Regarding tvOS, here’s my question and I’ll probably figure it out and come back:

So I bought a lot of content when it was iTunes and now I’m stuck with Apple TV who wants you to forget purchased content exists. ESPECIALLY family library shared content.

My question is, over the holidays can I have visiting family create a profile and then watched my purchased library content? With this new account-less profile, I wonder if there’s any way to access that content. Currently it has to be through an actual Apple ID tied to the family sharing account. The account it was purchased with is the primary account on the device. It sure would be nice if Apple would just make that content available on that device. That account purchased it, that account authenticated the device, I don’t see the problem.

Really tired of subscriptions and have bought a lot of the good stuff since there’s so little good new, but Apple makes it really hard to watch. They’re always trying to push to a subscription service over their own library.

Edit: I am pleasantly surprised to say that it works exactly the way I hoped it would. I easily made an account called Guest, went to the Apple TV app, and didn’t even had to go to family sharing. It was right there front and center in the Library tab. And sure enough selecting one started playing it right away.

This is great and just in time for the holidays when it will be especially useful.

I installed on my 15 Pro yesterday. It’s working just fine. I can’t say “happy fixes” because I had no problems at all with 26.1. Everything continues to work fine.

My wife still has 18 on her 13 mini and iPad Mini (though not for long) and occasionally doing things on her devices shows me that I still prefer 26 to 18. She hates when things change, so I’ve already warned her she’s not going to be happy about it.

It’s disappointing that if you want a larger lock screen clock display, iOS forces you to display your widgets at the bottom of the screen. If you want to those widgets to stay top aligned, you have to accept smallest time display.

And I’ll note that 26.2 doesn’t fix the Safari crashing after Reading List item delete bug I’ve been reproducing on every. single. attempt. Even with no extensions and not a single other tab open it still reliably crashes on this iPhone 15.

I’m seeing an iOS 26.2 bug with the new Screen Flash for Alerts feature (Accessibility —> Hearing: Audio & Visual —> Visual: Flash for Alerts). When I have this on and don’t wake my iPhone for a while, it’s gone and changed my screen brightness without my consent (I always have auto-brightness disabled in my Accessibility settings). Most of the time, it dimmed the brightness below where I had manually set it, though once it set the brightness to maximum (which is blindingly bright on an iPhone 17 Pro when used indoors in the evening).

As I find this bug far more annoying than the “cool” factor of the new screen flash (which I never got to actually witness), I have gone and disabled the new feature.

I doubt that non-account users will be able to watch/play purchased content. For example, with Homepods connected to an Apple TV my partner sometimes has to log into her account (profile) on the Apple TV and open the Music app in order to accept the terms and conditions and be able (once again) to request Apple Music on the Homepod.

But we can always be pleasantly surprised!

BTW- I vaguely recall that, more than a decade ago, there was a way to use the screen of a Mac to illuminate the user’s face when using iChat (a brilliant app that got downgraded to Facetime). I don’t think it caught on because it made the user look a little spooky (no offence intended Adam )

Lock Screen time customization: In another step back from Liquid Glass transparency, a new option lets you choose whether the Lock Screen time display is glass (below left) or solid (below right). Much more readable!

Making the clock solid is available in 26,1.

After upgrading my iphone16 to 26.2 and my ipad to 18.7.3 I am having difficulty hotspotting to my phone. It seems to drop out after a minute or so, if it connects at all. This also happened some time ago after software upgrades.

I will be upgrading the ipad to 26.2 soon and maybe that will fix it. Otherwise it’s another Reset Network Settings!

Also with regard to glass on the lock screen, shocker but it appears to be buggy like so many things to do with the lock screen.

If you turn the glass slider all the way down, some of the edges pick up unsightly streaks of background color in a way that is clearly not intentional.

I’d actually prefer the transparency slider for the lock screen keyboard. Once every week when I have to tap in my passcode, I can hardly recognize the keys because of lack of contrast to my background image. At least the clock transparency slider could be made to also apply to that lock screen keyboard.

Thanks! I misinterpreted Apple’s release note. I’ve updated the article to mention the transparency slider and provided a new screenshot.

The update giveth and taketh.

I had experienced an issue with iOS 26.1 where iOS would sometimes ask if I’d like to update details of a keychain item used to log me onto certain work web pages that require a 2nd factor (that I also have iCloud Keychain supply). Even though whatever was entered after I had authenticated with FaceID was 100% correct and logged me onto the site, iOS would often then bring up a dialog asking me if I wanted to update the Keychain item even though there was nothing at all to update. As of iOS 26.2, that is no longer happening.

OTOH, ever since updating my 14" M4 Pro MBP to macOS 26.2, I experience, when I first get to my MBP in the morning, that Mail has crashed sometime over night. There’s a little panel telling me it crashed and asking if I want to report. I can restart Mail and it works just fine, but then the next night it will crash again. Never had many issues with Mail and certainly never had these repeated overnight Mail crashes before the .2 update.

18.7.3 showed up for my iPads and was installed, however, I’m STILL waiting for it to show up for my iPhone.

Same here, iPad air 4 and iPhone 12 mini. Since I like to keep my devices on the same OS version and do not want to upgrade to 26 any time soon I will not be updating/upgrading at all. Not secure? Blame Apple!

Does the tvOS 26.2 feature of adding managed profiles require anything special?

I upgraded my 4K Apple TV to 26.2 in hopes that I could add a “Guest” profile for houseguests and our house sitter, but when I follow the directions on Apple’s support site, I don’t get an option to “Create Profile”, only to log in with an Apple ID.

I made sure the update was complete, and the Apple TV reports that it’s running tvOS 26.2.

Yes, I always wait until August before downgrading. I downgraded from iOS 17 to 18 last August and will do the same next August to 26. I do have Security Responses & System Files set to automatically install however.

It appeared for my iPad Air 4th generation a few days ago. It still hasn’t appeared for my iPhone SE 2020.

For all those waiting for iOS 18.7.3 to show up, I’m curious if restarting your iPhone causes it to see the update. Also, if you have a developer account or have signed up for the public beta, you can get iOS 18.7.3 through those channels even though the mainstream user base is only being offered iOS 26.2.

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As of last night, the answer was a definitive “no” on my iPhone 13 mini. I had rebooted the phone a few times since 18.7.3 appeared on the Apple Security Releases web page. iOS 18.7.3 was never visible on my iPhone, aside from when the beta option was selected.

I finally enabled the beta release stream on my iPhone and updated through that mechanism last night. It seems to be running without any issues, and I plan to stay on 18.x for as long as it is feasible.

Not for me. But I’ll take this opportunity to rant about entering my passcode after restarting. The initial screen seems to be on some sort of fixed timer that is not reset by entering a character. I consistently fail to enter my full passcode before the screen goes dark, then I need to wake the phone up and enter the passcode from the beginning. It’s poor attention to detail.

I don’t and I haven’t. Since I seem to be in an extreme minority by doing little browsing and running few apps on my phone, I’m content to wait.

iOS 18.7.3 not being available for 4 days, I convinced myself to upgrade my iPhone to iOS 26.2.

Upgrading went fast and without any problems. I eliminated or at least limited the Liquid Glass effects. However, I could not activate “Hold Assist” and “Call Screening”, functionality I had been looking forward to.

I am underwhelmed by the usability of 26.2. I find it hard to identify and locate the buttons I need to click to achieve the intended action. I am sure I will get used to it, but miss the elegant simplicity of iOS 18.

By the way, is it possible to change the clock icon from analog to digital?

What iPhone model are you using? I’m not sure if there’s a hardware requirement for those features.

At Six Colors, Jason Snell has a notable detail about OS 26.2’s security fixes that I’d missed:

Security updates in Apple’s 26.2 updates

Last week Apple released 26.2 updates to its operating systems, and if you’re on the 26 train, you should install .2 because it includes a bunch of security updates including some zero-days.

In its list of security update details, Apple credits a bunch of security researchers for discovering the issues. Among them is Rosyna Keller of Totally Not Malicious software—fantastic name—who found bugs in MediaExperience, Messages, and Telephony. Keller says that the Messages fix alone is worth updating to iOS 26.2, or if you’re still on iOS 18, updating to iOS 18.7.3.

Related: Due to health and other reasons, Keller has fallen on hard times and apparently hasn’t been compensated by Apple for the security reports. There’s a GoFundMe campaign to help the long-time Mac developer.

I am seriously annoyed by the overly elaborate user interface of iOS 26.2, even after having eliminated “Liquid Glass”.

I miss the simple, elegant and effective user interface of iOS 18, and heavily regret to have ever switched from iOS 18 to iOS 26.

Is there any way, even complicated, to return to iOS 18?

PS. I will not update my MacBook to macOS 26.

I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max that should support “Hold Assist” and “Call Screening”.

And what carrier?

A Swiss one: Sunrise, formerly UPC.

I was thinking some carriers might not support those features, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Are those features generally available in Europe?

I also was pondering whether Apple Intelligence might be related, but when I turned it off on my iPhone, the Hold Assist Detection option remained available in the Phone settings.

Interesting link, thanks @ace !

I think the page must refer to features for iPhones on contract. For instance, I have an O2 prepaid account and it has never had visual voicemail, which is listed as available from O2.

Where is this icon?

I am on a Mac Studio (M1) running 26.2.

I open FaceTime. I see myself. My external camera lights up. There is a green dot in the control center menu bar icon.

But no “green video camera menu bar icon”.

As far as I can tell there isn’t a way to turn it off. So I can’t turn it on.

???

You can see it in the screenshot in the article; it’s in the menu bar and should appear whenever the camera is active. Could it be blocked or not have enough room in the menu bar?

Strange. It appears when I launch FaceTime (version 36) on my M4 mini running 15.7.1 and a cheap 720p Logitec webcam. I assume this is a part of the FaceTime app, not some OS feature.

Right. I assume this is something MacOS does to make sure you realize the camera is on (and, now, allow for control over the Edge Light feature.)

It just isn’t there on my Mac Studio. I’ve searched around and don’t see any way to turn it off (or back on).

BTW, I have a MacBook Pro (M4) and the green camera icon works as expected on that.

The green video camera icon and its associated effects are all macOS features. They appear whenever an app asks for access to the camera. So it shows up in FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, etc.

I can’t explain that! Perhaps try a clean test account with just FaceTime running?

No. The green camera icon is the software equivalent of the green LED next to the built-in camera. It comes from macOS and is entirely independent of the app. If the app tells macOS to turn on the camera and deliver frames, macOS will display that green icon irrespective of what app loaded the framework and made the call. And it stays there until the camera is no longer polled for new frames, again irrespective of the app. Just kill -9 Zoom for example to see that in action.

Got it! I left FaceTime running on a restart, saw the green camera as I logged back in and then watched it disappear as one of my Login items launched, which was…

DisplayLink Manager!

I use DisplayLink Manager to extend my desktop to a 3rd display using a dock and a USB-A -=> VGA adapter.

The camera controls (including the new Edge Light) aren’t really gone though. It’s just that the “screen recording” icon takes over in the menu bar. You have to open that and then click “FaceTime” to see the FaceTime controls.

Not clear why MacOS thinks it is more important to tell you that your screen is being recorded than that your camera is on.

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Ah. Now it starts to make sense. I had thought that this was just a FaceTime menu item. But after reading @ace’s reply, I saw that it pops up for any video-using app. But, as you’ve pointed out, this icon is shared by screen-sharing software as well.

And of course, if two system settings (camera use and screen sharing) are vying for the same icon, only one will actually get it.

Someone gushing about Edge Light:

Obviously not.

See www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/enable-and-use-call-screening where its says “Call Screening is available in a limited set of languages and regions.”

Unfortunately, it is not available in Switzerland where I live.

Sone of it is available in Ireland, albeit randomly. My wife and I are both on Vodafone. She has an 11, I have a 16pro. She has visual voicemail, something I’ve never seen on any other phone in Ireland. I have witnessed Call Screening on mine, the text of the callers message scrolling down the screen, but not for the past few weeks. Comes and goes, but can’t depend on it.

For those who like the idea of Edge Light but are still using Intel-based Macs, Aron Lilland has now written Alight Desktop Ring Light, a $1.99 app that does much the same thing as Edge Light.