Apple how-tos: Tips and tricks for all Apple devices | Cult of Mac

The 36 best macOS Sonoma features you should try after you update

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While almost nothing about macOS Sonoma leaked ahead of WWDC23, Apple showcased plenty of upgrades during the keynote.
This is a big year for the Mac.
Photo: Apple

macOS Sonoma may not have the same buzz as iOS, but there are loads of new features this year to try out on your Mac. You can get beautiful Apple TV-style aerial screensavers, widgets on your desktop, powerful enhancements to Safari and more.

macOS Sonoma will be released at about 10 AM Pacific on Tuesday, September 26. Here are the 36 best features you can look for after you update.

How to reset your iPhone before trading in or selling

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Erase Your Everything First
Erase everything before you pass off your iPhone.
Image: Ahmadkurdi44/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

How do you reset an 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. If you don’t fully reset the phone, it’ll still be locked to your Apple ID — 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.

How to set up your new Apple Watch the right way

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Set Up Your New Apple Watch
Get your new Apple Watch up and running in no time!
Photo: Luke Chesser/Unsplash CC

How do you set up a new Apple Watch? Whether you got the Series 9 with its brighter screen and advanced sensors or leapt for the rugged and improved Apple Watch Ultra 2 model, you might be wondering how to get started After all, the Watch is unlike any other Apple device, both in its dependence on an iPhone and in the way it works.

The good thing is, Apple has made it really, really easy to get things up and running. Let’s take a look.

How to set up your new iPhone the right way

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Set Up Your New iPhone: We can get your new iPhone set up easily — no need to phone it in.
We can get your new iPhone set up easily — no need to phone it in.
Image: Apple

How do you set up your new iPhone the fastest way possible? The iPhone setup process gets easier every year. So easy, in fact, that there are only a few things you need to do to move from your old iPhone to a new one. You can even directly transfer your data from an Android phone. Setting up a new iPhone from scratch isn’t much harder — you just have a few extra steps you need to go through.

There are still a few tricks that will help things run smoothly, though.  Let’s see how to set up your new iPhone the right way.

How to leave the iOS 17 beta program

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How to leave the iOS 17 beta program
If you're done with iOS 17 betas, you can easily set your iPhone to ignore them.
Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

With iOS 17 now available to all, you no longer need to be enrolled in Apple’s beta program to get your hands on it. There are good reasons why you might not want to run prerelease software on your iPhone any more.

Here’s how to pull your iPhone out. It’s easy and only takes a minute. Maybe less

How to get the latest AirPods firmware update

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How to get the latest AirPods 3 firmware update
There is a firmware update out for AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Here’s how to get it.
Image: Cult of Mac

Apple has fresh firmware for all current AirPods models, and these are packed with features. AirPods Pro 2 get Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Personalized Volume. Plus there are new features for AirPods 2, original AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

The AirPods update process is indirect, but we can steer you through it.

How to get the latest HomePod software update

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How to reset HomePod and HomePod mini
Here’s how to be sure you have the latest HomePod software update. Or stop your smart speaker from updating.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Your HomePod is a lot more than a simple speaker — it’s a whole computer. And like any computer it has an operating system that needs occasional updates. Here’s how to make sure your Apple smart speaker has the software version released on Monday.

Version 17.0 is a major update with additional AirPlay functionality, new call controls and more.

If you depend on automatic updates, it’s possible your smart speaker hasn’t yet installed the update. Here’s how to do so manually.

What do the Apple Watch buttons do? Click, double-click and hold.

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What do the buttons do?
The buttons on the Apple Watch switch apps, activate Apple Pay, open Siri and more.
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

What do the buttons on the Apple Watch do? The Apple Watch borrows a lot from the iPhone, but the biggest difference between the two devices comes down to the extra buttons. They do different things whether you click, double-click or hold them down.

In watchOS 10, Apple changed a lot of these features. The software update added a new Widgets view, assigned Control Center to the side button and changed what double-clicking the dial does. (For older devices, consult our article about what Apple Watch buttons do in watchOS 9.)

Here’s a guide to the buttons on the Apple Watch.

Bring new life to an old Intel-based iMac or Mac mini [Setups]

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Commenters offered good advice on speeding up this Intel-based iMac setup.
Commenters offered good advice on speeding up this Intel-based iMac setup.
Photo: vmcommo@Reddit.com

If you have an aging Intel-based iMac or Mac mini that’s slowing down like an old codger, today’s featured iMac setup shows a relatively simple way to revitalize your machine and keep using it.

All you need is an external solid state drive (SSD) and the knowledge, below, to make it your computer’s replacement startup disk.

The 50 best iOS 17 features you should try after you update

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iOS 17 preview
iOS 17 is packed with features.
Photo: Apple

What’s new in iOS 17? This is a big year for iPhone and iPad. You should definitely check out the biggest new features — Contact Posters and Standby — first. But there are dozens of other great features for you to learn, explore and take advantage of, too.

iOS 17 is out now. I have all the 50 best tweaks and changes organized in this overview.