How Tos - Page 3

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've ever found yourself scrolling endlessly through your iPhone's music library to find that one album you play every morning or the workout playlist that gets you pumped, then you should find iOS 26's new Music pins feature a welcome addition to the app. Basically, Apple Music lets you pin your most frequently accessed songs, playlists, albums, and artists directly to the top of your ...

Apple has modified the screenshot experience in iOS 26 to accommodate Visual Intelligence and its new Liquid Glass aesthetic. Taking a screenshot is still done by pressing the Side button and Volume Up button on your iPhone, but the interface has been redesigned, while there's another change that might slow down your workflow if you're used to the streamlined approach taken in iOS 18 and earlier. ...

In iOS 26, Apple introduces conversation backgrounds to its Messages app for the first time. Custom backgrounds can help users better organize their conversations at a glance, and they also serve to add a personal touch to important chats, but they can feel like an imposition for other users. The ability to apply custom backgrounds to Messages conversations in ‌iOS 26‌ will be welcomed by many ...

In iOS 18.2 and later, Apple's Genmoji feature lets you create personalized emoji that aim to perfectly match what you want to express, going far beyond the limitations of standard Unicode emoji. Want an emoji of a break-dancing astronaut or a dog playing bagpipes? With Genmoji, you can make it happen. Unlike standard emoji that are fixed Unicode characters, Genmoji are dynamically generated ...

When using macOS Finder in List view, you'll see the sizes of individual files – but not folders. Instead, folders show a pair of dashes (--) in the Size column. macOS skips calculating folder sizes by default to keep List view performance fast, especially in directories with many nested files. But if you want to keep an eye on folder sizes in certain locations, or even globally, there are a...

In iOS 18.2, Apple introduced a major change to iPhone's Mail app with a new Categories feature, which has now been rolled out to iPad and Mac with iPadOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4. Categories automatically sorts your emails into four distinct sections: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. However, while this organizational system aims to help manage email overload, not everyone will ...

In macOS, the Hot Corners feature turns each of the four corners of your screen into a designated action, allowing you to quickly access certain functions built into the system, such as Mission Control, Notification Center, the Screen Saver, QuickNote, and more. Many Mac users would agree, there's something satisfying about bringing up these commonly used functions with a simple, swift cursor...

There are several ways to search the web in Apple's Safari browser. In this article, we're going to highlight a way of searching specific websites using a lesser-known Safari feature called Quick Website Search. The option is designed to work with sites that have a built-in search field, like the one you can find at the top of the main page at MacRumors.com. Here's how it works. Let's...

When Apple released iOS 18.2, it introduced a major change to the Mail app with its new Categories and priority messages features. Categories automatically sorts your emails into four distinct sections: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. The change also adds contact photos and business logos for conversations in your inbox, but if you don't like how they look, it's easy enough to...

If you're concerned about hearing loss and own AirPods Pro 2, Apple offers a convenient clinical-grade Hearing Test that's easy to use. Here's everything you need to know about checking your hearing health with this new feature. Apple on December 11 released iOS 18.2, which expands the Hearing Test feature on the AirPods Pro 2 to nine additional countries, including Cyprus, Czechia, France,...

For ‌iPhone 16‌ models, Apple's iOS 18.3 software update added new Visual Intelligence features to the Camera Control button. Keep reading to learn what you can do with the new capabilities and how to use them. New Visual Intelligence Features In iOS 18.2, Apple company added Visual Intelligence functionality to its latest iPhone 16 models, allowing device owners to point the camera at the ...

In iOS 18.4, Apple added a new Shortcuts action to open a specific conversation in the Messages app. This means it's now possible to open a chat thread with someone important to you straight from your Lock Screen, for example. Keep reading to learn more. If you'd like to reduce the time it takes to chat with a frequently contacted person, this new shortcut action is for you. Placing a...

Apple in iOS 18.4 introduced a potentially privacy-compromising change to its Safari browser that puts your search history on full display when opening new tabs. Previously in iOS, opening a new tab and tapping the search field brought up the keyboard while continuing to display the personalized Safari home page. However, Apple's iOS 18.4 software update modified how Safari handles new tabs...

Apple's iOS 26 finally brings custom conversation backgrounds to the Messages app, letting you personalize your chats with photos, colors, or images generated by Image Playground. Third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp have offered this kind of feature for years, so finally iPhone owners can now also add their own visual flair to text conversations in Apple's stock messaging app. Custom...

On a Mac that has a top row of function keys, Apple includes volume and brightness controls that can be used to make adjustments in stepwise increments. However, there may be times when you want to make more fine grained adjustments to these settings than the default increments allow – in which case, read on. Whenever you tap the volume or brightness controls on your keyboard, you'll see...

On iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Voice Memos app includes a recording feature that lets you record a second audio layer – like vocals, narration, or an extra instrument – over an existing memo, all without needing headphones. Keep reading to learn how it's done. Thanks to the A18 Pro chip's advanced audio processing, iPhone 16 Pro models can play an original Voice Memo...

Apple's Audio Sharing feature on iPhone and iPad lets you share your device's Bluetooth audio with a second pair of wireless headphones, allowing two of you to listen to the same music together while running, or enjoy a movie on a plane without disturbing those around you, for example. Keep reading to learn how it works. Device Compatibility To get started with Audio Sharing in iOS 18 or...

In iOS 17 and later, Apple includes an accessibility setting that makes the haptic feedback feature activate faster than in previous versions of its mobile operating system. If you fondly hearken back for the days of 3D Touch, you might just prefer it. As many iPhone users might remember, ‌3D Touch‌ was an interactive haptic feature that Apple introduced in 2015 with the ‌iPhone‌ 6s. ...

In macOS, a handy option called "Show suggested and recent applications in Dock" (found in System Settings ➝ Desktop & Dock) adds a divider to the right-hand side of your Mac's Dock, and after it displays any apps you recently used – or any that macOS thinks may be useful to your workflow – that aren't permanently docked. Assuming that you have no undocked apps that are currently open,...