MacRumors

It's just after the December holidays, and many people may have received an iPad as a gift. If that's you and you're new to the ‌iPad‌ or this is your first update in some time, make sure to check out the tips below to get the most out of your tablet, whether it's an iPad mini, ‌iPad‌, iPad Air, or iPad Pro.

Basic Tips for Beginners

If you're brand new to the ‌iPad‌, we have some basic articles that will walk you through the fundamentals you need to know to get started with your ‌iPad‌.

• How to Set Up Your New iPhone or iPad Using Automatic Setup
• How to Update Apps
• How to Delete Apps on iPhone and iPad
• How to Back Up Your iPhone and iPad
• How to Factory Reset Your iPhone or iPad
• How to Shut Down or Force Restart Your iPad Pro
• How to Take a Screenshot on Your iPad
• How to Send and Receive SMS Messages on iPad via Text Message Forwarding
• How to Save or Share a Safari Web Page as a PDF
• How to Change the Default Web Browser on iPhone and iPad
• How to Use Quick Notes

Beyond the basics, here are 10 more useful tips about your new ‌iPad‌:

10 Things to Know About Your New iPad

1. Use a Mouse and Keyboard With Your iPad

If you want to turn your ‌iPad‌ into a replacement for a Mac when you're working at a desk, you can do so with a mouse and a keyboard.

As with a Mac, you can connect any Bluetooth mouse, keyboard, or trackpad to your ‌iPad‌ to use those inputs as an alternative to the touch screen. It's really as simple as opening up Bluetooth and initiating the pairing process, but we've got some handy how tos that cover all the ins and outs of using a keyboard and a mouse with an ‌iPad‌.

• How to Connect a Bluetooth Mouse or Trackpad to Your iPad
• How to Use a Bluetooth Mouse or Trackpad With Your iPad
• How to Control an iPad With an External Keyboard Using Accessibility Shortcuts

2. Use App Library to Keep Your Home Screen Clean

Have an ‌iPad‌ Home Screen that's cluttered up with all manner of apps? As of iPadOS 15, the App Library is available on the ‌iPad‌, which means you have instant access to a well-organized list of all the apps on your ‌iPad‌.

To get to it, just swipe all the way over to the end of your ‌Home Screen‌ pages. App Library automatically organizes your apps into categories like Games, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Social, and more.

You can scroll through the categories and tap into each one to see all the apps listed there, or you can take advantage of the search feature.

Tip: If you want to delete your ‌Home Screen‌ pages in bulk or rearrange them, just long press on an empty area of the ‌Home Screen‌ and then tap on the row of dots at the bottom of the display. You can drag ‌Home Screen‌ pages to rearrange, or tap on the checkmark and then the "-" to delete them.

3. Drag and Drop Text Between Apps

If you want to move text from one app to another on the ‌iPad‌, such as pasting some text from Safari into Notes, you can do so with a drag-and-drop gesture.

1. Select the text that you want to move from one app to another by long pressing. Drag the two little bars to get exactly the text you want.
2. On the highlighted text, press and hold to pull it up from the page.
3. Keep your finger on the text while you use another finger or your other hand to open up the app you want to move the text to.
4. When the text is situated in the app where you want it to go, release your finger and it will be pasted over.

Tip: This drag-and-drop text gesture is easiest to use in multitasking mode, where you have two app windows open side by side.

4. Use an Apple Pencil

An Apple Pencil is hands down one of the best accessories that you can get to use with an ‌iPad‌, and all of Apple's modern iPads support one of the two ‌Apple Pencil‌ models. If you didn't get an ‌Apple Pencil‌ gifted with your ‌iPad‌, it's well worth considering.

With an ‌Apple Pencil‌, you can sketch and draw within drawing apps, note-taking apps, and more, but you can also navigate with the ‌Apple Pencil‌ and you can write in any text field on the ‌iPad‌, with the ‌iPad‌ translating it into typed text.

In the built-in Notes app, for example, you can open it up and just start writing with the Pencil. The same goes for Safari searches, Calendar events, Messages, and so much more.

There are two different versions of the ‌Apple Pencil‌, so the model you need will depend on which iPad you have. To determine your ‌iPad‌ model, open up the Settings app, tap on "General" and then tap on "About." Your model is listed under "Model name."

‌Apple Pencil‌ 1 Devices

• ‌iPad‌ (6th Gen and Later)
• ‌iPad mini‌ (5th Gen)
• 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (1st and 2nd Gen)
• 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌
• 9.7-inch ‌iPad Pro‌
• ‌iPad Air‌ (3rd Gen)

‌Apple Pencil‌ 2 Devices

• 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (3rd Gen and Later)
• 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (All models)
• ‌iPad Air‌ (4th Gen)
• ‌iPad mini‌ (6th Gen)

Learn more about the ‌Apple Pencil‌ in our dedicated guide.

5. Take Advantage of Widgets

Many of Apple's apps and third-party apps come with widgets, which you can put on your ‌Home Screen‌ or view in the Today Center to get information at a glance.

Here's how to add a widget to your ‌Home Screen‌:

1. Long press on an empty space on the ‌Home Screen‌ to enter "Jiggle" mode where the icons are wiggling.
2. Tap on the "+" button in the upper left hand corner of the display.
3. Scroll through the widget suggestions, or search for a specific widget.
4. Tap on the widget you want, and then swipe through the the different options. For many widgets, you can choose a size, and for others, you can customize the function.
5. When you've customized your widget to your satisfaction, tap "Add Widget."
6. It will be placed on the ‌Home Screen‌, and from there, you can drag it into the position that you want.
7. Tap "Done" when you're finished.

Tip: On the ‌iPad‌, you have access to XL widgets, a larger-sized widget that's not available on the iPhone. You can also add widgets to the Today View by going to your first ‌Home Screen‌ page and then swiping again from left or right to open the Today View interface.

Add a widget by long pressing on the display and then tapping the "+" button as outlined above. You can drag and drop widgets to rearrange them, or pull one out from Today View to your ‌Home Screen‌.

6. Use Quick Notes

With iOS 15, Apple added a handy Quick Notes feature to the ‌iPad‌ that's designed for jotting down notes without having to open up the Notes app. Quick Notes can be used with or without an ‌Apple Pencil‌, and the interface can be accessed at any time with a simple gesture.

1. In any app, or on the ‌Home Screen‌, swipe up diagonally from the right hand corner of the screen.
2. You can do the diagonal swipe in either portrait or landscape mode – it works the same.
3. Type your notes or write with the ‌Apple Pencil‌.
4. Swipe to collapse the Quick Note to the side if you want to hide it temporarily and bring it back to look something up.
5. Tap "Done" when you're finished.

Tip: You can also get to Quick Notes through the Control Center by tapping on the Notes icon, or by using the Globe key + Q keyboard shortcut. If you have an ‌Apple Pencil‌, you can also tap it on the ‌iPad‌'s locked screen to bring up a note.

For more tips on how to get the most out of the Quick Notes feature, we have a dedicated Quick Notes how to.

7. Use Your iPad as a Second Screen

If you have a Mac and it's not too old, you can use your ‌iPad‌ as a second screen with Apple's Sidecar feature.

Using ‌Sidecar‌ is as simple as accessing the display section of the Control Center on your Mac and beaming your screen to your ‌iPad‌, but we have a detailed guide with full instructions below.

• How to use Sidecar to Turn an iPad Into a Secondary Mac Display

‌Sidecar‌ requires a Mac compatible with macOS Catalina or later, and it works with the following machines:

• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac introduced in 2017 or later, or ‌iMac‌ (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
• ‌iMac‌ Pro
• Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019

Your ‌iPad‌ needs to be compatible with an ‌Apple Pencil‌ and it needs to be running iPadOS 13 or later. That includes the ‌iPad mini‌ 5 or newer, all ‌iPad Pro‌ models, the sixth-generation ‌iPad‌ or newer, and the third-generation ‌iPad Air‌ or newer.

8. Enhance Safari With Extensions

Safari on the ‌iPad‌ supports all of the same extensions that you might get on your Mac, so you can download extensions for turning all webpages to dark mode, using password managers, avoiding AMP pages, and more.

Getting Safari Extensions is as simple as opening up the Settings app, scrolling down to Safari, tapping on Extensions, and then selecting More Extensions to get to the Extensions section in the App Store.

We have a detailed walkthrough on installing extensions and a handy guide on some useful extensions that are worth checking out.

• How to Download and Install Safari Web Extensions
• iOS 15 Safari Extensions Worth Checking Out

9. Translate Text Anywhere

With iOS and iPadOS 15, Apple introduced system-wide translation, so you can select text anywhere on the ‌iPad‌ and get a translation as long as you have an internet connection.

1. Select the text that you want to have translated by long pressing and then dragging the blue bars.
2. Tap on the selected text.
3. On the bar that pops up, tap on the "Translate" option.
4. The text will be translated in a small window to the side.

You can translate content in the Notes app, Safari, Messages, or any other app where you can select text on the ‌iPad‌. With Live Text, a feature that recognizes all of the text in photos, you can also take a photo of text in a foreign language and translate that.

• Everything New With Translation in iOS 15: System-Wide Support, Live Text Translation and More
• iOS 15: How to Translate Text in Photos

System-wide translation works for Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

10. Find Anything With Spotlight

If you don't already use Spotlight on your ‌iPad‌, it's the best way to find just about anything. To get to it, just go to the ‌Home Screen‌ and swipe down.

In addition to Siri Suggestions, which offers up apps you might want to access based on your usage history, there will be a search bar. Tap into it and you can search for all manner of things. Just some of what you can use Spotlight for:

• Finding and launching apps you have installed
• Finding new apps in the ‌App Store‌
• Rearranging apps (search for an app and then drag it out of Spotlight to the ‌Home Screen‌)
• Installing apps (after a search, tap on "Get")
• Deleting apps (long press and choose delete)
• Looking for photos (search by date, person, or object in the photo)
• Facts about actors, actresses, and other well-known people
• Information on contacts
• Web images (search for [subject] images)
• Converting measurements
• Converting currency
• Simple calculations
• Find content in Notes, Messages, and other apps

Tip: If you swipe down from the Lock Screen on your ‌iPad‌, you can get to a Spotlight Search interface without having to unlock your device.

If you want to see more on Spotlight Search and how it can be used, we have a dedicated guide highlighting all of the new features that came in iOS 15.

Learn More About Your iPad

We have dedicated roundups for each of Apple's iPads, with complete feature rundowns.

• iPad
• iPad mini
• iPad Air
• iPad Pro
• iPadOS 15

You'll also want to take a look at the iPadOS 15 roundup to learn how to use all of the ‌iPad‌ functions that were introduced with this year's software update.

Just get a new set of AirPods for Christmas? If so, we've rounded up a handy list of tips, tricks, and features that you might not know about to get you acquainted with your new earbuds.

First, if you are new to AirPods entirely, we have a long list of basic tips on how to use your AirPods.

AirPods Basics

• How to Set Up and Connect Your New AirPods
• How to Change the Name of Your AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max
• How to Use Just One AirPod or AirPod Pro
• How to Clean Your AirPods or AirPods Pro
• How to Answer a Phone Call on AirPods and AirPods Pro
• What Does the Light on the AirPods Case Mean?
• How to Switch Devices When Using AirPods
• How to Reset AirPods or AirPods Pro
• How to Troubleshoot Problems with AirPods
• Only One AirPod Working? Here's How to Fix the Problem

6 Useful AirPods Tips for New Owners

Beyond the basics, here are 6 more useful tips about your new AirPods:

1. Keep Your AirPods Safe With Find My

Apple's latest AirPods, including the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro, feature Find My integration, so if they're stolen or misplaced, you can locate them with the Find My app. AirPods can take advantage of the ‌Find My‌ network so you can leverage the iPhones, iPads, and Macs of other people to track down a lost set of AirPods wherever they end up, so long as the battery holds out.

You'll also want to make sure you turn on "Notify When Left Behind" so you can get alerted right away if you're out and about and forget your AirPods somewhere. To turn it on, open up the ‌Find My‌ app, tap on your AirPods in the list, and toggle on the "Notify When Left Behind" option. These ‌Find My‌ features also work for the AirPods Max.

2. Activate or Deactivate Automatic Device Switching

Apple's AirPods have a feature that allows them to automatically connect to whatever device is in active use, so if you swap from your iPhone to your Mac, the AirPods connection is meant to transition from one device to another as you do.

Automatic Switching can be useful, but there are instances where you might not want it turned on if it's switching between devices inappropriately. You can manage it by following these steps:

1. Connect your AirPods to your ‌iPhone‌.
2. Open up the Settings app.
3. Tap on Bluetooth and then select the "i" next to your AirPods in the list.
4. Tap on "Connect to This ‌iPhone‌."
5. Choose "When Last Connected to This ‌iPhone‌" to turn automatic switching off, and choose "Automatically" to turn it on.

With "Automatically" turned on, your AirPods will connect to your ‌iPhone‌ when it's in active use and your AirPods are in your ears. With "When Last Connected to This ‌iPhone‌" selected, AirPods will only connect to the last connected device rather than the device in active use. This feature also works with AirPods 2, AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and ‌AirPods Max‌.

Note that you will need to disable Automatic Switching for each device connected to your iCloud account if you're not a fan of the feature and want it off entirely. There's no master toggle, with Apple handling it on a per-device basis.

3. Turn on Announce Notifications

With Siri integration and the latest version of iOS (which is iOS 15), AirPods are able to announce all of your incoming notifications, including Messages.

Here's how to turn it on:

1. Open up the Settings app.
2. Tap on "Notifications."
3. Tap on "Announce Notifications."
4. Toggle on "Announce Notifications."
5. Toggle on "Headphones."

With both Announce Notifications and Headphones toggled on, ‌Siri‌ will read out notifications from apps of your choice when you have the AirPods in, and will give you an opportunity to respond. So if you have an incoming text message, ‌Siri‌ will read it out and give you a chance to send out a reply, all hands-free.

You can select the apps that you want to use Announce Notifications with so you can get important readouts without having a deluge of notifications read to you by ‌Siri‌.

4. Check Your AirPods Battery Life

If you want to keep tabs on your AirPods battery life, there are multiple ways to do so. AirPods will tell you battery level when you connect them to a device, or you can use the "Battery" widget on an ‌iPhone‌ or an iPad.

‌Siri‌ is also able to tell you your AirPods battery life, and if your AirPods are connected to your Apple Watch, the control center offers battery life information. For more on the different ways to check your AirPods battery life, we have a dedicated AirPods battery how-to.

5. Use the Force Sensor to Control Playback

If you've upgraded to the AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro from the original AirPods or the AirPods 2, or if you're new to AirPods entirely, you might not be familiar with the physical controls.

The AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro have a built-in force sensor in the stem. The force sensor can be used for controlling media playback with different presses.

• Single press - Play/Pause audio
• Double press - Skip forward
• Triple press - Skip backward
• Press when there's a call - Answer incoming call
• Double press on a call - Hang up
• Press and hold - Activate ‌Siri‌

On AirPods Pro, you can customize what the long press force sensor gesture does because it can be set to Noise Control or ‌Siri‌. The AirPods 3 do not have Active Noise Cancellation and are limited to ‌Siri‌ for the press-and-hold gesture.

6. Make Sure Spatial Audio is Activated

Spatial audio is a feature that offers immersive three-dimensional sound, and it is able to follow the movement of the ‌iPhone‌ with supported audio and video. Spatial audio can be toggled on or off using the Control Center, and it is available for AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and ‌AirPods Max‌.

1. With your AirPods connected to your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, open up the Control Center. If you don't know how, we have a guide.
2. On the volume slider, you should see a little icon that looks like the AirPods. If you don't see it, reconnect your AirPods.
3. Long press on the volume slider.
4. Tap on the "Spatial Audio" option.
5. Choose between Off, Fixed, or Head Tracked (on supported devices).

Off will turn spatial audio off entirely, while Fixed will allow spatial audio to be used, but without head-tracking functionality. Head Tracked enables the full spatial audio feature with head tracking included.

You can also preview what spatial audio sounds like by connecting your AirPods to your phone, selecting them in the Bluetooth section of the Settings app, and choosing the "Spatial Audio" option.

Spatial audio works with the Apple TV app and Apple Music, but many third party apps also support it like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, YouTube, and more. We have a useful guide that outlines many popular third-party apps that support spatial audio.

Learn More

To learn more about your AirPods, we have a dedicated AirPods 3 roundup and a dedicated AirPods Pro roundup, both of which walk through all the different features and will come in handy as you learn to use your new earbuds.

iPhone 15 Pro models may lack a physical SIM card slot, according to a sketchy rumor shared by Brazilian website Blog do iPhone.

While recent iPhone models have a physical nano-SIM card slot and a digital eSIM, the report claims that iPhone 15 Pro models slated for release in 2023 will instead have two eSIMs, ensuring that Dual-SIM functionality remains available. Dual-SIM mode allows you to have two lines of service on one iPhone, which is useful for purchasing data-only plans while traveling abroad or having personal and business lines on a single iPhone.

Given that iPhone 15 Pro models are still two years away from being released, this rumor should be treated with some skepticism until it is corroborated by other sources. Blog do iPhone is also not a well-established source of Apple rumors.

If this rumor proves to be accurate, iPhone 15 Pro models might still have a physical SIM card slot in countries where eSIM service is not available.

The removal of the SIM card slot could further improve water resistance. Apple is also rumored to release a portless iPhone without a Lightning connector in the future, and the lack of a SIM card slot would be another step towards a truly seamless design.

Apple must let dating apps like Tinder and Match offer payment methods other than Apple's in-app purchase system in the App Store in the Netherlands, or else it will face fines, the Dutch competition regulator announced today.

Specifically, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) said Apple will have to pay a penalty of five million euros per week, up to a maximum of 50 million euros, if it does not comply with the order within two months. The deadline comes a few months after the ACM ruled the App Store's in-app commission structure was unreasonable.

"Some app providers are dependent on Apple's App Store, and Apple takes advantage of that dependency," said ACM chairman Martijn Snoep. "Apple has special responsibilities because of its dominant position. That is why Apple needs to take seriously the interests of app providers too, and set reasonable conditions."

The ACM has been investigating Apple since 2019, and while the probe started out as a look into whether Apple's App Store practices were an abuse of dominant market position, it was later scaled back to focus on dating apps.

The ACM has shared a PDF summary of its decision with more details, and MacRumors has reached out to Apple for comment on the matter.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Spotify and Slack weren't even a thing 22 years ago, but driven by curiosity and an interest in the evolution of user interfaces, graphic designer Michael Feeney has painstakingly reimagined them and other macOS 12 applications to see what they would have looked like in the Mac OS 9 era.

In order to realize "(mac)OStalgia," Feeney first went back and analyzed the Mac OS 9 environment using the SheepShaver emulator, and then created a library of UI components that he could reuse throughout the project.

He then took a number of apps crucial to his daily workflow, including Spotify, Slack, Zoom, Figma, TextEdit, and Google Chrome, and gave their UIs the Mac OS 9 treatment. The results of Feeney's project are impressive, as you can see in the embedded video below.

As for what stood out the most in terms of the differences between the user interface and user experience, Feeney says:

Even though Design and UI trends definitely changed a lot in the past 20 years, applications still behave and look (somehow, aesthetic aside) very similar. After all, it is indeed difficult to replace well installed behaviour such as visual feedback on hover, scroll for more content, double click to launch application, etc. Basically, because our Operating Systems still behave in a similar way, so did the UI and the UX of many of our apps.

One area where both UI and UX improved dramatically as part of the operating systems is on the accessibility front. The apparition (and improvement) of a full-fledged Voice Control, integrated screen readers, dark mode, etc. is definitely what stood out the most looking back at Mac OS 9.

Mac OS 9 was introduced on October 23, 1999, and featured internet support out of the box with Internet Explorer, an email client, text-to-speech, and Sherlock 2.0 – the built-in tool that let users search their computer and the internet, and the direct ancestor of Spotlight in macOS. Apple discontinued development of Mac OS 9 in 2001 and it was succeeded by Mac OS X.

Feeney's Mac OS 9: UI Kit is available to download for free, for use by the Figma community and in personal projects as well.

If you have been good this year, you may be interested to know that Google today launched its annual Santa tracking feature, allowing Santa to be tracked in real time on his mythical journey to the North Pole as he prepares to deliver presents to kids around the world.

Google's Santa Tracker continues an 18-year tradition for the company, allowing excited children (and parents!) to keep up with the jolly gift-giver's travels throughout December 24. On this day, Santa's Village transforms into a tracking experience where children can follow Santa and his reindeer as they go about their merry work.

Santa can be tracked using a web browser on iPhone, iPad, or Mac by visiting Google's official Santa Tracking website. The site features a live map of Santa's current location, his next stop, a live video feed of his journey, and the estimated time that he will arrive in each specific location.

The Santa site provides pictures of locations that Santa has already visited, a live count of gifts that have been delivered, and Santa's current distance from your location. There are also a selection of games to play, creative things to do, and videos to watch.

Other Santa tracking services are also available, such as the NORAD Tracks Santa Claus app and website, but Google's site is often the most interactive and detailed.

TSMC plans to begin commercial production of chips built on its 3nm process in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes. The full report has yet to be published, so no additional details are available at this time.

Apple is expected to release its first devices with 3nm chips fabricated by TSMC in 2023, including Macs with M3 chips and iPhone 15 models with A17 chips. As usual, the move to a more advanced process will result in improved performance and power efficiency, which will enable faster speeds and longer battery life on future Macs and iPhones.

The Information's Wayne Ma last month reported that some M3 chips will have up to four dies, which he said could allow for up to a 40-core CPU. By comparison, the M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips have 10-core CPUs.

M1 Macs already offer industry-leading performance-per-watt, while the A15 chip in iPhone 13 models is the fastest processor ever in a smartphone, so the move to a 3nm process within a few years should only bolster Apple's lead in this area.

Amazon this week introduced a new record low price on the Apple Watch Series 7, dropping the 41mm GPS Green Aluminum model with a Clover Sport Band to $339.00, down from $399.00. At $60 off, this is the lowest price we've seen yet on the new Apple Watch Series 7, and if you order soon and pay for next-day shipping, it'll arrive in time for Christmas.

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.

There is one other 41mm GPS models on sale, but it doesn't reach the $339.00 price tag. You can get the (Product)RED Aluminum Case with a (Product)RED Sport Band for $349.99. Target is matching the sale on this Apple Watch.

If you're looking for the larger watch, Amazon also has the 45mm GPS Apple Watch Series 7 in Blue Aluminum with an Abyss Blue Sport Band for $379.00, down from $429.00. The only other 45mm GPS model on sale at this price is the Midnight Aluminum with a Midnight Sport Band, and both devices will arrive after Christmas. You can also find these sale prices being matched at Target.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Next year's iPhone 14 Pro and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max will feature hole-punched LTPO OLED display panels supplied by Samsung and LG, according to Korean site The Elec.

Rumors that the 2022 ‌iPhone‌ models won't have a notch started in March of this year, when Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said they will instead adopt a hole-punch design, a design that Android devices have used for a few years now. The hole-punch is a center-placed cutout for the front-facing camera that allows for a larger display area in lieu of a notch.

Kuo believes that at a minimum, the high-end ‌iPhone‌ models will have the hole-punch design, though if yields are good, all ‌iPhone‌ models coming in 2022 could feature the same notchless design.

More recent rumors have suggested the non-Pro ‌iPhone‌ 14 models, which will measure in at 6.1 and 6.7 inches, will continue to have a notch, with Apple limiting the hole-punch design to the more expensive iPhones. There will not be an "‌iPhone‌ 14 mini," with this year's iteration of the smaller device being the last, according to reports.

According to the latest report from The Elec, Samsung, Apple's dominant OLED panel supplier, will supply all of the hole-punched panels for the 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro, while sharing orders for the 6.7-inch ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max with LG Display for the first time.

Samsung supplied the notched LTPO TFT OLED panels used in both Pro models in this year's ‌iPhone‌ 13 series, but LG Display didn't win any panel orders for ‌iPhone‌ 13, although it did take part in the development of the panels with Apple.

Winning some orders for the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max is therefore a big boost to LG as it seeks to get a foot in the door of Apple's ‌iPhone‌ supply chain. Meanwhile, it allows Apple to reduce its reliance on Samsung as well as get leverage in price negotiations.

With no notch, Apple will a implement a different solution for Face ID, and rumors suggest that it could be placed under the display. For everything we know about the ‌iPhone‌ 14, check out our dedicated guide.

A number of Apple Watch Series 7 owners have been experiencing issues with charging after updating to the latest watchOS 8.3 software, according to reports on the MacRumors forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Communities.

Many of the complaints are related to third-party Apple Watch chargers, with users finding that these devices no longer work to charge their Apple Watches. From Reddit:

Updated my watch last night to 8.3, set it on my 3rd party charger this morning, came back after an hour and it had gained maybe 2%?

Tried the same thing with my spouse's watch and her 3rd party charger with the same result.

Put them on the official charger, zoom, done charging in no time. Argh!

There are reports about multiple third-party chargers, and it seems to be a widespread problem affecting several different models rather than an issue with a few select chargers. Many of the complaints are about the affordable third-party chargers that come from Amazon, and there are fewer reports about brands like Belkin being non-functional.

In many cases, the Apple Watch will charge for a few minutes, and then charging will suddenly stop. Restarting the Apple Watch can help jump start charging, but it does not appear to be a permanent solution for most people, with the charging issues recurring.

A smaller number of users are also having issues charging with Apple-supplied Apple Watch charging pucks, and still others are seeing very slow charging speeds or the Apple Watch battery draining while on the charger. From the MacRumors forums:

Charging problems are more often with watchOS 8.3. It has become ridiculous, it charges around 2% in 10 minutes. What is this? The new ultra slow charging exclusively for Watch Series 7 or what.

This is everything but not the advertised fast charging.

There have been complaints about Apple Watch Series 7 charging issues since early November, and Apple initially addressed a problem that was causing slow charging speeds in the watchOS 8.1.1 update.

Some users continued to see issues even after that November watchOS 8.1.1 update, and the watchOS 8.3 update appears to have introduced issues for even more Apple Watch owners. It is not clear if Apple has a fix in the works for the issues that users are experiencing after the watchOS 8.3 update, but it is likely that the problem will be addressed in a future update.

Most of the affected models are Apple Watch Series 7 devices, but there have also been a handful of charging complaints from Apple Watch Series 6 owners.

Apple Maps Product Lead David Dorn and Design Lead Meg Frost recently did an interview with CNN to explain the ‌Apple Maps‌ features that were introduced with the iOS 15 update and to explain why iPhone users should choose ‌Apple Maps‌ over other mapping apps like Google and Waze.

According to Dorn, there are three major reasons why ‌Apple Maps‌ is the best choice.

1. Apple is making serious investments into Maps to improve it.
2. Privacy is central and Apple isn't tracking your location for data purposes when you use ‌Apple Maps‌.
3. Maps is part of the Apple ecosystem and integrates well with other Apple devices and services.

Apple's effort into improving the Maps app can be seen in iOS 15, an update that added new 3D city details in select areas like London, New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. There are also navigation updates that add more detail at complex interchanges. Frost said that Apple wanted to make maps "both safer and visually satisfying to navigate."

As for the 3D landmarks added in the update, each landmark is created by hand. "We pick the amount of detail we find appropriate and create a 3D mesh of the building landmark itself. And we apply it to the base map," Frost told CNN.

The full ‌Apple Maps‌ interview can be read over on CNN's website, and it provides more detail on features like Share ETA, CarPlay, real-time AR walking directions, and more.

Apple today shared a new video on YouTube demonstrating 10 helpful iPhone tips and tricks that some users may not have known about.

An overview of each of the 10 tips and tricks:

1. If you accidentally enter a wrong digit in the Calculator app, you can swipe left or right at the top of the screen to erase the digit.
2. Starting with iOS 15, you can pin content like web links in a Messages conversation by touching and holding the item you want to pin and tapping Pin.
3. To stack Home screen widgets, touch and hold an empty space on the Home screen and then drag one widget onto another of the same size.
4. To select multiple photos to add to other apps, touch and hold a photo until you feel a tap, drag the photo to another part of the screen while still holding it, tap additional photos with a different finger to create a stack, switch to another app while still holding the stack, and lift your finger.
5. To create a text replacement such as "omw" for "on my way," open the Settings app and tap General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
6. To open the Camera app without unlocking your iPhone, swipe left on the Lock screen.
7. To scan a document in the Notes app, tap the camera button in a note, tap Scan Documents, and position the document in the viewfinder.
8. Starting with iOS 15, you can copy and paste real-world text in the Camera app by holding the viewfinder over a document or sign, tapping the Scan Text button in the bottom-right corner, and tapping Copy.
9. To jump to the first photo in an album in the Photos app, tap the very top of the screen.
10. To quickly access Search and Siri Suggestions from the Home screen, swipe down on the middle of the screen.

For more, watch our videos covering 8 useful iPhone tips and tricks and 50 tips, tricks, and features to check out on iOS 15.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of Apple announcing that it had agreed to acquire NeXT for $400 million. The stunning move brought Steve Jobs back to Apple over a decade after he left the company following an internal power struggle.

"The acquisition of NeXT is the start of a new chapter in Apple's history and represents a milestone in our transformation as a corporation," said former Apple CEO Gil Amelio, when the deal was announced December 20, 1996. "Today Apple welcomed back its most talented visionary Steve Jobs, someone who can inspire a new generation of customers and software developers and show that Apple remains the industry home for innovation and excitement."

A key reason Apple acquired NeXT was to gain access to its Unix-based NeXTSTEP operating system, which served as the foundation of Mac OS X.

"With this merger, the advanced software from NeXT will be married with Apple's very high-volume hardware platforms and marketing channels to create another breakthrough, leapfrogging existing platforms, and fueling Apple and the industry copy cats for the next ten years and beyond," said Jobs. "I still have very deep feelings for Apple, and it gives me great joy to play a role in architecting Apple's future."

Jobs initially returned to Apple as an advisor, making his first appearance at Macworld San Francisco in January 1997 to announce details of how Apple planned to incorporate NeXT technology into future releases of Mac OS. Jobs went on to replace Amelio as the company's interim CEO just nine months later, and he ended up dropping the interim title and remaining CEO until stepping down in August 2011 due to health issues.

Under the leadership of Jobs, Apple went from near bankruptcy to becoming the world's most valuable company, introducing iconic products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad along the way. Without acquiring NeXT, Apple's fate may have been far different.

Steve Hayman, a longtime Apple and NeXT employee, reflected on the 25th anniversary of the two companies merging in a blog post earlier this week.

According to a new survey, more users trust Amazon and Google to handle their personal user data and internet browsing activity than Apple, while users overwhelmingly distrust Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

The survey conducted by The Washington Post sampled over 1,000 internet users in the U.S. about how much they trust Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon to "responsibly" handle their user data and browsing activity.

Users were polled on whether they trust the companies and platforms "a great deal," "a good amount," "not much," or "not at all," with users also able to state they had no opinion of a given company.

Among respondents, 18% said they trust Apple "a great deal," while Google and Amazon scored 14%. But in the "a good amount" category, Amazon took the lead with 39%, Google with 34%, and Apple trailing with 26%. Combining the two positive categories, Apple's overall net positive score was 44%, lagging behind Google's 48% and Amazon's 53%.

On the negative side, survey data indicated that out of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, 40% of those surveyed said they don't trust Facebook at all to handle their user data. Facebook took the crown for being the least trustworthy out of all those listed. A separate survey last week revealed a similar sentiment amongst users, naming Facebook, now known as Meta, as the worst company of 2021.

Apple tied Amazon for the best net negative score at 40%, with Microsoft coming in at 42% and Google at 47%.

Internet users were also asked about targeted online advertising, with 82% saying they find targeted online ads annoying, 74% finding them invasive, and only 27% finding them helpful. One of Apple's most controversial and talked-about privacy measures introduced in recent years is App Tracking Transparency, which indirectly aims to limit the annoying and invasive ads seemingly disliked by most users.

App Tracking Transparency (ATT) requires apps to ask for users' consent before tracking them across other apps and websites. For users opted out of the tracking, apps and data brokers such as Facebook have fewer data points to show users targeted advertising online. Facebook has lobbied against ATT, calling it harmful to small businesses that rely on ads to keep afloat.

Twinkly has been making smartphone-controlled string lights and decorations for some time now, but earlier this fall, the company added HomeKit integration to all of its Generation II devices, allowing them to be controlled with Siri voice commands and the Home app in addition to the Twinkly app.

Second-generation Twinkly devices have been available since 2019, so this ‌HomeKit‌ update applies to newly sold lights and it has also been added retroactively for those who already own compatible Twinkly products.

For those unfamiliar with the Twinkly brand, the company makes lights that can be set to one of 16 million colors. String lights like these are most often used during the holidays, but because of the color range, Twinkly lights are great all year for those who like the look of string lights.

Getting Twinkly lights working with ‌HomeKit‌ requires plugging them in, creating a Twinkly account, and then updating the firmware. After the latest update, there's a "‌HomeKit‌" option under the "Devices" tab that allows ‌HomeKit‌ to be enabled. From there, ‌HomeKit‌ setup is the same, minus the need to scan for a QR code.

Just tap to add the Twinkly lights to a ‌HomeKit‌ setup, choose a room and a device name, and everything's set. As with most smart lights that are multi-featured, what you can do with Twinkly through ‌HomeKit‌ and the Home app is limited. You can change the colors of the lights to a single solid color, you can dim the lights, and you can turn them on or off.

The controls work either in the Home app or with ‌Siri‌, and you can also create Automations that include the Twinkly lights so you can set them to come on or turn off at a certain time of day. Automations can be based on time of day, who is located at home, or motion, depending on what other accessories you have available. Scheduling is the most useful ‌HomeKit‌ feature here, as is the option to control Twinkly alongside other ‌HomeKit‌ products.

For the real Twinkly light magic, the Twinkly app is required. The Twinkly app is feature rich, and has all kinds of different lighting patterns and colors to choose from. There is a setup process to teach the Twinkly app how lights are arranged, and it's a little bit fiddly. By default, it uses a tree shape, but customizing it will make the effects look better if the lights are being used in a different shape or orientation.

Twinkly has a gallery of 30 effects to chooose from, and they can be set up in a playlist to cycle through different options or set to play one effect indefinitely. There's also an FX Wizard for creating your own effects.

You can choose from base options like colors, stripes, gradients, plasma, a radiating sun, or a sparkle effect, selecting colors from there, plus there's an option to simply draw on the lights with a finger, which could be fun for children.

All of the different Twinkly effects look fantastic, and they're much different than average string lights that are white or limited to a handful of colors. Twinkly lights have millions of different color options and paired with all of the different effects, there are endless combinations you can create.

Twinkly offers shifting rainbow colors, fireworks, twinkling lights in various colors, a "snake" effect modeled after the classic game, waves, diagonals, a radiating sunset look, mixed "carnival" colors, and variations in different color options.

The LEDs are super bright and vivid, with clear distinctions between each color. Blues, greens, and purples are saturated, and these are colors that LED lights sometimes struggle with. Though the colors are rich, they can also be set to pastels and more muted tones if desired. My photos do not quite do the lights justice, so I am using some images from Twinkly, which are very much true to life.

Design wise, the lights are similar to standard string lights and they're as prone to tangling as any other light options. The cabling is high quality, though, and there seem to be no issues with the build. The lights do get the tiniest bit warm, but no warmer than other LEDs. At night, I set the lights to about 5 percent brightness, which is plenty in the dark. At 100 percent brightness, these put off a lot of light, so you can use them in a range of lighting conditions.

Twinkly offers a music add-on that allows the lights to change based on the music that's playing, which is a fun addition for parties and other get togethers, but not strictly necessary because of all of the other available effects that you can play with.

Bottom Line

Twinkly lights are next-level Christmas lights and they're going to look amazing on a tree, but they're also fun year-round because of the wide range of color options and effects to choose from. I had no issues with the Twinkly lights during my testing, but I do think that these are on the expensive side and will mostly appeal to those who are willing to spend the money on high-end lighting effects.

The addition of ‌HomeKit‌ to the Twinkly lights makes them more appealing than ever as it is now easier to turn them on, off, and set schedules through ‌Siri‌ voice commands and the Home app.

How to Buy

Twinkly sells a wide range of lights, including strings, clusters, icicles, curtains, spritzers, and even pre-lit trees, all of which can be purchased from Amazon and other retailers.

The standard string of 250 LEDs featured in this review is available for $120 from Amazon.com. 100 LED, 400 LED, and 600 LED versions are also available.

Note: Twinkly provided MacRumors with a 250 LED Smart String Light for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Audiovisual artists who use Macs to output to large stage screens are calling on Apple to provide a way to disable a new security feature in macOS Monterey that is hindering their live performances.

For those unfamiliar with the feature, when an app is using the camera or the microphone in Monterey‌, a colored dot appears in the menu bar just next to the Control Center icon. Like in iOS, a green dot means an app is currently using the camera, while an orange dot means an app is using the microphone.

The idea behind the indicator dots is that it prevents apps and processes from sneakily recording conversations or videos, since the mic and the camera can't be accessed in the background without the user's knowledge.

The problem for AV artists is that the dot also appears on external displays, including external projectors and LED walls, which means live visual performances are negatively impacted. Disabling the menu bar via the "Displays Have Separate Spaces" system preference only makes the problem worse, because the orange dot still appears, only larger and more prominently.

Writing for music and motion website CDM, Peter Kirn notes that this issue is compounded by the fact that live visuals often use microphone or line input to produce audio-reactive graphics, so nothing untoward needs to be hijacking the camera or audio input for the indicator to appear.

Kirn also notes that the orange dot is visible when using Ableton Live 11.1 Beta. "I had missed it as I suspect many people had," he says, "as you wouldn't notice there was an issue until you tried to use fullscreen output on a display – which you will do when you have a show, but not necessarily when you're developing content."

Mark Coniglio, lead developer of audiovisual effects suite Isadora, alerted fellow AV artists to the issue in a forum post:

"In their infinite wisdom, Apple has added a security feature that negatively affects every audio/video app that uses one of the displays to output to a video projector, including our beloved Isadora... In our particular case, this means that this orange dot appears on the stage output, which is totally unacceptable for anyone using macOS as a professional video tool that sends video output to a video projector."

Urging fellow artists to provide feedback to Apple, Coniglio goes on to say that the company "must introduce an update that allows users to disable this feature immediately," since it currently makes Macs unsuitable for outputting live performances intended to be viewed by thousands of audience members.

Until then, artists have been provided with a short-term fix in the form of a command-line tool called "undot" that removes the indicator from the menu bar. However, the tool may not work in future updates to macOS, as it essentially blocks an intended security feature, which Apple is likely to frown upon.

The upcoming 27-inch iMac redesign will not feature a display with mini-LED but will instead keep the LCD panel previously used, according to industry sources cited today in a report from DigiTimes.

The report said that while "speculation about the next-generation 27-inch ‌iMac‌ coming with a miniLED display" has been circulating for some time, the new all-in-one desktop machine will, in fact, not feature a mini-LED panel, according to its sources.

‌DigiTimes‌' reporting goes at odds with credible display analyst Ross Young, who just as early as this month reaffirmed that the upcoming ‌iMac‌ will feature a mini-LED panel and support for ProMotion.

Despite its lack of a mini-LED panel, today's report claimed that the LCD display for the upcoming ‌iMac‌ is improving. "LED chips used in its display are up 30-40% from the previous models, giving it a higher brightness," the report said.

Initial rumors surrounding an update to the larger ‌iMac‌ indicated Apple increased the display size past 27-inches. Those rumors have died down, however, and we're now expecting the ‌iMac‌ to keep the 27-inch size but in a newer form factor. Today's report also claimed that like the 24-inch ‌iMac‌, released this past April, the upcoming 27-inch model will come in various colors.

The new 27-inch ‌iMac‌ is expected to be released in spring 2022, possibly at an event in March or April.

Update: Credible display analyst Ross Young believes that, despite the ‌DigiTimes‌ report, the upcoming 27-inch ‌iMac‌ will feature a mini-LED display.

Apple's upcoming 27-inch iMac will feature a thinner exterior design and be available in multiple colors like its 24-inch counterpart, according to a new report today.

Apple's larger-screened ‌iMac‌ has been rumored for a while to be similar in design to the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ and the Pro Display XDR, but previous rumors about the bigger all-in-one Mac have suggested it will feature black bezels and have a darker color scheme to differentiate it as a more professional machine, similar to the discontinued ‌iMac‌ Pro (rumors suggest it could even adopt the "Pro" moniker to distinguish it further).

However, the latest report from DigiTimes claims Apple intends to offer the 27-inch ‌iMac‌ in various colors, although whether that means Apple will use the same color scheme as the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ is unclear.

Twitter leaker @dylandkt previously claimed that the new 27-inch ‌iMac‌ will feature a similar design as the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ that launched earlier this year, but with a darker color scheme.

Earlier this year, when Apple revealed that the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ would be available in a range of fun colors, many observers noted the similarity it bears to the original 1998 all-in-one desktop, the ‌iMac‌ G3, which was offered in several colors and paired with a light gray bezel. If the latest report is accurate, Apple is in the midst of a back-to-roots design overhaul for its entire ‌iMac‌ line.

The upcoming Apple silicon-powered ‌"‌iMac‌‌ Pro" is expected to launch in the spring of 2022, perhaps at a spring event. It will replace the current Intel-based 27-inch ‌‌iMac‌‌, one of the last Mac models to still use Intel processors. Today's report also claimed it will not feature a display with mini-LED but will instead keep the LCD panel previously used. For everything we know about the upcoming larger ‌iMac‌, check out our dedicated guide.