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If Your iPhone’s Lock Screen Clock Is Too Transparent, You Can Fix It

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One place where the Liquid Glass transparency in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 can be annoying is the time display on the Lock Screen. Liquid Glass tries—but often fails—to adjust the clock’s transparency so it’s readable over whatever photo you chose or the Photo Shuffle option displayed. Starting in iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2, you can manually adjust the clock’s transparency: touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap the clock, tap Glass, and drag the Transparency slider (left and middle). If it’s still not readable enough, you can switch to the previously available Solid view (right).

(Featured image by iStock.com/Wavebreakmedia)

Social Media: Struggling to read the clock on your iPhone Lock Screen? iOS 26.2 lets you manually adjust the transparency—or switch to a solid background for better readability.

Control Song Transitions in Apple Music

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A new feature for Apple Music subscribers in the Music app in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 is AutoMix, which Apple says causes songs to “transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music.” It fades between songs as a DJ would, but it’s not always successful. If AutoMix’s transitions aren’t to your taste, navigate to Settings > Apps > Music > Song Transitions in iOS and iPadOS, or Music > Settings > Playback > Song Transitions in macOS, and switch back to the longstanding Crossfade option, which transitions between songs over a user‑specified number of seconds. Or, just turn off the Song Transitions switch and let one song end completely before the next one starts.

(Featured image by iStock.com/lakshmiprasad S)

Social Media: Apple’s new DJ‑style AutoMix transitions between songs in the Music app aren’t to everyone’s taste (and sometimes flub the jump). Here’s how to switch back to a timed Crossfade or disable transitions in Music on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Create Reminders to Return Calls Directly in the Phone App

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Apple introduced a neat new feature in the Phone app in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 (but not macOS 26): callback reminders. Whenever you miss a call and think, “I’d better call this person back later,” you can now create a reminder to do that right within the Phone app. Swipe left on any call, tap the blue clock icon ➊, and select Remind Me in 1 Hour, Tonight, Tomorrow, or Later ➋. The first three options create a reminder in your default Reminders list immediately; Remind Me Later opens the New Reminder editor so you can set a specific time and add details ➌. Tap the blue checkmark button to save your changes ➍.

(Featured image by iStock.com/le_cyclope)

Social Media: Missed a call? Keep follow‑ups from slipping through the cracks by setting a callback reminder right in the Phone app on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.

Messages Now Offers Shared Conversation Backgrounds

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A potentially surprising and fun new feature in Messages in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe is conversation backgrounds. To set one, tap the person or group icon at the top of the conversation, then tap Backgrounds, select an image, and tap the blue checkmark to save. What you might not realize is that conversation backgrounds are shared with others in the conversation who use iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, so be sure to choose appropriate backgrounds. We recommend explaining what you’ve done, as the background can radically change the look of the Messages interface, which some people may find confusing or even upsetting if it happens unexpectedly.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Hector Pertuz)

Social Media: Conversation backgrounds in Messages look cool, and they’re shared with others on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe. Pick an appropriate image and explain what you’ve done to delight your contacts rather than confusing them.

Reminders (Finally) Adds Time Zone Support

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Apple’s latest operating systems have eliminated a longstanding annoyance for frequent travelers: the lack of time zone support in Reminders. If you had set a reminder to alert you at 9 AM Eastern and then traveled from Virginia to California, your alert would go off at 6 AM, which is likely unhelpful and potentially sleep‑disrupting. In iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 Tahoe, you can tap or click the time in a reminder and set the appropriate time zone so the alert fires at the intended local “wall clock” time. For example, set a reminder for “9 AM Pacific” when you’ll be in California so it alerts at 9 AM local time there. There’s an option to turn on manual time zone support in Settings > Apps > Reminders > Time Zone (iOS and iPadOS) and Reminders > Settings (macOS), but it wasn’t necessary in our testing.

(Featured image by iStock.com/VTT Studio)

Social Media: Traveling across time zones? Reminders in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 finally lets you set a time zone per reminder so alerts fire at the right local “wall clock” time.

Charge Your MacBook with the Right Power Adapter

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If you lose or break the power adapter that came with your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, make sure to replace it with a charger that meets or exceeds the machine’s required wattage. A charger with too low a wattage may result in little or no charging (or even battery drain while working), and it certainly won’t enable fast charging. You can check the adapter’s wattage by reading the fine print on the charger itself, or by opening the System Information app (in the Applications/Utilities folder) and checking the AC Charger section in the Power screen. It’s safe to use an adapter with a higher wattage than required, but we don’t recommend going below the wattages of Apple’s included adapters:

  • 13-inch MacBook Air: 30 or 35 watts standard, 67 watts for fast charging
  • 15-inch MacBook Air: 35 watts standard, 70 watts for fast charging
  • 14-inch MacBook Pro: 67 or 70 watts standard, or 96 watts for the Pro and Max chips, 96 watts for fast charging
  • 16-inch MacBook Pro: 140 watts for both standard and fast charging

(Featured image by iStock.com/Isaac Lee)

Social Media: Lost your MacBook charger? Don’t grab just any USB power adapter—using one that’s too weak can result in no charging, glacial charging, or battery drain while you work. Here’s the minimum wattage you need for each MacBook model.

Canva’s Free Affinity App Takes on Adobe Creative Cloud

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Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps—Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—are best-in-class, and for many people, they’re essential. But if you’re paying $70 per month for a Creative Cloud subscription even though you don’t need the full power of Adobe’s apps, consider Canva’s new Affinity app, available for free for macOS and Windows, with iPadOS coming soon. The extremely capable Affinity combines all the features of the previous Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps (which Canva acquired from Serif in 2024). The app can be activated with a free Canva account, but optional AI features require a paid Canva subscription that costs $15 per month or $120 per year. We don’t know if Affinity can replace Creative Cloud for you, but as a free app, it’s worth checking out to see if it meets your needs.

(Featured image by Canva)

Social Media: Could you cut your design costs? Canva’s new Affinity app for macOS and Windows is free but offers features comparable to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Try it and see if it’s enough to replace Creative Cloud.

Be Alert for Deepfake Phishing Scams

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Phishing scams have entered a new, AI-powered phase and can now convincingly mimic real people. Attackers can generate fake voice or video deepfakes to impersonate CEOs authorizing urgent payments, IT staff requesting access, or family members needing help. If you receive a voice or video call from someone you know at an unknown number who urges you to reveal confidential information or send money immediately, slow down, check for telltale signs, and verify before acting. Listen for unnatural pauses, overly smooth phrasing, or odd emotional timing. Visually, look for inconsistent lighting or shadows, artifacts around the hairline, ears, or teeth—or anything that seems “off,” especially around the mouth and eyes when the person moves. For verification, ask for a detail that only they would know. If you’re at all unsure whether the call is legitimate, hang up and contact them—or someone else who will know more—through a separate, trusted channel. A few seconds of skepticism can prevent a costly mistake.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Tero Vesalainen; article image by iStock.com/Boris023)

Social Media: Phishing has a new face—literally. Scammers can now use AI tools to fake voices and videos that look real. Before you act on an “urgent” request, look for audio or visual clues and verify through another channel.

Backups: Trust but Verify

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It’s easy to assume your backup app—whether it’s Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Backblaze, Retrospect, or something else—is quietly doing its job. But it’s possible for a bug to corrupt backups or for a destination disk to fail silently, such that you can’t restore backed-up data. We’ve seen this happen! For peace of mind, set a quarterly reminder to verify your backups. Test by restoring a few files and opening them: for Time Machine, enter Time Machine and restore a few important files; for a clone, mount it and open files; for a cloud backup, perform a small restore. Backup failures aren’t common, but since backups are your lifeline after a catastrophe, it’s worth confirming they work.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Andreus)

Social Media: Don’t just trust your backups—verify them. Each quarter, restore a few files from Time Machine, your clone, or your cloud backup, and make sure they open correctly. Silent failures happen; test restores prevent nasty surprises.