Apple recently presented this year’s operating systems, and they are full of new features to boost your productivity and increase your fun. macOS Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16 also have a number of useful new features to enhance your security and privacy. Most of these features are present in all of the operating systems. Here’s an overview of what to look forward to this fall.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
For this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple has presented the new operating systems that we’ll be downloading in a few months. macOS Ventura, iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and watchOS 9 were all highlighted in a two-hour presentation. In addition, Apple has shown off two new Mac laptops that will be available next month.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
If you use a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you can store files in iCloud Drive, Apple’s cloud storage service. This is just one of the many iCloud features available, ranging from privacy and backups to cloud sync of your photos and music library.
iCloud Drive is especially useful if you have two Macs; you can sync your Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive, so you can easily switch between working on a desktop Mac and a laptop. And you can even access these files on your iPhone or iPad.
In this article, I’ll explain how iCould Drive works, and tell you how you can get the most out of this service.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
Apple’s HomeKit controls many smart home devices: from lights to thermostats, from doorbells to home security systems. Many users may never see the Home app, while others may use it regularly with dozens of devices, but and can use Siri to turn these devices on and off.
HomeKit has slowly grown since its introduction, and Apple has expanded its reach through new devices. Yet they don’t publicize this much. One technology, called Thread, enhances the way smart home devices can work, and two Apple devices – the Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini – provide special features for Thread networks.
In this article, I’ll explain what Thread is, why you should care, and how the smart home is getting smarter.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
Relationships are hard; some last forever, some end amicably, and others end in conflict. If you break up with a spouse or partner, you have to make a lot of changes in your life. After sharing so much, the separation involves changes, including to the data you may have shared. To ensure a clean break, you need to remove your ex from your digital life, and this can mean changing passwords, adjusting settings, and deleting apps.
In this article, I’m going to tell you how to check and change sharing settings on your iPhone and iPad, so you no longer share your location, your calendar, or your apps.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
If you use Apple devices, your iCloud account is one of your most important repositories of your personal data. You don’t have to use iCloud, of course; you may use Google services for your calendar and photos, or Microsoft for email and online storage. But most Apple users store data in an iCloud account, and if you get locked out of that account, you may need a way to access your data.
Also, in the event of your death, you may want to ensure that your spouse, partner, or children can access your photos, emails, and other data.
In this article, I’ll explain how to nominate contacts to help you recover your iCloud account, if you get locked out, and how to access your account in the event of your death.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
Protecting the data in your accounts is essential, and no account is more important to users of Apple devices than their Apple ID account. This account covers many features, from email to calendars, from online storage to online purchases. We have long recommended the use of two-factor authentication whenever possible, and these days it is almost essential that you set this up for your Apple ID.
In this article, I’m going to explain how Apple’s two-factor authentication (2FA) works, how to set it up, and how to prepare for situations where you may not be able to get 2FA codes.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
iPhones and iPads don’t have user accounts, so if you lend a child your device, they could make purchases, even accidentally, as well as access a lot of your personal data.
A story grabbed my attention recently: a father in Sydney, Australia, gave his phone to his four-year-old, to keep him occupied, and was surprised to later find that the child had ordered $1,139 of gelato and cakes which was sent to the father’s workplace. The child didn’t do this intentionally; he was just tapping things, as children do on portable devices. It turned out that he had been tapping images in the UberEats app, and, since there was no password or passcode required to approve purchases, there was nothing to prevent the child from doing this.
There are many ways that children could make purchases – either intentionally or unintentionally – on an iPhone or iPad. In this article, I’m going to explain how you can prevent your kids from spending all your money on your device.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
Apple’s new App Privacy Report, in iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.2, gives you lots of information about how apps and websites collect data.
A new feature in iOS and iPadOS 15.2 is the App Privacy Report. Your iPhone or iPad can record and display activity carried out by apps, such as which apps access your location, contacts, or photos, which apps access a network, websites that contact trackers, and more. You can then view a detailed report of this activity over the past seven days.
In this article, I’ll explain how to enable the App Privacy Report, and how to understand the data it presents.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.
One of the useful new features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey is Live Text. This feature converts text in images to text that you can copy. You can use this to point your iPhone’s camera at a phone number, then immediately make a call to that number; to zoom in on an address, then find that address in Maps; or even translate text on signs into one of a number of languages.
This also works in macOS; not with a camera, but with photos or screenshots. In the Photos app, or in Preview, you can select and copy text from images.
Here’s how to use Live Text.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.