Essential Apple User Magazine September 2021

James Gale Managing Editor Ironically, my next purchase for my Apple tech will be another PS4 controller for my iPad. I am tired of having to re-sync between hardware. Martin Smith Group Senior Designer If I could actually afford to buy anything new from Apple it would either be the hopefully-arriving-soon 27-inch M1 iMac or iPhone 13. I can but dream! Alan Hulme Staff Writer I need a new printer. Something that prints perfectly every time, never jams and uses ink tanks that don’t cost a fortune. I suspect I’ll be disappointed. David Hayward Staff Writer I'm looking at a Mac Pro, 28-Core Intel Xenon W, 48GB memory, dual Radeon Pro W6800X Duo with 64GB each, and 8TB of storage. I'll need to rob a bank. Ian Osborne Editor As my Apple Watch is a Series 1 model, it’s due an upgrade. I’ll wait…

At the time of writing, the Apple world is in a state of flux. We already know we’re getting some great new operating systems later this month (September 2021, if you’re reading a back issue), but what about new hardware? There will, of course, be an Apple keynote in the middle of the month, but what should we expect? A new iPhone is a no-brainer. Whether it’s the iPhone 13 or iPhone 12s has yet to be revealed, but it’s definitely coming. We’re also almost certainly getting a new Apple Watch, and there’s talk of a new range of laptops that benefit from the second generation of Apple Silicon Mac processors. It seems there’s never been a better time to invest in peripherals for your Apple gear, old and new. In this…

FaceTime As regular readers know, FaceTime is getting a couple of new microphone features. As well as the Standard setting, there’s also Voice Isolation, which focuses the outgoing sound on your own voice, cutting out ambient noise in the background. We’ve tested it, and we can honestly say Apple wasn’t exaggerating during the keynote demo when they blocked out a leaf blower in the background, by switching to Voice Isolation. Conversely, Wide Spectrum takes in ambient noise, for when you want the sound of the entire room. This works great too. Whether you prefer the regular Group Chat screen, with chatters’ tiles sized according to who spoke last or the new screen where their tiles are all the same size is a matter of taste, but we love the new look. If…

Universal Control Here at Essential AppleUser Magazine we love Sidecar, the iOS 14 feature that lets you use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac. iOS 15 goes one better with Universal Control, an amazing feature that lets you pool a single keyboard and mouse/trackpad over multiple devices, including a Mac and an iPad. Hurrah! Transferring files between your computer and your tablet is never an easy task, but with Universal Control, you can simply drag and drop them from one device to the other. You can even use it with three devices; at the Worldwide Developers’ Conference, Apple’s Craig Federighi used a single keyboard and trackpad to control an iMac, MacBook and iPad. We can’t see ourselves going that far very often, but Universal Control is undoubtedly an…

iCloud+ Naturally, macOS Monterey brings to the Mac some of the best features in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Safari’s getting a spruce-up, FaceTime gets the new audio and video features and obviously, Universal Control is here. But what’s unique to Monterey, and why are we excited? iCloud+ is a new service covering our mobile devices as well as Macs, but as it’s the computer that benefits the most from it, we’ll discuss it here. Previously, the only benefit in subscribing to iCloud as opposed to enjoying the free 5GB of storage you get for free is the greater capacity it offers. But Monterey introduces iCloud+, with additional features for those who pay for iCloud. How many times have you wanted to enter an online competition, but didn’t do so because you feared…

Sleeping Respiratory Rate Ever got up in the morning and felt like you never went to sleep? We certainly have. Maybe with watchOS 8 we can do something about that. The new watch operating system introduces Sleeping Respiratory Rate, which is your number of breaths per minute. To do this, Apple Watch uses the built-in accelerometer to measure your respiratory rate while sleeping, and this information can be viewed, along with trends over time, in the Health app on your iPhone. This metric is also available for developers to use with permission through HealthKit. Apple Watch can already track Time Asleep, Heart Rate and Blood Oxygen. The addition of Sleeping Respiratory Rate makes for an even more comprehensive set of analytical tools. Home Redesigned The redesigned Home app in watchOS 8 offers more convenient…