iPad & iPhone User 179

A fter iOS 15.3 was mainly bug fixes and security updates, iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 is Apple’s biggest iOS 15 update so far, with a slew of new features and updates for your iPhone and iPad. Here’s everything that’s in the update and how to install it on your device. NEW FEATURES Universal Control The only feature specific to iPadOS 15.4, you can finally try out Universal Control. It was supposed to release last autumn, but was delayed until spring 2022. The feature, which lets you drag and drop files between an iPad and Mac running macOS 12.3, as well as share keyboard and mouse wirelessly between them, can be found in the AirPlay & Handoff tab in the General Settings. There, you’ll see a new Cursor and Keyboard option. Learn all…

If you subscribe to Apple One or Apple TV+, Apple may soon have a new iPhone to sell you. According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple has been working on a new subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware products that will let customers subscribe to Apple hardware with a monthly recurring payment. According to Gurman’s sources, Apple has been working on the subscription programme for several months and is expected to launch it at the end of 2022. Unfortunately, that’s all the detail we have right now. We don’t know anything about pricing, bundles, which Apple hardware would be offered (other than the iPhone), or terms for trade-ins and upgrades. Apple already offers the iPhone Upgrade Programme in the UK, US and China, which lets users pay for a new…

Negotiators in the European Union have agreed to sweeping new rules that could change the very fabric of Apple’s iMessage service. In a recent press release (fave. co/3qMkm37), the European Parliament announced that there is a provisional agreement between Parliament and Council negotiators on the Digital Markets Act that seeks to “ensure fair competition and more choice for users”. During a close to eight-hour long trilogue (three-way talks between Parliament, Council and Commission), EU lawmakers agreed that the largest messaging services (such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms, if they so request. Users of small or big platforms would then be able to exchange messages, send files or make video calls across messaging apps, thus giving them more choice. As…

Every time there’s a big iOS update – either a major yearly release or a particularly feature-packed point release like iOS 15.4 – you’ll find users complaining that their battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. On social media, users will complain of significant battery drops just hours after the update. Those who follow this closely have maintained that this is to be expected. The operating system is performing background operations, optimizing all sorts of data and sometimes doing stuff like rescanning your photos with new machine learning algorithms, which increases battery drain. Not to mention that battery management is handled by sophisticated algorithms that may need several charge-and-drain cycles to adapt. In a rare official comment on the matter, the Apple Support Twitter account confirmed this to be true: Thanks…

No sooner does the iPad Air get the super-fast M1 processor than talk begins of its iPad Pro sibling getting an even faster chip. The latest report claims Apple will release an iPad Pro with an M2 in the autumn of this year. The usually reliable Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman makes the prediction in his Power On newsletter (fave.co/3IT7COh). The analyst claims the next iPad Pro will appear between September and November 2022, roughly a year and a half after the last one, and represent its most significant update since the all-screen redesign in 2018. Aside from the M2, Gurman has pointed to MagSafe wireless charging coming to the Pro along with a new glass back, although one or both of these changes may have been abandoned since he originally made the…

With the tag line ‘Peek Performance’, Apple’s first event of 2022 contained a surprisingly robust array of new stuff. The thirdgeneration iPhone SE was expected, but we also were introduced to a new iPad Air and green iPhones. Here’s a brief look at everything Apple announced at its spring event. APPLE TV+ FILMS AND FRIDAY NIGHT BASEBALL Apple began the event by highlighting the critical success it has had with Apple TV+, particularly its original acclaimed movies CODA and The Tragedy of MacBeth. Then it previewed some new films such as Spirited and Lucky. We maintain a list of all the upcoming shows, series and movies on Apple TV+. But the big announcement was a new Friday Night Baseball feature. In partnership with the MLB, Apple TV+ subscribers (and for a limited time, non-subscribers)…