Apple's Safari browser has a built-in password suggestion feature across iOS and macOS, and with iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura, it's getting more convenient than ever.
Across these platforms, there is now an option to edit a strong password that is suggested by Apple, which allows it to be tailored to site specific requirements. Websites sometimes have password creation requirements that include special characters, don't allow for special characters, need a specific length, or ask for other customizations not met by the strong password requirements, which can now be fixed with the edit option.
You can tap on a suggested password and choose the "Other Options" interface to access the "Edit Strong Password" interface. From here, you can change the characters that have been suggested. You can also opt for a quick access "Easy to Type" or "No Special Characters" option.
In macOS Monterey, iOS 15, and iPadOS 15, there are no options for suggested passwords other than opting to use it or choosing to create your own password, so this should make the built-in password feature more palatable to Mac and iOS users.
With iOS 16, Apple introduced a complete overhaul of the iOS Lock Screen, making it more customizable than ever and able to display information-rich widgets. This article shows you how to personalize your iPhone's Lock Screen in iOS 16.
In iOS 16, you can customize the Lock Screen with unique fonts, colors, and, for the first time, widgets. To get started, all you need to do is unlock your iPhone with Face ID or Touch ID, and then long press on the Lock Screen to enter the Lock Screen gallery.
The Lock Screen Gallery
If you have an Apple Watch, the interface you see will be familiar, since it's very similar to the way watch face customization works. Lock Screens are categorized here into Collections (stock Apple Lock Screens), Photos, and Colors. You can swipe left and right to choose a different existing Lock Screen, and then long press one to set it.
Alternatively, you can tap Customize to personalize the currently selected Lock Screen, or tap the blue + button to create a completely new one. Here we'll focus on customizing an existing Lock Screen.
Customizing Your Lock Screen
Tapping Customize brings up an interactive view of your Lock Screen with several options at your disposal depending on the type of Lock Screen. If you're customizing a "Color" Lock Screen, you can tap the colored circle on the left to change the color and hue, and you can swipe left and right to apply different styles to the image.
If you're customizing a "Photo" Lock Screen, the bottom options let you choose another picture (or a selection of pictures if its a Shuffle wallpaper) from your photo library, set a filter, and enable or disable the Perspective Zoom/Depth Effect.
Note that the filters available to you by swiping left and right are intelligently generated automatically for the chosen image, so you'll see different options here depending on whether, say, it's a depth photo or a Color wallpaper. (If it's a photo, bear in mind that choosing different filters may also apply different typeface styles to the time and date.) If you're customizing a Lock Screen from Apple's "Collections," the options at the bottom of the screen are more limited.
Up top, you'll see frames surrounding the time and date, as well as an area of space below the time. The center frame indicates that you can tap to edit the style of the time, while the frames above and below it can be tapped to add optional widgets.
The widgets that you can add above the time include another time zone, a set alarm, the next calendar event, a weather condition, your activity rings, the next reminder, and a chosen stock. Widgets that can be placed below the time are more info-rich and include device battery levels, Calendar, Clock, Fitness, Home, News, Reminders, Stocks, and Weather.
When you've finished customizing your Lock Screen, simply tap Done, and then tap the screen again to exit the Lock Screen gallery. Note that you can also customize the current Lock Screen by going into Settings -> Wallpaper & Lock Screens.
Apple seeded the first beta of macOS Ventura to developers yesterday for testing, and early adopters are beginning to discover smaller changes in the update. We've rounded up some of the more notable macOS Ventura tidbits that we have uncovered below.
"About This Mac" Redesigned
Apple has simplified the About This Mac window on macOS Ventura. The window still lists a Mac's type of processor, amount of memory, serial number, and the macOS version installed, but all other system information has been migrated to the System Settings app, which is a redesigned and renamed version of the former System Preferences app.
Clicking on the "More Info" button at the bottom of About This Mac opens the General menu of System Settings, which itself contains a "System Report" button that leads to a more advanced overview of a Mac's hardware, software, networking, and more.
Game Controller Menu
Speaking of System Settings, there is a new game controller menu in the app for managing game controllers connected to a Mac. The menu allows macOS Ventura users to map a controller's buttons and thumbsticks to a Mac's keyboard, adjust haptic feedback levels, create profiles with presets for multiple controllers, and more.
macOS Ventura features newly added support for some of the most popular racing wheels, pedals, and shifters for use in racing games on the Mac, including Logitech's G920 and G29 racing wheels, according to Apple's developer website. Apple also says that macOS Ventura supports many additional Bluetooth and USB game controllers, with users discovering that this includes the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons and Pro Controller.
Background Sounds
macOS Ventura brings preinstalled background sounds to the Mac. Apple says this feature allows calming sounds, such as ocean or rain, to mask unwanted environmental noise and help minimize distractions. The background sounds feature first launched on the iPhone and iPad with the release of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 last year.
Background sounds on the Mac can be turned on in the System Settings app under Accessibility > Audio. In this menu, you can choose which background sound to play, adjust the background sound volume separate from system volume, and optionally turn off background sounds when your Mac is asleep or in screensaver mode.
With iPadOS 16, Apple is continuing to improve the note taking and writing experience, introducing a new Straighten feature for text written with the Apple Pencil.
If you are taking notes in the Notes app or another app, you can now select all of your handwritten text and choose the "Straighten" option to neaten it up a bit. This won't help your handwriting, but it will change the arrangement of the writing on the page to better align it and to make it look more note like.
As you can see in our demonstration, the difference is subtle, but it does indeed work and it does make handwriting look just a bit neater. It should be helpful if you already have semi-neat handwriting that you just want to arrange better.
After using the Straighten feature
Apple says that the iPad's Scribble feature now also supports emoji, allowing you to draw your favorite emoji and have it automatically converted to the emoji you're aiming for. We haven't been able to get this to work as of yet, so it is not clear if it's in the first beta, but it should be a useful feature for those who often use their Apple Pencil systemwide on their iPads.
If your Contacts app is riddled with duplicates that you haven't been able to fix, iOS 16 has a solution. The update includes a dedicated feature for merging duplicate contacts, solving problems with multiple contacts once and for all.
In the iOS 16 Contacts app, if you have more than one contact card for the same person, the app will automatically detect the duplicate and let you know that duplicates were found.
The "Duplicates Found" interface is at the top of the app, and if you tap it, the Contacts app is able to merge all of the duplicate contact cards into one.
Prior to now, there was no built-in way to quickly manage duplicate contacts in the iOS Contacts app, so the new iOS 16 feature should be a relief for those dealing with Contacts issues. This feature did previously exist on the Mac, but it was not available on iOS devices.
Apple in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura is overhauling the Mail app and introducing a slew of new features that bring it more in line with competing mail services such as Gmail. One of those new features is a long-awaited Undo Send option, designed to let you quickly recall an email if you make a mistake.
Undo Send works for up to 10 seconds after you send an email, so you don't have a lot of time to change your mind if you do want to unsend an email that you've sent out. Google's Gmail service also has an undo send feature for emails, but you can customize the cancelation period to 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
For now, Apple is limiting undo send to 10 seconds, but it's possible the company could add other time options in the future.
There are several other new features coming to the Mail app. You can schedule your emails for the future, or have Mail give you a reminder about an email you opened but forgot to respond to. It will also let you move sent messages to the top of your inbox so you can get a reminder to send a follow-up, and it can notify you if you forget an important part of an email like an attachment or recipient.
Rich links are now supported in email messages so you can see more at a glance, and search is improved. Apple says that you'll see better search suggestions from the moment you begin a search, and it will also correct typos and use synonyms for your search terms to bring up what you're looking for.
These features are available across Apple's platforms for those running the latest software. Apple's updates are limited to developers at this time, but the company plans to release public betas in July.
Apple Watch Series 7 models feature larger displays compared to previous models, which allowed Apple to include a full on-screen keyboard that is exclusive to the Series 7. And now, watchOS 9 takes the keyboard a step further with a convenient new feature.
As noted by tech analyst Brahm Shank, watchOS 9 expands QuickType to the Apple Watch Series 7, providing users with suggested words above the keyboard as they type. The feature attempts to predict which words you will type next based on the first few letters of a word, and users can tap on a suggested word to insert it into a sentence while typing, which is useful given the Apple Watch's small keyboard.
QuickType was first introduced on the iPhone as part of iOS 8 in 2014, and the feature is also available on the iPad. QuickType is not to be confused with the similarly named QuickPath feature, which allows for swipe-based typing on the Apple Watch Series 7 keyboard.
Apple seeded the first beta of watchOS 9 to developers for testing on Monday, and said the first public beta will be available in July. watchOS 9 will be released in the fall, bringing this new QuickType feature to all Apple Watch Series 7 users.
Ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that he expected the new iOS 16 operating system to support a future always-on display feature for the iPhone 14 Pro, and as it turns out, the iOS 16 code suggests the always-on display is indeed going to be implemented.
There are multiple references to an always-on display in iOS 16, as highlighted by 9to5Mac. There are a trio of new frameworks related to backlight management, a necessary part of an always-on display function. The frameworks mention an always-on display and are used by the Lock Screen and Springboard, suggesting that these mentions are not related to the existing Apple Watch always-on display.
The site says that there are also hidden flags within iOS 16 that allow Apple engineers to use the always-on display capability for testing purposes.
An always-on display has been rumored since always-on technology came to the Apple Watch, and it is a highly desired feature. It would let users see the time and other key iPhone information without needing to activate the screen.
The ProMotion displays planned for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are rumored to be capable of dropping to as low as 1Hz (down from 10Hz) to enable the always-on functionality without deeply impacting battery life.
Always-on display technology is likely going to be limited to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max because the standard iPhone 14 models are not expected to get the ProMotion displays necessary for the feature to work.
Apple yesterday unveiled iPadOS 16, the newest version of the iOS operating system designed for the tablet form factor. iPadOS 16 has many of the features that are coming to iOS 16, but it also has some iPad specific updates.
One of those new features is an updated multitasking system called Stage Manager, but many iPad users are never going to get to test out Stage Manager because it only works on M1 iPads. There are just three M1 iPads at the current time, the M1 11-inch iPad Pro, the M1 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and the M1 iPad Air.
All other iPads that are using A-series chips simply will not get access to the new Stage Manager feature, and it is by far the biggest iPadOS 16 change.
Also available on Mac, Stage Manager is a whole new multitasking experience. You can overlap windows for the first time on the iPad, and resize those windows as well. The window of the main app that you're working on is front and center, with your other recently used apps off to the left for quick access when you need to swap.
You can have overlapping windows of different sizes, similar to on a Mac, and you can group apps together using drag and drop gestures. Stage Manager supports groups of up to four windows, plus another four if you have an external display attached to your iPad. Stage Manager also enables full external display support on the iPad.
The 64GB fifth-generation M1 iPad Air is the most affordable iPad that supports the Stage Manager feature, and it is priced at $599. The M1 iPad Pro models are priced starting at $799 for the 11-inch version and $1099 for the 12.9-inch version, but we do not recommend an iPad Pro purchase at this time as a refresh is in the works.
Although Apple didn't focus on Apple Music during its WWDC keynote yesterday, there are a few changes coming to the app in iOS 16.
Lock Screen Player
The changes to Apple Music start on the new iOS 16 Lock Screen, where the Apple Music Now Playing widget is now located at the bottom of the display. This falls in line with iOS 16's new focus on de-cluttering the Lock Screen and pushing all notifications to the bottom portion of the screen, where you can choose to hide them throughout the day if you get too many.
For Apple Music, the Lock Screen player has all of the expected controls for playback and connecting AirPods or other headphones. You can also expand the controls to a full screen view, which will enlarge the album artwork of the currently playing song and become your new iPhone Lock Screen image.
This is part of iOS 16's new "Live Activities" feature, which aims to help people stay on top of things happening in real time through various app widgets placed directly on the Lock Screen. This includes tracking live updates from sports games, workouts, ride share apps, food delivery orders, and more.
Favorite Artists
You can now add artists to your "Favorite Artists" list by navigating to their artist profile on Apple Music and tapping a new star button at the top of the page. After doing this, Apple says that you'll get better recommendations and notifications about new releases from that artist.
Apple Music originally had a similar feature where you could follow artists, and you'd receive updates about their music and sometimes updates about upcoming releases. The new Favorite Artists feature seems more streamlined and focused on improving push notifications and recommendations surrounding your favorite artists.
Playlist Sorting
Apple Music in iOS 16 lets you sort playlists by a few different orders: regular Playlist Order, Title, Artist, Album, or Release Date. Furthermore, you can choose ascending or descending order for each of these categories.
This is a notable addition given that Apple Music doesn't have any automatic sorting options. Any time you add a new song into a playlist, it's dropped to the bottom of the list, with the oldest songs remaining at the top. If you want to sort it, you have to manually drag it to where you want it to go.
With the new feature, you can choose to reverse the traditional Playlist Order so that new songs appear at the top. These sorting features are found in the ellipsis menu in the top right corner of the playlist screen on iOS 16.
UI Changes
Lastly are a few very slight UI changes that can be found within the full screen player in the Apple Music app. Apple has subtly updated the UI to feature slightly thicker playback and volume bars, among other small tweaks.
Apple Music on iOS 16 (left) vs on iOS 15.5 (right)
While the Apple TV was an afterthought during the WWDC 2022 keynote, there is indeed a new tvOS 16 update for all Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K models, with the first beta released to developers for testing yesterday. Below, we've rounded up several new features and enhancements coming in the software update.
An overview of new tvOS 16 features for Apple TV:
Cross-device connectivity: Apple says tvOS 16 enables developers to integrate their Apple TV app with their iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch apps to unlock new experiences that "feel more personal than ever." For example, developers can deliver more personalized workouts on the Apple TV based on motion sensor data from the Apple Watch, display real-time information on the iPhone while a video plays in their Apple TV app, or include more screens for gameplay.
Expanded game controller support: Apple says many additional Bluetooth game controllers are supported on tvOS 16. Notably, this includes support for Nintendo's Joy-Cons and Pro Controller.
HDR10+ support has been added to the Apple TV app (Update: Apple has since removed all mentions of this feature on its website, suggesting that this feature might have been abandoned or postponed).
Multiuser improvements: tvOS 16 offers improved system integration for user profiles in Apple TV apps. Apple says with credentials stored in a shared keychain, users won't need to sign in and choose their profile every time they launch an Apple TV app that has been updated with this functionality.
Matter support: Matter is a new standard that will enable compatible smart home accessories to work together seamlessly across multiple platforms, including Apple's HomeKit, Amazon's Alexa, and more. A home hub is needed to control Matter accessories in the Home app, which can be an Apple TV updated to tvOS 16 or a HomePod/HomePod mini updated to the latest software version.
Apple said the first public beta of tvOS 16 will be released in July, and the software update will be released to all users in the fall. It's likely that additional tvOS 16 features will be uncovered as beta testing continues over the next few months.
macOS Ventura features newly added support for some of the most popular racing wheels, pedals, and shifters for use in racing games on the Mac, including Logitech's G920 and G29 racing wheels, according to Apple's developer website.
Apple also says that many additional Bluetooth and USB game controllers are supported on macOS Ventura, iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and tvOS 16. Among the new controllers supported are Nintendo's Joy-Cons, which can be used individually or in a pair as a singular controller, according to testing on iOS 16 by developer Riley Testut.
A new "buddy controller" feature on macOS Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16 combines inputs from multiple game controllers into one so a friend can help you while gaming.
macOS Ventura is available in beta for registered Apple developers, with a public beta to follow in July. Apple says the software update will be released in the fall, bringing the expanded support for game controllers and racing accessories to all users.
Later this fall, Safari will be gaining the ability to translate web images with Live Text, support for push web notifications on iOS, extension syncing across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, and more.
With iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, Safari is gaining some small refinements following a more significant redesign last year.
Last year, Apple introduced Safari extensions on iOS and iPadOS, and this year users can enable extension syncing across their iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices, ensuring a more seamless browsing experience across each platform.
On iOS and macOS, Safari is also gaining Shared Tab Groups, an easy way to share a group of tabs with friends and family. All members of a group can add tabs to the list and collaborate.
For individual Tab Groups, Apple is adding the ability to create dedicated start pages for groups and to pin tabs within Safari Tab groups. Other small changes include improved password recommendations based on-site-specific requirements, cross-device syncing for website settings, and more.
These changes will come as part of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura, all currently being beta tested by developers. A public beta will be available in July, followed by a general release in the fall.
Today we're tracking a solid discount on the 2020 M1 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is now a previous generation model thanks to the announcement of the M2 13-inch MacBook Pro at WWDC this week. Additionally, Expercom has rare stock on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks.
13-inch MacBook Pro (2020)
Amazon has the 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2020 (256GB) for $1,149.99, down from $1,299.00. Only Silver is available at this price, and as of writing the deal can be found only on Amazon.
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This is one of the best deals we've tracked in 2022, and overall it's a second-best price on the 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro. This model comes with Apple's M1 chip.
14-inch MacBook Pro
Apple has been facing stock shortages for most of its MacBook Pro lineup, leading to a big drop in available deals for its latest models. Today, Expercom has restocked a few configurations of the notebook lineup, with slight discounts available.
You can get the 14-inch MacBook Pro (10-Core M1 Pro, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD) for $2,374.05, down from $2,499.00. There's also a custom configuration 14-inch MacBook Pro (8-core M1 Pro, 32GB Memory, 1TB SSD) priced at $2,469.05, down from $2,599.00.
Neither of these deals are all-time low prices on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, but if you've been on the hunt for the notebook, Expercom remains one of the only places that currently has any stock available to purchase. Delivery is estimated for three to seven business days.
16-inch MacBook Pro
Similarly to the 14-inch model, the 16-inch MacBook Pro has been facing stock shortages across numerous retailers and on Apple's own website. Today, Expercom is offering available stock in four configurations, with slight deals across the lineup.
You'll find similar discounts for the larger display models as Expercom has for the 14-inch MacBook Pro. These aren't record low discounts, but given that these are the only current opportunities to buy the 2021 MacBook Pro anywhere, much less at a discount, they still could be worth looking into.
The Home app on iOS is getting a major overhaul with iOS 16, with Apple saying it's doubling down on reliability and ease of use.
Apple says it has made changes to the "underlying architecture" of the Home app to enable "faster, more reliable performance, especially for homes with many smart accessories."
With the new Home app redesign, all users' rooms are displayed on one single page, with easily glanceable widgets that showcase current accessories and their status. Pressing on a room takes users to a dedicated space with more details and controls.
Along the top of the Home app, users get quick information at categories, such as how many lights are currently on, the temperature range across their house, what doors are unlocked, and more.
Categories are even more helpful, however, when they're tapped. When users tap on a specific category, such as security and cameras, they're shown all the active cameras around their entire home on a single page.
The Home app is also gaining new Lock Screen widgets that provide easy information right on the Lock Screen. iOS 16 is currently available to developers and will be available to all users this fall.
Apple unveiled a host of improvements to Focus modes at WWDC this week, including set up suggestions, linked custom Lock Screens and watch faces, Focus filters, and more.
Focus modes were introduced with iOS 15 last year and have been expanded and refined in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS Ventura. Accompanying the redesigned customizable Lock Screen in iOS 16, each Focus mode now has a linked Lock Screen. In addition to all of the pre-existing ways to activate a Focus mode, such as in Control Center or via automations, iPhone users can swipe between Lock Screens to enable a corresponding Focus. Users can also directly tie an Apple Watch face to a specific Focus.
One of the biggest additions to Focuses in iOS 16 is Focus filters. Focus filters allow users to set boundaries within apps like Calendar, Mail, Messages, and Safari to only display relevant content, such as a particular Tab Group in Safari, set of calendars in the Calendar app, or email accounts in Mail. With a new Focus filter API, developers can build this functionality into their apps and change content based on a user's current Focus.
The process of setting up Focus modes has also been improved with a personalized setup experience for each option. Now, iOS suggests a relevant set of Home Screens and Lock Screens for each Focus mode with relevant apps, wallpapers, and widgets. There are also more configurable options inside Focus modes, with a new ability to silence notifications from apps and people, effectively adding the ability to exclude notifications rather than only include as is the case in iOS 15.
iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS Ventura are currently undergoing beta testing to give Apple time to perfect the updates and address any bugs, as well as allow developers to prepare their apps. Beta versions of the updates are currently available to developers with compatible devices now and a public beta will become available in July.
As part of WWDC 2022 this week, Apple announced that Xcode Cloud is now available for all registered Apple developers after nearly a year of beta testing.
Xcode Cloud is a continuous integration and delivery service built into the Xcode app. Apple says the service is built to "accelerate the development and delivery of high-quality apps by bringing together cloud-based tools that help you build apps, run automated tests in parallel, deliver apps to testers, and view and manage user feedback."
Xcode Cloud is available in Xcode version 13.4.1 and in the Xcode version 14 beta, and it is also built into App Store Connect and works with TestFlight.
Starting this summer, Apple says developers will be able to subscribe to one of four monthly plans for Xcode Cloud, depending on the number of compute hours you need. Pricing starts at $14.99 for 25 compute hours per month, but Apple says all Developer Program members will receive the 25-hour subscription plan at no cost until the end of 2023.
More details are available on the Xcode Cloud page on Apple's website.
Belkin today announced the launch of its new high-end Soundform earbuds that are equipped with Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation and integration with Apple's Find My app.
First announced at CES 2022, the Soundform Immerse Noise Cancelling Earbuds are Belkin's second set of Find My-compatible earbuds, following the Freedom True Wireless Earbuds that came out in 2021.
Priced at $180, the Soundform Immerse earbuds are able to compete with the AirPods Pro when it comes to cost, and they offer a similar feature set. The earbuds are equipped with 12mm dual-layer dynamic drivers and three microphones in each earbud. AptX HD 24-bit audio is supported, and there is a Multipoint connection feature for connecting to and swapping between multiple devices.
Three sets of ear tips and wing tips come with the earbuds so each user can get their ideal fit, and the earbuds last for up to seven hours on a single charge. A charging case adds an additional 24 hours of battery life, and the earbuds are able to charge wirelessly with any Qi charger or over USB-C.
The earbuds feature an IPX5 water resistance rating, allowing them to hold up to light splashes of water and sweat. Sound is able to be customized using the accompanying Belkin Soundform app, and there is a Hear-Thru mode that's similar to the Transparency mode on AirPods Pro.
iPhone users can add the Soundform earbuds to the Find My app, allowing them to be tracked right alongside other Apple devices to make it easy to find them should they be lost. With Find My network support, the earbuds can be tracked down even when they're out of Bluetooth range by leveraging other nearby Apple devices.
Belkin today is also introducing the Soundform Play True Wireless Earbuds that follow the original Soundform True Wireless Earbuds, and debuting the Soundform Nano Wireless Earbuds for children. Neither of these other earbuds have Find My integration, but they're much more affordable.
All three sets of earbuds can be purchased today from the Belkin website. The Soundform Immerse are priced at $180, the Soundform Play are priced at $60, and the Soundform Nano are priced at $50.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
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