MacRumors

Following the release of macOS Monterey 12.2 last month, some Mac users who installed the software update started to experience excessive battery drain during sleep mode, seemingly due to Bluetooth accessories frequently waking up the machines. The issue appears to affect Macs running the first beta of macOS 12.3 as well.

Many affected users found their Mac's battery life dropped from 100% to 0% while in sleep mode overnight. A few users tried to identify a cause in Terminal and found that Bluetooth accessories were frequently causing a "DarkWake from Deep Idle" that resulted in the Mac repeatedly waking from sleep and draining the battery's charge.

Fortunately, it appears that the second beta of macOS 12.3 seeded today may resolve the issue. In a tweet, Mr. Macintosh said his 2018 MacBook Pro that was experiencing the issue on the first beta of macOS 12.3 is no longer affected on the second beta.

macOS 12.3 will likely be publicly released around March or April, providing a fix for all affected users. In the meantime, users can disable Bluetooth on their Mac or disconnect all Bluetooth accessories overnight to prevent battery drain.

One major iOS 15 feature that we are still waiting for is the ability to add a driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch in participating U.S. states. Apple's website says this feature is coming in early 2022.

In the meantime, Apple continues to prepare for the feature's impending launch. In the second beta of iOS 15.4 seeded today, MacRumors contributor Steve Moser uncovered a new line of code in the Wallet app that states "Find out when your driver's license or state ID is ready to use and get important updates about your ID."

Apple last year announced that Arizona and Georgia will be among the first states to support the feature and said that Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah will follow. Other states like Colorado, Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana already offer their own digital ID apps and could work with Apple on Wallet app integration.

Apple said select TSA security checkpoints will be the first locations where ID cards in the Wallet app can be presented, followed by retailers and venues in the future.

While there are code-level preparations for the feature, it is still not possible to add a driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app in the second beta of iOS 15.4. The feature could be enabled by time iOS 15.4 is publicly released around March or April, given Apple's early 2022 timeframe, but this remains to be seen.

The second beta of iOS 15.4 adds code for the new "Tap to Pay" feature that Apple announced this morning. "Tap to Pay on iPhone" is designed to allow NFC-compatible iPhones to accept payments through Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, without requiring additional hardware.

Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ is enabled in the latest beta, but it does require third-party providers to add support, so it is not yet available for use. There are no outward-facing signs of it that are visible to end users, but there's a new "PaymentReceived" sound file and images that show off the Tap to Pay interface.

MacRumors contributor Steve Moser has also discovered references to a "ContactlessReaderUIService" in the code, as well as mentions of alerts that end users will see. The feature will support reward passes and refunds.

• ‌iPhone‌ ready to accept a contactless payment.
• Hold your card or device to the seller's ‌iPhone‌ and wait for the success sound.
• To accept contactless payments, turn on NFC and try again.
• The payment timed out for your security. Try again when you are ready to accept a payment.
• Multiple reward passes applied
• Pay %@ %@
• Refund from %@ for %@"
• Try Again & Hold Card Longer
• Use your ‌iPhone‌ to accept payments from contactless credit and debit cards, ‌Apple Pay‌, or any other contactless payment devices.

The Tap to Pay feature will work with the ‌iPhone‌ XS or later, and will allow supported iOS apps to accept ‌iPhone‌ to ‌iPhone‌ payments. At checkout, a merchant is able to prompt a customer to hold their ‌iPhone‌, Apple Watch, contactless credit or debit card, or other digital wallet close to the merchant's ‌iPhone‌ to complete a payment over NFC.

Stripe has announced that it will be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ to business customers, including Shopify users, later this spring. Apple Stores in the U.S. will also roll out support for the feature later this year.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS macOS Monterey 12.3 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming two weeks after the release of the first macOS Monterey 12.3 beta.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

macOS Monterey 12.3 is a major update that introduces Universal Control, a feature that Apple first teased at WWDC and then delayed for several months. ‌Universal Control‌ is designed to allow you to use a single mouse/trackpad and keyboard across multiple Macs and iPads (with iPads running iPadOS 15.4).

After updating your devices to macOS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4, ‌Universal Control‌ works automatically, allowing your Mac's cursor and keyboard to work on the iPad and vice versa. It's simple and intuitive to use, and the second macOS 12.3 update adds an icon that you'll see in the menu bar to denote that it's activated.

maOS Monterey 12.3 adds support for updating the AirPods firmware when the earbuds are connected to a Mac, plus it deprecates kernel extensions used by Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive, and it eliminates Python 2, with Apple instructing developers to use an alternative scripting language like Python 3 going forward.

Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming two weeks after Apple seeded the first betas of iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4.

Developers can download iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad. Apple warns that the fifth-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and third-generation 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ will not be able to update to iPadOS 15.4 beta 2 via IPSW, an issue that will be addressed in a later release.

iOS and iPadOS 15.4 introduce some of the most significant changes we've seen in an update since iOS 15 launched. On the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 13 models, there's now an option to use Face ID while wearing a mask with no Apple Watch required for authentication. It works just like Face ID, but it scans the area around your eyes when you're wearing a mask.

On ‌iPad‌, iPadOS 15.4 brings the long awaited Universal Control feature. Paired with a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.3, Universal Control allows multiple Macs and iPads to be controlled with a single cursor and keyboard. It's a feature that works seamlessly after installing the updates, and it is simple and intuitive to use.

There are 37 new emojis with the addition of Emoji 14 characters, so you can now use emojis that include melting face, biting lip, heart hands, bubbles, beans, face with diagonal mouth, palm up hand, eggs, troll, low battery, coral, lotus, and more.

Other new features include full 120Hz ProMotion support for app animations on ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro models, EU vaccine certificates in the Wallet app, the ability to turn off notifications for Shortcuts automations, keyboard brightness controls in Control Center on the ‌iPad‌, an Apple Card widget, iCloud Keychain notes, support for adding custom email domains to ‌iCloud‌ Mail right on device, and a SharePlay option in the share sheet.

We have a full list of all of the features introduced in iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 in our dedicated guide highlighting everything new in the update.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after the release of the first watchOS 8.5 beta.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8.5, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8.5‌‌‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌. You'll also need the accompanying iOS 15.4 update before you can install watchOS 8.5.

watchOS 8.5 introduces support for Emoji 14 characters, with new additions including melting face, biting lip, heart hands, bubbles, beans, face with diagonal mouth, palm up hand, eggs, troll, low battery, coral, lotus, and more.

We didn't discover any other major features in the watchOS 8.5 update, but we'll update this article should we find anything new.

Stripe today announced a closed beta program for Apple's upcoming "Tap to Pay on iPhone" feature, with a sign-up form available on its website. The payment platform said the feature is "coming this spring" in the United States.

Tap to Pay on iPhone will allow newer iPhones to accept payments via Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, with no additional hardware required. Apple said Stripe will be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to its partners, including Shopify for its Point of Sale app "this spring."

Tap to Pay on iPhone will allow individual merchants and small businesses in the U.S. to accept contactless payments in supported apps with an iPhone XS or newer. At checkout, the merchant will simply prompt the customer to hold their own iPhone or Apple Watch, contactless credit or debit card, or other digital wallet near the merchant's iPhone, and the payment will be securely completed using NFC technology.

Apple's new feature will turn iPhones into contactless payment terminals without additional hardware like a Square Reader, providing for a simple and convenient experience. It appears that the feature will be exclusive to the U.S. at launch.

Tap to Pay on iPhone will work with contactless credit and debit cards from leading payment networks, including American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa, according to Apple. The feature will be available to participating payment platforms and their app developer partners in an upcoming iOS beta version.

Apple is introducing improved benefits for its retail employees in order to attract and retain workers in the current labor market, reports Bloomberg.

Updated benefits are applicable to both full time and part time employees, with Apple now offering 12 paid sick days, up from six. Sick days can be used for mental health leave, illnesses, or taking family members to the doctor.

Apple is also providing more vacation days, with an increase in the available vacation days coming after three years of employment instead of five years of employment. Vacation days will be offered to part time employees for the first time, with Apple providing up to six paid vacation days per year.

Part time employees are now eligible for up to six weeks of paid parental leave and will have the option to ramp up work time for the first four weeks when returning, and Apple is also offering part time workers access to discounted emergency backup care for children or elderly family members.

Many companies have been having trouble retaining retail staff amid the pandemic, leading to staffing shortages. In response, companies have upped wages for employees, and, as Apple is doing, added expanded benefits to be competitive with other businesses. Apple's updated benefits will be available starting on April 4.

CalDigit today introduced its new Thunderbolt Station 4 dock with 18 ports, which it claims is the most on any Thunderbolt dock ever.

The dock features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, with one of them providing up to 98W of pass-through charging to compatible Macs, including the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The dock is also equipped with three USB-C ports (3.2 Gen 2), five USB-A ports (3.2 Gen 2), SD and microSD card slots (UHS-II), one DisplayPort 1.4 port, one 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, an audio in jack, an audio out jack, and a combo audio in/out jack.

The dock is also compatible with Macs and iPads featuring Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C ports, with some functionality limited depending on the device.

While the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro brought back many ports, the dock can expand connectivity even further and serve as a hub for connecting external displays, microphones, headphones, speakers, and other equipment.

Priced at $359.95 in the United States, £324.99 in the United Kingdom, and €324.99 in the EU, the dock can be ordered through CalDigit's online store in those regions starting today. CalDigit said the dock will launch in other regions in mid-March.

Apple today announced plans to introduce a new "Tap to Pay on iPhone" feature that will allow compatible iPhones to accept payments via Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, with no additional hardware required.

Apple said the feature will launch in the U.S. later this year and will allow merchants to accept contactless payments through supported iOS apps using an iPhone XS or newer. At checkout, the merchant will simply prompt the customer to hold their own iPhone or Apple Watch, contactless credit or debit card, or other digital wallet near the merchant's iPhone, and the payment will be securely completed using NFC technology.

Currently, merchants that accept contactless payments on an iPhone must rely on additional hardware like the Square Reader, which comes in various models that work wirelessly or connect to an iPhone's Lightning connector or headphone jack.

Stripe will be the first payment platform to offer "Tap to Pay on iPhone" to their business customers, including the Shopify Point of Sale app this spring, and additional payment platforms and apps will follow later this year, according to Apple. Apple Stores in the U.S. will also roll out the feature later this year. It appears that the feature will be exclusive to the U.S. at launch, with no other countries mentioned.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman exclusively revealed that Apple was planning this feature last month.

Popular calendar app Fantastical today is being updated with Fantastical Scheduling, a set of new and updated features designed to help schedule meetings.

The headline feature of Fantastical Scheduling is Openings, which lets you share your calendar availability with recipients and allows them to book available time slots. You can easily customize available time slots, while templates help you get started on setting up bookings.

The feature works automatically, pulling available slots from all or a subset of your calendar sets in Fantastical, blocking out times when you're not available. Requested bookings can be added to your calendar automatically, or you can opt to manually approve them.

Flexibits emphasizes that privacy is a key feature of Openings in Fantastical. While Flexibits' servers need to know something about your schedule in order for the feature to work, only the start and end times for your events and your calendar names are uploaded, and no other details about your scheduled events leave your devices. Even the actual booking of events through Openings takes place directly on your devices rather than on Flexibits' servers.

The second piece of Fantastical Scheduling is a revamped Proposals feature, which lets a meeting organizer propose multiple meeting times to a group and lets participants reply back with their availability. Through a convenient new grid view, you can easily see which meeting times work best for the participants.

Finally, Fantastical 3.6 includes a few other features updates such as a new Quarter view to optimize a mid-term view of your schedule between the typical Month and Year views, as well as a new Up Next toggle that lets you easily jump to either your full-day view or the next event on your calendar.

All of the new Fantastical Scheduling features are included with a Flexibits Premium subscription, which covers apps on all platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. It's priced at $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year for a single user and $7.99 per month or $64.99 per year for a family plan covering up to five family members.

The Fantastical apps are also available as free downloads with limited functionality, and there's a 14-day free trial of the full set of Premium features available. The updated apps should be rolling out now.

Today we're tracking a collection of iPad Pro discounts from Amazon and B&H Photo, offering up to $100 off 11-inch and 12.9-inch models. One of the most notable discounts is on the 128GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch iPad Pro, available for $999.00, down from $1,099.00.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This deal has been one of the most consistent offers on the entire 2021 iPad Pro lineup for a few weeks now, and it's an all-time low price on this model. Below we've listed every current iPad Pro discount you can find across Amazon and B&H Photo, with a few more record low prices available.

• 11-inch 1TB Wi-Fi - $1,349.99, down from $1,499.00 ($149 off, lowest ever)
• 11-inch 2TB Wi-Fi - $1,799.00, down from $1,899.00 ($100 off)
• 12.9-inch 128GB Wi-Fi - $999.00, down from $1,099.00 ($100 off, lowest ever) [matched at B&H]
• 12.9-inch 256GB Wi-Fi - $1,099.00, down from $1,199.00 ($100 off) [matched at B&H]
• 12.9-inch 512GB Wi-Fi - $1,299.99, down from $1,399.00 ($99 off)
• 12.9-inch 1TB Wi-Fi - $1,649.99, down from $1,799.00 ($149 off)

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

iPad models with OLED displays appear to be ebbing closer to production, as LG Display is preparing equipment at its facilities to make OLED panels specifically for future iPads, The Elec reports.

The company is purportedly making significant adjustments to its production lines to be able to supply Apple with OLED display panels for future ‌iPad‌ models. According to the report, this is indicated by the fact that LG Display is currently moving OLED production equipment to its plant in Paju, South Korea. The movement of active equipment to another production line is very rare since it requires recalibration and risks damage during transport, sources speaking to The Elec said.

The Paju plant already houses two production lines that manufacture flexible OLED panels for the iPhone, and LG is constructing another line to add to its ‌iPhone‌ panel production capacity. A new, fourth line will manufacture rigid OLED panels. Each production line is able to make up to 15,000 panels per month.

This is the second time that the Paju plant has been reported to be central to Apple's OLED ‌iPad‌ plans. Last month, ETNews claimed that LG Display was planning to expand the Paju plant to supply panels for next-generation ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ models. Although an OLED display could come to the ‌iPad‌ for the first time next year, LG is said to be planning to start mass production of these panels at the Paju facility in 2024. This timing broadly lines up with other recent reports, which has placed the launch of the OLED ‌iPad‌ between 2023 and 2024.

LG is also not the only supplier now enacting plans to set up production lines for upcoming ‌iPad‌ models with OLED displays. China's BOE is similarly believed to be gearing up to supply OLED panels suitable for future iPad models.

As expected, Nvidia has officially abandoned efforts to acquire chip maker Arm after talks reportedly "collapsed" between the two parties on Monday, according to the Financial Times.

From the paywalled report:

SoftBank and Nvidia said they had agreed to scrap the deal because of "significant regulatory challenges preventing the consummation of the transaction, despite good faith efforts by the parties."

Reports late last month suggested California-based Nvidia was edging away from its planned acquisition of the British chip company, owned by Japanese multinational Softbank, because of its failure to win approval from regulators.

In December 2021, the United States Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to prevent Nvidia from acquiring Arm as the purchase would give Nvidia control over computing technology and designs that rival firms rely on to develop competing chips.

The FTC said that allowing the acquisition to move forward would stifle "innovative next-generation technologies" and would "unfairly undermine" Nvidia's competitors.

Nvidia is a customer of Arm and Arm has many licensing deals with Nvidia competitors, which is why it was clear from the beginning that the purchase would be subject to regulatory scrutiny. Nvidia first announced plans to purchase Arm in September 2020.

Chipmaker Qualcomm was one of the Nvidia competitors that objected to the purchase, and in February 2021, it told several regulatory bodies in the US, UK, and EU that the acquisition would allow Nvidia to become the gatekeeper for Arm's technology, preventing other chipmakers from using it.

Arm licenses its chip designs to over 500 companies, including Apple, and its architecture is used in 95 percent of the world's smartphones. Arm's hardware underpins all of Apple's custom silicon processors such as the A14 in the iPhone 12 and the M1 in the MacBook Pro, since Apple licenses the Arm instruction set.

If the proposed $66 billion dollar acquisition had gone through, it would have been the biggest sale in the history of the semiconductor industry.

Nothing, the brand from OnePlus founder Carl Pei, has announced that its Ear (1) true wireless earbuds now include Siri support, putting them on a more equal footing when compared to Apple's rival AirPods Pro.

The $99 Ear (1) feature an in-ear design, Active Noise Cancelation, transparency mode, and a charging case with Qi-compatible wireless charging and a USB-C port, although Fast pairing is supported on Android devices only.

The Ear (1) earbuds cost $150 less than Apple's ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌, but offer many of the same features, such as the premium design, ANC, transparency mode, IPX4 water resistance, and 24 hours of battery life with the charging case. Now they offer ‌Siri‌ support, too.

Some features, like Bluetooth 5.2, three microphones per earbud, and earbud weight, are actually better on paper than ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌, but they still lack Apple-specific features such as auto-pairing with the H1 chip.

Released in July 2021 with much marketing hype, the Ear (1) earbuds have seen impressive sales of over 400,000 units since launch. Available in black or white, they are the first Nothing product, and Nothing founder Pei has previously said that the company plans to launch a connected ecosystem of new devices that will extend far beyond the true wireless earphones.

Apple will launch its first MacBook Pro featuring a second-generation M2 Apple silicon processor at its spring event next month, according to a new supply chain report today.

DigiTimes reports that Apple's supply chain partners kept production lines running during the Lunar New Year holiday for the new ‌MacBook Pro‌, which is set to launch in "early March," according to the publication's industry sources:

Apple reportedly will release a spate of new devices in early March, including new MacBook Pro adopting the latest M2 processor, budget-level 5G iPhone SE and iPad, the sources said. Except for the processor, most other components used in the new MacBook Pro reportedly will feature almost the same specs as those for existing model featuring M1 chips, leading MacBook Pro supply chain partners to maintain production during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday to satisfy increasing demand for Mac series, the sources continued.

Although the report doesn't mention the exact size of ‌MacBook Pro‌, the only "Pro" model with the original M1 chip is the entry-level 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, and Apple is believed to be working on an updated version of this machine, which was positively received when it launched back in November 2020.

As recently as this past weekend, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman said Apple's intention is to release an updated entry-level 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with ‌M2‌ chip in 2022, but it was generally assumed that the machine would appear later in the year, after Apple finishes releasing its final Macs with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.

DigiTimes' sources often provide reliable information, but the site has a mixed track record when it comes to interpreting that information and accurately deciphering Apple's plans, especially with respect to product launch timing.

Nevertheless, whenever it arrives, the next-generation entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌ should use the same ‌‌M2‌‌ chip that the next-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ is expected to adopt, featuring the same number of CPU cores as the ‌M1‌ chip, up to 10 graphics cores, and improved performance. Gurman believes Apple will remove the Touch Bar from the new entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌, and he expects the notebook will lack a ProMotion display.

These details have yet to be corroborated, which is why there have been questions regarding how the new entry-level machine will take the middle ground between a new ‌‌M2‌‌ ‌‌MacBook Air‌‌, also expected this year, and the current high-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.

At its virtual event on Tuesday, March 8, Apple is also expected to introduce new iPhone SE and iPad Air models, which are both believed to feature an A15 chip and 5G support.