The Dark Mode theme available in modern macOS versions offers a unique visual interface and desktop environment to work in, shifting nearly all onscreen visual elements to dark grays and blacks. For many Mac users, the Dark theme is perhaps the most popular new feature to arrive in MacOS Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur, and the new user interface theme may be the sole reason that some Mac users update to the latest system software release.

You can easily enable Dark mode theme in MacOS while initially configuring MacOS, or you can switch between Dark mode and Light mode appearance at any time by adjusting the Mac OS system settings.

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The Messages app has changed the way users access all photos from within a message conversation. No longer can you simply tap on the camera button to access your photos library from Messages, in iOS 13 and iOS 12 you will instead access your photos from the app icon drawer within the Messages app on iPhone or iPad. This is a subtle change that is somewhat controversial given that it makes selecting photos a bit slower in Messages for iOS 12, but once you learn how the process works you’ll find it’s not particularly difficult.

We’ll show you exactly how to access all photos and your iPhone or iPad photo library from within the Messages app of iOS 13 and iOS 12 so that you can easily share pictures, photos, and videos as usual.

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Rarely, you may need to reinstall macOS Mojave system software, usually for troubleshooting purposes. Reinstalling MacOS Mojave as discussed here will aim to only reinstall the macOS Mojave system software itself, it will not erase the drive, nor will it remove any user data or user files, making it ideal for troubleshooting.

This walkthrough will show you the easiest way to reinstall macOS Mojave from a Mac that already has macOS Mojave on it by using Recovery Mode.

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If you’re a Mac command line user you may have noticed that many frequently used commands entered into the Terminal (or iTerm) result in an “Operation not permitted” error message since updating to MacOS Mojave 10.14 or later, including Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, and Big Sur. The “Operation not permitted” error in the Terminal can be seen after issuing even simple commands like using ‘ls’ ‘mv’ and ‘cp’ within the users own directory, but also in many other directory locations on the Mac, and when trying to use many defaults commands. Obviously this type of error message makes navigating and using the command line in MacOS to be quite difficult if not impossible for many purposes. Don’t worry, the Terminal is not broken in new MacOS versions.

This walkthrough will show you how to fix “Operation not permitted” error messages seen at the command line in Terminal for Mac OS in Mojave 10.14 or later.

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Beta testers of Apple system software will find that iOS 12.1 beta 3 is now available for iPhone and iPad enrolled in the beta testing programs for iOS.

Additionally, watchOS 5.1 beta 3 and tvOS 12.1 beta 3 are available for users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Separately, macOS Mojave 10.14.1 beta 3 is available for Mac beta testers as well.

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Apple has released the third beta version of macOS Mojave 10.14.1 for users enrolled in the developer beta testing program.

Typically the developer beta is released first, and the equivalent public beta is released soon after.

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Apple has released iOS 12.0.1 for iPhone and iPad users. The new small software update resolves multiple bugs present in the prior build and is thus recommended for all iPhone and iPad users who are running iOS 12.

iOS 12.0.1 fixes a variety of problems, including where the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max were not charging properly when connected to a Lightning cable, an issue with iPhone XS models joining a slower wi-fi band, an iPad keyboard tweak for the “?123” key, an issue with Bluetooth becoming unavailable, and an issue with subtitles not appearing on some videos. Additionally, some security fixes appear to be included in the iOS 12.0.1 software update. The full release notes are included further below, along with direct download links for iOS 12.0.1 IPSW files.

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Have you discovered your iPhone or iPad is getting notifications and alerts for “TV” ads? For example, you might have recently seen a pop-up alert on your iPhone or iPad promoting “TV – Football is Back – Stream live games in the Apple TV App now” which presents itself as a promotion for watching football. Then, if you tap on the “TV” notification, you’ll find it’s sort of like an advertisement for the TV app that asks you to then download other apps or subscribe to various third party services or apps that are not bundled by default on the iPhone or iPad.

If you don’t want to see these promotional “TV” notifications showing up on the iPhone or iPad screen, you’ll be happy to know they can be easily disabled. Once the “TV” alerts are disabled you will no longer receive any more unsolicited TV banners promoting various TV app things and popping up on your iOS device screen.

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How do you flip the FaceTime Camera in iOS 12? Where did the Flip camera button go in FaceTime for iOS 12? You’re probably not the only person wondering the answer to these questions.

FaceTime video chat is very popular amongst iPhone and iPad users, and a common component of many FaceTime video conversations involves flipping the camera around so that whoever you are FaceTiming with can see things with either the front or rear cameras. Switching the FaceTime camera used to be really easy and obvious with a nearly always visible Flip Camera button on screen in iOS during FaceTime chats, but iOS 12 has changed that. Flipping the FaceTime camera is still possible in iOS 12 but it is a slower process now that is hidden behind other options in the FaceTime app.

We’ll show you the steps necessary to flip the FaceTime Camera in iOS 12, on either an iPhone or iPad.

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Dynamic Desktops are a new feature in MacOS that allow the desktop background wallpaper of a Mac to change throughout the day as the time changes. Perhaps the most prominent example of this feature is the default desktop in macOS, whether in Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, or Mojave, which when Dynamic Desktops is enabled will time-shift the scene from morning, day, and night. It’s a subtle effect that is really quite nice, even if it’s purely visual in nature and mostly just eye candy.

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Some users may occasionally need to re-download the MacOS Mojave installer application while actively running MacOS Mojave. This is usually done for making a MacOS Mojave boot installer drive or some other similar purpose, or perhaps to copy the installer onto another computer or as a backup, but there are other reasons someone may want to download the “Install MacOS Mojave.app” package again too.

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Performing a clean install of MacOS Mojave may be desirable to some Mac users. A clean install means erasing all data on a hard drive, and then installing a fresh new installation of MacOS Mojave to that Mac. The idea is that a clean install starts fresh, sort of like how a new Mac comes when you first open the box, with no customization, no third party apps, no user accounts, no user data, preferences, settings, caches, no personal files or data, it’s basically just a new clean installation of MacOS Mojave, and nothing else.

While the vast majority of Mac users should simply prepare for and update to macOS Mojave as usual from a prior MacOS system software release, thereby preserving their apps, customizations, personal files, and all else, this walkthrough is intended for users who want to erase a Mac completely and start over fresh to perform a clean install of macOS Mojave 10.14.

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Did your iPhone start playing a loud alarm sound with an Emergency Alert notice or Presidential Alert message on your screen? Then you may have received the test of the “Presidential Alert” from the Emergency Alerts system sent to your phone!

Indeed most Americans received an alert on their cell phone (iPhone or Android) that said something along the following: “EMERGENCY ALERTS – Presidential Alert – THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” as part of a scheduled test of the Presidential Alerts system.

Now you may be wondering how you can turn off presidential alerts, opt out of the government alerts, or maybe you want to disable all other emergency alerts and FEMA alerts for that matter too. Or maybe you want to keep the alerts enabled, but you want to mute them?

It turns out that some of these government alerts you can turn off, and some of them you can’t (for now anyway). And there may be ways to mute the alerts, but otherwise keep them enabled too. Let’s review the options for government alerts on iPhone with a little Q&A!

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Want to check for software updates in macOS Big Sur, Catalina, or MacOS Mojave? Perhaps you’re wondering where system software updates went in MacOS Mojave or Catalina? You may have noticed that the Software Update mechanism is different in MacOS Mojave and Catalina than in other recent prior Mac OS releases, with system software updates no longer arriving through the Mac App Store ‘Updates’ tab (well, except for the initial download of macOS Mojave). Instead, software updates are now downloaded from System Preferences, which is a bit more like iOS, and older versions of Mac OS X too.

If you aren’t sure how to updates system software in macOS Mojave 10.14 and beyond, read on to discover it’s quite simple.

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Apple has released the second beta versions of iOS 12.1 for iPhone and iPad, along with beta 2 of macOS Mojave 10.14.1 for Mac. Beta releases are available for users enrolled in the respective beta testing programs.

iOS 12.1 beta 2 includes many new Emoji icons, while macOS 10.14.1 beta will presumably get the same Emoji icons later.

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The iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, and iPhone XR have new and different methods for force restarting these model iPhones, due to the fact that none of these models have a Home button. Initiating a forced restart on these new iPhone models may be different and slightly more complicated than before, but it’s still easy enough that even a novice user can master the method.

This article will show you how to force reboot an iPhone XS, XR, and iPhone XS Max.

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If you use Gmail.com as your primary web mail client, you likely have noticed that Gmail has a new redesigned visual interface and appearance that is larger, more spacious, a bigger sidebar, and more bold appearance all around, with a series of new cursor hover detection features as well. Many Gmail users like the change and others may not notice the difference, while some others may feel the new visual interface of Gmail is not what they’re hoping for and would prefer something a bit more simple in appearance, or a faster version of Gmail. Thus some Gmail users may want to change Gmail back to the old classic version, or at least something that looks and feels closer to the older Gmail versions.

We’ll show you a few different ways to change the Gmail interface and appearance, including switching back to Classic Gmail (though this may not be possible for everyone), some tips for adjusting the visual appearance of new Gmail to make it appear a bit more like the older version of Gmail, and even a method for how to use a much older simple version of Gmail that has a very simplified appearance without some of the newer features but in turn is lightning fast to load and interact with. Explore each of the options below to see how you can change Gmail.

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Did you go to download macOS Mojave but found an incomplete installer application arrived in your /Applications folder? Some Mac users have discovered that when trying to download macOS Mojave from the Mac App Store, they end up with a very small 22 MB mini-installer that is not the full size 6 GB macOS Mojave installer app.

While the regular update or installation for macOS Mojave works just fine from the 22 MB stub installer (the other install files are downloaded later), you can’t use the 22mb incomplete installer to make a bootable macOS Mojave installer flash drive, nor use the mini-installer offline, and also since it’s not the full installer app it makes little sense to copy it to other Macs if you want to install Mojave onto them too.

This article will show you two different methods and tricks for how to download the proper complete macOS Mojave installer application if you ended up with the small 23 MB version of “Install macOS Mojave.app” rather than the full sized one.

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