Macworld “Passkey” is the name for a simplified login process to websites that arrived in its full glory later this year with macOS 13 Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16. A passkey relies on broadly supported industry standards to let you carry out an encrypted login with almost no effort on your part after the initial setup. You can try a passkey without installing the public betas of these upcoming operating systems, as Apple built passkey support in a preview form into Safari across all its operating systems in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and Safari 15 with macOS 12 Monterey. With the full release of passkeys in a few weeks or months, and Google and Microsoft’s announced support for compatible technology, you’re…

Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro headset will feature a new augmented reality (AR) version of the Visual Lookup feature found in iPhones and iPads. This feature, dubbed “Visual Search,” will allow wearers to get information about various items by simply looking at them. Apple’s Vision Pro features an array of advanced cameras and sensors work together to let you see the world clearly, understand your environment, and detect hand input. The feature was discovered by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, who inspected code within the Xcode beta of visionOS, Apple’s AR and reality operating system that will power the Vision Pro headset. Moser found references to Visual Search in the code, which suggests that the feature is still under development. Visual Search…

The Apple Vision Pro headset's visionOS operating system includes a feature called "Visual Search," which sounds like it is similar to the Visual Lookup feature on the iPhone and the iPad. With Visual Search, users can use the Vision Pro headset to get information about an item, detect and interact with text in the world around them, copy and paste printed text from the real world into apps, translate text between 17 different languages, and more. Real world text that includes contact information, webpages, and unit conversions and similar information can be acted upon in ‌visionOS‌. So, for example, if a printed handout has a website link in it, you can scan the link with the Vision Pro, opening up…

Apple today seeded the second beta of the recently announced macOS 14 Sonoma update to developers for testing purposes. The beta comes two weeks after the launch of the first beta that came out following the June 5 WWDC keynote event. While the beta is limited to developers at this time, Apple plans to provide a public beta later this summer. Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, with the betas available through the Software Update mechanism in System Settings. macOS Sonoma introduces new Apple TV-like screen savers that also serve as wallpapers after you log in, plus it moves widgets to the desktop. You can use the new…

Photography has become a staple use of the modern iPhone, and Apple isn't resting on its laurels in its efforts to advance what you can do with a photo in iOS 17. Below we've listed eight new photo-related features and improvements coming with Apple's latest mobile operating system, which is expected to get its official release in the fall. Can't wait until then? The iOS 17 beta is available now. 1. Pet Recognition In ‌iOS 17‌, Apple has improved the image recognition capabilities of the Photos app, which can now recognize not only your family and friends, but also your beloved pets. The ‌‌Photos‌‌ app's ability to detect animals isn't new, but now it can identify animals that are important…

Apple IDs now support passkeys, but only in betas for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. | Illustration: The Verge It appears that passkeys are now supported for Apple IDs, but only if you have the first beta for iOS 17 (or iPadOS 17 or macOS Sonoma). Beta users of Apple’s operating systems then have the ability to sign in anywhere that supports signing in with your Apple ID — covering not only Apple.com and icloud.com, but also anywhere else your Apple account is linked to — sans passwords, using just the biometrics on their iPhone or MacBook and a dream. It works anywhere that supports signing in with your Apple ID. For example, if I want to sign…