Got an old Mac or two laying around that you want to use with the modern World Wide Web? If that Mac is running Snow Leopard, you might just be even more life out of those old Macs, thanks to PowerFox.
If you’re an iPad user and you really don’t like the iPadOS 26 update for whatever reason, you probably already looked around for ways to downgrade iPadOS 26 back to iPadOS 18, and you likely found that it is no longer possible to perform that downgrade. This is because Apple has locked down iPadOS 18 firmware by no longer digitally signing it, making it impossible to downgrade back down to that iPadOS version once your iPad is already running iPadOS 26 (or later).
But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get an iPad running iPadOS 18 again.
If you’re a longtime computer user and a Tetris fan, you might remember, long ago in a land far far away, when Microsoft released Tetris for Windows 3.11. But you don’t need to dust off your 1990 PC and a handful of old floppy disks from the attic to relive this experience, because now the Internet Archive offers the full vintage puzzle game and it’s playable right in your web browser.
Want to start off the new year with a great fitness tracking device and cool gadget? The Apple Watch Series 11 is available from Amazon at $100 off with quick delivery for most areas. Whether you want to grab an Apple Watch for yourself, or perhaps you wanted one for Christmas and Santa didn’t deliver, or maybe you want to get a watch for a loved one, this is a great deal.
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The Liquid Glass interface continues to be polarizing for iPhone users with iOS 26 and newer, but with iOS 26.2 onwards you can now make some adjustments to the intensity of the Liquid Glass look… but only for the clock on the Lock Screen of iPhone.
If you’d like to fine-tune the appearance of the Lock Screen Clock on iPhone with iOS 26, you’re now able to use a slider to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass, going from full Liquid Glass where it’s nearly transparent, to a more frosted look that is slightly bezeled or embossed, and if you hate Liquid Glass, you can also choose the “Solid” option to make it look like the more traditional Lock Screen clock too.
Many services use two-factor authentication nowadays, where your phone or email address gets sent a code that you must enter as part of the login process into an online service. These codes are one time use only and therefore don’t make a lot of sense to keep around forever, but manually going through and deleting all those verification codes from Messages and Mail can be annoying.
Fortunately Apple has realized the endlessly piling up verification codes clutter is a hassle, and has created a handy optional feature that allows the operating system to automatically go through and delete those verification codes from your iPhone, Mac, or iPad, after they have been successfully used. This optional setting is particularly great when used in combination with the automatic security code fill feature available to macOS, iOS, and iPadOS too.
If you’re interested in getting AirPods Pro 3 as a gift for Christmas, either for someone else or even yourself, now is about the last minute before you won’t necessarily get them delivered before Christmas, at least at the big Amazon discount price of $199 (down from $249). AirPods Pro 3 are extremely popular and fantastic wireless earbuds, and make great gifts, or treats for yourself. Check them out now and don’t delay!
AirTags are great personal trackers, and can make for great gifts or split up the 4 pack into stocking stuffers too especially when paired with a keychain. These can still be delivered before Christmas, and are available at a big discount from Amazon right now.
Apple Watch Series 11 is available at a $100 discount and will ship in time for Christmas. Another great gift idea, for others or yourself!
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 introduced new beta versions of system software for those enrolled in the Apple beta testing program, versioned as iOS 26.3 beta 1, macOS Tahoe 26.3 beta 1, and ipadOS 26.3 beta 1. This is the first set of beta builds that arrive right on the heals of the freshly released iOS 26.2 update, iPadOS 26.2 update, and macOS Tahoe 26.2 update.
Presumably iOS 26.3 beta 1, macOS Tahoe 26.3 beta 1, and ipadOS 26.3 beta 1 will include some bug fixes, security enhancements, some tweaks, and a minor feature or two. No major changes are expected.
Additionally, other beta system software is available for developers who work with Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro and need to test their work on those devices.
Apple has released iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3 for iPhone and iPad, respectively, for users who are continuing to run the iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 operating systems. These are security updates that do not include any new features or changes, and are available as alternatives for users who either can’t install iOS 26 or do not want to install iOS 26 onto their devices for whatever reason.
These updates are concurrent with the freshly released iOS 26.2 update, iPadOS 26.2 update, macOS Tahoe 26.2 update, MacOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, watchOS 26.2, tvOS 26.2, and visionOS 26.2.
If you’re a Mac user who is continuing to run the MacOS Sequoia or macOS Sonoma operating systems, you’ll find updates available as MacOS Sequoia 15.7.3 and macOS Sonoma 14.8.3. These are security update focused and do not introduce any changes or new features. Safari 26.2 is also available as an update to these MacOS versions.
Separately, Apple has released macOS Tahoe 26.2 update (For the curious Sequoia and Sonoma users, Tahoe 26.2 remains flawed and buggy making it difficult to recommend Tahoe at all). Apple has also released iOS 26.2 for iPhone, ipadOS 26.2 for iPad, watchOS 26.2, tvOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, and iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3 for iPhone and iPad users avoiding the iOS 26 updates, so you’ll want to update your other Apple devices.
If you’re holiday shopping, don’t miss out on these great deals from Amazon on all sorts of Apple gear, from AirPods Pro, to Apple Watch, iPad mini, and MacBook Air, and more.
AirPods 4, AirPods Max, and AirPods Pro are available at great prices from Amazon:
Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3 are both available at nice discounts from Amazon:
AirTags are great personal trackers, and can make for great gifts or split up the 4 pack into stocking stuffers too.
iPad mini 7 features the A17 processor with Apple Intelligence support, 8″ LCD display, 12MP front and rear cameras, 128 GB storage, USB-C charging, and support for optional Apple Pencil Pro. iPad mini is offered in a few color options at a hefty 20% discount price, cutting $100 off the retail price.
Amazon is continuing to offer their whopper discount on the M4 MacBook Air, taking $250 off the retail price of the 13″ model, and $200 off the 15″ model.
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.
The Christmas classic movie “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will be free to watch on the Apple TV service on this weekend of December 13 and 14.
The classic cartoon follows a child who is upset about the commercialization of Christmas, and features the entire Snoopy gang. It’s a family favorite, and many people have fond memories of watching the movie from various times in their life.
While you can typically watch A Charlie Brown Christmas anytime on the paid Apple TV service, what’s unique about this particular offering is that, like the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, it’s available for a limited weekend window to watch for free on Apple TV. A little Christmas present from Apple to everyone, perhaps?
Apple has released macOS Tahoe 26.2 to the general public, becoming available for all Mac users to download as a software update to macOS Tahoe. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes a few new features, including the ability for adding alarms to Reminders, and a FaceTime ring lighting feature, and resolves a few bugs as well as adding some essential security patches. If you’re running macOS Tahoe, you will want to install macOS Tahoe 26.2.
Update: macOS Tahoe 26.2 does not fix the Reduce Transparency bug where transparency remains prominent throughout MacOS even if enabled, with the accessibility feature being broken since the Tahoe 26.1 release. This is a feature many Mac users rely on to reduce overlapping text and other annoying legibility issues with Tahoe that did not exist in prior MacOS versions. Some users are also reporting a new bug/issue in MacOS Tahoe 26.2 where local networking between Macs running Tahoe and Sequoia no longer works.
Aside from macOS Tahoe 26.2, Apple has also released iOS 26.2 for iPhone, iPadOS 26.2 for iPad, watchOS 26.2 for appleWatch, tvOS 26.2 for appleTV, and if you’re on a Mac that is not yet running Tahoe, you will find MacOS Sequoia 15.7.3, and macOS Sonoma 14.8.3.
iOS 26.2 for iPhone and iPadOS 26.2 for iPad have been released by Apple. These updates include a few bug fixes, and also add a few new small features, as well as include essential security patches, making these updates recommended to any iPhone or iPad user that is running the iOS 26 operating system.
New to iOS 26.2 is a slider for the Liquid Glass effect on the Lock Screen, Reminders app gains alarms, AirDrop includes an optional temporary code feature for users who are not in your contacts list, and iPadOS 26.2 reintroduces Slide Over drag-from-Dock as a multitasking option.
Separately, Mac users will find macOS Tahoe 26.2 update available to download, along with macOS Sequoia 15.7.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.3, watchOS 26.2, tOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, and updates to other Apple devices as well.
If you ever wished your Mac could feel a bit more seasonal and festive for the holidays and Christmas, you might just appreciate a fun app called Snowy. Snowy brings falling snow, twinkling Christmas lights, and some holiday ambiance, directly to your Mac desktop. You can have dangling twinkling Christmas lights hanging from your menu bar, while snow falls and blows around your screen.
And Snowy for Mac is free, so if you’re just looking for a bit of holiday cheer, there’s no commitment other than a download to use the fun little app. Get Snowy on your Mac, and if you feel up for it you can put Christmas Lights on your iPhone with Festivitas too, decorating all of your Apple gear as you please.
Release candidate builds typically match the final version of an operating system, unless a last minute bug or issue has been found anyway, and that’s perhaps what happened in this case, as a 2nd release candidate build for iOS 26.2 has been made available for testing. macOS Tahoe 26.2 RC remains on the first release candidate build released the week prior, in case you were wondering.
It’s quite likely the final version of iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, and MacOS Tahoe 26.2 will be released to the general public in the very near future, likely the coming days.
iOS 26.2 includes a few tweaked and changes, including the ability to adjust how strong Liquid Glass is only on the Lock Screen of iPhone (would be nice to have this system wide, and on the Mac), Reminders gains an alarms feature, EU users get the Live Translation features on AirPods, a setting is available to flash the screen for alerts and notifications, and AirDrop gains a temporary access code features for sharing with users who are not in your contacts list.
macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes FaceTime Edge / Ring Lighting feature that helps to improve lighting during video calls, and the Reminders app on MacOS gains alarms too. We will soon find out some annoying bugs have been addressed, including whether or not iCloud can work in Virtual Machines again, and if the bug where Reduce Transparency does not work entirely has been fixed with MacOS 26.2.
One of the complaints about the new Liquid Glass interface on the Mac is that with such a reduction in contrast, it is increasingly challenging to quickly determine which of your app windows is active in the foreground. Developer Tyler Hall was annoyed enough by this with Tahoe that he created a simple app to draw an obvious border around the active window, called Alan*, and it’s available free.
The effect of the Alan app is not particularly attractive, but, it is effective – it makes it very obvious what the active foreground window is, something that has gotten increasingly difficult in macOS Tahoe with Liquid Glass. In this way, Alan is sort of like an accessibility app for people who want to be able to quickly determine what window is the active window on a Mac.
A Release Candidate (RC) build of iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, and MacOS Tahoe 26.2, have been released to those users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. With the issuing of a Release Candidate build, it’s likely the final versions of these operating system versions will arrive next week.
The new versions of system software include a variety of small new features, tweaks, adjustments, and bug fixes to the various operating systems.
iOS 26.2 for iPhone introduces a slider to adjust how strong Liquid Glass presents on the Lock Screen (and given the overall reception of Liquid Glass, this should probably be introduced system-wide, and across all OS 26 operating systems). Reminders gains alarms, AirPods gains a Live Translation feature for EU users, you can have your screen flash for alerts, AirDrop gets a temporary access code feature for non-contact users, and more. On the Mac side of things with MacOS 26.2, FaceTime gets an Edge Lighting / Ring Lighting feature that aims to improve lighting during video calls, and Reminders gets alarms too. It’s unclear if the Reduce Transparency not working properly bug has been fixed with MacOS 26.2, or if the bug where iCloud does not work in virtual machines, has been resolved, amongst other problems reported by users.
