Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the first beta and a week and a half after the official release of macOS Monterey.
Registered developers can download macOS Monterey 12.1 beta profile through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, the beta will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences. Apple has also seeded a new beta of macOS Big Sur 11.6.2 for those who have not yet updated to Monterey or who can't on an older machine.
macOS Monterey 12.1 brings SharePlay to Macs for the first time. SharePlay is a new feature that's designed to let you watch TV, listen to music, and play games with friends and family members over FaceTime.
SharePlay allows all kinds of apps to work with FaceTime, with content synced for all people who are part of the FaceTime call. You can listen to music with Apple Music and access shared playlists, watch synced TV shows and movies together, work out together, and even share your screen for things like group trip planning or device troubleshooting.
Apple designed SharePlay to work with first-party app options like Apple TV, Apple Fitness+, and Apple Music, but there's also an API for developers so third-party apps can also use SharePlay FaceTime features for games and other experiences.
SharePlay is already available in the release versions of iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, and tvOS 15.1, so the Monterey 12.1 update brings Macs in line with other Apple devices.
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).
The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year.
Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
Ooooh. What’s the version number? Does it fix the Safari 120 Hz bug? Does it fix the memory leakage bug? Does it fix the M1 battery preference pane bug? Does it add A new dynamic landscape wallpaper? Sorry I just wanted to be first to ask the important questions :D
I hope it fixes the time machine issues that results in the "waiting to complete first backup" error that several users of M1 and M1 Max and Pro are experiencing, and that Apple engineering is aware of.
