Apple has made a release candidate for macOS Big Sur 11.1 available for users enrolled in the public beta and developer beta testing programs.

Usually a release candidate build indicates the final version is coming soon, perhaps along with the release of the impending iOS 14.3 release, which is scheduled for next week.

macOS Big Sur 11.1 is unlikely to include any major new features or changes, but likely focuses on bug fixes and feature enhancements to the Big Sur operating system. It’s conceivable that some of the reported problems with macOS Big Sur may be addressed in the update.

Read more »

Want to pair someone else’s AirPods to your iPhone or iPad? Or do you want to connect your AirPods to use on a different iPhone or iPad? You can easily do either, offering a simple way to try out AirPods yourself, or let someone else try AirPods themselves, or even just use AirPods on a different iPhone or iPad that isn’t yours.

This also offers a way to pair a single set of AirPods with multiple devices that are not using the same Apple ID, as if the devices are using the same Apple ID then switching AirPods between them this way is not necessary and happens seamlessly instead.

Read more »

Do you want to emphasize some of the people you frequently contact from your iPhone? Maybe you want to have certain phone numbers on speed dial? This can be easily done by adding select contacts to the Favorites list on your iPhone.

Read more »

Newer Mac models with Touch ID, Touch Bar, and/or the T2 security chip default to having a secure boot mode that disallows booting the Mac from external startup drives. This security setting is recommended for most users to keep enabled, but some users may wish to turn the feature off, at least temporarily, usually to be able to boot from an external volume, or to be able to perform something like a clean macOS install using a USB boot install disk.

Let’s walk through how you can allow a T2 equipped Mac to boot from external startup drives, whether they’re an external hard drive, external USB flash drive, or any other external disk that you’d like to boot the Mac from.

Read more »

Apple has issued a release candidate for iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3 for users involved in the developer beta and public beta testing programs.

iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3 will include support for the new Fitness+ service from Apple, along with support for Apple’s new AirPods Max headphones. Of course, various bug fixes and enhancements will also be included in the release.

Typically a release candidate build indicates a final version will be made available to the general public in the near future, and apparently iOS 14.3 will be released to the general public next week alongside the unveiling of a new fitness service from Apple called Fitness+.

Read more »

Did you recently start using Zoom for making video calls or participating in online meetings? In that case, you might not be familiar with the interface, and even some of the basic tips like toggling off and on the video camera and microphone when on Zoom.

This article is going to walk through turning off camera and microphone on Zoom for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, the web client, and Android.

Read more »

Do you use the built-in Notes app to quickly write down important information, scan documents, plan things, or make lists on your iPhone and iPad? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that you can not only collaborate with others on a shared note, but you can also highlight all the changes in these shared notes.

Read more »

Do you want to mask your background while you’re video calling your friends, colleagues, and family on Skype? If you use Skype for making video calls, you can hide the background in a matter of seconds and set a custom background if you’d like to. And thankfully, it doesn’t involve the usage of a green screen. This is similar to virtual backgrounds on Zoom, but of course it’s on Skype.

Read more »

Ever wanted to change your default web browser on iPhone from Safari to something like Chrome or Firefox? Perhaps you use another popular third-party browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Opera to browse the web instead on your other devices, and you want to keep consistent. Whatever the case, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now change the default web browser on your iPhone and iPad.

Read more »

If you’ve ever had an iOS update fail to complete, you know it can be pretty annoying and frustrating. While typically iOS and iPadOS updates go without a hitch, sometimes the process is not as smooth as you’d like it to be. But don’t freak out, if you’re experiencing iOS or iPadOS updates failing, we’ll walk through some helpful steps to troubleshoot failed system software updates on iPhone and iPad.

Read more »

Wondering how to add a new contact to iPhone? Maybe you just met someone you’ll be chatting with in the future, or perhaps you want to add a business to your contacts list for easy future access and communication, there are many reasons why you’d want to add a new contact to your iPhone address book.

While there are multiple ways to add new contacts to an iPhone, the most direct way involves using the Contacts app itself to create a new contact card. There you will be able to specify the contacts name, number, email, and much more. We’ll also show you a simple way to add a new contact to your iPhone directly from the Phone app.

Read more »

Rosetta 2 is necessary if you want to be able to run older non-native Intel x86 apps on new Apple Silicon Macs, like the M1 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini. Curiously, Rosetta 2 is not installed by default on these Macs however, so if you wish to run these apps you’ll need to install Rosetta 2 onto the Apple Silicon Mac yourself.

There are two ways to install Rosetta 2 onto an Apple Silicon Mac; using the Terminal, or by attempting to open a non-native x86 app which prompts an installer. You can use whichever method you’d like, as both will have the same end result of Rosetta 2 being installed onto the Mac.

Read more »

Do you use Gmail as the primary platform for sending and receiving emails? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now start video calls right from your Gmail inbox within a matter of seconds.

Read more »

The second beta version of macOS Big Sur 11.1 is available to users who are enrolled in the Mac system software beta testing programs.

Typically the developer beta build is available first and soon followed by the same build to public beta users.

Separately, iOS 14.3 beta 3 and ipadOS 14.3 beta 3 are also available for users involved in those testing program.

Read more »

Do you record your voice or other external audio on your iPhone using the built-in Voice Memos app? If so, you may often find yourself wanting to remove the background noise during post-processing to polish the recorded audio. Thankfully, you don’t need to rely on third-party software to get this done anymore, as you can quickly remove background noise directly within the Voice Memos app for iPhone and iPad.

Read more »

Do you have multiple calendars for different purposes on your Mac? If you want to remove some of the unwanted calendars, but still keep the events or move them, you can merge the calendars within a matter of seconds.

Read more »

The third beta versions of iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3 are now available to users enrolled in the beta testing programs for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Both public beta and developer beta versions are available.

Separately, new beta builds of watchOS 7.2 and tvOS 14.3 are also available for users testing beta system software on their Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Read more »

Do you want to stop your Apple Watch from automatically installing watchOS updates? Perhaps you don’t want to update to the latest version right away, or you just want to save your valuable internet data, or install the latest watchOS updates at your own pace? Regardless, it’s easy to disable automatic updates for your Apple Watch.

Read more »