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How to Find and Silence the Browser Tab That’s Playing Audio

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When a Web browser has many tabs open, it can be hard to find the one playing audio if you need to silence it. Worse, when a browser relaunches, it can be tough to identify and silence all the tabs that have automatically started playing audio. Happily, all browsers can help. Tabs with active audio show a speaker icon next to their names; click it to mute the audio. These speaker icons are easier to spot in browsers that display tabs vertically rather than horizontally across the top, where space constraints may prevent the speaker icons from appearing. Safari provides an additional option: a speaker icon on the right side of the address bar (see the top screenshot). Click it to mute all audio, or Control-click it to see which tabs are playing audio. Chromium-based browsers—including Google Chrome, Brave, and Microsoft Edge—display a musical note icon in the upper-right corner of the toolbar (bottom screenshot). Click it to open playback controls and stop playback.

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

Social Media: Drowning in open tabs and can’t find the one playing sound? Look for the speaker icon on the tab itself, or use Safari’s address bar icon or Chrome’s music note for quick control.

Losing Messages or Calls? Look in the Unknown Senders/Callers Filter

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In iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26, Apple added an option in the Messages app to filter messages from unknown people and those marked as spam by the carrier. To enable filtering, open Messages, tap the Filter button in the upper-right corner, tap Manage Filtering, and turn on Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam. Once those are enabled, the Filter menu gains two new options: Unknown Senders and Spam. If a text from an unknown person comes in, the main app icon will get a red badge, but you won’t see the new message in the usual list. Instead, use the Filter menu—which also gets a blue badge—to switch to Unknown Senders or Spam and look in those lists. The Phone app works similarly—enable call filtering in Settings > Apps > Phone under Call Filtering, and unknown callers will appear in separate lists accessible via the Filter button in the Phone app’s Recents or Calls views. To move a conversation out of Unknown Senders, tap Mark as Known.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Liubomyr Vorona)

Social Media: Missing texts from unknown numbers? iOS 26 filters them into hidden lists. Here’s where to find them in the Messages app—and how to mark senders as known so you don’t miss important messages. PS: The same applies to calls in the Phone app.

iOS 26 Can AutoFill Credit Card Details

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Sadly, not all websites and apps support Apple Pay, so we’ve become accustomed to manually entering our credit card information into fields, like animals. No longer! In iOS 26, the Wallet app now supports AutoFill. If you need to add a card—those set up with Apple Pay are already available—open Wallet, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, tap AutoFill, then tap Add Card. You can scan the card with your camera or enter details manually. Then, whenever you’re checking out on a website or in an app that doesn’t support Apple Pay, tap a payment field. You may be able to select a saved card from the suggestions above the keyboard, or you may have to tap in the field to bring up the text menu, and tap AutoFill > Credit Card (below left). When you invoke AutoFill from above the keyboard, your card number, expiration date, and security code will be automatically entered. Using the menu requires tapping the blue text for the field you want to fill (below right).

(Featured image by iStock.com/BongkarnThanyakij)

Social Media: Tired of typing credit card numbers into websites and apps that don’t support Apple Pay? iOS 26 lets you save cards in Wallet and use AutoFill to enter your payment details anywhere—here’s how to set it up and use it.

Apple Refreshes Studio Display and Introduces Studio Display XDR

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Apple has updated its Studio Display with an improved 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with Desk View support, two Thunderbolt 5 ports, and improved bass from its six-speaker system—all for the same $1,599 starting price. More significantly, Apple introduced the Studio Display XDR at $3,299, bringing professional-grade HDR technology to a broader audience at a much lower price than the $5,000 Pro Display XDR it replaces. The Studio Display XDR features a 27-inch 5K panel with mini-LED backlighting, 2304 local dimming zones, up to 2000 nits of peak HDR brightness, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 120 Hz refresh rate with Adaptive Sync. Both displays require macOS 26.3.1 Tahoe and work with all Apple silicon Macs.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s new $3,299 Studio Display XDR brings mini-LED, HDR, and 120 Hz to a 27-inch 5K display—pro display tech at a far more accessible price. The standard Studio Display also gets a refresh with a better camera and Thunderbolt 5.

Customize Folder Colors and Icons in macOS 26 Tahoe

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In macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple has made it easier to customize folder appearance in the Finder. Control-click any folder and choose Customize Folder. In the panel that appears, click a colored circle to apply that color and then select an icon to display on the folder. Click the Emoji button to choose from the full set of emoji instead of the icons. A few notes: Customization is available for everything except macOS’s Applications, Library, System, and Users folders. These colors are associated with Finder tags, which you can change in Finder > Settings > Tags. Although the colors and icons should sync via iCloud Drive, don’t assume they’ll survive other cloud-based syncing services or other actions (like archiving) that may not preserve Finder metadata. In other words, they’re mostly useful for individuals, not workgroups.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Christian Ouellet)

Social Media: Tired of identical blue folders? macOS 26 Tahoe lets you add colors and icons—including emoji—to folders with a few clicks. Here’s how to make your Finder easier to navigate.

New Apple Creator Studio Bundles Pro Apps

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Apple has introduced Apple Creator Studio, a subscription bundle of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage, priced at $12.99 per month or $129 per year (with education pricing at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year). The bundle also includes premium content and a few AI tools for the iWork apps: Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. These apps will prompt you to download the new version 15, but don’t worry—they remain free for all existing features; only the new AI capabilities and premium content require a subscription. You can also still purchase Mac versions of the pro apps, though the iPad versions of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro are now available only to subscribers. Up to six family members can share a Creator Studio subscription via Family Sharing.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s new Creator Studio bundle includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and more—plus premium content and AI features in the iWork apps—for $12.99/month or $129/year. Don’t worry—Keynote, Pages, and Numbers stay free for existing features.

How to Look Up a Saved Wi-Fi Network Password

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Apple offers several simple ways to share Wi-Fi network passwords. When someone nearby tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and they are in your Contacts app, you will be automatically prompted to share the network password with them. Additionally, in the Passwords app, you can display a Wi-Fi network QR code that anyone can scan to join the network. However, sometimes you need to share a password via email or text. To look up a Wi-Fi password on an iPhone or iPad, open Passwords, tap Wi-Fi, select the desired network, and tap the obscured Password field. A Copy Password button makes it easy to copy. In the Mac version of Passwords, hover over the obscured password and click the revealed password to copy it.

(Featured image by iStock.com/jpkirakun)

Social Media: Apple makes it easy to share Wi-Fi passwords without requiring anyone to type them. We explain how you can do this nearly automatically, with a QR code, or by looking up the password and copying it so you can paste it into an email message or text.

Make Finder Window Columns Resize to Fit Filenames

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Column view in the Finder has an annoying tendency to either show overly wide columns that waste space or truncate long filenames, forcing you to drag a column divider to see more of the name. In macOS 26.1 Tahoe, Apple added an option to the Finder’s View Options window that automatically adjusts column widths to display the longest visible filename in each column. To activate it, choose View > Show View Options with a column-view window frontmost, then select the “Resize columns to fit filenames” checkbox. If you’re running macOS 13 Ventura through macOS 15 Sequoia, this option is hidden, but you can enable it by pasting this command into Terminal: defaults write com.apple.finder _FXEnableColumnAutoSizing -bool YES; killall Finder. (Change YES to NO to revert the change.) Alternatively, the free TinkerTool 10 utility provides a graphical toggle for these older operating systems—look for “Automatically adapt to file name widths in column mode” in the Finder section.

(Featured image by iStock.com/IPGGutenbergUKLtd)

Social Media: Tired of truncated filenames in the Finder’s Column view? macOS 26.1 Tahoe adds a simple checkbox to auto-resize columns—and you can enable the same feature in earlier macOS versions with a quick Terminal command or free utility.

When Google Points to a Chatbot Conversation, Be Skeptical

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Here’s something new to watch out for: poisoned chatbot conversations surfaced in Google searches. The sharing features in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and other chatbots allow users to publish their conversations as public Web pages, which can be indexed by search engines and appear alongside traditional websites in search results. Attackers can seed those conversations with malicious commands, and the conversations themselves look trustworthy in search results because the URL points to a well-known AI company. This risk isn’t theoretical—security firm Huntress documented a macOS malware infection that began with a Google search result linking to a shared chatbot conversation that contained malicious Terminal instructions. Treat chatbot conversations found via Google as you would random forum posts—potentially useful for background or ideas to start your own conversation, but not as authoritative instructions. Be especially suspicious when they offer step-by-step guidance or ask you to copy anything verbatim.

(Featured image by iStock.com/tadamichi)

Social Media: Hackers have learned how to poison shared chatbot conversations with malware—and get Google to display them in search results. Never trust step-by-step instructions or Terminal commands from user-generated chatbot pages.

Try macOS 26.2’s Edge Light for Low-Light Video Calls

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We can’t always guarantee optimal lighting for video calls, especially when using laptops on the go. A new feature in macOS 26.2 Tahoe called Edge Light might help. It’s a video effect that uses the outermost pixels of your Mac’s display to create a bright white rectangle that illuminates your face during video calls. It acts like an on-screen ring light in low-light conditions. You can activate it from the green video camera icon in the menu bar (shown when the camera is active), and on Macs from 2024 and later, you can set it to turn on automatically in low-light environments. Click the disclosure triangle next to Edge Light to adjust the light’s width and color temperature. Mouse awareness allows the light to recede automatically when you move your pointer toward it. While Edge Light won’t replace external lights, it can help make your face visible in otherwise dark rooms.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Dima Berlin)

Social Media: Dark room, important video call? macOS 26.2’s Edge Light transforms your Mac’s display into an on-screen ring light, illuminating your face so you’re visible on camera.