Though not common, some Mac users are encountering a strange error message that says “Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again.” when attempting to update their Mac to MacOS Sequoia, and sometimes even with other MacOS software updates too.
This is a frustrating error since it prevents the installation of a major system software upgrade, but it’s usually pretty easy to fix.
Apple has released macOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and MacOS Ventura 13.7.1 for Mac users who have not yet updated to MacOS Sequoia, of which MacOS Sequoia 15.1 with Apple Intelligence was just released.
macOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and macOS Ventura 13.7.1 both contain many security fixes, making them important updates to install for Mac user who are remaining in macOS Sonoma or MacOS Ventura. Sonoma and Ventura Mac users will also find Safari 18.1 to update.
Apple has released iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1 for iPhone and iPad users who are not running iOS 18, which was just updated to includes support for Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1.
The software updates include important security fixes, making them important updates to install if you’re still running the prior major version of iOS/iPadOS. No new features are included.
iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1 are specifically compatible with iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 13-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.
Apple has released iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 to bring Apple Intelligence features to iPhone and iPad. The initial set of Apple Intelligence AI features include writing tools, summaries for messages and emails, and other handy capabilities. Apple Intelligence has strict system requirements however and is not available on all devices.
Aside from Apple Intelligence, iOS 18.1 and ipadOS 18.1 include various bug fixes, security patches, and some smaller tweaks and features, including more customization options for Control Center. iPhone also gains an ability to record phone calls, and AirPods gain some new hearing health features. The full release notes for iOS 18.1 are further below.
Additionally, you’ll find MacOS Sequoia 15.1, watchOS 11.1, visionOS 2.1, along with MacOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and Ventura 13.7.1.
Apple has released MacOS Sequoia 15.1, the first major update to MacOS Sequoia that includes Apple Intelligence features. The Sequoia 15.1 update also includes a few bug fixes, and brings drag and drop support to the popular iPhone Mirroring feature.
Separately, Apple has also released iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence, along with watchOS 11.1, tvOS 18.1, and visionOS 2.1.
Mac users who are not running Sequoia can MacOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and MacOS Ventura 13.7.1 with security patches for those releases.
If you’d like to play the original Starcraft for free, you can do so easily. Technically the original Starcraft has been available to download, install, and play for free, for a while now, but the instructions on how to do it have changed. It’s not exactly advertised on the Blizzard site or BattleNet either, but once you learn how it works you’ll be downloading and playing Starcraft for free in no time at all.
Mac users now have another Artificial Intelligence assistant option available to them natively, thanks to the new Perplexity app for Mac.
Perplexity offers a free AI-powered answer engine that uses multiple models, including GPT-4o and Claude 3, and perhaps best of all, it cites sources with its answers, so that you can independently confirm or research more on your answers.
Another nice aspect of Perplexity for Mac is that it only requires MacOS Ventura 13 or newer, offering another native AI option for Mac users who aren’t yet on MacOS Sequoia (It’s worth remembering that you can also use ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI tools through the web on basically any operating system, and you can also run Llama LLM locally on a Mac (including an uncensored model if you don’t want bias)).
Amazon is offering a rather large discount deal on the M2 MacBook Air base model, coming in at just $699.99 after you clip the on-page coupon. That’s $300 off the Apple retail price on the exact same model! It’s not clear how long this deal price will be available, but if you’ve been in the market for a great entry level Mac laptop, this might be up your alley.
The MacBook Air with M2 chip features 13.6″ Retina LCD display (which is easier on the eyes for anyone sensitive to PWM), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage, a backlit keyboard, 1080p camera, MagSafe charger, two USB-C ports, and is available in a variety of color options.
The deal price is available on select colors and only for the base model, some of them require the on-page coupon to be clipped as shown below, whereas others will just show the new $699.99 discounted price on the brand new MacBook Air.
FTC: OSXDaily is an affiliate partner with Amazon, meaning if you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment which goes towards keeping the site running.
Apple has released the first beta versions of iOS 18.2, MacOS Sequoia 15.2, and ipadOS 18.2, each with new Apple Intelligence features. The first betas of the .2 releases arrive now despite iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and MacOS Sequoia 15.1 not debuting until next week, though they just landed as Release Candidate builds.
The new betas include new Apple Intelligence features like ChatGPT integration, Genmoji to generate custom emoji, Image Playground to generate AI images, and more.
Apple Intelligence continues to have strict system requirements, with iPhone requiring an iPhone 15 Pro or better, while a Mac must have an M1 chip or better, and an iPad must have either an M1 or A17 Pro chip or better.
iPhone Mirroring is a powerful feature introduced with MacOS Sequoia that allows you to control your iPhone from your Mac, using your Mac cursor and keyboard to interact with the iPhone. It’s an incredibly useful feature in MacOS, and it allows full usage of your iPhone even if it’s not next to you or in your pocket. You’ll get quick access to your iPhone apps and device, you can interact with iPhone Notifications from your Mac, and you can move and copy files, documents, photos, between the iPhone to Mac too.
This really is one of the best features in MacOS Sequoia, and if you haven’t tried out iPhone Mirroring yet, now’s a great chance to do so. We’ll show you how you can use iPhone Mirroring with your Mac, it’s pretty easy.
If you’re a long time Mac user, you might recall the Slow Motion effect that could be applied by holding the Shift key while minimizing and maximizing windows, as well as for other animations like opening Launchpad or using Mission Control. Some of the fun eye-candy effects on Mac go way the early days of Mac OS X (and we covered some of these all the way back in 2007!), but at some point in much later MacOS development, Apple has turned the optional Slow Motion features off. But, with a little defaults command magic, you can re-enable the Slow Motion effects on MacOS, even in the latest versions of MacOS Sequoia.
Apple has issued release candidate builds of iOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1, and iPadOS 18.1, making them available for users enrolled in the beta testing programs for Apple system software.
These versions are the first to include Apple Intelligence support on compatible devices. Initial Apple Intelligence features include functionality for summarizing data, writing tools, and smart replies. Apple Intelligence has very strict system requirements, and only iPhone 15 Pro or better will have the features on iPhone, while any Mac must have an M1 chip or better, and any iPad must have an M1 or A17 Pro chip or better.
Separate from the Apple Intelligence features, there are also various bug fixes and security patches to be included in these software updates.
The Mac “Recents” folder in Finder is a useful catchall Smart Folder that, as the name implies, contains all recently opened, modified, or added files that are found within the file system. This means the “Recents” folder should contain everything from text files, documents, PDFs, images, video, basically anything in the file system that has been recently opened, added, or edited on the Mac. Sometimes, the “Recents” folder on the Mac shows as empty however, when it should be filled with many recently used files.
Let’s troubleshoot and fix the issue where the “Recents” folder is empty on the Mac, so that you can regain easy access to your recently used files again.
While Scroll-to-Top is a very popular feature for many iPhone users, allowing them to quickly scroll back to the top of any article, feed, email, or message, not everyone is thrilled with the feature. In fact, a large number of users find Scroll-to-Top to be annoying or frustrating, as they activate it accidentally. Others may have found Scroll-to-Top to be easy and intuitive on older model iPhones, but find using Scroll-to-Top with Dynamic Island to be less natural or more confusing to activate. And there’s no shortage of complaining users on Apple Discussion Forums who are displeased with Scroll-to-Top, and who want to disable auto-scrolling, tap-to-scroll, and scroll-to-top.
Can you disable Scroll-to-Top on iPhone? Is there any way to not accidentally activate the autoscrolling to the top of the screen feature on iPhones? How is this feature best used?
Apple has updated the iPad Mini line with a spec bump, and the new model is capable of supporting Apple Intelligence. The new iPad Mini 7th generation model debuted via press release, and was not accompanied by any other updated hardware.
The iPad Mini continues to offer a small physical footprint with an 8″ LCD display, but now has a faster A17 processor (the same processor from iPhone 15 Pro series, hence the Apple Intelligence support) and there are also minor improvements to the camera and wi-fi.
Apple has released the 7th beta version of MacOS Sequoia 15.1 to users in the beta testing programs. The MacOS 15.1 beta 7 comes a day after the accompanying iOS 18.1 beta 7 and iPadOS 18.1 beta 7 releases were issued.
The most notable difference in MacOS Sequoia 15.1 beta is the inclusion of Apple Intelligence features, which offers AI tools for re-writing messages, smart replies, summarization, and more. Apple Intelligence has strict system requirements, and only M1 or better Macs support the feature. If you have an older Mac and you want to use similar AI features, ChatGPT on the web will work on just about anything with a web browser.
Scroll-to-Top is a super useful gesture that has been around on the iPhone for a long time, basically rather than swiping to get back to the top of a long screen of text, email, webpage, or whatever, you just tap the top of the screen and it immediately scrolls to the top. This is a great feature, but it’s a little different with iPhone models that have Dynamic Island.
The Dynamic Island is the little oblong cutout at the top of newer model iPhone screens, and while it holds the camera and microphone, it also updates depending on whatever apps are running. For example, if you have a music app open it’ll be in the Dynamic Island, or if you have a Timer running it will display there, or directions will, and so on. One issue with Dynamic Island is that it’s much harder to use the ‘scroll to top’ gesture, because if you try and tap on the top of the screen like users are accustomed to pre-Dynamic Island, then they usually end up accidentally tapping on the Dynamic Island itself, so rather than scrolling to the top of the current app window, it will switch to whatever app is updating the Dynamic Island itself.
How do you use Scroll to Top with Dynamic Island on the iPhone 16 series, iPhone 15 series, or iPhone 14 Pro line, and not accidentally switch to an app instead? That’s what this article is here to help you with.
Apple has issued the seventh beta versions of iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 for iPhone and iPad, respectively. Typically a MacOS Sequoia 15.1 beta soon follows as well.
iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 introduce the first Apple Intelligence AI features to compatible devices, and the emphasis should be on compatible devices because the supported hardware list for Apple Intelligence is very strict; only iPhone 15 Pro or better for iPhone, or M1 or better equipped Mac or iPad.
Initial Apple Intelligence features offer things like summarization of text and web pages, writing tools to rewrite things in concise or professional manners, smart replies in email and messages, and some new Siri functionality. More Apple Intelligence features will debut at later dates and with later system software updates to compatible devices.
