Apple has issued a second Release Candidate build of iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, and macOS Monterey 12.1 to all users who are enrolled in the beta testing programs for Apple system software.

RC, which stands for Release Candidate, typically is indicative of the finalized version of software that gets shipped to the public. The release of a second release candidate build likely means a notable bug or security issue was discovered and thus the RC build was updated, and it’s unlikely the RC 2 build includes any major changes or features.

With the RC 2 build being issued, it is reasonable to expect macOS Monterey 12.1, iOS 15.2, and iPadOS 15.2 to be released to the general public in the near future, possibly next week.

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Did you get a HomePod or the HomePod Mini recently? If you’re new to the smart speaker, you may be wondering how to handle basic operations of the devices, including using the physical controls on the device. We’re here to help you get started with using the controls on HomePod and HomePod Mini.

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Need to take a full web page screen shot on the Mac? There’s a very easy way to do it, but it does not include using the Mac screenshot tools since the feature is not currently available in macOS. Not to worry though, as we have a very easy approach to capture full page screenshots of websites.

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Occasionally, Mail app users on iPhone and iPad may try to open an email and encounter an error message in the email subject that says “This message has not been downloaded from the server.” The Mail app does not provide any means to download the email message from the server, leaving it up to the user to figure out how to get the email and read the email.

If you encounter the “message not downloaded from server” error message in Mail on iPhone or iPad, read along to fix and troubleshoot the problem so that you can see the email as intended.

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Apple’s HomePod and HomePod Mini smart speakers are always listening, waiting for your “Hey Siri” command so that it can quickly follow orders to get things done. Some privacy buffs may wish to temporarily or permanently turn this listening feature off, depending on the scenario or their use case of a HomePod, and that’s what we’re going to cover here.

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Apple has issued RC (Release Candidate) builds for iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, and macOS Monterey 12.1 to users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software.

The RC build indicator typically suggests the beta testing period has finished, and suggest a final version for the general public is due in the near future, possibly this week or next.

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Do you take a lot of Portrait mode shots using your iPhone or iPad? If so, you may be interested in manually adjusting the level of background blur or bokeh effect according to your liking. Apple allows you to do it during post-processing and it’s actually pretty easy to learn.

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If you juggle multiple web browsers for development, work or research, you know that sometimes you don’t always want to open a link in the default web browser.

This is where Browsersaurus comes into play; it sets itself as the new default web browser, and then when a link is clicked from a non-browser app, you will see a menu showing available web browsers to open the link in.

For example, maybe you’re clicking a link from Messages, Slack, Notes, or Tweetdeck, and rather than open that URL in Safari, you’d like to open it in Chrome or Firefox. With Browsersaurus, you have that choice.

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Most iPhone, iPad, and Mac users rely on the built-in iCloud Keychain feature to securely store and manage their passwords, but if you also have a Windows PC you may be interested to know that you can seamlessly use iCloud Keychain passwords from a Windows computer too.

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Many people who own iPhones and iPads also use Windows computers, and if you’re one of them, chances are you use both Safari on iOS/iPadOS and Chrome on Windows. Fortunately, you can easily sync your bookmarks between both these browsers, thanks to a browser extension.

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Microsoft Edge users can install the iCloud Passwords Extension into their browser, thanks to the release of the Google Chrome extension that allows you to use all your passwords that are stored in iCloud. This is possible because both browsers are using the same Chromium base, so with a slight workaround you can use to get the iCloud Password extension working on Edge too.

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“Your system as run out of application memory” is an error message encountered by some Mac users, often seemingly out of nowhere. The message appears alongside an option to force quit applications, which if an app consuming a large amount of resources is force quit, may temporarily render the Mac usable again.

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Apple has released the fourth beta versions of iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 for users enrolled in the beta testing programs for iPhone and iPad system software.

The iOS and iPadOS betas arrive a day after macOS Monterey 12.1 beta 4, which is also available for Mac beta testers.

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Many websites ask to send you notifications when you visit them, this comes in the form of an obnoxious pop-up request in the upper left corner of the Chrome web browser that interferes with your web browsing.

If you use Chrome as your default web browser on Mac or PC and are tired of playing another new game of ‘kill the pop-ups’ you may wish to change the notifications request behavior for Chrome, or completely disable it to block all notification requests.

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Many iPhone users have discovered their iPhone is now making a beeping chime sound effect whenever they press the mute or unmute button while on a call.

What is the beep sound when pressing “mute” during a call? Is there a way to disable the mute and unmute sound on iPhone? The answers to these questions and more may surprise you.

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Apple has released the fourth beta version of macOS Monterey 12.1 to users involved in the beta testing program for Macintosh system software.

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Ever wondered how you could mute and unmute an entire Zoom meeting, not only yourself? Want to know how to mute and unmute just yourself and your own microphone in Zoom?

If you use Zoom with an iPhone, iPad, or Android, then you’ll find that knowing how to mute and unmute yourself, as well as the entire Zoom conference, are important starting points to mastering your engagement with the Zoom client.

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Have you ever wanted to create contact groups on your iPhone to sort out the people in your list? While this is not possible natively for some reason, you can use iCloud’s web client to make contact groups for your iPhone.

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