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Tame your notifications with iOS 12’s Instant Tuning

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Instant Tuning lets you tweak alert settings as you get them.
Instant Tuning lets you tweak alert settings as you get them.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

“Instant Tuning” is the rather odd name that Apple gave an excellent new iOS 12 feature. You know how some apps on your iPhone keep popping up notifications you never want or need? And you keep telling yourself that you will dig into the Settings app and switch them off? Only you never, ever get around to this annoying busywork? Instant Tuning is for you.

Now, when a notification comes in, you can access the notifications settings for that app right there in the notification itself. This is huge, and makes culling your notifications way easier. Which in turn makes your most important notifications, like text messages or that sweet eBay auction you’re following, stand out more.

How to control Grouped Notifications in iOS 12

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One day I'll run out of street-sign photos to illustrate notification how-tos, but not today.
One day I'll run out of street-sign photos to illustrate notification how-tos, but not today.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

One of iOS 12’s big changes is Notifications Center. It gets the seriously great Do Not Disturb at Bedtime feature, and it also now groups notifications, stacking them per-app in order to reduce clutter and increase clarity on the lock screen and elsewhere.

Notification grouping is totally automatic, but there are new settings that let you customize it if the auto options don’t suit you. Let’s take a look.

Get a hands-on look at watchOS 5’s new Apple Watch features

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watchOS 5
We've had time to play with the developer beta of watchOS 5, here's what's new.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of Mac Even if you already saw the WWDC 2018 keynote where Apple showed off watchOS 5, there are tons of features that got brushed over — and some did not get mentioned at all.

As is our duty, we installed the first developer beta of watchOS 5 and gave it a full run-through so we can show you all the new features in action. Check out the video below.

iOS 12 wish list: All the features we absolutely need

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iOS 12 wish list
Here's everything we want from Apple's next major update.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

WWDC is right around the corner, which means we’re about to get our very first look at Apple’s next major update to iOS.

We’re expecting big things from iOS 12, including a whole host of improvements that will make our devices more stable, and plenty of welcome bug fixes. Apple will surely surprise us with some nice new features, too.

Here’s our lengthy wish list for this update, which includes a Home screen overhaul, a more powerful FaceTime, better multitasking, and more!

How to track flights in the Mac’s Notification Center

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TodayFlights
TodayFlights tracks flights, and nothing else.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Tracking flights is a bit of a pain. Siri can do it, and if you’re a real plane spotter, you might even trouble yourself to find an app to do it. But for most of us, we track a flight once in a while, whenever someone’s coming to visit. We just want something that is simple to use, and the disappears. That something is TodayFlights, a neat app that adds a flight tracker to the Mac’s Notification Center Today View.

Apple teases iOS 10 users with new iOS 11 features

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iPhone 7 iOS 11
A redesigned Control Center is one of many changes to look forward to in iOS 11.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has begun promoting new iOS 11 features to iOS 10 users ahead of the update’s public release.

The Tips app is issuing notifications that tease things like iOS 11’s redesigned Control Center, giving users a chance to preview them before the mobile operating system’s release in coming weeks.

Apple seeds new public betas for iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra

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The best gesture in iOS 11 isn't just for iPad.
The best gesture in iOS 11 isn't just for iPad.
Photo: Apple

Members of Apple’s public beta software program can now test the latest builds of iOS 11, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra just one day after Apple dropped the last big batch of beta updates on developers.

The third public beta of iOS 11 contains all of the changes Apple seeded to developers yesterday with iOS 11 beta 4. Along with a number of new bug fixes, the new iOS 11 update brings some new UI improvements like new icons for some stock apps and some changes to the notification center.

The evolution of iOS: From iPhone OS to iOS 11

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Original iPhone running iOS 1
A lot has change since 2007.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone turns 10 The operating system that powers the iPhone has undergone radical changes since Apple launched the device 10 years ago.

As part of Cult of Mac’s collaboration with Wired UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, we took a look at the evolution of iOS, from a simple touchscreen operating system lacking key features into a true computing behemoth with more tools than any one user could possibly need.

iOS 10 notifications redesign is better than the real deal

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Grouping would make iOS 10 notifications much better.
Grouping would make iOS 10 notifications much better.
Photo: Zuno Young/Medium

The paint is still drying on iOS 10 after just being unveiled earlier this week, but one UI designer has already come up with an amazing redesign of the Notifications screen, and we hope Apple’s paying attention.

Notifications have a bigger emphasis than ever on the lock screen now that Slide to Unlock is dead, however the way Apple displays them is kind of ugly if you get multiple notifications from the same app.