How to Customize the iPhone and iPad Home Screen with Liquid Glass

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When describing its new Liquid Glass design language, Apple spoke only generally about how users could change the look of icons and widgets on their iPhone and iPad home screens to be dark, clear, or tinted, without specifying how to do that. The trick is to touch and hold an empty spot on the Home screen to enter jiggle mode, tap Edit in the upper-left corner, and select Customize to bring up a set of controls: choose from Default, Dark, Clear, and Tinted. For Tinted, set the color ➊ and opacity ➋ using the sliders, and use the buttons at the top of the Customize panel to change the brightness ➌, expand icons and remove names ➍, and use either the suggested image color ➎ or pick a color with the eye dropper ➏. The effectiveness of a Liquid Glass-enabled Home Screen will depend on how much you rely on color to identify icons at a glance.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s new Liquid Glass design lets you make iPhone and iPad icons and widgets dark, clear, or tinted. Discover how to access these customization options and see if they enhance your Home Screen.

macOS 26 Tahoe Introduces New Recovery Assistant

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If a Mac running macOS 26 Tahoe experiences certain kinds of problems, it might automatically restart and launch a new Recovery Assistant. It will prompt you to unlock your disk if needed and to connect to a Wi-Fi network—an Internet connection is required. Apple doesn’t specify precisely what Recovery Assistant will do to recover your device, but it will either indicate that it succeeded, that it was unable to recover the device, or that it found no problems. In any case, you’ll need to restart your Mac, after which you may receive a notification to recover your iCloud data; initiate this process in System Settings. While we generally favor Macs being able to fix their own problems, we cannot stress enough how much more important it is to have a current backup than to rely solely on any recovery system.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Armastas)

Social Media: macOS 26 Tahoe brings a new Recovery Assistant, which automatically detects and attempts to resolve Mac problems. Just remember: automated recovery can be helpful, but backups are still essential.

App Store Gains Accessibility Nutrition Labels

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Apple does a good job providing accessibility options for users who experience issues with vision, hearing, motor control, and other accessibility needs. Nearly everyone will benefit from these features at some point in their lives. To encourage support for Apple’s accessibility features and assist users in finding compatible apps, the App Store now includes Accessibility Nutrition Labels that indicate supported features. Developers aren’t required to support or list these features, so it may take some time before many apps display this information. Still, it’s a welcome step forward!

(Featured image by iStock.com/findfootagehq)

Social Media: New App Store Accessibility Nutrition Labels show which apps support Apple’s accessibility features—a win for anyone who needs these capabilities now or in the future.

Updated Passwords App Adds History

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One small way Apple’s Passwords app lagged behind top password managers like 1Password was in its lack of a password history. It’s sometimes helpful—such as when trying to figure out why a seemingly correct password isn’t being accepted—to see previous passwords for a site and when they were changed. In macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, and iPadOS 26, the Passwords app adds that feature. Click or tap View History to review the history of a particular site’s passwords.

(Featured image by iStock.com/designer491)

Social Media: Apple’s Passwords app can now show your password history in macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, and iPadOS 26, helping you track down why that “correct” password isn’t working.

Ten Useful New Features in iOS 26’s Phone App

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Although it’s easy to joke about how little we use our iPhones for actual phone calls, telephony remains a core feature that everyone depends on to some degree. In iOS 26, Apple put significant effort into improving the phone experience, delivering the most notable upgrade to the Phone app in years. Here’s what you’ll find.

Unified View

The Phone app has traditionally featured a toolbar with buttons for Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail, along with a separate Search field. iOS 26 retains this layout as Classic view (below, left) and introduces a new Unified view (below, right) that aims to simplify the interface by reducing the toolbar to four buttons: Calls, Contacts, Keypad, and Search, with the Calls screen combining favorites and recent calls. You can switch between these views by tapping the Filter button in the top-right corner and choosing the preferred layout. The Filter menu also lets you specify which calls appear below, including voicemail.

Call Screening

A new Call Screening feature, configurable in Settings > Apps > Phone > Screen Unknown Callers, intercepts incoming calls from unknown numbers and prompts the caller to “state their name and reason for calling” before the iPhone even rings. If the caller responds, you’ll see a transcript or snippet of their response, allowing you to decide whether to answer or ignore the call. In our experience, it mainly causes spammers and telemarketers to hang up instantly, which is equally effective.

Unknown Call Lists

The Phone app has long been able to silence calls from unknown numbers—those not in your contacts or numbers you haven’t called—and send them directly to voicemail. This feature, now called Unknown Callers, remains available in Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Filtering, as does the previous Silence Junk Callers option, now called Spam. What’s new is that when these options are turned on, lists for Unknown Callers and Spam appear in the Filter menu, so they don’t clutter your Calls list. You can delete calls from unknown callers, mark their numbers as known, or add them to Contacts so they aren’t silenced next time.

Spam Voicemail Reporting

With most spam calls going to voicemail, your inbox may fill up with unwanted messages. You’ve always been able to delete them, but now, when you view a voicemail from an unknown number, a Report Spam button appears. Tap it to report the voicemail to Apple and delete it. We don’t know if reporting spam voicemails will make any difference, but it’s more satisfying than just deleting them.

Hold Assist

The Phone app’s new automatic Hold Assist feature is somewhat hard to test, but we hope it works when you need it. When Hold Assist Detection is enabled in Settings > Apps > Phone, Apple says that if you’re placed on hold by a customer service agent, the Phone app can detect hold music, silence it, and notify you when the agent comes back on the line. You can also manually tap the More button, tap Hold Assist, and then see a transcript of the hold message while you wait. Tap Pick Up when you’re ready to talk.

Live Translation in Calls

If you need to call someone who speaks a different language (as long as it’s English, French, German, Portuguese, or Spanish), the new Live Translation feature might be helpful. Once you’re on the call, tap the More button, then tap Live Translation, and choose the languages for From and To. We highly recommend testing this feature before you actually need it, as it can take a few minutes to download a new language for the first time. After that, tap Start Translation to hear spoken translations and have your voice translated for your caller. You’ll also see a transcript of both sides of the conversation.

Type to Siri During Calls

If you desperately need to use Siri during a phone call, you can now activate Type to Siri. Make sure it’s turned on in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri, and then double-tap the bottom edge of the iPhone to open a Siri text entry field.

Screen Sharing and SharePlay in Calls

When you’re on a call with someone using iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26, you can now initiate Screen Sharing or SharePlay with that person during the call. Access these features from the More button. Screen Sharing can be helpful for explaining how to perform an action on the caller’s device or troubleshoot a problem, and SharePlay lets you and the caller listen to the same audio or watch the same video in a supported app.

Call History

When you view a contact from within the Phone app (not the Contacts app), a Call History option appears, and tapping it shows your call history with that number, which could go back years.

Phone App Comes to macOS, iPadOS, and visionOS

Wait, did we just say you could be on a call with someone using the Phone app on a Mac or iPad? Exactly! With macOS 26, iPadOS 26, and even visionOS 26, the Phone app has expanded to the iPhone’s sibling platforms. It looks and works very similarly, with the benefit of displaying more information at once. To use one of these Phone apps, your iPhone must be on the same Wi-Fi network and signed in to the same Apple Account.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/sergeyryzhov)

Social Media: iOS 26 supercharges the Phone app with call screening, live translation, and hold music detection. But that’s not all! You can make calls from a Mac or iPad, share your screen during calls, see a contact’s call history, and more.

Apple Unveils New iPhone 17 Lineup, Updated Apple Watches, and AirPods Pro 3

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In the tech world, September brings the fruits of Apple’s harvest: new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods. At its recent Awe Dropping event, Apple introduced the new iPhone 17 lineup, the ultra-thin iPhone Air, the Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and the AirPods Pro 3.

These are updates to mature product lines, so the changes from last year’s versions may not be enough to persuade you to upgrade. However, this year’s releases are attractive for anyone wanting to replace an old iPhone, Apple Watch, or set of AirPods that is showing its age or suffering from weak battery life. Pre-ordered products will be delivered and become available in stores on September 19.

After the announcement, Apple revealed on its website that all its next-generation operating systems—macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, and likely tvOS 26 and HomePod Software 26—will ship on September 15. Wait a week or two before upgrading essential devices to avoid any last-minute bugs, and hold off on Tahoe for a few months or until you’re confident your necessary Mac apps are compatible. Regardless of when you upgrade, make a backup right before, in case an unexpected problem forces you to erase and restore.

Let’s look at the new products.

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Lineup

As with the last few years, the best bang for your iPhone buck comes from the new iPhone 17, which gains even more features previously exclusive to the Pro models and is available in black, white, mist blue, sage, and lavender. Apple replaced the Plus model with the ultra-thin iPhone Air, available in space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue. Lastly, the company enhanced the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max to make them even more compelling to professional photographers and videographers. These models come in three anodized aluminum colors: silver, deep blue, and cosmic orange.

Notable features shared by all the new models include:

  • Center Stage front camera: Powered by a new square sensor, the new selfie camera automatically reframes shots to keep multiple people in view without rotating the phone. The 18-megapixel sensor also promises higher-resolution photos and stabilized video. You can even now record video using both the front and rear cameras at the same time.
  • A19 and A19 Pro: The latest generation of Apple silicon boosts CPU and GPU performance, with the A19 Pro adding neural accelerators to each GPU core for faster AI processing. The A19 powers the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air; the iPhone 17 Pro models rely on the A19 Pro.
  • Enhanced scratch and crack resistance: Apple made much of its new Ceramic Shield 2 coating, which reportedly provides three times better scratch resistance for the front glass. The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models also feature Ceramic Shield 2 for the back glass, where Apple says it’s four times more resistant to cracks.
  • Better battery life: All the iPhone 17 models have improved battery life compared to last year’s models, and although the iPhone Air has less internal space for the battery, it still offers the same battery life as last year’s iPhone 16 Plus.
  • Brighter displays: All models now support 3000 nits of brightness outdoors, making them easier to read in sunlight.
  • More storage: 256 GB has become the new standard in storage levels. You can upgrade to 512 GB on the iPhone 17, choose 512 GB or 1 TB on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models, and go up to 2 TB on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
  • N1 wireless chip: All new models now rely on an Apple-designed N1 chip that provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking. You won’t notice this—wireless should just work.

More specifically, the iPhone 17 gains a new 6.3-inch display, up from the 6.1-inch screen in the iPhone 16. The display also supports ProMotion adaptive refresh rates up to 120 Hz and includes always-on functionality. Additionally, the display can scale its refresh rate down to 1 Hz to preserve battery life. The iPhone 17’s Dual Fusion camera system is also a significant upgrade from the previous generation, moving from a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera to a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera that delivers more detail in landscapes and macro photos.

Thanks to a titanium frame, the iPhone Air measures just 5.6 mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone ever. However, its 6.5-inch screen places it between the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro (6.3-inch) and the iPhone 17 Pro Max (6.9-inch) — it’s slim but not small. To make space for the internal components and battery, Apple replaced the traditional asymmetrical camera bump with a wider “plateau” that runs across the entire back of the iPhone Air. The biggest compromise in the iPhone Air, which may drive many potential buyers toward the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro, is the single 48-megapixel Fusion camera system, which lacks the Ultra Wide camera found in other models or the Telephoto camera in the iPhone 17 Pro. Its photos are likely fine, but they won’t match the quality of those taken with other iPhones if you want to zoom in or out. Lastly, the iPhone Air uses Apple’s new C1X cellular modem chip, which improves upon the C1 introduced in the iPhone 16e. We still don’t know how it compares to the Qualcomm chips in the iPhone 17 models.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max trade last year’s titanium frames for aluminum that provides better thermal conductivity with only a 7-gram weight gain. Heat dissipation was a focus this year, with Apple also adding a vapor chamber—that’s right, there’s water inside. All three of the iPhone 17 Pro’s Fusion cameras are now 48 megapixels, up from 12 megapixels for the Telephoto camera in last year’s models. You can now enjoy 4x optical-quality zoom with 48-megapixel shots and 8x optical-quality zoom with 12-megapixel images. Professionals will also appreciate ProRes RAW capture and Genlock synchronization support.

In terms of prices, the iPhone 17 starts at $799, the iPhone Air at $999, the iPhone 17 Pro at $1099, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1199. If those prices are too steep for your budget, the iPhone 16e ($599), iPhone 16 ($699), and iPhone 16 Plus ($799) remain for sale.

Should you upgrade? Probably not from one of last year’s models or an iPhone 15 Pro, all of which support Apple Intelligence. With an older iPhone, the decision largely depends on whether you want a larger screen and a better camera (all three have the helpful Camera Control that debuted last year). Also consider how weak your current battery is—that’s often what prompts people to upgrade. You can’t go wrong with an iPhone 17, and even though the iPhone 17 Pro is pricey, you’ll get the best cameras and top performance. Even if it sacrifices some photo quality, the iPhone Air certainly makes a design statement.

Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3

Last year saw only the release of the Apple Watch Series 10, featuring a thinner case and larger screen, while this year brings new models across all three Apple Watch lines: the Apple Watch SE 3, the Apple Watch Series 11, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

  • Apple Watch SE 3: The new entry-level model improves on its predecessor with a welcome always-on display. Its new S10 chip enables features like double-tap and wrist flick gestures, along with on-device Siri processing. It provides sleep apnea notifications, and the addition of temperature sensing allows cycle tracking. Fast charging and the ability to play media through the built-in speaker round out the major upgrades, along with 5G cellular capabilities for better connectivity. It’s available in midnight and starlight colors, starting at $249 (cellular adds $50). The Apple Watch SE 3 is a solid option with many fewer compromises than in the past, though it still lacks the ECG app, blood oxygen monitoring, and hypertension detection. It also has a smaller, less-bright display and a shorter battery life (18 versus 24 hours).
  • Apple Watch Series 11: There are few changes from last year’s Series 10. A new ceramic coating improves scratch resistance, and 5G connectivity for cellular-enabled models may provide better wireless performance with less battery drain. The battery life is now rated at up to 24 hours. Apple also touted the new hypertension detection and sleep score, but both are features of watchOS 26 and will be available on some earlier models as well. The Apple Watch Series 11 is available in aluminum (jet black, silver, rose gold, and space gray) and titanium (natural, gold, and slate) finishes starting at $399 (cellular adds $100).
  • Apple Watch Ultra 3: The most technologically impressive change is support for Messages, Find My, and Emergency SOS via satellite, much like the iPhone 14 and later. There are caveats—you’ll need a cellular plan for Messages and Find My via satellite to work, and sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages requires a powered-on iPhone connected to the Internet, though it doesn’t need to be nearby. It also supports 5G cellular. Another enhancement is a larger display that’s easier to see at off angles and can refresh once per second to show a ticking seconds hand. It also offers up to 42 hours of battery life and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available in natural or black titanium, starting at $799.

It’s difficult to recommend upgrading from an Apple Watch Series 9 or Series 10—the Series 11 is just too similar. However, the Apple Watch SE 3 offers real-world improvements over previous Apple Watch SE models and may also be sufficient for many users upgrading from an old Series 4 or similar. The main reason to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is for satellite connectivity; if you frequently go off-grid, it might be worth trading in an older Apple Watch Ultra.

AirPods Pro 3

The smallest new product Apple announced might be one of the most popular: the upgraded AirPods Pro 3. Apple’s premium earbuds have gained many fans due to their excellent noise cancellation, which effectively blocks out sounds like airplane engines, construction machines, and more—they even let you enjoy loud concerts without worrying about your hearing.

The new AirPods Pro 3 feature an internal redesign and new foam-infused eartips to provide twice the noise cancellation of the AirPods Pro 2 and four times that of the original AirPods Pro. Apple also slightly reduced their size, improved stability, and now offers five sizes of eartips, all designed to make the AirPods Pro 3 more comfortable. Those who exercise with AirPods will appreciate the new IP57 sweat and water resistance, along with heart rate tracking during workouts. The AirPods Pro 3 can even detect your movements and automatically start up to 50 workout types in the Fitness app on your iPhone. Finally, Apple boosted battery life to 8 hours with noise cancellation active (up from 6 hours) and up to 10 hours in Transparency mode.

The most impressive AirPods demo during Apple’s event was Live Translation, which enables real-time translation of face-to-face conversations in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish initially, with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese coming later this year. If the other person isn’t wearing supported AirPods, you can use your iPhone as a horizontal display to show your speech in their language. Live Translation is powered by computational audio on an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26, and it also works on the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation.

The AirPods Pro 3 remain priced at $249 with a wireless charging case. If noise cancellation is important to you, they’re an easy upgrade, especially if you’re coming from regular AirPods or the original AirPods Pro.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s September harvest brings the new iPhone 17 lineup and the iPhone Air, three new Apple Watch models, and the AirPods Pro 3, plus release dates for iOS 26 and macOS 26 Tahoe. Get the details and our upgrade advice.

Blood Oxygen Monitoring Returns to Recent US Apple Watches with Software Updates

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With the release of iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1, Apple restored blood oxygen monitoring capabilities to US Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 models that previously had this feature disabled due to a patent infringement suit by medical device maker Masimo. Apple’s redesign processes blood oxygen data on the paired iPhone rather than on the watch itself. After updating both devices, you can view your blood oxygen readings in the Health app under Browse > Respiratory > Blood Oxygen. If blood oxygen monitoring doesn’t activate immediately after updating, try opening the ECG app on your watch to trigger the necessary software asset download. Apple Watch units that predate the ban and those sold in other countries continue to work as they always have, with the Blood Oxygen app on the watch itself.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Social Media: Apple restored blood oxygen monitoring on recent US Apple Watch models through a creative workaround that processes and displays data on the iPhone instead of the watch. Here’s how to get it working again.

Pay for Apple TV+ Annually to Avoid the Recent Monthly Price Increase

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Apple has raised the monthly subscription fee for Apple TV+ to $12.99, marking the third price increase since the streaming service launched at $4.99 in 2019. While the monthly cost has increased, Apple kept the annual subscription priced at $99, making it a more economical choice for those who plan to maintain their subscription throughout the year. Apple doesn’t put the annual billing option front and center on the Apple TV+ website, as you can see below, but you can easily switch to it in Settings > Your Name > Subscriptions on your iPhone or iPad or in System Settings > Your Name > Media & Purchases > Subscriptions > Manage on a Mac.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple has raised the price of an Apple TV+ monthly subscription to $12.99. However, if you plan to keep the subscription active for the entire year, you can save $56 by switching to the $99 yearly plan.

How to Display Contacts with Last Names First

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Most people prefer Apple’s default of sorting contacts by last name, so “Andy Anderson” appears near the start of the list and “Liliana Velasco” toward the end. But some would also prefer to display contacts with their last name first, such as “Anderson, Andy,” and “Velasco, Liliana.” That’s not the default, but if it’s what you want, here’s how to accomplish it. On the iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Contacts > Display Order and select Last, First. On the Mac, open Contacts > Settings > General and from the Show First Name controls, select Following Last Name.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Social Media: Want to display your contacts with the last name shown first? Here’s how to configure your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to display “Anderson, Andy” instead of “Andy Anderson.”

Keep Sensitive Data Private by Disabling AI Training Options

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Most AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini, let you control whether your conversations will be used to train future models. While allowing this could improve the AI, it also means that sensitive business information and intellectual property could become part of the chatbot’s training data. Once data is incorporated into AI training, it likely can’t be removed. Even with training disabled, you should be cautious about sharing sensitive business details, trade secrets, or proprietary code with any AI system. To reduce risks, disable these training options:

  • ChatGPT: Go to Settings > Data Controls and turn off “Improve the model for everyone.”
  • Claude: Navigate to Settings > Privacy and disable “Help improve Claude.”
  • Gemini: Visit the Your Gemini Apps Activity page and turn off Gemini Apps Activity.
  • Meta AI: Avoid it entirely, as it doesn’t allow you to opt out of training.

(Featured image by iStock.com/wildpixel)

Social Media: Don’t let sensitive business data become part of AI training sets. Here’s how to turn off training options in popular AI chatbots to protect your company’s information.