Mac

Stay up-to-date on the latest Mac news, and tutorials. Get expert tips and tricks to optimize your Mac’s performance and learn about the latest Apple products and software updates. Discover the best Mac apps and accessories to enhance your user experience.

Seventh betas of iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 now available

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 16, 2017

Apple on Thursday seeded seventh betas of what would become the third major software update to iOS 10 and the fourth major update to macOS Sierra 10.12.4. Members of the Apple Developer Program can now install iOS 10.3 beta 7 (build 14E5277a) and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 7 (build 16E191a) over the air, via the Software Update mechanism, on devices with a special configuration profile that's available through Apple's portal for developers.

Spark for Mac gains labels, better folder management, smarter search & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 15, 2017

Prolific Ukrainian developer Readdle today pushed a major update to its award-winning macOS email client, Spark, bringing new features such as labels, improved folder management, smart filters the ability to save emails in Drafts manually and other improvements that will make you love email again.

As I wrote before, Spark is (in my personal opinion) hands down the best email client I've used on my Mac. Spark 1.2 for macOS is available at no charge from Mac App Store.

The app is also available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

How to manually check for Spotify app updates on Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 22, 2025

Learn how to manually update the Spotify app on your Mac to ensure you have the latest available version with the newest features and bug fixes.

Chrome 57 hits Mac, Windows and Linux

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2017

Google yesterday released Chrome 57 for Mac, Windows and Linux. The release contains a number of fixes and improvements, as well as a bunch of improvements mostly focused on Android and Chrome OS devices. The browser brings a major feature for web developers: a new grid layout system allowing programmers to easily create web designs for a variety of screen sizes. On the iOS side, Google is currently testing a Safari-like Reading List feature for saving webpages for later.

Apple seeds macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 5 to registered developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 13, 2023

Apple on Tuesday seeded a fifth beta of what would become the fourth major update to Sierra. macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 5 (build 16E183b) can be deployed over the air on Macs with a prior beta and an appropriate configuration profile via the Mac App Store's Updates tab. We'll let you know if we find any outward-facing improvements in this beta.

First sign of macOS 10.13 spotted on Mac App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 7, 2017

Visits from Mac computers identified as running macOS 10.13 have been increasing across iDownloadBlog and various other publications in recent weeks. And now, what looks to be the first public sign of macOS 10.13 has been spotted on Mac App Store, as per Pike's Universum which provided reliable information in the past. Apple will preview the next major versions of macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS at its annual developers conference which kicks off with a keynote on June 5.

How to change the default AirDrop destination folder on Mac

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated October 27, 2022

When you send files to your Mac via AirDrop, the received files are automatically saved to the Downloads folder. While this is a logical place for them to go, it's non-configurable and lumps them in with your Mail attachments and Safari downloads.

This approach is not granular enough for some users who may wish to designate a specific folder for AirDrop files to be saved to. Although macOS does not allow this out of the box, it's possible with some straightforward steps.

In this guide, we show you how to change the save location of files you receive via AirDrop on your Mac.

Google to expand Chrome’s malware protections on Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 2, 2017

Google's Chrome and other browsers rely on a feature called Safe Browsing to display a warning message before you visit a dangerous site or download a harmful app. Google is now expanding the scope of Safe Browsing in Chrome for macOS to strengthen protections against malware and other unwanted software such as extensions that silently modify Chrome's settings. The expanded Safe Browsing features in Chrome for macOS will go in effect on March 31, Google has said.

Apple seeds fourth betas of iOS 10.3, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and watchOS 3.2 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 28, 2025

Apple today seeded fourth betas of iOS 10.3, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and watchOS 3.2 to members of the Apple Developer Program. iOS 10.3 beta 4 (build number 14E5260b), macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 4 (build number 16E175b) and watchOS 3.2 are now all available as over-the-air downloads through the Software Update mechanism on devices with an appropriate configuration profile. We'll update the article if we find new features or important under-the-hood changes in the new betas.

How to install macOS 10.12 Sierra on unsupported Mac hardware

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated January 26, 2023

With macOS Sierra, Apple dropped support for some of its hardware models for the first time in several years. Citing various incompatibilities and hardware deficiencies, they cut out a large swathe of machines from running Sierra. However, many Mac owners have questioned their motives, observing that some machines have made the cut whilst their more powerful contemporaries (such as the MacBook Pro) have mysteriously been left behind.

This led some to conclude that Apple is simply raising the bar to encourage hardware upgrades, and that there is often no incontrovertible hardware reason which dictates the unsupported machines. In many cases this turned out to be true, and with a few tweaks and amendments many of the "unsupported" machines have been brought back into the fold by a tool by dosdude1, called macOS Sierra Patcher. In this guide, we'll walk you through how to use the tool to install macOS 10.12 Sierra on older Mac hardware, which claims not to support it.

Beta 3 of iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 released for public beta testing

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 21, 2017

iOS 10.3 beta 3 with Find My AirPods and other enhancements and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta 3 with Night Shift Mode and other perks are both now available for public beta-testing, assuming you've enrolled in Apple's Beta Software Program. After signing up on the web at beta.apple.com, deploy a special configuration profile on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac and you'll be able to install the latest beta over-the-air via Apple's standard Software Update mechanism.

How to use Google SafeSearch to filter out explicit web search results

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 13, 2023

Whether you’re a parent trying to filter explicit content from the limitless Google searches your child could be searching on the web, or you’re simply trying to figure out why it seems like certain images or web results are being filtered from your Google search queries, chances are Google SafeSearch is the answer.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how you can toggle Google SafeSearch on or off, depending on whether you need to start filtering explicit search results from your queries or stop doing so when the feature is already enabled.