Justin Bieber Promoted To Apple ‘Head Of Product’ By Fans After Blasting Feature
Photos 302584830 © Starstock and 217775134 © Ilia Burdun | Dreamstime.com
Justin Bieber, the chart-topping musician, has briefly stepped into a different role: accidental UX critic. The pop star lit up social media after venting about a long-standing iPhone interface quirk, joking that he might resort to a “rear-naked choke hold” on Apple employees if the issue isn’t fixed.
Bieber laid out his frustration in posts on Instagram and X, explaining that Apple’s dictation button—the small microphone icon next to the text field—keeps interrupting his music whenever he accidentally taps it.
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After sending a message, the icon switches functions, triggering an audio-note recorder that emits a beep and pauses playback. Bieber said that even disabling dictation hasn’t solved the problem, since the audio message feature remains in the same spot. His post included a screenshot of the interface and a threat theatrical enough to go viral: “If I hit this dictation button after sending a text and it beeps and stops my music one more time, I’m gonna find everyone at Apple and put them in a rear naked choke hold.”
Word. https://t.co/uD4ScIoQoX pic.twitter.com/LDDhfn4L2L
— Andrey Bukati (@bukati) December 6, 2025
The internet responded as if Apple, which has incidentally seen a fair bit of shuffling of hands recently, had just hired a new senior vice president. One commenter dubbed Bieber “Head of Product at Apple,” while another joked that “Justin Bieber, Human Interface Designer” had finally arrived to fix iMessage.
Justin Bieber, Human Interface Designer https://t.co/EhObmrP3FK
— Josiah Gulden (@jgulden) December 6, 2025
Justin Bieber in his Steve Jobs arc and I'm loving every bit of it. https://t.co/9uNLwWWrAt
— Sandipan Kundu 🛠(@SandipanKundu42) December 7, 2025
head of product at Apple https://t.co/fQNOR0yEdB
— Connor (@Connor_7s) December 6, 2025
Multiple users imagined the singer being summoned to Cupertino for a redesign session, writing, “Calling Justin Bieber over for the next design review.” Others fully embraced the bit, saying, “They call this founder mode,” and “Justin Bieber in his Steve Jobs arc and I’m loving every bit of it.”
Tim Cook right now: https://t.co/AMEKkjxMMf pic.twitter.com/eMwJMMUIXl
— M. C. Bong (@emseebong) December 6, 2025
Behind the jokes sits a familiar complaint among iPhone users. The dual-purpose microphone icon—dictation before a message is sent, audio messaging afterward—has long been criticized for leading to accidental taps and unwanted recordings, even when dictation is turned off. In iOS 26, the placement remains unchanged, and the issue still interrupts audio playback for many.
Bieber has entered his product management era.
— Storm (@stormrobinson) December 6, 2025
Next, tell them it shouldn’t take multiple taps to switch tabs in Safari.
Apple found the new Steve Jobs https://t.co/F3o7Rb4jVF
— Hakan Shehu (@hakanshehu) December 6, 2025
Apple has not commented on Bieber’s posts nor acknowledged the growing thread of feedback from users. And while we’re not expecting any immediate changes, as one person puts it, it is somehow refreshing to see someone with such a large platform “advocate for good UX.”
Apple employees seeing Justin pull up to the headquarters https://t.co/SVJd06TPZM pic.twitter.com/2i8MfeDhSB
— Nitin.nn (@NitinthisSide_) December 6, 2025
Justin Bieber using his 90 million followers to advocate for good UX is exactly what I needed to brighten my day. https://t.co/kUGeTdZjK0
— Andrew Prifer (@AndrewPrifer) December 6, 2025
[via Business Insider and AppleInsider, images via 302584830 © Starstock and 217775134 © Ilia Burdun | Dreamstime.com]
