Apple has moved on to the Release Candidate phase of the beta cycle for macOS Tahoe 26.3, iOS 26.3, and iPadOS 26.3. The new RC builds are available for users participating in the beta programs.

Release Candidate builds indicate the end of the beta testing period, absent any major bugs or issues, and also serve as a way of determining that a public software update release is close. With the RC build released today, it’s reasonable to expect that the final versions of iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, and macOS Tahoe 26.3, could be released within the next week or two.

No major new features or changes are expected in any of these software updates. It’s unclear which bugs are resolved in the latest RC builds, but there are some prominent frustrating issues that have irritated a large number of OS 26 users. (For example, Tahoe Mac users are hoping Reduce Transparency actually works again, but don’t hold your breath given Apple has released multiple updates without fixing that problem).

It is rumored that new MacBook Pro M5 models will be released in the near future, possibly even next week by press release, and it’s likely that macOS Tahoe 26.3 will debut to support that new hardware.

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If your iPad is running iPadOS 26, you might have already experimented with Windowed App mode which allows apps to be in self-contained windows, allowing for windowed multitasking more like a desktop operating system interface. That’s obviously quite a different experience than the traditional iPad interface, which was more single task oriented with a focused app view of one single app running in full screen.

If you’d like to switch from Windowed app mode or Stage Manager back to Full Screen app mode, read along and your iPad will be running full screen apps again by default in no time.

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Apple has released important software updates to a variety of older devices, including older model Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch’s. These new updates are released as macOS Big Sur 11.7.11 and macOS Catalina Security Update 2026-001 Catalina, iOS 16.7.14, iPadOS 16.7.14, watchOS 10.6.2, watchOS 9.6.4, and watchOS 6.3.1.

According to release notes from Apple, these software updates extend necessary device activation certificates, allowing for services like iMessage and FaceTime to continue working after January 2027. Without installing these updates, device activation, FaceTime, and iMessage services, will stop working. This makes these updates important to install on any eligible device, though there’s about 11 months technically before the features stop working.

Specific devices eligible for these updates include many that have not otherwise been updated or supported in quite some time, including:

• Apple Watch, as watchOS 10.6.2, watchOS 9.6.4, watchOS 6.3.1: Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, and Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, SE, SE 2, and Ultra
• Mac, as Security Update 2026-001 Catalina and macOS Big Sur 11.7.11
• iPhone & iPad, as iOS 16.7.14 and iPadOS 16.7.14 : iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation

The updates included in these new software updates appear to be the same patch that was included in iOS 12.5.8 for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 series.

If you have an older model iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch, you’ll want to check to make sure you don’t miss these updates, or those issued the week prior, with the same patch.

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Image Capture has long been a preferred method of getting photos from an iPhone to a computer or external drive, but something I have run into fairly often over the last several years is that Image Capture occasionally randomly disconnects the iPhone during an image transfer. This obviously ends the image transfer in a failure, and it can be difficult if not impossible to figure out where the transfer left off and then begin again, leading to a hassle as you begin another transfer of images, and so on. When this happens, you’ll see an error message that is direct in statement but void of causation, saying simply that “Camera disconnected while importing”.

Having your iPhone disconnect while trying to transfer photos with Image Capture is obviously incredibly annoying, so you’ll be happy to hear there might be a very easy fix for this, though the solution is probably not what you might expect.

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With macOS Tahoe 26 and newer, you can change and customize the color of your folders as seen within the Finder. This is a fun way to customize the look and feel of using your Mac, and yet it’s simple to implement.

There are a variety of interesting ways to customize the Liquid Glass appearance of your Mac with macOS Tahoe, and using custom folder colors can really set the personalization apart of your Mac.

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You are not hallucinating, and you did not step into a time machine; yes, this is really an article about iOS 12 updates on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus!

If you or a loved one have an older model iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus, or original iPad Air, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, or iPod touch 6th gen, you’ll want to fire up Software Update and install the latest available system software version on those devices so that they will be able to continue using core device features.

Specifically, iOS 12.5.8 and iPadOS 12.5.8 include updated certificates to allow older iPhone and iPad models to continue using iMessage, FaceTime, and device activation features, after January 2027. Without installing these updates, those core features will stop working at the beginning of next year as the necessary certificate in prior versions then expires.

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Apple has released iOS 26.2.1 and iPadOS 26.2.1 for iPhone and iPad, respectively. These are relatively small system software updates that include support for the freshly released AirTags 2nd generation, along with unspecified bug fixes.

Separately, Apple has also released minor updates to watchOS 26.2.1 for Apple Watch, along with iOS 18.7.4, iOS 16.7.13, iOS 15.8.6, and even iOS 12.5.8 (!) for older iPhones and iPads. There are no updates available for macOS Tahoe 26, and there are no available security updates for any Apple devices either.

The main purpose behind the 26.2.1 update appears to be to support the newly released AirTags 2nd generation, which Apple quietly released today with improvements in the precision finding feature and range, though you will need an iPhone 15 or newer to take advantage of those features. Because there do not appear to be any security improvements, nor details about specific bug fixes, and the updates themselves are quite small, it’s reasonable to assume nothing major has been resolved or included in this update, and there may not be the typical urgency with installing these updates, unless you’re trying to use the new AirTags with your device.

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Apple has moved on to the third beta version of iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, and macOS Tahoe 26.3, which are now available for beta testers on enrolled devices.

No major changes or new features are expected in these upcoming versions of system software, so if you’re not thrilled with the Liquid Glass design quirks or any existing bugs or complaints with the OS 26 suite, you’ll have to keep waiting.

While running these beta versions of system software is impractical for most users, keeping on top of beta releases can be helpful to see what is coming down the pipeline in terms of updated OS features, changes, and potential bug fixes. With widespread user complaints regarding the redesign and Liquid Glass appearance of the entire OS 26 suite, there is some renewed interest in beta builds by more casual users who are hoping for some significant changes and improvements to the user interfaces and user experiences. Those users will be let down however, because the iOS 26.3 betas and macOS Tahoe 26.3 betas, as yet anyway, do not include any major redesigns, improvements, or changes. For example, Reduce Transparency continues to not work fully in macOS Tahoe, rendering the popular Accessibility feature basically useless for improving legibility on the Mac.

Outside of betas, iOS 26.2.1 and iPadOS 26.2.1 were released earlier with unspecified bug fixes along with support for the 2nd gen AirTag, though macOS Tahoe 26.2 remains the most recent public build of Tahoe.

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If you’re a command line enthusiast and you’re the type of Mac user who likes to keep an eye on your system resources and resource utilization, you’ll likely enjoy checking out the btop command. btop offers real-time visualization of CPU usage, memory use, processes, network activity, and disk activity. You can even use btop as a task manager, and kill processes directly from within btop, making btop kind of like Activity Monitor, but for the Terminal.

The btop tool is open source and cross platform, so while we’re focusing on MacOS here, you can also install it on Linux or Windows.

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One of the big complaints about the Liquid Glass interface of iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 is that the user interface can be challenging to use, read, differentiate elements, and interact with. There are various toggles and settings that Apple has placed under the “Accessibility” category that can significantly improve the legibility and experience of interacting with the Liquid Glass interface on iPhone and iPad however, and one of those is something called “Show Borders”.

As you might have guessed by the name, “Show Borders” will draw a border around many interface elements that are otherwise low contrast and blended, making the Liquid Glass interface easier to use and quickly differentiate various visual elements and cues. This feature is available for both iPhone and iPad running the iOS/iPadOS 26 operating systems, but some users may find dit particularly advantageous on the iPad using the window-based multitasking system.

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One of the more intriguing new features introduced in iPadOS 26 for iPad is the optional windowed app mode for multitasking. Windowed apps behave very similar to application windows in MacOS or Windows, allowing you to have multiple simultaneous apps and documents open at the same time, often interloping each other. If you’ve ever felt like this windowed app functionality was missing from your iPad experience, you’ll be thrilled to have this feature on iPadOS now. And even if that’s not the case, it’s worth trying out for iPad users in general, because some of you might decide you prefer windowed apps anyway.

Windowed app mode on iPad is best used with a Magic Keyboard case, or with an external keyboard and mouse in general whether that be through Bluetooth or Universal Control and a Mac. It also generally works best on the bigger screen iPad models, as multiple windows can feel a bit more cluttered on the smaller screens.

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The second beta versions of iOS 26.3 beta, macOS Tahoe 26.3 beta, and ipadOS 26.3 beta, are available now for testing by those participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software.

The most recent public stable versions of system software are currently iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, and macOS Tahoe 26.2.

Perhaps iOS 26.3 and macOS Tahoe 26.3 will patch a few bugs, but whether or not it will resolve some of the longstanding complaints that users have expressed with the new system software versions remains a question. Given that multiple OS 26 point releases have come out without resolving some of the significant issues with interface legibility and wi-fi issues, it’s better to assume that no major changes are coming.

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It’s not uncommon for more casual iPad users to not aggressively update their iPadOS system software. Sure, Apple enables auto-update by default nowadays, but that feature can still be interrupted sometimes, and for many iPad users, the auto-update feature is only applying updates to iOS 18, or even iOS 17, and they’re not being upgraded yet to iPadOS 26.

Additionally, many new iPad owners and buyers have received an iPad with the older iOS 18 system software running on the device, which might be desirable to some users, whereas for many others they want to use iPadOS 26 to gain access to its new features. If your iPad is running iPadOS 18, either by choice, accident, or perhaps it shipped with iPadOS 18 preinstalled, this article will show you how to update to the latest version of iPadOS 26.

iPadOS 26 is not a small upgrade to iPad, with many compelling new features like Mac-like Windowing Apps mode for improve multitasking, an auto-hidden menu bar accessible by cursor, the all new Liquid Glass interface style, a redesigned Lock Screen, custom wallpapers in Messages, improvements to Files app, Preview app, Phone app, and more. Let’s get this installed on your iPad.

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If you’re a Mac user who has recently discovered their Logitech mouse or keyboard is not working suddenly, or not working properly with missing customizations and functionality, it might be because of an issue with an expired security certificate with Logitech devices on the Mac.

Specifically, if you use Logi Options+ or G HUB with your Logitech mouse or keyboard on the Mac, then it is possible that your customizations, remapping, gestures, scroll behavior, and app specific profiles, may have stopped working. If this is the case, you’ll need to install a new version of the necessary Logitech software to correct the problem.

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Got an old Mac or two laying around that you want to use with the modern World Wide Web? If that Mac is running Snow Leopard, you might just be even more life out of those old Macs, thanks to PowerFox.

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If you’re an iPad user and you really don’t like the iPadOS 26 update for whatever reason, you probably already looked around for ways to downgrade iPadOS 26 back to iPadOS 18, and you likely found that it is no longer possible to perform that downgrade. This is because Apple has locked down iPadOS 18 firmware by no longer digitally signing it, making it impossible to downgrade back down to that iPadOS version once your iPad is already running iPadOS 26 (or later).

But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get an iPad running iPadOS 18 again.

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If you’re a longtime computer user and a Tetris fan, you might remember, long ago in a land far far away, when Microsoft released Tetris for Windows 3.11. But you don’t need to dust off your 1990 PC and a handful of old floppy disks from the attic to relive this experience, because now the Internet Archive offers the full vintage puzzle game and it’s playable right in your web browser.

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Want to start off the new year with a great fitness tracking device and cool gadget? The Apple Watch Series 11 is available from Amazon at $100 off with quick delivery for most areas. Whether you want to grab an Apple Watch for yourself, or perhaps you wanted one for Christmas and Santa didn’t deliver, or maybe you want to get a watch for a loved one, this is a great deal.

• Get Apple Watch Series 11 for $299 ($100 off)

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