Most Mac users update their system software through the Mac App Store, which is quick, easy, and efficient. There is absolutely nothing wrong with updating Mac OS X through the App Store, and that approach is best suited for the majority of users, but many advanced Mac users and systems administrators rely on what are called Combo Updaters to update Mac OS to the latest versions available. Additionally, combo updates can be helpful for troubleshooting a failed Mac OS X update, and running through one can often remedy a broken or borked update attempt.

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Apple has released OS X 10.11.4 for Mac users running El Capitan. The new version supports Live Photos in Messages app, password protected Notes, and includes compatibility support for iOS devices running iOS 9.3.

Additionally, multiple bug fixes, security improvements, and overall improvements are included in OS X 10.11.4, making it a recommended update for Mac users running a prior versions of OS X El Capitan. Aside from El Capitan, Mac users running prior versions of OS X will also find a security update available which is recommended to install.

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Apple has released the final version of iOS 9.3 today for all compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.

iOS 9.3 includes several new features, including password protected Notes app, a night time color adjustment mode called Night Shift, multi-user support for iPad in education environments, and a variety of other minor changes.

Multiple bug fixes and security improvements are also included, making iOS 9.3 a recommended update to users running a prior version of iOS 9.

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Apple has released watchOS 2.2 for Apple Watch, and tvOS 9.2 for Apple TV. The new software updates include a variety of feature improvements and bug fixes and are recommended to users of Apple Watch and Apple TV to install on their respective hardware.

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As expected, Apple has released a new 4″ iPhone SE and 9.7″ iPad Pro today at their March 21 event. The devices offer hardware improvements compared to prior models available at the same screen size, and should be compelling offerings to individuals seeking a 4″ iPhone or 9.7″ iPad.

Additionally, Apple has unveiled a few new Apple Watch band styles, and a plethora of software updates to nearly their entire hardware lineup, including iOS 9.3 for iPhone and iPad, OS X 10.11.4 for Mac, watchOS 2.2 for Apple Watch, and tvOS 9.2 for Apple TV.

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Photo Booth is the fun picture taking app in Mac OS X that takes selfies with the built-in FaceTime camera, some people use it for diaries or a mirror, and there are many goofy effects that can be applied to the images which turns Photo Booth into a fun house app of sorts. While users can always access the Photo Booth pictures from the app itself (and drag and drop them out of the application), many Mac users may wish to have direct access to the Photo Booth raw image files.

We’ll show you how to access the Photo Booth pictures, as well as where all Photo Booth images are located on the Mac.

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The amount of time it takes to complete a Time Machine backup depends on a variety of things, like the amount of data being backed up, the destination drive speed, the speed of the internet connection if the backup is going to a Time Capsule, whether it’s the initial backup or a delta backup of changes made, amongst a variety of other factors. You’ll typically get an idea of how long a Time Machine backup should take to complete after it has ran a few times on a Mac, so if you discover suddenly that the Time Machine backup is taking an extremely long time or is backing up unusually slow, follow the troubleshooting steps below to speed things up.

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The Apple TV has a Settings app complete with a myriad of options that are more than sufficient for most users to customize and tinker with their device, but did you know there is a hidden Advanced Settings section in tvOS as well? This is a little known feature that seems to contain options that are mostly pertinent to Apple internal testing, but there are a few potentially useful user-facing settings as well.

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Most iPhone and iPad users will use the same Apple ID and iCloud account repeatedly on the same device and across other devices, as they should, since that is how they are designed to work. Nonetheless sometimes you may buy an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on the used market and discover that someone has made and used so many different Apple ID or iCloud accounts on the device that an error message shows up when going through the device setup, saying that the device is “no longer eligible” to make an account. The exact error messages are “Account Limit Reached: This device is no longer eligible for creating a free iCloud account” and “This device is no longer eligible for creating an Apple ID”.

If you see an “Account Limit Reached” or “no longer eligible” message when trying to setup an iOS device, or when trying to create an account on a specific iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, then here is what you can do to fix it.

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As Instagram continues to grow with pictures of just about anything imaginable, you may find yourself browsing and searching for photos of, well, anything. Instagram keeps track of the searches you make in the app, and when you return to the search tab and search field, you’ll find your prior search history is visible. That’s helpful for quickly returning to a prior search, but sometimes you may want to clear that search history in Instagram as well.

Fortunately, Instagram allows deletion of the prior searches, so you can wipe away the search history all of those iffy keywords, hashtags, and user names that you don’t want showing up in the search section of the app anymore.

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If you use the Mail app on a Mac, it’s fairly likely that you regularly delete emails that you determine to be unnecessary, junk, or that simply aren’t needed. Typically this is a selective process where particular email messages are removed as needed, but in some situations you may want to go all out and delete every single email that is in a particular Mail account, or even remove all emails from the entire Mail app on a Mac, without removing the associated email account from Mail app. In other words, while the email messages are removed from Mail, the email account remains in Mail on the Mac so that it can continue to be used.

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Apple has started running a fun new iPhone commercial focusing on the hands-free Hey Siri feature, as it’s being used by none other than Cookie Monster from Sesame Street fame.

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If the average iPhone user has a complaint about their device, it’s almost always that the battery of iPhone doesn’t last as long as they’d like it to. While this is less of a concern with the larger iPhone Plus models, the fact is that all iPhones can run out of battery during the course of usage throughout the day, though depending on individual usage the iPhone battery life may drain down faster, or slower too. There are no shortage of tips to preserve battery life of iOS devices, many of which actually work, but another option is to use Low Power Mode, which is an excellent feature included in modern versions of iOS.

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The Health app on iPhone is able to track steps and mileage, and if you have an Apple Watch it will keep track of your heart rate, active calories with a pedometer, and other fitness data as well. When you open Health app, the Dashboard offers an overview of activity for the day, week, month, and year, but there isn’t an obvious way to drill down and get more specifics, since tapping on an individual stat just opens the “All Recorded Data” screen which is not exactly user friendly and feels a bit like stumbling into a jumbled data entry job for SQL or an excel spreadsheet.

But it turns out there is a super easy way to get specific details about any of the tracked items in Health app, on a per hour or per day basis! It’s just not well known, as it’s basically hidden without an obvious cue to do so; all you have to do is rotate your iPhone. Here’s how this works:

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Apple has released OS X 10.11.4 beta 7 to Mac users in the developer beta testing and public beta testing programs. The new build arrives as 15E64a and includes bug fixes and feature improvements to the beta release.

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Apple has released the 7th beta version of iOS 9.3 to users in the public beta and developer beta testing programs.

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Code signed applications allow security conscious users to verify the creator and hash of a particular app to help confirm it has not been corrupted or tampered with. This is rarely necessary for average Mac users, particularly those who obtain their software from the Mac App Store or other trusted sources since the apps are certified, but verifying the digital signature of an app can be extremely helpful for users who get apps from third party sources.

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Many Mac users like to keep a watchful eye on their system stats, including processor utilization, memory usage, disk activity, network usage, CPU temperature, fan speed, and perhaps battery stats. The Activity Monitor Dock icon offers one way to do this, but it’s on a limited basis, so if you’d rather see all kinds of system resource activity in a single control panel you may appreciate these two Notification Center widgets for Mac OS X.

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