Originally published at: Do You Use It? Browser Tab Management - TidBITS Tab overload in traditional Web browsers prompted many people to try Arc, The Browser Company’s innovative browser that completely rethinks how tabs work (see “Arc Will Change the Way You Work on the Web,” 1 May 2023): Arc positions tabs in a left-hand sidebar, which enables users with more than a handful of open tabs to read their names. Other browsers are increasingly following suit (see “A Roundup of Vertical ...| TidBITS Talk
Nope, but I do have one that the SSD crapped out. I put in a replacement from OWC (IIRC) but have been unable to reinstall High Sierra.| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
I think a new installation of ESR might create a new profile. My current ESR install is using a profile that ends in esr-5 and I have 5 other ESR profiles: esr through esr-4.| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
While not related to WatchOS 26, I currently have a Series 5 watch which works fine but the battery rating is at 77%. I bought a Series 12 so are there any tricks to switching? I have iOS 18.7.2 on my iPhone 12 and I don’t want to move to any of the 26 OS versions on my iPhone, iPads, Watch, etc. until about July of next year.| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
Has anyone here switched from 1Password to BitWarden in 2025 (or 2024)? How is the syncing between the desktop and mobile apps done, via WiFi? I guess it is the end of the road for me on 1Password as I won’t let them have my sensitive data since I want to keep it all local on my Macs.| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
I wish to take an ultra-wide photo destined to be in landscape format. I want to hold the phone with the long edge vertical. Is this possible? If so, how?| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
I used to love Yojimbo. But alas, I want something across macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. I use DEVONthink for a very specific purpose. And I know they have an iOS app. I should explore that again for this purpose. My use for DT is this: I am a researcher/writer. I keep all research references and their associated PDFs in Bookends (and I write primarily in Mellel, which integrates beautifully with Bookends). The Bookends PDFs are indexed by DT. This way, using DT I can search for a specific word/phra...| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
Port, cable, power supply (if external), drive. I’d check things in that order. Swapping ports and cable is usually very simple. I’d have zero reservations throwing out an unreliable drive, if you arrive at the conclusion that it’s neither a port, cable, or power issue. Especially if it’s pre-packaged (case and memory sold together as one unit).| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
Personally, I would not turn off Security Responses. However, I think it’s good practice in general to never accept an update through a notification. Instead, hit the notification outside of one of the option buttons. That will make the notification go away. If that then opens the Software Update section of Settings or the App Store, just quit. Done. If you want to update or take a look at update options, go to Software Update yourself. Remember that details there are often hidden behind ci...| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
By some unknown way, a friend managed to activate a Focus “Do not disturb”. The partial moon symbol is on her Mac (Sequoia) and iPhone (iOS 18.x) Under Settings on both devices I didn’t manage to switch this completely off, the friend simply doesn’t want to use anything like this Focus stuff. Lengthy web research followed, eventually pressing ‘F6’ on the Mac’s keyboard worked. Syncing focus via iCloud also OFF and peace about an unwanted feature was restored. Phew. Is there any ...| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
My comments are based on extensive observations of Photos. Your (wife’s) observations are an additional data point. My questions are intended to clarify the data. My guess is this is neither bug nor feature, Photos is still “thinking about it’. Or perhaps a minor bug, in that yet well-defined results are reported. Is people and Pets still “Finding people”? How long since the upgrade to Tahoe? With each System upgrade Photos changes, including its image sorting and identification alg...| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
I’m a long-time Apple Upgrade Program person, and for the life of me I can never figure out where/how to return my old iPhone Apple always sends me a box with a prepaid label in it to return my phone. Never had any issues. You wipe and put the old phone in the box, put on the new shipping label, and drop it off at a place that takes FedEx (or whatever service Apple uses in your area). I got my box Friday and I’m returning my old phone today. If you didn’t get your box, call Apple and th...| TidBITS Talk
Tab management in Safari is in my view broken. It used to be it was easy to see when you had more tabs than would fit on the tab bar. Now I find that I have to fiddle a lot to find tabs.| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
Weird. That tells me that this scanner isn’t properly implementing the USB protocol. It should appear as something, even if macOS can’t identify what that something is. If you happen to have access to a Linux PC, can you connect it and use the lsusb command to see how it is identifying itself? For example, here’s how I would do that to identify my flash card reader: Use lsusb -t to display the devices as a tree: $ lsusb -t /: Bus 08.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M...| TidBITS Talk - Latest posts
Well, I suppose that iFixit guide will help somebody. . . . But frankly the lint and schmutz in my lightning & USB ports would have erupted in raucous laughter at those pathetic solutions. Might get drunk on the alcohol, though. 🙂 The only reliable solution I’ve found is a jeweler’s screwdriver (with the phone turned off as in shut down). A bright light and magnifier are very good to have, too. A long ago architectural model maker, I’m comfortable with delicately poking s...| TidBITS Talk
I retired a few years back but still do some contract work. I was using an online service intended for sole traders which did billing, expenses and tax (it pays tax directly to the Australian Tax Office before the remainder comes to you). I found a little problem with it so spent a few weeks writing my own solution in Filemaker (I have a perpetual licence). It does everything I need and I’ve tailored it so the data input is about 200% faster than the online system. It calculates my tax base...| TidBITS Talk
Thank you; helpful to cut down on the # of app showing, especially since I don’t need to see iPhone apps on the Mac. A new question: Keep getting a notice that I need to accept New iCloud Terms & Conditions. Have gone to System Settings multiple times & accepted the new terms & conditions; have restarted the iMac each time. Can’t get rid of the notice about accepting the terms & conditions, System Settings icon in Dock still shows a 1 in the corner. Is there some trick to getting Tahoe to...| TidBITS Talk
Using IPhone Pro 16. During a recent trip, I found that I was accidentally hitting the camera control (or Gen Z button as I call it) and changing the photos with all these crazy filters and shadings unintentionally. I hold the camera with one hand and use my thumb to shoot pictures with the volume buttons. My fingers hit the camera control and change things on me. I’m really not interested in anything except shooting plain pictures with the option of applying filters later in Photos on Mac....| TidBITS Talk
Retired diplomat, Mac user since the Apple IIc, I provide technical assistance to those trying to use Apple hardware and software for reading and writing in languages other than English,| TidBITS Talk
Curious to know if anyone has tried iOS 26 on a 2020 or 2022 iPhone SE. I’m hearing on Reddit that the UI is very cramped on the smaller screen on those devices. (I have a 2022 SE and am keeping it on iOS 18.7 for now, that has its own niggles but I can mostly live with those.)| TidBITS Talk
That’s swell, but rather than I like this vs. you like that, what the image conveys is there are several things that are just objectively wrong in the Tahoe picture. Firstly, there are two tab states, but Apple has somehow decided to use three different shades for two states. Secondly, Apple has also decided that (some) tabs should use rounded bubbles. Nevertheless, faded fine lines have been left behind to additionally delimitate these round bubble tabs, but only in certain locations. The ...| TidBITS Talk
If you are running OCLP and don’t want to ruin your day, turn off auto updates and double-check, triple-check, etc. that Sequoia updates are selected and not Tahoe updates. I don’t think it was in the video, but on the bright side, an OCLP update requires downloading the full installer of an OS, so if you see that you are downloading Tahoe, you should have enough time to interrupt the installation process and start over with Sequoia.| TidBITS Talk
I also fall into that camp. Network storage for something like TM sounds incredibly convenient and attractive. But in reality, solutions are either deprecated, slow, or finicky, or just plain unreliable. These days, I’m afraid it’s just a lot simpler to plug in a local drive. Fortunately, thanks to inexpensive flash and sleek NVMe enclosures, these are small and light devices that can easily be plugged in on the fly. At home, for example, I tend to plug in an old MBA over night to juice u...| TidBITS Talk
Originally published at: Apple Releases New Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 - TidBITS At its September 2025 event, Apple unveiled three new Apple Watch models that emphasize health monitoring, durability, and connectivity. The cellular-capable models all now feature 5G cellular capabilities, while the flagship Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 introduce hypertension detection and sleep quality measurements. The Ultra 3 can also communicate with s...| TidBITS Talk
I’ve been a software developer since 1994 as a career, and since 1985 as a hobby. These days, I’m working mostly on embedded systems, but I’ve also developed system and application software for PCs and workstations running DOS, Windows, Linux and countless Unix-like operating systems. I’ve been using Macs since the 90’s but have done very little development on the Mac platform. My interests include movies (mostly sci-fi and action/adventure), music (classic rock and prog rock) and b...| TidBITS Talk
Originally published at: Upcoming NMUG Presentation on Building a Modern Backup Strategy - TidBITS I’ve written extensively about backup strategies over the years, most recently in “It’s Time to Move On from Bootable Backups” (23 December 2024) and “Do You Use It? Backup Strategies Span the Gamut” (16 January 2025). I’ll be distilling the advice from those articles in a presentation for the Naples MacFriends User Group (NMUG), one of the most vibrant Mac user groups, so if the t...| TidBITS Talk
This is possible, but for some reason you can only set the different time zones on the iOS/iPadOS versions of Calendar, not the Mac one. Mac Calendar displays them just fine though. It’s a tiny bit hidden, but once you know easy to do. First, create or edit your event (you can create on the Mac and then edit on iOS to sort out the time zones). You get this display of the start and end times: Tap on the start time (not the date) and under the dial for setting the time you can set the time z...| TidBITS Talk
Adam C. Engst is the publisher of TidBITS and the guy who deals with everything related to this site. Message him directly if you need help.| TidBITS Talk
I’ve been a software developer since 1994 as a career, and since 1985 as a hobby. These days, I’m working mostly on embedded systems, but I’ve also developed system and application software for PCs and workstations running DOS, Windows, Linux and countless Unix-like operating systems. I’ve been using Macs since the 90’s but have done very little development on the Mac platform. My interests include movies (mostly sci-fi and action/adventure), music (classic rock and prog rock) and b...| TidBITS Talk
Originally published at: The Trials and Tribulations of Keeping Up with Apple’s Security Lockdowns - TidBITS At Rogue Ameoeba’s blog Under the Microscope, Paul Kafasis writes: During this time, Apple placed an emphasis on improving the security of MacOS, continually locking the operating system down further and further. Though their changes weren’t aimed at the legitimate audio capture we provided our users, they nonetheless made that capture increasingly difficult. We labored to keep o...| TidBITS Talk
Originally published at: Functional and Conceptual Pitfalls in Siri’s ChatGPT Integration - TidBITS Apple has integrated ChatGPT into Siri with the second set of Apple Intelligence features that debuted in this week’s operating system releases. Don’t get too excited. I’ve been trying to use this feature in the betas and now in the release versions of macOS 15.2 and iOS 18.2, and if anything, it has increased my frustration when interacting with Siri. Worse, I fear that some deeper iss...| TidBITS Talk
Physics faculty Berkeley, traveled the world, always with several Macs starting with a 128k in 1984. If you also like languages, food, or baseball we have plenty to talk about. 🙂| TidBITS Talk
