D. Griffin Jones - page 6

Not ready to take a gamble on iOS 26? You can stop an iOS update in its tracks if you don’t want to be pushed into the latest version.

There are all kinds of reasons you might not want to upgrade. Maybe you like the speed and stability of iOS 18. Perhaps you don’t want Apple’s divisive new Liquid Glass user interface slowing down your aging iPhone.

While Apple is finally starting to push people to update to iOS 26, you don’t need to go along with the crowd. Obviously, you can disable automatic updates to put on the brakes, but it won’t be long before Apple starts sending push notifications and red badges, encouraging you to update.

Luckily, there’s a secret trick to hide those and make sure your phone stays on iOS 18 for as long as you like.  Here’s how.

In addition to hundreds of bug fixes, iOS 26.2 brings much-needed refinement to the iPhone’s operating system — along with more than 20 new features.

iOS 26.2, which Apple released Friday, lets you turn your reminders into alarms, so they’re impossible to ignore. Apple Podcasts gains automatic chapters and links. And the controversial Liquid Glass user interface continues to be refined and tweaked.

There are subtle improvements everywhere. Here’s the complete list of exciting changes in iOS 26.2. Keep reading or watch our video.

You can make an animated GIF on your iPhone or Mac out of any Live Photo or video in your photo library or saved on your computer. You don’t need to download any apps — simply add a shortcut, and you can make a GIF directly from the share sheet.

If you need an actual GIF file, there’s still a pretty easy way to make them on your phone or Mac. I’ll show you how.

If you’re trying to listen to podcasts or music on your iPhone, it can be annoying when your AirPods keep switching to other devices, like your Mac or iPad.

Personally, I don’t mind this behavior. If I’m sitting at my Mac, I want to use the Music and the Podcasts apps on the Mac. But a lot of people consider their iPhone their primary device — and always want to play audio from their phone, no matter which other device they’re using.

If you want your iPhone to retain supreme control over your ears, here’s how to disable AirPods auto-switching.

Contact Posters let you customize how your Apple contact card looks to other people when you call them. If they have your contact info in their address book, your customized Contact Poster will appear on their iPhone’s screen. 

Done right, Contact Posters look great — way better than the old thumbnail images that preceded them. Plus, it’s really easy to turn an ordinary picture into a gorgeous-looking Contact Poster that makes a real impact.

And once you set one up, everyone with your matching phone number and/or Apple Account will see your chosen contact picture and personalized Contact Poster.

I’ll show you how to set one up; the process might look familiar if you’ve set up a custom Lock Screen.

Apple Music Replay is a great way to find your music stats for the past year: the most played songs, artists and albums in the last 12 months. Similar to Spotify Wrapped and the like, your annual Apple Music Replay is a fun way to see what tracks you listened to most.

Fun fact: Apple usually publicizes Apple Music Replay in December, but it’s actually updated weekly and available throughout the whole year! You can check in whenever you want to see how your year is shaping up.

We’ll show you how to find it and how to share your top music of the year to your friends and social media.

This Cyber Monday, you can find stellar discounts on a new MacBook. With Intel Macs aging out, there’s no better time to upgrade to the latest models that run on far-superior Apple silicon processors.

Whether you’re looking at the base MacBook Air or a specced-out MacBook Pro, you can rack up hundreds of dollars in savings by upgrading this week. 

Take a look at these Cyber Monday deals on MacBooks and get ready to make your next big move. 

We put together the ultimate guide to the best Black Friday 2025 deals on Apple gear — and all the accessories you could want. We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as deals come and go. 

Our favorite earbuds — AirPods Pro 3 — remain at an all-time low price. And somehow, an amazing deal on the latest M4 MacBook Air got even more amazing as Cyber Monday approaches.

Find our absolute top five picks, and our other favorite deals sorted by product category, below. 

Spam calls and text messages seem absolutely relentless these days — you’ll want to know how to block a number on your iPhone to keep your sanity. Luckily, it’s easy. There are a variety of ways you can stop unwanted calls. You can block an incoming phone call or text message. And you can send unknown callers directly to Live Voicemail.

If you’re blocking a person in your contacts list, it doesn’t matter which app you block them from — Messages, Phone, Contacts, Mail, Settings — they will be blocked everywhere.

Here’s how to block calls from unknown numbers on iPhone and keep spammers at bay.

It’s good to know how to close apps on iPhone for those times when an app is acting buggy or becomes unresponsive. It’s really easy — just swipe up to see your running apps and swipe up again to close them.

But does this mean you should always quit your open apps? No, not at all.

Despite what you may have heard, quitting apps on iOS usually makes things worse, not better. It’s a myth that quitting apps will save battery life, make your iPhone run faster or free up memory. Overall, it negatively impacts your iPhone’s performance.

Here’s how to close iPhone apps — plus three reasons why you shouldn’t rush to do it.

If your iPhone ever experiences odd technical problems, the first thing you should try is a good, old-fashioned restart. You’ll be surprised how many problems you can fix by simply rebooting your phone.

Restarting your iPhone is just like restarting a computer. All of the apps and software will be reset, and you shouldn’t lose any saved data.

If a particular app you’re using is acting up, you can always force-quit it and open it again to reset it. But if there’s a deeper underlying problem with your phone’s software, like if Bluetooth accessories aren’t working or phone calls suddenly won’t connect, you should restart your iPhone.

Here’s how to do it with any model of iPhone.

A great way to personalize your computer is to change your Mac icons. New in macOS Tahoe, you can give each folder a custom color or symbol.

In fact, you can change any icon on your Mac to customize it to your taste. That includes any app, folder, disk or file icon. For instance, I didn’t like the yellow icon of my external hard drive — so I changed it to blue. I’ve also edited a few app icons for better consistency in my Dock.

I’ll show you how to do it yourself.

Phone addiction is real. Constant iPhone use can literally change the makeup of your brain. Sure, people waved similar panic flags about the television, the radio and even the novel, but those were easily left at home. You carry the internet with you, and it’s constantly blasting a firehose of content, everywhere you go.

Luckily, you can make your iPhone less addictive.

If you feel the impulse to unlock your iPhone at every empty moment, or scroll through an app when you feel like you should be getting to bed, here are my tips for making your iPhone a bit more boring. And that, in turn, will help you curb your phone addiction.

You can share passwords on iPhone automatically with your entire family, so you don’t have to reuse the same password everywhere or let everyone in your family know when a shared password is changed.

Setting up this feature is easy and saves the hassle of being texted “hey I can’t get into Amazon, what’s that password again?” and “I need you to send me the code.” When you set up shared passwords, two-factor authentication and passkeys are shared, too.

It’s a huge time-saver, and highly recommended. You can keep reading below or watch our quick video.

You can queue songs in Apple Music so the tracks you want to hear play automatically, one after another. You don’t need to wait for the song to end and manually play the next one. And if you want to start over, you can quickly clear the queue as well. 

Plus, you can let friends add songs to the queue from their own phones — even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription. Watch our video or keep reading below.

November 17, 2020: Apple releases the first three Macs powered by the company’s new M1 chip. The Apple silicon processor sparks a renaissance at Apple, with the excellent new computers surprising nearly everyone with their bold mix of power and efficiency.

The switch to Apple silicon could not have come soon enough for Apple. The era of Intel-powered Macs began promisingly enough, but went out with a long whimper. The stark contrast in Apple’s commitment to the platform, and the unbelievable value the new Mac models offered, made the Apple silicon era a golden age for the Mac.

Not too long ago, the Mac was in a truly bad place — and then Apple silicon came along and radically reinvented the computer. With Apple’s destiny entirely within its own hands, rather than hamstrung by Intel processors, we’ve seen what Cupertino is capable of: delivering absolute computing magic on a regular, annual cycle, across its entire lineup.
With the first three Apple silicon Macs turning 5 on November 17, it’s worth reflecting on how the past half-decade has radically reinvented the Mac.

Spotlight on the Mac is a universal search bar, available everywhere, ready to quickly launch an app or find a file. And in macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple supercharged Spotlight by adding many advanced features.
Spotlight has a new visual interface for browsing apps on your Mac. It’s also a powerful tool for running Shortcuts and actions inside the apps you use. And, finally, it’s a clipboard manager, too.
Here are the ins and outs of Spotlight on the Mac.

The Kuxiu X40 Turbo is a great three-in-one charger that supports the fastest MagSafe and Qi charging speeds possible on the latest iPhones. That means you can get 25W wireless iPhone charging while simultaneously topping up your Apple Watch and AirPods.
The X40 Turbo is the follow-up to my previous personal favorite charger, the X40. In addition to extra power, the new model boasts a refined design while maintaining its predecessor’s stellar build quality. It comes with everything you need in the box: the charger, a cable, a power adapter and a nice linen travel case.
Here’s why it’s the perfect three-way charger for home or travel. Keep reading or watch our video review.

AirPods Pro 3’s redesigned ear tips are an unexpected hit-or-miss change. The new foam-infused tips radically change how the earbuds feel when worn.
Apple knows the ear tips are not one-size-fits-all, so the company includes five sizes of ear tips in the AirPods Pro 3 box. You can easily switch them out to find the best size for your ears.
Using the wrong size can cause problems. The earbuds can slip out if they’re too small or irritate your ears if they’re too big. They might even cause high-pitched feedback if you engage active noise cancellation with the wrong size ear tips (especially when flying).
If you don’t like how your new AirPods Pro 3 feel in the ear, don’t be hasty and return them. You should try out different ear tips first. Here are some tips to make sure you achieve the best results.

Your iPhone can record 3D spatial video and photos, effectively future-proofing the images you capture. And the results are stunning.
The stereoscopic 3D video and photos captured with the iPhone can be viewed on an Apple Vision Pro headset as an immersive way to relive memories.
Here’s how it works.

You’ll want to reset your iPhone if you’re trading it in, selling it or passing it down to another family member. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.
If you don’t fully reset the phone, it’ll still be locked to your Apple Account — and the phone will be effectively useless to anyone who tries to use it.
Follow along to make sure you reset your iPhone the right way.

iOS 26.1, which Apple released Monday, brings five features you should check out immediately after you install the update.

The biggest change gives you a way to customize the legibility of Liquid Glass, the major user interface overhaul Apple delivered to all its software platforms this year. But there’s plenty of other cool stuff you don’t want to miss.

Other key upgrades come to Apple Music and the iPhone’s alarm clock interface. Plus, there’s a setting that can keep your iPhone battery from draining in your pocket. And for iPad owners, there’s the celebrated return of Slide Over on iPad.

In addition to a bunch of much-needed bug fixes, iOS 26.1 brings plenty of new features. Tweaks to Liquid Glass improve its legibility without sacrificing its cool effects. iPad multitaskers can rejoice the return of Slide Over, which returns better than before.

There are 20 new changes: A new user interface for alarms, improvements to Photos, a new gesture for quickly fast-forwarding music, a setting that fixes a long-standing problem with the Lock Screen, and much more.

Here’s the complete list. Read on or watch our hands-on video.

You can use the built-in iPhone Wallet app for some basic order tracking with classic Apple ease of use. No need to fiddle with finding and copying tracking numbers — your orders will appear there automatically. 
If you order something from an online store that doesn’t automatically integrate with the Wallet app, there’s a solution for that as well. If your device supports Apple Intelligence, it’ll scan your email inbox and add in all those Amazon orders, too. 
Here’s how the iPhone’s order-tracking feature works.