last Thing He Told Me or Sharp Objects. The genre has become such a staple that there's a darkly comic version that's become equally popular: shows that don't quite necessarily parody their precursors (though there's a bit of that) but, at their best, combine thrills with chuckles. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is among the latest, starring Tatiana Maslany as a newly single mom looking for some harmless fun with a webcam boy. Here are similar shows in the same vein, if you're a fan.

The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window (2022)

Here's a parody of mystery thriller shows in much the same vein as Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, just more broad in its comedy (if the title didn't tip you off). Kristen Bell is Anna Whitaker, a painter and a big fan of thriller novels in the The Woman in the Window/The Girl on the Train vein who's also mourning her dead daughter. Anna's pills-with-wine lifestyle leads to some wildly irrational behavior, which makes it even tougher to convince anyone that she saw a murder through her bedroom window—a murder that she couldn't stop because her fear of rain wouldn't let her leave the house. It's all quite silly, by design, but also frequently hits the nail on the head when it comes to the tropes of this type of mystery thriller. Stream The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window on Netflix.

Based on a True Story (2023 – 2024)

We're splitting the difference between something like Maximum Pleasure and Only Murders in the Building territory here, with a true crime enthusiast and armchair detective starting a podcast based on a series of local killings. The twist here is that Ava Bartlett (Kaley Cuoco) and her husband, Nathan (Chris Messina) realize that they know the serial killer they’re investigating (Tom Bateman), and further realize that they’re sitting on a goldmine. Instead of turning him in, they’ll make a podcast about him (they’re not meant to be likable). The show takes a while (nearly too long) to finds its voice, but once it does, it becomes a solid satire of capitalism and fame culture, going to dark places in considering what our true-crime obsessions really say about us. Stream Based on a True Story on Peacock.

Bad Sisters (2022 – 2024)

A pitch-perfect (and pitch-dark) comedy, the Irish import Bad Sisters picked up several well-deserved Emmy nominations in its first year. Writer and co-creator Sharon Horgan leads the cast as Eva Garvey, oldest of five sisters, including Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), who's married to John Paul, an abusive and isolating husband. When the dude winds up dead under suspicious circumstances, down-on-his-luck insurance investigator Tom (Brian Gleeson) starts poking his nose into things. We know the sisters definitely wanted John Paul dead, but did they actually do the deed? Tom's family business will go under if he has to pay out on the life insurance policy, so he's motivated to pin the crime on at least one of the women. Stream Bad Sisters on Apple TV.

Little Women (2022)

An adaptation that's as loose as they come, this take on the Louisa May Alcott novel strips the book to its bones and resets it as a mystery thriller in South Korea. Oh In-joo (Kim Go-eun) is a money-obsessed accountant, Oh In-kyung (Nam Ji-hyun) is a morally upright reporter, and Oh In-hye (Park Ji-hu) is a high school student with a knack for painting. The three sisters grew up poor, and each is determined to live an honest (but successful) life, a dream that gets complicated when a friend and client of In-joo's dies by suicide. It's wildly twisty-turny, and more suspenseful than funny—but, nevertheless, there's a vein of dark comedy running through the entire series. Stream Little Women on Netflix.

Big Little Lies (2017 – )

The vibe here has less to do with suburban moms gone wild than rich and (mostly) white ladies going through it in a beautiful locale. As the series opens, five women (played by Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz) become involved in a murder investigation connected to a school fundraiser that threatens to bring all of their private dirt out into the open—and there are secrets aplenty to uncover. In their social strata, any threat to the status quo can lead to big drama. Stream Big Little Lies on HBO Max.

Dead to Me (2019 – 2022)

Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini make for an all-time great TV pairing in this dark comedy about a couple of women who become united in tragedy and lies. Applegate is Jen Harding, a realtor whose husband was killed in a hit-and-run incident; she's not dealing very well, and takes a bit of inspiration from Cardellini's Judy, who has maintained a cheery disposition following her fiancé Steve's death from a heart attack—easier to do given that Steve's actually alive. And then we discover that Judy has a storage unit with a car that looks suspiciously like the one that killed Jen's husband. That's all just part of the first episode, and the show only gets wilder from there. Stream Dead to Me on Netflix.

Good Girls (2018 – 2021)

Beth, Ruby and Annie (Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman, respectively) are three moms in suburban Michigan, and they are all having serious money troubles. They're not exactly criminal masterminds, so they concoct a scheme to rob the local grocery store to solve them—a store that just happens to be serve as a front for a money-laundering operation. They make off with $500,000—but the gang leader whose money they unknowingly stole wants it back. Oh, and the store manager spotted one of their distinctive tattoos and is threatening blackmail. It's definitely not a sitcom, but it's a solid comedy-drama with a talented cast of characters who keep finding themselves in deeper and deeper trouble over the course of four seasons. Stream Good Girls on Netflix.

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast (2026 – )

Where are my Derry Girls fans? How to Get to Heaven comes from Irish playwright and Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, though that earlier and justifiably beloved show won't quite prepare you for McGee's batty, surreal latest. Three high school friends from Belfast reunite after learning that an estranged bestie has died unexpectedly—except that maybe she didn't; a mixed blessing given that they all have secrets that they were hoping would be buried with the maybe departed. Now they're off to investigate the mystery of the murder(?), and, in doing so, find themselves in way over their heads. The tone is all over the place in a way that somehow works, with flashes of sincerity balancing out the comedy. Stream How to Get to Heaven From Belfast on Netflix.

The 'Burbs (2026 – )

This fun and loose adaptation of the 1989 Tom Hanks film finds Keke Palmer's Samira and Jack Whitehall's Rob moving back to his impossibly safe and tidy hometown. Their house happens to be across the street from a dilapidated Victorian eyesore that may or may not have been the location of a murder a couple of decades before—a murder of a girl who made the mistake of trying to get away. As Samira adjusts to new motherhood as well as life on the cul-de-sac, she learns that even the nicest of her neighbors (played by Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Kapil Talwalkar) have secrets, and comes to suspect that her husband knows more about the missing girl than he's letting on. Stream The 'Burbs on Peacock.

Search Party (2016 – 2022)

Alia Shawkat stars here as Dory Sief, an aimless millennial who decides, after seeing a missing-person poster for a college acquaintance, that she's going to make it her purpose to track her down—with the extremely begrudging support of her friends. The show shifts focus from season to season. Initially a darkly comic take on a Nancy Drew-style mystery, the show later finds the gang desperate to cover up a mostly unintentional murder, getting in deeper each season. It's a funny, smart, and weird show. Stream Search Party on Netflix.


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