Mashable

Listen up: Your whole life is packed inside your phone. And if listening to music — as well as podcasts and audiobooks — is one of life's greatest pleasures, you need a good set of headphones or earbuds to connect to your phone.

That's particularly true for iPhone users. As Apple fans know, Apple iOS is a uniquely designed system, built for syncing Apple products together. That means only certain headphones will do, though the best ones aren't always Apple-produced.

If you’re serious about your sounds — and we know you are — you need a pair that both suit the capabilities of your iPhone and your lifestyle. It's important to know what you're looking for, so we've gone ahead and done the research for you.

Do you need wireless headphones for your iPhone?

To put it simply, yes. If you have an iPhone, it's probably time to go wireless. You have to go back several generations to find an iPhone that has a regular 3.5mm audio jack input. Apple has insisted on equipping its phones with a Lightning port for several years now. Apple headphones also use Lightning connections so they can plug straight into your phone. And if you have a pair of wired non-Apple headphones, Apple also sells an adaptor which connects a regular audio jack to the Lightning connection. But these adaptors are unreliable and break all-too easily. The best option is to connect your iPhone to the headphones. It's much easier and means fewer cables.

Are AirPods the best headphones for the iPhone?

Yes and no. AirPods are great — especially AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro Max (as you’ll see below) — but they're also expensive. They're definitely a good one-stop solution as they're so convenient to set up with your iPhone and they fit the Apple aesthetic perfectly. However, if you're keen to search around and spend a little longer setting things up (or spend a little less), there are other good options out there.

Should you buy the cheapest pair of headphones?

You can spend a few pounds on the cheapest pair of headphones, but you might as well just use the buds that come free with your iPhone. Going cheap is a false economy and you'll sacrifice quality and function. If you regularly listen to music, it's worth investing a little more. The sound quality is going to be much better.

What is noise cancellation?

Noise cancellation blocks out ambient noise, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in your music. It's usually a mark of the best, most advanced headphones.

There are two kinds of noise cancellation: Passive and active noise cancellation. Passive noise cancellation is achieved by the design and build of the headphones, which physically block out noise by having oversized ear cups that create a seal. Active noise cancellation (ANC) uses a system of small microphones that pick up incoming sounds and create anti-noise sound waves to cancel them out. Also, look out for advanced ANC modes such as "transparency mode". This allows a certain level of ambient noise to seep in, such as other people's voices. It's handy for listening out for train platform announcements or having conversations with pals and colleagues.

What are Bluetooth codecs?

Wireless sound quality can be affected by factors such as distance and obstructions between your headphones and device, but also the codec software that your headphones support. Codecs are algorithms that encode and decode digital audio signals. Look out for headphones with low latency that support Qaulcomm’s aptX codecs, which are usually rated as the best codecs — particularly for streaming video on your phone and ensuring the picture and audio stay in sync. The latest versions to look (and listen) out for are aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive.

What is spatial audio?

This is another term you'll see when shopping for high-spec headphones. It essentially means 3D audio, which separates the sounds and places them in different locations around the room. If you're watching a film, for instance, you'll feel like you're in the middle of the action. Apple and other brands have their own versions of the technology but it's all essentially the same thing. Some spatial audio headphones have head tracking, which anticipates the movements of your head and adapts the sound.

What are the best headphones for the iPhone?

Think about the main reasons that you need new headphones: Are you going to be using them while you travel? Will you be listening to music mainly at home? Or while exercising? We’ve looked at a number of different scenarios and figured out the best headphones or earbuds for you and your lifestyle. In other words, we’ve done the hard work for you. There should be something for everyone and every budget in this list.

These are the best headphones for your iPhone in 2025.

An in-depth new report from Politico determined that the Department of Government Efficiency (aka DOGE) has actually saved far less than it's claimed. So, despite spending the last six months cancelling research grants, federal contracts, and firing federal employees across the country, DOGE has fallen far behind the savings promised by Elon Musk.

So far, DOGE has claimed $205 billion in total savings since President Donald Trump's inauguration, according to its public "wall of receipts."

However, Politico reports that the wall of receipts is sorely lacking in, well, some important receipts.

DOGE claims it has saved taxpayers $52.8 billion from canceled contracts, but Politico could only verify $32.7 billion worth of contracts. What's worse is that, per Politico, the actual, tangible savings from those cancellations are closer to $1.4 billion. That's because DOGE uses some creative accounting to "exaggerate" the total savings. We'll get to that in a minute.

In other words, Politico reported that DOGE only saved about 2.6 percent of its claimed savings from cancelled contracts. Crucially, as Politico pointed out, none of that money can be taken off the federal deficit (which DOGE is supposed to be reducing) without Congressional intervention, as those dollars just get returned to the agencies.

Politico's lengthy report is worth digging into, as it has all the technical details of how DOGE is using "faulty math" to come up with these numbers. When calculating savings, DOGE reports the maximum possible spending amount of each contract, not the actual or planned spending.

This has actually been a known problem with DOGE's accounting since February. Often, experts use the analogy of a credit card limit to explain the limits of this approach. If you cancel a credit card with a $1 million limit, that doesn't mean you've saved $1 million.

Politico's report said that DOGE's claimed savings are "drastically exaggerated," and that "the magnitude of DOGE’s inflated savings claims has not been clear until now."

The Trump administration told Politico in response to their story that the agency produced "historic savings for the American people,” and that DOGE's public list of claimed savings is accurate and "updated in real time based on current information."

These questions about DOGE's exaggerated numbers may not surprise anyone who has been following along with Musk's shenanigans since January. Musk, who officially left his post at DOGE earlier this year, initially claimed that the agency would save the government $2 trillion before quickly revising that goal down to $150 billion in April.

DOGE's cuts have undoubtedly been effective in shuttering some government services, slashing foreign aid, and cutting $125 million in funding to support LGBTQ health initiatives.

Out of all the kitchen products we've put to the test, these 12 are the ones we'll always recommend — over and over again. Here's why we love them.

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Raise your hand if you've ever had to rush to the library to print something. If most of us don't have the space for clunky printers, chances are we also don't keep a scanner at home. That's what iScanner is for.

This iOS app transforms your iPhone or iPad into a handy little scanner that works for basically any document type. It's also only A$38 (reg. A$307) for a lifetime subscription.

No more wasted desk space

Even if you're one of the few with a physical scanner still in your presence, you can now clear some counter space thanks to iScanner. And while you're at it, you can throw away that dusty old filing cabinet, too. 

iScanner is the number one US-based scanning and document management tool, letting you knock items off your to-do list from anywhere. Need to save a receipt for taxes? Do you have a contract you need to digitize? You can scan any document using just the phone on your iOS device. 

Students, entrepreneurs, educators, and stay-at-home moms alike will all find endless uses for a scanner in your pocket. The AI-powered tools ensure your documents' borders are detected and automatically adjusted while also straightening scan pages and ditching curves and skews. 

Thanks to AI, you can also use iScanner to help you solve complicated math problems.  Or put its OCR technology to the test and let it help you decipher text in up to 20 languages.

Once things are scanned, the app becomes a full PDF editor and file manager. Edit your scans, including signing them, adding text, or autofilling them with custom templates. Then, use the file manager's folder via drag and drop to keep them safe and organized. 

Scanning something confidential? You can also protect files and folders by locking them with a PIN. 

Use code SCAN by 7 September at 11:59 p.m. PT to get an iScanner lifetime subscription on sale for A$38. 

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Horror movies have conditioned us to know that we should never, ever head into a spooky basement. The upcoming psychological thriller The Man in My Basement introduces a new basement-focused rule for us to abide by: Never rent your basement to a shady man.

Directed by Nadia Latif and based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, The Man in My Basement introduces down-on-his-luck Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins). He's recently lost his mother and his job, and now his ancestral home in the African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York, is about to be foreclosed on.

Enter mysterious businessman Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), who brings Charles an offer he can't refuse. Anniston wants to rent Charles' basement for the summer, and in return, he'll pay Charles enough money to clear his debts for good. Sounds sweet, right? But why is Anniston so hell-bent on renting Charles' basement in particular? What nefarious deeds is he actually plotting? Based on the trailer, it looks like a cage is involved, and that can never be good.

The Man in My Basement was co-written by Latif and Mosley, and is set to make its premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. It's distributed by Andscape, formerly known as The Undefeated, a Black content studio that is part of the ESPN portfolio and also creates content for the Walt Disney Company.

In addition to Hawkins and Dafoe, The Man in My Basement also stars Anna Diop, Jonathan Ajayi, Gershwyn Eustache Jr., Pamela Nomvete, and Tamara Lawrance.

Following its premiere at TIFF, The Man in My Basement comes to select theaters Sept. 12. It hits Hulu and Disney+ this fall.