Turn Off Unused Sharing Services on Your Mac

Apple just released macOS 26.6.1 Tahoe, macOS 15.7.9 Sequoia, and macOS 14.8.9 Sonoma solely to patch a vulnerability in Screen Sharing that could allow unauthenticated connections from attackers on the network. Yes, you should update, but also take a moment to visit System Settings > General > Sharing and turn off any sharing services you aren’t actively using. Many security breaches stem from simple oversight, and it’s easy to turn on a service and forget to turn it off later. All these services let you limit access to particular users, but passwords can be stolen, accounts can be compromised, and server software can have bugs. The most important services to turn off when not in active use are File Sharing, Screen Sharing, Remote Management, Remote Login, and Remote Application Scripting. We also caution against leaving Printer Sharing and Internet Sharing on unnecessarily.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Be Careful When Offloading iPhone Apps

Automatic offloading of seldom-used apps can be a good strategy for recovering space on an iPhone whose storage is almost full, and iOS can do this for you in Settings > Apps > App Store > Offload Unused Apps. When you open an app that was offloaded, iOS will re-download it from the App Store so you can use it—assuming you have Internet access. But what if you have little or no connectivity when you need an offloaded app? For instance, if you have a New York State Parks Empire Pass, you might find yourself unable to use it if the necessary NY State Parks Explorer app has been offloaded and connectivity is weak at the park. We can also imagine app offloading causing problems if you need to use a local transit app after an international flight but haven’t yet arranged local cellular service. If you’re concerned about this possibility, disable Offload Unused Apps and make sure to download any that have been offloaded already.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Share Your Location Temporarily While Traveling

The next time you’re flying, driving, or biking to visit an iPhone-using friend or relative, try sharing your location temporarily so they can check in on your progress without constant “where are you now?” texts. In iOS 17 and later, open a Messages conversation with that person, tap the ⊕ button to the left of the message entry field, and tap Location. In the location-sharing control that appears, tap the Share button, then choose Until End of Day or For One Hour. You can also tap the Request button to ask the recipient to share their location with you. If you pick Indefinitely for the sharing duration and later wish to revoke it, open the Find My app, tap the People list, select the person, and tap Stop Sharing My Location.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Never Miss a Meeting Again with In Your Face

If you are often late to or miss meetings because Apple’s notifications are too easy to ignore, we recommend trying the In Your Face app. Available for the Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, In Your Face displays unmissable full-screen alerts and plays audible alarms for calendar events and timed reminders. Unlike standard notifications that quietly vanish or sit unnoticed in your pocket, these alerts take over your screen and require interaction to dismiss—you can acknowledge, snooze, or join a video call directly from the alert. In Your Face automatically detects meeting links from 30 video conferencing services, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. You can filter which calendars and reminder lists trigger alerts, so you’re interrupted only for events that matter. But be careful with meeting start times since mistakenly setting an early lunch meeting for 11:45 PM could cause your iPhone to wake you up. In Your Face offers a free trial, with subscriptions starting at $3.99 per month or $24.99 per year, and a one-time license for $69.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Thaspol and modified with ChatGPT)

Drag Documents to Apps in the macOS App Switcher

You undoubtedly know about pressing Command-Tab to bring up the macOS App Switcher and mousing to the app you want to switch to. Keyboard jockeys probably even know to keep holding Command down while pressing Tab or right-arrow to cycle to the right (press Shift-Tab, the grave accent/tilde key, or left-arrow to cycle to the left), before releasing the Command key to switch. But did you know you can start dragging something—say a document from the Finder—with your right hand, press Command-Tab with your left hand, and then drop the document on an app in the App Switcher to open it? Go ahead, give it a try!

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Try Swipe Typing with QuickPath on the iPhone

If you’ve had trouble moving from hunt-and-peck typing on the iPhone to the double-thumb typing approach many people prefer, consider QuickPath, better known as swipe typing. QuickPath isn’t new, but many people have never tried it seriously. With swipe typing, you put your finger down on the first letter of the desired word—say “giraffe”—and then drag it from the G to each subsequent letter in order. Although QuickPath’s detection code isn’t perfect, it does surprisingly well at recognizing the word you want most of the time. If QuickPath gets the word wrong, immediately tap the Delete key to remove the entire word and either try again (if you missed the right letters) or type it normally (if it’s an unusual word iOS doesn’t know). Learning to swipe type fluidly takes a little while, but if you’re unhappy with how well you type on the iPhone now, it’s worth trying.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Use Your AirPods as a Camera Remote

Have you ever wanted to activate the shutter button for your iPhone’s camera—for either a still photo or a video—when you’re not holding it? Selfie sticks often come with Bluetooth buttons that can do that, and starting in iOS 26, you also can use your AirPods 4 or AirPods Pro as a camera remote. While you’re wearing your AirPods, turn on the feature in Settings > AirPods > Camera Remote, where you can choose between triggering the shutter with a single press or a press and hold. Note that whichever option you turn on will override the usual actions for those triggers.

(Featured image by iStock.com/PeopleImages)

Safari’s Compact Tab Bar Returns in macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4

Safari’s compact tab bar option, which saves vertical space by placing the address bar in the current tab, went missing in the initial releases of macOS 26 Tahoe and iPadOS 26. Only Apple knows why this helpful option disappeared (Liquid Glass?), but as of macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, it’s back! On the Mac, select it in Safari > Settings > Tabs; on the iPad, look in Settings > Apps > Safari.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/czekma13)