After a three-week hiatus, Apple seeded to developers beta versions of all its operating systems on Tuesday. That includes macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5 and more. On Wednesday, the public was also given the option to test these.
These pre-release versions for iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, etc. first came out on the same day Apple announced the date for its WWDC Developers Conference. Beta testing for the five just-released OS versions is expected to end around the same time as the conference.
It’s now been three weeks since any Apple operating system was in public beta testing. It seems work has stopped on significant updates to iOS 15, macOS Monterey and the other OSs.
And that’s a good thing. Here’s why.
Apple introduced bug fix updates for every one of its operating systems on Thursday. These updates should improve the battery life on iPhone and iPad. And for Mac users, the new version fixes well-publicized bugs recently introduced by macOS 12.3.
However, there are no new features in macOS Monterey 12.3.1, iOS 15.4.1, iPadOS 15.4.1, watchOS 8.5.1 and tvOS 15.4.1 — Apple just fixed small problems. All five updates are available to download immediately.
iTunes has become a slow and bloated mess over the years — which is why it no longer exists on Mac. But for those who are stuck with Windows, suffering iTunes is necessary if you want to enjoy Apple Music. Or is it?
There are other ways to take advantage of your Apple Music subscription on third-party machines. You could use the web app in a browser of your choice, or you could download Cider, a new and far greater iTunes alternative.
Cider, which is also available on Mac if you aren’t happy with the default Music app, offers a clean and simple user interface and almost all of the features we’ve come to expect from Apple’s streaming service — plus extras.
A growing number of Mac users are reporting issues with external monitors and game controllers after updating to macOS Monterey 12.3.
Some say their Mac no longer detects connected displays at all, while others are frustrated that their Xbox, PlayStation, and other third-party gamepads are not functioning over Bluetooth — even when the controller is connected.
Ukrainian developer MacPaw today released SpyBuster, a new (and completely free!) Mac app that identifies software built by and reporting to “undesirable countries of origin” — such as Russia and Belarus.
SpyBuster also lets you block those connections so that you can prevent additional data being sent to overseas servers, where it may not be protected by the same privacy laws that we’re accustomed to in other countries.
Apple seeded to developers the release candidates of macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 on Tuesday. That’s the final step before introducing them to the public, which will finally give Mac and iPad users access to the long-delayed Universal Control.
The iOS 15.4 Release Candidate also went to developers, so iPhone users will soon be able to unlock their iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask. Plus, the watchOS 8.5 RC and tvOS 15.4 RC were seeded as well.
Keeping large numbers of browser tabs open is such a common habit that Apple created a system to organize them. Safari Tab Groups let you put open tabs into logical collections so you can more easily work with them. And the same groups are available across all your Apple devices.
The system gets a little complicated. But here’s how to get started with Safari Tab Groups.
Not a good time to send that important message to a colleague in Slack? The widely used communication platform lets you schedule messages to send later on desktop and mobile. You simply choose the date and time, and Slack takes care of the rest.
The feature comes in particularly handy if you work with colleagues in other time zones and don’t want to bother them after hours. Here’s how to send Slack messages later on iPhone, iPad and Mac so they arrive at appropriate times.
Universal Control, which is finally in testing ahead of its public debut, lets you control a Mac and an iPad with the same keyboard and mouse, bringing the two computers closer together than ever before. It’s particularly handy if you rely on both macOS and iPadOS apps and find yourself regularly switching between them.
The feature looked pretty ambitious and exciting when Apple previewed it during its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote back in June. And now that it’s here (mostly) and we’ve had the chance to try it out, we firmly believe it is one of Cupertino’s most magical features to date.
Here’s why Universal Control will knock your socks off.
iOS and iPadOS 15 bring a number of nice improvements to FaceTime, including some new audio modes that may come in handy in certain situations.
The new wide spectrum audio is one you might want to use during conference calls. Here’s what it does — and how to enable it on iPhone and iPad.
Apple rolled out a new crop of software updates last week, and you probably (sadly) won’t be surprised to learn that they bring yet more bugs.
In addition to experiencing Wallet sync problems between iOS 15.3 and watchOS 8.4, early updaters also report Bluetooth issues in macOS 12.2 that cause battery drain on some MacBook models.
Apple’s new macOS 12.3 beta, which rolled out to registered developers last week, suggests Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology is coming to Mac.
UWB, currently exclusive to iPhone models with the Apple U1 chip, allow precise location reporting to make missing devices much easier to find. UWB is also used to improve AirDrop and to enable Apple’s CarKey feature.
Mac users can now install macOS Monterey 12.2. Apple is vague about what’s in the new version. However, prerelease beta testers indicate it brings a rewritten Apple Music app and smoother scrolling for MacBooks with ProMotion displays. It definitely fixes a serious Safari bug.
Apple also released iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 to the public Wednesday. And watchOS 8.4, too.
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.
Apple has prepared a fix for a Safari 15 bug that allows websites to view your browsing habits and Google account details. And, because it’s a bug in WebKit — Apple’s browser engine used by Safari and third-party apps in the App Store — it affects virtually all iOS and iPadOS browsers, including Chrome and Brave.
Unfortunately, Apple’s patch won’t be available until the company rolls out new macOS, iOS and iPadOS updates. There’s currently no word on when that might be. Apple is in the process of beta testing new software updates, but it may be too late for the fix to be implemented into those before they are made available to all.
Humble, the subscription service that offers a bunch of popular games for an affordable monthly fee, is dropping support for Mac and Linux.
Starting February 1, the company will roll out a new business model for Humble Choice, which will require a brand-new app that’s only available on Windows. You have until January 31 to download games you already own.
The next-generation version of the Dropbox app for macOS, which finally adds native support for Apple silicon chips, is now available to all in beta.
It comes less than a week after Dropbox began testing Apple M1 support with a small number of users. You can try it out for yourself by enabling “early releases” in your account preferences. We’ll show you how.
Ever wondered what today’s most popular Mac apps might have looked like on earlier Macintosh machines? These incredible design concepts imagine the likes of Google Chrome, Spotify and Zoom running on the 22-year-old Mac OS 9.
Graphic designer Michael Feeney created the collection as part of his terrific (mac)OStalgia project. Check it out in the four-minute video below.
Last week a crowdfunding campaign launched for the new BusKill USB kill cord. It’s a dead man’s switch for laptops designed to protect your data by locking or even wiping your computer if someone snatches it away from you while you’re using it.
BusKill is designed for journalists, activists, crypto traders and travelers, the company said. Though it seems it could come in handy for anyone at risk of losing a laptop via smash-and-grab tactics.
Apple is testing an improved version of its Music app that’s built to run entirely natively on Mac. Parts of the app, such as the music library, were native on macOS before, and now the rest of it is catching up for improved performance.
You can try out the new Music app now by installing the macOS 12.2 Monterey beta, which is available to all through Apple’s public Beta Software Program.
Apple began testing macOS Monterey 12.2 beta 1 on Thursday, just days after the release of macOS 12.1. An official list of what’s coming in the new version hasn’t yet been revealed by the Mac-maker, but tests with beta 1 have turned up a few changes. The much-anticipated Universal Control isn’t one of them, though.
This pre-release version seeded to developers was not accompanied by any iOS, iPadOS or watchOS betas on Thursday.
Apple’s new tvOS 15.2 update adds a bunch of stunning screen savers to Apple TV, including three from Scotland’s picturesque Isle of Skye and Loch Moidart, and another six from Iceland. And you can enjoy them all on Mac.
Thanks to a simple app built by developer John Coates, all tvOS wallpapers can be installed on macOS. We’ll show you how.
Myst, the puzzle-adventure game from Cyan, has been named the 2021 Mac Game of the Year by Apple. But this popular classic actually made its debut way back in 1993.
Myst has gone through an incredible transformation since then. What was once a meager 3MB install is now a whopping 11.5GB download that’s packed with puzzles, glorious graphics and immersive sound. Here’s why the game picked up an Apple award — and why you might want to play it.
Apple seeded macOS 12.1 beta 4 to developers on Wednesday. It has a build number that ends in “a,” which suggests the public release is only a week or two away. This version of Monterey will bring SharePlay to the Mac. It might also be the debut of the much anticipated Universal Control.
It is not accompanied by fresh betas of iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or watchOS 8.3.