Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från MacFormat

Scan here to get the latest tech news in your inbox! It’s never been easier to do all kinds of fun and creative things with your Mac, iPhone and iPad – but if you’re looking for inspiration, this month’s lead feature (p20) can help. Delve in and you’ll discover some fresh and exciting ways to use your Apple devices – from music and movie making to finally writing that novel. Plus, we throw in some creative ideas for your Apple Watch too. One place your iPhone can be a great help is in the car – whether it’s finding your way from A to Z, or staying entertained on the go – and Apple has the perfect solution in CarPlay. Turn to p62, and you’ll discover exactly what CarPlay does…

The iMac is not the only Mac that could get a notable update in the coming months. Several sources have now suggested Apple has plans for its MacBooks, which could see new versions as soon as the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. Mark Gurman’s report also discussed Apple’s plans for the MacBook Air. Not only will Apple launch a new 13-inch model this year, Gurman claims, but the company will also release a 15-inch model. Meanwhile, news website 9to5Mac claimed it has learned that the new MacBook Air laptops will only get the M3, not the M3 Pro or M3 Max. There had been speculation that the 15-inch model could get an M3 Pro, but that’s apparently not going to be the case. Both laptops will be launched simultaneously…

£2,149 > Total cost with the optional tilt and height adjustable stand, plus nano-texture glass. 6 > Number of speakers in its stereo sound system. 1 billion > Total number of colours supported by the Studio Display. It has Wide Colour (P3) and True Tone too. 14,745,600 > Total resolution in pixels of the Studio Display’s 27-inch 5K Retina screen, which equates to 218 pixels per inch. 64GB > Amount of on-board storage in the Studio Display. However only 2GB of that appears to be used by the display. A13 Bionic > Chip that powers the Apple Studio Display, the same one used in the iPhone 11.# 3 > Number of USB-C ports found on the Studio Display’s rear. It also has one Thunderbolt 3 port with 96W host charging.…

For our latest subscription offer see page 34! There is little more thrilling for an Apple fan than getting to pick out a new Mac. You walk into the shop and tell the staff member which new essential work item you’re going to buy. Almost as thrilling is building your perfect machine in the online store. In recent years, that process has become a lot more confusing though. Products across the company’s range seem to have become more and more similar, and it’s not just across the Mac range. Some iPads are now so powerful it is hard to distinguish them from what we would traditionally think of as a laptop. So, for example, assuming you do not need the most powerful Mac and are mostly looking for portability, do…

NEW IDEAS Your in-depth guide to getting more from your Apple kit Contact us 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…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN Simple but powerful editing tools YOU’LL NEED Ulysses app (From £5.99/month), macOS 11 or later Generally speaking, there are two kinds of Mac writers. There are people who love Ulysses, and there are people who just haven’t tried it yet. We’re in the former camp; many of the contributions for this very magazine have been written in Ulysses. Ulysses is fast, and it’s easy to organise and search your writing. It’s available for iPhone and iPad and, most importantly, it’s easy to export your documents to pretty much anything; blogs, Word, PDF, ebooks, emails and more. Ulysses uses Markdown, a fast and finger-friendly way of formatting and organising documents that makes it an absolute breeze to repackage the same content in a…

IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to identify objects in the night sky using your iPhone or iPad YOU’LL NEED Night Sky, iOS 14 or later, iPadOS 14 or later Starting a stargazing hobby from scratch can feel like tackling an unfathomable mystery that can be understood only by a secret sect of ancient mystics. With so many celestial objects vying for your attention, identifying what’s what is often far from easy. But that’s not so with Night Sky installed on your iPhone or iPad. This brilliant app uses augmented reality (AR) to bring the sky to life. Just point your device’s camera into the night air and the app overlays a map of the stars, letting you pick out all manner of objects – natural and…

YOU WILL LEARN How VR headsets work Key fact Augmented reality (AR) – sometimes referred to as mixed reality (MR) – isn’t the same as true VR. Rather than creating an entire 3D virtual world, AR/MR glasses or headsets superimpose computer graphics over the real world that you see all around you. That’s already possible using games like Pokémon Go, which displays cute little critters on your iPhone screen, rather than an expensive headset. It’s been more than a decade since Apple launched the first iPad, back in 2010, and although Apple has introduced new products since then, such as the HomePod and Apple Watch, many people are waiting eagerly for ‘the next big thing’ that will take Apple into entirely new territory. A few years ago the rumour mill…

Q Why does the LG UltraFine display connected to my M1 MacBook Pro 16-inch wake up in a mess, set in a non-standard resolution, and with the Dock half way up the screen? A There are plenty of reports of similar problems with early releases of macOS 13 (Ventura), but before accepting that as the cause, you should check that the cable you’re using is good, and that there’s no problem with your Mac’s hardware. One test is to run hardware diagnostics from Recovery mode. Start your Mac up while holding the Power button until it announces that it’s loading startup Options. Once that has loaded, press and hold the Cmd+D keys until your Mac restarts and shows the Diagnostics Loader, then follow the instructions. In some cases, it may…

Q WhenI start up my iMac running macOS 13 (Ventura), I’m notified about loads of Background Items that are already installed. How can I stop that? by JACK LEE A Theseare now managed in Login Items in the General section of System Settings, but once set up shouldn’t cause repeated notifications on startup. The lower of the two lists shown there includes everything apart from macOS components that can be run in the background, some of which may appear puzzling. This problem should at least ease with the update to Ventura 13.3. Any that continue after that are probably the result of old software that needs to be updated or removed. If you can’t identify the culprit from info in the list shown in System Settings, you can get clues…

›£149 ›FROM urbanista.com ›FEATURES Light-powered charging case, 32-hour reserve battery, three audio modes (ANC, ambient, default), ear detection, Bluetooth 5.2, IPX4 water resistance The solar cell sits on one side of the case, and works with any form of light Mac FORMAT VERDICT Enjoy your audio by banishing battery limitations with the power of light. +Impressive battery life +Enjoyable audio - Bulky case -Fiddly gestures Back in MF374, we reviewed Urbanista’s solar-powered Los Angeles headphones. Now, the company has transplanted its light-fuelling tech into the compact Phoenix earphones. In the Los Angeles, a solar charging strip was integrated into the headband. It works differently in the Phoenix earphones. Each earbud is too small to fit any kind of solar panel, so instead a roughly two-inch-squared solar cell sits on one…

> Free; £2.99/month (£29/year, £149/lifetime) > FROM pcloud.com/pass.html > NEEDS macOS 10.15.0 or later, iOS 14.7 or later Provides strong foundations that meet or exceed current standards Mac Format VERDICT > Currently lacking some features, but adopt a watching brief on this – needs more development. ★★★☆☆ + Simple to use - Lacks core functionality - No 2FA security - Safari plug-in is basic Everyone needs a password manager to generate strong, uncrackable passwords and store them securely in a way that means we never have to remember them again. This increasingly crowded market gains a new entry – pCloud Pass debuted in September 2022 with a basic set of features that are constantly being refined and added to. The tool comes courtesy of pCloud, a well-established and trusted Swiss…

Apple is planning to launch a new iMac later in 2023, according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman. In some ways, this will be a minor update – Gurman says the all-in-one will get the same 24-inch display size and bright colour options as the current model. The main difference will be on the inside, however. Here, Apple will give the new iMac an M3 chip, which will be the company’s first Mac chip made with a 3-nanometre process. This means much greater performance and efficiency, and it will likely be a more significant step up from the M2 chip than the M2 was from the original M1. Gurman did not mention whether the iMac would get Apple’s more powerful chips – the M3 Pro and M3 Max – or if it…

APP OF THE MONTH Microsoft Outlook has long been available on the Mac, but it previously required a Microsoft 365 subscription. Well, no longer – Microsoft has updated Outlook so you can now use it for free, with no subscription or licence necessary. That might help it better compete with Apple’s Mail app, which is also free. Outlook for Mac natively supports Apple silicon Macs and works with Apple’s Handoff features, so you can easily shift work between your iPhone, iPad and Mac. It can handle multiple email and calendar accounts, providing a unified view where you can manage everything in one place. Future updates are set to include support for Focus modes and a menu bar peek feature that provides quick access to calendar events. Could Outlook tempt you…

The flexibility of what you can do with your Apple gear is amazing. Apple kit is so versatile; there’s all sorts of things you can achieve with a Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. And that’s what this article’s all about. We round up some of the best tips and tricks that let you do things you might not have anticipated. Want to use your iPad as a drawing tablet? You can. Would you like to ask Siri to remember where you parked your car? We show you how. Ever wanted to write a novel or screenplay on your Mac? Our tips show you the best way to start, and what to use. You can get an ECG, blood oxygen test and loud environment report directly from your Apple Watch…

IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to create and customise playlists in Apple Music for Mac YOU’LL NEED macOS 13 or later, Apple Music or iTunes Match sub (optional) If you’ve ever made a mixtape or mix CD for a friend or significant other, then you’ll know how to create playlists – carefully curated compilations of favourite tracks that you can’t wait to share. Playlists on Mac have existed since before the first version of iTunes in 2001 and, although they’ve been somewhat eclipsed by streaming audio and AI-generated ‘stations’ on Apple Music, they still have a part to play. That’s because playlists are easy to create and fun to dream up, and with Smart Playlists you can even get the Music app for Mac to do…

First launched with iOS 7.1 in 2014, CarPlay turns your car’s in-dash display into an iPhone display and controller in one. And it works brilliantly. With your iPhone hooked up to your car using either wired or wireless connections, you can easily use travel–friendly versions of apps such as Phone, Music, Messages and Maps and CarPlay supports a growing number of third-party apps too. Initially available on the 2014 Ferrari FF, CarPlay has now spread to over 300 car models from over 70 manufacturers, including household names such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. Plus, it’s available on a wide variety of after-market car head units too (we’ve included some options on p65) so even if you own an older vehicle, you may still be able to use CarPlay. CarPlay’s…

Group test Reviewed by ALEX BLAKE ON TEST… > Anker PowerConf C300 > Continuity Camera for iPhone > Creative Live! Cam Sync V3 > Kensington W2050 Pro > Logitech Brio 500 > Razer Kiyo Who really needs a webcam in 2023? After W all, MacBook cameras are getting better and, thanks to Continuity Camera, you can even use your iPhone as a webcam, saving you a bunch of cash. Isn’t buying a stand-alone model just a waste of money? Well, not exactly. A dedicated webcam can give you more than Apple’s offerings; from software tweaks and filters to privacy covers and built-in lighting. Plus, there’s the obvious problem that you can’t use your iPhone while it’s occupied with Continuity Camera. Taking the path laid out by Apple might not always…

£12.99 > FROM maxinferno.com > NEEDS macOS 10.13 or later Things start out easy but, as you progress, the puzzles get trickier Mac Format VERDICT > A relaxing puzzler that’s easy to dip in and out of. ★★★★☆ + Creative puzzles + Lovely visuals and audio - We’d love some story - A touch more explanation would be welcome For some people, keeping things neat and orderly is its own form of satisfaction. If you enjoy the challenge of ensuring everything exists in its proper place (while dealing with a meddlesome cat), A Little to the Left could be for you. Taken at face value, there are a lot of similarities between A Little to the Left and another Mac game, Unpacking. Both task you with organising household scenes…

EXPECTED NOV 2023 UPDATED APR 2021 iMac > From £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…

MacFormat, Future, Quay House, The Ambury Bath, BA1 1UA Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 www.futureplc.com facebook.com/macformat twitter.com/macformat To email, enter firstname.surname@futurenet.com EDITORIAL Editor ROB MEAD-GREEN Art Editor PAUL BLACHFORD Operations Editor JO MEMBERY Global Head of Design RODNEY DIVE Group Art Director JO GULLIVER CONTRIBUTORS EDITORIAL: Graham Barlow, Alex Blake, Matt Bolton, George Cairns, Kenny Hemphill, Charlotte Henry, Hollin Jones, Cliff Joseph, Carrie Marshall, Howard Oakley, Ian Osborne, Nick Peers ART: Apple Inc, Getty Images, Olly, Curtis, Phil Barker (Bath Photography Studio) ADVERTISING Chief Revenue Officer ZACK SULLIVAN Commercial Sales Director CLARE DOVE Head of Commercial – Technology DAVE RANDALL Senior Advertising Manager SASHA MCGREGOR Account Director ANDREW TILBURY INTERNATIONAL LICENSING MacFormat is available for licensing. To find our more contact us at licensing@futurenet.com or view our available content at…

The Apple Watch Ultra just became a little bit more tempting for the T scuba diving community thanks to the new Oceanic+ app from Huish Outdoors. The app unlocks the scuba diving potential of the Apple Watch Ultra, turning it into a personal dive computer on your wrist and making use of its depth gauge and water temperature sensors. Yes, I know what you’re thinking – finally! If you’re an Apple Watch Ultra owner, I bet every day you’ve been looking at the clunky yet feature-packed hunk of expensive metal on your wrist, with its virtually unscratchable sapphire crystal face, and thinking, ‘Gee, when will I be able to go scuba diving with this thing, Apple?’ Let’s be honest, like most people who own an Apple Watch Ultra, you use…

Apple is seemingly developing an annual tradition wherein the company updates its entry-level iPhone with a fresh colour in the new year. That has happened again in 2023, as Apple introduced a yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in March. It now means these iPhones now come in six colours: Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, (Product)Red, and the new Yellow. Last year, Apple made a similar move with the entire iPhone 13 range, which got new green models in two different shades, while Apple added a purple colour to the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini in 2021. The company also now often releases iPhone cases and Watch bands in new colours throughout the year. The yellow iPhone 14 models could be an attractive option to anyone who wasn’t enticed…

Samsung ViewFinity S9 £TBC > From samsung.com/uk > Apple’s Studio Display is an excellent monitor, but Samsung reckons it can do better with its ViewFinity S9. Right from the off, it’s clear that Samsung is aiming squarely at Apple. The ViewFinity comes with a 27-inch 5K panel that hits 99% of the P3 gamut. There’s a built-in colour calibration tool, a matt coating to ensure optimal viewing, plus DisplayPort, USB-C and Thunderbolt 4 ports. There’s also a detachable 4K webcam for pixel-perfect video calls. Samsung’s new monitor gets zero points for design originality (you may have noticed that the S9 looks eerily similar to the Studio Display), but that’s probably of little concern when it packs in so many impressive features. We’ll have to wait for pricing to see…

In association with Synology The iPhone has made it easier than ever to shoot photos and videos wherever you are – but saving copies on your iPhone or in iCloud Photos will only get you so far, especially with newer iPhones shooting up to 60MB per photo. The Synology Photos app, paired with a Synology NAS, can help by enabling you to keep your precious memories forever – and give you ready access whenever you need them. No monthly subscriptions required – you pay once, store forever. Synology Photos supports all the latest Apple photo features, including HEIC and Live Photos while keeping your photos’ metadata intact – making it easy to find images later whenever you need them. Plus, Synology Photos also supports facial recognition – need to find…

✔ For more than 25 years, we’ve been helping Apple fans get the most from their kit. ✔ Our tutorials and guides empower you with the knowledge to get things done in smarter and faster ways. ✔ MacFormat is for Apple fans of all experience levels. Whether you’ve just bought your first Mac, iPhone or iPad, or have been using one for years, we’ll ensure you don’t miss out on top tips and techniques. Choose your package! *Terms and conditions: Offer closes 30/4/2023. Offer open to new UK subscribers only. Pricing is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of any price changes. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue (up to eight weeks overseas). Your gift…

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use masks, creatively displace text, and perform nondestructive Raw edits YOU’LL NEED Affinity Photo 2, £69.99 Affinity Photo 2 lets you process Raw format files, edit images in layers and push pixels around to change reality! If you’re familiar with Adobe Photoshop then Affinity Photo 2 will be easy to adapt to and you don’t need to pay a monthly subscription. Affinity Photo 2 features a collection of new features, updated tools and interface tweaks that help this photo-editing app remain a viable alternative to Photoshop. One of the most useful new features is non-destructive Raw editing. This enables you to tweak the colours and tones of a Raw file even after it has become part of a layered document.…

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to preview your video feed on your Mac using Hand Mirror YOU’LL NEED Hand Mirror (Free, offers IAPs), macOS 12 or later With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, we found ourselves doing a lot more video calls than we were used to. Suddenly, the prospect of appearing in front of friends and colleagues with wild hair and strange clothing choices became all too real. Video calls aren’t going away but, fortunately, there’s an app that enables you to check you’re still looking great before joining a call. It’s called Hand Mirror, and it’s free to download. When installed, it places an icon in your menu bar that, when clicked, opens a small window that previews your video feed. That lets…

IT WILL TAKE › 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN › How to customise your Apple Watch YOU’LL NEED › An Apple Watch with watchOS 6 or later Genius tip! › Use your iPhone’s Shortcuts app to create custom automations for your Apple Watch. We use Shortcuts to change our Watch face at specific times. Watches are among the most personal devices we own, and that means every Apple Watch owner will want something a little different. watchOS’s Watch faces and Complications enable you to create all kinds of great combinations, with Apple’s own designs supplemented by Complications from Apple and third-party apps, but that’s not all you can customise. You can also change the way your Apple Watch displays your apps, how it responds to your movements and what it…

Q When I get my M2 Mac, should I continue using it as its Admin user, or create a separate Standard account? A You can work fully in either type of account. Differences between them are in privileges; users with Admin accounts can do almost everything, although for some actions like changing the main Library folder, and upgrading macOS, they’re prompted to enter their password. They can also create and remove other user accounts. Standard users can still install apps, but for actions requiring higher privileges they need to enter an Admin user’s name and password. Some find this protected environment more comfortable, as it can prevent errors. Whether it’s any more secure depends on your behaviour, and how often you have to enter an Admin user’s details. If that’s…

Q I rely on two fast Thunderbolt 3 SSDs for streaming large media files. Do I need to connect them directly to my Mac, or could they go through a Thunderbolt 4 hub? A A good hub like Satechi’s Slim Hub (see our review, p82) spares a port on your Mac, but could also limit the performance of those two SSDs if your Mac needs to access both simultaneously. With the hub connected to your Mac, total throughput to all drives connected to the hub at any time is restricted to the maximum for a single Thunderbolt port, and can’t in practice exceed 3GB/ sec. When reading from both drives simultaneously, that limits their individual read speed to 1.5GB/sec. Although unpredictable, some otherwise fast SSDs can show more limited write speeds…

Q When trying to update to macOS 13.2, each time my Mac finishes preparing the update, it loops back and downloads it again. How can I install it? A First, try restarting your Mac then looking for the update again in System Settings > General > Software Update. If it still won’t install correctly, start your Mac up in safe mode. If all else fails, ensure you’ve got a full recent backup and reinstall macOS in Recovery mode. On an Intel Mac, restart it with the Shift key held; on an Apple silicon model, start it up with the Power key held until it’s loading Startup Options, then select its disk, hold the Shift key and click on the Continue in Safe Mode button. Once you have logged in, open Software…

At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2022, Apple unveiled its plans for the future of CarPlay – and it looks incredible. While up until now CarPlay has been limited largely to a car’s in-dash display, its reach could soon extend even further, taking in any and all displays available in the car, including the instrument cluster. The aim is to create more of a unified and customisable in-car experience that’ll be better than the mish-mash of interfaces and usability options that car makers offer now – and car makers seem to agree. Apple already has Audi, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Porsche, Renault and Volvo on board, with others expected to join. This means that not only will next-generation CarPlay be able to offer up things…

›£1,149.95 FROM evnia.philips/uk-en ›FEATURES 34in Ultra Wide 21:9 curved monitor, Quad HD (3440x1440 pixels), Quantum Dot OLED, DisplayHDR True Black 400, 0.1ms response time, 10-bit colour, 1,000,000:1 contrast, KVM, 2x5W speakers, DTS Sound, tilt/height adjustable stand, 4-sided Ambiglow, 1x USB-C port (up to 90W PD), 2x HDMI 2.0 ports, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, integrated USB hub Mac FORMAT › A great-looking monitor that’s ideal for movies and gaming, although it’s a little lacking in brightness for day-to-day use. + Stylish Ultra Wide design + USB-C connectivity + Ideal for movies and games - Limited brightness Most monitors fall into one of two camps; they’re either boring black rectangles designed for corporate offices, or are RGB-strewn monstrosities aimed at gamers. The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600, thankfully, is neither. Clad in silver and white…

> Free; unlock Studio version £94.99 > FROM blackmagicdesign.com > NEEDS iPad OS 16 or later; A12 Bionic chip or later The app is equal parts video editor and colourgrading suite Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve has been a staple of the TV- and movieediting industries for some years and now the company has brought it to the iPad. You’ll need an iPad with an A12 Bionic chip or later but this does cover models as far back as the first 11-inch iPad Pro, thirdgeneration iPad Air and also the fifthgeneration iPad mini. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the app has been optimised for the much more powerful M1- and M2-chip models, and on pre-M series iPads you will face certain limitations such as topping out at HD resolution rather than Ultra HD. Due…