Mac users are faced with the annual classic computing question again; should I upgrade to the latest major new system software that is available? In this case, MacOS 27 Golden Gate is available to download and widely considered to be a solid system software version, so if your Mac is currently running MacOS Tahoe 26, or MacOS Sequoia 15, should you jump in and upgrade to MacOS 27 Golden Gate? That’s what we’re here to discuss. And while this may seem like a simple and straightforward question, there’s actually more nuance to consider here than you might think.

To be clear, this is all largely largely a matter of opinion, but I will say it’s a fairly informed opinion based on significant direct experience with all three MacOS operating systems; Golden Gate, Tahoe, and Sequoia.

If you’re wondering to yourself, should I upgrade to MacOS 27 Golden Gate from MacOS Tahoe or MacOS Sequoia? then you might find this article to be helpful to your decision making.

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Apple has released iOS 26.7 for iPhone and iPadOS 26.7 for iPad as security focused software updates for users who are not yet ready to jump onto iOS 27 or iPadOS 27.

Over 100 security fixes are included in the iOS 26.7 update, but no new features or other changes are along for the ride.

Separately, Apple has released a bevy of other software updates including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, MacOS 27 Golden Gate, MacOS Tahoe 26.7, MacOS Sequoia 15.8, watchOS 27, and tvOS 27.

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Apple has released MacOS Tahoe 26.7 along with MacOS Sequoia 15.8 as security updates for older Mac users and for those who are not yet interested in running the just released MacOS Golden Gate 27 update.

MacOS Tahoe 26.7 and MacOS Sequoia 15.8 have over a hundred security fixes but do not include any new features and are focused entirely on security patches, though both the Tahoe and Sequoia updates also have access to Safari 27.0 which does include some new features for the Safari browser. MacOS Sonoma did not receive a security update, and will no longer be supported by Apple.

Separately, Apple has released MacOS 27 Golden Gate, iOS 27, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, along with iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7.

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MacOS 27 Golden Gate has been released by Apple and is now available to download and update for the general public. MacOS 27 went through several months of beta testing, and the finalized version can be installed on any compatible Mac.

MacOS 27 Golden Gate includes performance improvements for MacOS itself including improved system responsiveness and speed, enhancements to core functions like Spotlight search, improvements to Mail search, new child safety features and Screen Time functionality aimed at parents, and more. MacOS 27 also includes improvements to the Liquid Glass interface including a slider to adjust the intensity of translucency effects, refined icons, new wallpapers and screensaver options, and more. MacOS 27 Golden Gate includes a dedicated Siri app, new Apple Intelligence features, and a new Siri AI that offers improvements to Siri itself. Release notes for MacOS 27 Golden Gate are further below.

Aside from MacOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple has also released iOS 27 for iPhone, iPadOS 27 for iPad, watchOS 27 for Apple Watch, tvOS 27 for Apple TV, and visionOS 27 for Apple Vision Pro.

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iOS 27 is now available for iPhone, along with iPadOS 27 for iPad. This is the final version of iOS 27, after a several months long beta development and testing process. All eligible iPhone models and iPad devices can download and install the iOS 27 or ipadOS 27 upgrade, respectively, at their leisure.

iOS 27 includes improvements to system performance, including improved app launch speed, improvements to Spotlight and Mail search, refinements to the Liquid Glass user interface design including a slider to adjust the intensity of transparent effects along with refined icons, and new wallpaper options. You will also find new Apple Intelligence and Siri AI capabilities and features, and a dedicated Siri app. There are also new features and improvements made to apps like Photos, Messages, Mail, and Safari. Parents will find new child safety and parental control features with Screen Time to help with device management and control. iPadOS 27 includes all of the same, plus some iPad specific tweaks and adjustments. There are a variety of other various changes and improvements too, the full release notes for iOS 27 are further below.

Separately, Apple has also released MacOS 27 Golden Gate for Mac, watchOS 27 for Apple Watch, tvOS 27 for Apple TV, and visionOS 27 for Apple Vision Pro, so you will want to update all of your Apple devices when you get a chance.

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MacOS 27 Golden Gate has an emphasis on improving performance, with significant enhancements to Spotlight search, mail search, and more. There are also some really nice visual refinements to the Liquid Glass interface and system icons, and there’s even a slider for adjusting the intensity of Liquid Glass. Plus, macOS 27 Golden Gate brings with it a dedicated Siri app, and new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features, along with many other smaller changes and features throughout the operating system. With all these improvements, it’s easy to see why Mac users are excited about Golden Gate.

The official public release of MacOS 27 Golden Gate is Monday, September 14, and whether you’re jumping in immediately on day one, or waiting a bit, you might want to take a few moments to prepare your Mac for the next major Mac system software upgrade.

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iOS 27 for iPhone and iPadOS 27 for iPad will be released on Monday, September 14. That’s pretty soon, and while you don’t have to update right away on the release day, you still might be interested in preparing your devices for installing the next major system software update for iOS and iPadOS.

Since iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are heavily focused on performance improvements, you’ll almost certainly see a benefit when updating from the OS 26 releases, and plus there are nice refinements to Liquid Glass interface, and new Siri AI features too.

Let’s take a look at the steps you’ll want to take to be sure you’re ready for iOS 27.

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Apple has released iOS 27 RC build #24A435 for iPhone, along with iPadOS 27 RC for iPad. The RC (Release Candidate) build is often the final version of the beta cycle, absent any major issues, that matches the release version to the general public. This being makes sense given the official iOS 27 release date is set for next Monday, September 14.

iOS 27 includes significant performance improvements, as well as enhancements to features like Spotlight search, and Mail search. There’s also new Siri AI features and Apple Intelligence capabilities, along with a dedicated Siri app. Visually the Liquid Glass interface gets a nice revamp as well with refinements to icons, and a slider to adjust the intensity of the Liquid Glass interface look and transparency. Many other smaller changes and features are also included in iOS 27, the full release notes are included further below.

Though iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 will be released to the general public on September 14, if you feel up for it you can jump ahead of the crowds and install iOS 27 RC on iPhone now by installing the beta, or the same with iPadOS 27 RC via beta on iPad.

Aside from iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, Apple has also released the RC build of MacOS 27 Golden Gate, visionOS 27, watchOS 27, and tvOS 27.

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Apple has released MacOS 27 Golden Gate as a Release Candidate (RC) build #26A428 for all users enrolled in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. A Release Candidate build typically signals the end of the beta testing process, absent any significant last minute issues, and can sometimes match the final Golden Master (GM) build. Given that MacOS 27 Golden Gate has a September 14 release date, it is reasonably likely that is the case here.

MacOS 27 Golden Gate includes notable performance enhancements and improvements to the operating system, including increases in speed, stability, and functionality of core features like Spotlight search, Mail Search, and more. There are also visual refinements to the Liquid Glass interface including tweaks to various icons and user interface elements, and a slider to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass. You will also find a dedicated Siri app, new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features, and a variety of other new features and changes throughout the new Mac operating system. Full release notes are included below.

If you’re interested in jumping into MacOS 27 Golden Gate ahead of the broader public, you can install MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, which is now the RC build, onto any compatible Mac.

Additionally, iOS 27 RC/GM, iPadOS 27 RC, WatchOS 27 RC, tvOS 27 RC, and visionOS 27 RC, are also available for beta testers as release candidate builds.

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Apple has revealed the all-new iPhone Duo as part of the iPhone 18 lineup, featuring a dramatic new design with a foldable screen. When closed, the device looks much like a standard iPhone, but that iPhone transforms into an iPad mini-like device when opened, and is sure to be a popular mobile form factor moving forward. The iPhone Duo is a premium device and priced accordingly.

Separately, Apple also released the iPhone 18 Pro, along with new AirPods Pro, and new Apple Watch models.

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Apple has announced the all new iPhone 18 Pro series, including iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The latest iPhone features a faster processor with more AI capabilities, and there are significant camera improvements, and longer battery life. You’ll also find new color options available across the line.

Separately, Apple has also announced the all new iPhone Duo foldable iPhone, new Apple Watch, and new AirPods Pro.

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Apple has released iOS 26.6.2 for iPhone and iPadOS 26.6.2 for iPad. The software updates provide a fix to address an issue with updating software updates over a cellular connection.

There are no concurrent software updates available for other devices or Apple hardware.

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If you were a Windows user of the 90s and 2000s, you might remember defragmenting hard drives, a sort of hocus-pocus Windows maintenance maneuver that had legitimate function where it would gather files spread across a drive and put them in a tidier order to make reading them faster. While someone with a lot of files and a significantly fragmented drive could benefit from the procedure, defragmenting Windows 98 (and Windows 95) became a sort of panacea for any issue with a PC, and people undoubtedly overused the tool. Then along came SSDs and defragging sort of went the way of the Dodo.

If you miss pointlessly defragmenting your Windows PC, a silly little webapp lets you recreate the experience, complete with simulated disk reading sound effects and progress bars. This is completely pointless but novel and a bit nostalgic, and it can make for a laugh of few.

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There are many situations where you may wish to get a list of all Homebrew packages installed on a Mac, specifically that were installed using Homebrew, and not anything else.
 
If you’re not familiar, Homebrew is a popular command line package manager for Mac, and many advanced Mac users use it to install additional software into Terminal or even GUI apps with Homebrew’s cask.

Let’s review two different ways to determine what packages were installed on a Mac using Homebrew.

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The Unknown Senders Messages screening feature of iPhone can be really useful if you find yourself getting bombarded with frequent unwanted messages from unknown contacts, but it can also be a hindrance and cause you to miss some messages you may want to receive. If you find yourself missing messages due to the message screening feature for Unknown Senders, you can turn off the feature on iPhone.

There are many reasons to turn this feature off, but a few common reasons are you are giving your phone number out to new people, you are selling something on FaceBook Marketplace or Craigslist and are not seeing the incoming messages about your thing for sale, or you’re just missing messages from people who are not saved into your contacts. Whatever the reason, read along and you’ll have Screen Unknown Senders disabled in moments.

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Everyone uses their Apple Watch for different purposes, whether it’s having a nifty tech gadget on their wrist with all sorts of communication tools, as a fitness and activity tracker – which is my primary use case, or simply as a watch to check time and other useful information.

Since my own Apple Watch is mostly optimized for fitness and activity tracking purposes, that’s also what most of my utility of the watch is geared around. But there are a few other features of Apple Watch I use constantly as well, so I wanted to share a few of those tips too. And as always, we want to hear from you and what your regular Apple Watch usage and tips are, so share those below!

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Omarchy is a new curated Linux distribution that offers a pre-configured keyboard driven environment and window manager. It’s lightweight and highly customizable, with system integrated AI tools, making for a unique take on operating systems. With Omarchy gaining quite a bit of attention, you might be curious in giving Omarchy a test run, but perhaps you’re not yet ready to commit an entire computer to running the new Linux distro, or don’t want to tinker with a VM.

And that’s where Try Omarchy comes in, an unaffiliated project from @martiano. It offers an entirely self-contained virtualized version of Omarchy Linux that’ll run as an independent app on MacOS.

So, if you’re curious and want to give Omarchy Linux a test run on your Mac, with minimal effort? Give Try Omarchy a look:

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Apple has released iOS 27 beta 8 for iPhone, along with iPadOS 27 beta 8 for iPad. The latest beta build first arrives for developer beta testers, but the matching public beta build typically soon follows so keep an eye out for that as well.

Though the betas are intended for advanced users for testing purposes, anyone can technically install iOS 27 beta on iPhone or iPadOS 27 on iPad. Given these are later betas, the experience is fairly well refined, but should still be placed into the beta category where bugs and unexpected behavior may be encountered. I have been running the betas on my primary hardware for a while now and it has been a mostly positive experience, but most people should wait for the final version when it arrives in near future.

iOS 27 has a primary focus on performance enhancements and feature improvements, and there are efforts made for visual cleanup as well. You will find improved system performance, better search functionality including Spotlight and Mail search improvements, new Siri AI features, a dedicated Siri app that is sort of like a chatbot, refinements to various system icons, improvements to the Liquid Glass interface including a slider to adjust transparency, and various other changes and tweaks.

Separately, Apple has also issued MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta 8, watchOS 27 beta 8, and tvOS beta 8.

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