Innehållsförteckning för October 2018 från MacLife

A few months back we asked you to give us your candid views on Mac|Life, to learn what you really want from the mag — a pretty standard reader survey. We haven’t canvassed opinion for a few years now, so I was excited to get your thoughts. All 788 of them. That might not seem a big deal when our readership is about 40 times that figure. But in relative terms it’s still a huge response (industry analysts would love that kind of return), and that’s why it’s taken a while to sift through all your responses and comments. Thankfully, it appears the majority of you are happy with the way the magazine is headed, which is good news. But you won’t hear a sigh of relief from me, because…

APPLE HAS ANNOUNCED that from October 1, its affiliate program will no longer apply to iOS and Mac apps and in–app content. All other content types — music (including Apple Music subscriptions), movies, books, and TV — remain in the affiliate program. The change will impact most on small independent websites that review mobile games and other apps, some of which have depended on receiving a commission on purchases made through their affiliate links. App developers will also no longer be able to earn that little bit extra when they refer buyers to the App Store who then purchase their apps. Apple says the change comes about following the launch of the new App Store on iOS and macOS “and their increased methods of app discovery.” In other words, Apple…

SAMSUNG HAS DEVELOPED an unbreakable flexible OLED screen. Samsung supplies the screens for Apple devices including iPhone X, so this new technology could one day make it into future iPhones. The technology was previewed in May at this year’s Display Week trade show, and has since been certified by the Department of Labor’s Underwriters Laboratory, meaning it has passed rigorous testing, including being dropped 26 times from a height of 4 feet without damage and withstanding extreme temperatures. The screen has “an unbreakable substrate and an overlay window securely adhered to it,” so it may forgo the glass that is the weak point in other display designs. Separately, in July, Corning introduced Gorilla Glass 6, a new version of the tough glass used in many modern phones. It is reportedly…

Will you buy the new Macbook Pro? With the 2018 MacBook Pro now on sale — and costing more than ever — we wanted to know if you’re planning on purchasing a new machine. My mid–2012 MacBook Pro works fine. It has a 2.7 GHz processor and is maxed out with 16GB memory; you can never have too much. I don’t need much storage either, so the 500GB SSD is just right. DON BOLIN No – I have a 2015 MacBook Pro with plenty of ports. What I’m waiting for is the new 12.9–inch iPad Pro as 90% of what I do is on the iPad. I’m sure I won’t need a MacBook much longer. TOM SLAYTON I actually bought my 2016 MacBook Pro (15–inch) with video editing in mind.…

MY MAC WON’T START ARE YOU ASLEEP? Your Mac may have crashed while it was sleeping. Hold the power button until it shuts down with a faint clunk. After a few seconds, power it on again. CHECK POWER When you press the power button, is there a startup chime, whirring, lights, a faint glow on the screen? If not, is the power cable securely connected? Is the mains socket switched on? Swap sockets. If you have another compatible power cable, try it. If not, swap out the fuse in the plug for a new one. NO DISPLAY If the Mac shows life but the screen stays dark, is it a separate monitor? Check its power and data cables. Check its menu options, including input selection. If you haven’t used it…

GRANTED, MACS AND iOS devices come with great built-in apps and tools. Sometimes, though, you’ll want to stretch the ability of your Apple kit just a little further. That’s where the phrase ‘there’s an app for that’ comes in, of course — and from the millions that are available, we’ve carefully built this collection of essentials to save you time doing it yourself. Whether you’re looking for a better way to focus your ideas; need to expand your workspace while on the move; looking for a more efficient way to work with documents, or want to push your creativity further, we’ve compiled the ultimate app shopping list. Many are free, and those with a price attached are definitely worth splashing some cash. Read on to discover the apps that will…

GOT AN APPLE TV? Hold a finger on Screen Mirroring in Control Center, and you can mirror your iPad’s display to a nearby Apple TV. Some apps go further: with Keynote for iPad, you can run a presentation on the connected screen, and use your device’s display for notes and a next slide preview. MINDNODE $9.99 mindnode.com Mind–mapping is a useful way of expanding thoughts that might otherwise disappear, adding detail and exploring connections. But paper is inefficient for such diagrams — you’re much better off using MindNode. This app enables you to create a mind–map from a bullet–point outline, gradually working outwards from a single thought. MindNode is beautifully designed, touch–friendly, and feature–rich, whether you primarily work on iOS or would prefer MindNode’s iCloud Drive–supported desktop version. Notability $9.99…

$4,699 From Apple, apple.com Display 2880x1800–pixel Retina display Processor 2.9GHz Intel Core i9 Memory 32GB Storage 2TB Fusion Drive Graphics AMD Radeon Pro 560X 4GB Connectivity 4x Thunderbolt 3 ports, 3.5mm headphone jack, 802.11ac Wi–Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 720p FaceTime HD camera MACBOOK PRO (15–INCH, 2018) + Core i9 is appealing + Display and keyboard + 32GB memory option - Graphics processor can seem weak Don’t turn the page in horror at the huge price above just yet — the latest 15–inch MacBook Pro doesn’t have to cost nearly the same as an entry–level iMac Pro. That price is for the high–end specification Apple provided for testing, which includes some pricey build–to–order parts. In fact, the only upgrade Apple left out was its 4TB SSD option. You don’t have to pay…

$19.99 From Serif, affinity.serif.com Made for iPad Air 2, iPad Pro, iPad (2017) or later Needs iOS 11.0 or later Bringing desktop apps to mobile is hard. Most developers settle for a subset of features. But Affinity Photo for iPad broke that mould, delivering complete professional image manipulation. Now Serif is back with a full–blown vector drawing app. Affinity Designer looks a lot like the Mac version with which it shares most of its code, yet feels totally at home on the touchscreen. We tested it on a 10.5–inch iPad Pro, and if Apple wanted to demonstrate the power of its Metal graphics engine running on the A10X processor with the ProMotion high refresh rate screen, it really couldn’t ask for more. Graphics apps often come set to low resolutions…

Free (IAPs) From Kevin Reutter, kevinreutter.de Made for iPhone, iPad or iPod touch Needs iOS 11 or later Planny is a day–planning tool with a smart built–in assistant. It draws up a stream of jobs each morning, pulled from lists, stuff you didn’t get done yesterday, and your regular routines — the latter of which are tasks that you set to repeat on a daily or weekly basis. The way they’re presented helps you think about what needs to be done, and you can change the order, set deadlines (for which notifications will pop up), and add notes that appear when you press harder with 3D touch. The Planny workflow is very smooth, automatically dropping you down to the next line each time you add a task, so you can…

$0.99 From Yakow! Limited, collectionsapp.co.uk Made for iPhone, iPad or iPod touch Needs iOS 11.0 or later If you’re anything like us, your Camera Roll will be full of picture memos: books you’ve spotted in shops that you might read one day, clothes you might buy, places you’d like to eat… you’ll also have a host of memos, thoughts, and half–formed wish lists in Notes. Collections lets you keep the two together — groups of photos with annotations, neatly organized however makes the most sense. So, if you’re shortlisting a new car or researching next year’s vacation, you can snap options and inspiration whenever you come across them, add notes, prices and locations, and come back to them later. You can create as many collections as you need, each containing…

Free (IAPs) From PearlMountain Technology Co., Ltd, DesignEvo.com Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 9.0 or later Getting a great logo for your company, social media, or neighborhood organization can be a big help towards recognizability and success. Fortunately, DesignEvo is one of a growing number of iOS apps that lowers the barrier to get started with crafting your brand. DesignEvo offers a broad set of templates, objects, and tools to create your own logos. To get started, you pick a template from a variety of categories. Then you can customize colors, add text and objects, continuing to move and resize accordingly until your logo is exactly as you need or envisioned. There are useful tools for tweaking everything in a template. For example, a logo of an…

$0.99 From Than Toan, cakeogame.com Made For Universal Needs iOS 10.0 or later Most complaints about watchOS games boil down to poor graphics or lack of sound effects. Wing Shooter scores high marks on both fronts, although the visuals are almost too detailed for the tiny screen, rendering play an awkard challenge. A mix of classics Galaxian and Space Invaders, Wing Shooter puts Apple Watch owners on the front lines of an aerial battle matching wits with aliens. This is a great one to show skeptical friends how good games can be on a Watch. Players turn the digital crown to evade incoming enemies or aim blasters; pick up the occasional yellow badge and you’ll become equipped with more powerful weapons like a laser or lightning storm to wipe out…

There’s a big, obvious clue in the name: creating a smart home is all about making your home smarter. And that doesn’t just mean scattering chatty speakers or app–controlled routers around. Sometimes, it’s important to emphasize the ‘home’ portion of the equation — a true smart home is one that keeps close tabs on itself, feeds that information back to you, and adjusts your environment either automatically or on demand. This isn’t about being lazy, although that’s a fun side effect of most smart kits. You’ll still need to be involved, in some small way, since the majority of climate–focused devices don’t yet know how to open or close a window by themselves. But going smart can help you to spot things you otherwise might not have known about, and…

Eve Degree $79.99 From Eve, evehome.com Features Bluetooth Low Energy Eve Degree’s ultra–compact size and unassuming (but typically Eve–pretty) looks belie its range of abilities: it’s both a temperature and a humidity sensor, and it can measure air pressure too, either in–or outdoors. IPX3 water resistance ensures it’ll survive more than a few drops of rain, and since it’s battery powered there’s no need for an external power source. Its app is neat and tidy, with comprehensive tracking of all three sensors. All good so far — but we definitely rated it more highly when testing indoors. Left out in direct sunlight, the Degree threw up some highly spurious readings, and creating triggers for HomeKit automations demands some convoluted wrangling between the Eve and Home apps. Weather Station $299.99 From…

WANT TO KNOW HOW TO USE AIRPLAY? Learn all about the differences between AirPlay and AirPlay 2, and then find out which devices you can use to stream from and to, using either at bit.ly/ml146ask1 CAN’T SIGN IN TO IMESSAGE OR FACETIME? If you’re having issues signing in to iMessage or FaceTime on a Mac, it could be one of many reasons, so try out this plethora of solutions to get things working again at bit.ly/ml146ask2 FIXES FOR IOS UPDATE AND RESTORE ERRORS If you’re trying to update your iOS device, or you need to restore it to an earlier version, but keep getting errors during the process, check out the list of potential fixes at bit.ly/ml146ask3…

REQUIRES Finder (features work in many versions of macOS) YOU WILL LEARN How to tailor Finder’s various views to suit different needs IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes FINDER WINDOWS CAN display files in various views, selected from icons in the toolbar at the top. Two of these — List and Column — are the most customizable. Pressing Cmd+J brings up the View Options window. Here you can pick a view from Finder’s toolbar icons at any time and the panel switches to options for it. Clicking Use as Defaults at the foot of View Options you’ll see current options respected by any new folders that you create — including the column headers you’ve made visible or hidden. However, existing folders retain their own settings. To set a folder to use…

REQUIRES iOS 11 or later (many features available on earlier versions YOU WILL LEARN How to be notified only about really important emails IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU DON’T NEED to know about every email the moment it arrives in your inbox. Most mail apps don’t distinguish between spam and messages that tell you a family member has uploaded a photo to your shared album in iCloud. However, with Mail on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you can ensure you’re only informed about messages from people that matter to you. The trick is to add those people to your VIP list. That list is handled differently than other email, and as a result is easy to forget or even know about in the first place. It gets its own…

YOU WILL LEARN The pros and cons of hard disks, Fusion Drives and SSDs, and how to add them to your Mac STORAGE HOLDS ON to data on your Mac after the power is turned off. The first thing you need to store is macOS: back in 1984 this came on a removable floppy disk, but nowadays you need it on a fixed drive so it can be accessed quickly. You’ll then need room for documents, music, apps, photos and videos. For the past 30 years, the startup disk inside most Macs has been a mechanical hard disk, but the balance is shifting to solid–state drives (SSDs), which use silicon chips that retain information when powered down, unlike a computer’s main memory. These work faster, but are expensive. A terabyte…

APPLE HAS BECOME the first publicly-listed American company ever to reach a value of one trillion dollars. At the time of writing it’s still up there, way ahead of all others — Amazon is nearest at $872 billion, followed by Google’s parent company Alphabet ($844bn) and Microsoft ($816bn). A company’s market capitalization value is calculated simply by multiplying its share price by the number of its shares in circulation. Apple reached a market cap of one trillion dollars in August, following the release of its June quarter financial figures. Apple CEO Tim Cook described it as “Apple’s best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.” Cook did not comment publicly on the company’s market valuation but in a memo to Apple employees called it “a…

PART OF APPLE’S allure all these years has been its secrecy and tendency to ‘show, not tell.’ The company has often waited to announce products until the week, or sometimes even the day, they are ready to ship. Recently, though, Apple has been softening up this behavior. The effort has not been without obstacles but, overall, I think it’s for the best. Take social media, for example. From chatting with a few folks, it seems Apple has loosened rules that previously barred employees from identifying themselves or participating in any public forum discussions regarding Apple. These days, you can find a good number of users on social media who list the team, product, and sometimes aspect they work on. Some of them even discuss newly released products and solicit feedback…

APPLE ADS ANNOY? Some of Apple’s recent ads, apparently “designed to appeal to younger generations,” are “often confusing and alienating [to] older generations,” according to a user experience study by specialist consultancy UserTesting. The organization studied the reactions of two age groups — one over 55, the other “Gen Z” (18–25) — to three video ads: iPhone X Fly Market (“Pay with a Glance”), iPhone X Unlock with a Look, and iPhone 7 Sticker Fight. The panel of 200 people included both iPhone and Android users, but UserTesting found there was little difference in reactions between these. The differences were down to age, with those in the 55+ age group finding the ads confusing and actively off–putting. Search them out on YouTube and see what you think! GROUP FACETIME DELAYED…

With a 15-inch MacBook Pro (2011-2013), graphics processor failure is a known problem. Apple may repair later models (see bit.ly/mbpvidiss) but otherwise workarounds (such as bit.ly/gpuwkrnd) are poor/impractical. For other models, try Apple Diagnostics (see page 23). If your Mac starts up with a flashing question mark icon, it means it can’t find a drive with a macOS installation. Let it try; if it does eventually start up, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and select the correct drive. If not, try macOS Recovery (see page 23). If your Mac starts up with the screen overlaid with ugly text, it’s a kernel panic. Restarting again may work. If not, restart in safe mode (see page 22) and install any software updates. No? Unplug all peripherals, restarting them one at…

AN ANNOYING SCENARIO is when your mouse or keyboard isn’t working, so you can’t operate macOS to fix the problem. Fortunately, any USB keyboard or mouse should work. If you have just one, you can still manage. Most features are accessible with a mouse. To type, go to System Prefs’ Keyboard pane, turn on the keyboard and character viewers, and use the menu bar to open the former and start typing. If you have only a keyboard, press Cmd+Spacebar to access things by name. Type ‘keyboard’ to open that preferences pane, then look up navigation shortcuts. Ctrl+F2 moves to the menus; Ctrl+F8 to the icons; the arrow keys navigate; and Return chooses an item. You may need to hold FN and other modifiers; ^ means Ctrl. Ensure Full Keyboard Access…

SCRIVENER $44.99 literatureandlatte.com When writing projects are too complex for TextEdit or Pages, reach for Scrivener. Whether you’re working on a bestseller, an essay, or a business plan, its smart tools can help. You can stash research, split documents, create snapshots, and work with synopses in an outliner. It’s available on iOS ($19.99) too, for writing on the go. SNAPSEED Free bit.ly/mfsnpsd If you shoot photos on your iPhone, you may want to use it to edit them as well. Snapseed has tools that cover the basics (cropping, perspective, levels) and the creative (filters, text, blurs, frames). Edits are non–destructive so you can tweak values at any point, and setups can be saved as custom ‘looks’, ready to apply to more photos. ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS 2018 $99.99 adobe.com You’ve already…

FANTASTICAL $4.99 flexibits.com People rarely consider alternatives to pre–installed iPhone apps — especially when they cost money. But make an exception for Fantastical, because it improves upon Apple’s Calendar for efficiently and productively working with events and scheduling. It also supports existing iCloud calendar data (along with Google Calendar and Exchange), so you won’t have to input all your scheduled events from scratch. EVENT CREATION Fantastical’s natural language smarts have always been the app’s big differentiator. When creating a new event, a preview is built as you add more details, making it less likely you’ll make a mistake and later miss an important meeting. Of course, you can speak your event’s details instead, if you’re not keen on typing. REMIND YOURSELF Apple’s Reminders has an interface that’s… divisive. Within Fantastical,…

THE MACBOOK Pro’s Touch Bar was a divisive addition in 2016, and for many it continues to be. Mac|Life’s take is that the bar’s appeal really depends on the apps you use. We’ve seen one app developer turned on to what the bar affords in a coding tool, and we appreciate the ways it’s used in some productivity apps. It takes some getting used to, because there’s no haptic feedback like you get from the Taptic Engine in new iPhones. The introduction of the Touch Bar and Touch ID authentication to the Mac came with the addition of an ARM—based processor. Back in 2016, that was the T1 processor, but in the 2018 refresh Mac it’s replaced with the T2. The T2 processor integrates the functions of various controllers found in…

We’re always reading headlines warning that cell phones and tablets can ruin our concentration, distracting us from the ‘important’ things that matter, and removing our ability to focus. In actual fact, mobile tech can make you smarter too. To prove it we’ve rounded up just a few of the best ‘brain–training’ apps around. Those that can help you improve your memory, concentration, as well as enhance other important cognitive functions. BRAIN SCHOOL Free Made for iPhone, iPad Brain School is perhaps the most straightforwardly fun app in this group. It’s completely free too, although it uses ads at the bottom of the screen to pay the rent (and don’t expect any tech support either). The app consists of 20 games that test skills such as maths, weights and measures, and…

$1.99 From Philipp Stollenmayer, kamibox.de/supertype Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 8.0 or later Supertype is a puzzle game that uses the power of letters. The levels are designed minimalistically, and it is up to the player to work out how to use the variously shaped letters in the English alphabet to collect the small square dots in each level. Perhaps it’s about rolling an O down a gentle slope, or maybe it’s a more complicated setup where a P falls over to set off a domino effect with a bunch of lowercase Ls. Supertype is free of frills — no in–app purchases, no timers to wait for, no ads to unlock new content. Some levels require you to merely touch the goal, while others have more than…

Free From Storage Solutions Technology Group Inc., bellycheck.com Made For watchOS, iPhone Needs iOS 11.3 or later Feeling “hangry” while on the go but on a diet? Bellycheck quickly finds the healthiest foods available at over 350 chain restaurants. As soon as the watchOS app is launched, Bellycheck locates a curated handful of local restaurants like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway, and others you might generally consider unsuitable for a nutritious meal. Tap on a desired eatery, and Bellycheck provides a list of the healthiest choices available, ranked by green (menu items rich in nutrients or high in essential minerals), yellow (food that falls somewhere in the middle), and red (the stuff healthy eaters should avoid). Selecting an entry presents all of the relevant data on calories, fat, cholesterol, and more so…

1 Start listening While HomeKit is great if all your hardware is compatible and you have a hub, IFTTT offers a broader reach. Sign in, search for your trigger hardware, be it a thermostat or sensor, then click and connect it. Simple! 2 Pick a trigger You’ll see a number of preconfigured actions; in the case of thermostats, these will usually point in the wrong direction for your needs. Head down to the ‘triggers and actions’ link to see what metrics you’ll be able to link to. 3 Link it all up Scroll back up, click My Applets, and create a new one. For the ‘this’ portion, select your device and a temperature trigger. Set the appropriate value, and then you’re free to set anything as ‘that’ — it’s up…

THIS WAS A difficult selection: all three of these sensors have their own unique plus points. You can’t argue with the Degree’s display, for example, and the sensitivity of SensorPush’s HT1 Smart Sensor is second to none. But then they all have their notable negatives, as well. Overall, in the specific context of making your home smarter and your environment better, and despite it not yet integrating into the HomeKit platform — come on, Netatmo! — we had to give the win to Netatmo’s Weather Station. Really, it’s a winner because of its potential. You can use it like a thermostat, automating your other kit based on temperature triggers. You could, with the right fan installed, automate ventilation (or at least change the color of your lights) when the carbon…

WHY ARE SOME SHARED SCREENSHOTS JPEGS, NOT PNGS? Before iOS 11, all screenshots taken in iOS stayed as PNGs. Now, some devices share them in JPEG format instead. This behaviour appears to vary by device model, as well as the method used to share. Experiment to check which format is used, by checking the file extension when saving the received file. CAN COMPASS SHOW OS GRID REFERENCES? No, only your latitude and longitude. Map grid references are national locators, peculiar to each mapping system. Ordnance Survey’s free OS Locate app can do it. Specialist apps like HamLog ($0.99) also give international Maidenhead locators if you want walking times and routes. CAN MY 2016 MACBOOK PRO’S SSD BE UPGRADED? Not if it has a Touch Bar, as the SSD is actually…

REQUIRES iOS 11 and an iPad that supports Split View and Slide Over YOU WILL LEARN Timesaving benefits of drag and drop IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes IN iOS 11, rather than copying and pasting things or using the Share sheet to send things from one app to another, it can be much easier to drag and drop them. This is a feature that has to be built into apps natively, so some of yours may not support it — at least not yet. To try this technique, hold your finger on an item in a list or some text, for example, and wait for a moment. If it’s draggable, you’ll usually see it lift off the page. If not, you could let the app’s developer know you’d find it…

WIRELESS CHARGING WAS one of the hot new features introduced in the iPhone X and iPhone 8 last year. At the time of writing, we’re still waiting for Apple’s AirPower charger, but a newly disclosed patent application suggests Apple is already working on next–gen wireless charging: “inductive charging between electronic devices” — that is, charging one device directly from another. So you could, for example, charge your iPhone and Apple Watch simply by placing them on top of your iPad. A drawing also shows a MacBook charging as many as eight devices at once, arranged on its lid, with only the MacBook plugged into a power source. Unlike existing wireless charging technologies, the system could work both ways — each device could both send and receive charge. When you’re on…

I’m disappointed that Apple is leaving the networking business. I recently moved into a larger house and bought an Amplifi setup to help out. Wi–Fi always showed a good signal everywhere, but devices were constantly disconnecting or had slow internet performance. I spent a lot of time with tech support, but alas — finally I gave up. Then, I brought out the ol’ Time Capsule and purchased two Airport Express Base Stations to extend the network. Well, data transfer speeds jumped from 5–7Mbps on my Mac in the office to 70Mbps. Hopefully this stuff will last! ROBERT DESTASIO We’ve always seen good results from the mesh networks we’ve tested, though more lag is inevitable when using one — coverage increase in a big home is the real boon. Issue 142…

A COMMON PROBLEM to have with a file on your Mac is forgetting where you put it. You can use Spotlight (Cmd+Spacebar) to locate it, or, in Finder, go to the drive the file should be on and type any part of the file’s name into the search box at the top right. In the options bar, start by searching only within the opened location for focused results, and try This Mac if the file is still elusive. If a file won’t open or doesn’t contain what you expected, check Time Machine for a recent backup. Not using it? Start now! A USB 3 hard drive costs under $100 for 4TB, and Time Machine makes it effortless to keep a rolling backup from which you can recover individual files —…

YOUR MAC’S NETWORK connections are managed in the Network pane of System Preferences. You can reach this quickly from the Wi-Fi status icon that appears in the menu bar. On the left of the pane is a list of your Mac’s network interfaces, including esoteric options like connecting via Bluetooth. To see the Wi-Fi networks your Mac has remembered, select Wi-Fi, then click Advanced. In the Wi-Fi tab you can drag router/hotspot names into order of preference — helpful for areas that feature multiple networks. If you need different network settings temporarily, click the Location pop–up menu at the top of the Network pane and click Edit Locations. Create a location and change any Network settings to suit it. When needed, choose this from Apple menu > Location. To use…

TO GET HELP from Apple, at no initial cost, see the options at getsupport.apple.com. You can sign in with your Apple ID to bring up details of products you own. Specify that you have a hardware issue, then it can phone you or start an online chat to establish what can be done next to resolve your issue. If you have an Apple Store nearby, you can make a Genius Bar appointment at apple.com/retail/geniusbar to take your Mac or device in for examination, or, after discussing the problem online, send it in by post. Alternatively, Apple can put you in touch with a local Authorized Service Provider, but it doesn’t offer a list until you go through a few questions about your problem at locate.apple.com/country. Search for ‘apple authorised reseller’…

HERE AT MAC|LIFE we believe you should only buy the things that you really need, which is why our Reviews section is so important to us, and you. We don’t want you to waste time and money on inferior products, and while we aim to include only the best hardware and apps, occasionally we like to include products that look promising, even if they don’t always deliver. We only use carefully selected experts, with specialist knowledge in their respective field, so no matter which review you’re reading, you can be confident the person who’s tested it knows their stuff, allowing you to make an informed purchase. Each review is rated using a five-star system, with half stars, which is easy to understand because we give an explanation next to each…

Free (IAPs) From Crimson Pine Games, crimsonpine.com Made for iPhone, iPad Needs iOS 9.0 or later Do you remember painting by numbers, the fiddly but incredibly satisfying way to pretend you could paint? April brings it to iOS with some welcome enhancements. You can paint with fingers, stylus, or Apple Pencil, and unlike real paints you don’t need to worry about going over edges. Pictures range from simple images to complex landmarks and portraits, and it’s impossible to make a mistake: when you tap on a numbered area, April automatically selects every section requiring the appropriate color. As you’d expect you can pinch to zoom and swipe to move around. April is simple to use, very rewarding and incredibly relaxing no matter what age you are: we found April delighted…

Free (IAPs) From Color Story LLC, acolorstory.com Made for iPhone, iPad Needs iOS 8.0 or later Color Story is a popular photography app that focuses on color effects and filters. It’s a crowded market, but Color Story is at least free to download, with in–app purchases that are entirely optional. Even so, its interface is clean and the free tools it does include will satisfy most casual users of interest. The app starts by allowing you to import photos or videos (up to 60 seconds), and version 2.0 introduced a Batch option that allows you to apply effects to multiple files all at once. And, for Instagram addicts, there’s a new Grid option that lets you line up a series of photos and schedule notifications to remind you when they…

Free From Moment Inc., shopmoment.com Made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Needs iOS 10.0 or later After taking Kickstarter by storm in recent years with iPhone cases tailor–made to mobile shutterbugs, the folks at Moment have been quietly refining the smartphone app that helps power their products. Now in version 3.0, Moment promises “big camera controls” that produce better photos — even if you don’t own one of the company’s accessories. Featuring the kind of DSLR–style controls professionals crave, the creators of Moment 3.0 claim to use their own brand of under the hood sorcery to produce images “sharper, smoother, crispier” than other camera apps. At first glance, the UI looks like many other third–party pro camera apps, with split focus/exposure, live histograms, auto video stabilization, and manual exposure…

Free From Will Bishop Made For watchOS, iPhone Needs iOS 11.0 or later Twitter abandoned Apple Watch in late 2017, which didn’t cause much uproar seeing how the native watchOS app was, to put it charitably, less than ideal. But the departure left a noticeable void in the hearts, minds, and displays of Watch owners who don’t use third-party apps like Tweetbot or Twitterrific. Enter Chirp, the first Twitter client designed specifically for watchOS. Once installed, fans of the diminutive social network can browse their timeline or profile, see the top five currently trending hashtags, or view mentions and likes in a way that not only feels native to the platform, but is way, way better than the official app could have hoped to be. (If you love Twitter as…

PHILO Free (subscription required) Fancy a live streaming TV service without the expense of sports programming? Philo is now on Apple TV, letting cable subscribers cut the cord for less. Starting at a mere $16 per month, the lineup offers live and on-demand content. However, an antenna is needed for local channels. UFOTV Free (subscription required) Ideal for those who watch X-Files in constant rotation, this app serves up more aliens, spaceships, and conspiracy theories to your living room than you can shake a Siri Remote at. Unfortunately, you’ll need to subscribe before watching, at $9.99 monthly or $99.99 per year. CUBIC TOWER Free Tower building has rarely been this much fun, especially from the comfort of the couch! Although it looks easy, this game is deceptively difficult as players…

1 Buy right That fan or air conditioner might not be smart by itself, but don’t let that stop you. Make sure you buy something that starts as soon as it’s powered. A fan with physical controls is ideal; an air–con unit with auto–standby not so much. 2 Add the smarts Attach the device to a smart plug. Belkin’s WeMo Insight is a good choice, since it has good automation hooks and, with the WeMo Bridge, HomeKit support. Avoid the cheap no–brand models that have flooded Amazon, of course. 3 Fire at will Switch your device to the setting you’re looking for, place the smart plug into the power socket, and switch it on. Now use the smart plug’s app to power it on or off, or your automation platform…

macOS RECOVERY The Recovery system contains tools to help you look up info online when macOS won’t start, and to repair or reinstall the system. Learn more at bit.ly/mlrecovery SAFE MODE When you start your Mac in Safe mode, macOS performs extra checks and stops certain third-party software from running. See how to use it at bit.ly/mlsafemode RESET SMC & NVRAM These features handle low-level functions and store key settings for your Mac, respectively. Resetting them can fix various issues described at bit.ly/mlresetsmc and bit.ly/mlresetnvram HARDWARE ISSUES Your Mac includes tools that check for certain hardware issues without going to a Genius Bar. For Macs introduced in June 2013 or later, see bit.ly/mldiag, otherwise see bit.ly/mlahwt…

REQUIRES OS X 10.10 or later, or iOS 10 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to install the best widgets in the Today view IT WILL TAKE 20 minutes WIDGETS OFFER A quick way to look up information with a couple of clicks and taps, rather than going to a web page or an app. They appear in the Today view in both macOS and iOS, and Apple’s operating systems come with a bunch of useful basics: a world clock, weather, and what’s coming up on your calendars and reminders lists, to name just a few popular favorites. To reach the Today view on a Mac, click Notification Centre’s icon at the far right of the menu bar, then the Today tab. On iOS, swipe right on the Lock screen,…

REQUIRES An iPhone, an Apple Watch YOU WILL LEARN The different ways to respond in Messages on Apple Watch IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS YOU can glance at easily is one of the best things about Apple Watch, and that goes double for when people are trying to reach you, whether by phone or text. Being able to quickly check your wrist to see a message from someone saying that they need to change where you’re meeting, without breaking your stride, is convenience served on a silver platter. But Apple Watch isn’t just about reading the messages you receive — despite its small screen, sending messages is an effortless task too. You won’t be writing any lengthy sonnets for your love, but it’s easy to send key details.…