By Jason Snell

July 12, 2023 11:00 AM PT

First Look: iPadOS 17 Public Beta

These days, many new iPadOS features have spent a year incubating on the iPhone. (Or, to put it less charitably, Apple builds for the iPhone first and makes iPads wait to get the good stuff.) This year is no different, as iPadOS 17—now available in a public beta version—integrates the customized Lock Screen introduced last year on the iPhone, but doesn’t get access to the customized contact cards introduced for iOS 17.

Still, iPad users will find several major improvements in this version, including the arrival of an app that has long been absent on the iPad. And perhaps the best news of all is that one of the banner features of iPadOS 16 has been dramatically improved this time around.

(And of course, many of this year’s OS features are available not just on the iPad but also on the iPhone and Mac, so we’ve broken out some of the common features in another piece.)

Continue reading “First Look: iPadOS 17 Public Beta”…

By Dan Moren

July 12, 2023 10:19 AM PT

First Look: iOS 17 Public Beta

Sometimes I see that number following the latest release of iOS and do a double take: really? It’s been around that long? Seventeen iterations into the iPhone’s software and you wouldn’t think there’d be much left to do, but with this latest annual update to its flagship platform, now available as a public beta ahead of its fall release, Apple’s packed in a surprising amount of features—and cleaned up some shortcomings of prior versions.

Perhaps the most significant indication of the iPhone’s maturity is that it’s now largely in sync with releases from its siblings: many features this time around are coming to all of Apple’s devices, so we’ve broken out some of the common features in another piece.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of iPhone-specific innovations in iOS 17. On the contrary, not only has Apple spent a surprising amount of time with a core piece of functionality that most people don’t think about—yes, we’re looking at you, Phone app—but it’s also introduced a brand new way to use your smartphone.¹

I’ve been using iOS 17 for several weeks, and while I’ve encountered the usual assortment of rough edges typical of a beta, none have been significant enough to make me wish to go backward. So, without further ado, let’s dive into what this newest update offers and why you may want to take the public beta plunge before the fall rolls around.

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By Jason Snell

July 12, 2023 10:00 AM PT

First Look: macOS Sonoma Public Beta

macOS Sonoma, out in public beta now and due to be released this fall, is an update that feels small in all the best ways. Even in early development, I’ve managed to use it on my main Mac without any serious compatibility issues or major bugs. This means that if you’re desperate for change in macOS, you will be disappointed—but at this point I suspect that most Mac users just want incremental improvements without disruptive changes. Slow and steady wins the race.

To be sure, Apple is tinkering quite a bit around the edges, but mostly in the sense of minor features getting a facelift or new quality-of-life features that span across its platforms. If all the effort expended getting visionOS ready to ship has meant that things are quieter than usual around these parts, so be it. Based on what I’ve seen so far, macOS Sonoma will make portions of your Mac experience better without breaking the stuff you count on. That’s my kind of update.

(Of course, many macOS improvements in Sonoma are also new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, among them password sharing, upgrades to Messages, PDF autofill, new Notes features, and a big upgrade to autocorrect and dictation. Since those features aren’t unique to macOS, we’ve separated them out and covered them in an article about new 2023 Apple platform features.)

Keeping in mind that we’ve probably got more than three months before this operating system ships, here are some of my first impressions of macOS Sonoma.

Continue reading “First Look: macOS Sonoma Public Beta”…

By Six Colors Staff

July 12, 2023 9:00 AM PT

First Look: 2023 Public Beta platform features

It’s Apple public beta season. This is the time of year where Apple lets members of the public try out the next generation of its operating systems in advance of them being pushed out to everyone this fall. There will be bugs and missing features, but that’s the price you pay for living two or three months ahead of the curve.

In recent years, Apple has taken to making more of its new features available across all of its major operating systems. As a result, it’s made less sense for us to cover the same feature in multiple preview articles. Instead, we’ve rolled some of the key improvements you’ll see across macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, and iPadOS 17 into a single article—this one.

Continue reading “First Look: 2023 Public Beta platform features”…

By Dan Moren

July 5, 2023 11:37 AM PT

Wish List: Keep apps from being offloaded

When I buy a new iPhone, I tend not to spring for the top of the line where storage is concerned. Generally I’m okay going for a smaller capacity phone, because I don’t have a ton of data, but it can get tight at times¹, because as someone who writes a lot about iOS, I do download a lot of apps.

I definitely don’t want to spend my time going through apps and deleting the many I don’t use anymore, so I’ve gotten used to letting the system manage my apps for me, thanks to the Settings > App Store -> Offload Unused Apps feature. This basically keep an eye on your app usage and, if there’s one that’s been just sitting there for a while without being opened, it offloads it.

Note that this doesn’t delete the app in question: it still shows up on your device, and your data is still intact. But the next time you try to launch that app, it’ll have to be redownloaded from the App Store.

Most of the time this is fine, but I’ve increasingly run into scenarios where I want an app that’s been offloaded—usually because it’s an app I only need sometimes. For example, the last couple times I’ve been out on a hike, I wanted to use the bird identification app Merlin, only to find that it—and its hefty data packs—had been offloaded.

So, my modest suggestion is that Apple provide a way in iOS for you to flag certain apps as “not to be offloaded.” That way I don’t have to worry that I’ll be out somewhere with no connectivity in desperate need to know what bird that is and no way to find out, like some sort of 17th amateur ornithologist.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]