Innehållsförteckning för August 2025 från Macworld

As a die-hard Apple fan and a technology journalist, I try to refresh my gear every year or so to keep up with the latest features. However, while my three-year-old M2 MacBook Air could certainly use an upgrade—and I’ve got my eye on a new MacBook Pro—it’s going to have to last for another year. Not only are the M5 MacBooks not expected to bring much in the way of new features, but Apple is reportedly set to kick-start a new era with the M6 MacBook Pro as soon as next year. Here’s why I’m waiting to upgrade—and so should you. A NEW DESIGN THAT’S EVEN THINNER With the introduction of the first Apple Silicon MacBook Pro, Apple adopted a boxier design with flat edges, thin bezels, and a notch. It has since…

Believe it or not, Apple is already dominant in gaming. Most games, globally, are played on mobile phones, and despite the greater sales of Android-powered phones, the iPhone is the mobile gaming device. But it still feels like Apple is always looking to break through with real gamers. At Worldwide Developers Conference this year, it had another pitch for gamers and game developers, and it felt just like the last few years: big promises about how great gaming is on Apple’s platforms, how great it can be for developers. There’s even a dedicated Games app now! However, just as the efforts of the last few years have been unsuccessful at turning Apple’s platforms into something gamers care about, so too will this year’s effort fail to move the needle. It…

External displays can transform a MacBook into a workable desktop setup, freeing the laptop user from the constraints of the smaller screen—even the spacious 16-inch display. Portable external displays give the extra benefit of being transportable and easily stored away when not required. The UPerfect Delta Max Touch stands out from the portable external display crowd being a stacked set of two screens, each of which can operate as a touchscreen—more on the debatable touch element later. PORTABLE DESIGN The Delta Max Touch is a set of two 18.5-inch screens that are joined at a hinged center. They can be adjusted to the best-suited angle depending on your situation, and folded completely to create a slim portable package that you can slip under your arm or carry in one hand. How…

1-BIT RAINBOW PICO MICRO MAC 1bitrainbow.com This tiny replica of the original Macintosh measures just under 2.5 inches tall (that’s about half the height of a Coke can), with a 2-inch TFT panel for the display, an SD Card slot (though sadly not in the front where the floppy was), and a single USB-C port. A custom splitter cable supplies power to the Pico Mac Nano along with an extra USB-A port for connecting a keyboard or mouse.. SATECHI USB4 SLIM NVME SSD ENCLOSURE satechi.net This thin and stylish enclosure can house 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 SSD modules with transfer speeds up to 40Gbps. While it matches and fits atop the Mac mini perfectly, it can be used with any Mac by connecting to a USB-C port. Satechi includes…

The last few years have seen Apple open up its ecosystem more than any of us previously thought possible, and part of that means you can now change your iPhone’s default apps with relative ease. For example, instead of being forced into Safari every time you tap a web link, you can have your device open a different browser instead. This newfound choice has opened the door to a host of excellent third-party apps that are ready to step into the void left by Apple’s default choices, should you wish to change them—and in many cases, you should. Here, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites. In some instances, you can change your default app choice to one of these options, in others you can’t, but you can still…

A gimbal is a motorized stabilization mount for cameras that compensates for vibrations and enables smooth video recordings. It uses motors and algorithms on three axes (tilt, pan, roll) to correct unwanted movements. Gimbals are used in professional video production and by iPhone filmmakers to stabilize shots and enable creative camera movements. For iPhone filmmakers who are also vloggers, however, a gimbal must be able to do even more. And so Insta360 has packed features into the revised Flow 2 Pro ideal for the iPhone, offering versatile tracking via Apple DockKit in over 200 iOS apps, including apps for streaming and videoconferencing. The Flow 2 Pro offers everything mobile filmmakers need: an integrated selfie stick, an extendable tripod, and a practical selfie mirror. The Insta360 app also includes exciting features…

When you update to iOS 26 this fall, your iPhone is going to feel dramatically different. There are always lots of new features in each major yearly release, but few are as in-your-face as those this year. There’s an all-new design and dramatic changes to some of the apps you use most, including Phone, Camera, Messages, and Safari. Here are the biggest changes coming to iOS this year. JUMPING UP TO 26 Apple is changing its naming scheme from sequential version numbers (which were all over the place, with different devices having different version numbers) to a year-based system. The OS versions that will carry Apple through 2026 will all be version 26. So you’ll have iOS 26, macOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, tvOS 26, and…

Cybernews reported in late June on its research that resulted in the online discovery of 30 datasets, including 16 billion records of user login information for “pretty much any online service imaginable,” such as Apple, Facebook, and Google. The records include a URL and login information. Since this data is what malware often collects, it appears that these records are a result of numerous information theft attacks. Cybernews states that the datasets do include overlapping records, but the enormity of the data collection makes it difficult to compare individual records to conclude how many users have been exposed. The exposed datasets have not been previously reported, except for one discovered by Jeremiah Fowler that had 185 million unique usernames and passwords. The datasets are also made available temporarily and are taken…

PDF editors are essential for Mac users living the paperless lifestyle. While macOS can view, annotate, and sign PDFs natively, the OS provides little control over the files’ core content. So those wishing to tweak the text or images of a certain PDF document will have to rely on third-party solutions. With so many apps out there, however, finding the right pick may be tricky. SwifDoo PDF for Mac is one of the options you may come across when hunting for an editor. Is it any good, though? Let’s take a look. PRICING AND AVAILABILITY SwifDoo PDF supports macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Windows, and Android. Notably, however, the feature sets differ depending on the platform you’re using. So, for example, the Windows app packs distinct capabilities unavailable on macOS or the…

Apple’s next-gen CarPlay—now named CarPlay Ultra—has had a bumpy start. After its preview at Worldwide Developers Conference 2022 and name change earlier this year, the first vehicles are only just rolling off the lot, and now a new report claims several carmakers are taking their dashboard tech in a different direction. According to the Financial Times, several auto groups that had initially indicated support, including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Polestar, and Renault, have declined to bring the in-car system to their fleet. Of note, all of those cars support Apple’s current CarPlay system, which is limited to navigation screens. Apple calls CarPlay Ultra “the ultimate in-car experience,” and boasts about its deep integration with all of the driver’s screens, including “real-time content and gauges in the instrument cluster.” Unlike CarPlay, each…

FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, and other apps offer live captions for calls and videoconferences. You can record calls in FaceTime. Several services and some apps transcribe audio to text using machine learning. Why not combine all these into a single service? Apple did with the Phone app and FaceTime in iOS 18.1. Starting with that release, you can opt to record calls if you meet Apple’s broad requirements. The integration into the operating system is still a little wonky: Apple has the Phone or FaceTime app record into a Notes item, which is also where you find a transcript in a special format embedded in the note. For transcription, you need at least an iPhone 12 model. Presumably for reasons of software development, call recording and transcription are limited to many…

With the announcement that macOS Tahoe will be the last Mac OS version to support Intel Macs, Apple’s preparing to close the books on the third chip transition in Mac history. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but Apple is absolutely the best company in the world at picking up stakes and moving its platforms somewhere else. Over its 41 years of existence, the Mac has run on four entirely different processor architectures (not to mention two different operating system foundations), all the while remaining more or less the same familiar Mac we know and love. This is not an easy feat to accomplish once, let alone three times. Apple’s gotten very good at this. Twenty years ago, it was the switch to Intel. Five years ago, the switch…

Apple in June unveiled the latest version of macOS and in the process cut a bunch of Intel Macs from the compatibility list. But if you have one of the lucky models that made it through, there’s bad news on the horizon—Apple has announced that macOS 26 Tahoe will be the final version that supports any Intel Macs. As it stands, just a handful of Intel Macs support macOS Tahoe: > The 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2020 with four Thunderbolt ports > The 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2019 > The 27-inch iMac from 2020 > The Mac Pro from 2019 That’s somewhat surprising, since macOS Sequoia retained support for a surprising number of Intel Macs. Tahoe drops support for a variety of Mac models, including: > MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) >…

The CalDigit Element 5 Hub is the successor to the company’s award-winning Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, replacing the Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) ports with the double-speed Thunderbolt 5 (TB5) and even squeezing in an extra USB port for good measure. Just as the CalDigit Element 4 Hub was our recommended Thunderbolt 4 hub, the Element 5 takes over its position at the top of the Mac hub hierarchy. SPECS AND FEATURES > One upstream Thunderbolt 5 port (80Gbps/120Gbps, 90W) > Three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (80Gbps, 15W) > Two USB-C ports (10Gbps, 7.5W) > Three USB-A ports (10Gbps, 7.5W) > 180W power supply The Element 5 Hub boasts five Thunderbolt 5 ports, each offering blisteringly fast 80Gbps data transfer and when utilizing Bandwidth Boost can provide up to 120Gbps bandwidth for display…

Apple has just unveiled iPadOS 26 (yes, you read that right) at the Worldwide Developers Conference opening keynote. The update not only brings a brand-new interface for the iPad’s operating system, but also improves many aspects of iPadOS to make it more like macOS. From the new Liquid Glass design language to more desktop features and a few extra apps, these are the main new features coming to your iPad with iPadOS 26. iPADOS 26, NOT 19 As strange as it may sound, the successor to iPadOS 18 is not version 19, but 26. That’s because Apple has finally decided to unify the version number of all its operating systems. This means that iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS are all now at version 26. “Why 26?” you ask.…

I know what you’re thinking…I’m not going to spend eight bucks a month on a subscription gaming service just full of mobile games! That’s half the price of Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus Extra where I have access to hundreds of real games! But if you spend a fair amount of time playing games on your iPhone or iPad—even if your “real” gaming time is on a PC or console—you should probably give Apple Arcade a shot. It has grown into a big service with an impressive catalog, and perhaps most importantly, it breaks the economic engine that ruins mobile game design. PLENTY TO CHOOSE FROM Just to be clear: The caliber of games on Apple Arcade is decidedly mobile. You’re not going to find a lot of stuff that…

There are plenty of 3-in-1 magnetic chargers that cater to all your Apple portable device needs, charging iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch. Indeed, we’ve reviewed and tested the best 3-in-1 Apple chargers. Some are stands that sit on your desk or nightstand, while others fold up to fit in your pocket. The HyperJuice Qi2 3-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand sits somewhere in between. It has a smaller sibling, predictably called the Qi2 2-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand. This is much more pocketable, but still offers fast charging when connected to a USB-C charger. It can charge those same three Apple products, but not all of them simultaneously. DESIGN It’s small enough to be portable but not so svelte that it will slip into your pant pocket or purse. It weighs very little (9.6oz,…

During its Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 keynote, Apple previewed macOS Tahoe 26. With this year’s software releases, the company is streamlining the OS version numbers—aligning them with the upcoming year. More importantly, it’s unifying the user interface across its platforms and introducing a ton of functionality for Mac, iPhone, and iPad users. Curious about what’s coming to your Mac later this year? These are the five biggest changes included with macOS 26 Tahoe. LIQUID GLASS DESIGN Perhaps the most noticeable change bundled with macOS Tahoe 26 is the fresh user interface dubbed Liquid Glass. This release borrows the translucent look first introduced with visionOS and applies it across Mac menus, app icons, the Dock, Control Center toggles, and so on. By retiring the excessive use of solid colors in favor of…

Hide.me is a VPN that ticks just about any box you can ask of it. There’s a free plan to try (although it’s very limited), and it’s just as good at unblocking Netflix libraries from the other side of the globe as it is at keeping your data obfuscated. It’s super easy to use, meaning anyone can log in and get started, but it also has a bevy of more advanced features that include split tunneling and multihop connections, among others. All of this combines into a feature-rich VPN that’s ideal for just about anyone, but with the added bonus of a device limit of 10 (double some of its rivals), 24/7 live chat, and a really slick interface. In truth, our only gripe is a relatively low server count (although…

The AirPods have come a long way. When the first iteration launched in 2016, it featured a chunky build and mediocre specs. Since then, Apple has actively developed its wireless earbuds, introducing multiple tiers, more compact designs, longer battery life, and advanced integration with the wider Apple ecosystem. Today, customers can pick from models that start at $129 and go all the way up to $549—catering to different budgets and expectations. The AirPods Pro 2 happen to be my favorite model. They’re the perfect balance between portability and immersion, offering support for ANC and Dolby Atmos in a miniature shell. And they get regular boosts from software updates, such as the recently introduced hearing health features. Nevertheless, there are some shortcomings that I’d like to see Apple address when it launches the…

Your Apple Account (previously known as your Apple ID) is a vital part of the Apple ecosystem. It does so many things, but because you have to log into it on so many devices, there’s always a risk of your account being compromised, even if you are careful. How can you tell if your Apple Account has been hacked? And if so, what can you do to get back control? Here are a few things you should know if your Apple Account has been compromised. WARNINGS THAT YOUR APPLE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED Apple may alert you to any suspicious activity on your Apple Account, but depending on how it has been compromised, here are some warning signs that someone is making an unauthorized attempt to access your Apple Account:…

Apple provides one clue in macOS as to which of many windows you may see on screen is the current frontmost active one: the “traffic light” red, yellow, and green buttons for close, minimize, and resize are lit up in color. That’s it. You can use Mission Control (F3) to shrink all windows to fit across your displays, but it doesn’t provide clues about the active one. The only solution is an inexpensive third-party app, HazeOver, which is $5.99/£5.99 on the App Store. It’s a single-purpose app with many settings and keystrokes you can use to customize how it identifies active windows and for how long. In HazeOver’s most basic configuration, here’s what you do to highlight the active window and dim all the rest: 1. Choose the Settings menu…

Thirty years ago, the first Mac clones rolled off an assembly line in Austin, Texas. If you’re not of a certain age, you might not even believe there once were Mac clones. For most of its existence, Apple has been a singular company, selling products that were a fusion of custom hardware and custom software. But for about three wild years in the 1990s, Apple defied its own nature and allowed other companies to build computers that ran the Mac OS and competed directly with Apple. It was an era that made some long-standing contributions to the history of the Mac, but also one that Steve Jobs dramatically ended pretty much the moment he returned to power at Apple. BUT…WHY? The mid-’90s was a weird time for Apple. Microsoft and…

Since its first appearance in 2015, PowerPhotos continues to offer features Apple doesn’t provide in Photos for macOS, making PowerPhotos a must-have for people who want to get the most from Apple’s app. Photos does improve with every release, but developer Brian Webster continues to update PowerPhotos to make up for what’s missing, improving past features and adding more refinements. Version 3 brings a couple of key upgrades as well as big bumps in performance. The app’s update, priced at $39.95 for new users, includes new and improved capabilities such as bulk editing metadata (like titles and keywords), using templating to apply incremented counters and other placeholders to groups of media, searching and de-duplicating across multiple Photos libraries, and manipulating media and albums within the app as if you were using…

The Satechi M.2 NMVe Mini SSD enclosure is a hybrid USB stick and external SSD enclosure. Since it’s an enclosure, it doesn’t include the SSD module; you provide your own. You have to use the small 2230 mm M.2 SSDs, which can be tricky to find. The enclosure has a very compact design, measuring 4.5×3×1.3 centimeters, and weighs just 35 grams. The housing is made of aluminum, and you can see the SSD through an integrated tempered glass window. A fast SSD in a small housing often results in a device that gets warm (sometimes hot) to the touch. An active fan and air slots are used for cooling. The fan is temperature controlled and the volume should fluctuate between 40 and 60 decibels. At 50 degrees Celsius, it reaches…

At its Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 keynote in June, Apple announced the latest watchOS update for the Apple Watch. The new software sees more Apple Intelligence elements than ever land on the watch, as well as a major aesthetic redesign. And yes, as expected Cupertino has switched from traditional version numbers (the previous update, watchOS 11, was the 11th yearly update) to ones based on the year when the software will primarily be in use. The new update, which will launch to the public in September and carry on until the next fall, is named watchOS 26 (for 2026). LIQUID GLASS: THE BIG REDESIGN Earlier in the keynote, Apple announced a broad project called Liquid Glass, a sweeping cross-platform redesign affecting the interfaces of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV…and Apple Watch.…

To notch or not to notch? That seems to be the question for the next few iPhone releases. But according to a new report, we might be waiting a while for a notchless iPhone, as Apple’s plans for an under-display front-facing camera and Face ID won’t happen until 2030. According to display supply chain consultant CEO Ross Young, Apple will move gradually toward a notchless display. Next year, the Dynamic Island will reportedly shrink a little as Apple reconfigures how Face ID is implemented. Then, he says, in 2028, the Face ID sensors will be completely under the display panel, with a hole for the selfie camera (probably centered, like many Android phones), before finally, in 2030, we get the first iPhone without any holes or notches as the selfie…

In recent years, Aqara has been one of the few manufacturers of security cameras that still supports HomeKit for Apple devices—even when Apple itself seems to have dropped the term “HomeKit” and now tends to just say that a camera “works with Apple Home” (referring to the Home app on your Apple devices). The G3 and E1 cameras we’ve reviewed from Aqara (in our roundup of the Best Security Cameras) are very competitively priced, but they’re both designed for indoor use, so the company has extended its range with the new Camera Hub G5 Pro, which boasts a sturdy design that is very much intended for life outdoors. There are actually two versions of the G5 Pro available, and they also give you a choice of colors, with either plain…

Apple users can be a pretty loyal bunch, often sticking to Apple-branded hardware and apps while giving third-party alternatives the cold shoulder. But sometimes it’s worth looking outside the walled garden. For example, Google Chrome is immensely popular, taking the lion’s share of the global browser market and dominating the competition. That’s not without good reason, and even if you’ve faithfully stuck with Safari over the years, you might be curious about what Chrome has to offer. The answer, it turns out, is quite a lot. From an extensive arsenal of extensions to rapid security updates, there are plenty of reasons why Safari users should consider switching to Google’s browser: CHROME HAS BETTER EXTENSION SUPPORT Extensions are the lifeblood of a web browser, helping to enhance its capabilities in ways…

Password managers have joined the list of essential software we need to use every day to stay safe and sane when dealing with all the logins and accounts we have in the modern digital world. Enpass is one that has been around for a good while now, offering cross-platform support, plenty of features, and some interesting subscription options. We put it through its paces to see how it fares in the ultracompetitive world of password management. SOFTWARE AND FEATURES Enpass follows the well-trodden path laid by the majority of password managers when it comes to design and features. Once you set up a free account to test out the service, you’ll need to decide where you’ll store the password vault, as Enpass doesn’t keep this on its own servers. There are…

Amid all the other announcements at Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, tvOS 26 passed by with barely a ripple. Out of a total 92 minutes of keynote time, it was on screen for less than five (a big chunk of which was a trailer for upcoming TV+ shows and movies), and at the time of writing this, the software doesn’t even have its own tab on Apple’s OS preview page. But this is often the way with major Apple events: There’s so much to talk about that worthwhile launches get lost in the hubbub. And tvOS 26 does have some interesting upgrades. There are user profiles to choose from when you wake the Apple TV, automatic logins for third-party apps, permanent AirPlay speaker connections, new aerial screensavers, and the ability to…

Apple Intelligence is generally perceived as a mundane AI suite, especially when compared to the likes of Google’s Gemini—which lets its users reimagine their photos and perform other advanced tasks. Nevertheless, the iPhone maker has managed to build solid tools that often come in handy for getting productive tasks done. While I don’t necessarily find them exciting, they complement my everyday workflows. Here are some of the ways Apple Intelligence can be useful and can increase your productivity in iOS and iPadOS 18.1 and coming soon in iOS and iPadOS 18.2. ARTICULATE LIKE A PRO One thing I wish I’d had as a student majoring in English language and literature is the Writing Tools feature. Having written countless essays during my academic journey, I can’t imagine how much simpler it would…