In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: How does Apple’s upcoming mobile operating system compare to the new Android platform? We give you a blow-by-blow comparison of all the best (and worst) features.
You’ll find that top story and much more. See why you should use Do Not Disturb at Bedtime 24/7. Plus: Learn how to connect an external keyboard to your iPad. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
Android 9 Pie has landed on Google Pixel devices just a month before Apple rolls out iOS 12. Both come with a long list of new features and improvements, but is one better than the other?
Here’s how Android 9 and iOS 12 compare.
iOS 12 packs a whole host of significant improvements that Apple didn’t get a chance to showcase during its WWDC preview. One of those, according to one developer, is a greatly-enhanced Portrait mode for compatible iPhone models.
The image below highlights the impressive difference between a Portrait photo taken with iOS 11 and another taken with iOS 12.
Developers got access to the fifth iOS 12 beta last week, and now anyone who’s interested can install this pre-release version on their iPhone and iPad.
While work is still progressing on iOS 12, and the full version isn’t anticipated until September, the betas have proved surprisingly stable.
Apple is moving along through the beta phase of releasing iOS 12. The first version was released back in June, and today sees the debut of iOS 12 beta 6.
With the release just happening, we don’t yet know if it has any surprises. Beta 5 eventually revealed quite a bit about Apple’s plans.
This year’s iPad Pro will boast Face ID and a new iPhone X-style bezel-less design, code and assets hidden in the iOS 12 developer beta seemingly confirms.
The asset relating to the new asset was discovered in the battery usage user interface part of the new developer beta. It’s an icon depicting an iPad without home button and much thinner bezels.
A recent rumor claimed Apple will add dual-SIM functionality to at least one of the handsets in this year’s iPhone lineup. Now its latest developer update has all but confirms those claims.
Code discovered in iOS 12 beta 5 reveals Apple is already making preparations for a secondary SIM card slot in some iOS devices. It seems two traditional SIM cards will be supported, rather than a traditional SIM combined with embedded Apple SIM technology.
You don’t have to wait to get the new features of iOS 12. You could install a pre-release version and start tinkering with Siri Shortcuts or Memoji now.
Apple just introduced iOS 12 public beta 4, hopefully the most stable version yet. There are both iPhone and iPad iterations.
HomePod’s rumored voice calling feature has been all but confirmed in iOS 12 beta 5.
A new “Personal Requests” setup screen now displays an additional icon where the Phone app will sit, and reads “make phone calls” in its list of abilities. It indicates HomePod users will be able to initiate calls for the first time when iOS 12 makes its public debut this fall.
Apple’s new betas for iOS 12 are coming out like clockwork with the fifth beta build arriving this morning nearly two weeks after the last beta dropped.
Developers received iOS 12 beta 5 this morning along with new betas for tvOS 12, watchOS 5 and macOS Mojave. Each new build contains a number of fixes as Apple readies the new software for a public launch this fall.
Android has, or is soon to get, an incognito mode for the YouTube app, which will stop watched videos from showing up in your YouTube history. Google will still know exactly what you watch, of course. It’s just a way of keeping embarrassing movies out of your watched videos list.
iOS may or may not be getting the same feature, but that doesn’t matter. By using iOS’ (and the Mac’s) built-in tools, you can already watch YouTube videos without them showing up in your YouTube history. It even stops YouTube from tracking your history via cookies.
This week on The CultCast: Apple has issued a patch that significantly increases performance for all 2018 MacBook Pros, but there’s one glaring problem it doesn’t fix…. We talk benchmarks and real-world performance. Plus, we take a peek at the new HomePod features from iOS 12 beta, and we wrap up with your emails!
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.
Today we’ll see how to put a Shortcut into a reminder, so you can just tap the reminder alert to run it.
For this, we’ll use the new iOS 12 Shortcuts app, or Apple’s existing Workflow app. For instance, you could have a reminder that pops up every morning at 9AM, telling you to log your run. In the pop-up alert, right there on the lock screen, will be a button to execute a Shortcut/Workflow to do just that. Tap it, and you’ll be able to log your run via a pop up.
And of course this isn’t limited to fitness, nor even to time-based reminders.
HomePod is expected to get even smarter this fall when Apple rolls out a big software update.
A new report claims the $349 device will be able to handle phone calls, retrieve your voicemail, and run multiple timers. It could also give you the ability to search for songs by using their lyrics, and to translate languages.
iOS 12 users can finally enjoy Fortnite again after Apple’s latest beta fixed random game crashes.
A problem with downloading Netflix titles has also been eliminated, but a number of new bugs have been introduced with this release — including on that breaks the new Screen Time feature.
A fresh new version of iOS 12 is waiting for developers to download, bringing with it a fresh batch of fixes and some UI tweaks.
Apple released iOS 12 beta 4 this morning for both iPhone and iPad. The update arrived exactly two weeks after Apple dropped the last beta, which added more detailed Map data along with other improvements.
Yesterday, Apple’s iOS 11.4.1 update secured the USB Lightning port on iPhones and iPads. And already there is a workaround, allowing cops and criminals to retain access to the port, and then use their hacking tools to extract your private data.
What’s on your main iPad home screen? Is it organized so that you can find your most-used apps quickly? Or have you decided to arrange the icons by color? Or divided up the grid by adding a row of blank spaces? Those are pretty neat ideas, but today I’m going to suggest you do something even more radical. How about keeping your home screen entirely blank? No icons, no folders, nothing. Just the Dock, Spotlight search, and an easier-to-use iPad.
The second public beta of Apple’s huge iOS 12 updates has already arrived.
After seeding iOS 12 beta 3 to developers earlier this week, Apple just dropped iOS 12 public beta 2, allowing everyone to try the new UI tweaks and performance enhancements.
Apple has this week registered new iPads and Macs with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
The filings hint that a big refresh could be just around the corner. Recent reports have promised that Apple is preparing a slew of new devices for a late 2018 launch alongside the next-generation iPhone lineup.
Developers received an early 4th of July present from Apple today in the form of banging batch of new betas for iOS 12, watchOS 5 and tvOS 12.
The third beta for iOS 12 arrives two weeks after Apple seeded the last software update to developers that contained a number of UI tweaks and performance enhancements. iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV all received some software loving from Apple today, but it looks like the next macOS Mojave beta is still baking.
New evidence that confirms Apple is preparing a future iPad with Face ID has been spilled by the latest iOS 12 beta.
One developer has discovered that AvatarKit, the framework that powers Animoji, is now ready for iPad. It still requires a TrueDepth camera which can only be found in iPhone X for now, but it seems that will change when new iPads arrive this fall.
Apple’s Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro hasn’t been as big a hit as the company would have wished for, but it could make a comeback at an unlikely location: the iPhone.
A concept artist has imagined what it would look like if Apple brought the Touch Bar to iOS and while it may seem like an odd fit at first, it actually might be pretty useful.
Check it out:
In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: The public beta of iOS 12 is out now, so anyone can download it and install it on their device. But what does the new version of iOS actually do? Apple introduced Screen Time, the great new Do Not Disturb, and the powerful Siri Shortcuts at the WWDC 2018 keynote in June. But until you dig into them, you won’t have an idea how great these new features are, along with many more.
You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
Two weeks after the initial — and surprisingly solid — beta of iOS 12, comes the second update. iOS 12 beta 2 has tweaked the operating system in several places, mostly in Screen Time, which was quite sparse in the first round. Let’s take a look at what’s changed.
