iOS 13

Apple is upgrading HomeKit this fall with new features like Secure Video and expanded automation, but it’s not all good news for Apple’s smart home framework. The Home app where users manage the smart home experience makes one design choice that is likely meant to make it more approachable. In practice, the change degrades the experience for a whole category of HomeKit products.

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I made the decision a few weeks ago to install the beta of macOS Catalina. It’s still pretty buggy, but since I enjoy testing out new features (and writing about them), I am willing to deal with the crashes and incompatibility throughout the summer. One of the biggest surprises for me has been the changes in the Reminders app. Over the years, I used several to-do/GTD/project management/task apps. From Kindless GTD, Omnifocus, Things, and Todoist, I’ve used a lot of them. I’ve always looked at the Reminders app with interest, though. It’s hard to beat the advantages of a built in-app. With macOS Catalina and iOS 13, the Reminders app is finally ready to take its place alongside the rest of the task apps on the Apple ecosystem.

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iOS 13 introduces a number of changes for how developers are able to use user locations. Now, a group of app developers have joined forces to call the changes anti-competitive, and are taking their complaints directly to Tim Cook.

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Update: iOS 13, iPadOS 13, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 beta 7 are now available. No update to macOS Catalina beta 5 yet. iOS 13 public beta 6 also coming today. 

Apple is releasing the seventh developer beta version of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 (possibly alongside new seeds of watchOS 6, tvOS 13, and macOS Catalina) today. The release comes just over one week since the last round of releases — save for macOS Catalina which hasn’t been updated this month. Apple’s public beta builds should follow at a later date after the latest developer beta has been tested in the wild.

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There was something of a mystery report this week.

Apple and Spotify are reportedly in talks over potentially allowing Spotify users to control music playback with Siri […]

According to The Information, Spotify and Apple are discussing a “plan” that would “let iPhone users tell Siri to play songs, playlists, and albums with voice commands.” These conversations reportedly stem from new APIs in iOS 13 that make it possible for developers of audio apps to integrate with Siri.

As we noted, it’s unclear why that would require talks, as the SiriKit APIs will allow Spotify or anyone else to take advantage of Siri for music requests. However, there is one rather more radical possibility…

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Facebook dark mode has been one of the most frequent requests from app users, with the company promising it earlier this year, and it seems it is now in testing.

As with many unannounced tests in social media apps, it was discovered by computer science student Jane Manchun Wong digging into the code. It was Wong who recently spotted a “snooze” feature in Twitter that allows users to temporarily silence notifications…

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Apple today is releasing the fifth public beta of iOS 13. This comes following the release of the sixth developer beta yesterday. Apple is also releasing iPadOS 13 public beta 5 and likely tvOS 13 public beta 5 today.

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Yesterday Apple released the sixth beta of iOS 13 to developers, and as is often the case, it comes bundled with several new noteworthy changes and features.

New iOS 13 beta updates include a dedicated Dark Mode toggle, the ability to show and hide link previews from the Safari context menu, and more. Watch our hands-on look at iOS 13 beta 6 changes and features for more details.
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Apple today released the sixth developer betas of iOS 13, iPadOS 13, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13. These releases are available now to registered developers via over-the-air updates. Check out all of the changes below.

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Update: iOS 13 beta 6 and iPadOS 13 beta 6 are now available alongside watchOS 5 beta 6 and tvOS 13 beta 6. No macOS Catalina beta 6 yet.

Apple is releasing the sixth developer beta version of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 (possibly alongside new seeds of watchOS 6, tvOS 13, and macOS Catalina) today. Apple’s public beta builds should follow at a later date after the latest developer beta has been tested in the wild.

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iOS 13 introduces a fresh set of built-in background options for customizing Apple’s Home app, replacing three color gradients with a half dozen atmospheric color splashes. Check out all six new wallpapers below.

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Update: Apple has also released the fifth developer beta of watchOS 6 today.

Apple today is releasing the fourth public beta of iOS 13 to users. The update comes following the release of developer beta five yesterday, and the release of the third public beta two weeks ago. Apple is also releasing iPadOS 13 public beta 4 and tvOS 13 beta 4 today.

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Apple released new developer betas for iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 yesterday and included a few notable new enhancements in the release. Watch our hands-on video as we take a look at some of the more noteworthy new iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 beta 5 changes and features.
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Apple today has released the fifth developer betas of iOS 13, tvOS 13, and iPadOS 13. These updates come just under two weeks after the release of beta 4, and include several notable changes.

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Update: Beta 5 for iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and tvOS 13 are now available. No updates to macOS Catalina or watchOS 6 beta yet today.

Apple is releasing the fifth developer beta version of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 (likely alongside new seeds of watchOS 6, tvOS 13) today. Apple’s public beta builds should follow at a later date after the latest developer beta has been tested in the wild.

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iOS 13 beta 4, released last week, brings 3D Touch back to supported iPhones closer to the way it used to be. Now you can perform proper peek and pop gestures, and continue your gesture motion to select menus similarly to how you could prior to iOS 13. To be clear, it’s still not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction.

There are quite a few additional noteworthy changes and features to be found in iOS 13 beta 4 as well. Watch our brief hands-on video walkthrough for the details.
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One of the coolest new features in iOS 13 is something called Audio Sharing. This lets you easily share your headphones audio with a friend via Bluetooth, allowing you to listen to the same music, watch a movie together, and more. Here’s how it works.

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Apple today is releasing the third public beta of iOS 13 to users. This update comes following the release of the fourth developer beta yesterday. Apple is also releasing the third public betas of macOS Catalina and tvOS 13 today.

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