iOS 26: Save Physical Card details in Wallet App

Apple’s Wallet app in iOS 26 includes a new feature that lets you store physical card information alongside your digital payment cards. This allows you to quickly access account numbers, expiry dates, and other details without carrying the physical card.

It’s a simple addition in iOS 26, but it brings the Wallet app closer to being a comprehensive card management tool, filling the gap that third-party apps like 1Password typically fill. With the full card information to hand, you can check your card’s expiry date for a subscription service or provide account details over the phone, without needing to dig through your physical wallet or memorize card numbers. It also means you don’t have to delve into settings to find Safari’s Autofill fields.

Adding Physical Card Information
To store your physical card details, follow these steps:

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iOS 26: change iPhone clock to Liquid Glass

In iOS 26, Liquid Glass is Apple’s new translucent material that reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content across system controls, navigation elements, app icons, and widgets. The design represents the most significant visual overhaul since iOS 7, and it also brings a new clock appearance option to your iPhone Lock Screen.

If you haven’t installed the iOS 26 beta on your iPhone, you can do so by following the steps in this link. Apple will release the software to the general public in September. You can check if your iPhone model is compatible with the update by referring to this article.

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How to install macOS Tahoe public Beta

Apple has made the macOS Tahoe public beta available for testing before the new Mac operating system’s official release in the fall. Keep reading to learn whether you should install it on your Mac, and if so, how to go about it.

Getting access to the macOS Tahoe public beta is simple, and can be done by enrolling your Mac in Apple’s free Apple Beta Software Program. The steps you need to complete to install the software on your Mac are provided towards the end of this article, but before you jump ahead, here are a few things worth considering.

Should I Install the macOS Tahoe Public Beta?
With macOS Tahoe, Apple introduces a major redesign for the platform with the all-new Liquid Glass interface, along with a host of new features. These include the Phone app on Mac, powerful new Spotlight actions, further Apple Intelligence integration, a dedicated Games app, and customizable backgrounds in Messages. Live Activities from iPhone also make their way to your Mac’s menu bar, which now has a fully customizable Control Center. With so many additions and a striking visual update, it’s no surprise that macOS Tahoe is generating a lot of interest among Mac users.

But before you commit, bear in mind that Apple does not recommend installing macOS beta updates on your main Mac. Remember, this is beta software, which means there are almost certainly bugs and issues that can prevent software from working properly or cause other problems with the system. Indeed, one of the reasons that Apple releases the beta to developers early is so that they can feed back problems and help Apple debug them. If you have a spare Mac hanging around, by all means use that, otherwise consider holding off until the general release in the fall.

Is My Mac Supported?
macOS Tahoe is compatible with the following Mac models, according to Apple:

MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
MacBook Pro (16‑inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13‑inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (2020 and later)
Mac mini (2020 and later)
Mac Studio (2022 and later)
Mac Pro (2019 and later)
macOS Tahoe officially drops support for the following Macs (earlier models than those shown are also not supported):

MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019)
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019)
iMac Pro (2017)
Mac mini (2018)
Don’t Forget to Back Up Your Mac
Be sure to back up your Mac using Time Machine before installing the software using the method, otherwise you won’t be able to revert back to the previous version of macOS if things go wrong.

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Stop your MacBook turning on Every Time you open the Lid

If you’ve ever opened your MacBook’s lid just to clean the display and keyboard, only to have it spring to life unexpectedly, here’s a simple solution. Apple silicon Macs automatically start up when you open the lid or connect them to power, but you can disable this behavior in macOS Sequoia or later.

While automatic startup is convenient in most situations, you might want to disable it. Doing so gives you better control over your Mac’s power state, which is particularly useful when you’re checking over the machine or cleaning it and don’t want it powering on automatically. To prevent the behavior, simply follow the steps below.

Note that the steps only work if your Mac laptop is powered by Apple silicon (M1 chip or later) and it’s running ‌macOS Sequoia‌ or later. You’ll also need your administrator password handy.

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Remotely control your iPhone Camera

Remotely controlling the shutter on your iPhone’s camera lets you include yourself in the photo while avoiding the limitations of a selfie. For example, it allows you to take a picture of a wider scene with you included in the frame, which is ideal for landscape shots or group photos. If your iPhone is on a tripod, taking the shot remotely also reduces the risk of camera shake.

There are more ways than one to take a picture on your iPhone remotely. If you have an Apple Watch, you can open the Camera Remote app that comes included in watchOS (see the second set of steps below). If you don’t have an Apple Watch, here’s how to use Voice Control.

Use Voice Control to Take a Photo
If you don’t have an Apple Watch, don’t worry. You can also use Voice Control to remotely control the camera on your iPhone. That’s because you can trigger the camera shutter with the volume buttons, which can also be controlled with your voice. Here’s how it works.

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Add Custom Backgrounds to Messages in iOS 26

Apple’s iOS 26 finally brings custom conversation backgrounds to the Messages app, letting you personalize your chats with photos, colors, or images generated by Image Playground. Third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp have offered this kind of feature for years, so finally iPhone owners can now also add their own visual flair to text conversations in Apple’s stock messaging app.

Custom backgrounds can help you organize conversations at a glance and add a personal touch to your most important chats. You might choose a sunset photo for family group chats, a solid color for work messages, or a fun AI-generated image for conversations with friends. Just note that when you change the background, everyone in the conversation will also see it.

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Automate iPhone low power mode based on Battery Level

If your iPhone regularly runs out of battery later in the day, Low Power Mode is one way to make it last longer. You can also make Low Power Mode automatically turn on when your battery reaches a certain custom level. Keep reading to learn how.

Most iPhone users are familiar with the way iOS throws up a prompt to turn on Low Power Mode when the battery reaches 20%. Low Power Mode can also be turned on manually at any time by going to Settings -> Battery and toggling on the switch next to Low Power Mode.

If you find yourself constantly having to turn on Low Power Mode late in the day, you can save some time by setting it up to run automatically when your battery is depleted to a specific custom level. This can be done in the Shortcuts app, as the following steps show.

Bear in mind that Low Power Mode reduces your iPhone’s performance and cuts out some background activities. For example, mail must be fetched manually, background app refresh is disabled, and motion and brightness are reduced. If you’re okay with those limitations, follow the steps below to automate the setting on your iPhone.

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Use Apple watch backtrack to retrace your steps

On Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Series 6 and later models running watchOS 9 and newer, you can use the Compass app’s Backtrack feature to track your route and then help you retrace your steps in case you get lost.

Backtrack uses the GPS on your Apple Watch to create a virtual breadcrumb trail of your route so you don’t have to worry about keeping track of where you’re going. According to Apple, Backtrack is designed to be used in remote settings, away from familiar places like your home or workplace, and outside densely populated areas without Wi-Fi, but there’s nothing stopping you from using it anywhere you need it.

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Use your iPhone as a Microphone for your Mac

When Apple released macOS Ventura in October 2022, it introduced a new take on its Continuity Camera feature by letting users use their iPhone’s camera as a webcam for their Mac. Continuity Camera works wirelessly or wired in FaceTime, Zoom, and other apps, and delivers video directly from a user’s nearby ‌iPhone‌ camera, which has significantly better quality than the built-in camera on Macs.

Another function of Continuity Camera is the ability to use a nearby iPhone as the microphone input for your Mac. As long as the iPhone is running iOS 16 or later and signed into the same Apple Account, you can speak into it and the audio will be seamlessly delivered to your Mac, sans video.

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