iOS

iOS 10 Public Beta 2 now available to testers

Two days following the developer-only release of iOS 10 beta 3, Apple today released iOS 10 Public Beta 2 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The software is now available to public beta testers who are signed on the Apple Beta Software Program.

For those wondering, iOS 10 Public Beta 2 and developer beta 3 offer the same features.

Folks on the first public beta with an appropriate configuration profile installed on their device should see an over-the-air download in Settings → General → Software Update.

iOS 10 tidbit: auto-playing full-screen effects in Messages for texts like “Happy Birthday”

iOS 10's Messages app offers a number of new features and meaningful improvements, such as bubble effects, smarter emoji, full-screen animations and so forth. Moreover, iOS 10 turns Messages into a software platform of its own with support for third-party iMessage Apps, stickers and other downloadable items via the App Store.

We previously covered various Messages capabilities on iOS 10, like Spotlight Suggestions in chats, using Digital Touch to send animated kisses and broken hearts, managing read-receipts on a per-chat basis, to mention just a few. Today, we take a look at another cool Messages feature: the ability to automatically play appropriate full-screen effects based on certain messages.

Video walkthrough: everything new in iOS 10 beta 3

Apple this morning released a third beta of iOS 10 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The latest build is available right now to developers registered with Apple Developer Program and public beta testers signed on Apple Beta Software Program. Like prior iOS 10 beta releases, beta 3 packs in about a dozen or so tweaks, refinements and some new features. Without further ado, here's our overview of everything new in iOS 10 beta 3.

iOS 9.3.3 released with bug fixes and performance improvements

Apple is releasing minor OS updates to its install base today, starting with a bug-fix focused watchOS 2.2.2 update for the Apple Watch and continuing with iOS 9.3.3, which appears to include a bunch of bug fixes and unspecified performance improvements. The update can be applied on your device over-the-air in Settings → General → Software Update or downloaded through desktop iTunes.

Facebook SDK for Swift beta now available to iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS developers

This past weekend, the social networking giant Facebook announced that a beta version of its brand new software development kit (SDK) for Apple's Swift programming language is available for download. The new SDK integrates Facebook buttons into iOS, watchOS, macOS and tvOS apps written in Swift, and integrates such features like Facebook Login, Analytics for Apps, Graph API and Share to Facebook sheets. The Facebook SDK source code is available via GitHub on an open-source basis.

Easily delete photos from your iPhone or iPad with Image Capture on Mac

If you have a Mac, then you also have a really useful image importing app called Image Capture lurking in your Applications folder.

To be completely honest, I still use the Image Capture app despite the fact Apple released their new Photos app for OS X last year, and that's because it's a dead simple utility that isn't bloated with extra features I really don't feel like using.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to use the Image Capture app on your Mac to remove photos or videos from your iPhone or iPad.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Decorus, Nowability, & more…

Jailbreakers have been hard pressed to get some really functional jailbreak tweaks as of late. The lack of a jailbreak on Apple's latest firmware has put Cydia in somewhat of a drought.

Nevertheless, there are still some jailbreak developers who are still developing for the jailbreak community, and although this week has once again been slow, Cydia isn't completely dry just yet. We'll go over this week's releases in this roundup.

ProximityLock lets you lock your iPhone with its proximity sensor

Those of you still rocking a jailbreak despite these dry last few weeks have some new jailbreak tweaks to check out this weekend.

One of those is ProximityLock, which is a new freebie that lets you lock your iPhone with nothing more than the proximity sensor by waving your hand over, or putting your finger over the sensor right by the front-facing camera and ear speaker.

Decorus gives your jailbroken device an iOS 10-inspired Control Center

Control Center gets a makeover in the upcoming iOS 10 update that you can expect to get your hands on this Fall, but in the meantime, those of you with jailbroken iOS 9 devices can get a new look and feel for Control Center right now.

Decorus is a new jailbreak tweak inspired by iOS 10 that gives your iPhone the modular Control Center experience you won't be able to get until this Fall, unless of course you install the iOS 10 betas.

Nowability adds music controls and recent notifications to Reachability

Those of you who use the Reachability interface at all know that it can come in handy during times when you want better one-handed access to the features at the top of your 4.7-inch or 5.5-inch display.

On the other hand, it leaves a big void at the top of the screen that could be utilized to display additional information about your device, and that's just what a new jailbreak tweak called Nowability aims to accomplish.

VIDEO: is Apple adding 3D Touch to iPad with Apple Pencil?

Many people are disappointed that the latest iPads lack 3D Touch-capable screens although it's anyone's guess whether or not 3D Touch would make sense on tablet-sized screens. Well, iOS 10 beta 2 apparently has 3D Touch-like functionality on the iPad thanks to the Apple Pencil, which has been discovered to support deep presses.

Using an Apple Pencil, it's possible to do things like clear all notifications with a deep press on the latest beta of iOS 10. Check out our video showing the feature in action and, as usually, let us know what you guys think of this.