Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från MacFormat

We love this time of year. Not only are there brand new versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS and watchOS to play with, but new hardware to play them on too – with the M2 iPad Pro and iPad 10.9in (detailed on page 6) being just the two most recent examples. But it’s also great opportunity to treat ourselves and others to the gadgets and goodies we’ve been coveting all year, which is why on p58 you’ll discover this year’s Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide – an Aladdin’s cave of assorted accessories, carefully curated to match your Apple device and your lifestyle. We’ll hope you’ll find it both useful and inspirational. Talking of inspiration, turn to p20 and you’ll discover some of the incredible things you can do in iPadOS 16, while…

WFolding devices are all the rage at the moment, but Apple has been conspicuous by its absence. That could all change by 2024, according to analysts at CCS Insight, who predict that Apple will launch a foldable iPad in the near future. The analysts believe the folding iPad will be a dry run for a foldable iPhone. Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, explained that a folding iPhone would be “super high risk” for Apple for two reasons. Firstly, it would need to be very expensive (around $2,500, or £2,200) in order to not cannibalise other iPhones. And secondly, any issues with the new technology would lead to a “feeding frenzy” among Apple’s critics. However, Wood claimed Apple cannot ignore the current trend of foldable devices, so will…

1 C SEED N1 > €180,000 (about cseed.tv £190,000) > > This TV is the statement piece to end all statement pieces. Not only does the C SEED N1 incorporate a giant display that ranges up to 165 inches across, but it folds down into what the company describes as a ‘stunning piece of kinetic art’ that resembles a steel girder from a futuristic skyscraper. It’s not just eye-catching – it also boasts high-tech specs for a great viewing experience. The 16-bit microLED panel runs at 4K resolution and offers HDR10+, and there’s even a special surface coating that boosts colours and reduces glare. At €180,000, the N1 doesn’t come cheap, but we doubt anyone buying one cares. More important is the undoubted impression the N1 will leave,…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to see world times, set alarms, and use the stopwatch and timer YOU’LL NEED macOS 13 The Clock app does more than tell the time. It offers world time clocks so you can see what time it is elsewhere; you can set alarms that trigger at a time of your choosing; and it has a stopwatch with a digital or analogue display and a lap timer, as well as a countdown timer that lets you know when a certain period of time has elapsed. The Clock app has been a popular feature of the iPhone and iPad for many years, but with macOS Ventura, it finally comes to the Mac too. It doesn’t sync with iCloud, so your world clocks and…

PART 1 OF 3 IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to select a person and desaturate their background; adjust an individual colour’s hue, saturation and lightness YOU’LL NEED iOS 13 or later, Adobe Lightroom app (Free, IAPs) Adobe Lightroom is a powerful image organising and editing app that runs on iOS or macOS. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on the iOS version to demonstrate how you can creatively edit images from the convenience of your device’s display. You can enjoy using most of Lightroom’s tools on your iOS device for free. Simply download Adobe Lightroom for your iPhone In a few taps and swipes you can turn the background of your image to monochrome and creatively adjust the isolated colours of your subject. or iPad, sign in…

Quick-fire questions Can macOS check iOS backups for malware? > No it can’t. As far as we know, no Apple or third-party malware scanning software looks through your iOS backups. As they’re required to be encrypted if they’re to contain sensitive data such as health information, that puts them even further from the reach of any malware scanning. Why should a new app warn it’s short of memory? > Unlike macOS, iOS and iPadOS can’t use ‘swap’ memory to extend the physical memory in the device. When an iPhone or iPad starts running short of memory, all it can do is quit other apps running in the background to free up as much as it can, and that’s when you’ll see this warning. Keeping copies of your Passkeys Q…

Sixties crooner Andy Williams wasn’t wrong when he said Christmas was “the most wonderful time of the year”. And that’s especially true if you’re an Apple fan. For over the next 12 pages, you’ll discover some incredible gifts that’ll help you make the most of your Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch – from more affordable accessories to premium peripherals, curated and arranged into categories to make them easy to find. So pour yourself a glass of delicious eggnog, settle into your cosiest chair and indulge in this year’s Gift Guide – we’re sure you’ll find plenty to surprise and delight you, and if you hint hard enough, you might even find them under your tree on Christmas morning. Audio & video 1 Apple AirPods Pro (2022) £249 apple.com/uk Apple…

MEDICATIONS REMINDERS The new Medications feature lives in the iPhone Health app and uses your Watch to remind you when and what to take. Tell it what medications you want to be reminded of – you can specify the shape and even the colours for easy identification – and when you want to be reminded. Your Apple Watch will do the rest. Medications is really useful for people who have to take multiple medications at different times of day, or for anyone who sometimes forgets their meds because they were busy doing something else. F ormany of us, the killer apps for the Apple Watch are its health and fitness features. watchOS 9 improves that already impressive collection with new SWOLF efficiency ratings for swimmers, better tracking of triathlons, significantly…

Group test ON TEST… > Bear > iA Writer > Microsoft Word > Pages > Scrivener > Ulysses Whether you write for a living or just jot down the odd idea here and there, the chances are you’re going to need a good writing app for your Mac. But what’s the best port of call for your needs? We know what you’re thinking – your Mac already comes loaded with Pages, so why would you need anything else? Well, fear not, as we’ve included Apple’s app in this group test. But we wanted to see what else is out there and if anything offers a better all-round package. If you’re a loyal Pages user, you might be surprised by what’s on offer. We’ve brought together the best apps in the…

> £9.95 >FROM coconut-flavour.com >NEEDS macOS 10.12 You can see a device’s current charge and full capacity in mAh macOS provides some detail on the health of the battery in your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, including usage history and an indication of overall health. But it’s pretty basic. To find out more about the state of the battery and its performance, you’ll need a third-party solution, and that’s where coconutBattery 3 comes in. Available in standard (free) and Plus versions, coconutBattery enables you to keep a close eye on the battery health of your Mac and iOS devices, and log it over time. As well as the basics like the current temperature, the number of charging cycles and health, coconutBattery enables you to see data like a device’s current…

iMacFrom£1,249 Ever since the Bondi Blue iMac debuted in 1998, Apple’s all-in-one desktop computer has been setting standards for design and performance. The current 24in model is certainly Apple’s finest yet – thanks to its 4.5K (4480x2520) Retina display and the Apple-designed M1 chip, which is available with either an 8-core CPU/7-core GPU at the entry-level, or an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU on the mid-range and top-tier versions. All models come with 8GB of memory as standard (upgradeable to 16GB), with solid-state drive (SSD) storage ranging from 256GB on the entry-level and mid-range versions to 512GB on the top tier, although you can add more – up to 1TB on the entry-level and up to 2TB on the mid-range and top-tier models if you wish via Apple’s build-to-order options. Available in…

LETTER OF THE MONTH! APPLE STORE PRAISE I had an Apple Watch Series 5 that was giving me a bit of trouble. I couldn’t answer phone calls and Siri had stopped working. I figured it was a faulty microphone. I contacted Apple and within a few minutes a helpful and patient employee was on the line to talk me through a fix. Yet although I was on the phone for about an hour, he was unable to instigate a repair. I figured it was time for an upgrade. I went out to a big-brand electronics store that’s store just 400 metres from my home. I went over to the empty Watch department where two employees were discussing something on screen. I looked at them but they studiously ignored me. And…

PRIZE WORTH £605! ICreating a large storage drive or RAID box for your home usually means relying on slow HDDs to hold all your files. If you’ve been looking to get something a little speedier for your movies, music and backups, you’re in luck. This issue we’re giving away an OWC Mercury Pro U.2 Dual storage bay loaded with two blazingfast 2TB NVMe drives. When we reviewed this nippy device in MF380, we hit write speeds of 1,779MB/sec and read speeds of 1,747MB/sec. We were able to zip across a 30GB disk image in a mere 10 seconds, while 5GB of files and folders transferred so quickly the macOS dialog box didn’t even have time to appear. Talk about speed! While there’s no network capability (meaning it’s not a NAS…

NEW IDEAS Your in-depth guide to getting more from your Apple kit Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com Master Apple shortcuts macOS ç is the Command key, which is also labelled cmd. å means the Option key, labelled alt or opt. ≈ means the Control key, labelled ctrl, and shown as ^ in shortcuts in the menu bar. ß is the Shift key. ∫ is the Delete key, which deletes to the left. ƒ+∫ deletes to the right. † is the Tab key, which shifts the focus between some controls. iOS A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is to move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content. Swipe means move one or more fingers…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to arrange and save window layouts using Warp YOU’LL NEED Warp (£8.99), macOS 12 or later Warp works with Split View, spans across multiple monitors, and persists across restarts If you’re a Mac power user, you’re probably a little dissatisfied with Apple’s own window management tools. Sure, there’s Split View and a few options accessed from an app’s green traffic light button, but there’s not much customisation to be found. You’re basically stuck with the limited options Apple gives you. Or are you? There’s a nifty little app called Warp that can fix that problem. It lets you save window layouts and then launch them with a keyboard shortcut, saving you the hassle of constantly rearranging your apps. It works with…

YOU WILL LEARN About the features and capabilities of Apple’s MagSafe technology MagSafe allows the charging cable to pull away without causing damage Apple has an annoying habit of removing popular or useful features from its products – often just so that it can make them a little bit slimmer and more elegant. The headphone socket on the iPhone, and the HDMI port on the MacBook Pro have both been ditched in recent years so that Apple can shave a couple of millimetres off the size of the device. Key fact The magnets inside the iPhone and other MagSafe charging devices are precisely aligned to ensure that the iPhone always stays in contact with the induction coil that carries power from the charger – even if the iPhone starts vibrating…

Quick-fire questions Should I save my photos in JPEG or HEIC format? > HEIC wasn’t supported until High Sierra, but delivers more efficient compression at each level of quality. For images only accessed by Macs and Apple devices, it’s preferred and usually the first choice for iOS cameras. JPEG is more universal, and supported elsewhere, on websites and social media. How to eliminate promoted tweets from Twitter? > Although the Twitter app is popular and supports new features, many prefer thirdparty alternatives like Tweetbot and Twitterific, both available from the App Store. These work slightly differently so can have a slight time-lag, particularly with DMs, but you only get to see the tweets of those you follow, with no promotions at all. Make a movie from your slideshow Q What’s…

T heysay you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but Apple seems to have done just that with watchOS 9. The latest and best version of Apple’s wearable OS is packed with improvements across almost every aspect of the Apple Watch experience, and in many ways it delivers on the promises made in watchOS 8; its Focus modes are much more useful now, its workouts are much more customisable and deliver much more information, its sleep tracking is more detailed and its accessibility features are even better. There are also some important interface tweaks, including not just three new watch faces but big improvements to the existing ones and much more choice when it comes to colours and complications for Apple and third-party apps. That alone…

The iPhone 14 Plus gives you an extra six hours of battery life VERDICT A much bigger screen and longer battery life make this the iPhone 14 to own. ★★★★☆ 6.7in display Up to 26 hours of battery life Excellent build iPhone Pro models deliver better value A pple’s iPhone launch event in September was notable for two things: the demise of the highly praised, but poorly selling iPhone mini; and the re-emergence of the iPhone Plus – aphone Apple last launched in 2017, the same year the England women’s football team won the World Cup and Prince Harry got engaged to Meghan Markle. How times have changed. While the 2017 iPhone 8 Plus sported a 5.5in Retina HD display, A11 Bionic chip and up to 256GB of storage with…

The six apps can more or less be divided into three camps: Distraction-free apps such as Bear and iA Writer, straightforward prose editors like Word and Pages, and the more in-depth offerings like Ulysses and Scrivener. While iA Writer will win favour from focused fanatics, it feels a little too onedimensional compared to rivals. Bear is in a similar spot, and neither app is able to fight its way to the top. Pages and Word trade blows almost equally – Pages draws ahead with its creative layout tools, while Word punches back with its excellent interface and range of tools. Yet neither Word nor Pages boasts the organisational chops of Ulysses and Scrivener. We adore Ulysses, and it’s clear it has been made with love and a true understanding of…

>£4.49 >FROM papersplea.se >NEEDS iOS 11 or later Diplomatic tensions are high; each day the rules on who can be allowed in change Lucas Pope’s border control thriller was a sure thing on a touchscreen. The nature of the game – stamping passports at the immigration desk of a totalitarian country in 1982, solving the puzzles of who to let in and who to keep out with one eye on your own advancement and your family’s safety – suits the medium perfectly. We’ve brought our documents to this desk before. Papers, Please received an iPad release in 2014, but this new version is universal, allowing iPhone users in on the immigrationbased gameplay. Diplomatic tensions are high in Arstotzka, and paranoia abounds, but our interactions are limited. Having won a lottery…

The Mac Pro hasn’t been updated since 2019, and although Apple teased its upcoming transition to Apple silicon chips at WWDC in June, we’ve heard nothing since. But, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, big things could be on the horizon. In his Power On newsletter, Gurman explained the Mac Pro might not arrive until early 2023. Apple could then offer chips that are “at least twice or four times as powerful as the M2 Max” to power the Mac Pro. Gurman dubs these chips the M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme. He goes on to state that these chips could come in a couple of variations: a 24-core or 48-core CPU, a 76-core or 152-core GPU, and up to 256GB of memory. That would outshine the M1 Ultra, Apple’s most powerful…

[ MAC APP] Spark Free (IAPs) The best email app gets even better Considering we all use email practically every day, finding a great email client can make all the difference. There’s no doubting that Spark is one of the best email apps available, and it’s just had a major update that takes it to even greater heights. It’s all centred on what Spark’s developers call “intentional productivity”. That means the things that matter to you are targeted first. Emails from real people sit at the top of your inbox, and messages you’ve dealt with can be marked as ‘done’ and removed from the inbox. There’s a new Command Center that works like Spotlight, giving you quick access to tasks with a simple keyboard shortcut. There are reams of other…

Throughout its history, Apple has put a high value on user privacy. This has become an even more fundamental part of its branding and messaging in recent years. At every product launch, the company highlights privacy and security features. CEO Tim Cook, promoting a video discussing Apple’s approach to privacy, tweeted: “Privacy is a fundamental right and we build it into all our products and services at Apple.” For some Mac fans, though, those features are not enough. Many like to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to add a further layer of protection, particularly when using insecure public networks. A VPN provides those users with a private network. The so-called ‘VPN tunnel’ means data is passed as if a device is directly connected to a private network. Many VPN…

APPLE SKILLS Mac software 1 Sidebar Opera GX’s sidebar contains quick shortcuts to music players, Twitch streaming, messengers, and more. 2 Built-in tunes You can pin any sidebar item, including Apple Music, for easy access while you’re browsing. 3 Extra settings You can add messengers such as WhatsApp and Telegram from this menu, among other settings. 4 Personalise the app Use this menu to change the app’s theme, toggle ad blockers, enable background music, and more. 1 2 3 4 IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use the music, streaming, and gamesrelated features of Opera GX, and more YOU’LL NEED Opera GX, OS X 10.11 or later Even if you don’t care a jot for games, there’s still plenty on offer here…

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to control your smart home devices in the Home app on Mac YOU’LL NEED macOS 13, and one or more HomeKitcompatible smart devices The Mac version of Apple’s Home app has always seemed like a bit of an afterthought – especially as it was only released with Mojave in 2018, two years after the app first appeared on the iPhone. And, to be honest, it hasn’t made much progress since then, with Amazon’s Alexa attracting far more support from manufacturers of smart lights, security cameras and other smart home devices. But, behind the scenes, Apple has been working with Amazon and other companies over the last couple of years to develop a new smart standard called Matter, that will allow smart…

Quick-fire questions Why does my Mac’s computer name change? > This can happen when a Mac thinks it can see another Mac using the same name, so changes its own to avoid the conflict. Some versions of macOS are prone to this, and may do it when renewing a DHCP lease with a router. Correct the name in the Sharing pane if it bothers you. Is it worth limiting IP address tracking? > This depends on whether you have an iCloud+ account. Without that, it tries to hide your IP address from known online trackers loaded by websites, which is helpful. With iCloud+, though, you can enable iCloud Private Relay, which works much better and covers websites as well as known trackers. Syncing iCloud across Macs Q My Macs and…

NEW FACES watchOS 9 updates many existing watch faces and introduces three brand new ones; the classy Metropolitan, the beautiful Lunar, and the bubbly Playtime. T hewatchOS 9 update should delight pretty much every kind of Apple Watch user from fitness fanatics to those of us with a more laid-back lifestyle. One of our favourite features is the ability to have different watch faces for different Focus modes, so for example you might have one face and set of complications for driving, another for the gym and something completely different for school or work. There are some great new watch faces, and many of the existing ones have been given more options and complications too. More power! We particularly like the new Low Power Mode, which is a vast improvement…

From £8 per month FROM plume.com/en-GB/virginmedia FEATURES HomePass security service, with Wi-Fi sensing and parental controls; 2x SuperPod mesh routers You don’t need to be a Virgin customer to buy the HomePass service or use the SuperPods MAC FORMAT VERDICT The HomePass service could be useful for some people – but others may just buy a new router instead. ★★★★★ +Easy to set up and use +Advanced security -Requires monthly subscription -Wi-Fi 5 only Many manufacturers will sell you a new router and then do their utmost to also sell you a monthly subscription service that provides additional security features or parental controls. Plume does things the other way around, signing up customers to its HomePass subscription service for £8 per month, and then including two of its SuperPod mesh…

£72 FROM myexcitrus.com/en-gb FEATURES 10,000mAh wireless power bank, MagSafe compatible, 1x USB-C port (with 30W Power Delivery fast charging), 1x USB-A port, battery charge indicator, 142.2x50.8x17.78mm, 258g MAC FORMAT VERDICT A compact and lightweight battery pack that provides a decent dose of power. ★★★★☆ +MagSafe compatible -Less powerful than 100W Power Bank This is the second Excitrus power bank we’ve looked at, having tested the 100W Magnetic Wireless Power Bank in MF381. While that model was capable of delivering up to 100W of PD charging and came with two USB-C ports, one USB-A port and MagSafe wireless charging, it was hefty at 195.6x84x25mm and 482g, making it better suited to a bag than your pocket. The NitroCharge 30 Pro here is smaller and lighter at just 142.2x50.8x17.78mm and 258g, but…

Free (Pro subscription £4.99/month, £29.99/year, £49.99 lifetime) FROM focusedwork.app NEEDS macOS 12 or later You can specify individual websites or apps to block during a session Focused Work is an app that’s designed to help you with two problems related to working on your Mac. The first is when you can find yourself distracted by things like social media and become less productive. The second and somewhat opposite problem is when you work too hard for too long, causing a sense of burnout. Michael Tigas developed the app to help with his own working methods and a desire to be more productive. Running on your Mac but also syncing to iOS versions of the app via iCloud, it is not as you might perhaps expect an app that ‘blacks…