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Apple's 'Presto' Wireless Update Tech May Soon Reach the Mac

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Apple is able to wirelessly update iPhones that are still in the box using a proprietary system called "Presto," and now 9to5Mac claims that the technology is going to be expanded to the Mac.

M4-MacBook-Air-13-and-15-inch-Feature-Pink-and-Yellow.jpg

With Presto, Apple Store employees can place a sealed iPhone box on the Presto shelf. The iPhone then turns on, and the software the iPhone is running is updated to the latest available version. The process takes between 15 and 30 minutes, and it allows iPhones be updated to Apple's newest software before being sold to a customer.

There are hints of a similar Presto option for the Mac in the third beta of macOS Tahoe. As with the iPhone, Macs could be updated to the newest software ahead of when they're sold, which would prevent customers from having to do day-one updates after purchasing a product.

It's not clear how a Presto for Mac feature would work, given that the iPhone version relies on NFC and Macs don't have an NFC chip inside, nor is it known when the functionality could roll out to Apple's retail stores.

Article Link: Apple's 'Presto' Wireless Update Tech May Soon Reach the Mac
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/07/09/apple-presto-mac-update/
flopticalcube said:
I can see a phone being turned on inside a box but how would a sealed computer deal with the heat? ...or maybe this is before they are packaged?
Click to expand...
It’s a fair question, However I see no reason why they would become hot. I’ve not been in a box whilst the iPhone updates, but I doubt the screen would come on, but if it did, it would be brief and then shut down.

I’ve also never known an M series Mac to become hot when working low level tasks for half an hour. So I can’t see this being an issue. I reckon they’ll probably test this before they activate it?

I guess the test would be to turn on a rested Mac, update it and check temps.
 
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racerhomie said:
OS is still signed by Apple. It’s not open to any OS
Click to expand...
So what? The fact that device never have an “off” state that is truly powered off means many things can happen. A hardware bug or protocol loophole or something similar can cause hackers to remotely access certain data or download and install malware to your phone while you are just shopping. Or it can be as simple as a software bug that causes the battery to drain and warm up even if you turn the device off.
 
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ijordano said:
Off has never meant off with a device that has a digital power button
Click to expand...
Which is darn near most of them. Intel even tried to do the same, meaning PC would otherwise be never turned off either. Thankfully x86 processors are power hungry. I’m starting to get very worried about this gruesome reality.
 
flopticalcube said:
I can see a phone being turned on inside a box but how would a sealed computer deal with the heat? ...or maybe this is before they are packaged?
Click to expand...
From the article it seems that they just wake the device inside the box, install software update and switch off. To avoid generating much heat the processor can be clocked at a very low power draw so to avoid overheating. These devices would otherwise sit in warehouse for days without being turned on so they have all the time in the world to install whatever version of software update.

Ever from the first Apple silicon Mac, Mac can no longer be truely turned off like Intel Mac did. I found it out the hard way when I first unboxing it and it was and is still scary.
 
wood1208 said:
What happens if sealed iPhone in box is out of juice while being updated? Hope, Presto shelf is also able to charge iPhone while updating software.
Click to expand...
Software update can demand a device to have at least 70% battery power before attempting to install software update, or another number that makes most sense. This is not really an issue.
 
Shirasaki said:
So what? The fact that device never have an “off” state that is truly powered off means many things can happen. A hardware bug or protocol loophole or something similar can cause hackers to remotely access certain data or download and install malware to your phone while you are just shopping. Or it can be as simple as a software bug that causes the battery to drain and warm up even if you turn the device off.
Click to expand...
I bought a <not cheap> Windows Laptop for software reasons, and found out by default it is set to be in a low power draw state by default, so that whenever I turned it on (once every few months or so) it was completely dead. Finally after much gnashing of teeth, I found a not so easy toggle to stop it happening. So now after only a month I have just turned it on, and thankfully it’s only down to 95%.

This would be the same for any portable device I suspect. If it isn’t happening on a regular basis when any device is in standby mode now, why would it happen for this system?

Also, is this a once only system, so when it is turned on by the switch, Presto is disabled?

There would be so many checks on updates to hardware in an Apple device, that I think it would be near impossible to update without a genuine signed update. But who knows?
 
Shirasaki said:
From the article it seems that they just wake the device inside the box, install software update and switch off. To avoid generating much heat the processor can be clocked at a very low power draw so to avoid overheating. These devices would otherwise sit in warehouse for days without being turned on so they have all the time in the world to install whatever version of software update.

Ever from the first Apple silicon Mac, Mac can no longer be truely turned off like Intel Mac did. I found it out the hard way when I first unboxing it and it was and is still scary.
Click to expand...
Sure... for a battery powered one, but not feasible for a mini or an iMac that requires line power.
 
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steve09090 said:
It’s a fair question, However I see no reason why they would become hot. I’ve not been in a box whilst the iPhone updates, but I doubt the screen would come on, but if it did, it would be brief and then shut down.

I’ve also never known an M series Mac to become hot when working low level tasks for half an hour. So I can’t see this being an issue. I reckon they’ll probably test this before they activate it?

I guess the test would be to turn on a rested Mac, update it and check temps.
Click to expand...
How do you plug it in?
 
The pad is wireless charging enabled and only installs the update on devices that have 50% battery life and are charging.
 
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flopticalcube said:
I can see a phone being turned on inside a box but how would a sealed computer deal with the heat? ...or maybe this is before they are packaged?
Click to expand...
Macs use the same basic cpu cores as an iPhone these days, so they should at least in theory be able to run in a low power mode that doesn’t produce a significant amount of heat. At a firmware level Apple could run such an update without having to power up things like the display and gpu.
 
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wood1208 said:
What happens if sealed iPhone in box is out of juice while being updated? Hope, Presto shelf is also able to charge iPhone while updating software.
Click to expand...
Because iPhones are placed screen-down in the box I assume they use wireless charging and can remotely trigger it turning off.
 
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