When the iPad debuted, it was essentially a large iPhone. But classic productivity tools rapidly made their way to the iPad, and over the years, Apple has introduced multitasking features, such as Slide Over and Split View, to make it easier to work back-and-forth between apps—imagine writing in Pages while referring to a Web page, or entering data from a PDF into a Numbers spreadsheet.

In iPadOS 26, Apple acknowledged that many of those efforts fell short of user expectations and completely revamped the iPad’s multitasking, basing it mainly on the windowing approach we’re all accustomed to on the Mac. Even better, if you prefer the traditional one-app-at-a-time approach, you can stick with that entirely.

Here’s how to get started with windowed apps in iPadOS 26.

Turn on Windowed Apps

When you upgrade to iPadOS 26, you’re prompted to turn on windowed apps, but you can always turn the feature on or off later in Settings > Multitasking & Gestures.

Switch Between Apps

Switching between windowed apps relies on approaches familiar from the Mac and previous versions of iPadOS. You can:

• Switch from the Home Screen: If you’re not already there, swipe up from the bottom of the screen, and then tap an app icon on the Home Screen. Swipe right to see more Home Screen pages or get to the App Library, which holds all apps.
• Switch from the Dock: Either swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to return to the Home Screen or swipe up just far enough to reveal the Dock, then tap the desired app. Tap the rightmost icon on the Dock to reveal the App Library.
• Switch by swiping: Just as on the iPhone, swiping right or left on the bottom of the screen switches you between recent apps. Or you can swipe right or left with four or five fingers.
• Switch using Exposé: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen, pause in the center, and lift your finger to activate Exposé, which shows all open apps (and windows, if an app has more than one open). Swipe right or left to see more. Tap an app to switch to it. If you have an external keyboard, you can press the Exposé key or Globe-Up Arrow to enter Exposé.
  

Work with Windows

By default, even in windowed apps mode, apps open full-screen. But now you can do much more, just like you do on the Mac. iPadOS windows now have the same traffic light buttons as macOS windows, and they work the same way. If you don’t see them in a full-screen app, swipe down from the top of the screen to see the controls in the menu bar.

• Resize windows: Drag any window corner to resize. You’ll see a handle only in the bottom-right corner, but any corner works. Or touch and hold the traffic light buttons and choose a Move & Resize option. When windows are arranged, you can drag the slider between them to adjust their sizes.
  
• Move windows: Drag the top edge of a window. You can drag it partially off-screen to make more room.
• Close windows: Tap the traffic light buttons to expand them, and then tap the red Close button to close the window for good.
• Minimize windows: Tap the traffic light buttons, and then tap the yellow Minimize button to hide the window. You can also start dragging a window, and then flick it into the Dock.
• Reveal hidden windows: Touch and hold the app’s icon in the Dock, and then choose a window from the Open Windows part of the menu. Alternatively, choose Show All Windows and then tap the desired window.
• Zoom windows: Tap the traffic light buttons, and then tap the green Zoom button. Or just drag a corner of the window to expand it until it occupies the entire screen.
• Arrange windows: Touch and hold the traffic light buttons, and then choose a Fill & Arrange option. Alternatively, to put two windows side by side, start dragging a window and flick it to the side of the screen. Then flick another window to the other side.
• Open new windows: Touch and hold the app’s icon in the Dock, and choose New Window.

Too much to remember? Although most of these techniques are nearly identical to how things work on the Mac, there’s another Mac-inspired interface element to help: the menu bar.

Use the Menu Bar

To reveal the menu bar for the app you’re in, swipe down from the center of the screen. (This gesture works differently on the Home Screen, where swiping down from the middle reveals Notification Center instead.) If you’re using a trackpad or other pointing device, you can also move your pointer to the top of the screen.

Every app will have a menu bar, but only those updated for iPadOS 26 will have custom menus; everything else will use standard menus like File, Edit, Format, View, Window, and Help. Apps tend to offer roughly the same menu items as they have on the Mac.

Using the menu bar works just like it does on the Mac: tap a menu to open it, and then tap an item to choose it. For those getting used to windowed apps in iPadOS 26, the big win is the Window menu, which lays out all the options discussed above.

Use Slide Over

In the initial release of iPadOS 26, Apple removed Slide Over, which allowed the user to keep a window floating over other apps and move it off-screen and back easily. After an outcry from iPad users accustomed to using it as a place to stash reference materials and other windows they wanted quick access to, Apple brought Slide Over back in iPadOS 26.1.

To put a window into Slide Over, swipe down to reveal the menu bar, tap the traffic light buttons, and choose Enter Slide Over. Once a window is in Slide Over, you can flick it to either the right or left side of the screen to hide it—a little handle briefly reminds you it’s there—and swiping in from that side of the screen reveals the Slide Over window again. Slide Over windows can be resized like any other window by dragging a corner. Only one app can be in Slide Over at a time; choosing Enter Slide Over in a different app replaces the current Slide Over app. You can also touch and hold the traffic light buttons in the Slide Over app and choose Exit Slide Over to make it a standard window again.

If iPadOS 26’s new approach to multitasking feels like it will improve your iPad productivity, and you don’t already have them, consider adding a keyboard and trackpad. The combination of faster typing, more precise pointing, and Mac-like multitasking can go a long way toward improving your iPad workflows.

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

Here’s something new to watch out for: poisoned chatbot conversations surfaced in Google searches. The sharing features in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and other chatbots allow users to publish their conversations as public Web pages, which can be indexed by search engines and appear alongside traditional websites in search results. Attackers can seed those conversations with malicious commands, and the conversations themselves look trustworthy in search results because the URL points to a well-known AI company. This risk isn’t theoretical—security firm Huntress documented a macOS malware infection that began with a Google search result linking to a shared chatbot conversation that contained malicious Terminal instructions. Treat chatbot conversations found via Google as you would random forum posts—potentially useful for background or ideas to start your own conversation, but not as authoritative instructions. Be especially suspicious when they offer step-by-step guidance or ask you to copy anything verbatim.

(Featured image by iStock.com/tadamichi)

One place where the Liquid Glass transparency in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 can be annoying is the time display on the Lock Screen. Liquid Glass tries—but often fails—to adjust the clock’s transparency so it’s readable over whatever photo you chose or the Photo Shuffle option displayed. Starting in iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2, you can manually adjust the clock’s transparency: touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap the clock, tap Glass, and drag the Transparency slider (left and middle). If it’s still not readable enough, you can switch to the previously available Solid view (right).

(Featured image by iStock.com/Wavebreakmedia)

A new feature for Apple Music subscribers in the Music app in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 is AutoMix, which Apple says causes songs to “transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music.” It fades between songs as a DJ would, but it’s not always successful. If AutoMix’s transitions aren’t to your taste, navigate to Settings > Apps > Music > Song Transitions in iOS and iPadOS, or Music > Settings > Playback > Song Transitions in macOS, and switch back to the longstanding Crossfade option, which transitions between songs over a user‑specified number of seconds. Or, just turn off the Song Transitions switch and let one song end completely before the next one starts.

(Featured image by iStock.com/lakshmiprasad S)

In earlier eras of word processing, users were much more likely to encounter explanations of document structure—not because everyone had to become an expert, but because knowledge was shared differently. Software shipped with detailed manuals, user groups and training classes focused on how documents worked under the hood, and power users routinely shared mental models and tips. (Who remembers being turned onto WordPerfect’s Reveal Codes?) Today’s writing tools are simpler to use and much better at hiding complexity, but that also means fewer opportunities for users to learn that invisible characters even exist, much less that they have different attributes and consequences.

We’ll look at five invisible characters that shape how text behaves: the regular space, non-breaking space, tab, hard return, and soft return. You already use regular spaces and hard returns, but understanding the other three—and when to employ them—can help you create cleaner, more professional documents and troubleshoot layout problems.

How to See Invisible Characters

Nearly every text editor, word processor, and page layout app includes an option to show “invisibles” (the term may vary, but the concept is the same). When Show Invisibles is enabled, you’ll see dots, arrows, paragraph marks, and other symbols that represent normally invisible characters. They typically appear in a color different from the default text color, such as the blue characters in the screenshot below.

Regular Spaces Versus Non-Breaking Spaces

Everyone knows what a space is—it’s a breakable separator between words. By “breakable,” we mean the next word can wrap down to the next line of text. A regular space expresses the default intent: separate words and allow normal line wrapping.

However, there are situations when you want two words to stay together because it could be confusing if the second one wraps down to the next line. In those situations, you can use a non-breaking space—inserted by pressing Option-Space on the Mac or (usually) Control-Shift-Space in Windows, and represented in HTML by  . Word processors usually distinguish non-breaking spaces from regular spaces when showing invisibles—for example, Microsoft Word uses a small open circle for non-breaking spaces and a dot for regular spaces.

When would you use non-breaking spaces?

• Numbers with units: The most common use of non-breaking spaces is to keep numbers with their units, such as “1 TB” or “72 ºF.”
• Names with titles, and initials with surnames: Non-breaking spaces are also useful for names with titles, such as “Mr. Spock,” and for people who go by their initials, such as “J. K. Rowling.”
• Short phrases that function as a single unit: Some short phrases are conceptually one piece and should not be split across lines. This includes dates (“January 19”), times (“9:41 AM”), version numbers (“iOS 26”), and textual references (“Figure 4”).

If you are using page layout software, check whether it has character styling that keeps words together, such as Adobe InDesign’s No Break style.

Tabs Versus Spaces

Because spaces separate words, many people overuse them to increase visual separation between words and to align text, such as in a résumé with a job title on the left and the associated dates on the right.

Unfortunately, spaces work poorly for aligning text because most fonts are proportional, meaning a lowercase i is thinner than an uppercase W. Therefore, spaces can’t align text perfectly—not because spaces differ in width, but because the characters before them do. Ragged alignment in a printed document is easily noticeable and looks unprofessional.

The simple solution is to use a tab, which aligns to a fixed position marked by a tab stop. Pressing the Tab key inserts a tab to the next tab stop, which can usually align text to the left, right (shown below), center, or decimal point. Most apps have a few default tab stops, and you may never need anything different. However, you can usually customize the behavior and location of the tab stops. First, put your insertion point in the paragraph you want to work in, or select a swath of paragraphs. Then, either use the ruler to customize the stops or use dedicated tab controls, such as in Microsoft Word’s Format > Paragraph > Tabs dialog. More advanced users will want to customize tab stops within paragraph styles.

Although we can now use tables and layout tools for much of what tabs were necessary for in the early days of word processing, tabs remain useful in some situations, such as:

• Horizontal placement: If you want your signature to appear below a letter on the right, you could right-align the entire line, but a right-aligned tab stop gives you more control over where the signature appears.
• Simple lists: For a short contact list that includes name, phone, and email, setting a few tab stops could be easier than inserting and formatting a table.
• Quick outlines: When creating a quick outline, such as an agenda with left-aligned times and indented session titles, use tabs to create indentation. This preserves the outline structure and makes it easier to adjust later.

If you’re trying to align text rather than separate words, a tab expresses that intent far better than spaces ever can.

Hard Returns Versus Soft Returns

Most people understand hard returns, which separate one paragraph from the next. Pressing Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) creates a hard return. For example, you’d put a return between a heading paragraph and the following body paragraph. Less well-known are soft returns, which start a new line within a paragraph, but do not end the paragraph. An important side effect of a soft return is that whatever paragraph formatting is applied to the paragraph will continue to apply to the new line. To type a soft return, type Shift-Return or Shift-Enter. (In HTML, paragraphs are marked with a pair of <p></p> tags, while soft returns use the <br> tag.)

The most common reasons to use soft returns include:

• Multi-line formatting: Some blocks of text are conceptually single paragraphs displayed across multiple lines. Think of postal addresses, poetry, and song lyrics.
  
• Maintain numbering or outline level: In lists and outlines, hard returns increment a list number or add a new outline entry, whereas soft returns insert a line break without creating a new number or outline entry. (HTML uses <li></li> tags to denote list items, but you can still use <br> tags within list items.)
  
• Narrow layouts: Soft returns are often necessary to force text down to the next line in columns, sidebars, captions, and callouts. They are a helpful supplement to non-breaking spaces.
• Intentional formatting: In multi-line headings, captions, and labels, aim to keep lines roughly equal in length, with the last line slightly longer than the others. Use soft returns to adjust line lengths as needed.
  

In short, use hard returns to separate paragraphs that are standalone units of text. Use soft returns to add line breaks within a chunk of text that is conceptually a single paragraph.

When Invisible Characters Cause Problems

Understanding non-breaking spaces, tabs, and soft returns is important because they can appear in your text without you noticing. Someone might have intentionally added them, or you might have accidentally included them by copying and pasting from PDFs or the Web. Some common invisible character issues you might encounter while formatting include:

• Short lines: If a line appears unusually short, it could be caused by a soft return moving text to the next line or a non-breaking space causing two words to wrap down together.
• Fragile alignment: If aligned text shifts when you change fonts or alignment, it’s usually because spaces are being used instead of tabs.
• Text gaps: If there’s unexpected white space between words, check if a tab is there instead of a space.
• Broken list numbering: In an automatically numbered list, broken numbering may be explained by a soft return being used instead of a hard return. Fix it by deleting the return between the misnumbered line and the one above, pressing Return to insert a new hard return, and repeating as needed.

Remember, you don’t have to type with invisible characters showing, but if your text has mysterious white space or odd line wrapping, you can likely resolve those problems quickly by viewing invisible characters and making sure they are doing what they should.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Fabio Principe)

Recording a task in Apple’s Reminders app on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad is just the first step—the app captures what you need to do—but what matters more is being reminded to take action at the right moment. (The most important step, of course, is following through, but that’s on you.)

Here’s how to configure Reminders to get your attention at the right moment, whether through time-based alerts, location triggers, or when you chat with someone in Messages. Particularly helpful is the new alarm feature in iOS 26.2 that ensures you can’t miss time-based alerts. We’ll focus on the iPhone here, but the iPad and Mac interfaces are similar.

Time-Based Notifications

The most straightforward way to be reminded is at a specific date and time. When creating or editing a reminder, turn on the Date and Time switches to set when you want to be notified. You can also enter natural language times in the title, such as “tomorrow at 3 PM”—tap the autocomplete suggestion to convert it to the actual notification time. Voice commands via Siri also work especially well, such as “Siri, remind me to call my mother at 8 PM.” When the time arrives, you’ll receive a standard notification banner on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.

For recurring tasks, after setting a date, select an option from the Repeat menu: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or custom intervals. Recurring reminders are perfect for routine tasks such as taking out the recycling or submitting weekly reports. (Medication reminders are often used as an example of recurring reminders, but they’re more effectively handled in the Health app.)

Early Reminders

Although reminders are seldom as time-sensitive as calendar events, where you can set multiple alerts ahead of the actual event, it can still be helpful to receive an additional notification to prep for the reminder’s time. For instance, you might want an early notification a week before “Cancel free trial subscription” to evaluate whether you want to keep the service.

After setting a date and time for a reminder, choose an item from the Early Reminder menu to receive an additional notification minutes, hours, or even days before the scheduled time. This gives you a heads-up that something is coming due without replacing the original notification at the scheduled time.

Alarms in iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2

For most reminders, it isn’t important that you start the task as soon as the notification appears. It doesn’t matter exactly when you cancel the free trial, as long as it happens before the renewal date, so a notification that remains on the Lock Screen is sufficient. But for other tasks, missing a notification would be a big problem. If the turkey needs to go in the oven at 2 PM so it’s ready for Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t want to get distracted by the football game and miss the notification.

To help, Apple added an alarm feature in iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 that lets Reminders trigger full-screen alarms that behave like those in the Clock app. It’s essential for critical reminders that absolutely cannot be missed. Alarms only work for the person who created the reminder, even if the reminder is on a shared list.

To enable an alarm for a reminder, set a date and time, then turn on the Urgent switch. (It doesn’t appear to be possible to enable Urgent via Siri.) When the reminder comes due, instead of a simple notification banner, you’ll see (and hear) an alarm on your iPhone (and Apple Watch) with options to dismiss or snooze it for 9 minutes. The alarm will continue to sound until you respond, making it much harder to ignore than a standard notification. You can even reschedule snoozed alarms if necessary.

This feature can be a lifesaver for time-sensitive tasks like picking up a prescription before the drugstore closes, joining crucial meetings, or any reminder where a simple banner notification isn’t enough. We hope Apple adds alarms to the Calendar app as well.

Location-Based Reminders

Reminders can also be triggered based on where you are. Location-based reminders are ideal for tasks like “Pick up dry cleaning” when you’re near the cleaners or “Defrost the chicken for dinner” when you arrive home.

Turn on the Location switch when creating a reminder to choose from options like:

• Current location
• Saved locations like Home and Work
• Custom locations
• Getting In or Getting Out (of a car; these options require a CarPlay or Bluetooth connection to your vehicle)

For the location options, you can request alerts when you arrive or leave. To set a custom location, search for an address or point of interest. You can adjust the geofence radius to control how close you need to be for the reminder to trigger.

Screenshot

When Messaging Someone

If you associate something you want to remember with a particular person, Reminders can notify you when you’re communicating with them in Messages. It’s perfect for things you want to mention but aren’t important enough to warrant starting a conversation—“Ask John about their new puppy.”

When editing a reminder, enable When Messaging and select a contact. The next time you open a Messages conversation with that person, a notification will appear reminding you of the task.

Choosing the Right Alert Method

Each notification type serves different purposes:

• Time-based notifications work well for scheduled tasks and deadlines, with early reminders for advance warning and alarms for critical tasks that can’t be missed.
• Location-based reminders are ideal for errands and place-specific tasks.
• When Messaging ensures you remember to discuss something with a specific person.

By combining these options, you can ensure that essential tasks receive the attention they deserve and are delivered in the way most likely to prompt action.

(Featured image by iStock.com/champpixs)

Do you repeatedly find yourself wanting to do something in the Finder with every file of a certain type? Perhaps you regularly download files from a particular website that come in with a .txt extension, even though they’re CSV files that should have a .csv extension? Or maybe you want to rename files according to their creation date whenever they’re moved into a specific folder? Or copy every file whose name matches a specific string to a remote file server?

Your desires will undoubtedly differ from everyone else’s, but the key to automating file-related actions in the Finder is a longstanding macOS technology called folder action scripts. In essence, you attach a custom AppleScript to a folder, and whenever the folder’s contents change, the script runs. Anything you can do with AppleScript, you can automate with a folder action script.

Don’t panic at the sight of the word “AppleScript.” Although creating a folder action script requires creating an AppleScript, we don’t expect you to write an AppleScript or even know much about it. You can get an AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to write the actual code—all you need to do is explain what you want to the chatbot, copy and paste code into Script Editor, and link the script to the desired folder.

Two warnings: always start with test files in a test folder before letting a script work on real files in a real folder, and be doubly cautious about scripts that move files to the Trash.

Let’s get started! We’ll use the CSV renaming script as an example.

Step 1: Create a Script with AI Help

When working with an AI chatbot to write an AppleScript, it’s helpful to be as specific as possible. Here’s the prompt we started with:

Write an AppleScript that I can use to make a folder action script for my Downloads folder. I want it to detect a newly downloaded file that has a .txt extension and present me with a dialog with two buttons asking if I would like to change the filename extension to .csv (the default) or leave it as .txt.

Paste that into the chatbot of your choice, and it will return a script. Copy it to the clipboard—chatbots usually include a button to copy just the text of the script, so you don’t have to select it manually.

Step 2: Save Your Script

Now you need to turn that script into something functional. Follow these steps:

1. Open Script Editor, which you’ll find in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.
2. Choose File > New to create a new script.
3. Paste the text of the script from the chatbot into the script.
4. Click the hammer icon in Script Editor’s toolbar to check for syntax errors. If there are none, the text turns from all purple to various colors, as shown below. (We’ll assume the script is correct for now; more on how to fix errors in Step 4 below.)
   
5. Choose File > Save, and in the Save dialog, navigate to ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/ (that’s the Library folder in your user folder). If the Folder Action Scripts folder doesn’t exist within Scripts, press Command-Shift-N (while still in the Save dialog) to create a new folder. Be sure to name it exactly Folder Action Scripts.
6. Still in the Save dialog, choose Script from the File Format pop-up menu and click Save to save the file.

Step 3: Connect Your Script to a Folder

To open the Folder Actions Setup app, you may be able to Control-click the desired folder (such as a Test folder on your desktop) and choose Folder Actions Setup from the pop-up menu; it might also be in a Services submenu. But the easiest way to open it is with Spotlight. Press Command-Space, type Folder Actions Setup (or enough of the name for Spotlight to find it), and press Return. Once you have the app open:

1. Select the Enable Folder Actions checkbox at the top.
2. Click the + button under Folders with Actions, and open the Test folder in the file dialog.
3. Click the + button under Script, then select the script you just saved—the list is sorted alphabetically, so you may need to scroll.
   

A folder can have multiple folder action scripts linked to it, though be aware that they can interact with one another in unexpected ways. You can disable a script by deselecting its checkbox or remove it entirely by selecting it and clicking the – button. To make changes to a script, select it and click Edit Script to open it in Script Editor.

Step 4: Test Your Script

This is the moment of truth—did the chatbot get it right? Create a text file in TextEdit and save it on the desktop with a .txt extension. Then drag it into the Test folder and see if you’re prompted to rename it to .csv. If so, you’re done!

But what if it doesn’t work? What to do depends on how it failed:

• Script Editor complains about syntax errors: Report the error to the chatbot by taking a screenshot like the one below and pasting or dragging it into the chatbot text entry field. It will analyze the screenshot to identify the error and try to provide you with revamped code that fixes the problem.
  

• Nothing happens: First, verify that the folder action is enabled in Folder Actions Setup and that the correct folder is listed. Then return to the chatbot and say exactly that. “I dropped a .txt file in my Test folder, but nothing happened.” It will analyze the code it previously wrote and attempt to address whatever is causing it to fail.
• You get a permissions request: The first time a folder action script runs, macOS may ask for permission to control the Finder or access certain folders. Click Allow when prompted.
• You get some other error: Just as with code errors in Script Editor, your best bet is to take a screenshot of the error and paste it into your chat. Be sure to add any additional information that might shed light on the reason for the error.
• The wrong thing happens: If something else happens, but it’s not what you want—like more files being acted on than you intended—go back to the chatbot and describe precisely what happened and how that was wrong, reiterating the results you want to achieve.

It’s not uncommon to go back and forth with the chatbot several times to end up with an AppleScript that works as you want. If you still have trouble, ask the chatbot to add debugging alerts that show you where the process breaks down.

Other Useful Folder Action Ideas

Once you’ve mastered the basics, consider these automation possibilities:

• Automatically resize images added to a folder to specific dimensions
• Sort downloaded files into subfolders based on file type
• Add a timestamp or custom prefix to every file added to a project folder
• Play a sound or send a notification when files matching certain criteria appear
• Back up critical files by copying them to a second location whenever they’re added to a watched folder

There’s undoubtedly a DIY aspect to all this, but folder action scripts are both a practical use of AI chatbots and a relatively easy way to automate file-based workflows that are tedious or time-wasting when done by hand. If you’re attracted to the idea but uninterested in fussing with chatbots, Script Editor, and Folder Actions Setup, look into Noodlesoft’s Hazel, a $42 utility that provides an easy-to-use interface for automatically organizing files on your Mac.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Poca Wander Stock)

One of the big wins of using a password manager is that you don’t need to remember or enter most passwords—the app does that for you. Even those passwords that must be entered manually can be looked up if you forget them.

However, people who don’t use password managers regularly forget passwords and have to reset them—some surveys suggest that roughly half of all users admit to forgetting at least one password each month. While most account passwords can be easily reset by email, the Apple Account is a notable exception. Because it contains so much sensitive information, Apple protects it against relatively easy email hacks, which means recovering a forgotten Apple Account password requires different methods. So what should you—or someone you know—do if they forget their Apple Account password? And, what can you do in advance to make recovery painless?

Apple Account Recovery Methods

Apple offers five ways to regain access to an Apple Account if the password is forgotten and needs to be reset:

• Two-factor authentication: When you try to change your Apple Account password, Apple first sends an approval request to any trusted device that you can unlock with a passcode or password. By using this second, trusted factor, Apple can be sure that you’re the person requesting the password reset.
• Trusted phone number: If no trusted device is available because it has been lost, broken, or stolen, Apple falls back on sending a six-digit code via SMS text message or a voice call to a trusted phone number. While not quite as secure as a trusted device, this is still a good way to reset a password.
• Recovery contact: If neither a trusted device nor a trusted phone number is available, as might be the case for someone who has only an iPhone and has lost access to it, users can turn to a recovery contact—a person who can help in an emergency. The recovery contact simply looks up the one-time code and shares it.
• Recovery key: If the user has enabled a recovery key—a 28-character code—they can enter that to reset the password instead of using Apple’s Account Recovery (next). Using a recovery key is fast and easy, but you must first set it up and store it in a location accessible during a password reset. Only tech-savvy people who want more control over the account recovery process should set up a recovery key.
• Account Recovery: As long as the user hasn’t set up a recovery key, Apple offers an Account Recovery service when no trusted devices are available, no trusted phone numbers can receive verification codes, and no recovery contact is set or reachable. Account Recovery takes hours or days and relies on automated checks to confirm that the person resetting the password is doing so legitimately.

Setting Up Recovery Methods

Let’s run through how to set up each of these so you can enable the appropriate ones for your account and help your Apple-using family and friends do the same. Setting up all of these methods takes place in Settings > Your Name > Sign-In & Security (iPhone or iPad) or System Settings > Your Name > Sign-In & Security (Mac).

• Set up two-factor authentication: Nearly everyone already has two-factor authentication enabled. To confirm that, look at the Sign-In & Security screen. If two-factor authentication is off, turn it on; if it’s active, tap or click Two-Factor Authentication to view your trusted devices.
  
• Specify trusted phone numbers: You can set one or more trusted phone numbers in the same Two-Factor Authentication screen that lists your trusted devices for two-factor authentication. Scroll to the bottom and tap or click Add a Trusted Phone Number, as shown above.
• Add recovery contacts: Adding a recovery contact is similarly easy. On the Sign-In & Security screen, tap or click Recovery Contacts, then tap or click Add Recovery Contact. Apple suggests family members and frequent correspondents, but you can specify someone else as well. People in your Family Sharing group are added automatically; other people have to accept your request. There’s no harm in having multiple recovery contacts. If someone adds you as a recovery contact, you’ll see that at the bottom of the Recovery Contacts list. To help someone recover their account, tap their name on the Recovery Contacts screen, then follow the prompts to provide them with a recovery code.
  
• Create a recovery key: To set up a recovery key on the Sign-In & Security screen, tap or click Recovery Key, then follow the onscreen instructions. When you’re done, print or write down your recovery key and store it in a secure place. To complete the setup, you’ll need to confirm the key. Once you’ve set up a recovery key, resetting the password requires entering the key and a verification code sent to a trusted phone number. Also note that if you turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, you must have a recovery key or recovery contact because Apple won’t be able to help you recover your account.
• Invoke Account Recovery: You don’t need to do anything to set up Account Recovery—it’s merely the last-ditch option in case everything else fails.

Although that might seem like a lot, it should take only a few minutes to make sure two-factor authentication is turned on, specify a trusted phone number or two, and add one or more people as recovery contacts. Most people shouldn’t set up a recovery key because it prevents them from using Apple’s account recovery process.

Reset the Apple Account Password

You can start the process of resetting your Apple Account password in three places:

• On a trusted device: If you have a trusted device—one that you unlock with a passcode or password—using it to reset the password with two-factor authentication is by far the most straightforward approach.
• In the Apple Support app on a borrowed device: If you don’t have a trusted device but do have access to a trusted phone number or recovery contact, you can initiate the process from someone else’s device using the Apple Support app. Scroll down to Support Tools, tap Reset Password, tap Help Someone Else, enter your Apple Account email address or phone number, and follow the onscreen instructions.
• On the Web: If no other Apple device is available, you can start the password reset process using any Web browser at iforgot.apple.com.

If you need to fall back on Account Recovery, Apple says to avoid using any devices currently signed in with the Apple Account whose password you’re trying to reset, as activity on the Apple Account will automatically cancel the account recovery process. Remember, it can take days, though you can see how much longer you have to wait at iforgot.apple.com.

Finally, let us reiterate that storing the Apple Account password in a password manager—such as the free Passwords app Apple bundles with the current versions of its operating systems—means you can always look it up if you need it.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Francisco Javier Ortiz Marzo)

Spotlight has been a staple on macOS for decades, and at various points in its history, Apple has added new search capabilities. However, the revamp that Spotlight enjoyed in macOS 26 Tahoe is the most significant change in a long time. Here are the new features you’ll experience in Tahoe.

Filterable Interface

Apple has refocused the Spotlight interface to list all result types in a single view, rather than separating them by type as before. Apple claims the results are intelligently ranked, so in theory, what you’re most likely to want will appear at the top. As before, you invoke Spotlight with Command-Space, but when you start typing, it tries to auto-complete using the top hit. In the screenshot below, the user typed “Apple” and Spotlight added “Configurator” in white. Keep typing to change the autocomplete, double-click a result to open it, or use the arrow keys to select a result and press Return to open it or Tab to search inside it.

Having all the results in a single window may still be overwhelming, so Spotlight now lets you filter the results in several ways. Most notable is the horizontally scrollable line of buttons above the search results that lets you filter the results list to particular files or data types, results from specific apps, files stored in a third-party file provider like Google Drive, and even menu items. For example, clicking the Calendar button above the results shows only matching events.

Spotlight also features new dedicated browsing modes, so if you press Command-1 through Command-4 (or wiggle the pointer after invoking Spotlight to reveal browsing mode buttons), Spotlight limits the results to specific types of items:

• Applications: Press Command-1 to display all your apps in a Launchpad-like view; type a few letters to filter the results to matching apps. The button row at the top lets you filter further by App Store category.
  
• Files: Press Command-2 for a file browser. Although Spotlight provides suggestions and recent files, you’ll probably want to type words from the filename. The button row lets you limit the results to specific file types or documents from specific apps.
  
• Actions: Press Command-3 to see a long list of actions you can now perform from Spotlight. Many of these are from Apple’s apps, but third-party apps can also expose actions via Spotlight. More on this new feature shortly.
  
• Clipboard: Press Command-4 to see what you have copied to the clipboard recently and insert selected items with a click. More on clipboard history later, too.
  

Spotlight provides three additional ways to filter the results:

• By location: To search within top-level macOS containers and third-party cloud containers, you can type the location name and press Tab before typing a search string. Filtering by location works for the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Applications folders, as well as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. (You may need to select the folder from the search results manually before pressing Tab the first few times; this trains Spotlight.) Unfortunately, searching by location doesn’t work for arbitrary folders; use a Finder search instead.
• By app: To filter the results to include only documents that a specific app can open, type its name and press Tab. Enter a search string to search within the filtered results.
• By kind: You can filter kinds of files by typing / and then the file type, like /PDF or /text, and then pressing Return. For even more kind searches, prefix your search with kind:filetype, like kind:csv or kind:presentation.

Trigger Actions (with Quick Keys)

Perhaps the most significant new feature of Spotlight is the ability to trigger actions across a wide variety of apps using the keyboard. For example, you can invoke Spotlight and type an action name, like start timer and press Return to initiate a timer in the Clock app. Spotlight then prompts you for the number of minutes.

For actions you perform regularly, you can speed things up by defining Quick Keys, which are character sequence shortcuts that stand in for the full action name. For example, you could set it up so that typing st in Spotlight expands to start timer.

Many Apple apps expose their features as Spotlight actions, and an ever-increasing number of third-party apps do as well. The only way to see which actions are available is to open Spotlight, press Command-3, and scroll through the list.

It’s worth calling out the fact that Apple’s Shortcuts app makes all its shortcuts available as Spotlight actions, so you can now use Spotlight to trigger additional automations.

Clipboard History

The other huge addition to Spotlight is clipboard history, which until now has required using a third-party utility. Clipboard history lets you access everything you have copied to the clipboard over a period of time, making it easy to paste text and graphics more than once. You turn on clipboard history and set Spotlight to remember clipboard items from the last 30 minutes, 8 hours, or 7 days in System Settings > Spotlight.

To access your clipboard history, invoke Spotlight, press Command-4, and either double-click an entry in the list or press the Down arrow key to select the desired clipboard item and press Return to paste it into the current text field. You can also type a few characters from the clipboard item to filter the list, but unfortunately, that works only with characters at the beginning of the item, not elsewhere.

Website Searches

Spotlight Web searches are quicker than switching to your Web browser, navigating to the site, finding the search field, and entering your search. Just open Spotlight, type the website name, press Tab, and then type a search string to search directly on that site. Sites that work well include Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon, IMDb, and eBay, but it’s worth trying any website you have already searched in Safari.

Spotlight learns its site‑specific searches from Safari; if you primarily use another browser, perform a few searches in Safari first to seed Spotlight’s knowledge.

Spotlight History

Finally, if you use the same Spotlight commands repeatedly, you might be able to avoid some unnecessary typing by invoking Spotlight and then pressing the Up arrow repeatedly to cycle back through your previous Spotlight commands. Once the one you want appears, press Return to insert it just as though you had typed it. Having access to your Spotlight history isn’t a game-changer, but it’s worth remembering for occasional use.

Going Beyond Spotlight

Spotlight in Tahoe takes a big step toward launchers like LaunchBar, Alfred, and Raycast, but those tools still lead in customization and extensibility. For many users, Spotlight now covers the basics—launching apps, opening files, triggering actions, and recalling clipboard items. If you need more—file operations beyond opening, deep in‑app data access, universal Web search, window management, or bespoke extensions—LaunchBar, Alfred, and Raycast remain the better choice.

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

Social Media: Spotlight in macOS 26 Tahoe received a major upgrade, and you can now filter results, run app actions, search sites directly, and browse clipboard history—all starting from a quick press of Command‑Space.

We’re approaching the end of 2025, so we encourage you to consider your New Year’s resolutions. For many people, the new year offers an opportunity to reflect on habits we’d like to adopt or solidify. Although we support reducing social media use and making other positive lifestyle changes, we’d like to suggest a few additional resolutions to improve your digital security and reduce the risk of bad things happening to you online.

If you read through this list and think, “I’m already doing all that,” then you’re done. Keep up the good work!

Back Up All Your Devices Regularly

The most important thing you can do to avoid digital disasters is to back up your data regularly. Bad things happen to good devices, like a Mac’s SSD failing, an iPhone falling into a pool, or data being lost due to theft, fire, or flood. With a solid backup plan, you can recover from nearly any problem.

For the Mac, the easiest way to back up is to use an external drive with Time Machine, but an off-site or Internet backup is also essential. Backblaze is a good choice, but there are numerous online backup services. For iPhones and iPads, it’s simplest to back up to iCloud, which automatically happens every night if you turn it on in Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup. You can also back up iPhones and iPads to your Mac if you do not have enough iCloud storage space. Apple Watches automatically back up to their paired iPhones, and that Watch data is included in iPhone backups, making restores straightforward. Whatever your setup, restore a few files periodically as a test to make sure your backups are working.

Always Install Security Updates

An important step to enhance your security is to install new operating system updates and security updates promptly after Apple releases them. While the specifics rarely make headlines because they are highly technical and detailed, you can gauge the significance of security updates by noting that a typical update fixes 10–30 vulnerabilities identified by Apple or external researchers. Other security updates include only one or two fixes, as they’re aimed at addressing zero-day vulnerabilities currently being exploited in the wild.

It’s usually wise to wait a few days after an update appears before installing it, in case it causes any undesirable side effects. Although such problems are rare, when they do happen, Apple quickly pulls the update, resolves the issue, and releases a new version, typically within a few days.

Use a Password Manager

We’ll keep emphasizing the importance of a password manager until passkeys—the replacement for passwords—become widespread, which will take years. Until then, if you’re still typing passwords manually or copying and pasting from a list stored in a file, please start using a password manager like 1Password or Apple’s Passwords, which is now pretty good. A password manager provides six significant benefits:

• It generates strong passwords for you. Password1234 can be hacked in seconds.
• It stores your passwords securely. Anyone walking by your unlocked Mac can read an Excel file on your desktop.
• It enters passwords for you. Wouldn’t that be easier than typing them in?
• It audits existing accounts. How many of your accounts use the same weak password, which has likely been stolen in multiple breaches?
• It lets you access passwords on all your devices. Logging in to websites is just as easy on the iPhone and iPad!
• It can store and enter two-factor authentication codes. Whenever possible, protect important accounts with two-factor authentication so even a stolen password won’t provide access.

A bonus benefit for families is password sharing. It allows couples to share essential passwords or parents and teens to share specific passwords.

Using a password manager is quicker, simpler, and more secure. If you need assistance getting started, reach out.

Beware of Phishing Email

Individuals and businesses often experience security breaches due to phishing, which involves fake emails that trick someone into revealing login details, credit card numbers, or other sensitive data. While spam filters catch many of these attacks, you must stay alert. Here’s what to watch out for:

• Any email that tries to get you to reveal information, follow a link, or sign a document
• Messages from unfamiliar people, asking you to take an unusual action
• Direct email from a large company for whom you’re an anonymous customer
• Forged email from a trusted source requesting sensitive information
• Urgent threats like “account locked,” “unauthorized charge,” or “action required”
• All messages that contain numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes

When unsure, avoid clicking the link or replying to the email. Instead, reach out to the sender via another method to verify the message’s authenticity. Legitimate companies—especially Apple, financial institutions, and cellular carriers—will never ask for your password or two‑factor codes by email, text, or voice.

Never Respond to Unsolicited Calls or Texts

Phishing attacks increasingly take place via texts and phone calls—and even some via deepfake audio and video. Because of weaknesses in the telephone system, these messages and calls can appear to come from trusted companies like Apple and Amazon. Other common scams warn about unauthorized logins or payments to trick recipients into calling scammers, advertise fake deliveries with malicious tracking links, or send fake two-factor authentication messages that prompt recipients to click a link to “secure” their account.

Avoid clicking links in texts unless you recognize the sender and it makes sense for you to receive that link. (For example, Apple might send text messages with delivery details for a recently placed order.) Never enter login information on a website you reach through a link because you can’t be sure it’s legitimate. Instead, if you’re interested in more details, go directly to the company’s official website by typing its URL into your browser, then log in from there.

For calls from companies, unless you’re expecting a callback regarding a support ticket you opened, don’t answer—caller ID can be spoofed. Let the call go to voicemail, and if you believe it’s important to respond, look up the company’s phone number from a reliable source and contact someone at that number instead of using the one provided by voicemail.

Avoid Anything Associated with Sketchy Websites

We won’t dwell on this last point, but it’s worth noting that you’re much more likely to encounter malware on fringe websites or those that cater to societal vices. The more you can steer clear of sites that deal with pirated software, cryptocurrency, adult content, gambling, or the sale of illicit substances, the safer you’ll be. That’s not to say reputable sites haven’t been hacked and used to spread malware, but such cases are far less frequent.

Don’t call numbers from pop‑ups or ads, don’t grant remote access, and don’t pay for any service you didn’t seek out unprompted. Instead, go directly to the company’s official site (type the URL) or contact us for help. And never paste commands into Terminal from websites or “verification” pages—you could install malware without realizing it. If you are worried after spending time in the darker corners of the Web, download a free copy of Malwarebytes and manually scan for malware.

Let’s raise a glass to staying safe online in 2026!

(Featured image by iStock.com/Marut Khobtakhob)