Apple has issued Release Candidate versions of iOS 14.4, iPadOS 14.4, macOS Big Sur 11.2, tvOS 14.4, and watchOS 7.3 to users who are involved in the beta testing programs.

Both developer beta and public beta testers can now access the release candidate builds of the various operating systems. A release candidate typically indicates a final version is coming soon, which would be available to the general public.

None of the new system software versions are expecting major new features, and instead will likely focus on bug fixes, minor improvements, and small enhancements and changes to the various Apple operating systems. There are a few small new features included in iOS 14.4 related to Homepods, for example.

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Using a mouse or trackpad with iPad is easier than ever before thanks to the latest iPadOS versions having full and direct support for pointer devices. No longer is mouse and trackpad support relegated to Accessibility as it was in earlier versions of system software, now it’s main stage.

Setting up a mouse or trackpad, and customizing the appearance and behavior of the cursor / pointer in iPadOS, are all quite easy once you learn how it works. We’ll walkthrough the process for iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Mini, running any version of iPadOS at 14 or newer, and with any compatible Bluetooth mouse or cursor.

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Do you want to use a different payment method for making purchases on the App Store on the Mac? Perhaps your credit card got expired and you want to add your new card to your Apple ID account? Well, you’ll be happy to that it’s pretty easy to change your default payment method on the Mac, similar to how it’s done on iPhone or iPad

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Some Mac users feel macOS Big Sur is slower, lagging, or has worse performance on their Macs compared to prior versions of macOS system software. If you have noticed a performance degradation since updating to or installing macOS Big Sur, there may be good reason for that slowness, or it may be due to a variety of other factors. Don’t fret, as there very well could be a simple solution.

We’ll walk through some possible reasons as to why macOS Big Sur feels slow on a Mac, as well as covering some advice and general tips and tricks to speed things back up again.

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The Safari browser has a hidden history clearing option which allows Mac users to clear their web browser history in Safari while keeping other website data and site cookies from the same time period. In other words, this could be used to remove web browser history of accessing particular web pages, but while maintaining login and other cookie information to those visited webpages. This is a helpful option that is in contrast to the default clearing web history option in Safari for Mac OS, which removes all website history as well as removing website data and cookies as well.

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Need to restore your Apple Watch? Did you upgrade the Apple Watch you have to a newer model? Perhaps, you accidentally set it up as a new device and you want all the data you had on your old Apple Watch? If so, you may be interested in learning how you can restore your Apple Watch from a previous Apple Watch backup.

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Are you looking for a privacy-focused messaging app that keeps your data secure with end-to-end encryption for text messages? Telegram might just be the answer you’re looking for. You may have heard of this app already, which has been around for years, but it has become more popular due to the vast array of privacy features it offers. Telegram is somewhat similar to Signal in this regard, but of course it’s a different app and protocol. Telegram is also cross-platform compatible, meaning you can use it on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and Android too, and communicate back and forth between anyone using those devices and the Telegram app as well.

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Got an iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 mini, and now you’re wondering how to put the device into Recovery Mode? Whether you’re new to Apple’s iOS ecosystem or you’re upgrading from an iPhone with home button, you may be interested in learning how you can put one of the new devices into recovery mode, which can be helpful for troubleshooting purposes.

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Do you use your headphones for listening to music and watching videos on your iPhone? If so, you can now monitor your headphone audio levels right from your device, without installing any third-party apps.

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If you’re new to iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12 mini, you might be wondering how you can forcibly restart the device. Whether you made the switch from an Android device, or if you’re upgrading from an older iPhone model with Touch ID, you will find force restarting the iPhone 12 series to be easy, but it is a bit different from some other devices.

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If you use the built-in Shortcuts app to perform automated tasks on your iPhone or iPad, you may have noticed how you get a banner-style notification every time a shortcut is executed. Some users may want to disable these notifications, especially if it’s a feature that they frequently use.

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Wondering how you can turn off and turn on the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max models? Whether you’re new to the iPhone platform from Android, or just new to the iPhone 12 series, you might find it useful to know how to power on and power off the devices.

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Your Apple Watches contain all kinds of information that you probably don’t want to lose, so backing it up is important. Your contacts, health data, and more are all stored on your Apple Watch and the health data, in particular, is all absolutely something you can’t replace should it go missing. That’s why backing everything up is vital.

But we have good news, your Apple Watch is easy to backup, yet you can’t manually back up your Apple Watch! Wait, that’s bad news isn’t it? No – let us explain.

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Interested in setting up and using Signal messenger on iPhone? For those who are unfamiliar, Signal is a privacy-oriented messaging application that lets you send and receive encrypted messages across various platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. In addition to sending and receiving encrypted text messages, images and other media, you can also make encrypted video and voice calls with Signal too.

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Want to run macOS Big Sur but don’t have a computer on the list of officially compatible Macs with macOS 11?

If you’re an advanced user who is comfortable with running unsupported system software on unsupported hardware, and you’re feeling adventurous, there are some solutions to install and run macOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs, but it’s nowhere near as straight forward or simple as installing Big Sur on an officially supported Mac is.

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Do you have an iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12 Pro Max? If so, you may want to learn how you can put your device into DFU mode. Whether you’re new to the iOS ecosystem or you’re upgrading from an older iPhone with Touch ID, you’ll find DFU mode mode to be beneficial in cases of severe troubleshooting, or perhaps even downgrading a devices iOS version.

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If you have an Apple Silicon Mac, you can install and run iPhone and iPad apps directly on the Mac.

The new Apple Silicon Macs have the ability to not only run Mac apps natively and through Rosetta 2, but iOS and iPadOS apps too, bringing a plethora of apps and games to the Mac that were previously not available on the platform.

This capability is limited to new Macs with Apple Silicon chips, like the M1 series of MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, and of course future Macs will be running Apple Silicon chips too. If you do not have an Apple Silicon Mac, the capability will not be available to that hardware.

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Apple has released the second beta versions of iPadOS 14.4 for iPad, iOS 14.4 for iPhone, MacOS Big Sur 11.2 for Mac, tvOS 14.4 for Apple TV, and watchOS 7.3 for Apple Watch.

The new beta builds are available for both public beta and developer beta testers on any eligible device.

While no major new features are expected in these nexts releases, it’s probable they will focus on bug fixes and refine existing capabilities within the operating systems.

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