Fresh features can sweeten your iphone or android

• PAY LATER VIA APPLE PAY. Apple will let you split the cost of an Apple Pay transaction into four equal payments spread out over six weeks. Apple says it won’t charge fees or interest. • 

TRACK MEDICATIONS. The Health app added a section where you can track your medications and vitamins. To help build the list, you can scan a drug’s label. You can also schedule times to take

your medications, receive reminders and receive alert notifications of potentially dangerous drug interactions based on content licensed from Elsevier, a publisher of health and science

information. UPGRADED PHOTO SHARING • SHARE FAMILY PHOTOS. You snap numerous precious family photos. But so do your spouse, kids and grandkids. A new ICLOUD SHARED PHOTO LIBRARY feature will

let everyone in your family contribute pictures to a library that can be shared with up to five other people. You might share photos based on a particular date or the people in the

pictures. You can manually move photos to this shared library or tap a switch within the CAMERA to send photos there as you take them. You can also automate the process. Everyone with access

has permission to edit or remove pictures.  This Shared Photo Library feature had been delayed, but was added with the iOS 16.1 update. • STAY SAFE. You share passwords and data on your

phone with a spouse or partner. But if the relationship sours and that person turns abusive, your safety may be at risk. Apple teamed with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the

National Center for Victims of Crime and the Women’s Services Network to develop a new SAFETY CHECK tool found inside the device settings. It will let you “digitally separate” from abusive

partners. You can revoke a user’s access from all the apps and data on your phone, restrict access to your messages and prevent the person from viewing your location. ANDROID UPDATES WILL

HELP YOU PERSONALIZE • ENHANCE PRIVACY.  Google will introduce a color-coded PRIVACY & SECURITY settings page in Android 13 that it claims will give you more control over your

information. It's not available yet. PHOTOS AND VIDEOS and MUSIC AND AUDIO categories will replace the more vague FILES AND MEDIA category. A new PHOTO PICKER feature will let you

select individual photos or videos for an app to access without having to share your entire media library with that app. The new Android update will let you tie your language preferences to

specific apps. Google Meanwhile, the phone will preemptively delete stuff copied on to the device’s clipboard so apps can’t access older information. You can also require apps to seek your

permission before they can send you notifications. And users generally will have more say on what apps can see what data. • CHANGE LANGUAGES AS DESIRED. If you are multilingual or live in a

multilingual household, you may communicate differently depending on your circumstances. Inside SETTINGS, you’ll be able to tie your language preferences to specific apps. For example, you

might prefer English while using a banking app but use your native language in social media. • CUSTOMIZE LOOK AND FEEL. When Google overhauled the design of Android 12 last year with what

was dubbed Material You, it called it the biggest visual change in the history of Android. The idea was to come up with icon shapes and colors to adhere to your sense of style. It should

feel less dramatic this time around, but with Android 13 Google says it will go further with variants designed to accentuate the color scheme you’ve chosen. On a Pixel, for example, you can

turn on a THEMED ICONS toggle in SETTINGS to have supported apps, apart from Google’s own, consistently match the colors you’ve selected. The feature is still in beta. New media controls

will feature album art and also match the aesthetics. _This story, originally published June 8, 2022, has been updated to reflect the debut of the new operating systems and announcement of

new devices._ _Edward C. Baig is a contributing writer who covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for _USA Today_, _BusinessWeek_, _U.S. News & World Report_

and _Fortune_, and is author of _Macs for Dummies_ and coauthor of _iPhone for Dummies_ and _iPad for Dummies_. _