iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are now available to public beta testers ahead of a wider release. Each of these brings a whole bunch of notable changes and improvements. iPhone gets FaceTime enhancements, new controls over notifications, upgrades for Apple Maps, and many more changes. And iPad gets a revamped version of Safari, improvements to Home screen widgets, easier side-by-side multitasking, and more.
Want to try them out for yourself? We’ll show you how.
The one-year free trial of Apple TV+ comes to an end later this month, which means you will be charged soon to keep your subscription going. If you don’t want to use Apple TV+ going forward, you need to cancel it.
We’ll show you how.
Apple released iOS 12.5.4 and iPadOS 12.5.4 on Monday. These contain security patches for iPhones or iPads old enough that they can’t upgrade to 2019’s iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 but are still in use.
Apple is encouraging iPhone and iPad app developers to up their 5G game and embrace super-speedy connectivity.
In a new guide titled “Optimize your app for 5G,” Apple says “5G networking can provide even more opportunities to take advantage of high-bandwidth and low-latency connections in your app.”
It also outlines the benefits the technology can bring to things like games, streaming, machine learning, and augmented reality.
The redesigned Safari web browser in iPadOS 15 makes tabs an inescapable part of browsing. The new system is more space efficient, but forces many people to change the way they use their iPad.
I work in Safari on iPad all day every day, so I used the first iPadOS 15 beta to test the modifications that are coming. Here’s what I like. And what I don’t.
You’ll need some special equipment to enjoy high-resolution lossless audio tracks inside Apple Music. But spatial audio with Dolby Atmos is available to everyone who has a set of decent headphones.
Here’s how to enable it on your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.
The iPhone text magnifier makes a comeback in iOS 15. It disappeared two years ago, but returns in the next version of iOS and iPadOS. The magnifier makes it easier to place the cursor exactly where the user wants, without it being hidden behind their fingertip.
With iPadOS 15, Apple makes the iPad’s multitasking system much more intuitive. I’ve been testing it with the first beta of this OS update, and I’m quite pleased with the changes.
Here’s how the new iPad side-by-side multitasking system works in real life. And why I think it’ll bring this feature to more users.
Facebook and Instagram have added the ability to hide likes and view counts — a feature that’s been in the works for a while. You can block counts on your own posts and well as on those from others.
We’ll show you how to enable the setting inside Facebook and Instagram for iPhone and iPad.
If you’re going away this summer and leaving your home in the hands of someone else, you might want to give them control of your HomeKit devices. And it’s really easy to do that inside the Home app.
Here’s how to invite anyone with an iPhone, iPad or Mac to control your smart home gadgets as a guest.
Make replying to messages on iPad even quicker by activating its hidden floating keyboard with Slide-to-Type support. It’s baked right into iPadOS, so no third-party apps or hacks are required.
We’ll show you how to access it.
If you are unable to play Apple Music tracks when you’re driving or out and about, it’s probably because you need to enable streaming over a cellular connection. We’ll show you how.
Gaming-focused web browser Opera GX is on its way to iPhone and iPad, almost two years after its initial debut. It comes with a customizable interface, the ability to sync with Opera GX on desktop, and ad blocking.
The browser also offers a number of unique features aimed at gamers, like GX Corner, which highlights gaming news and deals. Anyone can download and try out the Opera GX beta today. We’ll show you how.
AirTag’s diminutive size and lack of ability to attach to anything out of the box means that it’s ironically easy to lose. Locating one that goes missing shouldn’t be too difficult, but if yours is proving hard to find, you might want to put it into Lost Mode.
If your AirTag is found by someone else, it will be possible for them to contact you and return your device — and anything it might be attached to — if it’s in Lost Mode. We’ll show you how to use it.
Microsoft Edge has some nice advantages over Safari on iPhone and iPad — especially if you typically use Windows on your desktop. But just like other third-party browsers, it can’t play nicely with content blockers.
However, Edge does have a built-in ad blocker on iOS and iPadOS. And in this guide, we’ll show you how to enable it.
Apple’s smart decision to build an M1 processor into the 2021 iPad Pro renewed calls to port macOS to the tablet. “Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards,” read one particularly misguided headline.
Doing so would be a mistake so severe it would damage sales of both iPad and Mac. It would take years to clean up the mess.
No matter that Macs and iPads run on the same chip. macOS isn’t designed for a touchscreen. Apple would need to redesign the operating system to run on a tablet, and devs would need to alter third-party applications, too. And that would anger people using non-touchscreen laptops and desktops.
Plus, people happy with the iPad now wouldn’t like the change either.
iOS, iPadOS and tvOS give users the ability to link their TV provider for instant access to video apps included with their TV subscription. Here’s how to get set up on your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.
Brydge recently rolled out a big update for select iPad keyboards that finally brings multitouch gesture support and some major improvements. Here’s how you can update yours to take advantage of the changes.
If you like to store music locally on your iPhone so you don’t need a data connection to listen to your favorite tracks while you’re on the go, you may find that, over time, your music takes up too much space.
You can prevent that from happening by optimizing music storage on your device so the songs you don’t listen to anymore are automatically deleted to make room for other content. We’ll show you how.
AirTag, like many Apple devices, is automatically linked to your Apple ID when you set it up for the first time. If you plan to sell one or give it away, you will first need to remove it from your account with a factory reset.
We’ll show you how.
Got an “AirTag found moving with you” alert on your iPhone or iPad? It means an AirTag registered to another person is traveling with you and you may be being tracked. Here’s what you can do to stop it.
iPad has gotten better and better at working with external keyboards in recent years. You’ll now find great support for keyboard shortcuts in most of the apps you use regularly. But how do you quickly find out which keyboard shortcuts are available to you?
There’s an easy way in iPadOS — and it works inside any app.
We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
Switching between different AirPods audio modes is simple with Control Center on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. You can activate or deactivate Transparency and active noise cancellation in just a couple of taps.
We’ll show you how.
We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
Control Center puts a ton of useful toggles and shortcuts at your fingertips, and you can access all of them while your iPhone or iPad are locked. If that’s not something you want, you can change it.
Here’s how to block Control Center access from the lock screen on iOS and iPadOS.
We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
Activate Live Listen for AirPods and Powerbeats headphones inside Control Center to make it easier to hear other people in a noisy environment. The feature is built into iPhone and iPad and easy to use.
We’ll show you how.