iOS 13 - page 10

What’s new in iOS 13 beta 2

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iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The second iOS 13 and iPadOS betas bring both good news and bad. Unless you’re a total “thrill-seeker,” it’s still not a good idea to install these betas on your main iOS device. In fact, there will be far more spills than thrills: The code remains raw and buggy as hell.

I have iPadOS running on an old iPad. While this latest version seems much less ragged around the edges, many apps still crash. And I still can’t make the Slide Over apps hide themselves at the side of the screen. Nor do all my favorites appear in the Files app.

The good news is that, despite this, the latest betas offer several new features — and lots of stuff has been fixed. Let’s take a look at the highlights of what’s new in iOS 13 beta 2.

iOS 13 will read NFC tags in ID cards and passports in Germany

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German-ID-card-NFC
It’s already possible if you use Android.
Photo: Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat

iPhone users will be able to scan German ID cards, passports, and more when iOS 13 rolls out this fall, according to local authorities.

The functionality will allow digital versions of those documents to be carried on an iOS device so that they are always accessible. Recent reports have confirmed users in Japan will be able to do the same with national ID cards.

Mind games: How Apple sells us on high prices [Cult of Mac Magazine No. 301]

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Did you fall for Apple's psychological trick?
Did you fall for it?
Photo: meo/Pexels CC; Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

If the sky-high price of Apple’s new Pro Display XDR didn’t slap you silly, you probably fell for a clever psychological trick Cupertino often uses. (Either that or you know the actual cost of high-end reference monitors.)

Get the lowdown on Apple’s pricing mind game in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine for iOS. Or read on to get the rest of the week’s best Apple news, reviews and how-tos in your browser. We’re serving up a heaping helping of iOS 13 insight along with some fresh product reviews.

Everything you need to know about external hard drives and iPadOS

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Hook up any and all USB storage devices to your iPad.
Hook up any and all USB storage devices to your iPad.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

External storage support is one of the best new features in iPadOS 13. Even if you opted for the maximum iPad Pro storage capacity, you may often want to grab some movies from a hard drive, or save some songs and photos to a thumb drive to hand to a friend.

But how exactly does external storage work in iOS? Can you drag files between connected volumes? Can you even mount more than one drive at once? What about FAT32? Or HFS Plus? And do you have to eject them? Let’s find out.

Apple Pencil and QuickPath floating keyboard revolutionize iPad typing

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What can't the iPad do in iPadOS?
What can't the iPad do in iPadOS?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Were you ever drawing a diagram in the Notes app, and then realized you needed to type a note? Did you then find yourself frustrated at having to drop the Apple Pencil and type on the huge, half-screen QWERTY keyboard?

With iPadOS 13, Apple has removed that frustration. You still can’t do Newton-style handwriting and have it turn into text. But you can shrink the keyboard to a tiny floating panel, and use the Apple Pencil to swipe-type on it.

iOS 13’s NFC triggers bring Shortcuts to the real world

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With NFC shortcuts in iOS 13, this speaker could become a trigger to play your favorite podcast.
This speaker could become a trigger to play your favorite podcast.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The iOS 13 Shortcuts app brings plenty of radical changes — automatic scheduled and location-based shortcuts, for example — but one super-neat new feature will make a world of difference. Now, if you have a compatible iPhone, you can combine NFC tags with Shortcuts. That is, you can run any shortcut just by tapping your iPhone onto an NFC sticker.

Seriously. Pretty wild, right? You could tap your iPhone onto a sticker atop a speaker in your kitchen, and it would start playing the radio, for instance. Let’s check out how NFC shortcuts will work.

Apple will fix iPhone 8 Plus Portrait mode bug today

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iPhone Depth Control
iOS 12.3.2 will bring depth back to your Portrait photos.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple will roll out a new software update today to fix a Portrait mode bug on the iPhone 8 Plus.

iOS 12.3.2, which comes just two weeks after the release of iOS 12.3.1, is another minor update for most iPhone and iPad users. For those with an iPhone 8 Plus, however, it will bring depth back to Portrait photos.

Nailed it! Why WWDC 2019 was one for the ages [Cult of Mac Magazine No. 300]

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Cult of Mac Magazine No. 300 cover
That was one awesome WWDC!
Cover: Marty Cortinas/Cult of Mac

The warp-speed WWDC 2019 keynote truly delivered the goods. Tim Cook and his lieutenants took the wraps off tons of exciting new features coming in iOS 13, iPadOS, macOS Catalina, watchOS 6 and tvOS 13.

And then, in a hardware shocker, Apple even showed off an insanely powerful new Mac Pro.

Relive Apple’s epic presentation — and get our take on what it all means — in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine for iOS. Or read on to get the rest of the week’s best Apple news, reviews and how-tos in your browser.

Deleting unused apps is even easier in iOS 13

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App delete
There’s a new way to delete apps in iOS 13.
Photo: Cult of Mac

You know how when you go to the updates section in the App Store and you see that it’s taking forever for one app to download even though you never use it?

The days of that happening are finally going to be over once iOS 13. An unmentioned feature in iOS 13 lets users delete apps right from the App Store section so you don’t have to go hunt down the app icon.

Check it out in action:

5 new iOS 13 features you haven’t heard about yet

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iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

iPadOS and iOS 13 have gotten so many new features and tweaks, it’s hard to know where to start. We will continue to cover everything in-depth over the coming weeks and months, but here’s a little glimpse at some of the best new features in the newest version of iOS.

Catch our reactions to Apple’s legendary WWDC keynote, this week on The CultCast

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cultcast 391
WWDCs don't get more exciting than this.

This week on The CultCast: Our WWDC 2019 reactions! Apple keynotes don’t get more legendary than this one. Plus: Crazy cryptographic tech powers Apple’s new Find My app, and our favorite features of iOS 13, macOS Catalina, tvOS and watchOS.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain..

iOS 13 brings multi-cam capture to latest iPhones and iPads

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iOS-13-multi-cam-capture
You’ll be able to record with front- and rear-facing cameras for the first time.
Photo: Apple

iOS 13 and iPadOS will give recent iPhone and iPad users the ability to capture images and videos with their front- and rear-facing cameras simultaneously.

Apple says it is also possible to take advantage of multiple microphones to “shape” the sound that is captured. It encourages developers to leverage the new capabilities to bring picture-in-picture and spacial audio to their apps.

iPhone will soon protect you from endless spam calls

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Spam call
With iOS 13, calls like these can go straight to voicemail.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Billions of spam calls were made last year, but Apple is doing what it can to save us from the frustration of robocalls. iOS 13 will let users automatically send incoming calls to voicemail if they came from someone unknown. And this system is actually smarter than just checking the user’s phone book.

Apple has the wrong attitude toward mouse support on iPad [Opinion]

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An iPad trackpad?! Too bad it’s only a dream.
It could be so much better.
Photo: Brydge

Apple will finally bring mouse support to iPad (and iPhone) when it rolls out major software updates this fall — and that’s awesome. Finally, you will gain full control over your device without needing to lift a finger.

But I think Apple takes the wrong attitude when it comes to mouse support on iOS.

Its current approach could hold back development of the feature later on, and could negatively impact people who really need it. It also goes against Apple’s mission to make the iPad a laptop replacement.

iOS 13 safeguards private info stored in Contacts

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Gaia GPS
Giving your mapping app access to your address book shouldn’t also include your child’s SSN.
Photo: Gaia GPS

A change in iOS 13 blocks third-party applications from accessing the Notes field in the Contacts app. This is because many people have the bad habit of storing confidential information in this field, forgetting that they then give mapping, social networking and other types of apps access to all their Contacts data.

The change isn’t Apple fixing a security hole the company itself introduced. Instead, iPhone and iPad are compensating for users storing personal information insecurely.

Time and location triggers make Shortcuts far more useful in iOS 13

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Shortcuts iOS 13
This is Shortcuts in iOS 13. It looks great.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Apple’s Shortcuts app is already great, but in iOS 13 it gets even better. You can still create simple or complex workflows to do all kinds of tasks, from downloading YouTube videos or setting a quick meditation timer to resizing a whole folder of photos. But until now, you had to trigger those shortcuts manually.

In iOS 13, your iPhone or iPad can run a shortcut at a preset time or when you arrive at a specific location. This is huge.

Apple prods devs to give ‘Sign in with Apple’ top billing

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Sign in with Apple
Get ready to see this button everywhere.
Photo: Apple

Sign in with Apple could give Facebook and Google some serious headaches when it launches as part of iOS 13 this fall, however, Apple’s strict rules could bring some pushback.

Not only will Apple require all apps that use third-party login services like Facebook to also support Apple’s privacy-focused login service, but it is also asking that the button be placed above competitors’ options.

How to use a PS4 or Xbox One controller with iOS 13 and iPadOS

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Xbox One controller Apple EarPods
Controller support is better than ever.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

iOS 13, iPadOS, and tvOS 13 will finally allow you to play games with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One controller.

That means there’s no need to purchase a pricey MFi controller that is restricted by Apple’s outdated gamepad guidelines. Simply connect one of the controllers you already own and you’re good to go.

Here’s how to get set up.