Apple has released the third beta versions of iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, and macOS Monterey 12.3 to users enrolled in the beta testing programs.

A developer beta build is typically available first, and soon followed by the same beta for public beta users.

iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 include the much anticipated Universal Control feature, which allows a single mouse and keyboard to control multiple Macs and iPads. While most users are better off waiting for the final public release, adventurous users can try Universal Control right now by running the betas on their Mac and iPad.

iOS 15.4 beta includes support for using Face ID with a mask, contactless Tap To Pay payments support, an Apple Card widget, and digital EU covid vaccination passes.

iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, and macOS Monterey 12.3 all also include support for iCloud Keychain notes, and new Emoji icons including a salute, melting face, troll, pregnant man, low battery icon, bubbles, hands forming a heart, biting lip, and more. Emojis are often the most popular reason for some users to update system software, so these should become widely used once they’re rolled out to all users.

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Do you want to use a public calendar on your Mac to keep an eye on promotional and other public events? You can add this calendar using a URL to the macOS Calendar app pretty easily, similar to subscribing to public calendars iPhone and iPad. The best part is that this public calendar doesn’t even have to be an iCloud calendar.

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Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.6.4 with an important security fix for users continuing to run the macOS Big Sur operating system.

Separately, for Mac users running macOS Catalina 10.15.7, there’s a Security Update 2022-002 Catalina update available.

The security updates appear to include the same fix that was issued recently in macOS Monterey 12.2.1 update for users on the Monterey operating system.

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You launched Zoom on the Mac, you can’t join a meeting because Zoom requires an update, but the update to Zoom fails. Don’t panic!

If you’ve tried to update Zoom on the Mac and the update installation is not working or outright fails, you’re not alone. For whatever reason some Mac users find that updating Zoom for Mac is not always as simple as just clicking the ‘update’ and ‘install’ buttons, because the app eventually quits, but then does not complete installation of the update. Updating Zoom is essential because you won’t be able to join meetings or host them, or use the app at all if its too out of date.

So how do you update Zoom for Mac, even if the Zoom update fails to install? It’s actually pretty easy, as you’ll see in a moment. We’ll cover two ways to update Zoom on the Mac; the first is the usual way which should work for most users, and the second further below is how you can update Zoom on Mac even if it’s not installing or the update is not working as expected.

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Did you know you can automate things with Homepod and Homepod mini? Even if it’s your very first smart speaker, you may already be familiar with using Siri to stream music, set alarms, make appointments, and other basic stuff. However, your HomePod can do a lot more than that, like automating tasks and things like playing music every day at a particular time, or when you get home.

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The privacy-centric Brave web browser is gaining popularity, so it’s reasonable for iPhone and iPad users to wonder how they can change their default web browser to Brave in iOS or iPadOS. Fortunately, it’s really easy.

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There is some online discussion of battery drain occurring overnight on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, while the Macs are in sleep mode, with many users noticing the problem after updating to a recent version of macOS Monterey.

While there does seem to be an uptick of overnight battery draining behavior with macOS Monterey 12.2, the particular issue has actually predated macOS Monterey. As we covered in October of last year prior to Monterey’s release, we noted similar overnight battery drain was happening with later macOS Big Sur updates to some Mac laptop users.

Fortunately there’s a simple solution available now, and that is updating macOS Monterey. And if you’re experiencing the issue on a Mac before Monterey, disabling bluetooth may resolve the battery draining while sleep issue.

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Apple has released iOS 15.3.1 and iPadOS 15.3.1 for iPhone and iPad users, respectively. The software update includes an important security fix, and also resolves an issue with Braille displays.

Separately, Apple released macOS Monterey 12.2.1 to fix a Bluetooth battery draining bug when a Mac is sleeping, and an update to watchOS for Apple Watch users.

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Apple has released macOS Monterey 12.2.1 for Mac users, the update includes a fix for the issue where MacBook batteries would drain when the computer is in sleep mode and has Bluetooth enabled.

The battery draining while in sleep mode issue we first covered in October 2021, but it recently generated wider negative press when it impacted a larger number of Mac users.

MacOS Monterey 12.2.1 also includes an important security fix for WebKit, therefore the update is recommended to all eligible Mac users.

Separately, Apple also released iOS 15.3.1 and iPadOS 15.3.1 with security fixes for iPhone and iPad, and an update to watchOS.

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Do you see someones birthday you want to remove from your iPhone Calendar? Is your iPhone Calendar full of birthdays that you don’t care about or don’t care to see? Want to delete these birthdays from your iPhone or iPad Calendar and are perplexed that there’s no obvious way to do so? Are you wondering why you can’t delete birthdays from the Calendar app? Fear not, we will walk you through how to clean up your calendar and get rid of birthdays you do not want to see on your iPhone or iPad, and changes made there will also impact the Mac.

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Universal Control, the feature that allows a single Mac to control multiple Macs and iPads by sharing a keyboard and mouse, is surely the most hotly anticipated feature of macOS Monterey. Though it was delayed past the the initial release of Monterey, you don’t have to wait any longer to try out Universal Control and share a keyboard and mouse between a Mac and iPad, because you can get the feature right now.

The caveat here is you must be willing to run macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4, both of which are currently considered beta system software. Thus, by installing the latest betas you can have access to Universal Control and use it right away. If you aren’t comfortable running beta system software, just wait another month or so for the final versions to be out. If you’re looking to just share a keyboard and mouse between several Macs, or even a Windows PC, you can also try a free third party tool called Barrier.

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Want a vertically split set of Terminals on the Mac, so that you can have two concurrent terminals running side by side for executing their own commands? Of course you do, this is a staple feature of many terminal apps for linux and unix command lines, so having this feature on the Mac is a necessity for many advanced users.

There are a few ways to achieve a split terminal result on the Mac, but perhaps the easiest method is by using a feature native to MacOS called Split View, which, as you probably guessed, allows you to run two applications or two windows side-by-side. In this case, it will be two Terminal windows, achieving a split terminal that is so highly desired.

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Apple has released the second beta versions of macOS Monterey 12.3, iOS 15.4, and iPadOS 15.4 to users enrolled in the beta testing programs for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

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The Default Dock on macOS shows off many of the apps that come bundled with your Mac out of the box. Many users customize it right away by adding apps they use on a regular basis, and removing those they don’t. However, some people may prefer to have a cleaner Dock, and to minimize the apps that show up on the Dock. One way to do this is to make the Mac Dock only show apps that are currently running.

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Looking to share a Pages file from your iPhone or iPad with a colleague who uses Microsoft Word on a Windows PC? Since Microsoft Word does not support the .pages file format, they won’t be able to open and view the contents of the Pages file unless it’s converted first.

But not to worry, because Pages for iPad and iPhone offers conversion tools allowing you to quickly export a Pages file to Word document and Word compatible format.

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If you were disappointed to find out that WORDLE, the very popular word guessing game, has been sold to The New York Times, and will likely end up behind a pay-wall at some point, plus undergo who knows whatever other changes to fit the NYT style, you can preserve the original WORDLE game for yourself, to play forever.

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Do you sign in to your Apple ID on a lot of different devices, let’s say your iPhone, several Mac’s, a few Windows machines, an old PC, an older iPhone or iPad or two, or even an Android device? If so, you may want to check out how many devices are associated with your account, and remove any device that you longer use or own.

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Do you use a Gmail account with the stock Mail app on your iPhone or iPad? If so, you may have noticed that whenever you try to delete an email or send it to Trash by using the swipe left gesture, you get an “Archive” option instead with Gmail accounts. If you’d rather be deleting those Gmail emails in Mail app, you can change the Gmail settings to address this issue on iPhone and iPad.

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