We’re taking some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US this week, so the next TidBITS email issue will come on 6 December 2021. Until then, look for new articles on our website and ongoing discussions in TidBITS Talk. Last week, Apple released iOS 15.1.1 (to address call drops on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13) and watchOS 8.1.1 (to fix charging problems on the cellular Apple Watch Series 7). Are you a supporter of the Right to Repair movement? Apple shocked the repair world by announcing its Self Service Repair program, in which Apple will sell parts and repair guides to help users repair their own devices. Wrapping up the issue, Adam Engst looks at the Weather app’s new notifications in iOS 15, and Josh Centers explores the new features of FaceTime in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey. Notable Mac app releases this week include FastScripts 3.0.1, Final Cut Pro 10.6.1, Keyboard Maestro 10.0.1, Default Folder X 5.6.2, PopChar X 9.3, Little Snitch 5.3.2, GraphicConverter 11.5.4, and Mimestream 0.30.5.
We’re taking the next email issue of TidBITS off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, although we’ll continue to publish articles on our Web site. You can look forward to the next email issue on 6 December 2021.
Apple has released iOS 15.1.1 exclusively for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 to address a bug causing dropped calls.
Apple has released watchOS 8.1.1 to address charging problems with the Apple Watch Series 7.
After lobbying against right-to-repair legislation for years, Apple has seemingly done an about-face by announcing the Self Service Repair program, which will provide genuine Apple parts, tools, and repair manuals to individuals who want to repair their Apple devices.
Thanks to Apple’s Weather app picking up features from Dark Sky, the company that Apple acquired in early 2020, you can now turn on next-hour precipitation notifications in iOS 15. But they aren’t reliable for some users—how about you?
New FaceTime features like links, grid view, and a Web client make FaceTime in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey more competitive with video conferencing apps like Zoom.
Watchlist
Major update to the macOS scripting utility with improved script execution and search functionality. ($39.95 new, $19.95 upgrade, 5.4 MB, macOS 10.15+)
Maintenance update for the professional video editing app. ($299.99 new, free update, 3.2 GB, macOS 10.15.6+)
Maintenance update for the popular automation and clipboard utility following its recent major upgrade. ($36 new, $25 upgrade, free update from version 10, 34.4 MB, macOS 10.13+)
Fixes a bug that could cause the Finder in macOS 12 Monterey to relaunch at login repeatedly. ($34.95 new, free update, 16 MB, macOS 10.10+)
Character discovery and font exploration utility adds support for Unicode 14.0, including Emoji 14.0. ($€29.99, free update, 5.5 MB, macOS 10.10+)
Improves installation and updating for the network traffic management utility. ($45 new, free update, 34 MB, macOS 11+)
Brings improvements and bug fixes for the Swiss Army knife of graphics programs. ($39.95 new, free update, 266 MB, macOS 10.9+)
Brings improvements and bug fixes to the native macOS client for Gmail. (Free, 8.5 MB, macOS 10.15+)
