Sometimes you just don’t want your phone to ring, chirp, or even vibrate. Maybe you’re asleep, in an important meeting, having dinner with family, meditating, playing a game, or simply enjoying some quiet time. Apple’s Focus feature on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac can silence those interruptions, but Focus is considerably more complex than the […]
Read moreMany people assume that storing files in iCloud Drive, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive means those files are backed up. After all, the files exist on remote servers maintained by large companies with professional IT teams and redundant storage. But that doesn’t mean they are backed up. Cloud storage is tremendously useful and can […]
Read moreIn macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple has made it easier to customize folder appearance in the Finder. Control-click any folder and choose Customize Folder. In the panel that appears, click a colored circle to apply that color and then select an icon to display on the folder. Click the Emoji button to choose from the full […]
Read moreApple offers several simple ways to share Wi-Fi network passwords. When someone nearby tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and they are in your Contacts app, you will be automatically prompted to share the network password with them. Additionally, in the Passwords app, you can display a Wi-Fi […]
Read moreColumn view in the Finder has an annoying tendency to either show overly wide columns that waste space or truncate long filenames, forcing you to drag a column divider to see more of the name. In macOS 26.1 Tahoe, Apple added an option to the Finder’s View Options window that automatically adjusts column widths to […]
Read moreHave you noticed that when you restart your Mac or relaunch an app, your previous windows and documents sometimes reappear exactly as you left them, but at other times you’re greeted with a clean slate? This behavior is controlled by Resume, a technology introduced in OS X 10.7 Lion back in 2011. Resume automatically reopens […]
Read moreWe can’t always guarantee optimal lighting for video calls, especially when using laptops on the go. A new feature in macOS 26.2 Tahoe called Edge Light might help. It’s a video effect that uses the outermost pixels of your Mac’s display to create a bright white rectangle that illuminates your face during video calls. It […]
Read moreA new feature for Apple Music subscribers in the Music app in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 is AutoMix, which Apple says causes songs to “transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music.” It fades between songs as a DJ would, but it’s not always […]
Read moreIn earlier eras of word processing, users were much more likely to encounter explanations of document structure—not because everyone had to become an expert, but because knowledge was shared differently. Software shipped with detailed manuals, user groups and training classes focused on how documents worked under the hood, and power users routinely shared mental models […]
Read moreRecording a task in Apple’s Reminders app on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad is just the first step—the app captures what you need to do—but what matters more is being reminded to take action at the right moment. (The most important step, of course, is following through, but that’s on you.) Here’s how to configure […]
Read moreApple has now sufficiently refined macOS 26 Tahoe to make an upgrade worthwhile for interested users. You don’t need to upgrade immediately, but there are no strong reasons for most people to delay further. Unlike last year, when Apple was releasing new Apple Intelligence features with each macOS 15 Sequoia update, the company launched nearly […]
Read moreIf you use certain apps or documents regularly, you can ensure they’re ready to go after a restart by manually adding them to your Login Items list. Some login items are also added automatically by apps that want to be available at all times. Either way, when the Mac boots, it automatically opens all login […]
Read moreAdobe’s Creative Cloud apps—Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—are best-in-class, and for many people, they’re essential. But if you’re paying $70 per month for a Creative Cloud subscription even though you don’t need the full power of Adobe’s apps, consider Canva’s new Affinity app, available for free for macOS and Windows, with iPadOS coming soon. The extremely […]
Read moreIt’s easy to assume your backup app—whether it’s Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Backblaze, Retrospect, or something else—is quietly doing its job. But it’s possible for a bug to corrupt backups or for a destination disk to fail silently, such that you can’t restore backed-up data. We’ve seen this happen! For peace of mind, set […]
Read moreIf you lose or break the power adapter that came with your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, make sure to replace it with a charger that meets or exceeds the machine’s required wattage. A charger with too low a wattage may result in little or no charging (or even battery drain while working), and it […]
Read moreSpam is one of the many banes of modern existence. While we receive more email spam than anything else, interruptions from unwanted phone calls and text messages are even more annoying. Apple has added various features over the years to help control spam calls and messages, but none have completely solved the problem. The problem […]
Read moreApple’s fall harvest has yielded the new M5 chip, leading to updates for the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro, the iPad Pro lineup, and the Vision Pro. All three benefit from the M5’s significant performance boosts, but remain mostly unchanged otherwise. Availability starts on October 22. We anticipate that Apple will release M5 versions of the […]
Read moreIf a Mac running macOS 26 Tahoe experiences certain kinds of problems, it might automatically restart and launch a new Recovery Assistant. It will prompt you to unlock your disk if needed and to connect to a Wi-Fi network—an Internet connection is required. Apple doesn’t specify precisely what Recovery Assistant will do to recover your […]
Read moreApple does a good job providing accessibility options for users who experience issues with vision, hearing, motor control, and other accessibility needs. Nearly everyone will benefit from these features at some point in their lives. To encourage support for Apple’s accessibility features and assist users in finding compatible apps, the App Store now includes Accessibility […]
Read moreThose who prefer keeping their hands on the keyboard may appreciate Apple’s addition of a new shortcut in macOS 15 Sequoia. Instead of Control-clicking to open a contextual menu with commands to apply to the current selection, you can press Control-Return. Since it’s so new, it doesn’t work in some older apps or those that […]
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