This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
How the Apple Watch defined modern health tech
3 Apr 2026, 2:00 pm by Victoria Song
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here.
You can trace the state of health tech today to a single gadget: the Apple Watch Series 4.
Back in 2018, smartwatches and fitness bands focused on a handful of things: step count, heart rate, some light sleep monitoring, and activity logging. As a result, they were much more focused on fitness rather than overall health. Handy if you were trying to increase activity levels or lose a few pounds, but not a device th …
Waiting for Trump Phone
3 Apr 2026, 2:00 pm by Allison Johnson
Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone’s whereabouts. Crickets.
Despite recent signs of life, another week has come and gone without the Trump T1 Phone. We’re now over nine months since its announcement in June of last year, and it just keeps missing ship dates. That’s enough time to gestate and birth a whole human baby! It’s also like, three (RIP) Samsung Galaxy Z TriFolds long. Which got me to thinking, what other products and services arrived – and maybe even departed – in the time that we’ve been waiting for the T1? Here is an incomplete list:
…
Apple’s best product ever
3 Apr 2026, 12:52 pm by David Pierce
All week, we’ve been asking you to help us rank the 50 best products Apple ever made, as we mark the company’s 50th anniversary. Thanks to everyone who pitched in – we ended up with more than 1.6 million votes! We also have lots of other coverage of Apple’s first half century, and you should check it all out. All those votes later, we have some answers. And some thoughts.
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On this episode of The Vergecast, after some housekeeping (vote for us in the Webby Awards, and come see Sn …
Chatbots are now prescribing psychiatric drugs
3 Apr 2026, 11:43 am by Robert Hart
Utah is allowing an AI system to prescribe psychiatric drugs without a doctor. It’s only the second time the state – and the country – has delegated this kind of clinical authority to AI. State officials say it could bring costs down and ease care shortages, but physicians warn the system is opaque, risky, and unlikely to expand mental health care to those who need it.
The one-year pilot, announced last week, will allow Legion Health’s AI chatbot to renew certain prescriptions for psychiatric medications, in some cases. The San Francisco startup promises Utah-based patients “fast, simple refills” through a $19-a-month subscription. The prog …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
