MacOS Sequoia 15.3 update is now available to all Mac users running Sequoia.
The latest software update for Mac includes Genmoji support, which allows users with Apple Intelligence supported hardware to generate custom Emoji icons in Messages, along with changes to improve AI summaries, bug fixes, security enhancements, and some other minor changes.
For Mac users who are not running Sequoia, you will find macOS Sonoma 14.7.3, MacOS Ventura 13.7.3, and Safari 18.3 available as updates instead.
Aside from the Mac, iOS 18.3 for iPhone, iPadOS 18.3 for iPad, iPadOS 17.7.4 for older iPad, tvOS 18.3 for Apple TV, watchOS 11.3 for Apple Watch, and visionOS 2.3 for Apple Vision Pro are also available as software updates for eligible Apple devices.
iOS 18.3 for iPhone and iPadOS 18.3 for iPad have been released for all eligible devices.
The new software updates focus on bug fixes, security enhancements, and bring some changes to AI features like Visual Intelligence and Apple Intelligence Summaries, the latter of which were generating inaccurate summaries and headlines which bothered some people. Since many iPhone and iPad models do not have Apple Intelligence support, those specific devices obviously will not gain any of those those particular changes.
Separately, MacOS Sequoia 15.3 is available for Mac, along with tvOS 18.3 for Apple TV, watchOS 11.3 for Apple Watch, and visionOS 2.3 for Apple Vision Pro.
Some iPhone and iPad users may occasionally notice that their iPhone app icons show up as blank white or grey icons with a grid like appearance on them of a cross and circles. If you’ve never seen this before, it can be confusing, especially since there is no clear indication on what the blank icon with a grid of a cross and circles means or indicates. Some users describe the mysterious app icons as looking like a schematic, or a grid, a bullseye, a schematic, or a sketch paper type of appearance, and it can be just one single app, or sometimes it can be many apps that show this icon instead of what you might expect of the apps on your iPhone. These icons can appear as white if the iPhone is set to Light mode, or grey if the iPhone is set to Dark mode.
Let’s dive into this issue, discuss what the grey/white grid icon means if you see it on your iPhone Home Screen, and how to fix it.
Using “Type to Siri” on iPhone and iPad is better than ever thanks to Apple Intelligence, and if you have a new enough iPhone or iPad. Type to Siri with Apple Intelligence includes ChatGPT integration, making it a notably more capable AI assistant, and it’s also much easier to access with the latest devices and iOS/iPadOS versions too.
While “Type to Siri” on prior iOS and iPadOS releases is available as an Accessibility option, if you have an Apple Silicon equipped iPad, or an iPhone 15 Pro or newer (sorry iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro users, your device is not Pro enough!), then Type to Siri with Apple Intelligence integration is available all the time and just a tap away.
Apple has issued a Release Candidate build of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and MacOS Sequoia 15.3, to users who are participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. There are also RC builds for tvOS 18.3, visionOS 2.3, and watchOS 11.3 as well.
Release Candidate builds are typically made available at the end of the usual beta testing cycle, indicating that a final release is nearing to the general public, possibly as soon as next week.
The RC beta software updates include a few minor bug fixes and minor features, including some Apple Intelligence refinements, and Genmoji for the Mac. Release notes for the updates are below. Another notable change is that Apple Intelligence becomes enabled by default on compatible devices with these updates.
The beta testing release cycle continues, this time with iOS 18.3 beta 3, iPadOS 18.3 beta 3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3 beta 3, each being made available to users participating in the beta testing programs from Apple.
No major new features are arriving in these beta versions, though macOS Sequoia 15.3 will bring Genmoji creation to the Mac, and iOS/IpadOS 18.3 both have some minor changes to Apple Intelligence Summaries after users complained about inaccurate summaries being generated by Apple AI.
As you may know by now, Apple Intelligence includes handy writing tools and summarization features. One of the more useful ways to take advantage of the Apple Intelligence features on iPhone, Mac, and iPad is to have the AI feature write emails for you. Can’t think of what to say? Or maybe you simply don’t want to write a particular email?
Let Apple Intelligence write emails for you, and it’s quite easy to use this way, as we’ll show you here.
Image Playground is an artificial intelligence tool from Apple available for iPhone, Mac, and iPad, that allows you to quickly create and generate images and artwork based upon descriptions or even photos and people from your image library. It’s a fun tool to use, and also super easy.
The Type to Siri feature on Mac is super useful, particularly now that Siri has Apple Intelligence features. Using Type to Siri is perhaps even more handy for Mac users than using the voice activated Siri commands, but some Mac users may find themselves accidentally triggering Type to Siri by inadvertently pressing the initiating command sequence.
If you wish to change the keyboard shortcut for Type to Siri on Mac, you can do so rather quickly with a settings change, as we’ll detail here.
The iPad mini is a popular iPad model for users who want a very portable table experience. The 7th generation iPad mini is particularly well suited for modern use, being the first iPad mini model to support Apple Intelligence AI features, an 8″ LCD display, and the speedy A17 processor, which is the same powerful chip from the iPhone 15 Pro series.
While iPad mini 7 retails for $499 from Apple, Amazon is offering a great deal taking 20% off the retail price, bringing it down to just $399. The deal price is available in most color and storage sizes, though shipping times can vary a bit. Why pay more than you have to? Grab the deal!
And while you’re shopping, don’t miss a great deal on an AirTags 4-pack too…
AirTags are small and easy to use personal tracking devices that let you track luggage, car keys, personal belongings, packages, pets, and just about anything you can think of that you might want to track.
Apple sells 4-packs of AirTags for $99, but Amazon is offering a great deal on AirTags 4-pack for just $69.99.
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Did you know that, by default, your Mac search queries entered into Spotlight, Safari, Siri, Lookup, and #images, are sent to Apple? While this information is anonymized so as not to be identifying, and Apple says it’s used to improve search results, many Mac users may not want this search information being shared with Apple at all. Additionally, privacy enthusiasts may find these type of data collection efforts to be undesirable.
Fortunately, you can easily turn off “Help Apple Improve Search” setting on the Mac to stop sharing your searches with Apple from Safari, Siri, Spotlight, Lookup, and #images search.
Siri has been considerably improved in recent MacOS versions, mostly because it’s now linked to ChatGPT. One of the other recent changes to Siri in modern MacOS versions is that it’s now easier to access the “Type to Siri” feature, no longer being relegated to an Accessibility setting that has to be enabled separately like it is in earlier versions of Mac system software.
With macOS Sequoia 15 and newer, Type To Siri can be accessed from anywhere on the Mac with a simple keypress. If you haven’t used this feature on your Mac yet, take a moment to learn about it and give it a go.
Some MacOS Sequoia users have discovered that the com.apple.mediaanalysisd directory in MacOS is taking up very large amounts of disk storage capacity with cache files.
If you have discovered your Mac disk space has reduced since installing or updating to MacOS Sequoia, the inordinately large com.apple.mediaanalysisd cache file issue could be to blame. A variety of Mac users have reported the directory being filled with 15GB+ of data, with some users noting 50 GB, 80 GB, even 140GB of cache files, filling users entire disk drives with the cache bundle files.
Let’s review what the directory is, and how to recover your disk storage space.
You may occasionally find a situation where a question mark icon appears in the Mac Dock, sometimes it’s even several question mark icons. If you click on the question mark icon in the Dock, nothing happens. What is the question mark? Why is there a question mark icon in the Dock? How do you remove or fix it? We’re going to answer these questions and resolve this issue.
The second beta versions of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and MacOS Sequoia 15.3, are now available for users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software.
There are also second beta versions of watchOS 11.3, tvOS 18.3 and visionOS 2.3, if you’re a developer testing software for those devices and operating systems.
While the prior updates to these OS versions focused on additional Apple Intelligence features, it appears these beta versions are focused more on bug fixes and other general improvements. The exception to that is MacOS Sequoia 15.3 beta includes support for Genmoji creation on the Mac.
Apple has released iOS 18.2.1 for iPhone users, and iPadOS 18.2.1 for iPad users. The new software updates are said to include important bug fixes, and are therefore recommended for all users to install.
No published security updates are included in the release, and it’s not entirely sure what the specific bug fixes are either.
At the moment, this is the only new software update available for Apple devices, but it’s possible bug fix updates will arrive for other devices later.
If you’d like to start the new year with some binge watching, you can enjoy a free weekend of all-access to Apple TV+ films and shows starting on January 3 and continuing through January 5.
The free weekend is available on any device where you can stream Apple TV+, all you will need is an Apple ID to access the free weekend. This means basically any iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple TV, Vision Pro, smart TV’s from LG, Samsung, Sony, Vizio, TCL, Roku, Amazon Fire TV equipped devices, Chromecast, Google TV, Playstation, and Xbox consoles can all access or stream the free Apple TV+ content this weekend. You can also watch online through a web browser at tv.apple.com if you prefer.
Apple TV+ offers a selection of shows and movies, including Apple TV+ originals, ranging from The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, Silo, See, For All Mankind, Foundation series, Slow Horses, Presumed Innocent, Disclaimer, Shrinking, Bad Sisters, Disclaimer, Dark Matter, Fly Me to the Moon, The Family Plan, Wolfs, The Instigators, and more.
Apple TV+ typically costs $10/month, and while the selection of shows and movies might be less than you’d get on something like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Max, Disney+, or the ten thousand other streaming service options, some people really enjoy what Apple TV+ has to offer. I personally haven’t watched any shows or content from Apple TV+ so I can’t vouch for any of it, but you can always visit Rotten Tomatoes Apple TV section to see how other people rate the shows.
It’s not clear if a subscription automatically starts after the free weekend, so you might want to schedule a cancellation of the service for the end of January 5 if you don’t want to accidentally start paying Apple even more money than you already do when you buy new devices or subscribe to iCloud to backup your iPhone.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Apple press release. Otherwise, enjoy your binge watching!
Want to start the new year off with a great fitness tracker to help motivate your workouts and track your health stats and vitals? Then don’t miss this great deal on the all new Apple Watch Series 10 is available for just $329 in select color and band options, available right now on Amazon.
Maybe you wanted an Apple Watch for Christmas and didn’t get one, or maybe you just want to treat yourself or a loved one, whatever the reason, why pay full price from Apple when Amazon is offering an 18% discount for the same product?
Apple Watch Series 10 offers a 42mm always-on display, excellent fitness and activity tracking features, heart rate monitor, ECG capability, crash detection, fall detection with SOS, ovulation tracking, GPS, one handed pinch gesture support, water resistance, voice control, and so much more.
You might find that certain band and color options ship sooner than others, so check out the various options that are available at the great discounted price, and make your shopping decision depending on your urgency.
Start the new year off right with an excellent fitness tracker, and you can even get three months of Fitness+ for free to further motivate your fitness and health journey.
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