Apple added full transcript search to its podcast directory in iOS 13. Even though you can’t actually read the podcast transcripts, this is still huge. You can search across the content of podcast episodes the way you can search websites with DuckDuckGo (or other search engines) today.
We’re up to the eighth beta of iOS 13, but that’s not nearly the record for iOS betas. That honor goes to iOS 11. It might seem like we’ve had a lot of betas this time around, but two years ago, Apple seeded 13 betas before hitting the Gold Master stage.
With just a few weeks left until the expected iPhone 11 launch, it seems unlikely that record will fall. In terms of sheer number of betas, iOS 13 is not even close. But what about total time spent in beta? Or the fewest betas? Let’s look at the chart.
Apple just seeded the seventh Developer beta of the next iOS and iPadOS version. This is the latest stage of a debugging process expected to end in September.
UPDATE: iOS 13 Public beta 6 just launched as well, so anyone who wants to try this new version can. The same goes for iPadOS Public beta 6.
After spending time playing with the iPadOS 13 developer beta and iOS 13 beta , it’s clear there are tons of nice changes coming to Apple’s mobile platforms this fall.
Cupertino highlighted the biggest ones at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. However, there’s a bunch of smaller stuff they didn’t tell us about. While there are hundreds of “under the hood” changes, these are the best iOS 13 features Apple didn’t announce.
iOS 13 is cracking down on potty mouths. Apple’s built-in Notes app automatically censors handwritten curse words. However, it seems words considered to be less offensive are ignored.
The iPadOS beta Apple introduced this week offers something none of its predecessors did: reliability. Stability, even. After days of testing on an iPad Pro, I found it close enough to the final version that an average person can access a mouse or thumbdrive with their iPad nearly hassle-free. That hasn’t been true of earlier betas.
Less rigorous testing of iOS 13 on an iPhone XS Max indicates it’s also relatively stable.
Apple just introduced a fifth beta of iOS 13 to the general public. All the really significant new features appeared in earlier betas, but this one does have a nice tweak: switching to Dark Mode takes only pushing a button.
Apple also released the closely-related iPadOS 13 Public beta 5, as did tvOS 13.
This may seem like a frivolous how-to. But seeing as I couldn’t work out how to switch off shuffle Apple Music tracks on my iPhone in iOS 12, I think it’s worth a look — if only so dummies like me can look it up.
BTW, you can find the Apple Music repeat and shuffle controls in iOS 12 by swiping up on the Now Playing panel to reveal the buttons at the bottom, if you need to know.
So, let’s take a look at how Apple changed things in the iOS 13 Music app.
Apple seeded iOS 13 Developer beta 6 this afternoon, slightly more than a week after the last pre-release update. Until now, the company has generally introduced new versions every two weeks, so it’s accelerating the rate.
Tablet users also got the sixth iPadOS 13 Developer beta today containing the same changes as the iPhone one. There are fresh betas for watchOS 5 beta 6 and tvOS 13 beta 6, too.
You know how you can add an avatar to pretty much any social app ever, and all your friends, family, contacts, etc., will see it? Well, in iOS 13 you can finally do the same for iMessages.
No longer will you have to hope that your contacts use a nice photo of you, or worry that your boss is using a picture of a cute pig or pussycat to represent you in the group chat. Now you can add and share your own avatar, or even a Memoji. Let’s see how.
Up until the latest developer beta 5, the iOS 13 share sheet has been a mess. At the top is the truly excellent quick-share row, which automatically suggests sharing destinations that you use often — iMessage and email contacts, AirDrop destinations, and so on. Then there was the familiar row of app icons.
However, below that came a single long list of B&W labels, mixing up all the other sharing options, along with all of your shortcuts. It was impossible to use. It also felt like a placeholder for a new UI design.
Now, that new design has been added, and it’s … OK. There’s still no color differentiation for your shortcuts, and the list is still too long, but you can customize some sections. Let’s take a look at the new iOS 13 share sheet options.
The big news in iOS 13 developer beta 5 is that the share sheet has finally been fixed up. Previously, it has been almost impossible to use in the iOS 13 beta, thanks to pretty much every share option being lumped into one never-ending list.
We have a post all about the new share sheet in iOS 13. Check it out to see what’s new on that front. For everything else, keep reading here.
We already know that Apple has completely made over the Reminders app in iOS 13, adding a new, more powerful layout, and some excellent quick-entry tools so you don’t have to tap the screen like a million times just to remember to take out the trash when you get home.
But Reminders has also gotten its virtual claws deeper into the rest of iOS. Today we’ll see two great integrations that you might not have heard about yet.
If you currently use a third-party bookmark manager, you might be able to ditch it when you upgrade your iPhone or iPad to iOS 13. The main new feature is that you can now save all your open tabs into a bookmark folder, then reopen all the links in that folder with one tap. But that’s not all. Thanks to iPadOS’ new contextual menus, the built-in bookmarks got way easier to use.
There’s good ness and bad news in iOS 13 beta 4 — the good news is that the next version of iOS has gotten some polish, lots of bug fixes, and at least one great new feature. The bad news is that new glitches have been introduced, and that the share sheet is still way, way harder to use than the current iOS 12 version. But let’s take a look at what’s new.
The Spotify app for iPad is finally fit for multitasking.
Its latest update brings Split View and Slide Over support — just three years after the features were introduced in iOS 9. That means Spotify will no longer take over your whole screen.
iOS 13 automatically turns all your Memoji into iMessage stickers. Even better, anyone can create new Memoji, on any device. You no longer need an iPhone or iPad with a depth-sensing Face ID camera to create them.
Using the new Memoji creator tool in the Messages app, you can do almost everything that can be done with Face ID. Here’s how to make and use Memoji stickers in iOS 13.
Microsoft has started developing new Xbox controllers for mobile gaming. Prototype images reveal how the gamepads might attach to the sides of your iPhone and iPad for portable play.
The controllers would be ideal for Microsoft’s upcoming Project xCloud service, which will allow players to stream Xbox games to their smartphones and tablets.
I use my iPad for almost all my computing. I write, read, record and edit music, edit photos — you name it. I’ve used my decade-old Mac less and less in recent years, as the iPad, or rather iOS, has gotten ever more capable.
But this week I dusted off my Mac, ordered some extra RAM (yes, it’s still available!), and fired it up. Why? Because, as powerful as the iPad is, the Mac is still way, way better for some tasks. In my case, that task is recording and editing music.
In iOS 13, Shortcuts has gotten some pretty wild new powers. It can run shortcuts automatically, in the background, for example, based on the time of day, or your location. You can tap your iPhone on an RFID tag, and it’ll fire off a shortcut. You can have your iPhone hand off a podcast from your AirPods to an AirPlay speaker when you arrive home.
And, as we’ll see today, you can have your iPhone or iPad download and load new wallpaper automatically, so you can see a fresh backdrop every morning.
In iPadOS, Safari sports a brand-new popup menu that lets you rearrange, copy and close tabs just by long-pressing on them. It offers only a few options, but they prove so useful that you will use this trick all the time.
Check out yet another great Safari feature in iPadOS.
Steam Link just got its first big update since finally hitting the App Store on iOS. This release — version 1.1.36 — brings the ability to remap controller buttons and a number of big improvements.
The USB port on your iPad has gotten a massive update in iOS 13/iPadOS. You can now plug in pretty much everything except a printer, and have it Just Work™. We already know this from Apple’s own PR and WWDC announcements. But what exactly does work when you plug it in? I decided to try it. I took my old test iPad (a 1st-generation iPad Pro) on a tour around various friends’ homes, and plugged stuff in. Here’s what happened.
Apple significantly improved mouse support in the latest iPadOS 13 beta for developers. Most notably, the cursor size and color became controllable. And scrolling is much smoother.
These and other changes are very good news to those who intend to regularly employ a mouse when using this tablet with a keyboard.
In iOS 13 and iPadOS, the Wi-Fi connections get a lot of changes. In addition to the familiar Personal Hotspot connection, you can now use and share a new Instant Hotspot. Plus, you can see all your connections at a glance in the revamped Wi-Fi settings screen. Let’s take a look.
