Apple today seeded the sixth betas of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to developers for testing purposes, updating and refining some of the features that are included in the software.
As the beta testing period goes on, changes get much smaller and less notable. The sixth beta has some minor tweaks and feature additions, but there are no real major changes in the update. We've listed all of what's new in the sixth beta of iOS 14 below.
- Time Picker Design - The time picker interface, available in the Clock app when setting an alarm and other places in iOS, has seen a slight design tweak that adds an orange box around the time to make it more obvious that it can be interacted with to change the time.
- Spatial Audio - Spatial Audio, the feature that brings surround sound to the AirPods Pro, isn't implemented as of yet, but Apple appears to be gearing up to add the feature to iOS 14 and the AirPods Pro. In today's beta, there's a new Spatial Audio toggle available in the Accessibility section of the Settings app. Choose AirPods and then at the bottom of the screen, there's a "Follow iPhone" toggle. Follow iPhone makes audio for supported movies and TV shows sound like it's coming from the phone instead of following head movement. There's also new code and internal messaging related to the spatial audio feature. Though this toggle is available, Spatial Audio is not yet functional.
- Maps Splash Screen - There's a new splash screen for the Maps app that lets you know about new features that include cycling directions, curated guides, and support for speed cameras.
Know of any other changes in iOS 14 beta 6 that we didn't list here? Let us know in the comments and we'll add them.
Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by Juli Clover
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by Juli Clover
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Monday December 15, 2025 4:23 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas.
We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features.
Transfer to Android
Apple is making it simpler...
Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...
You could not have possibly redesigned the app in a more less user-friendly or intuitive way. I am dead serious. It is probably the worst example of user interface design I’ve ever seen as a 34 year old. They need to fire whoever has been designing their UI lately IMO, because most of it has been awful or questionable.
So what features do you guys think will be cut ahead of release and pushed off to a later iOS 14.X update? Seems to happen every year now. I think Spatial Audio might be delayed.
I wonder if they are going to allow us to change our default mail and internet browser apps during the Beta.
Edit: Also I believe that "time picker" design was implemented prior to Beta 6.
The orange box around the time picker box is what changed in beta 6. It was not there in beta 5.
That spatial audio function sounds really weird. Why would I want the sound to appear like it's coming from my phone instead of playing directly into my skull as usual?
I think Spatial audio with movies is just a stepping stone until they release Apple AR glasses, when positioning audio relative to your environment will be a key feature for suspension of belief.
