How Tos

Since iOS 26, a malfunctioning iPhone has been able to boot itself into Recovery Assistant, with no Mac or PC required. However, you could only get there if your device failed to start up and dropped into recovery on its own. In iOS 27, currently in beta, Apple has removed that limitation, and you can now manually boot into a Mac-style recovery screen whenever you like. The new recovery ...

If you installed iOS 27 Beta or iPadOS 27 Beta through Apple's Developer Program, you may decide you want to downgrade because of usability or stability issues. Keep reading to learn how it's done. Apple's beta versions of its major software updates can be buggy, especially the early releases. While that isn't necessarily the case for the latest iOS 27 beta, you may still find apps not...

Apple has made the first macOS 27 Golden Gate public beta available for testing before the new Mac operating system's official release in the fall. Keep reading to learn whether you should install it on your Mac, and if so, how to go about it. Getting access to the macOS Golden Gate public beta is simple, and can be done by enrolling your Mac in Apple's free Apple Beta Software Program. The...

Apple has made available the first public beta of iOS 27, bringing a more stable version of the software to a wider audience following lengthy testing by developers. Keep reading to learn how to prepare your device for the beta software and how to install it. Signing up to get the ‌iOS 27 or ‌iPadOS 27 public beta is simple once you know how – it can be done by enrolling an iPhone or...

On July 8, Meta launched Muse Image, an AI image generator now built into Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It can do the typical text-to-image generative trick, but one feature in particular is causing controversy: Anyone can mention (@) a public Instagram account inside the Meta AI app, and it will use that account's photos as the basis of an AI-generated image. If your Instagram account...

If you installed the macOS 27 Golden Gate developer beta and have signed up to the Siri AI waitlist but are still waiting to be accepted, there's a Terminal command workaround that enables the new virtual assistant on your Mac immediately. If you're still reading, since you're on the first macOS 27 developer beta, we're assuming you are running it on a test machine, and not on your primary...

The 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference will take place this week from June 8 through June 12, and like the last six years, it will be an online event, although select developers and students will be invited to Apple Park. To kick things off, Apple holds a keynote event on the Monday to announce new software, which is what makes it of interest to the general public. During the keynote event ...

Since iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple has included Messages-like reactions in FaceTime that lighten up your video with visual effects. But rather than triggering them with words, you can trigger them using physical hand gestures. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. When you're on a FaceTime video call on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later, or an iPad running iPadOS 17 or...

If you're having problems getting one of your AirPods or AirPods Pro to charge, read on. This article outlines the solutions available to you. Whether you own original AirPods, AirPods 2, AirPods 3, AirPods 4, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Pro 2, all of these models can sometimes suffer from a problem where one AirPod refuses to charge in the Charging Case. One AirPod Not Working? How to Fix It ...

In iOS 26, Apple quietly added a neat new option that lets you send smaller-sized previews of images over Messages so that recipients get them right away, before the full-resolution images arrive. Thanks to the new setting, your recipient will receive a lower-quality preview almost instantly, followed by the full-resolution image. And if you're traveling with limited cellular data or using...

When ‌macOS Tahoe‌ and iPadOS 26 launched last September, Apple quietly removed Safari's Compact tab layout – the option that merged the address bar and the tab bar into a single, space-saving row. If you were a fan of it, you will have been out of luck for months. The good news is that Apple has brought it back. In macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, the Compact tab bar is once again...

If your Mac's storage has been mysteriously shrinking recently and you use Google Chrome, you may have already identified the culprit. The browser has been downloading a 4GB AI model file onto computers without explicit user consent. Here's how to reclaim the space. The file in question is called "weights.bin," which powers Google's on-device Gemini Nano AI model – the engine behind Chrome ...

Any iPhone, iPad, or Mac with a ProMotion display is capable of rendering buttery smooth 120Hz animations. However, Apple's Safari browser is locked to 60fps page rendering by default, making scrolling feel noticeably choppier for some users than in Chrome or Firefox. Thankfully, recent versions of Safari include a hidden setting that lets you unlock 120Hz rendering. At 60Hz, your screen...

Your iPhone's Lock Screen has built-in media playback controls that appear whenever music, a podcast, or other audio is playing. What you might not realize is that those controls can also include a volume slider that lets you adjust the volume without you having to unlock your iPhone or fumble for the physical buttons. Originally, Apple included a volume slider in the Lock Screen media...

If you regularly share your iPhone's data connection with your laptop or iPad, or let family members piggyback on your device's data, you'll be glad to learn that Apple recently made it a lot easier to keep tabs on who's burning through your monthly allowance. In a welcome change with the release of iOS 26.4, Apple has moved Personal Hotspot data usage info out of its previous hiding spot...

If you own a MacBook and work from home, it's easy to have your laptop plugged in for hours on end without thinking about the long-term battery life implications. Fortunately, Apple recently added a setting that lets you cap how high your Mac's battery charges, and if you own an iPhone that was released in the last few years, you may already be familiar with it. Lithium-ion batteries...

If you often find yourself adding a track to an Apple Music playlist, going back, and then adding it to other playlists, iOS 26.4 includes an option that could save you bags of time: You can now select multiple playlists when adding a song. Previously, tapping Add to Playlist would take you to a list of your playlists, and you could only pick one at a time. In iOS 26.4, there's a new...

In iOS, Apple's Audio Zoom feature automatically focuses your iPhone's microphones on whatever you've zoomed in on while recording video. It's great for isolating a subject in a noisy environment, but it can also strip away the ambient sound that can give your footage a broader context. Fortunately, iOS 26.4 adds a dedicated toggle for Audio Zoom so you can decide for yourself when it's truly...

When Apple released iOS 26, it switched up the Lock Screen so that the clock can be expanded to fill more of the display, making it easier to read. This can be done in Customize mode thanks to a drag handle on the bottom-right corner of the selection frame around the time. You can make the digits take up half of the screen, though if you have any widgets, they will slide down to the bottom...

In iOS 26, Apple Maps has a feature called Visited Places that when enabled automatically logs where you've been, with the aim of making it easier to revisit your favorite spots or to share locations with friends. While it can be useful for tracking your travels, you might prefer to keep your location history private. Here's how to disable the feature and clear your history. What Is...