'Let us loop you in' Apple event: How to watch live video stream of 21 March announcement

Apple has finally announced that it will hold a media event at its California headquarters on 21 March. It has also updated its events page and revealed that a live video stream will be made available.

The event kicks off at 10am local time (6pm GMT) and is expected to last around 90 minutes. A new, smaller and cheaper iPhone called the iPhone SE is tipped to be shown off here, alongside a new 9.7in version of the iPad Pro (also known as the iPad Air 3) and there could be a new iPad mini, too.

Watching the live event is simple, but it won't be available for everyone. Let us explain.

Apple's live events use the company's own HTTP Live Streaming technology, which can be viewed on an iphone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 7.0 or later. The all-important address is right here. Mac users can also watch the event, at the same address, as long as they are using Safari 6.0.5 or later on Mac OS X 10.9.5 or later.

To check which version of Safari you are using, click Safari in the top-left corner, then About. Likewise, to make sure you're running a new enough OS X, click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner, then About this Mac.

Finally, PC users can only watch the event through the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10. If you are using an older version of Windows and don't want to (or can't) update to version 10, then things are slightly more complicated.

First, you will need to download the free VLC media player from here, then install and open it. Then click Media in the top left corner, then Open Network Stream, then paste in the link below and click Play.

http://p.events-delivery.apple.com.edgesuite.net/15pijbnaefvpoijbaefvpihb06/m3u8/atv_mvp.m3u8

That link is the address of the stream which the Apple TV uses to play any of Apple's live announcements. It has worked for the last couple of Apple announcements, so there is no reason why it shouldn't work on 21 March.

When and where is the 21 March announcement taking place?

Apple's 21 March event is being held at a small auditorium inside the company's headquarters at One Infinite Loop, California. The event is kicking off at 10am local time and here are all the times the event will be happening globally:

• California – 10am
• New York – 1pm
• London – 6pm
• Paris – 7pm
• Johannesburg – 8pm
• Bangkok – 1am (Tuesday, 22 March)
• Hong Kong – 2am (Tuesday)
• Seoul – 3am (Tuesday)
• Sydney – 5am (Tuesday)