iOS and iPadOS 15 bring a number of big improvements to FaceTime — including voice isolation and the ability to blur your background during video calls like you can on Zoom and other video calling platforms.
We’ll show you how to enable the background blur feature using Portrait mode on iPhone and iPad.
Sick of losing your iPhone under all the clutter on your desk? Laut’s gorgeous Free Stand ensures your smartphone is always easy to see so you don’t miss another notification. It’s also great for hands-free FaceTime calls.
The Free Stand is made from sturdy aluminum and looks right at home alongside other Apple devices. It’s also adjustable, and until the end of today, it’s available from the Cult of Mac Store at 20% off its usual price. You can also save on all other Laut products.
Apple this week dropped a bunch of gorgeous new Unity wallpapers — and a new band and face for Apple Watch — for iPhone, iPad and Mac as part of its Black History Month celebrations.
Here’s how to download them and enable them on your devices.
Apple says it has eliminated the iCloud sync issue that has been causing all kinds of disruption inside third-party apps.
The problem first surfaced late last year, soon after iOS 15 made its debut, and sporadically prevented many apps from syncing data through iCloud — much to the frustration of users and developers. But it is said to be eliminated now.
Apple is working to give iPhone the ability to accept contactless credit card payments over NFC without the need for additional hardware “in the coming months,” according to a new report.
You currently need a third-party credit card reader, like those made by Square, to use iPhone as a payment terminal. However, since iPhone 6 made it debut in 2014, Apple’s smartphone has been packing the NFC technology that’s needed.
One of the upgrades to Accessibility in iOS and iPadOS 15 is a new Background Sounds feature that plays relaxing audio tracks to help you stay calm and focused, and to block out background distractions.
Here’s how to use it on iPhone and iPad.
Remote meetings on FaceTime are a lot calmer in iOS and iPadOS 15, thanks to a feature called voice isolation that blocks out background noise. Even better, the feature works in other video-calling applications, including Zoom and Google Duo.
Here’s how you can enable it on iPhone and iPad.
In a world awash with multi-device charging stations that juice your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods at the same time, it’s refreshing to see an unfamiliar design once in a while. Intelli provided one recently when it launched its new StepUp Magnetic Wireless Charging Station.
With its tidy little pop-out charging platforms, the MagSafe-compatible StepUp can be a sleek charger just for your iPhone or transform into a 3-in-1 for your trio of devices. But even fully deployed, the design is compact.
iOS and iPadOS 15 let you enjoy FaceTime calls with Android and Windows users for the first time. But to get a call started, you — or someone else with an Apple device — first need to send out an invite.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to do that on iPhone and iPad.
iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey allow you to use tags inside the Notes app to keep everything organized. They can help you quickly separate notes for different projects, and they make it easier to find things later.
Here’s how to use tags in Notes on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
The Eurasian Economic Commission confirmed that Apple plans to release a new iPhone and iPad in the near future. The devices appear in the online database of the regulatory agency.
These are almost certainly the next-generation iPhone SE and iPad Air 5.
It’s possible to share your Focus status with select contacts in iOS and iPadOS 15, so that friends and family members don’t think you’re just ignoring their calls and texts.
Here’s how you pick and choose who sees that your notifications are disabled while you’re busy.
Samsung this week announced its newest Exynos chipset for smartphones and tablets, and it comes with a major graphics improvement that could just persuade mobile gamers to swap iPhone and iPad for Galaxy devices.
The Exynos 2200 is the world’s first mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC) with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU that supports ray tracing. It could enable major visual improvements in upcoming Android games — if developers take advantage of it.
iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 ship with a brand-new feature called Focus mode that lets you set up different notification profiles based on your activities. You can have one for work, one for play, one for sleep, and more.
Here’s how to create and customize new Focus modes on iPhone and iPad.
The U.K. will spend taxpayer money on a dramatic “publicity attack” against end-to-end encryption, according to a new report. The country apparently hopes to sway public opinion before taking further steps to crack down on the security feature.
A major focus of the campaign will be child safety. M&C Saatchi, the agency hired to run the marketing blitz, reportedly will use child actors to carry out emotive stunts that suggest encryption is being used by predators to conceal their activities.
A newly discovered bug in Safari 15 allows any website to track your browsing activity and may even reveal your identity if you’re a Google user.
The vulnerability stems from Apple’s implementation of IndexedDB, a storage API widely supported by most modern browsers. And the problem affects users on Mac as well as iPhone and iPad. Here’s what you need to know.
A reliable source shot down an earlier leak about the the two “standard’ iPhone 14 models including 120Hz ProMotion screens. This would have brought them closer in line with Apple’s Pro handsets that already have the feature.
This is an example of the challenges of making predictions about a handset that is still many months away.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We’re not 100% on board for the rumored “hole + pill” screen cutouts that might replace the notch in iPhone 14. But we’re definitely intrigued by the concept of a folding iPhone.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
You have from now until the end of March to enter your most amazing iPhone or iPad photographs to compete in the 15th annual edition of the iPhone Photography Awards. As in past years, for the 2022 contest you submit your pics through the group’s website.
Live Text in iOS and iPadOS 15 is a terrific new feature that makes the text in your photos interactive. You can use it to copy and paste quotes, call phone numbers, find addresses and more.
Here’s how to use Live Text on your iPhone or iPad to translate signs, posters, and other things written in a foreign language.
New renders of an “iPhone SE 3” show off a gorgeous design upgrade with an edge-to-edge display and no Home button. The device looks a lot like iPhone XR, but with the same dimensions as the current iPhone SE.
These images are said to be based on leaked CAD drawings, but before you get too excited, they’re probably not accurate. At least not for iPhone SE 3.
Apple is more aggressively encouraging users to update to iOS 15 by stopping security updates for those who don’t.
Cupertino previously made security improvements available as a separate release — and vowed to keep delivering them for those who stick with iOS 14 “until you’re ready to upgrade.” Just a few months later, that’s changed.
First a robotics engineering student made a splash late last year by modding an iPhone X with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port — and sold the device for big money. Now someone else is touting a similar modification, but this time the handset boasts a reinforced port that includes waterproofing. And yes, the tinkerer’s going to sell it soon — probably for more money than most people make in a year.
A device shown at CES 2022 that made some publications’ “weirdest stuff from the show” lists is the Pozio Cradle. It’s a “listening blocker” that wirelessly charges smartphones. It ensures your gadget and its voice assistant can’t hear or record what you say, according to the company.
iOS and iPadOS 15 introduce a brilliant new feature called Live Text, which not only identifies text in your photos, but also allows you to interact with it. You can use it for all kinds of things, like making a call, sending an email, or looking up directions to an address.
Here’s how to use the feature to copy and paste text from your images on iPhone and iPad.