Apple in iOS 18 has added a new multicolor swatch to the Font & Color customization options on the Lock Screen, so now you can display the time in rainbow colors against your chosen wallpaper.
Unlike the other color swatches, the multicolor option does not currently apply to widgets and the date, which turn white when the rainbow effect is applied. However, there's a good chance this is something Apple intends to implement but has not yet got around to doing so in the developer beta.
iOS 18 also allows users to change the two Flashlight and Camera shortcut buttons on the Lock Screen to an action of their choice for the first time.
The ability to change these Lock Screen controls is part of a wave of new customization features in iOS 18, which includes app icon color-changing capabilities and more. The first public beta is set to arrive in July and the official release of iOS 18 is scheduled for the fall.
With macOS Sequoia, Apple has introduced a new window tiling management feature that aims to make it easy to arrange open windows into a layout that works best for you.
PC users have had tiling since at least Windows 7 and Aero Snap, and if you've ever used those, the new window tiling feature in macOS Sequoia will be familiar. In the absence of the feature, Mac users have relied on several third-party tools like Magnet, Moom, and Rectangle to achieve similar results, but as things stand, in beta 1, window management in macOS still needs some work before it can approach the utility of those apps.
When you drag a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia suggests a tiled position by displaying a frame, and you release the window to drop it right into place. This way, you can quickly arrange two app windows side by side, or place four windows in corners to keep several apps in view at once. When a window has been dragged to tile on one side or the other, dragging it back immediately resizes it to its original width and height, which is a nice touch.
The dragging system is far from infallible though. If you drag a window to the side of the screen and hold it for more than a couple of seconds, you can sometimes unintentionally switch to an adjacent desktop space if one is active. It can also be quite tricky to place certain app windows so that they snap to corners.
Also, some apps by design will not reduce down beyond a certain size, so you can end up with tiled windows overlapping each other or falling off the screen. If you have a group of apps that play nice together when tiled, the tiling system can leave unsightly gaps between the windows where the desktop wallpaper is exposed, but there's a setting that can rectify this.
In System Settings, you'll find tiling options in a new section in the Desktop & Dock menu. For example, tiling can be activated by holding the Option key while dragging windows. You can also toggle off "Tiled windows have margins," which reduces gaps between windows.
macOS 15 also adds new tiling options to the green traffic light in the top corner of windows. Hover your pointer over the green button, and a menu appears with options to move and resize or fill and arrange all open windows. These options generally seem to work better than the drag-to-snap tiling system in its current state.
Overall, tiling windows in macOS Sequoia does not feel properly implemented yet, but this is developer beta 1, and Apple will surely refine its functionality before we get to the public release of macOS 15 in September.
Alogic today introduced several new display options that it plans to ship out later in 2024, including a 5K 27-inch touchscreen display, several ultrawide displays, and portable touchscreen monitors.
The Clarity Touch 5K 27" UHD Monitor has a resolution identical to that of the Studio Display or the LG UltraFine 5K, but with the added benefit of touch integration. We previously reviewed a pair of 4K Clarity displays with touchscreen capabilities and found the touchscreen to be useful in certain circumstances for scrolling through websites, accessing controls, and performing simple tasks in apps. The touchscreen can be interacted with using a finger or a stylus.
Alogic's 5K touchscreen display supports HDR 400, is able to charge a connected Mac at up to 65 watts over USB-C, and it includes several connectivity options. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4 port, a USB-C port, two USB-A ports with 7.5-watt charging for accessories and 5 Gb/s data transfer speeds, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Slim bezels maximize display area and there is an adjustable stand that works in either landscape or portrait orientation.
There are also three new ultrawide displays coming from Alogic, including the 34-inch Edge Ultrawide QHD Monitor, the 40-inch Ultrawide QHD Monitor, and the 34-inch Horizon Ultrawide QHD Touchscreen. The two Edge displays each have a 3440x1440 resolution and a slim design that prioritizes aesthetics, while the Horizon has a 3440x1440 touch display and a foldable stand so that it can be converted into a tablet mode.
For extra display space on the go, Alogic has also introduced the Xtend 15-inch and Xpand 17-inch Portable 5K Touchscreen Monitors, both of which have a tablet-like design and a cover that folds out into a small stand. Pressure-sensitive stylus input is supported, with Alogic aiming these displays at artists and traveling workers.
Alogic's final new display, the Slate 28-inch Double Vertical QHD Monitor, has a 16:18 resolution and it looks like two 2560x1440 resolution displays stacked vertically. It is ideal for web browsing, coding, and similar applications, and Alogic says it works well as secondary display.
The two Edge displays and the Clarity 5K will launch in August, while the rest of the display options are set to come out in September 2024. More information can be found on the Alogic website.
Apple introduced a new design for the iOS 18Photos app that replaces the Library and For You sections with a more integrated all-in-one view, and part of that redesign includes an overhauled Utilities section that makes it easier to find different types of images.
Rather than being limited to Imports, Duplicates, Hidden, and Recently Deleted as in iOS 17, the Utilities section of the app has all of the following categories:
Hidden
Recently Deleted
Duplicates
Receipts
Handwriting
Illustrations
QR Codes
Recently Saved
Recently Viewed
Recently Edited
Documents
Imports
Maps
You've been able to search for things like receipts in prior versions of iOS, and still can, but having them in a dedicated Utilities section makes them quicker to locate.
Along with Utilities, the Photos app also features Media Types, and while this section is largely the same, there is a new Animated category. The Animated category and the Illustrations utility section may be aimed at the image generation tools that are coming to iOS 18 as part of the Apple Intelligence feature set.
Apple also added a "Pinned Collections" section to Photos, which houses things that you might want quick access to like Videos, Favorites, Screenshots, and Selfies. Collections are a repeat of content that can be found elsewhere in Photos, but you can customize it to your liking so you see your preferred content at the top of the app. These changes to Photos are in iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia as well as iOS 18.
Apple updated the Battery section of the Settings app in iOS 18 to add a feature that lets you know if you charged your iPhone with a "slow" charger.
Periods of slow charging are shown with an orange bar in the portion of the Battery settings that show battery usage and charging over the past 24 hours or the past 10 days.
We saw the slow charging notice after charging with a 5W wireless charger, as did a Redditor who highlighted the feature. It's not clear what exactly is considered "slow," but the designation is useful for those who are seeing slow charging speeds and aren't sure why.
Many wireless chargers claim to be MagSafe while being limited to Qi speeds or below, so this feature could help iPhone users understand why their devices aren't charging at optimum speed. There does not appear to be an option to enable an alert when charging from a slow charger, which could be an arguably better feature because the battery settings are somewhat hidden.
There is a tappable information button that accompanies slow charging notices, but as of right now, it goes to a support document that does not yet exist.
In iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, Apple revamped the iCloud section of the Apple Account (formerly Apple ID) that's available in the Settings app. The redesigned interface has much of the same functionality, but a "Saved to iCloud" feature makes it clearer how storage is being used.
Saved to iCloud replaces Apps Using iCloud, and it provides more information at a glance. Rather than just listing whether iCloud is on for an app, you can see how much storage space Messages takes up, how many Notes are stored, how many Photos are in iCloud, and more.
Tapping into each section provides additional detail and tools for managing storage, much of which was available before. While the main interface no longer shows where the majority of iCloud storage is going by file type, tapping the Storage bar shows the full breakdown and list of apps using the most storage.
If you subscribe to iCloud+, there's a new "Subscriber Edition" icon, which is similar to the icon that Apple uses for Apple News+. iCloud+ features can be listed and managed through the iCloud+ section.
There's also a more prominent "Recommended For You" suggestions interface that recommends things like deleting inactive backups, upgrading to a new iCloud+ plan, and more, along with quicker access to iCloud backups.
Since there was so much to take in at yesterday's WWDC keynote event, we thought we'd revisit iOS 18 and highlight some of the most exciting features that Apple introduced.
Note that we've left out Apple Intelligence, which is what Apple is calling the AI features that it plans to add. Apple Intelligence will be limited to Apple's newest iPhones, but the features we've listed will be available on older iPhones, too.
Check out our video and let us know what your favorite iOs 18 feature is in the comments below.
macOS Sequoia has a fun new Macintosh dynamic wallpaper and screensaver combination that highlights classic Mac icons. Basic Apple Guy shared some high resolution screenshots of the new wallpaper, which can be used on other Apple devices.
On device, the Macintosh wallpaper animates and shifts through different retro graphics, with color options that include Spectrum, Accent, Blue, Red, Purple, Yellow, Dark Gray, Gray, Green, Orange, and Random.
Macintosh isn't the only new macOS Sequoia wallpaper, with Apple also adding "Helios," which is featured in macOS Sequoia marketing materials and Apple images. Helios animates with a gradient design.
To see the wallpapers in their full glory, macOS Sequoia is required. The operating system update is available to developers right now, with a public release scheduled for the fall.
iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia will all have built-in "Apple Intelligence," and one of the new AI features includes an Image Playground. With Image Playground, you can generate an image from a prompt, similar to what you can do with OpenAI's ChatGPT. While you can come up with anything, Apple will provide a selection of suggested concepts in categories like themes, costumes, and places.
Apple Intelligence isn't out yet, but iOS 18 does provide some insight into the concepts that Apple will suggest to users, as MacRumors contributor Steve Moser discovered. Apple's suggestions will be personalized, so if you're chatting with friends about going on a hike, you might see it pop up options like mountains and hiker. Note that this list is not exhaustive because it is missing some examples that are in Apple's marketing materials, but these are the options in the beta right now. Apple will also likely add new suggestions on an ongoing basis.
Nature and Environments
Mountains
Desert
Forest
Garden
Prairie
Rainforest
Waterfall
Volcano
Space
Starry Night
Seasons
Autumn
Spring
Summer
Winter
Costumes and Characters
Alien
Artist
Astronaut
Chef
Farmer
Hiker
Healthcare Worker
Mechanic
Pilot
Rancher
Racecar Driver
Robot
Royalty
Scientist
Superhero
Vampire
Themes
Adventure
Birthday
Graduation
Halloween
Masquerade
Party
Disco
Fantasy
Fireworks
Love
Places
Art Studio
City
Couch
Library
Lighthouse
Museum
Stadium
Stage
Items and Accessories
Baseball Cap
Beanie
Beret
Bike Helmet
Book
Bowtie
Crown
Flower Crown
Guitar
Hard Hat
Magic Wand
Microphone
Party Hat
Rubber duck
Scarf
Sunglasses
Surfboard
Sweatband
Top Hat
Beverages and Foods
Champagne Glass
Coffee
Tea
Image Playground is available as a standalone app, but it's also baked into apps like Notes and Messages. Images that are generated can include your contacts, and many of Apple's suggestions are tailored to that idea. Your iPhone can take a photo of a contact that's on your device and use it to generate a fun cartoon-like image that you can share with them.
Apple adds a style to each image, and there's no option to generate something that looks real. There are three styles to choose from, including Animation, Illustration, and Sketch. Image generation is done on-device, so there's no limit on experimentation.
In the Notes app, Image Playground has a neat added feature that allows it to take a quick sketch you've made and turn it in to something more detailed, plus it can add images based on the context provided in your notes.
Image Playground and other Apple Intelligence features require an iPhone 15 Pro with A17 Pro chip, or an iPad or Mac with an M1 or better chip. Apple plans to start testing Artificial Intelligence in the iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia betas this summer.
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera designed for shooting spatial video content for Apple's Vision Pro headset.
The URSA Cine Immersive camera features a custom stereoscopic 3D lens system with dual 8K sensors, capable of capturing a 180-degree field of view with spatial audio support. It is designed to capture content with a resolution of 8,160 x 7,200 per eye and offers 16 stops of dynamic range to ensure detail and color accuracy in every frame, with the ability to shoot stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content at 90 frames per second.
The URSA Cine Immersive is constructed with a magnesium alloy chassis and a carbon fiber polycarbonate composite skin. It includes dual 5-inch HDR touchscreens and an external color status LCD screen. Connectivity options are extensive, including 12G-SDI out, 10G Ethernet, USB-C, and XLR audio ports, along with an 8-pin Lemo connector for power.
Introducing Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive! New camera in development, designed to capture content for Apple Vision Pro with 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye, 16 stops of dynamic range for 90fps stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content and more! Available later in 2024. Learn more! pic.twitter.com/5pbSDnJYuI
— Blackmagic Design (@Blackmagic_News) June 10, 2024
An 8TB Blackmagic Media Module comes built-in, which can store around two hours of 8K stereoscopic video recorded in Blackmagic RAW. The camera also supports Cloud Store, allowing for fast media upload and synchronization via the 10G Ethernet connection.
Simultaneously, Blackmagic Design is updating DaVinci Resolve to better support the creation of Vision Pro content. The updated editing software will feature a new immersive video viewer, allowing editors to pan, tilt, and roll clips for viewing on 2D monitors or directly on the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Blackmagic has not yet announced the price of the URSA Cine Immersive camera. For reference, the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is priced at $14,995 without a lens, suggesting that the new immersive camera could be similarly priced plus the cost of the twin lens system.
The Notes app in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 supports colors for typed text for the first time, providing an option to add new hues to text.
Apple offers five colors, including purple, pink, orange, mint, and blue, and there is no option for custom colors. Colors can be added to text through the formatting interface that can be accessed by tapping on the Aa button, with the shade applied to any text that is selected. Both the text and the background turn the selected color when the feature is used.
The five color options are useful for highlighting select words and passages in text. Multiple colors can be used in the same sentence, but it is worth noting that there does not seem to be an option for colored text without the shaded background, or black text with a colored background.
Written text added to Notes on the iPad has supported multiple color options, but Apple has not made that a feature for typed text prior to now.
Other features in the iOS 18 Notes app include live audio transcription and summarization, collapsible section headers, and the option to have Notes solve typed math problems (or written on the iPad).
The iOS 18 beta is available to developers at the current time, with Apple planning to introduce a public beta in July.
Apple has revamped the song queuing system in the Music app on iOS 18, and early reaction to the changes has been overwhelmingly positive.
Notable changes include a new "Add Songs to Queue" button at the bottom of the queue, an option to clear the entire queue all at once, and the ability to change the currently playing song without having the queue disappear. In addition, the former "Play Last" menu option has been replaced with "Add to Queue." While listening to a playlist, it is now possible to add a song to the queue for immediate playback after the current song, whereas the song would previously get added to the end of the playlist.
These changes bring Apple Music's queuing system on iPhone more in line with Spotify, and the Android version of the Apple Music app. It also brings Apple Music's queuing system more in line with how it worked back on iOS 9.
iOS 18 is currently available in beta for members of the Apple Developer Program, with a public beta to follow in July. The update should be widely released in September, allowing everyone to try out the new queuing system.
iOS 18 includes a small but interesting change for the buttons on the iPhone, adding more of a visual element when changing volume, activating the Action button, or locking the screen. When you press an iPhone button in iOS 18, the display bezel bulges outward slightly.
This feature is available for the volume buttons, Action button and the power button, and it will also likely be used for the Capture button that's rumored for the iPhone 16 models. With the iPhone 16, Apple is adding a dedicated button to make it easier to film and take photos in landscape orientation.
The button will be on the bottom right side of the iPhone, a good distance below the power button. Rumors suggest that the Capture button could be capacitive and flush with the side of the iPhone 16, so having the display pop out a bit when it's used would provide a useful visual indicator.
This small feature can be seen on iPhones running iOS 18, but Apple did not include it on the iPad. As of right now, iOS 18 is available for registered developers, but Apple plans to release a public beta in July.
Earlier this year, we reported that "Apple ID" would be renamed to "Apple Account," and this change has now been officially announced.
Apple confirmed the change in a press release today, with "Apple Account" branding now used across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11:
With the releases of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11, Apple ID is renamed to Apple Account for a consistent sign-in experience across Apple services and devices, and relies on a user's existing credentials.
There are still some places where Apple ID branding remains for now, such as the Apple ID sign-in page on the web. The transition to "Apple Account" will likely be completed by time iOS 18 and the other software updates are publicly released later this year.
"Apple Account" is certainly a more straightforward name, but "Apple ID" had been used for over two decades and had a lot of sentimental value.
Apple's stock price has crossed the $200 mark and reached a new all-time high in intraday trading, one day after the company unveiled its Apple Intelligence suite of AI features coming with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Apple's stock price has split five times since the company went public, including on a 4-for-1 basis in 2020 most recently. This means that Apple's stock price would be over $45,000 today if it had never been split, and all other things being equal.
Generative AI has been a hot topic ever since ChatGPT debuted in 2022, and investors had been waiting for Apple to unveil its own plans for the technology.
Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple to become the world's second most valuable company last week, amid strong demand for its AI server chips, but Apple has now regained second place with a $3.1 trillion market cap as of writing. Apple now trails only Microsoft, which has a nearly $3.2 trillion market cap as of writing.
Apple Intelligence features are not included in the first developer betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, but they will be available this summer. Even when the features launch to the public later this year, they will still have a beta label. Read our coverage of the Apple Intelligence announcement to learn more about the new capabilities.
Apple has shared updated iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 adoption figures, revealing how many iPhones and iPads were running those software versions before WWDC.
These adoption numbers are based on iPhones and iPads that transacted on the App Store on June 9, the day before WWDC began, according to Apple.
The statistics are as follows:
77% of all iPhones were updated to iOS 17.
68% of all iPads were updated to iPadOS 17.
86% of all iPhones introduced in the last four years were updated to iOS 17.
77% of all iPads introduced in the last four years were updated to iPadOS 17.
These will be the final iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 adoption figures given that Apple has since made the first betas of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 available to developers.
With the first beta of iOS 18 now in the hands of developers, there are a handful of smaller changes and quality-of-life improvements being discovered in Apple's iPhone software that are worth highlighting.
First up, Apple has improved the flashlight controls. In iOS 18, turning on the Flashlight via the Lock Screen or Control Center now brings up a small interface that lets you adjust the flood of light from the LED. In other words, you now have granular control over not only the intensity of light, but also the breadth of illumination.
In the new Passwords app, you can generate QR codes for saved Wi-Fi passwords, allowing them to be shared more easily with others.
In the Settings app, usually you scroll down to get to settings for individual apps installed on your iPhone. In the iOS 18 beta, Apple has moved settings for apps to a separate screen, so now you tap "Apps" at the bottom of the menu to access a separate searchable list.
In the redesigned Control Center, which now extends to multiple screens, tapping a new + icon in the top-left corner (or long-pressing on an empty area) reveals minus icons that let you remove individual buttons, similar to how you remove apps from the Home Screen, and there's a new Add a Control option at the bottom. There are also anchors that let you resize buttons or cards like the media player. So if you've always wanted to make the Shazam icon a 4x4 button, for example, now you can.
Apple in iOS 18 has also added a new Power button to the top-right corner of the Control Center, so you don't have to physically hold the Side button to bring up the "Slide to power off" screen.
In the Weather app, you can show forecasts for separate Home and Work locations. The new Home and Work labels can be toggled in Settings ➝ Apps ➝ Weather, under a new "Locations" section. Home and work locations can be updated by editing your Contacts card.
The first developer beta of iOS 18 is now available, with a public beta following in July. Apple will officially release the new iPhone operating system to the public in the fall.
When you paste a link for a social media post into the text field in the Messages app, the associated link card now appears before you send the message, whereas it previously only became visible after the message was sent.
It was already possible to see a link card preview before sending a message in some situations on iOS 17 and earlier, such as when sharing a website link directly from the Safari app or other browsers. The expansion of link card previews to more types of content, and to links pasted directly in the Messages app, is a nice improvement.
The first developer beta of iOS 18 is available now, and a public beta will follow in July. The update should be widely released in September.
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