MacRumors

Apple in July 2021 unveiled its rumored MagSafe Battery Pack, introducing an add-on battery that's designed to work with the iPhone 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 13 models. Priced at $99, the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack provides extra battery life for Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ ‌iPhone‌ lineup and it also has a few nifty features, such as a reverse wireless charging option that lets it be charged through the ‌iPhone‌.

This guide features all of the details that we know about the new ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack and how it works.

Design

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack has a rectangular design that matches the shape of the ‌iPhone‌, and it attaches to the back of an ‌iPhone‌ 12 or ‌iPhone‌ 13 to provide extra power.

Apple only debuted the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack in white, and it has an Apple logo. It is sized to take up the full rear of the iPhone 12 mini or ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini below the camera cutout, while it has a smaller fit on the other ‌iPhone‌ models. The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack is made from a hard white plastic material.

The back side of the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack that's visible has a rounded look with rounded corners, while the front is flat with a ‌MagSafe‌ indentation. There is a built-in Lightning port for charging the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack.

Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack looks thin in marketing photos, but in real life, it's quite a bit thicker than it appears in Apple's images. The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack weighs in at 115 grams and it is 11mm thick. Comparatively, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 weighs 164 grams and is 7.4mm thick.

Charging Speed

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack charged an ‌iPhone‌ at 5W when on the go at launch, but Apple later introduced a firmware update that brought it up to 7.5W. It does not charge at the full 15W speed without a power source due to heat concerns and to prolong battery life.

When the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack is attached to an ‌iPhone‌ and plugged in to a Lightning to USB-C cable that's connected to a 20W or higher charger, the ‌iPhone‌ is able to charge through the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack at 15W.

Most people will need the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack while on the go, and in this situation, it's good to be aware that charging is limited to a slower 7.5W speed.

Battery Size

Apple does not officially provide details on how much additional battery life an ‌iPhone‌ user can get with the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack.

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack has a 7.62V, 11.13Wh battery inside, delivering 1460 mAh of charge.

Roughly, the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack may provide one full charge for the ‌iPhone‌ 12/13 mini and a partial charge for the rest of the ‌iPhone‌ 12/13 models. Though designed for MagSafe-compatible ‌iPhone‌ models, the battery pack can be used to charge any Qi-based device, which includes older iPhones and the AirPods. It cannot charge the Apple Watch as the Apple Watch does not use Qi charging.

Reverse Charging

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack has a reverse wireless charging feature. This means that if you charge your ‌iPhone‌, the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack will also charge at the same time. So you can charge both the ‌iPhone‌ and the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack through the Lightning port on the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack or through the Lightning port on the ‌iPhone‌, and you'll get the same ultimate result with both devices charging up.

Apple says that this charging method is useful for when the ‌iPhone‌ is plugged into another device, such as a wired CarPlay setup or when an ‌iPhone‌ is connected to a Mac. When charging the ‌iPhone‌ and ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack simultaneously, the ‌iPhone‌ will charge to 80 percent or higher before the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack begins to charge.

Note that a 20W or higher power adapter is recommended for charging and is required for charging the ‌iPhone‌ at 15W when the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack is plugged in.

Charging the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack either through the Battery Pack itself or through the ‌iPhone‌ requires a Lightning cable. The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack will not charge using Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ Charger.

Viewing Charging Status

The power level of the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack can be viewed in the Batteries widget that can be placed on the Home Screen or accessed through the Today View. ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack battery level is displayed alongside the ‌iPhone‌, Apple Watch, AirPods, and other connected accessories.

• How to Find the Serial Number of Your MagSafe Battery Pack
• How to Check Your MagSafe Battery Pack's Firmware Version

Heat and Charging Control

There are built-in charge management features in the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack that are designed to help maintain battery health in situations where the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack is connected to power for long periods of time.

Apple says that an ‌iPhone‌ might get warm while it charges. If that happens, to extend the lifespan of the battery, Apple says that the software might limit charging above 80 percent. If this happens, Apple recommends moving to a cooler location as the ‌iPhone‌ will charge again when the temperature drops.

When using the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack to charge an ‌iPhone‌, you might get a notification that that the ‌iPhone‌ will only charge up to 90 percent. To charge beyond 90 percent, Apple recommends opening Control Center, pressing and holding on the Low Power Mode icon, and then tapping "Continue."

If Optimized Battery Charging is activated, you may also see a Lock Screen notification letting you know when the ‌iPhone‌ will be fully charged. To force a charge you can tap and hold the notification, then tap Charge Now.

Interaction With Other MagSafe Accessories

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack can be attached to a naked ‌iPhone‌ or to an ‌iPhone‌ with a ‌MagSafe‌ case attached. If you use a leather charging case, Apple warns that the case might show imprints from the compression of the leather, which is normal. Those concerned about the imprints should use a non-leather case.

Because the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack needs direct contact with the ‌iPhone‌, accessories like the ‌MagSafe‌ Wallet need to be removed.

Firmware Updates

Apple is able to provide firmware updates to the ‌MagSafe‌ charger over the air. The most significant update came in April 2022, introducing faster 7.5W charging, up from the original 5W charging speed.

Updating the MagSafe Battery Pack can be done by attaching it to an ‌iPhone‌ and waiting (a process that can take up to a week), or using a Mac or an iPad to update within five minutes. Apple suggests users attach a Lightning cable to a ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack and then plug in the USB side to an ‌iPad‌ or Mac to initiate the update process.

You can check to see which firmware version your ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack is running by attaching it to an ‌iPhone‌ and then going to Settings > General > About > ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack. You will need version 2.7.b.0 to get the 7.5W charging.

Compatibility

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack works with the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 13 models. It will charge other devices like the ‌iPhone‌ 11 lineup and the AirPods because it's just Qi-based wireless charging, but only the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 13 models have magnets to keep the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack in place. iOS 14.7 or later is required.

How to Buy

The ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack can be purchased from the Apple website for $99 or from Apple retail stores.

Guide Feedback

Have questions about the ‌MagSafe‌ Battery Pack, know of a feature we left out, or want to offer feedback on this guide? Send us an email here.

Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack designed for the iPhone 12 models has a unique feature that's long been rumored but never introduced in an Apple product -- reverse wireless charging.

When attached to an ‌iPhone‌ that's charging via Lightning, the ‌iPhone‌ can deliver power to the MagSafe Battery Pack, which is the first instance of an ‌iPhone‌ being able to route power to an accessory device.

We've long heard rumors of reverse wireless charging capabilities for the ‌iPhone‌, a feature that's been talked about as a possibility for both the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and the ‌iPhone‌ 12. Apple hasn't actually implemented reverse wireless charging until now, and the way that it works with the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ is limited in scope.

With the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌, the ‌iPhone‌ has to be plugged in for the charging feature to work, but it's certainly a step in the right direction and hints at more expansive reverse wireless charging capabilities in the future. Given the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌'s reverse wireless charging feature, it seems technically possible that an ‌iPhone‌ 12 could deliver power to the AirPods or AirPods Pro, but Apple has not yet implemented this feature.

Apple has suggested that ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ users might want to use the ‌iPhone‌ passthrough charging feature when the ‌iPhone‌ is connected to a power source like wired CarPlay and is able to charge both accessories.

Apple is developing a new pay later service that will let customers pay for Apple Pay purchases in installments over time, reports Bloomberg. Installment payment options will be available for all ‌Apple Pay‌ purchases, with the feature not limited to Apple products.

The service is similar to Paypal's Buy Now, Pay Later feature, and internally, it's being called "‌Apple Pay‌ Later."

Apple is planning to partner with Goldman Sachs on the ‌Apple Pay‌ installments plan, with Goldman Sachs serving as the lender for the loans needed for the monthly installment plans. Apple currently works with Goldman Sachs on the Apple Card, but the new installment plan option is not limited to the ‌Apple Card‌ and will not require users to have an ‌Apple Card‌ to use the feature. According to Bloomberg, when a user makes a purchase using ‌Apple Pay‌, they will be able to pay for it across four interest-free payments made every two weeks or across several months with interest.

The four payment play is called "‌Apple Pay‌ in 4" internally, while the longer-term payment plans are dubbed "‌Apple Pay‌ Monthly Installments." Users will be able to choose any credit card to make their payments over time with the ‌Apple Pay‌ Later plan, and it is not yet clear what interest rates will be.

As with the ‌Apple Card‌, ‌Apple Pay‌ Later users will need to be approved through an application submitted through the Wallet app on the iPhone, which is also where payments will be managed. The service will not require a running credit check. Some of the ‌Apple Pay‌ Later plans will exclude late fees and processing fees, costing users only interest for the longer-term plans.

Apple is hoping the buy now, pay later system will increase ‌Apple Pay‌ adoption and persuade ‌iPhone‌ users to use their ‌iPhone‌ to pay for items instead of standard credit cards. According to Bloomberg, the service is still in development and features could be changed or canceled before it launches.

Alongside introducing the new MagSafe Battery Pack, Apple today also debuted new AirTag Leather Loop and ‌AirTag‌ Key Ring accessories in updated colors.

The AirTag Leather Loop, which is priced at $39, now comes in Baltic Blue, California Poppy, and Forest Green. Prior to now, the Leather Loop for AirTags was limited to Red and Saddle Brown.

The AirTag Leather Key Ring, priced at $35, is available in California Poppy and Forest Green, in addition to the original colors of Baltic Blue, Red, and Saddle Brown.

Interestingly, Apple showed off the California Poppy Key Ring color when the AirTags launched, but did not make the color option available to purchase until today.

‌AirTag‌ Leather Key Rings and Leather Loops purchased today will start arriving to customers later this week.

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after the release of the fifth macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta.

Developers can download the ‌‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌‌‌ 11.5 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple Developer Center.

macOS Big Sur 11.5 introduces an update to the Podcasts app that allows the Podcasts Library tab to show all shows or only followed shows. It also addresses an issue that could cause music not to update play count and last played date in the library, and a bug that caused smart cards not to work when logging into Mac computers with the M1 chip.

Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of new iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fifth iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates.

iOS and iPadOS 14.7 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

According to Apple's release notes, iOS 14.7 adds support for the newly introduced MagSafe Battery Pack in addition to adding shared credit limits for the Apple Card Family feature.

Apple in iOS 14.7 expands the Air Quality Index feature to additional countries that include the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and Canada. When paired with the accompanying HomePod 14.7 software, iOS 14.7 will allow the Home app to manage timers on a ‌HomePod‌ or a HomePod mini. Full release notes for the update are below:

iOS 14.7 includes the following improvements and bug fixes for your iPhone:
- MagSafe Battery Pack support for iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- Apple Card Family adds the option to combine credit limits and share one co-owned account with an existing Apple Card user
- Home app adds the ability to manage timers on HomePod
- Air quality information is now available in Weather and Maps for Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, and Spain
- Podcasts library allows you to choose to see all shows or only followed shows
- Share playlist menu option missing in Apple Music
- Dolby Atmos and Apple Music lossless audio playback may unexpectedly stop
- Battery service message that may have disappeared after reboot on some iPhone 11 models is restored
- Braille displays could show invalid information while composing Mail messages

The iOS 14.7 update also addresses a bug that caused the ‌iPhone‌'s WiFi to stop functioning if connected to a WiFi network that was named "%p%s%s%s%s%n." Connecting to a network with this name could seriously impact the ‌iPhone‌'s functionality, but it isn't an issue after installing iOS 14.7.

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming watchOS 7.6 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after the release of the sixth beta.

To install the ‌watchOS 7.6 beta, developers need to download the proper configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌Apple Watch‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To update to the new software, the ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.

According to Apple's release notes for the update, watchOS 7.6 adds support for the ECG app and irregular heart rhythm notifications in 30 additional regions.

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming tvOS 14.7 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after Apple seeded the fifth tvOS 14.7 beta.

Designed for the latest Apple TV models, the tvOS 14.7 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌Apple TV‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

Other than new releases, tvOS updates are often minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. There's no word yet on what's included in tvOS 14.7 update, but we'll update this article should anything new be found.

Though we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.

Apple today introduced a new MagSafe Battery Pack to its website, which is designed to work with the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The MagSafe Battery Pack attaches magnetically to the back of one of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, with the magnets keeping it aligned to your ‌iPhone‌. The ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ is available in a white color, and it appears to be covered with a silicone coating. Based on images of the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌, the accessory has an 11.13Wh battery, which will offer a partial charge for Apple's iPhones. For comparison, the ‌iPhone‌ 12 has a 10.78Wh battery, but Qi charging is inefficient, resulting in power loss.

While on the go, the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ can charge an ‌iPhone‌ at 5W, but plugged in, it can be charged at up to 15W.

The ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ and the ‌iPhone‌ can be charged at the same time. Apple says that a Lightning cable can be plugged into the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ for up to 15W of wireless charging, and with a 20W charger, the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ and the ‌iPhone‌ will charge even faster. Apple recommends a 20W or higher USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable for charging the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌.

The ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ can also be charged through the ‌iPhone‌ if the ‌iPhone‌ is plugged into a power source. Apple suggests users might want to charge this way if the ‌iPhone‌ needs to connect to another device while charging, such as wired CarPlay or transferring photos to a Mac.

In a support document for the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌, Apple says that iOS 14.7 or later is required to use the accessory. Charging status can be viewed on the Home Screen or in the Today View with the Batteries widget.

According to Apple, the ‌iPhone‌ might get slightly warm when it charges. To extend battery lifespan, if it's too warm, the software might limit charging above 80 percent, with the ‌iPhone‌ resuming charging when it cools down. A charge management feature helps to maintain battery health when the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ is connected to power for prolonged periods of time, and with Optimized Battery Charging turned on, users will see a notification on the Lock Screen letting them know when the ‌iPhone‌ is fully charged. Tapping on the notification and choosing "Charge Now" will force a charge.

Those who use a Leather ‌iPhone‌ case with MagSafe should be aware that the ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ may show imprints from compression of the leather, which Apple says is normal. For anyone concerned about the imprints, Apple suggests using a non-leather case.

The ‌MagSafe Battery Pack‌ is priced at $99 and will begin delivering to customers on July 19.

The Car Connectivity Consortium today announced that its Digital Key 3.0 specification with support for Ultra Wideband and Bluetooth LE connectivity is finalized and now available to members, including Apple.

In 2020, Apple introduced a digital car key feature that allows users to unlock and start a compatible vehicle by holding an iPhone or Apple Watch near the driver-side door. The feature is powered by the NFC-based Digital Key 2.0 specification, and once Apple moves to Digital Key 3.0, users will be able to unlock and start a compatible vehicle without needing to take their iPhone out of their pocket or bag.

The improved Ultra Wideband version of Apple's car key feature would require devices with the U1 chip like iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models.

Digital Key 3.0 also improves security, as Ultra Wideband's precise location awareness is said to prevent relay attacks, where the radio signal between the iPhone and vehicle is jammed or intercepted by another party. NFC support is maintained to ensure backward compatibility and, in Apple's case, the ability to use the car key feature to unlock a vehicle for up to five hours after an iPhone has run out of battery power.

Similar to credit cards and boarding passes, digital car keys are stored in the Wallet app on an iPhone or Apple Watch running iOS 13.6 or watchOS 6.2.8 or newer. So far, the feature is only compatible with select BMW models manufactured since July 2020, but a Korean report claimed that Hyundai plans to start offering the feature later this year.

Apple previously said the new version of its car key feature with Ultra Wideband support would be available in 2021, but the company did not provide an exact timeframe. BMW previously said its first vehicle with support for Digital Key 3.0 would be available in Europe starting in late 2021 and in North America by early 2022.

The airline JetBlue has today announced that it will be equipping its pilots with the M1 iPad Pro.

JetBlue was one of the first airlines in the United States to adopt digital documentation in the cockpit. The airline first received Federal Aviation Administration approval to give iPads to all pilots in 2013, which enabled pilots to use the iPad for operational tracking apps, hosting system maintenance checks, checking real-time weather patterns to avoid turbulence, accessing procedures and manuals, and more. In 2015, JetBlue became the first airline to accept Apple Pay in-flight.

Now, JetBlue will begin rolling out Apple's latest ‌iPad Pro‌ featuring the ‌M1‌ chip to all new pilots and will replace older models that are currently in use over time.

iPad Pro is the right fit for the cockpit, with its thin, light design and large, bright Liquid Retina display. The new iPad Pro features the industry-leading M1 chip, which offers next-level performance when pilots are running more than a dozen apps throughout the duration of the flight. iPad Pro's fast 5G capabilities delivers better performance and access to next-generation download and upload speeds.

The ‌iPad Pro‌ will provide "safety-critical functions" to crewmembers and will future-proof the company with powerful hardware for years to come.

Apple has been granted a broad patent for a periscope camera system, which is rumored to be coming to the iPhone for the first time as soon as next year.

The patent, spotted by Patently Apple, is simply titled "Folded camera," and was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Periscope camera systems attempt to address the problem of internal size constraints inside a smartphone that can limit image quality. The patent explains:

The advent of small, mobile multipurpose devices such as smartphones and tablet or pad devices has resulted in a need for high-resolution, small form factor cameras that are lightweight, compact, and capable of capturing high resolution, high quality images at low F-numbers for integration in the devices... Thus, a challenge from an optical system design point of view is to provide an imaging lens system that is capable of capturing high brightness, high resolution images under the physical constraints imposed by small form factor cameras.

With folded camera optics, light absorbed by the image sensor is bent or "folded," allowing for increased optical zoom and improved image quality while maintaining a compact lens design appropriate for smartphones. The patent describes some of these advantages, saying that "the prisms provide a "folded" optical axis for the camera, for example to reduce the Z-height of the camera."

Periscope technology would allow for significantly increased optical zoom on iPhones, well beyond the current 2x and 2.5x limits on the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, respectively. Huawei's P40 Pro+ smartphone, for example, features a periscope lens with up to 10x optical zoom.

Apple's folded camera system includes two light folding elements, such as prisms, and an independent lens system located between the two light folding elements. This lens system includes an aperture stop and a lens stack. The lens system may be moved independently of the light folding elements to provide autofocus and optical image stabilization.

The shapes, materials, and arrangements of the refractive lens elements in the lens stack may be selected to capture high resolution, high quality images while providing a sufficiently long back focal length to accommodate the second prism.

The first ‌iPhone‌ models featuring a periscope camera lens system are expected to arrive in 2022 or 2023. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo initially said that the technology would come to the ‌iPhone‌ in 2022, but has since revised his expectation to say 2023. Other reports, such as from The Elec, have maintained that the periscope camera will arrive on at least some iPhone models in 2022.

Apple was initially said to have run into trouble developing its own periscope camera system because much of the technology is guarded by other patents, and thus was looking to purchase the components from the patent holders instead. Samsung, for example, owns the "ball-type actuator" technology used in many periscope lenses.

The granting of this patent may indicate that Apple had found a way to get around the reach of existing patents by developing its own technology with two light folding prisms, where only one prism would normally be used. This may avoid the need to license or buy components from patent holders while retaining the advantages of a periscope system.

Nevertheless, the patent serves as yet another indication that Apple is advancing its plans to bring a periscope camera to the ‌iPhone‌ to improve image quality and optical zoom capability, as well as potentially reduce the need for a rear camera bump.

In iOS 15, Apple has expanded support for drag and drop functionality across apps on iPhone, allowing you to move files, images, and selected chunks of text from place to place.

Cross-app drag and drop has actually been available on the iPad since 2017, but now Apple has extended the feature to the ‌iPhone‌ with iOS 15. In addition to apps, the multi-finger action also works with screenshots. The following steps show you how it works.

1. Take a screenshot in the usual way, by pressing the Side button and the Volume Up button at the same time.
2. Press and hold on the screenshot thumbnail in the bottom-left corner of the screen, and wait a moment for the white frame around it to disappear.
3. With another finger, tap the app that you want to use the screenshot in. We're opening the Photos app in our example, but you could open Files, Messages, Mail, Notes, or something else.
   
   

4. Navigate to where you want to use the screenshot. We're selecting a specific album we created, called "iOS 15 screenshots."
5. Move the screenshot into the area you want it, then let go with your finger to drop it in place. In our example, the screenshots are instantly saved in the specified location.
   

You may have noticed that we've dragged two screenshots in our example – that's just a "meta" result of capturing screenshots of the screenshot-taking process (the thumbnail of the earlier screenshot remains in the next). However, it also serves to highlight that drag and drop supports the selection of multiple items by tapping them with another finger.

It's worth noting that drag and drop results in duplication rather than movement of content, so the screenshot still gets automatically saved in your camera roll. But in iOS 15 you have the ability to immediately pick up a copy of the image and do something more specific with it, like save it to a newly created album, which is useful if your workflow involves lots of screenshots.

The first public beta of iOS 15 is available now, and the official release should come to all compatible iPhones in September.

Microsoft Edge has won over many users with its frequent feature updates and tight integration of Microsoft's design language with that of macOS. Underlining its commitment to continue raising the bar for the Chromium-based browser, the company today updated its feature roadmap to reflect what else is coming to Edge down the pipe.

Microsoft's "What's Next" page for Edge comes across as more of a checklist that its internal developers work from, and as such, some newly listed features, like Tab groups (coming this month) and the option to hide the titlebar (September 2021), have been known about for some time. Several previously unknown features have been revealed though, and one enterprising Reddit user has collated the new additions to the page, reproduced below.

• Free form text boxes added to PDF documents: Starting with version 94, we are adding support for free form text boxes to PDF documents that you can use to fill in forms and add visible notes.
• Launch PWA instead of browser with URL links: Starting in Microsoft Edge version 97, you can opt into launching the browser in a PWA rather than the full native browser.
• Tab Groups: The ability to categorize tabs into user-defined groups helps you more effectively find, switch and manage tabs across multiple workstreams. To enable this, we are turning on tab grouping beginning with Microsoft Edge version 93.
• Citation support added to Collections: Starting with Microsoft Edge version 95, we have improved the Collections experience, especially for students and researchers. Collections will start supporting citations and reading lists.
• New policy to support more flexibility in Microsoft Edge startup: Beginning with Microsoft Edge version 94, enterprise administrators will have more flexibility in the options they choose in their startup policy. This will include the ability to specify the start page, add/remove additional pages, and Continue where you left off, while ensuring that the set of pages specified by policy are also opened.
• Video Picture in Picture (PiP) from hover toolbar: Beginning in Edge version 93, it will become even easier to enter Picture in Picture (PiP) mode. When you hover over a supported video, a toolbar will appear that allows you to view that video in a PiP window.
• Free form highlighting on PDFs: Starting in Microsoft Edge version 94, the PDF viewing and markup experience will be improved with the addition of freeform highlighters. This will allow you to highlight sections on PDFs that you may not have access to comment on as well as scanned documents.
• Notification from web apps show as coming from the PWA: Beginning with Microsoft Edge version 94, notifications from progressive web applications PWAs will no longer show as coming from Microsoft Edge, but rather will display the name of the web app instead.
• Hide the title bar while using Vertical Tabs: Get the extra few pixels back by hiding the browser's title bar, while in Vertical Tabs. Starting with Microsoft Edge version 93, you can go to edge://settings/appearance and under the Customize Toolbar section select the option to hide the title bar while in Vertical Tab mode.
• Automatic translation for unknown languages: Starting in Microsoft Edge version 94, when you navigate to a page that displays in a language that is not one that you have set up as known, Microsoft Edge will automatically translate the content of the page to your primary language. We will then give you the option to return to the original page or disable further automatic translations.
• Initial Preferences in Microsoft Edge: Deploying Microsoft Edge to your enterprise will become easier starting in version 93, with the addition of Initial preferences.
• Improved handoff between IE mode and the modern browser: Starting with Microsoft Edge version 95, the transition between the modern browser experience and the IE mode experience will improve. Referrer headers, post data, forms data and request methods will now be forwarded properly across the two experiences.
• Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CTE): Microsoft Edge will begin supporting an even safer browsing mode that uses hardware-dependent control flow for browser processes on supported hardware (Intel 11th Gen. or AMD Zen 3). You can disable CET by manipulating Image File Execution Options (IFEO) using group policy.
• Family Safety: Improved protection on sites such as youtube.com: Families using Microsoft Family Safety will soon see improvements to Content filters. Parents will also have more peace of mind knowing filtering settings for Allowed sites and Blocked sites will be improved for sites such as youtube.com to prevent children from navigating to videos that aren't allowed.
• Family Safety: Allow many EDU sites with a single click: Families using Microsoft Family Safety will soon see improvements to Content filters. When using "Only use allowed websites" mode, parents will see an option to add a list of educational sites to the allow list with one click.

Earlier this year, Microsoft released a Kids Mode for Edge that allows children to discover the web in a fun way while limiting their access to only approved sites. Prior to that, Microsoft brought vertical tabs to Mac, sleeping tabs, a password generator, new visual themes, and more.

The browser can be downloaded from the Microsoft Edge website. Are you a fan of Edge? Let us know in the comments.

(Via XDA-Developers.)