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Can Your iPad Run Apple iPadOS 16?

Can Your iPad Run Apple iPadOS 16?

Apple’s next-gen operating systems are currently in public beta, meaning early adopters can test iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura on their personal devices before a final fall release.

Naturally, OS updates mean that some older hardware gets phased out of the support cycle. However, iPadOS 16 is unique in that some features are exclusive to Apple tablets equipped with the Apple M1 chip. So, which iPads will run iPadOS 16, and how can you tell which versions have the M1 chip? We’ll break it down for you.

stage manager

Stage Manager

Among the features exclusive to devices with the M1 chip is Stage Manager, Apple’s new window-focused multitasking tool. There are two ways to see if your iPad runs an M1. First, check the model number on the back of your device. Currently, the devices utilizing the M1 chip include:

  • The 5th-generation iPad Air, introduced in 2022. It comes in 64GB and 256GB iterations. The model numbers are A2588, A2589, or A2591.
  • The 5th-generation iPad Pro 12.9-inch, introduced in 2021. It comes in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB versions. The model numbers are A2378, A2461, A2379, or A2462.
  • The 3rd-generation iPad Pro 11-inch, introduced in 2021. It comes in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB flavors. The model numbers are A2377, A2459, A2301, or A2460.

Alternatively, you can go into your iPad’s Settings menu and tap General > About. You should see the iPad’s details at the top of the screen, including the model name. If you have an iPad Air (5th generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation), or iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), then you have an M1 device that can utilize virtually all of the iPadOS 16 update features.

about menu on ipados

To clarify, we say virtually due to the Reference Mode feature that offers a unique, color-accurate screen mode via the XDR display. It’s ideal for people who do color work, such as 3D modeling, painting, and photo editing. But it’s exclusive to the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation).

12.9‑inch iPad Pro can now display reference color.

If you’re not too concerned with Stage Manager or the M1 chip, and just want to know which iPad models get iPadOS 16 this fall, here is a breakdown. At the time of this writing, iPadOS 16 is compatible with the following devices:

  • iPad Pro (all models)
  • iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
  • iPad (5th generation and later)
  • iPad mini (5th generation and later)

Check the Settings menu using the steps mentioned above to see which iPad you own.

Apple’s OS public betas are currently live, and enrolling your device is a cinch. These updates feature excellent improvements, but if you’re a newbie, or don’t have an extra device that can load up the betas, wait for the stable versions of these OSes, which arrive this fall.

For more, read our impressions of iOS 16 to get a gist of what’s coming to the iPhone; MacBook users should take a peek at our macOS Ventura preview, as well.

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Google Posts Yet Another Plea for Apple to Support RCS Messaging in iMessage

Google Posts Yet Another Plea for Apple to Support RCS Messaging in iMessage

Google is making yet another attempt to persuade Apple to support the RCS phone-messaging standard in its own iMessage service, but this time it’s aiming the sales pitch at iPhone users.

At a “Get the Message” site posted Tuesday, Google calls out the least-common-denominator aspect of texts between iPhone and Android users: Everybody loses such features as encryption, typing indicators, and read receipts supported separately by Apple’s iMessage and the Google -backed Rich Communications Services (RCS), also called “chat features” in Android.

“Apple creates these problems when we text each other from iPhones and Android phones, but does nothing to fix it,” the page declares. “Apple turns texts between iPhone and Android into SMS and MMS, out-of-date technologies from the 90s and 00s.”

Subsequent paragraphs emphasize how iPhone users don’t only suffer the indignity of seeing Android-using friends’ messages in green bubbles but also miss features they enjoy in conversations with other iPhone users. For example: “Without read receipts and typing indicators, you can’t know if your Android friends got your text and are responding.”

Privacy also loses out in cross-platform conversations, the page notes: “SMS and MMS don’t support end-to-end encryption, which means those messages are not secure.”

(But while RCS supports end-to-end encryption in one-to-one Android chats, group Android chats today only get encryption in transit, with “e2e” security advertised as coming later this year. Bringing this same security to chats between different apps and different platforms would be much harder.)

Apple has never shipped an iMessage client for Android, and court documents unearthed during Fortnite’s lawsuit against Apple revealed that the Cupertino, Calif., company rejected an iMessage port because it might weaken iMessage’s customer lock-in effect.

Google has instead tried in vain to get Apple to add RCS support to iMessage–most recently, at its I/O developer conference in May. But while this latest sales pitch may win over some iPhone users, Apple has a history of ignoring requests from users that don’t square with its own product vision.

Google, meanwhile, has struggled to get RCS going in Android. It didn’t get all three major carriers lined up to ship its own Messages app until 2021, leaving an enormous installed base of Android phones running carrier- or manufacturer-specific messaging apps that don’t speak RCS. And Google still hasn’t persuaded Google to add RCS support to its own Google Voice calling and messaging service.

Finally, Google has yet to provide third-party developers with the coding framework they’d need to add RCS support to such SMS-capable apps as Signal and WhatsApp–the two services Google’s new page endorses as alternatives for iPhone users anxious to avoid today’s “broken experience” of cross-platform communication.

Developer posts in a thread on Signal’s site blame that on Google not providing the right API, and Google has yet to say when it might ship that framework.

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Break Your Social Media Addiction With This iPhone App

Break Your Social Media Addiction With This iPhone App

Image for article titled This iPhone App Might Actually Help You Break Your Social Media Addiction

screenshot: Joel Cunningham

I am just full of advice about social media, most of which can be boiled down to “put down your phone” and “stop engaging.” Which is funny, because I am incredibly bad at doing both of those things, despite my best efforts (downloading a little app that grows trees while you don’t use your phone, setting a goal to read more books, having the same conversation with my therapist over and over). But I’ve finally found a trick—a clever iPhone app—that seems to be working. For now.

Ironically, I made this discovery while mindlessly scrolling Twitter on my iPhone, which is what I do during any given moment of inactivity, from taking the dog out to pee, to waiting for the elevator, to putting the kettle on the boil. In these moments, I don’t actually want anything Twitter has to offer; it’s simply a mindless habit, and that lack of purpose never stops that quick swipe from turning into 10 useless minutes.

But this Shortcut Automation app—called “one second” by its innovator, Frederik Riedel (@FrederikRiedel)—seeks to inject some mindfulness into that mindless habit. To use it, you set up an automation that will trigger one sec to run when you attempt to open whatever social media, gaming, or other app is eating into your day. It’s a simple, soothing bit of animation that will interrupt the process, encouraging you to take a deep breath before you tap a second time to confirm that you truly do want to open that app—or not.

You can see how it works in this Tweet from Riedel:

Image for article titled This iPhone App Might Actually Help You Break Your Social Media Addiction

screenshot: Joel Cunningham

I realize that there are many other tools that encourage you to limit social media use, from Apple’s own Focus Modes to screen time alerts, but one sec has worked best for me because it cuts me off at the right moment; it’s easier to force me to think with intention (“6 attempts to open Twitter within 24 hours”) than to scold me into stopping doing something that I’m already doing (any pop-up telling me my app usage for the day has elapsed is instantly ignored). You can block one app for free, and unlock additional features (use with multiple apps, more robust breathing exercises, time tracking, website blocking) with a premiumsubscription ($14.99/year).

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a fairly serious internet addiction. But I’ve also managed to stop myself from staring at my phone while waiting for the dog to poop for five days straight. That’s not nothing.

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Technology

Use This Terminal Command to Force Eject a Stubborn Disk From Your Mac

Use This Terminal Command to Force Eject a Stubborn Disk From Your Mac

Image for article titled Use This Terminal Command to Force Eject a Stubborn Disk From Your Mac

photo: The Image Party (Shutterstock)

We’ve all been there: You have an external hard drive or USB thumb stick plugged into your Mac, and you’re ready to part ways. You drag it to the the Trash, or right-click to eject it, only to be greeted by the infamous, “The disk wasn’t ejected because one or more programs may be using it.” You look around your Mac: No app is open, no program is running. Whatever is causing the ejection delays certainly isn’t your fault. In the wise words of Peter Parker“I missed the part where that’s my problem.”

Unfortunately, macOS has made it your problem. There could be multiple reasons why your computer won’t let go of your disk (we’ve run through them before), but often, the main issue is this: macOS is running a process accessing a file on the disk you can’t see. That’s why, even though everything is shut down and closed as far as you can see, your Mac insist the disk is in use. We all have trouble letting go sometimes.

That said, your Mac doesn’t always leave you hanging out to dry: Occasionally, you’ll see the option to Force Eject the disk, but even that solution comes with a caveat: How do you really know your Mac isn’t currently writing something to the disk? If you force eject it, either with software or by unplugging the disk from your Mac, you could damage your data.

Luckily, there’s a simple solution, so long as you’re OK usingTerminal. in to Reddit thread musing on this subjectone user suggested the following command to quickly end any unknown processes running between macOS and your hard drive:

sudo lsof /Volumes/{Name of the disk}

The “lsof” command, which stands for “list open files,” does exactly what is says: It’s a command meant to list all open files in your system, and dish on the processes that opened them in the first place. Because of this, it’s often used when users cannot unmount (or eject) disks—the command tells you which process is using which file, something you wouldn’t see just by using surface-level macOS. As long as you’ve stopped using the hard drive yourself, you should only see whatever process is holding things up on macOS’ end.

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Once you know the process in question, you can terminate it, and safely eject the disk without worry. To do so, you’ll need to open Activity Monitor (press Command + Space then search “Activity Monitor”). Switch to the Disk tab, then scroll through the “Process Name” list until you see the one out in Terminal. Click on it, then click the (X) at the top of the menu bar. Finally, choose “Quit” on the pop-up to end the process. Now, try ejecting your disk: It should leave your computer right away.

As pointed out by another user in that Reddit thread, the culprit in many cases—at least on macOS—is Quick Look. Quick Look is the feature that allows you to peek at documents, images, and other files without needing to actually open those files first. If Quick Look pops up for you after running this Terminal command, this user recommends you try using Quick Look on another file not on your external disk. For example, open your Mac’s main disk and Quick Look a file there: That process can shake things loose, and allow you to eject your disk without issue.

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