Shortly after the launch of Apple's new M1 Macs, we saw reports that attempts to restore and reinstall macOS on those machines right away could result in an installation error that would leave your Mac non-functional.
Specifically, the error message would read: "An error occurred preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again."
Over the weekend, Apple posted detailed instructions for users experiencing this issue. Specifically it seems the issue arises if you erase/restore your Mac before upgrading to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1.
If you erased your Mac with Apple M1 chip before updating to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, you might be unable to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery. A message might say “An error occurred while preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again.”
Use either of these solutions to reinstall macOS. You should then be able to use macOS Recovery as expected when reinstalling macOS in the future.
Apple suggests that you could create a bootable installer using another Mac. Otherwise, Apple details a more technical 17 step process using Terminal to restore your M1 Mac to a functional state.
If you are still having trouble, Apple recommends contacting support, and you can also visit our ongoing forum thread where users are troubleshooting this specific issue.
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick.
"We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote.
If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.
The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:27 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Between around 2009 and 2011, it was repeatedly rumored that Apple would be releasing a TV, but that obviously never happened.
Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the idea is back on the table.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman briefly mentioned that Apple has been "evaluating" the "idea of making an Apple-branded TV set." He did not provide any further...
What mess? There was a bug in 11.0. Apple issued 11.0.1 but some people received the machine and immediately did a restore for any of various reasons. Since the machines shipped after 11.0.1 they had the bug in 11.0.
The fix is fairly simple for anyone that would have encountered the bug, ie: generic home users are not in the habit of doing a complete system restore out of the box, power users do that.