Apple today seeded the first public betas of upcoming iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 updates to its public beta testing group, a few days after seeding the first betas to developers and a little less than a week after releasing the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates.
Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS 14.2 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device.
iOS 14.2 introduces a new Music Recognition control for the Control Center, deepening the integration of the Apple-owned Shazam app in the iOS operating system. Music Recognition lets you discover music playing around you and it can recognize music playing in apps even when you're wearing AirPods.
The Shazam Music Recognition feature can be added to Control Center through the Control Center options in the Settings app. To use the feature, open up Control Center and then tap on the Shazam icon to initiate a single recognition.
The new update brings a redesigned Now Playing widget for the Control Center that lists recently played albums that you might want to listen to when you have no music playing. There's also a redesigned interface for AirPlay, making it easier to play music across multiple AirPlay 2-enabled devices in the home.
For those who have low vision, Apple added a "People Detection" feature in the Magnifier app that uses the camera to let iPhone users know how far away other people are, which can be useful for social distancing purposes.
The new iOS 14.2 beta will likely be in testing for some time as Apple works on releasing new iPhones, with the new iPhones expected to debut sometime in October.
Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works.
We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
Wednesday February 11, 2026 10:07 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, the latest updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out in September. The new software comes almost two months after Apple released iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
According to Apple's release notes, ...
Thursday February 12, 2026 11:17 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release an iPhone 17e and an iPad Air with an M4 chip "in the coming weeks," according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple retail employees say that inventory of the iPhone 16e has basically dried out and the iPad Air is seeing shortages as well," said Gurman. "I've been expecting new versions of both (iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air) in the coming weeks."...
Friday February 13, 2026 2:01 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to launch a rebranded "Sales Coach" app on the iPhone and iPad later this month, according to a source familiar with the matter.
"Sales Coach" will arrive as an update to Apple's existing "SEED" app, and it will continue to provide sales tips and training resources to Apple Store and Apple Authorized Reseller employees around the world. For example, there are articles and videos...
Wednesday February 11, 2026 3:36 am PST by Tim Hardwick
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor.
Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...
Control center is so frustrating. We need more control of how we want to lay it out. Like Home Kit constantly changes where the buttons are trying to guess what you're going to turn on. I just want it to be in exactly the same spot, so it becomes a habit! Looking for it every time is frustrating.
Be careful. Developer Beta wiped out the functionality of the Oxygen Sensor, ECG, Altimeter from the Apple Watch Series 6 on Friday. Not sure if that will be addressed in the Public Beta.
Be careful. Developer Beta wiped out the functionality of the Oxygen Sensor, ECG, Altimeter from the Apple Watch Series 6 on Friday. Not sure if that will be addressed in the Public Beta.
The release notes for the watchOS developer beta mentions the blood oxygen not being available on this release. However the release notes for the iOS developer beta makes no mention about the blood oxygen counterpart on the Health app, and yet, it is not available if paired with the GM code on the watch.
It seems, however, this is standard behavior: all newest features introduced with new hardware on the Apple Watch were unavailable on the first beta code after the GM of the new OS.
