Apple has launched the public beta program for iOS 27, making the upcoming iPhone operating system available as a beta to all interested users. Beta system software tends to be buggier and less refined than final versions, and is generally best reserved for advanced users, but the public beta is fairly stable, and made available for anyone curious enough to run the new iOS 27 release ahead of the fall release.

iOS 27 includes significant performance improvements, refinements to the Liquid Glass user interface including a slider to adjust the intensity, new Siri AI features and capabilities, new Apple Intelligence features, improvements to Spotlight, and many other smaller tweaks and refinements to the iPhone operating system.

The iOS 27 public beta matches the iOS 27 developer beta build, so if you’re already running iOS 27 dev beta there is no reason to switch to the public beta.

Additionally, iPadOS 27 public beta for iPad, and MacOS 27 Golden Gate public beta for Mac, are also available.

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Apple has issued what is now the fifth beta versions of iOS 26.6, MacOS Tahoe 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, for users beta testing the current generations of system software. There’s even a 5th beta build available for MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.8, which seems like a lot of betas for what is assumed to be security updates.

With the 5th beta versions now available for the OS 26.6 suite, it’s reasonable to assume the final versions of these system software releases could be available sometime in the near future, perhaps in the coming weeks. No major new features are expected in iOS 26.6, MacOS Tahoe 26.6, or iPadOS 26.6, as the updates are likely to focus on security improvements, and perhaps for supporting upcoming public betas of the OS 27 suite.

Betas for iOS 26.6, MacOS Tahoe 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6 are separate from MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, iOS 27 beta, and iPadOS 27 beta, with the OS 27 betas having many new features and major improvements. If you’re running an OS 27 beta, you will not find any OS 26.6 betas available on that particular device.

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You know you’re an Apple fanatic when you start seeing iOS default wallpapers in the wild…

I was stuck in traffic the other day as a sudden rainstorm hit, and as I was about to turn on my windshield wipers I noticed all the water droplets forming on my car windshield looked a bit like the classic iOS 4 default wallpaper (which, based on this experience, that iOS 4 wallpaper of water droplets was presumably on glass or a car windshield too). So, naturally I was inspired to take a photo with my iPhone camera, and I immediately set it as my iPhone wallpaper.

I think it looks great, and so I am sharing this water droplet on glass wallpaper with you as well. Well technically I’m sharing two three versions of the same wallpaper, one exactly as it came from the camera, and another that is slightly brighter. Use both, or either, or neither, that’s up to you!

Click on either of the thumbnail images below to open the full sized (4032 × 3024 resolution) version in a new window, which you can save to your device, whatever it is – Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC – and set it as your wallpaper.

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Amazon is offering some good deals on AirPods, the popular wireless headphones from Apple. AirPods Pro 3 are packed with advanced features like hearing aid functionality and more and available at $199, while AirPods 4 are just $99 if you don’t need the fancier features of the Pro models.

• AirPods Pro 3 for $199 (down from $249)
• AirPods 4 for $99 (down from $129)

Apple Watch Series 11 is discounted by Amazon by $100, bringing the price down to $299.

• Get Apple Watch Series 11 for $299 ($100 off from $399)

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.

Major League Baseball fans and retro enthusiasts are sure to get a kick out of this one; you can watch live MLB games rendered pitch by pitch and play-by-play in 8-bit style, right in your browser, with a cool webapp called Ribbie.

With Ribbie, you’re able to watch of any live baseball game rendered in retro pixel art style, keeping track of the score, inning, bases, count, outs, pitches, players, movements, and the field, that moves along with the real live game. It’s a lot like watching someone play an old SNES Baseball game, except it’s all based on real live MLB games.

The developer of Ribbie describes how it works as follows: “It reads the live game data MLB publishes and redraws it as pixel art in real time. It’s not a video stream or a rebroadcast, it’s the box score brought to life, pitch by pitch.”

If you’re a baseball fan and that sounds good to you, open up your web browser, select a game, and check it out:

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Meta, who owns and operates FaceBook and Instagram, has enabled a setting automatically that allows anyone to use your public Instagram photos, profile picture, and/or reels for AI purposes. This includes everything from your posts, stories, stickers, reels, and even your profile photo. Some users may not like this, whether they’re opposed to AI in general, or for security or privacy implications, while others may not mind at all.

If you’d like to turn this setting off for your Instagram account, here’s exactly how to do that.

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Some Mac users may encounter an unusual situation where a “Keyboard Setup Assistant” application opens at random on their Mac, even if they already connected and setup a keyboard to use with their computer. The Keyboard Setup Assistant might pop up completely randomly, when the computer is woken from sleep, when the computer is freshly booted or restarted, or sometimes even when another Mac connected with Universal Control is woken from sleep, or woken from a screen saver. This can be a bit of a nuisance, especially since it can happen even when the keyboard is already configured and in use on the Mac.

While this is annoying, the good news is that there are several things to try which can resolve the issue with Keyboard Setup Assistant constantly popping up at random on a Mac. And often, if the keyboard is already working as intended, you can simply quit out of Keyboard Setup Assistant and you won’t see it again. Let’s learn a bit more about this issue, and investigate some troubleshooting solutions.

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MacOS Golden Gate 27 has four new default wallpaper options for you to enjoy. This includes two abstract images that closely match the iOS 27 default wallpaper, and shipped with the first betas, and two new landscape wallpapers of the namesake Golden Gate Bridge; one during sunset, and one at night. They’re all really quite attractive, and they fit wonderfully with both light and dark themes, whatever your device is.

And the good news is that you don’t need to run new system software just to enjoy these fancy new wallpapers. While you certainly can install the MacOS 27 beta and get the wallpapers and screen savers natively that way, you can grab them here for your device, whether that’s an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even Android or PC.

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Amazon is offering the popular AirPods for at just $99:

• AirPods 4 for $99 (down from $129)

And if you’re in the market for a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, Amazon is taking $150 off the price of the Air, and $350 off the MacBook Pro, in select configurations and color options. Discounts are extra important for many people now that Apple has significantly raised prices on Mac and iPad hardware, so check these out:

$350 Off MacBook Pro, $150 Off M5 MacBook Air

• 15″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 512GB – $1349 ($150 off)
• 13″ M5 MacBook Air – 16GB – 1TB – $1449 ($150 off)
• 16″ M5 Pro MacBook Pro – 24GB – 1TB – $2649 ($350 off)

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.

Beta 4 of MacOS Tahoe 26.6, iOS 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, has been released by Apple. The 4th beta arrives just a week after the 3rd beta, which perhaps suggests a final version will be made available in the next few weeks. There’s also a 4th RC build for MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.8.

No major new features are expected in these releases, and they will likely focus on bug fixes, security patches, and perhaps support for the upcoming public betas for the OS 27 suite.

Most beta users are likely focused on running macOS 27 beta 3, iOS 27 beta 3, and iPadOS 27 beta 3, but Apple is continuing to work on betas for current versions of system software too.

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The third beta version of MacOS Golden Gate 27 has been released to users enrolled in the developer beta testing program for Apple system software. MacOS 27 beta 3 carries build 26A5378j, and is available to download now through Software Update, a package installer, or IPSW.

MacOS Golden Gate 27 has an emphasis on improving performance and the Liquid Glass interface appearance, with features like a slider to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass, a Siri app that behaves a bit like a chatbot app, new Apple Intelligence Features, Siri AI capabilities including voice customization, improvements to Mail search, improvements to Spotlight accuracy and speed, and more.

Any user can install the MacOS 27 beta by joining the developer beta testing program, but this is not recommended beyond advanced users who are comfortable with buggy aspects of beta system software. A public beta will be available shortly as well, which is still most appropriate for intermediate to advanced Mac users.

Additionally, Apple also issued new betas for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and visionOS, including iOS 27 beta 3, iPadOS 27 beta 3, watchOS 27 beta 3, and tvOS 27 beta 3.

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Apple has released iOS 27 beta 3 for iPhone users who are participating in the beta testing program. iPadOS 27 beta 3 is also available for iPad based beta testers.

iOS 27 and iPadOS have an emphasis on performance, with improvements to general system performance, a slider for adjusting Liquid Glass intensity to the appearance, a dedicated Siri app that behaves similar to a chatbot, Siri AI, new Apple Intelligence features, along with numerous other smaller changes and improvements.

While beta system software is intended for advanced users, technically speaking anyone can install iOS 27 beta right now simply by enrolling in the free developer beta program. Users will soon also be able to participate in the iOS 27 public beta program as well. The final version of iOS 27 will be released to all users in the fall.

Additionally, Apple has also released MacOS Golden Gate 27 beta 3 to Mac users, along with watchOS 27 beta 3, and tvOS 27 beta 3.

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Some Mac Terminal app users may find that their zsh prompt and Mac host name at the command line randomly sets itself to “@unknown”, or some variation of that. Opening the Terminal, you might find your prompt is something like “@unknown92844982″, @unknown184Afb84.home”, @UNKNOWN, or some variation of “@unknown” with a bunch of alphanumeric characters on the end of it, appended by .home, rather than displaying the computer name as one might expect.

The @unknown.home command prompt quirk has existed spontaneously in many versions of MacOS, and it might even be a bug in Terminal or elsewhere, though there does not always seem to be a clear cause. Given that the hostname prompt gibberish isn’t too informative, and it’s a bit unsightly, let’s get it fixed and have your computer name, or host name of choice, be set instead.

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AirTags are super useful personal trackers with tons of different purposes, and AirTags 2 have even further range than the originals. Amazon is offering a nice little 10% discount, bringing the price of a four-pack down to $89.

• AirTags 2 – 4-pack – $89 (down from $99)

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The latest versions of the Google Chrome browser have built-in split view browser mode, allowing you to have two websites open side by side. This is a really handy feature for many obvious reasons where it’s useful to see two websites or pages open next to each other, whether you’re reading one page and taking notes on another, or composing an email in one side while watching a video next to it, or myriad other situations. And sure you could have just used split screen mode on the Mac to achieve a similar effect, but having Split View built directly into the Chrome browser is super easy to use, and undeniably convenient.

If you’re a Chrome browser user, you’ll want ot familiarize yourself with this handy feature so that you can get the most use from it.

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One of the hallmark visual features of the Apple ecosystem of devices is the Lock Screen Clock, visible on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There have long been many ways to customize the appearance of the Mac, from wallpapers to icons, and with new versions of MacOS like Tahoe and Golden Gate you can personalize the Lock Screen Clock too, to better suit your tastes.

Customizing the Mac Lock Screen clock is easy but it’s a little obscure in MacOS Tahoe 26 and Golden Gate 27, but once you find the proper settings you can change the appearance of the clock quite a bit, including the font in use and the font weight.

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Apple has released the 3rd beta version of MacOS Tahoe 26.6, iOS 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, indicating the development of updates to current system software marches along. These beta versions likely focus on bug fixes and security features, as major changes and features are being prioritized for the concurrent betas of iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, and iPadOS 27,

Additionally, Apple has also released new beta builds (labeled as RC, or Release Candidate) for MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.8, and those likely focus only on security patches as well.

If you’re actively running MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, iOS 27 beta, or iPadOS 27 beta, then you will not find beta updates available to any OS 26.6 beta.

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iOS 26.5.2 has been released as a software update for iPhone, while iPadOS 26.5.2 update is available for iPad users. The updates include security patches making them important to install, and do not include any new features or changes otherwise.

Additionally, Apple has released security updates for other devices as MacOS Tahoe 26.5.2 for Mac, and Safari 26.5.2 for MacOS Sequoia and Sonoma.

The release notes and IPSW firmware download links for iOS 26.5.2 are further below.

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