Windows 11 users who have an iPhone will be pleased to know that they can now benefit from Phone Link for iOS, as the feature has finished rolling out to the entire user base.
Microsoft began the rollout a few weeks back, noting that it would take some time, but the company has just updated the announcement blog post to let us know that it’s now out for everyone who wants a piece of the action.
Microsoft said: “We are pleased to announce that Phone Link for iOS is now available to all Windows 11 customers.”
If you want to install Phone Link for iOS, just search for the app (in the Windows 11 taskbar, search box), and fire it up – you’ll then see the option to install it for iPhone (as well as Android, of course).
Analysis: Bang on time
Phone Link has long been available for Android, and it has been a very long wait for iPhone owners to get their own take on the app. Still, it’s here now, and fully rolled out on schedule.
Bang on Microsoft’s intended schedule, actually. Back when Phone Link for iOS started rolling out in April, we were promised the process would be finished by mid-May, and that has come to pass as predicted.
That’s good news, as it seems Microsoft hasn’t run into any major bugs with the feature to hold things up. That’s always a possibility with any new piece of functionality, of course, but Microsoft specifically said it was taking a conservative and slow approach to the rollout here, which hinted at a degree of trepidation. There was no need to worry, though, it seems.
It is worth noting that Phone Link for iOS is more limited than its Android sibling. With the iPhone version, you only get the basics of receiving calls and messages through to the desktop, as well as notifications. But there is also iMessage support, too, which is a major boon, albeit that experience is limited too (there’s no message history, for example).
Even so, when you’re working at your PC and don’t want to keep looking at your iPhone, Phone Link represents a really convenient way of fielding all the basics and engaging somewhat with iMessage.
Get ready to jam to some oldies in your car with a clever new event provided by Google-owned Waze navigation. Starting this week, you’ll be able to activate Retro Mode in Waze to change the look of the app and discover music from bygone decades.
In a blog post, Waze cited ‘70s disco, ‘80s Jazzercise, and 90’s computer aesthetics as examples of how you’ll be able to theme your trip. The themes will also come with their own eccentric radio DJ’s to host the radio show and navigate your trip (which sounds awesome or annoying, depending on your mood).
In retro mode, you’ll also be able to change your car’s icon to a flower pot, a 90’s computer, or a Rad Racer sports car for some added fun.
Waze also partnered with music streaming service TuneIn to provide ‘70s music to the UK, ‘90s hits to the US and Canada, and ‘80s Alive to France.
To use this new feature, click “My Waze” in the app and tap the “Drive with the ‘80s” banner. The feature is available globally in English, French, and Portuguese.
Analysis: Some users have other ideas
While this little event seems a fun addition on the surface, many folks who use Waze might prefer some more useful app improvements, instead. The navigation app often does point commuters to shorter routes to get them to destinations faster, but upon browsing the subreddit for the app, we found that some find it a bit buggy, and there are users who believe that development is declining.
A post by a Waze user, though it is a few months old, indicates exactly that. They lament that the app is “progressively worse at routing”, or that the app will change routes mid-drive and add more time to the trip. Users in the comments of the post seem to mostly echo those sentiments, with many others noting that they only use it to “know where the cops and other hazards are”.
This community appears concerned that Google is pushing development aside in favor of Maps, which would make sense given that it is the most popular mobile navigation app in the US. Some users are also dissatisfied with the points system that the app uses to rank reports for relevancy, legitimacy, and to prevent abuse of the system.
So, sure, we'll take a fun ride down memory lane with Waze, but let's also make sure that the old road is the best one – and that it's the shortest distance from 1970s Point A to current 2022 Point B.
The business password management company 1Password has launched a new set of features called Developer Tools in order to help developers better secure and share their secrets.
With Developer Tools, developers can securely generate, manage and access secrets within their development workflows beginning with Git. 1Password's new offering also helps simplify complex processes and improves security practices to ensure data is protected without slowing down the development pipeline. At the same time, Developer Tools provides developers with secure access to the secrets they need wherever they are and on any device they happen to be using.
Chief product officer and GM of emerging solutions at 1Password, Akshay Bhargava explained in a press release how Developer Tools can make security more convenient for developers, saying:
“Developers encounter a lot of complexity when building and deploying secure software, and it can often seem like security and convenience are irreconcilable. 1Password Developer Tools aims to make their lives easier by making complex security processes more convenient, and making doing the secure thing, the easy thing.”
TechRadar needs you!
We’re looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn’t take more than 60 seconds of your time, and entrants from the UK and US will have the chance to enter a draw for a £100 Amazon gift card (or equivalent in USD). Thank you for taking part.
According to 1Password's recent Hiding in Plain Sight report, a quarter of employees at IT and DevOps companies have secrets in ten or more different locations and have shared them with colleagues using email, Slack and other insecure channels. Over half (61%) of projects are also delayed due to poor secret management and one in three (36%) developers have shared secrets over insecure channels to increase their productivity.
In addition to protecting personal passwords and information, Developer Tools can enhance productivity by enabling quick generation of SSH keys, seamless access to data via a command line interface (CLI) using biometric authentication and secure secrets management in one app.
Once SSH keys have been generated with just a few clicks, 1Password for the browser will autofill public keys into popular sites including GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket and Digital Ocean. Then by using Developer Tools' built-in SSH agent, developers can push code to GitHub and authenticate other SSH workflows in a terminal by simply scanning their fingerprint.
Developers can also use the new set of features to store secrets in encrypted vaults as one of several default item types including API credential, AWS account, database, server or SSH key to help prevent breaches caused by leaked secrets.
Organizations and developers interested in storing their secrets using 1Password can check out the company's Developer Documentation portal for more information on Developer Tools.
There's been much speculation that Microsoft is already hard at work on the successor to Windows 11, likely to be called Windows 12.
Some of us at TechRadar are all for a swift follow-up to Windows 11, and would like to see Microsoft matching the regular update schedules of macOS and other operating systems.
So what improvements and new features might Windows 12 bring with it? Users have been peppering Microsoft with feature requests, with some of these wishes set to be granted in upcoming updates to Windows 11, tentatively called Sun Valley 2.
The TechRadar computing team has come up with its own wish list of five features we'd like to see in a Windows 12 release, no matter how unlikely some of them may be.
Windows 12 release date rumors
This is still very early days for Windows 11 – we're not even at the one-year anniversary of the update having been announced. However, going on past releases, we'd expect to see Windows 12 arrive in late 2025, just as support for Windows 10 is ending.
Windows 12 supported devices
When Microsoft announced availability for Windows 11, the main requirement was for machines to have a hardware feature called TPM enabled, which is a security feature that can be found on most motherboards.
While the same requirement will most likely be requested by Microsoft again, it may be at a point where almost every PC has TPM enabled anyway.
Other than that, it will likely have similar requirements to Windows 11:
A display larger than 9-inches with HD Resolution (1366×768)
DirectX 12 compatible graphics / WDDM 2.x
Internet connection
What we want to see
We don't know much about Windows 12 yet, or whether the rumored upgrade will even become a reality, but we do have a good idea of what we want from it, with the following features topping our list.
1. Merge Skype and Teams into MSN Messenger 12
(Image credit: TechRadar)
It's no secret that Microsoft's efforts on video calling and collaboration through messaging apps have been less than stellar in recent years. In a time when people needed to communicate remotely more, it was Zoom that took the lead and Skype was bafflingly left by the wayside.
While there have been some new features brought to both Teams and Skype, there's still an air of confusion as to which one you should use. If you need to take part in a job interview that's on Teams, for example, chances are you'll quickly need to install the app and make sure it works.
Instead, let's see them both retire and mark a fresh start for Windows 12, with the return of MSN Messenger to do the job these two apps have limped on with.
Not only to see the return of nudges, winks, and classic sounds if users want, but powerful features to make it go toe-to-toe with Zoom, Google Meets, and FaceTime. Perhaps have integration with Slack, so if a video meeting is needed, it can prompt in a channel and with one button, MSN Messenger will launch with the required invitees.
Microsoft needs to reboot how it perceives itself for messaging apps, and the return of MSN Messenger could be a great start to that.
2. Live Wallpaper
(Image credit: Wallpaper Engine)
A request by TechRadar's Senior Computing Editor Matt Hanson, and an intriguing one at that. There have been similar features in iPhones and Android phones for some years, with animations moving across these devices. But for PC and Mac, they've been relegated to third-party apps, such as Wallpaper Engine, to be able to have animated wallpapers with the ability to display information from your PC.
To have something similar from Microsoft for Windows 12 could further push its efforts in themes, something that's seen improvements in Windows 11, thanks to its dark themes.
Having a dedicated section for wallpapers where you can place static bytes of information on the desktop that works with an animated live wallpaper, could appeal to all kinds of users.
Microsoft could also bring back previous wallpapers, such as the hillside of Windows XP but have it animated, alongside some clouds displaying battery status or the weather.
This can update the desktop substantially and make it much more up to date, without having to rely on widgets or a taskbar to showcase changes.
3. Dedicated Podcast app
(Image credit: Primakov / Shutterstock)
While it's been great to see the return of Windows Media Player from Microsoft, having additional features such as podcasts feels irrelevant for what Media Player is for.
macOS has had its own podcast app since Big Sur in 2019, but if you wanted to use a similar app on Windows, it's not clear where to start, as Microsoft doesn't offer a dedicated podcast app.
This is why Windows 12 should include a dedicated podcast app that could also be used on other platforms, such as iOS and Android, so your subscriptions could sync across all your devices.
Podcasts are a great way of listening to interviews or the latest news that involve your interests, and managing them all in a first-party app would be great for Windows users. It's something that could really help spur the company's effort to make content available on almost every device.
4. Dedicated Streaming app
(Image credit: Razer)
A storming idea by our resident Computing writer Jess Weatherbed, as there is yet to be an integrated option in Windows to stream what you're playing.
For years there have been apps such as OBS and Twitch that offer ways to stream what you're playing or watching with others. However, these apps have always required extra effort to make sure that you're streaming to viewers in good quality, with low latency.
Then there's the additional aspect of the peripherals that streamers use to help show them in a better light, or Stream Decks to easily control their setups with shortcut keys.
It can be overwhelming to manage multiple apps just to control all of these, which is why Windows 12 could benefit from having one app that can manage your streams and the peripherals.
Microsoft has been pushing gaming in Windows 11 since its announcement in June 2021, with a redesigned Xbox app and HDR support. But countless gamers also stream these games through Windows, so there's a big opportunity here.
Having one app to control, say, ring lights and the streams for viewers is appealing, shifting the heavy lifting to one app. It could automate streams based on the schedule and the games being played, alongside different lighting scenarios for the different times of the day.
This could encourage more gamers to see Windows as a service, as the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella has been stating since the release of Windows 10 in 2015, while also making Windows 12 an enticing prospect for streamers to earn more followers and income for their careers.
5. Companion app for Android
(Image credit: Samsung)
A suggestion by our Editor-in-Chief at TechRadar Pro, Desire Athow – this can be an expansion of Your Phone, Microsoft's effort to sync your phone to Windows. But when you open this new app in Windows 12, it has a layout reminiscent of Windows Phone and its tile layout that can enable a desktop experience from your phone.
This would be similar to Samsung DeX, where you can transform your S22 or Tab S22 Ultra into a desktop once it's connected to a peripheral.
This new app would go beyond DeX and Microsoft's Your Phone efforts. When you connect to a monitor, it becomes a fully-fledged Windows 12 desktop, showcasing everything from your main PC. And when you click on an icon, it downloads the content from the cloud and displays it in its native resolution.
It would be an innovative extension of the cloud, where you can access your files wherever you are. Here, you're carrying your desktop with you and all you need to do is to connect your smartphone to a monitor, either with touchscreen features or a keyboard and mouse.
This would also further Nadella's plans again, similar to the streaming feature, of seeing Windows as a service. Having your PC in an app is an enticing thought, and could help for those situations when you have a short window of opportunity to do some work with a spare monitor, keyboard, and mouse somewhere.
2021 was a fairly muted year for Apple’s wearables, with neither the Apple Watch 7 nor watchOS 8 being massive advances on their predecessors. So this year we’re hoping for bigger things on both the hardware and software front.
We’ve detailed our hopes for the Apple Watch 8 elsewhere, but here we’re focused on watchOS 9 – the software that’s set to grace Apple’s next wearable, and that will be available as an update to many of the company’s older ones too.
Below you’ll find our wish list for this upcoming update, along with information on when we’re likely to see it, and which Apple Watch models will be eligible to get it. We’ll also be adding watchOS 9 news and rumors to this article just as soon as we hear any.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The next big Apple Watch software update
When is it out? Probably September
How much will it cost? It will be a free update
watchOS 9 release date and compatibility
There’s no news yet on when watchOS 9 will launch, but we can take a very good guess. watchOS 8 was announced in June of 2021 at Apple's WWDC developer conference, then finally hit wrists in September, and Apple tends to follow a regular pattern.
So we’d expect to get our first official look at watchOS 9 during WWDC 2022, which will probably take place in June. Then the finished version will likely launch in or around September, alongside the Apple Watch 8 and the iPhone 14.
There’s no word on which wearables will be updated to watchOS 9 either, but everything from the Apple Watch 3 onwards can get watchOS 8, so we’d assume it will either be the same again, or – perhaps more likely – Apple will drop support for the Apple Watch 3, with only the Apple Watch 4 onwards getting watchOS 9.
An Apple Watch 7 (Image credit: TechRadar)
What we want to see
There are a few things we really want to see from watchOS 9. They are as follows.
1. Better sleep tracking
Sleep tracking is a fairly recent addition to watchOS, and so far, Apple hasn’t done much with it. The feature gives you very little in terms of insight or details, or tips on how to improve your sleep. It also doesn’t make good use of the Sp02 sensor (on models that have this).
We noted in our Apple Watch 7 review that you won’t, for example, get an alert if your blood oxygen drops too much overnight – something which could be extremely useful to know from a health perspective.
So we want Apple to make big advances to all its sleep tools with watchOS 9.
2. Improved workouts
An Apple Watch 7 (Image credit: TechRadar)
Apple does much better with workouts than sleep tracking, but the functionality still feels a bit basic on the software side.
Take your Apple Watch out running for example and you won’t get things like heart rate alerts or interval sessions.
Without these basic features, the Apple Watch can often feel like a more casual fitness companion than something suited to more serious athletes, and that’s a shame, so we want workouts to be improved with watchOS 9 as well.
3. More responsive Siri
One issue our reviewer found when using the Apple Watch 7 was that Siri would only respond around 80% of the time when raising their wrist and speaking to it, and that’s just not quite good enough to make it a reliable way of interacting with the wearable.
It’s not entirely clear whether this is a hardware or software issue, but we’d think Apple could make it more responsive with changes to the software, and we hope this happens.
4. Third-party faces
While there are dedicated apps such as Facer that allow you to stick third-party faces on your Apple Watch, it’s not something the company makes easy.
With watchOS 9 we’d like to see full support added for third-party faces, so that lots of creators jump on board, and finding and accessing these faces is as easy as for Apple’s own ones.
5. Support for the Apple Watch 3
It’s likely that Apple will cut off support to the Apple Watch 3 with this new software update, but we hope that it doesn’t. The longer devices get updates for, the longer they feel fresh and viable to use, so we like to see long-lasting support.
Apple is actually pretty good on this front, but it can always do better, and with Samsung now promising four years of updates for its wearables, we want to see Apple offer at least five.
If your Windows 11 PC is feeling slow, then you may want to make sure you download Microsoft’s latest update, known as Windows 11 KB5010386.
This patch was released as part of Microsoft’s big ‘Patch Tuesday’, a monthly event where the company releases a series of important updates for its software.
This new update aims to fix this issue once and for all, so it’s well worth downloading if your PC isn’t performing as fast as it should. The update is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders, who have signed up to test out early builds of Windows 11, but it’s also available to download directly as well.
Other patches
February’s Patch Tuesday also brought a cumulative update with security patches for 48 vulnerabilities. Again, this means making sure your version of Windows 10 or Windows 11 is updated to the very latest release.
There have been some more fixes to various errors in Windows 11 as well, to make it run more smoothly, including a fix for an error that prevented the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Modify operation from working correctly, as Windows Central points out.
This may be a bit of a niche issue, but as it comes with the security patches, it’s well worth installing anyway.
To make sure your PC is up to date, open the Start menu, type in ‘Update’ and click ‘Check for updates’. If any are found, click them to download and install.
Meta-owned Messenger has announced the launch of end-to-end (E2E) encryption across its platform, meaning chats and calls should be safe from snooping.
Users can now choose whether to have their messages, group chats and calls fully encrypted when logged into the service. One option is to use vanish mode, which can be activated by swiping up on an existing chat to activate a new option where messages automatically disappear when the chat window is closed.
There's also the Secret Conversations feature, first introduced back in 2016, which also offers fully-secured chats and can be toggled on by swiping on the lock icon when starting a new chat.
E2E encryption on Messenger
The launch is a slight surprise, given that Meta said in November 2021 that it would delay the roll out of E2E encryption by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023 as it examined the effect such a move would have on users.
“We know that people expect their messaging apps to be secure, private and provide them a space to be expressive,” Timothy Buck, Product Manager, Messenger wrote in a company blog post.
“Building secure and fun interactive features takes time and requires our engineers to innovate and solve technical challenges, so this is part of a series of product updates as we keep improving our services. With cybercrime and hacking on the rise, it’s more important than ever to find great ways to connect with friends and family through private and secure communications.”
“We know the importance of safety and privacy when it comes to communicating with the people who matter most to you. End-to-end encryption protects you and your data from hackers, criminals and other prying eyes.”
The news comes shortly after the UK government hired a top ad agency to help it launch a campaign against Meta's plans to introduce E2E for Messenger. The Home Office apparently believes the move will allegedly help criminals, and has pointed to Meta's WhatsApp platform, which also features E2E encryption as an example of unregulated technology leading to crime.
If you use an Apple device, there’s a good chance that you use iCloud, its service of syncing your content across multiple devices, alongside streaming files and your tasks in certain apps that also use the service.
However, you may have experienced some issues where your content on one device, isn’t showing on another. This has begun to be known as the 503 error – where iCloud syncing isn’t working properly.
This would have been fine for users and developers if this had been an issue for a few days or a week, but it’s seemingly been since last summer that issues relating to iCloud have remained.
It’s now at the point where developers are venting their frustrations as to whether this issue will be resolved for their apps, and for users.
We speak to developers about their 503 experiences
A Twitter thread on January 25 by Becky Handsmeyer, developer of YarnBuddy and Scribblet, wanted to see if there was another way of reporting the issue to Apple. Soon after, other developers replied to her through a thread.
Ok, there’s clearly an issue going on with iCloud sync right now affecting a lot of users across many different apps. What’s the best way to report this? Radar? I haven’t made any changes to my app since October and users have just recently started reporting sync failures.January 24, 2022
See more
We reached out to Handsmeyer to explain the issue further. “My headache with this started with a 2-star review 21 days ago where a user complained of crashes and broken syncing. Since then I’ve gotten 6 more complaints of broken syncing, some through reviews but mostly via email.”
Handsmeyer continued “No amount of troubleshooting seems to help (reinstalling, making sure iCloud Drive is enabled, etc). I’ve seen multiple developers complaining about iCloud issues and 503 errors including James Thomson, Paul Haddad, and the developer of Streaks. One person said they had used a DTS session and Apple acknowledged the issue but have no timeline for a fix.”
Other developers such as GoodNotes recently published an article regarding the issue, due to users experiencing 503 issues. The article mentions “This issue is not apparent to us and we've escalated the case to Apple Technical Support team for investigation. It seems it's happening to other apps as well.”
But there’s no end in sight for a fix as yet, and users are becoming more frustrated that their content is not syncing properly.
James Thomson, the developer of PCalc, explained to us that it looks as though the issue may be related to the latest updates of iOS 15, macOS 12 Monterey, and others.
“I started seeing some iCloud syncing issues with PCalc with the OS betas during the late summer. It was taking several minutes to sync over settings, rather than the usual seconds, and people assumed the syncing wasn’t actually working.” Thomson explains. “That persisted into the releases, and eventually, I turned things off by default because it was causing problems where people were losing some of the changes they were making due to the long delays. Hopefully, it’s something Apple can fix soon, and I can turn it back on again then.”
Analysis: What’s taking so long?
Looking through the Twitter thread of other experiences from developers, you can place the issue back to when Apple’s software updates were heading toward their final release, just before the iPhone 13 series were announced at September’s event.
When major software releases are pushed out, you can assume services that are hidden to users, are also updated, so that they can work with the new features that have been announced and implemented.
But considering that this is four months since the release of iOS 15 and the other software updates, with no context for developers as to what the issue actually is, and when it will be fixed, is bringing unnecessary frustrations to Apple.
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment as to whether the 503 issue is in the process of being fixed.
After the release of macOS 12 Monterey in 2021, followed by the MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch models, speculation is now mounting as to what macOS 13 will bring.
Back in 2020, Apple began transitioning away from Intel processors in favor of its own Apple Silicon chips. These chips are now redefining what Macs are capable of, particularly when it comes to gaming. While macOS Monterey focused on productivity and communication tweaks, macOS 13 could be a major update of the type not seen since macOS 11 Big Sur, reflecting this new change in direction.
With this in mind, we’ve combed through our Macs to round up five features we’d like to see later this year, no matter how major or minor these may be.
First, though, we’ll run through what we know about macOS 13 so far, including its rumored release date and which Macs the update is likely to support.
macOS 13 release date rumors
Apple’s releases have run like clockwork in recent years. There’s a good chance macOS 13 will be announced at WWDC 2022 alongside iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and the rest. Whether it’ll be a remote keynote again or a return to an in-person event remains to be confirmed by Apple.
Apple usually announces the release date of a new macOS update alongside new Macs, so this could be October again, similar to the previous two years.
macOS 13 supported devices
With Apple well on the way to leaving Intel behind, it’s a matter of time until macOS runs solely on the company’s own M1 chips and above.
macOS 13 is likely to still support Intel Macs for now, though. We expect that the upcoming update will support the following Macs as a minimum:
Mac Pro – Late 2013
iMac – Early 2015
iMac Pro – Late 2017
MacBook Air – Early 2015
MacBook Pro – Early 2015
MacBook – Early 2015
macOS 13 name rumors
We speculated that macOS 12 would be called either Mammoth or Monterey, and it proved to be the latter at WWDC 2021. Mammoth could be another solid bet for macOS 13, though.
The name refers to the Mammoth Lakes in California, following the pattern of naming releases after landmarks in the state, and it’s close to Monterey and Big Sur, which may also represent a bigger update to macOS compared to the last year.
Five features we want to see in macOS 13
While macOS 13 is still a little while away, we've put together a list of the improvements we want to see from the next-gen operating system for Apple's Macs.
1. Widgets anywhere
Widgets first appeared in iOS 14 back in 2020, and have slowly moved over to iPadOS, where you can also move them anywhere on the home screen, but in macOS they are still locked to a column.
macOS 13 should allow you to move widgets anywhere on the screen. Some forget that widgets first appeared on macOS way back in 2004 with Dashboard in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, as a way of managing them inside one app that would cover your screen.
Having Dashboard return to macOS 13 or the ability to place widgets anywhere on your desktop would be appealing. It would help spruce up your display, and eliminate the need to go to the column to view them.
2. Weather app
The weather app saw a mammoth redesign in iOS 15 last year, mainly thanks to Apple’s acquisition of the weather app Dark Sky. While the app hasn’t moved to iPadOS just yet, the next logical step would be to macOS.
Random thing, but I really like this animation.A favourite feature of mine from iOS 15 is https://t.co/Ak5SWWCx1G – who’d have thought. pic.twitter.com/HH5UkWlBzSSeptember 30, 2021
See more
Having easy access to weather forecasts, plus precipitation and storm notifications could be useful to many Mac users – especially if widgets can be shown on the desktop instead of the column they’re currently locked to.
3. App Library
App Library is another iOS feature that would be useful to have in the Dock for macOS 13. While Launchpad and Finder give you handy overviews of your installed apps and let you add them to folders, they’re the only view that you have.
That can be tricky if you have hundreds of apps, especially as a full-screen view in Launchpad can get in the way of anything you’re working on.
(Image credit: Apple)
App Library on the Mac could easily sort your apps into categories, and have some folders change depending on the time of day or your location, just as it does in iOS. It would be much more useful for Mac users, as having a full-screen view on an iMac or an external display seems too much.
4. Time Machine and iCloud Backups
Time Machine is a feature that’s fallen by the wayside in recent years, regardless of how useful it’s proved in the past. It takes multiple snapshots of your macOS machine throughout the day, and if you lose a file, you can go ‘back in time’ and recover it.
Time Machine first appeared in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard back in 2006, and while it’s still available in macOS, there’s plenty that could be improved for macOS 13.
It’s second nature to back up your iPad or iPhone through iCloud Backup, which lets you save photos, messages, lock screen wallpapers, and more to your iCloud account. You can also restore these backups to your device if you need to reset it.
However, there’s no such feature for macOS; there’s only the option of backing up to an external hard drive or directly on your Mac, which could defeat the point if your Mac refuses to boot.
Having iCloud Backups tied to Time Machine feels like an easy win for Mac users, as it’s secure but also familiar.
5. tvOS screensavers for Mac
We’d love to see Apple bring those impressive flyover screensavers from tvOS to macOS 13.
(Image credit: Aerial)
While there are third-party apps such as Aerial that can already do the job for Mac users, having a native option for macOS 13 would be great for anyone who just wants to use the screensavers in the System Preferences, without having to download an additional app.
After the release of Android 12 in 2021, followed by the subsequent releases of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, we’re already wondering what the next version of Android will bring.
Since its debut in 2008, Android has always brought a major feature with every headline release. But with Android 13, codenamed Tiramisu, it could be a perfect time for Google to fine-tune what’s already there in the millions of Android smartphones around the world.
We’ve combed through our Pixel, OnePlus, and other Android phones to roundup five features we’d like to see arrive in Android 13 later this year, no matter how major or minor these may be.
But first, we’ll run you through when we expect it to land and which Android phones will likely be supported.
Android 13 release date rumors
A new Android version usually appears for developers in February. This gives developers a heads up as to what should be appearing in the fall of that year, allowing them an idea of what they could implement for future versions of their apps.
A version for consumers is usually announced at Google I/O in June, followed by a public beta release, then a shipping release around October, which is when we expect Android 13 to arrive this year.
Android 13 supported phones
Android has a reputation for not making it easy to update your phone to the latest version. Part of it is due to the different manufacturers on how they have designed Android to match a brand, such as Samsung.
But with Google releasing a new Pixel phone every year, these usually come with the latest Android version. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a Pixel 7 or a Pixel Fold appear with Android 13 in October again to start with.
Other manufacturers usually follow after a few months of testing and putting their own spin on the new Android release, but it’s usually not until the first half of the next year.
What we want to see
Android 13 is still a little while away, so we've put together a list of the improvements we want to see from the next-gen software.
1. UI Fixes
(Image credit: Google)
While Material You showcases a new look for Android, it’s not without its faults. Some buttons are confusing users when a feature is enabled. For example, if you go to ‘Internet’ in the Notification Center, you have to press this icon again to toggle Mobile Data, Wi-Fi, and Hotspot. It feels convoluted, and there's no option to make these three options a separate toggle.
Alongside this, the colors in Android 12 lack contrast – everything looks pale compared to the vibrancy that iOS shows. But according to Android Police, it looks like Google is already aware of this, as new vibrant colors have seemingly leaked for Android 13.
According to a new leak from @AndroidPolice, Google is introducing some customization options to Android’s wallpaper-based theming system called “monet.” This comes in the form of new styles called TONAL_SPOT, VIBRANT, EXPRESSIVE, and SPRITZ.https://t.co/IRjuWjRaSx pic.twitter.com/3pso679kUwJanuary 13, 2022
See more
Giving some saturated colors across the user interface could help the overall appearance of Android. However, the Material You design we're currently seeing is essentially version 1.0 of a new look for the operating system. iOS is still seeing refinements in its flat design since 2013, so we're going to see visual improvements in Android for years to come.
2. Scrolling Screenshots for all, not some apps
(Image credit: Google)
This feature was introduced for some apps in Android 12, where you could take a screenshot of a web page, but Android would stitch the content into one image.
However, while it’s a useful feature, it requires developers to include a ‘View-based UI’ in the app, otherwise scrolling screenshots isn’t an option for users.
Instead, Android 13 should make this available to all apps, regardless of the current requirement. Users shouldn’t need to check whether certain features in Android are also available to certain apps, and scrolling screenshots is one of them.
3. Release the backtap gesture
(Image credit: Google)
This first appeared in a beta version of Android 11 back in 2020, before it was removed when the final release appeared for the Pixel 4 series and other smartphones.
There’s a variant already available on Apple’s iOS 15, where you can customize a back-tap gesture on your iPhone, that could launch the Camera app or a shortcut for example.
It’s very useful for when you’re browsing another app, and you quickly want to switch to the camera app without going back to the home screen and finding its icon.
For Android, the backtap could be an easy win for users, especially as the software can be better customized compared to iOS. Imagine an Android 13 backtap where you can launch certain apps or media with a certain amount of taps, or the end result changes, depending on the app that you’re currently using.
4. Hand Off from iOS
(Image credit: Future)
According to Android Police, this may already be coming to Android 13, mirroring a feature where you can transfer what you’re listening to on your iPhone, to a HomePod speaker for example.
Tentatively called ‘TTT’ or Tap to Transfer, you can send the media you’re either watching or listening to, towards a device that could be in your home or workplace.
With a barrage of televisions running Android, alongside smart speakers, this could work well for sending across media in an easier way from your smartphone.
5. Please fix ‘Open by Default’ feature
(Image credit: Google)
Before Android 12, you could open a file and a message box would appear, asking you if you’d like to open this in an app just once, or from then on.
It was a simple message box but it solved a purpose. But with Android 12, an ‘Open with Default’ appears instead, ridding you of the choice of using an app once.
This change has been frustrating to users, as it requires you to go deep into the Settings app to make the filetype forget to open in a certain app. For Android 13, let’s revert it back to how it was. That’s all we ask.
1 844.742.7448 
Email Us
Remote Support 
Contact
